...
What can you do
When the curtain falls
What will you do
When the curtain falls
You'll
Left, right
[Beirut – Curtain Falls]
...
She sat in front of his house for more than five hours now. If Godric was inside, he had stubbornly ignored her pleading to let her in, so she hoped he was just trying to clear his mind somewhere else and would return until sunrise. The mere thought of him sitting inside on one of the couches and giving her his cold shoulder, made her stomach twist uncomfortably...
She wondered where he retreated whenever he had to ponder over something and became aware of how little she knew about him, just because she hadn't dared to ask him any personal questions – or at least only very few. The fear to involuntarily direct the conversation to a touchy subject had kept her from inquiring too much.
But now, giving in to this fear had it's prize. Maybe she'd know where to look for him, had she just shown a bit more interest in his personal life! She didn't even know his phone number – for God's sake! – as they had always planned their next evening while they where still together. And the few times he had called her while she was angry at him, she had been silly enough to delete every single call, after she had figured it was him trying to reach her...
All she could do now was wait on his doorstep and hope he'd return soon, because it wasn't exactly warm anymore and she hadn't taken a jacket to the funeral.
As soon as Godric had disappeared from the restaurant, her parents had acted as if they'd never argued with her and her mother had immediately tried to soothe her when she saw tears running down her cheeks. Naturally, she had concluded her daughter would cry because of her grandmothers passing, but as soon as Laura realized that, she tried to explain between sobs that the reason was rather a quite self-destructive vampire.
Her father had immediately raised this 'new acquaintance' to question and reminded her how dangerous it could become for her, if she kept seeing Godric. It almost sounded like half an hour before, only with the difference that he seemed to phrase his statements much more carefully...
Laura immediately bit her tears back then – which was rather easy, now that her feelings had switched from sad to angry – to tell him that exactly that attitude had driven said vampire away and it if they'd dare to make her choose, they wouldn't be very happy with her decision.
That had fortunately silenced him, which showed her just how good Godric's glamour worked. Such an implicit threat wouldn't have changed his mind beforehand, but now he seemed to contemplate his next steps very carefully, while her mother simply stood beside him, with her lips pressed to a thin line – obviously disappointed by her words, but not keen on trying her daughter's patience.
Laura had grabbed her belongings soon after that talk and headed – with Pat in tow – to Godric's house, after she had agreed to meet her parents at the first light of dawn at their hotel. She had hoped to find the gloomy vampire at his home, but as it turned out he wasn't there – or even worse: ignoring her.
Patrick had kept her company for about three hours, constantly telling her to call Eric to at least ask for his makers phone number. But she had countered with equal dourness, explaining time and time again, that she didn't want to alarm him without any evidence, therefore she'd only call him, if Godric hadn't returned until sunrise.
And that would be in about four hours... Patrick had left around midnight, because he wasn't used to stay up all night and aside from that, his flight would depart at 9:00, cutting him out of the time he would have had to sleep in.
While she had hugged him goodbye, he had whispered reassuringly into her ear, that 'this stubborn vampire would surely come to his senses soon'. In situations like these she always wondered what she'd do without him...
Four years ago, after her surgery, he had spent every afternoon at her bedside – on weekends sometimes even his whole day. Although she hadn't been a very good conversational partner then – well she hadn't been able to form any coherent sentence at all – he had born her company. He kept her up to date about what was going on at school and also told her the little gossip he had been able to pick up.
She understood everything that was said to her then, but frustratingly the words she wanted to form always left her mouth the wrong way for the first four months. That was why she basically sticked to drawing whatever she wanted to say in little doodles – because writing was unfortunately like speaking: an unintelligible clutter.
Most people didn't have the patience to converse with her like that, only Pat and her family had visited her regularly. But sometimes her best friend also dragged Kathy or Irene along to keep her up to date about the gossip.
Laura hadn't heard from Kathy for a long time now, since she was part of a punk-band and trying to get a record company to release some of their songs. For all she knew, they where currently in San Francisco, performing in every bar that would let them play, to become known there.
But Irene called from time to time to ask how she was doing. Like Pat, she was attending University in Fayetteville and studying Interior Design (while Pat grappled with Economics).
Only when the speech therapist suggested she should try to sing something, she was able to pronounce the syllables in the correct order and for the first time in more than four months someone was able to understand her. It took her another few months to master speaking normally again without any real melody, but when she finally realized how to do it, it was relatively easy.
Nevertheless she didn't want to feel that helpless ever again! These four isolated months had been horrible for her – even if she wasn't the type of girl who talked overly much. Being dependent on a piece of paper and the ability of her opposite to interpret her doodles the right way, was something she wouldn't even wish upon her worst enemy...
The possibility of reliving this horror was reason enough for her to refuse any further surgery – especially when the doctors didn't sound very positive about the outcome anyway...
Laura passed her time until sunrise with her cellphone, looking for potential places she would like to see. When she felt the first sun rays tingling her cool skin, she had to accept that either Godric had indeed ignored her the whole time, or he had no intention to return to his house.
Both possibilities were reason enough to cause concern and therefore she finally scrolled through her contacts to call Eric.
"It's not exactly a convenient moment to call me", were the first words he whispered, after he had answered his phone, "If it isn't an emergency I'd prefer to postpone this conversation!"
"Im sorry Eric, but it is and emergency!", she assured him in an equally low voice – why, she didn't really know, "Godric disappeared and I have absolutely no clue where to look for him – he's not at his house either! I don't know what to do!"
Her voice had started to tremble at the last part and she felt tears welling up from her eyes. She had obviously managed to distract herself effectively for the last hours, but thinking about Godric now, brought horrible thoughts to her mind.
