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The Story of Pam

I apologize for the late posting but RL is a bitch sometimes and it's kicking my behind. I have at least three chapters done but I have to edit them and I'm doing them as I can. I hope to be able to have another chapter posted by the end of the week but only if I can get my notes done in time. As always, I hope that y'all enjoy. I want to thank each of you for reading, making this story a favorite, alerting, and reviewing. Your support and kind words keep me on top of the world.

The characters belong to Charlaine Harris but the story idea is mine.

I sat on Eric's front porch as he and Salome talked on the phone with the great and magnificent king of Louisiana. I was supposed to be a party to the conversation but I wasn't having any of it. I'd have enough of Bill Compton and Salome Whomever to last me a lifetime. I couldn't bear to have to listen to them for another hour. I don't need to hear Bill talk about how he would never do anything to jeopardize my relationship with Eric or how I'd be so much happier with him because Eric can't keep me safe. I don't want to hear Salome's irritating laugh or voice. I'm done with those two. I'd had enough for one night. I had too many other things on my mind and they weren't even close to being a possible thought. I couldn't stop thinking about what I'd done tonight. I am very proud of myself. I'm a lot stronger than I believed myself to be. I thought that I'd be running through the streets of Louisiana screaming my head off while Dawn was being tortured but I didn't do that. I stayed and did my job. And that's what's bothering me.

I don't mean that it bothered me that I stayed. It bothers me that I wasn't as upset as I feel that I should've been. I should've felt a bit more sorrow for Dawn. I have this part of me that makes me feel that I should've tried harder to get Eric to let her go but then my other side says that she put herself in that predicament. It's saying that she had a choice and she decided to be a part of a devious plan to kidnap someone. I had a job to do and I did it. And I'm not sure if that makes me a bad person or not. I rested my elbows on my knees and covered my eyes with my hands. That's when Eric and Salome came outside. I glanced over my shoulder and there she was, Salome, looking down at me smiling. I rolled my eyes and groaned.

"You were fantastic tonight, Sookie." I could hear the joy and happiness in her voice. "Bill was seriously impressed with what I reported back to him. He's anxious to see you in action."

I twirled my point finger in the air and said, "Whoop tee taw."

She filled the silence of the night with her irritating guffaw. "You're a fucking hoot. Oh, and I'm not mad anymore about the kindergarten comment. I was made aware of what it is."

I leaned back in my seat and said, "Goodnight, Salome."

She looked up in the sky and nodded. "It is getting late. I must head back but if you ever need anyone to talk to or want someone to go shopping with, please give me a call." She handed me a business card.

I took it from her and looked at it. I shook my head. "No, thanks."

She laughed as I handed the card back to her. She put it into her pocket as she talked to me. "You are a delight, Ms. Stackhouse. A pure, head splitting, anger inducing delight." She rolled her eyes at me as the laugh ended abruptly. She looked at Eric and nodded. "We'll find her. We'll do whatever we can to get her back. You'll have her with you sooner than you know it. You have my word." She placed her hand on his arm before walking away. Seconds later, she was in her overly priced car and speeding away.

And I believed her. I believed that Salome wanted to help Eric find Pam just as much as I do. I don't like that I believe her but I do.

Eric looked down at me and asked, "May I join you?"

"Sure," I said.

He took the seat next to mine. He leaned back and crossed his legs at the ankles and sighed. He closed his eyes and rested his head on the back of the chair. "You were great tonight. I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks." That made me feel a lot better because on the way home, I could feel uncertainty from Eric. He would glance at me from time to time and not say anything. He wanted to but he didn't. I didn't understand why so I asked him. "Why?'

He glanced at me briefly and said, "Because you handled yourself perfectly. You didn't let what happened scare you, deter you. I'm glad that you decided to come with me to the meeting. I'm especially glad that I didn't stop you."

I chuckled. "I appreciate that but that's not what I mean. Why didn't you tell me any of this on the way home? You seemed to be … I don't know, afraid to speak to me. I thought that maybe I'd done something wrong."

He sat tall and turned to face me. "Thalia and I had a conversation tonight before you and I left for the meeting. She believed that I should've turned you away when I'd first laid eyes on you. Our world would destroy you. She said that you'd lose who you are if you saw what happens in our world. I feared that she was right. I would have blamed myself if you'd left the meeting scarred … emotionally and mentally." He began to shake his head. "I don't want that for you. I want you to stay as you are."

