AN: WHOO! Season 2 everyone! I am so excited to start this season as I absolutely love Godric. I can't wait to share what I have with all of you. Please leave a review as it helps keep me motivated to write more! I'd love to see what you all think about this. Happy Reading!
Chapter 12: Nothing But the Blood & Keep This Party Going
Tara and Sookie kept screaming which was starting to hurt my ears. It caused Andy to yell at them. "Will you two shut up? I can't think!"
I quickly pulled the two of them to me and they quieted down. Although, Sookie asked a very good question. "Andy, what the hell did you do? There's someone inside."
At that point, Sam ran over, and Tara jumped to him. "What happened?" he asked.
Andy then spun around. "Step back!" he shouted. "I got this."
Sam agreed with him, and Andy told us not to touch anything. Sookie then started to tell Sam what happened. "We were out trying to find Andy's car."
"Someone fucking moved it," Andy chimed in.
"Suddenly, there's this…" Sookie trailed off, too in shock to continue.
I put my arm around her shoulder, and she clung to me as I finished for her. "When we found his car, we found a person inside."
"We need an ambulance," Tara told us, freaking out. "Sam, call the cops."
"I am the cops," Andy protested.
"She meant to call it in Andy," I snapped. "Like you should do."
Tara was still freaking out. "Oh, my God. Please tell me it's not Lafayette, please."
Sookie reached out and put a hand on her arm for comfort. "Check for a pulse."
"Forget it," Andy denied. "There ain't no pulse."
"What?" Sam cut in. "Why?"
"Because there ain't no hear," Andy explained. He shined his flashlight on the chest of the body to reveal a large hole where the heart would be. "Sick fuck."
He then lifted the tarp covering the body to see the face of a woman. Her face was frozen in terror and shock. "It's not him," Sam announced. "It's not Lafayette. Who the heck it that?"
"I have no idea," I muttered, then winced as Tara began to scream again.
*Queen of the Wolves*
I stood next to Sookie silently as the cops and the coroner work around the scene. I was curious about the earlier animal smell, and I had finished answering questions, so I went back over to the light that Andy's car was parked under. The smell was stronger over here. There was another scent underneath it, but it was hard to separate the two. The only thing that I could get was that it was male.
"What are you doin'?" Andy slurred as he stumbled his way over to me. "This is a crime scene! It old you not to touch anything!"
"I didn't touch anything," I deadpanned. "I'm just standing here."
Before Andy could reply, Bud came over to stop him. "It's alright Andy," he said before he turned to me. "Is everything alright Teddy?"
I didn't want to tell them about the smell, it would just make them suspicious. So, I went with a different explanation. I gave him an embarrassed smile. "Yeah, I'm just not comfortable over there," I said in a slight nervous tone. "Is that all you need from me? Or am I able to go home?"
Andy was gonna say something, but Bud stopped him. "You can go now Teddy," he said with a nod. "If we need anything else, we'll call you."
I nodded back and walked back to Sam and Sookie. "Thank you, Sheriff, Detective."
Walking over to Sam and Sookie, Tara was just walking away to Kenya, one of the sheriff deputies, to talk about the woman. I looked at Sookie confused, and Sookie sighed. "That was the woman that gave her and her mother their exorcisms," she explained.
"Oh, shit," I muttered.
"Sookie and I will close up if you wanna go home," Sam offered. "I'm sure that you could use time away from another dead body."
He was talking about the way I acted after killing Rene. I sighed but nodded anyway. After giving Sookie one last hug, I went back inside to get my things. I went back over to my motorcycle and went home to Sookie's. This was one of the few nights where I didn't have a meeting with the VA. I was hoping to get some actual sleep tonight.
As I took off my helmet, I shook out my hair and ten froze at seeing Eric sitting on the porch steps. He met my eyes and sat up straighter. I slowly walked up while taking out my keys. "Eric," I greeted. "What are you doing here?"
"I can't come and check on you?" Eric chuckled. I raised my eyebrow at that, and he shrugged. "I was dropping off Jessica with her maker, so I was in the neighborhood."
"Jessica can't be that bad," I opposed.
Eric gave me a look that said I didn't know what I was talking about. "You want to spend a few nights with her? I'm sure that you'll change your mind."
I chuckled as I sat next to him on the steps. "You can't handle one little girl Eric?"
He looked over at me with a slight smirk at my jab. "So, what has you coming home so late?"
"There was a murder in the parking lot at my work," I explained to him. "A woman had her heart ripped out. My boss let me come home while he and Sookie closed."
