Disclaimer: I don't own the Southern Vampires. Sole copyright belongs to Charlaine Harris. Most of the characters are Charlaine Harris's... but some are mine! All the mistakes are my own.
Chapter Nine:
When the jolt of energy hit my mind, I felt as if I lost total bodily control for a moment. My knees gave out and I dropped to the floor, as my mind went totally blank. If I did not know better, I would have thought that I had passed out. As I gathered my senses I looked over to see the Elf on the floor next to me and we both sat motionless for a long moment. I was utterly shocked at the sudden incapacitation. I had no idea Hunter's gift was so powerful and I just stared at him for a moment in astonishment.
Neither I nor the Elf said anything and Hunter started to nervously shift his weight from foot to foot. "I'm sorry!" Hunter said but he did not sound sorry, he sounded exasperated. "It's just that you two were going to kill each other! What else could I do?" His voice ratcheted up as he spoke and anger started seeping in, "I mean if you kill each other then who is going to get Aunt Sookie back? Ever think of that?" he spat. "I can't do this by myself! You two are acting like a bunch of fucking mental cases. Look at yourselves." Hunter motioned to the two of us on the floor. "Maybe instead of measuring your dicks, you can pull yourselves together and fucking take care of business! FUCK!" Hunter screamed and then turned on his heels and stomped out of the room.
I was aghast. 'Had he just incapacitated a thousand year old Vampire King and an Elf assassin, then proceed to tell us off? Of course he did. He was raised by one Sookie Northman, why would I expect any different?' I almost cracked a smile because his tirade reminded me so much of Sookie. She has always been my little warrior and the fire of passion burns bright within her. Sookie is nothing if not a survivor and somehow, she always seems to avoid death's boney hands. I needed to concentrate on finding her. I should have never let my grief overwhelm me, but it took me by surprise. I would not let that happen again. Hunter was right, I had been out of my mind, and although I will never admit it, his little jolt did bring me back into my senses. The things I imagined those bastards could be doing to her drove me mad. I find that now that I have had a taste of what happiness is with my Sookie, I will risk anything to keep it, as I am empty without it. I have never in a thousand years felt a loss as I did tonight when I had seen that they had taken her.
I had turned my intense anxiety into anger and I would have killed the Elf, as an outlet for the damage I wanted to inflict on the ones who did this. I could not help but hate the fucker. What I wouldn't give to be rid of that blue bastard. He is like a vulture circling an injured animal, waiting to pick the flesh from its bones once it dies. He has been waiting patiently for me to fuck up with Sookie or meet my final death. I often wondered if he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to take me out. I know how he feels about her, as he makes no attempts to hide it. His affections for Sookie are evident when he is in her presence, and when he is not, he uses every opportunity to remind me that he is there and waiting. I thought after all this time he would have given up, but here he is, the ever present pain in my ass. But, as much as I hate him, I needed his help. I could have done this myself, but his connections and influence would certainly help me track her down faster.
I got myself off the floor and extended a hand to the Elf, it was a small gesture of peace, well, as much as I could stand anyway. It would be a cold day in hell before I apologized. He looked at it for a moment then took it and I pulled him to his feet. The Elf brushed himself off as I held out my hand to my child; I might apologize to her, but not in front of the present company. I would not appear weaker than I already have, as I was lucky not many had witnessed my little outburst, it could have damaged my reputation. Pam accepted my hand and I let her know I was sorry through our bond as I squeezed her hand softly before I released her. She gave me a little nod and a small smile to let me know she understood.
"Hunter's right." Redin said voicing what I would not. "We have wasted enough time. We should start by paying a visit to Sarit."
I remembered Sarit, she was a Twilight Elf like Redin, and the one who helped us put the wards up at the plantation. "Why would we contact her? Surely there are better leads to follow." I said irritated. It had to be Drazan who pulled down the ward, so I did not see the point.
Redin looked at me like I was an imbecile and I growled at him, he always acted as if he was superior to me. "Vampire, who do you think pulled down the ward? Only one is capable of doing that, Sarit. Somehow she is involved in this."
"How are you sure it was she who pulled down the ward? What makes you think that it was not Drazan?" I said, annoyed with him already.
"Drazan? Drazan Mateen? You believe he is behind this?" Redin asked and he looked thoughtful. It was then I realized I had not disclosed the information to him and I had told Hunter next to nothing. I would need to brief the Elf.
