Author's Note: The Wiki'd Women are hosting a writing contest. For all of you who love both Eric AND Bill (and really – who doesn't want it all?), get your fingers flying and type up some Lovin' (you'll have to fix the link to make it work – sorry, not my rules): http: // billswikid women (dot) wetpaint (dot) com/page/ Fanfic+Writers +Competition-+Make+Love,+Not+War!
I wrote Andre, Hadley, and Sophie-Ann in Waking the Dead before they appeared (or didn't, in Andre's case) in Season Two; I'm continuing to write them in that way. Also, in my version of events, Bill's special abilities include perfect-recollection. He doesn't forget anything. Ever. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter Four
"Bill," Pam purred at the door. Several humans dress in black who were loitering in the parking lot perked up and started moving closer to the seductive tenor of her voice. "Come to retrieve your brat, I hope?" She growled at the humans, and they scattered but seemed thrilled. I shook my head at their stupidity. He who did not take Pam seriously did so at his peril.
"I am here at Eric's request," I explained. "Is he available?"
Pam snickered and rolled her eyes. "He's in his office. No need to knock."
"Are you going to let me in on the joke?" I asked.
"Now why would I go and ruin all my fun?" she laughed. "Hurry along. Wouldn't want you to be tardy…"
"Always a pleasure, Pam," I said under my breath as I walked inside the bar, and her mocking laughter followed me.
Fangtasia was full of its usual mix of hard-core fangbangers and tourists, the stench of sweat and sex repugnant. The appeal of pandering to the humans still baffled me.
Jessica was up on one of the tables, wearing a mini-dress that appeared to be made of rubber. I caught her eye and nodded, but she only huffed and turned her back to me, shaking her bottom in my general direction.
The new bartender, Chow, was just as friendly with the patrons as Longshadow had been, acting as though paying far too much for a drink was their privilege. We nodded to each other, and I carefully did the same to the three other vampires mingling with the crowd, none of whom I knew well.
I went through the door that led to the restrooms, store room, and Eric's office. His door was closed, but I could hear the sounds of sex through the reinforced steel. I sighed, knowing I'd arrived when he'd told me to. I quietly opened the door and slipped inside.
Eric was sprawled out behind his desk, the fly of his expensive jeans open. A blond-haired girl moved up and down enthusiastically while he grinned at me and gestured to one of the empty chairs.
"Bill, punctual as always. Sit." He shook his long hair and leaned back, a slow smile moving across his lips. He twisted his hands cruelly into the girl's hair and guided her movements. I felt it in our shared blood when his pleasure began to build, and my fangs pressed uncomfortably against my gums as I instinctively reacted. At the last moment, he pulled the girl away, stroking himself to completion while he buried his fangs into her neck.
I watched his cheeks hallow as he pulled harshly on the wound. The girl cried out and struggled, but Eric only smiled at me around her bloodied neck and continued to feed. He pushed her away when he was done and calmly wiped his blood from his hand with a tissue. The girl stumbled, and Eric easily caught her by the wrist and twisted her around to look at him. As soon as she did, she slumped under the power of his glamour.
"You will have the hardest orgasm you've ever experienced in your life," he commanded. I looked away as the girl immediately began panting and, within seconds, was crying out and writhing against Eric. He stared at the ceiling, obviously bored, and didn't move until she was once again silent.
"You will realize when you wake tomorrow that you are not interested in a drug-lifestyle. You will check yourself into rehab and never do drugs again." Eric released his grip on her arm and started to turn away. At the last moment, he smiled and said, "You will tell everyone who asks that sex with me is indescribably good and unforgettable." At that, he broke their connection. The girl blinked and shook her head a few times. Then she noticed me.
"Hey," she drawled as she pressed her breasts against the back of my head.
"Eric," I said.
"Leave," he said.
"But I…" she began.
"Leave," he repeated. The woman huffed a bit, but left quietly, shutting the door behind her. "I thought you might be hungry," he shrugged.
"I drank a TruBlood in the car," I said.
