Keeping his hand clamped around the vampire's throat, Eric Northman debated staking the pathetic worm and being done with it. Bill Compton thrashed, and clawed, whining as the grip tightened.
'Explain yourself?' said Eric, his attention drifting from Bill to the gathered undergrowth beneath his boots. It had been a while since he was this far from the stink, and clatter of Shreveport. Chasing down vampires who failed to declare themselves before the area sheriff fell into the realm of Longshanks, or Pam, not the sheriff himself, but the opportunity to ruffle the Queen's feathers? Without so much as even bending the rules? Well, Eric would find that difficult to pass up on a good night, and when he added in inconveniencing William, fucking, Compton, then there was little that would have kept him away.
'I said explain yourself,' Eric repeated. Bill's mouth remained firmly shut. A shout in the distance had the younger vampire's eyes widen a fraction, but he stayed quiet.
'I could make this hurt,' Eric threatened. 'You failed to declare yourself, or your business. I have every reason to assume that you're here to undermine the security of my area.'
'I'm mainstreaming,' Bill choked. Blood bubbled at the corners of his mouth.
'So I've heard.'
'I'm no threat to you!'
Another shout cut through the trees, and Bill struggled against Eric's hold. A whoop of laughter went up, followed by a bark, then a gunshot, and yelling. Eric could smell the blood. A mix of human, and something sweeter. He felt Bill's clavicle snap beneath his fingers.
'Stay put,' he warned.
The blood was in her eyes and in her mouth. Sookie rolled sideways, pain radiating along her ribs as the bones shifted. Denise Rattray cackled as her husband hammered another boot into Sookie's sternum, but there was no breath in her to lose. This was going to be how she died, Sookie realised. In the dirt, on the floor, with Mack Rattray looming over her.
It took her a moment to realise that the beating had stopped. She couldn't hear Denise anymore, in fact, the only thing she could hear was the wet, broken breaths she fought for. She whimpered as someone touched her. She couldn't feel her legs.
'Interesting,' rumbled a voice above her. She assumed it belonged to the hand brushing her blood-soaked hair from her cheek, but the world had started to lose focus. 'It looks like you will be coming with me.'
Eric disposed of the male attacker without asking questions. The female screeched and turned to run. Catching her by the wrist, Eric pulled her in close. Her blood smelt nothing like the blood seeping into the ground around them. He glanced at the blonde. Her injuries were serious, perhaps even fatal.
'What grievance did you have here?' Eric drawled. Denise stopped struggling in his grip, falling limp.
'Grievance,' she parroted back at him, voice thick with the glamour.
'Why did you attack this human?' he pressed.
'She hurt my Mack.' Denise's eyes drifted towards the corpse of her husband, but her expression didn't change. Mortals were so pathetically dumb under glamour, that it almost made the game pointless.
'And the vampire told us to.'
Eric's raised an eyebrow at that.
'Which vampire?' The question was perhaps redundant, but it had to be asked. Denise frowned, her dark lips twisting.
'I don't-' she stalled over her words. 'I don't remember his name...' she trailed off and shook her head. 'The one she saved!' The memory seemed to light something inside her. 'We silvered him good and proper, a clean catch! She'd no right to come storming over and do Mack like that. What does one bloodsucker mean to her anyway? Crazy bitch. She should have stuck to waiting tables and minded her own business. No one wants that weirdo around anyway!' She took a breath and glanced up at Eric's face. 'Not that I- we weren't going to-' She didn't get a chance to finish the sentence before Eric reunited her with her beloved Mack.
Crouching next to the blonde on the ground, Eric brushed the hair from her face. For some reason, Bill had organised this attack. Most likely to give him an excuse to rush in and rescue the girl at the last minute, painting himself as a hero. It was a level of theatrics uncommon even for Compton. It reeked of desperation, and Eric wanted to know why. The discovery of drainers in his territory was also worrisome. Younger vampires fell prey too often, especially if their sires fulfilled their duties to guide and protect. There was no reason for Compton to have ended up in the grips of two red-neck morons. The scenario felt as staged as tonight's attack.
'Come now,' Eric soothed. He slipped a hand beneath Sookie's knees, and the other behind her back. When her head lolled against his shoulder, he took a moment to make sure it settled. Bill Compton would have to wait.
It's been a while since I watched the TV show, so started rewatching the first season after I struggled to find any fanfictions that were quite what I was looking for. This is a very short chapter just to introduce the story. I'm not sure how often I'll update as this is just for fun, and to blow off some steam when I'm not focusing on my original writing. I am going to jump straight into chapter two though, and hopefully have it up by the weekend.