Chapter 19: Born to be Bad

Olivia's mouth was so dry her tongue couldn't even move. The DEA paying them a visit was a doomsday level of crisis. She had mentally prepared for this scenario her whole life, and a mix of talent, luck and an abundance of caution made it so she never encountered cops on the job before. She could no longer say that. "You can't," Olivia said, suddenly regaining control of her mouth.

"Why not?" Glenn Costa barked.

"You said it yourself," the men surrounding her thought she was being dodgy as hell, Bobby Burnham included. "It's daytime and the man you are looking for hasn't risen yet. He is a vampire."

Glenn Costa immediately thought Olivia was a stuck up bitch. She got that a lot. "Well, can we come in and wait until he does?"

The bombshell's eyebrows narrowed just past her, and he wasn't looking at Bobby either. His mind was clouded and dark - similar to Debbie Pelt's. Shit, he was a werewolf. He must have just caught the scent of the decomposing vampire inside. This was getting worse by the fucking second.

"Sure ya can boys," Bobby spoke up, cool and collected. He had a lifetime of practice at being dodgy. "As soon as I see that warrant."

The men shuffled on their feet as they quickly glanced at each other. What was it with the damn DEA and searching without warrants? She expected that sneaky shit from cops, not from the feds.

"We just want to talk, nothing to be alarmed about. There's been an awful lot of vamp blood in the black market and we are looking for leads on where to go lookin'," The stormy beauty had shoulders of a line-backer, and smooth dark brown hair her fingers were begging to run through. His jawline could cut glass.

Bobby's thoughts were hectic and loud. He knew Eric was going to be monumentally pissed off about having the feds on their tail. And he was absolutely correct, they had to get out of here now. Especially because special agent Alcide Herveaux was full of shit - being a werewolf he knew damn well about the hierarchy of the supernatural world; were he just a concerned party, he would have spoken directly to the vampire Sheriff, not his crony. And had he done already so, Olivia would have 100% heard about it. Keeping the DEA away was a pretty big part of her job. A part she still wasn't sure how she failed.

"Feel free to hang outside until sundown. But we must get going, we are late for a meeting. Bobby?"

"Yep, we better get going," he agreed, twisting the kitchen door knob to shut behind them. Olivia and her bodyguard both stepped past them, making the two special agents take a step apart to let them through. "Nice meeting you boys, I'm sure Long Shadow will love to chat once the sun dips."

"If he's home," Olivia added, for luck.

"If?" Alcide asked, not taking his eyes away from her. She could only get a vague intention of his clouded thoughts, and he had mixed feelings about her. Mixed at least meant not all bad.

"Didn't check the coffin. We just dropped off his dry cleaning and some synthetic blood."

"You're his day staff," Glenn Costa said matter-of-factly. "I didn't catch your names?"

"I'm Subpoena and this is Court Order," Olivia smiled as she stepped off the porch. Rule number 3: everyone lies - except to law enforcement under the circumstances that can lead to indictments. But legally, no one has to disclose their names to these agents without a subpoena or court order. Olivia had to be careful who she presented herself as, and to whom.

Just as Liv turned to follow Bobby to the car, she felt a warm hand brush on her wrist. Alcide Herveaux stood right next to her, she could feel the heat radiating right from his skin. Maybe she had been hanging out vampires for too long, so feeling the warmth from another person felt strange. Maybe werewolves were just extra hot - he certainly was.

"In case you change your mind, subpoena," his sarcasm overtook a small smile, but it was still there. It made her melt.

Alcide Hervaux put a small little business card between her fingers, and she took it, feeling the weight of the DEA logo on the corner edge, by his name. No matter how attractive this 6'5 tall hunk of a man was, and how much she wants to rip the buttons off his shirt, Olivia must never forget who he is and who he works for.

"We'll see." She looked at his eyes deeply, trying to read the mind behind it. Dark summer storm skies was all she got - suddenly she really liked rain showers.

"Oi!" Bobby called from the car. "We don't have all day."

