A/N - I am not the owner of any of the material referenced in this story, simply borrowed and abused them for a while. Read at your own risk, because I also do not claim that it's any good. Charlaine Harris is the owner of the characters & Alan Ball of the series. I gain nothing.
Another note - thanks for the reviews, the holidays have passed, and I hopefully will be able to get more out to you soon. Enjoy I'm trying to do something I haven't read before on the site. Let me know what you think. T.
****Updated: If I may be so bold: I am aware of a glitch in fanfic's site that is not allowing traffic stats to come through. If you would be so kind as to send a review, even if you normally don't, just so I know there someone out there... Thanks a lot - T.
Chapter Eight
We arrived at the bar within the hour, and Eric lightly landed on the ground. We entered in the back door to his office, a way I was familiar with. I didn't hear the pounding of music outside and Eric indicated that the bar was closed.
"I often close one night during the week for various reasons, could be just for a thorough cleaning, or if I have a private party." I nodded, understanding what he was saying. It sure would be a lot easier to be able to have vampires meet privately without the interference of a bunch of fangbangers hanging all over you.
Pam and Chow arrived about fifteen minutes after we did. I was already in the employee room, where I was cleaning myself up. I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to see if there were any changes that were visible to the eye. I didn't feel much different, vampire-ness aside, but the whole incident at the house had shaken me up more than I let be known. Eric seemed to be taking it in stride, and I didn't know why. I wouldn't have ever imagined that a vampire as powerful as he would just accept being knocked on his backside by a woman. I figured that he knew more than he was letting on, and I decided at that point to ask him directly about it. He had mentioned sending for Niall, and I was a little afraid of that.
Alcide was on his way, and I guess we had some explaining to do. Knowing Alcide he would react before he listened, as he did tend to be a little hot headed. I grabbed some clean clothes out of the locker that I had procured for myself in the last week. I slipped on a pair of jeans and a green long sleeve t-shirt. I put on a pair of running shoes and slicked my hair back in a ponytail. When I looked back in the mirror, I saw a glimpse of my human self, and I smiled. Glowing skin, super strength aside – I was starting to understand that it was more of the person I was before that would affect what kind of vampire I was, after. Speaking of after, I needed a True Blood. The localized flame in my throat was burning a bit, and I was beginning to become uncomfortable.
I walked down the hallway and went back to Eric's office. Pam was perched on the arm of the sofa, but I didn't see Chow. Eric was on his Blackberry but he had been talking in a low murmur, but when I entered the room, he stopped. Pam looked at me with annoyance and before I knew it she launched into a verbal tirade at me.
"If you were my child, you would be bound in silver in the basement for your lack of self control." She said these words low and even, and I saw Eric's eyes narrow.
"Nevertheless Pam, she is not your child – yet you remain mine – and I would advise you to put your forked tongue back into your mouth if you know what's good for you." Eric paused. "She knows not what she's doing yet, something that will be rectified shortly."
Pam's eyebrows knit together stormily, but she didn't say another word.
"I didn't mean to do anything; I don't even know what I did, or how I did it." I looked at Eric. "You are okay, right? You aren't like, hurt or something that you just aren't telling me, trying to be a tough guy right?" He smiled at me.
"No I'm fine – you just zapped me, or whatever you did, but I don't seem to be feeling any long terms effects from it. I am finding this intriguing, following along to the talents that seem to be developing within you. You were always a human worthy of note, but I am finding you a most fascinating vampire."
I wasn't sure how to take this, because as much as I was assured that Eric loved me – I thought that he was taking the maker-child relationship a wee bit for granted, and was talking down to me a little... This wasn't going to be something I was going to stand for, and as much as I knew that I was going to have obey him if forced, he was going to know that. I also recognised that this wasn't the time or the place, with Alcide on his way – we needed to get the stories straight.
Eric explained that the Weres, who had been at my house, were not part of the Shreveport pack, and that he couldn't figure out Alcide's interest in them. However, he did owe Alcide an explanation, because of Alcide's position as pack leader, and he figured that he would simply tell Alcide that he knew nothing about it.
We exited Eric's office and went to the club floor. There was no one there, except Chow who was sitting on the edge of the bar, texting into his phone. Pam took a seat over near Eric's throne and I took a seat at the table next to it – Chow brought us bloods and I drank thankfully. Eric came out and he and Pam began to speak in another language. I sighed and rolled my eyes, frustrated. I drummed my fingers on the tabletop, and fidgeted with a drink menu and the salt and pepper shakers.
