Thank you all again for your reviews and to those who recently favorited/followed, thank you for reading my story! I can't tell you all how much joy I feel every time I see an e-mail pop up saying someone's enjoying the story. I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but there was so much I wanted to cover and set up for the beginning of the end of that pesky Maenad. We all now she's not long for this world, right?
To Chibichibi98: Thank you again for your review! There's still going to be repercussions from Eric and Sookie, but when? Hmmm… We'll see… You're right though, she won't take it well.
To KimmyWSmith: Thanks! I'm glad you're still reading. It's been a long journey for the sisters, and it's not over.
To Sluggysmom: Thank you! I'm glad you're still on board. Still more to come for Arabella…
To Emzy2k11: I'm sorry this update came so much later than I had hoped, but there were so many characters and moving parts that it made it a little harder to write. I hope you like it!
To Adina: Pam would certainly hate it if Eric cut off her shopping for a month! I think she'd rather get silvered than not be able to shop.
To Lisa: Well, I've tried to put a little twist in the Maenad story… I hope you all like it.
To Shannon: Arabella will not make up with Eric quickly. She is working with him because of the Maenad, and she can't necessarily shut off all her emotions towards him, but she has not forgiven him. Also, she still doesn't know about him and Sookie… Eric will have a lot of butt kissing to do…
To Mrs. Smith 13: Thank you! Here it is…
To Little-red-wolf 5793: Thank you! Eric has finally admitted that he is in love with her, but he's going to work to win her back…
…
Eric had been sitting in his office for about an hour already as the sun began to finally go down, keeping busy by reworking his balance sheets and personal registers to make it look like he was funding Sophie-Anne directly from his own personal funds and from nowhere else. He was immensely wealthy, so it wouldn't be a stretch for an outsider to believe. The only reason why he even sold the V in the first place was because it was a direct order from the Queen, and as such he had to comply, even though he didn't want to or in fact need to. He wondered why she was forcing her subordinates to sell the sacred liquid, but figured there had to be a good enough reason, although with Sophie-Anne, you could never be too sure. She was a younger Queen, only being 400 years old and unfortunately could be a little impetuous at times. However, she was smart and inquisitive, amassing a vast amount of knowledge by studying as much as she could and Eric had hoped that her smarts would outweigh her recklessness… eventually. Of greater importance though was that she was fair… most times, at least until recently, and that's why Eric put up with her idiosyncrasies.
However, you didn't get to live over a thousand years without having the ability to read into situations, and there were a few things that he knew from her visit the night before. He knew that something was wrong, terribly wrong. There was no other reason why she would be going area to area collecting money herself. She had underlings for that. No, something was definitely amiss. He knew that whatever was going on, she wasn't going to take the blame herself or go down alone. And so last night she was looking for a sucker; trying to figure out who in her menagerie was the easiest to use in order to take the heat away from her. He had a feeling that she probably had her back against the wall by someone very powerful. He wished that she would've come to him for real help, instead of this v-selling bullshit. He would've helped because in all honesty, he really didn't want to deal with a new monarch; better the devil you know than the one you don't. But unfortunately she didn't, and so now he knew he had to cover his bases in order to not go down with her when her house of cards fell. He also knew that he needed to get this shit taken care of before dealing with the Maenad, because the one thing he didn't know was how long that would take. Also, he didn't want to leave Pam behind holding down the fort with this mess on her plate.
Not only was he wondering about what mess his Queen had gotten herself, and by proxy him, into; he also wondered about the petite blonde beauty, Hadley was her name, who obviously was some relation to the Stackhouses. She was a vampire, but a new one, maybe a couple years, if that, and if Eric had to venture a guess, probably a sire of the Queen herself. But even with as much loyalty as that kind of relationship would incur, it was obvious that she did not want the Queen to know about her family as much as Eric wanted to keep Arabella, and by extension Sookie, out of the Queen's hands. He knew he'd have to question Arabella about it after the Maenad situation was taken care of.
Normally he wouldn't have been up so early, but the combination of worry about everything and the fact that Arabella's amazing blood was still in his system allowed him the luxury of being up before the sun. He didn't even have the bleeds like he normally would. He knew her blood was the reason for that and he it made him even more thankful to her.
He couldn't help it as his thoughts wandered back to Arabella. But instead of thinking about how she saved him, stayed with him while he was in his own private hell, of how she obviously still had some feelings left for him as he thought about the night before, he instead thought of her blood and her reaction to his bite. He remembered her taste; a sweet fruity nectar, delicately spiced with vanilla, a hint of almond that you couldn't catch off of her smell but definitely could taste, and absolutely no metallic aftertaste whatsoever. It was slightly thicker than regular human blood, but not so much that a normal human doctor would detect the difference, but beyond that is was slicker, like liquid silk, gliding down his throat. He remembered how it pleasingly tingled within him, starting in his mouth and then throughout him as it traveled the length of his body, creating little pings of pleasure everywhere it journeyed, especially to his pants. He remembered how once her blood reached his wounds, it sent a warmth to those areas, letting him know that the injuries were being healed. Then his thoughts traveled to her reaction to his kiss and bite. He thought about her abandon in the moment, the smell of her arousal, her hand as it traveled over her perfect enraptured body… her orgasm. He got hard thinking about all of those things as well as all the things he wanted to do to her to give her even more pleasure, to give her the greatest release of her life, make her never want another man but him. And while lost in his thoughts of her body, her mouth, her blood, he unconsciously unzipped his black jeans, grasped his manhood and worked it until he cried out in Odin's name at his climax, thanking him for bringing her into his life. He quickly cleaned himself up after; grateful for the release, but still feeling somewhat unsatisfied because he yearned for her actual touch to bring him there.
…
About a half an hour after sundown, Pam sauntered into his office and said, "Stop me if you've heard this one. A shifter, a gay drug-selling fry cook, his brujo boyfriend, a freaky-eyed crazy woman and two small annoying humans walk into a vampire bar…"
Eric placed his pen on the desk, cocked his head up at his child and raised his eyebrow. "Explain."
