Chapter 37

No matter what Eric remembered of the past and what she had done, Sookie knew that her mate still loved Freyda with every fiber of his being. She saw the blood drain from his face at the news, and felt his dread like a frosty breeze over her skin.

The Queen knew just how badly it hit him because he didn't seem able to respond as the officer spoke. He just held the phone tightly in his hands. Once they informed him that they had already been to his home, all three of them, Eric looked ready to lose his shit.

"Then go back!" Eric ordered. "She wouldn't go anywhere else, and she can't get far. She has to be at the home address, my apartment, my agent's home or my work."

"Mr. Northman, we are doi-"

"Where is Doctor Whitely? I want to talk to him," He asked and there was that tone again.

If he was a vampire, someone would have suffered severe bodily harm. He wasn't a vampire, and she knew that he still would be a hazard to the people on the other end of phone. The phone changed hands and when the lines connected, Sookie caught a glimpse of the vampire in his steely tone.

"I don't care how she got out, but if something, and I do mean anything, happens to her while you are following your bullshit procedure, I will become a hazard to your fucking health! So if I were you, I would stop worrying about trying to cover the clinic's fuck up and focus on finding her."

Then he hung up.

Eric dropped the phone and he covered his face with his hands, and after a deep exhale, they traveled through his length of hair.

"Hey," Sookie said, taking hold of his hand. "It's okay."

"I don't know what I'll-"

She crawled into his lap and wrapped her arms around him. He held her as he always did when he was troubled. He seemed to breathe in her scent to calm himself.

"I'm Queen girlfriend, remember? My dad is a king and I have a brother who is also a king. I think between us we can find one human woman. Give me a few minutes, alright, and then start threatening people."

A ghost of a smile lit his face and hope sparked in his eyes as his worry ebbed. "You'd help find her for me even after everything?"

Sookie nodded easily and smiled, "I'm actually not doing it for you. If we get a second chance, then so should she."

There was that lopsided grin that she loved so much. Of course, it was followed by something cheeky, "I know for a fact you weren't this understanding before."

Sookie smiled as she climbed off him, "With age comes wisdom."

He scoffed, "You're not even that old, a cougar at best."

He really did remember because he knew how old she was. She turned around and stuck her tongue out at him, "Hi Pot, I'm Kettle."

They laughed as they walked hand in hand out of the room. The good mood didn't last. It took all of twelve seconds for the Queen to hack into the hospitals cameras. She saw how Freyda had escaped. She had scaled down a three-story drop with the feline grace of a vampire. It was no surprise though; Eric was just as skilled. From there she had jogged through an area with no traffic or any other manner of surveillance.

With Eric's help, she was able to figure out where Freyda would end up. They both watched as she got into a taxi and from there, it was easy to trail her. She had gone to the house that she and Eric had shared to change out of the stolen orderly outfit into her own clothes. Then she drove towards Vancouver. It was obvious she was heading to Eric's new apartment, but she never made it.

Fate was bloody whore, Sookie thought to herself. Just as she and Eric had gotten over such a humongous hurdle, just as she was ready to live with him instead of obsessing over forever, Fate wanted to rid her of both. The Queen watched Freyda turn off the main street. For some reason, probably ambiguity, she had chosen to park several blocks away and that was how she literally ran into Grayson.

Sookie saw him vanish after their confrontation. It had been odd to see a vampire do that, but she had just been too concerned with Eric to put much thought into the matter. She hadn't even cared where he would end up, just that he had gone away. What were the odds that Freyda had chosen that day to break out of the hospital? What were the odds that she would be right there at that precise moment? Slim to none, and if she wasn't watching the elusive King of Three abduct Freyda, Sookie wouldn't have believed it herself.

This just got a whole lot more complicated.

"What do you mean you can't just go get her?" Eric asked Sookie an hour later. "You know where she is. We saw him take her!"

"Grayson won't hurt her. He wants to deal. I can ransom for her safe return and I will."

Sookie didn't tell Eric that she knew what Grayson wanted. He said nothing. but he scowled, the helplessness making him appear more dangerous.

"I need you to trust me," The Queen told him.

"I do," he said.

The first thing Sookie did wasn't to attempt contact with Grayson. She needed to talk to her father. There were plenty of reasons, but mostly she missed him. She was also looking to save Grayson from himself.

