Chapter 16: The Vow
Raven felt her whole body shake in rage. Her mind was going a mile a minute. How? Why? How long had he known? Why didn't he tell her sooner? Why did Russell Edgington and Eric Northman know, and not her? Not standing to be still for a second longer, she got up and paced. Eric followed and tried to reach for her hand, but she quickly pulled away. She'd had enough. Raven felt betrayed by every person she knew lately. The fury and disappointment were overwhelming. She may have been lonely in the past century or two, but when you have no one, no one stabs you in the back like this either. She wanted to cry, but tears just wouldn't come. She had cried over this too much in her life. There was nothing left in her to give. Her magic was building up in her body like a pressure cooker. Static electricity popped and crackled in the air like bursting fireflies. Breathe, she remembered Agatha telling her every time she lost her temper. Agatha was a fucking traitor too. Raven was in this alone, like she had always been. Quickly she tried to put some space between herself and the vampire before she fucking killed him. She moved away from him, stumbling around the woods.
Not being able to hold her emotions - or her magic - in any longer, she let it all out in one long howling scream. The loud cry scratched her throat, and she felt the earth shake underneath her feet and the trees shook wildly. Spooked, birds soared up high, leaving the forest at once. A deep crack came from the dirt underneath her. Almost passing out, she fell onto the soft grass again, admiring the destruction. Her magic had broken the soil between the trees, creating a fault line through the woods. The ancient willow trees on the other side of the crack now stood crocked. There was silence again for a moment.
"Damien Williams was… Infatuated with you," Eric's voice came from right behind her. It seemed like it didn't matter what she did, he just would not go away.
Raven's heaviest burden was believing Damien's obsession with her, and her failure at pushing him away was what got her family killed. Which was why Eric telling her this was the truth was her worst nightmare.
"And his family was rich and powerful-"
"I know. I was there, remember?" She told him, catching her breath.
"And they owned Anubis ships,"
"Ships?" She sat back up and looked up at him.
"Anubis is a very old Vampire transportation company," Eric explained. "They started with ships and caravans, and now they have a fleet of private jets. They offer light-tight pods for vampires to travel across the globe with maximum discretion. It was in the Authority's best interest to keep Anubis going so vampire influence could reach all continents. Salome and Roman were afraid of letting witches anywhere near their only method of transportation between the continents so… Salome glamoured Damien into killing all of you, so he wouldn't propose marriage."
This was a lot to process.
"My family died because of fucking vampire ships?"
Eric had no comforting answer to this. Quicker than her, he ran and grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away, but he held on closer.
"And my family died because Russell wanted two goats to feed his wolves, and my dad refused," he told her. "My baby brother and my mother died because some animals were hungry,"
Collateral damage. They were all just fucking collateral damage. It wasn't really anything she did. She didn't fail at baking an ugly loaf. When Raven turned Damien William's polite advances down, his ego didn't consume him. Rich little Damien didn't plan an intricate revenge plan for getting rejected by a peasant girl. He was simply glamoured to do so. The weight Raven carried on her shoulders her whole adult life lightened just a little.
"How long have you known all of this?"
"Since last night, after I asked Salome to let you go."
"And you didn't think to tell me when you came back to the room?!" She yelled, sparkles firing in the air again.
"I knew if I told you, you'd have wanted to stay and kill Salome and that would only get you killed,"
"You don't know that. You should have told me." She frowned.
"I should have done a lot of things," his fingers traced her jaw. His face was so close. "But I don't regret this."
Raven relaxed her hands. She had made a fist so tight that her palms ached. They were covered in red half-moons from her nails. She remembered Eric returning to the room, convincing her to get them out immediately - even if it meant them dying a horrible death if she missed the landing. That was the exact moment everything had gone wrong. Nora and Bill came, Lilith came, Salome came.
If she ever saw Salome again… Eric was wrong. Revenge was everything.
