Chapter 5: Cannonball

The muscles of her neck and shoulders were one gigantic knot. She could barely move her neck side to side. Even though she was used to wearing heels, her boots were killing her feet. Her bones felt brittle, her body exhausted. Have you ever been so tired your skin felt dry? All she had left was her big purse, and luckily she found a pair of sunglasses at the bottom of it and put them on. She didn't give a fuck it was 2 AM, eye contact was beyond her capability at this point.

Olivia strutted across the Carmilla's front lobby, trying to put as much space between her and Eric as she could, but the man had 8 feet worth of legs - it was futile - they arrived at the front desk at the same time.

"Reservation?" The unfriendly receptionist asked, eyeing Eric like candy.

"Northman."

The skinny blonde receptionist shot Olivia an odd look. Don't do it, Olivia, don't peek. But she was just too tired to block the woman's thoughts.

Wow, what a wreck. I really wish hot vamps like this had standards. They'll fuck anything these days.

"Ah, yes the honeymoon suite." She gave the couple a fake smile. "Congratulations."

Olivia was close to vibrating when her hoarse voice managed to threaten him. "Eric, it will be a cold day in hell-"

But Eric was way ahead of her, and gladly he interrupted. "My apologies, my progeny likes to pull little pranks on me," he told her with a kind smile. Fucking Pamela. "Could we switch to separate bedrooms?"

Oh, someone DOES have standards after all. I am definitely signing up for the menu shift tonight.

"Sorry," her smile grew wider and faker. "We are pretty much booked. I have a two-bedroom suite-"

"I'll take it."

Still, why do vampires like him drag white trash like her? I swear I will never understand.

Sometimes it took an extraordinary effort to not slap some people right on their mouth. Be the bigger person Olivia, she could hear her dad say. If she had full mobility of her neck and shoulders, Olivia probably would have smashed the receptionist's head against the counter, but alas, she didn't. Where was her award? Again, with her fake smile, the receptionist pushed the key cards across the desk, Olivia took one and immediately left for the elevators. Three seconds later Eric joined her inside. As it went up, she leaned against the wall and tried to rest her neck against it, but pain shot down her column, making her whimper in pain.

"You have whiplash," Eric told her, glancing at her over his shoulder.

And he was probably right. After they discovered the pilot was trying to pull another 911, Eric did what he did best - killed the pilot by turning his neck inside out. With the plane's controls jammed beyond saving, the vampire had the fantastic idea of jumping out of the plane. It was either that or the parachute attached to the corpse. Needless to say, Olivia had no skydiving experience. She thought it was a joke at first but then watched Eric open the airplane's door, depressuring the entire cabin at once. She had to grab onto the cockpit's door frame in order to not get sucked out from the cabin. She watched Eric jump out first without her and disappear into the night. Air rushing, alarms ringing, she could feel the plane's nose slowly diving forward. She truly thought she was going to die right then and there.

Suddenly, there was a ball of light outside and a deafening bang. The plane jolted to the right, knocking Olivia to the floor. Eric casually stepped right back into the plane, from the void outside. He strolled back to their seats and grabbed her purse, and tucked his cellphone into his pocket. He acted totally normal, cool and collected as if their jet wasn't on fire, with a door open and headed straight to the ground. He walked towards her and stretched out his hand.

"Ready?" He asked with a smirk. It's like he enjoyed seeing her scared. "It's either me or the dead guy's parachute."

She took his hand, and he embraced her whole torso with his large arms and pulled her tight against his chest.

"Put your arms around me and don't let go," he asked, looking at her in a way only he could. She complied, trusting him. And what happened next was a whirlwind of extreme noise, falling, cold, and darkness. Their exit of the aircraft - which Eric managed to dodge the flaming engine he destroyed, so the plane wouldn't collide with the Carmilla - was less than graceful. She felt like she was inside the spin cycle of a broken washing machine. Olivia could see the city lights on the horizon violently spin before everything came to a halt, mid-air. Eric could fly. Olivia had no idea vampires could even do that. The two watched the airplane dive into the dark ground, and crash into what seemed to be a cornfield. Still holding her tight against his chest, he gracefully carried them both to the edge of the city where they took a cab to the hotel.

