Chapter Ten
I felt so alone. And I know how absurd that sounds. I have only known Eric a short time, and I was already too close. I would never have known it was possible, to feel to inseparable with a person in only a few nights. It was hard to believe, even for myself. Pam had come to the room and invited me downstairs for dinner. She had closed up the shop for the night so she could keep me company. We talked as we ate, and for the first time in my life I felt like I had a sister.
Again, I know it sounds completely ridiculous to say that I felt this woman as my own sister, when I had only met her the night I had met Eric. But it was true, none-the-less. I felt some sort of connection to her, and it was most likely because Eric had sired the both of us. Pam was much older than I was, but a lot younger than Eric. The only thing we ate was a few glasses of blood, and some kind of blood soup. I could taste hints of onion and celery in the red soup, but the delicious taste of human blood much outweighed the taste of vegetables.
Dinner was lovely, and it had taken my mind off the fact that Eric was on an airplane headed to Canada in search of a psychotic vampire. Pam was looking at me as I thought of Eric, and she cleared her throat.
"Aurora, would you care to see my room? I am sure you would love it." she winked at me, standing up and offering her hand to me. I smiled brightly and took her hand in my own. We walked up the stairs and down a corridor I had not been down yet.
There were dozens of doors, but I noticed one in particular. It was a very flashy pink, with gold trim and leafing. All my attention was instantly drawn to the door as I could feel myself growing giddy. Pam opened the door and waved me inside. I instantly began to giggle and jump. It was the room every woman would want! Her bed was purple with pink blankets. The walls were a beautiful shade of teal, with golden leopard print all over them. Her floor was hard wood, but there was a leopard print carpet stretched across the majority of the room.
There was another pink door off to the left which I assumed would be her bathroom. I saw a small crack in the wall, which would likely be her hidden coffin room. There was an enormous bureau with a massive mirror. The dresser was clearly made of teak wood. There was an impossible amount of make-up, perfume and hair styling objects on the dresser. There was a larger sized painting on her wall, of a older-looking family. They were dressed in older clothing, and they looked extremely old-fashioned. As I looked closer at it, I saw a younger looking lady, that could quite possibly be Pam.
I jumped onto her bed and groaned at the soft surface of the bed. Pam sat in a darker pink chair, and smiled at me.
"This is a dream room!" I yelled happily. Pam laughed and nodded her blonde head.
I looked around the room more and saw a walk-in closet and gasped.
"Can I look?" I asked her hopefully. She laughed and said that I could. I jumped up and dashed to the closet, quickly flicking on the light.
There was an colossal amount of clothes. There was black, pink, red, teal and any other color you could ever possibly imagine. The far wall was covered with shoes, heels and sneakers. I saw sparkly dresses in gold and silver. I could see giant ball gowns and illogical amount of crazy hat wear. I ran my hands down a black silk gown. This was my dream closet, and my dream room. Pam and I would get along perfectly! I turned around and smiled at Pam.
"Let's go to Fangtasia tomorrow, Pam! I haven't been out since, well, since before I came here! I need to keep my mind off of Eric until he comes home! Please say we can go!" I pleaded. Pam laughed loudly and pulled me into a loving hug.
"Of course we can go!" she yelled happily. She gave a sudden jerk, and laughed uncomfortably.
"Sun will be up soon." she said almost silently. I nodded, the uncomfortable feeling I had come to realize was my internal warning suddenly burning in my chest.
I looked at Pam, with hopeful eyes.
"May I sleep here?" I asked her. She looked at me with shocked eyes, but I could tell she was touched by my request.
She nodded slowly, and kissed my forehead. She was a blur as she dashed to the cubby in the wall, opening it for me. I could see a sparkly pink coffin and a more plain looking white one. I knew the pink one was Pam's, and I smiled brightly. She was a very bright vampire, which was a little shocking. She was also extremely sarcastic, but I liked that about her.
As we laid in the coffins, side by side, Eric popped into my thoughts. At first I was extremely confused and had no idea what was going on. I saw the imagine of myself in my mind, and Eric walked in and kissed the image of myself. I knew now that he was trying to make me see what he was thinking about. I smiled to myself as I heard him tell me he loved me. I slept after that with no problem.
I shot awake. It was not a slow and gradual awakening, it was like I heard a gun go off and I was scared awake. I could hear Pam rustling in her coffin beside me, and I exhaled heavily. Nothing was wrong, as I had initially imagined. But I felt something strange, like something had woken me up. It wasn't the feeling of the sun going down, that woke me up slowly. It was like I panicked and just woke in a scare. I shook my head and popped open the lid to my temporary coffin and climbed out.
I tapped gently on Pam's and waited for her to say something.
"Are you up yet?" I asked. I heard her groan inside and tell me to get lost. I laughed and stepped out of the cubby and ran to Eric's room and hopped in the shower. I washed my hair and skin, and dried myself quickly. I was excited to go to Fangtasia and have a bit of fun.
