Chapter Four

Rousing from sleep, Carly stretched, and looked across the room. Because of the silence, punctuated only by the sounds of night—crickets and wind—she expected to see the club empty and the doors open. Instead, she found herself on a pallet in the center of a small wooden structure. The only light came from faint embers in an open fire that illuminated the area immediately around her. She saw a middle-aged woman on the other side of the fire who snuggled between a swaddled infant and a large man, whose hairy, tattooed arm lay over her hip.

Carly sat up in shock and looked down at her body—which was not her body but the body of a young man. The gender was clear from the swelling in the britches that covered his hips. Although she could see and hear everything around her, she felt few bodily sensations. She touched her face, and felt little hair on the chin. Her fingers felt the sensations, but the cheeks seemed numb to her touch. As she touched the inside of the young man's thigh, the response was muted, as if there were some delay between the intention to touch and the sensation of touch.

Reluctant to wake the other sleepers, the parents and their infant, as well as four other adolescents and children, and an elderly man, who slept in a sitting position against an exterior wall, Carly rose from her pallet and found her way to the door. Although the body wasn't sensitive to her touch, she could move it at will—at least it seemed like her will.

Once outside the structure, she saw a settlement that included numerous small buildings of the same kind as that she'd just exited. Beneath the illumination of a near-full moon, Carly saw a bronze-age settlement, with ten to fifteen circular dwellings with high, pointed thatched roofs, topped by canvas or skin smoke-holes. A palisade surrounded the homes and livestock pens. Moving a large stone aside, she squeezed through the space in the palisade gate it blocked. Before her, she could see fields with ripe grain and vegetables and pasture. The moon sat just above the western horizon, which sloped gently downhill. Walking upstream along the water that broke through the fields, Carly sought the moon's rising place. She was filled by a strange sense of anticipation and excitement as she trudged uphill and watched her shadow lengthen as she crested the hill. A rock outcrop gave a vantage point that extended miles into the distance. Carly focused on specks of light she saw far away, twinkling like distant stars against the dark eastern horizon.

Her mind abandoned the adolescent body and flew toward the light. She felt herself drawn into a fire, and her mind danced upon the flames. From her low perspective, she could see few things clearly. Desiring more information, she ascended within the smoke that encircled tents, and finally standards that loomed above the ground. The smoke brushed against Eagles at the tops of long poles, planted outside the tents...

"Carly..." Eric touched her shoulder gently and shook her.

Sitting straight awake, Carly gasped for air, before she said, "Fucking hell."

"That's how you greet your lover?" Eric sank down onto the floor next to her.

Suddenly aware that she was in Fangtasia, on the stage, and few people or vampires remained in the club, Carly blanched, breathed deeply, and apologized. "I'm so sorry. I fell asleep."

"Yes," Eric chuckled, "that's why I woke you. How you could sleep in here, I will never know."

"Neither will I." Carly shook her head, touched her chin, and her leg, and realized that she was truly awake, within her own body, and in control of its own movement.

Eric leaned closer to her, "Are you all right?"

"I was dreaming, Eric."

"Really? You were so still. I thought that you were finally sleeping soundly."

"No." Carly crept toward him and pushed against his embrace. "It was more...vivid. And I felt like I was in control—not just a passenger."

Eric brushed a stray hair out of her eyes and said, "You weren't working today. Why would you dream?"

Since being with Eric, Carly had gained much more control over her dreams and had rarely even needed to seek out the dead from her dreams. With enough focus, she could usually conjure up a waking vision at work, or while walking around the block, as she had for Cherisse, the young creole girl whose name and face came to her at work.

"You're not going to like this."

Eric kissed her gently and said, "You've lost trust in me?"

"No. But I think..." Carly remembered the strange way that Godric looked at her earlier in the evening, the way he suggested that, under other circumstances, he would have claimed her against her wishes and against Eric's. "I think that I woke up in Godric's body and walked around."

Quiet for only a second, Eric asked, "You don't think it was a memory?"

"No, it felt like I was in control." She tried to recall the exact sensation. "I could feel through his fingers, like they were mine, but when I touched his body—it was numb, like I was touching something that was anesthetized."

"Perhaps it's from his blood."

Carly nodded. "Probably."

Eric scooped her into his arms and dove off the stage in one swift movement. "I'd rather have you dream that you were him than that you were fucking him."