He snorted. "That's your own damn fault." He sat back down and slouched in the chair, stretching out his long legs. "Oh, Bill, you take yourself entirely too seriously."
"Some might say you don't take anything seriously enough," I countered.
Eric laughed. "Hmmm… But that is nice. From time to time, I do enjoy a good buzz."
"What's she on?" I asked.
"Pills, unfortunately. Really not very original, that one. The trinity, I think: vicodin, soma, and xanax."
"That can be quite dangerous, you know." I meant to the humans. Even with enough drugs in the blood to nearly kill a mortal, a vampire will only feel the effects for a short while.
Eric shrugged. "What do I care? Once in a while, it's a pleasant sensation. Thank goodness cocaine has gone out of fashion. Why people would pay good money to feel that oversexed and aggressive is beyond me."
"Maybe because you feel that way all the time?"
Eric quietly laughed and shook his head. "Touché, my friend. Touché. You know what I truly miss though?"
"As I noted when we spoke earlier, Sookie is off work at 1:30, and I will be home to meet her there."
"Laudanum," he continued, as if I hadn't spoken. "Were you vampire when everyone was guzzling laudanum? They took it for everything. Of course, dissolving opium in booze will cure you of just about anything that's ailing." He laughed. "Oh, I miss it… I keep thinking it'll come back into vogue, as everything seems to do, but those anti-drug people are seriously uptight. I think they would benefit from some chemical-mellowing."
"Eric," I repeated. "Why did you summon me?"
He stood and rolled his eyes. "Oh Bill," he said as he dropped a heavy hand onto my shoulder, his strong fingers massaging my neck. "You're spoiling my buzz."
I shrugged him off. "I am quite serious, Eric. I will leave at 12:45, whether you are finished with me or not."
He clucked his tongue as he settled back into his chair behind the desk. "Speeding home to your girl, Bill? That's not very safe, now is it?"
"What do you want?"
"Why won't you play with me?" he mused.
"What do you want?" I repeated.
He sighed deeply and took a pad of Fangtasia paper from a drawer in his desk. He scribbed, "I want another set of books."
I raised an eyebrow and studied him. I set up Eric's bookkeeping, and I knew he already had three sets of records. The first, of course, was the actual financial records for the club, the ones he shared with the co-owners of the bar. They skimmed from the first to produce the second, which was for the Queen to calculate her tribute. And the third, the "official" record for human purposes, was cooked even more, showing but a fraction of the profit.
"For my eyes only," Eric wrote on the paper. "Longshadow will not be repeated," he said as he crumbled the paper and added it to the bloody tissue in a small bowl. He poured vodka on top before setting it aflame. "And if I know you," he winked at me. "And rest assured that I do, I'm sure you write some kind of back-door into the code, yes? So you can always access the information, even if it is encrypted?" I curtly nodded. "Don't do that," he commanded, all teasing suddenly gone from his voice and expression.
I nodded. "Why do you care?" I asked. "Those few thousands Longshadow took were nothing to you. You have what? Hundreds of millions stashed away? A few billion? Probably more."
"I will not be cheated out of what is rightfully mine," he said, and I knew he wasn't merely talking about money.
"You knew he'd taken it," I said. My nails drew blood in my palms. "You knew before you summoned us."
Eric inhaled deeply and smiled at my fists, licking his lips. "You've accused me of this kind of manipulation before, Bill."
"Deny it, then. Tell me that you didn't know."
Eric sighed. "That's your problem, Bill. You lose sight of the big picture. You're not willing to make sacrifices."
"Deny it," I repeated, slamming my fist on his desk so that the metal groaned and bent. "Deny it," I hissed.
"I knew he'd taken the money," Eric calmly replied. "Of course I knew. Who else would've done it? Pam is my blood; she would never betray me."
I slumped back into my chair, feeling surprisingly worse now that I knew the truth. "Then why bring Sookie into it?"
Eric shrugged. "I needed to know what she could do. I felt it was the best way to test her abilities." I growled. "And I wanted to test you, too, Bill," he continued. "I didn't anticipate that he would try to kill her, but I certainly didn't think you'd stake an elder in front of witnesses for your pet."
