Disclaimer: Characters are the property of Charlaine Harris. I’m only borrowing them for a little while. I’m broke, so please don’t sue.
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I woke up in a darkened room. It was so dark, I couldn’t see anything. My throat felt dry with thirst. There was a gag in my mouth, so that if I were to scream, nobody would be able to hear me. My head hurt. I tried raising my hands to my head, but found that they were tied up too.
Where was I? I wondered. I tried moving around. It felt like I was laying on a mattress or something. That’s good, at least I was laying on something soft and cushioned. I thought to myself.
I wondered what had happened. The last thing that I remembered, I was trying to enter my house. Bubba, who had been watching over me had disappeared into the woods surrounding my house. Did they get him too?
I tried to move, but the bounds that held me, were tied too tight. There was no way that I could move. I began to panic. What would I do if I had to go pee? (It’s funny what you think about during the weirdest moments.) I tried to think. I tried to concentrate. I wondered if there were humans around that I might be able to detect. I closed my eyes and tried concentrating on nothing but trying to detect brain waves and thoughts.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Were they vampires. Weres or fairies? Since they were the only ones who I wasn’t able to read their minds. I wondered who had taken me and…why? I tried to recall anyone that I had managed to piss off lately.
Okay, there was Arlene, but I would be able to detect her. There was Bill, who still kept on trying to get me to take him back. Like that would ever happen again, I rolled my eyes. There was Quinn and his family, who resented me for dumping his sorry-mama-comes-first-ass. There was also my brother Jason, the bastard, who hated my reaction when he had set it up for Calvin and myself to find his cheating wife in bed with another man. There was Sam, who probably resented the fact that I refused to go out with him because he’s my boss.
Wait a minute, I was beginning to see a long list here…not something that I hoped to realize. It couldn’t be my fault, it had to be because I was close to someone.
I tried to think of people that I knew who probably had a long list of enemies. At the top of the list, was Eric, my blood-bonded. Yep, he probably could have many, though, none that came to mind. There was also my great-great grandpa, Niall. The fairy, who had recently popped back into my life. Eric had told me that the fae had many enemies, even though they were peaceful for the most part. What about Alcide? No, we didn’t speak anymore. He was now the pack leader and I was a friend of the pack, so that cancelled him out. Getting back to Sam…not him either, he wouldn’t want to lose another waitress. It was hard enough finding permanent cooks.
I was drawing a blank. I’m sure that I could figure it out once my head stopped hurting and if I had some nice cool water to drink.
I wondered how long I had been there. How many days had it been? Or had it only been a few hours? I wished that this room wasn’t so dark so that I could see if the sun was up or not. That would also help me figure out who had taken me. If the sun was up, then obviously, it could be a vampire, because I couldn’t even detect any blank holes. They would be in their “safe place” during the day. Or, it could be some other Supe, but they could’ve just stepped out for awhile. It could even be a human, but wouldn’t I have heard their thoughts right before they abducted me?
One thing about laying here in the dark, I could really think. It was peaceful, in a way. I didn’t have to close my mind up to other people’s thoughts like I had to do all the time at home and at work. I closed my eyes again, maybe if I just lay here…think about other things…the time will move by quicker and then maybe someone will realize that I’ve gone missing?
Funny, how it was Eric, who was the first person that I thought of. I wondered if he realized what has happened to me by now? Would he be able to tell? I tried concentrating, trying to connect with him through the bond. I wasn’t sure of what I was doing, but I hoped that he would be able to detect me somehow. Was I doing it right? Wasn’t he supposed to be able to sense my every feeling? I tried projecting my feelings into, help me, help me, I’ve been kidnapped! I hoped that he would be able to sense it.
Sometimes the bond wasn’t as strong as I thought it was. I sometimes can’t tell what he’s feeling until he’s like fifty yards away from me. But other times it was almost too strong. I wondered how close I was to Shreveport now? Was I near or far away? I had been chloroformed, so I could be in Timbuktu for all I knew.
Ha, ha, that rhymes, I thought to myself. At least, I still had my sense of humor, even though I felt like doing the furthest thing from laughing. I felt like crying, but I knew that was pointless. First of all, I had no way to wipe my tears, which I couldn’t because I was tied up and secondly, I’m not a crier.
I know, maybe if I cried…that might get through to Eric! I liked this latest idea of mine. I grinned, then tried picturing my Gran, remembering all the good times we had together while I was growing up. I hated knowing that I would never see her again. Never would be able to cry on her shoulder after a long day at work. Hated knowing that Renee had murdered her…oh wait, I could feel myself begin to get angry now. That wasn’t going to work either.
