Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the books or True Blood. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 20
Eric was depressed. Skinning his maker in the shower to restore his tattoos, and Pam cutting and dying his hair back to its original brunette, and a phone call to Isabel, all meant that Godric was going to leave him to be with Lafayette. The new vampire child Godric had created by accident, but now felt responsible for.
Godric and Eric had been rejoined for less than a year. Worse, his maker's first destination would be Dallas, where he spent years being filled with doubt and almost met the true death.
Frustrated that he could not gracefully change things without disappointing or angering Godric, Eric scribbled a check and went out. He needed answers, good news, or something positive such as the forgotten week of having Sookie every night. Prompt payment of the full amount should get something out of the wench.
She was not home yet. Although Merlotte's and Fangtasia closed at the same time, someone from Bon Temps working at Fangtasia would be home faster. Sam … wait, Merlotte's was that way, yet Sookie was not in that direction. What trouble was that woman getting into now? Knowing Sookie, it wasn't a harmless drive to an all-night business.
Hot Shot? How repulsive. It was one thing for Lafayette to be slumming here, but Sookie had no reason to associate with this ilk.
*** Tru Blood ***
Lafayette lurked in Eric's motherfucking house as Heimdall was made over. It was not only his hair, his skin, meaning his tattoos becoming monochromatic, either. He became an inanimate wax figure of himself. His eyes became distant and unfocused, he minimized his movements, and he was unnaturally quiet till he spoke. It was the same voice, yet it was drained of everything, except a slight accent.
Heimdall, or Godric, now was a vampire. Normally, Lafayette would have a thing for power, but he liked Heimdall. He wanted to show him things, teach him things, and now he felt insignificant. Sure, he could drive and was supposed to learn how to work this Kindle thing Eric gave him with the directions before going out.
Godric told Lafayette that his name changed multiple times. He was Godric for a long time, and wanted to give up his authority because he made mistakes which resulted in deaths. He was unable to do that if he retained his identity.
Now, Lafayette was endangered unless he secured them someplace safe. Eric could keep them safe, yet they were too close to Lafayette's human life, if they remained here.
Many vampires knew him, and would welcome him, but nothing came without a price.
Now that Lafayette had a moment, after playing with Eric's flat screen television, and settled on an old Ray Harryhausen movies, he realized what could have caused the magical feedback among the witches' circle when casting their curse. None of them had any idea who Heimdall was. They didn't even know his motherfucking name. There was a price that needed to be paid when a spell was cast incorrectly with power behind it.
*** Tru Blood ***
Sam thought on the drive down to Hot Shot about why Jason … he was Jason Stackhouse. That meant a woman. If they took Jason because he fancied a Hot Shot girl, Sam would not like it. It was the same as humans hating shifters and weres.
The truck listed as Sam let it roll off the road, creeping into the edge of Hot Shot with his lights out, he hissed, "Stay close to us, Sook."
"What'cha goin' to do?"
"Look around and stay quiet. Panthers are nocturnal. They gotta know they're in the wrong if they have your brother."
Tommy muttered, "I doubt they're willing to turn over a new leaf now."
Sookie wished they stopped at home for her shotgun. If they had Jason here, she'd do what she had to do.
"We'll circle around the outside first, and see what we can see."
Sam, Tommy and Sookie got out of the truck. Sam handed his gun to Sookie, and followed his younger brother and took off his shirt, despite it being January.
Sookie looked away to let them change.
Unlike Sam, Tommy was one mean-looking dog.
Both of them put their noses to the ground and circled around before working together in one direction.
Sookie followed, fingers crossed, hoping no one heard them, and not everyone here was an insomniac werepanther.
Hot Shot was a dump. It looked like half the buildings were assembled out of corrugated metal. Sookie wouldn't be surprised if it was all rust-colored in the daylight.
Sam made a noise, and his tag wagged briefly as he checked out a shed. Tommy circled the building, while Sookie waited with Sam.
"Is it him?" she whispered.
There were a couple of lights on in the closest house, behind their laundry that they left out overnight.
Tommy got his wide snout between the two doors that were held together with a padlocked length of chain. The pit bull rocked between the doors and eventually forced his way in .
Dean looked up at Sookie and bobbed his head.
She got between the doors and pushed her way through, and suspected the push she got was Sam putting his head against her rear. Sookie was dressed in layers, including a winter coat. It was her old one. Her new one was going to get washed next, after she finished getting the stains out of her kitchen curtains.
It was a concrete floor, and Tommy's nails sounded loud as he paced. It stank in here.
There was another low noise, in addition to Tommy clicking. Maybe human.
