a/n- due to a fantastic response on my last chapter, I thought I would post this one a bit earlier than I had intended. I hope this will move the Lana storyline up a little.
For those of you wondering, there will be some angsty stuff coming up, especially for LoVe, but I don't have any plans to bring Duncan into the mix. I may mention what he's up to in a later chapter. Also, some of the timeline of S2 is going to get shuffled around (the witness coming forward, etc.) and it will shortly being going AU. I will try to keep it logically in canon as much as possible, however.
Questions, comments, concerns? REVIEW. I am waiting on pins and needles to hear from you!
Thanks again for reading...and now...
Reception
"Hey, Mick, can you get that? It's probably my room service." Beth calls out from the tiny hotel bathroom, the smell of her tropical shampoo filling the rest of the room.
He tilts his head trying to catch a glimpse of her naked form in the shower, before answering the knocking at the door. He's so caught up on the slight glimpse of her naked, wet leg, that he fails to notice it's not room service at the door before it's too late. It's not even human.
"Housekeeping," Josef quips in high voice before pushing past a stunned Mick into the suite.
"Josef?" Mick asks in confusion. "What are you doing here?"
Josef spins tightly and shrugs, "Thought I'd come check out the digs I'm paying for. Maybe take a little vacay for myself, seeing as the two of you are so found of this town. I here the seafood here is to die for." He does a little gesture with his fingers pressed against his lips and released in a flourish. Then, he adjusts his red suit jacket and claps his hands together as he looks around nosily. "So, where is Blondie?"
Mick growls and hikes up his shoulders. "She's in the shower, as if you couldn't tell." Mick is glad he has already reached over and shut the bathroom door completely while Josef was busy flouncing about.
A wicked grin spreads across Josef's face and Mick narrows his eyes, daring him to comment.
"Ah," he acquiesces. "So cleanliness is next to godliness after all. Dinner?"
Mick shakes his head. "Why are you here? I thought I told you it was too risky."
Josef runs his hand down the satiny drapes absently, "What can I say? Maybe my hearing is starting to go. They say it can happen after you reach your fourth century."
"Josef. Go home. Let us handle this."
Josef looks up, and sharpens his gaze. "Ah, see, that's where you're wrong. You aren't handling it."
Mick fights back an urge to defend himself and instead remains silent.
"Did you even know that Logan was arrested again?"
"What? How'd that happen. Wait," Mick said, rounding on Josef, "How do you know?"
Never one to back down, Josef states fiercely, "Look, does it matter? All that matters is that you keep my boy safe. I didn't hire you so that you and Blondie could shack up like honeymooners and play footsies. I-."
"Wait a minute," interrupts Mick, pointing a finger at him with a smirk. "You called Logan your 'boy'."
Josef's eyes went dark. "No I didn't." He snaps.
"Yes you did," Beth states from the bathroom doorway. Her hair is went and knotted loosely in a bun and the fluffy bath robe she is wrapped up in exposes too much of the smooth curve of her legs.
Both men take a beat before they can answer, trying not to look over at her while she gathers up her clothes. "I distinctly remember calling him the boy. Why would I say that...other thing." Answers Josef defensively, crossing his arms and pouting like a sullen child.
Both Mick and Beth exchange glances and smile simultaneously.
Josef waves his hand in frustration and turns back to the curtains, seemingly finding them very interesting. "A slip of the tongue." He leers at Beth for a second, looking noticeably down her half naked body. "Although normally ladies tend to enjoy it when my tongue slips."
Beth fakes a gag reflex and returns to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Meanwhile, Josef has fallen into the small recliner, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "You know, Mick, maybe my problem is that I haven't had a good meal since I've arrived here. You got anything to drink that's decent?"
Mick shakes his head and shows him the contents of his cooler, a couple bags of A pos sit on the bottom shelf. "I'm actually running pretty low. I didn't think about that when I decided to stay on."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Josef replies, pulling out his phone. He punches up a number and says. "Hey, it's Josef. I'm down your way and in need of a hook up? Got anyone you can send over?" He listens to the response, watching Mick with a knowing smile on his face. "Sure, that would great. Penthouse Suite, Neptune Grand. It's under Tony Camonte." He says, ending the call.
