So There She Was (full version - Part I)

1.

Violetta pulled the red hood to cover her hair. Rainy nights were always dark, but this one was particularly so. The skies always seemed darker over city lights, and even though this town was small, this area was full of bright, orange lamps and gaudy neon signs. She scowled at the stylized Fangtasia neon in blood red on the front of the building.

This is what Eric had become.

She gritted her teeth to hold back her welling tear. For just one moment, she wanted to feel his arms around her again, guiding her through her first years. The reckless chaos they had wreaked together, the drinking, the orgies, naturally were part of it all, but she remembered his tenderness, his tenacity. He would have walked in the sun for her, and he nearly had, more than once.

She was curious to know if he would even sense who she was. From what she had observed (from afar), he’d erased every trace of her from his life. But when a Maker calls, even at a subconscious level, a Sire listens. She had been too late for Godric, though she still carried the pendant he gave to her in what was to be their final conversation. And even then, he could not tell her what had happened with Eric. He said it was out of respect for their bond.

She checked her phone. He was expecting “Orchid” (deliberately not a very original pseudonym choice) in five minutes. Eric was nothing if not punctual. Violetta redonned her sunglasses, and reddened her lips. She had dyed her hair with a shimmer hint of blue. Looking the part was half the battle. If she weren’t already dead, the corset underneath her cloak alone would have killed her instantly. But she had heard that this was the dress code for Eric’s club. She sighed, hanging her head as she opened the door.

She felt him before she saw him, sitting in a shaded corner furthest away from the entrance, surveying the new prospects from the shadows, allowing the other staff to determine if they would be comfortable (or better, uncomfortable) working with the new hire. Following her instincts, she ignored everyone else who tried to speak to her, and stood in the centre of the room, turning to face his dark corner, and affecting a hint of a southern European accent before she spoke.

“Tell Mr. Northman I’m not here to play games. Either he talks with me directly or it’s his loss.”

Eric stood in front of her, sizing her up before she had finished the words.

“Have we met?”

She was almost pleased when she heard the ire in his voice. She waited a beat.

“If we had, wouldn’t I already be working here?”

She hoped the sunglasses were obscuring her eyes. She had seen that look of his before, many times, just before they would take each other for hours on end.

“Does she have any experience? All I hear is a bunch of bullshit, and that usually means they’ve never set foot in a club before,” said a voice from behind the bar.

Damn humans. They never do understand the ego dance.

Violetta held the barman’s heart in front of Eric’s face, as a human woman in the room screamed in terror.

“Was he a valued member of staff?” said Violetta.

“He’s replaceable,” Eric said, casually. “They all are.”

“Then I suppose you’d better show me where you keep your resumes.”

“First, clean up the mess you made. We can’t have that kind of thing in here, though I appreciate you dealing with the situation.”

“First, tell me how much you’re paying me, and then I’ll decide if I’ll clean up.”

Eric smirked, and sidled up to her.

“Show me what’s under that cloak.”

Violetta dropped the heart on the floor before dropping the cloak.

“Perfect,” he said. “But when you’re on my time, lose the shades. It’s fine for the…clientele. But I need to see who I’m working with.”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered.

“Clean up and I’ll see you in the back.”

Eric walked away. Violetta closed her eyes and took in a slow breath.

“Oh my God,” the human woman standing behind her screeched, “We open in five minutes and there’s a body on the floor and no bartender.”

Violetta flashed her fangs, and then dashed to clear the body and its remnants in less than a minute, handing a Bellini with a drop of grenadine to the shaking woman.

“Relax, sweetie, I mix too.”

2.

Connell had been searching the rural lands for twenty long years. He remembered when he slipped through the portal and encountered her. She had been a creature of plain and simple beauty, and he charmed his way into taking her virginity. When he came back to claim the child he knew she had conceived, he realized that she had been forced to move away, to hide her shame. He knew the child would be powerful, and would need extra guidance to understand the newly-acquired powers that would be beginning to come into full bloom.

Twenty years it took him to find this village, in spite of how close it had been to where he had first met her mother. He did not like being on this side of the portal for too long at a time. He was hoping to meet the girl, his daughter, and bring her with him to the other side, where she could learn exactly what power she held in the universe. The only thing he knew about her for certain was that she had his same violet eyes.

He approached the first house in the village, and heard raised voices. He sniffed the air. Vampires. What were those filthy creatures doing near…

As he hastened to reach the door, it suddenly flung open, and a raven-haired girl ran past him. He followed her with his eyes, making note of the path she took, as he saw the vampire drain the last bit of life from a large man. Connell stepped back to hide his face, his scent.

Once the large man had been drained, his body was flung to the hearth, and the vampire fled out of the door. Connell followed as inconspicuously as he could, halting when he saw the girl throw her arms around the vampire’s neck before they sped off into the night.

Connell followed closely behind, and watched them enter the vampire’s lair. He could not risk entering and losing his own life. He sniffed the air. She still smelled of lilacs and heather and sunshine. The vampire had not damaged her yet. Connell contemplated risking his life to confront the vampire in order to take custody of the girl. But he would wait until the sun rose before attempting to rescue her from a world that could not sustain her emerging power.

3.

It was the end of her first night. At first, she thought she was going to be just another undead bartender for the tourists to gawk at in a tight corset,  opening bottles of synthetics and beer, until someone asked for a mixed drink, and Violetta was revitalized - flirting, mixing, twirling bottles, making layered cocktails. The crowd became caught up in her act – cheering her on, challenging her mixed drink knowledge – so much so that one of the baby vampires asked for a cocktail instead of her usual B positive. Eric spent most of the night watching her charm the crowd, glad for the till count at the end of it all.

Violetta entered Eric’s office, handing him the night’s receipts.

“You’re amazing,” he said to her, “You put on a great show. Where did you learn all of that?”

“The Mediterranean,” she said, still affecting the accent. “I spent decades there. Some of the best years of my life.”

“Shades off,” he said sharply.

Violetta complied, and blinked slowly, hoping the dark makeup would keep her eyes hidden.

Eric walked around her and closed the door.

“Orchid?”

Violetta nodded.

“What is it really?”

Violetta stayed silent.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said, “It fits in with the whole vibe here, but I feel a little ridiculous calling you by your stage name after hours. Unless you’re hiding from someone. In which case, I need to know that, too.”

“I’d rather not say.”

She knew he would have heard her drop the accent and her voice crack at the end.

“Look,” he said, fangs exposed, “I’ve had a lot of trouble here. So you’re going to tell me, or…”

Violetta widened her eyes, and bent on one knee before him.

“Master.”

She felt his fingers dig into her shoulders.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” his words were deliberate.

“It is I, your Sire, Violetta.”

“Violetta met the True Death during the first Revolution.” Tears of rage were flowing from Eric’s eyes. “She burnt up in Spain along with hundreds of us. How dare you speak her name, whoever you are.”

Violetta held his hand on her shoulder, and looked up at him.

“It is me,” she said.

Eric picked up a silver letter opener by its wooden handle.

“Give whoever sent you this message from me,” he said, turning with the object in his hand.

Violetta held up her hands, and spoke.

“It was in the early winter. I missed my mother because it was the first Christmas I had spent without her. You brought me a sprig of mistletoe and told me it was called the vampire plant since the berries fed on an existing tree. You laughed about the silly tradition of humans kissing under a vampire plant, if they only knew what vampires really did. We went for a walk under the stars, and I was freezing. You stood under the full moon, and you told me that would be the closest thing we would ever have to walking in the sunlight together. You said that the one thing you wanted to do more than anything was to spend one day with me, so you could see the sunlight shine in my eyes. I cried for you, and for us, and I said to you that if you couldn’t be with me in the sunlight, then I wanted to be with you under the moonlight forever. And you took my chastity right there in the snow, but I didn’t feel cold. And then you asked me if I really meant what I had said, and I told you yes.”