"Jason?" Sookie hissed.
"Sook?" he moaned. Then more clearly, he asked, "You've come to save me, Sook?"
Tommy growled, and Sookie heard him hit the door hard, trying to get past her.
There was a yelp outside. Sam, Sookie worried, as there was an answering feline snarl, followed by the sound of canine pain. It ended with a loud scream that Sookie could only compare to the time she accidentally slammed Tina's tail in a door.
After a moment of silence, there was a gloopy sound out there, besides Tommy rattling the doors as he pushed out with his muscular shoulders.
"Shifter, you do know your nice doggy look doesn't go far with cats?"
Eric! What was Eric doing here?
"You already owe me from your last emergency. We're going to have to discuss this returning a favor in a hypothetical future where I'd need your help. Here …"
Sookie tried to see what was going on, but wasn't sure she was seeing Sam drinking from Eric's wrist because Sam wouldn't do that, so pushed at the door to wiggle back outside.
"By the way, if you start dancing, I'm going to kill you."
Sam replied, "Thanks, and uh, I won't dance."
"Good dog." Eric looked over, struck a pose of mock surprise, and exclaimed, "Sookie Stackhouse, what are you doing in Hot Shot?"
Sam was a light blotch on the ground in front of a pale enough to be seen in the dark Eric. There was another blotch of something light on the ground.
"My brother's in this shed," she replied.
Eric came over, snapped the chain, opened the doors fully, and said, "So he is. Hm. Apparently he doesn't know the difference between kinky and stupid."
"Eric, he was kidnapped!"
"Now you can afford his ransom," he said, holding out a folded piece of thick paper to her that he took out of his pocket.
"What's this?"
"Your check. I recall you like to be paid immediately."
She took it because she didn't have time for whatever Eric was up to, and asked, "Can you help with Jason?"
"I can't cure that."
"What?" Sookie asked.
Eric audibly sighed, and there was a click as he flipped a switch upward to turn on the fluorescent lighting. The shitty shed was wired with electricity.
"Oh my God!" Sookie yelled, throwing herself onto her brother.
Jason was a mess. He was lying on a small, dirty mattress close to the cold floor, wearing just his jeans, and covered in nasty bite marks, dried blood and goosebumps. His skin was grayish blue from the cold.
"Untie him!"
Rather than pulling on the ropes, since strength would work, yet the rope might be stronger than what it was attached to, Eric bent and broke the supports of the old wrought iron supports of the bed frame. Pulling the rope out of the wounds would be someone else's joy.
"Sook …"
"I got you, Jason. We're gonna get you out of here."
Sam was back on his feet, feeling great after some of Eric's blood. The vampire was right. Vampire blood did not 'cure' weres.
"Let's get out of here," Sam said, moving to help get Jason out of this shed. It would do him a world of good to get warmed up, and they could do that in his truck. They were in werepanther territory, and one of them, Felton, he thought, was now dead.
"Can't Eric give him some blood?"
"I can hear you. Your brother is not dying."
"But didn't you give some to Sam?"
"I suppose he could live with his back broken, but my generosity has been used up tonight."
Eric had to draw the line against handing out his blood. Lost limbs and maiming were good enough, and as he was told so many times, the blood was sacred, so it was his choice. Jason Stackhouse would heal quicker now then before anyway.
He came out to Bon Temps to get something pleasant from Sookie, and instead she wants him to give her V addict brother some blood. Jason Stackhouse was probably here because a drug deal went wrong. What else did someone go to Hot Shot for? Now that Sookie was preoccupied with her hurt, drug-addicted brother, she would have no time for Eric.
Sookie and Sam got Jason up and moving outside towards Sam's truck, with Tommy circling them, when Eric shot upwards and into the sky.
"Eric?" Sookie called when it looked like he had gone without saying good-bye or helping her any. She was so happy she had already decided to have nothing to do with him. He really was an asshole.
On the ride back to Bon Temps, she pleased herself, to try to block out how badly Jason stank now that the heat was on, by thinking that she'd tell Heimdall to go fuck himself too. He was a pain in the ass, blaming her for things Eric did, besides biting her and preferring to walk over riding in her car.
Sam dropped Jason and Sookie at her house, and helped them inside. He told Sookie she could call him anytime tomorrow for a ride to get her car, still in the Merlotte's parking lot.
Jason was still in bad shape, but he was steady enough to stand in the shower by himself.
Afterwards, in Bill's brown bathrobe, Jason explained how Felton would come into the shed every night, change, then bite him. He saw Crystal now and then, but she didn't participate in hurting him. She was sorry that Felton was doing this to him.
