Chapter 23
Back To What You Know
Sookie was happy. She didn't seem able to help the way she smiled at everyone as we moved around. I ignored the males who stared, but only because killing them would serve no purpose. It was still tempting. She clung to my arm as I gave her a tour of the High Court House that doubled as the Enforcer base. The only one that was impressed with the house was her.
My wife gushed over paintings and pieces of art that dated back millennia. Some sculptures were older than Godric, the Old Bat, and me combined. When I showed Sookie the library I had to drag her out of it. Then again I knew she was a bookworm deep down. Soon we had doubled back and were in the corridor by the court. Godric was making small talk with a vampire he knew from Rome.
Sookie and I were making our way over when the last person I was expecting sprang from a corner. I thought I'd made myself clear when I'd suggested she suck sunlight. Apparently not. Freyda was still intent on beating a dead horse, or perhaps she wanted my wife to beat a dead corpse?
"Eric," Freyda greeted. "I am happy that fate is your friend once more. Now a word."
I ignored her because she was clearly used to telling people what to do. I was used to ignoring orders, so it worked out. Still, I knew I had to play my hand carefully; already Sookie was tensing. My wife's eyes honed in on Freyda much like a cat who had spotted something interesting. In her mind she knew there was something that needed to be done. How extreme how that action would be was undecided.
Sookie wasn't the only one, as Godric was wearing the look that often preceded someone getting limbs ripped off. Godric was still working on his issues. Thankfully, Amelia wrapped her arms around his waist to both restrain and comfort. Even she was wearing a look of vast disdain,
"I'd rather not," I said, throwing my arm around Sookie's shoulders. I tried to steer us in the opposite direction. She went willingly, but then Freyda had to open her mouth.
"You would turn your back to a Queen over your human pet?" She didn't sound upset or insulted. She was amused.
That was the wrong thing to say. Sookie spun out from under my hold in a neat about face. "What did you say?" she asked while moving closer.
Freyda remained quiet, more out of shock than anything else. She had no idea how much danger she was in. Her expression was one of disbelief and more than a little amusement. I suppose Freyda always found it funny when she thought I was playing the fool. That was not the case now and she was going to find out the hard way.
"Is she unwell?" Freyda wondered, confused. "Or just poorly trained?"
"Were I you I would stop talking," I warned. "You don't want to piss her off."
"Silence your human, Eric," Freyda said in reproach. "Her presence offends her betters."
That was when Sookie lunged at her. If not for the bonding marks I wouldn't have realized her intent soon enough to restrain her. I began pulling her in the opposite direction. She was exerting all the force she could to break the hold but not hurt me. I was doing the same, Did I mention my wife was crazy and she had the temperament of a pit bull? In this moment, both were rearing their heads.
"Bitch, come over here and say that to my face. I want you to put me in my place." I didn't have to see her eyes, her tone told me all I needed to know.
"Filthy peasant," Freyda hissed. Her eyes were narrowed into emerald slits. Someone should really tell her she was out of her league. It wasn't going to be me. I might be an old man but I didn't want to die today.
"Scrawny skank," Sookie fired back. "With your narrow neck and ass I have no clue how you sit or swallow."
It was at that point that Godric lost his homicidal look and burst into a fit of laughter. Once he began, he couldn't seem to help himself. Tears escaped his eyes. More than once, he tried to compose himself but he couldn't manage it. He'd met Freyda once, and he hated her then. His dislike for her was so great that he had almost forced me to wed another vampire just to get me away from her. In the end he realized he loved me more than he hated her and it bit us both in the ass.
After all Freyda had done to me, I had begged my maker not to hurt her. He had given me his word and he had kept it. I supposed this was the first moment he wasn't regretting it. He was laughing so hard at the verbal assault Sookie was dishing out that he was in danger of laughing himself beyond the veil. At this point, Amelia had set him on the floor so he could have a grand time.
The scene had garnered the attention of several guards. "Is there a problem?" one of them asked.
I clapped my hand over my wife's mouth to keep her from spewing more venom. I didn't care what happened to Freyda, but violence in this of all places was a guaranteed ticket to the Catacombs.
"Not at all," I said with a polite smile. I squeezed my wife tighter. She got the point and her struggles slowed. "We are having a friendly disagreement, nothing more. We would never violate the most sacred law while in the home of the Pythoness."
