I was late coming into the parlor and by the time I got there, Bill was already there. Pam was not there. This worried me because the proud Vampire was in pretty bad trouble and I had hoped to see her. None of the Vampires were doing particularly well.
I went and made myself a cup of coffee and sat down with the group. Bill looked at me. We had all deceived Bill about Eric's whereabouts. Eric was about to get into hot water when Bill finally caught up to him and knowing he was at Sookie's was a mixed bag for Bill.
Bill looked at me and I looked back at him. I felt sort of sorry for Bill.
Bill was in a catch 22 situation, a real tail in the crack sort of thing. On one hand he was the king of Louisiana and all full of power and authority and I personally thought at times he let go straight to his pointy head, but on the other hand, he really had limited authority. The Authority was the one who told his majesty to jump and how high. So I don't think he was autonomous as we imagined he was. He could run the day to day minutia but the big stuff was at the will and pleasure of the Authority and I think everyone forgot that. It was too easy to judge him and blame him for everything from the Lindberg baby kidnapping to Eric's predicament. Hell, I didn't think the witches could just snafu Eric's memory like that. Who knew a witch could overpower a 1000 year old Vampire.
At any rate, we had even more fish to fry....
"So, what are we going to do about the witches?" asked Damien.
"We have to make her undo the spell and to do that, the witch who cast the spell has to be brought forward through Marnie to force her to undo it," said Aolani. We knew this was what we had to do. There was no getting around it. The witch's spell was something personal and had it's own intentions and subtleties. "Even if we knew the reversal spell, there would be a chance that Eric would not be cured. It may even kill him."
"So he might be like this forever?" asked Fairy. Aolani nodded.
"So, Jesus dad," began Westexan. "Do you think he will be a help?"
"I don't know," said Aolani. "I still think Lafayette is a conduit for the spirit inside of Marnie to come forth. Some how or another, Lafayette empowers Marnie to allow the spirit to do what it has to do."
"I think, if anything, Lafayette will find out he was the powerful conduit for Marnie's alter ego to come out," I said. "But I think this man, is a man you have to keep both eyes on at all times."
"I agree," said Renee. "Now, Jessica and Jason?"
"Jessica and Jason will be a really touchy thing," said Linzy. "But sort of funny too."
"Yeah, that whole blood thing," said Minnie. "It could get get really confusing. But you would think Jason would know that."
"I think he does, but he has this conflict too with Hoyt being his friend," said Lina. "Bill, did I see a little smile on your face when you glamoured Portia?"
"Perhaps," he said, gracing Lina with his closed lipped smile.
"He was definitely smiling when Pam came in all covered in crepe," said Violet.
"He was, but it was sort of funny," said Tiff.
"Then of course there was Sam and Tommy," said Sugar. "That was a little brilliant thinking on Tommy's part."
"But not so brilliant of Sam to tell him about his past," said Butter. "What was he thinking?"
"Well, if he thought sharing his 'I murdered two people too' story with baby brother was going to bond them, he was mistaken," said Sweet. "So, what will happen to Tommy now? I mean....is he like the skin walker now?"
We all sat back and Body Guard began to speak.
"For all intents and purposes he will be," said Body Guard. "But my question is, will he act on it and actually turn into something other than an animal and if he does, what will he do with it? I mean, he could do anything, be anyone. Like, will he turn into Maxine and sell her property right out from under her and take her natural gas rights? Or something else?"
"Like?" asked Fairy.
"It would be really easy to frame Sam for something," said Body Guard.
"Oh man," said Damien.
"Yeah...." said Body Guard. "So Sam better watch his ass."
"Okay, so this witch from centuries ago..." said Lina. "She made Vampires step out into the light. Why? What beef does she have with Vampires?"
"You have to understand, Vampires have always had close to no use for other supernatural beings," he said. "So whatever happened to her under the Inquisition may have been the catalyst for her anger towards Vampires. She has been holding a grudge from beyond the grave."
"So what can they do to make sure she doesn't just go away to return in someone else, like Lafayette?" asked Minnie.
"She has to be sent into the light," said Aolani. "She has be sent on so she can't come back."
Easier said than done.....
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
All Roads Lead You Here, Despite your Destination
July 13, 2011
And it's something quite peculiar
Something Shimmering and white
Leads you here, despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight
The Church…Under the Milky Way Tonight
Aolani, Fairy and Renee and Body Guard and I were busy in the parlor. I don’t know if the NY public library or the Library of Congress had the books we had, but we had an array before us. We were trying to understand the spell Marnie used on Eric. If we could understand the basic components, perhaps we would understand the reasons Eric simply was not Eric anymore.
I personally did not know was worse, having to deal with an inept necromancer who may have conjured an old and vengeful ghost of a witch, or dealing with a rabid werepanther. I shuttered at the thought of what happened to Jason. Poor fellah. You never think you would see an exception to the rule about ‘raping the willing’ but there it was. Can anyone say traumatic? I know you can.
But back to Eric’s dilemma. Having our fearless leader noncompos mentum was a true dilemma indeed. We were at the big table, going through the books, turning pages and scribbling on pads of paper and the hum of Aolani’s lap top was a familiar sound in the parlor. May as well call it the Vampire Science Reading Room.
“I think I found something,” said Body Guard, looking at a tiny, ancient book and a piece of paper with the partial translation on it. I went and looked over his shoulder. The book was ancient, leather bound and the pages were thin, like the wings of a dragon fly. The gold leaf on the edges were worn by the thumbing fingers of many hands and there were several silk ribbons of different colors in it, all sort of fadey and twisted from use.
“Where did you get that?” I asked, squinting a little at the tiny book and leaning forward a little more.
“Had it in our family for years. We kept it because it was obviously very old,” said Body Guard. He lifted the book up to me and I put my finger on the page Body Guard was looking at and I examined the cover. It was stamped the word Malificaria on the cover and I opened the cover and saw the Imperatur, the stamp that said the material within was free of errors of the Catholic Church. I turned the page. In English there was a stamp, printed in England 1822 and a foreward. It was a prayer book for the Jesuit Order to fight the powers of darkness. Well…What was a witch doing reciting a Jesuit Prayer? I gave the book back to Body Guard.
“The prayer goes back to the 1500’s,” said Body Guard. “So it falls in line with the time of the Inquisition.” There you are, I thought. “So here it is: Now I command and charge you, O evil spirit! that you immediately bring to me all that money, and then depart from the circle, abstaining from all noise, terror, tumult, and stench, and if you refuse I will damn you both in body and soul. And abstain from harming any creature or thing, and depart immediately to the place which God’s justice has appointed for you. Depart from my sight and flee from here. This I command in the name and virtue, potency and power, of the most Holy Trinity, the Father +, and the Son +, and the Holy Spirit +. Behold the cross of the Lord! Fly away to other parts!”
“Yeah, but where did all those Christian bits go when Marnie cast the spell?” asked Renee.
“Well, the source doesn’t matter,” said Aolani. “It’s the intent.”
“Besides, the Church was sort of notorious about the use of magik and hiding the source by using Christian reference. So, what have we got Aolani, would it work?” I asked.
“Well, it looks like a warding spell and a binding spell. ‘And abstain from harming any creature or thing, and depart immediately to the place which God’s justice has appointed for you. Depart from my sight and flee from here.’ And then it looks like a justice spell, not just about God’s Justice but personal gain for the sender of the spell, see, Eric said, let’s make a deal…Marnie said what is in it for me…Eric said there is nothing in it for you except you get to live…You can’t offer to make a deal and then not negotiate the terms with give and take,” said Aolani.
“So Eric was making the Faustian deal? Your soul for temporary comfort, that comfort being I won’t eat you today, but keep pissing me off and I will have you for dinner,” I said.
“Right. And since it would be considered a Faustian deal, a deal with the devil so to speak, the witch that used this specific curse would have heard before,” said Aolani.
“When would she have heard it?” asked Fairy.
“When it was used against her,” said Aolani.
“So how do we lift the curse?” asked Renee.
“We don’t,” I said. “The witch who cast it has to.”
“And that witch may not be Marnie,” said Renee.
“Right,” said Aolani. “But casting a spell is more than the use of words, it is all about intent. That is why we see Eric so altered and the spell said nothing about wiping his memory. This witch has real grudge.”
