CHAPTER 28

Amelia comes to town.


SPOV - Monday

In spite of the vampire hours I kept, I woke up early to start prepping for Amelia's visit. Before I could do anything, I needed to go back to Fangtasia to retrieve my purse. Of course my driver's license was inconveniently located in said purse, so that only left me with the option of popping into Eric's office. It was still early in the morning, so Ginger or any of the other staff would not be there. I walked to my dressers to grab clothes for my short trip to Fangtasia, but before I opened the top drawer I noticed the black shirt on the ground. I turned away from the dressers and bent over to pick it up and ran the cool silky fabric along my cheek and imagined it being the hand of my Vampire. I shook the shirt to loosen any wrinkles from lying on the floor and put it on above my black bra and tucked it loosely into my jeans. I strapped my silver daggers onto my legs and readied myself to head to Fangtasia.

I closed my eyes and focused my energy in bringing myself back to Eric's office. When I opened them I found everything was as we had left it. I gathered my dress from the floor and put it into my purse. I was about to leave when I heard a banging in the bar area. I reached out with my telepathy to find any brain patterns, but I only found a void. I looked at my watch to reconfirm that it was daytime. Why was a vampire moving about during the day? Since I was alone, I would not risk my safety investigating even though I came armed. Vampires were reckless during the daylight hours and if this one was hungry, also unpredictable as well. I sent Eric a text for him to check his security cameras when he woke. I made sure the door was still locked to the office and returned to the firehouse the same way I came, in a beam of light.

Amelia said she would be coming around 2:00pm, giving me time to clean up and pick up some more groceries. The first thing I did was change the sheets. She would be sharing the bed with me during her stay and I'd rather not have her lay on my used sheets. At least, there were no blood stains to ruin the silky fabric. I tossed them in my laundry pile to start before I left for the store. I turned on the stereo to quicken my pace and drown out some of the early morning traffic driving by. I was not a messy person, so after a an hour I had cleaned every surface I could think of. I rubbed my hands together in satisfaction at a job well done. During this time Amelia and I had been texting back and forth trying to decided what to eat tonight so I had an idea of what I needed to buy. I still inventoried my refrigerator to see if I had some of the items she needed, it felt strange making a list of items that did not consist of clothes, and headed off to the supermarket.

I was almost to the checkout line when I saw a familiar face trying to go into the same line I was trying to go into. Why did we keep bumping into each other?

I gave him a nod and waved my hand for him to proceed, "After you."

He didn't move his cart and we stood there blocking the line in a strange supermarket stand-off. "Hello Susannah. Haven't seen you around in Bon Temps much, but I did see your Vampire. I thought I told you to tell him to not glamour my patrons." Knowing Jason, Eric probably had to drag his ass out of Merlotte's to get him to comply. I looked down at my shirt and I was sure his sense of smell alerted him to what activity my vampire and I were doing last night.

"He made a mistake the first time he came to your establishment, he was just fixing it. Why are you all the way out here?"

"They have better produce." He said quickly and ran a hand nervously through his hair. I checked his thoughts and found his words to be true.

"That we can agree upon. You don't have as much in your cart, you can go ahead of me. I am not in a hurry." I waved him into the line again. He still didn't move. Stubborn ass.

"Why is such a nice girl like you involved with vampires?" Oh my god. I didn't need this now. For a supernatural he really had a thing against other supernaturals.

"I don't have to explain my life to you. If you are not going to check out. I will." I pushed my cart past him and unloaded my groceries onto the belt and ignored his eyes on me. I made it outside when I was again approached by my shifter stalker. I hoped he turned into a fly and shooed.

"What do you want?" I said flatly. I continued loading my trunk and waited for him to respond.

"I just wanted to say that if you ever need any help, with anything; you just need to ask." He said sincerely.

I shut the hatch of my car and said, "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm fine."

"Nice seeing you again Susannah."

He walked away and I glared in his direction before getting into my car to drive back to the firehouse. I switched on the radio and the song Ignorance by Paramore pulsed through the speakers and I found it quite fitting after my encounter with Sam. Sometimes I think trying to build better relations between supernaturals seemed like the most logical thing, but then people like him came around and clouded my hopes. If only he would not ignore the possibilities if we stood together instead of apart in ignorance.