I was using my fingers to push the salt and pepper around each other, while I sat there. I let my mind drift thinking of how what had happened earlier. I know that when Occella had locked me in the basement, I had managed to somehow send a power through my hands that had shattered the bindings on my wrists. I had never done that before, nor had I managed to produce anything since. But that was back when I was human. I counted the number of times that I had done something since I had become a vampire, and realized I hadn't really been paying attention to what was happening with my powers, telepathy and otherwise, since I had been turned. There were so many other changes to get used to that it was overwhelming. So in addition to this "boost" in my telepathy, that seemed to allow me to hear vampires and glamour vampires, it would also seem that I had something else going on. I thought about the hand prints I left on the door, and the burn marks I had left on Eric's sides when I was unconscious, and I examined my hands.
They didn't look any different, that was for sure. I held them out over the salt and pepper shakers, and focused my thoughts on them. Nothing happened. I sighed and continued to fiddle with the shakers while recalling exactly what had happened leading up to the events. In all the cases, I had been extremely scared, or angry at what was happening around me. It was like an adrenaline surge or something – really hard to explain. I thought that maybe if I could focus enough on how I was feeling right before this so called power had happened, then maybe I could do it again, and learn to control it.
I looked over at Chow, who was still on his Blackberry. He glanced up at me but then ignored me. Pam and Eric were still talking to each other in some language, Swedish maybe? I was being ignored and that got my back up, no one was bothering to strategize with me – heck, I knew more about vampire politics when I was merely human – now because I was a new progeny, I apparently didn't rank. I decided to focus on the anger that was boiling up inside of me, and I held my hands out again over the shakers. I took an unnecessary breath and focused. The salt and pepper shakers jerkily rose in the air, and glided over to my hands, and I caught them.
I jerked in surprise, and Eric looked at me curiously. I didn't know what to say, but I'm sure that my jaw had dropped. I quickly set the shakers back down. Chow hadn't noticed anything and Pam was just looking at me annoyed that I had interrupted her important vampire agenda. Eric had felt something through the bond though, and he regarded me intently.
"Everything all right lover?"
"Yeah everything's fine." I wasn't going to tell him anything at all, until we had a little talk about how I had no intention of sitting there like a silent drone while everyone made decisions around me. Maybe I was being childish, but I just wasn't happy with this situation at all, and like Gran used to tell me, 'if you're not happy where you are, the responsibility is on yourself to change the path you're on.'
I think Eric might have pressed the matter more, but that was the moment that Alcide made his entrance into Fangtasia. He had two other male Weres with him, who looked meaner than a sack full of rattlesnakes. I smelled their were presence immediately, and wrinkled my nose at the oddness of it. It was a blend of hair and wet and hot blood coursing through veins. My nostrils flared and I realized that I was famished. Eric smoothed my hair back as I gripped the arms of the chair, and Chow had another blood in front of me (not bottled either) and I sipped it gratefully. I really didn't want to eat my friend.
Alcide nodded to Pam and Chow and then he looked at me long and hard. I could feel a pang of discord run through him as he took me in for the first time as a vampire. I knew he could smell my difference; all I could do was to try to show him that I was the same old Sookie Stackhouse, mostly.
"Sookie." He nodded in my direction, and made his way over to Eric. "Northman, as I had already told you over the phone, there are four members of the Munroe pack who are missing. Their pack leader has contacted me and indicated that these four had mentioned coming into Shreveport for some business dealings with a couple of vampires." Alcide glanced around at Pam and Chow, but their faces remained impassive. "Since you seem to know all the business dealings in your area, it's only safe to assume that you might have heard of this Eric?"
"Well Alcide, wouldn't it have been within protocol for these Weres to check in with you before they began their business in Shreveport? Isn't that the etiquette? I would think that you would know a little more about this so called business deal than I would, being that you're the packleader. Do you not have that privilege, or has it become a little lax since Colonel Flood's demise?" Eric raised a glossy blonde brow.
Alcide's colour rose a bit, and I detected a slight shift in the colour of his eyes, but only for a moment – then he regained his composure.
"It's true that the code of behaviour indicates that they should have advised me before entering the area, however – what's done is done, and I am faced with the question of where they are – so I ask again Northman- have you heard anything relating to their business or their whereabouts?" The two Weres who had remained at Alcide's side had puffed up a little during this exchange and I noticed that Chow had moved a little closer to us, although he was still concentrating on his blackberry.
