AN: Thank you once again for the lovely reviews! This chapter is slightly more romantic, after all the genre is romance/drama. Had some serious trouble finding lyrics, I spent hours looking and finally, here they are!
Chapter 8. Beautiful
In my shoes, just to see
What it's like, to be me
I'll be you, let's trade shoes
Just to see what it'd be like to
Feel your pain, you feel mine
Go inside each other's mind
Just to see what we find
Look at shit through each other's eyes
But don't let 'em say you ain't beautiful, oh
They can all get fucked.
Just stay true to you so oh oh
So don't let 'em say you ain't beautiful
Oh, they can all get fucked.
Just stay true to you so oh oh
Before I had time to register what Dr. Ludwig had said, Eric had me pinned against the front door by the throat. "This is all your fault! I knew you were trouble the first time I laid my eyes on you, Godric should never had gotten involved with you. I should just get rid of you right now!" He snarled inches away from my face. I clawed at his hand, trying to loosen his tight grip on my throat. I couldn't breathe and I felt increasing pressure inside my head, my vision getting hazy. I couldn't believe my luck, getting manhandled twice in less than 24 hours, I almost wanted to laugh at the thought. My emotions were a mess, the person who did this to Godric was a fae, as to why they attacked him, I assumed was because of me. I had not accepted his help after what happened in Fangtasia, because I did not want him to get into trouble. But that was exactly what had happened. I thought that by leaving him, at least he'd be out of the woods but as it turned out, I had been wrong. And I had to fix things as soon as possible.
I think Eric was serious about getting rid of me, but before he could do anything, he was yanked away from me. I was on my knees on the floor, gasping for breath while rubbing my sore throat, when I heard a crash and looked around me to see what was going on. Eric was lying on the floor, Godric hunched over him, his back facing me. "You dare to touch what is mine?" Shock was written all over Eric's face at Godric's words. "You...You claim her? This is all happening because of her-" I didn't understand what they were talking about, but Godric was obviously not pleased with what Eric said. "Do not test my patience, child. You should know better than that." My intensions never were to get between the two of them who obviously were extremely close and I didn't like where this was going. "It's okay, he's right, this is happening because of me." I said and stood up. Godric turned his head to look at me while Eric just lied on the floor. "And why is that?" He asked and I told him how we met and how he had protected me from the fae. He looked displeased with the fact that he had not killed the fae and got up, releasing Eric. "Why would I not drain an obvious threat?" He seemed to be truly confused by this. "I think you were tired of killing and hurting others and just made a choice not to." Looking confused he dubiously said "Was there something wrong with me?"
"You changed few centuries ago, you seemed to be somewhat...faraway and lost the will to live. It was close to what I believe humans call depression." Eric said getting up from the floor and running his hand through his now slightly messy hair. Godric thought about what Eric said for a moment. "I see. Then I am no longer sure I wish to have my memories back." I could understand Godric in a way, of course he didn't want to be depressed, this version of him wanted to live. But not being able to remember anyone close to you was something I wouldn't wish even for my worst enemy. Then again, could you miss something you didn't remember ever having? What if you had no past, only the present moment and you could start anew, would you? Or would you take your old life back, just to want to end it again? These questions were going through my mind and I knew that I could not judge him, no matter what he might choose.
Eric looked heartbroken by his maker's words and I felt bad for him, no matter how much he hated me, I couldn't hate him back. So I said to Godric "I think it would be wise to at least figure out if there's a way to get them back. And after we find out what can be done, you could decide what you want to do?" Eric stared at him with pleading eyes and when he nodded his acceptance, Eric sighed, relieved.
We sat down in the living room to discuss what should be done next. Eric suggested that we "hunt the fucking faeries to extinction" as he so creatively put it. I immediately turned down the idea, there was no way of finding them unless they wanted to be found. We talked about hiring a witch to see if a spell would work, but Godric didn't approve. I thought about maybe asking Niall for advice, but I didn't know how to reach him or that he wouldn't be a danger to the vampires. Then Eric said that Sookie knew how to 'use her light' and that he would ask her to maybe try something, we all agreed to that, but I wasn't overly excited to see her again.
When we were on the same page about our next move, dawn was already approaching fast. Eric stood up from the armchair he had been sitting on and looked at Godric. "We should take our leave, master. You can stay with me until we know for sure you are no longer in danger." Godric frowned. "No." I looked at him, confused. Where was he planning on staying then?
"What do you mean 'no'?" I asked. "I am staying here." He said and crossed his arms. "But why? Not that you're not welcome here but it might not be the best choice right now for you." I tried to reason with him. "Because I want to." He said like it was the only reason he needed. Eric sighed "Very well, I will contact Sookie tomorrow. But now I must go." He said bowing his head at Godric. "What the hell?" I wasn't into swearing, but I was just too confused to care. Eric glanced at me before answering "It's no use arguing with him when he's like this. He used to do this quite a lot up until some decades ago." That surprised me, but then again he had lived for a long time, so of course he would change over the years. "Oh okay, guess it's decided then..." I briefly wondered what I had gotten myself in to.
I woke up sometime the next evening and cursed myself for sleeping so long. I supposed it wasn't that surprising since we had after all stayed up all night. I took a quick shower and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast before heading out. I needed to do some shopping again, Godric needed TruBlood and clothes. I had offered to go get some of his clothes from his place and if I wanted to make it in time I would have to get going.
