The beginning of Spring, known as Beltaine, was an exciting time for us. We anticipated the warming of the world around us and the adventures we knew we would be having. Minnie had graciously offered her home and the land around it for our celebration and by the time we arrived on April 30, tired but happy, we could see that she had made things ready for us.
An old hand at long camping trips and festivals, I had loan of my dad’s extend cab truck. Packed in the back was the huge army tent I had used many times at the medieval faires of my college years. It could sleep 10 easily and was rigged for privacy sheets, which for me were lovely hand painted sheets of canvas. Also packed were several full sized air mattresses and the bedding to go with them. There were also lithium battery lanterns and three solar showers. The girls traveling with me, Renee and the Kid, would be sharing the tent with Vi, Scarlett and Westexan .
Fairy was driving a monstrous RV with satellite TV and phones and the comforts of home. Lina had one as well. These girls though were city girls, and I imagine their idea of camping out included the Holiday Inn and a swimming pool.
GS and Jen were behind us and they too were driving a huge RV. GS did not believe in camping. I had followed him all the way down, traveling easily in the rocking chair between him and Fairy. Scarlett, and Vi had come out with Aolani. Butter and Linzy and Sugar and Bluebelle were there having traveled with Dude and Sal, along with Raki, Nicky and Val.
Dude and Sal were loaded with their own tents and goodies. We parked with the cars first along the edge of the property line by the forest and the RVs parallel to them in front and our tents would be pitched on the sides, leaving the big acre of yard open for our bon fire and for our outdoor kitchen. I climbed down out of the truck and stretched my legs and lit a cigarette, a pack of Turkish blend I snatched from the parlor on our way out. Minnie was smiling and I came and hugged her.
“Minnie, this is beautiful, thanks for inviting us out for the spring gathering,” I said.
“I love having you guys here,” she said.
“Are they here?” asked God Speed, walking up to us. Minnie nodded.
“They came last night late, almost dawn and they are bedded down in our family room,” she said. “My neighbors, I am sure, are a bit puzzled as to why I painted the windows black, but I would do anything for them so they felt secure while they are here.”
“Well, we better get busy then and start setting up our tent city,” said God Speed.
I went back to the truck and opened it up. I unloaded the blankets and bedding first and got out the plastic tarpaulin and laid it on the ground and pinned it through the grommets to the ground. My tent had a canvas floor so the plastic would keep it dry. My tent was a bit of a cipher. A veteran of many a medieval faire, it had started its life as a forty by forty army tent and over the years, I had made patches of canvas painted with Celtic symbols and medieval shields and other pieces of art til you could hardly recognize it as an OD green military issue tent. Before I left, I took it out and sunned it and rubbed it with soft wax to renew the water proofing til it resembled something in texture to soft leather. We girls lugged it out and spread it out and I got the poles we would use to pitch it. Scarlett and Vi busied themselves with the mattresses to inflate them.
Fairy was setting up her house too, pitching the marquee in front of her vehicle with the flip of a switch and bringing out her folded chaise lounges and her little tables. Lina was doing the same. God Speed, in addition to his RV, brought the dining shelters from the fall solstice at his house and Minnie said she had a couple of folding tables and plenty of chairs for us to sit in as we ate. She had also arraigned for several cords of wood to be stacked around the side of her house for our fires.
Spring was certainly here and I blessed the warm sun beating down on my shoulders and the sweat on my Fangtasia tank top. Once the tent was raised, I began to rummage around for the things to make the tent a home. I swear, I must be a gypsy in some other life, because good sturdy baskets filled with pillows and sheets and blankets and bath towels became bedside tables and end of bed baskets to hold extra blankets and clothes. I showed the girls how to hang the tent dividers which would offer visual privacy. We made up our beds and unpacked our bags and then they all went out to watch me setting up the solar showers.
Solar showers are great. You set up the heavy duty frames and put the bags on the top of them, fill them with water and let the sun warm the water during the day. They weren’t super hot showers, but they would be warm enough to get clean. Once we got the camp set up we set up our torches and set about discussing the menu.
“Tonight, we are having a good hearty beef stew I have been cooking since this morning,” said Minnie. We nodded, this would be good. The pig we were going to roast for tomorrow night was coming in the morning and the boys would be in charge of that while we girls made the side dishes. We all had store orders and we girls would be going the store in a little while. Raki and Dude had brought most of the alcoholic drinks and Aolani had procured us two hog’s heads of honey mead. We were also going fishing during the day and I had gotten permission to trap rabbits on a nearby farm. So, in addition to whatever we gathered from the store, we were going to have game meat too.
We loaded up in my truck, Minnie in the shotgun seat and Fairy and Jen and Lina in the back seat and we headed for the store. Minnie was excited to have us here as she pointed things out to us and bubbled on about how exciting it was to have the guests of honor show up at her door.
“Oh, and we have a bathroom in the basement and in the garage, since we don’t really use it as a garage, but a workshop. It isn’t fancy but it is clean,” she said.
“I am sure it will do perfectly,” I said. “Are your neighbors curious?”
“They are, but they won’t be too curious,” she said.
We parked in the Walmart lot and got out; we all held grocery lists in our hands and got our buggies and dispersed to the four winds. We were going to meet in front of the check outs so we could all check out together. I ran off to bed and bath and got green and yellow and pink twin sized flat sheets to use as table cloths. I also picked up several tower candles and several bags of tea light candles and several bottles of torch oil to keep our torches going.
But it did not take long for us to have full buggies with sodas and goodies for a four day picnic for all of us. Aolani was going perform a spring ritual for all of us and we were going to have music and fun and if a little magik was added into the mix, that was okay too. I wondered what ostensibly Christian Bill and Jessica and Pam would make of our semi Pagan festivities. Eric of course would recognize a lot of the elements of the activities and would appreciate them.
We checked out and headed for the truck and loaded everything carefully into the bed of the truck. We were more than well stocked for our celebrations and I was becoming even more excited. We jumped in and took off back to Minnie’s house. When we pulled in, everyone jumped up to help with our goodies and we were soon unpacking and sorting supplies and stowing things in Minnie’s chest freezer and kitchen. If she was overwhelmed, she did not show it.
After things calmed down a bit, I went and took a quick cold shower and came out and began to make Lafayette’s No Bad Ju Ju corn bread and Renee was putting the finishing touches on her cloudberry tarts, the little pastries that Eric and Godric had absconded with, not that they eat anymore, but for the smells of the fruit they thought they would never smell again. I didn’t notice that the sun was going down til I felt a familiar cool touch of Bill’s hands on my shoulders and his cool lips on my neck.
“I am so glad you made it safely sweetheart,” he said softly in his slow deep voice.
“I am glad you had a good rest,” I said. “Are you hungry?”
“For you? Always, but I will settle for a bottle of Tru:Blood,” he said. I went to the fridge and got a bottle of Tru:Blood and heated it in the microwave. Eric came in.
“Is that my bottle Aslinn?” he asked.
“No, It is Bill’s bottle, but I will warm you one,” I said. I went and took out the bottles from the fridge and took off the caps and got them ready to warm. Butter came up and Eric pulled her into his arms and hugged her close and took a moment to rub the honey bun.
“You are getting bigger dearest,” he said, kissing her neck.
“I feel like a mack truck,” she said.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered, kissing her gently on the mouth. I handed Bill his bottle and put the other three in the wave. Nicky greeted Pam with a kiss and she stood behind the slender blond with her arm around her waist as they waited for the bottles to warm. When they were ready, I handed a bottle to Nicky and she handed it to Pam who kissed her and took a drink. I handed Butter Eric’s bottle and he let her go long enough to drink from his bottle. The Viking made a slight face. None of the Vampires really liked the synthetic blood but they drank it anyway. They would be treated to real blood later in the nights to come as they paired off with their various spirit spouses. I shooed them outside so I could finish with the corn bread and noticed that Jessica was not up yet.
“Jess?” I said, just a little louder than my normal speaking voice.
“Hey Aslinn,” she said.
“I warmed you some Blood,” I said. She made a face. “Come on, drink up.”
“I hate this shit,” she said, sipping the bottle.
“I know,” I said. “But even Eric drinks it, so you must, so you don’t get sick.”
“Okay mom,” she said sarcastically. “Is Chris here?”
“Yes, but you have to eat first then you can go outside and play,” I said. “Every drop young lady.”
“Okay, okay,” she said. Scarlett came in.
“Hey Jessica!” said Scarlett, hugging the young Vampire.
“I’m so glad you all are here,” she said. “It’s so boring at Bill’s house.”
“Well, he is your guardian, and you have to understand, he is very old fashioned, even more so than Eric,” said Scarlett.
“And Aslinn is mean, she won’t let me go outside til I finish this shit,” she said.
“She is right, you finish it, then you can play,” she said, kissing the young girl on the cheek. “Aslinn, I came in to make a salad.”
“Cool, you can start and when I finish here, I will help you,” I said. Renee came in.
“Hi Jess,” she said. “Minnie said there were some bowls and spoons and plates and such in here.”
“Yeah, right there,” I said. “Bill, can you help her with these?” Bill had followed Renee back in.
“Certainly,” he said. “Good evening Jessica.”
“Evenin’ Bill,” she said.
“Make sure she finishes that bottle,” said Bill to me.
“Gosh, okay, I will, gee whiz!” she spluttered. She took a long defiant slug of the Blood and made a terrible face to pound it down.
Bill and Renee went out with the dishes and I cut the corn bread and covered it with a clean tea towel and I went to work to make the salad. When we had it done we loaded everything in a laundry basket and took it out together. We finished setting the table and called everyone to supper. The Vampires sat down as well to simply chat. Jessica was slowly finishing the bottle and showed it to Bill when she finished. He nodded at her and she went to sit by Chris and Scarlett.
“What do you have planned during the day while we are at our rest,” asked Eric.
Well, we plan to go fishing and rabbit hunting and seeing the scenery,” said God Speed. “Tomorrow, though we are roasting a whole hog.”
“My goodness? Are you that hungry God Speed?” asked Pam.
“Well, I don’t imagine it will go to waste,” he said.
“And we have a ceremony planned to celebrate the coming of spring,” said Aolani.
“How do you non-Pagan Vampires feel about that?” I asked.
“Human rituals are very interesting,” said Pam. “I don’t put much stock in it.”
“But then, all the imagination leaked out of you when I made you,” said the Viking, teasing his child.
“Is it a real Pagan ceremony? My human parents would have a fit if they knew what I had seen as a Vampire,” said Jessica.
“It is a real Pagan ceremony,” said Aolani.
“But you will recognize a lot of it Jessica, as Christians have borrowed a lot of the same images to make the Easter Rabbit and have colored Easter Eggs,” explained Bill. “I have been reading Aolani’s work on Eostre and the Christianization of the Pagan feasts. She and Aslinn do an amazing job with the Mythology thread.”
“They do,” said God Speed. “If they haven’t written about it, it isn’t worth knowing a lot about.”
After supper, we cleaned up the table and washed the dishes and pots and pans and silverware and came back out to drink beer and wine and sodas. Fairy had classic country music coming out of the speakers of her RV. Around the fire were clean sand and huge logs to sit on. Some of us were sitting on them, and few of us were leaned against them. I was leaned against one, my legs folded with a pillow on top where rested my Vampire’s head. Curled against Bill was Vi, and he had his arm around her shoulder and was idly stroking her hair. Beside me sat Renee, and Bill’s hand held one of hers, his fingers playing with hers.
God Speed and Jen were sitting beside Fairy, who was sitting on a log and Eric was sitting up between her knees, her arms around his neck and shoulders. Jen held hands with Eric on one side while Butter held the Viking’s hand on her honey bun. God Speed held Jessica’s hand as she leaned against Sal’s shoulder. She looked over at GS, a new sort of excitement in her eyes. Sal did not look that happy with the situation, even though Jessica explained everything carefully to him.
The fire was warm and told us stories of the past with the flicker and dance of the flames. Since the time of primal man, the fire was the place where story tellers stared to tell the stories of the gods. Like the oracles of old the story teller would translate the language of the fire and relate the wonders to those in their company. And that is what we did, feeling the company of our friends and the coming of new adventures.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Destination Anywhere
How long before we get there is the traveler's mantra. We may be going over the river and through the woods to Minnie Mouse's house but we have been traveling for far longer than a few days. We have been been traveling for months, ever since that final episode where we see Bill being taken away by someone wearing silver chains and wearing leather gloves.
During that time we have been traveling. We had a wonderful party at the God Speeds to usher in the fall. We went somewhere where dreams are made in sunny California to celebrate Samhain and have our own True Done It mystery. We honored those who fight and who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We spent Yule at the Myrtles with four Vampires in a haunted southern plantation. The New Years and February, we were like motherless chicks, clinging to our chatroom life boat, dreaming up the world we want to live in. And we made it happen.
We had wolves in our hen house, sent an eagle disguised as a dove into the Castle of the Evil Queen, found a special little boy who pulled the heart stings of us all, but none more than a man who was a father so long ago we can't imagine it...perhaps he can't either.
We have babies waiting to be born, love to be consecrated, marriages performed, illness to deal with and even death. We have run the gambit of human experience and spring has come round again and we are traveling, like the last geese coming up from the south to play in our sun warmed waters after a long hard winter that seemed to never end. We have experienced hate, anger and betrayal. But what about love?
Oh yes, there has been love. The love of friends late at night when there is word of trouble in distant battle grounds. Word of trouble in our homes. Friends gathered for support, friendship and love. And we have made love. Passionate love. With lovers whose hearts beat with our own and and breaths warmth upon our skin and other sorts of lovers with timeless passions and a quiet breast. But love none the less.
And we dream. We wait to see what dreams may come. We feel the heat of southern climates, smell the smells, hot and sweet and a little fetid. We feel the restless movement of the rivers of our soul that course and feed the swamps of Louisiana. We hear the chorus of night creatures. And night creatures can take the shape of men and women and they can metamorphize into the shapes of other creatures. Some are our friends, some may not be so friendly but we look forward to meeting them all.
The south is a place of romance, of gothic tales of love and lust and taboo, of murder and blood, and it whispers its story to us. As we bullet along the highway heading for our friend's house in the mountains, we feel the pull of other places. It is not time yet...but soon.
During that time we have been traveling. We had a wonderful party at the God Speeds to usher in the fall. We went somewhere where dreams are made in sunny California to celebrate Samhain and have our own True Done It mystery. We honored those who fight and who gave the ultimate sacrifice. We spent Yule at the Myrtles with four Vampires in a haunted southern plantation. The New Years and February, we were like motherless chicks, clinging to our chatroom life boat, dreaming up the world we want to live in. And we made it happen.
We had wolves in our hen house, sent an eagle disguised as a dove into the Castle of the Evil Queen, found a special little boy who pulled the heart stings of us all, but none more than a man who was a father so long ago we can't imagine it...perhaps he can't either.
We have babies waiting to be born, love to be consecrated, marriages performed, illness to deal with and even death. We have run the gambit of human experience and spring has come round again and we are traveling, like the last geese coming up from the south to play in our sun warmed waters after a long hard winter that seemed to never end. We have experienced hate, anger and betrayal. But what about love?
Oh yes, there has been love. The love of friends late at night when there is word of trouble in distant battle grounds. Word of trouble in our homes. Friends gathered for support, friendship and love. And we have made love. Passionate love. With lovers whose hearts beat with our own and and breaths warmth upon our skin and other sorts of lovers with timeless passions and a quiet breast. But love none the less.
And we dream. We wait to see what dreams may come. We feel the heat of southern climates, smell the smells, hot and sweet and a little fetid. We feel the restless movement of the rivers of our soul that course and feed the swamps of Louisiana. We hear the chorus of night creatures. And night creatures can take the shape of men and women and they can metamorphize into the shapes of other creatures. Some are our friends, some may not be so friendly but we look forward to meeting them all.
The south is a place of romance, of gothic tales of love and lust and taboo, of murder and blood, and it whispers its story to us. As we bullet along the highway heading for our friend's house in the mountains, we feel the pull of other places. It is not time yet...but soon.
Travels with True Blood
We got to Denver about noon and stopped and had lunch. We were all still excited though we were ready to be there already. We would arrive early tomorrow morning by our calculations and if we didn't have any long stops. The weather had been with us and we were enjoying the scenery.
At the restaurant, GS was fiddling with his IPad. God Speed loved the technical gadgets of the computer world and I was happy to let him. For me, there was nothing like a road atlas. My faves were tucked in the console between me and Renee, and when we stopped, I liked to take it out and refer to it. It was dog eared and mangled and there were ink lines and coffee and soda rings on it but it was like an old friend on many a romp.
Along side my Rand McNally was my map book of Louisiana, with each parish given a double page spread. I didn't need it anymore, the route between me and LA so often taken and well loved, that it was as easy as going home. But I marked Shreveport and on the inset, I marked Fangtasia's locale and on the margins were a couple of dates and times, sort of like a little journal. A record of our adventures. So, while we were stopped to eat and stretch, I sat down with my pen and marked the place date time where were sitting now.
I could not wait to be at Minnie's and to see my Bill. I had so much to talk to him about, so many things to say to him, so many questions I had to ask him about what we could expect from one another as my dynamic changed to include my Barrister. I also looked forward to what Aolani had planned to celebrate spring. They would be heading out now to begin their shorter voyage.
Not far now to our destination.
At the restaurant, GS was fiddling with his IPad. God Speed loved the technical gadgets of the computer world and I was happy to let him. For me, there was nothing like a road atlas. My faves were tucked in the console between me and Renee, and when we stopped, I liked to take it out and refer to it. It was dog eared and mangled and there were ink lines and coffee and soda rings on it but it was like an old friend on many a romp.
Along side my Rand McNally was my map book of Louisiana, with each parish given a double page spread. I didn't need it anymore, the route between me and LA so often taken and well loved, that it was as easy as going home. But I marked Shreveport and on the inset, I marked Fangtasia's locale and on the margins were a couple of dates and times, sort of like a little journal. A record of our adventures. So, while we were stopped to eat and stretch, I sat down with my pen and marked the place date time where were sitting now.
I could not wait to be at Minnie's and to see my Bill. I had so much to talk to him about, so many things to say to him, so many questions I had to ask him about what we could expect from one another as my dynamic changed to include my Barrister. I also looked forward to what Aolani had planned to celebrate spring. They would be heading out now to begin their shorter voyage.
Not far now to our destination.
Miles to go before we sleep
Raki met us about twenty minutes after Westexan arrived and we settled in to drive further toward our destination for the evening. By the time we arrived we were hungry and tired and checked into our rooms to freshen up and go to supper.
It was by far the biggest truck stop I had ever seen. We were seated by a cute little thing who reminded me of Daphne who helped us put some tables together in a fairly secluded spot and took drink orders, going heavy on the sodas and tea. She headed out, leaving us with menus and we settled in the big oversized chairs designed for the professional sitter in mind and eyeballed the treats. This was not your ordinary trucker's choke and puke but a restaurant designed for people who had strange schedules. It may be dark as Egypt outside, but it was the start of the day for some of these knights of the road, so the menu had everything from breakfast fare to deep fried shrimp and prime rib au jus. That is what I had, along with a garden salad.
We ate and talk in rowdy Trubie fashion. The promo posters, one asking about Bill, the other warning us not to feed the shifters and the first true minisode showing Eric and Pam in the unenviable position of trying to find a dancer for Fangtasia had peaked our senses and tickled our funny bones.
We were wondering about the next adventure and the people in Bon Temps and how our relationships might be effected by the things that would happen.
"Fairy, have you asked Eric where Hunter was taken?" asked God Speed.
"He says it is better that we not know precisely where he is. Just that we know he is safe and he will be revealed to all of us soon," said Fairy. "Aslinn, has the Barrister found out anything about how the Vampires will deal with Eric acting as Hunter's guardian?"
"The London contact has said that Eric might simply apply the mine rule, even though Hunter is taboo for a meal or anything else. Sookie had not been tasted in any capacity yet when Bill claimed her. Then I remembered something I wrote in the Countdown about Vampire children. It was common in some lore for Vampires to adopt human children and raise them to act as day time guardians and servants, to be later rewarded by their Vampire parents," I said. "Barrister is putting together the brief as a precedence, and hopefully the Magister will accept the document and allow the lore to stand as a precedence for new thought in the Vampire legal system about the roles of humans, adult or otherwise. The only snag is, we can't have Vampires just snatching children off the streets to make wards of them...so the details will have to be hammered out."
"How about Jessica and her predicament?" asked Sal. "Would Barrister be able to help her if her troubles continued?"
"Barrister said he would do what he could in her case to keep her from being punished, but he does not know til we know what will happen," I said. Barrister, my human lover, was involved in a cooperative relationship with Jessica. Though the gentlemen in the relationship were not as generous with each other as the ladies, they were working it out, if reluctantly.
"I wonder about Lafayette," said Westexan. "I was looking at that photograph. Is Lafayette looking at Pam or Eric?"
"He is scared of both," said Raki. "But he is also drawn by Eric's blood, so it is hard to say."
"Will that fade?" asked Dude. "I mean does it ever go away?"
"In the books, it seems to lose potency for the human, but the Vampire can always feel for the human I imagine if they look for them through their blood...but they may even have a hard time with that after a while," said Lina.
"I agree," I said. "When Sookie was taken by the fairies, Bill had to rely on Niall's help to get to her. So while Bill may feel her a bit, I imagine his bond is far more emotional than it is by the blood. She tied more to Eric now, more so than Bill, bloodwise. I think that is what Pam meant when she said Eric lived on in Sookie."
"The books also said that Sookie was very close to crossing a line between human and Vampire," said Renee.
"Did you notice a wolf in the picture," asked Butter. We all nodded. We had. Did the wolf represent weres in particular? Or was it Alcide?
