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Encroaching Darkness, Fading Light
Chapter eleven - Murderer Revealed
The next morning, Sam was still in the lounge, waiting for Sookie to wake up.
"Morning" Carla said, walking around the corner fro the stairs into the entrance to the lounge, Sam was sitting on one of the couches.
"Morning" he returned, with a yawn.
"Listen, Sam, i might need a couple of nights off work, three at the most, i have business out of town with some folks, i'll be back as soon as i can" Sam pulled himself up off the couch, rubbing his head.
"Business with who exactly?" he asked.
"Some old friends, it won't take more than a couple of nights, then i'll be back, i promise"
"This wouldn't be anything to do with them vampires that came in after Bill last night, now would it?" Carla shook her head, as if to say no.
"Alright, well it's none of my business, just stay safe, okay?"
Carla nodded, "And you look after Sookie please" Sam nodded, giving her a smile.
After that, Carla went to the location of the vampire tribunal, which was just outside New Orleans, at a scrap yard, there, she waited for nightfall.
Once the moon came out, the place started to thrive with activity, the Magister, or judge of the vampire legal system along with a group of other vampires, or the jury entered the junk yard, getting ready for the nights events.
Carla walked out from her hiding place, to meet the vampires half way.
That night, the place was thriving with activity, there were a lot of vampires being prosecuted, so it took a long time for them to get to Bill's case.
When Bill stepped forward, with Eric and Pam behind him, Carla lept down from her perch, and walked slowly over to the group, tonight, she was in the form of a giant wolf, one of her least favorite shifts, but she knew that Eric didn't know she could change into multiple forms, and this form was slightly darker in color.
"This is an old friend of mine, she wishes to watch, and i have agreed, now onto the case" The Magister cleaned up quickly, not taking his eyes of Bill.
Carla sat back at the front of the truck which the Magister was sitting on his chair in, Eric was staring at her, but she paid no attention, and instead watched Bill, who was also looking at her.
"So tell me, Mr Compton, why is it that you decided to kill one of your own species?" The Magister look down on Bill, who finally looked away from Carla.
"Longshadow was choking the girl, and would have killed her" Bill replied.
"So you murdered a higher life form for the sake of your pet? I am assuming that is what you mean by her?" The Magister spoke down to Bill with authority laced into his voice. "You broke and ancient and fundamental law, you decreased our numbers at a critical time in our history... very bad, very very bad" The Magister scolded.
"Magister, Longshadow broke the law first, she was mine and he knew it, he would have killed her and fed from her" Bill argued.
"HELLO! HUMAN! IRRELEVANT! Happens every day!" The Magister shouted back at Bill.
"He was stealing from Eric!" Bill exclaimed.
"Sheriff?" The Magister raised his eyebrows.
"Yes Magister, it's true, Longshadow was a thief and a liar, he was hurting my business" Eric glanced away to the Magister to speak, but after he had finished, he replaced his fierce stare back onto Carla, who didn't even react.
"The business part... that is a serious offence..." The Magister fiddled with his cane.
"And it was the human who exposed Longshadow!" Bill added. "Would you tell him Eric!" Eric didn't look at Bill.
Eric stopped eyeing Carla to looked at the Magister, "the only reason the girl was there, was because i summoned her" He admitted.
"To protect your wealth!" Bill encouraged him.
"To protect my wealth, yes!" Carla could tell that Eric was becoming irritated, by the dangerous tone of his voice. "Magister, she is, valuable..."
"Humans exist to serve us that is their only value" The Magister informed Eric.
"There are those among us that... think differently" Bill informed him.
"Do you question my authority?!" The Magister growled at Bill. "I am the Magister, i was trained in the inquisition, and i am the adjudicator for every vampire territory in north america, as the humans say, the humans you love more than you own kind, BACK YOUR SHIT DOWN!" The Magister yelled, as a warning, he was infuriated.
Bill went to go on the offensive, taking a dangerous step forward, but before he could do anything stupid, Eric cut in.
"Bill!" He warned. Bill took a step back and calmed himself.
The Magister chuckled, "Well you haven't bored me, that works in your favor, and you seem to be obedient to your sheriff"
"For the most part" Bill turned to Eric, glaring at him for that statement. Eric turned around the faced the Magister.
"What is matters, yes he is" Eric agreed.
"The usual sentence is five years in a coffin chained with silver, during that time you body will waste to leather and sticks, and you'll probably go insane..." Bill's face was frightened, terrified even. "However, i'm feeling a bit, creative"
One of the vampires back a car up into the junk yard, and the boot was opened.