And just like that, my thoughts from earlier had faded from memory. I took his hand in mine and said, "I'm me, Eric, and you don't have to worry about me. I'm always going to be the girl that walked into your bar regardless of what I have to do for my job." I chuckled. "About five minutes ago, I felt the same as you and Thalia. I was worried that what happened … what I saw, what I did; would change me. I felt that those things should've made me feel some type of way … sad, angry, and petrified. I expected to scream and take off running to the nearest police station." I shrugged my shoulders and said, "But they didn't and I didn't. I did what I had to do because it's what I wanted to do. I have come to accept that I'm not like everyone else. I'm Sookie Stackhouse and I'm strong and able. I can do this. It's in me. I'm not quite human and I'm not quite supe and that's okay. If I'm me, everything will be fine. And nothing is going to change that … and that's okay."

"You're amazing," he whispered.

And I blushed. I looked down at my lap and smiled. "No one has ever said the things that to me that you say to me." I looked up at him and asked, "Do you say these things to other women?"

He laughed as he gripped my hand in his. He looked out into the night and said, "I've said these things to one person in my life and that person, that vampire, is Pam. I am drawn to strong and extraordinary women. They are my weakness. Women like you keep me on my toes. Sadly, I don't meet them too often. I am privileged to have met you, Sookie."

"Same here," I said. I leaned over and kissed his check before staring out into the night. "Now," I said as I clapped my hands. "You know that I know that there's a story there and you're going to have to tell me all about it. How did you meet Pam? What was it about her that made you want to have her with you?"

A look of relief appeared on his face. I know. That's strange, right? Why would he have a look of relief on his face when I asked him what made him turn her? Was he tired of being alone? Did he need the companionship? It would make sense. A vampire's life must be a lonely one. To live for so many years, to live so many lifetimes and always end up alone. It must be a sad existence. I don't know if I would like being left behind by the ones that I've loved all my life. I don't know if I could handle the idea of it. I wonder if he's ever thought of those he's lost along the way. And just like that, his voice interrupted my thoughts.

"There are many stories out there about my life but no one really knows the truth." He looked at me and smiled. "I listen to the stories and I never confirm or deny if any of them are the truth. I just go along with them but there's one story in particular that I'll never forget."

"Really?"

Just as I was getting comfortable and ready to hear Eric's story, he stood up. He looked out into the night and said, "Let us continue our talk in the house."

I stood instantly. I thought that maybe Pam was right. Maybe my telepathy could go on the blink. I didn't hear anything voices or sense any voids. I looked up at him and said, "I don't hear anything."

"Come," was all he said.

And so, I followed him into the living room. I sat on the floor as he sat on the couch. "You don't want others to know," I said.

"I do not," he admitted. "There are only five beings in this world that know of what I'm about to tell you. Only one has betrayed me and that is why I wanted to kill him because the fourth and fifth persons aren't supposed to know any of what I'm about to say. They don't know all the story but they know some of the story when they shouldn't but now, I understand why he's done what he's done." He then waited.

And I started thinking about what he'd said. It sounded like a riddle and I'm not the best at riddles. I've never liked them … and word problems. I've never liked those either. Just a ridiculous waste of time but not this one. I figured it out. "Niall, grandpa, and me."

"You are correct."

"And because you understand his reason for telling the story, you don't want to kill him."

"For now," he said. "Niall could possibly do something that will anger me in the future. He usually does. He's very unpredictable and at times, he can be untrustworthy."

I thought that I was intrigued when grandpa told me his story but what I'm feeling now, doesn't even compare to what I felt then. I am freaking ecstatic. "I can't wait to hear what you have to say."

Unlike grandpa, Eric didn't beat around the bush. He dove right in. "Fintan was correct when he told you that Appius was a cruel and evil man. There was nothing good about him." He shook his head in what could only be considered disappointment or maybe even disgust. "I always wondered why Mother married him. I would ask her time and time again but she would never give me a satisfactory answer. She gave me several answers but they always differed than the previous one. She would say that it was fated or she had no choice. She would say that it was arranged or he tricked her. I never truly knew the truth."

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I also never knew why Appius hated me." He looked at me and chuckled. "There were farmhands that he treated better than he treated me and he treated them like shit. I suffered through beatings daily. In the winter, if I'd give the townspeople food and clothes, he'd hang me in the barn with no food or clothes. He would make his soldiers stand in front of the barn door to make sure that my mother couldn't come in and comfort me. Some of the soldiers, the good ones, would sneak food and water to me but only enough to keep me alive. Appius couldn't know that I was being taken care of or they would've faced an even worse punishment than I."