"Alcide, I have no idea about any business that your brother pack might have had with any vampires in area five, and I haven't heard anything at all about the whereabouts them. Do you have any theories?" Eric was the picture of business when he said that, and I noticed that Pam met Alcide's gaze stoically. I called up my best skills and met Alcide's gaze dead bang on. I had had lots of practise at this, as a human when faced with hearing not-so-flattering thoughts from someone at the bar, and still having to serve them their chicken basket or beer.
I could tell that Alcide didn't believe us, but I also had a feeling that he knew a little more than he was saying, so when he shook his head to answer no to Eric's question, I probed his mind.
As always with were's the snarl of reds and oranges distracted me from being able to truly decipher specifics, but I caught a thread of worry and anxiety colouring his thoughts, and some of it was directed at me. I caught the word macabre from him, but it was sort of hanging there, not connected to anything and I had no idea what it meant. He caught me looking at him, and he smiled a bit.
"Were you happy with what my guys did with your place Sookie? I thought it turned out really nice, considering how little time we had to work."
"I was very happy with it Alcide. I got the bill for it, and I'll have that taken care of tomorrow. It's really very nice." He looked pleased, and I saw the other two Weres relax their stance a little.
"Well if there's nothing else Alcide..." Eric trailed off and Alcide narrowed his eyes.
"You will tell me if you hear anything, won't you Eric?"
"You will be the first person I call Alcide, rest assured." Alcide paused and it looked like he was struggling with something, but didn't know how to say it. I smiled at him, and probed again. I caught that flash of worry and anxiety again, and a quick glimpse of a bottle on a desk, and again with the whole macabre name. I shook my head slightly at this fuzzy vision, lost for its meaning. That's the problem with Weres; I just can't fix a good read on them. If I could have a shot at asking Alcide – I might be able to make him tell me. I just couldn't shake the idea that this was something really important, something I needed to know, so I took a risk. It was obvious that Alcide was struggling with something, but to what – I had no idea.
Eric and Pam were already dismissing Alcide, and I saw Chow returning to the bar. The other two Weres had taken this as a signal to leave, and one of them had already drawn a set of car keys out of his pocket. I directed my thoughts at them, and while pushing my mind out, I said in a strong voice, "Please, sit down for a moment, I have something I want to ask Alcide."
The two Weres hesitated, and sat down at the table closest to Alcide. They focused on the table top and with their hands in their laps they sat silently. I smiled – this seemed to be getting easier the more I practiced. I glanced over at Chow, who immediately had a look of apprehension.
"Why don't you stock the fridges and the bar Chow – it needs to be done." I pushed a little at him, and he nodded and began to work. He rubbed absently at the small trickle of blood coming out of his left nostril. Pam's eyes widened and she hissed at me, beginning to rise – but Eric placed a restraining hand on her arm and she lowered herself back down. Eric said not a word.
Alcide was looking at me with a mixture of alarm and confusion, and I knew that I had to handle this properly. I didn't want to force him, but I needed to know what the heck was going on. I knew that there was something going on, something that scared him enough to be afraid for me, but he wouldn't say so.
"Sit down Alcide – it's just me, Sookie. I'm not trying to scare you or do anything to you; I just need to know what's going on." I looked at him and continued to search his thoughts, now coloured with apprehension and confusion and a little fear. There was little I was getting aside from the colours of his emotions, and the blinking image of the bottle and with the words macabre.
"What is macabre Alcide?" He looked up at me in shock, and pressed his lips together so hard that the edges of them turned white. Eric leaned forward, focused on Alcide's reaction.
"Sookie, I don't really know if it's true or not, but I've heard that there is a were pack in New Orleans that has something that's really bad for you guys." He paused and I motioned at him to continue. "I don't really know what it's all about specifically." He wouldn't say anymore, and I gave him a slight mental shove. He flinched and rivulet of crimson seeped down to his lip. He wiped at it absently, and I licked my lips...
"It's some sort of weapon, like a disease like Sino Aids only worse. It's designed to kill vampires." I gaped at Alcide and Eric had put his hand down on the arm of his chair, looking intensely at Alcide. I certainly hadn't been expecting that.
"Who's responsible for this?" Eric asked.
"I don't know, I just know that the were pack has it and they are trying to make more of it, so they can use it." Alcide looked down. "They want to kill vampires and use it to blackmail other ones to make their pack more powerful than all the other packs. They have already sent emissaries to me to warn me that I had better stand down when they make their move."
"And will you?" Pam had finally contributed.
"I just don't know. My pack is divided right now, some of them really hate vampires but some of them are okay with you guys. The four missing Weres won't do much for your sympathy if it's found out that you had something to do with their disappearance." Alcide looked defeated.
"Alcide," I said softly, and he looked at me across the table. "Is there anything else we should know?"