Eric searched my face for a moment. I gave him a small smile. "I'll be okay Eric," I told him. "I'm doing better than I was."
Eric nodded once but continued to look at me. I knew that Eric was waiting for me to trust him. That was the only reason that he was visiting. I appreciated the amount of effort he was making in this. The female members of my pack all thought that it was sweet. I reached out and put a few fingers through his hair. There was a patch of fading blonde there.
"You should redo your hair color," I muttered. "The blonde is starting to fade."
His chest rumbled in a chuckle as I kept running my fingers through his hair. "I'm going to have Pam do my hair tomorrow night. Hur visste du? (How did you know?)"
During one of our talks, I told him about how I learned several different languages, Swedish included. He was very intrigued by this, and he would occasionally switch to Swedish in order to see how much I knew. There were times that I would respond, and we would have conversations in Swedish.
"I knew a blonde vampire once," I explained taking back my hand. "She had to do her hair since she couldn't be in the sunlight."
"You seem to know many vampires," he commented.
I smiled tiredly. "I've been a lot of places."
Yawning, Eric turned to me. "You should get some sleep. I'm sure that the excitement from before has probably worn off."
We both stood and faced each other. Eric reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear, which had grown a little in the past two weeks. It now reached a little past my shoulder blade. "Have a good night Eric," I told him.
"Goodnight Theodora," he replied and in the next second, he was gone.
I sighed as I walked up the porch to unlock the door. I was getting changed for bed when I heard the door open. Furrowing my eyebrows, I walked down the stairs to see Sookie locking the door behind her. "I thought that you were going to stay a Bill's tonight?"
Sookie looked up at me with a troubled expression on her face. "Did you know about Jessica?"
Sighing, I nodded. "I didn't tell you because it was up to Bill to tell you about his progeny, not me."
"And if Eric hadn't dropped her off, I still wouldn't know about her," she said disgruntled. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Goodnight Teddy."
"Night."
*Queen of the Wolves*
I slept in late that morning, only waking up when the doorbell rang. 'Guess I was more tired than I thought.'
I got dressed for the lunch shift that I had. After putting on my makeup, I walked downstairs as Sookie was letting someone out. "Was that Mr. Lancaster?" I asked startling Sookie, which made me frown. "Everything alright Sook?"
She looked down at the two envelopes in her hands awkwardly. When she looked back up at me, she looked pale. "Mr. Lancaster was here to tell us that Uncle Bartlett passed away," she said, then held up the envelops. "He left the two of us an inheritance."
I froze for a moment at the bottom of the stairs. That bastard though that he could apologize with money? "I don't want it," I replied angrily. "I don't care what you do with it."
"I was gonna give mine to Jason," she told me. "I don't want it either.
I nodded while going to the kitchen. I got out a bowl of cereal and ate quickly before saying that I was heading to work.
*Queen of the Wolves*
That night, Jason came over to me as I was leaving to talk to me and Sookie. "I wanted to thank you both for the money," he said. "Because of that, I can go to this leadership conference."
"Leadership conference, huh?" Sookie echoed with a smile. "What church?"
"Uhh…" he trailed off. "Marlboro Baptist. In Baton Rouge."
I smiled even though I knew he was lying. His heart rate sped up and had an uptick when he answered. I wasn't gonna call him on it though.
"It's only for a week," Jason continued. "Just give me a chance to get away from everything."
"I wish I could take a week off," Sookie lamented. "I finally started cleaning out Gran's room today. I couldn't bear to pack away a single thing."
I put a hand on Sookie's shoulder in comfort. "I miss her to Sook."
"I miss her too," Jason agreed. "And I'm hoping maybe God'll tell me why he had to take good people away. Like Gran and Amy."
"Jason, Amy was a V addict," Sookie reminded him.
"Yeah, that didn't mean she deserved to die," Jason countered. "I can't help it, Sook, Ted, I loved her. And when you love someone you've got to love it all. Otherwise, it ain't love."
That made me think about my situation with Eric. I knew that he was trying to gain my trust, but I also didn't know if that was all it was. It could be the mating call, but I could just be his own curiosity.
The moment was broken by Andy coming out of the bathroom. "There you are, Stackhouse. Got a couple of questions for ya."
Sookie sighed but gave Jason a hug. "Humor him, he's toasted," she whispered. "Have a good time at church camp."
She walked away and I leaned in for a hug. "Don't forget to call if you need anything," I reminded him. "Have a good time."