Sookie woke up not knowing where she was and her mouth tasted like drank paint thinner. She was on a large and soft yellow couch inside a stranger's living room. Her eyes didn't know what to look at first. The large room had tall ceilings and a small crystal chandelier which matched the sconces near the tall fireplace. On the corner, there was a very large, but old tube television and all the furniture was a mix of antiques and stuff she would find in a vintage Sears catalogue. The walls were adorned with paintings, mirrors and old photographs. On the shelves, there were all sorts of trinkets and potted plants she had never seen before. There was one large retro hutch filled so filled with VHS tapes it sag the shelves down in the middle.
She pushed the heavy blanket off of her, and that's when she saw her legs and memories came rushing back: Russell had found her in the middle of a random field. Eric was there? Russell broke her legs. Raven was also there? Then black. Sookie looked at her legs and wiggled her toes. Everything was fine. Did she dream of it all?
Sookie walked aimlessly around the house. It was a cloudy, mildly cold day so she wrapped herself with the blanket she slept with. Out of the window, she could see the field she was in yesterday. Dew had turned the grass a cold shade of green, and there was red dotted across the field. Last night wasn't a dream, she was sure of it. The more she explored, the more she realized this house was much older than she had first realized. Then she felt a cold shiver run up her spine. She felt like she was being watched. She looked around what it seemed to be a tea room - judging by the biggest hutch of teacups she had ever seen - but there was no one around. The taxidermied bird on the wall was the only thing with eyes, and it creeped her out. It was like it was watching her. She walked over the next room, a large formal dining room. Then the next one was another living room - this one had no TV but had a piano. Then the next one was a large library filled with books and old dusty jars. Why does she have so much old stuff? She only looks a couple of years older than me. She heard a creaking noise and her soul almost jumped out of her body, but it was just an old radiator warming up. At least this house didn't have ghosts in it, unlike her own. Or did it?!
Finally, she arrived in the kitchen. It was opened to a nice large sunroom. The light made it feet much cozier than the rest of the house. The view out the back was also incredible. It faced the lake and a forest of willows, like a Louisiana postcard. Sookie eyed the coffee machine: bingo. Eager to get rid of the awful taste in her mouth she opened cupboards left and right before she found the coffee. She had to give props to Raven, she had a very well-stocked kitchen. Once the pot was brewing she admired the kitchen some more: the smell of herbs drying on a small rack on the wall was delightful. She turned on the vintage radio and put on her favourite station while the coffee started to drip.
Sookie started to remember what had happened last night. Eric picked her up at the request of Lafayette, Jesus and Holly because they were worried about her safety. It was hard to believe, really. Lafayette barely even looked at her during work, still mad at her for turning Tara into a vampire. Holly tried to stay out of it, but she wasn't her usual self lately. Not since Andy became the dad to four fairies anyway. And apparently Tara, Eric and Pam were asleep in this huge creepy house too? It's Bill who is after us, Eric had told her. That made no sense whatsoever. He would never in a million years use Sookie as a pawn in some kind of scheme. Would he?
"JESUS-" Sookie gasped, almost dropping the mug, but catching it against her stomach somehow. The pale witch was standing on the doorway staring at her. "You are way too pale to sneak up on me like that, I thought you were a ghost."
Raven stiffened right up, pursing her lips. She was already dressed in a black slip dress. Raven blinked twice, as she watched Sookie open the cupboard and bring out another mug. Pretending she wasn't being studied head to toe, she hummed along with the radio which played her favourite country song.
"Coffee?" Sookie asked shily.
Raven didn't budge. Oh no, is she one of those people who hate other people touching their stuff? She thought. The woman was weird, that much she already knew from her house alone. But Raven said nothing, so she carried on. Sookie opened the fridge and pulled out the coffee creamer. Raven still stared at her with a look of confusion on her face.
