Vengeance. Vengeance was something I understood. My mind clung to that. In my mind, lists of who might have possibly done such a thing for vengeance began to form. I could only devise a short list for those who could have perhaps sought vengeance upon Sookie. The list of those seeking vengeance upon me was the complete opposite; it was seemingly never-ending. I hated the thought that I was at fault; that Sookie's curse was a way to affect me.
Pam asked questions about the actual demon that would fall under the category of a vengeance demon. Once I heard her questions, my focus shifted to that specific area as well. I could hunt a demon. I could kill a demon. I could do whatever needed to be done to exact a settling of scores on this vengeance demon.
That was until I heard what a vengeance demon actually was. I then lost focus about what I would do and whom I would kill. Seeking vengeance on me seemed counterproductive.
The type of demon that supposedly cursed Sookie was not necessarily one that someone would send to exact revenge. Instead, the demon hunts people who may be looking to seek retribution on another, even without realizing what they are doing. That was the demon's power; it instinctively knew when someone was mistreated and victimized.
Had Sookie been so desperate for revenge that this demon sensed it? If she was, why was it only she who was affected by it? If she were seeking vengeance, would it not make sense to have others be affected rather than her? Even with the answers that Cataliades provided, I found myself with additional questions.
"You are sure it is this type of demon?" I asked him.
He nodded without hesitation, "The different subspecies of demons all have a tell, a certain magical signature. Other demons can detect it. During times of fighting among the subspecies, it was for protection, but with less fighting breaking out, it is merely one way of sensing another. The signature of a vengeance demon was the only recent one that I detected around Merlotte's."
I took the information I learned when he used the term 'recent' and filed it away for later. I was unaware of any demons passing through the area, but if they caused this much trouble, I would have to learn all I could and be even more vigilant.
"If the demon approached Sookie in order to exact revenge for her, why does it appear that Sookie was the only one affected by it?" I asked the lawyer. He then explained that the demon could not simply create any curse it desired. It needed a wish from the seeker. In turn, the demon used the wish to create the curse.
"Of course, it is up to the interpretation of the demon to decide how to grant the wish."
Suddenly, I realized I might have just discovered the origin of the phrase, 'Be careful what you wish for.'
If that was what happened to Sookie, and I trusted what Cataliades had told me, I was left to wonder just what Sookie's wish had been. Whatever it was had left her a child and the rest of us seemingly unaffected. Had she wished something against me and it backfired, or had it been a general wish that the demon interpreted whatever the fuck way it wanted?
Overall, I cared deeply for what Sookie could have possibly wished to cause these repercussions. For the time being, all I needed to know was how the curse could be broken. Once the curse was broken, my focus could then shift to why in the world she had ever wished it.
"If the curse was placed on Sookie by a vengeance demon, how would I break the curse?"
"A vengeance demon would have a charm, a pendant of some kind. They are usually in the form of necklaces. In order to release the magic from the demon, the charm would have to be broken."
"Break the charm and break the curse?" I repeated to ensure I understood the directions clearly.
"That should accomplish the task. To break the charm of a vengeance demon, it strips them of their magic. Vengeance demons are not born as demons; most start life as human. They are given their magic when they are in need of getting revenge on another."
I found that more than interesting. It was not something I had previously known. I had wrongly assumed that all demons were born as such, the thought of some of them being created through magic much the same as vampires was a fascinating concept.
Unfortunately, I already had too many thought-provoking concepts running through my head. I found myself with no time to consider it presently.
"Would removing the magic from the demon kill it?" Pam asked. That was my child. She worked to ensure that something that caused pain, wronged her, or anyone she considered 'hers' would never do so again. That was only one of the many things I taught her. Once was an experience you learned from; if it happened twice, then the lesson was obviously not learned. In our world, you are fortunate to survive something that comes at you once; something that you allow yourself to be exposed to a second time? That mistake is yours.
"No, it would not kill the demon. The being would then continue its life in the form in which it started, usually human. They would return to their mortal existence and the aging process would continue exactly where it left off." That drastic change in one's life would be quite the revenge, and I knew by the look on my child's face, her focus in this situation was precisely that. I would settle for the curse being broken. Anything extra was a bonus.
"How does one track this specific demon?"
He released a sigh that told me he expected I might not appreciate his response. He was correct, "That will be the tricky part. Demons are able to cross dimensions. There will be no way of even knowing if the demon we wanted was still in this realm, on this plane."
"I would have to rely on others. I cannot travel in that manner," I said and it was the unfortunate truth. I had no power to travel to different realms. That was not part of the intrinsic magic of vampires.
