"Eric, no!" Layla screamed. Eric and Bill were fighting. Sookie was screaming too. As Eric tossed Bill from the stage, Layla changed directions and went to Bill. Clearly he was the target here. Eric rushed forward and Layla intercepted him, wrapping him in a bear hug to hold him. She was not strong enough to hold him long. He threw her off of him in a moment and wrapped is arms around Bill's throat, preparing to tear his head off. Sookie leapt onto Eric's back while Layla scrambled back to her feet. It felt like she had torn her stitches. Sookie too, was thrown off of Eric. Bill whipped out a gun Layla hadn't even realized he'd had and shot Eric once. Sookie screamed and Layla went numb.
The bullets were only silver and Eric soon stood back up. Layla and Sookie placed themselves between the two vampires, standing back to back with one another.
"Please, Bill, don't." Sookie said. Layla looked at Eric sharply.
"Don't let her control you. Fight her!" she snapped. Eric raced around the both of them and tossed Bill into a display. Eric picked up a stick and was about to kill Bill. Layla felt a sharp pain in her stomach that brought her to her knees as she watched the scene in front of her.
"Sookie, go." Bill said.
"No more!" Sookie screamed. A ball of light, the biggest Layla had ever seen her make, was thrown directly at Eric. Layla gaped from where she sat on the floor, holding her side, which was indeed bleeding badly and panting for breath. Eric froze and looked around until his eyes met hers.
Bill moved forward to strike but Sookie went forward.
"Bill! I think he might-" she began.
"Get off me." Eric said stiffly. Layla heard his voice and smiled in spite of herself. She laid back on the floor as Nan and Bill began helping people. Bill knelt down by her side.
"You're bleeding." he said quietly.
"I ripped my stitches, but I'll be fine. I had plenty of fresh blood earlier. Help the real humans." she said quietly. Bill was gone and Layla laid against the floor some more, wincing as she pressed the bandages to try and stop the bleeding. Eric was walking over to her, slowly.
"Layla." he said quietly. Layla glanced up and away a few times, struggling to meet his eye.
"Do I really look like I want to have a fucking conversation, right now?" she snapped defensively. "Go away, Eric." she said, turning her head away from him.
XXxxXXxxXXxxXX
Bill was talking to Nan in his office while Sookie, Eric and Layla sat in the parlor. Sookie excused herself to go to the bathroom, leaving Layla uncomfortably alone with Eric. She was lying on a couch across from him. Her side had stopped bleeding and was healing up again but it still hurt like hell and any sudden movements would have her bleeding all over again.
"I remember everything." Eric said quietly. "Everything you did for me."
"You mean everything Sookie did for you." Layla reminded him caustically.
"Layla, nothing has changed." Eric assured her.
"You're right. You still chose Sookie. Now you really have her. Congratulations." Layla said. "Don't speak to me Eric. I can't afford to rip my stitches over you, again."
Sookie came back in just as Pam walked in.
"Are you back? Is it you?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm back." Eric said, as they hugged. Layla was happy for Pam, but also jealous of their reunion.
"That fucking sorceress. I'd thought I'd lost you forever. How did you get her to break the curse?" Pam asked.
"Well, she didn't. Sookie did." Eric explained.
"Oh, well thanks." Pam said flatly. Layla snorted a little and then hissed as she jostled her side. Sookie poured her some blood and handed her the glass. Layla glared at it but ultimately took it.
"Don't mention it." Sookie said.
"Okay, I won't." Layla said, sipping the blood.
"Why didn't you summon me the second you were free?" Pam asked. Eric looked back at Layla who pretended she hadn't been staring over the rim of the glass. "Hey." Pam said, calling his attention back to her.
"We'll talk about it later." he said, kissing the top of her head.
"Sure. Fine." Pam said as Eric walked away. Pam looked at Layla who just shook her head.
"Oh, don't you look at me." Layla said, pointing to Sookie. If Pam wanted someone to blame for this fucked up mess it was Sookie.
