May 21-23

Friday, May 21, 2010

Pam squared her shoulders and headed for the door. Eric walked behind her. “Barrister, turn on the lights please,” he said.
Barrister went back into the pantry and turned on the lights. Eric opened the door and Pam stepped out, her maker behind her. Barrister, God Speed and Bill went out and stood behind them. The two blond Vampires walked cautiously but confidently to the group of Vampires and humans and weres waiting for them. Richardson, the familiar was standing by the polished Rolls Royce.

“Excellent decision Northman, I heard you were a reasonable man,” said Markingham. “My dear,” he addressed himself to Pam, “Welcome home.”
“Fuck you,” she said bluntly.
“Oh my, I see living with the Viking did nothing for your vocabulary,” he said. “That can be corrected.”
“You wish,” said Pam.
“Let’s not dally, get into the car,” said Markingham. “Viking, release Pam.”
“Pam has been free for some years now,” said Eric. “She comes and goes as she likes.”
“Very well then,” said Markingham and he turned and walked away behind Pam and slid into the car. He watched the car back out and head down the road. Suddenly the Viking put his head back and screamed with a voice from the depths of his soul.

Body Guard trotted up to them as a wolf and came to stand by them as a man. His dark eyes looked at the Vampire.

“Eric will be dangerous now,” said Body Guard.
Barrister came down and knocked. “You can come out now,” he said. Fairy was first at the door and unbolted it and went out. Barrister stopped her. “Be careful, his rage is extreme. He may be dangerous.” She brushed on by in search of her lover. The rest of us went up and joined Bill and Body Guard in the living room.

Fairy rushed out and saw the Vampire standing in the cobblestone drive, looking down the road the car had taken. “Eric?” she said, her voice trembling, not wanting to startle the Viking. He turned a little but his gaze went back to the road. She walked up to him and slid her small hand in his huge one. His fingers closed around hers and squeezed them gently. Fairy looked at his face; it was stained with his crimson tears of rage. “You will get her back, we will help you.”
“If he deceases her, I will not be safe to be around,” said Eric.
“He won’t,” said Fairy. “We will get her out. And Pam is a smart girl, she knows how to take care of herself.”
In the interior of the Rolls, Markingham was looking at Pam. “You are very lovely my dear,” he said. “you would have fetched me a fine bride’s price.”
“Yeah, sure, you were going to marry me to some Italian Lord who would have kept me breeding til I bled out bearing one of his brats,” she said. “No thanks.”
“Tell me about your maker my dear, what business does he do in America?” asked Markingham.
“He runs a suntan parlor, be nice to me and I’ll get you some sessions for free,” said Pam, smiling at him.
“Insolent, impudent, disrespectful whelp,” he leaned forward and grasped her wrist, squeezing them hard. “You will behave yourself. You will show respect, and you will retract your fangs at me. I will show you how to behave and then you will tell me everything you know about Northman and any other Vampire of consequence.”
“I do not have to tell you anything,” she said.
“By the time I am through with you, you will beg me to talk,” said Markingham.

Fairy brought Eric back into the house. He sat down and rested his forehead on the tips of his fingers. I looked around at the group. Bella got up and I could hear her popping some Tru:Blood into the microwave. Chris had her lap top open, she had been taking the notes of our meeting, still doing her job for the Viking. Raki was polishing a rifle by the fireplace, and Lina and Linzy and Jessica were sitting on the couch with Bill and Vi. Renee was sitting with me and Barrister and Scarlett was standing at the window, worried for her Vampire. Aolani and Body Guard were sitting with Butter and Westexan and Jen. God Speed was sitting beside the Sheriff. He reached over and batted his leg.
“We’ll get her back,” he said to Eric.
“We must,” he said. “Don’t worry Scarlett dearest, we will get her back.”
“I know you will,” said Scarlett.
I was riffling through the papers I had. There was something nagging me, something troubling me that I could not get right in my head, something about the afternoon we had spent in the library. “Chris honey, can you pull up the website for the London Library,” I asked.
“Sure,” she said, googling the site and finding it 30 seconds later. “Okay, I am there.”
“Do they have a listing for staff?” I asked. She looked at the site. Bill leaned forward to look over her shoulder and his pointed to the tab. She clicked on it.
“Okay…who are we looking for?” she asked.
“I am not sure….Fairy honey, what was that boy’s name the one who ran off all the copies and found the books?” I asked.
“Gerry?” she said. “I didn’t hear a last name.”
“Look for staffers with the first name Gerry,” I asked Chris.
“Jesus, it looks like the British ran out of first names, every third guy is named Gerry,” she said. We laughed a little. Bella came back in and brought Eric a T:B and he grabbed her hand and kissed it.
“Thank you,” he said.
“You are welcome Eric,” she said. She handed Jessica a bottle and she took it and took a sip. She then gave Bill his bottle and received a kiss.
“Okay, Aslinn, I have 30 people names Gerry. A few of them are women,” she said.
“Okay, how many of them work in archives and non circulating books?” I asked. She scanned them.
“Seven,” she said. “They have them by floor.”
“Fifth floor,” I said. I closed my eyes. I was coming up on about 40 hours without sleep.
“Gerry Rook,” she said.
“Rook?” I said.
“Yes, Gerry Rook,” she said.
“Like the game?” I asked.
“I guess,” she said. “What sort of game is it?”
Eric had been resting his eyes as well and his bright eyes snapped open again. “It’s a card game…there is a crow in the deck.”
“Well, well well well well,” I said. “Chris, are there photographs?” She clicked on the profile.
“Yeah,” she said. She turned the swiveling monitor around to show us the picture. I sat up and leaned forward, Eric did the same cocking his head.
“See any resemblance Eric?” I asked.
“Yes indeed,” he said. “I want him.”
“He could be useful leverage,” I said.
“Aslinn, if you ever change your mind about being Vampire, come see me, I would be pleased to make you Vampire,” he said, smiling at me.
“I told you Eric, I like the sun too much,” I said.

