Spellbound

I'm sorry that I couldn't get the third chapter up over the weekend. I did my best but I had more on plate than I expected. Thank you all so much for your time and patience. I appreciate each favorite and alert. I also appreciate the reviews. What I appreciate the most is the time that you've given to me and this story. Thank you all so much.

Sookie woke up at 6:00 am the next morning not quite feeling as she expected. She sat up in bed and forced a mass of hair out of her face. She rubbed the remaining remnants of last night's restless sleep from her eyes.

Out of habit, she looked to her left expecting to see Eric laying there beside her but she was alone. She tried smiling but found that she didn't have the energy. She was just tired, that's all. The fitful sleep from last night had nothing to do with the fact that Eric wasn't with her. That was what she kept telling herself. That was her truth and she was sticking with it. It was what she wanted; to be alone and away from him. She didn't want to be in the same room with Eric. She needed her own space and she told him as much. She'd gotten what she wanted. She nodded her head in acknowledgement of her decision. It the best decision for her and all concerned.

Eric was in his room and she was in hers. She didn't want to think about the problems that they'd been having. She had this beautiful day waiting on her and she was determined to enjoy it.

To show her enthusiasm, Sookie eagerly got out of bed. And when she did, it happened. The room instantly began spinning and turning flips. She tried getting back into bed but she wasn't quite quick enough. She'd fallen to the floor and she'd fallen hard.

Suddenly, there was a pounding at her bedroom door. "Mrs. Northman! Mrs. Northman!"

One of the guards that Eric had hired to watch over her came storming into the room. His gun was drawn and he was ready to kill. He saw Sookie on the floor but he had to be sure that there was no danger surrounding her. His dark black eyes scanned the room thoroughly. He went to the closets and moved the clothes back and forth. He then checked the bathroom. Nothing was there. When he realized that they were the only ones in the room, he picked Sookie up from the floor and placed her on the bed.

"You're not supposed to touch me," Sookie said to him grumpily. "You will be punished for that."

"If you're in danger, the rule doesn't apply," he said. "I found you in distress and I've done my duty. What would your husband say if he discovered that I'd left his wife on the floor after she'd fallen out?"

Sookie frowned up at him; her arms crossed over her chest. "Marco, what are you doing here, anyway? I fired you last week." As an afterthought, she added, "And I didn't fall out. I tripped."

He rolled his eyes at the horrible lie she'd just told him. "No, you didn't fire and no you didn't trip," he said. "You fell and if you had fired, I wouldn't be here, now would I?"

"I did fire you and don't tell Eric."

Marco raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "I can't do that, Mrs. Northman. I won't do that. Mr. Northman hired me to look after you. What you've requested of me is something that I cannot and will not do."

"He's going to worry."

"He should."

"We need to keep this quiet."

"We won't."

Sookie looked at Marco and frowned. "You're fired!" she yelled and pointed at him.

He laughed at her. "No I'm not. I don't work for you. I work for your husband."

"To protect me," Sookie reiterated.

"For him," Marco contended.

There was nothing else for Sookie to say but, "Get out of my room."

As he closed the door behind him, he said, "I'll be around."

And he usually was.

When he was gone, Sookie began to go over the last few days of her life. The sickness isn't really a sickness at all. Sookie chalked up her nausea to being nothing more than an empty stomach.

"I'm hungry," she said to the walls in the empty room.

The most that Sookie had eaten was a handful of potato chips and three Oreo cookies that she had to fight Claudine in order to get. She knew just what she needed to start her day off on the right foot. She got out of bed, slowly this time, and headed for the bathroom.

After a hot shower and fresh clothes, Sookie went downstairs to make herself a huge breakfast. She was determined that she was going to cook every breakfast food that was in the kitchen. She smiled as she walked down the stairs and dreamed of the extra crispy bacon and the burnt around the edges eggs. Before she reached the kitchen, she inhaled. Jane had already filled the house with the sweet aroma of breakfast. There in the breakfast room waiting on her were pancakes, eggs, extra crispy bacon, toast, cinnamon rolls, hash browns, and fruit.

"Goody," Sookie said giddily as she clapped her hands and did a little jig. Placing the napkin neatly on her lap, she called out to Jane. "You've really out done yourself this morning. How did you know that I was starving to death? Thank you, Jane."

Carrying two glasses of orange juice, Claudette came out of the kitchen. "Anytime, cousin and the name ain't Jane."

Sookie's mouth fell open from surprise. She'd never known for her cousin to cook breakfast for anyone other than herself. "You cooked all of this?"

"I sure did."

