Author's Note: This is my second true fanfic ever and my first True blood one so please be kind and review. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
This is an Eric Northman fanfic, it's kind of slow in the beginning with some long parts but it will pick up. Also, this is based on the tv series not the books since I have not read them yet. I'm sorry for any inaccuracies, but I'm also going to take a little poetic freedom and change some stuff.
Thank you Channy, my beta, for editing for me. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own True Blood, they are the property of Charlaine Harris and HBO.
Dream a Little Dream
Chapter 1: Nightmare
"Hey Sis, I just wanted to let you know I'm going to spend the night at Phoebe's tonight so I won't be home, do you want to join us or do you have other plans this evening?" Elizabeth asked her best friend and sister, Catherine over the phone.
"I don't really have anything planned. As much as I love Phoebe, I don't want to listen to her cry about Alex anymore. I think I'll just go home and watch whatever's on TNT until I have to go to work in the morning," replied Catherine as she was walking to her car in her work parking lot.
"Still can't sleep, huh?" asked Liz.
"No, I keep having those damn dreams. Well, actually they're more like nightmares," said Cat fishing her keys out.
"They've gotten worse?" implored Liz, concern in her voice.
"You know Sis, I don't know what it is. I close my eyes for two seconds and suddenly I'm dreaming about this guy getting tortured. It's weird though, he's getting tortured by all these people with silver?" said Cat as she got into her car.
"Silver? What is he, a werewolf?" asked Liz trying to lighten Cat's mood.
"I have no idea, I've probably just been watching too many horror movies," replied Cat, trying to brush the whole thing off.
"You know Sis, it is close to Halloween and maybe the spooks are coming out. Speaking of which, are we going to do something this year? I think there's going to be a party at Matt's house. Do you wanna go?" asked Liz.
"Yeah, I guess I'll go but if Harley shows up and starts acting like an ass again, I'm leaving," said Cat, distaste evident in her voice. "That guy drives me nuts and he can never keep his hands to himself. He's always trying to hit on anything that walks on two legs and has boobs."
"Uck, I can't stand him either. He's so gross and nasty, and who changes their name to Harley Davidson. Don't get me wrong, I like the bikes but he is a disgrace to their name," laughed Liz.
Cat chuckled, "anyway Sis, I'm gonna head home. I'll see ya in the morning?"
"Yeah, I'll be home before I have to go into work."
"Tell Phoebe I'm sorry about Alex, ok? And if she asks why I didn't come over, can you just tell her I've been having a really hard time sleeping?"
"Sure Cat, I'll tell her. Besides, you really do need to get some sleep. Last night you actually woke me up because you were screaming."
"I'm so sorry Liz, I really didn't mean…."
"It's ok Sis, I know you can't help what you dream about. I just worry about you, it seems like these dreams are getting worse. Maybe you should go see a doctor or something and get some sleeping pills."
"Liz, you know neither one of us can stand going to the doctor…" Cat let the sentence trail off as she involuntarily thought about their parents. Their mom had died shortly after Liz's birth. Apparently after Cat was born a year and a few months prior, her immune system was weak. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant again, the doctors didn't even think she could get pregnant again, but 14 months after having Catherine, Elizabeth was born. Their mom, Marie, thought Liz was a miracle baby and even though the doctors insisted she terminate the pregnancy, she refused.
Their dad, David, had raised them on his own ever since. He did the best he could as a single father who had lost the love of his life, but working in a factory put him into poor health. When Catherine was 17 and Elizabeth was 16, he passed away. The doctors had tested him for months prior to his passing, draining every last cent out of him they could. He endured hundreds of tests, none of which came beck with conclusive results and even went on experimental medication. Eventually he became so ill he had to stay in the hospital. The girls went and visited him every day but the doctors had him so doped up on drugs, that he was never awake or coherent for long. One day they visited him and there was something different about him. He seemed more awake and alert.
"Hey Dad, how ya feelin' today?" asked Liz as she set some new flowers beside his bed.
"Actually, I'm feelin' pretty good. What do you say we break out of here and go for a ride?" asked David, excitement filling his voice.
"I don't think that's such a good idea Dad. You should probably rest," replied Catherine. She felt so bad having to tell him no. The poor man hadn't left the hospital in two months.
"Awe sugar, I just want to go out for a little while," David whined.
"Daddy, you can't go out, you have to take your medication in a few minutes," said Liz trying to reason with him.
