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Encroaching Darkness, Fading Light
Chapter twenty-one - Dangerously Familiar
Dawn seemed to come early the next day, and before she knew it, Carla was standing at the bar in Merlotte's, on the other side this time, waiting for Sookie to talk things over with Sam, Carla had to do the same, of course, but Sam told them one at a time.
Carla leaned heavily on the bar, completely exhausted after not getting much sleep the previous night due to watching over Sookie.
She heard the door of Merlotte's swing open behind her, and she automatically turned to see who had entered.
She wished she hadn't.
Two very familiar figures walked in, standing in the isle between the tables, a few steps away from Carla.
She tried to remain still and quiet. Going back to staring at her lemonade.
The first man, tall with cinnamon colored hair, and matching eyes, a muscular build with broad, strong shoulders. He was wearing a black tank top under a denim jacket, with black jean pants.
The second, was more skinny, but still slightly muscular, with grey eyes and a matching grey jacket with blue jeans and short bleach blonde hair.
The two of them glanced around, looking over the occupants of the bar, Carla physically felt the weight of their eyes on her for a few moments, before they passed off onto another.
Carla sucked in a deep breath.
She needed to escape.
She finished her lemonade, placing the glass back on the counter.
Arlene came over to the two men.
"Hello and welcome to Merlotte's, how are ya'll doing today, any where in particular you'd like to sit this fine morning?" She asked them.
"We'll just sit at the bar thank you, we're not really hungry" The blonde explained, she could hear the smile on his face without even seeing it.
"Very well, take a seat wherever you fancy, i'll come and take your order in a minute" Arlene smiled and walked away from them.
Thankfully the two sat a few chairs down from Carla, she forced herself to stay put where she was for a few seconds before getting up seemingly normally and walking past them.
They didn't react.
Carla let out a huge sigh of relief.
She strode round the corner so she was out of sight.
"Thank you, Sam" Sookie finished.
"Hey, Sam, i need to do this quick, i'm going with Sookie to Jackson for a few days, i'm sure she has explained, but i really need to go and i am so sorry and you can fire me if you want because i know this is immensely disrespectful to anyone specially my boss but i can't hang around" Carla grabbed Sookie by the arm and yanked her towards the back exit of the bar.
"What? Hey, what the hell?" Sam shouted after them, but Carla ignored him.
"Carla, what is the lords name is wrong with you?" Sookie asked, with Carla still dragged her by her arm back to the car.
"I saw someone a knows in the bar, they're here for me" Carla explained, pushing Sookie into the passenger seat of the car, and getting in the drivers side.
"Did he see you?" Sookie asked.
"THEY didn't, we need to get going as soon as possible" Carla started up the engine.
"In the afternoon, we can't leave to early" Sookie said.
"Fine, but as soon as we can" Carla said. And Sookie nodded in agreement.
She pulled the car out of the Merlotte's parking lot, steering towards home.
Sookie went out for a few hours after they got back, to reconcile with Tara.
When she got back, Carla was in the middle of scrubbing the blood out of the hallway mat from the previous night.
"Oh you don't have to do that" Sookie said, leaning on one leg and putting one hand on her hip.
"Why not? i made the mess" Carla smiled, glancing around at the blonde. That was when she saw the burly man walking up the drive way towards the house.
"Sookie, go inside" Carla said, getting up.
"Why? What is..." Sookie asked, before following Carla's gaze and seeing the man.
"Stop!" Carla ordered and the man did so. Dogs always know the voice of the dominant one, Carla thought. "Who the hell are you?" She asked.
"I'm Alcide Herveaux, Eric Northman sent me" The man explained, shouting so that they could hear him from the distance.
"Ain't no one here needing protection" Carla shouted back.
"Come on inside, i'll make us some tea" Sookie shouted at the man, and he began to walk up towards the house.
"Sookie! What the fuck!?" Carla turned to face the blonde.
"Carla, Eric obviously sent him because he knows the Jackson pack, why else would he bother?" Sookie crossed her arms in front of her defensively.
"To piss me off for a start" Carla grumbled, going inside.
Sookie showed Alcide to the table, before going into the kitchen to make the tea, Carla sat on the far side of the table, and Alcide sat opposite her.
"If Eric Northman sent you, what did he tell you about us?" Carla asked, leaning forward with one arm on the table.
"Said there was a pretty blonde, and she had a friend, brown hair and eyes, kinda wolfish and intense" Alcide answered, he had one arm over the back of the chair, and his wrist resting on the table, relaxed.
