A/n: Hey all. I FINALLY have a new chapter for you. I'm sorry it's been so long. Hopefully I'll be much more on the ball soonish? And hopefully this will post cleanly and not be such a glitchy mess like Choosing Death was. Is? That's the oneshot I posted the other day, BTW. You should totally check it out if you haven't yet. 😬 Hopefully it will work.

And, speaking of which, I hope that, going forward, my muse does the same. And my brain. And the rest of me, too, I suppose.

Chapter 9

There was a taqueria in the other end of the casino and she dragged him in that direction. She had no idea what day of the week it was but, as far as she was concerned, it was taco Tuesday.

Sookie ordered the carne asada and a huge blended margarita. Eric ordered another imported premium non-synthetic blood. The waitress brought their drinks and a basket of warm tortilla chips with a little cup of salsa. She hung back for a moment or two, hoping Eric would notice her. He didn't. Sookie took a long drink of her margarita and had to stop, wincing, but laughing a little. "Oh, ouch. Brain freeze."

She pushed her tongue flat against the roof of her mouth, trying to get the pain to loosen. Damn, it hurt. But it was still totally worth it.

"What is a brain freeze?"

She was still squinting against the pain but it was starting to ease up. When it did, she sighed in relief.

"The margarita is all slushy. Sometimes, when you eat or drink something freezing cold you get a sharp pain sort of between your eyes. Well, "you" if you were a human, I guess. It hurts like a bitch, but the margarita is so good, I'm going to drink the whole damn thing anyway. And then maybe order another."

He laughed. "When I was human, my mother would mix a bit of honey and milk into fresh snow on the first heavy snowfall of the year. I think I remember feeling something like that. But it was a very long time ago."

"Oh, yeah? How long?"

He smiled. "A little more than a thousand years."

"Yup. That'd do it."

Sookie was no longer surprised by numbers like that — she had met several ancient vampires since arriving in New Orleans — but it was still hard to fathom being alive for so many. Decades. Centuries. And just how many memories he must have stored in his void of a brain.

She scooped up some pico de gallo with a chip and took a bite. She promptly forgot about everything else and closed her eyes in pleasure. She had hardly eaten in days and she was famished. She had a few more, savoring each one. The salsa was spicy and she took another long sip of her drink.

"Shit."

She winced again but the pain didn't keep hold for nearly as long that time. She reached for another chip.

It pleased him that she was enjoying herself. It made him smile. He could watch her all night. But he wanted to know more about her.

"You mentioned that Sophie-Anne had spoken about me. You knew her well?"

Sookie nodded. "I was with Sophie-Anne for about a year and a half before the takeover. Just about as long as I've been here, I guess. It was a much different experience."

Having known both Sophie-Anne and Felipe, Eric was sure that was the case. "I can imagine."

"I was held prisoner and raped for almost a month before the vampire who kidnapped me delivered me to the Queen. A few times, three others joined him. He hadn't seemed very happy about that, but he never tried to stop them and always invited them in when they showed up on his doorstep. And he must have told them where the place was. It was way out in the middle of nowhere. This was back when the serial killer was still preying on fangbangers in Bon Temps."

Eric remembered it well. The police had become a headache for the Area Five vampires for quite some time until the killer, Rene Lenier, messed with the wrong fangbanger. Ginger, a waitress at Fangtasia, had beaten the killer to death with a fireplace poker after he'd broken into her apartment in Shreveport. She didn't have a fireplace.

He also remembered that Bill Compton had checked into Area Five right around that time. Bill had wanted to move into his ancestral home in Sookie's hometown. Eric was sure it hadn't been a coincidence. And Bill Compton had often spent time with those three idiots in Monroe. The ones Pam called the Disco Triplets.

Sookie continued, "Sophie-Anne was really pissed about it. She was forced to be a sex slave, too, both before and after she was turned. She was furious at what had been done to me, and by someone working on her behalf. She swore it would never happen again. I was a well-guarded secret after that, from what I understand."

Eric had heard nothing about Sophie-Anne having a telepath. A well-guarded secret, indeed. And all of this had been going on in the background in his area, under his nose and behind his back.

The waitress brought Sookie's tacos but she only had eyes for Eric. She tried to get his attention. Flirt with him. She planned to steal him away from Sookie, who was getting more than a little annoyed. Eric didn't even notice. The server wasn't going to give up so easily this time.

