A/N: Alrighty, folks, this one here is a super duper long one, and I really hope that you enjoy it. Thanks for the great reviews for the last chapter. I'm thrilled that you've all stuck with me for so long.
Special thanks: EtheHunter looked this over. And at 20 pages, over 10k words – I've written one-shots shorter than this! – let me tell you, that's a feat in itself. She is wonderful and amazing. Any remaining mistakes are all mine. Please forgive me.
Disclaimer: Charlaine Harris is the one who makes all the money. Please don't take my microwave; it hardly works as it is.
Previously...
"Just remember, Sookie dear, you asked for this."
Metal sparked in the roadside light, and I caught the glint of a needle. Bill held it aloft, pressing on the plunger to clear it of air, and a stream of liquid shot out of the tip. I struggled harder. Bill pushed me down with one hand and stuck the needle in my neck. It stung cold for all of three seconds, then there was only darkness.
Consciousness returned in varying degrees. At first it was just sounds, muffled and unintelligible. It sounded more like running water, like a rain storm with crashes of occasional thunder. My neck pinched in pain as I tried to move my head and discern the sounds. I was out again.
Next I saw flickers of light. My ears didn't seem to be working that time. Or, if they were, they'd been stuffed with cotton. I blinked sporadically, trying to clear the haze from my eyes. I caught a flash of gold. Red. A chair in the distance. Windows. Windows everywhere.
A loud bang sounded and I awoke once more. Shouting sounded. Many voices. I squinted. Closed my eyes. Opened them. I couldn't see a thing. It was either pitch dark or they'd covered my eyes. I tried to listen with more than just my ears, but I couldn't make out any thoughts, much less any of the conversation that was occurring in the distance.
Where was I? I had to get out of here. I struggled to move, realizing I was bound. My arms stretched painfully above my head. My legs felt even more extended since they were spread wide. I could hear chains rattle, feel metal tearing at my skin, as I fought against them.
Whatever drug Bill had given me was damn good. Seconds or minutes later, I was unconscious again. Every move I'd made seemed to take all of my strength.
Something struck my face, and I moaned in protest, my head lolling to the side. A slap sounded, and I felt it again. Harder. I grunted in pain.
"Someone wake her up."
"M'up," I mumbled. "Stop hittin me."
I blinked, squinting at the lights. My eyes burned. My head throbbed. My hands and feet felt all tingly. I'd been in this position for a while. I groaned again, trying to shake myself out of my stupor. I felt like I'd drunk a gallon of whisky, spiked with vodka. Maybe topped with a gallon or twelve of good old fashioned moonshine.
"There you are," a soft voice purred. My eyes rolled around, finally landing on a young girl with red hair. "I've waited a long time to meet you, Ms. Stackhouse. A long time indeed."
This was the Queen? This little girl? I laughed uncontrollably.
SPOV
You know how they say, when you die, your entire life will flash before your eyes? I'd always been curious about that. How could so much life play out in so little time? Why, when death is inevitable, would what you'd accomplished, or failed to accomplish for that matter, be of such importance to a person?
As I laughed like a maniac in the face of the vampire Queen of Louisiana, I saw my death in her eyes and waited for that slide-reel to begin.
Nothing happened, of course, and maybe that was because I wasn't destined to die at that precise moment. I remained a skeptic regardless. I doubted very much that I'd be thinking about the life I'd led when the time of my death finally did arrive. Mostly because, oh hell, because I'd be about to die!
"What is wrong with her?" the Queen asked, sending me into another round of hysterics. "What the hell did you give her, Bill?"
And because I was fool enough to laugh in the face of death. "You're...?" I laughed, cutting it off into a snicker. "You're the Queen?" Or maybe something in the drug Bill gave me had made me nuts. It probably didn't help that I was a little crazy to begin with. "How old are you? Twelve?"
She smiled at me, and there was not an ounce of friendliness in that smile at all. It was all teeth and fangs and murder. Her eyes were not twelve. Not anywhere close. Still, I chuckled.
She tapped a nail on one fang, looking thoughtful. My laughter ceased as soon as she used her other hand to scrape her nails down my cheek. I cried out, even as much as I fought not to. I could feel my blood trickle down to my chin.
"Not so funny now, hmm?" Then she was laughing. It was like a child, only not. There was something wrong in her tinkling laughter that chilled me. She licked her fingers clean of my blood, nipping with her fangs at my skin beneath her nails. "Mmm," she purred. "Now that is a treat I hadn't expected. You taste divine."
"What do you want from me?" I rasped, biting back my tears. I would not give her those. I would not give her the satisfaction. Eric hadn't told me what she'd done to Pam, but I had a very vivid imagination. Whatever it was, Queen Sophie-Anne had enjoyed it.
She stepped closer, her round face the picture of early adolescence, and leaned to lick my scratched cheek. I could already feel that it had stopped bleeding, so it was a positive thing for me to realize Eric's blood was still working in my system. I needed all the help I could get.
"Hadley was sweet," she purred, "But you taste better."
I closed my eyes. I'm not sure why it hurt as bad as it did to hear that it had been Hadley who sold me out. I just know it hurt. Nothing I could do about it now, I supposed. Was Hadley alive? Was she here somewhere? More worry to go on top of everything else I was trying to deal with. I tried to shut it all down. One thing at a time. First, I needed to get out of here.
"Let me go." It never hurt to ask, right? Even if it was hopeless.
Her tinkling voice was a whisper in my ear, "I have a gift for you, Sookie." She took a step back, then called out, "Andre." She stepped back a little further, extending her arms to the side, and her green gown flowed like silk away from her limbs.
I took advantage of the space to get a better look at the room I was being held in. Wall-to-wall windows, save the one I was strapped to, but it was night, so I couldn't see a thing outside them. There was a slightly raised dais just across from me, holding one chair of an elaborate gold with a single red pillow as cushion. The floors were marble and white. Not what I would have chosen, but I wasn't the one in charge of decorating.
