Chapter 52 – Top of the Stretch

AN: Before you read this chapter, you should go to youtube and listen to Frank Sinatra – or preferably Mel Torme from his "Swings Shubert Alley" album – sing "Old Devil Moon". You'll be glad you did.

Last time:

I nodded to Fintan, who I knew was going to transport Tannis and his children to Ireland. Just as everyone was joining hands, Tannis turned to me, "and I hope you can find happiness with your bride." I smiled at him as they disappeared from sight.

Fintan would be back in a few minutes, and we would then head out to eliminate Victor Madden from this plane of existence.

Now:

I turned to the Weres who were at the warehouse and said, "well, now that our one and only prisoner is gone… I suppose you guys have the rest of the day off." They smiled, nodded, and headed to the exits.

I looked around the warehouse. I'd always thought that with superior vampire eyesight that we saw just as well at night as humans did during the day. Looking around this old warehouse in the light of day was making me re-think that supposition. Everything was brighter, even the rust. I shook my head at my own sentimentality. However, the reality was that things looked entirely different in the light of day. The entire color spectrum was different. I hadn't realized what I had missed all these centuries even though I had vampire enhanced vision.

I realized I was alone in the warehouse. It felt strange to be totally alone and awake in the daytime. I wandered to the middle of the large room, wondering how long it would take Fintan to talk his cousin in Ireland into taking in the displaced water fae family. Standing in the middle of the warehouse made me look up and around. I said, "to be or not to be," and let my voice reverberate around the room. The acoustics were amazing. There was something that made me think of my Sookie and made me want to sing and dance.

I look at you and suddenly
Something in your eyes I see
Soon begins bewitching me
It's that old devil moon
That you stole from the skies
It's that old devil moon in your eyes

I danced from side to side of the available space to music I was hearing in my head… I was having such a good time that I even imagined a jaunty fedora on my head…

You and your glance make this romance
Too hot to handle
Stars in the night
Blazing their light
Can't hold a candle
To your razzle-dazzle

Damn, but my voice sounded good in this warehouse… I needed to bring Sookie here and sing for her…

You've got me flyin' high and wide
On a magic carpet ride
Full of butterflies inside.
Wanna cry, wanna croon
Wanna laugh like a loon
It's that old devil moon in your eyes

I would've continued but I heard the sound of one pair of hands clapping. I looked up and Fintan was smiling down at me from one of the catwalks with his forearms resting on the rails. I was so busted; thank the gods that I hadn't yet started to blush along with my daywalking. That would be mortifying. Ah well, I just gave him a deep bow. He popped down to beside me chuckling, "that was quite the song and dance."

"I thought I was alone," I admitted. "When I realized how great the acoustics were in here, I couldn't help myself," I shrugged. He continued looking at me, and I knew he was reading my thoughts because he smiled. I confessed, "plus, I'm pretty excited about ending Victor."

"Seriously, Eric, you have a great voice. Have you ever sung for Sookie?" he asked.

I shook my head, "maybe someday."

Smiling Fintan said, "just don't let her sing for you. She's beautiful, smart, and talented, but she is the worst singer I've ever heard. Don't tell her I said that." He laughed a little more, "when she was in elementary school, she wanted to sing in her church's children's choir. That really pleased Adele who is very religious. She'd only been in the choir for a few weeks when the young woman who was the choir director came to visit us at home, and asked us for a nice way to basically kick her out of the choir. At first we were horribly offended. She apologized profusely, but added that Sookie was completely tone deaf and sang as loudly as she could all the time. She pointed out that even the other children were wincing and cringing when Sookie sang. The poor woman was practically in tears when she was talking to us. I told her that I would accompany Sookie to the choir practice and listen." He shook his head and chuckled, "Eric, I cannot describe to you the magnitude of badness that was eight-year-old Sookie singing her little heart out. I love her dearly, but I had to agree with the choir director; she was beyond bad. That was when I decided to get her interested in archery. She really wanted to learn, but I told her that she didn't have time for both the choir and archery lessons, and she had to choose. Thankfully, she chose the bow and arrow."

