This one is long guys. A lot to take in. We are starting to go into the storm arc.
Chapter 36:
Sookie wakes in Eric's arms. She has a strange feeling that something is not right. She looks out the window. It is still dark, Eric is still awake. Sookie sits up.
"What's up, other than you?" he asks. "You only went to sleep an hour ago."
"Something does not feel right. It woke me from a dead sleep, no pun intended." She moves to get out of bed. That is when, she hears an animal's call. Eric is on full alert now.
"What the fuck is going on? I did not give them permission to hunt on my land. Wait! It is not the full moon, or Jason would be over here." Sookie jumps out of bed and grabs the gun. She walks to the window and looks out. She knows that full Weres can change at will, they don't need the full moon's pull. But it is not wolves that are out there it's a cat. Big, black, jungle cat.
"Fucking Hot Shot ." Sookie mutters under her breath.
It pads up to the door and scratches at the door as lightly as possible, trying not to use its claws. 'I guess that is a gentle knock for someone with massive paws instead of hands.' Sookie muses.
From dealing with Alcide before, Sookie knows that the animal will be able to understand her. She yanks the door open, and shoulders the gun. "Calvin Norris, you have two minutes to change back and tell me what in the flying fuck you want."
The panther changes back, and Eric throws him a pair of Jason's sweats that he keeps at Sookie's for after his "moon" time.
"I am sorry, but something is going on. I have checked in with Sam, he feels it too. My whole pack is upset and restless. I called Jason, he is on his way here as we speak." Sookie looks outside, and runs for the television. She clicks on the set and switches it to the weather channel. They are tracking a monster of a hurricane coming this way.
"Oh, fucking hell. I was right." Sookie passes out.
Calvin, Jason and Eric are talking around her when she starts coming to, but she hears her brother and Calvin's thoughts also.
Jason is wondering what made Sookie pass out. He was also a little weirded out by Eric giving her blood. Calvin just was wishing that he didn't have the obligation to his pack to produce another member. Then he could have fought harder for the woman that he wanted.
The vampire sure loved her, but Sookie still deserved to have a living husband. Eric sits next to her and takes her hand. "Hey there, you really gave us a scare. You only came around after I gave you some blood." Sookie could feel the guilt coursing through their bond. She pats his hand. "Thank you, honey." Their bond tightens and she smiles at him.
Apollo, Night, and Ares pop into the room. Jason and Calvin kneel in reverence. Sookie can tell that Jason has no idea who the other two are, but that Night fellow was not someone you messed with. Especially, if you happen to turn into something else, in the moonlight.
Apollo squats by Sookie. "Hey there Sun Maiden, looks like the nature powers combined with your bonding practices packed a wallop tonight, huh?" He chuckles as he passes a glowing hand over her. "There you should feel better now. I'm sorry, but I still can't heal the thing that we talked about before.
We didn't get a chance to talk much the last time, looks like the lotion worked as it should have. I have some more. Your man seems to be adjusting to the change well, as does his child. They will continue to increase their daytime hours, until they only need to sleep from when the sun comes up to three, when it dulls in intensity." He smiles and pats Eric on the shoulder.
"Thank you my Lord." Both of them say to Apollo.
"Hey, it is one thing for these guys to say that." He points to Jason and Calvin. "But you are our chosen. You are our token human and vampires. Either call me Apollo or Uncle. I think of Sookie as my niece anyway." Eric and Sookie nod to the slightly glowing man.
Eric turns to Sookie. "While you were out, I called Gervaise. He already knew. The precautions are in place. The palace is locked up, all of our businesses are boarded up and water tight. The same goes for Stan and Russell. Bart came down to help.
Between Gervaise, the Mayor and the Governor. They have evacuated the Big Easy. Not even the poorer sector has been left. Gervaise paid for all of the people to be bused out of town.
The National Guard is already sandbagging the levees. It's the same procedure as with the takeover.
We still have time to go out to Hot Shot and help. They say that it will not start hitting us here until two days from now, Sam is closing down for the storm, so you have off until it blows over."