Bill stood slightly to my left, near one wall of windows, and behind his dear Queen. His face was relaxed, bored even. Behind him was... something. A table, maybe? It was covered with a gaudy red and gold cloth, so I couldn't tell exactly.
A door opened behind me. Footsteps sounded. I caught sight of a male, vampire from the brain signature, in my peripheral. He tugged another behind him, human. I dove into the brain as soon as it stepped in the room. Even glamoured I knew who it was, before I could see her with my eyes.
"Tara," I whispered, feeling all the air leave my lungs. I'd screwed up majorly, fighting Bill off as I had. Then again, maybe they would have captured her all along.
The vampire I could only assume was Andre walked further into the room, pausing to give me a once over, and then lift his chin as if he weren't impressed. He didn't look much older than the Queen in human years, but there was something infinitely more sinister in that expression of his. That, they had in common. His eyes, though, those were familiar. I wracked my brain and came up empty.
Behind him, Tara walked zombie-like, a chain around her neck. Andre tugged on his end of her leash, and I flinched as she stumbled. Then she was upright again, as if she had merely tripped. She walked over to where Andre had stopped, directly beside the Queen, and knelt down. When Andre put his hand in Tara's hair, stroking her like a kitten and exposing her neck in the process, I made a face. Her puncture wounds dripped with fresh blood.
"Look at that, Andre," Sopie-Anne purred. "Such beautiful anger. Her lovely eyes are filled with hate. It smells delicious, does it not?" I didn't think vampire's could smell emotion, but that she said it made me frown.
Andre licked his lips. "May I taste her now?" The look he gave me promised violence. The one I gave him promised the same, despite the precarious situation I was in. Once I got out of here, I was going to kill Andre.
"Patience," she chided.
Andre stomped a foot. "You promised me!" I snickered.
The Queen gave me a sweet smile. "Something funny?"
"Yes," I thought, biting my lip as soon as I realized I'd said it aloud. I backtracked. "Not really. Let her go. It's me you want."
"It is," she said, still smiling. "However, I think we'll keep your dark-meat friend here. Just for a while. You've been a lot of trouble, Ms. Stackhouse. I do hope you're worth it."
"I'm not," I said, ready to spit nails. "I'm really a lot more trouble than I'm worth. You should just let me go now."
Sophie-Anne let out that disturbing giggle again. "My, but you are a persistent thing, aren't you?" She placed a hand over my open mouth to keep me from speaking again. "Take a good look at Andre, dear, does he look familiar?"
I looked over at the vampire who was glaring in my direction. His fangs were clearly displayed. He did look familiar, but... "I can't say that he does."
Andre looked even more angered by that for whatever reason. "Care to know his last name?" the queen sang. "I'm quite sure you're smart enough to figure the rest out from there."
"Well, it's not Stackhouse," I said. No one in my family had eyes like that.
"No," she agreed, chuckling. I didn't like the sound of this laugh. It was even creepier than the childish giggle. "It is McGregor."
And just like that, my world tilted on its axis. It was in the eyes, the same strange green. His skin, too, with those slight freckles, noticeable even in his pale vampire skin. Andre's hair was more brown than red, which had hidden his kinship. Phillip had obviously been the older brother, even as young as he'd been.
"Very pleased to meet you," I said through my teeth. I could feel my pulse race, but little could be done to settle it. He had Tara, my Tara, leashed up like some animal by his side. I didn't have to hear it to see the threat.
"Bitch," he sneered. What was it with the Mcgregor brothers needing to call girls bitches all the time? "I will hear you scream."
I had no doubt he would. Still... "Not as loud as your brother did." I did just say that out loud, didn't I? I tugged at my chains, jerking back as Andre jumped forward to attack.
Sophie-Anne pulled him up short. His fangs snapped in my face, and I could see his saliva dripping from the deadly tips. "Now, now," she tutted. "You'll get to have your fun in just a moment."
I tried to regulate my breathing, but it was a lost cause. I was nearing panic. I knew what was coming. Maybe I couldn't read vampire minds, but I'd learned a thing or two about their expressions. More exactly, I'd learned to read their eyes. Andre was going to make me scream, and his queen was going to let him. My only solace was that Sophie-Anne had went through a hell of a lot of trouble to get me, so I doubted very much she'd allow him to kill me. Anything short of that, on the other hand, was green.
"He desires to mete out justice, you see?" She walked closer, flipping a lock of her strawberry-blond hair behind her shoulder. She could have been their sister, but I didn't think that was the case. Her eyes were different. Older in vampire years. "Your life for his brother's."
I stayed silent, tugging hard on my chains. They were sturdy. Probably built into the walls, the foundation, for just this sort of thing. How the hell could I get out of here? It was hopeless. For now.
"But I've worked too hard to get you here to let you die now," she continued, confirming my thoughts. "Your friend, on the other hand..." she winked.
"You leave Tara alone. Leave her alone or I'll – "
"You'll what? Rattle your chains at me?" Sophie-Anne giggled. "Glare angrily at me? Spew empty threats with that big, lovely mouth of yours." She had a point. I bit my lip. "Hmm. We'll spare Tara for the moment. It's been a while since Andre has had his very own pet to play with," she threatened. "I'm sure he'll enjoy his time with her."
I had no idea what that would entail, I only knew it would be bad, not enjoyable for Tara at all. I was grateful she was at least glamoured, and it sickened me to be grateful for such a thing. I sagged against my chains, feeling helpless. There wasn't a thing I could do to help her.
"I'll do whatever it is you want," I sighed. "Whatever you want."
"Oh, I know you will," the Queen said, stepping into my line of sight. Her delicate nose nearly touched mine as she spoke again. "But I have one more... present for you. This, I'm certain, will guarantee your total cooperation." I didn't like the sound of that. She grabbed my face, yanked my head so I was looking directly at the table in the corner of the room. "Bill."
His expression shifted; it was the first I'd seen even a hint of emotion on his face. Bill looked positively thrilled.
A swift tug at the cloth covering it revealed what lay beneath. My gasp was audible, an echo in the sparsely decorated room. My heart gave three rapid thumps, then slowed to something full of dread. I felt my stomach flip, acid churned. I stopped breathing.
