Chapter 13
Elliot looked at Bill as she prepared to drape the heavy tarp around his shoulders, head, and over his face. "Okay, Bill. I'll see you on the other side of sunrise. You feeling alright?"
"I'm fine. Elliot?" Bill asked. She tucked her chin down a little and murmured a soft "mmhmm?"
"Kiss me," Bill looked into her eyes. She felt a flood of emotions pouring from him as she bent forward and kissed him tenderly. Then she sat back while still looking at him and draped the folds of canvas over the last part of him still exposed to the ever-increasing twilight.
Bill had asked to sit on the porch in his antique rocking chair for his meeting with the sun. It was the one his mother had used to rock him and his siblings when they were babies, and it'd been restored many times over the decades. He normally never sat in it himself considering how precious it was and how fragile it might be for bearing weight, nor did he allow others to do so, but this seemed like a momentous time in his life, an event worthy of a truly great chair.
He sat in darkness inside the tarp and wondered what it would be like to see the sun rise again. He'd not seen the sun rise in over 145 years but he certainly remembered it well, not that he'd had much time to sit and enjoy it during his human existence. He was a farmer who'd been born to a farmer. As a boy growing up on a farm, as soon as he'd proven his abilities to his father, he'd gotten up at least an hour or more before sunrise to milk the two cows who supplied milk for the household. That was his job year-round, no matter if he had to go to school or if it was summertime. And of course, summertime brought a great deal of chores before he could think about swimming or fishing with his friends. It had been a good life, regardless of the lean times that came their way periodically, and there was a great deal to enjoy on a beautiful day in Bon Temps. A day in Bon Temps, to enjoy a day, he couldn't stop thinking about it that way, a day, enjoy the day. He couldn't wait to go somewhere and hear someone tell him, "Enjoy your day", and he was going to say it right back, "Why thank you, enjoy your day, too".
Elliot gently interrupted his musing. "Bill, the sun has broke the horizon a little and I'm going to start unwrapping your hands. If you feel any burning sensations or discomfort, let us know right away."
"Okay," he replied from inside his tarpaulin cocoon.
Elliot slowly unwrapped his left hand while Sam did the same to his right hand. They continued unwrapping until they reached his shoulders. He remained fine, no pain, no discomfort. They repeated the operation on his feet and legs. Then they opened the tarp to expose his clothed body, and finally last of all, his head, then his face.
He sat with his eyes closed for several long seconds, the tarp lay in folds around his back. Except for his clothes, he was exposed to the newly dawning sunlight. Elliot sat next to him still holding his hand. Sam remained on his other side, folds of tarp in his hands in case he needed to quickly redrape Bill.
Sitting with his eyes closed, Bill knew the moment he had long dreamed of but thought he'd never see again had arrived. He opened his eyes and looked out across the emerald green lawn, so green it seemed to almost glow like a light unto itself and he raised his eyes to the most beautiful sunrise he'd ever seen in his entire life. The sky was awash in violet and gold and orange against azure blue, the look of it was so completely magnificent that he was overwhelmed with love and the feeling that God was there, right there, with them, with him. His eyes filled with tears and a sob escaped his throat, "Oh, God, it's so beautiful. Oh, dear sweet Jesus." He stood up and stepped forward to the top of the stairs, Elliot and Sam with him, holding his arms, keeping the tarp wrapped around his back like a cape, just in case they needed it. But they didn't. He was fine.
The three of them stood quietly with their faces to the horizon in awe of the extraordinary sunrise. There was no need to hurry as they watched the sun flood the countryside with light and life.
After awhile Bill sat down on the top step. Sam mirrored his actions and sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Bill, still protective of him, afraid to relax his watch. Elliot stood, "I'm gonna make some coffee." Sam nodded. Bill remained quiet, smiling, looking at the sky and the trees and his yard, his cheeks wet with tears. He caught Elliot's hand as she stood and squeezed it. She understood. His world was full of color again, blazing glorious color, bright, light, variations and shades of all hues of color.
Elliot returned shortly and sat down next to him on the stairs. She handed him a test tube of her blood. "Bill, this is your first dose of the phase three medications. Drink this, and then in a couple minutes, drink this whole cup of water." She set the cup on the stair by his feet.
He drank the blood and restoppered the tube, frowning. "Did you eat something weird or are the chemicals just funny-tasting?"
