Eric groaned looking down at his chest, the burn had already started to heal, but his shirt was done. "Tell me, Miss Stackhouse, are you his?" Sookie mocked imitating his voice while looking down at him with still glowing hands. He knew those words would come back to haunt him. "You are lucky that stupid fool interjected before I had to answer." She added menacingly.
"Sookie, I was playing the part." He defended rather weakly.
"Lie to me again." She dared her hands glowing brighter.
"Okay, I…" he shut up knowing he was about to lie again. He got up brushed himself off as she stormed off into the house. He followed with a smug smile on his face.
Adele chuckled from her position in the doorway. She handed Eric a clean shirt with a shake of her head. "It was worth it." He whispered.
"Is the fire throwing over?" Pam asked with her head in the doorway.
"For now," Sookie said sweetly.
"Told you you shouldn't have asked her that. Who in their right mind wants to be Bills'?" Pam deadpanned with a smile. It was always a pleasure to see a slip of a girl put a thousand-year-old vampire in his place. "How did it go?" Pam asked after Eric put on a new shirt.
"Very well, Sookie's idea to record it was genius." He said in an attempt to placate, though the idea was truly genius. The whole endeavor was, and it was Sookie's plan. A plan he wasn't so keen on for fear any number of things could go wrong and he would end up meeting his true death leaving Sookie at the hands of vampires. But things had changed when he discovered Bill was talking to Threadgill. Vampires held humans in little regard and therefore did and said things they wouldn't otherwise do in front of them. Bill's favorite donor was Eric's spy. Bill liked to talk, and his donor dutifully listened and reported it all to Eric. Bill, in particular, was on Sookie's shit list and Eric knew he was going to suffer before he met the true death.
"So what next?" Sookie asked.
"Victor would be at Fangtasia tomorrow night to interrogate Bill... after he will leave the job of exacting his true death to me as sheriff. Of course, I would prefer if you showed up before the interrogation just in case he insists I do the deed in front of him." Sookie nodded with a smile.
"After Victor leaves we will have a little chat with Bill." She said gleefully.
Though she'd never say it out loud, Pam had to admit Sookie sometimes scared even her. She was the quintessential southern lady until crossed, and Bill had crossed her in the worst way possible.
"Where is Jason? "Pam asked realizing her other favorite breather was nowhere to be smelled.
"He's in Monroe picking up some stuff for me," Eric said cryptically as gran placed a warm bottle of true blood before him. "Oh, Sookie you have to take my blood." He added before knocking back his true blood.
"Don't I already." She quipped. She had Eric's blood, but tomorrow night they'd be using magic to suppress the scent of his blood in her.
"You were right because of my blasé attitude towards you, and Victor's overzealous one, Felipe decided it was best you were tied to me." He said with his trademark smirk.
"I told it would work out. It's hard to know someone when you truly have no idea of who they truly are." Sookie muttered. Indeed, apart from Pam, Thalia and the Stackhouse's, no one really knew who Eric Northman was. What was known about him was what he wanted people to know. A large part of his life was not known to anyone except those he considered family. "Anyway, are you guys staying tonight?" Sookie asked. Since Compton had moved across the farmhouse, Eric and Pam avoided coming to Bon Temps to prevent any unnecessary risks.
"Yeah, it's been a while, I missed the magic." Pam moaned.
The Stackhouse farmhouse was seeped in magic. The Fairy magic that surrounded the property was incredibly powerful. Both Eric and Pam loved doing nothing more than inhaling the air around the property. Pam said the magic tingled her nose and made her eyes water, something that didn't happen as a vampire without the magic. Eric kept his reasons to himself.
...
Eric walked through the downstairs guest bedroom, he opened the closet lifted the latch and made his way down the stairs. He walked through the short tunnel with a serene smile on his face. He pulled the heavy steel door opened without entering the code as Pam had left it unlocked. He locked it behind him and sighed needlessly. It was truly good to be back at the farmhouse.
Though the sun hadn't gone down, he got ready to die for the day. He got in bed, and his thoughts drifted to an old friend.
Eric knew his best chance to get out of Europe lied in England or what was formerly Wessex. His maker had just released him, and Eric wanted to be as far away from him as possible. He had two choices he could either head for Asia or Africa. He'd prefer Africa as he had an invite from the vampire king of Egypt to join his court. Khufu had taken a real liking to Eric, but an immediate dislike for Appius, his maker. Khufu had found him alone and had said the minute Eric was free he was welcome at this court. Appius used Eric more often than not too gain a place in most courts, but that didn't last long when Appius had one of his moments and ended up slaughtering entire villages and then they had to flee.