"This is the beginning of the opening up of the tale and the supernatural world," said Linzy. "Bon Temps is about to get a lot weirder."
"Yep, we definitely aren't in Kansas anymore," said God Speed.
"Actually Honey," said Jen. "We are in Kansas."
God Speed thought for a second and slapped his forehead.
We broke up our meeting with laughter.
It was by far the biggest truck stop I had ever seen. We were seated by a cute little thing who reminded me of Daphne who helped us put some tables together in a fairly secluded spot and took drink orders, going heavy on the sodas and tea. She headed out, leaving us with menus and we settled in the big oversized chairs designed for the professional sitter in mind and eyeballed the treats. This was not your ordinary trucker's choke and puke but a restaurant designed for people who had strange schedules. It may be dark as Egypt outside, but it was the start of the day for some of these knights of the road, so the menu had everything from breakfast fare to deep fried shrimp and prime rib au jus. That is what I had, along with a garden salad.
We ate and talk in rowdy Trubie fashion. The promo posters, one asking about Bill, the other warning us not to feed the shifters and the first true minisode showing Eric and Pam in the unenviable position of trying to find a dancer for Fangtasia had peaked our senses and tickled our funny bones.
We were wondering about the next adventure and the people in Bon Temps and how our relationships might be effected by the things that would happen.
"Fairy, have you asked Eric where Hunter was taken?" asked God Speed.
"He says it is better that we not know precisely where he is. Just that we know he is safe and he will be revealed to all of us soon," said Fairy. "Aslinn, has the Barrister found out anything about how the Vampires will deal with Eric acting as Hunter's guardian?"
"The London contact has said that Eric might simply apply the mine rule, even though Hunter is taboo for a meal or anything else. Sookie had not been tasted in any capacity yet when Bill claimed her. Then I remembered something I wrote in the Countdown about Vampire children. It was common in some lore for Vampires to adopt human children and raise them to act as day time guardians and servants, to be later rewarded by their Vampire parents," I said. "Barrister is putting together the brief as a precedence, and hopefully the Magister will accept the document and allow the lore to stand as a precedence for new thought in the Vampire legal system about the roles of humans, adult or otherwise. The only snag is, we can't have Vampires just snatching children off the streets to make wards of them...so the details will have to be hammered out."
"How about Jessica and her predicament?" asked Sal. "Would Barrister be able to help her if her troubles continued?"
"Barrister said he would do what he could in her case to keep her from being punished, but he does not know til we know what will happen," I said. Barrister, my human lover, was involved in a cooperative relationship with Jessica. Though the gentlemen in the relationship were not as generous with each other as the ladies, they were working it out, if reluctantly.
"I wonder about Lafayette," said Westexan. "I was looking at that photograph. Is Lafayette looking at Pam or Eric?"
"He is scared of both," said Raki. "But he is also drawn by Eric's blood, so it is hard to say."
"Will that fade?" asked Dude. "I mean does it ever go away?"
"In the books, it seems to lose potency for the human, but the Vampire can always feel for the human I imagine if they look for them through their blood...but they may even have a hard time with that after a while," said Lina.
"I agree," I said. "When Sookie was taken by the fairies, Bill had to rely on Niall's help to get to her. So while Bill may feel her a bit, I imagine his bond is far more emotional than it is by the blood. She tied more to Eric now, more so than Bill, bloodwise. I think that is what Pam meant when she said Eric lived on in Sookie."
"The books also said that Sookie was very close to crossing a line between human and Vampire," said Renee.
"Did you notice a wolf in the picture," asked Butter. We all nodded. We had. Did the wolf represent weres in particular? Or was it Alcide?
"This is the beginning of the opening up of the tale and the supernatural world," said Linzy. "Bon Temps is about to get a lot weirder."
"Yep, we definitely aren't in Kansas anymore," said God Speed.
"Actually Honey," said Jen. "We are in Kansas."
God Speed thought for a second and slapped his forehead.
We broke up our meeting with laughter.
Another Time Another Place
It is funny when you travel, especially when you travel with friends. The scenery changes with the accents and your over all mood is enhanced. Ever notice it takes longer to travel to your destination than it does to get home? Passing through the high mountains of West Virginia, into the more lazy rolling hills of Tennessee, and out beyond to the flat lands, where the corn and grain are just poking their heads out of the soil, a promise of bread and corn in the husk and the feasts of the barbecue.
I love to travel. Mom always said I was born with a suit case in my hand. I could pack up and go at the drop of a hat. And As I drove in the convoy of friends, heading toward the mountains of Utah, I reveled in the notion of somewhere else and the adventures we might have. We had already had a few. I am Driving along, the window cracked, cigarette smoke flying out of the window, the radio on, and Renee and I are singing at the tops of our lungs, rocking to the 80's.
We stopped just outside Topeka, Kansas at the rest stop where we were to meet Westexan and Raki. We pulled in and got out, stretching, shaking blood into our limbs, and rubbing our seat weary rumps. God Speed was pointing and laughing because I was talking to Fairy and rubbing my butt at the same time. I gave him a hard look and my fave finger and he laughed as he walked toward the rest stop in search of that all important men's room.
We were chattering wildy because of the new things that were beginning to filter out to us. Even on the road, we would stop somewhere and bed down and gather to have our meeting of TBA. True our counselors would not be there, but we would and we had bunches to discuss this evening.
Westexan was the first to make it to us. She jumped out of the SUV she was piloting and we gave a shout and ran up for a group hug...We saw each other weekly but to be all together in the wild world was a treat. Pictures of the very nibble-able Kaiser was passed around and we exclaimed over his beauty (purely from his momma) and his size and the beauty of his momma, looking sassy and excited though her day never ended.
GS was looking at this IPad and found a combination truck stop and hotel. That is where we would land later tonight.....
See you all then
I love to travel. Mom always said I was born with a suit case in my hand. I could pack up and go at the drop of a hat. And As I drove in the convoy of friends, heading toward the mountains of Utah, I reveled in the notion of somewhere else and the adventures we might have. We had already had a few. I am Driving along, the window cracked, cigarette smoke flying out of the window, the radio on, and Renee and I are singing at the tops of our lungs, rocking to the 80's.
We stopped just outside Topeka, Kansas at the rest stop where we were to meet Westexan and Raki. We pulled in and got out, stretching, shaking blood into our limbs, and rubbing our seat weary rumps. God Speed was pointing and laughing because I was talking to Fairy and rubbing my butt at the same time. I gave him a hard look and my fave finger and he laughed as he walked toward the rest stop in search of that all important men's room.
We were chattering wildy because of the new things that were beginning to filter out to us. Even on the road, we would stop somewhere and bed down and gather to have our meeting of TBA. True our counselors would not be there, but we would and we had bunches to discuss this evening.
Westexan was the first to make it to us. She jumped out of the SUV she was piloting and we gave a shout and ran up for a group hug...We saw each other weekly but to be all together in the wild world was a treat. Pictures of the very nibble-able Kaiser was passed around and we exclaimed over his beauty (purely from his momma) and his size and the beauty of his momma, looking sassy and excited though her day never ended.
GS was looking at this IPad and found a combination truck stop and hotel. That is where we would land later tonight.....
See you all then
On the Road Again
The mist rose up from the ground in the early morning as we struggled sleepy from the motel where we stopped to rest a bit before getting back on the road. I lit a cigarette, passing my lighter to Fairy and sipped the brownish grey coffee like substance I got in the motel office when I turned in my key. The road was a greyish snake, mostly deserted except for the 18 wheelers that whizzed by, causing the cool, damp wind to blow back my hair.
I clenched the cigarette between my teeth and reached in my pocket for an elastic band to band back my hair in a pony tail. I wondered where our Vampires were sleeping? Were they somewhere, motionless quiet as the grave in some safe place far from the morning? Or would they simply take off in Air Anubis and appear?
There was something lovely about driving a stretch of highway in the early morning. God Speed was looking at his IPad and saw there was a diner about 20 miles up the road. That was fine. All I wanted this early in the morning was caffeine and nicotine. I finished my cigarette and flicked it into the gravel and watched it smolder a moment. Renee was waiting for me, standing in the open door of the shot gun side of the truck. Kid was already in the back, the door open, her Ipod on listening to her music. U2 was just not her thing...but I understood. Beware Kid, someday a child of yours will be rolling their eyes saying gee whiz mom could you turn that old crap off?
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and put on a pair of sun glasses I'd caged off Eric. (Why would a Vampire wear sunglasses anyway) They were those dark bug eyed sun glasses, which I think is the reason he let me take them off him. If Eric wore sun glasses, he would wear the sort that reflected whatever or whoever he was looking at back at them. (I could almost hear him say in his low voice, "What we have here is a failure to a communicate," just before he did something painful and bloody to you and you would see it reflected back to you in the lenses of his shades.)
God Speed pulled out in his huge RV and I got in the rocking chair, driving my white Ford F150 extend cab between he and Fairy in her RV. Lina had her RV behind us. Westexan would be meeting us somewhere in Kansas, to join our convoy today, around supper time, at a diner GS found on his GPS. We were making excellent time. Scarlett and Vi and Aolani would meet us at Minnie's house, as they lived a bit closer.
Raki would be meeting us in Kansas as well. It was something to think of all of us, moving westward to meet with the most important people in our lives. Oh and the Vampires too. Over the nearly three months we had built our home, I felt closer to the folks on the forum than I ever had. We were ready for the adventures to begin, but until then, we were happy to be with the fangy men and women in our lives.
Twenty miles up the road saw us at Daisies, a little hole in the road place that guaranteed eats like mom made. And though I doubted their honesty, I was so hungry I could eat the south going end of a north bound mule. I slid Eric's shades up on top of my head and looked around at the little tables and booths. Just as we liked to do, we began to push tables together to create our family table and sat down. I noticed Fairy looking at my sun glasses.
"What?" I said, looking at her.
"Are those Eric's?" she asked.
"Yeah, I took them off the desk at Fangtasia when he gave me some money to send to Minnie for Tru:Blood," I said. She still looked at me. "Well, give me yours and you can have his." You would have thought I was giving her the Holy Grail. Thank God she didn't know I had his shirt on from doing a little painting job at Fangtasia or she would have me there topless at Daisies. I spilled black paint on myself and Eric took his shirt off and I slipped it on. Funny, no matter how often you wash, you can still smell Vampire on it.
I opened the menu...I wanted to look at the waitress and say "Okay" and hand her the menu but she looked as if she hadn't any sense of humor and ordered three eggs over easy and potatoes and sausage and toast and jam and juice and coffee. God Speed looked at me with frank admiration then shock when I added two pancakes.
"Got keep my blood count up," I said, rubbing my Bill bites.
We ate like a great hunger was upon us, mopping our plates with toast and biscuits and paid our bill and headed towards Kansas........
I clenched the cigarette between my teeth and reached in my pocket for an elastic band to band back my hair in a pony tail. I wondered where our Vampires were sleeping? Were they somewhere, motionless quiet as the grave in some safe place far from the morning? Or would they simply take off in Air Anubis and appear?
There was something lovely about driving a stretch of highway in the early morning. God Speed was looking at his IPad and saw there was a diner about 20 miles up the road. That was fine. All I wanted this early in the morning was caffeine and nicotine. I finished my cigarette and flicked it into the gravel and watched it smolder a moment. Renee was waiting for me, standing in the open door of the shot gun side of the truck. Kid was already in the back, the door open, her Ipod on listening to her music. U2 was just not her thing...but I understood. Beware Kid, someday a child of yours will be rolling their eyes saying gee whiz mom could you turn that old crap off?
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and put on a pair of sun glasses I'd caged off Eric. (Why would a Vampire wear sunglasses anyway) They were those dark bug eyed sun glasses, which I think is the reason he let me take them off him. If Eric wore sun glasses, he would wear the sort that reflected whatever or whoever he was looking at back at them. (I could almost hear him say in his low voice, "What we have here is a failure to a communicate," just before he did something painful and bloody to you and you would see it reflected back to you in the lenses of his shades.)
God Speed pulled out in his huge RV and I got in the rocking chair, driving my white Ford F150 extend cab between he and Fairy in her RV. Lina had her RV behind us. Westexan would be meeting us somewhere in Kansas, to join our convoy today, around supper time, at a diner GS found on his GPS. We were making excellent time. Scarlett and Vi and Aolani would meet us at Minnie's house, as they lived a bit closer.
Raki would be meeting us in Kansas as well. It was something to think of all of us, moving westward to meet with the most important people in our lives. Oh and the Vampires too. Over the nearly three months we had built our home, I felt closer to the folks on the forum than I ever had. We were ready for the adventures to begin, but until then, we were happy to be with the fangy men and women in our lives.
Twenty miles up the road saw us at Daisies, a little hole in the road place that guaranteed eats like mom made. And though I doubted their honesty, I was so hungry I could eat the south going end of a north bound mule. I slid Eric's shades up on top of my head and looked around at the little tables and booths. Just as we liked to do, we began to push tables together to create our family table and sat down. I noticed Fairy looking at my sun glasses.
"What?" I said, looking at her.
"Are those Eric's?" she asked.
"Yeah, I took them off the desk at Fangtasia when he gave me some money to send to Minnie for Tru:Blood," I said. She still looked at me. "Well, give me yours and you can have his." You would have thought I was giving her the Holy Grail. Thank God she didn't know I had his shirt on from doing a little painting job at Fangtasia or she would have me there topless at Daisies. I spilled black paint on myself and Eric took his shirt off and I slipped it on. Funny, no matter how often you wash, you can still smell Vampire on it.
I opened the menu...I wanted to look at the waitress and say "Okay" and hand her the menu but she looked as if she hadn't any sense of humor and ordered three eggs over easy and potatoes and sausage and toast and jam and juice and coffee. God Speed looked at me with frank admiration then shock when I added two pancakes.
"Got keep my blood count up," I said, rubbing my Bill bites.
We ate like a great hunger was upon us, mopping our plates with toast and biscuits and paid our bill and headed towards Kansas........
Friday, April 23, 2010
Father Brother Son
Father Brother Son
Vampires don’t have a soul. They don’t have feelings like we do. They have no sentiments or passions. They are ruthless and evil and blood thirsty. They are hell bound demons who want nothing more than to eat us alive. They would even eat our children.
That is what legend and bigots would like us to believe.
But Eric and Bill were fathers once, and I have seen their faces light up with joy at the sight of the Kaiser and Eric loved to feel the honey bun kick Butter’s belly. Butter confessed that Eric loved to pull her very close to him when they lie together naked to feel the baby move against his own cool belly. If there was an unforgiveable crime to the Vampire it was to harm a child.
And for a long time, it was the Vampire credo that little humans were off limits, they were the next crop of blood sources. But now with Vampires making human connections the attitude was more one of human love. They could not have children, their otherness took that away from them, but they could love the children in the world. And they did. Most of them….some of them.
We had learned many things during the last week. We learned Eric and Bill and Pam and Jessica cared about us immensely and would go to great lengths to protect us. And I think they learned we would do the same. They would never take us for granted or underestimate just what we would do on their behalf. They learned we were resourceful and we strong and brave for them. They knew we loved them and we knew they loved us.
And that is scary for Vampires. How do you love that upon which you feed? It is easy, you create the symbiotic relationship. Whatever they got from us by way of our blood, we got back in companionship and loyalty and ….love? Yes, the Vampires were learning to love and that brought back so many memories. Some of them were on the surface, like Jessica, who would be a two year old Vampire when we finished this summer’s adventures. She remembered love and hate and her humanity, the mixed emotions of her struggling teen years to her immortality. Forever 17, forever young and beautiful, forever Vampire.
Bill was rediscovering what he thought was lost to him. Damned and cursed to walk the night, he searched for not just peace in his world, but peace within his skin. His heart would never beat again either in fury or in passion but he could feel love and fear and hatred sure as the fires of hell. And he remembered. A wife, children, family. He thought he had forgotten in them in the slimy beds he shared with his maker, in the fruitless and passionless sex he had with other Vampires or with the humans he seduced. Now, he had love. With Sookie, of course, but with us as well. And this conjured up the feelings he had of home and contentment when he would come in from the fields and his wife would bring him his supper and later when they lay in the darkness of their bed, both of them warm and alive.
Pam had discovered herself and realized herself liberated in more ways than one. Being Vampire opened the world up to her. The fact her heart no longer beat did not bother her ever, and it still doesn’t. She is learning however about love and friendship outside the Vampires she knew. There was nothing like Pam and Renee and Raki and Fairy admiring one another’s clothes and shoes in the parlor. She of course loved the company of women and relished not only love bonds with some of our ladies, she also enjoyed the friendships. She had never had human friends til now and it was a curious thing to her, something to study as Isabella had observed. She discovered after her long isolation from humans that women today are not so very different from her. They were as ambition and cunning as she and she admired them. For the first time in a couple of centuries, she admired and felt kinship to her own gender. The past was no specter. She had a new world in her view.
And Eric. I fear sometimes I have written all there is to write about Eric. The Viking Warrior, the chieftain’s son, made Vampire when the world was not only wild for him but for humans too. Eric was so old that much of what he knew about himself was a distant memory, something that had to be scratched out, forced to the top. Eric didn’t like that. When the years turned into decades and then to centuries he forgot everything about his human self and became a survivor. He had to let go of his faint memories of a soft blond woman who cooked his food, took care of his lodge, made love with him in the night, and bore him ……children, sons and daughters who never outlived their father and had no memories of him at all except perhaps that he was big, handsome and brave and he went to visit another village and he never came back. It was not unusual for that to happen. There were beasts and man who would take advantage of a lone man and consume him or conceal his body. Their lives simply went on, the sons and daughters of Eric, now called Northman, and when they lay dying old and toothless, if they were lucky, they could not know their beautiful, immortal father was walking in the world, as young as the day he left the village, never to return.
But we humans can be as alone and isolated as the Vampires. Being an outsider once and sometimes still am, we find ways to insulate ourselves. We become self contained. We find our own diversions in books and music and if you were to ask us if we were lonely we would say, “Huh? What?” I knew what lonely meant and I knew what being alone was but was I ever really lonely? Sometimes I could just sit quietly and my mind would work, telling me stories, entertaining me. Much as I do now.
So imagine a child as lonely as cloud and as quiet as a Vampire’s heart. The only time this child felt quiet was when he was alone. Because he had a gift, an ancient power, thought of as a sign of the gods: the ability to know the secret thoughts hidden in the hearts of men. He had never encountered a person whose thoughts he could not read.
The boy, sweet and blond, was alone. He had not known his mother, had only vague memories of her. His father was…gone. He didn’t know where. Hunter pretended that he had another parent, a parent that would scoop him up out the loneliness he felt and take him away, who would care for him.
What Hunter did not know, what he could not know, was that someone very far away, someone he did not know, found him and had called a very special man who was even now standing in the shadows, watching him and remembering another child, another boy, with the same yellow hair. A child he had not thought of in a thousand years. His child.
Hunter could not articulate the storm of noises in his head. It was like everyone was talking at once though their mouths did not move. It made his head hurt. Sometimes it made him cry, it hurt so much. The man in the shadows could hear his heartbeat and his breathing and to him it sounded exhausted. Hunter could not explain to the grownups what it was like and he wished there was a grownup who would understand. When the noise got really bad, he would sneak outside and that is what he did that night.
The group home was loud and he was tired. Hunter looked like a little old man for all of his being four years old. He went out and sat down in the swings and held his little head in his hands. He was surprised when he heard a voice.
“Hunter,” said the deep soft voice. Huh?
“How do you know my name?” asked the little boy.
I know many things about you. My friends and I have been looking for you, to make sure you are safe,” said the voice. Hunter closed his eyes and heard…nothing.
“I can’t hear you,” he said.
“Of course you can hear me,” said the voice.
“I can’t hear your head,” he said.
“No, you can’t,” said the voice.
“What is your name?” he said to the dark.
“Eric,” he said.
“Where are you?” asked the boy, turning around looking for the soft voice.
“Right in front of you,” he said. The boy turned around and there he was, crouched down in front of him. Hunter jumped a little, startled.
“How did you do that?” he asked, taking in the face of the man.
“I can fly,” said Eric. He reached out and touched the tears on Hunter’s face. The Viking rubbed his fingers together and could smell the salty aroma of the boy’s tears.
“People can’t fly,” he said.
“No, people can’t, but Vampires can,” said Eric honestly. The little boy flinched a little. He had heard stories of the Vampires. They had great long teeth and they sucked your blood and drained you dry. Vampires were dead, like zombies.
“Are you going to eat me?” asked Hunter, his voice trembling with fear. Eric’s face softened, his mouth parted as if he had been hit in the chest.
“Absolutely not. I am taking you somewhere where there are nice people to look after you for the night, and then to some nice people who will take care of you for me,” he said. Eric put his hand on the little boney shoulder. “You feel like a good strong little person. Do you want to go with me?”
Hunter was afraid. He could not read the man’s mind and so he did not know if he was in danger. He looked around. “Do I have to go with you?”
“Yes, but I would very much like it if you would go with me because you want to go with me,” Eric kept his voice even. Hunter was a telepath and could not be glamoured, and he would hate to just snatch the boy and take him screaming to the night. So he tried to stay calm. If he was calm, perhaps Hunter would be calm.
“Do you have a little boy?” he asked.
Eric had had children a thousand years ago. He remembered his last son, born in the time of a great snow, and the midwives brought him to him and he laid on his side and unbundled the child and marveled at the little man his wife Aude and he had made. But then he became Vampire and was forced away from his family by his maker and he never knew what happened to the boy with long corn silk blond hair and his mother’s face and his own greenish grey storm colored eyes.
