A/N: Thank you for all of you who continue to read this story. It really means a lot to me. I know it's kind of a slow burn for the romance part, but I want certain things to have more impact down the road. That'll make more sense later, I suppose. Please review and let me know your thoughts. I hope you're all liking it, but if you're not, let me know too. I'm really curious what ya'll think about this story and am always open to suggestions for making it better. Thanks again! Please, please review! Reviews make this all so worthwhile
….
Arabella woke up with a start about a half an hour before sunset. She slept deeply last night, but not dreamlessly. Her mind kept replaying the memory and thoughts of her attacker, giving her more information to go on.
'I need to find a phone book.' Arabella contemplated to herself as she quietly got out of Eric's bed and just as silently left the room. Thankfully Eric had turned off the alarm on the door so she could come and go in the bar as she needed. He trusted her, but not enough to give her the key code itself. The alarm set around the perimeter of the building was enough protection for everyone inside. Remembering that there was a payphone by the bathrooms, she considered that might be a good place to start to look for a phonebook. 'Aha, here's one.' She thought as she grabbed the yellow pages sitting on top of the payphone and took it up front. Laying the book on the counter, she walked behind the bar, poured herself some orange juice and as she drank it, wondered what the place looked like when the regulars were there. Done with the juice, she sat on one of the leather covered stools and began searching through the pages, hoping she could find what she was looking for.
About fifteen to twenty minutes after Arabella had risen and left, Eric had started to stir. Waking up fully aroused, as he had vaguely felt hands exploring him as he rested; he anticipated finding a very lovely, very warm, very appreciative, and very eager Arabella. Instead, all he found was a cold indentation where she had been lying last night. 'Where the hell is she?' He thought to himself as he grabbed a sheet to hold around him and ran out of the room quickly.
In a flash, he appeared in the bar area, and thankfully, Arabella was sitting on a barstool, looking over something. 'Was that the phonebook?' Eric thought?
"Oh Eric, you're up. I'm glad because I need to talk to you." Arabella said excitedly and with a million dollar smile. He couldn't help but get a tiny smile of his own. Then she continued, "I was able to sort out the visions that I got from my attacker a bit in my sleep last night. Maybe because I was relaxed, I don't know, but anyway… The girl that was being strangled worked as a waitress, like me, but she had a name tag on her shirt. I couldn't make it out until my dreams last night. Her name was Cindy and the restaurant she worked in had something to do with pies… Party Pies or Patty Pies… I couldn't make the restaurant's name out exactly, so I got this phonebook to see if I could recognize it while looking over pie shop names. Wait, here it is, Big Patty's Pie House; it's off of I-49 near Bunkie. I think that it might be near the place we went bowling. We've got to go there Eric. We need to find out more about this Cindy girl so we can get closer to finding my attacker. I don't want to have to hide the rest of my life wondering when this prick is going to try to strangle me or have them attack someone else."
"You are not going to go. You are going to stay here with Pam. I'll go check it out myself." Eric said evenly. He didn't want her to be put in a situation that could get her hurt.
"Eric, really, how much trouble can I get in when I'd be with you?" Arabella said as Eric smirked. He was thinking about all the 'trouble' they could get into together, as he was still pretty aroused. He was quickly brought out of those thoughts though when she continued, "Eric, I'd be useful. I can read minds. Also, people may be more open to talk to me than you, because, well, let's face it, you can be scary as fuck sometimes."
Eric had to admit she had some valid points. "Okay, but you will stay close to me, understood?"
"Yes sir!" Arabella said while giving him a salute.
"Let's not rush to leave though… We have some time; perhaps we should shower… preferably together." Eric said with the best smoldering look he had while dropping the sheet he was holding around him and walking towards Arabella. He knew it wasn't his best line, but damn she looked good and they were all alone, and…
Arabella's breath hitched when he dropped the sheet as she wasn't expecting that, but soon she began laughing uncontrollably as something else appeared that she also was definitely not expecting.
Eric's smoldering look quickly turned to confusion and then to anger. How dare she laugh at his nude body. What the hell? He had never… NEVER… had that reaction before from any female. Jaw drops of awe; licking of lips; praises to God; now THOSE were the reactions he had seen; never laughter. But, as he looked down at his pride and joy, he now understood why Arabella was practically convulsing in laughter. "MOTHERFUCKER! PAMELA!"
Pam appeared in a flash and stood before her master with the biggest smirk on her face. "Ahhhh, I see you've discovered my handiwork."
"Pam, you did that? Oh my God… I mean, it's actually done really well, but… Oh my God…" Arabella squeaked out between laughs.
"Yes, well, I used to trade… services… with a very talented artist who taught me a thing or two." Pam said with a faraway look on her face as she reminisced about a favorite pet of hers from the past.