When Sookie asked why she didn't go to the police, Jason said something brief about not wanting anyone to get hurt. Sookie realized that Kevin's injury, last year, had been from a werepanther from what Jason was thinking about.
Sookie indignantly said, "Just 'cause they're different doesn't mean they can go hurtin' people."
"Sook, you don't get it. If Felton wasn't killed tonight, he'd heal up and do something terrible. I gotta go back and see if Crystal's okay."
"What?"
"Those people need help."
"Get the fuck out of here."
"Sook, what you said about people being different, not giving them the right, is right, but you're forgiven Bill a lot, even when he almost killed ya."
"You're gonna turn into one of them every month."
"Maybe. Crystal said they wouldn't know till the full moon."
After that, Jason went to bed after Sookie finished using the whole bottle, the huge one from Wal-mart at 98 cents, of hydrogen peroxide, and all her Great Value triple antibiotic ointment, which was just as good as Neosporin.
Jason's bite wounds had been fizzy when she poured on the hydrogen peroxide, and he flinched. That was good, right? The bubbling and pain meant it was killing the germs and maybe whatever else got in there.
After having a cup of coffee, looking at the kitchen curtains, and putting them in the dryer, Sookie hit her coat with more pretreatment before throwing it into the wash to see if the blood would come off that too. She could try sewing up the tear. Why didn't she put on her old coat to go fight witches? It wasn't even a witch that got it, it was Debbie Pelt. She was so happy she was dead so vampires didn't have an excuse to prowl around her house any more.
Ah darn, she was going to have to call the sheriff's office to say Jason was found. Not darn that he was found or that she'd call, but she needed to know what to say, and have Jason give the same story. Since Felton was dead, they should gloss over him because Andy always suspected Jason of doing no good.
When she emptied her pockets, of tips and everything else, Sookie found and remembered Eric gave her a check. Wait, this was for $50,000, instead of $30,000. If he thought she was going to wait on him to write her a check for the right amount, he had another thing coming. She'd take this to the bank, and when it cleared, she'd write him one back for the difference. Sookie didn't have time for his stupid games. She needed this money now.
In the morning, Jason looked somewhat better. He wasn't healed, but the bites all over were not as raised, and the bruising around some was already starting to turn yellow. Jason also needed to shave.
She let him sleep while she made a pot of coffee and cooked breakfast, but then had to wake him because she had to make that call. Sookie brought everything up so he could eat in bed.
"I didn't dream it," Jason murmured as he opened his eyes. "You and Sam saved me."
"Sam's brother, Tommy, was there too, but you might have missed him because he was acting as lookout."
Jason said, "Wait a moment. Bathroom, then I can eat."
Sookie waited, and she couldn't think up any story that would account for everything.
He came back, got into bed, and started eating and drinking coffee.
"Jason, the sheriff's office has been looking for you since you disappeared. What are we gonna tell them?"
"I don't remember?" he suggested.
"You don't remember? You think Andy'll let you get away with that?"
"Is there something I need to include? What kind of evidence did they find?" Jason asked, using some of the police terms he learned during his short stint as a deputy.
"You left your keys in the truck and the truck door open. There was a bloody paw print left in panther blood on your deck."
"Do we gotta explain the blood? I don't want them looking for any panthers. Maybe I heard something when I pulled up, went to look, got hit from behind, and I don't remember anything till I was pushed out onto your lawn last night from a moving car … no, van. Kidnappers use vans. Remember Silence of the Lambs?"
"Just don't claim you were helping some guy with a cast on his arm move furniture. Actually, maybe you should keep quiet, and answer anything direct with I don't know. That's frustrate Andy because he won't be able to confuse you."
"I can outthink Andy."
"This ain't about outthinking, Jason. The less you tell him …the safer Hot Shot will be."
"Right."
Sookie couldn't believe Jason would care about anyone in Hot Shot. They were drug dealers and users there, and their kids looked like it too. Being werepanthers was the least of their problems.
She went and called the sheriff's office. Rosie sounded annoyed, till she realized that Sookie was calling with news, rather than asking if there was anything new on her brother. She told Sookie someone would be right over.
Sookie dreaded it would be Andy, but then again, it was real easy to read his mind.
It was acting sheriff Andy Bellefleur who came to the house. He looked serious, and she could tell right away as she answered the door that he expected to hear some crazy whopper of a tale from Jason.
Jason stuck to what they discussed, and the only thing that made Sookie nervous was Andy's odd question about her car.
"Sam drove me home. The battery was dead. He was going to charge it, and asked me to call him when I was up and wanted a ride to it today."
