Chapter 3
The Truth Hurts
The look on Sam's face was preposterous when we walked in. He couldn't take his eyes off his mother being tied to one of my kitchen chairs. I could only assume Karin had brought the extra rope. I nodded at her and went to stand directly in front of Sam. Although I didn't want to I know, I didn't have a choice but to go back into his head to get the information I need because he would never tell me on his own. That would just be too simple. I reached out, put my hand on his neck, and since his hands were tied touching his face was too intimate unless it was with my fist, and dropped my shields. "She will never understand. I was in debt. The $100,000 she gave me wasn't even close to enough, but how could I tell her? Its bad enough I made her a partner in my business because I knew if I did she would never ask for the money back. Now I will be lucky if the fuckin' vamps don't kill me tonight. Maybe they will make it quick so that De Castro cannot torture me for failing him. It doesn't really matter if I fail tomorrow night. Bill will show up and take her by force since I re- invited him into the house without her knowing."
"Sam!" I hollered, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked at me, realized I was touching him, that I was listening to his thoughts, and snarled at me like the animal he was, and then looked down in defeat. I knew it was time to ask my questions. I took a deep breath and started with simple ones. "Sam, what exactly was your plan, and what did you mean when you thought earlier that I didn't really choose this of my own free will? What have you done to take away my will? He just stared at me with a shocked look and wouldn't say aloud what I'd already heard. He was ordered to put a potion in my drink every Sunday evening before bed. The King of Nevada had ordered his witch in Las Vegas to make the potion specifically for me. When ingested, it would make me believe that I was in love with the person who had served it to Maenad want to do anything to make them happy. He started giving it to me a week before the Were War... when I used the Cluvial Dor on him... He was extremely happy to see that the potion was working, even if he knew I didn't really love him but he didn't care. He'd stopped loving me a long time ago, but I was a loyal employee, willing to drop anything when he called, and he was glad that Janna Lynn tried to kill him. It took the only thing that could have saved Eric from his contract and left me for him to swoop in and take his place. He was trying to figure out what went wrong with the potion that it stopped working all of a sudden, and he chose that moment to speak out loud, and Sam asked, "Why didn't it work?" Sookie stared at him, no longer seeing the man she once thought of as a friend, seeing only the monster he had become, and for what? For money? This was something she would never understand because to her, money had never been important. She stepped back and just watched him, not knowing where to begin to tell the others everything she had heard in the last few minutes, she was humiliated, sad, and most notably angry; she had a vampire who had loved her and she loved him, even throughout the entire year with him being gone she loved him still. Due to the greed of so many others she had lost him, and then pushed him away to the point that perhaps even after rescuing him, she doubts that he will ever want her in his again. With that final thought, the dam breaks and the tears streamed down her face as she told everyone all she had heard, and then left the room. Sookie ran to her bedroom and before crawling under the covers, pulled one of Eric's shirts out of the drawer next to her bed. She lay back and hugged it to her chest. She knew she wasn't done with Sam and his mother but she needed to come to terms with all the information she had just gained, and then she could go back and finish all that needed finishing. She was more determined than ever to save Eric and needed to discuss with Pam what to do regarding Bill. She had no doubt that he would be there first thing tomorrow night and, with that in mind, she sat up and whispered unflinchingly into the darkness, "William Thomas Compton, I rescind your invitation to my home. "A few minutes later my door opened to Pam walking in, and then quietly lying next to me. She rubbed my arm until the tears that I hadn't even realized were still flowing ran dry. I sat up and Pam followed, watching to make sure I was okay. I nodded my head and she gave me a small smile that quickly turned into a smirk, and then into her trademark deadpan expression. Right then, I knew that everything would be fine. I would do what needed to be done and think about everything else later. Eric needed me to save him, and I needed this chapter of my life to end so I could, hopefully, be happy. I jumped out of bed and headed back down the stairs to finish Sam's interrogation.