Without even thinking, Sookie teleported to Desmond Catalaides slain body and grabbed the knife he had been wielding. Her inconsistency with teleporting was annoying at best, but if she could at least get rid of Bill Compton, once and for all, she could simply drive herself to Bon Temps!
Bill charged for her in his super vampire speed, but Sookie was quicker, using Fergus' training to once again teleport defensively around Bill as he swung his sword widely, hoping to connect sooner rather than later. The grief of losing her uncle and a trusted family friend in a matter of moments from each other to this monster must have something to do with her mental clarity, for she felt as sharp as a tack. Is that what it took to get a handle on her new Tele skills? Extreme emotion?
"I don't want to hurt you, Sookie!" he yelled out to thin air.
"Oh, but I do!" she hissed, this time by his ear. Then she stabbed him in the back with the knife. Unfortunately for her, she missed his dead heart by mere centimeters, but it was enough to make him drop his sword.
She quickly grabbed the sword and teleported away again. Bill spun in circles yelling out in pain and anger, trying to grab at her unsuccessfully. The knife was pure silver and in a spot where he couldn't reach to pull it out. It was burning him from the inside out, yet wasn't enough to send him to his final death.
When he dropped to his knees from pain, Sookie teleported back and blindly swung with all her might, accidentally slicing through Bill's neck. However, once again her accuracy was less than stellar and the blade got jammed somewhere between the bones along his spine and clavicle.
Now Bill was really writhing in pain. Perhaps her aim was good enough then, because she rather enjoyed seeing him in agony after all the pain he had caused her.
She grabbed the hilt of the sword thinking of trying to free it and strike again when Bill pleaded with her.
"Sookie, please! I have information you need!" he gurgled, the sword's blade resting right next to his vocal chords.
"So did Mr. Catalaides, until you killed him!"
"He didn't know what I know."
"Then spill and I'll make this quick," she ordered, wiggling the long blade enough to make him scream in pain again. Or what would've been a scream, if his neck wasn't nearly split in two.
"I have a computer. At my home. The one by your grandmother's house in Bon Temps. If you take me there, I can give it to you. Show you what I know," he whispered, struggling with the words.
"Why can't you just tell me right now and be done with this?"
"Because you need to see it to believe it, I'm afraid."
Or more like he was biding his time until he healed. And with Fairy blood and god knows what else swirling inside him, he would heal quicker than she would like.
"OK. We can take Dermot's car." Her quest for answers was taking a backseat to her instincts to just leave him and go.
"You'll have to help me to the trunk. I'm unsure how much time I have left to withstand daylight."
"I'll pop the trunk. You help yourself to it!"
Bill nodded as much as he could in his condition. Sookie let go of the sword still sticking out of his body in an awkward direction and teleported to the car. She found the button that released the trunk hatch and waited as Bill shuffled over to the trunk. After some effort, he folded himself inside.
"I would be more comfortable if you removed this sword from my neck," he asked in his most genteel voice. Boy could he turn on the southern charm when he needed to!
"And I'm just fine with how it is now. Nighty-Night vampire!" She sassed and slammed the lid shut.
Then she teleported to the driver's seat, where she said a silent prayer to Dermot that he was at peace now and apologizing for taking his car.
On the road to Bon Temps, Sookie decided that bringing Bill back to his house was probably not the best of ideas. By the time night fell, he'd probably be healed and would be able to easily kill her. She formulated a plan, based on the fact that he couldn't actually see where they were going.
She didn't want to kill Bill until after she located his computer and accessed the information he promised. If she ran into any trouble finding it or logging in, he'd need to be around for assistance. At the same time, he didn't need to be right outside the door either. He needed to be in a place that was easily accessible either by car or familiar enough to teleport to (if she could get it right!).
After about an hour's drive, she pulled down the rutty driveway of the local town sociopaths. The Rattrays. She figured if she left Dermot's nice Audi parked in their yard a little out of sight, at some point they would come and investigate. It was still quite earlier in the morning and if she knew anything about their type, they'd probably had been out all night and just barely got to sleep. It'd be hours before they woke and possibly saw the unknown vehicle.
She scrounged around the car and found an envelope and a pen in the glove box. She left them a little note, to not look in the trunk. She figured if she told them NOT to do something that would be the first thing they would do. Hopefully they'd do it in broad daylight or her plan might just backfire.
If what he had promised about the laptop and information was true, then a simple anonymous call to the Rattrays at the right time and Bill would be discovered. They would hopefully live up to their reputation, have a little fun of their own and Bill would be no more, while she would have what she desperately needed. The best part about it all, was that they still lived in Bon Temps, so not being able to actually see where exactly he was parked, Bill would be none the wiser, thinking he was close to home and Sookie.
