"Eric, that's him. He has a gun!"
"What are you talking about?" He asked her. "Why would he have a gun and why do you know?"
"Are you not listening? He has a gun. Stop him!"
Ellie stood and jumped off the stage. Before she even hit the ground, Eric was at her side. "I won't have you making a scene here again."
"I'm not. He has a gun and if you don't stop him then he's going to... Just stop him!"
Eric considered her for a moment. "If you're wrong there will be hell to pay."
The large vampire approached the balding guy, who looked nervous but resolved. Eric opened his mouth to speak when the man pulled out handgun from his jacket. It had hardly been raised when Eric disarmed him and broke his arm. The man crumpled to the ground in pain. Eric picked him up and threw him across the room, which had fallen silent with the appearance of the gun.
"Everyone get out. Now." His voice was quiet but serious. The people in the club understood how serious the situation was and began filing out quickly. Even the dancers went to the backroom to collect their things and leave. The man cowered in a corner, pleading with people to help him as he could predict his impending doom.
Ellie just stood in the same spot as earlier. Eric was going to kill this man and even though the gunmen wouldn't have hesitated to kill as many people as he could, she didn't want to watch him die. The stress wracked her body and she sat down on the platform. She let out a deep breath that caused Eric to break his concentration. She looked as if she was going to be sick. "Pam, take her away," he ordered in Swedish.
Pam took the girl's arm gently and led her to the back, leaving Eric and the gunmen alone in the room. Ellie had paled considerably, she knew what was coming. Once the women reached the office, Ellie fell to her knees and her nose began to bleed again. A bead of sweat rolled down her face. She pushed herself up and raced to the bathroom. Pam found her gripping the toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach, the bowl filled with a mix of bile and blood.
At last the sick girl began to regain some composure as she stood on unsteady legs. She appraised her reflection and decided she looked like shit, washed out and sweaty. She pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail and washed her face off in the sink. She looked into the mirror and into Pam's eyes. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Yea, I'm fine. I guess when I heard his arm break it made me queasy."
"Why did your-"
Ellie cleared her mind and looked into Pam's eyes. "I was just sick. That's all."
"Yes," Pam nodded slowly. "You threw up."
Ellie nodded again. "I think I need to sit down."
Eric took the man by the throat and lifted him up. "Who are you?"
The man pulled a cross and held it up, "In the name of-"
Eric swiped at the man's arm, sending the cross flying. "Another Fellowship fool. Who sent you?"
"I do the Lord's work."
Eric threw the man again, hearing bones crack upon landing. He laughed loudly. "And the Lord commands you to come to a painful death?"
"All of you creatures and fangbangers will go to hell!"
"But you will be there long before me," Eric hissed as he picked up the man again. "I wasn't able to deal with the last one of you so I have a lot of anger towards people like you."
He sunk his teeth into the man's neck and sucked hard. The blood was common and didn't satisfy him nearly as much as he wished. But the screaming and begging was rather invigorating. Eric finished his share of blood and snapped the screaming man's neck, dropping him to the floor. "Redneck. All of them."
Eric wiped his face and went back to his office. Ellie sat on the couch, looking meek and tired. Her presence reminded him of his last night with Godric.
Godric looked at his child, a tired look on his face. "Let's be honest. We are frightening. After thousands of years we haven't evolved. We've only grown more brutal. More predatory. I don't see the danger in treating humans as equals. The Fellowship of the Sun arose because we never did so."
Was Godric not the one who taught him of survival? That to make it in this world as an immortal was to punish those weaker individuals who threatened their existence? "Is that why you wouldn't fight when they took you?"
Godric smiled sadly. "I could have killed every last one of them within minutes." He paused. "Now what would that have proven?"
How would Godric have taken his previous actions? Would he have forgiven the man who wanted to kill? He didn't understand how to treat humans as equals. They were vile and weak. They had no respect for his much stronger species. Eric had seen people come and go in his thousand years. He had seen them hate and beg for power, money, more power. But in the end it was all about time. They begged for more time in their last few moments or it was evident in their eyes. How could he possibly respect creatures who were so afraid?
"You killed him." Her voice was quiet, barely audible.
"Yes. That is what I do with his kind."
