Chapter Two – First Impressions
I arrived at my favorite home in Shreveport about two hours before sunrise; I had more than five homes in the Shreveport area (more than = homes that even my child Pamela didn't know about). Some would call that overkill, but I hadn't lived for over a thousand years for nothing. I grabbed a bag of blood from the otherwise empty refrigerator to heat for my meal, walked to my study/office and booted up the computer. As I 'chowed down', I decided to catch up on the international news on both the television mounted on the wall of the office and on the screen of my computer. I've always thought that everyone, especially vampires, should stay abreast of breaking news. You never know when it may directly impact you, and it has on several occasions, mostly when news wasn't as up to the moment as it is now. Hmmm… the bad-haircut idiot running North Korea is flexing his atomic muscles… the Christian right is opposed to gay marriage… and one of the Kardashians has done something with someone, somewhere… So… It must be Tuesday…
While on the computer, I decided to do a little more research. I entered the name Jason Stackhouse. Surprisingly, the screen showed that there were over a thousand hits. I started at the top… co-owner of The Enchanted Forest, blah blah blah… Angie's List blah blah blah… Facebook… Then lots and lots of news stories from the sports departments of several area and state-wide news outlets, both print and broadcast. Then I entered the name Sookie Stackhouse. Not nearly so many hits. Co-owner of The Enchanted Forest… Angie's List… mentions of academic merit… Facebook… a few non-sport high school achievements… a few articles on her representation of Renard Parish at the Miss Louisiana pageant, with special attention paid to her controversial stances on human (racial and sexual orientation) and vampire equality… and then not much else. … Wow, I liked this girl… She had what they called in the old days – moxey. There was one curious article in the Bon Temps paper from about ten years ago about 9th grader Sookie Stackhouse helping the police to find a missing boy. There weren't a lot of details about her help, but the fact that she was helping at all seemed unusual and mysterious.
An email check showed that Raphael had sent me something:
Northman,
Still yet to do a lot of deep searching, but here are school transcripts for the Stackhouses.
One curious thing, I searched through my backdoor to the Medical Information Bureau (MIB) for information. As you may be aware the MIB is nationwide and contains medical information on any person in the US who has sought medical care/help. Normally this information is not accessible by the public or even law enforcement under the federal privacy act, and it is mainly used by insurance underwriters. There are strict regulations on access to that info, but as I mentioned, I created my own backdoor. That's why you pay me the big bucks. Anyway, there is record of injuries to the Stackhouses – childhood injuries and sports injuries – but oddly, absolutely no record of any illnesses, vaccinations, or the need for any non-injury-related healthcare at all. As far as I can tell neither of them has ever been sick, and they do not even appear to have a family doctor.
I thought this was strange enough to enter MIB searches on the rest of the family, and I came up with normally expected illnesses for all the other family members, including details of Linda Delahoussay's cancer. Even Hadley had the normal childhood illnesses – colds, tonsils out at a young age, etc. But no illnesses whatsoever officially documented for Jason and Sookie. (FYI, the last report of any health care for the absent Stanley Delahoussay was about 6 months ago in St. Louis. He had an ingrown toenail.)
I'll keep you posted as I gather more info.
R
I opened the attached transcript files. Jason's grades were mostly B's, sprinkled with a few A's and C's; so a little above average, if I understood the American school grading system. Sookie, on the other hand, had transcripts with more uniformity – all A's – both in high school and college. It's no wonder she got an academic scholarship. Her high school transcript was stamped "Valedictorian", and her college transcript was stamped "Summa Cum Laude".
Centenary College was considered one of the finest private liberal arts colleges in the country, this much I knew. And she graduated summa cum laude, with highest honors. She could have gone to any graduate school in the nation – which might explain her entry into the beauty pageant/scholarship program, or she could have entered into the business or industry field easily. But she created this business with her brother instead. Granted $200,000+ per annum profits within three years was pretty amazing for this type of business, especially if the siblings took regular salaries. I hope Raphael gets me some of their business records so I can find out.