"Sure," she finally muttered, sitting on the barstool on the kitchen island across from her. They both kind of stared at each other in silence, awkwardly. Raven, despite having the skin tone of a corpse, was stupidly beautiful. One Louisiana summer on that skin, and she would be show-stopping. She had crystal clear blue eyes, dark rosy lips and high cheekbones, that matched her prominent collarbones. She was slender, with killer hips and boobs that were a good handful. Sookie could tell the witch didn't wear a bra either.
Raven also studied Sookie from head to toe, but her brows frowned. Raven looked stressed. Angry even. She really wanted to know what Raven was thinking but knew better than to try - it didn't go so hot last time. Sookie remembered Raven and Eric making out on top of her hutch in her living room. Even when he didn't know who he was, his body recognized hers in an instant. Then last night while Eric was having the ultimate throw down with Russell Edgington, Raven walked right towards it. She was just as insane as Eric was. Raven looked at Sookie with a certain intensity that reminded her of Eric, actually. It both scared her and drew her in at the same time. She could see what Eric saw in her, and it made her chest tight. Despite Eric being a total psychopath, Sookie felt a tinge of jealousy. It felt… Nice having such a powerful vampire being in love with Sookie. It made her feel special. But did Eric really love anyone? Other than himself, that is? The small radio in the kitchen stopped the music to announce the morning news.
"Louisiana Governor has declared a state of emergency last Friday night after a video was leaked online depicting vampire terrorist Russell Edgington, alive, at a bar downtown New Orleans. The graphic video clearly shows Edgington, along with a group of other vampires, crashing a wedding party before slaughtering the fam-"
"Ugh, shut up." Raven groaned, turning off the radio with a flick of her finger across the kitchen. "Come with me."
Raven grabbed a plastic bucket from under the sink cabinet, and a towel from the linen closet by the back door.
"Where are we going?" Sookie asked, confused.
Raven left the sunroom and headed to the lake. "To catch breakfast."
Sookie had to light jog across the yard to keep up. "With a bucket and a towel? Have you fished before?"
The witch didn't answer. She just shoved the bucket and the towel in Sookie's hand, who cradled it all awkwardly trying not to spill her coffee. Next, Raven took off her dress, and Sookie's eyes panicked.
"What the hell?" Sookie protested at the butt-naked woman who had a pentagram tattooed right in the middle of her torso. Raven wasn't wearing any underwear either. She had a beautiful feminine figure, it made Sookie look like a boy in comparison.
Next, the woman entered the water gracefully, merely making a ripple on the water. Sookie felt a shiver on her spine just from watching. "What the hell are you doing?! This lake crawlin' with alligators!"
"They won't harm me," she said in an annoyed voice. "My bond with nature tells them I'm no threat. Now shush, I have to concentrate." She explained while exploring the lake with her hands. She walked halfway through the shallow end crouched with her arms extended, almost as if she were looking for something she dropped at the bottom of the lake. Was she really trying to catch fish with her bare hands?
"If you wanted breakfast so much I could just go to the grocery store, you don't have to-"
Raven just ignored her, still looking so intensely at the water Sookie wondered if the witch could see right through it. Had Sookie done something wrong? The concentration felt a bit more like a cold shoulder. "Raven," Sookie called out. "Thanks for savin' me last night."
She watched the woman take a big sigh. "You are welcome," she exhaled.
Sookie put down the bucket and the towel and went back to sipping her coffee. To be honest, watching Raven do this was kind of boring and Sookie had done nothing wrong. Nothing! She did as Eric asked, it wasn't her fault Russell sniffed her out, and she made excellent coffee. If she were a vampire, Sookie would offer her blood as gratitude. But now Raven… Sookie didn't know what to do with her.
"Eric told me about the bounty and all. But I still have to work a shift today, I'm walking on thin ice with my boss as is," Sookie started. Raven took a plunge deeper in the water and with one swift movement she stood up from the water. She was carrying two massive catfishes, one in each hand.
