TWO TROUBLE
Josette had a job to do. She and one of her sisters were to draw as much attention to themselves as possible. So, with a flair for the dramatics, she and Toni took off in their old Chevy convertible (they bought it back in 1964 and kept it intact ever since). The sky was overcast with a promise of rain that evening, but it wouldn't be a problem for them on the morning of their second day in town. Her hair was curled in a way that reminded her of the twenties as a cigarette hung loosely from her lips with her hands on the wheel. Cigarettes were fairly useless to her as a vampire, and Henri loved to drill that in, but it reminded Josette of when she was younger. Human, even. Heading into her nineties made her a little sentimental if she was being honest. Smoke curled around her face as the two sisters drove at a slow but reasonable pace, crawling through the quiet town to see if they could get the attention of whatever else was occupying Forks.
Since it was Toni who had caught their sense in the first place, she opted to come along. Unneeded sunglasses resting on the top of her straightened hair. Toni always remarked that was one of her favorite parts of the twenty-first century -- the hair. Josette was fond of it as well, especially the afro she donned back in the seventies.
Still, they had a job to do. Forks wasn't much of a town as they drove through Main Street with curious gazes. They received more than a few stares from the residents of the rainy town, but they hadn't caught a whiff of anything they should be worried about. Josette's golden eyes gleamed at the smell of human blood, but she hardly bat an eye. She had been a vegetarian for so long, it wasn't even that tempting anymore. She had her moments, but now was not one of them. Toni was as old as time compared to Josette, coming from the early 1800s, so she didn't mind the smell of human blood at all. The only person they really had to worry about was Margot, but she was Henrietta's problem right now.
A wolf whistle drew Josette's attention as she drove. She scoffed as a man half her age looked the girls up and down and Toni decided to pull her favorite trick, "She's seventeen, asshole!"
The man immediately looked away and continued his walk through town while the two girls laughed to themselves. If Josette had it her way, she would have flicked her cigarette just enough in his direction and set it aflame. As if she could read her mind, Toni clicked her tongue and shook her head.
"Don't even think about it," the girl chastised, pulling the half-finished cigarette out of her sister's mouth and stubbing it out on the ashtray they kept in the car. Josette just chuckled as she reached into her pack and pulled out another one, lighting it between her lips without lifting a finger. "Hey, I smell something."
They were driving past Forks Hospital -- a surprising amenity for a small town when Toni's eyes stayed on someone. Josette slowed down and pulled into the parking lot of a general store across the street. From what she could see, a sleek black Mercedes was pulling into a parking spot. Getting out was a tall pale man with light blond hair. Immediately, Toni crinkled her nose and Josette smelled it, too.
"Looks like we found our vamp," Josette remarked, keeping a close eye on the man while Toni did her best to analyze him from afar. "What are you getting from him?"
Toni sighed, "I can't get a good read, but I don't... I don't think he's a threat. Still, what I smelled yesterday was more than just one, it has to be a clan of some sort. He's not alone."
"He's alone now, what is stopping us from running over there and cutting his head off?" Josette asked, her voice soft despite the gruesome suggestion. "I mean, we can just kill any witnesses. I can burn the whole place down."
"The blood is getting to your head," the older vampire scoffed, "and stop suggesting arson for things, your human side is showing. No, we can't kill him. He doesn't pose a threat to us and God knows what would happen if we took out the patriarch of a clan. I don't like the idea of a bunch of angry vamps knocking at our door, certainly not with Margot at home. We don't know if she could control herself."
"Or defend herself, she's pretty short," Josette scoffed as the two vampires watched the man enter the hospital. The woman found it strange -- a natural born killer going to work every day to help people. She thought it was a nice idea; it reminded her of Henrietta.
The older looked over at her with a displeased expression, "Dude, she's only an inch shorter than me."
"And? I'm almost half a foot taller than both of you, what's your point?" the younger scoffed, "All right he's gone, let's get going. I don't think he noticed us."
"She did, though," Toni pointed out, her attention turning over to a blonde woman who was walking alongside the sidewalk with a tall, burly man next to her. They both looked like teenagers, but their pale skin and golden eyes told Josette they were much more than that. The man hadn't noticed them, but the blonde woman was staring straight at them and they knew they were all on the same page.
They watched as the blonde nudged the man next to her, trying to subtly nod over to where the girls sat in the car. Josette was quick to put the car in drive as the girl began to approach them quickly, but not enough to get noticed by onlookers. Josette met the woman's and without flinching, she set the trash can closest to the other vampire on fire. The blonde jumped, not expecting this and her attention was diverted for just a moment, but that was all Josette needed as she whipped out of the parking lot, turning back onto the road without a second glance at the traffic. She knew if anything were to happen she would be fine with Toni by her side.
"So," Toni began as soon as they were far enough away and were able to slow the car down. The woods began to creep up on them again, meaning they were almost home. "We're dealing with at least three."
"We still outnumber them. Same clan, you think?" Josette asked as they pulled into their driveway.
"I don't see why it wouldn't be," the dark-skinned woman nodded as she opened the door, slamming it with a sigh, "Henri isn't gonna be happy with this. One, we could handle, but if this clan tries to run us out of town, we're gonna have a problem."
Henrietta seemed to notice the car pulling in because she came running out of the house, still drying her hands with the kitchen towel. She could immediately sense something was wrong and Josette hated that about her.
"What happened? Did you find anything? Anyone?'" Henri asked, her centuries-old Alkebulan accent slipping out as it often did when she was worried or upset. Well, it was more of a mix of that and the Mexican one she picked up from her century there before she found Liz. Either way, it was hard for Josette to comprehend in her heightened mood, so she let Toni do the talking. This happened a lot with them, especially when Toni slipped into her God-awful French. Not to mention the way Liz constantly made fun of Josette for her old transatlantic accent.
"Three someones," Toni commented, "Merde. This is bad, I already know this is bad."
Josette shrugged, trying to remain calm about the whole thing, "I'm sure we can clip 'em, easy peasy."
"We will not be killing anyone, I swear you are going to be the undeath of me, Jo," Henri scoffed, "At least tell me you didn't set anything on fire."
"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to," was all Josette offered with a smile while the oldest of the three just shook her head motioning for them to come inside. "I think there's more than three. I don't know why I just... I've got a feeling. Call me crazy, but Toni, you were talking about how strong it was, right? The scent?"
Toni nodded, "We've got to be dealing with a whole clan."
"A clan?" Liz asked as she entered the kitchen the three of them were standing in, taking a seat at the barstool. "You really think that's what we're dealing with?"
"That's what your sisters are claiming," Henri explained, "And we got here last which means if they have a problem with us..."
Josette finished her sentence for her, "We're in trouble."
ahhh i love this chapter i feel like it gave much more insight to josette's character and I'm so excited for this story to take off and ugh i love all these girls so much!!