A/N: Thank for you for the lovely response to the last chapter :)
Chapter Ten – In The Blood
"Power doesn't die, it's passed on… They were mostly heroes. But see how the leverage is disrupted. The web of history traps the good, and the evil takes what is not theirs!"
- Subject Sixteen.
The following night, Eric warned me about thunder and lightning. He knew I would hate the loud noise it would make. Even though I expected it, I must admit I was trembling beneath the bed covers. He sighed beside me, taking my hand in his. He was always careful with what he said and did around me, because he knew I felt like a stranger. I was living another person's life, this Ruby Mathers, a vampire with a Viking boyfriend. It must hurt Eric deep inside to know that I can't remember a single thing about our relationship.
Eric could also be surprisingly sweet, kind, protective and gentle. As Sheriff, he had to always be strong and emotionless in front of everyone else. Beneath it all, he just wanted to keep his family safe. I was curious about both our lives, so I snuggled closer to him, wincing as thunder struck.
It reminded me so much of the fireworks I heard on the night of the ritual. Eric's scent distracted me however. It was hard to describe. Sweet, and fierce at the same time. A scent that humans never really understand, because they had weaker senses. When I looked at Eric, I could see every beautiful detail on his face. His eyes sparkled all the time.
"What was it like, being a Viking?"
He smiled at me, running his fingers up and down the length of my arm, staying quiet while he thought about it. "My parents wanted me to settle down. But I was more interested in 'dating' random women than anything else. When my parents were killed, I vowed revenge. When I was injured, Godric changed me."
Eric steered clear of details about his family, and I didn't pressure him either. He found it hard to talk about the night they died, I could tell. Another flash of lightning lit up the room. It was almost dawn, and I was glad we chose to stay at home instead of go to Fangtasia. His eyes looked distant. They always did when he had to talk about his old family. Like he blamed himself for not being there.
"Then Godric saved you," I smiled brightly.
He smiled right back. "Yes, he saved me. We wandered the Earth together for centuries."
Once again, he went silent. Thinking of memories and better times when he didn't have to worry about witches taking his progeny's memories. I wondered what my human life was like. Did I live by myself? Did I have family myself? I jumped when the lightning struck and Eric chuckled, rolling his eyes. I did it even when I knew it was going to happen.
"Do I have family?"
Eric frowned.
"My human life, I mean," I whispered softly, nervously anticipating the next flash of lightning and the boom of thunder. The weather could be so chaotic and noisy. I liked the hiss of the wind though, how the rain rattled against the windows. It made things feel even safer in Eric's home. Our home. It felt more like our home.
"You hung out with vampires. Your family didn't approve of me. They…disowned you for it when things got too much. When the Magister got involved in our lives while you were human, I sometimes wondered if they were right," he murmured, gently pushing some hair from my face. "Then you were turned, and you were so happy. It surprised me. I thought you would be angry with me, but you were just happy to spend the rest of your life with me Rubes, and I with you."
"I still want to stay with you," I said. This time, when the thunder struck, I didn't jump.
"Good," he smirked. "'Cause I don't think I could let go of you that easily."
"We vampires are such possessive creatures, aren't we?"
"It's in our nature," he shrugged. "There are good sides to it though. By saying we 'own' a human, it can protect them."
"Why does Sookie hate it when Bill wants to protect her then?"
"Sookie wants to be independent. Just like you did. You were the same Ruby, you refused to let me say I owned you."
I could understand that humans didn't want to be owned like possessions, but if it saved their lives, then maybe it was worth it. Another vampire wouldn't be allowed to bite them – which of course, didn't mean there weren't bad vampires who tired anyway.
"You're a stubborn kind of woman," Eric continued. "You don't back down easily, always willing to fight for something you love or believe in."
