I own nothing to do with True Blood, I just love the characters so much.
Hoping you will enjoy this one. I apologize if it's bad, it took me like four days to write, so that's my excuse for taking a while to write it out! Hoping you will like the direction of the story?
I want to thank you all so much for your support. You're all so amazing and I know I do tend to say that a lot, but thank you! :-) P.S, I'm sorry that the chapters so long, but hopefully that's all right. I'm hoping there isn't too many spelling mistakes, I did spell-check, etc. Sorry!
Feel free to let me know your thoughts, as they're always welcome and I love reading them immensely! This chaptter was initially longer, I have more to post in several days, but then the chapter would have been over 19 thousand words, so just thought I'd cut it down shorter. Takes place 5 years later, Sookie is 20 years old, and in a serious relationship, her life has changed, but certain things- her feelings for Eric, haven't. He'll still be much the same, in denial in liking a human girl, but he'll be more forward in expressing it (i.e; a lot of sexual comments, and sneaky kisses which gets Sookie all confused). Hope you will enjoy it as much as I have been writing it :-) x
Chapter Twenty-Six
I didn't like the idea of having everyone else stuck outside fighting for me. So, I only did what I felt was right. Though Alcide had been adamant on me keeping inside and out of harm's way, like hell I was going to do that.
It was an oddly frightening sight to view all these Wolves in my yard, biting each other and growling. It was an even more haunting sight to see Eric and Mr. Compton fighting each other.
Breathing slowly through my nose, I grabbed onto the side railing of Gran's porch and carefully began to step down onto the grass. Too bad, there was a slippery pool of blood trailing down on the steps. I slipped and toppled out onto my belly off them with a pained grunt. The strands of grass felt all sticky and wet underneath me. I was lying in a great big sticky patch of supernatural entrails. I slapped a hand over my mouth, my stomach reeling. I was becoming close to vomiting.
Luckily, I found a much-needed distraction.
Pam was in the middle of biting a grey Were at the throat, and her clothes and hair were so dishevelled and bloody, it had almost been hard to recognize her, at first.
Unluckily for her, she never caught the greasy-looking Were in human form that was creeping up behind her. It was too late. The Were man seized Pam's long blonde hair in his hands, and lunged. No one seemed to be watching it but me. Everyone was too absorbed in their own fights, I guess. He bit into her neck, and her shrill cry of pain alone had me shaken something awful. Clearly there was something strange about Russell Edgington's group of Were's, because he drank and drank, and as he did so, his strength increased.
Pam was about to be drained dry.
I had a thought about crying out Eric's name to get his attention in helping her, but when I looked around frantically and found him meters across the yard, he was much too deep in a battle of his own against Mr. Compton. They sure gave two competing wrestlers a run for their money. They were rolling around in the grass, snapping at each other's throats with their fangs.
Eric had the upper hand, and I think it was because he was older than Mr. Compton; He was on top of Mr. Compton, who was sobbing and flailing underneath him. Mr. Compton's forehead had a deep dark gash, and Eric's nose was bleeding. Stringy trails of blood flew out from his nostrils and landed on Mr. Compton's anguished face.
If there was something I learned out of all this, it's that vampires sure got messy in a fight. And, also that I was officially over vampires and other creatures for at least years. After this was all finished, I vowed to myself then, I would end all contact with Eric. I'd seen and experienced way too much already, certain things that girls my age shouldn't have ever had to.
Pam was out on her own.
It was terrible, and while I knew she didn't like me all that much or held any faith in me whatsoever as a human girl, she was here, she had come through for me tonight. More so for Eric, than me. But still, I had to help her somehow.
I didn't have any weapons on me. A knife would have been just about perfect, but one was all the way inside Gran's house and I did not have much time to waste.
Plus, it would be a real effort trying to get past all the bodies and carnage strewn across Gran's yard, not to manage reach the house unseen from all of Russell Edgington's clan. Everything was so World War in Gran's yard, akin a battlefield, aside from the fact that these were all supernaturals and not humans. Still, a human battlefield and supernatural battlefield looked about the same and a fitting comparison, if more gruesome and bloody.
I'd have to use my flashlight fingers then. I didn't know how reliable they were, let alone how they would affect a Were. But I try, and try my very hardest.
I was frightened, and beyond aggravated, so I guess that gave me all my strength and effort.
I threw my hands out in the direction of Pam and this dirty Were man. Clearly, God was on my side this evening. Light shot out and exploded from my fingertips, and next thing I knew, the Were man was being blown several meters across the yard, screaming, taking some of Pam's neck along with him. Streams of scarlet ran down the side of her neck, and then her open wound closed over. I guess those bottles of True Blood Mr. Alcide insisted on Eric and her drinking did wonders, after all.
Eric was still fighting Mr. Compton, and it looked as if he was winning out.
I had a haunting thought. Could I really let Eric kill Mr. Compton? One malicious side to me laughed bitterly inside my head, and taunted: "Hell, yeah. He deserves it, for being a rotten liar. He came with the King, he wants my blood just as much! And he tricked my Grandma, he deserves all the stuff that Eric's dishing out on him!" And yet, another side of me, a more reasonable, considerate side of me believed it wasn't right. It just couldn't go down this way.
