Eric drove directly to New Orleans upon waking the next night. Normally he would fly as a more direct route but he had a feeling this meeting concerned the vampire blood that the queen was having him sell and perhaps he had to bring more back to Shreveport. He had no strong desire to go see her though, as their last encounter had been less than stellar. Eric had not given much thought of their past conversation. Godric had gone missing only the day prior and it had consumed his thoughts entirely. Sophie was less than remorseful upon hearing that his maker was missing. Instead she chose to focus her energies on his screw up with Bill Compton and Sookie. It was hardly his fault that Bill knew about the V dealings and now he had to find a way to rectify his 'mistake.'
What had been interesting was Sophie's comments on Sookie. She had said that she was hardly human and that seemed to be her reasoning for Bill to be in love with her. Eric could hardly find a reason to have such an... infatuation with the girl. He could hardly call it anything else. He found her attractive, yes, and he was attracted to her, but he was attracted to almost any pretty girl with breasts in his own way. He found her useful more than anything. Her ability to read minds made her incredibly rare and could solve many of the problems he faced. What he really desired was to draw her away from Bill Compton and cause her to fall in love with him. Then he would be able to use her in whatever fashion he wished.
This brought the vampire's mind full circle to Ellie. What if she to was not human? It would explain many of the similarities between Sookie and her, especially the fact that they both appeared human but seemed to possess more supernatural qualities. He would have to ask the queen without becoming too obvious. His attempts at being discreet regarding Ellie's existence was becoming more and more difficult. He found no reason to think the girl was special and therefore had no reason to protect her, but he must do as Godric wanted and so he would remain tight lipped about her.
Eric found the queen in her 'day' room. She was again playing a board game with humans. The blonde girl was still there but the man had been replaced by a handsome black man with short dreadlocks. "Your Majesty," he said upon entering.
Really Eric hated greeting the woman this way. The red-headed vampire was younger than him. Almost six-hundred years younger. He felt he was far more qualified for a leadership role such as hers, but he had spent too much time elsewhere. He had not come into his position of power until the end of the 19th century whereas she had been one of the few vampires left after a massive hurricane destroyed much of Louisiana some fifty years earlier. Her luck gave her immense power over her 'subjects.' Eric only stayed loyal to the queen as she had some respect for his age and strength. He was the oldest vampire in Louisiana after all.
"Good you're here. We need a banker," the red-head said.
Eric gave her a queer look and sat down. The group resumed the game with Eric doling out money and houses when the time came. It all felt more than a little strange to him and the queen still had not given a reason as to why his presence was required.
"So, I heard there were problems at your club a few nights ago. With a human."
"Ah, yes. The human from the fellowship," Eric paused. Was this the sole reason he had come? "He felt he had unfinished business left over from Dallas."
"You killed him."
"Someone saw a gun."
"A girl. The girl that was causing problems early this week?"
It was clear that the queen was keeping much closer tabs on him than he had anticipated. He really shouldn't be surprised after her displeasure over the vampire blood situation. He just hadn't expected her to know quite so much. As if reading her thoughts, she smiled. "The guards don't just hang around here. So who's this girl you have? I heard she's a knockout."
"She's sort of a project." Eric wasn't sure how to continue this conversation without arousing the queen's interest too much.
"Really? You intend to change her?"
Eric laughed aloud. "Hardly. She interests me though. She's very out of the ordinary."
"Humans are all ordinary. What makes her any better than the rest of them?"
"She can't be glamoured and she seems mostly unaffected by my or any other vampire's presence. And she is... beautiful. More so than most."
The queen rolled and moved her piece. She purchased Connecticut Avenue and acquired a monopoly. "That's weird. Are you sure she's human?"
"I think so. But something about her is different. I can't place it."
"So she won't even have sex with you and blab on about her life? Most girls are more than willing to do that." Sophie raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow and glanced in Hadley's direction. The blonde human blushed faintly.
"Hardly. I don't even think I could stand her long enough to fuck her."
"Eric. You are getting entirely too old."
"Excuse me, your Majesty?"
"First, you say she's gorgeous and that she's almost extraordinary. Now you say you don't want to sleep with her. Have you even fed off of her?"
"No. She's very resistant..."
"And that makes it all the more fun! I want you to bring her here for me to try."
Fuck. Now he was in trouble. He hardly wanted to get Ellie involved with the queen, but now she was about to force him to bring the human straight to her. "I have yet to finish working on her."
"Fine. Let's make a little wager, because I really do think you're losing your touch. If you can't sleep with her and feed off of her in say... a month, bring her here for me to play with." Sophie gave him a look as if to say that this was not up for negotiation. "I would love a challenge around here," she murmured looking at the humans at the table and the others lining the wall waiting for her to choose one of them when she desired. They all looked so... willing. Too willing.
"It's a deal. Maybe I'll even bring her by if I haven't broken her will," he said. The less resistant he seemed to the idea the better. Maybe she would even forget about the whole thing by the end of the month.
"So. On to more pressing matters. I want to exchange this," she laid out several large bills (she would play in real money), "with smaller ones."
