Chapter Eleven:
"I know, it sounds like a damn movie." I handed Alcide a beer as I finished the long story of my life. I felt like he needed to know everything (besides the sex and desire to jump both Godric and Eric of course), including how I came to be in Godric's care, and ended up coming to Louisiana to live. Alcide hadn't spoken much since we got back to Sookie's house, taking everything I had said in. I braced myself for him to just get up and leave, not wanting to be caught up in all of my drama. I was surprised however, when his hand caught mine and squeezed it softly.
"That's a lot for one girl to take." There was warmth and kindness pooled in his dark eyes.
"I really don't know how I've gotten through it all." I admitted, sitting across from him at the kitchen table. "It feels like a dream sometimes, like I'm going to wake up and not know Godric, or have crazies coming after me."
"Do you wish it was all a dream?" he asked, taking a sip of the beer.
"Some days. It would make my life a whole lot easier." I shrugged. "But then other days, no. My life even before vampires came along wasn't an easy one. I was alone after my brother died, and being around Godric helped that loneliness."
"That's understandable." Alcide nodded. "I may not like vampires, but I get the loneliness."
"Have you ever been lonely, Alcide?" I asked curiously.
"Not in the same way, I guess." He sat back in the chair. "I have my dad around, and my sister, so I have a family. But there's always just been something missing."
"I know that feeling."
"After Debbie, it got a bit worse." He sighed.
"Debbie? Ex girlfriend?" I raised an eyebrow. Who would possibly leave this man? I've only known him for maybe an hour tops and I already pegged him down as the nicest man on the planet, not to mention the most gorgeous breathing one as well. If I had him, I most definitely would not be breaking up with him any time soon. Then again, I didn't know really anything about Alcide than what he was telling me now. Maybe he had a skeleton in his closet.
"Yeah." He frowned, and I could tell he didn't want to talk about it.
"Okay, let's not talk about depressing or life threatening topics." I clapped my hands together, trying to change the mood in the room. "I guess you'll be staying here for a bit then, right?"
"For as long as you keep getting in trouble." He smirked.
"So for the rest of my life then?" I rolled my eyes and laughed. "Sookie has a spare bedroom on this floor, I doubt she'd mind if you stayed there. We both think trouble is fun, so it'll be nice to have a big strong man around."
Alcide chuckled as I winked at him. For once, I actually felt...well somewhat normal. Here I was teasing and joking around with a man that wasn't dead and actually had a heartbeat, living in a home with another living person, and had a great job. This was exactly what I wanted, what I needed. I doubt I would be happy staying here for the rest of my life, I knew I would miss Godric eventually. But for now, and after everything that's happened, I was quite content on just enjoying this moment, for however long it was going to last.
The three of us got into a routine pretty fast. It felt more like three friends living together than Alcide acting like a bodyguard. Or at least, that's how I liked to look at it. Days went by and nothing happened. There was no werewolf attacks, no vampires coming by. Not even Bill made an appearance. I didn't mind at all, but Sookie was becoming restless at not hearing from her boyfriend. I wrote it off as him trying to bond with Jessica, but as she came into the bar with Hoyt quite a bit, that didn't seem as likely anymore. I focused on trying to keep her as busy as possible when we weren't busy working, which seemed to be quite a lot. I enjoyed it; I liked having something to throw myself into. I hardly had time to think about everything that's happened. The only time I let myself think about Eric or Godric was when I had inconvenient sex dreams about them. I swear, every morning after having one of those dreams, Sookie always seemed to know, and she couldn't even read my thoughts. Damn woman!
But, as someone wise once said, nothing lasted forever.
I was working the afternoon shift while Sookie had the night shift one day. I smiled at her as Alcide and I left, getting into his truck. It was like every other day we've done this this week; it felt like a normal routine even. We were chatting about the rumours and gossip Alcide had heard in the bar, some absolutely ridiculous. When we arrived at the house, everything appeared normal, nothing out of place. It wasn't until Alcide had his hand on the doorknob that he tensed up and sensed danger.
"Get back into the truck Ellie."
"What? What's wrong?" I questioned, trying to gaze into the house through the window.
"Truck, now." His voice was low.
One look at his face, and I knew he wasn't joking. My heart skipped as I dropped my bag on the porch and dashed to his truck. I was fumbling with the keys Alcide had tossed me, trying to find the correct one to open the doors. I began shaking as Alcide opened the front door to the house and let himself in, leaving me absolutely alone outside. Oh I did not like this at all.
"Oh come on!" I exclaimed softly as the keys dropped from my hands.