"No, and no. You're just physically moving away from enjoying a diet of blood. You'll have your last dose of phase three in a little while. After that, you'll lose your appetite for blood products fairly quickly. You'll also notice your fangs will become sluggish today during the day and after a day or two at the most, you won't be able to extend your fangs at all. You'll also see a dramatic decrease in your vampire abilities all day today and progressing over the next few days. You won't be as physically strong and you won't be as fast. In a few days you'll possess the same strength as a normal human man."
She stood up. "I'll be right back. Sam, you take anything in your coffee?" Sam shook his head. He'd smiled at how Elliot explained all of these changes to Bill, like it was nothing, just part of the way things worked in her world.
Bill drank the water Elliot had left for him. It tasted delicious, so cool and smooth, refreshing. He smiled and thought about how it's amazing the way he'd taken for granted things like the simple pleasure of drinking a cold glass of water until one day he couldn't drink it anymore because the privilege has been taken away by a different existence in a body that looked like his but betrayed him in so many ways.
"Good water?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, very good water," Bill nodded, still smiling.
Elliot returned with two steaming mugs of coffee, Sam's black, hers with milk in it. Bill looked at her with mock indignation, "Where's my coffee? I take mine black, too, and I love coffee." He dragged out the "love coffee" for emphasis.
"Not this morning, I'm sorry. I don't want to risk caffeine interactions just yet. You can have some this afternoon, though, if you want."
"One sip," Bill insisted.
"Okay, but of mine, since mine is decaf. Not sure this really qualifies as coffee in your book." She held out her cup and he took it from her carefully, a huge grin on his face. He felt the same awe as if he were child being allowed a sip of coffee for the very first time. He was thrilled, excited, just for the flavor of it.
He held the cup to his lips and tipped some of the hot brew into his eager mouth. "Mmmm," he groaned with the deepest of pleasure. "Oh, Elliot, it's so good, oh God, so mmmm, yes."
"Bill, I'm so happy for you, Man," Sam said, "I feel like my coffee is better too, just to see you enjoy it like this, and the sunrise, all of it. This is a special moment."
Bill looked around. "It's amazing how everything looks so different in the daylight. I'd forgotten. It's almost like I'm in a whole different place, even though it's my same old yard, my same porch, same trees. And the sounds, the birds are singing, it's so beautiful." He yawned.
"You're probably gonna feel pretty sleepy for most of today, Bill," Elliot said. "In spite of it, I want you to stay awake and just sit out here for at least an hour or so, let yourself pick up the sun rays before you go inside. It'll help your biological clock start to reset itself to being awake during the day and asleep at night. I need you to drink a half to a whole cup of water every hour. Sam, how sleepy are you? You and I are going to need to make sure that at least one of us is with Bill everywhere he goes for at least the next twelve hours."
"I'm not sleepy at all, Elliot. I can skip a night's sleep without any problems. It's a side benefit of being a shifter. When it's a full moon and I shift at sunset, I usually stay out all night, then come home, shift to my human form and go straight to work, work all day and half the night. Then I go home and go to bed," Sam explained.
"That's good, I hope this will work for you then. Will you need to go into work today?" Elliot asked.
"No, Terry Bellefleur and Tara can cover for me today and tonight," Sam answered.
"So after we give Bill his last dose in a little while, do you mind if I go lay down for a couple hours?" Elliot was hopeful. She was exhausted. "I'd just lay on the couch and sleep in case you need me in a hurry."
"That's fine, you can lay down now if you want," Sam encouraged.
"Do you think you could run over to Merlotte's and bring back a few food items? It's closer than the grocery store," Elliot asked.
"Sure, what do we need?" Sam asked, getting up.
"I made a list," she handed him a piece of paper with several items written on it. "When you get back I'll lay down and sleep for awile."
Sam hopped quickly into his vehicle and left.
Bill took advantage of the privacy to slip his arm around Elliot's waist. "Elliot, I never noticed before that you have red and in your hair and your green eyes are kinda bluish and your lips are really red." And with that, he cupped her face in his hands and tenderly kissed her beautiful mouth. "Thank you for this, Elliot, thank you so much."
"You're welcome. Let's go in the house for a few minutes. I'd like to get ready for your last dose of meds." She led him back into the house and they went to the table, where she drew blood and prepped two tubes with the medications. "Here, you can drink these two now."
He sat down and drank the first tube of blood. "Arrgh," he gagged. "What's in the medication. It tastes awful, sickening."
"Drink the second one. You can wash it down with a cup of water. Okay?"
He drank the second one quickly and gagged again, wretching several times before grabbing the water and gulping it down madly. "Oh, that was unexpected. Beautiful fairy blood and I can't stand the taste, the texture, or the temperature. It's so salty and simply dreadful tasting. So was that my last blood feeding?"
