Chapter Ten: The Kitten and the Cat
Lana wobbled a little as she made her way back to the bed and slid under the comforter, pulling it up to her chin as she turned her back to Eric. She could feel his stare boring into her.
"That's not the usual reaction I get after kissing a woman."
His comment bounced off of her. "I kind of need to be alone right now."
He reminded her of a cat, skillfully quiet as it tested its boundaries. She didn't even realize he had moved until she felt the weight of his body on the mattress next to her. For such a large man, he was deceptively agile.
"What happened between now and a few moments ago to make you react like this?"
She still avoided his gaze, not wanting him to see that she was struggling not to cry. The last man she had ever kissed was Damien but she hadn't realized until now just how much of a big deal that had been for her.
"Lana…" His hand reached out to stroke the outline of her frame under the comforter and she flinched.
His voice sounded angrier as he grated, "I told you I wouldn't harm you."
"Even as a vampire, I would think that you can understand that not all harm is physical."
Eric softened somewhat at such a statement but didn't pull his hand away from her body. The last thing she needed right now was to be alone.
"You're thinking of your former boyfriend."
She had to chuckle humorlessly at his perception. The guy was an asshole on many levels but no one could deny that he was smart.
"I don't have much of a choice. He was the last man I… I haven't dated anyone or… hooked up with anyone since him."
"He doesn't deserve your attention."
She smiled somewhat and sat up. She was finally able to look at him and he could see that her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.
"It's not that easy. Not all of us are emotionless vampires who can just pretend that people don't matter."
Now he huffed in disbelief. "Not even vampires are very good at pretending that people don't matter, believe me."
Lana looked at him for a long time, hugging her knees in an unconsciously self-comforting gesture. She finally asked, "Do you remember your life as a human?"
Eric was somewhat surprised by the question but nodded. "There are some things that even a thousand years cannot erase." Sometimes he wished that wasn't the case.
"What was it like?"
No one had ever really asked him such a question, at least not with genuine interest. Fangbangers and blood prostitutes loved to ask questions about vampires' lives because they fetishized it. They thought that being a vampire was the epitome of glamor and sex and their interest always came off as desperate and self-involved. They didn't want to hear about the vampire's life; they wanted to imagine that they themselves were vampires and had lived all around the world, seen everything, killed people, slept with royalty and warriors. Fangbangers wanted to hear about vampires' lives so they could have fuel for their own fantasies.
But Lana wasn't like that. As she sat and looked at him, he could only see her sincere concern for his life and, he suspected, his feelings. That was a strange sensation.
"I grew up in what people now call Sweden although we didn't call it that at the time. There were no countries or states the way there are now. There were kingdoms, villages, small towns and cities, but my people lived in tribes for the most part. My father was the chief, essentially the king, of our tribe. I was going to succeed him after he died but circumstances… prevented that."
"Because you became a vampire?"
His eyes seemed far away for a moment but finally looked back at her. "For several reasons. War was a common way of life back then and my duties as a warrior were more important than my duties as chief."
"You were a warrior?" Lana smiled fully for the first time since he had met her. "Why am I not surprised?"
He couldn't help but smile in return. "It is good to see you smile. You should do it more often."
"Now you're just trying to seduce me again."
"I say nothing unless it is true when it concerns you. Believe me when I say that even in my one thousand years of life, I have very rarely encountered a woman such as you."
She blushed helplessly but her smile didn't disappear. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were also a successful womanizer back in your day too."
Eric smirked. "One of my father's wishes before he died was for me to marry actually."
"So you've never had children?"
"Pam is my progeny. The bond between a maker and his progeny is stronger than parent and child, I assure you. Even if I had had children they would have died long ago."
Lana looked closely at Eric and he felt an unnamed emotion course through him as he recognized the intelligence in her eyes. She looked at him differently than most people, he realized. It unnerved him.
"Ray mentioned that he was your stepfather. What happened to your actual father?"
Lana's eyes darkened somewhat and she averted her gaze. "He died in a car accident when I was twelve. He was dead by the time the EMTs arrived. My mom seemed devastated by it but she ended up meeting Ray and marrying him just three years later so… For some reason she really seems to care about him. God knows why."
"In my experience humans are very vulnerable to loneliness. They can't stand it."
The corner of her mouth turned up in a half-grin. "And vampires are immune?"
No, Eric thought. Unfortunately, that was not the case. If anything, sometimes the loneliness was worse.
The last thing Eric wanted to think about was Sookie, however. He had come here tonight with the plan to seduce Lana and spend the whole night fucking her. Instead they were sitting on a bed gabbing like two best friends. And yet… he found himself enjoying it.
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Pam had just changed the song in the back office when she spotted the new Queen of Louisiana and her loyal henchmen walk into the bar. Even in the middle of a busy night in Fangtasia they still stood out as the biggest assholes in the place.
"Fuck me," Pam breathed.
