Disclaimer: I do not own True Blood.
A/N: Two in twelve hours is an extreme rarity for me. I think I'm trying to work this out for a few so I can interchange between different stories. Reviews will help greatly, though, and I realize that there was hardly any introduction to Godric in the first chapter. This hopefully will sate a little bit of that as I delve deeper into this. More to come if you review because after this, I'm not updating unless I get some feedback. Thank you to those who have reviewed thus far. Much love! (-:
Two
"I don't think you should be hung-over and handling weapons at the same time." Charlotte glanced at Andie speculatively as the other girl placed the cold handle of the handgun she held to her temple and groaned.
"They aren't loaded," Andie reasoned, her eyes pinched shut against the lights glaring down on them from above. She slumped against the counter and cradled her head in her hands. "What did you say I did last night, again?"
Charlotte bit her lip. She hadn't told Andie the truth—there was no way to gauge how her friend would react, and she herself was still completely unsettled by the whole ordeal. "You just drank too much."
Andie nodded. It was definitely believable. "And what happened to my fake I.D.?"
Turning away to deposit her fully-cleaned weapon on the rack beside all the others, Charlotte said, "You puked on it."
"Figures," Andie sighed. "Mike's gonna kill me. It cost him a hundred bucks."
"Maybe it'll do you some good not to have it for a while," Charlotte said quietly. She took the weapon from Andie's hand and began cleaning it. "I think he'd be more upset if we didn't get to work."
"Sometimes I wonder why I willingly agreed to this job," Andie muttered as she crossed the room to grab a water bottle.
Charlotte said nothing. She returned to the task at hand—cleaning the weapons used for Andie's brother's private security company. They had simple jobs—cleaning the hardware and getting small things ready for whatever gigs the company had been hired for. Since the vampires 'came-out-of-the-coffin' a while back, business had definitely picked up. For two sophomore college girls, being paid to work side-by-side by a family member was a pretty great deal.
After several hours of nonstop work, the somber atmosphere was broken up when Andie's brother, Mike, strolled in. There were several different parts of the building; Andie and Charlotte happened to spend most of their time in the prep room.
Like Andie, Mike had unique maple-colored hair and dark eyes. Although he wasn't very old—only a couple years older than Andie—he had the business all to himself. Their late father had left it to him and his sister, but Mike had full ownership. He leaned against the doorframe, examining the girls' work.
"Better finish up," he said. "I need you to start unpacking the silver we got in last week. We've got a pretty big gig scheduled."
Charlotte looked up, immediately on edge. "Silver?"
"Yeah," he said. "It's not what you'd think, though. Some vamps are looking for a little extra security."
Andie raised an eyebrow. "Vampires are coming in?"
"Tonight," said her brother. "Their human rep sounded pretty serious on the phone."
"Did they say what they needed the security for?"
Mike gave Andie a look. "You know I'm not supposed to ask."
"Right," Andie said, sharing a mischievous look with Charlotte. When her brother had disappeared once more, she twirled around in a circle. "Vampires! Can you believe it? How cool is this?"
Charlotte kept her focus steadily on shining the barrel of the gun in hand. "They're just vampires," she said. "It's not like they're that much different than us."
"Yeah, except they eat us, live forever, have the craziest parties, and not to mention they live forever!" Andie looked exuberant. "This is freaking awesome! I've ever met a vampire before."
Oh yes you have, Charlotte thought grimly. "Mike's not gonna let us stick around. We're just the help, anyway."
"Did you see the shipment he was talking about? It's gonna take us hours to unload. We'll definitely be here when they come."
Charlotte mentally cussed. If Andie could remember the previous night, she would be just as anxious to jet before anyone showed up. But her friend remained oblivious to Charlotte's anxiety over the matter. She stepped up her work with an excited sort of glee.
However, Andie had been right. There were dozens of boxes out in the back, near storage. They had to open each individually, take stock, and prep them for 'showcasing' as Mike liked to call it. He was quite fond of his work.
Night was falling by the time the end of work was in sight. There were only a few boxes left. Andie kept peeking up at the door as she tried to push her smile down into something more serious. Charlotte was growing restless and worked faster. She didn't want to be here when they came.
She truly wasn't prejudiced against vampires. Quite the opposite, in fact. She believed in freedom and the right to live, no matter who or what you were. But they were foreign territory for her. The previous night spoke volumes regarding that.
Mike's voice was drifting in from the corridor. Andie squealed quietly in delight, grinning at Charlotte, as she tried to make a show of being engrossed in her work. Charlotte could feel her stomach do flip-flops.
"You'll see we've got a variety of ways to successfully apprehend a vampire without killing it," Mike was saying as they grew very close. "Silver nets, automated misters, and the like. I can show you the hardware."
He pushed open the door to the room, then, and led in a trio of vampires.
Charlotte stopped breathing.
She recognized the black cowboy hat first and a dark smirk upon his face—Stan. Her gaze seemed to lock with his before she registered the two others beside him. There was a dark-skinned woman with a reserved look about her. Then there was the boy—the vampire—too. The one they had called 'sheriff'.