Carly expected that Eric would put her ground, but he kept hold of her. As they moved toward the rear entrance, Carly looked at the door to his office. "Is Godric still in there?"

"Yes. It's been three hours." Eric spoke without any judgment in his voice, but he hesitated before leaving the building.

"Do you want to check on him?" Since she knew that Godric hadn't been feeding directly from people for quite some time, she was worried. He'd seemed more lustful than he had been before, even when he'd been playful in Eric's home.

Eric dropped her feet and put her down. "Would you mind?"

"Not at all." Carly squeezed Eric before letting him go. "I want to know if everything is okay too."

"Yes, and I'm not sure he can find his way back to my house. He could sleep here, but it wouldn't be appropriate."

Carly suddenly realized that she hadn't seen any of Godric's guards. "What happened to his guards?"

"Godric told them that he would meet them outside when he was finished with the girl."

Eric knocked twice on the door, and they heard, "Enter."

Before opening, Eric said, "It's Eric and Carly. May we both come in?"

"Please do."

Eric unlocked the door and slowly opened it, taking a look inside. Carly could tell from the humming in his mind that he was anxious about what he would see. He sighed loudly before walking in, shepherding Carly in behind him.

Godric sat on one end of the sofa, naked and rosy, with the nude, Rubenesque figure of Melissa extended the length of the couch, her head resting on his lap. She was pale, breathing shallowly, and unconscious. Her inner thighs and face still carried the tell tale-bloody stains that showed she and Godric had sex. Carly could see at least three bites on her body, two on her neck and one on her inner thigh. One of the neck wounds still oozed blood, and, as Eric and Carly leaned against the desk, Godric swiped the blood with his finger and licked it away.

"We're going home, Godric." Eric pointed at Melissa. "Do you know where she lives?"

"In a dormitory, unfortunately." Godric shrugged. "I fear I may have overdone things a bit, particularly from my last taste."

Finally overcoming her shock at seeing this tableau, Carly went for Melissa's purse and began rummaging in her wallet.

"What are you looking for?" Eric inquired with little change in affect or tone.

"A medical card of some kind." Carly's impression of Melissa was that she was a good-hearted, kind, organized young woman, who had come to Fangtasia out of some strange sense of universal obligation. That same sense of obligation, Carly had seen, also led Melissa to donate blood regularly to a blood-bank, although she'd stopped doing it recently. With blood substitutes on the market, fewer people donated than they used to. Many, now, donated to vampire banks who paid for the blood. After pulling apart Melissa's wallet, Carly found her donor card. "Okay. Do you have a syringe?"

"Why?" Eric looked at Carly with some confusion.

Carly ejected a short, frustrated laugh, and said, "Do the two of you see her? Do you see how much distress she's in?"

Godric said, stroking Melissa's hair, "She'll be fine." He wrapped a lock around his finger. "She agreed to be my primary donor. She should get used to the blood loss."

"Seriously?" Carly couldn't believe what she was hearing, so she looked to Eric, who had never taken so much blood from her.

Eric finally seemed to understand what Carly was suggesting. "You want to give her some Tru Blood?"

"Yes, because I think it would be awfully bad for Melissa to die, or fail out of school because she was exhausted from blood loss, or get horribly sick." Carly barely restrained herself from saying, "Duh, yeah, stupid vampires."

"What's her type?" Eric was on board.

"B negative."

"There's a transfusion kit for emergencies in the first aid kit in the bottom drawer of my file-cabinet." Eric opened the door. "I'll get a bottle." He paused and looked to Carly. "Do you think that will be enough?"

"Well, Godric," Carly had grown annoyed with the new monarch, "how much do you think she needs?"

"I think she will be fine." Godric seemed mesmerized by the girl's hair and continued to play with it. "But if you insist, she could benefit from two bottles."

While Eric got the blood substitute from the bar, Carly retrieved the transfusion kit and got it ready. She also covered Melissa in the blanket.

"Why did you do that?" Godric asked.

"If she's too cold, she'll go into shock." Carly grumbled under her breath, "I'm surprised she isn't in shock already just from blood loss."

"Carly," Godric said mildly, "this is how I've always fed from humans. They've rarely died."