"Apparently word on the street is that we're running a halfway house for those seeking asylum from the Maenad. Delusional fools." She said rolling her eyes, but then she noticed that he had an opened True Blood on his desk. He never drank that shit. "Um Eric, do you want me to send in one of the dancers for dinner? Two of them are here early cleaning up the dressing room."
"No, I'm fine. Just send Lafayette in here first… alone. I'll deal with the others in a moment." Eric said as shuffled some of his paperwork into a neat pile and placed it into his 'to do' box. He knew that she noticed the bottle of fake blood on his desk, but didn't care. After having tasted Arabella's blood, any other blood would taste inadequate by comparison. He figured he may as well just drink the blood substitute at this point, at least until he could have her again or enough time passed to forget the magical elixir, although he didn't know if that was even possible. It then dawned on him at that moment, 'this must be why Bill drank the stuff'. Pam nodded warily at her maker's refusal for appropriate sustenance and left the room.
She returned a moment later with a clearly put out Lafayette, leaving him there with Eric as she closed the door behind her after walking out of the room.
"Look, I don't know what I did to piss your motherfucking ass off. I is sorry for whatever it was. But you gots to warn a brotha when you 'bout to send him up in a mutherfucker like that." Lafayette said as he nervously paced Eric's office, waving his magnificently manicured hands all about.
"What are you talking about Lafayette? All I asked you to do is take your supply to that vampire nest and leave it there, hidden." Eric asked; confused as to why Lafayette was so wigged out. It really was a simple in and out thing.
"Yeah, and I's left the money there too, just like Pam dun tole me. What ya'll neglected to mention is that those vamps were into some freaky-deaky shit." Lafayette answered still highly agitated.
"What did you see Lafayette?" Eric asked with authority and slight annoyance. He was curious about what was going on at that nest, but highly irritated with the timing of everything.
"They's had drawings all over their damn walls, in what looks like was blood, like they's was getting all cavemen and shit in there. Dead peoples hanging from chains from the ceiling, smelling up the joint, dripping blood and lord knows what else all over the dang place. A couple of them was dumb rednecks who'd come into Merlottes…" Lafayette began to explain with a shudder as Eric now realized that he probably should have dealt with those three sooner. He knew they were becoming a problem, but not to the extent that Lafayette had just described. He had planned on threatening them harder at their nest to get with the program, but then Godric's disappearance came up. They'd meet their fate soon enough, Eric figured, one way or another.
"Well, that was somewhat unexpected, but I'm glad to know about it. I'm curious though, why are all those people out there with you here?" Eric asked, needing to make sure that they didn't know about his business relationship with Lafayette.
"You thinks I dun tole them about what it is I's do for you? Look, I is lots of things, flamboyant, loud and proud gay, and always looking for new ways to make a buck, what I ain't though, is a stupid motherfucker. I may be a bitch, but I ain't no snitch; I ain't said shit about anything concerning you. And that's the god's honest truth. Sam actually brought up coming here to ask for help with Maryann and to be truthful, I has my own reason other than this V shit." Lafayette replied.
"And what's your other reason?" Eric asked, a little dubious.
"My cousin Tara. She's been living with that Maryann. Now, her eyes is all black as sin and she's chanting some mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho shit." Lafayette said concerned for his cousin.
"First things first Lafayette …" He began, as he soon entranced the unsuspecting fry cook in his glamour. Eric needed to first plant a solid story in the human's mind about how he was selling V for Diane, Liam and Malcolm, that Eric and Pam were never involved, never had glamoured him, never were even in the picture, that he was only here at Fangtasia seeking protection from the Maenad. The new memories and thoughts had to be thorough enough to withstand any type of questioning that Lafayette may have to endure in the future about what happened, even torture, though it probably wouldn't come to that. Unfortunately for Lafayette, Eric could not erase the memories of the graphic scene at the trio's lair. If the fry cook was indeed selling for them, he would have likely known what the inside of their lair looked like, right. Eric could only hope he covered everything when he was done.
After he was done glamouring Lafayette, he walked the dazed human out into the club area where the rest of the refugees were waiting for their next move.
…
"So, are you the only ones that have not fallen under the Maenad's influence?" Eric asked the ragtag group, thankful that he and Pam decided to postpone opening the club until later in the night especially after he caught a glimpse of the freaky-eyed woman, who he assumed was Lafayette's cousin, Tara. Although they weren't there for that long, the others had already shrewdly tied her to a chair. Even being restrained as she was, she still was able to rock back and forth pretty fiercely while chanting loudly, "Lo Lo Bromios, Lo Lo Dendrites, Eleutherios, Enorches, Bacchus." Eric recognized the chant from the piece of paper that Arabella had given him. He thought of the irony of the situation; here she was trying feverously to beckon Dionysus to come forth, even though if she were in her right mind she probably wouldn't even know who that was.
Then, out of the blue, she snapped her head in Eric's direction and yelled with a strange off-putting smile on her face, "He coming! He coming! He gonna kill us aaalllll! He gonna kill you!" She followed this disturbing tirade by throwing her head back and laughing like a hyena. Eric and Pam exchanged eye rolls.
Lafayette and Jesus, knowing that this behavior was scaring the hell out of the kids and annoying everyone else, dragged the clearly crazed Tara by the chair to the back of the bar to wait until they figured out what to do, leaving the others to talk without her disruptions.
Eric had to admit, but only to himself, that he was shocked. This was it? This pitiful group of humans were the only ones not affected by the Maenad's influence. Even when he dealt with a different Maenad hundreds of years ago, there were still more humans than this that were unaffected. He couldn't help but feel they were screwed.
"Yeah, it's just us… or at least this was all we could find. I think some people, especially ones with little ones, left town already when the shit really began to hit the fan." Sam finally replied to Eric's initial question for the group, stopping briefly after Tara screamed, or more so howled, before adding, "We stopped here first because I thought you might have some insight on how to deal with Maryann. We're going to meet up with Jason… and Arabella after at the Hilton. I already talked to Jason today." Sam added that last part so that Eric would know that if their group didn't arrive at the Hilton, he'd have hell to pay with Arabella… an insurance policy so to speak. Sam knew better than to trust these vampires. And he knew that Arabella would not let it go if any harm befell their group.
"We can't have those nasty creatures in here. They're stinking up the place Eric." Pam said as she pointed to the children.