A redheaded girl was pulled out of the trunk and she ran around, sobbing her heart out, she feel over herself and then fell on the floor next to Bill.
Carla had to close her eyes, this would be hard to watch, but the exact conditions were that she did not get involved in the trial in any way, and she had to stick to them.
Pam and Eric moved forward, looking down at the girl, when Carla opened her eyes, she realized that Eric was looking at her again, and she watched the girl, trying to concentrate on remaining stoic.
"No" Bill told the Magister, the girl started to sob and pray on the ground, asking for mercy, "Put me in the coffin Magister, i will go willingly" Bill begged.
"Please, please sir, please help me, take me home and i won't tell no-one just please sir" the girl said, still on her knees on the ground.
"There's no help for you child" the Magister chuckled down at the redhead. Who lowered her face to the ground and started to sob uncontrollably.
When she looked back up, the Magister leaned forward to talk down at the girl, "Meet your maker" He said, using his cane to point at Bill.
"Please don't let them kill me, please i don't wanna die!" The redheaded girl crawled over to Bill and held the ends of his trouser legs, begging him.
"If you wanna torture someone, torture me!" Bill encouraged, trying to get out of turning the girl.
"Torture? I don't think so, i could show you torture... if you like" The Magister replied, regarding the girl, who laid down on the floor and played with her hair, muttering prayers to herself.
"No... no i was wrong to speak" Bill admitted, looking down at the ground.
"You can quit stalling! What you see in this cow, Mr Compton is simply a response to stimuli, humans are quite, primitive, incapable of feeling pain as we do, but, you know that"
One of the vampires stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the hair, pulling her over towards Bill.
"Proceed, and glamour is not allowed" The Magister informed Bill, who shouted back.
"She's just a girl!"
"Oh you are boring me, just shut up and do what you're told!" The Magister yelled.
Bill knelt down next to the girl and pulled her against him, holding her still, he drew his fangs. "Please forgive me..." He said, before plunging his fangs into the girl's neck, rupturing her jugular vein.
Carla turned away from the vampires, disappearing into the darkness, ready to follow Bill once he found a place to bury the new born.
The next night, Bill crawled out of the ground as soon as the moon peeked over the horizon, though it was still shadowed by the tall trees.
As soon as Carla saw him emerge, and shake the dirt of himself, she walked slowly out of the forest, still in the same form as the previous night, right over to him.
Bill didn't notice her until she was a few steps away, blinded by the fact he was listening to the earth, to make sure that he progeny was not stirring.
"Good evening, Bill" Carla said, revealing the fact she could communicate in her animal forms.
"Carla?"
"Yes, forgive me, but i needed Eric not to know that i was present for the trial"
Bill sat down on the stump of a tree that was close to his bed for the previous night, a four pack of true bloods just next to it.
"That's understandable" Bill replied, with a smile.
"I believe i have misjudged you, it would seem that you are not like any other vampire i have met before" Bill raised an eyebrow.
"How so?" He asked, curious.
"You feel, you have retained your humanity somewhat" Bill nodded. Carla sat back, changing back into her human form, she was still in her Merlotte's uniform, and she hadn't even realized.
"I'd just like to tell you, that i trust you, and i know now that you will protect Sookie, without being threatened by me, i am sorry that the start of out friendship was not the best" Bill nodded.
"As am i" He smiled slightly.
"I am sorry i could not get you a lighten sentence, unfortunately, the Magister is very brutal when it comes to murderers"
Bill glanced at the ground underneath him, and then up to look at Carla again.
"It's not a problem, i don't expect you to have any particular sway over vampire politics"
"Neither do i care very much, and i have no interest in Eric either, just a simple and calm life, something that i have never managed to find in my life" Carla answered, feeling numb.
"Then why are you staying with Sookie?" Bill asked. Carla shrugged.
"I don't even know myself, there's just something about her, i find myself unable to leave, like she is something that must be protected" Carla sighed.
Anyway, i better go, i am sure your progeny will be awakening soon, and i probably shouldn't be here when that happens" Carla stood up, about to leave. "I'll see you back in Bon Temps Bill, hopefully soon, until then, Good night and good luck" Carla turned away, shifted, and then ran back into the woods, towards home.
Carla arrived home just after Sam and Sookie, who had been out for the day, they greeted each other, Carla gave Sookie a hug, and the same with Sam.
"I'll be back to work tomorrow, sorry about missing a couple of days" Sam shook his head.
"It's fine Carla, honestly, i closed the bar for the day, so it's fine" Carla smiled at the man.