"During the day?" She asked unimpressed, tossing the fish in the bucket, and started drying herself with the towel. Sookie caught herself staring again, so she looked away.
"Uhm, yeah," Sookie followed Raven back into the house. "Lafayette and Holly got the dinner shift though,"
"Will you stay with them until their shift is over?" Raven asked, putting the fish in the sink. She turned around on her heels and stared at her with a serious face. "And protect them?"
"Uhm… From who?"
"From vampires, did you not get the memo?" Her voice raised.
"Yeah, which ones?" Sookie's voice raised too. "Because I can't fucking tell anymore. Who are the good vampires? Eric Northman? And Bill - my Bill - is somehow the bad guy?"
"Bill's changed. He's not the man you remember-"
"And Eric?" Sookie probed. "Eric's changed too? Because he's still the same fucking prick from where I'm standing. And I have a real hard time believing he's looking out for me. Or any of us actually, including you." Raven chuckled sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm being serious! He only looks out for himself, or Pam,"
"The fact that you are alive and standing right in front of me tells me otherwise," the acidity in her tone told her Sookie had struck a nerve. "I didn't tell him to go get you."
"Oh my God," Sookie gasped. "You have feelings for him, don't you?"
Suddenly a large sharp knife flew from the wooden knife holder and across the kitchen, zooming right past her. Sookie let out a big yelp. The kitchen tap turned on by itself, and the fish - still half alive and trashing - floated up. The knife stabbed the underside and slid down, letting all its guts fall out in the sink.
"What the actual f-"
"I'm thinking fried fish and hashbrowns for breakfast," Raven told her with a big smirk.
"Your house is haunted?!" Sookie asked.
"Enchanted," Raven corrected her. "The kitchen does all the cooking, all you need is to ask. Which is why I thought it was incredibly strange that it let you make coffee this morning,"
"Your kitchen let me?" Sookie repeated. "Like it's alive or something?"
"What's with all the yelling so early in the damn morning'?" Lafayette walked right in and sat on the kitchen stool on the island.
"The kitchen let Sookie make coffee," Raven smiled from behind her mug.
Lafayette's jerked fast and he glared at her pouting. "Bitch what?! But she just got here!" He cried. "You know what? Fuck it. Can I have a cup?" He asked nobody in particular.
The coffee pot flew halfway across the kitchen to meet another mug that floated out of the cupboard, it poured the dark luscious liquid and the full cup landed softly on Lafayette's hands.
Sookie slightly pinched her arm. She was not dreaming. Now that she looked closer, she could see it all. Potatoes rolled out from the pantry cabinet and jumped onto the island where a knife started cutting out the sprouts. In the corner, there was a basket of linens and towels folding itself onto a neat fluffy pile. Down the hallway, a broom twirled around by the front door. The plants in the sunroom had shifted slightly in their pots, stretching their branches closer to the window trying to catch the most of the morning light. The armchair near her swivelled and primped its pillow, inviting Sookie to sit - and she caught herself doing it. Soon a mug of warm coffee was back in her hand. Raven and Lafayette laughed at Holly when she arrived in the kitchen because apparently she was a loud snorer. A little pet piglet came in the kitchen - the cutest thing she had ever seen - and the kitchen served it a bow of apples and carrots and soaked it all with milk. They all hung out in the kitchen sipping coffee like they knew each other for decades.
This huge and menacing black house took care of itself and everyone inside it. It weathered severe storms but healed itself. It did not succumb to time - it only enriched itself with it. It stood tucked away in a land where no one else wanted to live because it was deemed alligator infested. The walls were full but the beds sat empty. The house was meant for a family, and a family it now had.
