Shattered Chapter One
Eric went through his closet, looking for his nicest suit. Of course, being King, he was afforded all of the best designer clothes, but this time, this night, he needed to look perfect. He had servants, who could do this for him, but he wanted to find the right things himself, and he couldn't trust servants to get it right.
So immersed was he in his task that only the shriek of a woman across his manor distracted him enough to pull away from his closet. He sighed, rolling his eyes, before bracing himself for the storm.
He was not disappointed as the door to his bedroom banged open and a blonde vampiress stomped into the room, screaming at the top of her lungs. He hissed loudly at the noise, and she slammed the door shut and glared at him. "What's this I hear that you're not going to our anniversary party?" She asked, sauntering over to him, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper.
He rolled his eyes once more. "I told you this last month; I have other things to do these evening, things that do not involve a party," he said casually, not at all concerned by her ire.
"What?" She shrieked loudly, and he hissed again, causing her to immediately shut her mouth. "Eric Northman, you will get dressed now, in your best tuxedo, you will come downstairs with me, carry me on your arm, and we will look like the happiest fucking couple on the planet, do you understand?" She spoke quickly and stubbornly, and began poking his chest, punctuating every word with a sharp jab.
His fangs immediately lowered, and he grabbed her finger and snapped it, causing her to shriek in pain. He thrust her harshly against the wall, and stared her dead in the face. "Listen here Sonya; I am King. You married me and became Queen, and that is all you are. If I kill you right now, I will still be King. I am master here, not you, you willful little bitch."
He released her, and she slumped to the floor, still clutching her finger which had already healed. "Leave," he sniffed at her, and she ran from the room crying hysterically.
He was unconcerned with his Queen's departure, she meant nothing to him. He turned back to his closet and once again absorbed himself with more important matters.
Later that night, he drove himself to a small facility located exactly halfway between Shreveport and Bon Temps. He had had to jump from the third story window of his manor to remain undetected from the party goers. He knew not what excuse his wife had given them for his absence, and he did not care.
She knew that he would not attend their party, and had told her so months ago. It was the day of their one year wedding anniversary, but he didn't care about that at all. He had told her that she would be lucky for him to even show up to the wedding ceremony on that evening, but for whatever reason, she and her advisors had insisted on that day for the wedding. No matter how much noise he made over it, they refused to budge, so they were married shortly after they had all Risen, and he left shortly after the ceremony. They did not consummate their marriage until the evening afterwards.
He pulled up to the facility, and though it looked rundown, and almost abandoned, it secretly housed the best equipment and physiologists that money could buy.
Only the best for his lover, and at that, he looked onto the back seat of his corvette at the elaborately wrapped gift that held his lover's birthday present.
Before he had even started walking up the decrepit drive, the door was thrown open and the ever nervous Doctor Tanaki was hurrying down the steps, wringing his hands. He was a balding Asian man who was deathly afraid of vampires, but his wife had cancer, and by taking care of this small insane woman, the vampire donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the research. Of course, he wasn't allowed to call the woman insane though that was the clinical term for it; he did it once, and found himself dangling six feet off the ground. Never again would he make that mistake.
"Mr. Northman, how are you? This is not a Saturday, why have we been graced with your presence? How are you?" He simpered, almost bowing. Anything to keep the research dollars rolling in.
"As well as could be expected," Eric replied, outwardly cool, though the man's sniveling made him internally twitch. "Today is my Bonded's birthday, and I come bearing gifts for her." He held up the box for the man's eyes. "How is she?" He asked before briskly walking into the state of the art facility.
"As well as can be expected," The doctor replied, smirking at his sense of humor, though Eric did not find it nearly as amusing, so Tanaki quickly got back to business. "She still mumbles at night, though she no longer screams, which is progress. She is quiet during the day, which is also quiet, if you remember our reports from a mere couple of months ago, she screamed and talked nonstop throughout the day."
Eric growled in frustration, so the doctor tentatively reached out to pat the 1000 year old vampire on the shoulder in comfort, but at his glare, quickly withdrew his hand.
