Title: Dead Lost
Summery: Eric left a year ago, but now Sookie's being pulled back into his life. The initial mystery Sookie is asked to solved is over come simply, but now Eric wants to start over with Sookie, will they be able to get it together, or will the year apart and the changes that came with it drive them apart for good?
Pam/Sookie Friendship, Eric/Sookie eventually-like you had to guess.
Rated: M.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words I write. The characters, themes and products most likely belong to someone else, except for any names/persons not mentioned in True Blood or the Sookie Stackhouse novels.
Once I was fully awake, I showered and headed down to the book store 15 minutes away from Claude's house. Sure it wasn't likely they'd have books like that lying around, but it wouldn't hurt to see what they did have.
Since Claude wouldn't explain anything to me, mostly because he didn't want to and because he said the books held more knowledge than he did, I figured I might as well just try and find them. It's not like they had the books that the Fae kept, those were trapped in fairy land.
Dermot and Claude answered any questions I had about my Fae heritage but it'd be handier to have the books, so I could learn with out having to wait for something to happen that made me have a question about it.
While I was there I lost track of time, the place was huge, bigger than the library at the mansion. The whole place had that old book smell, I didn't want to leave and I spent a good hour just downstairs in the newest of the older books. Then I made my way up to the older books and looked around.
"Have you found what you're looking for yet miss?" the sudden appearance of the shop owner almost made me jump.
"No, not yet." I told him, he gave me a quizzical look and then cocked his head to the side. I was a little weirded out so I slipped into his head, he was wondering what a fairy could be doing in his shop.
"What are you?" I sputtered before I thought about it.
"I'm a shifter." He replied, "Can't you tell?"
"No." I tell him, trying to hide my disbelief; I mean his thoughts were so lucid. There was no way, even with my enhanced telepathy Shifters minds still weren't crystal clear. But just easier to navigate through. Maybe it was just more enhanced stuff.
"Oh, anyways, what is it you were looking for?" Claude had told me not to tell anyone about the books so I guess I would have to come up with something.
"Books about vampires." I answered, "My sister is in a relationship with one and I just kinda wanna know what to expect, ya know?"
"I have one, but if a vampire finds it you better make sure not to tell them you got it from me." He tells me, I nod and he walks off to go get the book, when he comes back he's carrying a big bulky book.
"Come on and I'll check you out. I've gotta close early. Full moon and it's a long drive to my pack." He explained extremely open about the whole thing with some random stranger. Maybe he sensed I wasn't a threat to him or something. Not that I was. Or maybe he was just being dumb.
"Okay." I replied, following him downstairs, he rang up my order, which was only 15 dollars and then pushed me out. I kept the book close to me on my short walk to the car and tucked it under my seat as I headed back to Claude's.
Half way there Alexsandra called me and let me know that they found the baby vampire that had been stalking my property. It was a turned witch and she was also who had blown up my TV. Either way I was majorly creeped out by having random vampires lurking my property and blowing my things up, especially with my family living with me.
I thanked her for letting me know and then hung up so I could finish my drive to Claude's. He was sitting in the kitchen thumbing through a magazine when I got back, "find anything interesting at the book store."
"Not what I was looking for." I replied, "but I found a book about vamps." I pulled out the book and finally took a look at the heavy book the Were had given me. Claude peered at it over the counter.
The book was a musty brown color and the word 'vampire' was scrawled in red across the front. I slowly pulled the book open. From the state of the book I knew it was pretty old.
"Why did you get that?"
"I had to lie to the guy about why I was there, first thing that popped into my head was 'vampire'." I replied with a shrug as I flipped past the first few pages.
The beginning pages had a lot of weird words and definitions; I flipped past them opening it to a place in the middle it had information about how you become a vampire and continued flipping I found a bunch of folk lore and tales of vampires, and ironically enough I came across mention of a blonde Viking vampire and his childe. It made me grin to myself stupidly; it was about a massacre years ago.
Claude left in the middle of my examination of the book to head to Hooligans, leaving me to explore the book alone in the kitchen, once I finally get tired of looking aimlessly through it I head upstairs and tuck it away with the other book and flop down on my temporary bed. The fan swirls slowly above me, the AC clicks on, and it suddenly gets really cold. I shiver and crawl under the covers to try and get warm.
I think over everything that has happened, from Pam showing up to Vera disappearing to me kissing Eric right after he fed. The thought still made me shudder. He may have been telling the truth about not planning on screwing her, but it still made my skin crawl thinking about the fact he had been sleeping with other women.