What if he had done something reckless? Her parents had said some quite insulting things – if he planned to perform such a stunt as on the rooftop of hotel Carmilla again, she wouldn't know how to deal with it...
"How do you know he's not in his house?", the Viking demanded to know in an almost hissing but still low voice.
"I sat in front of his front door the whole time and begged him to let me in", she told him agitated, running her fingers through her hair in a nervous manner, "I still have some of my things at his place – he'd have let me in if he was there... Wouldn't he, Eric?"
Her voice had sounded almost pleading at her last sentence and she knew how idiotic it was to jump to conclusions now – but she felt so fucking helpless in this moment, that she desperately needed someone to tell her that everything was going to be alright.
"What. Happened?", Eric growled from the other end of the line, completely ignoring her question and Laura gulped before she started to tell him everything, quoting her parents on some points of her story.
"Fuck!", he hissed angrily, before she could hear something shatter in the background.
"Are you alright?", she asked meekly and furrowed her brows in concern. What the hell was going on on his side?
"Yes, I just needed to destroy something – wasn't my vase anyway...", he murmured a bit distracted.
"Where should I look for him?", Laura inquired, her voice still trembling a bit, "You would know if he did something permanent, wouldn't you?"
"You mean if he killed himself? Yeah, I'd know that. He's still alive, if that's what you wanted to hear."
That wasn't exactly encouraging, but it was at least something...
"What are we going to do now?", she desperately wanted to know, when a single sob escaped her mouth. She was outwitted – she wanted him to tell her what to do, to relieve her of this feeling that everything was depending on her.
"We won't do anything – you go back to your apartment-"
"I can't go back there – I told you it's my father's now! He won't allow me to live there!"
"You forget that Godric glamoured your parents – it will be relatively easy for you to persuade them now", he whispered impatiently, before he revisited the sentence she had interrupted before, "You'll go back to your apartment and wait there until I call you – it may take a few days, but I'll contact you as soon as everything's calmed down here!"
"...Are you in trouble?", she asked hesitantly and bit on her bottom lip in concern.
Why else would he whisper the whole time! There was definitely something off... Did she have to worry about The Huge One as well now?
"Nothing I can't handle", he immediately assured her, before he reminded her to do what he'd told her.
"OK, OK – I'll stay put...", she gave in reluctantly, "But call me if there's anything I can do regarding Godric – or if I can help you with whatever shit you're in!"
After she hadn't heard anything from his side for a few moments, she carefully asked, "Eric, are you still there?"
"Yeah", he confirmed in a low voice and cleared his throat, "I'll call you! Don't do anything reckless – you hear me?"
"Yes Sir!", she answered and saluted, asking herself the next moment why she had done that, as he wouldn't see it anyway and shook her head in disapproval, "Have a nice day-rest Eric!"
"Same to you! Bye."
The moment he hung up, she cursed herself because she suddenly remembered, that she had planned to ask him for Godric's phone number. But she assumed Eric would call his maker himself anyway, so there was no need for her to bother him.
But it would definitely have calmed her nerves, if she could've heard his voice again...
She turned around to face the dark-brown front door a last time and brushed her hand tenderly over it's surface, before she used the door-knocker again. "Godric, if you're in there please open the door – I'm worried about you! I want to know if you're alright!"
But when she didn't receive an answer for about two minutes, she sighed in defeat and left his property with a bowed head. Like she had promised, she took the first cab to her parents' hotel and had problems not to drop off in the backseat.
When she met them in the entrance hall of their accommodation, both smiled widely at her as soon as they recognized her. She tried to return that smile as best as she could, but it probably wasn't very convincing.
"You weren't successful honey, huh?", her mother asked carefully and patted her shoulder in an encouraging manner, "Whatever you've said, he'll surely get over it soon!"
"I didn't say anything – you two forced him to leave with your outdated and offending ideologies!", she clarified tiredly and followed them unresistingly, when her father started to head their way, "I begged him to hear me out, but he either wouldn't let me, or wasn't there..."
"What are you talking about Laura?", her father demanded to know, when they stopped in front of the elevator, "We don't even know him, let alone talked to him – how could we have offended him then?"
They had obviously already had their breakfast and seemed to head back to their rooms again, but she wouldn't object as she was quite tired anyway and could use a comfortable couch or something like that...
She glanced from her father to her mother and back, before she bowed her head and sighed heavily. "You have talked to him. And you didn't bother to mince words – especially you Dad!", she informed him with her eyes pinned to the ground, only lifting her glance once, when she heard the 'ping' before the doors to the elevator opened. "It escalated and Mom said something about 'choosing a vampire over my family' – and I think that triggered his decision to attempt mending our relationship a bit. He removed your memories about him from your minds and hoped that would do the job – but it isn't that simple..."
"Honey – what are you talking about?", her mother asked confused and put a hand on her shoulder to attract her attention, "You say we know him – and he removed some of our memory? How can you tell us something like that in such a nonchalant way?! Would you please look at us!"
Her voice had become more and more agitated with every sentence and if the volume hadn't been evidence enough for her anger, at least the little line between her eyebrows plainly showed it. Laura's father on the other hand stayed calm while they stepped into the elevator and silently pressed the button to their floor. His eyes flickered back and forth between his wife and his daughter, as if he wasn't sure whom to address first.
"I'll tell you as soon as we are in your suite – I was up all night, I want to at least sit while telling you the whole story", Laura told them, finally lifting her head to face her parents and was surprised that they both just nodded.
As soon as they arrived on the right floor, her parents silently headed to their room, showing her the way. Her Dad had already prepared the keycard and unclosed the door as fast as he could, ushering Laura and her Mom inside before he entered the suite himself.