And now the vampire glared at her with his pretty icy eyes, taking pity on her mildly injured mortal body. Maybe I should have chosen the parachute. "I'm fine."

"I can heal you-"

"I said I'm fine." Ruler number 4: no vampire blood. She had broken this rule before, and it was decidedly not worth it. Olivia still sometimes had dreams about her.

But never mind that, she could not wait to wake up tomorrow and spend a whole day alone in Dallas, maybe hit up the spa and get a massage under Northman's credit card. When they finally arrived inside their elegantly modern room, Olivia plopped onto the cream suede couch and unzipped her shoes, sliding them off. The relief almost made her moan out loud but she held back. She slowly laid down, letting her body rest. After a minute of silence, she opened her eyes, just to see Eric Northman watching her with his hands tucked into his pockets from across the room. She couldn't make up what his expression was, but she didn't care.

"I've asked one of Godric's house servants to bring over his laptop in the morning, maybe it will be helpful somehow. Tomorrow night we will meet with the other Sheriffs and get all the details of Godric's disappearance."

"That's fine." She reached for the room service menu on the coffee table, struggling to raise her arm.

"There won't be any human food in there," he warned her.

"Of course," she sighed, defeated. This was a menu for vampires. You could pick their gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and blood type, but not a single normal food item. "Eric, if I don't get french fries in the next 30 minutes, I will absolutely lose my shit."

"I'll call reception and make sure you're fed. What do you want to eat during the day?"

"Tomorrow? I can just go out for food-"

"You are not to leave this room until I rise tomorrow."

"Excuse me?"

"I had my suspicions Godric was taken by someone powerful, and the pilot who tried to kill us confirmed it. I need you to stay close while I'm asleep."

The sheer absurdity of those words gave her the power to sit back up. "I'm not sure who you think I am, but I'm not your little pet, Eric!"

"Oh no," Eric smirked, slowly pacing around the living room that adjoined their bedrooms. "That is exactly what you are. You were gifted to me by the Queen to take care of. What do you call that?"

Olivia's jaw clenched in anger, she could feel her blood pressure rise. She was far too tired for this shit. "No-"

"Yes, actually. And the Queen told me to... What was it? Handle you with care, because you are delicate-"

"Fuck you, Sophie-Anne didn't say that."

"And if you got even so much a scratch, she would personally rip my balls off. It's on her edict-"

"I won't tell her you made me jump out of a fucking airplane if that's what you're worried about. I'll just book a massage at the hotel spa and we'll call it even."

"Do you even know how rare it is for a vampire monarch to write an edict of protection at all, let alone for a human?"

Losing her patience, Olivia stood up and stepped towards her room. "Look, I didn't make you drag my ass to Dallas to look for your friend, okay?! If you knew something shady was going on and you asked me to come anyway, that's on you!"

"How did you know about the pilot?" His voice echoed behind her.

"I thought we weren't doing this anymore."

"We are." Eric dashed across the room and blocked her way towards her room. "And until I understand what exactly the Queen is asking me to take care of, I'm going to keep asking until you fucking answer me. I'm about to step into uncharted territory here, looking for Godric in a place I have no authority, fighting enemies I do not know, with vampires I do not trust. I can't focus with you as my blindspot."

There were a million different ways she could tell him to go fuck himself, but she realized there was nothing to gain by it. Pushing this man's buttons only ended with destruction, and she was not here to test how far that edict of protection was going to stretch. His chest was inches away from her face, his gaze towering over her. Having Eric stand so close awoke something dark inside her.

"You only think I'm your blindspot because your ego is so big I could climb it, jump off it and kill myself. The Queen assigned you as my client, not as a punishment to you," her voice was becoming brittle. "But as a punishment to me."

Oh my, oh my. What did you do my little swan? Olivia's hair was on the wrong spectrum of a messy ponytail, and she had mascara smudged under her eyes. She walked like a little robot, neck and shoulders so stiff she could barely look up at him. But still, her heartbeat was strong, relentless, unafraid of him. Her unwavering strength was admirable. Regardless, Eric had never met anyone who didn't crack sooner or later. He just had to find out what made her tick, and he had some theories to test. What did you do? What is your secret? What are you being punished for?