Keeping my voice steady, I asked, "Why would he do that to you?"

"He believed me to be weak because I cared for the people of our village. He wanted me to be just like him." Eric shook his head no. "There was no way that I was ever going to be like him. I would have killed myself before I'd let that happen."

"I'm glad that didn't happen," I said. To have never had the chance to meet him, scares me.

He smiled. "Mother said that if I'd been born a girl, Appius would have killed me just as soon as she'd had me. She knew that because he'd done it in the past."

I gasped. "What?"

"Before I was born, I had three sisters and Appius killed them." He sighed just as the words left his mouth. "Mother said that she never got to hear them cry. It destroyed her. She never wanted to get pregnant again for fear of what Appius would do. She would try to put off his advances but no one says no to Appius. No one," he said. His eyes told me everything.

And that scared me. It made think that he'd done unspeakable things to Eric but I didn't want to know. I'm not sure if I can handle what he would say. Since I've been there, I know how hard it is to relive those moments and to be too weak or too small to fight off the monster. I don't want him to have to repeat what happened to him. That would be cruel. I don't want him to have to mentally go through that again. Those bad memories, the dark ones, they need to stay hidden. They should never see the light of day. So, I remained calm and listened to everything that he said.

"She was terrified of ever getting pregnant again but she became pregnant with me. And luckily, I was the son that Appius wanted … or so he thought. I wasn't cruel enough to be like him. I wasn't strong enough to rule his kingdom. My heart was too soft. I was weak and it shamed him." Anger glowed beautifully in his eyes. "I hate Appius. He has been dead for many, many years and I hate him just as much today as I did then. I wanted him dead. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to bash his fucking skull in but I couldn't do it and it wasn't because I was afraid. I was never afraid. I had several opportunities to do it. My mother stopped me. She believed that it would have changed me. Mother told me that it wasn't up to me to kill him. She said that he died soon enough." He snorted. "Soon enough didn't come soon enough."

Eric got up from the couch and sat with me on the floor. We were facing each other and no one said anything for a long minute. I was hoping that he wasn't going to stop there. I needed to hear the rest of it. I wanted to hear the rest of it but he was just sitting there. Staring at me. Saying nothing. I couldn't take it anymore. "So, what happened?"

"He died," he said. "He was killed trying to take over another village. The king and his queen of that village had to do nothing. Their villagers killed Appius from trying to take over their home. I wish that I'd been a part of it." A look of longing appeared on his face.

I was a bit confused of what he was trying to tell me. I needed to know where this story was going. "I don't understand what you're getting at, Eric. I'm honored that you're sharing this with me but where are we going? What does this have to do with how you met Pam?"

"It has everything to do with how I met Pam," he emphasized. "Fintan told you that my mother sent me out to sea to keep me away from Appius. That was partly true but there was more to it. She'd sent me on a mission." He scooted closer to me. "My mother told her brothers to contact the men in the village that Appius was going to pillage and warn them ahead of time. Needless to say, they were prepared when Appius and his soldiers arrived. The king never had to leave his home."

My eyes were as wide as my mouth. "Your mom had him killed?"

"She did."

"She was a bad a," I said.

Eric laughed. "Yes, she was."

I needed to know why. "Why did she do that? Did she think that she'd get his land and you'd be able to rule it?"

He shook his head no. "She knew that we weren't going to get anything from Appius. He never kept it a secret that he was going to leave us with nothing. He made sure to always let us know where we stood with him. So, she knew very well what she was doing. She didn't expect to have our village pillaged in turn by a different group."

"Oh," I said. "So, the group that came in to take over your home was from a different town?"

"Yes. A town that was poor," he said. "They needed what we had. Appius would never help them when they'd ask for it. He would turn them away every time. I used to tell him that he should consider it because we could need allies one day. I was punished for even making such a suggestion."

"I'm glad he's dead."

"Me too." He leaned his back against the couch as he continued.

"Why did she kill him?"

"He took something from us," he said. "Something valuable. Something priceless. Something that my mom and I would have died to protect but he was the coward. He did his awful deed in the middle of the night."

I frowned because I had no idea what was going on and then it hit me. I could see her face as I looked at his. "Pam," I whispered. "She's your sister."

