The Cold Before Dawn: Chapter 13

These characters aren't mine. They belong to Charlaine Harris. I wish she didn't sell them to Alan Ball.

I always say "Thank you" to my beta Kristin Elizabeth, and to be honest, it never really feels like it is enough for all she does for me. Kristin always seems to inspire me when I need it. She can knock me out of my writing blocks with her encouragement, and is an awesomely talented writer herself. So big hugs and kisses to you, L'sis. You are the best.

And one last pimp for my friends, Northman Maille (Alison) and Northwoman (Anne). They are hosting the I Write the Songs Contest, and details can be found at

http : / / i-writethesongs (dot) blogspot (dot) com / Please consider entering!

Eric POV

The cold desert air hit me when I crawled out of the underground mine. Even though the sun was just starting to rise, I shielded my eyes. It had been a few days since I had been out during the daylight, and my eyes were sensitive to the light. It was cold enough to see my breath.

For miles, all I could see was the brown dirt of the desert, and the sagebrush that dotted the landscape. I had no idea how I was going to find my way back into town. Again, I thought about going back underground, and crawling back into bed with Sookie. It was tempting. But I needed my things from the hotel, and my truck. I looked around and didn't see any vehicles, or roads for that matter, and wondered how Sookie even got us out here.

I scanned the horizon, looking for any landmark that might give me a clue as to which way to start walking, since I had no idea where Battle Mountain was in relation to this abandoned mine. The only thing I saw was an eagle flying low across the desert, no doubt hunting for its breakfast. Without thinking about it, I started walking in its direction. Having seen an eagle around Sam's office, I followed the huge bird's path across the sandy dirt of the Nevada desert. I stopped every once in a while to build a marker out of rocks and stones so I would know how to get back. I hoped I would be able to find it, and that I wasn't putting Sookie at risk.

Around two hours later, I saw a trailer off in the distance. Even though I was thirsty, hungry, and tired, I quickened my pace. As I neared the trailer, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw it was Merlotte's. Parked out front was Sam's truck, and I could hear him inside as I approached the door.

The trailer door swung open and Sam beckoned me in, looking in both directions before he pulled the door shut and locked it. He swung around and barked at me.

"Eric—why aren't you with Sookie? Is she all right?"

"She's fine. What do you know about her bar, and what's been going on in town?"

The coffee pot beeped and Sam grabbed two cups and yanked open the box of donuts on the work table. He filled up the coffee and we both sat down at the table. The coffee was strong, hot, and tasted like heaven. The donut I inhaled tasted even better. Eating was one of those things Sookie and I were going to have to work out when the dust cleared.

"I've been staying away from town until I hear from Sookie. Is she safe?"

"Yes, she's safe. I need to go into town and check out of the hotel. Can you drive me? I want to check out the bar, and what's going on around town, too."

"Did Sookie send you here?"

"No, she doesn't know I'm gone. She's resting, and I want to be back by the time she gets up. That would be sundown, right?"

Sam turned around and looked at me, unsure about what to say.

"I know what she is, Sam." I reassured him.

"Finish your coffee and we'll go into town."

Sam went over to the closet and grabbed his jacket, then reached in again for another. He pulled a baseball cap out of the locker, too.

"Here, it's cold out there, and put that cap on." He handed the coat to me, and I put it on. He did the same. I drained my cup, and Sam poured me another to take with me before turning off the coffee pot.

I finished my coffee while Sam drove, and neither one of us said anything until just before we got to Battle Mountain.

"I'm going to drive around by the bar so we can check it out, and then I'll take you to the Owl. Get your stuff, check out, and get to your truck. I'll wait for you out back in the parking lot to make sure no one is following you. We don't know who knows about Sookie, or you, in this town, and I don't want to linger. Better to be safe than sorry—you got that?"

"Did the people in town know who ran Sookie's bar? It seems like some of them knew. That Amelia…the girl that works at the Owl restaurant…she warned me about Sookie and I didn't believe her."

"Some of the town's people suspected, but most of them keep to themselves. Every once in a while, someone gets a wild hair up their ass and decides to open their mouth. They usually get sent on their way if they get too vocal. If you know what I mean."

We were almost to town now, and I stowed my empty coffee cup under the seat. I pulled the brim of the baseball cap across my eyes, and hunkered down in my seat. Sam was about two blocks from the Silver Dollar.

He didn't really have to slow down when he drove past. There was nothing there. It was as if the bar had never existed. All the debris from the bombing, whatever was left, had been removed. What used to be a bar, now looked like a parking lot. Two days and everything was cleaned up. Someone had to have paid big bucks, cleanup like that took time, and money. I wondered who was responsible for it.

