A/N: 😬 Hi? Me again. Finally. I have temporarily come out of hiding. Sorry for the very long wait. I am nearly done with the next chapter, so there's that, I guess. It just needs some tweaking, so sometime after hellweek.

Reviews/comments would be more than greatly appreciated. It's even my birthday in about an hour. Grovel grovel.

I hope y'all have/had a merry whatever the hell you celebrate.

Chapter 22

Sookie sat next to Eric on the same couch they'd sat on the night before, catty corner from where they had performed for the King — and had their second blood exchange — two nights before that. Eric had insisted she eat before they went to the Club and she'd managed to choke down a chicken sandwich at a fast food place in the casino. It sat in her stomach like a rock. She had his hand pulled over into her lap and clasped between hers. She was playing with his fingers. She hated how the ice queen had melted into a quivering puddle of nerves. The ups and downs of the past week had upended her world. God, he made her weak. Her own strength had seemed to leave her as soon as he'd lent her a little of his.

It wasn't just him, of course. The fear of screwing up and getting someone else killed, the suicide attempt, the kidnapping, the beating, the forced bond, the sudden almost-freedom, away from the VIV Club… And all in such a short time. And she was no longer only concerned for her own safety and well-being, along with Jason's and Gran's. Everything together had broken her even more than she'd already been broken. She kept losing all of the bravado that had formed her armour and held her together. And she hadn't been so afraid of Felipe in a very long time. Her obvious feelings for Eric — and his for her — had provided space for a very large target on them both. And all the shit that had happened had thrown gasoline onto those feelings and lit a match. She was radiating fear and weakness and vulnerability and she felt like a helpless baby animal surrounded by predators, with all of her soft parts showing. She hated how she clung to him but was so grateful that, for once in her life, she had someone to cling to.

She had thought she'd pretty much had it all figured out. Take what she could from the sex, detach, keep her head up, portray confidence, do what she had to do to keep herself safe, and then wash away her troubles in the early morning hours with a scalding hot shower and hot, shameful tears, crammed in the corner behind a towel in secret. But then everything had gone to shit. Except when it was wonderful. But that just made the shit harder to bear.

She had been the queen of compartmentalization, setting aside her fear and disgust and grief and shame just before sunset every evening and hiding it away. Even from herself. It had left her feeling empty and numb, and it was easy to act like you don't give a shit when you're empty and numb and detached from your emotions and putting everything you have into fucking like a porn star and loving every second of it.

Unfortunately, she'd gotten to feel everything she'd kept at bay hit her all at once as soon as her door was closed after the sun went up every morning. The pain and horror and sadness and shame and rage and despair would bury her alive if she didn't escape to the only place where she could scrub and scald and scour away the night, hidden away from view. Never letting anyone see.

And now she was showing them all how small and scared and vulnerable she was. That she'd always been inside. She was hunched forward, making herself small when she'd always kept her shoulders back and her head held high, showing everyone that she was either hot shit or above it all, depending on the circumstances. Making herself bigger to keep the predators at bay. And it had tamed them a little bit. It had earned her respect — as much as a cum-spattered sex slave could have, anyhow — and now that illusion was gone. And, after Eric was finally killed or sent away, they would all remember.

But for right then, she wasn't alone. She had him. As weak and helpless as she felt, she knew she was safer than she'd been in a very long while. She had a very old and powerful vampire firmly on her side. And, despite how much dread she felt every time she was forced back into the VIV Club, she was happier than she'd been… well, almost ever. At least when she wasn't being kidnapped or raped or beaten.

She leaned against him and he kissed her temple. It occurred to her that he was showing as much weakness as she was. More, maybe. It made her feel guilty that it made her feel better.

Felipe entered the Club and Sookie and Eric both stood.

Eric nodded deeply and said, "Good evening, your Majesty."

Sookie looked down and didn't speak. She hoped he took it as a nod of respect and deference. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice and her stomach loosened a fraction.

"Sit. Sit. The nights are getting shorter and I don't have time for pleasantries. I have something pressing planned for tonight and I don't want to miss it."

She was pretty sure Felipe's plans included interrogating and then punishing Victor. He wouldn't want to postpone his fun or cut short the pain. At least, she hoped that was the case.

They sat down after Felipe gestured to the couch.

"Sookie, tell me everything."