"Heh, you know that kinda sounds like him" Carla leaned forward with both arms. "I just want you to know that i am not angry at you, i am angry at the fact that Eric Northman thinks i can't handle a couple of weres on my own and i cannot disassociate myself with him and just to let you know, you may think that we are the same, but i assure you, we are like two sides of the a coin"
"Opposite but the same?" Alcide asked, slightly confused.
"Exactly" Carla sat up straight as Sookie came in, and Alcide copied.
"You're friend is definitely in a bad mood today" Alcide said, as Sookie laid down his tea in front of him.
"Oh she's just got a bee in her bonnet cos she saw someone she didn't appreciate much at work, and boyfriend issues of course" Sookie smiled.
"Sookie!" Carla exclaimed.
"What? It's so damn obvious that you're still hung over Dallas, whatever happened between you two really rubbed you up the wrong way" Sookie laid down Carla's tea.
"Dallas?" Alcide asked.
"I think frustrated is a better way to put it" Carla said. "It's none of your concern, Eric Northman is definitely not getting anywhere near me again, i can assure everyone of that, i have learned my lesson the hard way" She finished, smiling.
"The house is in no state for guests, i'll explain in the car, but i'm sorry for the mess" Sookie told Alcide, sitting down next to Carla.
Alcide looked at Sookie dead on. "Yes it is" Sookie said, looking completely neutral.
"Alright, enough speaking in your heads" Carla complained.
"Well it can be useful if Alcide and i and in a room full of strangers" Sookie said.
"I'll keep that in mind" Alcide nodded.
"So, why can't Mr Eric Northman look after you himself?" Alcide asked.
"Because its not like that between them, Sookie and Eric are like polar opposites, his deceit just doesn't go with her innocence" Carla said.
"Eric and I don't tend to see eye to eye, and i am no innocent" Sookie corrected.
"Or that's what she'd have you believe" Carla smiled.
Sookie mock slapped her arm.
"How'd he rope you in to taking us to Jackson?" Sookie asked.
"My old man, he's got a construction company in Caddo parish, came up a little short on a project, went to Northman for a loan" Alcide explained.
"Bad choice" Carla commented.
"Well you take what you can get" Alcide told her. "Only reason i'm here is to help him get out of debt, i don't do favors for vamps, plus i know the pack you're sniffin' around, you ain't gettin' no where without an in" He finished.
"Are you friends with them?" Sookie asked.
"I wouldn't call them friends exactly" He admitted.
"Ex?" Carla questioned.
"Is banging their leader" Alcide finished.
"Sorry" Carla and Sookie said at the same time.
"That pack is a cancer to our kind" Alcide began, looking grim. "Weres have lived in Jackson for almost two hundred years without a single human knowing about it, now these sons of bitches come to town, there's a crime streak a mile wide, i'd like to say the rest of us are above violence, but you shut the barn door behind you" He finished, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"One of them came after me last night, in here" Sookie informed him.
"Northman mentioned that, looks like a hell of a fight" Alcide said, staring at Carla.
"Great, what did he tell you?" Carla sat up.
"He just told me that you killed the were" Alcide admitted.
"Well yeah, it's all part of the job description" Carla indicated Sookie.
"You ready for more of that in Jackson?" Alcide asked.
"Bring it on" Carla shrugged.
"They took someone i love from me, i don't know about you but i was raised to fight back" Sookie sounded determined.
"Great, she'll get us both killed" Alcide said, Carla couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious.
"Sounds like a walk in the park" Carla joked.
"I'll pack light" Sookie added.
After arriving in Jackson, Alcide took Carla and Sookie straight to a bar called Lou Pine's, where he was sure that the pack was hanging around.
As Alcide pulled open the large doors to the club, allowing the two women to walk in first, he seemed to tense, as if ready for a fight.
He closed the door behind him, and stood next to Carla, who was stood next to Sookie as they both inspected the bar layout and inhabitants.
"May not look like much, but Lou Pine's is the oldest were bar is Mississippi" Alcide said, glancing nervously around for familiar faces.
"Alcide!" A man who was leaning against a table called them over, he was very close to the door, welcoming the patron's in, the two wolves shook hands, both smiling. "It's nice to see a face from the old pack" The man commented, he was covered in tattoos, though they were less visible due to the dark color of his skin, his head was shaven, and he seemed like the nice sort, friendly and genuine.