“So what do we do?” asked Fairy. Seeing Eric was disconcerting. He was sweet, sort of innocent, but creepy too, not in a bad way, just a 13 o’clock sort of way when the world seems to be off center and to the left and light not as brightly lit.
“Well, we might be able to protect Eric but unless we break the spell, we may never get him back,” said Aolani.
“Bill…” I said. “This is bad with him. Do you think he knew what he was doing when he sent Eric to the witches?”
“I doubt it,” said Aolani. “Though I would not put it past him to use it to his advantage.” I nodded. That sucked but it was a simple fact, there was no love lost between Bill Compton and Eric Northman and if he thought, as he always thought in his misguided attempts to protect Sookie he could kill Eric and protect her, he would do it. I didn’t like it, because I like Eric, but there it was. Our boys would never hold hands, take long walks together on the beach, look longingly in one another’s eyes or friend one another on Face your Space or whatever social networks they belonged to…
We sat down and wrote up the main things we thought about the spell/prayer and how we thought it would work. I sat down at the computer and emailed Pam:
Hey Pam,
Worked on that spell…got what we think it is, but boy do we need this witch to do her thing…Be careful dealing with her though. By the way, it isn’t Marnie you have to worry about, but the thing living inside her. SO DO NOT KILL HER!!!!! Keep Marnie alive or we will lose that ghost living in her body… See you at the meeting…Come early if you can…
Aslinn
And she did. She came as soon as the sun was down and she was mad!!!! She was impatient with us and even hissed at Aolani…
“Back the truck up Pam,” she said, nonplussed. Aolani had a foul tempered cat so fangs and spitting didn’t impress her much. Besides we were used to them getting all fangy and snarly. “This is the best we have.”
“But it doesn’t say how to cure him,” she said.
“Well, we can’t cure him,” said Aolani. “Marnie has to.”
“Fuck a zombie!!!” swore Pam. Barrister came over to pat her and she shrugged him away. He went and sat down, a little miffed. Then Jessica came in and we knew Bill was on his way. “Do not say anything to Bill about what you told me.”
“Pam…” said Renee, and then shut up.
Bill came into the room and his spidey senses told him something was going on. He sat down and Violet brought him a Tru:Blood and I went over and kissed him. “Have you discovered anything?” he asked.
“We are collating,” I said. Bill looked at me with strange hooded eyes. He knew me, he knew we were further ahead. He said nothing and looked away..Oh let’s play ‘Who’s mad at Aslinn?”…Bet King Bill would win.
We all sat down, taking our place. I sat next to Barrister and he put his arm around me. Butter and Lina and Linzy and Fairy and Raki and Aolani were there, Violet and Minnie and Body Guard and Renee and Westexan were there. Sugar and Sweet came in but was disappointed when they did not see Alcide.
“So what do we think?” asked Jessica, finally seeing Pam was not going to say anything.
“Well, I think Marnie is playing with shit she has no conception of,” I said. “She is lost in her desire for power and she does not know what she is fucking around with.”
“That thing with the mirror? Was that her?” asked Westexan.
“Yeah,” I said. “People believed mirrors were portals between worlds, the world of the living and dead, man and fae, heaven and hell. So this other witch, she was there, and I think she made the knife turn in Marnie’s hand. See, Marnie thinks she will get this power, but she won’t…This spirit will use her up and discard her. We just have to get to her before she kills this witch and gets away from us.”
“And Jason…is Sookie ever going to realize he is missing and in trouble?” asked Violet.
“Sookie has her head so far up her hind end…” said Fairy. Bill gave Fairy a look because despite everything he did love her and he did not like to hear bad things about her. I shrugged and sat back closer to Barrister. I agreed with Fairy.
“What about that doll Jessica?” asked Minnie.
“I don’t know. What the hell is the deal with that thing? Hoyt dumped it at the dump, I threw it in the lake and it came back..It’s like fucking Chucky!!!” said Jessica.
“The next time it comes back, bring it here,” said Aolani.
“I will,” she said.
“And don’t glamour Hoyt anymore,” said Bill, shaking his finger at her. I got up. I had a private bone to pick with Bill Compton. The other girls might over look the whole thing with Portia, but dammit, she was not dinner and that pissed me off.
I went to the sink and began to wash our few plates.
Bill came over. “Leave me alone,” I said.
“Will you talk to me, I have been trying to talk to you since Sunday,” he said.
“Got nothing to say to you. Watch out Bill Compton, that thing between your legs is gonna get you in a whole world of shit,” I said. “Might even embarrass you.”
“How do you mean?” he asked.
“You heard me your majesty,” I said.
“Where is Eric Northman?” he asked.
“You don’t know?” I asked.
“You know I don’t,” he said.
“Too damned bad,” I said. “Go sit down, you are on my last nerve.” He pulled me around and I looked at him. “You gonna glamour it out of me?” He stepped back and let me go and walked away. I loved Bill, but he was standing on my last fucking nerve. I hoped he got demoted soon. I was sort of pleased and excited but now I wasn’t. All I wanted was for him to be back to the way he was and be plain old Bill and be my southern sweety again. Instead I was arguing with him and it made me mad.
This was because I was not willing to see Bill connive to hurt Eric. Like I said, they were never gonna be besties, but we friends with all of them, even if they didn’t like each other.
“So, are you gonna work with Lafayette?” I heard Butter ask.
“I will work with him so long he gets me my maker back,” said Pam.
“You know, Lafayette can’t do anything, even Hey Soos. Being mad at them does not help your situation,” I said, drying my hands. “Though if you get in arms reach of an unarmed Tara, please help yourself to all you can hold because this girl is getting on my nerves as much as Sookie.” Bill looked at me. “Yes, fucking Snookeh, they both act like you guys ought to just drop everything and take care of her and taste the back of her hand for all the trouble.”
“And why is Alcide with her?” asked Sugar. “Is he really falling for Debbie’s shit?” There was a collective groan. The Vampires got a glazed over disinterested look.
“Well, she’s a bad penny,” said Body Guard. “They always turn up.”
“Is there nothing, absolutely nothing you can do for Jason?” asked Barrister to Bill.
“Not much, and I would if I could,” said Bill. “But maybe I can look into it.”
“Snookeh will appreciate that, I am sure,” I said.
And it's something quite peculiar
Something Shimmering and white
Leads you here, despite your destination
Under the Milky Way tonight
The Church…Under the Milky Way Tonight
Aolani, Fairy and Renee and Body Guard and I were busy in the parlor. I don’t know if the NY public library or the Library of Congress had the books we had, but we had an array before us. We were trying to understand the spell Marnie used on Eric. If we could understand the basic components, perhaps we would understand the reasons Eric simply was not Eric anymore.
I personally did not know was worse, having to deal with an inept necromancer who may have conjured an old and vengeful ghost of a witch, or dealing with a rabid werepanther. I shuttered at the thought of what happened to Jason. Poor fellah. You never think you would see an exception to the rule about ‘raping the willing’ but there it was. Can anyone say traumatic? I know you can.
But back to Eric’s dilemma. Having our fearless leader noncompos mentum was a true dilemma indeed. We were at the big table, going through the books, turning pages and scribbling on pads of paper and the hum of Aolani’s lap top was a familiar sound in the parlor. May as well call it the Vampire Science Reading Room.
“I think I found something,” said Body Guard, looking at a tiny, ancient book and a piece of paper with the partial translation on it. I went and looked over his shoulder. The book was ancient, leather bound and the pages were thin, like the wings of a dragon fly. The gold leaf on the edges were worn by the thumbing fingers of many hands and there were several silk ribbons of different colors in it, all sort of fadey and twisted from use.
“Where did you get that?” I asked, squinting a little at the tiny book and leaning forward a little more.
“Had it in our family for years. We kept it because it was obviously very old,” said Body Guard. He lifted the book up to me and I put my finger on the page Body Guard was looking at and I examined the cover. It was stamped the word Malificaria on the cover and I opened the cover and saw the Imperatur, the stamp that said the material within was free of errors of the Catholic Church. I turned the page. In English there was a stamp, printed in England 1822 and a foreward. It was a prayer book for the Jesuit Order to fight the powers of darkness. Well…What was a witch doing reciting a Jesuit Prayer? I gave the book back to Body Guard.