“We have to get this man. Body Guard, did you make friends with your English Were friends?” asked Eric.
“I am on the phone with Liam now,” said Body Guard. He spoke for some minutes and then hung up. “Liam said they would have no problem picking him up and taking him to the Slaughtered Lamb, the biggest Were bar in London.”
“Well done,” said Eric. He rubbed his face and sniffed and put his head back. “It is nearly dawn.”
“You guys need to get to bed and so do we,” said Westexan.
“Yes,” said Eric. He finished his T:B and gave Jessica a stern look to finish hers. She did in three big gulps. Bill finished his. Minnie got up and collected the bottles to rinse and throw away. I closed all my books and straightened and clipped my papers and tucked them all in my bag.
“Barrister may I have a word alone with Aslinn?” asked Eric.
“Certainly,” he leaned over and kissed me. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Okay,” I said.

Everyone got up and began going to bed, each of Eric’s wives stopping to kiss him tenderly. Chris kissed him chastely on the cheek and he closed his eyes, feeling her soft lips on his cheek. Even Renee managed to pat the Viking on the shoulder and he squeezed her hand. When everyone was gone, I came and sat on the floor in front of him and he slid down onto the floor with me. Bill joined us.
“What can I do for you Eric?” I said.
“Tell me, what we are doing, who should stay behind for their protection?” asked Eric.
“Chris, for one. Butter definitely. Westexan, maybe Jen,” I said.
“Why?” asked Eric.
“Well, Chris is very young, Butter is huge and pregnant, Westexan just had a teacup, Jen has small children at home,” I said.
“Would it shock you to know we suspect that Markingham is in the human trafficking trade?” said Eric.
“Why?” I asked.
“Let me be more precise,” he said. “The baby trade.”
“For whom?” I asked. “Vampires?”
“Perhaps for Vampires, some of them, to raise as familiars and future minions. But for another race of supernaturals,” he said.
“For the Fae?” I asked. “The Fae still do that?”
“They do. They take human children and make them fae,” said Eric.
“How do they do that?” I asked.
“They take the children to the Leanan Sidhe and they drain the babies nearly dry, like a Vampire, and the fae gives the babies their blood and they grow up fae. It isn’t always successful, but it is far more successful than trying to breed on their own, their own fertility being less and less as the generations go by,” said Bill.
“That is what the weres have told me,” said Eric. “One of them told me they had spoken to Markingham early tonight and he mentioned Butter being pregnant. I almost did not allow her to come with us, but I did not. It was selfish of me.”
“You know, they will not be happy to be left behind,” I said.

“I will need people to stay here to man the listening post and give us information if we need it. Bill, you must leave Jessica here. We need Body Guard and we need Barrister. Will God Speed stay?” asked Eric.
“I don’t know,” I said. “He is the tech person, maybe he would to help the others.”
“We need a layout of the lair,” said Bill. “It is a historical building.”
“But it was reconstructed…who knows what modifications were made to the layout,” I said. “It may be possible to find out who did the construction. Maybe one of our new were friends know.”
“Maybe,” said Eric. “They tend to go into that type of work.”
“What about Alcide? He is in the construction business, maybe he has done business, even gone to a trade convention of some sort, an expo, anything.” Eric pulled his phone out and flipped it open and speed dialed a number.

“Alcide, this is Eric Northman,” he said into the phone. “I need some information and I need it fast.”
I reached for a pen and some paper and poised to write. Eric explained to Alcide what he needed and he waited for Alcide to go through whatever address books he had to check. Finally he gave me the name. “Geoffrey Langley.” Eric repeated the phone number out loud so I could write it down. “And he redesigned the Lesnes Abbey? And would he provide me with full blue prints? Of course, for a price. And you can expect something from me as well Alcide.” Eric hung up his phone and looked at me. “I can get the full blue prints. Aslinn, have Barrister call the company and get the designs emailed to him, everything seen and unseen. I want to know every inch of that lair.”
“Alright,” I said. “What time do we meet the weres at the Slaughtered Lamb?” I asked.
“Sundown,” said Eric. His eyes looked toward the window, his gaze so intense I turned. The sky was turning light grey.
“Eric, you have to go bed,” I said.
“I cannot lose Pam. I have lost Godric, I cannot lose Pam,” he said.
“You won’t,” I said.

He stood up and Bill stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and we walked to the stairs. I kissed Bill and then looked at Eric. I stood on tip toes and kissed the Viking on the face. “Don’t worry Viking, we will give them a strong showing.”
“Really Aslinn, if you ever decide to turn come see me,” said Eric, his rakish lop sided grin appearing.
“Get in bed Sheriff,” I said.


