Chapter 28: You Drive Me Wild
"Is this some kind of joke?" Alcide's eyes narrowed as his voice went down even lower.
Olivia crossed her legs and hugged her knee with her palms. She was going to savour this for as long as she could. She had made herself small and played dumb to appease this man's ego for far too long.
It was time to enjoy the reaps of her rich freaking harvest. "Why? Do I sound funny?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Like I told you, I'm here to make you an offer."
Alcide sneered, not taking her seriously. "Alright Godfather, I'm listening."
"You are going to close your case against Eric Northman and in return, Debbie Pelt will no longer use vampire blood for recreational purposes, ever again."
Alcide leaned forward on the creaky old chair and made fists with both his hands. His eyes were burning holes through her head. You hear a pin drop in the room. His mind was racing, darting like a wolf in the woods. Olivia knew what she was wrong. He had opened up about Debbie in confidence, as a sign of good faith and trust. But instead, she had used it to sharpen her knife. At least she had the common courtesy of stabbing him in the chest, not the back.
Dark clouds were forming in his head, clouding over anything legible. But it was okay, she didn't have to read his mind anymore. She knew his body language well enough now, she knew exactly what made Alcide Hervaux tick. It was a who - a certain someone Eric had discovered long ago.
"How can you possibly-"
"I can ensure Debbie Pelt will be blacklisted from buying V from any drug dealer in the entire state of Louisiana. You're right, she can't go to rehab due to her werewolf nature even if she wanted to. Imagine how the nurses would react to her changing at full moon? I would imagine the aftermath would be quite… Newsworthy. But this way, other than maybe involuntary, she will have no choice but to stay clean. I can even get her glamoured while she detoxes so she doesn't suffer as badly-"
"No!" He grunted. "No glamouring. No vamper is getting anywhere near her."
Ah if only he knew.
"Fine. Then I suggest you find someone to help her through the withdrawal. It's not going to be pretty. But think - she will finally get better. Debbie will be her normal self again, who she was always meant to be."
A long, heavy silence. He was given an impossible choice - save the woman he loved, and let his enemy walk free. Sometimes, cutting a deal with the devil was better than having no deal at all.
Alcide shook his head. "The only way you can come in here and promise me this is if Northman controls the entire vampire blood market in the state of Louisiana."
She shrugged. "Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't."
The image Alcide Hervaux had of her shattered into a million pieces right in front of her eyes. It was cathartic not having to pretend anymore. "What if I'm wearing a wire, huh? What if there's a bug in my office and I just caught you confessing Northman has every drug dealer in the entire state in his pocket? That'd be one of the biggest operations in fucking history and to top it off, you're trying to bribe a federal agent."
"That would be a shame, wouldn't it?" Olivia laughed. "To have such a perfect flaming gun and not be able to use it. Unless you want to explain to the court what I meant by Debbie Pelt being a werewolf and all,"
The threat went through him like a dagger. Alcide stood up in an explosion of anger, his chair rolled all three feet across the room and hit the filing cabinet behind him. Rule 13: always have blackmail material. Come on, now, she wouldn't let someone use her own tricks on her. Unless he was willing to expose werewolves to humanity, he didn't have jackshit. Not even Glenn Costa would know about this conversation.
His monstrous rage didn't bother her. She'd seen worse for much less. "And if you alter the tape to erase what I said about her, I'll have forensics examine it for tampering and I'll not only get your case tossed out of court but you will be suspended for manipulating evidence."
Alcide growled. "Fuck you, Olivia."
She rose delicately to her feet and pulled her purse over her shoulder. "I believe you already have," she said with a nasty smile and a quick crinkle on her nose.
Upon leaving the closet-sized office, she left the door wide open so the good agent could watch her walk away. And she could feel him watching.
