Chapter 17
We met Bill and Sookie in the lobby and the boys went off to get a rental car, no longer taking a risk with a driver. Sookie, who wore a gorgeous red sundress that made me feel underdressed, sat across from me as we waited for Bill and Eric to come back. We sat in silence, and I felt extremely awkward as Sookie eyed me critically.
"What's wrong?" I asked, breaking the silence.
She continued to stare at me before she said, "Come to the bathroom with me?"
I nodded and followed her through the lobby to the nearest ladies' room. She held the door for me and I walked in and looked in the mirror. I gussied up as she went through the bathroom looking under every stall to make sure we were alone. I expected Sookie to go into one of stalls, but instead she came right up behind me and suddenly ripped my scarf from my neck.
"Hey!" I squealed and made a grab for my scarf in her hand.
"I knew it, I tried the same thing when I first got bitten," she said. I quickly covered up the bite marks with my hand, embarrassed, as she continued, "How could you let him bite you? Lissa, he's bad news, trust me."
"Don't you think I know that? I didn't exactly give him the go-ahead to chow down on me like a turkey on Thanksgiving!" Her face took on a look of pity as I said this, and she grabbed my shoulder sympathetically. "Look can we talk about this later?" I sighed. "We both promised Eric we'd help him find Godric and right now that means meeting with these vampires. Which we're going to be late for if we don't get our asses out the door now."
Sookie nodded in understanding and handed me my scarf back. I wrapped it back around my neck to hide Eric's doing and left the restroom with my friend.
"You should've told me Eric hired fucking humans, Isabel," the dark-haired cowboy vampire muttered. We had hardly stepped a foot into Godric's exquisite home before one of his friends started insulting Sookie and me.
"Now wait just a minute," Sookie scoffed.
"Respect them!" Bill demanded, having our backs.
"Thank you," I said to him.
"I couldn't tell you, Stan," the classy looking woman in a white dress seethed to the cowboy, "you've been off on your own for days."
"Are you certain Godric was abducted by the Fellowship of the Sun?" Eric asked impatiently as he paced the floor.
"Yes," Stan confirmed.
"No," Isabel said at the same time.
"They're the only ones with the organization and manpower," insisted Stan.
"But they're amateurs," she retorted. "It doesn't make any sense. This is Godric we're talking about. Two-thousand years old." I was taken aback by this information. Two-thousand years old? That was twice as old as Eric.
"Old don't make you smart."
"Besides, there's no proof."
"If they've got him, I'll hear it," Sookie intervened before Stan and Isabel ripped each other's throats out. "That's my job."
Stan glared at her. "There's no reason to wait. We need to take these fanatics down. Full out attack. Exterminate them like the vermin they are, leave no trace."
I scoffed. This guy was worse than Eric, referring to human beings as 'vermin'. Not to mention the level of stupidity in his plan, and I decided to point it out to him. "Hmm, vampire-hating church annihilated. Wonder who did it? Fucking brilliant." Stan's fangs popped out and he growled at me, but I ignored him and continued," Besides, we can't just kill them. These are human beings we're talking about, and I get that you obviously don't grasp that concept, but they're people too. They're confused and scared and you're-" Eric's hand was on my shoulder before I could finish, warning me not to push any further.
Bill looked from me to Stan and jumped in to distract the agitated vampire from me. "I doubt the king of Texas would approve of the destruction of our international political agenda." Isabel gestured in agreement.
"Fuck that," the cowboy snarled. "The Great Revelation was the biggest mistake we ever made."
"Don't use Godric to make your own little power play," Isabel snapped.
"You're completely incompetent!" Eric roared from behind me, and all heads snapped to him. "What's happened to Godric that he surrounds himself with clowns?"
"We invited you as a courtesy," she leered, stepping closer to him. "This is not your territory. You have no voice here.
"Yeah, sheriff," Stan joined in. "Why don't you run on back down to Louisiana? We don't need you or your puppets."
"Oh, I'm not going anywhere," stated Eric.
"And I'm nobody's puppet," I added.
Bill said, "What we need is a plan."
"I have a plan" Stan reinforced.
"It's not a plan, it's a movie," Isabel rolled her eyes.
"It's not a movie. It's a war."
I had to hold back laughter at Stan's words. What he said only proved Isabel's point; his response and the tone in which he said it sounded like it came straight out of a movie. Eric was right, this guy was a clown. Stan was a stupid as they come.
"Idiots," Eric snarled, voicing my inner thoughts, before turning his back to them.
"We take them all out at once, preemptive strike!" Stan insisted further, his voice booming throughout the room.
"Of course," Isabel sneered, "so the federal government can bomb us back into the middle ages!" I sighed. Clearly we weren't through with the bickering, so I sat down on the couch and rubbed my temples. This arguing was getting us nowhere.
"Heh, things were better back then, "snorted Stan.
"Then go to Romania and live in a cave, you ranchero poser!"
I heard Eric grunt behind me and something shattered. I jumped on my seat and turned to see that he had thrown a vase. I was startled by this act of aggression, and quite frankly, a little afraid. I'd never seen Eric so angry. Not when I slapped him in Fangtasia, or when I disobeyed him by leaving the hotel room, or even when I smashed a lamp over his head just a few hours earlier. I shrunk into my seat.
