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Chapter Twelve: Demon Cupcakes and A Leather Book
"Where's Jason?" My eyes stayed glued to the cupcakes sitting in the middle of our table, their pretty, pink frosted tops coated in sugar. My lips curled into a sneer. I hated pink. It was just a watered down version of red. Why not just like red? Now that was a good color.
More to the point, why coat an already sugary little version of a cake in more sugar? What kind of backward way of thinking was that? Maybe it was all a strategic plan to kill off us remaining Stackhouses. Diabetes would hit in a couple years and then all of us would waste away.
It was a good plan.
"Haven't you heard?" Sookie murmured, flipping some eggs from her place across the kitchen. "He's seen the holy light of God."
"Gran would be pleased," I muttered, flopping down into a chair at the table so that I could closer inspect the sugared monstrosity that was currently sitting there. "Not to sound like a complete bitch - but how much longer is Arlene going to send us her guilt cupcakes?"
"You don't have to eat them-"
"Good. They make my tummy hurt," I grumbled, staring hard at the one in the center with a sugar-coated cherry sitting prettily on top. "It's like I can taste all of her guilt in every sugar-crusted bite."
"You're a drama queen," Sookie grumbled, setting a dish of sunny side up eggs in front of me with a strip of bacon that looked strangely like a grumpy face.
"If I'm a drama queen than you're some kind of lollipop princess from some fairytale place where unicorns fly around with singing flowers or some stupid shit like that." I glowered at the glare I was getting from the top of those demon cupcakes, shoveling the eggs into my mouth.
A shrill ring bounced off the walls of our pink patterned walls making Sookie sigh and rub her eyes. Our phone had been ringing nonstop, another blabbering Bon Temp citizen passing on some new gossip or another. The murder that had occurred in Merlotte's parking lot had sent the town into a tailspin. No one could stop talking about the woman who was found.
Most of it had turned out to be bullshit but each bit was embellished upon with the same amount of vigor.
The only one with any real news was Tara who had unfortunately met the woman when she was more than a heartless corpse. But even she hadn't been able to give the police more than a few vague details.
"So… this book…" My eyes snapped to her immediately, all of my attention focusing down on the pointed glances she was sending to the leatherbound journal sitting beside my plate. In the past day or two, I had scored the few pages of handwritten notes. At first, I was looking for anything to mark who had given it to me - a signature or maybe initials but then… Then I had actually started to read some of the entries.
My fingers skimmed over the worn material of the cover, the natural brown of animal hide giving way at the corners to a lighter tone from sun and age. At first, it was just a few vague drawings - a tree standing along with the backdrop of mountains, a lithe woman with wild eyes and long hair, a footprint in dirt. Then, eventually, those entries turned into long paragraphs with scribbled notes in the margins - feverish writing marring every corner of the pages.
I had withdrawn further into myself the more I had read, catching myself staring at walls in the dead of evening or in the middle of the night like I was living some kind of nightmare. Worse, I had kept most of the details to myself, choosing instead to leave Sookie in the dark while I tried to… I didn't even know what I was trying to do at this point.
"Someone left it in little yellow," I murmured, setting down my fork as I settled back into the hardwood of the chairs. "I found it - well, it was just sitting there when I got in. It says a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff about what I am."
My eyes drifted to Sookie, her brows crinkled in worry.
"What does it say? It can't be that bad - I mean you knew about what you could do already. You've been able to do it all since you were little."
My lips thinned, something rolling inside of me. "No, Sook. According to this book, I'm supposed to be able to do more. A full-blooded mare can slither through the tiniest cracks. I can move around without even being seen. Sensing fear is the base level."
"So you're like some kind of nightmare monster?" Sookie questioned, her nose wrinkling.
I groaned, rubbing a hand over my eyes. "I don't know what the fuck I am. The writer makes it sound like - like they were some kind of ancient animal. It says that the Vikings used to worship them as goddesses but then they vanished - started popping up in Asia and Greece. Eventually America. They killed when they wanted to by sneaking into the nightmares of humans. But it all seems to unorganized. They don't have any reason for doing what they do. They just...are. Like wild animals rutting and killing whenever they want."
"I mean…" Sookie's nose wrinkled as she considered, tipping her head this way and that as she considered. "You said that you spoke to one in your dreams or something like that?"