It was strange being here again. And it was even stranger seeing it completely empty. This place was much bigger than she remembered. Her feet walked across the dusty dark hardwood, her heels echoed in the empty penthouse. Olivia set up to meet all of Eric's drug dealers in her old apartment, which apparently had remained vacant since she moved out. She approached the living room window and pushed it wide open to let the stale air out. Eric would knock at the door any minute now.
She wasn't sure her heart was beating at triple-speed because she was anxious or because of all the caffeine she had today. Maybe it was both. At any moment she would have to face him again. That awkward post-kiss encounter. The silent ride back home was awkward enough. Hopefully, he wouldn't bring it up.
These walls gave her a deep sense of nostalgia for when she first came to Shreveport. Even though she knew it not to be true, she felt that life was easier then. Before the Dallas trip, before having his blood, before playing his games, before tasting his kiss. And it was one hell of a kiss.
To keep her mind off of it, she resumed her mission. Standing by the window sill, she looked down the street, trying to find out if any parked van or car looked suspiciously federal. It was a beautiful summer night, with the downtown bustling below. From here she could watch people leaving restaurants and entering bars, and walking up and down the streets, catching up with old friends and meeting new lovers. She was interrupted by a pair of legs that came down floating from the sky.
"Couldn't you use the front door, like a normal person?" Olivia quipped, stepping back, watching the dark angel who had lowered from the skies.
"Black sedan in the corner, the three ladies sitting in the patio bar across the street and the plumbing van in the building's parking lot. All feds." Eric entered the room without looking at her. That was new.
"I'll keep the lights off then, if they are smart then they are probably taking pictures from that office building down the street."
The penthouse was by far the tallest level in the area, so shooting pictures from below would be difficult, but you can never be too careful.
"Pictures? You're so sweet." Eric said with his easy-going, uncaring voice.
Snipers. He meant snipers. Olivia moved away from the window, leaning back against the brick wall. The night breeze blew the long white curtains into the room like ghosts. Eric's back was facing her, his hands tucked into his pockets.
"Let's hear it then. Your master plan," He wandered the room slowly, studying it carefully as if he had never been here before. He had been. Olivia remembered that night vividly.
"This morning I sent all the dealers listed in your Blackbook a text from a burner phone about a big, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. About an hour ago I told the ones who replied to meet me here, one at a time, so I can interview them myself. The one I find the most competent will sell the blood on the dark web. Do you know what the dark web is?"
"I'm old, not an idiot, Olivia." He paused for a moment, deep in thought. "How will people know where to buy it? It's not like we can advertise it."
"The online store already exists. Silk Road already has thousands of anonymous customers who buy all sorts of illegal drugs. We'll get paid in Bit coin, which I'll flip into dollars via an agency in Luxemburg using-"
He was following it perfectly. "One of the shell companies."
"Exactly. I already set up the accounts and bought a seller license from Silk Road. Now I just need someone trustworthy and half-competent to collect the vampire blood vials, package them in airtight containers and mail them with no return address. Customers are instructed to receive the packages at a P.O. box or a friend's house, for their own safety. This way neither of us gets caught."
"Won't the postal service find out what they're carrying?"
"The odd package will get discovered in transit, yes, but since the vials are being sold separately and one at a time, the quantities are too small for them to bother with the paperwork. I'll also get the dealer to use gloves and not leave any prints on the packages, and never use the same drop-off location twice."
"Smart, modern, elegant...I like it," Eric said in his whiskey smooth voice. "But there is one problem: what about the stamp?"
"What stamp?"
"No matter where it's going, every package gets a big state stamp on the box during processing. We'll be telling the entire world that someone in Louisiana is selling vampire blood. That falls under our Queen's jurisdiction."
"Which is why all drop-offs will be done out of state, the chosen dealer will have to drive to cross the border, to Texas and Arkansas. Maybe Mississippi."
Eric nodded, pleased. "Well done. If it works out, I can get rid of the rest of the dealers and maximize profits."
