IV.
Even in the darkest hour, you shine.
~ Charlotte Martin
Friday, December 18, 2020
363. 51.
It was the third Friday of December when she gracefully alighted on the red carpet on the walkway, startling the guards at the entry and striding without comment through the entrance. A hush of silence followed her as she went through the detectors, brushed by the bowing figures and headed for the second floor stairs. She heard the rush of thoughts and voices behind her, and someone calling upstairs, sounding almost excited.
The slender woman who strode through the halls bore only a passing resemblance to sunny Sookie Northman. She was now dressed all in black, in leather pants, leather jacket. A thin black leather choker, lariat-style, hung from her neck. A carved turquoise talisman at the end of the leather strip was the only spot of color and it echoed her bright blue eyes. The only other jewelry she wore was a ring on her left hand. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, wrapped tightly with a criss-crossing black leather strand. The soft black leather boots made no sound as she walked. The vampires she passed in the halls drew back and let her pass, nodding and bowing to her. She nodded without smiling to Cadel, as she settled herself on the couch in the great room and simply waited. Cadel just stared at her. She actually exuded quiet and confident power. She glowed with it. Eric would be pleased when he saw how well she looked. Yet she seemed so cool and distant.
Cadel studied her a moment longer, as she sat on the edge of the couch, hand with fingers interlaced in her lap, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. She was utterly still. She met no one with her eyes. She was totally self-contained. Perhaps she was just nervous, he thought to himself? It didn't matter. She was home and it would all be sorted after Eric had seen her. He passed through the door of the audience room.
Within moments the door to the audience room opened sharply and Eric stood in the doorway, in a beautiful charcoal gray suit with a lilac shirt and dark tie. His hair was tied back. Wordlessly she rose, briefly met his eyes and then bowed her head. He stood there and just stared at her.
She had come back. It was two nights from the one year mark. She had come back and she bowed her head to him in deference. When she raised her head, she did not meet his eyes again but he felt a rush of energy from her, a subtle reconnection. And then it was withdrawn. She looked solemn, still, and did not smile. His eyes skimmed over all of her. She looked elegant. Powerful. But, he noted with a catch in his heart, she seemed as she had once long, long ago, so… resigned to something. Gone was that sunny expression, the playfulness and humor. The inner fire seemed remote, buried. There was something… so completely closed off about her, he thought. Yet at the same time she gave off this peculiar aura, much larger, much older than she was…
"Tell them the meeting is canceled. Offer my apologies. And call Hunter," he murmured quietly to Stefan.
He walked out into the great room and signaling with a gesture of his head that she should follow, he turned toward the door to the hall that led to his office. All eyes in the room followed them. She wordlessly trailed after him, down the halls to his office. He closed and locked the door behind them.
He gestured that she should sit across from him at his desk, which she did. He did not sit down himself however and, uncharacteristically, he paced.
"I was in Paris," she said, without waiting for him to ask.
He started and glanced away for a moment. Surprising.
"The whole year? You cannot tell me that Eduard Delatour never got wind of your being there for a whole year. Or did he just lie to us?" There was a hitch in his voice as he thought of what Delatour was actually like and what it might mean if he had been hiding her. He mentally flashed on an argument with Andor about fidelity and Andor's thoughts that she had left him and he was free to indulge as he wished. He glanced over at the wall near the bookcase as he flexed his hand with his back to her. The hole in the wall had only recently been repaired. Andor had been quite fast that time, actually. He snapped himself back to the present. He preferred to listen to facts instead of worrying about possibilities.
As if having taken in the entire matter in the blink of an eye she said quietly,
"I glamoured him. Specifically, so that he would no longer recognize my presence in Paris as problematic and his people would let me alone. If you asked him or his immediate crew anything, he would likely say he had never even seen me."
"You did what?" His mind started rapidly formulating questions. Did she just say she'd broken their agreement? How far had she strayed, then, from the other terms…? And how old was Delatour? Was she serious? She'd glamoured him? Why?
She sighed as if annoyed.
"You want the gory details? Fine. He had me picked up and brought in to him three days after I arrived. He didn't know who I was and I certainly wasn't going to tell him. I used my grandmother's maiden name and my middle name when I was in Paris. I was Marie Hale. His people were very rough and rude bringing me to him. He himself propositioned me in an absolutely lascivious fashion. He is simply a disgusting person. I found his manner, especially when I explained that I belonged, even legally, to someone else, extremely offensive. He didn't care about the details of my personal life, he said. He just wanted me to have sex with him. And he planned to rape me if I wouldn't willingly have sex with him. So I glamoured him. To keep myself safe. He gave me no further trouble after that and kept others away from me as well. He told everyone I was to be let alone and then pretty much forgot I existed."
He stared at her.
"You glamoured him? Eduard Delatour? Are you serious?" He tried to absorb the idea. Because Delatour was a very powerful vampire. "I don't even know how old he is but I know he's substantially older than I am. But more than that, he's very powerful, Sookie. He planned to rape you?"
"He thought sex was his due, since I didn't have his 'permission' to be in La Belle Paris," she said snidely and with very evident distaste.
"He told you this? Or you know this because…?"
At that, she glanced up at him briefly, practically rolling her eyes, as if he was an utter moron.
"Gee, because I'm a telepath? Or how about because he had his hands all over me and was pushing me into a bedroom with a double-sided lock on the door and took the key? He's a disgusting person. He's somewhere around 1750 years old. Really old. He was so unbelievably strong. The ability to glamour was the only weapon I had. Our agreement was for self-defense. So I defended myself." She glanced up at him. "Did you know that Delatour is not even his real name? He stole the identity of someone he killed in the 1600's. He isn't even really French at all. He's a pretender. He's actually from the Caucuses. But yes, he's very old. And a real creep. I should have glamoured him into being impotent or something really useful. He certainly deserved it. But I figured it was a bit beyond what I'd agreed to with you and it might have made him cruel out of his own frustration not to indulge in his favorite pastime. So I didn't do it. But I wanted to. You have no idea how much I wanted to. I despise him, and his positively medieval attitude about women."
He was rather amused by this explanation, which sounded very much like something the old Sookie Stackhouse whom he loved would say, not the cold, angry vampire who had repeatedly said she hated him almost a year before… He tried not to smile.
"Well, for the record, I have never liked Delatour and I agree with you about his take on women and his poor attitude to guests in general. That's why when we were on our honeymoon I left Markus with you and went to say my hellos without you. And a good thing, too, because I don't like to think what he might have done with you if he knew you were my wife. He would have used you to extract who knows what from me to get you back and he really might have harmed you just to put one over on me. I was worried even having Stefan inquire about a blonde female vampire in Paris. What you did was very dangerous, going off like you did, Sookie."
"I quickly realized that. I stayed mostly on my own, everywhere I went. I avoided vampires as much as possible after that."
"You were really in Paris the entire time?" he still just couldn't believe it. She had been incredibly elusive if so. And a good thing, because it probably kept her much safer.