Violetta bared her fangs and bit into her wrist.

“You held up your arm to my lips, just like this.”

Eric removed his fingers from her shoulder, and dropped the letter opener. He took her wrist and drank from it, and tasted his blood mixed with hers. He stared into her violet eyes, and helped her stand, bringing his mouth to hers.

“How did I not know it was you?” he whispered as he brushed his cheek along the side of her face. “I thought you were gone. I couldn’t feel you anymore. Your light had died…”

Eric pulled himself away from her. “Your light…I can’t feel it even now as you stand in front of me. What kind of trickery is this?”

4.

“Madrid?”

Violetta had snarled the word at him.

“I’ve heard good things about the city,” he had told her. “Besides, if anyone should survey the place, it should be you. You look more like a local than I do.”

 “You want me to leave simply so you can carry on cavorting at will,” she had said.

Eric had laughed. Violetta had always been at the edge of jealousy, and he had loved to dangle her from that edge whenever he could.

“Believe what you will,” he had said to her. “But once you send word that things are well in Madrid, I will be right by your side again.”

Violetta had taken one small satchel of items with her. Eric had tried to hold her hand as she was about to walk out of their home, nearly burning his hand from her rage. She had turned her face away when he had tried to kiss her, and she sped off into the night.

He had heard nothing from her since then, and that was nearly three months past. Violetta could hold her anger for an impossible amount of time, but he would always feel her bond keeping her temper at bay. He had felt her loneliness and sadness, but she still had not sent for him. He could feel her call to him every so often in the dead of night as she touched herself. It was all he could do to hold himself back from rushing to her side and taking her for hours on end. He needed to be certain that he was making the right decision, and for that, they needed some time apart.

And then word came from Spain about the burnings. About the witches curses that made vampires walk into the daylight. Eric blinked his eyes as he stared across the moonlit forest. He closed his eyes, and called for her once more.

Silence.

Eric screamed her name into the darkness, his fangs bared. The silence shattered his heart, as his legs buckled, and he collapsed onto the floor.  He had not fed for days. His first instinct was to go to Madrid and look for her, but he had been warned that he would be susceptible to the curse the moment he set foot on Spanish soil.

Night after night, he had called to his Sire, waiting anxiously for her musical voice to call back to him. To whisper in his ear that she had returned. To call his name as she reached her moments of ecstasy. He sat in the same room, waiting, until he would collapse, waking the following evening in the same position.

Eric picked himself up from the floor. He took the teardrop-shaped jewel from his pocket, and held it up to the moonlight. He had made his decision, planning to give it to her when they reunited in Madrid, to bind them to each other for eternity.

Eric sniffed the air. Travelers, walking treacherously close to their home. He closed his eyes and remembered the fire in hers whenever the smell of the hunted permeated the air. She would grab his hand, as they dashed into the darkness, salivating at the chance to feed, making love in the carnage afterwards.  His hunger consumed him.  If there was a chance that Violetta was still alive, she would hear his call. Since she had not returned, and he could no longer sense her inside of him, he could only assume she had burned walking in the sun.

Eric carried the jewel to the hearth, and smashed it against the burning fire. He felt nothing but insatiable hunger, as he bore his fangs and fled into the darkness.

5.

Violetta felt the same sense of anticipation and dread as she did the first time Eric brought her to his home centuries ago. Eric had insisted that Violetta stay with him, so that she could explain how it was possible for her to stay hidden from him after close to five centuries, even while they stood in the same room. She avoided his stare and had said nothing while he drove to his mansion in a gated vampire community. 

Eric opened the door to his home. Violetta looked around, noting that there was little sentimentality inside, sparsely decorated in a neo-modern look.  Her eyes met his as she detected a scent in the air.

“Who’s the girl?”

Violetta blurted out the words before she could stop herself.

“Are you jealous?”

Eric’s eyes always danced whenever he talked about other women with Violetta, though he had never pushed the issue when the smell of sex still hung in the air. Violetta said nothing. The words had come from something left over inside of her from a long time ago.

“Take a seat,” Eric called, as he left her in the sparse room.

Violetta automatically sat down on the sofa, shaking her head at how quickly she responded to her Master’s commands. Eric returned with two crystal glasses and a decanter of blood.

“From the 1800s,” he said, pouring her a glass. “King of Prussia, I believe.”

“Which one?” she said.

Their mutual laughter broke the barrier between them, prompting him to tousle her hair, and plant small kisses along her shoulder blades.

“That corset looks uncomfortable,” he said, “Let me help you out of it.”

“As much as I would enjoy that,” she said, “I owe you an explanation.”

“Yes,” he said, tracing along her shoulders. “I want to hear this. But we have about five hundred years of lovemaking to catch up on.”

“Eric…”

“We have all the time in the world for explanations,” he said, finishing his glass.

“I need to tell you this,” she said. “Godric told me one day I would have to come back to tell you. And it would be up to you to decide my fate.”

Eric poured himself another glass. At the mention of Godric, he sat back, and held her hand.

“I should have never sent you to Spain alone,” Eric said. “I should have gone with you. It was unbearable without you. And when I felt your light die, I sat alone for days. I wouldn’t feed. I wouldn’t leave my home. I mourned you.”

Violetta swallowed a large sip of the liquid. She remembered walking into the home they had shared not longer than a year after she had left for Spain, only to be greeting by the sounds of aggressive sex in the parlour. She had quietly turned around and left, before he could even feel her presence.

“At first, when I arrived in Spain,” she began, “I wanted to run home every night to you. It was awful. I didn’t speak the language. I had no idea where to begin looking. But I looked Spanish enough, you were right about that. I was taken in as a night nurse for a wealthy couple who had three young children. They taught me Spanish, and I made sure they slept through the night when their children couldn’t.”

Violetta hesitated, as his hand wiped the tear from her eye.

“And then that morning came. I knew what the priests were doing to those women. I probably would have been in there with them if I wasn’t already turned. So when that witch called out to all of us to make us walk in the sun, two things happened to me.”

Violetta grasped Eric’s hand tighter.

“One, I was mesmerized by the spell. I walked in the sunlight for the first time in years. I dreamed I was with you, and we were walking together just like you had wished. Then, while we were walking, you slipped away from me. I couldn’t find you. And then I saw people burning in the streets around me. Vampires I knew, and some I didn’t know. I saw the priests. And I snapped out of the spell somehow. I ran to a dark spot, and hid in a shadow. I knew my end was coming. I looked down at my hands. They still hadn’t started to burn so I figured I had a little bit of time left. I remember being very tired and very warm.

“Soldiers marched in the streets, staking anyone they saw smoldering in the sunlight. I had to get inside fast before they saw me. The streets were in chaos. A young man beckoned to me to come inside his house and hide. His house was cool and dark, and he offered me a cup of water because I looked faint. I asked if he had a root cellar or somewhere cool where I could rest out of the heat. He took me to the room where he cured his meats. He was a butcher’s son, learning the trade from his father. It was gorgeous, dark, cold, and smelled like ham. I slept there for what seemed like days. He came back to get me in the night and said that the streets were safe.

“When I left his home, I looked at my skin – and there was not one burn or blemish. Eric, I walked in the sun and didn’t burn up. The hot Spanish sun. I wanted to run and tell you, but I couldn’t sense you. I thought she might have put up a blocking spell to keep all of the Vampires in one place. But somehow I had walked in the sun.”

“How did that happen?” he asked.  “The only way a vampire can walk unblemished in the sun is if they consume fairy blood. Did you feed on a fairy unknowingly?”

Violetta let go of his hand.

“I am a fairy.”

Eric furrowed his brow.

“That’s impossible,” he said, “I turned you. Fairies can’t be turned.”