Liv hurried back to the Camry as the golden hour was setting quickly. It wouldn't take long for the agents to realize there was no 'living' vampire inside, and probably even less time for them to show up at Fangtasia or at Eric's house next. And Alcide Hervaux, being a werewolf, already knew they were hiding secrets. Now it was just a matter of finding out how much he knew to convince a judge to sign a search warrant on this Bossier home or get either Olivia or Bobby or another staff in for questioning - with subpoenas this time. That is, assuming these were law-abiding agents who followed procedure and weren't breaking into Long Shadow's house at this very second. Alcide sure had the body to kick or punch his way through a bank vault door.

Her mind played out the police questioning - they would find Hot Rain's pile of goop and make the logical assumption it was Long Shadow. It was unlikely either Olivia or Bobby would be charged with his murder, as there was no law forbidding the killing of vampires (Vampire Rights Amendment pending). They couldn't be charged with obstruction of justice either by killing "Long Shadow'' as a witness before they got to question him; they would have to prove in court they knew the DEA was coming, which they sure as shit did not.

There was also no published science on the timeline of a vampire corpse decomposing after their true death, so they could simply lie that there was no dead body in the living room when they were there (assuming they didn't break into the house immediately after they left). Alcide would know the lie, she just had to make sure he couldn't prove it. All she needed to do was to get rid of their shoes - Hot Rain's blood on their soles was the only evidence that could prove otherwise. Someone could have come into Long Shadow's home and killed him that night, provided the DEA didn't stake outside of it all night. Hot Rain's body would serve a purpose after all.

But there was way too much riding on assumptions for Olivia's comfort level. And the biggest question was: what the hell were they doing there in the first place? Why are they investigating black market vampire blood? And why Long Shadow?

"Shit that was close," Bobby cursed, glancing in the rearview mirror every three seconds, worried the feds were following them.

"Too close."

"Eric Northman is not going to be happy."

He usually wasn't either way, from Olivia's experience. But in this case, it had to be a fluke. A slow day at the DEA's office, a junkie who talked too much at the hospital, or a dealer trading information with the DA for a lesser sentence. Plus, if Long Shadow was sleazy enough to embezzle 60 grand from Eric Northman who knew what other kind of shit he was involved with?

Olivia felt a bottomless pit of nerves in her stomach. How the hell did she not see this coming? She refused to believe it had anything to do with their business expansion or any paperwork she had filed since she got the Area 5 assignment. How the hell was she supposed to tell him the DEA came by after she spent the last months convincing Eric that her worth relied on avoiding the feds altogether? How would he ever trust her again if she had failed? The vampire was too unpredictable for her to give him the truth without answers. She had to look at the whole damn picture before telling him. He wasn't the type of client you only tell bad news to.

"Then let's not make him unhappy," Olivia said holding Long Shadow's laptop tight on her lap. "Let me handle it, okay? Don't say anything."

"Are you insane? We're not gonna tell him - of all people - that the feds got vamps on their radar?"

"I will tell him," Liv assured him. When I have to.

Bobby shot her a skeptical look, but before he could manage to say anything the police radio on the car - which had been quiet all of the ride back to Shreveport, burst into voices shouting codes.

"10-50-F on Westmount and Highland Avenue-"

"10-71?"

"Unknown, requesting 10-58."

"10-12."

Bobby's whole demeanor changed. His mind was buzzing with police jargon that Olivia could barely understand. Something really terrible had happened. He muttered something intangible under his breath and took a last-second left turn at the intersection they were halfway through.

"What's happening?"

Bobby only glanced at Olivia for a second, but it showed a level of darkness that intimidated even her. Bobby feared for her, for himself, for his wife, for his kids in college. Suddenly the DEA hounds were the least of their worries. On the same breath, he told her. "Fangtasia is on fire."

Eric knew it was too early for him to rise. He felt in his bones, but something inside him rattled back to life. His body felt like lead, every move felt alarmingly heavy and slow. He knew he was alone in his home - Pam was sleeping at the bar, no other vampire could enter and no one had tripped the house alarm. But still, he sat up awake on his large King bed wondering what the hell he was doing up. He glanced at his clock - 12 minutes until dark. It may not feel that far off for a human to wake up 12 minutes earlier, but to Eric, the whole world felt upside down.

He reached for his phone, which despite being on silent he could very much see on the screen someone was calling him - Bobby Burnham, his day man.

"Mr. Northman-" his voice gulped for a second, he did not anticipate Eric actually picking up.

"Yes?"