"These 'creatures' are just kids Pam, and they're scared." Sam said as he grabbed Arlene's kids, Coby and Lisa, closer to him. Pam just rolled her eyes in irritation, needlessly huffing at the same time.
"Oh come on Pam, don't you find them amusing at all? They're like little dolls, teacup humans." Eric replied with a sly smile at the kids, putting them a little at ease even as he said in Swedish to Pam, "But delicious." She rolled her eyes again, but smiled at that.
"Can we see your fangs?" Coby asked bashfully but with a hint of excitement. He thought he'd be the coolest kid in his class if he could say he saw that.
Eric opened his mouth and dropped fang, but not in a menacing way. He thought it'd be nothing to placate these kids at the moment, especially if they were going to be coming along for the ride. The last thing he needed was two scared and winey brats. He knew better than to underestimate the chaos that children can create. And to be honest, he always was a little fascinated by the actions of tiny humans. They never acted the way you would expect and usually were brutally honest. He could respect that.
"Cooooooool." Coby said fascinated, while his sister Lisa watched wide-eyed, sitting still as a statue.
"What's the matter little girl, don't you like vampires?" Eric asked humorously, knowing the correct and obvious answer should be no, but wondering what the mind of this small child would think.
"I'd never seen one before today. But I did see a show once on the nature channel about vampire bats. They's bite into pigs and cows and such and then lap up the blood with their little itty bitty tongues. Is that what ya'll do too?" Lisa asked, a little braver than before, curious if there was a difference between the bats and the man with the fangs standing in front of her.
"Well little girl, I don't bite pigs or cows…" Eric began before getting cut off by Pam.
"Not on a good night at the club at least. Although there was that one time you did have that whale of a…" Pam started to say sarcastically, smirking at Eric, but was stopped abruptly by the look on his face that no doubt told her, 'not here, not now.'
"Ya'll have animals in here?" Lisa asked in wonder, not noticing the interaction between Pam and Eric, looking around the club trying to picture where the farm animals would be kept in there.
"I don't think Lisa and Coby need a lesson on vampires right now, do you? Don't we have more important things to discuss, like how to get rid of Maryann?" Sam said, irritated at the two vampires before him.
"That we do. Pam, a word." Eric said as he took Pam aside and relayed what Lafayette had told him about Diane, Liam and Malcolm's nest, just in case something went down tonight while he was dealing with the Maenad situation.
Walking back to the group, he said, "Why don't we all head over to the Hilton then. I don't want to go over this stuff twice." He then began walking towards the exit, not looking behind to see if they all followed him or not. He was beyond annoyed that he now had to deal with this group, pissed that he would have to get Arabella involved in another potentially harmful situation, and bothered greatly that everything around him seemed to be out of his hands at the moment. Control was something that Eric craved and right now it was slipping from his hands.
…
Jason felt a ping of nervousness and dread when he heard knocking at the door. Not that he thought the Maenad would be so kind as to knock before tearing them to shreds, but hey, anything seemed possible at this point. Maenads didn't even exist in his world last week. So, instead of just absentmindedly opening the door as he normally would have, he looked through the peephole. Relief washed over him when he saw the familiar group of people out in the hallway.
"Hey ya'll, come on in." Jason said as he moved out of the way and let everyone by, closing the door behind them. The last of the group, was Lafayette and Tara. When Jason saw Tara was having to be restrained by her cousin he asked with worry, "Tara? Tara is you okay?"
Tara turned her head and tried to jump at Jason suddenly, only being held back by Lafayette and Jesus's quick movements. "Boo!" She screamed at him all serious-like before laughing uncontrollably again.
"What the hell happened to her?" Jason asked; eyes wide with fear not only for himself, but for what was going on with Tara.
"Maryann's done some hoo-doo voo-doo shit to her Jason." Lafayette answered, looking worriedly at Tara.
"No shit." Jason said slowly, astonished as he finally noticed how black her eyes had become. "She kinda looks like an alien with them eyes."
Lafayette rolled his eyes at Jason thinking it was a good thing the boy was so good looking.
Eric made his way to the back corner of the room and sat down, ignoring the others, as his eyes had nowhere else they wanted to look than at the sleeping figure on the bed, Arabella, who seemed to be rousing now with all the people and noise in the room. He also knew they all probably needed to speak to one another first. He'd wait to interject until the time was right. He wanted to see what kind of information he could gather from this group first anyway. They all seemed to have first-hand experience with the Maenad and may, even without knowing it, have some insight on how to get rid of her, one way or another.
…
I was in the middle of an really nice dream (for once) where I was sun tanning on a beautiful white sand beach being served a margarita by a very hot cabana boy named (oh who cared what his name was, his body was ripped, he had the face of a model, and if his shoes were any indication of size, he was packing some heat), not a care in the world, when I started to hear talking and some weird laughing around me. Without opening my eyes, I grabbed a nearby pillow and put it on top of my head, hoping to drown out the sounds and see what else the cabana boy could serve up, but the noise level just seemed to go up. Begrudgingly I took the pillow off of my head and sat up, rubbing my eyes to focus better on the group standing before me.
"Uggghhh… I was hoping this was all just my imagination gone wild." I said as I fell back down on the bed depressed at the prospect of what was to come.
"Miss Arabella!" Coby and Lisa yelled as they jumped into the bed with me. I had babysat them many times before and we always had fun, so I wasn't surprised at their greeting.
After they situated themselves, one on each side of me in the bed, Coby said, "You smell real nice, kinda like a fruit salad Miss Arabella." Eric thought to himself, 'You have no idea kid.'
"Ohhh, thank you Coby, but I have to tell you, it's the bath soap they have here. I'll tell you what, you can take some home with you if you like, there's plenty in the bathroom." I said sweetly to him, knowing he and his sister probably have had a rough time lately, between losing their future step-psycho and the Maenad problem.
"Oh that'd be real nice Miss Arabella. The only soap momma's had lately is that awful smelling Irish Sping for when Mr. Terry stops by and they…" Coby started saying before Lisa shushed him, embarrassed.
"At least when momma was with Mr. Daddy Rene they did that kissing stuff behind closed doors." Coby added before sticking his tongue out at Lisa.
