"Anne Marie, this pie is divine!"
"Aw, it jes a lil sumtin I whip up so we all have a excuse to get together for coffee…"
Margaret Hunter, also known as Peggy, was sitting at the table in the renovated kitchen of her Louisiana antebellum plantation house with her two closest friends, Sookie Stackhouse and Anne Marie Boudreaux. All three were nibbling on slices of blackberry pie topped with real, fresh-made whipped cream. Anne Marie and Sookie had arrived in the late afternoon, and just now the sun was setting outside. Peggy noted this particularly since she heard the front door slam. Her boyfriend Eric was going out to the mailbox to get the mail.
Boyfriend was an odd word to describe Eric, Peggy mused as she took another bite of pie. After all, he was a thousand year old Viking vampire, and he had inherited her from his Maker, Godric, when Godric had gone into the sunlight and perished nearly six months ago.
"I always find it weird to call Bill my boyfriend, too," said Sookie, then she blushed adorably. Sookie was a telepath and sometimes she forgot not to read her friends minds.
"Soon you be callin' him yo' husband, you," Anne Marie said, winking broadly at Sookie, who was wearing a diamond engagement ring. Anne Marie was a red-haired Cajun cook who worked with Sookie at Merlotte's Bar and Grill here in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She was also dating Sam Merlotte, owner of the bar… and she was a shape shifter. Peggy had waitressed at Merlotte's for awhile, but she had been a terrible waitress and finally she had given it up.
Peggy felt like an ordinary human compared to the two bright women here with her, and she supposed she was. She was lucky to count them as friends at all. Neither of them were particularly fond of Eric, and both with good reason. Still, if they and Sam hadn't been her friends she would have had none at all besides Eric (she could hardly count his minions, the other vampires of Area Five, most of whom she knew when they came to work their time at Eric's vampire bar, Fangtasia, up in Shreveport.)
"Have you and Bill set a date?" Peggy asked Sookie politely.
"Not yet," said Sookie, "Though I have my dress, and Sam has offered to give us an engagement party at the bar."
"Bout time!" Anne Marie grinned. "You all been engage for mo'n half a year!"
"I think it's thanks to you," said Sookie, her eyes glowing. "I've never seen Sam so happy. Maybe you two will be next!"
Anne Marie just chuckled and took another bite of pie.
"And of course, we will give you an engagement party at Fangtasia as well, Sookie," said Eric, strolling into the kitchen, not looking at any of the women but casually flipping through his pile of mail. Absently he bent and kissed Peggy on the forehead, which was not the least bit satisfactory in her book.
"That is NOT necessary, Eric," said Sookie firmly. Eric moved his eyes from the mail to the buxom blonde waitress and Peggy quelled a spasm of jealousy. He smiled in all innocence.
"Oh, but I insist," he said softly. "Besides, it will make Pam so happy. You know she loves to host human style gatherings."
"I'm sure she'll be thrilled," said Peggy. Eric's eyes moved from Sookie to her, cool and accessing at first, but smoldering with undeniable and unhidden lust a few seconds later. If he didn't stop acting like a jackass, that lust wasn't going to be satisfied tonight, Peggy thought, and Sookie giggled.
"You got up early," Eric said in a soft, almost sulky tone. Normally she stayed in bed until sunset, keeping vampire hours, and Eric awakened her in an extremely pleasant manner. The thought of that combined with a jolt of guilt made Peggy catch her breath.
"I wanted to spend a little time with the girls before they went to work," she said calmly, trying not to betray her feelings to Eric. Besides, that much was true.
"You wan' a slice o'pie, Eric Northman?" asked Anne Marie with her deep Cajun twang. Eric gave her a withering look. "Oh, I plum forgot you can't eat none." Mischief twinkled in her green eyes.
"I will give your regards to your cousin Pearletta," Eric replied smoothly, jolting the look from her face. Anne Marie's cousin Pearletta had become a vampire during an unfortunate incident six months previously, and though the two had tried to keep up their close friendship, it had not been easy.
"Maybe Sam and I come by Fangtasia one night soon," Anne Marie replied, trying to sound pleasant but not quite making it.
"You are always welcome," Eric said just as pleasantly, then he sat down at the table with the three women, effectively ending the shared camaraderie they had been enjoying before he had risen. Pretending no interest in the coffee klatch he went back to reading his mail.
"Eric," said Peggy sharply.
