Fangtasia Fun or Not

As quickly as Sookie had come to be a bright spot in his life, it suddenly darkened with her absence. Matt had been depressed for months since Sookie had inexplicably disappeared. Both he and Eric knew she wasn't dead but had no idea where she could have gone.

"Are you sure the witches didn't do anything with her?" Eric asked.

"No they aren't nearly on that level yet. They are simply a bunch of bored housewives dabbling in things they don't understand. Their power will increase but they have nothing to do with Sookie."

"What do you mean they will get stronger?" Eric asked suddenly in his son's face.

"I hate it when you do that. Think of it as if they are pieces of a puzzle; they are slowly putting all together. There are few more parts out there, but I know it will all come together."

"Will they come after you?"

"Probably, but you don't need to mess with them, they can do real damage as you already know," the boy said indicating himself.

"I don't regret you or consider you damage."

"Right, it only took you over four hundred years to cozy up to me."

"Yeah well you finally grew on me," Eric admitted. Their relationship had come a long way in the last several months. Matt had shown a fierce loyalty to Eric and the vampire had come to realize in giving the boy some freedom he had gained trust and a much happier child. Pam was still a bit miffed about the whole thing but they had managed to play nice most of the time. But the true glue that held the two together was the still missing Sookie Stackhouse. Their mourning of her disappearance and desire to have her back safe and sound had brought them to common ground. Eric had gone to her just before she had vanished.

"I'm afraid I'm a failure at this parent thing," he confided in her.

"Why do you say that? Your face the other night says differently."

"What was wrong with my face?" Eric asked concerned.

"Nothing was wrong silly; it showed your true emotions. You were worried which can only mean that you deeply care for Matt."

"I woke up and expected to find him but I couldn't and the more I looked and the more I couldn't find him this feeling deep inside got stronger."

"See you were scared for him, you didn't know where he was and you didn't know if he was safe. That is love Eric and it is the cornerstone of parenthood. You have it in you, you just don't recognize it yet," Sookie explained.

And Eric had found she was right. He had been concerned and angry at Matthew's disappearance and quite relieved to find the boy safe and sound. He managed to get the point across that it was never to happen again and since then Matthew had stuck close to home.

Matt had been in school for a couple of months and the days had grown shorter giving the two time together that the summer didn't afford. Matt was sitting in Eric's office at Fangtasia trying to study over the noise of the bar when Eric walked in.

"What are you working on?"

"A report for history, I chose Vikings," Matt said proudly his book opened to the small part on the ancient marauder's.

Eric stepped around the desk and looked over his son's shoulder. "Are you kidding me, this is all wrong, the ship isn't portrayed as it should, ours were much longer, the homes were bigger and they call those weapons. And we most definitely did not wear those atrocious helmets depicted here, never in my life did any Viking wear a horned helmet, this is pure trash. And let me tell you we were clean, well not like now, but we bathed once a week more than any other culture yet here they show us grimy savages.

"Didn't you rape, rob and pillage?"

"Well yeah, sometimes, but we were strong and that is what you did; you conquered."

"Did, it's what they do now, everybody wants more and they want it their way. What about weapons, what kind of weapons did you carry?" Matt asked excitedly. "Did you have a sword like it shows here?" he asked pointing to a picture.

"I did have a sword and I was damn good with it, but what we so often used isn't even mentioned in this dribble," Eric said flipping the book closed.

"So what was it?"

"An axe, it would slice right through a shield or a helmet. My favorite though was sword fighting, I would get the upper hand and if I got it just right they go down mortally wounded but not yet dead, and I would finish them off with my knife."

"How big was your knife?" Matt asked nearly breathless finding excitement in his father's brutal past.

"The wealthier you were the bigger the knife, mine was this long," Eric showed holding his hands apart.

"Wow that is so cool. But none of my books tell me the truth."

"Of course not, but I can tell you everything first hand." Eric said happy that he had found a topic he could share with his offspring. But he was wary of telling the boy everything; one of the reasons he hadn't claimed Matthew earlier was because of the danger that Eric flirted with in the name of vengeance. That only recently ended with Russell Edgington's concrete nap.

"But I won't get a good grade; my teacher will say I'm making it up. And I can't tell her the truth."

"So you will write known lies and misnomers instead?"

"I don't want to, but how can I back up my information?"

"You tell them the truth that I was there, that I was one of them."