"Yeah, but he's gone now, taking a vacation with Jesus. Momma said so." Lisa said sadly. The kids never knew what Rene was. Arlene was too chicken shit to try to explain that there were some people in this world that are bad and do bad things.
"Oh sweetie, I don't think he's taking a vacation with Jesus. I think he's somewhere hotter." I said. I knew it was probably wrong to say or at the very least not my place to say, but I just couldn't help myself. He killed my Gran and almost killed me. I'll be damned if these kids were going to go through life thinking that asshole was living the life of Riley with Jesus and my Gran, especially not while we were all in the very building where he attacked me.
"Oooooh, like Jamaica?" Lisa asked.
"Think hotter." I replied as Sam fake coughed loudly, thereby ending this conversation.
Eric smirked at her cheekiness while Sam nearly had a heart attack because he knew he'd never hear the end of it from Arlene if the kids relayed this to her. Lafayette and Jesus didn't even hear because they were busy trying to keep Tara still. Jason just sat down and started checking his phone messages.
It was at this point I noticed Lafayette and some other guy I'd never met before struggling with Tara. "What's going on? What's wrong with Tara?" I asked as I pointed to my friend.
"Maryann's got some sort of spell on her or somethang. She ain't spoke normal all night. I's worried Arabella. Can you do somethang?" Lafayette asked, without asking, if I could delve into her mind. Even though he never came right out and said he knew about my, and Sookie's, ability, we knew he knew I could do things with my mind.
"Hey kids, when's the last time you ate?" I turned and asked Coby and Lisa.
"Ummmm, I think we ate two days ago." Lisa finally answered.
"Oh my goodness, well, you all better go down to the restaurant with Mr. Jason. He'll get you something for those bellies." I said, glaring at Sam. How could he not get them some food?
Sam looked sheepishly at Arabella before saying to the kids, "Yeah, I shoulda asked you guys about that. I'm real sorry. Mr. Jason will get you some food, okay."
"Don't you need me here sis?" Jason asked, a little hurt that Arabella was sending him on what he considered a fool's errand.
"Jason, the kids need to eat. I'm still in my pj's so it's not like I can take them. Also, the stuff we need to discuss wouldn't be the kind of stuff that Arlene would want her kids to hear, now would it?" I said, hoping he'd see the logic in that. "I promise, I'll keep you in the loop. Oh, and by the way, can you bring me up some food too?"
Rolling his eyes, he asked with a sigh, "A burger and fries with a vanilla milkshake?" I knew he wasn't happy, but at least he was agreeing to do what I asked.
"Yeah, and Jason, thanks. I promise I'll tell you everything when you get back, okay?" I replied with a soft smile. He smiled back and I knew he was okay with it, and me. He never could stay mad at his little sister that long anyway. Not to mention, when she promised something, she meant it. She'd include him in what was going on.
"Come on kids, Uncle Jason's gonna get you some grub." Jason said as the kids gave me a quick hug, jumped out of the bed and headed out the door with my brother. Before they all left, he added, "Oh, before I forget to tell ya, Sook texted me that she and Bill were going to Florida on a mini vacation. They're sending Jessica back tomorrow though."
"Oh shoot, we need to let them know not to send her back to Bon Temps, at least not yet." I replied quickly, but then thought to myself, 'Lucky bitch! Why can't I be heading on a vacation with a guy who loves me? Noooooo, I'm stuck in dangerville, again.' I immediately felt bad for thinking that though, because it wasn't like I would wish for her to be in this situation.
"I'll either get a hold of Bill or contact the Hotel Carmilla and get a message to Jessica to head to Fangtasia instead." Eric said as he got his phone out and started making the appropriate calls. It was his responsibility as Sheriff to keep vampires in his area out of any known dangers. He took that responsibility seriously.
"Thanks Eric." I said, but then Tara started howling again. We didn't need any noise complaints from nearby rooms, so I said to Jason, "You should get the kids down the restaurant."
"Yeah, I'll bring ya back your food too." He replied as he and the kids headed out the door.
Once they left, I begrudgingly got out of the very comfortable bed and walked over to Tara. "Tara honey." I said before I gasped and then asked, "What's happened to her eyes?
"We dunno. Last night I went to go check on her because her momma was worried, and I found her writhing on Maryann's lawn looking like this. I grabbed and dragged her kicking and screaming into my car and drove her to my house. Jesus here helped me with her there." Lafayette replied.
"Hi Jesus, I'm Arabella by the way. Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances." I said to the new guy. Gran always said to be gracious and polite when making a first impression.
"Yeah, I hear you on that. Nice to meet you too." Jesus said with a small smile.
"So how do you two know each other?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Ohhhhhhh, they's fucking each other; doing all sorts of nasty things to one another. Maybe they'd let us watch." Tara answered, clearly out of her mind. Eric cocked his eyebrow up as he thought to himself, 'this is getting interesting.'
"Tara! You watch your mouth. That's your cousin you're talking about." I responded as if Gran inhabited my body for a brief moment.
"Arabella, it ain't her. She's been talking like that or chanting some shit all night long. Please, do somethang." Lafayette asked, now begging.
"Okay La La, I'll try." I said, using his nickname while rubbing my hand on his arm. He clearly was stressed out by seeing Tara go through this. Not to mention, she must have been a handful to deal with all night. The bags under his eyes rivaled the ones I had last night; even he couldn't hide them with all that concealer and make-up. Although I had to admit I'd have to ask him later on what eye shadow he was wearing, because it was a real nice shade of pink.
Hesitantly getting back to the task at hand, because I really was worried about what the hell I was going to find, I opened up my mind to see what was going on in Tara's and was horrified to see what was there, which was absolutely nothing.
"There's nothing of her in there. It's all dark, black, like an empty room with no lights, no windows; like you could put a 'for rent' sign on her and have someone just move in. She's just a shell of Tara, the outside is her, but..." I finally said, shock on my face.
"She's gotta be in there somewhere Arabella, she just gotta. Try again. Please." Lafayette begged. He wasn't going to let his cousin go without a fight.
I knew that I could delve into a person's mind better if I actually had physical contact with them, so I carefully tried to grab Tara's hand. She of course snatched it from me before screaming and trashing about.