Sookie and Pam walked out of the parlor when Nan and Bill exited the office talking about blowing up Moon Goddess. Not wanting to be left out Layla chugged the rest of the blood and followed gingerly.
"Bill, you can't do this. Tara and other humans are in there." Sookie argued.
"Well, then they bet on the wrong horse. That's too bad." Eric said, leaning against the opposite wall and not looking at Sookie. Layla raised an eyebrow and he glanced over at her. She promptly looked away.
"I've summoned Jessica. We'll secure the windows, silver ourselves and go to ground. Pam, you'll stay here." Bill instructed.
"Oh, I'm so in." Pam said.
"If Tara hadn't warned me about the hotel, Eric would still be a zombie and you'd be dead." Sookie argued.
"My kind is still in danger. I can't risk potential genocide to save one human just because she's your friend." Bill said.
"At least let me help, I-" Sookie began.
"Last time you tried to help you got shot and almost died. And don't even get me started on you." he said, looking at Layla who had started to open her mouth.
"I'll be healed up by tomorrow." she argued.
"Like you were healed up tonight? No." Bill said flatly. "Stay away from there, the both of you. Because tomorrow night we're gonna finish Marnie once and for all."
"And if innocent people die?" Sookie asked.
"It's war. It happens." Bill told her. Sookie stormed out without another word. Layla took slow steps towards the door as well. "Layla!" Bill said, stepping towards her, as did Eric.
"Where are you going?" Bill asked.
"You need to heal." Eric added.
"I'm no safer here than I am anywhere else, and right now I'd really like to be anywhere else. So I'm gonna get in my car and go." she said, opening the door to leave.
"You're going to get blood on the leather!" Eric called after her.
"Fuck you, it's my car!" Layla shouted back.
XXxxXXxxXXxxXX
Layla pulled up to Lafayette and Jesus's place. This whole time they had been fighting Marnie/Antonia she hadn't seen them. Layla trusted them to be out of harms way. She made her way towards the door and knocked carefully. When no one answered she called out.
"It's Layla!"
The door opened a fraction and Jesus breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her, hugging her tight.
"Ow! Watch! Stitches!" she gasped.
"Stitches? What the hell happened to you?" Jesus asked, sitting her down on the couch.
"Gunshot. Where have you two been?" she asked.
"Mexico." Jesus said. Layla nodded.
"I think it's time we swap stories." she told him.
XXxxXXxxXX
Layla had filled Jesus and Lafayette on who exactly the ex-boyfriend she had been seeing all summer was, and then explained the drama between Sookie, Eric and herself, briefly, skipping over the gory details before getting down to the nitty gritty. Jesus and Lafayette gave her the short version of their trip to Mexico and of their recent run in with a ghost.
"I'm a medium." Lafayette explained. Layla shrugged.
"Dude, I'm half vampire. Life sucks all around."
XXxxXXxxXX
Layla slept on the couch and woke up the next morning feeling drained. Something had woken her up. A knock on the door. Lafayette answered it. It was Sookie and Jason. Lafayette called for Jesus and all five of them discussed the situation on the porch.
"This shit is ridiculous, Vampires are gonna bomb Shreveport?" Lafayette asked. He looked at Layla and shrugged. "Your little white ass forget that part?"
"Actually, yeah." Layla said, looking embarrassed.
"They can't glamour the whole fucking city." Lafayette argued.
"Yeah they can." Layla said.
"It's what they did to everybody last night at the hotel." Sookie said. "We're the only humans who know what went on."
"Well, can't the police do anything?" Jesus asked as Lafayette grabbed his cell phone from Jesus' robe pocket.
"Like what, put up yellow tape? Direct traffic? Even a SWAT team is no good against magic." Jason said. "Besides, those Shreveport boys ain't gonna believe a Bon Temps deputy. Or an anonymous tip, which we already tried and I got laughed off the phone."
"Tara?" Lafayette said, thinking he had gotten a hold of her. "Ugh, voicemail. Fuck Marnie!"
