Summary: In a world where Uncle Bartlett went too far, Sookie Stackhouse decides to embrace herself rather than bend to the townfolk's perception of normal. Years later, she saves a dense vampire from two drainers. Slowburn Sookie/Eric.
As my polls says, I've been considering showing earlier (or missing) scenes of CR!Sookie's life, so check that out and post a vote. Feel free to offer suggections or requests in PMs or reviews.
Especially reviews.
There was a strange sound - like a crack muffled by the meaty slide of flesh - before Bill rasped out a pained response, "I...shall be fine."
"That sounds plausible," Sookie said dryly.
With her arm firmly in front of her eyes, she shifted her wrist, so she could see Bill's face. His expression was contorted in agony, throat bobbing in a painful swallow. She frowned, guilt prickly over her skin like poison ivy, but she kept a tight hold of the shovel. "Yeah, you don't look it either."
"I will recover," Bill groaned, zombie-grey skin stretching into a pained grimace.
"Need me to push anything back in?" It worked for the pretty blonde girl in Heroes.
When it came to vampire physiology, Sookie was rather lacking in knowledge. Most of her information was, in fact, second hand and viewed through a film of prejudice. Dawson had little care for vampire biology beyond the addictive date-rape quality of their blood and how to defend his pack from rogue vampires looking for a bloodbath.
Bill stared up at her. She raised her eyebrows at him before he finally realized she was waiting for an answer, and shook his head carefully. "My ribs...will repair themselves...shortly..."
Sookie nodded. She backed away to sit down on a tombstone, ready to fly to her feet at the slightest sign of a threat. She positioned the shovel to block the sight of Bill's groin, let her arm drop from her eyes and looked at his face.
He shifted stiffly in the dirt, teeth gritted as he grunted out, almost angrily, "Why did you attack me?"
"Why did you run at me?" she retorted tartly before her voice took on a faintly condescending note, "C'mon, Bill - you've known me for a few days now, what did you expect me to do?"
"I did not expect you to forget all reason, and attempt to defend yourself from me," Bill said, somehow managing to infuse his words with a sleezy politeness though his voice was stiff and hitched with pain.
Though she had been faintly concerned for him before, Sookie felt her annoyance returning quickly. It was so much easier to tolerate Bill when he wasn't around, and wasn't managing to irritate her with every single word leaving his mouth. He was maddeningly smug.
"Bill," Sookie said pointedly, twirling her wrist in a graceful gesture, alluding to their situation. A haughty look of distaste flashed across Bill's face at the term, just like she'd expected it to. "You did not win this round."
Bill's expression contorted into an unreadable though clearly unpleasant expression before twisting viciously in pain - there was another meaty cracking sound, like his ribs were slowly snapped back into place. It felt incredibly sadistic to sit on the sidelines and simply watch him struggle like this, but considering the vampire-hating killer strolling around, it would be worse to leave him in such a weakened state.
"I was unprepared," Bill bit out, exhaling with a grunt of pain, almost loud enough to become a cry. "I assumed...you would recognize...me."
Sookie lowered her head, and shot him a look of incredulity. "Bill, when a grey blur rushes at me in a graveyard, I tend to think oh, shit, zombie rather than ah, my neighbour is ... actually, what were you doing?" A thought occurred to her, and made her flinch slightly. Unlike Eric, Bill should be wearing clothes at all times for the sake of her stomach. "Are you a nudist?"
"Of course not!" Bill sounded outraged and disgusted by the very idea. Sookie was tempted to divulge her one strange experience with a nudist colony simply to see how he reacted but she grudgingly cut him some slack right now. "After I received your text message, I tried to return home, but it was too close to dawn for me to finish my journey."
Sookie saw several huge holes in his story, and darkly wondered exactly what it said about Bill's opinion of her that he assumed she would buy it. She was used to people thinking poorly of her intelligence because of her comical disposition and waitressing job. Most women were forced to act stern and humorless to gather the appropriate respect. It was a maddening thing, but it was occassionally useful.
Like now.
"Let me get this straight," Sookie said slowly, evenly, knuckles whitening around the shovel, "Instead of running to your home, less than half a mile from here, at vamp speed, you decided digging yourself a grave and then somehow burying yourself again would be the fastest option?" The comical note of disbelief in her voice hardened seriously. "And you've been dodging my question - you lunged at me, why?"
Bill was silent on the floor before he let out a loud, shrill groan, the crack of bones snapping back into place filling the air. Sookie looked down at him unflinchingly. He was injured, and she was in an excellent position to bring the shovel down on his neck if he made a move towards her. Her heart beat steadily in her chest but only because she willed it to. Her stomach was twisted in a big reluctant knot.
She didn't want to kill anybody, but if she waited too long, Bill would be healed, and her advantage would disappear.
"Try again, honey," Sookie said promptly, a sickly sweet note ringing unsincerely in her voice. Her golden hair was stirred by a change in the wind, cooling her cheeks.