“But humans who are part fairy can be,” she said. “I’m living proof,” she said. “I never did know who my real father was. As I told you, all I knew was that my mother told me my real father had been killed by bandits, and she had married the man that you found me with.  So after everything that happened in Spain, I sought out the wisest people I knew, and through them discovered that a fairy had impregnated my mother. It explains so much now that I know. The anger flashes. The hot and cold. The ability to walk in the sun. ”

Violetta looked directly at Eric. He narrowed his eyes.

“When I spoke to Godric about all of this, he said that without the fairy blood, you would have been incapable of loving me...”

Eric threw the glass of blood across the floor. He grabbed Violetta by the shoulders.

“A part of me died that day when I felt you leave me. A part I have never been able to fill. I tried and have been trying to hide that hurt in any way possible. How dare you say such things.”

Violetta pushed him away and stood up.

“A year later, I came back to our home, to find you and tell you everything I’ve just told you now. I walked in to find you with some…some…whore in our bed. The bed I had shared with you and no one else.”

“I was trying to block out the pain,” Eric cried. “The emptiness your death had left inside of me.”

“And you blocked it right back onto me,” she said. “So much so that I thought you had blocked me out forever.”

“Then why are you here?” Eric snarled. “Why did you come back, especially now?”

“Because a child has an obligation to return to her Maker when he calls,” she said. “Two nights ago, I felt you call. It was the first time I had felt you in centuries.”

Eric grew serious.

“It’s true,” he said, “For the first time in years, I thought about you. I wondered what would happen if…”

“If I came back,” she finished.

“And here you are,” he said. “All I had to do was call?”

“Not exactly,” said Violetta, “But somehow this time I was more receptive to hearing your voice than I had been in some time.”

“It’s the fairy blood,” he said.

“You killed a fairy?” she asked.

“No. Well yes, but there’s more. I married one.”

“You’re married?”

“Yes,” Eric said softly. “And she’s part fairy, too.”

Violetta had sensed something familiar about the scent lingering in the air. She cast her eyes away.

“Congratulations,” said Violetta, after a long pause. “Where is she? I would like to meet her.”

“At her home,” he said. “You will meet her. In time.”

Violetta rested her glass on the table, and stood.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I need to find somewhere to stay,” she said.

“You’re staying with me,” he said.

“It wouldn’t be right.”

“I am your Maker.” Eric rose to stand beside her.

“I can’t,” she said. “Godric was right. He told me you had changed into something that was no longer you.” 

“If anything changed me, Violetta, it was believing you had met the True Death. So if I have changed, you’ve only yourself to blame.”

His words cut her like silver.

“It was good to see you again, Eric,” she said. “Thank you for calling to me. But this isn’t right. And I think we both know that.”

She walked towards the door. He stood in front of her as she reached for the handle.

“Where are you going?” he asked, his voice showing more concern than authority.

“I beg you, Master, please let me leave,” she said in her softest voice.

“There’s that music again.”

Eric reached a hand to caress her cheek.

“Please,” she said once more.

“No,” he said in a soft voice. “I won’t ever let you leave me again.”

To Violetta’s surprise and shock, Eric scooped her up in his arms and kissed her tenderly.

“No more pain,” he said. “We’ve hurt each other enough.”

“But you’re…”

“Shhhh,” he said. “We have nearly five hundred years of lovemaking to get to, and I don’t want to wait another minute for you, my loveliest.”

“I…”

Violetta’s words were cut off by Eric’s kiss.

6.

Violetta had wanted to attack them first. Eric, trying his best to rein her in, had made her wait until the bandits had split up to camp for the evening. But her hunger had been too great. Her hunger had been ten times more than his had ever been, for everything.

She had offered herself to him, and he had willingly turned her. He stayed with her in the cold, damp ground for two days while she slept in his arms. On the third day, before he was ready for her to awaken, she had clawed and scratched to get away from him. He took the damage, and held her close to keep her from digging out into the sun. When they emerged into the night, Violetta had screamed a cry that shook the very ground. Eric had expected her to be angered, just as he had been when he was first turned and realized what it had meant. But Violetta did not cry from anger. She cried as she felt part of her soul die. She felt his blood inside of her raging as it mixed with hers. Eric held her while she cried, and knew her hunger would overwhelm her next. What he did not expect was that she was not hungry to Feed. Instead, she held him down, grinding her naked and mud-covered body onto his. Eric willingly obliged her until they were both too weak to continue. She had not uttered a word the entire time, but looked at him and he knew that her hunger for blood had awoken.  

That night of killing and drinking had enraptured her, had been so frenetic. There was nothing but blood and flesh and the intermingling of the two with their love.  After they left the carnage of the campsite behind, he had realized, too late, that he was not ready to be a Maker, and he knew he needed to ask for help.  Eric took Violetta to see Godric for the first time. He told her it was because his Maker had called for him; instead, Eric had called for Godric’s help. When Godric opened the door to them, a look of pleasure came over his face that Eric had never seen in the years that he had been by his side.

“You must be Violetta,” Godric said, reaching for her hand.

She fell to one knee and bowed deeply.

“Come,” Godric said, “There is no need.”

Godric guided her along inside. Eric walked behind, feeling like a shadow spying over their shoulders.

“You are hungry, yes?”

Violetta nodded. Even after the carnage of the bandit troupe, her hunger would not cease.

“You have to remember, my dear, you are once again a baby. All you need to do is feed and sleep for now. I can help you with that until you gain your strength and senses.”

Godric led her into a room full of half-bled humans, glamoured beyond the understanding of their reality. He brought over a female around Violetta’s age.

“Drink,” he commanded. “Take as much as you need. We shall return.”

Godric led Eric out of the room.

“What were you thinking?  You are just a child yourself!” Godric cried once the door had closed behind them.

Eric hung his head. “Forgive me, Master.”

“Do you understand what you have done? She is bound to you forever.”

“That is exactly why I had to.”

Godric took him by the shoulders.

“You have no idea the power she will have over you. You are too young and foolish to understand.”

“I realize that now,” Eric answered, “which is why I have come to you for help.”

Godric paced the room, turning his back to his child. He stopped, deep in thought as he gazed upon the stone wall.

“There may be a way,” he said, “but you will have to allow me to have her.”

Eric bared his fangs. Godric pushed him to the other side of the room with a flick of his hand.

“It is the only way to save yourself from her,” Godric said. “And even then, one day, many years from now, she will still overpower you if she so chooses.”

“I am her Maker,” said Eric. “She will always have to obey me.”

Godric smirked.

“Oh my child,” he said, shaking his head, “you really are a young fool. A creature like that obeys no one. Have you not seen her hunger? She is already more powerful than you are. If you want to have any hope of controlling her, you need me to share my blood with her.”

Eric deferred to Godric, muttering, “But that is all.”

Godric smiled, and tousled Eric’s hair. “I wouldn’t dream of sharing anything else of her without you.” He kissed his progeny, and opened the door.

“Violetta!”

Godric’s commanding voice startled her as she let go of the last body in the room. Eric watched in disbelief as he counted the twenty bodies on the floor.

7.

Connell walked through the bodies of the discarded villagers, strewn in a rotting pile while their homes lay in piles of smouldering ashes. He sniffed the air and it smelled of heather and death. The Informers had been correct – she had been here, with the vampires, and they had laid waste to the small town. His worst fears had come to pass: her human side had been turned, presumably by the tall, blond vampire he had seen her with when he was last on this side of the portal.

The town itself had been full of thieves and murderers, but the carnage that Connell witnessed was unlike any he had seen for centuries, since the carnage left behind by the monster vampire Godric. Godric himself had killed at least one hundred of Connell’s people, though they had fought valiantly against being drained so the vampires could dance in the daylight.

Connell kicked the rubble to make a pathway in the remains. He looked ahead and saw one wooden home at the end of the main village that remained untouched. He walked around the house, checking its perimeter for protection spells, and found none. He could hear the sound of children crying. He opened the front door, and found a room full of twenty children.

