Sookie's POV
I am tired of people trying to kill me, was my first thought as I regained consciousness and found myself once again lying under an Eric Northman who was covered in drywall dust, soot and bloody wounds.
"Are you alright?" Eric's voice rang out against the background noise of a fire alarm and panicked noise of people fleeing their rooms.
I nodded my head in response and he lifted me to my feet. As one couple fled their room, he stuck his foot in the door and once they had rounded a corner of the hallway, he pulled me into their room.
"Why aren't we running away from the fire, Eric?"
"I can't take to the sky undetected in a big metropolis like Chicago, so unfortunately we're going to have to use ground transportation to find shelter. Our best bet to not be noticed is to inconspicuously blend into the crowds. Walking around in tattered clothes with soot on our skin is not inconspicuous."
Eric had a point. As he rummaged through the room's closets and luggage I scurried to the bathroom to wet some washcloths so we could quickly wipe off our faces and arms. He tossed a royal blue wrap dress to me, and after using a washcloth on my skin, I stripped down to my bra and panties and then put on the dress. Thankfully, my shoes were still wearable. Eric was not so lucky and when he was done dressing I had to stop myself from giggling at the sight.
Black flip-flops, longish khaki shorts that sagged a little and a long sleeve black tee-shirt was Eric's outfit. I guess it was better than wearing pants that rode halfway up his calves, but it was still funny to see a vampire, and especially Eric, wearing shorts. After throwing a couple of hundred dollar bills onto the bed he noticed my amusement and preened for me a little, showing off his right leg.
"Don't you like my legs, Sookie?"
I rolled my eyes, but we heard a ruckus that sounded like firefighters breaking open doors further down the hallway. That brought the playful moment to an abrupt end. We bolted out the door and through the hallway into the stairwell. I noticed as we were running past our old room, Eric threw his smartphone into the flames. When we opened the door to the stairwell, we heard some people climbing down the steps on the lower flights, Eric held me in his arms and flew us down the center of the stairwell to a level of stairs a couple of flights above those stragglers and we began running down together so that we blended into the small crowd.
It was pure chaos on the sidewalk and street outside of the hotel. Eric guided me through the crowds of panicked hotel guests and employees, towards a few groups of tourists that were finally done gawking and were moving along. We easily slipped in between the clusters of people, strolling with them down busy sidewalks. Even though it was an early hour, I guess the large vampire population had made Chicago a 24/7 city just like New York City.
Eric seemed to know where we were going so I just focused on trying to keep my shields up. I was feeling pretty run down by this point and it was a struggle. I was distracted for a moment by a gigantic limo. It was very tall and when it stopped at a red light just in front of us I was able to see logos on the back identifying it as a hybrid Hummer limo. My mind boggled at the fact such a thing even existed-it seemed absurd on so many levels. As the limo pulled away, I was left shaking my head and noticed the limo was followed by a few motorcycles.
We arrived at a Holiday Inn just off of the touristy strip, in an area that seemed a little less polished. I plopped onto one of the couches in the lobby while Eric arranged for our room. I heard the receptionist argue the hotel needed a credit card to make a reservation, a moment later she was sweet as pie, giving Eric directions on how to get up to our room. I didn't know if glamour or bribery was involved in getting her cooperation, and I decided I didn't care. All I wanted at that moment was a bed so I could sleep.
When we finally got to the room, I began unceremoniously stripping off my clothes. It was weird how just 36 hours ago I would have been sheepish about getting naked in front of Eric and now it seemed perfectly natural.
I guess staggeringly good sex and nearly being killed with someone a couple of times will do that to you.
I climbed under the covers and sighed contentedly. My body was still full of tension, but it felt heavenly to be able to lie down. The bed shifted as Eric also climbed in and I turned to look at him.
"Why is someone trying to kill me?"
"They're not. They're trying to kill me. You had a reservation for a separate room on a human floor-several stories below my room. I don't think anyone but Brian knew we would be staying together."
I nodded, but didn't feel any sort of relief. Being with Eric was apparently dangerous, but I didn't think I could stand to be alone during all of this mess either. Lucky for me, I didn't have too much time to worry because Eric began kissing the skin from my jaw down to my breasts. He spent extra time laving his tongue over both of my nipples. The tightness in my shoulders began to melt away.
Well, this is certainly one way to relieve my stress.
I ran my fingers through Eric's hair and gently tugged his head up to mine so I could begin kissing him. Our tongues wrestled and I slipped my hands down his neck to his shoulder blades and I drew his body onto me so he was straddling me.
He had already taken off his clothes too, so I ran my hands over his shoulders and down his chest, savoring the feel of his cut muscles. Continuing down lower, my hands explored his well-defined abs and the incredibly sexy, deep cuts of muscles that pointed diagonally from the top of his hip bone right to his 'ego.' I dragged my fingers down his length, slipping over the tip to use his pre-cum so the sensation was smoother for him. He was already rock hard and completely ready for me. I felt wetness pool between my thighs as I stroked his epic-sized cock.
Pushing his chest to the side, I rolled us over so I was on top of him and pulled away from his kisses so I was sitting up. I shifted so I was now straddling his hips. Sliding my core up and down his length, my wetness coated him. My hand moved to the base of his cock and held it. I began working his tip into me roughly. Eric groaned in pleasure and I quickened my strokes. He grabbed my hips and helped bounce me up and down even faster. But still, each time I landed on him, I forcibly grinded against him so my clit felt the friction against his hair down there.
After a few minutes, Eric threw me onto my back so he was kneeling over me. He grabbed my thighs, pulling them up so that he was thrusting into me at just the right angle. With that, I was absolutely gone. I cried out with complete abandon as I felt his fangs slip into my right breast and his seed fill my quivering walls. When we had both recovered a little bit, he rolled onto his side and we held each other, our faces meeting. After my breathing calmed down, inspiration hit me.
