AN: Hi guys (don't you just love it when I interrupt your reading to give you what you likely think is a completely pointless message? :P) I wanted to say another massive thank you to those who review - I have the next five or so chapters written and seeing the reviews and alerts really spurs me into checking them over and wanting to get them up (though, I'll admit, I do sometimes forget...) and getting them makes me so happy so thank you!
I'm currently trying to figure out the timelines for this so I can work it properly - I know I said at the beginning that this takes place around seasons 2/3 but I'm going to rejig that because if I can I'd really love to include the events of season 2 into this fic (because who doesn't love Godric and a bit of Dallas? :P). I haven't figured it out entirely yet but when I do I'll let you know so you can orient yourselves (I know I'm pretty lost myself at the moment and this is all in my head so God knows how you guys feel).
We're quite far in by now so if you have the time or the inclination I'd love to hear what you think - of the story in general, of Elliot, of Eric - all of it. I'd rather have reviews than rainbows for breakfast, and I would love rainbows for breakfast.
And finally! I'm considering changing the name of this fic to Running For Dead, just to give you a heads up :)
Elliot got another surprise visitor the next morning. The knock on the door came a little after she'd woken up and she'd just stepped out of the shower when it sounded. The familiar panic rose inside her and she froze for a second before dressing at lightning speed, not bothering to dry herself fully, hair dripping down her neck. Should she pack any of her things before leaving? Elliot glanced around the room and seized a backpack as the knock sounded again, lighter than how Michael would knock (would Michael even knock?) but who else could it be?
She wasn't thinking straight enough to hazard a guess and Elliot focused solely on packing her things before rushing from the room and creeping down the stairs. She stopped at one of the windows, looking outside to spot the top of a blonde, female head; definitely not Michael. Feeling weak with relief, Elliot dropped the bag and hurried down the rest of the stairs to open the door.
Sookie, the waitress from Merlotte's, telepath and girlfriend of 'Vampire Bill', was standing on the porch. Elliot stared at her blankly even as the blonde offered a dazzling smile.
"Sorry to bother you!" she said cheerfully. "I just thought I'd stop by and make sure Eric hadn't done anything too...well, too much like Eric." It was a nice thought, admittedly, and Elliot was taken aback that anyone had thought of her of her at all, though grateful nonetheless.
"Right," she said, nodding. A forced smile pulled at her lips, too late to be polite but it was an attempt at least. "Sorry, I thought - I thought you were someone else." Sookie's eyes had trailed over Elliot's dripping hair, the messy clothing she'd pulled on in a hurry, the guarded look on the young woman's face. "Um...not to be rude, or anything, but...how the hell did you know where I lived?" Elliot asked in as casual a voice as she could muster.
"Oh right – sorry," Sookie said quickly, flushing a little. "I just asked around a bit – I knew this house had been up for sale a while back and there aren't many around here so I just sort of guess. It's not too hard to find out where the new people are," she added somewhat wryly before her expression grew serious. "Are you alright?"
Elliot nodded, an instinctive reaction to such a question, though the fact that she'd been so easy to find worried her. It was something she ought to have considered, being as that Bon Temps was such a small town, but it hadn't even crossed her mind. "You can come in, if you like," she offered after a beat, stepping back to let Sookie pass. The blonde did so with a smile of thanks and Elliot led the way to the small kitchen. "Um...Coffee?"
"Sure," Sookie agreed, stepping over to the machine. "I can do it - I'm sorry to have interrupted you, I'll let you get on and finish getting ready."
Elliot blinked, surprised again. "Okay, thanks," she said, disappearing from the room. She headed back upstairs and towel-dried her hair, running a hand through it to move it back off her face. She changed the now damp clothes for a pair of jeans and an old shirt that she left open over a white tank top. Tugging on socks and her boots, she tromped back downstairs, fingers moving nervously through her hair as she wandered back into the kitchen.
Sookie had set out two cups of coffee and Elliot sank into a chair, reaching for the sugar bowl and dumping two spoonfuls into the liquid. "Thank you," she said gratefully, lifting her eyes to meet the waitress' blue ones.
"It's not a problem." Sookie was practically glowing with an unexplained happiness and she couldn't contain her smile as she sat there and sipped at her cup, eyes on Elliot. Seeming to realise that her staring was a little strange, Sookie let out a small laugh. "Sorry, I just - it's so strange, not being able to hear you. I mean, you're human, right?"