I ducked down to pick them up, but I was stopped halfway down. I saw the golden glowing eyes before I saw anything else. My eyes grew wide, my face paling as I snapped back up and backed away from the large, growling wolf. It was a dark grey, its teeth large and sharp as he snarled at me. Seeing it about to pounce, I twisted around and began running. I worked my way towards the tree line around the house, hoping that I could lose the wolf in amongst the trees. However, I didn't make it that far as I was knocked off of my feet. I groaned as my body hit the hard ground, the wolf on top of me. I squirmed, trying to push it away, but it just snapped at my face. I whimpered as the wolf's claws caught me on the shoulder, slicing right through the shirt and drawing blood. The wolf's mouth was so close to biting me, it's teeth only inches from biting down into the wound. I let out a scream, and not even seconds later was the wolf being tackled off of me. I scrambled backwards, watching in horror as Alcide fought in his human form with the wolf. I wanted to shout at him to change, but he was bitten in the arm before I could.
"Alcide!" I started crawling over to him, but was stopped by the growling wolf.
I felt absolutely helpless as I watched the wolf turn back towards me, taunting me as it slowly sauntered over. It stopped suddenly before just pouncing into the air. I braced myself for the impact, but it never came. Instead, a gunshot sounded before whimpering and then just silence. I opened my eyes, not knowing I even closed them, and was surprised to find Alcide pointing a gun at the wolf that had now changed back, completely naked as it lied on the grass with a gunshot wound in its back.
"Is...is he dead?" I asked, pushing myself up to my feet.
"Yes." Alcide nodded before wincing.
"Are you okay?" My eyes were wide as I knelt beside him to check his wound.
"I'll be fine, I heal fast." He assured, his eyes roaming to my own wound. "Are you?"
"Just some scratches."
He didn't seem convinced, but nodded and let me help him inside. I started cleaning his wound the moment I had him in the kitchen, though he tried to object. I just gave him a sharp look before continuing to play nurse. Once I had a bandage on his arm, happy to note he wasn't bleeding anymore, I sat down at let everything sink in.
"How's your shoulder?" he questioned, peering at the wound under my shirt.
"It'll be fine." I offered him a smile. "Thank you for saving my life."
"I wouldn't be a good bodyguard if you got killed." He returned the smile. "I'm sorry, I should have known before it happened."
"It's not your fault Alcide." I laid my hand on top of his. "You saved my life, that's all that matters. Though I don't know what we should do about the body."
"I'll call Northman and have him take care of it." Alcide shrugged, pulling out his phone.
"I'm going to go take a shower, shout if you need me."
He nodded as he punched in the numbers I had memorized by now. I shook my head at that thought and pulled myself up the stairs and into my bedroom. I didn't even make it to the bathroom just down the hall however, and instead, crashed on the bed. I was out like a light the moment my head hit the pillows.
I wasn't sure of the time when I was woken up in a start. I didn't even know what it was that woke me up until I was sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. A tap sounded at the window, and the moment I looked in that direction, I just about had a heart attack.
"What the fuck are you doing Eric?" I screamed at the blonde, knowing full well he could hear me as clear as day.
He just smirked at me as he floated on the other side of the window. "Are you going to let me in?"
"Fat chance." I crossed my arms, forgetting that my shoulder was hurt. I winced and glanced down to find the scratches were much deeper than I first thought they were. "Shit."
"You're hurt." Eric's hands were gripping the window sill. "Let me in."
"I'm fine." I stood and began towards the door. "I just need to..."
"Ellie let me in damnit." Eric demanded.
I shot him a glare. "This is Sookie's house, I'm not about to invite in a vampire who she doesn't want inside her house."
"Porch, now."
I didn't even get a chance to say no as he was gone in a flash. I contemplated ignoring his order and just go into the bathroom to clean the wound. But I knew better than that. Angering Eric Northman was not something that should be done. I had been on the end of his anger far too many times to know just how ruthless he could get. Even though he shouldn't have even be here, he was and now the only way I would possibly get rid of him, was to go down to the porch and just deal with him.
Muttering curses to absolutely no one, I stomped my way down the stairs and to the main level. Alcide poked his head out of his room, sending me a questioning stare. I told him Eric was here and not to worry about it. He made sure I knew that he would come running if I just uttered his name. I felt grateful for his worry and kissed his cheek in appreciation. Alcide mumbled incoherently as he popped his head back into his room, leaving me to go outside.
"What do you want?" I asked angrily as I pulled the front door closed behind me.
"I needed to make sure you were safe." He only had eyes for my wound. I wasn't sure if that was because of the dried blood, or if he was just worried. "May I?"
