Hey guys! I've been loving reading your reviews, so thank you all for your kind words. Anyway, here's Chapter 7.
I hope you enjoy!
The Hotel Carmilla was lavish to say the least. It carried off a very modern interior without the necessary leather and studs look that most vampires spots tended to sport, Fangtasia being one of them.
The second Lou and Eric arrived in the reception a bus boy came and collected their bags, taking them straight up to their reserved rooms with a generous tip from Eric to make him be quick about it. Lou went to follow him over to the desk to check in, but he stopped her with a gentle hand on the shoulder.
"You need to feed. Go to the bar and get yourself a Tru Blood, tell them to put it on Eric Northman's bill." He instructed, eyes on the vampires that surrounded them instead of her. Lou couldn't deny that she was a bit daunted by them all herself, having never been in a building with so many other immortals before. It made her hesitant to leave Eric's side, something he seemed to sense. His hand moved along her arm and took hold of her hand, fingers threading through hers before he began pulling her along by his side.
"Second thoughts, we'll order room service." He mumbled, shooting a vampire in their way a hard glare when his gaze lingered on Lou for just a little too long.
Whilst he checked them in Louisa kept her hand locked inside his, though that didn't stop the busty receptionist from dragging her eyes up and down Eric's rather impressive physique. Much to her amusement he hardly noticed and refused to leave a tip for her somewhat mediocre service.
"I thought she was about to jump over the desk and mount you." Lou laughed as they walked towards the elevator, finally pulling her hand back as she felt herself adjusting to the new surroundings. Eric chuckled himself, folding his own across his chest as the two waited for the doors to ping open.
"Desperate was never really my type." He said glancing back at the red head who's eyes were still on him. "And I prefer brunettes anyway."
His words shouldn't have made her smile the way they did, or her stomach flutter in that all too familiar way, but as he looked down at her with that smile she'd grown accustom too Lou felt it unfair to deny herself such a brief moment of happiness, even if it was over something so stupid.
They were on the floor beneath the penthouse, as that suit was occupied by the rest of Godric's nest whilst they were conducting their search for the Sheriff, something Eric explained with the hint of bitterness in his tone. Lou almost found it amusing to see this side of him again, the side that sulked slightly whenever he couldn't get exactly what he wanted. For someone his age he sure as hell did an amazing impression of of a ten year old.
"Which room is mine?" She asked looking around at the doors on the hallway.
"We're sharing a suit." Eric replied, leading the way to the end of the hall. "You'll have your own room inside. It's just that this way-"
"This way it's easier for you to keep an eye on me." She interrupted, not wanting to listen as he spun some bullshit about it being safer for her. They both knew his reasons behind keeping her close and trying to ignore them wasn't benefiting either of them.
After using a little key card to let them inside, Eric wandered through without even taking a moment to look around their grand suit. Lou on the other hand was left a little bit speechless. Everything was so beautiful and pristine, like the room had been built on demand just for their use. The furniture was adorned in silks and velvets like she'd never seen before, and that was just the living area. God only knows what her bedroom would be like.
Eric glanced over his shoulder to catch her admiring the place, something that for one reason or another made him smile.
"It's just a hotel suit, Louisa." He chuckled, shrugging out of his jacket as he did.
"I spent half my life living in a trailer. I'm easily impressed, okay?" Lou replied with her own smile, before she all but threw herself onto the sofa with a loud giggle.
"Then maybe I should bring you to more places like this." He said gently, but something told Lou that he was talking more to himself than her, so she ignored him and continued looking around the place. Eric went about ordering Tru Blood up to the room, but when only one bottle arrived she dare not ask how he intended on feeding. It was something she'd rather not think about.
After she'd finished her bottle of synthetic horse crap Lou excused herself to get changed, though she was sure Eric heard the small squeal that escaped her when she walked through to her room. It was just so lavish, like something straight out of the movies. In a fit of giddiness she hurtled herself straight onto the bed, the scent of freshly washed sheets hitting her senses and reminding her of home.
Once Lou was done rolling around in the covers like some sort of animal, she changed into a pair of shorts and an old baseball top, one she'd forced Eric to buy her after much debate. Apparently he wasn't a fan of the Yankees. Her hair was still loosely wavy from the plait she'd been wearing it in, so after combing her fingers through the stray knots that had formed she walked back into the living area to see Eric sat with his arms out wide on the sofa.