"But I can," Cataliades said as a smile began breaking out on his face. I saw the first trace of good information.
"I will not ask you to do that," I said. He was already in danger, having his every near move tracked. The truth was I would ask him to do that. Hell, if it were my only option, I would have forced him. My fear was that in doing so, I would lose my only source of information and his search might bring more danger to Sookie. Those were the only two reasons I hesitated on Cataliades going on an inter-realm goose chase.
"You would not be asking me," Cataliades said with great emotion contained in his voice. "Her grandfather was my best friend. I promised him I would take care of his family. I'm her sponsor!" he said, as his voice rose.
I glanced up the stairs to where Amelia, Jason, and a sleeping Sookie were. I prayed to my Gods that Sookie was still asleep and I hoped Jason did not hear what Desmond had said. We could not afford any time for Jason to ask questions about his family. He took the news about his sister well, surprisingly well. I was not certain if Jason was more adaptable than I gave him credit for, or if there was another reason he appeared to be handling the situation well.
Maybe that was just what we needed! His family, parts of it at least, had the capability to jump to different realms and could try to track this demon. "Niall," I simply said, as I knew that Cataliades would understand my unasked question.
"I have not heard back from him."
"It would seem that he would want to be informed of a situation such as this," I said.
"When it suits him," Desmond responded and that was a good enough summary.
"If the demon was still in this realm, on this plane?"
"You know a shifter and have a local Pack. I would use them to track the demon. There is a chance it may no longer be in the area, but they do tend to stay around… to observe the repercussions…"
It seemed as if another conversation between Merlotte and I was likely. Now the two of us would have to determine if our mutual affection for Sookie might enable us to work together in order to save her. I could put our differences aside, I would not like it, but for Sookie I would do it. That was what I repeated to myself as I reminded myself to call Merlotte when I got to Fangtasia. If I waited until the following evening, I could not have been certain that there would be time to make the call.
Desmond gave me a way to contact his niece, Diantha, while he searched for the demon. "She will be able to contact me," he told me as he gave me the information.
After I spoke with Cataliades, I should have gone straight to Fangtasia. I had a great deal of work to do as Sheriff awaiting me and I needed to ensure that everything was in place for the next evening. Rather than going toward my front door to make my way to the club, I found myself walking upstairs. I stopped at the door to Sookie's room. Her steady breathing and heart rate informed me that she was still asleep. I gently opened the door and carefully approached the bed, kneeling by her head. I gently pushed some of her hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. It was slightly stuck to her face, which was somewhat damp due to the tiny increase in her temperature as she burrowed under the covers.
That was something else that had not changed with the curse. Sookie was still very much a blanket thief. I was lucky I had no need for blankets because she often left none for me. If ever I was to be beside her in her sleep again, that was something that I would have no complaint of, ever.
I stared down at her little face and considered the amount of time I had known her, from the time when she had walked into my bar hoping to find out information to exonerate her brother. It had not been too long since then, yet it had been long enough for me have feelings that I had not had in centuries. It had been long enough for me to fall in love with her.
It had also been long enough for me to hurt her. However unintentional it might have been, it had been long enough for me to make some unsuitable decisions. I had made them completely on my own, so certain that I had known what was best, but as the small being I watched as she slept showed me, one person could not make the decisions that affects more than them. She was a child now. Decisions should have been easy, in theory.
As Jason would have said, not so much.
The past was something I could not change. If I could, I wished I could change so much over my thousand years. There would also be things in my life that I would never change. The past I could do nothing about, but the future? That was something with which I could work. I have been on this planet for a thousand years. If I had been unable to adapt, I would never have survived this long. I now had another reason.
Anger had nearly overwhelmed me during most of what Cataliades said. It would have been too easy for me to be angry with the demon, and there was anger focused toward it, of course. I could have been angry at Sookie for making a potentially naïve mistake, for making a wish in a magical world, but I held no anger toward Sookie, not one drop.
No, most of the anger I held I aimed at me. I had no external outlet. I could have gone to Sookie. I should have gone and discussed everything with her. I could claim that when I had tried to do so in the past, it always seemed as if she was not willing to meet halfway.
That did not mean I should have stopped trying.
I placed a kiss to Sookie's forehead before taking my leave of her room and my house. I planned to fly to Fangtasia and I hoped that would take away a little of my anger. I had debated with myself if I should take shelter at Fangtasia tonight, to be closer to Sookie as soon as I rose. The truth was I wanted to be near her in case she awoke before sunrise. Though I could not be awake with her during the day, I still wanted to be there with her, in the only way I could.