"She's my sister. She was thirteen when he took her," Eric shared. "It surprised my mother when Appius let her keep Pam but she was a rare type of child. I say that because Appius held her when she was born. He nurtured her. He never abused her in any type of way. He doted on Pam. He gave her whatever she wanted. With Pam, our home was finally a home. My mother and I were still the thorns in his side but Pam, she hung the moon and the stars. We thought that she'd changed him. We were wrong."

I scooted over to sit next to him. Looking at the side of his face, I asked, "What did he do to her?"

"He sold her to the highest bidder," he said. He looked at me and nodded. "He sold my sister to a man that lived four hundred miles across the seas. When my mother learned of what Appius had done, that's when she sent me and my uncles to find her. As a human, I never found her. We looked in the town in which the man lived but once he'd gotten her, he left. For a few years, he couldn't be found. It took me six years to find her."

"What about the man? What happened to the man?"

"I killed him." There was no room for argument. "I killed him and I took my sister."

I didn't know what to say or to think. I wanted to hold Eric and protect him from his past. I wished that I could take his pain away and make things better for him but he didn't need me to do that. He is capable. If anything, his past has made him what he is and I admire that. There was no reason to pity him. He doesn't let his past keep him down. He's used it to build himself up and I admire that. "I am in awe of you."

He frowned and asked, "Why?"

"Because you're you."

He looked at me and smiled.

"Do you keep your relationship with Pam a secret because she will be used against you?"

"I do," he said. "Pam and I have never been together but I've never told anyone any different. I let them believe what they want to believe. And if they believe that she's nothing more than my child and lover, she's safe but if they learn that she's my sister, she's a target."

My mind began running. "Someone knows."

"Someone knows," he repeated.

It then dawned on me. "She's almost as old you are."

"Yes."

"Someone knew how old she was."

"Yes."

"Maxwell?"

"Maybe," he agreed. "Or maybe whomever he's working for knows more about me than I know about them."

"Yeah," I nodded. "If she hadn't put the sword on the floor, she could've fought him."

"Yes."

"How did she come to be a vampire? What did you say to her when you found her? Was she happy to see you?" I yawned before I could catch myself.

Eric stood up from the floor before helping me to my feet. "You need to go to bed. You've had a full day. We talk some more later."

I shook my head no. "I'm not sleepy." My body betrayed me once again. I yawned.

He looked at the clock on the wall behind me. "It's 1:00 am, Sookie. We will finish the discussion tomorrow. Follow me."

I pouted as I did what I was told. I followed him up the stairs. He showed me where the bathroom is and the linen closets. "There are towels and body wash in the shower. Pam put a shower caddy in there a couple of months ago. You'll find everything that you need in there. Your room is next to the bathroom. Tomorrow, we will sit down to discuss how you'd like the room to look." He walked to the room and opened the door.

It was plain but it was fine. I didn't need anything else. "You don't have to do anything extra to this room. It's fine the way it is." I pointed at the t-shirt that was on the bed. "Thanks for the nightshirt. I'll go to my apartment tomorrow to get some of my clothes."

"But not alone."

"Not alone," I promised.

Eric and I stood at the bedroom door and stared at each other for a long minute. "I guess I'll shower."

"I'll go and prepare for tomorrow," he said. He kissed my cheek and said, "Goodnight, Sookie."

"Goodnight, Eric."

I watched him as he walked away.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Once I was alone, I did what I said I'd do. I showered and I wrote in my notebook. I thought about what we'd done tonight. I thought about what we'd learned from Dawn. I especially thought about the family secret that Eric shared with me. My mind was on one hundred and I couldn't sleep. I don't want to sleep. I lied back on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. Nothing was there but the ceiling fan twirling and twirling. I stared at it for so long, that I became dizzy. I looked at my cell phone and it's 3:34 am. I'm usually sleeping by this time but not Eric. I got up from the bed and tiptoed out of the room and into the hallway. It was pitch black. I couldn't see anything. I went back into my room and grabbed my phone. I used the flashlight to get around the house. I checked the rooms upstairs and no Eric. I checked the kitchen and the living room. There was no Eric. I knocked on his office door. Still, no Eric. "He must've gone out," I whispered.

I went back to the living room and turned on the TV. A marathon of The Walking Dead was on. "Season one," I mumbled. "At least I get to see Shane." The fifth episode was just starting when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Eric standing behind me and I screamed anyway. And I couldn't stop. He's scared the living daylights out of me.

He just stood there … staring at me. And he was smiling. He found my terror funny. I finally stopped when I had to catch my breath. "Don't do that!"

Still smiling, he sat next to me. "What are you watching?"

"The Walking Dead," I shared.

