chapter twenty-

seven

Calvin listened to Jason. Though Jason could never be a full panther, only a panther man, he felt a great deal of affection for the boy. He had done the best he could for Crystal, though she was a trifling baggage. Then there was the fact he really had a soft spot for Sookie Stackhouse. Now Jason was asking for something that was really tough to agree to. Jason looked around at Hot Shot. There had been a lot of improvements. There was new vinyl cladding on the sides of the houses, the window frames had been replaced and porches were being rebuilt. There was some new construction for the “schoolhouse” so the homebound tutor could come three days a week and work with the Hot Shot kids who because of their being two natured and genetically imperfect would be victims of other children and quite frankly of the teachers as well. Luna’s outreach group had done a lot to help Hot Shot, but helping vampires, as Jason was suggesting. That would be hard for the family to approve.

“Look, if we don’t help them, when the time comes, they won’t help us. Maybe they won’t be around to help us,” said Jason.

“I know you have a relationship with these vamps, because of your sister, but they may not even want our help,” said Calvin.

“That money Sookie gave you is going a long way for improvements around here,” said Jason. Calvin looked unsettled. “Vinyl cladding on the houses, new porches, a new chimney, building that little classroom. You know a lot of her money, money she gave you, it came from Eric.” That was not entirely true and Jason knew it, but he didn’t mind using that little fact now.

“An’ he owed it to her,” said Calvin.

“True enough,” said Jason. “But in July, Eric and Bill both were there to protect the girls. Not just their girls, but Michele and Luna and Halliegh. Yeah, Halliegh. Bill Compton took real good care of her, saw to is she didn’t want for nothing, hell, gave Andy enough blood to get him to the hospital. Look, you have them for friends, they will protect you. You think if them people are in charge, you will be let alone? They will stand up for us.”

“What if I told you that some of this trouble is coming from vamps. They crossed some big shot vamp a few months back, they hounded Sookie out of this world, and now they are in big trouble. If we get in this, we could all get killed,” said Calvin.

“If the vamps we know get killed, you think some out of town big shot vamp is gonna give three shits about you and Hot Shot? We can at least go to them, tell them we want to help with the Take Back the Night Gang. If we don’t help them, we will be all alone.” Jason looked at Calvin. He thought about it for a minute.

“When did you get so grown?” asked Calvin.

“I guess when Michele told me she was pregnant,” said Jason. “So I will tell Sam you all will sit down and talk about it. I’ll let you know when.”

“Okay, Jason. Has anyone approached the Shreveport pack yet?” asked Calvin.

“I reckon me and Sam will do that one together,” said Jason.

                Fangtasia was crowded with vampires. The Sheriffs and Kings and Queens were there, some trusted humans and Khan as the lone shifter. There were others attending via Skype. Sky and Rachel were at the Northman Estate.

                “This is what you have been hiding all along?” asked Phoebe. “Pretty sneaking of you.”

                “I had to keep it quiet, I had to pull all of you together. De Castro is still moving carefully under the cover of the Take Back the Night movement. He has Tom Latesta in his employ and several others here, though they may not know they are accepting fang money,” said Eric.  “I also know, based on your reports the sort of troubles you are having, he interfering in your kingdoms as well. We in Louisiana are preparing to…Bill, what was it in that movie we watched…”

                “Go to the mattresses,” said Bill.

                “That is it. I have a meeting in mid November. During the Thanksgiving Holidays, my vampires will be going out and killing all of De Castro’s spies, thugs, dealers and troublemakers. It will be quiet and sudden and as complete as it can be. We will be doing our best to do this with little or no notice, keeping it out of the media. The less De Castro and his friends know the better. Will you monarchs and sheriffs be willing to do the same action?” asked Eric.

                “Where will you be?” asked Stan.

                “I plan to take my fiancée on a buying trip in New York,” said Eric. “Her loft was destroyed when the business she lived above was burned. By Take Back the Night thugs.”