"Well, my compliments to the artist. High five!" Arabella said as she raised her hand to high five Pam. Pam, who normally didn't encourage this type of human interaction, couldn't help herself, as this was one of the best gags she'd ever played on Eric, and gave in this once and high fived Arabella.
"High five indeed." Pam replied not with a smirk, but with a genuine, authentic smile. She knew she'd pay for this later, but this moment was so worth it. It was also nice to have someone appreciate her handiwork.
"So, what do you call your 'work of art'?" Arabella asked Pam, while Eric, who was now just standing there with his arms crossed against his chest and giving Pam the stink eye, clearly pissed, asked as well, "Yes, Pamela, what do you call this?"
"Snake in the grass." Pam said as she and Arabella broke out into even more laughter.
"Well, I guess that would be appropriate." Arabella replied after calming down from her laughter and wiping the tears from her eyes as she had never laughed so hard in her life. She continued, "I'm truly amazed at how the scales look so lifelike and you even drew a little forked tongue and fangs… I mean the detail… By the way, what did you use?"
"Permanent Sharpies." Pam said.
Eric now was beyond incensed. Permanent Sharpies… What the hell was she thinking? This shit was going to take forever to come off. Fuck. Not only did Pam deface his manhood, but she also ruined what could've been a very pleasurable time between him and Arabella.
"Do you guys do this kind of stuff normally?" Arabella asked, as she was a little surprised by this. In the time that she knew any vampires, they never seemed this… carefree? Fun? And, she certainly couldn't picture the old Southern gentleman Bill doing anything like this…
Pam replied, "Every now and again. When you live as long as we do, life can get boring at times. Sometimes you have to do things to amuse yourself." Turning her gaze towards Eric, whose own look was softening a bit with her reply.
Noticing that the two vampires probably needed to speak in private, Arabella got up off the stool and said, "I'm going to put my shorts and shoes on. I'll be back in a minute."
Both vampires watched her walk past them, hearing small giggles still escaping her mouth as she entered Eric's resting space and closed the door.
"She does have a very nice ass." Pam said, breaking the silence.
"Yes, she does. Too bad you'll never be able to get up close and personal with it." Eric said with a smirk.
"It really is no fair Eric. You always keep the best ones." Pam said with a small pout.
Switching gears, Eric said, "As for practical jokes, this has to be one of your better ones, and definitely gets me back for the one I did to you in London two years ago. You remember that one, right?
"How could I forget, and by the way, yes. Yes it does." Pam replied and then added, "I didn't even know you knew how to use a glue gun, let alone know where to buy glitter and feather boas. But the cat piss… that just took it too far. It took a full week before I could get any of my regulars to allow me to feed from them without glamouring them to high heaven."
"Ah yes, fun times. Anyway, we normally don't reveal this… side of us… to outsiders. Why do it while Arabella was here?" Eric asked, intrigued.
"She's the most tolerable breather you've ever been with, and that's saying a lot. I like her, and that's saying even more. Don't fuck this up Eric, especially not over Bill and Sookie." Pam said seriously.
"What I do with my pet and why is my choice Pam, not yours. Although, I do appreciate that you enjoy her company. It'll make things less stressful." Eric said while picking up the sheet off the floor and finally having a chuckle himself at the 'situation' his manhood was in. He had to admit, his child was a pretty good artist, although he did make a mental note to do a Google search on removing permanent marker. Needing to get his day /night rolling, he started to walk towards his resting room, but stopped upon reaching it and said, "Pay back is a bitch Pam, just remember that."
Pam knew that he would get her back somehow; expected nothing less in fact, but that was fine. That was their game. What she worried about instead was the fallout that no doubt would occur if he didn't stop his obsession with revenge on Bill with Sookie. Pam could feel through her bond with her maker that he was the happiest she's ever felt him whenever he was with Arabella. Why couldn't he see it himself?
…
I had convinced Eric to take me back to my house to get some of my own clothes for the day. Remembering the PVC number that Pam had given Sookie after Sookie was covered in… well Longshadow… I knew I needed to get some of my own things. Something told me that Big Patty's Pie House wouldn't be the type of place to cater to someone looking like a Lady Gaga back-up dancer. Eric waited in the car while I ran inside, quickly slipped on a pair of jeans and a blue, v-neck tee shirt and ate a quick snack.
"All ready Cobra." I said as I jumped into the passenger seat of his car.
"Funny." He said evenly, but with a slight smile as he started his car and headed us toward Bunkie.
"It's a good look… really. I mean, think about it. Pam could've done worse, like… make it look like a hot dog in a bun, or made it look like it was going to fall off as if it was zombified, or she could've got your balls in on the action too and made them all look like spaghetti and meatballs, or…" Arabella started rambling off.
