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***Eric***
I was going to kill that fairy. Sookie's family or no, crushing his face in my hands was an eventuality. He was downright gleeful at Sookie's magical changes. To him, it meant that she was further away from vampires than ever and would surely choose her fae family over vampires and humans. In the very short time I had known Sookie, it was clear that this was not true. Would not be true.
She was nothing if not loyal and willing to protect her human family, as evidenced by her attempts to save her grandmother. The instant I had seen her grandmother's body on the stairs, I knew Sookie had tried to get her to safety. When Alcide took her up to her room, she fought and clawed at him with everything she had. Sookie was not to be controlled. Even when she had relented in her fighting, she had not given up. Not by a long shot. And Niall was not on good terms with her from what I had seen. It would not help Niall's case that she was without fear of the supernatural. And especially that there was no fear of our kind. There would be no bullying from him if she were as capable as Niall was indicating.
While fairies were delicious, I knew that her fairy side had nothing to do with her values or why I wanted her. There was her taste, her scent, but these were superficial things. Side benefits. It could have been circumstantial, that we were at a time and place where humans were now ready and used to us. But I considered Sookie unique in her lack of fear and her automatic affirment of us. Her nonpareil gift had prepared her to accept those different than she, like myself. She had survived the suffering that human thoughts must have caused her and, that was a trait a vampire could understand. She had also defied her community's hatred and its grip on her life and chose to live instead. We shared this trait and it had been the seed of my desire. Sookie had suffered, and it made her strong. Pam was beloved by me for her lust for life, but she did not come from a time where fighting amongst vampires was rampant. Godric and I had so many near close calls that a human would have had what humans refer to now as PTSD. We had to survive. Sookie understood, more than she knew, what it was like to live that kind of life. Always hiding.
Not all vampires were as Godric and I. I suspected the success and longevity of a vampire was contingent on whether they were suited to change and hardship without the loss of vision for the future. Sophie-Anne had been a perfect example of a vampire who had escalated and enlarged her negative qualities, which I believed was more human than vampire. It was the natural progression of a creature that had never anticipated a life beyond her human one. This made Sookie unsettling because she exposed the differences between vampires meant for immorality and those who were not, simply by being her. The anomaly of her demand to stand on equal footing with us, to deny me entry into her life because it was hers, and without using violencemade her superior to most of my kind. Vampires tended to see only tradition and ritual, not the inherent truth of current events. The world left them to their old devices until it outpaced and killed them with its natural cruelty. But not Godric, not Sookie and not I. Yes, I craved her. The thorn in my heart and mind. I could not stop looking for her.
She would not have changed in that manner. I could not see power corrupting her sense of justice or boundaries. She was not to be pushed, or pulled. And it made me desire to do all that I could to find my way into her good graces. Oh and I would. She would come to me, and be mine. I am her match, her complement, as she is mine. At the very least, her best approximation. My lover. My dead heart hummed with need and fury.
Mine, mine, mine.
I would show her what these… feelings… had done to me. And I would have her enjoy was never too late to back down from my pursuit, but I wouldn't until I heard from her that she hated me and I could see in her eyes it was true. Her eyes would cause me to respect her decision. But I suspected that she would see my sincerity, even if I desired to brutally take out my feelings on her body. Pummeling her insides and injecting my honest lust and need into her. I'd take my time with her if she were still a virgin. It mattered not if she was or wasn't, though jealousy over what unknown men she was with now pricked me. It mattered not, only that she became mine. I would be supremely lucky to have a mate that is both human and fae. Delicate and intensely strong, able to withstand my ministrations but also yield to me. However, I would take her any way she happened to be. With her at my side I would no longer be obsessed, dismissive of my duties and reputation as I had been. There would be a sense of completion.
Niall.
He would not have her. Not without her choice of being with me. I knew that the prince would twist and turn his words in order to serve his purpose, whatever that may be in regards to Sookie. The fae are the one race of people that you can never expect to be straightforward. While fairies cannot lie, they are masters of manipulation. That I had not detected deceptive words from Niall on our call told me that he fully expected to win. This was the root of my desire to kill him. His arrogance, his disregard for Sookie's future, that made me desperate to eliminate him.