"Is she sleeping yet?" He asked, wishing he could leave this insipid man and just fly to where his Bonded is to be by her side, but he needs updates.
"Only through either sedation, or complete exhaustion," Tanaki replied sadly as they turned left down the shiny hallway to the only sleeping quarters in the facility.
The moment they stepped through the swinging doors at the end of the hallway, the contrast was striking. Whereas the hallway was sharp, clinical, and sterile, the lobby of the sleeping quarters was comfy and warm. There were hard wood floors, and soft cushy chairs with books and pillows strewn about.
Eric left the man in the dust as he quickly made his way across the floor to the window that looked in on the only bedroom. The moment he caught sight of her, he sighed in relief. It had only been five days since he'd last seen her, but only a little over a year ago, he had the extreme pleasure of experiencing her warmth every day. Being King afforded him great privileges, but he was unable to visit as much as he would like.
A puffing Tanaki caught up with him, and the man pulled out a handkerchief to blot at his sweating forehead.
"She looks well," Eric commented, his eyes tracing over her form with that of a connoisseur. She was still and always be his obsession.
"That she does," the doctor agreed automatically, and they both stood there looking through the observational room at the rocking and muttering Sookie Stackhouse.
"I'm going in," Eric suddenly announced, to the doctor's shock. The vampire had tried entering the room only last Saturday to disastrous results. He had not expected him to try again so soon, but he guessed that the vampire merely wanted to spend his 'Bonded's' birthday with her.
"Have you been practicing your meditations?" Tanaki asked, and when the vampire nodded, he waved his hand for him to proceed. He did not bother voicing his objections, as he knew they would simply be ignored. The vampire walked over to the doors, but did not enter them, simply taking a deep unneeded breath, and rocking back and forth on his heels, much like a diver before he takes the plunge.
Tanaki felt a brief flash of pity in that moment, but it was gone in an instant, because, from what he could understand-thought the vampires did not tell him much, and he did not ask-the vampire's misery was of his own making. From the little scraps of info he'd picked up, the vampire's 'bonded' was a telepath of high caliber, but only to a certain extent. She could only read human minds, and the vampire was ambitious, and wanted her to be able to read other supernatural beings. The doctor had long since distanced himself from the idea that there were other supernatural beings than vampire's, that was just best left alone.
So the vampire had arranged for a procedure to be done that would make her capable of reading other beings. This procedure however backfired, and ended up shattering her mind. The voices of hundreds of previously unheard creatures flooded her mind whilst she was unprepared. She was left nothing but a gibbering mess, less than a child, in manner and being.
That was when he was contacted, and brought to the facility that was now more or less his home. He was told to cure her, or make progress on her state of mind by any means necessary, and was given unlimited budget. He was virtually alone except for his patient, and two horrid beings who never spoke to him, but acted as his patient's bodyguards.
His attention was drawn back to the present as the vampire finally steeled his nerves and opened the door, present in hand. He took small steps, slowly but surely making his way towards the figure in white rocking on the bed.
Like the lobby to the sleeping quarters, her room stood in stark contrast to the rest of the facility, as it was an exact replica of a room in a certain farmhouse that resided in Bon Temps, Louisiana. The only difference was that instead of wood lying behind the flowered wallpaper, there lay six inch thick padded walls, so thick that no thoughts could penetrate it.
As Eric approached his love, he kept his thoughts light and airy, the opposite of a vampire's usual thoughts. He only filled his mind with thoughts of his love for her, his hope for her recovery, he even thought about her brother, anything that would distract her, nothing that would make her recoil. All so he could finally hold her in his arms once again.
But as grew closer and closer, she stopped rocking, and her head snapped up. She froze the moment she saw him, and he froze as well, afraid he'd frightened her. He gently leaned down and placed the present on the floor, and smiled encouragingly at her, no fangs. Still nothing happened, and he was heartened immeasurably by this prospect.
He stepped still closer to her, making sure more than ever that his thoughts were nothing but clouds and kittens, as the doctor had instructed, though it was very much against his nature. But he didn't mind, for every step he took, he got closer to his Bonded, and it would be all worth it. She was looked at him, with her head cocked in an inquisitive way as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of him.