"I know Eric Northman has taken an interest in you," Bill rasped, pain roughening his voice. He tried to sit up, lifting himself a few inches off the ground before flopping weakly back down. "He is a vicious, bloodthirsty savage. He has no regard for human life, viewing them as mere cattle!" his accent thickened with rage and heat as he spoke. "He will use you for his own personal gain, and then toss you aside as soon as it pleases him!"
Sookie took note of the aggression in Bill's voice - jealousy of Eric's promiscuous charm?
Before she could think more on it, Bill softened his voice, like he was talking to a frightened doe-like child rather than the woman who had saved his life within five minutes after they had met - "You are not safe with him, Sookie. I wish only to protect you from him."
There was a note of beseeching in his voice, almost pleading, but Sookie sensed decite. Not a complete lie, he did fear Eric's interest in her, but the truth was twisted expertly.
Sookie wasn't a trusting person nor a naive one. She knew Eric was a brutal killer, that any sense of morals he had were far different from her own, but he was far from the senseless animal Bill seemed to think of him as. The blonde vampire was clever, no matter how little he seemed to think of human beings. She didn't doubt that Eric threw people - vampires and humans - away when he was done with them.
He liked her, he wanted her, and she would never stop being useful to him. Her instincts gave a tentative thumbs up when it came to him.
Bill, on the other hand...
A series of memories clicked together in her mind. He had given her a bad feeling from the start. It was interesting how quickly he had arrived after the Rattarys had tried to attack her, and how a trio of perverted vampires happened to be at his place the night she'd told him she would deliver a bunch of information in exchange for his presence at the DGD meeting.
Why, if a certain vampire had saved her, it would have sent her maidenly heart all aflutter.
He had been suspiciously interested in her since the beginning.
She was sure there were other pieces of evidence she'd overlooked in an attempt to be fair, but in the end, Sookie didn't need anything else. She suspected her instincts were supernatually enhanced. It was rare they were wrong.
Currently, her instincts twined with common sense and ordered her to stall any major reactions.
If Bill did have an agenda that involved her (logic suggested her telepathy, though how could he know about that?), he would keeping trying to win her trust.
That would, by proxy, put him in her corner - a sleezy snake in the grass. That could be useful. She needed to talk to Dawson - even if they were at odds, he would help her - and gain his insight into matters before acting. For now, she would soften her abrasive personality just so towards Bill, like she actually believed him but not enough for it to be implausible.
"I don't need to be protected," Sookie said, deliberately weaving a note of petulance in her voice.
"Sookie," Bill said, trying for sage and dignified, coming out condescending and paternal. Even though he was filthy and naked. "Eric Northman is far more dangerous than two drug addicts."
"Then how do you expect to protect me from him?" she asked bluntly, alluding to his inability to handle the Rattarys. Considering how 'forgetful' Bill seemed to be, she added more blatantly, throwing her voice defensively, "You know, considering how your first night in Bon Temps panned out."
It was lucky snark was one of her trademark - therefore, expected - personality traits. It would have been a waste to miss the chance to throw that in his face.
Bill gritted his teeth, bitterness and anger flaring across is face, vague in the dark, before his expression was taken over by pain. Despite her theories, Sookie felt a twinge of sympathy and the gaze of guilt at the sound he made. She wasn't a monster.
"You have no idea of the lengths Eric will go to in order to possess a talent such as yours!" Bill shouted, voice harshened with stung pride and pain.
The words spun around her head, hitting her hard. Her dark eyes widened a frantion, expression stiffening in shock. Her hands tightened on the shovel, muscles coiling in her arms. "Talent?" she repeated, a leaden weight to her words.
Bill pushed himself up, finally managing to sit. "Bon Temps is filled with rumours," he grunted roughly, pain twisting his mouth. "I would not have believed any of them had you not revealed yourself by warning Eric of the raid at Fangtasia. I assume he spared your life in exchange for use of your gifts."
As gravely as Bill had underestimated her, she had done the same. The knowledge stung bitterly, and the pity in his face was salt in the wound. It snapped her out of her disbelieving mindset. If any vampire believed she could read them, her life expectancy - which was hardly high in the first place - shortened drastically.
"My gifts don't work on vampires," Sookie said plainly, having carefully noted Bill's unspecific wording.
The rumours about her said psychic, not telepath.
"But they do work on humans," Bill pointed out urgently, like this could not have occurred to her before."Eric has already begun acting against your best interests! By allowing me to heal Sam despite the laws against such use of our blood, he is trying to make you feel indebted to him! You cannot trust him!"
Sookie clamped down on her reaction - shock and a dawning stir of anger in her blood. Until now, she'd had no idea that using their blood to heal someone was illegal to vampires. Eric hadn't told her. Maybe he intended to down the line, but did that really matter? Sam would have died if Bill hadn't offered, and if Eric had stuck to the law.
Hearing Bill slandering him wasn't unexpected, but it was unwanted.