"Now sit down and talk!", he simply demanded and gestured to the red couch in the room's center. She nodded and followed his advice, making herself comfortable between the soft cushions and started to tell them everything: from the funeral and how the gloomy vampire had helped her to calm down – totally hooded – to how ridiculous they had reacted after Pat had let the cat out of the bag. She recalled what her father had accused Godric of and the conversation that finally led to his decision to remove their memory and disappear.
When she had ended, her parents still stood silently in front of her and looked at each other as if they hoped the other one would know what to do now.
"I am sorry that we caused him to leave, Laura", her father finally found his voice again and Laura's eyebrows rose in surprise. But then he continued calmly: "But I think it's the best for you!"
"What?!"
How could he have the audacity to state something like that?! Hadn't he listened to her at all? She had told him how caring Godric was and how much he had helped her in the short time she had been allowed to keep his company!
"You know how they are Laura – you read the newspapers too!", he tried to reason with her and approached the couch to sit down beside her, "They are powerful and quick-tempered – not a very promising combination! And their practices are horrific, to say the least..."
"Yeah, you already mentioned that at the restaurant!", Laura spat out in disgust and kept her eyes pinned to the ground. If she hadn't been so tired she would have left already, but the couch was just so damn comfortable...
Silence settled around her and for a few moments neither her mother nor her father dared to say anything. Obviously her tone had reminded them to consider their words more carefully.
"Laura, you don't plan to come home with us, do you?", her mother finally asked in a tiny voice and closed in, kneeling down before her and gripping her hands.
"No, not really", she answered without batting an eye and lifted her gaze to face her Mom, "Why did you think I would?"
"You sent your bags here last night", her mother muttered with a slightly disbelieving voice, "Why did you do that if you didn't intend to accompany us?"
"What?!", Laura asked incredulously and furrowed her brows on a confused manner before her gaze jumped from her mother's to her father's face and back, "Which bags? What are you talking about?"
Her mother bestowed a searching look on her, before she silently stood up and left the room with a sigh, only to return with a duffle-, two shopping-bags and a rucksack.
So Godric was really serious. He wanted to get rid of her...
"Fuck", she just whispered and buried her face in her hands. This couldn't be real! Yesterday they still wanted to travel to Europe and now he suddenly didn't want to even see her anymore?!
"Honey, what's the matter?", her mother asked carefully, after she had placed Laura's belongings to her feet and sat down beside her, to caress her back in circling movements.
A few weeks ago this exact action had triggered thoughts about her Mom when Godric tried to calm her down. Now it was the other way around and like the last time, she wasn't able to bite her tears back and started to sob uncontrollably.
"Shhh, Little One", her father tried to soothe her and put his hand on her shoulder as well, but his unfortunate choice of words only made it worse. It took her half an hour until she was able to tell them that it hadn't been her who had send her bags here, but Godric – who obviously didn't want anything to do with her anymore.
With her world upside down again, Laura decided to stay at her parents hotel at least for the next few hours and spent her day sleeping in their bed while they went out to do whatever they had panned to do.
Time passed by achingly slowly the next few days. She had gone back to her grandmother's apartment – to her surprise without needing to argue overly much with her father, like Eric had predicted.
At first she had feared the memories, the surroundings there would evoke, but she wasn't as affected by them as she had thought – at least not negatively. It almost felt soothing to know, that her Gran had once lived in those exact same rooms and looked after the flat as she now did.
Her mother had decided to stay with her for another few days, as she had lots of unused holidays anyway. But her father needed to fly back to Arkansas to one of his clients on monday afternoon.
Laura was well aware that her mother tried to meddle with her unusual sleep-wake rhythm by suggesting diverse activities, such as fabric-shopping, going to galleries and even attending some concerts. But as she had never had much time to spend with her daughter, Laura just couldn't bring herself to refuse and so she spent her afternoons inspecting cloths, listening to classical music or admiring paintings.
On one of these afternoons James called, to tell her how sorry he was.
The night before her mother had informed her about her Gran's death, she had foolishly remarked, that the mansion he had dropped her off after their first date, had not been her parents' (as he had assumed) but Godric's.
He had snapped then and called her and Godric some offending names, which had caused her to pack her things and take the first cab home. Fortunately he had freaked out after she had eaten her dinner, so to even it out she simply left him with the bill.
She accepted his apology – though she didn't buy that it was merely the alcohol that had caused him to forget his manners and clarified, that things weren't as they had been between them. Further she informed him, that she had no intention to go on a date with him ever again and that her friendship would be all he could hope for now. He sounded astoundingly OK with that and told her how relieved he was, that she forgave him before he hung up.
It had been a quite awkward conversation, but nevertheless Laura was glad that this dispute was off the table. She hadn't thought about James overly much, but still their argument had been in the back of her head ever since. Parting ways in such an upset state was never a good idea – therefore she was all the more happy now, that he seemed to have realized his lapse and even apologized to her.
When Laura and her mother collapsed on the couch on her Mom's last night in Dallas, they both weren't prepared for what they saw on television. Laura merely wanted to zap through the channels to look if there was a film they'd both like to watch – but everywhere were special broadcasts aired, with newscasters talking about 'The Incident'.
It took her a while before she found a station where this 'incident' was explained in detail. If she had only heard about it, she wouldn't have believed it, but after the speaker had finished his report they showed a recording of the scenes.
Laura and her mother almost simultaneously reached to their mouths in shock, when they saw a vampire – who introduced himself as 'Russel Edgington' – murder a newscaster in front of their eyes. This apparently 3000 year old man then started to rant on about their absurd and futile human existences and how the AVL tried to conceal the vampires' true nature – because "eating people was a tough sell these days".