                “And you Bill?” asked Russell.

                “I will be in Louisiana, celebrating the holidays with my fiancée and her family,” said Bill.

                “Who have you asked to be your second?” asked Stan Davis.

                “Bill Compton is my second in command and Pam is the Sheriff of Area Five. I will be invested during the Winter Solstice,” said Eric.

                “Thanksgiving, huh?” said Russell Edgington. “It would be something to be thankful for.”

                “Don’t you think he will realize a move was made on him if so many of his thugs are killed on Thanksgiving?” asked Bart.

                “He may, but if done carefully, he may not hear from them for long periods. They will be dead for a long time before they are missed. We will still be sending the regular tribute to him, and you can simply refer it to your sheriffs. What can he do with you in your own kingdoms?” asked Bill.

                “What I need you to do is meet with your sheriffs, draw up your list of the usual suspects and choose who and how it is to be accomplished and get as many of them as you can on Thanksgiving. Humans will all be at home, celebrating and law enforcement, fortunately put off visiting vampire crime scenes till day time,” said Eric.          

                “And then?” asked Isaiah.

                “We stay alive until the spring, when the Pythoness comes to America.  We will have our convocation and formally charge Felipe De Castro,” said Eric.

                “I asked you once, Eric, who will be responsible to the Pythoness for the charge?” asked Stan.

                “I will,” said Eric. “I will take the blood oath with the Pythoness. I am confident with all of you bringing your evidence forward with mine, we will win the trial.”

                “I think we should make the blood pact with Eric,” said Russell. “He has shown faith with us, he has been forthcoming and truthful, we can at least promise our commitment to this cause. Any dissentions?” Bill and Eric stared around the table. No one made a sound. Pam went to the bar and got a wine glass and brought it to Eric with a knife. He cut the palm of his hand and held it over the glass and clenched his fist. When the wound healed, he passed the glass to Bill. Bill did the same and passed it on. Each monarch, their second and any sheriff who was there did the same till the glass was full of the mingled blood. When the glass came back to Eric he swirled it a bit and sipped it and passed it back around till everyone had taken a drink.  “Anyone who breaks this oath will forfeit to Eric or his heirs 50 percent of their wealth for 50 years.”

                “Our friends on Skype will agree to the terms though they did not consume the blood,” said Bill. Isabel and Stan nodded their heads. “Very well, travel safely and quietly to your kingdoms.”

                “Sky, this is beautiful,” said Rachel. The windows were up and steel storm shutters where hung and operated with a lever inside. The floors were not yet stained and sealed but they were clean. The interior walls were up and areas that were to be painted a creamy white were marked. The steel cage was up and the elevator was in place as well as the wrought iron staircase. The bathrooms and kitchen and fireplaces were built and the offices were finished and waiting for furniture.  

                “I can’t believe they are almost finished,” said Sky. “They are painting the outside tomorrow.”

                “It is a masterpiece,” said Rachel. “So you and Eric are going to New York on a buying trip?”

                “Yes,” said Sky. “We are picking out furniture and art and dishes, the whole thing.”

                “What’s the matter?” asked Rachel.

                “I just feel like something is being decided, something dangerous and unavoidable,” said Sky. “I feel him holding back in the bond, tamping things down so I won’t feel it.”

                “They both are then,” said Rachel.

                “I’m afraid for them, for Eric,” said Sky. “I hate that ring on his finger. It is like the kiss of the true death.”

                “Bill is his second,” said Rachel. “They are both in trouble. What I would not give for just a half year of whatever it was Sookie could do that made her so useful and could help them.”

                “I know,” said Sky.

                “We just have to do the best for them. Bill and I have been practicing with the bond, like you and Eric. I guess if that is all I can do, “she said.

                “Maybe that is all we can do,” said Sky.

                “Bill is coming,” said Rachel, suddenly.

                “And Eric.”

