Chapter 3 – I've Seen It All
I've seen it all,
I have seen the trees,
I have seen the willow leaves dancing in the breeze ...
I've seen what I was and I know what I'll be,
I've seen it all there is no more to see
[Björk – I've Seen It All]
When the limo came to a halt, she couldn't help but whisper an overwhelmed "wow" at the sight in front of her. So here was Godric's home. Nice.
Embarrassed, she looked down on herself, while she thought of the surely well-dressed guests she would encounter at this 'welcome-party'. It was safe to say that her outfit would be the cheapest...
Eric hadn't allowed her much time to think about it, hence she had hurriedly chosen a self sewn, midnight-blue shirt dress. The buttons were matt-black and matched the black, filigree flower patterns on the simple, cotton fabric. Around her neck hung a delicate, silver pocket watch her grandmother had bestowed on her. The light blue peacock on the snow-white porcelain front was already fading, but nevertheless it was one of her most cherished jewelries.
Now that she thought about it, it had probably not been the best idea to choose a silver necklace for a vampire-party. She could only hope that they wouldn't misinterpret her choice of trinket as distrust...
Sighing doubtfully, she raised her arm to open the car door, but before she could reach the handle it was torn open and a hand hovered in front of her face, waiting for her to grab it. These vampires had exceptionally good manners - at least once in a while...
"Hurry up! We already wasted enough time!", the good looking, tall vampire noted displeased. With a smooth motion he helped her into a standing position and led her to the front door of the intimidating mansion.
The entrance hall was huge and brightly lit, but what immediately caught her eye, was a queue of vampires as well as humans who obviously waited for something.
"What do they line up for?", Laura whispered curiously and raised her expectant gaze to the blond vampire's face.
"To tell Godric how glad they are, that he's back home safely, I assume", he murmured with a bored tone, "I told you we would be late if you change!" He shook his head in irritation, while he urged her to take a place in the queue with a hand on her back.
"And on another note: there is no need to whisper – the vampires can hear you anyway", he reminded her with an amused grin and her cheeks immediately started to feel suspiciously warm. How could she have forgotten about their supernatural abilities?!
"Where are you going?", she asked in alarm, when she realised that he turned to leave her.
"I'm going to mingle with the crowd and look for someone to eat", Eric answered bluntly and winked at her, "You brought the long wait on yourself and I'm surely not going to hold your hand in the meantime!" With an exaggerated wave of his hand he excused himself and disappeared into the throng.
Laura sighed heavily and turned to figure out how many people exactly were waiting to see Godric. There were at least 15 persons, as far as she could see – what the hell should she do in the meantime? She already felt out of place while being with Eric, but completely alone she was afraid they would expel her...
As if he had heard her self-conscious thoughts, the man in front of her turned around and smiled at her brightly. He had short, blond hair and friendly, hazel eyes with tiny wrinkles around them and because of his tan, she was quite sure he was human.
"What brings a beautiful, girl like you to a place like this?", he asked and made a sweeping gesture while curiously examining at her.
"Well... I'm refreshing an acquaintance, so to say", she admitted a little uneasily and proceeded a few strides as the next person stepped in front of Godric.
To be honest, she didn't really know why she was here. If the gloomy vampire would have wanted to see her, he'd have come by weeks ago – after all, he knew where she lived.
She highly doubted that he would be pleased to see her, but Eric had been very persistent. Besides, he was a master in the art of persuasion and it was not of much help, that she was easily swayed, if the matter touched her in some kind of way (the number of charity and nature protection organizations she was a member of, could attest to that).
"Do you know Godric well?", she asked the grinning man curiously. Eric had not been very cooperative when it came to information about the young looking vampire. He didn't even tell her how they were connected.
When he first showed up at her door a few days ago, he simply told her that Godric was missing and that he wanted to know if she had any information about his whereabouts. She had absolutely no clue why he was asking her – of all people! – and at first refused to invite him in – well, she even had the guts to shut the door in his face.
Her concern about the handsome vampire had overwhelmed her at the mention of his name and she hadn't been able to think straight – at least that's what she told Eric later on to justify her reaction, when she finally gave in and extended an invitation (after he had hammered on her poor door, till she feared he would knock it down – literally).
