Sookie

Chapter Eighteen

I had to admit to myself that irritating Eric was at the core of many things that I did these days. It sounded immature and stupid but it was sometimes the highlight of my day. He could keep me but he couldn't make me like it. It helped me distinguish the days because they ran a risk of bleeding together.

My efforts were unnoticed and so was I. I gave away things he bought and he didn't care. I didn't care either, I didn't want to be bought. When I tried to pick a fight with him and shake his cool Batanya entered the room and Eric followed her out. That pissed me off a lot, like I wasn't allowed to argue with her precious employer. They would stroll out of the room calmly and she would look at me as if I was a threat to a 6'5 Viking vampire. The idea was laughable.

These days I would wake up to find Hellion and Damascus hanging around. If I went out they planned the route but otherwise they left me alone. I enjoyed the normalcy of it but today the house was eerily quiet. Abigail was nowhere to be found. I helped her with chores and we often ate together. I wondered around searching for her. There was nothing to hear but the sounds of my sandaled feet.

I had a thought that made me worry. What if Eric had blamed me freeing his food on everyone else? I knew they were meant to 'handle' me. But I'd never been much for doing what I was told. He might have held them responsible. By that afternoon I had concocted all the worst case scenarios. Poor Abigail was dead and Hellion and Damascus were hanging by their thumbs in some dungeon.

"Abigail!" I called running towards her. I stopped just outside her personal space when I realized I was acting like a nut.

"Sookie," she asked cautiously. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," I said "I was wondering where you were."

She pointed to a note pad by the coffee maker where a bright yellow sticky note told me she was at the store. We laughed at my silliness.

"I thought I should make you something special for dinner since your husband will be joining you."

I stilled. A vampire wanted to join me for dinner. It was likely to be my last supper. It had to be the only reason why he was taking time out of his schedule. I didn't let on how nervous I was, not even after the sun set. I was going to have to face him sometime. Before dinner I went up to get changed. When I opened the door out of my room, there he was.

I had to say that to date I was yet to see Eric look anything less than immaculate. This evening was no different. The suit was heather grey. It complemented the light coloring of his eyes and hair. The black shirt worn under the vest gave off an air of importance without being intimidating. His tie was silver and that little bit of silk tied it all together. His hair was brushed back but he was yet to pull into a ponytail. The man looked like he'd walked off the runway, then fallen into a GQ catalogue, and somehow landed in this hallway by accident.

"I believe you have a diamond and emerald set that would complement that dress," he said in hello.

He eased off the wall and came to stand directly in front of me. He was just too much; his beauty, his power, and his commanding demeanor. He seemed to suck the air out of the space around him. I somehow felt inadequate which made me angry. He was nothing to me and I shouldn't want his validation. More importantly I would never get it.

If he thought he was going to get to watch me sweat it wasn't going to happen. "We both know I don't have it anymore so just get on with it," I snapped.

"With what?" he asked calmly.

I proceeded to mock his manner of speech and baritone because he wanted to play stupid. "Explain to me why you cannot—fill in the blank—it is not difficult but it seems entirely beyond you. Do you require assistance with—inserted simple task—?" I prompted him. That was usually how it began. Then I would kindly tell him in not so many words to get bent.

"You are immensely confrontational and extremely combative," he stated.

I shrugged, bypassing him. If that was all he wanted then I wouldn't have to have him ruin my dinner. "I don't care enough about you for your opinion on my character to matter."

"I said something similar to," he murmured to himself.

It wasn't like he was going to apologize nor did I expect him to. I was still kind of waiting for him to start with the script. He didn't. Nor did he leave me alone. Instead he walked along side me as I headed down to dinner. He pulled out my chair and I just watched him.

"There is something wrong," he asked.

Yeah, I think you're going to kill me. "No." I sat, very aware that he was behind me as he pushed the chair in. Eric took the seat across from mine as opposed to the other end of the table. He was sipping his blood and I ate somewhat self-consciously.

"You have new guards," he said looking at his phone.

"What happened to Hellion and Damascus?"

"Unlike Hellion and Damascus, they are summoned by name. If you have need, you will call them and they will come. Otherwise they will be absent." Eric continued, "They are called Cypher and Lynx. They are Shadow Wraiths, nothing like Britlingens. It leaves you free to be alone but that means your movements should be inconspicuous."

Oh, so he wasn't killing me, this was a business meeting. I wondered how long in advance he had booked me into his schedule. He was probably counting the minutes until he could be doing something useful with his time.

"I do not expect to see you this week," he concluded, rising.

"You're kicking me out?" I asked.

"You say that as if you want to stay," he said.

I opened my mouth to give a snarky comeback but really what could I say? There were events on my calendar but he was giving me an out and I would take it no matter how temporary.

"It is my theory that you will benefit from spending time with family and friends," he said. "I will see you next week but if there is anything you require before then, call me directly. I dread your methods of problem solving."

I wasn't sure if I should be insulted.

