Many thanks to all of you for reading my story. Special thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write reviews. They are always appreciated.
I want to give fair warning to all. This chapter is a tough one for both Eric and Katy. Katy's secrets and Eric's arrogance have a terrible impact on
their developing relationship.
Dark Desire – Chapter 11
An hour later, Katy stood at the window of a large bedroom in a house in New Orleans. House was the wrong word; it was actually a mansion. It was slightly bigger than the home she grew up in, but smaller than the Wakefield mansion back home. From her vantage point, she overlooked the back of the house. She could see a large outdoor swimming pool on one side. On the other side, there was a large free standing garage that looked capable of housing 10 or more cars. The area was well lit and she could see a large parking area that was filled with cars, SUVs and two delivery trucks. Vamps and humans were milling around talking and gesturing excitedly, but she couldn't hear what was being said.
She looked around the room. Who ever decorated this place was heavy into the French Provincial period and was definitely female. The room was filled with expensive furniture, but it reminded Katy of a bordello. The walls were painted burgundy with heavy gold draperies on the windows; the plush carpet was almost the same color.
The heavy, expensive, ornate furniture was white with gold trim. Feminine chairs covered with burgundy and gold velvet were scattered throughout the room, and lamps with gold fringes decorated the night stands beside the huge bed. Above the bed was a large mirror. Explicit sexual paintings hung over the bed and around the room. Katy had a background in art herself. The paintings were good and they old; they looked like they were done by some of the old masters, but she didn't recognize the names.
All effects of the alcohol she had consumed earlier were gone; Katy was totally sober now, and she was terrified. She believed the vamp that had tried to attack her was probably working for the Wakefields or one of the other men who were trying to find her. She wanted to call her handler, Gwen Jameson, but the vamps had taken her cellphone. She wondered why Eric had his vamps bring her to this place; she also wondered if he was somehow involved with her pursuers. A soft knock on the door startled her. The door opened and a face from her past peeked around the door.
"Judith! Judith Vardamon! What are you doing here?" she asked.
"How are you Emily, or should I say Katy?" the small dark haired vamp asked as she came into the room and stood in front of the tall redhead. The two stood there for a minute.
"It's Katy. Why did Eric bring me here? Can you tell me what's going on? I need to get out of here. Can you help me?" Judith didn't have to be an empath to know Katy was frightened. She could smell her fear.
"He's trying to protect you. That vamp tried to grab you. Do you know why?"
Katy said nothing. She wondered if Judith was involved in this mess too.
Judith looked straight into Katy's eyes and tried to glamour her. In a seductive voice, she said, "Eric and his men are trying to find out right now what that vamp, Peter Kenyon, wanted, but he's not cooperating. It would help if you told me what was going on, Katy. I know you're scared now, but you don't have to be. Tell me now."
Katy gave a disgusted snort. "That won't work on me, Judith. I already proved to Eric that I can't be glamoured. I am a null."
"Hmmm. Yes, Eric told me that, but I wanted to find out for myself. Are you hungry?"
In response, Katy's stomach made a gurgling sound. She nodded. Judith went to an intercom on the wall and ordered some food, coffee and a bottle of True Blood for herself. The two women moved to larger table in front on one of the other windows to wait.
"Where am I? What is this place?" Katy asked.
"You're in Eric's bedroom. He is the Vampire King of Louisiana, and this is his palace. I've never been in here before. It looks like he hasn't done anything to the room. It still looks like Sophie-Anne lives here." Judith said drily.
"Vampire King? What the hell are you talking about?" Katy demanded. She was about to say more when a human woman in a maid's uniform walked through the open doorway with a tray of food. She set the food down on the table and asked, "Will that be all, Ms Vardamon?" Judith nodded and waived her away. Katy proceeded to eat, and Judith drank thesynthetic blood. She hated True Blood and grimaced. When she was finished eating, Katy said again. "Please, tell me what's going on, Judith."
In a few words, Judith explained the situation. Eric had people watching her, and they discovered Peter Kenyon was following her. There were some other humans asking questions about her too. "You need to tell us what is going on. Why are people looking for you?"