But to be honest a certain degree of her rudeness was attributable to the fact that The Giant hadn't been particularly nice at first and demanded her help with such an unbelievable taken-for-grantedness, that it had repelled her.
And now she had met someone who could probably quench her thirst for knowledge. She eagerly eyed the now quite baffled man in front of her, but her hopes were dashed when he simply asked: "Who?"
"Godric?! The vampire you're waiting to speak to?", she reminded incredulously, while they stepped ahead once again.
"Oh – well I just want to apologise! I kinda fought for the wrong side at first", he told her honestly and scratched the back of his head in an abashed manner.
"What do you mean with 'wrong side'?", Laura asked warily and narrowed her eyes at him. The grin on the blonde man's face faltered and he sighed heavily, before he started to tell her everything – from his womanizing and how it made him number one suspect in several homicide cases in his hometown, to the point where he himself started to believe that he was indeed the killer and how a churchman had taken advantage of his state of weakness and lulled him in with words of appreciation and support.
How he could have been persuaded to join the Fellowship Of The Sun was beyond her, but apparently he had been and ended up carpentering a scaffold for Godric's execution, before he fortunately came to his senses and finally knocked Steve Newlin out, by firing a paintball gun at him when it came to a showdown.
His – Jason's – story was hard to believe, but nevertheless it lightened Laura's mood. At least she had never been a member of the Fellowship. Furthermore his babbling helped her kill time while waiting and when he finally came to an end, there were only two people left in front of her.
And suddenly it struck her: what the hell was she going to say? Eric had insisted that she had to meet the aloof vampire – but he had never told her what she should do then!
"I just want to say I'm real' sorry for what the Fellowship put you through", she heard Jason say and started to panic. She would be next!
"You helped save many lives today, Mr. Stackhouse. Please know you have friends in this area whenever you visit", the young looking vampire replied in a calm voice and her heart rate decreased slightly. Well, if he acted so nice toward a former Fellowship member, he wouldn't chase her out of his residence, would he?!
"Thanks man, but I don't know if I'll be wanting to come back any time soon", the blonde noted and turned to leave. This guy definitely needed some manners, she thought and watched as Jason moved to the side.
When her gaze finally settled on Godric, he eyed her disbelievingly, his brows furrowed and his mouth a thin line. Had she done something wrong already?
"What are you doing here Laura?", he asked straight to the point and her heart sank at the coldness of his voice.
Why had he been nice to the Fellowship guy, but snapped at her? She felt like she got off at the wrong station, but when she became aware of her slightly agape mouth and generally shocked expression, she forced herself to pull herself together and gazed at the harsh vampire in front of her with tired eyes.
"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Godric!", she countered bitterly and clenched her hands into fists, "And I'm fine, thanks for asking!" Without further hesitation she turned on her heels and stormed off. She had humiliated herself enough for one night.
But her plan to leave was ruined, for when she had almost reached the front door, she was held back by a firm grip on her shoulder. "Where do you think you're going?", Eric demanded to know in an icy voice, "I didn't give you permission to leave!"
"I didn't know I would need a permission!", she spat, feeling increasingly uneasy about the whole situation. She hadn't thought Godric would fall around her neck the moment he'd see her, but at least she'd assumed he'd stay polite. But he'd been everything but. He just as well could have slapped her – it couldn't have hurt more...
The tall vampire eyed her a few seconds and his posture seemed to relax a bit. "Give him some time", he advised her in a knowing tone, she didn't really appreciate, "Does he even know of your condition?"
"What the hell are you talking about?", she demanded to know in a slightly shrill voice and backed away a few inches, narrowing her eyes at him, "Did you spy on me?!"
Unfortunately she didn't even need an answer. This nosy Giant had certainly been prying!
"It wasn't very difficult to get hold of your medical reports", he simply stated and shrugged his shoulders dismissively, as if it wasn't a big deal. She snorted, furious about this invasion of her privacy and stamped her right foot onto the ground.
She knew she must've looked like an obstinate little child, but she couldn't help herself.
Just when she was about to shout something into his face, they heard two women's voices yelling at each other. Laura forgot Eric for a moment and turned to the event taking place in the entrance hall, where a red-haired vampire just strangled a blonde, young woman, when suddenly Godric appeared and grappled the stronger of the two ladies at her neck.
