Eric didn't hear from Bill or Sookie again until the night Pam burst into his office in a very uncharacteristic way and blurted, "Bill has gone back to Lorena!"
He looked up from the supply list he was editing on his laptop. "What?" he managed to say.
Pam sat on the edge of his desk and grinned with what he could only describe as glee. "Lorena summoned Bill to Jackson, and he's given himself back over to her. He said he's coming home tomorrow night to make arrangements" - she drew out the word and savored it - "for Sookie. He wants to have everything nice and tidy before he sees her again. I suppose he wants to soften the blow when he tells her."
By this time the laptop had been shut and pushed away, and Eric stood with his back to Pam, his arms crossed. "Shit," he muttered.
"He said he would call tomorrow night to let us know he had arrived, and then the night after that he's coming to see you. I suppose you're involved with the arrangements." She shook her head and laughed. "At least now she'll be free for the taking."
Eric made a sudden turn and glared at her, inches from her face. "Take more care with what you say."
She had the grace to look abashed. "Sorry."
* * *
Bill did not call the following night, and the night after that brought only more silence. As Bubba sat in his office absently untwisting and retwisting paperclips, Eric called his human contacts at the mansion of Mississippi's King, Russell Edgington. They confirmed what he already knew: Bill was missing, and Sookie was in danger.
"Bubba," he said grimly as he hung up the phone. Bubba was an idiot, but at least he was loyal and strong – rather like a large dog.
"Yes, sir?"
"Get your ass down to Bon Temps and guard Sookie with your life until one of us can get there. I don't care if she argues. Understand?" Bubba nodded. "On your way out, tell Pam to come in here."
He slumped into his chair. Pam entered and sat quietly, apparently able to sense his mood. He met her eyes.
"Here's what we know," he began. "Bill was summoned to Jackson by Lorena, and she learned of a project he's working on."
"Is this the one he's working on for Sophie-Anne, the one he can't tell you about?"
"Perhaps. I don't know. I don't think she even knows he's missing, and I want to keep it that way. For all our sakes."
"And how does Sookie fit into this?" Pam asked. Their question-and-answer method of working through problems had served them well in the past, and Pam eased into her role as smoothly as ever.
"I can only surmise that she knows of the project as well. I'm going to make some calls and throw some money around."
"One of your many talents," Pam remarked with a slight smile.
"Go to Sookie and tell her what we know." Before she reached the door, he added, "Say nothing about Lorena."
He didn't see how they had any hope of finding Bill without Sookie, not only because of her gift, but because she probably had some knowledge about the project that started all this trouble. If she knew about Lorena, she would almost certainly refuse to help them – and he could hardly blame her. To his surprise, he found that he also recoiled at the thought of hurting her, which the truth about Lorena would surely do.
Chow supervised the bar for the rest of the night as Eric spent hours on the phone, threatening and bribing. In the midst of these calls came one from Pam's cell phone.
"She is safe?" he asked, not bothering with the niceties.
"Yes. But Bubba did have to save her from an attacker at the bar."
"Already? Fuck. Does she know anything about what's going on?"
"Nothing. She thought Bill was in Seattle."
Eric clenched and unclenched his fists. "Where is she now?"
"She's sitting here. She's not speaking."
"Let me talk to her." There was silence, and then he heard the soft pulse of blood in her neck. "Sookie, are you listening?" he asked. He got no response. "I can tell you are. Listen and obey me. For now, tell no one what's happened. Act just as normal. Live your life as you always do. One of us will be watching you all the time, whether you think so or not. Even in the day, we'll find some way to guard you." He paused and added in a gentler tone, "We will avenge Bill, and we will protect you."
"I didn't know he was supposed to be coming in last night," she said at the end of this speech, and her voice sounded very small.
At that moment he wished to find Bill only so he could have the pleasure of killing him. Bill had said nothing, then, to his lover. No "My maker is calling me, and I must obey." Nothing. He tried to think of something to say, some comfort he could offer, but Pam spoke first.