By the time I finished looking over this last batch of information it was a little past dawn. I quickly showered to remove the stench of Fangtasia off of me before I died for the day. When I finally crawled into bed I thought about everything for about another ten minutes before succumbing to the sun. My last thought was of anticipation for more information from Raphael, and I decided to visit The Enchanted Forest before heading to Fangtasia tonight.
My eyes opened wide at exactly 4:38 that afternoon. That was rather earlier than normal, but, ah well. I rolled to the left out of my bed and stretched – not because I needed to, but because it just felt good. I did this most afternoons when I woke. Even though it was still several hours before I could leave home, I enjoyed this afternoon alone time. This was MY time to do with as I wished, and every day I tried to make the most of it. Some days I read or watched TV; usually I also checked in on my businesses and investments. Much younger vampires would still be asleep until almost dark. I occasionally wondered how the ones with jobs found their ME time. They would have to grow much older to earn that.
By the calendar I may be over 1000 years old, but if lives were measured by aware or awake time, then I was only half that age. Ah… the half life of the vampire. Being an older vampire gave me the luxury of this late afternoon ME time. Sure, humans needed sleep, but they could ultimately choose when their sleep time came. Vampires weren't so lucky. We're stronger and basically invincible, but we were also slaves to the sun. Unfortunately, that vulnerability was not lost on the radical groups that hated vampires. Even now I was sure they were calculating ways to use that against us. That was one more thing we needed to learn how to defend against. The best we could do for now was to ensure that our daytime accommodations were impregnable and fireproof, not to mention hard to find. Hence my ownership of homes that even my child didn't know about. I'm pretty sure that I taught her well enough that she had resting places that even I didn't know about.
I put on a pair of comfortable pants and walked over to my computer. I always left it on, so I just had to swish the mouse around to bring it to life. While waiting for it to boot on, I grabbed the remote sitting on the desk and flipped on the TV. CNN was telling me that the latest political campaign was heating up; due to police violence, Americans were becoming more divided along racial lines; and a popular Hollywood actor just got pulled over and charged with a DUI… Must be Wednesday. I noticed several new emails waiting for me. Several were dealing with various businesses I owned, and I dealt with them right away before I got to the email I was really interested in – the one from Raphael:
Northman,
I've attached copies of tax returns and business statements for the Stackhouses and The Enchanted Forest. These documents speak for themselves.
A few things stand out in my investigation into these siblings:
A further look into the MIB reveals that neither Jason nor Sookie seem to have been born in a hospital. I haven't found any details of home birth, but I can't find anything that documents their births. This would be very unusual for the time.
There are rumors of "special talents" for both of them. People in Bon Temps weren't very forthcoming about the specific nature of these talents, but the implications were clear… there's something unusual about these two. Some even categorized the siblings as "strange". Overall, however, they both seem to be very well liked.
Sookie Stackhouse has been in graduate school in botany at Texas A & M University for the past two years. She is on schedule to complete her Masters degree this semester, and indications show that she has already enrolled in classes for the doctoral program for next semester. Her programs are largely online, but she seems to attend class in person quite regularly. Even though A & M is relatively close (about 195 miles away) that's quite the commute for someone.
Jason is reputed to have a "very active sex life". He is well-known around town as, in polite terms a lady's man, and in less polite conversation as a "horndog". His sister, however, is quite the opposite. She leads a very quiet life without any discernible romantic entanglements. Considering the amount of time running a successful business must take in addition to her graduate studies, it's not surprising she's not romantically involved.
That's all for now…
R
One of my favorite things about Raphael was that he sent me updates as he received them, and he would use bullet-point format for quicker reading. There might be more information coming, but he always gave me the lowdown as he got it so I could use it as soon as possible.
