Thank you all for the lovely reviews! And thanks so much for all of the favorites and alerts and subscriptions! I feel so loved! :D
On another note…
Is anybody else as excited as I am for the scheduled May release of Dead in the Family? Only about a month and a half left! Ai!
Chapter 2
The next night I decided to dress as conservatively as possible. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to look good. After a refreshing shower and one hour of throwing on different outfits, I settled for a dark reddish copper silk blouse and dark wash jeans. I styled my hair in a Studio 54 sweep and popped on Gran's "Audrey Hepburn" dangling diamond earrings. My blond hair really set off my smoky eyed make-up and deep red lips. To add some flair, I wore red high-heeled fuck-me-shoes. I laughed to myself and considered what Lafayette might have said: "Girl, you look fierce. You're fierce." And yet the only skin I was showing consisted of my neck and hands. Eric really only needed to see my neck anyway, I thought.
I finished off the look with a black crystal encrusted clutch, which held my I.D., my lipstick and cash. I only kept a $20 with me just in case but I figured no matter how hard I argued Eric would insist to pay for everything. What girl could complain? He was going to take me to dinner before we met with Claude, so I was hungry. Speaking of hungry, something was missing…. Hm… Oh yes! I forgot perfume! I grabbed my bottle of Obsession and dabbed liberally all over my wrists and neck.
I looked up at my mirror to survey myself and jumped ten feet in the air.
"Eric! What the HELL? Don't do that to me!" I slapped his rock-hard chest and he chuckled. Whatever.
"Lover, your scent is mouthwatering." he held me to him as he buried his face in my neck. Goosebumps formed as he licked my neck and blew on it. Then I felt his fangs scrape my neck. I became warm butter in his arms. He kissed up my neck to my mouth where he gave me a searing kiss.
After making out like hormonal teenagers, I pulled away. "We have to get going." I said, still looking at his lips. They were red and smudged with my lipstick. That was kind of hot. Ok, that was hot.
"We have time."
"Ok." And then he pulled me down to my bed.
***
I reapplied my lipstick as Eric pulled his pants on. I checked the clock, and it read 7:30. One hour later. There go our dinner plans; we now only had a half hour to get to Hooligan's.
"Eric, I'm going to call Claude and let him know that we're running late." I was flipping through my phonebook when Eric took my phone.
"Lover, you underestimate me."
"I am not getting into your car if you speed all the way there."
"Lover," he sighed, "You underestimate me. I didn't drive here."
"Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea! You don't mean to piggy-back fly to Shreveport!"
He just smiled.
"Eric, you know I almost never miss an opportunity to wrap my legs around you," He gave me a toothy grin. "But this is insane."
"I won't let harm come to you. I promise. Once you get over the fear, it's invigorating." I squinted my eyes at him.
"You won't try to scare me?" I crossed my arms.
"If you insist," I gave him one more look and shook my head in defeat.
***
We took off at a running start, and sooner than I knew it we were sailing above the trees. Holy Crap. But Eric didn't disappoint, he was right. I loved flying with him. Except, next time, I wasn't going to spend so much time on my hair. This was a pony-tail kind of activity.
Eric flew close enough to the trees to avoid detection, and watching the nocturnal animals come out was something to behold. Then I caught sight of a panther running around the trees with great agility. This one was a full were-panther, not Bitten, so whoever it was it wasn't Jason. When I thought he/she/it was following us, I tried to glimpse through its thoughts, and because of my recent intake of Vampire blood, I was better able to make distinctions.
"Hey, Calvin," I waved like a fool. The panther stopped dead in its tracks. So I was wrong about him tracking us, but it was Calvin! Calvin raised his paw in the most human-like thing I've ever seen a were-animal do. "…Nice to see ya!" I said as Eric sped up. What a small, strange world.
Soon I saw the lights of Shreveport and in quick succession Eric landed on a rooftop, and then jumped from one to the next before jumping down to a deserted back alley. When I was oriented, I noticed a bright green sign that read "Hooligan's" over a nondescript door with no handle. Without hesitation Eric strode up to it and knocked twice.
A beautiful, pink-sequined-g-string clad male opened it. He was bleach blond with Rico Suave hair (made complete with a neon-pink bandana) and a well-built body. One of Claude's employees?
Then he gave us a bright smile with bright white teeth. Well, with knives. Oh. He was a fairy.
