100% Freshie Chapter 12 --PG-13

[librarian_7]

Disclaimer: The characters from Moonlight are copyrighted by CBS, and no infringement is intended.

Special note: This work takes place in the world of Moonlight, but your favorite vamps are not the main focus. Sorry about that; try to enjoy the story anyway. You might be surprised.

100% Freshie

Chapter 12


Danni had held her phone irresolutely for some time, wondering if her call would be well received. The afternoon sun crept appreciably across the apartment walls while she debated with herself, curled up on the couch. She had taken some time to think about her situation, now that the apartment was so echoingly empty, and knew she had to do something about the loneliness. Her boss had been so understanding about her situation, and Hunter’s as well, that she eventually twigged to the fact that the shop was either owned or controlled by Will Spence. She thought she must’ve been blind not to have realized from the beginning how stage-managed the whole thing had been. The only thing she didn’t understand was why Will had disappeared, why he would devote so much energy to, well, into seducing her into his world, only to vanish.

Finally she pushed the button to dial.

“Hey.”

“Lucky…hi.” Danni paused, unsure of exactly how to say what she wanted to say. “Can I ask you a favor?”

The other woman hesitated just a fraction of a second, but long enough for Danni to feel it. “Umm, sure, I guess. What do you need, honey?”

“Well—I want to go back to the clubs. Next time Josef takes you, could I come along?” She knew it was bound to be misinterpreted, that her intentions were not clear.

Lucky thought for a second before answering. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Danger,” she said gently, “but do you really think going back to the clubs is wise? I mean, the last time didn’t go so well.”

Danni sighed. “I know, but—Lucky, I need to go back.” She pulled a throw pillow against her stomach, clutched it, took a deep breath. “This is so hard to say. Okay, straight out, then--I’ve got to find a vamp. I—I need that feeling. You know what I’m talking about, Lucky, I know you do.”

Lucky was silent for a few seconds. “Yes,” she said, “I do. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing, Danger.” Danni thought there was something unspoken, something Lucky didn’t want to say directly. She suspected it might have something to do with Josef’s feeding from her in the past.

“I had to wait so long to get in last time,” Danni plunged on, “and then it went so badly. I just thought—if I could go in with you, oh, God, Lucky—Lucky I swear I’m not trying to hit on your vamp. I just—“

She heard a short chuckle over the connection. “Danger, sweetheart,” Lucky said, her tone amused. “There’s a distinction you need to make here. In a lot of ways, Josef is not our vamp. We’re his freshies.” She paused again. “Forgive me for being metaphoric, but there are a lot of one-way streets in this part of Los Angeles.”

Danni knew she needed to stop and think about that, but she really wished she could get a simple answer. “So what are you saying?”

“Look, I don’t even know when we might be going. It’s not a regular thing with us—Josef keeps pretty busy with his business interests, and frankly we try not to tease him too much about taking us out. But I’ll ask him, all right? And if he says it’s okay, it’s okay.”

Danni felt like a weight was dropping from her shoulders, like the world was snapping into focus. She knew Josef liked her, a little, at least. With even the shadow of his protection thrown over her, she’d be so much safer, she thought. “I really appreciate this, Lucky. You’ll never know how much.”

“I just wish I knew for sure I was doing a good thing with this, Danger,” Lucky said, her voice doubtful. Danni thought she was going to say something more, but the connection went dead. She didn’t care, she was sure Josef wouldn’t mind having her tag along. She was very sure.


It was maybe three days later that Lucky called and told her the car would be picking her up to go with them to Pulse!, and that Josef intended to introduce her to a friend of his….


Danni was a little bored. She supposed Josef was trying to do her a favor, introducing her to some other vamps, but it was like every other blind date she’d ever had. Dull. Martin was handsome enough, and had the advantage of being next to her. She’d heard the girls joking about “basic vamp appeal,” but there was a lot to that. These vamps—they almost all gave off an aura somehow of raw sensuality that was almost irresistible. This one, however, was largely ignoring her to converse with Josef. Granted the view she had of the older vamp seated across the table, with his animated features reflecting the rapid play of his emotions, was quite fascinating to Danni. He was relating a story of his adventures during the British invasion of Afghanistan, and while his three freshies seemed rapt, Danni found her mind straying to thoughts of him with silvered eyes and masterful hands. No one was paying attention to the club crowd, and when a pale hand landed on Danni’s upper arm to take a hard grasp of it, she gasped and jumped, startling everyone.