“I did have a son,” said Eric. “And he was very like you, but he had light colored eyes, like mine.”
“Did you love him?” Hunter asked. Eric swallowed hard.
“Yes, I loved him,” said the Viking, unsure of his voice.
“Where will we go?” he asked.
“The safest place in the world,” said Eric.
“Is it far?” he asked.
“No, it will not take us long to get there,” he said. “Will you come?” The little boy looked at the handsome Vampire and nodded. “It will be cold high up in the air, so I want you to get into my coat and hold on to me very tight and I will cover you up and hold on to you.”
“You promise not to drop me?” he asked.
“I won’t let you go, Hunter,” confirmed Eric. He straightened his back and pulled the long leather coat open. It was lined in fox fur. He felt the child sort of sit on his long broad thigh and turned himself to straddle Eric. He put his head against the Viking’s shoulder and he could feel Hunter’s warm breath on his neck. His arms went around him and grabbed up a hand full of his shirt. Eric secured the coat around him, covering his head as well as he could, then stood, his arm supporting his bottom. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready,” he said.
“Then we must fly,” he said. And Eric took off.
When Eric was human, and on the raiding trail, he thought about his children and his wife, somewhere far from where he was resting. He loved his children, but this last child, was his heart because he was the most like him, haughty and fearless. There was that quality in this child. He could feel him wiggling a little against him, his hands tightening on his shirt. Eric could feel him breathing, his little heart beating, strong and fast against him. He smelled warm and young and healthy, vital. Like all humans, like his son.
I paced the parlor. Westexan was folding a couple of blankets and Aolani was fluffing a couple of pillows. Eric had been specific when he called. Aolani was to work the charm to shield us from Sookie’s mind and get ready for a guest. We were expecting Sookie, maybe she was hurt. Maybe Eric was hurt. Bill was not answering his phone, but he may have been with one of the sister wives and his phone turned off.
Fairy had made some fresh chocolate chip cookies and I had made some tea. Minnie popped a Tru:Blood in the microwave, ready to be warmed.
“I wish I knew what was going on,” said Westexan. “I am worried.”
About that time Bill showed up. “Has he made it yet?”
“What is going on, Bill,” asked Fairy. “Is Eric okay?”
“Presumably he is fine,” said Bill. “He will be here as soon as he can.” He patted Fairy on the shoulder. He leaned down to kiss Westexan and me.
“Are you hungry Bill?” asked Minnie. “I can warm you a bottle.”
“I am fine,” said Bill. “Thank you.”
We waited. Only Bill was perfectly still. That was the nice thing about Vampires. As the world came down around them, they could be calm.
Finally, we heard a noise at the door and Eric stepped in. At first it appeared he was injured because he was holding himself, but then we realized he was not holding himself, but holding someone against him, a small someone. He put his finger against his lips in a shooshing motion and gently opened his coat. He revealed a small boy with blond hair, sleeping against his silent chest, clutching his shirt. Westexan moved to him and helped dislodge him from the Viking’s body and she carried him to the couch and laid him down. Aolani opened a blanket and tucked it around the boy and Eric stood there, looking down at him.
“Is this Hunter?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Poor thing, unable to screen anything out,” said Aolani. The little boy turned and looked at Aolani.
“I can’t hear you either,” he said. “I can’t hear any of you. Are you Vampires too?”
“No,” she said. “I cast a magik spell so you can’t hear our heads.”
“Are you a witch?” he asked.
“Yes, but I am a good witch, so you don’t have to worry,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
“Had my supper but I didn’t get my snack,” he said.
“Fairy, looks like you have a young man who could eat a couple of cookies,” said Minnie.
“Fairy!!!! You have Fairies too Eric?” he said, his dark brown eyes looking at all of us in wonder.
“Sure, Hunter, she is your Fairy godmother and she is going to help look after you,” said Eric. He winked at his lead wife. She graced the Big Viking with a smile.
“Come get your cookies,” said Fairy. She held her hand out and he scampered out of the blanket and grabbed Fairy’s hand.
Fairy, Bill, Aolani, Minnie and Westexan sat at the big dinner table and chatted with Hunter. He was surprised when Bill finally accepted the T:B Minnie had offered. Eric pulled me just out the door to talk to me.
“Aslinn, you need to contact the Barrister and find out what we can do to keep Hunter,” said Eric.
“I can do that Eric, but honey, he is British, and this is the American system,” I said.
“Vampires have certain laws about our kind taking care of human children. It is frowned on in our world. It would be temporary, but I don’t know anything about a precedent,” said Eric.
“He will try,” I said. “I’ll help him all I can.”
“Thank you,” he said. Eric slumped against the wall, so uncharacteristic of the Vampire. Oh no, he was injured in some way.
“Eric, are you okay?” I asked, putting my hand on the Viking. Eric and I had a complicated relationship. I was often irritated with the Viking, but I cared for him. Eric pulled me to him and put his arms around me and stood there still as a statue with his arms around my waist. I waited for him. “Eric, are you okay?”
“I remember my son,” said Eric. His voice was calm. “I remember my boy.”
“Oh, Eric,” I said. I put my arms around him and patted him. What do you say to a man who was mourning a child dead for almost a thousand years, give or take a few decades. I patted him gently.
Finally I let him go and he did the same. His eyes were clear. “It is almost dawn.”
“Yes, it is, you and Bill are both caught out,” I said.
“Close the shutters and I will rest on the couch and Bill can take the coffin,” he said. “Stay here with Hunter and tomorrow evening I will take him to the people I have arranged things with.”
“Are you going to tell Sookie?” I asked.
“Eventually, but not right now,” he said. Eric leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me, and for….”
“It’s fine Eric,” I said. “You and I are friends; I do anything for my friends.”
“Anything?” asked Eric, grinning his lopsided grin.
“Come on, get your ass to bed,” I said to the Vampire.
We stepped back into the room. Aolani was carrying the boy. “Bill, you can have the coffin. I will rest out here.”
Minnie and Fairy began to close the shutters against the coming light. I helped Bill into the coffin by tucking the blanket over him. I leaned over and kissed my lover on the mouth and looked at him and he at me til the lid of the coffin came down. Eric lay down on the couch and motioned with a come on gesture to Aolani. Aolani brought the sleeping boy to Eric who helped her cuddle the child against the Vampire. She put a blanket over them and Eric stroked the sleeping child’s hair and when he thought none of us were looking, he kissed the boy.
“Min son,” he said. “Min son.”
Vampires don’t have a soul. They don’t have feelings like we do. They have no sentiments or passions. They are ruthless and evil and blood thirsty. They are hell bound demons who want nothing more than to eat us alive. They would even eat our children.
That is what legend and bigots would like us to believe.
But Eric and Bill were fathers once, and I have seen their faces light up with joy at the sight of the Kaiser and Eric loved to feel the honey bun kick Butter’s belly. Butter confessed that Eric loved to pull her very close to him when they lie together naked to feel the baby move against his own cool belly. If there was an unforgiveable crime to the Vampire it was to harm a child.
And for a long time, it was the Vampire credo that little humans were off limits, they were the next crop of blood sources. But now with Vampires making human connections the attitude was more one of human love. They could not have children, their otherness took that away from them, but they could love the children in the world. And they did. Most of them….some of them.
We had learned many things during the last week. We learned Eric and Bill and Pam and Jessica cared about us immensely and would go to great lengths to protect us. And I think they learned we would do the same. They would never take us for granted or underestimate just what we would do on their behalf. They learned we were resourceful and we strong and brave for them. They knew we loved them and we knew they loved us.
And that is scary for Vampires. How do you love that upon which you feed? It is easy, you create the symbiotic relationship. Whatever they got from us by way of our blood, we got back in companionship and loyalty and ….love? Yes, the Vampires were learning to love and that brought back so many memories. Some of them were on the surface, like Jessica, who would be a two year old Vampire when we finished this summer’s adventures. She remembered love and hate and her humanity, the mixed emotions of her struggling teen years to her immortality. Forever 17, forever young and beautiful, forever Vampire.
Bill was rediscovering what he thought was lost to him. Damned and cursed to walk the night, he searched for not just peace in his world, but peace within his skin. His heart would never beat again either in fury or in passion but he could feel love and fear and hatred sure as the fires of hell. And he remembered. A wife, children, family. He thought he had forgotten in them in the slimy beds he shared with his maker, in the fruitless and passionless sex he had with other Vampires or with the humans he seduced. Now, he had love. With Sookie, of course, but with us as well. And this conjured up the feelings he had of home and contentment when he would come in from the fields and his wife would bring him his supper and later when they lay in the darkness of their bed, both of them warm and alive.
Pam had discovered herself and realized herself liberated in more ways than one. Being Vampire opened the world up to her. The fact her heart no longer beat did not bother her ever, and it still doesn’t. She is learning however about love and friendship outside the Vampires she knew. There was nothing like Pam and Renee and Raki and Fairy admiring one another’s clothes and shoes in the parlor. She of course loved the company of women and relished not only love bonds with some of our ladies, she also enjoyed the friendships. She had never had human friends til now and it was a curious thing to her, something to study as Isabella had observed. She discovered after her long isolation from humans that women today are not so very different from her. They were as ambition and cunning as she and she admired them. For the first time in a couple of centuries, she admired and felt kinship to her own gender. The past was no specter. She had a new world in her view.
And Eric. I fear sometimes I have written all there is to write about Eric. The Viking Warrior, the chieftain’s son, made Vampire when the world was not only wild for him but for humans too. Eric was so old that much of what he knew about himself was a distant memory, something that had to be scratched out, forced to the top. Eric didn’t like that. When the years turned into decades and then to centuries he forgot everything about his human self and became a survivor. He had to let go of his faint memories of a soft blond woman who cooked his food, took care of his lodge, made love with him in the night, and bore him ……children, sons and daughters who never outlived their father and had no memories of him at all except perhaps that he was big, handsome and brave and he went to visit another village and he never came back. It was not unusual for that to happen. There were beasts and man who would take advantage of a lone man and consume him or conceal his body. Their lives simply went on, the sons and daughters of Eric, now called Northman, and when they lay dying old and toothless, if they were lucky, they could not know their beautiful, immortal father was walking in the world, as young as the day he left the village, never to return.
But we humans can be as alone and isolated as the Vampires. Being an outsider once and sometimes still am, we find ways to insulate ourselves. We become self contained. We find our own diversions in books and music and if you were to ask us if we were lonely we would say, “Huh? What?” I knew what lonely meant and I knew what being alone was but was I ever really lonely? Sometimes I could just sit quietly and my mind would work, telling me stories, entertaining me. Much as I do now.
So imagine a child as lonely as cloud and as quiet as a Vampire’s heart. The only time this child felt quiet was when he was alone. Because he had a gift, an ancient power, thought of as a sign of the gods: the ability to know the secret thoughts hidden in the hearts of men. He had never encountered a person whose thoughts he could not read.
The boy, sweet and blond, was alone. He had not known his mother, had only vague memories of her. His father was…gone. He didn’t know where. Hunter pretended that he had another parent, a parent that would scoop him up out the loneliness he felt and take him away, who would care for him.
What Hunter did not know, what he could not know, was that someone very far away, someone he did not know, found him and had called a very special man who was even now standing in the shadows, watching him and remembering another child, another boy, with the same yellow hair. A child he had not thought of in a thousand years. His child.
Hunter could not articulate the storm of noises in his head. It was like everyone was talking at once though their mouths did not move. It made his head hurt. Sometimes it made him cry, it hurt so much. The man in the shadows could hear his heartbeat and his breathing and to him it sounded exhausted. Hunter could not explain to the grownups what it was like and he wished there was a grownup who would understand. When the noise got really bad, he would sneak outside and that is what he did that night.
The group home was loud and he was tired. Hunter looked like a little old man for all of his being four years old. He went out and sat down in the swings and held his little head in his hands. He was surprised when he heard a voice.
“Hunter,” said the deep soft voice. Huh?
“How do you know my name?” asked the little boy.
I know many things about you. My friends and I have been looking for you, to make sure you are safe,” said the voice. Hunter closed his eyes and heard…nothing.
“I can’t hear you,” he said.
“Of course you can hear me,” said the voice.
“I can’t hear your head,” he said.
“No, you can’t,” said the voice.
“What is your name?” he said to the dark.
“Eric,” he said.
“Where are you?” asked the boy, turning around looking for the soft voice.
“Right in front of you,” he said. The boy turned around and there he was, crouched down in front of him. Hunter jumped a little, startled.
“How did you do that?” he asked, taking in the face of the man.
“I can fly,” said Eric. He reached out and touched the tears on Hunter’s face. The Viking rubbed his fingers together and could smell the salty aroma of the boy’s tears.
“People can’t fly,” he said.
“No, people can’t, but Vampires can,” said Eric honestly. The little boy flinched a little. He had heard stories of the Vampires. They had great long teeth and they sucked your blood and drained you dry. Vampires were dead, like zombies.
“Are you going to eat me?” asked Hunter, his voice trembling with fear. Eric’s face softened, his mouth parted as if he had been hit in the chest.
“Absolutely not. I am taking you somewhere where there are nice people to look after you for the night, and then to some nice people who will take care of you for me,” he said. Eric put his hand on the little boney shoulder. “You feel like a good strong little person. Do you want to go with me?”
Hunter was afraid. He could not read the man’s mind and so he did not know if he was in danger. He looked around. “Do I have to go with you?”
“Yes, but I would very much like it if you would go with me because you want to go with me,” Eric kept his voice even. Hunter was a telepath and could not be glamoured, and he would hate to just snatch the boy and take him screaming to the night. So he tried to stay calm. If he was calm, perhaps Hunter would be calm.
“Do you have a little boy?” he asked.
Eric had had children a thousand years ago. He remembered his last son, born in the time of a great snow, and the midwives brought him to him and he laid on his side and unbundled the child and marveled at the little man his wife Aude and he had made. But then he became Vampire and was forced away from his family by his maker and he never knew what happened to the boy with long corn silk blond hair and his mother’s face and his own greenish grey storm colored eyes.
“I did have a son,” said Eric. “And he was very like you, but he had light colored eyes, like mine.”
“Did you love him?” Hunter asked. Eric swallowed hard.
“Yes, I loved him,” said the Viking, unsure of his voice.
“Where will we go?” he asked.
“The safest place in the world,” said Eric.
“Is it far?” he asked.
“No, it will not take us long to get there,” he said. “Will you come?” The little boy looked at the handsome Vampire and nodded. “It will be cold high up in the air, so I want you to get into my coat and hold on to me very tight and I will cover you up and hold on to you.”
“You promise not to drop me?” he asked.
“I won’t let you go, Hunter,” confirmed Eric. He straightened his back and pulled the long leather coat open. It was lined in fox fur. He felt the child sort of sit on his long broad thigh and turned himself to straddle Eric. He put his head against the Viking’s shoulder and he could feel Hunter’s warm breath on his neck. His arms went around him and grabbed up a hand full of his shirt. Eric secured the coat around him, covering his head as well as he could, then stood, his arm supporting his bottom. “Are you ready?”
“I’m ready,” he said.
“Then we must fly,” he said. And Eric took off.
When Eric was human, and on the raiding trail, he thought about his children and his wife, somewhere far from where he was resting. He loved his children, but this last child, was his heart because he was the most like him, haughty and fearless. There was that quality in this child. He could feel him wiggling a little against him, his hands tightening on his shirt. Eric could feel him breathing, his little heart beating, strong and fast against him. He smelled warm and young and healthy, vital. Like all humans, like his son.
I paced the parlor. Westexan was folding a couple of blankets and Aolani was fluffing a couple of pillows. Eric had been specific when he called. Aolani was to work the charm to shield us from Sookie’s mind and get ready for a guest. We were expecting Sookie, maybe she was hurt. Maybe Eric was hurt. Bill was not answering his phone, but he may have been with one of the sister wives and his phone turned off.
Fairy had made some fresh chocolate chip cookies and I had made some tea. Minnie popped a Tru:Blood in the microwave, ready to be warmed.
“I wish I knew what was going on,” said Westexan. “I am worried.”
About that time Bill showed up. “Has he made it yet?”
“What is going on, Bill,” asked Fairy. “Is Eric okay?”
“Presumably he is fine,” said Bill. “He will be here as soon as he can.” He patted Fairy on the shoulder. He leaned down to kiss Westexan and me.
“Are you hungry Bill?” asked Minnie. “I can warm you a bottle.”
“I am fine,” said Bill. “Thank you.”
We waited. Only Bill was perfectly still. That was the nice thing about Vampires. As the world came down around them, they could be calm.
Finally, we heard a noise at the door and Eric stepped in. At first it appeared he was injured because he was holding himself, but then we realized he was not holding himself, but holding someone against him, a small someone. He put his finger against his lips in a shooshing motion and gently opened his coat. He revealed a small boy with blond hair, sleeping against his silent chest, clutching his shirt. Westexan moved to him and helped dislodge him from the Viking’s body and she carried him to the couch and laid him down. Aolani opened a blanket and tucked it around the boy and Eric stood there, looking down at him.
“Is this Hunter?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Poor thing, unable to screen anything out,” said Aolani. The little boy turned and looked at Aolani.
“I can’t hear you either,” he said. “I can’t hear any of you. Are you Vampires too?”
“No,” she said. “I cast a magik spell so you can’t hear our heads.”
“Are you a witch?” he asked.
“Yes, but I am a good witch, so you don’t have to worry,” she said. “Are you hungry?”
“Had my supper but I didn’t get my snack,” he said.
“Fairy, looks like you have a young man who could eat a couple of cookies,” said Minnie.
“Fairy!!!! You have Fairies too Eric?” he said, his dark brown eyes looking at all of us in wonder.
“Sure, Hunter, she is your Fairy godmother and she is going to help look after you,” said Eric. He winked at his lead wife. She graced the Big Viking with a smile.
“Come get your cookies,” said Fairy. She held her hand out and he scampered out of the blanket and grabbed Fairy’s hand.
Fairy, Bill, Aolani, Minnie and Westexan sat at the big dinner table and chatted with Hunter. He was surprised when Bill finally accepted the T:B Minnie had offered. Eric pulled me just out the door to talk to me.
“Aslinn, you need to contact the Barrister and find out what we can do to keep Hunter,” said Eric.
“I can do that Eric, but honey, he is British, and this is the American system,” I said.
“Vampires have certain laws about our kind taking care of human children. It is frowned on in our world. It would be temporary, but I don’t know anything about a precedent,” said Eric.
“He will try,” I said. “I’ll help him all I can.”
“Thank you,” he said. Eric slumped against the wall, so uncharacteristic of the Vampire. Oh no, he was injured in some way.
“Eric, are you okay?” I asked, putting my hand on the Viking. Eric and I had a complicated relationship. I was often irritated with the Viking, but I cared for him. Eric pulled me to him and put his arms around me and stood there still as a statue with his arms around my waist. I waited for him. “Eric, are you okay?”
“I remember my son,” said Eric. His voice was calm. “I remember my boy.”
“Oh, Eric,” I said. I put my arms around him and patted him. What do you say to a man who was mourning a child dead for almost a thousand years, give or take a few decades. I patted him gently.
Finally I let him go and he did the same. His eyes were clear. “It is almost dawn.”
“Yes, it is, you and Bill are both caught out,” I said.
“Close the shutters and I will rest on the couch and Bill can take the coffin,” he said. “Stay here with Hunter and tomorrow evening I will take him to the people I have arranged things with.”
“Are you going to tell Sookie?” I asked.
“Eventually, but not right now,” he said. Eric leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Thank you for helping me, and for….”
“It’s fine Eric,” I said. “You and I are friends; I do anything for my friends.”
“Anything?” asked Eric, grinning his lopsided grin.
“Come on, get your ass to bed,” I said to the Vampire.
We stepped back into the room. Aolani was carrying the boy. “Bill, you can have the coffin. I will rest out here.”
Minnie and Fairy began to close the shutters against the coming light. I helped Bill into the coffin by tucking the blanket over him. I leaned over and kissed my lover on the mouth and looked at him and he at me til the lid of the coffin came down. Eric lay down on the couch and motioned with a come on gesture to Aolani. Aolani brought the sleeping boy to Eric who helped her cuddle the child against the Vampire. She put a blanket over them and Eric stroked the sleeping child’s hair and when he thought none of us were looking, he kissed the boy.
“Min son,” he said. “Min son.”
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Spies Amoung Us: A TBC Adventure
Friday April 16
God Speed and Jen were the first to arrive at Merlotte’s. Sookie had worked the day shift and would not be there. Which to me worked out perfectly, I was never truly comfortable with Sookie anyway. After all, I was sleeping with her boyfriend. And I shared him with four other women. Talk about complicated. Not for us, but for her. She would never understand.
So, I walked in to Merlotte’s wearing my fave casual outfit. A white tank top with another layered on top, blue jeans and tennis shoes and my big bag of crazy slung across my chest and over one shoulder. The Barrister was with me, dressed in his Celtic United tee shirt and jeans and tennis shoes. I could see Lafayette in the kitchen, Tara at the bar, Arlene standing at a table to take an order. Sam was behind the bar too. He looked up and smiled.
“Hey Aslinn,” he said. Sam was a handsome guy and he looked a little sunny and ruddy, as if he had been outside today. “God Speed and his wife are here.” We had met Sam and Sookie when they came to our parlor so Sookie could listen in on the Fellowship of the Sun people who had come to visit us some time back.
“Hey Sam,” I said. “This is my fiancé, Barrister.”
Sam shook hands with my handsome boy. “Is this some sort of a meeting?” he asked, placing both hands on the bar, looking at me.
“Sort of,” I said.
