I got to work early the next day. Mr. C wasn't in yet but Hannah was at her desk.
"Thank god you're here," she said, wheeling her chair over to me. "I'm drowning in work, and its all hands on deck at the moment. Mr. C asked me to take over some of your duties, but I'm swamped." Hannah worked for and reported directly to Lucretius and he kept her beyond busy.
"I tried to do as much as I could while I was away." Between bouts of studying vampire law, I'd drafted some correspondence and sent a few emails that needed sending, a bit of transcription work too, but it wasn't the same as being in the office.
"Mr. C had me reschedule the deposition for the Yanis case," Hannah said.
"Really?"
That was not in Mr. C's nature. He liked working to a schedule and kept to it strictly.
"Why?"
"He wanted you there, I guess."
I stowed my things away under my desk and sat down. Hannah gave me a look, and I heard her clear as a bell. She thought I was getting special treatment.
I chewed my lip, thinking. Maybe I was but I couldn't think why. My presence at the deposition was not necessary. I was attending as an observer, and in the lead up Mr. C instructed me to prep the client. I did have that meeting in my diary for later in the week, but any one of the firm's paralegals could have done that. It merely required sitting with the client to let him know what to expect on the day and how to handle himself, it wasn't to prep him on the specifics of what would be covered in the deposition.
I opened my laptop and checked the calendar. Mr. C had cleared his and my schedule for the next week. Oh dear. He was expecting something to happen.
"It might be that he wanted me there," I said, "but I think he's anticipating a lot of new work to land in our lap."
"Oh," she said, uttering the word with a little puff of surprise. "That might explain the group of associates downstairs he's tasked with vampire law research."
"Really?" I looked at her sharply.
Hannah chewed her lip too. "That can't be a good sign, can it?"
I shook my head.
"Do you know something?" she asked. She dropped her voice and dipped her head closer to mine. Hannah's long red hair fell like a curtain across the side of her face shielding us. Honey, the office manager, had her desk right near ours and extra sharp ears.
"I can't talk about it," I whispered. Hannah's eyes widened and she nodded. She sagely guessed that with my connection to Louisiana's vampire monarch, it had to be something involving her.
Hannah wheeled her chair back to her desk, and I dived headfirst into my backlog of work. I worked through lunch and helped Hannah with the boatload of filing that was gathered in high stacks on her desk. Later, I went for a walk through the office to stretch my legs and spotted the group of associates Hannah mentioned seated at the main table downstairs in the library.
"Jonathan," I said, sticking my head in the door. My friend looked up from his laptop. "I hear you're on special assignment."
"Yes. It's confidential, though," he said. But he went on to think about how they were tasked with finding anything pertaining to vampire rule and death or desiccation. I blew out a slow breath and nodded.
Mr. C came into the office at two o'clock that day, he was dressed sharply in a black suit and red striped tie, and his expression was sterner than I was used to seeing.
"Ms. Stackhouse, may I see you in my office please?"
I jumped up from my seat, smoothing my blouse. "Yes, sir."
I followed him into the office with my legal pad and pen, shutting the door behind us. Mr. C swung his briefcase up onto the table and sat himself in his leather seat with a heavy sigh. I lowered myself quietly into the seat opposite him.
The silence stretched between us. Mr. C rapped his fingers at the top of his table. I tried to keep my expression in line, keep my thoughts in line. It wasn't a very nice feeling to be squared down by your demon boss. Your telepathic demon boss.
"It's been an unfortunate few days for you," he said.
I nodded.
"I'm afraid it has put me in a very difficult position. Especially given my regard and sense of duty for you, both as an individual and as an employee."
"Yes, sir."
"You understand that the Queen and her associates represent a very large portfolio for this firm."
"Yes, sir." I swallowed.
"So to have you working directly for me, given current circumstances you've been dealing with will likely soon come to light, might not instill our clients with the faith I want them to have in our firm and my abilities… And our regard for conflicts of interest."