We were chuckling together when I sobered and said, "Fintan, I had another dream…" He nodded and gestured for me to continue. I told him in as much detail as I could exactly what happened in my dream. His eyebrows rose into his hairline when I described his own beheading. "I was thinking that maybe you should just teleport me to the site and then get away as fast as possible."

He seemed to think that over, "what security do you have at the house right now? In case Victor launches a day-time assault?"

"I have double the Were guards that I had last night in anticipation of just such a move by Victor," I answered.

"Very good, I suggest we return there before we head off to take care of Victor," he said as he grabbed my arm, and then we were back in the foyer of my house. "Call the Britlingens," he requested.

When Clovache and Batanya had joined us in the kitchen, Fintan turned to them, "Clovache, I request that you accompany Eric and me to execute Victor Madden today. We want to go in there invisibly." Clovache nodded. Fintan turned to Batanya, "Batanya, you will be the only guard inside the house when we leave since all of the vampires are down for the day. However, Eric has doubled the size of the Were compliment outside the house. Are you up for this?" She raised a single eyebrow and nodded.

"Batanya, if there should be an attack on the house, take Adele, Sookie, and Jason downstairs and lock yourselves in. The downstairs chamber is fire proof and impregnable. You should all be safe there until we return. You may even want to take some food down there now, in case the worst happens, OK? There's a small refrigerator and a microwave down there." I told her. She nodded and headed into the kitchen, ostensibly to gather food and beverages to place downstairs.

After that was settled, Fintan stood in the center, linked his left arm into my right, and his right arm into Clovache's left. I felt a small electrical charge as we went invisible, and then the nauseating sense of teleportation. I was somewhat surprised to find that although I knew we were invisible, I could still see Fintan and Clovache in our little bubble of invisibility.

We found ourselves in the same hall where my dream began, but Clovache hadn't been there in my dream. We walked together, silently, arm-in-arm, until we came to the junction where we took a right. I could see the junction to the left up ahead, and I started looking to the right in the shadows for the Were who had beheaded Fintan in my dream. I could just barely see him, but only because I knew he was hiding up ahead. As we got closer to the place where Fintan was killed in my dream, I swear, if my heart could still beat, it would be pounding. Fintan looked at me to let me know he had seen him as well. When we were fewer than fifteen feet from the murderous Were, he stepped out of the shadows and froze, and so did we. He turned his head from side to side looking down the hallway in both directions. Then I noticed that he was sniffing, pausing to listen one direction, and repeating those actions in the other direction. He must have sensed in some way that there was trouble afoot. He turned and walked about three steps to his right – away from us – and then he stopped and sniffed/listened again.

And then, to my – our – horror, he turned the opposite direction and started walking toward us. He came further in our direction than he had in the other direction. I knew that we were invisible, but we were still solid mass. If he got to us, he would know. He kept taking slower and slower steps in our direction, and only stopped when he was less than three feet from us. Again, he sniffed and listened. We were completely still. I didn't need to breathe, but I was pretty sure that my two companions did, and yet we remained completely silent. I was looking into his eyes, and they were intelligent eyes that revealed thinking and calculating. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably less than a minute in all, he turned to return to his hiding place. He had gotten almost there when he turned suddenly with his sword drawn and sliced a side-to-side stroke followed by a downward stroke at the empty air. Finally, he snorted, rolled his eyes, and whispered, "I must be losing it." He then retreated back into his shadowed hiding place.

We walked silently past the danger zone, giving Fintan's would-be assassin a wide berth, and turned left. Far away from the hiding guard, we got to the door of Victor's private chamber and found it locked. Of course, it would be locked. Fintan placed his right hand over the lock without ever losing contact with Clovache, and through some sort of fairy magic, the door lock clicked open. We all three froze, checked if that Were had heard, and strode in and locked the door behind us. We had already made it further together than in my dream, and both Fintan and I let out a louder than necessary sigh of relief. I prayed to the gods that our luck held.

We spread out around the chamber, and immediately upon losing contact with each other, our invisibility disappeared. I chuckled at the irony of invisibility disappearing… anyway… In the middle of the chamber – a chamber such as one you might find in a crypt in a cemetery – Victor was in his day rest upon a stone-slab bier. I snorted at how Victor was living the stereotype. Seriously, who would go to rest on a stone-slab rather than a nice, comfortable bed? I looked down and was rather disappointed that he didn't have his hands crossed over each other upon his chest.