"He had… bad news he was going to tell you."
Eric heard the catch in Sookie's breath, a quiet sound that spoke volumes.
"Tell Pam to shut up," he growled.
Sookie did not relay the message - not that it was necessary. "So you knew this bad news and you knew he was coming back," she murmured.
Before he could answer her, he heard her disappear, and Pam was back.
"Forgive me, Master," Pam said. "I didn't—"
"Just get back here. There is much to do."
He had to go to Jackson; that much was clear. And he needed Sookie there if at all possible. After drumming his fingers for a few seconds, he picked up the phone and dialed Alcide Herveaux. Alcide agreed to accompany Sookie to Jackson and watch over her in exchange for the cancelation of his father's debt. Having taken care of that, Eric stayed on the phone with various Mississippi contacts until dawn interrupted him.
* * *
Sookie's house was dark and quiet when he knocked on her door the following night. There was no answer, and the door was locked. He levitated and flew to the windows, searching for a glimpse of her. He almost passed one set of windows before he realized that he was looking into her bedroom, and that she lay curled up on top of the disarrayed blankets in a long nightgown. Without a sound, he eased up the window, slipped inside, and shut it behind him.
Her bedroom smelled delicious, just as it had the last time he was there, a mixture of clean linen and perfumes and her. Sookie was on her side with her knees drawn up, almost in a fetal position. Her face was stained with dried tears, and her long hair was strewn over the pillows in messy tangles. Even though she slept, he was near enough for her blood to tell him that she was in a very fragile state. She was frightened and lonely. Her body ached for another beside her.
After ridding himself of his t-shirt, he slipped onto the bed behind her. He feathered his fingertips down her upper arm, then wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her close. Though her hair didn't offer its usual fresh scent, it still smelled of her, and he buried his nose into it until he touched the nape of her neck. Her skin was so warm and soft as he trailed his nose and lips over to her shoulder. He closed his eyes and absorbed the rush of pleasure at being close to her in this way, holding her in her own bed. Minutes or hours could have passed; he lost all track. Had Lorena been his maker, he would have staked her without a thought and returned to this bed, to the side of this woman.
Sookie stirred and seemed to reach some level of consciousness when she realized that she was no longer alone. She turned onto her back and wrapped her arms around him to pull him closer. He had found bliss, he realized, after centuries of thinking of it as one thing or another. He slid a hand up her leg, dragging her gown along with it, and he felt her warm, damp breath on his chest as she snuggled into him. Her own pleasure fed his as her pulse quickened, and he pressed his body to hers. As he lowered his head to taste her lips, he realized that her hand was wandering to the fly of his jeans. Perhaps he had not led an entirely corrupt life because the gods seemed to be heaping rewards on him tonight.
And then Sookie came to full consciousness, blotting out the mirage of happiness with a rough shove and a gasp of shock and displeasure.
"It's me," he assured her in a calm voice.
"Eric, what are you doing here?" she said angrily.
Had it not been obvious? "Snuggling," he said.
"You son of a bitch!" she snapped. "I thought you were Bill! I thought he was back!"
It was a slap in the face, and many defenses and retorts jumped to his tongue. But he bit them back and said, "Sookie, you need a shower."
She had not expected that. "What?"
"Your hair is dirty, and your breath could knock down a horse." It wasn't really true, but it would get her into the shower, where she could get ready to see Pam and Chow, who were already on their way.
She turned up her nose. "Not that I care what you think."
"Go get cleaned up," he said, more firmly this time.
"Why?"
"Because we have to talk, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to have a long conversation in bed." He smiled and leaned closely over her body again, knowing that his desire would make itself evident. "Not that I have any objection to being in bed with you, but I'd enjoy it more if I were with the hygienic Sookie I've come to know."