Sam shot me a worried glance as he drove to the Owl Restaurant and Casino. There happened to be an open spot next to my truck and he parked there. He didn't have to remind me to be quick. I wanted to get out of this place and back to Sookie as soon as possible. I was planning on leaving here with Sookie right quick. I hopped out of Sam's truck and kept my head down as I walked to the front door of the Owl. It was almost lunch time and both the bar and restaurant would be full.

I glanced into the restaurant to check if Amelia was working. I didn't see her, so I decided to order a couple of sandwiches for me and Sam, and I would pick them up on my way out. I placed my order and headed to my room. It was ransacked, as I suspected it might be. Luckily, I didn't travel with much, and there was nothing for anyone to steal or any information to gather from my belongings besides what size I wore. I learned long ago, when you travel from town to town, you don't keep your important stuff on you. All of my personal papers I kept in a safe place in Louisiana. It wasn't the first time someone tried to rip me off.

My suitcase was spread open on the bed, and I started to throw the clothes scattered around the room into it as quickly as I could. I went into the bathroom and gathered up my toiletries. It took no more than ten minutes to pack up my stuff. With a quick look around the room, picked up the suitcase and headed to the front desk to check out.

The clerk at the front desk gave me a strange look, trying to catch my eye as she closed out my account. I heard her wondering if I was the guy involved with the bombing the police were looking for, but she really didn't care one way or the other. She wasn't going to help the local police, from what I heard in her head as she tallied up the charges. When she asked how I wanted to pay, I had a moment of panic thinking I would have to get out my wallet. For all I knew, it could be covered in blood or guts or gore, since I hadn't opened it since the bombing. I breathed a sigh of relief when she told me she could use my card number they took when I checked in. I was almost out of there.

I waited for my receipt so she wouldn't be suspicious if I ran out without it, and I turned and looked in the restaurant again. Amelia was standing behind the counter, and when she saw me looking at her, she turned away with a guilty look on her face. As I walked into the restaurant, she scurried to take an order at the end of the counter, but I could still hear her thoughts.

Just get out of here. Don't talk to me. Go away. Go away. Go away.

The other waitress at the counter dropped my sandwiches into a bag and gave me the total.

"You want any drinks or chips with that?" She asked, and then I heard her thoughts. Sucker paying that much for a sandwich—wonder if that cheapskate put any meat on it.

"No thanks." I answered.

"That will be twelve dollars and seventy five cents then."

I handed her a twenty. "Keep it."

I grabbed the bag of sandwiches in one hand, my suitcase in the other, and left the Owl with a determined stride. It had taken no more than fifteen minutes to pack up, check out and get something to eat.

I was patting myself on the back for being quick, and didn't realize that something was wrong until it was too late. Sam was sitting in his truck, staring straight ahead, not looking at me at all. Before I had time to think about that, I heard someone's thoughts in my head.

Get him.

And then I was slammed up against my truck and something, maybe a gun or knife, was being pushed under the bottom of my ribcage.

"So you think you're slick, don't you. Messing up my plan. But the bar is gone, isn't it? Mission accomplished. Now all I need to do is take care of you and that vampire bitch of yours."

Loser. Hanging around with vamps.

I could see Sam now, his eyes the only part of him moving, as he tried to see what condition I was in. I suspected that one of the arsonists was in his truck, and the other two were behind me. I could hear a jumble of their thoughts.

Hurry up. Get him in the truck, what are you waiting for. That came from the creep in Sam's truck.

"Get in the truck, loser. We're going for a ride. Donny, you go with Whit in the other truck. I'll take care of this one. It would be my pleasure to end him right now, for all the trouble he's caused."

Let's get out of here before someone sees us. Donny thoughts aligned with the nervousness I saw in his actions.

I opened the truck and got into the driver's seat. Arlo held the door open until I had the seat belt on, and then moved the handgun from my ribs to under my chin.

"No funny business. I'm walking around and getting in the passenger seat." He opened the door locks from my console on the door. "You try anything, and I'll shoot you right here in your own truck and bury you in the desert where no one will find you."

I looked over at Sam again, and he gave his head a little shake in defeat. He knew we weren't in the position to do anything to get away. We had no weapons on us, and we were outnumbered. Arlo closed the driver's door and walked around the front of the truck to the passenger side.

He hopped in, and said with a smirk, "Drive asshole. Follow them."

Arlo gave Donny a signal, and Sam started his truck and drove to the exit of the parking lot. I followed him out, and we drove back in the direction of Merlotte's mining. I listened to his thoughts along the way. There wasn't much to them, but one thing caught my attention.

Victor is going to pay me big bucks for this.

Victor. He was alive.

He would be going after Sookie, and I had left her alone. What had I done?

