From the Waist Down

Chapter 14

"Has Northman called?" Felipe's voice grumbled through the intercom from his bed chambers to his office. Louise, his evening secretary, scrambled through the papers on his desk for any of those little pink message pads from the daytime secretary. There were none.

"No, my King, he has not." She almost whimpered into the phone, anticipating the response. The box was still sitting on his desk.

"Well, why not?" Felipe screamed through the voice box, thundering with rage. "We have attempted this medieval human correspondence long enough! I want answers! Why is Madden's head sitting in a box on my desk? I want to know WHY!"

"I…uh…" Louise stammered in response.

"Send my guards out to Louisiana! Find the Viking and have him brought here AT ONCE!"

"Y..yes…yes Sir," Louise trembled, already grabbing another phone with which to call Felipe's in-house guard unit.

"And stop bleating like a sheep!"

"Yes my King," Louise managed. Her voice was cut off by the click of the line.

The guards, glorified vampire spies the lot of them, left within the hour, streaming out of the concrete foundations of de Castro's glittering Las Vegas palace like a pestilence. They drove in a massive black Suburban to de Castro's private landing strip, and flew in one of several windowless jets to a private strip just outside of Shreveport. Their leader, a grunting, muscle-bound hulk of a vampire named Steve, piled them into another all black SUV and drove them to Fangtasia, Northman's last known whereabouts.


The club was in disarray, the smell of human fear having seeped into the walls. Vampires leaked into the building from every available door, including the gaping hole into Eric Northman's office.

"He isn't here," one of them muttered. Captain Obvious was a short, skinny strip of a thing, often picked on by the other guys. He was amazing cat burglar, but they still called him names.

"Thanks, Shorty, for stating the obvious," Steve snorted.

"Look, I'm just sayin'," Shorty whimpered like a kicked cat.

"We know he isn't here. If he was here, he would have returned the King's messages. Anyone got any ideas?"

"What about his underlings? They're loyal to the King, aren't they? We'll sniff him out that way."

"Get his Rolodex. I'll meet you in the car."


She continued waking randomly, never getting more than a few hours of continuous sleep. As a result, I was forced to spend inordinate amounts of time awake. I found myself more hungry than I had been in years and I actually forced myself to drink the atrocious synthetic blood that has been sitting untouched in Sookie's refrigerator for nearly a year. It smelled like plastic. Still, she was determined to continue her trial of "normal life," however much it seemed to be killing her.

"Eric!" She screamed as she began to struggle on the bed. It was the fourth time that night that she'd been disturbed by the memories of Victor Madden's betrayal. I was standing at the window, looking out past Sam's black-out curtains. In the bushes, I could swear I'd seen something moving, but her cries tore my suspicions away immediately.

"Ssh, Sookie," I whispered as I dropped down to the floor beside her mattress. I threaded my hand into her grasping fingers and tried to calm her while she slept. If I could avoid waking her, I would. Her frail human body, still healing since she refused to take my blood, needed the rest.

"No one's coming," she moaned. "No one's coming."

"I am right here, my love," I frowned. Over and over again, she dreamed of my failure. We could not make it to her in time. She could never forgive us for that.

"Please," she begged. Tears rolled down the sides of her face and stained the pillow. I couldn't watch her suffer in sleep. There was nothing worth that pain. I woke her with a gentle shake of her shoulders. It was all she needed. The touch of another person, even my touch, was enough to send her reeling. Her eyes shot open and she rolled out of my reach.

Panting, she stared at me for several seconds, her posture in high alert. Terrified by the dream, she knelt on all fours on the bed, watching me with wide eyes. Her back curved upward, like the surprised figure of a cat. Her mouth hung open slightly and her lower lip trembled. She would have been beautiful, alluring, if she weren't so scared of me. That might be something I would have wanted in another lover, but not my bonded. Not Sookie. Her heart bounced around in my chest like a rubber ball.

"Relax, lover," I soothed, holding out an open hand to her. The gesture was meant to be peaceful. She looked at my palm like it was covered with thorns.