"Rarely?" Carly scoffed again. "Godric, you're out in the open, and you're king of Louisiana, and feeding in your son's bar. You shouldn't rarely kill humans in this context. You should never kill humans in this context."

"I suppose I did ignore the risks." He looked at Carly longingly, "But I found myself preoccupied."

"Yeah, Godric, Eric's told me. I smell like honey by a newly sown field, or something like that." Carly sterilized Melissa's arm and hoped that she'd be able to puncture a vein without difficulty, or that Eric would be able to do it.

"Yes, there's honey, but also the smell that comes from the newly dead. It's always been like the scent of sex for me." Godric breathed in deeply. "But I apologize. I know you're not inclined toward being shared, and I know that Eric, although we have shared in the past, has no desire to do so with you."

"We're bonded to one another, Godric." Carly looked the vampire squarely in the eye. "I fed you tonight because that was what I was supposed to do—it was an act of allegiance that Eric was obligated to fulfill. But that's it. I'm not a buffet or a brothel."

Eric walked into the room laughing.

Somehow, Carly was just incensed at the two of them. "Now you're laughing, Eric?"

"Because I'd never thought of you as either." He put on the rubber gloves that came with the transfusion kit. "Either a buffet or a brothel. Now a buffet at a brothel, perhaps?" He smiled and snuck a kiss from Carly, which seemed to diffuse her anger. "Let me do this."

Without any hesitation, Eric punctured Melissa's vein and inserted the IV tube. He assembled the rest of the apparatus for the transfusion and then attached the bottle. He remained standing as he held it.

"I warmed it slightly, so it shouldn't be as bad as it would if it came straight from the refrigerator," Eric said looking at the blanket. "When she stirs, we'll talk to her."

Godric, who hadn't moved, said, "She won't be a pet, but I like her. She's genuine and innocent." He looked up at Carly and asked, "Could you get a wet cloth? I should probably start to clean her." Godric touched his finger to his fangs and drew out a few drops of blood, which he applied to the still bleeding wound on her neck. "She needs to be marked, but not so dramatically."

"Cloth, Eric?"

"There should be a box of clean cloths behind the bar," Eric directed Carly back into the club.

Carly shut the door behind her and jogged to the bar, where Longshadow was cleaning up. One last young man was sitting at the end of the bar, staring into the mirror.

"Longshadow, can I get one of those clean white cloths?" Carly asked.

"Why?" Longshadow didn't move from his work.

"Eric sent me, okay?" Carly really despised Longshadow among the vampires she'd met face-to-face, because he seemed to harbor such resentment toward humans. Really, she didn't know why anyone thought he'd be a good bar-tender.

Longshadow reached below the bar and tossed it to her. "Happy, now?"

"Content." Carly ran across the club to the ladies room, where she dampened the cloth. She brought back the wet cloth, along with a handful of paper towels, to the office. Once at the door, she took a moment to check into the minds in the office. Melissa was still unconscious, but Carly could tell that her breathing had strengthened. Godric's brainwaves didn't betray any distress, but there was still the faint pattern of self-destructiveness Carly felt before. Eric's mind, on the other hand, alternated between fury, guilt, and frustration.

After a deep breath, Carly opened the door and walked into the office, where she found the vampires in the same positions, but with their eyes locked together.

"Are you two okay?" Carly asked tentatively.

"Carly, dear, may I have the cloth?" Godric asked without looking away from Eric.

Carly walked over to Godric, handed him the cloth, and then knelt beside Melissa. The girl's pulse was stronger with the additional blood, and her breathing was strong, but she didn't stir, even with the damp cloth cleaning her face and neck. Carly looked up at Eric and wished desperately that he could hear her worries. What if she has brain damage? What if she doesn't wake up? What would happen if Godric gave her some of his blood?

Eric stared back at her and then looked over at Godric, who was now washing Melissa's chest and breasts.

"Master," Eric spoke, "I know you said you didn't intend for Melissa to become a pet, but she should have roused at least somewhat by now."

Startled, Carly stood suddenly and bent her head in a questioning gesture. Eric nodded at her and then continued speaking to Godric.

"Godric," he said, insistently seeking a response.

"Yes, Eric, I apologize. I was just wondering why I didn't wish her to be a pet. She really is a sweet creature." Godric's fangs extended, and he bit his wrist. He bent Melissa's head backward, so that her mouth fell open, allowing his blood to drip into the young woman's mouth. "Perhaps she will awaken if she has my blood. Otherwise, I fear my reign will end prematurely."

