It's About Power
Chapter 9
A little over a week after Bill returned, Eric saw an opportunity to summon us back to Fangtasia. Bill seemed less than pleased about the whole ordeal, but what could he do about it? I saw him between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to keep me away from Eric, that much I could tell. When he had returned from his one night away from Bon Temps, he'd ravaged me like a wild animal on fresh prey. I'm come away from the night with bruises, sore from a night of savage love-making. He'd told me over and over again that I smelled like Eric, that my flesh tasted like Eric. He'd held me so close to his chest after it was over. He'd missed me. He loved me. I was his, and I wanted that. Despite the soreness of my physical self, I was largely relieved and at peace. I forgot about Bill's weird psychological diagnosis. I forgot about Eric's suggestion of forced sex. I forgot about everything but Bill's caresses, his murmurings of pleasure, his desire for me.
"He's summoned us," Bill said through gritted teeth when he came to the door. He took my arm and we walked back through the house to my bedroom. He pulled out a rather conservative outfit for me to wear, black slacks and a button-up white shirt, and he brushed my hair while I put on makeup. We left in a big ol' rush, and in the car, Bill barely looked at me. I wanted to ask him when he'd told Eric about my telepathy, but I didn't. I wanted to ask him if he'd thought about giving me away to Eric, but I didn't. Instead, I sat still and stared out the windshield. For once, I had absolutely no desire to fall asleep while listening to Mozart. Everything I heard just made me a little more tense, a little more nervous. By the time we got to Shreveport, my muscles were on fire from straining so hard.
Bill knocked on the back door of the bar, and a pretty blond vampire answered the door. She had a thin face to match a thin frame, but her lips were as full as the pair on that actress, Angelina Jolie. The woman had a strangely beautiful charm. She smiled at me and bent to kiss my cheek.
"Good evening Bill," she smiled. "Pleasure to finally meet you, Sookie. I'm Pam." She nodded at me, and I nodded back. Vampires don't shake hands. It's always a little inward struggle to remember that.
Pam led us through the bar, darkened on a weekday. She took us down a hallway and pushed open a nondescript black metal door. The room was fairly small, obviously an office. It was a bit dull in its décor, containing only a dark wood desk and chair, a green leather sofa, and a bookshelf. The bookshelf didn't contain any actual reading material. Instead, it was lined with black binders containing a variety of white papers. I figured they had to be records of some kind. Behind the desk, seated in a cozy looking black leather desk chair, was Eric. He got up when we walked in, came around to the front of the desk, and leaned against it. He crossed his bare arms over his chest and I watched the muscles bulge. Impressive. Pam stood with a man I recognized as the bartender, Long Shadow. Between them, they held a rotund man with sweaty brown hair.
Bill placed his hands on my shoulders and looked over my head at Eric. I could feel his weight pressing down on me, but I didn't want to say anything. Instead, I diverted my eyes to the floor and waited for instruction.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Eric said, as if Bill had any choice in the matter. I felt the vampire's presence as he drew closer to me. He touched my shoulder and I looked up.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Sookie." He tilted his head and looked at me. "Are you feeling alright?" I nodded slightly, but made no other reply. Bill squeezed my shoulder, and I knew I'd made the right decision. Eric stood back again and I dropped my eyes to the floor. The floor was just easier to look at than any of the collected vampires.
"Sookie, this is Bruce." Eric pointed to the sweaty man clutched between Pam and Long Shadow. For the first time, I took a long look at him. He was a heavy set man, and, if I could judge him on his appearance alone, I'd say he was an accountant. He just had that accountant look: brown slacks, a brown-striped white shirt, pit stains, black rimmed glasses, and a comb over. Really, he looked like he'd popped out of a bad episode of Law and Order.
"Sookie, read Bruce." Eric said. I blinked and lifted my face from Bruce to address Eric. Okay, so you want me to read him, but for what? I wasn't looking in a mirror, so I couldn't tell you how I looked at Eric when I did so, but by his reaction, I gathered I had a questioning look plastered to my face.
"Someone has stolen sixty-thousand dollars from the bar," Eric frowned. He was so big and imposing, he seemed to fill up the whole office. "I want to know who. Since Bruce reported the incident, he is a suspect. I have a few humans in my employ, and I'd like you to question them all with you…talent."
"Oh," I said quietly. In my head, I wondered what Eric would do to the culprit. Would he kill them, torture them, serve them as Sunday dinner? I could have asked. Maybe I should have asked. But Bill pushed me onto the leather sofa and Long Shadow plunked Bruce down beside me. I looked over at the sweaty accountant. He looked plumb nervous, and I didn't blame him. After all, we were sitting ducks in a room full of vampires. I didn't doubt that Pam and Long Shadow would forego this exercise if they could just eat us instead. I didn't get that vibe from Eric, and I knew Bill wouldn't just go feasting on me for the heck of it, but…
I sighed, silently, and reached out to touch Bruce's arm. He was clammy, sticky, and pretty gross. I tried to make as little contact with him as possible. I got a flood of thoughts as soon as we were skin to skin. They were hard to make out at first, but then I seemed to latch onto the stream. Should've found some fucking evidence before I even went to Eric! Damnit Bruce, you have a wife, kids to think about. These vampires—they're going to eat you alive! Damnit damnit damnit if only you knew who took the fucking money! I withdrew my hand and looked at him. His eyes were wild, bouncing around the room like bullets stuck in a steel box. I swiveled around on the couch and looked up at Eric.