It wasn't that Sookie trusted Eric unconditionally, but she did feel a certain kinship to him. Shared humor and amusing banter. And she couldn't forget Eric lifting her out of her Gran's blood easy. She was far more inclined to trust Eric than Bill.
She knew Eric wouldn't harm her. It would be bad business, and she thought he might like her enough to avoid screwing her over unless there was no other option. She wasn't swayed by Bill's thinly veiled attempts at convincing her Eric was the biggest threat to her but she was too cautious to forget that Eric was a very cunning man.
Which was admirable as long as they were on the same level. Though considering she still hadn't found the time to dig up that damn contract and someone who knew more about the supernatural world than her to make sure she didn't mess up, it wouldn't surprise her too much if Eric sought another way to tie her to him.
The rational thing would be to test Bill, and give herself some - though incredibly dubious - advice at the same time tonight. It was a risky gamble, but that was the point of gambling.
"You're right," Sookie said quietly as though in realization, the lie curdling on her tongue but never touching her face.
For all her bluntness, she was a damn fine liar.
The bathroom filled slowly with steam, old pipes creaking faintly through the house. Under the spray of water, Sookie turned her actions over in her mind critically. There was a certain element of stupidity in letting Bill tag along with what she suspected of him but if she was correct, she needed to know as soon as possible. Tonight was a perfect time to test him. The bar was draining a bunch of her free time, so it might be awhile before she had another chance like this.
And trusting Eric unquestionably, she reminded herself, was far from wise.
It was difficult to remember that when she thought about the silken texture of his blonde hair as she rubbed shampoo into his scalp. Less than 24 hours ago, he had allowed her to get behind him, and she had enjoyed the strange intimacy of washing his hair. But she wouldn't let that soften her.
Sookie sighed, head rolling back, water narrowly avoiding her eyes, and tried to do the Math.
Eric had presumably arrested the nesting vampires with only her word as evidance. The night of Gran's death, he had beaten a group of werewolves up and left them bloody in the street. But the werewolves had started that fight. He had kicked a human across the room for touching him, but she did pretty much the same thing. He glamoured Jason, but Jason had come into his bar while high off V. Eric had kidnapped her, but he had let Bill save Sam.
Eric Northman was a complicated person, damn near impossible to comprehend.
It itched at the blonde that she was basing her logic regarding Bill on speculative theories. But until she had a better idea of things, acting decisively would be unwise. She would stick with the plan.
After scrubbing the lingering scents of cheap beer and cigarette smoke from her skin, Sookie climbed out of the shower and dried herself off before applying a cherry-scented moisturizer all over her body. She wrapped her body up in a large white towel and moved back into the bedroom, flopping down on the bed. Her golden hair stuck to her skin slightly, already beginning to dry in clumsy half curls.
Sookie rolled over to her front to avoid dripping on her white sheets before snagging her cell from the bedside table and scrolling down her contacts list for Dawson's number. Her fingerprints were hot from the shower, leaving faint marks on the buttons. A name caught her eye - Eric Northman.
Unlike Dawson, Eric's knowledge wouldn't be castrated by his dislike of vampires.
Unlike Dawson, Eric wouldn't answer her questions with the condition that she never told him why she needed to know unless she was ended up in trouble.
Unlike Eric, Dawson was mad at her.
Unlike Eric, Dawson was mad at her.
Unlike Eric, Dawson had known her for ten years and might recruit the pack if he thought Bill was a threat to her.
Considering her status as Friend of the Pack, they would come. Right now, that would just be an unnecessary war. If an offical pack of werewolves attacked and killed a vampire, Eric would have to get involved. It would turn into a bloodbath.
Her friends in the pack could be killed. Eric might be fine, but that wasn't definite. The number of oblivious humans killed in the crossfire would be huge. Sookie felt a small chill at the very idea - calling Dawson wasn't an option anymore.
"Sookie Stackhouse," Eric drawled out, dark voice caressing her name slowly. If she had been wearing panties, they would have exploded into scraps of lace. "What can I do for you?"
Sookie grinned, a tart amusement rising through her. "You could tell me everything you know about Bill Compton."
There was a brief silence from the other end of the line. "Bill Compton," Eric stated, almost contemplatively, but his voice was mostly unreadable. "Why not ask him yourself? He appears quite taken with you."
An interesting element dwelled in his voice in the very slight pause before he described Bill's supposed feelings for her.
"Because I'm not looking for a lump of pretty-worded bullshit," Sookie answered brightly. Her mind caught briefly, like a jagged nail, on a worry - what if Eric was involved? - before she dismissed it somewhat hesitantly.
Eric chuckled darkly. "Bill Compton does seem the type, doesn't he?"
"So do we," Sookie pointed out in an amusing voice.
"Yes," he agreed, sandpaper rough voice not quite so disinterested anymore. "You are aware of the similarities between us."
It wasn't a question, more of a statement testing her reaction.
She could have denied it or dodged the question or made a flippant joke about wishing she had his height rather than her small stature, but she didn't. They were alike in some ways - enough for her to know he wasn't looking for feigned offense at the idea or a small joke twisted with a compliment.