What?

"My lord, your reign wouldn't end." Eric shook his head, "But we would need to pay reparations to her family."

"I suppose." Godric played absently with Melissa's hair, as the young woman took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"Godric?" Melissa spoke quietly. "What happened?"

"My sweet," Godric matched her sleepy tone. "I became too enthusiastic for you and took too much blood."

Eric disconnected the transfusion kit and pulled the tube from her arm. "Keep your arm bent, Melissa." He rummaged in the kit and found a piece of rolled gauze and medical tape. Eric taped the gauze to her arm and patted her gently. "You should be fine, Melissa."

"Where are my clothes, Godric?" Melissa looked up at the ancient vampire, "And where are yours?"

"We can dress, my dear." Godric raised her to a sitting position and stood up. Carly walked away, so that she could stand behind Eric, between him and the door. Eric turned so that he too faced the door. Wrapping his arms around her, Eric whispered into her ear, "Full of surprises, aren't you my girl?"

Carly leaned back into her vampire and relaxed against him. "Even to myself, Eric."

Hearing a faint groan behind them, Carly turned to look around Eric at Melissa, who struggled to a sitting position. A fully dressed Godric gathered up Melissa's clothing, and helped her put on her shirt and skirt.

"Melissa," Godric spoke each syllable slowly. "You will..."

"No," Eric interrupted. "Don't, Godric."

"But shouldn't we make her forget?"

"No, she's had your blood." Eric took the few steps toward his maker. "Leave her a way to understand what she's gone through, Godric. You owe her that."

"You speak to your maker, Eric." Godric came right against him and held his gaze aggressively. "And your king, sheriff."

"I know, your majesty." Eric knelt before him, and Carly gestured toward Melissa, encouraging her to come close.

Melissa moved toward Carly, but Godric blocked her way. "No, Melissa."

"You're a king, Godric?" Melissa asked, still in a fog.

"Of the vampires of Louisiana." Godric turned and took Melissa in his arms. "I am going to claim you as my own human. No one else may drink from you or take their pleasures with you, Melissa. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, Godric. I do." Melissa looked at Carly and the kneeling Eric. "Why are they both so nervous?"

Godric smiled and traced along Melissa's cheek and pushed her hair behind her ear. "I fear that I've been somewhat unlike myself, Melissa." Godric gazed over at Carly, and then reached down to lift Eric's chin. "Rise, my child." Looking back at Melissa, Godric told her, "Carly is special, Melissa, and she can tell that I have been unhappy recently, that I have felt few reasons to continue my existence."

"But you're so, amazing, Godric." Melissa melted with admiration. "You're so sweet."

Godric took Melissa's hand. "I could have killed you, Melissa."

"Only because you were out of practice, Godric."

Carly stared at Melissa and wondered at her steadiness, at the absence of any caution on her part. Carly pulled herself into Melissa's mind and examined the young girl's thoughts. He was so gentle, how could he have hurt me? He looks like a boy, but he's a king. And he said that I'm his human. What a privilege to belong to someone so beautiful, so kind, so wise? I need to keep him happy so he doesn't hurt himself.

Without any hesitation, Melissa was willing to sacrifice herself for Godric's well-being, without understanding whatsoever how close she'd come to spending the rest of her own existence in a coma.

"Melissa," Carly spoke up and the two vampires looked over at her with surprise in their eyes. "You're right. Godric was out of practice, but you can't just surrender yourself to him. If you're going to be his human, you have to be more than just his feeding trough. Do you understand that?"

"What do you mean, Carly?"

"Perhaps," Godric squeezed Melissa's hand, "Carly could accompany you back to your dormitory?"

Eric pulled the keys to his Lincoln out of his pocket. "Do you think you can drive it without any problem?"

"It's a big car, but I should be fine. Could you meet me there?"

Eric kissed her forehead and said, "Of course, my darling."

"Come on, Melissa." Carly waved her over. "I'll give you a ride in Eric's land yacht."

Godric kissed the girl one more time and slipped something into her purse. Carly couldn't see what it was, but she assumed it was a phone number, or money, or both.

The two women were silent as they left the building and got into the Lincoln.

"So where am I headed?