I extended my hand like a surgeon asking for a scalpel, "Clovache, stake." She slapped one in my hand like an efficient operating room nurse. I ran the tip of the stake from left to right across Victor's forehead, and then down the top of his nose, and I put my hand on his forehead. "Hello, hello, hello, Victor. Wakie, Wakie…" I could hear Fintan chuckling to the side. No response. I looked up at my two companions and they both shrugged. I would have to get a little more aggressive. I stood back, and then I slapped first his right cheek and then his left. Hard. Slowly his eyes opened. I knew exactly when they came into focus because they widened in horror.

"Howdy, Victor," I smiled. His eyes held me in shock for a moment, and I couldn't resist, I waggled my eyebrows. Fintan and Clovache both chuckled at my antics. Since he was awake long before his daytime active ability, I knew that moving would be difficult for him. Even so, Fintan manifested two long, heavy silver chains and placed one over his arms and chest, and the other over his hands and hips. He wasn't going anywhere.

"You know, Victor, when President Kennedy was assassinated, history noted that it was on Friday, November 22, 1963. The same with President Lincoln – history recorded the day, date and time. You know what history will record about your death? Hmmm, do you?" I asked.

Victor just looked at me without saying a word. "That's right, Victor, very good. They'll be saying absolutely nothing about your death, because you are a big fat nobody." I could't help myself, I just cracked up. "You thought you would end me last night, didn't you? If you had, there would have been a big write-up in Time Magazine. That's way, way more than you are going to get."

Fintan interjected, "Eric…"

I nodded, "you're right, Fintan. I guess I'm just having a little too much fun." Victor looked at Fintan in recognition of his name, and I could tell he was working out just how screwed he was. I continued, "you are nothing Victor. No one will mark the occasion of your death. No one. Fintan, who do you think will commemorate Victor's death?"

Fintan chimed in right on cue, "why, no one Eric."

If he weren't the grandfather of my fiancé, I would think that Fintan was my new best friend, "and why would that be, Fintan?"

Fintan didn't disappoint, "because no one knows who the fuck he is, Eric."

"Why, I think you are right, Fintan. That's just so fucking sad. Don't you think it's sad, Clovache?" I asked.

She deadpanned, "I'm weeping on the inside."

I looked at her, pulling my lips into a tight line to keep from laughing. Who knew that a Britlingen had wit? "Before I give you the true death, Victor, I just have one question for you; what happens to your little revolution if you're gone?"

Victor finally spoke, "Wouldn't you like to know…?"

And there was that same fucking answer. Again. I looked back at Fintan who, though smiling, was giving me a 'hurry up' look. I nodded, "well, here we are at the end of things, Victor, at least you are, and those were your last words... 'Go thou, and fill another room in hell. That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire, that staggers thus my person.' A little Shakespeare to send you on your way." And with that, before Victor could utter another word, I plunged the stake into his heart, and he was no more. I stood back from his bier and just looked at the sludge that was the would-be king of America. So much for that. Finally, Fintan grabbed my arm and Clovache's, and we were back in the foyer of my house.

We all just looked at each other and as one, we all let out a deep breath. Fintan smiled and said, "well, Eric, it turns out that your dreams are more warnings than actual prophecies. I, for one, am glad."

I chuckled, "yes, I'll just bet you are…" We laughed together at that. I looked around and wondered where everyone was. "Sookie?" I called out.

Fintan closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, "they are downstairs below us." I went to the opening for the basement, entered the code, and the three of us descended. We went to my living quarters, and found all four of them on the sofa and easy chair watching television. Fintan spoke first, "hello…"

All four head turned in perfect synchronization toward us. Sookie jumped up, "you're back!" She ran into my arms, and I hugged her. She looked up into my face and asked, "Victor?"

"He is no more," I answered. "Why are all of you down here?"

"Batanya told us to be prepared to come down here in the event of an attack, and we just decided to be pro-active. Uhmm…" Sookie hesitated.

"What, Sookie," Fintan asked.

"What happens to this terrorist dealio if Victor is dead? Which he is…" she asked.