"It would be pretty difficult to overlook them," Sookie acknowledged truthfully, a wry note bleeding through in her voice.
It figured she had more personality traits in common with a thousand-year-old vampire than with any human she had ever met.
"Very well," Eric said finally. "I know very little about Bill Compton's origins. He was turned during the final days of the civil war by a vampire named Lorena Krasiki. She is considered deranged even by vampire standards. They travelled together for several decades, recklessly leaving exsanguinated corpses in their trail." A faint note of irritated crept into his voice, at their sloppiness, before fading back into disinterest. "They seperated sometime in the 1930s."
Sookie digested that quickly, trying not to let the whole exsanguinated corpses thing unnerve her too much. If she began to fear Bill, she might freeze up if he attacked her. Rather than lingering on the few pieces of information Eric had left her, she focused on what he hadn't given her.
She was no closer to discovering if Bill was actually a problem or not.
"Do you know where Bill was before he came to Bon Temps?" Sookie asked, already knowing the answer.
"Unfortunately, I do not," Eric answered smooth, like she had expected. "Why the sudden interest in Bill Compton? I remember your distaste for him quite...vividly."
Sookie reached up to run a hand through her hand. The sheer fact that he was helping her made him entitled to the truth, but she wasn't quite ready to tell Eric just yet. It sounded far-fetched, and she wasn't sure how to explain all the little details that made her even consider the idea. Maybe she was snapping under the pressure, and finally going crazy with undeserved paranoia.
Somehow, Sookie felt unready to dismiss the idea completely.
Still, it seemed self-centered to assume Bill had an agenda against her. There were very few people truly aware of her telepathy, and none of them were fond of spreading that information around. It was crazy and paranoid and arrogant of her to think it.
But there was one thing that struck her as odd, even chalking her theory up to a fit of egoistic paranoia.
"It seems a little coincidental that the day after Bill arrives in town, people start turning up dead," Sookie told him.
"A vampire needs an invitation to enter a home owned by humans," Eric reminded her, a note of coolness in his voice. In truth, Sookie hadn't forgotten, but it was the only thing she could think of saying that wasn't an outright lie. "The next time you attempt to lie to me - try harder."
Sookie hesitated, a faint twist of guilt in her stomach. As far as she could tell, Eric had never lied to her, and the only thing he had withheld from her was about Sam. Despite what she wanted, she did trust him somewhat, and it was clear he had expected her to tell the truth.
"I'm sorry," she said simply. Eric was silent, so she continued. "And thank you."
"You're welcome," Eric said simply.
Sookie lingered on the line for a moment before picking a slightly joking finish to their conversation. She expected the delivery to be delayed until the delivery boy realized risking angering a vampire by not finishing his job was worse than delivering the flowers - but it was a little past six which was when she had ordered the delivery for.
Her voice took a turn for light and playful, "Don't eat the messenger."
Before Eric could respond, she hung up and swung her legs over the bed, clutching the towel to her chest as she moved over to the closest.
Wear white, Eric had said.
A wicked smile tugged at her mouth.
Sookie picked out a casual though pretty dress in the color of a mulled red, closer to the rare red-sky rather than wine or blood. The dress clung to her clevage, and her hips, outlining her shape attractively but not obscenely. After brushing her hair, allowing it to remain extremely wavy, she began to apply her make up. Dark mascara, slight pink blush to her cheeks, soft red lipstick.
Her necklace was silver with a diamond embedded S as the pendant hanging between her breasts. Though it sounded like something a lover would do, Dawson had brought it for her when she turned sixteen as a protective measure. It had ended up at the bottom of her jewellery box somehow. She wore her only pair of silver earrings everyday.
Her phone began to ring. The caller ID read Eric Northman.
After spraying her pulse point with her favourite perfume of lillies, Sookie shifted her skirt up to her thigh and stretched a leg out. Her skin glowed with a healthy tan and shone from the moisturizer. She snapped a picture of her leg like that and teasingly sent it to Eric. A pre-emptive apology for Bill's presence tonight.
And a nice distraction from remembering how Gran had teased her as she carefully applied her lipstick for the first night she had gone to Fangtasia.
For a moment, Sookie lingered before the mirror and studied her reflection. It looked more like a subtle invitation than an attempt to dress up for him - it looked like the tease it was. She chose to wear a small pair of heels, an innocent white to match her undergarments.
At that thought, her reflection grinned, reddened lips parting to show her teeth.
The car drive passed quickly by. Bill seemed to be brooding, looking soulfully out of the window shield while Sookie listened to the radio, and tried to let the strange music drown out her thoughts. But the music wasn't light and dancing, softly beautiful like Eric's had been. It was simply bizzare. She spent most of the ride torn between trying to figure out what the hell she was listening to, and trying to keep an eye on Bill.
She hated being in an enclosed space with someone she didn't trust almost as much as she was beginning to hate this stupid idea.
