Chapter Four.
AN: Please, drop a review. They motivate me to write! A million times thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows! It means so much to me!
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own TrueBlood, but I do own my OC's.
XXX
"Fangtasia?" River reads the illuminating sigh above the entrance as she climbs out of the car, her brow raised in disbelief. Oh, the irony is too sweet with this one.
"You have to remember that most vampires are very old. Puns used to be the highest form of humor." Bill explains as he makes his way to the girls, grabbing hold of Sookie's hand and leading the blonde towards the entrance of the bar.
"Seriously, Bill…" River growls out annoyed as she practically hopples in her incredibly high heels after the couple to keep up with their pace. "You could've warned me about the whole 'vampire bait' thing before we left my place." She tugs at her shirt. "I could've changed!"
"River, you seriously need to calm down." Sookie says before a giggle erupts from her throat.
"Yes, that would be wise since vampires can sense fear on humans." Bill states, trying his darn hardest to suppress the grin that is threating to spread across his face as he watches River's whole demeaner change, sensing her distress.
River's head snaps up and her eyes widen in fear. Just as her lips part and she's about to speak, Sookie interjects.
"Bill, stop freaking her out!" Sookie slaps him on the arm. "I need her here tonight to help me."
"My apologies. As long as you stick to my side, no harm will come to you." Bill promises before the three of them arrive at the front entrance, being met by a woman River considers exceptionally stunning.
"Bill…" The vampire Barbie speaks up, her voice so sultry. "Haven't seen you in a while."
"I'm mainstreaming." Bill answers simply.
"Good for you." She says in a nonchalant tone of voice before diverting her gaze to the girls, looking them over. "Who are the dolls?" She asks curiously.
"Pam, this is Sookie and River, girls this is Pam." Bill introduces the lot while he grabs hold of Sookie's hand, tugging her closer to him in a protective manner.
"It's nice to meet you, Pam." River smiles politely before jutting her arm out, offering her hand to shake, trying her best to seem cool and collected.
Pam on the other hand narrows her eyes at River, wrapping her icy digits around the brunette's wrist with ultra-speed and pulling it towards her nose, inhaling deeply. "My…My…" She trails off. "Don't you smell divine." She says in a purr.
"T-Thank you…" River says nervously before swallowing the lump in her throat, pulling her hand back quickly.
"Bet you taste even better." Pam thinks aloud, her statement causing River to feel her heart pound in her chest at a dangerous level as she remembers what Bill had to say about her sweet smelling blood.
"Pam!" Bill barks out a warning, only for it to fall on deaf ears as she rolls her eyes.
"Can I see some I.D?"
"Oh, Sure! How funny." Sookie trails off as she rummages through her purse, digging out her wallet. "Who would have thought getting carded in a vampire bar." She says as she hands it to the vampire Barbie.
"I can no longer tell human ages. We must be careful we serve no minors in any capacity." Pam explains while studying Sookie's I.D. "Twenty-five huh? How sweet it is." She says in the same nonchalant tone before handing the wallet back to the cheery blonde.
River swiftly pulls her ID from her purse and offers it to Pam who abruptly grabs it from her. "Twenty?" She raises a brow. "You do know you're not old enough to drink, right?" Pam narrows her eyes at River before handing the card back.
"Technically the legal age where I'm from is eighteen." River stupidly educates the vampire. "Don't worry though," She pulls her hands up before herself in surrender. "I don't drink anyway."
"I won't tell if you won't." Pam winks at her flirtatiously before turning on her heel, walking off into the club.
As the three of them make their way through the crowd of people, Sookie speaks up. "This feels a little bit like what a vampire bar would look like if it were a ride at Disney World." She says amazed while looking the place over.
"Don't get too comfortable. It tends to get more authentic as the night wears on." Bill warns before directing the girls towards the bar. "Can I get you ladies something to drink?"
"That'll be nice." Sookie beams while slamming her purse on the bar.
"How's it going, Bill?" The bartender with freakishly long hair asks. His fangs exposed for all to see.
"Very well." Bill smiles.
"I'll say it is." The bartender looks the girls over before licking his lips in a way River finds repulsive. "Is one of them your meal for tonight?"
Meal?
Meal!?
"These are my friends, Sookie and River. Ladies this is Longshaddow." Bill introduces the lot.
"Nice to meet you." Sookie practically yells out while River gives him a small yet fake smile, trying to look as sincere as possible.
