As soon as Sookie had disappeared up the basement steps, through the door and closed it behind her, Eric realized that he’d made a terrible mistake. Who better to get Sookie out of there, safe and sound, than him? He was her blood-bonded after all. He was certainly capable of defending her and making sure that she made it home alright, he thought to himself.
He had faced more battles and hardships than anyone could ever imagine. This was just one more time. The only difference was, that if something happened to her, the person who he cared about most in this world…his life would be over. He would want to meet the sun; dying his final death; if he ever lost her.
After so many years of not having anyone who he truly cared about, he didn’t want to lose her so soon. He wasn’t ready to let go just yet. He had to make sure that Sookie made it home in one piece before he could do whatever he had to do to get to the bottom of this. He would be too worried about her otherwise. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate. He wouldn’t be at the top of his game. He needed to be reassured that she was alright. Sookie was the only person who had ever made him forget about the things that he had once thought were the most important to him.
Eric quickly dressed, then headed up the stairs in Sookie’s footsteps. He had to make sure that she made it out safely.
Bubba led me towards the double doors at the end of the hall. He paused and listened through the closed door, checking to make sure that the coast was clear. I pressed my ear up against the door too, but my hearing wasn’t as good as a vampire’s, so I wasn’t sure if I would be of any help.
“Don’t you two look suspicious,” I heard a voice behind us comment. It was a good thing that I had felt my blood begin to shimmer and buzz in my veins and could feel his thoughts and feelings before-hand, otherwise I would’ve screamed.
I turned to glare at Eric, standing there with a smirk upon his face. “Well, don’t just stand there, do something,” I growled angrily at him.
Had he changed his mind about not coming along too? I wondered to myself.
“Don’t worry, lover,” he cupped my cheek with his hand and stared into my eyes, while he tried to reassure me. “Just follow my lead,” he winked at me.
I rolled my eyes, I couldn’t help it. If Eric was anything, it was being overconfident and sure in his abilities. He loved his share of fighting too. I could already sense his blood lust bursting forth at the thought of the upcoming fight.
“Just try to not to get too much enjoyment, or we will never get out of here,” I replied back, a little bitter because I knew that Eric was looking forward to bloodshed, while I wanted anything but. “And don’t forget that we should get out of here as fast as we can, so that Dimitri doesn’t have time to gather reinforcements.”
I could tell from both our bond and by the expression on his face, that Eric was surprised by the fact that I would think of something like that. “What?” I replied back, after reading his questioning thoughts. “I’ve lived through so many wars lately that I feel like I’m beginning to know what I’m talking about,” I explained, as if it needed explaining.
“Yes, ma’am,” Eric grinned, then motioned for Bubba to back away from the door. Bubba did. Eric opened up the door easily. His fangs had lowered. He was ready to fight. Both he and Bubba went through the open doorway, then closed it behind them.
I pressed my ear up against the door once again. I could hear hissing sounds and low growls, which I decided where the guards, who were guarding the place. There was some sounds of cries filling the air and of bodies hitting the walls and the floor, shaking the foundation of the old mansion. Soon, there was silence. I knew that the battle had been quick and easy. It hadn’t lasted more than a few minutes. I wondered how many guards had been involved.
Eric opened up the door once again, reached for my hand, then led me through the door. “Close your eyes,” he instructed, knowing that I wouldn’t want to see what was left of the fallen vampires.
I wasn’t stupid, I wasn’t really interested in having nightmares for the rest of my life anyways, so I closed them willingly.
He guided me along behind him. Every so often he would pause and tell me to lift my feet or to swerve this way or that way. It didn’t matter. I could still tell that I was walking on puddles of blood. I could smell it in the air and I could feel the sticky texture on my feet that blood gets when its starting to dry up.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, I heard a door open and felt the cool breeze of fresh air hit me in the face. I opened my eyes. It was dark. I could see the stars sparkling in the night sky and Eric’s car parked in front of the house. It was parked in the long circular driveway, it’s body looked shiny and freshly washed.
I knew how much Eric loved driving that car. He took care of it himself too. I could read his thoughts. He was thinking of how much pride he took in it. I rolled my eyes again. No matter how different vampires were from humans, the men in both species cared for the same kinds of things. Cars, sex, money and sports and not necessarily in that order.