Well, well, well… This beautiful girl was, for all intents and purposes, free… unclaimed, up for the taking in the human and vampire world. Hmmmm… I needed to set that aside for now. The fact remained that Sophie Ann was trying to remove two very public humans from their lives. You can't glamour an entire town or parish… or state for that matter… into forgetting these two. Crap, yet more evidence that our queen was more and more unequal to the job.
I continued to mull all of this information over as I put my feet up on the corner of my desk and watched two back to back half hour episodes of Judge Judy – I'm a fan, what can I say? – besides, her show is always good for a giggle for enjoying the lowest and dumbest strata of humanity. And what is with the women's hairstyles on that show? Then I watched Jeopardy in which I would have so completely won – thank you, yet again, vampire total recall. Hmmmm…. Still time to go till sunset… In the local Shreveport news, one of the city council members was trying to push for more public lighting in the city. Apparently there were entire neighborhoods still relatively in the dark. I tried to figure if that was a vampire slam, and I decided that it probably wasn't. Now it was big time decision time… Family Feud with Steve Harvey or Wheel of Fortune… Decisions, decisions, decisions… I'd read that Wheel of Fortune was a show that senior citizens liked to watch… Pretty sure no one was more senior than this citizen; however I opted for the comedy of Steve Harvey. Whew… life decisions handled.
Finally, the sun set. I hopped into my SUV instead of my corvette because I decided my story was that I was going to The Enchanted Forest under the guise of possibly buying some plants for my home. I had a yard service for each of my houses, but I might just want to hire a new service to do some landscaping at my "home". I worked on my story on the drive to Bon Temps. I would start with just wanting some plants, and let the discussion lead to landscaping. That would seem innocent enough, I think.
I pulled into the driveway next to the mailbox marked 234 Hummingbird Lane, with a small discreet sign for The Enchanted Forest below the house address marker. As I made my way down the driveway, I noticed a well-kept farmhouse on the right, and about 25 yards further down the driveway was a quonset type office building with The Enchanted Forest signage on the front of it. There were even striped parking spaces in front of it. I pulled in and looked around. Nothing really outstanding leapt out about the business. I went inside hoping to see the siblings, but instead there was a flamboyantly dressed African-American man sitting behind a counter busy at work on his computer. He greeted me with "Welcome to the Enchanted Forest, how may I help you?" without looking up from his computer screen.
"I'm looking for some night-blooming flowers." He finally looked up at me, and he did a classic comedy-film double-take.
"Damn…" was all he said at first. Then he stood and walked over and leaned with his forearms on the counter that separated us. "Well, I sure as hell hopes we can helps you," he added flirtatiously. Then I think he batted his false eyelashes, although it looked very strange to me, and I'm not entirely sure. Then he smiled and added, "let me get someone who can help you with that…" and he walked through the door at the back of the office. I drummed my fingers on the counter for about 20 seconds before he walked back through that door with the man I knew to be Jason Stackhouse with him. Jason walked up to the counter with a pad and pen.
"Lafayette tells me you are looking for some night-bloomers?" he paused for a second looking me up and down. I desperately tried not to contemplate the various meanings of the word 'bloomers' over the ages. He was wearing a fitted, slightly sweaty black tank top tucked into army green cargo pants. The clothing accentuated how very fit and tan his body was. I dared to inhale deeply, and I felt my eyes widen in surprise at the pleasing aroma. Conversely, his eyes narrowed, and he asked, "You a vampire?"
"What makes you ask that?" I inquired. He shrugged as if it didn't really matter, but I had to ask, "Is that a problem?"