I grimaced. It sounded real fucking lame when she said it like that. I nodded.
"Didn't she say that mares have some sort of hive mentality-"
Something frantic beat at my heart as I leaned forward, running an agitated hand through my hair. "That makes no sense. None. Hive-mentalities mean that you can fucking communicate as one. Does it look like I've been able to just ring them up - like hey! Sunday I'll just ring up Martha and ask her what the fuck my entire life is and why everything's a shit show?"
I took a deep breath, the room going quiet for a moment. "Martha is a horrible name."
"Yeah," I grumbled, crossing my legs impatiently. "They probably have stupid fucking names like Svelta or Yevette. Like Russian hooker versions of the terminator."
Against the wall, Gran's cat clock gave a small ding as if chastising me for my open slander of women named Svelta or Yevette. I sniffed, hunkering down. There was a whirlpool inside of me that was slowly opening up. I got my powers. I got that I could kill someone with one stony glance and a trip to their rooms. But… I rubbed my temples. There was the tree. Why did I keep going back to them whenever I was called by the other mares? Why did the last one make it seem like we were slowly going extinct?
I flipped open to the last page, scanning over the few words that were scrawled across it. "They have come forth from the clay of the world. Born from the womb of their mighty tree they are here to rid the world of those with blemished souls. But speak not lightly of the wicked that they seek for to each mare comes a toll. To take a bridle between their teeth and allow another to hold the reigns, they are burned. And many already have felt the fires of the pyres."
I shivered as my eyes moved unwillingly to the sketch sitting beside it. A woman screamed up to a bottomless sky as smoke ate away at her thighs and naked breasts, kindling smoldering around her as shapeless shadows roamed behind her.
"Maybe…" I jerked, pulled away from the image even as my mind rang with a distant howl. Sookie pushed at the yolk of her egg absently with a spoon, her eyes distant. "You could be only half mare? I mean it would explain not having all of the powers that the book is saying. And maybe… I mean you always go out to the woods when you need to concentrate. Maybe… I don't know. You know like all those books about fairies that Gran used to give us? It would always say that they needed to be near nature because it made them more powerful."
A few pieces clicked together rapidly in my mind. Okay. So I knew that the legend of my people was apparently that we were born from a tree - the same tree that I had been dreaming about. My eyes narrowed, zoning out as I stared into the dark liquid of my coffee. What if it was just like a communal thing? What if mares used that as some sort of testing ground? Or maybe like an enhancer - something that was so ingrained in each of us that we knew where to go. Like a guidepost or beacon that we could all hone in on.
My teeth gnawed reflexively at my bottom lip, something ticking through my brain. The tree didn't really matter. It was what it represented. The mother that had birthed us - supposedly. And it did make sense if I was only half mare. I had never even seen a male mare before - not in my dreams and definitely not in real life.
"This book makes it seem like mares are wandering around, doing whatever the fuck they want," I started trying to connect the dots as I spoke. "But the ones that I've communicated with - she said that they wanted something from me. They wanted me to show them that I was worth their time."
"What do they want you to do? Kill a cat? Run naked through Bon Temp?" I shrugged, utterly at a loss. Her nose wrinkled again, her face pinching. "That's unfair."
Tell me about it, I thought sarcastically. "But they made it pretty clear what I'm not supposed to do. Even the book mentioned something about not being tamed - or like controlled."
My sister's eyes widened a bit at the statement. "Everybody's under somebody. What are you supposed to do quit your job and say fudge you to the whole world?"
"I feel like fudge you is my whole races motto," I grumbled, taking a sip of coffee. "But I don't think it means that. I think emotionally. Like - I don't know - I can't really think of anything."
"Like love," Sookie said abruptly and I blinked, taken aback.
"What?"
"Love. I mean that's the ultimate form of submission right? Falling in love? Didn't the last one say something about God? If you were into church and believe wholeheartedly in the Bible than your first love would be God. Or maybe some other religion - Ra? Zeus? Some alien God with the power to build the pyramids?"
My head spun. How had I not thought of that? I glanced to Sookie. It had almost seemed too easy for her to pull that shit out of the air. But that did seem… right. My head cleared a bit, the pounding subsiding as a few questions went away. Not all of them but a few were better than none.