"You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you? I would think that there'd be better ways to spend thinking about my cock." Eric replied playfully. How could he not enjoy a conversation that centered around his most prized possession?
"Ha ha." I replied. But, my mind started to wander to the mental image of his gracious plenty. Lord almighty he was huge. I had to shift a little in my seat as the heat growing between my legs was making me a tad uncomfortable. Feeling the need to say something, I said with a nervous laugh, "Shoot, at least it's great for conversation. You know, like if someone says that their man's a real tiger in bed. Well, I guess I could honestly say, 'Yeah, but you should see the trouser snake my guy has."
Eric laughed; a real laugh. "That was a horrible joke."
"Yeah, I know. But, you still laughed at it." I replied, chuckling slightly.
"Yes, I guess I did." He replied thinking how odd that this human would be so surprisingly enjoyable to be around, even though they've not done anything more than kiss. Then he said, "You know though, I would appreciate you not mentioning this… incident… to anyone." If there was ever a time where he really wanted to glamour someone, this would be high on that list.
"That's a lot to ask Eric, I mean, this is soooo good. But, to be honest, I don't think anyone would even believe me if I told them your manhood was dressed up for Halloween. You know, with you and your reputation as a bad ass." I replied with a sly smile.
He thought about it for a minute. She was probably right. He could barely believe it himself.
….
After some moments of silence, I turned serious and asked, "Eric, how is Jason supposed to go to Dallas and help out there? He's still a suspect in those murders. I don't think that the Bon Temps police department, (beacons of justice that they are, NOT), are just going to let him up and leave their jurisdiction like that. Also, don't you think it'll make him look guilty in their eyes; like he was fleeing?"
Truthfully, Eric had let it slip his mind that Jason was in that predicament as well. It was too late to change his fate now though; the ball was already rolling on Jason going to Dallas and that was that. Help was needed there. So Eric finally responded, "I can make the police see that he has to leave."
"You mean glamour them, right?" I asked, but she knew the answer already.
"Yes." Eric responded.
Sighing and resigning to the fact that there was nothing I could do for my brother, I said, "Maybe going to Dallas will be good for him. It'd be a change of scenery and a chance to try to prove that he can do more than bed half of Bon Temps." I knew that I was trying to convince myself more than Eric.
"Perhaps…" Eric said. He too hoped that the Stackhouse kid would not screw up the chance to gain the upper hand on the Fellowship. The church was getting dangerous in their recklessness as of late.
"Oh, look, there it is over there Eric, Big Patty's." I said pointing to the little dive on the right.
"So it is. Let's see what's inside." Eric said as we pulled into the parking lot of the little diner.
Before walking in, I said to Eric, "This place seems really familiar now that I've seen it in the attacker's memory. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask the questions first. I think I know what to ask."
Eric nodded his head in agreement. He knew she could read minds and she did have the insight from the memory. And besides, if she failed at getting any info, he could always use his glamour.
…
A young waitress greeted us at the door. Harley was the name on her tag; the same kind of tag that the murdered girl Cindy wore. This was definitely the place to start our search.
"Hi, what can I get you two?" Harley asked getting her order pad and pencil out.
"Did you happen to know a girl that worked here by the name of Cindy? She was an old friend of mine and I was looking to catch up with her." I asked the girl.
"No, I'm real sorry ma'am, I didn't know no Cindy here, but I can offer you some real great pie." The dim waitress replied.
Dejectedly I said, "Oh, that's too bad." But then added, "Well, in that case, what do ya'll have?" I was legitimately curious as I only had a small snack at home and was kinda hungry. We were already here anyway. Eric looked at me with a small look of annoyance. Yeah, it must really suck for a vampire to be in a human restaurant. It wasn't like he can eat here, well, at least not anything on the menu.
"We have apple pie, strawberry pie, banana cream pie, chocolate cherry pie, rhubarb pie, lemon meringue pie, pecan pie, chess pie…" Harley started to say in a monotone voice before she was interrupted by an older African American gentleman seated at the counter.
"Those two will have the French silk pie Harley, it's your best." The kindly older gentleman said while motioning us to come by him with his hand.
"Thank you. I didn't know when she was going to stop." I said softly so that only Eric and the older gentleman could hear me. I didn't need that girl spitting on my pie. Lord though, she was like that guy in the Forrest Gump movie talking about shrimp.
"Yeah, Harley's a sweet girl, but dumb as the day is long." The older gentleman replied. Eric thought indeed she was dumb; probably would get along great with Jason.
"You won't get no info about your friend… I believe you mean Cindy Marshall, right, at least not from Harley. She's only worked here for two weeks. And besides, she was named after a motorcycle, now how smart can she be?" Our new friend said to us with a sly smile.
"Yes, Cindy Marshall. Did you know her?" I asked, seeing as this may be our best chance to get info.