"No. I traveled occasionally. And this entire past month I have been in South America."
Eric looked at her, puzzled. Europe had seemed her likely location since she had taken her passport. She'd loved Paris, so at least that he could understand. Why not go to someplace that she'd been happy? He'd had Stefan discreetly ask around to see if anyone in Paris had seen her. Or London. Or Madrid. Or Rome. Or Geneva or Zurich. They asked without luck and eventually, quietly, Stefan and Cadel, along with Hunter, had persuaded him that she clearly did not wish to be found. If Hunter knew where she was he was very convincing saying he didn't know. But then perhaps if she had been peripatetic, he couldn't have been certain. Her financial accounts in Switzerland had been inaccessible but they had thought she must have been in Europe. She had enough in those accounts to live very well, indefinitely. But why South America?
"Why on earth did you go to South America?"
She withdrew a small envelope from the pocket of her leather jacket. It was not flat. She handed it to him with great solemnity.
He took it and looked at it, puzzled.
"What is this?" he asked.
"Your anniversary present," she said softly without meeting his eyes.
He stiffened and lowered it slightly as he stared down at her, looking very remote and guarded.
"Your wedding anniversary present," she quickly clarified.
His entire expression changed, lightened slightly. But he still looked apprehensive. Her manner made it seem as if this was something momentous. She saw him briefly glance at her left hand, as if assuring himself again that she wasn't giving back her wedding ring. Other than her face, it was the first thing that he'd noticed when he'd entered the great room as she stood before him then bowed her head. She still wore her wedding ring. A good sign.
"Should I open it now or do you want me to wait until the 25th?"
"You can open it now. I'm sure you'll want to share it."
More puzzled than ever, he tore open the envelope and spilled a gold ring, in the bright, beaten gold color of another era, into his hand. Puzzled, he examined it and then, with a short gasp, sank into his desk chair looking completely dumbfounded. The ring he held in his hand bore a well-worn phrase in Latin. Civis Romanus Sum. 'I am a Roman citizen.' He had seen it many times before.
"Where did you get this?" he asked looking up at her and sounding very shaken.
She looked him directly in the eyes.
"It was the only thing I took. I killed him on Sunday, the 13th. He was living in Buenos Aires under the name Jesús Santangelo. Great name, right? Such a sense of irony the man had," she said in a tone laden with sarcasm.
He stared at her, utterly speechless.
After a full minute, she filled the cavernous silence with more information.
"Would you believe that Bill had interviewed him in Peru fifteen years ago, back when you first stayed in my house in Bon Temps? You know, when you had the amnesia? He didn't make the connection to his being your sire, though. And what a lucky thing that probably was. Still, I relished the coincidence. It really makes you believe in synchronicity. There was so much information there but Bill didn't piece it together… But anyway, the last thing he heard was your name. He screamed in such anger. It was so… unexpected. I think he was caught so completely off guard. I was not at all what he expected to be his end. He had held a child there. I didn't know until I was inside. Glamoured. Around 13 or 14. About the same age as Hunter was when he came to live here. I dropped the boy off at the hospital before I left, and gave him some money. He was so scarred from being bitten. And from... the other things. I wonder what will become of him. But at least he wasn't turned."
Eric swallowed, leaned forward and said in a quiet voice,
"Sookie… You're telling me that you've killed Ocella? You've killed him by yourself, on your own?"
It was simply inconceivable! A less than year old vampire killing Appius Livius Ocella? A man who fought in the Roman Legion? Who had taught him, taught Andor practically everything they knew about fighting? Ocella the sadist? Ocella the consummate survivor?
She met his eyes again and then finally broke into an inscrutable smile. She cast her eyes back down
"I am glad if it pleases you. I can't say that I have ever enjoyed killing anyone or anything until him. But this was just... so right. Especially when I realized he had the child there."
"How did you even find him?"
"There just aren't that many Roman Legionnaire vampires, Eric. No matter how many times they change their name, their history eventually comes out and gives them away in the era of the great Compton Database. There are exactly three of record who actually fought in the Legion. And so I researched until I was sure I had found my man. I have that FBI mindset, remember? And I've always been good at detective work. It only took two months of serious effort to locate him, specifically, once I had all the information I required to begin. I had traced him from Odense where he left you, to France to Spain to Peru and then to Argentina. I did much research beforehand, however. To be ready for him. As to how I did it, I tracked vampires turned by vampires who dated back to Roman times until I was sure I had identified him. He created forty-seven children that I could clearly identify across Europe and Latin America, although he has also killed many of his children. Probably almost half. He had changed names five times. The most recent was really just the best, though. He was really something with the names… Anyway, it was quite the project. It kept me busy for almost my every moment of the night, most nights. It gave me a sense of purpose. Everything I have learned as a vampire I have learned to be able to find him, to kill him. And I have learned much," she finished in almost a whisper.
"How did you even get near him?"
"I approached him and said that I worked as a freelance researcher for Bill, because Bill was updating the database and that he was now interested in early vampire history, connections to vampires turned well before 1000 AD, even if no longer living. It was an important historical record of our great history. I met with him three times. I offered him a free copy of the updated version of the database if he let me interview him in depth. I said it would give him the opportunity to 'reconnect with people'. He was curious about that idea, since he was still bitter about you and Andor."
She paused but he was still just silent and riveted by her words.
"You had been some of his favorites. I suppose you should count yourselves lucky. He'd killed so many of his children, but there are still quite a few of you rolling around. I found Feargus. He's in Antwerp. Hjalmar's missing. He was still in Geneva until about five years ago but then he just disappeared. Maybe he got himself killed or something. Anyway, Ocella was still quite bitter about the thing with you, Andor and Stefan. Not based on what he said but on his thoughts. I think from what I gathered he blamed Andor, mostly. Or maybe you. He couldn't decide. He didn't seem to think that you would have come up with the plan of a bound human to stake him. He was a bit surprised that Andor would, but thought it more likely than you. He knew that it was one or the other of you or maybe in the end, the both of you because there was no way that glamour job on Markus was Andor's handiwork. It was too 'refined', too hard to get around. He thought Stefan too close to breaking to have even been involved. He disregarded the thought that Cadel was behind it, even though Cadel and Stefan were so friendly. Cadel wasn't even around so far as he knew. And he didn't think Cadel would even bother to make a plan, actually. It wasn't Cadel's style. Cadel was always more spur of the moment so as not to ever get caught out. And he always fared better because after he was turned, he humored Ocella instead of fighting him directly as you and Stefan did or as Andor wished he could. It was one of the reasons that Cadel got away sooner. He wondered about Gunnar. In the end he chose to stake Gunnar rather than one of you three because he liked Gunnar less. It was a moment of real weakness on his part. Clearly realized in a flash of retrospect, as of last Sunday, anyway. His big mistake. At least in that last flash in his mind."
She paused to see if he was keeping up. He still just stared at her, speechless.
