"Two thousand years, and I can still be surprised." Godric says with happiness defining the features of his young face.
"Every day can have a new surprise. Stay. See what tomorrow brings." I said pleadingly, I wasn't raised to stand aside and allow someone to hurt themselves. "Suicide is the cowards' way out." I barely breathed to myself, not meaning for him to hear me. I knew he had when he turned and shot me a disbelieving look.
"You think me a coward?" He asked in a way that made me instantly understand that I had just unintentionally insulted him. I immediately realized my best chance to get him inside.
"I would love to argue about why you are not a coward, but we don't have time." I said as I saw steam start coming from his body as the first bit of dawn light threatened to burst from the horizon. I closed my eyes in a silent prayer that my plan would work, and so if my plan failed I wouldn't have to watch. All of a sudden the wind was knocked from me like I was hit by a linebacker.
I slowly opened my eyes. I found myself to be in the hall of the Hotel Camilla, with Godrics' face mere inches from mine. He was staring in my eyes with such intensity that I thought he could see my very soul.
Never breaking eye contact, I took a step back trying to regain personal space, but I moved a single inch and bumped the wall behind me.
My brain finally caught up to me. My plan had worked. Godric was staring at me in the dark corridor instead of burning in the unforgiving sun. Personal space, be damned. I tackled him with a big ole bear hug.
I heard him chuckle and immediately froze as vampire etiquette jumped back in my mind, they don't care much for handshakes, much less a full frontal attack.
I started to untangle my arms from behind his neck but he put his arms around me and held me close, embracing me.
"I think you were right about surprises. You are a very surprising human." He whispered into my ear still holding me close.
When he finally released me I dropped my gaze as my face burned with my embarrassed blush. "Sorry." I mumbled.
"No need for apologies. I find that I quite like the feel of your embrace." He grabbed my hand and put it to his lips for a chaste kiss. "We will talk about cowardice at another time Ms. Stackhouse. For right now, I need to go to Eric. Have a wonderful day." He turned and entered the door that was right across the hall from where I stood. I then noticed that he had vamped us to the hall between our rooms. I turned and made my way into my room.
I wasn't tired, so I decided to treat myself to a bubble bath. While I waited for the tub to fill I walked around the room picking things up looking at them then putting them down. I pulled out the drawer on the nightstand to see if they put bibles there in a vampire hotel, the way a lot of other hotels did. No bible, but there was a pad a pen and a fairly thick manila folder. I picked up the folder and took it to the bathroom. I assumed that it had hotel information, like local dining, entertainment, and such.
I turned the water off and sat the folder on the ledge of the tub. I pulled my hair back and climbed in. I was going to soak until I felt like I could sleep. I leaned back and soaked up the warmth that was making my muscles relax one at a time. After a few minutes I remembered the folder and reached to see what I could do, if not sleep.
I was startled at what I found. There were pictures of me from before I met Bill, my family tree mapped out, and some other documents with my name on them. I sat there frozen, mind and body not even breathing.
I finally took a breath, after who-knows-how-long. I looked at some of the documents and discovered that Bill had been keeping track of me and my family for the past several years, since before I even met him at Merlotte's.
I stood, dropping the papers in the water, grabbed a towel, and began drying off. I was numb, just like after Gran died. I wasn't going to think about a thing right now. I just knew I couldn't stay here.
I threw on some comfortable clothes and shoes and packed my things back into my bag. I made sure not to look at Bill's lifeless body lying on the bed. Once I was sure I had all of my essentials packed up safe I laid my keycard on the table and walked out the door. I only knew of one place that I could stay where Bill would not be able to bother me. I raised my hand to knock, wondering if anyone would even answer.
When the door opened I was extremely grateful that someone was still awake. "Can I come in?" I asked in a voice that sounded distant and detached, even to me. He simply stood to the side and motioned for me to come in. "Thanks Eric." Without sparing him a glance I walked over to the couch and unceremoniously flopped down.
"She is in shock." I heard a familiar voice whisper. My brain was starting to work again. He lied to me, a hundred times over.