"Yeah, I knew Cindy. By the way, my name's Buster. Anyway, I knew Cindy about two years ago. She moved here with her brother, a few months before…" He said and then grew quiet.
"A few months before what, Buster?" I asked.
"Oh, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your friend Cindy was murdered, strangled. Poor thing. She was a sweet young girl. It was a damn shame." Buster said, getting a little choked up remembering his friend.
"Oh. Did they ever find who did it?" I asked, needing to find out more.
"No, they never did." Buster replied.
"Well, is her brother still around? I'd like to talk to him and pay my respects." I replied while Eric looked on, clearly impressed with my line of questioning.
"Oh no. He was gone by the time the body was discovered. Police thought for a while that he may have done it, but nothing could be proven one way or another." Buster said.
"Shoot. I'd really like to talk to him, but gosh darn it if I just can't remember his name now… Me and him were never as close as I was to Cindy." I lied, effectively.
"Oh, I know how that can be. He kept to himself mostly while they lived here too. Nobody really knew too much about him here. What was his name? It began with a D I believe. Dave, Darryl, no, Drew, yeah, that's it, Drew, Drew Marshall." Buster said.
"I can't believe it about Cindy though… Is there anything you can tell me about her from when she was here?" I asked, hoping there might be something else we could go on.
"Oh, like I said before, she was a sweet thang; nice to everyone. But, you know, people talk like people do. Some said that she was hanging out with vampers. I never believed it though. Cindy was a good girl. I could tell. She wouldn't degrade herself like that." Buster said smiling at me and Eric, clearly not realizing that Eric was a vampire. I discretely grabbed Eric's hand and squeezed it to try to keep him calm so he wouldn't let his little secret out of the bag.
The pie slices came and I dug into mine wholeheartedly. Eric looked at his with disgust.
"Aren't you gonna try your piece?" Buster asked Eric.
Before Eric could respond I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't want to be rude, but my boyfriend here is allergic to wheat. He has Celiac disease. So unfortunately he can't have any of the pies here because the crusts all have wheat in them from the flour." I was proud of my lie. Way to think on the fly I thought. Yeah me!
"Oh, how horrible. You are really missing out, but I understand. Well, I need to head on home now. It was a pleasure talking with you all, and again, I'm sorry miss to have had to tell you about your friend." Buster said as he got up and walked out of the restaurant, waving goodbye to Harley.
"I'm impressed. Who knew that you were such a good sleuth… and liar?" Eric said with a huge smirk on his face and continued, "You'd actually make a pretty good sheriff."
"Really? Wow, I guess that means a lot coming from you, Mr. Big Bad Sheriff." I replied, slinking my hand up his arm slowly. "I have to admit though, most of my official training is from watching CSI and Law and Order."
"Ummm ma'am, that'd be $4.25 for the two pies." Harley said standing before us.
"Oh, yeah, right." I replied to her, but just now realizing I had no purse or money to pay.
Eric seeing me get flustered pulled out his wallet and paid.
"Thanks Eric. I think I left my purse at Merlotte's. With everything that happened, I didn't have a chance to grab it."
"No problem. We'll get it later. Let's go to the car and talk." He said, taking my hand as we walked out of the restaurant.
…
"You handled yourself well in there you know. You've managed to pleasantly surprise me; not a feat most humans can do." Eric said as he placed his hand behind my neck and brought me in for a kiss.
Not that I minded, but we needed to keep on task. So I pulled away and said, "Eric we need to stay focused here. Buster said that Drew Marshall was a suspect. Maybe the police here in Bunkie have a picture or something that they can give us to follow up on."
'Did she have to be so damn persistent, and right?' Eric thought. "You're absolutely correct. Let's go there and see what they know."
….
As we walked into the extremely small police station, I made my way to the helpdesk counter to find someone to talk to. I didn't see anyone immediately, but did hear the thoughts of a police officer seated behind a cubicle partition. He was trying to convince himself that it wasn't adultery, what he was doing with Debbie from church on Tuesdays parked behind the Dairy Queen at 3:00, if his wife was withholding her wifely duties from him. He also thought that it was too bad he couldn't leave the wife yet, not with her inheritance coming soon. What a jerk I thought.
"Ummm, excuse me… is anyone here?" I asked loudly, stirring the officer out of his thoughts.
"Uh, yeah ma'am, just give me a second here." Replied the officer as he smoothed his hair out and walked to the window. "How can I help you ma'am?"
"Well, I was hoping that I could find out a little bit about a friend of mine's demise. Her name was Cindy Marshall. She died two years ago. I believe she was strangled." I said to the officer, hoping to jog his memory.