"Yes, Margaret?" he looked at her in all innocence.
"Do you mind?"
"Not at all. You ladies go on and finish your…pie." He made it sound about as appetizing as if they were eating road kill.
"What are you doing here?" Peggy said in exasperation.
"I live here," he replied sensibly.
"I mean in the kitchen. You don't have much call to be in the kitchen." She tried to keep her tone pleasant for the sake of not embarrassing her friends.
"Reading my mail." Eric held up the handful of mail, then looked at it again and began discarding it piece by piece onto the table until he was left holding a large parchment envelope embossed with shiny gold type. He frowned at it.
"Can you read it somewhere else?" Peggy hissed.
"I might want a Blood." He waved the letter at the large, silver double-door refrigerator.
"You could take one with you."
"Well, I don't want it yet…" he frowned at the envelope.
"Eric!" Peggy snapped, but the ornate design on the stationery caught her eye as he ripped it open.
Eric cursed in Swedish. Peggy's cheeks turned pink and she was glad that, as far as she knew, neither of her friends spoke Swedish.
"What is it?" asked Sookie, who seemed to no longer be able to hold in her curiosity.
Eric answered, though he looked at Peggy. "I've been named King."
All three women gasped.
"King of Louisiana?" asked Peggy, her eyes wide. Eric was already Sheriff of Area Five. She knew he could be both Sheriff and King at once, but she also knew it would keep him extremely busy and she selfishly wished he would be less busy instead of more. "What happened to Sophie-Anne?"
"Sophie-Anne is fine, as far as I know," Eric said curtly. "I have been named king of the Krewe of Ancients."
"For Mardi Gras?" asked Sookie, though the question was largely rhetorical.
"What de Krewe of Ancients?" asked Anne Marie.
"It's an all-vampire Mardi Gras Krewe," said Peggy. "This is their first year, and they're giving a parade in New Orleans on Lundi Gras, the night before Mardi Gras – though of course you know that. Eric… that's an honor."
"If by honor you mean an inconvenience, then yes," said Eric, scowling.
Peggy considered for a moment whether he looked more handsome when he was scowling or when he was smiling, and decided it was a tie. She also saw Sookie roll her eyes. She reached across the table and smacked her hand gently to tell her to stop reading her mind.
"The Vampire Businessmen's Association of Louisiana has been hoping to draw tourism back to New Orleans by forming an all-vampire krewe," said Peggy. "Eric, you have to accept."
"It will make me a target," Eric said firmly. "Trapped on a rolling parade float for several hours."
"Then you definitely gotta accept," Anne Marie said, with an innocent smile.
"There will be enormous amounts of security," said Peggy.
"You ain' never been ta Mardi Gras, have you?" Anne Marie said.
"Well, no… though I have been to New Orleans. Godric used to take me there, sometimes. He has… had… many friends there."
"I will have to spend a great deal of time dancing attendance on Sophie-Anne," Eric groused.
"I have never met her," Peggy mused.
Eric arched an eyebrow. "Godric was wise to keep you from her."
Peggy took Eric's hand and looked into his large blue eyes. "Please Eric. You should do this."
"You want to go," Eric said, smiling faintly. "You are a pleasure-seeker." The way he said it sounded absolutely filthy, both exciting her and embarrassing her at the same time.
"I…um… and the girls could come, too."
"I have no interest in going to Mardi Gras," Sookie said firmly.
"Not even if I command Bill to come with me, and to bring a companion?" Eric asked wickedly. Sookie glared at him.
"Me, I'd love to go," said Anne Marie. "I got family in N'awlins. Plus I wan' see someone shoot Eric off de top a Mardi Gras float."
"Fantastic," said Eric, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"That won't happen," Peggy said softly, determinedly, as if she could prevent it.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Sookie said to Eric. She stood up. "Come on, Anne Marie, we're going to be late for work."
"Oh, Sam forgive us," Anne Marie said, but she stood too.
Peggy got up and hugged them both. Eric went back to staring at his letter, not bothering to say good-bye. Peggy walked them to the front door, thanking Anne Marie again for the pie. She closed the door behind them and turned around to find Eric standing directly behind her. The letter was still in his hand.
"Do you really want me to do this?" he asked, his voice husky, his fangs protruding slightly.
Peggy nodded. "Yes," she said, her voice barely a whisper… and then she was in Eric's arms, and the shiny stationery fell to the floor, to be forgotten for quite some time.