"Retract. Your. Fangs. Now.", she heard Godric spit out and a shudder ran through her at the sound of his ice cold voice, "I neither know nor care who you are. But in this area and certainly in this nest, I am the authority. Do you understand?" The redhead simply uttered a "Yes Sheriff", while Laura gulped hard, taken aback by his air of superiority.
"This human has proven herself to be a courageous and loyal friend to our kind. And yet you treat her like a child does a dragonfly, pulling off wings for sport. No wonder they hate us", he told the whimpering vampire in his hand with disgust and pierced her with his hard glare.
"She provoked me", the underdog desperately tried to defend herself, but wasn't even able to hold eye contact. She clearly feared the young looking vampire and it slowly dawned on Laura that he may be far older, far more powerful and far, far more terrifying, than she first had thought.
"And you provoked me", he noted matter of factly, "You disrupted the peace in my own home. I could snap you like a twig. Yet I haven't. Now, why is that?"
"It's... your choice?!", the other vampire tried meekly and by the look on her face she already saw herself dead by the end of the next sentence.
"Indeed it is", he simply agreed. "You're an old vampire, I can tell. You have had hundreds of years to better yourself, yet you have not. You are still a savage, and I fear for all of us, humans and vampires, if this behavior persists." Godric turned his gaze to the dark haired man beside the 'loyal friend' and at the thought of this particular statement Laura's stomach turned itself into knots. "You. You seem to know her. Escort her from the nest"
Relieved she exhaled the breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding and registered only incidentally, that the vampire with the old-fashioned sideburns escorted the redhead outside. Her focus still lingered on Godric, who just had prevented major damage. He seemed out of place and even more withdrawn into himself than she had witnessed till now.
Before she could comprehend what she was doing, she had crossed the hall and was standing beside him.
"It was very kind of you to step in and stop the fight...", she whispered carefully and faced him with a soft glance, completely forgetting her feelings about his rude reaction only moments ago. She just couldn't stand seeing these beautiful eyes drowning in such seemingly endless sorrow.
How could she have been so naive to think just for a single minute, that their encounter had changed anything. Even if Eric believed that – just looking into his face now, told her that he didn't see things any differently. As a matter of fact, she even had the feeling as if she'd only made things worse...
He lifted his mournful eyes to look at her face for a few moments, but soon averted his gaze again and pinned it to the ground. "Rather stupid", he corrected in a bitter tone and let his blank look roam, as if he was inspecting the patterns on the floor, "She will not change and will stay a thread for thousands of humans in the future, if no one ends her life – as I should have done."
She allowed his words to sink in and thought about their first encounter – how he had been sure she would back down the moment he revealed his face. His own impression of his kind had surely been way more horrible than hers. But to be fair, he undoubtedly had more experience with vampires.
Maybe he was right after all?
...
No. Everyone had the ability to change, just as everyone deserved a second chance. If the vampire lady would make use of it, remained to be seen, but Godric had made the right choice!
"Well, we don't agree on that one then", she simply stated and smiled at him.
With satisfaction she recognized that he watched her from the corner of his eyes, while she walked away. She didn't want him to feel forced to talk to her and their little conversation had already been awkward enough.
But she wouldn't drive home, not yet anyway. First she had to find out who this blonde beauty was, Godric had referred to as 'loyal friend'.
Scanning the crowd in the entrance hall, she soon found the young woman – standing directly beside Eric. That was definitely not a good sign. She had to know Godric quite well, if she was acquainted to The Giant.
"Hey there – that was quite a show earlier", Laura addressed the woman in the summer dress, as she approached the two and continued in a slightly awed voice, "You really have guts – to rise up against a vampire like that!"
The petite blonde hid her face behind her hands and shook her head in embarrassment. "She drove me crazy. Normally I'm not that rude!", she clarified hastily and blushed.
The tall vampire had greeted Laura with a short nod and started to laugh, as the young woman beside him defended herself. "Well, I have to disagree there – I remember times where you could have been way nicer towards me", Eric interposed and looked seductively at the blonde.
Laura coughed uneasily at the turn this conversation was about to take. "Won't you introduce us, Eric?", she asked politely, but her raised eyebrow made it obvious that it wasn't exactly a suggestion.