                Alcide Herveaux sat there at The Hair of the Dog and listened to Jason and Sam. “Well, they aren’t friends of the pack, and what if they ask you to kill someone? Would you be okay with that?”

                “Depends,” said Jason. “If they are those assholes who went after Luna and Andy, I wouldn’t blink. If it was a vampire, again, I would not blink. If it was a shifter or were who was bedded down with those monsters, they gave up their claim to brotherhood with us.” Sam nodded in agreement.

                “I will have to speak to the pack. I know I have final authority, but I am trying to let them have a say,” said Alcide. “Why are you putting your necks out?”

                “They helped Sookie and Bill helped me with the money to rebuild the house,” said Jason.

                “They helped me with the bar and Bill sold me his house and then Eric saved Luna from that jar of acid they pitched at her,” said Sam. “I figured I owe them something.”

                “And you have an awful lot of vamp money in your jeans. Building my house, building that house for Eric and his woman there at that old mill,” said Jason.

                “That teacher hired Emilio to work in her office for her,” said Alcide. “The school pays him now, but she paid him and very well and then Eric paid him.”

                “Besides, what are you going to do if the government marches down Main Street one day and they come and get us and no one is there? If we help them, they will help us,” said Sam.

                “You really believe that?” asked Alcide.

                “I really believe that,” said Sam. “I trust Bill and I trust Eric. If they are some sort of…power…in their world, they will want us, and they will protect us if we help them and protect them now.”

                “What does Calvin say about all of this?” asked Alcide.

                “He is for it. He will stand up for them and us,” said Jason.

                “Shit…Sometimes I wished we could have gone with Sookie,” said Alcide. “Even Faerie has to be safer than here.” He looked at Sam and Jason. “I will speak to my pack and maybe reach out to other packs.”

                “Start with your own, then we will go and see Eric and Bill and then we can contact the others,” said Sam.

                “Bill, I want to talk to you about something?” said Rachel.

                “Of course sweetheart,” he said.

                “You remember when Sky and I met those two vampires, Russell and Bart?”

                “I do, they were quite impressed with the both of you,” he said.

                “Well, since my business is gone, I want to explore the possibility of starting an outreach program. Sky wants to help me. I will be getting my insurance money and I think it is needed,” she said.

                “It is needed, sweetheart, but I am not sure this the right time for you to be so out in the open,” said Bill.

                “Bill, I can’t just sit there and do nothing and just wait for you to come home from somewhere else. If I can do this, I feel like I am working for you, for us, and not just hiding out. I feel lost without my business,” she said. “I was helping people, humans and supernaturals alike.”

                “Then you should take the money and start over,” he said.

                “I can do more though Bill,” she turned to him in her seat. “I can’t go with you to those meetings and I can’t be with you all the time, but I want this. It is my sign of faith that I believe everything is going to be okay, you will be safe, and whatever you have to do, you will be coming home to me. I need this, Bill, please.”

                “Rachel,” he began.

                “Please Bill,” she said.

                “Tell me your ideas,” he said.

                “And she wants to do this thing?” asked Eric. He was just up, walking around naked, getting a bottle of TrueBlood in the microwave.

                “Well, I want to help her as much as I can,” said Sky. “I think it is a good thing Eric. I think it is a needed thing. You said yourself, you guys are having a hard time dealing with the changes coming out of the coffin has made. Vampires don’t even like each other that much. If there had been outreach, there would have been more unity, more community and they would not be victims to their own bad habits, the old ways before mainstreaming, not to mention the way the monarchs strong-arm their vampire citizens. I think this would be a good thing.”

                “Does she have that sort of money?” asked Eric.

                “I don’t know, maybe, maybe not all of it, but listen, those kings, Bart and Russell, they were very interested in it. I bet there would be some who would actually give money to have something like this. Then when they see it happening here, they can copy what we are doing and do it in their own kingdoms,” said Sky.

                “We?” asked Eric, looking quite amused.

