HI everyone!
I'm sorry. I know it's been a long time and I'm all out of excuses, except for saying my muse has been fucking with me. Regardless, here's some insight into Niall's mind. There's another chapter to go and maybe an epi. I should be able to deliver at least the chappy next week, so here's to hoping I actually have the needed time to write it.
I miss all of you and thank you if you're still interested in reading this story. Hugs to all of you!
Thanks go to Mer for going over this chappy for me. *gives Mer coffee*
Chapter 20: Scheming
NPOV
If I was right about this, then it could be the end of the Vampire race as we know it. The only thing I had to make sure of was that Sookie came with me to Fairy.
It wouldn't be too hard, either, if things go according to plan. The last link she had to the Vampire world would be removed by night's end, Victor had said. If he knew what was good for him, he would deliver.
I sat down at the desk, rubbing my temples. I had played a complicated game and I could only hope that all the pieces fell into place. They had to, because my plan was perfect. I was the fucking Prince of the Fae!
It all began years ago, a lifetime for Sookie, a blink of an eye for me. When word had come that the Witches who lived right next to the portal were having a child, I knew that it had to be special or, at the very least, a reason to take a closer look.
It was a long shot, but there were predictions out there that a child would come, and that Seraphim always came from gifted parents of some sort. Such a child only came once every few thousand years, so it was important that I keep a close eye on things. And that's exactly what I did because, no matter what, the child should be on our side, helping us to eradicate the scourge that were Vampires. Even the Demons needed to be taken out.
So I started preparing things, putting things in motion before Sookie was even born. The portal to the Fae world was right behind the house she was born in, so it wasn't that difficult to pop over there and check on things. The boy they already had possessed no powers whatsoever and didn't seem to be too gifted with brain cells, either. The girl, however, you could see she was special from the first glance at her.
She, Sookie as they'd called her, had something extra about her. It could have been from her parents, but I was hoping it was from the Seraphim within.
Then there came the night that I had to take care of her parents, to get the water faeries to take them to an early grave. I needed to be able to make Sookie cherish family, and what better way to do that than to leave her with only her dimwit brother and an old woman? Eventually, I'd remove them as well and present myself as her only kin. Her instinct would tell her to be close to me, which was perfect after all because if she did manifest as Seraphim, she'd be mine - my most precious weapon.
The woman, Adele, hadn't had a magic bone in her body, but she'd seen enough from her husband and child that she would know how to take care of a child with special needs, such as Sookie was. Spies placed around the house told me that she had some sort of mental powers, which could only strengthen my belief that I was right.
I rejoiced then, thinking that I still had a few dozen years before her powers kicked in.
Then those fucking vamps decided to come out and I knew I had to do something. There was so little time left before she would start manifesting her powers which, by then, I was already sure she had. Her mind reading, which was the ability she turned out to have, would attract them like bees to honey. Her curiosity and the fact that humans treated her like she had the plague would inevitably put her in the path of one vampire or another.
I made a risky decision then. I went to her home and put a glamour on her, a spell that made it appear as if she were of fae descent. Just a small dose would suffice in making her appealing, but would not send a vampire into blood lust and get her killed. It would be enough, however, to bring out the beast inside them, to make her see that these were not creatures she'd want to be around. It would also help strengthen the idea that she was my long lost granddaughter.
For good measure, I did the same to her brother. Without a father around, he should be able to forbid her from seeing someone he did not deem worthy, and with the right incentive he'd end up hating vampires, too.
I decided then that I would have to meet her soon, formally, to play the part of distant great-grandfather. Blood runs thicker than water. Family ties would force her loyalty to our side and I would win her over.
Eventually I'd convince her to come to Faerie, and when she came of age her powers would either make her a Seraphim, or she'd remain a mere telepath, in which case I'd kill her. I was old enough to know that there was more to her, though. I was confident not only that she would turn out to be a winged weapon of mass destruction, but that she'd also be fighting for me.
Everything went as I had predicted and she did end up getting involved with vampires, and getting hurt time and time again because of them. I made sure to keep an eye on her until the time was right to reveal myself.
Of course she had to become involved with the one vampire whose name preceded him. The Viking, the bane of my existence, as it seemed to be. He was a dangerous enemy to have and I was sure that's what he'd end up being. When I take Sookie to the Fae world, when she became Seraphim, she wouldn't be able to kill him, no matter how many times I render him guilty of violence. Love was a powerful thing, but one that I would eventually succeed in killing within her.
I had to hide everything, though, so I followed tradition and pretended to care what the fucking fanger thought, pretended that I respected whatever fucking claim he thought he had over Sookie.
The introduction went great and everything went according to plan. While she was reserved towards me in the beginning, the idea of family duty laid heavily with her so she did exactly what she was expected to do. My little puppet.
She was becoming too involved with these vampires, though, so I had to take measures. I started working with Northman's enemies. Victor was a fucking idiot, but he was easy to control and he hated the Viking, so he'd help end him with a smile on his face.
I introduced him to Michelle and told him to glamour the woman to start dating Jason. It seemed like he wasn't playing into his brotherly role, letting his sister wander around like a fucking tramp with that Viking. If he wouldn't put his foot down against their dating, I had to make sure he would at least start hating Vampires as a whole.
Michelle was glamoured to keep an eye on Jason and Sookie and to report whenever anything of importance happened. She was also supposed to make Jason hate vampires.
At one point, I thought she wouldn't be needed anymore since Sookie had left the Viking for good. I rejoiced then, happy that she had come to her senses and that she'd be easy to drag into Fairy.
I set things up with Victor, made sure the deal was still intact. The plan was to help him become king of the three states by killing Felipe and his entourage. Victor would kill Northman just to make sure Sookie's affections were in the right place. I was even willing to sacrifice Jason if need be and if Northman's death wasn't enough to make her want to run away.
Victor hadn't been too happy with the idea of losing the telepath, but I had made sure to offer him something in return. Hunter. He was young, but that didn't mean he couldn't do simple jobs for Victor. And when he was older, he'd already know what he was supposed to do. Humans coddled too much, anyway. Let the child work his way through the world, face the toughness from a young age.
When I went to retrieve Sookie, however, she was nowhere to be found. I was furious. No one knew where she was and no one knew for how long she'd been gone.
But I knew how to put things back into play. Unfortunately for her, Michelle was a means to an end. What I didn't count on was for that brain dead brother of Sookie's to vanish, too. An explosion took place and security cameras showed that both of them had died in that goddamn bar, but I knew better. She'd resurface at one point or another and I'd snatch her in a heartbeat.
The plan to kill Felipe was already in motion and just in time, someone spotted Northman's childe who was supposed to be dead. I was sure then that Sookie was alive and that all she had to do was return home.
And there I was, waiting in the desert for the right time to deliver the final blows to Felipe de Castro. With a handful of fairies at my side, we popped into the palace. It all ended before it started. The vampires were too stunned to do anything and their heads were on the floor before they even realized what we were and how deadly we were.
It was anticlimactic, really. Why didn't Victor kill them himself if they were all such easy prey? This had been a waste of time and there were none of the feelings usually encountered in battle because there was no real fight. It was a massacre, for lack of a better word.
The air was dry and hot in the Nevada desert and I couldn't wait for Victor to deliver Sookie so I could be on my way. The wind was blowing softly and it was then that I sensed someone approaching.
I smiled at the sight in front of me. Well, well, well, Victor did deliver.
"Sookie," I greeted, "how great to see you."
