There had been plenty of situations in Tara's life which led to her hatred of vampires. Franklin was the ultimate breaking point, but it had started long before he came along. Sookie was, of course, ecstatic when vampires came out of the coffin. She'd always been more of a free spirit when it came to anything extraordinary. She was extraordinary, after all. Despite being open minded when it came to Sookie and her abilities, Tara wasn't that crazy about vampires. Sookie wasn't after her blood, after all.
Pam was silently watching Tara, waiting for her to start talking. She could feel her anxiety growing through their bond, but she decided not to say anything – she decided to give Tara the time she needed to collect her thoughts.
As Tara went through her memories, she decided to start with lighter things, hoping that she wouldn't have to talk about Franklin, that Pam would be satisfied with the reasons she was about to give. The truth was, Tara wasn't ready to talk about Franklin. She was still very much traumatized about it even though she had a brave face on. That was her thing – fight and never look back. She was very afraid of the looking back she would have to do if Pam felt she was keeping something from her. Putting those thoughts aside, she started from the beginning.
"I guess is started the night Bill Compton came to Merlotte's. Sookie was so excited about Bon Temps' first vampire that she didn't even stop to think about all the possible dangers." She rolled her eyes. That was so Sookie.
"The rest of us weren't so thrilled, of course. I was working the bar that night and Sam and I kept our eyes on him the whole time. Anyway, as you know, she fell head over heels for him and there was nothing any of us could say about him to change her mind. Of course, apart from him being a vampire, we didn't have any real arguments, but still – that was an argument for itself."
Pam chuckled. She did find most humans boring and stupid, but Tara surely hadn't been one of them. Vampires were a danger and a threat to humans and they lived off of stupid specimens who failed to recognize that danger.
"What?" Tara asked.
"Nothing. I was just thinking how smart you were." Pam said with a playful smile.
"Well, damn straight I was!" Tara returned and Pam motioned with her hand for Tara to continue.
"It's like everything went downhill from that first night. Sookie actually got beaten up that same night and Bill saved her life." She rolled her eyes at the mention of that. Something was always fishy about that attack, but Tara wasn't going to dwell on it.
"She was constantly in some kind of danger. We had a killer on lose who specifically targeted women who had business with vampires. I tried to talk about it with her, tried to reason, but she wouldn't listen. Do you know she actually called me racist?" Tara asked indignantly.
Pam chuckled again. She had one feisty progeny. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. If it wasn't for Lafayette, I would have kicked her white little ass. Calling me a racist." Tara puffed. "Not to mention her dear Billy had slaves growing up! And I'm a racist."
Pam laughed this time, earning a murderous glare from Tara. The thought of Compton being called Billy was very amusing to her. "How do you know he had slaves?"
"I asked him." Tara answered like Pam had just asked the most stupid question ever.
As the memory of that particular night came to Tara's mind, she grew sad. It happened at Sookie's house which, at that point, was still her grandma's house. Adele Stackhouse had still been alive that night, excited by Bill's stories of Bon Temps during the Civil War. That was the woman Tara considered her real mother. She was the one who cooked for her, made sure her clothes were clean and that she had a roof over her head. She was the most wonderful person Tara had ever known and her life came to an end thanks to vampires.
"Anyway, it actually happened when Sookie's grandma was still alive. She died because of vampires. That killer killed her, thinking it was Sookie. So you can put that in the against column, too. That woman was the only mother I ever knew."
They both sighed. Pam realized more and more every day, what a complex person Tara was. She failed to recognize it before because Pam had always been unfazed by humans, thinking they were unworthy. Now she thought she would have definitely loved human Tara, she would have definitely found her interesting.
"Not to mention Lafayette being kidnapped by Eric." Tara shot an accusing glance towards Pam.
"He was a V dealer. He was lucky to get out of there alive." Pam deadpanned.
"He was also my cousin." Tara returned.
Pam raised her eyebrows as if asking 'so what'.
"Let's put it this way. If someone kidnapped and tortured Eric for weeks, would you care to know the reasons behind it?"
