All right, kiddies. Let's get this show on the road.
This chapter is unbetaed.
Disclaimer: Everything except 'dick and conscience' line belongs to CH. That particular line belongs to TB Jason.
"All right, Sookie," Bud said clicking his pen off. "That would be all."
I nodded numbly. I had just found out that the man Charles had caught (whose name, according to the driving license in his back pocket, was Jeff Mariot) had been trying to get to the gas valve. Among other papers the police had found on him, there was also a membership card of the Fellowship of the Sun, which pointed toward the theory that he had come to town to hunt me down because of my well-known relations with vampires. That someone could plan something like this just boggled my mind.
The fire was squashed and the fighters were on their way to leave my property. Catfish, who was in charge, assured me that despite the gloom sight my house could still be saved excluding the kitchen and the porch. I lost my car too, but comparing to everything else going on it seemed almost insignificant. I accepted Bill's offer to take a shelter at his place for the rest of the night, though I made it clear that I would be moving to Jason's next day.
I was curious what Charles's story was, but I wasn't naïve enough to believe the version he gave to the police ('I'm new in the neighborhood – I stopped at Bill's until I find my own place – I was just getting back from a walk when I saw the fire and then I noticed some movement in the bushes – when I came closer, I discovered the man – he was armed and he tried to attack me when he realised he was caught – I hit his head in a self-defence – blah,blah, blah') was true. None of the vampires as much as blinked when Charles presented his story, so I decided I didn't want to overshare either. Pam stayed surprisingly quiet through all of that.
After Bud asked us all he needed to make a report, all of us headed toward Bill's house. I knew that the good sheriff hesitated for a moment about whether he should take Charles to the station until they confirm his story, but Bud stayed quiet when he realised that there was no place he could hold a vampire during the day.
I walked the short distance to Bill's so consumed by my thoughts that I didn't even notice the lack of conversation and the tension between the vamps.
"I'm listening," said Pam the moment the door closed behind us. She crossed her arms and adopted an expecting stance.
Bill pursed his lips.
"Pam, I'm not in the mood for one of your tantrums. If you possessed a modicum of tact, you'd let me take care of Sookie instead of bothering me. Besides, I see no reason for any of us to explain ourselves to you."
Eric's unspoken name hung in the air. Normally I would have probably try to keep a neutral view of the situation, but that night Pam had earned some serious brownie points by saving my life, so I couldn't help but mentally take her side. I shot Bill a disapproving look.
Pam only rolled her eyes.
"For God's sake, Bill," she said impatiently. "If you really need to hear that directly from Eric, I'll call him right now and tell him what your problem is, but think carefully if you really want to piss him off by wasting his time and making him ask you the same question I just did – or coming here all the way from Shreveport to ask it in person. I'm not sure if it's worth it – I can bet that you won't impress Sookie by doing that, if that's what you were aiming for."
When she put it this way, Bill's attitude seemed ridiculous.
"Eric doesn't seem to mind wasting his time in Bon Temps these days," Bill said coldly, only managing to dig himself deeper.
"Oh, look who's polite now," I spat offended more than I expected.
We all knew that 'these days' Eric was 'wasting his time' in my house. Some of us had that knowledge from questionable sources – I suspected that they gained it by sneaking around said house without my permission, as was their habit. If they didn't like what they saw, they should ask themselves if perhaps it would be better to mind their own business.
A sudden thought made all the blood drain from my face.
"Sookie?" Bill questioned.
All vampires were watching me closely. I suppose I paled like I'd seen a ghost.
"Bill, have you been spying on me?" I asked quietly.
"Sookie! Why would you ask me…"
"Answer me! Pam told me that you were wandering around. How did you know that Eric was in Bon Temps lately? Earlier this week, when he visited me – did you hear what we were talking about? Were you eavesdropping?"
The question I didn't want to voice was: Did you or did you not overhear the story of one January night when I had put a bullet into Debbie Pelt and asked Eric to be a darling and get rid of the body before I go to sleep?
