Troubles...Yeah we got em

Moody Vampires are always subject to be irritating. Eric is famous for being moody and Bill is not only the King of Louisiana, he is the King of Moody Vampires. Pam was never known for sulking and the thing she had with her wearing Tara Thornton’s face was not pleasant to be around either. I was shocked when I came into the House and found Pam on the couch and Tara perched on the countertop like a vulture.

“God, she stinks of the earth she was buried in,” I said to Pam. “Why is she here?”

“I ordered her to come here,” she said. “I need your help.”

“You hold her, I’ll grab the stake,” I said. Tara looked at me.

“Fuck you bitch, fucking witches, fucking Vampires,” she cursed.

“Man, if you thought she hated herself and everyone else before, she really hates herself,” I walked past her and into the kitchen. “Tru:Blood Pam?”

“I had something before I came,” she said sullenly.

“Hear from Eric or Bill?” I asked. The first night of the summer adventures had been revealed and already I missed Bill and Eric, though for two different reasons. I missed Bill because he was my lover and I missed Eric because he was my friend.

“No,” she said. “Have you?”

“No,” I said. “Tara, you want a Tru:Blood?”

“Fuck you,” she spat.

“Alrighty then,” I said. “Wanna come off the counter? I am going to make some supper before our meeting and you have your nasty ass shoes on my clean work surface.”

“Tara, go perch somewhere else,” she ordered. Tara moved with Vamp speed to the stairs and perched on the banister of the stairs.

“Where is Barrister?” asked Pam.

“He has a class, he will be back when he is through,” I said. “Minnie and Aolani should be here anytime.” I called Jessica. “Jess, have you heard from Bill?”

“No, I haven’t,” she said. “I have had my hands full.”

“So I see,” I said. “Take your time, if Bill or Eric calls you, let me know.”

“Is he in trouble?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I lied. I hung up. “So what are you going to do with our girl here?”

“I was hoping you and Aolani and Renee could do something with her,” said Pam. Suddenly Diantha Cataliades popped into the room, making Tara hiss like a cat. “Calm down Tara.”

“What the fuck is she?” she said, smelling towards Diantha.

“She is something you definitely don’t want to eat,” I said.

“Maybe I should eat you,” she growled.

“Pam I am going to bind your progeny if you don’t do anything with her,” I said. “Besides, I don’t want her growling and hissing at everyone.”

“You can bind her?” she asked. “What would she be like?”

“Quiet,” I said. “Frankly, that is all I can imagine we could do with her.”

“Bind her then,” said Pam. “I would not have brought her if I had someone to take care of her.”

“Fucking Sookie,” I said.

“You took the words out of my mouth,” said Pam.

“No, Lafayette has brought Sookie here,” I said. “I bind you Tara, against harming yourself and other people.” I spoke the spell three times and Tara was still, blank. “Pam snatch her up and take her into the one of the light tight rooms. I’ll go and get the door.”

Diantha popped out and Pam went with Vampire speed to grab Tara and put her in Bill’s quarters. I sprayed some air freshener around and went to the door. There was knocking on the door and I went and answered it, muttering the charm to guard my mind from Sookie. “Hey Lafayette, hey Sookie,” I said. They came in past me and looked around.

“They any Vampers up in here?” asked Lafayette.

“No,” I said. “How you all doing? Want something to drink?”

“We ain’t here on a social visit,” said Lafayette. “We are here about Tara Thornton.”

I sighed. “What about her?” I asked. “You got exactly what you wanted, Tara is extant.” You really could not say she was alive, but she was here.

“We need to do something with her, make her better,” said Lafayette.

“Pam warned you, Sookie told you Tara would not like this,” I said. About that time Alcide came in.

“What is he doing here?” said Lafayette.

“He is a friend of the House,” I said.

“I didn’t know you had company,” said Alcide. “I need to talk to Len.”

“He is not here,” I said. “Aolani and Minnie and Len are not here yet.”

“I need to talk to you,” he said.

“We got here first dog boy, so you will have to take a mother fuckin’ number,” said Lafayette.

“I can’t help you Lafayette. You and Sookie made the decision for Tara and you both know she would not like it, Pam did it for Eric, not for either of you.”

“You can though, you and your friends have influence with Eric Northman,” said Lafayette.

“That’s fine, I will just go to Bill,” said Sookie. I could feel her trying to press in on my mind.

“Keep out of my head Miss Stackhouse,” I said. She stood there. “Don’t give me that look.  And don’t get to feeling fae on me. Besides, why would you go to Bill, you told them goodbye, you...discarded them.”

“Great, just what I need, another fangb….” I turned around.

“Don’t you dare,” I said. “Like I said, I can’t help you.  Tara is Pam’s child now. You know Vampires well enough to know the magik that makes a Vampire rise can take out a huge part of their personality and change their world view. It may be that Tara might come to herself, on the other hand, she may stay the way she is and if Pam can’t get a reign on her, she may have to put Tara down.”

“Jessica didn’t turn out that way,” said Sookie.

“She came a gnat’s ass of being just that way and it was a concerted effort of everyone involved to help her turn out a little better than we expected,” I said. “Now, go home, you have bigger fish to fry, both of you.” Sookie gave Alcide a nasty look and she and Lafayette stomped out. I turned to the were. “Tell me.”

“She sure as shit has troubles, but then so do I. You saw what happened?” he asked.