Sookie shook her head. "You are such a liar. You did not."

"This bit of information may be unbeknownst to you but I've been called the Rachel Ray of the supernatural world. Sometimes I may be called Giada but I prefer Rachel." She winked at her cousin as she placed the glasses of juice on the table.

Sookie raised her eyebrow and asked, "Why is that?"

"Because I'm wholesome and just as sweet as they come," she answered. "Just like Rachel," Claudette replied.

"Liar!" Sookie cried out as she laughed.

Pointing at the blueberry pancakes, Claudette said, "Homemade; not from a box. Every ingredient that I used was fresh. Taste them and then tell me that it's like heaven in your mouth."

Sookie put two pancakes on her plate. She didn't defile them with syrup and butter; not just yet. She wanted to taste her cousin's fresh ingredients and homemade blueberry pancakes. And when she bit into the pancakes, she expected to have batter flowing out of them but that didn't happen. They are done and they are delicious. They did feel like heaven in her mouth. She closed her eyes as she savored the sweetness of the plump, fresh blueberries and sweet bread that was wrapped around them.

"Go on and say it," Claudette said as she filled her plate with food. "Tell me how good the breakfast is. Tell me that it's the best breakfast that you've ever eaten in your entire life."

With her mouth full of pancakes, Sookie did as her cousin ordered. "They're delicious. I've never eaten pancakes this delicious before. They're almost as good as Gran's."

Claudette's head swelled with pride. "Wait until you try the coffee. It's fresh ground with a hint of brown sugar and hazelnut. You'd never guess that it's decaf."

Sookie could feel her body relaxing as she sipped on the coffee. "Oh my," she moaned. Her eyes were wide and glazed over. "Ms. Ray, you have truly outdone yourself."

For the next half hour or so, Sookie and Claudette ate in silence and it was not because Claudette didn't want to talk. It was because Sookie didn't have enough room in her mouth for words. She ate everything that Claudette cooked. She drank two mugs of coffee and three glasses of orange juice.

As Sookie massaged her full and sated belly, Claudette cleared the table. She didn't do it the way humans would have. She snapped her fingers and the breakfast room looked as if it had never been used.

"Thank you so much, Claudette. The breakfast was delicious. Claudine would have loved this. Why didn't she come with you?"

Claudette sighed. "I've had enough of Claudine to last me a lifetime. I left without her knowing that I was going anywhere. She was getting on my nerves. Anyway, I've cooked for her before. She's never satisfied with what I prepare. She always wants to add something extra."

The cousins laughed and sat in silence for a few moments. The breakfast was delicious and she couldn't have asked for better but Sookie felt that something was missing. She was hungry for something more. She was craving that something extra. She just didn't know what it was. She just knew that she needed it. Her body was craving it.

"Since you're not going to volunteer any information, I'm guessing that you're going to make me ask. How did things go last night?" Claudette asked.

"Okay," Sookie replied. "Eric and I talked but he didn't say anything that would make any difference in our relationship. He told me this and he told me that. We're no closer than we were before. Why? Did you think that you were going to have to follow through with your threat?" Sookie giggled.

Claudette blushed. "No. I only said that as a joke. I'd never hurt him. I kinda like him."

Sookie couldn't believe her ears. She sat straight up in her seat; her hand no longer massaging her full and sated belly. "What do you mean 'I kinda like him'? You're kidding me right?"

"I'm not."

There was no way that Sookie was hearing Claudette correctly. Neither of Sookie's cousins liked Eric; especially Claudine. When they learned that she had been promised to a vampire, they were livid. They even went so far as to plan on kidnapping her to keep Sookie from marrying Eric. And when she told them of how he treated her, they were more supportive of her decision to leave him than their grandparents were. They told her that they would stand by her but now she hears that Claudette likes Eric.

Claudette likes Eric?

"When did this newfound affection for Eric come about?"

Claudette shrugged her shoulders. "I've always liked him; just not for you. I was wrong. He's not all bad." A sly smile played across Claudette's lips.

Sookie stared at her cousin and didn't like what she saw. Claudette was twirling a long brown curl around her point finger and swaying from side to side. Her bright green eyes were lit up like Christmas lights. Not that Sookie was jealous but she couldn't help but wonder if Claudette had a crush on her husband?

Trying to keep her voice cool and steady, Sookie asked, "When did you decide that you liked my husband? I mean Eric? When did this affection for him come about? You never told me."

Claudette looked at Sookie with a frown on her face. "What do you mean?"

Sookie rested her elbows on the table and said, "You've never liked him before but now all of sudden you do. What's changed?"