"Um, something's happened at the bar, we don't know how or who - the day guards are nowhere to be found. Ah, the cops are here so maybe don't come yet. Oh shit, the press just pulled up. No yeah, definitely come. And Olivia's here too-"

"Bobby!" Eric yelled. "Just get to the point!"

"There's been a fire at Fangtasia-"

Eric did not hear any words Bobby said after that. He just stood in his room, cold and still like a statue. He did everything he was supposed to do: eliminated the most pressing threat, placed security around all his assets, including Fangtasia. There were five men total surrounding the place while a whole construction crew worked on the main level. He instructed Chow to lock himself and Pamela in the basement while they slept in their coffins. In his mind, Fangtasia was bright red and orange, engulfed in the flames of his enemies.

That place had more eyes, cameras and locks than a Fort, but yet it was attacked? His one and only progeny had died a horrible death in the place she built and ruled herself with more determination than anyone he had ever met. He let Pam die alongside his most trusted friend. They had both trusted him. Eric thought isolating himself would keep her safe, but his enemies did not care for his death. They wanted to see him suffer.

Suffering would not even be close to describing what he would do to those who dared had hurt his family. Who had dared to cross Eric Northman? They didn't know it yet, but they created their own worst nightmare - an ancient vampire with nothing to lose who had an appetite for vengeance. And he was starving.

The instant he felt the weight on his bones lift, Eric jumped out of the window and flew high across the city. There was a line of blood orange on the horizon, but the true death no longer scared him. He could see the burst of blue and red lights flashing and swirling in the Fangtasia parking lot. He saw no fire, just smoke. The whole south wall of the bar had black shadows smeared from top to bottom. It had ruined the neon sign and the main entrance awning but the building was still standing which gave him a glimmer of hope. Hope was dangerous. He scanned the lot for body bags or half-burnt coffins but found nothing but cop cars, news vans, a red corvette, people in uniform, emergency vehicles and puddles of water.

When Eric landed, some cops and a couple of firefighters gasped. It was normal for humans not to expect vampires flying. One of the Shreveport policemen approached him.

"Are you the owner of this place?"

"The vampires in the basement." He demanded.

"Uh-"

Eric wanted to grab the man by the throat, and it took him an abysmal effort not to. He looked deeply into the man's eyes whose gaze gave in without fighting. "The vampires in the basement. Did they make it?"

"Y-Yes. I think so. They should have. The fire started on the outside and went up the wall. The fire marshall is checking the rest of the structure now."

Just like a spell, Pamela and Chow both emerged from the front entrance, stepping over the axed front door which laid in pieces on his parking spot. His progeny was soaking wet, her velour juicy couture sweatsuit was dark and droopy with water. She had mascara running down her magnolia petal cheeks, and the sprinkler system was certainly not kind to her hair. But she was unscathed - not a scratch or burn on her.

Pamela walked into his arms like a ghost. She threw her arms around his torso and he embraced her quietly, trying to shake off the thoughts of her true death by burning up. After a moment, Pamela seemed to return to her usual self and quietly let go. Bobby Burnham approached him - it was odd actually seeing him. He usually dealt with the man via the phone only.

"Firefighters think it started shortly after the construction crew left for the day. The people at the diner across the street made the 911 call. I still have no idea where the security detail that was guarding Fangtasia went. I told Samuel to start looking through dumpsters in the area. I don't think they made it."

"And Olivia?"

"She's at the diner," he nodded across the street. At a glance Eric could see her sitting at the booth, staring at a laptop and talking into her Blackberry. "She's calling the insurance company. Or… Buying the insurance company? I don't know. But you should, ah… Talk to her."

Eric registered but ignored the ominous tone of his voice, as he reeled into the odd relief of watching her being safe from the destruction. Maybe causing some destruction of her own.

Chow had made himself useful and called upon Eric's inner circle of trusted vampires. Thalia and Gerald appeared a minute after. He instructed Gerald to glamour all the important info from the cops and firefighters, and erase any information they should not have. Chow and Bobby would look for the missing security detail he had put on Fangtasia, and check if any of the security cameras caught the arsonists. Finally, he told Thalia to escort Pamela home so she could feed and shower, with emphasis on her safety. Whoever the "others" Hot Rained mentioned were, he was sure they did not forget Pamela. Luckily Thalia was just as old as he was and twice more aggressive. If anyone crossed them, they would not live to tell about it.