"Father!" Willa burst through the door and her interruption was very unwelcome.
"Why don't you love me?" Her cries were loud enough to be heard by all the supes in my bar. Angering me further than her abrupt entrance had.
"Willa I command you to obey Pam as your maker. You will proceed to the basement for your punishment."
"What have I done to deserve…"
"You will not speak!" I roared, standing up and slamming my fist onto my desk.
"I have tired of you. There was a time that I was weak and had guilt over your irrational needs. But there is a truth you must know, and that is that you are turning out to be a failure of a vampire. Your lack of independence is unflattering. You disappoint me, Willa." Pam was already leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed with an excited look on her face. Yes, it was an excellent idea to hand Willa over to Pam.
"I command you to go to the basement Willa." My child took over, leading Willa away while she sobbed. She provoked only frustration in me. I would need a new desk from my storage where I kept multiple replicas of them. Smashing them to pieces had been a more common occurrence as of late.
***Sookie***
"Richard." He looked up from his desk, eyes red rimmed with exhaustion and wide with surprise.
"You came."
"Yes. We did. Richard, this is Godric." At that, Richard raised his hand and his index finger before swiveling around in his chair to face his computer. I knew he was going to look up Godric's name to see what was in the system. His eyes were glued to the screen, flicking back and forth. Godric sighed and sat down in front of the desk while I stayed standing behind him, ready for anything that might harm the vampire, including Richard.
"Gaul. 2,000 years, no known progeny. Sheriff of an area in Texas. Deceased."
"So they say." Godric flashed his coy smile.
"Amazing." The doctor was wistful. He straightened up, seeming to remember something. "How did you get in here? You appeared, tell me how? Please?"
"It's a fae gift. We teleport, sometimes."
"I've never heard of it. Why have I never heard of it? Who is your family?"
"You know Godric will glamor you into not remembering what I tell you, yes?"
"Yes, but give me this moment, please. There is not much else left." I watched his body tense and felt with a brush of Audite the weight of his perceived failures and the loss of any future for himself. He was close to accepting death. If he lived until the next moment, so be it. But his continued life was an improbability to him.
"I am Niall's great-granddaughter. He is prince of the sky fae. My training has included a great many things, which includes portaling, shielding, concealing my appearance or changing it, seeing magic, creating life, calling other fae creatures, binding them to me and using my light as a weapon. A few of them I have not learned or not as well as I could."
"Show me who you are?" He begged. I sighed and decloaked. Watching him take me in I could see him look at me in worshipful awe and I read his mind to try and experience what he was seeing. The bells in my hair were captivating, their tiny sounds sounding like so many crystals tinkling together. The sharper curves of my face, my silver skin, the silvered teeth and claws abruptly killed his previous perception of me. I saw my eyes in his, a distant and alien creature staring back at the human. He wanted to dive in and never rise.
For Richard, I had always been somewhere between a reliable depository for his stresses or a tool. Now he knew he had always been beneath me and that he had made a mistake in his position with me. Not because he should have capitalized on our relationship for personal gain, but that he knew then that he did not know as well as he thought he did about the supernatural. He could have learned from me, pursued his dreams of uniting the fae with his world without the bureaucracy. Instead he let his position restrict him from seeing what was in front of him.
"Though she be but little, she is fierce." Richard whispered, quoting Shakespeare as a means of describing to himself that I was an irritating young hybrid to him, but that he had neglected to see my true nature as a fae. I had been considered little.
I reached down to put both palms onto Godric's shoulder to ground myself in his silence. It caused him to crane his head around to look at me with affection as he patted one of my hands.
"It is unheard of to see a vampire and fae so close. You are lovers?" I bristled, my mouth parting to reveal the sharper parts of my fangs.
"He is mine as a father. As I am his as a daughter." Humans were constantly fractured from their families these days, and it would be difficult to explain to him the necessity of a family to a fae. It was even more strange to realize I was not looking forward to seeing my fairy family at all.
"So I see. I am sorry for my disrespect." Richard submissively hung his head, recognizing how precarious it was to irritate Godric or I.