“Well, I tell you what, I’ll fix up the big outdoor area for you to have your meeting in, if you will eat here in the bar,” he said.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. We went and joined Jen and God Speed. A waitress came by and took my order for a bottle of bud light. I took out my cigarettes and tapped one out and lit it. Barrister ordered a lager.
“I have to say, I am a bit nervous about meeting here without the counselors,” said God Speed.
“I am too, but I have definite feeling about this summer. I think we have to be ready, and if they can’t or won’t tell us, we have to plan ahead,” I said. “This is not like just trying to get the Source and the Connection to tell us the plot lines, it is about something else.”
“I have met someone, a person like our counselors and he has agreed to give me some insight of their world,” said Barrister. “Their world is very complex.”
“Do you think the lead counselor wants a lawyer because of ….the young counselor?” asked GS. We had reverted back to our old euphemisms for our fanged friends. You never knew who might be listening.
“It may be, but from what I understand a wind of democracy is blowing through the community. They have operated in this very…tightly controlled system for some time,” said the Barrister. “Now they are out in the open, they may be chafing at the yoke, so to speak.”
We stopped for a moment as the waitress brought us our beers and we told her we were expecting some friends and would wait for them to show up. The waitress nodded and walked away.
“So you think the lead counselor may be exploring…..” Jen shrugged as the possibilities.
“It is difficult to say, and I will hold my speculations til we are in more secluded surroundings. We began to have ordinary chit chat. I watched the room. I saw so many faces that were familiar to me. Bud Dearborn was having a burger and fries with Andy Bellefleur. Jason was having a beer with Hoyt Fortenberry. Jane Bodehouse was sitting perched on her stool.
Soon, Linzy and Lina, Fairy and Raki, Renee and Scarlett, Dude and Sal (he cast an evil glare at Hoyt as if the poor man would understand why he had that ‘you pissed in my cheerios’ look on Sal’s face), Bella and Minnie, Westexan and Aolani, Butter and SweetandWild, Vi and Val who made up the last of us. Finally we began to order.
I had the Lafayette Burger and fries. Barrister had the chicken strips and onion rings, GS and Jen had the burgers deluxe and fries and we got a basket of fried dill pickles to try out. The rest got their orders, ranging from the cat fish, to the smothered pork chops, to the chicken fried steak. There was much chatter as we ate. The food was good and plentiful and the drink was brought in a timely fashion. Tara brought us drinks as well.
“Are all of you all family?” she asked, a smile that faltered just the tiniest bit.
“We sure are,” said God Speed. “Thanks for taking such good care of us.”
“We are glad you are here,” said Tara. She turned and headed back to the bar.
After we had eaten, I turned to find Sam and I caught his gaze and he nodded. Everything was ready.
“C’mon, let’s pay our food tabs,” I said. We grabbed our bills and went up a table at a time and paid our tabs, leaving sizable tips on the tables for the waitresses and dropping a tip for Tara. Finally we were out in the big storage shed where Arlene had her engagement party. Sam came out with pitchers of beer for us.
“Thanks Sam,” said GS.
“You are welcome,” he said, and headed back to the bar.
“So, what do we think is going on?” asked Dude.
“Barrister, you seemed to have hit on something, you may as well start,” said GS.
“I can’t say that I know for sure precisely,” said Barrister in his London accent. “However, this why I think Eric wants legal advice and why the queen is apparently a trouble spot for him. I happened to speak with a friend of mine from Mississippi, an American lawyer. I asked him if he had contacts in the Vampire community, someone who would meet with me and answer some questions, and he confessed he did, a British Vampire, very high up in the power structure.”
“Mississippi?” asked Renee. “Do they know what will happen to Bill?”
“I do not know Renee, and I doubt he would be able to tell me in a safe way,” explained the Barrister. “I did however meet with this British Vampire. He was very near to Eric’s age and he was very forward thinking.”
“How forward thinking?” asked Sal.
“Forward enough to tell a few things I am not sure the community as a whole would appreciate,” said Barrister. “He explained the way the Vampire community evolved into the system we are a little familiar with.”
Barrister then began to tell us the history of the Vampire world. Compared to human government systems, the Vampire hierarchy was fairly young, only about 600 years old. This was mainly because there were so few Vampires who lived past their first few years and they lived even more underground than they did even two hundred years.
In the times Eric had been made Vampires lived a nomadic existence and traveled in pairs perhaps threes but no more than that. Then there were Vampire groups, more like nests and baronies than Kingdoms. Each group was feudal, very like early Japanese systems under the war lords. Eventually, however, there were enough Vampires in more or less permanent nests or fiefs. As these communities became stronger, they needed more centralized governments. Thus they began to set up the kingdoms and their monarchies.
“Now, you have to keep in mind that Vampires never die unless they are killed,” said Barrister. “So, the matter of who becomes King or Queen was usually a matter of who was the lord or lady of a community. Then the kingdoms were set up into shires or areas and Sheriffs were appointed.”
“So, how did the system get brought here to America?” asked Vi.
“For many years it didn’t, and according to my fangy friend, he explained that the Vampires from the old world actually liked the freedom. They could hunt, predate one another, squabble, much like organized crime groups and these groups had bosses, more like mafia than governments. And it was getting dangerous for not only the Vampires in America, but the ones in the old world as Vampires in America began to complain to their former kings and queens about the need for leadership,” said Barrister.
These complaints became irritants to the kings and queens because then there would be a petition to the king or queen of the offender and the conflicts over who had the right and who was being slighted drove wedges between the basically peaceful monarchs. So it was decided that each king and queen would send a proctor, a man or woman they respected and trusted, to become the king or queen of a specific area in America. A great conclave of European Vampires gathered and with a large world map between them, they negotiated the country and marked it into territories. Thing is, this royal proctor would have to travel, bring their own army, then fight for the kingdom they had been allotted.
“This, my friend explained, caused the great Vampire Range wars,” said Barrister. “The proctors and their armies fought tooth and nail, quite literally, with one another for some years, about fifty in all, to win the territories and establish the kingdoms in America. Of course the war for Independence and the civil war interrupted them, but they managed to stay out of the way of the wars and stay hidden. The American kings and queens became as powerful as the European and they lived quite well.”
“So, how did they come to have the Magister?” asked Jen.
“The Vampire Court system functioned as the Inquisition did in the human world. And that makes sense since the Magister had been an Inquisitor when he was made Vampire,” said Barrister. “He came after the war was over and the newly established kings and queens sent the offending ‘mafioso’ bosses who started all the problems to begin with to him and they were dealt with severely. Since he did such an effective job they decided he would be a permanent fixture of the New World Vampire government.”
“So, do they follow all of the old laws of the European Vampires?” asked Fairy.
“They do. You have the most basic laws on the forum” said Barrister. “But here is the complication now. They are out of the coffin and they have placed themselves somewhat under the aegis of the human government in order to mainstream and many of their laws do not gel with American laws. And this has led to a very exciting shift in the thinking of the Vampires.”
“So….what…what do they want?” asked Minnie.
“When the Vampires came out of the coffin, everyone assumed this had been a great shock. And it had been for regular people but to the government, they had been doing a lot of business with the Vampires, as Vampires are very rich. Sometimes they become wealthier than the kings and queens themselves and the kings and queens would tax them more based on their wealth. So increasingly, the Vampires want to be more, democratic. The tributes they have to pay are far steeper than the tax structures they could take advantage of if they became fully fledged citizens,” said the Barrister.
“But they aren’t full citizens yet,” said Scarlett.
“No, not yet, but my friend told me that even in Britain, there are things in the works to make them full citizens. There is even talk of a Vampire running for Parliament and there are rumors that one member of the House of Lords is actually a puppet for the Vampire who actually owns the title, who had been a hereditary member of the House three hundred years ago when he became Vampire,” said the Barrister. “So it would not be beyond the scope of thought if the same things were happening in America.”
“What does this have to do with Eric?” asked Sal.
“Think about what you know about Eric. He is very old, very wealthy, very powerful in his area except where the Queen is concerned. Eric is paying into two structures: the tax system for the human government in the form of business taxes, property taxes, employee taxes. Then he is paying tribute to his queen, which is considerable. What if Eric wanted to go democratic, exploit the human system more fully without having to pay tribute to a queen who is forcing him to break age old Vampire taboos for money, money in addition to the tributes from the other sheriffs who presumably collect them from their minions, like Bill,” said the Barrister.
All of us fell silent. We let everything sink in. It sounded reasonable.
“So what can we do to help Eric?” asked Fairy.
“Well, I think I know, but it would take a brave person, a woman, and the help of someone I have asked to join us here tonight,” said the Barrister.
“Who?” asked God Speed.
“Miss Pam, will you join us, please?” said the Barrister, turning to the open doorway.
Pam Ravenscroft stepped in, smiling at all of us.
Saturday, April 17
“Pam, won’t you tell the others about the plan,” offered Barrister. He sat down and let Pam speak.
“I won’t waste a lot of your time but get to the point. I need someone to infiltrate the Queen’s nest, someone who would be able to listen and learn, someone brave enough to do it and not get eaten by her majesty or spill their guts,” said the blond Vampire.
“You mean to go in without protection?” asked Westexan.
“Not at all. I would make a blood bond with whoever went and stay close to them. There is a friendly little fang banger I like to taste in Sophie’s court. I would bring this person in to pose as a potential lover for the Queen,” said Pam.
“Why are you doing this?” asked Dude.
“Eric is my maker and I owe him a great deal. Sophie has compromised Eric’s safety. I don’t know how valuable any information gathered might be, but it may at least put us on our guard,” she explained. “Point us in the right direction.”
“Why hasn’t Eric told us he might be in jeopardy?” I asked. “Didn’t he think we would help him?” I think this pissed me off. And from the nods of the others around me, they were a little pissed off too.
“I think Eric was trying to protect you, but I have to tell you what he would not tell you,” said Pam. “Sophie Anne will be taking Bill Compton’s place for a while in our gatherings.”
“Can’t we keep her out, the whole invitation thing?” I asked. “Because I don’t want her in the meetings.”
“Neither does Eric, and since Eric built the room, Sophie or any Vampire can visit the parlor, no Vampire home is sacrosanct from another Vampire,” said Pam.
“So we might one day find some strange Vampire sleeping in our parlor,” asked GS.
“While it is highly unlikely, it would not be beyond possibility,” said Pam.
“Jesus wept,” I said. Eric, I thought, what have you done to us?
“So, who is up for the task?” asked Pam.
“Well, you and I have a blood bond already Pam,” said Scarlett. “I will go.”
“Good girl,” she said. “I will make arrangements for us to be invited to an event at the Queen’s Lair.” Pam came over and kissed Scarlett tenderly on the mouth. “You will do well, just remember, I won’t let anything happen to you.” Then Pam took off at Vampire speed presumably back to Shreveport.
The next day, I was sitting in the parlor with Scarlett, GS, Aolani and Barrister.
“Scarlett honey you sure you want to do this?” I asked. “A room full of Vampires and fangbangers?”
“Sure, if it will help Eric and Pam and us, I would do this,” she said. “Of course the Queen isn’t my type, but I think I can manage to do what needs to be done.”
“Scarlett, I came upon this handy little thing,” said Barrister. “In a little shop in London. It is part of a Scottish bracelet, the bracelet itself is made of pewter but it has what we call a palm dagger. The handle rests in your palm and between your fingers and the blade becomes a part of your fist. It would not harm a Vampire severely in most cases but this blade happens to be made of silver. So perhaps whatever disguise you work up, you could revolve it around that.”
Scarlett took the blade and felt of it in her palm and the way it rested between her fingers. “Where would I cut her?”
“I would go for the jugular,” said Aolani. “And slash at her more than once.” Scarlett nodded.
“What we really need is some listening devices, wireless, something that could be worn in her clothes or jewelry that she would not have to take off,” said GS. “Something we can monitor here in the parlor.”
“I will look into it,” said Aolani. “I have very useful contacts.”
“Now, current human law says they can only feed from willing adults,” said Barrister.
“Sweetie, I don’t think the queen gives a flying rat’s ass for human law,” I said, squeezing his hand.
“Very true,” said Barrister. “Does Sophie fear human government at all?”
“No, but she is a little frightened of her own kind,” said Aolani. “I have also been thinking of a number of things Scarlett may be able to use magically that will help her. She will have many weapons at her disposal.”
“I have a call in to the Magister,” said Barrister. “Have any of you met the Magister?”
“Only one of us have,” said God Speed. “Aslinn.”
“I don’t know what sort of pull I have with him, he doesn’t care for humans,” I said. “Why do you have a call in?”
“I am representing myself as a brief interested in Vampire rights work, who wants to talk to him about the legal structure,” he said. “I set up the meeting with my fangy friend in London.”
“Can your friend join us?” I asked. “I would feel better if you had a Vampire with you.”
“I have a Vampire going with me,” said Barrister. “I am taking Eric with me.”
“Eric?” asked God Speed. “How are you doing that?”
“I told Eric that if he wants me to be his consiglieri he would have to help me understand the Vampire world and its laws. So, I will be going to see the Magister with him,” he said.
“Be careful chere,” I said.
“Eric said he wouldn’t let anything happen to me,” said Barrister.
“Eric likes teasing Bill with you too much to lose you now,” said Scarlett. “Well, I have to go shopping if I am going to do my Mata Hari thing at the queen’s.”
“Do you have money?” asked Barrister.
“Pam gave me her credit card,” said Scarlett. “Thanks for the blade.” Scarlett reached over and pecked Barrister on the cheek and did the same to me and headed out of the parlor.
Later, Barrister and I were in the parlor. It was about an hour before sundown. Eric was to pick him up after sundown and after Eric had a meal at Fairy’s. I was cooking spaghetti and sauce. I have to admit I was surprised when Bill came in. I went over. Bill came and kissed me warmly on the mouth.
“Bill, I want you to meet my….my fiancé,” I said hesitatingly.
“Ah, Aslinn’s human spouse,” said Bill cooly but friendly. Barrister shook hands with my Vampire lover. “Very nice to meet you.”
“I am pleased to meet you as well,” said Barrister.
“Bill, are you hungry? Would you like a bottle?” I asked.
“I would love a bottle sweetheart,” he said. “So, you are going with Eric this evening to meet with the Magister.”
“Yes, I am,” he answered. “I hope to be a useful member of the council. All of the members seem to contribute something.” I brought Bill his Tru:Blood and Barrister another glass of wine. This was a bit surreal to me, my two lovers sitting down for a chat and a drink, considering I had slept with Bill on Tuesday night and my fiancé last night. I went to the kitchen and began to slice the bread and put it in a basket. Scarlett came in, took note of the two and walked into the kitchen.
“Everything okay Aslinn?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said. “Bill and Barrister are getting along…fine.”
“Smell’s good in here,” she said, sniffing the pot with the sauce.
“So when do you go on your trip?” I asked.
“Tomorrow evening, it is mine and Pam’s first trip together,” she said, winking at me.
“Cool, hope you have fun,” I said.
Soon there were other council members in the parlor and I called for them to come and get it. Eric came in a few minutes after we sat down, Fairy in tow. She beamed at her Viking. He looked very handsome. As Barrister had, Eric had donned a suit, slate grey that made his eyes even stormier and his complexion was a bit rosier from the blood meal he had gotten from his lead wife.
“Well, isn’t this cozy, Aslinn’s two men sitting at table together,” said the Viking.
“There is no reason Bill and I can’t get along,” said Barrister, lighting a cigarette. “I certainly can’t blame Bill for caring about Aslinn. Just as God Speed can’t blame you for caring about Jen.”
“Well, we are certainly becoming more and more enlightened all the time,” said Eric. “Where is Jessica tonight Bill?”
“She is on a shopping excursion with Renee and her daughter. Formal dresses I think,” said Bill.
“Lovely, I will be excited about what she selects,” said Eric. “If we are going to arrive on time, we should go.”
“Yes,” said Barrister. He stood up and I smoothed his jacket and tie. He kissed me, lingering over me a second.
“Be careful,” I said.
“I will,” he answered.
“Aslinn, I promise, the Barrister will leave safely with no bite marks,” said the Viking, flashing me his lop sided grin.
I watched the two men leave. I turned and I found Bill had stood up.
“Now, I want know what you think you are hatching up between you,” said Bill quietly to the room at large. “You are up to something dangerous and I want to know what is going on.”
Damn!!! I looked around.
“Why would you think there is something going on?” asked God Speed.
“I keep hearing parts of conversations that end suddenly when I enter a room. I see it on your faces. And with Eric taking Barrister to see the Magister it just feels wrong,” said Bill. “So, what does Pam and Eric have you doing?”
April 18
Eric and Barrister arrived at the Louisiana home of the Magister just in time. On the way there, Eric explained the Magister had homes in every kingdom supported and maintained by the king or queen of the state. They also paid their share into the Magister’s coffers. Barrister took note of that and tried to interpret the Vampire’s expression. He wondered if Eric disapproved of this, since it was his tribute money that went partly to pay for the Magister’s keep.
The house was a lovely southern mansion, built fifty years before the Civil War. Eric stopped him for a moment.
“This is a new situation for us, the Vampires. We are being forced to deal with humans more and more and some of that is very good and very lucrative, very pleasurable, but some is negative because Vampires look at justice in a way that is far more….indelicate than human justice. Civil rights are an alien concept to us. Because to be a successful Vampire in our world or yours, there has to be someone in charge, and that can only be the strongest Vampire,” said Eric.
“Eric, have the Vampires considered that a more democratic form of government would be better?” asked Barrister. Eric said nothing, but placed his finger on his lips in the sign for silence and shook his head. The Barrister nodded.
“We should go,” said Eric. They got out of the car and headed for the house.
“So are you going to tell me?” asked Bill.
“Eric is not having us do anything,” I said absolutely truthfully.
“Aslinn, please tell me the truth,” he said, looking at me.
“There is nothing to tell you,” I said.
“God Speed, what is going on?” asked Bill.
“Bill, there is nothing going on,” he said.
“Scarlett darlin’ are you getting into something?” asked Bill.
“No, nothing, I am just going out with Pam is all,” she said.
“Look, you don’t want to mess around with the Vampire world, not like this, you are vulnerable, you are human god-dammit,” Bill hit the table with his fist and it dented. I went over to him and took his hand still balled up in a fist and opened it and smoothed his hand between my own. “Don’t get involved in Vampire politics.”
“Do you really think Eric would allow any of us to be harmed?” asked Fairy.
“Not intentionally,” he said.
“Well, we trust all of you,” said Vi. “And we would help any of you.”
“I know sweetheart, but I would rather that you all stay out of the larger Vampire world. There are some who do not strictly approve of our little family here. They say the great Eric Northman and his child are turning human lovers,” he said. He sat down. I moved behind his chair and put my hands on his shoulders.
“What do they say of you, Bill?” I asked.
“Me? I am a Vampire who loathes his own race,” said Bill. “So my reputation is negligible.”
Eric and Barrister stepped into the lavish parlor. The Magister was at supper, drinking deeply from a young woman who appeared to be glamoured, perhaps even dead. When he finished, he laid her on the carpet.
“Ah, Northman, are you hungry?” asked the Magister.
“I have fed, thank you,” said Eric, looking at the woman.
“Is this your human lawyer?” asked the Magister.
“He is,” said Eric. Barrister stood there quietly, while the Vampire gave him a once over. The Magister was small, about 5’6” or 5’7”, about 150 pounds, his hair sparse and white. But there was a power that emanated from him. Barrister was not an overtly religious person, but he felt as though he was standing before the devil and the devil was cold.
“You smell like a Londoner,” said the Magister.
“I am,” he said.
“Well, what are you interested in?” asked the Magister. “Corporate law, civil rights, inheritance law?”
“Criminal law,” said Barrister.
“Ummm, crime and punishment, my favorite subjects. Proceed,” he said, sitting down.
Bill left a little later, still on edge. Renee had come in with the Kid her arms full of bags and bundles. Bill offered to escort her home soon after and she took the offer gratefully. Jessica stayed behind for a little while and then headed to Bon Temps. We relaxed.
Scarlett showed us her outfits and we approved of them. They were sort of hippy punk garb that would match the bracelet Barrister had found for her. I especially like the knee high boots. I went to the kitchen and opened a drawer and took out one of our chop sticks. Made in the Japanese style, it had a stainless steel tip but it was made of wood. It would slide perfectly into a little seam pocket of the boot.
“I have put together a set of magikal tools for you Scarlett,” she said. “A spell that works if you are attacked so that you will disappear.”
“Where will I end up?” she asked.
“Here,” said Aolani. “I have placed wards around the parlor. There is more than one way to keep a Vampire out of this room. No one but us and our Vampires can get in here without being in the company of us or one of our Vamps.”
“That is good to know,” I said. I hated the idea that we could not protect our parlor from some unwanted Vampire. “What else?”
“I have made Scarlett a peering glass, she will be able to look into it and see one of us using the other peering glass,” Aolani pointed to the large mirror hanging above the computer. “She can just take it out to primp or set it up and we can see her or the room she is in.”
“Excellent,” I said.
“What else?” asked Scarlett.
“I procured you some Faery blood,” she said, holding up the vial of glittery lavender colored liquid. “If you offer the queen some Faery blood, she will be stoned, more likely to chat with you.”
“Far out!” she said, looking at the blood. “Anything else?”
“Yes, but this spell best works if you get something from the queen,” said Aolani.
“What would that be?” asked Scarlett.
“Magister, I would like to ask you a question. If you do not care to answer it, I understand,” said Barrister.
“Ask your question,” said the Magister.
“With the Great Revelation, you have made your existence known and you are living among mortals and at least giving lip service to the governments your people cooperate in. Do you ever think there will be a time when your people will want something other than the old way of rule?” asked Barrister.
“Are you asking if there might be a time that Vampires would want to vote?” asked the Magister.
