Chapter 5
XXXXXXX
Time passed slowly in her cell, but it passed. Mina had paced each of the four walls numerous times now, and she decided her cell was exactly 9 feet square. She couldn't imagine how knowing this would be of any use, but it had given her something she could pretend was constructive to do for a while. She also established the chains on the walls were not to chain someone up, but were chain curtains; woven rows and columns of medium weight chain. Considering the coffin in the cell, she had no doubt the chains were silver.
Even with the limited view through the bars, she could tell she was somewhere in the middle of a long row of cells, probably all very much like the one she occupied. Whoever was running this show had plans to capture and store a lot of vampires down here, and she was in the one meant for her Mistress. 'You were with the American Queen. Where is she?'
It had been quite a while since Alroy brought her a sack containing a bottle of water, an apple, a pear and a dry sandwich of thin sliced beef on a roll. Even though she wasn't hungry then and she wasn't hungry now, she was looking forward to the next time he came around.
It was nice to have someone to talk to, or talk at would be more accurate, since he didn't answer with anything but a confused stare. She knew he spoke English. She'd heard him talking to Niahm. The confusion had to be him wondering why she would speak to him at all considering she was his prisoner. It didn't make a lot of sense to her either, but when it came down to it, Mina was a social creature and she was used to living in a large, almost communal household, where she was well treated and well taken care of. She needed interaction with others, even if it was only a grouchy faerie who wasn't inclined to respond when she spoke to him.
Mina figured he would wait until after dark to come back, if there were vampires in the other cells. If there weren't, maybe she was only going to be fed once a day.
A few minutes later she heard a slow creak, followed by a female voice. "It's about time someone else was put down here. Who are you?"
When Mina didn't respond right away, a dirty hand with broken fingernails appeared, very slowly, on the floor to her left. The vampire in the next cell had clearly put up more of a fight than she had.
The walls between the cells must be thick. The fingers of the hand barely reached the edge of Mina's cell. "If you're gagged, but your hands are free, scratch on something," the voice instructed. The hand scratched lightly on the stone floor to demonstrate.
"I'm not gagged," Mina murmured in response, moving closer to the hand, but not close enough for it to reach her if its owner turned out to have long arms and was hungry.
"Oh good!" There was genuine relief in the inflection. "Someone new to talk to. Who are you?"
"My name is Mina Carter," she whispered.
"Oh, you're an American," the voice answered. "Hello, Mina, I am Saaset. You must be someone important for them to put you here, rather than wherever they hold the rest of the humans. Are you the daughter of an important human? Or the pet of an important vampire?"
"I belong to the Queen of Nevada, Louisiana and Arkansas. Where is here?"
"Sorry, but I do not know where we are. You belong to the Norseman's wife?"
It was lovely to have someone to talk to. Mina sat cross-legged on the floor as they chatted. Saaset had a lot to say, but she didn't really seem to know anything Mina wouldn't have learned on her own after a day or two anyway. Even so, she'd rather learn socially than alone.
There is only one other vampire here so far. His name is Alexei and he's at the end of the hall. He never speaks to Saaset when she calls out to him, but he responds to the faeries. They close the silver curtains on him every night, sometimes more than once.
There were tracks embedded in the floors and the ceilings. The faeries could flip a switch and the silver chain curtains on the walls would converge. Sometimes they would stop the chains, creating a narrow sliver of space in the center of the room and leave them there for hours. Sometimes they brought the curtains completely together and let them burn and bleed for however long they found the screams amusing.
Saaset suspected the faeries holding them were drainers and were slowly draining them one at a time. She was given True Blood, but they fed Alexei live humans.
"Our blood replenishes its self much faster when we feed on human blood. Why else would they be worried about how quickly our blood replenishes unless they were draining? That has to be it."
She made a convincing case, but the most disturbing thing Saaset had to say was about the humans Alexei fed on. "Either they are not willing donors, or he is cruel. There are always screams when he feeds, and the screams are not his."
Mina began to cry.
XXXXXXX
"Ermessen has been kind enough to offer her home as a base of operations as we work on finding a solution to our current predicament," Ocella said.
To Sookie, he sounded like an unscrupulous businessman from a movie or TV show, who was telling his underlings the police were getting close to discovering their phony real estate scheme.
