Crimson Rain
Chapter 7
Author's Note:Hey guys so I wanted to say a quick thank you to the only people that reviewed, TheRealTyler13, TheDoctorsTrueCompanion, fallondyson, and the unnamed guest reviewer. In all honesty guys with 81 favs and 121 followers I expected more reviews. How am I supposed to make this better without reviews? I welcome constructive criticism and become inspired by the reviews. I never wanted to be the author that fishes for reviews, but I need the insight and opinions of others in order to make this fic the absolute best it can be.
Recap: I picked my way through the mess on the floor until I was in front of Sookie. Aside from her heavy breathing, the trembling, and being covered completely in blood; Sookie didn't seem to be hurt. But just to be sure I asked, hoping her shields were down, You alright? Sookie nodded almost imperceptibly as I helped her down from her perch on the table. I sent another thought her way, Better get yourself cleaned up. She nodded again and headed toward what I assumed was the bathroom.
When the door closed behind her I turned to the other occupants in the room, "Anyone have a cigarette?"
While Ginger was sent for cleaning supplies, Pam picked up her purse and threw Ginger's cigarettes at me. I was lucky enough to catch the pack before it hit me in the face, but she didn't have a lighter. So what did I do? I went looking for one, in Longshadow's jeans pocket.
"I wasn't aware you smoked," Bill commented.
"Quit a couple of years ago," I answered, "but I think that in this situation I can get a pass." I finally found the stupid lighter and lit up, my hands and knees were slightly bloody but I could have cared less at that point. I noticed Eric eyeing me, "Don't you dare say anything about me smoking in your precious club," I accused, using my cigarette to point at him. "Why have a damn ashtray in here if you don't want people smoking. Not like you'll be effected anyway."
Before Eric could reply, Ginger came back into the room laden with cleaning supplies. It rapidly became apparent that, while I may have had the ability to compartmentalize the situation, Ginger did not. She was on her hands and knees, gathering the stringy bits of Longshadow that were left, and was putting them into a bucket, muttering to herself all the while.
"When Ginger is finished glamour her for me," Eric instructed Pam.
I quirked an eyebrow, "Looks to me like she's been glamoured too much already. There doesn't seem to be much left."
"She's right," Pam agreed, and I nearly fell out of my chair.
"It's either that or turn her. Do you want her?"
"Please I'm not that desperate, glamour it is," Pam stated.
"Come, I'll buy you a blood," Eric said turning to Bill leading him out of the room.
"Oh for the love of God!" By this time, I had finished my cigarette and was sick and tired of Ginger's mumbling. I got up from my chair and practically stalked over to Ginger, I grabbed her arm and yanked her up from the floor. "Here," I said, turning to Pam and pushing Ginger in her direction, "take her. I'll finish this." Pam gave me, what I can only assume to be, confused look. "She's driving me bat-shit crazy and they will probably be a while," at this point I indicated the direction Bill and Eric had headed, "and Sookie is most likely still cleaning up."
"Do you need anything?" I was surprised by the question, not having figured Pam to be so accommodating.
I quickly took stock of what Ginger had brought in the way of cleaning supplies. "Where's the bleach kept?" Instead of replying Pam zoomed out of the room and back in about three seconds, only this time she was holding a jug of bleach.
"Anything else?"
"Not unless you want to get me a pack of cigarettes," I joked.
"What's your poison?"
"Ugh…Marlboro, menthols preferably, lights if they got 'em." Before I could say anything else Pam was gone, and so was Ginger. I shrugged to myself, apparently Pam was just humoring me. Ehh it's not like I actually thought she would run to the nearest gas station and buy them, I thought. Instead I dropped to my hands and knees in front of the mess that used to be Longshadow. I reached for the bleach only to find that Pam had also brought another bucket. There were no gloves that I could see, but that didn't really matter, I had already gotten some blood on my hands and knees when I snooped in Longshadow's pants for his lighter. Instead I grabbed the bucket that Ginger had been putting remains in and started where she had left off.