I chewed my lip, rolling over to lie on my back and stare at the ceiling. Stubborn, loyal, kind. Typical words Pam and Eric used to describe me. I'm always pleased when the humans at Fangtasia tell me I'm beautiful, but normally they just end up asking me to bite them. They just want to forget about they're scheduled, waiting-for-Friday lifestyle they all lead, waiting 'til they can come to our bar and just lose themselves for a few hours.
That's the appeal for humans. Vampires aren't supposed to exist, and when we exposed ourselves, it opened a whole new world to them. Eric kept tracing patterns on my arm while thinking things over himself.
Quietly I said, "Can we let Rick and Lou go?"
When he didn't respond, I looked over at him. He was staring right into my eyes. I bet he wished he could Glamour me to forget they ever existed, so he could just rip them limb from limb himself. That wouldn't happen though. I didn't see the need to kill humans. Just like Godric. Speaking of Godric, we had phoned him earlier to see if he knew anything about rituals. If anything should know about the supernatural, it should be a two thousand year old vampire.
Unfortunately he found it slightly confusing. For an experienced witch – which we're guessing Lucy is – to go for a baby vamp…that's unusual. Especially if they planned on draining me before they killed me. They normally would have gone for a vampire like Eric, whose blood is much better. His was absolutely ancient, any V-addict would give their left arm for it.
"Eric, we've Glamoured them. We've found out everything they know. What is the point of keeping them there?"
I knew his real reason. He wished I would just give in and let him rip them to shreds. He had a lot of pent up anger for this witch, and he would take any excuse to hurt someone who was involved in the rituals. He could be so aggressive. I sighed, instantly turning back to him when the thunder struck. Damn, why on Earth was I still afraid of loud noises? I knew I had heard fireworks during the ritual – even if Rick claims there were none – but I thought once I knew what frightened me, I could overcome it. Looks like that wasn't happening.
"Fine. We will release them tomorrow night," Eric muttered gruffly. I grinned, kissing his cheek while he was distracted. He was clearly rethinking things, wondering if he should let them go.
"Thank you Eric."
He smirked. "You should feel privileged. I'm not normally a nice guy."
I snorted, rolling my eyes. "Don't give me that Eric. You only put that stuff on for show. No vampires in our area would take you seriously if you were all fluffy clouds and happy bunnies."
"Fluffy clouds and happy bunnies?"
"Shut up, it was the best thing I could think of."
I felt much better when the thunder and lightning stopped, falling asleep almost instantly once the dawn had come.
When the sun set, I was surprised to see it was still raining outside. It must have rained all day long. It felt like we were in the middle of a hurricane, the rain bashing against the light-tight windows as I padded down the stairs. I could hear Eric in his office, his voice drifting throughout the house as he spoke on the phone. More witchy business to attend to, of course.
I counted down the moments it took for the TruBlood bottle to heat up. In the corner of the large, modern kitchen – I don't know why Eric chose to build such a large kitchen when we rarely used it. Perhaps it was just for show? – sat a small TV set. I switched it on, and watched a human talk show. It wasn't surprising to see they were speaking of vampires.
If you flicked through the channels, there was always some show talking about vampires. There were a group Eric told me about, the American Vampire League, who tried to convince humans that we weren't dangerous, and that we wouldn't drain humans or anything because we now had TruBlood to satisfy us. However, on this show it was just the News interviewing random people about how they felt.
Most were pretty negative, so I ignored it while I pulled out a mug and poured the TruBlood in. It was sloppy, sloshing over the edge a bit. I licked my fingers and picked up an old cloth to wipe it away. I was busy planning what I would do tonight. Either watch more movies and shows, read or go to Fangtasia with Eric. All sounded pretty good to me.
Eric had plans already. "We're gonna go to Merlotte's tonight."
I almost dropped my mug. Had I heard him correctly? Eric…in a human bar. In my head, nothing good could come from that. I looked at him curiously as he began throwing on a leather jacket and searching the drawers of his desk for his keys. It would take me seconds to find an old dress or maybe some jeans, then we could head out.
"Why?"
