The wind whipped my hair around; it hit my eyes and stuck to my lips, it smelled fresh and clean. A storm was on its way. The wind moved the clouds over the full moon cutting off my source of light every once in a while. I stuck the tip of my finger in my mouth then held it out to the wind to gauge the direction…seemed to be coming from all directions. That was the extent of my whether knowledge, what I did know was that I had to get my butt into some shelter before the doom and gloom caught up to me.
Hitch hiking is the least reliable way of traveling and by not reliable I mean super dangerous and creepy. Why is it always old dudes in vans without windows that happen to pass by going my way? I had to turn down like three rides before this small overly talkative tipsy chick picked me up, she was swerving a little and I ended up taking the wheel and basically became her designated driver. Now after leaving my ride at her country homestead I was currently walking across said country on my way to my own country estate. I had about thirty miles to go.
The tall grass in the field I was standing in thrashed against my ankles and grasshoppers jumped out of my way as I crossed it to go over to the old barn I noticed at the edge of the clearing. The wind kicked up even more and I heard the distinct pit pat of rain, the water chased me all the way to the barn's small overhang. I leaned against the wall panting and drenched; I closed my eyes and started laughing.
Urgent voices came from inside the barn. Oh, fantastic the one abandoned barn for miles around and now theses assholes are in there bumping uglies, depriving me of a warm dry place to wade out the night.
"Tie the chains tighter!" said a female voice. Damn, kinky.
This should last a couple months, unless he freaks out and takes it all at once again. I can't deal with that shit again he was out of fucking control. God I need this, the shakes are getting so bad. Two more vaccutaners should be enough then we'll stake the fang.
Say what now? But she didn't actually say anything out loud, it was in her mind.
Drainers? That's worse than people getting their freak on farm animal style.
I could go in and save the poor dude who's getting drained. I had my bowie knife in a sheath at my hip in case of perverts. But then what? Stab the two drainers? I don't want bodies on my hands. I could scare them off then let the vampire go so it could go do my dirty work. Nothing more pissed off then a half drained vampire 'cept maybe a cat right after it got thrown into a pool.
I took off my bag and laid it against the side of the barn, then eased the large barn door open and peeked inside, they had their backs to me, a lantern in between them and the vampire on the ground. They looked –at least from behind anyway- like trailer trash meth heads. They seemed to be entirely consumed by their task and completely unaware of the now apparent sound of wind whistling through the cracked-open door. Sweet, the element of surprise. I slid in between the doors, holding my breath and hoping they didn't squeak as I closed them. Slipping the bowie knife out of its sheath I crept towards the drainers that were bent over plugging in more vials and gathering up the already full ones.
I looked around to see if there was anything I could use as some sort of long range weapon. Now that I had them right in front of me I was seriously reconsidering my original plan, which really wasn't much of a plan anyway. Old rakes, old bins, old shovels. Not a single crossbow or catapult to be had. I looked up; on the ceiling attached to a primitive pulley system is the counterweight to one of the live stock doors (the kind that go up and down). It was hanging directly above the two drainers, the most convenient thing I've ever seen in my life. I took a step forward watching their backs for any sign that they heard me, the vampire's eyes followed my movement, I put my finger over my lips and winked. I didn't know this dude and I surely didn't know if he was good or not but I had already heard that they were going to kill him and that's not something I can just turn my back to. He may try and kill me but I'm hoping that he'll have some sort honor and just let me go about my merry way.
I walked slowly to the left side where the rope was tacked to the wall, all the while being watched by eyes the color of corn flowers after a long drought. I looked over to him and nodded as I took the bowie out and began to cut the rope, the last thread broke all on its own and the beam dropped with a sickening thud. It took out the man instantly but he didn't look dead, only his legs were pinned, the woman got caught on the shoulder and was in a pain induced dazed. I took long strides over to the women and kicked her over, I patted her down and took away her pistol and small boot knife. Score, I need a new gun.
The vampire watched all this with a look of confused fascination mixed with agony from the silver chains burning his skin. I knelt down beside him, carefully removing the long thin chain from around his wrists and arm then sliding the needle out of the crook of his elbow.
Just before taking off the last loop I said, "If I set you free will you hurt me?" nothing stopping him from lying then ripping my throat out but I felt the need to ask anyway. He shook his head, I shrugged and took it off. He sat up quicker than I could track with my eyes and I nearly fell back on my ass. "Wait just a second, it's still around your ankles." I huffed out, giving him a look. He froze as I unwound it from around his bare feet and ankles, they had taken off his motorcycle boots and flung them in the corner. His feet were giant, which I guess made him proportional, all of him was giant, laying down and in pain he still looked like he was at least 6'4". Long wheat colored hair hung in his face in disarray, sculpted cheek bones and a proud knife edge nose combined to make him look like he walked off a runway in Milan and into this dilapidated barn. I was happy to be saving someone so attractive, if he were ugly I still would have done it but you wouldn't see me going any extra mile.