When I arrived at Godric's, I was glad I still had the security codes in my phone, since there was no way inside without them. I typed the code to the front door and stepped inside wondering where I could find his clothes, I assumed most of them where in his bedroom and I didn't have the right code to get inside there, so instead I started my search going through the guestrooms. The first bedroom didn't have any stuff in it, just a dresser with empty drawers, and I headed to check the second bedroom. There, in one of the closets I found few pairs of sweatpants and some t-shirts, they would have to do. I brought one of the shirts I was holding closer to my face and inhaled deeply, it smelled nice, just like Godric. Suddenly I realized what I was doing and blushed furiously looking around me as if someone could catch me doing something wrong. I hurriedly packed the clothes in to a bag I had brought with me and rushed to my car and headed to grab some TruBlood on my way back home.
When I got home, it was already dark outside and the lights were on inside the house indicating that Godric was up. I unlocked the front door and stepped inside and almost dropped the bags I was carrying when I saw Godric strolling around in the living room shirtless. He turned around to look at me but I just stared at his well-built torso until I realized that he was looking back at me with a cocky smirk on his face. Then I noticed something. "Oooh you have tattoos!" He had several tattoos on his upper body and other arm. "It appears so." He said lifting one eyebrow at me. "Turn around!" I ordered him and he obeyed and I saw that he had one more tattoo on his back. He truly was beautiful and not just because of the tattoos, it was everything. His smooth looking skin, chestnut brown hair and those blue-green eyes that held so many emotions in them. "They're so pretty! Not that you're not- uhh you know what I mean..." I babbled embarrassed that he had caught me staring. "You think I am pretty?" He asked and I think he was a little offended by what I had said. "You know what I meant. Anyhow I brought you clothes and TruBlood." I said stalking towards the kitchen. I put the pack of TruBlood into the fridge and turned around only to almost bump into Godric, startled I dropped the bag which held his clothes and looked at him wide-eyed.
He leaned closer to me and buried his nose into my hair and took a deep breath. "Is your shampoo scented?" I wondered why he would want to know something so trivial but answered anyway. "Umm yeah, strawberry..." He put some distance between us and said "Throw it away." I looked down mortified, did I smell that bad? "Oh okay..." He nodded. "You should not cover your scent with artificial ones. Your natural scent is delightful." My head snapped back up so that I could look at him. He was staring back at me intently and I, as if I was hypnotized, reached my hand out placing my fingertips on his forehead and traced them down to the tip of his nose and he closed his eyes. I moved my hand to explore the both sides of his face and finally when I was about to touch his lips, his phone rang and I immediately pulled back my cheeks flushing red. What the hell was I thinking, violating his personal space like that?
He dug the phone from the pocket on his pants and answered, sounding irritated. "What is it?" Someone said something on the other end. "Yes, that is acceptable." And with that he ended the call. "It was Eric. We will go to a bar called Fangtasia and meet this Sookie woman there, if it is okay with you?" I nodded picking up the bag I had dropped and handed it over to him. "Here's your clothes. All I could find was sweatpants and t-shirts though..." He took the bag and peeked inside it. "That is fine. Thank you for going through the trouble of getting them." He said and looked at me again with the same intensity as before but I avoided his gaze, still embarrassed.
Still, I had to admit that touching him didn't feel wrong at all.
When we arrived at Fangtasia we were met with the familiar face of an annoyed Pam. "Oh great, you're back." She said to me, sarcasm dripping from her voice. What a great start for the night and I had a feeling things weren't going to get much better. We went straight to Eric's office where he and Sookie were already waiting. Upon hearing us enter, Sookie spun around looking at Godric and ignoring me completely. "Oh Godric, I'm so sorry for what happened! Are you alright?" She sounded truly concerned and I immediately felt guilty. "Master, this is Sookie Stackhouse, she is here to help." Eric introduced her when Godric just stared, not answering her. Sookie smiled at Godric sympathetically, still not looking at me and he nodded at her. "Shall we get started?" Eric asked, looking at Sookie. "Yeah, I'll try my best, but I need skin contact, is that okay with you, Godric?" She said stepping towards Godric. "Yes." He said looking slightly uneasy but didn't protest when Sookie brought her hands to rest on either side of his face. And much like last night when Dr. Ludwig had touched him, the white light appeared.
Several minutes passed and Sookie had closed her eyes, concentrating but nothing seemed to happen, until suddenly, the light flashed bright red and Godric fell on his knees, letting out a cry of agony. Eric immediately stood up yanking Sookie away from his maker by the arm. "What did you do?" He shouted at her but she just stood there, frozen in shock. "I-I don't know, this wasn't supposed to happen!" I kneeled in front of Godric,who had grabbed his head with both of his hands, bloody tears streaming down his cheeks. I had tears of my own blurring my vision when I tried to soothe him, wiping the blood away from his face with the tips of my fingers. "Do something, he's hurting!" I yelled at Sookie, who winced every time Godric whimpered in pain. I kept caressing his face and tried to think what to do to help him. He had closed his eyes and his tense muscles were shaking and all I wanted was for it to stop, so I put my arms around him to stop his body from shaking.
As I held him tightly against me, I started feeling strange, my vision getting hazy and at first I thought it was because of my tears, but soon realized that wasn't all. My body was feeling weaker and I was getting tired until my arms fell limply to my sides and I just leaned against Godric. My brain felt foggy and I didn't know when Godric had stopped shaking, but felt glad all the same. My head was resting against his shoulder and I felt my eyelids get heavier, until I just couldn't keep them open anymore. I could hear Godric say something close to my ear, but it was like his voice was coming from somewhere far away, and I just couldn't focus on it. I wanted to sleep, more than I ever had in my entire life, and I briefly thought that I probably should stay awake, but it was getting too difficult and finally, I just gave in to the darkness.
The lyrics are from a song called Beautiful, by Eminem
