All Hell Breaks Loose

Chapter 61: Dirty

Astoria, Oregon

Russell sat back in his chair while held the crystal tumbler in his hand and swirled the mix of AB negative and brandy while he watched the various scenes of this so called carnival that was hosted by the American Vampire League. He was asked by Charles why he was watching this. Russell had informed the underling one can learn a lot about their enemy by observing them in a an environment where they were relaxed and didn't expect a thing. He also wanted to watch when the bombs go off.

"A play?" Russell asked when he heard the announcement. "Fantastic." He sipped his drink as the cameras switched to the view of a stage. His smile faded when he saw who walked out and dropped his glass.

"Sir?" Nicolette asked as she had rushed inside. "I heard something break."

"Goddess," Russell gasped as he watched as his maker was telling the audience about a figure in her religion.

"Your majesty?" Nicolette asked. She had dropped to her knees and started to pick up the pieces of glass.

"Abort the mission," Russell said. "We need to remove all explosives at the carnival in Shreveport."

"Why?"

"Because my Maker is there," He snapped at her and turned back to the screen. "Why are you there, Ismene. You are above these fools. You are above these humans. Why are you subjugating yourself to their nonsense?"

"We got on the phones," Nicolette said as she ran back into the room. He hadn't noticed she had ran off "The explosives are being removed right now."

"Good." Russell sat back down at his chair. He watched the rest of the play before the camera switched over to the carnival in Houston where several roller-bladers were performing various stunts. "Are you still here, Nicolette?"

"I am," Nicolette said. She had her head tilted as she watched the performance. "This is quite amusing."

"This whole carnival is quite the farce," Russell said and took another sip.

The skate show came to an end and they were about to show a different carnival in a different part of the country but the image was cut and instantly went back to the studio.

"We have just received some disturbing news." The overly cheerful and perky news lady had just lost her upbeat demeanor. "A terrorist organization had set up bombs at some of the carnivals, possibly all of them. Authorities are working hard to remove the bombs and get everyone out safely. They ask for everyone who are watching at home to not text or call anyone at the carnivals to minimize panic."

"How?" Nicolette asked. "How did they find out?"

"I have no idea," Russell said.

"What's are next move?"

"We will watch. They won't be able to remove all of them in time."

"And then?"

"Then we move to the next step." Russell downed the rest of his drink. He did not care who they would take out, as long as they destroyed some property, killed some people and that Ismene was safe.

Bon Temps, Louisiana

To Sookie's surprise Jason woke up before she did and made breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with butter and grape jelly. He also had the news on.

"All about what happened last night," Jason said as he picked up his coffee mug. "Surprise, surprise."

"They covering those people who died?" Sookie asked as she sat down at the table.

"Pretty much. It's not just the ones that Steve told us about either," Jason said and took sip from his coffee. A few other bombs also went off in other cities."

"Oh God," Sookie gasped and shook her head. "All those people."

"Well that is the good news if you can call it that. No civilians were killed. Only a few were hurt and those were minor injuries. The only one who were killed happened to be members of security and the AVL."

"This is the work of the vampires," a man in a suit appeared on screen. "They have tried to set their traps to lure us in."

"That's that shithead that tried to stake Steve," Jason said and pointed at the screen.

"Now I've been told it was vampires who warned everyone about the explosives," the news castor said. "In fact it was Steve Newlin himself who was trying to inform everyone about the bombs."

"Steve Newlin was a wonderful man," the man said. "He was a great leader when he was human. Now as a bloodsucking monster he is following their agenda."

"And what would that agenda be?"

"To lure us all into a false sense of security. These vampires are trying to make it look like they are friendly and on our side. That cannot be further from the truth. They set up set up the explosives and then warned everyone to make them look like heroes."

"That don't make a lick of sense," Jason said after he had finished eating some of his eggs. "Most of the people who died were vampires."

"If the vampires were behind it then why would they sacrifice some of their number in this tragedy?" The news castor asked.

"These creatures are willing to sacrifice their own for their own objectives," the reverend said.

"Bull shit," Jason said. "What a load of bull shit."

"Where did you come to this idea?" The newscaster said. "Have you seen this behavior yourself?"