The information shook Katy, but she told Judith her story as briefly as she could. Then she peppered the vamp with her own questions. "I don't understand. Why would Eric assign people to watch me? He has no right to do that?" She was angry and made no bones about it.
"He loves you, you silly human woman. The point is, do you love him?"
"What? No! You are wrong. Eric Northman is not interested in me. Last time we were together, he made it clear that I should not get too attached to him. I haven't heard from him in a week and I've seen the pictures of him and those other women. He was practically screwing them all in front of the camera." Katy's voice was raised. She spat the words out.
Judith sighed. She not only saw the pictures, she and James had accompanied Eric on several of those outings. She had been at court several times when he was serviced by one of the fangbangers who hung around court. She had been disgusted by his behavior, especially after all the fuss he made about finding Katy.
"What the hell is wrong with that crazy fool?" she had asked Daniel. Daniel merely shrugged, but then he was a vampire male and didn't see anything wrong with his boss' behavior. Besides, once a cop, always a cop: Katy was a suspicious character in his book. He definitely didn't like the fact that she was lying about who she was, and he didn't trust her. Men! Judith sighed.
Still Judith's empathic senses were swamped with Eric's feelings whenever Katy's name was mentioned. She knew the old vampire's feelings about the redhead were as strong as anything he had ever felt about Sookie, and probably stronger. The poor old fool was in love with another human, and he didn't like it one bit, but he couldn't help himself. He had been acting like a jerk all week trying to prove those feelings wrong. Men! She sighed again.
"Trust me on this, Katy. Eric Northman doesn't like humans very much. Like most vamps, he thinks humans are inferior, but twice now in less than two years, he's fallen in love with a human woman. He can't believe it himself. He was hurt by the first one when she dumped him for another vampire. He doesn't want to be hurt again. He doesn't want to care for you, and he doesn't trust you, but he can't stop thinking about you. I don't know what you did to him, but you are driving him positively crazy."
"How do you know that? Anyway, thanks a bunch for letting me know Eric things I am inferior." Katy said
"I didn't say he thought you were inferior, just humans in general. I know how Eric feels because I was around when Sookie dumped him. I was in love with the vamp Sookie left him for. His name is Bill Compton. He and Sookie are married now. Do you know them?"
"No, but I don't understand. I thought you loved Doc. I was sure you loved Doc."
"I did love Doc, we were married for thirty five years. But I have known Bill for a very long time. Much longer than I knew Doc. He and I are siblings and I have always loved him."
Katy had a confused and slightly disgusted look on her face. "Bill is your brother and you were in love with him?" she asked.
Judith smiled patiently. "Being vampire siblings only means we were both turned by the same vampire. Lorena turned Bill in 1870 and me in 1902. I loved Bill since then, but we had to separate. It's a long story. I'll tell you sometime, if you are interested."
Katy nodded her head. "Are you still in love with Bill?" she asked.
"I will always love him in my way, and he loves me in his. But I know he loves Sookie more. I am happy for him and Sookie. I've moved on with my life. I am interested in someone else now. Enough said about me. Answer my question. Do you love Eric?"
Katy's head hung down and tears rolled down her face. Her voice sounded desperate and broken. "Yes. I've known him only two weeks and I love him. It doesn't make any sense, but I do! He drives me crazy. Sometimes I think he cares about me, but then he can't wait to get rid of me. He's like two different people. Those pictures just killed me. It just kills me to see him with another woman!"
"Then tell him so, but tell him the truth about yourself first." Judith finished her True Blood and left.
Katy had liked Judith when she first met her. She liked her now. She believed the small vamp. She planned to do exactly what Judith said, but she never got the chance.
Less than five minutes after Judith left, Katy was still sitting at the table sipping coffee. Eric slammed the door open; it made a big crashing sound as it hit against the wall. His eyes were glittering with anger; he was still filled with jealous rage. He was in front of her in a split second and hauled her up to stand in front of him.