“Please sir,” one of them spoke, “Could you spare us something to eat? We’re hungry.”

“How are you all in one place?” Connell asked.

“The lady hid us here,” a tall girl explained. “She said to hide until they left and we would be safe. But we have no more food.”

“What did this lady look like?”

“She was tall,” said one of the boys, “and had long black hair and points on her teeth like the fangs of a dog.”

“She had purple eyes,” said another smaller girl. “And she was kind to all of us. She left us some food but we ate it all over the past few days.”

“Few days? How long ago did she leave?”

“We’ve been in this house waiting for three days, sir,” said the boy again. “Can you help us?”

Connell smiled. She may have been turned, but the vampires did not take her fairy soul. He could take some comfort in that, as he gathered the children together to feed and care for them before he resumed his quest.

8.

Violetta gazed up at the ceiling. Her body was spent, and her lover was dead beside her. She had missed these days – days from her vampiric youth, when neither she nor Eric cared about whether the sun rose or set; they only wanted to taste each other. When he brought her to his chamber that night, he had been tender, gentle, at first, as if he were afraid to break her after such a long period of time. They built up to strenuous and intense raw sex, releasing the five hundred years of absence and pain as they screamed and called to each other with every orgasm, and then drank from each other to start another round of hard, lustful, pounding sex. Eric had levitated Violetta against the backboard wall, pinning her hands above her head as he thrust himself with such force she felt her lower back bruise.  She laughed maniacally, calling to him, fangs bared, and he had stared into her eyes as they both came loudly, then collapsed onto his bed. He had closed his eyes. She needed Sleep, but it would not come.  Carefully, she rose from his bed and dressed to leave.

It was an overcast, misty day. These days were best. Violetta could not stand under the light of a midday sun again, but she could still enjoy her time under the clouds.

Walking down the sideroads near Eric’s house, Violetta tried to take everything all in. The forests were naked and damp, the ground brown and churned by the harsh rains of last night’s storm.  Through the trees, she spotted an old, rotting stump, and sat down. She felt the dampness of the air coat the inside of her nostrils, and inhaled the smell of rotting renewal of the earth.

I should never have come here.

She remembered the first time she had smelled the core of the earth beneath her. The first time she could hear a heartbeat from a mile away, and how it made her salivate in anticipation. She did not realize just how out of control she had been, they both had been, until the night they woke up bathed in the blood of a troupe of bandits.

Violetta took out the pendant and held it up to her gaze. Godric had saved her from herself on more than one occasion, and even from beyond the True Death she was asking for his help again. She held up the pendant to her lips, and closed her eyes.

The light shone from the pendant as the grey skies became darker. Eric would awaken soon. Would he notice that she had left? Would he care? Or would he be grateful that she…?

Violetta felt him stir. She sensed him reaching in the darkness for her. She stood up and sped back to his house, deferring to her Master instead of her instincts.

9.

“Hello, my loveliest.”

Eric tilted his head to one side as he stared at Violetta, while she faced the window.

“You went out?”

Violetta kept her back to him as she looked across the bare trees in his yard.

“I went for a short walk.  I didn’t get far.”

Eric embraced her from behind, and kissed her neck.

“I remember that smell,” he whispered, burying his head in her hair. “We were so young.”

Violetta closed her eyes. She took his hand and slid it down her torso.

“Come back to bed,” he sighed.

Violetta turned to him. “We’ve never needed a bed before.”

Eric’s eyes lit like wild fires. “My loveliest,” he breathed as he kissed her.

Violetta ran her hands along his smooth torso as his hands loosened her clothing. Her body ached from lack of Sleep and from lust. Eric kissed her neck, moving slowly down the middle of her torso, his bared fangs gently sliding against her skin until he was on his knees in front of her. She looked down at him, as he gave her a sly look while his tongue worked its magic in her midriff. Violetta stood, grabbing his hair, crying in ecstasy while Eric grunted in hunger. She called to him.  Eric stood, picking her up and entering her. He called to her while he carried her.

 “We can’t go back,” she said.

“What?”

“We can’t keep thinking of the way things were,” she said. “Too much has happened.”

“I’m not thinking of the way things were,” he hissed, “I am thinking of what I want to do to you right now.”

 Violetta widened her eyes. Eric smiled a sly smile.

 “Violetta,” he said, “I stopped looking back the minute I thought you were dead. Just because you show up here as some mysterious fairy-vampire hybrid doesn’t mean I’m going to rewind my life. I have too much now, and it’s not worth leaving to live out some fantastical life that never would have happened anyway.” He pulled her towards him. “I’m simply glad you’re not dead. You have no idea what it’s like to be stuck for centuries with people who have no idea how to fuck properly. ”

“You are cold and heartless, Eric Northman.”

Violetta smiled as wry a smile back at him.

Eric kissed her softly. “Don’t look back at what could have been. This isn’t what this is. This is you coming home to your Maker, where you belong. We start again now.”

Violetta responded by closing her legs tightly around him.

10.

Eric was young and free. The cockiness of youth mixed with the blood of his Maker raged inside of him, and he yearned to prove his merit. For nearly fifty years he had travelled by the side of Godric, wreaking havoc and chaos, fuelled with the power that, one day, he would be strong enough to enact revenge on the one who had taken his family from him.

But first, he had to prove that he was able to stand on his own two feet. The wake of carnage that Eric had left behind in those first six months nearly caused his own destruction. Fortunately, other vultures had come by and cleaned up his mistakes. The one time when he was nearly caught had taught Eric a valuable lesson. Be quick, be accurate, begone.

The autumn was nearing its end. The ground was becoming firmer, the trees bare, the moon shone some nights as brightly as the sun had on his hair when he was a child. Most vampires headed south where the ground remained moist and mild. Eric preferred to stay North. With darkness arriving earlier, people were more welcoming of the travelling strangers asking for refuge and food in the cold evenings. Eric was well fed in the winter.

The girl had opened the door with zeal, and had been preparing to embrace the person standing outside. She lowered her hands to her sides as she saw Eric standing in their place.

Eric had never seen such a vision of loveliness as he had seen in this girl’s, even while he still walked with the living. Her raven hair framed her violet eyes and pale skin like a woman out of a painting. But this girl was pure, unblemished.  It was all he could do to resist the urge to feed on her beauty.

“Forgive me for intruding,” he said, “but I have lost my way from my travelling companions, and I saw the light from the fire in your window. Would you have any place for a hungry, cold stranger at your table? I can repay you for your troubles.”

The girl had answered quickly, sounding troubled and relieved at the same time. “No payment is necessary, sir. We have plenty of food and space to offer you. Please, come in.”

Eric could smell the fear and lust as he stepped inside. The other man in the room had been poised to harm her.

“I apologize for the mess,” the girl said to Eric as she cleaned up the spilled soup from the table. As she leaned over, the lust from the man rose sharply, and her fear rose equally, though the girl did a much better job of suppressing her feelings than the man.

“Who said you could invite this man into my house?”

The girl halted her cleaning as the man bent to yell in her ear, as if he were deliberately finding a reason to be near her.

“Dada, he is cold and hungry. We have never turned away strangers before.”

She smiled at Eric, making his heart sing to the stars.

“Please sit down. I will get you something to eat.”

Eric stood beside the table. The man stared at him, possessed by some other force. Both men turned to watch the girl fill another bowl of stew. As she carried it towards him, the look in her violet eyes relaxed for a moment. Her eyes widened with fear as her feet slipped out from under her, launching the bowl of hot food in the air as Eric saw the man’s hand grabbed her waist from behind.

“You are only to serve me, you whore. Do you understand?”

“Dada, please. What are you doing?” she cried.

The man turned to Eric.