There was a moment's pause as I sensed something intense coming from him as he over-carefully observed me with his bright blue eyes. Finally he came to some decision about me before he said, "Nah… I was just curious. We hardly ever have vampires in here. Mostly we deal with their, uh, employees. But we've done a lot of work for vamps and other supes. No offense…"
"None taken, but yes, I'm a vampire. I really am looking for some night-blooming plants for my home. Do you have any?" Again, I had that feeling of something intense coming from him. Mostly, it just made me want to smile, and I was not known for being a smiling vampire. Curiouser and curiouser, as Lewis Carroll would say… Plus, I was surprised at his easy mention of other supes, since only vampires had revealed themselves to the humans. With his scent, his intensity, he was definitely something "other", but I couldn't quite decipher what other…
"My sister has been grafting more and more flowering plants to be night bloomers. She's doing it specifically with vampires in mind. So your options are a lot more wide open than you might think," he paused. "How did you hear about us?"
"Angie's list," I responded. He tilted his head to the side again; I got the distinct impression that he wasn't buying it. "Plus your website. I was surprised to learn that you had already done the landscaping for a property I own…"
His eyebrows rose at that admission; I always believed that a little truth never hurt. "Which property is that?" he asked, and again I felt this intensity from him. Was he glamouring me in some way? Was that why I had the overwhelming impulse to smile as I was offering so much truth?
"The Bonne Chance Casino. I was there last night and for the first time I noticed a lot of the landscaping details. My manager told me who he had hired for the job. I gave him a bonus for that, by the way…" Why was I telling him that?
"It's really strange. We've never had a vampire customer… directly, anyway, and you're our second one tonight. Our new neighbor is a vampire, apparently, and he stopped by earlier," he scratched the back of his head and continued. "Do you know Bill Compton?" he asked as he tilted his head again and looked at me with that strange intensity.
"I do. He stopped by to sign into the area last night."
"Sign into the area?"
"Yes, I'm the local vampire sheriff. All vampires moving into the area must check in with me." Wait. What? Why the hell was I volunteering all this information? Why did it bother me so much when a wide smile broke on Jason's face. And why the fucking hell was I smiling back at him? "What did Mr. Compton want?"
The man called Lafayette stepped forward to answer that question. "He was asking for Jason and Sookie, but they was out on a job site. Seems he wanted to introduce himself to his neighbors. But he was asking a lot of questions about them. A lot of personal questions. He tried that glamour thing y'all do, but it don't work on me. That seemed to upset him some."
"Glamour doesn't work on you? Why is that?" I'd never heard of that before… unless this Lafayette was some kind of supe himself. But what kind, I wondered; he didn't smell like some kind of were. He and Jason exchanged smirking looks.
"Wouldn't you like to know…" he answered coyly. "But you, big man, wouldn't need that with me if you was interested in getting to know me better." And then he winked. At me. I did the only thing that I could. I laughed. Both of them joined me.
Shaking his head and chuckling, Jason added softly, "Lafayette, back off dude."
But Lafayette just looked at Jason, "But he's so big and pretty…"
"Feel free to ignore Lafayette, Mr. ….?"
"Northman, Eric Northman." And with that he raised the center part of the counter that was hinged, and gestured for me to follow him.
"I'll show you some things in the main greenhouse first." I followed him through the back door of the office while Lafayette added, "MmmmHmmm."
I felt the warm humidity of the greenhouse instantly. The business was deceptive from the front because this greenhouse was HUGE! It went straight back from the office quonset. There were plants and flowers of every kind exhibited to perfection with bright lights, and Jason pointed a lot of them out as we passed through.
Jason turned half back to me as he continued leading me toward the back of the greenhouse. "Don't let Lafayette fool ya' none. We take our business here very seriously. I think you'll like some of the work my sister has been doin'." We finally reached the back of the greenhouse and exited through a rear door. I could discern that there were at least three more greenhouses of various sizes behind the main one. Jason led me to one on the left. When we went inside it I was a little surprised at the different atmosphere. Instead of the bright "grow" lights, this one had more subdued bluish lighting. Of course, I could see just fine.
