Doing a happy dance, many of you love my story. Thank you so much for your enthusiastic reviews, favorites and followers.
A little confusion from reviewers saying why isn't Sookie bitter from Gran working with Eric instead of raising her. Okay, it said in chapter 1 that Gran had raised her until her death, Sookie was only ten when that happened. Gran was raising Sookie and at the same time working for Eric. All she had to do was make sure the house was still in order and finding the spell to help Eric and the rest of the coven to get out. So Sookie doesn't have any grudge against her Gran or Eric, because she died from natural causes.
I hope all of you know, I'm not making a light situation when it comes to orphanages. I'm sure it's lonely and sad for not having any family to go home to. Which Sookie will be dealing with some issues with that later.
By the way, life is starting to interfere. I will try to update at least once a week!
Anyway story is mine, characters belong to Charlene Harris and Alan Ball
Enjoy!
P.S. There's something weird going on with the system. Chapters keep appearing and disappearing. I have no control over this, so if the chapters keep doing that. All I can say is keep checking.
Still on the stairway railing looking down, looking directly into Eric's blue eyes, Sookie was coming down slowly. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. Eric Northman was there, alive, sitting on her couch. Sookie never saw a man so beautiful and masculine at the same time. The fire that he started in the fireplace, didn't help Sookie's stare for the fire light was defining his abs, his muscles and his face. He has silky shoulder length blonde hair, a sculpted chest, and of course her favorite part of him, his icy blue eyes. Eric looked at her with a soft smile for he knew she was nervous and she had every right to be. He just sat there patiently, letting her make the moves. She was already acting like a dear in headlights ready to jump away at a moment's notice.
Sookie finally made it to the bottom of the staircase. Eric felt like this would be the time to give her some comfort. "It's okay Sookie, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sure you have questions for me." Eric moved his hand in a wave to the other couch on the opposite side of him. "Please, sit."
Sookie approached with caution, despite her grandmother working for him, she doesn't know who he is personally. She went to the couch that he directed to her . Sookie was still in complete eye contact with him the whole time, until she looked at the painting above and all it showed was an empty chair with a liquor bar behind it. "Weird." she said nervously.
Eric gave a small grin as he looked where she looked. "Yes, it is weird especially when you've been in it for more than eight years." Sookie sat there in still absorbing, still accepting that Eric was on the couch.
"I can't believe your alive." Sookie said genuinely as Eric gave her a soft smile. Sookie's shock turned quickly into anger and she decided to stand up. "I can't believe that you made me believe that there was an intruder in the house on the first time you came out!" Eric started to howl with laughter. "It's not funny! I even called the cops!" Sookie yelled.
Eric was still laughing "I know, I watched the whole thing!"
Sookie looked at him with an inconceivable look on her face "Have you been watching me the whole time?"
"Of course, sense the moment you stepped foot into the door." Sookie was wide eyed for remembering all the things she done in front of the painting. "Don't be embarrassed Sookie, you've been very entertaining. Especially when there has been no one in the house for eight years! You can't imagine how bored I was."
"Yes! I can tell how bored you were! By letting me believe there was someone in the house!" Sookie continued still letting off the steam.
"Well, I had to do something to get back at you for teasing me with your sexiness." Eric looked at her in seduction. "Besides I'm glad what I did, so your brain had some time to absorb as to what's going on here."
"I didn't know that you were in the painting, until I've read my Gran's letter!"
"Yes, and you wouldn't believe that letter if I didn't leave some evidence behind. Evidence for you to absorb, but not enough for the cops to go after."
"I still think you should have came to me, when you got out the first time." Sookie was showing her stubborn streak that Eric found to be cute and annoying at the same time.
He told her sternly "If I told you immediately when I got out of the painting, you would call the cops. They would arrest me and then all of sudden they can't find me. Why? Because I'll be in the painting again by morning and when you have read your grandmother Adele's letter...you still wouldn't believe. Even if you say that Latin incantation and followed the instructions. Ms. Stackhouse you would actually repeat everything of what you just did in the last twenty-four hours. The only difference between what you 'd done in the present verses what could have been done, is the second way would have taken longer with me having a police record. Honestly Ms. Stackhouse, I don't want another headache that I can avoid."
Sookie once again sat on the couch absorbing by everything that he just told her. "I was so scared when I thought someone was in the house. I just moved here, you know?"
"Make no mistake Ms. Stackhouse, you have many people in the house living with you." Sookie's heart skipped a beat. Looked at him in question and alert. "Just because they're not moving and trapped in the paintings, doesn't mean they're not here."