"He didn't take it. He doesn't know who did."
"Pam," Eric nodded at the blond vampire and she picked Bruce up by his arm. She disappeared with him and returned a moment later with a woman.
"Ginger, have a seat," Eric grunted at the woman, obviously a waitress like me. She had wild red hair that fit her name, and bright brown eyes. She splayed her legs when she sat down, and she gave Bill the kind of look that made me want to slap her across the face. I felt almost…possessive, though I had no right to be. She just looked like one of those sorts of women. I disliked her instantly.
"Sookie," Eric prompted me. I took Ginger's arm. She flinched but allowed me after a warning look from her boss over my shoulder. I dug around in her cloudy mind, but I came up with nothing. It was almost as if she wanted to tell me things and couldn't. She knew the truth, of that I was certain.
"She knows something," I said flatly. "She can't tell me what she knows, but she knows something important. It's like…like something's holding her back." I knew how she felt. There were so many things I wanted to say and knew that I couldn't.
"She's been hypnotized," Pam murmured thoughtfully.
"Pam, bring in Belinda," Eric said behind me. Pam picked up Ginger and escorted her from the room. Belinda came in with Pam and sat down on the sofa. She sat down quietly and looked from me to each of the assembled vampires in turn. I reached out to touch her, to get information from her, when the whole world went smacking into chaos.
Long Shadow came ripping across the small room. His arms clasped around my shoulders and he threw me from the couch to Eric's desk. My hips slammed roughly against the wood and I heard the desk chair pound into the wall. I threw up my arm defensively and felt teeth clamp down on my forearm. A stunted scream forced itself out of my throat, but it sounded more like a loud cough than the sound I'd intended. I could see his eyes, dark brown and smoldering like a firestorm, over the block of my arm. Then his whole face seemed to go dark, to cave in on itself and falter. His mouth hacked back and threw blood into my face. I gagged as I tasted it on my tongue. Chunks of his greasy black hair fell around me as he crumbled. Fluid gushed from his nose and eye sockets. I watched in absolute horror as arms lugged me out from under the disintegrating body of the bartender.
I looked down at myself. I was covered in blood, only a tiny bit of it my own. Eric stood over Long Shadow, as though he'd frozen in time. A huge wooden stake protruded from his back, and in Eric's hand, I saw a steel-headed mallet. Around me, the vampires were crouched in some sort of hunting position. Bill's fangs protruded and his eyes narrowed. I'd seen him look like that before and I didn't like it. I most certainly didn't like it now, when we were in the company of others. Eric turned to me. He placed the mallet on the desk where Long Shadow's body began to crackle and hiss like the dying embers on a fire. His fangs were out as well and his icy blue eyes were almost white. He took a step toward me.
"You're bleeding," he groaned. I lifted my sore arm to look at it. Yes, I was definitely bleeding. I was in pain too. I clutched my arm with my opposite hand and put pressure on the wound. I remembered that much from Babysitter's First Aid. "You should get cleaned up."
"I'll be okay," I whispered, my voice croaking from the previous scream. I just wanted to get out of there, to go home. I couldn't bear to look at Bill again, to see him crouched and ready to pounce.
"Come," Eric held out an arm. I looked at him. He made an effort to restrain himself, even to withdraw his fangs halfway. Some of the color returned to his face. I took his arm carefully and he led me out of the lion's den, through a hallway, and down to the women's washroom. Once there, he pushed my arm under the tap. Every time he touched the blood on my arm, he lifted his hand to his mouth to lick the residue away. I shuddered.
"Did you ingest some of his blood?" He asked, continuing to wash my arm.
"I don't know," I said cautiously. "Maybe."
"Vampire blood has a curious effect on humans, Sookie. It changes the way they see the world. It's magic." He reached out and smoothed his hand over my blood-splattered cheek. "You look better already."
"I better go," I murmured. "Bill will want to leave now that we helped you…"
"You should stop seeing him, Sookie," Eric frowned. He licked his fingers. He looked down at my bite.
"I love him," I sighed. Did I? Sometimes I wasn't so sure.
"Be cautious, Sookie. That's all I…" he didn't finish. The door burst open behind us and Bill walked in. He swept me up off the tile floor and pulled me against his clean blue shirt. It wouldn't be so clean now. He carried me out of the room, never saying a word.