“Suffrage of course would be one of those things. Marriage is a hot issue right now. Restrictions on business and money. Of course Vampires would have to pay human taxes,” he observed.
“Pay into a system that supports programs for humans. Welfare, healthcare, military. I don’t think so,” said the Magister. He laid his head back and considered the ceiling of his house. “Unlike some of my kind, I have no love for humans. They are pets, cattle. Your kind is just food. You don’t feel like we do.”
“Certainly, but one might argue, carefully of course, that Vampires do not feel as we do, and there are those among us who are very passionate,” said Barrister.
“Yes, I remember such a woman,” said the Magister. “Who was that little human woman you brought before me to speak on behalf of the little half wit fledgling Compton turned a while back?”
“Her name was Aslinn Magister,” said Eric. “This is her human mate.”
“Her human mate? Is she aligned with a Vampire?” asked the Magister.
“Yes, Magister, she is aligned with me,” Eric lied.
“Are you bonded?” asked the Magister.
“No,” answered Eric. “But rest assured, she is mine.” Eric flashed Barrister a look that said be still.
“Well,” said the Magister. “Apparently the rumors are true then, the Great Eric Northman is going human lover.”
Eric’s back stiffened and he held in his anger.
Monday April 19
“You of course understand, Aslinn and I are not aligned,” said the Viking as they drove homeward.
“I am sure you have your reasons for telling the Magister that,” said Barrister.
“The Vampire’s claim on a human is an ancient and seldom crossed line. For all of his mystique, I am older and stronger than the Magister. He will not challenge me for any human I claim is mine,” said Eric. “Had I said she was Compton’s he would have ignored his claim and perhaps become more interested in Aslinn than I cared.”
“Do you want other Vampires involved with the people in the group?” asked Barrister.
“Of course not,” said the Viking.
I was at the computer when Eric and Barrister came in. The rest of the gang had left and I was just waiting for Barrister to return. Scarlett had left with Pam. She would stay at Pam’s house and leave to go to the Queen’s lair that evening. I stood up when the boys came in.
“How did it go?” I asked. “Did you learn anything?”
“Quite a lot,” said Barrister. “Vampires have a very efficient justice system. On many levels, I quite appreciate it.”
“What was the Magister like?” I asked.
“Very…anti human,” said Barrister.
“Higher level Vampires tend to feel that way, “said Eric. He sat down on one of the couches and put his feet up on the coffee table. “I don’t suppose I have anything less formal to wear in the coffin do I?”
“You do Eric, in the closet, a teeshirt and track pants and tennis shoes with socks,” I said. “And please undress in the loo.” You have to remind Vampires of that. They are simply indifferent to their personal nudeness.
“If I hand out my suit will you hang it for me?” asked the Vampire.
“Certainly,” I said. I went to the closet and grabbed a jacket hanger and a pant hanger. Eric went into the loo with his change of clothes and began to hand things out. Jacket first, then pants, then shirt and tie. The shirt would go to the cleaners the suit would be hung. I could smell the sweet dry smell of Vampire on Eric’s clothes. I hung his suit carefully and put it in the closet. He came out a few minutes later.
“Hungry Eric?” I asked.
“No, it is almost dawn,” he said. “Good night Aslinn, Barrister.”
“Night Eric,” I answered. He went over to the coffin and steeped in, crouched down, sat down on his bottom, pulled the blanket over himself and lay down, closing the coffin over him.
The next evening, Scarlett woke and slid out the bed. Pam was already up and in the shower. She padded through the small carefully decorated house. The kitchen was basic and very small but there was a coffee maker. Scarlett began to make coffee. She searched around for sugar and crème. Scarlett took her coffee like medicine. Three quarters crème and sugar in a quarter coffee. Pam came out, her hair bundled up in a towel, a lovely pink silk robe tied around her slim waist. She put her arm around Scarlett’s waist and kissed her on the cheek. “Good evening darling,” she said.
“Good evening,” said Scarlett. She watched Pam go to the refrigerator and get a bottle of Tru:Blood and take it to the microwave and heat it up. “Do you ever get tired of drinking blood?”
“Synthetic blood, yes, blood from the vessel? Not at all,” she said. “Humans all taste differently. Make sure you take some vitamin b12. The Queen tends to be a deep drinker.”
“She won’t drain me will she?” asked Scarlett.
“Of course not,” said Pam. “I am going to feed you as well, before we go, so you will have some extra strength.”
“So, to review, I am find out what the Queen intends to do with Eric?” asked Scarlett. “And then I am to suggest that you may not be so happy serving Eric, that you would be interested in a partnership with the queen.”
“Yes,” she said. “Allow yourself to be pulled into her confidence. She likes to show off to new paramours, to brag. She also has a compulsive interest in gossip, loves nothing better than to listen to the goings on in her kingdom. She also likes to hear about any troubles they may be having in their businesses. That is why we are presenting you as a dancer at Fangtasia.”
“And I am to say that Eric has fewer and fewer Vamps at the bar, that he mainly hangs out with humans and the receipts are a little down because the tourists aren’t that interested in a Vampire bar without many Vampires there,” said Scarlett.
“Correct,” said Pam. “But, do not mention the counsel unless she mentions it and feign a sort of disinterest, just that they come into the bar sometimes and they tip well.”
“Can do,” said Scarlett. She finished her coffee and rinsed her cup and put it in the drainer.
“Come back to bed dear and have a special little tonic then before you take your shower,” said Pam.
The Queen’s lair was lavish if a bit gaudy. Scarlett was dressed in a loose fitting gauzy blouse mainly unbuttoned to show off her ample curves and the suede bra she was wearing. Her skirt was short to show her strong dancer’s legs. She went without stockings but she still had the impression she was wearing stockings because of the pretty lacy bows that she’s had tattooed on the back of her smooth thighs. Pam had declared them the sexiest things she had ever seen. She wore the high heeled leather boots with the weapons snugged down in her boots. She hoped she would not have to use them but was comforted that she had them. On her wrist was the bracelet the Barrister had given her. She carried a leather bag with a change of clothes, the bottle of faery blood, and the peering glass, which she had tested. God Speed’s smiling face grinned at her and she felt comforted.
Aolani had come through with a listening device. A pair of stud earrings were actually tiny bugs. Scarlett would not be able to hear the parlor, but they could hear her.
The palace was full of people, some were humans, the companions of other Vampires, but most were Vampires. And mostly women. Pam walked beside Scarlett, her arm around her. They made their way up to Sophie Ann, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana.
We were in the parlor. Barrister, Bill, God Speed, Dude, Sal and Eric were at Fangtasia hanging out, watching the new Vampire dancers, a double girl act, strutting their stuff, drinking beer and Tru: Blood and watching the show. This was a set up planned by Pam, to keep the male Vampires busy while Pam and Scarlett were on their mission. I tried to imagine Bill whistling at the dancing girls as I had seen human men do and could not picture it. I also tried to imagine Barrister and Bill being regular guys together, and had an even more difficult time of it.
Jessica, the only other Vampire who had been told about the mission was sitting next to the Kid. Jessica was beginning to become more and more Vampire, accepting her new life and paying attention when the discussions came up regarding Vampire law and behavior and our places in one another’s worlds. We were sitting by the receiver Aolani’s husband had set up so we could listen to the party. We looked like people I had seen in Norman Rockwell paintings of people gathered around the radio. We could hear the music and the sounds of chat and we could hear Pam’s and Scarlett’s voice.
“Who do you have here Pam?” asked Queen Sophie Anne.
“She is one our newest dancers, my queen,” said Pam. “She is Crimson Siren.”
“She is indeed. How does she taste?” asked the queen.
“She is very luscious,” said Pam.
“Come closer Crimson,” said the queen, motioning to Scarlett. Scarlett walked carefully toward the queen. The Queen took her hand and turned it to look at Scarlett’s wrist, stroking it. “With your permission, Pam?”
“Of course,” she said. “Crimson, allow the queen to taste you.” Scarlett nodded and steeled herself for the bite of the queen’s large white fangs. The pain was sharp but brief and the queen’s mouth and tongue worked to taste the bit of blood she’s drawn.
“Very tasty,” said the queen. “Is she yours?”
“She is mine, but if she pleases your majesty, please enjoy her,” said Pam.
“I still have that lovely Russian you took an interest in, Pam. Consider her yours while you are here,” said the queen.
“What are they doing now?” asked Jessica. We all shushed her and leaned closer to the receiver. Aolani’s husband adjusted the receiver a bit to clear a little static and the sounds of the party became clearer.
Scarlett allowed the queen to lead her through the house, introducing her to some select people, both Vampire and human and finally they mounted the stairs that would lead to Sophie’s bedroom suite.
“Welcome to my sanctuary, my dear,” said the queen, her fangs snicking out into a toothsome smile.
April 20, 2010
Seducing the queen had been as easy as taking candy from a baby. And Scarlett expected the queen to be an extraordinary lover but she wasn’t. She was very self absorbed and selfish as a lover. With the introduction of the faery blood, the queen relaxed after their tussle and she began to talk. She mainly complained about her situation, that her minions, to include Eric Northman, had not been paying their tributes in full and all they did was complain.
“What are they complaining about, my queen?” asked Scarlett. Scarlett could play the sympathetic ear.
“That money is not so good, that the Vampires are uncooperative,” said the queen. The faery blood had an interesting effect of making the queen’s cornflower blue eyes contract and look sort of violet in color. Her skin had an amazing glow on it, she seemed almost fae herself.
“Do you think that is the truth?” asked Scarlett. The queen shrugged. She raised her hand to her face and seemed to zone out. Then she turned back to Scarlett.
“So how do you come to work for Eric?” asked the queen.
“Traveling through the South, on my way back home, stopped for a while to make a little money and applied for a dancing job,” said Scarlett.
“Do you like working for Northman?” she asked. The queen’s hand stroked Scarlett’s naked shoulder.
“He pays well and he just asks that we do our shift, be professional,” said Scarlett. “I would rather work for Pam more directly.”
“I bet you would,” said the queen. “And maybe I can do something about that. Pam and I share common interests. It would not be difficult to get rid of the Viking. He does not please me very well right now.”
We heard this pronouncement and I looked around at the faces. Fairy had gone three shades, starting with palest to reddest in mach 12, warp speed and her anger was palatable. Aolani stiffened as well. Even Jessica looked worried. “Everyone needs to calm down, remember you are blood bonded to Vampires, they can sense your anxiety,” I reminded them. We turned back to the receiver and listened again.
“He is very old,” said Scarlett. “Of course I am sure you have a plan of how you would do it, you are so clever.” Scarlett began to mirror the queen’s movements, stroking her shoulder.
“You know me so well already,” said the flattered and stoned queen. “Yes, I know how I would do it. Eric has developed a fondness for humans. He has made friends with a little group of them. Do you know about it?”
“Something, but I was not very interested in them. They are far too devoted to Eric….simpering and waiting on them as if he were a king,” lied Scarlett. “But I suspect some would defect to the weres if they were given half a chance.”
“The great Eric Northman? Usurped by a werewolf? That would be rich,” laughed Sophie Anne. “Perhaps the weres would be helpful. Tricky business, even for a queen, to actually kill a Vampire that is not her own child.”
“Vampires can destroy their children?” asked Scarlett gently.
“Umm, without impunity,” said the queen. “But Eric is not mine. That stupid Godric…he became more human than Vampire in the end. But, then maybe all I have to do is make a phone call and tell our Magister about something Eric is doing.”
“Well, whatever you do to him, he must deserve it,” said Scarlett, lying back on her back. She refrained from asking, hoping Sophie would just ramble on. Sophie scooted up toward her and looked at Scarlett.
“You are very bright, Crimson,” she said, brushing her lips on Scarlett’s shoulder. “I don’t make this offer often, but would you like a blood bond with me?”
“Whatever you desire is my desire,” said Scarlett, pretending to be partially glamoured and enamored of the queen. Sophie laughed a little under her breath and raised her wrist and bit into it. Scarlett took her wrist and began to feed.
Aolani raised her arms in the air as if Scarlett had scored a goal. We looked at her.
“This was something we needed for another weapon I worked out. I tried it on Pam first and it works!!!!” she said excitedly. But then we shushed her to listen again to the queen and our spy.
“Eric Northman is a very foolish Vampire for all of his years,” Sophie began again. “He is selling Vampire blood and that is a very bad thing….I can doom Eric to a coffin for eternity, bound in silver chains, to starve and burn forever…” just the mere thought of it excited the queen. She moved closer to Scarlett. “Wouldn’t that be something?”
“It would,” said Scarlett.
The room was quiet. We were shocked, no horrified. We had seen the trial of Bill Compton played out in the first adventures and we shuddered at the thought of the Big Viking being condemned to eternity in a box, going mad, being in pain and starving for an eternity. He would go mad long before he died and a with a Vampire that strong, it would perhaps take centuries, maybe another thousand years, for Eric to die that way. I would rather see him staked than see the handsome and flamboyant Vampire suffer like that.
Fairy and Aolani were stricken. Fairy began to cry. “Fairy, you can’t be upset, Eric will sense it,” I reminded her. “We have to be calm and try to figure out what we can do to keep Eric from being set up.”
“But what can we do Aslinn? How can we get him out of this?” asked Fairy, trying to stay calm. Aolani began muttering a charm to ease the tension in the room.
“What about Lafayette?” asked Renee. “He knows he is selling blood.”
“Not whose and not on whose behalf,” I said.
“Something to be easily remedied,” said Raki. “Perhaps we can broker a deal with him to testify on Eric’s behalf, even commit a little perjury on Eric’s behalf.”
“Lafayette would want something in return,” I said.
“What else could he want but his freedom,” suggested Linzy. “Perhaps Pam could approach him.”
“No way to reach her without the queen hearing a conversation, even on the cell, the Vampires can hear even that,” I said. “We have to let Pam play this out. I trust Pam, she would not allow Eric to be harmed. She loves her maker, and he loves her, she is his child. And she cares about Scarlett. She will know what to do. “
The queen finally settled to sleep, dosed again on the faery blood. Scarlett slipped from the bed and got dressed and went out and searched for Pam. Though they had agreed that should the opportunity present itself, she would create a bond with Sophie, Scarlett disliked the energy of the queen’s blood in her own blood stream. It made her nervous, erratic. True, it may be a combination of the fae blood with the Vampire blood, but she loathed it. She walked down stairs and was met by Pam, who could smell the queen’s blood in her spirit wife.
“Crimson, I was looking for you,” said Pam. “Did you please the queen?” Which was code for did you get any good information.
“I did try my best, “ she said, emphasizing the first two words of her response.
“Well, I am pleased to know you did so well,” said Pam, nodding her head. “I will see you tomorrow evening my dear.” Pam kissed Scarlett briefly.
“Good morning Pam,” said Scarlett.
“Good morning Crimson,” said Pam. They parted company to their relative rests.
A couple of hours later, Barrister and God Speed and Sal and Dude came in. The Vampires had gone to their respective homes and Jessica was sleeping in the coffin in the parlor. God Speed was excited, and not from the show at Fangtasia. They had heard something at Fangtasia and they could not wait to tell us.
“Wait, though God Speed we have to tell you something you should know,” said Jen.
“What did Scarlett learn?” asked God Speed.
“Sophie is planning to murder Eric,” I said. We told God Speed what we had heard and what we thought it meant to us. God Speed nodded.
“Then you should know this as well,” said God Speed. And he began to talk about what Eric told them over beer and Tru:Blood.
April 21, 2010
“Before we begin, we have to tell Eric and Bill about everything. We can’t keep this secret. We have our meeting tonight and Pam is not here and Scarlett is not here,” said God Speed. Barrister nodded.
“They are not going to like this,” said Raki. “They are going to be so mad at us.”
“Angry or not, they have to know,” said Barrister. “But, let us tell you what we have learned.”
“Barrister was pretty close to being right. The Vampires want to democratize. Eric suggested the possibility that a move will happen so, and the weres will be supporting them. They are coming out of the dog house so to speak very soon, and they will stand up with forward thinking Vampires,” explained God Speed.
“So, this would explain why Eric wants to include a were in our meetings when Bill is away,” said Fairy.
“It does. The were is to be here as an observer, to see how cooperative relationships work with the Vampires and the humans and to make contacts with friendly humans to begin exploring a great reveal,” said God Speed.
“When this happens, there may be a civil war, one that will be bloody. Vampires will be fighting Vampires, weres with weres. Forward thinking Vampires will be fighting alongside forward thinking weres and the same with their opposite number,” said Barrister. “This is why Eric wanted to make relationships with useful humans like me, though I think I would have chosen an American lawyer.”
“We may have moved too quickly then, we may have tipped our hand,” I said.
“Perhaps not. It may be a simple matter of Eric getting Pam and Scarlett out of there under the guise of his disobedient child and a willful human,” said Barrister. “But it may be far more serious.”
I dreaded the Viking’s rage. And Bill. He may not be a thousand years old but his anger was considerable. Would he look at his spirit wives and be angry and disgusted? We listened for sound from the receiver and heard nothing. It would be a long day.
We cleaned the parlor, God Speed worked on the computer and checked the forum and Renee and I cooked a big beef roast. Barrister just made himself useful to any of the ladies who needed him. Nearly as tall as Eric, he did what all tall, strong men do, he reached for things on the high shelf and moved things around as required by one lady or other.
The tension in the room thickened as the sun went down. We tried to be calm, blood bonded as so many of us were. Renee fairly vibrated with her anxiety.
“What are we going to say to them Aslinn?” she said. Aolani’s husband, whom we called The BodyGuard, was listening to the receiver through a head set.
“They are waking at the queen’s palace,” he informed us and took out the jack so we could hear the sounds of talking and music. Everything seemed calm and normal, well as normal as a Vampire lair would be, with one of our Vampires and one of our family in harm’s way.
We sat down to eat. We ate as though it was our last meal. Finally, Bill walked into the room with Jessica in tow. He stopped in his tracks.
“This is enough,” he said tersely. “I want to know what is going on. I will glamour you if I must, but I can feel the anxiety in the room.”
We looked at each other and then turned to see Eric Northman, the Sherriff of Area Five, come into the room. He looked at Bill.
“I want to know why Pam did not sleep at her nest last night,” said the Viking.
We stood and walked toward the couches and began to take our places. Eric seemed to be counting the people in the room. “Where is Scarlett?”
We looked around at each other and then back to Eric. “God dammit, I want to know now!!!” The Viking raised his fist and brought it down on the center of the coffee table and it cracked and collapsed into the floor onto the heavy wool rug. I blanched and hid my face against Barrister’s chest. “Where is my child? Where is Scarlett? What have you done?”
Renee was looking up at Bill and she reached for his hand and he flinched. Bill looked scary, his eyes were cold, totally Vampire.
“If you will sit down, we will tell you,” said God Speed.
Eric favored God Speed with a loveless look. God Speed ignored his glare, giving it back to the Viking. Finally he sat down, his palms easy on his knees, his back erect.
“If you think you have the right to be angry, keep this in mind, we have the right to be angry as well, Eric. For all of your posturing in front of us that we are your friends, you have not been honest with us about your situation. This is as much a breach of trust to us as what we have done may have been to you,” said God Speed. “So you think about that Eric, as we tell you about what has been going on.”
“Eric, we sensed that something bad was going on and you and Bill were not telling us. We met at Merlottes and discussed what we thought it might be,” I said.
“Then, Miss Pam, whom I contacted myself, came and told us about the queen and her plans to squeeze you and interfere in our home, our forum. And she asked for a volunteer to find out what the queen’s plans are for you,” said Barrister.
“And we armed her with mundane and magikal weapons and Scarlett spent the night in the queen’s lair, intoxicating her with faery blood to make her comfortable, made a blood bond with the queen, and discovered that she wants you dead,” said Aolani.
“And not just ‘stake in the heart Viking turns onto a pile ashes’ dead,” said Renee. “Old Testament, ‘getting medieval on your ass’ dead. She plans to set you up with the Magister as a seller of Vampire blood, a crime punishable by eternity in a box, bound with silver.” Fairy sobbed and covered her face. Eric looked at her but did not move to comfort her. This pissed me off. I stood up.
“You cold hearted bastard, that is your lead wife, she would rather see you staked than think of you in a box starving and insane for another thousand years. And don’t give me that cold look Bill Compton. This isn’t just about us, your little human blood bags. Your child and fellow Vampire is afraid for you too,” I said. “They say you have turned soft Eric, because you consort with mere humans. You would not leave us in jeopardy if humans or Vampires plotted to harm us!!! Why would you expect less from us?”
Bill looked at me. Eric looked at me. “What is happening now? Can you contact Scarlett or Pam at all?”
“We have been monitoring the action on a listening device Eric,” said the Enforcer.
“Then we will go there now. Barrister, should anything happen to us, you must contact your friend in England, and tell him everything that has happened. Aslinn, you and Barrister will go then to the Magister and tell him everything,” said Eric. “Am I being clearly understood?”
“Yes Eric,” I said.
“If we come back, we will discuss this further,” said the Viking. “Bill we must go now if we are to get to Scarlett and Pam.” Bill nodded. I stepped up to him.
“Be careful Bill,” I said.
“I will be fine,” he said. “And you and I and all my spirit wives will have a serious discussion about what my feelings are for you. You are more than a blood bag to me.” He kissed me and Renee and Vi. Eric was locked in a passionate kiss with Fairy and he let her go and the two Vampires walked out. Jessica and the rest of us began our wait.
Scarlett and Pam were in the queen’s formal parlor alone. The queen had dinner, a young French Creole woman, and Pam contented herself with Tru:Blood.
“Tell me Pam, have you ever thought about being the Sheriff of Area Five?” asked the queen.