He heard rustling to his left and paused, the road at this time of the night was deserted. He knew he'd run into people the closer he got to the port. His eyes didn't see whoever it was, but he could smell their blood and dear Odin he knew what he smelled. Appius though had warned him to stay well clear of Fairies if he was alone. He could easily wander around drunk and happily meet the sun because on Fairy blood you were barely aware of yourself or your environment. Most vampires that drained a fairy's blood usually ended up dead not because they obliviously met the sun while drunk, but because when a Fairy is lost their keen knew and immediately turned up which resulted in the vampire's true death.
Eric though kept walking towards the smell with his fangs down and throbbing. He rounded a large tree and found a Fairy on the ground clutching his stomach, which was bleeding profusely. "You have quite the nose, vampire," Fintan muttered struggling to remain conscious. He had a ward around him even it was fading the vampire shouldn't have been able to smell his blood.
Without a word, Eric bit his wrist and let the blood pour into the wound. Fintan looked on in shock and surprise at the action. The vampire should have drained him by now. "Why?" he asked after the wound closed.
"I don't' know." And Eric truly didn't know why he had saved the vampire's life. Later he would put it to his new found freedom and not wanting to take any risk. Though he simply could have walked away, but saving the Fairy was something he would never be able to explain.
"I thank you." Eric had no idea what the thanks meant coming from a Fairy.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Fintan asked.
"Unless you can truly free me from my maker I doubt it," Eric growled.
"Meet me here tomorrow night, and I will have something for you," Fintan said. Eric looked at him skeptically, disbelieving he could genuinely be freed from his maker's command. Appius may have freed him, but he could still command, as he hadn't truly released him.
Despite his doubt, Eric agreed to meet Fintan the following night. "What is your name?" Eric asked. "I'm Eric." He offered.
"Fintan." He answered with a small bow and then was gone in a blink of an eye. Eric decided to abandon his human pace and vamped to the town of Dartmouth and laid in wait for a lone human. Healing Fintan had left him feeling somewhat hungry and he needed to feed. He was just about to move in-between a row of storehouses when a female approached him.
This would do.
After a long fuck and a quick feed, which the female was glamoured to forget. She understood the sex was a one-time thing, but despite her ease, he couldn't afford to have her retain her memory of the feed. He would never glamour a woman to forget her sexual encounter with him, as far as he was concerned it was akin to rape. He dug a grave right where he was to meet Fintan the following night and died for the day.
When he crawled out Fintan was sat up against the tree waiting for him. He spotted three beautifully crafted medallions on the forest floor next to Fintan. "When you are ready you put your thumb over the center and press down do not stop until it glows blue." Fintan looked at Eric then. "After that, you have until dawn... then it will no longer have any effect. With this, your maker will not be able to command you. I suggest you have a good plan before you go after your maker. You have three… use them wisely." Before Eric could ask any questions, Fintan popped away. The last time Eric saw him, he had asked him to keep an eye on his family. A civil war had broken out in Fairy and Fintan wouldn't be around much to keep an eye on them. Eric had been sheriff of area 5 for a while at this point, so it worked out well.
When Fintan fell in the war Eric made the decision to approach Adele, he wanted a more hands on approach to looking after them.
"What are you thinking about?" Eric wasn't the least bit surprised to find her in his room.
"Your grandfather." He answered moving to give her room.
"I wish I had met him." She responded as usual.
"I wish you had… Fintan was the brother I never had. I saved his life… and I still don't know why. Then he saved mine several times." Fintan had truly saved him because without those medallions Appius would have killed him when he found Eric half a millennia later. Despite the medallion, he still wasn't a match for Appius. Fintan had turned up and helped Eric kill his maker. Later, he learned Fintan hadn't helped because he saved his life. He had done so because he thought Eric was an honorable vampire and to want to kill his maker, then he must have been truly sadistic.
"Oh, is your office still bugged?" Sookie asked. "I don't want to say anything I shouldn't if it is." She added.
"Yes, Pam and I play the perfect sheriff and lieutenant every time we are in there. The best place to talk is my safe house in Shreveport. The rest of my properties Felipe knows about, so I don't trust that they are not bugged. Anyway, I don't take it personally at all, all of Felipe's sheriff's offices are bugged."
"Can I sleep here, I have a long night ahead of me." She asked.
"Why not?" He answered with a smile.
...