Logic suggested Bill wasn't about to flip out on her for being silent for once, after how many times she had accidentally insulted him or deliberately took shoots at his pride. At this rate, Sookie was seriously beginning to wonder why someone hadn't tried to kill her before recently.
As a human being, she was emotionally closed off, overly sarcastic and snarky to the point of suicide - a tragedy in the middle of a juicy part.
She had lost Gran, and she was losing any respect for herself by refusing to mourn, but she wasn't dead yet, and there was always more to lose.
Bill's car pulled up outside of Fangtasia and parked. The lot was empty except for a blazing hooker red corvette. Bill scoffed at the sight of the car.
"Red isn't your color?" Sookie asked, a smirk slotting effortlessly on her face. Why, no, I have no insane suspicions about you at all! This is reality after all, I am a simple telepath and you are an inexplicably irritating vampire - nothing to see here.
Even her inner voice was a smartass.
"I am vampire," Bill said, like she could have managed not to notice this with the superspeed and fangs.
"I was being ironic and - okay, not so witty - but still."
Bill looked at her, narrowing his eyes before looking out at Fangtasia. "I do not like his ego," he said forcefully.
It shouldn't have sounded so petulant and grumpy but somehow, it simply came out like that.
"Ironic," Sookie repeated, grin dashing across her face. Bill snapped his head in her direction, very clearly offended. She popped the car door open, twisting her expression into an overly pretty pout.
"I thought the ego made the vampire," she finished with an almost taunting innocence in her voice. Bill frowned at her, so irritated it was close to a scowl, brows furrowing as he made to say something, but before he could, Sookie swung her legs out of the car and climbed out, shutting the door with a jerk of her hips.
She saw Bill sighing through the window before he opened his own door, exiting the car and pointedly closing the door properly. Sookie ignored the snide little gesture, figuring if he was so desperate for her to close the door like a proper young lady he would say it aloud, so she could shoot off a sarcastic retort.
In the interest of seeming realistic, of course.
Though, she might listen since it was his car. And she wasn't that rude. Even with her suspicious, there was a line between snappy and bratty.
Automatically, Sookie waited a moment for him to meet her before setting off across the parking lot. Though her legs were short, her natural walk was quick and brisk, filled with energy, so she found herself slowing to match Bill's sedated pace. She had done that for Gran, though for far different reasons; she didn't want to give Bill her back.
She could see the dark door to Fangtasia, proclaiming the door was closed. She was wearing a denium jacket with her casual orange-red dress in case the Louisiana heat took on an unexpected chill, and she felt glad for it as the air changed, sweeping up her hair.
"Should we knock?" Sookie wondered, glancing aside at Bill. "Walk in? Break a window and slide in? God, I would hate to be someone that accidentally broke into a vampire's place. Do I - no, wait, I really don't want to know. So, knock or walk?"
The expression of total bewilderment on Bill's face at the minor ramble brought a broad grin to Sookie's.
Eventually, he managed to blink himself out of it. "I assume walking in would be expected."
So vampires, not much for the whole personal space deal.
She wasn't surprised.
Before Bill could do it for her, Sookie pulled open the door, noting how easy that had been. If she had been holding a meeting (or whatever) in Merlotte's, she would have used the back door, but considering how blatant it was that Fangtasia was owned by vampires...
Yeah.
Sookie stepped tentatively into the spider's web, and looked around, absently holding the door open for Bill, once again keeping her back from him. Bill seemed discomforted by the gesture, more because of the reversed gender roles than because he was catching onto her own discomfort, but he did move by her into the club.
Fangtasia was the same clash of black and red, running together to create a morbid though slightly tacky establishment. Though it had been far from impressive the night she had met Eric, the club seemed almost absurd in better lighting.
There was a terrified man sitting at one of the tables, a worrying flush of red to his face, skin glistening with sweat. Sookie felt an instinctive pull of sympathy for him, expression softening a fraction before closing back up again. Her dark eyes slid to the three vampires in the room.
Longshadow was standing behind the bar, hands braced down on the wood. Bill was beside her. Leaning up against the bar, Pam was wearing grey suit pants, a pale pink sweater, and a stunning pair of heels. The female vampire pushed off the bar, and stalked toward them.
Sookie met her halfway, and told her, "You look good in pink."
Pam smirked. "I know." Her blue eyes dragged down over Sookie's form slowly and with obvious appreciation that brought Eric to mind. "Mmm." The vampire's eyes lingered on her cleavage. "Aren't you lovely in red?"
Sookie blinked at her, eyes wide and guileless. "All the better to distract you with, my dear."
There was a certain dark element of irony in the Big Bad Wolf referrence.
Sookie held her innocent expression in place while Pam smirked, a glint of amusement in her hard, cynical eyes. Bill stood stiffly by her side, clearly uncomfortable with the small exchange. The telepath recalled Bill telling her about Pam keeping him from checking up on her after Eric decided that kidnapping was an awesome way to end his night.