While I didn't much like Mr. Compton- quite for obvious reasons- I didn't exactly wish him to die all that much either. There was always the possibility that all he had said to me tonight on Gran's porch, was true. He didn't kill Gran, it was Mr. Edgington's other half who did. And, if so, I didn't believe he ought to die. I had to do what was right, I couldn't just sit there on the ground and watch.
I pulled one of the long silver necklaces from my neck, and wrapped it 'round the knuckles on my left hand, like a faux knuckle duster for vamps. Then, I huddled down low, and started creeping and crawling further along the grass towards where the two vamps were, rolling around and grunting intensely over their fighting.
I paused once I reached behind them, and had a second thought. Eric's back was facing me, and I didn't want to inflict him any harm by catching him with the silver, but it was all I could do. I had no other choice; I certainly couldn't get him off Mr. Compton by tackling him myself, he was far too strong and, even then if I had, he probably would have ignored me, pushed me off his shoulders, and resumed with the fight as if there hadn't been a distraction regardless.
Eric's large hands were seizing Mr. Compton's throat while he laid on top of his stomach, and poor Mr. Compton was groaning.
It was terrible, but I managed to get to my feet and stand behind Eric. Eric hadn't noticed me, he was far too involved, but Mr. Compton sure did. He looked relieved when, steeling myself, I pressed my hand wrapped with silver as gently as possible into the nape of Eric's neck. I pulled away, just as quickly as I had done it, feeling so cruel and ashamed with myself, when Eric hissed and steam from the silver lightly touching his neck wafted up around him.
It looked like it had hurt like all hell, and I started crying in earnest because hurting him was the last thing I wanted to do, but it was effective at least.
He paused from hurting Mr. Compton at once, and turned on me almost viciously. I knew it was only natural defense instincts for him, since I've just burnt him a bit with some silver. I really ought to have already seen it coming, the instance I went and did it. He slung his legs off Mr. Compton and, almost mechanically, he got to his feet. It was like he had almost forgotten who I was, and that disturbed me most of all.
"Eric," I whispered hoarsely, even though it was far too late. He staggered forward towards me onto his feet, big and threatening. Frankly, it looked like he was going to eat me alive, and that frightened me. "It's just me. Sookie, remember? Don't you remember me? I never meant to hurt you just then, but I... I don't want you killin' Mr. Compton, all right? I... I don't think he deserves this. He didn't kill my Gran, so please just... let him go."
"You hurt me," he said, his voice hoarse and frightened.
"I know, I did," I said apologetically, starting to cry again. "I'm so sorry, but it was the only thing I could do!"
He was enraged. I was well and truly terrified.
"Why did you hurt me?" His voice turned rough, when he lifted a hand to knead the back of neck, right where I'd briefly silvered him. He made a pained noise. "Ow, lover. I hurt."
"Well, I'm real sorry about that," I cried, through stiff lips.
"No, you're not."
"Eric, please, I- No!"
In his anger, his arms clamped around my waist, drawing me closer. The fangs were out, and I felt so certain he was about to kill me. I struggled, and cried, and yelled.
"Eric, no!"
My struggling was only exciting him. With all the little strength I could manage, I tried to pull my hands free. There was a blinding flash of white light, and Eric toppled backwards onto the grass with a grunt.
All right. So my flashlight fingers were doing me proud. Excellent.
"Ow." Eric crawled up onto his knees, and seemed to gather himself. He looked up at me, blinking heavily. I felt so horrible. And then, a change overcome him. There was something there in his eyes, something... different. He was frightened, but for completely different reasons. "Sookie?" He whispered, in a surprised, subdued self, much like the old Eric in voice.
It became a struggle for me to breathe then.
Well, I'll be damned.
If I had known my flashlight fingers were the key he needed in making the curse stop, then I probably wouldn't have drawn it out for so long.
It registered in my mind a second later that Mr. Compton was gone. He had disappeared. All that was left in his place, was flattened down grass. He had made a hasty vampire retreat away from Eric and me, but when I glanced around nervously, he was nowhere else to be seen either.
He wasn't fighting against Alcide, or the others wolves.
He was gone. He had fled for his life. I didn't know whether to feel angry by that, or relieved.
"What...?"He grunted out, pausing to look down at the clothes he was wearing. "What happened? Why am I suddenly here?"
I didn't even know where to start on answering that. I couldn't even find my voice to begin.
He stood and dusted the dirt off Jason's clothes. Then, he said, "Sookie, what are you doing out here? And why is Pamela here? Did I-?"
Before I could answer, a white figure flashed around all the Were's fighting in the yard. It went straight for Mr. Edgington, who I hadn't yet taken notice of. Two pairs of sinewy hands caught him by the throat, and he was being dragged down onto his knees with such alarming speed.
Godric.
"This is a disgusting fanfare," he remarked quietly, bending over Mr. Edgington, his dark eyes wide and intent on his face. "You all act proud to be vampire, and yet, this is what you do? So disgusting. You intend to harm a human child, in her own yard? This is disgraceful. This is why we are an abomination to the human kind."
Before my very own eyes, Eric growled through his fangs, looking royally angry, and clutched something long and shiny in between his fingers. He strode towards Mr. Edgington with almost striking brutality while Godric held him effortlessly in place, and then plunged the object swiftly into his chest. An ear-splitting scream erupted from somewhere along the yard- from Mr. Talbot, who was surrounded by several Were's- and then alarmingly, Mr. Edgington burst into no more than a fountain of flaky flesh and blood.
