When you get back to Russell's house, he's standing outside. You still have the book held against your chest and you loosen your hold on it as you grow closer to him. He's still holding a glass of blood in his hand, likely a new one, and he's wearing a black leather jacket and a dark shirt. You can't make out the color of it just yet, but he looks threatening. He grins at you when he sees you, which was as soon as you started walking up the driveway. You don't offer him the same gesture, you just stare at him as you stroll toward him.
"I see you got my book? How sweet," He says, southern accent thickening. His fangs are exposed, and you stop a couple of feet away from him because of this. You almost want to scoff, you aren't doing this for him. You're doing this to get Sarah's dead cousin's necklace back. It seems to hold some significance, a witch has her hands on it.
You nod warily and step closer to him, holding your hand out to him. He takes the book, flipping it over to look at the cover. He taps a long manicured nail against the side of his glass, humming. He looks up at you, "You didn't run into any problems?" Russell asks, raising an eyebrow. He tucks the book up under his arm, taking a sip of blood. You refrain from rolling your eyes and sighing simultaneously, you're not gonna tell him about that woman. He's in grave danger now, not you. He has the book. Or maybe you're in danger still because you purchased it. You're not sure, and you don't want to find out. But you know you will, and you're already annoyed about it. Everything comes with a price, everything is dangerous. You should've just stayed away from Shreveport.
"No, everything went fine," You say, trying to make sure your heart rate doesn't speed up any more than it's supposed to. He couldn't know you were lying and he won't. Well, he might, "Can you just tell me where to find the witch?" It's best to distract him so he doesn't question your heart rate or something. You could play it off like you're scared of him, and you are, so it's easy. You don't know how old he is, he might be younger than Eric, he could be older.
He scoffs, something you're confused and irritated by. Is he catching you in your lie or is he just reacting to something else? It doesn't matter, "It's not hard to find her, she's been bragging to anybody who'll listen. One of my escorts was telling me about it just last week. You'll find him inside." He uses his thumb to gesture behind him at the front door. Escorts? Like a permanent bag of blood? Or like he just has sex with a prostitute? You could ask Margot or something, you haven't seen her since yesterday though. You don't know where she's at.
You don't feel like going inside and searching for someone right now, "Can you just take me to him?" You ask, more childishly than you expected. Your face gets hot and you rub your arm sheepishly, but you'd say it again. He sighs deeply and holds his glass of blood out to you.
With furrowed brows, you take it from him and he speeds into the house. He leaves the door open, you know he didn't have to do that. But you're glad he did, cause you can see Eric walking up the flight of stairs in the foyer. And his ass looks good. While Russell's gone, you sniff the glass of blood and make a face. You don't know what you were expecting.
He returns soon, and the book is no longer tucked under his arm. You hand him the glass of blood and wait for him to start walking inside. You look up at the top of the staircase, Eric is leaning against a railing and glaring down at Russell, "You don't scare me, Eric, compared to me you're an infant." Russell says teasingly, turning to face the vampire. Eric furrows his brows and snarls at him, shooting up into the air and hovering over Russell. You knew he could fly but you haven't seen it before. He sort of looks like an angel, if angels had fangs and no wings.
Russell tosses the glass of blood aside, it shatters against the mosaic, and what was left of the blood is now all over the floor. You shake your head and take a step back so you're not so close to the door. Just in case you get caught up in this mess. As you do, you hear a loud crash. Eric pulled the chandelier out of the ceiling and tossed it at Russell, a very nice-looking fixture. He leaps out of the way just in time, crouching low and staring up at Eric. A few shards of glass manage to make their way outside, stopping near your feet.
"I am 3,000 years old, there's no possible way for you to defeat me," Russell growls, leaping into the air toward Eric. He manages to take hold of Eric's foot, pulling him down and smashing his body into the floor. The glass of blood didn't matter, they're just destroying the house now. Eric sits up, sending a kick Russell's way. You hear another crash and Russell comes flying through a hole in the side of the house. The older vampire groans, landing on the concrete just a few feet away from you.
You look back into the house, Eric walks through the doorway, taking a glance at you. After he's finished checking you to see if you're injured at all, he strides over to Russell. Before you can blink, Russell is on his feet, looking angrier than before. It would've been better if you had just looked for Russell's escort. Damn it. Might as well do that now while they're doing their dick-measuring contest.
As you begin to make your way inside to search for Russell's escort, you step over a pile of glass on the floor and shake your head. You hate the way they're acting right now, they could draw attention to themselves. Unwanted attention. Maybe you should get some popcorn and just watch it like it's a baseball game. You don't, that will delay everything.
You make your way up the stairs, passing the room where Sarah and you slept last night. You go to the end of the hallway and open the door on the right. You don't know what possessed you to open that door, you just had a gut feeling. When you step into the room, you see a man sitting at a desk in the corner. There's a box in front of him, carved and wooden. He's to your right, and he looks up as you enter.