I started to dig through the clothes that Pam had gone out to get me. Eric had had them brought up to his room while we slept on the first night I had been turned. I saw something that particularly stood out. There was a long, thin dress hanging in the closet. It was golden, and it shimmered beautifully. It was almost calling my name! I grabbed it from the rack and looked it over. I didn't want to be too elegant, but this dress was just gorgeous.
I slipped it on and felt as if I stepped forty years into the past. Not only was it old fashioned, but it was also modern. It made me feel seductive and strong. Powerful. Pam came bounding through the doors in a short black dress. It hugged her in all the right places and it had swirls of sequins on it. She was wearing a pair of black stilettos, that looks about five inches. She took my breath away. Pam was totally stunning, and it made me feel insecure and jealous.
Pam smiled at me brightly.
"Great choice, Aurora! It looks amazing on you." she ran her hands down my sides, smoothing out the ruffles. I looked down and smiled.
"I think this is more of a dinner dress. Not a clubbing dress." I told her, turning around and looking through the drawers of clothing. Pam sighed and pushed me aside. I watched as she pulled down a shorter gold dress, nearly identical as the one I was wearing. It only went to maybe mid-thigh, but I could tell it would look great!
I quickly pulled off my dress and put on the other one. It was skin tight, and it made me feel more sexy than seductive. Pam smiled proudly and handed me a hair of red stilettos. We walked into Eric's room as I sat at the dresser trying to figure out what to do with my hair and make up. I sat, silently staring at all the products.
"May I?" Pam asked from behind me. I nodded at her, secretly thanking her.
She worked quickly and made me look more or less, dazzling. My lips were as bright a red as the shoes. My eyes were a smoky black and my skin was sparkling with body glitter. She had straightened my hair and pulled it into a very beautiful hair-style that I had only seen on celebrities. I looked amazing, and I was not ashamed to admit it.
She nodded in approval and stuck out her hand. I grabbed it and we walked out of the house together. The drive to Fangtasia was a short one, which I didn't mind at all. When we pulled up the parking lot was packed full of all kinds of cars. We both got out of the car and strode into the bar. The male at the door recognized Pam and let us past the long line-up. I felt like I was some kind of important and beautiful celebrity or something.
The club was jam packed full of people. Vampires, humans and shifters. They all had something that made them different from one another. The shifters all had a smell to them, and now that I was a vampire it was extremely potent and noticeable. I waved my hand in front of my nose, trying not to be rude. I couldn't help it, they smelled! The humans I could instantly pick out! They smelled delicious, and sweet. And the vampires were just.. well, vampires.
Pam and I strode up to the bar, and ordered a couple of daiquiri's. The bartender asked if we would like blood in our daiquiri's, and we both said yes. As I waited for my drink, Pam asked if she could be excused to the office so she could do some quick paperwork. I nodded and sat on a stool, glancing around the bar. There was humans trying to push themselves onto vampires, which made me a little sick to my stomach. That was such a dangerous thing to do, and I didn't understand why they tried to force it. If a vampire wanted you, they would approach you, or glamour you into wanting them.
I sighed and grabbed for the drink that the bartender had put in front of me. I swayed a little on the barstool to the music. It was nice to be out in a public place, and around others of my kind. I felt okay. A female sat on the stool beside me, and ordered a martini complete with blood. She was specific in saying it must be O negative. I took a drink of my daiquiri, and smiled at her.
"I have never seen you around here before." she said. I nodded at her.
"Yes, I was just recently turned." I stated. She raised her eyebrows at me and smiled.
"Well congratulations! How does it feel?" She asked. I chuckled and shrugged my thin shoulders.
"It feels... amazing." I confessed.
She nodded at me in agreement. Another lady came and stood beside the other. They were twins, identical twins actually. Vampire twins? How bizarre. The second twin struck out a hand for me to shake. I took it and shook it.
"Bailey Mendez, nice to meet you." I smiled at her.
"Aurora Harris, pleased to meet your acquaintance." I responded.
"This is my twin sister Hailey." she told me, pointing to the original twin. I giggled and nodded.
"So, was one of you turned and then you turned the other twin?" I asked. The laughed at me, and shook they're heads.
"No, no, no! The same vampire sired us both, at the same time." Bailey told me. I nodded, just as Pam was approaching me. The twins looked instantly intimidated, and backed up a little. I looked up at Pam who was grinning.
"Pam! Do you know this woman?" They asked simultaneously.
"Why yes, yes I do. She is my blood sister, sired by Eric." she explained. The twins gasped and backed up. Hailey stood up from her stool and backed away.
"Oh, we didn't know. Our apologies!" and then they were gone. I blinked, totally dumbfounded. What the hell just happened? I was utterly confused.