Even from where I stood, far away, I was in close enough range.
Blood splattered into my eyes, clouding my vision red, and then I screamed.
But Mr. Edgington was dead now, and he hadn't gotten to me and had the chance to take my blood. I could only be thankful. Still, everything was so terrible. I fell to my knees; a sobbing, blood coated mess.
Everything luckily got more peaceful, after that.
Too tired and drained, all I could do was sit on the grass, catching my breath, when I watched one panther- Debbie was a panther?- as she shifted back into her old human self again. She was naked as the day her Mama went into labour with her, but somehow, it was much easier for me to look at naked women than men. Maybe because since I was a girl myself, the female's anatomy wasn't so startling to ingest. She climbed her way out of the grass, and surveyed the lawn that was now a battlefield full of dead Were carcasses and shifters with wide eyes.
"Alcide? Baby, where the hell are you?"
When she got no gruff response from her man, she weaved her way through some bodies. She was limping, and there was a big cut engraved along her right ankle to her knee. The blood was trailing out, think and red. It looked super painful but, oddly enough, she showed no concern for her state. No, she was intent on finding her man somewhere.
"Oh, Jesus," she sobbed, clutching her chest, "Baby, you okay? You scared me, I thought you were dead!"
She fell to her knees and started crawling. She knelt over something in the grass, a white wolf, and squatted over it to inspect it closely for any injuries. There was an off-putting slurping noise, one that I was coming to learn was the sound these Weres and Shifters made when they shifted or reverted back into their human selves, and then I caught a glimpse of Alcide's bare flesh through the grass. He gave out a throaty, gurgled groan.
"Babe, you okay? Talk to me!"
She laid a hand on his shoulder, her lips twisted in concern. Maybe Alcide was in a nasty mood from the fight, or maybe he was just too exhausted to think of what he was doing, because he shoved her hand off him with a very rude, guttural "Don't touch me, Debbie," and she broke down bawling like a wild woman.
For several minutes she sat there, crying her heart out while covering her face in her hands, and then her eyes met mine from where I was recouping. Her nostrils flared and her eyes were almost glowing with pure, unadulterated hatred. I felt really guilty then, even though I didn't really have any good reason to. Whatever went on between her and Alcide, their arguments, was their own business, it had nothing to do with me. And yet, she was reacting almost as if I was a third-party in their relationship somehow. I just couldn't understand her way of thinking at all.
Or her dislike in me, for that matter.
"Thanks a lot, he wouldn't be hurt if it weren't for you," she spat out at me, her voice taking on a haunting wolf's snarl.
And this was my fault? Did I tell the King to come after me? What the fudge?
"Don't you start this again, Deb," Alcide warned, sounding miserably exhausted from somewhere in the grass. "Especially not now. You hurt?"
Debbie softened visibly, and her mood shifted into a less hostile one when she glanced down at her Alcide. She gave him a soft, reassuring smile. "No, babe. I'm fine," she whispered, in a trembling voice.
"And you, Sookie?" he called loudly with some effort over to me. It was quite touching that he cared so much into little, old me's state."You hurt in any shape or form?"
"Not that I know of, not really," I said, stunned by the truth in that. I peered down at my clothes, for careful evaluation. "Sure, I've got a lot of blood on me, and I got thrown around a bit. But I'm fine, astonishingly!" I had to smile appreciatively because of that.
"Well, that's good. What about Eric, and the others?"
I had almost forgotten about Eric, as rude as that was. I turned to glance over at him, and felt all my bones soften. Him and Pam were engaged in quite the tender moment. The pair of them had blood on them but, as far as I could tell, it wasn't their own. Eric was embracing Pam in a tight hug, their foreheads touching. They looked about the pin-up poster for relief and family safe haven. I felt all peaceful just by observing them, but that didn't last long for me. Not when Eric brought his eyes over to me. It was like he was questioning me with them alone:
What happened? Why don't I remember anything? Why is Pamela here?
I just shrugged and forced myself to look away. Explaining was the last thing I wanted to do in my exhausted and defeated state right about now, really.
Afterwards, things got a little more better after that.
Everyone was so exhausted from the aftermath of the battle against Mr. Edgington, and the atmosphere was just melancholy and tragic for all involved. Gran's house took place as nurses station for everyone wounded, and I took role as Miss. Friendly, Helpful Assistant Nurse, in going around every supernatural in the house and making sure they were all right, or if they needed anything.
I guessed Were's healed on their own just like vampires did, just not as fast.
Alcide was huddled over Gran's kitchen table, while his girl Debbie fawned over him like a clucky hen does to its hatchling. He had a deep gash on his back that ran halfway down to his ribcage, and his head was swollen from a hit. Luckily, his injuries weren't all that crucial and Debbie was fixing him up just nicely.
It wasn't entirely painless for him.
Debbie, with having about as much experience as I did in tending to wounds - which was next to nill- didn't have very patient, soothing hands. She had found one of my Gran's old bottles of Gin she kept very secretly stashed away from us kids for those special and rare occasions Gran drank and tilted it carelessly over a clean rag to soak in some of the liquor. Then, with almost callous brutality, she dabbed over his wound, and the hisses and swears he gave off in his rumbling deep voice echoed all throughout the kitchen into the living room. His voice was anguished enough, it might have scared away any ghosts had they resided in Gran's house.
