Chapter 7

I

It was just before opening and Seren slipped into Eric's office looking for him. She instead found someone who she wasn't expecting. For once, she was momentarily caught off-guard and stood just inside the door. Two pairs of eyes studied her and Seren quickly recovered and bowed her head.

"Majesty," said Seren.

"Relax, it's just one of their pets," said Queen Sophie Ann to her vampire guard.

She heard Sophie Ann's high heels click closer to her and felt her fingers on her chin. The Queen raised her eyes to look more closely at her.

"Where have they been hiding you?" asked Sophie Ann.

"I only arrived here, Majesty," said Seren.

"You know who I am, how?" asked Sophie Ann.

"I was told that the Queen of Louisiana was a beautiful vampire without compare, Majesty. Surely, I could not be mistaken of your identity having seen your loveliness with my own eyes," said Seren.

"Your manners tell me that you are no stranger to a royal court. How in the world did such a pretty thing like you end up in this dive?" asked Sophie Ann.

Sophie Ann began a more interested inspection of Seren. Seren had chosen the form of the blonde girl that Eric seemed to favor. She was wearing a short Chinese silk dress in navy blue with colorful patterns of dragons on it and her curly locks were pinned up in the back with little tendrils loose in the front.

"I believe that my previous master owed Mr. Northman a debt," said Seren.

"It must have been quite a debt" said Sophie Ann.

"Your Majesty flatters me undeservedly," said Seren.

"I doubt that," said Sophie Ann, now caressing her.

Seren remain silent, dropping her eyes, after fluttering them prettily, of course.

"A pity," said Sophie Ann. "Your talents are being wasted here. What's your name?"

"Seren, Majesty," said Seren.

It was then that Eric arrived to find Queen Sophie Ann's fingers touching Seren and as he watched they trailed into the girl's curls.

"Majesty," said Eric with a small bow.

The Queen dropped her hand and turned her attention to Eric, saying, "I have business with you."

Seren quickly moved to Eric's side and Eric wondered what had been going on. With that child, there wasn't any telling what she was up to.

Eric said to Seren, "Off you go, now."

"Yes, Master," said Seren, as she demurely left the room.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" asked Eric.

"I have a little job for you," said Sophie Ann.

She waved at a small cooler on his desk. Eric walked over and looked inside. A frown passed over his features and he turned back to Sophie Ann.

"Is this what I think it is?" he asked.

"Stop acting all high and mighty," said Sophie Ann. "I know that you aren't exactly squeaky clean yourself."

"Even I don't sell V," said Eric.

"You do, now," she replied.

"With all due respect, Majesty," began Eric.

He didn't get to finish his sentence because Sophie Ann moved in a flash and pinned him down on his own desk by his throat. She bared her fangs menacingly at him as his own fangs dropped.

"With all due respect, Mr. Northman, I'm due a lot more respect than that. I'm sorry to compromise your manhood like this, but hell hath no fury like a vampire queen broke," she said, grabbing a sensitive area of his anatomy to illustrate her point. "I have the pigs at the IRS breathing down my throat and I need money. Sell the product and cover our tracks."

She let go of him and retracted her fangs while straightening her outfit as Eric got up. He bared his fangs at her, but Sophie Ann gave him a dismissive look, indicating that he was not worth her concern.

"I'll see myself out," she said.

She walked to the door with her guard in tow. But, at the exit, she turned around.

"You and your new pet will visit me at court," she said. "Soon."

With that, she walked through the door and left.

Once the Queen and her guard were gone, Eric retracted his own fangs and stuck his head out his office. He yelled for Seren.

Seren appeared immediately. But, when she came inside she put her finger to her lips as a signal to be quiet. Eric raised his eyebrows and Seren held out an electronic device in her hand.

"Har hon talar svenska? Om du har några tvivel, måste vi välja ett annat språk," said Seren. (Does she speak Swedish? If you have any doubts, we must choose another language.)

"Nej, svenska bra," replied Eric. (No, Swedish is fine.)

Seren nodded and turned on the device, saying, "Jag litar inte henne." (I don't trust her.)

Seren walked towards his desk and waved the device around. As it passed over his phone, the green light indicator on the device turned red.

Seren flashed him a smile and said, "Låt oss gå ut." (Let us go outside.)

