"Mr. Northman."

Eric lingered in that foggy place where he was awake, but refusing to part with sleep. He had been dreaming of nothing just the many miles and miles of roadside that he had driven by in the past ten hours. There had been a lot, and he wished he retained enough of it put on paper, but he had been overwhelmed. He had never been one with a thirst for adventure. He would have been happy to have never left his small town in Casselman. Once he left there, he'd found more trouble in Ontario than he knew what to do with.

Needless to say, traveling the world never appealed to him, but he could see the allure. In the ten hours that he was awake, he had left the country for the first time and traveled through four states in America. There had been rural country sides, fields, and areas of just nothing, but then somewhere before Nebraska he saw a beautiful little skyline glistening under the twilight. Now he was…where was he?

"Mr. Northman," Roger called. "We're here."

Eric scrubbed a hand over his face and sat up. He got out the car thanking the age he was born in that the back seat of a car reclined and had a foot rest. As he stretched, he looked around. What he saw didn't seem right. There was no way he was in Oklahoma. It was still dark out, and they weren't scheduled to arrive until very early the morning.

Seeing he was going to be consulting with a vampire Queen, Eric expected to be in a palace. From all the digging Nat had done, she had one built decades ago. The cost of it was still a matter of debate. It was up there though. So then why was he looking at a little brownstone that seemed entirely unassuming? That could either be very good or very bad.

"Where are we?" Eric asked.

"Oklahoma," Roger replied with a polite smile. "We made excellent time."

"Yeah, I'd say."

No wonder he was confused. Even with the scheduled stops for gas, food, and fresh air that lasted longer than they were supposed to, the drivers had shaved almost five hours off the drive while he had either been zoning out on his sketch pad and iPod or napping.

"We got a call from your contact with the Queen while you were asleep. This is where you will be staying for the length of your contract."

Alfred was already emptying the trunk and taking his things inside. Having no other choice, Eric grabbed his bags and followed. The inside of the home was nothing like the outside suggested. It wasn't luxurious; it was elegant, pristine, and very clean. Minus the mirrors and many glass fixtures, it reminded Eric of a psych ward, what with all the white walls, white leather couches, and white rugs. He wasn't sure if he should take his shoes off, or lie down and start talking about his issues.

"Please sign this," Alfred said, sliding Eric a piece of paper.

After glossing over the document Eric signed his name on the electronic tablet. "Thank you for choosing BC Coach."

'I didn't,' Eric thought to himself as they filed out the door.

The first thing Eric did was find a phone. He had lost all reception back in one of the Dakota's. It could have been North or South, he wasn't sure. It was on his mind to call Nat to let her know how his trip was, but out of habit, he dialed the hospital. It wasn't until the line connected and he heard the greeting of the hospital did realize what he'd done. Seeing he was already on the line, he might as well ask.

"How was her day?" he wondered.

"Okay," The nurse replied. "She seemed withdrawn, but she made noted efforts to join all the group activities and she earned her preferred alone time in the music room. She is writing a song."

Eric couldn't keep the smile off his face or his voice. "Really?" Free hadn't written a song in years.

"Yes. Doctor Whitley thinks that supplementing her normal Tuesday session and Saturday visitation with the music room might be better than her trying to go through both without you."

"I think so too," Eric said.

He hated himself, but he just couldn't break his link to that woman. As he talked about her to some nurse, he couldn't help but wonder, his heart couldn't help but ache for her and his hands burned to hold hers.

"Is she sleeping?"

"Nope," The woman said with a laugh. "She's still in there, but no one minds."

Eric knew she was moving closer to the room. He heard the footfalls and slowly he could hear the familiar voice. The nurse must have been in the room if only a little far away, but Eric would know that voice anywhere. Freyda was singing a Beyoncé song from almost twenty years ago. Eric was sure that no one under the age of forty knew it, but the way Free sang it sounded so new, so fresh, and so heartrendingly lovely.

"Do you want to speak with her?" the nurse asked after Freyda was finished shaming an icon.

"No," He told the nurse.

That was one of the most unselfish things that Eric had done in long time. It hadn't been easy, but at the same time, it was. The Freyda that he had just witnessed anonymously was the same one that had threatened to kill herself more times than he could count. Twice she had nearly succeeded though he knew she hadn't meant to. If his absence would help her then he would give it.