"Where are my manners!", the hulk exclaimed with feigned dismay, "of course I'll introduce you: Laura meet Sookie an employee and soon-to-be lover of mine"
The blonde woman hit his shoulder with an aimed slap and cursed him for implying that she would ever sink so low, as to have a sexual relationship with him. Laura couldn't help but laugh at the scene and was relieved that she presumably wasn't in some sort of romantic relationship with the young looking vampire.
Eric hadn't told her much about his connection to him, but he obviously was kind of a father figure to The Giant, someone he looked up to. He wouldn't joke about being with his idols girlfriend, would he?
But why did she stew over these things anyway?
After the tall vampire had calmed Sookie down with pacifying gestures, he continued the introduction. "Sookie, meet Laura - a special acquaintance of Godric!"
A warm feeling spread in her chest at his choice of words and she smiled brightly at The Giant. But still a 'special acquaintance' was nowhere close to a 'loyal friend' – even more so, as the latter was referred to as such by Godric himself.
"Nice to meet you!", she exclaimed and stretched a hand out to shake Sookie's to displace her thoughts. The woman grabbed it without hesitation and gave her an honest smile, which somehow reminded her of Jason.
"How long have you two known each other?", she asked Laura curiously and pointed to the tall vampire beside her.
"Just a few days, to be honest", she replied and looked at Eric, "He was suddenly standing on my doorstep, demanding to know where Godric was – as if I -..." She stopped talking as Sookies expression turned from curious to shocked within the blink of an eye and couldn't help but stare at her in confusion. Had she said something wrong?
"Excuse me, everyone. If I could have your attention", they heard a young, dark haired man shout out, who was standing a few feet away from them, "My name is Luke McDonald. I'm a member of the Fellowship of the Sun and I have a message for you all from Reverend Steve Newlin."
Before Laura could even comprehend what she'd just heard, she was carried off her feet and hit the floor. Not a second later, her left ear was overwhelmed by a tremendous bang and she could feel a blast wave radiating. A few moments after the report, a screaming silence settled over the room and she slowly started to realize what just had happened.
This Luke guy had been a suicide bomber and blown himself - and presumably many of the guests - to pieces. But that thought led her to the next: why was she still able to reflect upon the events – she had been standing way too close to this guy, to still be alive!
"Have you been harmed, Little One?", she heard a suspiciously familiar voice asking her. Because her left ear was still ringing from the impact, she had sensed his concerned tone only with her right, but she could still tell that he had to be above her.
She hesitantly opened her eyes and blinked a few times to accustom them to the dust, which now filled the air around them. Her body was stiff and she felt, as if something was lying on top of her. Only when she started to lift her head, she realized that Godric must have thrown himself in front of her, to protect her from the detonation.
His pale face was just a few inches above her, his body hovered over hers and his piercing eyes examined her with such worry, that she inhaled sharply, overwhelmed by his caring demeanor.
How could he think so bad of vampires, when he himself was such a kind and compassionate person?
By the time she tried to move her hand to her dazed head, she also recognized that he had been supporting it the whole time, so she wouldn't get hurt while being knocked to the ground. His other hand lay loosely over her right ear – obviously he had tried to protect her aural sense too.
"I don't think so", she replied, a little stunned about the fact and glanced at him in embarrassment. The close proximity to him rattled her and the fact that he certainly could hear her increasing heart beat, made it only worse.
"If you hadn't been-...", she tried to express her gratitude, but was silenced when the hand, which had been lying over her ear wandered to her lips to hush her. The cool touch of his finger on her sensitive skin felt soothing and she closed her eyes for a moment to calm down a bit.
"It was the least I could have done", he stated in a voice that made perfectly clear, that he wouldn't discuss that topic any further. She eyed him in concern and wasn't surprised to find a bitter expression on his face. He was blaming himself for the course of events. How could he be so ignorant and blind?
Carefully he withdrew his hand from it's location under her head and started to straighten himself into a standing position. His movements looked unusually rigid and only after he had helped her to her feet, she recognized a few bloodstains around his shoulders. Withdrawing her hand from his, she lifted it with confusion to the red tinted fabric of the shirt he wore and examined it with a frown.
When the cause finally dawned on her, she hastily stepped around him to inspect his back and clapped a hand over her mouth, shocked about the sight in front of her. Several sharp metal pieces – supposedly silver – impaled his flesh and created deep, bleeding wounds.
