12 - Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman Look to the Future - Part Two

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Chapter Twelve

On my fifth night as vampire a distressed Eric told me he had to leave me alone for a few hours while he attended to some sheriff business back in Shreveport.

This was unwelcome information he had gotten via his computer in the hour he was awake before I rose.

I couldn't wait for the night we rose together, though that might take hundreds of years. Eric was an "early riser" due to his great age. The news put Eric in a very bad mood. I felt it distinctly through our blood.

Lawton, his senior deputy, was away on loan to the King. Eric believed he was sent to a war torn region of Mongolia, too far away to call back on short notice.

Naturally the King hadn't asked Eric's permission or even considered that his request might inconvenience his Sheriff. Eric hadn't objected because he believed he had left the jail adequately covered during his absence. Things were usually pretty slow this time of year.

Eric had assigned his twin vampire junior deputies, Dwight and Ernie, to run things while he was Turning me but they had written tonight to tell Eric they were called out of town because of a family tragedy and could not wait around to perform their duties.

Their elderly human sister had been killed by a drunk driver while she was driving home from her job as a pediatric nurse. The drunk driver was unhurt. I was pretty sure the deputy brothers would fix that if they could get their hands on him.

Both brothers had to leave suddenly to be with their surviving family and perhaps get revenge. In the meantime a dangerous perpetrator from Dallas needed to be transferred for holding to the Shreveport jail and there was no one competent left to handle the transfer. Eric would need to be there himself, much to his dismay. He hated leaving me but could not think of an alternative plan.

"I should have known better than to assign brothers to cover for me," Eric grumbled in twenty-twenty hindsight, getting into his beat up leather jacket. This signaled to me that he might be expecting trouble. Not only could a prisoner be dangerous, but often the prisoner had friends that would stop at nothing to set their compadre free.

"Do you want me to come too?" I asked eagerly. "I can help now that I'm so strong."

"Uh, no. I do not think that would be a good idea. You wait here and I will be back soon, then we will go out together so that you might practice hunting."

He added, "Would you like Pam or someone to come and stay with you while I am gone?"

I was pleased he was being less controlling of my behavior. In the past he might have just had a "babysitter" show up for me without my consent. Perhaps the last little tiff between Pam and me had warned Eric off getting her as a caretaker. He wouldn't want to come back here and discover Pam and I had taken our spat to the next level.

I didn't know who his "or someone" would be. He wouldn't want to disclose our location to just anyone. The more people knew, the bigger the chance that something could go wrong. Eric always said that two could keep a secret if one of them was dead. By dead he meant really forever dead.

His expectant face looked hopeful I would go along with having a caretaker but I declined his offer. I would welcome a little time to myself to think through the last four nights.

Eric fed me two warmed bags of donor blood to tide me over until his return then reluctantly he left me to myself, carefully locking the door behind him and testing it to make sure I was sealed in. As soon as the door closed and I was alone I took off all my clothes and looked at myself in the small dresser mirror.

I seemed to have slimmed down a little more but kept my muscles and curvy figure. I was in the best shape of my life, be it a human life or a vampire life.

Next I spent some time trying to snick my fangs in and out on command, putting on different expressions using my new fangs. The only way I could get my fangs out was to think of Eric's thigh, the vein there, and the golden nest nearby. As soon as I lost concentration my fangs instantly retracted.

My mouth seemed to have gotten slightly larger enabling me to bare my fangs in a most menacing way. The greatest intimidation factor I had was what most humans knew vampires were capable of. Like a rattlesnake's rattle, the fear factor would be my greatest defense.

I tried on some of my new outfits and put on extra make up, lining my eyes dramatically. I tried dotting on a fake beauty mark but rubbed it off with my thumb. Then I warmed another bag of donor blood and drank it slowly, humming "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes", one of my grandfather's favorite songs.

While I drank and hummed I thought about our European trip. I was sure we could hunt down and capture the people, mostly men, named in the files. But then what?

I sure as shootin' wasn't going to kill them. That was simply too heavy a burden for my conscience to bear. Scaring them wouldn't work forever. Sooner or later their inner sickness would rear up and take control as they rationalized their behavior and its consequences.

I began to formulate a plan based on my seeming ability to glamour people into a very profound submissive state. If I could implant some negative symptom with their bad thoughts then they would experience something very nasty every time their mind wandered over to the dark side. That's where the bad behavior began, in their mind. If I could stop if there I could be fairly certain it would never get any further.

Just like there was surgery to prevent over eating I could implant the suggestion that vomiting, excruciating pain and even blindness would accompany any urge, thought or desire that crossed over the line into non-consenting sex or violence. This would leave the person free to persue a healthy relationship with someone age appropriate while disabling them if they wanted to act as a sexual predator or sadist.

I wasn't sure it would work but it was worth a try. Eric had been so right in figuring out what would make my powers as a vampire most appealing to me, the ability to right what was wrong, especially wrongs against children.

As the seconds ticked by a powerful wild uncontrollable restlessness grew in me, overtaking every other thought and feeling.

It reminded me of the trapped feeling I had experienced as a teenager, stuck in a small town with no real options for a bigger better life. I paced, trying to feel calm but I grew increasingly agitated. I had to get out of these rooms, out into the immense night or I would begin tearing things apart in frustration.

I felt full of blood and in control. As long as my hunger didn't kick in I would be calm. Three bags of blood should hold me for at least an hour or two, probably more. I planned on being back here in the apartment long before I needed to feed again, long before Eric was back.

I was absolutely stuffed at the moment. It reminded me of the times Gran and I went after church service to a midnight church buffet following our big Thanksgiving dinner. I couldn't eat another bite.

Another bite, very funny.

I decided on an outfit for my first venture out by myself. After finding my shoes under the bed I went to the keypad and looked at it. Eric didn't realize I had instantly memorized the ten digit number to leave the room. He thought I was locked into an inescapable prison, a safe room that worked both ways.

I hesitated. Should I go out into the night or just wait for Eric to return? I could practically hear the swirling starlit sky calling to me. The room felt utterly claustrophobic. What harm would there be in just going out into the parking lot?

Eric had said worry was a thing of the past. I was just about busting my bustle to get out of this room. I felt an urge more powerful than any I had experienced as a teenager, a compulsion, to get out and explore the new world. Actually it was the same world, it was the new me that wanted the adventure.

My finger hovered over the seven, the first number of the sequence that would let me, Vampire Sookie Stackhouse, out into the night alone.


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more to come .....(Happy mid-week everyone! I am thinking of you all with much affection and gratitude for your support and interest. See you Saturday if the creek don't rise :-)

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