He looked completely at peace with the world, something that was no doubt related to the speck of blood tainting his white collar. Were it not for that give away Lou wouldn't have realised that he'd managed to feed in the time she'd been gone. Sitting beside him, she tugged his shirt in an almost playful fashion with a smile on her lips.
"You got blood on you." She said, but he shrugged slightly in response.
"I'll change before we leave for the meeting. I doubt it'll matter much anyway, considering all eyes are going to be on Miss Stackhouse and your Maker." Lou couldn't help but recoil in evident disgust at the term.
"Please don't call him that." She muttered, pulling down her sleeves as she did.
"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean he's going to stop being the one who granted you a new life, no matter how hard you wish it." He almost chuckled, his arm stretching around the back of her seat as the two took up their usual position, Lou pulled into a tight ball and Eric with his abnormally long body stretched out around her
"I wish you were my Maker." She whispered a minute later, quiet enough that maybe he hadn't heard.
In truth Lou didn't think about what her words really meant. If she had she may have taken into account the bond between a Maker and their Progeny, but she knew very little about all that. All she found important was the fact that he was the only vampire who'd ever shown her kindness, given her a home when she didn't have anywhere else to go, and above all else taught her how to survive this life they lead. Yes, he had his flaws, but there was no denying the fact that Eric Northman had helped her in ways Bill never had.
After a moments hesitation, Eric spoke without looking at her, his eyes instead transfixed on the wall across from them as Lou's were.
"As do I." He responded, speaking as quietly as she had. There was a silence that followed, one Lou wanted to fill with words she didn't know how to say, so instead she remained quiet. Eventually Eric stood and moved towards his bedroom. "We need to go meet the nest members. You better think about getting ready."
Lou chose not to tell him that she had no intention of changing, and instead just shot him the smallest of smiles whilst she wondered whether he truly did wish he was her Maker.
She hoped rather selfishly that he did.
"I say we go in there and rip the heart out of every fucker who stands in our way." One vampire said from the corner of the room, tipping his cowboy hat back as he did as to better look at Eric. The meeting had only been going for a few minutes, and already Lou was exasperated with these people. It didn't take her long to understand why Eric tried not to associate with them.
The only positive of being forced into this thing was seeing Sookie, for it confirmed that the blonde had actually come to Texas. There was a part of her that up until that point still thought it was bullshit, but Lou was rather relieved to be proven wrong. When she went as though to go say hello, Eric's guiding hands moved her to the other side of the room where she was seated in a large arm chair.
Every vampire present gave Lou an odd look as she walked by them, particularly the males. The one in the cowboy hat made a point of taking a long sniff in her direction, like she was bringing a bad scent into the room.
If she cared more, it might have made her self concious.
"Yes, and whilst we're at it we can adorn ourselves in silver and go for a walk in a sunny meadow." The female vampire spoke from the corner, her words all the more sarcastic for her heavy spanish accent "If we're signing our own death certificates we might as well go out with a bang, no?"
"And here I was thinking a little maturity might have numbed your flare for the dramatics, Isobel." Eric muttered, having not stopped pacing behind Lou's chair since he'd sat her down.
"Dramatic? You realise they took down Godric, don't you? If they're capable of capturing a two thousand year old vampire the rest of us are fucked too." The newly named Isobel replied, and were it not for the fact that she was too astounded to do so, Lou may have agreed with her.
"Two thousand years?" She repeated, the first words she'd spoken since she got there. Looking over her shoulder to gage his reaction, Eric just shot her a glare that told her to be quiet again. As she noticed all eyes had turned to her Lou thought that might be a good idea too.
"You don't even know for definite whether the Fellowship have Godric, so perhaps we should start by actually confirming that." Eric said, running a hand through his hair. From the corner Sookie seemed to think this was her time to shine and took it without hesitation.
"Well I can do that!" She insisted with a bright smile, one that seemed ill fitting considering the severity of the situation. "I can go in during the day, do my thing and get a bit of information, and I'll be back here again before sunset. At least then you'll know exactly what you're walking into."
The vampires surrounding fell silent. All but one.