He had spent the last 30 minutes with Peter Kenyon and Daniel in the basement. They were torturing the small redheaded vamp to get information from him. "You dare put your hands on my human?" Eric raged at him.
Kenyon laughed nastily and bared his fangs. "Your human? You mean Katy Dumont, that whore who was letting those men paw her? What's the matter, Northman, can't you keep her satisfied?" Eric's fist connected with the smaller vamp's jaw knocking out two teeth and a fang. Daniel was already on the internet searching the name Kathryn Dumont.
"Who are you working for?" Eric demanded. Kenyon was silent. Eric struck him again. It went on like that for twenty minutes before Kenyon barely managed to squeak out the name Gaetano Califano. Eric staked him; as far as he was concerned, Kenyon was a dead vamp from the moment he put his hands on Katy. The vamp's body began to dissolve into dust.
"Boss, look at this." Daniel said. Eric looked at the computer screen and read page after page. The whole sordid story of John Dumont, Richard Wakefield and James Wakefield was laid out in front of him. The story of Katy and Richard Wakefield was laid out too. Pictures of Katy, her mother and father and stories about their deaths were displayed all over.
Eric immediately recognized the tall, tanned young woman with the straight, long, golden blonde hair as Katy. She was younger and slightly heavier. Her face was a little different, but it was Katy all right. She was beautiful, but not as beautiful as she was now.
What interested Eric the most was the story of how Richard Wakefield and Tracy Coleman, Katy's best friend, had found her in bed another man on the day of his birthday. A man who had beat her senseless when she tried to stop him from leaving. A man who pleaded guilty to his crime and who was now in prison.
Eric believed he had been right about Katy from the first. She was a whore. She was a whore when she was married Richard Wakefield and she was a whore now. She acted like a whore in the bar tonight. She cheated on her husband and she cheated on him. He was consumed by anger, hurt and a sense of betrayal so strong that he wanted to destroy something, anything. His feelings were made worse because he knew now that he loved Katy. He wanted to hurt her the way she hurt him.
Now as he stood in front of her, his eyes glittered with a feral gleam; his fangs were fully extended, but not because of lust, but because of anger and hurt.
"You wanted to get fucked tonight, whore! Well, I'm going to fuck your brains out. When I am done, I'm going to throw you downstairs with the other fangbanging whores. I'll use you just like I use them. When I'm tired of you, I'll throw you out on your lying ass!" He snarled at her as he started dragging her toward the bed.
Katy was shocked beyond words. She was confused. She had no idea what he was talking about. She slapped at his hands and tried to get away, but in a flash she was down on the bed with him on top of her.
"Eric, don't do this. If you care anything about me at all, please don't do this!" she pleaded. She struggled, but her movements just excited him. She managed to claw his face with her nails and got in a good punch to his mouth. She split his lip and blood flew getting on her. He just laughed.
"Fight me, Katy. I like it when a woman fights!" he growled at her. He was lying; women never faught him, if anything, he had to fight them off, but the movements of her body as she bucked and struggled beneath him aroused him and made him hard. She could feel his erection thick and long against her stomach. She tried a different tactic; she went as limp as a rag doll thinking that would make him stop.
"Oh no you don't!" he said as he leaned in and tore off her tube top. His mouth and hands were all over her breasts and bare skin, touching, sucking and nipping like he was possessed. He was trying to arouse her and make her admit that she wanted him. She hated it, but she could feel herself responding.
"Eric, please stop! What did I do to deserve this?" She yelled trying to get through to him, but it had no effect. He was rough with her. Judith was wrong: he was not acting at all like a man who loved her. His actions showed that she meant nothing to him. She could sense his anger and his determination to hurt her. He didn't want to hurt her physically, but emotionally, and that was worse.
In his jealous rage, Eric wanted to prove to Katy that he did not care anything about her. He wanted to shame her; he wanted to embarrass her. He wanted to objectify her; to force her into submission; to prove to her, that no matter what she said, he could make her want to have sex with him anytime he wanted.
