It's been... well, too long. Don't worry though, I didn't abandon this story.
As always, big thanks for my beta, Breathesgirl.
Dislaimer: True Blood doesn't belong to me - but we belong together ;)
Previously:
"Thank you, Sookie. Whether it works or not, I want you to know how grateful I am to you for even trying. I know you and Bill haven't been…"
"You're welcome, Jessica. I would do that for anyone… and I can't really take too much credit. I did nothing more than ask for help." Sookie thought of Eric: he was doing all the dirty work and he didn't even like Bill.
Jessica smiled for the first time that day.
"Well then," she said. "I guess you asked the right person."
"That I did," Sookie whispered long after Jessica walked away.
"You're really here."
Sookie jumped, startled by Bill's voice. She'd been lost in thought and didn't realise the vampire was awake. She'd been sitting in the old house in silence for hours, curled up in the big, plush armchair. She tried to read a little but she wasn't able to concentrate on the book.
She kept coming back to fiddling with her phone and constantly checking it for new messages, though she knew very well there were none except for the one one-word text she had found when she had plugged in her cell and turned it on. It read: "TONIGHT" which for some reason made her heart race every time she looked at it.
She looked up and across the room at Bill who was lying on the bed and was staring at her unblinkingly. His unmoving glance unnerved her.
"You're awake," she said, stating the obvious.
He didn't look good – the black veins visible not only on his exposed arms, but also creeping up his neck.
"I wasn't sure," Bill continued, ignoring her statement. "You see, with all the dreams I'm not always sure what's real anymore."
She swallowed and stared at him looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights.
"How do you feel?" she asked, trying to compose herself.
Bill's face became blank and a strange, disconcerting smiled played on his lips.
She jumped again when her phone pinged before Bill could answer her. Despite waiting for it to come to life for the last few hours it still managed to surprise her when it actually did.
She quickly looked at the screen. It didn't say anything about the plan, but it meant Eric was awake too. That made her feel better, like the wait was almost over.
"Stay indoors. Don't go outside after dark," she read.
She wasn't sure if it meant that something was supposed to happen in the neighborhood that night or if Eric was simply warning her not to be reckless and wander around in the night with the infected vamps on the loose but she felt that she needed to let him know where she was.
"I'm at Bill's," she typed and then she hesitated when it occurred to her how he could interpret that particular piece of information. She added: "Jess asked" but then erased it quickly because it looked too much like she was trying to explain away her guilt when she hadn't done anything to feel guilty about.
She knew that it was a little ridiculous: she wasn't with Eric and she didn't have to explain herself to him, but she also felt it important that Eric knew there wasn't anything more to her being at Bill's than simply being a decent human being. She didn't want him to think she used him to get the cure so that she could be with Bill and have her own happily ever after with the younger vampire. She had hurt Eric enough already by holding too long onto her feelings for Bill in the past.
She typed: "Be safe" instead and pressed 'send' before she could overthink it.
"Who was that?" Bill asked, forgoing answering her previous question.
"Eric," she said reluctantly, but truthfully. She didn't know what Eric's plan was and she wasn't sure how much she could say and how much should remain secret until he got there.
"Eric?" Bill sounded surprised. "What does he want from you?"
Sookie shot him an irritated glance. For all Bill knew Eric was still sick. She had no idea why Bill thought it was perfectly okay for him to tell Jessica to call Sookie and ask for her to come and be with him in his last moments, but found it so strange that Eric would want to hear from her as well.
"He's just checking on me," she said which ended up putting an even more bewildered expression on Bill's face. Sookie internally rolled her eyes; Bill was just so focused on himself it probably really didn't occur to him there might be other things going on in Sookie's life and other people to consider. She sighed and made a decision to reveal a little detail to Bill since it seemed harmless: "He might stop by later," she warned.
"Why?" Bill asked, suddenly growing bitter. "So you can say goodbye to the both of us at the same time again?"
Sookie bristled at the jab and turned red.
"I'm not saying goodbye to Eric!" she said firmly. She took a deep breath and then added more calmly: "Nor to you. You're not dead yet."
"It won't be much longer," Bill said, his attitude blasé.
Sookie sat up straighter.
"Bill, listen to me. I know you're in pain but you need to fight it."
"What's the point? I can't beat it."
"If you don't fight, you'll die for sure," and it will all be for nothing – she finished in her mind.
"I will die anyway, Sookie," he said bluntly. His eyes softened. "It doesn't matter," he added. "It's for the best."
"So I've heard since that's what you told Jessica."
"It's true. Don't worry about me, Sookie. It's okay. I've accepted it. It was always meant to end this way. I was supposed to be dead, truly dead, a long time ago ."
"You can't just give up!"
"It's okay," he repeated. "I want to die."
Sookie looked at him concerned, an uneasy feeling starting to form in her gut. Was he serious? Did he really believe what he was saying?
"You're only saying that because you've lost hope. You don't really want to die, you just think you don't have a choice. If you were not sick, you wouldn't have thought you are supposed to die!"
She certainly hoped that was the case, because if it was not…
Bill shook his head and smiled again.
"No, Sookie. I mean it: I really think it's time for me."
"What if… there was a cure? Would you not take it? Are you telling me you would still want to die?"
"Yes. I would prefer to die. It took Hep-V for me to realise it, but I finally know that I don't belong here. It was meant to be."
"So now you think vampires are wrong and should not be here?" Sookie said, suddenly feeling very angry. "After you bombed the True Blood factories, destroyed human-vampire relations in the name of the crazy ideology that claimed vampires are the superior race and demanded they treat humans like nothing more than cattle and after you decided to become a vampire god?"
