A/N: Did I start a new story without finishing my other two first? Yes. Am I going to finish them? I promise! Am I having an SE crisis of faith? Oui. But I shall overcome. I also have a canon fic or two on the back burner, but I am not going to start them yet! I promise! I will finish CTD first. It's my favourite baby right now. But I've had this little fishy nibbling at my brain for a while, and he wouldn't let go. And I have two more chapters written. :P
Chapter 1
February 21-23, 1983
Corbett Stackhouse was clutching the steering wheel. He was driving through the Shreveport Industrial Park, and he hadn't passed a car in several minutes. He pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, just around the corner from the warehouse, and turned around to look in the back seat. There were no streetlights, and he could hardly see the little blonde girl curled up sound asleep in the back.
"Sookie, honey, I need you to wake up. That a girl."
She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and then blinked sleepily up at him. "Daddy, I'm tired."
"I know, Bug. But I need you to stay awake for just a little while, ok?"
She nodded. He raked his fingers through his hair and sighed. He felt terrible about doing this. So guilty that he was going to use her this way again. But they could really use the money if this was legit. And, if it wasn't, he couldn't afford to lose the investment. Or get in trouble with the law.
"I'm going to go in a building right over there. I need you to wait in the car and find out if the men I'm meeting with are lying to Daddy. Just like last time. Do you remember?"
"Uh huh."
"Good girl. Do you think you could do that for me?"
She frowned a little, but nodded again. She would do just about anything for him.
A couple of months back, Corbett had had a lead on a business deal. He'd had a little money to invest, and a guy from work had promised him a hell of a return if Corbett would help him get his auto parts store off the ground. Corbett had him come to the house to talk about it, and he'd had Sookie listen in to see if he was about to get himself cheated out of his savings.
His coworker had planned to run off with his mistress along with Corbett's money. Sookie told him that the man was lying, and he had been so proud of her. Unfortunately, it hadn't made him any less embarrassed of her when she blurted out things that she wasn't supposed to know. But she hoped that she could at least make him proud of her again, for a little while.
He drove into the parking lot, and thought that he must be the first one there. He didn't see any other cars. He pulled around to the back of the building and parked in the shadow of the warehouse. He couldn't stand the thought of something happening to her, especially when he was doing something like this. And he hoped that she was close enough to hear but hidden enough that she wouldn't be found.
"Ok, sweetheart. Daddy's going to go inside. Listen in and remember what they think, ok?"
Her daddy was afraid. Of getting caught and of someone finding her and hurting her. Two big tears ran down her cheeks. "Daddy, I'm scared."
"Don't be scared, honey. Ain't nothing is gonna happen to you. Now, lie down on the floor and stay out of sight. It's ok. I just don't want no one asking no questions."
Sookie curled up on the floor behind the front seat. Corbett cracked the windows, covered her with her blanket, and got out of the car, making sure to lock the door.
The building had been empty for months. Corbett walked past the graffiti scrawled on the wall, his feet crunching on broken glass from the beer and liquor bottles smashed on the ground. He didn't notice. He was lost in his own thoughts.
He was surprised to find the door unlocked, and he went inside to wait. He didn't like the idea of standing exposed under the floodlight out front until someone showed up.
It was very dim inside the warehouse, lit only by a few 60 watt bulbs hanging from the ceiling. He turned around, but there wasn't much to see in the gloom. He thought that it was eerie as fuck.
Sookie was listening to her daddy's thoughts. She couldn't really help it. He thought that it was creepy inside. He was still thinking about her and of how ashamed he was that he was making her help him again. She didn't want him to be sad, so she was going to try really hard to remember every single thing that she heard.
"Stackhouse. Thank you for coming on short notice."
Corbett jumped in surprise, and then spun back around. There were five men right behind him, and he hadn't heard a sound. They hadn't been there just a minute before. He'd been watching the door, but they must have been inside waiting for him the whole time.
Corbett had been expecting two people, not five. And none of them was his buddy Mike Spencer, who had roped him into this stupid scheme. Mike had told him that he'd found a guy who would sell them bootleg cigarettes and guns, and they could sneak them in in new coffins for the funeral home. Mike needed a little more start-up money, as well as some muscle. In exchange, Mike would make Corbett a partner. Corbett knew that Mike wouldn't fuck him over — Mike was scared half to death of him — but Corbett sure as hell didn't trust someone he didn't know. And the seller apparently felt the same. Mike had set up a meeting before either of them made a final decision.
The men fanned out and surrounded him, cutting off the exit. Corbett faced the one who'd spoken to him and tried his damnedest to look tough. "I'm Corbett Stackhouse. Who in the fuck are you? And where's Mike?"