"Can I help you?" He asks slowly, turning in his chair to face you. He looks young, around your age, and his voice is high-pitched. He's wearing black shorts and no shirt for some reason. You're not sure why but you're not judging, the door was closed, you just barged in. He's holding papers in his hand too. You can't see what's on them and you don't care.
"Russell said you can help me find a necklace?" You walk further into the room, stopping near the desk. He leans back against the chair and puts the papers down next to the box. He looks up at the ceiling for a moment to think and you sigh softly. You have to break up that fight downstairs soon. You're growing impatient.
But he doesn't take much time to think, "Oh it's right in here man," He says with a breathy chuckle, opening the box in front of him. You lean over so you can see what's inside. There's the necklace right there, a round silver pendant with intricate carvings. There's also a small bag of white powder, likely cocaine. But it could be heroin too. Before he can, you reach forward and snatch the necklace out of the box. You take another look at it and flip it over in your palm, on the back is an engraving. Just a J. For Jenna. You nod at him and without another word, you leave the room. Russell lied to you, there's no witch, he just wanted you to do his dirty work. He probably would've kept up this charade for far too long. You would've been searching the French Quarter for a witch. It would've taken ages, and you would never have found her. Right now all you want to do is leave. Go back to Shreveport and work at the bar.
You want to stake Russell, but you know he'd stop you. And he's already fighting Eric. You leave the house and glance at the spot where you saw Russell last. He's not there, of course. But you can hear loud crashes and grunts from the side of the house. So you make your way over to the source, watching Eric toss Russell into the air like a sack of potatoes. Neither of them looks good, they're not tired or injured but they look angry. Eric honestly looks scary. Russell always looks scary so nothing has changed on that front.
"You lied?" You ask, holding the necklace out as Russell stumbles to his feet. Eric glances at you, and so does Russell. You half expected Russell to take advantage of Eric being distracted but he's just grinning at you. He even manages to let out a laugh. You just glare at him, something you finally found the courage to do. They're both covered in grass stains, and Russell's black leather jacket is destroyed. You don't know why he still has it on, it's barely covering his arms at this point.
He laughs again, "Slow week." He shrugs, crossing his arms. He lets his fangs retract, still smirking at you triumphantly.
You tighten your hold on the necklace, "Let's get the fuck out of here." You call over to Eric without looking at him. You can't take your eyes off Russell. Your body feels like it's on fire and your hands are shaking. Somehow, you manage to turn around and take a few steps toward the front of the mansion.
"You want to know where I got it, don't you?" He drawls from behind you, managing to sound smug. You really don't want to know. You don't care. So you continue walking, rounding the side and making your way over to the driveway. There was no reason for the two of them to fight like they did. Frankly, you're a little angry at Eric because of his childish behavior. They just want to see who's stronger. They weren't trying to kill each other. If they were, one of them would have a stake in their hand.
When you get inside, the broken chandelier is gone and the glass of blood has been cleaned up. The tiles are still broken, and a man is gathering pieces of them. He has a trashcan next to him. Russell must have a lot of money. But you won't be mooching off him anytime soon. Not after all this bullshit you had to go through. And poor Sarah, all these memories brought back for no reason. A slow week my ass.
First, you go upstairs to retrieve Sarah. You don't know where Margot, Pam, and Henry are so you'll get your best friend first. When you reach the top of the stairs, you look up at the ceiling. Cracks are running through it because of what Eric did to the chandelier. You shake your head and turn around, making your way down the hallway toward the guest bedroom. When you open the door, Sarah is sitting in bed reading a book. She looks up when you enter the room and close the door behind you. She closes her book and tosses it aside on the duvet.
You hold the necklace out so she can see, "Russell had it all along." She jumps off the bed and chambers toward you, taking the necklace out of your hand and staring down at it. Somehow she manages to grin at you.
"Thanks, I'll be right back." She says, letting her smile drop as she walks past you. You follow her out of the room, down the hallway, and the extravagant staircase. When both of you are outside, you see Eric and Russell fighting again. Well, you heard it before you saw it. You close the door behind you without looking, walking closer to the pair. You don't hear the door shut so you look over your shoulder.
Pam and Margot are outside now too, and Pam looks pleased. Margot just looks worried, you don't know if she's worried for Eric or Russell. You take a few steps back so you can stand near them, "Russell lied, he had the necklace the whole time." You whisper, even though all of them can hear you. Pam's smile fades and she glares at Russell, Margot does the same thing. Sarah's been doing that since she came outside. You do it too because you don't want to feel left out.