"No, that's all I know. Things were beginning to become calm around here again; I was starting to relax a bit."
"New Orleans were pack is the culprit behind this then, as far as you know?" Alcide nodded at me. "And who leads that pack?"
"A female were by the name of Heddie Inman. She's a mean bitch, but she generally is fair and keeps to herself. This kind of behaviour is out of character for her. I haven't spoken to her personally in a while, but her guard was the ones who visited me and gave me warning. I hear they are visiting the other were packs as well."
"And you have no idea when this attack is to occur?" I pushed again, and I felt a dart of pain in my temple, I absently reached up and rubbed it. Doing this obviously gave me a headache. Alcide shook his head and I could tell that we had reached the limit of his knowledge. It stood to reason that they wouldn't tell the other were packs too much information for fear that they would warn the vampires. It was common knowledge that the Weres in Shreveport and the vampires had a somewhat tense truce.
I nodded to Eric that I had gotten all the information I could, and Eric drummed his fingers on his chair.
"I have nothing further at this time. However, will you be available if I have additional questions for you regarding this Alcide?"
Alcide sighed, "I will be, but we have to keep this confidential for now, otherwise my entire pack could be at risk." He looked so unhappy at the betrayal that he had completed against his brothers. I made a quick decision.
"Alcide, look all you came to do tonight was to ask us about the missing Weres. You didn't tell us anything else you know." And I pushed again at him, and his eyes took on a dreamy cast as he nodded at me. I repeated it with the other two Weres, and the pain darted through my head again, causing my vision to double for a moment. I shook my head and it cleared, Eric looked at me with concern.
"You will tell me if you hear anything about those missing Weres, won't you Eric?" Alcide had risen to his feet, and his accompanying Weres rose as well.
"You will be the first person I call Alcide, rest assured." Eric didn't miss a beat, as we walked through the routine we had just performed less than ten minutes prior. The pack leader and his minions walked out the door to Fangtasia and into the parking lot.
We all sat in silence for a moment. I could almost see the smoke curling from Pam's ears as she became more and more livid.
"So you can glamour Weres and vampires eh Sookie?" She said it acidly and looked at me coldly.
My head was aching, like a pounding headache I would have as a human, and I didn't have the energy for this nonsense with Pam. Eric had begun pacing, and he had already picked up his phone and was beginning to make calls. Pam just sat there glaring at me. Chow continued to work industriously.
"So will you glamour me, when you don't get your way little girl?" Pam spat viciously at me.
"Pam really, I am still getting used to this whole idea of being a vampire, there is so much more – it's so complicated..." She huffed and looked away, and then suddenly she moved like a flash and was in my face, fangs bared.
"If you ever attempt to glamour me, I will tear your hair out and use it as a chain from which to hang your fangs." She hissed this at me, and my eyes widened as a surge of anger ran through me. I had enough of her bullshit and I was going to kick her ass. I saw Eric look over and begin to leap over the table to get at us.
I raised my hands towards her in order to shove her away from me, and I felt an incredible surge of power through me, and I raised myself up swiftly as a fissure opened inside me. Pam was sent flying across the room and into the dais where the DJ normally stood. I stared at my hands, which were flaming with blue light, licking with tendrils around my wrists and disappearing under the sleeves of my shirt. I felt electric and as if my hair was floating around my face. Eric had stopped mid way between me and Pam, and was looking at me apprehensively. I was panting, but I had no idea why because I didn't need to breathe, and I looked around and saw that the table in front of me had risen several feet off the floor. When I looked around to see if this was the only one, each piece of furniture that I looked at also rose in the air, until finally I was surrounded by tables and chairs levitating in the air all throughout the bar.
Eric looked incredulously at me, and Chow was standing with his mouth hanging agape. Pam hadn't moved a muscle since she had hit the podium. The blue tendrils of flame were still licking heatless trails around my wrists and I flexed my fingers to experiment. As I did that, all of the furniture items moved in the direction that my fingers did. Noticing that, I made a spinning motion with my hands and all of the tables and chairs began to spin clockwise in the air. I began to get carried away and I forgot where I was, as I began to lift the salt and pepper shakers and menus off the tables and they began to spin too. Soon the air was filled with dozens of items rotating in the air. I laughed, and wondered if they could do more than spin, and I had no sooner thought this, than the shakers and chairs began to move towards each other, and began to slowly orbit each other, but soon the patterns became more complex, with the shakers performing figuring eights and intricate patterns in the air. I laughed again, and then I caught sight of Eric's face. He was looking at me with a mixture of fear and apprehension. I looked over at Chow and when I did I caught sight of myself in the mirror behind the bar. The blue flames had completely encased my body, and I was glowing with an unworldly light. My hair had come free of its ponytail and was wild around my head, and danced with the flames licking around my face. I felt shock at the sight of myself, and turned back to the dancing furniture, which had taken a more ominous presence in the room.