Saturday May 22, 2010

I woke to the feel of a cold hand on my shoulder. I turned in the bed expecting Bill, but instead I saw the Sheriff of Area Five. I sat up drawing the sheet around me.
“Wakey wakey, Aslinn,” said Eric.
“Out!” I said, pointing to the door. He grinned at me and walked out the door. Barrister raised up and looked at me.
“Was that Eric?” he said, squinting at me in that sleepy way.
“It was, the nerve,” I said. I flung the covers back and went to get into a shower. I showered quickly and went back in and got dressed. I wore dark jeans, a dark Henley (wonder where I got that?) and grabbed my heavy boots. I felt energized and ready to go to war. I put on my silver and put the knife and one of Barrister’s pistols in its holster under my shirt, clipped to my belt. Barrister was dressing in much the same way. I kissed him on the mouth.

“Sure you wouldn’t like to kiss that big Viking once?” he asked. “You certainly act as if you do.”
I swatted him on the butt and turned to go. Eric and I had a complicated friendship and he often liked to tease me about an incident I personally thought of as a troubling dream, though I certainly knew different about it.

I went down the stairs and joined the others. Fairy had made us a chicken, rice, broccoli and cheese casserole and I ate heartily. Bill and Body Guard were looking at the plans of the lair. I got out my computer and went online and called up the file to look at them myself. Body Guard called for our attention.

“I have put together personal GPS trackers for us. Wear them on your clothes, not on your accessories so they can’t be lost,” he said. He passed us a label that looked like a device used in book stores to keep people from stealing books. I peeled back the sticker paper and stuck it inside me my bra. Eric was helping Raki with hers, looking as if he was doing more than helping her attach her tracking device. God Speed was standing by Jen and Westexan and Butter, looking at his computer.

“See, as they place the devices, the computer reads them and they show as a red light here in the member list, just like the forum. Then as they go through the lair, we can see them,” he said.
“That is great GS, but how will we be able to trace the bad guys,” said Linzy. She had a glittery, hard look about her.

“This,” said Body Guard. He held up a small ball about the size of a cherry. “We used them in Iraq, when we would go into building complexes. We would throw them onto the floor and the gas would coat them and the intel could find them on the computers. The signal is not as clear, but you will be able to see them.” He took out a case and opened it. “These are throat modulators, radios, you put these around your necks and press them against your voice box and talk and we can hear each other, so will you guys here.” He passed them out and we helped each other put them on. I put on Scarlett’s.

“That too tight?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“Hey, this will work, we can do this, right?” I said. “Crimson Siren back in action?”
“Yeah, I am ready to kick some ass,” she said. I noticed she had the bracelet on Barrister had gotten for her when she went to spy on the Queen of Louisiana.
“Remember to shoot Vampires in the head,” said Eric. “If you shoot one of us anywhere but the head or the heart, we will just get back up.” He looked at us. We never thought we might have to kill Vampires. I wondered what the ramifications were. As if he read my mind, he added, “Don’t hesitate to do it. A second’s hesitation will get you killed.”
“Liam and Malcolm have texted me, they got our boy,” said Body Guard, looking at his phone.
“Good, I have a few words for that boy,” I said.
“We all do Aslinn,” said Eric. “Bella, Violet, Alsinn, Renee, and Barrister, you will go with Bill. Body Guard, you will take Linzy, Scarlett, Raki and Aolani with you. Fairy, Minnie, Lina, you will be with me. Always stay close to a Vampire. Jessica, you will take care of everyone here with God Speed. When we leave you will secure this house and go with God Speed to another location Barrister has told us about. Jessica, if some reason there is danger and if you have to leave, you are to take Butter and run, protect her at all costs, she can’t be captured by Markingham.”
“I will Eric,” I had never seen Jessica look so sure and so Vampire. She put her arms around Butter’s shoulders and patted her.
“Let’s go,” said Bill.

Pam was tired. She had bloody tears on her cheeks, not because she had been hurt but because she had been kept up all day and had suffered through the fatigue bleeds that happen to Vampires when they stay up past the dawn. She was secured with padded silver but her wrists still looked raw and sore. A were came in to fetch her. She saw he was wearing leather gloves.

“Come to get me for your master?” she purred.
“Shut up bitch,” he said, unlocking the length of chain and jerking her to her feet. “Markingham wants a word.”

Pam was drug up the stairs and through a narrow passage by the were and swung into the main room where we had met the lord of the lair. The were pulled hard on the chain and whipped her into the room. Pam fell onto the heavy wool rug. She looked up at her uncle.

“Sorry about the rough treatment my dear,” said Markingham. He opened a bottle of Tru:Blood and offered it to her. She drank it greedily and felt some of the tired ache leave her body. Tru:Blood would be okay, but she would need human blood to feel up to par. He handed her a handkerchief to clean up her bloody face. “Eric has captured one of your cousins.”

“Say your goodbyes Uncle,” she said. “You are going to have one less human relative in the world.”
“Who would Eric have to help him here?” asked Markingham.
“You must be addled, you know damned well he is being helped by the weres of your area,” said Pam.
“Tell me about the humans in your group,” said Markingham.
“Why?” she said. “You have met them.”
“Richardson, bring me the persuader,” said the Vampire to his familiar. Richardson left the room and came back with a contraption that looked like it might be a useful piece exercise equipment or an interesting sexual device.
“Oh Uncle, you really should speak to Eric about your toys, you really lack imagination on this one,” said Pam.

