"Get the fuck out, Eric Northman!" Lafayette exclaimed, even as he was trying to hide behind the vampire. "Get the fuck out my place and don't you ever come back."

The sudden pull from deep within his chest was not to be ignored. Eric hissed his annoyance at Lafayette as the magical grip on him pulled him toward the front door. "Can't you tell he's not here to take you to hell?" He growled at Lafayette who looked surprised to find himself no longer cowering behind Eric.

"I don't take people to hell," Lucifer said, sounding affronted. But then he looked concerned as Eric nearly hit the front door in his haste to stop the pull of the vampiric compulsion from tearing him apart. "Where are you going, Viking?"

"He uninvited me," Eric said through gritted teeth as he threw the door open.

Lucifer stood by the altar, jaw slack as Eric seemed to throw himself backward over the threshold and onto the porch. "What the bloody hell is going on?" he asked.

"Vampires need to be invited in," Eric said, growling at Lafayette.

Lafayette looked terrified as he realized he was now alone with the devil with no big, bad vampire to protect him if the fallen angel decided to make a meal out of him. "Fuck," just one simple word came from him.

Eric sighed from the doorway. "He's not going to do anything. We're here to ask for your help."

"Help the devil?" Lafayette retorted, eyes going back to the well-dress man on the far end of the room. "No thanks, hooker. Please kindly get his evil ass out of my living room."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way for the devil," Eric replied. "Clearly."

"You can be removed from a house simply with words?" Lucifer asked, clearly upset at the thought.

"Human-owned dwellings only," Eric confirmed. "I'm fine in a public place or a vampire-owned home."

Lucifer turned back to Lafayette, either unaware or uncaring about how scared the young human was. "Well, invite him back in!"

"Oh, hell no," Lafayette said. He'd managed to back across the room where he'd bumped into his couch. "The devil and Eric Northman in one room? I'll be dead by morning."

Lucifer sighed. "The one human to believe me and he thinks I'm here to torture him."

"Lucifer is harmless," Eric said. He paused. "Well, perhaps not harmless." This got a cocky grin from the other man. "But he seems to have better morals than me. He's less of a threat than I am and I'm not a threat at the moment. You were just trying to hide behind me a moment ago."

"But he's the motherfucking devil," Lafayette cried out, but Eric could see he was beginning to lose the edge of fear. The attitude was coming back. And the sass.

"And the devil wants to know if vampires have souls," Lucifer said smoothly. "Eric suggested you might be able to help us as you've got ties to the . . . spiritual plane. Unfortunately for me, me and my brethren don't have access to said plane. It is neither heaven nor hell, after all."

Lafayette finally managed to look at Lucifer again. "You're the devil. Why don't you know?"

Lucifer looked a bit peeved at the question, tugging on his suit coat to straighten it. "I'm only aware of the souls in hell. Eric Northman's soul is not in hell—that's about all I can confirm at the moment. People are missing upstairs that could otherwise answer my questions."

It took a few moments and Eric was beginning to get angry again as he waited in the doorway, but Lafayette finally spoke again. "You sayin' that God is fuckin' missing?"

"It's not the first time," Lucifer said. "Nor should I think it will be the last. But it can be frustrating, can't it?"

Lafayette sank down onto his couch. "This explains a lot," he finally said. Silence stretched out as Lafayette seemed to contemplate the idea that God above was missing in action. Probably allotting all of his bad luck to the fact. Especially the loss of Jesus and the death, and then turning, of his cousin Tara. Lafayette finally sighed. "Come back in, Eric."

The thrumming magic that had been keeping Eric just the other side of the threshold suddenly disappeared and with an easing of his shoulders he stepped back through the door, shutting it again. No need to continue to let the air conditioned cool air out into the night, for the human's sake anyway. "We good?" he asked.

Lafayette waved a hand at him. "So long as neither one of you try to kill me."