                “Yeah, your majesty, we, you. You would be the first monarch to have a vampire human outreach program, to help your constituents. Man, you could not have better PR among your own people and it would make it hard for people like the Take Back the Night and the Fellowship of the Sun to do damage. We could have legal aid; we could educate everyone about the laws. Rachel can give them a higher standard of care, especially to humans who are in relationships with vampires. Not all vampires are like you and Bill,” said Sky.

                “You better believe it lover,” he winked.

                “Plus there is the social angle. Now I am not badmouthing Fangtasia, I like a good bar. But there may be vampires who are interested in meeting other kinds of humans, not the ones they can just fang and bang, but ones they can respect and love and care for,” she said.

                “The way I respect and love and care for you?” he said.

                “Eric, be honest, if you had met me in your bar, would you be with me now? Or would I have just been a casual fang friend?” she asked. Eric looked at her, a little uncomfortable.

                “You are right, I would have just picked you up and taken you into my office,” he said.

                “See,” she said. “I was just lucky my landlord’s window got busted out.”

                “I was the lucky one,” he said. He pulled her to him and she cuddled against him. “So when we go to New York, I want to stop and buy some jewelry.”

                “You getting a De Castro a going steady ring too?” she asked. He whacked her gently on the ass.

                “No,” he said. “I want to buy you a going steady ring…like for the rest of our lives.”

                “Oh…” she raised up. “An engagement ring?”

                “Yes, though why I want to marry a red haired woman like you I have no idea. You are bad for my digestion, my dignity, and my concentration. Not to mention my morals…”

                “And I guess you came to me a virgin,” she said.

                “Well, maybe not a virgin…but not so thoroughly seduced,” he said.

                “So…Bling…must be serious,” she said.

                “It must be,” he said. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

                “Not in the last hour,” she said.

                “Oh, well, I am more of a demonstrative sort of vampire,” he said.

                The next day seemed brighter. The town was cool and crisp and the Halloween pumpkins had given way to turkeys and pilgrims and horns or plenty, though Sky decorated her door with Indians and deer and other Native American motifs. Sky had just finished her morning class and was headed back to her office. She was having a meeting with some of her colleagues who were interested in a vampire outreach center. They were all teaching vampire topics, so such a place was of special interest to them. Some even had things printed out in binders and statistics and studies already done of vampires and their special needs.

                “What I am involved in Professor Faulconer, is the spiritual needs of seeking vampires. Our program does not proselytize and we have no particular religious bent, I myself am not even Christian, I am Baha’i.  What we do is we open the doors for vampires and religious leaders alike to come and talk about what they believe in and what they don’t believe in and what they have questions about. We visit the Sino AIDS hospices and we try to give comfort but only to those who want it. We do have spiritually turned vampires in the world, but the vampire community and the human community turn their backs on them, or offer them very little, which is part of the vampire self fulfilling prophecy,” said Professor Johnson.

                “Well, my friend Rachel had services that had a spiritual connection. She offered Tai Chi and Yoga and TM. I am sure there would be room in her project for things like spiritual development, even study of holy books, discussion groups about how to enrich their spiritual lives,” said Sky. “Do you have a profile or prospectus on your program?”

                “I do,” he said, handing her a spiral bound book.

                “Fantastic,” said Sky.

                “Professor, I work with a group of vampires who are trying to reign in a growing problem of vampires who were either made for a price, and abandoned, their makers killed, or they were simply made and after their makers were tired of them and were tossed out. They are dangerous to both communities, but it is not their fault. We need a vampire in leadership to take a look at the problem. I don’t know that it would have a part in your friend’s program, but we have talked about a vampire foster program. Vampires who have not made a child, or are between making children, might want to contract to take on a foster child and see it through the first couple of years and help the fledgling adjust to vampire life. So many of them are staked or trapped in the open at dawn or drained or worse, brutalized by older and stronger vampires,” said Professor  Lang.

