Chapter 9

Ready: Set: Go

At 6'5", I was used to attracting attention the instant I walked into a room. With the woman beside me, I felt like I was an exhibit at the zoo. I'd be the bad guy if I flashed fang and yelled "Boo!" The gawking was so bad that we were seated a full ten minutes before the bartender attended to us.

"Evenin," she greeted. "What can I get you folks?"

Beside me, Sookie winced and her face wrinkled. I wondered if she was jealous. Then I wondered why it pleased me.

"Sam Merlotte," I replied.

Confusion flashed across her features. "Um…well, Sam won't be in for another half hour. Anything I can get you in the meantime?"

"No," I said, waving her off.

She really seemed to be irritating Sookie. At least that was what I guessed. A different sensation settled over my skin. Unlike the unpleasant feeling that came with her pain, this one tingled over my skin. As the bartender continued to openly stare at me, I wondered if the sensation was brought on by jealousy on Sookie's part. Having to register this new thing brought my mind to all the things I was yet to find out. In fact, it brought to mind my irritation.

"We'll wait outside," I rose to my feet and pulled Sookie with me.

I opened the car door for her, but Sookie sat on the hood instead. "Who is Preston?" I wondered why I was regretting not fighting him. I wondered why I wanted him dead. Then I shook the thought aside. This was how I knew that the mating mark was turning me into something I wasn't. I didn't do jealousy, in fact I was into sharing.

"My friend, or, at least he was," she murmured. A far off look washed over her face, then she blinked it away. "I lived with his family after my parents died."

"Why didn't you go to him when your time came?" I asked, wondering instead of me, "Why didn't you try to mate with him since you were already so close?"

What I was very curious about was why she sought out a vampire. She had a faery who already loved her and she loved him, despite the fact that they hadn't slept together. That was a feat for most women or perhaps he was already mated and so neither of them got who they wanted.

She gave me a look that not only questioned my intelligence but also my sanity. "I didn't want to mate," she said. "I never did."

That made sense. This was why she'd chosen a male who was the least suitable to impregnate her. Any child she might have would live a life riddled in danger as hers was now. Well, just because I understood it didn't mean I believed that she carried anything I sired.

Sookie's posture was as tired and vulnerable as she had been the first night we met. I reached for her and pulled her against me without even thinking. It was confusing. I was still irritated, but holding her just seemed more important. I thought she would get cold and want to move, but she didn't and we didn't say anything else.

That was how the shifter found us. He spared me the scowl that was customary between our species, and I didn't hiss at him. There was just so little that incited me at that point.

"You have two options," I said as hello. "You and yours can escort me and mine to where we need to go, or my sister will go medieval on your furry ass."

"Well, the Raven Sheriff can introduce her medieval to my primeval," he replied.

"Or," Sookie said, stepping forward. "Or, we can turn down the testosterone just a tad."

I was sure he knew she was there, but the shifter hadn't looked at her fully, not with me in his path. Now, he stared and it irritated me. I shook the thought aside. I didn't do jealousy. If he could protect her, then I would gladly hand her over. The thought made my skin crawl, but it wasn't that bad because I wasn't thinking about killing her, just getting away from her. The level of discomfort was vastly decreased.

"I'm Sookie," she said, walking over and holding out her hand. "That's Eric. Pam said we could call in her favor with you."

With a parting glower at me, he shook her hand, which only made me angrier. Feeling angry only made me even more pissed. I was feeling more emotion since I met her than I had in decades. I hated it and I resented her for it.

"I really need to get away from here," she said, looking at him in the eyes. "Far away."

Her voice wasn't seductive as to cajole him. She sounded honest and sincere. Given her situation, that was exactly what she needed. Still, it sounded like she was playing him; it was what most women that had the body and the cunning did.

"I do this and Pam will clear my ledger?"

I nodded. That should have been the end of it, but Sookie just couldn't keep from petting the damn mutt on the head.

"I'll pay you a hundred thousand now, and a hundred more when I arrive safely. You handle the travel and security in the day. Eric can own the night."

"What's the catch?" he asked, eyeing her. "I mean, what has you afraid, if not vamps?"

She smiled, amused but entirely tempting. I knew I wasn't the only one to notice by the way the shifter fought an idiotic smile. "Mister, I got ninety-nine problems," Sookie said. "Fangs ain't one."

He nodded. "You've got yourself a deal." He held his hand out to her.

I was expecting Sookie to shake it immediately, but she hesitated. Maybe she didn't like him? Maybe she wanted me to kill him? It wasn't likely but I was still hopeful.

"Don't take my hand if you don't mean it," she said. "Please, don't."

I don't know how I knew, but I felt like she was offering him an out instead of killing him for violating his word later. I knew she was capable and would do just that if he tried to double cross her. The warning was due to the fact that she didn't want to kill.