"Godric has protected you," he growled, "made you rich, and you stand here spitting and scratching like infants."
"Don't any of you care that there's a traitor in your midst?" Bill spoke up.
"No," Stan muttered, and I couldn't decide if he meant that he was in shock at learning of a possible traitor, or that he honestly didn't care if there was one.
Isabel, however, seemed sincere when she murmured, "Impossible."
"Someone tried to kidnap me and Lissa from the airport," Sookie told them.
"You were the only ones that knew they were coming," accused Bill.
Eric looked from me and Sookie to the two bickering vampires. "Explain," he demanded.
"Unless it was you," Stan shrugged at Isabel.
"Unless it was you!" she bit back sharply.
"Look, if y'all argue anymore, I'm either gonna fall asleep or start screaming, so this is what we're gonna do," Sookie announced, obviously fed up like the rest of us. Everyone turned to her questionably, waiting to hear what kind of plan the young waitress had cooked up. "I'll infiltrate the Fellowship of the Sun."
"Absolutely not," Bill stepped in.
"Let her speak," Eric insisted. I heard Stan make a groaning noise behind me.
"Since Bill glamoured the kidnapper, no one there knows who I am. I'll pretend I wanna join the church and check out all their thoughts."
"No," Bill said again. "During the day, none of us can help you."
"It will only take a little while," she tried to convince him. "Really, Bill, it's simple."
"Waste of time," Stan shook his head and walked towards the door. He grabbed his cowboy hat and put it on as he muttered, "When we could drink them all. I want no part of this." He left and no one tried to stop him. Honestly, I think we were all happy to see him go.
Isabel seemed much calmer with his absence and gestured towards Sookie. "There's no easier way to find out if they're involved."
"If it leads us to Godric, we'll do it," Eric declared, much to Bill's dismay. "Alessandra will go as well. The decision's made." I perked up at the sound of my name. Normally, I would've refused to let Eric make my decisions for me, but I actually agreed with him. I wanted to go and help Sookie.
Bill wasn't happy at all. "A few words?" he said to Eric, who reluctantly followed him to someplace more private.
I twiddled my thumbs awkwardly as Sookie and I were left alone with Isabel, who we hardly knew. I took a sip from my water bottle I had brought along so the silence wasn't unbearable. She strode up to us with a kind smile on her face.
"So tell me," she mused. "How goes your human-vampire relationships?"
I choked on my mouthful of water and I few drops escaped my lips, which I wiped away quickly. "Oh, no," I mumbled, trying to catch my breath. "Eric and I are not together. You'll have to rely solely on Sookie for that one." Sookie smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, but he's fed from you," Isabel commented gesturing to my scarf. Jeez, was my feeble attempt at covering up the bite that see-through? "And you from him?"
It took me a moment to figure out she meant by that last question, but then I realized she was talking about me drinking Eric's blood. I lowered my gaze, "Well…"
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," she assured me. "I've fed my human my blood many times. It's completely normal for anyone dating a vampire."
"I'm not exactly dating him," I laughed nervously.
"But you feel for him?"
I hesitated. I hated Eric Northman, I did. But I couldn't deny these other feelings, feelings I'd had since the moment I met him. They've only intensified since.
Isabel must've caught on, because she said, "There's no use in denying you're feelings. He feels everything you feel. He knows."
A memory flashed before my eyes. "Don't act like you don't want it," Eric whispered in my ear. "I can feel everything you feel." I had wondered what he meant by that before and now was my chance for answers.
"He can...," I gulped, "feel my emotions?"
"Of course," she nodded. "There are many benefits to a blood bond."
"Blood… bond?" I looked to Sookie, who appeared positively guilty.
"I wanted to tell you, Lissa," she pleaded. "I really did. But I knew it would only upset you…"
"Well, of course it would upset me, Sookie!" I snapped harshly, and immediately regretted lashing out at her. Her face swelled with sadness. I sighed. "I'm sorry, Sook. This is all just a lot to handle."
"I'm the one who should be sorry," she said. "I won't keep anything from you ever again, I swear."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not okay. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, I forgive you, Sook. I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at Eric. I'm sorry for taking my anger out on you when it should be directed elsewhere."
Isabel stood awkwardly before us. "Clearly I've put my nose where it doesn't belong. Perhaps I should go-"
"No, wait!" I stopped her. "The benefits. The other benefits. What are they?"
She looked at me nervously. "I don't believe I should step further into this territory…"
"Please?" I begged, grabbing her arm.
She looked at me with sympathy and sighed. "As I mentioned, he can sense your emotions, which can be of convenience when you're trouble. And he'll be able to know where you are at all times." I groaned internally at this. Just what I needed was for my stalker to have his own personal GPS of me.
She looked suddenly towards the door. "I think I've said enough," she murmured.
"But-" Before I could beg her to spill more, Eric and Bill returned. I understood why she wouldn't say anything else.
"It's settled," Eric announced, and gestured for me to join him. I was still livid with him for the whole blood bond thing, but I reluctantly stood up and moved to his side. He wrapped his arm around my waist and said, "Time to go."
I would simply wait until we were back to the hotel to unleash my wrath on him.