Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Layla and a few of the plot twists.
The halls were empty as Layla walked towards Eric's room. Her steps much slower than her normal pace. She felt emptier now than she had ever before. The mystery of what she was had finally been undone and as quickly as the information had come she had lost the one person who could provide more. Godric. Her, well, in a way he was her maker too.
Halfling, he had called her.
Layla reached Eric's door and it stood slightly ajar. She gently pressed it open and walked in. He was sitting on the bed with his shirt off, tears of blood staining his cheeks and running down onto his chest.
"Godric is gone." he said sadly. Layla nodded and knelt down in front of him.
"Yes, he is." she said. "I'm...I'm so sorry, Eric." she said, daring to place a gentle hand on his knee. Eric bowed his head so close that they were touching. It was almost no effort for Layla to lean back and place a tender kiss on his forehead and run her other hand through his hair. As she made to stand Eric gripped her wrist tightly and brought his mouth to hers slowly, his eyes wide when she didn't pull away or fight back. Instead she let her eyes flutter closed and allowed herself to kiss him. He adjusted her so she leaned back onto the bed and he hovered above her.
Layla looked up at him, beautiful even with the trails of blood on his alabaster cheeks. She reached up to trace a finger over his lips, cold as death. He popped out his fangs and stared down at her, waiting patiently for permission. Layla smiled and ran her tongue along her own teeth. Eric reached down and ran his finger across them, not minding the fact that they sliced him as easily as a razor. Layla sucked on his finger greedily, drawing out his delicious blood until he pulled it away from her. She smiled and licked her lips before obligingly turning her head and exposing the side of her neck for him. He lunged with a smirk.
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Layla was jolted awake as the van ran over a pothole. She gasped and snapped her eyes open looking at Sookie and Jason, who she sat between.
"Good dream?" Jason asked. Layla didn't reply and instead sat and listened to Sookie and Jason talk.
"I've never been away before, but something looks different to me." Sookie noted. As they reached the main street of town you could hear the faint sound of alarms going off.
"What the hell?" Jason asked, noting the vandalism that was all over town.
"Jesus Christ." Layla breathed, staring out the window as the wreckage of the supposed 'sleepy' town she had moved to. She hadn't seen anything this bad since Broad Street after the Phillies won the World Series, and that appeared tame next to the way Bon Temps looked now.
Everyone gasped as something hit the windshield. The driver turned looking terrified.
"They jumped right in front of me." he said. Everyone, with the exception of Bill who was in his travel coffin, piled out to check on the couple that had been hit.
"Are you alright?" Sookie asked, but the couple said nothing, just giggled and glanced at the rest of the people. Layla noted their eyes, all black with no trace of white. It was freaky and she didn't like it one bit.
"Hey, what the hell's wrong with your eyes?" Jason asked. Layla was glad someone had asked. The couple started staggering away, almost as if they were drunk.
"Wait. Wait, where are ya goin'?" Jason asked.
"We gotta find Sam!" The woman said, tossing her top away and wandering in just her bra.
"It's almost time, man." her companion said. Layla frowned. Sam...Sam? Did she know a Sam?
"Who is that?" she asked, turning to Sookie and Jason.
"My boss." Sookie said, thoroughly confused.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They decided to go back to Bill's first thing. Jason was immediately on the phone trying to get in touch with the Sheriff's department to tell them about the people who had gotten hit by the car. The sun had set and so Sookie was helping to open Bill's coffin. Layla just paced uselessly.
"Ask them what the hell is going on." Layla told him.
"Oh, and if somebody could call me back and tell me if we've been attacked by terrorists or what-" Jason tried, but the answering machine he had been recording on cut him off. He shrugged and closed his phone. Layla rolled her eyes.
"Thanks for trying." she said lamely. Jason slung and arm around her shoulder.
"There is something strange going on." he said. Layla pushed his arm off of her and sat down on the stairs.
"Bill, there is something seriously wrong in Bon Temps, I can feel it." Sookie said. A voice came from above them.
"Well, if it ain't the Vamper and his Vamper lover. Who's the new girl? Another little fangbanger slut?" the woman asked, her eyes huge and black like the people who had jumped in front of the van earlier.
"Oh, there's those fuckin' eyes again." Jason noted.
"What the hell is going on?" Layla groaned, standing up from the stairs and moving to stand with the others. The woman began laughing and more voices were heard as a boy rushed out with Jessica.
"Oh, thank God you're home. She's gone, like, totally batshit." the teenage Vampire said as the boy tried to rein in his mother.
"What the devil-" Bill began yelling.
"I had nothing to do with it!" Jessica said, holding up her hands. "I swear!"