I smiled, "I had the same thought, so I asked him that very question, which he refused to answer," I looked at Fintan.

"Since his ego knew no bounds, he genuinely believed that without him, the whole thing would just die, or at the very least, fall apart," he replied. "Now, whether or not he was right about that remains to be seen. We should probably contact the government agents about this latest development, even though we told them about it in advance last night."

I nodded and pulled out my phone. "Hello, Agent Pettigrew. I've learned that Victor Madden is no more, and that he believed that if he were killed that his revolution would die with him. On the chance that is not true, I thought I would let you know so that human law enforcement could prepare accordingly."

He replied, "and just how do you know that Mr. Madden is dead?"

I knew that I said last night that I would take care of Victor, but I didn't want to confess to killing him on the phone with an agent of the U.S. government. That could cause all kinds of problems for me, so I continued to play coy, "a little bird told me." Cliché, I know, but that was as far as I was willing to go in the admission game. "Also a source told me," I continued, "that Victor believed, that if he died, the revolution would end. However, that same source could not verify the validity of Victor's beliefs."

Homeland Security was silent for just a moment, then said, "got it. I will notify the necessary parties."

"Thank you, Agent Pettigrew. I would appreciate it if you could keep me posted on the salient facts," I told him. I knew he'd know what that meant.

"Certainly, Mr. Northman. Thank you and be safe," Homeland Security said before hanging up.

Once I'd hung up, I walked over to everyone and invited them upstairs. There was no use hiding in the basement in the daytime since Fintan, the Britlingens, and I were there to guard. Jason especially seemed please to get upstairs. He asked, "you think we'll be able to go back to work tomorrow?" He looked at me with such hopeful eyes.

"Let's wait and see how things shake out tonight, OK?" I answered, and he became the very definition of crestfallen. "However, if things go well, then yes, you should be able to go to work."

Jason smiled, "that's what I'm talkin' about!" He twirled, literally twirled, toward the sofa in the den to watch television. He plopped down and put his feet up on the coffee table. It was so easy to make him happy. And who knew that Thalia would find him so appealing? That was a real head-scratcher, as Jason would say.

Adele was standing at the closet to the den, "Sookie, why do you have so many games?"

"What are you talking about, Gran?" Sookie asked.

Adele pointed, "right here in this closet; there are a lot of games. Monopoly, Clue, Battleship, Sorry, Chinese Checkers… and those are just the ones I can see."

Sookie smiled, "uhmmm… Eric and I like to play those games." She cut her eyes to me.

Adele suggested, "well, since we are all stuck here for the day, maybe we should play one of them."

"I don't know, Gran," Sookie mumbled.

"Let me tell you about the house rules, Adele," I cheerfully added.

"Eric, don't you dare," Sookie practically snapped at me. I threw my head back and laughed.

Adele looked from Sookie to me and back again, "I'm guessing it's something I wouldn't appreciate." She looked sternly at us, then a smile broke across her face, "shame on you… both of you."

Sookie took the bull by the horns, so to speak, "Jason, Eric has quite a DVD collection over here. Why don't you pick something out, and we'll all watch it."

Jason jumped up and ran to the DVD bookcase and started perusing the titles, "no, no, hmm that's a good one, no, no, maybe, no, no, ah, I love that one, no, no, no, possibly…" I looked over and saw Sookie rolling her eyes, and it made me chuckle. Jason continued, "no, no, oh man, I haven't seen this one in forever…" He pulled out a DVD and walked over and put it into the player.

Adele and Sookie sat next to him on the sofa, while Fintan and I lingered a little distance away. I had to admit that I was curious about what selection he had made. The DVD preliminaries aired, and then Jason, in charge of the remote control, pressed 'menu'. It was only then that I could tell what he had picked from the well-over one thousand DVD's I had.

Sookie groaned, "really, Jason. Wayne's World? Did you even give a thought to the rest of us?"

Jason turned an incredulous expression to her, "why don't you ask your fiancé. It's his DVD after all, and this movie came out way, way before DVD players even existed." At that declaration, Sookie slowly turned her face to me and raised her eyebrows.