Pam handed the girl a glass, wet with condensation. Ellie accepted it gratefully. She took a sip and enjoyed the warmth of the straight vodka as it hit her now empty stomach. Eric gave Pam a nod, silently telling her to go deal with the body and leave him alone with the girl.
They sat in silent for a few minutes. Ellie clutched her drink and sipped slowly. She had stopped shaking, but still didn't look that great. Eric had many questions for her, but he allowed her to regain some strength before interrogating her.
"How did you know he had a gun?"
"I saw the outline in his jacket." She had prepared for that question.
"That's impossible. You were sitting when he came in. You knew he was coming."
"Yes and then I stood and saw the gun. He looked nervous and seemed out of place."
"Do not lie to me."
"'Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies'," she quoted.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Ellis Eda Jacobs. I'm twenty-one years old. I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm a grad-"
"Did you know that all I could find out about you was from school records? Starting in elementary school. You made excellent grades, but had anger issues. Involved in a lot of fights. Some teachers thought you had rage issues and suggested you for counseling."
Ellie shrugged in response.
"One in high school involved a football player and a broken arm. He was twice your size so they couldn't prove it was you but it's in your file. How did you break his arm?"
"I don't want to talk about my past."
"Who are you?"
"It's all in front of you, in that file."
"No. This file contains irrelevant information about grades, test scores, and a brat. It tells me nothing. Why is there no record of your birth? Why aren't there any hospital records or doctor's notes? You have no social security number."
"Maybe you should have asked Godric all of this."
"Godric is gone and I am asking you."
"I don't have an answer for you."
"Why was Godric so interested in you?"
"Because I'm an interesting person."
Eric wanted to resort to violence with the insolent brat, but knew it would get him nowhere with her. She resisted all of his previous threats and there was no reason to suggest that future one's would have any use at all. "Why is everything such a big secret with you?"
"Sometimes you just have to think about yourself and what's best for you or people will walk all over you."
They sat in silence. Her nursing her drink and him watching her. "You probably already know. It's all right in front of you. I guess you just don't realize it yet."
"That's not cryptic or anything."
She shrugged again. If he wasn't observant enough to know than that wasn't any of her business. "Besides. You hate humans. You detest our existence. You think of us all as Happy Meals with legs, so why should I tell you anything when I know you have no respect for me?"*
"I can not respect a lesser being."
"Do you know every person you have ever written off as simply a human was a 'lesser being'? How do you know about me? You have some grades and some meaningless reports written by others who didn't know me. You know nothing."
"Give me a reason to respect you."
"Give me a reason to trust you."
They were at another impasse.
"Why did that man come?" He asked.
"You tell me."
"Do you really think I would be asking if I knew? The less I talk to you the better."
"He was with the Fellowship of the Sun."
"Who?" She was confused. It sounded like some weird cult she had never heard of.
"How do you not know who the Fellowship is? Have you lived in a closet the past three years?"
"I'm sorry, I have no desire to watch the news. I have more important things to do with my life." So she didn't keep up with current events. Her friends usually told her the important things. Like when vampires came out of the proverbial dark.
"Ellie! Ellie, did you hear the news?" A petite brunette rushed into her room.
"Were you raised in a barn? Did no one ever teach you to knock?" Ellie glared at the girl.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"
Ellie had her feet on the desk and was painting her toes while watching a movie on her laptop. "No. I suppose not. What's going on?"
"Ellie, there are vampires."
Ellie turned the channel to the local news station where a pretty blonde woman was discussing vampires right on live television. The scroll at the bottom read something about synthetic blood. "Do you think it's real?"
Ellie switched off the television and started on her toes again. "Of course it's real. I've known about vampires my entire life. Come back when real news happens. Like the world is ending or something."
"What are you talking about?"
Ellie pulled back her hair to where the two circle scars were. Everyone had seen her scars, but she had always said something about a straightening iron incident. "Duh. I just couldn't tell anyone. It was kind of a secret," she said condescendingly.
The brunette stared at her friend in amazement. How did Ellie get all of the luck?
"-anti-vampire church in Dallas. There was a confrontation before you came-"
"In Dallas? Was Godric there?" She suddenly perked up.