"You know him?" Maybe this would be easier than I thought.
"No. One of my contacts told me that he was one of the few creatures capable of removing Sookie's soul. I looked into it since I do not know any other True Shamans. Not that it matters, now that they have her body as well, but regardless, if he was involved, he would need Sarit to reverse the spell. It is only her blood that can take down the ward."
'SHIT!' I thought furiously, I had not known that. I knew the ward was strong, but I did not know that she was the only one who could bring it down. I looked over to my child who had been uncharacteristically quiet. She was sitting on the bed examining her nails in a bored manner. "Pam, call Sookie's witch, tell her to get here immediately to do an ectoplasmic reconstruction. I want to see if Sarit had help and who that help was. The guards were taken out too quickly and quietly." Even the guards that stood outside of the room did not hear the intruders. Pam took off quickly and I continued to ponder the situation. Then I had a thought, "Elf, could Drazan have killed Sarit and taken her blood, then used it to remove the ward? Maybe she is not directly involved."
Redin looked thoughtful for a minute the answered, "Even if that is the case, it is the best lead we have. That is, of course, unless you know where this Drazan resides?" The Elf smirked at me. If I had known where the fucker resides I would be there right now. "If Sarit is alive" He continued, "she most definitely had help. She is a priestess, not a fighter. She would have used magic on the guards, not broken their necks." Redin paused as he seemed to be thinking. He bent slightly to look over the corpse of one of the guards that laid at his feet, then he continued, "Do you know who is behind this? Is it this Drazan? What are their intentions? Hunter did not give any details."
"A Vampire named Sargon Nicholai Tarpul is who is behind this, I am sure. The rumors say he is trying to breed a superior race of vampires. Drazan and a vampire child of Sargon who's name is Turik, are doing his bidding. They plan to..."I trailed off, unable to get the words out.
"They think Sookie would be a fine addition, I take it. He plans to turn her then?" Redin said finishing my thought, his voice took on a low tone, but he stayed calm and steady even though his eyes blazed with fury.
"Yes, I believe so, after he...breeds her." I said forcing out the words that had been sticking in my throat as it tightened at the thought.
"After he BREEDS her! As if she was an animal! " Redin cocked his head as his eyes went wide, he looked wild with anger. Although the Elf and I had more than a few confrontations, I had not ever seen him this infuriated. "If he touches her, I will slowly skin him alive before I wipe him from the face of the earth." Redin shot me a murderous look.
"I will do much worse than that." I said as I kept tight control on my own anger. For once Redin and I were in total agreement. 'Maybe hell had frozen over.' I was just about to suggest we get a move on when I heard the approach of several Vampires and then a ruckus outside the bedroom door. Redin pulled out his long sword and stood defensively. I could not help but to roll my eyes, hearing it was Aldon huffing outside the door.
"I demand to know what is going on!" King Aldon roared. "I am the fucking King of Arizona and Nevada, I will speak to King Northman NOW!"
Redin looked at me with his eyebrows raised in a silent question. I just shook my head and said, "Let him in." I knew the guards would hear me and I knew they would not let him in without my permission, after all, they were rightfully fearing my wrath since they had made no attempt to stop the intruders, even though they were right outside the fucking door. 'Useless. There is no one I can trust with her safety.' I decided to put that thought aside for now, I had too much to deal with to waste precious time on that.
The door swung open and Aldon and his personal guards came quickly into the room. "Northman, what the hell is going on? I have been waiting for hours for an audience." Aldon looked pissed but I couldn't bring myself to care. I was finding him increasingly irritating.
"I am working on cleaning up the mess you have made of my life!" I shot back at him and Aldon looked taken aback. "Now unless you have some pertinent information on our enemies, you will keep your mouth shut. You have dropped this mess in my lap and now my wife has been kidnapped right along with your human. Now you dare raise your voice to me in MY KINGDOM? I should kill you where you stand." Redin's face turned to stone as I spoke and he turned to glare at Aldon now that he knew it was Aldon who caused this. Well, maybe not entirely, but I was willing to blame him for now. Focusing my anger helped me to stay in control.
Aldon's guards tensed and then Aldon asked, "The Queen was taken? Not the boy?" He was ignoring my threats and Redin's glares as he answered absently.
"What do you mean "not the boy"?" I asked, making my voice cold as ice. I was about two seconds from sending him to his final death.