Longshaddow on the other hand stares at them intently. "So what will it be?"
"I'll have a gin and tonic." Sookie says with a smile.
Longshaddow nods his head in understanding and diverts his gaze to the brunette, awaiting her order.
"I'll just have some water, please." River smiles at the bartender only for him to gaze at her with narrowed eyes. Clearly he isn't too pleased with her ordering water.
'Shit, who comes to a bar and orders water?'She scolds herself mentally as she feels her heartrate accelerate from the scary gaze he has locked on her.
"I'll have a bottle of O-Neg." Bill speaks up, causing Longshaddow to divert his icy gaze away from River.
"Sookie-" River calls out as she grabs hold of the blonde's arm to get her full attention. "I'm going to go find us a table while you finish up. It's getting pretty crowded in here." She lies feebly, not wanting her to know the real reason is just to get away from this vampire.
Sookie smiles in return and nods her head in agreement.
River turns on her heel, her back turned to the bar as she walks further into the establishment. She passes through the crowds of people and finally spots an empty table for her to wait at. River hops on one of the stools and gazes over towards Sookie's and finds her holding out some pictures for Longshaddow to look at. River adjust herself on the stool more comfortably and looks around the room, sensing each and every emotion around her. Hate. Anger. Lust.
The latter seems to be the strongest aura in the bar.
She studies the people around her and suddenly catches sight of a person sitting on a chair that resembles a throne. She feels a tugging at her heart as she allows her eyes more time to roam over his body, from his long feet to his broad shoulders. Studying the features of his face, taking mental images to think back upon later. Suddenly she finds herself feeling very curious about what his eye color would be. When she thinks about him tonight when she's all alone in bed, what color eyes would be staring back into her own? She slowly trails her gaze from his perfectly sculpted jawline to his eyes, trying to do it as graceful and casual as possible. She just did not expect to lock eyes with the enigma of a man sneering back at her.
River's face flushes with embarrassment and she abruptly gaze down at the floor, biting her lip nervously. Just as she's was about to pray to God to let the ground swallow her whole, Sookie and Bill appears, taking their seats beside her.
"You forgot your water, hun." Sookie says while placing the water bottle in front of the brunette. River doesn't dare to speak, she just thanks Sookie with a small smile. "You okay? You look a little flushed."
Her statement takes River a little by surprise. She quickly peers back at the guy on the platform to find him still staring at her intently. She bites her lip nervously once again and glances at Sookie.
"Oh, uhm… Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a little hot in here, you know?" She lies feebly before abruptly grabbing the water bottle, taking a big gulp from it.
"Better?" Sookie asks unconvinced.
River nods her head and places the bottle on the table while swallowing the last bit of water in her mouth. "Much, thank you." She says with a smile. "So how did it go? Find out anything?" River asks, casually trying to change the subject.
She tries her upmost best to refrain herself from catching just one last glimpse of the mysterious blond, but fails miserably. As if being hypnotized, River gazes towards him, only to find him still glaring at her with the same icy cold intensity that forces her to break eye contact and look down, instinctively playing with the label on her water bottle.
"Nope. He didn't have anything useful to say." Sookie sighs and takes a sip of her gin.
Curiosity got the better of River and she just had to ask. "Hey, Bill..." She trails off. "Who is that?" River asks while indicating with her eyes towards the blond man on the platform, trying to seem as confident and casual as possible.
Bill and Sookie simultaneously follow River's gaze to see who she's referring to. "Oh, you noticed him, did you?" Bill asks, the irritation clear in his voice.
River feels her cheeks heat up and takes a casual sip of her water, trying to act composed. "No, it's not like that. I just-" River tries to justify herself but Bill interjects.
"Everyone does. That's Eric." Bill rolls his eyes. "He's the oldest thing in this bar."
The three of them look over to Eric and notices a random guy bowing before him, kissing his knee. In a blink of an eye, the guy got kicked by the hunk of a man and landed on the opposite side of the bar. River involuntarily cringes as she thinks just how painful that must have been by the looks of it.
"Still think you're in Disney world?" Bill asks as he takes a sip of his true blood before setting it back down on the table. "You girls able to pick up anything?"
Sookie looks the entire bar over one more time before speaking "All anyone is thinking about in here is sex, sex, sex." She says irritably, not even trying to hide her disgust.
"I know what you mean." River says with a giggle since she could feel everyone's lust around her.