Eric was naked, spread out like a feast of flesh on the long table. Silver shackled his ankles, his wrists and neck. His skin looked pallid, sunken in and splotched with dark, bruise-like patches around his eyes and cheeks.
It looked like they'd nearly drained him, then strapped him down with silver. It didn't look like he could move regardless of the restraints. He looked finally dead. If not for the tiny blip of awareness I felt inside me, I would have feared him so. I'd felt it before, but it had been so faint I hadn't recognized it for what it was. Besides all that, he was unconscious. I forced myself to inhale.
"The two of you have caused me a great headache, I'm afraid," she said, watching my reaction very carefully. I'd tried to control it, but I did not succeed. A tear rolled down my cheek. "You cry for him, how pathetic." Her cold tongue pressed firmly against my skin as she licked away my tear. I shuddered, closing off my emotions and locking them away deep inside. They'd do me no good. Not here. Not now. "I should kill him," she continued, offhandedly.
"What difference does it make?" I asked, hearing the lifelessness in my own voice. It was harder, deeper than I'd ever heard it. "I'm yours now."
"How nice of you to say," she said dryly. "Andre," she called. He sped forward, leaving Tara where she sat. "Break their bond."
"Bond?" What bond? If we'd bonded, it wasn't anything that could be broken. I hadn't wanted to like Eric in the beginning, but it'd happened anyway. He'd grown on me like a damn fungus, and now... Well, Eric wasn't a fungus.
"You did not know?" she asked. "Curious." I looked at her, tried to read her thoughtful expression, but failed.
"It would be easier to kill him now," Andre suggested. His eyes were all for me, and they were not friendly. I wasn't a vampire, but even I could scent the hate he emanated.
My eyes flicked back to Eric. Seeing him there, like that, did things to me that I'm not even sure I could define. He'd always been powerful in my eyes, full of life, deadly. Strong. Seeing him weak, near death, a mere ghost of what I knew him to be, disturbed me greatly.
"Perhaps," the queen said.
"Don't kill him," I begged.
Whatever they did to me would be done, but I couldn't live with myself if anymore died because of me. Tara, Eric. Sam, who'd they had yet to mention. I was sure they knew he meant something to me, because Bill had been very thorough in his studies. Rene. God, what had happened to him? I'd passed out, so I had no clue.
Eric. Something ached as I stared at him. Something felt raw and broken. Get up, I thought at him. Get up. They say hope is a thing with feather, and I felt mine fluttering away as I looked at Eric. Please, get up.
"How sweet," Andre snarled. My eyes snapped to his. I had the brief satisfaction of seeing him flinch. Whatever he saw in my eyes frightened him, if only for a moment. "I say kill we him."
The queen hummed as she paced in front of me. "We have two options," she said, looking at me. "I kill Eric – one of my best sheriff's – to break your blood bond. Or..." she paused, for dramatic affect, I think. "Or, you blood bond with another."
"I don't know what a blood bond is," I responded. I didn't need them to know how desperate I was to keep Eric alive. I feared they'd only kill him because of it.
"Thrice blood exchanged," Sophie-Anne informed me, a hint of an accent turning her words formal. "Drink for a drink, creates a bond. Three times and there is only two ways one can break it, for a bond is formed between human and vampire."
I thought about it. Eric had not told me what it would do, but I knew I'd had his blood three times. As he'd had mine. Our last exchange had been the third, and I'd felt a slight change in our connection, but I hadn't suspected anything strange about it. I'd opened myself up to him in other ways, and I'd assumed that was why.
"How do you break it?" I asked. I'd think about all that later, and how it changed things, if at all. More important was what could I do about it now? Not a damn thing.
"Kill one and the tie breaks," she said grinning. "Bond with Andre and it will sever."
The lesser of two evils was still evil. "I will bond with Andre."
"Very well." She waved a hand in the air. "Take that one away," she said to Bill while pointing at Eric. "I will deal with him later. So much trouble." She shook her head. "If it weren't for his age and connections, I would have killed him long ago."
From the look in her eyes, I got the feeling she thought Eric was a threat to her throne. Maybe he was at one time, and maybe he could be again, but as I looked at him being rolled from the room, it was hard to picture. I was more a threat to her now, and that was saying something.
Sophie-Anne walked over to that ridiculous chair and sat down, curling her tiny legs beneath her. It made her look even more child-like, but the expression on her face was ruthless and cunning. Not like a child. Excitement burned in her eyes, and I felt fear race with the blood through my veins.
Andre stepped between us.
If the Queen had a taste for flesh, then Andre downright hungered for it. I froze, my heart thumping like a rhythmic drum. I felt each pump against my chest. What was to come would not be as simple as a blood exchange, nor would it be as pleasurable as what I'd experienced with Eric. Even the instance of my staking, when he'd healed me, would seem warm and fuzzy compared to whatever Andre had in mind.
My eyes flicked to Tara, sitting as if nothing were happening around her at all. From the swirling thoughts in her mind, I could tell she wasn't aware. Still... I craned my neck to peek at Sophie-Anne. "She doesn't need to be here for this. Let her go. Send her away."
Andre snarled, but I ignored him.
"She is his to do with as he pleases," she said, bobbing her head toward Andre. "Consider it penance." She smiled, wicked and delirious. "For his brother's life, I give him hers."
It was what I'd known. But hearing it put into those exact words made it real, made it inescapable. I sagged against the chains, trying not to cry. I'd been stupid. So stupid. Why, oh why, did I have to fight? Why couldn't I just have gone willingly, without putting up such a struggle? It hurt worse knowing Tara's fate had been in my hands and I'd sent her straight to hell.
"I'm just a telepath," I said, hearing the defeat in my voice. "Just a damn telepath." I couldn't even read vampire minds for Christ's sake!
"Oh, darling," the queen sang from her perch, "You're so much more than that to me. There are no limits to what I can obtain. Now, I can have it all."
My eyes narrowed as I lifted them to hers. "You're mistaken," I said stiffly. "And your expectations of me are way too high."
