Layla glanced around the Queen of Louisiana's opulent 'day' room, feeling bored as hell. Eric had just rolled for his turn playing 'yahtzee' getting yet another crap score.
"You really suck at this." Layla murmured. Eric glared at her, a clear reminder to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to live.
"How long does this game go on for?" Eric asked, writing down his score. Queen Sophie-Anne glanced at him with a mocking smile playing about her bright red lips.
"We play to five million." she replied simply. Eric looked nervous, while the blonde human, Hadley, just sulked.
"She's way ahead."
"It's pure luck. Yahtzee is the most egalitarian game in the world. You could be my social, physical, and intellectual inferior, but your chances are equal to mine. It's the perfect antidote for this world, where things such as superiority and inferiority do matter." The Queen explained.
Layla had to fight hard not to roll her eyes. Holy crap was this woman full of herself, explaining why she won at Yahtzee like it was a huge insight into life. Christ lady, it was a freakin' game!
"Oh, speaking of which, I heard about your maker." The queen said offhandedly to Eric, tossing him a brief look of sympathy. "That blows."
'Thanks for the understatement of the year.' Layla thought.
"Thank you. Your majesty is very kind-"
"YAHTZEE!" The Queen shouted. Layla just stared for a moment. This was a historic moment. Eric was actually behaving himself AND thanking someone and she wasn't even paying attention.
"That's six in a row." Hadley griped.
"It is-a magic." said the other player whose name Layla hadn't paid attention to. He sounded Italian.
"I do not cheat." the queen said, smacking her hand against the little table they sat around. "What would be the point?"
"To annoy everyone?" Layla offered without thinking. The queen shot her a small, conspiratorial smile before returning her gaze to Eric.
"I'm sorry. You were saying?"
"I was just saying, thank you. Your majesty is very kind-"
"Oh yes! Now I remember." The Queen said, cutting off Eric for a second time. "Did you know there's a maynad in Renard Parish?"
"That's actually why we came to see you." Layla said piping up yet again. Eric subtly grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard, a painful warning. the Queen didn't seem phased by Layla's interruption.
"I wouldn't get involved if I were you. Stick to what you're good at. I gave William Compton a few bits of hand-me-down folklore we've accumulated over the centuries, but, who knows if it's Gospel or Gorilla shit." Sophie-Anne told Eric as she scribbled down her score.
"You know, I think he's monogamous with his human." she said, looking disgusted and arching a red brow in Layla's direction.
"He is in love with her yes." Eric replied. The Queen rolled her eyes and noticed now Eric's hand, wrapped around Layla's and cast them both looks of disapproval.
"Don't worry, we'd have to be sleeping together to be monogamous, your majesty." Layla told the Queen, who relaxed a bit at that. "But Bill is in love with Sookie."
"He is?" Hadley asked, but shut up quickly with one scathing look from the Queen.
"Well, of course he would be, with her." she continued, sniffing delicately. "You probably are too."
Layla rolled her eyes. Eric wasn't capable of love, and even if he was, he wouldn't be in love with Sookie...right? Anger and jealousy reared their ugly heads again but this time Layla tried to play it cool. she didn't like these jealous tantrums she'd been having. She had to learn to better rein in her emotions. Slowly she removed her hand from Eric's.
"I do not love humans." Eric said flatly, glancing askance at Layla, who felt suddenly vulnerable after those words.
"She's not like this one. Bill Compton's human, well, she not entirely human." The Queen said. Layla frowned. Eric hadn't told anyone she was part Vampire? He had to have known. Godric would have told him. "Have you tasted her?" the Queen continued.
"Sadly, no."
"Don't. Ever." The Queen said, and suddenly, Layla found herself warming to the woman. Anyone who told Eric to stay away from Sookie was alright in her book. "One Vampire falling in love is bad enough."
"Yes, Bill Compton certainly has a knack for finding trouble." Eric said.
