To Past; To Present
Karen watched Azura as she sat at one of the tables of the café, her books open on the table and a notebook in her lap that she was scrawling notes into at a rapid rate. She knew without having to look that it was all in French. She always hated having to write in English because she had more trouble with that than anything else that had to do with the language. She could speak it perfectly fine, aside from her thick accent, and could even read it nearly flawlessly, but she was hopeless when it came to writing things down.
Her hand moved across the paper it was hard to imagine how neat her writing actually was. She had been writing in cursive for so long that it was flawless by now. It was also amazing that she was still only in high school when she had the brains for her to be out of college already.
The café owner quickly finished the tea that the teenager had ordered and made her way over to Azura's table, gaining the blonde's attention nearly immediately. Her immaculate writing was nearly illegible because of how small she had written it out on the page, and there was the fact that Karen's first language was not French, she almost got a headache from looking at it.
"I don't know how you do it sometimes," she said finally, getting a small laughing from Azura.
"Years of practice. How are your French studies coming along?"
"Hm, they're still coming," she answered easily, causing Azura to reach out and smack her in the leg with her book. She had been telling her the same thing since Azura first found out that she was studying the language to more comfortably live in the full French city. "I surrender!" she cried out, laughing.
"You promised me that you would work harder on it! We always speak in your tongue, why not mine?"
"You talk too fast, I can't understand a single world that you say," she answered back smartly, nearly getting a second smack. She quickly fled back behind the counter when she noticed that there were a group of friends entering and didn't wish to keep them waiting. Azura simply returned back to her studies, flipping to the next page in her book. She had finished her art history exam, but the next day would be her English exam and she was not looking forward to it.
Azura slipped her notebook beneath the textbook that held the English assignments and different units that they had been taught through the year and began to read over it as best she could. It was all in English so it allowed her to practice her reading skills, but she also needed to work on her writing before she failed the exam.
She let out a soft sigh and leaned back in her chair, tapping her pencil against her thumb as she tried to translate her thoughts into English. She knew that she didn't really need to, she had not trouble with speaking it but writing just slipped away whenever she tried.
"Having trouble?"
Jumping in her seat, Azura's head snapped to the left at the sound of the familiar voice. The mysterious blonde vampire that had saved her life sat in the chair of an adjacent table, one long leg crossed over the other with his chin resting on his fist. His hair was shorter than it had been the last time she saw him, no longer passed his shoulders but still fairly long for a man.
"Hello again, teacup human," he greeted, sounding more mocking than pleasant.
"Hello again, giant vampire," Azura returned, watching the mirth dance in his eyes. "Can I help you with something?"
"Godric smelt of you this morning," he replied, causing her to quirk an eyebrow at him. Didn't really beat around the bush, did he?
"Yes, he was over at my house last night-not doing what is going through your head right now," she quickly said, seeing the smirk that started to rise up on his lips at her working. "You Americans, so crude."
"Godric is American."
"Not with that accent," she replied back, "I assume that you're not American, either. You act like it, though. And your accent fits slightly better." He glared at her for a moment, not completely angry at her but still not liking the fact that she seemed to be analyzing him. "Are you in the city with Godric? Or are you the one he is here doing business with?"
"We travelled together," he answered back cautiously. He wasn't aware that Godric had been so open about his affairs with the woman. He was aware that they must have spent much more time with one another with how strong her smell was on him when he returned to the hotel just before sunrise.
"Do I get to know your name now?" Her blue eyes met his own, his slightly more bright than hers were, and held only curiosity.
"Ladies first," he offered, causing her to smile. He was actually quite childish in some ways, dodging her question in such a way but she didn't hold it against him and only nodded her head in understanding. It always seemed the large ones that looked so tough were truly so irresponsible and childish.
"Azura Bellerose," she introduced, "and you are?"
"Eric Northman."
They didn't shake hands as she and Godric had, but continued to eye the other critically. She felt as though he was sizing her up, but it wasn't like she was food, he was making sure that she wasn't going to harm Godric. There was something between the two vampires that she knew her human mind was never going to be able to fully understand.
"Azura?"
The spoken female looked over toward the female voice, seeing Karen standing a couple of feet away from her table with hesitancy in her posture. She was looking between the teen and the man sitting at the table beside her, his attention fully set on Azura. It caused her to feel a lurch in her gut. Karen didn't approve of vampires any more than the others did.