But the moment he was within arm's reach of her, she immediately skittered back to the wall, and plastered herself there, and began screaming, and clawing, trying to get away from him and his intrusive thoughts.
Immediately, he used his vampiric speed to exit the room, but left the present on the floor for her to open.
He made his way straight towards the observation room to see what she made of her present. The doctor wisely said nothing.
The moment he left the room, she relaxed from the wall and ceased her screaming. She noticed the present on the floor, and regarded it much like a curious child would. She approached it slowly, as if she expected it to blow up. When nothing happened, she carefully unwrapped it, and opened the velvet box in, her eyes lighting up in glee when she saw her gift.
Inside the lobby, Eric smiled genuinely at seeing her happiness, while Tanaki stood by his side gaping like a fish. "Is that a…." He began, but was unable to finish his sentence, too in shock to utter another word.
"A Faberge egg?" Eric finished for him. "Yes, but more specifically the Alexander III Commemorative Egg."
Doctor Tanaki still couldn't speak so they turned back to the window to watch her play with the priceless artifact. Eric's smile widened into a grin when she found the hidden button that accessed the secret compartment, and she squealed with glee, clapping her hands in delight.
"Yes, it is a Faberge egg, and if, on my next visit, I find it missing from her room, I will kill you," Eric said casually, never tearing his eyes from the face of his Bonded. "Happy Birthday Lover," he said, before turning away from the window and saying in a normal voice, "Batanya, Clovache."
Immediately the two Britlingen appeared in front of him, bowing low, and saying in unison, "Good evening Master Eric."
He waited impatiently for them to rise. He knew that the Britlingen set Sookie on edge in Rhodes, but as of right now, they were the only creatures, human or supernatural, whose thoughts she was unable to read. So they were the ones she was most comfortable with, and he wanted her to have some sort of companionship.
"I want you to give this to her," he said, pulling a letter from her suit jacket and handing it over. "Make sure she reads it, and watch her reactions, and if she says anything, I want a full report when I return on Saturday."
They both nodded, and left to return to wherever they had been before they had been summoned. He knew that though it seemed they were not present, in reality they were probably only a hair breaths away.
He nodded to Tanaki and proceeded to head towards the exit, but was stopped by the doctor speaking.
"You're leaving?" The doctor exclaimed incredulously.
Eric set his shoulders, and talked himself out of draining the man. He was not used to explaining himself to anyone, least of all humans. "Yes. Apparently I have a ball to attend." And with that he was gone.
A/N: And there you have it! The first chapter of Shattered, which as always goes out to Kitchycoo, because of course, this is her story! This story IS angsty (as one reader pointed out, *surprise surprise*) but it will get better… eventually, but Eric is getting his penance for his ambitions. Once again, this is AU, so keep that in mind. Eric is to a degree lovey dovey, illustrated in this chapter, but he is also still badass, as also illustrated in this chapter, so don't think he'll be soft in this story. Thanks for reading!
Factual Factoids
Yep, it's carrying over from Heist!
The Faberge egg mentioned in the story is real, the Alexander III Commemorative Egg, which is considered lost. I thought since Eric's been around for over 1000 years, he probably picked up some stuff along the way! According to Mieks Faberge Eggs, which as far as I can tell is a fansite for Faberge egg addicts (like me) and a totally awesome place to see all the eggs! Anyways, according to the site: The egg was made of platinum, gold, white matte enamel, rose-cut diamonds, and portrait diamonds.
The hidden compartment Sookie finds is real also. All Faberge eggs were made with these compartments for the Czarinas to find, and within these hidden compartments were treasures. The treasure within this egg is a miniature gold bust of Alexander III on a lapis lazuli pedestal.
BTW, this egg, and all other lost Faberge eggs are both works of art and national treasures, so if your grandmother is using one as a paperweight, please either sell if for a crapload of cash through Christie's like some schmuck did twenty years ago, or return it the Russian government, I think they would be grateful. Also tell the people at Mieks, because they are deeply invested in finding these eggs.
And that is my PSA for the year! I really need to stop with the long A/N's, lol.