Both of them understood what he meant by 'getting rid of'. They were not going to be simply laid off. This interview wasn't for a promotion, it was for their fucking lives and they didn't even know it.
"There's just one more thing. It's about the feds downstairs," the vampire finally turned around and looked at her with the intensity only he knew how. "I can make them go away."
It was a bold thing to say, and Eric knew there was a catch. "If?"
"If you let Debbie Pelt go. Blacklist her from every dealer in town, cut her off from the V completely, glamour her to never touch the stuff again-"
"Glamouring doesn't work like that," he scoffed. "Do you really think Hervaux will agree to this?"
"No, he didn't. But he's-"
Eric clenched his jaw. "You went to see him?"
"Not this again, Eric-" she rolled her eyes.
"After I specifically forbid you-"
Olivia felt her nails digging in her palms. "Forbid me?! What is this, the 1800s?!"
"God I fucking wish." He muttered.
"Do you have any idea how much more danger selling drugs on the dark internet puts us in? We are adding Homeland security and Cyber Crimes to this dog shit sundae. You need fewer enemies, Eric, not more!"
"You don't understand what you're telling me to give up. Debbie's whispers have been so good to me, and a good obedient bitch is hard to find nowadays."
She knew this was a dig at her, and for whatever reason, the insult struck deep. Olivia hated how fucking ungrateful Eric was.
"Now is not the time to get into a pissing contest with a werewolf federal agent who has it out for you! Let Debbie go, and he'll drop the case. If the cops find out about the vials in the mail while the feds are actively investigating you, they will only try to pin this on you too-"
"I thought you said the quantities would be too small to investigate!"
"They will be, but I can't control everything, Eric. Trust me, I've tried! I spent my whole life trying-"
"So your plan is flawed-"
Something inside her snapped. "Are you kidding me?! I've orchestrated an entirely new drug operation overnight and all I ask of you is to give up this one thing!"
"This one thing tells me all the inner workings of the Shreveport wolfpack, the local DEA branch and her pack in Jackson, Mississippi. That is one hell of an informant you're asking me to part with-"
But before she could proceed to yell at him some more, the buzzer called on her phone. Their first dealer of the evening had arrived.
"Just… Get into one of the bedrooms. It's better if they don't see you right away."
It was actually better if she didn't see him, he was driving her fucking insane.
"Oh, you know how to make me feel like a dirty mistress, Olivia." He gave her a smug smile before disappearing into the dark hallway.
Eric Northman was going to be fucking death of her. The first man arrived, a short and skinny guy with a creepy goatee. He had tiny dark beady eyes and reeked of cheap cigarettes. Olivia felt much better knowing Eric lurked somewhere in the shadows. This guy was not one you'd feel comfortable being alone in a dark room with.
"Who the fuck are you?" The man asked when she opened the door.
The narc told me it would be the tall vamper lady, this ain't her. Do I got this wire all up in my business for fuckin' nothin'?
The first dealer of the night, and he was already a tainted one. This could be going smoother. "Good evening! I'm Olivia Carson, nice to meet you, I hope you found the place alright. I'm one of Mr. Northman's property managers. How are you Mr…?"
"Mack Rattray."
"Mr. Rattray, come on in," she swung the door wide open and let the sleazeball inside. She anticipated having a CI wearing a wire, so she already had a lie ready on the tip of her tongue. "So like I told you earlier, this unit is going to enter the market next week and we already have a lot of interest in it. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, in-unit laundry, central air, south-facing windows, all new appliances, high-speed internet-"
"Lady, what the fuck are you talkin' about?" The place was dark, but the city lights coming through the window were enough to see this man was sweating like a sinner in church. As he should.
"I thought you were interested in buying this place?"
"Buy this place? Are ya outta ya mind?! I got me a doublewide out in Monroe last fall, I ain't buying shit out here. Plus this place is too rich for my taste."
"Oh," no shit. "I apologize for the mix-up sir, then what are you doing here?"