"He actually liked you and Andor, even though he was so sick and twisted about it. He really did. Well, until you tried to kill him. He was so puzzled as to why you even bothered yourselves about Stefan. It wasn't your business, and he had been enjoying himself so very much. Anyway, I glamoured him, but only a bit. I had to be subtle so I wouldn't arouse suspicion. He's the oldest vampire I've met since I was turned. I guess the oldest I've ever even seen other than the Pythoness, right? He was so powerful. Even being in the same room with him was incredible. I really had to remind myself to stay focused. He was so fascinating in a really sick kind of way. His ego was his undoing, though... He got distracted, was so flattered by my admiration of him. Taken with my knowledge of Roman history and my appreciation of him and everything he'd seen. Impressed with my research. I even got him to talk a bit about more recent times. He spoke so fondly of you and Andor when I got to his years in Scandinavia."
She smiled a very dark smile. He swallowed and felt a muscle in his cheek twitch. He continued to stare at her but she said no more.
"You've really killed him, Sookie?" Eric said finally, in an amazed tone. The expression on his face conveyed disbelief.
"Any residues you see in the envelope are his. I give you my word he's very permanently dead. He crumbled so nicely. I thought you would recognize the ring because it looked like the oldest and most personal thing. Like I said, it was the only thing I took. Other than the poor child, of course. It was offensive to me to even touch anything that had been his."
He glanced across the desk at her as his fingers closed over the ring. He grasped it tightly in his hand. It was almost beyond his comprehension. Ocella was well over two thousand years old! In contrast, she, so new, looked like the finest porcelain, too small, too fragile to have ever done what she described. Yet, there was an energy about her that was palpable, and unusually so. Looking at her, it was very, very hard to believe that she was only a year old. She had had the strongest mind of any human he'd ever encountered. And now power and sheer force of will seemed to surround her. But, strip that away, or perhaps hide it, and she was just another attractive female vampire. One would have no way of knowing what they were dealing with. He thought of Delatour, and even of Ocella, though he had no love of women. They never would have known what hit them, he thought to himself. How many people, other than a few of us, know what she is really like? The fierce will that she had always possessed? The stone-cold courage that had driven her, even as a human, to do things that seemed almost impossibly risky because she believed they were right. She was anything but just another attractive woman or vampire. No, it was the ultimate deception.
She seemed to flash onto that thought or at least gather what he was thinking from the way he looked at her.
"That's why it worked. I was the perfect weapon. I looked innocuous. Not even like this," she said gesturing to her present clothing. "I was in jeans, a pink tank top, flip-flops and pink nail polish. The very antithesis of power or darkness. He even noticed that I'd died slightly tanned. I was just some girl. A graduate student who got herself turned. Who liked ancient history, especially vampire history, an awful lot. Who was going to write something about our ancient history from his wise perspective, using his pseudonym, to preserve his privacy."
"Did you glamour him enough to kill him?" he asked, trying to take it in and to envision it. She could break their agreement on this point as badly as she wished, he thought to himself.
"I slowed him. Weakened him. Subtly. Just enough to be safe, myself, since he was obviously so incredibly strong. I knew it was stretching our terms. But I'd already had a taste of what he might be like because of Delatour. Still, I wanted him aware. To know I was doing it for you."
His eyes widened in appreciation. So she'd wanted him aware of what she was doing. Why she was doing it. He flashed on the idea of that last moment of Ocella's existence… hearing his name… It was simply extraordinary.
"With a stake? Did you shoot him?" he asked quietly.
"It would have been too difficult to travel with a gun. Besides, I was going for the quick and permanent option. With a specially made ash stake, yes. It was really quite lovely. I've got plenty more. Though, not for anyone in particular," she said with an amused smile.
"Specially made how?"
She hesitated a moment.
"A friend helped me make it. It has a silver core in case it breaks and… it's just a special item. If you would like to see one, I'll let you see one sometime."
"Special how?"
"I'll explain more another time," she said quietly. And then she fell quiet.
He was silent for several minutes and said nothing further about Ocella. He studied her face which had quickly gone back to being almost expressionless. He had seen that look long ago. It was a look she had perfected when she had been an interrogator. He recalled it from when he had first visited her in Virginia, after he had found her again. It was a look not easily worn down, in his experience, and it certainly indicated how guarded she appeared to feel. He felt a swell of affection looking at her. And great pride though he was still trying to absorb the idea that his wife had apparently managed to kill his sire when he and Andor had failed. He sat studying her. She looked quite elegant in all her black. His eyes lingered on the turquoise at her throat. There was something quite odd about it. He started to ask but then decided to wait. Instead he said,
"And how are you, Sookie?"
She had turned slightly away from him. She paused for a moment as if to think about it.
"I am well," she replied carefully.
"Have you fed? You are quite pale."
She turned back toward him slightly.
"I always look quite pale. I have had several bottles before I came, however."
He stared at her, looking as if so many questions were racing through his mind. But he didn't speak them.
"I've never fed from a person, if that's what you're wondering. I stuck to the agreement. I doubt I ever will feed from an actual human, anyway. The whole idea makes me squeamish, frankly. I'd be afraid of hurting someone and really, it seems like such a personal thing. I'd be afraid of what I'd hear and see from them, too. I just don't see how I'd ever be able to do it considering how I am."
Well, that appeared to answer any concerns he had about her fidelity or her getting into legal trouble because of getting carried away and draining anyone. He looked at her and was very still. He wanted to know her answer about the all important issue. He continued to stare at her until she finally looked up and met his eyes.
"So you have decided?" he asked quietly.
"Wow, cut to the chase already, why don't you?" she said dryly, pursing her lips.
He was silent as he continued to look directly at her, as if searching her face for something. The answer to his question, perhaps, before he would have to hear it from her lips.
"You look me directly in the eyes again and again. Aren't you afraid that I will glamour you, Eric?"
"Why should I be? Maybe I don't believe that you even really could. But more importantly, I don't believe you would. You trusted me to glamour you only a few times in all the time I knew you as a human. You were always fearful of anyone having power over you. So I don't believe that you would abuse the power to glamour others. Besides you have sworn fealty to me. I trust your word." He steeled himself wondering where that comment could take them.
She ignored it. Instead, she paused and seemed to compose herself before she spoke. She looked down and said,
"If you wish it, I will come back. If you prefer otherwise, which I would more than understand, I will stay in Europe. I have made a good friend in Amsterdam. She is a witch and quite old. She has an affection for me." She fingered the carved turquoise talisman on the leather cord at her neck. "She has offered to make further introductions for me there if I return to Europe. They are very liberal there. Very tolerant. I could live safely in Amsterdam. In no way would I weigh on your conscience."
Her voice betrayed no emotion. Her face was almost expressionless as she spoke. It was almost as if she had rehearsed saying it.
His own face looked ever so slightly drawn, tense. So she clearly was not asking him to allow her to meet the sun or any even worse option? That was the most important thing by far. But still…
"But what do you want to do? Our agreement was about your choices. Not mine. Do you want to come back? Your manner makes me doubt that."