"Hold her still!" I cried out to Lafayette and Jesus, who were closest to her. They complied immediately.
Before I attempted to reach Tara again, I quickly looked at the others in the room. Sam started pacing back and forth, running his hand up the back of his head as he always did when he was nervous. Eric just stayed seated in the back corner of the room, watching with his intense gaze, but making no other movements. There was honestly nothing else they could do at this moment anyway.
"You got her good, right?" I asked as Lafayette and Jesus nodded. And so, this time I grabbed her hand with no intention of letting her take it away, forcing my mind to enter hers, to find that door that would lead to Tara.
Because of the strong connection that I created with Tara, it felt like I was transported to that dark black room now and a feeling of unease coursed through my mind. To everyone else in the hotel room, it looked like I was in a trance. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, but they stayed white, not black like Tara's. Not wanting to harm me or Tara, everyone just waited with baited breath as to what was going to happen next.
…
I called out in the dark room, "Tara! Tara honey, I need to you tell me where you are."
Of course, I got no reply. So, I started to walk forward in the room, arms out, hoping I'd find a wall eventually, and conversely hoping there was no furniture in the room that I'd hurt myself walking into. But then I thought, would I really be hurt, I'm just in her head, right? Even still, I wasn't sure. This was not something I ever did before, nor had I ever seen a mind in this state.
The room was much bigger than I had first thought, but then again, this was a room in a person's mind. I should have expected as much; minds have so much potential, are limitless really when you think about it. Eventually though, I did hit what I could only assume was a wall. I started feeling up and down, and sideways, sliding to my right as I did so, hoping to find a door, or anything to lead me out of this dark void. I was never one to be afraid of the dark per say, but this shit was starting to freak me out. I couldn't see a damn thing, nothing. Even when I went to bed at night, there would be a sliver of moonlight that crept into my room. In this room there was nothing but the darkness and my own mind. I wondered if Tara was as scared as I was now becoming, and she was stuck here even longer. Would she be herself when she was released from this prison? Would I?
After what seemed like an eternity, I felt what I thought was a doorknob. I turned it and opened the door, hoping to see some light. I couldn't see anything so I put my foot forward and hoped for the best. I fell into darkness instead.
I fell and fell and fell. 'This must be what free falling feels like to a skydiver.' I thought to myself, feeling like I was floating, but then also thought, 'Yeah, but they usually can see where they're going to land and, oh I don't know, have a parachute.' As I fell further and further down, I could hear the chant that Maryann had going through her mind get louder and louder. I also was beginning to see the first signs of light appear, blinding me briefly as my eyes were so used to the dark at this point.
Once I landed I was amazed that that I had without a thud or my body breaking on impact as I had thought might happen. No, instead I landed gently smack dab in the middle of a feather-soft bed, covered in satin sheets and luxurious furs. I couldn't help but move my arms and legs like I was making a snow angel in the bed because it felt so good and I was so happy that I didn't meet the same fate at Humpty Dumpty after his unfortunate incident with the wall.
"Well look who's here; it's our guest of honor. Let's show her how we celebrate HIS return." I heard a voice that sounded like Maryann's but was twisted somehow, more hoarse and scary.
I sat up in the bed and looked at the people, who were scattered around the room, my eyes finally having adjusted to there being light now. It was most of the town of Bon Temps, in all their black-eyed glory. What happened next would take more than a few years and more than a few drunken nights to forget. Everyone in the room started having sex with one another, frantically and with no care as to whom with. There were writhing bodies everywhere, covering the entire floor. It was just about the freakiest kind of carpet that I could have ever imagined and to be honest, some of the couplings made me shiver to the bone. The nasty scene quickly escalated into one that was sadistic and terrifyingly gruesome as Maryann appeared in her bull-person form, vibrating while floating around the room. It was clear that her intention was to let no other emotions surface other than self-gratification and a hedonistic want to hurt others peppered with ferocity and anarchy, in the people at this twisted orgy. However, what started out as a completely depraved episode of 'Bon Temps Gone Wild' quickly turned into a very special episode of Dexter, where everyone just started going on their very own killing spree. Arms were being ripped from their sockets, people were biting off bits and pieces of other people, parts I'm pretty sure they would miss dearly, others were scratching at people eyes, down their backs; it made me throw up on the nicely made bed that I was still sitting on.
No one had noticed me on the bed, until I threw up. The nasty stench of the vomit seemed to tingle at their noses; at least those of whom still had their noses. Now everyone in the room had one single target in mind, me.
I hadn't noticed at first, what with being distracted by the orgy and bloodshed and such, but an opened door was positioned behind floating Maryann. I knew I needed to get to that door, so I held my hands up, palms facing out and blasted a tremendous blue light at Maryann, which caused her to disappear from the room. I took this as my chance to get into that doorway.
I had no choice but to walk over the dismembered bodies that littered the floor, slipping here and there on the tremendous amount of blood that now covered the floor as well. I tried not to look down at whoever I was stepping on, but I had to occasionally so I could make sure not to get grabbed by someone that still had use of their arms and hands. I started crying when I caught glimpses of some of the faces; faces of people I grew up with and served at Merlotte's. When I was about a foot away from my objective, I slipped on what turned out to be someone's… oh I can't even say it, it was too disturbing. Anyway, I slipped right into a brightly lit room, where I saw Tara sleeping on a bed just as nice as the one I was on in the orgy room. She, however, was chained to the bed.
"Tara! Tara! I need you to wake up sweetie! Wake up!" I screamed at her, running closer to the bed.
She seemed to be stirring somewhat, but was still out of it. 'Maybe the chains are keeping her asleep?' I thought to myself as I raised my hands and used my light power again to break the chains. I didn't know how or why I knew to use it there, but I just did.
Sure enough, as soon as the chains were broken, Tara woke up with a start. "What happened? Arabella?"
"Tara, you need to remember… everything; growing up with Sook and me and Jason. You need to remember Lafayette, Sam, Merlotte's. You need to remember!" I cried out to her, while embracing her into a tight hug.
"I remember… I remember… I remember." Tara started to say stronger and with more surety.
