AN: Thank you for wonderful reviews :)
Big thanks for keiman and kei for fixing my mistakes.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.
Enjoy!
Chapter 19
All Hell Breaks Loose
SPOV
I was aware that two pairs of eyes were tracking me continuously but there was nothing I could have done about it. It was actually sweet how Eric and Godric were guarding me from a distance. I risked a glance in their direction and I instantly noticed Eric - it was very hard to miss Eric, with his impressive over six feet stature. The woman whom I didn't know, was currently giggling and swirling her hair, trying desperately to catch his attention. The Viking was watching her antics with a bored expression, not even trying to look politely interested. It made me smirk for some reason and it was, of course, at that exact moment that he decided to look me straight in the eyes. I groaned when a satisfied smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth and one blond eyebrow ran up. I hated that pleased look on his face.
I felt safe with him here; I couldn't deny it that Eric and Godric were better escorts for me for this party. On the other hand, the air was getting more and more charged with sexual tension and honestly, I was scared of how I would act later when I was alone with Eric… And Godric.
The Dallas sheriff was standing under the tree and even though he was a good hundred feet away from me, I could see he was having a phone conversation. I frowned when he seemed to pinch the base of his nose - I hoped that there were no problems in Dallas. The second our eyes locked, Godric waved to me and I could swear that he smiled. I smiled back and waved at him awkwardly when I heard Eric's admirer laughing loudly, making a sound like a hungry hyena. I noticed that Eric leaned closer to her and clearly whispered something into her ear. She giggled this time, the way that no woman in her thirties should have.
I gritted my teeth, telling myself that there is no reason for me to be… What exactly? Jealous? Angry? I had no right to Eric.
"Oh yes, you do…" said a small voice in my head. "He and Godric want you to be theirs. And they promised to be yours."
I couldn't deny that I had a good time with them. Earlier, at Eric's house, both vampires had been playful (when Eric was not trying to be so irritatingly high-handed) and polite. I bit my lips to stop a snort when I remembered Eric's first choice of orgy attire. When he walked downstairs wearing those ridiculous pink lycra pants, I had choked on the juice I was drinking. I couldn't stop laughing at the sight of him, to the point when my stomach started to hurt.
"Why are you laughing so much?" he asked seriously which only sent me into the next fit of giggling.
There was something absolutely ridiculous in the sight of such a giant male wearing this… monstrosity. When I risked one more thorough look at his form, my giggles slowly died down. Lycra was damned lycra and this particular material was fitting Eric's legs like a second skin… And the truth be told, not only Eric's legs but others part of his anatomy as well.
"I am not going if you're gonna wear that." I said stubbornly.
"Uuuu…" Eric mocked. "Godric, it looks like Sookie is greedy enough to want to keep these particular goods to herself." he added and actually wiggled his bottom at me.
"Don't be so full of yourself," I spat. "you just look plain ridiculous." I summed up, cursing myself at the thought of being envious of another woman seeing Eric in this lycra cloth had even crossed my mind.
Eric ended up wearing his usual set, all black and leather. Thinking about this now, where the Hell did he get those damned lycra pants?
I turned my attention back to Arlene who was in the middle of very long and very detailed story about how she eventually decided to gave Terry a shot.
"So, then I thought- why the heck not!" Arlene finished her tale and I forced myself to smile at her. The fact that she hooked up with Terry was good news, I wouldn't argue with it, but I was here to find out who had murdered Jane and so far, I knew nothing – no one was thinking anything suspicious.
There was something comforting in the idea that the residents of Bon Temps were innocent. Maybe it was someone from the outside? The truth be told, there were plenty of people I haven't ever met at Mike's party. Someone from Shreveport or Monroe could have killed Jane and disappeared from our little town.
"Sookie?" I jumped a little when Mike's voice sounded next to my ear. How the Hell is this man able to sneak up on me so easily? Is it some secret creep superpower?
"Mike, hello…" I turned to Arlene but she was already in the middle of a heated kiss with Terry. This sight shocked me. Terry has been always very shy and I would have never suspected him of showing affection in public. What had that damned Maenad done to them?