Not that I could blame him really, I was just being petty and jealous.
Suspecting it and having it confirmed are two different things. I knew he had to do it with the Queen, it was required by contract, but the others and they were his choice. I mean I truly expected it, and if I ever found someone I could do that with I would, but between the mind reading, work and the extra fairy garbage I was getting I really didn't have the time or want to act on anything regardless. It was still a shock.
I let out a long sigh and stretched out. I really needed to call Sam back though, or maybe stop in and see him. I decided to do just that, I showered grabbed my bags, the books and loaded up my car heading down to my house before going to Merlottes.
After a long talk with Sam about what had happened and a few weeks adjusting to being back in my boring life I was going about a normal routine of going to work and then going home after. On my days off I'd do chores like grocery shopping and cleaning the house, and then I'd read, tan or spend a few hours watching TV.
My routine was comfortable, occasionally Alexsandra would show up and we'd spend the day shopping. She'd become the only friend I had outside of work and my house, I was thankful that her botched spell had sent her to the place she missed the most. Her hometown, she ended up staying while continuing her search for Vera for a while until she decided to say screw it and just stopped.
I'd given up most hope of Eric to return to Bon Temps and sweep me off my feet, or at least just show up, but he never did. I didn't see Pam that much, once the acting sheriff of area 5 paid me a visit to ask if I noticed anything strange going on, but why the heck would I?
I told him that I hadn't and that he needed to leave my property at once. We argued for an hour and then I called up Alexsandra who worked up a nifty spell that worked sort of like rescinding someone's invitation to enter my home. If I told them to get off my property they had to, and any body that was deemed to have malicious intent to anyone on my property, wouldn't be able to get on the property. I was happy with that; it let me not worry about Claude, Dermot and the kids being eaten by a vampire.
Then two months after the incident with the Sheriff, I got an invitation in the mail from the Vampire King of Louisiana inviting me to a vampire ball. I looked at the letter completely bewildered. Why the hell would he want me to attend the ball? I outright didn't like the man. I tossed the card aside almost instantly and moved on to the bills that had been delivered with it.
It wasn't until Alexsandra called me a week before the ball that I actually remembered the invitation. She convinced me I should go and then told me we should go shopping, and to be honest I really wanted to get out of the house so this would be my excuse.
Two days later Alexsandra and I went to the mall in Monroe to look for dresses, it took awhile but I finally found the perfect dress, but if I thought mine took long to find Alexsandra's took an eternity.
She was a huge perfectionist and if one little thing was out of place on the dress, like the hemline was an inch too short she'd toss it aside and look for a new one. During those two hours I wished over and over that I was a witch so I could cast a spell on her that would make her pick a damn dress.
It didn't take nearly as long to find shoes and then we went out to dinner. I stayed at Alexsandra's so that we could go to the ball together. We spent most of the day preparing, Alexsandra had paid for us to go to a spa, and I made a mental note to pay her back for it, before I let myself relax and enjoy the spa.
By the time we were pulling out of her driveway however a nervous knot had formed in my stomach, the whole drive I fiddled with my necklace and glanced in the mirror, and out the window. I tried to distract myself with singing along to the radio but it didn't help.
Why had I been invited to the ball? And why did Alexsandra insist I came along? I glanced over at my friend; she was watching the road a relaxed expression on her face as she twirled her hair absently with one hand.
She was wearing a black dress with a high neckline and a pink wrap belt, her hair was no longer curly but pin straight and hanging down to the middle of her back. She looked nice and relaxed, but I could see a hint of nervousness flicker through her eyes and her thoughts, which were, for the most part, heavily guarded from me.
I looked down at my own dress, it was strapless and burgundy, it clung to the right spots showing of my curves but hung loose past my hips down to the middle of my thigh, I had on matching strappy heels that cost more than the dress did, and my nails had been done in a French manicure.
I drummed my nails on my thigh absently as I looked ahead, I could see lights and cars, soon enough we were slowed to a crawl as we approached the house in a huge line of cars. That's when I noticed how tense Alexsandra was; her hands gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles turning almost white. She was chewing on her lip with her eyes locked forward and sitting stock straight, unlike her earlier relaxed position.
When we reached the gate I fished out our invites and she passed them to the guard, he motioned to another guard, this one a vampire, whispered something and let us through after the vampire ran off.
A few more people directed us to our parking spot. She tucked her keys into her bra and adjusted it until they weren't visible before leading me up the semi-lit path to huge doors and into a crowd filled room.