"Alright, i'm gonna go and get a shower and wash my work clothes, see you two in a couple minutes" Carla said, before heading upstairs.
Carla jumped in the shower and let the hot water hit her like a deluge, washing away the aching in her muscles.
After half an hour, Carla switched off the water and hoped out of the shower, wiping away the steam on the bathroom mirror, she saw the big black rings under her eyes. She needed to rest.
Carla headed across the landing to her room, drying herself off he pulled a nightie over her head, about ready to go to be.
Carla abruptly remembered that she needed to put her dirty work clothes in the washer, and headed downstairs.
When she got to the stop of the stairs, she heard yelling from the front room, Carla heard Bill's voice, and decided she would just leave the washing for tonight, she turned on her heel and went back to her room to sleep.
The next morning Sam took Sookie into work early so he could get the bar ready to open for lunch, so when Carla woke up, the house was empty.
She borrowed one of Sookie's spare sets of work clothes and drove in to work as well.
Upon arrival, Sam informed her that Sookie's brother had confessed to the murders of the women in Bon Temps, and that last night Amy was murdered.
Carla could barely believe what she was hearing, specially considering she was staying with the sister of the person who killed Sammy, that couldn't be right, it must be wrong, they must have made a mistake.
"That can't be right" Carla said, holding the back of her neck with her hand.
"It isn't right, yesterday me and Sookie did a little investigating, found out that there was a strangled woman found in another parish down the road, and she slept with vampires too, her brother went missing shortly after the murder" Sam explained, leaning on his desk, they were inside his office.
"Did they think he did it?" Carla asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"They don't know, he completely disappeared, but because the murder was exactly like what's been going on in Bon Temps, we had the sheriff there fax down a picture of the guy, i'm not sure if he's done it yet, but i am sure as hell it's not Jason" Sam answered.
Carla nodded, biting her bottom lip.
"Alright, you seen Sookie around?" Carla asked, wrapping her hand around the door knob, ready to leave.
"Yeah she's out front waiting tables, i told her to leave work for the day and stay in my office so i could keep an eye on her, but she refused, said she'd missed too much work lately"
Carla nodded.
"Alright, thanks Sam" Carla left and headed for the front.
As she turned the corner she saw Sookie standing in the middle of the floor, looking terrified and distracted, just staring into space.
Carla walked up to her and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her out of the view of the patrons.
"Sookie? Are you okay?" Carla asked, letting the woman's arm go.
"Y-y-yeah, i just don't think i should have come into work today, since my brothers in trouble an all" Carla titled her head to the side.
"What happened with Bill last night, did you two have a fight?"
"He hit Sam, came in and tore up my front room, wrecked the place, so i resended his invitation" Sookie said, crossing her arms in front of herself.
"Oh, Sookie" Carla rubbed her forehead, "you shouldn't have"
"Excuse me, i think i can decide what i do with my own life and the people who i see in my own time" Sookie said, giving Carla sas.
"Sookie, last night i followed Bill, i saw what he had to do at that vampire trial, if you knew anything about what he did for you-"
"Well this is strange, a few weeks ago you were telling me to stay safe as if he was some sort of wild animal, now you're off blowing his trumpets and playing his fan fare, what the fuck?"
"Sookie, don't you fucking start this with me, everyone is allowed to misjudge people, that's not a fucking crime"
"And you know what, maybe i misjudged you" Sookie spat, walking past the woman and bumping into her shoulder, heading for Sam's office.
"Sookie..." Carla sighed, bashing the side of her fist against the brick wall next to her, the stress of having vampires wanting her dead was definitely getting to her, she couldn't handle this sort of pressure, and yet neither could she leave.
"Fuck" she muttered.
Carla waited the last few tables before Merlotte's closed to get ready for dinner time.
Carla strode out the back to speak with Sam, and find Sookie.
Sam met her half way to his office.
"Hey, Carla, Sookie went out the back t drive around for a bit, she said she needed some air, wouldn't be anything to do with you now would it?" Sam crossed his arms over his chest, and they started wandering towards the front of the bar together to help clean up.
"Yeah... we had a fight, it was my fault, i took it too far and she stomped off before i could apologize" Carla said, Sam went to lean his back on the bar, and Carla stood in front off him.
"Well, such is Sookie, she gets a bee in her bonnet and it takes a while for her to calm down" Sam explained.
"Hey, Sam, Rene left his vest" Lafayette cut in.
"I'll put it in the lost and found" Sam told him, raising his hand so he could catch the jacket when Lafayette threw it to him.
Suddenly Sam stopped dead, he pulled the jacket closer to his face and sniffed it, taking a deep inhale.
