Spellbound
This is the last chapter of their talk. I told you that the chapter was very long. I didn't expect to have to break it up into four chapters but at least it's done. There's still a little more for them to talk over but at least the Freyda issue is over. After this chapter we can move on and at a steadier and easier pace. Thank you all so much for sticking with me and enjoying the story. I will post another chapter this week. I'm on a mind rest from work.
I hope that you all enjoy. And as usual, thank you for your time, favorites, alerts, and your reviews. The story is mine but the main characters belong to CH.
"Sal was a different type of vampire. He wasn't like the rest of us. Where we wanted to remain hidden from the world, he wanted to be known. He didn't like the idea of spending his life hiding in the shadows. He didn't think that it was fair for any of us. Sal felt that since we'd contributed just as much as the humans have to this world there was no way that we should be content with being seen as the boogeyman. He wanted certain humans to know that we existed; that he existed; government officials, political figures, ordinary, everyday humans that he could benefit from. There was one human in particular that he wasn't willing to hide from. That human was Freyda Vanderheusen; his German lover.
"When it came to Freyda, as far as Sal was concerned, the sun rose and set on her. She could do no wrong. When he introduced us, I could see her for what she was; sneaky and untrustworthy. She had no compassion or love in her body. Anyone not blinded by her beauty could see the hatefulness and the deceit in her soul."
When Sookie looked at Eric's face, it showed his distaste for the human Freyda but in his earlier description of her, he didn't seem to mind the vampire Freyda all that much. She couldn't wait to find out what changed his views of her.
"As a vampire, you said that at one time she made you proud but as a human, you show nothing but distaste and contempt for her. Was she that evil … that untrustworthy?"
Eric's answer was as simple as he could put it. "She was like no human I'd ever known. She didn't know fear. She didn't know regret. There was nothing in the human world that could stop her. Her traits as a human would've been admirable if she was a vampire but she wasn't and because of that, she was dangerous to anyone; especially to our kind, to Sal. Reckless humans could be the very end of our existence."
"How long did he know her before he told her what he is?" Sookie asked.
Eric shook his head. "I don't know. They were together when he found me. Many centuries ago, he met in her in a small German town when she was the tender age of 22. He saw her walking along the streets of Baden-Württemberg one cold January night and he knew instantly that he wanted her." He then paused. "It was easy to see why he wanted her. She was pleasing to the eye; creamy white skin, beautiful red hair, and figure that most men would have enjoyed. But those eyes, Sookie; those eyes were the most beautiful shade of green I'd ever seen but they held nothing. No life, no love, nothing … they held nothing."
Sookie was so intrigued with Eric's story that she no longer looked like an authority figure. She looked like she was the wife of a vampire and she was enjoying the story of the people that at one time held an important part in his life. She was no longer sitting at her desk but on it.
"Once you looked into her eyes, you could no longer see her beauty. They were cold and they were as dead any vampire's eyes I'd ever seen. Sal couldn't see what I saw. Don't get me wrong. Sal isn't a stupid vampire by any means. There was more than her beauty that drew him to her. It was her companionship; her willingness to be with him. I could be wrong and I very seriously doubt that I am, but I believe that he wanted her because he was lonely. His loneliness wouldn't allow him to see her for what she was."
She could see that. Sookie could see why Sal was so willing to see something in Freyda that wasn't really there. She couldn't begin to imagine the lonely life that he'd led for so many centuries before meeting her. And for the first time, Sookie began to wonder about Eric's life and how lonely he must have been before meeting her. She looked into his eyes and she saw centuries of loneliness. He'd outlived his entire family; his wife, his children, his siblings, and his parents. Whatever friends he may have had, were long gone. What did he do for love … for companionship?
It saddened her to know that if he did meet someone before the vampires made their existence known to the public that he had to glamor any recognition of himself from the lady's mind. He could readily remember her, the time that they'd spent together, a simple touch of her hand but she would never have the pleasure of remembering him. Sookie continued to pity Eric's and Sal's life of loneliness as he talked of his past.
"I tried to warn him. I tried telling him that she wasn't what she appeared to be but he wouldn't listen to me. He was so captivated with her that he couldn't see it. No amount of warning was going to change his mind about her. It was too late for warnings anyway. He'd already given her his blood. He'd bonded himself to her and that was that."
Her mouth fell open from surprise. "You mean to tell me that he'd bonded himself to a human before you all made yourselves known? And she wasn't afraid of that … of him knowing what she was doing at all times? She didn't mind that he could feel her every emotion?"
"Not in the least," he answered. "She knew what he was and it didn't bother her. When he explained to her what it meant to be bonded to a vampire, she was more than happy to be connected to him. That was the one thing that he told me to never do. He said to never bond with a human or any other species. Sal said that it would make us obligated to them. He said that their feelings would almost overshadow our own. He'd done exactly what he said to never do. When he did it, I knew then that he was gone. She had him wrapped around her little finger. He then broke his cardinal rule. He told her that he was in love with her. He'd fallen in love with a human."