"We should leave. You have room for the books?" I said impassively.
"Some, but I can see your bag will fit the rest." He got up and started packing them away in his bag and I stepped over to help.
Godric stood up, stiffening.
"We must leave. Now. Where is the exit Richard?"
"Oh, yes. It's difficult to get to…"
"Think of what it looks like and I will go there." I said, zipping up the bag. Richard uncomfortably did so as Godric vamped up to me and put his hand on my arm and Richard's. Grabbing the bags, we were now in front of a locked tunnel.
"Before we go, there is something I must take care of." My voice was hard, and both of the men looked at me carefully.
"You won't be killing anyone, right?" Richard was trying to hide his shock and fear with indignation.
"It's not up to you what I do Richard. I will be done in a few minutes. The longer we stand here speaking the less time we have to get out of here without being seen or discovered." Richard spluttered and started gesturing.
"You can't just-" Godric put an arm on his shoulder and squeezed, using his grip to turn Richard away from him confronting me.
"We will stay here and wait. If she says there is something she must do, then it will be done." His words were as solid as rock, not to be debated. My will be done. I smiled at Godric and popped away to a spot that I knew would be empty this time of day. Granted, I was risking the possibility it wouldn't. And that would mean I'd be killing more people instead of one.
Audite spread itself wide, utilizing my light to amplify its effects. Mind-reading on crack. From the thoughts around the base I knew that David and the other Weres' bodies had been found, along with the scent of vampire. Jumping in and out of minds I got the general consensus on the story: somehow, a vampire slipped in and killed them, taking me along with. The Weres who had found them removed the offending sexual items brought with and stuck with their story, not letting anyone suspect that I must have been working with the vampire.
Finally, I found Hodges amongst several Weres, like a ripe berry in the middle of a bramble bush.
Tick-tock Sookie.
I looked around, trying to find something that would act as a distraction to remove the Weres from the room. Fire alarms and sprinklers were the obvious choice. Using my hands, I allowed my magic to bubble up and sent it gently up to the ceiling, telling it to heat. I was satisfied with a burst of water and I portaled away to another spot so as to not get any more wet than I was.
I could feel several minds running towards the source of the "fire". Only two Weres from Hodges' unit left. The rest stayed put.
Well damnit.
There weren't a lot of options that I could think of now. Besides killing the lot of them, which was undesirable. At the same time, they probably wouldn't be here that long anyway. Still, there had to be a better way.
It came to me in a flash. Velum! I knew it had to be a person I could recall in great detail and it wouldn't do to use Godric or Richard. That left me with Jannalyn, and I had to hope she wouldn't be present. It was easy enough to imitate her voice, so I figured I'd try to call Hodges first to get him alone rather than going there myself.
Thankfully I'd taken my phone with me so I could make the call to Hodges.
"Anderson?"
"No sir, Jannalyn. I found her body… The vampire… She suffered a lot before she went and she doesn't deserve to be seen like this by everyone. Maybe come alone. Hallway B, section 15"
"Very well. When we're finished you'll report to your lieutenant about walking around without your phone. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir." I hung up and waited. The group of Weres and Hodges started to move. If the whole pack of them came with, I'd pop out before they reached me. Hodges was probably bringing them close, but not all the way.
Sure enough, as they neared, the soldiers stopped in place and Hodges moved onward. He was in hallway A, ready to turn the corner. When he did, it stood empty before him and I had apparated behind him. My hand flat on his back, I took us to his office. Despite his military training, he couldn't reach my hand before I wrapped him up in light and pinned him to a wall. He didn't say a word or let out more than a wheeze as I used my magic to melt the door into place. No one was getting in, and he was not getting out.
Ugly. His face was hideous with rage. Like the prisoner he knew himself to be, he didn't bother to speak. I sighed. I didn't want to kill him. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Looking at him sitting here, helpless, made this worse. He was only a man caught up in ignorance that he couldn't even be blamed for. That he had to die because of what he knew about me was my fault.
"When they come for you, they'll glamor you to tell them everything. If you mention me, it puts my life in danger. And you won't be able to stop them from getting inside your head." My words were quiet, as they should be when you tell someone why they're about to die.