"You may not." I crossed my arms stupidly, only to wince once again.
"I can heal you." He stepped forward.
"I can heal on my own thank you very much. If your only here to try and have a taste, than you can just go, because it's not going to happen." I stood my ground.
Eric smirked wildly as he appeared before me in a flash, pushing me flush up against the wall. "I only asked to be polite."
"Eric, don't you..." I never got a chance to finish however, as he began ripping the shoulder of the shirt wider, ducking his head down so his tongue could flick out and lap at the dried blood. I let out a soft cry of pain as his tongue dove deeper into the wound. I shuddered against the wall, my body shaking in pain as his tongue explored the wounds. "Hurts..."
He let out a growl as he straightened before biting into his wrist. He held it against my lips, not giving me a moment to refuse. I didn't want to drink his blood, yet again, to strengthen our bond. But there was nothing else to do but to just oblige. Maybe once my shoulder was healed, he would just leave. I opened my mouth and let the blood drip past my tongue. The moment I swallowed a single drop of his blood, it was like an animal lived inside of me. I wanted his blood, I needed it. I grabbed onto his wrist, holding it to my mouth as I sucked on his bloodied wrist, getting as much blood as I possibly could out of the wound. I could hear Eric snicker, but ignored him as I continued to drink. I felt the wound in my shoulder close, the pain ceasing. I barely paid it any attention however, as I just continued to drink the delicious blood.
"Enough." He pulled away his wrist with ease, leaving blood to drip down my chin.
I went to wipe it away, but he stopped me with his lips crashing down on mine. I moaned into the kiss as I stood on the tips of my toes to deepen the connection. Unfortunately, as quickly as the kiss began, it ended. I pouted in frustration as Eric stepped back, moving back over to the porch railing and leaned against it with his arms crossed.
"I originally planned to come and tell you what we've recently found out." His eyes bored down into mine as I sat on the lounging outdoor couch, my legs feeling shaky after that kiss. "However, after I felt your pain and fear, I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"You wanted to, or Godric ordered you to?" I questioned.
"Godric ordered me to not see you." He tilted his head to the side.
"So why are you here?"
"Because he happened to be called before he could come check on you himself." Eric looked smug as he told me this.
"Why do I have a feeling that that was your doing?" I eyed him suspiciously.
He just laughed as he strode over to where I sat and perched himself beside me. "Now tell me what happened."
I was sceptical at first, but sighed and began telling him the story of everything that had occurred earlier. When I mentioned the fact that Alcide had gotten hurt, there was a wide smirk on his face as if he was glad the werewolf was injured.
"You're childish." I shot at him before remembering what Alcide had told me earlier. "Alcide called you. That's why you came, isn't it? To get rid of the body? You just wanted to piss me off while you were here."
"A good observation, but not a correct one." He gazed out across the lawn. "I disposed of the body, if that's what you want to know."
"Where?"
"It would be better if you didn't know." He didn't look at me and just continued to stare at absolutely nothing. Or there could be something, but as I just had normal human eyes, I couldn't see a damn thing that was passed the porch. "Is Sookie home?"
"Uh..." I glanced down at my watch. "She should be home from work in another hour or so. Why?"
"No reason." He turned his head towards me. "We must talk about these werewolves."
"What about them?"
"They're from Jackson Mississippi." He began. "Their leader is...one of us."
"A vampire?" I frowned. "But vampires and werewolves hate each other."
"Which is why this is much more dangerous than we first assumed." Eric sighed, leaning forward to let his elbows rest on his knees. "I sent Bill to Jackson to gather more information."
"So that's why he hasn't been around at all. Does Sookie know about this?"
"No, he was to speak of it to no one." Eric turned his attention back to the lawn. "Bill hasn't arrived back yet."
"When was he supposed to be back?" my face began paling.
"Two nights ago."
"Shit."
"Precisely why it's imperative not to speak of this to Miss Stackhouse." He sent me a pointed look over his shoulder. "She will run into the streets screaming and end up getting herself killed."
"I won't tell her." I lied. Who was I kidding; of course I was going to tell her. This was her loving boyfriend we were talking about and she was my best friend. There was no way I wasn't going to tell her. I was just glad he was staring elsewhere and didn't take notice of how nervous I looked when I promised him that. "So about these werewolves..."
"These are not ordinary Weres. They're organized, well funded, and highly trained." He paused, a look of disgust crossing his face. "And fuelled by vampire blood."
"I don't even need to be smart to know that's not good." I chewed on my bottom lip. "Did you really just find this out now?"
"No." He shook his head. "Godric and I knew what the symbol meant that was burned into his neck."
