Chapter 5
"Eric! Eric, calm down. Slow down. You'll kill us if you keep driving like that." Sookie was holding onto the dashboard and looked at Eric in horror. He was driving like a maniac. Hunter was in the backseat, safely strapped in but Sookie was getting the feeling that Eric was not acting rationally about the threat.
"Eric, you are scaring Hunter and you are scaring me. Please slow down." Sookie pleaded an edge to her voice she was not very familiar with. Somehow this seemed to bring him back to the present and he slowed down. By this time they were only a few blocks away from her apartment so to say it helped was an overstatement.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Eric said softly. His eyes looked ahead but they were glassy and his knuckles were pale white because of his grip on the steering wheel.
"That's ok." She answered. She didn't want to get into it now with Hunter in the backseat. The implications of this new development were immense and Sookie had no idea on how to handle it.
When they got back in the apartment, Eric immediately left them to call Godric. Sookie did not want to interrupt him further so she took Hunter to the kitchen to make them some sandwiches. After 10 minutes, Eric stepped into the kitchen. He spoke while Hunter was facing the other way.
"Sookie, I have to go. In about two minutes one of our officers will knock on your door and he will stay with you until I am back, ok?" He said tonelessly.
"Where are you going?" She asked and Hunter looked up, noticing that she was talking but not to him. Sookie just smiled reassuringly.
"I have to take care of things and we have to come up with a game plan because this has gone too far." He said and then the knock on the door came and Eric introduced the officer as Palomino. Palomino sat down at the kitchen table and accepted the cards that Hunter gave him. Hunter was quick to ease the tension and Sookie was so engrossed in his explanation of the card game that she did not notice Eric leaving until the door clicked shut.
"Pam, did you find who took the pictures?" Eric asked when he walked back into his office at Fantasia. Pam and Godric were peering at some footage on the flat screen and did not look up when Eric walked in.
"Eric, we have a suspect. Someone named Talbot? Does that ring any bells?" Godric asked, "But the plot thickens, we do not know who this man is yet but we believe he might be the one that delivered the photos to you… Eh I mean Hunter." Godric showed him the frame of a short man with black unruly hair and serious and dark scowling face with bushy eyebrows. Eric shook his head.
"Then we do not know what to do with him. It seems he is a relatively new guy in Russel's team. He is not in any of the files that we have collected from Russel through the years." Pam stated, a worrisome look in her eyes.
"Well then, we have to dig up some information on him and in the mean time the best we can do is let Russel feel like he has us cornered and continue to business on his terms." Eric said.
"But he has us cornered!" Pam bursted out angrily. She started pacing around the office.
"Yes, but not for long." Godric said smiling as if he was saying the weather would improve in a day or two.
"How do you know?" Pam asked.
"Because we have Jason and I believe that we can ask him about Russel's business." Godric said as if stating the obvious.
"Right, because Jason's dealer, Alec, was a blabbermouth. So he must have heard something that can help us to either locate Russel or lead us to some valuable information about Russel's business." Eric explained and nodded.
"Eric, you stay here and watch the club for a couple of hours while Pam and I are going to pay Jason a visit. He'll be glad to us. It seems he is bored in the safe house." Godric said smiling wistfully. Eric just nodded, not too pleased to be left out but also unhappy about staying put while Sookie was at home entertaining an officer.
It was getting closer to dinnertime and Sookie had to go and do some shopping if they wanted a proper meal for dinner. Since she did not know whether Palomino was allowed to leave the house, she figured it was best for them to go together.
"Palomino, we have to do some grocery shopping if we want to have something to eat tonight. Will you come with us?" Palomino was on the phone right away. He handed her the phone wordlessly after a couple of minutes.
"Sookie? Are you out of your mind? No, you cannot go shopping! What do you think will happen if you even take one step out of your apartment?!" Eric's angry voice sounded through the receiver.
"Ok, ok…" She tried to sound calm but in reality Sookie was finally realizing that she and therefore Hunter were in deep trouble. The rest of the conversation was a blur with her vague responses being interpreted as affirmative. She handed the phone back to Palomino and sat next to Hunter who was watching something on the television. She didn't want to worry him but for some reason he did pick up on her mood and crawled on her lap to watch the program together. Somewhere during the program the front door opened and after some male murmurs the door closed again.
Sookie did not fully grasp that Hunter was lifted from her lap by Eric and that they went to the kitchen to eat something. She kept watching the television with no notion of time passing.
"Sookie…?" Eric walked in the room and tentatively looked at her. He had tucked Hunter in bed who had been completely out when he laid his head down on the pillow. Sookie's eyes were glassy when they finally found his. She lifted her hand reaching out to him. He took her hand and sat down next to her. He felt her slightly tremble beside him and Eric did not know how to react because frankly the thought of Sookie breaking down had him scared out of his mind.
"Sookie, please… talk to me, please?" He whispered, turning completely towards her and he caught her eyes watering. Without a sound the tears that had threatened to spill were actually rolling down her cheeks and her eyes were only focused on him. The feeling was so intense that it left him breathless. The agony he saw and felt with her was so real that he was willing to kill anyone who meant her harm. She leaned into him and stopped when she could feel his unsteady breath on her wet cheeks. She looked him deep in his eyes and breathed out a sigh.
"Eric… Please, kiss me…" She whispered in his ear. His eyes focused on hers and switched between her eyes and lips several times until she saw the expression in his eyes change as if his inner battle had been decided and he found what he was looking for in her eyes. His lips gingerly took possession of her bottom lip and sucked it in. Sookie did not know what had possessed her to just throw herself at Eric like that but she knew in her heart that he was the cure to help her forget the awful events that had suddenly gripped her. The feeling of having someone holding her and placing reverent kisses all over her face made her ache physically but even more so mentally. Without her realising it, she started sobbing uncontrollably and he kissed her eyelids and temple.
"Shush… it's ok. Everything is going to be ok." Eric whispered softly, stroking her hair and just holding her until she quieted down. At some point during the evening her breathing evened out and he knew she was asleep.
Very slowly without moving her too much, he picked her up and laid her down in her bed. However, her arms tightened around his neck when he moved away.
"Eric… stay…" She murmured and turned, pulling his arm around her. He smiled softly and had no choice but to snuggle against her and pulled her against his chest, his arms, a warm protective shell around her body.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the character of True Blood.
Ok, so this update is quite overdue, I believe. I do not know how you do it. Seriously, if you have any tips, please I am glad to hear them. Next to that, I have trouble getting all the story lines straight so if you have any ideas, then please let me know As for now, I hope you like this chapter. I like its sweetness and thought Sookie needed a reality check and of course, our Viking can help with that. ;-)