A/N: Sookie swears like a sailor in this chapter. Be warned.
Paradise Within…Happier Far
Chapter 9
Every bad day needs it, every good day breeds it
No matter how it feels when it's real, you know it's real
It's stronger than anybody any man has ever made
The power touches me, the power helps us see
the power holds my hand, yeah the power drives me crazy
It won't take long to understand
Just how lucky I am
The power, the power, the power
If I believe in you and me
Do we believe that the power's gonna be alright?
In just mind, yeah, yeah
In the power, the power of love
I believe in the power, the power of true love, baby.
The Power, Cher (edited)
Sookie woke up the next morning, well technically it was afternoon. She had nightmares most of her sleep about meeting the Queen. What did she want with Eric and her? It could not be good, and Sookie was terrified. All Sookie could imagine was her in one of those colorful habitrails they sell at the pet stores with her running between the pieces through tubes, running forever on one of those wheels, all for the entertainment of the Queen. Oh God, she thought as she ran to the bathroom to throw up. She threw up until she couldn't see straight. After sitting there for a while feeling sorry for herself, she picked herself up and hauled her butt into the shower, swearing softly at Eric, the entire vampire world, and how she had ever allowed herself to end up here. By the time she was finished with her shower, she was worked into quite a state of fear and anger.
She went to the phone in her bedroom and dialed Eric's private number, knowing of course he wouldn't answer, which only served to piss her off further.
"Bite me," Eric's phone answered.
"Bite yourself. Eric, I won't be going with you to see the Queen. I have nothing to wear, and I don't have any desire to be a gerbil in a cage. I had nightmares the whole time I slept of running on one of those wheel things gerbils run on going nowhere fast. Nope, won't be going. Don't bother to include me in your plans. And by the way…" BEEP.
Fuck! She angrily punched in the numbers again. "And you need to fix your phone so it doesn't cut me off. That really pisses me off. I'll meet with Randy tonight by myself. I don't want to see you. I hope she doesn't punish you too badly for not bringing your little pet but…" BEEP.
Once again she punched the numbers, sure she was breaking the key pad. "Your fucking phone keeps fucking cutting me off! Fix it!! She is not my Queen, and I will not grovel at her feet, allow her to feed from me, or any other way allow her near me. This whole thing pisses me off. And even if I was going to go, which I'm not, I have nothing to wear." BEEP.
Dialing again…"Fuck you Eric and the Viking boat you rode in on. I'm not going. Period. BEEP your fucking phone." And with that Sookie hung up the phone. She stared at the phone, her rage building, wondering if she had anything else to say to him. Her eyes stayed pinpointed at the phone, and she watched it amazingly melt before her very eyes. She blinked repeatedly. No way. THAT did not just happen!
She turned to the mug sitting next to her bedside where Eric had given her some tea before she fell asleep last night. She stared long and hard at it and exploded in front of her, glass splinters covering the bed. She sat suddenly on the bed, terrified and exhilarated at what she had just seen herself do.
Wow! She wondered if she had to be looking at what she damaged or if there was more she could do than melt or cause things to explode. It would be very dangerous if anyone learned of this new ability. It must have come from the melding of her and Eric's blood. Interesting.
She quickly got dressed, and ran downstairs where Sam was reading the paper after fixing her breakfast, which was now cold. She wolfed it down and said she was going on a walk in the woods to burn off some energy. Sam looked up surprised, sensing the tension in Sookie but not knowing where it came from.
"I'll go with you Sookie. You can't go out there by yourself."
Sookie angrily replied. "Of course I can. I've been going into those woods my whole life. You can scent the air for me and tell me if there is anyone out there."
Sam shook his head, knowing he would not win this battle. "Fine. "But I go as Dean. Got it?"
"Fine." Be ready in five minutes."
Sookie set out on her mission, irritated to have the dog following her. Maybe she should just use her powers on him. She wondered if she could make him disappear. But then, Sam would disappear too and that was probably not such a good plan. She found a huge stump in the middle of the woods. It was from the original forest there, and it was huge. Some forestry major had come out one year to count the rings on the stump and placed the date of the tree well into the Roman-Saxon times. And here she was, about to destroy it.
She told Dean to sit next to her and not move. She closed her eyes and lowered her face, seeing the stump in her mind. She pictured the rough wood on the edges, the moss growing around it, the little beetle running across the top part where the rings were. She pictured the rings. Power crackled around her and all the living creatures in the area could feel it as well as they fell silent. Dean danced uncomfortably in his place and whined. Ignoring him, she pulled that energy to her and then without moving anything but the energy in her mind, she focused it in a single shot at the tree stump. The stump silently blew apart, sending splinters into the air for many feet. Wow! She knew now she didn't have to be looking at anything, she could just pull the energy to her and let it fly. She had to be able to concentrate though. And could she only blow things up?
Sookie walked with Dean following her to the old train trestle. It had caught on fire during the civil war but still stood, as did every ancient thing in this town. She carefully stood well hidden in the woods where no one could see her or Dean. She imagined fire, what it must feel like, seeing the flames flicker in their yellow, blue, and ultimately green edge. She felt the heat from that fire. She felt the power begin to crackle around her again, but this time she didn't wait as long to release it. She poured all that pent up power, all her rage, into a single focus point and once again she hit her target- one of the trestle beams. That focus point immediately combusted into flames licking at every piece of wood around it.
She then quickly pulled up a picture of a rain shower, the wetness, the cool water, and surprising her, she doused the flames she had just started. As she experimented she got faster and better.
This was very cool. And very scary. She needed to talk to Eric. And Eric was not available to talk to. "Bite Me…Beep." "Bite Me…Beep." "Bite Me… Beep." She heard that message of his constant unavailability over and over in her head. That pissed her off again, raising her temper to focus on the actual iron train track , pulling the spikes out of the track and ground beams and curling it into a large circle. Damn having a boyfriend who slept all fucking day. Just damn.
As Sookie and Sam walked back to the house, Dean dragging behind probably scared by what he had just seen, Sookie thought in passing that they could wander over to where Eric's precious corvette was parked and she could demolish it while she was at it. Common sense took over though, thinking it was probably better to practice on things in the house.
TBC
A/N: Sorry so short, the chapter would have grown quite long if I didn't stop here.