“Yeah, but let’s wait for the others to get here, we will think this out together,” I said. Renee came in with a covered dish.

“What’s going on and what is that fucking smell?” she said.

“Fucking Tara Thornton,” I said. Renee wrinkled her nose and walked in.

“Hey there Alcide,” said Renee.

“Renee,” he said.

“You have a world of trouble going on huh?” said Renee.

“Yeah, apparently so,” he said. Renee took her covered dish in.

“I fixed that cheese and rice dish,” she said. Pam wandered out. She was alone. “ Congratulations!!! It’s a girl!”

“I hate funny humans,” she muttered.

“Good to see you too,” said Renee. She tucked the casserole in the oven to stay warm. “Aolani called me, she and Minnie and Len are running late.”

“That is fine,” I said. “I have to cook the chicken anyhow.”

Alcide and Renee sat there as I fried the chicken and put it on a plate covered with paper towels. Pam paced until I nearly entertained the thought to bind her as well.   I tossed a salad and everything was ready for when the rest came in. Finally Aolani and Minnie and Len came in. “Has anyone heard from Bill or the Champ?” asked Len. I laughed.

“No, and we are not likely to hear from them anytime soon,” I said. Diantha giggled at the new name Len gave Eric. Jessica came in.

“Have you heard from your daddy?” asked Diantha.

“No,” said Jessica. “Why do you all act as though Bill and Eric are in trouble?”

“Um, they are,” said Aolani.

“Jesus, what stinks beside the chicken?” asked Jessica.

“The newest member of the fang,” I said. Jessica looked around.

“Did Bill make someone?” asked Jessica.

“No, Pam is the maker,” I said. “Let’s eat and then chat.”

After supper, we put the dishes into the dishwasher and we went and sat in the living room. Alcide was vibrating with anxiety. Aolani called our meeting to order.

“What is the story with Bill and Eric?” asked Jessica. I looked around and waited for someone else to speak. I really didn’t want be the one to tell her.

“They are in a spot of bother,” said Barrister, coming in, sitting his bag down.  He leaned down and kissed me and sat down beside me. “But you seem to have troubles of your own.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Steve Newlin?” said Minnie. “You need to be real careful with Steve Newlin.”

“I have this,” she said.

“Just saying Jessica, be careful,” I said. “But back to Bill and Eric.”

“Can you do anything for them?” she asked.

“No, and you know that Pam,” said Renee. “They have to work all this out on their own.” Though Renee said this, you could tell she did not like this in the least. She wanted Bill to get out of this. Of course I did too, but this was an area we could not delve into.

“So what do you know about this Authority Pam?” asked Barrister.

“I know that once you get arrested by the Authority…they aren’t inviting you in for tea and crumpets,” said Pam. We looked around and said nothing. Eric kept secrets even from Pam. She did not know Eric’s close contact was an authority member not to mention his Vampire sister. I sighed over the fact that some humans would interpret this as a familial relationship like humans and whisper about incest. It simply didn’t work this way in the Vampire world. I mean, if they want to get technical, Eric and Pam are father and daughter and he has an affair with her too.

“Can any of you help me with my situation?” asked Alcide.

“What the fuck Alcide, the wolves ate their pack master and you did not seem that shocked,” said Renee.

“No, that is the way some packs deal with the situation before a new pack master steps in,” said Alcide.

“Gross,” said Minnie, wrinkling her nose. “So are you the pack master?”

“Yeah, by all our rules, when I killed Marcus, I became the new pack master, but I will be challenged.”

“By whom?” I asked.

“Can’t tell yet,” he said.

“Will Sam be in this mess?” asked Aolani.

“Very likely, but I will try to keep him out. What with being tangled up with Bozman’s ex and the little girl, he is in this pretty deep,” said Alcide.

“So where is Jesus?” asked Minnie.

“I don’t know,” I said. “The dead are powerful and they call out to their blood at the end. Could be his grandfather came and got him.”

“I had not thought of that,” said Aolani.

“Well, we have tons to think of,” said Barrister.

“So, what are you going to do with Tara?” she asked Pam.

“Aslinn put a binding spell on her,” said the Vampiress.

“That will go away when she leaves here,” said Aolani.

“Then I will leave her here while I take care of Fangtasia and wait for Eric to come back,” she said.

“Nope, Tara is your baby, you have to rock her,” said Renee. Pam looked at her. “Hey, she is your child. You have to train her, teach her and take care of her. You and Eric did this to Bill when he had to turn Jessica, you were asked to care for her and you taught her a bunch of bad habits and dumped her back on him. He had to step up for Jessica. Now you do too, Pam. Nobody told you to do this, nobody forced you to like they did Bill. You decided to do this, now you have to raise her.”

“We aren’t equipped to deal with her,” said Aolani. “You will have to do your best with her, either that or give her the True Death and put her out of her misery.”

“I did this for Eric, I thought if I helped Sookie he would see this as a peace offering and take me back.”

“He isn’t against you Pam, he is just in deep shit,” I said. “And Russell Edgington is alive. Not giving him the True Death was a bad deal all the way around. Poorly played on Bill’s and Eric’s part.”

“Tara!!! We are going,” she called. Tara came out, subdued physically but mentally, her cheese had slid off its cracker. “Call me if you hear from Eric or Bill.”

“You will be the first to know,” said Aolani.