Eric walked alone to the diner across the street. It was almost empty despite it being dinner time. He guessed the cops must have blocked the streets for the trucks. And since Americans were allergic to walking, the place was quiet. The only person talking was Olivia, who was spelling out Fangtasia's insurance policy code on the phone with a commanding tone while focusing her attention to the laptop screen.

He slid in the booth sitting right across from her, sitting on the slightly uncomfortable green vinyl seat. He had never been inside this diner before, despite owning the business across the street for the past 30 years. It had always been here, though - it was just insignificant to him until this very moment.

The waitress came up and refilled Olivia's cup of coffee without making eye contact with him. She smelled of fear as she took away an empty plate filled with crumbs of something his accountant had eaten. The smell of the hot drink offended him. It was cheap, low quality, and half-burnt coffee but Olivia did not seem to care as she sipped it anyway. She glanced at him multiple times but did not stray from her work. It's what he paid her for.

So he simply sat there, watching her work. Even under awful fluorescent lighting, Olivia was quite beautiful. Her hair was down, and she wore a nice green dress that showed a bit of cleavage. He liked the daytime casual version of her. He seemed to like every version of her, even the ones that drove him crazy. Eric caught himself in awe. He was completely comfortable in the presence of this woman. Her fearlessness, determination and intelligence surprised him again and again and it had been a very long time since Eric Northman found himself surprised by a human. Nevermind awe.

Finally, she hung up the phone. "Is Pam-"

"She's alive." He said simply.

Olivia did not look relieved or happy or sad at this. She just continued down the long list of things she had to tell him. "It's not as bad as it looks," she warned him. She had a notepad full of notes beside her laptop, scribbled in her perfectly neat handwriting. Humans now wrote in a computer-style font, old fashioned calligraphy was long gone. He wondered if he wrote her a letter if she could read it.

The accountant briefed him on the insurance status, the company would come in the morning to assess the damage and payout. But neither Eric or Olivia worried about the coverage, as he bought into the premium insurance bracket after the Vampire kind revealed itself to the world. When he opened the bar a couple of years ago he fully expected Shreveport citizens to storm the front door with torches and pitchforks. Contractors would come after the insurance adjusters to reassess the reconstruction timeline. The south wall would have to be fixed, along with all the water damage from the fire trucks and sprinkler system.

"And now for the other thing," Olivia spun the laptop around to show him the screen.

It was a long email thread, he immediately dove in. It seemed to him that bad things came in threes. "Duprez?"

"And some Arkansas vampires were conspiring to overthrow Queen Sophie-Anne. Long Shadow and Hot Rain included."

Long Shadow was just the dagger that kept on backstabbing. Their little terrorist group wanted to dethrone the Louisiana Queen since they decided her golden reigning days were over. Louisiana had always been a key state in the vampire political world. New Orleans used to be the vampire capital of the world for about two whole centuries, long before the Great Revelation in '06. But since Katrina, the city not only lost a lot of vampires by destroying daytime hideouts, but the ones who survived had feasted on the dead, dying and living humans which significantly increased the death toll.

The Vampire Authority had rules in place for post-natural disaster buffets, and Queen Sophie-Anne (who's also the Sheriff of her own Area) was simply too short-handed to enforce vamp laws in the nights following the storm. The Authority had to send its militia, the glamour squad worked overtime for weeks, many of the dead human bodies were so bitten the Authority had to sink them offshore and let the sharks finish them.

Not only did the Queen lose significant political capital, but she had also lost almost all of her vamp business revenue and her palace had been looted clean in the riots. Sophie-Anne LeClerq's career basically crashed like an Airbus full of eggs. That was when she started her V selling Empire, which - surprise surprise - was extremely profitable. Her enemies prepared for the "Louisiana Queen is Over" party, but it never really took off which pissed off and confused a lot of people. These scheming vampires were here to finish a job that fate never did.

The catch was, Long Shadow was advocating for Eric to be nominated King after they 86'd the Queen. After Hot Rain found out about Eric's betrayal to their cause, they decided Duprez would take over but they still had to take Eric out. For vengeance, but also because the Authority would probably make Eric King, whether local vampires nominated Duprez or not.