"Well i figured the new wolves are drinking enough for all of us" Alcide explained, looking out at the bar again, remaining slightly tense, though less so then when he first entered.
The man turned his gaze to the to women, glancing between Carla and Sookie, sizing them up, his eyes lingered on Carla, she wasn't sure if it was her peculiar scent or the fact that she too was inspecting him.
"Who're the civilians?" The man asked, indicating the two of them.
"They're cool, friends" Alcide nodded.
"Am i not dress properly?" Sookie asked, glancing down at her attire, after inspecting the amount of people in the bar wearing leathers, bandannas and adorned with tattoos.
"You look like dinner" The man said to Sookie.
"She has a habit of dressing that way" Carl admitted, though she wasn't too proud of her own attire, denim shorts with a large grey T-shirt stained with paint. "I'll keep an eye on her, and make sure she doesn't attract to much unwanted attention" Carla smiled.
"Though you're not much better?" The man asked. She shrugged at him.
"I am more than capable of handling myself" Carla smiled pleasantly, crossing her arms in front of her chest, the man raised an eyebrow, with a smile.
"I'll keep and eye on them Hollis" Alcide assured him, and he seemed more confidant then. Sookie walked around the man and into the main bar area, Carla and Alcide followed.
"You're going to have to split off, they see me with you they ain't gonna talk" Alcide talked close to Sookie's ear.
"Where you gonna be?" Sookie asked Alcide.
"With my guys, i'll be watching you, you make it quick, for your own sake" Alcide said, breaking off away from Sookie and Carla.
"And you? Where will you be?" Sookie asked her.
"Right over by the back door, i'll be watching you as well, just don't do anything overly stupid" Carla smiled, striding away before she could get slapped.
Carla leaned against the wall, watching Sookie mingle with the werewolves, her mind began to wander back to Eric, when she was with him in the office.
He definitely didn't respond to her affections as if she was just another girl, but then again, Eric was a master of deception, he could do whatever he wanted to get someone to believe him or do what he wanted, for all she know he could be stringing her along.
No, she refused to allow him to manipulate her, she wanted to know where she was with the person she loved, know he could be trusted one hundred percent, without a single doubt to linger in her mind. But still, she couldn't keep the vampire out of her mind.
A cheer went up in the bar which broke Carla's train of thought, she looked up to see Sookie being dragged away by a were clad in full leather with a large bushy black beard. She glanced at Alcide, who was alert and worried, Sookie disappeared into a side room, and Alcide came striding across the room to follow.
Carla was at the door before he was even close. She heard Sookie screaming inside, and she grabbed the were by the shoulder, making him turn to face her. she aimed a punch right into his cheek, just below the eye, and he cried out in pain.
The man charged Carla, he was stronger and any were she had ever encountered. He pushed her back against the wall, but Carla grabbed the clothes on his back in her fists, picking his feet up off the ground and running out of the door into the bar, throwing the man to the ground.
A crowd formed quickly, and Alcide ran into the middle, trying to break up the fight, which caused more weres to join. Carla floored one man and stamped down hard on his knee cap, fracturing it, he was doubled over in pain.
Another man charged her, but she flipped him over so he landed square on his back, frozen by pain.
That was when she noticed two men were holding Alcide still while the man that had taken Sookie out of sight was beating him.
Carla raised her shoe and propelled it into the man's crotch, causing him to clutch them defensively.
As he recovered, about to come for her, he was hit from behind by a baseball bat, wielded by the man they had met at the door, Hollis.
"God damn! I'm gonna run out of bats if he keeps this shit up!" The man cursed. The two men holding Alcide dropped him hard onto the floor, Carla lunged forward and they backed off, scuttling away into the crowd. She crouched down next to him, surveying the damage.
"Anything hurt?" She asked him, and he nodded.
"Just about everything" He replied, coughing.
"Get him out of here! Now!" Hollis shouted at the were's goons, and carried the now unconscious were out of the bar, as ordered.
Sookie emerged from the room, looking a little shaken.
The crowd dispersed, and Hollis knelt down next to Alcide, Carla still checking for serious damage, weres may have been ferocious, but they were also fragile, much like a glass cannon.
"Come on man, she's not worth it" Hollis said.
"I barely even know her" Alcide grumbled, thinking Hollis was talking about Sookie.
"I'm talking about Debbie!" Hollis corrected.
"What about Debbie?" Alcide asked, clueless.