She gave me the first friendly smile since we'd met. "You just let me worry about the politics of it. I'm very good at playing chess, especially in the vampire world."
I snorted. "I can tell." She'd checked my mate, that was for sure. Still, she'd sorely misconstrued my capabilities. "I'm just a mind-reader. I'm not a psychic. I've no other special powers. Rely on me too much, and you're bound to fail."
When she sped forward and stroked my cheek, I jerked back so hard I banged my head against the wall. "So much more than a telepath," she purred. "What's more is that you don't have a clue."
Andre looked as confused as I was by her words. "What does that mean?" We were both thinking it, I could tell, but he was the one that asked it.
"Never mind," she dismissed us both and returned to her seat. "You know the rules, Andre, my dear. Leave her alive."
Leave her alive. Words of comfort. I swallowed hard as Andre stepped closer, his eery green eyes in line with mine. I forgot all about trying to discern the queen's statement. My death was not in Andre's eyes, but I knew I'd wish for it before he was done with me.
His head tilted, as if curious. "He talked to me, you know?"
"Tell you about his boyfriend?" I knew without him saying it that he was speaking of Phillip. Well, I'd lost someone, too. It'd been eye for an eye. Though if I had it to do again, I'd have made Phillip suffer longer.
The corner of Andre's mouth tilted on one side. Creepiest smirk I'd ever seen. "Told me everything you did to him." His hand disappeared into the pocket of his trousers. I tried to contain my reaction. Failed. "Look familiar?"
He ran the tip of my dagger down the center of my shirt. The blade was sharp enough to slice it open. I focused on my lungs, each breath, in and out, nothing more. My hands clenched into fists around the chains holding me. I held tight to my restraints, stabilized my feet as best I could.
At least I knew what to expect now, I thought. The dagger I'd used to cut Phillip, to slice into his stomach like an apple pie, was firmly grasped in Andre's hand. Phillip had told his brother what I'd done to him. Andre had a reenactment planned.
"She's a beauty, no?" I asked, knowing my voice wavered. I would not scream for him. I would not. I grit my teeth.
Andre hissed, baring his fangs. "I will cut you, bitch." I made a face. Apparently, that was not what I was supposed to say. Whatever the fuck. I'd die before he heard me beg. "Just like you cut my brother." He leaned close enough that I could feel his body press against mine. He was excited. "And I'll enjoy it far more than you can imagine."
I tilted my head so I could press my lips against his cheek. My stomach turned, and I braced myself for Andre's wrath. I hissed in his ear. "Little pricks like you never last long." That he was aroused only made the insult sweeter.
He screamed loud and long, sounding more like a child than the monster I knew him to be. He stepped back enough to plant his right fist against my jaw. My head jerked to the side, my teeth rattling. I think I bit my tongue. Stars floated in my eyes. "How's that feel, you stupid cunt? How's that feel?"
It was a fucking task, but I rolled my head until I could meet Andre's eyes. I licked my teeth. Spat my blood in his face. "You hit like a girl."
Couple more hits like that, and he'd knock me the hell out. Which was what I was hoping for. Didn't work out like that, at least not at first. He shot forward, rammed into me like a damn tank. For something so small, he sure packed a punch. Then my blade was buried in my side, and it was all I could do to keep from puking on the bastard.
Pain made it impossible to make a sound, not even a cry escaped. The red-hot agony raced up my spine and paralyzed me. "Not laughing now, are you? Huh? Huh, bitch?" He pulled it out and struck again on the opposite side.
Fuck knocking me unconscious, Andre was going to kill me.
As soon as I'd had the thought, the Queen's laughing voice could be heard over the rush of blood in my ears. "Give it to her now, Andre, before you kill her."
I couldn't see his blood or where it came from, but I felt it, cool and sweet, thick on my tongue. I tried not to swallow much, spitting it as quickly as I could onto those pretty white marble floors. Some made it down, I feared.
Not that it mattered. "Drink, you stupid girl," Andre said, holding his hands over my mouth and nose, forcing me to swallow. His blood made me want to vomit. I gagged on it.
Just as I felt myself healing is when Andre picked up the dagger again. I'll spare you the gory details, because it was gory. He'd cut me up, or beat me half to death, and then heal me with his blood, just so he could do it all over again. I'm pretty sure he got off on it, but I'd sort of let go by that point.
I'm ashamed to admit it, but even as I look back on what I'd sacrificed, I don't think I would change it. When I felt the press of Andre's mind on mine, felt him forcing my will back, I gave it over willingly.
"I thought they said she couldn't be glamoured?" Andre asked.
I heard the Queen shift around, but she didn't come closer. I assumed she shrugged. I did not watch. Not that I could see anyway, through the constant haze of pain. "Maybe she's in shock."
"Whatever," Andre muttered, continuing with his blood rage.
It was easy to let it all go, let my mind slide into a different part of myself. A place where no one could hurt me. A place where everything in my world was right, and all the people I loved were living. Andre hadn't really glamoured me, not exactly, but I wasn't there, in that place of horror and blood and death, anymore either.
My session with Eric had taught me a thing or two, along with my sessions with Pam.
For me to be in control, at least at this place in time, I had to give up control. Eric had said a lot of things, done a lot of things, to try and force a reaction from me. I'd resisted a few times, but I'd never went completely inside myself as I did while Andre tortured me. I supposed, for me, it had to be life or death or I'd never be capable of relinquishing that much of myself.
Andre was a sick fuck, and he lost interest soon after I became less... bothered by his attempts. As Pam had said, there were vampires who enjoyed, took pleasure from, a person's pain. Andre was one of those.
It got worse for a little while there, when he grew frustrated by my lack of reaction, but after I passed out, he gave up. I'm not even sure when, that was how out of it I was. When I woke up later, the room was empty, and I cried myself back to sleep.
Light blinded my eyes when they next flickered open. Three more tries produced the same result. Memory came back in flashes, much like my blinking eyes. I was tied up, bound by chains, in the vampire queen's torture chamber with white floors. Windows everywhere, that was why I couldn't see. It was daylight.