"One needn't be telepathic to pick up that." Bill mocks and River can't help the laugh that escapes her lips.
They sit in silence for a few more moments while Sookie tries to find her information by focusing in on what everyone around her is thinking, when Bill suddenly speaks up. "Uh-oh." He says defeated.
"What's wrong?" River asks alarmed, instinctively looking over her shoulder for any oncoming danger.
"Don't say uh-oh!" Sookie blurts out. "Vampires are not supposed to say 'uh-oh'"
"It's Eric. He's scanned us twice now." Bill growls out. "He's going to summon us."
River instantly looks over her shoulder at Eric on the platform with vampire Barbie by his side, both staring in her direction. With a nonchalant facial expression, Eric lifts his hand and signals the trio over to him and Bill lets out a sigh of defeat before standing to his feet.
River looks back at Bill, the fear evident on her face. "He can do that?!" She asks nervously.
"Oh yeah." Bill says simply, his eyes fixed to Eric's. "He can do anything he wants."
River's heart automatically starts to beat faster. She looks over at Sookie who only shrugs her shoulders back at the brunette before she hops off from her stool. Bill juts his hand out for Sookie to take and they step towards the front of the table before looking back at River who remains glued to her seat. "You too, River." Bill trails off. "He is summoning all three of us."
River lets out a sigh of defeat before jumping off her stool and following in the footsteps of her friends towards Eric. She quickly straightens her top and runs her fingers through a section of her hair to tame any flyaway strands as if trying to make herself look more presentable. With Sookie and Bill standing right in front of the blond vampire, River decides to pick a spot right next to Sookie's side. As she nears Eric, she tries her best to hide her fear, even if it's no use. He's a vampire after all. Like Bill explained earlier, they can smell it on a human. She most definitely reeks of it. She swallows hard before averting her gaze to him, locking eyes with him yet again. Icy blue orbs meeting her own black ones. She can't help but revel in his beauty, nor can she seem to look away for too long…
"Bill Compton..." Eric starts to speak, his deep-exotic voice almost causing River to involuntarily squeak. "It has been a while."
"Yes, well I've been -" Bill tries to answer but Eric suddenly interjects.
"Mainstreaming..." He trails off. "I heard." The blond vampire says nonchalantly before averting his gaze to the girls. "I see that it's going well for you." He suddenly fixes his eyes to River's, his stare so intense she can't help but look to the ground.
"Yes of course. Uh, Sorry…" Bill apologizes awkwardly. "Eric, these are my friends-" Bill tries to introduce the girls but Eric interjects yet again.
"Sookie Stackhouse and River Rose Conley" Eric states matter-of-factly.
"How do you know our names?" Sookie suddenly demands.
"I never forget a pretty face." Pam speaks up. "You two are in my vault." She taps her temple with her index finger.
"Great. That's just… great." Sookie says awkwardly before averting her attention to Eric. "It's nice to meet you." She juts her arm out, offering her hand for him to shake but he doesn't.
"Well aren't you sweet." Eric says unexcited, cocking his head to the side.
"Not really" Sookie mumbles.
River stands in awe as she listens to the sass Sookie tosses back at the vampire. Bill nudges Sookie on the shoulder as if to warn her to keep her mouth shut and River feels so sure that Eric might take offense to the disrespect Sookie is portraying towards him, but instead of kicking her across the bar like he did the guy from earlier tonight, he chuckles. Bearing his beautiful teeth and voicing his melodic laugh that River would gladly listen to time and time again.
Eric cocks his head to the side. "Vår lilla zoo börjar växa." He whispers to Pam in some foreign language none of them understand. (Our little zoo is starting to grow.)
"Jag vet." Pam replies, looking intently at River.(I know.)
"Miss Stackhouse," Eric smirks. "I understand you've been asking questions about some of my customers."
"Yes I have." Sookie agrees confidently.
The smirk suddenly vanishes from his face. "If you have anything to ask you should ask it of me." Eric says it more like a demand than suggestion.
"Allrighty..." Sookie trails off before rummaging through her purse, grabbing hold of the pictures and pulling them out. "Do you recognize any of these girls?" Sookie asks as she hands him the pictures.
Eric snatches the pictures from her hand and studies them over. River notices him smirking while looking over Dawn's picture, making approving noises in the process. Weirdly enough, River can't seem to understand why that little act of his is igniting an annoyance of jealousy within her.
