I heard the distinct snick of more than one set of fangs dropping as Viviane swatted Bill away when he tried to touch my arm and ask about me.
"Try touching her again, and you'll lose an eye," she said, her tone dark, crisp and deadly.
"She's Eric's. And I don't see how that would stop me from touching her, Viv," he answered.
"It won't. You'll fail. Then I'll take the other, and you won't see anything," she said
"Viv, I think Sookie may decide with whom she speaks," he said evenly.
"You may not call me that," she growled. "And yes, Eric may placate Sookie by allowing you to live. But you should never forget – I am not Eric."
"You are much smaller."
"I'm older than he is and a lot more deadly where you are concerned. You'll not address her whilst she's under my protection." She took my hand and led me inside. I heard Pam and the other vampires laughing.
I wanted to defend him, but now just didn't seem like the best of times. Her eyes had gone that gunmetal gray they were the night in Felipe's office, and her fangs still were down. I just let her pull me along behind Benny until we were in some sort of sitting room – she wasn't hurting me, just urging me forward.
She directed me toward a sofa and clicked over to the computer that was set up on the desk. She raised a brow and crossed her arms like only Eric could.
"Well?" she said.
Shawn and Bill scrambled to her, the latter glowering. Shawn pushed a few buttons and whatever they were looking at came on. It was silent as she evaluated the scene she watched. Pam wandered over, flinching when she saw the image.
Eric.
I rushed over and gasped when I saw the image.
It was surveillance video from Felipe's office. Eric was wrapped in what I assumed were silver chains, his face expressionless as Victor preened like a prosecutor and Felipe leaned against his desk. Welts covered Eric's exposed torso, but he didn't seem to be bleeding.
I started sobbing.
In a flash, Viviane scooped me up bridal style. It was decidedly strange – her being so much shorter than I am.
"That's enough for you," she whispered to me as she walked off. She called over her shoulder, "Where is my fucking sound, William? I'm adding back to my list."
She zipped me down the hall, which made me a little dizzy. A human opened the door and bowed to her. Viviane kicked the door shut behind her.
"You're staying here for a bit. Rest, take a bath. I could send food up," she said as she laid me on the bed. She tucked pillows behind me and took one of my hands as she used the other to rub my arm. "You should eat."
The thought made me ill at the moment. I shook my head. "What list?"
"Twenty verifiable reasons I can and should kill Bill Compton," she spat with a degree of distaste I'd never seen her express. That would explain the hostility.
I couldn't resist nor could I think of a subject change. "What reasons? What was that out there?"
She tilted her head at me in way that clearly said, "Do I really need to go over this with you?" Viviane stood and started rifling through the bureau.
As she returned to the bed with a royal blue satin pile of something, she said something I didn't expect. "For one, Hadley – he brought her to Sophie Anne's stable."
"He did what?" I was shocked.
"William Compton is a ball of lies, Sookie, but that's how he was reared – Lorena is partly to blame. Ultimately, he is responsible for everything you are mixed up in today. Some things are not so bad," she said, pausing for effect, "Eric, I'd hope, perhaps Pam, knowing Claudine." She shook out the pants and eyed them for length. As she unbuttoned the shirt, she continued. "Of course, there are the negatives – I blame him for Adele, although I did fail her in some respects, he is the one that drew vampires to you and to her."
"But a human killed Gran," I said, instantly worried whether Bill knew how much she hated him. He must if she keeps referring to the list when she makes him do things and threatens to pull his eyes out for talking to me. "And Bill saved me from the, the, the things."
"Yes, because he hated vampires. And because, for his massive faults, he would give his undead life for yours. I took one of the list for that." She took my shoes off and pulled me back to my feet. "Turn around."
"Why?"
"Unless you wish for a bath now, you'll relax more if you are confined in the trappings of beauty. I intend to help you change."
I thought back to the conversation at the Pink Taco.
"Viviane, why did you ask me whether I trusted Bill?" I asked as I turned around, and she unzipped my dress – Eric had done it earlier and I hurt too bad to try wiggling it around myself.
"While I despise him, I may need him. He will do it because he fears me or because he holds some irrational hope you'll love him again. But I think Eric would kill him then."
I shook when my thoughts drifted back to Eric.
"Viviane?" I asked.
"Yes," she answered as she helped my arms into the sleeves of the shirt.
"We have to get him. Why aren't we going tonight?" She whipped my dress from under the shirt as I buttoned it. I realized she had managed to get my bra off at the same time. "Hey!"
"What? You wished to keep it on while you rest? Yeah right." She tapped my right ankle, moving the dress away and putting one leg into the pants when I complied. "Sookie, I must regroup a bit. The full act wasn't slated to be complete until tomorrow anyway. I can make no mistakes, or I could lose the man to whom I owe this life." She stood up and brought the pants around my waist.
I started crying again. "You still love him."
"Of course. Eric is kind of a big deal. But I am not in love with him, nor have I been for centuries." She shoved me so my butt landed on the bed and pulled me to her shoulder. "Sookie, I want you to rest. You are no help when you are depleted."
"How can I help? I want to save him."
"I have a few ideas, but I need to make sure they are the right ones. And we need your gift to reset." She pushed me onto my back and flipped my legs under the blanket. "Rest. I will come for you shortly."
"I can't – I'm too worried."
She soothed my hair back the same way my Gran had always done. "Try." She stood. "Just call out – we'll hear you." She was gone.
I turned onto my side and cried. The pain got worse again because I wasn't focusing on blocking it – all I could think about was what they were doing to Eric.
I must have cried myself to sleep because I woke up to my favorite non-Eric vampire stroking my hair.