Eric felt enraged. He did not like to be a pawn in other people's games, not in the slightest. He hated that all of this could have been avoided had he just gone through Long Shadow's laptop, which was just sitting in an empty house all these months. He thought his friend's lies were simply motivated by greed when they were not. There was some nobility to him, but certainly not enough. The last thing Eric wanted was the crown, something he had made clear to everyone in his inner circle. He wasn't saying it out of humbleness, he truly didn't care for titles.

"Is that all?" He asked, closing the computer gently, focusing on not throwing it across the diner.

Olivia hesitated for a second, which was worrying. He remembered Bobby reluctantly telling him to speak to her. "Yep. That's all I got." She said sharply.

Eric let that settle in for a second, as he looked deep in her brown sparkling eyes. She reached for her coffee and hid half her face behind the mug. Chow and Gerald came in, much for the discomfort of the lone waitress who was making herself busy cleaning behind the counter. They quietly slid into the booth with them, Chow making his body cozy to Olivia's side. She didn't seem to mind.

When no one spoke up, Eric remembered where they were. They wouldn't reveal sensitive information in an unsecured location without his permission. "I'll handle the waitress on our way out. Now, what did you find out?"

"One of your Fangtasia day guards redirected the other four to follow the construction crew home after their shift ended at around 5:30. He has then skipped town for the likes of it," Gerald explained.

Eric and Olivia's eyes locked. "I'm on it," Olivia told him, pulling the laptop from across the table and reopening. "Name?"

"David Garcia," Gerald said as Olivia immediately started typing away on the computer.

Chow told him he saw and heard nothing while he was inside during the day. Young vampires are extremely heavy sleepers, and it was Pamela who got up when the fire alarm started ringing. It was her fear that woke Eric up. Maybe sleeping apart hadn't been his best idea, but he surely wasn't expecting someone to set fire to the bar. He knew that if he had been in the basement instead of Chow, there was nothing he could have done. But at least they would have been together.

The vampires informed him the back office and the stock was okay, and Chow set aside the security tapes but couldn't watch them yet as the fire department had shut off power to the building. He quickly showed the tape tucked inside his jacket - the first time Eric had ever seen him wear one, but a part of him knew it was his reminder to Olivia of the man's physique. Her focus was elsewhere, however. Olivia just quickly scribbled "refrigerator stock loss" to the insurance checklist and without missing a beat she went back to the computer. She multitasked like a pro.

Eric then told them Olivia's findings. Duprez, Hot Rain, Long Shadow and a handful of Arkansas vampires had planned on taking out Queen Sophie-Anne. He had suspicions that the Arkansas King, Peter Threadgill was involved. That man had his eye on Louisiana ever since he came to power two centuries ago.

"My first guess would have been humans who were against a vamp strip club since we don't have a shortage of conservatives in these parts. You think this was the Arkansas vamps' doing too?" Chow asked. "But why set fire so close to sunset, though? It just seems like a half-assed plan, if the plan was to kill you or Pam."

"Maybe the vamp who did this was shite at glamouring," Gerald argued, his Britishness showing.

"David Garcia wasn't glamoured," Olivia declared. "He was paid. He waited until the construction workers left because he did not want humans to get hurt. He is also exactly 60 grand richer," Olivia told him quietly. The two locked eyes again, knowing what it meant.

It was all connected. And now that he had all the domino pieces in place, he had to strategically make them tip his way. He had to warn his Queen of Arkansas' moves, he had to arrest Duprez for treason, and most importantly of all - he had to get rid of all this human attention.

"And the cops?" Eric asked.

Chow and Gerald reluctantly told him the worst. "They are on this like a dog with a bone. KSLA is toying with the idea of calling it a hate crime for tomorrow's print."

Fuck me.

If they or the media found out the arsonist was paid off by vampires or if the Authority came investigating they would find things that would get him, Pamela and the Queen killed. And they would find out, as it took his human (maybe psychic) accountant less than 5 minutes to do so. The last thing he wanted was to have the Authority squeezing his balls any harder. He knew what he had to do next.

What he didn't know was that it was going to change his life forever.

It was now 9 PM and Pamela was covering Olivia's face with a thick layer of makeup. She did not think this where the night was going to lead but here she was, sitting in Pam's closet vanity. She felt her heart beating in her throat.