Sookie's back straightened when Eric's voice filled with aversion at the very idea of Sal falling in love with a human. Sookie was affronted by how Eric said that Sal was in love with a human.
"What's so wrong with that? You fell in love with a fae? Is that a bad thing? Maybe he didn't want to live the rest of his existence alone. You make it sound like the most horrible thing in the world; falling in love and with a human for goodness sakes. You sound as if he should've been staked for even giving it a thought. At least he was giving it a real chance."
"Sookie …"
"I'm sorry but I have to say this," she said. "You make it sound as if love is a punishment of some sort but it's not. That's all I wanted to say and I won't say anything else about it. Just go on. I'm done ranting … for now. I'm all ears."
Eric sighed and continued. "She was everything that he could have wanted in a human lover. She would let him feed from her whenever he wanted. She would let him fuck her anytime and any way that he wanted. She did anything that Sal wanted her to do. She was his ideal mate. He'd never expected in all of his existence to find a woman like that."
"You didn't trust it."
"No, I did not," he answered. "She was the beginning of the end for Sal. There was no talking to him. There was no reasoning with him. It was as if no matter what I had to say to him, it wouldn't have made a difference. It didn't make a difference. He was in love with her."
The way Eric kept saying the word love was really pissing her off. He acted as if it was a bad thing that a vampire fell in love but it wasn't and it's not. Love is a wonderful and an amazing thing. It's the most important thing. Love holds onto a person at the very beginning of life. It's one's comfort as the years go by and when they come to an end. It makes the heartbeat and the soul happy. Love is everything. She wanted to scream those words in his face but she decided not to say anything about it. She did what she needed to do. She swallowed her anger.
"If you thought that she was this dreadful human that wasn't worthy of love, then please tell me why you turned her."
"In the simplest terms?" he asked.
"Yes," Sookie answered.
"I did it for the vampire that saved me."
Smirking and in a condescending voice, Sookie asked, "So, you did it for the love of Sal? You loved him enough to turn his human lover for him."
Eric's body stiffened. "I did it for a friend. I owed him."
"Because you love him," Sookie stated.
Eric ignored her statement. "I did it because Sal is the reason that I'm free of my maker. He found Appius. Sal was going to kill him for me. He was older and stronger than Appius and he could've easily killed him in a one on one battle and that's what he was going to do but it did not come to pass. Not because he feared losing to Appius but because Freyda talked him out of it."
"How?" she asked as a frown appeared on her face.
"She didn't want Sal to do it alone. She wanted to help him. She talked him into capturing Appius and torturing him. She said that it would be poetic justice for the cruel and sadistic things he'd done to me."
Sookie was surprised that Freyda knew what Eric's maker had done to him. Surely, Eric didn't share that with her; a human. A human that didn't deserve the love of a vampire certainly didn't deserve the right to know what Eric had suffered through at the hands of his maker. Something like that would be too personal to share with someone like Freyda.
Reading the surprised expression on Sookie's face, Eric answered her unasked question. "As I said before, Sal told her everything. I don't know what she did or how she did it but she convinced Sal to let her help him. It pleased him that she wanted to stand at his side and fight with him. I felt that there was more to it than that. I wanted to tell him but I held my tongue. He was doing for me what I could not."
Helplessness filled Eric's eyes as he talked about his maker. The feelings of hopelessness made Sookie pity him. She knew that he hated his maker and that he wanted to truly be free but to know that his maker was going to meet the true death; it had to have made him feel some type of emotion … sadness, regret. Sookie looked down at her hands before asking Eric the next question. She didn't want to upset him but she needed to know what he felt when he knew what Sal had planned for Appius.
"Did it bother you that he was going to kill your maker … the very vampire that had given you eternal life? How did that make you feel? Did you feel that a part of your being was dying? Even after all that he'd done to you, there had to have been some type of attachment to him. There had to have been some part of you that wanted to warn him … to protect him."
Eric stared out into nothing and said, "No part of me wanted to warn or protect him. I felt nothing when Sal told me of his plan." He paused and added, "I take that back. I did feel something. What I felt was relief. It felt good to know that I would no longer have to fear him coming for me or calling me to him; not that he ever did. It just felt good to know that I would finally be free of his very existence."
Whispering, Sookie asked, "Have you ever wanted those bad memories of him to go away?"
He needed only to ask and she would give him what he wanted. The memories of the torture and the rape would be gone. The memories of ever knowing that Appius existed would no longer plague him. Though it would be a life altering wish, if he wanted it, she would grant it for him. She would not judge him. She would understand his need to forget. She would do that for him.