"Don't speak of her that way," I said.
"You've lost all reason where she's concerned." He stared at me for a long time. "Shall I warn you again?" he finally asked. "Should I regale you with tragic tales of pain and loss and betrayal, which is inevitably what happens when we put our trust in mortals? Do you need me to spell out the consequences of your blood perishing in a bonded's human body? Need I remind you that the ironic cruelty of the Magister will be nothing compared to Andre's wrath if he catches wind of what you're hiding? You may think I'm manipulative or without scruples, but Andre would rationalize any action, anything, for the Queen. He is far more dangerous than I."
"You could've just asked me what she's capable of," I said, moving the conversation away from Andre and the Queen.
"If you recall," Eric pointedly said. "And I know you do quite perfectly, I did ask you. You chose to be less than forthcoming, thus I was forced to conduct my own investigation."
"Why do you want her?" I asked.
"Why do you?"
"She is…" I began. I cleared my throat and shifted in my chair. "She is mine," I finally said.
Eric snorted and shook his head. "You claim that you want her because she's yours?"
"Why do you want her?" I repeated.
"That's obvious, isn't it?" he replied. "She's a valuable asset."
"She's still your asset if she's mine," I pointed out.
Eric smiled and tilted his head as he examined me. "True," he agreed. "But certain aspects of her… assets… cannot be fully utilized when she belongs to you." I narrowed my eyes at him and felt my fangs once again press against my gums, and he lazily waved me off. "Stop getting fangy on me," he said. "I'm not taking her from you. Of course, who knows what the future will hold. If she were to choose me of her own volition, well, there's nothing you could do about that. Rules are rules, Bill."
"Why are you such a Machiavellian fuck?" I asked.
"I could ask why you're such a tedious, self-flagellating prick. If you'd climb down from your high horse for a moment, you'd see that I'm simply answering your questions honestly, as one does among friends."
"Friends," I snorted.
"Yes Bill," Eric replied. "Friends. Do not think for a second in that enormous head of yours that I would tolerate such behavior from any other minion."
"First I'm a friend, and now I'm a minion…"
"Stick with what you're good at, Bill," Eric said in a fatherly tone. "And stay away from politics. I've told you that before. You really don't have the mind for it. Or the stomach." I didn't answer, and he smiled and shook his head. "So, speaking of what you're good at, when can you have it done?"
"I'll start the night after next."
"What's wrong with tomorrow?"
"I have a previous engagement," I said.
"With Sookie?" Eric sneered.
"What I do in my personal time is not your concern."
Eric laughed. "Run along home, Bill. I know you're done with me."
I stood and respectfully bowed my head. "I have one more issue before I leave," I said, my head still lowered. "Sheriff."
"Yes?" Eric slowly asked, obviously wary since I seldom used his official title.
"Do you have any…" I cleared my throat. "Guests... in the basement?" Very few people knew about Fangtasia's basements. One, which was accessible from a secret passageway, was a state of the art safe-room that doubled as a den of sin when Eric saw fit to entertain. The other, which came up through the bar, was little more than a holding area. There were coffins and silver chains for vampire-offenders, and a separate and equally inhospitable area for humans.
"Perhaps."
"One of Sookie's friends, the cook at Merlotte's, has gone missing. Lafayette?" Eric smiled and nodded. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Dammit," I muttered, knowing that I would never be able to explain to Sookie so that she would understand. "To make my life considerably easier, is there anyway you can forgive whatever it is he's done?"
"Making your life easier isn't something that interests me," Eric said.
"Yes, however…" I began.
"Were you acquainted with Eddie Gautier?" he interrupted.
I shrugged. "Not intimately…" I said.
"Much to his disappointment, I'm sure," Eric interrupted again, leering at me.
I chose to ignore him. "I announced myself to everyone in the area when I first moved back." I narrowed my eyes. "Why did you say 'were'?"
"He's missing, and I strongly suspect he's dead."
"Lafayette's involved?" I asked.