His light eyes met hers immediately. She couldn't read his expression—surprise? Her attention returned to Stan, who was hungrily eyeing Andie across the room. She was obviously holding her breath and trying to restrain a smile.
Oh God.
"This is my sister and her friend," Mike was saying, completely oblivious to the tension that had risen between Charlotte and the vampires. "Andie and Charlotte. They're prepping everything for you."
Stan smirked. "We've met."
The boy turned an imposing look on him. He looked back to Charlotte. "I don't believe we were properly introduced. I apologize again for the—"he looked sidelong at Stan—"misfortune of our meeting. I am Godric."
Mike looked between Godric and Charlotte with a creased forehead. "How did you meet?"
Andie, too, gave Charlotte a questioning glance.
"They know Lily," Charlotte said quickly, flitting to the first thing that came to mind. She already made the choice to lie to Andie—now she had to stick with it and deal with the consequences. "It was a while back."
Godric tilted his head to the side just the slightest. Amusement and interest flickered in his eyes. There was only a millisecond of a pause. "Yes," he said. "Quite some time ago."
To say that she was shocked the vampire didn't call her out on her lie was an understatement. She wholly expected Stan to do so, but with a glance at his sheriff, he wisely said nothing.
Andie was perhaps the most trusting person Charlotte knew. She fully accepted this explanation, but gave her friend an endearing look that said "we're-so-gonna-gossip-about-this-later." Mike was much more suspicious in nature, but he continued on.
"It's late," he said to Charlotte and Andie. "You two should get on home." Which was code for I'm-consulting-them-about-uber-top-secret-security-stuff-so-scadaddle.
"Of course," Charlotte said. She turned to Andie, who was visibly disappointed. "Come on, let's get out of here." She gave her best effort to not shudder repulsively when she passed by Stan on the way out the door. Godric was much more polite about the ordeal, and the woman that was accompanying them looked plain confused.
Once the door had been shut behind them, Andie snagged Charlotte's arm and dragged her out to the modern-styled lobby. "Okay," she said, the disappointment abated for supreme interest. "Why didn't you ever tell me you knew a vampire?"
"It just never came up, I guess."
Andie planted her hands on her hips. "Never came up? Are you kidding? Your grandmother's birthday is something that doesn't come up—not meeting a fucking vampire."
"What's with the interrogation?" Charlotte asked irritably. "I only met him. So what?"
"God, you can be such a bore!" Andie complained. "Don't you think it's exciting? Even a little bit?"
"I think we should go home," Charlotte said. "And talk about this later."
Andie huffed petulantly. "Fine. But we will talk about it later." She started towards the door but stopped just as quickly. "I forgot my bag. Be right back."
Charlotte watched as Andie disappeared into the corridor once more, wringing her hands nervously. She wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Guilt swelled in her heart terribly when she thought about how much she had lied in one mere day, but it was for Andie's own good. At least she tried telling herself that.
Several minutes had passed since they left Mike and the vampires alone to consult. Charlotte wasn't surprised to find that they were wrapping things up for the night. Most clientele wanted an idea of what they would pay for in advance and came back at a later time to set things up officially.
There was a strange heaviness to the set of Mike's shoulders. Whatever the topic of discussion had been, it had not been pleasant. As they returned to the lobby, both Stan's and Godric's eyes landed on Charlotte. Mike gave her a look.
"Andie forgot her bag," she explained.
Mike nearly snorted. "I'm surprised that girl doesn't forget to breathe," he muttered as he pulled apart from the standing group and headed towards his office. "I'll just be a minute."
Charlotte's mouth dropped open to protest, but she couldn't. Mike thought she knew these vampires, after all. Of course he wouldn't think twice about leaving her with them.
It wasn't surprising that Stan spoke first.
"Well, well, what a coincidence, huh? Looks like we'll be spending some time together." He flashed a predatory smile that sent shivers down Charlotte's spine.
"Stan," Godric said tersely. "Remove yourself."
Stan balked a moment, but the words were reinforced by a heavy stare until Stan slowly moved towards the exit. The nameless woman stared after him, equally as shocked.
"Your friend," Godric said to Charlotte. "She does not recognize us?"
He wants to know why he lied for me. "She can't remember last night," Charlotte explained slowly. "I think it's better that way."
Godric seemed to study Charlotte for a moment. The black tattoo at the base of his throat was more pronounced by the dark shirt he wore. "I see. There are other security companies that could suit us. We will not force our presence."
That was the last thing Charlotte expected to come out of his mouth. "No," she said instantly, thinking of Mike. "No, no that's not necessary." She internally scoffed at herself. "It's fine, really."
No, it really isn't. But she didn't have the heart to destroy potential clientele for her boss.
Andie sidled back into the room at that moment. She was absorbed in a text on her phone until she looked up. Her smile was overtly bright. Before she could say anything, Charlotte interrupted.
"You ready to go?"
Andie frowned. "Yeah. It was nice meeting you," she said to the pair of vampires.
Godric's eyes hadn't left Charlotte's. "You as well."
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