Now, she had to call Sam because Andy was already thinking about calling Sam … who was a nudist? Where did Andy come up with this shit? He was the worst detective ever, especially since he didn't believe a word that Jason and I were telling him. The only thing causing doubt was Jason's obvious injuries.
Once Andy was gone, and Jason dressed, Sookie dropped him off at home, saw him settled and then went to the bank to get Eric's check cleared.
*** Tru Blood *** Tru Blood ***
After Pam left, Lafayette was left alone with Godric. Even wearing his old clothes, he was notably different. Godric sat perfectly still, whereas Heimdall's feet would flex in his sandals, and he would look at things, when he wasn't reading his Kindle.
"Do you use this when you're yourself too?" Lafayette asked, holding up the Kindle.
"Yes." He then added, "I like the feel of paper, yet I read so much that it becomes unmanageable."
"Why did Eric say I needed to learn how to use it?"
"I don't understand when it does not show what I expected."
"I had a phone like that. I had to keep taking the battery and card out which was a motherfucking pain in the ass."
"Your language."
"I hated that phone," Lafayette answered, even though he knew his boy did not like foul language.
"I am not fond of telephones either."
Lafayette saw Eric give Heimdall his phone often enough to know that was the truth. Perhaps much of Godric was still Heimdall.
Moving closer, Lafayette stood close to Godric, looking down on him. Pam did a fine job cutting his hair, if that's what it was supposed to look like. To Lafayette, it was lacking. He touched it, and Godric tilted his face to look up at him. His baby blues were still the same.
"Did you want some more of the synthetic blood?"
"Not really. When do I get the real thing?"
"Soon. You'll have to learn how to control yourself so you do not do any injury. If you think of blood, do your fangs extend?"
Think of blood? The first thought of Tru Blood did nothing, but then thoughts of his maker's sweetness got them out.
Godric stood, and Lafayette remained still as the other touched one and pressed. His finger started to bleed. Lafayette moaned and wrapped his lips around it to not allow a drop to escape.
"If we travel away from people, you could live on this."
"Why would we do that?"
"We might not. I have not decided where we will go after we visit Dallas."
"What'll we do there?"
"We won't have to do much. Just let others talk about my return, and then we'll see."
Godric removed his finger, and Lafayette resisted following it with his mouth.
"I prefer cold," Godric said unexpectedly.
"Will you keep me warm?" Lafayette asked.
"I am the same temperature as you and our surroundings."
Adopting his flirting smile, Lafayette moved into Godric's personal space.
"Ah," Godric said, feeling his child's meaning.
Not hearing 'no', Lafayette put his forearms on Godric's shoulders and leaned his face close to his.
"You'll have urges, yet you should not develop bad habits."
"I wouldn't call you a bad habit."
"You are only attracted to me because you had a large quantity of my blood. As you age, as a vampire, the pull will be less intense."
"I've been attracted to you all along. My hands have already been on your body."
"You are deluding yourself. You have touched me, yet it was not in the way you mean."
"I've thought about you. That's all I could do when I was with someone else, but now it will be you and me."
Not knowing about Jesus' demise, Godric agreed, "It is best to leave your human entanglements behind. I don't understand the new idea of staying close to home and family. The AVL strongly advises against it."
Godric knew that was because eventually the vampire's family would know the truth, if they didn't already, that the vampire was dead. This was not a disease, as publicized.
"And you'll help me with that?" Lafayette lowly asked.
"We will be going to Dallas. I doubt we will return to Louisiana in the near future."
Now, Godric was being purposely annoying, in Lafayette's opinion. His lips pressed against Godric's, and he gave it his all.
Godric remained motionless. Eric would sometimes get ideas in his head, but it was a while before he first attempted this. He always preferred women, so this had not been a problem.
Undeterred, Lafayette unbuttoned the front of Godric's shirt, and traced his finger along his tattoo, and the other circled a flat, hairless nipple.
Sensing that his new child would be at least as persistent as his old one, Godric moved, leaving Lafayette in an awkward position, lips puckered, tongue slightly out, and hands reaching for something that was no longer there.
"You shy?" Lafayette challenged.
"I don't want to take advantage of the way you currently feel."
"You take advantage of me? You come over here, and I'll show you how wrong you are."
Godric's head tilted and he inquired, "Are you making some sort of threat?"
"You so cute. Actually, it's more of a promise."
Lafayette tried the moving vampire fast thing. Since Godric did not react by moving away, his lips resumed their earlier activity, and his arms wrapped around the other to hold his body against his.
Turning his head, Godric warned, "This will end in disappointment."