Eric and Pam were doing just fine, but I couldn't say I lingered around them when I went in for a quick peek into their state. I was keen on avoiding Eric like the plague; I really didn't want him asking me any questions about what happened in his cursed, sweeter state, but I could tell he was just dying to like a bad itch that wouldn't go away.
When I poked my head in to stare at them across the room while they sat on my Gran's sofa, talking among themselves quietly, he jerked out of the chair like a restless man unable to sit still.
It wasn't an easy task, avoiding a vampire.
I got myself unknowingly stuck into a rock and a hard place, when I stood out on the porch all by my lonesome at the top steps to get some well needed fresh air, inspecting all the bodies strewn across the yard. Most were humans, but some of Russell Edgington's Were's and Shifter's hadn't gotten the chance to revert back into their old forms. One chestnut horse was curled over in the grass, having sustained a vampire bite to its meaty neck, courtesy of either Pam or Eric. I felt more sorry for the animals, than the humans, which was just plain weird. They weren't truly animals, after all.
"Sookie, something is wrong here," Eric stated behind me, sounding absolute on that.
I turned and, in a way that I was surely used to by now, I found he was standing right behind me, a hair's length away from me. He had dried blood on Jason's jumper, and a few tears and holes in the right knee of his cut-off jeans. His thick, blonde hair was all over the place, in an extremely good way to me, and his nose was dotted with dried, crusty blood.
"I remember everything... before."
Oh, great. I wasn't expecting that, then. I felt my pulse sky-rocket to the roof. "You... you do?"
"Yes. I went to your Uncles house with the intentions of confronting him. Things got messy and he... he..." He paused for several seconds, thinking the whole thing through. I almost snorted. Is that how he put it- confronting my Uncle Bartlett? More like killing him, and tearing off his left arm. "There was blood spilled everywhere. His blood was... black. And he was chanting, chanting in another language. The room went dark, and then I..." He swallowed loudly, radiating tension and anxiety all over. He shook his head, bewildered. "It's like I... I stopped functioning. My mind, everything I was... was... altered." He brought his eyes down to me, and there was something surprisingly accusing about that look. Great, so now he was blaming me for all this? "And now, here we are."
"Do you mean to say my Uncle Bartlett put a curse on you?" I blubbered, without thinking the idea through. Did that mean my Uncle was a witch? I thought witches were only of the female gender? Well, hell. Guess not.
"I also remember certain fragments. Us."
My mind was instantly filled with memories. Eric utterly unlike himself, hanging around Uncle Bartlett's arm in Gran's yard, laughing and having himself a jolly good time. Eric saying he would protect me- his wife- loyally to the death.
Eric giving me a piggyback ride. Eric saying he... had feelings for me, much like a father loves his daughter.
He threatened my brother because he didn't want him hurting me, and I think he implied along with it by his words, that I was something extremely precious to him.
Did that mean he remembered all that too? I felt so silly. I was acting like this was such a scandalous affair, all the things he did while he wasn't himself. Really, it could have been far worse. There wasn't really any need for me to feel embarrassed the way I was, but there's no stopping your feelings.
"We didn't, did we?" He asked nervously, and I instantly got what he was asking at once. He didn't have to say another single word in expansion on that. I just knew. And it was just the most ludicrous assumption for him to make.
Still, I felt all blood drain from my face in shock of him coming to that conclusion. "Of course not," I breathed, my stomach giving off funny fluttering butterfly sensations in disgust. "That would totally be wrong."
He chuckled softly, and I could tell he was relieved by that. "It would be, wouldn't it?"
"Well, yeah."
"Then why am I dressed this way?" He plucked at Jason's jumper with his fingers for benefit.
I looked across the yard again, and found oddly enough, that staring at mutilated bodies was so much more comforting than having to look him straight in the eye. "Eric, I'm tired, all right?" I laughed uneasily. It was true anyhow, about the tired part. "Enough questions for one night."
"Why do you shy away from me? Did you... dress me this way yourself?"
It was a struggle to keep my voice light. "Eric, even cursed, you were still perfectly capable of dressing yourself!"
"Did I do something wrong?"
Oh God. Drop it already, please!
"No, you didn't."
"Then why won't you look at me?"
Oh. He caught on to that? Well, clearly he was more observant than I thought.
"I just don't want to look at you," I whispered defensively.
"Why not?" His voice was low, challenging. Irritating me.
"Because, maybe I..." An indulgent smile splitted my lips, and I felt excruciatingly sad for some reason, like I was filled with loss. A bit like I had lost a close friend, because I knew Eric would never be that way towards me ever again. "Maybe I liked you a bit better, when you were cursed."
He huffed out an astonished laugh at my words. "Why is that?"
"Maybe because you were... nicer to me." I shrugged, and felt my smile grow wistfully. Still, I couldn't even look at him straight. "Sweeter, in a way. You weren't always tryin' to get on my nerves, and you were more... playful, and human, a bit. A whole lot easier for a girl my age to get along with." And plus, you said you had feelings for me. That was great for me to hear.