"I was told about sum big business opportunity from the vamper."
"Yeah, a real estate opportunity-"
"Nuh-uh, don't bullshit me, lady! We here to talk about the V!"
Olivia made her eyes wide. "What V?"
Is this sum kind of test? Cause I'm looking real stupid with the feds fuckin' listening.
Yes, sir, you are. "I'm so sorry Mr. Rattray, you must have confused me with someone else."
"Ya think I'm gettin' vampers mixed?! Where's that tall Nazi-lookin' sumbitch?"
"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" Olivia shrieked. Someone please nominate her for an academy award already!
Mack stormed off, cursing Olivia in his head, calling her names she never even heard of before. Well, that had gone great. She shut the apartment's front door with relief. Hopefully, that was the one and only dirty informant.
"He was wearing a wire." Eric's voice came from the dark.
She sighed, following his voice. "Yes, he was."
"How did you know?" The darkness asked, sounding less than thrilled by following the old script they seemed to have.
"Don't you get bored asking me that?"
There was no answer for a long pause. Suddenly a whisper in her ear from behind. "Don't you get tired of resisting me?"
She spun on her heels so fast it made her dizzy. Eric was towering over her again.
Just five minutes ago, she was ready to slap him on the mouth, and at the first opportunity here he was, playing with her again. "I'm building quite an endurance for it."
The moonlight was casting the most beautiful spell on him. His eyes were never so blue, his lips were never so inviting. If she was mad at him, she couldn't quite remember why. And just like that her phone rang - another dealer was coming up. Eric dissolved into the darkness yet again.
The next two guys who came in were not compromised by the feds, but they were both fucking morons. Egomaniacal, overcompensating, reeked of irresponsibility. She asked them point-blank why they started selling V in the first place. They gave empty half-assed stories, but she read their minds like a fucking book: they both started selling V to offset the cost of their own usage. Idiots. She gave them both the same vague answer about getting back to them by the end of the week.
The fourth guy who showed up (late, mind you), was also wearing a wire. Olivia wanted to scream. The fifth person was a lady who was awfully interested in sleeping with Pamela and was very disappointed this was not a booty call.
Then, finally a promising one - a college student, tons of student loan debt and not the best grades. She would actually pity him if he wasn't such an arrogant prick. However, he did not own a car, so he was immediately out of the running. Olivia had learned her lesson on gifting cars to people.
Olivia updated Eric on each of the dealers, but he seemed unbothered by it all. He just leaned against her bedroom wall, where her headboard used to be, scrolling on his phone like a bored teenager.
Then the seventh guy showed up. He was around her age, maybe a bit older. He was Black, wearing baggy low-rise jeans, a dark see-through mesh tank top and a silver scarf around his head, along with perfectly placed fluttery fake eyelashes and gold shimmery eyeshadow. He walked with a certain swagger that exuded total and complete confidence and queerness. His name was Lafayette Reynolds, and according to Eric's Blackbook, he was his top-ranking dealer in both profits, smarts and customer base.
"And who might you be, baby girl?" His voice had the same swagger of his walk. His southern twang was a little different, more charismatic. She could hear him read the freaking phone book.
"Olivia Carson, I work for Mister Northman."
He shrugged. "Your funeral," he told her, looking around the empty apartment. "So what we here fo'? Heard yous had a business opportunity with ma name on it."
"Possibly. Do you own a car?"
"Yeah, I got a Merc."
She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "You drive a Mercedes-Benz?"
"1985 convertible, fuck yeah." Ah, the car was old enough to buy its own alcohol. Yeah, that made more sense. "She runs damn fine too. Why? You wanna buy it?" He asked while doing a pirouette in the kitchen. The thing she liked the most about him was that she didn't have to read his mind. He had absolutely no filter.
"Uhm, no. Do you have full-time employment, Mr. Reynolds?"