Silence ticked between us for a few more seconds before I glanced up. "That still leaves one question."
Sookie blinked. "How are you going to make them believe that you're a good contribution to their society of gloom and doom?"
My eyes flicked back to the drawing of the burning girl. "And what are they going to do if I'm not?"
My eyes roamed tirelessly over the dirt crusting my Gran's tombstone, wilted flowers sitting in the vases on either side of it. The dirt beside it was already turned, the ground dug out so that Bartlett Hale could be buried beside his sister. Nevermind that Gran hadn't spoken to him in years. Nevermind that he was a molesting bastard who liked little girls.
But all of that would be put under the ground with him. God knew that Sookie wouldn't talk about what he had done.
Just across the cemetery was the fresh grave of Drew Marshall, sitting quietly in between two sets of twins like he had been born in Bon Temp.
It didn't seem right. I glanced back to my Gran's tombstone, kneeling down to brush away all the grime. Sookie and Jason had come here just last week but… something about being here alone felt right to me. Sure, I had been raised as a Stackhouse but was I really one? I was as different from them as snow is to the sun.
Briskly, I finished cleaning up the area and headed back to little yellow. I didn't like to linger at the graveyard even on the nights when I needed to be alone with the memories I had of Gran.
Sookie had found out rather quickly about Jessica's arrival at Bill's house and also about his murder of Uncle Bartlett. My lips thinned as I turned on the engine, backing out and driving down the bumpy gravel road to the main road.
I didn't get it. I didn't get how one murder could just pick up right after another. I just wanted things to go back to how they used to be - quiet and secluded.
Do you really? A small voice whispered snidely in the back of my head. I pushed it away.
A more pressing matter seemed to be the disappearance of Lafayette even though no one seemed to be more than a little concerned. I gnawed at my lip, tapping a hand on the steering wheel as my mind swirled. A deep tug jerked at my insides, making me squirm.
Lafayette had up and walked off so many times - too many times. He would get this itch in his bones and pull out money to go to some gay bar two towns away. Or drive off in some rich, old guys car after quitting a job at some sports shop downtown. He could be gone for a few days or maybe even a few weeks but… something was gnawing at me. Something didn't feel right.
I cut the engine quickly as I scrambled to get out of my car. The whole situation gave me a sour taste in my throat. No leads for the murder or the disappearance of Lafayette.
"Lovely evening." I stopped, nearly dropping my keys as I made my way up our rickety porch steps. Bill. I tried not to grimace too much as he gave me a fake, pained smile, his hands folded in his lap as he sat stiffly in one of our rickety old chairs.
"Mm," I mused, stepping up so that I was standing a few steps away from him. "I didn't know that tonight was our designated play date? When did the social workers change it?"
Arlene's cupcakes didn't have anything on me if the grimace straining Bill's face had anything to say about it. For a moment, he struggled with politeness before sighing, his face dropping in resignation.
"Sookie has deemed it fit to proclaim this night as girl's night," he said bluntly.
"Ah." I nodded, trying not to smirk too much at the whipped expression on his face. "So no midnight cuddles? You must be devastated."
"I was wondering…" He fumbled for a moment before flashing me another awkward smile. I had the strange notion that he might be about to force both of us into a heartwarming bonding session. "I gave Sookie my car, you see and Jessica needs new clothes. I was wondering if you might accompany me to the mall."
"You can run," I deadpanned, not moving. "I've heard that vampires are rather adept at running, in fact."
"Yes but…" his brows furrowed as he searched for words. I knew what he wanted. I knew that he would be utterly lost on what to get a teen vampire instead of those dungeon clothes that Eric and Pam had dressed her in. Maybe I could have let him off the hook but… "I was wondering… I need…"
He fumbled off into embarrassed silence and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He was an absolute mess.
"Come on," I sighed, turning as I fished out my keys again.
"You - you'll come?" Behind me, I heard the scramble of wood against wood as he got up quickly.
"It's painful watching you squirm and the poor girl needs some decent clothes not whatever Amish gown you were going to get her." I waved a hand around vaguely as we reached my car.
"I thought you didn't particularly like Jessica," Bill replied bluntly, his eyes widening.
"I don't like anyone."
