A/N: This story was written for the Weekly One-Shot Challenge #18: ""When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's important to remember..."
Disclaimer: I do not own SVM, that honor belongs to Charlaine Harris.
"I can get it myself." I said as Eric tried to take the bag from my hand. He held up his hands in surrender and walked back down the steps towards the car. He opened the trunk, ducking his head down and shifting whatever was inside. I double-checked the lock on the front door before going to stand next to him. There was plenty of room for my small suitcase, but I was a little suspicious that the lump next to the empty space was covered by a blanket. Does he honestly think I'm that naïve?
I put my bag in the trunk, but before he could close it, I tugged on his shirt and brought him down for a kiss. I snuck one hand up into his hair and the other into the trunk. He must have noticed the motion because he pulled away from the kiss just as my hand ripped away the blanket. He let out a long sigh before turning to look at what had been revealed.
The duffle bag was innocent enough. The sword hilt that was poking out from under it wasn't. I nudged the bag and was met with the distinct sound of chains rattling…silver no doubt. I looked back up at the vampire next to me. It was pathetic how unconvincing his innocent look was.
"Eric…" I slowly addressed him. "Why would you need a sword and silver chains when we're at that beautiful beach house I've been hearing so much about?" I raised my eyebrows at him.
"You don't live for a thousand years without always being prepared." He smirked at me and bent his head to nibble at my ear. "Let's just go so we can have time to enjoy the beach before dawn." He whispered.
"I've got a better idea." I said pushing him away. "Why don't you tell me where we're actually going so I don't feel the need to stake you when we get there and there's no beach house with a hot tub and a sunny deck." I smiled up at him. He just sighed once more and checked his watch.
"You win." He smiled at me and kissed my cheek. "But we are really running behind, so I'll tell you in the car." I crossed my arms and dug my heels into the gravel. He smirked and slowly walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Trust me Sookie." He pressed his lips to my forehead. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's really just a quick stop on the way; I'll give you the details in the car... I promise, the beach house is real, it has a hot tub; and I hear the deck is beautiful during the day. Now, come my love, we don't want to be late." As he had talked, he had trailed his lips down my face; strategically stopping to kiss the corner of my eye, my cheek, my bottom lip, my jaw, my neck, and finally ending at my collarbone.
He'd won, and he knew it, I could feel him smirking. Without giving him time to straighten up, I pulled away and walked over to the passenger side door. I resisted the urge to be a child and quietly but firmly closed the door after I got in. The instant the trunk closed, he was sliding into his seat. Stupid vampire and his stupid vampire speed.
We drove for a good hour before I finally got fed up with his silence. I turned my back on the window I had been staring out until now. I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows. He didn't react.
"Don't pretend like you don't see me and know that I want answers. You don't live for a thousand years without using your peripherals." I said in a mocking tone. I was so sick of hearing that line whenever I asked him why he did something. It only made me angrier when he started laughing. I wanted answers.
"Calm down, lover." He snuck a quick look at me and raised his hand to brush my cheek. "This place that we're going, it's a…town…similar to Hot Shot."
"You have my attention." I hoped that he was able to translate this as 'hurry up and tell me what is going on'.
"The were-panthers of Hot Shot are much more civilized than these weres. They choose to spend the majority of their lives in their animal form over that of their human half. When we get there, do not forget that these are animals…not humans." He gave me a pointed look and I nodded, picking up on his stern tone.
"Why are we going there?" Tanslation: 'Can't we just skip the field trip and go have vacation sex at the beach house?' He glared at the road and momentarily locked his jaw before answering.
"The king asked that I take you to get a read on these weres. But ultimately it's a favor for Victor." He obviously was not happy about this. He was silent again. I guess I would have to probe him for any information that I needed.
"Why is it helping Victor?" I asked.
"They're living on a piece of land that Victor now owes. He inherited it from a Fairy that he met a long time ago. The fairy left this world when Niall closed us off from them. Originally, Victor thought it was some kind of final peace offering." He peeked over at me and I could see that he had never believed that. "Now, it's become clear that the Fairy obviously did not like Victor and this was his way of showing it."
"Why?" I was starting to feel like an annoying two year old.