Eric shrugged. "He's a known seller of his blood."
I hissed. "Eddie sold his own blood?"
Eric nodded. "So, to answer your question, no, I will not simply forgive. Merlotte's will have to be short-staffed. I'm sure the shifter will manage. And I'm sure your little golden-girl will manage as well. Life is cruel. If she doesn't already know that, it's time she learned."
"He's a good friend of Sookie's," I repeated. "Just so you know."
"Drive safely, Bill. I look forward to seeing you soon."
***
"What's with all the packages?" Sookie asked when she came in through the front door. She was still dressed in her Merlotte's uniform, and I'd only just returned from Shreveport with barely enough time to casually settle myself onto the sofa with a book, as if I'd been sitting there all evening.
"They're for you," I answered, braced for her to berate me for buying her gifts.
"For me?" she asked as she dropped her purse onto the table. "What did you buy for me?"
"Well, knowing how you abhor gifts, they're really not yours," I smiled at her. "They're mine for you to use to make your stays here more comfortable."
She smiled and perched on the edge of the sofa in front of the stack of cardboard boxes. I handed her a knife to cut into the packing tape. She opened the new coffee pot, toaster, blender, and microwave.
"Bill," she sighed. "You didn't have to do that."
"Well," I said. "I can use the microwave too. And I told you, I do enjoy the smell of coffee."
She settled next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. "Thank you," she finally said.
I smiled. "Well, that was simple. I'll have to buy you more things if you're going to be so reasonable about accepting them."
"Don't push your luck," she quickly replied.
"Would it be 'pushing my luck' to suggest that you take a shower, and then I'll run us a bath?"
"Hmmmm," she hummed as she rubbed her nose against my shirt. "That sounds nice."
"Nice, but not too lucky?"
She laughed. "No, not too lucky." I pulled her onto my lap and kissed her, gently pulling the elastic from her hair and running my fingers through her blond curls.
"I think I'm extremely lucky," I whispered as my tongue dipped into her ear. She shivered, and I blew my cool breath down her collar. "Go hop in the shower," I said. "I'll get everything else ready."
While she ran upstairs and started the shower, I grabbed an assortment of snacks and beverages from the kitchen, glad that we would be going to pick appliances the following night. She was still under the spray as I lit the candles around the bathroom and filled the tub with hot water. Sookie turned off the shower, and I turned off the harsh electric lights and helped her into the tub.
"Ahh," she sighed as she settled in, the water coming up to her chin. "Now that's perfect."
"Really?" I asked as I kneeled behind her and carefully began combing out her wet hair.
"Well, you're right. I spoke too soon. That's even better." She closed her eyes and leaned back as I toweled her hair before I braided it for her, and then clipped it up so it wouldn't get wet. My task complete, I kissed the top of her head and climbed in behind her, settling her body between my legs, her head resting on my shoulder.
"How about now?" I whispered, wrapping my legs around hers and pulling her to my chest.
"I've never been quite that wrong," she said. "This is perfect, and anything else is just… well… not."
"I have to concur," I said.
She giggled. "You sound so old-fashioned sometimes."
"I am old-fashioned," I said.
She nodded. "I'm not complaining. I think it's nice. It just sounds funny after listening to a bunch of rednecks all night. But funny in a good way." She shifted against me, rubbing in all the right places. "Hey Bill, speaking of rednecks, you don't think those guys took Lafayette, do you? The rednecks with the garlic at the DGD? They had a thing going on with Lafayette. Something about a burger, and then a soup-spoon?"
"I doubt it," I evasively answered, hoping she'd accept it.
She nodded her head. "You're right. Lafayette's smarter than that. I'm just worried, that's all." She shook her head. "People think I'm crazy for not dating much, but when those guys are what's available, I'd be crazy to date…"
"You said that you'd been on some dates."
She shrugged. "Not many to speak of, and most ended abruptly." She shifted again, and I felt her flush.
"That sounds like a story," I suggested.
"This is embarrassing," she said.
"I'll tell you one of mine if you tell me one of yours," I offered.