“The prayer goes back to the 1500’s,” said Body Guard. “So it falls in line with the time of the Inquisition.” There you are, I thought. “So here it is: Now I command and charge you, O evil spirit! that you immediately bring to me all that money, and then depart from the circle, abstaining from all noise, terror, tumult, and stench, and if you refuse I will damn you both in body and soul. And abstain from harming any creature or thing, and depart immediately to the place which God’s justice has appointed for you. Depart from my sight and flee from here. This I command in the name and virtue, potency and power, of the most Holy Trinity, the Father +, and the Son +, and the Holy Spirit +. Behold the cross of the Lord! Fly away to other parts!”
“Yeah, but where did all those Christian bits go when Marnie cast the spell?” asked Renee.
“Well, the source doesn’t matter,” said Aolani. “It’s the intent.”
“Besides, the Church was sort of notorious about the use of magik and hiding the source by using Christian reference. So, what have we got Aolani, would it work?” I asked.
“Well, it looks like a warding spell and a binding spell. ‘And abstain from harming any creature or thing, and depart immediately to the place which God’s justice has appointed for you. Depart from my sight and flee from here.’ And then it looks like a justice spell, not just about God’s Justice but personal gain for the sender of the spell, see, Eric said, let’s make a deal…Marnie said what is in it for me…Eric said there is nothing in it for you except you get to live…You can’t offer to make a deal and then not negotiate the terms with give and take,” said Aolani.
“So Eric was making the Faustian deal? Your soul for temporary comfort, that comfort being I won’t eat you today, but keep pissing me off and I will have you for dinner,” I said.
“Right. And since it would be considered a Faustian deal, a deal with the devil so to speak, the witch that used this specific curse would have heard before,” said Aolani.
“When would she have heard it?” asked Fairy.
“When it was used against her,” said Aolani.
“So how do we lift the curse?” asked Renee.
“We don’t,” I said. “The witch who cast it has to.”
“And that witch may not be Marnie,” said Renee.
“Right,” said Aolani. “But casting a spell is more than the use of words, it is all about intent. That is why we see Eric so altered and the spell said nothing about wiping his memory. This witch has real grudge.”
“So what do we do?” asked Fairy. Seeing Eric was disconcerting. He was sweet, sort of innocent, but creepy too, not in a bad way, just a 13 o’clock sort of way when the world seems to be off center and to the left and light not as brightly lit.
“Well, we might be able to protect Eric but unless we break the spell, we may never get him back,” said Aolani.
“Bill…” I said. “This is bad with him. Do you think he knew what he was doing when he sent Eric to the witches?”
“I doubt it,” said Aolani. “Though I would not put it past him to use it to his advantage.” I nodded. That sucked but it was a simple fact, there was no love lost between Bill Compton and Eric Northman and if he thought, as he always thought in his misguided attempts to protect Sookie he could kill Eric and protect her, he would do it. I didn’t like it, because I like Eric, but there it was. Our boys would never hold hands, take long walks together on the beach, look longingly in one another’s eyes or friend one another on Face your Space or whatever social networks they belonged to…
We sat down and wrote up the main things we thought about the spell/prayer and how we thought it would work. I sat down at the computer and emailed Pam:
Hey Pam,
Worked on that spell…got what we think it is, but boy do we need this witch to do her thing…Be careful dealing with her though. By the way, it isn’t Marnie you have to worry about, but the thing living inside her. SO DO NOT KILL HER!!!!! Keep Marnie alive or we will lose that ghost living in her body… See you at the meeting…Come early if you can…
Aslinn
And she did. She came as soon as the sun was down and she was mad!!!! She was impatient with us and even hissed at Aolani…
“Back the truck up Pam,” she said, nonplussed. Aolani had a foul tempered cat so fangs and spitting didn’t impress her much. Besides we were used to them getting all fangy and snarly. “This is the best we have.”
“But it doesn’t say how to cure him,” she said.
“Well, we can’t cure him,” said Aolani. “Marnie has to.”
“Fuck a zombie!!!” swore Pam. Barrister came over to pat her and she shrugged him away. He went and sat down, a little miffed. Then Jessica came in and we knew Bill was on his way. “Do not say anything to Bill about what you told me.”
“Pam…” said Renee, and then shut up.
Bill came into the room and his spidey senses told him something was going on. He sat down and Violet brought him a Tru:Blood and I went over and kissed him. “Have you discovered anything?” he asked.
“We are collating,” I said. Bill looked at me with strange hooded eyes. He knew me, he knew we were further ahead. He said nothing and looked away..Oh let’s play ‘Who’s mad at Aslinn?”…Bet King Bill would win.
We all sat down, taking our place. I sat next to Barrister and he put his arm around me. Butter and Lina and Linzy and Fairy and Raki and Aolani were there, Violet and Minnie and Body Guard and Renee and Westexan were there. Sugar and Sweet came in but was disappointed when they did not see Alcide.
“So what do we think?” asked Jessica, finally seeing Pam was not going to say anything.
“Well, I think Marnie is playing with shit she has no conception of,” I said. “She is lost in her desire for power and she does not know what she is fucking around with.”
“That thing with the mirror? Was that her?” asked Westexan.
“Yeah,” I said. “People believed mirrors were portals between worlds, the world of the living and dead, man and fae, heaven and hell. So this other witch, she was there, and I think she made the knife turn in Marnie’s hand. See, Marnie thinks she will get this power, but she won’t…This spirit will use her up and discard her. We just have to get to her before she kills this witch and gets away from us.”
“And Jason…is Sookie ever going to realize he is missing and in trouble?” asked Violet.
“Sookie has her head so far up her hind end…” said Fairy. Bill gave Fairy a look because despite everything he did love her and he did not like to hear bad things about her. I shrugged and sat back closer to Barrister. I agreed with Fairy.
“What about that doll Jessica?” asked Minnie.
“I don’t know. What the hell is the deal with that thing? Hoyt dumped it at the dump, I threw it in the lake and it came back..It’s like fucking Chucky!!!” said Jessica.
“The next time it comes back, bring it here,” said Aolani.
“I will,” she said.
“And don’t glamour Hoyt anymore,” said Bill, shaking his finger at her. I got up. I had a private bone to pick with Bill Compton. The other girls might over look the whole thing with Portia, but dammit, she was not dinner and that pissed me off.
I went to the sink and began to wash our few plates.
Bill came over. “Leave me alone,” I said.
“Will you talk to me, I have been trying to talk to you since Sunday,” he said.
“Got nothing to say to you. Watch out Bill Compton, that thing between your legs is gonna get you in a whole world of shit,” I said. “Might even embarrass you.”
“How do you mean?” he asked.
“You heard me your majesty,” I said.
“Where is Eric Northman?” he asked.
“You don’t know?” I asked.
“You know I don’t,” he said.
“Too damned bad,” I said. “Go sit down, you are on my last nerve.” He pulled me around and I looked at him. “You gonna glamour it out of me?” He stepped back and let me go and walked away. I loved Bill, but he was standing on my last fucking nerve. I hoped he got demoted soon. I was sort of pleased and excited but now I wasn’t. All I wanted was for him to be back to the way he was and be plain old Bill and be my southern sweety again. Instead I was arguing with him and it made me mad.
This was because I was not willing to see Bill connive to hurt Eric. Like I said, they were never gonna be besties, but we friends with all of them, even if they didn’t like each other.
“So, are you gonna work with Lafayette?” I heard Butter ask.
“I will work with him so long he gets me my maker back,” said Pam.
“You know, Lafayette can’t do anything, even Hey Soos. Being mad at them does not help your situation,” I said, drying my hands. “Though if you get in arms reach of an unarmed Tara, please help yourself to all you can hold because this girl is getting on my nerves as much as Sookie.” Bill looked at me. “Yes, fucking Snookeh, they both act like you guys ought to just drop everything and take care of her and taste the back of her hand for all the trouble.”
“And why is Alcide with her?” asked Sugar. “Is he really falling for Debbie’s shit?” There was a collective groan. The Vampires got a glazed over disinterested look.
“Well, she’s a bad penny,” said Body Guard. “They always turn up.”
“Is there nothing, absolutely nothing you can do for Jason?” asked Barrister to Bill.