"I'll tell you what," he could barely contain his smirk. "Have my blood, and you can have the whole Hotel."

She took a step back, looking offended as if he just called her a bad word. "Absolutely not!"

"It's for your protection, Olivia. If you are bound to me, I can sense your fear. I'll be able to wake up and find you. It'd be dumb to think someone who's willing to crash a plane into a building wouldn't try to hurt you while I'm asleep. Or do you really think that pilot was working alone?"

"Nuh-uh," she nodded. "No can do. It's against the rules."

"Whose rules?"

She stepped into her bedroom and was about to swing the door closed. "My rules. Rule number 4: no vampire blood."

Eric put a foot on the door frame, stopping it. His fangs came out at once, there was something intrinsically exciting about hunting prey. He pushed the door open without much force. "It's just a drop, it will wear off eventually. Plus it will make you feel better-"

"Not interested, I know about the fine print."

The fine print was probably the best part. The bond, the tracking the high, the intense dreams she would have. He would live rent-free in her subconscious, what more could he want? Olivia ran across the room, but there was no place for her to go unless it was through him. She threw a lampshade at him from the top of the dresser, which he smacked down with his forearm and it loudly shattered against the wall.

"Get away from me!" She demanded.

The next second he had Olivia pinned against the wall. Her smell was taunting him. Her perfume was good, but what lied underneath was hypnotic. He could smell the sunshine on her lightly tanned skin. He wished he had a taste of her back on the first night they met when he didn't know who she was. Raid be damned, he should have taken her neck in the alleyway. Now that he knew, it was too late. If he played his cards right maybe someday she would offer. His right thigh was between her legs, raising her feet off the floor. His forearm pressed strongly against her chest. She pushed his shoulders and arms away with no success. Not physically, but Olivia Carson had a hell lot of leverage on him. She knew everything about him. All his accounts, his properties, businesses, legitimate and not. It was nice having power over her, even if it was just for a minute. Thinking of it, he should have done this ages ago.

"Let me go, right this instant!"

"I will, once you've had a taste."

"I'll stay!" She cried. "I'll even barricade the fucking door. I won't leave!"

She really did not want this. He wondered what made her create this little personal rule. Whose blood did she have?

"Something tells me you aren't the obeying type," Eric bit down on the flesh at the base of his thumb and she looked at him wide-eyed at the sight of his blood. Having her squirm under his grip was surprisingly not as satisfying as he wanted it to be. "This is the only way I can make sure you're safe, Olivia." He pushed his palm against her lips.

She scrunched her face, tried to move her head, but her whiplash didn't allow her neck to turn. His blood worked immediately. Eric felt a full-body shiver take over him. He felt her like he never did with anyone before. Part of him was now a part of her. He was inside her veins, taking over every part of her body. Not even Pam at her turning felt this loud and clear. This blood bond was somehow special. He should have definitely done this ages ago. Still kind of stunned he stepped back, letting Olivia go. She can't be glamoured, she magically knows things, her scent, now this….

What are you?

She spat out all of his blood that she could and wiped her face clean with her sleeve, but it was pointless. It was done. Her body and neck relaxed, her pupils dilated. She probably felt invincible right now. He wondered how much she liked it. With a swift motion, she slapped him in the face, hard. Oh, she liked it alright. It was too good, really. He smiled, pleased with her anger. Toying with her made him feel something he hadn't felt in a long time. The look of pure rage on her face right now was… Priceless. Just when he thought she could not get any hotter.

Eric made his way out of her room, trying not to grin too hard. "Dawn is almost here, so I'll now retire for the day. You should get some sleep."

She glared at him with a curse in her eyes. A different type of wrath. "You're going to pay for this. And that's not a threat, it's a promise."

He could feel her plotting retaliation. He was looking forward to it. Eric only played games he could win. "Sweet dreams, Olivia."

It was 7 AM, and the sun was rising outside. Olivia refused to go to sleep out of sheer spite. She felt alive with anger and bitterness for having broken rule 4. Having Eric's blood inside her was bad enough, but she would not - COULD NOT - tolerate the thought of having intense sexual dreams with that blond tall monster - that's what he was. He may be the hottest man Olivia ever laid eyes on, but on the inside, he was one ugly and despicable psychopath. That's how she wanted to think of him, for as long as she possibly could.

