The first thing he'd have to do, he thought as he pored over Long Shadow's account book, was get rid of Bill. Of course, Bill could do nothing if Sookie chose Eric, but Eric knew that she would never do that as long as Bill was in her favor.
Desiree Sonnier had many personal charms, and Eric knew this firsthand. He had made quite a few trips to Monroe to visit her, and had occasionally summoned her to Fangtasia. He often sent her as a thank-you gift for services rendered. He paid the woman well, but frankly, it was like paying an alcoholic to drink a fine cognac. She took great pleasure in what she did; the money was a bonus. He had but to say the word, and Desiree was on her way to reward some lucky and deserving vampire in Area 5.
Tonight that vampire would be Bill Compton. Not so much as a thank you - after all, Bill had done nothing - literally nothing, even as his girlfriend was attacked - but as an alternative. Desiree was... gifted at what she did, and if any woman could turn Bill's head from Sookie, it would be her.
He told Pam to arrange for Desiree to go to Bill that night, ignored Pam's odd look in response, and turned back to business. But Long Shadow's records were convoluted, probably intentionally. Concentration was impossible. He cursed Sookie Stackhouse under his breath.
Why, why did it feel like she was under his skin, his desire for her a compulsion, a need? She wasn't the most beautiful woman he had seen. She wasn't the most graceful or articulate or charming or intelligent. He had resisted fairies better than he resisted this woman, for fuck's sake. He slammed the account book shut, leaned his elbows on the desk, and rested his forehead on steepled fingers.
He had killed a vampire for her. A vampire who had been a partner and a friend for many years. A traitorous, lying bastard in the end, but even so. More to the point, he should have kept Long Shadow alive so that he and Pam could extract information from him. Where was their money, and how had the bartender managed to embezzle it? He didn't much enjoy being $60,000 poorer, even if it was a relatively trifling sum.
There had been no time for thought or reasoning when Long Shadow attacked the girl. There had been a second to decide, and in that second, he chose her. What disturbed him, however, was the perfectly clear knowledge that he would do it again. After a thousand years, the earth was often terribly boring to him. Interesting people were too scarce to allow a sack of shit like Long Shadow to snuff one of them out. This, he told himself, was a rational explanation for what he had done.
It was certainly the only safe explanation.
* * *
Bill's phone call came at around closing time, when the humans were wiping tables and Pam was discarding elements of her costume right and left. Eric was the one who answered the phone.
"Fangtasia," he said shortly.
"Eric, what in the name of fuck were you thinking, sending that woman to me?"
He smiled broadly. "Ah, Bill. I take it Desiree arrived safe and sound."
"Answer me."
"Did she not tell you why I sent her? I like to reward people who do good work. I thought you would be pleased." As he spoke, he went into his office and shut the door.
"Bullshit," said Bill coldly.
"Was she not to your liking?" All innocence.
"What are you trying to do? Lure me away from Sookie? Tempt me to cheat so that she'll be the one who leaves me? That's just pathetic, Eric, and it's not going to work."
Eric sat down on the edge of his desk. "Let's make a deal, Bill." Now I sound like Sookie.
"I'm listening."
Eric stared up at the ceiling, thinking fast. It wasn't quite like him to offer a deal before he even knew what the terms of that deal would be. Hell, it wasn't like him to make a deal at all.
"I will let you have her--" Bill was already growling in protest, but Eric spoke over him. "You know that I have ways to take her away from you, ways that go far beyond flirting and seduction - both of which I will continue to do. That's only fair. I will let you have her if you promise to help me protect her, and if you leave her in my protection if anything happens to you." Realizing what Bill must be thinking (and rightfully so), he added: "I will not be the cause of anything happening to you."
Bill was silent, and Eric could almost hear the thoughts whirring in his head. Finally, he said, "I'm not sure I understand what you mean about leaving Sookie in your protection. I won't pass her on to you like one of those--"
"No," said Eric quickly. "No." Just the idea of Sookie being debased in that way made his blood boil.
"Please explain, then."
"If she is ever in danger, I want to know immediately. And I want her to trust me to some degree, which I don't believe she does now. I want you to give her your blessing to come to me if she ever must. In short, I want her to see me as a friend, not an enemy." Someday she would be even more, if he had his way. And he almost always had his way.
"Are you her friend, Eric?"
"Yes." His answer was immediate and firm, leaving no room for doubt, even from Bill.
"Then she'll see it herself." Eric waited in silence, then Bill went on. "I won't do or say anything to make her think otherwise."
"Thank you." The words slipped out before he thought about them, and they were certainly expressed with more feeling than he would have preferred.
* * *
There wasn't much opportunity to think about Sookie after that, as Eric set about the tedious business of reporting and making reparations for Long Shadow's death. There was also the business of finding a new bartender; he gave a scowling Pam the task of going through applications and performing initial interviews. The most unpleasant duty was his own: contacting Hot Rain, Long Shadow's maker and former lover. Hot Rain gave him a cordial greeting, but the pleasant conversation didn't last long, as Eric thought it best to get right to the point. The other vampire gave a loud shriek of mingled grief and rage. Eric winced, holding the phone away from his ear.