She looked away. Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. Her lips parted but she did not speak out loud. She seemed to be struggling to retain her composure. She looked as if she had to force herself to respond and couldn't speak it out loud at all.
I would want to come home… But I would need to know you still want that yourself.
"It would be all I want, Sookie. I've waited for you to return to me."
She turned toward him, without looking up at him and a single pink tear streaked down her cheek. Then another. And another.
In an instant he was near her, sitting on the edge of the desk. He reached out to her bowed head but stopped short of touching her. She was so contained that it was almost as if she was afraid to feel anything at all he realized. She even looked as if she anticipated being struck as he drew close to her, tightening herself as if anticipating a blow.
"Sookie… other than Delatour, no one has hurt you, or tried to hurt you?"
She shook her head 'no'.
"Are you sure you wish to come back?" he asked, drawing his hand back. His heart sank at the question. What if she really didn't want to come back to him? He could barely even get a fix on her emotions. She was so guarded.
She nodded and yet another tear traced down her cheek. She still did not look up to meet his eyes.
"Look at me. Look at me and tell me you want to come back. I want to hear you say it. Out loud."
She glanced up at him. After what appeared to be some immense internal struggle, she said,
"I want to come home, Eric."
"Why? You act as if you are afraid to. Why do you want to come home?"
"I belong here. With you. To you. I love you. I…" She looked down again, drifted off in her thoughts and then gasped and said in little more than a whisper, "If it had been you, if the situation was reversed, I would have done exactly the same thing. I would never have been able to do otherwise. I was asking you to do something pretty much impossible. It was a very hard thing to admit to myself. But I was the person you loved. A person you couldn't just… destroy. No matter what you had promised. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault, other than that man."
He closed his eyes for a moment and then looked down at her sad face. Suddenly, he understood everything.
She was afraid he didn't want her back.
He held out his hand to her. She placed hers in his and more tears streamed down her face.
"I am so sorry for the things I said to you, Eric. I don't know that apologies will ever be enough. I was so angry. So very, very angry. And I was truly horrible to you. But it wasn't your fault that you couldn't keep your promise. And I would have done exactly the same."
He hesitated a moment and then said,
"Is that why you went after Ocella? By way of apology?" He was still just astonished by the entire business.
She shook her head. But didn't meet his eyes.
"No. I did it because all of you needed to be free of him. Because I was the thing he least expected and therefore the most likely to succeed. What I saw in Stefan's mind just haunted me. He made him kill someone he loved. A woman he loved. To do unspeakable things. Stefan, of all people, who is so gentle? And he was so vile to him. Just unspeakably cruel. I don't even know how Stefan managed to still retain so much of himself. After seeing all that, actually seeing what he did to Stefan, to Cadel, knowing what you and Andor had told me in the past... I just couldn't stand thinking that he could come back and find you. Any of you. You were my family. The idea that someone like that could hold any power over you was intolerable to me. I was not leaving that flat without killing him. Not leaving this earth unless he was gone before me or with me. The thought of it sustained me for all those months. I knew I would find him. I knew I would kill him. I wanted it more than anything, especially after really meeting him. And I wasn't coming back until he was gone. I sat watching him flake and crumble, hugging that child who was there and felt like there was at least one good reason that what happened to me had happened. To protect you, the four of you, all of us, and to save that one child. That poor, poor boy. I glamoured him, trying to patch him up mentally and leave him with something that might make him capable of a normal life. He needed to be protected from the horrors that he had seen and endured... He'd even seen the previous boy molested a final time then drained and discarded like trash. He was just waiting his turn, glamoured but still aware of his impending fate, powerless to escape."
She paused with a look on her face that spoke volumes about things that she had seen. She looked up at him with eyes that glowed.
"Ocella's connection to you was just offensive. It needed to be abolished. He needed to be abolished." Her eyes shone with certainty as she spoke. "And I have not a shadow of a doubt that this world is a better place without him in it."
He looked at her, his free hand still tight around the ring. One year, he said to himself in amazement. She is vampire only one year and this is how she is? It was just… astonishing. She walked into his residence alone, with the intent to stake Ocella, knowing what she had seen in Stefan and Cadel's minds?
And she did it.
There was a knock at the door. He released her hand and rose. He bent and stroked her cheek as he kissed her forehead, then walked over to the door to unlock and open it. She heard Andor murmur something in Norse about Hunter. Eric replied something and then waited by the door, looking back at her.
She was so very controlled and still. So different from the vivacious manner she had had when she was alive. She needed to recover more of former self. It was obvious just looking at her that she was still so very unhappy. She needed to be around people who knew her, he thought to himself. Some place safe, so she could relax. He wanted back the warmth and humor that had to still be inside her. But clearly, something indefinable had changed in her. Everything I have learned as a vampire I have learned to be able to kill him. And I have learned much, she had said. Where else had she been? What had she been doing for an entire year? This research, how was it accomplished? In Paris? In Amsterdam? A friend who was an old witch? There was a famous enclave of Dutch witches, the Voortens, but usually witches and vampires did not mix with one another in Europe as they did here in New Orleans. How would she even have met the friend if it was one of that coven? And what had she learned on her own? Learned, he sighed to himself, without him?
He suddenly felt taken aback to realize that, in her mind, perhaps she didn't even need him if she had thought to go live in Amsterdam as a lone vampire among witches. Of course, she also didn't really understand what she had done. The magnitude of the risks she had taken. It was frightening to him to even think of what would have happened to her if Ocella had overpowered her. But she had done it. She had learned enough on her own to efficiently kill the oldest vampire he knew personally and a vampire that he and Andor together hadn't managed to kill to free Stefan. Sophisticated enough to glamour a vampire somewhat less than twice his age into forgetting her very existence, but only after getting him to decree that everyone around him had to leave her alone. His eyes shone as he looked at her. She was beyond clever considering her age and meager experience. And she was his. Made largely of his blood… We are so bound into one another, he thought to himself. He already felt as if something that had been missing inside had returned to him with her presence. Yet she herself seemed so distant, so contained, in contrast to the way he felt.
Andor, Stefan and Cadel finally entered the room and looked over at her tentatively. Eric closed the door behind them and then he tossed Andor the ring. Andor caught it and looked quite startled after he looked at it more closely. He handed it to Cadel and looked at Eric and then studied Sookie, quite puzzled. Cadel and Stefan examined it with heads close together and had about the same reaction. Eric took the ring back and tossed it, merrily, in the air. He smiled at her and gestured that she should speak.
"Tell them, Sookie," he said softly.
"I staked him on Sunday. The 13th. He was in Buenos Aires," she said simply.
Stefan gaped. Cadel glanced from her face over to Eric, who shrugged and nodded in confirmation. Andor just remained focused on her, and slightly wide-eyed, asked skeptically,
"How?"
She repeated the story to them.