"Oh shit, umm, Debbie's getting engaged to Coot" Hollis broke it to him softly. Alcide paused for a moment, and then sighed deeply.
"Come on Hollis, stop it" He said, wiping his forehead.
"Well, the party's tomorrow night, here" Hollie said, full of regret. "I'm sorry i gotta be the one to break it to you"
Alcide glanced back at Sookie.
"Come on, we gotta go and get back" Carla said, giving Alcide and hand to get up. "I think this is enough excitement for tomorrow night, after that Sookie's not going to get anyone to talk to her" Alcide nodded in agreement.
Carla offered Alcide her shoulder, and he took it, leaning on the woman, Sookie helped support him too.
"I am sorry for the ruckus we caused, Mr Hollis" Sookie apologized, and the man simply nodded.
Carla drove Alcide's van back to his apartment, and helped him inside, sitting him down on the bed and stripping off his shirt so she could treat his wounds.
Sookie sat on the bed next to him, looking slightly shell shocked.
Alcide growled like a typical were every time Carla dabbed his wounds with disinfectant.
"I should have been strong enough to beat that fucker to a pulp" Alcide grumbled.
"Don't take it personally, that were you were fighting had vampire blood in him, Bill's in fact, so i know it's strong" Sookie explained, picking up a wound dressing and placing it over one of the cuts on Alcide's back that Carla had already treated.
Alcide huffed and puffed as Carla finished dabbing the last of his wounds, and covering them.
"Werewolves doing V? Goes against everything we stand for" Alcide replied.
"Seems like this pack just lives to break all the rules, reminds me a little of me" Carla admitted, which earned her a bitter glance from Alcide.
"Is the rest of the pack into that shit?" He asked Sookie.
"The ones who took Bill at least" Sookie answered.
"Like a need more reasons to hate them" Alcide replied.
"Do you know where or who they took Bill too?" Carla asked, handing Alcide his shirt, to which he nodded in appreciation.
"No, i don't" Sookie admitted, falling into silence for a moment. "Is Debbie your ex-girlfriend?" Sookie asked, Carla gave her a warning glance, to which she mouthed 'what?' back at her.
"She was my fiance" Alcide said. "She moved out a month ago"
"A month?" Sookie seemed surprised. "And you still haven't got new furniture?" She asked, looking around the flat.
Alcide sighed. "I don't have time for it"
"You ever hear from her?" Sookie asked. Carla sat down against the wall, looking down to see a blood pool at her hips on his shirt and shorts.
"My sister Janice does, she runs a beauty parlor, Debbie still goes in to get her hair done up" Alcide replied. Silence followed.
"We can't help who we love, our hearts decide, not our heads" Carla said, before she realized she was saying it out loud, Alcide and Sookie stared at her.
Sookie's phone sprung to life. She ran to pick it up.
Carla heard the one sided conversation that occurred between Sookie and Bill, which ended with Sookie in tears and Alcide and Carla looking on with concern.
"What does he mean he doesn't wanna be found?" Sookie asked, dropping her phone on the bed next to her as she sat down, and Alcide got up.
"He means what he says?" Carla suggested. Alcide nodded in agreement.
"But that isn't what he meant!" Sookie sobbed.
"Well what did he say?" Alcide asked.
"I don't know what he said i just know that isn't the man i love!" Sookie continued.
"Well, maybe the man you love only ever existed inside your head?" Carla asked. Sookie glared.
"Oh, is that supposed to be making me feel better? Thanks a bunch!" Sookie wiped her eyes.
"All i know is that no matter how well you think you know somebody they can still turn around and kick you in the nut sack" Alcide got up to get Sookie a tissue.
"I don't have a nut sack... and Bill, he's risked everything for me" Sookie took a deep breath. "Our love is way bigger than him breaking up with me over the phone!" she began sobbing again.
Carla got up and came to sit next to her, with Alcide on the other side.
"How many relationships you been in?" Alcide asked Sookie.
"What does that matter?!" Sookie winged.
"All i'm saying is there is no nice way of getting out of these things" Alcide said, shrugging.
"You got that right" Carla agreed, thinking back to Eric again.
Sookie began sobbing loudly again, so Alcide pulled her he onto his shoulder and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, comforting her.
"Oh my god you're so warm" Sookie said.
"I'm sorry"
"It's okay i'm just not used to it" Sookie admitted, slowly stopping her crying.
"It's a were thing" Carla and Alcide said at the same time.
"They're so easy to recognize, it's surprising they've gone this long without being found out" Carla continued.