"Hm." the Queen sounded in agreement. "For instance: How does he know that I'm having you sell Vampire blood?" she asked. Eric looked up quickly, nerves flashing across his face. "The guards hear everything." Sophie-Anne explained.
"Your majesty, I'm so sorry, there's no I could ha-"
"That is really bad." she said, glaring at him. Eric leaned forward and whispered softly.
"He does not know that you are supplying it."
That was all it took for Queen Sophie-Anne to lose her shit. She lunged forward, tackling Eric to the ground in a movement so fast Layla hardly saw it.
"He better not. I'm holding you responsible." Sophie-Anne said, laying on top of Eric, running her hands over him. Layla's hands were clenched into fists and her heart hammered. She was grasping at the fraying ends of her self-control in an effort to sit still. she would have wanted nothing more that to throw that red-headed bitch off Eric in one smooth motion, but she was pretty sure she would be dead before she even took a step. When the Queen kissed Eric, Layla made a strangled choking noise and turned her face away, overcome with a sudden naseaus feeling in her stomach. Hadley gave the brunette a look of sympathy as Layla blinked back angry, bitter tears. Where the hell had they come from?
"Fuck." the furious brunette muttered under her breath as she heard Eric's fangs pop out. Fangs that only a few days ago she had willingly let sink into her throat. Layla tried her hardest to block out whatever the Queen was now murmuring to Eric. Try as she might though, she couldn't block out Eric's voice.
"I will take care of Bill Compton." she heard him say. "Personally."
There was a tense moment of silence, with the only real noise being the Queen's slightly labored breathing. Hadley glanced at Layla, then at the Italian, then at the pair of Vampires on the floor and rolled her eyes pointedly. The Italian cleared his throat.
"It's-a your turn to make Yahtzee." he said, offering a reason for the Queen and Eric to separate, for which Layla was grateful. The Queen sat back down and neatly retracted her fangs, while Eric lay there for a moment on the floor.
He noted the way Layla was turned, her body had shifted while he was on the floor so now her whole back was to him and it was rigid with tense muscles. He noted how fast her breathing seemed and a small part of him felt guilty for bringing her here. He knew how the Queen could be and part of him had thought it would be amusing for Layla to be forced to finally control that jealousy he loved so much, but now, he saw how painful it was to her. He wished she was able to scream at him, mock him, just do anything to get it out, but she couldn't and was forced to sit in silence. He retracted his fangs and sat up, subtly taking her hand and holding it against his thigh so it wasn't obvious to the Queen. He couldn't apologize right now, and probably wouldn't even when he had the opportunity, but he didn't want her in pain. He wanted to give her some comfort.
Layla was surprised when Eric took her hand again. This time it wasn't a warning, it was just nice. She was till upset, but for some reason, the simple gesture of holding his hand made everything feel just a little bit better.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As they left the Queen's compound, Layla's hand stayed in Eric's, and he only let go once they were farther away from the doors, holding his arms open for her to grab hold of him like she did before. Layla jumped up, wrapping her legs around him again and keeping her arms locked about his neck. He cradled her bottom in his hands and she let him, resting her head on his shoulder. She stayed quiet the entire time he flew her home, depositing her on her front step. Layla didn't wait and linger on him, instead she hopped down from him quickly and pulled her house key from her back pocket.
"May I come in?" Eric asked softly. Layla turned and glanced at him over her shoulder, his soft voice making her smile just a little.
"Sure." she said, pushing open the front door and letting him inside.
The place was still only half unpacked and not the cleanest thing. Layla flipped on the light and kicked off her shoes while Eric walked in and leaned idly on the counter.
"Did you want to talk to me about something?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Eric. He shook his pretty blonde head.
"No."
"Okay...?" Layla responded, confused. If he didn't have anything to tell her then why had he wanted to come in? Maybe Pam and Chow just weren't good company. "Well, I'm going to take a shower, feel free to go or stay. Remote's on the table, I'd offer you free access to my fridge but firstly, it's empty and secondly even if I had food you wouldn't eat it, but if you're that thirsty the town's gone to shit so I'm sure you could steal yourself a Tru Blood in seconds."
