Chapter One- Bringing on the Madness
Andy Bellefluer was drunk. Word slurring, foot stumbling, cross-eyed drunk. And unlike most of the rest of Renard County Parish where Andy is a detective, I knew the reason why. Intimately. Ever since my cousin Hadley had made her undead reappearance in Bon Temps, the good ol' detective Andy Bellefluer had been having issues staying sober. Tonight was no exception.
Merlotte's, the bar where I work, was dead except for Andy and I, and my boss Sam, who was in the back tallying up tonight's profits. It was a Monday, so it was a slow night, but that hadn't stopped Andy from hitting the sauce. Hard. It was close to one, and Andy was close to unconscious.
"How's your cousin?" he slurred as I stepped past with my tray full of salt and pepper caddies. Once upon a time, Andy had been madly in love with Hadley. Not madly enough to defy his grandmother's iron fist, however. Still, I felt bad for the poor guy. I'd spent the last four months listening in on his depressive regrets, after all.
See, I'm a telepath, Hadley's a vampire, and Andy's one loud broadcaster when he's drunk.
"She's just fine, Andy," I said gently. It hadn't escaped my attention that he was just a little bit more drunk this evening then he had been all the other nights of the past week combined. I had to wonder at that.
Ever since I'd started my other job working for my boyfriend, Eric Northman, the vampire sheriff of Area Five, which included my little hometown of Bon Temps, I'd been using my mental abilities more and more frequently. For years I had seen my telepathy as a handicap, something that made me different, something to be hidden at all costs. Eric had recently convinced me otherwise, encouraging me to see my telepathy as a gift. As an asset even.
Despite my new job and responsibilities, I still tried to keep a hold on digging in people's private thoughts if I could help it. But this was... personal, I decided. My cousin Hadley being involved made it so. So as I settled up my tables with the fresh caddies, I did something I had no business doing: I dropped my shields and used my telepathy directly.
I was instantly sorry I had. It seemed Andy had arrested a man for kidnapping and raping his little girl neighbor. And it wasn't just the little girl Andy was fretting over. It seemed Hadley had made the decision to share our Uncle Bartlett's wandering hands with Andy back when they'd been a couple, and now that he'd seen the damage up front, he was having trouble getting the images out of his brain. I could feel a darkness spreading through me at the thought, and it was all I could do to keep my hands from shaking as I poured Andy another Jim Bean and Coke.
"Your keys, Andy," I said, offering the drink up in exchange. My eyelashes were damp off second-hand memories, and I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes. I waited a long moment as Andy processed what I was asking for, finally rummaging in his khakis for his large keychain and setting it in my waiting palm. I walked directly over to the phone and dialed a number I'd come to memorize in the past four months.
"Portia," I said into the phone after the fourth ring.
"Yes?" came the genteel voice on the other end of the line.
"Andy's here, and he's had a bit much to drink," I said apologetically.
"Again?" she sighed. "I don't know what's got into him."
I did, but I wisely chose to keep silent. Instead, I twisted my index finger in the cord of the phone as I waited for her response. She sighed again, then relented.
"Alright, then. I'll come get him. Thanks, Sookie."
"Sure thing, Portia."
As I was hanging up, I felt a rush of warmth coursing through my blood. I turned, half expecting to see Eric, but I knew I had a bit of a wait to go yet. It had been four months since we'd started dating, four wonderful, crazy months, and I still hadn't gotten used to the feeling of our blood bond, of the happy rush I got every time he came near. Would I ever get used to this love I felt for him? I gave a bit of sigh as I went back to my cleaning, hoping the last few minutes would pass quickly.
Andy was searching the bottom of his drink for more alcohol as I wiped the bar top down, and I prayed he wouldn't ask me for another. It would be hard enough on Portia getting him into the house as it was.
"Where's... your sheriff?"
"I am right here."
"Ah..." Andy slurred. "Vampire Eric!"
I felt my pulse ratchet up a couple notches as Eric came to a stop several feet from the bar. His long blond hair was tousled and windblown back from his fallen angel face, blue eyes dark in the dim light of the bar. I grinned at him as I finished washing out Andy's glass, picturing him speeding down the road in his corvette, or better yet, flying all the way from Shreveport sans car.