"Sorry it's so much darker in here; this greenhouse is mainly Sookie's, my sister's. These are all night-blooming plants. Over there are Evening Primroses, fairly common, but pretty. Beyond that is a little pond with Night Bloom Water Lilies, so if you have a pond situation…" He just let that statement hang there. He began pointing to various places in the greenhouse as he spoke, "we have Four O'Clocks, Moon Flowers, and if money is no object we have a few Casablanca Lilies over there." We arrived at the back of the greenhouse. "This here is Sookie's Masters thesis project, Night Gladiolus. Normally, they are a really pale yellow with these pinkish streaks," he said as he pointed to the standard of the flower. "But she's been doing some grafts to get additional colors and scents," he concluded with pride in his sister's work. I looked on with more than a little awe at the bright fuschia, blue, and coral colored gladioli. They were truly works of art.
"Beautiful. All I can say is… wow." I walked closer to inspect her handiwork. She had created something very special. Jason started laughing. "What's so funny?"
"I've never met a vampire, but I didn't expect to get a 'wow' out of one," he smiled.
"Over the years, especially before the reveal, we had to work hard to incorporate human speech and slang into our habits. Plus that was a really honest reaction to what your sister has created," I paused. "Where is she?"
He seemed to think something over before he turned to answer my question. "I believe she's in class tonight. She finishes her Masters Degree at the end of this semester. Why you askin'?"
I thought for a moment about what he might find a satisfactory answer. "These flowers are unbelievable. I just would like to meet her and tell her." He then did that quirky little head tilt thing that I was beginning to interpret as his way of knowing there was either more to tell, or I was full of shit. So I indulged him. "Plus, as I said, I looked at your website. Your sister is very beautiful. And I always enjoy meeting a beautiful woman." I smirked at him when he began to grin.
"Yah, she's pretty enough. Would've been Miss Louisiana if she would've stayed with safe topics for her question and answer session. But Sook's pretty passionate about the things she believes in. Can't really fault her for that."
"Are you planning on mass marketing these hybrids?"
"Not sure. Right now, they are mainly her project for school. They are kind of expensive to create, at least initially, so we would need to do a real cost analysis and marketing plan." Smart idea.
"I think these could really sell, especially to vampires. After all, all we have is the night. I might be interested in investing and helping with the marketing. And not just locally; I think these could have national, hell, international appeal. I have connections all over the planet." Jackpot! This would not only be a sound investment for me, but also it would insinuate me into their lives in a genuine way. This legitimate business partnership could never be construed as 'impeding dickwad Compton's efforts'.
The look on Jason's face could only be described as incredulous. "International, eh? I'm not sure we're currently set up for that."
"Maybe you could be. I mean, do you think Mr. Bell invented the telephone just to be used in his hometown? I knew him, by the way," I smirked at him and enjoyed when his eyes widened. "Mr. Stackhouse… Jason… I've lived for a long time, and I've made quite a few fortunes over the years. I have resources you can't contemplate. I've gotten wealthy time and again by knowing when to strike… when to invest. Trust me when I say, that these hybrids are very marketable; the vampire market is larger and wealthier than you might imagine, and they love their luxuries. Obviously, these plants won't have the wide-spread, mass appeal of the telephone, but they would still be very, very lucrative investments for me… and quite the money-makers for your business. You did say she was developing these with vampires in mind…"
I watched him as he stared into the space in front of him, as if looking at mathematical business formulas on an imaginary blackboard, while he took in my words. "Well, I'll talk it over with Sookie, but truth be told, we don't know you, Mr. Northman. We've done pretty good all on our own so far. I don't know how she's going to feel about all this."
"That's all I can ask. I would really like for you to 'get to know me', but I don't want to pressure you. If we can make some money together… great. If not, well, I would still enjoy having some of these at my home. As they say, no harm, no foul."
He chuckled. "Good enough. I'll talk to Sookie about this as soon as I can. I won't probably see her until tomorrow. Is there a number where we can reach you?"
"Absolutely," I said as I dug my wallet out of the pocket inside my leather jacket and handed him my card. "I truly hope I hear from you both soon."