“I find that the old ways are just as useful as anything new,” he said. “The Rack. When I put humans to the Question a few turns were all it took to get the answers I require.” Richardson came in with a collection of iron tools, pinchers and brands and bone crackers. “Now, do you really want to begin this line of questioning? Or do you just want to start telling me what I want to know?”
“Suck on sunlight you bastard,” she said.

The Slaughtered Lamb was just as I imagined a were bar. The name was stolen from the movie “An American Werewolf in London” and they had even put a copy of the sign. Eric pushed on the buzzer and waited to be admitted. The door clicked open and he opened it for us to file through.

The interior of the bar was not much different from good old boys bars like Merlotte’s. There was a pool table in the back and there was a juke box and a couple of tables were occupied with what looked like a high stakes poker game. I wondered idly what it was like to play poker with weres. We girls were surprised with Eric’s appearance in the parlor one night and we played poker with him and he won, of course.

We were all standing around, being eyeballed by the weres. One big red headed guy looked at us then at Eric.
“You didn’t tell me you were bringing witches with you Northman,” said the big were.
“Is that a problem?” he asked.
“Just surprising is all,” he said. “My name is Liam, and the packmaster of London.”
“Where is the librarian?” asked Eric. Liam looked at another big red head, obviously his half brother. He went into another room. He came back a few moments later and had the blond boy, bound and gagged, dragged him into the bar and dropped onto the floor. I went over and squatted down and looked at him.
“Hello Gerry,” I said. “Remember me?” He looked at me with hate in his eyes. “I guess he does Eric.” I stood up and Eric took my place.
“We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way?” he said, his voice quiet and soft. Eric brushed some of his hair out of his face as gently as he would lover. “Do you want to tell me what I want to know?” The boy turned away, his eyes insolent. Eric grabbed him by the lapels and sat him up on his ass. “Look at me!” he said.

“Your glamour won’t work Northman,” said the were. “He is some class of fae, not pure blood, but definitely fae.”
“Looks like we will be doing this the hard way,” said Eric, smiling at him.
“Let me have a crack him Eric?” said Fairy.
“Why? What do you think you can do dearest?” asked the Viking to his wife.
“Well, I guess there is no way to do this but come out with it…I am ¼ fae,” she said.
We all looked at each other. I could imagine all the others in the safe house listening and their expressions.

Pam’s fangs were extended and she clenched her fists. Markingham had pulled out her fingernails and though they were growing back, they were painful. Red tears ran down her white face.
“Tell me about Eric’s wealth,” he said.
“My manicurist is going to be so upset when she sees my nails,” said Pam.
“If you don’t start talking to me, she won’t have anything to manicure. You will be fertilizer in my garden,” he said. He grabbed her long blond hair and pulled her head back. “Tell me what I want to know.”
“I will eat your heart, Uncle,” she said between her clenched teeth. Markingham went over to the gigantic fire place and picked up a poker and walked back toward Pam. She regarded him lazily.
“Tell me my dear, have you thought about what hell might be like?” said the Vampire. “I personally don’t believe in such a place but I have a very active imagination.”
“When I decease you, you will wish you were there,” said Pam.

Markingham smiled his cold smile.

Eric raised his head and looked around.
“Time is running out,” he said. “I can feel Pam’s pain.”
“Keep it together, Eric,” said Body Guard.
“We don’t have time for this,” said Eric feeling Pam’s anxiety. “Grab him and take him with us. Whether he talks or not, he will be useful leverage.”
“And if Pam is badly hurt, we have a little snack for her to get healed with,” said Aolani.
“Get your people together and meet us at Lesnes Abbey,” said Eric.
I slid into the car and Barrister began to drive, following Eric. I got a text from Chris. They were in the safe house and were ready to monitor us. I texted Fairy and Scarlett to let them know they were all ready. I turned and looked behind us.
“What sweetheart?” asked Bill.
“Looks like we have weres following us,” I said.

The smell of burning Vampire flesh was sweet and cloying. Vampires do not burn precisely like us, they sort of melt. Strings of Pam’s flesh trailed down her body like wax from a candle. She was hanging limply from the rack, her clothes torn and scorched. She was breathing, a reaction to her pain because she did not have any reason to breath.
“Talk to me Pam and all this goes away,” said Markingham. “Tell me all about Eric’s plans to move against his queen, tell me about his area and the humans you are involved with, tell me about his wealth.”
“You will have to do better than that,” she panted.
“Richardson, give me the blades please,” he said.

Scarlett was crying in the back seat of the car. Raki was patting her and trying to get her to calm down. Body Guard looked at her through the rear view window.
“Scarlett, you have to calm down, you won’t be able to help her if you are upset,” he said in a calm voice.
“I can feel her screaming in my head!!!!” she said. Aolani turned around in the seat and looked at her.
“Scarlett, you have to let go and ignore her blood, you have to pull it together or you will not be able to help her,” said Aolani. “Body Guard is bonded to her too, and I am sure he feels it too, but you have to shut her out. She can feel your distress, you have to send her your energy so she will be confident and strong. We are almost there.”

We pulled on to the shoulder about a quarter of a mile from the estate. Eric flew out of the car. His eyes were red and he was mad, not just angry but insane mad. I had seen Eric angry, killing angry but he was at this moment the most terrifying creature I had ever seen. His fangs were out and his eyes glowed with his Vampirism.