"Remind me again why you need me there?"

She bounced the powder puff a little harder on her cheeks. "Symmetry for the pictures," Pam said disinterestedly.

Olivia replayed Eric Northman's plan for the 40th time in her head. The vampire Sheriff was going to redirect the arson investigation - which gained a lot of attention with local 6 PM news - away from the truth. He had to do damage control in both human and vampire PR terms. She understood why but he had to do it, but she didn't understand why doing a live press conference with the Shreveport Chief of Police required her to stand with him.

She had never been on TV before, and she was hoping to keep it that way. It would severely undermine her animosity for one. Eric promised Olivia she would stand far in the back and no one would even notice her. He just couldn't afford to take his eyes off of her for a minute, not until he had confirmation Duprez and all his co-conspirators were arrested. It's for your own protection he said for the millionth time since they've met. It was getting old.

He had made a long and private call with Her Majesty and she sent her own personal guards to end the insurgents. All she hoped was that he got that confirmation before they went live.

She hoped everyone at the press conference would focus on the tall Viking, and seeing him in the next room in a black button-up, sleek black trousers and freshly combed hair made the idea that the spotlight being on anyone but him seem absurd. His hotness was generally annoying, but tonight she was thankful for it. He was absolutely striking.

Anxiety was still making her stomach turn as she prayed to whoever was listening for her mother and aunt to skip Shreveport News tonight. Her mother always emailed her news articles of stabbings and other local crimes to her since she moved out to Princeton as if the knowledge of small-time robberies would somehow make her avoid every Wawa convenience. Her inbox became quite full when she moved to Louisiana. She knew her mom meant well and she was just worried, but it was an annoying habit of hers that wouldn't quit. God forbid she actually found out her daughter worked for drug dealing vampires because it was safer than secretly working for the Mexican drug cartel. Her poor mom would drop dead right then.

"There," Pamela said, putting away the lipstick. "Now for the wardrobe."

Olivia looked at herself in the mirror. She wouldn't have to worry about her family recognizing her on TV as she barely looked like herself. Pamela did not own any bronzer, and her foundation was much lighter than Olivia's, but at least she blended it into her ears and down her neck. Pam had given her a grey smokey eye and dark red lipstick, with a very pale pink blush. Liv looked like a mini Pamela - fierce, but dead.

She followed the vampire into the next room - their closet was more like an archive. It was as big as her own living room, every wall had dark grey customized California closets with designer lighting and velvet ottomans in the middle. Her first reaction was to scan the racks for her own clothes that Pam had stolen. But even if any of them were hung here it would take her hours to pick through and find them all.

Pam gave her a mini leather pencil skirt that hugged her hips, a burgundy blouse, a pair of black sheer tights and black heels which were actually HERS! So her clothes were in Pam's closet after all. Liv had to give it to her though, lending Olivia's own shoes back to her required a certain level of audacity. Regardless of what happened tonight, Olivia was dead set on keeping these heels.

The tattooed Asian vampire and Eric were having a quiet conversation down in the main living room, which is where Pam shooed her to while she was getting changed herself. Both men went quiet as they watched her come down the stairs with hungry eyes.

"This is a bad idea, Eric." She broke the silence.

"You certainly look like a bad idea," he stared at her legs with a dirty smirk. "But I like bad ideas."

She rolled her eyes, giving up on the thought that Eric was capable of taking things seriously for more than an hour. "I'm being serious. Why can't you just glamour the Police Chief to say whatever you want on TV about the investigation? Why does it have to be you?"

"Look at you," he got closer as his grin grew into a full smile that made her knees feel soft. "Caring about me."

Olivia locked her jaw and the two just stared into each other's eyes a bit too deep. It's not like she cared about him. But it wasn't like she didn't either. Eric finally ended the awkwardness. "I don't think you two have officially been introduced. Chow, this is Miss Carson, my accountant." Chow approached, also looking menacingly handsome in all black. This is Chow, the new head of security."

They both nodded to each other, and Olivia was pleased Eric entrusted security to another vampire because this was surely going to be a full-time job. Pam came down and the four got into a brand new black Cadillac Escalade parked on the driveway. She wondered how many cars Eric and Pam had because she was losing track.