I was facing the doorway, so she didn't see the figure of Maryann coming forward, trying to get into the room we were in. I raised my right hand, while keeping my left still strung around Tara, keeping her in a tight embrace, and said, "No Maenad! You will not have my friend to play with anymore!" And then I let my light out and blasted the door shut. The blast also had some other unexpected effects, which included to not only blast me out of Tara's mind but to also physically blast me across the hotel room, only stopping once my back hit the wall behind me.
"Arabella!" Eric yelled as he sped across the room to make sure she was alright, seeing as she was thrown across the room like a ragdoll by seemingly nothing but thin air. He never anticipated this would happen when she first tried to enter the human's mind. If he had, he wouldn't have let her do it.
Sam also wanted to run over to her, but seeing the vampire crouch before her, protectively and glaringly possessively, he decided to stay where he was. He also knew from the vampire's response that no matter what happened between them before, that vampire cared about his friend and wasn't going to hurt her. To be honest, it surprised him because the vampires he'd encountered in the past never seemed to care much for humans, well, with the exception of Bill, and now Eric.
I looked at Eric, who made me feel incredibly small as he crouched down before me with his huge frame, my gaze wide-eyed and shell-shocked, still trying to process the atrocities I saw in Tara's mind. I felt two tears fall from my open eyes, filled with relief for getting out of there and fear for what the town was dealing with now. A little blood also escaped from my nose, no doubt caused by the blow my head experienced when I was thrown across the room coupled with the extensive use of my telepathic powers. I knew I had stretched them to the limits trying to save Tara's mind.
Eric's eyes grew dark with lust as he saw the blood escape from her nose and smelled its amazing aroma. Even though he was worried about her condition, he couldn't help but quickly lean in close and lick the blood as it flowed out. Again he was in awe of the feeling it gave him, everywhere. He mentally cursed the others that were still in the room, because he would have loved to have ravaged her in this hotel room, of course if she would have him, which right now would be no.
Eric licking my face brought me out of my dazed state, thankfully because I needed something, anything to take my mind off of what I saw in Tara's possessed mind.
"Ewwww; Did you just lick my boogers?" I asked while starting to laugh a little at the thought of it and pushing him back a little away from me.
"What! No. You had blood coming out of your nose. I couldn't let such a delicacy go to waste." Eric said earnestly, though somewhat taken aback that she thought he was sucking boogers out of her nose.
"Blood boogers." I said, really laughing now. While I knew that Eric cleaning up my blood was more or less a selfish vampire wanting blood sort of thing, it was something else to think about, something funny, trivial and something I sorely needed at the moment; levity in the darkness.
"Is she okay? She ain't got black eyes now, do she?" Lafayette asked worried. He couldn't see Arabella's face with Eric crouching in front of her.
Eric said nothing at first because honestly he was a little unsure himself. She was talking about boogers and laughing, which sounded like something one of those teacup kids would say than her. He was amazed that even after all the time he spent with humans that they could still be an enigma at times.
I maneuvered myself around Eric after gaining my composure from laughing so hard and said, "Guys, I'm fine, except for the nightmares that I'll no doubt have from the crazy shit Maryann had going on in your cousin's mind. Nothing that some heavy narcotics and lots of alcohol can't cure I'm sure." I was half joking and half not.
Tara, the real Tara and not black eyed crazy lady Tara, ran up to me and gave me the biggest hug on my life. "Girl, you brought me back. I never thought I was gonna make it from out of her control. We gotta stop her. Sweet Jesus, she still has Eggs. We have to get him out of there!" Tara said as she beelined for the door.
"Tara if you take one more step, I'll personally kick your ass into next Tuesday, do you hear me?" I said mad as hell right now. Did she really expect to just go and pick up her boyfriend from the clutches of the Maenad? Not only that, there was no way I was going to let her just throw away all the hard work I just did to bring her back.
"What! We have to help him! I love him!" Tara cried out, looking around the room for someone to back her up, finding no one would though.
"Tara, I just spent the better half of…" I started to say as I looked at the clock to see what time it was. "Holy crap, was I trapped in her mind for over a half an hour?" I asked the others in the room, who all nodded seriously. "Look miss thing, I did not just go through that Creepshow in your mind to have you hand your ass over to Maryann again on a fucking silver platter. You are going to stay here and be safe, do you hear me? I cannot go through that mind fuck again, I just can't." Eric looked at her wondering what exactly she saw.
"Don't get me wrong Arabella, I'm grateful that you brought me back, I really am, but I love that man. I can't just leave him there." Tara said, starting to cry because she felt so helpless.
"Nobody said we were just going to leave anybody behind Tara. What you don't seem to get is that the whole damn town is under her spell now, not just you and Eggs. We're going to brainstorm here and try to come up with a solution, but I'm going to have to ask that you go down to the restaurant and join Jason and Arlene's kids. Go get something to eat, relax; just try to have some normalcy for a moment. Lord knows I'd like that right now."
"I want to help! I need to fucking help!" Tara said loudly, getting pissed that she was being put in the corner. Nobody put Tara in a corner.
I tried to put the next thing I said as gently as I could, because in all honesty who wanted to hear that their mind was still capable of being overtaken. "Tara, Maryann buried herself pretty deeply into your sub consciousness. Even though your back, I can't be sure that she doesn't have some sort of connection with you and I can't risk you unconsciously giving her information that could ruin our efforts. Too much is riding on us. You want us to help Eggs, right?"
"Yeah, I do Sheeeet." She said, knowing that Arabella was right. "La La, will you come down with me?" She asked Lafayette who went to take Jesus's hand to come follow, but Jesus shook his head no.
"Lafayette, you go with Tara. I'm going to stay here. I may be able to help." Jesus said looking at me.
Lafayette knew what Jesus was, so he didn't question his boyfriend's request. "Come on hooka, Lord knows I could use a shot of Bacardi, or the whole fucking bottle, right about now. Let's go get our drink on. I think we's deserves it." He was still trying to come to terms with the dead bodies he saw hanging at the vampire nest.
Before Lafayette and Tara left the room, I stopped them and said, "You two should probably get a room here, for tonight at least. I don't think it'd be wise for any of us to go back to Bon Temps until we have a plan and, no offense, this room ain't big enough for all ya all."