"No," Eric said instantly. "I would never want that. I wouldn't be the vampire that you fell in love with. I wouldn't be the vampire that I am. So no, my lover, I wouldn't change a thing. Those memories are a part of me. Without them, I wouldn't be me."
She closed her eyes and sighed with relief. She was more than sure that she'd chose the right mate. He is a man of honor, dignity, and self-respect. He is a man of mistakes and faults. She was confident that she was right. She placed her hand on her stomach and sighed.
"Tell me what happened next," she said.
Crossing his legs, Eric sat back in his chair and said, "The next morning, Freyda went to Appius' house. She played the role of the new maid. She made it into the house because she was able to show the butler that she was a donor for a vampire. Sal left bite marks on her inner thigh. After being in the house for a few nights, Freyda made her move. It was absolutely perfect. She and Sal already knew the layout of the house and where Appius slept."
"How did she do …?"
"She had some of her male friends waiting on the outside. She didn't tell them that they were killing a vampire. They were only supposed to kill the staff; which they did. She told them that they were robbing a very wealthy man. They were marauders and murderers. They were more than happy to help her. They came in and killed the servants. She paid them with the money that Sal had given her and they were allowed to take what they wanted. While they robbed the house of its riches, she went to Appius' sleeping quarters. His coffin was sitting on the far side of the room. From her bag, Freyda removed two silver nettings from it and draped them over her body and walked to where he was resting."
"Why silver netting?" Sookie asked.
"Older vampires don't need as much sleep during the daylight hours. If he'd woken up, he could've attacked her. She took the necessary precautions. As soon as the coffin was open, she threw them on his body. He couldn't move. She took more silver netting from her bag and put them on him. She closed the coffin, sat on it after she'd put more netting over her body and waited for Sal to rise."
Sookie's eyes widened once again. "You mean to tell me that she stayed there and waited with an angry and ancient vampire that she'd just silvered? She was sitting on his coffin." She was in complete awe of Freyda the human.
Eric nodded. "She sat on top of the coffin."
"Oh my," Sookie gasped.
"The rest is history," Eric stated. "Sal tortured Appius for centuries for what he'd done to me. I expected him to do that and I told him as much. He'd already given me more than I could have ever asked of him. The teachings and the life that he'd given me were more than enough. He didn't agree. Sal said that those weren't gifts. They were life lessons; free of charge. At the time, he said that I owed him nothing. Sal watched Appius as he writhed in pain and said that the torture of my maker wasn't just for me. It was for him as well. 'I hate a coward,' he said."
Sookie went over everything that Eric had told her. Sookie thought of the cruelty that Eric's maker had bestowed upon him; the torture, the enslavement, the abandonment … the rape. She thought of how Sal saved him and how Freyda came to be a part of his life. Then it came to her. She knew why Eric had turned Freyda. "She died, didn't she? That's why you turned her. Sal wasn't around and he couldn't save her so you did it for him."
Eric closed his eyes and released a sigh from his weary and tired body. He felt free for the first time since this entire thing with Freyda happened. He no longer had to carry the burden of what she'd done. He no longer had to keep secrets from his wife. He was free once again.
"Why did you have to do it? Why couldn't Sal turn her?"
"The same men that killed Appius' daytime help are the same ones that almost killed her and tried to kill Sal. They went to Sal's home to rob him just as they'd done to Appius. They plunged silver stakes into his hands, arms, legs, and feet as he slept. They'd beat and raped her because she knew who they were. They stabbed her repeatedly. I got there in time to save Sal and Freyda.
"I went to Sal first. I freed him and he didn't ask me to find him a human so that he could feed. He crawled across the floor to Freyda and lay by her side. He lifted her head and rested it in his arms. He looked at her bloodied and beaten face. Her heartbeat was faint and it was fading fast. She looked at him with pleading eyes. She placed her bloody fingers to his face as she cried. He didn't have the blood to turn her. For the first time ever, he couldn't give her what she wanted. He asked me to do it."
"You did it because he loves her."
Eric nodded. "I did it for my friend."
"What happened to the men?" Sookie asked.
"I tracked them down and killed them."
"You haven't given me any reason why you hated her before she was made vampire. All you've said is that you could see the coldness and the blackness in her eyes. She did nothing to you as a human other than help kill your maker. Even after what she'd done for you, you didn't want to turn her?"
"No, I did not," he answered simply. "I think that she had something to do with what happened the night Sal was attacked. I will go to my grave believing that she was the reason they found him. They knew where he'd hidden his treasures. They knew where he went to rest. They knew what he was. No one knew where he slept; no one but me and Freyda. How else would they know to bring silver with them? After I'd turned her, I told Sal that I was going to command her to tell me if she was involved and if she was I was going to kill her. Sookie, I'd never seen such sorrow and sadness in his eyes before. He begged me not to ask her … not to do it. He said that he didn't need to know and neither did I."
