It's Only Beginning
A/N: I know it's been forever… I really don't have any other excuse but life!
I know it's a short one, but hopefully they'll be coming out faster now that I can get the Eric/Sookie plot rolling.
Let me know you still care by dropping a review(:
Chapter 5
"Well Bill, I have to thank you for coming for me," I spit out gruffly, "but I am not leaving without Lafayette."
I knew my plan of action to save Lafayette in the first place wasn't exactly… planned, but I'll be damned if I let him rot here with these crazy vamps when we both have a way out.
Bill looked down his nose at me as if he didn't like what he saw, and I glared right back. It was a simple request. If he could get me out then he could get Lala too.
I saw the tiniest adjustment of his stony facial features, before he turned to Malcolm to negotiate. Finally!
"Malcolm, is our other human here a consenting participant?" Bill asked very casually.
"I don't see how that is any of your concern." Malcolm replied with a tight-lipped smile, and forced politeness if you asked me.
"Being that I am an investigator of Area 5, I think it is very much my concern. Beside the fact that this type of situation should be going through my sheriff, your nest is only visiting this territory. I don't think this kind of behavior would be considered very good manners of guests." Then he chuckled softly, almost as if he was enjoying a private joke.
I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn't see anything funny about the situation. He needed to hurry up and get Lafayette so we could LEAVE.
"We all know Northman is not the most hospitable of area hosts." Bill finished coolly.
There we go! Some incentive!
Malcolm was starting to look very wary of Bill. I was starting to enjoy his composed way of threatening, but we needed to speed up the process.
"Yes, Eric Northman would be very displeased if he knew you were taking on his responsibilities without the courtesy of having asked his permission." I said to Malcolm. I hoped I was still on track with my vampire politics, one wrong move and I would be back to the blonde-bimbo-clueless-human.
Whatever I said must have worked though; because, Bill snapped his head towards me with a quizzical brow (perhaps wondering where I got that bit of intel), and Malcolm looked quite resigned when he replied,
"Take Lafayette, and give Eric my apologies for not turning him over sooner."
Success! Now we needed to hurry the hell up and get the out of this damn house!
I ran over to Lafayette and unchained him as quickly as I could, while Bill simply stood in the doorway watching. It would have been nice to get a little help!
Lafayette still wasn't quite eloquent in his gratitude… Hump, I practically putting my life on the line for him. He slung an arm around my shoulder and we hobbled our way out.
I was expecting Bill to have some sleek, fast but silent car waiting for us, but there were no other vehicles in the driveway or on the road.
I looked at Bill expectantly.
"So how are we getting back home?"
"You are driving your drug addict friend back to the shifter's bar, where I will retrieve my car." He said, turning away as if to walk off.
"Excuse me? Why do I have to drive back to the bar? How did you get here?"
He walked closer to me and gave me a patronizing stare before speaking.
"Sookie," he began, like I was five years old, "I need you to take this man to the bar, so I can put him in my vehicle and take him to Eric. Then you can drive yourself home, or wherever it is that you are going tonight. As for how I got here, I walked."
I only registered one thing in that whole thing.
"Take him to Eric?" I practically yelled at him. "You can't be serious! Don't you know that Eric will do far worse than what those three would have?" I said frantically, throwing my arms in the air. I slightly lost my balance at that moment, since Lafayette was still leaning on me like a lump. Said "lump" was surely not acting like himself either; he seemed to be mumbling to himself, eyes half closed.
"Of course, I certainly have an accurate idea of what Eric will do. As it is his responsibility to pass judgment and to punish, like you stated earlier."
"I thought we were saying that to get us out of there! I didn't know you would actually TAKE him…" I was getting confused.
Maybe I need to realign who the good guys are in this equation. I still don't even know how Bill knew I was here, and, apparently, he was only here for me. Sure, I was able to get Lala away from the evil threesome (foursome if you include Jerry), but from the looks of it, I wasn't be able to convince Bill to just hand him over to me… especially since Eric needs to bestow his official authority so badly. Fine then. If Lafayette has to go to Eric, then so do I.
Bill was still belittling me with his superior stare, when I straightened up to answer him.
"Alright, I'll drive to the shifter'sbar, but once we get to Merlotte's, I'm getting in your car and we will ALL go to see Eric... together." I said decidedly.
Then I received my second eyebrow quirk of the night, but no other response.
"I will see you at the bar," he said carelessly over his shoulder, while walking into the shadows.
What? He was planning on walking all the way back to Merlotte's from the middle of nowhere? Yeah right. I was soooo totally gonna get there first.
I shoved the not-so-coherent Lala into my back seat so he could lie down, and revved up my beat-up engine to go.
It didn't take me too long to drive in the direction we came from and locate the highway. From there it was only another ten minutes to the exit to Bon Temps.
We were back to Merlotte's parking lot in no time.
I was struggling to get Lafayette out of the back of my car, when I felt a cold presence very close behind that scared the bejesus out of me.
I turned around in a flash, adrenaline coursing through me, when Bill spoke and I saw that it was only him. My heart started slowing down to a normal rate.
"Need a hand with the addict?" He asked, that creepy glint in his eye.
I was thankful to him, and all, for his randomly saving us, but I still didn't like this guy.
"No thanks, I got him."
After stuffing Lafayette into another backseat, and suffering almost twenty minutes of awkward "Tuvan throat singing," as Bill called it, the car ride was finally over.