Daylight! Sweet, blinding and utterly beautiful daylight.
Instantly awake, I forced my eyes to adjust, squinting at the burn of the sun reflecting off those impractical floors. If ever I was going to make my escape, now was the time. Staying was not an option, no matter the consequences.
Perhaps you'll think I'm a selfish bitch for putting other's lives at risk with my foolery, and maybe I am, but if I stayed I would die and so would everyone else. It was fight or death. Flight or death, in this specific case. For me, it always would be it seemed.
Some day, maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but one day, I would fail Sophie-Anne. I would not perform to her expectations, or I'd push things when I shouldn't, and punishment would be the result. It would only take them once to go too far. Once, and I'd be dead. If the night before had taught me anything, it had been that.
And maybe it wouldn't even be a literal death. Perhaps it would be a figurative one. As I thought about what I'd done, what I'd had to give up, during last night's torture session, I recognized a small part of me had already been killed. How long would it take, how much abuse would I have to endure, before nothing of what I once was remained?
I wasn't sticking around to find out, you could hang your hat on that fact.
First things first, I had to get out of these chains. I took a moment to assess.
My feet were bound, yes, but they'd just used chains. The manacles weren't around my ankles, more like they were grounded in the wall and the chain was just looped through them and wrapped around both of my feet. The chain was tight enough that even as I struggled, I couldn't get a foot loose. But if I could get my hands free...
Only problem with that was in order to get my hands free, I was going to have to dislocate at least one of my thumbs, possibly take off a bit of skin in the process. Maybe I'd have to repeat the same on the other hand. I'd have to make my escape, saving Tara and Eric in the process, with two fucked up hands.
I'd had vampire blood, a lot of it, too. Not a single injury remained from the night before. I wasn't even stiff from being tied up and sleeping upright for the entire night, which is really saying something. Now, my insides did feel a bit like they'd been rearranged, but I think that was more nerves, coupled with the fact I hadn't eaten in a while, than anything else.
However, when I tugged hard on the chains binding my wrist, I didn't get so much as a groan of weakness from the walls. I was going to have to break my own hand, thumb more exactly, but I wasn't sure there was an exact science to it. If I pulled my hands out, something was going to break, and it was going to hurt.
Someone would hear me.
I closed my eyes and listened. Vampires were dead all around me, many nearby, and one that I could feel strongest. Soft and hard all at once. Old and yet somehow young. This bond reminded me of a violent Christmas. Frighteningly beautiful, thrilling and exciting, it always made my breath catch and my pulse race when I focused on it. Eric. I knew it was Eric, but it confused me since the bond I'd not known I had with him still seemed to be present.
I could feel Andre too, but he was far away. I shivered, feeling him inside me was the most disturbing thing I can imagine. It made me queasy. His signal, for lack of a better term, was not near as strong as Eric's. Andre was not a young vampire, I could tell by the power I felt in my blood, but he wasn't as old as Eric.
Why hadn't my bond with Eric severed? I'd had Andre's blood more than three times. Four or five, possibly more, I thought, frowning. Andre had... he'd had my blood, hadn't he? He was a vampire, and I'd bled a whole lot, on his hands, his feet, his clothes. The evidence was plain as day on the floor beneath me. But I didn't remember him drinking it, and unless he'd done it while I was passed out, I knew he hadn't bitten me.
I wasn't bound to Andre. It was the only conclusion that made sense. I was, however, still bonded to Eric, and that was a glimmer of hope that I so desperately needed.
I probably should've been pissed that Eric hadn't told me what our third blood exchange would do, and maybe I would be later. Right then, I was grateful for it. If I couldn't find him, then I couldn't save him. Since it was daylight, Eric, big and bad as he was, definitely needed saving.
If I was to escape, no one would be left behind to suffer at the Queen's hand. She'd be pissed, more than pissed, and her wrath would be deadly. Not Eric, and certainly not Tara would survive it.
I concentrated as hard as I could, tried to get a read on the people inside the structure I was being held in. It felt a lot larger than a house, though it was hard to tell for certain.
"So many," I whispered, feeling the hundreds of human minds swirling around me.
And there were hundreds of them, my only comfort was that most of them were glamoured. Sad that it was a comfort, but it was. I found Tara after about five minutes, she was in the room with Andre. Shit.
Getting to her was going to be hardest. Trying to wake Eric enough so that he could move was going to be impossible. Escaping the Queen's castle, or whatever the fuck this was, was a pipe dream, especially considering even if I did accomplish it, I had no means of transportation to get the hell out of Dodge. I was in New Orleans, four hours or so away from Bon Temps. Things would be easier if I was a teleporter instead of a telepath.
Was I still going to go through with it?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
Thinking about my impossible task ahead made me think about how I'd gotten there in the first place. Hadley. I knot formed in my chest as I thought about her. Had she betrayed me so easily, or was it just a matter of wrong place, wrong time? Had she sold me out to save herself in some way? I think I could forgive that. Was she dead?
That was the crux of my problem. If Hadley was alive, then I... well, I didn't owe it to her to save her sorry ass, no matter the circumstances. But I couldn't just leave her to rot. Even as I contemplated doing exactly that, I knew I wouldn't. Double shit.
I searched for her mentally but came up with nothing. If she was in the house then I couldn't recognize her brain signature, or she wasn't human anymore. Therefore, she wasn't my problem, right? Except... I was saving Eric.
Damn it all to hell and back. Why couldn't I just be content with saving my own ass? I'd be lucky if I could achieve that in itself. Tack on three others, one of which was a vampire, the other humans, or maybe not. It would be a damn miracle if I got us out alive.
There were a hundred humans, give or take a dozen or so, milling about in various parts. Some were asleep, most were glamoured. I didn't foresee the humans being a problem. The guards on the other hand...
Sixteen, I counted, all of them shifters or Weres. I couldn't differentiate that easily. I just knew they were other. Most of them wouldn't be a problem, since they were guarding the Queen as prisoners for one reason or another. I latched onto a brain or two, knowing instantly that Sophie-Anne had entire families as prisoner and at her whim.