"And that part of me is still here... deep inside." I felt the skepticism grown on my face. I didn't really believe that, at all. But maybe he was right, maybe that part of him was real, when he was free of all defensive inhibitions? "It is unlikely for him to ever resurface again, however. And whatever I said to you, whatever I... did, it changes nothing." I sunk down onto the porch steps unsteadily, bracing myself for it all to begin. Too bad, I could never prepare myself enough. For all the hurt, all the heartache. Because this was the true Eric again, and he was being his mean self all over. "He does not exist, especially not for humans. Do you understand, Sookie?"
As if his words weren't salt in the wound enough, he stepped down the porch steps so that he was standing directly in front of me. He was eyeing me closely, in a very severe and harsh way, as if he was trying to get it through to me.
"Forget everything, especially of who I was with you... before. The fact remains, you are human and I am vampire. You are weak, and I am strong."
I would have bawled if I hadn't felt so much pity for him. It was just tragic for him to believe that, for him to be so sanctimonious. Couldn't he see, and understand, that it wasn't weak to let yourself be vulnerable and like a human? He couldn't, and I sure as hell could see that clearly myself.
But I knew, deep down inside, despite all that he was telling me, that he cared for me. It was in there somewhere. In the ways that he was so quick to come to my defense and save my life from Russell Edgington, in the ways he wedded me while being fully aware of what this meant for us and just how serious a human-vampire pledge was.
He was just only trying to save himself by hiding it, and pretending it had never come to surface. Because how can you possibly help someone, and put your own life and well-being before their own to protect them and feel... nothing at all? It just wasn't possible in my eyes. And maybe believing that just made me an emotional doormat, a person who was so blinded that they couldn't see when the truth was standing right in front of them. He was just hiding it to save himself, I'm sure of it.
I shook my head helplessly. "Do you even hear yourself, Eric?" I retorted dubiously. "Do you?"
"Yes, I hear myself clearly, and what I hear... is right."
I choked out a bitter laugh. Laughing was so much of an easier response. "Then you must feel awfully regretful about the position you've willingly put yourself in, mustn't you?" I hissed, eyeing him with deliberately placed contempt. "Clearly, you didn't think it through enough, did you?"
I could tell he was gritting his teeth together by the way his jaw twitched. "What position are you speaking of?" He sounded incredibly angry, just as much as I felt over all of his strategically placed denial.
"This may be over with the whole Russell Edgington thing, but... like you said in your car that night..." I tossed my head, feeling all those feelings come to surface again over the whole ordeal. "We are wed, and it's something permanent. Not something that you can just... change at the drop of a hat." I rose to my feet, with some difficulty, and stepped back onto the highest step of the porch, to level myself higher than him. Even then, he was much too tall, but still... I was gloating and rubbing it all in for what its worth. "And yet, there you are, preaching about how superior you are to me?"
I was taunting loudly to his face, and clearly that alone had pushed him enough. Without warning, he grabbed the back of my head and forced me to stare dead-on into those wild, icy eyes of his. Still, the fangs didn't extend, so I counted myself safe enough and out of danger. It took me hardly a second to recover and, even then despite his open hostility when I did, my words went far louder, and stronger.
"I feel awfully sorry for you, Eric. You want to know why?"
His hand tightened 'round my head. "Why?" He spoke desperately through gritted teeth.
"Because you married the very thing you stand against and you're gonna be linked to me always, you'll be feeling my emotions every turn you take, and I bet that must eat you up inside something shocking." I felt my lips curl into a grimace. "You're gonna have to live with this, until I die. You've walked right into a trap, where you gave yourself to me completely!"
My words seemed to plunge into the center of him, deep in the heart, right where I wanted them. "I did," he admitted hoarsely, in a low voice. "And while I admit, it was a rash decision on my part, you will come of good use to me." That winning feeling in my gut, of somehow managing to get something through to him for once, instantly shattered into smithereens. "Can you imagine how productive it would be to have a Faerie on my side?" His eyes were brightly lit in excitement."A Faerie, so rare. Your telepathy will come as great value to me."
"So, there it is. Finally, I know why you did this! You weren't protecting me out of your own good will, were you? Not because you cared... but because, you knew I would be indebted to you!"
"You human's always try to look for sentimental reasons into a cause, don't you?"
"Well, like I said, Eric. You gave yourself to me, a human girl, so completely! You've made your bed, now you go lie in it!"
"I figure waiting, give or take, ninety years for you to die is hardly laborious. I've been alive for over decades, Sookie. What's another sixty odd years?"
I shrank inside myself.
I was so tired of hurting, because of him. I knew the one solution to make it all stop, for good. The one way to get him out of my life for real, and all I had to do was say it. But now was clearly not the right time, not when there were certain things to be done. I knew so, when a woman suddenly appeared in the yard. I could tell she was a vampire, by the way her pale skin glowed in the dark. I also could tell, she was an important figure to the vampire community. She looked somewhat familiar to me, as she stood there stoically in her pleated business skirt and ruffled sleeved blouse, taking in all the bodies in the yard. I think I might have seen her on the television a few times, as an advocate for vampires.
I learned as much next, when I had to invite her into Gran's house. She tried to glamour me, but it was unsuccessful. I had to resort to hamming it up a bit.
Her name was Nan Flanagan.
0
"Do you have any fucking idea how much of a catastrophe this is? Russell Edgington, King of Louisiana, is dead. A crime punishable! If anything, I ought to let all you bastards meet the true death."