~ooooo~

There were no reporters and there was no media circus. Bon Temps was recognizable again. I drove eagerly to my little haven and felt so free. It was just like I'd remembered. When I left home for New Orleans I paid Terry Bellefleur to tend the grounds. Oddly enough now that I had the money to I didn't want to change a thing about my childhood home. It was my only sanctuary.

The only people that knew I was here were Sam and my brother. Jason was busy but I had dinner with Sam and I spent a lot of time tending to whatever chores I had. I even created some for normalcy sake. Who would come to piss all over that but some unknown fairy? If that wasn't odd enough he was a doppelgänger for my brother. Had I not been telepathic or known Jason so well, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. So much for normal; it lasted all of three days. Not too shabby, considering I was married to a vampire, had demon bodyguards and had fairy in my blood line.

"Look," I began. "I'm vacation so whatever shenanigan this is it can wait till next week."

He stared at me for a long minute and his face broke into a huge, disbelieving grin. "How old are you?" he asked, stepping across the threshold and ignoring my bemused expression.

"What?" I asked, baffled.

"How long have you been alive?" he said in explanation, "In human years." The 'duh' was heavily implied.

"I'll tell you when I know who you are." I had enough weirdos from the other side of reality swooping into my life. The responsible thing to do was begin carding them.

"Dermot, your grandfather's twin brother."

Well, at least he was direct. I would take that as a good sign. "Twenty-four years," I said. "Want me to do the math in cat years too?"

He broke into a fit of laughter so great he half-reclined and half-fell into my favorite arm chair. There wasn't a damn thing funny, at least not from my view.

"Give me your hand," he said wiping tears from his eyes. "There is no way he could have made such an error."

I had no intention of complying with a damn thing unless I was told the reasons behind all of this. "Who and why?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

"Ada," he said. "You are not at all what you appear. He gave you away because he could not see, but I can and if what I suspect is true…," he chuckled and shook his head like someone who knew the best part of a movie was coming. "I would love to be the one to tell him."

"What does that mean? 'He can't see,'" I was trying to infer the literal meaning, but I knew their eyes worked just fine. It left me at a loss. "Claudi..." I cut myself off before I finished saying her name. While I didn't hate her, I knew I couldn't trust her completely.

"You can say her name. She is too young to hear," he said, moving toward my kitchen. I swear he really could be Jason; two seconds in my house and he was aiming to raid my fridge! Seeing he was a good source of information, I didn't protest.

"Well, she said she couldn't see either."

He sniffed my hair. It was probably strange that I wasn't weirded out by that. "Neither could my father. I think it's because you carry the cloak."

"I don't have any cloak," I said.

"I carry the sight beyond sight," he said. "And I say you do."

Okay, I wasn't sure how to argue that one. So I didn't. He seemed to dislike Niall, which was right up my alley. Looking down at where he had a loaf of bread and a jug of milk under his arm, I decided to do the smart thing before he found my stash of cookies. I made him a sandwich. It was a good way to get to know him, and have him tell me things I needed to know.

"So…what do you want?" I asked him.

"To see who was taking my place," he replied, eating the banana that was supposed to go with my oatmeal. I hazarded a guess. "You wanted to marry the vampire?"

He chuckled seeming genuinely amused, "No one can anger Ada like me," he explained. "Fintan and I were twins. It is fitting in many ways that your brother would resemble us almost identically, and you have our natural flare for defiance. If you gave me your hand, I could gauge what else we have in common." He smirked as an expression filled with mischief lit his face and wriggled his fingers at me in open invitation.

I wanted to know what he suspected. Figuring I had more to gain than lose, I held out my hand. His hand felt softer than mine and I wasn't sure if I was self-conscious about it. Perhaps because he was a fairy I could cut myself some slack. He clasped my right hand in both of his hands. There was simultaneous warmth that shot up my arm. I stilled at the alien sensation, but didn't pull away. I felt fuzzy, not in my head but in my body, then my shields crumbled. I felt my sixth sense shoot from me with explosive force. I yanked my hand away as the pressure of it rose to pain.

"Incredible," he whispered, stepping back. "I have something that was meant for you."

Dermot had gone, but my head was still spinning. It turns out telepathy was the least of my issues. At least I wouldn't have to face them all until I was twenty-seven. So, I did myself a favor. I wouldn't think about them now either! Instead I sat looking at the little bag containing something called a cluviel dor.

The little round stone was warm and seemed to have a pulse. I could sense how very magical it was, but I wasn't sure how to use it. Dermot had given it to me and then he had left with strict instructions to keep it hidden and tell no one of its existence. I wouldn't have accepted it from him had he not given me the gift accompanied with a letter from Gran. This letter came from, and was, a part of the woman I had loved most in the entire world.

In order to get my mind off my grandmother, her letter, and this magical charm as well as my unexpected visitor, I called my best friend. I didn't care that she was in Jackson. I would drive cross-country if it would get me out of my own head.

Tara had some time off, so when I called, she took it to meet me. While she was dying to know every detail about "my whirlwind romance," and subsequent lifestyle change, she simply didn't ask. Something must have told her I wouldn't be able to discuss it and that something was right. Instead we did normal things. We had fun dressing me up so I was unrecognizable, and then we went to the mall and the nail salon. We even caught a matinee!