"I'll walk you back to the office," Jason offered with a gesture of his hand. We walked for a bit in a slightly awkward silence before I asked, "So, how did you know I was a vampire?"
He stopped walking for a minute without turning to face me. "Because of your glow."
"My glow?" How could he see that? This just confirmed what I had already concluded, that he was some kind of supe.
He shrugged again, and started walking once more toward the office. As if the silence between us was bothering him, he added, "You like football? I mean do vamps like stuff like that? Does it bother you if I ask vamp questions?"
"No, it's fine. Some vampires would mind, but I don't. Actually, I enjoy football very much. I'm particularly fond of the Minnesota Vikings."
"Why them over all the rest?"
I allowed a small smirk, "Well… in my human life, I was a Viking."
"You played football in Minnesota? You're sure big enough."
"No, you misunderstand. I was an actual Viking… In Scandinavia, Sweden specifically, more than a thousand years ago." He stopped and turned around to look at me.
"Shut up, no way… That is so cool." He turned around and continued walking, shaking his head as if to absorb that information. "So you're really European. You don't have much of an accent."
I chuckled, "Yeah, well, I've been speaking English for a few centuries now."
"You should meet my Gran; she loves history. I'm sure she'd pick your brain just 'bout clean," he laughed opening the back door to the office. "And speak of the devil, Hey Gran, I've got someone I'd like you to meet." He gestured for me to enter into the office, and I saw an older woman standing on the other side of the counter across from Lafayette. "What are you doin' here, Gran?"
She looked me up and down as she answered, "I was coming out to see if you and Lafayette wanted to come into the house for supper. I made fried chicken," she practically sang. "Who is this most handsome gentleman?"
"Gran, this is Eric Northman. He's a vampire who is interested in maybe investing in some of Sook's night bloomers. Mr. Northman, this is my Gran, Adele Stackhouse."
I let myself through the hinged counter opening and took her hand, "The pleasure is mine, Mrs. Stackhouse. Your grandson tells me you are a history buff."
"Indeed I am, young man. So you're a vampire, eh? Were you by any chance around during the civil war?"
"I assume you mean the American civil war?" I asked and she nodded. "I was in Europe during that war, so I kind of missed it, sorry. Although, I'd be happy to give you the European perspective of what happened during that time."
"He was a Viking, Gran, an actual Viking."
"Oh, my stars. You must be pretty old, then. I can't imagine all that you've seen, lived through. I would just love to talk with you some, Mr. Northman."
"Please, call me Eric."
"And you must call me Adele."
"I'm hoping that your grandchildren and I can do some business together, so maybe I'll be seeing you from time to time. I'd be most pleased to answer any historical questions you might have." And hopefully get to know your grandchildren better. She may be another way in with them. I gave her my most dazzling smile in the process. She was so… cute, and she blushed at my smile. Bingo, you've still got it, Northman.
"You said you made fried chicken?" Jason asked.
"Yes, I did," she answered without turning to look at him. She finally took her hand from mine, and I swear she giggled. "It was truly enchanting to meet you, Mr. Northman… Eric. I do hope you and my grandbabies do that business you were mentioning. I would love to talk more with you." As long as I'd lived in the south, I'd never seen such blatant Southern hospitality and charm. I found myself wanting to talk to her more, myself.
"I'll let you get to your meal. Please discuss my proposal with your sister when you get the chance; I'd love to work with you both. Call me at your earliest convenience; you'll understand if I don't answer during the day," I smiled and nodded, "Lafayette, Adele," and made my exit through the front office door.
I chuckled as I walked to my car, and I heard Lafayette say softly, "Hope to see you again, tall, dead, and handsome…"
AN: So, here is chapter 2. I had pre-written the first two chapters before I posted. The third chapter, unfortunately, is still in the writing process, and I'm not a super fast writer. Please be patient for updates.