“I will go in first and then you will do as Bill tells you and follow me. The weres will follow Body Guard and surround the abbey,” he instructed us. We pulled out or weapons and locked and loaded. Eric looked at all of us. “Take out as many as you can, try to stay alive, and if you are wounded, try to stay calm til one of us get to you.”
We nodded, and began to move toward the abbey as Eric moved with Vampire speed into the darkness. I looked at Bill.
“I wish you didn’t have to be here,” he said. “Not this way.”
“Hey, we will be fine, we are with you,” I said.
God Speed and Jen and Chris and Butter and Westexan and Jessica were all huddled around Chris’s monitor.
“God Speed,” said Bill on his com.
“Go ahead Bill,” he said.
“We are approaching the abbey now. Eric is ahead of us, he should be entering the abbey now,” said Bill.
“We see him on the monitor, he is walking around the perimeter,” said God Speed.

Pam raised her head. The knife had been dug cruelly into her flesh and Markingham was licking the slimy strips he had taken from her. “Eric,” she said under her breath.
“Yes, my dear, what about him?” he said. Markingham had mistaken her saying his name as the preamble for a confession of everything he wanted to know instead of the soft, exhausted plea for help she meant it to be. “Just tell me what I want to know and all of this can stop. You are my blood, my kin, why would I want to hurt you?” Pam began to laugh.

The weres changed and we watched the pack, led by Body Guard in his wolf form run toward the abbey.
“Aolani, where does he have the tracking device?” I asked.
“It is in his ear,” she said. “They will be able to track him.”

We reached the abbey and stood still. Bill went around the building and was gone for a period that began to make us feel uncomfortable. Finally I heard his voice in my ear.
“Raki, Linzy, Scarlett, come around the building and meet me along the wall, I have found a door,” said my Vampire lover’s soft voice. “Barrister, take a were and you and Aslinn and Renee and Fairy go around the other side and see if you can find another door.”
“This is God Speed,” said the voice of my friend and partner in crime. “I see your location and there is a door just opposite you.”
“Thank you GS. Barrister, take your group and go to that door. GS, where is Eric?” asked Bill.
“He seems to be walking around an interior hallway that circles the main room where we had our meeting. He seems to be about to the fireplace,” said God Speed.
“Is there a door?” he asked.
“Yes, it is apparently a small room the blue prints call the sacristy,” said God Speed.
“Yes, there would be another room on the opposite side, it is where the altar servers and priests would have been vested for Mass. The fireplace is where the altar would have been,” I said quietly into the com.
“Barrister, can you get into the building quietly?” he asked.
“I can get in,” said Aolani. I looked at her. “Misspent youth,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. I looked over at Scarlett and she smiled for the first time. Barrister looked down at the largest wolf near us and with a nod of his head, the wolf and one of his friends followed us to the other side of the building.
“When you get into the building, make your way quietly to the other little room and wait for my signal,” said Bill.

Eric could feel Pam’s pain and could hear the voice of Markingham speaking to her and her muffled cries. He slid silently through the darkness and stepped up behind a Vampire and with his large hands, he twisted the Vampire’s head off his shoulders and he immediately began to flake away. Eric dropped his head and continued his walk.

Bill twisted the door handle until he broke the interior lock and the door opened quietly. He went in first, taking the point. He looked down both ends of the hallway. The Vampire Eric killed only moments before was a pile of ash and bone laying against the limestone wall. Bill signaled Raki and Linzy and Scarlett to follow him.

Aolani had the lock picked in no time. Barrister opened the door and with his gun raised, he slid into the corridor. He looked both ways and signaled us in. We followed the shadowed wall to the sacristy and opened the door and slid in. We waited quietly for Bill’s signal.

Lina, Minnie and Bella and Vi were still by the car with the prisoner. Two big wolves stood with them.
“This was the guy who tipped off that sick fuck about us figuring things out,” said Lina, giving him a loveless look.
“Lina?” said Bill.
“Go ahead Bill,” she said.
“Bring our friend closer to the Abbey and wait for my or Eric’s order,” he said softly into the com.
“Is Eric with you?” asked Lina.
“Yes, we are about to go in,” he said.
I stood there in the dark. I could hear the voices behind the door and cries of Pam beyond. I closed my eyes and prayed.
Pam was stretched taught on the rack. Her shoulder was dislocated and her wrist opposite was twisted abnormally. The pad that had kept the silver from burning her had slipped and the injured wrist was smoldering.

“Richardson, defang the bitch and then we will be finished. She may as well meet the sun without her fangs. She doesn’t deserve to die a Vampire,” said Markingham.

“This is Eric, go in now!!!!” he said, his hand on the door knob and he burst into the room. Barrister opened our door and we rushed in. Bill had Markingham’s familiar and quickly broke his neck. I walked up with Fairy to a Vampire and we simultaneously blew her head off and was covered in Vampire blood. Scarlett went over and slashed the throat of another Vampire then put the muzzle of her gun right over the man’s heart and shot him and he burst like a water balloon. Linzy and Aolani went over and began to loosen Pam from her bindings. She was limp as a rag as she fell to the floor. Scarlett ran over to her and pulled Pam’s dead weight away from what was going to happen next. Eric paced around the Vampire. I could feel his rage running like a current of electricity.

“Ah, Eric,” said Markingham. “I am afraid she is quite done for, cut with silver knives, bled nearly dry, burned.”
“Bring in the librarian,” said Eric. “Pam will be cured in no time. It is you who will be dead before dawn.”
“Really?” said Markingham. “How can you be so sure?”