But he assured the viewers, that humans and vampires were everything but equals and that he – bloodsucking and proud of it – was how they really were. After he had spat out a last threat, he nonchalantly announced the weather and the next second he was gone.
"This is just not true!", was the first Laura exclaimed, when she finally found her voice again. How could this have happened? Why now? What if Godric saw this and took it as a prove that his kind was not able to live in peace, like he wanted them to?
"That's all you have to say?", her mother asked incredulously and jumped up in anger, "There – in front of our eyes – a reporter was murdered and everything you say is, that this is not true? Do you really think someone faked this?!"
Her voice had reached frequencies that almost hurt Laura's ears, but she endured it wordlessly until she had finished. It wouldn't have been wise to interrupt her now – or shield her ears for that matter...
"No, I don't think it's faked", she clarified as soon as her mother would allow her, "I just wanted you to know that he is not right: He is not like the 'usual' vampire. He's just a sick narcissist who likes to be the center of attention..."
"And that a human was murdered doesn't matter at all?!", her mother asked disbelievingly, while her eyebrows furrowed, "No word about this poor man – all you're concerned about is what the world thinks of vampires! I can't believe what you've become Laura – I don't recognize you anymore!"
"Sure it's tragic that this happened! Sure I'm scared of this maniac!", Laura exclaimed impatiently and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, "But all I can currently think about is how this is going to effect Godric!"
Her mothers face changed from an angry to a confused one and when Laura didn't continue she gestured her to explain that in more detail. And so Laura told her about what had happened on the rooftop of hotel Carmilla and how she had managed to talk him down from there. How they had spend the last weeks in each others company and how he had helped her to achieve some of the things she wanted to do before she died.
During her explanation, tears started to well up in her mother's eyes and she sat down beside her again. It was also the first time she told her about the list she had written.
"Would you show it to me honey?", she asked her daughter with a trembling voice and Laura quickly reached into her bra to retrieve an already worn out piece of folded paper. It was the only place she considered secure enough to keep it...
"Some scores are quite private, but I suppose if I won't even allow you to read them, I'll probably never achieve them..."
Her mother's eyes quickly scurried over the battered surface and smiled sadly, while tear after tear ran down her cheeks.
"You're really serious then...", she whispered when she had finished and handed the list back to her daughter, who simply nodded. "I should have supported you from the beginning, I'm so sorry I didn't honey! It was just so hard to accept that you wouldn't even try... I hope you'll find Godric soon – don't you have any lead where he could be?"
"I only have Eric, but I have the feeling he is in some sort of trouble at the moment. That's why he told me not to call him – he'd get in touch as soon as he can", she explained with a deep sigh and bit her bottom lip. It had been five days now, since she had heard from him and slowly she started to worry about him as well...
"Well maybe you should help him with this trouble he is in then, so he can help you with yours", her mother suggested and Laura couldn't help but smile at her honest attempt to encourage her. "Is he a vampire as well?"
"Yes. He is Godric's son... of sorts", Laura tried to explain, "The problem is, that I don't even know where he is at the moment – I know he has a vampire-bar somewhere in Shreveport I think – that's at least where he invited me to..."
"He invited you?", her mother asked surprised, "So you must know him quite well too, huh?"
"Yeah – we're some sort of accomplices", Laura chuckled, "We both want Godric to live, so we both try to make him see how beautiful life can be. I usually call him every morning before I go to sleep and tell him how successful – or not – I've been."
"Huh... quite interesting relationship you have there", her mother stated with a smirk and a quirked eyebrow while Laura reached for her glass of water on the couch-table, "First I thought there'd be something between you and Godric, but now I'm not entirely sure if I've maybe mistaken your friendship and in reality there are more romantic feelings for this Eric.."
The water sprayed out of Laura like a fountain when she heard her mothers pondering and almost chocked on it when she couldn't keep herself from laughing out loud. She and Eric? The thought alone was ridiculous!
"If you had seen the two once, you'd know that they are way out of my league, Mom", she told her matter-of-factly and took another sip of water, because she obviously hadn't been able to drink much of her last one.
"Wait a minute", her mother suddenly stated and furrowed her eyebrows when she seemed to realize something, "So this Eric has a vampire-bar and is quite handsome? Is this probably a tall, blonde guy who looks like a Viking?"
The curiosity in her mothers eyes didn't go without notice and she seemed to wait eagerly for her daughters answer. But all Laura could think about was: how the fuck did she know Eric?!
"Yes – well he is a Viking", she stammered after a while, a baffled look still on her face, "How do you know him Mom?"
"Well, when I was at the hair salon the last time, I browsed through one or two vampire magazines as well", her mother reluctantly began to explain, "There was this photograph of a really handsome vampire on a throne-like chair and in the article it said he was the owner of a vampire bar. I think it was named 'Fangtasia' – it was so ridiculous I simply couldn't forget it!"
"Well, then I should probably google this 'Fangtasia' and look if you're right!", Laura laughed and stood up to get her laptop from the writing desk. She put it on the couch-table and looked said vampire-bar up with her mother peeking curiously over her shoulder the whole time – and really: the first they saw was a pictire of Eric, Pam and another long haired and native-american-looking vampire.
"You'r the best Mom!", Laura exclaimed and flung her arms around her mother neck, who hugged her in return. "I'm glad, that I could help – we're even if you introduce me to him if you can arrange that...", her Mom just replied with a wink.
"Interesting that you say that", Laura chuckled, "He joked that he wanted me to introduce him, when he called me at the funeral feast. He said mothers would always love him..."