"It was a mistake," Bill said in a pained voice. "One I deeply regret."
"So what, you're just going to die and leave your mess behind?"
"You'll be better off without me," Bill said calmly.
"I don't need you to die to be without you" Sookie challenged. "What about Jessica? Is she going to be better off without her maker too?"
She was so mad at Bill at that moment. All the tears Jessica had cried for him, all the guilt she, Sookie, had to endure knowing she was the reason he was dying and he had the guts to tell her it didn't matter?
Did she make a mistake by trying to save him? Was he really going to refuse to take the cure when presented with it? Or was it all talk? She had never imagined he could do something like this, otherwise she would have never asked Eric to get involved if she thought it would be for nothing. She suddenly regretted that she had. Eric was probably risking his neck somewhere in Shreveport at the very moment they were talking, and that self-centered prick…
"She'll be fine," Bill's voice brought her back to reality. "She doesn't need me."
"You're a coward," Sookie spat. "You're running."
"I would hardly call dying from a disease running away, Sookie," Bill reasoned.
"It has nothing to do with the virus and everything to do with your attitude! It's always someone or something else, isn't it, Bill? It's never you. You never take responsibility for your own actions!"
"It's too late now."
"Shut up, Bill! Just…" she took a shaky breath. "…shut up."
Eric shut the phone before tossing it at the nearest flat surface and turning to his 'guest'.
Mr. Gus warily followed the vampire's movements with his eyes from his place in the corner of Fangtasia's main room where he was sitting tied to the chair.
He cursed himself for not realising any sooner that Eric Northman spoke Japanese fluently.
As for Eric, it never ceased to amaze him that it surprised humans that he could speak more than one or two languages when they knew he was a thousand years old. They were able to master a few during their short lifespan, why did they think he wouldn't learn more during a millennium?
He had just gotten off the phone with Mr. Gus's Japanese boss, the head of the whole Yakonomo corporation.
Things didn't go exactly as planned earlier that night: the first part of Eric's plan worked without a hitch – he had managed to provoke the 'Men in Black' by using his words only. When Pam went to the basement to retrieve Sarah for her make over session, since it was decided that the bitch's hair was to be bleached blond again, Eric made it seem as if he ordered his progeny to not just move Sarah, but to steal her as well.
One of the men took the bait and blocked Pam's way with the intention of stopping her. The second he drew his weapon, his entire arm was removed. Of course Eric came to Pam's 'rescue' and the entire fight was over in less than a minute. The Japanese might be trained, but now that Eric was at full strength they didn't stand a chance against him.
Eric didn't feel the slightest remorse for killing them either: They were professional assassins and they knew what they were signing up for when they took the job.
Unfortunately, Mr. Gus wasn't as accommodating as Eric had hoped and refused to believe Eric's story. He had faith in his employees' loyalty, which was admittedly admirable, but if he had more common sense he would have been smart enough to go along with it once he realised it was too late to help his people. As it was, Eric felt he had no other choice than to forgo Mr. Gus and settle the matter directly with his superiors – hence the chair, the restraints and the phone.
The young businessman listened to Eric's conversation with resignation, already seeing that things were not going to turn in his favour. It seemed his boss took a much more pragmatic approach and was willing to turn a blind eye to the fate of a few low-level employees in order to keep the Viking placated and not to risk a very profitable business – especially when Eric mentioned that he had arranged for his trusted doctor to draw a sample of his own blood after he had been healed and extract the formula for the cure from it to serve as a form of insurance if needed.
It was a bluff, but it was a good one. He fully intended to follow up on his words and have Ludwig do just that or better yet, to give her the sample of Sarah's blood, so he politely informed his new 'colleagues' that from now on he was to be treated like a partner, not like a pawn, and that if anything happened to him or anyone under his protection the full information on the cure would go viral. That little tidbit did the trick and the corporate people certainly seemed much more open to negotiations.
Eric crouched in front of Mr. Gus so his face was in his line of sight before removing the gag.
"I'm afraid something has to change in our working relationship in order for this co-operation to work," Eric said coolly.
Mr. Gus stared at him hard.
"Why am I still alive?" he asked finally, cutting right to the chase.
Eric clucked his tongue, staying in character.
"A dangerous question to ask of the one holding you prisoner."
"I'm not stupid, Mr. Northman. You just proved that you don't need me as a middle man and don't have a problem with killing someone who is in your way either. It simply makes me wonder what you want from me that would make you think twice before disposing of me like you did with my people."
Eric smirked. He appreciated the bluntness and the fact that the man wasn't showing any fear in the face of danger.
"You're right, I don't need you," he said plainly.
"Then why?"
Eric didn't answer immediately, he just looked at the man before him.
"When I was sick, you had the opportunity to snatch Sarah without my help. You didn't have to wait for me to wake. You could have just let me die and take the whole prize. You didn't though, and I can only guess that it was because you had given me your word. Don't think I have forgotten that. That's the reason why you're still alive."
Despite the restrains still biting into his flesh Mr. Gus felt suddenly much better when the meaning of the vampire's words sunk in: he had been right about Eric Northman, after all.
The Viking was ruthless, devious and he didn't have much regard for the law, but he acted according to an inner code the warrior in the younger man recognised and understood. Eric might not be human, but he was the kind of man Mr. Gus could respect.
"Mr. Northman," he said letting a slow smile spread on his face, "I think we might be able to come to an understanding."
I admit, I surprised even myself with letting Eric spare Mr. Gus, but it just felt right. Let me know if you're still reading this story!