Sookie laughed. "Gran always said to watch out for boys who made deals like that," she teased.
"That's probably good advice," I countered. "But I'm not a boy. To prove it, I'll go first."
She hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "How about your first kiss?"
"I wanted to marry a Bellefleur," I began.
"Bellefleur?" she repeated. "As in a relative of Terry and Andy?"
"Yes. They were the richest people I knew, and they owned most the land around here." I sighed and pulled her against me. "I didn't want to be a farmer, like my father," I tried to explain. "I wanted to travel. I wanted to play the piano and read. I wanted to go to university."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Life was different then. My brother died, and I would inherit the farm. I needed to marry a woman who could help, who would work along side. I would care for my parents in their old age, and then pass the farm to my son, who would take care of me." Sookie nodded. "I never would've been allowed to marry a Bellefleur, but I wanted to."
"So you kissed Andy Bellefleur's great, great, great..." She turned her head. "I don't know how many greats that would take."
"I did not," I said. "I really didn't like either of the Bellefleur sisters my age. It's horrible to admit, but I just liked their life. Does that make sense?" I waited until Sookie nodded before continuing. "My father knew I wanted a different life, and that I didn't take to any of the local young ladies, so he asked me to accompany him to Monroe, for business. It was there I met my wife."
"What was she like?" Sookie whispered.
"She was very young when we were married, by today's standards. Only 17."
"Bill!" Sookie scolded.
I shrugged. "That's how it was done. I was only three years older."
"Was it love at first sight?"
I shook my head. "No. I wouldn't say that. But there was something about her from the very beginning. A fierceness, you could say. A brightness to her eyes. You remind me a lot of her in that way." I smiled at the memory of the days before my wedding. "I'd never kissed a woman," I said. "Not that I hadn't wanted to, of course, but we worked hard and Bon Temps was such a small town. I didn't want to shame my mother by acting ungentlemanly." I sighed, knowing this was the part Sookie would object to. "My father had made arrangements with the Bellefleurs so that I could be…" I cleared my throat. "Schooled, I suppose you could say, by one of their women."
"Oh my lord!" Sookie said, turning to look at me. "You're kidding."
"No," I answered. "Do you want to hear the rest or not?"
"That's awful, Bill. I can't believe you would do that."
"I didn't," I said. "My father mocked me mercilessly, but I didn't. And then, the night I'd fought with my father, which was just days before my wedding, Rebecca came to my room…" Sookie nodded in a knowing way. "She kissed me," I said. "It was my first..." I leaned my head back against the edge of the tub and closed my eyes, pulling Sookie so that once more she rested against my chest. "Your turn."
"I can't believe your father would suggest that you sleep with someone else before your wedding."
"Isn't that what men still do?"
"They most certainly do not," Sookie said.
"What about those bachelor parties with the professional women?"
"Well," Sookie stuttered. "Well… That's different."
I smiled. "Arguing isn't going to get you out of telling me one of your stories."
"One day you're going to tell me more about Rebecca," she said. I didn't respond. "Derek Breaux," she finally sighed.
"Who?"
"He played football. He was a senior when Jason was a freshman, so I was just a kid, really. But I had a humongous crush on him. All the girls did. I think most of the moms did too, now that I think about it." I quietly laughed. "He was glorious, and he was really very talented. He went on to play at LSU."
"Did you know that LSU Tigers is a reference to the war?" I asked.
"The Civil War?" I nodded. "Really?"
"There was a group of men from Louisiana who fought in the Army of Northern Virginia, and they were known for their fierce bravery in battle. They were called Lee's Tigers. After the war, the university mascot was named in their honor."
"I didn't know that."
I shrugged. "It's true, but I interrupted. Derek Breaux."
She shook her head. "This is so embarrassing. Anyway, everyone loved him, and I was no exception."
"I thought you said you were a child?" I smiled.