"No, no that's just too dangerous." Bill protested, his hands holding onto both of Sookie's like at any moment she might drift away. Up until that point Lou had been doing an okay job at ignoring him.
"What is she here for if not to help?" Isobel asked, proving herself once again to not be shy when it came to sharing her opinions.
"I want to help, honestly. I don't mind if it's dangerous." Sookie said, pulling her hands back from Bill's as she did. "I'll go."
"You realise you could die? These people are not afraid to kill you just because you're a human." Bill said, his every word focused on talking her out of the only solid plan they had. It was ridiculous, Lou thought, that he had to protect her so entirely. Sookie was a big girl, one who'd done a pretty decent job of looking after herself up until his arrival. Were it not for him wandering into her life she wouldn't even be in Dallas right now.
"And she acknowledged that when she agreed to come here." Eric hissed, his temper beginning to fizzle over. Lou couldn't quite work out why he was so invested in getting Godric back, but she knew she didn't like it. Whatever his reasoning it was making him too emotional, like any moment he might snap and just give up.
And as a result, it made her want to help.
"I could go." Lou said quietly, watching as the eyes turned to her once more. "I can take Sookie at night time. I mean, I'm a baby. I've barely been like this for a month. Put a bit of make up on me and they'll not suspect a thing. It's got to be safer than sending Sook in on her own, right?" An uncomfortable silence fell, but eventually Bill was the one who spoke up.
"That seems wise." He said with a small nod and a air of relief.
"You can leave at sunset," Isobel agreed. "So long as you're careful it should work. Just let Sookie do all the talking, yes? You'll be there simply encase the worse happens and she needs to get out fast." Lou was almost tempted to tell her she wasn't a complete idiot and could have worked that out by herself, but instead she nodded.
Just when she thought they'd all come to a happy agreement, the sound of Eric's feet shuffling stopped behind her, and his hands came down on the back of her chair.
"Louisa isn't going into the Fellowship." He said simply. "You must have plenty of young vampires in your nest. Send one of them to play body guard."
"Well ain't this rich?!" The cowboy laughed from the corner, he and Eric seeming to have a particular disliking for each other. "You'll send in the little blonde pet but not your own? Sounds a lil' like double standards to me." Everyone in the room tensed as they awaited Eric's reaction, but it was the brunette they were so openly talking about that bit back.
"I am no one's pet." Lou growled, standing with her fangs bared as though to further prove her point. "I am as much a vampire as anyone else in this room, and I belong to no one." Her reaction though strong seemed to get the message across, as he said no words in dispute. "And I will be taking Sookie to the Church tomorrow night to keep her safe." She added the last part for Northman's benefit, whom her eyes drifted to only to find he was looking out the window, ignoring her completely.
Retracting her fangs, Lou lingered around for the rest of the meeting just as they were making the last arrangements before Eric found her, his hand taking hold of her upper arm before he began dragging her along.
"Will you get the fuck off me?" She asked, already pissed at him for embarrassing her so thoroughly in front of everybody. Much to her surprise he did let go once they were back on their floor, but only to lean forward and catch her eye before pointing towards their room.
"Go in there and wait for me." Eric ordered with a raised brow, as though he was daring her to test him. Doing so seemed a little idiotic, so she just turned and stormed off down the hallway into their suit. She'd barely had time to kick her shoes off before he came marching back in with Bill Compton in tow.
"The hell is he doing here?" Lou almost shouted, gesturing towards her Maker whilst addressing Eric, who was doing quite a good job of ignoring her. After slamming the door shut behind them he turned to Bill instead.
"As Louisa's Maker, forbid her from going to the Fellowship of the Sun. I'm ordering you to do this as your Sheriff." He commanded, his voice low and near deadly.
"Really? Really, this is what you're resorting to right now?" Lou laughed, the chuckles no doubt a result of shock, as she couldn't believe he'd actually ran off to collect Bill in order to stop her from going to the Fellowship. "Are you fucking kidding me, Eric?" He put his hand up to silence her, whilst he addressed the far smaller vampire once more.
"Do it." He said firmly, eyes wide as he awaited for Bill to say the words. The smaller vampire stammered, his eyes flickering between the two in front of him.
"Yeah Bill, do it if you want Sookie to get killed by some psychotic bible basher tomorrow." Louisa encouraged with a sarcastic tone and smile to match.