Eric and Russell stop fighting again in time for Sarah to start undressing. Your eyes widen, even though you've seen it all before. She's about to shift. Into what? You're not sure, but you hope it's something big. When her jeans are pulled down, she begins to shift in front of you, her body grows larger and her skin is covered in fur. Soon she's transformed into a wolf, one of the largest you've ever seen. You know she's not a werewolf but she certainly looks like one.
She growls, a low chilling sound in the back of her throat. Russell steps back and so does Eric, even you're shocked by this. You've never seen her look so scary, and she could be scary. Russell snarls and bares his fangs, but takes a few steps away from her. She's bigger than him and even Eric, you don't know how she does it but you're impressed. Why couldn't you be a shapeshifter?
Russell doesn't seem like he wants to fight her, but Eric looks like he's still ready for a fight. And not with Sarah. He's still glaring at Russell and his face almost distracts you from Sarah lunging at the older vampire. But you see it out of the corner of your eye. Eric does the same thing, managing to pin Russell to the concrete. Sarah bounds toward them, snarling over his face. Russell struggles against Eric's grip, thrashing wildly. Soon, Henry and Bill make their way outside. You don't notice them until Bill says something.
"We got what we came here for, can't we just leave?" Bill asks, heaving a sigh. You look at him over your shoulder, he's leaning against the pillar holding up the patio's roof. His arms are crossed and Henry is standing next to him, looking entertained. Pam is the same, and Margot is tense. You're tense as well, your friend could die if Russell gets out of this. And you want to leave as well, you expected a reaction from Sarah but not this. And why were Eric and Russell fighting again? Three times in one night is just too much. It's not even midnight yet and they're already acting like animals.
"Can we please leave?" You groan, kicking at a piece of glass under your feet. It's sort of cold outside but you can't feel it through your jacket, you'd hate to be standing out here without one. You shake your head to rid yourself of those meaningless thoughts, glancing up from your feet at Eric. He's still glaring down at Russell, hands holding onto the collar of his black shirt. Earlier you thought it could've been purple, but it wasn't. Another meaningless thought.
Finally, Eric gets off of Russell and stands up straight. Sarah turns back into herself, stark naked in the moonlight. She's still glaring down at Russell, her fists are clenched tightly. Eric looks at you for a moment and walks over to Pam. He whispers something in her ear, something that catches Bill's attention. And every other vampire in the vicinity, but Bill seems alarmed. Eric leans away from Pam and she turns toward you, "Let's leave." She says firmly, taking a glance at Russell, who stood up from the ground a few moments ago. He just stands there, crossing his arms and glaring at all of you.
Eric steps away from Pam and pulls something out of his pocket, his keys. He glances at you and begins walking toward his car. You glance at everyone around you and then start to follow him. You hear another jingle behind you, Margot must've pulled her keys out too. You sort of wished Eric had a better car so you didn't have to be alone with him again. But it's nice to look at him and it's nice to hear his voice. So it's not all that bad, just a few hours with the hottest man you've ever seen. You've done it before, you can do it again.
When you reach the car, Eric opens the passenger door for you. You thank him and duck down into the flashy car. You don't wait for long, he's in the car a few seconds later, after you finished buckling your seatbelt. Safety is important, especially when you're driving with a vampire. He doesn't buckle his seatbelt. As soon as he's in the car and the key is in the ignition, he's flying down the driveway like he's a Nascar driver. You hold onto the car door and the console in between you, heart hammering in your chest.
He glances over at you for a moment and slows the car down, allowing you to calm down. He must be angry still. He was driving worse than he did yesterday. It might be 2 days ago, you're not sure what time it is. Last time you checked it was about 10 or something. The car stops and you furrow your brows. Eric has pulled over to the side of the road, for reasons unknown to you. Margot's car passes by and she honks as she goes. You look down at your hand, you still have the necklace. Sarah didn't get a chance to take it from you, you're just glad you didn't drop it on the ground earlier. He takes the keys out of the ignition and drops them into the cup holder near the console. You're even more confused.
Suddenly Eric's leaning across the console, face growing closer to yours. You close your eyes and just wait for whatever's about to happen. A few more moments pass and his lips still aren't on yours. You open your eyes and he shoves his face into your neck, sniffing intently. He grabs a few strands of your hair and noses at them with a groan. You take a shaky breath and feel your body heat up, he's way too close for comfort. Your heart is beating faster than it did when he screeched out of the driveway like a madman. It felt just like it always does when he offers you his blood. But you don't want his blood, he seems to want yours now. A fair trade you suppose, you've tasted his blood far too many times. He's only had a drop of yours. You've been wanting to return the favor for quite some time, it's only right, right?
"A-are you hungry?" You ask, managing to stutter through your words. You feel him shiver against you and you raise your eyebrows, looking down at the tuft of blonde hair under your chin.
"Not for blood."