It took her only a split-second to leap from his arms. She opened each of her bureau drawers, grabbed up whatever lay on top, and then hurried away to the bathroom. Eric couldn't help smiling and shaking his head as the sound of the running water followed her exit. He took a moment to imagine her standing under the shower's stream with steam rising around her. He could almost see and taste the rivulets of water that slid down her skin and formed in droplets on the tip of her nose, the ends of her hair, her earlobes, her nipples… These thoughts were not helpful in his current state of mind.
He got up from the bed and fixed it neatly, tucking in the sheets and blankets and fluffing the pillows. He could hear that Pam and Chow had arrived, but he let them wait. As the sound of Sookie's dryer blasted in from the bathroom, he put his t-shirt back on, then stood staring out one of the windows. There was a sudden loud noise from the bathroom, and then a pained scream: "You bastard!"
He could only hope that she meant Bill.
A few minutes of uneasy silence followed before she emerged. She looked perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened. The sight of her made him happy, from her fresh makeup to her shiny, clean hair to the ridiculous reindeer sweater. He didn't miss her satisfied appraisal of himself, either.
"Can Pam and Chow come in?"
She said nothing, but she turned and started for her front door.
Once she invited them in, Pam and Chow walked over the threshold and took the liberty of exploring the downstairs portion of the house. Sookie didn't seem to mind. Eric grew impatient and gave Pam a significant look, and they followed him to Sookie's kitchen table. She heated up bottles of TrueBlood for them while Chow leered at her and spoke to Pam in Japanese about "our little pet." Eric ignored them. He would have to hurt Sookie in a few minutes, and he was not looking forward to it.
She set a bottle of blood in front of each of them. Eric drank out of courtesy; he wasn't hungry, and he certainly didn't want this garbage when the feast sat beside him.
"Have you found out anything else about Bill?" She looked as though she couldn't decide if she wanted to know the answer or not.
"A little," he told her. "I know Bill's been kidnapped."
Her emotions were such a confusing jumble, he couldn't pick out any individual ones. "Who by?"
It was Chow who answered her. "We aren't sure. The witnesses are not agreeing."
That was putting it mildly. Several of them completely contradicted each other.
From the mixture of her emotions, anger flared up and made itself perfectly clear. "Let me at them. If they're human, I'll find out."
Eric successfully fought a smile, but he couldn't keep the admiration from his voice. "If they were under our dominion, that would be the logical thing to do. But, unfortunately, they're not." They were under Edgington's, and if he had a part in this as well, they had no hope of cooperation from him.
"Please explain," she said shortly.
"These humans owe allegiance to the king of Mississippi."
Bill had clearly told Sookie very little about his world. She seemed surprised to learn that there even was a king of their neighboring state. Eric wondered if she knew about Sophie-Anne, here in her very own state. Was Bill trying to protect her, or was he keeping her in the dark for some reason of his own?
"Excuse me, but I could have sworn you said… the king?" The corners of her mouth quirked up. "Of Mississippi?" He nodded in reply and watched the amusement play across her face. She would soon come to see that it was no laughing matter. "For real?" Again he nodded, echoed by a bored-looking Pam and Chow. "Are you the king of Louisiana?" As she spoke the words, laughter burst out of her.
It was not the laughter of true amusement, but of tension and release. She needed it, and he let her laugh, telling her what she already knew: "Oh, no. I am the sheriff of Area 5."
She doubled over in hysterical laughter until her eyes watered and tears poured down her cheeks. Chow licked his lips, and Pam stared at Sookie as if she were a carnival sideshow. Sookie left the table and prepared a drink for herself in the microwave. When she rejoined them, she seemed to have calmed.
"You never told me all this before," she said. No, Bill never told you all this before. "You all have divided up America into kingdoms, is that right?"