"How tired were you," Eric asks as Sookie stretches and yawns waking up. He had been for about an hour just watching her sleep.
"I'm not going to lie I've not been sleeping all that well with Compton so close." She admits
"Can't say I'm surprised, and I felt the same that is why I had security on you while he was here." Eric sits up, and Sookie looks on in envy.
"I really wish I could just get up like you do when you wake." She pouts.
"Come on sleepy head, we do have a long night ahead of us. I have to go home and shower get your delicious scent off me." Eric teases.
"It's not on you enough." Sookie murmurs although with his vampire sense of hearing he heard every word.
"When this is over we can give us a try," Eric says sincerely.
"Really?" Sookie asks her happiness nearly knocking him off his feet.
"Yes, really." He plants a kiss on her forehead and disappears out the sleeping chamber.
"He didn't have time to think about him and Sookie right now, the idea had occurred to him years ago. He thought about making a move when she turned twenty, but the takeover happened, and he was in no way about to expose her to the likes of Felipe and Victor. They would have surely killed him to get their hands on her. No, she needed to be kept well away from vampire politics, when it was all said and done she was going to be his.
Within an hour he was at Fangtasia smelling like his usual self. He walked into the office checking his phone. "Let's deal with Compton," Victor said eager to enjoy the delights Fangtasia had to offer.
"It has to wait, I just got a message from Miss Stackhouse she wants to discuss the contract." Victor's smile grew.
"Indeed, Compton can wait."
Sookie got out of her beat up car and walked up to the door instead of joining the line. "Well, if it isn't the delightful Miss Stackhouse." Pam drawled.
Sookie looked at Pam in a way she had become used to and narrowed her eyes in warning not that Sookie would listen. "Miss Ravenscroft, I didn't think it was possible for anyone to have a worse southern drawl than Bill Compton… but you have just proved me wrong." Every vampire in the bar head her retort earning quite a few laughs, some outright howled with laughter, Eric chief among them. He vamped to door before Pam could counter knowing it would anger more than anything.
"Sookie." He greeted with a chuckle.
"Sheriff Northman."
"Sookie, how many times have I told you to call me Eric?"
"Yes Eric, I've come to discuss the contract, and I should warn you I was followed for most of the day by two men." She said putting a slight tremor in her voice for their guest.
"Come to my office." His tone got severe.
She eyed Victor Madden the minute she walked into the office. "Sookie, this is Victor Madden, regent of Louisiana." She nodded in response. She realized she wouldn't need to act at all where Victor was concerned. Sookie had taken an immediate dislike to the vampire. The way he stared at her didn't make her uncomfortable as it would others, but she acted that way earning a growl from Eric.
Victor realizing he was making her uncomfortable stopped his leer and averted his eyes. The last thing he needed was for her to turn down the contract because of him. Just maybe it was a good thing the telepath was going to be tied to Eric. He knew she would balk at the idea of being tied to him.
Two hours later they were still going over the contract. Eric could feel Sookie's amusement as she dragged out every little issue as if it was world ending. Victor was getting impatient for her to sign but he bit his tongue and kept deadly still in his seat. "Where do I sign?" Sookie asked clicking her pen with a flourish.
Neither Victor nor Eric could hide their elation, for very different reasons.
"Miss Stackhouse, we will arrange for you to travel to New Orleans to meet the king and make sure we have everything done to your satisfaction," Victor said with a smile. "Sheriff, I will leave you to deal with the problem downstairs," Victor said cryptically. Sookie had to laugh at his attempt to keep her from the horrors so soon into her contract. "I have to get back to the king and report the good news." He added.
"We will see in New Orleans in a couple of nights," Eric said as Victor departed and they quickly moved to Pam's office to talk freely. "Was that entirely necessary?" Eric growled. "Two hours Sookie, two fucking hours. You didn't need to pick at every line in that goddamn useless contract."
"What took so long?" Jason growled walking into the office followed by Pam.
"Your sister happened." Eric retorted.
"I was just playing my part." She defended innocently.
"That look don't work on me so quit it." Jason groaned. "Everything's ready." He added with a sadistic smile.
"You Stackhouse's are really scary when you want to be," Eric mumbled.
"Come on, let's go blow Bill's mind… literally." Pam intoned walking back out of the office and into the basement.
Bill looked up when he heard several footsteps coming down the basement stairs. "Sookie?" he moaned sniffing the air.
"Hello, Bill." She greeted as Bill's eyes run over the four in front of him. Nothing could prepare him for what was about to come.
