AN: Thank you to TeaCupHuman, SomebodyWhoCares, vilannh, loretta57, VampQueenV, Sueaczel, charhamblin, mindy781, ArnaKittyPet, Nwagoner, Baronessjai, VixensLair, Butterflysparkle1012, ILoveVikings, media-savant, ashmo2000, BlahBlahVampireEmergencyBlah, kpkisses, jwarden, the anonymous reviewer, Katie-loves-lemons and Guest for reviewing xx
Disclaimer: all rights go to Charlaine Harris
Chapter fourteen
Eric's POV
After Pam dispersed out of my office yesterday, I was left with a lot to think about. I avoided teaching my biology lesson yesterday, and instead got that substitute teacher to cover all of my lessons for the rest of the day. Pam was right in telling me I should contemplate this carefully, she raised many strong points to me regarding my plans and ideas, and I must admit I can even agree with her on some of them. But the problem I am incurring is how I am going to go about these plans and ideas, yes, I want Sookie, but do I want her in a way of a relationship? I have not had a relationship since I was human, and even then the term was loosely used. Back when I was human all being in a relationship entailed was having children with that person, of course, you had to show dedication as well, but you were never required really to love or care for that person.
Whereas these days a relationship entails fidelity, love, care, dedication and the possibility of marriage and children in the future. But considering I am a Vampire, the last two are out immediately, in fact, ideally, they should all be out. As a Vampire, love, or any form of feeling, is unknown to us and we do not often indulge ourselves in the thought that we could ever be capable of it. Once you are turned, you are taught to disconnect yourself from your emotional side, so trying to get back in touch with it is pretty much an impossible task. Especially if you are as old as I am and you have gone years on end without being in touch with them. I sigh. This is all very complicated and I am not too sure how to deal with any of this, I know what I want, but it is a matter of getting it. But first things first, I need to make things better between Sookie and I.
It is registration next, so I will be able to pull her out of the classroom for a few minutes so we can talk. I think I shall do exactly what Pamela suggested, I will tell Sookie that I enjoyed our kiss, tell her that there are no regrets. That way she will feel more connected and comfortable around me, this will provide me the key I need to unlock Sookie's heart and pull her into my hierarchy. But if she was to be on my team, I would protect her, care for her, I would make sure she is well attended for. She would be safe to say the least, and that alone is vital considering that the Vampires shall be coming out of the coffin, so to speak, very soon. With that settled I decide to finish up a few bits of business before I need to leave to go deal with my class; I start with picking up the phone and dialling the Vampire in charge of this synthetic blood tasting.
"Northman, good to finally hear from you. You are a little late in replying." I could hear the sternness radiating through his harsh, hoarse and low voice. This particular Vampire has never really been a friend of mine, but has never been a foe either.
"Yes, I have been rather distracted. But better late than never they always say."
"Hmm, of course. Well seeing as you are the last to reply and you are late replying, we have already set a date, one which you will just have to put up with."
"Please do feel free to inform me of the said selected date." I roll my eyes, already feeling very annoyed and angered by this. Why can't these things ever be quick and hassle free? I do have work in which I would like to be getting on with.
"The synthetic blood will be shipped to each person in time to arrive on the twentieth of September, we expect a reply on the same day they arrive at your home. In fact, we will be placing them all on recorded shipment, meaning you have to sign for them. So once we have confirmation you have received them, we expect feedback within twenty-four hours otherwise your opinion will be dismissed and forgotten about." And with that he puts the phone down on me, leaving me in a furious mood. I am royally pissed off at how these young Vampires think they can treat me like shit, I am over six hundred years older than this asshole who I have just been speaking with. How dare he believe he can treat me no better than he would a human commoner.
I shake my head, shaking away the annoyance as I check my emails, just to discover a new email from one Marilyn, the one who will be performing the school's annual report. She is the one who will be deciding if the school is satisfactory, whether it is meeting its aims and objectives, whether the students are performing well and whether or not we have improved since our last report. She could make or break this school. My school. My business. I quickly open the email to see that Marilyn has changed the date of the inspection, she has changed it to the…Well, fuck me. She has changed it to the twentieth of September. So, in one day I have to taste the new synthetic blood and deal with Marilyn. Wait, if she is coming next week, then I need to hold a staff meeting tonight, I need this school to be outstanding, I need all the students' grades to be top notch and basically I need everything to be perfect for when she arrives.