"Eric wants a word with you in his office," Pam informed her, voice unhurried and unconcerned. Her eyes flickered boredly to Bill as she added pointedly, "Alone."
Bill puffed himself up, looking ridiciously like a tiny owl fluffing its feathers up. "Sookie - "
"Okay," Sookie said, blocking Bill's next words off before she could lose her temper. She tried not to think about Bruce
"Through the back," Pam drawled, using her hand to indicate the way.
"Thanks," Sookie said briefly. She glanced at Bill briefly, amused by the tension in his face as he looked at her, before following Pam's vague instructions. As she walked by, she felt Longshadow's gaze drilling into her, and she threw him a sarcastic wink before disappearing through the side door.
It was the same corridor the four of them had used to dodge the police raid. The door to Eric's office was at the end of the building, close to the the back exit. Sookie tried the door to find it unlocked, and pushed it open, stepping into the room.
Eric was sitting behind his desk, extremely long legs perched up on his desk. As usual, he was dressed in dark clothes, muscular arms bared to her interested eyes. His ice-blue eyes locked on her figure, and darkened in approval. There was a flower arrangement of beautiful white roses beside his feet.
Sookie smiled at him, amusement glowing in her eyes, ready to quip - but Eric shot across the room until he was standing before her, stooping to catch her eyes. He touched her hip, a brief ghost of contact through the thin material of her dress. Her stomach flipped, and her heart jumped, startled by the abrupt touch.
"This color suits you very well," Eric purred, large hand moving slowly around her waist to the small of her back.
Sookie felt a small start when she realized how big his hand was - how long his fingers were. Her body reacted to this realisation with a deep throb of lust between her legs, almost aching from the abrupt turn in emotions. She looked up at him, about to kill the moment, before she noticed the look in his eyes. It was dark and unexpected. His touch burned through her clothing, into her skin and into her spine.
"It almost makes up for seeing Compton on your arm."
Sookie tilted her head to the side, and raised her eyebrows up at him. "What, do you have X-Ray vision now?"
"No, I have CTV cameras," Eric corrected her crisply.
"It always throws me when supposedly mythical creatures use technology," Sookie said to excuse her bizzare theory.
Eric's thumb dug into her spine, and he lowered his head, a flare of impatience in his ice-blue eyes. "Sookie."
"I accidentally hit him with a shovel," Sookie admitted.
Eric's eyes sharpened dangerously. "And then?"
Sookie hesitated, and a storm brewed in his gaze. She didn't want to lie to Eric, but she wasn't prepared to risk telling him the truth either. Her suspicion was bizzare but if it happened to be true, she couldn't be sure about Eric - not enough.
Not yet.
Maybe one day.
It seemed unlikely, but the fact that she - Sookie Issues Stackhouse - was even considering it was a miracle in itself.
Sookie looked up at Eric, needing to tilt her head up even when he lowered himself for her, and said; "What happened to the other vampires?"
Eric stared at her intently, his eyes drilling remorselessly into hers but she held firm, despite the shift of nerves in her gut. It was unnerving to be looked at with such searing intensity.
"They will be dealt with," he said eventually, his voice dispassionate about the nesting vampires. "Harshly."
An uncertain pinch between her eyebrows, Sookie nodded. She felt like she should feel strongly one way or another about that, but it felt like a line through a problem. Briefly, she wondered exactly where the three vampire were before deciding she didn't want to know. Her thoughts turned to the human ashes discovered in the ruins of the burned down house, but it was unlikely that Eric would either know or care.
Like he wouldn't care about Bruce. She could feel the human's panic hammering at her mind frantically, all but begging her for help. It softened her stony heart like only sincerity could.
"Speaking of dealin' with things, I think your accountant is about to have a heart attack - which would kind of make reading his mind a little difficult - "
"That would be inconvenient," Eric remarked, a trivial note to his husky voice. His ice-blue eyes continued to burn into her, showing where his attention truly laid, but he did shift, hand moving from the small of her beck, ready to brush by her.
"Wait," she said, holding up her hands to stall him. She shifted back in front of him, feet planted firmly into the ground, and looked up at him, dark eyes fierce. Eric stopped, a smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth. His eyebrows arched while his eyes lowered, looking her over once again.
"Promise me, you will actually hand whoever did this over to the police instead of chewing on them."
"We've had this conversation before," Eric stated, a faint, dry amusement weaving through his voice.
"And now, we're having it again," Sookie said, nudging him lightly in the shin with the edge of her heel. Despite herself, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
For a deadman, the life in his eyes could rival the one in hers.
Eric looked down at her leg, the healthy glow of her tanned skin, exactly like in the picture she'd impulsively sent him.
"Very well," he said as though simply indulging her, flickering his eyes back to hers, a sardonic slant to his expression. He gestured to the door with a broad sweep of his hand, and Sookie turned, opening the door before walking out of his office. She held the door automatically for Eric, who looked amused.
