Chapter 58

The Time Has Come For Answers And I Do Not Have Them All

Eric's POV

Sookie had gotten out of the shower, claiming that she had to do the human thing that vampires were not supposed to be able to do. I heard her rush upstairs to the other bathroom. I made a mental note to have the plumbers come immediately to finish installing the toilet down here so she would not be inconvenienced anymore.

I had been mildly shocked when she told me that she could no longer hear human thoughts anymore. This was an unexpected turn of events. It could be a beneficial gift for her to be able to read Supe minds, but if I had a choice, as her lover, I would prefer she could not. The ruthless businessman in me made the opposite choice. Would it always be this difficult for me to balance the two? I loved Sookie and her well being was my biggest worry, but I could not help but to appreciate all the things that these newfound talents of hers could afford me. If I used them to my advantage, I would be unstoppable, the most powerful Vampire in New Orleans, and that would be just to start. But at what cost to my relationship with Sookie? That was a lot of questions and I had nowhere near enough answers right now.

I listened and heard no movement from upstairs. Something felt wrong but I hesitated to check on her. She would be doing the thing and if I intruded, she would be angry. Angry wouldn't bode well for me if I wanted to get her into bed to have my way with her before we went out for the night. I was craving the feel and taste of her, I would not do anything to jeopardize my chances of burying my face between her legs and hearing the sound of her calling my name. After that, I planned on some slow, drawn out lovemaking. We had been fucking so fast and furiously that I worried she might think that was the only thing I was capable of. I don't think she minded that so much, she seemed to really appreciate the multiple orgasms as much as I did. Roughness and frenzy have their place and time, but sometimes taking your time and making it last were more than worth the one, agonizingly gorgeous release at the end. The thought of it had me completely erect. I left the shower, wrapping a towel around my waist and giving my hair a once through as I looked at myself in the mirror.

Not bad at all, Northman.

I left the bathroom and called out to her.

"Sookie? Have you finished?" She did not answer, was she playing a little game with me? I scanned my surrounding with my eyes and my mind and found she was not down here. Now I was getting that frightened emotion again and I still did not care for it. I blurred up the stairs and popped out of the open trap door.

Sookie was laying on the floor next to the toilet, there was blood and vomit everywhere.

"Sorry, I didn't quite make it before the cheeseburger came up. I really don't feel good at all." And then she vomited again. Great Odin! How big had that cheeseburger been?

"Sookie, I wish I could have spared you this, but I think you would have tried to eat human food anyway. It will be quite a cross to bear for you to still crave what you remember as delicious but not be able to eat it."

"Do you crave human food, like weird Viking dishes?"

"No, and I never really did. But I was never what you are, alskarinna."

"And what am I exactly? Tell me Eric, because you know more than you're letting on. I don't have to be a telepath to see that much."

And although I truly did not feel this was the best time to do so, I decided to share what I did know with her, what I had gained from drinking her blood for the first time after she had been changed.

"Sookie, there are things about your heritage, things that you do not know and I wish I could spare you from ever having to know."

"You're not the first person to tell me that, lately."

"Of whom do you speak?" This was much to dangerous information for just anyone to know. She sighed deeply and then turned to throw up again. Would it never end? The smell was making me feel like I might also regurgitate.

"Can I just say that it's no one who will bring any death and destruction down on my head because I feel like crap and I think my stomach is finally rid of that burger. Can I please just listen while you talk? And for the first time, I think I might ask you to carry me." Her face was wan and hollow looking, her eyes pleaded with me for trust. I acquiesced. I scooped her up and carried her back down to the shower. I washed her body clean of the mess and wrapped her in a towel. She walked slowly out of the bathroom and towards the bed. I picked her up again and floated with her in my arms. I smiled down at her as she curled up under the sheet and blanket.

"Alskarinna, I must call Pam and tell her not to expect me tonight. There is much to be discussed between you and I."

"Hurry back, Eric. And please bring a bucket or something, you know, just in case."

"Of course." I hoped that the projectile vomiting was over but it was better to be safe.

I settled in behind my desk in the basement office and dialed Pam.

"God afton , Övervinna!" My, but Pam did sound very uncharacteristically chipper.

"Good evening to you as well, Pam. I will not be joining you at Fangtasia this evening so please keep things running smoothly in my absence."

"Of course. How is Sookie?"

"Not well. She ate a cheeseburger today, during the day and has been vomiting." I waited for the news that a vampire had eaten a cheeseburger during day hours to sink in.

"Well, if you're waiting for some sort of reaction from me, I'd have to say you'll be waiting for a while. I already knew that Sookie had been out in the sun."

"And just how did you become privy to this before I?"

"Quinn told me. And before you ask how he became privy to this before you, Sookie called my cell to leave a message as proof and he answered." I did not know what I disliked greater, the way she mimicked the way I said 'privy', the fact that Quinn had spent the night with Pam or the fact that Quinn had this knowledge. He had seemed a loyal sort but even I can put on an act when it is in my best interests.

"Are you really that shocked that she can travel in the sun? Think about the blood that Sophie-Ann gave her, who it came from. He himself was a day walker. The inability to walk in the sun was not always common to our kind, but more something of a defect that has mutated and become worse with every making. And here you claim to be the Vlad Dracul expert." She tsked me. ME.

Her impertinent tone was irritating and I wished that I hadn't become so lenient with her over the years. It would not suffice to have someone overhear her speaking to me so insolently. I wanted to put her in her proper place but Sookie would be very unhappy with me. I had gotten the message loud and clear that I was to let Pam know that she was important to me so she could feel secure again. A severe braiding-down would not do to serve that purpose very well at all.