“Not much, and I would if I could,” said Bill. “But maybe I can look into it.”
“Snookeh will appreciate that, I am sure,” I said.
Monday, July 11, 2011
I called the Witch Doctors....July 11, 2011
“Sookie, we can’t promise you we can do anything,” said Aolani as we walked up on the porch. Sookie had called the Council for our help and we were anxious of course to see Eric, but we didn’t understand the content of the spell nor the true caster of the spell because we seriously suspected Marnie was being possessed by someone or something else.
“Just do what you can,” said Sookie, a little tired a frazzled looking.
“We will, we said we would,” I said to her. I looked back at Renee and we both looked at Fairy. We debated about bringing our Fairy with us, because she is even more fae than Sookie but I had my velvet covered silver pads to use on him if he got a little over excited with her. I didn’t want to hurt him, because hell, I knew he was like the big friendly abominable snow man in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, but he was a thousand years old and he was a Vampire. Eric, you are going to owe me big time.
We came in carefully to Sookie’s house. But it looked great after it was cleaned up and painted. We looked around and there was Eric. He looked different to us, somehow unsure and not frightened precisely but…anxious.
“Eric, these are some of your friends, they wanted to come look at you and see how you are,” said Sookie.
“These are my friends?” he asked. Fairy moved past me faster than I could grab her. She sat down by Eric. She was crying. “Why are you crying?”
“I have just been so worried about you,” she said. She impulsively threw her arms around Eric who patted her on the shoulder.
“You smell so good,” he said, and then his fangs popped out. He looked embarrassed again, and pressed his hand over his mouth to stifle himself. “What are you?”
“I am your friend,” she said. “And it’s okay when your fangs pop out, you don’t have to hide them from us.”
“I smell my blood inside you,” he said, He snuggled into Fairy’s neck and sniffed hard. Had Fairy been a daisy, her petals would have gone all up inside his nose he sniffed so hard. “Are you mine?”
“Yes,” she said. “I am yours.” Eric looked at me and Aolani and Renee.
“Are you mine?” he asked.
“I am Eric,” said Aolani. “But Aslinn and Renee belong to another Vampire.”
“Eric, we are here to see if we can help you,” I said. “Is that okay?” I didn’t want to do anything against his will, anything that would alarm him or upset him. Losing your memory may not seem like a very big deal, but really it is. Especially with someone who is like Eric who has had a thousand years of life behind him and no memories of it besides a walk on the beach and a woman’s cold soulless eyes.
“How can you help me?” he asked.
“We are good witches Eric and we can’t harm you or do anything against your will. In fact we have to have your permission to take a look at you and see if we can help you,” said Aolani.
“You are witches?” he said, pulling away a little from Fairy, that sad, scared look in his eye.
“Good witches Eric, we can’t hurt you or help you without your permission,” I said.
“How come they were able to hurt him?” asked Sookie.
“Well, witches work on nature’s laws. All nature defends itself. When he attacked Marnie, he gave her permission to defend herself from him,” I said. “Can we just take a look?”
“Will it hurt?” he asked, like a child.
“No, we wouldn’t hurt you big fellah. I know you don’t remember this, but you and me are friends and you beat me at poker at our weekly poker games,” I said.
“But not last week, someone needed a new pair of shoes,” he said.
“That’s right, Renee here won the pot and she bought the very glamorous shoes she is wearing now,” I said, and Renee modeled her new kicks.
“Those are great pumps,” he said, looking at them.
“So can we give you a look?” I asked. Eric nodded. “Take your shirt off there big fellah and let’s see if they marked you anywhere, then you can go in with Fairy and Aolani and they can look you over on the rest of you.”
“You want me to take my clothes off for you?” he said, a funny little smile on his face.
“See, now that is a familiar look, “I said. “Renee and I want to look at the public bits, since Aolani and Fairy are yours, they can look at the other bits.” He took the shirt off and we crowded around him, looking at his skin. There were no marks. Sometimes a curse will leave an impression on the bearer of the curse, a hex mark if you will. “Raise your arms Eric.” Having Eric obey orders was strange because he is usually impatient with any examination. Again, I don’t know if it the man part of him or the Vampire in him.
“I don’t see anything,” said Aolani. “Look up at me hun.” Eric raised his face. “Open your eyes really wide.” He did as he was told. “His eyes aren’t empty so his soul is still in there.”
“I have a soul?” he asked.
“Of course you do,” said Renee.
“They do?” asked Sookie. I personally thought Eric had it right the first time when he called her Snooki.
“Yes, Sookie, he has a soul,” said Aolani, irritated. Fairy gave her a hard look. “Okay Eric, go in the dining room and strip off to your underwear and we will be in there in a second.”
“I’m not wearing any,” he said, a little embarrassed look on his face.
“That’s okay, don’t be embarrassed,” said Fairy. He nodded and went into the dining room.
“What are you all looking for besides just all of him?” asked Sookie.
“We are looking for any marks or tokens of the spell,” said Aolani. “Some spells leave a mark.”
Aolani and Fairy went in to the dining room and Renee and I sat down on the couch. “What are you guys gonna do next?”
“Well, Aolani and I are Empaths. We should have brought Raki with us too, because she is an Empath too, but she is helping Pam with something,” I said.
“Can you guys take him and hide him?” said Sookie. “I really am not equipped to deal with this.”
“We can’t, I am sorry,” I said. The two girls came back in with Eric, decently clad. He even had his shirt on.
“Come here and sit on the couch with us,” said Aolani. Renee stood up and I turned to look at Eric.
“What is going to happen now?” he asked.
“Well, you and I are going to hold hands and Aolani is going to hug you and we are going to read your emotions,” I said.
“You are going to read my mind?” he asked.
“No, big fellah, we can’t do that, but we can feel what you are feeling, we can feel things that maybe you don’t know you are feeling,” I said. He looked impatient. “I know this is getting to be a pain for you, but just be patient, we’ll be done in no time. Renee, come and put your hands on my shoulders.” Renee put her hands on my shoulders and I took Eric’s hands in mine. Aolani put her arms around Eric’s waist and laid her head between his shoulder blades and Fairy put her hands on Aolani’s shoulders. We were borrowing energy.
I could feel his confusion and pushed that away, I knew he was feeling that. I could feel his fear, so I delved into that a bit. Aolani was feeling the same thing because her hands were patting Eric’s chest. I looked into his storm colored eyes.
Yeah there was fear there and a feeling of something else. Guilt perhaps? A sense of loneliness? I totally got that. Then there was something old and I wanted to let go immediately because I did not like it. It was angry about something being denied. I got a sense of betrayal and the taste of vengeance and blood. Eric sensed it and held my hands tighter. He looked at me with a beseeching look of ‘help me’ so I sighed and pushed that away too, to look at later. Then there was something pure Eric. Regret, but this seemed like a new, fresh feeling. Godric maybe. We did this for 15 minutes, just sort of fishing around in Eric’s mind, feeling his emotions. By the time we were through, we had tears in our eyes.
“Why are you both crying?” he said, a little alarmed.
“You have a lot of emotions there buddy, and they are really strong, even if you don’t know how to feel them,” I said.
“Can you tell us how you feel?” asked Aolani.
“I feel confused and very angry and I feel desire, I want her,” he said, nodding toward Sookie. “But I know she doesn’t want me, she has been trying to get rid of me because she is a little scared of me and I don’t understand why.”
“Okay,” said Aolani. “How about your anger?”
“I am angry because I can’t remember what happened to me and I don’t know who I am and what I am supposed to be doing,” he said. “And I am scared, because I don’t know what will happen to me.”
“Well, just be on guard, mind Sookie, she does care about you, even though she is a little confused about what to do for you, and she is a little upset with you…”
“A little????” she asked and Eric looked as though she had slapped him.
“Sookie is a little upset with you but it is nothing that can’t be fixed when you get your memory back. So do as Sookie tells you and be careful. You are a strong Vampire, but that does not mean you can’t be hurt or even killed,” said Aolani. She looked at Sookie while she said this.
“You know me? Am I a good person? Do I hurt people?” he asked.
“Eric, you are a very good Vampire and you are a powerful one and you have responsibilities, but I don’t think you hurt people just because you can. You usually have a reason. So you are a good person in your own way,” I said.
“I hurt people,” he said, looking sad about that.
