I am in the process of writing the next chapter now so it will be up by tomorrow night at the latest. I will finally end with the notebook in the next chapter so I can get onto more plots. Sorry this is a tad short. And thanks again to RheyaKelvin and Dawskar as always.
The following day could not have dragged on longer. My mind was once again preoccupied with the coming evening, and when I finally got home, I was tense with excitement.
Perhaps it was the realization that the next installment of my little tale would be much more intimate and painful. Or it could have been the nagging feeling that what little I had seen of Eric's reaction was just the tip of the iceberg, that there was so much he had not revealed just yet. Either way, I was ready to get it over with.
When I pulled up to Fangtasia that night, Pam and Eric's cars were already parked near the back entrance. I took a few calming breaths, marched into the club and headed to his office.
Both smiled a little too innocently at me as I took a seat next to Pam on the couch. It was apparent I had been the topic of conversation right before I had arrived, which wasn't a surprise.
"Well, Sookie, you look delectable, as always," Pam greeted me. Her eyes flickered toward Eric, who was sitting behind his desk, and back to me. "Eric told me you made a few more confessions last night." Her smile grew.
Eric, who had been sporting a very wide smug smile up until now, interrupted her. "Pam." She shrugged and leaned back on the couch. Eric focused his attentions back on me. "If I am not mistaken, Sookie, things are about to get interesting. So please, continue."
"I hadn't realized my story had been dull before this point," I said, just a tad insulted.
Eric chuckled a little. "As exciting as it is to hear about events that will probably never happen anymore, I am more interested in the relevant dangers. Witches. Summits. Takeovers-"
"Sex with virgins," Pam interjected. I couldn't help but grin at that little comment. Other than Eric, only Pam would be so preoccupied with such a miniscule detail.
Eric seemed to enjoy her comments a lot more when she insinuated that he would be on the receiving end of my favors. "Exactly."
"Oh, quiet you two. It's not that important." I rolled my eyes at them. "I'll skip the boring stuff, okay? Just try not to interrupt much. There is a lot to get to." That proved to be a tough order for the Peanut Gallery to fill.
"So when you finally yield to me, it's because I act nothing like myself?" Eric scoffed.
Just minutes before, they had been speculating on how to prevent the witches' attack from occurring. Pam wanted to use me to talk to them- something I wholeheartedly refused to do. Eric, who agreed with me, contemplated a preemptive strike: find the coven and tear them down in the night. Somehow, the topic of conversation had switched to Eric finally bedding me.
'Not really. I just-" I tried to explain. "Maybe she likes the less dominant men. She fell for Compton, after all." Pam mused, interrupting me.
"Hush!" I spoke before the exchange could get out of hand. "It was just the first time I was able to see you as Eric rather than Sheriff of Area Five. It was Eric without all the games. Now, can we get back to the story?"
It only made it about five minutes into my next segment before the two started up again. Pam couldn't stop laughing about the fiasco with Charles Twining. "Told you were smitten with her. And apparently, the whole vampire community knew it."
I was beginning to get annoyed with her. She was making it ten times harder to explain without fearing that I would be driving Eric away. If my story didn't scare Eric, her teasing might just do the trick.
Eric didn't comment on her teasing. Instead, he asked more about my motives. Why did I not tell him about what he had forgotten until he used Mickey as a bartering tool? Eric figured it was his right to know and Pam agreed- no surprise there.
I continued, although without half the enthusiasm I had shown when I started. I started skimming over details that I knew Pam might find comical- like my embarrassing session with Quinn in Hadley's apartment. Eric had already expressed a distaste for my relationship with the Were Tiger as it was, so omitting that side story seemed like the best decision.
"There is a whole mess that happens with Debbie Pelt's sister but since I won't be killing Debbie this time around, that seems irrelevant. Wouldn't want to annoy you again," I said sarcastically. Then, remembering that I was mad at Pam, not Eric, I quickly amended, "The only thing you really need to know, is that Sophie Ann's marriage doesn't exactly go as planned and Andre kills Threadgill in her defense."
Eric and Pam decided it wouldn't be wise to warn the queen outright about Threadgill. Like the situation with the witches, dealing with the problem would require planning.
"You will have to be careful, too, if you chose to engage in business with the queen. When Sophie-Anne wants something, she gets it. If you interest her too much, she will make you hers. The same goes for Andre. He would do anything for his maker," Eric told me. This was something I already knew all too well. I nodded and started explaining the events of the summit.
I was glad that Pam had chosen not to make little snarky remarks about Andre's forced bonding ceremony between Eric and me or my rescue of them both. Eric and Pam sat in silence for a bit. I couldn't tell if they were shocked or just contemplating.
As it turned out, Eric was just angry. "That snake," he muttered. "He will try to do it again, if you let him. And if I'm not there to intercept… Andre won't pay much attention to contracts- he never has in the past."
I was afraid of that possibility. "I'll contact Cataliades, then. Maybe he will have some advice on avoidingSophie Ann and Andre." I said to myself. "I need to find a good secretary or assistant anyway. Maybe he knows a few trustworthy people."
When ended there for the night, much later that the previous meeting, I might add. It was four in the morning and dangerously close to dawn. I made a mental note to cancel my appointments for the day and relax. It had been too long since I enjoyed the sun.
"Sorry about the teasing, Sookie. It is just too fun to resist, you see." Pam winked at me as she made her way toward her car. "You know you're my favorite breather." She climbed into her seat.
I turned and saw Eric standing next to the back entrance of the bar. "What do you think so far?" It came out as a whisper. I was so terrified to hear the answer, which I am sure he felt, but I couldn't help but ask- I needed to know.
His hands found their way into the pockets of his jeans as he strode over to me, his face revealing nothing. "Even after reading the journal and having some idea of what is to come in your story, I still find a way to be… surprised."
"How do you mean?"
"You attracted as much trouble as you sought out yet you never stopped to reevaluate your life. Your choices suggested immense naiveté and stubbornness. At the same time, there was courage and, as Pam pointed out, hilarity." He stood very close to me but there was nothing sexual or romantic about this moment. "Feeling your emotions as you reflect, on the other hand, is just as informative. Regret. Sadness. Excitement. It tells me all that you have learned and shows me how you have progressed. Having this window into your other life should remove all the mystery about you and leave me with nothing but answers."
Eric didn't exactly sound as if he had all the answers, though. He was staring at me as if there was something big he had not found and maybe if he looked hard enough he would find it. "What's the problem then?" I asked, desperate to know.
"I can see there is more that your story that I alone will not uncover. It is intensely frustrating. Almost as much as it is captivating." Eric looked up toward the sky that had started to lighten in color. "Dawn is coming. We will finish this tomorrow."