"How could you not love a man who looks like that", her mother laughed and gestured to the screen, which still showed the picture of the three vampires.
"He got a haircut though", Laura noted when she looked at the photograph again, "But it looks much better now I think. Pam did a really good job."
"So you know her as well?"
"Yes – she's Eric's progeny, so Godric is her grandfather of sorts. She has an extraordinary sense for fashion – you'd like her Mom!"
"Please don't tell me the third one is Godric..."
"Oh God – no!"
The next morning Laura accompanied her mother to the airport, because she had arranged a flight to Shreveport for her. When they parted ways, Laura felt a wave of sadness wash over her, like it hadn't happened in years, when it came to the fact, that they'd probably not see each other for a while.
She was glad that they had been able to spend the last few days together – they had started to mend their battered relationship again and it felt nice to finally be allowed to call her mother again, whenever she felt like it.
When Laura arrived in Shreveport at about 11 AM, she took a cab directly to 'Fangtasia'. She knew it would be closed at such an hour, but she'd simply wait until Pam or Eric would appear in the evening. All she wanted was to know what was going on here – and the best way to get information, was to surprise the one she was about to seek it from.
The name of the bar obviously gave away that it was a vampire-bar, because the driver had looked funny at her, when she told him where she wanted him to dropp her off. In a quite polite way he even informed her, that it was probably closed at daytime. But when she just shrugged it off, he fortunately dropped it and brought her there nonetheless.
As soon as she got out of the car with her duffle-bag hanging from her shoulder, the driver immediately stepped on the gas and drove away as if someone had been after him. Laura just watched him disappear with a confused look on her face and shook her head disbelievingly, before she focused her attention on the building in front of her.
But before she even had the chance to look for a 'Fangtasia'-sign or something like that, she knew why the driver had fled the place.
Two people were lying on the concrete in front of her – and one of the two looked suspiciously like Eric. The fact that smoke rose from their forms almost confirmed her suspicion, but before she could have stepped closer to hear what they where talking – because she could without a doubt hear that at least one of the two was talking – or to have a look at the taller one, to see if it was indeed Eric, another person suddenly stepped out of the building behind the two figures.
The hood of his sweater was pulled deep into his face and dark sunglasses as well as a scarf over his mouth and nose covered most of his face. But although the figure was disguised, she didn't doubt for even a second that this was Godric, and the fact that he stopped for a moment to look at her, proved her right.
But when he averted his face again, he seemed to focus his attention solely on the person beside Eric and before she really figured what was going on, said person exploded before her eyes and soaked both remaining vampires in his blood. Without any further hesitation Godric grabbed his progeny under his arms and dragged him inside again, as if nothing had happened.
Hesitantly Laura made her way to the entrance of the building and stopped at the bloody puddle for a moment. A wooden stick lay abandoned in the middle of it and was proof for the conclusion she had involuntarily drawn: Godric had killed the other vampire before her eyes. He had staked him with an aimed stab to his heart, which resulted in an explosion of the killed one.
Was this how every vampire died, or did this only happen if they were stabbed?
A shudder ran down her spine before she turned her back to the puddle and stepped to the entrance. With relief she realized, that it was still unclosed. Hesitantly she stepped inside, with her duffle-bag tightly clutched to her body as if it would save her from any possibly devastating news.
Pam and the old-fashioned vampire she had met at Godric's old mansion had eyed her silently, while she slowly made her way to the center of the room where Godric stood – slightly bowed – beside Eric, who was still lying on the floor.
That was probably not a good sign...
"How is he?", she asked hesitantly, when she had come to a halt behind Godric. She intended to spare herself the sight, if Eric was indeed and truly dead. "Please tell me he's going to be okay!"
"He needs blood Laura", Pam explained and suddenly stood beside her in the next second, looking expectantly at her. From head to toe she was dressed in pink, even her lipstick fit to her outfit.
"Do not ask her for something like that Pamela – she had enough to endure because of us!", Godric hissed and turned around. He'd got rid of his sun-protection already, and although they had covered most of his face, there were a few blood splatters on his skin. But it was nothing compared to his sweater, which was practically soaked with blood.
His expression was angry and hard when he looked at his grand-progeny, which caused Laura to wonder for a moment, if he had had somehow lost his mind in the last few days. They were talking about his son after all – how could he stay so calm?!
"You don't even have to ask Pam!", Laura assured her and took a step forward to shield her from Godric's reprimating glare, all the while looking intently at the blood soaked vampire in front of her. "Will he be able to bite me himself, or would it be better if one of you two did it?"
Before Pam even had the chance to answer, Godric almost growled at his grandprogeny, which silenced her altogether. He slowly reached for Laura's wrist then and grabbed it softly, looking at her as if he asked for her permission. When she simply nodded he brought it to his mouth and hesitated for a moment, as if he'd contemplate where exactly to bite her, before he lowered his fangs into her flesh.
The bite itself happened so fast, that it didn't even hurt all that much – which she was quite thankful for. But what she regretted was the fact, that she hadn't even been able to see Godric's fangs. He had acted so fast, that they had already been deep inside her wrist before she even realized that she should have watched his movements more carefully.
As soon as he had let her arm go, Laura sank to her knees and put her bleeding wrist to Eric's mouth. Only now she dared to look at him – he had blisters on his bare skin, but he looked way better than he had been outside and she was glad, that she was able to help him recover again.
Godric positioned himself beside her and ran his fingers carefully through the Viking's golden hair. "I will make sure, that he does not drink more than is healthy for you", he stated and explained further, "In a situation like this it could be extremely hard for him to stop."