"I'm fine. Go shower." Eric told her. Layla sighed at his short answer and went to her bathroom. She closed the door and stripped down before stepping into the hot spray of the water. Her hair was twisted into a knot on top of her head and she turned to let the water beat over the abused muscles of her shoulders. She wished she could say she jumped in surprise when the bathroom door opened and Eric walked in, but she didn't. The water however had helped her shake some of the more maudlin emotions off and she was feeling a bit more like herself and less like a lovesick puppy.
"Can I ask you a question?" Layla said, glancing at his blurry form through the glass door of the shower.
"You may." Eric said, flipping down the toilet lid so he could take a seat.
"Why did you take me with you? You obviously have no intention of telling the Queen that I'm a halfling. You didn't try very hard to find anything out about maynad's, and you had to have known she was going to bring up this whole deal about you selling her blood. Why did you bother taking me?" she asked.
"I told you before we left Fangtasia. I wanted you with me." Eric said, the cocky tone of voice Layla was so used to slowly creeping back.
"Simple as that?" Layla asked. Eric sighed dramatically.
"As far as humans go, you amuse me. Your presence is a welcome distraction." he said dryly.
"Gee, thanks. Can you hand me a towel?" Layla asked, shutting off the water. The door to the shower suddenly opened and Eric wrapped a towel around her, looking only at her face until she was properly covered.
"Thank you." she said stiffly, surprised at having him so close when she was so undressed. Eric smiled mischievously.
"You're welcome." he said.
"And for the record, I'm not a human, and you know it." Layla said, pulling her hair out of the bun she'd pulled up on top of her head and letting it tumble down her bare back as she walked to her bedroom.
"Yes. I do know." Eric said, with an edge of darkness in his voice that made Layla turn around and appraise him carefully.
"You're being weird." she said after a moment. Eric cocked an eyebrow and sat down on her bed, staring at her carefully.
"Me?" he asked. "You're the one who's suddenly learned how to appreciate my presence. Why is that?" he asked smugly. Layla scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes.
"I'm testing a new theory, jerk. That maybe, if I can be civil towards you, you might show me the same respect."
"Is that really all you want from me?" eric asking, stretching out on her bed. "Civility? Our...relationship could be put to much better use than that."
Layla took a step closer, clutching her towel tight around her.
"Uh, correction Mr. Northman, we don't have a relationship. At most we have a mutual agreement. That's all."
"That's all?" Eric repeated, looking amused. Layla nodded once then emitted a little squeak as Eric pulled her onto the bed and flipped her quickly beneath him, carefully running the tip of his tongue over the spot on her neck where his fang marks had been.
"Eric, don't kid yourself. You don't want me." Layla said, trying to sit up, but Eric only pushed her down and held her wrist down beside her head, pressing his hips to her and grinding against her in slow, lazy circles that sent sparks firing under his skin and made Layla bite her lip.
"All evidence to the contrary, Miss Dahlin." Eric breathed, lowering his lips mere inches from hers.
"You want Sookie." Layla protested weakly. "You only think you want me because Bill has Sookie and you can't have her."
Eric smiled cooly. "If I wanted Sookie, I would have her. Bill Compton or no Bill Compton." he told her, kissing her softly at the edge of her jaw, his fangs popping out as he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue. Layla's eyes fluttered deliriously. She was trying to conjure up a good excuse to get out of this situation. she knew she had some, but unfortunately, her brain was not working as well as she wanted it to. It was too preoccupied with the sexy Viking who was licking her skin and grinding against her.
Layla gave a small sigh. She was pretty sure she had passed the point of now return. Resistance was futile. Layla let go of her towel, wrapped her arms around Eric's neck and tilted her lips to meet his.