A low growl escaped from Pam's chest. Tara definitely hit a sensitive spot right there. She wouldn't care, she would make sure they suffered at least twice as much before she ended their sorry lives.
"That's what I thought." Tara concluded victoriously.
Lafayette being kidnapped was the first situation where vampires did something personal to Tara. Lafayette was her cousin and she thought of him as her brother. Just the thought of everything he went through in Fangtasia's dungeon made her shiver with rage. She didn't care that she was also a vampire now, this was her damn cousin and her damn family. No one messes with that.
Tara was approaching the Franklin part. Instead going there, she decided to skip that part for now. She wasn't ready, not yet.
"I also had to kick Bill's ass when he almost drained Sookie."
This definitely got Pam's attention. Anything having to do with Bill being a bastard amused her. "Kick his ass?" Pam knew Tara liked to kick ass, but she'd been a human and Pam found it hard to believe she was capable of that. Oh, how wrong she was.
"Yeah. It was after we broke them out of Russell's mansion. It was during the day so we had a van and that's where we put Bill, to keep him out of the sun. Sookie had to be with him in the back, of course." She rolled her eyes. Sookie really had a way of putting herself in stupidly dangerous situations, time and time again.
"I was with Alcide in the front and then we heard something. He stopped the van and we went back to see what was going on. We came at the last moment - he almost drained her. She was bitten numerous times and there was blood everywhere." Tara could feel anger building up in her just at the thought of that.
"He'd been tortured so I guess he was in bloodlust and didn't know what he was doing. That's the official version, anyway. I never gave him much credit."
Pam smirked. Tara really was an unapologetic bad ass.
"So I kicked him out on the road, out in the sun and we left him there. He survived because he was full of Sookie's faery blood." She finished, a look of disgust evident on her face. She never liked Bill, but what she didn't like even more was the way Sookie always seemed to think more about him than herself, she always put him first without even realizing it. Tara couldn't count the times Sookie almost got herself killed because of Bill.
Pam's smirk grew bigger. Apart from being a bad ass, Tara was obviously a good judge of character. Pam could never understand Sookie or what drove her to do the things she did. In the end, she just came to think of her as plain stupid. Too bad Eric didn't share the sentiment. The dumb ass even fell in love with her. Probably just to annoy Pam even more.
She also realized Tara was a loyal friend. Kicking Bill out of the van in the sun was a bold move, especially considering the fact he could have died the true death and she would answer to Sookie for that. Also, the fact that she took a bullet for Sookie further confirmed Pam's opinion. It was a useful trait, as long as it wasn't pushed too far. Pam was afraid Tara may have overstepped some boundaries, stupidly putting herself in danger for the little faery. Still, it was a noble thing to do. It's just that Pam didn't think Sookie deserved that.
"Wait." Pam said as realization came to her. "You said you broke him out of Russell's mansion? How did you get there?"
That was it. Tara fell in her own trap. The reason she'd been in that mansion is because Franklin had brought her there. Just as she was about to open her mouth, the door bell rang. Saved by the bell, indeed.
Twenty minutes later, Tara was escorting Jessica to one of the empty rooms. Her face was blood stained from crying, her clothes in shreds, barely hanging on. Tara didn't say anything, she just lead her into the room and immediately went to the bathroom to run a bath full of hot bubbly water.
Eric brought her. Tara didn't know much more because Pam sent the two of them upstairs almost immediately. Tara didn't appreciate being knocked around and told what to do like she was a child, but she also knew when to shut her mouth and obey. This was one of those times. She hadn't seen Jessica since they escaped from the Authority.
When the tub was completely filled with water, Tara turned around and found Jessica already standing there. There was a fresh red tear rolling down her cheek and she looked years older. Tara recognized that look – Jessica was traumatized.
"Thank you." – Jessica said softly, fighting the urge to fall apart right there.
Tara gave her a small smile. "No worries. You need somethin'?"