My eyes widened and I nodded. I saw where he was going with this. Either I side with him and Queen Thalia or I seek employment elsewhere. He nodded to me when I had this thought.
"Please understand I don't want to force you to make a decision you're not comfortable with or ready to make. Note I have offered Horatio's services for your disposal, but I am compelled to tell you the implications of any decision you make that will inadvertently put you at odds with us or our clientele."
"Sir," I said, folding my hands neatly in my lap. They were trembling. "I need to make clear that my priority, beyond my own physical safety and that of my loved ones, is with you and my position here. I don't want to jeopardize that. However, my decisions with regard to this… issue, has largely been concerned with my own safety. I am under Queen Thalia's protection. I prefer it that way. I support her." It had never been formally ratified, but in vampire terms it virtually was; I'd taken her blood and the way I'd genuflected to her at her coronation for all and sundry to see. "That won't change."
Demond's face transformed into a warm smile. "I am pleased. And may we speak plainly now?"
"Please. It would be a relief."
"Tell me the current state of things."
I told him what had transpired the last few days with Sophie-Anne. He was uneasy to hear of Eric's involvement.
"I think he still feels a sense of loyalty to Sophie-Anne, despite his position within Thalia's court. He's unsure how to proceed," I told him.
"Understandable. She never abdicated the throne. Felipe's rule was not constitutional. She has every claim to the throne."
I nodded miserably.
"I take it neither you nor Eric have informed Queen Thalia of the recent turn of events." When I nodded, he leaned back in his chair, took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That being the case, we cannot wait and must still proceed in taking steps to ensure her safety."
"Yes, sir." I was not really sure what that would entail.
"On a personal note, I am pleased you chose not to end the former Queen."
I stared down at my clasped hands, somewhat surprised by his words. "It wasn't my choice in the end. And perhaps not the choice I'd have made were I left alone to grapple with it."
"It's a big decision. I understand your inclination to see the problem cast away with a single act."
"Then why are you pleased I didn't?" I looked back up at him.
"I think the toll to your conscience would've been burdensome for you."
I wasn't sure about that. Eric had said the same. I felt like I could've lived with staking the Queen.
"In the abstract, yes," he said. "However, it's a very real, sobering thing to take the life of someone who poses no immediate threat to your safety." He spoke somberly as if from some painful experience of his own and it gave me pause. For the first time since the whole ordeal began, I thought I might be glad that I hadn't made that choice too.
"Now," he said. "Let's discuss how to handle Sophie-Anne's return and the sensible steps that can be taken moving forward to assist the current queen."
•───── ─────•
A text message from Eric woke me at midnight. I hadn't heard from him since leaving Bon Temps—despite me leaving him a voicemail and text message telling him to call me. My heart skipped a beat when I saw his name on the notification strip, which was silly because he'd sent me many messages since he'd returned from Oklahoma, and it had never elicited such a response from me until now. It turned out my girlish reaction was unfounded, anyway. All he sent was an address in Baton Rouge, followed by instructions to ensure I wasn't followed and delete the text. I tried to call but he didn't pick up.
It wasn't exactly the romantic missive I'd hoped to receive from him.
What was I hoping for? For him to come knocking on my door with flowers in hand? Yes, even as I thought it, I knew it was stupid. I pulled myself from the comfort of sleep and my bed and dressed into some clothes—jeans and t-shirt, a pair of sketchers. To think, I'd gotten home from work, eaten a quick dinner, showered, shaved, and put on my raciest nightgown (black, skimpy, lacy trim). Then I'd forced myself to go to sleep early to ensure I'd be as rested as possible for work the next day… just on the off-chance he would return to New Orleans to join my bed later in the night. Instead, I was driving an hour away to the next city and encountering God-only-knows what.
The address led me to a gated community in South Baton Rouge. The security guard checked my name and waved me in. I pulled up outisde an 80s-era brick home on a flat and leafy street. It was nestled against a large swath of forest and situated a good distance from the neighbors on either side. A good spot for a vampire safehouse, if I've ever seen one. Two cars I didn't recognize were parked on the flagstone driveway, but the porch light was on in anticipation of my arrival.