"Why did you have to make that sound so scary?" Sookie frowned. Eric moved and got up. Sookie looked at his height for he was extremely tall, around six foot five maybe? He moved from the couch he sat at and sat back down right next to her and touched her hand. The touch had send electricity through Sookie's arm and went throughout her whole body. Sookie held her breath, for she was so close to him that she feels his body radiating off heat. "Because I don't want you to be under the illusion that you can say what you want to say or do what you want to do in front of the paintings. For we see and hear everything you do."
"I think I'll be paranoid about paintings for the rest of my life because of this experience." Sookie closed her eyes out of fear and tiredness.
"You should, especially when you see a portrait or something close to it. We don't know how old this spell is or where it came from. I know that the spell is so old that many witches, wizards, and other people of magic had forgotten about this spell. I just learned eight years ago that a few handful of witches such as Russell Edgington knows how to do this. Who knows how many paintings in this world really have people inside, and what kind of people are they? Witches don't trap people inside of paintings unless there's a reason."
"Oh my god! What if the Mona Lisa is really a woman inside of a painting?!" Sookie realized.
Eric laughed, for Sookie was thinking way too much on this. It's not her fault, for he was making it more a big deal than it actually is. He stopped laughing and thought about it for a moment. He had heard that Mona Lisa's eyes do follow you. "Actually, it's quite possible. If it is...I feel really sorry for her. That means she's been in a painting for almost five hundred years!"
"Wait a minute how can she survive that long? If she's in the painting that is?"
"Another part of the magic it that it keeps you alive and makes you stay at the same age. You don't feel hunger or thirst. You just live in another dimension. That's what paintings can create...another dimension. I even know a spell how to get in them to visit."
"I thought Gran said you didn't know the painting spell."
"I don't know the spell to trap a person inside. I know a spell to visit, like in and out. Putting someone there permanently, like me and the rest of us...that's a different spell altogether. "
"Back to the Mona Lisa, how can you tell if a person is inside a painting? Should there be any signs?" Sookie was becoming more fascinated by the minute.
"There's only two signs available to tell if the person is real inside the painting. That is when the portrait's eyes follow you, no matter where you move. The second one is that the picture changes when your back is turned. You're lucky if the witch doesn't put the frozen spell on you, as well as the painting spell. Then you can't move or do anything. That's when a witch really wants to get rid of you and make you suffer. You can't move, you can't die, and all you do is sit and watch as people stare at you in fascination. The only thing you want to do is scream through the canvas. Only they can't hear you. So if the Mona Lisa really is a live woman in that painting, she's suffered for five hundred years...not being able to move." Sookie just stared in a trance thinking that everytime she sees a painting that has a person in it, she's going to wonder if that person is real or not.
Eric picked up the Stackhouse Book of Shadows and scanned through it and spotted another envelope from Adele. "You have another letter to read from her."
"I know, I'll read it later...right now my mind is going a hundred miles per minute. It keeps spinning and I don't know if it will stop." Eric knew that she was burned out from the past couple of days since she went into the house.
Eric looked at her with a soft expression, he used both of his hands to caress her face. Sookie instantly begins to relax, she closed her eyes as he touched and caressed her face. He worked his magic touch (literally) massaging her face, and she moaned in relaxation. He caressed her cheeks, her ears, the back of her head, her forehead, her eyelids, and her lips. She loved this. 'He's too perfect.' she thought.
He looked at her with a deep thought, and noticed how beautiful she was. Dirty-Blonde hair with bluish-green eyes and so petite. "You've grown up beautifully, Sookie."
She half way opened her eyes for she was getting sleepy from Eric's massaging. "You've seen me when I was a kid?"
"When I got stuck in the painting and your grandmother was raising you at the same time she was trying to help me. When she let me out at night, one time I was looking for something and I searched your room while you were sleeping. I'm sorry she died and you had to go away."
Sookie was now wanting to go to sleep, for her body and mind was crashing. Eric's magic was helping her get the sleep she needed. Eric picked her up and carried her bridal style in his arms and brought her to his bedroom.
"You have an amazing bedroom by the way." she said in a sleepy voice.
Eric looked down at her in his arms "I thought you were asleep."
"I'm going to be in a minute." Eric placed her on the bed and put the covers over her.
"Sookie, I need you to pay attention for a moment and then you can go back to sleep." Sookie opened eyes, just a crack to show Eric she's paying attention. "By morning, I'll be back in the painting. I need you conjure me up again by saying that incantation again okay?" Sookie nodded. "We'll have to do this every night until we find a spell to undo this. Goodnight Sookie."
"Goodnight Eric." Sookie finally gets a wonderful night's sleep. As she did, Eric noticed the thunder and lightning started up again.
