Chapter 8: FMITF & Plaisir d'Amour

I pulled into the parking lot and turned the car off. I sighed because I really didn't want to be here. After getting out, I knocked on the door that said closed. The door opened to reveal Pam, who smirked at seeing me. "Hey there sweetheart," she drawled. "How nice to see you again."

"Hello Pam," I greeted. "Eric requested that I come here tonight."

She pulled the door open more so that I could walk in. She nodded her head inside, and her eyes watched me as I walked in passed her. I walked up to the bar and noticed there was a sweaty human male sitting at one of the tables. Placing my bag on the bar, I shared a nod of greeting with Longshadow.

Eric walked in, wearing only his tank top and jeans with flip flops. His blonde hair brushed his shoulders as he walked, and I had the urge to run my fingers through it. "Who's the guy?" I asked curiously.

"I'll explain when your cousin gets here," he stated with a smile. He nodded to Longshadow over my shoulder and then a drink was placed in front of me. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "It's on the house."

"Thank you," I muttered, taking a drink, and enjoying the burn. "So, why am I really here? I assume it was not for my looks."

"Very perceptive," he grinned. "I'm not sure what you are, and I would like to find out. I just know that you're not human."

I took another drink and smirked at him. "What makes you think that I would tell you?"

Eric smirked back, but before he could say anything, the door opened, and Sookie and Bill came in. Sookie was dressed up in a white dress, shawl, and white heels. She looked around and shock crossed her face upon seeing me. "Teddy, what are you doing here?"

I pointed to Eric. "He said you were coming tonight. Do you think I'm gonna let you do this alone? Do this favor, and then we can go home."

Sookie nodded and moved to sit at the table, across from the sweaty human.

Eric looked at me before walking to the table, speaking to the room as he did. "Pam, Longshadow, and I are partners in this club. And we recently noticed that sixty thousand has gone missing from our books. And Bruce…" he put his hand of the humans shoulder. "Is our accountant. Perhaps you can start by listening to him."

"He's not saying anything," Sookie sassed.

"Don't be coy," Eric almost scolded. "It's humbling enough to turn to a human for assistance. We know what you can do."

"And I know what you can do too," she shot back. "Why don't you just glamour him?"

"Now, don't you think we might have tried everything before summoning you?" Eric countered. "So, it would be a great favor to me… and to Mr. Compton if you help us."

"If I find out who did it, then what?" she questioned.

"We'll turn that person over to the police and let the authorities handle it from there," Longshadow spoke up.

I scoffed before I could stop myself and Sookie laughed sarcastically. "Hundreds of years old and you're still a bad liar. Come one."

I could feel that Sookie was about to make a mistake, so I walked up and put my hand on her right shoulder. 'Sookie,' I said in her mind. 'Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't do it.'

She looked up at me with determination in her eyes. 'Have you ever made a deal with a vampire?'

I fought to control my facial features, as I knew that they were watching. 'Yes, once, and it ended very badly. Don't do it.'

'You said that you would support me,' she reminded me. 'Will you at least stand by me and help me?'

I sighed mentally and let go of her shoulder. Sookie and I turned back to Eric, who was staring at me with interest. "I'll make you a deal," she declared. "If you promise to hand over the person who did this to the police, we'll agree to help you anytime you want."

Eric looked me over with a growing smirk. "All right. Why not?"

'Can you listen to his heartbeat to see if his thoughts are true?' Sookie requested, looking up at me. I nodded to he and she reached forward to grab Bruces hand.

I put my hand back on her shoulder so I could listen through Sookie and his thoughts were a jumbled mess. It seemed as if he reported the theft, but he was too worked up for me to get a read on his heartbeat. 'He needs to calm down,' I told her.

"Bruce, it's okay," she said immediately. "Take a deep breath. Did you steal their money?"

"No," he whimpered after taking a deep breath. His heart rate was steady. "No. You gotta believe me. I didn't do it. I swear…"

"Shhh," Sookie soothed. "Do you know who did?"

"No," he repeated.

Sookie delved into his thoughts again and I listened to his heartbeat. 'He's clear,' I confirmed.

Sookie looked up at Eric. "He's tellin' the truth."

Longshadow apparently didn't believe her. "You trust the skinny human to clear the fat one?"

Eric looked from Sookie to me to Longshadow, then back to me. I nodded slightly to show I agreed with my cousin, and he sighed. "Bring the next one in."