Laura just nodded wordlessly and waited for any reaction of Eric, but he still lay lifelessly beneath her. She had always imagined that the mere smell of blood would tempt any vampire enough to bite – at least if they really needed the blood – but obviously this specific vampire was in a worse state than she had thought.
Godric carefully embraced Eric's jawline when he realized, that his progeny wouldn't open his mouth himself, and pulled it down with gentle force, which caused the blood to float freely onto his tongue.
As soon as a few drops had dropped into his mouth, the Vikings eyes suddenly fluttered open for a moment and he grabbed her wrist with both of his hands. With strong and deep draws he sucked the blood out of her body, his eyes closing again in that process, as if he'd relish the flavor and with every single of his gulps she could see the life returning to his body.
"This is enough Eric!", Godric cautioned him suddenly, grabbed his hands and forced him to let go of her arm. Laura withdrew it as soon as she was able to and just kneeled a bit baffled beside the two ancient beings.
So that was how it felt to feed a vampire! Not as bad as she had thought...
Still a bit disorientated Eric licked his lips clean of the last traces of her blood, but when his gaze found her, he obviously realized what had happened. His eyebrows furrowed in irritation and his piercing glare was almost unbearable.
"Didn't I tell you to stay put!?", he inquired enraged and sat up to be on her eye-level.
"Maybe...", she answered meekly and looked sheepishly to the floor between them, "I just wanted to know what was going on here and as you hadn't given the impression of being overly talkative, I thought I'd surprise you... Well – surprise!"
She chuckled halfheartedly about her own joke, but when she caught Eric's still quite furious glare it stuck in her throat. Maybe she should have called after all...
"If you had appeared only an hour sooner, he could have killed you and neither I nor Godric could have stopped him!", the angry Viking shouted in her face.
"I suppose you talk about the puddle of blood lying in the parking lot?", she asked nonchalantly and just shrugged her shoulders when she received a curt nod. "I arrived at the right time, I'm still alive and on top of that I even had the pleasure to help a fried of mine. It looks as if everything went according to plan, don't you think?"
He hesitated a moment, before his expression softened and a mischievous smirk appeared around his lips. With a slightly tilted head he started examine her intently, giving Laura the creeps with his unreadable expression.
"You were delicious Laura!", he whispered when he leant closer, but this statement only earned him a raised eyebrow and a soft hit to his shoulder.
"Don't make fun of me, or this was the last time I helped you out!", she threatened and sticked her tongue out to him. He just chuckled and shook his head disbelievingly.
"That was a compliment Tiny!", he clarified, "You indeed are delicious. That's a fact, not a joke. But if you don't want to hear that, you shouldn't offer your blood so freely!"
"This was an emergency, if you haven't realized that much!", she stated dryly and wanted to cross her arms over the chest, but stopped as soon as her pierced wrist brushed her shirt – which hurt a bit. Curiously she inspected the punctured flesh and brushed carefully over its surface.
"Give it to me – I'll heal it for you", Eric offered and stretched his hand out in invitation, but Laura simply clutched her arm to her chest possessively and shook her head vehemently.
"I want to keep these! They'll remind me that even if I haven't accomplished anything of importance otherwise, I have at least helped you."
She felt a smile spread on her face while she cradled her arm as if it wasn't part of her own body, but something very precious she wanted to keep save. Eric's expression was unreadable like most of the time – his master had after all had more than 1000 years to teach him how to conceal his emotions – but she supposed the short twitch of his eyebrows meant, that he was a bit surprised.
"You're indeed a quite special one...", he muttered before he slowly got to his feet. Godric still sat beside Laura and watched her intently. He hadn't even let a single word slip out since he'd stopped Eric from draining her, but had silently observed their interactions as if he felt he'd just interrupt if he said anything.
When Godric gracefully stood up as well, he extended his hand to help Laura up again. She gratefully accepted it and with a gentle pull, she was standing in front of him, once again aware of his blood-soaked sweater.
"I am sorry you had to witness that...", the he muttered when he followed her gaze to his clothes and smiled sadly at her. When she returned his glare for a while, he averted his face almost as if he was ashamed and closed his eyes with a hurt expression. "I wish you had not seen that..."
"That's all you have to say?!", she suddenly asked and felt anger boil up in her. She hadn't seen him in days and about fifty different worst-case scenarios had been repeating themselves in her mind over and over again. 'Worry' didn't even begin to describe what she had felt!
His eyes opened again and darted to hers, obviously searching for any hint why she suddenly was mad at him to such an extend. "I do not know, what you wish to hear now?!"
"You left!", she exclaimed and hit his chest with both of her hands, which caused him to grab them when she lunged for the next round. Only incidentally she realized, how Eric and Pam backed down, while she stared at the confused vampire before her with her deadliest glare. "You idiot left me without any warning! You ignored me while I sat in front of your door for a whole night!"
Tears had built in her eyes and threatened to spill but she tried to blink them back with all her willpower. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction to see her cry now!
"That is, what this is about?", he asked disbelievingly and lowered their hands, before he let go of hers, to grab her chin. He forced her to look at him and that was exactly the moment, she couldn't hold her tears back anymore and they ran silently down her cheeks. She bit on her lip stubbornly to at least keep her lip from trembling and tried to stand his gaze with the grimmest expression she could manage.
"If I tell you, that I regretted my decision the moment I left the restaurant – would that change anything?", he muttered in a low voice and had even the audacity to crack a small smile.
"No. You forget, that you delivered my bags. That was not an impulsive decision – it was thoroughly completed!"
"I wanted to spare me the sight of you gathering your belongings yourself. I wanted this to be my decision – not yours..."