"They're not getting in." He said succinctly. God, the man deserved a chance to live. It wasn't much of a chance, but it was his life. I hadn't used the book to delve any further into Audite, relying on what power I had now to be sufficient. But I should be able to modify his mind to eliminate the information. If I could, I'd have to find a way to explain the melted door. Maybe setting the room on fire would do. I also had to consider if there was any other way I could protect him. If he had military secrets, the vampires would want those too.
"I'm going to try something ok?" My eyes closed, not waiting for his response. I went deeper into his head than I'd ever gone into another's. Back then, I wasn't as strong at going into minds. I could only hear what people thought as they thought it. Now, Hodges lay open in front of me, his memories an organized palace. Everything was readily available for my consumption.
What toy did Hodges love the most at five years of age?
A little red train.
Who first broke his heart?
Meredith.
I purused his memories of me and "plucked" at them before pulling back. It seemed best to start with an innocuous memory, something he wouldn't miss. There was a snapshot of him looking out into the traffic of a big city and he had no emotional attachment to the memory. It was just something that got stuck in his head. I grabbed it and started pulling it with Audite and it popped out like a petal might be pulled from a flower. When I let go of it, it floated away into nothing and the remaining memories coalesced themselves around the empty space, making it look like nothing was ever missing at all.
So that was the easy part. But I'd have to modify his memories now and make them different. Or at least tamper with his mind enough that he couldn't give any vampires the information if he were glamored. It didn't take long to find his recent memories of me and it was interesting to watch me through his perspective.
I took out Hodges' correspondence regarding having me classified as a weapon. This removed the entire string of him knowing who I was and him having any leverage on Richard. That still left his troops thinking that their superior officer had successfully taken over a particular personnel of Dark City that should have always been his.
I had a stroke of genius then and decided that if I could, I was going to add that the person Richard was protecting and that Hodges had taken over command of, was a vampire. Who was then staked of course. No body, neatly deals with the dead Weres and explains the vampire scent. I cautiously eased myself into the slowly closing space where his previous memories had been and willed something to take their place. It didn't work.
Crap. Now what?
"You won't get away with this you know." God help me I snorted. He had just said the classic hero line to the person he thought was the villain. At least now he didn't know why I was there.
"Look buster. I'm not a saint, but I'm trying to do my best to not have to kill you, so just keep quiet for a bit, ok?"
As I listened to him struggle against his bonds, I went to work on all the information that the military had given him about Dark City, its contents and any other important meetings. I let Hodges brain guide me to those, asking it to take me to the right memories. One by one those disappeared too. I had to hope it didn't cause problems later. As for making new memories, I had given up on that idea and decided I would just have to leave his head as it was after removing his enmity for Richard over me.
Portaling out to Richard's office, I released Hodges of his bonds and stole the last memories of me being in the room. No one was too near us as I did all this, but I knew his troops would be headed back this way and they'd know that something was messed up with their commander's head once they got into his room.
"Where's the body?" "What body?" "You know, the one Jannalyn said would be there." "Oh, there's no body."
I could only imagine how that conversation would go. Now I was thinking of Jannalyn. I had to trust she wasn't a loose end. Instead of pursuing her, I decided to go back and check on Godric and Richard.
***Pam***
"I did watch the entire Harry Potter series once, all the way through. Humans have a complete lack of understanding about the supernatural. Wouldn't you agree Willa?"
I could hear her whimper pathetically and I mourned that she had no sense of humor. Frankly, the crazy things that humans came up with these days were a wonderful distraction. Dear Abby says it's good to have hobbies and keep busy. But, dearest Abby has never had to deal with a shitty progeny who didn't know how to be a good vampire. Maybe I would write in.
"Never the mind. If I wanted your opinion, I'd give it to you." I walked over to my table of tools. Willa had insufficient blood to heal herself as normal, which is when the fun always begins. I had a nice pair of butchering shears that stood out to me and I snatched them up.
"One thing I loved was when that heinously dressed woman who was torn apart by those half-horse half-human people had Harry write with a pen that drew his own blood for ink. I don't have anything near as magical unfortunately. Not even Eric's money can buy me that."