This school needs the best report possible.
I open my office draw ready to collect today's learning plan for my classes, but my attention is soon drawn away from them when I spot the brown folder; the one containing all of that information on Sookie that I found at Bill's home. Speaking of which, I have not seen or heard from Compton lately. That is never a good thing. I pick the folder up along with the lesson plans before heading out of my office and towards the classroom where my tutor is, on my journey there I flick through the folder, trying to see if there is more to this than I first thought. It is very strange that before Sookie came along, my life was rather peaceful with very little hassle, but since she has appeared, everything seems to have taken an exciting turn. A turn which I find I am enjoying. It makes a nice change.
Just as I get to my room I stop, my eyes landing on a vital bit of information. It would seem Miss Stackhouse's birthday is on the twentieth of September. Great. So I am now dealing with a number of problems on that date, but as long as I get to spend some time with Sookie all should be okay, I have a lot planned in my mind for Sookie's seventeenth birthday, and wooing her will take up the majority of that. With a flick of my wrist I have the door open, but I am greeted with a very unpleasant smell and sight.
"Compton." I growl in annoyance as I quickly shuffle the paperwork in my hands about so that the file is hidden between the other bundles of paper I have.
"I am not too happy to be here myself; I believe you have something of mine."
"You will have to elaborate, William, I am a tad confused as to what you could possibly be referring to." I grin at him, testing to see how far I can push him. While he is glaring at me I place the paperwork into the desk draw where I lock it, he will never get that file back, especially while I am around. I cannot risk him getting a hold of Sookie.
"You have been in my home, your scent is bold and very hard to remove, I want what you took."
"And what did I take, exactly?" I challenge him as I cock an eyebrow at him, this should be great. If he admits to having that folder, he will have dropped himself in it big time. But I guess that is a good thing, it means I will be able to deal with him faster than I first anticipated.
"You know exactly what you took; in fact, I believe you have it with you right now." Bill's eyes flicker to my desk, only making me grin more as I walk over to my desk and sit on the swivel chair behind it, my eyes never leaving Bill's.
"I am still uncertain as to what you could be referring to."
"I am referring to the vital information you stole from my home. That information was there for a reason, it was provided to me and I built on it, it is part of a task that was set for me. You cannot just go around stealing people's paperwork."
"I can if it involves the safety of one of my students. Miss Stackhouse is very valuable, William, which I am sure you are aware of." I note thoughtfully, Bill nodding once.
"Yes, I am aware of the gift she has. I was hired to collect her, she is required."
"Who hired you? Why is she required? Better yet, how did you plan on collecting her?"
"All of that information is confidential. I am not obliged to share it with you."
"So, you are asking me for some information back, yet you won't provide me with anything for it? You have to learn to bargain, Bill. I always knew you were here for one reason or another, but I never thought it would be this."
"It is a secret task; you were to never find out about it. My existence is at risk now that you do know." Bill hisses, his anger rising slowly. I couldn't help but smile smugly at him.
"Good, you don't deserve to exist. Now tell me what I want to know, otherwise I will remove your existence myself."
"You wouldn't."
"Wouldn't I?" I challenge him, he knows as well as I would that I would slaughter him and not spare a thought about it. Personally, I have always wanted to have the pleasure of killing Mr William Compton, and considering his current plans, it just gives me more reason to want him dead. Really dead. As in the final death.
"Queen Sophie-Anne heard about Sookie's powers, she wanted Sookie to be under her control ready for when we came out of the coffin, she was going to offer Sookie a luxury life in return for her co-operation. She said Sookie was valuable and with Sookie's powers she would be at an advantage. She said she could put Sookie through training, training that would unlock her powers." I couldn't help but lean forward then, my elbows on my thighs. He has spiked my interest now.