"Hi," I said as I dried my hands on the bar towel.
"Hi," he grinned back.
Four months, I reminded myself as my heart jumped again. Surely at some point we were going to get over this honeymoon phase?
"You know...," Andy mused, interrupting my musing. "You're not so bad for a vamp. Caught us a serial killer, didn't ya?"
Eric raised an eyebrow in my direction and I shook my head, mouthing "I'll tell you later," at him. He nodded and gave the detective a once over before shaking his head once more.
Sam came out of the back then, and spotting Eric, gave him a brisk nod. Things between the two would never be downright friendly, that was for sure, but at least they'd taken a turn for the civil.
"Northman," Sam said as he took my final sales report for the night and punched it into the register.
"Merlotte," came Eric's even reply.
"I called Portia," I whispered to Sam as he rang in my numbers.
"Good," he murmured back. "I'm almost starting to feel like we've got another Bodehouse on our hands."
I hesitated, then shook my head.
"He's just going through... a lot right now."
"You would know better than anyone, Sook," Sam said as he finished punching me out. I took off my apron, carefully tucking my money pouch into my shorts along with my phone.
"I would at that," I said ruefully. "You want me to wait with him...?"
"No, you go on ahead with Eric. I'll stay and make sure Portia gets him into the car alright."
"Thanks, Sam," I said, leaning over to brush his cheek with a kiss. I could feel Eric's swell of disapproval, and Sam's swell of shock, but I ignored them both for my own nature. I grabbed my keys off the shelf by the register and turned and made my way to Eric, ignoring his scowling face. Tucking my arm through his, I began tugging him towards the door.
"Night's not getting any younger, tall stuff," I said cheerfully as I dragged him out the door.
"So... the detective?" Eric asked as we walked out into the cool night. Fall was coming, more quickly than not it seemed. The air was crisp, and I had a vague thought about putting the hard top on the Jeep tomorrow.
"He's having trouble adjusting to Hadley's reappearance. He's been a borderline drunk pretty much every night for the past few months, but today a child rapist pushed him over the edge."
"It is a good reason to take up drinking," he agreed darkly, and I could feel his emotions boiling in a familiar way as I tossed him my keys and we got into my Jeep. Seems the corvette had stayed in Shreveport this evening.
I had never asked Eric exactly what he had done to my Uncle Bartlett, but shortly after I had confessed what my uncle had done to my cousin Hadley and I all those years ago, he had ended up institutionalized in the state hospital in Shreveport. Eric assured me he receives the most minimal care possible under the law. I'm more than a little okay with that bit of justice.
We were near halfway to Shreveport before the night got considerably more complicated.
"I do not like your familiarity with the shifter," Eric said out of the blue.
"What?" I said, startled. "Are you serious, Eric? Sam and I are friends. Nothing more."
"I still do not like it," he said haughtily.
I was starting to get right pissed. I turned sideways in my seat to stare at him, lifting my hand off of his thigh where it had been resting.
"I don't really care if you don't like it. And honest, Eric, I can't understand, after everything we've been through together, how you can even see it as a problem!"
"The shifter has feelings for you. It is obvious if you were paying any attention."
I tossed my hands into the air.
"Well if YOU would pay attention you would see all my attentions are fixed rightly on you!"
"That does not change his attentions. You will desist in your attentions towards him."
That did it.
"And you will pull this car over. Right this minute!"
He pulled over. I got out and started walking.
I half expected Eric to follow me, but he didn't; he was as stubborn as I ever was. I had no idea where I was going, but I was fuming. Eric was still sitting in my Jeep. I glanced back once, but I couldn't see him over the headlights, and I had to resist sticking my tongue out at him. That would have been childish.
But oh, was I feeling some type of way at the moment.
I'd been walking for about five minutes when I remembered I had my cell phone in my pocket. I got it out and started flipping through my short list of numbers. I ignored Arlene's; she and I were on shaky ground since Rene had tried to kill me, and while I know she would have driven to get me right away, I didn't want her to have to rile up the kids. That left Jason and Hadley, and as I didn't feel like dealing with any vampires at the moment, that left Jason. I was just about to dial his number when I heard a sound, a snuffling sort of noise coming from behind me.