Using both hands it was easier to gather what was left of Longshadow and put it in the bucket, everything stayed mostly together and didn't fall apart. I had the larger pieces picked up in about ten minutes and did a quick scan to make sure I hadn't missed anything. It was lucky that I did, since I found his fangs and they ended up in the bucket with the rest of him. I stood and moved behind the bar and found as many towels as I could, which was actually quite a lot, and placed them on the table nearby. I then proceeded to grab the extra bucket Pam had brought and filled it a little over halfway with hot water and topped it off with several cupsful of bleach. The water was too hot to handle right then so instead I used the bar towels to soak up the blood and dropped them in the same bucket as Longshadow's remains. I didn't know what else to do with them, I figured that they were ruined anyway and surely Eric had enough money to simply buy more.
Once the blood pool was sopped up I grabbed one of the remaining towels and dunked it in the bucket of bleach water I had made earlier, which had cooled off enough to where I could finally use it. It took four more towels to finally clean up the blood that had dried on the floor, and another two to make sure that I got everything. One final towel to dry the floor and I couldn't even tell that a murder had occurred. I knew that it would still need to pass the "vampire" test, but at least no human would ever know that a vampire had been killed. Most vampires wouldn't really care, considering that he had died in an establishment owned by the sheriff.
"It smells like a pool in here."
I whipped around to see Pam standing there in all her soccer mom glory. "Well that's a high compliment coming from a vampire," I replied. "Better bleach than blood right?"
"Indeed." Pam moved to the table and laid something there then proceeded to move towards the bathroom. I stood up, my knees popping after kneeling on the hard floor for so long, and saw what Pam had left, two packs of my preferred brand of cigarette. Huh well I didn't expect that. After stretching for a moment I moved and sat on the table, still trying to get the pain out of my legs. Before I could move much more, Sookie and Pam came out of the bathroom, followed closely by Ginger whom I hadn't even noticed.
I nearly laughed out loud at my cousin. Her dress had been ruined and Pam had given her clothes to change into. Sookie was wearing a black leather dress and corset, reminiscent of what Pam was wearing the night I first met her. However, Sookie was clearly not comfortable at all, and it was written all over her face.
"Oh! Who's this?" Once again I had forgotten about Ginger, it was actually easy to do.
"Ginger, Leah; Leah, Ginger," Pam introduced with a bored air.
"Nice to meet you Leah."
Obviously Pam glamoured most of the night away. "Nice to meet you too Ginger. Long night?" I asked, glad that the buckets were hidden from view behind the table and myself.
"Oh not too bad. Are you alright?" She asked, gesturing to my blood covered knees, hands, and the blood splattered on my shirt and shorts.
I made a dismissive gesture and replied, "I'm fine, my cousin went hunting earlier and I helped him clean up the mess. I didn't have time to change before Sookie called and asked me to pick her up."
Surprisingly Ginger bought my lie, but even more surprising was the look of, what I think, was approval from Pam. Sookie just looked shocked that I had thought up a lie on the spot. Ginger moved on, stepping behind the counter to grab her things and bid us all good night before leaving.
"Impressive," Pam muttered.
"Why thank you," I said shooting her a smirk, "for the smokes as well."
"I thought you quit!" Sookie said, well more like shrieked.
"Back off Sookie," I said with a glare, "I get a pass with all of the shit I've been dealing with lately."
"But what would Gran say?"
"She's dead," I growled, at the breaking point with Sookie, "she's not going to be saying anything is she? But since you just have to stick your nose into things that don't concern you, Gran caught me once and all she said was to not smoke in the house. So please do me a favor and shut up!" With that I stomped off down the hall, passing Bill on the way. Apparently he and Eric were finished with their little meeting. The door was still open so I slipped into the room that I assumed Bill had just vacated and closed the door behind me. I turned only to find myself face to chest with Eric.
"What happened to you?"
Great, now I have to deal with Eric, I thought. "I cleaned up Bill's mess," I answered.
"I thought Ginger was doing that?"
"She was giving me a headache," I explained, "so I took care of it. By the way all of his remains and some ruined bar towels are in a bucket by the table, I wasn't sure what to do with them."
"I'll have someone take care of it. I suppose you were helpful after all."