LATER THAT AFTERNOON

Everything was ready to go for Amelia's arrival and I was getting excited to finally get to see my best friend again. I heard the doorbell, which surprisingly rang less harshly in my apartment than in Eric's day chamber. I ran down the stairs to meet her and as soon as I open the door she lunged at me.

"Sookie!" She screamed my name and it rang in both my ears and in my head.

I had gotten used to hanging around vampires, so I wasn't prepared for Amelia's loud broadcasting while in my home. I shored up my shields and embraced her warmly.

"Amelia!" I released her and she went back out the door to retrieve her overnight bag. "Come in, I'm on the 2nd floor."

"This place is massive." She said as her eyes darted everywhere.

"I know isn't it great." I continued walking up the stairs until I reached my landing and opened the door to usher her inside.

"Can I live here?" She walked in and her eyes got even bigger as she took my apartment in.

"You will be. At least for the next couple of nights." I shut and locked the door behind me.

"Where do you want me to put my bag?" She turned to ask.

"You can put it in my bedroom." I pointed in the direction of my room and she walked off. "Do you want anything to drink?" I shouted.

"Water is fine." She shouted back.

I grabbed a bottle of water for her and a glass of sweet tea for myself and placed them on the kitchen table. I waited for her to return and I got concerned when she didn't come back after a few minutes.

"Amelia, do you need any help?" I asked loudly. She didn't respond, so I got up from the table and went to my room. I found her staring at the wall of my bedroom.

"What is that?" She pointed toward the place in the wall that Eric's head and body had collided the previous night.

"It's nothing, just something that hit the wall." I said casually.

"You mean someone." Her face contorted into the widest of smiles.

"I can get the wall fixed." I knew what she was getting at. She would have to work for it.

"I'm going to do an ectoplasmic reconstruction right now and see exactly what you and the Viking were doing." Shit. I didn't think she'd try that. She walked toward her bag and started pulling out items one at a time and setting them carefully on the floor.

"You can't do it without knowing the approximate time."

"Oh, I think last night would be sufficient." Dammit. I guess I had to admit it to her that she was right.

"Amelia stop. Fine, I'll tell you." She stopped pulling items from her bag of tricks.

I went to sit on the bed, but instead of joining me on the bed she decided to sit on the lounge chair.

"The bed is fine. I changed the sheets." She stood from the chair to sit beside me.

"If you leave anything out Sookie Stackhouse, I'm doing the reconstruction for the last two weeks."

For the next hour, I recounted all of my extracurricular activities with Eric to Amelia. Every bloody detail. She stayed quiet for most of it, except for the occasional gasp and Oh my God. At the end of it I needed a drink and Amelia asked for a cigarette.

"You don't smoke."

"After hearing that, I think I might have to start. You lasted a week. I was betting on a few days." I threw a pillow at her. "Oh he must love that. Such a feisty little fairy you are. Where is he by the way? He's not hiding underneath the bed." She actually lifted up the covers and looked underneath the bed. I scowled at her for her actions. "Not here."

"I can't tell you. You know how vampires are about their resting places."

"I still can't believe he lets you sleep with him while he is in his day rest. That's a lot of trust from a vampire that has walked this earth over a 1000 years."

"I could also say the same thing about letting him drink my blood without draining me. We both take risks with our lives with the other."

"Sounds suspiciously like a relationship Sookie." She smiled knowingly.

"I like the way we are right now. I actually for once get to enjoy getting to know the other person without getting buried by all of their lies and secrets from the get go."

"Just because you can't read his mind doesn't mean he doesn't lie to you or keep things from you."

"I'm not naïve to believe otherwise, but I also know I need to work at trying to get to know him and he me."

"Have you talked about bonding again?"

"It's been less than a week Amelia. I will not sell myself short by letting insecurities about the future get to me and ask for a commitment from someone I've known 2 weeks. How many guys have told you that you need to stop pushing the issue and let the relationship evolve?"

"Point taken, but he's an immortal and you have a finite amount of time on this earth."