“Only if they hurt you,” said Renee. “If you were a bad person, I would not be here to help you.”
“None of us would be,” said Fairy, stroking back his hair.
“We have to go,” said Aolani.
“Why?” asked Eric.
“We have stuff to do so we can help you,” said Aolani. “But we will back.” She walked past Sookie and gave her a look like follow me. We all went outside with the blond waitress. When we were some ways away from the house, Aolani turned Sookie around and looked into her eyes.
*Sookie Stackhouse, I know you can hear me,* said Aolani. Sookie nodded. *He needs you, you put your selfish pettiness aside and get off your ass and help him instead of treating him like something nasty on the bottom of your shoe.*
“Me? Treating Eric like trash…” she began. Aolani looked at her.
*Will you shut up?* she thought. *Yes you, let your anger go for now and help Eric. He needs your help right now, and being petty and vindictive is not helping him. It could get you killed as well.* Sookie nodded. *Talk to him Sookie, Eric is still in there, just talk to him, tell him things and get him to thinking about who he is. That will help him a lot.*
“So you can’t break the spell?” she asked.
“No, Marnie has to do that,” said Aolani aloud. “And even then, I suspect it is not enough to just have Marnie.”
“The whole coven?” asked Sookie.
“No, the ghost of the witch inhabiting her,” said Aolani. “She has to have the witch inside her who really cast the spell. Marnie is a piss poor witch without this spirit. She has opened herself up by delving with the dead. She has let her out and did not put her back. It is a mistake necromancers often make.”
“We have to go Sookie,” I said. “But we will be back.”
_________________
“Just do what you can,” said Sookie, a little tired a frazzled looking.
“We will, we said we would,” I said to her. I looked back at Renee and we both looked at Fairy. We debated about bringing our Fairy with us, because she is even more fae than Sookie but I had my velvet covered silver pads to use on him if he got a little over excited with her. I didn’t want to hurt him, because hell, I knew he was like the big friendly abominable snow man in the Bugs Bunny cartoons, but he was a thousand years old and he was a Vampire. Eric, you are going to owe me big time.
We came in carefully to Sookie’s house. But it looked great after it was cleaned up and painted. We looked around and there was Eric. He looked different to us, somehow unsure and not frightened precisely but…anxious.
“Eric, these are some of your friends, they wanted to come look at you and see how you are,” said Sookie.
“These are my friends?” he asked. Fairy moved past me faster than I could grab her. She sat down by Eric. She was crying. “Why are you crying?”
“I have just been so worried about you,” she said. She impulsively threw her arms around Eric who patted her on the shoulder.
“You smell so good,” he said, and then his fangs popped out. He looked embarrassed again, and pressed his hand over his mouth to stifle himself. “What are you?”
“I am your friend,” she said. “And it’s okay when your fangs pop out, you don’t have to hide them from us.”
“I smell my blood inside you,” he said, He snuggled into Fairy’s neck and sniffed hard. Had Fairy been a daisy, her petals would have gone all up inside his nose he sniffed so hard. “Are you mine?”
“Yes,” she said. “I am yours.” Eric looked at me and Aolani and Renee.
“Are you mine?” he asked.
“I am Eric,” said Aolani. “But Aslinn and Renee belong to another Vampire.”
“Eric, we are here to see if we can help you,” I said. “Is that okay?” I didn’t want to do anything against his will, anything that would alarm him or upset him. Losing your memory may not seem like a very big deal, but really it is. Especially with someone who is like Eric who has had a thousand years of life behind him and no memories of it besides a walk on the beach and a woman’s cold soulless eyes.
“How can you help me?” he asked.
“We are good witches Eric and we can’t harm you or do anything against your will. In fact we have to have your permission to take a look at you and see if we can help you,” said Aolani.
“You are witches?” he said, pulling away a little from Fairy, that sad, scared look in his eye.
“Good witches Eric, we can’t hurt you or help you without your permission,” I said.
“How come they were able to hurt him?” asked Sookie.
“Well, witches work on nature’s laws. All nature defends itself. When he attacked Marnie, he gave her permission to defend herself from him,” I said. “Can we just take a look?”
“Will it hurt?” he asked, like a child.
“No, we wouldn’t hurt you big fellah. I know you don’t remember this, but you and me are friends and you beat me at poker at our weekly poker games,” I said.
“But not last week, someone needed a new pair of shoes,” he said.
“That’s right, Renee here won the pot and she bought the very glamorous shoes she is wearing now,” I said, and Renee modeled her new kicks.
“Those are great pumps,” he said, looking at them.
“So can we give you a look?” I asked. Eric nodded. “Take your shirt off there big fellah and let’s see if they marked you anywhere, then you can go in with Fairy and Aolani and they can look you over on the rest of you.”
“You want me to take my clothes off for you?” he said, a funny little smile on his face.
“See, now that is a familiar look, “I said. “Renee and I want to look at the public bits, since Aolani and Fairy are yours, they can look at the other bits.” He took the shirt off and we crowded around him, looking at his skin. There were no marks. Sometimes a curse will leave an impression on the bearer of the curse, a hex mark if you will. “Raise your arms Eric.” Having Eric obey orders was strange because he is usually impatient with any examination. Again, I don’t know if it the man part of him or the Vampire in him.
“I don’t see anything,” said Aolani. “Look up at me hun.” Eric raised his face. “Open your eyes really wide.” He did as he was told. “His eyes aren’t empty so his soul is still in there.”
“I have a soul?” he asked.
“Of course you do,” said Renee.
“They do?” asked Sookie. I personally thought Eric had it right the first time when he called her Snooki.
“Yes, Sookie, he has a soul,” said Aolani, irritated. Fairy gave her a hard look. “Okay Eric, go in the dining room and strip off to your underwear and we will be in there in a second.”
“I’m not wearing any,” he said, a little embarrassed look on his face.
“That’s okay, don’t be embarrassed,” said Fairy. He nodded and went into the dining room.
“What are you all looking for besides just all of him?” asked Sookie.
“We are looking for any marks or tokens of the spell,” said Aolani. “Some spells leave a mark.”
Aolani and Fairy went in to the dining room and Renee and I sat down on the couch. “What are you guys gonna do next?”
“Well, Aolani and I are Empaths. We should have brought Raki with us too, because she is an Empath too, but she is helping Pam with something,” I said.
“Can you guys take him and hide him?” said Sookie. “I really am not equipped to deal with this.”
“We can’t, I am sorry,” I said. The two girls came back in with Eric, decently clad. He even had his shirt on.
“Come here and sit on the couch with us,” said Aolani. Renee stood up and I turned to look at Eric.
“What is going to happen now?” he asked.
“Well, you and I are going to hold hands and Aolani is going to hug you and we are going to read your emotions,” I said.
“You are going to read my mind?” he asked.
“No, big fellah, we can’t do that, but we can feel what you are feeling, we can feel things that maybe you don’t know you are feeling,” I said. He looked impatient. “I know this is getting to be a pain for you, but just be patient, we’ll be done in no time. Renee, come and put your hands on my shoulders.” Renee put her hands on my shoulders and I took Eric’s hands in mine. Aolani put her arms around Eric’s waist and laid her head between his shoulder blades and Fairy put her hands on Aolani’s shoulders. We were borrowing energy.
I could feel his confusion and pushed that away, I knew he was feeling that. I could feel his fear, so I delved into that a bit. Aolani was feeling the same thing because her hands were patting Eric’s chest. I looked into his storm colored eyes.
Yeah there was fear there and a feeling of something else. Guilt perhaps? A sense of loneliness? I totally got that. Then there was something old and I wanted to let go immediately because I did not like it. It was angry about something being denied. I got a sense of betrayal and the taste of vengeance and blood. Eric sensed it and held my hands tighter. He looked at me with a beseeching look of ‘help me’ so I sighed and pushed that away too, to look at later. Then there was something pure Eric. Regret, but this seemed like a new, fresh feeling. Godric maybe. We did this for 15 minutes, just sort of fishing around in Eric’s mind, feeling his emotions. By the time we were through, we had tears in our eyes.
“Why are you both crying?” he said, a little alarmed.
“You have a lot of emotions there buddy, and they are really strong, even if you don’t know how to feel them,” I said.