She went over the whole interaction with the woman in detail. Felipe had her repeat it. It wasn't much more information than she'd given him the night before.

"Your Majesty, I think I should try speaking with her again. I ran out of time last night before I could really get into what happened with Victor."

Felipe shook his head. "Everything you told me confirmed what her boyfriend said. His human overheard him talking to a woman on the phone about coming back to Texas. Sandy was in Dallas for a month last October. It took some persuasion and a bit of time, but he admitted he's worked for Sandy for years. I have guards tracking her down now. Forget about Victor. You need to find out everything you can about how Sandy has betrayed me and why."

Sookie frowned. She felt like she needed to object, but she was scared to open her mouth. The first time she'd met the King, she had called him a bully and spat his cum on his shoes, despite the hell she had been living at the time. She needed to find that part of herself again. Weakness would kill her in Las Vegas. She was glad Eric had her back but she wished she hadn't lost her spine in the process. She took a long, shaky breath and made herself look at the King.

"She was definitely here with Victor the night before last, your Majesty. Johnny, too. I know it was that night because Victor's blood was still smeared on the floor near the stage after he and Eric fought over me. After he tried to take me, even though you'd given me to Eric. I haven't been able to get any of their conversation yet. That's one of the reasons I want to talk to her some more. Victor had the girl. Emily. Her name is Emily. I saw him there in her head, fucking her, plain as day. I know Victor set me up last time. He is furious he can't have me or share me around anymore. It makes no sense that they would be following us around, making sure I heard them implicate Sandy and themselves. I really think Victor's involved, your Majesty."

Felipe looked hard at her and it was so hard not to look away. But that would have been one weakness too many.

"You know the consequences of being wrong. Do you remember what happened last time?"

Her throat closed up and she could only force out a whisper.

"Yes, your Majesty. Someone might die."

He sighed. "I was referring to what I did to you."

She had healed from the beating. She couldn't say the same for the woman she'd killed. Or for her own conscience. Still, the thought of that much pain again, so soon after the last time, terrified her. Having to admit it out loud made her hurt worse.

"I'm scared of that, too "

He stared at her for a few moments more before he spoke.

"The security video in the Club records over itself every twenty-four hours. Everything is gone. You have no proof. Anyone could have planted that memory."

It felt like his eyes were burning her retinas. Like she was staring into an eclipse. She gave him a half shrug.

"Can you check the footage out in the casino and in the hallway? You'd be able to see them come and go, anyway."

Eric was impressed at her bravery despite the clear shame he could feel on top of the overwhelming fear. Felipe wasn't pleased and she knew she might be punished for contradicting him. He hated how afraid she was. He pushed strength and courage through the bond and the tension in her shoulders eased just a bit.

Felipe was annoyed she'd said it but seemed to recognize the idea's worth. He grunted and stood up. Eric and Sookie followed.

"Fine. Ask her whatever you want, as long as you find out everything you can about Sandy Sechrest's betrayal. Come back here at midnight. You can talk to her then."

He turned and left before they could reply. She closed her eyes and let some of the tension in her neck and shoulders go. Eric squeezed her hand.

"Come. I want to spend as little time in here as possible."

Sookie was very much on the same page and was more than happy to leave. There were fangbangers shooting daggers at her from across the room and it was adding to her nervousness. They were mostly vulnerable kids who had been abused and neglected at home and then were exposed to violence and depravity night after night at the VIV Club, until it had become their normal. Their thoughts about her were frightening.

She and Eric held hands and walked slowly through the casino. She wanted to go outside. She wanted to feel the breeze on her face and look up at the stars and breathe the relatively fresh night air without the flashing lights and the constant clamour of the slot machines and the cloying stink of cigarette smoke and the furniture polish smell of the air freshener they used to try to cut through it. She wanted to get away from the mental barrage of the desperate people losing their rent money to Felipe DeCastro's greed. Instead, they walked around the gaming tables and through the shopping plaza and past the seafood buffet and the bingo hall and the movie theatre.

Eric led her to the door out to an atrium he'd read about in the brochure in their room. He too had felt the need to go out into the night to clear his mind, even if he didn't have to breathe. He didn't think it was a good idea to take her outside the casino complex. Not with Felipe looking for blood.