For the next few hours, we did the same routine. Sookie would listen to their thoughts, and I would confirm with their heartbeats. Then Pam brought in a blonde woman in barely anything and said the words that I wanted to hear. "This is the last of our humans."

The blonde looked at Bill and smirked. "Hmm. Yummy."

Pam sat her down and put our her cigarette in the ash tray on the table. "Ginger," Eric commanded. "This woman has some questions for you. Now, be a good girl and answer them, will you?"

"Aye, aye master," came the response.

"You're blonde and your name is Ginger?" I asked incredulously. "I feel insulted."

"Teddy, not now," Sookie admonished.

"I'm just saying, at least dye your hair with a name like that," I responded back.

Sookie reached out to take Gingers hand, and Ginger pulled her hand back with a sneer. "Don't you touch me."

"Listen Ginger," I snapped angrily, causing the blonde to jump. "Put your hands on the table like a good girl and I won't have to get physical. I'm tired and annoyed, so make it easier on both of us."

Ginger gulped and put her hands back on the table. Eric shot me an impressed look, and I only rolled my eyes. With how tired I was, I just wanted to get this over with and get home to sleep.

Sookie took a hold of Ginger's left hand. "Ginger, someone's been stealing money from the bar."

"Really? Huhu," Ginger replied.

Listening to her thoughts it was angry, but she did know something. Her heartbeat was slightly irregular. 'She knows who did it,' I told Sookie.

'I noticed it too,' she replied. Sookie then looked up to Eric and Pam, who stood next to him. "She didn't do it, but she knows who did."

"What?" Ginger asked in surprise. "Fuck you."

'Shit,' she thought. 'How'd she know? I didn't tell anyone, I swear. Fuck! He's gonna kill me!'

"Who?" Sookie tried. "Who's gonna kill you? Ginger honey, what's his name?" When Ginger didn't answer, Sookie looked into her mind again. There was a static type of fuzzy noise in her head. "It's blank, like her memory's been erased."

I let go of Sookie's shoulder when I realized what everyone else had. Ginger had been glamoured by a vampire, so a vampire stole the money. I couldn't see Eric stealing the money, he wouldn't have asked us here if he did. And Pam seemed too loyal to steal from Eric, so that only left one possibility. Longshadow.

I spun around to see the bartender in question jump over the bar with his fangs bared. Grabbing the back of his tank top before he could reach Sookie, I used my strength to throw him back to the bar. "Don't touch my family," I growled out.

I was aware that everyone was looking at me, but I didn't care. Ginger started to scream in the background. Pam snapped at her to stop, and she did. Longshadow growled back at me and lunged again. I punched him square in the jaw, breaking it and popping out one of his fangs. He was thrown back on the floor in front of the bar.

"I said stay away," I repeated. "Are you deaf now?"

Longshadow fixed his jaw before using his speed to pin me against the bar. I grabbed his hands as he tried to strangle me. We wrestled without strength pushing against each other. I could see confusion in his dark eyes as he snarled at me. I was about to say fuck it and reveal myself to kill him when I saw movement behind him.

Bill held up a broken piece of wood and shoved it into Longshadow's back. Said vampire roared, and I had enough time to close my eyes and mouth, turning my head before he exploded. I was covered in vampire blood and guts, and I glared up at Bill who looked at me in confusion.

"I had that," I spat as I picked off a piece of vampire from my shoulder.

Ginger began to scream again before throwing up. My nose scrunched up at the stench of vampire blood and threw up. "Humans," Eric groaned, and Ginger started to scream again. "Honestly, Bill, I don't know what you see in them."

I suddenly felt a rush of wind beside me and turned to see Eric smirking down at me. "This one on the other hand," he purred as he placed a hand under my chin. "Is different."

Suddenly, the room spun, and I fought to stay upright. A vision pushed its way forward and I saw myself in a white dress with Eric standing across from me, smiling genuinely. My sight snapped back, and I looked at Eric with slight panic in my eyes. His brown furrowed in confusion.

Turning away from him, I looked to Pam. "Bathroom?"

Pam pointed to a hallway. "Down there sweetheart. It's on the right."

I nodded and moved around Eric while taking off my vest. Walking down the hallway, I heard heels clicking after me. Going into the bathroom, I moved to lean heavily on the sink and tried to breathe deeply as tears filled my eyes. A hand on my shoulder made me look up at the blurry image of Sookie. "Are you okay Hun?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

Blinking back the tears, I started to wash my hands and arms. I sniffled as I shook my head. I leaned heavily again on the sink, breathing heavily as I tried to suppress the breakdown.