Mike's fingers grazed over my shoulder and the feeling of unease crept over me. In the corner of my eyes, I noticed Eric taking a few long strides in my direction but I shook my head. I had seen Mike earlier but this time, without Eric or Godric lurking around, he was far more relaxed and I might have a chance to find out something from his thoughts.
"Where are your friends?" he asked casually and I wanted to roll my eyes. Seriously, how could he miss Eric?
"Godric is on the phone and Eric…" I checked to see if Eric had changed his position but he was standing next to his admirer, his jaw gritted so tight that I was sure it was going to crack any minute. "… he's socializing."
"Oh… Good. I have to admit that they scared people a little- at first."
I laughed quietly, waving my hand. "Oh no!" I said as cheerfully as physically possible. " They are pacifists, they would not hurt a fly."
At least Godric might not… . Putting Eric in the same category was probably an offense in his book.
"I admit I was a little worried to come over…" I started hesitantly. "After what happened with Jane, you know." I focused my gaze on Mike's face and I caught a small tic, in the corner of his eye.
"Don't think about this, don't think… Damn, she probably can't do this thing either way, but still – don't think about this, Mike!" he was chanting in his mind.
My heartbeat accelerated when I heard it.
"You know, that won't work," I told him quietly. His eyes become almost round with fear. " I will know what you're trying to hide."
I had an occasional slip-up in the past and every time when I answered the mental question or insult, the person who realized what I had done, had worn the exact same expression. Fear. Mike Spencer was no exception.
"Oh my god… you did…" he stuttered and I just nodded.
"Just think Mike, you don't have to say anything." I told him softly because something in his eyes was telling me, it wasn't Mike who had murdered Jane.
And it wasn't. When the Bon Temps coroner opened his mind to me, I knew who the main suspect was in this murder case. It shocked me and I truly hoped that Mike was wrong. Thankfully, the person who could answer my question was walking right next to me and into the house. Without the slightest hesitation, I followed him inside.
EPOV
"So… Maybe we should give an example, hm? After all, we both know what this party was organized for..." a woman suggested and I needed an unnecessary breath to stop myself from ripping her hand off. The hand that was currently petting my chest in the most irritating way. I smirked and leaned closer, careful not to take a sniff of her heavy perfumes.
"I'd rather have my fangs ripped out," I whispered back and she giggled, like I had just made a hilarious joke.
I could feel Sookie's eyes on me the whole evening and being forced into standing next to this irritating worm while my little sunshine was walking among the vermin was really getting on my nerves.
I averted my gaze to Sookie and my fangs almost snapped down when I saw our pervert host touching her arm. I was on my way to put my own hands on him, in a very unpleasant way for him when Sookie caught my eyes and shook her head.
I bit down a swear and stopped. Right, we should let Sookie do her thing without scaring any humans off.
"So?" The woman next to me asked, really testing my patience. My very fragile patience broke down when her hand sneaked over my stomach and stopped at my belt. I was sure she was no one important enough for Sookie. My little telepath will have to forgive me for this manslaughter .
"Are you brain-damaged?" I hissed at her and she took a step back, her flirtatious mood gone completely. " I would not touch you with a two-feet long stick."
"But…" I was about to smash her neck when Godric appeared next to me and grabbed my hand.
"Eric!" he said sharply. I wanted to roll my eyes at his concern over this slutty bloodbag when I realized that he was not watching neither me nor the woman.
I looked in the same direction where Sookie had been standing thirty seconds ago - only to find out that she was gone. Fuck! How could I lose sight of her? I inhaled and smelled Sookie's unique aroma traveling from the man she was talking with straight up to the house. I tried to silence all of the noises coming from this rat-trap, but the music was playing loud enough to swallow any other noises.
Godric's face tightened and I didn't need to check our bond to know that he was worried. He and I both raced there and stopped dead in our tracks when we crashed into the invisible barrier that the threshold created.
"Get him," ordered my Maker, pointing his chin at the organizer of the party and I raced for Mike Spencer, not daring to raise my gaze to check my Maker's expression. Godric was angry at me, almost as angry as I was with myself, something I couldn't blame him for. I had screwed up - royally.
The human screamed when I bluntly groped him at the nape of his neck and dragged him in the direction of the house.
"Don't kill me!" he begged when I dropped him at Godric's feet.