"Oooh look at her, calling me by my daddy's name! Mr. Reynolds! Yeah bitch, I'm a line cook at Merlotte's bar and motherfuckin' grill, among other thangs."
Oh damn. "Out in Bon Temps?"
"Yeah, ya been?"
"I have actually," best not dwell on it too much, since Eric was hearing all of this. "How are your hours? Flexible?"
"Yeah, Sam lets me do whatever the fuck basically. As long as I show up to the shifts I agree to. Bitch, why does this feel like a job interview?"
"You'll understand in a moment. Just one more question, why did you start selling V in the first place?"
He blinked his long eyelashes for a moment. Lafayette immediately thought of his mother Ruby Jean, who lived in a very expensive ward of the mental hospital for her schizophrenia. He knew she didn't deserve it since she had disowned him after he came out. But he took care of her anyway - she was family. "Cause money makes the world go round, hooker, don't you know? I am a black and gay man in the south, I ain't gonna be poor now too!"
His first lie was a good one. Olivia and Lafayette were as different as two people could be, but they were in this business for somewhat the same reasons: family and ego.
"So selling drugs doesn't weigh in your consciousness at all?"
"Why the fuck should it? They gots slave owners printed on every fuckin' dollar bill. Uncle Sam don't give a fuck about me."
It was a raw, gut-punching answer, but Olivia decided she liked it. Lafayette was perfect.
"I found him!" Olivia spoke into the darkness.
His demeanor changed instantly. "Bitch, yous found who?"
Eric made himself known, his steps were dramatically slow and firm on the hardwood floor, like a villain approaching in a horror movie. Lafayette suddenly could barely breathe, his fear was loud and cutting, his mind was lost in the basement of Fangtasia. Nightmares of the apparatus fixed on the ceiling haunted his mind. He thought of the smell. God, she too wished she could forget the fucking smell.
When Eric stepped into the light, Lafayette whimpered. "Goddammit! This motherfucker-"
"Hello, sweetheart!" Eric said cheerfully. He truly enjoyed other people's fear. "Long time no see."
He started shaking like a tree. "Now listen, listen! If there's a problem here I'm sure we can come to some kind of understandin'-"
"Relax!" Eric's grin was the least relaxing thing on earth. "I was actually hoping she would choose you."
"F-for what?"
Olivia was more than glad to have this done and over with. "Lafayette, you were right on your guess. This is a job interview. How would you like to sell V online?"
His big brown eyes kept switching back and forth from Olivia to Eric. He immediately thought of Silk Road, as he had bought mushrooms, pills and other drugs from there himself. But he thought only legitimately insane people would ever risk selling drugs on it.
His fears were logical. His experience was appreciated. Lafayette then asked. "Is yous talkin' about Silk Road?"
Smart man. "Yes."
"How the fuck did you get your hands on a seller licence? Those things are rarer than a hen's fuckin' teeth."
Olivia was growing impatient. "Do you want to or not, Lafayette?"
He looked at her up and down. "What's the catch?"
"There isn't one. We are expanding, and we need someone discreet, loyal and savvy to drop off the packages." Eric's voice was smooth like butter. He certainly didn't use that voice with her.
"Yous want my IP address tied to some sketchy dark web eBay and to carry drugs across state lines? What else? My motherfuckin' soul?"
Eric chuckled. "If you're selling."
Lafayette shook his head. "This plan is-"
"The safest one you can possibly imagine. You will be completely anonymous, paid in Bit coin which is completely untraceable. I'll upgrade your computer and make sure it's safe and untrackable. I can do your yearly accounting and help you launder your own money because trust me, your disposable income is about to triple."
This white lady is fucking nuts. If this plan is so fuckin' good why don't she do it her damn self? He had spent years curating his own base of customers, and he decided he didn't want to give that up. The path most travelled was the most travelled for a reason: it was safe.
"I don't need any more money." He mumbled.