"Then I will cherish the time that I have." I said strongly. I let my tone drop as I continued, "And besides if he bonds with me, his life will be tied to mine. It's a serious choice for him too, not just for me."

"But you exchanged blood so quickly the first time."

"I know and I don't regret doing it. It's brought us closer, and I think help us better understand the other."

"If he asked you to bond with him again, would you do it?"

"I don't know." I said with uncertainty in my voice.

"All I am saying is that you just can't rely on the bond or your telepathy with Eric. You actually need to talk to him."

It used to be so easy for me to just pluck answers from any other partner's head. I never needed to ask. I just knew.

"Let's start making some food. Relationship talk makes me hungry. Did you buy all the supplies for my drunken rooster?" Amelia insisted on calling coq au vin drunken rooster ever since one of her ex-boyfriends took the translation literally and tried to get an actual rooster drunk. He now was a drunken rooster on some farm in Georgia.

"When are you going to change Stewart back? He's going to have to go to rehab after his experience."

"Oh, I think a few more weeks will do him good. Maybe jog those limited brain cells in his head." I shook my head at her. "He's still alive isn't he."

"And to answer your earlier question, yes, I got everything for the stew and some arugula and radishes for a salad."

I went to the fridge and gathered up all of the ingredients for Amelia to make the coq au vin and set it on the counter for her to assemble.

"Oh maybe your vampire will be awake soon, we need some blood to thicken the sauce." My jaw dropped at her suggestion. "Don't look at me like that. That's how they cook it. They add blood. Why not add the best blood in the house. Then I don't have to make a roux."

She inspected the items I bought from the store as I stared at her still shocked at her suggestion.

"No fucking way, just make the damn roux." I demanded.

"I'm the only one in this place that is on a blood free diet, so calm down. Save your energy for that vamp of yours." She shot back at me. "What kind of wine did you buy?"

"A pinot noir for the bird and a merlot for us."

"Excellent. Let's get cooking."

Amelia started working her magic in the kitchen prepping the bird and dicing all of the vegetables. It was too early to start the salad, so I pulled out some eggs to whip up some meringues for the vanilla ice cream for dessert. A couple of hours later we were finally seated with our culinary concoctions set before us.

"Grab the wine Sookie." I retrieved the red wine from the cabinet and handed it to Amelia. "Pop it open. Where are the glasses?"

"In the upper cabinet to the left." I pointed in the direction of the cabinet as I uncorked the wine bottle. She brought the wine glasses to the table and I divided the wine between us.

Amelia raised her glass and said with gusto, "I'd like to propose a toast to Eric Northman…"

She was interrupted by a whooshing sound and we barely were able to keep a hold of our wine glasses as the figure finally stopped revealing the vampire himself.

"Did someone say my name?" He stood before us in his usual t-shirt and jeans that hugged his body like they were made only for him. He moved until he was behind my chair.

"That was me. I'm Amelia Broadway." She raised her glass again and nodded to him and started to sip some of her wine.

"Nice to meet you Amelia. I'd tell you my name, but you seem to already know it. I apologize for the interruption; I just wanted to wish my Daywoman a pleasant night."

I looked up at him to see him looking back down at me. I knew what he wanted, but I didn't plan on giving it to him now.

"I'll show you out."

I stood from my seat and he pulled the chair out from under me allowing me passage from the table. We walked out onto the landing and I closed the door behind me. I turned around only to be lifted off the ground and pushed up against the wall. My mouth was taken over by his lips as he kissed me hard. I allowed his tongue entrance and he deepened the kiss until I started to feel lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. He released me and I gasped for air.

"Until tonight, Lover."

And then he was gone. My heart was still pounding wildly trying to compensate for the lack of oxygen. I touched my tender lips and smiled thinking about what the night would bring. I returned to the apartment to see Amelia pouring herself another glass of wine.

"Sorry." I said.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just was watching the food get cold, while my best friend was getting mauled by a vampire. Nothing out of the ordinary about that." She said demurely, trying to hide the sarcasm lying underneath.

"Nothing strange about that." I responded in kind.