"If Brian says New York's group was never here, why don't we just ask Anubis Airlines if they made their flight to New Orleans?"
Eric was silent for a few moments.
"Yes. That would make sense."
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I was reminded of when we first arrived in Dallas and I had to be the one to suggest the simple solution of me infiltrating the Fellowship of the Sun. Then again, that hadn't worked out so well. But still, this time I wasn't going to be on my own; I had a feeling Eric being by my side would make things go a lot smoother. Dawn quickly approached and my 'day' full of excitement was finally over. I fell asleep soon after Eric died for the day.
Somehow, I wasn't surprised when I woke to the smell of smoke and someone roughly tugging on my shoulders, trying to take me out of Eric's grip. It seemed to fit in perfectly with everything else that happened to me since I left Bon Temps for this trip. While the rough hands extracted me from Eric, I balled my hands into fists.
As soon as he had yanked me off the bed and to my feet, I threw a punch and cross just like Jason had taught me. Then I hit him with two quick uppercuts. He recoiled backwards and I elbowed him in the stomach and kneed him in the groin for good measure. He fell to his knees, leaning over, his arms crossed over his waist and I grabbed the heavy lamp from my bedside table and slammed him over the head with it as hard as I could. He crumpled to his side in a pile and he seemed to be out. By that time, the fire was quickly approaching the bed.
"Eric! Eric! You have to wake up!" I screamed frantically. I knew there was no way I could lift him up myself, even with my recent infusion of his blood. I pulled on his arm, bending over and sticking my butt out so I could use my legs to give me more leverage. He was on my side of the bed before he opened one eye.
"What?" his voice groggily rasped.
"We have to get out of here! The room is on fire! I can't lift you up; you have to help me walk you out of here."
His eyes looked towards the foot of the bed and he saw the growing flames. He seemed to finally understand the gravity of situation and his eyes snapped open. He sat up and lifted himself off the bed, stumbling a little bit. As he began walking towards the door, I quickly grabbed the two robes from the bathroom and then ran back to him. I put one of my arm around him and put my shoulder underneath one of his arms. That helped steady him and we walked faster towards the door. Once we were out in the hallway, we walked a bit further and then I leaned him against the wall so I could put on a robe and help him put one on too. The fire alarm finally went off and a bellboy ran into the hallway.
"Someone broke into our room, set a fire, and tried to grab me. He's still in there-I knocked him out." The bellboy's eyes grew wide and he sprinted to a room.
"I'll call for help!"
When he came back out, he helped me with Eric after I explained Eric was a vampire. The firefighters were able to put out the small fire quickly so we didn't need to evacuate the building and all the other floors of the building were safe and usable. They gave us another vampire safe room and pointed out in a guide the numbers to the nearby department stores so we could have clothing delivered.
As soon as they left, my adrenaline ran out. I dead bolted the door and collapsed on the bed next to Eric. I felt as safe as I could feel after being attacked yet again, and I didn't have the energy to try to navigate the city to find another hotel. Besides, we had no money since Eric's wallet had been left in our old room. Once my exhausted brain worked out there was nothing else I could do to protect us I fell asleep.
Eric's POV
When the sun finally set, I woke full of tension, ready to fight. Sookie was still asleep so I walked quietly to the bathroom and used the telephone in there to call Information and be connected to Brian. After a brief explanation, he tut-tuted me and began a playful chastisement.
"Always getting into trouble, aren't you, old chap? I'll have my people run over some clothing and cash to you. Do you need a disposable cell phone too?"
"Yes. And if you could, make haste. We're still in the same hotel and I need to get us out of here as quickly as possible."
Within twenty minutes, a bellboy was knocking on the door with a delivery of a medium sized box. I roused Sookie.
"We need to get out of here, lover."
"Okay," she nodded sleepily and then looked down. "I think I might be a bit underdressed, though."
I smiled and handed her the outfit Brian had sent over for her. She gave me a small smile with closed eyes and lurched towards the bathroom, presumably to tend to her human needs.
We got dressed quickly, without taking time to shower, and took a cab to the Anubis Airlines terminal at O'Hare. Once we walked up to the counter, I asked to speak to a manager. I explained the situation as vaguely as I could while still emphasizing my position and the enormity of the situation. The man was smart enough to comply.
"Our records show they did make their flight. Let's look at the video footage though, just to make sure."
Sure enough, New York's party had boarded a plane headed to New Orleans. I asked if there was any possibility that the flight had been diverted, and he assured me there wasn't. Just then, I heard a large 'grumble' noise and I turned to Sookie. She was blushing and holding her stomach.
"Sorry! I just haven't eaten anything since the flight we had last night."
I nodded, thanked the man, and asked how to get to the nearest restaurant or food court. Sookie ordered something called a 'Philly cheese steak meal with cheese fries' and insisted I order a blood. We sat down at a table and I slid the unopened bottle back and forth, from one hand to another, while planning the best way to go to war. Sookie interrupted my thoughts after she polished off half of her sandwich.
"How did the Queen know about me? I mean, it's not like I've been to New Orleans recently, and only a handful of people know and actually believe I can read people's minds."
"When I was in court and heard of Bill's deceit, the Queen had a young female companion who seemed to know you… I believe her name was Hadley Stackhouse."
Sookie's eyes widened so much and her eyebrows went so high, that I began to worry she would hurt herself.
"Hadley!? My cousin Hadley?!" her eyes went back to normal and her forehead wrinkled a little bit. "Did it seem like the two of them were close?"
"Oh yes."
She nodded, gazing into the distance. She didn't say anything else so I went back to mentally weighing who I could ask to be my ally against Sophie-Anne. After about ten minutes, she broke the silence.
"I have a plan."