Eric's eyes darkened. He hadn't really wanted to start on that topic. "Yes. But they sent in a man with a bomb strapped to his chest to Godric's nest, so I assumed-"
"Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"Is it your mission to interrupt me every time I speak? I didn't tell you because the less contact I have with you the better."
"Fine. Then let's stop having contact. I want to leave now. I threw up and I'm feeling sick again."
He let out a growl. "We aren't done yet."
"Dammit, I'm done."
"You owe me $722."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"The damage you did to my kitchen. $722 worth of damage. How did you break a chair into that many pieces?"
"Adrenaline rush. Gives you immense strength. Look it up."
"And you were able to push me yesterday."
"You were caught off guard."
Eric was getting no where. All of her answers seemed very rehearsed and she wasn't a good actor. "How could a 130 pound girl push a thousand year old vampire?"
"I weigh 122, thank you very much. And I told you, adrenaline can make you do impossible things."
She downed the rest of her drink and looked to the door. Pam knocked quietly. "Come in," Eric said.
"I got rid of the body. He won't be found. And whats-her-name will come in tomorrow and deal with the mess."
"Thank you, Pam."
Ellie stood up and walked out the door. "Come find me when you're ready to take me back." Eric waved his hand in response. He wasn't going to deal with her anymore tonight. He was getting no where.
"Did she tell you anything?"
"No, of course not. She says she saw his gun in his jacket, but it's not true. Maybe she knew him. Maybe she was planning something." He was thinking out loud now. "No. Godric wouldn't associate with that kind. He would have known."
Pam sat on the couch. "Let's take her to the basement and let her re-think her answers for a few days."
"No. I'll take her back and if she still doesn't talk I'll let Sookie Stackhouse read her mind. I'd prefer not to get her involved in this ordeal though."
Ellie walked around the bar and made herself another drink. The smell of blood hung in the air and it made her feel queasy. She had never seen anyone die before and she had never seen so much blood. The floor looked like it was coated with it. The man had looked so enraged. He wanted to kill so many people. She wasn't sure why she felt sorry for him, he deserved to die, but her heart felt heavy anyway.
Her thoughts shifted back to the questions that Eric had posed her. She had never realized that her past was so secretive, that she had no permanent records that could be found. Godric had been very thorough in that sense. She didn't even know fully why she was being so protected and now that Godric was gone she didn't know if she would ever know.
Eric's questions had been probing. He was getting closer and she had divulged too much today. She wished that she could trust him and share with him what she knew, but she had a terrible feeling. He seemed to be the type to use people. He was too much like her.
"Godric, what do you want me to do?" She murmured to herself.
A black town car pulled up to a massive ivy covered building. A young Ellie bounded out of the car and ran to door where Godric was waiting. He picked her up and spun her around. "Godric! I've missed you so much!" The ten-year-old squealed.
"It's only been two months since spring break," he laughed.
"That's a long time for me."
He smiled and took her hand. The pair walked into the house and several attendants followed with large trunks. "How did all of that manage to fit into your room at school?"
"Oh. I got one of the older girls to switch with me. I have a single now, so I have a lot of room."
"And why would you do that?"
"Because I hated living with Tessa. She took up too much space and asked me too many questions."
"You have to learn to get along with people."
"I don't need anybody but you, Godric."
The vampire was always worrying over the young girl. She grew increasingly sullen as she got older. Her headmaster sent reports of bullying and coercion. Although the headmaster personally thought Ellie was a model student, other children had complained about her. She acted as if she were invincible and it disturbed him.
"I have a question."
"Anything."
"Why do you look the exact same now as when I was four?"
"Oh, Eric. A representative of the Queen called and she wants you to be in New Orleans tomorrow to discuss some business.
Perfect, he thought. Just what he needed.
So I lied. This was a faster update than I had said. Man, I'm such a procrastinator to real work. I've been trying to study before I go out, but it's not working out too well. The more I write the more ideas come to me and I want to get them down before I forget all of them. I wrote this one relatively quickly, because I had many of the conversations already written. The next chapter will contain the Queen. I'm really excited to write that part because I love love love the Queen (Mainly because I love Evan Rachel Wood, but she does an amazing job I think). I really want to accurately portray her so that we'll see. -crosses fingers-
Thank you for the lovely reviews. But I want more! REVIEW! NOW!
3 And by the way, go Colts!!!