"Invite us in," ordered my Maker but Bon Temp's resident only closed his eyes, mumbling something incoherent, too scared to comprehend that no one was killing him. For now, of course.
I tensed when over the loud country music, I heard Sookie's voice.
"Bud…" she said very loudly and very calmly. "You don't have to do this." she said persuasively in her soothing voice but I sensed a sting of fear coming from Godric and I couldn't tell if this particular emotion was Sookie's or his.
"Now!" my Maker roared at Spencer, gripping the man's neck and shaking him a little. I glanced at Godric, taken aback by this outburst. It was not typical for him to raise his voice, especially since he has been living in his Zen zone. With his fangs down and furious gaze, he looked very much like the old Godric, the one who was unpredictable and violent, the one that every vampire feared. I expected to feel satisfaction on seeing this part of him back, but surprisingly, I was worried rather than pleased.
After the longest pause in my life, Mike Spencer finally murmured "Come in" and Godric dropped him back on the ground and ran inside. I was right on his heels and when we stopped at the room where our telepath's scent had led us, we froze. If I had had a heartbeat, it would have stopped dead at the sight in front of me.
An elderly man had his arm sneaked around Sookie's neck and a gun pressed to her temple. The other man, the one that Sookie had earlier pointed out as Andy Bellefleur, also had a gun directed at Sookie and her offender. The man's hands were shaking a little and if he decided to play cowboy and take the old man down, Sookie would undoubtedly be shot. The black woman whom I recognized as Tara, was standing in the embrace of her lover, whose name I didn't remember. Besides them, there were also two other women in the kitchen, squeezed into a corner.
"Oh, hi…" Sookie mumbled to us but that was all she could muster up until her neck was squeezed tighter.
Godric and I growled in unison.
"Tell them to back the fuck off!" the man yelled, pushing his gun firmly against Sookie's head and she winced, obviously uncomfortable.
"Bud," our telepath whispered gently. "It just got out of hand," she said and I was impressed with how cool her voice sounded. "You don't have to do thi…"
"Shut up! I know you know and now… and now everybody knows!" he half sobbed.
"Bud, right?" Godric asked, taking a step toward them but the other armed man interrupted him with a short "Stand down!"
I wanted so badly to roll my eyes at these silly humans and their attempts to be intimidating.
"Put down the guns, both of you," I hissed quietly and Godric took a chance while Bud was distracted by me, to move a little towards the left, a step closer to the hand that was holding the gun.
"If you try something, I'll kill her," Bud warned and his hand trembled a bit.
"You have known me for my whole life, Bud…" whispered Sookie. "Remember when you were visiting Gran one day and you brought me that stuffed cat from a fair?" she asked and I wished I could have sent her my pride at that moment.
Thankfully, Bellefleur finally got the idea of what was happening around him and he lowered his gun a little.
"I really didn't wanna…" Bud sobbed and something was telling me that he wasn't talking about bringing Sookie a stuffed toy. "She made me so angry and I couldn't stop. I just needed to hit her head with that stone and even when she was no longer moving, I kept hitting her with it. I just couldn't stop."
"I know," Sookie whispered with compassion. "It wasn't your fault."
"I can't go to jail," he said, with a power that made me tense and Bellefleur raised his damned gun again. Meanwhile, Godric was inching closer and closer to them but Bud still had his gun near Sookie's head and his finger on the trigger, which was making any attempts at attacking him extremely risky. Even if Godric were to have grabbed the gun, it could have still fired and hit Sookie right in the head.
"Please, give me Sookie," I added gently, taking a step closer while Bud's eyes stared at mine for a fraction of a second. I opened my arms encouragingly and I had almost caught him in my glamor when he pushed Sookie forward. I knew what was gonna happen before the man raised his gun.
I vamped closer to my Sookie and clutched her in my arms when the gun fired. She screamed softly into my chest when, behind her back, Bud pulled the trigger, turning his head into bloody pulp.
Surprisingly, there was another gunshot sound and I frowned at the unexpected pain in my chest.
"Oh shit… Sorry, I panicked." Bellefleur whispered and I would have glared at him if the pain hadn't have been so profound. It hurt too much for a simple bullet wound.
AN: Probably mean of me to put such a cliffhanger especially when updates are less frequent these days but I couldn't resist.
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