"But how can I do that, you said I should keep my identity a secret. I'll be exposed if I tell the truth and probably won't even be believed."

"Well maybe we should change that, the world be damned it's not fair you should have to hide. I have a few things in the works and I think it is time the truth be told."

"The truth, as in I'm your son?"

"Yes, there have already been murmurings in the vampire community and it won't be long before it goes main stream. The witches will come either way and I will protect you no matter what. But it's up to you to decide on how much you want to reveal. I think that the world of humans will stay away fearing reprisal of the goriest kind if they dared harm you. But they may not make life easy for you. There will be much finger pointing and whispering and at your age that may make life difficult."

"Dad I may look fifteen but I'm over four hundred years old and that gives me a certain amount of maturity. If I can finish school and graduate I will feel some kind of accomplishment and though I will look no older I will be further along in this world. It may be hard and you won't be able to help me during the day but I want to do it. I can handle it if I have your support."

"You have my support," Eric declared.

Matt smiled wide practically stretching his face to its breaking point. "Well let me interview you about being a Viking then."

"Another day, it's late, I have a bar to run and you have sleep to get, now move it," Eric ordered.

Matt had never felt closer to his father than he had at that moment and wanted nothing more to hug him but feared that it would be more than the vampire could handle so he picked up his book smiled one more time at Eric and headed towards his bedroom.

Eric wasn't sure what was going on. Suddenly he felt the need to not only protect Matt but to publicly claim him. Apparently as Sookie had said he was slowly recognizing parenthood.

Matt had just finished brushing his teeth excited about his conversation and how his life was moving forward. He studied his face in the mirror and as he looked realized just how much he and Eric resembled each other making him wonder if his mother had added an extra herb to the mix to cause this twinning effect. He finished brushing his teeth and tried to imagine what he would look like with fangs. He spit one more time and put on his LSU pajama pants and tugged a Fangtasia t-shirt over his head and walked into the hallway bumping into three kids from school.

"Holy shit Matt what are you doing here?" Jesse asked wide eyed.

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked. He knew these boys by name but not much more than that. They were all juniors at the high school one year ahead of Matt but they shared lunch together.

"We were dared to come and take a picture of the vamp bar," Shane drawled.

"And your dumb enough to do it aren't you?" Matt asked. "Why didn't you take one from the parking lot?"

Shane just stood there with a goofy grin unsure how he should take the comment but then recovered, "cause that ain't daring enough."

"Well yeah we are dumb enough aren't we," Justin stated pulling out his phone. "This baby's got all kinds of megapixels; I'll get a great shot."

"You know a lot of the patrons are humans that like to hang around vampires your picture may be meaningless."

"Don't matter; we'll still get the shot at Fantasia."

"It's Fangtasia dumbass, get it Fang, for Fangers Vamps or whatever ridiculous slang humans can come up with," Matt stated.

The boys looked at him confusion swimming around their features. "So why are you here?" Shane asked.

"I live here moron."

"Nuh uh, how could you live here?" Jesse asked.

"Okay here I am in my pajama's heading to my bedroom, but I don't live here. Why would I lie about it?"

"Cause why would you live in a vamp bar?" Justin asked folding his arms as he stepped closer to Matt.

"Because my dad- ''

But before Matt could finish Pam rounded the corner causing Matt to shove the boys into his bedroom.

"Where did she come from?" Shane said.

"Damn man you're fast you shoved us in here like we was nothin'," Justin added looking around Matt's room.

"Shhh," Matt said placing his finger to his lips. The bass was incessant and annoying but was the only thing that could be heard.

"Who was that?" Jesse asked quietly. "Does that music play all the time?"

"Her name is Pam and yes it's like sleeping next to a beating heart."

"Who's Pam, your mother?" Jesse asked again.

"No my dad's progeny," Matt explained.

"What's that, like a maid?" Justin asked.

"No my dad made her so she's kind of like his. He's the maker she's the progeny, sort of like a slave."

"Dude I am so lost in your family tree," Shane said exasperated.

"Your dad makes slaves?" Justin asked totally lost.

"No, he's a…" Matt began but once again he was interrupted this time by Eric coming into the room.

"That's right I'm a vampire boys and that shouldn't be a surprise in a vampire bar," Eric said surveying the youth that had made themselves at home. "It's funny I don't recall giving permission for a…a now what did Pam call it? Ah yes a slumber party."