The boy started explaining how he thought it was a diet pill overdose and then he saw the whole town pretty much had gone nuts, and all of them with the tell-tale black eyes.
"How long has she been like this?" Bill asked, as Jessica descended the stairs following the boy and his crazy mother.
"Since last night." Jessica said.
"And I will be for as long as it takes for him to get his offering." The portly woman said as if she were some kind of priest. Layla made a face.
"That sounds fuckin' fucked up." Jason said.
"I agree." Layla said flatly, not wanting to hear anymore.
"She's been goin' on about Sam Merlotte and how they're gonna offer him to God." the boy said. Layla rolled her eyes.
"What the hell is with you Southerners? Why do you have so much drama?! This is ridiculous!" Layla said, thoroughly exasperated with it all.
"Why don't you offer yourself up to me, Jason Stackhouse." The woman said, sidling closer to Jason who looked disgusted by the thought. Layla didn't blame him. The woman lunged to kiss him and Layla and Bill had to hold her back. Now that she was rested and back to normal her strength was back to it's super-human but sub-Vampire status, and the woman was not difficult to hold.
"Does she ever calm down?" Bill asked.
"Playing Wii gets her to focus, but I wouldn't call it calm." the boy said.
"It's like she's a Zombie or something." Layla noted. The set up the woman, Maxine, playing a video game, while Bill asked Jessica and the boy, whose name was Hoyt, about the goings on. Layla lounged against the wall next to Jason, mostly because his outbursts were amusing but also because, in all honesty, he was really cute, if not the slightest bit dumb.
"So, she says 'God' is coming?" Bill asked, walking over to where Hoyt stood near Jessica.
"Yes, sir, and that everyone is waiting at Merlotte's to catch Sam and take him over to Maryanne's." Hoyt explained.
"Maryanne's?" Sookie asked. "Where's that?"
"It's, uh, well, it's your house." Hoyt said, looking only slightly apologetic for the rough delivery. Layla winced. That seriously sucked. The town had gone crazy and Sookie's beautiful home was headquarters.
"Sorry, Sook." Layla muttered.
"Hoyt, has anyone been attacked by something with claws?" Sookie asked. Layla frowned and made a face. Hello random. She really hoped there had been a point to that question.
"Well, I heard Arlene saw that the poor woman you and Tara found in Andy's car had her back scratched up pretty bad, and I also heard someone say that Daphne, had some kind of weird scar on her back." Hoyt said.
"The new waitress at Merlotte's?" Sookie asked. Jason's head shot up at that.
"There's a new waitress at Merlotte's?" he asked, a boyish twinkle in his eye. Layla frowned at him.
"Focus, hornball." she said. Bill glanced over at Sookie
"We should talk with her."
"She's dead." Hoyt said. "She had her heart cut out just like the other one."
"Oh, fudge." Sookie said.
"I'm going to Merlotte's." Jason said. "To find out what the hell's happening on my turf."
"I'm going with you then, cause, well, I'm bored." Layla said, following him out the door.
"Jason, Layla, if this is the same creature we think it might be you don't want to go anywhere near it." Bill warned them. "Trust me."
"Mr. Compton, I ain't about to sit back and let monsters destroy my town." Jason said.
"And I'm REALLY bored." Layla said. Unfortunately her reasons weren't half as noble as Jason's.
"Jason, this would be one of those times to use your head." Sookie said gently.
"Oh, I am. I ain't never been so clear in my whole life. This, here, is the war I've been training for." Jason said.
"Jason-" Sookie tried.
"He can take care of himself. We've seen that. Besides, he has Layla with him." Bill said.
"Yeah, I didn't spend today tanning so I'm in tip top shape, Sookie. We'll be fine." Layla promised.
Sookie threw her arms around her brother. "You be careful, you hear?" she said before hugging Layla took.
"Look after him, and if things get really bad, do me a favor and reach out to Eric." she said softly so only the tall, pale brunette could hear her.
"What?" Layla asked. Sookie made a face.
"He can sense your emotions and will come get you if you're in trouble. Just, don't be too stubborn if you find yourself in a life or death situation. Alive is good, no matter how it is you stay that way." Sookie told her. Layla nodded tightly, though she didn't like what Sookie with saying she had to agree.
"Drive your car right outside of Merlotte's, get inside as fast as you can and do not go into the woods by yourself." Sookie instructed her brother.
"I won't."
"I mean it."
"I know." Jason said, kissing her forehead and holding the door open for Layla to leave before him. As they walked down the front porch and into the yard Layla turned to him.
"If we're going to be all kickass, I'm going to need to change out of my heels."