"Sweetheart, what is wrong?" she asked again, using a wet paper towel to wipe off the back of my neck.

'Eric is my mate,' I thought to her unable to admit it out loud.

"Are you sure?" she asked in shock, and I only nodded before trying to rinse my hair out. As I was doing that, Sookie was staring at me, trying to process what that would mean for me. "What are you gonna do?"

"I have no idea," I told her. I rinsed our my hair again, getting more blood out. Not being shy, I took off my shirt to ring it out. "What am I supposed to do? This shouldn't be, but fate can be cruel I suppose."

*Queen of the Wolves*

We didn't talk as I cleaned up, and soon my hair was clean and most of the my body was too. My bra had been soaked through though. As I was wringing out my shirt, Pam walked into the bathroom and held up some clothes for me. "Put these on," she said.

"I think I'll be okay, but thank you," I declined as nicely as I could, turning around to look at her. "I'm just gonna finish here and leave."

"You both aren't going anywhere," Pam drawled. "Eric and her boyfriend aren't nearly done talking just yet."

Sookie looked worried. "Is Bill in some kind of trouble?"

"That's for the boys to figure out," Pam told her. She then looked at me. "Right now, what you need to do is change out of your clothes. There's vampire in your cleavage."

I looked down in confusion, only to flinch and grimace. "Ew."

"Allow me," Pam smirked and stepped forward. She reached in and picked it out of my cleavage without breaking eye contact with me.

"Thank you," I muttered when she dropped it to the floor.

"I'm beginning to understand the fuss Eric's been making over you," she told me.

"Is that how you knew where my house was?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her wording.

"I'm very good at what I do," she boasted in a bored tone. "If Eric asks me to find someone, I find them."

Before I could answer, Ginger walked into the bathroom. "Oh, hey there, Pam," she greeted. Ginger then looked up at me and Sookie. "Oh, who are your new friends?"

Pam sighed. "Ginger, Sookie, and Theodora. Sookie, and Theodora, Ginger."

Ginger smiled; mood completely different from before. "Nice to ya, Sookie, Theodora."

"Please, call me Teddy," I responded. It wasn't the first time I had seen someone glamoured to change.

Sookie, on the other hand, looked completely freaked out. "Right," she muttered. "Nice to meet you too."

Ginger looked at Pam and probably thought that Sookie was scared of Pam. "Oh, you don't have to be so scared," she reassured us. "They're really very nice here."

After they left, I turned to Sookie. "My bag is still on the bar," I told her. "I need you to go and call Zander with my phone. Tell him I can't drive, and I need him to drive my car."

Sookie nodded and quickly left to do so. Going into one of the stalls, I started to change into what Pam gave me.

*Queen of the Wolves*

Pam had brought me a black sleeveless bustier top with a black leather skirt. My boots, thank God, only needed to be wiped off, so they were still good. My hair was mostly dry, so I grabbed my clothes in a trash bag to throw away. I heard voices out in the bar area and heard Zander's loud voice asking where I was. Walking out of the bathroom, I made my way quickly out to the bar area.

I saw Sookie standing in front of Zander trying to keep him still with Bill standing beside her. Eric and Pam stood behind them and Zander was glaring at them both. Zander then saw me come around the bar. "Teddy!" he shouted.

Everyone turned towards me, and Zander ran around everyone to throw his arms around me in a tight hug. I clung to him tightly and took a shaky breath. As we pulled away, I saw Eric glaring a Zander from over his shoulder. Zander put a hand on my face to get me to look at him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded my head with a watery smile. "I'll be okay Z. I promise."

"Let's get you home," he told me, putting an arm around me. He led me towards the others, and Sookie came over to give me a hug.

"Get some rest Teddy," she whispered to me. "Figure it out later."

I nodded to her, and Bill came over with a worried look at me. I gave a reassuring smile. "I'll be okay Bill," I told him before nodding to Sookie. "Stay close tonight."

He nodded to me and reassured me that he would. My eyes met the ocean blue eyes of Eric as he stared at me and we just kind of stared at each other. Zander then squeezed my shoulder and led me towards the door. We went outside and I saw Georgette standing next to Zander's truck. Zander nodded to her, and she climbed into the truck as Zander helped me into the passenger seat of my car. I buckled in as Zander walked around to the driver's side and got in. As he started to drive, I let the silent tears fall.