Eric ignored the "Is she really that ignorant?" expressions being directed his way by his partners, and he focused on Sookie. "Yes, it has been so since vampires came to America." There was some scholarly debate about whether there had been Native American vampires, but most agreed that vampirism originated in Eurasia after the migration of those peoples to the New World. "Of course," he continued, "over the years the system's changed with the population. There were far fewer vampires in American for the first two hundred years, because the trip over was so perilous." And because they didn't care to be around the religious extremism of the Puritans; they had seen what happened to the witches. "It was hard to work out the length of the voyage with the available blood supply. And the Louisiana Purchase made a great difference." His home had been transformed from a French colony into part of the United States, accompanied by a rather violent upheaval in their world.
"And the kingdoms are divided into…?" Sookie asked.
"Areas," he explained patiently. "Used to be called fiefdoms, until we decided that was too behind the times. A sheriff controls each area. As you know, we live in Area 5 of the kingdom of Louisiana. Stan, whom you visited in Dallas, is sheriff of Area 6 in the kingdom of…" He stopped and reminded himself to keep this explanation grounded in her worldview. "In Texas."
She sat quietly for a few minutes, and he could see that she wasn't well – in any sense of the word. She was tired and afraid, hurt and angry, confused and lonely. If they had a true bond, he could offer her comfort, but he had nothing to do now but sit and observe.
"So," she said, pulling herself together, "Bill was kidnapped in daylight, I take it?" Eric nodded, as did Pam and Chow. "This kidnapping was witnessed by some humans who live in the kingdom of Mississippi, and they're under the control of a vampire king?"
"Russell Edgington," Eric specified. "Yes, they live in his kingdom, but a few of them will give me information. For a price." An exorbitant price.
"This king won't let you question them?" Sookie asked, furrowing her brow.
"We haven't asked him yet. It could be Bill was taken on his orders."
"How can I get to them?" she asked. "Assuming I decide I want to."
He was proud of her, and he hoped it wasn't too evident on his face. "We've thought of a way you may be able to gather information from humans in the area where Bill disappeared. Not just people I have bribed to let me know what's happening there, but all the people that associated with Russell." He paused briefly. "It's risky. I had to tell you what I have, to make it work. And you may be unwilling. Someone's already tried to get you once. Apparently, whoever has Bill must not have much information about you yet. But soon, Bill will talk. If you're anywhere around when he breaks, they'll have you."
Accepting this with perfect composure, she replied, "They won't really need me then, if he's already broken."
Pam gave him a quick, cautious glance. "That's not necessarily true," she told Sookie.
"Give me the whole story," Sookie said, a note of resignation in her voice.
She left the table to fetch another bottle of blood for Chow. Eric had barely touched his own. He sipped from it as Pam rattled off the long story they had pieced together from his hours of phone calls the previous night. The story was flimsy at best, but Pam managed to make it sound reasonable. To her credit, Sookie questioned the idea that someone could fool the security at Anubis. Pam explained their theory, which was probably bullshit, and told Sookie about the "accidental" fire. Finally, Sookie reached the critical question – the question that had brought them here.
"So, why would anyone want to snatch Bill?"
He studied her closely, looking for some sign that she knew. She only met his eyes evenly and waited for an answer.
"Bill's been working on a little special project. Do you know anything about that?"
"What project?" she asked.
He cast warning looks to Pam and Chow to say nothing, and they gave their silent assent. He turned back to Sookie and spoke slowly. "That is a little hard to believe, Sookie." In fact, knowing what he'd learned tonight about her ignorance of their world, it was quite easy to believe. But he had to push her. This was too important.
On the defensive, she shot back in anger, "How come? When do any of you exactly spill your emotional guts to a human? And Bill is definitely one of you."
After another warning look at his partners, he asked, "You think we'll believe that Bill didn't tell you what he was working on?"
"Yes, I think so." She dropped her gaze, but he saw hurt instead of dishonesty. "Because he didn't."