Elliot nodded. "I hope so."
"It's so great. The only others I can't hear are the vampires and, well - you know how they can be."
Elliot gave a low laugh at that; even after a few short days she did, indeed, know how they could be. "Unfortunately I do," she replied, tipping her cup and relishing the hot coffee as it moved through her. "Well, that's not fair. I've only met Eric so far. And your Bill, for like a second." And the blonde vampire outside Fangtasia but Elliot didn't know her name and she'd not exactly mether; it was more passing.
"Well, they're very nice, sometimes, but they can be a bit..." Sookie cast around for the right word and Elliot's eyebrow arched.
"Controlling? Possessive? Manipulative?" she supplied before giving a hollow laugh. "I got a longer list if you want."
"No - that works." Sookie was still smiling and she kept blinking at Elliot as though she couldn't believe the brunette existed. "Eric is, especially - he's not really accepted all of modern life. Just the good bits - cell phones, businesses, money, attention from adoring fang-bangers." At the last one Sookie rolled her eyes and Elliot couldn't help but laugh.
"They're weird, aren't they?" she said, largely to make conversation.
"Reallyweird," Sookie agreed. "What do they get from crawling around at his feet?"
Elliot shook her head. "I'm damned if I know," she replied, taking another sip of coffee. "I mean, he's gorgeous, yeah - you'd be a fool not to notice. But he's a dick." Which negated any (well, most) attraction to him, in Elliot's opinion.
"Well, I guess they don't know the last part yet," Sookie allowed, smiling over the rim of her cup.
"It's pretty obvious," Elliot said, thinking of Eric at Fangtasia. "It's hardly a nice guy that lords himself over everyone on a throne."
"True." They settled into silence for a short time, both women sipping at their coffee and neither feeling the need to interrupt the blessed quiet.
"So...a telepath," Elliot said eventually; she had to admit, she was curious. "You can hear peoples' thoughts?"
"Yeah," Sookie said, nodding, and Elliot's expression became a grimace.
"That must suck," she said bluntly.
Ever the optimist, Sookie gave a small shrug. "It has advantages," she said fairly. "Saved my life a fair few times."
"Doesn't stop it from sucking," Elliot pointed out, leaning forward slightly. "And the vampires are the only ones you can't hear? Except me, that is."
"Yep. I guess because they're dead they just don't have brainwaves or something." From the way she said it, Elliot could tell that a lot of frustratingly fruitless thought had gone into wondering exactly why she couldn't hear them.
"And - shifters, was it?" That was what Eric had called them the other night. "You can't hear them the same? What's a shifter, anyway?"
"No, I can't. A shifter is a person who can turn into an animal," Sookie explained patiently, understanding exactly how it felt to be lost amidst all the new things that came to light when you got involved with the vampires, willingly or otherwise.
"Like a werewolf?" Elliot's question was asked quickly, thoughts lingering on Alcide. She wasn't sure what to think about him right now; she hadn't called him last night, though he'd tried to get through three different times. On the last she'd picked up only long enough to tell him she didn't want to speak to him, and he'd apparently respected that because she didn't have any more missed calls from his number.
"Werewolves are different," came the response and Elliot sat up a little straighter. "They can only turn into wolves, but shifters can turn into anything. The Weres look down on shifters a bit, and they're organised in packs, whereas shifters normally sort of hang around on their own, I think." In the space of a few seconds Sookie had given Elliot more information than Eric had in several days.
"Christ." Elliot sat back in her chair, not sure how much of this she was actually going to absorb. Sookie's smile was sympathetic.
"More coffee?" The blonde set about refilling the cups and Elliot thanked her, adding sugar and running her tongue over her lower lip.
"It's like - you think you know the world," Elliot mused, tapping the edge of the cup gently against her teeth as she thought. "And then it just...it turns around and bites you and you realise you don't have a clue." She'd been speaking mostly to herself but Sookie was nodding understandingly.