Solly, Eric's new day person, opened the door when I knocked.
"Hi again," she said and invited me in. She wore denim overalls with a small black tank top underneath. The entirety of her right arm was covered in tattoos. I wanted to stare, well rather, to admire. The artwork was impressive but now wasn't the time. The home smelled faintly of new carpet and paint and the furniture looked like it had been lifted straight from a Wayfair catalog. I followed the slight woman into a living room that looked out onto the front garden.
"I'll go tell Eric you're here," she said and left me alone. I sensed her moving into the back of the house. I felt exposed in front of the large bay windows, so I walked the perimeter of the room pulling the blinds closed one by one. A large clock above a faux fireplace ticked. I sat on a puffy leather armchair, crossed my jittering legs. I removed my cell from my pocket, my thoughts returning to my conversation with Mr. Cataliades that afternoon.
"Sookie." Eric had finally appeared. He pulled me up from the couch by the hand and pressed a quick, hard kiss on my lips.
"Are you okay? Is everything okay?" I asked.
"She's revived." A nervous, excitable energy radiated from him.
"How is she?"
"Weak. She wanted to talk with you." His eyes were unusually bright. I supposed that in his long life it was rather unusual for a vampire to come back from the (almost) dead. I followed Eric into a bedroom. Metal shutters, affixed outside the windows, were rolled down, and the room itself was only dimly lit by a lamp on the nightstand. It gave the room a cave-like atmosphere.
Sophie-Anne Leclerq sat up in bed, frilly silk bed covers pulled up to her waist. Her pale skin was gray and wan, her hair combed neatly but a far cry from its usual perfectly coiffed style. She was also dreadfully, alarmingly thin, but it was a drastic improvement from the state she'd been in when I'd first found her in that tunnel.
"Miss Stackhouse," she rasped.
"Hello, again." I would not be bowing, curtsying or prostrating to her in any way. "You're looking vastly improved."
"I can only imagine." A faint smile crept at her lips. Between her thin hands resting on her lap, she clasped a tall glass filled with blood. Inside the glass sat a comically long pink straw that reached her lips. This was all rather strange. "I hear I have you to thank."
"Yes. It would seem you're indebted to me yet again," I said, plain as I could.
I felt Eric's sharp gaze bore into me, but I ignored it.
Sophie-Anne laughed. It sounded like dry bark being peeled from a tree. "I suppose you're right. Your quick thinking saved the lives of many at Rhodes. Helped me avoid certain misfortune with Peter Threadgill and that forsaken bracelet… and now here. I think it is safe to surmise that if it weren't for you, I would have met the true death many times over. You have my thanks."
How was I to respond to that? ' You're welcome' just felt tacky.
"I'm pleased to see you're okay," I said, settling for the truth. "But please don't mistake it for anything other than it is. It was an act of a good Samaritan." I would've rescued anyone in that situation—and with Sophie-Anne Leclerq, that was about as far as my virtue extended. A truly good Samaritan wouldn't have needed convincing to keep her alive.
"I see."
"I hope you do… and I mean no disrespect, ma'am."
"You needn't worry. We all have our reasons and motivations. There will be some time before I can consider my next steps." She gestured to her shortened legs obscured by the bed covers. "Quite some time before I can take any, too. Particularly now that I am all alone."
She fell quiet and silence saturated the room.
"I sense all my children are finally gone. Sigebert in my absence has now also met the true death. Would you know anything about that, Eric?" she asked.
I tried not to react to Sigebert's name. He had indeed met the true death. I'd mowed him down with my old car and Eric had followed that up by chopping his head off.
"He died valiantly, defending your honor. A warrior's death," Eric said smoothly.