Marina was dressed like the kind of tramp whore who would frequent the place and Pam didn't hide her disdain as the new euro-trash queen strutted like a fucking princess in 18th century Versailles across the dance floor with her band of merry vampire men trailing like dogs behind her. Although Pam had to admit, she needed to find out where Marina had gotten her shoes.
"Quite a place you got here, Ms. Swynford de Beaufort. It's just what I would expect from a bum-fuck bar in the middle of nowhere Louisiana."
Pam threw on a sickly sweet smile. "So nice of you to join us. I was just telling my maker how we needed a few drag queens around here."
Marina flashed a bit of fang but retained her wicked smile as her sharp gaze moved around the club. "Speaking of your maker, where is he tonight? I've been hoping to discuss the details of our… relationship."
"Eric is taking care of some pressing business concerns in Austin tonight. I'll step him you stopped by."
But Marina seemed unfazed. "If it's business then I should have heard about it, shouldn't I? I am the new queen of Louisiana and he and I did agree on a financial agreement."
"These are business concerns separate from Fangtasia. We're capitalists, you see."
Marina raised a haughty brow and sidled onto Eric's throne, easing herself quite comfortably into the cushion as she surveyed the entire bar. "As much as I applaud your pursuit of wealth, Ms. Swynford, I think it would behoove Mr. Northman to focus his attentions on me at the moment. If both of you are so concerned about money then I think I could arrange a more financially beneficial relationship for the three of us."
If Pam had a stomach, it would have dropped. But her forced smile had disappeared as caution infused her blood. "How would this be more beneficial?"
"Well," Marina began as she gave a little shrug and made herself more comfortable in the seat, "I would gladly forgo payments from the bar in lieu of more personal favors, the kind I think Mr. Northman would be quite versed in."
Fucking whore, Pam thought ruthlessly. The whimpering bitch was so pathetic that she was going to blackmail Eric into having sex with her. Not over her dead body.
Sauntering over closer to the evil tramp, Pam bent and whispered in her ear, "Are you sure I couldn't make for a better replacement than my maker? Not to criticize his charms but men so often know little concerning how to really please a woman."
She had hoped that her seductive offer and sliding hand down the chair's arms would entice the bitch enough to consider Pam instead, but Marina sneered.
"Please. I'd rather fuck a chainsaw than have you anywhere near me. Your maker better be here tomorrow night when I come back for a check-in, because unfortunately, you won't be of any good to me unless you're a puddle of blood on the floor."
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The night continued on as Eric decided to stay and just talk to Lana. He had discovered that asking her questions about her family, her friends, and her goals all opened her up more, making her more relaxed and comfortable with him as he sat on the bed and watched her tell stories and describe people. It wasn't sex but Eric enjoyed her company. He enjoyed the sound of her voice and the way she discussed the minute details of her human life. Humans often bored him – they were so petty and weak. They often lacked any intelligence or even basic loyalty to each other and he honestly didn't feel guilty about killing some of them. But Lana was different. She wasn't just another entitled, lazy human desperate to prove herself and gain some kind of worthless affirmation. She was empathetic, kind, strong, and driven. She had seen through Ray's machinations and lies but she wasn't so full of herself that she believed she could just tell her own mother how to live her life. She respected other people's choices, even when she strongly and rightly disagreed with them. Eric realized what it was that Lana had and so many others lacked: honor.
That discovery startled him somewhat and he stared at her almost in wonderment as he watched her eat a bowl of ice cream on sheets worth over two thousand dollars.
"You're staring at me again like I'm some kind of alien."
"I'm staring at you because you are beautiful, and because you are not like most humans. In some ways, you are alien."
She looked amusedly perplexed at his statement and he wondered if she was some kind of supernatural although he doubted it. She had not indicated that she could read thoughts and she didn't smell like a fairy. She lacked the territorial and aggressive air of a shifter and he knew that no woman who worked so hard could be a witch. But she was special.
"You're just fascinated by me because I'm the first woman to not sleep with you."
"That can be easily rectified."
She threw a pillow at him and he caught it in mid-air, bringing it up to his nose so he could inhale her scent. "You've never thought about sex with a vampire?"
She scoffed. "I barely have time to think about sex period."
That was a lie and they both knew it. He could smell her desire for him; she was just good at masking it behind a façade of indifference. But she wasn't indifferent. He knew she wasn't.
"Maybe this time in Austin could allow you to make time for it."
She eyed him carefully and for a moment he almost wondered if she'd give in but she stood from the bed then and smiled coyly at him.
"Actually, if I'm going to be making time for anything it's going to be a bath." As she walked to the bathroom and opened the doors, she turned back and smiled. "Alone."
Hmm, he couldn't help but acknowledge as they kept each other's gaze until she closed the doors, he did love a sassy woman.
Speaking of sassy, Eric's attention turned when his phone vibrated and a message from Pam appeared. You better get here quick. Marina's here and she doesn't want money.