Claudette's body tensed. "I hope that you're not saying what I think you're saying."

"I'm not saying anything," Sookie replied innocently. "I only want to know why you've changed your mind about Eric. It was only a few weeks ago that you told me that I should leave him. You said that I shouldn't tolerate being mistreated and disrespected. Now you've changed your mind. I'm just wondering why this sudden turn around."

Claudette started laughing. "You're jealous!"

"I'm not."

"Yes you are. This is too funny. Sookie, my love, I don't want your husband. You can keep him."

"I don't want him."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Claudette said snidely. "Anyway, do you remember what I said to you in the kitchen last night? I told you that I know things?" She didn't give Sookie a chance to answer as she reached across the table and held her hand. Looking deeply into her eyes, Claudette said, "I know things."

Sookie knew that whatever Claudette knew had to have been important. Claudette had all of sudden decided that she likes Eric. She cooked Sookie a big breakfast and she wasn't cracking any jokes. The scariest part of the entire thing was that Claudette wasn't being mean.

"Let's go into the living room. We need to get comfortable." The girls held hands as they walked to the other room. They settled onto the couch and looked at each other.

Claudette began to rub the arm of the couch, "Is this the couch that you ordered?"

Sookie smiled and nodded. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes," Claudette replied. "And so soft and comfortable," she said as she began to bounce up and down a little. "Was it expensive?"

"Not at all," Sookie said.

She was about to tell Claudette how much it was but she stopped herself. They were forever getting sidetracked but not this time. Whatever needed to be said was going to be said. "There is going to be no beating around the bush, you hear me? You're going to tell me why you all of sudden like Eric and then you're going to tell me what you know. After that, we'll talk about the couch."

Claudette looked Sookie in her eyes and smiled. "Eric saved my life."

At least she did as Sookie said. She didn't beat around the bush.

Sookie's mouth dropped open. Since they've been married, Sookie's never known for Eric to do anything for anyone in her family other than what was required of him. If it wasn't business related, he didn't go to family dinners. He was never interested in movie night. He didn't appear to like any of them at all. Sookie was at a loss for words when she'd heard that Eric had saved Claudette's life.

"He was the one that told me about Lucian's plan to kill me." Claudette threw her thick hair over her shoulder. "Eric and I talked and we came up with our own plan. He helped me kill them." With a sinister smile on her face, she said, "I killed Lucian. The rest is history."

"My Eric?" Sookie asked.

"Your Eric," Claudette answered.

"He helped you … on purpose?"

"Yes."

"Did he expect anything from you in return?"

"Yes."

Sookie had a smirk on her face. "What did you have to give him?"

"My word; I could never tell you."

The smirk was gone. She fell back against the couch and thought of her cousin's words. Claudette rested her head on Sookie's lap. Sookie began to play with her cousin's hair as Claudette looked up at her.

"What is it?"

Looking down at her cousin, Sookie asked, "Why are you telling me this? If you gave him your word that you would never tell me, why are you telling me? You have never been one to go back on a promise. You've always been good about that. That has always been your second best quality. You're trustworthy."

"Really?" Claudette tilted her head to the right and smiled. "Is it my best quality? What's my best quality? I always thought that it was my hair"

Sookie said, "It's not your best quality but it's beautiful. It is so thick and ... no. Tell me why you've decided to tell me."

"You needed to know that Eric's not all bad. He has some good in him." She reached up and pinched the tip of Sookie's nose and said, "You know that I'm telling the truth. You've seen the good in him. That's why you fell in love with him."

Sookie pushed Claudette's head from her lap. "It's not going to change anything. I'm not going to be with him. Whatever happens to us from this point on, it's his fault. So no matter what you tell me, I'm not going to change my mind."

Claudette sat on the other end of the couch and placed her feet on Sookie's lap. "What if he didn't ruin it? Would you try?"

"There are no 'what ifs', Claudette. He did ruin it."

"Last night, I lied to you when I said that I couldn't take you home. I didn't stay with Claudine and I didn't have to sneak out of her house. I had to go home. Gran called me home."

"So?"

Claudette suddenly looked sad.

Sookie's heart began to beat at a rapid pace. "Is she okay?"

Claudette didn't say anything.

"I just saw her the other night. She looked fine. She was happy. Nothing has happened to her, has it?"

"Not physically," Claudette replied. "But you know, Gran. That old bird is going to be fine. She told me some things that may change your decision about your marriage. She wanted to talk to you but she couldn't get away from Fintan. She told him that she needed to come here but he won't let her out of his sight." Claudette rolled her eyes. "It's springtime in Faery and you know how we get. Plus they have the festival going on. It'll be quite awhile before she gets to come back to this realm. So she called me."