We started cackling like hens and spent the rest of the night talking story as only good friends do.

EPOV

After I bid my fairy a good night, I went straight to Fangtasia to deal with my daytime intruder. I had asked Pam to not do anything to let on that we knew of his activities. I really didn't want to deal with this before the trip, since I already had an occupant in the dungeon and needed someone to watch the bar when we were gone, but I hated when my minions thought they could subvert my authority. I was the fucking Sheriff of Area 5 and they had better remember that.

"Master." Pam said at my arrival. I had honestly missed her the past few days, but I still looked forward to teaching her a lesson this weekend.

"Pamela. Walk with me." Instead of going to my office, we went straight to my throne and had our conversation out in the open in Swedish.

I sat, while Pam stood behind me and I told her what I had witnessed on the security video and what I planned to do to catch a thief. I felt Pam's excitement coursing through her, but she didn't reveal anything on her stoic face.

She left my side to begin the first part of my plan. Hydration. I sat and watched the bodies of human and vampire move before me. Like a dance, they pulsed around the other; the human blood calling to vampire and the allure of the vampire drawing in the human. Pam returned a short while later and enlisted the help of the guilty vampire. She brought him with her down to the basement. I let the minutes tick by until I went down to assist. I slowly walked down the steps of the basement listening to the argument between the two of them.

"What's going on down here?" I shouted at them.

"Master, Liam won't eat. Someone needs to shove some blood down him. I want Longshadow to do it." Pam explained.

"Longshadow get in there." I commanded.

"Why me? She's the one who failed the first time." Excuses, excuses.

"Get your ass in there." I pointed in the direction of the caged vampire. Pam shoved the bottle at him and he took it reluctantly. She opened the cage and shut it tightly behind him. Longshadow looked back at Pam and I. Our faces did not give anything away.

"Go on." I urged and waved him toward the vampire huddled in the corner.

He walked closer to Liam and tried to grab his neck to pour the blood down, but when he was almost upon him, the tortured vampire dove fangs (or rather teeth) first at Longshadow. The blood spilled on the floor in an explosion of glass. A desperate vampire was a dangerous vampire and right now I was betting on Liam. Pam stood next to me, absently filing her nails not caring about the melee in front of us. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited until I heard the familiar sound of a head being detached from a body. Longshadow was no more. Liam was hurt and his only form of movement was a slow crawl on his stomach.

"Let me go. You promised if I killed him I'd be free." He begged. His fate was sealed once Sookie told me about his actions.

Pam opened up the cell and slowly walked in; still only paying attention to her hands than the vampire below her. She stopped just out of his reach and looked down at Liam.

"I lied." Throwing her silver nail file like a dart through his back into his heart. Liam ceased to exist. "That's what you get fucker for messing up my nails the first time." She kicked the remains and walked out of the cell back to me. All that was left in the holding cell were the remains of the two vampires and the 6-pack of empty True Blood bottles tucked away in the corner.

I turned to walk up the stairs and Pam followed behind me, "So, now that we eliminated our partner. Who is going to be in charge of Fangtasia when we're gone?"

"Shut it down. We can spare the revenue now that we don't have to pay tribute to Sophie-Anne this month."

"What about the employees?"

"Pay them."

"Really?"

"It's cheaper than compensating Hot Rain. Liam is a very convenient scapegoat."

"What about Liam's maker?"

"He met the true death, shortly after making Liam."

"Very neat."

"Indeed."

SPOV – Tuesday

Tuesday morning I woke to cold arms wrapped around me. I had no memory of Eric coming back last night. He somehow plucked me from my bed and brought me down to his day chamber for the night without waking me. I breathed in and settled into his arms, enjoying the coolness of his skin. I wished I could stay here all day and be there when he woke, but it would be rude of me to ignore my guest upstairs. His silent mind put me so at ease I almost fall back asleep, I was so relaxed. I wriggled out of the bed and wished my vampire a pleasant rest before returning to Amelia upstairs. When I got to my apartment I found Amelia seated behind a large tower of fruit.

"Finally." She said. "I thought you were going to be M.I.A. all day."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because your vampire bought enough food to feed a small army. This was only half of the food. I made the caterers put the rest in the fridge." I looked at the table and it was full of pastries, fruit, and other breakfast items.