"I'm at Centenary, so just take Highway 1 south, and then you just turn east on King's Highway. It's not far—maybe about ten minutes."

"Well," Carly pulled out of the parking space, "it will give us a few minutes to get to know each other."

"I'm kind of tired, Carly." Melissa expressed her reluctance to talk. "I don't need you to tell me that Godric's dangerous."

"I wasn't going to, Melissa." That sudden turn, directly to a concern that Carly was going to try to talk Melissa out of seeing Godric, made Carly wonder about the young woman a little bit more.

"You weren't?"

"No," Carly shook her head. "I think he's a good man. And he seems to like you very much."

Melissa sighed deeply and looked out the window. "He's much more than a man, Carly. He's a vampire."

"Yes, but he's still a man, Melissa. You have to remember that." Romanticizing vampires, Carly suspected, was the most dangerous of all reactions humans had to them. "In many ways, vampires are men who haven't been paying attention for the last hundred years. If you want to have a relationship with one, you can't just be a blood bag."

"Please, Carly, don't lecture me." Melissa's stare out of the window was vacant, and her mind drifted straight to thinking of her father, who would slap her mother whenever she mouthed off to him.

"Okay. I'm just warning you. You need to keep reminding Godric that you're a person who deserves his respect, not just a donor."

"But how can we, Carly?" Melissa shook her head and looked sadly at Carly. "How can we deserve his respect? Or any vampire's? They're going to live so long. We're food for them, Carly. That's all we are. I wanted to feed one, but I wound up feeding the king. How could my life be any better or any more worthwhile?"

Carly was about to turn onto King's Highway, but instead she pulled into a parking lot, where she slammed the car into park and turned it off. "Out, Melissa. Out!"

The girl looked at Carly in shock. "What?"

"Out of the goddamn car, Melissa. We're going to have a little talk." Carly was furious that this woman felt so little of herself she wanted nothing more than to empty herself into a vampire.

Carly flew out of the car, her speed fueled by rage. She opened Melissa's door and pulled the college girl out of the car and pinned her to the rear door. "Why the hell do you think so little of yourself, kid? Don't you understand? You think you're worthy of nothing else than being a meal for a hungry vampire?"

Melissa started crying and pushed Carly back. "Where do you get off? You took off your clothes in front of everyone."

"Yes, I did. But it was my idea!" Carly stood right in Melissa's face. "I love Eric, and I wanted to do something that would enhance his status as sheriff of this district and would show everybody that Godric had his complete and unfailing support. Yes, I acted like a sex object, but it kept me from having to deal with all the vampires and fucking fangbangers in the crowd."

"You mean you thought that up?" Melissa looked at Carly.

"Yes. It was performance art." Carly started laughing, her anger diminishing slowly. "Otherwise, I would have spent all night sitting at the bar with Pam, making fun of what everyone was wearing."

"Oh." Melissa yawned. "If you're done yelling at me, will you take me home?"

"Only if you promise to think well of yourself. You're smart, Melissa. Learn from Godric, but let him know you want to live." And here was the rub, Carly thought. She wasn't confident that Melissa actually wanted to live. "If we hadn't been there tonight to give you a transfusion, you might have died."

"Really?"

"Yes, Melissa." Carly looked back into Melissa's mind and realized that the girl craved protection for herself and for her mother from her father. "Where does your family live?"

"Baton Rouge."

"Do you have email?"

"Yes, why?"

"Send me their address." Perhaps Carly could talk a little sense into the man, or at least put the fear of the valkyries into him.

Melissa's face fell and she started to cry, "Please don't tell my dad I'm seeing a vampire. He..."

"He won't take it out on your mother." Melissa looked at Carly with fear. "And I wouldn't tell the bastard anyway."

"How do you..."

"Because I can read your mind, Melissa." Carly smiled. "We all have talents, Melissa." Carly gathered all of her intention and focus, "And you won't remember anything of mine, Melissa. I'm just another girl dating a vampire. Do you understand?"

"Yeah..." Melissa yawned again, and her eyes fluttered with exhaustion.

"Let's get you into bed."

They pulled up behind Melissa's dormitory in five minutes after pulling away from the parking lot. As Melissa walked along the sidewalk, teetering side to side as if she were drunk, Carly climbed into the passenger side of the Lincoln. If Carly's intuition was right, Eric was hovering over them, and even then was watching to make sure that Melissa found her way into the dorm without incident. After a few minutes, the driver's door opened, and Eric climbed in.