He vaguely remembered having been in love once when he was human, but those days were like shadows to him, moving through his mind in dark, smoky outlines with no names or other details filled in. Of more concern to him now was the realization that this would cost him far more than he'd originally expected. He had already known that the fine would be more than the amount Long Shadow actually embezzled. But he hadn't properly factored in the knowledge that Hot Rain loved the lying thief. Hot Rain stated his amount, and though it was customary to bargain during these dealings, Eric leaned back in his chair and said, "It will be wired tonight."
Sookie's life cost him half a million dollars. What bothered him more than the cost was the fact that he didn't really care.
* * *
On slow nights at the bar, it was his custom to take his laptop out to one of the booths. This allowed him to update the books, enthrall the patrons, and look too busy to be bothered. The height of efficiency and convenience. Of course, there were always those – Ginger – who could not be deterred. Tonight she sidled up to him for what must have been the fourth time. The expression on his face when he looked up at her must have triggered some dormant, sensible part of her brain, because she was fast and direct.
"Mr. Compton for you, Master." She handed him the phone and scurried off as fast as her tight leather corset and stilettos would allow.
Cradling the phone between his ear and shoulder, Eric returned to his work on the laptop. "What do you want, Bill?"
"Keeping up my end of the deal."
Eric pushed away the laptop and signaled one of the waitresses for a TrueBlood. "Continue."
"I'm going to New Orleans, which means Sookie will not have my protection from whatever murderer is out here in Bon Temps. I've called Bubba to come here and keep an eye on her, but I'm also letting you know, per our arrangement. That's all I had to tell you, so I'll just be g—"
"Why are you going to New Orleans?" He shook the bottle, removed the cap, and took a long sip.
"Personal business."
Eric gave a dry laugh. "Bill, stop bullshitting me."
He could practically hear the wheels turning in the younger vampire's head. Finally, Bill sighed. "I'm going to see Sophie-Anne. And it really is personal business."
"Suit yourself. I'll find out later."
"I'm sure you will. Do you want something else, Eric?"
"Yes. Tell Bubba that if anything goes wrong, he is to notify me immediately. That girl is too valuable an asset for us to risk losing." Why? his mind asked. You have known other telepaths.
"Did you consider that I might want to be notified immediately?" Bill was impatient, defensive, angry.
"And what purpose would that serve?" asked Eric reasonably. "You will be hours away in New Orleans, whereas I could fly to her in much less time."
There was no sensible argument to this, and Bill, to his credit, didn't attempt one. "Fine," he said. "I'll tell him."
Eric finished his TrueBlood and pushed the bottle to the edge of the table, then drew his laptop back in front of him. "Give my regards to the Queen," he said. They hung up at the same time.
* * *
As it happened, Bubba did call him out to Bon Temps, and Eric did leave Fangtasia immediately to go to Sookie, cursing under his breath the whole way. He feared the telepath was already dead, since Bubba reported that he had been knocked out and had no idea where Sookie was. He was furious at Bill for going to New Orleans when his girlfriend was in serious danger. He was furious at Bubba for getting himself knocked out. He was furious at Sookie for... for what, exactly? Getting under his skin and forcing him to give a flying fuck about something other than himself and his business? For wearing that church picnic dress to Fangtasia?
He needn't have worried, he learned when he found Bubba pacing in front of Bill's porch. She was injured but safe, taken to the hospital, the murderer dead. As he related these facts, Bubba looked forlorn at his failure to keep the girl from harm, but Eric had no patience for comforting. He drilled the half-idiot vampire until he had gleaned every possible fact.
He could feel the steady approach of dawn long before the first stars disappeared into the lightening sky. They would spend the evening at Bill's, it seemed.
Bill's house annoyed him. Everything was old, but not in a good way. Eric loved his antique possessions – indeed, anything that came wrapped in the smell of history. But Bill's possessions were old in the sense of being tired and shabby. In many ways, Bill had always seemed locked into the past, gathering dust along with his aged furniture. Bill seemed to have no concept of moving forward through history; he didn't bring artifacts of the past with him, but kept them instead as an anchor.
Eric rose just as the sun winked away from the horizon. He was finished in Bon Temps for now, and business called. But something kept him in the small town for one more errand. He called it courtesy... curiosity.
The florist was just setting his "Closed" sign in the window when Eric strode in. When the stocky man opened his mouth in protest, Eric raised a hand to silence him. "I will not keep you," he said. "I know what I want."
"Fine," the man huffed.
"A flamingo lily. You have them?" The man nodded. "Excellent. I want this arrangement--" he indicated the one he meant "--with a flamingo lily added as the centerpiece."
As the florist readied the arrangement, Eric signed the small white card to accompany it. He unfolded some hundreds from his pocket and dropped them on the counter, barely registering the florist's wide eyes, and he left with the flowers. A call to Bill provided his destination, along with the hissed knowledge that Sookie "damned well would not" want to see him. He didn't mind; she wouldn't always feel that way. He left the flowers with the nurse at the front desk.
Eric grinned as he stepped outside the hospital and looked up at the full moon. So many beasties would be out to play tonight, and Fangtasia would be crowded because tourists loved visiting a vampire bar when the moon was full.
Warm summer air filled his unmoving lungs as he flew upward towards the moon. His sharp eyes could see into the windows from a fair distance, and he circled the building until he found her. He flew closer, allowing his eyes to linger on her bruised body. Even without her sweet smell to tempt him, he wanted her. Her eyes moved to the window, met his, and widened.
He smiled at her before he turned and flew away.