“Can you tell us how you feel?” asked Aolani.
“I feel confused and very angry and I feel desire, I want her,” he said, nodding toward Sookie. “But I know she doesn’t want me, she has been trying to get rid of me because she is a little scared of me and I don’t understand why.”
“Okay,” said Aolani. “How about your anger?”
“I am angry because I can’t remember what happened to me and I don’t know who I am and what I am supposed to be doing,” he said. “And I am scared, because I don’t know what will happen to me.”
“Well, just be on guard, mind Sookie, she does care about you, even though she is a little confused about what to do for you, and she is a little upset with you…”
“A little????” she asked and Eric looked as though she had slapped him.
“Sookie is a little upset with you but it is nothing that can’t be fixed when you get your memory back. So do as Sookie tells you and be careful. You are a strong Vampire, but that does not mean you can’t be hurt or even killed,” said Aolani. She looked at Sookie while she said this.
“You know me? Am I a good person? Do I hurt people?” he asked.
“Eric, you are a very good Vampire and you are a powerful one and you have responsibilities, but I don’t think you hurt people just because you can. You usually have a reason. So you are a good person in your own way,” I said.
“I hurt people,” he said, looking sad about that.
“Only if they hurt you,” said Renee. “If you were a bad person, I would not be here to help you.”
“None of us would be,” said Fairy, stroking back his hair.
“We have to go,” said Aolani.
“Why?” asked Eric.
“We have stuff to do so we can help you,” said Aolani. “But we will back.” She walked past Sookie and gave her a look like follow me. We all went outside with the blond waitress. When we were some ways away from the house, Aolani turned Sookie around and looked into her eyes.
*Sookie Stackhouse, I know you can hear me,* said Aolani. Sookie nodded. *He needs you, you put your selfish pettiness aside and get off your ass and help him instead of treating him like something nasty on the bottom of your shoe.*
“Me? Treating Eric like trash…” she began. Aolani looked at her.
*Will you shut up?* she thought. *Yes you, let your anger go for now and help Eric. He needs your help right now, and being petty and vindictive is not helping him. It could get you killed as well.* Sookie nodded. *Talk to him Sookie, Eric is still in there, just talk to him, tell him things and get him to thinking about who he is. That will help him a lot.*
“So you can’t break the spell?” she asked.
“No, Marnie has to do that,” said Aolani aloud. “And even then, I suspect it is not enough to just have Marnie.”
“The whole coven?” asked Sookie.
“No, the ghost of the witch inhabiting her,” said Aolani. “She has to have the witch inside her who really cast the spell. Marnie is a piss poor witch without this spirit. She has opened herself up by delving with the dead. She has let her out and did not put her back. It is a mistake necromancers often make.”
“We have to go Sookie,” I said. “But we will be back.”
_________________
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
July 6, 2011
The Louisiana sun was hot and it was only 10:30 in the morning. Vampires had been asleep for hours and Aolani and I were doing reconnaissance at the Moon Goddess Emporium. Going to a witch shoppe was standard operating procedure for a couple of witches like us but King Bill had sent us to go and scope it out on his behalf. As Aolani and I were empaths (though she had a better handle on it than me) we were there to sniff around and see what was going on. Besides, we needed some black candles and asofetida.
Eric was already in trouble, his memories swept away like you would sweep a floor with a broom. We didn't know the extent of his memory loss yet, but we knew he was in trouble, the poor thing. He looked so confused and sweet, sort of like a fluffy lamb with fangs. But this could get him into more trouble, and in more than one way. I hated to think what Bill was thinking about our Viking...But Vampires are pretty treacherous with one another and neither were likely to be besties. Sometimes I was of the opinion I should get out of this sort of fandom, get into Hollie Hobby or Carebears, or those smart assed rabbits that look cute but say I hate you.
We walked in together and the little bell over the door signaled our entrance into the shoppe. I grabbed a basket and began to stroll around the store. The first think I noticed was the statue of St. Death. Now, this is primarily a Mexican thing and has connections with Aztec religion and was even called Catrina. This image was wearing gold cloth so the witch in question was trying to lure money.
The proprietor was nervous little witch. She looked more like a large rabbit than a person, all was needed was the long ears pinned back, and the twitchy nose and whiskers. "Good morning sisters," she said in her soft moany voice. "Is there something I can do for you today?" Aolani smiled at her, but I knew she was "scanning" her emotional self. It must have been a doozy because Aolani sort of psychically shivered. I turned and looked at her and got a sense that the crowded house that was Marnie Stonebrook was about to get even more crowded.
All that took far longer to tell than it actually was because Aolani immediately answered, "We are just looking around, we needed some candles and decided to stop here instead of going all the way to Shreveport." Marnie looked at me and I looked back and then went on to loading my basket with a dozen six inch black pillar candles and about a dozen red ones and then to the herb rack where I examined bags of herbs. I began to pick a few more than the asofetida I had originally planned to get. We were gonna need them.
"Do you sisters have a circle, a coven?" she asked nervously. Don't let that humble nervous sort of look fool you, this lady was dangerous.
"We are not from here," said Aolani. "We just do business here from time to time and needed a few things."
"Well, if you ever are in town and you want to be a part of the circle, you are more than welcome," she said. I walked up to the counter and sat my basket down and she began to tally things up. The total came to $75 and I put down the c-note Bill had given me. "How about you sister, you looking for a circle?"
"Nope, just candles," I said, looking at her. "Thanks."
Aolani and I thought it was odd she would just invite two random witches to join her circle. But then, look at the collection of people she had in her circle. The weak links of course were Lafayette and Holly. Holly was respectful and obviously awed but she was a little scared of her too, because she was pushing them into stuff they had not studied and into darker things that were dangerous. Lafayette was a victim of circumstance and I didn't trust Hey Soos because of it. He was obviously someone who was looking for answers and he wasn't gonna get them here, all he was gonna get was more questions, like: How in the Hell did I get here? Why did I let it get so far? How do I get out of this now? Good luck with those questions Hey Soos.
No, attending a coven is fairly serious matter and you make your decisions carefully and you sit on the fringes out of the way so you can get the vibe...If the vibe ain't right, you get the hell away...The vibe is sorts of effed up in here. Because as I walked around I felt a lot of things: I felt anger, hatred, fear, and confusion and most of all, I felt a woman and a man. The woman I didn't know, the man was easy. He was that smart assed Vampire Renee beat at poker. The one who better break out his hip waders because he was in some serious shit.
Aolani and I talked about the shoppe as we made our way back to the parlor. When we came in, Fairy was already there, VNN on the TV and she was pacing. "What are you doing? You should be home resting?" said Aolani.
"I can't rest, what did you find out at the shoppe?" asked Fairy.
"Sit down, let me make you some camomile tea," said Aolani.
"Why can't I feel him!!!!" said Fairy.
"Because he is not himself," said Aolani. "He can feel us, but we can't feel him. But he is okay, at least, he is gonna be." Aolani went to work making a kettle and I was unloading the black and red candles and the herbs and put them away in a cabinet we used to store our herbs and the like and then I began to unload the groceries. I was making Veal Parmesan and angel hair pasta.
"Aslinn, aren't you worried?" asked Fairy.
"I am," I said. "We aren't going to let anything happen to Eric."
"Bill would," she said. "This is a set up to get rid of Eric because of Sookie."
"No, Fairy, he would not send Eric out to get cursed. If she can curse someone like Eric, as old as he is, she could curse a baby Vampire like Bill." It sounds funny to call Bill a baby Vampire, but compared to Eric, he was. "Just try to relax."
"Is Bill going to bring him tonight?" she asked.
"No, he said he would bring him next time, so we can look at him, all the witches. Maybe see what she has done to him," I said. "But you have to be calm. Eric needs your calm more than anything."
"This isn't fair!!!" said Fairy.
"Fairy, he is fine," said Aolani. "Here, drink some of this tea and stretch out on the couch." Fairy sat down and Aolani gave her the cup and Fairy fluffed her pillows up. I knew what would calm her down. I went to the wicker coffin and grabbed the coffin quilt. Minnie made it for our Vampires to use but Eric was the one who slept there more often and the blanket smelled of Viking. I unfolded it and spread it over her and she sipped her tea. Soon though she was quiet and I looked over and she was curled up under the blanket, smelling her Vampire, asleep.