One particular man, James I gathered from his mind, guarded and protected the queen so she wouldn't kill his family. His daughter was seven, glamoured, and being kept in a room near the kitchens with his pregnant wife. Triple fucking shit.
I could not save everyone unless I killed the Queen. Andre too. Possibly Bill. Though he was definitely on the lesser end of my problems, much as I wanted to kill him.
Three vampires against one telepathic human. The odds were stacked against me. Forget underdog, I was a lost cause.
I'm sure you know me well enough by now to realize that wasn't going to stop me.
Fight or die. Flee or be killed. I stayed here and rot away piece by excruciating piece, or I left and lived. There was only one option. I was going to kill them all. Andre first, then Sophie-Anne. Bill was the least of my worries, so he would be last. If I finished the others.
I braced myself, tugged on my chains. I took a dozen deep breaths, trying to prepare myself for the pain. No guards were nearby. It was now or never. My eyes flicked around the room. I needed a weapon. Once I got myself free, I would need to move fast.
A shiny glint of something caught my eye from below. My smile was purely wicked. There, in my puddle of drying blood, was my dagger. Andre had dropped it at some point in time, preferring to use his bare hands. I supposed he'd forgotten about it. Either that or he'd assumed I had no chance at reaching it.
Egotistical, arrogant, and more importantly, ignorant vampire. He didn't know who he was dealing with. They'd underestimated me from the beginning.
I turned my head, opened my mouth and dug my teeth into my shoulder. The meat of my muscle would muffle any sound I made. The bite would help me focus on something other than the pain in my hands.
I gave a hard yank, something snapped and I whimpered. Almost there. Almost there. I closed my eyes, inhaled through my nose, and pulled with all of my weight until I felt my hand rip free. I sobbed against my own shoulder, tears rolling down my cheeks. I felt the blood on my wrist, wiggled my fingers and cried out again.
Something in my wrist had broken too, along with the knuckle of my thumb. I refused to look at it. If I didn't look at it, then I couldn't see how bad it was. Eyes often made things worse. Instead, I focused on my breathing, rapid and short, but I was breathing. I also had one arm loose. Now, I just had to make it through one more. One more.
Unfortunately, as soon as I felt my knuckle crack, the manacle digging painfully into my skin, I screamed and passed out from the pain. Sometimes, when it's just too much, your body shuts down. I think I would have been able to stay conscious through breaking both my wrists if it weren't for the night before. That had been a trauma of its own, and obviously my body hadn't recovered as much as I'd have liked.
When I came to, my first hand had healed completely. Maybe it was a little stiff, but I could use it just fine. The sun was also lower in the sky, but I still had time left. All good news. Bad news was that my second hand, which I'd broken, at least a little, was healed as well. I was going to have to break it again.
There's really no preparing yourself for it; I'd learned that the first time. After a series of short, huffing breaths, I stretched my fingers and tugged. Hard. As soon as my hand came free, I was falling to the floor, catching myself, barely, on my good hand.
Thirty seconds, and a whole lot of internal cursing later, I was untangling the chains around my ankles, cradling my injured arm, and crying silently. Once I was free, I collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, and I scrambled immediately away from my bloody mess on the otherwise pristine floor. Bloody footprints led to the door, two sets, indicating which way my attackers had gone.
Part of me raged at the sight, needing to instantly seek them out and slay them into bits of blood and vampire flesh. The other part of me, the human part of me, was in a panic. I was clear enough of mind to recognize that.
What the hell do I do now?
I willed myself calm, closing my eyes and breathing deep into my center. Panic later, I told myself. Act now, I urged. Act now. Panic later. Act now. Panic later.
I stood, opening my eyes in the same breath, and walked over to retrieve my knife. When I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror hung directly behind where I'd been hanging, I cringed. "Jesus," I whispered.
What remained of my clothes stuck in bloody strips to my body. Not much was covered, considering all Andre had sliced and diced. My panties looked like they were the only thing salvageable, and even those were soaked in my blood.
I stripped out of the scraps, knocking loose pieces to the floor. I winced when I bumped my hand a little too hard. It was healing, but not near fast enough. I glanced in the mirror, frowning. I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. I looked like a pinup for Vampire Playboy.
Naked and covered in blood and gore.
This would not do. I checked around the mostly empty room. No water. Not even a sink, so a hot shower was out of the question. There was... I jogged across the room, picking up the cloth that had been used to cover Eric.
Dried blood and bits of flesh were stuck to one side. It turned my stomach when I thought about it being Eric's, but it was better than the other option. Which was nothing. Buck naked gal, covered in blood, stalking around the Queen's house? That wouldn't go unnoticed.
I wrapped the ugly table cloth around me, gagging a little when I put Eric's guts against my own macabre mess. Then I tied it over one shoulder like some red and gold toga, and glanced down at myself. I shook my head. It would have to do.
After making sure the coast was still clear, I opened the big, heavy door and walked out into the hall.
Huge hall, I might add. It went on forever, but at least there was only one direction I could go. Doors lined each side. They'd kept me on the end. The end with all the windows. Like a sunroom or something. I wasn't sure why, but I figured it had something to do with me being so exposed.
If that was true, then Sophie-Anne had been preparing for the possibility of Eric trying to come in and rescue me. If he could tell I was here, that is. Last I'd seen of him, he'd been unconscious and wrapped in silver. He wasn't about to do any rescuing, even if he wanted to.
What did all that mean to me?
Well, it meant that a vampire could possibly be awake during the day. Which meant I had a better chance of getting Eric out. Lord knows I couldn't carry that big bastard, no matter how strong I was. It was a good sign. At least I was viewing it as such.
Too many signs for me to ignore, encouraging me that I was on the right path. My dagger, dropped right there in the floor for me. The blood bond with Eric, not broken, because Andre had been absentminded enough to not drink enough of my blood. This was what I was destined to do. When my Gran had been killed in that gas station parking lot two years ago, I'd survived to live for this moment.