"Who…who's this?"
"Karen Olsen, Eric Northman. Eric is the one that saved me from the vampires," she explained, seeing a small flash of relief appear in Karen's eyes. She had been worrying that the tall blond was Godric. Azura felt the urge to laugh at the thought. She couldn't imagine Eric trying to fit through her window as Godric had the previous night.
"Oh," she stuttered out, ringing her hands on her skirt. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Northman."
The vampire looked like he was repressing the urge to snort and say 'yes, because your fear makes you seem like you're so happy'.
"Azura, shouldn't you be getting back? Mrs. Cross might get worried if you stay out too late," Karen suggested, her eyes urging Azura to take her leave. The blonde woman frowned in disappointment, having been hoping that Karen would be different. She knew that she just wanted her to be safe but she feared for her life with two vampires that had saved her life. Not tried to take it.
"I suppose," she just mumbled out, not feeling up to arguing. Karen wouldn't have dropped it if she had tried to stay and eventually would have gone so far as to say that the café was closing early and she needed to leave. When Azura looked over to Eric he was glaring at the store owner in irritation. He clearly hated people who had such open hate toward his kind.
"I will walk you home," he declared suddenly, rising to his full height. "Godric would be displeased if you got hurt and I had left you alone." Karen squeaked quietly in protest while Azura smiled and rose to begin placing her things in her bag, expressing her gratitude.
"Azura-"
"I'll be by before school tomorrow, bon soir mon ami," Azura dismissed cheerfully, pressing a kiss against the other woman's cheek before she followed Eric from the shop, slipping out passed him when he held the door open for her. Luckily the sky was clear and the night was warm, allowing her to talk home comfortably.
"She irritates me," he said as soon as the door was closed and they were walking away, Azura a few steps ahead as she led the way. His legs were longer but he had a more leisurely stride, she was able to keep up with help from her naturally fast pace.
"I understand. You have good reason," Azura agreed, adjusting the strap on her bag before she ended up dropping it.
"You don't irritate me, why?"
Azura looked over to him with a strange look. How was she supposed to answer that? She didn't know why he wasn't irritated by her, it could be for many reason. "I don't know. Perhaps it's because of Godric. Where is he, by the way?"
"Negotiating," he replied easily.
Here on work. Azura thought, remembering what he had said. "He must be very important, then. Do you live with him in Dallas, then?"
"No," Eric answered, his tone suddenly sharp. "Such strange ways you pronounce words, little human." Azura glared at him briefly, remembering when she had first met Godric and he had brought up her pronunciation of vampire.
"Do not mock her accent, Eric. She dislikes it," Godric's voice said softly. Azura didn't jump this time, but quickly stopped her pace and looked back to where Godric was approaching them from the direction they had come. "I am glad to see who two have met one another." He had a soft smile on his lips, a peaceful look that brought warmth to Azura's heart.
"Godric," she greeted with a smile of her own, turning to face him fully. He looked to her and his eyes seemed to brighten more than they had been. Green. They were a stronger tone of green this time. He stepped right up to her, a gesture that she didn't flinch away from but instead lifting her head up to and let him press a kiss against her lips in greeting.
Eric said nothing but stood by the side as he watched his maker carefully, seeing that there was a new lightness in his step that had not been there for many years-centuries even. It was something that he would never admit relieved him.
"I will take her home, Eric," Godric said as he looked over to his progeny. The large blonde nodded his head before he disappeared before Azura's eyes. Godric's arm slipped further around her waist and turned her to walk with him to the home that he had found her in the night before. She leaned against his side without hesitation, still having trouble with understanding how she was feeling. Only three times had she seen this man and she didn't know why it was she felt the way she did.
They spoke in hushed tones as they walked along the streets, Godric's arm never dropping from her waist and her own moving to hook her fingertips into the pocket of his pants closest to her. He switched to French so that she could speak with him more comfortably, his lips brushing against her ear as he whispered to her about his past and the several different places that he had lived throughout the years.
"How old are you, anyway?" she asked softly when Mrs. Cross's house came into view.
"Roughly two thousand," he answered back easily, amused when she jerked and looked up at him with wide eyes. She had been expecting a high number because of a vampire's immortality but she was not ready for that.