Martin, who had casually laid an arm on the back of Danni’s chair, jerked back as though shot, at the snarl from the newcomer.

“This bitch is mine,” Javier said. “You’re trespassing.”

Martin was taken aback by Javier’s vehemence. He threw a troubled look at Josef, then turned back to Javier. “I—I had no idea she was claimed,” he stammered.

Josef regarded the scene before him with mild annoyance. He had just reached the point in his story when he and his friends, fleeing madly through the night from Afghan tribesman, had stumbled upon a British camp and were trying to talk their way past a ridiculously pompous colour sergeant. It was the high point of the story, and this moron was ruining—had ruined it.

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said. The freshies at the table had heard that deceptively soft tone before and knew it to be a very bad sign. They instinctively drew a little closer to Josef, although not so close as to be in his way. “And,” Josef continued, “I don’t believe you were invited to this table.”

“Oh, we’ve met, Josef,” Javier replied.

“Really? Ah—was it the yellow fever epidemic in Panama? Or was it during the Potato Famine in Ireland? I seem to recall some natural disaster being involved. Oh, no, wait—just some looney tunes vamp with delusions of grandeur.” Josef snorted. “Last time I saw this boyo, he was trying to resurrect an Aztec blood cult in the Yucatan. You know, Javier, it might have worked better if you’d done enough research to figure out that area was Mayan.”

“You interfered then. You will not do so now.” Javier half-dragged Danni from her chair, and she let out a little scream at the pain of his hand, bruising her arm. She turned wide, terrified eyes to Josef. If he saw, if he even cared, he gave no indication.

“Just for the sake of argument,” Josef said conversationally, “why is it you have this idea?”

Javier brought his free hand to Danni’s chin as though in a caress, then forced her head to one side with casual brutality to make her scarred throat starkly visible. “As you can see, she bears the mark of my fangs.”

Josef waved his hands in mock horror. “Spare me the drama. You know, Javier, I thought you were an idiot a century ago, and apparently nothing has changed. Look around you. This club is full of willing girls—do you have some deep, dark need to drag off an unwilling one?”

“She was willing enough before.” He leaned down, put his face close to her, inhaled deeply. “I can smell your fear now, but last time it was all desire, wasn’t it?”

Danni struggled fruitlessly to escape his grip. She only succeeded in bumping her chair closer to the table.

Josef shook his head. “You know,” he said, “this bores me. You want this freshie, Javier, take her. Drain her on the dance floor, if that’s what suits you. What’s another freshie? But—and you really need to consider this—you’ve already been banned from Club Valis, and they’ll never let you in Pulse! again if you kill a freshie in public. And I can’t imagine you’ll find too many young ladies willing to offer you much in future. It’s a funny thing, but these girls start thinking they’ll be drained out of hand, and they stop coming to the clubs. That’s what we call a lose/lose proposition, Javier. Not to mention that if you blow the lid off the carefully controlled, discreet set-up the community has developed here, we will hunt you down and end you. So by all means, if you want this girl, drag her away.” He looked directly into Danni’s eyes for the first time since Javier had appeared. “Sorry, Texas,” he said with a smirk, “that’s the way it goes.”

The club noise swirled over them, filling the gap where the words stopped. Javier did not slacken his grip, but appeared to be considering Josef’s words. He looked down at the shaking girl, but she had her face turned away from him. “You’re right,” he said, “this little cow is not worth the trouble.” With that, Danni found her bruised arm free, as the vampire vanished into the crowd.

Josef looked thoughtful for a brief moment, then signaled his freshies to gather up the shaken girl and whisk her off to the ladies room to regain her composure. He was fairly sure that Javier would not give up on her so easily, and even as he wondered why it might be important to do so, he thought it might be a good idea to put in a telephone call to a friend of his.

[francis]

Lucky is a wise woman. Danni should take the warning.
I love the snark that Josef uses to put Javier in his place, but this doesn’t bode well for Danni’s future. Josef keeps this firmly in business speak, as if he isn’t concerned for the girl at all, but that’s the only way Javier will understand. Poor girl.