I took off down the hall, sticking close to the wall. I flexed my fingers. The right was fine, no stiffness at all. The left was healed, but my thumb popped every time I tried to make a fist. It hadn't mended completely, but I could use it.
I sought out the one brain I'd latched onto a little while back. Face to face with James, seeing the images of his pregnant wife and little curly-haired daughter, made it a whole lot harder to make him the promises I wasn't sure I could keep.
He put a hand on his weapon as soon as he saw me coming.
"Please don't do that," I said, hands in the air.
"Stop where you are, Miss." His hand remained on the gun at his side, but at least he didn't draw it.
I took one more step and stopped. "I'm here to help."
He looked me up and down, thinking I looked like dinner. He was more right than wrong. "What cha gonna do with that?"
His dark brown eyes stayed locked on the dagger in my right hand. A little of my blood had dried on the blade. I would put his age at around forty, not much older. He was a big guy, strong too from the size of his shoulders and thighs. I'd taken down bigger, but those kind of guys didn't go down easily. We'd make noise. A lot of it. I had to keep that from happening.
"I'm a friend of Maggie's," I lied.
His face went hard, his eyes violent. He did pull his gun then. "What have you done to her?"
I took another step closer, hands still where he could see them. "Nothing. I swear. I'm here to... I'm here to save her. I'm here to kill the Queen."
He laughed, surprising me. "You're crazy, lady. No one kills the Queen." He raised his arm and pointed the gun at my chest.
"James, please," I whispered.
"How do you know my name?" he demanded.
Instead of answering, I told him of my plan. Asked him to help. It was a wonder he believed me. Desperation would make a person do anything, I thought. Me included. And James was desperate to get his family out alive, out from under the Queen's hand and her control.
Next, I went for Eric. I needed him awake, and if he could help me with the rest of my very faulty plan, then maybe, just maybe, it would work. James cleared the way, as agreed. The door to the room he was being held in was unguarded as I approached.
I very carefully opened the door and walked inside.
Eric was still on that table, strapped down with the silver. I'd expected it, but the sight still left me breathless. He looked deader than dead. He also didn't wake up.
After moving the chains aside, pulling more and more bits of his flesh with each of them, I started to shake him. "Eric, can you hear me? Eric?"
I shook him harder, running my hands over his skin as gently as I could. If there was more silver hiding somewhere, I needed to find it. There was nothing.
"Damn it, Eric, don't play dead on me now," I whisper-yelled, shaking him hard enough the table rattled. "Wake the fuck up. Wake up."
Not even a twitch.
"Damn you," I cursed, dropping my arms to my side. Maybe he needed... I took my dagger, sliced into my palm, and pressed my hand to his mouth. "Drink. Come on. Drink."
When the wound stopped bleeding, I did it again, but he made no move to swallow. My blood just oozed into his mouth, coating his lips in bright red. I realized then I was crying. "Please," I begged.
I punched him, climbing on top of the table to straddle him. "Wake up." Punch. "Wake up." Slap. I punched him as hard as I could, knocking his head from side to side as I took turns with each fist. "Damn you, wake up," I sobbed. "I need you."
Collapsing against his chest, bare and still bloody from the silver chains, I cried in silent heaves. My panic was rising again, and I'd wasted enough time as it was. Eric wasn't going to wake up. He may as well have been dead. No breath, no pulse, no nothing. Not even a blink.
I crawled off, slapping him once more for the heck of it. "Fine," I said, tightening my hold on my knife. "I'll do it myself," I told him. I narrowed my eyes and stabbed a finger in his chest. "But when this is all finished, when I've saved your sorry ass, you ARE giving me a raise. I don't get paid enough for this shit."
Then I left. It hurt, having to leave him behind. It hurt more not having anyone to help me. But I hadn't made it this far, I hadn't survived for this long, for me to go turning back now. I looked deep inside, located that foreign plague of his blood buried within me, and went for Andre next.
James was there, as he promised me he would be. I could also tell from his thoughts that he had a car waiting out front, full of gas and ready for me to make my escape. If I escaped. I still had a lot to do.
"Better hurry, Miss," he said as I came around the corner. I'd been delayed by having to hide in one of the rooms when a few human women walked past. All but one had been glamoured, but I couldn't take a chance on that one screaming her head off at the sight of me. "Not much time left."
"I know," I said, heaving a sigh. "Thanks for this." I patted his arm as I went for the door. He was a lion. A Werelion. Incredible. "I owe you big time." Hopefully he'd take a nice, juicy steak as form of payment. I didn't have much to offer a lion.
"Just get my family out alive," he said, giving me a stern look, "And we'll call it even." I swallowed hard, nodded, and let myself inside Andre's room. If I failed, I'd have more than just a Werelion on my ass.
It was easier than I expected, staking Andre. He was as dead as Eric was, and didn't hear me approach. He didn't stir in the least when I pressed the tip of my dagger over his heart. Not even a peep when I leaned against it and slid it deep into his chest.
His eyes, however, did open. At the last second of his existence, it was my face he saw, and I felt satisfied by that fact. If I'd had my choice, I would've made him suffer, but this was best. His flesh turned black and porous as it rotted, and then, finally, he was dust.
"Where the fuck am I?"
Tara. Oh, God. I'd forgotten about Tara. "Shh," I said, moving to where she could see me. She flinched back, and I remembered I didn't exactly look like myself. "Please be quiet."
"Sookie? What the fuck? What the fuck?"
I hadn't exactly forgotten her, but I hadn't thought about how she would react once I'd staked Andre. I hadn't planned for her to panic. Her glamour had been broken. "It's okay. You're going to be alright now." I hope. "Stay here. Promise me you'll stay here."
Her face was tight with fear. Her hands shook as I took them in mine. "What the hell is going on?"
I shook my head. "Later, Tara. I'll tell you all about it later."
She reached out and touched my face, patting around as if to feel that I was real. It was then that I realized she couldn't see as well as I could in the dark. I'd had vampire blood, so I could see fine. Great even. My skin, normally just tan and clear, had that iridescent glow of a vampire. "Where the hell am I?"