"So why did you never tell me any of this before?"
"The better question is why am I risking everything to tell you this now?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Eric?" I watched him closely, completely confused at what he was saying.
"The idea was to keep you out of danger, not to put you more at risk." He turned his body towards me, his hand reaching up to cup my cheek. "Just by telling you this, I'm putting you in danger you don't need to be in."
I opened my mouth to question why, but he just suddenly stood and began towards the stairs.
"Eric, you can't just leave after saying something like that." I shot up to my feet to stop him.
"Oh I'm not leaving." Eric turned around, his blue eyes piercing into mine. "You are going to invite me in, so I can protect you...or have passionate primal sex with you. I'd like both."
My face flushed as he walked me back into the wall. I swallowed hard as I tried to look anywhere but up at him.
"You're not going to distract me by doing that thing that you always do." I wished my voice sounded as strong as the statement was supposed to be instead of wavering as his hand lay on my neck, his fingers dancing across the soft skin.
"And what is it, Ellie, that I always do?" he asked huskily in my ear.
"You..." I paused, closing my eyes as he laid a kiss just below my earlobe. "You try to seduce me and make me forget about everything else."
"And is it working?"
"No." I put my hands on his chest, pushing slightly. It didn't push him away, but his head did rise.
There was a spark in his eyes as his hand continued to caress my neck. "So are you going to invite me in?"
"I'm not falling for it." I shook my head.
He snickered, his hand dropping as he took a step away. "You will soon enough."
My face grew a deeper shade of red as I crossed my arms and glared down at the porch. I could hear him pacing in front of me, but I didn't look up.
"Won't Godric wonder where you are?"
"Yes I suppose he will." Eric shrugged. "But I could care less."
"I don't want you two to be fighting because of me." I spoke softly.
"If it wasn't over you, it would be something else." He shot me a look. "You cannot go a thousand years knowing someone without a few arguments."
"I guess." I bit my bottom lip hard as I tried to understand everything that he's told me tonight. "So these werewolves work for a vampire, who is supplying them vampire blood?"
"Yes." Eric nodded.
"They're already strong, so this just makes them stronger, right?"
"And mentally unstable." He added. "Not that they already weren't."
"Do you think that it's Jeffrey controlling the werewolves?" I wondered out loud, ignoring Eric's last comment.
"I don't believe so. He's still a fresh vampire, despite what he can do. This has been going on long before you were even born. Decades ago; centuries even."
"Then Jeffrey is working for whoever it is that is controlling the werewolves." I began to put two and two together. "Who has enough power to do such a thing?"
"I could name a few." Eric shrugged before his head snapped to the side. Before I could ask what was wrong, he had me against the wall, his hands gripping at my shoulders. "Invite me in."
"You can't bully your way in, Eric."
My heart skipped a beat as his fangs popped out. "Invite me in, Ellie."
I knew that look in his eye. This wasn't just a way to get into Sookie's house for whatever reason, so he could come and go as he pleased. No, there was something wrong, something very very wrong.
"Will it even work, it's not my..."
"You've been living here, so yes. Now invite me in." His hands tightened.
"Eric, please come in." My voice cracked.
He was gone in a flash, the front door wide open. I shot through after him, but was stricken to the spot in fear. A wolf sauntered out of the kitchen and into plain sight, eyes glowing a golden hue. The eyes met mine, and I knew that if there wasn't a vampire between him and me, I would be a goner. Eric watched the wolf closely, watching its every move. The wolf seemed to be doing the same thing to Eric, taking his sweet time. I gulped when I saw the wolf about to attack. But he never got a chance as Alcide, or who I assumed was Alcide, as it was a wolf that came leaping out of nowhere and onto the other. I let out a small scream as I jumped back and watched as a snowy white wolf attacked the dirty brown one, the two wrestling to the ground. I had to bite down on my hand to keep from screaming too loudly as Alcide bite into the wolf's neck, drawing a chunk of flesh straight out of the wolf's body. I felt sick to my stomach, the familiar taste of vomit rising in my throat. Eric, who didn't look pleased at all that he was interrupted before he could start a fight, must have realized this and had me in his arms and outside of the house in a blink of an eye.
"Breathe, Ellie." He had my face cradled in his hands.
The breathing didn't help anything and I instead bent over the porch railing and threw up my entire dinner. I felt hands moving my hair back, and was mildly surprised that Eric was acting in such a way.
"What's going on?"
I hadn't even heard the sound of a car pulling up to the house, didn't even know there was anyone else around until Sookie spoke. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and straightened, Eric's hand running up and down my back in a soothing pattern.
"Whatever you do, don't go inside."