Andor and Stefan simply stared at her in disbelief when she finished. Cadel asked incredulously,
"You're serious, you're really serious? You went entirely by yourself? You were alone with him in a flat and you just… staked him? I can't believe he even talked to you in a private place. He let you see where he lived? He was always so cautious. It's just incredible. But you're saying that he was awake and aware? He did not fend you off?"
"It was too unexpected. I'd glamoured him a bit to make him a bit slower. This was the third time we'd met to discuss his history. I had agreed to preserve his anonymity. I talked to him about the Roman Republic and then the early Christian era. Then his cheerful years in Northern Europe but just a bit, only as he had followed the Romans through Britain and then explored Scandinavia. Then I lulled him into talking about his history from long ago, long before Eric and Andor were made. Late Roman era, my special interest. I had researched for months in order to talk knowledgeably with him. He had no reasonable basis to fear me. I was less than a year old, and a ponytailed researcher in jeans, a tank top and flip-flops with flowers. I was a woman. Why would a twenty-two hundred year old vampire ever think to fear me?" She said this last point with a dark smile as she looked at the four of them.
Cadel looked at her proudly. "Well, I'm never touching your car again. I mean, after I get all my stuff out of it."
Andor stared at her and said,
"So he was aware, then?"
"We had talked for several hours already that night. He was already quite used to talking to me by then, since it was the third time. He was more relaxed because I'd gotten very good at drawing him out on things he liked to talk about. When I did it, it was over very fast. But yes, he was quite aware and I told him it was for Eric as I struck him." She looked at Eric. "So Eric's name was the very last thing he heard as he departed this earth. I don't think it had ever occurred to him that a woman might go after him. Let alone something as young as me." She paused a moment and said with cold steel in her voice. "I can still see his glittering brown eyes as he stared at me in shock, screamed and began to crumble. It was an odd feeling to destroy something so ancient."
At her words Andor finally smiled slightly. Eric, meanwhile, could only remember Hunter's words. She will surprise you. How on earth had she managed to find Ocella, track him, kill him, all on her own? It was more than just surprising, frankly. He was quickly distracted from thinking about it, however.
"You have almost made up for leaving as you did, then," Andor said dryly.
"Andor," said Eric in something of a low growl.
"What? I'm supposed to act as if all is forgotten? She runs away after behaving as she did and waltzes back in her as if…"
"Andor!" said Eric in a more intense tone of voice. "Your opinion on the matter is not appreciated at the moment."
"My opinion, if what you've said in the past is true, is one I have every right to express," he said glaring back at Eric. He looked over at her rather darkly. "I expect that you'll be apologizing for some time."
Eric growled something in Norse at him and Andor retorted with some statement with a grim smile on his face while still looking at her. Then, looking at her but responding to Eric, said,
"Not groveling, no," in English. "But I expect better than assuming all is forgotten by all of us. Because it isn't." He regarded her with a glacial stare.
She looked at him coolly without replying then rose and turned to Stefan. "Where is Hunter? With Pam?"
Stefan replied softly, "Yes, they're in her office." He walked toward the door with her. He reached out and touched her gently on the arm. "Thank you, Sookie," he said quietly. He looked her directly in the eyes. "Thank you."
She nodded to him. She would never be able to forget his memories of Ocella, even though what she had seen had been relatively brief. She couldn't imagine living with his cruelty for a century and the memories of it so long after.
She turned and nodded to the others and started to move toward leaving. Andor held out his hand in a gesture to make her stop and directed her attention back to Eric.
"Sookie, you are supposed to ask for permission to depart in some fashion," he nodding toward Eric. "It is the protocol. You should remember this, especially in public. But perhaps it's a good time to start. Since you already have a habit of leaving without permission."
Eric made a huffing sound and crossed his arms, glaring at Andor. But before he could even reply, with a sudden whoosh of movement she stood looking up at Andor and her eyes went from clear aquamarine blue to shiny copper red. Her bristling displeasure was evident in that gaze. She was angry. As her lips parted to speak it, her fangs were down.
"I'll ask permission from no one here to merely exit a room, Andor. I'm sorry if I continue to be an aberration that disturbs you." Andor disapprovingly started to say something in retort but she cut him off with her eyes blazing. "I have sworn my fealty and I've more than proven it to Eric and to all of you. I won't be subservient here. I just won't. Not to you or to anyone," she said in an ice cold tone, gazing up at Andor. "And frankly, if I did something that you all couldn't manage to do in a thousand years, I don't think I'll be asking anyone's permission to go anywhere."
Andor visibly flinched from the warning tone in her voice. He dropped his gaze just slightly from her eyes and clenched his jaw with displeasure. There was something in her manner that had real menace in it. She was not at all what he had expected. She had been an unusual human, without question. But gentle and soft-hearted, even if occasionally feisty, and very brave. He had grown to see what had attracted Eric to her. But this? And she was barely a year old and she was menacing him, at his age? It was ridiculous. But she did not even back down but rather intensified her gaze at him. He glanced away toward Eric, one eyebrow raised. He had spent the entire year angry over her having taken off. He had been almost as upset as Eric, because he found her actions incomprehensible and so hurtful to Eric and even to Pam. But now she seemed almost defiant about it. He wondered if she had even really apologized sufficiently to him for her behavior.
She looked over at Eric, eyes still bearing that hot metallic glow. Her lips were tight as if she was restraining herself from speaking further.
I have already apologized to you. If I am to return… if that is really what you wish… I will not live here and be subservient in this little group. I was not so when I was alive and I will not be so now. I will never pretend to be what I am not. I am outside the box. I am the weather.
Eric smiled at her. So she was still quite fiery under all that cool control she had strived for and achieved so deceptively. Seeing that fire stirred something in him. At present, all he could think of was being alone with her, touching her, holding her. He inhaled her scent… so familiar... and ran his tongue over his slightly descended fangs. Still, Andor was upset and had been for the entire year. Her anger, her running away, they had all proven Andor so wrongheaded in his understanding of her. She was not content being a gift or a person without a choice. Andor had argued not just with him, but repeatedly with Cadel, and in the end even with Markus, over the entire business. Andor had been wrong on a number of things. Andor despised being wrong. But he was, thankfully, right in the main, that she would indeed forgive them all. The balancing act between the two of them had been going on for the better part of a decade. It looked as if it would continue to be much the same.
Not breaking his gaze on her Eric said quietly,
"It is fine, Andor. It is as it was before, when she was alive. She is after all, my wife. I think I'm modern enough at this point not to have my wife asking my permission to merely leave a room whether when with us or in public. I didn't even do that with my first wife. If I had, she'd have done away with me long before Ocella ever found me. I am not used to subservient women. I do not care for them. Surely you've noticed that by now. So she is my wife first and a subject as an afterthought. As for the other thing, it is a private matter and it will remain private."
Eric smiled at her as he spoke and then glanced over at Andor who merely put his hands behind his back and nodded icily. He glanced back to her.
I know you wish to see Hunter and Pam. I will be done in an hour or two. And then… I would enjoy talking with you.