"I wonder if you might show me where you are quartered and allow me to rest there for a while. I find this entire affair a bit trying."
Sookie felt Eric's spine stiffen and when she glanced up, she saw the tight, muscled line of his clenched jaw. "Of course, Appius. Forgive me for not offering. The stress must be exhausting," she chirped.
Eric looked down at her with pleading eyes. "Sookie, while I show Ocella to our room, perhaps you could-"
"join us," Ocella finished for him. "And as one of the family, you must address me as Ocella. You can tell me all about being a faerie. I do so enjoy new things."
For just a moment Eric's eyes closed. When they opened again, the pleading was gone, along with everything else she'd ever seen there. She felt herself shrink from the deep nothing of his eyes. What was about to happen that he needed to prepare himself for it like this? Suddenly she was afraid. She didn't want to go back to their room, but when she tried to distance herself, Eric's arm became a vise, clamping her to his side.
"I don't really know about feeling like a faerie. I mean I never felt like anything but plain old me. I always knew I was different, on account of being a telepath, but I didn't know that had anything to do with being part faerie." She missed breathing. She felt as though she should be pausing to take in gulps of air as she rambled.
She was about to keep going, when Ocella interrupted. "I'd almost forgotten you were a telepath. I was told your skill did not extend to vampires."
"No," she replied with a nervous scoff. "It's funny the way I see vampire minds."
Eric closed his fingers around a handful of her dress.
Ocella's eyes brightened with interest. "Indeed? I was given to understand you did not see vampire minds at all."
"Well, that's true and not true," Sookie answered, placing a hand over Eric's in an attempt to disengage his fingers before they tore through the fabric. "I can see they're there. I just can't see what's in them. Kind of like, if you put a row of cups on a table and fill each one with a different drink, but then when you look at them, you can't tell which is which. I can see the cups, but it looks like they're all empty."
"So, if for example, we were outside a room, you could tell me how many vampires were inside, but you could not tell me what they were thinking?" Ocella asked.
"Exactly," she answered.
"But you could tell me what humans were thinking?"
"Usually, but not always, I can't go looking around like digging through a file cabinet. I can usually only see what they're thinking about right then."
"And how did your ability weather your transformation? Are your perceptions enhanced in any way?"
"Not that I've noticed," she lied, her words as silken as a courtesan telling her lover he is the best she ever had. "Oh, it's a lot easier for me to block out everyone's thoughts now. I used to have to really concentrate on it, but now it's almost like flipping a switch."
"That must be convenient for you." His interest in the topic was clearly waning.
He's like a spoiled child. Odd or intriguing wasn't enough. If she wasn't saying something he found fascinating, he lost interest.
"Here," Eric said in a voice Sookie barely recognized. He opened the door and gestured for them to enter. He did not make eye contact with her.
As the man she died to be with closed the door behind them, she felt the sensation of falling, as if she'd just stepped off a cliff so high she couldn't see what she was plummeting toward.
Ocella arranged several pillows to one side of the bed and lounged over them on his side. Sookie desperately wished she could read vampire minds so she could see what was going on behind his dark eyes.
"Come," he said, "sit with me, Eric. It has been too long since I have seen you."
Obediently, Eric came and sat on the side of the bed. He leaned back until his elbows rested on the bed behind him.
"What did you tell her about me?" Ocella leered hungrily as he asked, his eyes slowly traveling up and down the length of Eric's body as if he was a starving man deciding where to begin devouring a buffet.
"I told her you are my Maker, and as such you are to be honored and respected."
"Is that all?"
He glanced over to Sookie, who was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. She didn't know whether to keep standing or go sit down or what to do, and Ocella seemed happy to leave her standing there wondering.
"I told her you are entitled to all that is mine."
"And she understands what you meant?" Ocella reached out and stroked Eric's hair. Eric tilted his face toward the hand.
Ocella watched for Sookie's reaction. His lips were tipped upward at the sides, but she could not have described the expression as a smile.
"She does."
Eric still had not made eye contact with her, though she was fairly certain she would find no comfort in the eyes of this vacant Eric.
"Are you compelling her to maintain her position?"
"I am not."
Obviously, Ocella was not getting what he wanted from her, so he pushed harder. He twisted his fingers in Eric's hair and yanked.
