Tara had went back to the house she lived in with Eric to shower and change clothing. She knew Eric would be at Fangtasia by now and she knew he would be wondering where she was. He had not yet questioned her via his grand maker mind summoning, and oddly that worried her. Was Eric so into Sookie again that he didn't care enough to even communicate with her in this way?
Or maybe 'again' wasn't the right word. Tara would be a fool to think that Eric had ever lost interest in Sookie. What pissed her off is that she was forcefully sucked into Eric's world, courtesy of Pam, then left it to live in Banshee, courtesy of Eric's ungrateful ass and then brought back in, no thanks to her own big mouth and Candyman.
Tara turned off the shower, stepped out and toweled off. She had no idea what she was going to say to Eric tonight about what she knew about him and Sookie or how she knew it. Tara left the bathroom and walked over to the walk-in closet door. She opened it and pulled out a lavender, sleeveless, ruched, party mini cocktail dress. Tara was about to put it on when Eric's voice came into her head…
"Tara? Where are you?"
Tara didn't feel like answering so she ignored him.
"Tara! For God's sakes just tell me that you are alive!"
Now Tara pulled out her phone and called him!
"Of course I'm alive! Sort off…what's going on?" Tara asked, fearing something had happened.
And she would be right.
"The police are here. Jason Stackhouse was informing me that you had been killed by your own mother. I assured him that that couldn't be true because I could still sense you. Where are you?" Eric asked.
"At home. I was changing for work tonight."
"Finish doing so and come here at once! Jason…and I, need to see that you are indeed in once piece."
"Eric, what is going on? Why would anyone think my mother killed me?" Tara asked, not following any of this.
"I think that the woman your mother did kill, was Celia Linfey. And if that is true, then somehow, she was either resurrected by magic or was turned into vampire, years ago. Probably by Kibwe Akinjide. But you must come here at once, Tara."
Tara hung up and reached for her dress. Yes, she would come at once and find out WHY her mother had killed Celia, thinking she was her!
By the time Tara got to Fangtasia, there were nothing but police cars in the parking lot. Eric had been forced to close for the night, which could not have made him happy. She thought about 'Candyman's Kiss' and figured they had to be getting more of their customers than ever tonight.
As soon as she walked in, the first person she spotted was Jason. He saw her and hurried over!
"Jesus, Tara! Thank God!" Jason exclaimed. His eyes ran over her with confusion. Tara saw that Eric was talking to Andy Bellefleur. She looked at Jason again.
"What's going on? My mother killed someone that looked like me?"
"Tara, I was there! She could've been your twin and I think she was like Sookie and you."
"What do you mean?" Tara asked. But she knew. Eric had said he thought it was Celia.
"I mean she looked exactly like you! Your mother shot her. And the Reverend, unfortunately. He's in surgery at the hospital now but your twin didn't make it." Jason said somberly.
Tara clenched her jaw before speaking again.
"So…my 'twin' and the Reverend…"
"Yeah, Lettie Mae said they were fucking like jackrabbits on speed or something. She just lost it, got her gun and shot them both."
Eric moved over to speak to both of them. He reached for Tara's hand but she pulled away and looked around until her eyes caught sight of Dermot, looking in from outside. Somehow, Tara knew he knew something about what had happened!
"This twin of mine was having sex with the Reverend? Uh why?" Tara asked. She never quite got what her mother saw in her new husband, though she had nothing against him, personally.
"The hell if I know! Tara, we have to find out who this woman was! Now Andy over there thinks that someone purposely dressed up like you and did this. I've known you all you're life so I know you don't have any brothers or sisters. Could she have been a cousin? Maybe LaFayette knew her?" Jason asked.
"I need to see my mother, Jason. You have her down at the station?" Tara asked.
"Yeah. She was in some kind of shock when we took her out of there." Jason admitted. "I'll drive you."
Actually, Tara had wanted to leave on her own so she could get her hands on Dermot! She knew he was still skulking around outside and she didn't know if Jason had ever seen or met him before. If Jason saw someone who looked like him, after someone that looked like herself had been running around Bon Temps, that would open up a whole can of worms that Tara was not in the mood to deal with! She looked at Eric.
"I'm leaving with Jason." was all she said to him.
"I will come with you. I will also make sure you have proper legal representation." Eric told her. Tara was about to ask why she would need a lawyer, when Andy came over, looking none too pleased.
"Tara, I was just telling your vamp husband here, that I think that this trouble came out of that new club that's down the street from here." Andy told her. "There's some people that are saying you were seen there today."
Eric looked at Tara as well. Tara cleared her throat!
"Alcide Herveaux told me about the place and I thought I needed to see what our competition was. And don't go looking at me like that, Andy! What I saw there were kids drinking! I can't believe you haven't closed the place down!" Tara sniffed.