The guard sensed the tension in the air but since we weren't breaking any laws, he moved on. Godric was still not acting his age. How could I hold it against him? When I had been facing centuries in the Catacombs he had wept. He had blamed himself for not killing Freyda so I wouldn't be paying for her crimes. He had been so heartbroken that his love for me had clouded his duty to protect me.
"You are a fleeting thing," Freyda said confidently, but she stepped back. "I will always own his heart."
"Fuck you, you dumb 'ho! I'm his wife and I'll see you outside," she retorted, deadly calm. "We're going to have us a good ole girl talk!"
"You will pay," Freyda said calmly. By the look of confidence, she really thought that was going to happen. I didn't have the heart to tell her just how wrong she was.
"Come cash my check Olive Oyl," she retorted. "I want you to."
"Lia," Godric asked, wiping the bloody tears from his eyes. "What is a 'ho and who is Olive Oyl?"
When Amelia explained the insult, he began laughing all over again. I sighed. There was something seriously wrong with my maker. I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh that he was in such hysterics or frown because he was making matters worse.
Sookie shrugged out from my hold and marched out the door. I had to tell my wife about a past I never wanted to revisit. At first, I'd been overwhelmed, then I'd been so happy that my mind never strayed to that past. I hadn't hidden it from her, I'd simply forgotten about it because it was so unimportant. I seriously hoped my wife understood. In the beginning, my intention had been to find all the similarities I could but there were none. There never had been.
Sookie loved me. The only person she put before me was Kai. She would suffer to spare me pain and I would do the same for her. For her I would do any and everything. I'd seen her at her worst and she'd seen me at mine; I wanted her and loved her still. That was the difference between love and lust. I followed behind my wife. She had made her way to the farthest point of the driveway that led to the mansion. It was beyond the boundaries of the Old Bat's courthouse.
"Not the typical wedding night," I said, leaning against a tree. "But it's so us." It really was too.
She wasn't amused. "Who is she?" she said with a fierce scowl. "I saw her and I wanted to…I hated her on sight. I don't like her and I don't why."
"She is no one now," I said honestly. "But once upon a time she was my wife."
My wife spared a second to send me a glare that would have frozen another with fear. Her pose was absolutely predatory. Her head was still down but her eyes still managed to hold me regardless of our height difference. Her face was drawn in a grimace. I knew that if I were anyone else I would be getting a firsthand introduction to the God Killer.
"You didn't tell me?" she hissed. "You should have told me."
I nodded. "I wasn't trying to hide it. She just hasn't crossed my mind."
Sookie huffed her acceptance because she knew that I didn't lie to her. "She was how you ended up an Enforcer?"
I nodded. Again, this wasn't something I hid, it was just something that no longer mattered. I don't know how it happened but at some point I actually begun to like both my job as an Enforcer and the Old Bat. Scary, but true.
"Yes," I replied. "Two hundred or so years ago, I went to visit the Scandinavian region where my human life began. It was there I met her. She was beautiful and I wanted her. She was also a princess and despite my cover as a rogue she welcomed a relationship with me."
"So what happened?"
While my wife didn't lose the homicidal look she seemed curious, not jealous. She didn't have to ask me if I had feelings for Freyda. She knew the truth, she could feel it. It was one of the things I loved about her. She knew that I wanted her and if I didn't I wouldn't be with her, mating marks or not.
"The same thing that always happens when you fall in love with love," I said. "We were lovers and when her husband was chosen, she wanted to run away with me. It was flattering; a princess was denouncing her throne for me."
My wife shot me a dirty look, "Anyway, I took a position as sheriff for the vampire king of Nevada, Felipe De Castro, to better protect and provide for her. Felipe's lieutenant Victor Madden saw me as an adversary to his uprising. I was moving up quickly and was held in high regard by the King. He wanted to take me out and he used Freyda to do it. She led me to believe that Victor forcibly turned her and ordered her to slaughter half the town. When the Pythoness came for her, I took the blame to spare her from the Catacombs."
Sookie came over and slapped me firmly upside my head. "Stupid." She muttered.
I smiled and nodded. "Yes, I was." I agreed. "I was in my cell before arraignment and Victor came with Freyda in tow. He gave her an edict to tell me the truth and she did. She wanted immortality but I was hesitant. So, she had asked her father for a husband to prompt her leaving home in the hopes of forcing my hand. Still I didn't grant it, so she found someone that would. Victor wanted me gone and in return for her help, he turned her."