They continued to play the game for a little longer when Eric began to grow hungry. As if sensing his thirst, the queen began to stroke Hadley's neck and leaned in to bite. She paused and looked at her guest. "Eric, this is Jovan. He's from Jamaica. The stuff they smoke leaves the most wonderful aftertaste in the blood. You really must try him."
The black man to her left smiled in response and tipped his neck to the left to allow better access to the Viking. Eric lunged in and bit the man sucking up his delectable blood. It did have an interesting taste. After draining some of the man's blood, he pulled away. Sophie had a tendency to grow attached to the members of her pantry as he liked to call it. She would be upset if he completely drained one of her delicacies. He waited for the other vampire to finish drinking off her human before clearing his throat. "If there is nothing else, your Highness..."
"Actually there is. Someone has already placed another supply in the trunk of your car. I want you to extend the product to further north. I want you to reach Baton Rouge with it by the end of the month."
"Of course."
He followed her lead and stood.
"I don't want to hear about others getting involved in my business again."
Eric nodded and turned to leave.
"And don't forget the girl. If you don't ruin her that is. Honestly though, I don't think you have a chance." She giggled.
"You greatly underestimate me," he said, slightly affronted.
"Do I? Well, if you can, then how about a new car? I do think I have the better end of the wager. I heard she smells amazing."
Eric was behind the wheel of his car within minutes of being dismissed. He ensured the cooler was in place before leaving. Only once his car had left the area did he allow himself to think about the events that had just happened. He silently cursed himself allowing Sophie to push him into a wager that he didn't want to participate in. Eric felt trapped by the wager. She clearly had people watching him since she knew so much about Ellie and that made him feel slightly wary. His options were limited in this little bet. He thought of telling Ellie about it, but he could guess how she would react. The girl was already resistant to being in Louisiana and if she was provoked further she would find a way to leave. If that happened then he would be forced to incur the queen's wrath. The threat about his fangs as earrings was not one he would soon forget.
His only other option was to sleep with her. He didn't particularly like idea either. He thought she was a brat and entirely too whiny and human for his tastes. He considered taking her forcefully, but didn't know if he was capable due to Godric's edict. Or he could just not even try, but the queen knew a lot about Ellie. She was obviously watching him and him reneging on the bet was probably dangerous. His last idea was to follow the queen's suggestion and amp up his vampire charm and win the girl over. This didn't particularly please him either but this also presented him with the opportunity of gaining her trust and hopefully shipping her out of the state as soon as possible. And then he would get a new car. Not that he couldn't buy his own, but the queen would be generous and impressed with his conquest. He needed to get back in her favor after the incidences over the past few weeks.
A plan began to formulate in his mind on how he could impress the human. Normally he could just speak and women practically ripped their clothes off. He couldn't actually think of a time when he had to work for a human's affection or if he ever had. Perhaps it was time to call Sookie. Bringing in another human may work wonders to getting the girl to trust him. Maybe he would give her a little more freedom as well, try not to push her as much. Hopefully a combination of these efforts would get her into his bed and talking.
Eric pulled out his phone and dialed Sookie Stackhouse. She picked up on the third ring sounding slightly flustered. "Hello?"
"Sookie. It's Eric."
"Hi, how are you?" She sounded less than pleased to be speaking with the vampire. She was not forgetting the events of Dallas anytime soon .
"I hope you reached Bon Temps safely after our last meeting."
"We made it back just fine. What's wrong, Eric?"
"I know you did me a favor so recently, but I need you to talk to someone."
"I can't..."
"It's not for any bad reason. It's a... girl staying with me. I would like you to meet her. She has no friends in the area and I think she could do with the human interaction." Yes. He wanted to appeal to her motherly nature.
"Oh? A girl?" Shit. He didn't want to get her jealous.
"Yes... she's a friend, I guess. Her family died so I'm helping her right now until she can sort things out."
"Well, I guess. When would you want us to come? I'm just not in the mood for Fangtasia."
"How about Friday night? You can come directly to my house." He let his tone drop to a deeper sultry note.
"I suppose Bill and I could manage that," she said, sounding a little nervous with more than a little emphasis on her vampire boyfriend's name.
"I'll see you at nine then. She'll really appreciate this, Sookie." He closed the phone with a snap not even bothering to say goodbye.
It would be difficult to deal with the three of them at once, but Eric had to now get on Ellie's good side and providing her with a friend would make her grateful. Then again Ellie could quite possibly scare Sookie off if she was in one of her bitchy moods. He just hoped for the best. If Sookie could pick up on some thoughts or perhaps even gain her trust, he would be even better off than he anticipated. He just didn't want to think of how badly this could go.
The corvette pulled into the parking lot of the club. He had to get the vampire blood out of his car. He wanted to give it to Lafayette immediately. The less he had to do with it the better. He felt that giving the population of Louisiana a taste for vampire blood was making things harder for them and would cause more vampire deaths than previously. The queen was up to something. Eric wasn't sure what her goals were with getting V into Baton Rouge or why she wanted humans to take it.
As Eric brought the cooler into the empty club, began to feel tired. The sun was quickly rising and he wouldn't have time to get back to his house. He kept a room off of his office for 'personal' use and for times like this.