"Oh, you're a friend of that fangbanger whore who got what she deserved. Well, you're pretty like she was, probably hanging with vampers too, no doubt. Well, I say good riddance to white trash. That's all the info I have about your friend." The nasty officer said while turning to walk away.
Eric growled at the disrespect this officer showed his pet and was ready to go after him, but I held my arm against his chest to let him know I had it covered.
"Oh Eric, don't worry about what this guy has to say. I'm sure he'll help us once he see's things our way." I said and added loudly to the officer, "If you just hand me a picture of Drew Marshall, I'll be on my way."
The officer turned back my way and with a nasty look on his face replied, "Well, that file's in storage. It'll take a real long time to find, months probably, if ever." Smirking after his statement, he turned again to walk away.
"Okay then, well I guess I'll just head on over to the library then. You know, libraries are just full of all sorts of information, unlike you." I said with a smile.
Curious about why she would say that, the officer turned around, again, and said, "You can do that miss, but unless you're looking to check out a book, I highly doubt you'll find anything useful." He was glad to be a thorn in the side of this fangbanger friend of the Marshall girl.
"It's truly a shame that you don't know how much you can get from your local library, like your home address, for example. In fact, while I visit the local library here, I think I'll do just that and look up your address. Seeing as its public record, it should take no time at all to find." I said, again smiling sweetly. Eric looked at me wondering where I was going with this.
"And why would you do that miss? Is that some sort of threat? Need I remind you that you are addressing an officer of the law." The officer said, not wanting this tramp to go anywhere near his home.
"Threatening you? Oh no… I just want to share the knowledge." I responded looking as innocent as can be.
The officer then hissed, "And what knowledge would that be miss?" He was getting even more annoyed than before.
"Well, for starters, I think your wife would be greatly interested in the knowledge of the affair you're having with Debbie from church silly. Now, I'm sure that your God-loving, Christian wife could be very understanding about the whole thing though, seeing as she's not giving it up to you anymore, but then again, you never know. It'd be a darn shame though if she wasn't that… understanding, cause I know how you are soooo looking forward to splitting that inheritance she stands to get and all." I said, barely able to hold in the laughter I so wanted to throw in his face.
"Now hold on, just hold on a minute now. We're… we're all friends here." Officer friendly said, changing his tune from before. But, he added while moving closer to my ear, "Now, I just can't give you the photo, it's against policy. But, what I might can do for ya'll is fax it to your police department."
Eric didn't want to have to retrieve the information from the Bon Temps police, so he captured the officer's gaze in his glamour and said, "You will send all the information you have on Drew Marshall and Cindy Marshall to the following fax number, 555-555-5555, no matter what. You will complete that task. You will also forget my face and the face of the girl with me."
"I will complete my task no matter what. I will forget your faces." Officer friendly repeated under his breath in a whisper while coming slowly out of the glamour.
Before he was completely out of the glamour though, I turned to Eric and whispered, "Why did you tell him to 'complete the task no matter what?'"
"You'll see." Eric said as the officer now looked at us with a little fear.
Eric then moved at lightning speed towards the officer baring his fangs. He didn't touch the officer at all, but he did scare him enough to trip backwards with such force that he crashed into the cubicle partition behind him, causing it and him to crash to the ground. Once down on the ground, a trail of wetness began to trail down the officer's leg. Eric then turned around, grabbed my hand lightly and walked us out the door.
As we were leaving I said, "Thank you so much for your cooperation. It's been a real pleasure."
Once we got outside, Eric grabbed me quick and kissed me hard. Ohhhhhh that man can kiss. He pulled out of the kiss though and said, "Damn, that was hot how you handled yourself in there." 'Yeah me!' I thought with a smile on my face.
….
Back in the car I said, "Eric, I still need to get my purse from Merlotte's. My life is in that thing, you know… keys, phone, money, etc."
"Sure, we'll stop there first and then go back to your house to get some of your stuff to bring back to Fangtasia. Since we don't know how long it'll take to find him, pack for a few days." Eric replied as he reflected on waking up with her not next to him and thought he'd like a do-over; one where she'd be there. There are definitely better ways to wake up than he did today.
"Great. And thanks, again. I hope I'm not taking you too out of your element, you know, a girl moving in with you, albeit, temporarily." I said, wondering if he felt at all put out by my staying with him. Guys normally aren't too keen on a girl moving in too early in a relationship, especially one they haven't even slept with. In fact, that probably is most guys' nightmare. Wait, are we in a relationship. I wasn't sure what we were doing just yet.
"It's no problem Arabella. You are not a bother, at all." He replied, meaning it.
"Okay." I said and then added, "So, how long do you think it'll take Officer Pissypants to fax over the information?"
"Hopefully not too long. I could always return and visit him again if it doesn't come timely." Eric replied, eager to get the chance to belittle the bigoted officer again. As he thought further on the officer's situation at home he said, "Humans… always so blinded by what's in front of them. How that officer is able to hide his affair from his wife is a mystery."