"This one offered herself to me." He lazily points at the picture of Maudette. "I found her too pathetic for my attention." He says simply before averting his gaze to Dawn's picture."Now this one however," He licks his lips seductively. "I have tasted." He admits truthfully.
'Of course he has.'River thinks to herself as the jealousy starts to grow stronger.
"I remember them both." Pam admits. "Never had either of them though. They weren't really my type." Pam says as looks River over, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Sookie," River calls out for her attention in a whisper. "I think it's time for us to go." She forces a smile, even though she so desperately wanted to get out of here, as far away from Eric as humanly possible.
Sookie nods her head in agreement before looking back at Eric. "Well, thank you very much. That is all your time I need to take." She says as she grabs the pictures from Eric and shoves them deep in her purse.
"I'm not finished with you yet." Eric says rather forcefully before a small smile sneaks onto his features. "Please." He indicates to the chairs next to his throne. "Sit…"
Sookie looks over her shoulder at Bill before stepping closer to the chair on Eric's right, plopping herself down while Bill takes the one on the left. With no more seats available, River remains standing in her original spot, which she was completely fine with since she didn't want to be closer to Eric than needed be. She casually looks towards Eric who is arrogantly patting his lap, coaxing her to sit.
"I'm fine, thank you." River forces herself to say as she blushes profusely. She steps closer to Sookie and leans in so that Sookie would be able to hear her over the loud music. "I'm going to go get another drink." She lets the cheery blonde know before turning on her heel. "I'll let you guys get to your talking." She smiles shyly at the group as she makes her way off the landing. But before she could even register what had happened, she was situated directly on top of Eric's lap. All she can recall was being mid-step and then feeling hands on her waist. Now here she is, sitting sideways on the Viking's lap with his left hand resting on her kneecap and the right arm snaked around her waist, keeping her in place.
Her heart was pounding in her chest at a dangerous rate. Her stomach was twisting in tight knots and her face completely crimson. She immediately tries to scurry off his of his lap only for him to tighten his grip on her. She tries one more time to make her great escape but to no avail, she won't be getting out of this one. All she is left to do now is to stay completely still, try to calm her nerves and ignore the fact that he smells absolutely freaking delicious.
"Comfy?" Eric asks arrogantly before leaning in closer to River, burying his nose in the crook of her neck and inhaling deeply. Here River thought her face couldn't turn any more crimson, but he sure proved her wrong."Sooo, Bill…" Eric trails off as he exhales deeply. "Are you quite attached to your friend?"
"Sookie is mine!" Bill growls out.
Sookie's eyes travel from Bill to Eric before speaking. "Yes, I am his." She admits proudly.
"How sweet." Eric say sarcastically. "Although I wasn't referring to you, Miss Stackhouse." He looks back at River and tugs a piece of hair behind her ear. "So, Miss Conley-" Eric suddenly grabs hold of her chin with his surprisingly warm fingers before moving her face in his direction, ensuring she'll make eye contact with him. His skin felt nothing like Bill or Pam's and River had to suppress herself from shivering at his touch. "Are you Bill's as well?" He asks as he strokes her knee through her jeans with the thumb of his left hand.
She so desperately wanted to scream her answer. She so desperately wanted to shout NO at the top of her lungs, she wasn't Bill's, but she couldn't get herself to speak, she knew her voice would fail her.
"Yes, she's also mine!" River hears Bill answer and she mentally scolds herself.
"What a pity." Eric says with a forced smile, gradually digging his fingers deeper into her skin albeit the annoyance is clear on his face. "For me." He finishes his thought with a smirk before continuing his affectionate strokes to her knee. "We have catching up to do you and I. It has been too long." Eric trails off and Bill nods his head in understanding.
"We have to get out of here!" Sookie suddenly yells out.
"Sookie," Bill calls out, giving her a warning look since he didn't want the other two vampires to grow suspicious, although Sookie just shrugs of Bill's warning.
"Eric, the cops are coming." She alarms him. "There's gonna be a riot!"
River feels Eric's body stiffen under her, his hand suddenly stills on her knee and he digs his fingers in painfully hard, causing her yelp out. "Tell me you're not undercover cops." He growls out as he stares intently at River who tries her best to pull at his fingers to get his hand off but with no such luck.
"We're not!" River exclaims. Eric on the other hand seems unconvinced. His stare is still fixed on her, as if he's trying to read her mind to find out if she's lying. "I swear." River promises as she looks him straight in the eye, as if she's staring straight into his soul.