The Police station HQ was busy with people in uniform and four different Louisiana news stations and a few local paper journalists waiting for the briefing. Shreveport had year after year made it to the top 50 most violent cities of the entire country, but it was usually because of the human-on-human kind of violence. An outright attack on the most well-known vampire business in the county had all the humans in the room fearing retaliation.

The Police Chief was stating his findings like a good little robot from behind the lectern. Every so often cameras would click and flash. In the back of the room, leaning against the far wall she saw a familiar frowning face: Alcide Hervaux. He nodded at her when their eyes met. Frozen by the idea that Eric might have seen that, she did not gesture back. This man was going to haunt her every corner she walked by, she just knew it. The Chief then called upon a "Fangtasia high exec" to deliver a brief statement before he took questions from the attendees.

Eric stepped forward after adjusting his cufflinks. The room burst in shutter clicks and blinding lights. Pam and Chow suddenly stood tall beside her, and she realized the cameras were now focusing on them. This was the most uncomfortable and distressed Olivia ever remembered being, other than maybe her father's funeral.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," he spoke clearly and softly. "My name is Eric Northman. I am a tax-paying American, and a small business owner in the great state of Louisiana." His charm was turned up to 110, it was actually hypnotizing to watch. "I also happen to be a vampire. I first want to thank the excellent and honourable service of our town's first responders, and the Fire Marshal's thorough and ongoing investigation. I have full confidence they will catch the arsonist behind this crime,"

"Now, what happened tonight was not a spontaneous act of hatred. There has been a lot of inflammatory talk by leaders in our communities warning our fellow neighbors to not trust vampires. And I've seen this kind of hatred always brew into something much destructive time and time again. The truth is, vampires aren't much different from humans because we once were humans. We only ask to be treated as such. Which is why I ask that local authorities look into dissolving and shutting down Lakemount Church, the Fellowship of the Sun's local chapter,"

The room ruptured into loud voices, camera flashes and journalists' arms almost popped off their shoulder sockets trying to get their microphones any closer to the stage. "For those who have not been following Dallas v. Newlin case, the Fellowship of the Sun is a domestic terrorist organization who is so focused on dreaming of a world that is vampire-free that will harm any woman, man and child in order to achieve it-"

"Can you prove this?" A journalist shouted from the crowd. "Do you have proof Lakemount is affiliated with the Fellowship?"

Eric paused for a second, reeling into the absolute chaos he had created. The Police Chief looked as pale as Olivia's foundation. "All the proof you need is in their basement."

The Viking then thanked the room and exited stage left. Olivia was the first one to follow him, wanting nothing more than to get out of there. As they left, the Chief regretfully took the stage back as the journalists shouted questions about the arsonist's identity and if the Lakemount was behind Fangtasia's fire.

Her heart was beating in her eardrums louder than anything else in that room. As they walked outside back to their car, a handful of journalists had followed them. Eric put Olivia right in the middle of the three vampires, he pulled her close and kept his right hand in the small of her back. Every cell in her body was filled with adrenaline as the news crew yelled at them the very questions Eric wanted to hear. Was this a hate crime?! Has the Church persecuted vampires before? Mr. Northman, do you really think the Fellowship would hurt humans who affiliated themselves with vampires?

"What have you done?" Olivia muttered to herself, so shocked at the mayhem he had caused she could not even hold it in.

Somehow, he had heard her. "I made the perfect diversion," Eric whispered in her ear.

"No," she looked up at his ice blue eyes as their party paused for Chow to open the Police station's front door amongst the large crowd who now swarm around them. "You declared war."

An: hello bonjour 3

A couple of writing notes: I have changed Olivia's eye color from blue to brown. It is not an important detail at all, it just makes more sense with her mildly tanned complexion, plus writing every single character in the story to have blue eyes is boring. But in case anyone caught that, I made the change this weekend and edited the whole story. If you read the entire thing and she had brown eyes this entire time, this is not applicable to you lol

Moving on, WHEW what a whirlwind! Although there's PLENTY of tension in store for Eric and Olivia, all this external conflict is how they are (slowly and painfully) going to go from Eric versus Olivia to Eric & Olivia versus the world and I'm oh so excited to write it!

Anywho, let me know what you think, your predictions or requests - yes there will be more Alcide ;) and Godric is coming back!

xoxo