Over My Dead Body by PersianFreak
Companion to Happily Never After
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Charlaine Harris. Please don't sue.
Rating: T, possibly M for later chapters
A/N: Hey! Chapter three!!! I wanted to thank you all for the awesome reviews that make my day, and I just wanted to let you know that even if I don't respond, you can be sure that I have read every single one and that they have all made me (at the very least) grin like a fool. MORE REVIEWS ARE AWESOME, plz.
Note: Derek is a character I introduced in the epilogue of 'Surprise', but Christine is all new.
******************************
"Hello, sheriff," The voice greeted me smoothly. My head snapped up from the papers in my hand to take in the woman casually sitting on my desk.
"Runa," I frowned at her, "Apparently I'm going to have to speak with Pam about letting unwanted visitors into my office."
"Eric," She chastised lightly and I automatically flashed back to a time when I had joked about wanting twenty children and she had shaken her head and said my name in that exact tone.
"Don't you want to know why I'm alive?" She smiled at me softly. Everything she did was soft, mild; as if there was nothing fierce or bold about her, save for her eyes.
"But you aren't," I couldn't help but point out, just as I had to Sookie. Her name brought reality crashing down on me: Sookie, my lover, my wife.
"Don't you want to know why I'm not dead?" She rephrased the question, her foot moving casually to some rhythm heard only by her.
"Why are you not dead?" I took the bait and walked to sit behind my desk, forcing her to get off of it in order to keep me in sight.
"I don't know," She shrugged, amusement dancing in her eyes. I waited, my eyebrow raised. "There was a plague, about five years after you... left." She smiled and was about to continue when she caught me nodding. "You saw. You didn't leave." It was not a question but I nodded and gestured for her to continue. "I was far from lucid, thanks to the fever, so I don't remember who turned me. I remember the pain and the darkness after, but not who it was. I was alone, lying in a boat headed out to sea when I awoke."
"Your maker never Called you?" I frowned; creating children without educating them in the ways of the vampire was frowned upon. A newborn vampire with no knowledge of his or her limits and abilities could be disastrous to our kind as a whole, especially in the days before the Great Revelation. Runa shook her head.
"But I didn't turn out too badly." Her smile widened, "I survived, against all odds."
"Yes, you did." I murmured absentmindedly.
"You don't sound too pleased about that."
"I'm not pleased about you barging into my life after all these years."
"Ouch," She made a show of looking hurt, "Because you have a wife now?" I did not respond, opting instead for looking into her eyes. "Are you afraid you will fall in love with me again?" Sookie's words flashed across my mind; "She loves you as much as she did when you were human." I wondered for perhaps the thousandth time that night about the amount of truth her words held. Could Runa still be in love with me? Despite all the years we had spent apart?
"There is no chance of that happening," I dismissed her comment.
"And why not?" Her tone was light, her smile still genuine. "Do you love her?" I chose to ignore her, deeming her opinion of my marriage entirely too inconsequential and therefore unworthy of a response.
"Are you at least going to tell me how you were turned?"
"I didn't realize it was story time."
"I told you mine!" I smiled inwardly at her clearly growing frustration.
"That was your choice," I selected a file from a pile on my desk and opened it, busying myself with its contents. "Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do."
"Excuse me, master?" I looked up to find Pam standing at the door. Runa's head snapped towards her with a hint of annoyance.
"What is it, Pam?" Note to self: give Pam a raise.
"Christine Langdon is here for you." My child informed me unhappily. I raised an eyebrow.
"Show her in," I looked pointedly at Runa who sighed.
"Good-bye," She brushed past Pam before pausing in the hall, "For now, that is." Christine appeared in the doorway a moment later, nodding to me as she did.
"No, Pam, you should stay," Christine told her just as she turned to leave. Pam nodded and stepped in, closing the door behind her.
"Can Pam get you a drink?" I motioned that she should have a seat on the couch as I moved to sit on the armchair next to it. Christine Langdon was Queen Marie's very well-respected second-in-command. She herself was more than fit to govern a state of her own, but had chosen to remain in Nevada with Marie out of sheer loyalty; the story was that Marie had saved Christine from the clutches of a murderous suitor several centuries ago, which had led to Christine pledging her (literally) undying loyalty to her maker after she was turned.
"Not tonight, Eric," She said primly, perching on the edge of the couch. Pam came to stand beside me.
"What can I do for you?"
"I understand you were planning on not attending the Equinox Ball on Friday?" I nodded; Sookie and I had decided against it considering Sookie's birthday on the following Monday and the trip I was planning in her honour. "The queen has requested your presence, Eric," Christine told me, "Both of you, in fact, as well as your wife and any other vampires whom you trust."
"Not that I don't enjoy seeing you, Christine," I grinned at her charmingly, "But to what do I owe the pleasure of such a formal summoning?"
"I am not at liberty to say," The corner of her mouth turned up in the smallest hint of a smile, "But you are requested to report to Las Vegas within the next 24 hours. I have already made your travel arrangements; your coffins will be picked up at noon, so I will need the addresses of the vampires you will bring with you."
"Pam," I turned my head and she stepped forward, "Give her our addresses as well as Derek and Bill's, then call them to let them know." She nodded and went to my desk to write down the addresses. "Anything else?" I turned back to Christine.
"That will be all," She shook her head, standing up to take the piece of paper Pam was now offering her. "I will see you all in Las Vegas tomorrow night." I inclined my head. I left Fangtasia soon after, not quite caring that it was barely ten. Sookie was going to be rather unhappy about this and I needed time to make her happy. Very happy. I grinned to myself as I drove well past the speed limit.