A series of emotions played guardedly across her face. She nodded and turned to leave.
I love you, Sookie. I love you.
She turned back to him. His words seemed to impact her little if he went by her expression but he suddenly felt churning emotion stir in her as her eyes, now clear blue again, met his.
And I love you. That is the reason I am here. It is the reason I will stay.
It is the only reason I would ever ask you to stay.
There was silence for a moment as she looked away from him and then she glanced back.
In case I am done early, with talking to Pam and to Hunter, could Pam let me into your rooms? I would like to use my computer, if it is still there?
Our rooms? Of course your things are still there. I never changed the code.
She looked surprised.
That is surprising.
Why? If I changed the code, it would make it harder for you to come back to me.
She just stood looking at him, absorbing that thought. He continued,
Talk to Pam and Hunter upstairs if you prefer. Rosie will be pleased at your return. She has given me many vocal complaints in your absence. She's been quite spoiled. But still, she is not satisfied without you.
She did not like me before I left. You should have just given her to Hunter.
You just smelled a bit different to her, that's all. It just startled her. You are still the same. Besides, I have grown to like her. She slept on your pillow during the day much of the time you were gone. We have both awaited your return. Of course, Pam will be so very happy you are back. She really didn't like cleaning the litterbox. I have had so many complaints. It was evidently a harsh way for her to make amends for her mistakes. I am sure she will complain quite bitterly to you about it.
At that, Sookie burst out laughing. Eric smiled almost wickedly. It had turned out to be one of the worst punishments he had visited on Pam in a hundred and eighty years, if her complaints were any indication.
Andor, Cadel and Stefan seemed very aware of the silent exchange and were caught unprepared for her laughter and Eric's big smile. Stefan, who was standing behind her holding the door for her, leaned over and said softly,
"Your laughter is a welcome sound. I was beginning to think I'd have to set Cadel on you again." He smiled at her.
He's right. It is good to see you laugh. You need more of that, Lover.
Her eyes lingered on his face as she turned back to look at him. She did not reply but glanced back one more time as she exited the office.
As she started down the hall, Cadel fell in step with her, then took her arm and leaned conspiratorially toward her.
"I want to come with you. I've got good money riding on a bet with the Boyo about whether she'll 'leak'. I think she'll hold it together. I think she cried out every last tear she'll ever have last December. The Boyo seems to think she'll spill when you've finally returned. Even with his hocus-pocus, I think he's got her pegged all wrong."
Something in his manner jogged her out of her self-contained façade. Betting money with a nineteen year old he was supposed to be guarding?
"Great job, Cadel. Making bets with an impoverished college student you're supposed to keep safe? Wow. Really classy."
He hugged her arm closer.
"Oh, I've missed you, too. You look grand in the black leather. Making Andor flinch was really impressive. I'm glad you're keeping that up even now. It's even more impressive now, somehow. Not sure why exactly, but it just feels more daring. I'm hoping, when you're ready, to get the blow by blow account of the old man's final moments, by the by. But mostly, I'm glad to see you so well... How's your driving these days?"
"I had a diesel rental car once when I was in Paris. It was a Peugeot. It smelled like Gitanes. I could hardly stand it. I rarely drove. I've mostly used the Metro or trains when I travelled around. Once I went on a ferry on Lake Geneva. It was beautiful at night. Just for diversion."
"Not a speedboat? Ferries are so slow. I'd have fallen asleep like it was noon. I can see you're still in a bad way, then…" he said with a chuckle. "I'll help you fix that as soon as you're up for it. We'll steal her car and test its limits a bit, shall we? Or, better still, we can snag the keys for Andor's Porsche. Now there's a temptation. But of course, we'll tell him it was your idea. Safer, that."
"Honestly, Cadel, cars just aren't my thing," she said with a very slight smile. He knew that full well.
"What's your thing, then? You've been gone so long I've forgotten."
She paused before answering then said,
"Reading, research, music, fine art, witchcraft, elegantly crafted stakes. These are things I enjoy. They're far ahead of cars. And I like French. And my Dutch is the best it's ever been, which isn't saying all that much. I still need so much help with German. My German is still a trainwreck."
Stakes? Witchcraft? He gave her an odd look, but let it slide.
Finally, just outside the door to Pam's office she halted and after a moment's hesitation looked up to meet his dark eyes and said,
"And you, Cadel… You forgive me?"
He glanced at her, puzzled.
"Forgive you? For what?"
"For taking off. For telling about your family. For mentioning about Angharad. I've felt so bad that I told about what I saw. I know you always hated that. I'm so sorry I did. It was violating your privacy. And I know it was probably painful to remember."
He looked surprised and then pulled her close, hugging her and then kissing her forehead.
"No, love… Don't beat yourself over that. You weren't well. You were so upset. I'm just glad you're back. You've been much missed by all of us. We've missed all the havoc you can wreak. You and I need to have a long talk about the German thing, however. It seems your German is better than you know, but there's time a plenty to discuss that later."
"So then you're not angry with me, that I left the way I did?"
"I'd hardly be in a position to be critical of someone's taking off because they didn't like how things were going, now would I? And besides, I kind of… kept track. Lovely area you were staying in."
She pulled back from him in surprise but cautiously said nothing.
"Rue de Verneuil or however it is pronounced? My French has always been shoddy. Probably worse than your German is now."
She gasped, then whispered,
"You literally knew where I was?" She looked stunned.
"Well, I mean it took a few weeks. After I finally figured out the new password on your accounts I got the new contact email off that." Her jaw dropped. "Yeah, then I hacked the whole thing," he said looking quite proud of himself. "I saw you had stuff delivered to that address. Looked it up in the online maps. Got the street view. Galleries. Cafés. I can see, knowing you, why you liked that area. I didn't tell anyone. Not even Stefan. You'll see that they had an idea of where you were, where you traveled to. But not from me, is my point. That was from you. But I didn't tell, since I was never asked after the beginning. No harm in holding your secrets. After all, we're like partners in crime you and I. Or… I dunno. Partners in something. So no stakes and witchcraft on me, then, right? Not that I have a problem with witchcraft. Just don't get that wrong. I've got no problem with Amelia and Bertram and their little one. Delightful people. Just go after Andor if you're mad at anyone still. When in doubt, pick the biggest. Especially since he can't do anything much back. It's more fun, that. Just call me so I can watch you." He dimpled up and winked at the idea of her going after Andor.
She still looked at him as if stunned.
"You knew where I was living in Paris the entire time and you didn't tell Eric?" she said in the softest whisper.
"The Boyo said you'd be back safe and sound, so I figured I'd best leave you to your space. I actually thought it was in his best interest to let you work it out as you needed to. And in the end, it turned out to be in all our interests, right? But yeah, I'd check every other day or so just to be sure you were okay. I figured if you were checking your email or ordering books that you were okay. I was really stumped by the air travel to Lima and Buenos Aires, though. By the way, I've never seen so many new words as I have since reading your emailed word a day business. I've been using them on Pamela. It really bothered her. She's been quite put out thinking I might even be reading or something."