“Can we leave before Dimitri gets alerted?” I asked, impatiently. Eric had been studying the car, as if expecting that Dimitri might’ve done something to it, while we’d been in the basement together.
Eric turned to look at me, with a smirk on his face. “Your wish is my command,” he said, pushing the keyless remote entry on his key chain. “Hop in,” he said, holding the passenger side door open.
I climbed in, then suddenly realized that it was a two-seater. There would be no room for Bubba. “Where’s Bubba going to sit?” I wondered aloud.
Eric had moved around the car and had climbed into the driver’s seat, closing the door after he had crawled in. “Don’t worry about Bubba,” he answered. “He knows how to get home on his own.”
He started up the engine and the car roared to life. If Dimitri hadn’t known that we had left by that time, he would now.
Before Eric put the car into gear, he turned to Bubba and gave him instructions on what to do. “Distract the Weres at the gate, so that I can get Sookie out of here,” he explained.
Bubba nodded his head, then headed fast on foot towards the front gate. I watched him disappear into almost thin air, he’d taken off so fast.
Eric put the car into gear and began driving down the driveway towards the gate. “Hold on,” he ordered, while he drove the car, faster and faster, gaining more and more speed.
I quickly put my seatbelt on, guessing already that Eric was planning on driving his sports car through the wrought iron gates. Even though Bubba was distracting the Weres, there would be no time for us to stop the car, unlock the gates, before leaving.
I braced myself by placing my hands on the dashboard. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see my life pass before my eyes.
I suddenly felt the car hit the gates at full force. It was still jarring to me, even though we had miraculously passed through unharmed. I couldn’t say the same kind of thing about Eric’s car though. It looked like his windshield was smashed, making it hard to see out of the window. Eric pushed the broken glass out of the way, so that the wind from driving at the speed that we were in, was now hitting us full force. I couldn’t breathe and I was scared that bugs would fly through the air, into my mouth and I would swallow them whole.
We reached the main road, that led back towards Shreveport and Eric’s bar. I felt immensely relieved to know that we were finally on our way home.
After awhile of driving. I was starting to shiver because it was a cool night and I didn’t have a jacket on. The wind that was coming through the opening where the windshield used to be, was making me colder. I couldn’t wait to get home and have a nice hot bath and go to sleep in my nice warm bed.
“I’m sorry,” Eric broke the silence. “We’ll be home soon, then you can warm up.” He must’ve read my thoughts and feelings of how cold I was.
It couldn’t be soon enough for me, because anything beat being in Dimitri’s basement, so I didn’t hold it against him for making me freeze for a little while. Besides, I now knew how good Eric was at making me hot again. Which was funny because now I was feeling really horny.
I cast a glance at him, driving the car. His eyes were facing the road ahead of us, as well as checking out the rearview mirror too. I turned my head to look behind us, to see if anyone was following us. I didn’t see anything. I figured that Eric was just being cautious. I was glad that he was smart and always thought of every possible thing that could happen to us.
“When we get home, I want a nice hot bath,” I said in my mind, because it would be hard to hear each other over the rushing wind and the sound of the engine.
Eric glanced at me, then grinned. “And I would like to join you in that bath,” he agreed, his thoughts already shifting towards something naughty.
I laughed and he joined in too.
We drove along in silence, until I could see the lights of Shreveport off in the distance.
“I guess its back to the real world,” I sighed, in my mind. I wondered how we were going to work through some things, like where was I going to spend the night? I wasn’t sure if I was ready to face the real world once again. I wondered what my friends and coworkers would say, once they realized that I was now in love with Eric. Was it a good thing or a bad thing?
But I was so tired. Who knew that being kidnapped was a tiring way to pass the time? I certainly didn’t. But I did recall that it hadn’t been the first time that I’d been abducted. I had been one time with Quinn too. Eric had come through in the clutch, since we had already bonded and it had been the only way for my friends and the others to find us.
We pulled into the empty parking lot of Fangtasia. The neon sign was turned off, so the bar must have closed. I wondered, what time was it?
Eric pulled into his parking spot, that was behind the building. We climbed out of the car, then headed inside. Eric held the door open for me, as we entered.
In the back of my mind, I wondered why he didn’t either take me home to Bon Temps or to his own home? Or was this his home? There was still so much that I didn’t know about him, even though we shared this bond between us.