See, what Sookie knew was that the King of Three was angry, not sadistic. His family had put too much emphasis on separating themselves from fully-fledged vampires because they considered them to be savages. So kidnapping an innocent human was not something he did normally. He had abducted Freyda on a whim, possibly because seeing yet another vampire who should be no more was too much for him. It was also possible that he might have thought to use her as an ally. The best thing to do would be to give him time to calm down. Also, the lack of contact could make him uneasy and he wouldn't do anything rash.

It took quite a while to get in touch with Felipe. That wasn't surprising. He was so busy with his state and all three of hers as well keeping the rumors in the presses minimal. As far as the world knew, Sookie was no more. Her father was doing nothing to dissuade those rumors. She knew it was an attempt to make her attempted assassins relaxed. If you were comfortable; you made mistakes. Still, knowing all the worry and stress that the assassination attempt was causing him made her hurt. It brought that protective instinct roaring to the forefront.

The phone passed hands several times until the Queen was hearing a very familiar voice, but it lacked its usual aggression. It was clear that she had been the last person he thought would be calling. Sai was relieved to see her. It was there on his face for a fraction of a second.

"Shy," Sai greeted.

"Hello, Sheriff,"

Referring to Sai by his official title was a way to make him less eager to kill you. In this instance, Sookie did so because she was feeling rather respectful and weak.

"Where are you, you little shit?"

"At court," she replied.

"What happened? Why has Grayson relocated you to Oklahoma?"

It was then that she realized that she had made a mistake. While her two younger brothers had known of the change, it was now obvious that they hadn't wanted to be the bearers of the bad news. She didn't blame them, but it was a real bitch move on both their parts she thought.

"I want to be on my own turf," she lied. "I am strong enough to no longer be in his care."

From the right, Nim joined the video call. He said nothing. His eyes honed in on Sookie and it felt as though she was gaining a thousand pounds with every second that passed while he continued to stare. He knew she was lying, but he didn't know why. Silently, Sookie was trying to get him to leave it alone, but he wouldn't.

The one thing about Nim, the one thing that made his word absolute, was that he never spoke. Everything he said he would swear by. He had this inherent ability to see all a person was in one glance. It went deeper than telepathy or fortunetelling. Nim could explain and understand the motivations of a perfect stranger, even before they themselves became aware.

In this instance, Sookie knew that he saw, but he didn't understand what she was doing. Presumably she was acting in a way that he had never known her to behave. He wasn't going to let it go. Their silent conversation had gone on for so long that Sai finally caught on.

"What?" he snapped, not appreciating being left out.

"Shy…she is lying," Nim said. "So was Grayson. He wanted to keep her near him to gain affection, but now she is lying to protect him."

He leaned closer into the camera as if that would reveal more, as if they weren't hundreds of miles apart. How the hell was he seeing this? Sookie had kept her expression even, not empty, but detached as she would if she was talking to Sai about business. It had fooled her eldest brother.

"He...hurt her," Nim continued. "He is hurting her still, somehow."

Sookie's expression confirmed those words that damned the King of Three. When her eldest brother whipped his head back toward the video phone, he looked much as he always did, but in this instance, he appeared more homicidal than usual. Nim's expression didn't change, but somehow she knew he was right there in the range of mass murder just like Sai.

"Shy'ra, you will tell me the truth of this matter, and you will do so now or so help me, I will come beat it out of you," He growled.

Eric chose that moment to make his presence known. Human though he was, he looked just as dangerous as Sai.

"Unless you want to die again, you will get lost, now!" Sai hissed. His fangs were out.

"Last time we disagrred, that shit didn't exactly end well for you, did it?"

Too much testosterone, way too much! Even through the video call Sookie could feel the tension between both males. It felt as though the air got heavier. Sai made a noise that she couldn't quite identify as a snarl. It was in a new and unknown category of terrifying. She would be scared for Eric even if he wasn't human. She grabbed him and pulled him to sit beside her, but adjusted the screen so Sai couldn't see him.

"Okay," Sookie told her brother. "I'll tell you everything, but promise you won't get mad…"

Sai looked at her as if she had lost her mind. He hissed, a ferocious sound, while he walked off the call. She heard him punch something, a wall if the crumbling noise was any indication. He began cursing in three languages before resuming in English again.

"Talk to your sister because I'm going to hurt her and kill her human if I have to go down there, Neiman. I fucking swear it!"

"Can you please act your age for like ten seconds?" The Queen snapped. "Please, Sai? I know it's hard."

Nim shot her a look. She had lost his vote. He was choosing to side with Sai. Having no other choice, the Queen told her brothers all that had happened.