“Fuck this, I am tired of you,” said Eric. He rushed the thin Vampire and suddenly everything slowed down for the room. I watched Eric hands arc out, the strong, long fingers of his hands spread out and like a fork into a roast pork loin, his fingers penetrated the Vampire’s body and went far up into his chest and Eric’s arms disappeared up to his elbows. Markingham’s body went up, and Eric looked up at him. He lowered him down til he was face to face with Eric and they locked eyes. Eric opened his mouth wide, his fangs bright to me and he seemed to be about to give the man an open mouthed kiss. Suddenly, he turned his head and buried his jaws into Markingham’s neck and bit down with an audible crunch as his fangs and lower teeth and the brute force of his jaws crushed the Vampire’s larynx. Eric sucked hard, drawing his blood into his mouth. Eric shook his head like a dog and tore his mouth from the Vampire’s neck, the flesh in his mouth. He turned his head to spit out the meat and raised the Vampire high in the air once more and then with the force of a bull, Eric withdrew his hands from the Vampire’s body, tearing it apart, upper torso flying one way hips and legs the other. In his hand was Markingham’s black heart.

Eric suddenly seemed calm as he regarded the architecture of the dead Vampire’s heart. He turned to the fire and threw it into the flames and then, nearly bending backwards Eric threw his head back and roared with rage and victory. I hid my face against Barrister’s chest, afraid to see Eric’s savagery any longer.

Eric slumped forward a second, exhausted. Bill went to pull him back away the fire, as if he feared Eric would topple in. Eric pulled away a little and wiped his mouth with his forearm, an exercise in futility. He staggered past Fairy and knelt before his child. She looked up at him with weary painful eyes.

“Eric, there is blood in your hair,” she said weakly.
Bill touched his com. “Bring in the librarian, now,” he said to Lina.
Lina and Minnie and Vi and Bella and the two wolves appeared with the struggling librarian. The wolves growled, their hackles raised and Eric turned. He stood up and took the tape gag off his mouth.
“I’ll tell you everything,” he began to babble.
“Too late,” he said, smiling that horrifying smile as he dragged the boy to Pam. “He is fae, Pam. Bon appetite.”
Pam fell on him and his screams stopped.
Eventually.
“Bill, Eric, the sun is about to come up, you are about to be caught out,” said God Speed.
“God Speed, take Jessica outside of the safehouse. Go around the left side of the house and you will find a root cellar. It will not be the most luxurious place in the world for her, but it is light tight, and she will be safe,” said Barrister.
“Affirmative,” said God Speed.

As the fairy died in Pam’s last embrace, we watched the wounds on her body stop bleeding and then begin to heal. She was still weak but she would be okay. Eric went to his child.
“Close your eyes Pam,” he said. “Renee, grab her and hold her tight and I will relocate her shoulder.” Renee nodded and held Pam, providing Eric some traction and Eric quickly and neatly popped her shoulder back into place. Renee gently grabbed her wrist and Eric held it in his hand and he closed his hand around her wrist. “They will heal, they were only stretched.”

“We will have to shelter here,” said Bill. “God Speed has found several rooms that are under this building. He says to go back into the room we came out of and we will find a small door and a set of stairs into a series of light tight chambers.” Eric nodded and he bent down and picked up his child. He looked down at her with this amazing look of love. Horrifying as he looked, he looked gentle and almost soft.

“Fairy dearest, come and help me bathe her so she will be comfortable as she sleeps,” said Eric.
“Of course,” she said.
“Can I sleep with her,” asked Scarlett.
“I think she would like that,” said Eric.
“She won’t…” Scarlett looked anxious.
“No, she won’t eat you dearest,” he said. Fairy and Scarlett followed the Vampire out of the room and we followed after them. Bill stopped and spoke to the naked man who had been the big reddish brown wolf.
“Thank you for helping us, Liam,” said Bill.
“It’s alright mate, Eric said there would be a nice check for us,” said the packmaster of London. He smiled and turned. “Come on lads, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

I was exhausted and covered in Vampire blood. We all found rooms. Renee and Barrister and Raki and I staggered into a room with two large beds. Thankfully there was a loo and a closet of clothes. Not fashionable but functional. I flicked through them and found a pair of jeans and a tee shirt.
“There doesn’t seem to be any girls under clothes, but there are these boxer shorts that will work,” said Barrister taking a stack of them out of the dresser.
“I don’t care,” I said. “Shit, I shouldn’t have worn this shirt.” Poor Bill’s shirt was ruined.
“I am sure Bill will part with another Henley for you,” said Barrister. I smiled at him.
“You girls get your showers,” I said to Renee and Raki.

I sat down on a bench at the end of the bed and unlaced my boots. I slid my socks off and then my jeans. I took off Bill’s shirt and tossed it on the pile and stood there in my wife beater and panties. Barrister found me a robe and I sniffed it. “Musty.” I commented. I took everything else off while they selected something to wear and I slid into the robe.

I cleared out my pockets and took off the tracking device and sat the com on the long narrow table. Barrister set about to starting a fire in the fireplace to warm up the damp chilly place.
“What are we going to do about the mess upstairs?” I said.
“We’ll figure it out this evening,” he said.