Sookie left for the day, and Raven and her coven spent the rest of the day booby-trapping the house against new cold-blooded non-alligator invaders. She had also transformed all her silverware (Agatha and Catherine would choke her to death if they knew) into weapons. After a quick transmutation lesson, she taught Jesus and Holly how to turn all her silver cutlery into bullets and shells, and Lafayette took apart and cleaned all the guns and hunting rifles she kept in the basement. It took them a while to get the hang of it. They transformed the spoons into everything but bullets - buttons, bobby pins, coins, even a tweezer? But eventually, they got it.
While her coven was busy with the transmutations, Raven threw three small silver candlesticks and two candelabras, a full 12-litre jar filled with dried Wallace bees, the toe of a frost giant, two tablespoons of sugar, a cup of fermented spider ale, and six molly flowers to simmer into the cauldron. Once ready, she put the potion through a colander and collected all her bees - now silver and shiny - into a box. With the right spell, they would come alive and sting any vampire that came close, each sting being a pure shot of silver. She had enough bees to certainly kill at least two dozen vampires. She carved the words of the spell on the lid of the bee box and added: for vampire emergencies only.
She didn't know when the Authority would come, but she believed Eric when he said that they would. But Raven felt ready. She felt completely in control. She had this. And all because of her coven. Her father had been right about one thing: you can't go through hard things alone. Now all she needed was for Salome to go after her. Come and get it, bitch.
Things slowed down when they left late-afternoon for work. Raven had the house for herself again. Well, almost. After eating the rest of the fish for dinner, she mindlessly walked up the stairs. She was about to go in her own room to finish adjusting some more clothes for Tara when her eyes landed on Mabel's bedroom door. Now his bedroom door.
She leaned against it, trying to convince herself not to enter. Eric would still be dead asleep, he wouldn't even notice. Was this a pro or a con? She felt her heart beat faster, her body tugged her forward against the door. She played last night in her head. It was a whirlwind of emotions. Between the secret he kept, the vow she made and everything in between. Raven knew he had no idea how important that kind of promise was. What the actual hell was she thinking? She lost all common sense when she touched him. She had fallen in… Lust? For him. What she should do was to rescind his invitation immediately and run away as far as she can from the addictive drug that was… His blood. His kiss. His touch. The way he looked at her.
But it was like she said, as her body turned the doorknob, the pull she felt for him was stronger than she was. It was impossible to fight it. She remembered feeling it when she was in her old lake, and he jumped in the water. She remembered feeling her blood run hotter when she sat on her windowsill and watched a movie with her. She remembered giving into it when she first kissed him. And the second time. And the third. And the fourth.
She made out his silhouette in the dark bedroom. His body was lying in the middle of the bed, straight and stiff on top of the covers like the corpse it was. She got closer, studying his face. The face of the man who brought nothing but fucking trouble in her life.
Oh my God you have feelings for him, don't you?
"Goddammit Sookie," Raven muttered, knowing the fairy was right.
Eric thought he was still dreaming when he woke up. He held his breath for a second, just in case, hoping the possible dream wouldn't fade away. But it didn't - Raven was cuddled in bed with him, her head and left arm resting on his chest. Without thinking his arm raised, and his fingers combed her smooth dark hair. He inhaled her scent of fresh trees and snow. Somewhere down the hallway, he could hear Pam arguing with Tara, and much to his delight, Tara talked back. This. This right here is what he wanted all along.
"This is not Sookie if you are wondering," she whispered, waking up.
"No, this is much better," he whispered back, with a smile on his face. He rolled towards her, letting her body slide onto the soft mattress. He gazed at her from above, delighted to have her underneath him first thing in the evening. "You are real,"
He was about to kiss her when suddenly the door busted open and the lights turned on. Raven sat up to look at the intruder but Eric already knew who it was before she even said anything.
"I am one hair away from throwin' that fuckin' fridge out the window! I'm fuckin' starving and I KNOW there're blood bags in there!"
"Good evening to you too," Eric told her.
"You just have to ask the kitchen, Pamela," Raven told her.
Pam pursed her lips and raised her brows, cocking a hip to the side "Excuse me?"