Eric followed her out of the office.

Once outside, Seren said, "She has bugged your office. It seems that she doesn't trust you."

Eric was angry, but he didn't say anything. He wondered how much Sophie Ann had already listened to.

"How do you even have one of those devices?" he asked.

"Because I don't trust anyone, either," said Seren.

She noticed Eric's worry and said, "Relax, the bug was just planted since I swept your office myself the first time that I entered it."

"I guess that I have your paranoia to thank for keeping my secrets still secret," said Eric.

Eric turned back to the office and Seren sensed his intentions.

"Wait, you can't remove it," said Seren.

"You want me to just leave it there?" demanded Eric.

"That's exactly what I want you to do," said Seren. "She has just dropped a wonderful opportunity into your lap."

"How is having my office bugged a wonderful opportunity?" asked Eric.

Seren rolled her eyes and said, "How do you know so little about court intrigue? Have you just skated by all these years on your good looks?"

"It seems my education was sorely lacking, explain it to me," said Eric.

"That bug can be used against her. You can chose what you want to disclose to her. And you can feed her false information to manipulate her and control the situation. By doing those things, you can maneuver her into a corner and eliminate her, if you choose," said Seren.

"Seren, your deviousness knows no bounds," said Eric. "I guess it's a good thing that you are working for me."

"Am I, Viking?" said Seren, wickedly.

Eric studied her and said, "You seem to have caught the Queen's eye."

"Did she ask for me?" asked Seren, innocently.

"You know she did, you flirt," said Eric. "Are you planning on defecting?"

"You're more fun," said Seren.

"Are you sure that it's not because you think that I'm easier to manipulate?" said Eric.

"Now, I don't know where you get all these unkind ideas about my character. How could someone like me possibly be able to influence you?" asked Seren.

He smiled and said, "All too easily."

"Are you trying to charm me, now?" said Seren.

"Is it working?" asked Eric.

"Not in the least, but I do appreciate the effort," said Seren, smiling.

Seren asked, "Why is she here? It wasn't a social visit since she dislikes you."

Eric didn't want to disclose the selling of V to her. He didn't trust the charming Seren and that was a secret that could destroy him. He was playing a deadly game by letting her as close to him as he was. There was a reason that she was under Russell's control and whatever hold he had over her must be significant, for the wily Seren did not like answering to anyone. If he were Russell, he would fear this little unique shifter.

"Perhaps, she came to plant the bug," said Eric.

Seren didn't look convinced, but said nothing.

Eric noted her outfit and said, "Are you planning on staying here, tonight?"

"What is my master's wish?" asked Seren.

"I'm smart enough to realize that I'm not your master," said Eric.

"Does that disappoint you or relieve you?" asked Seren, with a tiny smile.

"I haven't decided, yet," said Eric.

Seren's smile widened and she said, "You might be smarter than I thought. A miniscule amount, of course."

"Are you sure that you don't want to go back to flattering me?" asked Eric.

"You can handle the brutal truth," said Seren.

Eric turned serious and said, "About this boyfriend, if I'm to grant him protected status, I need to know just who I'm granting it to."

Seren reluctantly said, "His name is Mason Herveaux."

"Is he a relation of Alcide Herveaux?" asked Eric.

"How do you know who Alcide is?" asked Seren.

"He owes me a debt," said Eric.

"Alcide's debt has nothing to do with Mason," said Seren.

"Protective, aren't you?" said Eric. "Is this why you are here with me? To keep Russell's eye off your precious wolf pup?"

"I never said that he was a werewolf," said Seren.

"You didn't have to," said Eric.

Eric leaned in and said into her ear, "I know enough about you to know that a plain human would too boring for you, wouldn't it?"

"I have discussed this issue with you all that I'm going to," said Seren.

"I also know that you don't like giving up your secrets," said Eric. "You don't like playing fair."

"Neither do you," said Seren. "But, vampires are the masters of dirty fighting."

Eric walked around her and said, "We were the masters until Russell found a child prodigy. Does he realize what a dangerous game he is playing?"

Seren stared at him evenly and said, "Do you?"

"I'm just like you," said Eric. "I don't like to be bored either and you, my little untrustworthy sidekick, are many things. But, boring isn't one of them."

II

"Hello, Seren," said Franklin, with that low sexy voice of his.