We pulled into the parking lot of Fangtasia, and cheese and crackers, it waspacked! The groupies just come here by the masses! I could understand how the mysterious allure of a vampire nightclub would be interesting at first, but I couldn't understand the addiction.
When I moved to get Lafayette, Bill simply shook his head and said,
"There is no need for him to be present. After all, you will be the one doing the talking on his behalf."
Well, I suppose that's true… so I left Lafayette in the car and walked toward the front doors with Bill.
It was my first time seeing Fangtasia through my own eyes. I couldn't deny that I was a little excited, but not for the club, it was because I was going to talk to Eric. Maybe that was a bad thing, but at least it would keep me sane in this wild environment. (This line confuses me a little bit.)
I was carded by an Asian vampire at the door. It was odd, I had only been carded once before… and it was the only other time I had been to a club… three years ago.
I was already expecting theblack and red theme, from Dawn's memories, but I didn't realize how intense it would be.
Once inside, I was in a maze of red, loud music, and blurring vampires. They were moving so quickly from place to place that I could hardly see where they went.
It didn't take me long to spot the golden throne with red (naturally) upholstery. It sat on a raised platform, with a certain blonde vampire looking very unemotional atop. Eric Northman was wearing an expensive looking black suit, no tie, shirt unbuttoned at the top, and his shiny hair was straight down framing his handsome face.
The moment Bill grabbed my arm and began leading us over towards the throne, Eric's blazing blue eyes clicked over to mine, as if he knew of my presence. Quickly, he shifted over to his left, and began speaking to a very beautiful blonde, female vampire that I hadn't even noticed before. She was sitting in a smaller version of his chair, wearing a very tight, very short black dress with elbow-long black gloves. She had a petite face, with a small nose and mouth, but full red (of course) lipstick painted lips.
Once we reached the two blonde vampires, I became self-conscious that I was still wearing my work uniform; everyone else had on such classy attire. I immediately chastised myself for being petty. I was just off of a failed rescue mission, taken hostage, and then rescued for Pete's sake.
"Sookie," Eric said slowly, appraising me with his eyes, "I see you took up my invitation… with Compton no less," he said sarcastically, "what can I do for you tonight?"
"She is here to speak with you about Lafayette Reynolds." Bill answered for me immediately.
I did not appreciate that. I could speak for myself, especially when the question was directed towards me… thank you very much.
After giving him a pointed glare, which he didn't seem to notice, I answered Eric.
"Yes, I need to speak to you about him."
"I do not know of this Lafayette you speak of," he said cavalierly, while leaning back, a hand at his chin.
I took a step forward and was about to give a more detailed account when Bill, yet again (!), interrupted and replied,
"He is the drainer and user who has been tapering off of Eddie Gauthier, the young recluse."
Recognition passed over Eric's face, sparking his eyes. His fangs drew down slightly.
"Have you found this invalid? And I must ask you, Sookie, what part do you play in this illegal vampire activity?"
There was no way I was going to give Bill the chance to interrupt me this time. I spoke quickly.
"Lafayette is a friend of mine; I work with him at Merlotte's. He was abducted by three rogue vampires tonight. I followed them to their nest. They were planning on torturing him, and they took me hostage as well," his fangs distinctly clicked down at that bit of information. I continued, "Bill here got us both out alive," I said unwillingly, wanting to at least acknowledge his role.
"I see there is more to this story." Eric said, rubbing his index finger over his bottom lip. "Do you have any more business for me tonight, Bill?" He asked.
"No sir."
"Then you are dismissed." Eric waved a hand, willing him away.
"Excuse me, sheriff…" Bill implored.
"Get your sorry ass out; before I shed a tear and bleed on my mascara... you are pathetic." The female vampire, who was otherwise uninterested in our exchange, stated frigidly. Her dark blue eyes, looked like deep pools, and I knew I didn't want to mess with her.
I was a little surprised at her tenacity, seeing how she didn't say anything else. It wasn't hard to see her disdain for Bill. He rolled his eyes at her admonishing, and walked away.
"Jävla idioten" Eric said to the woman in some foreign language, chuckling lightly.
I was still trying to figure out what he had spoken when he addressed me again, always saying my name first.
"Sookie, this is my child and my second, Pamela."
She looked at him and did I see a faint blush rise on her cheeks? That would be the only emotion she revealed during the entire conversation) briefly, before turning her eyes back to the crowd with a bored expression. Pam didn't lose the lethal look in her eyes, though.
"It's very nice to meet you." I said, Southern manners shining through.
"Well aren't you sweet," Eric said.
"Not really," I replied quickly, and then bit my tongue. I hadn't meant for that to come out rude.
But he just smirked at me.
Then standing to his full height, which still impressed me, he said,
"Come, sit with me," gesturing to a booth.
Now, I knew I was there to be negotiating the potential freedom of my friend Lafayette, but for some reason, I was having a hard time focusing on that fact. I think Eric had that effect on me.
I smiled lightly, and followed him to the booth, sliding into the opposite side.
Show time.
A/N: Now the fun really begins! I just loved insulting Bill… I will always hate him. Don't think I have forgotten about Eric's importance in the story. We're about to have a whole lot of fun with him.
Swedish translation:
"jävla idioten"
"Fucking idiot"
P.S. If anyone knows Swedish or is willing to help me out with perfecting the translations, it would be greatly appreciated!