One more try. Swallowing all his affection for her, he pinned her with the hardest expression he could muster. "Here's what I'm going to do. I can't tell if you're lying or not, which is remarkable. For your sake, I hope you are telling the truth. I could torture you until you told me the truth, or until I was sure you had been telling me the truth from the beginning." He paused and let this sink in. She looked suitably frightened. "But that might damage you too badly for the other part of my plan. And really, it doesn't make that much difference if you know what Bill has been doing behind our backs or not."
To his surprise, her fear shifted into shock and anger. That was unexpected. She evidently did know something.
"That got a reaction," said Pam, as if Sookie couldn't hear them.
Eric frowned and searched Sookie's face. "But not the one I expected…"
Perhaps she had seen the project, or perhaps she had guessed what her lover was working on. What she didn't seem to understand was the implication, the fact that it was secret.
"I'm not too happy about the torture option," she said, and her voice began to fail. "And I miss Bill." With those words, her composure was lost, and she began to cry. "I do expect you to tell me why he lied about this trip, if you know," she told them through her tears. "Pam mentioned bad news."
Back to Pam's big mouth the night before. He glared at her. If this knowledge kept Sookie from helping them, he would see to it that Pam paid for it dearly.
"She's leaking again," Pam said uneasily. Then conviction set in her face. "I think before she goes to Mississippi, she should know the truth. Besides, if she has been keeping secrets for Bill, this will…"
Now that made sense. If Sookie knew the truth, perhaps she would want to tell them everything she knew if she thought it might get him in trouble. Her desire for revenge might be just as valuable as her desire to save him would have been. Then again, Sookie had never struck him as that kind of creature. Perhaps she had new, untested depths.
"You and Chow wait outside," he said at last, and they obeyed without a word. Sookie swayed slightly in her chair, and he immediately recognized the signs of fainting. "Don't you do it." You are stronger than that. And she was: she straightened and the life returned to her eyes.
He didn't like sitting across the table from her; he rose and took Pam's chair, moving it close to face Sookie. He leaned towards her and placed his hand over both of hers. They felt unusually small and cold, and he stroked his thumb soothingly a few times over her skin. His face was very near hers, but she didn't look at him. Had she taken the torture threat seriously?
"I don't enjoy seeing you scared of me. I have always been very fond of you." Not exactly spilling his "emotional guts," but close. He smiled at her. "Plus, I want to fuck you." Emotional guts and honesty in one. Still she gave him no reaction. "When we kiss…" His eyes fell to her lips, and his fangs extended. "It's very exciting." He leaned in closer and took in her scent, thinking of the feel of her under him on the hood of the car, the way her body had curved into his, soft and warm, on the bed. All thoughts of Bill and secret projects were banished.
"Somehow, that torture plan didn't make me feel very sexy," she said.
He placed his mouth next to her ear and smiled. "It did something for Chow, though."
"Could you cut to the chase here?" she said sharply. "Are you gonna torture me, or not? Are you my friend, or my enemy? Are you gonna find Bill, or let him rot?"
He leaned away, back in his original position, and gave a half-hearted laugh. How could she even ask if he was a friend or an enemy when he had stood by her at every turn since she'd known him? And did she really believe that he would consider harming a hair on her head? Perhaps it wasn't that vampires never offered their "emotional guts," but that she didn't recognize it when she saw it.
"Sookie," he sighed, "you are too much. I'm not going to torture you." He smiled. "For one thing, I would hate to ruin that beautiful skin; one day, I will see all of it. You won't always be so afraid of me, and you won't always be as devoted to Bill as you are now." The time had come to cause her pain, and he hated Bill for putting him in the position of having to do it. "There is something I must tell you." He slid his fingers through hers and clasped her hand, pleased that she tightened her hold as well. Her eyes as they met his were clear and steadfast. It may hurt less if she knew that Bill hadn't chosen it, so he picked his words carefully. "Bill was summoned to Mississippi by a vampire, a female he'd known many years ago." He paused in case she wanted to say something, but she was silent. "I don't know if you've realized that vampires almost never mate with other vampires for any longer than a rare one-night affair. We don't do this because it gives us power over each other forever, the mating and sharing of blood."