"I am echoing the words that were said by Steve Newlin himself when he lead us and his father the late Theodore Newlin."

"Your former leader no longer shares these opinions."

"That's because he has been infected. The venom that turns good humans into these monsters had altered his brain."

"Again I would love to hear the source of this information."

"I like this guy," Sookie said before she took a bite out of her toast. "He knows how to put these guys in their place."

"I wonder if Steve argued against this guy," Jason said and took another sip from his mug.

Sookie shrugged. "Work is going to be interesting today." She knew that everyone would be talking about what had happened at the carnivals. She also wondered how they were going to find out where Russell was located.

"This guy is redder than a ripe tomato," Jason said of the reverend.

"Thank you for speaking with us, reverend," the newscaster said before he turned to face the camera. "One suspect who has been pinned with this crime is the vampire terrorist Russell Edington who still remains at large to this day."

"We still got the whole nation looking for him," Jason said.

"Still not enough," Sookie said as she stared at the rest of her breakfast.

Eric woke up along with Pam and the other vampires. Being as old as he was he did not need to eat first and went to take a shower. As he washed himself he thought of Sookie and wishes she was with him. He could still see her with her hair plastered against her wet skin as the water streamed down her beautiful body. He felt his hand creep towards his penis but scolded himself. He was above such amusement.

After he had dressed he headed to the kitchen where Pam was waiting for him with a warm bottle of Tru Blood for him.

"Thank you," he said and took a sip. It was the perfect temperature.

"Soon we can feed of willing donors again," Pam said. "I asked our host if we can taste their human friends. She forbids it."

"Like you have said willing donors," Eric told her. He had no idea if Cassidy or Lawrence were willing donors or if Ismene, Valentino or Anya had claimed them as theirs. "Did Hailey offer?"

"I do not like the bitter taste of succubus," Pam said.

"It is an acquired taste," Eric said with a grin. "She is also half human. The flavor might be different."

Pam pursed her lips as she thought about it. "I will ask for a taste."

"Good evening," Cassidy greeted as she walked past them on her way to the kitchen. "Everything is going to hell out there."

"I would not be surprised," Eric said.

"Where is Hailey?" Pam asked. She had been looking around here but the only other people they saw were vampires.

"She's outside watching over Lawrence," Cassidy said as she opened the fridge and pulled out a Dr. Pepper.

"What are they doing out there?" Pam asked as she headed to the back doors.

Eric followed her out and saw Hailey sitting on a lawn chair that she had brought out and sipping at a Yoo-Hoo. The hybrid was watching over Lawrence who was mostly buried in the ground with only his head sticking out.

"What is he doing?" Pam asked.

"Shhh," Hailey said and held up a hand. "He's been at it all day with his divination stones trying to find our enemy's location and when that didn't work he wanted to be with the earth, to feel her and read her in the hopes that he can get some kind of lead."

"How long as been like this?" Eric asked.

"A few hours," Hailey answered and took another sip from her chocolate flavored drink.

Eric stared at the human and admired the dedication he was doing for their cause. He had hoped Lawrence would feel something soon, not just for the sake of finding Russell but also because the human did need to eat and sleep. When did he start becoming this concerned for humans? Sookie was really getting to them.

"North West," Lawrence suddenly shouted out. "I got a heading on him."

"Good," Hailey said and picked up a shovel.

Eric also picked up a shovel and went to join the hybrid but had the shovel removed from his hands by Pam

"You have just showered," Pam said as she joined Hailey in the digging.

Lawrence had gone into the dirt, naked except for those goggles of his. He shook off some of the loose bits and put on a gardening apron over himself.

"Before I shower I will tell you what I felt," Lawrence said. "I know he is still in this country and he is somewhere where the land touches water."

"Northwest near the sea?" Hailey asked.

"Oregon or Washington," Eric said.

"Felt like one of them," Lawrence said and shivered.

"You need to get back inside where it's warm," Hailey told him.

"We will work on pinpointing the exact location," Eric told him.

Ismene was inside waiting for them with a solemn look on her face and her phone in her hand.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked.

"Just received some bad news from the Authority," Ismene said. "Or what's left of the U.S branch."

"What happened?" Hailey asked.

"Several of their offices have been breached," Ismene said. "And they have been killed."