Sookie was glad they were on the same page. She hadn't known about the open-air garden in the centre of this part of the building, so this was a very welcome surprise. It wasn't terribly large, but it was gorgeous, with a koi pond and small waterfall and a white gravel path running around the circumference and through the greenery that would certainly be covered in blooms in a month or two. It was, thankfully, empty. They silently walked around a couple of times, enjoying the warm desert night.

She looked up and was disappointed that the light pollution from the miles and miles of neon running up and down the strip kept her from seeing any stars. Not like her little corner of Louisiana where the night sky was peppered with a million points of light and, on a clear evening, she could see the creamy streaks of the milky way. She was able to see the moon, though. It was a little bit fuller than it had been when she'd been outside a few nights before. Sookie pulled her hand from his and knelt down and put it in the cool water of the pond, just so she could feel it. She'd spent her whole life splashing around in the lakes and streams and bayous of northern Louisiana, catching craw daddies and catfish and tadpoles and bullfrogs. She had been starved for nature for three long years. She wished she could see the sunlight again. Feel it on her face. Lie down on her chaise lounge behind the old farmhouse and bask in it, like a cottonmouth on a rock in the early spring. The large black and white and orangey-red and golden fish swam up and nibbled, toothless, on her fingers, looking for food. It made her smile a little and she wished she had something to feed them.

She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose and ignored the smells of car exhaust and kitchen exhaust and chlorine from the outdoor pool that must have been nearby. She stood back up, wiped her fingers on the skirt of her dress and took Eric's hand again.

He led her to a bench and she stood between his legs after he sat down. Eric smiled when she wrapped her arms around his head. He didn't mind having her breasts pushed up against his face and her scent in his nose. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her. It was a few minutes later when he pulled his head away and finally broke the silence.

"I think Felipe believed you. You did well. You were very brave."

As shaken and tired and afraid as she was, she still barked out a laugh. He opened his mouth to argue but she leaned down a bit and kissed him before he could. It was soft and sweet and neither of them deepened it. She gave him a bit of a squeeze after she pulled away and sat down beside him and put her head on his shoulder. A bat swooped down to catch a moth and she somehow managed a grin.

"Friend of yours?"

He snorted.

"No. And I can also wear a cross and see my reflection in a mirror. And I am quite photogenic. My bar in Shreveport sold calendars in the gift shop a couple of years ago. I was Mr. January."

She laughed. "You must have made a fortune if you were selling pictures of yourself without any clothes on."

The rest wasn't a secret, of course. Not to her, anyway. She knew far more about vampires than she cared to.

He kissed the side of her head, taking a moment to enjoy the scent of her hair.

"It did very well."

"I'll bet."

They sat there quietly until shortly past eleven. She tried not to worry about disappointing Felipe or, worse, Felipe siding with Victor and letting him off with a slap on the wrist. And the subsequent beating that would almost certainly be in store for her if that happened. Not to mention how Victor would punish her. Felipe was out for blood and She knew he would get it, one way or another. She stood between Eric's legs and held him again before she took his hand and they headed back towards the Club.

She still wasn't hungry but ordered a banana split at an ice cream kiosk along the way because it was the only thing she thought she could stomach. After two tentative bites that tasted like heaven, she wolfed down the rest. She felt a little bolstered and, on top of the recharge she'd gotten from the outdoors, the quiet, and Eric, she felt almost human. She didn't know that she was ready to see the King, but she was as ready as she could be, under the circumstances. She was pretty sure she could do this. And, if Victor was guilty and Felipe believed her, Victor might be sent away. Banished. Or maybe even finally killed. She might never have to see him again.

Well, a girl could hope. It made her feel sick and almost gleeful at the thought of having a hand in sending him to his maker.

Eric pulled his key card out of his pocket and looked at her before he unlocked the door. Her eyes were closed, like they'd been just before he'd dropped her off early the first night they'd been together. When she opened them, he saw a bit of the haughty bitch. A bit of the apathetic and impassive robot. A bit of the mouthy firebrand who'd slapped him that first evening. All lurking just below the surface. The Madonna and the whore, though, were nowhere in sight. He was surprised and impressed. When she'd put on her mask of courage and disdain, she had managed to tamp down her fear, hiding it from herself almost as well as everyone else, at least for the time being. He opened the door to the VIV Club and they walked inside. She held her head high and didn't reach for his hand this time.