It was an interesting contrast. Bill had been uncomfortable with the little gesture, and Sookie had been dreading turning her back on him for even a second. It was funny with Eric.
The small detail stuck in her attention in an oddly vivid way. It made her aware of other small gestures she tended to overlook.
Eric's strides were long and graceful, an unflinching stalk, but she noticed that he slowed slightly for her. Considering how he had allowed her to sit behind him and wash his hair, she assumed it was for the same reason she slowed for Gran. Or maybe not.
For Gran, Sookie had wanted to see the expressions on her face as they spoke.
Eric opened the door to the club for her, and she smirked knowingly, dipping her knees in a mock curtsy before slipping out ahead of him and into the tense silence in the club. As she walked over to the seat across from Bruce, Sookie looked between Pam, Longshadow, and Bill.
"Awkward," she noted, sitting in the chair. She was highly aware that her back was to the three vampires.
Eric came to stand at Bruce's shoulder, towering over the man. His expression was stony and deadly, an almost feral element of violence to it. Sookie flickered a look at the tall vampire before turning her gaze to Bruce. He looked utterly terrified, wilting in the chair, sweat slick on his skin.
Sookie reached over, and took his hand. It would make her powers look weaker, and it was the compassionate thing to do. Bruce startled at the slight contact, thoughts buzzing frantically through her head with an animal terror, and his dull brown eyes snapped jerkily to her face.
"Calm down," Sookie said firmly, catching his gaze and holding it. Her dark eyes drilled into his head forcefully. She felt a strange sensation falling over Bruce's mind, a calming lull, like from an outside presence. It felt heavy and mystical.
It was coming from her.
Shock ripped through her mind, and the tentative hold loosened until she focused again, trying to keep Bruce calm by forcing herself to shelf that briefly. Keeping her expression soft but firm, Sookie waited until Bruce met her eyes, easily seeing the remaining fear lingering under the hold.
"Do you steal their money?"
"No," Bruce said. The question seemed to shatter through whatever was happening. His terror flooded back in. "No, no. You gotta believe me, I didn't do it, I swear - "
"Hey, hey," Sookie said, a bit sharply to reclaim his attention. Bruce fell silent, and looked at her desperately. He was pleading with her for help. Her insides knotted together, stomach swooping almost sickeningly, before she took a deep breath and smiled at him. "C'mon, calm down before my brain is slushified and starts gushing out of my ears."
Bruce's expression took on a faint furrow of confusion at the words but she kept talking before he could start wondering, "Do you know who did?"
Bruce grimaced, looking down, and shook his head. "No."
Wish I did - I'd turn that fucker in so fast - couldn't be Ginger, she's too dumb, though hot as shit -
Sookie blocked his thoughts out, and looked up at Eric. "He's tellin' the truth," she told him, cocking her head to the side. "One down, how many more to go?"
"You trust a skinny human to clear the fat one?" Longshadow demanded insultingly.
Eric lifted his gaze from her, and looked at the other vampire dangerously, evidently unamused by the implied incompetence. Sookie twisted around in her seat, bracing her elbow on the back of the chair, and arched her eyebrows up acidly.
"What does weight have to do with - well, pretty much anything right now?" she asked, distaste shining clearly through in her voice before sharpening with indignance. "Also; skinny?"
From the corner of her eye, Eric smirked faintly. "Bring the next one in."
The next one was an eeriely skinny blonde woman in a tiny boob-tube and a small denium skirt. Sookie stopped herself from making a joke about Longshadow mixing them up, but the woman reminded her oddly of Hadley. As a teenager, Hadley used to dress like that. Her cousin had been bulimic, just as unhealthy and sickly skinny looking.
Sookie felt a strange pang in her stomach at the memory, a ghost of the horror she'd felt as she watched her cousin disappearing like that. Until Hadley had found drugs and actually went MIA.
"Mmm," the blonde woman said in a supposedly seductive voice, looking over Sookie's shoulder at Bill. "Yummy."
Sookie grinned in amusement, catching a glimpse of Bill's seemingly perpetually uncomfortable expression.
"Ginger, this woman has some questions for you." Eric's voice was coldly patronizing, like an adult talking to a slow child. Sookie realized to him, that was probably exactly what it was like. Pam forcefully stubbed out Ginger's cigarette in the ashtray. "Be a good girl and answer them, hm?"
"Aye, aye, master," Ginger simpered.
"Master?" Sookie repeated in disbelief, unable to help the amused grin cracking across her face as she shot Eric a look. Eric's gaze slid to her, a few shades darker than usual but his expression was not angry, so much as intrigued. The blonde shook her head - not going to happen - and turned her attention back to Ginger.
Since by now it was expected, Sookie reached for her hand carefully, but Ginger jerked back as though she had been stung. "Don't you touch me."
Sookie paused, feeling a deep stab of sympathy for the resistance. She didn't like to be touched. It simply wasn't something she had ever been particularly comfortable with. Lately, she was letting herself be touched more, but if someone went to touch her at the wrong moment - well, her fuse started sparking at the very idea.