"It's a lot to take in," she said gently. It was, and Sookie didn't even know the half of it; in the past few months Elliot's life had gone from pleasant and normal to violent and terrifying with very little space between and she didn't like it one bit. In fact she'd give anything to go back to ten months previous when she had no idea that Michael harboured a deep, sickening violence, before her parents had been ripped from her, before she had a clue that Eric Northman existed. Of course, Elliot didn't say so; she just nodded, taking another sip of coffee and closing her eyes briefly. "So, what are you?" Sookie asked, having clearly been sitting on this question for some time.
Elliot's eyes opened. "Eric didn't tell you?" she asked, surprised. She'd have thought, considering Sookie had been asked to read her mind, that the waitress would have been more in the loop.
Sookie laughed. "Eric? Tell me something important? You must have him confused with someone else. He just told Bill that he needed me to read a human's mind."
"And you just went along with that?" Elliot asked, somewhat annoyed.
The blonde shrugged apologetically. "Eric's the Sheriff - Bill has to do as he says, and I made a deal with him that I'd help him when he needed if he didn't hurt anyone because of it."
"You too, huh?"
Sookie pulled an 'everything will be okay' smile onto her face and rested her chin on her hand as she looked at Elliot. "Really though, what are you? You're not a shifter. Definitely not a vamp."
"I don't know what I am," Elliot admitted
"What's it like?"
"It's like - when I get angry or scared or something, stuff happens." This sounded like a really shit film and Elliot averted her eyes, embarrassed.
"What sort of stuff?" Sookie was incredibly curious, which Elliot could understand; she was planning on quizzing this waitress on her own condition until she ran from the house in frustration.
"I can push things - people - away without touching them. Make a wind, move stuff around. Fires, sometimes - not often, though," Elliot told her, keeping her eyes downwards. "I just...I just affect stuff, really."
Sookie was looking like Christmas had come early. "That's brilliant," she said, before she seemed to think it through and her face fell a little. "In theory. I guess that was hard growing up with too, huh?" Her voice was one of a woman who understood, perhaps better than anyone else, how Elliot felt about her unusual abilities.
"Sort of," Elliot nodded. "I mean, I learned to crush my emotions pretty quickly, but in the beginning I accidentally hurt people and broke things a lot. Eric's realgood at making it happen - I swear he must've taken How To Piss Off Elliot Sanderson 101." Though she knew she couldn't blame it entirely on the vampire; true enough he had a special talent for irritating her, but her emotions had been haywire since Michael had turned into the Michael of her nightmares, and they'd been a lot worse since she'd ran away. Her control had been slipping for months, but it was nice to be able to blame Eric instead of herself.
"I'm so sorry," Sookie breathed, shaking her head. "It's awful, isn't it? Did people think you were crazy?"
"They were scared of me," Elliot shared. "But I think - well, because they could see stuff happening they knew it wasn't in my head. They just thought I was a demon or something so they kept their distance until I learned to hide it." And even then there seemed to be something about her that people just didn't find welcoming. "The people round here call you Crazy Sookie," she mentioned, not realising until after that it was quite a blunt thing to say.
"Yeah, they think I'm messed up in the head," Sookie told her with a tiny laugh that didn't quite cover the small hurt in her voice. She took a sip of coffee before shrugging. "I guess I am. I think people like to convince themselves I'm a nutcase because they just don't want to accept that what's in their head isn't private. It's just...easier. It's easier for me to be crazy."
Elliot gave a small sigh and leant back in her chair. "So how come Eric came to know of your...ability?" Normally she would have referred to something like this as a curse but she wasn't sure if Sookie would take offence at that or not.
"It was my fault. I was at Fangtasia with Bill - I wanted to know if the vampires there knew anything about the women who were killed here-"
"What?" Elliot almost choked on her coffee. "When was this?"
"A while back. You didn't know?"
"Of course not! Jesus - I decided to stick around here for a bit because it looked like the most boring place on earth and then I learn you've got telepaths, werewolves, shifters, vampires and goddamn murderers hanging around." Elliot shook her head in disbelief; she had the worstluck.
"I guess it's not the sort of thing a realtor would bring up," Sookie mused. "The man's dead now, though." A sort of darkness passed over the blonde's face as she said that and Elliot watched her carefully but the other blinked and was her bright, happy self again so quickly Elliot thought she must've imagined it. "Anyway - we were at Fangtasia and I asked Eric about them, and I overheard some guy thinking about a raid the police were gonna do - he was an undercover cop. I sort of told Eric without thinking and then," Sookie shrugged, "you know how he is."