I made my peace with the fact that Eric knew. I knew that Pam might have heard and wasn't crazy about that, but I wasn't that much worried either – but I suddenly realised that my stomach turned at the idea of Bill finding out my secret.
"When I was taking a stroll in the woods around your property, I noticed that Eric was at your place, but I wasn't listening to your conversation or… I wasn't listening," Bill ended clumsily. "I'm not spying on you!"
Of course not! He just happened to like taking strolls through the bushes on my yard.
The look on his face told me that he was offended by my accusation. I shot him an incredulous glance. Maybe Bill just wanted to stress the subtle difference between spying and stalking?
"All right," Pam cut in. "As fascinating as this conversation is, I have to end it. There are more pressing issues to discuss. Charles, I know you don't live here. I would have noticed. What's really going on here?"
Much to Pam's disappointment, they had nothing interesting to say. Charles stated that he had been often visiting my neighbor since he had moved to Area Five and Bill confirmed. Apparently, they somehow bonded over their shared love for games.
If you thought vampires play chess or Swords & Sorcery, I have to disappoint you. I don't know if it's a broader trend, or if it was just them, but Bill and Charles declared themselves devoted fans of Farmville.
It was late and all the excitement of the day wore me off, so when the adrenaline finally left my system I was wiped and I couldn't stop the yawn.
"Sookie, if you are tired, don't mind us and go get some rest," said Bill. "Your bed is still upstairs."
It was a kind offer, though it did make me feel a little weird when he mentioned 'my bed'.
When Bill and I had been dating, I used to sleep in one of the spare bedrooms upstairs when I had been sleeping over. I suppose Bill still thought of that room as 'my' bedroom, though for me that phrase was meaningless, since the room I thought of as such had always been the one in Gran's home. However, when I walked inside the bedroom Bill had in mind, I realised that he didn't call it that way just to make me feel more familiar – I found all the stuff I had left there in place. I had brought some things here when we had been still dating and I had forgotten about them a long time ago, but for some reason, instead of returning them or throwing away, Bill kept them, as if he expected me to come back some day. I even found my toothbrush in the bathroom. I didn't know what to think of that.
When I returned to the bedroom, Bill was there waiting for me.
"I came to check on you and ask if you need anything," he said.
"That's nice of you, thank you, but no. I'm really tired and… well, depressed – but I'm fine."
At least I managed to avoid any injuries. Bill nodded.
"Hey, did they already go? I wanted to thank Pam. With everything going on, I forgot to do that."
"Charles didn't want to bother you and he already left. He asked me to pass on his best wishes," I remembered that the pirate was a very outgoing person for a vampire. "And it looks like Pam is going to stay with me for a while. Your hidey-hole is no longer safe."
I haven't even thought of that. Of course Pam needed to find herself a new resting place somewhere close by if she wanted to avoid sleeping in the dirt. Bill didn't look too pleased with the arrangement, but luckily he managed to bit back any comments he might have had on the matter – though the topic he chose for conversation instead turned out to be even worse:
"You slept with Eric when he was staying with you," he blurted unexpectedly.
I looked at him as if he smacked me with a frying pan. What the hell?
"If you already know, then why do you ask?" I replied defensively.
That threw him off for a second.
"You don't seem surprised," he said watching me carefully.
For goodness sake, was that the moment when he expected me to faint after he revealed his knowledge on my memory gap? I thought he had let it go after I had told him that I had lost that one night of the battle, but it looked like it was eating at him.
"On the contrary, I am very surprised with your nerve," I gritted through my teeth, despite knowing well what he really meant.
Unfortunately, Bill ignored my dig and continued:
"I knew the moment I saw you two together before the battle."
I didn't react in any way so he kept talking:
"His scent was all over you. You've had my blood – I could tell how you felt about him," that peaked my interest for the first time since he started talking – how had I felt? – but much to my disappointment Bill didn't elaborate, instead ending with: "Eric is very hard to resist."
I admit, he surprised me with that last sentence. I didn't expect to hear it from Bill, especially not when his voice was tinted with so much understanding.