Pouting, I sat on the chair I had placed in front of Willa's shackled body.
"Now, you may think all of this cruel, but really we're only clearing out a backlog of punishment. It's this or you are shackled inside a coffin for a decade with blood given once every three months. This is the fairer option, believe me. And I'm an expert at punishment, so you know you're in good hands."
Willa blinked, and the sound of her eyelids moving was the only indication that she had heard me.
My voice took on a conciliatory timbre.
"When I was first punished, Eric told me I could only have a mouthful of blood a week from sickly humans, for six months. I had questioned him in front of an elder vampire." Setting the shears on my lap, I pulled out my nail file. There was no excuse for not being immaculate, even during the discipline of another vampire.
"The second time, we were leaving a town, having overstayed our welcome. The vermin were suspicious. But I, I had stalked my prey for several days and was not about to be deprived of the kill. Instead of meeting him at our rendezvous point, I snuck away and went back to the hunt. As I finished I knew that I had jeopardized us and that I would suffer the consequences for my actions. Do you want to know what he did?"
Nothing. I sighed in agitation. Vampires these days. Not a shred of dignity or a spine to speak of.
"Don't be rude Willa." I vamped over and pushed her head up with my hand. Disappointingly, there was no fire inside her eyes. This punishment had been designed to awaken it. I had needed to be cured of my impudence, but Willa needed to rid herself of the disease that is dependence. Indigent behavior in a vampire would see them staked.
"Do you want to know what he did?" I asked again.
Just respond, you twit.
Instead more blood oozed out of her eyes.
"You might want to save that darling, you'll need it." My chair creaked slightly when I sat back down. Reminder to talk to Ginger about that. Creaking chairs left a bad impression on guests.
"I'm going to tell you what he did anyway. He said I had a problem with respect for him as a maker. A child relies on their maker to make the right decisions for them." Silent for a moment, I waited for Willa to process what I'd said.
"My problem is my impudence. My sass, as they so love to call it here in the south. This beautiful mouth of mine has gotten me into trouble. Now I'm old enough to be mouthy, but without Eric I would never have made it here today." I didn't wait to hear that she understood before continuing.
"Your problem is the opposite of mine. Your reliant and clinging ways stink of weakness. It seems you've been trying to stick your head so far up Eric's ass that you haven't heard one iota of what others are saying about Eric."
She jerked her head up at that.
"You're listening now? Good." I purred as I heard the chains move slightly in response.
"As punishment, he cut off my hands, hair, nose, and ears. I was quite young so it took a month to regrow these appendages enough to be seen in public without the vermin screaming in terror at the sight of me. During that time I was wholly dependent on Eric to take care of me. I learned that you must trust your maker with your life. As a baby vampire, I had that fresh new feeling of immortality and power. My maker showed me what an empty truth it was. We can die, be maimed, be made weak, just like a human. It is important to remember that we came from them, and that underneath the human still lurks. But that we can be better by using our self control to survive and learn." I paused, remembering how hard won some of the lessons on being a vampire had been. The temptation of 'forever' had me throwing my arms open to the world and asking if I could drain it dry. Eric taught me that not everything was for draining and fucking. We were to stay hidden, take the blood of those who would not be missed if we accidentally killed, don't rely on emotions or the instinct to kill, to learn strategy and self control as well as trust our bloodline. As I aged, I watched other vampires who had failed to learn these lessons be staked by humans or otherwise executed by the authority. Eric had held me in check until I could truly see what the consequences would be if I failed to listen to reason.
"The biggest blow was to my pride and vanity, not my body. It restricted me to a hut and made me ugly and helpless. It was the ideal penance." My heels clicked on the floor as I carried the butcher shears over to Willa.
"Now, back to Harry Potter. We may not have a quill that draws your blood, but I can cut off the tips of your fingers so you are able to write 'I will not question my Master' fifty times on the wall."
As I said this, I shoved my hand over Willa's mouth to catch the impending scream. Her tiny fangs pushed against my palm as she did so, howling in fear. Eric should have stuck with blondes. Willa was no savvy Skipper to my badass Barbie.