When someone didn't want to be touched, they should never be forced into it. No matter the reasons or intents behind each of those actions, that was one of the things Sookie felt strongly about.
"Believe me, honey, I'm about as ecstatic about this as you are," Sookie said sarcastically, tucking a wavy strand of blonde hair behind her ear. She rolled her eyes up to Eric's face. "I can do this without touching her."
"Then why did you have to touch the other one?" Longshadow demanded.
"Because it's easier to focus on someone like that," Sookie retorted in a bland tone that showed exactly what she thought of his pitiful attempt at troubling her. She kept her gaze on Eric.
Eric gave a short shallow nod downat Sookie, encouraging her to go ahead. There was a oddity in his eyes, a shift that had happened when she'd reacted to Ginger's protest. Like the strange hold over Bruce, Sookie tucked it away to worry about later.
"What are you talkin' about?" Ginger asked nervously.
Sookie absently drummed her fingernail on the ashtray in a steady pace, shifting her eyes from Eric to Ginger. "Well, someone stole money from the bar," she replied in a casual voice, tilting her head to one side. "Do you know anything about that?"
Ginger stiffened. "No."
As the other woman's thoughts poured in, Sookie flinched - static roared in her ears like a bellow - a memory slipped and slivered out of her grasp, writhing for freedom -
Don't look at me you fucking bitch - I didn't do nothing -
After visiting Sam at the hospital, Sookie had dipped into Jason's head, searching for the memory of what he'd said to Eric. The theory had been that while the glamour might stop Jason's brain from remembering, it wouldn't stop her from seeing, but it had. The effect had been exactly the same. She had almost crashed her car.
It was a vampire.
Sookie couldn't quite control her expression at this realization, hand shifting automatically to grip the ashtray anxiously.
- I'll beat the shit out of you if you say I did -
"That sounds like fun," Sookie said in a wry tone, like she hadn't realized a single thing.
She intended to tell Eric later, when she didn't have three vampires at her back, but there was a problem with vampires. They were fast. For one instant, the expression on her face had been very clear - realization.
Eric shifted, angling for a better look at her face, but there was the roar of something tearing through the air very, very fast. Instinct forced Sookie to jump up and twist around - hands closed around her throat - and then they were pulling back, a roar of pain in the air - and Sookie swung the ashtray brutally, blinded by speed - the glass crashed into an object and shattered violently -
A second bellow hit the air, and Sookie drew her legs up then kicked out furiously, her heel slammed into the cluster of nerves just under his hipbone - her hands flew out, trying to push him away as the vampire began to crumble, before a different animalistic snarl joined the frantic fray - Longshadow was ripped away from her and flung head first into the bar with such force that the wood splintered.
For a split second, Sookie saw straight - Eric was standing over Longshadow, his fangs down, a crazed expression of livid rage on his face -
Then there was another sound, the snap of wood - her breath sucked in, fear and panic spiking wildly - Eric - and then Bill hauled Longshadow up, thrust a stake down, and -
Blood shot through the air, and Sookie instinctively snapped her head in the other direction. The blood crashed into her side, drenching her in thick, hot waves that scorched her skin like acid and fire. Her jaw clenched shut, eyes screwing closed - and it felt just like Gran's on her skin -
Ginger was screaming wildly, raw panic and horror in her voice, but Sookie simply tried to keep breathing. Her heart raced in her chest, so fast that she expected it to explode into a bloody pulp, and her stomach swished violently, but she wasn't going to throw up - she wasn't -
This wasn't Gran's blood.
After a moment that stretched on forever, the violent gushing of blood stopped. There was a choked gurgling snarl - a death rattle, she knew instinctively - and then droplets of blood splattered all over her legs.
Ginger continued to scream. The vampires were silent. Slowly, Sookie opened her eyes, and looked at them. Eric was looking at Bill with an unreadable expression yet there was a faint twist of victory about him - Bill looked strange - afraid -
An uncontrollable shake moved through her muscles, and there was a sting of shocking pain from her leg that jolted the lingering haze from her vision. The slivers of glass from the ashtray must have glanced her -
Bill's expression stilled, focused. Eric glanced at him sharply. In a blink, one long, muscular arm flew out, and Bill was easily sent soaring through the air with a shout - exactly like that man from her first visit from Fangtasia -
Sookie flinched at the abrupt movement, swallowing the lump in her throat. She heard Pam's heels on the floor, moving away from her - her dark eyes widened as Bill landed, hitting the floor with a sickening thump. If possible, Ginger's screams increased.
"No screaming, Miss Stackhouse?" Eric inquired.
Slick with blood, trembling from shock and adrenaline, Sookie rolled her head to the side and stared at him.
A wide, lewd grin shaped her mouth, flashing her teeth shamelessly. "If you wanted me to scream, Eric, you're gonna have to stab more than one vampire."
There was a flash across Eric's face, and he returned her grin darkly, a sliver of approval in the gesture.