"Uh-huh," she murmured to herself. "I'm definitely going to kill that bitch,"
Then she was pacing a small circle and mumbling obscenities under her breath. It was at that moment I scented Freyda and her phalanx of guards. Godric and Amelia were already hanging in the trees. If not for the gravity of the situation, I would have a million suggestions as to how Amelia could carve herself a fine broomstick from the branch she was perched on.
The only one who was more excited at the prospect of a finally dead Freyda than Godric was Sookie. I couldn't decide who hated my ex-wife more. My wife stood alone in the path of the approaching brigade. The power she gave off was so strong they didn't attempt to run her over. Freyda was trying to decide how to play her hand. The truth was there was no strategy that wouldn't result in her demise. Did she deserve it? Definitely, but I found that I still didn't care. The only thing that bothered me was the time and energy they were wasting on her. Freyda simply wasn't worth it, not even a fraction of it.
"Lover," I called to my wife.
"What?" she bit back.
It was probably the forced celibacy of incarceration, but the bite to her words made my cock throb. Heaven help me, I loved her so fucking much. I wanted to get her home as soon as with her in this mood would leave me sated for days. Well, maybe hours. That wasn't going to happen if I couldn't keep her from a fight that was beneath her.
"If you are intent on this you know I won't stop you, but I will tell you that I want my son. Once he is asleep, I want to make love to his mother," I paused and I realized I wasn't being entirely honest. "I want to have rough, mind blowing sex with my wife," I admitted.
The hostile expression melted from her features almost immediately. It was one of the things that came with being 'Lovers Eternal'. Her needs were as clear to me as my own and her wants came before mine. It was the same for her. I knew she was fighting it but she couldn't help herself. With a parting hiss of frustration she came to me.
Godric and Amelia were going to take the long way to Louisiana. Sookie teleported us there. I was expecting to see my sister's home, instead I was faced with the picture of southern country living. It wasn't small; it was quaint and surrounded by woodland. It was old-fashioned without being old if that made any kind of sense.
"So you know how you married me without asking?" Sookie began. She was rubbing the back of her neck.
"Go on" I prompted.
"I bought this house from Amelia without talking to you. She said it has been in her family since the Civil War. Next to Americ, it's the safest place."
Normally I could shrug it away but I didn't tell her about my bargain with the Pythoness. The fact that she had bought this house told me she wanted to settle here. I wasn't sure we could. Now wasn't the time. I told her a different truth but a truth all the same.
"As long as you and Kai are with me the where doesn't matter."
I entered the farmhouse and the first thing I saw was Kai. He was perched on the floor between Pam's legs. With at least some contact, he was content. He was calmly watching television with her. Her fingers were brushing his thick curly ash blonde hair from his face. With the noise of my appearance, he looked towards the door. His face broke into a grin and he was flailing his arms at me desperately.
The instant I picked him up, I threw him in the air and he spit up on me. I removed my shirt and wiped him off. "I missed you too, Katairu."
The only hello Pam gave me was her goodbye. "I missed you, you bastard," she said. How touching. On her way the door, she bumped her shoulder playfully with mine.
"I'm going to—" Sookie began.
"I know love," I kissed her lips and she walked out the door. While she had come with me knowing it was what I needed, she was still pissed because she didn't get to beat the shit out of Freyda. She needed to walk it off. I wanted to spend time with my son.
I kept Kai in my arms and I took a tour of the home. By the design, I knew the main home in Americ had been modeled after it, except that had been on a grander scale. This was the authentic version. The style spoke of a different era. The engravings on the mantle and the wall lamps were unique and they matched the trimmings on the railings of the stairs.
There were two bedrooms on the first floor and Kai's room took up the entire second floor. I entered the master bedroom and I had to laugh. It was mostly bed and not much else. On the bed was 'Pillow Eric.' He looked like he had been overused. I made a mental note to tease my wife about that later.
Knowing we might not be able to stay didn't make me want it any less. I was used to living everywhere, but now my place was with her and Kai. We belonged here. Somehow, I felt Sookie belonged in place that was so subtle in its beauty, so charming, and so profound in its feel.
Please no one kick and or punch me virtually. I know this kind of gaps between Fic's messes with the flow. I hate that myself but I'm serving up the goods as soon as they're hot. I'm not sure what kind of 'Mojo' you all have but it's working little by little life is slowing down one stressor at a time and I am feeling like I can wrap this Fic up this month. It's not a promise! It's willing what I want into fruition.