He looks up at the gods and Jason. "It's time to help out Calvin's pack. Between us, and Bill we should be able to get everyone out. I have already called the town. The old high school is still a sound fallout shelter from the last World War. I have buses on the way. They only need their clothes and any personal effects that they would take in the event of a fire. Each person will be given a large storage bin and a footlocker to keep their clothes and belongings." Calvin nods, thanks Eric and transforms back into a panther. He takes off for the little community to get everyone organized.
Bill meets them outside the house. Apollo takes one look at him and grimaces. Ares and Night have a hard time holding him back. "Apollo doesn't get angry about much, but he is a force to be reckoned with when he does." Night tells Eric.
Eric walks up to him and gets in his face. "I feel the same, but until this rash of shit that your father and uncle are throwing around subsides, we will need his help." Apollo calms down and nods to Eric.
"You are right, I just can't stand knowing that he did that." Eric agrees with him.
Bill pales even more, when he sees Ares. "Master."
"You are very lucky that Eric takes his job so seriously. He just saved you from my brother's ire." The southern man nods his head.
Sookie gingerly walks out of the house. She is still a little light headed, even after Apollo's light show. Eric swings her up into his arms and deposits her into the passenger seat of the Bentley. "You are not going anywhere without me." Eric passes his hand down her face.
He and Gervaise worked out a plan to have vampire fallout shelters built in every major town. It was a design from a vampire that goes by the name V, out of New York. The man even came down to install the computer system. Eric was so impressed that he signed him as his official computer man.
They all were outfitted with travel coffins, and enough True Blood to last fifty vampires twenty days. Stan and Russell ran with the idea too. Area Five and One also had an armory in their main shelters.
Eric had one large one built in Shreveport and a slightly smaller one built between Bill's house and his and Sookie's house. There is a one way electronic lock that goes from their house to Bill's right before you leave her property. Only Sookie, Eric and Noir know the code.
Apollo and Night pile in with them, Jason and Ares ride in Bill's car. Once they reach Hot Shot, they can see people loading onto the buses. Behind the three buses, is a large moving truck, to load the clothes and belongings into.
On the ride over, Sookie asks Night what the other two-natured are doing. "Sam is up in the air. As for the Shreveport pack, they are holing up at whoever's that will house them. Knowing how Alcide is still hoping, I would expect a call at least." Eric growls and mutters to himself, in his former tongue . "That wolf will learn that she is my mate, if I have to put him through a wall to prove it."
"Let's hope it will not come to that, Eric." Night laughs when Eric looks back at him astonished. "You have forgotten that we have been around since before that language was first used." Apollo chuckles at the chagrined expression that the Viking is sporting.
"Sookie call Herveaux. If he cannot find another place to stay he can stay with us. Just warn him that there will be vampires around." Eric can feel the relief flow through her. She was worried about her friend and wanted to help, even if said friend wanted to get into her pants.
Eric had no qualms about how Sookie felt about Alcide; and he had to agree with the wolf. Sookie looked damn good in those pants, she looked even better out of them.
Alcide answers the call. He was glad that she was alright. "Thank you for the offer, but I am staying with Amanda's family." Sookie felt better for offering and Eric didn't have to put up with dog smell in the house.
They get out at the high school and organize the relief effort. Sookie is better now and she sees a few people that she recognizes. Calvin was able to convince the whole community. Apollo tends to the sick and in-firmed. While Sookie and Night, take up a list of things needed to be done. The place was still used for many things so the kitchen, bathrooms and showers were all in working order. Sookie goes by and collects clothes that are dirty and makes a list of items needed.
Once the truck is unloaded of the groups' things, she piles the bags of laundry in and drops them off at the five area dry cleaners to be washed. They agree to have them done in three hours. That leaves her time to go clothing and food shopping she is going to stock the three refrigerators and two walk-in freezers at the school. It should last until the storm and clean-up is done.
