PART THREE

Chapter 6

The drive over was a silent one and all had been chomping at the bit to leave once the sun had set, wondering what trouble they were going to go through this night. That they knew there was likely more danger than they knew, for with who they had taken, they would be crazy not to put in extra security measures against those who may try to rescue him. The three were aware that there would be great danger in this place, though none of them had set foot within this place. They knew too well the danger and were prepared to the best of their ability, Lafayette having switchblades hidden on his person at his waist. Knowing that Evelyn was likely going to be around, the three had altered their appearances, hopefully enough to conceal them from her detection. Sookie had put her hair up into a bun and put a ball cap on, dressing in a manner akin to when she had been to a were bar once before. She knew pastels and coming across all innocent and cute was certainly going to make her stand out. Certainly, it was best to try to blend in and as far as Lafayette went, he had taken off every bit of makeup he typically wore and shed his flair for fashion in exchange for more denim and flannel, the transformation impressing Sookie, thought there was no question she was still fuming and hurting by what he had done, thought she did, as they changed to head out, admit to him she felt for him being put in a situation as he had been.

"Look at this." Godric said as they parked in a lot up the street from where the bar was. There was a bright bed colored flier that looked as if it had been folded and put in a pocket. Opening it up, they read it, its bold print and cryptic text there in front of their faces. It read, "Come for the beer, stay for the show…a hands on, interactive experience. For a small fee, have a whack at those who would try to destroy us." and there was a generic picture of a figure that seemed to be wounded.

"I don't suppose these were meant for the general public to get a hold of because this screams trouble." Lafayette said, pocketing the disturbing flier and following the others up the street.

"You ok?" Sookie turned to Godric at her left, finding it so strange to see the ancient vampire dressed in leathers and biker boots. The fact that he was here today was a comfort to her and she felt safe with him at her side. Still, she was very much on edge and was relieved when they managed to get into the bar, thanks to the generous payoff the three gave, couple with a bit of glamouring. Once in the bar, they stopped and stared at the familiar layout of the bar, recognizable even though the paintjob and overall rustic tone of the place was different from the bar the design was taken from. "Well….this…is…" Sookie started to comment as she and the others' gazes turned to a large object obstructed by a large curtain, flanked by a trip of hulking looking weres. Looking at her friends, she gulped anxiously and knew she had to get over there. She had the magic to make it happen but as she left her friends, gesturing for them to remain where they stood, she came to a table where a woman was dressed to the nines and gave off a very Nan Flanigan air of authority sat. she appeared to be setting up for what looked like sales of….silver ninja stars…bb guns with silver rounds….Sookie certainly didn't like what she was seeing and as she tried sauntering over casually to where the large velvety wrapped box rested, a hand grabbed her, not roughly but firmly.

"Eager beaver, I see….well, for a hundred bucks you can have either ten ninja stars or a hundred rounds with a BB gun. I can't say anything more but no doubt you've probably pieced together the message in the flier. We've got a vamp to play with here."

"I thought as much." replied Sookie calmly, wanting badly to steal a glance under the covers, not knowing what she may find underneath. "A hundred bucks to take a shot…many shots…at a vampire?"

Beaming, Evelyn nodded. "And you'd better buy now before the tickets are sold out. I want to make sure we don't finish it off before I get my money's worth out of him. Killerz will be one of the top were bars in the state, the country and no one will be the wiser…..no one would be foolish enough to stop this little…fun….not with my friends here to keep our commodity safe." Evelyn laughed, treating their conversation as if they were merely chatting about the weather.

Hearing him being referred as little more than a object, an "it", Sookie's anger boiled but she maintained her composure. "Give me time to get a good buzz on first and I think I may pay for such a….treat."

"Well don't dally, because the guest of honor is no mere vamp." replied Evelyn and dipping into the mind of the woman for a moment, Sookie saw that this woman, the owner of this bar had certainly had had her fun with Eric and this, of course, was not going to stand with the angry woman walking from the macabre ticket table.

As she told them what was being planned, her companions looked less than pleased with the troubling news. "If I can boy a ticket and take my turn, maybe you two can cause a distraction enough for me to get him freed. After that,,,well, I don't really know how to go about taking on all these weres."

"I think it prudent to free him first and then regroup. I am the fastest and strongest here and as much as I would prefer not to spill blood….I fear this night we will not have much choice. But we need to work slowly and steadily, watch ourselves." Godric said sternly.

Nodding, Sookie looked over to where the woman was selling her tickets and was sickened by the long line that had already formed. "Guess I had better get my ticket, huh?" and so she joined the queue, trying not to shake, trying not to lose her cool and risk losing everything.

Chapter 7

She felt her stomach lurch as she finally saw the drapes removed from the box that she saw now was a unforgiving silver cage and it lurched again as she watched Evelyn working a series of chains from behind, forcing her prize to his feet from a almost animal like position of being one his hands and knees. And as she watched the first were take a shot-having selected ninja stars, there came a immense amount of jeering as they watched each star make contact, the trapped Viking unable to move out of their way. Then came another three with the same weapon before a fourth took to using a BB gun, firing the rounds off. It was a hour before Evelyn put a temporary halt to the "festivities", saying that there had to be some healing time for him and reaching a hand through the bars, she was able to pluck out all of the bloodied stars while slowly, the silver BB's pushed themselves out of his body, slower than usual thanks to the silver binding him.