Jessica shook her head and started to undress. Tara decided to give her privacy so she quickly shuffled out of the bathroom. Having nothing better to do, she decided to go downstairs and join Pam and Eric. As soon as she rounded the corner and entered the living room, she could see the worried faces of two older vampires. She didn't like that at all, especially when it came to Eric. When a 1000 year old vampire was worried, you knew something serious was up.
Pam looked up, sensing Tara's presence even before she entered the room. "What are you doing? I thought I told you to stay with Jessica."
Tara gave her a slight roll of her eyes. "She's taking a bath, I didn't think she needed audience for that part."
Eric couldn't help but chuckle softly, earning a glare from Pam. In his eyes, Pam and Tara were two peas in a pod, a perfect match. He liked the younger vampire, he liked her audacity and her unapologetic nature. She wasn't afraid of anything, she fought instead of running away. These were all nice qualities in a vampire and, with some proper training, she had the potential of becoming a formidable vampire one day. Having Pam as her maker meant she'd also have a formidable tongue, although Eric noticed she got that one covered already.
"So, what's up?" Tara asked casually, sitting on the couch next to Pam. Pam just gave her a look, she couldn't wrap her mind around Tara just sitting casually with them, asking what was up as if they were all best friends who'd known each other for years.
"What?" Tara asked, noticing Pam's confused look.
"Nothing." Pam mumbled with a slight shake of her head. Her progeny was definitely a handful.
Moving her attention to Eric, Tara asked "How did you get Jess?"
"She showed up at Sookie's." He answered. "I don't know anything else since she wouldn't talk. I guessed she'd maybe be more open around the two of you so I brought her here. I don't know if she escaped from Bill or he let her go, but it wasn't pretty either way."
Pam let out a low growl. Despite being annoyed with Jessica most of the time, she couldn't bear the thought of Bill hurting her. He had a history of hurting women in the most despicable of ways, and that history went way back into the days of human Pam.
Right in that moment, vampires' keen ears picked up on Jessica exiting the bathroom. The two older vampires looked at Tara and she went upstairs with a sigh. She didn't like being treated like a child, that was for sure.
She found Jessica sitting on the bed, her look distant and unfocused.
"Hey, you okay?" Tara asked softly, edging towards the bed.
"No." Jessica said matter of factly, still focused on the same spot on the wall.
Tara sat beside her. "Wanna talk about it?"
Another tear slipped down Jessica's cheek. She shook her head slowly. "I just wanna sleep."
Tara nodded. Jessica obviously needed time and she wasn't going to push it. Even though it was more than an hour left till dawn, vampires were able to rest earlier if they were very tired or injured, especially the young ones. Tara figured Jessica would have no trouble falling asleep. She tucked her in and removed a strand of hair that fell across her face. She felt closer to Jessica than ever before. Even though they started on the wrong foot, Tara knew deep down that they were going to be great friends and it pained her to see Jessica hurt. She slowly exited the room, stealing another glance in Jessica's direction before she closed the door.
Sighing deeply, she went to Pam's bedroom, finding her on the bed.
"Where's Jessica?" She asked.
"She went to sleep early, she's tired." Pam nodded absentmindedly.
"What is it?" Tara asked, noticing that Pam wasn't really there.
"Nothing." Pam said, shaking her head as if to clear her mind. "Come here."
Tara joined her on the bed and they shared a hug. A hug that said more than words could. They were both happy to have each other, especially after Jessica's arrival. Tara felt compassion, knowing that Jessica probably experienced some bad things. She also couldn't imagine being in Jessica's shoes, being without her maker. The thought made Tara hug Pam even more tightly. Pam, on the other hand, saw another reason to hate Bill. Her list became longer and longer as time went by. The prospect of getting back to him excited her, but she knew she had to be patient.
After giving Tara a small peck on the lips and a smile, Pam asked. "So, how did you end up in Russell's mansion?"
A/N: I know you expected the Franklin talk to happen in this chapter, but I need some more time. I'm in the process of rewatching Tara/Franklin scenes. I think it is one of the, if not the biggest trauma of Tara's life and I want to do it right. I'm planning on dedicating the whole next chapter just to that, so bear with me.
Reviews, pretty please?