I stared at him silently (hoping that he would explain where he was getting with this), until he eventually added: "But of course you know what I'm talking about."
His efforts of speaking code resulted with a similar level of subtlety as my brother's gallantry. I sighed quietly and decided it was time to end this farce:
"Yeah," I said simply.
"Yeah?" Bill parroted me, his tone suggesting that I should elaborate.
"Yeah, I know that you're talking about."
"You do?"
"Yes, I do."
I did know what he was talking about – even if I didn't remember it – and as for his statement about Eric being hard to resist, I didn't need my memories to back it up.
"That's good," Bill said finally after an uncomfortable pause.
"I agree."
"Did you make some kind of a deal with Eric?" he asked instead of letting go.
"Excuse me?" I looked at him suspiciously, not sure what he was suggesting and if I should take offence.
"I thought he left you in peace, but then he started circling around again and all of sudden Pam is living in your house. There has to be a reason for that. What does Eric want from you?"
"Pam is helping at Merlotte's as a favour for Sam," I explained, purposely ignoring the rest of his speech.
'There has to be a reason' hit a sore spot. Was it really unthinkable that someone would just want to see me? I know that with vampires everything is always complicated, but I didn't think it was such a stretch to say that both Eric and Pam enjoyed my company.
Bill raised his eyebrows.
"A favour for Sam?" apparently he wasn't as invested in the town's life as he was in following the list of my guests.
"Yes, Sam is injured – somebody shot him. This is not the first case like this in the area, so he thought it would be reasonable to find someone who would be able to defend themselves if necessary as replacement."
Bill cooled off appropriately.
"I didn't know," he said. "That's really unfortunate."
…aaand then, after a second:
"Forgive me. You must know that thinking about you with someone else is… hard for me."
"I see. You do have to get used to that thought, though. We are not together and I would appreciate it if you didn't make a scene every time you see me with someone. You can't stop me from moving on with my life or expect me to stay single forever. I know it's hard, but you don't have a say in who I'm seeing, just like I don't ask who you are seeing."
"Is it unreasonable to hope that one day we might get back together?"
I took a moment to think on the best answer.
"I don't think that I'll ever be able to forget the pain you caused me," I said honestly.
Enough time has passed to dull the pain from my memories, but my longing for Bill dulled as well. I think I've already accepted our break-up. As I told him, I needed to leave it behind me and move on with my life.
"I've never wanted to hurt you," Bill said with a painful expression on his face. "You know that, right? I wouldn't have left you if it had been up to me. I had to obey her."
Even though what he was saying matched what I knew about vampires, I felt irritation rising within me.
"And what else exactly did you have to do?" I chimed.
I've never asked that question directly, but it has been always lurking somewhere in the back of my head. Was it just that Lorena had summoned Bill, or had she stripped him off his choice in the other matters too? How much power had she had over him? How much had she used? If she had been able to order him to do anything, then why question him with torture instead of simply order him to tell the truth?
Would Bill really had slept with her if he hadn't wanted her – at least physically? In other words, I was wondering if there was a chapter in Bill's sob story that could be titled: 'Lorena uses a magical command to force me into having sex with her while I heroically fight her off with all my might'. By the way, what would a command like that sound? How do you force a man that is uninterested into that kind of activity? 'Dick on, conscience off'? 'Rise and shine'? I had to stop myself from giggling manically.
"Everything," was Bill's dramatic answer. It almost made my jaw drop and it definitely sent my imagination into overdrive.
I was tempted to ask bluntly if Lorena raped him and if he thought that experience was anywhere near what he had done to me afterwards, but I reminded myself that I didn't want to disturb my gran's eternal rest, since it would certainly made her turn in her grave.
"I'm going to find Pam and say goodnight to her," I said instead after a few long minutes of staring at him in silence and then I walked past him on my way out of the room.
I walked quickly, so he wouldn't notice the angry tears that were about to fill my eyes in any second. It looked like I wasn't as over it as I thought.
Aaah, too much Bill, right? I know. There will be less of him next time.
P.S. I posted a new TB one-shot. It's called "the door is open". If you're interested check it out!