"Would you like another blood? It's on the house."

She leaned her head back and to the side a little, making it clear that her throat was on offer, as well as the blood in a bottle. He didn't even turn to look. He couldn't seem to stop looking at Sookie.

"No. But another margarita for my lover."

His tone cut off any hope for anything more. The waitress huffed before she scurried away. Sookie didn't start talking again until she was out of earshot.

"I had quite a large private quarters with a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath. I had cable tv and a jacuzzi tub and top of the line everything and just about anything else a prisoner could want. And, if there was something else, like a movie or book or a certain kind of food, all I had to do was ask. Other stuff, too. Within reason, of course. I was locked in but everyone else was locked out. For my protection. Even Andre, no matter how much he begged. She had commanded him to leave me alone, so he couldn't even go behind her back. Nobody but two well-glamoured human women, Hadley, and the Queen had access to my cell. Hadley was my first cousin, you know."

He shook his head. He'd had no idea she'd even existed, let alone that she was related to the former Queen's youngest child, but he saw a hint of a resemblance now that he was looking for it, despite their much different complexions. And Hadley had smelled and tasted sweet, too, although it had been nothing compared to Sookie's sweet, sunshiny scent, despite the fact that she was seemingly never allowed outside.

Sookie tilted her head. "You know we went to Baton Rouge after Katrina?"

Eric nodded. "Yes. The Queen and her closest subjects stayed with Gervaise."

"They built me a private apartment in his nest. There was a false wall and a hidden door and it was warded and sealed well with an air exchanger and heavy duty filters. The queen still wanted me close. Protected. She was unable to protect me herself at that point."

Sophie-Anne had been badly injured in a bombing in Rhodes shortly before the takeover. She had still been years away from a full recovery when she'd been assassinated.

Sookie had often wondered if things would have been different if she had gone to the vampire summit with Sophie-Anne instead of staying back in New Orleans. She had a faraway look as she remembered.

"The night of the takeover, I heard the fighting from my quarters. Saw some of it in the human servants' heads. For a while, at least. It was terrifying. The thought crossed my mind that maybe Louisiana would be taken and I would be freed, but I knew better. I was a prisoner, but Sophie-Anne treated me quite well. We respected each other. She even took my blood with a syringe rather than biting me against my will. She never once pushed me to have sex with her or anyone else. I knew I wasn't going to be anywhere near so lucky in another kingdom."

Sookie sighed and looked up at him.

Vampire brains just look like holes in the fabric of space. Or something like that, anyway. One by one, the Louisiana vampires' holes all closed in, until they were all gone. The humans were all killed, too. Nobody found me, though. As usual, I was a secret.

"There were a bunch of Nevada vampires. getting the place locked down and the new security in place to head off any retaliation, although there wasn't much of anyone left to retaliate. I hoped that Mr.C. would find out about the attack and come and rescue me at daybreak. That's Desmond Cataliades, Sophie-Anne's demon lawyer. He's a really good man. Unfortunately, Victor showed up and sniffed me right out not long before dawn and took me to an old warehouse across town. I was padlocked in a storage closet for the day and then brutalized all night. He kept me with him the rest of the time we were in Louisiana, chained up in whatever hell hole we wound up in, all across the state. When he wasn't raping me, at least."

While Victor had been making Eric's life hell after the takeover, Sookie had been always nearby, going through much worse. It made him hate Victor Madden even more.

She shrugged.

"It took me right back to that month, locked in that cabin in the woods with the vampire that lived practically next door to me and Gran, across the cemetery in Bon Temps. The only difference was that Victor called me whore and dumb cunt instead of darling and sweetheart. And Victor doesn't really like to cuddle. They both caused me plenty of pain, though, although Victor is much crueler."

She shuddered again. Eric was furious. He would have Pam stop by the old Compton place and pay Bill a visit. And then maybe catch up with Malcolm, Liam, and Diane.

Sookie didn't say anything for almost three minutes, lost in her thoughts. Eric was betting on her having more to say so he kept quiet. It paid off.