He smiled warmly. This time when he nodded at her his head fell slightly deeper. Instead of his right hand, he crossed his hands at the wrist with both his little fingers extended. I couldn't fully repress my growl. In the span of only two hours she had professed to love another man, made fast friends with this shifter, all the while claiming she was carrying my child, but admitting she never wanted either of us. Talk about a web of lies.

Sookie mimicked the hand gesture and they shook on it…kind of. All the while, I struggled with my jealousy. With us being mated, I supposed it was normal. After all, Sookie might have been jealous that the waitress wanted me. That was placating. It was also reassuring that she didn't seem to care about me anymore than I cared to care about her. She wasn't looking to tie me down by accident or by force. We were both just…stuck with each other for a while.

We sat in the bar and waited as Sam circled his bandwagons. By nine, I could sense a werewolf outside. It wasn't until the scent of two wilder smelling creatures arrived did Sam signal for us to leave. Once we got outside I found us in the midst of a real party. In total, there were four two-natured, a vampire, and a faery.

The werewolf was Alcide Herveaux. I found him tolerable even though his aversion to the fang was obvious. He didn't hide it, which I respected. It made me believe that he would do his job regardless.

Calvin Norris was a were panther who had seen too many winters. It should make him the weak link but it did the opposite. The experience in his eyes and the scars on his body proved it. Then, there was Quinn the tiger. He who looked like a cross between an eight ball and a genie. I took an immediate dislike to him. It wasn't because he was a were; I've found some of that species that I liked. My dislike for him was based on one inadvertent and minor incident. Sookie had walked out to the car to get her bag and I heard him call her "Babe." That single word went through me like a silver knife, and it was downhill from there.

That night our party of six left Bon Temps and began our journey out of Louisiana. Our mode of transportation? A mobile home hauled by a truck.

Our course was west. Our destination was Kahoolawe, Hawaii. It was the smallest of the eight volcanic islands that made up Hawaii. It was where my maker was. More importantly, it was a refuge when all else was lost. It was a place where not even the sun could do me harm. That was the good news.

The bad news was that Hawaii was several states and an ocean away. I didn't need Sookie to tell me that she couldn't sail the seas for fear of the Water Fae. She sure as shit couldn't take a plane because those of the Sky were also hunting her. Therefore, I was on a cross-country journey, in a mobile home, with four two-natured and a faery. There were so many jokes packed into that scenario that I sincerely didn't know where to begin.

The team of two-natured cut the traveling time. It minimized the risks and the chance of discovery. While I rested during the day, they would drive. During the night, Sam would shift and fly several miles behind to search for a tail. I would fly ahead to search for potential ambush. It sounded easy enough, but I didn't for one second think we weren't going to find trouble. We were just trying to get as much warning as we could.

I found that my tie to her was dulling the ones I had to my maker and even my sister. I could feel them, but where there should have been a rich plane of connection there was only familiarity. Never in all my years would I have thought there was something that could supersede the tie between a maker and their child, but this accidental tie to a faery had done the unthinkable. It was as if the laws that governed this world had been rewritten for us. It wasn't Godric who made me what I was, it wasn't gravity that held me to this world; it was Sookie. There was nothing else.

It was intense, and for a wanderer like me, it was almost impossible to comprehend. Trying to tamp down the natural or unnatural tie made me as irritable and disgruntled as I'd been after the initial mating. Then, her half was calling to mine and vice versa, but we were both too far apart to hear. I had to make my peace with the fact that she was temporary. This tie was nothing but a twist of fate that would be undone once her child was born.

Sookie used me for a mattress as she had every other time we had spent the night together. She looked at me and I knew she wanted to sleep. I held my arms open, she came, and straddled me. Her legs wound around my waist and she rested her weary head in my chest. She was asleep before we hit the highway.

I should move her to a more comfortable place, but I needed her right where she was. I removed my jacket and threw it over her as she slept. I didn't remember when my fingers began combing through her hair or when I was caressing her sleeping face. Yet, when her body began to tense, I noticed. It was as if a vise had encompassed her whole body. With every breath, the tension in her body grew. I knew her eyes would be snapping open and she would attack.

Three of the weres were asleep and Sam drove. Up until then the ride had been quiet. I began talking to calm her. I really would prefer not to have my neck broken for the second time tonight. It didn't keep her from springing awake. As I expected she didn't know me, and when one of her fists came at me, I dodged it. I couldn't avoid the second, so I swatted her hand aside.

I moved faster than I'd had to in ages to take hold of both her wrists. Even if I could, I wouldn't hurt her. I shook her gently, thinking it would bring her around. There was still no recognition, but the look in her eyes changed from cold to terrified. Somehow, I knew that was so much worse. That was the last thing I saw. This shit was going to get very old, very fast.