"I hear's ya hooka. We outs ah here." Lafayette said as he lightly grabbed a hold of Tara and escorted her out of the room.
When the door shut, Jesus said to me, "I've heard of your kind before, or at least stories of those who had your powers… telepathy… that's what you can do, right? You're a telepath."
"Yeah." I replied simply. It wasn't like I could deny it at this point to anyone in the room even if I wanted to. But then I added, "So how do you think you can help? What can you do?" I asked not in a condescending way, but rather with real curiosity, knowing that the question was more loaded than a pair of trick dice.
"I'm a brujo; a witch. It's been in my blood for generations. I may be able to find a spell to counteract her magic or something." Jesus replied as Eric visibly tensed, though he said nothing. Vampires were notorious in their dislike of other super-naturals, but witches were the bottom of the barrel for them. This however stemmed from fear more than anything else, although you'd never ever hear a vampire admit to that. But the truth of the matter was, vampires existence was not due to any explainable reason other than they were given a spark of existence along the way by some sort of powerful magic. Witches were able to control, contort and use magic at their whim, giving them immense power. Vampires didn't normally like anything that had more power than them, Eric included. Eric however knew that this witch was right; he may be useful in the fight against the Maenad. Not only that, it wouldn't hurt to have a witch that was friendly to vampires. It was a win-win situation, for now.
"Okay, good to know." I said as I thought, 'Okay, another thing I didn't know really existed. I'll have to ask him about Harry Potter and Hogwarts another time though.' But then I added, "I think we need to regroup here and go over what we know and what we don't know about the situation and see where that leaves us." I said as I sat down on one of the beds, the others following suit by sitting down elsewhere in the room.
"Sam, why don't you go first? I still don't know what happened when I called to warn you about Maryann. One second I'm talking to you, and the next I'm hearing a dial tone." I said, glad that he ended up okay, but wondering what happened.
"Well, thank God you called first off. Your call woke me up. When I stood to get the call, I saw Maryann's car heading towards my trailer through my back window. I dropped the phone so I could get out of the trailer before she could get to me. I stayed nearby though… kinda like a fly on the wall…" He said the last part slower, knowing I'd pick up that he shifted into a fly.
"That's so cool!" I said slowly before thinking while Sam gave a quick look sideways at Jesus. He obviously didn't want Lafayette's boyfriend to know about his ability. Jesus just looked at me like I was weird because there was nothing cool about what Sam just said.
"I'm sorry Sam, go on." I said quickly to get back to the rest of his story.
"She wasn't alone. Daphne was with her." Sam started to say dejectedly.
"Oh Sam, I'm sorry. Was she okay? Did she have those weird alien eyes like Tara?" I asked concerned not only for Daphne, but for Sam as well, who I knew had grown to care for the accident prone klutz of a woman greatly over the past few weeks.
"Oh she's okay alright; she's a goddam Maenad in training." Sam said, now angrily. "She was pretending to be into me under Maryann's orders and not because Maryann was making her, because she wanted to learn more about being their 'kind'."
"Are you sure?" I asked hesitantly. Knowing that we had one Maenad to deal with was frightening enough; the prospect of two was really making me just want to say 'Fuck This! Ya'll are on your own.' and get the hell out of dodge while I still could. But then I thought of the people of Bon Temps and knew I couldn't just leave them to their fates. Damn conscience had to up and rear its ugly head! I swear that thing's gonna get me killed someday.
"Yeah. I know what I heard." Sam said with an edge to his voice. He didn't like being played, especially not when his heart was involved. "She even was able to shift into that clawed bull headed thing. And…she… she was the one who murdered that lady in the parking lot of the restaurant. Can you believe they talked about how they ate her heart in a soufflé? They ate…her…heart! And the only thing they could say about that was that the soufflé needed more turmeric and coriander!"
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry Sam. I know you liked her a real lot but..." I said before Eric chimed in.
"Since you're positive she's another Maenad, do you know how old she is?" Eric asked, trying to get the conversation steered away from 'Regret-and-Sorrowville' and back to the task at hand, getting rid of those now two Maenads. He also wondered if Daphne was an old one as well. It definitely would not be good if they were both old.
"Uhhh yeah, she's only 27. I had her background checked when I hired her. After all the weird things going on around here and Rene really being Drew, I decided to run background checks on anyone I didn't know. She really is Daphne Landry from Biloxi Mississippi." Sam replied and added, "But what she ain't is a full maenad yet. Maryann tried to get her to do that vibrating thing, but Daphne couldn't. Maryann told her it would come in time and after a few more celebrations."
"Uuuggghhh, like the one she's planning tomorrow night. She said that she was going to have a blow-out party on Friday." I said, remembering all the invites I got from that woman.
"Then we need to figure this out sooner than later. We certainly don't want two of those things running around here any longer." Eric added.
"Well, what do we know?" I asked everyone in the room before adding quickly. "Look, I realize we don't know much, but maybe we've overlooked something along the way. No one has absolutely no weaknesses. Even Achilles had his heel." Everyone looked at me when I said that last part so I said, "Hey, I may just be a waitress, but I know how to read."
So everyone in the room went over their individual information about Maryann and Maenads, trying not to leave anything out. After that there was silence as everyone tried to process the information.
Jesus was the first to speak up, which surprised me somewhat, honestly only because I didn't know him from the next guy on the street. "So, Maryann seems to have an interest in the two-natured, which Arabella and Sam are. And, she probably wants to serve one of them up as some sort of sacrifice to her god." I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I nodded. Unfortunately each time I received an invite to this party from Maryann, I didn't know that Sam or I was potentially going to be served up as the party gift to the guest of honor.
"Whoa there fella, who said I was two-natured?" Sam jumped in defensively. He wasn't as ready to go all loud and proud with his secret just yet.
"Dude, I'm a brujo, not a dumb ho." He replied with a smile hoping to set Sam's mind at ease. "Look, I could tell from the moment I met you that you were a shifter. There's an aura about you and your kind that's unmistakable. One of the first things my abuelo taught me when he began teaching me the ways of magic was the way to tell the difference between those with a magical spark and regular humans and then the differences between the magical."