"We got calls about that but when we sent officers out, no kids were around." Andy said gruffly. "Now I think that whoever this woman was that your mama killed, she was dressed up like you because she saw you at the club."
Eric raised a brow.
"I am not following you, Sheriff. Why would anyone dress up like Tara because they happened to see her at a club?"
Tara eyed Eric. She was not going to tell him that Candyman's patrons were actual people from hell.
"It's Candyman's club, Eric. The people there look like murderers that are in hell someplace. But since I'm not…"
"Tara, you're a vamp now or part so. Don't tell me you haven't killed someone…" Andy began but Eric moved in between Tara and Andy!
"Sheriff Bellefleur, if you have proof that my wife has ever slain anyone then I suggest you tell us right this minute. If not, then you will apologize to her."
Andy raised a brow at them both but cleared this throat.
"I'm sorry, Tara. I don't know that you've ever killed anyone since turning vamp and half fairy." he grumbled.
Tara sighed.
"Look, I just want to see my mother."
Eric reached for her arm but looked at Andy.
"I will bring Tara down to the station. I need to speak to her right now. Alone."
Andy nodded and looked over at Jason, who was talking to someone on his cellphone. Tara allowed Eric to pull her over to the bar before wrangling out of his grip.
"What is going on with you?" Eric asked coolly. "Clearly you are upset with me."
"I know about Sookie and you. I also know that you've been running around loose during the day, no thanks to Sookie's blood, which she is willingly giving you while she fucks you! Now if you will excuse me, I have to go and see my mother who's in jail!"
But Eric blocked her way.
"That is quite an allegation." he said.
"You're going to tell me it's not true?" Tara asked sarcastically.
"I'm going to tell you that Sookie and I needed each other. Alcide was not there for her and you are up during the day. I was lonely after you insisted on going to bed like a human would, after midnight. I went to Sookie to ask for her blood so I could be with you too. One thing lead to another, I'm afraid. But what I have with Sookie has nothing to do with us."
Tara stared at him for a moment before answering.
"Okay, Eric. I'm going to go now so I can see my mother."
She started to move around him, but he blocked her way again.
"I don't get to say anything?" he asked calmly.
"About what?"
"About," Eric hissed, "why you were at Candyman's club and how you found out about Sookie and myself? I would have to assume Daniel told you? Since he has designs on Sookie himself?"
"I don't think Daniel is all that into Sookie anymore. And I was there because Alcide told me that the club was taking customers away from Fangtasia. That's it."
"What did Daniel want?"
"What do you mean?" Tara asked, trying not to sound shifty.
"Tara, you went there to confront him about the club, clearly. Now what happened? He just told you I was seeing Sookie?"
"He showed me what you were doing with her. Daniel and I watched you fuck Sookie!"
"And yet Daniel didn't do anything to stop us?" Eric asked.
"No. Now I have to get going…" Tara began but Eric grabbed her arm. Hard! Jason and and Andy looked over at them.
"What are you not telling me, Tara Northman? And that is your last name now. Tara Northman. Not Tara Robitaille!"
Tara wrenched her arm from his grip!
"You know then?"
"I know that Daniel needs you to get back all that he feels he's lost! And you haven't corrected him with regards to your proper last name…or your proper bed! So do not get high and mighty with me, my dear! I will allow you this one dalliance because I realize my relationship with Sookie was a shock. But your time spent with him has come at a price. The police think that some groupie that dressed like 'Candyman's Wife', tried to kill your mother and step-father! You will go and see your mother while I correct Candyman about who's wife you really are! Are we clear?"
Eric let go of her arm and Tara walked away from him and over to Jason.
"Let's go." was all she said. Jason knew better than to ask anything as they walked out of Fangtasia.
Lettie Mae Daniels sat on a cot in her jail cell and tried not to think about the past. But it washed over her and she honestly felt if she were drowning in unpleasant memories.
Memories of Tara's father, who had not been Sugar Bates's son.
No.
He had been Sugar's father! And if that had been all there had been to it, then her life would have been much, much more easier than it had been. For Sugar's father had not been a normal man. Sugar had been normal, but not his father, a man that wasn't from this time or even this realm.
He was a man that you addressed as 'King'.
Sugar didn't and he paid the price. That being he was given a life as a normal man, born to fail.
Lettie Mae had kept Tara away from her father. She kept him from even knowing about her and it wasn't until recently, when Sugar sought her out, that they agreed to say that Sugar was her grandfather.
But the burden of carrying such a secret. The burden of waiting and watching if Tara would begin to show physical signs that she was from the family lineage she had been spawned from…it drove Lettie Mae to drink. Her nerves couldn't take Tara or how she herself had been fooled into thinking that the man she had been with, was truly a real man.