We walked into the bar, but it wasn’t completely empty. Pam was pacing back and forth. She noticed us enter, then walked towards us, anxiously.
“What took you so long?” She asked, curiously. “I was planning on taking Clancy and Bill up there to help you out,” she explained.
Eric shook his head. “I had everything handled. The only reason it took so long, was because Sookie and I needed to straighten a few things out first,” he explained. He turned to me, “isn’t that right, Sookie?”
I stared at him, suddenly speechless. “You mean…we could’ve left sooner than we did?” I asked, almost outraged.
I could already hear Eric’s thoughts going, “Uh-oh.” I didn’t need to feel what he was feeling to know that he was feeling guilty.
I glared at him, angrily. I tried to recount all of the past days and hours, trying to figure out when we could’ve made our escape sooner. I wasn’t happy, that instead of making a run for it, we could’ve been home sooner than we did. I could see that there had been lots of opportunity and instead of leaving, Eric had chosen to keep me there, so that he could seduce me.
I turned towards Pam, not wanting to hear Eric’s excuses or explanations. “Pam, would you please take me home?” I asked. I was so angry that Eric had done something (which was another in a long list of underhanded things, IMO) that I didn’t want to speak to him. Partly because I didn’t want to say or do something that I may regret later on.
Pam looked from me, to Eric with uncertainty in her eyes. “Are you sure?” She asked, hesitantly. “Shouldn’t you sleep on it, then decide?” I could tell that she didn’t want to go against her maker’s orders, but she also wanted to help me out because she did believe in female solidarity, never mind the fact that she loved teasing both Eric and myself about our relationship.
Eric seemed to understand, since he’d read my mind and knew how I was feeling. “Maybe it’s a good thing,” he suggested, shrugging his shoulders.
I stared at him, surprised. I had been so sure that he would’ve put up much more of a fight. “It is?” I asked, incredulously.
Eric nodded his head. “Yeah, this way you can get a good night’s sleep in your own bed and have that bath that you’ve been wanting,” he explained. “Besides, I wouldn’t mind going back to Dimitri’s to see if I can find out who’s behind all of this.”
I stared at him, astounded, but that quickly changed to one of alarm. “You-?” I couldn’t finish what I was about to say, because my fears and worries about him, rose to the surface. It clogged up my throat, so that I could barely speak. My anger and outrage suddenly evaporated only to be replaced by my fears and anxieties. “Only if you promise to be careful,” I replied, instead. Although, I had no clue as to why I still cared, even though I was still thoroughly and rightfully pissed at him. I guess, I wanted to find out who was behind it too.
Eric moved closer to me, then took my face in his hands, gently. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll take Clancy and Bill, that way I will have backup,” he explained.
He knew how worried I was for him. His reassurance did make me feel a little bit better, I had to admit. He leaned down and kissed me sweetly on the lips. Of course, this wasn’t the time or place (meaning, in front of Pam, who was busy smirking at us) for us to have full-out tongue action going on but I knew that both of us were thinking of it.
“Are you sure that you don’t want to have some time alone first?” Pam teased both of us, while she watched. Of course, Pam had enjoyed interrupting our kiss. I wondered how often she would tease us from now on.
Eric and I reluctantly broke our kiss. He turned to look at her, with a part-scowl on his face. “No, take her home. It’d be much easier for me, if you took her home where both you and Amelia are,” he explained. “You can stay and make sure that no harm comes to her. Amelia could even cast a spell to keep people away.”
Pam shrugged her shoulders, as if it didn’t bother her all that much. I wondered if she had been planning on going to my house to meet up with Amelia to begin with.
“How is she?” I asked her. Pam would know that I meant Amelia.
Pam turned to me, then motioned for me to follow her out the door before answering. I waved at Eric, briefly, before I walked out. Once we were outside, she answered, “she’s worried sick. I was going to be with her, so that she wouldn’t worry as much. She has been worried out of her mind about you and didn’t believe me that Eric would keep you safe.” Pam said it, like she didn’t understand it. She was frowning and shaking her head. “You humans have no faith,” she commented, shaking her head, in incomprehension. “Don’t you think that we vamps can protect you good enough?”
I didn’t have an answer for her because I didn’t know what to say to that. She was right in a way, try as I might, I had tried to keep my faith and hope alive that I would be found and I had been. But that wasn’t until I had reached rock bottom, where I wanted to drown in my sorrows first.
