Tara hurried after Eric, as he was just about to step foot off of the yacht!
"Eric! Eric, listen to me! Those feds came to me! I didn't go to them! They said you were selling some drug that was killing people! They were going to send LaFayette to prison! But once we began living together, I couldn't do it! I couldn't sell you out!" Tara cried.
Eric just stared at her for a long moment, then cupped her face within in his hands.
"Why do you think I brought that head here?"
"Franklin's head? I don't know..."
"Don't say that you don't know, Tara. I killed that man, albeit in another universe, to prove that you could trust me. That I was family. Pam grudgingly stood by you when you caused trouble. Why? Because you were her sister. I want Emma's head on a pole, next to Franklin's head. I will be back in four hours. If I do not find that to be the case, I will order Chancellor Kibwe to kill LaFayette." Eric said coolly, before letting go of her face, turning and walking off of the yacht.
Tara just stared after him, until he disappeared from her sight. Alcide appeared beside her after awhile.
"What are we going to do?" Tara whispered. Alcide turned her so she faced him.
"I was just on the phone with the Pelts."
"The Pelts?! Why?"
"Because we need them, Tara, like it or not. I have a plan. A plan that Eric can never know about or we'll all be dead." he warned her.
"Does this plan mean we don't have to murder some poor kid?" Tara said, touching her stomach.
"If all goes well, yeah." Alcide said.
It was an hour drive to the Pelt Ranch, on the outskirts of Shreveport. Gordon and Barbara Pelt were waiting for Alcide, Tara and Emma, who was less scared than she had been before, but was still frightened. Eric had snatched her out of the clutches of her paternal grandmother, Martha Bozeman.
A few Pelt employees, whom Tara suspected were Weres, asked Emma if she liked horses? Emma looked warily over at Tara for permission. Tara nodded reluctantly and Emma was taken out of the house, and out of hearing what was going to happen to her now...
"Pardon me if we don't bow." Gordon said sarcastically, referring to Tara's royal status.
"Look," Alcide said gruffly, "we don't have time for any shit. Northman wants to kill this wolf pup. We need to hide her."
"What we really need," Tara said softly, "is the head of another wolf pup. A child. One that Eric will believe is Emma."
Just saying those words depressed her. Barbara could see it, but did not comment.
Gordon had plenty to say.
"That can be arranged. But there will be a price."
"What price, Gordon? You said you'd adopt Emma and keep her here! Hell, her real family is going to be heartsick when they never find her! Just give us what we need and we'll part company. You'll have Emma and..." Alcide began.
"And both of you will save face with Eric Northman, right?" Barbara spoke. "No. This 'favor' will require more than just a pup to replace our TWO daughters that were slain."
Tara squinted at her. What the hell was she talking about? What else could they give them? They were getting a wolf pup/child.
"Okay, Barbara, what else?" Alcide asked sarcastically. But Gordon put a hand on his wife's shoulder.
"You know what. Both of you know what." he answered.
"We want one of your babies, Tara Compton." Barbara told her outright. Tara turned to leave. The hell with this! LaFayette would just have to do jail time...in heaven! They were grabbing Emma, returning her to her grandmother and...
Jesus! That was it! The Pelts weren't the answer!
Martha Bozeman was.
Tara turned to stare at Gordon, Barbara and Alcide.
"We'll think about it. Right now, we need to find a hiding place for Emma." Tara said, signaling to Alcide they had to leave. Once they collected Emma, Alcide drove off and gave her sideways crazy look! Emma was asleep in the backseat.
"You know damned well we've just wasted an hour! We don't have time to think on it!"
"That's easy for you to say! Did you know they wanted one of my babies when you made that shit deal?"
"No. But I suspected. Hell, Tara, I figured when you gave birth, I'd just kill them and you could keep your babies."
Tara smiled at him.
"Yes, I guess we could've done that. But I think we need to see Martha Bozeman. She needs to realize that it's in her best interest to keep her granddaughter safe and find us the head of someone to put on a pole next to Franklin's."
Once again, Alcide made the arrangements with Martha Bozeman, to return Emma, but with a head in return to serve as Emma. Apparently, there was some female dwarf in the pack, that had pissed off Martha so she was slain in Emma's name.
But the exchange didn't go smoothly. At least not as smoothly as Tara would've liked. Because when Tara and Alcide arrived at Martha's trailer with Emma, they found Martha waiting...with Sam!
Emma jumped out of the backseat and flew into Sam's arms! Martha was tight lipped, as she motioned for Alcide to join her around the back of the trailer. Sam told Emma to go inside and wash up, before confronting Tara.
"What the fuck, Tara? You kidnap a child? I was watching you on TV on minute, then the signal went out, then you kidnap..."
"Sam, you know fucking well, I did not kidnap that baby, okay? Eric is still pissed off about Pam. He wants revenge."
"After all of this time?" Sam asked skeptically. "I remember when he asked you to do it before. Why now?"
Tara folded her arms.
"LaFayette is in trouble. He was selling some new drug for Eric. The feds wanted Eric and they wanted help proving Eric was selling the shit out of Fangtasia. LaFayette, DRAGS me into this shit. Eric found out and has offered to forget about the feds, if Alcide and I kill Emma."