"We're not, Eric."Sookie speaks up. "But that guy in the hat is." Sookie points out to a guy in the crowd of people.
He looks to the direction of the cop and River suddenly feels his body relax under her. His painful grip on her knee loosens and he start stroking her affectionately once more. "Even if you're right, we do nothing illegal here."
"There's a vampire named Tarryn in the ladies' room with that man you kicked earlier. She's feeding on him." Sookie rambles on.
"How do you know this." Pam asks with narrowed eyes before the sound of yelling and screaming demands their attention.
"POLICE! POLICE!" River looks at the direction of the yelling and see every person in the bar forming a stampede towards the exit.
Suddenly River's feet are planted on the ground and a warm hand grabs hold of her wrist painfully hard. "Follow me." Eric demands. The group follows him as he makes his way out the of the bar and towards the back exit. He slams the door open and rushes through it, dragging River along with him. Her heel twists in the gravel and she loses her balance, feeling herself fall forward, but thankfully a hand on the front of her neck and another on the waist catches her from plummeting face first into the ground. River gazes up and finds the incredibly tall Eric holding her firmly in place. "Thank you" She breath out while trying to regulate her abnormal breathing.
"Try to be more careful, yeah?" Eric growls out annoyed only for River to furrow her brows at him. He suddenly wraps his long digits around her wrist again and pulls her after him.
"River! Where are you going?" Sookie yells out and Eric abruptly stops dead in his tracks, causing River to bump her forehead into his hard-muscular back.
"I will be taking miss Conley with me and ensure she gets home safely." Eric says forcefully.
"There is no way in hell I will be letting you anywhere near her, Eric! You are no good and a danger to all!" Sookie argues as she marches toward him.
"On the contrary, Miss Stackhouse." Eric trails off with a chuckle. "I think she'd be safest with me."
River slowly pulls her hand from Eric's grip and looks up at the towering man. "I have to go with her." She explains softly, trying her best not to offend him.
"Why is that?" Eric raises an eyebrow at her. "Are you scared I might hurt you?" He asks with a sneer that causes River to swallow hard.
"N-No…" She lies feebly.
Eric looks down at River, his face fathomless. He leans down and River feels his nose press against the crook of her neck. She tries her best to squirm away only for him to grab hold of her waist and keep her locked in place. River feels her heartrate escalating dangerously high. She closes her eyes tightly and bites down on her bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. She waits for his inevitable assault on her neck but instead of biting her, he inhales deeply. As if trying to savor the smell of her. "Whatever you want." Eric breaths out against her neck. As soon as it happened, it was over. Eric moved away from her abruptly. "I enjoyed meeting you Miss Stackhouse, Miss Conley. You will come again." With that, he's gone with a vampire speed.
XXX
AN: That's a wrap on chapter 4! I'm not happy with how I wrote the ending of this chapter. There needed to be more, but my brain won't allow me to create anything better this time of night! I'm so sorry I'm taking forever to upload, but one of my new years resolutions is to write more frequently. Happy 2018 guys! I hope you have an amazing year!
To the reviewer Ripley…
I want to keep this short since no one likes AN's but I had to respond to yours since you had a lot of valuable pointers. I honestly don't even realize that I switch from present to past tense that much, like I've said before, by NO means am I a writer. I also don't proof read my work so there will be lots of errors. I think I need a beta that can help me fix errors I don't see and help with some plot. I suck at writing, I only do this for fun because I want to live vicariously through my OC'S.
I promise you, and everyone reading this, that I am not racist. I know you didn't insinuate it, but I just want to clarify. River is mostly based on me, she has a lot, if not all- of my traits (apart from the whole telekinetic thing…duh
I personally am from South Africa and I am white, so I'm not trying to avoid non-white characters. Chelsea is based on my best friend / sister who I met online 6 years ago. She lives across the globe from me and that's where I got the idea of Chelsea and River's relationship.
There is a section in one of my chapters I was a little wary of adding, the part where River asked Sookie if she expected a person of color just because she heard River was from South Africa. That is just a little inside joke. Mostly when I meet people online and I tell the which country I'm from, they automatically assume I'm black. That's the only reason I added it. Thank you for your review!
I LOOOOVE reading all the reviews to my story! If you guys want to ask me questions about the story, feel free to pm me, or if you want me to respond to your reviews this way, please let me know! If you have any requests of how the story should go, or any ideas I can use… Please share them with me and I'll try to incorporate it.