Eric did not resist. He left himself vulnerable. In a flash, Ocella's fangs extended and he struck.
Sookie's body reflexively leaned toward Eric, but she managed not to move her feet. She wanted to move, but didn't. She wanted to scream, but who would come? He's a spoiled child, she told herself. When he doesn't get what he wants, he'll stop and go away.
She watched Eric's face as Ocella drank from him. She'd seen that same expression many times, when she was at his wrist; when she was atop him as they had sex. It hit her like a brick in the head. Eric loves him. In spite of everything he's done and no matter what he does in this room tonight, Eric loves his Maker. Like the dog that keeps wagging its tail and running back to its master no matter how many times it gets kicked away.
This had to be even more of a nightmare for Eric than it was for her. She didn't doubt Eric's love for her, even for a second, but there was love between these two men as well. A different love, yes, but the strong bond was there. She tried to imagine how she would react if her Gran suddenly showed up at the door; ten Eric's wouldn't be able to keep them from spending time together.
Her heart was breaking for Eric, but she couldn't show it. She couldn't give Ocella that satisfaction.
Ocella raised his head and looked at Sookie with Eric's blood dripping from his fangs, the disappointment was plain on his face. "Bid her come here," he growled. "I want to play a game."
"Oh, I love games!" Sookie said before Eric had a chance to do anything, forcing her happy waitress smile to her lips, because no other would come. She walked to the edge of the bed and stood between Eric's knees.
"She is brave, this woman you chose," he said, regarding her through suspicious, squinted eyes.
"She is a goddess," Vacant Eric murmured in that strange, otherworldly voice.
"Enough of that," Ocella scolded. "I won't have you sounding like that ancient ass, Don Perdigo. No matter what he names them, his progeny are no more gods than yours are."
Sookie could see the weight of his Maker's displeasure with him manifest in his body. His shoulders seemed to wither so he sank a little farther into the bed and his face turned ever so slightly away from Ocella, as if he was embarrassed.
The Roman reclined on the pillows and dabbed at the blood on his fangs with the ruffle of a pillow sham. "Stand beside her Eric, and both of you get undressed. There is a decision to be made."
After a few seconds, when Eric hadn't responded, she saw his abs flinch and he got up. Ocella was forcing him.
Their eyes met for only an instant as he stood. His begged her forgiveness as her face offered him her first genuine smile since they got to the room. She shrugged out of her dress.
As horrifying as the thought alone seemed, the actuality of standing naked beside Eric as they were visually examined by a two-thousand year old Roman vampire was not as bad as it could have been. Not the most comfortable of situations, but she could stand it. She'd never been really bashful and her body might not be the best in the world, or even the best in the room she thought as she stole a glance at Eric, but she'd never been ashamed of it.
Ocella's features were too hard and cruel for Sookie to think him attractive, but his perfectly proportioned, muscular frame would make him ideal, albeit short at about five foot six or seven, in the eyes of many women, were it not for his many scars. She wondered which injury left him with such a taste for exerting his power over others by humiliating them, or trying to.
She was sure he wasn't like this due to any kind of real mental defect or she would be able to see at least one door for him. She might be able to help him, and by extension get her and Eric out of this mess, but no, the root of his issues was not mental. It was the aftermath of one of these physical injuries, or just everyday meanness, with an extra dose of weirdo thrown in for good measure.
"Now we are down to the decision," Ocella said with a smirk.
Up to it would be more like it, Sookie thought, noticing the erection bobbing along in front of him as he snaked his way around and between them. Clearly he'd already decided what he wanted to do. The only thing left was to decide whom to do it to.
Eric told me to submit, so obviously he thought Ocella would want to have sex with me. He was preparing me for the possibility, so he already prepared himself. She was on the verge of convincing herself she could do this without falling apart when an image of Eric leaving the room, leaving her in here with Ocella, nearly made her knees buckle. She pictured him crouched against the other side of the door, wracked with guilt for what was happening to her, her mighty Viking brought low.
Ocella saw her falter. "Steady, my dear," he said, placing a rough hand in the center of her chest. "I believe she is nervous, Eric." His hand ran slowly down her stomach, to just below her navel. "And perhaps a little frightened."
Every tendon in Eric's body was tensed so tight, he looked as if they might all snap and come bursting through his skin at any moment.