"I didn't really expect them," Matt said nervously. He and Eric had had a few tiffs but other than driving to Sookie's Matt hadn't strayed far from the expectations placed on him and he was unsure how Eric would react to what was before him.

Suddenly the click of a phone taking a picture could be heard. In a blur Eric raced over and snatched the device. He glanced at the picture and then crushed the phone. "It's not polite to take pictures without asking," he said kicking the remnants of the phone aside. "How did you get in here?" he hissed getting in their faces.

"The, the back door was propped open for a second, we slipped in," Justin stammered shirking back from Eric's presence.

Eric looked over at his son. "It wasn't me, sometimes the staff will step out to smoke and leave it open."

"I see, well that will be changing. Pam," he yelled out bringing her running. He barked something to her in Swedish and she ran off equally as fast.

"Wow they have their own language," Jesse said.

"It was Swedish you moron, he was a Viking," Matt stated. "But I think that was a bit harsh please don't kill him."

Eric's shoulder sagged but he zipped out at top speed.

"So he's a vampire and what is he to you?" Shane asked.

"He's my father and you have seriously pissed him off."

"He is no vampire," Justin said.

"So he moves that fast because he was a track star," Jesse pointed out. "Oh and can crush my phone like it's nothing. Man my dad is going to kill me."

"Yeah well mine is going to kill me, I didn't exactly ask to borrow the car or to be over in this area," Shane said sullenly.

"Yeah well thanks to you mine is going to kill me," Matt stated.

"Like the bartender?" Shane asked worried.

"It'll be okay, he'll stop Pam. He just gets excited sometimes."

"I didn't know vamps could have kids," Jesse said. "But you do like a carbon copy, except way smaller." Matt didn't appreciate the taunt about his size. But it was true he was much smaller than the other boys; back in his day nutrition wasn't as easily accessible as it was in modern times.

"I didn't know you could speak Swedish," Justin stated.

"They generally don't have kids, it's complicated. Yeah I speak Swedish; it's a big part of my heritage.

"So how old is he?" Jesse asked.

"Old, I'm old too."

"You're a vampire?" Shane asked.

"Only half, like I said it's complicated. And before you ask I was born in 1590."

"No way," the boys gasped.

"Way," Eric teased as he reentered the room. "Do you not believe I am a vampire?" he asked.

The three boys just stood still. Eric waved them closer and bent down a bit to be on their level. When they were all around him Eric released his fangs causing them to jump back. Matt couldn't help himself and began to laugh. The boys made a move to run out the door but the vampire blocked their way. He asked Matt a question in Swedish.

"I don't know," he answered in English. Then walked over and whispered in his ear. The boys were frozen not even daring to breathe.

Eric smiled and disappeared. The boys looked at him their eyes full of questions. "You're free to go and do not come back. I'll take you out the back door."

Matt led the boys back the way they came and watched as they headed to the car which now featured two flat tires. Eric smiled as he was quickly back at his sons side. "Very clever, now they will just have to call their parents to come bail them out. I would love to listen to that explanation. Now for you."

"I didn't know Dad I swear, they were just here. I was going to get them back out before you even knew. They wanted a picture of the bar; I guess it was a dare."

Eric stood unsure of what to do in this new role, he was quickly discovering that parenting was as difficult if not more so than hand to hand combat. "I believe you, this time, but don't push your luck."

"I wouldn't dream of it. You didn't kill that employee did you?"

"Not this time, but he shouldn't push his luck either. He has you to thank for his second chance. Now go to bed. You don't have anybody under your bed do you?"

Matt shook his head from side to side. Eric nodded turned away unable to contain his smile any longer. Matt bent down and picked up what was left of Jesse's phone and blew out a mouthful of air. He tossed in the trash and flopped down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

Eric met Pam in the hallway and pulled her into his office. "Well this sums it up; I have to proceed with my plan."

"And why is that?" she asked insolence in her voice.

"Because this is no place to raise a child."

"I see you've gone light-side on me, well Mr. Mom I know the real reason you want to buy that house and it has absolutely nothing to do with your offspring."

"Let's just call it a win-win situation."

"I don't like what Matt's presence is doing to you. He is changing you and don't forget about his little friends that will no doubt be gunning for you. You won't be safe, witches can work anytime of the day and there are rumors that they are necromancers."

"You can't lay all that blame on Matthew; it is my duty to protect him. I can handle the coven just worry about tonight's receipts."