I cooked and had everything ready by the time the others came in. Minnie and Violet and Renee and Shannon and Westexan, Lelama and Barrister and Body Guard and Damien, Lina and Linzy, Sweet and Wild and Sugar Mags and Raki and Butter and Barrister came into the parlor. The last one was Alcide. Alcide was always in time for supper, but that was the way it was for werewolves.
The Vampires came in after we'd eaten and we were cleaning up, putting the dishes in the dish washer. Pam was dressed for work in her Fangtasia clothes and Jessica looked miserable and Bill looked worried. I was still not over my mad spell with him, despite the two visits I had had with him, once at my house and once at his. He came over and pecked my cheek. "How was your trip?" he asked.
"Well, we have a few things to tell you guys, but we should call the meeting to order," I said. "How is the big fellah?"
"He is fine thus far, though it remains to be seen what he is going to be like," said Bill.
"Well, be nice, Fairy is very upset," I said. "She can't feel him in the bond."
"It is probably better she doesn't if Eric is inhabited by something dangerous," he said.
"Well, keep that under your hat as well, I don't want her to know my suspicions, they are just suspicions after all," I said.
The meeting was called to order. We were all settled in the parlor. Bill addressed us.
"Let's leave Eric for the final discussion, I know we have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns, but let's get through the other details so we don't have to move on from him to cover another topic," said Bill.
"What other topics could there be that are more important, Bill?" asked Fairy.
"Please, Fairy, let's deal with the smaller things so we can devote more time and energy to the problem with Eric," he said. Fairy settled but I could tell she was not happy, and you didn't have to be an empath to feel that. You could see it on her face. Raki was rubbing her forehead. Yeah, that empath thing, til you get a handle on it, really sucks.
"Okay, Jason," said Body Guard. "Do you think they are really going to make him a panther. And will he be a full blooded panther or will he be a panther man?"
"I don't know," I said. "I mean the old stories said you changed into a man-beast if you were bitten, but you guys were born weres." I looked at Alcide and Body Guard. "And even if he does go panther, a man-beast, would he be able to procreate another panther?"
"I have no idea," said Alcide. "It has never been tried before, and panthers and other large weres are becoming really rare."
"They may just be desperate," said Lina.
"Could be," said Violet. "All I know is, that bunch of shifters Sam is involved with, I think he should be careful."
"Yes, particularly if there is a Skin Walker among them," said Body Guard. Body Guard had given me scads of information, explaining the difference between a shifter and Skin Walker.
"Do you think she might have anything to do with Marnie?" asked Shannon. "I mean, if she is a Skin Walker, she would be a witch too."
"I don't know," said Aolani. "Why would a Skin Walker be interested in a witch?"
"Well, she said her mother had died, and she got to be her, maybe she wants to resurrect her? Maybe, she thinks this Marnie can do it," said Shannon.
"We have not seen a connection yet," said Renee. "But anything is possible."
"All I know is, I don't trust Hey Soos and I am worried about Lafayette," said Minnie. "Bill, can you and Pam protect Lafayette. I mean you can see he is reluctant. He only joined in on the spell to protect Tara."
"Or Toni, whatever the hell her name is," said Lina.
"Yeah, and he did it and look what happened to Eric," said Linzy.
"Okay, let's stay on track now," said Pam. "We said we would discuss Eric last."
"Do you guys think Arlene's baby is the devil?" asked Butter.
"You know, I just don't think so," said Barrister. "I think that whatever it is, she is doing this to herself and blaming it on the baby because she is so scared. Couldn't Sookie and Bill go into her mind like they did Tara?"
"Do you think Arlene would hold still and let Sookie and Bill get in her head like that? She hates Vampires and she doesn't trust Sookie much either," said Sugar.
"I tell you who else I don;t trust is that Tommy," said Sweet and Wild. "I think he is up to no effing good."
"I concur," said Renee. "That boy isn't right."
"Yeah, he just didn't have the right upbringing," said Raki.
"But I think we should wait before we really judge him," said Minnie. "If Sam gets in trouble with this group of shifters, especially Luna, he may actually be able to save him."
"I don't know what it is, but I can't get Luna out of my head," said Shannon. "You know, when Marnie was cursing Eric, she kept turning into something else, someone else, don't you think she looked a little bit like Luna?"
"And they do call it Moon Goddess, isn't that what Luna means? Moon?" said Fairy.
"And if she is a skin walker, she is a witch as well," said Jessica.
I looked at Aolani...."It's something to think about," she said.
"So, Bill, you screwing the help around your place?" said Barrister, non-chalantly. I rolled my eyes.
"Ignore him Bill, he don't know the difference between love and food," I said. Barrister had taken upon himself to be angry on my behalf because Bill was giving the head of his security a little debriefing though I knew I and my other sister wives were totally unconcerned with Bill's dining habits, just as Eric's sister wives were totally unconcerned with Eric's little snacks in his basement. Bill looked at me apologetically and I shook my head and smiled a little ruefully.
"Could we please talk about Eric now?" asked Fairy. "Do any of you all feel him?"
"No," said Raki. "The moment his memory got zapped, I stopped feeling him."
"Is the blood bond gone, Bill?" asked Minnie.
"No, no it isn't. He can still feel you, though he may not understand it," said Bill. "Pam and I are trying to decide whether we should bring him here next meeting."
"He would not hurt us would he, Bill?" asked Violet.
"I don't know," said Bill. "I don't think he would, voluntarily." Fairy began to cry.
"Don't cry Fairy," said Jessica. "You will make me cry and you know how I hate to do that." She reached over and patted Fairy on the shoulder.
"This is just so hard," said Fairy. "Not knowing, not feeling him."
Damn, this was going to be harder than I thought.....
Eric was already in trouble, his memories swept away like you would sweep a floor with a broom. We didn't know the extent of his memory loss yet, but we knew he was in trouble, the poor thing. He looked so confused and sweet, sort of like a fluffy lamb with fangs. But this could get him into more trouble, and in more than one way. I hated to think what Bill was thinking about our Viking...But Vampires are pretty treacherous with one another and neither were likely to be besties. Sometimes I was of the opinion I should get out of this sort of fandom, get into Hollie Hobby or Carebears, or those smart assed rabbits that look cute but say I hate you.
We walked in together and the little bell over the door signaled our entrance into the shoppe. I grabbed a basket and began to stroll around the store. The first think I noticed was the statue of St. Death. Now, this is primarily a Mexican thing and has connections with Aztec religion and was even called Catrina. This image was wearing gold cloth so the witch in question was trying to lure money.
The proprietor was nervous little witch. She looked more like a large rabbit than a person, all was needed was the long ears pinned back, and the twitchy nose and whiskers. "Good morning sisters," she said in her soft moany voice. "Is there something I can do for you today?" Aolani smiled at her, but I knew she was "scanning" her emotional self. It must have been a doozy because Aolani sort of psychically shivered. I turned and looked at her and got a sense that the crowded house that was Marnie Stonebrook was about to get even more crowded.
All that took far longer to tell than it actually was because Aolani immediately answered, "We are just looking around, we needed some candles and decided to stop here instead of going all the way to Shreveport." Marnie looked at me and I looked back and then went on to loading my basket with a dozen six inch black pillar candles and about a dozen red ones and then to the herb rack where I examined bags of herbs. I began to pick a few more than the asofetida I had originally planned to get. We were gonna need them.
"Do you sisters have a circle, a coven?" she asked nervously. Don't let that humble nervous sort of look fool you, this lady was dangerous.
"We are not from here," said Aolani. "We just do business here from time to time and needed a few things."
"Well, if you ever are in town and you want to be a part of the circle, you are more than welcome," she said. I walked up to the counter and sat my basket down and she began to tally things up. The total came to $75 and I put down the c-note Bill had given me. "How about you sister, you looking for a circle?"
"Nope, just candles," I said, looking at her. "Thanks."
Aolani and I thought it was odd she would just invite two random witches to join her circle. But then, look at the collection of people she had in her circle. The weak links of course were Lafayette and Holly. Holly was respectful and obviously awed but she was a little scared of her too, because she was pushing them into stuff they had not studied and into darker things that were dangerous. Lafayette was a victim of circumstance and I didn't trust Hey Soos because of it. He was obviously someone who was looking for answers and he wasn't gonna get them here, all he was gonna get was more questions, like: How in the Hell did I get here? Why did I let it get so far? How do I get out of this now? Good luck with those questions Hey Soos.