Despite her attempts to conceal her emotions, she couldn't prevent silent tears from gathering in her eyes, while she surveyed the damage.
"That might hurt", she warned him with a shaky voice, before she firmly gripped the first piece and carefully removed it from his back.
She repeated the process until the last one of those brutal shards was extracted. Somewhere in between she had lost control over herself and had started sobbing erratically and while she had to wipe her eyes from time to time, to keep a clear view, he hadn't been moving at all and endured the treatment in silence.
When she was done, she lifted her hand once more to carefully stroke his back in one smooth movement, making sure she caressed every part of his body that had been harmed because of her. Certainly the wounds had already closed, but nevertheless he had been in pain because of her and that fact hurt her more than she could express in words.
"Promise me, that you won't do such a foolish thing ever again!", she uttered with a cracking voice. At least she'd been able to get a hold of herself again and stopped crying like a child...
"I am afraid, I can not do that", he replied sincerely, and slowly turned to face her, "I would not want to lie to you." His eyes ran over her undoubtedly shabby appearance and stopped at her face, carefully examining her expression.
She was exhausted, the dried tears stuck to her cheeks and left a tense feeling. Her eyes must have looked awkward – bloodshot and with coherent lashes. Her carefully braided hair that had been dangling over her left shoulder, certainly was a mess by now and her formerly neat dress was now stained with dust.
"I expected you to say something like that", she admitted with a heavy sigh and gave him a forced smile. Her defeated gaze ran over his appearance, as his had been doing with hers only moments ago.
His short hair stood messily off his head, but it made him look more casual and approachable. While his body seemed tense, his eyes held a warm glimpse that had a calming effect on her. "I owe you my life", she tried to thank him, but changed the direction she'd wanted to take when his eyebrows started to furrow for the tiniest amount.
"And a shirt – that certainly was an expensive one, wasn't it?"
Actually she had planned to drive home when everyone started to set forth for hotel Carmilla, where the guests would spend the rest of the night and sleep for the day. But Eric had insisted on treating her to a hotel suit too and who was she, to reject such a generous offer?
To be honest, she'd probably have refused, if she hadn't been as tired as she was. But considering the fact that she already had problems standing straight, she was practically forced to accept his offer.
For one thing, the hotel was much closer to Godric's mansion and for another, she could also share a cab with Eric and didn't have to stay awake the whole ride, because he'd certainly wake her up as soon as they'd arrive.
When she finally entered the room Eric provided for her, she politely wished him a good day-rest and didn't even take the time to examine the lavishly furnished suit, but literally fell into the bed and immediately dropped off.
By the time Laura awoke the next day, a look out of one of the windows told her that night had already settled. After she'd stretched her limbs tiredly, she rubbed her eyes and trotted to the bath to take a shower.
The room was tiled in dark colors and therefore seemed smaller than it really was. Soft looking towels hung on hooks on one of the walls and almost screamed for her to wrap herself up in them.
Carefully she stripped the blue dress she was still wearing off and removed her necklace. A short look into the mirror showed her that Godric had done his job quite well – she hadn't suffered even the slightest scratch. In fact, even her hearing was back to normal.
She sighed in delight, when the hot shower relaxed her still quite tense muscles. The hotel provided a shower gel and shampoo she gratefully used and only when her fingers started to wrinkle up, she stepped out to dry her body with one of those lovely towels.
Wrapped into it and with her wet hair hanging over her shoulders, she left the bathroom to look for her phone, but when she spotted someone sitting on the bed, she couldn't help but scream out loud and run for cover. But before she reached the bathroom door again, a hand had firmly covered her mouth and an amused voice whispered in her ear.
"You're quite a long sleeper – but the sight was worth the wait."
His hand loosened its grip and she slowly started to relax. It was only Eric – how could she not have recognized him? Who else had such an impressive physique?
"If you promise to stay calm, I'll remove my hand", he offered and after a curt nod, he let go of her. She deeply sucked in some air because she had had some breathing issues with his monstrous hand so close to her nose.
"What are you doing here?", she asked bluntly and crossed her arms above the chest, "Just because you pay for this room, doesn't mean you're allowed to burst into it, whenever you feel like it!"
"Is that so?", he asked with feigned surprise. "Actually I just wanted to hand you some clean clothes, but if you have no need-"
"No, no – I'll gladly take them", she cut in and patted his chest in a conciliating manner.