"Ha, I don't need that stuff," said David then he lowered his voice, almost to a whisper. " I've been pretending to take it for the last two days. You can see how well that stuff really works, I feel better off of it than I do on it. To be honest, I think there's something going on here. I think those doctors are up to no good. Let's get out of here, what do ya say?"
"How are you feeling today Mr. Winter?" said Dr. Ray as he entered the room.
David's face suddenly fell as he saw the doctor. "I'm feeling great doc, as a matter of fact, I feel like going home." David glanced at his two girls, hoping they would help support his idea.
The doctor looked at his stats before replying, "Oh, you feel that well? Well, I'm sorry Mr. Winter but we cannot permit you to leave the hospital. We have some new medication for you to take. It's for your heart and any extra excitement might cause some complications."
"I don't want to take any more medication. It doesn't help me at all, it only makes me worse. The only reason why you want me to take it is so I can be your lab rat…."
David was going to say more but Dr. Ray called the nurses in, one who ushered the two girls out of the room and the other who restrained their dad.
"Oh my god, is he ok? What are they giving him?" asked Liz, worry written all over her face.
"It's ok honey, he's going to be ok. He's just having delusions, probably a side effect from the medication," said a dark haired nurse. For some reason that neither of the girls could put a finger on it, they did not like this woman. She gave them creeps.
After David was sedated and given his new medication, Dr. Ray came out to speak with the girls. "I'm sorry about that ladies. I'm afraid sometimes the medication can have that kind of effect on patients. Tell me ladies, did your father say anything out of the ordinary while you were visiting him?"
"No not really, he just wanted to go outside for a drive. Why?" asked Catherine.
"Well, we just want to check his mental stability. You see, he could be experiencing some paranoia about his medications. It's a common side effect with patients, especially those who have stayed in the hospital for a long time." Dr. Ray sounded concerned when he said this but both the girls had a feeling there was something else going on.
"No Dr. Ray. He just wanted to go for a drive. I can't blame him since he's been in here for so long," replied Liz, quickly trying to cover for her dad's reaction and dispel any doubt the doctors have about him.
"If you're sure he didn't say anything…"
"Dr. Ray, I'm sure that while our dad may have wanted to go for a ride, it was just the drugs talking. He's been so out of it for so long, it's hard to take him seriously for anything. My sister and I appreciate everything you and the hospital are doing for our dad," Catherine said to try to smooth Dr. Ray over.
Dr. Ray seemed placated by Catherine's response and decided to let what ever more he was going to say drop. "Well, I guess we'll all be seeing you two girls tomorrow when you visit again. Have a good day," and with that Dr. Ray started heading down the hall.
Once outside the hospital and in their dad's blue pickup truck the two girls started debating about what their dad said.
"Do you think it's true, what he said?" asked Liz.
"I don't know Sis, it seems kinda far fetched," replied Catherine as she drove down the road.
"Yeah, but dad's pretty smart. He would know if something was going on," said Liz.
"Yeah, he was a Green Berret and in special ops. But if something was going on, don't you think he would have found out sooner, before he started taking all their drugs? And don't you think someone else would have suspected something by now too? I know Ohio's not that great of a state, but Columbus is a huge city. There's all kinds of policies and procedures and codes that the hospital needs to follow and meet. I doubt some doctors could be performing research using humans as guinea pigs without someone else finding out," said Cat, shaking her head in disbelief.
I know, but dad's still smart. He would know if he was being used like that."
"You're right he would, but what can we do about it if he's right? We don't have any evidence nor do we know anything about the law," said Cat.
The girls got a call alter that evening saying their dad had died. Apparently he had a heart attack but the girls suspected otherwise. Ever since then, they have never trusted a single doctor. They had no proof that the hospital or the doctor was doing anything unethical, but they never went back to that hospital again. In fact, the only physician they ever saw after their dad's death was old man Smith. They had known him since they were children and even thought of him as their grandfather since they didn't have any.
"Anyway Sis, I'm going home. I'll see you in the morning, love you," said Cat.
"Alright, love you too Sis, bye," Liz replied as she hung up the phone.
Catherine drove home down the usual country roads, passing flat land and corn fields. After twenty minutes of driving she pulled up in front of a little ranch style house. It was small but enough for the two of them with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a decent sized living room, dining room and basement. The house had been their parents' since they were married.
Their mom, Marie, grew up in the south in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Their father was a Green Berret. They met when he was in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and the two instantly fell in love and decided to get married. Marie's parents, however, did not approve of their David and threatened that if Marie were to marry him, they'd disown her. Well, her parents proved true to their word when they didn't even call Marie to congratulate her on her wedding, or later when she was pregnant.