Fairy washed Pam’s hair, Eric holding her to make the chore easier. Pam was only barely conscious. Fairy rinsed her long blonde hair and twisted it up with a band Eric found in a vanity box. She soaped up a rag and began to scrub her down to get the blood off her. She handed Eric the cloth to do her more intimate washing and he when he finished, he pulled her up gently and Fairy used the hand shower to rinse her body. When she was washed, Eric picked her up and laid her on the carpet and the two of them dried her and Scarlett opened the robe and helped slide it over her clean body. Eric then carried her to the bed Scarlett had turned down and Scarlett pulled the blankets up over her.

“I found some clothes in the closet Eric,” she said, tiredly.
“Thank you dearest,” said Eric. He and Fairy showered quickly together and got out and dressed decently, though Fairy had to remind Eric to do so. They got into the other bed together and Eric drew the blankets around them and they went immediately to sleep. Scarlett went and took her shower and put on a pair of boxers and a tee shirt and went into the dimly lit room. She started a fire in the fireplace and when she was confident it would burn safely, she slid into bed with the injured but healing Vampire she loved and slid her arm around Pam’s waist and laid her head on her shoulder and went to sleep.

Linzy and Lina was sleeping in one room and Bill and Bella and Vi were in the other. Bill was the last being awake and he thought only for a second about the mess in the room above, shrugged his shoulders, turned over and cuddled Vi against him and went into his Vampire sleep.
To be continued.



Sunday, May 23, 2010.

I woke up and turned over on my back. Barrister complained softly under his breath and pulled me into him closer. I lay there and listened to the tomb like silence of the room. I thought about the things I had seen. I had never seen such violence outside of a horror movie and I had never killed anything that remotely looked human. I did not feel guilt precisely, she had been standing there, handing things to Markingham he had used on Pam.

I thought about Pam and I hoped she would be okay. She was a pretty pragmatic, live in the now sort of Vampire but I wondered how it might change her. Would I still like her? Would she still have that odd gallows humor I liked so much. I didn’t know.

Then I wondered idly if there was human food in the house. Coffee at least. I got up, moving Barrister’s arm from around me and went to the loo. I came back in and slid into the jeans and grabbed my socks and boots and watch and went out the door. I could see it was sun down and in a matter of ten minutes or so, the Vampires would be up and we would figure out what to do. As I moved through the narrow corridor I ran my hand along the wall and felt a light switch plate and flicked on the lights. I sat down on the bottom step of the narrow stairway and put on my boots and laced them up. I stood up and began to climb the stairs and wondered how Eric with his frame and height and carrying Pam in his arms got down the stairs without banging his head on things.

I stepped into the vestibule and heard voices. Crap, I left my gun on the table in the bed room. I pressed my ear to the door and listened. I recognized the voices of GS and Jen and Butter and Westexan and Jessica. I opened the door and walked in.

“Hey guys,” I said. The group had been hard at work, cleaning up the room. The carpet was gone but everything else had been carefully vacuumed and the furniture given a careful going over.
“Hey Aslinn,” said Westexan. “Is everyone okay? Pam okay?”
“Yeah, she was in bad shape last night when we got to her,” I said. Butter poured me some coffee from a large thermos and brought me a large cinnamon roll. I sat and had my breakfast for dinner and told them about the things that happened last night. Jen visibly shivered when I described Markham’s death and the death of the librarian. “It is a shame you all cleaned up so fast, I would have liked a big container of that fairy dust. Aolani too.”
“That’s why I brought baggies,” said GS and he showed me a small stack of trash liner bags with fairy dust in it. “I read the mythology thread.”
“Thanks GS,” I said. “You didn’t happen to bring any Tru:Blood did you?”
“Yeah, we brought some, we figured they would need something eat after last night,” said Westexan. “So now what do we do?”
“I don’t know, wait for them to wake up and tell us what to do next,” I said. “Say, did you all see the Vampire Eric killed in the hall?”

We had just finished clearing away the rug to take to Barrister’s estate to be burned along with our vacuum bags and the parts of the wooden rack when the others began to descend from the lower chambers. Barrister had our bloody clothes and Raki and Renee had the bits and pieces from my pockets I had left. Eric was the last to appear with Pam in his arms.

“How are you doing Pam?” I asked.
“Much better. I have something to say and it’s real hard for me to say it, you all after all are humans, but thanks for coming to save me and helping Eric,” said the proud Vampire.
“Hey, you might be Vampire, but you are one of us, we share your blood,” I said.
Eric sat Pam down in one of the high back chairs. He looked around at the room. Minnie brought him a Tru:Blood and Renee Brought one for Bill. Eric looked around the room. “Aslinn, you and Aolani should come here and go through these books, see if there are any you might like to have for the library. Come during the day.”

“I think we will,” I said. “Never know when you might find some forgotten piece of history.” I walked over to the first book case and looked at the books. They were neatly labeled on the edge of the shelves. History of Vampires in Europe. “Bill sweetheart, come and see these.” He came over and looked at the label and took a book form the shelves and opened it. I looked over at the book. It was hand written and I looked at the shelves, just by quickly counting, I could see there were a couple of hundred books in that category. I left him standing there and roamed on to the next section. There were several shelves marked occult. I picked one up and realized I was holding the hand lettered copy of the Malleus Malficarum. Then I spotted a set of shelves marked “Adoptions”. I picked up the first book and opened it.