"What powers?"
"That I do not know. I have been trying to find out; she knows something more than I do, maybe something more than both of us know, and I don't think this power she is talking about is Sookie's gift." Then she must be referring to Sookie's Fae side. But I am pleased Bill is not aware of that little fact, the only reason I now is because I asked Claudine – one of my staff members at the school – to find out for me. She came back almost instantly telling me Sookie was a Fairy, but apparently she is only an eighth Fairy. She never told me much more than that, so as you can imagine I have a lot of unanswered questions in my mind.
"Carry on; I want to know the rest."
"Originally I was going to glamour her, but when I found she couldn't be glamoured, I changed my plan." He informs me, making me cock an eyebrow at him.
"What did you change your plan to?"
"My new plan was to seduce her, make her fall for me, and make her think I was the perfect man for her. Once I had her following me like a lost puppy, I would take her to the Sophie-Anne so I could collect my reward." He explains the rest of it, only making me bite back my anger before I released it on him. I am so pleased Sookie told me he made her feel uncomfortable, at least I know she doesn't like him, which means I still have a chance.
"What is the Queen offering you as a reward?"
"She is offering me a position of power, a large sum of money and access to all the databases and Vampires I need in order to complete my project. The one I have been working on for years."
"I want to make you a deal, Bill."
Sookie's POV
"Hey, Sookie." Alcide greets me as he catches up to me and falls into step with me, I give him a gracious smile in return. Alcide and I talked yesterday, he apologised for being a dick to me; he said we got off on the wrong foot and that he would like to try again. I admired that in him, so of course I agreed to give him a second chance. Of course, you never know, he may surprise me. People can change, it is a well-known fact, whether people want to believe it or not.
"Hey, how was your lesson?" I probe as we walk through the busy corridors, many of the girls glaring at me, it is obvious they are all envious of me, but as to why I do not know. It's not like I'm dating him, nor do I have an intimate interest in him.
"Alright I guess, how about yours? You had English right?"
"Yeah, it was good. A bit boring though."
"Look, Sookie, there is actually something I would like to ask you." Alcide informs me just as a spiteful Debbie Pelt pushes into me, causing to lose my balance and fall onto the floor with a thud, my books going everywhere.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Alcide hisses at her as he crouches down to help me pick all my books up before he stands up and helps me up with him.
"She's a fucking whore." Debbie snarls.
"No, you're the whore here. You should try and keep your legs closed for a change, might stop you from spreading those STD's." I snap back at her, surprising not only myself, but Alcide and Debbie, too. I cannot believe I just said that. With a humph and a grumble Debbie struts off, not even bothering to attempt to shoot a snarky comment back at me.
"I'm so sorry about that, are you okay?" Alcide probes, his sincere gaze meeting mine. All I could was nod before shaking my head and carrying on with our walk to our tutor, Alcide walking alongside me.
"What was the question?"
"Well, I kinda wanted to ask you out on a date."
"A date?" I raise my eyebrow at him; I don't know what to say to that. Sure, Alcide is a very attractive man and after our little talk yesterday, he has been a right sweetheart. But before that he was a bit of a jerk, so I'm kind of confused on what I should go on here.
"Yeah, I was thinking, maybe, tomorrow night?"
"It's all good you wanting to do this, Alcide, but we're not allowed to leave the premises of the school without permission." I remind him, probably dampening the mood a bit, but that doesn't seem to stop him as he grins at me.
"I'm sure I can think up an alternative to going out." He grins at me, leaving me with a very difficult decision, but luckily before I could answer we arrive at tutor where we walk in, Professor Northman calling me over to him immediately. I couldn't help but notice Mr Compton leaving as we entered. I wonder what he and Professor Northman were talking about; I hope it wasn't about my complaint towards Mr Compton. That would be awkward if it was.
"Sookie, I just need to have a private chat with you for a minute." Professor Northman informs me, making me nod. I can already tell what this private chat will entail. He wants to talk about me practically jumping him in his office.