"Why, hello you two! I'm Tristan. Claude, that devil," he swiped his hand in a delicate flick of the wrist. "Has told me so much about y'all!" Ok, he was a fabulous! fairy. So cute! And I recognized his voice.
"All good I hope!" I offered. He had a hardy laugh for someone who seemed so delicate. Then he took me from Eric, to whom I shot a desperate look, and placed me on his arm as he led us through the back. "Did I speak with you on the phone yesterday? I left an urgent message for Claude?"
"Ohmigod, we did! So you were the mysterious caller!" he giggled. Well, aren't we loquacious? (A recent Word-of-the-Day.)
"Sweetheart," he whispered as he patted my hand. We went through a door that read: EMPLOYEES ONLY. "You have got to tell me what that one," he wagged one expertly plucked eyebrow in Eric's direction, "Is like in bed!" he said with a giggle.
"There are no words." I said in my most seductive voice. He laughed outright. When I looked from his face to my new surroundings, I saw all of the mirrors and bright lights and clothing (or strips of cloth, depending on your persuasion) on mobile racks and the makeup scattered about on the counters. And then, of course, I noticed the fabulous!-ly good looking nearly-naked men.
"Hey guys!" Tristan announced. Suddenly we were the center of attention. "This is Sookie, Claude's cousin," he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, "and this is her Bonded, Eric. He's the Sheriff of Area Five and he owns Fangtasia and only, like, half of the other decent joints in Shreveport!" Half of the Decent Joints in Shreveport? Just how loaded was Eric? And the Bonded part? If this was how I was introduced, I truly underestimated the significance.
"Hello Lady Northman! Hello Lord Northman!" The strippers said in unison. What's with the honorifics? Well, at least I looked the part.
Then he took us through an adjoining door and out into the main area. Here, there were flashing lights and three male strippers on the catwalk. The booming music in the background was a Lady Gaga song, and some of the tipsy women were singing along merrily. Instantly, I remembered to put up my shield. I did not want to hear what anyone was thinking here.
Tristan took us to a secluded booth on the far side. Whereupon I saw Claude talking with Bobby Burnham. Claude signed some document and they shook hands. So this was it. Bobby nodded when he saw Eric.
"Northman," said Claude. "Welcome to Hooligan's. Hello, Sookie." He walked over to give me a hug and we exchanged kisses.
"Hello, Claude." I mumbled. I settled into the C-shaped booth with Claude and Eric flanking both sides.
"Everything is set up. As of now, you are the co-owners of Hooligan's. " Claude gave me a weak smile. He looked so sad. I reached over the table and gave his white-knuckled hands a squeeze.
"When are you leaving? I fully intend to spend every last minute with you until you leave." Claude just laughed.
"Not if Northman has anything to say about that!" We laughed and Eric gave a nod of approval.
"How many of your employees are Supes?" Eric asked.
"Tristan is the only fairy. The rest are either human or Were. So about fifty percent." Claude hesitated, then said, "Sookie, Tristan is a distant cousin of ours. He's not as he seems." I didn't like the way that sounded, so I touched Claude's mind.
"He's not gay?"
"It's all part of the act. The friendlier he is, the better our female customers like him. And for our male customers, having him for my Host shows some goodwill. I have a community reputation to uphold."
"Clever." Eric commented.
"He's good. He had me convinced!" We all laughed at that. The telepath was deceived! Then I froze. I realized suddenly that he hadn't even made a blip on my mental radar. "Claude, what is different about Tristan?"
His eyes widened, and then he shook his head. "You did catch on. Tristan is a very old fairy. He has some very interesting abilities. Sookie, as you grow older, depending on how much of Eric's blood you take, you're going to develop some of the abilities that are exclusive to our Royal Family Blood either before or by the time you reach thirty. Since Grandfather and I are leaving you're going to need a mentor. Tristan is trusted, and he opted to stay behind in this world. You'll be seeing a lot of each other."
I tried to digest all of this. On top of my telepathy, I was going to gain other abilities? For a while, I just sat and stared at the Hooligan's logo on the table. While in my stupor, Eric ordered me straight gin, and pushed it towards me. I mumbled a thank you and downed it in one gulp.
"Good God." I said, and neither man was sure of what I was referring to.
This is so much fun!
Please review, and thanks for reading!
~ChristiAnthemum
(OHMIGOD I JUST SAW A POSSUM OUTSIDE MY WINDOW. Ewwwwwwww.)