I shrugged, "I find it funny, what can I say?" I was fully aware that the movie was totally adolescent and tasteless, but I truly found it amusing. Maybe it was, as they say, a guy thing.

Fintan snorted and moved to sit next to Adele who was in the center of the sofa with Jason on the other side of her. Both Britlingens had claimed the armchairs. Sookie ran into my arms as I leaned against the arch into the den. She hugged me from my side, and I absolutely had to put my arms around every inch of her. A few minutes after the movie got going I pulled Sookie's hand to follow me. I was trying to think of the least likely place that anyone would look for us other than going downstairs. Ultimately, I pulled her into the laundry room off of the kitchen.

I pulled her into my arms and kissed her, backing her up to the washing machine. I was reaching for the hem of her shirt when her hands stopped me, "Eric, we can't, my family is just out in the den."

I waggled my eyebrows at her and reached around and started the washing machine, then bent over and also started the dryer, "now they won't be able to hear us."

She shook her head, "yes, but you do realize that my grandfather will still be able to hear our thoughts, don't you?"

I also shook my head, "you do realize, my Sookie, that he hears them even when we're down in our room… don't you?"

She gasped, "oh my God!"

I took her hands in mine, "don't even think about stopping having sex just because he's in the house. Anyway, the genie is already out of that bottle." She looked uncertain, and her feelings matched the expression on her face. "Sookie, today I killed possibly the world's biggest terrorist. I want a little celebration with my beloved." I finished that sentence with a nibble on her earlobe which elicited the gasp I was hoping for. I whispered in her ear,

"I look at you and suddenly
Something in your eyes I see
Soon begins bewitching me
It's that old devil moon
That you stole from the skies
It's that old devil moon in your eyes"

Sookie just looked back at me with a silly smile. I took her into my arms, and we danced/swayed very closely in the confines of the laundry room. I continued,

"You and your glance make this romance
Too hot to handle
Stars in the night
Blazing their light
Can't hold a candle
To your razzle-dazzle"

I started undressing her, and then myself, and kept on singing softly,

"You've got me flyin' high and wide
On a magic carpet ride
Full of butterflies inside.
Wanna cry, wanna croon
Wanna laugh like a loon
It's that old devil moon in your eyes"

We were finally naked, and I sat her on top of the washing machine and started little kisses down her body in between words,

"Just when I think, I'm

Free as a dove.

Old devil moon,

Deep in your eyes,

Blinds me with love."

And I landed at the promised land, right between her legs, and swooped in, kissing, licking, and more. Sookie's groans were delicious to me, and it wasn't long before she had a release. I kissed my way back up her body, lingering at her beautiful breasts, and then up to her mouth for a long, long kiss. I made my way back to her ear and whispered, "I want you, Sookie."

"Then take me," she panted out. I pulled her to the edge of the washing machine and entered her all the way. She let out a little cry.

"Careful, my love, you didn't want your family to hear," I teased.

"For some reason, maybe it's the singing or the movement of the washing machine or both, but I feel on fire for you," she responded breathily.

Excellent. I started moving slowly in and out in rhythm with the inner rotations of the machine. I could feel the vibrations through Sookie's body, and it was quite the turn-on for me as well. I kept the pace slow and steady for a long time until the machine must have hit the spin cycle, and then I sped up to keep pace. After just a few moments of quick thrusting, Sookie had another release that had her practically screaming. I continued quick thrusts all the way through it hoping to draw her orgasm out as long as I could. She was literally gasping for breath. I could feel she was quickly rolling toward yet another release, even though she was still peaking from the prior one, and I bit into her neck and thrust in hard, where I found my release, and Sookie gulped in a huge amount of air. The light once again blazed from our joining. We held that position as the spin cycle slowly wound down… what perfect timing. Just as the machine was making that final slow whine, we both breathed out very heavily. We both were winded and rested our foreheads against each other's shoulders.

I hadn't been winded in a thousand years until I met Sookie. She was so amazing and such a game changer. She had so much power over me, and I was totally OK with that.

Sookie turned her head and placed a quick peck on my neck, "I love you so much, Eric. It's impossible for me to conceive of a life without you." Without lifting my forehead from her shoulder, I nodded in agreement. She was silent for a moment, "do you think we will actually be able to get married on Friday?"