“This girl is nothing but a temptress. A whore. I raised her as my own child, and she tempts me with her beauty as thanks. She needs to learn her place.”

He struck the girl, and grabbed her by the blouse of her dress.

“Please, dada, I’ve done nothing to you. Please stop.”

“Quiet!”

As the man raised his hand once more, Eric grabbed his wrist and pulled him from her.

“She told you to stop,” said Eric.

“This is none of your concern. This is between me and the girl.”

 “Leave,” Eric said to the girl.

She grabbed a shawl from a hook on the wall, and ran out of the house.

11.

Violetta could still feel the sting of his slaps on her face and back. She feared what was happening inside of the house, but could not help but feel relieved that someone had tried to save her from the demon that her father had become.

She continued to run through the cold night. She could feel eyes on her and hear footsteps falling fast behind her. She ran as fast as fear would carry her, stopping as she ran into the blue-eyed stranger from the house standing in front of her.

“You’re safe now,” he said. “He can never harm you again.”

“But how…”

Violetta saw his fangs, and felt no fear as she reached her finger to his lips.

He took her hand.

“Not now,” he said softly. “We need to get you somewhere where you won’t freeze from the night.”

“You…”

She had only heard of the Vampyr in legends. Described as scaly, red demons with fangs who drank the blood of humans at will. Minions of the devil. But this man was kind, smooth skinned.

“Quickly,” he said, “If I carry you, we can get there fast.”

Violetta threw her arms around his neck. He moved as fast as the wind, and the trees blurred around her as he reached the steps of a giant, stone house. He opened the door, and lit a candle at the entranceway.

“For you,” he said, handing it to her. “Follow me.”

Violetta took the candle from his pale hand. His skin glowed in the faint moonlight that leaked through the cracks in the stone walls.

“What is this place?” she whispered.

 “You are quite far from your home, in case you are worried about people coming to look for you.”

He continued to walk down a long hallway, and Violetta followed as quickly as she could while trying to discern any detailing from the walls.

“My mother,” she said, “She will wonder what has happened to me.”

His eyes glazed over as if he were trying to speak to her through them.  She turned her eyes away. He gently reached for her face and brought her gaze to his.

“You don’t want to go back,” he said with a soft, firm voice.

“I…I don’t know,” she stammered, “I want to tell my mother that I wasn’t harmed, but I don’t want to go back to that place to do it.”

He held her gaze for another moment, and then moved his hand.

“It didn’t work,” he muttered, as he turned away from her.

“What didn’t work?”

He looked deeply into her eyes again, and brought his hand to her hair, gently stroking a wisp away from her face.

“Your eyes are so interesting,” he whispered. 

“They’re violet,” she said. “Hence my name. Violetta. And what is yours?”

“Violetta.”

He leaned in towards her.

“Please,” Violetta turned her head. “I’m not ungrateful, but I’m not…”

“Eric.”

Violetta returned her look to his eyes.

“Thank you, Eric.”

“May I…”

Violetta turned her face away.

“Please,” she spoke softly. “As I said, I am very thankful. But I do not know if I can give you what you are asking for. I have never been able to before.”

“…a kiss?” Eric stammered. “Just a kiss. I have to…” He turned his face from her, hiding his fangs.  “I apologize, Violetta. That isn’t what I…”

“You are Vampyr,” she said.

“What do you mean?” 

“You drained my dada of his blood and scraped the flesh from his bones,” Violetta recited as if she were reading from a book, “Then you threw his bones on the fire to hide his murder. Is that right?”

“Where ever did you hear that nonsense?” Eric laughed.

Violetta was hurt and embarrassed.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It was something I read once. A story about a creature of the night woods called a Vampyr. They had protruding fang teeth like yours, and…” Violetta reached towards Eric’s mouth.

“I think you are tired and overwhelmed from the evening,” Eric said, “I can give you a place to rest for the night. In the morning, you are free to leave or you can remain here until I return.”

“But you said you were lost,” Violetta recalled, “you asked for food and refuge. How do you have this home
if…”

“I heard that man’s voice threaten you as I walked by,” Eric said, “I used that excuse in case you needed
help, which it turns out that you did.”

“Oh,” Violetta felt faint. “Then I certainly do owe you my gratitude and more.”

 “Come,” he said to her in a kinder voice. “As I said, you are welcome to stay here until I return tomorrow, if that is what you wish.”

“My mother will worry,” she said.

“Your mother left you alone with that man,” said Eric. “If she were truly concerned, she never would have done so in the first place.”

Violetta watched Eric set a fire in the hearth. There were several animal pelts on the floor, and he beckoned her to join him on one of them. She slowly lowered herself to sit beside him. She knew he was right. Her mother had left her so that her father could have his way with her and she would not have to know. Violetta became angry at everyone – at her dada for betraying her trust, at her mother for betraying her flesh and blood, at herself for not seeing the ruse sooner. She felt herself begin to shake and become warm.

 Eric placed a cold arm around her shoulders to comfort her. “You’re safe here.”

“I’m not frightened,” Violetta’s voice rose. “I’m angry.”

“You’re very warm,” said Eric, “You may be getting ill. You need to rest.”

“So you can take advantage of me as well?” Violetta stood up. “Is that what this is about?”

Eric flashed his fangs.

“I was helping you,” he snarled. “I have not touched you otherwise, even though I could have many times. I could have killed you by now if I had so chosen.”

Eric bared his open mouth towards her. Violetta reached for his face. Eric grabbed her hand, and winced as he let it go.

“What are you?” he snarled as he held his hand. “You are no ordinary girl.”

Violetta stopped her rage. She had never felt so empowered and so frightened of herself at the same time. She had heard those same words from others. If they were coming from this demon creature, then surely there was some truth to it after all.

“Eric,” she said quietly, “are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” he said sharply. “The burn is nearly healed.”

“I apologize,” she said. “You were being kind, and I...I don’t know what that was. Please forgive me. I want to stay here with you, if you will still allow me to. I don’t know if I have anywhere else to go. ”

 “I apologize for provoking your anger,” Eric said in a voice as calm as death.

“You did no such thing,” said Violetta. “You were being factual. I have just been in the mires for so long, I have not been able to see what was around me.”

Violetta sat back down on the animal pelts. Eric sat beside her, looking up towards a window cut out of the stone high up on the wall.

“Morning is coming,” he said, “I must leave you now. Try to get some rest. I will be back at nightfall.”

“Thank you,” she said. She took his hand, inspecting it for burn marks, and finding a faded mark across his lifeline.  She had only burned one other person in rage before, and she had been beaten within an inch of her life once her dada’s hand had recovered enough to form fists.  

“Before you go, you said I could repay you with a kiss,” she said, looking at Eric, “I think I could do that now.”

Violetta leaned in, intending to simply brush her lips against his. Eric tasted her mouth, and held her so her kiss would linger. Violetta felt the teasing of his tongue, and opened her mouth to allow him to taste more. She allowed her tongue to explore his mouth, and felt the sharp edge of his fangs as they protruded once more. He kissed her hard, and she felt her soul being swallowed into his. His arms wrapped around her shoulders and he pulled her towards him. Her heart raced and her eyes fluttered. She saw his eyes widen and she began to wrap her arms around him. Suddenly, a part of her mind made her want to stop. She pushed back against him, and he quickly released her. He dropped his fangs and inhaled sharply, intoxicated by the smell of the flesh of her neck.

“Eric,” she whispered, “It’s nearly daylight.”

 “You rest as well,” he said, and was gone before she could say another word.

Violetta lay down on the pelt, as the embers of the fireplace glowed. She could smell the death he left behind from where he sat. Absentmindedly, she stroked the fur on the floor, as she drifted off to sleep, still feeling the pressure from his kiss on her lips.

12.