Once everything was set at the Rattrays, she teleported to the old Compton estate. Except that now that her overly emotional state had subsided, her laser focus was more like murky water focus and she wound up in the cemetery between her Gran's and Bill's, right in the middle of her family's plot of headstones. Could've been worse, she supposed.
While she took in her surroundings and got her bearings, she couldn't help but overhear talking and the sound of doors banging echoing across the expanse between her Gran's and the graveyard. She couldn't imagine who was over there, but a niggling memory about her last encounter with her grandfather warned her that whoever it was, was best left not knowing she was nearby.
She crouched down close to the ground, so as not to attract any unwanted attention. As she moved towards Bill's, a headstone caught her attention. It was her great-grandaddy's – Adele's grandfather. She'd seen it at least a hundred times, but never paid attention how the stone had a red tint to it. She'd probably never noticed because it seemed to only be visible when the sun shone on it, which really wasn't all that often because of the tall trees that had filled in the space over the years. And as she observed the angle of the sun's rays as it filtered through the narrow spaces, it was no wonder. Someone would have had to been here pretty darn early in the morning to witness the peculiar sight.
It was obvious the grave marker was made from different granite than the rest of her family's stones, if from granite at all. As she considered that, she also noticed a statue of what she always thought was an angel set slightly behind and to the right of his headstone. However, now that she knew that fairies not only existed, but were part of her family, she realized the marble character was really more representative of the Fae than godly. As she studied it further, she noted that its right arm was extended and that its forefinger was pointing toward an empty space between her great-grandaddy's marker and the next family member.
She crawled over to the statue and positioned herself right next to it, trying to visualize exactly where the finger might be pointing. Could this be a clue as to the Ruddy Roscommon lad Catalaides referred to before he was murdered?
With the ground covered in a fair amount of overgrowth and old, dried up leaves, it was difficult to determine exactly what or where the statue might be attempting to reveal. Maybe her mind was simply playing tricks on her and there was nothing at all. Yet her instincts told her that with Catalaides clues, it was too much of a coincidence not to investigate further.
She began slowly inching forward brushing away debris as she went looking for anything that might be an out of place object or something buried. About six feet away, set slightly forward between the space she noted earlier, she found a small square stone set deep into the dirt. If one hadn't been looking for it, it would have been easily missed. And if one had noticed it, it really just looked like one of those markers that people purchased when they couldn't afford an actual headstone but wanted something to indict a loved ones final resting place.
She worked quickly to relieve the area of all the dirt, moss, and old crab grass that had collected over the years. Then she paused, staring at the old stone as excitement welled up inside her. Could this thing finally hold the answers she sought?
With a shaky hand, she tentatively reached out and touched the stone. She wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but the oddly warm vibration she felt was certainly not it! It was as if something was alive under there!
She was about to start digging around the square with her fingers, when a hand touched her shoulder making her scream. Fortunately, a quick hand wrapped around her mouth and a familiar voice whispered in her ear.
"Shh, lass. T'is just me. We have company across the way, so t'is best that ye not be making any loud noises. And I'm positive that if ye go diggin' at that stone, the thing ye set free will most definitely give ye a fright!"
It was Fergus! Somehow he had found her!
She turned to face him, finding that he too was crouched down low to the ground. He was wearing an olive green coat that reminded Sookie of what hunters or military personnel might wear, and dark brown cargo pants with well-worn combat looking boots. He was obviously dressed to blend with the elements of the area.
"How did you know I was hear? And what is that thing?!" she whispered. She felt so happy to see another familiar, friendly face.
"I'm a tracker, remember?" he said with a wink. "And that vibration ye felt is the work of a large nest of ground hornets. Not a friendly lot when disturbed," he explained, tsking and shaking his head.
Sookie shivered at the thought of a blast of bees chasing after her, if she had indeed disturbed their hive. That would've definitely given her presence away to anyone within a mile radius!
"Besides the bees, do you know if that spot marks anything else of significance?"
Fergus shrugged. "Got me. I just happened to track ye here and was watchin' ye crawl around on the ground. Figured ye lost somethin', when I heard their familiar hum."
"You can actually hear them?"
Fergus smiled and tapped his temple, "Spidey senses!"
Sookie grinned. She actually had really missed Fergus and hadn't really thought about it until right then.
"So if you haven't lost somethin', then whatchya doin' crawlin' around in a graveyard? Ye gone mad?"
"Long story. But I had a meeting this morning with Desmond Catalaides. I think you had actually told me about him before, didn't you?"
He whistled quietly. "I did. And what would ye being doin' with a Demon by chance?"
"Again, long story. But Bill Compton killed him! And before he did, Mr. C rattled off some weird riddle to me that the answers I've been seeking lay with the 'Ruddy Roscommon Lad'. Which through a series of randomly not random events, led me to discovering this hidden marker. My intuition is screaming that this spot indeed holds something worth finding."