"Well, I hope you're happy now – that worked!", she shouted in his face and broke free from his grip. Without another glance at him she turned around and ran out of the building into the safety of the sun.
She broke down in the middle of the parking lot and cried for God knew how long. Only when she felt a soft squeeze on her shoulder, she wheeled around in shock. But when she was greeted by the smiling face of a beautiful blonde woman, she immediately calmed down again.
"Hi Sookie – I didn't even realize you were in there too...", Laura muttered a bit ashamed and averted her gaze while she got to her feet. Carefully she brushed the dirt off her skirt before she faced the blonde woman again.
"Oh, no problem! I was out anyway – but Eric told me what happened..."
"Well, then you know why I won't ever step a foot inside this building again!"
Sookie looked at her, like she got caught with her hands in the cookie jar and bit on her lip. It was obvious that she had come out to try to change her mind – but she would surely not give this certain vampire another chance. At least not if he didn't at least have a really convincing apology up his sleeve...
"Godric is still awake, you know", the blonde noted calmingly, "I think you both just talked past each other – whatever he said: he certainly didn't mean it like you took it, Laura!"
"But still he left!", Laura noted tiredly and stared stubbornly at her feet. She had stopped crying some time ago and now the dried tears stuck to her cheeks, leaving a tense feeling there. The fact that Sookie saw her again in such a state, didn't exactly add to her contentment.
"Yes. But now he is right in there waiting for you!", the young woman gently reminded her, "Do you want to repeat his mistake?"
Laura lifted her gaze hesitantly and examined Sookie's face intently, but all she could find was an absolutely honest expression. And she was right – if she left now, she was not a bit better than Godric. But honestly: why should she be? She was nineteen while he was well over 1000 years old – shouldn't he be the wise one?
But if she was honest to herself, she had to admit that even if she wanted to leave, she wouldn't have the heart to do it. With a deep sigh she ended her internal debate, just nodded and allowed the blonde to drag her along.
As soon as the door to the bar had closed behind them, blocking the sunlight out, Godric was standing in front of her. He still wore the blood soaked sweater from earlier, but in addition to the few stains in his face, also a trail of his own blood ran down from his nose now.
"I'm going to take a nap – the blood-loss shows its effects...", Sookie excused herself and disappeared in the dark hallway to their right. Laura just looked after her a bit baffled and wondered what her statement about 'blood-loss' was about, and if she really was tired, or if she merely tried to leave them some privacy (which Laura hadn't really asked for!).
When her eyes slowly wandered back to Godric, she realized that he hadn't only got rid of the blood, that had been dripping from his nose, but also that he had stared at her the whole time. He seemed to wait till she made the first move, but she wouldn't do him this favor. Only when she couldn't stand his piercing glance anymore, she lowered her gaze to his bood-red sweater again.
"I should have changed clothes", he muttered regretfully, obviously anxious because of her field of view. When Laura's eyes darted to his face again, she saw the little dimples in his cheeks, that indicated clenched teeth. Was he holding something back?
Laura still refused to talk to him and simply stared at him with the most accusing glare she could manage. Only when his formerly blank expression gradually changed to a hurt one, until he averted his face altogether, she realized that her tactic would get her nowhere.
"I understand it, if you do not wish to spend your time with me again", he whispered and closed his eyes before he continued, "You have seen what I am capable of now. You have seen the monster I can become..."
"Don't you dare to do that to me!", Laura exclaimed angrily and grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. But the only reaction that conjured, was that he opened his eyes, still refusing to look into her direction. Only when she squeezed his shoulder forcefully, he reluctantly turned his head to face her.
"You left me – not the other way around!", she spat furiously and let go of him, as she had his attention anyway, "Don't try to put the blame on me now!"
"I simply left you, before you had the chance to!", he replied with a raised voice now, his hurt expression replaced with an angry one now.
"As if I ever would have done that!", she stated dryly and with an icy glare, noting how he gritted his teeth again.
"Do not lie to me Laura!", he shouted at her and stepped closer, forcing her to lift her head if she wanted to return his hard stare.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Look at me! I am soaked with the blood of the vampire I killed in front of your eyes – do not tell me that this does not change anything!"
She blinked her eyes a few times, baffled about his statement. But when she though about it more carefully, she wondered why it even had surprised her in the first place...
"That doesn't change anything!", she made plain with a much calmer voice now, "I didn't know this vampire – for all I know this could have been the maniac who killed the news anchor on live broadcast..."
"It was indeed Russel Edington ..." he muttered, while his expression changed back to an emotionless again.
"I don't know what's your problem then", she sighed defeated and watched him expectantly, "You have to admit, that the world is a better place without someone like him. I suppose he wouldn't have changed his lifestyle just because you'd asked him to..."
Godric glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and seemed to contemplate your words. She could almost see him thinking, which didn't really add to her reassurance as she hadn't the least inkling what exactly was going on in his head.
"You forgive me then?", he whispered disbelievingly and turned his head hesitantly, to face her again.
"I forgive you, that you killed him in front of my eyes – if that's what you wanted to hear", Laura assured him softly, but crossed her arms on front of her chest then and continued in a harsher tone, "But I can't forget, that you left me without any warning!"
She was just staring relentlessly at the vampire in front of her, when suddenly the room started to spin around her. Fortunately Godric caught her before she could have fallen to the floor and carefully sat her down on one of the booths to their left.
"Are you alright, Little One?", Godric's gentle reached her ears and she slowly turned her head to face him. Laura simply nodded and closed her eyes for a few moments to accelerate her recovery.
These vertigoes were absolutely annoying...