"Oh no, it won't," Lafayette guaranteed.
"I lack the expected enthusiasm."
"That's because I haven't started yet."
Godric suspected this was one of the few things that would make Lafayette happy. It was his fault that Lafayette was vampire now …
*** Tru Blood ***
When Eric returned home, he found his two house guests downstairs in his bedroom. Something had happened, yet whatever it was it turned out badly for Lafayette. He was kneeling upon the floor, naked, head bowed, hands behind his back.
Godric was lying on his back on the bed, eyes open, looking at the ceiling and was also unclothed. He was matching up memories. Before he lost his memory, during his memory loss, and after his memory loss, in addition to commanding Lafayette to tell him all he knew about the witches, now that he recalled where he found him.
Lafayette wished Hallow was around so he could kill her all over again. This was the worst spell ever if the vampire regained his memory of everything within a day. All he did was repeat some of the things he said to Heimdall last night, because he wanted Godric to know how he felt about him. Everything changed. He had no idea how much control Godric had over him, or even Eric. Did this 'as your maker …' shit work on Eric too? Now there was one motherfucker that needed to kiss some shag carpet.
*** Tru Blood ***
Lafayette's old convertible was parked to the side when Sookie got home from the bank and picking up some groceries.
"Tara?" Sookie shouted in disbelief.
"Yeah, it's me."
"Where've you been? Why didn't you call me back?"
"I'm here now, aren't I?"
"Yeah, but …" Sookie didn't know what to say. So much had happened. She had so much to tell Tara, besides all the voice mails she left.
"What? I'm not welcome here anymore? Rent my room out?"
"Uh, no, I mean yes … Why'd you ask two opposite questions? Come in and I got all your stuff right where it was."
"Good. I was worried I'd have to go to my mama's house to pick things up."
Sookie looked at Tara closely now that she was inside. Besides the new hairstyle, Tara had put on weight. Even her face was rounder.
"What you starin' at?" Tara asked. "Ain't never seen a pregnant woman before?"
"Oh my God! Tara!"
"What? Just 'cause you do it with a dead man don't make you all superior."
"It's not that … I mean .. wh … when?" Sookie has almost slipped and asked the first question in her head – who? It could be Sam. That'd be … something.
"Eggs's the daddy. I had a tough time makin' the decision, with me havin' had vampire blood and all. It could be damaged."
Sookie was shocked. She hadn't thought about that, since she hadn't had much time to think. So much could go wrong with someone taking V, not vampire blood directly from a vampire, which wasn't safe either, like she did. People went crazy, murdered others, committed suicide by accident or on purpose, and then there was everyone that stayed quiet because V was illegal. There was so much unknown about it. There weren't any established studies on V use, so who knew what it could do to unborn children. That would be monstrous. Worse than smoking and drinking. Maybe like an expectant mother who was a crack addict.
"It's the only thing I got left of him," Tara justified, resting her hand protectively on her stomach.
Now that Tara had explained, Sookie realized her friend was carrying more weight towards the front. Tara was bigger all over so it was easy to miss. Sookie guessed that it wasn't due for a while yet because it wasn't that obvious.
"Who knows besides me?" Sookie asked. Sam might be able to tell right away, and leap to the wrong conclusion.
"No one yet. I just got back. If I can't stay here, I was thinking of going over to Lafayette's."
Lafayette? Sookie couldn't imagine Lafayette changing a diaper, though she knew Gran had a pair of purple Playtex gloves, besides the regular yellow ones. She asked, "Your mother?"
"God, no. Like she's a fine example just 'cause she was married. She'd want me to have it, but then give it to fit parents. Probably from that church of hers. It would be the right thing to do if I was livin' with her, but I ain't ever doin' that again. Hey, what happened to the back porch?"
"Oh, a tree fell on it."
"When you gettin' the insurance money to get it fixed? I'm gonna have a lot of laundry."
"Not sure. I can get it fixed before that though because I got a big check."
With Eric's money, Sookie could pay the hospital and doctors, get the porch and window upstairs fixed, and maybe have enough for the next tax bill.
"Win the lottery? I saw the driveway."
"That was … another job I got paid for."
"What sort of job?" Driveways as long as Sookie's weren't cheap.
"I finally found a way to make money with my telepathy, but nothing illegal. I don't do that."
Tara's look said it before she asked, "Vampires?"
"Yes and no. I can't read a vampire's mind."
"But they pay you to read human minds."
"I tell people before I do it," Sookie replied, thinking of the time in Fangtasia. Tara wouldn't understand getting paid for hiding Eric in her house, or sneaking into the Fellowship of the Sun church.