With Night, Eric and Bill in tow, Sookie sets out to clothe and feed the whole of Hot Shot for the span of three weeks in one day. Bill and Eric load two travel coffins in so they can sleep during the trip. They can tell that Sookie is on a mission and you don't mess with her, when she gets like that.
Bill asks why they are going to a Wal-Mart first. "Because Bill, what we will need is in a bigger amount here."
The glare of the overhead florescent lights make the two vampires appear more chalky than usual. She starts with the health and beauty aisles. She loads soap, shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, razors, maxi pads, tampons, adult diapers, baby wipes, diaper cream, baby wash, baby shampoo and lotion into Bill's cart.
She walks over to the health side and gets pain relievers, muscle cream, first aid kits, peroxide and rubbing alcohol. She puts cough and cold medicine, various vitamins, diabetic supplies, nutritional drinks, sports wraps and braces in Eric's cart.
To be on the safe side she walks over to the sexual supplies and buys condoms and pregnancy tests. Eric sniggers at the addition. "Let's face it out of the three of you, you would be less embarrassed to be pushing that around." He concedes with a shrug.
Sookie walks up to the housewares department. Ten dinnerware sets go into the cart, twenty silverware sets follow. She cleans the store out of any plastic cup, glass and Sippy. She loads in large cooking pots and bake ware, serving and cooking utensils. Sookie sends the two vampires out with the stuff in their carts.
She has a counter that people use for registries in her hand. She cleared it with the manager that only the four of them could do this, they give Night's card as collateral. Night and Sookie carry on. Eric comes back with an empty cart. He has a trickle of blood coming out of his ear, but says he is fine. Sookie makes him promise that, with the next cart, he'll go to sleep.
Sookie leads them up to the camping section. She cleans out the sleeping bags, camp chairs and air mattresses. She skips over the audio/ visual section and heads for the towels, wash cloths, pillows, blankets and comforters. Sookie then, tells the nearest helper guy that she needs all the folding chairs, tables and fold out foam chairs. The camp cots from the camping section also.
Eric takes the next load out and after shifting it all into the moving truck, climbs into his coffin with a blood.
They are down to two carts and head to the baby section. Sookie cleans out the folded clothing on the racks and the bagged clothing, socks, underwear, washcloths, and booties. She loads in slippers and pjs and diapers, baby food, bibs, playpens, activity centers, potty seats, toys and diaper pails, genies and replacement cartages.
She gets adult slippers and slip on shoes. She cleans out the clearance section in the baby, boys, girls, men and women's sections. In the pet section, she buys food, treats and toys. She heads into the men's section again and buys ten packages of each size of tees, underwear, boxers, and socks. She does the same in the women's section, including cleaning off one whole side of the bra rack. She gets pjs and flannel nightgowns for the women, men and kids.
Night comes back with an empty cart for her and trades off.
She moves on to paper and cleaning supplies. She buys twenty of the largest packs that they have for toilet paper. Ten packs of paper towels, a large bolt of tin foil and three cases of dish soap, air freshener spray, renuitzs, mops, sponges and buckets and brooms and dust pans.
Jason calls to tell her that he got the freezers and refrigerators up and running. Sookie thanks him and asks him to pick up the laundry at the laundromats, as she trades out a cart with Night again.
She runs to the toy section and grabs coloring books, dolls, toy trucks, Lego sets, puzzles, and games; for children and adults. Then she goes up to the book section and picks up two of each book there. She grabs plain paper, pencils, crayons, and markers also.
The last stop is in the craft department. She warned Night that she might need all four carts again, so he brings them back to her. She loads in ten of each color and type of yarn. Cleans the racks of knitting needles, crochet hooks, and craft sets for both adults and children. Sookie walks up to the register with the last cart and her massive list. She waits with Night as he swipes his card through and they print out the massive receipt. She pushes her cart to the truck.
They load the truck and drive to the next store. It happens to be a Sam's Club. Sookie goes to the back with a cart and Night pulls a large dolly.