He told me thanks as I was leaving. Just as I got onto my motorcycle, Sookie came out to stop me. "Teddy!" she called. "Can you do me a huge favor?" I raised my eyebrow for her to continue. "Can you take Jessica for the night?"
"Is this about the fight that you two had?" I asked in concern. "Cause if it is, I don't know if I should get involved."
"A part of it is," she admitted. "But I think that he had something to do with Uncle Bartlett's death."
"If he did, let me know cause I'll buy him a case of TruBlood," I said seriously.
"Teddy!" she admonished. "This is serious. I feel like I've killed someone because I told him what happened."
"I am serious Sookie," I snapped. "If I was allowed to kill someone, I would have killed him a long time ago." I sighed though. "But I'll take Jessica for a few hours."
Sookie nodded and thanked me. I put my helmet on and followed her to Bill's place. Sighing as I turned off my motorcycle, I walked up next to Sookie as she went inside. Walking inside, I saw Jessica and Bill on the couch with TruBlood bottles on the coffee table before them. Bill smiled at seeing us as Jessica drank from a glass. They then discussed what it was when Bill stood to greet Sookie.
I stood by the door and smiled at Bill. "I need to talk to you," Sookie told him. "Alone."
"I don't know if we can…" Bill trailed off as he nodded to Jessica.
Sookie then walked right up to Jessica and sat down on the table edge. "Jess, I feel like we got off to a bad start. And it's totally my fault. I never got a chance to hear your side of things, find out what you're like, none of that. Can you forgive me?"
"You really wanna get to know me?" Jessica asked in astonishment.
"Of course, I do," Sookie confirmed. "You deserve that. And, frankly, I'm curious about you. I've just got one huge favor to ask. Give me tonight with my boyfriend, and we'll have all night tomorrow to ourselves. Just us girls."
"Sure," Jessica smiled. "I guess I have nothing but time now, right?"
That was when I spoke up. "Come on my fellow ginger. You can hang with me for tonight. Get your shoes on and we'll leave the kids to themselves."
Jessica squealed and zipped off to put her shoes on. Bill approached me pulling out his wallet and handing me a card. "Use this for anything you two need. And thank you."
I smiled as I took the card and put it in my pocket. "It's no problem Bill." Jessica then came over with her shoes on. "Come on girly. We'll go shopping."
Jessica laughed as I led her to my motorcycle. I handed her my spare helmet and we got on. Reving the engine, I sped on out to go to the mall.
*Queen of the Wolves*
We went to a vampire friendly mall and Jessica looked ecstatic. "So, where do you wanna go first?"
Jessica began to pull me around the mall. We both bought a few items here and there, and I taught her to shop properly and tastefully. But mostly, we just talked as we walked around. I told her about my family. She told me about her family. The way that she spoke about her father and the look in her eyes was the same as me when I talk about my father.
We had stopped to get something to eat, since I hadn't eaten yet and Jessica still had one more TruBlood to try. We sat there in silence for a moment, and I reached out to take her hand. Jessica looked at me confused. "Jessica, I am so sorry," I started.
"Why are you sorry?" she asked confused.
"Bill was forced to make you because he was saving me," I told her. "A part of me is thankful that you could get away from your father, but that doesn't change the fact that this happened because of me."
Jessica squeezed my hand. "I don't blame you Teddy. And while this situation sucks, I am glad that I get to know you. I am happy."
I smiled at her and let go of her hand when my food and her TruBlood came. I dug into my food, realizing I was really hungry. Jessica was actually enjoying her TruBlood. "Which one is that?" I asked her.
"B-positive and it's actually really good," she replied with a smile, then she frowned slightly. "Hey, Teddy, how'd you know I wanted to get away from my father?"
"Because I'm the same way," I replied. "My father was always gone in my life, but the short time that I did spend with him, he wasn't very nice. In front of everyone else, he was the perfect father, but behind closed doors, he was as mean as a snake. He was always ready to pounce on me for doing something wrong."
"You really do understand," she whispered, and I smiled softly at her. "I never thought that anyone would understand."
"We all think that," I reassured her. "And if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here to listen."
"Thank you Teddy," she smiled.
"It's no problem Jess," I told her. "Bill has become like family to me, and that now extends to you as well."
"Really?" she asked unsure, and I only nodded at her. "Thank you so much."
*Queen of the Wolves*
The next morning, I walked downstairs fairly tired. I had Jessica late last night/early morning, so I was rather tired. I didn't have a meeting tonight and it was my day off from work, so I slept in this morning. I went to get a cup of coffee as Sookie was watching the news of a missing girl in Shreveport. Once the mother was done with her appeal, it showed a picture of Jessica.