***Sookie***
I popped in front of Godric and Richard, the latter of whom freaked out upon seeing me.
"It's ok Richard." I said plainly.
"He's… You…?"
"No Richard, he's not dead. I just took his memories." Godric raised an eyebrow at me.
"You can do that?" My erstwhile boss practically shouted.
"Yes, I can. And if you want to get out of here alive, you need to shut up. Like now. Let me get this thing open." I walked over to the entrance of the tunnel, noting its metal doors and the long bar that was locked into place over it.
I pushed my light out so it would flow into the lock, finding the gears and pins to open it. The lock clicked and Godric moved in to lift up the bar that blocked the door.
"This tunnel is several miles long and leads to a well hidden grate. There is a waterfall over it, and it is barely surpassable by human means." Richard chimed in, trying to stop being a hinderance with his questions.
"Ok. Godric, carry me as far as you can to the entrance and then I will portal back to retrieve you Richard."
"There are zapper chains in the way and the tunnel is lined with the usual metals." I looked at Richard as he quailed under my irritated gaze.
"It's going to be ok Richard, just tell me how many."
"Even I don't know." I thought for a moment. It was dark in here and there were no lights. I couldn't apparate past the chains and iron lining of the tunnel.
"The door here is the same assortment of metals?" Richard mutely nodded.
"Damn. We will just have to go as quickly as we can and leave this door open. Richard in front. You will have to help pick up the chains. Know that I am not allergic to iron, but it does bother me and restrict my teleportation. If you should attempt to hurt Godric, you will find yourself dead. Am I clear?" He nodded frantically. This was not a situation Richard had ever found himself in, and he had no patterns of behavior to fall back on.
We walked for some time, Richard carefully moving aside the chains as Godric and I ducked through. Soon I could sense the fresh air and water creeping in and I resisted the urge to run to it. The grate was reached soon enough and Godric studied how it was carefully drilled into the rocks.
"I can push this off without collapsing the tunnel, but I can't seal it back up afterwards." Godric said blandly.
"Realistically, the city won't make it more than another week or two." I mused.
"You really believe this? We have troops here and many weapons designed to eliminate vampires. I can't see how…" Richard was only a human, and he didn't have much fortitude. Never a warrior like I was learning to be, his identity consisted of where he lived, what he did and what he knew. The former two of which had rapidly disappeared, with the latter soon to be taken away by glamor.
"I spent a lot of time tracking and killing vampires Richard. If anyone here is qualified to know what they can and cannot do, it is Godric and I. Godric?"
"Her estimate is accurate. The frequency of the glamored Weres proves that they've found your personnel supply chain. I have seen the UV lights on the ceilings as we have walked to the training facility, but it won't matter. It would take one Were to flip off the generator and from there it would be chaos. Vampires are able to fight in complete darkness. They will make endless progeny to send in first before they allow any of their stronger players to enter."
"It's truly over then." The dejected look on his face told me how close he was to shutting down and potentially being more of a burden to our escape.
"Buck up Richard. We'll make sure you live a good life after this."
"It won't be one of my making." His depression was palpable.
"We'll do our best to find something reasonable for you." I said sympathetically.
"Let us leave here first and get to safety before dawn. Then we can discuss any future plans, yes?" My vampire was the voice of reason, reminding me that we weren't out of the woods yet. The soldiers would discover that Richard was gone and Hodges was locked up in his room.
"I'm taking the grate off now." Godric nodded to me before looking back out towards the water and pushing the grate out. It clattered down the rockface and was enveloped by the water below. It smelled so very good outside. It'd been ages since I'd seen the sun or felt the air on my body.
"You're glowing. Why're you glowing. Godric? Why's she glowing!?" The human nattered away, ruining the moment.
"Because I'm a fae Richard, and sometimes, we just glow!" Our burgeoning fight was interrupted by a couple of splashes on the rock overlooking the water. Two tiny and wet humanoid bodies were pulling themselves up from their bellies with their hands from where they had landed. We all stood frozen in place, taking in the little fins and flipper hands before we saw their faces. Cat-like hisses exuded from their tiny fanged mouths and they launched themselves forward.