"Let Chow know of my absence please. And Pam, I am glad that you sound more at ease than when we last spoke. I can assure you that you will always have a place to serve under me. You have been loyal and I will not forget that." There, that should make her happy.

"Gee, thanks boss, can I go do my menial, lackey work now?"

Where was the gratitude? Women, both vampire and human, were annoying creatures with their demands and critical analyzing of everything you say and do.

I could not think of anything to say in return that would not exacerbate the problem with either Sookie or Pam, so I merely hung up.

I ran upstairs into the garage for a bucket and made my way back to Sookie after heating up two bottles of blood substitute.

"Hi baby," she said and did her best to smile. She was curled up on her side and still looked weak and unsteady. I was beginning to fear that in addition to making her regurgitate, perhaps the human food had done damage to her somehow. There were far too many unknowns in this situation and I hated the feeling of helplessness that dogged me as I pushed her hair out of her face.

"Sookie, you need to drink this." I saw the look of distaste on her face as she eyed the bottles in my hand. "You are weak because you have nothing inside of you now. Sit up please, do not make me command you to do so."

"Do not make me command you to do so..." She rolled her eyes as she mimicked me in an unflattering way. What was it with the women in my life? Must they mock me constantly? I did not sound that stilted did I?

"Why do you do that? Make fun of my speech?" I tried to keep my voice and tone gentle but I was feeling irked.

"You're just so formal sometimes. I mean, you dress in the current style, you even highlight your hair, but you talk like a 1000 year old vampire. You never use contractions, sometimes it takes you ten minutes to say what you could have condensed into four! And it's even weirder when you throw in all that ancient blobbity-blah with a word like fuck. I wish you would move your vernacular and jargon into this century."

She slapped a hand over her mouth. I didn't know what the hell had crawled up her ass.

"Stop being such a drama queen , Sookie. There's a lot for me to school you on,some serious shit's about to go down." She giggled behind her hand. What was so damn funny?

"I'm sorry Eric."

I was about to ask her if she'd been smoking crack or some shit like that and she cut me off.

"I wish you would be a little less formal in your manner of speaking, but while still maintaining a dignified and educated vocabulary and employing the use of contractions in order to more efficiently get to the main subject of and about what you are speaking of at the time."

"Sookie, I'm not sure what you're talking about, I'm a little worried about you. I think I'll call Dr. Ludwig."

"No, no, I promise I'm fine. I promise you. I just need to be more careful with those."

I was confused. What was she talking about?

"Eric, I just completely changed your manner of speaking by wishing it. Couldn't you tell a difference?"

I decided to skip asking for clarification. There was too much that needed to be dealt with at the moment. I handed her the TruBlood and gave her the "Don't defy me" glare. She looked at the bottle miserably and turned it up. She finished the entire bottle in one long draw and then reached for the other one still in my hand.

"One should do you a world of good, Sookie, don't force yourself."

"Hand me the damn bottle! I'M STARVING!" She yelled and glared at me and I saw that her fangs were extended. I held out the other bottle and she snatched it out of my hand. It was gone in seconds. She handed me the empties and lay back on the pillow. I could see the improvement to her appearance as it happened.

"Better now, Alskarinna?"

"Yes, much! That was delicious. Wow, I never thought it would taste that good." She turned her face to me and smiled a genuine smile, her fangs retracted as she did. I'm not squeamish, but the sight of all those fangs bared at me in anger had made me a little uneasy. I was glad to see that her mood had improved as well. "Now, please tell me the news that I can feel you don't want to tell me."

I didn't know a way to ease her into it gently so I decided to just blurt it out and hope that it wasn't too much for her to bear.

"Sookie, all of the people that you believed to be your family were of no actual blood relation to you."

She flinched but I saw steely resolve in her eyes. She wouldn't show any weakness to me because she wanted the whole story.

"You are the child of a human woman and a supernatural being. A fae or what humans sometimes refer to as Faery. I know this because the history of your birthright is in your blood and was amplified by the ancient vampire blood that Sophie-Ann gave to you and then more-so when I turned you." I paused to gage how she was taking this news so far and she nodded at me to continue.

" There is a bond between maker and newborn that is created when the maker drains the human and replaces their natural life force with the magic that animates a vampire, that gives them the strength to resist final death and return to this world. This bond on the newborns side of things brings servitude, loyalty and fealty. On the makers side it brings satisfaction, increased powers and also a very detailed history, if you will, of the creations past, starting at the moment of conception. When I drank from you, I learned things that were written inside of your very cells. Things that you carried in your subconscious from the moment of conception until the moment of your death to humanity. Many things that happened in times when you were too young to understand or carry a conscious memory of but still retained nonetheless."

"So, Gran wasn't really my grandmother? Jason isn't really my brother?"

"Don't be ridiculous, you know very well that blood alone doesn't make someone family. Adele Stackhouse raised you after the people you thought were your parents died and Jason has always done his best to protect you in his own backwards way. They are still your family."

"Who was my mother?"

"I wouldn't know her name or where she came from but I do know that she died during giving birth to you."

"And my father?"

"I have much more knowledge of him because the faery blood in you is dominant. Also, with it being supernatural, it retains much more information. You do realize that this is why you are a telepath? Anyway, your father's name is Niall and he is Fae royalty. You have seen this him before and the last time was very recently. He checks on you, he cares for you but could not raise you on his own. To take a half breed back to the land where he dwells would have meant certain death for you."

"Did he take me to the people who raised me?"

"He took you to Adele Stackhouse, your grandmother. She knew what he was."

"She knew he was a Faery? How?"

"Because once upon a time they were lovers."