"Yeah as the maid," a grumbled fumbling for another cigarette.
"Not just that," Eric replied, flicking a lighter for me. I leaned in to light the cigarette I had just brought to my lips and muttered a quiet "thanks" before he continued. "You were also bright enough to realize that our thief was a vampire."
I shrugged, "Simple logic, it had to be an inside job, who else would know how much money the club brings in? Sookie cleared all of the human employees, which left the vampire owners."
"Very impressive liten mänsklig," he complimented, with yet another smirk.
I shot him a glare, "You know one day I'm going to figure out exactly what you are saying," his smirk just grew. "It's not that impressive," I replied, shrugging again, "once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
"Quoting Sherlock Holmes now, you're just full of surprises aren't you?"
"What? Because I'm from Bon Temps I must be stupid?"
"You must admit that your cousins do not necessarily paint it in a favorable light." A tilt of the head was all I could give in answer. It's not like I could disagree with him on that point. "But you liten du, you are something else. You witnessed a vampire being staked and instead of losing yourself, you actually managed to clean up his remains."
I quirked an eyebrow, "Thanks…I think."
"So I can't help but wonder who the Valkyrie is hiding from."
I rolled my eyes, "Sookie, that girl just pushes my buttons. She got on to me, I went off on her, and I decided that it was best if I got away before I punched her." Eric nodded as if he understood but then something he said before clicked. "Wait a minute, Valkyrie? As in the female figures who take slain warriors to Valhalla in Norse mythology? You're of Nordic descent?"
"Yes, you know of them?"
"I'm a student of mythology," I explained. "But why Valkyrie?
"Valkyries were fierce female warriors…"
"Similar to the amazons of Greek lore, I know," I interrupted.
"You strike me as the type of woman who can take care of herself, to an extent. But you are also smart enough to know your limits," Eric appeared thoughtful for a moment before continuing, "perhaps I should call you Yör instead."
"I'd prefer Leah, though I suppose that there are worse things I could be compared to besides a Valkyrie or the goddess of wisdom." It was then that I realized that this was the first civil conversation I had ever had with Eric. Usually he was pissing me off to the point where I couldn't really think beyond curse words. However, here we were speaking civilly to each other, it was actually nice. My cigarette had long since burned out, but I really didn't want to face Sookie right now. "May I ask you something?" Eric quirked an eyebrow a me, but nodded allowing me to ask my question. "Would you please tell me one of the stories from your homeland? They get twisted in the retelling and translating over the centuries to the point where there are a thousand different versions."
"Perhaps another time." He hadn't out right refused, so I took it as a sign that he simply didn't want to take about it at that moment.
So I decided not to push, "Alright, I just have one more question." Eric gave another nod, allowing me to continue. "Will Bill have to face a tribunal?"
"Now how do you know about that?"
"Remember I have met other vampires that allowed me to ask questions."
"Ah yes, I had almost forgotten."
"But you haven't answered my question. Will he have to face the tribunal?"
"Most likely, though he has asked me to intercede on his behalf."
"But you won't will you?" Eric's smirk was answer enough. "I thought as much though I will ask a favor."
"And why should I grant this favor?"
"You already owe me one."
"I do?"
"Yes you do, I cleaned up Longshadow."
"Ginger would have done that."
"True, but I did better than she could have. Even Pam couldn't smell any blood. Also if it wasn't for Bill, Longshadow would have killed Sookie."
"What is this favor?" He asked, sounding resigned.
"Tell the truth. Bill may not be able to escape punishment, but it was you asking us here that got us into this mess in the first place."
"Ah there she is; the Valkyrie has come to play again."
"Oh stuff it!" In no time at all we had gone back to the way we were before. Eric being condescending and pissing me off. "This is your fault; the least you could do is tell the truth."
"I'll think about it."
I sighed, know that was all I would get out of him. "Fine, I'll be going now."
"Perhaps I should take you home, you have been drinking after all."
"I think not, my buzz left an hour ago, and there is no way I'm showing you where I live."
"And here I thought we were friends," he replied.
"If we're friends then I never want to meet your enemies."