"No?" Eric asked, looking at Lafayette as if Olivia weren't even there. "I never thought of you as lacking ambition, Lafayette. But perhaps you are content with discount mall clothes and second-hand furniture."
Maybe it was his words, his voice, or his eyes, but Eric seemed to have melted Lafayette like butter. His mind replayed his own dirty dreams about Eric. She wondered if it was due to his innate attraction to Eric, or if he had had his blood too. Either way, Olivia and Lafayette had way too much in common.
"I'll think about it, boss-man."
"You have until tomorrow at noon to notify Miss Carson."
Lafayette nodded and quickly exited the apartment after getting Olivia's real number.
"You think he'll bite?"
She wanted the night to be over, but there was one more asshole that needed to show up. It was just a formality at this point, she was going to make it quick. Olivia sighed. "Yeah, he will."
"What makes you so sure? He has the biggest clientele in Shreveport already, plus he works at a shitty bar and has his own website. Don't you think he has his hands full already?"
She thought of Lafayette's mother and then of her own. If Lafayette was willing to do one-fifth of what Olivia was willing to do for her own family then they would have no problem. Plus if Lafayette was anything like her, she knew he couldn't resist making more money. True financial freedom was the fucking promised land. Those with the hunger for it will never settle for less.
"He's got a lot to lose, so he won't make mistakes. He's perfect."
Just like clockwork, her phone rang for the final time. Eric disappeared into the hallway, and the final dirty and wired dealer made his appearance. Alcide had gotten to three. And that was with all of Eric's fail-safes. After she sent the very confused and irritated man home, she called on Eric.
"You can finally go now. I'll text you the names of the traitors. Just… Whatever you do, make sure it's not obvious, okay?"
"Yes, mom." Eric mocked her.
He looked out the open living room window, into the summer night sky ahead. She waited for him to fly out like Peter Pan, so she could lock up and finally rest. Olivia knew her body needed it, despite never feeling tired around Eric.
"What happens if it doesn't work? What if the sales aren't as popular as you think?" He asked, looking down on her one last time.
It was a very likely scenario. Maybe the media was wrong and V was not the "hottest new drug in the U.S."; maybe it was fear-mongering paid by political parties to instill controversy and division amongst vampires and humans all along. If Olivia failed to find a way to move more product in a more profiting way, she would die. If Lafayette got caught in the interstate with a trunk full of V, she would die. If Cyber Crimes which were surely monitoring Silk Road traffic somehow pinged their location, she would die. Simple as that.
Olivia would be a fool for thinking Eric would disobey his superior, risk his own death, lose everything just for her. She would never expect anyone to do that for her. Eric was never going to be her hero. From the moment they had met, she knew he was always going to be her undoing. She just didn't think it would be quite literal.
She looked out the living room window, into the night, not being able to look at his blue eyes any longer. "Just… Promise me you're not going to make it hurt? When you know…"
Kill me.
His cold hand touched her jaw, steering her face towards his. Avoiding his gaze had been the right option, this was harder than she ever remembered it being.
"Be mine, Olivia," he whispered. "For vampires blood bonds are sacred. If you belong to me there's no order, no contract, no Queen or God on this Earth who can take you away from me."
She knew he meant it. But if he tasted her; if he discovered she was different, would Eric make living better than death? Would trading her freedom be worth it? And if he disliked her blood like Queen did, and decided she was not worth the hassle? What if he became bored of her, would he toss her away like damaged goods? If he did not find her blood foul, would she have to spend the rest of her days appeasing him? Would he hold this deal over her head every time they disagreed on something? Would he abuse the power of their blood bond and take over her whole life? Make her his obedient new pet? Explore every weakness, invade every thought, discover every secret she has?
Once she accomplished her goal to retire, or if she wanted to quit, would Eric let her go?
Never did she wish she could read someone's mind so much as she did right now. Olivia was not used to not knowing people's every intention and motive. Having to trust someone blindly was something she was just not familiar with. The little voice in her head told her it would be insane to think that Eric Northman would not do any, if not all these things. To give someone all the power over her and not expect them to take it all is simply asinine.