Connell sat behind the same tree outside of the stone castle for three days. He would see the vampire leave and swiftly return, but did not see or hear the girl. He knew he could not wait there for much longer before the vampire would detect his scent and start to hunt him. He hoped that he had not been too late for the girl, but feared that she had already been drained and discarded.  Since he had never held his infant, he had never had a chance to bond with her and thus be able to sense where she may remain. On the dawn of the fourth day, after no further sign of the girl, Connell decided to return to the portal. He would tell the Informers to keep watch for her once more, and, if she was still alive, to notify him and he would once again try to take her back behind the portal to show her the world that awaited her.

13.

 “Yes?”

Violetta closed her eyes, and let her head fall back onto the sofa. She could hear the sounds of the club in the background of the call.

“I was delayed. I’ll be there shortly. Anything else?”

Eric smiled at Violetta.

“She’s with me. “

Eric raised his eyebrows.

“Asking for her? Really? So she’s a hit. Good. I guess I have no choice but to hire her.”

He hung up, and played with her hair.

“Orchid is a hit,” he said. “But the name has to go.”

“How about Vy?” she said. “Has that Louisiana vibe.”

“Vy?” Eric smirked. “You used to hate that.”

“I lived in New Orleans for a while,” she said. “Everyone started to call me that, so I got used to it.”

“When did you live in New Orleans?” he said.

“It was almost two centuries ago,” she said. “I do still have a house there. I just haven’t lived in it for almost a hundred years.”

“And where were you before that?”

“So should I call myself Vy then?”

“Answer the question, Violetta. Don’t change the subject.”

Violetta sighed.

“It’s a very long story,” she said.

“I have time,” he said.

“Don’t you have to get back to the club?”

Eric sat up, holding her firmly.

“Some things are more important,” he said. “Such as finding out how your progeny managed to remain dead for nearly five hundred years. Or at least how you remained hidden from me. How I could not even feel you, find you, sense you were still here…”

She couldn’t tell him about the blocking spell. The first fairy spell she had learned to do. The spell only lasted for two hundred years or so, but by then, Eric had forgotten about her (or so she believed) and would have had no need to call for her.

“After I learned everything about myself,” she began carefully, “I went to Vienna. I couldn’t go back to Spain, and I…”

She hesitated, not wanting to bring up the hurt again, though it was on the tip of her tongue.

“…decided to go to Vienna. I wanted to study music.”

Eric sat back on the couch, amused, pouring two glasses of blood, and handing her one.

“Did you learn anything?” He was being careful now. She could hear the edge of pain in his words.

“I learned quite a bit,” she said, happy for the distraction. “I could play something for you, if you like. I noticed you have a piano in the other room.”

“Yes,” he said, “I wasn’t sure why I bought that. At the time, I thought it was because it looked good in there. Pam plays a bit.”

Violetta nodded at the mention of his second progeny. She picked up his shirt from the floor, and threw her arms into the sleeves as she walked over to the piano, gently striking a few keys to check the tuning.

Eric brought his glass into the room and stood in the doorway. Violetta began to play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, and seemed to become more beautiful to Eric as she was carried away by the music she played simply from memories three centuries old.

“I stayed in Vienna for nearly two centuries,” she said, after she finished the first movement. “There were so many exciting things happening there musically. But the dysentery there grew to epic proportions, and I had to leave. People were starting to question why I never got sick. So I went to Milan. By that time, I had a bit of money saved up from my stint with the operettas, and so I bought a little place there. I still have it, actually.”

“Really?” he said, sitting beside her on the bench. “When’s the last time you went back?”

“I visited there about a year and a half ago,” she said, “but the last time I lived there was about twenty years ago. I tended bar, as you probably noticed.”

Eric nodded, narrowing his eyes.

 “I stayed there for nearly a century, and then I went to Ireland for a short while.”

“When was that?”

“The mid Eighteens,” she said. “Why?”

“Funny,” he said, “I was in London around that time. And I never even…”

“I didn’t stay in Ireland for long,” she said quickly, “I stopped there for a short while on my way to New France, or rather, what became Quebec.”

“So you came over with the Irish ships,” he said.

Violetta nodded, not daring to ask how Eric arrived on this side.

 “I was looking after children who had been orphaned in the famine,” she said. “And there were a few ships leaving for the New World. I managed to get myself and some of the children on board with me. We landed in New France, and I looked after them until they either found homes or were old enough to take care of themselves. By that time, I had a house in Montreal which was being used as the orphanage, and I left it in the care of a couple of the, well, they weren’t children at that point, and then I travelled down through the French settlements down to New Orleans.  I arrived just after the French had sold the city to the Americans. When the Haitians started to arrive, I had to go back to Montreal quickly – they had figured out that I was a creature of the night and they started chanting things at me when they saw me in the street.”

One of those things being a spell that broke her own spell blocking her from her Maker. She never reinstated it for fear of curses hanging over her head from those days, but by that time, Eric was no longer seeking her out. He had his second progeny.

“I let my home there to one of the Irish children,” she said, “And I went back to Montreal. By then, the next influx of Irish orphans had sailed over and were being kept in quarantine on the island. I took many of the ones who arrived at night in, as no other orphanage was opening its doors after dark.”

Violetta smiled to herself, swirling her glass.

“They were amazing kids,” she said, “They had been through so much in their short lives, and still they had hope for what lay ahead.”

“How did you look after all of these children during the day?” he asked. “Or was it because you could walk in the sun that you could…”

“It’s very difficult for me to walk in the full sun,” said Violetta. “It hurts. I am in pain for weeks afterwards. I can…” she hesitated.

“What can you do?” Eric moved closer to her.

“I can go out on stormy, overcast mornings without consequence,” she said. “Just the full blazing sun drains my energy completely. When I had the children, I hired daywalkers whom I trusted to make sure the children were well looked after while I slept. Most of them had difficulties sleeping, so I was put to full-time work when I was awake.”

“So you’ve been in Montreal all this time?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Violetta, “between Montreal, New Orleans, and Milan. I mean, I’ve travelled to other places but I never set down roots anywhere else.”

 “And what about lovers?”

 “What about them?” she asked. “What do you want to hear?”

“Were any of them better than me?”

Eric pressed himself against her, kissing her on the mouth tenderly, letting the kiss linger.

“That’s not all you care about,” she whispered.

Eric kissed her once more, a little harder this time, taking the glass from her hand.

“I want to hear it from you,” he said.

“Do you want me to make you jealous, or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear?” she said coyly.

Eric bared his fangs.

“I want to make you forget about any other lovers you may have had,” he said.

With those words, Violetta turned her face away. Eric retracted his fangs.

“So there was someone else? Several? Did you…”

“You’re married,” she said. “You don’t have any rights to ask me about whom I held dear or who I might still hold dear.”

Violetta would not look at him. She could sense that he was holding himself back. After a long while, Violetta felt his hand rest on her shoulder.

“Did you love him more than you loved me?”

Violetta stayed silent.

“Her?”

 “Eric…” she began.

“It’s all right,” he said. “I understand.”

She felt the ire begin to rise in his voice.

“It’s not like you thought I had died or something. That you mourned me for years. Trying anything you could to hide your pain. Being unable to move on no matter how much financial success you were having. Hoping that everything you had heard was a lie. Calling out in your Sleep for your dead lover…”

“I couldn’t,” she said. “I couldn’t come to you.”

“Violetta,” he hissed in her ear. “I am your Maker. It was not your decision to make. Do you know how long it took me to put you into my past?”

 “That’s why I couldn’t come back,” she said. “I didn’t want our love to be a lie based on…”

“Fairy blood?”

“On anything,” she said. “It was better for you to mourn my loss than it would have if what we had was simply based on something chemical.”

“And was last night, or tonight, based simply on something chemical?”

Violetta stood as Eric grasped her hand.

“I was scared,” she said. “But it took losing someone who was dear to me for me to realize what might still exist for me.”