Certain details kept making everything clearer. I was thinking about what Bill told me just yesterday. About my becoming sexually attracted to Eric, because I'd had his blood. I had Bill's blood right after meeting him. I would have died without it, I reasoned. I wouldn't have been there waiting if it weren't for his tardiness, and the Rattray's wouldn't have been so hell-bent on beating me to death if I hadn't saved him. I wouldn't ever have had to deal with vampires.
"Oh. My. Fucking. God!" I nearly screamed as I bolted upright. "Gran." As soon as the realization hit that Gran wouldn't have been killed if I never met him. It's his fault. Now I let it go, I was pissed. I had a choice between utterly depressed and extremely pissed. I chose the latter.
"What is wrong, young one?" Godric asked as he sat next to me and rubbed my back in an attempt to calm me down.
"Bill." I nearly growled. I could barely hear anything over the sound of my blood beating its way around my veins. "Did you know?" I turned to Eric with an icy glare, daring him to try to lie to me.
"Know what, exactly?" He asked as if we were having a calm and rational conversation.
"About Bill and your Queen." I prompted. Godric quit rubbing my back, but never removed his hand.
"What about Bill and Sophie Anne?" Eric asked and it seemed his temper was trying to compete with mine.
"Did you know that Bill was supposed to 'procure' me, by 'any means necessary,' for this Sophie Anne?" I even went as far as to use my fingers and make air quotes. Godric looked up at Eric expectantly.
"I did not know anything about that. I should have, since this was being done in my area." He seemed to be struggling to keep his rage from boiling over. I believed him when he said he didn't know. "How did you find out?" He asked, seeming to have reined in his rage.
"I found a file folder with all kinds of stuff about me in it." I was getting more worked up every time I thought about it.
"Ms. Stackhouse." I turned my head toward the sound of Godrics voice. "Where is said file now?" he asked in a rather business like tone, not completely void of emotion, but his were more reined than mine, or Eric's.
"Probably floating in the bath tub where I left it." I said with a smile on my face, glad that it was probably ruined.
"May I, please, have your key?" Godric asked seeming to see a bigger picture than I could possibly fathom.
"It's on the table in Bill's room. I had no intentions of going back in." Even I could hear the distain in my voice when I said his name. Godric simply nodded to show he understood.
Eric reached in his pocket and pulled out one of the hotel key cards. "I have a copy." I looked at him trying to figure out why he had a key to what was my room. "I always have copies of keys for all rooms in my name."
"Not my biggest issue, right now. So I really don't care." I was talking mostly to myself, but I saw Eric smirk out of the corner of my eye.
Godric took the key and vamped out of the room. He was back within seconds, dripping folder and all.
"Sookie, you are more than welcome to stay in this room with us. Or I could call the front desk and get another room for you. We will be heading back to Louisiana tonight." He offered. I felt weird that he was being so nice and, well, not Eric-Like at all.
"I can crash on the couch, if you are okay with it." I said, not wanting to admit that I am scared Bill will abduct me if I don't have someone to stop him.
"I'd much prefer you in my bed…" He gave me his fall back "I'm a bad boy" smirk. "But as you wish." I rolled my eyes.
"Seriously, not going to happen." I smiled at him. I couldn't help but wonder if he was as bad as Bill made him out to be. I looked up into his eyes and noticed he had cleaned his face of the blood tears, but his nose had begun to bleed. "You have the bleeds. I'm sorry I kept you awake."
"Sookie, do not apologize to me. You have given me more than you will ever know." He said with a very solemn tone he nodded in the direction of Godric. I had nearly forgotten his presence and what happened earlier, with all this shit with Bill happening. "But you are right, I need to rest." He said as Godric finished reading the papers in the folder and sat them on the counter so they would dry.
"Please do not ruin those papers, we may need them." Godric asked me with nothing but understanding in his voice. "Good day, Ms. Stackhouse." With that he walked into the bedroom.
"Thank you, for everything." Eric placed his massive hands on either side of my face and planted a kiss on my forehead. "If ever you are in need of anything, all you need to do is ask." With that he too walked into the bedroom with Godric. I wasn't sure what to think about anything, anymore.
I called to the front desk to have them bring a pillow, blanket and something to help me sleep. After tipping the bellboy, I stretched out on the couch and was fast asleep within seconds.
A/N: I don't know if this should be Eric/Sookie, Godric/Sookie, or Eric/Sookie/Godric. Let me know what you want.