Raven sighed, getting up from the bed. "I'll go get it," she muttered and left down the stairs. Eric caught Pam watching Raven as she left the room, and once she did Pam death glared at Eric once again.
"What?" He asked.
"What?" She repeated."Really? Your taste in women has gone to shit, did you know that?"
He grinned. "If you could, you would do her in a heartbeat."
"Sure she's hot and all, but she's gonna get us fuckin' killed."
"No one is getting killed."
"If not her, then Sookie is. Where is that dumbass blonde anyway?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, getting up and putting on a black tank. "My bond with Sookie is done."
"Done?" Pam repeated shocked. "How?"
Eric smirked, facing his child. Pam looked shocked.
"Raven's blood," he kissed Pam on the forehead and made his way downstairs, Pam followed.
And when they did, the front door opened, and Lafayette, Jesus, Holly and Sookie all came in. What the fuck were they doing out? Did they not understand the concept of quarantine? Did Raven not put the fear of Satan or whatever in them?
"Oh, you're back already?" Raven said, putting down a tray with three glasses of blood on a side table. Tara was right behind the witch, and quickly snatched a glass and chugged it all in one go.
"Yeah, Merlotte's dead. No one goes out after dark anymore, so Sam sent us all home," Holly explained, kicking her shoes off.
"They went to work?!" Eric asked. "Are you all insane?!"
"Relax, Sookie was there," Raven told him, handing him a glass of blood that felt somehow human-warm. He felt a little disappointed Raven didn't let him feed on her. Her blood tasted so much better than humans.
"And that's supposed to… Help them?"
"Hey! I'm right here!" Sookie cried out.
"Yes, she is a fairy. She has powers, does she not?" Raven asked him, annoyed with his questioning.
He scoffed after taking a short sip of disappointingly human blood. "Yeah, powers that get her in trouble more often than out of them."
"Now that's not fair!" Sookie cried. "I saved your ass plenty of times!"
"Yeah, right."
There was a knock on the door that hushed everyone at once. Everyone that knew that they were here, was here. This could only mean one thing. His fangs came down at once.
"You were fucking followed?!" Eric hissed. "How could you be this fucking stupid?!"
"I told you one of them was going to get us killed!" Pam grunted.
"Everyone wait!" Raven exclaimed. "The Authority wouldn't simply knock if they found us."
The witch made her way past the coven, everyone but Eric took three steps back, away from the door. Holly grabbed a hunting rifle that stood against the wall and pointed at the front door. Sookie made a ball of light and held on to it. Raven looked worried. She took a deep breath and opened the door.
But instead of Salome, or Bill, or Nora, or Kibwe or even any vampire knew or heard of, there it stood an elderly man, dressed in all black with a puffy white necktie. He stood up straight like a soldier, hands holding a cane firmly.
Neither Raven or Elijah Blackwood said anything. Lafayette cocked the gun, making a loud noise.
"This is fuckin' private property, in case the invisibility spell didn't make it crystal clear." Holly pointed the gun right at Elijah, who did not look scared or impressed at the threat.
Raven raised her arm at Holly quickly and yelled "Wait! Holly put the gun down,"
No one moved or said anything in what it seemed like an eternity. Eric remembered Raven telling him Bishops usually killed anyone who made any kind of threats. The fact that Holly wasn't dead at this very moment made him question the previous warning.
"Well?" He asked, raising his bushy brows.
"Come in," She told him, finally making way for the Bishop.
"Who the fuck are you?" Tara asked.
"This is Elijah Blackwood," Eric explained. "Church of Night Bishop… And Raven's father."
A.N: hello sweet angels
This was a loooong ass chapter. Are we finally going to get some truth from our Elijah?!
I've been writing up a storm, and let me tell you, Black Moon Lilith will be much more than 20 chapters. I hope you are still enjoying the story, follow/favourite/comment and PM me if you have questions or have anything you are itching to see! xoxoxo