"New Orleans."
"New Orleans – "
She shrieked, but I quickly covered her mouth. "Shh. Please, Tara. Trust me. Stay here. Stay quiet. I'll be back for you. Promise me."
She nodded and I uncovered her mouth. "Where are you going?"
Now, I smiled. "I'm going to kill the Queen."
It took me a little longer to get Tara calm enough that I could leave. I'd wasted more time, but at least I knew Tara was safe. For the moment. I squared my shoulders, wiping Andre's blood off my blade and onto the inside of my make-shift dress.
I marched out into the hall, feeling more confident by the second. James, who was hot on my heels, had to go and rain on my parade. "Miss?"
"Sookie," I said, tossing him a glance over my shoulder. I slowed as I realized I had no fucking clue where I was going.
James walked passed, moving quickly. "Look," he pointed to the window. "Your time is almost out."
I jerked my head to where he pointed, cursing aloud and picking up my pace. "Take me. Get me there now."
The sun had almost set, the bright light of day having faded to practically nothing. Now it was night's turn to rule. James had been wrong. My time wasn't almost out, it had just expired. We ran anyway, passing many people in the halls. I didn't care to check if they were glamoured. I was out of time for such luxury.
If they screamed and the guards came down on me, I was dead. If I did not kill Sophie-Anne, I was dead, as were many others. There wasn't an outcome that had me surviving unless I killed the queen.
Minutes, though it was probably only seconds later, we were at the queen's room. Three stood guard at her door. James took out two, while I knocked out the other. They weren't dead, but at least I had a few seconds to do what I'd come to do. I ran inside.
Racing forward, I had my hand extended, ready to strike. Sophie-Anne was just lying there, completely youthful and innocent looking in her rest. Her face, child-like before, looked plain infantile in her slumber, and my steps faltered.
What was I doing?
In my blood, somewhere in my bones almost, I felt Eric rise and my resolve was renewed. There was no other choice. How she had survived this long, ruling as she did, enslaving people to serve her, was beyond my understanding. She did not deserve the kingdom, vampiredom? of Louisiana. She did not deserve the life she lived.
She had to die.
I moved.
I inhaled.
Exhaled.
Three steps, and I was hovering above her. I felt my pulse, like galloping horses beneath my ribs. The guards were coming to. My eyes flicked to them. My time was now. Now. Now. Now.
I lunged.
Sophie-Anne's eyes shot open. Her mouth spread into a grin, fangs long and threatening. I screamed, bringing my dagger down.
A flash of silver caught my eye.
She was armed.
Time slowed.
Thump. Thump.
The queen was fast. Faster than me.
A knife pierced my chest.
I had time to say, "Eric," before I was falling onto the bed, collapsing against Sophie-Anne. He was near. I could hear him, feel him. He'd taken out one of the queens guards again.
Her eyes met mine, pleasure lit them. Satisfaction, surprise turned to fear, and then a sudden horrible realization. She looked down at her chest to where my weapon was buried to the hilt, and then I was lying in a pile of vampire dust. I coughed, blood sputtered out. Maybe she'd taken me down, but I was taking her with me.
Then Eric was there, and he was flipping me over like a rag doll. I felt cold. Numb. No pain. This was death. This was death.
"Sookie, look at me. Sookie." I heard him call, but it was hard to focus my eyes. "Fuck."
She'd punctured a lung, maybe more. I couldn't breathe. "Dying," I tried to say as I found his beautiful face. More blood came from between my lips.
"I can't..." His face was tight, his eyes... His eyes told me the truth. "There's no other way."
I met his stare, blinking against tears I couldn't feel, only see. The world warbled sideways. I felt my heart thump an irregular staccato. I think she'd pierced my heart, too. "Killed her," I sputtered, coughing blood onto Eric's hands.
"Yes," he said tightly. "But at what cost?"
I reached up, touched his face. Too many had suffered at that horrible queen's hand. Too many held, and not by their choice, within these awful walls. So many prisoners, so many who'd been taken from their family. Thought missing or worse: dead. Now they were... "Free," I said. Now he was free.
His hands hovered helplessly over me; his eyes followed their same worried path. I coughed, choking on my blood. "It's in your heart," he confirmed. "In your lung. If I remove it..." his blue eyes met mine, and they were pleading. "You'll bleed out." He wanted me to tell him what to do. "You will die. I cannot save you. Not like before."
I choked, more blood covering me and the bed. Sophie-Anne's ashes felt thick beneath me. We'd share a death spot. I met Eric's eyes, not able to speak, not anymore. There was no air left in my lungs. We hadn't talked about this, not really, but I knew what he was saying. He could not save me. Unless I wanted to become a vampire, he could not save me.
I pleaded with my eyes, begged him to understand, to read my desire in them. Know me. Know me, I thought. Eric knew me better than most, deeper than anyone, he had to know what I wanted. I caught a something in the corner of his eye, glistening and red. He was crying.
My heart thumped, sluggish.
Thump.
Thump.
My life did not flash before my eyes, but I remembered something my Gran had told me. Long ago, she'd said, "You'll die alone, ain't nothing you can do about that." I remember thinking that was the saddest thing in the world. But then she'd went on, and it didn't seem so sad after that.
"If you're lucky, if you're really lucky, you'll know you're not alone. Maybe there will be someone there to hold your hand, and when you go, you'll know that a piece of you remains behind. With everyone you love. With everyone you care for. You'll die, but a part of you will live on forever. You will be immortal."
I thought it was strangely fitting, as I stared into Eric's blue eyes, that I would remember her words then. At my last breath, at the moment my life was ending, I thought it damn apropos that he was there with me. I was glad it was him. Very glad indeed.
A gurgle sounded from my mouth. My heart thumped once more.
Stopped.
It did not beat again.
A/N: Jesus. This was a really hard chapter to write. An even harder ending to write. I will be waiting on pins and needles until I hear from you. Fuck, even as I'm reading it through for the millionth time, I'd hate me. Sorry.
Until next time...
KISSES!