"This piece of land is incredibly secluded. Victor figured it would be great to build his Louisiana estate on…he wanted to build a custom house here now that he'll be living here so much. There's a large swamp there and he decided he'd drain it and build the house over it. But workers started being attacked. Turns out there's a congregation living on the land." He chuckled but kept his eyes on the road.
"Congregation? Like church-goers?" Now I was really confused. What did a congregation have to do with weres?
"No. A congregation is like a pack. But these weres aren't wolves or panthers, they're alligators." He shot me another glance to make sure I understood. I did. I was also a little scared. I'd been around wolves and panthers and never really been scared by the fact that they were animals; the only difference was that these were alligators…I guess reptiles just made everything creepier. Eric must have felt my discomfort because he reached over and squeezed my knee. I covered his hand with my own and we continued the ride in silence.
We pulled off the highway and took a couple turns before ending up on what I image could be called a road…but it was a loose interpretation of the word.
"We're almost there. Now, I just need you to read their minds as best you can. If you sense deception or if you feel like they've planning an attack…on us or the workers…just excuse yourself to go wait in the car and I'll finish up as quick as possible so we can go and you can tell me what you heard." I nodded again. It seemed easy enough.
The car started to slow, but I didn't notice any change in the road, soon we were just crawling along, which was a rare occurrence when Eric was driving. Finally he stopped. I looked out the window but didn't see any indication that we had arrived anywhere. The only difference was that the road had gotten slightly wider. Eric gave my leg one more squeeze before opening the door and getting out. I followed suit.
I quickly went to join Eric in front of the car and grabbed onto his hand. He'd left the headlights on, so we were able to see where we were going as we took a few steps away from the car, but never left the illuminated area. I looked around and was only made less comfortable by the fact that I couldn't distinguish anything through the dense trees, but I could smell the water. I looked up, but couldn't find the stars…the trees were too thick. I didn't like this. I stepped a little closer to Eric. My mind was momentarily amused by the fact that in a place so teeming with life, I was finding solace with the dead.
I immediately snapped back to terrified when I saw movement on my right and Eric's left as several alligators crawled out of the brush. Several human figures emerged from the opening in what I had previously thought to be mounds of dirt. I now saw that these piles of dirt, plants and general swamp debris were houses, or huts of some kind. Four men approached us as the rest, a group of maybe twenty, stayed well behind. One stepped ahead of the other three and came to stand just in front of us. The only clothes he and his companions wore were a pair of tattered shorts. I imagine he looked a lot like the hulk would after ripping off his clothes and then transforming back to his normal size. But this wasn't the hulk.
Like the people of Hot Shot, his eyes showed his true nature. They were larger and rounder than that of a human, yellow and green with a black slit for a pupil. His body also betrayed his secret life. His torso was long and heavily built, but his limbs were shorter than such a frame would normally call for. From what I could see of the others of his congregation, they were similarly shaped and dressed. He stood for a few seconds just staring between Eric and myself. He gave Eric a dark smile that showed off large pointed teeth.
"Are you LeRoy?" Eric spoke first.
"Yes. These here are my eldest sons," He motioned to the men behind him. "Jacques, Gustave, and Louis." He pointed to each as he said their name. The first two nodded to Eric while the third smiled at me. Great, I had an admirer.
"You must be the fang that claims a right to this land, no?" He had a thick Cajun accent that almost reminded me of Rene, but much more pronounced… and authentic.
"No." Eric shook his head to make that point clear. "My name is Eric Northman. I'm here as a favor to the vampire king of this territory to negotiate a truce between yourselves and Victor Madden, who owns this property." It seemed the diplomatic portion of the evening had begun. I let my shields fall and scanned the men that had approached us. I knew instantly that I wouldn't be much help. Their minds were too far gone. I could feel the aggression, distrust, and anger; but I couldn't interpret individual thoughts. Their minds were wild; Eric was right, these were animals.
"You come to give me somethin'?" LeRoy stepped a little closer to Eric and smirked, revealing a glimpse of his sharp teeth.
"Victor would like to offer you five hundred thousand dollars for you and your congregation to relocate to a new swamp…off of his property." Eric replied in a strong voice. The teeth wouldn't scare him of course, but they were doing a pretty good job on me. As soon as he finished, the animals that flanked us lifted their mouths wide and all began to hiss at us. LeRoy and his sons laughed.