He was dressed in black with cowboy looking boots with pointed toes. Franklin was a freak, yet there was something about him that caused Seren to feel sorry for him. But, she never forgot that he was unpredictable and was always on her guard around him, of course. For some reason, Franklin liked her and treated her as a friend. Did Franklin have any real friends? Probably not, thought Seren, maybe that was why this pretend friendship with her was something he enjoyed. There was something very sad about that, again thought Seren.

"How's my partner in crime?" said Seren. "You aren't gambling with little old ladies anymore are you?"

Franklin frowned and said, "They wouldn't let me have a turn."

Franklin had massacred a group of church ladies at the slots in Biloxi. Obviously, they were not aware of the rule that mentally unstable vampires always went first. She knew about the incident because Russell had complained excessively about having to clean up Franklin's mess.

"The nerve of them," said Seren. "There just isn't any excuse for bad manners."

Franklin looked mollified and admitted, "Perhaps, I got a little carried away."

No shit, thought Seren, but she smiled sweetly.

"Just how do you know Mr. Compton is going to be gone?" asked Franklin.

"Because it's Friday night, date night," said Seren. "I'm just guessing that he will be leaving to go to spend this evening with his human. His child already left with a human boy."

"Now, I wasn't aware that Bill was a maker," said Franklin.

"Not by choice," said Seren. "He was sentenced to make one for the vampire that he killed, protecting that human of his."

As they watched, Bill walked out the front door and got into a car. He drove away and they watched his tail lights disappear down his driveway.

"You called it, correctly," said Franklin.

"Did you doubt me?" asked Seren.

"Come on," said Franklin, leading the way up the front steps.

Franklin jimmied the front door easily and they went inside. The house needed a lot of work, thought Seren, looking around. But, Bill looked to be occupied with other matters. They found the room that looked to be a study and began a thorough inspection. They carefully didn't disturb anything, putting everything back exactly as they found it. Going through the desk drawers, Franklin found one with a false bottom. As Seren looked over his shoulder, he removed a hidden manilla folder and laid it on the desk. Opening it up, they could see it was a file on Sookie. It contained a newspaper clipping of some story that occurred in her childhood and several photographs of her at various ages. There was also a geneology chart detailing the ancestors of Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie's name and that of her grandfather were circled.

"Oh, Bill, you're such a stalker," said Seren with amusement.

Seren nodded her head to Franklin and he put the drawer back the way that they had found it, minus the file. Franklin took the file in hand and Seren made another sweep of the office to make sure that it looked undisturbed. With luck, Bill Compton wouldn't even notice that his file was missing, thought Seren. This had been a job that she could have easily done on her own and she wondered why Russell had sent Franklin. Perhaps, Russell planned on sending Franklin back here on a another more sinister job and he wanted his minion to be familiar with the surroundings. If you wanted a dirty, little job done, Franklin was your man, thought Seren. It was possible that Russell would ask Franklin about her which is why she didn't plan on confiding in Franklin, no matter how creepily charming he might be.

They let themselves out and disappeared to the car that Seren had hidden out of sight. Franklin got in and she started the engine.

"Let's check out the local flavor," he said.

Not such a good idea, thought Seren. Franklin was the last person she wanted to party with.

"I don't think you'll find anything here too interesting," said Seren.

"Such a lack of faith, Seren," said Franklin.

She drove them to Merlott's. Seren noticed that the parking lot was full. Obviously there wasn't too many places to hang out at in Bon Temps, she thought.

When they got there, Seren said, "What are you in the mood for?"

"I was thinking ethnic," said Franklin.

"Interesting," said Seren.

She morphed her appearance into a girl with features that hinted to a Asian lineage. She had long, straight dark brown hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. She didn't want to be seen her in her true form and the blonde girl was known here as Eric Northman's pet. Like Franklin, she had dressed in black with black jeans and a leather jacket.

The restaurant was busy and their entrance was hardly noticed. They took a seat at the bar and the human on Franklin's side quickly got up and moved away. They waited and waited. Finally, Franklin caught the attention of a pretty black girl sitting behind the bar.

"This is a bar, right? You do actually serve drinks, don't you?" he asked.

The girl looked up with a pained expression and said, "I'm not working, tonight."