“As Eric is the presiding sheriff and likely to be so for some time, I have not given it more than a fleeting thought,” said Pam.
“Would you find yourself up to the task?” asked the queen.
“I would,” said Pam. “Eric’s affection for humans has increased. At first it was a passing fancy for Compton’s telepath, but now it has expanded to include several humans. True, your majesty, it is beneficial to maintain a harem to have plenty of blood and pleasure. I feel Eric has even come to love them, perhaps even above his own kind.”
“Oh dear,” she sighed. “And I thought it was only Bill Compton who was silly about humans.”
“Apparently it is a sickness that is contagious,” said Pam.
“And you? Are you infected by this disease?” asked the queen.
“No my queen,” said Pam.
“Then you would not object if I drained this woman dry?” she asked, looking at Scarlett.
“Shit!!!” said Dude. “She on to them!!!!”
“Be still!” said the Enforcer, tuning the receiver carefully.
“Why would you waste such a lovely creature?” asked Pam.
“She is very yummy,” said the queen. “But she is only food after all. Give her to me to eat and I will make you the Sheriff of Area Five.”
Scarlett looked at Pam.
“No, I am sorry, I cannot do that,” she said, beginning to stand up. Scarlett did the same, drawing the silver bladed knife preparing to flee or to fight. With a nod of her head, the queen had them surrounded. “It would be foolish for you to make such a move. It would be too public and Eric would know you were responsible.”
Scarlett began to ease toward Pam. Pam continued to talk. The queen kept her eyes on the blond vampire.
“Did Eric send you?” asked Sophie. “If he did, it shows his poor judgment.”
“No, Eric did not send us, we are here of our own accord,” said Pam. If she was worried, you would never know it.
“I don’t think I believe it, and the way her heart is beating tells me I am close to the truth,” said the Queen. “Do you bitches think I would allow you to just come into my home with my knowing who you are and with whom you are aligned? I knew you what you were all about when you came here.”
“What do you think you know about us?” asked Scarlett. “And watch who you are calling a bitch.”
“To answer your question blood bag, I have spies too, one who was in your parlor not long ago,” she purred.
Scarlett looked at Pam and continued her slow progress toward the Vampire.
“We have had no visitors to our parlor,” said Scarlett.
“Yes you have,” she said. “Michelle, fetch our friend.”
The woman with the fang marks on her thighs bowed to the Vampire and walked towards a small door just behind the queen’s chair. She came back a few minutes later. The woman following her was a familiar one and suddenly, Scarlett realized who she was.
“You lying, hypocritical, evil bitch,” said Scarlett. “I know who you are.”
“Why don’t you introduce me to your friend dearest?” asked Pam.
“That is Lucy, the Fellowship of the Sun slut, the one who said God would never forgive us for being friends with Vampires,” said Scarlett now only a few feet from Pam. “The ones we ran out of our parlor like scalded dogs with their tails between their legs. The ones who said Vampires were a perversion and evil.”
“I’ll kill her last,” said Pam, breeching the gap and standing beside Scarlett, their united front to certain peril. “I’ll kill her slow.”
April 22
“What are you doing here?” asked Scarlett.
“I belong to the Queen,” said Lucy, smiling her saccharine smile. “I have been infiltrating both the Fellowship of the Sun and forums such as yours.”
“Why?” asked Scarlett
“Because I am trying to keep human/Vampire relationships where they belong. You are our slaves, our food. It is a perversity for Vampires to actually fall in love with humans,” said Sophie Anne.
“I hope you are listening carefully Lucy,” said Scarlett, keeping her eyes on a Vampire edging up to her. “That means you too.”
“Ah, but the queen has promised me she would turn me,” said Lucy.
“You stupid shit,” said Scarlett. “Do you think she is actually making you Vampire? You are crazier than you look.”
Suddenly there was movement and a huge male Vampire, one of the queen’s body guards, had put Pam in a bear hug. Scarlett was now surrounded and unprotected. Pam struggled against the arms of her attacker.
“Looks like time is running out Sophie,” said Scarlett.
“It is, for you,” said the queen. “And for Eric, and your friends.”
“You are going to start a war,” said Scarlett.
“Over you?” asked Sophie. “I think not. You are a lovely creature, but still a human after all.”
“But you forget Sophie, you have Pam, Eric’s child. He loves Pam, they hunt as a team, they were lovers, they would fight hell to get to each other,” said Scarlett. “You would never be able to dig a grave deep enough to hide from Eric if you deceased her.”
“The war that might follow would be fun,” said Sophie, languidly. “I hate being in the open. Vampires cowered before their kings and queens. Now it is all we can do to get their attention. If we had to go back into the shadows because of prejudice and exploitation the Vampires would have to look to their kings and queens for protection and that protection would be very, very expensive, the way it always had been.”
“Thousands of Vampires might die. Would you kill your own kind?” asked Scarlett. Carefully she took out her earring. While no one was looking, she tossed the jewelry into a small potted tree by the queen’s throne.
“Fewer Vampires mean more food and more exploitable resources for those of us left,” said Sophie. “Besides, a war is stimulating. I am bored, tired of being on display for the curiosity of humans. I am Vampire, not entertainment for fang bangers”
Scarlett was feeling the time slipping from her. She knew the queen was becoming bored with this tete a tete. Pam was still struggling with her attacker, he fangs extended, hissing like a cat. The other Vampires were very close to her. Scarlett tried to ready herself. That is when the devil burst through the door and hell followed with him.
Eric was covered in blood; it looked as though he had bathed in it. Scarlett could tell it was Vampire blood because it was so thick. Bill was beside him and with them walked three wolves, the largest wolves Scarlett had ever seen. In the commotion, the Vampire who had been fighting with Pam had turned to see what was happening and Pam broke free.
“What are you doing here?” said Sophie, standing up from her chair. “How dare you come into my home with those mangy mutts!”
“Alcide, it looks as though she doesn’t care much for you,” said Eric calmly. The wolf yawned, showing his disregard for the female Vampire. “Pam you and Scarlett can leave now.”
“I have a score to settle,” said Pam.
“Now Pam!” said Eric, pulling maker’s rank on the female Vampire. Pam seemed to acquiesce to Eric’s command but turned suddenly and attacked Lucy, the would be double agent. She wrangled the woman onto the floor. Alcide growled deep in his throat and the other wolf with him growled as well.
Pam was looking at the woman with curious eyes. She seemed to smell her. Pam laughed aloud. “Stupid shifter!” she laughed. “Sophie, better check yourself for fleas, this bitch is not human.” The terrified shifter was lying on her back and struggling against Pam futilely.
“Do as I say Pam,” said Eric once more. Pam raised herself up and stood up. Lucy stayed on the ground. Sophie was fascinated.
“You didn’t know Sophie?” asked Pam. “Figures, you were never a good judge of character. Come Scarlett, let’s go.”
“No way,” said Scarlett. “I want to see what happens now.”
“No you don’t,” said Pam. She reached out her hand to take Scarlett’s and suddenly the two vanished.
We in the parlor, listening to everything on the receiver turned expectedly. Aolani’s spell interpreted Pam’s grab for an attack and had sent the two of them back to the parlor. They looked around at us and Scarlett swore.
“Damn it, Pam, I wanted to stay and hear the rest of it,” said Scarlett.
"You are here, Scarlett, now we won’t be able to hear anything,” said Minnie. Scarlett brushed her long red hair away and showed us her earring was gone.
“Good girl,” said God Speed.
“Well, if you would be quiet, you would hear the rest of it,” said BodyGuard, adjusting the volume to hear the goings on. Scarlett and Pam came and sat down and leaned in with the rest of us to listen.
“What the hell happened here?” demanded the queen. “How did they just vanish like that?”
“Our friends are very resourceful,” said the Viking. “Did you think I would allow you to harm my child and my friends? That I would do anything to keep them safe?”
“That is obvious with weres by your side,” she said. “I knew you were becoming soft Northman, but I never dreamed you would climb in bed with weres or witches.”
“They know about you,” said Eric. “The weres and the shifters and if anything happens to me or the people I have with me, the Magister will know as well.”
“I think I can handle myself against you and a few weres,” said Sophie.
“Listen? Do you hear it?” asked Eric, his lopsided grin on his bloody face. There was the sound of marching feet outside the palace. “Have you any idea how many shifters and weres are in the human military. And guess who I know with vast resources and connections to the military.”
Upon hearing that, we grinned at the BodyGuard, Aolani’s husband.
“You can’t have done this at the spur of the moment,” said Sophie Anne. “You have been planning this for a long time.”
“No, just useful friends who takes a personal interest in my personal well being,” said Eric. “It’s amazing what can be done with a few phone calls. Right Colonel Flood?” Eric looked at the other wolf standing beside him. He growled.
“Colonel Flood?” I asked BodyGuard. “You know Colonel Flood?”
“Certainly, he was my commanding officer,” said BodyGuard. Suddenly it dawned on me and I must have shown it because BodyGuard laid his dark head back and howled and the wolfen opera filled the parlor.
“That is so very cool,” I said.
Bill, who had been silent during the whole time, stepped closer to the throne.
“And you should know your majesty; we have communicated with the Magister. We are prepared to make you a deal,” he said.
“What deal is that?” asked the queen.
“Only this, refrain from interfering with Eric and his area, leave the humans we are connected with alone, and you walk out of this alive,” said Bill.
“If I don’t agree?” asked Sophie.
“Then Colonel Flood, Alcide and about 100 werewolves and shifters will come in here and help us tear you apart,” promised Bill. “Every one of you will be definitely dead and no one will ever know what happened. Do as we say and nothing will be said, all secrets still secrets.”
Sophie seemed to be weighing the odds. Finally she relaxed.
“Very well Eric,” she said. “Just get out of my lair before I decide it might well be worth my life to tear your heart out.”
“Good Evening then,” said Eric, bending to make a mock bow. Eric fearlessly turned his back and walked toward the door. Bill looked down at the wolf beside him.
“Come Sam, let’s get back to BonTemps,” he said.
The parlor erupted in cheers. We had our Vampire and our best trubie out of harm’s way, we thwarted the queen’s plot to cause a terrible civil war, and Eric and Bill had come out unscathed and we had made new allies if not friends. We were so involved in our celebration we could not hear Sophie’s final transmission:
“This is not over Eric, not by a long shot,” she said bitterly.
God Speed and Jen were the first to arrive at Merlotte’s. Sookie had worked the day shift and would not be there. Which to me worked out perfectly, I was never truly comfortable with Sookie anyway. After all, I was sleeping with her boyfriend. And I shared him with four other women. Talk about complicated. Not for us, but for her. She would never understand.
So, I walked in to Merlotte’s wearing my fave casual outfit. A white tank top with another layered on top, blue jeans and tennis shoes and my big bag of crazy slung across my chest and over one shoulder. The Barrister was with me, dressed in his Celtic United tee shirt and jeans and tennis shoes. I could see Lafayette in the kitchen, Tara at the bar, Arlene standing at a table to take an order. Sam was behind the bar too. He looked up and smiled.
“Hey Aslinn,” he said. Sam was a handsome guy and he looked a little sunny and ruddy, as if he had been outside today. “God Speed and his wife are here.” We had met Sam and Sookie when they came to our parlor so Sookie could listen in on the Fellowship of the Sun people who had come to visit us some time back.
“Hey Sam,” I said. “This is my fiancé, Barrister.”
Sam shook hands with my handsome boy. “Is this some sort of a meeting?” he asked, placing both hands on the bar, looking at me.
“Sort of,” I said.
“Well, I tell you what, I’ll fix up the big outdoor area for you to have your meeting in, if you will eat here in the bar,” he said.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. We went and joined Jen and God Speed. A waitress came by and took my order for a bottle of bud light. I took out my cigarettes and tapped one out and lit it. Barrister ordered a lager.
“I have to say, I am a bit nervous about meeting here without the counselors,” said God Speed.
“I am too, but I have definite feeling about this summer. I think we have to be ready, and if they can’t or won’t tell us, we have to plan ahead,” I said. “This is not like just trying to get the Source and the Connection to tell us the plot lines, it is about something else.”
“I have met someone, a person like our counselors and he has agreed to give me some insight of their world,” said Barrister. “Their world is very complex.”
“Do you think the lead counselor wants a lawyer because of ….the young counselor?” asked GS. We had reverted back to our old euphemisms for our fanged friends. You never knew who might be listening.
“It may be, but from what I understand a wind of democracy is blowing through the community. They have operated in this very…tightly controlled system for some time,” said the Barrister. “Now they are out in the open, they may be chafing at the yoke, so to speak.”
We stopped for a moment as the waitress brought us our beers and we told her we were expecting some friends and would wait for them to show up. The waitress nodded and walked away.
“So you think the lead counselor may be exploring…..” Jen shrugged as the possibilities.
“It is difficult to say, and I will hold my speculations til we are in more secluded surroundings. We began to have ordinary chit chat. I watched the room. I saw so many faces that were familiar to me. Bud Dearborn was having a burger and fries with Andy Bellefleur. Jason was having a beer with Hoyt Fortenberry. Jane Bodehouse was sitting perched on her stool.
Soon, Linzy and Lina, Fairy and Raki, Renee and Scarlett, Dude and Sal (he cast an evil glare at Hoyt as if the poor man would understand why he had that ‘you pissed in my cheerios’ look on Sal’s face), Bella and Minnie, Westexan and Aolani, Butter and SweetandWild, Vi and Val who made up the last of us. Finally we began to order.
I had the Lafayette Burger and fries. Barrister had the chicken strips and onion rings, GS and Jen had the burgers deluxe and fries and we got a basket of fried dill pickles to try out. The rest got their orders, ranging from the cat fish, to the smothered pork chops, to the chicken fried steak. There was much chatter as we ate. The food was good and plentiful and the drink was brought in a timely fashion. Tara brought us drinks as well.
“Are all of you all family?” she asked, a smile that faltered just the tiniest bit.
“We sure are,” said God Speed. “Thanks for taking such good care of us.”
“We are glad you are here,” said Tara. She turned and headed back to the bar.
After we had eaten, I turned to find Sam and I caught his gaze and he nodded. Everything was ready.
“C’mon, let’s pay our food tabs,” I said. We grabbed our bills and went up a table at a time and paid our tabs, leaving sizable tips on the tables for the waitresses and dropping a tip for Tara. Finally we were out in the big storage shed where Arlene had her engagement party. Sam came out with pitchers of beer for us.
“Thanks Sam,” said GS.
“You are welcome,” he said, and headed back to the bar.
“So, what do we think is going on?” asked Dude.
“Barrister, you seemed to have hit on something, you may as well start,” said GS.
“I can’t say that I know for sure precisely,” said Barrister in his London accent. “However, this why I think Eric wants legal advice and why the queen is apparently a trouble spot for him. I happened to speak with a friend of mine from Mississippi, an American lawyer. I asked him if he had contacts in the Vampire community, someone who would meet with me and answer some questions, and he confessed he did, a British Vampire, very high up in the power structure.”
“Mississippi?” asked Renee. “Do they know what will happen to Bill?”
“I do not know Renee, and I doubt he would be able to tell me in a safe way,” explained the Barrister. “I did however meet with this British Vampire. He was very near to Eric’s age and he was very forward thinking.”
“How forward thinking?” asked Sal.
“Forward enough to tell a few things I am not sure the community as a whole would appreciate,” said Barrister. “He explained the way the Vampire community evolved into the system we are a little familiar with.”
Barrister then began to tell us the history of the Vampire world. Compared to human government systems, the Vampire hierarchy was fairly young, only about 600 years old. This was mainly because there were so few Vampires who lived past their first few years and they lived even more underground than they did even two hundred years.
In the times Eric had been made Vampires lived a nomadic existence and traveled in pairs perhaps threes but no more than that. Then there were Vampire groups, more like nests and baronies than Kingdoms. Each group was feudal, very like early Japanese systems under the war lords. Eventually, however, there were enough Vampires in more or less permanent nests or fiefs. As these communities became stronger, they needed more centralized governments. Thus they began to set up the kingdoms and their monarchies.
“Now, you have to keep in mind that Vampires never die unless they are killed,” said Barrister. “So, the matter of who becomes King or Queen was usually a matter of who was the lord or lady of a community. Then the kingdoms were set up into shires or areas and Sheriffs were appointed.”
“So, how did the system get brought here to America?” asked Vi.
“For many years it didn’t, and according to my fangy friend, he explained that the Vampires from the old world actually liked the freedom. They could hunt, predate one another, squabble, much like organized crime groups and these groups had bosses, more like mafia than governments. And it was getting dangerous for not only the Vampires in America, but the ones in the old world as Vampires in America began to complain to their former kings and queens about the need for leadership,” said Barrister.
These complaints became irritants to the kings and queens because then there would be a petition to the king or queen of the offender and the conflicts over who had the right and who was being slighted drove wedges between the basically peaceful monarchs. So it was decided that each king and queen would send a proctor, a man or woman they respected and trusted, to become the king or queen of a specific area in America. A great conclave of European Vampires gathered and with a large world map between them, they negotiated the country and marked it into territories. Thing is, this royal proctor would have to travel, bring their own army, then fight for the kingdom they had been allotted.
“This, my friend explained, caused the great Vampire Range wars,” said Barrister. “The proctors and their armies fought tooth and nail, quite literally, with one another for some years, about fifty in all, to win the territories and establish the kingdoms in America. Of course the war for Independence and the civil war interrupted them, but they managed to stay out of the way of the wars and stay hidden. The American kings and queens became as powerful as the European and they lived quite well.”
“So, how did they come to have the Magister?” asked Jen.
“The Vampire Court system functioned as the Inquisition did in the human world. And that makes sense since the Magister had been an Inquisitor when he was made Vampire,” said Barrister. “He came after the war was over and the newly established kings and queens sent the offending ‘mafioso’ bosses who started all the problems to begin with to him and they were dealt with severely. Since he did such an effective job they decided he would be a permanent fixture of the New World Vampire government.”
“So, do they follow all of the old laws of the European Vampires?” asked Fairy.
“They do. You have the most basic laws on the forum” said Barrister. “But here is the complication now. They are out of the coffin and they have placed themselves somewhat under the aegis of the human government in order to mainstream and many of their laws do not gel with American laws. And this has led to a very exciting shift in the thinking of the Vampires.”
“So….what…what do they want?” asked Minnie.
“When the Vampires came out of the coffin, everyone assumed this had been a great shock. And it had been for regular people but to the government, they had been doing a lot of business with the Vampires, as Vampires are very rich. Sometimes they become wealthier than the kings and queens themselves and the kings and queens would tax them more based on their wealth. So increasingly, the Vampires want to be more, democratic. The tributes they have to pay are far steeper than the tax structures they could take advantage of if they became fully fledged citizens,” said the Barrister.
“But they aren’t full citizens yet,” said Scarlett.
“No, not yet, but my friend told me that even in Britain, there are things in the works to make them full citizens. There is even talk of a Vampire running for Parliament and there are rumors that one member of the House of Lords is actually a puppet for the Vampire who actually owns the title, who had been a hereditary member of the House three hundred years ago when he became Vampire,” said the Barrister. “So it would not be beyond the scope of thought if the same things were happening in America.”
“What does this have to do with Eric?” asked Sal.
“Think about what you know about Eric. He is very old, very wealthy, very powerful in his area except where the Queen is concerned. Eric is paying into two structures: the tax system for the human government in the form of business taxes, property taxes, employee taxes. Then he is paying tribute to his queen, which is considerable. What if Eric wanted to go democratic, exploit the human system more fully without having to pay tribute to a queen who is forcing him to break age old Vampire taboos for money, money in addition to the tributes from the other sheriffs who presumably collect them from their minions, like Bill,” said the Barrister.
All of us fell silent. We let everything sink in. It sounded reasonable.
“So what can we do to help Eric?” asked Fairy.
“Well, I think I know, but it would take a brave person, a woman, and the help of someone I have asked to join us here tonight,” said the Barrister.
“Who?” asked God Speed.
“Miss Pam, will you join us, please?” said the Barrister, turning to the open doorway.
Pam Ravenscroft stepped in, smiling at all of us.
Saturday, April 17
“Pam, won’t you tell the others about the plan,” offered Barrister. He sat down and let Pam speak.
“I won’t waste a lot of your time but get to the point. I need someone to infiltrate the Queen’s nest, someone who would be able to listen and learn, someone brave enough to do it and not get eaten by her majesty or spill their guts,” said the blond Vampire.
“You mean to go in without protection?” asked Westexan.
“Not at all. I would make a blood bond with whoever went and stay close to them. There is a friendly little fang banger I like to taste in Sophie’s court. I would bring this person in to pose as a potential lover for the Queen,” said Pam.
“Why are you doing this?” asked Dude.
“Eric is my maker and I owe him a great deal. Sophie has compromised Eric’s safety. I don’t know how valuable any information gathered might be, but it may at least put us on our guard,” she explained. “Point us in the right direction.”
“Why hasn’t Eric told us he might be in jeopardy?” I asked. “Didn’t he think we would help him?” I think this pissed me off. And from the nods of the others around me, they were a little pissed off too.
“I think Eric was trying to protect you, but I have to tell you what he would not tell you,” said Pam. “Sophie Anne will be taking Bill Compton’s place for a while in our gatherings.”
“Can’t we keep her out, the whole invitation thing?” I asked. “Because I don’t want her in the meetings.”
“Neither does Eric, and since Eric built the room, Sophie or any Vampire can visit the parlor, no Vampire home is sacrosanct from another Vampire,” said Pam.
“So we might one day find some strange Vampire sleeping in our parlor,” asked GS.
“While it is highly unlikely, it would not be beyond possibility,” said Pam.
“Jesus wept,” I said. Eric, I thought, what have you done to us?