I tried to think about all of the times that I’d been hurt. First by Bill. He had betrayed me, while we’d still been together. Then, by Quinn, who was still a mama’s boy.
Memories flashed, as I recalled how sad and disappointed I’d been when those things had happened to me. But then, I could feel arms of comfort wrap around me. Maybe it was Eric? Somehow, I had a suspicion that it was him. I briefly wondered now, if he was trying to comfort me through the bond. Was that possible?
I had resented our bond before, but now I had a new way of looking at things. Maybe this could work towards my advantage and that Eric would be able to find me and return me home before something worse happened to me.
I tried concentrating again. I tried to tell him, through my feelings, what had happened to me. But then I thought about it some more. Even if he were able to tell what I was feeling, where would he begin looking for me? I had no clue where I was. He wouldn’t be able to tell just from my feelings either.
It was no use. My only hope was that whomever had taken me, returned soon and I could figure out if he…or she (in the past that had happened to me, women could be just as bad as men) were a Supe or a human. Then, I could at least point Eric in that direction.
I knew he had a lot of connections and held a lot of power, but I hadn’t really cared about his position until now. If he held as much I as thought he had, then maybe he would be able to figure it out faster. Who would be more powerful than a thousand year old vampire?
I wasn’t sure of how old King Felipé was, but he couldn’t be as old as Eric, could he? Mind you, Eric didn’t have a lot of trustworthy allies anymore either. He could only count on the ones who owed him fealty, really.
I sighed. I hoped that whomever had taken me, had a very good reason because I was getting sick and tired of getting hurt, staked, involved in Supe wars and now, getting kidnapped. Whomever thought that being a damsel in distress was a good idea, obviously never had been one. Although, I couldn’t quite think of whom had said that…but I knew that there was a romantic mentality that someone being rescued by Prince Charming was a great love story. I should know, I’ve read many romance novels.
Although, Scarlett O’Hara wasn’t, nor had she ever been one, I think that even a part of her had thought it was romantic how Rhett Butler had come to rescue her more often than not. That is, until Rhett had gotten sick and tired of saving her, when all she’d do was turn around and smack him down afterwards one too many times.
I had a sudden, sickening thought…was that how Eric saw me now too? Was that why I hadn’t seen him since he had come into Merlotte’s to tell me that he and Pam were my personal bodyguards? I couldn’t bear to think about it, but couldn’t help but allow it to come to mind. Eric had saved me many times too. He had offered or asked me to give in to him many times as well. I had never done that except…okay, I won’t get into that time when he’d lost his memory because he hadn’t been the real Eric…but that thought suddenly came to me. I could see the parallels between my relationship with Eric and Scarlett’s with Rhett.
Does he regret becoming my blood-bonded? Had I pushed him away one too many times? I hoped not. Especially, in light of the fact that I had finally realized how much he means to me. If I ever saw him again…I vowed that I wouldn’t push him away…no matter how much it scared me. He had become too much a part of my life for me to push him away now.
I felt so alone. What if it were too late? What if Eric had decided that he was through with me, unless it had something to do with business? I felt tears come to my eyes now. Great, now I’m crying when all I could feel before was anger towards others for what they had done to me and my Gran.
I cried and cried, it was like a damn had broken open. Water from my tears started rolling down my cheeks and on to the mattress below me. I tried to curl up, as best as I could, into a ball. Which wasn’t really a ball…more like, my legs were bent slightly at the knees and I was laying on my side. At least, I could move from side to side like that.
Whatever held me kept me held to the bed. Each arm was tied down separately. The more I tried to move my legs into the fetal position, I could tell that my legs were bound too.
It was hopeless…the only way I was getting out of here, was unless someone came and untied me and carried me out.
I cried some more. My frustrations and anger, were making me tired. There wasn’t anything that I could do, but just lay there, pitifully. Just wait until I get my hands on whomever did this to me…
I eventually, cried myself to sleep.
Eric arrived at Sookie’s house a few hours after Sookie had gone missing. He had been already checking out some leads with his contacts, but they had known nothing about it. Disappointed, he decided to head to Sookie’s to see what Amelia, Octavia and Sam were doing about looking for her.
He pulled into Sookie’s driveway and noticed her car parked there. He climbed out of his sleek, red Corvette and walked up to the drivers’ side door, peered inside the car to see if he could see anything that would give him a clue as to where she was or who had taken her.
He knew that she had been kidnapped. She had told him so, through the bond. He hoped that she had felt his arms of comfort that he had imagined that he had wrapped around her. He had wanted her to know that he was with her and was going to find her. He wanted to reassure her that whomever had did this was going to pay. Believe him, they would. He just had to do some detective work first.