"There, all unwound." He shot up and over to the female drainer, she was starting to become more coherent and had the nerve to look surprised when the vampire hoisted her up by the color of her shirt, she was lucky it wasn't her throat.
"Tell me who told you of my resting place." He ground out, I could see his fangs glint in the faint lantern light. Resting place? So that's how they got the drop on him.
The women's mind was racing, desperately trying to find the answer to his question but only coming up to what looked like a black hole in her mind. The memory was completely gone, ripped out leaving a gaping hole.
"She doesn't know," I said.
He whipped his head around to look at me and I wished I'd just let him torture her to death instead of having that gaze turned on me.
"There's a giant hole in her mind, the memory isn't there anymore, like someone performed a sloppy lobotomy." He nodded in understanding, seemed to consider it further and looked back at me in confusion.
"And how exactly would you know that?" he was still holding onto the woman but all his attention was on me, I felt a small force press upon my mind as it got stronger it sorta' felt like the beginnings of a headache. I raised an eyebrow and frowned at him.
I guess that's what it felt like when they try and influence you. I rolled my eyes to casually break eye contact. There was no way I could get out of telling him that I read her mind, I couldn't think of an explanation that that didn't directly involve me in the leek of his resting place and subsequent draining. And then my subsequent draining. Okay then, the truth it is.
"I read her mind." I said quietly. That sounded worse than any of the other explanations I had come up with, but apparently he believed me.
"You can read my mind?" he didn't sound so much accusatory as he did curious.
"Nope." I said popping the 'P' at the end. I stood there with my arms crossed waiting for him to make the next move.
Before either of us could do anything the woman he was holding squirmed out of his grip, fell to the ground and scurried away. Of course he let her do all this, he could have snapped her neck and she wouldn't even realize what happened till she landed down stairs. She passed in front of me on her way to her partner who was still out cold; it was beginning to look permanent.
"Mark! Wake up you shit head!" he didn't wake up but I didn't blame him I wouldn't want to wake up to that either. But what do I know, that could be some weird pet name.
"He's knocked out cold, lady," I said, because I didn't want to hear her shriek at him anymore.
She somehow rolled the beam from off his legs and pulled his slack body up, slinging one arm over her shoulder. Did she think she was just going to walk on out of here? That beam must have hit her hard, killing any brain cells she may have had to begin with.
The blonde vamp was next to them in a second, his hand going around her scrawny neck.
"Don't kill them." I said loud enough to get through to him.
"You care about this scum?" he asked, I feel like his opinion of me went south.
"I just dropped a giant wooden beam on them, the hell do I care for them? My concern was for you." Now that got his attention.
"Oh?" he said casually gesturing for me to explain with only one hand because the other contained someone's increasingly oxygen deprived body.
"If you kill them then whoever sent them after you will know for sure that they failed. If instead you glamour them within an inch of their sanity to believe that they in fact did kill you, it might buy you some time and if you figure it out soon enough you just might get the drop on your enemy." I explained, feeling like hot shit.
He dropped her and proceeded to whisper to her, I heard her answer 'yes' several times and finally an 'I understand' finished the process. He sent her out into the down poor without the lantern, dragging "Mark" like a piece of game.
"That turned out so much better than I could have hoped." I said plopping down on the hay covered floor of the barn with a deep sigh, I was abruptly exhausted.
"That was a foolish thing to do, brave but foolish." The vampire said, approaching me slowly, I tensed and gripped my bowie knife along with the silver chain that I had wrapped loosely around my neck. "And now you are alone with an injured vampire…" he tsk'ed.
"Well damn I'm not that dumb." I said gesturing to the chain and the giant knife in my hand, the blade was about as long as my forearm.
"You are if you think you could take me." He challenged with a grin.
"You know nothing about me, I could be some type of ninja warrior." I said lightly.
"True, one that reads minds." He said. Damn, I was hoping he would somehow forget about that.
"Exactly, you don't know what else I might have up my sleeve," I said.
There was a long awkward pause, during which I got real interested in the large beam on the ground in front of me. Looked like oak to me…or maybe pine?
"How did you come to …rescue me this night?" he asked. I laughed on the inside, he had a problem with getting rescued by little ole' me, his manly man ego must be wounded.
"The storm was coming in quick and I was in the middle of one of the pastures, had to find some shelter." I laughed. "I heard two voices and thought they were in here getting it on but then I heard her think of V and staking you. I decided I couldn't just leave you to be killed, plus it was raining." I shrugged.
"Thank you." He said. He didn't look all that thankful, in fact it looked like he smelled something bad.
"How'd that taste?" I asked.