"Oh don't worry, Sookie won't be much of his concern once she knows that he was the one who turned her favourite little friend into a vampire." Eric retorted, the two of them throwing subtle threats back and forth like they were about to descend into a verbal slanging match. Bill however seemed torn. Whoever he chose to listen to it seemed he lost Sookie, so what was a man to do?
"We all know I should go!" Lou eventually shouted, pleading with the both of them. "I'm stronger than you give me credit for, and faster too. I could have her out of there the first sign of trouble, plus we might get some information that might actually help you rather than leaving you to rely on a bunch of idiots to find out what the hell's happened. Christ Eric, I thought you wanted to get this Godric guy back? Or is all your worry just another load of bullshit?"
That was the moment Lou crossed the line, and she knew it instantly. She could see it in his expression, how his brow dropped and his lips pulled into a tight line like he was trying to stop himself from sinking his teeth into the first body he could grab.
"Bill, get out." Eric said though his eyes were still on Lou. She could feel herself growing frightened of what was about to happen, but she somehow managed not to show it. Instead she kept his stare. "Now!" He shouted when his words were met with no actions. Bill wasted no time after that in making his exit, not sparing a second thought for his Progeny that he was leaving behind in the hands of a vampire who looked murderous.
The silence drew out after he left, only making her nerves worse. In the blink of an eye Eric was stood toe to toe with Lou, bearing down on her with that steely glare that made her blood feel cold.
"Never doubt my loyalty to Godric again." He said in a low voice. "You can't even begin to understand the lengths I would go to in order to bring him home."
"If that's how it is, then why the fuck are you doing everything in your power to stop me helping? If you care so much about him, why put me first?" Lou asked, her own tone laced with confusion. With every word he said he was contradicting himself, but then again that always seemed to be the case with Eric. He paused at her question, but from how he only tensed further Lou guessed she'd done nothing to help his already testing temper.
"Don't misunderstand Louisa, I am not putting you first. Your existence means nothing to me. You're a speck on the grand scheme of my life, one I probably won't even remember in a few years time. I'm your Sheriff, so it's my job to act like I care as to whether you live or die... But by all means, go ahead and run off to the Church with Sookie. Do me a favour and get yourself killed while you're at it, so I don't have to deal with your self righteous shit any more."
Silence followed, and in the silence came a crippling kind of pain, one Lou didn't think he was capable of inflicting on her.
She felt it low in her chest, an aching that ripped through her. For a moment there she'd rather idiotically believed he cared about her. Maybe she'd just been reading the signs wrong, yet the concept that Eric Northman in fact couldn't give a damn about her seemed almost impossible.
How could he not care, when she did so entirely?
Determined to not let him see the pain across her features, Lou turned and walked towards her bedroom, though she faltered as she reached the door. The urge was there to turn back and address the things he'd said, to shout and scream and demand that he tell her he feels for her in some way, though deep down it was clear that he didn't.
He was Eric Northman, and he didn't care about anybody.
When Lou felt the tears beginning to fall she headed into her room before he could see them. With a slam of her door she sunk down to the floor with her back against the wood, her eyes closing as she felt the warm track of blood filled tears running down her cheeks.
Lou hadn't realised that Eric had the power to hurt her quite so terribly. She hadn't realised she'd allowed herself to grow close to him until that moment, for if she had kept those walls in place that she thought had been protecting her the entire time, she wouldn't have been reduced to a crumbling wreck. The worst part of it all was that only one other person had hurt her like this before, and somehow Eric had managed to win the same kind of power over her.
Never in a million years did she think her feelings for him would be on par with that which she felt for Jason. Surly the love she held for that boy couldn't even be compared to whatever emotions she held towards Eric, and yet they were the only two men Lou had cared for enough to cry for. It was just a coincidence, she told herself.
But as Sookie had pointed out less than a day before, there was no such thing as coincidences when Eric Northman was involved.
Shit is getting all kinds of real between these two. Next chapter we're heading off to the Fellowship, which means only one thing. Godric. And I am so feckin' excited!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update! The only thing I can promise you is that our dysfunctional duo are in store for a few epiphanies in the near future, especially a certain little OC who's stubborn as hell. Maybe let me know what you thought of it if you get the chance? Thank you! :)