"Not that much of a child," she countered. "So I started hanging out during football practice. As Tara would say, I was about as subtle as a flying brick." She giggled. "So one day, Jason walks out of practice with Derek, and he says, 'Hey Derek, this is my little sister.' Part of me wanted to crawl into the ground and die right there, but instead, I kind-of launched myself at him and kissed him."
I couldn't help but laugh, and Sookie joined in. "I know, right?" she said, shaking her head. "Poor guy. He was all sweaty and smelling from practice, and this little girl throws herself, quite literally throws herself, at him."
"Did he kiss back?" I asked.
Sookie shook her head. "No. He was really nice about the whole thing, though, acting like I'd tripped or it was some kind of accident. I thought Jason was going to kill me. But that was my first kiss."
I shook my head. "You cheated," I said. "I told you a serious story of my first kiss, and that's like something out of a movie. I'm not sure it should count."
"It was my first kiss," she protested. "That was the agreement."
"I think you cheated," I growled as I nipped her neck.
She grabbed my thighs and rubbed against me. "I don't cheat," she said, her breath catching in her throat.
I flipped her around so that she was on her hands and knees in the tub, and I eased in from behind her. "You cheated," I whispered into her ear as I stroked in and out. Water sloshed from the tub and splashed noisily onto the newly refinished floor, but I didn't care. Sookie's eyes were closed and she arched her head back, exposing her delicately pulsing artery to me.
The wet slap of her bottom against my thighs and the splashing water was quickly lost as I bite down, not able to keep myself from moaning as her blood filled my mouth with each beat of her heart. Sookie cried out as she came, her muscles milking my own release.
She slumped forward, resting her forehead against the edge of the tub as I pulled out and licked the bites on her neck, healing them with my bloodied tongue. I opened the drain and threw a stack of towels on the floor to soak up the mess before scooping her up and carrying her to bed.
"I'm all wet," she quietly protested as I pulled back the sheets. Still holding her, I grabbed a clean sheet and dried us both before crawling under the covers and spooning up behind her. "Did you get a new bed?" she asked, feeling the smooth mattress and fresh sheets.
"Not yet," I said. "I just flipped it over. They say that's a good thing to do anyway."
She giggled. "Yeah, every few months so it wears evenly, not because you ripped out big chunks of it."
"I thought you were claiming responsibility for that?" I teased.
"Oh yeah, I am…" She sighed and snuggled into me. "You're all warm from the bath," she said. "It feels nice."
"Do you mind that I'm always cold?"
She shook her head. "Although it is taking some getting used to..." I bit back the urge to ask her to explain. "I'm so glad I have the day off tomorrow. Are we still going out?"
I nodded. "If you don't mind. There's something I need your help with."
"That means I get to sleep in tomorrow," she yawned. "That sounds nice."
"Are you hungry or thirsty?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Do you think I get sleepy because of the blood, or is it the mind-blowing sex?"
"I don't know about mind-blowing," I began.
"I do," she interrupted. "I'm becoming quite the expert."
I smiled. "Maybe it's a little of both." She nodded. "I've never had an… ongoing relationship… with a human. I mean, I've had donors more than once…"
She held up her hand to stop me. "I don't want the gory details of your life before TruBlood," she said. "While I openly acknowledge it's silly, that of course you've had women, lots and lots of women, I just don't want to think about them."
"I've never claimed a human," I told her, happy to move away from the subject of my past. "So I honestly don't know. You'd think someone would write some books. Maybe there are articles online? Or I could ask someone older. Would you like me to ask?"
She snorted. "No, I would not." She was quiet for a moment before continuing. "Who would you ask about such things, anyway?"
I shrugged. "Eric."
"Definitely not. We'll just be happy to never know…"
"He is my boss, Sookie. And now that he knows what you're capable of, he will require your services again."
"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it, okay?"
I smiled. "Agreed."
Just as a warning to my faithful readers, I'm stepping away from fanfic for a little while. I have too many irons in the fire at the moment, and I've started working on a non-vampiric story. When the Muse calls, I have to listen. I'm not abandoning either Waking the Dead or Missing Two Weeks; it just might be a bit before the next update. My apologies, and thank you for your patience.
