Dead among Friends and Neighbors - Chapter 2

A/N:

WOW! I had never expected a reaction like this one. So many reviews, followers and favorites. It`s amazing and I want to thank every one of you!

I also want to thank Suki59 for doing overtime and betaing both this story and Sookie the Shieldmaiden!

The characters and the universe belongs to Charlaine Harris.


Chapter 2

"You had a visitor?"

It was Bill and he knew very well that I`d had a visitor. He probably also knew who it was. He was wearing a nice shirt and dress pants. After all, Bill and I were going out. Sort of.

"Yes, Eric came," I said as if Eric popped by every Wednesday.

"Ah." Bill nodded but left his face without any telltale expressions. "I wondered when he would come to Bon Temps."

He sat down in the exact same spot Eric had been sitting and I went to sit in my chair.

"Why would he come to Bon Temps? Wait, did you know he`d left Freyda? And what does that even mean? I thought he`d signed a 200 year contract?"

Bill shrugged. "Apparently Eric found a loop hole. When you got attacked by a vampire his contract with Freyda was null and void since he`d specified that you would be left alone."

I closed my eyes, trying to absorb what Bill had said. "So when I was attacked ten years ago, Eric could have left Freyda?"

"That`s what I`ve heard."

"But I wasn`t attacked by Freyda`s people. As far as I know, she had nothing to do with it."

"The contract only stated that you would not be attacked by vampires. It did not mention any particular vampires." Bill crossed his legs and leaned back.

"So if you or Pam had attacked me, then Eric could have left Freyda?"

"You know I would never attack you, Sookie. I respected the fact that you were human." Bill enjoyed sticking one to Eric, even after all this time Eric had left me, but he did have a ghost of a smile on his lips and I chose to interpret it as his ironic smile. After all, Bill did attack me more than once. "But I always thought this was why Felipe sent Horst to your house. It would have been an easy way for him to regain a strong sheriff."

I nodded. The event with Horst was so long ago I`d almost forgotten about it. Especially since Horst had been shipped back to Nevada the next night and I`d never seen him again.

And for a short moment I wondered if Felipe had wanted Eric to stay. If he did, surely he would have thought of a better plan than to send one of his men to hurt me just before Eric left?

I got up and looked at the clock. "We should leave if we don`t want to be too late," I said. "Pamtasia is waiting."

Pamtasia was what Bill and I called Fangtasia when Pam wasn`t around. And sometimes when she was. She`d changed Fangtasia enough to earn our teasing. It was now a large "historical entertainment center" where people could meet and greet vampires. It was all connected to Fanged History—the company where you could book vampires to give speeches about the various historical events they`d experienced first hand—which I had started up with Quinn, and —the website where the historically interested could ask questions and have vampires answer them—which Bill and I were working on.

Bill laughed that quiet laugh of his. "Yes, and you`d better make sure your autograph hand is in shape."

I`d had some slight fame because of my turning and the trial against Hot Rain. And now I was used as a poster girl for "the vampire next door." It wasn`t a role I was comfortable in but it allowed me to stay in Bon Temps and stay friends with people there, so I paid the price. Right now the price was going to Fangtasia and having people see Sookie Stackhouse.

"I do think most of the girls are waiting for tales from the Civil War, Bill. And to sigh because you`re not wearing a uniform."

I knew why Bill refused to put on the Confederate uniform but his fans didn`t. Bill didn`t mind talking about his human days but he had too much dignity to dress up. Pam had tried to convince him—she knew it would earn her a buck if he`d been willing to demonstrate his human life and not just talk about it—but Bill had told her he would wear the uniform as soon as she would wear the whole corset and hoops from when she was human, and Pam had stopped putting pressure on him. She could have forced him if she`d wanted to but Pam was of the whole "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" school of vampires. She was rare that way.

I set my alarm, locked my doors and got into Bill`s car (which wasn`t electric—Bill liked things done the old way). At the back of my mind I knew that Eric might be at Fangtasia—Pam was Eric`s child, after all. But I tried not to think about it.

I had truly loved Eric at one point but not enough to want to be his mistress (not that I was sure how he would ever be able to work out that without alienating his new wife). And Eric had not loved me enough to say no to the career opportunity Queen Freyda had offered. Because he could have turned her down. I`d checked.

And now Eric was back.

I`d figured I would meet Eric at some point since I was now a vampire. It`s a small world and vampires tend to meet on various occasions. But I`d somehow let myself believe that it wouldn`t be on this side of the 200 years he was supposed to be married to Freyda and that had been fine with me. 200 years was probably what I needed to stop being angry with him.

And hurt.

If I`d been human, I would have taken a deep breath. Bill gave me a pointed look when I took that breath anyway. Apparently, I hadn`t been a vampire long enough to shed old habits.

"You`re a different person than when Eric saw you last, Sookie," Bill said and he was right. I`d started changing even when Eric had known me but becoming a vampire and earning my right to be myself had been one battle after the other—and I`d won each and every one of them. Felipe probably found me as annoying as a crushed cracker between the sheets but I did earn him a lot of money and offered him services none of his other vampires could, so he tolerated what he called my "longing for humanity." For now, at least.

And, after all, it was my lingering humanity that had helped earning him all that money. I was good at thinking outside the box and at understanding humans. Both were important in the building of Felipe`s financial empire.

"I just wish he hadn`t come to Louisiana," I said. "And it must be weird for Pam. She has his job and he`s her maker. How is that going to work? Is he going to tell her how to do her job?"

"Eric is not that kind of a maker. But he does seem to be out of a job, which must be strange after having been a sheriff and now a queen`s consort." Bill looked at the road but I could feel the wheels of his brain turning, just as mine were. A new strong vampire in the area would rock our cozy little boat—a boat that had been floating very nicely for years now.

Bill drove around to the back of Fangtasia. It was a lot larger than when Eric had owned the place but Pam had made sure there was a special parking area for vampires working for her. She didn`t want overeager fans jumping us and ending up with a surprise bite on their necks. I think she was mainly concerned about her freshest vampire—me—because it wasn`t always easy to keep one`s fangs to oneself. Especially not in my early years. But biting someone without permission would not be good for my image as Miss Innocent; I knew that.

The back door swung open when we got closer, courtesy of the bouncer and the handy camera Pam had installed. We walked in and went straight to Pam`s office. I wanted to see my friend but I also wanted to tell her about Eric`s visit. As a sheriff—and as Eric`s child—she needed to know.

I knocked and opened the door when I heard Pam call "enter." Pam was behind her desk but she wasn`t alone in the office.

On her couch, stretching out those long legs of his in front of him, was Eric. He smiled at me, fangs and all.

"Good evening, lover."

I looked around and caught Pam rolling her eyes and heard Bill`s fangs pop down. My own reaction? I laughed.


A/N:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be up soon!