Mick quirks an eyebrow at him and mouths, "Scarface?"
Josef shrugs and tells him, "What? Howard Hughes was a good friend but a lousy poker player. I bet him he couldn't make a movie about Al Capone without the entire mafia on his back, but it turned out to be one of Al's favorites. I do have to say, for being completely mental, the man had enormous cajones." Josef smiles to himself as Beth and Mick look on in wonder.
"Who? Hefner or Capone?" Mick asks.
Josef shrugs. "Both. Although, between you and me, Hefner had the better parties." His eyes close, and slow wicked smile spreads across his lips.
Mick frowns and waits for him to finish his moment.
Clapping and rubbing his hands together, Josef leaps up off the chair, "Well now children, we've got some time to kill, how about you fill me in on what you've found out?"
Beth, having returned from the bathroom dressed in jeans and a light cardigan, picks up her laptop from the bed and pulls up the files she's been working on. "Okay, Mick and I have ran every possible lead to find an anomaly in his birth, but it's just not there. Blood type, parentage, all of it is normal. So, basically square one. However, something else has turned up that is sort of strange." She looks to Mick.
Mick clears his throat as he begins, "A couple nights ago, Beth and I were returning to our room, when we met up with a, um...lady... on the elevator. She, um, sort of propositioned me."
Josef falls back into the chair laughing. "What? Why are you telling me this? Do you need me to explain how it works to you?"
Mick growls and shakes his head, "That's not what this is about. She gave me her card, said her name was Lana Montgomery. But that's not the weird part. It was like she did something to me. I felt drugged, my senses were off. I couldn't even remember what she looked like afterwards. Beth had to remind me all about it."
Dropping the smile, Josef leans in. "That's not good. Did she drug you?"
"No, she didn't, she barely even touched me. But that is not all."
Beth swings the computer screen around to show a beautiful young lady with long, dark hair and wide-set brown eyes. She is arm in arm with another man who image makes Josef's blood boil. "This is Lana Echolls, Aaron Echolls' first wife." Beth explains. "She goes by Lana Montgomery now. And what she is doing here is anybody's guess."
Josef takes one last, long look at the screen and quickly walks out the door without a word, leaving Beth and Mick to wonder just what had happened.
...
Josef paces his penthouse suite, feeling frustrated and irritable. He's tired, hungry, and lost in a flurry of memory. When a knock at his penthouse door startles him from his thoughts, he thinks maybe Mick has come after him. He listens to the heartbeat and realizes it is a human outside. Thank god, my evening meal has arrived, he growls and throws the door open.
Lana Montgomery, aka Lana Echolls, aka Lana Perkins, leans against his doorway, dressed in a slender black dress and looking at her perfectly polished red nails. Without even looking up, she says, "Hello, Josef. Been a long time." Years have passed since he last saw the woman in front of him, and she has changed so drastically, he cannot reconcile the woman he knew with this sultry seductress in front of him.
Josef swallows and forces his face into an unreadable expression. "Well, look at what the cat dragged in." He opens the door wider for her to enter.
She slinks into the room like a panther, setting her purse down on the leather couch and turning to look at him for the first time. "Always the charmer. How have you been?" She smiles, and Josef winces from the intention he sees there.
"Small talk, huh? What are you doing here, Lana?" Josef shifts his shoulders around uncomfortably and distantly fiddles with the button on his suit jacket.
She shrugs her shoulders, the dress pulling against her breasts with the motion, and runs a deep red fingernail down his cheek and chest ending just above his heart. The low light of the chandelier makes her gold and ruby bracelet sparkle malevolently. "Just having a little fun. Why are you here? Hardly your type of town. A bit bright for you, isn't it?"
Struggling to remain impassive, Josef stares at her with disdain. "Oh, you know, every few decades, I like to mix it up a little." He waits for her to answer his original question.
She sighs and removes her hand from him, sweeping back her long hair, now with a noticeably grey streak, off her right shoulder. Then she tilts her head, almost to her shoulder, exposing the vein in her neck deliberately. "Thought you might like to see me. You know, for old time's sake." She watches him with her cool, curious eyes, not a hint of fear.