Finally, it was her turn, she had a BB gun in hand and strode to the line that had been laid down. None were to pass it and the only other rule was not to aim for the heart. It was a free for all for the most part however and she was increasingly disgusted at the behavior of the weres around her. She knew her friends were to start a diversion any moment, and she was able to dip into Lafayette's mind and hear what he was thinking towards her. She was a few feet away from the figure, whose head was bowed and could barely rest on his knees, arms held up by the chains made tight. Slowly, the Viking turned hi head upward and met her gaze, it took several moments to see her through her heavy makeup and dark wig but he seemed to almost flinch.

"Get out of here." he mouthed towards her, trying not to draw attention to the fact he was speaking to her. But everyone around them was too excited, too full of bloodlust to notice. She pointed her weapon to keep anyone from getting suspicious and with a noise from behind, she knew that that was the signal. Crashing glass was usually a good distraction, especially when it had been Lafayette using a glass bottle from the bar to crack over the head of one of the men at the bar. Evelyn jumped from her seat as she saw one of the patrons revealing a pair of fangs as Godric added to the melee, he and Lafayette starting to throw punched and bringing out their concealed knives, ready to defend themselves any means necessary. It was clear that most, if not all of the wolves had been given a taste of v and therefore were more formidable than normal, thus further testing the two who were struggling mightily to keep their diversion up

Using her own magic, she blasted weres left and right with her light, knocking many of them out but others kept coming, turning their attention onto her. Cursing herself for drawing them to her when she was trying to help her outgunned friends, she use her magic to cloak herself, vanishing from view of the weres gunning for her. She saw their confused looks and was relieved when she was able to stun them with her light, they not seeing it coming until it was too late. Reappearing at the front of the cage, she reached her hands through the bars, wanting to blast the shackles apart. But there came a loud noise and it distracted her, turning to look at the source. And as she did, she saw her two friends being overpowered and for that to happen was disturbing enough. To say nothing of the sound she heard forcing her to turn back to the dais where she caught a glimpse of tie cage before it was lowered into the ground, a door closing up over it and leaving barely a seam appearing there the doors were.

"You really think I wasn't prepared to secure him to the best of my ability?" Evelyn sauntered over to her, a sly smirk on her face. Looking her up and down, she seemed a little impressed by the display that the seemingly innocuous Sookie had displayed. "You really think I don't know what you are…." she trailed off, another surprise revealing itself to her as she looked at the girls left ring finger. "I saw a band with those tribal runes on him as well….and that diamond…."

"I had to get new rings after some recent…troubles….but even without them, we don't need them to prove anything to anyone." a defiant looking Sookie said as the melee in the bar continued.

The woman looked stunned and shook her head. "To think that anyone could care about that beast….are you truly so stupid as to think he wouldn't leave you for someone else? What if you had none of your special abilities….do you honestly think he would pay you any attention?" she looked at the pained look on the girls face, knowing she had hit a nerve. "You should have just taken your chance to free yourself of that freak and gone on to do yourself in. though I think I may just take you and your two friends and add them to my little collection here."

Panicked, she knew there was only one thing she could do and though she hated to leave him behind, they needed to regroup before things went down the path of no return. Not that they hadn't gotten some good licks in but she had to get them out of here….but thinking on her feet, knew that so long as they had their prisoner, the weres would remain hopped up on the vamp blood. Desperate, she flashed herself out of the room, using the bond to track him down, a short distance. Unfortunately, no sooner had she appeared in the room did she start feeling weakened, and it became all too clear just why that was. The room was constructed entirely of iron and clearly this woman had known full well who would come for her prisoner. A heavy door opened at the top of the stairs, a silhouette appearing in the light

"So good to be prepared for any eventuality….I mean I knew you cavorted with him…but never did I think you cared enough to come for him, let alone the fact that you are actually….." Evelyn couldn't get her head around the fact that the two in her dungeon were a item. "I have wanted to get him for years and designed this place specifically for you to bring him to me and though the plans were changed….the thing that matters now is not only do I have him, but now you as well. But the main design is, ironically his own, what with the idea of a torture basement and to think this is where he will spend so much time now. With you, though and the fun times that will be had….how ironic that his design will be his own eventual end." Evelyn added darkly.

Using her mind to speak to Lafayette, Sookie was relieved to know that he and Godric were holding their own. But barely. She ordered him to leave, for them both to leave, not wanting them to join the ranks of the prisoners in the dungeon. It was then she saw that there, in the corner cowering on a cot was, in fact Lafayette's mother and she made sure to communicate this to her friend upstairs. Their mental conversation was intense, he telling her they were not gonna let her stay captive amongst these thugs and yet she didn't want the two of them winding up joining them…or worse. Playing the card of his mother being safe, she reasoned with him that by backing off, it would likely bode better for them all. Apparently no fewer than a dozen were dead upstairs and another dozen or so were still fighting fast and furious. And she knew that they were not going to retreat, that both would keep fighting even if it meant more killing. As it was, she learned that several hadn't been killed but instead were restrained by quite….creative means thanks to the super strength of Godric, the metal bars from the bar stools could be made into strong restraints, to which Lafayette send thoughts to Sookie saying he was impressed. Then, there came a loud popping sound and the thoughts from her friend stopped, the shadow in the doorway starting to laugh as she left the room.

TO BE CONTINUED