Katy had wanted Eric from the first night she met him, but she definitely didn't want this. She was angry and she was terrified of the being on top of her now. She tried to fight him again, but he was too strong, and she was too weak to do anything, but struggle futilely.
He pushed himself up on his arms and loomed over her with a disgusted look on his face. "Pagh! You smell of those men! Go take a shower and wash that stink off of you!" he said arrogantly, but looking down at her face, he could see complete confusion, hurt, fear and terror in her eyes. He was shaken by that.
His anger, jealousy and rage began to dissipate quickly. He had wanted to hurt her, but now that he had, he hated seeing the pain he caused in her eyes. She was afraid of him now; that knowledge smashed into his consciousness like a sledge hammer. Her beautiful eyes that once glowed with deep emotion for him, now glistened with tears of helplessness and a sense of betrayal as she fought him. He knew this wasn't what he wanted at all. Suddenly, his body sagged. He felt ashamed and moved off to the side, but his arms still held her tight; he didn't want to let her go.
Katy was infuriated by Eric's arrogance and his actions tonight. "Unless you plan to rape me tonight, Eric, let me go!" she said hoarsely; she was panting from exertion. She could feel she was on the brink of tears, but she held them back. She was determined not to cry in front of him. Her heart was heavy and so full of pain that she thought it would break right there. I won't cry, I won't cry! I won't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry! She told herself. She did not want him to know just how much he hurt her.
Eric said nothing, and he didn't move. He was too shocked by his own behavior. A knock sounded at the door and he got up and answered it. Katy could hear Daniel talking. The two of them walked away down the hall. Daniel had found out something he wanted Eric to know. He sounded upset and asked Eric to go to his office and turn on his computer.
Waiting for a few seconds, Katy padded to the door and looked out. There was no one in the hall. She grabbed a shirt from Eric's closet and put it on over her exposed breasts. Grabbing her purse, she slipped out the door and down the hall. Slowly and stealthily she made her way around the unfamiliar house until she found a servant's stairway in the back. The door at the bottom of the stairs led to the kitchen and to a delivery door in back.
No one was around, so she slipped out the door into the back of a delivery truck and closed the door gently. The truck was idling, so she figured there was a good chance that the driver planned to leave soon. She hid behind a couple of large hampers filled with dirty linens from the palace. A minute later, the truck began to move.
Ten minutes later, the truck made another stop. Katy stayed hidden as the driver pulled some fresh linens from the back of the truck and moved away. As soon as she felt the coast was clear, Katy slipped out and ran down the city street into a bar. She asked the bartender if she could use his phone. She told him it was a local call and she would pay. When she hauled out a twenty from her purse, he gave her the phone from the bar. She dialed a number from memory.
"Gwen, I'm in trouble. Please come and get me." she gave her WitSec handler the name and address of the bar and waited. Within ten minutes, Gwen Jameson and three other federal marshals were there. By the time Gwen arrived, Katy was sobbing and shaking so hard she couldn't stop. She almost cried out in relief as she got into the back of the black sedan.
Back at the palace, Eric finished his conversation with Daniel. His Second in Command had done his homework on the name Gaetano Califano. He called a few friends in law enforcement in California including another vamp who was turned about the same time he was. What he found out about the California vampire really shook him; this vamp was bad, bad news. It spelled big trouble for them all. He informed Eric of everything he found out.
In his office, Eric called Bill in Bon Temps and instructed him to go to Wakefield Cove as soon as he could. He wanted him to find out all he could about Katy Dumont, Richard and James Wakefield and Katy's parents. Daniel was assigned the task of going to Napa Valley to check out Califano. He made arrangements to leave the next evening with several of his vamp employees. Judith who had been sitting in the office, asked to go with him, but he refused. "It's too dangerous!" he told her.
Eric strode purposefully back to his bedroom. He was going to get some answers from Katy now. He would not brook anymore stalling. He would not let her get out of answering him this time. When he got to his bedroom, Katy was gone.
"Find her!" he thundered to his staff. The hunt for Katy Dumont was on again.