"Cadel, sometimes you just astonish me," she said quietly.
"Yeah, I'm really like that, aren't I? Astonishing. Right. Just remember that when you see the miles I've put on the car, okay? Now get ready for the fireworks and drama. Pamela must be ready to burst like a piñata."
He opened the door without even bothering to knock.
They entered Pam's office and she rose from her desk locking her eyes on Sookie. Hunter, who had been sitting on the couch reading, stood up and looked at her with bright eyes. Cadel hung back near the door after closing it behind them, silent and smiling, looking eagerly at Pam.
Pam, dressed in an elegant lavender suit, smashed her fist on her desk and said crossly,
"Finally! Nice of you to stop by. I just want to say at the outset that you are the worst child ever. The most disobedient. I don't know why anyone bothers turning anyone at all if there's even a chance they'd act like you. You got me in so much trouble. You were so damn inconsiderate. I got no information. If I get one more damn request from people working for Bill Compton's database about your current location, I will drain someone. How was I to know your location? A blank picture postcard from Lima, Peru? Blank Vermeers with Dutch postmarks? Degas and Renoir with French ones? And what is it with you and Van Gogh? So many damn Van Goghs! Did you only go to cities in Europe if they had a Van Gogh? Have you ever heard of a phone? Of email? And leaving me with that damn cat to care for. That damned messy cat… with her filthy litterbox. Day after day, week after week… I felt like inviting Bubba down to New Orleans behind Eric's back. You are going to pay me back in spades for your behavior and your cavalier manner. You're going to think twice before behaving this way with me again, my friend…"
Sookie ignored her lecturing and had walked over in the middle of it to hug Hunter and kiss him on the cheek while Pam ranted on. He hugged her for a long time and then stood back and looked at her and smiled.
"I'm so glad to see you, Aunt Sookie," he murmured, his eyes brimming.
Pam was finally quiet and stood waiting, balanced on her toes, almost looking agitated for a vampire.
Sookie released his hand and started to move to Pam and then suddenly turned back to him, her face turned at an angle, her eyes startled. She took his hand again as she locked onto his eyes and struggled to maintain her composure. Projecting a strong, but stunned internal voice to him, she said,
You knew? All along you knew? You knew and you never said anything to me?
He instantly looked very tense and nervous, eyes widening as her thoughts flooded his mind. There was no covering up the fact that he had heard her loud and clear. He tried to organize his thoughts after he saw that she could so clearly read them.
That's the way you told me I had to play things. To not interfere with what I see unless I'm sure it won't make it worse. It was like the chess game, long ago. If I had tried to change things, maybe we would have lost. Or lost you. The Queen is a valuable piece. She is freer to move than any other on the board, Aunt Sookie. She has the fewest rules. This will not just work out. This will be a good thing for you, and for Eric. For all of us. I know you still aren't happy right now. But you're home. And no matter what you think right now, you will be happy. You really will. I know it. I've seen it. You always taught me to trust what I see. So I did. And… I didn't want to let you go. To lose you. None of us did. Me, especially. I already lost my mom. This way I didn't lose you, too.
She seemed truly shocked by the revelation. She looked at him a moment longer and something beyond words seemed to pass between them. It was far too much to discuss at the present time. Maybe for quite some time. She swallowed hard, and regained her composure.
"We will talk about this another time," she said softly. Another time when he can reflect on the fact that his mother was a vampire when she was killed for instance? The whole thing was beyond shocking. She looked up at him.
His eyes were filled with tears.
"I'm just so glad you're home," he managed to choke out.
She looked down at his warm hand in hers. She squeezed it gently. He was still a child in so many subtle ways when he had started college. Her child. What could you say to someone not ready to part with the parent who understood them?
"I am, too," she said looking up and meeting his eyes again. "I missed you terribly. I missed everyone so very much."
She kissed him again, and gently let go of his hand. She turned back to Pam, who waited expectantly. She walked over to her and hugged her, kissing her softly on the cheek. Pam looked up at her and touched her face.
"So very lovely…" And then she burst into tears. Sookie put an arm around her and looked over at Cadel.
"I hope it wasn't a lot of money?'
In spite of how tense he'd been only moments before, Hunter grinned and mouthed something to Cadel. Cadel shook his head in disgust and shot Hunter a bird.
"Considering how she is with everyone else about everything else, I just don't get it. Tough as nails, except with you," said Cadel, shaking his head but with a delighted grin that showed he was really happy for Pam. "Well, you and maybe…"
"Get out of my office, Cadel! Get out," hissed Pam with bared teeth.
"See?" he said shaking his head to Hunter. "Where does Eric even find them? These women he finds are just fierce. He likes women who like to fight. Andor and I aren't like that. And I didn't think St…"
"Leave!" shouted Pam.
He winked at Sookie then saluted Pam, turned on his heel and closed the door as he left.
She continued to hug Pam, who didn't say much of anything. She just stood with Sookie's arms around her and leaned her head against Sookie's. It was Hunter who spoke finally.
"She kept every one."
Hunter walked over to pick up a carved rosewood box on the long table with her orchids and opened it to show Sookie.
"She would show them to me if I got low. And to Amelia. Proof, she said. Proof you were still just fine. We'd go through them and try to imagine what you were seeing… your nights. We looked at the Starry Night over the Rhone so many times. The one you wrote happy birthday on?"
It kept her going, if you're listening. It meant everything to her that you wanted her to know you were okay.
She looked in the box. Fifty-one postcards she had mailed. Probably not all even received yet. One mailed every Sunday night for a year. No matter where she had been, she had sent one. From museums or street vendors in Paris, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Peru and Argentina.
Sookie reached into her jacket and drew out the final card. She smiled at Pam.
"Diego Rivera, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes en Argentina. Buenos Aires. Calla lilies. They had a Van Gogh there but you've always loved calla lilies, Pam. So I got this one. And I saw all those Van Goghs I sent you. I like Van Gogh. He could really capture loneliness. In so many of his paintings you can feel how alone he felt."
Hunter looked puzzled.
"You went to Argentina?"
"He was in Argentina. I tracked him to Peru and then found he had moved to Argentina."
"Who?" said Pam, looking puzzled.
Hunter looked only very slightly less so.
"Ocella, Pam."
Pam's eyes went wide.
"You mean you went looking for him? He really was still alive?"
"Yes, he was. Past tense being the operative term here. Because I found him."
Pam looked at her and tilted her head, questioningly, waiting for her to expound.
"I did it last Sunday. Then I had to figure out how to get back to New Orleans in time with travel distance and the different daylight hours. A tricky business with regular airlines, and I'm not kidding. It's summer down there and so far south there is little nighttime. A real risk flying at night in case of delays. I stopped several places on the way back north."
Pam looked at her in confusion.
"Wait a minute. You went to Argentina and you did what?"