The great thing about Fergus was that he didn't need the whole story to decide whether something was worth investigating or not. He looked off contemplatively for a breath or two and then nodded his head.
"OK then, scoot over. I'm gonna try and talk to these mates and see if I can't get them to buzz off." He gave her another cheeky grin, finding his own pun humorous.
Sookie rolled her eyes, but did what she was told. Wondering in amazement how Fergus planned on communing with the bees.
Like a scene plucked from Disney's Snow White, Fergus chirped like a bird until a large crow flew down from high up in the trees and landed on his shoulder. Then he simply asked it if it could talk the bees about settling down and not freaking out if they went digging about around their nest.
She watched with awe as the big, black bird hopped down on the ground, ruffled its feathers and sort of danced around a bit before pecking around the dirt by the marker. It squawked a couple of times, looking from the ground up to Fergus and back to the ground.
"What's going on?" she asked, curiosity filling her.
"Bird says bees don't want to cooperate. Seems they might be protectin' somethin'. We need to prove we are a trustworthy sort."
"And how do we do that?"
"Give 'em a drop of yer blood."
Sookie gulped and then blew out a long breath. Why did everything come down to blood?!
She held out her hand. "You got a knife handy? I'm fresh out," she sassed. That made her wonder how ole Bill was doing back at the Rattray's. They needed to hurry things along. Daylight was limited this time of year.
Fergus nodded, taking her hand gently in his. He swiftly pulled out a knife from somewhere inside his left interior jacket pocket and made a small slice along the lifeline of the palm of her hand. Then he formed her hand into a fist and squeezed it, pulling her closer so that it would drip directly over the marker.
A sizzling sound was made with each plip-plop of blood hitting the stone.
Then the bird squawked again and took off back up into the trees.
"I guess that was an all clear?" she asked.
Fergus nodded, releasing her hand and wiping his blade on his pants before putting it back where he'd got it.
"OK. So are we supposed to dig that thing up or what?"
"Got me," he shrugged. "This is yer show, remember? What does yer intuition tell ye?"
Sookie closed her eyes and lifted her face towards the sky, taking a deep, cleansing breath. Then she opened them and placed the still bleeding palm over the stone. Some more sizzling hissing sounds were made and then the stone seemed to dissolve before their eyes. In its place was a dark hallowed out space. With trepidation, she reached down into the hole, almost to her shoulder, until her fingertips felt something solid.
"I feel something. Ow! It's burns!" she yelped, yanking her arm out quickly. That earned her another shush from Fergus.
They both held their breath for a second, listening for any reaction from the persons who were occupying Gran's house across the way.
After several nervous beats, she showed Fergus her hand. It was burned as if scalded by something.
"Iron," Fergus surmised. "Whatever it tis down there, someone has gone to great lengths to secure it. But nothing a pair of gloves can't get past!"
He reached into another pocket and retrieved a pair of odd-looking gloves. They appeared to be made of some kind of rubber, like some gardening gloves have on the inside of the palm and fingers, but this material also had a shiny, metallic look to it that suggesting it was something more.
He quickly donned them and reached down the same hole. Within seconds, he had pulled his arm out and in his hand was a large iron handle attached to what looked like an antique iron tool-chest. It was about the size of a magazine in dimensions but much thicker. Maybe close to 12" thick.
Both Sookie and Fergus felt a weird tingling feeling on the back of their neck, like they were suddenly being watched. They automatically scanned their immediate surroundings for threats.
Fergus hid the box inside his coat. "Let's see if we cannot take this inside, hey dove?"
Sookie nodded, still feeling a sense of unease. She focused her thoughts and was able to pop herself to the front door (score for her!) and Fergus quickly followed behind. Of course the door was nailed shut.
"The old coal entrance on the backside of the house. I bet there's a way in through there," she guessed.
After another pop and meet up, their luck turned and they found a way inside. Surprisingly, the inside was as if it had never been touched by time. There was fresh paint on the walls, beautiful old furniture and rugs and not a cobweb in sight. They found a drawing room with sliding pocket doors towards the front of the house that Bill had obviously set up as his office. No sight of the laptop he mentioned, but that had taken the backburner for the time being, while they set the chest down and fumbled with its latch.
After an encouraging pry with a letter opener, the box was opened and inside was a large book with an intricately carved leather bound cover. Sookie grazed her fingertips over the design, appreciating the softness and detail of the carvings.
"Such soft leather," she murmured.
"Oh, that's not leather, dove. That's skin. Probably Demon skin."
Sookie yelp, pulling her hand back quickly. "Gross! Why?"
"Because it makes for such a great canvas, no?" he said with a laugh.