I woke up at first dark the next evening, in Houston. I could smell my own blood on me though someone had tried to wipe it off. My shirt was also gone and I stunk of were. Sookie was standing at the foot of the coffin that had been provided for me. Her head was downcast, and the expression on her face was sorry; not sorry as in apologetic, but sorry as in pathetic. I couldn't fight the urge to make her feel better, though I wasn't over what she had done to me.

"So I see you're the classic abusive type," I said, pointing to the bottle of blood in her hand. It was a liter, it was warm, and it smelled human. She had also brought me clothes. "First you beat me up, then you buy me presents."

Her eyes went wide, and she waved her hands in front of her to add emphasis to her denial. "No!" she replied hastily. "No, I didn't mean it. You know I didn't." She leaned forward and patted my leg. "I'm sorry."

I arched a dubious brow. "That's what they all say." Now, I was just messing with her. "Until they do it again."

She turned ten shades redder and she was sputtering out explanations so fast, her words were tripping over each other. "I know that's how it looks, but I'm not like that. Even if I could, I wouldn't beat up on you or anyone else. I'm—"

I couldn't keep my features calm anymore. My lip twitched as I fought a smile. Her mortified expression was the funniest thing I think I'd ever seen.

She huffed and shook her head despondently. "I can't believe I fell for that," she sighed. "You're an asshole!"

I couldn't help but grin. "Precisely."

She frowned at me, but in the end, she couldn't help but laugh. I knew she couldn't help it. Looking back, fighting her was probably the worst thing I could have done. While I didn't condone spousal abuse, the thought of me being on the receiving end of it by someone a fraction of my age was hilarious.

She handed me the bottle of blood and next to her, it was the best I'd ever had.

"Do you need another?" she asked.

I stopped and assessed my damages. I found that I did need more. "What did you do to me?" I asked. She had said she was getting weaker. If this was weak for her, then her enemies were in deep shit.

The lightness of the moment clouded. She looked away, but didn't answer. "I'll sleep alone."

I heard her exit the trailer. We were at a rest stop. I shadowed Sookie, but we didn't speak as she ate. I noticed she didn't eat or drink anything that didn't come out of her bag. I found I had been happy to joke with her a few minutes ago, but the feelings of resentment and irritation hadn't faded. Those had just been thirty seconds in what were hours of strife. True as that was, when she reached for my hand I gave it to her, and I draped my other arm around her shoulder. After refueling, showering, and stocking up on supplies, we were good to get back on the road.

The next night there was an uncharted stop. I rose at first dark, found the trailer was parked, and Sam and I were the only ones in it. This was usually the time when we did our aerial scouts except the convoy wasn't moving. This couldn't be good.

"Why?" I asked, feeling annoyed.

"She didn't say," was his useless reply.

"And you allowed it?" I asked calmly. All I really wanted to do was rip his head off.

Sam shot me a disparaging look. Some bodyguard he was; he was pathetic for backing down to a pregnant woman. "By that I assume you've never argued with her," he said.

No, but I was about to start. I was awake last night. If she was tired then, she could have discussed it with me, and I would have charted a better place to stop. It would have been somewhere more public where our enemies wouldn't be able to fight as hard because of collateral damage. Instead, we were in the middle of nowhere at an inn with several cabins. In short, it was the perfect place to be raped, stabbed, strangled, or done away with in some unsavory manner, and no one would be the wiser. I growled under my breath, this fucking woman.

I didn't even have to guess what cabin belonged to Sookie. I didn't have to follow her scent. I didn't have to conjure her face in my mind and let that guide me. This was something else. I wanted to find her, so the mating mark on my back found hers. That only added to my irritation. The fact that her door was unlocked had me wanting to strangle her, until I saw her.

Desire, devotion, anger, duress, consternation, and resentment were emotions I understood. I have experienced them before, but not all at once. For someone who had long ago opted to have the emotional range of a teaspoon, it was just too much to process. All those emotions and many more washed over me as I saw the position she was in.

Sookie had stolen the shirt I had discarded at dawn. She wasn't wearing it as some women would have. Apparently, she didn't know what normal meant. Instead, she had dressed a body pillow in it. She was sleeping on top of it much as she did with me. She didn't look like she did when she slept, vulnerable, beautiful, and peaceful.

This time, she also looked restless and exhausted. There were dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in days. Maybe she hadn't. Two nights before she had attacked me and didn't have me to sleep on. Last night she had retired to the back of the trailer. I simply assumed she had slept but clearly, she hadn't.

Seeing I preferred to remain conscious tonight, I exited. After closing the door behind me, I knocked on it. I knocked loud enough for her to hear, but not enough to frighten her. I knew I still startled her because it took her a minute to answer.

"You're good," she said. "Come in."

***Buckle up, we're going on a road trip***