A lopsided grin spread on his face and he lifted one of his hands to point at the bed she had slept in and which miraculously was made, as if she had never lain in it. On top sat a pile of neatly folded clothes.
Upon closer examination she spotted a ruby red, three-quarter sleeved dress with a generous cleavage - which undoubtedly would cling to her body like a second skin - colorless tights with one single black line as highlight on the back of her legs and black lingerie which definitely had cost a fortune.
"The shoes should match", he stated in a slightly bored voice and pointed offhandedly at the floor beside the bedside table, "I wasn't sure if you are able to walk with high heels, so I got you some with moderate ones"
"These things must have cost more than my whole wardrobe...", she uttered in disbelief and looked at him with big eyes.
"You're welcome!", he just cut her off and shrugged his shoulders, "Just make sure you change fast – I want to see how they look on you before the meeting starts!"
"Which meeting?", she asked curiously, while she gathered the clothes and headed to the bathroom.
"Nan Flanagan has announced herself and will be giving us a lecture in about-", he started to tell her and paused, probably to look at his wristwatch, "17 minutes – so hurry up human!"
"I don't know why, but this term sounds insulting out of your mouth...", she grumbled through the bathroom door and could hear Eric laugh on the other side.
Before she started to dress she tended to her hair, so her new clothes wouldn't get wet. She carefully combed the honey colored strands and blow-dried them in no particular way. Her natural waves were something she had come to terms with, therefore she didn't even attempt to straighten them anymore – it was a waste of time.
After that, she let the towel she was wrapped into sink to the floor and put on the beautiful lingerie of black lace Eric had given her, not the least surprised, that everything fit like a glove. She had already suspected that The Hulk had snooped around in her wardrobe on one of the rare occasions, when she'd left him alone in her room for a minute or two – now she was sure about it!
She carefully pulled the tights up her legs and was pleasantly surprised about how lovely these single stripes on the backside made them look longer than they really were.
When she put on the dress, she first had problems fitting in, but after a few rearrangements here and there she was at least mostly content. It could have been a bit less revealing but she was glad that Eric had thought about some clean clothes for her at all. Though she would've called him anyway, if he hadn't been so considerate...
A few moments later she stepped a bit self-conscious out of the bathroom and waited for his judgement. Without a single word he stood up from the couch and crossed the room to stand in front of her.
A queasy feeling spread inside of her, as she was being examined by his scrutinizing eyes. But while she thought he would point out that there was need for improvement, he just reached into his pocket to pull a little velvet coated box out.
"Don't tell me you bought me some earrings too?!", she blurted out and looked at him in disbelief. A smirk spread on his face, as he told her that the matching necklace was situated on the bedside table and pointed in the mentioned direction. And really – a similar box, just a little bigger, was sitting there unspectacularly and waited for her to open it.
The material of the jewelry looked like silver, but as she considered that a vampire would hardly buy a silver necklace, she concluded that it had to be white gold. Eric somehow didn't give the impression, as if he'd be satisfied with less than a noble metal...
"It is made of white gold and rubies – as are the earrings", he told her from behind and she could nearly hear him grinning as he continued, "You should keep in mind, that vampires have a special preference for the color red."
With the box in her hands she slowly turned to face the tall vampire. "May I?", he asked politely and pointed to the trinket. Of course she nodded slightly, so he delicately lifted it out, opened it and laid it carefully around her neck. Without seeing the clasp, he closed it with schooled fingers and took a step back, to have a better look at her.
"Though I was quite busy myself", he started to tell her in a serious tone and let his eyes roam about her body, till they stopped at her face again, "I have seen what was going on between Godric and you after the explosion..."
Shocked, she clasped a hand to her mouth and stammered: "I'm so sorry Eric – he just knocked me down, I didn't even realize it first! He was wounded so badly because of me! It must've been horribly painful – I'm so sorry – I-"
A firm, cool finger on her lips stopped her mid-sentence and she closed her mouth in surprise. Apparently it was common for vampires to silence their dialogue partner like that...
"I wanted to thank you", he clarified quietly and the serious expression on his face made her gulp, "You must have done something right – otherwise he wouldn't have protected you. And the way you acted after you realized he'd been injured - how you carefully removed every metal piece one by one was-... I have no words... - I'm not good at this!"