“How did your lover die?”

“Cancer,” she said.

“Why didn’t you …”

“He refused my help,” she said. “He said he wanted to live his life as himself, and that he was simply someone whom I would cross in my many travels on this earth.”

Eric gently took her arm and walked her back to the sofa in the other room.

“He cared for you?”

“Very much,” she said. “So much that he told me that I would probably come back to you after he left me.”

“He knew about me?”

“Of course,” she said, “I explained how I was sired and about how…”

Violetta swallowed hard.

“About how I could never love anyone the way I love you,” she said.

“Because I’m your Maker,” Eric said.

“Because you were my first,” she said. “My first everything.”

Eric laughed softly.

“But now,” she said. “What is this that we’re doing?”

“You’ve come back to me, where you belong.”

“Perhaps,” she said, “But you’re married. And I have no place being in your bed if that’s the case.”

“I’ve never loved her or anyone the way I love you,” he said.

“That doesn’t make it right,” she said. “You’re bonded to someone else.”

“You know,” he said, moving closer to her, “Our bond was never broken.”

Violetta pondered his words.

“But you love her?”

“And you loved your dead daywalker lover,” he said, “And who else before him?”

Violetta’s hackles rose. “I never sired a child,” she said.

“I thought you were dead,” he stressed, his ire raised.

Violetta sighed, and closed her eyes.  Eric looked at her quizzically.

“Earlier, you said something,” she said.  “About not looking at the past or what could have been. And here we are, arguing about that exact thing.  So what do we do now? You have a second progeny and a wife. And here I am, back from the dead.”

“I spurned my second progeny,” he said. “She was more defiant than you ever were. And as for my wife, she’s already broken our blood bond. And here you are, back from the dead.”

Eric kissed her hand, and turned her wrist to face up. He bared his fangs.

“Our blood bond was never broken,” she said. “It was just in stasis for a while.”

Eric smiled.

“I think it was reactivated last night,” he said.

“Is this what you want?” she asked.

“Isn’t it what you want?” he asked.

Violetta slipped off the shirt, and pushed him to lie down on the couch.

“I want you, if you will take me back, Master,” she whispered, straddling him. “I beg your forgiveness.”

She leaned over him as he held up his hand to prevent her from meeting his lips.

“And why should I forgive you?” he asked quietly.

“Because my intentions were noble and pure,” she said, her hair falling to frame her face, as her arm held his. “And because I am in irreparable pain for both of us. I will carry this burden for as long as I walk with you on this earth.”

“Nice paraphrasing,” he said.

“I faced the True Death and laughed in her face,” she said. “It may have blinded me from where I needed to be, but I found my way back to you. Forgive me,” she breathed, moving her fingers down his torso.

Eric arched back as she moved her hands to slip him inside of her.

“I will forgive you,” he said, “though I will never forget. You need to be punished.”

Violetta moved on top of him, and moaned softly.

“Yes, Master. What is my punishment?”

“This,” he said, standing quickly and pinning Violetta against the wall next to the hearth, biting sharply into her neck as he thrust into her to make himself come. Violetta’s nails drew his blood as they scratched down his back. Eric held his wrist in front of her bared fangs, and began to thrust into her once more. Violetta took
his wrist and bit down, drinking his blood while staring into his blazing eyes.

“You will never leave me again,” he said.

“I will never leave again,” she said, and hoisted her legs around his waist, calling to him as she came.

14.

Connell had not returned to the portal in decades. He knew he was getting closer to where she was. Things had become easier in this modern day to get the drops of vampire blood. There were entire houses dedicated to blood tasting, and he would visit these frequently, no longer waiting the requisite week between tastes. He would know right away if the blood in question belonged to his daughter or her maker.

Then he saw her. She was rather plain, but he could smell her fertility. She came to this den often to taste the blood, and so he knew that if he were to conceive another child, he would pay closer attention to this one than he had the elder. It would not take much charm. Sex went hand-in-hand with the vampire blood, so it seemed.

As she took her vial and rubbed drops on her lips, he stepped in her path.  She held up her vial, and he took her to a dark corner, where they shared drops of blood and exchanged flesh. It was nothing more than routine, but Connell knew that she would conceive, and he would have another chance to redeem himself and bring a child back through the portal where they belonged.

15.

Violetta sauntered into the main room at Fangtasia at quarter to midnight, her hair and makeup askew from sex. Eric knew a late-night lingerie store which had dominatrix leather corsets at the ready, and the one she picked out was made of pink satin with leather trim. She smiled wearily, reminding herself to kick his ass with the seven inch heeled boots he insisted that she wear.

A crowd had already gathered anticipating her arrival. A slow smile spread across her face, her eyes fully visible since she had decided to dispense with the sunglasses from the previous evening.  Many a bared fang began to appear in her direction. Violetta kept calm and kept hers in check.

“So what’s everyone having?”

Tens of people called out their orders at once. Violetta grabbed a cocktail shaker, and started her show, to the cheering audience.

Eric sat in the back, smiling with lust for Violetta and his profits.

“Eric,” one of the daywalker minions buzzed in his ear, “Sookie is waiting for you in the back office.”

“Tell her to meet me out here,” he said, his gaze unwavering from Violetta’s stage behind the bar.

“Eric,” Sookie screeched in his ear, “where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for days.”

“Busy,” he said, his eyes fixed behind the bar. Sookie followed his gaze to a female vampire with skewed blue-black hair mixing drinks at the bar.

 “What happened to your old bartender?” Sookie asked.

“He questioned my authority, Vy ripped his heart out, she got the job. Will you take a look at that?”

Violetta was holding the base of a martini glass in her teeth while long pouring in a mixed drink from the
shaker over her head, handing it to the customer without spilling a drop.

“Wow,” said Sookie, sitting down beside Eric. “We have to talk. It’s important.”

“Yes, we do,” he said, with his gaze still fixed upon the bar. “You want a divorce? Great. So do I. Thanks. Have a good day.”

“What?”

“You don’t want a divorce? You’re here to profess your undying love for me and want to be with me forever?”

Violetta was bending forward pouring ten red eye martinis at once. Eric bared his fangs from the smell of lust rising from the crowd standing in front of her.

 “What? No. I mean, well,” Sookie stammered. “That was one of the things we had to talk about but…”

“Look,” Eric took his eyes away from Violetta and turned to Sookie, “Can you just make up your mind? You’ve broken the blood bond. Once you’ve figured out what you want, then I can figure out how I’m going to tell you what I have to say.”

What the hell is wrong with him tonight? Why is he so pissed off?  Sookie thought.

Maybe because you broke your blood bond without telling him you were going to.

Sookie heard another voice as clear as a bell in her mind, in spite of the booming music in the club.

Excuse me?

That’s about as offensive and hurtful as inviting your ex husband to your second wedding. Were you planning on doing that, too?

Who the hell is this?

How rude of me – I just assumed that since you were half fairy, you’d always be tuned into your fairy voice.

What the…?

Oh, are you half fairy? Eric said you were. You can’t be full. There are no full fairies left on this side anymore.

“I’m one-eighth fairy, I’ll have you know.”

Eric narrowed his eyes at Sookie.

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?”

“Well you’re going around telling people I’m half fairy,” Sookie said to cover up her outburst, “I’m only one-eighth.”

Don’t blame him. He doesn’t know better. To them, it’s all the same. Full, half, eighth. They just like the way we look and smell.

Who are you?

 Oh shit.

Eric stood up as Violetta dropped a bottle of B positive.

“I’m sorry, honey,” she said with a slight drawl to a vamp who was hanging off the bar taps leering at her.

“That’s okay,” he slurred, drooling. “How ‘bout I take a taste of you instead?”

Violetta opened another bottle and dipped her finger in as she handed it to him.

“That’s all you get, naughty boy,” she flirted, licking off her finger. She bent over to clean up the mess.