"Yep. When Sam returns he's gonna bring some crackers and I want you to eat some of those. Then I want you to have chicken noodle soup and more crackers for lunch and for dinner, more soup but with bread and butter."
"Crackers, soup, bread, sounds wonderful. When can I have steak?" he asked, smiling broadly with eyebrows raised.
"In a few days, most likely." She yawned.
"You're sleepy. Let's make you a little bed on the couch. Will I feel sleepy later? Right now I feel ready for anything—except for more blood, that is."
"You should probably feel a little washed out pretty soon. Your body's making a lot of changes very quickly right now, so that will wear you out. You should lay down in a few hours, too, even if you're not sleepy." Elliot ran her fingers through his hair. He looked so magnificent, so alive, and the look on his face was one of excitement and happiness.
She wondered what it would be like to be loved by him. Surely it would be the most perfect feeling she could ever experience. She'd started falling in love with Bill from the first moment they'd met and now it greatly appeared it was all for nothing. She'd unwittingly set them both up for a fall. Because of the email she'd received from her grandfather this morning, she knew she'd never get the chance to pursue a relationship with Bill. Reading it broke her heart into a thousand pieces.
"Little One", he'd written, "I have news for you that you probably will not like. Quilan's request for the Fae Euro-American High Court to overturn your rejection of his hand in marriage has been granted. You know what this means. You are required to marry him. While I understand your desire to choose your own mate rather than the one your parents have arranged for you means a great deal to you, I must insist that you return to your home in Day Creek and await the arrival of Quilan, his family and your own relatives. Once you, Quilan, and the families are present, a traditional Fae wedding ceremony will be conducted. Hopefully, Quilan will agree to live at your home rather than in Ireland. However, if he requires you dwell in Ireland at the home of his Mother, then you will need to comply. I understand you are working on your project in Louisiana and that it means a great deal to you. Because of this, I have restrained Quilan's and his family's enthusiasm and they have agreed to travel to your home in one month. You must be present to receive Quilan with the full respect and affections requisite with him being your Betrothed. I trust you will make me proud. Love, Grandfather Niall"
When she'd read his words, she felt all the air being sucked out of her lungs along with all the hope and joy in her heart. Quilan was, without a doubt, the cruelest and nastiest Fae man she'd ever known.
They were the same age and when they were both children she'd had to play with him when his parents came to visit her parents. He was selfish and controlling and would pinch her arms and pull her hair when their parents were out of the room. When the parents were present of course, it was a different story altogether. He acted like the perfect little angel, waiting on her, fetching cups of water for her, playing tea party with her. Her parents had been charmed and couldn't imagine he was anything but perfect. And so, after much negotiation, her parents and Quilan's parents had made a marriage pact for her and Quilan to be married by the age of maturity. In the Fae world, that meant they had to be married by the age of 30.
Indeed, Quilan had started pestering her to marry him after they both turned 27. He'd dated scores of women, but he wanted what he couldn't have and that was Elliot. Despite his smouldering good looks, he disgusted her thoroughly. She had filed a case of rejection with the Fae courts but he'd fought her. And now, it appeared, he'd finally won.
At this juncture, there were no remaining legal avenues for her to pursue. If she refused to marry Quilan, he could kill her without prosecution by the Fae. Or he could capture her, torture her, rape her, imprison her or do any depraved thing he wanted with her. Knowing Quilan, he'd choose the later. Why kill her when he could toy with her and punish her for her rejection of him? No woman had ever rejected him except Elliot and surely he would not tolerate it. Elliot knew to core of her being, marriage to him would be Hell beyond imagination.
She looked at Bill as he stood at the window, holding back the curtain and looking outside. "I'll need to mow my lawn soon. It's so green." He laughed and stepped across the room to her, scooping her up off her feet and kissing her passionately. "I want you. Elliot, I want you. Love me, Elliot, love me now." He carried her to the stairs and up to the bedroom.
No sooner than he laid Elliot gently on the bed that Sam hollered "Hello" from the foyer. Elliot and Bill smiled at each other. "I'll catch you later, fairy girl," Bill promised.
TBC
The day passed uneventfully. Elliot had napped and Bill had puttered around in the yard and indoors. Sam had stayed close to Bill's side, ever cautiously dragging along the heavy tarp as Bill measured around the outside of the house and calculated how much top soil he'd need for the new flower beds he planned to dig and fill.