"What do you think, Pam? I killed him. In the middle of his recollections of vampirism during the late Roman campaigns in Britain. In addition to being a murderer, a pedophile and rapist, the man was such a pompous ass. And he'd turned dozens of men. Dozens. He was so proud of himself, of his history. I staked him. Mostly for Eric, but really for the safety of the world at large and all of us in particular."
Pam was pulled back from her looking quite shocked.
"Sookie, you're saying you killed Ocella by yourself? But Eric always made it sound like he was so fearsome. He was so old… He would have been so strong. Even they couldn't kill him."
"He was just over 2200 years old according to my research."
"Did you… just glamour him so you could kill him? Like knock him out or something?"
"Oh no. I only glamoured him to slow him down and weaken him a bit. I wanted him alert so that he could hear Eric's name in his last moment. I wanted him quite aware that his end had found him."
Pam looked at her open mouthed, but with a critical eye.
"You're really a bit crazy still, aren't you? Just like when you were alive. You're not going to be one bit less trouble now. Not even a bit."
She looked up at Hunter who was smiling amusedly.
"They certainly cannot say that they had no prior indications that you would be… interesting, Aunt Sookie."
Pam, was silent as she stood with her arm around Sookie's waist. She looked troubled. She looked up at Sookie and said,
"You're not still angry?"
Sookie looked at her. Pam's normally controlled expression actually betrayed a trace of concern and she looked like it was still a subject that held so much emotion for her. Emotions were so difficult in this form, Sookie thought to herself. It was quite easy to see how Pam had arrived at the manner she usually expressed herself in.
"Pam, just don't threaten my cat again," she said struggling to sound playful. It had been so long since she'd had anyone to be playful with.
"Eric had better not be oppressive with me like that again. The cat was the most offensive thing he's ever done to me."
Sookie turned to face her soberly.
"If the worst Eric's done to you is make you clean a litterbox, then I think you're very, very fortunate. Some of these older vampires are incredibly disgusting, Pam. Honestly, it's scary how horrible they are. Eric really sheltered you. You've got no idea."
"We'll see if you continue to hold that view when you're doing it with your improved sense of smell, my dear…" said Pam with a wry smile.
They talked for over an hour. As Sookie went upstairs with Hunter they carefully avoided talking about what he had known, or when he had known it. She seemed caught off guard when he spontaneously hugged her again on the third floor landing, but smiled at him. As they walked toward his room, he quietly told her that he was dating a Were. She was three years older than he was and had been his teaching assistant in a language lab class. She didn't know what he was yet. Just that he knew she was a Were and cared for her very much.
"I haven't had the courage to tell Eric, yet."
Sookie just laughed at him.
"Hunter, you're kidding yourself. He probably smells her all over you. I certainly do."
When they arrived at his rooms they stood chatting. He wanted to show her his fall semester grade report but tried to bar her from entering his room. She brushed his arm aside and glanced inside, gasping. She pushed by him and looked around in dismay.
"Hunter Savoy! This room is a pigsty! I don't care if you're 19 and all grown up. It's getting cleaned up by tomorrow at sunset or you're in trouble! I'm not kidding. Is that a pizza box? Omigod, there is molding food in there. I smell it from all the way over there. That is disgusting, Hunter! What is with the pop bottle collection? You know, you're going to get bugs in here? I do not want to live in a house with bugs and no decent person would either. And what is all of that? Were you waiting for the Tooth Fairy to come and do your laundry?" She picked up a spray bottle on the dresser and looked at its label- Febreeze? And just shook her head. "You are just over the top, Hunter. And I don't know who this Were is that you're dating but she must be sensory disabled if she can't smell all this junk on your clothes along with the dirt that's still here and the food on top of it. Are you sure she's a Were? Hasn't Eric been in here at all to check on you while I was gone? Didn't he spend any time with you at all? I thought maybe you just had been out all day. You smell like this all the time and no one said anything?"
"Eric and I talk every night. A lot of times he'd sit with me while I had dinner in the upstairs kitchen or in our dining room, but he's never come in here. Aunt Pam came in one day about two months ago and called me a reprobate, if it's any comfort. She did try to get me to clean it up. It's actually cleaner than it was then. Consider it good incentive not to leave me on my own."
She turned to look at him with a somewhat chastened look. Then she hugged his arm to her side. Even smelling of the Were and un-fresh clothes, he mostly smelled… like blood. She pulled away quickly, her fangs running down a bit. She shivered.
"I'm sorry. I need to eat."
He looked at her and nodded, his eyes looking bright but unafraid.
"That's okay… I just want you to know that I missed you so much, Aunt Sookie. It's been a hard year. And I… I guess we'll need to talk about..." He couldn't finish.
She looked at him for a moment and then narrowed her eyes, fighting the hunger and wanting to stay focused.
"Hunter, if you're going to tell me that your feelings of guilt are the reason for this mess, it's the worst excuse for a filthy room I've ever heard in my life. It's probably the worst excuse I've heard from you yet, including the one when you were sixteen and borrowed Eric's car without permission to impress that uppity girl. This is just unhealthy, young man." She paused and actually shivered as she ran her tongue over her fangs. "And I'm really hungry and need to go get a True Blood but the next time I set foot in this room, I know and I mean I know, Hunter, that it will be pristine. I will be able to see a wood floor and actual furniture instead of piles of clothes. And there will be no trace of food and I will smell clean, fresh air. Are we straight?"
His dark brown eyes shone as he nodded. She was apparently forgiving him.
"Yes, ma'am."
She hesitated and then asked what had been on her mind for more than an hour.
"Did Eric know?"
His eyes filled with tears. He shook his head 'no'.
"No. I never told anyone. He only knew after. He was so angry at me. It's the only time I've ever been afraid of him. He was so very angry with me after you left. I just... I didn't want to lose you. And this way, I knew I wouldn't really."
"I... I can't talk about this right now, Hunter. I just needed to know..." she said.
"I know it was selfish. I've been ashamed of how selfish it was. But I didn't want to be alone. I just didn't. I couldn't imagine my world if you were really gone. I know my mom died anyway as a vampire, but you'll be safe here. You'll be safe and happy."
She grasped his hand, too hungry to pull him close to give him more, and they stood there silent for several more moments. There was simply nothing that she could say about his choices.
"We'll talk more about it another time. Okay?"
He nodded to her.
She released his hand and turned, but paused in the doorway, looking back around at the shambles of his room. With a grimace, she shook her head as she ran her eyes around the room one more time. She turned back to look him in the eyes.
"I love you very much. Clean up your act."
His face brightened a bit.
"It will be clean by tomorrow night. Promise."
She nodded to him, then turned and walked to the end of the hall.
Rounding the corner and walking three doors down, she entered the code in the lock's keypad and let it scan her palm. The door to the library opened and she walked into the rooms where she had spent the happiest ten years of her life as a human. She closed the door and leaned back against it. She didn't need the lights now. Even in the dark she could clearly see she was home.
She glanced around the room, hung her head and cried.