"Who says that she doesn't know? It doesn't appear that she's having sex with him anymore. Maybe she does know what a dumbass he is. And, who says that she won't find out about his dalliance, if she doesn't know already." I replied.
"Ms. Stackhouse, what are you planning on doing?" Eric asked with a smirk.
"Well, let's just say, maybe Mrs. Officer Pissypants may get a Hallmark card, addressed from her husband of course, to meet at the Dairy Queen on Tuesday at 3:00 for a romantic adventure and just maybe she might instead catch Mr. Officer PIssypants in a… compromising position? Maybe?" I said as I thought, at least that'll clear my conscience about knowing what this guy was doing to his wife. I knew that I'd want to know if someone I loved was cheating on me, especially if they also were not only cheating, but wanted to screw me over like this guy wanted his wife's money. What a douche.
Eric said, "I'd hate to get on your bad side." He then smirked to himself and thought, 'She'd make a great vampire.'
"Well, play your cards right and you won't." I said with a big smile.
…
I felt a little bit of apprehension before finally pushing the door open to Merlotte's. The place was packed, so I knew that I would be safe, but I had been attacked here last night, and for all I knew, my attacker could be someone sitting in there right now, drinking a beer, laughing with unsuspecting friends, without a care in the world. Sookie was working at Merlotte's tonight, so I was able to say hello to her as I went in to retrieve my purse. Since it was so busy, I couldn't really talk to her too much more, especially not with her customers giving her nasty stares for not returning to their tables fast enough with their beers. Stupid rednecks, I thought. The place was jumping though and no one seemed to be the wiser about my attack the night before. That was probably for the best. Sam already had a dead waitress and someone murdered in his parking lot. He didn't need another attack associated with his place. Glancing quickly around, I saw Bill and Jessica sitting in a corner booth, nursing True Bloods. They saw me and nodded their hello. They were obviously there to keep an eye on Sookie; keeping her safe. I smiled as I saw the look in Bill's eyes when he glanced over to Sookie . The look was unmistakable. It wasn't lust, or curiosity. It was clear, unmistakable, unadulterated love. Bill Compton was over the moon, head over heels in love with my sister. I was so happy for her. She was such a good person and deserved every ounce of the love he had for her.
Snapping me back to reality, Eric said, "As much as this place has it's certain… charms… I need to get back to Fangtasia tonight and do some work myself and we still need to stop at your house for your stuff. Let's get going."
"I know Eric, you're right. I can talk to everyone later. I'm ready, let's go." I replied as I waved goodbye to everyone and headed out the door.
…
As we approached my house in Eric's car, we both noticed another vehicle parked close to the house and two shadowy figures sitting on my front porch swing. Since there were no lights on in the house or outside of it other than the moonlight, it was hard for me to make out anything about who they were. I was sure that Eric could see them clear as day with his vampire vision though.
As soon as we came to a stop behind the car, I noted that it was a rental car. Not one to throw caution to the wind, Eric said, "Stay in my car. I'm going to see who those two are and what they want." I just nodded in agreement.
After getting out of the car, Eric whizzed over to the duo on the porch swing with his vampire speed and asked, "May I help you two?"
"Hope so." Said a familiar female voice who continued to add, "I'm looking for my…"
Once I heard the voice, I knew exactly who it was. I jumped out of the vehicle, ran to the female, threw my arms around her and exclaimed, cutting her off, "Jessalyn! Why didn't you tell me you were coming home?"
Eric looked on at the two and sighed. He knew that his evening with Arabella was going to the shitter now that her friend returned to town. Well, he did need to take care of a few things anyway, like removing the marker from his cock. He had been hoping that he would be able to convince Arabella to assist in the endeavor, and if things progressed from there, so be it.
"Owen, it's good to see you too." I said, turning to my friend's boyfriend and giving him a hug as well as he said a quick hello with an equally quick peck on my cheek which drew a quick growl from Eric. "Why didn't you guys tell me you were coming to town?"
"It was sort of a last minute thing. But, I did text you like ten times today and left four voicemails. Didn't you check your phone? This wasn't the welcome home I was expecting." Jessalyn replied a little huffy. I wasn't sure if she meant me not being here to welcome her home, or Eric, the vampire, being the first to greet her.
"Oh my gosh, where are my manners? Eric, this is my best friend Jessalyn. You know, the one I told you I travelled with. And this here is Owen, her boyfriend. Jessalyn, Owen, this is Eric. He's my… uhhh…friend." I said when a realized that I hadn't properly introduced everyone. I also realized then that I didn't know exactly how to introduced Eric. "I didn't have my phone on me. It's kind of a long story. Hey, where are you guys staying, at your mom's Jess?"