He looked surprised. "It's a show about vampires?"

I shook my head no. "It's a show about walkers … zombies. The world has basically come to an end and walkers, zombies have taken over. You must be careful because if they bite you, you turn into one. In the later seasons, you don't have to fear the walkers. You fear the people and what they've become. It's a great show. It makes you think about the type of person you'd become if that ever happened. Are you willing to do anything to survive and to save those that you love? Do you want to live or do you just want to survive?" I pointed at the TV. "It's a great show."

"It sounds quite interesting." He looked at me and asked, "Why are you still awake?"

"I couldn't sleep," I shared. "You could finish telling me about how Pam became a vampire if you want to."

Smiling, he shook his head no. "Later."

"Fine," I said. I then frowned at him. "And, where were you? I've checked every room and you weren't in any of them."

He said, "I don't sleep up here. I have a hidden room that I sleep in."

"Oh," I said. "What if need you and I can't find you? What do I do then?"

"No one can get in here," he said. "I have taken every precaution to make sure that my home is safe and secure. You will be safe."

"Oh," I repeated. I turned back to the TV.

He smiled. "Are you upset?"

I shook my head no.

"You are. Why?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Why?"

"I just want to know where you are, that's all."

"Why?"

"What if I have a nightmare or something and I don't want to sleep alone?"

"You want to sleep with me?" He almost looked surprised.

I nodded. "I do. I don't want to sleep up here by myself. I'm not scared. I just don't want to sleep alone. Not tonight."

He looked as if he wasn't too keen on the idea of me sleeping with him. "I sleep in a tomb, Sookie. The room is pitch black when I go to sleep. The lights only come on when it's time for me to rise. For you, it will be like sleeping in a tomb. I don't want that for you."

"It's okay," I assured him. "I'm not going to be afraid because we'll be in there together. And I've been up all day. Who's to say that I won't sleep all day? Please, let me sleep with you." I glanced at my phone. "After this episode, we'll go to bed, okay?"

"But, I didn't …"

I interrupted him. "Right after this episode. I promise. Thanks, Eric. I really appreciate it."

And that's what we did. We watched the rest of episode five of The Walking Dead and headed to bed. And Eric showed me why I couldn't find where he was. His room is hidden from view. He led me to a doorway behind the refrigerator and down a long set of stairs. His room was the size of the entire house. The bed was like two king sized beds. There were couches and a TV. A bathroom was off to the other side of the room. There were no lamps anywhere but there were lights in the ceiling. "This a huge room."

"I trust you." He obviously realizes the room is huge. It's his house.

"As you should," I said. "I'd never betray you."

He nodded and walked ahead of me. He went to the couch and began removing the cushions and throw pillows. "You can sleep on the bed and I will sleep here. I bought this couch for when Pam sleeps over. I'd assumed that she'd sleep here and I'd get to keep my bed but I was wrong."

"And you're wrong again," I said as I pushed Eric out of the way. I began putting the cushions back on the couch. "We are going to sleep together. The bed is big enough for the both of us. I want to sleep with you." I'd put the last pillow on the couch and took Eric's hand in mine. I pulled him to the bed with me. "This bed is so huge. Do you know what we could do on this bed?"

He cocked an eyebrow.

I looked at him and smiled. "Let's do it!" Before I knew it, I was jumping up and down in his bed like a five-year-old. And guess what? He joined me. It was the most fun. He was laughing and he looked happy. I enjoyed seeing that look on his face. It was beautiful.

At the same time, Eric and I flopped down on the bed and landed on our backs. We looked at each other and laughed. It was the best feeling. I've never felt like this with anyone else in my entire life. And I told him so. "I like you, Eric. I like you a lot and I want to be with you. I've never been this happy. You make me happy." I turned to face him and I kissed him.

He returned the kiss. It was sweet and gentle and it didn't last long. "Let us sleep because I can feel the pull of the sun. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

Eric and I got under the covers. I expected that he'd sleep on his side and I'd sleep on mine but it didn't go that way. Eric lied on his back and looked up at the ceiling. I was going to sleep on my side of the bed but I didn't want to. I wanted to be close to Eric. That's what I did. I wrapped my arms around him. I settled safely into his cool body and rested my forehead against his arm. "You don't mind this, do you?"

"Not at all." He spoke so softly that I almost didn't hear him. He then lifted his arm and patted his chest.

I rested my head where I felt it belonged. "Goodnight, Eric."

"Goodnight, Sookie."

I'd never slept so peacefully in my life.