"Not good, like vinegar." He said sitting down next to me with a sigh.
"You're going to be okay right? I feel like I need to ask that." I said.
"Yes I'll be just fine in a little bit." He said, voice tight.
My part was through might as well start wading out this mini hurricane.
"Well I seriously doubt this rain is going to pass any time soon, so I may as well get comfy." I said.
"I could help you." He said with a grin that could walk the panties off a nun.
"Thanks for the offer, but nah I'm good." I got up and walked across the barn to get my bag from outside; I felt his eyes on my back the whole time.
I came back in and spread out my emergency sleeping role, took out my coffee thermos and sank down next to him. He had a vile of his own blood in his hand, twirling it around his fingers.
"You could drink the blood they took from me, it would be a way for me to repay you." He said.
I made a face. "No offence, but yuck no, I'll stick with coffee." I said raising my little cup he raised an imaginary one in return. I took a sip -ah still warm- and moaned a little.
He gave me a heated look and shook his head.
"You could sell it," he said. As if as an afterthought but I knew he was just testing me.
"I have plenty of cash." I said.
I don't know why he looks so skeptical.
"I'm Sookie by the way, Sookie Stackhouse."
"Eric Northman." He nodded to me. No shakey, eh? Duly noted.
"Nice to meet you." I said. Damn this coffee is good but probably only because I was cold, wet, and hadn't eaten anything in five hours.
Minutes passed in companionable silence till he said, "I realize now that you never really answered my question, not completely anyway. I'll rephrase so that you can't dodge it again. What brought you to be out in the country, this night? Where were you coming from and where are you going?"
"That's more than one question." I said still trying to evade answering.
He crossed his arms over his chest and gave me an impatient look.
"Fine, I'll tell you, nothing better to do anyway." I said.
He took a breath to say something no doubt about what better things we could be doing. "ah ah ah No sshh." I put my finger to my lips. "Story time," I said.
How to begin? The beginning wasn't soon enough, I'd have to explain what I am and what I do for all this to make sense.
"Remember how I'm a telepath?" I asked.
"Yes, I do." He said laughing.
"Well when I was young my parents died, their car got swept off a bridge in a flash flood, so my brother Jason and I went to go live with our Gran. I was seven when they died and I was thirteen when my Gran died. I had two choices I could A; go from foster home to foster home freaking out whoever decided to take my sorry ass in or B; I could enroll in St. Catherine of Sweden school for girls." I wrung my hands together before catching myself in the nervous tick, one that I had acquired from going to the catholic school. Rulers man, they are no joke. "I actually tried out the foster home situation once, they were a young couple, super excited to help a needy teenager but they soon realized they couldn't really handle a hormonal female telepath and didn't want to deal with me. But I can understand that, I wouldn't want to deal with me back then either." I laughed nervously.
"I see that this is going to be quite a long story, especially now that I have to have a back story." He said but not in an impatient or bored kind of way, he seemed to be anticipatory.
"I can stop if you don't care." I wouldn't blame him.
"No, no I find that you in a catholic school girl uniform has piqued my interest."
I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, the catholic school was oppressive, my first year I got in a fist fight with this one girl, Sadie Melbrook was her name, she was head honcho of the girl's dorm, her and her little gang of tyrants. After that most things went downhill, I was in detention all the time for back talking the nuns, it's an easy thing to do when you can read their mind and pick out their insecurities. I was in a rebellious stage. I got a job at sixteen waiting tables at Louie's pub and grille. Just about closing time one night I heard the strangest mental voice, it faded in and out like a radio station and I couldn't pin down who it was coming from. Eventually I narrowed it down to this woman in my section, when I realized it was her I decided to probe her mind harder. It was the scariest thing when I heard her voice in my head say; It's rude to read people's minds you know, without their permission."
"How did she know?" he asked sitting up leaning towards me on one elbow.
"Ever heard of shadow-mancy? She could wrap shadows around her like a cloak and completely disappear." I asked, wiggling my eyebrows.
"Not in over five hundred years," he said
"She was one in a long line of 'em, take one guess at what their chosen profession is?" I said.
"Magician?" he said.
Laughing I shook my head. "Nope, they liked to call themselves Get-Backers, and contrary to popular belief that does not mean thief. Necessarily. She mostly stole things back, did reconnaissance and her personal favorite non-deadly vengeance."
"Ah, now let me guess, she took you under her wing and taught you the ways of the Get-Backer?" he said. He was absolutely correct. I had been sort of dreading this moment from the time I decided to tell him what I do. He could react in any number of ways, most of which wouldn't bode well for moi.
"You know, I pegged you for being a genius." I said. Flattery, as I've learned can go a long way.
He smirked, "But I did not believe you for one second when you said that you might be a secret ninja. But go on, I want to know how you came to be here. You were coming back from a… job?"