Ellie was waiting in the living room for Eric to get back. She was in the shower when he left and that was at the beginning of the night. She was growing angrier and angrier by the second at having been kept in the house for another day. It was getting later and later, or earlier and earlier depending on how you looked at it. She fell asleep waiting on the couch for him.
The human spent another day by herself locked up. Eric never returned to the house and she was all by herself again. With nothing to do. If before she was mad then she was pissed now. She wanted to rip the house apart.
Ellie spent the day doing push ups and any other sort of calisthenics she could think of. Her muscles felt like they were deteriorating and she had serious cabin fever. In fact, she was starting to feel claustrophobic.
She had just taken another shower when she heard the door open. It was well after sunset and the vampire was back. She got dressed quickly and walked out of her room. She met him on the stairs and glared. "Where the fuck were you?"
"I had things to attend to."
"And you just thought that I would just stay here and wait?"
"You couldn't get into any trouble that way."
"You can't do this, Eric. I can't spend my life locked away in this fucking house. I can't do this! I have a life and I want to get back to it."
"You're not going anywhere right now."
"Don't do this," Ellie sounded more despondent than previously. "I'm dieing, okay? Every second is one less I'm alive. I'm not going to live forever like you."
"You have a little while before you have to worry about dieing."
"You really know nothing. I don't have a future, Eric."
"Everyone has a future. Stop being melodramatic."
"No. I don't. I don't have a lot of time left. It's genetically predisposed. I know that you've escaped the whole natural selection thing, but I'm destined to it."
"No one knows when they will die. Not even you."
"You have no idea."
"Then enlighten me and stop being so secretive. It's getting old."
"Fine. You want to know how I know? Godric has been watching my family since before you were a vampire. Ever noticed how Godric seems to have humans that look a lot like me?"
Eric thought back to when he first met Ellie -
"I know you like your humans blonde, but isn't she a little young for you?" Eric questioned in Swedish.
Godric always blondes. And they all looked like Ellie. Never would he have guessed that they were all related.
"Makes sense now, doesn't it? They've all been blonde, tall, look kind of like me. All of them had one child and it's always a girl. And she always dies before she turns twenty five. Always. Without exception. That gives me less than four years, if that."
Tears formed in her eyes and she walked back into her room. Eric followed her. She answered one of his question but it just brought more to mind. There were so many unanswered questions. She still hadn't said why Godric knew her family or cared at all. And why Godric had never told him about them. It just didn't make sense.
"Why did they all die?"
"No reason. A car accident killed my mother. A horse killed my grandmother. A murderer killed my great-great grandmother. Two hundred years ago one was killed by the plague. But they've all died. Like dead, died. Not dead like you." She sat on her bed, her head in her hands. "Do you see now? See why I can't spend so much time here?"
Eric bit back a rude remark. Be nice to her, he thought to himself. "There's someone coming to see me in two nights. I want you to meet her."
"I don't give a shit about your friends."
"She's coming on Friday. Here. After that I'll find a human to stay with you during the day to let you out."
"I'm not a fucking dog. I don't need to be 'let out.' I need my life back."
"We'll see."
With that he left. She took a pillow from the head of the bed and screamed into it. That night, Ellie wept herself to sleep.
"Why didn't you go to your graduation?" Godric asked the girl, stroking her naked back.
"It's stupid. Someone is just telling me, great job, you made it through four years, now go to college."
"It's a wonderful accomplishment. You should be proud."
"I just wanted to be here with you," she sat up, kissing him.
Godric kissed her back, pressing her into the pillows. "You still haven't accepted any of the universities' offers."
Ellie frowned. "I don't know if I want to go to college. It seems like a waste of time to me."
"You need to. Get an education. Be with your friends."
"I don't want friends. I want you." She reached up to kiss him again, but he pulled away.
"You need to try to have a normal life, Ellie."
"When has my life even come close to normal? I hate pretending like it is. Like I'm not different. Why can't I just be with you for awhile?"
"Because I am not human. It is not the life for you."
"Why can't it be?"
"I will not answer that. You will not become like me."
"You're just going to let me die? Going to watch my last breath and forget about me? Take my daughter and pretend I never existed?"
"I could never do that."
"No. That's what you do. What about my mother, Godric? Or her mother?"
"I never loved them like I love you."
"I'm sure you said the same thing. You love each one more than the last."
"You know that's not true."
"Then prove it."
"I will not."
She wiped the tears away from her cheeks and looked at the headboard, avoiding his gaze. "My hair's short. I was dancing and then I was shot four times in the chest."
He listened carefully, taken aback. "Is that how you want me to die? Are you going to let that happen to me?" She asked.
"No. But I will not take your soul."
Thank you for all of the wonderful comments! I hope that I did the queen justice. It's hard sometimes. I have to watch and re-watch clips from the show to try and figure out more than what's being said. Haha such hard work. I'm bringing in the other characters slowly but surely, so more awesome research! I may just rewatch the whole series. I seriously wish I had them on DVD. Just like I wish season 3 was out... a few more months!
Next chapter will be out in a few days so enjoy!!!
