Chapter 7
Away Again
I shut the front door behind me slowly, trying to make as little sound as possible. My interaction with Sookie had brought on more questions, and solved very few in the process. Which was troubling to say the least. As I closed the door, I noticed some blood on the back of my hand. Realizing it was froom Sookie's forehead, and curious, I licked it. 'Sunshine in a bottle,' The memory echoed in my head, the vision from my office. But it just tasted like normal human blood.
I took a few steps forward on the porch, ready to give the house one final look over. I had begun to suspect that Sookie was the girl from my vision. This was certainly the house from before, the kitchen and the bedroom were the same without a doubt. Yet… her blood was definitely human. No sunshine to be had. What the hell did that mean? Was I supposed to believe this was all some kind of coincidence? I bought this home from a man named Jason Stackhouse, and now, someone with the same last name was trying to move in?
Pacing in front of the house, I tried to think of any other connections my vision had to the real world. If I could just… make out what she looked like… I stopped, suddenly remembering the end.
Bill.
The end of the vision was her saying she could never be with me like she was with Bill. Besides that being utterly ridiculous, how do I even start that conversation with him? 'Hello, Bill! I seem to have lost more of my memories and have no idea what's going on… please do help me!' Yeah, right. Plus, there was no way I lost to William Compton in the real world. Billy. This had to be some kind of weird vampire nightmare.
I dropped myself heavily on the stairs of the porch, putting my head in my hands. It was times like these I wish Godric hadn't… I shook my head. Surely, in his 2000 years, he would have experienced something like this. He could show me how to fix this. With that thought, I remembered what Pam had said that first night. Even in his 2000 years, huh? Well, I thought with a smile. Maybe he wouldn't have been able to help me, but it still would have been nice to have his council. Godric always had a plan. He was the smartest vampire I had ever known, and would ever know, if I was being honest with myself. If I could be half the vampire he was, I would call myself lucky.
I placed my hands behind me and looked up. The stars were always so beautiful in small towns like this, the light pollution keeping most of them away in Shreveport. I didn't often find myself wishing for another life as a vampire, I did everything I wanted. When I was human though, that was a different story. 'Too many responsibilities, not enough titties,' was a common phrase heard by my friends. A simpler time, I thought to myself smiling.
There was a snap in the darkness in front of me that brought me out of my nightdreaming. I stood up and made my way to the bottom of the steps ready to fight the intruder. I realized with a sniff that fortune was in my favor this evening.
"Billy, my boy! What brings you outside on this fine Louisiana evening?" I said in a mock southern accent. Bill stepped out of the ring of trees and walked forward. A stern look playing his features.
"I could ask the same of you, Eric." He said, stopping a few paces in front of me. He crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow at me. I smiled sweetly back.
"Well, I asked first, but you caught me in a good mood." I said with a wink. "I sold my house! I wanted to do some final inspections." I turned at that and started to walk around to the side of the house. "Making sure it's all in order." I could hear his footsteps following me. Deciding this was the perfect opportunity to pry Bill for information, I asked him again why he was there.
"I had no idea the home was ever on the market. I was under the impression it had a significant amount of sentimental value to her." He seemed genuinely confused by the idea of me selling this house. "Is she moving away?" At this, I turned to face him. His eyebrows were pulled down and he seemed to be thinking extremely hard. How was I supposed to answer that? I had no idea who he was talking about.
"Moving away? I don't know anything about that. I'm just helping out Pamela with another one of her pets. If you want to know, I'd ask her." I took a few steps toward him and clapped his shoulder. "She loves telling other vampires about her pets." He scowled at the contact, taking a step away from me. I gave him another smile. "So, are you going to say why you were here or keep asking me questions?"
Bill straightened himself at that and looked back towards his own home. "I thought I could smell a vampire, so I came to see for myself." He shrugged. "I certainly was not expecting the Sheriff of area 5." He gave me a pointed look. "I was under the impression, until tonight, that was a human home." He looked at the house then, with a different expression.
I felt myself go cold. The girl came to Fangtasia to get this house out of my name, because of Bill. She was afraid he would figure out that she didn't own the home and attack her. Would Bill attack this girl? I waved a hand at him. "Well, it is now. The formalities are already done," I said walking back to the front of the porch. Guess I'll be setting up shop here for a while, or at least until I figure this out. "I just felt there were a few… Maintenance issues to address first." I climbed up the steps and walked over to the swing, sitting. I pulled out my cell, and gave Bill one more smile, as big and as fake as I could muster for the slimeball. "Sorry, I need to make a few phone calls. Was there anything else?" Bill gave the house one last long look before he shook his head and walked home. I watched him until I was sure he had made it back to his house. I slumped down and ran my hands through my hair. One thing was for sure. I needed to be very careful with Bill. And I still had no idea what was going on.
