"What?" Eric had done nothing but stare at her for minutes.
"I almost gave up on you." His voice was tinged with the horror of what that could have meant had he gone through with it.
"That was never going to happen. Knowing what you know about me now. Take a second and think about how you always knew where I would be." The comical widening of his eyes had Sookie giggling.
"Of course." He laid back, looking up at the ceiling. "I never once considered I was coming by the information a little too easily. A few phone calls and I'd learned where you'd be." He said, staring after her as she sauntered to the bathroom.
"That was Desmond's doing. I had no idea how he filtered the information down to you." Sookie said, her voice slightly raised from the bathroom. She'd closed the door while she peed, not that it made much difference with vampire hearing. Sookie was operating on an out of sight, out of mind philosophy.
"You were on that roof because you knew I would be there." Eric sat up as the realization hit him.
"Yep." Sookie smiled up at him.
"I left New York feeling rather hopeful." He admitted.
"That was my intention when I came up to the roof." He lay back down, pulling her close.
"I'm glad you did." He whispered.
When he rose, he was surprised to find Sookie curled up beside him. He had expected the day's events to keep her at the office. Then, a moment of panic followed. "Relax, it all went well," Sookie mumbled and seemingly went back to sleep. Lacking the ability to do the same, he opted to shower instead. 'It all went well.' He smiled, happy for his child. Having Sookie in his life, bonded and glad to be bonded, made it difficult to comprehend his child not having the same experience. From what Sookie told him, Victor had given the order to mostly spite him, and Pam had paid for it. He'd lorded his position over them, used it to make their existence miserable. They had killed him in that life, too. Even if Miriam could not have been saved, Victor, Bruno, and Corinna's deaths were necessary.
Sookie was up and reading her messages when he walked back into the bedroom. "I was surprised to find you in bed still. Considering who you have chained up in the basement, I thought you'd be at the office."
"My presence was unnecessary, and I had nothing to do at the office today," she said, finally lifting her head from her phone. "Would you like to go to New York with me?" she asked.
"Is this the best time, with everything we have coming up…"
"Carmine will not accept me canceling again. He couldn't argue the last time because the Pythia requested my presence in Rhodes." Sookie said, interrupting Eric. She certainly would not choose now to go on a break with Appius and Alexei due to arrive in Oklahoma at any moment. In her nightmares, they show up in Bon Temps in ten weeks. But she knew the contract could have taken just as long to finalize.
"Right," Eric murmured. "Can't you send the boys?" He asked.
"Normally, I would, but there is a telepath in New York. Barry thought telling me on his way to the airport was safe. Unfortunately for him, the driver was one of Carmine's spies." Sookie grumbled.
"You believe Carmine would attempt to get the information out of Barry by any means necessary." Eric would do the same were he in Carmine's position. He'd once met the king of New York; the vampire was a former mob boss from Sicily. He arrived in New York, already turned, and within a decade, was king, barely speaking a word of English.
"I know he will. He is currently looking for her, not that he stands a hope in hell of finding her. Barry only knows because he heard the feedback." Sookie threw the covers off in a huff. She had no desire to go to New York any more than Eric did.
"Feedback?"
"When you hear your thoughts in another telepath's mind, it's like something between an echo and feedback. It's rather jarring the first time it happens. Barry said she threw up a shield so quickly he wasn't sure he'd heard it." Sookie put on a shirt and lay back against the headboard.
"Interesting," Eric whispered. "How do you know it's a female?"
"I found her thanks to uncle Desmond. I informed her that we had unfortunately made Carmine aware of her presence. She laughed and told me the king wasn't an issue. She is from a family that is very aware of their supernatural heritage. Her grandfather is a Demon and very much a hands-on member of his family. I can't have Barry possibly tortured for information he doesn't have. So, I have to go and deal with Carmine. If he wants to remain king, we will forget that a telepath is living in his state. They have lived there since Carmine's mother was just a twinkle in his grandfather's eyes." Eric laughed.
"Sure, I will go with you," Eric said just as Sookie's phone rang. "Pam is up." He feigned a fearful shiver earning an eye roll from his bonded.
"Where are you?" Sookie moved the phone away from her ear.