But the hand that held her face was tender, and soft and caring. The eyes that looked at her were yearning and hopeful. They didn't move, and there was no music, but they were dancing again. He was asking her to accept his lead. Her body wanted to give in more than anything, but her mind held back. Would her surrender to the angel of death be her salvation or her damnation?
In a small whisper, she asked. "Why do you want me to stay?"
Then there was a loud, angry, door-shaking knock on the apartment's door. It made Olivia's soul jump right out of her skin. Eric's fangs came out with a loud click, and his eyes darkened.
"Go!" Olivia commanded, telling him to fly out the window at once but the vampire did not move.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His eyes were fixed on the trembling door. He knew who stood behind it. Olivia had a good guess too.
Bang! Bang!
She rushed to the door wanting the noise to stop. Her heart squeezed itself down to the size of an almond when she peeked through the peephole. Once she opened the door, Alcide Herveaux came busting in wearing his finest DEA jacket. He did not announce himself as the DEA, and he came alone - this was not part of the protocol.
When the two men made eye contact across the apartment, Olivia thought the whole place would blow up. She immediately pushed Alcide back, trying to slow him down but it was pathetically in vain. Eric did not move an inch, welcoming the wolf into the room.
"You fucking son of a bitch!" Alcide roared.
"Well fuck you too, agent."
Olivia tried to argue with him, but it was useless. He had no ears for her. "Alcide, what the hell are you doing here? Unless you have a warrant, you're trespassing-"
His hatred burned deep, she could feel it in his heart beating from touching his chest. The wolf ignored her, as he only had eyes for Eric. "How are you even here? We have been watching this place since before sundown-"
Eric gave the agent a toothy smile, way too satisfied with himself. How could the feds have known that some vampires could fly?
"Can't believe I forgot my frisbee, I know how much you love chasing. Not very good at catching though," Eric provoked.
God fucking dammit Eric. Alcide pushed hard against Oliva, forcing her to the side. He was breathing deep and fast, almost growling. He was furious his plan had failed, and he decided to come here to yell at Olivia himself but encountered more than he could wish for. Thankfully, because he stormed up here on a whim, he was not wearing a wire.
"Eric, shut up!" She ordered sternly. Now was not the time to aggravate an already dire situation.
"You are done for, Northman! You caught on that we were coming tonight, well played. I don't know who you have on the inside, but once I find them, you are done, do you hear me?"
"I don't take threats very lightly, agent." Eric started pacing around the room, the two men had eyes locked on each other. Predator versus predator.
"Alcide, it's over," Olivia pleaded. "Go home, you're trespassing!"
"No." He shook his head. "You won't get away with this forever-"
"Ah, see, this is where you're wrong. I am the only one who has forever."
"We got every single person who came in and out of this place on camera. It will just be a matter of time before we ID every single one of your dealers. And if we got them, we got you mother fucker."
The vampire raised his chin, showing the smuggest smirk. "Do you though? Have them?"
And then in a blink of an eye, Eric jumped out the window and went up into the sky, disappearing without another word. Alcide ran to the edge but ultimately stopped at the sill. But he was gone. Olivia's thoughts started racing - Pam. He wasn't sexting his next booty call, he was texting Pam all night, informing her who to kill. She must have gotten to the dealers already. Here's hoping she was very sterile about it, or their murders could easily be pinned on them.
Olivia shook her head and closed the window, shutting the rest of the world out. It was time to end this.
"If you or any werewolf goes undercover, he will catch it. If you use a human informant, I will. He trusts very few, and his inner circle will never betray him. You can spend the rest of your days raiding Fangtasia and you won't find a single vial of V in there. Search his house, search mine, search the entire city if you want. You can try connecting low-life drug dealers to him all you want, but won't go very far. The accounts are cleaner than an operating table. You got no possession charges, no conspiracy to traffic, no money laundering, no RICO, no murder or kidnapping indictments, you go nothing, Alcide."