“So, who is up for the task?” asked Pam.
“Well, you and I have a blood bond already Pam,” said Scarlett. “I will go.”
“Good girl,” she said. “I will make arrangements for us to be invited to an event at the Queen’s Lair.” Pam came over and kissed Scarlett tenderly on the mouth. “You will do well, just remember, I won’t let anything happen to you.” Then Pam took off at Vampire speed presumably back to Shreveport.
The next day, I was sitting in the parlor with Scarlett, GS, Aolani and Barrister.
“Scarlett honey you sure you want to do this?” I asked. “A room full of Vampires and fangbangers?”
“Sure, if it will help Eric and Pam and us, I would do this,” she said. “Of course the Queen isn’t my type, but I think I can manage to do what needs to be done.”
“Scarlett, I came upon this handy little thing,” said Barrister. “In a little shop in London. It is part of a Scottish bracelet, the bracelet itself is made of pewter but it has what we call a palm dagger. The handle rests in your palm and between your fingers and the blade becomes a part of your fist. It would not harm a Vampire severely in most cases but this blade happens to be made of silver. So perhaps whatever disguise you work up, you could revolve it around that.”
Scarlett took the blade and felt of it in her palm and the way it rested between her fingers. “Where would I cut her?”
“I would go for the jugular,” said Aolani. “And slash at her more than once.” Scarlett nodded.
“What we really need is some listening devices, wireless, something that could be worn in her clothes or jewelry that she would not have to take off,” said GS. “Something we can monitor here in the parlor.”
“I will look into it,” said Aolani. “I have very useful contacts.”
“Now, current human law says they can only feed from willing adults,” said Barrister.
“Sweetie, I don’t think the queen gives a flying rat’s ass for human law,” I said, squeezing his hand.
“Very true,” said Barrister. “Does Sophie fear human government at all?”
“No, but she is a little frightened of her own kind,” said Aolani. “I have also been thinking of a number of things Scarlett may be able to use magically that will help her. She will have many weapons at her disposal.”
“I have a call in to the Magister,” said Barrister. “Have any of you met the Magister?”
“Only one of us have,” said God Speed. “Aslinn.”
“I don’t know what sort of pull I have with him, he doesn’t care for humans,” I said. “Why do you have a call in?”
“I am representing myself as a brief interested in Vampire rights work, who wants to talk to him about the legal structure,” he said. “I set up the meeting with my fangy friend in London.”
“Can your friend join us?” I asked. “I would feel better if you had a Vampire with you.”
“I have a Vampire going with me,” said Barrister. “I am taking Eric with me.”
“Eric?” asked God Speed. “How are you doing that?”
“I told Eric that if he wants me to be his consiglieri he would have to help me understand the Vampire world and its laws. So, I will be going to see the Magister with him,” he said.
“Be careful chere,” I said.
“Eric said he wouldn’t let anything happen to me,” said Barrister.
“Eric likes teasing Bill with you too much to lose you now,” said Scarlett. “Well, I have to go shopping if I am going to do my Mata Hari thing at the queen’s.”
“Do you have money?” asked Barrister.
“Pam gave me her credit card,” said Scarlett. “Thanks for the blade.” Scarlett reached over and pecked Barrister on the cheek and did the same to me and headed out of the parlor.
Later, Barrister and I were in the parlor. It was about an hour before sundown. Eric was to pick him up after sundown and after Eric had a meal at Fairy’s. I was cooking spaghetti and sauce. I have to admit I was surprised when Bill came in. I went over. Bill came and kissed me warmly on the mouth.
“Bill, I want you to meet my….my fiancé,” I said hesitatingly.
“Ah, Aslinn’s human spouse,” said Bill cooly but friendly. Barrister shook hands with my Vampire lover. “Very nice to meet you.”
“I am pleased to meet you as well,” said Barrister.
“Bill, are you hungry? Would you like a bottle?” I asked.
“I would love a bottle sweetheart,” he said. “So, you are going with Eric this evening to meet with the Magister.”
“Yes, I am,” he answered. “I hope to be a useful member of the council. All of the members seem to contribute something.” I brought Bill his Tru:Blood and Barrister another glass of wine. This was a bit surreal to me, my two lovers sitting down for a chat and a drink, considering I had slept with Bill on Tuesday night and my fiancé last night. I went to the kitchen and began to slice the bread and put it in a basket. Scarlett came in, took note of the two and walked into the kitchen.
“Everything okay Aslinn?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said. “Bill and Barrister are getting along…fine.”
“Smell’s good in here,” she said, sniffing the pot with the sauce.
“So when do you go on your trip?” I asked.
“Tomorrow evening, it is mine and Pam’s first trip together,” she said, winking at me.
“Cool, hope you have fun,” I said.
Soon there were other council members in the parlor and I called for them to come and get it. Eric came in a few minutes after we sat down, Fairy in tow. She beamed at her Viking. He looked very handsome. As Barrister had, Eric had donned a suit, slate grey that made his eyes even stormier and his complexion was a bit rosier from the blood meal he had gotten from his lead wife.
“Well, isn’t this cozy, Aslinn’s two men sitting at table together,” said the Viking.
“There is no reason Bill and I can’t get along,” said Barrister, lighting a cigarette. “I certainly can’t blame Bill for caring about Aslinn. Just as God Speed can’t blame you for caring about Jen.”
“Well, we are certainly becoming more and more enlightened all the time,” said Eric. “Where is Jessica tonight Bill?”
“She is on a shopping excursion with Renee and her daughter. Formal dresses I think,” said Bill.
“Lovely, I will be excited about what she selects,” said Eric. “If we are going to arrive on time, we should go.”
“Yes,” said Barrister. He stood up and I smoothed his jacket and tie. He kissed me, lingering over me a second.
“Be careful,” I said.
“I will,” he answered.
“Aslinn, I promise, the Barrister will leave safely with no bite marks,” said the Viking, flashing me his lop sided grin.
I watched the two men leave. I turned and I found Bill had stood up.
“Now, I want know what you think you are hatching up between you,” said Bill quietly to the room at large. “You are up to something dangerous and I want to know what is going on.”
Damn!!! I looked around.
“Why would you think there is something going on?” asked God Speed.
“I keep hearing parts of conversations that end suddenly when I enter a room. I see it on your faces. And with Eric taking Barrister to see the Magister it just feels wrong,” said Bill. “So, what does Pam and Eric have you doing?”
April 18
Eric and Barrister arrived at the Louisiana home of the Magister just in time. On the way there, Eric explained the Magister had homes in every kingdom supported and maintained by the king or queen of the state. They also paid their share into the Magister’s coffers. Barrister took note of that and tried to interpret the Vampire’s expression. He wondered if Eric disapproved of this, since it was his tribute money that went partly to pay for the Magister’s keep.
The house was a lovely southern mansion, built fifty years before the Civil War. Eric stopped him for a moment.
“This is a new situation for us, the Vampires. We are being forced to deal with humans more and more and some of that is very good and very lucrative, very pleasurable, but some is negative because Vampires look at justice in a way that is far more….indelicate than human justice. Civil rights are an alien concept to us. Because to be a successful Vampire in our world or yours, there has to be someone in charge, and that can only be the strongest Vampire,” said Eric.
“Eric, have the Vampires considered that a more democratic form of government would be better?” asked Barrister. Eric said nothing, but placed his finger on his lips in the sign for silence and shook his head. The Barrister nodded.
“We should go,” said Eric. They got out of the car and headed for the house.
“So are you going to tell me?” asked Bill.
“Eric is not having us do anything,” I said absolutely truthfully.
“Aslinn, please tell me the truth,” he said, looking at me.
“There is nothing to tell you,” I said.
“God Speed, what is going on?” asked Bill.
“Bill, there is nothing going on,” he said.
“Scarlett darlin’ are you getting into something?” asked Bill.
“No, nothing, I am just going out with Pam is all,” she said.
“Look, you don’t want to mess around with the Vampire world, not like this, you are vulnerable, you are human god-dammit,” Bill hit the table with his fist and it dented. I went over to him and took his hand still balled up in a fist and opened it and smoothed his hand between my own. “Don’t get involved in Vampire politics.”
“Do you really think Eric would allow any of us to be harmed?” asked Fairy.
“Not intentionally,” he said.
“Well, we trust all of you,” said Vi. “And we would help any of you.”
“I know sweetheart, but I would rather that you all stay out of the larger Vampire world. There are some who do not strictly approve of our little family here. They say the great Eric Northman and his child are turning human lovers,” he said. He sat down. I moved behind his chair and put my hands on his shoulders.
“What do they say of you, Bill?” I asked.
“Me? I am a Vampire who loathes his own race,” said Bill. “So my reputation is negligible.”
Eric and Barrister stepped into the lavish parlor. The Magister was at supper, drinking deeply from a young woman who appeared to be glamoured, perhaps even dead. When he finished, he laid her on the carpet.
“Ah, Northman, are you hungry?” asked the Magister.
“I have fed, thank you,” said Eric, looking at the woman.
“Is this your human lawyer?” asked the Magister.
“He is,” said Eric. Barrister stood there quietly, while the Vampire gave him a once over. The Magister was small, about 5’6” or 5’7”, about 150 pounds, his hair sparse and white. But there was a power that emanated from him. Barrister was not an overtly religious person, but he felt as though he was standing before the devil and the devil was cold.
“You smell like a Londoner,” said the Magister.
“I am,” he said.
“Well, what are you interested in?” asked the Magister. “Corporate law, civil rights, inheritance law?”
“Criminal law,” said Barrister.
“Ummm, crime and punishment, my favorite subjects. Proceed,” he said, sitting down.
Bill left a little later, still on edge. Renee had come in with the Kid her arms full of bags and bundles. Bill offered to escort her home soon after and she took the offer gratefully. Jessica stayed behind for a little while and then headed to Bon Temps. We relaxed.
Scarlett showed us her outfits and we approved of them. They were sort of hippy punk garb that would match the bracelet Barrister had found for her. I especially like the knee high boots. I went to the kitchen and opened a drawer and took out one of our chop sticks. Made in the Japanese style, it had a stainless steel tip but it was made of wood. It would slide perfectly into a little seam pocket of the boot.
“I have put together a set of magikal tools for you Scarlett,” she said. “A spell that works if you are attacked so that you will disappear.”
“Where will I end up?” she asked.
“Here,” said Aolani. “I have placed wards around the parlor. There is more than one way to keep a Vampire out of this room. No one but us and our Vampires can get in here without being in the company of us or one of our Vamps.”
“That is good to know,” I said. I hated the idea that we could not protect our parlor from some unwanted Vampire. “What else?”
“I have made Scarlett a peering glass, she will be able to look into it and see one of us using the other peering glass,” Aolani pointed to the large mirror hanging above the computer. “She can just take it out to primp or set it up and we can see her or the room she is in.”
“Excellent,” I said.
“What else?” asked Scarlett.
“I procured you some Faery blood,” she said, holding up the vial of glittery lavender colored liquid. “If you offer the queen some Faery blood, she will be stoned, more likely to chat with you.”
“Far out!” she said, looking at the blood. “Anything else?”
“Yes, but this spell best works if you get something from the queen,” said Aolani.
“What would that be?” asked Scarlett.
“Magister, I would like to ask you a question. If you do not care to answer it, I understand,” said Barrister.
“Ask your question,” said the Magister.
“With the Great Revelation, you have made your existence known and you are living among mortals and at least giving lip service to the governments your people cooperate in. Do you ever think there will be a time when your people will want something other than the old way of rule?” asked Barrister.
“Are you asking if there might be a time that Vampires would want to vote?” asked the Magister.
“Suffrage of course would be one of those things. Marriage is a hot issue right now. Restrictions on business and money. Of course Vampires would have to pay human taxes,” he observed.
“Pay into a system that supports programs for humans. Welfare, healthcare, military. I don’t think so,” said the Magister. He laid his head back and considered the ceiling of his house. “Unlike some of my kind, I have no love for humans. They are pets, cattle. Your kind is just food. You don’t feel like we do.”
“Certainly, but one might argue, carefully of course, that Vampires do not feel as we do, and there are those among us who are very passionate,” said Barrister.
“Yes, I remember such a woman,” said the Magister. “Who was that little human woman you brought before me to speak on behalf of the little half wit fledgling Compton turned a while back?”
“Her name was Aslinn Magister,” said Eric. “This is her human mate.”
“Her human mate? Is she aligned with a Vampire?” asked the Magister.
“Yes, Magister, she is aligned with me,” Eric lied.
“Are you bonded?” asked the Magister.
“No,” answered Eric. “But rest assured, she is mine.” Eric flashed Barrister a look that said be still.
“Well,” said the Magister. “Apparently the rumors are true then, the Great Eric Northman is going human lover.”
Eric’s back stiffened and he held in his anger.
Monday April 19
“You of course understand, Aslinn and I are not aligned,” said the Viking as they drove homeward.
“I am sure you have your reasons for telling the Magister that,” said Barrister.
“The Vampire’s claim on a human is an ancient and seldom crossed line. For all of his mystique, I am older and stronger than the Magister. He will not challenge me for any human I claim is mine,” said Eric. “Had I said she was Compton’s he would have ignored his claim and perhaps become more interested in Aslinn than I cared.”
“Do you want other Vampires involved with the people in the group?” asked Barrister.
“Of course not,” said the Viking.
I was at the computer when Eric and Barrister came in. The rest of the gang had left and I was just waiting for Barrister to return. Scarlett had left with Pam. She would stay at Pam’s house and leave to go to the Queen’s lair that evening. I stood up when the boys came in.
“How did it go?” I asked. “Did you learn anything?”
“Quite a lot,” said Barrister. “Vampires have a very efficient justice system. On many levels, I quite appreciate it.”
“What was the Magister like?” I asked.
“Very…anti human,” said Barrister.
“Higher level Vampires tend to feel that way, “said Eric. He sat down on one of the couches and put his feet up on the coffee table. “I don’t suppose I have anything less formal to wear in the coffin do I?”
“You do Eric, in the closet, a teeshirt and track pants and tennis shoes with socks,” I said. “And please undress in the loo.” You have to remind Vampires of that. They are simply indifferent to their personal nudeness.
“If I hand out my suit will you hang it for me?” asked the Vampire.
“Certainly,” I said. I went to the closet and grabbed a jacket hanger and a pant hanger. Eric went into the loo with his change of clothes and began to hand things out. Jacket first, then pants, then shirt and tie. The shirt would go to the cleaners the suit would be hung. I could smell the sweet dry smell of Vampire on Eric’s clothes. I hung his suit carefully and put it in the closet. He came out a few minutes later.
“Hungry Eric?” I asked.
“No, it is almost dawn,” he said. “Good night Aslinn, Barrister.”
“Night Eric,” I answered. He went over to the coffin and steeped in, crouched down, sat down on his bottom, pulled the blanket over himself and lay down, closing the coffin over him.
The next evening, Scarlett woke and slid out the bed. Pam was already up and in the shower. She padded through the small carefully decorated house. The kitchen was basic and very small but there was a coffee maker. Scarlett began to make coffee. She searched around for sugar and crème. Scarlett took her coffee like medicine. Three quarters crème and sugar in a quarter coffee. Pam came out, her hair bundled up in a towel, a lovely pink silk robe tied around her slim waist. She put her arm around Scarlett’s waist and kissed her on the cheek. “Good evening darling,” she said.
“Good evening,” said Scarlett. She watched Pam go to the refrigerator and get a bottle of Tru:Blood and take it to the microwave and heat it up. “Do you ever get tired of drinking blood?”
“Synthetic blood, yes, blood from the vessel? Not at all,” she said. “Humans all taste differently. Make sure you take some vitamin b12. The Queen tends to be a deep drinker.”
“She won’t drain me will she?” asked Scarlett.
“Of course not,” said Pam. “I am going to feed you as well, before we go, so you will have some extra strength.”
“So, to review, I am find out what the Queen intends to do with Eric?” asked Scarlett. “And then I am to suggest that you may not be so happy serving Eric, that you would be interested in a partnership with the queen.”
“Yes,” she said. “Allow yourself to be pulled into her confidence. She likes to show off to new paramours, to brag. She also has a compulsive interest in gossip, loves nothing better than to listen to the goings on in her kingdom. She also likes to hear about any troubles they may be having in their businesses. That is why we are presenting you as a dancer at Fangtasia.”
“And I am to say that Eric has fewer and fewer Vamps at the bar, that he mainly hangs out with humans and the receipts are a little down because the tourists aren’t that interested in a Vampire bar without many Vampires there,” said Scarlett.
“Correct,” said Pam. “But, do not mention the counsel unless she mentions it and feign a sort of disinterest, just that they come into the bar sometimes and they tip well.”
“Can do,” said Scarlett. She finished her coffee and rinsed her cup and put it in the drainer.
“Come back to bed dear and have a special little tonic then before you take your shower,” said Pam.
The Queen’s lair was lavish if a bit gaudy. Scarlett was dressed in a loose fitting gauzy blouse mainly unbuttoned to show off her ample curves and the suede bra she was wearing. Her skirt was short to show her strong dancer’s legs. She went without stockings but she still had the impression she was wearing stockings because of the pretty lacy bows that she’s had tattooed on the back of her smooth thighs. Pam had declared them the sexiest things she had ever seen. She wore the high heeled leather boots with the weapons snugged down in her boots. She hoped she would not have to use them but was comforted that she had them. On her wrist was the bracelet the Barrister had given her. She carried a leather bag with a change of clothes, the bottle of faery blood, and the peering glass, which she had tested. God Speed’s smiling face grinned at her and she felt comforted.
Aolani had come through with a listening device. A pair of stud earrings were actually tiny bugs. Scarlett would not be able to hear the parlor, but they could hear her.
The palace was full of people, some were humans, the companions of other Vampires, but most were Vampires. And mostly women. Pam walked beside Scarlett, her arm around her. They made their way up to Sophie Ann, the Vampire Queen of Louisiana.
We were in the parlor. Barrister, Bill, God Speed, Dude, Sal and Eric were at Fangtasia hanging out, watching the new Vampire dancers, a double girl act, strutting their stuff, drinking beer and Tru: Blood and watching the show. This was a set up planned by Pam, to keep the male Vampires busy while Pam and Scarlett were on their mission. I tried to imagine Bill whistling at the dancing girls as I had seen human men do and could not picture it. I also tried to imagine Barrister and Bill being regular guys together, and had an even more difficult time of it.
Jessica, the only other Vampire who had been told about the mission was sitting next to the Kid. Jessica was beginning to become more and more Vampire, accepting her new life and paying attention when the discussions came up regarding Vampire law and behavior and our places in one another’s worlds. We were sitting by the receiver Aolani’s husband had set up so we could listen to the party. We looked like people I had seen in Norman Rockwell paintings of people gathered around the radio. We could hear the music and the sounds of chat and we could hear Pam’s and Scarlett’s voice.
“Who do you have here Pam?” asked Queen Sophie Anne.
“She is one our newest dancers, my queen,” said Pam. “She is Crimson Siren.”
“She is indeed. How does she taste?” asked the queen.
“She is very luscious,” said Pam.
“Come closer Crimson,” said the queen, motioning to Scarlett. Scarlett walked carefully toward the queen. The Queen took her hand and turned it to look at Scarlett’s wrist, stroking it. “With your permission, Pam?”
“Of course,” she said. “Crimson, allow the queen to taste you.” Scarlett nodded and steeled herself for the bite of the queen’s large white fangs. The pain was sharp but brief and the queen’s mouth and tongue worked to taste the bit of blood she’s drawn.
“Very tasty,” said the queen. “Is she yours?”
“She is mine, but if she pleases your majesty, please enjoy her,” said Pam.
“I still have that lovely Russian you took an interest in, Pam. Consider her yours while you are here,” said the queen.
“What are they doing now?” asked Jessica. We all shushed her and leaned closer to the receiver. Aolani’s husband adjusted the receiver a bit to clear a little static and the sounds of the party became clearer.
Scarlett allowed the queen to lead her through the house, introducing her to some select people, both Vampire and human and finally they mounted the stairs that would lead to Sophie’s bedroom suite.
“Welcome to my sanctuary, my dear,” said the queen, her fangs snicking out into a toothsome smile.
April 20, 2010
Seducing the queen had been as easy as taking candy from a baby. And Scarlett expected the queen to be an extraordinary lover but she wasn’t. She was very self absorbed and selfish as a lover. With the introduction of the faery blood, the queen relaxed after their tussle and she began to talk. She mainly complained about her situation, that her minions, to include Eric Northman, had not been paying their tributes in full and all they did was complain.
“What are they complaining about, my queen?” asked Scarlett. Scarlett could play the sympathetic ear.
“That money is not so good, that the Vampires are uncooperative,” said the queen. The faery blood had an interesting effect of making the queen’s cornflower blue eyes contract and look sort of violet in color. Her skin had an amazing glow on it, she seemed almost fae herself.
“Do you think that is the truth?” asked Scarlett. The queen shrugged. She raised her hand to her face and seemed to zone out. Then she turned back to Scarlett.
“So how do you come to work for Eric?” asked the queen.
“Traveling through the South, on my way back home, stopped for a while to make a little money and applied for a dancing job,” said Scarlett.
“Do you like working for Northman?” she asked. The queen’s hand stroked Scarlett’s naked shoulder.
“He pays well and he just asks that we do our shift, be professional,” said Scarlett. “I would rather work for Pam more directly.”
“I bet you would,” said the queen. “And maybe I can do something about that. Pam and I share common interests. It would not be difficult to get rid of the Viking. He does not please me very well right now.”