"Hello Pam, I can hear you just fine. There is no need to shout. I'm in bed." Sookie said with a lazy drawl that Eric looked thoroughly amused.
"We have Victor, Bruno, and Corinna." Pam's attempts to control her shouting failed miserably.
"I know; I got the message." Her reply was met with silence." Pam, you do not need me there to deal with them. It's not my bonded's life on the line." The silence persisted. "I'm on my way." Sookie relented with a resigned sigh. For some reason, Pam wanted her there.
"I will admit I am surprised you have no desire to be present," Eric mumbled as he pulled on a t-shirt.
"To what end. de Castro's takeover would not have been so bad without Victor. In the end, we killed him, but it did not make much of a difference to your life, thanks to Appius. You know what, all of a sudden I do want to gloat… a lot." Eric shook his head in laughter.
"Of course you do." He murmured to himself.
"You know, you could have just killed him. My presence was surplus to requirement." Sookie muttered as though half an hour ago, she wasn't determined to make Victor shit his pants. Her words. For the first time in her life, Pam couldn't find the words to explain her desire to have Sookie there. Sookie smiled at her, it was one full of understanding. Pam could not afford anything to go wrong, so she needed Sookie here for her peace of mind.
"Mael, get yourself and Pam some gloves. Drag the other two in with Victor." She looked around for Tray. "We are still keeping an eye out for Heidi." Tray nodded. "Good, I will be down in a minute."
Eric leaned against the door as Pam and Mael dragged Bruno and Corinna into the hallway. He chuckled at the sight of the large duffel bags. "As comical as it is, it is also rather effective." Eric intoned.
"It does sound like a joke until you witness it for yourself. Worse, endure it." Mael laughed and, for added effect, kicked one of the bags. Not a peep from the vampire inside, and Eric's curiosity was piqued. Bella hadn't told him anything specific regarding the two, but he knew there was a story there.
They all heard her heels echoing on the polished concrete floor before she turned the corner. "Okay, let's go gloat." She quipped, turning on the lights in the tomb, aptly nicknamed by Porter. It was bright, too bright even for a human, but that was the point.
"What the fuck is this?" Victor bellowed the second the doors to the tomb opened. At that moment, Eric realized Victor had no idea who had abducted him. He'd been in his day death when all this occurred. A thought that hadn't entered Eric's mind. Sookie walked around to the front, a condescending smirk firmly in place.
"Miss Brigant." Surprisingly, he sounded relieved. "My sincere apologies for what occurred the previous night. I had every intention of paying for the damage caused and apologizing for my part in what occurred." Eric noted that his simpering apology only served to anger Sookie.
"Where is Heidi?" Sookie's dismissive attitude regarding his apology clearly infuriated Victor, but he bit his tongue.
"Heidi?" Now, it was Sookie getting angry.
"Yes, Heidi, your tracker." She barked. She needed to be certain the vampire wasn't in the area.
"She's in Nevada, where she resides," Victor muttered, confused.
"Get them out." She said to no one in particular, her eyes still trained on Victor.
Victor watched as Corinna and Bruno were lifted from the duffel bags and hanged on the hooks against the wall. "de Castro is sincere in his offer. This is not a ruse." Victor offered, realizing this was not about his actions the night before.
"I'm aware of that. In truth, if I didn't like Sophie-Anne as much as I do, I would welcome de Castro's takeover." Eric saw the moment Victor realized they might have been genuine, but Sookie never was. "Yours was the ruse," Victor mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I take it you know or at least have heard of Eric Northman." Despite being phrased like one, it wasn't a question. "He is also my bonded." Victor's eyes widened, shooting from Sookie to Eric and back to Eric. "The lovely blonde over there… that is Pam." Pam showed no outward indication that she'd even heard Sookie. "Pam is Eric's child, but more than that, Pam is my friend. She was a friend in my nightmares and a friend in this life. Pam, especially now that I have come to understand so much more means that much more to me." Sookie looked up at Victor, who's obvious confusion was written all over his face. "I want her happy," Sookie added softly. Eric wasn't sure she was still speaking to Victor.