Ocella looked up at Eric with a gleeful grin. "Shall I check to see if she is aroused?" His fingers almost touched her pubic hair.
There was a terrible crunching cracking sound from inside Eric's jaw. The sound caused Ocella to laugh. It made Sookie want to cry. Ocella stood face to face with her as he laughed. "I believe my boy is jealous! Let us put him to a test, shall we?"
Sookie was looking past him, to Eric. When Ocella said he was jealous, he turned suddenly. He looked down at Ocella, or near Ocella. His eyes were darting around, not really looking at anything in particular. Then he stared Sookie right in the eye. 'Trust me,' he mouthed, just before snapping back to his former tense posture, as his Maker turned back to him.
"Eric, my boy, the choice is yours." Ocella clambered back onto the bed, laying back against the pile of pillows this time, with one leg bent at the knee and sprawled to the side and the other dangling off the side of the bed.
Sookie got the distinct impression he thought he had assumed a sexy position. He was wrong.
"Which of you will join me?"
Eric turned to Sookie. "Leave."
Ocella grinned from ear to ear. "Such an impetuous nature you have. Allow me to finish speaking. Which of you will join me … and which of you will watch?"
Sookie gathered all her strength and headed toward the bed. She couldn't bear it if she had to watch Eric have sex with Ocella.
"Woman! Stop!" Eric roared.
This wasn't vacant Eric. This was the Viking, the Norseman of legend, known and feared in every corner of the world, her lover, her King, her Maker. She stopped in her tracks and stared at him. He'd said to trust him. She did.
"Stand back," he ordered.
He was going to make her watch. No doubt he thought he was sparing her; taking the punishment for her, but oh no, this was so much worse. "Eric, no, please, I can't."
She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She'd cracked. What would Ocella do now? The baleful threat in his eyes was savage, but she'd rather die a thousand deaths than do what they were asking of her.
"Step back," he said, softer this time, but with no less intensity.
She felt the first tear fall on her breast and then it was as if she went numb. She knew more tears followed, but she couldn't feel them.
"Please, Eric," she sobbed. "Don't do this to me."
"As your maker," he said, his eyes boring into her with no show of mercy.
She fell to her knees and dropped her face into her hands. Almost immediately they were filled with the blood of her tears.
"Look at me, Sookie. I command you to focus your eyes on me-"
A pained shriek escaped her as she raised her face to him against her will.
His expression had not changed. "Focus on me, Sookie … and see the boy."
Ocella gave in to another fit of laughter. "I knew it was a lie when they told me you had softened for a woman. Oh, but to use my words to taunt her. You are as magnificent as the day I first saw you on the field of battle and knew I had met one worthy of my company."
"Do you see the boy, Sookie?" Eric demanded. "Do you see him?"
"Of course she sees you," Ocella chuckled. "You are standing right in front of her and you are an awfully big boy. Is your woman blind, that you think she might somehow miss you?"
"I want her to acknowledge to me she is doing as I command," Eric replied, his eyes never leaving Sookie.
"The boy," she mumbled.
The boy, her brain repeated. Not Eric, the boy behind the door. Eric wants my eyes on him, but he doesn't want me to see. He wants me to see the boy. She felt the weight of the world lift off her shoulders. Eric had saved her, again. She wouldn't have to give herself to Ocella and she wouldn't have to watch as Ocella had his way with Eric, not six feet away from her.
She scrambled desperately to find him. He wasn't in the room with the saloon door. She panicked for a second and then saw the sky. The boy was in the sunroom. Her mind rushed to join him there. She didn't see him yet, but he was here. She could feel him. He was a few feet away, surrounded by his human keepers. They were playing with guinea pigs.
"Do you see him?" Eric asked again.
"Yes. I see him. I see the boy."
"Watch him until I give you leave to stop."
She heard Ocella snigger and Eric walk away. "I'm watching," she heard herself say. A few seconds later the sniggering stopped or she blocked it out she wasn't sure which.
She's never seen a mind so open, so willing to have company just come on in without even needing an invitation. The main room here is a duplicate of the room with the saloon door. She sees the boy. He's sitting in front of a big screen television. He's watching Peter Pan, and he's laughing.
Haaaaa-ha-ha-da
"Hello," Sookie says softly.