Vampires were everywhere with a few Weres as well. Humans, most likely pets, milled around the edges of the room, a few with their owners, mostly keeping to themselves as was expected. Alexsandra had grabbed up my wrist when we entered and proceeded to drag me through the room, she was searching for someone.
She pushed through a few people, leaving me to apologize as I bumped into them after her, and then she dropped my wrist, squealed and ran into someone who hugged her back ecstatically.
As they broke a part I found myself looking at Vera, she was in a short dress, with a red bodice decorated in red lace, and a flowy black skirt. Her hair was pushed back with a red head band and she had apparent fang marks on her neck, they matched my own fading scars.
"Sookie!" she said with a smile, giving me a brief hug, "how are you?"
"Good, how are you? I certainly didn't expect to see you here!" I replied. She pulled us off to a less crowded part of the room and the three of us spent a half an hour talking. Vera was in the middle of telling us about some witch guy she'd met when my eyes were drawn across the room to a tall, blonde, muscular man.
He was standing next to a blonde woman in a pastel pink dress and tall pumps, I found myself staring. It couldn't be, could it? Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was Pam and Eric who were standing there.
Vera fell silent, noticing what I was looking at, or rather, who. "go talk to him."
I snapped my head around, blinking, "what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean Sookie. Go talk to him."
I shake my head, "why is here?"
"Did you not read the invitation Sookie?"
"Honestly, no."
"Eric is the new King of Louisiana. This is his ball, he invited you personally." Vera said, "He's been a real bitch about whining about you not coming and waiting for this day, I swear if I didn't know better I'd think he was a she. Please go talk to him, if you don't I'll never hear the end of it and I might just ask Pam to drink me dry."
My jaw dropped to the table, I wasn't sure if it was because she called Eric a bitch, said she'd have Pam kill her, or the fact that he invited me himself. I felt my face heating up and I ducked my head, "wait; didn't know any better?"
"He struts around after his showers naked; the man has no moral principles." Vera grumbled.
"Come on Sookie." Alex said my name a little louder than she needed to and I peeked up to see Eric and Pam looking this way, their attention was quickly taken up by a new vampire though, "Grow a pair."
I stared at Eric for a little while longer. I really wanted to go talk to him, but I didn't want to interrupt his conversation, even though I found myself on my feet and walking over to him, he was talking to the vampire that I had kicked off my property awhile ago, he gave me a nasty look as I walked up.
I tapped on Eric's shoulder lightly, he turned and smiled at me, turning his back fully on the vampire, "Sookie, you came." He said, sounding genuinely happy, "you look beautiful."
"Thank you." I said under my breath, "you look handsome."
He smiled wider, it reached his eyes and made them light up and butterflies filled my stomach, "would you like to dance Sookie?"
"I would." He offered me his hand and I took it, following him to the dance floor where we gracefully glided across the floor, we talked a little as we danced and he said my name a lot. Every time he did my stomach fluttered a little bit.
When the song changed to a slower song Eric pulled me closer, my arms went around his neck and his hands fell to my hips, "I've really missed you Sookie. I'm sorry I screwed everything up."
"You didn't, we did." I told him, my voice barely above a whisper, "and I'm sorry."
"I want to start again." He told me, "I want to start us over again the right way."
I didn't answer him, my mind buzzed and I thought about the possible answers and what starting over meant. It meant being with him again, and having a chance at those good times we shared. It meant possibly talking and making this work. Why not give it a shot?
Then instead of telling him I wanted to start over I leaned up and kissed him. It was gentle, slow and short but it made my heart beat a little bit faster and left me wanting more, I had missed the feel of his lips on mine.
His eyes locked with mine and he pulled me up and kissed me. It was not a rough kiss but not a gentle one either; it was filled with so many emotions but mostly longing. I didn't want to break away but I knew I needed to breathe so slowly I pulled away, my eyes locking with his once more, "come with me." He murmured, pulling me out of the room and up a spiral staircase.
He pulled me into a huge bedroom and sat down in a chair across from me, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't seem to bring himself to do it. I waited patiently watching him.
"What is it Eric?" I asked after a good chunk of silence.
"I don't know how to do this." He finally said, "To start over, and pretend like none of it happened, but I want to start over."
"We don't have to actually start over because I mean how good would it be if we just pretended what happened never happened, it did, but it's behind us." I told him. Being around him made my thoughts lucid and it made me sound like I knew what I was talking about, even though my brain was screaming with confusion. He just had this way of making me say stuff before I thought about it, "forgive but not forget."
