CHAPTER 13
Now that we have the knowledge of what Felipe is planning we are capitalising on this advantage and we are plotting and working out what we need to do, the Sheriffs meeting will soon be upon us and we need to be sure of our plan.
Eric has been teaching me to fight with and without a sword and he is impressed at how quickly and well I have picked it up. I am nowhere near as good as he is, but then again I don't have the ability to fly up into the air and attack from above, but even with my natural limitations I am now a reasonably lethal weapon.
Pam has been watching some of our training sessions, and even she said a word of praise at my efforts. Karin has also been showing me some of her moves and I have adapted them to link in with what Eric has taught me and when we were sparing I actually caught him off guard and had him pinned to the ground with my sword at his throat. It was a fluke and I'm not too naive to realise that I hold the advantage when we spar as Eric holds back as he does not want to unintentionally hurt me but I felt the shock and astonishment from him when it happened and it felt good, it felt even better as I felt the flow of pride come rushing through our bond.
"You are incredible" he says as I hold out my hand and help to pull him back to his feet.
He wraps his arms around me and kisses me, my eyes wander lower and see it is having an effect on another part of his anatomy. I pull him closer and he picks me up and takes me to our room. There is a sound of tearing and before I know it I realise we are both naked.
We are lying on our bed and I am slightly dazed at the turn of events and I look at Eric and see that he is gazing down at me.
"I must have done something right in my long lifetime to win you," he mutters.
I giggle and climb on top of him and he looks surprised, I have never taken the lead in bed before and I wonder quickly if it has hurt his Viking ego and pride. I nuzzle into his neck and nip gently and suck, I feel him getting aroused again, and I reach down and touch him.
"Sookie" he growls and his hands start to move restlessly all over me.
I run my hands over him and purposefully stroke him, he growls and then he flips us so I am lying on the bed and he is on top of me, he kisses me tenderly which is at odds with the way his hands are grasping at me, he is losing his control and I am heading the same way and soon we are inevitably lost in each other at one point he rolls us again and I am on top once more and he lets me take over the movements. He closes his eyes as his hands grip my hips and he guides me up and down on his gracious plenty.
"Sookie" he gasps suddenly and I can feel him stiffen, I am close and I increase the pace.
"Eric I'm going to come" I hiss and I feel my orgasm consume me, Eric lifts his hips and thrusts deeply before holding himself inside me and I feel him come, and he groans loudly as he does so.
"That was different," he says as we lie recovering.
"Good different or bad different?" I ask.
"Good, it felt wonderful," he says dreamily.
I have no idea how long we lie there in each other's arms, but it feels nice and it feels safe. I feel so close to him at moments like this. When we are both sated and just enjoying each other's company. But I realise we can't stay there all night as much as I would l like to, so reluctantly I start to move.
"Come on we have things to do" I say as I go to stand up. I reach for Eric's hand and pull gently. He lifts himself off the bed and pulls me towards the bathroom, we shower together and while we are in there he gives me three more blistering orgasms and then we eventually leave and dry ourselves and dress quickly.
We head to Fangtasia to finalise the arrangements for the Sheriff meeting. I am briefing the staff on what is going to happen, we have decided not to involve them in the finer details, we know that if anything kicks off they will loyally stand at Eric's side so we have decided it's on a need to know basis and they don't need to know.
I check the caterers are fully briefed on the food to be available for any humans, Eric told me that all the Sheriffs have human pets. I so hate that term, but I keep my mouth shut. Eric knows how I feel though and he smiles knowingly at me. We have human donors ordered as well as an increased order of Trueblood.
I check around and am happy to see that everything is spotless, the human staff have worked well, spring cleaning the place, and it almost sparkles. The last time it looked this good was the night I rose, I gather all the human staff together and brief them on what will be happening. They all stare at me as I hand them a bag each with a uniform of black slacks and black low cut t shirt, I had told Eric it would look better than the skin tight Fangtasia T shirts and hot pants they wear every day. He had agreed, as he wanted to show off to the visiting Sheriffs.
Pam arrives with the three new vampires in tow, I watch as Dawn and Daniel come towards me and greet me, I wonder why do they do that? I look towards Ursula who is taking in everything going on, she is asking Pam endless questions about what is going to happen and Pam smiles and answers patiently.
"How are you two?" I ask Dawn and Daniel.
"Very well thank you, Pam is a good teacher. She will never replace our maker but she has been good to us, and we thank you and Mr Northman for that" Dawn says.
I can see she wants to say more I quickly delve into her head and listen and her thoughts are enlightening. Why do I feel so attached to Sookie, I feel the same pull as I did with William Compton but she is not our maker, I feel compelled to obey her, why?
I pull out of her mind and close down the link and I decide that I need to ask Eric about this, I turn to Daniel and have a poke around in his mind, he is thinking about the forthcoming Sheriffs meeting and wondering if they will be able to attend. He hopes they are not distracting me from my work and underlying everything I see that he misses Bill terribly. I close the link and quickly have a delve in Ursula's head, she is unguarded now and I see quickly the truth Bill had told me in his letter, when I get, 'master will be so pleased with me getting all this information, these fools won't know what's hit them when my master strips the brat of his skills. Then it will be my time to shine'. I feel my anger rising but control myself. But more than anything I am angry at myself for missing this, I was so blinded by compassion for the 'abandoned baby vampire' I failed in the first things Eric had taught me, trust no-one. I had taken her words at face value and not checked properly by listening to her intently enough, maybe the on/off switch I now have is not the blessing I thought it was, as it is making me sloppy.
"Sookie" I am pulled from my self recrimination and turn to see Eric with Asvaldr in his arms walking towards me.
He hands our son to me, "Felipe has been on the phone again, asking if everything is ready" he says looking at me hard.