I look over at Alcide who is sat at his usual table with his usual friends, but his eyes are only on me. I couldn't help but lower my shields and take a cheeky dip into his mind; after all, I need to make sure that he isn't being nice to me for a reason. For all I know this could be some plan he has concocted to lead me into danger, or to rape me, or to do something horrible. But in his head all I could hear were rather innocent thoughts, thoughts like 'she looks mighty pretty today' and 'I hope she says yes to that date. I find I really like her'. I couldn't help how my heart went hearing those thoughts; I have never heard someone think such nice thoughts about me before. To think he was a right dick when I first met him.
But despite that, I couldn't help but notice how difficult it was to locate those thoughts; it was almost like his mind was very fuzzy, like it was on lock down. How strange.
"You are all to follow the task set out on the board. Sookie, outside please." Professor Northman nods towards the door; I oblige and follow him out of the classroom where he leads me down the hall and into an empty classroom.
"I believe we have a small matter to speak about."
"I'm…I'm really sorry. I don't know what came over me, I apologise." I hurriedly stumble out my words.
"There is no need for apologies, Sookie; all I want right now is the truth. I want you to answer my questions honestly."
"O-okay." I stutter, feeling rather taken aback by this. I was not expecting this.
"Did you enjoy our intimate moment?"
"Well…I….um…"
"It is okay to admit that you did, Sookie, I will admit I enjoyed it very much myself."
"Really?" I couldn't help how unbelieving my voice sounded, nor could I help how my eyes practically bugged out in surprise.
"Yes." He grins at me, this glint in his eyes that makes my heart do flips.
"Oh. I'm glad you enjoyed it, I was scared you would be freaked out and repulsed by it, I thought you were going to tell me you regretted it."
"Sookie, a beautiful young woman kissed me, and I kissed her back, I can hardly regret it. It is not every day such an intelligent, strong willed and stunning woman comes along." I couldn't help blushing at his kind words, his words only making me like him even more. If he is trying to woo me, I must admit it is working.
"I just wanted you to know that what happened between us, I am not ashamed of it, nor do I regret it. I wanted that to happen as much as you did."
"But what do we do now? Do we forget about it?" I probe, my heart literally stopping at that thought. That is the last thing I want to happen.
"Honestly, I never plan on forgetting about it. We will go in the direction you want to go, do you wish for us to push it to the side and forget about it?"
"Well…no, I really don't want to forget about it."
"Then tell me what you want us to do, Sookie? We will do what is most comfortable for you." He assures me, but before I could answer there is a knock at the door, surprising us both, before it opens.
I watch as a young woman walks in, she is wearing such skimpy clothing that she looks as though she belongs on a street corner, not working in a school.
"Roxy, what a pleasant surprise. How may I help you?" She must have stalked the corridors trying to find him. Just look at her, she is dressed like a slut and she is practically drooling over him.
"Here is that paperwork you asked for just be careful with it." She purrs at him as she passes it over to him, but even I didn't miss the cheeky wink she sends him before she struts towards the door, adding an extra to sway to her hips. But before she could reach the doorway I take a quick dip into her mind where I quickly pull myself back out again after I capture one of her thoughts. Please tell me I did not just see that.
Professor Northman has just been sat here complimenting me, telling me how he doesn't regret our little session, and yet minutes after I ran out of his office he got down and dirty with her. I bet all he wants me for is sex, and here I was thinking that he actually might have cared for me. Who was a kidding? I hate being a teenager sometimes. It sucks, it really does. I had to suppress the tears welling in my eyes, threatening to leak out, as I look back at the lying twat in front of me.
"I'm sorry about that interruption, now, where were we?" He probes as shuffles the paperwork in his hands, a picture falling out and landing on the floor between us. All I could see then where tears and red after I caught sight of that photo. That slut Roxy has taken a dirty picture of herself, a very revealing photo of herself, and slipped it to him. Only solidifying my new found opinion of Professor Northman. I shake my head at him before I rush out of the room, not even sparing him a quick glance.
AN: I hope you all enjoyed that chapter and I am happy to offer you all a teaser. So everyone who reviews will receive a teaser for the next chapter. So just remember: review = teaser. :D xx