Layla wasn't sure what exactly she had expected, and she still wasn't sure why she looked the way she did. Her hair was blown out, for quite possibly the first time, looking incredibly soft and straight, with her make-up lighter than usual with just the smallest bits of black on her eyes and a bit of rose on her lips. She was, for once, not wearing black, but a tight, red leather mini-dress covered in zippers with a pair black heels and a black leather jacket.
Eric hadn't called and she wanted to kick herself for thinking that he would. Please. They may have slept together but Eric Northman was still Eric Northman. Still, a sick, twisted part of her wanted to see him, which was why she was dressed to the nines and getting ready to go to Fangtasia. Her plan was to stop by, have a drink, say hello and maybe entice him into coming over again tonight.
Layla's heart jumped as she walked out her door and her cell phone rang. she flipped it open immediately.
"Hello?" she asked. A frown appeared on her face. "Sookie? Honey, slow down...Bill's been WHAT?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Layla picked Sookie up from the police station where Kenya had dropped her off. She looked lovely, with her hair twisted up off her neck and wearing a soft, lavender dress. Sookie looked at Layla and quirked an eyebrow.
"What are you wearing?" she asked. Layla frowned at her.
"Focus less on my wardrobe and more on your missing boyfriend...or is it fiancee? Does saying yes count if he wasn't there? It's kind of like if a tree falls and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Layla said. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Fangtasia. I have to see Eric, and from the looks of things you do too." Sookie said. Layla tossed Sookie a look but otherwise ignored the comment as she continued speaking. "He's the Sheriff so he has to look for Bill. I mean a Vampire getting kidnapped, that's a big deal!"
"Of course it is! I just hope Eric doesn't try to pull the whole 48 hours thing that humans have to do." Layla said. She hoped Eric would help Sookie but she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, recalling his words to the Queen the other night.
'I will take care of Bill Compton...personally.'
The two women pulled up to Fangtasia and immediately went inside. Pam appeared almost instantly. She graced Layla with a smile before turning to Sookie.
"Now, I don't remember telling you lavender was my favorite color." she said smoothly.
"I'm in no mood for lesbian weirdness tonight, Pam." Sookie said flatly as Layla discreetly grabbed a cocktail from the bartender. That bad feeling in her stomach was just not going away so she decided to drink it into silence as best she could.
"Where's Bill?" Sookie asked. Pam smiled.
"I have no idea." she replied. Layla took a step forward.
"Then where's Eric?" the brunette asked. Pam actually looked a trifle uncomfortable answering.
"He's, uhm, indisposed at the moment." she said cryptically. Layla's intuition and anger shot through the roof.
"Indisposed doing what?" she asked. Pam merely shrugged. Layla took a long sip from her drink before grabbing Sookie's arm. "C'mon Sook." she said, dragging the girl along with her to the basement, all the while Pam following them with half-hearted shouts of 'no, stop, come back.'
They reached the landing on the stairs and Layla thought she would be sick. Eric was pounding into some slut dancer with her hands tied to pipes above her. Christ, is that what the two of them had looked like? I mean they'd be passionate sure, but it had felt slower, gentler. Whatever Eric was doing now was by no means slow or gentle.
"Holy S." Sookie breathed. Layla just cleared her throat.
"Sookie and Layla." Eric said, glancing at them over his shoulder. "See anything you like?"
"No." Layla responded childishly.
"I do." Pam said, peering behind Eric at the naked woman.
"I take it they couldn't be stopped?" Eric asked Pam, referring to the blonde and the brunette both of whom were trying hard to keep theirs eyes on his face and not his body, christ knew Layla had seen enough of it, and tasted enough of it already.
"What can I say? There were two of them. They overpowered me." Pam replied lazily.
"Off you go, Pam."
"Fine." Pam said, walking up the stairs but not before taking in another long look at the woman who was still panting from all the...exercise.
"Sookie, Layla. Meet my new dancer. Yvetta, from Estonia. Yvetta meet Sookie and Layla, from here." Eric said smoothly. The woman gave the girls a foreign 'hello'. Layla merely glared at her. Idiot.
"I'm not from here, you jackass, I'm from Philly. And we didn't come here to meet some slutty dancer." Layla hissed. Sookie, her southern manners winning out, gave a small 'hi'. Eric whispered something to the girl before walking closer to the girls, still naked.
"So, what brings you to Fangtasia on this balmy summer night?" he asked, his eyes lingering on the amount of cleavage visible in Layla's dress.
"Bill's been kidnapped and I think you did it." Sookie said flatly. Layla was surprised, seeing as that hadn't been Sookie's original reason for coming here, but whatever, she wasn't about to defend Eric right now. He probably did do it. He looked guilty to her.
"I didn't." he said, seemingly more to Layla than Sookie. "Any other theories?"
"I'm still on this one, thank you very much." Sookie told him. "Where were you tonight around 11 o'clock?"
"Here. With Yvettea." Eric replied. Layla fought down the bile in her throat.
"Here? Doing this? For the last six hours?" Sookie asked, looking surprised.
"You seem surprise. I thought girlfriends talked, Layla. Did you not share the details of our night with Sookie? I had hoped maybe it would sway her opinion of me." Eric said. Layla stared at him, but said nothing. Usually the woman couldn't hold back her sarcastic comments, and quite honestly, he didn't like her silence, but instead focused on Sookie. "Is Bill's stamina not up to snuff?"
"Tell me where I can find, Lorena?" Sookie asked, swiftly changing the topic. "If you don't have him, she does."
"Solid theory, but given the last tenor of your run-in with Miss Kratziki, I think it would be best if I dealt with her." Eric said.
"How do I know you will?" Sookie asked.
"Because if Bill was in fact kidnapped, by human or Vampire, I am duty-bound as Sheriff of the area in which he resides to find him." Eric said, looking again at Layla who was staring blankly at the wall past Eric's head.