She picks out large hunks of meat and has the butcher cut them into roasts, steaks, shaved steak, stew meat, rib racks and ground beef. She has the man cut chops, roasts, and ribs and grind up some pork also. She buys every large package of cut up chicken she could find. Night adds a dozen whole chickens and a few turkeys and takes the cart to the front to pay for that load. He comes back with Eric and two carts. Her husband is looking around in wonder. "I thought it was amazing in our grocery store and at the buffet place." He whistles at the assortment. Sookie smiles at him when he kisses her and asks what's next.
She pushes on to the dairy aisle, she loads ten gallons of milk, three flats of eggs and three twelve pound packages of butter and the same for margarine. She buys sliced cheese, block cheese, and shredded cheese. She loads in the lot of frozen bread loaves, twenty boxes of French toast sticks, French fries, frozen orange juice and fruit juice. She spies the sausage patties, ham, salami, pastrami, turkey, bologna, and liverwurst, bacon, meatballs; both Italian and Swedish, hot dogs and burgers. Those go in the cart. Night takes the cart and pays for it. This leaves Eric and Sookie alone. "Night said you nearly bought out the Wal-Mart." Sookie nods at him.
"They had to change the paper half way through the receipt. We almost had to pack you guys in. We might have to with Bill. Sookie places twenty pizzas into Eric's cart. With buckets of ice cream and frozen vegetables.
Eric turns up his face at the fish sticks. "Save it, I know that fish is best cooked from fresh, but we are feeding a lot of people and most of them kids. For the record, I agree." He shakes his head. Sookie lets him pick out the fruit and crackers.
Sookie buys baking supplies and cake, brownie and cookie mixes. She buys three of each of the common spices. A flat of evaporated milk and condensed milk go on the dolly. Then a flat of canned veggies in each variety. She gets a case of each of the pastas and an extra case of value sized elbows. A flat of each flavor of the canned spaghetti sauces. Canned tuna, ham, and chicken go in by the flat, as does two of mayo.
Night comes back with another cart to switch out with them. He winks at Eric and takes the cart up to pay for it. They were almost out of food aisles. Sookie, buys cases of soda, juice pouches and boxes, fifty gallons of water and twenty cases of bottled water. She gets ten loaves of bread, bags of hamburger and hot dog buns, and sub rolls. They won't last long but they can bake more. Sookie skips over the candy and goes for the granola bars, graham crackers and the like. That reminds her that she didn't buy any cereal. Sookie scampers back to the aisle and buys twenty of each fun pack and then five giant boxes of Cheerios, Crispix, and Sugar Smacks, Golden Grams, Wheaties, Cookie Crisp and Fruit Loops each. Night walks back in and they all go with him to pay for the last load. Bill wakes just in time to help load.
Their last stop is a pet big box store. Sookie walks in and buys them out of crates, pens, cages, litter boxes, litter, pee pads, and urine spray. The men load the truck and Night drives back to the high school. Calvin and all of the Hot Shot men come to help them unload the truck and place the stuff where it needs to go. Once the stuff is unpacked, the women stock the kitchen and heat up the ovens. They cook off all of the pizzas and feed the hoard.
Terry walks up to Sookie. The last time she talked to Sookie, she thought that she was going to be her new step-mother. At Crystal's botched wedding, they all found out that Sookie had married the tall blonde that had his arms around her now. He is some big shot in the vampire community. She looks at them and then starts crying. Sookie pulls the girl into her arms. "Don't worry, it will be OK. Your community will pull through this." She smooths Terry's hair back. Eric nods to the girl. "Your father did the right thing, coming to us for help. He is Sookie's friend and we were happy to help you."
Sookie slings an arm around the girl's shoulder. "I have an embarrassing question to ask. Do you know the girls' preferences? I bought both pads and tampons." Terry nods and tells her that she doesn't know about everyone, but most use the pads. "I use the other though and a few others."