                “My fiancée has told me of this problem. What my friend may want to do is make office space available for a social worker or someone with some knowledge come down and begin registering interested vampires who might want give fostering a try,” said Sky. “Do you have a criterion for interested foster vamps?”
                “We have a proposal, but we can write up something more formal,” said Professor Lang.

                “Well, my problem is we have vampires who have not adapted well and are backward thinking and they take on human companions and abuse them. We need an outreach for that,” said Professor Lumpkin.  “We also need counseling for vampires who have been captured and tortured by anti vampire groups. There is a number that is sky rocketing. They suffer in silence with bad dreams, hatred for themselves and for humans. The vampire community sweeps it under the catafalque if you will, so they won’t appear weak to humans and they don’t understand that not all vampires have created a disconnect that so many of them often have. Especially older ones.”

                “That would fit with what I was saying as well, these fledglings without makers are often taken in by supposedly friendly humans and they end up being horribly abused. Some of them even greet the sun as a result,” said Professor Ruskin.

               

                The discussion was suddenly broken up by the sound of a voice. “Well, well, well, what have we here, a little coffee klatch discussing the woes of the fanged set? Is this meeting sanctioned by the Chancellor?” It was Reynolds.

                “We are just having a friendly little chat,” said Sky. “We are on personal time.”

                “I see,” he said. “And what are we talking about?”

                “Vampire topics, it is our field,” said Professor Johnson.

                “Why wasn’t I invited?” he asked.

                “Because you didn’t happen to be here when we came in for coffee and a donut,” said Professor Lumpkin.

                “Nothing to say Professor Faulconer?” he asked.

                “I ate the last donut, sorry,” she said, smiling sweetly.

                “You should all be really careful right now,” said Reynolds. “Thin ice you know.”

                “And we are excellent swimmers,” said Professor Lang.

                “I have my eye on all of you,” he said and he turned on his heel and walked away.

                “Asshole,” said Sky. “Look, if you don’t want to be involved, I understand.”

                “Are you kidding? I haven’t been so excited since the riots in Birmingham,” said Professor Johnson. “Now, this is what I was thinking about….”

                Sky packed the information the professors had given her in a box and was gathering her things when there was a knock on her doorframe. “Can I speak to you about tutoring?” Sky turned. It was Eric.

                “Come on in,” she said. He stepped in and gathered her up and kissed her.

                “How was your day?” he asked.

                “Not bad. I had my meeting,” she said.

                “I can’t wait to hear about it,” he said. There was a tap on the doorframe again.

                “Skyller…Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t know you had a visitor,” said voice.

                “Oh, Pat, come in. I want you to meet my fiancé, Eric Northman,” she said.

                “Mr. Northman,” she nodded. Eric realized the woman was blind.

                “Very nice to meet you,” he said, nodding back to her.

                “Your voice, your accent is slight, but I hear it. Are you of the North Country in Sweden?” she asked.

                “I am,” he said.

                “And do you still speak your native tongue?” she asked.

                “I do,” he said. “As does my child. It is one of my gifts, the gift of language.”

                “Oh, how lovely. I teach ancient languages, mostly dead languages until vampires came out to us. Since I have been collecting dialects and languages; creating a treasure of long gone tongues. Can I trouble you to make me a cd of you talking in your native language, reading aloud, just conversing?” she asked. “I know this is an imposition, but to please an old lady?”

                “I can think of no greater honor than to help a friend of my Sky. Will an hour be enough?” he asked.

                “Ample, generous,” she said. “Now, your child, is she Norse as well?”

                “No, she is English but as I said, she has inherited my gift,” said Eric.

                “Amazing,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

                “The pleasure Madame, is all mine,” he said in low voice. He took her hand and leaned in and kissed her cheek.  She giggled.

                “Oh my. Skyller, what does this young ruffian look like?” she asked, blushing.