"It doesn't matter who we are. Where is your father?"
Out in the car, Sookie was trying to listen in, but she couldn't read their thoughts. Not even a little bit. It was just like there were five holes floating in midair all around her daddy. His brain was the only one nearby. And he was so scared. She listened as hard as she could to what she could hear, just like her daddy had asked.
Corbett wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "What the hell does my father have to do with this? I imagine he's at home, just like he is most nights at this time."
The man slapped Corbett's face, and Sookie gasped in the backseat of the car. The tears were coming faster, but she didn't make a sound. The man looked right into her daddy's eyes, and then her daddy stopped having any thoughts at all. Instead, it was just like watching a movie. She could hear and see everything her daddy could, but without it being filtered through and interpreted by his mind. It was just the raw footage.
The leader looked right at her daddy again. "Where is your father?"
A single thought floated up to the surface, almost like a helium balloon. Her daddy sounded just like a robot. "He's at home."
The man looked mad. "No, idiot. Fintan Brigant. Where is he?"
Another balloon thought floated up, but it was almost like it was empty. "I don't know who that is."
The man yelled a bad word and then punched her daddy in the face. Daddy fell down on his back, but he wasn't even thinking about how much it hurt. He still wasn't thinking about anything. The men stood around him in a circle, looking down at him. Their faces were burned into her mind. She knew that they would haunt her nightmares forever.
The leader spoke again. "This was a fucking waste of time. We need to go to the woman's house. Hopefully Brigant won't smell us before we get to him." Suddenly, their eyes all glazed over. They looked… hungry. They opened their mouths and they all had big long teeth.
One of them whispered, "Fairy."
They all came at her daddy, but she couldn't see what was going on. Only the side of the leader's head. He was right in her daddy's face, blocking everything else out. She didn't know what they were doing, but it sounded strange... Wet.
The pictures and sounds from her daddy's head were getting dimmer and further away. The man looked up and she could finally see. His face was all red. She tried to make herself believe that it was something other than her daddy's blood, but she knew better.
Less than a minute later, her daddy's brain faded away into nothing. There wasn't even a hole where it used to be, like the other men had. Sookie curled up tighter and stuck her thumb into her mouth. Even though she was a big girl who hadn't sucked her thumb since she was three, and she was four and a half. Almost five.
Sookie closed her eyes and hoped that the monsters wouldn't find her, too. Before the holes disappeared, her brain faded away.
…
Eric Northman scowled at the phone. He'd just gotten a call from a security guard over at the industrial park. A Were, thank fuck. The wolf would stay there to make sure nobody else went inside until Eric arrived.
Pam was visiting from Minnesota, and she stuck her head into his office. "Whatever it is, it feels like fun. Where are we going?"
Eric wasn't surprised that she'd invited herself. His child had always been nosy, but she also had a strategic mind, and was one hell of a fighter. He was happy to have her tag along.
"There is a dead human in an empty warehouse. Drained and covered in bites."
"Jesus Fucking Christ. It's a damn good thing you got the call."
It was always a nightmare when the human police got to a vampire's victim first. So many people to glamour. So much paperwork to destroy and amend. Fortunately, there were several Weres on the force. In security, too, like the one who had called him this evening. Eric had a fairly good relationship with the pack, and the shifters had a vested interest in keeping Supes under the radar.
Eric and Pam got into his Corvette and headed for the warehouse district. Pam smiled at him. "I am so glad that I came when I did. I haven't done anything interesting in months. Nothing ever happens in Minnesota."
Eric glanced over at her. "You know you're welcome to stay."
"Miss me, do you?"
He grinned at her. "Yes, actually, I do. Even if you are a pain in my ass. It has been very boring without you." Lonely, too.
"Well, I'll think about it. Sometimes I even miss you, too."
He laughed. He really had missed her, and he hoped that she would consider it. He would love to have her as his second again. He trusted nobody more.
They pulled into the parking lot and saw the Were leaning against the door. The wolf straightened up and walked over to the car while they were getting out.
He was nervous, and his nostrils were flaring, but he didn't shy away from them. "Sheriff. He's inside."
Eric nodded. "How did you find it?"
The Were shrugged. "I work at the self storage down the block. I was driving past on my way home and I smelled it. He's pretty ripe. Been there for a couple of days, looks like."
Eric could smell it, too. He looked at Pam and raised an eyebrow. She grinned back. Life really must be boring in Minnesota.
Eric nodded again. "Thank you. We can take care of it from here."
The Were looked relieved, and got into his car and drove away. Eric and Pam went inside.