His casual sexual relationship with Pam had been one of those rare exceptions; in fact, most of the exceptions were makers and their children. Many vampires were created specifically because of a romantic attachment, and the bond between maker and child was already so strong that the sexual encounters made little difference.
He continued, "This vampire…"
"Her name?"
He had hoped that Sookie wouldn't make this more personal than it was, but she was human, after all. "Lorena." After a moment, he went on. "She was in Mississippi. I am not sure if she regularly lives there, or if she went there to ensnare Bill. She had been living in Seattle for years, I know, because she and Bill lived there together for many years. But whatever her intention in asking him to meet her there, what excuse she gave him for not coming here… maybe he was just being careful of you…" It seemed foolish to say that Bill hadn't wanted to hurt her, when he so very clearly had, intentional or not. He decided to re-emphasize the fact that Bill had not done this of his own free will. "He was… He became instantly enthralled with her, all over again. After a few nights, he called Pam to say that he was coming home early without telling you, so he could arrange your future care before he saw you again."
She swallowed and repeated, "Future… care?"
"Bill wanted to make a financial arrangement for you." And, no doubt, he had intended to ask Eric to watch over her, even though that went without saying.
"Pension me off."
That wasn't quite it, but he wasn't sure how to phrase it in a way that would give her comfort. "He wanted… Well, leave that for now. I would not have told you any of this, if Pam hadn't interfered. I would have sent you off in ignorance, because then it wouldn't have been words from my mouth that hurt you so badly. And I would not have had to plead with you, as I'm going to plead." Her hold on his hand tightened, and he couldn't help but relish it, however unfortunate the circumstances. "What I'm going to do..." He stopped, wondering how much he should tell her about his own investment in this. Would it matter? If she knew the political implications, would it make her more or less likely to help? "And you have to understand, Sookie, my hide depends on this, too." Her eyes widened, and her whole expression was an unasked question. "Yes, my job, and maybe my life, too, Sookie. Not just yours and Bill's."
There, he had said it. He had admitted to her that he – the one she couldn't distinguish as a friend or an enemy – needed her. And he saw in her eyes that it did matter. He carressed her fingers gently and explained to her about the arrangement with Alcide Herveaux, and she nodded along in silence.
"The man who tried to abduct you was from Jackson," he continued, "going by the bills in
his car, and he was a Were, as the wolf's head on his vest indicates. I don't know why they came after you. But I suspect it means Bill is alive, and they wanted to grab you to use as leverage over him."
"Then I guess they should have abducted Lorena," she observed bitterly.
Even in her pain and confusion, she was smart as a whip. "Maybe they already have her. But maybe Bill has realized it is Lorena who betrayed him. He wouldn't have been taken if she hadn't revealed the secret he had told her. Another puzzle is why she happened to be there at all. I think I would have known if she'd been a regular member of the Mississippi group. But I'll be thinking about that in my spare time. If this plan doesn't work within about three days, Sookie, we may have to kidnap one of the Mississippi vampires in return. This would almost certainly lead to a war, and a war - even with Mississippi - would be costly in lives and money. And in the end, they would kill Bill anyway. But know this: If they have Bill, if he is still alive, we will get him back." His fingers stilled in hers. "And you will be together again, if that's what you want." Or you could be mine, as you should be. As you will be one day. "To answer your question, I am your friend, and that will last as long as I can be your friend without jeopardizing my own life or the future of my area."
He had never said such a thing to any human, and he hardly realized it had poured from his mouth until he finished. If Sookie had any understanding of the magnitude of what he'd just told her, she gave no sign of it.
"As long as it's convenient for you, you mean."
If she had slapped him, it would have been less insulting, and she seemed to read his expression accurately. It wasn't her fault, he reminded himself. She knew next to nothing about their ways… what it meant for him to care about her that way, much less to voice it. He rubbed her forearms with his palms in soft, slow motions. His attachment to her should trouble him, but he found himself welcoming it.