                “He is tall, 6 feet 4 inches, he has ice blue eyes and he has long golden hair that hangs past his shoulders. He is broad shouldered, slim waisted, long legged. He is very fair with a strong masculine face and nice straight nose and fair eyebrows and lashes and full mouth,” she said. “He weighs about 230 pounds and has the carriage of a prince.

                “How old does he look?” she asked.

                “Late twenties, early thirties,” Sky answered.

                “But he is much older than that,” said the old woman.

                “Yes, he is,” she said.

                “I am over a thousand years old,” said Eric.

                “Oh my, a treasure to someone like myself,” she said. “The things you have seen and the places you have been and the times you have known.”

                “But no times like this one. I am most interested in what the next one thousand years might be like,” he said.

                “Thank you so much,” she said. “You are very charming Mr. Northman. I suspect you don’t even have to try.” She walked back to her office.

                “Flirt,” said Sky.

                “I like older humans,” he said. “One of my most fulfilling relationships was with an old nun who taught me to play the very first version of poker.”

                “It figures. What were you doing with an old nun?” she asked.

                “She was hiding me,” he said. “I saved her from being raped by a group of marauders who broke into her convent. She hid me till it was safe for me to leave.”

                “What happened to her?” asked Sky.

                “I fulfilled a wish for her. She asked me take her life. She was sick. Probably cancer so she asked me if I would do her this kindness and put her down painlessly. I broke her neck. She never felt it,” he said.

                “Oh, how sad,” she said.

                “Why? She was suffering, I saved her from her pain,” said Eric.

                “I suppose so,” said Sky. “Why are you here?”

                “Sam and Jason Stackhouse and Alcide and Calvin want to chat with us this evening at Merlotte’s,” he said. “Bill and Rachel are already there.”

                “Okay, grab this box and we can take it to Rachel to look at. Oh love, I had a great meeting today,” she began, as they walked out of her office.

                Sam’s was busy but not so busy the shifter could not sit down with Bill and Eric and with the other representatives of the were/shifter communities, such as they were in Bon Temps, and chat with ease about what they had in mind. Bill and Rachel were already there when Sky and Eric came in. Bill and Sam were a little surprised to note the vampire was holding hands with Sky. A public demonstration of his affection.

                “What can we do for you Sam?” asked Eric, sipping his TrueBlood.

                “Well, maybe we can do something for you. I get the sense something is about to happen. Maybe it is what happened at Fourth of July, or what happened with Rachel’s store, or the various little things happening. Like weres and shifters being caught out and getting the shit beaten out of them, or the fact there was a certain vampire that was cut loose from his job for no good reason except that he was a vampire.”

                “What do you mean?” asked Bill.

                “There was a vampire working out at Norcross,” said Calvin. “A good old boy, he was a lumber man in the early 1900’s. Worked the night shift. He worked hard and never complained. Suddenly he gets laid off and five humans hired the next day. If they were cutting the labor force, they sure as hell would not have hired five new workers the fucking day after they let go of a vampire.”

                “Continue,” asked Eric.

                “So we were just looking at things logically. We are all supernaturals. We may not live the same way or have the same differences, but with the way the government is now and the hate groups cropping up, we have more in common than we ever did. Plus, we think you guys know something we don’t. Something about vampires we don’t know and we don’t need to know,” said Sam quickly. “But we figure you all might need some help. That we would be that help if you will take us on.”

                “Why would you make such an offer?” asked Bill.

                “We can give you a lot of altruisms, make it sound all noble. But the truth is, the simple truth, we need each other. If we don’t, none of us will make it. If you need a better reason, I am doing it for my kid, it will be a shifter. If I don’t fight for my rights, my kid won’t have any. I can’t do it alone. There are too many. Even teamed up, vampires and two natured, we are still a minority,” said Sam. “You all love these women, Bill you are getting married, Eric you are building that fine home for your woman. If you love them like you say you love them, you will join forces with whoever can help you. We have loved ones too.”