Despite her menace, Eric looked awfully unmoved. "Did you not witness Russell Edgington's little debacle on live television?"
She laughed, like the whole thing was a comical vampire sketch show. Sure, she could afford to laugh it off. Her life wasn't at stake, like mine had been. "You can bet your ass, I did!"
"Then, you of all people surely, would have seen how unstable he was. He was actively threatening the life of Sookie."
The woman scrutinized him, perplexed. "And why does this concern me? If you had let her been captured, it would have prevented all this mayhem. All this mayhem, that I now have to clean up. Me, not any of you. Me." She threw her head back, and scoffed through her teeth. Quite the lovely woman, sarcasm intended. "What's one less human girl in the world going to hurt any?"
"Oh, because she is not just any human girl." Eric kept a stiff smile in place, with some effort. "She's my wife. We are pledged."
"Oh, please," she laughed scornfully, less than impressed. "You expect me to believe you would actively debase yourself in pledging yourself to a young human girl?"
"Under ordinary circumstances, probably not. But she is not just any human girl." He turned to look over at Pam, who was standing around, clutching a manilla folder between her hands. "Pamela, the documents, please."
He outstretched a hand, eagerly waiting for them. Obediently and without a single snarky comment, which was surprising, Pam passed the folder to him. I found myself inching instinctively over the sofa closer to Eric to catch a glimpse of what was contained inside the folder. I hadn't the slightest clue myself, and I was far beyond just curious.
"As you will clearly see stated here, officially signed and overseen by the Minister himself in these documents, Sookie has been bequeathed to me, as my human and spouse."
I sucked in a breath anxiously, when Eric opened the folder and leafed through some of the papers that were held inside it.
He almost reminded me of a stoic lawyer passing off articles of evidence in a courtroom, when with a noncommittal grunt, the woman reached over to receive them. Clearly, she found whatever it said on the papers somewhat intriguing while she scanned down the length of it with her eyes, because I caught the way her pencilled-in eyebrows lifted marginally.
"It states by vampire law that any attack directed to her, will come as a personal insult to me of the very highest regard. One that was befitting enough to take down anyone who has a personal vendetta against her, whether they be royalty or not." Clearly Eric's fast reply caught her unready; Her stony face softened into wonderment. "The demonstration on live television bares testimony to that. I had to defend what is mine, and that is hardly a penalty fit for true death, is it, your Highness?"
She grunted her acknowledgement of the facts when she waved the paper back over to Eric brusquely, and leaned back into Gran's sofa, crossing one bony knee over the other.
She tilted her head to the side and waved a hand in front of her face dismissively. "Still, do you realize how much of a PR mess you've all made?" As if her bone-chilling words of reprimand were not enough, she threw in a hard, stone-cold glare around every single being in the entire room for added weight.
I figured then, she would have made a very good school teacher. No one would have even dared to cross her, or disobey her, that's for sure.
The frustration was radiating and swirling off Eric thick into the confines of the living room, when he slid closer over the sofa to where the daunting woman was sitting. "Russell Edgington was responsible for that," he hissed through his teeth bitterly, "when out of his own accord, he decided to make a broadcasted threat against my human on live television and actively intimidate the parish of Bon Temps by warning he would have the Mayor killed if no one willingly obeyed in finding her and taking her to him."
The woman hardly looked swayed into submission by Eric's argument. "And yet, you fail to understand, Mr. Northman." She threw me a less than inviting look from where I sat. My belly clenched. "This is not a discussion of your dull attachment to a human, but the fact several humans, not to mention the King, were killed tonight outside this mortal's residence. Do you-"
"- Please, Mrs. Flanagan."
I almost yipped, when Godric began speaking in a hushed, subdued voice from somewhere behind me, making the attempt to placate the hard-hitting woman once and for all, since Eric's words were clearly not doing the trick. I looked behind my shoulder, and I wasn't the only one who stared at him. He looked uncomfortable by everyone's attention on him; He clasped his hands together in front of him, and peered down at them demurely. He had been so quiet, I was starting to forget he was still there in the room, actively listening in.
"I take full responsibility. Let us not drag this out any longer. Punish me as you see fitting."
Put that way, though Godric sounded tragically accepting of whatever this lady vamp decided to dish out on him, I felt it terrifying.
What did a vampire of higher politic like her believe a fitting punishment over the King's death? I couldn't help but wonder, stressing. Would she wrap him all up in silver? Make him burn alive? Tear out his fangs? I suppressed a ripple of sheer panic at all the possibilities that flitted through my mind.
Nan looked puzzled at his words, while Eric shot up from the chair. I'd caught myself reaching over in my seat to grab his arm to curb his indignation somehow, as though I foolishly believed I had all the power in the world to stop a powerful vamp like him. Instead, I got myself in check, and circled my arms over my knees. I had to remind myself Eric was his usual self now, and that he was perfectly capable of acting rationally while he was back to normal this way.
Besides, I could hardly imagine Eric doing something so thoughtless, in attacking the woman.
In a more suitable response, he turned vocal instead. "Bullshit, Godric. You will not! Why are you taking the blame for this?"
"Please, broder," Godric whispered, with not feeling the need to raise his voice, unlike Eric. "It is true, your Highness."