"Let me ask you something, Eric." He said nothing, waiting for her to go on. "If I'm understanding you, Bill was working on a project for the… for the queen of Louisiana. But you didn't know about it. Is this right?"
As far as he knew, it was right. Sophie-Anne had certainly informed him of a secret project, and he couldn't imagine that Bill had multiple secret projects. After some seconds of consideration, he replied, "She told me she had work for Bill to do, but not what it was, or why he had to be the one to do it, or when it would be complete."
"So why isn't this queen looking for Bill?"
Eric kept his eyes fixed on hers. "She doesn't know he's gone."
"Why is that?"
She was getting to the heart of why he needed her – why he was willing to plead. She knew it, and he let her take the steps to get there.
"We haven't told her," he said.
"Why not?"
"She would punish us."
"Why?"
"For letting something happen to Bill when he was doing a special project for her."
Her eyes widened. "What would that punishment be?"
"Oh," he said lightly, with a short laugh, "with her it's difficult to tell. Something very unpleasant." The end result of the unpleasantness would probably be death.
He leaned towards her again, unable to stop himself. She was like the true north on his compass, and he wanted to be near her. She had been drinking hot chocolate, and the smell of it on her breath was heady. Every inch of her skin, every pulse of her blood, called to him. He wanted to touch her anywhere and everywhere. He pressed his cheek to hers, closing his eyes at the warmth.
"Eric," she said, unmoving as he enjoyed her.
"Mmm."
"Really, what will the queen do to you if you can't produce Bill on the date her project is due?"
Something in her voice shook him from his reverie and he leaned back again. Had she realized, finally, the power she had over him in this? It was with genuine unease that he replied, "Sookie, you really don't want to know." Or perhaps she did…? He knew that she had wished never to see him again. "Producing his work would be good enough. Bill's actual presence would be a bonus."
There was a set to her jaw that he would have admired at any other time. "And what will I get in return for doing this for you?"
Now he smiled. She had been hurt, and she was frightened, but she was no doormat. This was the quality in her that Bill had failed to understand. She didn't want "arrangements." She wanted to fight back.
"If Pam hadn't hinted to you about Bill, his safe return would have been enough and you would have jumped at the chance to help."
"But now I know about Lorena."
"And knowing, do you agree to do this for us?" He already knew the answer. It had been flashing in her eyes for several minutes, and he felt her resolve.
"Yes." She set her jaw again. "On one condition."
He had a feeling he already knew; Pam had been right. Vengeance was just as powerful as love. "What would that be?"
"If something happens to me, I want you take her out."
For a moment he was stunned that his suspicion was confirmed, and then he laughed. "I would have to pay a huge fine, and I'd have to accomplish it first. That's easier said than done. She's three hundred years old." The fine was no object; he had already paid once for her life, and he would do it again gladly.
"You've told me that what will happen to you if all this comes unraveled would be pretty horrible."
"True."
"You've told me you desperately need me to do this for you."
"True."
"That's what I ask in return."
Her ruthlessness was delicious. "You might make a decent vampire, Sookie. All right. Done. If anything happens to you, she'll never fuck Bill again." He grinned.
"Oh, it's not just that," she said.
He raised an eyebrow. This should be interesting. "No?"
"It's because she betrayed him."
That was the moment when he knew he would take every bullet that came her way. He was lost.
"Tell me this, Sookie," he said quietly. "Would you ask this of me if she were a human?" Not that it mattered; he would do what she asked, and he would relish it.
"If she were a human, I'd take care of it myself."
She pulled away from him and stood up, and he followed her out of the kitchen. He took the TrueBlood with him, since he had taken only a few small sips. He was certainly hungry now.
"She will help us?" Chow asked as they walked to their cars.
"Yes," Eric answered, "but she's doing it for herself. Not for Bill. Not for us." And that is as it should be.