Once I arrived at Fangtasia, I was happy to see that Thalia had been able to accomplish most of the Area 5 business that needed completed tonight. When I thanked her, she shrugged and said, "I figured you had other things to do."
She was right. I had many phone calls to make. I grudgingly called Madden to make certain that his plans had not changed and he confirmed everything remained as we originally discussed. I had killed Madden twenty-two times in my head during the two-minute discussion. My favorite way I caused his demise was simply crushing his head between my hands. I took a few minutes to make sure the bar was running properly; I owed Thalia and when it was safe, she would have two weeks off from her requirements at Fangtasia. Next were the phone calls I had to place to my contacts around the state. They were all still willing to help track Madden's movements through the state tomorrow night. The only time he would get close to Fangtasia while Sookie was present was when he dropped off those he wanted her to read.
Those were the easy phone calls.
I then had to place the call to Merlotte. By all of the accounts I had heard, he had stayed out of sight since the night he came to my bar in search of Sookie. He had apparently played his role well. That was something that gave me hope that we could work together again. I would have been able to track the demon if I needed. I was hesitant to leave Sookie for any additional time I would have to be away. Asking one of Tray's pack might have been an option, but I wanted to be certain that we had them here on the chance that things with Madden went south, more so than they were already. No, Merlotte was the best one for this. He had the scent; I just hoped that his tracking skills were decent.
The phone rang twice before he answered. By the sound of his voice, he had not realized who had called him. When I announced myself, his tone changed considerably. I could not say I blamed him for the caution that entered his tone once he found who it was that was calling. The caution soon gave way to concern. I spent the next two minutes of the conversation assuring the shifter that Sookie was still unhurt, in the grand scheme of things. Dr. Ludwig had assured me of that after she had examined Sookie. She had also mentioned that she wanted to examine her again in six months if the curse had not been broken. She wanted to see if Sookie was aging. The doctor seemed to think that Sookie would simply develop as a typical human if the curse could not be broken. I did not want to think about what would happen if she did not and remained as she was.
It was when I told him that I had called to ask for his assistance that the questions regarding Sookie ceased. In fact, the entire conversation ceased. Merlotte could have easily tried to hold it against me that I had turned to him for help. He did not and instead, asked with what I needed his assistance. He could have asked a tad nicer, but he also could have asked a tad less sarcastically. It was something that I could have brought to his attention, but I refrained.
Progress.
"You told me that the night the curse was placed on Sookie, she was speaking with a woman," I realized my miscalculation as soon as I said the word 'curse.' I had not used that word during our previous conversation. It made the topic of introducing the plan of Sam tracking the demon easier to raise.
I did have to reiterate that Sookie was not actually harmed during the curse. I also had to explain to Sam that he could not simply kill the demon if he was successful in finding it; I needed it alive until that charm was destroyed.
"If you need assistance for this task, you do not need to hesitate to ask for it," I told him.
"I can do it," he said, sounding indignant. I knew that he wanted to do this for Sookie. I also knew that he would ask for help if he truly needed it because of her. That was something, possibly the only thing we had in common.
"Will you call with updates?" I asked.
"Will you do the same?" I was not sure if the word 'truce' was something that could be used to explain the situation between Sam and me.
"If something was to happen with Sookie, I would inform you," I conceded.
My words seemed to surprise him, "Then I will call you nightly." It was my turn to be shocked. I thanked him and hung up the phone. I had laid a huge responsibility upon him and I was relying upon him. I was left hoping it was not too large.
After one last check to ensure everything here was physically in place, I left to return to my house. All was quiet, with the exception of Pam's soft footsteps as she moved from Amelia's room to her own. My own feet carried me to Sookie's room and I looked in on her as she continued her slumber. I was not certain if she had slept straight through the evening or if she had awakened. I once again placed a kiss to her cheek. I also told her, "I love you."
It was something I wanted her to know and I wanted her to feel. I would make certain she knew that after the curse was broken, but I would not wait until then to instill the idea in her. I then went to my own rest, praying to Sookie's God that he would protect her the next evening.
Well, we got some answers on what happened to Sookie, none of which Eric enjoyed hearing. At least they have a starting point now. I hope you enjoyed.
Many, many thanks to MsBuffy for all her help on this one.
Some of the info on a vengeance demon, as well as the character, is from BtVS. Credit to Joss Whedon on that one.
Just a reminder - I do apologize for the slow updates over here. FF has not played nice since I updated my OS and whether I can upload, update, or respond to reviews has been hit or miss. I will continue to update this one here when FF allows me as I will not leave it unfinished. This story is in fact completed, and my next one started, over at WP. I am there under the same name. If you head over there to finish this one, I do hope you enjoy.