Then, with his gloves still on, he opened the cover. They slowly started shifting through the pages of the great text. The writings were in a variety of penmanship and of varying colors of ink (or what Sookie hoped was ink and not blood or something equally gross). The letters were like nothing she'd ever seen.
"Can you read any of it?" she asked Fergus.
"The language changes with the author. Some of it is in an ancient Fae language that I can't read, but recognize. Some of it is in old Gaelic and perhaps some kind of Scandinavian. Yet I also recognize Demonish and old English."
"So we are supposed to just sit down and start reading and somehow gather the information that way? It would take a century to do that! And by the looks outside, we have maybe five or six hours of daylight tops."
"Why are you concerned about daylight?"
"Bill Compton. He's sort of locked in a car trunk outside of town right now. If I don't alert someone of his presence by sundown, he'll more than likely be here to kill us shortly thereafter."
"Oh, is tha t'all? Well, then, we best get readin'!"
Sookie's stomach decided to make its demands at that particular moment.
"Why don't you look in the cupboards and see if the vampire may have stocked some dry goods by chance. It's possible he did as a cover, in case any human broke inside."
Sookie nodded and went off in search of something to eat while Fergus went back to the beginning of the book and started flipping through the pages again, one by one.
It seemed to him that it was a sort of family history. Some pages contained sketches along with words, while others seemed to have hierarchy charts, much like a family tree of sorts, along with lengthy passages.
Sookie scored with a box of Cheez-Its that didn't look like they'd been there for too long (they were from at least the past decade anyway). She grabbed the box, scarfing down a few handfuls of crackers and headed back to the office where Fergus was.
"Anything yet?"
He told her of his thoughts but nothing of value to her quest thus far. So, he kept on while she started walking around the house, appreciating the work someone had done to keep the place from falling to decay. Then she decided that while Fergus was busy reading the ancient tomb, she could attempt to locate Bill's laptop and see if that led anywhere.
As she snooped, her mind began to drift over the last couple of weeks of her life. What a long, strange trip it'd been.
"Do you know if Eric is OK? You were in NOLA when I escaped. Did he get out too?"
Fergus filled her in with the events that had transpired at the Queen's estate after her abrupt departure. He told her how his friends had helped Eric escape, yet had no idea where he had gone once he was in the clear.
Sookie was distraught to learn of Eric's torture, but relieved to know that he was no longer captive. She tried to see if she could reach out to him through their bond. But, since it was daytime, and the last time they were together, he had somehow locked her out, she didn't feel a thing.
"So that's why Bill was so powerful? Because he had killed Andre first?"
"Apparently."
"What makes a vampire so powerful anyway? Is it age or something else?"
"I haven't really asked around, dove," Fergus replied sarcastically. Obviously, Fae and vampires didn't mingle too often. "But, I imagine it is a combination of things. Like with us, the extent of our magic comes from our bloodline. I'm sure age buys them certain things, like knowledge and physical power. And as a vampire ages, they covet their lives more closely than anything else, which makes them unpredictable and the deadliest sort. Eric held a healthy respect towards Sophie-Anne. And so did anyone who dealt with her. That's because she is old, but also because she is said to have many magical talents. Most remain hidden until the right time. I suspect Andre inherited some of his power from her, but perhaps his own bloodline added to it all."
Sookie filed that information away for later, as she continued her task of locating the laptop that supposedly had astonishing information. She wondered if Bill was just pulling her leg, when she noticed a floorboard that was raised slightly and scuffed up more than the others. It was under the desk, right by Fergus' feet.
She crawled under the desk, startling him a little.
"And what might ye being doin' under there, lass?" he stiffened as she had spread his legs apart in an attempt to get at the board. He leaned back in his chair, a sparkle in his eye as she looked up at him from between his thighs.
"You're my uncle, Fergus!"
"Yes, well a distant one. And that means nothing in our world!"
"Eww! I'm looking for that laptop and I think I might have found it. Look!" she exclaimed, pounding her fist on the opposite end of the board that seemed to have been loosened recently.
With a pop, the board released, revealing yet another dark cavern between slats. Most houses in this area didn't have basements per say, but lots of crawl space for access to pipes and things like that. So she figured the space wasn't too deep. Just deep enough to store things like laptops and hard drives and apparently money and forged passports too!
She began pulling out items left and right, before piling them up on the other side of the desk.
After a few moments of messing around with cords and components, Sookie had the laptop firing up. Just as her mood was starting to turn sour at the appearance of the famous password screen, Fergus stood up abruptly, covering his mouth in shock.
"What?! What is it?" Sookie was suddenly scared. His face had gone pale and he turned his back to her, walking toward the back of the house.
"Fergus! You're scaring me. What is it?"
"Well, I think I definitely found the information Desmond was referring to."