                “You are correct,” said Eric. “There is something going on in our world. Vampires who are deep undercover have caused the violence that has occurred and are commanding the bigots and hate groups, not just in Louisiana, but in many different places in the country. And there is going to be trouble. There is something Bill and I are involved with which will end a lot of this, but there will be a lot of bloodshed until then. It will happen this spring. We need there to be calm, and if killing has to be done, then it has to be done quietly. We aren’t asking just you, the two natured to be calm and outwardly passive, we are doing the same in the vampire community.  So, we accept your offer of help.”

                “What Eric and I need you to do is record things that happen. Like the shifters and weres being attacked, instances of discrimination, other problems you may be having,” said Bill. “Then we will come to you in plenty of time to tell you when to be ready and what to do next.”

                “If you go into battle, rest assured, vampires will be by your side,” said Eric. “We won’t leave you in the wind.”

                “Bill, can I suggest something to you and Miss Rachel?” asked Calvin.

                “Of course,” said Bill.

                “Now, Miss Rachel’s house is a beautiful house. But it is almost 120 years old and it is a wood structure,” said Calvin. “It would be easy for any son of a bitch to come along and burn you and her up in it, or catch you sleepin’ and alone and that would be all she wrote. I dropped off a whole load of red oak planks to that place of Eric’s. It is perfect. You and Miss Rachel, you ought to think about doing something like that.”

                “I have thought about that, perhaps we should look around for some land,” said Bill.

                “I just suggest it,” said Calvin.

                “Thank you for your help,” said Eric. “Should you have any problems with local vampires, let me or Bill know about it immediately.”

                “We will,” said Calvin.

                “Alcide? You have contact with other packs in Louisiana?” asked Bill.

                “Yeah, I am going to contact them,” he said.

                “When you do, and if they join us, let us know, we will tell them who to contact as far as vampires in their territory, and they can help them,” said Eric.

                “Well, that’s done,” said Sam. “Hell I thought it would be harder than that.”

                After the meeting broke up, Sky told Rachel about everything she found out from her meeting with her colleagues.  Then she talked about what Reynolds had done. “I am going to drink that bastard’s blood,” growled Eric.

                “No, you are going to do nothing of the sort,” said Sky. “I have a half day Rachel, I want to come over to the house tomorrow to help you get the project written up based on this stuff I have for you and then I want to go check out a building.”

                “A building?”

                “Yeah, you know the old medical services building out on Court Street, down by the Boys and Girls club?”

                “The pain clinic and the prenatal clinic and dentist clinic used to be there, like eight little health shops in a row?” asked Rachel.

                “That’s it. The doctor was arrested for selling swamp heroin there and they closed it down. Come to find out, the pain clinic was the main lease holder and when he was evicted, all the other clinics were too. I understand it is going to be sold at the Sheriff’s sale. I say we put in a bid for it,” said Sky.

                “Greg Aubert says I will be getting something close to 300 thousand dollars for the shop and apartment,” said Rachel. “I have some savings.”

                “I have savings too, I can put that in,” said Sky.

                “Wait lover, wait a minute,” said Eric.

                “No, there is no reason to,” said Sky. “There are grants we can apply for. Hell the TrueBlood company is giving grants for vampire centered stuff, we could apply for them.”

                “If you will wait a moment,” said Eric. “Stubborn woman. I can help you. Let me call Russell and Bart and a few others and get them to gift you some donations. This can get you started. You and Rachel figure out what you need. Include paychecks for yourselves. Be generous. Vampires think more of you if you place a high value on yourself. Give me and Bill the paperwork and we will get your money for you. If you are going to do this for our people, you may as well get our people to pay for some of it.”

                “Really? You would do this for us?” asked Rachel, looking at Bill and Eric.

                “Yes,” said Eric. Rachel scampered out of the booth and hugged Eric and kissed his cheek then came back and hugged Bill.

                “Thank you!!!!” she said.

                The two couples parted ways, Rachel jumping up and kissing Eric again on the cheek and grabbed the stuff Sky had for her and was ecstatic as they headed home.  “I don’t know as I like you kissing Eric,” said Bill, teasing her.