Plus, his blood gave her the energy of at least three pre-workout drinks. She felt electric and wired, like a 21-year-old trust fund kid on spring break in Cabo with an eight ball of coke in their pocket. Invincible. She found an EDM music station on the large plasma TV and she absolutely blasted it - like on volume 100. The furniture was shaking. Eric's bedroom door remained shut, so she continued. She had a dance party for one, dancing on the coffee table, the couch, all over the living room. Olivia even took off her sweater dress, she got so sweaty. She absolutely loved dancing, especially alone. It felt like pure freedom - the one time she didn't have to worry about keeping everything and everyone in control. Her mind went clear, and she just focused on the music.

Once that got boring, she took a shower to clean the sweat off. But then Olivia remembered she lost her poor luggage. Her favourite outfits, and her favourite cocktail dress, all burnt and scattered across a cornfield somewhere. She frowned for a moment, putting her sweaty sweater dress back on when she had an idea. She headed downstairs to the front desk. This place was dead quiet, much different than it was when they arrived last night. During the daytime this building was basically one massive mausoleum. Before any of the receptionists could roll their eyes at her, she asked. "Who would like to make a thousand dollar tip today?"

The two women looked at each other, curiously. "How… Can we help you?"

Olivia was halfway through her hot stone massage up in her bedroom when there was a knock on the door.

"Oh, is it lunchtime already?" Olivia raised her head, expecting to see the hotel service room maid with the trolley, but it was just a young man holding a briefcase.

"There was a delivery at the desk with explicit instructions to be given to you, and only you. They mentioned a laptop, I think…"

Right. Godric's laptop.

"Thank you, just leave it on the coffee table," she said with a sigh.

Olivia had to cut her massage short and send the very attractive masseuse away, as duty called. She wrapped herself in the hotel's fluffy robe and sat down on the couch, opening Godric's laptop, while admiring her fresh new manicure.

It prompted her for a password. Right. Olivia went through her old purse, tossing all its contents all over her glass coffee table, looking for her keychain. On it, there was a USB pen with dark software that she used to crack into people's computers all the time. If she was nearby, her telepathy allowed Olivia to overhear anyone's password when they logged into their computer - also worked for any password, every time people texted or looked something up online. It was a blessing sometimes, but mostly a curse really. But there were plenty of occasions she had to get into someone's computer without their knowledge, or more specifically, a vampire's computer. So Olivia bought this little USB pen from the darknet last year when she started working for the non-living. The small black box popped up on the screen and it ran the code, trying multiple combinations. The process usually took a couple of hours, sometimes way longer for a strong password.

Olivia then kicked back and turned on the TV, picking A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila. Maybe getting the massage was a bad call, or maybe this show was just boring, but she could feel herself getting dangerous sleepy. Maybe the effects of Eric's blood were wearing off… She could only wish because she knew what followed the high. The dreams. The nasty, vivid, fantastic wet dreams.

But, the stars were on her side today, because someone else knocked on the door. When she answered, 4 hotel staff entered holding shopping bags upon shopping bags, and suddenly she was awake again with a magical Christmas morning feeling. Olivia had used Eric's credit card as she had planned to do: she had ordered expensive room service breakfast, gotten a mani-pedi followed by a hot stone massage, all while she had paid some of the staff to go out shopping for her at Highland Park Village. Now she found herself surrounded by at least 2 dozen shopping bags. Olivia knew exactly how high Eric's credit card limit was, and she was going all the way, baby. She had yet to meet a man she couldn't hurt through his wallet.

"Would you like these in your room ma'am?" The bellboy asked.

"Living room is fine." Olivia wanted to make sure Eric would know about her shopping spree.

The staff left the bags in the middle of the room and left, so she could peruse her new clothes in peace. One of the bitchy receptionists had decent taste, at least. She got Olivia some Fendi jeans and blouses, a Dior dress, three stunning Jimmy Choo shoes, an Alexander McQueen jacket, some Cartier jewelry, a darling Celine purse and a full face worth of Chanel makeup. Plus a bottle of Chanel No. 5, as requested. Oh, and Dolce & Gabbana undergarments. Much sexier than she needed for the weekend, as Eric would never see her in these personally. But some other lucky person would, hopefully.