"Come hell or high water," I assured her finally lifting my head. The colloquialism made her giggle. "I think we may have to emerge from our little sanctuary here."

She chuckled jumping down off of the washer and grabbing her clothes. "Why did you bring me in here? Why not go down to our bedroom?" she asked.

I was sliding into my jeans, "couple reasons… first, if we'd gone down to our bedroom, your family would have known exactly what we were doing." She nodded and I continued, "second, decades ago I read an article or story or something about fucking on a washing machine, but I'd never actually tried it. The vibrations are supposed to enhance the experience." Her eyes got really wide, and she nodded again. "Good to know."

"You read about this decades ago, and it just popped into your head to try it right now? With my family in the house?" she asked with an incredulous lift of her forehead.

I shrugged and confessed, "basically, I was just really wanting you, and I thought it would take too long to go downstairs."

She laughed, "aaahhhh, now the truth comes out. By the way, I really liked that singing bit. Very sexy."

I kissed her and said, "I'm glad you liked it."

When we were finally dressed we went on into the kitchen, and Sookie got herself a snack and a drink. We then walked into the den, where Jason was sitting all alone with the Britlingens. "Where's Gran?" Sookie asked.

"She said she was going to lay down… but…" he stopped.

"But what?" I asked.

"Well, let's just say, I think that whatever the two of you were doing got to Granddaddy, and they're probably doing the same thing," he said with a smirk. "You know… shwing!"

I chuckled, but Sookie said, "oh for heaven's sake, Jason." But she was smiling when she said it.

The credits had started rolling for the movie, and my phone rang. I looked at it and saw that it was Godric. I answered, "Godric?"

"Eric, turn on the news," he responded.

"All right." I asked, "would either of you mind if we checked the news?" They both shook their heads, so I switched the television to CNN.

The report was already in progress, "to repeat, we have interrupted our regularly scheduled programming with this breaking news. The Department of Homeland Security has announced that they have managed to stop a massive, nationwide terrorist plot that even included trying to topple the government in Washington. As unbelievable and incredible as this sounds, apparently hundreds, if not, thousands of vampires have been detained all across the United States. The Covert Forces of America have been working to uncover and stop this plot for some time now, and they finally managed to take out the ring leader, as well as his strategically placed terrorist cells all across the country. We don't yet have all the details, but this entire plot can be traced back to the attempted kidnappings of Jason and Sookie Stackhouse. And just like with those thwarted kidnap attempts, the human authorities were aided, indeed led, by a large number of vampires who wanted to help preserve the peace in our country. We are told that there will be a more extensive briefing from law enforcement tonight at eight o'clock, seven central. Again, the Department of Homeland Security has announced the prevention of a massive terrorist attack on American soil."

I switched the sound off, and the three of us looked at each other. I was still holding the phone to my ear for Godric, "Godric, did you know they were going to be announcing this today?"

"No, but when I spoke to The Guardian early this morning, he hinted that just such an announcement would be forthcoming once Victor was dead and the last of the cells had been captured. It might be too early to relax all protections, but I certainly think this calls for a celebration."

I looked at Sookie and Jason, "Godric thinks this calls for a celebration."

Jason added, "bring it on! I'm ready to party."

Sookie asked, "does this mean it's all over?"

I looked at her, and she was so hopeful. I hugged her to me, "I hope so. I certainly hope so."

AN: "Old Devil Moon" was written by Burton Lane and E. Y. Harburg; it's an old, old oldie, but also one of the sexiest songs ever written. My favorite version is from the movie "Finian's Rainbow" and is listed on youtube as "Petula Clark – Finian's Rainbow – Old Devil Moon" – hubba-hubba for a musical movie from 1969.

The Shakespeare quote is from Richard II, Act V, Scene 5

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who reviewed since the last chapter was posted, as of 12/7/17: tleel, princessspot5, ciasteczko, Guest, Casey8686, ericlover69, Asami's clown, ljhjelm49, Jfozz, VampMad50, Duckbutt, hummingbirdgrrl, bttrflybelle, MsNorthman, elliebaby33, Medtran, jackie69, fanfictionfan4444, SweetPrincess4eva, Perfecta999