Chapter 2:
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Hope you enjoy the new chapter!
I don't own anything – but if Rachel Caine ever wants to give me MV, I would not protest…
… I ought to stop writing and revise, but I have no inclination to – yet!
*Myrnin walks in* - hey, you keep saying that but you NEED to write me!
*I roll my eyes* - yes, Myrnin, but if I don't revise, I possibly fail my exams, meaning I can NEVER write you again! You will lose your lover!
*Myrnin is shocked* - GET REVISING ONCE YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS CHAPTER!
*I nod* - maybe…
Eric's POV:
"Eric, I..." Sookie begins, and I get the feeling that she is going to say, 'I love you'.
But then the damned phone rings.
I want to leave it, I really do, but what if it is something important? Sophie-Anne hasn't been pleased with me of late, for some unfathomable reason I think is something to do with the entire computer programme business, so I need to answer it. This means that I roll away from Sookie and look at the caller id, just to have a pleasant shock. I recognise this area code – it isn't Sophie-Anne.
It's Amelie.
I still remember the last time she called: she babbled on about her disease and that she loves someone; I don't particularly enjoy remembering the details of our last conversation, so I grimace.
"Hello?" I question simply incase it is one of her idiotic friends or someone who has managed to get my number – it could just be a wrong number… she could have changed her number since I spoke to her.
"Eric?" she confirms my identity as well and I know instantly that this is Amelie – her voice has not changed one iota since I last spoke with her: she is as cool and collected as ever. Ahhh, we could have been great friends if we didn't have the difference in our vampire breeds… the only vampire definitely as strong as, probably stronger, than the true vampires was her Father… although I daresay that she is stronger than him, now.
"As if that is my little friend, Amelie," I comment on her size as I always used to tease her about – yes, I am right: she is assuredly as strong as us now, now that I remember her when I accused her of being so small. "It's been fifty years, or more most likely!" I continue in a jovial tone, noting how Sookie's face turns slightly jealous, showing how she doesn't like it that I know some other woman who I am friendly with.
Amelie and I are friends, not acquaintances as two types of my type of vampire are usually, because she is closer to being a human than I am: she can stay awake during the day and consume human food. There are other differences, such as them being less reliant on bloodlust once they age and how they seem more human naturally, but none that are so obvious. They are also weaker, in general terms, but since she is the eldest of her kind since she destroyed Bishop and is close to 1500 years of age, she is as strong as our Pythagoras now…
I hear her teeth gritting and know that she wants something; she always hated asking me for favours, though I never repented on the favour in the opposite direction. "Eric, we need your help," she sighs, proving my point entirely about asking for my help.
I chuckle and roll around slightly so that I can stand up in one movement, heading across the room to look out into the night sky. I wish, in a way, that I was her type of vampire because I do miss seeing the sun, even inside and far away from it.
"Well, well, the last time Amelie asked me for a favour was because her father was around," I can recall every detail of that bloody fight: he was strong. We lost many people but it came down to Amelie and Bishop, ending with Amelie's winning… I wonder what could be so dire that it results in her asking me for assistance. "Is it anything to do with this disease to which you are culpable? As if it is, I do not see how I can be of assistance, as I believed that Myrnin was working on a cure? After all, if the best alchemist to have ever existed cannot find a solution, I doubt someone who hates the sciences will be able to help," oh, how I remember Myrnin! He was so comical, so strange and eccentric… it was a strange thing, to be in close contact with him.
Oh lord, is Oliver going to be there? We never saw eye to eye when we worked together before, but last time Amelie and I spoke Oliver wasn't in Morganville, he had refused to join the settlement. She said he was dead… so he won't be there then, will he?
She doesn't respond for a long time, so long that if it wasn't for the fact that there is no dial tone I would have thought she had hung up.
"I cannot explain on the phone," she finally says – the biggest cop out there is. "There is a chance that the phone lines are being monitored, and not by my people as per usual. Eric, you know I wouldn't ask unless it is life or death. And at the current moment in time, this may be my town but my enemy has probably the upper hand. Eric… please," she continues, and the 'please' shows how desperate she is. Very rarely does she ask so politely, usually simply directing, and for her to have done so is a huge concession.
I hesitate, not knowing whether or not to accept since it is quite obvious that it is a dire situation she is in.
"Who is it? What is it?" Sookie mouths to me but I shake my head and frown, rashly making my decision.
"You will tell me as soon as I arrive?" I confirm with her, sighing internally as I decide to go and spend time with an ex-lover (in a sense) but mainly a friend.
"As soon as you arrive," she swears, but I don't always entirely believe her. She is an accomplished liar, managing to appear entirely sincere, but the last I heard, she had taken on a no-lie policy when she formed her idiotic town… yet we seem to have taken on the same policy as her, informing humans about our existence – simply we have done things on a much bigger scale. We had to overpower our little half measure vampires, and do things one stage bigger – though she is, I agree, much cleverer than any of us…
"Very well, I shall bring myself, Pam, Bill and my… friend, Sookie," I decide that Sookie can come, so that she can read the minds of the humans involved… maybe she will even be able to read the minds of Amelie's vampires, since they are so much closer to humans.
"I heard about the airline that transports your coffins," she says slowly. "I have arranged a flight from Shreveport to Morganville for one hour's time. Once you are in Morganville, we have light proof cars for travelling in, if you must travel during the day though you will be asleep, and I have an entirely light proofed home in which you can reside. I presume Sookie is human? I take your silence for a yes. Well, she can stay, if you prefer, with some very important humans in this town. I shall see you shortly," she says, and is about to hang up before I cut in.
"Amelie, you have neglected to do two things," I say with a sly edge to my voice.
"Very well, enlighten me, Eric, as you always wish to," she sighs, and I get the impression that whatever she is doing needs to be addressed quickly – perhaps some troop rallying?
"Firstly, you did not give me the flight information," I say quickly. "Secondly, you neglected to thank me for helping," I continue, knowing that she must be squirming at this: she always hated thanking people.
"The flight will be the only one in the airport, since it is closed at night as you well know," she replies coolly, entirely back to the business like person she has been for a couple of centuries; before that, she was relaxed and free and just a normal person. "As for thanking you… well, you neither know what is going on nor have you agreed to do it. Consider the free transport and holiday to my town payment enough," she continues, hanging the phone up. Entirely Amelie there…
"Eric, who was that?" Sookie indignantly asks, getting right up in my face to question me.
"That, Sookie, was someone called Amelie: she… well, I'll explain on the flight – you are coming with me, aren't you?" I realise I haven't actually asked her, simply assumed she is coming.
She nods and smiles at me, heading towards the door. "We'll need to stop at my house first, for my passport," she informs me with another smile, leaning on the door now. "As long as you tell me everything on the flight over, I'll come," she should have probably said that first, but it's fine – it's Sookie. She does everything backwards, really.
"I swear I will tell you everything," I look her right in the eyes to assure her of my truthfulness. I couldn't lie to Sookie, I just couldn't!
"Then let's go," she grins, opening the door and walking down the path.
I follow her down the path and she gets into the driver's seat, allowing me to (legally) phone Pam and Bill in order to inform them that they are coming on a little holiday with me to Morganville…
It had better be life or death… otherwise I am leaving my bar in the hands of a rookie for nothing!
What did you think?
The next chapter will begin in Eric's POV, and then will revert back to Amelie's, I think.
Please review!
Vicky xx