"Well, that can't be good," I spoke, and Sookie jumped. She spun around to me with a hand to her chest. I smiled as I held my hands up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
I sat down next to her at the table and sipped my coffee. "I was thinking Teddy," she started. "I would like to move into Gran's room, but it might help if we have someone else in the house."
"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed. "I'm mostly at my own house now a days, so you would have some company."
"Exactly," she confirmed. "I was thinking about asking Tara. She used to sleep over all the time, and we never wanted to kill each other. What do you think?"
"I think that Tara is a perfect choice," I told her with a smile. "Tara already knows about me, so I wouldn't have to hide when I'm here."
"I was gonna ask her today," Sookie said as I stood up. "Let her think about it."
I nodded as I went about getting a late breakfast made. When it was done, Sookie and I ate quietly in comfortable silence.
*Queen of the Wolves*
I was at my house that night, doing some work as Queen. The others in my pack were all at their own houses, asleep, or at work, so I had the house to myself. The doorbell rang and I sighed before getting up to answer the door. When I opened the door, Bill was standing there with an unsure expression on his face. A week ago, I had told Bill about my house and where it was, so if I wasn't at Sookie's, he knew where to find me. I had yet to invite him in though.
"Hey Bill," I greeted, and he nodded at me. "What can I help you with?"
Bill still looked unsure. "I saw the clothes that you got Jessica last night. I was wondering if you could come with me tonight to buy more clothes for her. I am still having trouble with today's fashion."
I raised my eyebrow at him. "What about Sookie?"
"Sookie has designated tonight as a girls night in order to get to know Jessica," he responded with a sigh. "I was hoping that you could also tell me how you got through to Jessica. She seemed much more at peace last night and tonight."
I smiled at him. "Let me get my shoes."
After getting my shoes on, I followed Bill to his car and got in the passenger seat. Bill drove towards the mall that Jessica and I visited the night before, and it was actually kind of quiet. I decided to break it by answering his question. "I got through to her because I got to know her as a girl that was seventeen."
"She is vampire Theodora," Bill snapped. "Not human."
I scoffed at him. "Have you even asked her what her human life was like?" He was quiet at that and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "Bill, if you want to get through to her, you have to get to know her. You cannot act like a dictator and expect her to follow when her brain is still that of a human teenager."
Bill sighed but nodded at me. "I will try. It is so different from when I was made. I don't want to be like my maker."
"And you won't," I told him. "Just remember to try and get to know her first before you try anything else." I paused as I looked at him. "So, what else did you want to ask?"
Bill looked over at me in surprise before turning back to the road. "I'm still curious as to what you are," he replied. "Any consideration on telling me?"
"Let's focus on shopping for Jessica first," I suggested with a smile. "I'll consider telling you later tonight. Simply because I don't want to have to answer questions as we are in public. Better to do that in private."
"Fair enough," Bill conceded.
When we got to the mall, I pointed out a store that would be easy to find things in. I turned to him. "Now, since I had her buy clothes, you can try to find her things and I'll find her some shoes. Sound good?"
He nodded. "I can do that."
With that, we parted ways in order to find what we were looking for. I found the area with the shoes and found a few that would work. We had bought her one pair of tennis shoes the night before, so I knew her shoe size. I was waiting on an employee to bring out one of the pairs from the back, and I happened to look around for Bill. I found him standing near the dressing rooms speaking to female employee.
I got the shoes and walked towards him, hearing the female employee offering to model a skirt for him. I rolled my eyes as he turned her down and she kept insisting. "Hey, Bill, did you find anything?" I asked as I got closer. He turned to me with a frown on his face as he saw the shoes that I had in my hands. I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't give me that look. Every girl needs to have at least one pair of high heels, and I even made sure not to get the stilettos."
He looked to be thinking about it and nodded at me reluctantly. "I'm glad that I brought you along."
"Good evening, old sport," a deep voice greeted behind us.
We both turned around and saw Eric with short slicked back hair. It reached his neck, and I was surprised by that. I didn't know that he was going to cut it. But the style suited him, and you could see more of his facial features. He wore a sweat suit with a necklace that had a claw on it. All in all, he looked really good.
Bill found his voice first. "Eric?"
"It's the new me," he declared. "You like?"
"I do," Bill replied with a smile. "Very much."
"Oh okay," the female employee said as she walked away.
Eric watched her walk away before turning to me. "Hello Theodora," he purred. "What do you think? Do you like it?"