Growling low in his chest, Josef pushes himself back from her. "I don't know what your game is, but I told you years ago I was done with you."
The wicked smile spreads across her carnelian lips. "Oh, Josef. The thing is, I wasn't done with you." She swings around and picks up her purse. "Sure I can't tempt you? The vintage may have changed, but I guarantee the flavor is still as sweet." He bares a fang at her in disgust as he shakes his head. She shrugs again, grey eyes dancing with both glee and menace. "Your loss. Be seeing you around, lover boy."
She strolls back to the door. Josef tries to go after her to force her to tell her what she is doing here, what all this is about. But he can't move. It's like he's rooted to the spot, frozen, and unable to stop her. He can only watch her go, her hips swaying purposefully, that knowing smile still gracing her lips as she turns and closes the door on him. It's not until several minutes pass that he can feel the muscles in his body loosen up. Immediately, he rushes to call Mick.
...
As Mick arrives, unfortunately, so do the freshies Josef had ordered earlier. In no mood for food at the present, he shuffles the girls off into a bedroom apologetically and pulls Mick off to speak with him. "I think you were right." Josef says, keeping his voice low.
Mick can hear the agitation and feel the worry coming off his friend in waves. "What happened?"
"Never piss off a freshie, Mick. Always comes back to bite you. So to speak." Josef collapses down onto the sofa, staring at the ceiling.
Mick can't remember the last time Josef looked this miserable. He furrows his brow and looks at his friend, waiting for him to continue. With a grimace, Josef says, "Lana was here."
Then it dawns on him. Josef's behavior at seeing the picture, his words now. "Lana was one of your freshes?"
In response, Josef nods. "Years ago. She went by Lana Perkins then. Gorgeous, sweet, innocent girl. Straight off the farm. Literally. Came out here to be an actress, I think. One taste and I was hooked, Mick. There was just something about her blood. It was..." he shrugs sadly, one-shouldered, and lowers his eyes. "Anyway, we ended up getting pretty close." Mick can tell by the look in Josef's dark eyes exactly what he means by close. "Anyway, she wanted more from me than I was willing to give, I guess. I broke it off... badly. It's not something I'm proud of."
"And now what? She's out to get you?"
Josef runs a hand through his hair. "I don't know. I haven't seen her since then. God, it's been... 25 years? You think she could still be trying to get revenge on me for something that happened that long ago?"
Mick offers him no condolences. He can't quite bring himself to absolve his friend of any blame quite yet. Getting close with a freshie you don't intend to turn was an unspoken taboo amongst vampire kind for this exact reason. Still, this sort of mess Josef and Logan are in is a bit elaborate for a typical "scorned woman" revenge. "I don't like that she's here. I can't believe it's a coincidence. Not with her connection to Logan. Something's up, and she's at the center. But I don't know if or how she's involved."
Josef nods in agreement. "There's more. You know how you said you felt drugged around her?"
"Was it the same for you?" Mick asks worriedly.
"Not exactly. It was more like I was stunned. I couldn't move, I didn't have control over myself until she was beyond my reach. Damnit, Mick. This is not good." He shakes his head to clear it.
Mick looks up abruptly. "What about Logan. You said he was in jail."
Logan. Josef had nearly forgotten about the kid in the wake of the whirlwind that was Lana. A sicking impulse to flee back to LA and forget about this whole mess entirely nearly overcomes him. He's not sure why he was so concerned about the boy's welfare earlier, but the impulse seems to have momentarily left him. Perhaps there was nothing there after all.
Standing, Josef stalks about the suite. "There's nothing we can do for him right now. We need to figure out what Lana is up to. Besides, the kid's in custody at the Shefiff's office. It's not like he's on death row." Josef goes quite, his eyes unreadable and pensive. Mick joins him and places a hand on his back in a show of support. Josef turns, sighing in resignation. "I think we might need some help on this. I know of a guy. He's supposed to be good."
Mick nods, worry deeply set on his face. "Yeah. If you think it'll help. I don't like the idea of some woman hell bent on revenge with a power over vamps."
Josef is already on the phone. "Robert, I need the number of a vamp down here in Neptune. Runs some sort of security company. Name of Wiedman, Clarence Wiedman."