The boy turns around and looks at her. He smiles and points to the TV. Haaaaa-ha-ha-ha-da
"What is your name?" She asks.
The boy looks confused. He's maybe four years old, with dark hair and large brown eyes. He gets up and walks over to her with a huge smile on his face. He reaches up and she leans down to him. He touches her cheek and then her hair. "Belllla, bella, bella dama!" he squeals and runs across the room.
Sookie follows. She hears a groan. She turns and sees a small door, about five feet tall. "Are you alone here?" she asks the boy. He doesn't respond. He doesn't speak English, she realizes.
She opens the small door to see if she can see who groaned. The room is too dark for her to see clearly, but there appears to be a man on the other side of the room. He says something, but she can't make out what he's saying. He isn't speaking English either.
When she moves to take a step inside the dark room, the boy begins to scream. He seems to be screaming a name. "Dolores! Dolores! Dolores!" he screams as he jumps back and forth from one foot to the other and wildly shaking his hands as if they're covered in something wet and he's trying to sling it off. The way he's holding his hands causes him to hit himself in the head about every third or forth time he shakes them.
"No, no," she says, trying to calm him. "It's alright. It's alright." She closes the door, but he continues screaming.
She grabs him up in her arms, holds him tight and begins to hum gently and rock side to side. Slowly the boy settles down. He stops screaming and rests his head on Sookie's shoulder as she rocks and hums to him.
She has just touched his head to stroke his hair when she sways to the right and notices a mirror on the opposite wall. Now it was her turn to scream and when she did, she dropped the boy, but he wasn't a boy at all.
She reached out as if to touch him, to be certain she was right, but as unlikely as it seemed, it was true. "The boy is a man," she whispered, her eyes marveling at the sight.
The shock brought her out of the boy/man's mind and back to the bedroom despite Eric not calling for her. How long had she been gone? She couldn't be sure, but she guessed not very long because things didn't appear to have progressed very far on the bed. Eric was lying on his stomach and Ocella was kissing his back, an activity she herself enjoyed immensely. What was it Eric told her about him? He enjoyed it when people spoke passionately and fearlessly.
"The boy is a man!" she repeated emphatically. She would have liked to stand up, but she supposed it was Eric's command holding her to the floor. "What are you that you would take the man who comes to my bed every night and make him a boy again?
"For the love of all the gods, Phineus, your harpy has stopped sobbing and decided to speak. Is there nothing you can do about her?" Ocella complained, flinging himself onto his back on the bed.
Eric moved to get up and she spoke again. Her words spewing like bile. "What's the matter, Eric? Is your Maker, the great Appius Livius, not man enough to speak to a woman himself?"
"Sookie!" Eric shouted. It was only a shout, not an order or command.
Ocella sat upright and glared at her. "Tread carefully, madam. Do not provoke my wrath."
Backbone Sookie, if you cave he'll kill you. He admires courage. "Or what?" she demanded. "What could you possibly do to me?"
Ocella was in front of her in an instant. "I could crush you like the mantis you are."
With flight not an option, Sookie prepared to fight. Eric fought for her. He always fought for her, but he could not fight his Maker. She had to fight for him.
"You could, but what would you tell your friends? Would you tell them you faced and killed a woman barely one year a vampire? Would you tell them you did it after you had her Maker bind her to the floor for you? Or would you lie, like most little men do?"
"I will tell my friends I watched my progeny, MY Norseman, as he killed the woman he called his chosen in my honor, before my very eyes and it was a beautiful sight to see," he growled furiously.
Eric looked more miserable than she had ever seen him look. She couldn't keep looking at him or she'd break under the pressure. She focused on Ocella. He reminded her of a cartoon character with steam pouring out of its ears and the top of its head about to erupt like a volcano.
The image stuck in her head and she began to laugh. It was a sort of snorting giggle at first. She brought a hand to her mouth to try and stifle it. Then it grew into an uproarious belly laugh.
"Why is she laughing?" he screeched.
"Stop laughing, Dearest," Eric said softly.
"Don't call her that!"
Sookie bit the inside of her cheek to make herself stop, before realizing Eric's request alone was enough, even though he had merely asked, not commanded, or maybe because he didn't command it of her. She bit too hard and took out a small chunk and spit it out in her hand.