“Oh my God in heaven,” I said. Eric was beside me quickly. “These are Markingham’s records.”
“We must take these now,” said Eric. He opened his phone and called the Slaughtered Lamb. “How quickly can you get here with a heavy duty panel van and about a hundred shipping quality boxes?”
I moved on down the line and began to look on the dates on the spines of the books. I picked one out randomly and opened it. I read down the list and saw a familiar name. I walked back to the Viking, still on the phone and he held it away for a second and looked down at the name I was pointing to. He looked at me hard and I mouthed a name to him, a name he knew well. He closed his eyes for a second. “Yes, now please.” He clicked off his phone and took the book from my hand and read the entire entry. “Keep looking and tell me later what you think you know.”
“Eric, what if I guess wrong?” I said. My brain had been buzzing with electricity and already a plan was spinning in my head, a plan that sounded ridiculous but in light of what I had learned about the world around me and the things in it, it sounded completely reasonable. Bill joined us.

“Bill pack up all the Vampire history books and make sure you and Aslinn pack these books up. The weres are coming to help,” said Eric. “Ship them to your house so Aslinn and the group can have access to them anytime.”
“Alright,” said Bill. Eric walked away and seemed in a dark study. I wondered if Vampire minds worked things out faster than us.

The weres came an hour later and they brought food and drink. Thoughtful Eric had remembered we were hungry. I had several stacks of the books ready and I began to pack them. The boxes were heavy but the weres lifted them as if they were nothing. Soon we had all the books packed and loaded on the truck, each marked with Bill’s address at Bon Temps in Renee’s careful writing. There were a dozen or so boxes left so I got with Aolani and we went through the occult books and we got the most useful and interesting books we could use. Jessica came to me with a few books. I looked at them. They were dirty little Victorian sex books. I smiled at the young Vampire and put them in our boxes and was graced with a smile. Eric was sitting at a table with Chris and he was dictating some things to her. Her face was serious as she typed Eric’s words and when she finished, he leaned over and kissed her cheek and she smiled at him.

When we had done everything, Eric started a fire in the fireplace and took kindling and lit the rest of the room. We filed out and Eric stood there for a moment and watched the flames take the house and he walked away.

We all went to Barrister’s estate and after we burned the rug and the rack we went and showered. Eric held Pam on his lap and fed her his blood, just to make certain she was up to par. He brushed her hair away from her face and talked to her quietly. I tried to imagine the two as lovers. She was tall and thin and beautiful with long blond hair and Eric was… well, Eric was equally beautiful. Was he romantic with her? She said he dug her out of her grave and held her onto his lap and explained what he had done to her. Did he take her to his nest and make love with her? Was she a virgin and was he sweet and gentle with her? Did he teach her not just how to be a Vampire but to be a woman too? Did he listen to her when she spoke of other fantasies she had and did he understand and perhaps encourage her to have adventures and explore her own being? Whatever he had done, they were still father and child, lover and friend. I blushed a little at the intimate moment between them and looked away.

When she and Eric were finished we all decided to go to the Slaughtered Lamb. As we went out to the cars, Eric stopped me. “Did you keep the book you showed me?” he asked.
“Yes and another decades worth, just to compare,” I said.
“Did you look at them?” he asked.
“Cursory glance,” I said.
“What are you thinking about Aslinn?” he asked.
“I think Markingham was not just keeping adoption records, he was keeping a registry. A registry of certain humans with a certain bloodline for special reasons,” I said.
“What special reasons are those?” he asked.
“I don’t like to say for sure Eric,” I said. “They are your people.”
“What do you think?” he said.
“I think he was keeping a record of people with special bloodlines so they could be rounded up later and sold as food for Vampires, like people who pay huge amounts of money to eat a panda or the last Vietnamese guinea fowl, or a coelacanth. If her bloodline is what it says, and obviously it is, she may be on a feeding list and that is what I think he was doing and I think there are Vampires who want to be invited to the dinner table,” I said. “Eric, there are people in that book that are royal by blows, noblemen’s bastards, and even people with rare bloodtypes in those books, all bought and paid for by Vampires and sold to humans who can’t have children of their own only to be rounded up like cattle for slaughter.” My eyes welled up and I looked at him. “Eric, I am trying really hard to accept every part of your kind, the good and the bad. But you are going to have to take a stand and I want to know what side you are on.”

He looked at me. “I watched you and the others. You and Fairy stood side by side and shot a Vampire and I felt nothing. Scarlett cut a Vampire’s throat and then shot her in the heart and I wanted to cheer. You have proved that you would do whatever was necessary to protect any of us and I was proud. Do you think I would have allowed you, that is the group, to kill one of my own kind, and then allow my kind to harm any of you?”

“You tell me,” I said.
“I will tell you everything and very soon, but it will have to wait until we go to Ireland,” he said. “I asked you once before to do one little thing for me and that is trust me.”
“Can we? Can we trust you?” I asked.

“Look inside your heart, Aslinn, what does it tell you?” he asked. Then he turned and walked away.

The second time we came into the Slaughtered Lamb was far more comfortable. We were stood a round of drinks and they mingled with us. A handsome young were was flirting with Chris and she was flirting a little back. Eric, who was sitting our table with me and Barrister and Bill and Renee and Vi. Fairy sat next him, her hand on the Viking’s thigh and she rubbed it unselfconsciously as she talked to Linzy and Lina. Eric had a cloudy look on his face.
“Hey, ease up,” I said. “She isn’t a sister wife.”
“Yet,” he said, looking to see if Renee was paying attention.
“She isn’t old enough,” I said.
“I have time,” said the one thousand year old Vampire.
“What time do we fly to Ireland tomorrow?” I asked.
“Sundown,” he said.