Before Sookie was totally asleep he whispered in her ear "It's okay Sookie, it's only thunder." she opened her eyes a crack again as she sees a smile on his face for he remembered what she wanted on the first night she came here. Sookie smiled back and finally went into a need deep sleep.
Before he went downstairs Eric went into the closet and got himself a new shirt. As he got dressed he got a piece of paper and wrote a note for Sookie when she wakes up. He got downstairs and placed the note right by the vase full of red roses he put there the last time he was out. Eric checked the grandfather clock for it was three in the morning, just enough time for him to check out a few things before he goes into the painting again.
It's been a very longtime sense he checked out the house. He went to hallways and found Godric and the rest of his people in different canvas paintings, living in their own worlds. He truly felt sorry for those who got stuck in a horrible painting background. One of his people was stuck in the dry desert with no water in sight. Another one was in a dungeon chained to the wall. While others have beautiful worlds. He sees others living in log cabins near a lake on a spring day. Another one by the beach seeing dolphins in the water.
Then he saw Godric holding an ancient weapon with a worried look on his face. He couldn't tell what world was he in. For all there was, was a stone built wall behind him. "Hey Godric. I'm out temporarily. Me and Ms. Stackhouse are going to find a spell to free us all. I would let you out, but it's almost morning. By the time I let you out, you'll be going back in. Maybe tomorrow night." Eric turned away for a minute so Godric can change positions. When Eric turned around, he smiled for he saw Godric having a smile on his face. "I hope you're okay in there. I have no idea what world you're in. All I see is a stone wall. I'll see you later. There's something I need to check.
Eric went into one of the sealed locked rooms. His hand went into his pocket and grabbed his key holder except there was only three keys. The keys that was missing from the main house key holder. Before he can open it he had to undo the protection spell. "Dimitteprotectione." he whispered. The protection spell broke it's hold and he used one the keys he had to unlock the door.
When he went into the room, the energy was filled with negativity and anger. That energy came from all of the sixty seven paintings that were there. The paintings were either hanging on the wall, slanted by the wall, or even laid flat on the floor. There was barely any room to walk into. Each painting was from Russell Edgington and his coven. What's amazing is that many of the paintings that his people were in, we're in a beyond horrible place. He even spotted one of the men was in a concentration camp. Another was in a torture device in the Renaissance time period. Then he found Russell just sitting in a comfy chair relaxing, unlike the rest of his people. Eric didn't want Sookie to ever step into this room. For he doesn't want these people to see her. he checked the paintings making sure that none of them have gotten out. As he kept looking around, the people inside paintings changed their positions. All of them, including Russell had the look of anger on their faces for they knew who this was looking back at them.
"That's right! I'm back! I'll find a way to free myself and the others once and for all. While all of you get to stay in your 'paradise' world that you've created for yourself." Eric chuckled. Then Eric's foot bumped into something metal. At first he thought it was another painting frame, until he looked down. There was a dagger with a dull blade. Right next to it was the painting laying flat on the floor. There was a tear in the canvas and a half a hand was coming through the painting. Not making any movement. One of the wizards tried to escape from the painting using the athame, a sacred witches tool which blesses and helps severing energy.
Eric bent down to pick it up. "Son of a bitch." he whispered. This was the plan, just in case if any of Russell's people got trapped in the paintings. Once one person got out, then he can free the rest. Probably using the same athame to do it. It was good try, but it still failed. The wizard died by going through painting, going against the magic. Eric looked at Russell "This was your idea to escape? You don't know the reversal spell at all don't you?" Eric just might one day have a talk with Russell out of the painting. Besides the spell is temporary, he can talk to Russell and by morning he'll go back in painting. He just needs to be sure that Russell doesn't do any damage while he does it.
Eric kept the athame, left all the paintings to where they were. Locked the door and put the protection spell on it. Thank the Gods and Goddesses for Adele Stackhouse for being over protective and creating that protection barrier. He had no idea that there was a possibility for Russell and his coven to get out of their paintings. All he knows is that Sookie and himself have a lot of spell work to do. However he has to teach her about magic, sense her beloved grandmother died before she even had the chance. Adele had done so much for him, that he swore that he'll make Sookie's life better and magical. He'll train her to be a powerful witch just like Godric trained him.
Eric went into the living room and he saw the sky getting light. Eric felt the pull of the painting. A draw that's pulling his body's essence. As the sun rose, Eric's body went into a fairy dust like substance and went inside his painting. At least Eric had the comfort that he'll be out again tonight. Being in the painting, inside this prison, was only temporary. Sookie is his salvation for freedom.