Rule number 17: never buy your own designer clothes. Don't be a fool.

She put on her fancy new clothes and sat back down on the couch when the computer finally beeped: the password had been found. In white letters it read:

NeiLeitaRáðaMér

She had no clue what it meant, but the uppercase letters and symbols alone were the reason it took forever for the software to crack. Nevertheless, she started looking. Browser history had been wiped. Passwords were deleted, files showed nothing of importance. Emails were mostly in languages she did not recognize or understand.

"Hmmm…"

Eric would not be happy with no answers. She tried his browser again, the history had been deleted but the cookies had not. BINGO.

Cookies were small pieces of data left by websites in order to remember information about users, like their logins, what they searched or purchased.

"Now let's follow the crumb trail..."

Olivia went deep down the rabbit hole, retracing Godric's electronic footprints. There was a lot of ground to cover, and at first, she was unsure how it all fit. But then a specific website made her remember something: the jet's pilot. His anger. His insane plan to crash their plane into this hotel. And most importantly:

Lord of light.

She clicked on the website the cookie was from. She was confused. Could this be it? Why would Godric- "Holy shit."

Eric rose the next night feeling content and refreshed, and particularly hungry. His sleep was uninterrupted, which meant Olivia managed not to get herself in trouble. He wondered how well she had slept. Oh, he could only wonder what delights she dreamt about with his blood running wild in her veins. Was it romantic? Or rough, with bondage and whipping? She would make the most decadent submissive lover.

After he showered and got dressed he stepped out of his room and was caught by a surprise. At first, he thought he picked up Pam's scent, but his progeny was nowhere near- she wouldn't dare disobey him by coming here and leaving Fangtasia. No, what he smelled wasn't Pam, but the smell of brand new fresh designer clothing and indeed, the living room was covered in dainty and crisp expensive bags of various sizes. He knew Pam wouldn't disobey, but Olivia…

He could hear her in her room. One thing at a time. "How was your sleep?" Eric called out, looking forward to her answer.

Olivia stepped out of her room, looking better than he had ever seen her. She wore a single shoulder skin-tight black dress with a wide and high slit on her left leg, held together by 3 small golden rings. Stiletto boots made her legs look incredible. Olivia was certainly taunting him - she knew he could not harm her, and the things he wanted to do to her would certainly require consent.

"I didn't sleep. Do you like it, though?" She asked with the sexiest smile, even tiptoeing a 360 so he could take it all in.

He knew this was too good to be true - there had to be a catch. How did she get all this? "I thought I told you not to leave the hotel."

"I didn't," she said, her smile melting him. She sat on the arm of the sofa, crossing her legs. Her legs. "Your credit card did."

Hold up. Eric looked around the room again, reading the shopping bags. Fendi, Dior, Chanel… He could all but hear the sexy illusion shatter like glass right in front of him. Eric left his credit card number at the desk, could she have... No… No, she fucking did not. "You did… What?"

"I keep my promises, Eric. I told you you'd pay for it - and you did. For all of it." She adjusted her long, perfectly smoothed hair, spreading her golden honey-dipped scent everywhere. It was both divine and torturous. And he would not stand for it. No human bitch would walk all over him like this.

Before she could react, he stepped almost on top of her and made her get up by grabbing her by the jaw. His fangs grazed her cheek. Eric was not one to control his rage and this time she had gone way too fucking far. Olivia's heartbeat spiked again, but she did not show any sign of fear. In fact, her lips cracked a smile between his fingers.

"Stop testing me, Olivia." He snarled, his voice dropping low. He could feel her blood rushing beneath her warm soft skin under his fingers, tormenting the hunger he felt so deeply. "I can make that little piece of paper protecting you disappear. Then, who's to say what I'll do with you."

"You won't do anything to me." Her audacity irritated the ever-living shit out of him, which only made him want her more.

"Why's that?"

"Because I know where Godric is."

A.N.

hello bonjour!

Love writing this Olivia versus Eric, I swear it's so much fun! Many of you are excited for Godric, I am too. As for his fate, you'll have to read on. If you know my stories you know everyone is fair game though, I gotta keep you on your toes somehow ;)

Thank you for all the love, XOXO til next time