"Then do it." Layla said flatly. "Let's go, Sookie." she said and the two girls ascended the stairs, but not before Sookie stopped and looked again at Eric.
"By the way, you owe us both $10,000 dollars." she reminded him before they both disappeared into the music and glitter of Fangtasia.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Layla dropped Sookie off at her house, which still looked like shit. Sookie waited for a moment before looking at Layla.
"Are you-"
"I'm fine." Layla cut her off quickly, still staring straight ahead. she hadn't spoken a word since they'd left the club.
"He betrayed you." Sookie said simply.
"No. I lost my mind and thought I saw something in that Vampire that wasn't there. I made a mistake. I won't make it again." Layla said. It was true. For a small time the other night Eric had seemed almost...it didn't matter now.
"But, Layla-"
"Sookie, there are more important things to worry about than my wounded pride, okay? Go home, get some sleep and tomorrow we'll look for Bill." she said flatly. Sookie smiled weakly.
"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked. Layla raised a brow and looked at the blonde like she was crazy.
"If I was in love with someone and they went missing I would want you to help me. That's how friendship works, right?" Layla asked. Sookie nodded. "Good, so go in and get some sleep and call me in the morning."
Sookie jumped out of the car and went inside her house. Layla drove home, fighting back tears the whole way. she wasn't crying because of Eric, she was crying because of her own stupidity. How had she let that asshole touch her? What sick, twisted, and utterly demented part of her brain had thought that was okay? She had to sleep it off. She would sleep it off and in the morning it would be a memory she could bury.
Walking into the house she kicked off she shoes and stripped out of her clothes, walking around in the black lace lingerie she had worn beneath it. As she walked into her bedroom she took one look at the sheets. they probably still smelled like him.
"Fuck this, I'm sleeping on the couch." she said, before marching back into the living room.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Layla waited patiently in the police station as Sookie spoke in private with Sheriff Deerborne. She doubted that was going to do any good, and obviously it haqdn't as Sookie stormed from his office and barely said a word to Layla as they walked back out to the car.
They went back to Sookie's place, which was still filthy, and Layla searched on her laptop for Lorena while Sookie made calls to Isabel and some other Vampires she had met in Texas. There was a knock at the door. Sookie peered through the curtains to see a figure, clad in pink.
"May I?" Pam called from the other side of the door and Layla glanced up from what she was tying. Her hair was thrown up on top of her head, she was still wearing left-obver make-up from the day before, and all she wore were ratty jeans and a concert t-shirt with sneakers.
"Come on in." Sookie said, opening the door and stepping aside for Pam to enter.
"Now, why'd you have to go and kill that maynad? She's a terrific decorator." Pam said sarcastically. Layla snorted and went back to her typing.
"Any news about Bill?" Sookie asked.
"No. Just making my nightly rounds." Pam said, reaching into her purse and pulling out two checks, handing one to Sookie and the other to Layla. "And Eric wanted me to give you this."
Layla didn't even glance at it, just accepted it and tossed it beside her onto the couch. Sookie however frowned at the amount.
"This is too much. It was supposed to be 10." she said.
"We know." Pam said. "Eric wanted to give you both a bonus." she continued throwing a mocking look to Layla "For going above and beyond."
"Well, tell him thanks, I guess." Sookie said. Layla stayed quiet. she had nothing to say. She wasn't about to thank Eric, and she sure as shit deserved every penny of that money for the bullshit she'd been through.
"I'll say you sounded more appreciative than that." Pam said with a smile before reacting to what looked like a chill down her spine. Layla got those a lot. People said it happened when someone walked over her grave. She guessed her grave was a pretty popular spot then.
"What was that?" Sookie asked.
"That was Eric. Calling me." she explained.
"Your phone broken?" Layla asked sarcastically.
"I should probably check in." Pam continued.
"He can call you?" Sookie asked, but Pam didn't respond. Instead she bolted out the door leaving both girls with their money.
"Do you think Bill can call Jessica like that?" Layla asked, looking up, but Sookie was already running out the door towards the Compton's house.
"I guess you do." Layla grumbled to herself before chasing after her.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Sookie used her key and walked right inside with Layla on her heels. Jessica was standing at the front door. she must have heard them coming.
"You know you might wanna start lettin' me know when you're gonna be swinging by? It'd be considered poli-" the redhead began but Sookie cut her off.
"Has Bill called you?"
"No, and I told you I would tell you if he did." Jessica said, obviously a little annoyed or flustered. Layla frowned. It smelled gross in here. Sookie went on the explain the kind of 'call' Pam had gotten from Eric and asked if anything like that had happened to Jessica.
"Last night." Jessica said. "It came over me like a wave, and it made me feel sick too, just like that time I drank Kahlua."
"I love Kahlua! It's great with coffee." Layla piped in.
"This isn't about drinking, you two! Bill is missing and without your help he might never come back. Now other than sick what else did you feel?" Sookie asked. Jessica thought for a moment.
"I don't know, uhm, maybe...maybe I felt a place."
"What place? Where?" Layla asked, happy to feel like they were finally getting somewhere, and without Eric's help. Take that Sheriff Asshole.
"I don't know." Jessica whined.
"C'mon." Sookie said, holding out her keys.
"But where are we going?" Jessica asked.
"We gotta find that place." Sookie said. "And what the hell is that smell?"
"You smell it too? Good, I thought it was just me." Layla said, lifting the neckline of her shirt over her nose, preferring to smell her own perfume and deodorant instead of whatever that nasty ass stink was in the Compton house.
"A possum died under the house." Jessica said.
"Gross." Layla remarked, making for the door, as the three of them set off to find whatever place Bill had mentally mapped out for Jessica.