"What do you mean, use a human and you will catch it? What are you?"
If she said it once, she said it too many times. "I am not to be underestimated."
Alcide scoffed, fighting off the look of defeat. She pitied him. "I really believed in you, you know? I really thought you'd be brave enough to do the right thing, and I'm usually not wrong about people, but you…"
"Here we go again, you and your fucking hero complex," she snarled. His insistence on trying to see the good in her was starting to piss her off. "You see a woman you like and you instantly want to save her. If we don't worship the ground you walk on, or if you aren't the answer to all our problems then you feel insecure and resentful. Isn't that right?"
"Shut the fuck up, Olivia," he barked, rather defensively. "We may have slept together, but you don't know fuck all about me. This is your last chance to undo a shred of damage you've done to people's lives-"
"Shred of damage I've done? Are you kidding me right now?" Olivia threw her hands up. "You only have a job because the government decided to hunt down, imprison and punish people for using substances according to their own bodily autonomy!
"So I'm the bad guy? These people are sick Olivia! And you are profiting off them!"
"And you aren't?! Even after people serve their sentence they become unemployable, tainted with a criminal record for the rest of their lives! Can't qualify for assistance, they can't even vote. They are fucked forever, doomed to go end up back in jail, all because your big boss declared war on fucking drugs to turn the prison system into a multi-billion dollar economy. So who's really profiting off who here?"
"Are you seriously insinuating you're some sort of hero for selling fucking drugs?!"
"That's not what I said. I just think you are a bit out of touch with your own hypocrisy. I'm not a hero, but you aren't one either."
Alcide looked away with hurt in his eyes. His jaws were clenched, and brows pinched together. But the man was a dog with a fucking bone. "I'm not going to waste my time arguing your insane morals. This is your last chance, Olivia. Give him up and you'll disappear into witness protection tonight. Can't promise it will be somewhere nice, but no vamp will find you-"
She laughed. Olivia had learned her lesson on running away already. "You're delusional, Alcide. Don't you know who you're dealing with by now? If I turn on him, he'll kill me quicker than the DA can sign that document, and there won't be a body left for you to find."
Alcide approached her, closing all the space between them. This apartment suddenly felt very, very small. His heat radiated off his body, the moonlight gleaming on his crisp navy jacket, bright brown eyes and messy dark hair. Maybe to a regular, smart person, Alcide was the answer to all her problems. Let him take control, follow his lead, let him sweep her off her feet and take her away from all of this. Let him be the hero he so much wants. She'll start over elsewhere, with a new name and no money. She would be free, but completely powerless. There wouldn't be anything left to be free for.
He was close enough she could read a loud and clear thought in his head. How can she not see it? It's so obvious.
But he spoke before she had to guess what he meant. "No, he won't," Alcide muttered, his eyes studying her intensely. It made her cheeks flush. "Because he won't kill what he loves."
A.N.
A disclaimer to the FBI agent who's reading this: I don't condone selling drugs or tax evasion despite researching lots about, mmmmkay? Love u
hello bonjouurrr my sweet sweet lovelies! A CRAZY thank you for all the love and comments I've gotten in this story so far. Your enthusiasm for my little story fills my heart with so much joy!
I know I've been writing without an outline this whole time but now that we have almost 30 chapters under our belt, I created one just to keep all the plot points in check just to make sure I don't miss anything. I think this story will be between 50-60 chapters long, but what I'd like to ask y'all is: Do we want amnesia Eric to happen? I know it's everyone's favourite season/book, but I feel like it's been kind of done to death? Do you guys want my version of it, do you want a new take on it perhaps, or shall I skip it altogether? It won't happen for a while so I'll leave it up to you!
xoxoxo til next time!
Spicehoney