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

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Chapter Eighteen

The following night we came back into the newly deodorized and renovated house. The hum of a powerful hepa filter air cleaner sounded through our heat and cooling vents. Sheila had taken all the perishable food from the old fridge and stocked the new fridge with True Blood and donor blood.

I tanked up on warmed donor blood after rising, then dressed in a deep purple floor length velvet dress for a visit to Fangtasia. The neckline was cut so low my black lace bustier showed as it pushed up my bosom like two ripe albino melons. Eric's instant fangliness let me know I had chosen the right dress.

I had been to Fangtasia many times over the years as a human. This would be my first visit as a vampire. I hoped I had the coping skills to deal with the sensory stimulation.

Eric wore a black Edwardian brocade jacket over a ruffled black silk shirt. He was trying out some new outfits for our trip to Europe. I wondered if he realized frock coats had been out of style for more than a hundred years. He wore tight black jeans and his beloved black Adidas with the vintage jacket, making the whole look retro and funky. His wild blond hair was pulled back with a dark purple velvet ribbon. He could have been the front man for some impressive rock band.

While I was human I had imagined it would seem strange coming home as a vampire. It was not strange at all. The human past of me that had lived here still enjoyed the furnishings, the memories, and the comfort of objects made dear by use. Eric had the fridge, microwave, stove and vent replaced during the daylight cleaning because he knew the lingering smells would be offensive to my new senses.

In time I would probably clean and replace everything or else I would learn not to sample the air very often. I could live with things the way they were.

The front door opened and Adele came in with Lachlain close behind her. Eric and I walked at human speed to greet them. I was actually afraid I might gag up my dinner if I sampled the air around Lachlain. If a dog was bad, how much worse would a werewolf be?

I greeted her with a big hug while making sure I did not let any air in my nose. They were both dressed up for a visit to Fangtasia to be supportive of my first night out as Vampire.

"My gosh Mom! You look great! How do you feel?" she asked.

She already knew the answer. I felt fine. Vampires didn't have variable health unless something catastrophic happened to them.

Carefully drawing in the minimum of breath through my mouth I told her I felt great and that she too looked lovely. Her dress was in a shade of purple only slightly lighter than mine.

"I see you got the memo," she laughed, indicating our unintentionally matching outfits. I wondered if she had psychically picked up what colors I would be wearing.

Eric and Lachlain nodded at each other then Eric hugged Adele, lifting her in the air and complementing her on her upswept hairstyle.

As I hugged Lachlain he laughed and said, "You're even more beautiful as a vampire than you were as a human!"

I realized then that as a vampire I could switch to nodding at him, not hugging him, reducing the amount his stink ..er ... scent he would get on me.

Curiosity got the better of me and I took a tiny tiny sip of air. To my shock he smelled very nice, a pleasing combination of outdoorsy odors.

"Lachlain, you smell wonderful!" I said, sounding as astonished as I felt.

He didn't smell edible like a human, he smelled like the forest, like leaves, like moonlight on white beach rocks.

"That's Adele's doing. She concocted some kind of shampoo and body wash she said would make me smell better to vampires. I guess it works," he said with a modest shrug.

"How does it smell to you?" I asked Eric. He sniffed the air near Lachlain and nodded approvingly. He gave Adele a thumb's up.

"My woods at home," Eric said, smiling nostalgically.

By "home" I think he was referring to Scandinavia, not Shreveport.

"Lachlain's mother said it smells like the Scottish highlands in spring," Adele boasted. "I tried about ten formulas before I got it exactly right." She put her arm around Lachlain's tapered waist and smiled up at her long term boyfriend.

"She's going to patent it and sell it online. Not only does it make us acceptable to vampires, it enables us to go anywhere and not leave a personal scent trail," he said.

I saw there might be a tremendous advantage to that for werewolves. The Shreveport packs didn't have a lot of trouble with each other, in fact they often got together for picnics and rallys. That wasn't true in other parts of the country where the fighting between rival packs could turn deadly.

I was sorry that Linda wasn't going to be at Fangtasia tonight, she was off gallivanting through Europe with Jure. Since I was planning on going to Europe in a few days with Eric I hoped we might meet up somewhere.


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more to come .....(Happy Mid-week everyone! I love that you take the time to visit especially during this season when so many demands are made on our time. I simply can't thank you enough for all the kind words of encouragement and your endearing enthusiasm. If I could bottle it to dab on during the day I would!

What would kind words of encouragement smell like? I suspect it would smell like oranges and cinnamon and a touch of clove. See you Saturday if the fates allow!)

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