"I thought it couldn't get any worse. God, was I wrong. I had no idea how bad it could get. Felipe was away when Victor first brought me to Vegas. I went from being held captive and raped two or three times a night by Victor to being beaten and gang raped and fang raped and degraded by anyone who wanted me, whenever, wherever, and however they pleased, and however many at a time. Every night, all night long, for weeks. Everyone was celebrating the takeover and enjoying the fact that the cat — or the King — was away, and so every night was playtime. At first, I fought back hard and was beaten to within an inch of my life. My family was threatened and then beaten, too, when I failed to comply. That nearly broke me. I was mocked and taunted when I gave in and begged or cried. I was humiliated for sport. I was being heavily drugged a lot of the time and was strung out on a bunch of different substances. Still, I was punished often for talking back. I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut sometimes. Especially when I'm pissed off."

Eric grinned. "I've noticed. Of course, your tongue is far too talented for you to keep it held for long."

Sookie snorted, glad for the break in tension. "Flatterer."

She felt a little bit better, despite the grim subject matter.

"I was in pretty rough shape when the King got back to Vegas and I met him for the first time. I was just covered in bruises and bites and whip marks. I was naked, of course, and forced to kneel before him. I was supposed to declare an oath of fealty. Instead, I told him exactly what had happened and what I thought about it. Instead of getting mad, he got hard. I snapped. I told him he was weak and a bully and a sadistic coward, just like Victor, for hurting a helpless woman for fun and pleasure. Everyone in the room but him gasped. He laughed and stuck his sadistic prick in my mouth and fucked it, hard and fast. Just how he likes it. To show me who was boss. When he was done, my eyes and nose were running all over the place because I'd been gagging and choking the whole time. When I was finally able to talk, I spat out what was left of him in my mouth and then requested a Kleenex and a pair of knee pads for next time."

Strangely, she had a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Felipe has liked me ever since. He's a monster but he doesn't treat me too bad, most of the time. He's a busy guy. Usually, he just wants to fuck my mouth for a minute and a half or so until he cums and then bites my wrist and sends me on my way. He's rough, and it really sucked until my gag reflex gave up the ghost, but he is far from the worst I have to deal with. I never did get the knee pads but he always has a handkerchief nearby, even though I don't really need it any longer. And he puts the brakes on Victor's worst impulses. I'm still raped dozens of times a night, of course, but not quite so… brutally. I'm physically punished sometimes, but it has to be for a real reason. Or one Felipe thinks is real, anyway. It has gotten better. A lot better. Especially since I really got into the sex and got really good at it. Lord knows I've had enough practice. Most of them have a much better time with my cooperation and they don't want to screw up a good thing, so they're mostly just happy to fuck a damn good lay."

Eric had his fingers steepled. His brow was wrinkled a bit in thought. And he was annoyed at the tinge of jealousy he felt.

"You said something about this being your second chance to read minds. What happened before?"

"Victor knew I was a telepath. I told him so, that first night back in Louisiana. He would bring fangbangers from all over the state to wherever we were staying to get information on the few Louisiana vampires who were left."

She grinned at Eric.

"I only heard good things about you. I swear. And most of them were right."

She ran her foot up the inside of his calf and around the bend of his knee up to his inner thigh. He grinned back and grabbed it. It was bare; her sandal was on the floor under the table. He took her foot gently in both hands and massaged the arch, just for a moment or two. He ran his thumbnail from her heel, over her sole, to the base of her toes. She yanked it back with a laugh. She felt a bit better. It released some steam and lowered the pressure a little.

"Here in Vegas, Victor did everything he could to convince Felipe I was terrible at reading minds. Nobody knew anything about Sophie-Anne having a personal telepath so how good could I be? If I were legit, I'd have been a status symbol. Involved in every major decision and problem. High profile as a deterrent for treason. Not something to hide away. He told the King I was a blood and sex slave. That all of the humans and vampires who'd lived there had confirmed it. That my telepathy was little more than a party trick and I was wrong as often as not. These were all lies, of course, but I'm sweet and yummy and fuckable, so it made a lot of sense. I'm vampire bait, I've been told. That's somebody the Queen would want to keep secret. She was known to be greedy because sometimes she wouldn't share."