She had taken over planning Sugar's funeral to ensure that his father did not return to claim his body, or Tara. Everything had went fine. No signs of anything out of the ordinary.
Until now. And that demonic bullshit that had happened with the Reverend. Lettie Mae realized as she pulled the trigger, that the woman who was riding her husband's cock, bare assed and twerking while doing so, was not her Tara.
And the Reverend was not being held down or anything, so Lettie Mae had no problems with winging him in the process. Only she hadn't winged her husband. He was seriously hurt and that devil woman that looked so much like Tara, was dead.
Lettie Mae slowly stood up as Tara and Jason Stackhouse approached her cell. Jason nodded to Tara and then left, leaving mother and daughter alone.
"Mama? What in the hell happened?" Tara asked.
"You tell me, girl. Ever since you married up with that vampire instead of Chayton…"
"Mama, come on! Chayton and I would have never worked out. We were both too much alike." Tara sighed.
Lettie Mae didn't respond to that. She pursed her lips briefly before speaking again.
"You know who that woman was, don't you?" she asked. Tara nodded.
"She was Candyman's wife, Mama." Tara admitted. Lettie Mae squinted at her!
"Candyman, who? Tara Mae Thornton! Don't tell me that shit that Sookie Stackhouse is running around saying is true?"
"Mama! I called Candyman and he wants Sookie!"
"Tara, honey, that vampire you're laying up with is playing some kind of trick on you! You and Sookie! This is all her damned fault!" Lettie Mae sniffed. Tara walked closer to the jail bars.
"Mama…I should have told you what was going on. What was really going on."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that woman that you killed…she's related to me. Through Daddy. And maybe it's about time you told me all that you knew about him. And all that you really knew about Grandpa Sugar."
Lettie Mae clenched her jaw.
"All that I really knew? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I come home and find someone that looks like you, fucking my husband and now I'm the one that's hiding something?"
"Yeah!" Tara snapped. "Daddy is the missing link here!"
"Sookie Stackhouse is the missing link, Tara! Not me! I resent you blaming me for any of this shit!"
Tara was not in the mood for her mother's evasiveness.
"Mama, the police do not think that the woman you killed was some magical fairy that is related to me. They think you killed someone that went to a club that dressed up like me."
"Why would they think that?"
"What does it matter? The point is that unless you tell me what's going on, you're going to go to prison for killing a real person and not some fairy that was married to Candyman!"
Lettie Mae gasped!
"That tramp was REALLY Candyman's wife? I thought she was white?"
"The woman he was in love with was white. They were never married. He had a wife named Celia and you killed her."
Lettie Mae eyed her.
"That doesn't explain why she seduced my husband? What does the Reverend have to do with any of this?"
"I don't know." Tara admitted.
"Girl," Lettie Mae said in a low tone, "I have been protecting you all of my life from something I never wanted you to know. I know you think I am nothing more than a lush and child abuser, but there was always more to your life than you ever knew. And I couldn't handle it. But maybe you can."
"What are you telling me, Mama?" Tara asked, suddenly feeling afraid.
"That your daddy was Grandpa Sugar's daddy. That one day my boyfriend just up and disappeared. I went looking for him and found your daddy. And I lived with him for a year. As his queen."
Tara said nothing for the longest moment.
Then she shook her head.
"Okay. Clearly your drunk NOW. So I'm going to go and see about getting you a lawyer." she said, just as Jason walked in looking grim.
"The Reverend died on the operating table. I'm sorry for your loss, Lettie Mae but the D.A. wants to charge you with murder." Jason said in somber tone.
Tara went looking for Dermot after Lettie Mae was charged. She just knew that he was responsible for all of this, somehow, someway. She drove to Bill's home for help. He was the only other vamp that ever spoke to Dermot on a regular basis and Tara figured Bill might know how to find him.
Bill opened the door before she could even knock. As if he had been expecting her.
"Come in, Tara. I was sorry to hear about Lettie Mae."
Bill moved aside so that Tara could come inside. She did so, feeling very…defeated. Bill closed the door and faced her.
"Clearly, the woman that was killed was Celia. Did you explain that to Andy?" Bill asked.
"I tried but Andy has his own theory. He thinks the woman was a person trying to look like me, because I was seen at Candyman's new club. I'm going to just glamour Andy or the D.A. into believing that. I'm more concerned about the Reverend. I don't know if there is any way out of his death for my mother." Tara admitted.
"What is that you need of me?" Bill asked.