"That sucks," Elliot said, shaking her head a little.
"How about you, then? You don't seem the sort to bring attention to yourself," Sookie mentioned curiously. It was true; you didn't have to be a mind reader to see that Elliot ducked her head a lot, averted her eyes and held a carefully guarded expression in place at all times.
"A...well, I guess she's a sort of friend of mine - Morgan. She went to Fangtasia one night and got real drunk, and when she phoned me I decided to go and get her before...y'know." Elliot didn't want to say it aloud, didn't really want to accept what vampires could do, but Sookie nodded. "So I went in and she was trying to seduce Eric so I pulled her away before he could do anything, but then he tried to glamour me, which didn't work." It was difficult to keep her voice neutral here; the idea of someone getting into her head and interfering with her thoughts made her furious. It was very lucky for both women that Sookie's trick didn't work on the brunette. "Anyway, he stole my drivers licence and showed up on my doorstep a week later, wanting to know what I was. It happened when he was here - I accidentally threw him across the room when he got a bit close, and he took me back to his stupid club and basically said he'd kill me if I didn't help him out. And so here we are."
It was probably the longest speech Elliot had had since she'd first arrived in Bon Temps; certainly the most she'd said in one go for a long time. Sookie was looking appalled. "That's awful," she said, shaking her head back and forth, as if Elliot didn't know that.
"Yep. I tried to run away the next morning but he'd stuck wolves around my house so I couldn't go anywhere." Somehow, it felt nice to be able to divulge this to someone else; Elliot had a lot of things locked up inside her and adding to the pile only made things worse. At least there were some things that could be shared.
"I'll get Bill to try and speak to him," Sookie promised, looking very serious. "He can't dothat - at least I volunteered."
"Yeah, well - I'm starting to get the impression that Eric Northman does whatever the fuck he wants and nobody can actually stop him," Elliot said sourly.
"Yeah - he's Sheriff of Area Five so he has quite a lot of pull," Sookie said apologetically.
"Sheriff?" Elliot's forehead had creased into a frown. "I didn't know vampires were allowed to be sheriffs around here." Certainly there'd been a lot of debate about whether they should even be allowed to become police officers but Sookie was shaking her head.
"Not like our sort of sheriff," she explained before pausing. "Well, I guess it sort of is. He's a vampire sheriff, so he's in charge of a certain part of territory. I don't really get what he does, but if vampires want to hang out around here I know they have to check with him first, and they owe him loyalty. It's why Bill has to do as he says - because he lives in Eric's Area. And Eric's like, really old."
"Great. So not only do I have a thousand year old vampire on my back - he's the damn authority," Elliot surmised. "Just great."
"The good thing is he's interested in you," Sookie said bracingly, determined to find a bright side. "So he won't kill you."
"Oh brilliant - now I feel loads better," Elliot retorted, sarcasm dripping onto the floor. "I can be a tool instead of a corpse." She sighed and slumped back in her chair. "Sorry - it's not your fault."
"No, I understand," Sookie told her hurriedly. "To be honest I'm just glad to have found someone human I can have an actual conversation with without having to concentrate on not hearing your thoughts."
"I'm very glad you can't hear me," she said suddenly, with a sharp nod.
"I'm glad too - you have no idea how peaceful it is to be able to sit here and just relax," Sookie sighed, relief evident on her features. "I only really get that with Bill, but we don't get much time to sit and relax."
And sit and relax they did; Sookie didn't have to work her shift until later on that evening and Elliot was yet to find a job, so the two women sat and appreciated the company. They talked a little more about what Eric might want, about vampire politics and about werewolves. The two dwelled on how the world had changed since the Great Revelation. Sookie told Elliot about Bill and Elliot told Sookie that she didn't want to share her past, which the blonde accepted wordlessly. They sat and talked and laughed and practised being human, if only for the brief time that they could.
AN: (Yes, another one - aren't you lucky?) Please review and tell me what you think thus far - even just a quick 'Cool' or 'Crap' - feedback is greatly needed over here and y'all are the ones who can give it! Next chapter is written and needs to be checked for general inconsistencies and whatnot but it should be up within the week provided I remember (I tend to get caught up in the actual writing and then forget to do the whole posting part...)