He shook his head, apparently annoyed by himself, while Laura stared at him with disbelieving eyes. She'd thought he'd be angry or at least disappointed in her, but this was unexpected...
"Just know, that I'm forever grateful for whatever you've done!", he tried it once again, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose in a frustrated manner, "Maybe we will even have more time to get to know each other, than I first thought..."
Her expression turned to a confused one. "I thought you said you'd leave tomorrow?"
"I am", he confirmed and took a look at his watch again, "I have to go now – I'm going to send someone for you as soon as we've finished."
Even more confused, she watched him stride to the door and open it. "And don't forget the earrings!", he reminded her as he glanced back to her a last time, before he left her alone.
And what should she do in the meantime? This meeting would probably take hours!
Frustrated, she let herself fall onto the couch and turned the TV on. She zapped through the channels, till she stopped at an action movie. Her life was boring enough – except for the vampire related part – therefore she had a preference for such films sometimes. This was such a moment.
Bored, she grabbed her cellphone to look if she had missed any calls and certainly there were three of her Gran, and two of her best friend Patrick. But a quick glance at the clock told her that it was already too late to call them back, so she'd catch up on that in the morning.
They both called her every day to make sure she was fine – well, as fine as she could be. Their over protectiveness was a bit annoying sometimes, but still she loved how they cared for her.
She rose from the couch to look for the medicine in her handbag. It wasn't as if she'd need it now, but she felt better knowing for a fact that it was within reach. She also took the little velvet box with her, before she sat down on the couch again, where she put the beautiful earrings on.
When her stomach started to grumble an hour or so later, she called the room service and ordered some food. It smelled so delicious when it arrived, that she wasn't able to hold back and scarfed everything down in less than ten minutes. Her overfilled stomach hurt a while, but it soon grew quiet again and she was able to enjoy the rest of the movie.
It was close before dawn and Laura hadn't expected it anymore, when someone hastily hammered on her door. "Laura? Are you there?", she heard a familiar voice cry from the other side of the door, as she had nearly reached the handle.
"What's all the fuss about?", she asked baffled and looked at Sookie in confusion, as soon as she had opened the door.
"Hurry! I'm afraid he'll do something reckless!", she told Laura and grabbed her at her shoulder, pulling her along without any further explanation. She hadn't even allowed her to put shoes on!
"They are on the roof and the look Eric gave me-", the blond woman tried to explain, but was obviously at a loss of words. What the hell was going on?
But when they reached the top of the building, Laura realized why Sookie hadn't wasted time: Eric was kneeling on the ground and he was crying bloody tears, while Godric stood in front of him, glaring down at him with a hurt expression on his face.
They looked like Yin and Yang. Eric was totally clothed in black, while Godric wore white linen. But something seemed to be extraordinarily wrong and not at all harmonious!
"Fader. Broder. Son. Let me go", the younger looking vampire requested softly and put a hand on the kneeling one's shoulder.
What the hell was he talking about? Where would he go now – the sun was about to rise!
"I won't let you die alone", the blonde vampire exclaimed and the conviction in his voice let her shudder. And now it slowly dawned on her: they were on a roof and the sun would rise any moment.
Godric wanted to burn!
"Yes, you will. As your Maker I command you", the standing vampire told the blonde in a firm voice and she watched in astonishment, as Eric slowly rose and strode into their direction. The defeated expression on his face felt like a stab to her heart and she reassuringly squeezed his hand, before he disappeared down the stairs.
Sookie was still standing beside her and neither of them knew what they should do now.
"It won't take long, not at my age", Godric simply stated and turned east, to face the soon rising sun. With schooled hands he opened the buttons of his shirt and pulled it down over his shoulders until it fell to the floor.
It was the first time, she realized, that he had tattoos and although she'd normally have been curious, an unforeseen anger started to boil in her. Before she knew what she did, she was standing in front him and glared daggers at him.
"Do you even know, what other people would give for a few more weeks?", she shouted at him and her angry stare became a bitter one, "And you want to throw your life away as if it was trash!"
His eyes looked tired and his whole appearance gave the impression that he was totally content about the fact that his body would be consumed by fire in a few minutes. "I am old, Laura", he told her calmly and caressed one of her cheeks with the back of his fingers, "I neither have a reason, nor do I have a right to live!"