"So you'll help us?" Lucifer asked, sounding hopeful. He abandoned the altar and came to carefully sit in the arm chair close to the couch. Lafayette seemed to shrink away and Lucifer's face fell. "I'm not the bad guy. I'm the person who punishes the bad guys."

"That's not what I hear," Lafayette retorted.

"And who, pray tell, have you been speaking with?" Lucifer asked, crossing one leg over the other. Eric stood in the centre of the room, watching the two very different men examine each other.

"I've heard from a lot of people," Lafayette finally said. His eyes strayed to the altar across the room with Mother Mary and her son mixed among the other religions.

"Direct from Jesus himself?" Lucifer scoffed. "Or was it Jesus, our Detective Douche lookalike?"

"From spiritual people of all walks of life," Lafayette said.

"Yes, well. Not surprising in the least. Humans do love to put blame on others rather than take responsibility of their own actions, do they not?"

Lafayette didn't have a response to that.

"In either case, here I am, the devil in the flesh, and I've yet to torture you or even entice you." Lucifer glanced at the handcuffs sitting on the coffee table. "Although it looks to me like perhaps you could entice the devil instead."

This got a chuckle out of Lafayette, but it was quickly cut off as he remembered who he was talking to. "Why are you here? Why do you think I can help you?"

Eric moved around the coffee table to sit on the other end of the couch. "I know you can access the spirit world," he said.

"Oh, hell no. You can't make me do that again," Lafayette said. "You think I got a death wish?"

Eric steepled his fingers, eyeing Lafayette. "Well, you do seem to have the devil and a vampire sitting in your living room."

"Hooker, I am all about the self-preservation," Lafayette said. "There's nothing you can offer to get me to go back to that fucked up place."

"Would a simple séance do instead?" Lucifer asked. "I'd hate to ask you to go to the spirit world when you could simply call upon them."

Lafayette sighed. "What is with y'all wanting séances these days?" He stood from the couch and headed across the room to the archway that led further into the small house. He turned before the beads that separated his living room from his dining room. "Well, come along, dolls."

Lucifer was up in a flash, following behind with a jaunty step. Eric sauntered after them. All three of them moved from one room to the next with the sound of beads clacking together and Lafayette told his guests to sit down at the table while he gathered some candles.

Eric sat stiffly at the head of the table while Lucifer settled in on his left. The man was looking at everything—Lafayette's decorating skills did not stop at the living room and Lucifer was swimming joyously in sensory overload. Lafayette meanwhile was placing five candles in the centre of the round table, putting them on plates so the wax wouldn't melt onto the bright paisley tablecloth underneath. Lafayette finally settled on Eric's right after lighting the five candles.

Eric sat there, staring at the flames and contemplating his immortality as Lucifer and Lafayette started talking about spirits and why Lucifer couldn't contact those who weren't in hell awaiting his torture. As Lucifer talked, Eric could tell Lafayette was calming down—the human's blood pressure dropped and his colourful character came out to show. All while the tiny flames danced in Eric's vision.

He found himself nervous. Nervous as to the outcome of this séance. Part of him was really hoping Lafayette actually couldn't summon any ghosts, so that he wouldn't find out that he was eternally damned. He could continue to spend his nights with Lucifer, trying to find answers, and hopefully he'd never learn anything. Because he was almost certain he was doomed once he died, and no matter how much Lucifer tried to convince him otherwise, that niggling certainty scared the shit out of him.

After a thousand years of killing and fucking and living how he damn well pleased, Eric found himself wishing he could turn back time. Wishing for a life where the promise of Valhalla was real and that he'd end up there some day. Eric Northman, big bad ugly Viking vampire had come to find he regretted the life he'd made for himself. He'd begun to care again.

Sookie and her fucking feelings.

Lafayette shook out his hands and tilted his head back, taking a deep breath. "Alright. Let's get the show on the road so y'all can get the hell out my house and my life."