"Stay away from those two, Aurora. They are tramps." Pam took a seat beside me and picked up her glass, taking a large drink.
"What do you mean?" I stupidly asked.
"Aurora, they like to seduce new vampires (and humans too). Then they will lure them away and sleep with them. A man's real dream, yes I know. But they kill those they sleep with. They are tramps." Pam repeated.
Vampires were just as bad as humans, my God! I gulped down my drink and asked for another. I saw Eric in my mind, which made me jump. Pam stared at me, wondering why I was being ridiculous. Eric was looking at a waterfall, and it was beautiful.
"Incoming transmission, I take it?" Pam asked sarcastically, taking a drink. I laughed loudly and nodded. Pam smirked and asked for another drink. Eric was beside a young woman, who looked to be in her mid-twenties. She was pointing to the waterfall, and she looked scared.
"He is at a large waterfall, with a woman. A human woman. I think she is telling him where Bill is hiding." Then everything went black again. I silently thanked Eric for letting me know what was going on, hoping he would get the message. I gulped down another drink quickly. Pam and I sat at the bar for a long time, observing the obscene humans trying to force their tender flesh on un-wanting vampires. She and I had a few good laughs and had a few many more drinks.
I had been hit on a few times by various kinds of creatures and had rejected them all. It felt good to feel wanted. Pam grabbed my arm at some point in the wee hours of the morning and said it was time to go home. She drove and we were there before I knew it! I liked vampire life, it was glorious. When we reached the mansion, everything was black. I could feel Pam tense up. Something must be out of order.
"Stay here, do not move! Do you understand?" she ordered. I nodded and silently moved to the cover of a near by tree. Pam nodded in approval and ran to the house. I tried to hear anything that was going on. But even with my new vampire hearing, everything was dead silent. A warning bell went off in my head. Something was wrong, and I needed to hide! I scrambled up the huge tree with lightning speed and sat there, waiting for something to happen.
"Sookie!" a voice came from my head. I looked around at first, thinking someone was in the tree with me.
"Sookie! It's Eric!" His voice sounded panicked and scared, which made me terrified! If an ancient vampire was scared, you damn well better be scared too.
"What's wrong?" I asked in my head. It was silent for a while, which scared me. I could see images of Eric running through a forest, panic totally overcoming him.
"Don't you move! Bill is not here, he is back there!" His voice was screaming inside my mind.
I started to panic, noticing that Pam had not returned yet. I didn't know what to do!
"Is Pam okay?" I asked Eric. He was her maker, he would know if something was wrong.
"Yes, she is okay. But Bill is walking around the grounds, looking for you!" I had nothing to reply with. Why would this crazy vampire be looking for me? I wasn't anything special like Sookie was, so what would be want with me. Eric seemed to have heard my thoughts, and gave me and answer.
"He knows I care for you, and he want to take you. Take you so he can use you against me!" My mind was blank. I was so terrified that I couldn't move at all.
Pam still hadn't returned, which was making everything worse.
"I am only a few hours away, please do not move! Don't go anywhere until we know that he is gone!" I still had nothing to respond with.
"I love you, stay safe!" he ordered.
There was nothing else in my mind after that. The world was silent, not even the sound of a cricket was heard. Where the hell was Pam? Was she okay? Just then I saw a slow moving figure coming my way. It was a man, he was middle height with dark hair. I knew that he wouldn't be able to see me, I was well hidden in the top of the tree. The leaves provided excellent cover. I watched him walk closer and closer, glancing in every direction. I was so scared, so so scared.
I knew this vampire was Bill Compton and I knew he could over-power me with ease. I stayed put, even as he was right below me. He searched the car and stayed there for nearly a half hour before he dashed away. I didn't know if he was gone, so I stayed put. No Pam yet. I sat in the tree until the feeling of the oncoming sunrise warned me. I slowly climbed down from the tree and ran into the house.
Pam dashed up to me and hugged me tightly. She had old blood on her which told me she had been hurt, but was already healed. Anger flared inside me.
"Oh, your alright! I am so glad you stayed where you were!" She gasped, hugging me tightly. I nodded into her neck and kissed her cheek.
"Are you okay, Pam?" I asked, concerned. She smile and winked at me.
"Your damn rights I am." This made me laugh, until a flare of pain stabbed my chest. The Sun.
Would Eric be okay? I knew if he didn't make it home by the time the sun rose, that he could just go into the ground. I needed him, and I needed him now. I kissed Pam goodnight and ran to Eric's room and slipped into my coffin, hoping that if Eric wasn't home already, that he would be when I woke up.
I pushed the button on the wall, securing the cubby. I didn't fell safe though, not without Eric or Pam. But I would be safe, never-the-less. He would be with me soon, and Pam was okay. This made me feel a little better.
As the run rose, I was knocked out cold.