*Queen of the Wolves*

I had gone straight to bed that early morning. I explained to Zander that Eric was my mate, and I could tell he was trying not to explode on me. I hadn't talked to anyone after that, just slept until I had to get up for my shift. Going back to Sookie's house to get my clothes, I found her cleaning blood off the walls and stairs.

She explained that the killer broke in last night and killed Tina. Whoever it was cut her head off and took it with him. I helped Sookie finish cleaning before going up to change. I followed her to work on my motorcycle, the open road helping to clear my head. We walked in and Sookie was still furious.

"Morning Sookie, Teddy," Sam greeted us.

I stopped to give him a tired smile, while Sookie kept walking. "Ain't nothing good about this morning," she snapped.

I saw Arlene and Amy watch her as she passed them. The two of them and Sam turned to mee with questioning looks. I simply shook my head and walked to the back to put my stuff down.

As people came in to eat, I got lost in serving. The only thing that I could do was maintain my fake smile. I was certainly better than Sookie, who practically blew up at Andy that afternoon. We started to get really busy as night fell and it let me get caught up in the rush, pushing anything else out of my mind.

I was at the bar, waiting on Tara to finish the drinks that I ordered, when the door opened. Bill walked in with Eric, Pam, and an overweight Asian vampire in tow.

Sookie saw Bill and walked over to me as he approached. "Bill, what's going on?"

"Wow, this place is even more depressing then I thought it'd be," Eric commented, looking around. Pam laughed as she looked around as well.

"What are they doing here?" Sookie seethed in a whisper.

Bill looked like he was in a rush. "Give me minute, then we'll talk," he said putting a hand on her arm. "Where's Sam?"

"I don't know," Sookie told him with confusion. "Why?"

"H-H-He's in his office," Tara supplied nervously, pointing towards the hall.

Bill nodded to her and gave us both reassuring looks before heading down to Sam's office, the heavy set vampire following. He stopped next to Eric though. "Try to behave yourself," he told him.

"Don't I always," Eric replied in a bored tone, and I scoffed before I could stop myself. Everyone in the bar looked to me, including Eric and Pam. Eric grinned as he saw me. "Well, well, Theodora. It's nice to see you."

"Eric," I greeted blandly. My wolf was growling and howling in my mind, trying to be let out to get to the blond vampire.

"Don't sound so happy about it," he said sarcastically, still with that grin as he walked towards me. He looked at me up and down. "This place may be depressing, but I do love the uniform."

I rolled my eyes at him but didn't move my arm when he trailed a finger down my tattoo on my left inside forearm. It was a spiraling Chinese dragon with cherry blossoms around it. I had gotten it to symbolize the strength that I had gotten from the dead that I have known.

Eric's grin turned into a smirk as he stood to his full height. He turned to walk around the room along with Pam and began to pass out cards to the patrons. "So simply present this card at the door when you get to Fangtasia and the first round is on me," Eric explained.

"Also, Thursdays are ladies nights, so be sure to bring a date," Pam told everyone, then spoke to Royce and his friends. "That is, if you can get one."

One of his friends laughed. "She got you," he laughed. "Thank you, ma'am."

Before Pam could give him a card, Eric interrupted while pointing to them. "Not him," he said forcefully. "He doesn't get one."

"What gives, bro?"

Eric used his speed to get into his face and everyone gasped in shock. "What did you do to your arm there… bro?" he growled.

I frowned and walked forward quickly. I yanked him back from Royce's friend and glared at him. "That's not behaving Eric."

He smirked at me, but before he could answer, Bill and the other vampire came out from the back that drew his attention. "I take it your business here is done?"

Bill turned around, getting angry. "I came to talk to Sookie and Theodora."

I was close enough to Eric that I heard a faint growl come from him when Bill said my name. "I give you three minutes," he said, looking between us. "We have a tribunal to get to."

"What?" Sookie and I said together.

Bill motioned me towards him, and I followed him as he led Sookie outside. "Come with me."

*Queen of the Wolves*

Outside, Bill explained that he was going to a tribunal for killing Longshadow. The tribunal was a vampire trial. That he had to go to it, and he didn't know when he would be back. Sookie and Bill started to argue, while I just felt guilty over it. If I had just killed the blasted vampire, then this wouldn't have happened.

"I have no choice," he told her. "I have to go."

"Why?" Sookie kept on.