Slowly she put the duffle-bag, which was still hanging from her shoulder, beside her. But either Godric didn't understand the hint, or he ignored it, because the next moment he grabbed her luggage unceremoniously and dropped it onto the opposite bench before he made himself comfortable in the booth beside her.
She just shook her head disbelievingly and folded her arms over her chest again, while she stubbornly focused her gaze on a point on the opposite bench. If he wanted to act childish, she'd do so as well!
"I am sorry Laura", he admitted in a low voice, while she felt his eyes sticking to her profile. Out of the corner of her eye she examined him quickly, before she reverted to the very interesting few inches of red fabric her eyes had lain on before.
"If you think that's enough, you're on the wrong track!", she spat and gritted her teeth. Just because he wore this sad look again, didn't mean that she'd give in now! Maybe he had already seen through her and took advantage of her soft-hearted nature...
When he didn't respond for the next few minutes she slowly became a bit nervous and glanced sideways at him. His head was slightly tilted to the ground, while he stared at his hands, lying folded in his lap. Was he seriously sulking now?
"So you don't even intend to explain why you left – you think I simply have to accept it?!"
Suddenly his head twitched upwards and he examined her surprised. She turned her head to finally face him, but her arms remained crossed in front of her.
"I think I already explained why I left. I do not wish to repeat it – it caused you to run from me the last time."
Laura gritted her teeth again, but forced herself to take a deep breath to calm down before she said anything. She knew, the usual tact-filter that kept her from saying rude things, was disabled whenever she was upset.
"I will try to recall your explanation how I understood it and you will tell me if there is anything to add – are you OK with this?", she asked, trying to sound calm, but her trembling voice betrayed her. When Godric nodded reluctantly, she took another deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, before she began.
"You left, because fore some idiotic reason you thought we had to part ways and you wanted to be the one who decided when and where. If it were up to you, I would be sitting in my parents house in Arkansas and you'd do God-knows-what – without me.
"I thought we were friends, Godric! It's hard to accept that you'd give up so easily! A few days ago we still wanted to travel the world, but then you suddenly left – ignoring me, forgetting me!"
Tears had welled up in her eyes again, not because of sadness, but of anger this time. The anger wasn't only directed at Godric, but also at herself, for her too carelessly placed trust. She averted her face again and bit on her lip while her thoughts still revolved around his words.
"Laura, please look at me!", he asked her softly, but when she refused to comply, he tilted her head with a soft pull on her chin, like he always did when he wanted her to face him. Control-freak...
"For one: it was not easy to leave you, but I thought it was necessary after this argument with your parents I was responsible for. I did and do not want to be the cause for any differences between you and your mother or father, Laura. You love them and you need them – if they had forced you to choose, it would have killed me-"
"What are you talking about?", she interrupted him baffled, "They denied me any contact with them for nearly two months – trust me, that cut quite deep and it will take them some effort to make it up to me again. You are right: I love them – but in my time in Dallas I realized, that I could live without them if I have to. If they had forced me to choose, they'd have brought it on themselves! I have absolutely no clue why it would have effected you in any way if it had come to that – it wouldn't have been your fault, but their own!"
Her confused gaze was focused on his blank face. He had switched back to this annoying mask again that didn't leave any room to interpret what was going on inside of him.
"Do I need to spell it?", he asked in a low and monotone voice, but when Laura's reaction was only an even more confused look, he continued nonetheless, "If you had abandoned me, I could not have born it. So I abandoned you – to have at least the theoretical chance to see you again."
Laura's eyes widened in surprise and her mouth involuntarily opened a bit, when the realization suddenly hit her. He had thought she'd choose her parents over him – not the other way around!
Her expression softened remarkably when she examined the vampire beside her. He seemed to grit his teeth again, as the tiny dimple in his cheek showed the tenseness of his muscles, while he still stared at his hands as if he was in trance.
Suddenly all her anger was forgotten and all she wanted, was to close in and hug him – and that was exactly what she did then. First he didn't move at all and she already started to think he still wanted them to go separate ways. But then she suddenly felt his arms envelope her, applying soft pressure to the small of her back, which caused her to come even closer and crawl onto his lap.
"I would have chosen you Godric – just so you know", Laura muttered while her head rested on his shoulder and smiled when she finally inhaled his calming scent again.
When she felt him tense a bit, she pushed herself back a little to have a look at his face. He glanced at her with slightly furrowed eyebrows and his lips pressed to a thin line – an altogether unsure expression.
"I am being totally honest with you Godric", she assured him when she slowly realized what his demeanor was about, "My parents haven't been very supportive in the last few weeks, even months – but you've been. You've become a very important person to me – I don't want to leave you and I don't want you to leave me..."
His eyes scanned her face for any indication of deception, but when he obviously found none, his expression softened and a small smile formed around his lips.
"Then I will not leave you again", he assured her and caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. Laura leant into his touch and closed her eyes to concentrate on the feeling.
"You swear?", she inquired softly, while she moved forward to rest her head on his shoulder again.
"I swear!", he whispered into her ear and she felt the corners of her mouth twitch upwards in relief before she slowly drifted off to sleep.
AN: Hey there :) I hope this chapter wasn't too wordy ... I rewrote it a few times, but it just wouldn't become shorter - rather longer -_-
as you've seen I've also added lyrics at the beginning of this chapter - I did this with every previous chapter as well and I hope some of you will take the time to look at them because I think most of them fit really nicely :)
Thanks to the reviewers Galwidanatitud, downbelowgirl, DanathaKettu, Blair Cornelia Deveraux, restlesssoul21 and Arenola again! - You're the best!
I hope some of you'll leave a few words for me again ;)
Thanks for reading!