"I believe it's fair to say you are very aware of my conversation with my brother in Rhodes. That takeover I talked about was orchestrated by you and de Castro. Without my gift of foresight, the bombs would have gone off. Sophie-Anne would be severely injured but alive. Louisiana was battered but recovering. Eric was keeping an eye on our neighbors, and rightly so. No one could blame him for not looking as far afield as Las Vegas. And yet, that is where the treat suddenly emerged. Eric pledged fealty to de Castro to save me and his people. You did not like that and did just about everything to break him or get him to break a rule. In the end, you condemned an innocent woman to death, hoping against all hope Eric would defy you… giving you a reason to kill him." Victor looked downright bewildered. She couldn't seriously be punishing him for sins he hadn't committed.
"You are punishing us for shit we haven't done," Bruno asked, his voice tinged with utter disbelief. Victor hadn't noticed the ball gags had been removed from him and Corinna.
"Oh, good lord, no." Sookie crowed, her smile saying otherwise. "Unfortunately for you three, with my gift comes an annoying little small print. Those who do die make sure they die, and those who do live make sure they live unless it directly affects you. Annoying little small print, but it's there. Due to your actions, you forced us to kill you. All you had to do was refrain from interfering in Pam's love life, and you would have continued your merry little existence. Those two you sent to kill Pam and myself while we drove to Fangtasia, we killed them instead. It was rather clever of Pam. You never knew what happened to them because Pam and I walked into Fangtasia pretending all was fine and dandy. It was a beautiful mind fuck." Sookie chuckled.
Victor was seething but outwardly remained impassive, his bravado firmly in place despite his nakedness. Rumors of Susannah Brigant had started circulating long before they received confirmation of her, thanks to her actions at Rhodes. Rumors they'd never paid much attention to because no one they knew could reliably confirm her existence. The idea of a future-seeing telepath, who was part human, Fairy, and Demon, was frankly too fantastical to believe. Then Rhodes happen, and the rumors become fact. A fact supported by his own spy in Rhodes. She existed, and even better, she would welcome a takeover. Her brother hated Sophie-Anne, and she hated Andre. Worse, the vampire Sophie-Anne sent to procure her had his own agenda. If not for Miss Brigant's gift, he would have orchestrated the death of her grandmother. It was all too good to be true, yet that was precisely what they heard. When Felipe had called him about apologizing, his excitement had been glaringly evident. What Miss Brigant had seen of their plans pleased her greatly. The A.P herself was sanctioning the takeover. Screw the clan, he didn't need their permission not with A.P onside. Victor hadn't been so keen on the plan as Felipe had declared Area 5 a no-go area. The Viking's area was not to be touched. The information gleaned by their spies made it clear Miss Brigant was fond of several vampires in the area. She was especially close to the Viking and his retinue. Felipe did not want any death in that area to turn Miss Brigant against him. He was determined to earn her loyalty and friendship. Victor hated the plan, but he understood it; it was a clever plan. Now, it was clear the entire thing had been a ruse. A plan to draw him to her playground.
"Kill those two," Sookie uttered flippantly. Neither vampire managed a single utterance before they were a pile of blood and sinew slowly working its way down the drain in the middle of the room.
"Now I see why they are naked; it makes for easy clean up," Pam mumbled rather casually, even though her emotions were anything but.
Victor's bravado quickly crumbled. "I haven't done any of that." He pleaded, suddenly realizing his existence was truly at an end. He was paying for actions he had not committed and would not commit.
"I know, but let me count the many, many, many, many… numerous ways I do not give a flying fuck." Sookie snarked. "I fucking loathe your very existence. Hate is a wasted emotion that accomplishes very little. Still, where you are concerned, I relish in it, and welcome it wholeheartedly. Your very face infuriates me to the core. Words cannot begin to describe just how much I wish I could spend night after night making you suffer. Luckily for you, time is not on my side, and a quick death death is what you will get." Sookie's lit hand grabbed his balls and ripped them off. Victor's howl echoed off the walls for an age. "I ended your existence in my nightmares, and I am ending here too." Sookie delivered a gut punch that went right through to Victor's spine; she gripped it and let her light slowly spread through him. His screams were music to her ears. "Did I say a quick death? I lied." She growled as he continued to scream.
Her light had only taken a few minutes to turn Victor to ash. She'd broken her one rule she'd promised herself she would not break. And yet, she had no regrets.