This moment was hers, and showing that he had been a part of it would take away from it. Listening to her sing and getting confirmation that was trying to get past his absence gave him something that he hadn't had for a long time. Hope. He had unconsciously called her because that was habit. He had known Freyda almost all his life. The minute it was legal, he married her.

Reaching out to her to share something new, difficult, or painful was the norm. He didn't realize how much he had depended on it until right then. Then again, it was his first time away from home, away from her, and everything that he had ever known. Still, he refused to take away from Freyda's progress to ease his ache.

"I just wanted to make sure she was all right."

"It looks like."

"I'm glad," And he truly was.

Eric called Nat afterward and though it was late, his agent was awake. They talked about his journey and all he had seen so far. Something strange that he thought worth sharing was the fact that at the border, Customs hadn't checked passports for anyone in the vehicle. When they'd asked, Alfred handed the officer an envelope.

It wasn't a bribe, Eric saw as the man opened the envelope, and whatever he read sent him scurrying to lift the gates. Now that he thought about it, the drivers had to be driving well over 150 miles per hour for more than several hundred miles. They had done so with no fear.

"But you're good?" Nat asked.

Eric shot her a dirty look. "You don't think it's weird that I'm in this country illegally?"

"First off, you have papers," She replied. "Just because no one checked them doesn't make you illegal. Second, no, not really."

The Queen had hired local people to take Eric away from home, but they knew nothing. They had been contracted to take him from point A to B and that was all. Per their gag order they hadn't been able to even offer guesses. He knew because he had asked.

"I get she wants privacy, but this is kind of extreme, no?" he wondered.

"If Customs asked you questions, you are compelled by the laws of your country to tell the truth. That leads into murky waters what with the gag orders and everything."

"I know you're right, but this just has me on edge."

She shrugged her delicate shoulders. "In my eyes, they are like cat people, no one really knows what's going on their heads."

Eric laughed. They speculated about what the Queen would want. Nat thought that there would be a portrait. He hoped not. Ideally, Eric would go in for the consultation, get a bunch of old pictures to restore or recreate, and that would be all. That was about all the vampire interaction he thought he could stand during his time there.

"I never thought leaving home would bother me."

"It's just because she's not with you."

"Yeah…" Eric admitted. "I thought I would just worry about her, but I miss her too."

"I do, and I wish I could say that I felt sorry for doing this to you, but I don't."

Eric smiled as he replied. "That's because you're a mean bitch."

"Damned straight, pretty boy!" all traces of his best friend gone. In her place was the shark that he had hired to save him from himself. "Freyda isn't crazy and neither are you. She does what she does because you let her. I don't get it, but that's not my problem. You are my problem, and I have no problem pushing when I need to, and letting go if I have to."

"That's why I love you. It's late Nat, get some sleep."

There was no one else on his list to call. That wasn't entirely true. Had he been home, he would have had a mile long list of lovers to choose from. They would drown out that cloying loneliness that he heard when he was by himself, if only for a few hours. Such as it was, there was nothing and no one to take his minds from his thoughts. He could either sit in the strange home with them or he could work. Work won by a landslide.

Eric found the best space in the house to place his supplies. He began to unpack and that didn't take very long. His fingers got restless and he began to work. When the high took over, he forgot everything else. Not even he could fully see what he was creating, but it didn't matter. He gave himself over to the pull of his craft. Even when his body began to tire, his fingers refused to give up on the image coming to life on paper.

When he finally stopped working, Eric was looking at an image of the skyline he had seen. The colors were bright, bold, and beautiful against the black canvas and the white outline of the city. He wouldn't have to meet with the Queen until later that afternoon. That was an upside. It would be daytime. After finding his way to the kitchen and raiding the fully stocked fridge, he crashed.

Nightmares took over the instant his eyes closed, but they weren't as bad as the hallucinations that he'd had as a boy. He was able to sleep undisturbed. When he awoke, he was running late for his meeting with the Queen...that was so not good. He had read the memo and the itinerary. Eric knew if he was more than five minutes late for his appointment with the Queen, it would be canceled and his shot at his dream would be gone forever. Not only that, it would violate his contract, and he would be promptly sued.