Calvin walks up to Night and falls to his knees. "Thank you, my Lord. We are forever in debt to you for this." Night shakes his head and tells the leader that they don't owe him anything. "I will help with recovery when the storm is through." Calvin nods and Night wraps his arms around him while the man cries for his pack and community.
When he recovers, Calvin walks over to Eric and Sookie. "Mr. Northman, you will always be welcome in Hot Shot. Thank you for helping us." He turns to Sookie,
"You chose not to marry into our community and yet, you act like the pack master's wife and mate should anyway. You not only saved my family, but my community. You will always be honored as the pack's mother. You made sure that we would be comfortable as well as safe."
Sookie walks up to Calvin, and pulls him into a hug. "Thank you. I only did what I thought was right. It took a lot of courage for you to ask for help and I could not refuse to rise to the challenge." Sookie kisses his cheek, then shrugs. "Plus, I got to shop for a whole day straight and not worry about the bill. Any woman would love that. I tried to get some things that will past the time also. Maybe you can build a community center for the people, in the future and all that stuff can go in there." Calvin nods and hugs her again, before giving her back to Eric.
"I tried to get things that will keep if the power goes out and stuff that doesn't take cooking or refrigeration."
Eric pulls Sookie out of the school and drives them home. The gods are silent in the backseat. "We have guests at our house that we need to see to." Sookie snuggles up to him. "Let's go home."
When they get home, Eric takes his sleeping wife out of the car and carries her in the house. Gervaise, opens the door and gets out of the way.
Eric nods. "Thank you, Your Majesty. She has had a very long day. We just set the Were-panthers of Hot Shot up in the old high school. Sookie shopped to set up the whole community. That woman is one of a kind. Please excuse us. I am going to put her to bed and go over the take for the last two nights at Fangtasia."
Gervaise nods and Eric thanks him, before walking into their bedroom.
He strips the clothes off of his wife's body and dresses her in one of his dress shirts. He knows she will take a shower before getting dressed in the morning, so he is not worried about putting her to bed without one.
Eric opens his computer and checks the take from the last night that they were opened. Everything looked like it was in working order. He puts the little machine away and sinks down into the bed with his sleeping wife. She snuggles up to him, as he wraps his arms around her.
Sookie wakes in the morning and starts her coffee. She calls the area grocery stores and asks if they are still well stocked. Most of them in the surrounding towns, are down to bare bones. Sookie writes a note and travels to the Wal-Mart three towns over. She stocks up on towels, toilet paper, paper towels and paper plates. Sookie buys the makings for sandwiches, pizzas, spaghetti, burgers, hotdogs, barbecue chicken, kabobs, steak and potatoes, canned veggies and coffee, soda, juice, milk, eggs, cereal, bacon, sausage, bread, butter. Sookie cleans the shelves of the cases of Lifeline, giving two to the day person that was there also.
She decides that she would make a mac and cheese, a Mexican casserole and stroganoff. They would freeze and reheat well. The makings go in as well. Sookie buys seven filled propane tanks for the big grill, a camp stove and the bottles of propane to power it, and five coolers, ice to fill them, and seven cases of gallon bottles of water and seven more of bottled water. On a whim, she buys a stove top popcorn popper and corn, seven bags of her favorite chips. She wanders over to the toy section and decides to buy some games. She picks up Risk, Monopoly, Scrabble, the Millennial edition of Trivial Pursuit, and a Scene It game. Sookie pays the bill and loads her brother's truck with the supplies.
After she unloads at the house, she drives to each hardware store in the parish and buys ten flashlights and lanterns, with the stuff to make them work. She drops half of them off at the high school and a smaller pile at Bill's, before taking the rest home.
Eric wakes while Sookie is out. He reads the note and smiles. She wanted to make sure that they would be ready for the hurricane also. When she walks into the house with her hands full of flashlights and lanterns, Jason takes the truck back to his house and loads in the generators. He drops one at Bill's and one at Sookie's. Jason spends the last few hours of the day hooking them up. He just gets done, as the other vampires start rising. Everyone is sitting down to dinner; be it food or blood, when a knock comes to the door.