"When I escaped Victor's clutches and went into hiding back in New Orleans, he promised he would avenge me and keep the throne safe until my return. It seems Felipe was too much, even for him." She sounded faintly surprised by this.
She was right to feel that way. Sigebert had gotten the best of Eric, Sam and Felipe. They were a formidable trio. I'd come across them by fluke, via a gut feeling thanks to my bond with Eric, and found them strung up in a tree inside a silver net. I managed to save all their butts with some quick thinking.
"He was loyal to you until the end," I said.
"You were there?"
I cast a sidelong glance at Eric and wondered how much to say. "Yes, I was."
As far as I knew, Eric, Sam, and I were now the only ones who knew what happened that night. I was going to throttle Eric later. I didn't expect this little meeting to turn into an interrogation. He hadn't even bothered to give me a heads up that she was even awake before I got here.
"Sigebert ambushed Felipe and I, not long after news of your alleged death," Eric said. "Felipe outwitted your child by chance. Your progeny was bested by his own knife wielded by Felipe."
Pinning it on Felipe made the most sense. He was no longer around to defend himself.
I half expected Sophie-Anne to turn her assessing gaze to Eric, to pump him for more details, but all his words seemed to do was deflate her. "It is most unfortunate," she murmured. "Most unfortunate."
"If I may," I asked, "how exactly did you escape Victor's clutches? He told everyone he killed you."
"I was aware. Sigebert, he..." She paused, a brief shadow crossing her gaunt features before she regained her composure. "Victor came for me here in this home while I was still convalescing after Rhodes. We fought—my true death a very near thing had it not been for Sigebert. Amidst the chaos, another guard managed to help me escape. I fled to New Orleans, grievously injured and vulnerable. I believe Victor hoped it would only be a matter of time before he could track me down again, and that I would be in no fit state to mount a defense. He was right of that, for certain, I was in no condition to save myself. Sigebert escaped too, came to me in New Orleans. Sigebert devised a plan to make Victor believe I had met the true death, intending to align himself with Felipe's new regime. Instead, Victor's crew announced both our deaths to the world. Why? That remains a mystery even to me. Sigebert waited, biding his time until—
"Uh, excuse me, Eric," Solly knocked and stuck her head through the door. "Got some peeps here to see you."
Eric spun to face me. "Who did you tell?" he asked, voice hard.
"I made it clear where I stood in all this," I said to him. I smiled at Sophie-Anne, trying my best to fill my expression with warmth. "It was good to see you Ms. Leclerq. I wish you good health."
I left the room and Eric marched past me to open the front door. Mr. C, Thalia and Rasul stood waiting on the stoop. Rasul looked green.
"We are here to see the former Queen," Thalia clipped. She glowered at Eric. I take it he hadn't told her anything yet, and she'd learned the news of Sophie-Anne's existence through Mr. C.
"Come in," Eric said. He sounded perfectly unruffled, though I could tell by the tightness around his eyes he was anything but. "Let me show you the way."
Eric paused when he saw I was retrieving my keys from my handbag. The others disappeared to the back of the house.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm going home," I said. "There's no need for me to stay here." Frankly I wasn't sure why he invited me. Did he expect us to pal it up with Sophie-Anne and catch up over the missing years?
"Your little trick of telling the demon lawyer has put me in an incredibly tenuous position with the Queen."
"Which queen?" I sniped. Eric's expression turned glacial with anger.
"This is not a game, Sookie. We are not pawns to move about on a chessboard for fun."
"I told you where I stood with all of this," I hissed. "You best believe I'm not treating it like a game. We don't exist in a vacuum, Eric, and neither do our choices. I left you a voicemail and a message to call me. I told Desmond, yes, because I felt ethically compelled—he is my employer and he represents the Queen's interests, who represents mine, not that I need to remind you. I tried to warn you."
He opened his mouth to counter, but I saw a shift as he restrained himself. "We'll speak more on this later," he said.
"You're damn right we will," I snarled and marched out the door.
A/N: Next chapter will be posted tomorrow.