"How did you know it was from him?" She left the table and went back into the bedroom only to return carrying a piece of paper with her. She handed it to me.

"He left this conveniently on your pillow."

Ms. Broadway – I'm borrowing Sookie for the night. Please make yourself at home and enjoy your breakfast until her return.

-Eric

"You must have walls of steel here, because I didn't hear anything last night." I put the note on the table and considered her question.

"Did you sleep well?" I avoided answering her question. He did all of this just to hold me while I slept.

"Yes, your bed is amazing. It's like sleeping on a cloud." She exclaimed, sitting back down and spearing a strawberry with her fork.

"Well, it's more than half my salary, so you better save up if you want to buy one."

"You are joking right." She asked loudly.

"No, I looked it up. I slept so well the first few nights I wanted to get a bed for the house in Bon Temps." I grabbed my phone and pulled up the website to show her the astronomical price. "See."

"Wow, you're vampire really cares about his sleep."

"Well shouldn't one enjoy the time they spend in the bed."

"I'm sure you do."

"What time are you meeting the coven today?" I asked as I began to fill my plate with this morning's offerings.

"I am supposed to meet them at 10:00am at this address in Shreveport."

"Do you want to meet for a late lunch afterwards?"

"Sure. I'll call you if anything changes. Let's eat this food, I wouldn't want to disappoint my host."

Once Amelia had left for her appointment, I went out in search of my outfit for Saturday. It would have been nice to have Amelia help me, but I didn't want to risk the chance that Pam would get a hold of her and glamour her into revealing our plan for this weekend. Eric was going to be outlandish in his attire. In contrast, I would wear something dramatic, but simple in form. It took me well into lunch time until I finally found the perfect dress. It was a print dress that was both strong and daring because the print was reminiscent of molten lava. The pattern was dark, but expressive at the same time and Pam would know once she laid her critical eye on me that if you fuck with Sookie Stackhouse, you were going to get burned.

After my shopping, I confirmed some last minute details for the trip and also decided to book Amelia and I an appointment at the nearby nail salon. It would be nice to have some girl time, when I had spent so much time surrounded by the bundle of testosterone that was Eric.

Amelia and I arrived at the nail salon a few minutes early for our scheduled appointment. I walked up to the reception desk to check-in while Amelia went immediately to the shelves of polish. I usually favored reds and pinks, while Amelia liked to choose more uncommon colors like blues and greens. Even though she knew my preferences she still tried to get me to choose colors that she herself favored.

"Sookie look at this. This one is perfect for tonight, it's called dive bar." I looked at the bluish green color she had chosen and shook my head. After dinner tonight we planned on going to Fangtasia.

"No. You know I don't like green nail polish." She pulled the bottle from the shelf and placed it on the table next to her.

"Then I'm keeping it. How about this one?" She handed me the purple colored bottle and I read the name out loud.

"Vampsterdam. Funny. Too dark, next." I scanned the colors, but they all looked so similar. I was having a hard time choosing.

"Oh you'll like this one it's pink and it's called size matters." I started to feel the blood rushing to my face. "The shade of pink almost matches the blush on your face, Sookie." She proceeded to hold the bottle up to my face.

"No." I returned to the rack and pulled a rich red off the shelf.

"What's it called?" She asked looking over my shoulder at the shade in my hand.

"I'm not really a waitress."

"What does that mean?"

"You know all those girls in Hollywood who work as waitresses and when people ask them what they do they say; I'm not really a waitress, I'm an actress, model, etc."

"So you would be, I'm not really a waitress, I'm a Daywoman."

"Exactly."

SPOV - Fangtasia

After Amelia begged me to take her back home to brush all of the garlic out of her teeth following our Italian feast, we finally arrived at Fangtasia. I had stayed happily sober over dinner so that I could have all of my faculties intact while surrounded by vampires. I parked in the customer parking section and we headed toward the front door like all the other humans trying to take a walk on the wild side. Amelia and I walked arm and arm toward the door and we were about to head to the back of the line when we were spotted by Pam.