"That's amazing," she finally gasped out, completely aware of the amusement that was shining in his eyes. "So, you came before Christianity? Mon Dieu, you much be a walking talking history book then." Godric let out a breathy laugh at her wording, shaking his head in amusement. It felt good to laugh again.
"When is your birthday?" Godric asked in response, feeling the need for balance in the conversation.
"January eleventh," she said in easy reply, "I've always considered eleven my lucky number since then. They didn't know how old I was when I was placed in foster care, probably a couple of days only, so they said that my birthday would be the day that I was found in front of the hospital. Apparently, it was a nurse's birthday and that was the only reason they found me out back. I would have been dead by the time someone else had come along."
"You do not know your true age?" Godric asked in surprise.
"No, it's only a couple of days off anyway. Besides, I feel honoured to have the same birthday as the woman who saved me," Azura explained with a brilliant smile that in turn brought a smile back to Godric's lips as well. "She sends me a birthday card every year and I always tell her where I am so we can write."
"She's a very kind woman," he said in a soft tone, happy to see that she was not upset about the topic of conversation. He was curious about if she knew what had happened to result with her in the back alley of a hospital but he didn't want to ask for fear of upsetting or offending her.
"No one knows," she said suddenly, catching him off guard. He looked at her in question and she smiled sadly. "My parents," she elaborated, "no one knows why I was left in the alley or what happened to them. They don't even know who they are. Don't even know who I am, for all they know there's a birth certificate of mine somewhere out there that has my real birthday and name on it."
"That is…tragic," he finally answered after a brief pause between them.
"Perhaps for some people but I like to think of it as my test in life. If I can make it through living in numerous different homes; backgrounds, ethnicities, religions; then I may very well be able to do anything," she joked lightly, smirking faintly to him as they stepped up toward the front door to her temporary home. "Will you come in again tonight?"
Godric was silent for a moment as his eyes lingered on the door behind her, listening carefully. He could hear that the older woman was still awake, moving about in a shuffling motion. "I don't think it best to take the front door; I may startle your foster mother."
"Ah," Azura said in understanding, looking to the side to see a soft glow of light behind the glass coming from the kitchen area. "Window?"
Godric only smirked to her before disappeared from view, nearly startling her. She only shook her head in amusement, though, and turned to head inside. She tried to be as silent as she could but Mrs. Cross was faster than her and turned to look around the corner of the kitchen.
"Azura, I was getting worried!"
"Je suis désole, I got caught up with studying. I'm going to head up to my room now, goodnight!" she said quickly, smiling to the other woman before she made a light jog up the stairs. She didn't even have a chance to grab her doorknob before it opened from the inside and a pale hand pulled her into the darkness. The cold skin was familiar to her as the door closed behind her, the strong skin of Godric's hand caressing her arm.
His other hand tangled in her hair before his lips pressed to hers in the darkness, the strong smell that she remembered from their last encounter surrounding her and making her nearly dizzy. Her arms wrapped around his neck in the next moment, holding onto him tightly. His arms wound around her waist and pulled her flush against him, their lips and bodies moulding together.
The cold didn't bother her, she actually found it to be a beautiful contrast whenever her skin heated up around him, cooling her back down but letting the passion remain.
His hands slid along her back softly, remained over her shirt, and her back arched at the feel. She thought back to the night that she had gone to kiss his cheek but ended up at his jaw and pulled her lips from his, diving toward his throat and pressing light, slow kisses along his jawline. Godric let out an unneeded sigh of breath as his hand moved up to the base of her skull once again, pulling her closer to his flesh.
She truly had no idea what she was doing to him.
This mini make-out session should be enough of an apology, no? I'm sorry for taking so long! I've got the next chapter finished, though, so all I need to do is edit it and it'll be out soon, more than likely today. I promise, if not today then tomorrow! Please review, I miss my reviews… :)
Also, for those who commented on my Godric/OC/Eric, Godric would be the MAIN guy. It won't be threesomes or anything like that-those make me uncomfortable to even read, let alone right-they would just both love her. Godric would be the main love with Eric coming in after. I mean, wouldn't the maker want to share with the progeny? In the story, also, there would be much darker themes than the Godric of the show, since it wouldn't be based on that time line completely(kind of like this one). Okay, my rant is done, I swear! He would act more like the Godric from Eric's nightmare, urging him to bite Sookie ;). That was a great shot, finally got to see his fangs. Okay, now I'm done!