The man was lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the warehouse. Eric thought that there was some underlying sweetness that was almost covered by the smell of decay, but he couldn't quite place it. He could smell that there had definitely been vampires there, but the scent was at least two nights old, and there was no way that he could identify it.
Pam took a close look at the man, and then wrinkled her nose. "Too bad. I'll bet he was a looker before half of his face got bitten off. Whoever killed him didn't care who found him."
"Or he was meant to be some kind of a message." But what? And to whom?
There were a couple of offices near the rear of the building, and Eric went inside to check them out. The vampire smell was stronger in the office on the right, but he still wasn't able to recognize it.
Pam called out, "I'm going to pull the car around back. We don't need any company."
Eric ducked out of the office and tossed her the keys, and she headed out for the Corvette.
When she pulled around the building, there was a car parked right up against the wall. Pam got out to take a look.
She could smell it as soon as she opened the Corvette's door - a scent that was light and sweet, mixed with the acrid smell of urine. She walked over and looked in the window. There was a very small child inside, lying curled up on the floor of the backseat. Her thumb was in her mouth and her eyes were closed.
The door was locked and the little girl didn't answer when Pam called out to her and knocked. The car window was open a bit, and Pam was able to push it down far enough that she could get her arm through and unlock the door.
She had no real idea how to speak to children. She'd had no cause to even try in a hundred and fifty years, give or take. And, even way back then, she'd tried to have as little to do with them as possible. She'd certainly never wanted any of her own. But she and Eric couldn't just leave her there. They needed to know if she had seen anything. If she could tell them who the dead man was. And then they needed to get her back to wherever she belonged, and as far away from them as possible. Surely someone was looking for her, and she certainly couldn't be found with Pam and her maker.
Pam stood with the door open, looking down at the girl. She hadn't moved. Pam tapped her foot while she thought. It didn't help. "Hey! You! Wake up."
Nothing. Pam reached down and poked the girl's shoulder a couple of times, but she still didn't react. Pam sighed. What in the fuck was she supposed to do now?
Eric walked up behind her and looked over her shoulder. "There is a child in this car."
Pam turned around slowly and glared at him, an incredulous look on her face. "Well, thank goodness you showed up. I never would have figured that out on my own."
He grinned at her, elbowed her out of the way, and then knelt down. The little girl was breathing and her heart was beating, although the rhythm was a little irregular. He started talking to the girl quietly in Old Norse. Pam automatically translated in her head, as she always did.
"Hello, little one. Come. You will be well. I will get you back to your family."
He carefully picked her up. She was a tiny little thing, and he didn't think that she could be much more than three. She had blonde hair a few shades lighter than his, and she reminded him so much of his daughter, Eir. He was surprised to feel a tug in his chest, even after a thousand years.
Her hair smelled nice — sweet, with maybe a hint of vanilla — even if the rest of her didn't. Her pants had dried, though, and he was sure that she must be very dehydrated. Her body was quite limp.
"You need to drink. Pam, find the girl some water."
Pam didn't argue. She was too tickled to talk back. Her only complaint was that she was going to miss some of it, so she rushed.
She walked right into the factory up the street and found the break room. There was a thermos on one of the tables, and she opened it up and dumped the coffee that was inside onto the floor. She filled it from the water dispenser in the corner. She only met one person on the way out, but he didn't notice that she was out of place.
When she got back, Eric was telling the girl about his family. Even though she was still unconscious and wouldn't be able to understand a word of it, anyway. Pam raised an eyebrow a little and poured some water into the thermos lid. Eric gently pulled the girl's thumb from her mouth and put the cup to her lips. The water just ran down her chin, and her heart fluttered again. It was the third or fourth time he'd heard it do so.
He sighed and pierced the pad of his index finger on his fang. Pam looked at him, incredulous again.
'You can't be serious."
He shrugged. "She isn't well. And we need to know if she saw anything. This tiny bit will be gone from her system in a week or two."
The girl was very lucky that it had been overcast and mild all week. And that she'd been parked against the southern side of such a large building at this time of year; she would have been in the shade for most of the day, even when the sun hadn't been hidden behind the clouds.
He squeezed his finger until a single drop fell into her mouth. After a moment or two, he put the cup back up to her lips. Only a little spilled before she reached up and held the cup in her hands and drank.
Eric switched to English, but kept his voice soft. He took the cup away. "That's enough. You will get sick if you drink too much too quickly."
The little girl blinked slowly a few times and then looked up at him. She almost smiled at first, but then her eyes widened. She struggled to get away, but she was still very weak. Lethargic. She tired herself out after only a few seconds. But she was still very scared, and her eyes were squeezed shut and her heart was racing. But at least it was strong and even.