It wasn't until Marie was lying ill and dying that her parents came to visit her. After Marie's death, they decided to reinstate Catherine and Elizabeth back into the family. The two girls were cordial to their grandparents at their dying mother's request, but neither of them made an effort to hide their dislike of their grandparents.
Once home she fed their two cats, Jake and Blackie, and changed into her pjs. Catherine quickly made a turkey sandwich and devoured it for her dinner. It was 7 in the evening, most TNT movies don't start till 8 so she decided to take a relaxing bath until then.
Catherine started the water and lit some lavender scented candles around the bathroom then she grabbed her ipod and hooked it into the dock the girls kept in the bathroom and put on some Debussey.
Catherine looked at herself in the mirror as she took her long, wavy auburn hair out of the braided pony tail. The multiple layers in her hair provided a nice face frame around her face when it was down but would unfortunately get in her way when she was working in the diner. She quickly grabbed her toothbrush and started brushing her teeth, looking in the mirror while she did so.
The dark circles under her eyes were getting worse and her green eyes looked dull and tired in the mirror. Her fair skin didn't help the fact; she really needed to get a good night's rest. She was already screwing up orders at work, giving the wrong patron the wrong thing and losing her temper. She snapped at a man who was giving her lip about his order, but the diner had a "the customer is always right" policy; she'd be lucky if Grace didn't fire her.
After brushing her teeth, she quickly slipped out of the navy blue top and jeans she wore as her work uniform. Even though she had a nice body with long legs, she still preferred not to showcase them to all the creeps coming into the restaurant.
She quickly put her hair up in a bun at the top of her head and eased into the hot water. Settling herself, she let the music drown out all the events of the day and soothe her muscles.
He was chained naked to a cement block wall, silver holding him in place. They had captured him and had beaten him repeatedly every day, but they saved the worst tortures for during the middle of the day when the sun was at its highest and he at his weakest. In the beginning he tried to fight them and even succeeded in killing one or two, but now he was too weak to fight. What little energy and strength he had, he chose to save until he could escape. That task was proving more and more difficult with each passing day.
He couldn't count the number of times they had pierced his skin with silver, staked his arms and legs down to the floor, covered his eyes with a silver mask to prevent him from seeing, or made him swallow a silver chain. His insides burned each time he had to swallow it before they would rip it back out. It was their favorite way to torture him. They would ask him questions, all of which he would never answer, and upon his silence they would force him to swallow a ten foot long silver chain.
Pain was his constant companion nowadays and the one hope he had of glamouring the humans who wreaked havoc on his body had diminished when he discovered that it was another like him controlling them. Their minds were nothing but a blank slate.
This vampire used the humans as his pawns to carry out his will. He wiped out their memories and filled their minds with such hate and vengeance that only he could control them. They were his zombies. Eric would have felt a bit of remorse and pity for the humans who were so oblivious to what they were doing but the only thing he could feel was pain; pain and hate.
The door to Eric's prison opened with a creak as the humans entered. Time for them to torture him again. They covered his eyes with the silver mask as was their custom and he wondered when they would just decide to kill him, but somehow he knew it would be a long time before this other vampire would give up. This other vampire was determined to find out all the names of the vampires higher than Eric so he could kill them and seek domination over the vampires and then the humans.
"So Eric, are you going to gives us those names now? Or are you going to continue to be stubborn?" asked the vampire.
Eric's response was to spit on the floor in front of him. He couldn't see the other vampire but Eric would never forget his voice.
"Well, then. Let's see if you'll feel like talking after what I've got in store for you next," said the vampire in a gloating kind of way.
At the nod of the vampire's head, his human minions grabbed Eric and removed him from the wall. They dragged him over to a nearby table and strapped him down with more silver. One of the minions then grabbed a silver contraption that looked like something you would find in a kinky sex store, some kind of nightmarish chastity device for a male.
As they fit it on him, Eric let out a scream of intense pain as the silver burned his sensitive flesh.
Catherine woke with a scream. She sat bolt upright in the tub and kept screaming until she was gasping for breath. Finally running out of air she started shaking and rocking back and forth, tears streaking down her cheeks.
A/N: How will Eric escape his captors? When will Catherine stop dreaming about him? Will they ever meet?
Please, Please, Please review and tell me what you thought. I know it was kinda slow but it will pick up.