"Hello?" I called out uncertainly. "Eric, if that's you, it's not funny."
I noticed the hog first. It was rooting around on the ground, searching the earth like it was digging for truffles. And then she stepped out of the shadows, and I couldn't notice anything else.
She was stunningly beautiful, I caught that first off. Her eyes were bright in the moonlight, the color of fresh tilled earth. And her face, her face was proud, timeless, carved out of some piece of forgotten marble. There was a wildness to her, from her muddy, wood torn clothes, to her tangled hair. Leaves dangled from her brown locks, pieces of twigs twisted up in it like she'd been rolling in forest rubble. I tried listening in on her, but where she stood there was a strange roiling static that had me taking a few steps back.
"Who are you?" I asked, and if my voice trembled, it could have been for the fact that I was alone, in the middle of nowhere, with a creature that had all of my supernatural senses screaming. She ignored the question, absently scratching the neck of the razorback at her side.
"You'll do," she said instead in a sing-song sort of tone, glancing me over like I was a piece a steak she might be considering for a Sunday dinner. "Better than most, really."
"Do for what?" I asked, confused. I could feel my heart kick it up a notch. She was getting closer, and I could see that her mouth was stained crimson around the edges, and that there were bits stuck in her teeth. Whatever she had been munching on, it sure hadn't been cooked.
"I hope you don't mind me being a bit nosy and all, but what are you?" I asked her, smiling my nervous kooky smile.
"Oh, not at all. I'm a maenad." From what I could recall, maenads were Greek, and from all appearances, women of the wild.
"Alright," I said. I hesitated, then asked, "And you're out here tonight because...?"
"I need you to take a message for me, to your companion."
"To Eric?" I asked, surprised that this strange creature would know him. It occurred to me suddenly that our fight might not have been a coincidence, and that it was awful convenient that this... creature was just standing here waiting for me in the middle of nowhere.
The creature in question just smiled, and took a step towards me.
That was all it took. I whipped around and started running, my heart thump-thump-thumping in my chest. I knew, I just knew, that if she caught me, something awful was going to happen.
She caught me. Something like razorblades sliced across my back, and I screamed, and it was one name, the only name I ever wanted to say.
"Eric!"
I must have passed out, because when I came to, Eric and I were pulling into the Fangtasia parking lot. I saw him turn off the engine to the Beast, and then he came flashing around to lift me out of the Jeep. I gave a little scream as the jarring motion pulled at the flayed skin of my back. Eric didn't say anything, but I could feel him panicking through our blood bond. He used his foot to kick at the back door to the club, and I trembled with every motion.
"Well what happened to her?" Pam asked, hands on her hips as she flung open the door. Eric didn't say anything at first, just charged past her towards his office. Pam followed on his heels, and her girlfriend, and my cousin, was quick to clue in to my condition.
"Sook!"
Hadley came running up, running her hands over my hair. I let out a small scream, and she jumped back. Tears were streaming down my face at this point, and it was all I could do not to vomit all over Eric.
"She was attacked on the side of the road," Eric said finally as he settled me face down on his couch. I could feel his panic through our blood bond, and it wasn't helping.
"And how did that happen?"
There was a long moment of silence, and then, "We got into a... disagreement."
"Eric, honey..." I gritted out. "Could we NOT do this right now?"
"You are right. Pamela, get the doctor on the phone."
He leaned down over me and smoothed my hair back from my face, and it was all I could do not to shriek in pain.
"What happened?" he asked gently. He was sending waves of calm through the blood bond, but I could still feel his distress.
"Go to hell," I said immediately on reflex, more than anything else.
He sighed.
"Sookie... I need to know, so we can help you."
"A woman, with a pig," I managed. "A razorback. She said she was a maenad. And she said I was... a message for you, Eric."
He frowned, and rocked back on his heels, before glancing over at Pam.
"A maenad?" he murmured. "In Bon Temps?"
"Apparently," she agreed. "Though what drew her here..."