"No. My mom converted my old bedroom into a sewing room. Can you believe that? She said that since I was all grown and moved out, that she didn't need to keep it as a bedroom. So, there's no place for me and my fiancée to sleep." Jessalyn replied while holding out her hand to show Arabella her new engagement ring.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I squealed as I grabbed my friend and embraced her into the biggest bear hug ever. "I'm so happy for you too! Details, I want details!"
Eric interrupted our moment by saying, "As much as you too probably want to catch up… There is a question of Arabella's safety and my needing to get back to work."
"Safety? Arabella, what's he talking about?" Jessalyn said, worry in her eyes.
"Well, that's part of that long story I referred to before." I replied with a sigh.
"Look, Owen and I are staying at the Holiday Inn in downtown Shreveport, you know, by the Sci-Port Discovery Center. You can stay with us." Jessalyn said looking Eric in the eye, like a momma lion protecting her young, daring him to take her cub away from her.
"Arabella will return with me. I will keep her safe." Eric replied smirking at Jessalyn, calling her bluff.
"Jessalyn, does anyone know that you're here? Did you tell anyone that you were coming to town, or coming to see me in particular?" I asked my friend.
"No. Momma doesn't even know yet. We wanted to surprise everyone, starting with you. We came straight here from the airport." Jessalyn replied.
"Eric, no one knows they're here. I could go with them to the hotel. We should be pretty safe there because you need a keycard to get into the room and there's a peephole to see who's outside, and…"
Eric rolled his eyes and sighed. He knew that he wouldn't win this fight without a battle that he really didn't want to fight, so he said, "Very well. But, if anything happens to her, I will hold you two personally responsible, and it won't be pretty."
"Yeah! I've missed you guys." I said to my friends, obviously not hiding my hunger, "Looks like we have some catching up to do, over ice cream and pizza, of course!"
"I honestly don't know where you put all the crap you eat Arabella. I think about ice cream and my ass grows too sizes." Jessalyn said with a laugh.
"It does not. Now come on, I want to hear all about your engagement." I said, and then turned to Eric and added, "Eric, thank you for protecting me last night and today. I really do appreciate it. Please let me know when you get the fax from Officer Pissypants."
"Of course. But I want you all to remain at the hotel until you hear otherwise from me; my treat. Goodbye." Eric said, lying, as he walked back to his car and drove off. He had no intention of letting her get further involved in the search for her attacker. He didn't want to risk her getting hurt. No, instead he would use the information to find the bastard himself and be done with this mess. She and her friends could stay safe at the hotel in the meantime.
Owen, Jessalyn and myself then all got into the rental car and drove to the hotel.
"What does that vampire want with you Arabella. And yes, I know he's a vampire. No one moves that fast and is human." Jessalyn asked, a little annoyed that her friend would get herself involved with vamps.
"My cute butt?" I answered lightly, but knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear seeing her roll her eyes at me. Sighing, I continued, "He knows Jess… he knows about my 'gift'."
"How? Why? How could you be so stupid? Why would you let a vampire know about your gift, and by the way, which one does he know about, or does he know about both?" Jessalyn further interrogated me.
I didn't know if Owen knew about my uniqueness, so I hesitated to speaking. Jessalyn caught on and said, "Look, don't be mad at me, but I told Owen about what you can do."
"Well, isn't that calling the kettle black Jess? That wasn't your call to make. And here you go on about how can I tell the vampire about it… And by the way I don't appreciate being insulted." I said huffily.
"Touché. Look, I'm sorry. I don't want to fight with you. I'm just worried about you; that's all." Jessalyn replied with a soft look on her face.
"I know Jess. I don't want to fight either. But, to answer your questions, he only knows about the telepathy. Sookie started seeing a vampire many months ago; a really nice guy. Anyway, through that relationship she met Eric and Eric found out about her being telepathic. Once he met me, he put two and two together. It wasn't like I was advertising, 'Hey I'm special. Look at the neat party tricks I can do.'"
"Oh. Well that kinda sucks, no pun intended." Jessalyn replied.
"Yes and no. Eric's been an… interesting… addition to my life. I'm glad I met him. But, there are times where I do wonder if he's interested in me only because of my ability, or if he's really into me. " I admitted my insecurity.
"Well, I don't know about you both, but I'm looking forward to spending this guy's money. Let's go have ourselves a room service party!" Jessalyn said with a smile and Owen picked up her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it.
"Hey you two, I'm all for whooping it up at the Holiday Inn, but you'll have to keep it PG in front of me. Okay?"
"We'll make sure to get adjoining rooms." Jessalyn said with a wink. Well, I guess I couldn't blame them.
….
Once Eric returned to Fangtasia, he ran into Pam at the door.
