From the Waist Down

Chapter 16

There was a knock on the door and I looked up from my desk. The box, ominous and perplexing, sat a few feet away from me, perched on the edge of a side table like a forgotten toy. I hadn't forgotten it. Vampire remains don't tend to have a smell, so it was able to stay in the room without becoming a nuisance. I simply had no desire to continue staring at the thing. As soon as this was settled, I would have Louise throw it unceremoniously in the garbage. I had never much cared for Madden. Perhaps it was the fact that his body seemed to leave a residue- a smell or a stain, a grease spot. Revolting. Still, he had been a valuable man. The loss was felt, but in the end, he was replaceable.

"Come in," I said, inviting my guardsmen to throw the human into my presence. They shut the door behind her. I had met Sookie only briefly, and though I was taken with her, particularly her peculiar talent, I was no more amused by humans than any respectable vampire. I'd remembered her somewhat differently from the woman that fell to her knees on my carpet. Was this really Sookie Stackhouse? She looked like something that had been thrown out with the curdled blood.

The girl's hair fell around her face and neck like a bad toupee, disheveled and unkempt. Her face and neck were bruised, and a chunk of flesh had been grotesquely removed from one side of her throat. She wore pajamas, as if she hadn't been bothered to dress for me, and the pajamas were not the sort of variety one should present to a king of my standing. They were blue pants with cartoon sheep drawn on them. I fully believe that if you are going to wear bedclothes to address me, they might as well be something skimpy, preferably lacy.

She sat there on the floor, on her knees, hunched over, for several seconds. She didn't make a sound. Odd. Humans were usually making all kinds of racket, even when it was frowned upon or completely unnecessary. Sookie Stackhouse was definitely a talkative one.

"Miss Stackhouse," I began, staring over my desk at the lump of living flesh on the floor. "Stand up."

I waited a moment, expecting a response or, better still, movement in the general direction of standing. It wasn't a request. She should be standing up any moment now. But she didn't move. She just sat there. Knelt there.

"Stand up." I repeated. I do not tend to repeat myself, but sometimes humans are hard of hearing. They are generally weak. But there was still no response. She just remained in the place where my guard had flung her. Hm. Strange. I pressed the intercom on my desk with one finger.

"Send in Louise."

Louise, my evening secretary, scuttled into the room immediately. She is one of the better humans I have had in my employ. Her resolve is incredible. It was she that reported the contents of our…gift from Louisiana, and without any of the usual remarks humans are known to make in such situations. She handles the majority of my correspondence as well, and her taste is impeccable. I find her an incredible woman. Her only fault, of course, is that she is incredibly professional.

"Yes, my King?" She was wearing a beautiful and professionally tailored business suit, black with a pink blouse beneath it. Stunning. Mm.

"Get her up." I gestured at the girl on the floor.

"Yes, Sir." She grabbed the girl rather roughly by the arm and lifted her somewhat up. Louise is, after all, only a human, and Miss Stackhouse probably outweighed her slightly. After some squirming and general movement that I found somewhat arousing, Louise finally managed to stand Sookie up and keep her that way.

"There. Much better." I nodded, pleased. "Now then, Miss Stackhouse, tell me. Why do I have Victor Madden's head in a box on my desk?"

It was incredible watching the reaction on the waitress's face. Whatever life I had once observed in her seemed to drain completely away, as though someone had opened that hole in her neck and let all the blood drain out at once. Her mouth moved, but sound did not follow. Whatever she had been doing to help Louise hold her up suddenly let go. Louise could no longer hold her steady. She dropped, like a stone, to the floor.

"My King, she appears to have fainted."

"Thank you, Louise. Get rid of her and send in Eric Northman."


"Mr. Northman?" A young woman walked into the uncomfortably cozy waiting room I'd been pacing in for the last ten minutes. She wore her hair pinned behind her head, and her cat eye glasses framed her face perfectly. I might have found her more attractive if I hadn't had so much on my mind.

"Where is she?" I seethed at her, getting in her face so suddenly that she took a step back. She kept her mouth straight, but I could tell she was taken aback. I have that effect on people.