"I do not know for certain that he had me shot," She concluded. "It is very unlikely because that would mean he was involved in two other crimes. I just don't see it. That being said, he was poisoning me with Nightshade, something only those descended from the Fae would know I was susceptible to. He…"

"He told your father you were too wounded to talk. All we saw was the video of you breathing and fast asleep."

"He made it so I had no choice but to feed from him while he continued to slow my healing. I later found out that having only his blood would form a bond. I didn't realize it until it felt as if I was forgetting everyone I loved, but him. It must be a hybrid thing," which was still news to her. No matter how much Eric the vampire had fed from her, nothing of the sort had happened. The same was true for her as well. They hadn't been able to form a blood bond of any sort, be it one sided or no.

"That makes things very easy for us," Sai hissed with a frightening kind of calm. "Nim, be so kind as to declare war now, will you?"

Of all of them, Nim alone had the authority to declare war, not even Felipe could do so without his consent. For obvious reasons Sai did not have the same power, even though he was eldest and a sheriff. The majority of the soldiers from the state were part of his 'Ghost Squad.' Nim didn't nod to comply, nor did he shake his head to refuse. He just continued to stare at the Queen. Having no idea what he was looking for, she remained silent. Sai was well into battle strategies.

"I will send my Flush. Nim will send the Ghost Squad. He also automatically takes control of Victor's fighters. Oliver will want this fuck ash, and Genevieve will allow him use of her soldiers. Then we will have your soldiers. They have been on the ready since your attack. They only need a half hour to mobilize."

This was exactly why Sookie had lied to her brother. Where she had a definitive and most practical method of problem-solving, Sai was of the kill-everyone fire and brimstone mindset of conflict resolution. This was the last thing the Queen wanted. Her whole life she had wanted to meet other hybrids, this wasn't how she wanted it to end, no matter their differences.

Being a child with only fully-fledged vampires as immediate family wasn't easy. The fact that she had Genie wasn't enough. He was a middle-aged neurologist. When she had realized the difference between both, she wanted to belong to the undead, but she hadn't, not really. She wasn't as fast. She had to eat. She slept at night and despite her best efforts, she couldn't hang with her brothers.

She had gone to school and wanted to be like all the other kids there, but she couldn't. She was too mature, not to mention she was smarter than her teachers. Full combat lessons were waiting for her before dinner. There was nothing and no one like her in her life, and even when she had been conscious enough to search, it hadn't mattered.

The search had yielded nothing. Knowing that there was an entire state and a family almost like hers erased that thing in her, the thing that made her feel unique, alien, and alone in her physiology. She couldn't, she felt physically incapable of laying waste to it. It meant too much on an intrinsic level that she couldn't fully explain. Convincing the vampires whom she loved of that was damned near impossible, with them blood and logic was all that mattered.

"Sai, this is personal, not political," The Queen implored. "I know him. I can talk to him."

She tried to make her voice as firm as possible. Normally contending with all this alpha male energy was easy. Sookie felt like she was suffocating under it at the moment. She still felt drained and so exhausted.

"You are Queen and may do as you will. Be that as it may, you are not my Queen, and so your wants have nothing to do with me, but do mention to Grayson amidst that conversation that I so look forward to skull fucking his corpse," Sai replied quite merrily.

What does one even say to that?

Sookie had no idea. She was speechless when her eldest brother left to make his preparations of doom, presuming Nim would side with him. Her other brother remained and his gaze was piercing, for he could see so much more than a war that was possibly in the horizon. He could see that Sookie didn't want blood. He was willing to listen, even though blood was exactly what he, too, desired.

"This isn't a plotted coup, Nim. Grayson is acting out of hurt, not malice. He has no idea how severely it will affect him."

Nim didn't nod, but somehow Sookie knew he was seeing reason. She capitalized on it.

"He is emotional and I played a great part in it. I did what was easiest, and not what was best or what was right. I have to own that. Going to war will wash away my offense with blood."

Nim tilted his head to the side as if to ask, 'Why not give big brother what he wants, what we all want, what our code dictates we do to our enemies?'

"Despite it all, I do not believe Grayson is a threat of any measurable volume, do you?"

Again, Nim's head didn't shake to signal the negative. It was in his eyes though. His eyes said, 'No.' Sookie let out a breath that she was holding. If Nim sided with her, that meant no one in the family, not even the King, could argue. With one last piercing look at Eric and her, her brother nodded. Then he hung up.