The intricate patterns of figure eights and rotation had taken a more violent turn, and the tables and chairs were rocking from side to side in the air, and knocking against each other, with wooden cracks. Several of the chairs had arms askew, and chips of wood were flying off as they cracked into each other. The shakers and menus were wildly careening missiles, and my panic grew. Two of the shakers in front of Pam and Eric collided with each other, and a shower of salt rained down on the floor. I could sense the power in me, beginning to take over, and I didn't think I had control over it anymore, if I ever did. Eric, made his way back over to Pam who was getting on her feet, looking at me with alarm, and I realized that with all the wooden and metal legs and so on, on the tables, that the room was full of potential stakes. I needed to get this under control. I reached out with my mind, and concentrated. As I did, the tables and chairs lowered themselves to the ground, and although it wasn't graceful, the main thing was that they were down. The salt and pepper shakers clattered to the tops of the table, and while some shattered, at most there was minimal spillage.
I looked back towards the mirror, and the blue flames were receding. My hair had settled down and I could no longer see them on my face and neck. I looked down and my hands, and as I did so, I watched as the flames gradually ebbed until they withdrew back into my being, leaving just a flash of flame on the end of my index finger. Then it disappeared.
I looked at the mess around me, and at the shocked faces of Chow and Pam. I saw the uneasy gaze of Eric, and I felt sick. He began to walk towards me with his hands held out in supplication, but I backed away, shaking my head. I kept going until my back hit the door, and in a flash decided to get the hell out of there. I turned and bolted out the door.
"Sookie wait!" Eric was behind me in an instant, and I began to run. I felt him behind me, giving chase, and it just made me want to go even faster. I felt his concern through our bond, and I felt confusion as to why I was running from him. Didn't he understand that I could hurt him, even kill him?
I felt a primal scream of pain come from my mouth as I raced through the thickening underbrush as I moved further and further away from the city. Eric was still behind me, but keeping a safe distance away, probably in case I was still on a hair trigger. I began to slow down as I sensed that I was reaching a body of water. I eased my pace up from a dead run, to a jog, to a walk and finally I stopped.
I was in a clearing at the edge of a small shallow lake, and I had no idea where I was. I felt, more than heard Eric enter into the clearing, but he didn't say anything. I turned to him and he was there, bathed in the moonlight that was beginning to be low in the sky. The dawn would be upon us in mere hours.
"I'm sorry." It was all I could say.
He stepped over to me, and put his arms around me. His body once so cool to me, provided a warm comfort that I desperately needed. I laid my head on his shoulder and cried, while he stroked my hair. When I had calmed a bit, he spoke.
"And this darling is why we need to contact your grandfather." He raised my lips to his, and gave me a kiss. I knew he loved me, but my mind kept flashing to the look of fear he gave me. Was I always going to be crazy Sookie no matter what? "You have a great gift lover; you need to learn how to control it."
I knew he was right, I knew that I need to do this. But for right now I felt lost. My body felt limp and weak, even though I knew it wasn't. I had a slight pounding in my head, as if a headache, and now that I had stopped running and my vampire lover had me in his arms, I didn't feel like I had the strength to make it back. We sat silently for a while, and until he stood up with me in his arms.
"Let's go home darling." He leapt into the air and we turned west. The sky was beginning to take on a darker shade of pale, and I knew we needed to find shelter for the day. To my surprise we were not that far from his home in Shreveport and within minutes we had landed lightly in the driveway.
"Will Pam be okay?" I know she had pissed me off, but I didn't want her to be hurt.
"She'll be fine, she wasn't hurt, just her pride perhaps." He smiled the teensiest bit. "She should learn to keep her mouth shut."
We entered the house, me still in his arms, and I felt a wave of exhaustion pull me under. I was barely conscious when Eric laid me gently on his bed. I saw him staring down at me with concern as he covered me up. He looked at his watch and then at me again. My head was still throbbing, and I felt a slight wetness at my ear, which I reached up and touched. My fingers came back red and bloody, and I looked up at Eric.
"Rest my love. We'll discuss it this evening." He smiled and stroked my hair, and I closed my eyes. But I didn't miss the fleeting look of dread that crossed his face as I succumbed to the swan song of the rising sun. Macabre...
Chapter Eight