Not seeing anything in and around her car, he approached her back door. In the dark, he had great vision. To him, he could see many things that a human would need either a flashlight or sunlight to see. He looked around, trying to see if he could see anything there.
He spotted something shiny, hidden in the grass, near the back step. He reached down and picked it up. It was her set of keys, with a lucky rabbit’s foot as the key chain. He grinned, thinking that it was typical of Sookie to have something like that on her keychain.
He opened up the back door, already hearing Sam yelling at the top of his lungs.
“Sookie wouldn’t do that!” Sam was shouting at someone in the living room. Eric couldn’t see who he was speaking to, but could take a guess that it was either Amelia or Octavia. He walked into the living room.
“Sookie wouldn’t do what?” he asked, puzzled, but realized now, who Sam was talking to. It was Bill. “Bill,” he acknowledged him, by nodding his head. Eric and Bill exchanged a knowing glance. They had always agreed that Sam was a typical shifter…a hothead.
“Bill here was saying that Sookie probably decided to take a break from everything and went away somewhere so that she could be alone,” Sam replied, turning to Eric.
While Eric didn’t really care for the shifter, he had learned to respect him because Sookie did care for him. He knew that Sam had feelings for Sookie but he couldn’t blame him. Who didn’t? He wondered.
“Not without her keys, she wouldn’t,” Eric told the room, holding up Sookie’s keys that he had found. “Sorry, to ruin this argument. It sounded like a great one.”
Amelia gasped. Pam had left Fangtasia and had come out too. She had been holding Amelia in her arms, trying to comfort her. Amelia moved out of Pam’s arms and walked hesitantly towards Eric, where he was standing holding Sookie’s keys. “Oh my…those are Sookie’s,” her eyes widened. “Where did you find them?”
“Outside,” Eric replied, moving his head towards the backdoor. He turned to Bill. “I thought that you would’ve noticed them laying there.”
Bill shook his head, disappointed that he hadn’t been the one to find them, he looked down at the floor.
“What does this mean? Did someone kidnap her?” Amelia wondered, her worry evident in the sound of her voice.
Eric nodded his head. “Yes,” he answered, regretfully.
“You sound sure of yourself,” Bill pointed out, looking at him, steadily.
Eric looked over at Bill once again. “I am. She told me so.”
“Oh wait…this is that bond thing that you and Sookie have, isn’t it?” Octavia finally spoke. “What else did she tell you? Did she say who took her? Does she know where she is?”
It was Eric’s turn to look down at the floor. “No,” he replied, sadly.
“No, as in she doesn’t know or no, as in she didn’t tell you?” Amelia cried out. Pam moved closer to her and put one hand on her shoulder to let her know that she was there.
Eric looked back up at her again, if he still breathed, he would’ve taken a big breath before speaking. “No, as in…she doesn’t know.”
Pam noticed her sire’s expression on his face. “I’m sorry,” she spoke, softly. “Have you found any other leads, other than that?”
Again, he shook his head. He couldn’t help but feel like he’d been the worse bodyguard ever. He felt like he’d let not only Sookie down, but himself as well. The guilt ate away at him, until he could hardly stand to be around anyone, anymore. He needed to get away. Out of her house, where her scent didn’t surround him. Memories didn’t flood him until he could barely see.
“I’ve got to go,” he replied, hoping that by keeping himself busy, the pain of not knowing where she was or who took her, didn’t affect him. She needed him. He didn’t want to let her down. Not after knowing what they shared and how special she was to him.
He walked back towards the back door, the way he had come in, quietly. He walked back towards his car, thinking of where to look for her next, when he could hear Bill coming up behind him.
“I’m going to check some things out on my computer to see if I can find out anything,” Bill explained.
Eric nodded his head. He couldn’t speak. Emotions that he tried so hard to fight, rose up in him, until he was ready to choke.
Suddenly, both he and Bill heard a sound. It was coming from the bushes that surrounded the house. Bill and he looked at each other, not needing to communicate, in order to know what they were going to do. They both flew into the bushes, so fast that you wouldn’t be able to see them. They came to a stop once they heard the sound up close.
Eric’s fangs elongated, same with Bill’s, as they both confronted whatever it was that they had heard. It was another vampire. All three of them hissed at each other, ready to fight. Eric sprang and caught the vampire in his arms and was about to bite, when Bill shouted at him.
“Eric, stop!” Bill exclaimed.
Eric turned to look at Bill, curiously, wondering why he was calling him off of the vampire. He wanted to rip him to shreds, if he had anything to do with Sookie’s kidnapping.
TBC…
Erika's Not-So-Secret Diary 