I blinked a few times. "I do," I finally responded. "It looks good on you."
He smiled at me before turning to Bill. "We need to talk."
"And that's my cue," I commented. "Give me your card Bill and I'll go pay for these while you two talk." Bill handed me his card without argument, and I nodded at Eric. "It was good to see you Eric. Have a nice night."
I walked away while feeling Eric's gaze on my back. Once I was at the register, I extended my hearing to listen in on their conversation. Eric wouldn't have sought Bill out without a good reason. Normally, he would have Bill come to him. What I heard had my blood freezing in my veins.
"The sheriff of Area 9 in Texas has gone missing," Eric stated without preamble. "Have you heard about that?"
"I hadn't, but I know the vampire of whom we speak," Bill responded in shock. "His name is Godric, correct?"
"Indeed," Eric confirmed. "Now it goes without saying he needs to be found. Which is where Sookie and Theodora come in." Bill immediately shot him down. "As Sookie is yours, I'm asking your permission to take her with me to Dallas."
"Eric, you can do whatever you want with me, but I am not putting her in this position anymore," Bill argued. "And while Theodora is not mine, I will not have you putting her in danger either. I cannot and will not allow you to bring either of them into these matters."
"We made a deal, your human, Theodora and I," Eric reminded Bill. "That if I didn't kill anyone, they would work for me as often as I like. Now, you remember this, don't you? You were there."
I paid for the shoes as I kept listening to Bill's argument. "Taking either of them cross state lines is a far cry from taking them to Fangtasia for the evening."
"I'm only asking your permission out of respect," Eric countered. "If I want them, I can simply take them. Is 'no' you're final answer?"
"It is."
"Poorly played, Bill," Eric responded in disappointment. I stopped listening when I hear him getting close to me as I took the bags from the employee. "I hope to see you very soon Theodora."
I shivered as his breath hit my neck and I could practically hear him smirk before he left. I moved away from the counter as Bill approached me. "Are you alright Theodora?" he asked in concern. "You look pale."
I swallowed around the tightness in my throat as I made my way out of the store. He stopped me with a hand on my arm and turned me to him in worry. I looked up into his blue eyes and debated telling him. But, just as I opened my mouth, I hissed in pain as Sookie's voice screamed in my head.
'Teddy! I need help!'
'What's going on?' I asked her and I held up a finger for Bill to hold on. 'Where are you?"
'I took Jessica to see her family through the window, but she got out of the car!' she explained quickly. 'I need you here to get her out! She's starting to threaten her dad.'
I growled quietly to myself, but I knew that Bill could hear it. 'I'm with Bill. We'll be there in a minute.'
"We need to go," I told Bill quickly. "Sookie was stupid and took Jessica to her parents' house. We need to get there quickly."
Bill didn't waste any time. He just picked me up and took me to the car in a second. I put the bags in the car, and he picked me up again before running towards Jessica's house.
*Queen of the Wolves*
The moment we got to the house Bill put me down on the sidewalk. He immediately went up and knocked the door down. I ran up behind him to see Jessica in front of her father, his belt around his neck. Sookie looked relieved to see us. "Bill! Teddy!"
"Jessica, let him go," Bill commanded, and Jessica went to protest. "As your maker, I command you." Jessica immediately backed off.
"Thank God you both are here," Sookie said.
"Shut up," Bill snapped. "Now, someone who lives here must invite me in."
"No," Jessica's father said desperately. "No, don't. He's one of them. He'll kill us all."
"No, he won't," Sookie countered. "He's not like that."
As Bill looked around, he spoke to me. "Theodora, get Sookie out of the way and once I'm inside get her out." I slid past him and got a hold of my cousin as Bill focused on the little girl. "You. Little girl. Come here."
Both of Jessica's parents protested as she began to walk towards him. I could tell that he was using glamour on her and Sookie shook seeing it. "Good girl. Now you listen to me. I'm here to protect you. You and your mother and your father. I am your friend. So, you just invite me in, and I can make everything stop."
"You can?" she asked hopefully.
"Yes."
"Won't you please come in, sir?" she asked.
Bill immediately came in and moved Jessica out of the way and I dragged Sookie outside, but she was fighting me. She was shouting at Bill, and he shouted back at her. "I'm sorry."
"Get the hell outta here," he shouted. "Now, so I can clean up your mess."
"Please don't kill them," she begged.
"This is your fault!" he shouted again. "Now get the hell outta here!"
Sookie finally let me drag her out and we ran to wait in her car as Bill went back inside.