"Shhhh. We will not hurt you. Would you like another drink?"
She was still so thirsty and, as scared as she was, her body was crying out for water. She took a moment to gather up her courage and managed to open her eyes. She nodded just a little and drank another cupful. He made sure that she didn't drink it too fast.
When she was done, Sookie looked up at him again. He was really big. And he didn't have thoughts, either. The girl, too. They just had holes, like the monsters that had hurt her daddy. But he didn't look scary, like those guys had. Not really. And he was being really kind to her. It was strange not being able to hear what they were thinking. Scary. But it was a good kind of strange, too, in a way. It didn't hurt to touch him. He smiled down at her, and she relaxed a little.
"My name is Eric, and this is Pam. What's your name?"
She cleared her throat a bit. It felt rough and scratchy, and her voice sounded raspy. "Sookie Stackhouse."
She had a bit of a lisp, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Sookie Stackhouse. And how old are you?"
"Four." She was looking at him intently. Studying his face. "Are you a monster, too?"
So, she had seen something. "No. Of course not. Did you see a monster?"
She nodded. "I saw five. They… They hurt my daddy." But her brain didn't want to think about her daddy. It was like it was so slippery that the thoughts just didn't stick.
"Do you remember what they looked like?"
She shrugged, and then nodded. "They were scary. They had big teeth. Do you have big teeth?"
Eric smiled, showing his human teeth. She relaxed a bit more. "They had holes where their brains should be, too. Like yours."
Eric had no idea what that meant. Pam raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. She was very young and had been traumatized. And was likely in shock, despite the blood. It could mean anything or nothing at all. He looked into her eyes. "Describe the monsters, Sookie."
Her brain felt funny, but she was still feeling kind of funny all over. "They were all boys. Three had brown hair and two had black hair. I think one was the leader."
"Can you remember anything else? Anything that stood out?"
She could see them all in her mind, but she didn't really know what else to say. She didn't want to think about them any more. "The leader talked kind of funny."
He sighed. It wasn't much to go on, but he supposed it was the best she could do. It had been dark, and she couldn't have gotten too close without having been seen. If she knew any more, she would have said so under glamour.
"Sookie, where do you live?"
"Bon Temps. On Clarice Road."
He carried her over to the Corvette and put her inside. He walked back over to Pam and spoke quietly. "Put the man in the car and crash it somewhere out of the way between here and Bon Temps. Make sure it burns. Even better if it isn't found for some time."
She nodded. "Where will you take the girl?"
"As close to her home as I can. Surely there are people looking for her. I will glamour her to forget, and to just say that she was lost. Not remembering what happened to her father will be a blessing. I will wait and make sure that she is found."
Pam gave him a small smile. "You're good with her."
He raised one shoulder. "I guess it is something that you never really forget."
She fell asleep before they got on the highway. Her cheek was pressed against the window and her thumb was stuck securely in her mouth, her index finger curled over her nose.
She woke up when they were driving through Bon Temps, and sat up straight after they turned onto Clarice Road. A couple of minutes later, she said, "It's just up the road a ways."
He smiled a little at the thick Louisiana accent and the lisp. She really was a cute little thing. He pulled onto a dirt track, far enough in that the car wouldn't be seen from the road. Even though there was little traffic at this late hour. He picked her up again, sitting her in the crook of his elbow so he could look in her eyes. "Sookie, you were lost in the woods. That is all you remember since leaving home with your father. Do you understand?"
He was making her brain tingle again. She frowned a little, but nodded.
"You must walk to your home now. You don't remember meeting me. You were lost in the forest."
She nodded again. He walked her out to Clarice Road and set her down on the ground. Her driveway was just ahead, and she started to walk towards it. The closer she got, though, the more anxious she was to get there. When she got to the driveway, she started to run.
Eric watched her from the sky, hiding behind the leaves of the big Sycamore in the back yard. She knocked on the door, waited, and then knocked again. The door opened, and Sookie started to cry. A woman scooped her up, and she was crying, too.
"Oh my God, Sookie. Thank God you're ok. I've been worried sick! Where have you been?"
Sookie was sobbing so hard that she could barely get the words out. "I was lost. Lost in the woods."
"Where's Daddy, baby?"
She sobbed even harder. "I don't know, Mama."
Her mother kissed the top of her head and carried her inside. Eric didn't notice the little girl looking over her mother's shoulder, watching him fly away.
He also didn't notice when, a few weeks later, he could no longer feel her in his blood.