In record time Eric got dressed. He had his backpack ready. He knew there was a rental in the garage, but he didn't know that he would have options. There was an SUV, a sports car, and a motorcycle out of his wet dreams. It was starting to feel almost criminal that he was getting paid to live like this for the week. He sat astride the motorcycle and it purred to life.

The thrill of it shot through his veins and he smiled. The route was preset into the navigation. He would make it in time, but once he got the motorcycle going, he drove as if he was trying to break the law. It was like flying. The rush of the wind, the subtle shifts and dips that went with maneuvering the craft were positively exhilarating.

The destination was in a remote area and after going five miles without so much as a house or another soul, his anxiety returned. So far, everything Eric saw told him that his wariness was legit. It was mostly due to the shadiness of the vampire client in question. Still, he followed the winding road up and in the distance he saw it.

"I guess this is the right place then." He whispered to himself.

Eric removed his helmet and sat there marveling at the artistry of the structure before him. It was as if time hadn't touched this place. There was no glare that came from "Green Paint", a substance that coated almost every large building he'd ever seen. It allowed for maximum solar power usage.

As it sat under the sun, the stones that made up the palace seemed to shimmer. The banners billowed in the wind, and on the grounds as far as he could see, there was rolling green grass with fountains sporting immaculately marble statues in between. It was such a pity that vampires lived there.

Eric finally arrived at the front of the black gates that surrounded the palace. There were no guards in sight, there wasn't even a post.

"Good afternoon,"

"Um…hey," Eric replied with a bemused smile.

So far this vampire Queen was two for two because manning the gate of the mind-blowing, old world castle was a stateoftheart hologram. Eric had seen them, but this one was definitely the best projection. Where Holo's tended to look spectral like ghosts, this one was three dimensional and in full color.

The details on it were spot on. Eric could see the very fine laugh lines around his mouth. He could see the stitching in his Butler's jacket and his white gloves. Much like he did with the gate, he resisted the urge to caress the hologram.

"My name is Eric Northman, I have a five o'clock appointment with the Queen."

"Scan is in Progress. Please refrain from movement."

"Sure."

Eric thought it would take at least a few minutes, but it didn't, almost immediately the Holo responded.

"Access granted, Clearance level AD7." The hologram said, and the gates swung open. "Welcome back, Eric Northman."

Eric's manners took over though he'd never been anywhere near here. "Thanks?"

"You are most welcome, Sir. Please, right this way."

Eric rode in behind the hologram and it led the way to a service entrance at the side of the house. Eric saw at least twenty vehicles parked there, that was a good sign. Humans worked here, and they survived it on a daily basis. He should be fine. No reason why he should be any different.

"This way please," The hologram directed.

Eric was about to turn into what he assumed was the employee parking lot. A garage door opened. For one moment, the reality of what he was about to do set in. He was about to enter the palace of a vampire Queen. There was probably a legion of vampires in there. It was one of those moments where he knew his courage and worth as a man should triumph. It did, but being a coward had never been so tempting. As the doors closed behind him, he only hoped he would live to regret it.

The garage was more like a car dealership, Eric thought. He followed the hologram toward the elevators. The ride was short, but the difference was worlds apart. He had gone from cement and steel below to gold and velvet in the window of ten seconds.

"Apologies, Her Majesty is delayed. Please, make yourself comfortable."

Eric heard it, but he couldn't even spare the brain power to process the words. "Is that an original Ruben?" He asked.

"Yes. It was a gift to the Queen from the Senior Prince of Dubai."

"Holy…shit!" Eric whispered.

"Yes, it is quite impressive," replied the hologram.

Eric laughed because he was sure that the hologram was being sarcastic.

"Attendants are en route with refreshments. If you require anything else, I am a fully integrated network, or FIN for short. You may call on me if you have need," Then he left or vanished, rather.

Eric would never tell Nat because her ego just didn't need it, but seeing this painting by one of the Masters was worth the trip in his opinion. In fact, he was enjoying himself. The drive into the state had been easy, and he had painted a stunning portrait from the many beautiful sites he'd seen.

The house that had been provided for him was more than comfortable, and the ride on the motorcycle to this palace was the most fun he'd had alone in…years because for those few minutes Free hadn't been on his mind. Maybe he could actually enjoy this trip even with the vampire presence? Before he could begin to entertain the fantasy an alarm started to blare and the emergency lights began to flash overhead.

"So much for that idea," he muttered to himself.