Sookie rolled her eyes and shook her head. It was ridiculous. They hadn't known Sophie-Anne at all. Of course, had she? Or had she seen the Queen through a very rose-tinted lens? Her feelings about it were so mixed up. She had loved to sit and talk to Sophie-Anne for hours, about everything from politics to fashion to history. Sookie had looked forward to seeing Hadley every time she'd visited and always welcomed her with a hug. She had been comfortable and treated humanely in New Orleans, and then in Baton Rouge. Nevertheless, she had still been a slave. Hadley had been the one who had told her maker about Sookie and had urged her to have Sookie kidnapped. She'd lived through nearly a month of hell because Sophie-Anne had sent a psycho to procure her. She'd been imprisoned. She supposed Stockholm syndrome was real.

And, speaking of Stockholm, she was quite fond of the tall blond imprisoner sitting across the table from her, too. Her life and her feelings were very complicated.

"Someone had been stealing from the King and Felipe had me interview some of the staff. It felt like my big chance to be more than a sex slave. To become important enough to get out of the VIV Club and away from Victor and back to being the Royal Telepath instead of the Royal Cumslut, but I was really nervous and hurting from the night before and jonesing for a hit of just about anything to take the pain away. I was in really bad shape."

Once she'd started enthusiastically participating in the sex, she'd been drugged less and less. It had broken the addiction before it had really gotten its claws into her and allowed her to taper down relatively slowly. Going all in on the sex had saved her life. Victor still liked to bring out his bag of tricks sometimes, but it had become a rarity, except when he shot her up with a coke and V cocktail he called Fuck Potion Number Nine. It turned her into a goddamn nymphomaniac.

"The first few dealers and waitresses and janitors I talked to didn't know anything about the theft. Some of them had a good bit of gossip, though, including that one of the King's closest advisors had betrayed him. Felipe was very impressed with what I could do at first. I was happy for the praise, but every minute that passed was making it harder to function. Victor said he would help, because he owed it to the King. He shot me up with a speedball when Felipe stepped out of the room. I was so grateful at first but then it hit me like a freight train. I was a complete mess, frantic and drowsy at the same time. I interviewed a few more people and I was all over the place. I couldn't concentrate at all. Felipe was getting more and more pissed at me. Finally, I talked to his attache or intern or sugar baby or whatever the hell her title was. She was nineteen and adorable and dumb as a stump and I heard clear as day in her head that she had stolen just over ninety thousand dollars from Felipe's safe. Her story matched the facts almost perfectly. I was positive it was her. It wasn't. She was innocent. They caught Felipe's personal assistant on camera and then he confessed. I have no idea why she thought what she did. I'm sure I would have noticed if she'd been glamoured, but maybe not. I was so fucked up from the drugs on top of everything else. The girl had been a favourite of Felipe's and the truth didn't come out until after he'd already killed her. And in a not very nice way. He was furious at me. He didn't talk to me for weeks, but he got over it eventually. I didn't. I feel so guilty. Both that she's dead because of me and because I am less sorry about that than that it cost me my chance to get out from under Victor. Physically and otherwise. It's taken a long time for Felipe to trust me enough to try again. I was really excited to get another chance, even though I don't really deserve it."

Eric narrowed his eyes. "Victor set you up."

She shrugged with one shoulder. "Yeah. Of course he did. He found me much more useful as a cumslut."

"Why didn't you tell the King?"

Sookie laughed. "Because I know better by now. I am not treated nearly as badly as I was but, as I said, I do get punished if I do something wrong. Not too often but way more often than I would like. Victor can't feed me blood — Felipe would lose his shit — but he can still heal me with it. He's cut me before. He takes his time. Enjoys it. I don't want to tempt him to do it again. Not to me, and not to my brother or my grandmother."

Sookie pushed her plate away. She hadn't eaten more than a couple of bites.

"So that's how the telepath became the sex slave. And now, hopefully, I can go full circle and go back to being a telepath again. All I have to do is find out who is cheating Felipe and how. No big deal. No sweat. No pressure."

Eric smiled at her. "The longer it takes, the more time you have away from the Club."

She smiled back. "Touche. Thanks. I needed that."

The waitress came back with another margarita for Sookie. She didn't even look at Eric this time.

Sookie took another long drink, enjoying the feeling of sitting in a restaurant with a beautiful man — her lover, to borrow his phrase — enjoying each other's company and conversation and companionship, even if what she was telling him wasn't so sweet. Suddenly, she winced again, squeezing her eyes shut in pain. Maybe someday she'd learn, but the damn margarita — and the small hint of freedom — just tasted too good.

"Son of a bitch."