Sam knew it would be pointless, and in the end may actually be detrimental to defeating the Maenad to deny his secret, so he just said, "If you could keep the information to yourself, I'd greatly appreciate it." He really didn't like that the number of people who knew about his ability kept rising.
"No problem dude. I'm not about to out someone who doesn't want to be outed. Trust me." Jesus said, speaking not only as a magical being himself, but also as a gay man; letting Sam know he would be true to his word. "But back to the point I was trying to make… Eric, you said that the Maenad could only be killed when she felt her sacrifice was accepted by her god and that the sacrifice would need to be two-natured, right?"
Eric nodded his head solemnly. He didn't like where this was going, but he would let the brujo finish his line of thinking.
"Okay, and Arabella, you said that Maryann kept thinking about a white bull." Jesus continued.
"Yeah, and some chant." I responded.
"And Sam, you said that Daphne was two-natured, right?" Jesus asked.
"Yeah." Sam replied sadly. He was so happy when Daphne revealed to him that she was the same as him, but now it just made her betrayal hurt that much more.
"Is she about the same height as Arabella?" Jesus asked out of the blue.
"Uh, yeah, I think. Arabella?" Sam replied looking at Arabella, a little unsure because he never really had the two stand back to back to see who was the taller one.
"Yeah Sam, we're about the same height… men." I replied rolling my eyes. He was a guy and was probably too distracted by her breasts to see how tall she was.
"Okay, here's what I got… work with me here, alright? What if I initiate a spell that can make Arabella look and smell like Daphne and vice versa? Then Daphne would be taken as the sacrifice and Arabella would be safe. Maryann shouldn't be able to tell the difference especially because she's mostly interested in the two-naturedness of the sacrifice, which both Arabella and Daphne are." Jesus started to tell his potential plan.
"But what if she wants Sam as the sacrifice? Eric asked quickly, because honestly the Maenad could want either one, they all didn't know for sure. Maryann had shown interest in both of them. And further, Sam had a history with her.
"Well, she may, but if Sam is nowhere to be found and she's having this big party, don't you think she'll take what she can get?" Jesus asked sincerely.
"You have a point." Eric relented, but still wasn't happy to be putting Arabella in that kind of danger again.
"Besides, Sam will have another part to play; the white bull." Jesus said, looking at Sam. "You can do that one, right?"
"Yeah, Old Man Parsons used to have beautiful one that I imprinted on years ago, but I should still be able to do it." Sam said, nodding to himself while thinking about the bull. "But, I don't know if I like setting Daphne up to be a sacrifice…" Sam added, because it wasn't in his nature to set someone up to die like that.
"If she's this Maenad's understudy, then she's already lost. Those who travel on that path willingly don't come back. And since she's made that choice… to follow the Maenad; we need to put this to an end. Maenads live long lives and carry huge grudges if they feel crossed. Don't think if you let her live that you'll be off scott-free." Eric said to Sam, knowing he'd have to get the shifter over setting up his shifter lover. Nothing he said though was false. Letting this Maenad go would be dangerous, for all of them now.
"Sam, I know you care on some level still for Daphne, and to be honest, I'm not real happy to do this to her either, but she's made her bed and now she has to lie in it. How many more people's lives would be ruined or killed if she were allowed to roam free?" I said as gently as I could to Sam, hoping he'd be able to come to terms with setting Daphne up for her own funeral, because honestly, this was our only plan and too many people's lives were getting screwed up by this nonsense. On the other hand, I also hoped that I myself would eventually be able to come to terms with it as well, that is once I actually had the time to dwell on this next potential victim on my hit list. Here I am, a twenty year old girl making decisions that affect people's lives; life and death decisions. I didn't particularly like feeling like I was the protégée of the grim reaper. Unfortunately, there was no one else to fill the position now.
"No…no… you're all right. They both need to be stopped." Sam relented sadly, but then added, "We don't know where the party's going to be though." Sam replied.
"If it's going to be as big of a party as she suggested and it's going to be tomorrow night, then she probably is already making arrangements. And, knowing that Maenads have an affinity with nature and animals, most of the preparations are probably being done outside. I'll go to Bon Temps and find out where it's at. I'll come back here once I'm done with the surveillance. No one will leave this room until I return. Understood?" Eric asked the last part, but it really wasn't a question as much as it was a statement. We all just nodded our heads in affirmation. Where were we going to go anyway?
Even though I knew that it needed to be done and I was still pissed at Eric, it didn't mean that I wanted him to be attacked again, or worse. "You'll be extra careful, right? I mean, Dr. Ludvig would probably give you a good tongue lashing if she had to come out again, especially for the same thing." I said, trying to make light of the potentially dangerous situation, but trying to get across that I didn't want him to take any unnecessary risks.
"Trust me, I'm not looking to do that again." He replied loud enough for the group to hear, but moved at vampire speed to my side and whispered in my ear, "Although, I wouldn't mind a good tongue lashing from you. It sounds kinky." He couldn't stop himself from flirting with her; it was in his nature. But, he noticed that she blushed at his comment. 'She still cares, I know she does, but will she after I tell her about Sookie?'
I nodded in understanding, while chastising myself for letting his comment get to me.
Jesus cleared his throat and then spoke up, "If I could ask you to bring back a few things?"
"What do you need?" Eric asked, knowing this request stemmed from the spell that Jesus would perform. He normally would never allow anyone to ask him to be their errand boy, but this was definitely not normal circumstances.
"Let's see, I'll need one of Daphne's outfits, if possible, but more importantly some of her person, like a strand of hair. I know this may be really hard to get…" Jesus started to say before Sam cut him off.
"No, it'll be easy. She kept a couple outfits at my trailer and had a hair brush there as well. It should be enough." Sam replied; eager to be able to help now.
"Okay, well then I also need two large containers of salt, five gallons of milk, four honeysuckle petals and the eye of one pig." Jesus said, mentally going over his spell shopping list. "Yeah, that should be it, all the other stuff I need I can get here at the hotel."
"Alright. I'll be back as soon as I can." Eric said and then bolted out the door.
I looked for a long moment at the closed door after Eric left and couldn't help but wonder if he was really coming back.
…