We took off in Pam’s car down the highway.
“What happened to Eric’s car?” she asked, surprised at it’s condition in the parking lot.
“Oh, Eric drove through the gates, instead of opening them up,” I explained, shrugging my shoulders. “I hope that he’s not too upset that he will be without his car for awhile.”
Pam grinned, with her gaze facing straight ahead. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Bobby will find someplace to fix it before too long. Eric won’t care about the cost. He’s just relieved knowing that you’re going to be home, safe and sound,” she explained, as if that needed to be explained.
We drove back to Bon Temps in a comfortable silence, until Pam began to speak again. “So…did you and Eric manage to work things out?” She wondered.
I knew that Pam had invested interest in our relationship, mostly because she had been the one who had known what we were feeling for a long time now. She had been trying to play matchmaker and trying to get us to admit to our feelings for awhile.
“What do you really think about us?” I asked, instead. Since Pam was Eric’s child and they had a close bond, I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t upset that Eric had chosen me. “Do you think it’s a good thing or a bad thing? Please, be honest with me,” I pleaded with her.
Pam thought about it for a few minutes. She shrugged, then said, “I think it’s a good thing. I know that Eric has been a changed man since you entered his life. It’s never boring,” she smirked, as she said that. I briefly recalled how much Pam had enjoyed my calls to Eric in the past because afterward, the things that happened helped to entertain her. “Let’s just say…that out of all the women that I’ve known him to be with, you’re the first one that I actually like,” she confessed and turned to me, making sure that I understood. “You and I have a lot in common too,” Pam smiled. “Besides, I think that once Eric turns you over, you’d make a great BFF for the rest of our lives.”
I blinked, I must not have heard that right. When Eric turns me over? “What do you mean by that?” I asked, puzzled and confused. “I’m definitely not going to be turned into a vampire,” I replied, shaking my head.
“You’re not?” Pam asked, surprised. “I thought that…never mind,” she decided to drop the matter for now. “We’re almost at your house,” she said, as she pulled into my driveway, which was newly gravelled, thanks to Eric.
“Home sweet home,” I sighed, looking at my house in the darkness. I noticed that some of the lights were on. I hoped that Amelia and Octavia were still awake. It was good knowing that I had people to come home to, instead of an empty house.
We climbed out of the car and walked into the house, through the back door.
“I’m home!” I called out, excitedly. I could hear the TV on in the living room and then I heard a squeal as Amelia came running into the kitchen.
Amelia rushed over to me and hugged me. “I’m so glad that you made it home,” she gushed. She backed away, checking to make sure that I wasn’t hurt or anything. “I’ve been worried sick,” she explained.
Octavia came into the room too. While we weren’t as close as Amelia and myself, we did exchange a hug. “I’m so glad to see you home, Sookie. This place hasn’t been the same without you,” she replied.
“I’m so glad to be home,” I looked around the kitchen, checking to see if I could spot any changes in my absence, but there were none. “After I take a bath and fix myself up, I’m going to have to tell you all about it,” I told them.
They both nodded their heads, understanding that I wanted to freshen up after my ordeal. I took a nice relaxing bath in my bathroom and freshened up. I put on my flannel pair of pajamas because it was a cool night and I still hadn’t warmed up enough yet.
I walked out into the living room, where Pam was drinking a bottle of True Blood and Octavia and Amelia were drinking tea. I poured myself some tea too. While I was drinking it, I filled them in on everything that had happened.
“I don’t get it,” Amelia shook her head. “How did they manage to block your bond with Eric?” She wondered aloud.
I shrugged, then told them, “I’m not sure either, but Dimitri introduced me to a witch while I was there, maybe she cast a spell or something,” I explained.
“Who?” Octavia wanted to know. “Who was the witch that he introduced you too?”
“I’m not sure what her whole name is, but she called herself, Agatha,” I answered, wondering if they had ever heard of her. Both Amelia and Octavia’s eyes widened in shock. I could tell that they knew who she was. “Do you know her?” I asked, puzzled and confused.
Both of them, nodded their heads, then looked at me with a mixture of fear and caution. It made me wonder just who this Agatha was. Judging from their reactions, this wasn’t good news.
Erika's Not-So-Secret Diary 