"If you aren't working, then why are you sitting behind the bar?" asked Franklin.

"Trying to keep from killing myself," she replied.

"How's that going for you?" asked Franklin.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she replied.

But, she stood up and said, "What do you want?"

"I'll have a Tru Blood and my charming friend will take a coke," said Franklin.

"We only got O Pos and the microwave broken," she said, putting the cold beverage in front of him.

She got Seren a coke and sat back down, lost in her thoughts. Seren watched Franklin who was drawn to the girl. She looked as damaged as he was. She sipped her coke and decided that if Franklin was already occupied, she could ditch him. She wanted to go to the place that she was staying since Mason would be visiting her this weekend and she didn't want to sleep all day tomorrow. She was so busy contemplating her escape from Franklin that she wasn't aware that she was being studied herself.

Tommy paused after taking his tray to the kitchen. He slung his bar towel over his shoulder and checked out the pretty girl sitting at the bar. She was young, even younger than himself, with exotically beautiful features. Now, that was something that didn't walk into this place every night, he thought. She was sitting next to a vampire, but the vampire seemed interested in Tara.

Tommy sauntered over and, from behind the bar, caught the girl's eye.

"I've never seen you in here before," he said.

Seren studied him and got the feeling that he was a shifter also. What was with this place? Why were there so many supernatural creatures drawn here? Was this place a crossroads? He was young and cute with short brown hair. His features were marred by a scar above his eye, but it didn't detract too much from his looks.

"That's because I've never been here before," said Seren.

Well, she had been here before, in another guise, thought Seren.

"I'm Tommy Merlott," he said.

Seren gave him a slight smile and said, "You're cute, but I'm not interested."

Tommy leaned in and whispered, "You're not with that vampire, are you?"

"He can still hear you," whispered Seren back. "And he isn't my boyfriend."

Franklin turned around and said, "I'm her overprotective uncle."

Not liking the way that Franklin looked at the young shifter, Seren quickly said, "It's alright, Franklin."

That's all she needed, an overprotective psycho vampire defending her honor, thought Seren.

Franklin turned away and resumed his study of the pretty black girl. Seren watched them uneasily. There were few of her enemies that she would wish Franklin on and the girl seemed unaware or uncaring of the danger she was in. Seren glanced around for the bartender that she had seen the first time that she came there. She finally saw him coming out of one of the back rooms. Seren got up and moved in his direction, curiously followed by Tommy. Franklin was too occupied to notice.

The bartender cautiously watched her approach.

"May I speak to you in private for a moment," asked Seren.

"What's this about?" he said.

"It won't take long," said Seren.

Seren stepped out of sight of Franklin and turned to the bartender.

"If you care about the girl behind the bar, you should get her away from here," said Seren. "She's been noticed."

"I thought that you were with that vampire, why do you care?" asked the bartender.

"What's your name?" asked Seren.

"Sam. Sam Merlott," said Sam.

"Sam, I'm only giving you a warning. What you choose to do with it is your business," said Seren. "But, I thought that you might be a friend of hers."

Seren began to move away, but Sam touched her arm.

"Look, I'm sorry," said Sam. "I'll try to get her to go home."

Seren nodded and returned to the bar counter and leaned into the speak with the vampire. As Sam and Tommy watched, she headed for the exit. When Tommy made a move to follow her, Sam grabbed his arm.

"Stay away from that girl," he said.

"What? Where do you get off," began Tommy.

"That girl is not what she appears to be," said Sam. "I don't know what she is, but she is always in the company of vampires."

"She's never even been in here before," said Tommy. "And she doesn't seem like a bad sort, she warned you about Tara."

"She has been in here before on the arm of Eric Northman," said Sam. "I recognized that perfume of hers."

"Well, she ain't on his arm, right now," said Tommy, trying to move past him.

"Are you stupid? You don't mess with that vampire or anything that is his," said Sam.

"Well, thanks for keeping me here while she got away," said Tommy, sarcastically.

"Let me explain it to you. Eric Northman runs this area and you don't want to be on his bad side," said Sam.

"I ain't afraid of him," said Tommy with bravado.

"Remember that scent and stay away from her because she won't look the same the next time you see her," said Sam.

"What the hell does that mean?" asked Tommy.

"Maybe she's just as dangerous as the vampires," said Sam walking off.