"Susannah, what brings you to Fangtasia and who's this lovely woman on your arm?"

"Pam, this is Amelia. Amelia, Pam." They ignored my introduction and continued to eye-fuck each other. I tugged on Amelia's arm and motioned for her to move with me toward the back of the line. We were just regular customers today.

"No, you two are coming with me. If Eric found out I made you stand outside I wouldn't hear the end of it." She stood behind us and grabbed both of our shoulders, pushing us simultaneously toward the now open door. "Now in you go."

I was bombarded by the sights and sounds of Fangtasia. Lustful, twisted thoughts invaded my mind and I quickly reinforced my shields to prevent them from taking me under. Amelia looked ecstatic to be here and she took the whole atmosphere in.

"This is so…"

"Tacky." I finished for her.

"No, I was going to say hilarious. It's like a vampire inside joke." She quipped.

"I guess you can see it that way. I prefer to think of it like a ride at Disneyland. Except no one would ever mistake this place as the happiest place on earth."

"Let's get a drink." She grabbed my hand and we walked to the bar. The normal bartender, I think his name was Longshadow, was not there and his replacement was a small female vampire.

She gave us a hard stare and didn't say a word to us. I guess that meant we were just supposed to order.

"Tonic water. Amelia?"

"Bloody Mary." She said with gusto. I raised my eyebrow at her for her selection.

Our drinks appeared moments later and I handed her some money, but she didn't take it. So I just left it at the bar and we took our drinks to the nearest table.

"When is Pam coming back? She looks like fun." She looked around trying to spot the vampiress.

"I don't know. She could be anywhere."

The sound of the vampire run radio station blared over the speakers. The DJ was not in attendance tonight as it was only Tuesday, but nonetheless the music was always appropriate for an establishment such as this. I could feel Eric was in his office and was surprised he hadn't made an appearance since our arrival, but then I remembered that Pam was here and for him to pay me the attention he did normally would not fall in line with our plan.

I turned back to Amelia to see her downing her drink. "Let's dance."

She pulled me toward the dance floor until we were standing right in the middle of it. We spun and twirled each other around the floor. Some vampires tried to cut in and separate us, but I made sure we stayed together and enjoyed the musical beats unmolested. I felt Eric was close to me and I spun around to see him sitting on his throne, watching me carefully. His face was a mask, but his emotions were spinning with want. I returned my attention back to Amelia and I tried to get lost in the music and ignore the need to fall into the whirlpool of Eric's lust and thoughtless mind.

We left the floor slightly out of breath so I headed in the direction of the bar to gather more drinks for my parched throat, but I saw our drinks had already been refreshed and were sitting at our table. I turned back around and saw Eric's eyes on me. I gave him a slight nod in thanks and returned to the table with Amelia.

"That was fun." She said. Her mind was starting to get fuzzy and I knew it was the alcohol settling into her bloodstream.

"I think it's time to head home Amelia." I said.

"But we just got here." She protested.

"We've been here over two hours."

"Okay, but you're driving." I laughed at her drunken suggestion.

I grabbed the keys to the car and walked out of the bar. Once I got Amelia into the car, I turned only to be assaulted by Eric's lips on mine. His fangs nipped my tongue and he sucked more urgently on it. I wanted to continue, but I needed to get Amelia home and keep Pam in the dark of our collaboration.

"Where's Pam?" I asked quickly before he could silence me again with his lips.

"Out." He continued to kiss me and I let his hands wander along my body. I forgot where I was until I heard Amelia's voice.

"HELLO!" Amelia pounded on the window. "I'm still in the car."

I broke our kiss. "Tomorrow night, I'm all yours."

"You already are." He said and disappeared back into the bar.

I fixed my ruffled dress and got into the car.

"Where's lover boy?" Amelia asked through hooded eyes.

"He went back to work." I said quietly as I pulled out of the parking lot.

"I think he loves you."

I spun my head around to look at her, shocked at her assessment; but she had fallen asleep.


A/N: Do you agree with Amelia?

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Disclaimer: Never will be mine. I just like to borrow the car and make sure I don't crash it while I joy ride around town.