Chapter 2
I have never been a clumsy waitress, so when I dropped the second platter of the night, I knew something was off. Sam heard the clatter of dishes and turned to see if maybe I was being harassed again. Certain customers got it into their heads that a waitresses' attention is best gained through a pinch to the bottom. This time, it was just an all over weakness that had me busting up china, and flinging fries. I had only felt faint a handful of times before, but last night, I had had a series of dizzy spells.
"Girl, are you all right?" Dottie Henstridge scooted up along side of me at the pass and reached over me for a new bottle of Heinz.
"Don't mind me, I'm just…overly tired I guess." I decided that if the dizziness didn't go away by the next day, I would see a doctor. Twice, I'd had to grab onto something to steady myself. I was also feeling weak and I would have given anything at all to just close my eyes. I called over to Terry that table one was holding on a side of curly fries. Sam came over to me holding my coat and purse.
"Sookie, you're done. I called Jason and asked him to pick you up. You're pale, you're swooning; I've seen you almost falling over out there. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're pregnant." I opened my mouth to protest the impossibility of that, but I felt the barn doors closing in on me and my knees began to buckle.
"Oh, Lord, Sookie. I'll pay you for your full shift, but you've got to go on home and get better." Dottie brought me a cold towel and I laid it on my forehead. Right then I heard my name coming from the front door. Pam, Eric's second in command came into Merlotte's and the look on her face chilled me to my core.
"Sookie, you must come." She called.
She didn't have to say anymore. There was dried blood on her cheeks, hands and knees. Whatever she had been into, the outcome couldn't be good for anyone. I stood for a moment and shook my head, willing her back out the door. I wasn't going to be drawn into this, not tonight. Sam took up my defense.
"She can't go anywhere with you, can't you see how sick she is? This girl is unwell, she's going home to bed."
"Sookie is unwell because Eric is unwell."
"No, Pam, No. Please, not now. I'm so tired." But there was no pleading with the vampire. She took my bar towel from me and placed it on the counter.
"Sookie look at me, you must come." Her eyes became misted with pink, and I thought she was trying to glamour me. I took my coat and purse from Sam, and Pam half carried me out the door.
I didn't know if we were in her car, or a rental but the drying blood in the back seat was never going to come out. When she opened her door, the dome light showed an interior that could have passed for a scene from 'Halloween.' Tell me this wasn't Eric's blood. Tell me he just wanted to have a chat out at Fangtasia and that she had stopped to hunt on the way to Merlotte's. But I knew better, she had said as much.
"Pam?" My voice was tiny and weak with fear but I had to know what was happening to Eric.
"Eric is…we need for you to come now. I don't want to upset you."
"Just tell me." I felt my patience growing thin as I thought of the blood in the backseat. If she didn't tell me now, I would begin screaming.
"He was nearly drained. He is close to death and we want you to be with him at the end." She kept her eyes on the road ahead as we wound our way to Shreveport.
I had a million questions, but no sound would come out. How had someone captured Eric, a thousand year old vampire? If he had been drained, why was there so much blood in her backseat? Pam could sense my shock and that I was struggling with questions and she began to fill in the details.
"Late last night, someone attacked him. He had been nearly drained, and was left out to die when the sun arose. A young man had pulled over to relieve himself and he heard Eric groaning. If Eric had not been wearing a Fangtasia T-shirt, he would be dead now. The young man, Walter, I think, called the bar and told us he'd found a vampire wrapped in silver along Industrial Parkway. You can imagine how horrified I was to discover that he meant Eric."
She was looking at me out of the corner of her eye. I could tell that she was trying to gauge how much I could stand. She continued as I began to weep silently.
"Kellan, Eric's new bartender and I, hurried to the mile-marker where we met Walter. He'd found Eric's car pushed into a ravine, his car had been slammed into. Walter was courageous enough to unwrap the silver nets, but Eric was too far gone to be dangerous so he stayed with him. We got him home just before dawn. Kellan and I both tried to get Eric to feed, but we had to turn in. We got him into his –his sleeping space and got to bed ourselves. I had no idea what I'd find when we awoke this evening. Sookie, whomever attacked Eric stayed for a long time. To drain a vampire, one has to keep re-opening the cuts that he or she has made to let the blood flow. This wasn't a V dealer, this was someone who wanted Eric dead."
I thought to myself of the long list of creatures who might wish Eric to come to an end; most recently, Quinn. But how could someone have overpowered him? We made our way through bright city lights that gave way to fewer lights still. We turned down what appeared to be a country lane that ended at the steps of a stately manor. If this was Eric's home, what must he have thought of my little slice of Americana tucked into the back end of an aging cemetery?
I recognized the architecture from descriptions in my romance novels: the balconies, the stone staircase, the grand glass doors. This home screamed wealth, significance, endurance. An older man opened the door as Pam urged me ahead of her. I would not have been surprised if he'd been wearing a coat with tails. But as it was, he was the physician attending to Eric. Eric's condition must have taken a turn for the worst if the doctor was waiting for our arrival at the door.
"This is Ms. Stackhouse, then?" The doctor closed the door quickly and began to ascend the stairs. If I had been here under different circumstance, I might have had longer than a moment to appreciate how beautifully appointed Eric's home was. Candles in the foyer were warmly reflected off a crystal chandelier hanging above what could only be called a grand staircase. It appeared to be a bridge with two sets of stairs gracefully curving down at either end. Most of my downstairs would fit in his entryway.