"But he knew," Sookie whispered.
"He knew," Eric confirmed.
"Are they still together?"
"They see each other from time to time but it's not like it was when she was a human. Sal plays the role that he doesn't love her. He pretends that he's over her but I know the truth. I can see it."
"Earlier you said that you didn't like her as a human but she was an excellent vampire. What changed about her?"
"She took to the life like a duck to water. Her traits as a human helped her to be a great vampire. It was as if she was meant to be a vampire. In the beginning, she was obedient and honorable. She was respectful. She made me proud. She never killed unnecessarily. She was the ideal child. When I released her the first time, I felt secure in knowing that I would have no reason to worry over her."
"What made her change?"
"No boundaries, too much freedom," Eric answered simply.
Sookie was now going to ask the $50,000,000.00 question. "And the party? Why did you throw her a party?"
"It was so that I could show that I was standing with her. She can no longer stay in Montana. She's not very well liked amongst our kind. Shiloh doesn't care for her and wanted her gone. She was going to go to council to request that she never step foot in her state again."
"What did she do for Shiloh…?"
Eric cut her off with a wave of his hand. "I didn't ask but I know that once Shiloh finds out what's taken place in her state, she will want restitution from me and my child."
"She's not going to find out," Sookie said as she looked at Eric through hooded eyes.
"We can't …"
Sookie, too, raised her hand in the stop motion as she got down from the desk and walked over to Eric. She stood in front of him and offered him her hand. When he took it and stood with her, she asked, "What took you so long to tell me?"
He looked down at Sookie and said, "Because she's my child. The council members wouldn't believe me for that reason. You wouldn't have believed me because of what she'd done to your cousin and for my treatment of you. There was no proof that she wanted Claudette dead. Freyda could say that Claudette killed Lucian because he was sleeping with a vampire and she was jealous. She could say that I killed the other Weres because they were witnesses to what happened. I was protecting my wife's family.
"Since the murders took place in Montana, I should've gone to the council and to Shiloh instead of handling things myself. She wouldn't have minded Claudette's act of vengeance but Shiloh likes to handle her own punishments. Even though we're the representatives for all supes, we have no right to go into their states and hand down punishments unless the council orders. I was wrong. For those reasons, I couldn't have you involved. I will not see you punished for the wrong that we've done."
That was the downfall to their position. They had the power to assist in making the laws but they had no rights when it came to punishing rogue vampires in other states. "We need to see about changing that law," Sookie said.
Eric filled the office with laughter. After all that he'd said to her, her only concern was changing the laws so that they could punish across state lines. "You amaze me," Eric said.
She fanned off his words and began pacing back and forth. Sookie didn't blame Eric for what Freyda had done. She didn't blame Sal. She placed the blame where it belonged; on Lucian and Freyda. There was only one option that she and Eric had. She stopped pacing and stood in front of Eric.
"Lucian never loved Claudette," Sookie said mostly to herself. "He only wanted what she had." She looked into Eric's eyes and said, "I wish that you had told me about this sooner but I can see why you didn't. We can handle this."
Cupping her face with his hands, Eric said, "My lover, I know what has to be done in order to handle this. We won't handle this. This is my problem. I have to go before the council and do what I should've done long ago."
Sookie giggled as she cupped his face with her hands. "Oh, my silly, silly vampire," she said. "You're mistaken. This is our problem. That's not going to happen at all. The progress we've made in our marriage; we're not going to throw it away on the likes of Freyda. No, my dearest love; you're not going to tell anyone. You will not suffer for the wrongdoings of another. That's a price that she will have to pay on her own."
The gleam in her eyes told him what she meant but Eric wanted to hear her say it. He pulled Sookie into his arms and close to his body. He noticed that her heartbeat was stronger and louder than ever before. Her glow had never been a bright as it was at that very moment. Her life was at full force and it was pulling him in and he willingly let it.
"What do you propose, my lover?"
She began to kiss him lightly. "I propose that we keep it quiet and together, you and I will handle it." She licked his lips before she said, "Shhh."
Eric kissed her as if it would be the last time. As he nuzzled her lips, he asked, "Does this mean that you love me?"
Sookie shrugged her shoulders and said, "Maybe."
"Are you mine again?"
"I've always been yours," she said.
"And I'm not adverse to love. I just never truly knew it until you."
"If you think that I'm going to fall at your feet because you said that, you've got another thing coming."
"Say it," he said.
"Are you sure that you can handle it?"
Eric swallowed and nodded. He couldn't wait to handle it. He couldn't wait to hear her say it. It had been awhile since he'd heard her say it.
"I love you, Eric. I've always loved you."
He claimed her mouth quickly.
She then placed her fingers in the waistband of his boxers. "Now, my dearest love, let me show you how much better at making love the fae are."