Sookie understood what Claudette meant. During the springtime in Faery, sex was the only thing on anyone's mind. Even in the human realm the springtime fever stays with them. She began to think that may be why she's been ill. She has spring fever. She needed the closeness of her mate. Sookie then thought about Claudette's words. Gran never wanted to get away from grandpa; especially during the springtime.

"You said that Gran couldn't get away from grandfather. She's never wanted to get away from him. She loves the springtime and the festival. I've never known for either of them to want to leave the other during the season." As an afterthought, Sookie added, "You need to call him grandfather. You know how he hates it when you call him Fintan."

"Fintan will just have to get over himself. He will pretty soon. Gran's leaving him."

"You mean she's coming here to stay for awhile?" Before she asked the question, Sookie already knew the answer.

"She's leaving him."

Sookie's hands instantly went to her mouth. Gran couldn't leave her grandfather. They were meant to be. Gran said that. Gran has always said that. "They're in love. They've always been in love. You've made a mistake. Maybe you heard her wrong." Tears were falling from Sookie's eyes.

Claudette held Sookie and let her cry. She knew that Sookie would take it the hardest of all the grandchildren. She has always believed in love. She was the only one that hung on Gran's every word when she told them the love story of Fintan and Adele. They weren't like Sookie's and Claudette and Claudine's parents. They were monogamous. Their parents sleep with other faeries. Adele and Fintan only shared flesh with each other. They had a love that was supposed to last. They had the only true love in Faery. They were the reason Sookie believed that love existed.

"She can't leave him," Sookie whispered into Claudette's hair.

"She is." She kissed Sookie's head. "She has to."

Sookie leaned her back against the arm of the couch and stared at her cousin. "Does he know?"

Claudette shook her head. "You know that she can't tell him. He'll never let her go but she's going to tell him after she leaves him just as she's going to tell us after she leaves him. She wants to make sure that things are in order for you first. She wants your marriage to work, Sookie. Gran has always believed in you and Eric."

"Grandfather loves her more than Eric has ever loved me."

Claudette slowly shook her head. "Not according to Gran."

"What?"

"She found out about his lies … his deceit … his manipulations. He's not what she believed him to be."

Sookie began crying again. "That's not true. He'd never betray her. He loves her."

Claudette didn't understand why Sookie was crying. She's known other faeries that have done what Fintan has done. What she's learned is nothing new. They're faeries. Faeries lie, deceive, and manipulate. Her now dead husband was no different than Fintan; cruel for sport. They've never cared about whom it is that they hurt as long as they get what they want. They have never given a second thought or cared about the feelings of others. It angered her to see Sookie crying over Fintan. He wasn't the honorable faery that she believed him to be. He definitely wasn't better than Eric. She needed to save those tears for something else; movie night for instance. She didn't need to waste them on the likes of Fintan Brigant.

"It is true. Fintan is not what you think he is."

Sookie hated it when anyone talked bad about her grandfather. Claudette has never been Fintan's biggest fan but Sookie was not going to sit back and let her disrespect him. "You take that back! You will not speak ill of our grandfather!"

Claudette couldn't believe her ears. "After the way he's deceived Gran, you're still going to defend him? He's a liar and a cheat, Sookie. He's just like his father. The only difference is that Niall had never hidden anything that he'd done. If Niall was going to stab you in the back, he'd let you see the knife before he did it. Niall did his dirt to your face. Not Fintan. Fintan's a coward and a fucking hypocrite. He's useless and he loves no one but himself."

"Don't say that!"

"Will you stop defending him? He's not different than the other male fae. You don't see it because you think that he does no wrong." With pity in her eyes, Claudette said, "He's a liar and he's deceitful. He manipulative and cruel."

"He deserves nothing but our respect. He has given us so much and asks for so little in return. How do you think it him feel if he heard you say these things about him? It would destroy him."

Claudette was angrier than she's ever been. She couldn't stand to hear Sookie defending him. "You're so naïve, Sookie. He doesn't care what you, I or anyone else thinks of him. Fintan puts no one first but himself; not even his wife. He doesn't love any of us. He doesn't respect any of us. We're only good enough when he wants to use us for his very benefit."

It hurt Sookie to hear Claudette say such things. "Why would you say that? He loves us."

Claudette jumped up from the couch and yelled, "He loves us? Fintan loves us? He doesn't love any of us; not me, Claudine, or you. If he loved you at all, he wouldn't have worked so hard to destroy your marriage."

Silence filled the room.