"Forgive but not forget?" he asked slowly, I nod and he stares at something behind my head for a few minutes before his eyes meet mine again, "would you like to go to the movies Saturday night?"
"I'd love to." I replied, he smiled.
"Alright, I'll pick you up around 7. I need to get back in there though." He let out an unneeded breath as he stood up, offering me his hand once more. I took it and walked side by side with him back into the room.
Everyone had turned to stare at us, Eric wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close, kissing me. It was soft and lingering, but finally he pulled away when Pam stepped over to us, "Sookie." Her voice came out in a purr, "so nice to see you again."
"You too Pam." I reply smiling, she pulls me away from Eric and gives me a hug. When she lets me go I stand between them looking around for Vera and Alexsandra.
"They're having sister time, come on lets leave the King to his business." She laughs at her maker and drags me across the room to some tables with food on them, "I figured you didn't see it since Vera and Alexsandra don't really come over here."
I raise an eyebrow at her but agree with her that I hadn't known there was food or drinks. I poured myself a glass of what I guessed was wine and followed Pam over to a table in the corner.
We talked a little and then fell silent as Pam watched Vera dancing with some guy on the dance floor, I sat back in my chair observing the crowd until a song came on that I recognized, which was strange because it wasn't a song that vampire radio usually played, and its strange because the singer isn't the one who wrote the song.
"Who the hell is singing that?" I wondered aloud, a human standing near by answered me, the song was Grenade by Bruno Mars, except as I had said not by Bruno.
"Ariana Grande." She answered, "It's her cover and apparently a favorite of the pet of the sheriff of area five."
"Yep, sure is my favorite song." Vera said with a smile, dropping down in a chair beside me, "hey Pam. Whatcha staring at?"
The leer she gave Vera's cleavage answered her question and she smiled, leaning over the table, "my face is up here doll." She grasped Pam's chin and tilted up.
I almost laughed, like I said almost, but I held it back turning to the human who had answered my question, "Thanks."
"No problem." And then she skirted away her eyes staring at Pam. She doesn't look away until she's far away from the table.
"So, you're the new sheriff?"
"Yeah, and I'm running Fangtasia with the help of my witch and her sister." She answered, I couldn't tell if she was happy about it or not but her attention was quickly pulled away by Vera, and mine was soon captured by Eric, who came and joined us at the table.
"Ya know, for someone throwing this stupid ball you sure aren't paying attention to your guests." Vera said with a smirk.
"I'm paying attention to the important one." He replied, staring at me.
"Are you kidding me?" Vera hollered, I knew she was joking, "you bitched about getting this just right for weeks and now you're going to sit down and my goo-goo eyes at Sookie? You couldn't have just called her and asked her to come see you? Or gone to see her?" with that she huffed, grabbed Pam's hand and stalked off.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the anger on Eric's face, "calm down Eric, she was only doing it so she'd have a reason to walk off with Pam." He grumbles something that I don't hear and then pulls me back out to dance.
It was the end of the night now and everyone was starting to clear out, Alexsandra was waiting for Vera and I by the door, I was standing with Eric, waiting for him to finish up his conversation with some vampire.
I almost cheered when he walked away, I was about to fall over I was so tired, "sorry about that Sookie. Are you sure you don't want to stay?"
"Starting over." I remind him, "I'm not ready to jump back in your bed just yet."
He smiles, leaning down so his mouth brushes by my ear, "I know you will be soon." He says, pulling away and speaking louder, "I'll see you soon then." He brushes a kiss on my cheek and straightens up.
I walk away, telling myself I can kiss him some other time, and wait with Alexsandra by the door, leaning on the wall to keep myself from falling over. When Vera finally skips over Alexsandra snaps that it took her long enough and we march out to her car. I slump down in the back seat tiredly.
It was a long night, and I was ready to just crawl in my bed and sleep. Or well the bed Alexsandra was lending me for the night. The second the door was unlocked Vera and I zoomed upstairs while Alexsandra trudged slowly behind us. I pushed the door to my room shut, pulled off my dress, hung it up and threw on a baggy shirt before diving into the bed and falling asleep.
Did I move it along too fast? I just thought it would be more logical if a little time passed, because Eric obviously wouldn't be able to just rush out of there after it. What do you think?
Also, if you haven't been getting the updates when I post (even if you've only not gotten a few) could you let me know? I know some people haven't, and I wanna know if it's happened to anyone else. Thanks!
-Mel