"Because I killed a vampire," Bill explained again, frustrated.

"I know that, I was there, remember?" she shot back. "He was gonna kill Teddy. You were defending her."

Bill sighed. "If one of you killed another one of you defending one of us, you don't think there would be a trial?"

Sookie suddenly turned to me, looking lost and I knew that she was grasping at straws. "Can't you intervene somehow?"

I sighed and rubbed the back of my sore neck. "Sookie, I can't."

"I know that you're worried about—" she started but I cut her off.

"It's not just that Sookie," I said raising my voice a little. "I can't get involved or it could come down of all of us. Not just me."

Sookie pouted but seemed to understand. If I got involved, then any deal could come back on all of my kind and affect other packs. It wouldn't just be me or my pack. Bill looked between us confused but straightened when Sookie turned back to him.

"I'll come with you then," she offered.

"No," Bill shot her down.

"I can and I'm going to," she held firm. "I-I wanna testify for you."

"Damn it Sookie, you can't," Bill shot back, shaking her a little. "You can't come. And you can't testify. You will not be welcome there."

Sookie looked heartbroken. "You lied to me. You said that everything would be okay, but it's not, is it?"

I stepped away by where the vampires stood and turned to give them some privacy. I rubbed my temple a little to try and get rid of the headache that was pounding in my head. The struggle with Longshadow and then the revelation afterwards had drained me. It didn't help that my sleep was restless at best the rest of the night. Plus, having Eric near like this had my wolf going nuts. It was all starting to get to me.

"Ticktock Bill," a deep voice mocked, and I turned to glare to the vampire next to me. He looked at me with curious eyes. "Not sleeping well?"

"Why do you say that?" I countered.

"You have bags forming under your eyes," he explained, reaching up to run a cold finger under my eye. "Also, you were just rubbing your temple and rubbing your neck earlier. Not having nightmares about last night are you?"

"Not a chance," I snapped, but sighed. "Not that it's any of your business, but I have been busy. And if I have any nightmares, it wouldn't be about your establishment."

Eric stared at me, and I returned his gaze unwaveringly. After about a minute, he blinked. "Interesting," he muttered, and then raised his voice for the couple in front of us. "And time."

I looked over to see Bill and Sookie kiss like they would never see each other again. It was sweet in a way, but it made me wonder if I would ever have that with the vampire next to me.

Pam made a comment about chills and Eric simply called for Bill, breaking the couple apart. "Now," he demanded, he then turned to me. "Try to get some rest."

Bill came walking over and gave me a tight hug. "Look after her, please," he begged me.

"Of course," I reassured him and then pulled back. "Be sure to look after yourself as well, okay?"

Bill nodded and smiled at me. Walking away, Eric, Pam, and the other vampire began to follow. Eric glanced over his shoulder at me before being completely out of sight. My wolf was whining at the loss of him. I was honestly starting to get scared.

*Queen of the Wolves*

After all of the excitement, we all tried to continue working. It wasn't long before Sam closed the place, and I quickly did my busing and prep work for the next day. I said bye to Arlene and Amy and saw Sookie stomping away from the kitchen.

"What's wrong Sookie?"

Sookie looked behind her quickly then faced me again. "Bill asked Sam to watch over me," she told me quickly. "And I need to get out of here."

She brushed passed me and I looked curiously after her. I went towards Sam's office to tell him I was leaving but I stopped when I heard noises. Looking in through the crack in the door, I saw Sam and Tara wrapped up in each other. I only shook my head as I walked away and made my way to the main room to see only Amy. "Where's Sookie?" I asked.

"Oh, Sookie left to go to Bill's," she answered me. "She said that no one would come looking for her there."

"Damn it Sook," I muttered and rushed out towards my motorcycle. Getting on and firing it up, I quickly took off to Bill's place.

I pulled up to see Sookie on the porch with a dog next to her. She turned to look at me and then looked sheepish. I got off my bike and walked up to her. "What were you thinking taking off by yourself?"

"I had to get out Teddy!" she exclaimed. "Bill's gone and I don't know when I'll see him again. I needed to breath, and this is where I can."

I looked down at the dog at her feet and recognized the collie. The collie nodded to me, and I sighed.

"Well, just get some rest then," I told her. "Just be careful."

"I will," she reassured me and gave me a hug before going inside.

The dog followed her inside and up the stairs. I sighed again before getting back on my motorcycle and left to go back home.