"Miss Stackhouse should be able to help us."
I almost jumped for joy. Boy, I loved Sookie. I loved humans in general, their lives were so complicated and intricate. However, none of those humans seemed to like me much simply because I was a vampire. Seemed unfair to judge someone they didn't know.
"You think she might know these people?"
Eric shrugged. "Even if she doesn't know them personally, she might just overhear someone thinking about their names, or hear someone thinking of the ritual in her mind. She's a telepathic waitress, we're lucky to have found her."
I smiled at him, delighted we were going to see her. Eric sighed at my expression, rolling his eyes and walking past me. I heard him in the hallway, finally finding his keys on the coffee table. "Why are you so grumpy?" I asked.
"I don't usually like trusting a human with something so important to me. I can handle things myself."
"Sometimes you are such a control freak Eric."
After a car ride filled with Swedish music I didn't understand, we walked into the bar and everything suddenly went quiet. Literally every person in the entire bar turned and stared at Eric and I. He wasn't amused, clamping a hand on my waist and pulling me to the bar. Sam was behind the bar – see, I remembered his name. He was equally shocked to see us.
"Hiya Sam!" I smiled.
"Look, we don't want no trouble."
Well. That put a downer on my night. He instantly assumed we were here to stir things up. Eric looked down at me, straightening up. He had noticed Sam smelled…different. I personally didn't know the scent, though Eric clearly did. He would fill me in later, like always.
"We are here to speak with Sookie. Is she present?" Eric asked coldly. Way to break the ice. We were really making friends here.
"Yeah. I'll go get her," Sam replied in an equally hostile tone.
When Sam left, I gave Eric a little punch in the ribs. He barely noticed it, glancing around the bar. He found it distasteful it seemed. That same red-headed waitress narrowly passed us holding a tray so tightly her hands were shaking, her knuckles were white. His eyes tracked one man, who smelled faintly of Sookie. A brother, perhaps? Eric's eyes narrowed, like he suspect something. If that was Sookie's brother, he looked awful nervous.
"Honestly Ruby, how you can like humans is beyond me," Eric grunted.
I craned my neck to look up at him and smiled. "You're just a grumpy old man tonight, aren't you?"
Sookie appeared, looking cross and irritated I saw some fading bruises on her face. Instantly, I was worried for her. Someone had knocked her about, that much was evident. Eric didn't seem to care much, because he said nothing.
"What do you want, Eric?" she asked irritably.
"We need your assistance again. May we speak in private?"
"Can't y'all see I'm workin'! You can't just call for me at random times that suit you!"
"Listen Sookie, I am willing to pay you a large amount of money for this." This was news to me. I didn't look at Eric though, preferring to look at Sookie. Who had hit her, I wondered? Was Bill there to protect her? "We're searching for two women. You're going to help us."
Of course, Eric didn't say 'Will you help us?', he just demanded it. Sookie's eyes drifted between Eric and I, knowing she didn't really have a choice. She threw her hands up after a few seconds, huffing and storming off into the backroom. Eric smiled and put his arm around my shoulder.
"What was that you said about fluffy clouds and happy bunnies Ruby?" he smirked.
"Okay, I get it, you're a really tough 'alpha male' kinda guy," I said, following Sookie, smiling myself. "And you're willing to threaten poor Sookie into helping us. Well done, you've proved your point."
A bunch of eyes watched us, all itching to gossip about the two new vampires at their bar.
"I told you. I always get what I want," he said from behind me. What else did I expect from a Viking vampire anyway? "I proved that by courting you." He snickered, eyes roaming the halls Sookie led us to. She asked Sam if we could use his office, and of course he let her after glaring at Eric for a few seconds.
"Now, what do you want?" Sookie asked, slamming the office door behind us.
"Oh, nothing much. Just need help finding some witches involved in a sacrificial ritual," Eric shrugged playfully, suddenly in better spirits. "Do you have TruBlood by the way?"