"E…Eric?" She whimpered pathetically, realization finally dawning.

"You're safe, Sookie. You're home."

"I don't feel safe," she replied quietly. She pulled her body down upon the mattress and scooped her knees up against her chest. I crawled across the space between us and swept her into my embrace.

"It will take time to heal," I sighed, wishing for all the world that it wouldn't. With a finger, I brushed back the hair from her neck and looked at the garish wound at her throat. It would heal before her heart did. Right now, though, her insides resembled that vulgar open sore.


"Isn't that the King's psychic or whatever?" One of the vampires asked, peering over the hedges into Sookie's open bedroom window.

"Yeah! Northman's supposed to be protecting her for the King."

"Looks like he's doin' a lot more than that," another chortled deeply.

"Is he…uh…hugging her?"

"Look, it don't matter what he's doin'. He's supposed to be returning the King's call, and he ain't. So, I say, we bust in and take 'em down."

"Dude, it's a human house. How the hell are we gonna do that?"

"We're the King's guard!"

"Yeah! But…but so what?"

"I say, we smoke 'em out."

"Ooh, yeah, good idea!"

"That's why I'm the leader and you guys are just the chumps."

"Who the hell are you callin' a chump?"

"Shuddup. Shorty, get the matches."


A knock on the bedroom door set my teeth on edge, and I found myself clawing at Eric's shirt. He looked up, a few strands of his long hair brushing against my forehead.

"Come in," he grunted. The door opened and there was Amelia, frantic, her thoughts suddenly stabbing my brain with more than I could handle, analyze, or comprehend. Her mouth started moving, and I couldn't even hear the words.

"Eric! Come quick! There's something…there's people outside!"

"Who is it?" Eric growled protectively, pulling me so close to him that I was certain I'd be crushed. My fight or flight instinct started kicking in, but I ignored it. It hadn't helped me much in the past few days anyway.

"I don't know, but I don't think they're friendly."

Amelia disappeared from the bedroom door and Eric reluctantly got up. He looked sorrowfully at me and held out a hand to me. It was clearly the kind of decision he was unsure about, and his internal conscience made me nervous. He didn't want to leave me, and yet, at the same time, I was sure he didn't want to put me in any danger by taking me along. I looked at the palm over and over again, but balled my arms against my chest with reluctance. Could he protect me? Could he keep me safe?

"Stay here, my love," he relented. "I will keep you safe."

"Eric," I mumbled to myself as he walked out of the room and shut the bedroom door. I ran to the window and craned my neck to see the porch. It was partially hidden, but there were definitely people standing on the steps. They wore all black, matching outfits of black pants and black shirt and black shoes. One face turned in my direction and caught my eyes in the window. I stumbled backward, tripping on the hem of my pant leg, and fell to the floor. Vampire.

Not much went through my head. Fear. Shock. I scrambled into the bathroom and threw from the linen closet everything blocking my path. I barricaded myself inside the tiny black room, leaving the light off. Towels gathered around my feet, but there was nothing to use as a weapon. I didn't even have anything silver. I couldn't stop myself from crying, but I held in the heaving sound of my breath. Don't hyperventilate, Sookie. You'll pass out, and then who knows what they'll do to you!

"Sookie!" Eric yelled through the room. I couldn't reply. I couldn't find the words. I shivered inside the closet and tried to talk. All I could do was pant. The closet door opened and I screamed. The Viking didn't blink. Instead, he pulled me roughly into his arms and carried me to the porch. Somewhere, something was breaking. I opened my eyes, which I hadn't realized were closed. Flames licked up the curtains in the living room. Oh god, not again.

"Fire," I squeaked.

"Amelia has alerted the authorities. We are being summoned. I cannot say no."

"My house…" I struggled, finding it difficult to speak.

"It was the King on the phone, I suppose. He did not wish to leave a message." Eric spoke through clenched fangs. I couldn't look up at his face, but I could hear it in his strained voice.

"Eric," I found myself saying again, though I couldn't think of what to say afterward.

"Everything will be okay, my love. I will not let anyone harm you."

But I wasn't so sure.