"Yes, in another state. I don't do any jobs in Louisiana and I have an agent so my name never comes up and neither does my face." I said
"And no one knows how you do the things you do?" he said.
"The telepathy? Nah, they just know of my success rate and don't ask much else." I said.
"Why haven't I heard of you?" he asked.
"Probably because everyone thinks I'm a guy. That's what Missy, my agent of sorts, hints at anyway." I said.
"Wait…" he closed his eyes and shook his head as if to clear it. "You're the specter?"
"God I love that nick name! Makes me sound so mysterious." I said, wiggling my fingers when I said 'mysterious'.
"What was your job this time?" he asked.
I rummaged around in my bag and brought out the small black box, inside was a bubble wrapped amulet. Some type of precious gem but what made it more valuable, at least to my client, was the magic within it. Apparently when held by a witch it told the history, through memories, of the entire Willow's Knot coven going back three hundred years. It had fallen into the wrong hands, so they hired me.
I handed it to him and his eyes lit up with recognition. "This belongs to a coven in Shreveport. I didn't know it was stolen till yesterday."
"Well it's not stolen any more… well not from them at least." I said.
"Why is it that you were walking?" he asked breaking a short silence.
"My car suffered a catastrophic failure." I sighed I loved that old car.
He gave me a what-the-hell-is-that-supposed-to-mean look. I made an open palmed gesture, if I told the truth I might actually freak out an ancient vampire.
"It suffered a catastrophic failure when I sent it through a wall when my escape plan fell flat, my way out was covered so I made a new one." I said.
"That's very… resourceful of you." He said after a moment.
"Well it's a bummer too, not only did I lose my car but my gun and a couple other weapons were in there, they are now pieces of scrap metal because the car hit a propane tank." I said smiling reminiscently thinking of the giant explosion lighting up the evening sky.
"So now you have to hitch all the way back to…?" he said.
I sat up straighter. "listen, no offense, I'm sure you're an upstanding vampire citizen and everything but I just met you and it's one thing to share a story to pass the time and a wholly different thing to give out personal details, particularly the kind that give away the location of my secret hideaway. I'm sure you can understand." It sounded more defensive and insulting to him than I had intended.
He listened to my little tirade with the look of a parent watching their child have a particularly entertaining hissy fit, all amused and condescending.
"All I meant to do was give you a ride to wherever you needed to go." He said, hands up in the universal sign of 'I mean you no harm.'
"Oh, sorry." I said.
"Plus you gave me what I believe to be your real name, I can find out anything I want with just that." He said as a side note.
"Sure I have homes in that name," I said shrugging "you would have no trouble at all finding those."
I comfortable silence commenced, I drank the rest of my coffee and Eric laid back down, laced fingers pillowing the back of his head.
"I just have one question." He said looking at me intently. I felt like he was trying o see through my clothes.
"Shoot," I said.
"Who won the fight?" he said
"The fight?" I repeated. What fight? Whatever fight it was I hope I won.
"The one with Sadie Melbrook." He said. Oh that fight? Wheew, I thought it was something much more serious by the look he was giving me.
"No one really won, I broke her nose but she busted my lip open, I guess it depends on what you think is worse." Not to mention the fact that we had to scrub floor boards for a week, in my opinion we were both losers.
"She'll be slightly deformed for the rest of her life and you got a little cut, I would think you the victor."
A?N Okay so what'd you think? Does it suck? I feel like the first time I wrote it I couldn't wait to get home because I was afraid I'd get hit by a bus before I could fix it and every one would read it as it was and think I was lame. It's still lame but I think it sucks a little less now. Please review, I wanna know what's up. Also she'll be asking him why he was resting in the barn, and who is after him in the next chapter.
the first year there I got in a fist fight with this one girl, Sadie Melbrook was her name, she was head honcho of the girls dorms, her and her little gang of tyrants. After that most things went downhill, I was in detention all the time for back talking the nuns, it's an easy thing to do when you can read their mind and pick out their insecurities. Of all the things that slipped, my grades were not one of them, I found that there is nothing much better to do in detention."
I poured more coffee into the little cup and sipped some more. Eric laid down next to where I was sitting and looked up at me, he looked completely at ease.
"When I was fifteen I got my first taste of the supernatural world. It was at night and I was mopping the main hall, it was mostly dark because 'lights out' had already been called and Sister Mary Katherine said that I shouldn't have a problem with the lack of light because I was to make the floors shine. What a bitch. I was just about done when I heard a mind. It was incredibly focused, when a mind is focused it has a different …" Chewing my lip, I searched for the right word. "hmmm…flavor. Yeah, that's it. I could tell that the mind was close to me, and seemed to be getting even closer. I whipped my head around searching for the body that belonged to the thoughts. I didn't see anyone so I kinda freaked out and called out to whoever was there.