No, attending a coven is fairly serious matter and you make your decisions carefully and you sit on the fringes out of the way so you can get the vibe...If the vibe ain't right, you get the hell away...The vibe is sorts of effed up in here. Because as I walked around I felt a lot of things: I felt anger, hatred, fear, and confusion and most of all, I felt a woman and a man. The woman I didn't know, the man was easy. He was that smart assed Vampire Renee beat at poker. The one who better break out his hip waders because he was in some serious shit.
Aolani and I talked about the shoppe as we made our way back to the parlor. When we came in, Fairy was already there, VNN on the TV and she was pacing. "What are you doing? You should be home resting?" said Aolani.
"I can't rest, what did you find out at the shoppe?" asked Fairy.
"Sit down, let me make you some camomile tea," said Aolani.
"Why can't I feel him!!!!" said Fairy.
"Because he is not himself," said Aolani. "He can feel us, but we can't feel him. But he is okay, at least, he is gonna be." Aolani went to work making a kettle and I was unloading the black and red candles and the herbs and put them away in a cabinet we used to store our herbs and the like and then I began to unload the groceries. I was making Veal Parmesan and angel hair pasta.
"Aslinn, aren't you worried?" asked Fairy.
"I am," I said. "We aren't going to let anything happen to Eric."
"Bill would," she said. "This is a set up to get rid of Eric because of Sookie."
"No, Fairy, he would not send Eric out to get cursed. If she can curse someone like Eric, as old as he is, she could curse a baby Vampire like Bill." It sounds funny to call Bill a baby Vampire, but compared to Eric, he was. "Just try to relax."
"Is Bill going to bring him tonight?" she asked.
"No, he said he would bring him next time, so we can look at him, all the witches. Maybe see what she has done to him," I said. "But you have to be calm. Eric needs your calm more than anything."
"This isn't fair!!!" said Fairy.
"Fairy, he is fine," said Aolani. "Here, drink some of this tea and stretch out on the couch." Fairy sat down and Aolani gave her the cup and Fairy fluffed her pillows up. I knew what would calm her down. I went to the wicker coffin and grabbed the coffin quilt. Minnie made it for our Vampires to use but Eric was the one who slept there more often and the blanket smelled of Viking. I unfolded it and spread it over her and she sipped her tea. Soon though she was quiet and I looked over and she was curled up under the blanket, smelling her Vampire, asleep.
I cooked and had everything ready by the time the others came in. Minnie and Violet and Renee and Shannon and Westexan, Lelama and Barrister and Body Guard and Damien, Lina and Linzy, Sweet and Wild and Sugar Mags and Raki and Butter and Barrister came into the parlor. The last one was Alcide. Alcide was always in time for supper, but that was the way it was for werewolves.
The Vampires came in after we'd eaten and we were cleaning up, putting the dishes in the dish washer. Pam was dressed for work in her Fangtasia clothes and Jessica looked miserable and Bill looked worried. I was still not over my mad spell with him, despite the two visits I had had with him, once at my house and once at his. He came over and pecked my cheek. "How was your trip?" he asked.
"Well, we have a few things to tell you guys, but we should call the meeting to order," I said. "How is the big fellah?"
"He is fine thus far, though it remains to be seen what he is going to be like," said Bill.
"Well, be nice, Fairy is very upset," I said. "She can't feel him in the bond."
"It is probably better she doesn't if Eric is inhabited by something dangerous," he said.
"Well, keep that under your hat as well, I don't want her to know my suspicions, they are just suspicions after all," I said.
The meeting was called to order. We were all settled in the parlor. Bill addressed us.
"Let's leave Eric for the final discussion, I know we have a lot of questions and a lot of concerns, but let's get through the other details so we don't have to move on from him to cover another topic," said Bill.
"What other topics could there be that are more important, Bill?" asked Fairy.
"Please, Fairy, let's deal with the smaller things so we can devote more time and energy to the problem with Eric," he said. Fairy settled but I could tell she was not happy, and you didn't have to be an empath to feel that. You could see it on her face. Raki was rubbing her forehead. Yeah, that empath thing, til you get a handle on it, really sucks.
"Okay, Jason," said Body Guard. "Do you think they are really going to make him a panther. And will he be a full blooded panther or will he be a panther man?"
"I don't know," I said. "I mean the old stories said you changed into a man-beast if you were bitten, but you guys were born weres." I looked at Alcide and Body Guard. "And even if he does go panther, a man-beast, would he be able to procreate another panther?"
"I have no idea," said Alcide. "It has never been tried before, and panthers and other large weres are becoming really rare."
"They may just be desperate," said Lina.
"Could be," said Violet. "All I know is, that bunch of shifters Sam is involved with, I think he should be careful."
"Yes, particularly if there is a Skin Walker among them," said Body Guard. Body Guard had given me scads of information, explaining the difference between a shifter and Skin Walker.
"Do you think she might have anything to do with Marnie?" asked Shannon. "I mean, if she is a Skin Walker, she would be a witch too."
"I don't know," said Aolani. "Why would a Skin Walker be interested in a witch?"
"Well, she said her mother had died, and she got to be her, maybe she wants to resurrect her? Maybe, she thinks this Marnie can do it," said Shannon.
"We have not seen a connection yet," said Renee. "But anything is possible."
"All I know is, I don't trust Hey Soos and I am worried about Lafayette," said Minnie. "Bill, can you and Pam protect Lafayette. I mean you can see he is reluctant. He only joined in on the spell to protect Tara."
"Or Toni, whatever the hell her name is," said Lina.
"Yeah, and he did it and look what happened to Eric," said Linzy.
"Okay, let's stay on track now," said Pam. "We said we would discuss Eric last."
"Do you guys think Arlene's baby is the devil?" asked Butter.
"You know, I just don't think so," said Barrister. "I think that whatever it is, she is doing this to herself and blaming it on the baby because she is so scared. Couldn't Sookie and Bill go into her mind like they did Tara?"
"Do you think Arlene would hold still and let Sookie and Bill get in her head like that? She hates Vampires and she doesn't trust Sookie much either," said Sugar.
"I tell you who else I don;t trust is that Tommy," said Sweet and Wild. "I think he is up to no effing good."
"I concur," said Renee. "That boy isn't right."
"Yeah, he just didn't have the right upbringing," said Raki.
"But I think we should wait before we really judge him," said Minnie. "If Sam gets in trouble with this group of shifters, especially Luna, he may actually be able to save him."
"I don't know what it is, but I can't get Luna out of my head," said Shannon. "You know, when Marnie was cursing Eric, she kept turning into something else, someone else, don't you think she looked a little bit like Luna?"
"And they do call it Moon Goddess, isn't that what Luna means? Moon?" said Fairy.
"And if she is a skin walker, she is a witch as well," said Jessica.
I looked at Aolani...."It's something to think about," she said.
"So, Bill, you screwing the help around your place?" said Barrister, non-chalantly. I rolled my eyes.
"Ignore him Bill, he don't know the difference between love and food," I said. Barrister had taken upon himself to be angry on my behalf because Bill was giving the head of his security a little debriefing though I knew I and my other sister wives were totally unconcerned with Bill's dining habits, just as Eric's sister wives were totally unconcerned with Eric's little snacks in his basement. Bill looked at me apologetically and I shook my head and smiled a little ruefully.
"Could we please talk about Eric now?" asked Fairy. "Do any of you all feel him?"
"No," said Raki. "The moment his memory got zapped, I stopped feeling him."
"Is the blood bond gone, Bill?" asked Minnie.
"No, no it isn't. He can still feel you, though he may not understand it," said Bill. "Pam and I are trying to decide whether we should bring him here next meeting."
"He would not hurt us would he, Bill?" asked Violet.
"I don't know," said Bill. "I don't think he would, voluntarily." Fairy began to cry.
"Don't cry Fairy," said Jessica. "You will make me cry and you know how I hate to do that." She reached over and patted Fairy on the shoulder.
"This is just so hard," said Fairy. "Not knowing, not feeling him."
Damn, this was going to be harder than I thought.....
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