"The King is ready to see you."

"That isn't what I asked."

"To whom are you referring?" She looked down at a clipboard in her hands, as if she were trying to keep de Castro's appointments organized.

"If you do not answer me in the next ten seconds, your head will join Madden's in that box."

"She is down the hall. Now, if you will please follow me, Mr. Northman. The King has many appointments this evening."

Of all the vague, insufferable… I growled to myself as I followed her into Felipe de Castro's connecting office. He was sitting at his desk, a vast black structure that blocked most of his body. He was still wearing that ridiculous cape, like a reject from a Dracula convention. I held in the urge to chuckle at his idiocy. He outranked me, the Bastard.

"Mr. Northman," the King addressed me without looking at me or getting up. Of course, I expected neither.

"My King," I replied through clenched teeth.

"You sent me a gift, I believe. Your note was vague. Might you explain what you meant by it?"

"My apologies, your Highness," I replied as calmly as I could. "I've forgotten what it says. Would you mind refreshing my memory?"

"Certainly," he nodded. From his desk, he retrieved the small piece of paper which Pam had handwritten a few days ago. "'Madden's remains.'"

"Ah, yes," I nodded. "Right."

"And by it you meant?"

"That they are Madden's remains."

"I see. And might you inform me as to why I have Victor Madden's remains in a box on my desk?"

"He attacked the human that you assigned me to protect." I tried to remain cordial, as nonchalant as the King seemed to be. It was difficult. I fought all urges to attack him and kill him as I had killed his second in command.

"Ah. Sookie Stackhouse. Yes." He seemed to think about her presence for awhile, in silence. "She was just here. She is rather a weak human, is she not? I cannot imagine what possessed me to take an interest in her in the first place. Her talent is useful to be sure, but in that body? It might be more advantageous to turn her and be done with it."

"With all due respect, your Highness," I cringed. "Your former Second lured me from my assignment under false pretenses, snatched Miss Stackhouse from her home, violated her on my desk, and attempted to claim her."

"She is a human, Eric. What do you care?" He leaned over the desk, looking at me closely. "Are you in some way involved with this human?"

"No," I lied. "But she is under my protection and my jurisdiction. It makes me look bad when your men challenge my authority in my own area."

"I see. Excuse me a moment."

De Castro picked up his phone and pressed a button. I could hear a voice on the other end, likely his secretary, but the only words they exchanged were vague yeses and nos. And then I knew what they had referenced. I could feel her through our bond, the terror, the shock, and her absolute need of me. My fangs dropped down reactively. I felt her heart pounding in my brain. Primitive response set in immediately. Run from the office. Find Sookie. Kill whomever was hurting her. Kill the King. Kill everybody. Save the girl. Don't wait. Go now. And as soon as it hit, it stopped. The King's phone clicked back on its hook. I withdrew my fangs. Well done, Eric. Good job with the nonchalance.

"She is yours," de Castro smirked, his Spanish accent lilting on his tongue.

"No," I said. That much was true. She was not mine, not in so many words.

"You care for her."

"Yes," I agreed. It was already evident. Lying was irrelevant.

"And when Victor tried to hurt her…"

"He did not try to hurt her, your Majesty. He hurt her. I could not get to her in time. Regardless of her status with me, regardless of the strength of our bond, I would have killed him. He invaded my territory and violated a human in my care."

"But if you cared nothing for her, you would not have sent me the package."

"It is unlikely."

"Yes. It was a very conscious act, this box. I would never have expected such a gift from you, Northman."

"You have my fealty, Sir. I accept whatever consequences are necessary for my actions." The vampire hierarchy is long-standing. Allegiance is important, at least, until I can find another way of living comfortably.

"Good."

The King sat back in his chair and looked at me over the bridge of his nose. He stood up for the first time since I'd been admitted into his office. Coming around the desk, he pushed the box of Madden's remains into the waste paper basket at the end of his table. It gave off a short sputter of dust.

"I would like to offer you Victor's position. Become my second in command."