"So where's our pretty little snake charmer? Pam asked with a smirk, but with slight concern that only Eric could catch in her otherwise bored monotone voice.
"She's with friends at a nearby hotel. She's perfectly safe." Eric replied and then added, "By the way, how is our guest in the basement doing?"
"He's fine, but you really need to decide what you're going to do with him. The smell down there is getting unbearable." Pam responded.
"What smell?" Eric asked with interest.
"Desperation. There's a reason why you'll never see anyone bottle it up and sell it at the perfume counter, Eric. No one wears it well." Pam said as she then turned to face the two humans approaching with their ids out wanting to get into the club.
"I'll take care of it tonight." Eric said as he walked into his club and on towards the basement.
…
Lafayette looked up to see Eric's imposing figure coming down the stairs. While he had been provided with a bed, a bucket to go to the bathroom in, and food, when they remembered to feed him, it was by no means a five star hotel. Not to mention, there was the chain around his neck letting him move only in a six foot diameter. The situation didn't endear him to the place, or his captors.
"Hello Lafayette. Let's discuss your situation." Eric said as he grabbed a folding chair that had been in the room, unfolded it, and sat near the pissed off fry cook.
"Yeah, let's do that, shall we. Not that I don't enjoy playing dungeons and dragons with ya'll here in this basement, but I do have a social schedule to get back to." Lafayette retorted. He wanted to get out of this hell hole.
"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Lafayette. I wouldn't piss me off if I were you. Now, I know you're a smart man Lafayette, as you were able to keep your little V business secret for quite a while. You're supplier has unfortunately met the true death recently. Lucky for you, I know who the culprit is and your name has been cleared in that matter, but you still are to be punished for the V-selling business you ran." Eric said calmly to Lafayette, looking bored in fact.
'Shit, how'd he find out… I don't think that Arabella would rat me out, but then again, she has been with this vamp for a while.' Lafayette thought before finally asking, "How did you find out about the V?" There really was no point in trying to lie or hide the truth. Eric knew.
"Jason Stackhouse." Eric replied.
"Jason? Awww shee-it." Lafayette remembered the night when him and Jason smoked up behind Merlotte's after a really shitty day they both had. Lafayette was as high as a kite and accidently told Jason about Eddie. Mutha-fucker… What did that moron do? "He didn't kill Eddie, did he?" Lafayette finally asked, not really believing it because even though Jason was as dumb as they come, he was no killer, not like that.
"No, but his girlfriend Amy did. Turns out she was a drainer." Eric responded.
"Ooooohhhh." Lafayette replied with his mouth staying in a big O.
"Now that we have that all out of the way, let's talk punishment." Eric said looking over at a wall that contained what could only be described as medieval torture chamber devises.
Lafayette seeing where Eric's eyes had trailed closed his eyes and swallowed slowly. 'So this was it, huh? Nev-ah thought this'd be how I went.' He thought as he sat up a bit straighter and waited for the verdict.
Eric was impressed. The human before him didn't cry, beg for a second chance, curse him out, or wither to the floor before him a sopping mess. Instead, he sat there, understanding his situation and accepted that whatever happened would be in Eric's hands.
"You know what Lafayette. I like you. I like that you have a business sense about you. I like that you have built in clientele. I like that you aren't weak. So here's what you are going to do. You are going to go back into the V-selling business, for me." Eric finally said. Unfortunately his bitch of a queen, Sophie Ann, had been pushing him to sell the sacred liquid because she spent money like water and racked up huge tax bills on her overblown estate. While Sophie Ann wasn't the worst of monarchs usually, her imprudence with money was increasingly putting her sheriff's in situations where she demanded things of them that could potentially destroy them. Bitch.
"I'm going to what?" Lafayette asked as he didn't think he heard Eric correctly.
"You are going to sell V for me. Don't make me say it again." Eric then continued while he took off the chain from Lafayette's neck, "Pam and I will provide you with the merchandise and your sales goals for each week. It is highly suggested that you at the very least maintain those goals, if not exceed them."
After the chain collar was removed, Lafayette immediately began rubbing his sore neck and said, "I take it that this is all on the down low and that I don't know 'bout you or Pam being involved."
"You are a smart man Lafayette. Keep your wits about you and you may just survive this." Eric said and added, "There is a small bathroom around that corner over there. I suggest you clean yourself up. When you're done, my associate Chow will drive you back to your house. You'll hear from us soon enough. Oh, and if I were you, I'd come up with a real good, believable story as to where you've been; one that does not involve any of this." Eric said while waving his hand around in a circle indicating he meant the dungeon/basement.
Knowing that Lafayette liked to dress… with flare, often using makeup and whatnot… Eric decided it wouldn't hurt to ask, "Lafayette, do you know what to use to remove permanent marker from skin?"