"I thought maybe you were coming down with the flu" Sookie interrupted.
Alcide chuckled. Before standing up to leave.
"You two probably want some privacy" Alcide muttered.
"Fine, i need some rest anyway" Carla said, shuffling back up the bed to lay down.
"Good night Alcide" Sookie said, getting up to get changed.
Alcide left the room, smiling back at them.
Sookie sat up almost all night, keeping Carla up with her negative energy, plus she felt guilty getting a good nights sleep when Sookie was wide awake.
Sookie's phone rang, causing Carla to sit up as she answered.
"Tara?" She answered the call. "Bill broke up with me" Sookie muttered, about to get up out of bed, but Carla caught her leg so she could hear the other side of the conversation. Something wasn't right.
Sookie looked confused, not knowing what was going on, but Carla put her finger over he lips to make her shush. Sookie opened her mouth the tell Tara where she was, but Carla quickly shook her head.
"No i just need to cry my eyes out for about a week" Sookie said, watching Carla for directions.
"What you need is your best friend, right now, give me your address" Tara said from down the phone, her voice was different, full of less profanities then usual, for sure, and more wooden and controlled.
Carla shook her head again, telling Sookie not to tell her.
"A-after all you've been through? I don't want you getting mixed up in my mess" Sookie said, her eyes slightly wide.
"You'd do it for me, i'm getting in the car right now, address?!" Tara asked again.
Carla shook her head again, mouthing 'no address'.
"I'm exhausted, i'll call you tomorrow i promise!" Sookie quickly cut the phone off, and closed it.
"What the hell was that about?!" Sookie asked, staring at Carla, who unhanded the waitress.
"I think that Bill was taken by a vampire" Carla concluded, sitting up straight in the bed, thoughtful. "Tara was just being glamoured by a vampire, did you notice that? That strange wooden quality to her voice? too controlled to be Tara, there are vampires involved with this, maybe they didn't take Bill, but they are certainly after you, it must be Eric, or Bill has told someone what you can do, and now they are interested" Carla explained, trying to work it out.
"Well yes, Lorena has Bill" Sookie said. "I heard her on the phone when he called me earlier"
"Lorena has no control over Bill, she released him, this is not Lorena, this is someone much older and more powerful than her" Carla deduced, and Sookie laid down in bed.
"You work it out, i actually am exhausted, i need some rest" Sookie said, pulling the blankets of the double bed up over herself. Carla laid down too, facing away from the fairy.
"Good night" Sookie said.
"Good night Sookie" Carla said, now too awake to sleep.
Carla ended up with her eyes wide open all night, thinking about the events of the previous night.
When the morning light poked in through the curtains of the bedroom, it didn't take Sookie a few minutes to pull herself out of bed to seek breakfast.
Carla knitted her eyes shut, and prayed for some form of rest for the evening, but it simply wouldn't come to her.
"No fucking way!" she heard Alcide yell from the kitchen, probably at Sookie, so she pulled herself out of bed and strode towards the ruckus. "I've payed my debt to Eric Northman!" Alcide complained.
"I know you're still hurting over Debbie, but seeing her with those creeps, might help you get over her" Sookie explained.
"Are you insane? Us turning up after last night is just asking to get killed!" He continued to yell at Sookie.
"Hey? No sleep? Any courtesy?" Carla asked, still drowsy.
"Yeah fine, i'm done here anyway, you go if you want to, just don't put your shit on me!" Alcide said, walking away with his breakfast.
"What the hell was that about?" Carla asked, yawning.
"We need to go to that engagement party tonight and get some more information about Bill" Sookie said, sipping her orange juice.
"Well we're not going to get anywhere in terms of answers if you go dressed like you were last night, looked like a sheep in a pack of wolves, literally, and i'm not much better" Carla grumbled.
"Fine, Alcide said his sister worked at the beauty parlor, i'll find her number and call her" Sookie said.
"And i'll go back to bed and get some rest" Carla began walking back to the bedroom.
"Nope, i'll ask her to come asap so you better get washed an dressed" Sookie corrected, stimulating a tired groan from Carla, who buried her face in the pillows on the bed.
Thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please feel free to let me know if you did, i love to hear your feedback, and it inspires me to continue writing.
Almost forgot to update twice today, silly me, i am back to writing now and will keep up with double updates on Tuesdays, though my course is now coming to a close so i am swamped with work, but i will try my best.
See you next time,
-Shad out