She looked at him in disbelief. Did he really just say that? The feeling of his cool touches had a soothing effect on her, but that last sentence of his was too much.
"If Eric's reaction just moments ago isn't reason enough for you to live, then you're not the person I thought you were!"
His expression turned to a slightly pained one, as he replied: "You do not know me – I am far worse, than you can even begin to imagine!"
A bitter laugh escaped her mouth before she harshly shook his hand off. His mindset slowly started to annoy her. With the hand he had caressed her cheek with only seconds ago hanging loosely from his shoulders, he averted his gaze and looked into the gradually reddening sky.
"I really hoped you would show up, you know", she tried to approach him differently and turned to the slowly rising sun as well. Her voice had been so low, that he wouldn't have been able to understand her, if he hadn't been a vampire.
"I know. I have been there", he told her sincerely, obviously immediately understanding, that she'd referred to the days after their first encounter. She sighed heavily and turned her head in his direction, to look at him once more.
"I don't want you to die", she whispered, more to herself, than to him, "If I'd believe in a life after death I'd just say 'see you soon' – but that's not the case. I think we simply stop to exist. End. You really want that? You really want to leave everything behind?"
His lips had slightly twitched upwards, but his eyes were still fixed on the horizon. "I did everything there is to do. I saw everything there is to see – I am done, Little One", he stated calmly, "Do not waste your precious time trying to convince me of the contrary."
Well that was at least something she could work with…
"You did everything there is to do?", she asked him with a challenging tone in her voice, "Have you ever drifted through the Venice canals with one of these fancy gondolas? Have you ever been flying in a hot-air balloon? Have you ever been singing in front of an audience? – Now be honest Godric, have you really done everything there is to do?"
He had turned his head to face her somewhere between 'Venice' and 'flying' and examined her, obviously amused. This had to be a good sign – there wasn't much time left!
"I have indeed been to Venice and therefore been on such a 'fancy' gondola", his low voice rang in her ears as if he had shouted the words into her face, "And I can fly by myself – I have no need for a 'hot-air balloon'. But I admit – I have never sung in front of an audience."
Encouraged, she shot out further scores of her list: "Have you ever stood on the Chinese Wall? Have you ever taken the time to look at the stars until you saw a shooting star?... Have you ever been skinny-dipping? – Certainly with someone else! It doesn't count if you were alone!"
He laughed about the last one, but nodded 'yes' each time she had ended her sentence. It displeased her tremendously that she wasn't able to find anything more, he hadn't done yet.
But what really worried her, was the fact that smoke started to rise from his body. With a horrified look on her face, she turned her head to watch the horizon and was shocked when she glimpsed the first sun-rays.
She was running out of time!
"Have you ever helped someone else accomplish their last wishes?", she desperately tried a last time, while the first tear ran down her cheek, "I'm going to die soon, and I'm nowhere close to finishing my bucket list! At least help me with that – you can still burn later on!"
His eyebrows furrowed slowly and his beautiful eyes almost seemed to pierce her, making her feel uneasy. "You will have to explain a few things", he simply stated and was gone in the next second.
Laura broke down onto her knees, not able to maintain her tense posture any more.
She had done it.
He'd been rushing inside to the safety of the building.
Tears of joy trailed down her cheeks, while she sat there in silence and watched the sun rise. She recognized that Sookie had been sitting down beside her and gave her a warm smile, which certainly had to look odd in her actual condition.
"I think we should head inside", the blonde told her after a while and grabbed her shoulder carefully, "I think he's waiting for you and it's not good for them to stay awake during daytime."
Laura nodded tiredly and let Sookie help her to her feet.
"Is it true?", the young woman asked her, trying not to sound too curious. A weak smile formed on her mouth before she nodded once again. She felt the blonde squeeze her hand reassuringly, while they slowly strode to the stairs and left the roof.
AN: so this was the new chapter – I hope you liked it. It was definitely easier to write, than the last one ;)
Thanks so much for the reviews again – I really appreciate your opinions, therefore I'm glad if you tell me what you('d) like/d or dislike(d) ;)
The next chapter will unfortunately have to wait for a while, because I have lots of work to do (I was just lucky that I could finish this chapter, before my courses really started)
So, keep on reading – and please, leave a review ;)
last update: 05/2021