Carla raised an eyebrow at him.
Immediately he threw down the jacket and ran out of the bar, Carla followed him, puzzled, something bust be wrong.
When Carla got out of the door, she saw Sam yelling at Terry, she only heard Terry's reply.
"She left with Rene about twenty- twenty-three minutes ago" Terry stuttered a little, and Sam sprinted past him.
Carla pulled off her apron and gave it to Terry, who looked very confused.
Sam sprinted round the back of the bar and hopped in his truck.
"Get in!" He yelled, starting the engine. Carla did as she was told.
"What the hell is wrong with you Sam?! Is something wrong?!" Carla asked, looking very confused.
"Yeah, there's something very wrong, the fact that Sookie is gonna get murdered or might even be dead right now"
"What do you mean?" Sam pulled out of the Merlotte's parking lot at an incredibly dangerous speed, and had his peddle to the metal.
"I mean that the fucking killer is Rene, and he's with Sookie!" Sam said, concentrating on the road, his hands were clutched around the steering wheel so tightly Carla could see his veins and muscles twitching on the surface of his skin.
Carla just hoped that they weren't too late.
Sam arrived at the house seconds later, and he didn't even put the handbrake on before he flew out of the car, yelling Sookie's name and rushing into the house, which had the door left wide open, Carla was a few steps behind him.
Sam stopped in the doorway, looking down at the belt that lay there discarded, next to a trail of blood spatters that led outside.
Sam stepped back out of the hose and took another deep in hale.
"Where are they Sam?!" Carla ordered, and he said nothing, he simply sprinted in the direction of the cemetery, stripping off his clothes, and transforming. Carla did the same, but she was slower than she would have been if she was fully rested, but she was still tired from spend the last two nights in her animal form.
She was going at about the same speed as Sam, and as they came closer to the cemetery, Carla notice the blood spatters on the dirt road, they were definitely going the right way, Carla just hoped that it wasn't Sookie's blood.
Soon enough Sam led Carla to where Rene was on top of Sookie, strangling her.
Sam got to him first, leaping on him and savaging his throat, biting down on him, Rene grabbed a stone ornament from one of the graves and hit Sam over the head with it, knocking the dog out.
Carla approached the man and jumped onto a headstone and then onto the man, pinning him to the ground with her giant claw paws.
She let out a low roar into the man face, and he shook like a leather beneath her.
"What the fuck?!" he yelled, trying to force Carla off him, but she didn't even move an inch.
Completely without warning a spade came down on the man's throat, separating his head from his body and killing him stone dead. The spade slowly slid down from it's upright position to horizontal, and rested on the ground.
Carla looked up and saw Sookie standing next to her, panting and looking beaten and bruised.
Sam then stood up, looking better than Sookie, but they both had blood coming from there heads, Sam on his forehead where Rene had hit him, and Sookie from the back where she had been thrown down against a grave stone.
Carla reverted back to her human form and stood up straight, looking over in the direction of a strange sizzling sound.
There was clouds of smoke coming off of a body that looked like a ashen corpse.
Carla ran over and picked the body up in her arms, and ran back over to the open grave that Sookie and were next too.
"Quickly, we need to bury him! Get him out of the sun!" Carla jumped down into the grave and placed Bill down as gently as she could and then climbed out, Sam started shoveling the dirt back in and Carla simply pushed one of the mounds of dirt that had originally been taken from the hole back over Bill, so he wasn't being hit by the sun's rays.
After taking Sam and Sookie to the hospital and delivering them home, Carla called Lafayette and Tara to come over and see them.
When night fell, which was when Arlene came to see Sookie, completely hysterical about Rene and the fact that he was a murderer. Carla checked her phone.
She found a text that made her heard skip a beat.
Come to Fangtasia,
it's time for our talk.
-EN
Carla knew well that after the day she had had, she should be resting, but unfortunately, it was a very bad idea to keep Eric waiting.
Carla went upstairs to get changed out of her bloody work clothes and put them in the wash, she changed into a pair of half length jeans with a white button up shirt with short sleeves.
She came downstairs and told Sam she had business to attend too, and he was curious but thankfully didn't ask her any questions.
Carla headed out into the car with her bag and started up the engine.
Somehow she knew she would regret going.
Hope you enjoyed the season one finale! Next chapter will feature some more Caric! Wahoo! I hope you like them together because i love writing about them together! Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought about the chapter, please share your thoughts and opinions, because i love to read them, bad or good!
Thanks for all the support, and i hope to see you in the next chapter!
Until next time,
-Shad out.