By dinner time, I was starved. We crawled into a local bar and grille on Route 90. It hadn't been on my "Approved List of Vendors" but it was along the way. I also didn't care. We walked in and there he was - all six and one-half feet of him. He was muscular and built like a wrestler. His skin was a deep, rich olive tone. There was light scarring on his arm I could see from my vantage point, and instead of repulsing me, it drew me in. Between fairies and vampires, I was sick of perfection. I wanted to know what managed to wound him, and the stories behind his. Scars weren't unsightly to me. They marked someone as a survivor.

I stole glimpses at him while I had dinner with Tara, but they were harmless. Nothing would ever come of it. I was just admiring his exotic looks and quiet confidence. That was what I told myself as I returned to the restaurant alone a week later. Tara had gone back to Jackson. Having her for that one day made the loneliness so much more abysmal.

The shades I wore were dark and my hair obscured most of my face just as precaution. I was in jeans and a t-shirt. No one looked at me twice, but Quinn had. He smiled at me and I looked down modestly, but dipped into his mind. He wasn't human but a Were of some kind. The fuzziness that clouded his thoughts was like Sam's, but thicker. Lingering too long there made my face hurt.

I sighed, feeling a twinge of disappointment. Of course he wasn't human. No one human was attracted to me and when they were, it was of the "burn the witch" variety. Having had it up to my eyebrows in supernatural creatures, I looked elsewhere. Yet I couldn't succeed entirely. He was a huge man and too hard to ignore. He had a certain air about him. It wasn't arrogance like Eric or the superciliousness of my supposed fairy kin. He simply commanded the room in a silent way in just his jeans and t-shirt.

My waitress came back with a glass of sparkling water I hadn't ordered. "It's from the man at the bar," she said, without setting it down. "You want I should send it back?" she asked, thinking of her missed period.

I looked to the bar to find that he was gone. It was a pity that I couldn't steal another glance to save for my hunks archives. Accepting the drink was harmless. He wouldn't know either way. so what could it hurt? "No," I said, setting my iced tea aside. "I'll take it, thank you."

The drink was set down, and to my surprise, I found writing on the side of the napkin. It was nothing much, just a drawing of a smiley face with a thought bubble that read, "Smile" and I did. It was such a little thing and it made me feel like a woman, not a vampire concubine or a spectacle.

That little inconsequential note was what brought me back to the same place just a few days later. I hadn't been sorry. He was there, and this time he wasn't at the bar. He was at the table beside the one in the corner I'd been occupying. My heart raced because I wanted to take my normal space in the corner. Shame and fear prevented me from moving away from the door. Then I wondered…what was I ashamed of?

Eric wasn't really my husband, not in the way that mattered and certainly not in the eyes of human law. I might be afraid, but I wasn't doing anything wrong. Nothing in the marriage contract I'd signed prevented that. I was stretching the bounds of the agreement, but I wasn't breaking it. I was just going to take my usual seat in a bar and grille I favored.

I sat with my back to him. There was nothing but air separating us. He was magnetic. The closer I got, the stronger the pull became. I sat and ordered a burger basket I had no intention of eating. In the pit of my stomach I was kind of awaiting the lines I'd grown to dread, "You look familiar," or "Hey! Aren't you that vampire's wife?"

None of it came. For all the roughness of his appearance, he had soft, kind eyes, from the shape to the color. He spun around in his chair, and I was arrested by pansy-purple eyes fringed under thick dark lashes. They made me smile.

"See you're taking my advice," he said, with a smile of his own. "It looks great on you."

I shook my head. "Not really," I said with a shrug. "It's your eyes. They're…pretty," I concluded.

He made a face as if he'd been mortally wounded. It dulled the untamed beauty to his face. It softened his features. It was the kind of smile you might find on a mischievous teenage boy but it didn't look out of place on his face. "That hurts, babe, and I want you to know I'm going to go home and cry about it."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "You'll survive."

"I'm Quinn," he said holding out his hand.

"Sookie," I said shaking his hand.

We didn't really talk much. It was nice to have company who didn't poke or pry and I didn't have to shield against. When we talked, it was about the baseball game playing on the fuzzy screen. Having played softball I could watch a baseball game all day long. All the next week as I had to walk alongside Eric at his high roller parties, my mind was on Quinn. I knew I was on a slippery slope but it didn't keep me from going back to the meeting place the next chance I got. Quinn wasn't there. Disappointment didn't get a chance to settle in when the same waitress brought me a bottle of water and his note.

'Lil sis needed me. Next week?' and underneath that he'd written an address.

It was an intoxicating feeling, something I hadn't experienced in my life. Seeing that little explanation made me feel important in a meaningful way, like the object of a man's affection, like I mattered. It was for that reason I discarded the note and left with a promise that I wasn't coming back. No good would ever come of pursuing my budding friendship with John Quinn. I would be a fool to try. Most importantly, I wouldn't be the only one who would suffer the consequences. I walked away that afternoon with a bittersweet memory of a man and fantasies of what might have been.