"What?" Well, there I went, raising mine. "No! If anything, this was all my fault! I'm the one to blame here, not you, Godric! Mr. Edgington did all of this because of me!"
"Please, child." He huffed out a breathy chuckle, like my outburst presented him a bit of light-hearted entertainment, for reasons beyond me. Then, he brought his eyes back over to the woman, regarding her earnestly. "The responsibility is mine. Not the girl, not anyone else in this room, for that matter. I am the one to blame here and I apologize for all the trouble I have caused." He smiled ruefully at the woman, making a pretty convincing job out of it. "Not just for the reputation of vampires everywhere, but for the lives lost, of all involved in the war tonight. Vampires, humans, and Were's. By sunrise, I will make do my amends for all that I have caused and the lives that I have taken."
This Nan Flanagan woman stared at Godric blankly, digesting his words with some trouble. The expression on her face sure illustrated as much. Then, without warning, she rose to her feet and Eric did the same in unison. Maybe it was the polite thing to do in front of a woman positioned in a state of authority to all vampires, like she was? Perhaps flattery would make the woman go lighter on her sentence in punishing him?
If that was well and truly the case, I stood and did an awkward curtsey of my own, not that she paid any ounce of attention to it. She was staring down at Godric, blissfully unaware of my demonstration. Eric, however, was another matter altogether; I caught the way his head tilted into my direction out of the corner of my eyes, but I refused to so much as let myself acknowledge him.
Hell, knowing him, he would have probably just laughed in my face. I spared myself from that unfavourable likelihood, and kept my eyes planted on the pair.
"Take it easy, honey," Nan cackled down at Godric, in a way that seemed disturbingly unfitting over Godric's urgent, dead-serious declaration.
Wrong. The whole damn thing was just wrong.
"This is a time for celebration." She crouched over Godric and patted him on the shoulder. He looked less than enthused, when he glanced down at the hand that was embracing him in a ceremonious manner with an uninterested quirk to his dark, tufted eyebrows. "As you are now the oldest living vampire in the district of Louisiana, I thereby hail you the new face of vampire royalty." Putting on a weird lilt to her voice, she did a funny curtsey, and said, distinctively indifferent despite it all, "Congratulations, Godric, the new King of Louisiana."
I gasped out loud, unable to help myself, my eyes brimming over with happy tears. I was super pleased, if I had, in fact, happened to understand her words correctly; After all, I was no expert on vampire terminology.
But this seemed just peachy if my way of thinking was apt, of course; I couldn't have thought on the top of my head one other vampire more worthy of kingship than Godric. He was about the most human vampire I knew, the most decent and kind. It was a long-time coming for something like this to happen to a vampire like him. He deserved all the greatest the vampire world had to offer, really.
She turned briskly to leave, but not before darting him a look of stern warning. "Do us proud, and please, by all means avoid any fiascos like this from occurring again in the future."
I got to thinking maybe it might have been wise for Godric to just agree and play along with it, so she would leave more quickly. But clearly, he had other goals in mind. While Eric was definitely glad to hear such a positive thing fall from this Nan Flanagan's mouth directed towards his Maker, Godric in direct contrast looked both lethargically resigned and indifferent, in the ways he peered up at her with his dark eyes.
"I am flattered, believe me." He gave her a mild smile to show it. "But it is not a title I wish to hold. Besides, it is hardly appropriate, as I will not stay here for longer. I have fulfilled my purpose, in assisting the child."
There was certainly more than a few meaningful little glances exchanged between Godric and Eric over this. Eric looked positively outraged over Godric's direct decline of an entitlement as prestigious as vampire King. His hands fisted and shook at his thighs, in all his carefully restrained anger.
"Nonsense." Nan Flanagan waved it off with a mere flourish of her hand. "Your time has come. So, start living it."
A soft smile flitted across Godric's face, about the first one he had all night. "Godric, King of Louisiana," he whispered, sounding stunned. "Maybe it isn't so bad after all. Maybe this is something worth living... for another twenty years, at least."
Nan Flanagan left, and there was a long moment of silence slicing through the entire room. Eric was the first to break it, in walking over to stand by his much shorter, much younger Maker.
"My royal father. It fits, does it not?" Eric said to him, full of honest awe, not entirely successful at hiding his pleased expression by the forecast of the evening's events. "And now, we will rejoice. Let me show you my bar where, no doubt, a few humans will be willing to let you feed off them this evening."
"No thank you, my child. I have since then already lost the appeal. I see no attraction in living that way, any longer. But by all the means, you are free to go, broder. As Vampire King, I will serve with purpose."
That saying, if you can't beat them, join them, instantly rang in my mind. So, Godric was not happy about how vampires led their lives, after all those centuries. As vampire King, surely he could make a difference to the ways in which all vampires lived and treated humans.
And Godric certainly would put Russell Edgington's kingship to shame.
0
"Eric, I need to say something," I said flatly. Pamela and Godric had made their exit out of my Grandmother's house, which made saying this to him all the more easier when I knew it was just me and him, with no risks of ever being overheard somehow.
I was too tired to even speak, but I knew I had to. This was the way it had to be- the polite way, despite everything... despite all that he had said to me, despite all the ways he had unknowingly broken my heart.
"Thank you," I whispered, even though that hardly felt good enough, as far as gratitude goes. Mostly, I wanted to say: Thank you, for everything. For saving my life. For making me experience my first ever kiss even if it was with a cold-hearted ass like you... for making me have my first crush. And, for being the first person who's ever broken my heart. Everything.