"Hey, don't blame her. she wouldn't have anything to do with this." Jesus said.
"She seems just scared and confused. I think when the possessions were happening she was blacking out right? She may not even be conscious of what's going on." Layla said.
"Marnie's a victim. She's trapped. It's the Spanish spirit." Jesus said.
"Whatever. If she had let her bird rest in peace then Eric fucking Northman and Bill Compton wouldn't be marching on Moon Goddess to blow up my only fucking cousin." Lafayette said.
"Look I know Marnie better than anyone else. If I can reach her she'll help us push Antonia out and send her back to wherever she came from." Jesus said to Layla, Sookie and Jason. "It's the only way."
Lafayette let out a sigh. Sookie walked over to Layla and whispered to her.
"Why are you willing to help?" she asked quietly. Layla raised an eyebrow.
"You said they were hostages. Were you lying?" Layla asked blandly.
"Of course no-"
"Then Antonia is threatening more innocent people. The bitch needs to be brought down. She's fucked with enough lives already." Layla told her. Sookie nodded.
"I thought-"
"Yeah, I know what you thought." Layla said, staring daggers at her. "But I have no urge to repair the bridge that you burnt. You and I are not friends, and I will never forgive you. Deal with it."
XXxxXXxxXX
The five stood behind the hood of a truck in Shreveport looking at Moon Goddess. The streets were completely deserted.
"Where is everybody?" Jason asked.
"I feel some bad juju." Lafayette said. Layla nodded eagerly.
"Heard that." she seconded. All she wanted to do was turn and run far away.
"Antonia cleared out the whole neighborhood?" Lafayette asked. Jesus nodded.
"It's a repelling spell." he explained.
"Huh, glad to know I'm not just chicken shit." Jason said. Layla took a deep breath. "Who's in there?" he asked Sookie.
"Bunch of people. Hard to tell them apart." Sookie said.
"Find Tara. She'll be the loudest." Lafayette offered.
Sookie was quiet a moment. "She's there and she's mad."
"Pissed off. As usual. That's a good sign." Jason said, making Layla smile.
"Guys, wish me luck." Jesus said, beginning to walk off.
"Wait!" Lafayette said. Layla tried to ignore the sweet couple talk and instead began humming very loudly inside her own head. Luckily, a moment later she was actually distracted by stomach pain. She hissed and rubbed subtly at her stomach. At least if this was morning sickness, she wasn't vomiting everywhere. They all watched as Jesus headed for Moon Goddess, but when he was only a few feet away he got shocked by what looked like a forcefield and collapsed. Layla and Sookie grabbed Lafayette to keep him from running out and Jesus put up a hand to let them know he was okay.
The door opened and Marnie/Antonia came into view. Layla and the others ducked further behind the truck. Layla couldn't really hear what was going on, but she had no trouble watching Jesus force his way though her defenses, towards the end it looked like some other creature took over his body and she gaped. She wasn't sure if she was frightened or impressed, but in any case, Jesus made it inside.
XXxxXXxxXX
"Shit." Sookie said after a while of them waiting. Layla was laying on the ground in an effort to make her stomach behave and checking her side. The wound had already closed up and was now a bright pink scar.
"What? Did the dead bitch do something else?' Lafayette asked.
"Marnie's flipped sides." Sookie said, which made Layla sit up.
"What?" she asked in disbelief, scrambling to her feet.
"She's runnin' the show." Sookie told them.
"Fuck!" Jason said. Layla groaned. There went their fucking plan.
"Something's up. Jesus says run." Sookie said.
"Then we should run, right?" Jason asked.
"We can't leave them!" Sookie said.
The door opened and Holly and Tara rushed out. All four raced to get to them before Marnie/Antonia got out there.
"Come on!" Layla shouted forcefully, urging them to move their asses. Just as she, Sookie and Lafayette reached the girls Marnie reached the door and the five of them got caught in the same yellow electric field and suddenly Layla was no longer on the street, but inside Moon Goddess, and she had only one thought running through her mind.
"Oh fuckity fucking fuck."