I tried to get more information from Arlo's mind, but all he could think about was getting money from Victor and how he was going to spend it. I could tell he was a little bit afraid of Victor, though, because every once in a while he worried about it, at least in his head. Another interesting little tidbit I pulled from his mind was that their guns were loaded with silver bullets.

They planned to call Victor at sundown and have him come to Merlotte's mining trailer. I learned from Arlo's mind that Victor had tortured them last night, making it clear that they needed to find me and Sookie if they wanted to stay alive. I looked at my dashboard clock, and it was three in the afternoon, sundown would be in four hours.

As we pulled in front of Merlotte's mining office trailer, Arlo checked his gun.

"Turn off the truck. Before we get out, I want you to know something. If Victor doesn't kill you tonight, I'm going to. Either way, you're dead tonight. You caused me a world of hurt with your little stunt, so start doing whatever you do to meet your maker, because you are going down tonight. Now get out."

Whit had Sam by the arm, and Donny stood at my door, waiting for me to exit, while Arlo got out on his side. Donny unlocked the trailer door with Sam's keys, and waited for Whit and Arlo to throw us inside, before he locked it back up again from the inside. They immediately looked through Sam's cabinets and closets, until they found some rope and duct tape. Donny used the duct tape to secure Sam's wrist together, placed a piece of duct tape across his mouth, and tied him to a chair. He waited for Arlo to give him the signal to tie me up, too.

"Just the wrists. I might want to knock him around some." With that directive from Arlo, Donny taped my wrists together, before parking himself on the couch with Whit.

I tried reading Sam's thoughts, but his mind was quiet and his demeanor resigned. There wasn't much we could do with Arlo, Donny and Whit in the small trailer. We watched them eat the sandwiches and donuts, while they waited for sundown. It was obvious Arlo was in charge, telling Donny and Whit what to do, and when to do it.

At sundown, Arlo went outside to make his call to Victor, and around an hour later, I heard a car drive up. Arlo opened the door, and welcomed Victor and two others into the trailer. When Victor saw us, he smiled broadly.

"Well, Eric." He ran his cool hand down my cheek, and then grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Not so sure about yourself now, are you? Perhaps you and Sookie should have thought twice about trying to foil my plans, because now, you are both going to die. And where is the lovely Miss Stackhouse?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her."

"You are lying." He struck me, knocking me off my chair. A trickle of blood escaped my split lip. Victor grabbed me by the arm, lifting me back into the chair. His finger brushed over the blood that oozed from the cut, and then he leaned over and licked my bloody lip clean. He smelled like dirt.

"Very tasty, Eric. If you hadn't betrayed me, I might have wanted you for my own pet. Unfortunately, it's too late for that."

When he was done, he looked at Arlo and barked out an order. "Get his cell phone."

Arlo came over and went through my pockets. When he found my phone, he handed it to Victor, who opened it. He found the number he was looking for and pressed dial, and then the speaker button, so we could all hear the conversation. The phone rang twice before Sookie answered.

"Eric! Where are you?"

"Ah, Miss Stackhouse, so lovely to hear your voice. This is Victor, in case you didn't know. I have your pet here with me. Say hello, Eric."

"Sookie! Don't listen…"

"That's enough. If you would like to see your pet again, you will meet me in one hour at the coordinates I will send to you in a moment. Come alone. Do you understand?"

Sookie's voice was hard and cold, like steel. "Victor, this is between you and me. Let Eric go."

"Really, do you think I will fall for that? Oh, no. You and I will resolve this once and for all. Winner gets the human, and the loser gets final death. One hour. "

Without waiting for a reply, Victor hung up the phone, and then pressed buttons on the keypad. I assumed he was sending the coordinates to Sookie. I had to do something to help her, to stop Victor from going after her.

"Leave Sookie alone, Victor. I'll go with you and do whatever you want. Just leave her alone." I pleaded.

"How very touching, Eric. But I will be killing her anyway, so let's have some fun first, shall we? You'll have plenty of time to show me your skills, unless of course I decide to drain you while Sookie watches. Now there's a thought. " He put his finger on his chin as if he was considering just that.

With a flick of the same finger, Victor signaled to his two bodyguards. They pulled me from the chair, and dragged me to the car, throwing me into the back seat. I wondered what they were going to do to Sam, but I couldn't hear anything.

After a few minutes, Victor got in the back seat with me, while the two bodyguards occupied the front.

"Let's go," he said to the driver. Then he turned to me.

"So Eric, does Sookie know you are telepathic?

Thank you so much for your support of this story. I'm so thankful for all the readers and reviewers. *big hugs* to you too! And as always, I'd love to know what you think of the chapter, so feel free to leave me a comment! tm.