"Well I hope you told him everything is in place" I say with a grin.
"Oh yes" he says knowingly, he looks towards Pam "Are you busy?" he asks.
"No master" she says and walks towards us, and I watch as they disappear into Eric's office. Dawn and Daniel come towards me and offer their fingers to Asvaldr, which he grasps and he smiles at them. Then suddenly he leans forward towards Dawn holding out his arms and with a look of astonishment she grasps him and takes him from me. The only person he has ever done this to besides me and Eric has been Pam, he doesn't even do that with Karin.
"He obviously likes you" I say with a smile. I watch as Ursula is taking in everything she is seeing. I walk towards the bar and grab a bottle of Trueblood, Thalia approaches me and puts a glass in front of me.
"I do not trust that one" she says and looks towards Ursula.
"I know, neither do I" I murmur.
She nods and walks away. I gulp down my Trueblood and go in search of Eric. I find him in his office Pam has now gone and he glances up at me and smiles.
"Where is our son?" he asks.
"With Dawn, he reached out to go to her, so he obviously trusts her" I say, and Eric raises his eyebrows.
"I know, also in other news Thalia has just taken me to one side and told me she doesn't trust Ursula".
Eric grins at that. I decide to broach the subject of the connection I feel towards Daniel and Dawn and see if he can shed any light on it.
"Eric? Can I ask you something?" I begin and he immediately focuses his complete attention on me.
So I quickly explain, "I feel a connection with Dawn and Daniel and I have had a nosy in their heads and they feel the connection too, why is that?"
Eric's eyebrows rise dramatically and he stares at me, "Really? He says.
I nod. Eric frowns as he thinks carefully.
"I don't know, you didn't have a strong blood bond with Bill did you, and even if you did it was so long ago it would have faded away by now, and disappeared completely when he died I can't explain it, unless..." he stops.
"Unless what?" I say.
"Bill's love for you, there is an old myth that if a vampire loves another totally, he can transfer that devotion to his progeny and they are obliged to serve that vampire as if they were their master but it is just that, a myth. At least I thought it was until you have told me this".
A sudden commotion from the bar makes us stop talking and rush out there, Dawn is clutching Asvaldr to her, her fangs are down and Daniel is standing in front of him his fangs down and he is ready to attack. I look and it is Ursula, who is being gripped by Thalia and I marvel at Thalia's strength she is gripping Ursula's throat with just one bony hand but Ursula is completely incapacitated.
"What is happening here? Eric shouts.
Daniel looks up at Eric, "Mr Northman sir, Ursula attacked your son. She came at him with a stake, Eric stares at Daniel and then at Thalia who glances down and nods at the stake discarded on the floor. He steps towards Dawn and takes Asvaldr from her arms and touches his head I step forward and do the same and immediately we are presented by a clear picture of what happened.
I look at Eric, I am puzzled. Why did she blow her cover like this? I stare at her, and have a look in her head, and I am shocked to see that she is as confused as I am. She hadn't wanted to do it, she still had the stake in her pocket from the training she had been doing with Pam, but she was compelled to do it and she has no idea why she did it but now she knows she will die and she is afraid.
Thalia quickly tells of what she witnessed which Daniel and Dawn back up with their version of events and Eric just nods at her, "Finish it" he says without thinking.
Thalia snaps the neck of the young vampire, and then grabs the stake and plunges it into her chest and she turns to dust.
I get a feeling of contentment through our bond and I stare at Asvaldr and everything becomes totally clear and I suddenly realise the truth, he has done this somehow. He wanted her out of the way and took matters into his own hands. I look at Eric and from his expression I realise he has figured it out as well.
"I'd better phone Felipe and tell him" Eric says as he stares at me, "At least as an abandoned vampire there is no sire to inform" he adds with more than a touch of sarcasm which isn't lost on me. I nod getting the irony of his words. Felipe cannot react to what has happened as we are not supposed to know she was his and we were only following the directive put in place by him.
As Eric disappears back to his office I turn to Dawn and Daniel and thank them, Thalia walks over and nods at them.
"You did well" she mutters and walks back to the bar.
"That is high praise from Thalia" I say to them.
"She scares me" Dawn says staring after her.
"She scares everyone" I mutter. I watch as Thalia turns and looks at me, letting me know she heard what I said and probably agreeing with it as well.
I fetch two bottles of Trueblood and hand them to Daniel and Dawn, "Thank you" I say to them. They nod at me.
I head to Eric's office and he is smiling widely. "I have informed Felipe of Ursula's treachery, he tried so hard to appear indifferent as to the Vampire's fate, but he was seething".
"Why did Asvaldr do it?" I ask. I stare at the child looking like butter wouldn't melt in Eric's arms. Eric touches his head.
"Tell us my son," he says and closes his eyes. I hesitate and then place my hand on his head and close my eyes.
I immediately get the words She had to go, dangerous, threat, I get a picture of her holding a bottle of Trueblood and some silver powder, and then Eric and myself dead on the floor."
"Shit" I say "Why didn't Bill mention that?" I say.
"He probably didn't know her full intentions" Eric says thoughtfully, I need to know something. I place my hand back on Asvaldr's head.
"How did you know she was going to do that?" I ask him.
Saw her planning it… in her head I realise what he means is she was working out a plan in her mind and he pulled it from her head when he was listening in on her.
"What did you do to her?" I ask, I really want to know how he managed to get her to do what she did.
I get the words Mind Control clearly Eric has heard it too.
"I didn't know that was possible vampire to vampire?" I ask looking at Eric.
"It's not... normally" Eric replies and it is beginning to dawn on us exactly how powerful our son is.
He stares up at me and reaches out his hand. I touch it and get the words Protect mommy, I smile at his choice of words, he turns to Eric and then he smiles as well so I am guessing he had said protect daddy.