We heard this pronouncement and I looked around at the faces. Fairy had gone three shades, starting with palest to reddest in mach 12, warp speed and her anger was palatable. Aolani stiffened as well. Even Jessica looked worried. “Everyone needs to calm down, remember you are blood bonded to Vampires, they can sense your anxiety,” I reminded them. We turned back to the receiver and listened again.
“He is very old,” said Scarlett. “Of course I am sure you have a plan of how you would do it, you are so clever.” Scarlett began to mirror the queen’s movements, stroking her shoulder.
“You know me so well already,” said the flattered and stoned queen. “Yes, I know how I would do it. Eric has developed a fondness for humans. He has made friends with a little group of them. Do you know about it?”
“Something, but I was not very interested in them. They are far too devoted to Eric….simpering and waiting on them as if he were a king,” lied Scarlett. “But I suspect some would defect to the weres if they were given half a chance.”
“The great Eric Northman? Usurped by a werewolf? That would be rich,” laughed Sophie Anne. “Perhaps the weres would be helpful. Tricky business, even for a queen, to actually kill a Vampire that is not her own child.”
“Vampires can destroy their children?” asked Scarlett gently.
“Umm, without impunity,” said the queen. “But Eric is not mine. That stupid Godric…he became more human than Vampire in the end. But, then maybe all I have to do is make a phone call and tell our Magister about something Eric is doing.”
“Well, whatever you do to him, he must deserve it,” said Scarlett, lying back on her back. She refrained from asking, hoping Sophie would just ramble on. Sophie scooted up toward her and looked at Scarlett.
“You are very bright, Crimson,” she said, brushing her lips on Scarlett’s shoulder. “I don’t make this offer often, but would you like a blood bond with me?”
“Whatever you desire is my desire,” said Scarlett, pretending to be partially glamoured and enamored of the queen. Sophie laughed a little under her breath and raised her wrist and bit into it. Scarlett took her wrist and began to feed.
Aolani raised her arms in the air as if Scarlett had scored a goal. We looked at her.
“This was something we needed for another weapon I worked out. I tried it on Pam first and it works!!!!” she said excitedly. But then we shushed her to listen again to the queen and our spy.
“Eric Northman is a very foolish Vampire for all of his years,” Sophie began again. “He is selling Vampire blood and that is a very bad thing….I can doom Eric to a coffin for eternity, bound in silver chains, to starve and burn forever…” just the mere thought of it excited the queen. She moved closer to Scarlett. “Wouldn’t that be something?”
“It would,” said Scarlett.
The room was quiet. We were shocked, no horrified. We had seen the trial of Bill Compton played out in the first adventures and we shuddered at the thought of the Big Viking being condemned to eternity in a box, going mad, being in pain and starving for an eternity. He would go mad long before he died and a with a Vampire that strong, it would perhaps take centuries, maybe another thousand years, for Eric to die that way. I would rather see him staked than see the handsome and flamboyant Vampire suffer like that.
Fairy and Aolani were stricken. Fairy began to cry. “Fairy, you can’t be upset, Eric will sense it,” I reminded her. “We have to be calm and try to figure out what we can do to keep Eric from being set up.”
“But what can we do Aslinn? How can we get him out of this?” asked Fairy, trying to stay calm. Aolani began muttering a charm to ease the tension in the room.
“What about Lafayette?” asked Renee. “He knows he is selling blood.”
“Not whose and not on whose behalf,” I said.
“Something to be easily remedied,” said Raki. “Perhaps we can broker a deal with him to testify on Eric’s behalf, even commit a little perjury on Eric’s behalf.”
“Lafayette would want something in return,” I said.
“What else could he want but his freedom,” suggested Linzy. “Perhaps Pam could approach him.”
“No way to reach her without the queen hearing a conversation, even on the cell, the Vampires can hear even that,” I said. “We have to let Pam play this out. I trust Pam, she would not allow Eric to be harmed. She loves her maker, and he loves her, she is his child. And she cares about Scarlett. She will know what to do. “
The queen finally settled to sleep, dosed again on the faery blood. Scarlett slipped from the bed and got dressed and went out and searched for Pam. Though they had agreed that should the opportunity present itself, she would create a bond with Sophie, Scarlett disliked the energy of the queen’s blood in her own blood stream. It made her nervous, erratic. True, it may be a combination of the fae blood with the Vampire blood, but she loathed it. She walked down stairs and was met by Pam, who could smell the queen’s blood in her spirit wife.
“Crimson, I was looking for you,” said Pam. “Did you please the queen?” Which was code for did you get any good information.
“I did try my best, “ she said, emphasizing the first two words of her response.
“Well, I am pleased to know you did so well,” said Pam, nodding her head. “I will see you tomorrow evening my dear.” Pam kissed Scarlett briefly.
“Good morning Pam,” said Scarlett.
“Good morning Crimson,” said Pam. They parted company to their relative rests.
A couple of hours later, Barrister and God Speed and Sal and Dude came in. The Vampires had gone to their respective homes and Jessica was sleeping in the coffin in the parlor. God Speed was excited, and not from the show at Fangtasia. They had heard something at Fangtasia and they could not wait to tell us.
“Wait, though God Speed we have to tell you something you should know,” said Jen.
“What did Scarlett learn?” asked God Speed.
“Sophie is planning to murder Eric,” I said. We told God Speed what we had heard and what we thought it meant to us. God Speed nodded.
“Then you should know this as well,” said God Speed. And he began to talk about what Eric told them over beer and Tru:Blood.
April 21, 2010
“Before we begin, we have to tell Eric and Bill about everything. We can’t keep this secret. We have our meeting tonight and Pam is not here and Scarlett is not here,” said God Speed. Barrister nodded.
“They are not going to like this,” said Raki. “They are going to be so mad at us.”
“Angry or not, they have to know,” said Barrister. “But, let us tell you what we have learned.”
“Barrister was pretty close to being right. The Vampires want to democratize. Eric suggested the possibility that a move will happen so, and the weres will be supporting them. They are coming out of the dog house so to speak very soon, and they will stand up with forward thinking Vampires,” explained God Speed.
“So, this would explain why Eric wants to include a were in our meetings when Bill is away,” said Fairy.
“It does. The were is to be here as an observer, to see how cooperative relationships work with the Vampires and the humans and to make contacts with friendly humans to begin exploring a great reveal,” said God Speed.
“When this happens, there may be a civil war, one that will be bloody. Vampires will be fighting Vampires, weres with weres. Forward thinking Vampires will be fighting alongside forward thinking weres and the same with their opposite number,” said Barrister. “This is why Eric wanted to make relationships with useful humans like me, though I think I would have chosen an American lawyer.”
“We may have moved too quickly then, we may have tipped our hand,” I said.
“Perhaps not. It may be a simple matter of Eric getting Pam and Scarlett out of there under the guise of his disobedient child and a willful human,” said Barrister. “But it may be far more serious.”
I dreaded the Viking’s rage. And Bill. He may not be a thousand years old but his anger was considerable. Would he look at his spirit wives and be angry and disgusted? We listened for sound from the receiver and heard nothing. It would be a long day.
We cleaned the parlor, God Speed worked on the computer and checked the forum and Renee and I cooked a big beef roast. Barrister just made himself useful to any of the ladies who needed him. Nearly as tall as Eric, he did what all tall, strong men do, he reached for things on the high shelf and moved things around as required by one lady or other.
The tension in the room thickened as the sun went down. We tried to be calm, blood bonded as so many of us were. Renee fairly vibrated with her anxiety.
“What are we going to say to them Aslinn?” she said. Aolani’s husband, whom we called The BodyGuard, was listening to the receiver through a head set.
“They are waking at the queen’s palace,” he informed us and took out the jack so we could hear the sounds of talking and music. Everything seemed calm and normal, well as normal as a Vampire lair would be, with one of our Vampires and one of our family in harm’s way.
We sat down to eat. We ate as though it was our last meal. Finally, Bill walked into the room with Jessica in tow. He stopped in his tracks.
“This is enough,” he said tersely. “I want to know what is going on. I will glamour you if I must, but I can feel the anxiety in the room.”
We looked at each other and then turned to see Eric Northman, the Sherriff of Area Five, come into the room. He looked at Bill.
“I want to know why Pam did not sleep at her nest last night,” said the Viking.
We stood and walked toward the couches and began to take our places. Eric seemed to be counting the people in the room. “Where is Scarlett?”
We looked around at each other and then back to Eric. “God dammit, I want to know now!!!” The Viking raised his fist and brought it down on the center of the coffee table and it cracked and collapsed into the floor onto the heavy wool rug. I blanched and hid my face against Barrister’s chest. “Where is my child? Where is Scarlett? What have you done?”
Renee was looking up at Bill and she reached for his hand and he flinched. Bill looked scary, his eyes were cold, totally Vampire.
“If you will sit down, we will tell you,” said God Speed.
Eric favored God Speed with a loveless look. God Speed ignored his glare, giving it back to the Viking. Finally he sat down, his palms easy on his knees, his back erect.
“If you think you have the right to be angry, keep this in mind, we have the right to be angry as well, Eric. For all of your posturing in front of us that we are your friends, you have not been honest with us about your situation. This is as much a breach of trust to us as what we have done may have been to you,” said God Speed. “So you think about that Eric, as we tell you about what has been going on.”
“Eric, we sensed that something bad was going on and you and Bill were not telling us. We met at Merlottes and discussed what we thought it might be,” I said.
“Then, Miss Pam, whom I contacted myself, came and told us about the queen and her plans to squeeze you and interfere in our home, our forum. And she asked for a volunteer to find out what the queen’s plans are for you,” said Barrister.
“And we armed her with mundane and magikal weapons and Scarlett spent the night in the queen’s lair, intoxicating her with faery blood to make her comfortable, made a blood bond with the queen, and discovered that she wants you dead,” said Aolani.
“And not just ‘stake in the heart Viking turns onto a pile ashes’ dead,” said Renee. “Old Testament, ‘getting medieval on your ass’ dead. She plans to set you up with the Magister as a seller of Vampire blood, a crime punishable by eternity in a box, bound with silver.” Fairy sobbed and covered her face. Eric looked at her but did not move to comfort her. This pissed me off. I stood up.
“You cold hearted bastard, that is your lead wife, she would rather see you staked than think of you in a box starving and insane for another thousand years. And don’t give me that cold look Bill Compton. This isn’t just about us, your little human blood bags. Your child and fellow Vampire is afraid for you too,” I said. “They say you have turned soft Eric, because you consort with mere humans. You would not leave us in jeopardy if humans or Vampires plotted to harm us!!! Why would you expect less from us?”
Bill looked at me. Eric looked at me. “What is happening now? Can you contact Scarlett or Pam at all?”
“We have been monitoring the action on a listening device Eric,” said the Enforcer.
“Then we will go there now. Barrister, should anything happen to us, you must contact your friend in England, and tell him everything that has happened. Aslinn, you and Barrister will go then to the Magister and tell him everything,” said Eric. “Am I being clearly understood?”
“Yes Eric,” I said.
“If we come back, we will discuss this further,” said the Viking. “Bill we must go now if we are to get to Scarlett and Pam.” Bill nodded. I stepped up to him.
“Be careful Bill,” I said.
“I will be fine,” he said. “And you and I and all my spirit wives will have a serious discussion about what my feelings are for you. You are more than a blood bag to me.” He kissed me and Renee and Vi. Eric was locked in a passionate kiss with Fairy and he let her go and the two Vampires walked out. Jessica and the rest of us began our wait.
Scarlett and Pam were in the queen’s formal parlor alone. The queen had dinner, a young French Creole woman, and Pam contented herself with Tru:Blood.
“Tell me Pam, have you ever thought about being the Sheriff of Area Five?” asked the queen.
“As Eric is the presiding sheriff and likely to be so for some time, I have not given it more than a fleeting thought,” said Pam.
“Would you find yourself up to the task?” asked the queen.
“I would,” said Pam. “Eric’s affection for humans has increased. At first it was a passing fancy for Compton’s telepath, but now it has expanded to include several humans. True, your majesty, it is beneficial to maintain a harem to have plenty of blood and pleasure. I feel Eric has even come to love them, perhaps even above his own kind.”
“Oh dear,” she sighed. “And I thought it was only Bill Compton who was silly about humans.”
“Apparently it is a sickness that is contagious,” said Pam.
“And you? Are you infected by this disease?” asked the queen.
“No my queen,” said Pam.
“Then you would not object if I drained this woman dry?” she asked, looking at Scarlett.
“Shit!!!” said Dude. “She on to them!!!!”
“Be still!” said the Enforcer, tuning the receiver carefully.
“Why would you waste such a lovely creature?” asked Pam.
“She is very yummy,” said the queen. “But she is only food after all. Give her to me to eat and I will make you the Sheriff of Area Five.”
Scarlett looked at Pam.
“No, I am sorry, I cannot do that,” she said, beginning to stand up. Scarlett did the same, drawing the silver bladed knife preparing to flee or to fight. With a nod of her head, the queen had them surrounded. “It would be foolish for you to make such a move. It would be too public and Eric would know you were responsible.”
Scarlett began to ease toward Pam. Pam continued to talk. The queen kept her eyes on the blond vampire.
“Did Eric send you?” asked Sophie. “If he did, it shows his poor judgment.”
“No, Eric did not send us, we are here of our own accord,” said Pam. If she was worried, you would never know it.
“I don’t think I believe it, and the way her heart is beating tells me I am close to the truth,” said the Queen. “Do you bitches think I would allow you to just come into my home with my knowing who you are and with whom you are aligned? I knew you what you were all about when you came here.”
“What do you think you know about us?” asked Scarlett. “And watch who you are calling a bitch.”
“To answer your question blood bag, I have spies too, one who was in your parlor not long ago,” she purred.
Scarlett looked at Pam and continued her slow progress toward the Vampire.
“We have had no visitors to our parlor,” said Scarlett.
“Yes you have,” she said. “Michelle, fetch our friend.”
The woman with the fang marks on her thighs bowed to the Vampire and walked towards a small door just behind the queen’s chair. She came back a few minutes later. The woman following her was a familiar one and suddenly, Scarlett realized who she was.
“You lying, hypocritical, evil bitch,” said Scarlett. “I know who you are.”
“Why don’t you introduce me to your friend dearest?” asked Pam.
“That is Lucy, the Fellowship of the Sun slut, the one who said God would never forgive us for being friends with Vampires,” said Scarlett now only a few feet from Pam. “The ones we ran out of our parlor like scalded dogs with their tails between their legs. The ones who said Vampires were a perversion and evil.”
“I’ll kill her last,” said Pam, breeching the gap and standing beside Scarlett, their united front to certain peril. “I’ll kill her slow.”
April 22
“What are you doing here?” asked Scarlett.
“I belong to the Queen,” said Lucy, smiling her saccharine smile. “I have been infiltrating both the Fellowship of the Sun and forums such as yours.”
“Why?” asked Scarlett
“Because I am trying to keep human/Vampire relationships where they belong. You are our slaves, our food. It is a perversity for Vampires to actually fall in love with humans,” said Sophie Anne.
“I hope you are listening carefully Lucy,” said Scarlett, keeping her eyes on a Vampire edging up to her. “That means you too.”
“Ah, but the queen has promised me she would turn me,” said Lucy.
“You stupid shit,” said Scarlett. “Do you think she is actually making you Vampire? You are crazier than you look.”
Suddenly there was movement and a huge male Vampire, one of the queen’s body guards, had put Pam in a bear hug. Scarlett was now surrounded and unprotected. Pam struggled against the arms of her attacker.
“Looks like time is running out Sophie,” said Scarlett.
“It is, for you,” said the queen. “And for Eric, and your friends.”
“You are going to start a war,” said Scarlett.
“Over you?” asked Sophie. “I think not. You are a lovely creature, but still a human after all.”
“But you forget Sophie, you have Pam, Eric’s child. He loves Pam, they hunt as a team, they were lovers, they would fight hell to get to each other,” said Scarlett. “You would never be able to dig a grave deep enough to hide from Eric if you deceased her.”
“The war that might follow would be fun,” said Sophie, languidly. “I hate being in the open. Vampires cowered before their kings and queens. Now it is all we can do to get their attention. If we had to go back into the shadows because of prejudice and exploitation the Vampires would have to look to their kings and queens for protection and that protection would be very, very expensive, the way it always had been.”
“Thousands of Vampires might die. Would you kill your own kind?” asked Scarlett. Carefully she took out her earring. While no one was looking, she tossed the jewelry into a small potted tree by the queen’s throne.
“Fewer Vampires mean more food and more exploitable resources for those of us left,” said Sophie. “Besides, a war is stimulating. I am bored, tired of being on display for the curiosity of humans. I am Vampire, not entertainment for fang bangers”
Scarlett was feeling the time slipping from her. She knew the queen was becoming bored with this tete a tete. Pam was still struggling with her attacker, he fangs extended, hissing like a cat. The other Vampires were very close to her. Scarlett tried to ready herself. That is when the devil burst through the door and hell followed with him.
Eric was covered in blood; it looked as though he had bathed in it. Scarlett could tell it was Vampire blood because it was so thick. Bill was beside him and with them walked three wolves, the largest wolves Scarlett had ever seen. In the commotion, the Vampire who had been fighting with Pam had turned to see what was happening and Pam broke free.
“What are you doing here?” said Sophie, standing up from her chair. “How dare you come into my home with those mangy mutts!”
“Alcide, it looks as though she doesn’t care much for you,” said Eric calmly. The wolf yawned, showing his disregard for the female Vampire. “Pam you and Scarlett can leave now.”
“I have a score to settle,” said Pam.
“Now Pam!” said Eric, pulling maker’s rank on the female Vampire. Pam seemed to acquiesce to Eric’s command but turned suddenly and attacked Lucy, the would be double agent. She wrangled the woman onto the floor. Alcide growled deep in his throat and the other wolf with him growled as well.
Pam was looking at the woman with curious eyes. She seemed to smell her. Pam laughed aloud. “Stupid shifter!” she laughed. “Sophie, better check yourself for fleas, this bitch is not human.” The terrified shifter was lying on her back and struggling against Pam futilely.
“Do as I say Pam,” said Eric once more. Pam raised herself up and stood up. Lucy stayed on the ground. Sophie was fascinated.
“You didn’t know Sophie?” asked Pam. “Figures, you were never a good judge of character. Come Scarlett, let’s go.”
“No way,” said Scarlett. “I want to see what happens now.”
“No you don’t,” said Pam. She reached out her hand to take Scarlett’s and suddenly the two vanished.
We in the parlor, listening to everything on the receiver turned expectedly. Aolani’s spell interpreted Pam’s grab for an attack and had sent the two of them back to the parlor. They looked around at us and Scarlett swore.
“Damn it, Pam, I wanted to stay and hear the rest of it,” said Scarlett.
"You are here, Scarlett, now we won’t be able to hear anything,” said Minnie. Scarlett brushed her long red hair away and showed us her earring was gone.
“Good girl,” said God Speed.
“Well, if you would be quiet, you would hear the rest of it,” said BodyGuard, adjusting the volume to hear the goings on. Scarlett and Pam came and sat down and leaned in with the rest of us to listen.
“What the hell happened here?” demanded the queen. “How did they just vanish like that?”
“Our friends are very resourceful,” said the Viking. “Did you think I would allow you to harm my child and my friends? That I would do anything to keep them safe?”
“That is obvious with weres by your side,” she said. “I knew you were becoming soft Northman, but I never dreamed you would climb in bed with weres or witches.”
“They know about you,” said Eric. “The weres and the shifters and if anything happens to me or the people I have with me, the Magister will know as well.”
“I think I can handle myself against you and a few weres,” said Sophie.
“Listen? Do you hear it?” asked Eric, his lopsided grin on his bloody face. There was the sound of marching feet outside the palace. “Have you any idea how many shifters and weres are in the human military. And guess who I know with vast resources and connections to the military.”
Upon hearing that, we grinned at the BodyGuard, Aolani’s husband.
“You can’t have done this at the spur of the moment,” said Sophie Anne. “You have been planning this for a long time.”
“No, just useful friends who takes a personal interest in my personal well being,” said Eric. “It’s amazing what can be done with a few phone calls. Right Colonel Flood?” Eric looked at the other wolf standing beside him. He growled.
“Colonel Flood?” I asked BodyGuard. “You know Colonel Flood?”
“Certainly, he was my commanding officer,” said BodyGuard. Suddenly it dawned on me and I must have shown it because BodyGuard laid his dark head back and howled and the wolfen opera filled the parlor.
“That is so very cool,” I said.
Bill, who had been silent during the whole time, stepped closer to the throne.
“And you should know your majesty; we have communicated with the Magister. We are prepared to make you a deal,” he said.
“What deal is that?” asked the queen.
“Only this, refrain from interfering with Eric and his area, leave the humans we are connected with alone, and you walk out of this alive,” said Bill.
“If I don’t agree?” asked Sophie.
“Then Colonel Flood, Alcide and about 100 werewolves and shifters will come in here and help us tear you apart,” promised Bill. “Every one of you will be definitely dead and no one will ever know what happened. Do as we say and nothing will be said, all secrets still secrets.”
Sophie seemed to be weighing the odds. Finally she relaxed.
“Very well Eric,” she said. “Just get out of my lair before I decide it might well be worth my life to tear your heart out.”
“Good Evening then,” said Eric, bending to make a mock bow. Eric fearlessly turned his back and walked toward the door. Bill looked down at the wolf beside him.
“Come Sam, let’s get back to BonTemps,” he said.
The parlor erupted in cheers. We had our Vampire and our best trubie out of harm’s way, we thwarted the queen’s plot to cause a terrible civil war, and Eric and Bill had come out unscathed and we had made new allies if not friends. We were so involved in our celebration we could not hear Sophie’s final transmission:
“This is not over Eric, not by a long shot,” she said bitterly.
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