"My ancestors have lived in this swamp for longer than any of us can recall. Story goes that a fairy gave it to 'em." Before LeRoy could continue, all of our attention was drawn to one of the alligators closest to me. It had loudly caught a large snake in between its jaws. As we watched, its neighbor approached and grabbed onto another part of the snake, ripping it in two. I watched in disgust as both swallowed their meal as the prey's reflexes continued to twitch. I may have let out a small squeal as I clung to Eric's shirt and pulled myself impossibly closer into his side, turning my head away.
I heard the distinct sound of shifting coming from the same place to my right, but I refused to look back. However, when I felt fingers graze my scalp and run gently through my hair, my head snapped back to come face to face to face with a naked woman with white hair and wide eyes. When she saw she had my attention, she gave me a wide smile before looking past me to Eric.
"I don't think you're woman likes us very much." She said in a high and breathy voice. Her smile disappeared. "Maybe you should get her out of here before we really give her something to be scared of."
Eric growled at her and LeRoy stepped forward to grab her arm and throw her back to his sons, who quickly passed her even further back to two other women who caught her and held her.
"You'll forgive Sabine. She is the youngest of my wives and has yet to learn her place!" The last part he spat back at her before turning to address Eric again.
"You tell your friend, we ain't leavin'. We got friends all around these parts that are mighty displeased about vampires running weres out of their homes. You tell this Victor if he chooses to proceed with his demolition of our homes, he'll be answering not only to my family," He gestured to the creatures on both sides of us. "but the entire shifter and were population in this parish." He had been stepping closer and was now almost chest to chest with Eric. I had to give this guy some respect, Eric was a pretty intimidating person.
"I don't know about you, but if I was Victor…or your king…I'd say that's a lot of trouble for one house. I suggest you pick another swamp to defile." He finally took a step back after he finished.
"Let's settle this now. I'll consult Victor." LeRoy nodded at Eric's response and Eric turned to me. "Wait here."
I was sure I didn't hear him right. 'Wait here.'? Was he serious? I made no move to release his shirt and he reached down to loosen my grip for me. He brought my hands up to his mouth and kissed my white knuckles, finishing off with a reassuring smile before stepping away and pulling out his cell phone. I was trying desperately to listen in on his conversation when I was startled from a voice behind me.
"We know who your companion is. But you're not a vamp. What's your name?" I spun my head around to find it was Gustave who was addressing me.
"S-Sookie." I answered. He and Jacques exchanged grins.
"Well Sookie, when you're vampire leaves, you'd be welcome to stay." Jacques leered at me.
"We may be cold-blooded creatures, but I bet you could warm us up." Louis joined in. I was saved from having to formulate a response when I felt Eric's hand settle on the small of my back as he took his place next to me.
"Victor agrees that a dispute with so many weres would be bad for the entire supe community. He's agreed to relocate his project if you'll acknowledge his legal ownership of the land and pay a monthly rent, to be determined between the two of you later." Eric rattled off Victors offer in a diplomatic tone. LeRoy smiled and I swear I saw amusement in his odd eyes.
"You tell him I'll pay his rent…if he comes to collect it himself." All of his teeth were visible at this point and his sons chuckled behind him.
"It's settled then. We'll be leaving now." Eric escorted me to my door and closed it for me when I was safely inside. I was finally thankful for his vampire speed that allowed him to be in the car with the engine started when only a few seconds had passed.
He backed out the way we came and we made our way to the highway as I recounted what I had found in their heads. Eric didn't seem surprised. We didn't talk for about twenty minutes after that, but I finally couldn't stand the silence.
"Victor sure did give up his estate pretty easily." I said while staring out the windshield.
"When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that you're original intent was to drain the swamp. Victor lacks determination and is ultimately a coward. Threaten him with hundreds of angry weres and he's bound to back down, especially without the king directly behind him."I sat and pondered that a moment before I made a mental note of that incase I ever needed it. The silence settled in again before I finally remembered what I had been thinking the entire time we were in the swamp.
"This better be the best freaking beach vacation there ever was, or ever will be." I had finally turned to look at him. Without slowing the car, he leaned over and planted a soft kiss just behind my ear.
"I'm sure I can see to that." He winked at me before turning back to the road. I would be holding him to that.
A/N: I had a ton of fun researching cool facts about alligators the last few days. Any cool animal facts you wanna share with me?