"That was some talk you had with the young thing, wasn't it?" Eric said as he turned the ignition.

"I doubt it will do any good." Carly wasn't optimistic for Melissa's future, but committed herself to making life somewhat easier for her and her mother if possible. "Maybe I can scare her dad a little so he won't keep beating on her mom and on her whenever she gets the chance."

"I wondered where the bruises on her back came from." Eric reached across the seat to take Carly's hand. "Godric and I talked for a little while."

"And?"

"I don't know what's wrong with him." Eric looked at her as they turned the corner and got back onto the main road. "Do you think you might be able to help him?"

"I can't give him more blood or let him..."

"No." Eric cut her off before she could finish the thought. "You're mine, Carly. He knows that. And he also knows he can't use that as an excuse for his poor judgment tonight."

"Where is he staying?"

"His guards took him back to my home, but I think he's going back to New Orleans tomorrow or the next night."

"And us?"

"We're going back to your place, if that's okay?"

"If you're more comfortable, I'm fine at your house. I won't be waking up before you tomorrow, anyway." Despite Godric's demeanor toward her, she didn't want him to be alone.

"Are you worried about him, my little valkyrie?"

"Not as much as my big vampire is." Carly brought Eric's hands to her face and kissed each of his knuckles. "I worry because I can feel it in you, Eric."

They sat quietly, hand in hand, until they reached his home. Before they moved into the house, Carly felt for Godric's signal, which was still evenly modulating. What she'd first assumed was serenity, she now knew was depression.

As they moved into the house, Godric spoke quietly, "I presumed, my child, that the two of you would sleep at Carly's home."

"No, master. We preferred to take our rest here with you."

"I'm grateful for your company," Godric smiled. "Perhaps I should have kept Melissa with me. Did you see her back to her dormitory, Carly?"

"I couldn't pull the car up in front of it, but Eric made sure she got inside."

"I regret I misused her," Godric moved toward the kitchen. "I forgot how the hunger can take hold once it begins. Did the two of you talk, Carly?"

"A little bit."

Eric followed Godric into the kitchen and returned with a bottle of blood for himself and a bottle of orange juice for her.

Once back in the living room, Godric asked, "Do you believe she'll be willing to see me again?"

Carly nodded but added, "She has her own sadness, Godric."

"She's much too young for true sorrow. Is there something I could do to ease it?" Godric's concern for the girl reassured Carly.

"Perhaps, but you should ask her yourself about it." Although Carly cautioned Melissa to make sure Godric saw her as a "authentic being," worthy of respect, she could do some things to influence the way that Godric treated the girl. "Did you learn anything about her tonight?"

"She told me about her classes at her college, but little about her family." Godric squinted at Carly. "Should I assume that means she has a poor relationship with them?"

"Do you have a plan for seeing her again?"

"Yes, I gave her my contact information and enough money to travel to New Orleans." Godric took a sip of his blood and then added, "I will offer to relocate her to a New Orleans college if she wishes."

To Carly, Eric seemed troubled. "I thought you didn't want her to be a pet?"

"Perhaps I was too hasty." Drinking more blood, Godric said, "I found her presence comforting." He added quickly, "Carly, do not worry. I won't abuse her in any way. And I will not feed as haphazardly as I did tonight."

"Why did you, Godric?" Eric placed his hand over her leg, almost in a gesture of caution, but she continued with her question, nonetheless. "You said it was because my blood got you excited. Is that really why?"

"No, Carly." He walked toward a window. "I think it was residual self-destructiveness. Part of me hopes that Eric will simply take his rightful place as king." Godric turned to look at the two of them. "I fled from human contact for so long and avoided authorities for so long. While Eric has known me a thousand years, he did not know how deeply I suffered in my first thousand."

Carly didn't wait for Godric to continue his story, but added. "How long did the Romans hold you captive?"

"Perhaps I shall share my story with you tomorrow night, Carly." Godric smiled sweetly at her and nodded to his child. "I am sure that Eric feels the pull of the sun as well. I would like to wash before resting." Godric drank the remainder of his blood and dropped the bottle in the kitchen. "I wish you both a good rest."