He reached his hands out across the table, demanding the others to make a chain, each of them holding hands. Eric couldn't help but notice the feel of Lucifer's hand against his and compare it to Lafayette. Lafayette was human and it was a human hand that he undoubtedly held. But Lucifer? There was a hidden strength there not unlike a vampire's—except it was such a warm grip. Far warmer than Lafayette's, too. The devil did, indeed, run hot. No calluses that he could feel against his palm, but the man was nothing if not fastidious in his personal grooming. Manicured hands definitely went with the tailored suits, after all.

Eric refrained a shiver as he enjoyed the touch far too much.

Lafayette cleared his throat, preparing himself. "To the spirits that be, know we call on you," he said, clearly new at the whole séance thing, but seeming to gain confidence as he went along. "We ask for your help. We seek spiritual guidance."

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Eric was disappointed, to say the least. He knew Lafayette was a medium, regardless of whether the fry cook wanted to be one. At the same time, there was that relief again. Another day would go by and he wouldn't know the answer to that pressing question he'd given Lucifer. No answer was better than the wrong answer—right?

But his relief—and disappointment—was short lived. Out of nowhere, a wind rose, jingling the beaded curtains and making the candles flare up for a second, the flames reaching unreal heights. Eric tried to back away from the table, alarmed, but Lafayette held tight to his right hand. The fire scared him, he realized. It had never truly scared him before, but some weird part of him deep inside was certain those flames were out to get him, to engulf him and end his life before he had the chance to know if he could save his soul. That idea terrified him even more than the actual flames themselves.

Lucifer's grip on Eric's left hand tightened and when he looked to the devil, he saw empathy in the depths of those brown eyes. Brown eyes that looked nothing like Sookie Stackhouse's. Lucifer's thumb ran along the edge of Eric's hand and the vampire closed his eyes and focused on the touch, grounding himself in it as the wind died down and Lafayette seemed to take on a completely different persona.

"What is it that you seek?" Lafayette's voice had gone very feminine. Far more feminine than it already sometimes was. Completely different inflection, too.

Eric's eyes flew open to see the room had grown hazy with what he assumed was smoke from the candles. The candle flames were no longer rocketing into the air, looking normal and harmless once again. No breeze stirred the colourful beads in the doorway although they still swung back and forth a bit, settling. Lafayette was still next to him, a death grip on his hand, but the man's eyes were dark, and he looked between Eric and Lucifer with an impatient stare. A ghost had arrived—and Lafayette had become its vessel.

It was Lucifer who spoke, reverence in his voice. "Madam spirit."

These two short words seemed to appease whatever was possessing Lafayette for a moment. Lafayette let go his hands and he seemed to preen at the table, basking in the compliment Lucifer had somehow given the spirit with just two words and respect in his voice. "What brings me here?" she asked.

"We seek answers," Lucifer said. "About spirits, perhaps some just like yourself."

"What for?" Lafayette's voice was suddenly filled with suspicion. A ghost whose emotions turned on a dime, not unlike the devil asking the questions.

"Oh, just to put my vampire friend's mind at ease. He wishes to know where his soul is, where it will go when he eventually meets his second death." Lucifer squeezed Eric's hand and Eric realized the man had never let go, even though Lafayette had broken the chain.

Even as he found comfort in it, Eric's fear came back as Lafayette turned his dark gaze on him. Whoever was speaking was definitely not the colourful, gay fry cook he'd been harassing for the past year or so. And she didn't seem to like Eric very much.

"A vampire's soul." Nope. The disdain in that voice said it all. "Why would anyone ponder the whereabouts of a vampire's soul? Every one of them is damned."

"Is that a fact?" Lucifer asked.

The gaze slid back to him. "Why should it be otherwise? Vampires kill."

"Don't humans kill to survive?" Lucifer counted. "There are plenty of humans in heaven that have killed."

"For the greater good, perhaps. There are plenty more of us stuck in this place."

Lucifer, as always, seemed to get sidetracked. "And what is this place, exactly?"

"It is a place where unrestful souls gather."

Lucifer looked eager. "Purgatory? What's it like, I've always wondered. Dad would never tell me, and none of my siblings cared to think of it."