"Dermot. You and I are the only ones that see him. I saw him looking in the window at Fangtasia, but I was so tied up with Andy, that there wasn't any time to question him. Plus Jason was there and I didn't want him to freak at seeing his twin."
"Jason has never met Dermot?" Bill asked.
"I don't know. But Jason is sensitive about shit like that. I didn't want him to freak out. I know Dermot brought Celia back or knew she was alive this whole time or something! He needs to own up to this! Maybe Celia just seems dead. If she's a fairy that lived this long or…"
"Or maybe she was turned." Bill finished for her. "I don't know how to summon Dermot or anything. He just comes and goes as he wishes. What does Eric think about all of this?"
Tara shrugged.
"I know he wants to help but I can't let that Sookie sex shit go."
"What did he say about it? If I may ask?"
Tara shrugged.
"What you'd expect Eric to say. He blamed everything on Alcide and then acted like what he and Sookie did was perfectly natural. It just reminded me of why I never wanted anything to do with Pam or him in the first place. You know…Dermot IS Sookie and Jason's relative. I think I'm just going to have to ask Sookie what she knows."
Suddenly, Dermot appeared in Bill's study!
"Tara. Bill. Come join me." Dermot asked, as he turned from them to stare up at the naked picture of Tara…or Celia…depending on who you asked. Tara and Bill slowly walked into the study and Dermot turned to face them.
"Celia is fine. Thank you for asking." Dermot said sarcastically.
"Excuse me?!" Tara snapped. "What do you mean 'she's fine'? According to the police she's dead and my mother's being charged with her murder!"
"Yes, Tara, darling, that is exactly what will happen if you do not leave with me on this evening, and allow me to train you in the ways of being fae. Like I asked of you in the first place." Dermot said coldly. Bill nodded slightly.
"So this whole thing was an elaborate scheme to force Tara to bend to your will?" he asked.
Dermot looked from Bill to Tara.
"What you did today was out of line. You opened up a door that will not be closed easily."
Bill looked from Dermot to Tara.
"What is he talking about?" Bill asked Tara.
"I had revenge sex with Candyman, who is actually part Chayton Littlestone, who I used to have sex with when we both lived in Banshee." Tara admitted.
"So…this is Chayton in appearance but Candyman inside of him?" Bill asked.
"No." Tara admitted. "And I don't get what any of this has to do with Celia showing up and pulling the bullshit that she did! You get her in here now, Dermot, since she's still alive! She can go to the police and admit what she did and then go to prison for getting the Reverend killed!"
"That's not how this is going to work." Dermot told her. "I will have my revenge on Eric Norseman, for stealing Aude and Celia, by taking you from him as well. Daniel is getting his revenge with Pam and…"
"What?" Tara and Bill asked in unison.
"Oh, you didn't see her there earlier, Tara? At the club?" Dermot asked in a fake sounding, concerned voice. "She is in hell and that makes her eligible to be at Candyman's Kiss. I saw her earlier, bent over a table by none other than Saddam Hussein! He was taking her like hounds are when they are together. I have to say, it was quite a sight. It was a shame though, because I could see that Lizzie Borden and Pam had formed a bond. I saw her looking around for a weapon to use on Saddam…."
Tara thought she would be sick! Bill could see how this bit of news was affecting her. Whatever their differences, Pam had been Tara's maker. She would not want to hear of her being abused, even in if it was in hell disguised as a club.
"What do you want from me, Dermot. Clearly you have plans for me as well." Bill noted.
Dermot nodded.
"Candyman will keep up his part of things only if you find his son. Find him, Bill Compton." Dermot told Bill.
But Bill folded his arms, peering at Dermot.
"I don't get what I get out of this? Sookie and I are not together. She is no longer with the Were either. She is now with Eric Northman."
Dermot looked at Tara briefly before answering Bill.
"I want Tara in my realm to train. Candyman wants revenge for what was done to him and watching Pam Swynford de Beaufort get taken, on a daily basis by pure evil in one form or another, will suffice for him. Both Candyman and myself want Eric to pay for all that was done and you…you still want Sookie Stackhouse. What if I told you that I could make that happen, if you touch that painting again?"
"Whoa!" Tara snapped. "What the hell are you talking about? Touch the picture? Bill, what happens when you touch that picture up there?"
Bill gave Tara a guilty look.
"Once I passed out. But before that, I was in a reality where in which we were clearly lovers, Sookie was 'Pam' and Alcide was 'Eric'."
"Do I dare ask where Eric was?" Tara asked curiously.
"Nowhere to be seen." was Bill's smiling answer. Dermot smiled as well before looking at Tara.
"Tell me Tara, what will be your answer? Do you come with me so you can fulfill your true potential as a member of the fae race, for does needless suffering continue for your loves ones, and yourself?" Dermot asked.