"What?" Aldon said looking up at me; he had been too shocked to monitor his words. My lips pulled back in a snarl and my fangs extended. I lowered in a crouch instinctively as a feral growl emanated from deep within me. "WAIT!" He said, pleading, as he took in my face. His guards looked upon me with wide eyes and then they stepped back from the King. Aldon did not even notice their retreat, since his eyes were fixed to my face. "Please! Let me explain!" He shouted as he took three quick steps back from me. I followed stepping forward three steps to mirror him. Aldon held out his hands in a wait gesture and said, "I had no other choice! It was never supposed to be her! I swear! The boy is not yours, the loss would be minimal. They said they would take her from me...forever!"
Redin threw on the hood of his cloak disappearing and Aldon's guards glanced around nervously searching for the Elf. I took a step forward. The King's time was growing short. "Give me one good reason why I should not end your pathetic existence right now." I snarled.
Redin, as quick as lightening, staked the guard standing to the right of Aldon. The vampire looked down at his chest in astonishment before he fell to the ground. The other guard, to the left of Aldon, looked on in horror for a moment before Redin moved behind him and took him out as well. I did not even hear him move. 'He is much more dangerous than I give him credit for.'
"I can help you!" Aldon said, his face beseeching me for a stay of his impending execution.
"Speak quickly leech." Redin said from right behind Aldon. I still could not see him, but his voice gave away his location. "It may be a costly move for Northman to kill you, but I am held by no such rules or punishments."
"I can lead you to Madden." His desperation was evident.
"Go on." I bated him. This I wanted to hear, it may not pertain to the situation at hand but we have been looking for him for years, and somehow he has been able to evade us.
"Let me go and I will bring him to you. He pays a witch to spell him so he can remain undetected. He has been hiding out with one of his children." He said but that was not enough information to save him.
"Let you go?" I laughed in the most sinister way, "That information holds no value to me now." and crept forward.
"Turik! I can help you get to Turik!" Aldon took another step back and he bumped right into Redin's chest. Aldon whipped around and hissed at the place where Redin stood, still unable to see him. Redin gave Aldon a shove, causing him to fall and slide a little way across the hard wood floor. Redin pulled off his hood as we both advanced on him.
"How?" I demanded, towering over the pitiful Vampire. He knew I had reached the end of my patience.
"I know how to contact him. He wont answer one of my calls, but maybe you can have someone else contact him, lead him into a trap. He is a mercenary after all, his only interest is money. That's how I met him originally, he has quite the gambling problem." Aldon spoke so quickly that if I was not a vampire, I was sure I would not have been able to follow.
"Guards!" I commanded, a little louder than I needed to. The two guards at the door came in quickly.
"Yes my King?" one guard asked. He was the Vampire David Alston, an admirer of my Queen that had proved himself trustworthy over the years. The other guard was Ezekiel Alvarez. He is a nest mate of David's and also a supporter of my Queen, ever since she spared their lives and took them into her service.
I had cells installed here at the plantation not long after I took over Louisiana, not in the main house, of course, but in one of the old out buildings that used to be used as slave quarters. I could not always take my prisoners to the club, so it was more of a convenience than anything. I decided it was best to keep the King alive for now, he may have some valuable information yet to yield. "Take Aldon down to a cell and chain him up. I want him guarded at all times. He is not to be released. No visitors beside myself, my child, or Compton." and then added, much to my own disbelief at my own words "or Redin, am I understood?" Redin looked as surprised as I was but, he had seemed to put the fear of God in Aldon, which could be useful.
"Yes your majesty." David said, pulling on some leather gloves and pulling out a pair of handcuffs from the small leather pouch on his hip. He and Ezekiel pulled Aldon to his feet, and then cuffed the King behind his back, before leading him out of the room.
"Oh, and Aldon," I called and the guards stopped him just outside the door. "when I send Compton to talk to you, you had better tell him all you know, or I will take much pleasure in dealing with you myself before providing you with your final death. Perhaps I will take your human and use her to my own ends." I laughed in a sinister way and motioned to the guards to take him away. I knew I would not hurt the girl because Sookie would never forgive me, but, of course Aldon did not know that.
"Eric." Redin said grabbing my attention. He had never called me by my first name, it was always Vampire or Bloodsucker, especially when we were alone. "I need to speak with my contact, then we should leave."