                “Well, I plan to give you more than a peck on the cheek,” she said.

                “You do?” he said. “Well, I will over look it this time.”

                “You know I only love you,” she said. “For the first time since my business burned down, I feel like things are looking up. Do you think those vampires will give us the money?”

                “I believe so,” said Bill. “We will do everything to persuade them.”

                “So, a new house huh?” she said.

                “We don’t have to rush, though I admit I have been concerned,” said Bill.

                “Why haven’t you told me,” she asked.

                “Because I didn’t want to trouble you,” he said. “But we can look for some land, design a house, have everything the way we want it, make it safe.”

                “Bill, are you wealthy? I mean, it doesn’t matter to me, but are you?” He looked at her and nodded. “How much?”

                “More than enough,” he said. “So leave the house to me. I will find the land and then we can sit down with a designer and build a very nice house, have whatever you want in it, and we will be safe.”

               

                Her long red curls covered her face as she applied pressure on Eric with her mouth. He was on the couch, she was on her knees in front of him, driving him insane. His hands were in her hair, squeezing her curls gently as she pulled him in and twirled her tongue around him at the same time. “Sky stop,” he moaned. She kept it up, going faster. He panted hard, and suddenly screamed, his hips flexing upwards to her mouth. His orgasm shot through him, making his head go back and his eyes squeeze shut. When he opened his eyes, he could feel her cleaning him with her tongue. She then scrambled up to him and he pulled her roughly to him and kissed her hard. “I wanted to be inside you.”

                “That is the nice thing about making love with a vampire,” she said, rubbing against him, the silk of her panties making a lovely friction. “He is back in the mood in no time.”

                “Lusty wench,” he said.

                “That is because you are a very good boy,” she said, licking his lips with her wicked kittenish tongue.

                “Boy?” he asked, flexing his hips against her, hard as rock.

                “Out there, you are my big bad vampire regent. Here you are my naughty boy, looking for someone to play with,” she said.

                “What game would you like to play little girl?” he said, pushing and pulling her hips along his length.

                “Hide and seek,” she said. He put his fingers in the strips of her panties and pulled them into tatters. Sky raised up and he aimed himself toward her. She slid over him and he held her still. He pulled her blouse off and he watched her as she took off her bra. He pulled her up a little and put his mouth on one nipple and then the other and suddenly he pushed her hard down on him. Sky steadied herself with her palms on his chest. She raised up again and rotated her hips, squeezing the tip of his penis inside her. He moaned and she slid down him, rotating her hips as she did. She moved to repeat the move and he pulled her back down hard. “Want to go hard?” she whispered.

                “Yes,” he said. He pulled her down on his big couch on her back and she drew her legs around his hips. “Yes,” he said, sliding in her hard.

                “Do it Eric, go love,” she demanded. She reached down and grabbed his behind, squeezing hard. He went to work losing himself to that burning inferno that he loved to drown in, the sun that burned his heart and his manhood, deep inside her. She put her hands on his shoulders and she dug into them. “Come on baby, make me, love, make me come.” He moved faster and she came, and as she rode the orgasm, she came again, arching her back to him, hard. He moved faster and he could feel her building again and he let go and began to spiral toward his own release. He wanted to drown in her, to let go everything inside her and her body was sucking him like her mouth was before.

                “Take it lover, take it all,” he said through gritted teeth as she bucked against him.

                “Come with me Eric, come with me, I love you, I love you,” she let out a strangled cry and he screamed out, holding her tight.

                “Gods lover, you know how to do this,” he moaned. He kissed her. “Are you okay?” She nodded.

                “I think I’ve come my brains out,” she said. He laughed softly, nuzzling her neck. “Go ahead babe, you earned a drink.”

                “No, I just want to smell you, feel your pulse on my lips,” he said. “I love you Sky.”

                “I love you too,” she said.