"The pleasure was all mine," he said, and I heard the frigid edge in his voice. He was still angry about my words of before.
"Tell Pam for me too, all right? And Godric, too. Especially Godric, I'm going to miss him. Tell him, I said congratulations about being King now, and that he's gonna put Russell Edgington to shame!"
"It will be done," he said. His voice was so quiet, I was wondering if he even spoke then or not.
"As for now, I revoke my invitation to allow you into my home, Eric." My voice was so emotionless, I hardly recognized it. Just like he was being pulled by a gravitational force that was beyond his control, he started walking towards the front door. I felt like I was about to cry, and it took all the willpower I had to stop myself from doing so in front of him. "I've experienced enough... I've been hurt enough, both physically and mentally. I'm mostly a human girl, and I want to start living my life that way. It's not that I'm not grateful for everything you've ever done for me, I just... I can't have you in my life anymore."
"We will meet again soon in the future no doubt," he said outside the netted door, very ominously. He was looking right in at me through the net. I was hoping he was wrong on that. And yet, I was sort of hoping he was right, too. We had too much history together after all that's happened, and really, he wasn't one person in my childhood I would be able to forget easily.
I heard a person once say that you never forget your first crush- or first love, whatever. They always stay in a special place in your heart and, if so... if there was any stock to that saying at all, then I would never forget him.
He would always be my first. My first kiss, my first crush, first heartbreak. The first vampire I'd ever met. Just my first... everything.
It took him a while to leave. He seemed hesitant, and I couldn't figure out why. He opened his mouth several times, with wanting to say something, but then he clammed up and shut his mouth all over again. Just when I was starting to get tired of waiting and as his painful indecision of saying whatever it was he wanted but couldn't articulate it grew on, he turned and left.
"I don't like having feelings for humans," I heard him say coldly to mostly himself, I think, when he stepped down the porch steps into the grass. He turned to give me a side-long look, and I was positive there was something there, something meaningful lingering in it. I was also positive it was probably just my head playing tricks on me. "Goodbye, Sookie Stackhouse," he said underneath his breath. And then, within the blink of an eye, he was gone, and I was greeted by a somewhat peaceful relaxing silence, aside from the crickets chirping a mile away in the yard.
Finally, everything was over. All the supernatural madness, and violence.
Well, really. I did speak too quickly.
"Sookie."
I gasped out loud, feeling my heart hammering away loudly in my chest over the sudden shock of hearing Mr. Merlotte's voice right behind me by the front door. Somehow, I had forgotten all about him. He had entered the house after the battle was rightfully over, but luckily he had fared a lot better than most of the Were's and vampires in tonight's battle. He had a mere graze on his right cheek, that was it. Lucky for me, he was also wearing a pair of Jason's gym shorts, hopefully washed.
"How you doin' after everything? You doing good?" He asked, sounding truly concerned. It was very nice of him.
"I'm all good, I think. How're you, Mr. Merlotte?"
"Dead tired." He gave me a weak smile, and he certainly looked exhausted. Poor thing. "You know, I've been thinkin' a lot, since this whole thing begun. I've thought of retiring as school teacher, Sookie."
Although I cared and was deeply disappointed by that, because he was my favorite teacher and the most nicest, funniest teacher to learn from, I was too tired to even show it. "Why?"
"I've been thinking of taking up a new area of expertise. Maybe in the hospitality sector. I was thinkin' 'bout opening up a new bar. I want to call it Merlotte's, have a big red sign out front. I want it to be a friendly place where people can come to unwind to, at the end of the day. And you wanna know what else?"
"What?" I whispered, hardly sounding interested at all. It was unfair really, because I did feel interested. Of course, I did.
"I'm gonna hire you once you finish school, and you're gonna be the first waitress I ever hire. How does that sound for you?"
After a long startled moment of digesting that, I finally said, "Oh, that sounds amazing, Mr. Merlotte. I'd love to feel... me again, really."
He nodded, looking pleased. "I know. It sounds pretty good, don't it?" At that, he gave me a pat on the shoulder and pushed through Gran's fly screen door. He left, not before stopping dramatically at the bottom step on the porch. He materialized right into a fluffy white dog, a Husky, and then he was off scampering through the trees. I stared after him, too dead-on-my-feet to move.
Oh, wow. I don't think I could ever get used to that. Mr. Merlotte, changing into different animals whenever it takes his fancy.
I had to admit, I liked his idea, though. While he was a wonderful school teacher, I knew he would make good at whatever career he took. And I found then, the idea of me being a waitress, was something I found very much an exciting opportunity.
I think I realized now, I was fooling myself. So maybe, I wasn't just a human girl. I was half Faerie, and I had my mind-reading skills when touching people, and my light fingers. But I was also part human, and I felt more of a human than anything else. I wanted to start living it, and waitressing for Mr. Merlotte - had it ever happened- would have been just the starting point I needed in making a decent life for myself.
I never saw Eric ever again. At least, not until I turned twenty and just when I was naïvely feeling my life was starting to become normal again and that everything had fallen into place. Still, that night I slept soundless like a baby. I might have also cried for very nearly half an hour, but all I felt, deep inside, was peace now that everything was over.