"Yes, I need finalize a few things before we leave as well." I knew it would be best to set several things into motion before we went. We had wasted too much time as it is, so I would have to utilize all the resources at my disposal. "I will meet you in the foyer in fifteen minutes." I said as I flipped open my phone and sped out of the room.
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It was nearly two hours since we had left the plantation and Redin was shifting restlessly in his seat. Sarit's residence was outside of Baton Rouge, and according to the GPS in Pam's BMW, we were less than twenty minutes from our destination. It was barely 11:30 PM. I had spoken to Bill before I left and told him that he was to extract the information from Aldon, and Shane and Marco were to follow up on any leads that Bill obtained. They were to contact me as soon as they found anything solid. I had the rest of my Sheriffs out gathering intel, and Pam was supervising their progress as well as keeping an eye on Hunter. When we first left the plantation I had tried to reach out to Sookie through our bond but it felt like it was dampened and I could not get a good read on her, other than determining that she still lived. For now all that I could do was follow these leads and pray we find my Sookie. I just hoped we would make it in time...
The ringing of a cell phone interrupted the charged silence in the car. It was not my cell but I recognized it as Hunter's, and I wondered how Redin came to have Hunter's phone. I could tell by the ring tone it was his as the song "Bodies" by Drowning Pool rang out. Redin looked a little startled when it started playing, I guessed that cell phones were not big in the Otherlands. I found the song a little appropriate and I could not stop a smirk from creeping onto my face as he scrambled to pull the phone from his pocket. I gave him a sideways glance as he flipped open the phone, "Yes?" He answered sounding displeased.
"Master, I have found out where the items off the list were acquired." a female voice said. I could here her clearly in the quiet of the car. 'A female...hmmm...maybe the Elf has not been as patiently waiting as I believed.' I grinned at him.
"Where?" He said rolling his eyes at me.
"A place in New Orleans called The Waxing Moon, it is a magic shop that specializes in rare and exotic ingredients." The woman said.
"Thank you. Stay in touch." Redin said and hung up.
"Who was that." I asked, enjoying his irritation.
"No one of your concern." Redin said and he looked out the window avoiding my gaze.
"Really, that is...interesting. A lover perhaps? I was beginning to believe you were, as Sookie would say, 'Batting for the other team.'" I knew full well he wasn't because he drools over my Sookie like a lovesick puppy, but it was much too fun to tease him.
"Humph!" Redin huffed. "You wish I would find a lover don't you? You would love it if I simply disappeared from Sookie's life, but that is not going to happen." He gave a little laugh of his own, but it held no humor. "Any lover I might take, is only a temporary distraction from the woman I love. If you truly loved her, you would have let her go. I could give her the peaceful life she craves, and she would be safe in the Otherlands. I could make her happy and I know she could love me."
"You should give up Elf. She loves only me!" I shouted defensively, although I was well aware that was a lie. Sookie gave love freely, it was part of what I loved most about her. If I could not feel what she felt for me I would be less secure in making that statement, but I was sure I was the only person she was in love with. "Sookie is mine and she will always be mine. We are bound by blood and there is no way in hell that you can take her from me." I snarled. This conversation was taking a turn for the worst and it was one that we had often over the years.
"For now." He said ambiguously, and I felt uneasy, not a feeling I was fond of.
"Dream on." I snapped back at him, wanting to end the conversation. Luckily the GPS system had just interrupted us, telling us we had arrived at our destination.
I pulled up to the front of the strange looking building. I had not seen anything like it before. The best way to describe it was that it looked much like a castle's tower, round in shape but topped with a twisting spire. It was about three stories high and the exterior appeared to be shiny black, highly polished stone. Small windows were all that broke up the solid darkness of the building. If it had not been so far in the backwoods, the structure would have been easily noticed. I briefly wondered if this was a common type of construction by the Twilight Elves. Their underground cities are not often seen by outsiders so I could not be sure and I was not about to ask Redin.
We exited the car, walked up to Sarit's unusual home, and approached a large black steel door that looked quite solid. Redin knocked as I scanned the area, scenting the air and listening for any movement. I heard nothing, but I could faintly smell vampire, although it was not a scent I recognized. Redin tried the knob on the door and it was locked. I pushed past him and kicked the door with all my might sending it flying off its hinges. He looked at me approvingly as I motioned him to enter. What we found, well, was completely unexpected…
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please let me know what you thought. I just adore your reviews.