There were leather sofas and rich walnut tables in the study to our left. To our right was a large dining room, which I'm sure was rarely used for anything other than housing century old furniture. The marble on the floors had deep veins of gold and red. There seemed to be a fire glowing in every fireplace and there was the warm smell of cinnamon blended with the rich wood smoke. As large as it was, Eric had made it feel cozy and welcoming. Not bad for a single man. I wondered what size staff was needed to maintain a home of this size. I also knew that if given the chance, I would love to wander these halls with him. I quieted my country mouse feelings and turned my thoughts to Eric, who may very well be dying a final death in one of these rooms. My stomach rose into my throat at the thought and I felt myself swaying again. I steadied myself and reached out for the wall.
I was still very weak, and Pam assisted me down a long, wide hallway and into a room with double doors. It was as still as church and just as lovely. There was a beautiful 12 ft. stained glass window in the marble bathroom to the left. A sunken roman style tub sat in front of it, surrounded by unlit candles and dozens of roses in colors I'd never seen. His bed sat on a high platform, with deep golden velvet draperies hanging from the ceiling. If all the draperies were pulled, you could wall off the world and sleep in peace and warmth. I was certain that Eric would have a safe sleeping nook, but this would be a great place to spend the last few hours of the evening before sleeping. I approached the carved Mahogany bed at the back of the room with trepidation; I didn't know what to expect. Eric lay motionless, and I gasped at the sight of him.
"Oh, Eric," his blond hair, dull and worn out as straw, fanned out around him. His cheeks were hollow; his closed eyes sunken, his arms were covered in deep cuts that were unable to heal because his blood had been flowing out of his body. He had purpled bruises where the silver had dug in and burned. No part of his body had escaped some form of torture or damage. I felt my knees give way again, and Pam was behind me before I could hit the floor.
"Shhh," She stroked my hair but not as one does when soothing a child, she would do the same if she were priming me for dinner.
"Eric?" I said softly, ascending the three steps to his bed. I just needed to see his bright blue eyes. If I could know that some part of him was intact, I could be okay. "It's me, it's Sookie." He did not open his eyes for me. I knelt in close and kissed his ear tenderly. "Eric, come on, you're scaring us all." I took off my shoes, threw my coat onto the floor and crawled in the bed beside him.
He was colder than I'd ever felt him. I threw myself around him hoping that warmth would help, but knowing that it wouldn't. All I could think to do then was offer him my wrist so that he could drink and begin to heal. I lay my wrist against his purple lips and waited for the sting. But it never came. I sat up a bit and looked at him, his fangs were barely run out but mostly retracted.
"He is too weak to bite." The doctor, who was himself a vampire, began motioning for Pam to come to him. I was glad for the moment of privacy so that I could say things to Eric that he'd never want anyone else to hear.
"Eric, it's me baby, it's Sookie. I know you can hear me. I need you to drink, okay? I need you to…" I became desperate. Because the look on the doctor's face and Pam's tears told me I was up against something big. For the first time in my life, I bit down on my own wrist. I cried out, but it was desperation more than pain. I couldn't let Eric go like this. I tasted pennies and knew I'd gotten a fair amount of blood flowing. I put my left wrist to his mouth and willed my heart to pump blood into him. Drops of my blood spilled onto his lips, and I felt his dry tongue brush against my wound briefly, then stop.
"No, Eric! Drink." But he was too weak. I put my wrist to my mouth and sucked as hard as I could. I filled my mouth with blood and placed my mouth on his. It was like kissing a statue. I did this several more times hoping that every drop would make a difference; that every drop would bring him closer to—
"Sookie, Dr. Armatrading suggests that we may be able to move him to a hospital that can transfuse him. We need your permission to move him. Do we have it?"
Needed my permission? That was insanity. Of course they should get him to a hospital.
"Permission? Pam, why? Why me?"
"You are his wife. It is publicly known now. I cannot make legal decisions for him."
"He and I never talked about this. It was just ceremonial. I told him as much."
" Vampire law works the same way as your laws. You are his legal next of kin. I know you don't recognize the pledge that you took, but he needs you right now. Don't fail him by quibbling over a minister and two handfuls of rice at some backwater city hall. No hospital that can care for him properly will treat him without your consent. That was why we sent for you. Can we please move him?" Pam was more insistent than I had ever seen her. We didn't have much time. I could feel my connection to Eric lifting as if I was watching a balloon fly away.
"Please take care of him."
"We are taking you, too. Who ever did this to Eric may be after you. He made me swear on my life that I would protect your interests as soon as you became pledged. I'm not about to let him down now." Pam was fiercely loyal, Eric made sure of that.
The doctor opened the doors to three orderlies that had been waiting outside with a stretcher. They carefully lifted Eric out of the bed, and onto the white sheets. I saw his arm drop over the side and I grabbed his hand. Suddenly, I didn't care who heard.
"Eric, I'm here. I won't let you go."
"S---Sookie S-----Safe?"
His voice was so thin and reedy that I could convince myself that I'd imagined it.
"I'm safe, and you're safe. I've got you and I won't let you go."
I held his hand in the windowless ambulance and I kept my other wrist pressed to his lips. I pressed in close to him whispering and reminding him that we had our whole lives together, that I was his and his alone.