She almost started laughing again at the absurdity of the entire situation. Ocella was looking more and more like the little boy who doesn't speak English, throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the floor.
"I was laughing because it struck me as funny that you can't even be original with having me killed. You carry on like it would be some amazingly difficult thing. How hard can it be? I had him kill me over a year ago and I didn't even have to ask twice," she explained. "And I was human at the time! I wouldn't be too anxious to try and impress your friends with that trick. But you're right. It isn't funny. It's pathetic. Maybe they won't laugh. Maybe they'll only pity you."
"Eric, how do you abide this woman?" Ocella asked, turning his back to Sookie.
"She can be vexing," Eric replied. He didn't dare smile, but she saw it in his eyes. She'd done it. She'd won.
"If you intend to keep her, keep her out of my sight."
"As you command, Ocella," Eric agreed, with his head bowed low.
The testy Roman gave her a final glare and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
They both stared at the door, half expecting him to burst back through. When what seemed like an eternity had passed and they were still alone, Eric turned and looked down at Sookie. "May I join you?" he asked softly.
"You'll have to, if you want us to be any closer. I seem to be stuck to this spot." She raised a hand and offered him an inviting smile.
He dropped to his knees in front of her and scooped her into his arms, clinging to her as if he'd feared he might never hold her again.
Sookie welcomed his embrace by wrapping herself around his torso and hooking her feet together behind him. She rested her head on his shoulder, facing his neck. He reeked of Ocella. The heavy scent covered him like too much bad cologne. She felt her fangs drop in a territorial reaction to her jealousy. She struck quickly, giving herself over to the need to claim what was hers.
As she feasted on him, she wondered how much of the grief he was feeling was over his Maker? She knew there was no point in asking. He would say it was fear of losing her that had him so deeply shaken, She knew that was true to a point, but surely some part of him was suffering over disappointing and angering Ocella.
She withdrew from his vein and squeezed him closer. Even doused in the scent of another, there was nothing she loved or wanted more than the sensation of his skin touching hers.
"I love you so much," she said into the crevasse above his collarbone. "And when I think of how much I know you love me, I hope you know I love you that much too. No one can ever take that from us, no matter what they do; not Ocella, not ever."
"I could not protect you from him," he responded, his hands curling into fists and trembling against her spine. "I will never be able to protect you from him. The mistake is mine. As long as you were human, he did not see you as a threat, but when I-"
The sharp sting of her slap sent his entire head reeling to the side, causing his hair to serve up a second lashing as it whipped around.
"No!" she said angrily. "You will not take the blame for your Maker's actions! None of this is your fault. Especially not if you're going all the way back to when I was human to start blaming yourself. I asked to be turned! Me! You didn't sneak up behind me in an alley and make me a vampire against my will. And most importantly of all …" She took his face in her hands and made him look at her. She lowered her voice and added, "You wouldn't have done it at all, if I hadn't asked.
I wanted this. I wanted you, and you gave me what I wanted. You gave me everything I wanted and more. How could you possibly think that is something you should be blamed for? I should be shouting from the rooftops every day that I am the luckiest woman in existence, because I am loved by a man who denies me nothing."
"Sookie, I-"
"Shh," she kissed him lightly to keep him from speaking. She had the floor at the moment.
"I know what you do. I see it now. Even things I didn't recognize before, I see them so clearly I can't believe I ever missed them. You do everything for me, for all of us. You take on all the responsibility for me and Pam, Oliver, Mina, Heller, everyone in your territory and now everyone in your kingdom. You keep taking on more and more and you don't complain. We all bitch constantly, but you never do. No matter what kind of pain we cause you.
In the last twenty-four hours alone, you broke your own fingers for Oliver, you made an enemy of Don Rafael for Mina and you may have sacrificed the love of your Maker to keep me from suffering. How much more could anyone ask?"
She smiled and tapped his back with her hand. "Now, if my King will get up off the floor and carry us to the shower, we can rinse away the ashes of the night and I can try to think of some way to get him on his knees again once we're dry."
As he rose to his feet, he smiled and when it reached his eyes, she knew he'd be all right, this time.
He shifted her weight onto one arm and headed toward the shower. "Whenever I look at you, my love, my first thought is always the same. You were worth the wait."