Lafayette's fingers tapped the table in annoyance. "We are all lost here. Pulled through the mists from time to time back to the mortal realm to speak with foolish mortals about trivial things."

Lucifer scoffed and leaned away from the table. "We are neither foolish nor mortals, spirit."

Lafayette studied both of them. "I see."

"Are there vampire souls in purgatory then?" Lucifer asked.

"Why care?" The spirit within Lafayette was growing flippant and the man harbouring the spirit seemed to twitch. Eric suspected she was getting ready to leave his body.

"Does it matter why I care? I want to know the bloody answer, and you're going to bloody tell me." When Lucifer got angry he got sexy, Eric decided, studying the man. His eyes were intent, his eyebrows drawn together, and his accent had gotten thicker. And he looked very much fuckable in that moment. It was enough of a distraction to help Eric steady his own emotions.

But as the spirit in Lafayette continued to give Lucifer the run around, the man suddenly stood from the table, knocking his chair over and pulling his hand from Eric's. His eyes lit up a fiery red and he growled toward Lafayette. "Answer my bloody question, or I'll make sure you no longer wander purgatory. And trust me, you'll wish you never left."

Lafayette—and the woman inside him—hushed up, staring up at Lucifer in a shocked terror. Lafayette closed his eyes and a long, drawn-out silence seemed to stretch out before them. It felt unending—Lafayette was clearly still not in charge of his body, but the ghost that was, wasn't talking. Lucifer continued to tower over the table, glaring toward Lafayette as if his red gaze could bore through the man and find the spirit that seemed to be hiding from his rage.

Eric didn't know how long he sat there, with the devil glowering on his left and Lafayette with his head hung low on his right. But eventually Lafayette moved. He did a little shimmy in his chair, almost as if getting comfortable in the body once more. When his eyes opened, it was still the spirit looking out. She wasn't being flippant or impatient anymore. She looked scared—it seemed, without needing to tell her, she already knew the man standing above her was the devil. "There are no vampire souls here," she said quietly. "Is that all?"

"No," Lucifer commanded, and Lafayette frowned. Lucifer went to lower himself back into his chair only to realize he'd toppled it over, so he leaned over the table, palms against the tablecloth and candle flames dancing perilously close to his linen jacket. "Does this mean that vampires continue to possess their souls, even after their first death?"

Lafayette turned again to look at Eric, studying him coldly, although not with the disdain from earlier. Whoever the spirit was, she hated vampires but her fear of the devil overcame it—just barely. Still, as she stared at Eric he felt a foreboding. Was she the one who had forced Marnie and her coven to curse him? Or was it some other witch or human soul that a vampire had killed? It didn't really matter—Eric now knew how dangerous they could be when given the opportunity.

Eric was fairly confident that if the devil himself wasn't in the room, this ghost would try to kill him just as quickly as the last one. It didn't necessarily scare him—not like the idea of going up in flames—but it did worry him, all the same. How many fucking ghosts were out there, just waiting to possess a weak human so they could take their revenge out on the vampire race? It was an unnerving thought.

Not as unnerving as what the ghost said next, though. It chilled Eric. The words, the voice, the malice and delight behind it. It left him feeling lost. Hopeless. Damned.

"No, vampires definitely no longer retain their souls. They wander this earth with nothing to tether them to the next life. We can tell. We all can tell. There is no light there any longer. Only a deep, black darkness. Nothingness."

Then she smiled, using Lafayette's face. "It's exactly what you deserve, you vile creature. Don't you forget it."

Lafayette's body suddenly began to convulse. After a few seconds, he sighed and slumped at his spot at the table. The ghost had left—taking Eric's tiny bit of hope with her.


While generally my favourite version of the Sound of Silence is by Disturbed, I quite like Geoff Castellucci's version that he put out a few months ago. So I chose Geoff's to put on my playlist.

I hope I did Lafayette justice. I loved writing the man—and absolutely adored his character in the TV show.