"Whoa! That makes no sense! I mean Eric's still in trouble."
"Probably. But not with the two agents assigned to the case." Tara said knowingly. Sam shook his head.
"Northman offed two feds?"
"With Alcide and that African chancellor from the Authority. His name is Kibwe and he's been stripping at Fangtasia. He's the one holding LaFayette now. Eric wants to see Emma's head. I don't know what to do."
"Well apparently Alcide does." Sam said pointedly. "He made a deal with Martha and you're getting the head of someone that looks like a child. A child that resembles Emma. Martha also made sure that Emma's scent is on the head as well. Tara...you can't live like this. You have to get away from that vampire fuck!"
"You think I'm happy that the father of my babies, had no problem with asking me to kill a child? That's what drove me to Bill in the first place! Alcide and I are taking the head back to Eric, then I'm telling him to fuck off!"
"Do it, Tara! I mean no bullshitting this time. You're half human now so he can't call you to him or anything."
"Yeah, but he takes stuff out on Alcide when I don't do what I ask. And Alcide has had my back the whole time."
Sam nodded.
"So maybe you're seeing what a good guy he is?"
"I've always known what a good guy he is, Sam. I just don't see us together." Tara admitted, just as Alcide and Martha returned, with a sinister looking burlap bag. They all knew the female dwarf head was inside.
Tara and Alcide held hands, as Eric mounted 'Emma's' head on a pole, next to Franklin Mott's rotted one. He stared at it for the longest time, then turned to his 'children'.
"Alcide, we have a club to manage. I hope that this little task has made you realize the importance of family."
"Fuck off!" Alcide snapped, then reluctantly let go of Tara's hand. He whispered 'call me', but Eric answered, while glancing at the head.
"She won't have time. Get back to the club." Eric ordered. Alcide turned and walked out of the cabin. Tara turned to leave as well.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked. "Don't you want to know if LaFayette is safe?"
"Is he?"
"Of course he is, Tara. I had Kibwe release him even before I saw this head. I know this task was distressing..."
Tara turned away to leave, but Eric used his vampire speed to block her way!
"So what is this? Do you plan to move out of my house? My bed?"
"I asked you not to ask me to do this. You threatened my cousin's life and forced me to behead a child..."
"Tara, how stupid do you think I am? It doesn't take two people to behead a child or anyone else. Now which one of you did it? It was Alcide, wasn't it?"
Tara frowned. She guessed that answer sounded okay.
"Yes."
"Then why are you angry? All you did was watch. You did not sever the child's head, your brother did. And I am the one that should be angry. You came back to me after those federal agents informed you they were after me, didn't you?"
How did everything get turned back on her?! Tara threw up her hands!
"Yes, Eric! I came back to spy on you. Then I saw the babies room and grew to actually like being with you, again. Then you pulled this shit and now I'm moving out."
"To live with Bill?" Eric asked coolly.
"I have to stop embarrassing him. I have to stop showing up in the paper and truthfully, my living with you is making things harder for him."
"Your living with me is the deal I made with him." Eric said. "So I don't care if anything is harder for him. I don't want to talk about this anymore. What's done is done. There is no going back and what happened tonight, will only make out relationship stronger."
"We have no relationship. Not anymore. I've been trying to tell you that."
"You have been trying to say that, yes. It's a shame I don't believe you." Eric said, then with vampire speed, he covered her lips with his, welding her body to his own. Tara instinctively began returning her kisses, unthinking of her last few words to him and the things she swore never to do, or to forgive.
They had fallen to the floor, in front of the decayed heads of Franklin Mott from another universe and 'Faux Emma'.
Eric rested on his back, as Tara slowly lowered herself upon him, while cupping her own breasts. She then leaned forward, jockey style to rock back and forth upon Eric's manhood. Her breasts brushed teasingly against Eric's lips and he enclosed his mouth around one of them, as she continued making love to him.
Eric loved having Tara like this! He loved the fact that she was making love to him and there was nothing forced about any of it. It never was. No matter what feelings Tara pretended to have for him, or not have for him, when they were together like this, she gave herself away.
Eric suddenly emitted an anguished sounding cry, before releasing his seed deeply within Tara. Tara's own world was spinning out of control as she uttered piercing cry after cry, until she collapsed into Eric's arms. He stayed deeply imbedded within her, unmoving, as he secured his arms around her.
Was he selling Morphia?
Yes.
Did he intend to stop, after this scare with the feds?
No.
He planned to send Lafayette out of town for awhile. The two agents that had been killed would be missed, obviously. But there would be no proof connecting them with this yacht.
Correction, there wouldn't be enough proof to do anything about it.
His eyes glanced at the heads. Franklin Mott and Emma Garza. He had slaughtered someone for her. She had helped slaughter someone for him. Nothing would ever come between them now...
His ears raised slightly at a sound. Oh yes. He had brought some extra insurance, in case Tara stayed angry with him. The sound of that half assed journalist, Polly Pease, screaming in the trunk of his car, drifted into his senses. She would make a nice snack for him later on.