"We will deal with her after."
"You know," I managed to get out, "I'm not above blaming you for this."
"It is entirely my fault, my heart," Eric agreed in a reasonable sort of tone. I heard Pam make a muffled sort of sound, and Hadley shush her.
"I'm pretty sure she made us fight, though." He made a slight "hmm," sound in his throat, and I swallowed hard.
"Eric, can you move my hair? It's... it's getting stuck." I could feel the blood congealing on my back, and had to bite my lip as he pulled the strands out of my wound and brushed them over my shoulder. A thought occurred to me as I tried to hold back a fresh flood of tears.
"Are we... are we going to war?" I asked.
"With the maenad?" Eric asked in surprise. "Not exactly."
"Well, what, exactly, did she want?"
"She wants tribute."
"Tribute?" I managed.
"Maenads bring madness, my Sookie. The only way to avoid the chaos is to appease them by giving them tribute."
"I'd like to give her something," I muttered pissily.
It seemed an eternity passed before I heard the back door slam, and then a strange, small person came trotting into Eric's office, a large, old fashioned doctor's bag hitched up over short arm. She was certainly no higher than my hip standing, wearing a white doctor's tunic and pants. She looked like a tiny, competent dwarf, with glasses perched on the edge of a smashed up looking nose.
"Northman," she grunted out. "What seems to be the problem?"
"My companion was attacked by a maenad. I need you to see to her."
I could feel Eric calming through our blood bond now that the doctor had arrived, and I took comfort in that.
"What kind of doctor are you?" I asked as she looked me over.
"The healing kind," she grunted, and I took that as a sign that I should keep quiet as she worked.
"She's been poisoned," she said finally.
"Well what can be done about it?" I could actually hear the irritation in Eric's voice. That alone was enough to make me smile through the pain. Eric never lost his cool in business dealings. Never.
"Eric," I managed.
"Yes, dear one?" he murmured.
"I love you."
He didn't say anything, but I could feel his emotions sweeping through the bond.
I was beginning to lose touch with reality.
"We need to drain her, and replace her blood," I was vaguely aware of someone saying. "Too much for anyone of you, and the poison will affect you."
"Will it save her?"
"Chances are."
"We'll need Chow for this, then."
"I'll get him," I heard Hadley say.
I felt my shirt tear, and saw the doctor come close again.
"Am I gonna die?" I asked the strange dwarf lady. She let out a sharp barking sound.
"Yes, and soon."
"Well then," I grounded out. I felt her touch my wound and let out a loud shriek. I couldn't help it; it was the most excruciating pain I had ever experienced, and I was rapidly expecting, the worst I ever would.
"Hadley," I got out. The world around me was starting to go hazy, all strange shades of yellow.
I could see her now, and Chow, too. All the vampires were in the room, hovering closer and closer to me as I started to die.
"Tell Gran I love her. Jason, too."
I heard Hadley make a small crying sound, and Pam shushing her gently.
"My Sookie," I heard Eric say. I vaguely realized he was bending down in front of me again, and I saw that he was smiling. Why on earth would he be smiling at a time like this?
"Someone had better start," I heard Pam drawl. "She's changing colors." I felt someone take my arm, then the sharp bite of fangs. I barely even registered the small pain.
And then, I was sure I must have been hallucinating, I saw my overly obnoxious Viking wink just before I winked out.
Author's Note: Welcome back to the world of Second Chances! I finally decided it was time to give this another go, as I missed my characters. Pretty much, if you're just getting here, this is an alternate world of the SSN that exists sans Bill. That's right, the right bastard never showed, never let Sook get beat, never ruined her self esteem, just never was. If you're reading this without having read Second Chances, I suggest you start there, but it's not strictly necessary. Basically all you need to know is that Hadley was turned by Pam, not Queen Sophie Anne, and Gran lived. I will be updating every Tuesday, if I can keep up with it, and possibly earlier if I can. As Second Chances followed the plot of Dead to the World, the first SSN, Can't Stop the World will follow the plot of the second SSN, Living Dead in Dallas. Enjoy, and as always, reviews make my heart sing!
Cheers!
Laura