“What the hell…” Sookie turned to ask Eric and found he was already behind the bar.

“Tone it down a bit,” Eric said, bending down to help Violetta.

Violetta leaned into him, picking up pieces of glass.

“Jealous much?” she whispered.

“I want you right now,” he said.

Violetta smiled, and called out behind her.

 “Who’s next?”

A crowd of hands flew in her face.

Who is this vampire that can get Eric to help clean up her messes?

He doesn’t clean up my messes anymore. That was a long time ago.

What the…how the hell are you listening to what’s in my head? You’re a vampire.

Half fairy. Half vampire. All woman. Want a Bellini?

What’s a…

Eric set a Bellini in front of Sookie.

“You ordered this?” he asked.

“Eric, who is that woman and what is she to you?”

Eric moved the hair from his forehead. Sookie noticed it looked longer than it had a week ago. Noticeably longer.

“She’s my new bartender.”

Who are you and what are you…

I can hear your loud voice too, honey. Vampire hearing. Just because I’m showing my tits to a bunch of frat boys and baby vamps doesn’t mean than I don’t know what’s going on between you and my Maker.

“You’re her Maker?”

Eric raised an eyebrow.

“Are you listening to her thoughts?” he asked.

“I wish I weren’t,” Sookie answered. “She keeps talking to me.”

Great. Get me in shit with my Maker. Thanks a heap, girlie. I thought we could be friends. Anyway, where are my manners? I’m Vy. But you can call me Violetta. Eric’s never mentioned me? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since he thought I died almost five hundred years ago.

So Eric has two children?

I suppose he does. But don’t expect me to ever call you mommy.

You’re so hostile. What did I ever do to you?

You hurt my Maker so badly that he had to resurrect me from the True Death to enact vengeance on behalf of his shattered soul.

“What? You can do that?” Sookie looked at Eric.

Eric sat with visible restraint looking in the bartender’s direction. Sookie turned around. Vy was bent over backwards pouring layered shooters for a row of boys at the bar. Except for one boy. Vy winked at him and poured a shot of synthetic for him instead.

“Fit right on in with your buds here,” she said with her drawl, “They seem to want to thank you for bringing them here.”

The row of frat boys hooted and hollered, pounding the shots back.

Sookie heard musical laughter resounding in her mind.

You really believe that any one vampire is that powerful that they can resurrect us from the True Death? Don’t you think he would have brought Godric back if he could if that were the case?

Let’s just say that with all the things I’ve seen, nothing would surprise me anymore.

Oh fucking hell.

Don’t you curse at me!

Listen, one-eighth, you’re not the centre of the fucking universe. I’m dealing with an…

 “Bitch, I asked you a question!” shouted a large vampire who reached out to grab Violetta by the shoulder.

Before Eric had finished standing up, Violetta had crushed the patron’s hand, hopped over the bar, and was dragging him out by his arm.

“Boys and Girls,” she said loudly, “This is what happens when you don’t respect a lady, especially if she’s pouring the drinks.” She carried him to the door and threw him out. Applause ensued.

Eric slowly sat back down.

“She can look after herself,” Sookie said.

“I know she can,” said Eric.

“So what is all this about? You have a progeny you didn’t tell me about?”

Eric turned his head to Sookie.

“She’s my first progeny,” he said. “She’s also my first love.”

Sookie sat there in silence. She followed Eric’s eyes as he tilted his head slightly to see something behind her. As Sookie turned her head, Violetta bent to kiss Sookie tenderly on the lips. Violetta smiled her sly smile, and glanced at Eric, who was on the verge of laughing.

“She’ll do anything for me,” Eric murmured as Violetta took her place back behind the bar.

“She has to, doesn’t she?” said Sookie.

“Yeah, well, she likes to think she has her own mind.”

“Look, what does it mean if I say I want a divorce?”

Then it means that he can’t protect you anymore from any of his or your enemies.

I know that. I don’t need his protection anymore. And what was that kiss all about?

To see if you were up for a three way. You’re feisty. Now I know why he likes you. Not just for your blood.

You can read vampires?

Can’t you?

No. They’re blocked from me.

Wow. I just thought…ha. So who’s he protecting you from?

I don’t really know. I mean, I know they’re vampires but I don’t know who they are. But I can look after myself. I don’t need his protection anymore.

Well, you know best, I suppose.

What the…?

If you came here tonight to discuss divorce, you should probably know there are spies all over this place. Including the jackass that I threw out. There’s a shifter in the corner pretending to be a vamp. They’re horrible at it. So you might want to start acting like there should be a real reason for the divorce and not just because you don’t want to feel bonded to a vampire for the rest of your days.

 It’s not that cut and dried. You don’t have to be so cruel.

It’s not cruelty if it’s factual.

Sookie stood up and threw her drink at Eric.

“Maybe that will cool you off about your new bartender,” she shouted, walking to the rear exit.   

Sookie stopped at the bar.

“You’re a cheap slut,” Sookie shouted at Vy.

Nice touch.

Like that?

Did you mean it?

Well you’re not cheap.

Violetta shouted over the music, “Last call, folks.”

Every person crowded around the bar, fighting to get their order in.

16.

The heavy grey clouds roared with thunder so loud it shook the china on Sookie’s mantelpiece. The only light that had appeared that day was from the electricity show inside of the clouds, and the rain drummed on her newly-restored roof.  Like a whisper in the middle of a battlefield, Sookie heard the faintest knock at her door.

“Who in the blazes would be out in crazy weather like this?” she said aloud as she opened the door.

“It’s the only time I can travel in daylight.”

Violetta stood, dripping onto Sookie’s threshold, wearing her red raincloak and a simple pinafore dress, with knee high pink rubber rain boots, carrying a picnic basket.

“Vy?”

“Can I come in? The basket’s getting wet. And that’s not a metaphor.”

“Oh goodness,” Sookie stood aside. “Where are my manners? Please come in.”

Violetta walked into Sookie’s kitchen and set down the basket. She shook the water from her hair.

Should I ask her to get out of those wet clothes?

“Why thank you,” said Violetta, reading her thoughts, “but a towel will do just fine.”

Sookie grunted, and threw her a towel.

“You’re as bad as Eric.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Violetta, wiping her hair.

“What are you doing here, and what’s all this?”

 “I wanted to apologize to you for last night.”

“Apologize?”

“For being a total bitch,” said Violetta. “It wasn’t the best way to introduce myself to my Maker’s wife.”

“We weren’t really introduced,” said Sookie. “You just started talking to me, and rudely, I might add.”

“I know,” said Violetta. “So I’ve come to try to make amends. Hungry?”

Violetta set the basket on Sookie’s kitchen table.

“What’s all this?”

 “Call it a late lunch,” said Violetta.

“You eat too?”

“No. I just like to watch people eat. I miss it, sometimes,” said Violetta. “I love to cook, and there’s nobody to do it for anymore. So I’m hoping you like what I’ve made, and if you do, maybe you can tell your husband that you need a live-in cook or maid or something.” Violetta laughed.

“Why, Miss Vy,” said Sookie. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were flirting with me.”

“You do know better, and yes, I am.”

You have no idea how lonely it is.

“Yes I do,” Sookie said. “I’m all by myself all day, and then by the time …”

Sookie realized what Violetta’s thought had meant. She took a deep breath.

“Vy, can I ask you something? Why did you leave Eric in the first place? Did he spurn you?”

Violetta hesitated.

“Not exactly,” she said. “He thought I was dead. When I came back, he had found someone else. And it hurt.”

Sookie nodded.

“No, it wasn’t like this time,” Violetta said hurriedly.

“I’m sorry,” said Sookie. “I didn’t mean to…”

“You didn’t do anything. This was all me, and I’m responsible for all of Eric’s actions since I left.”

“Vy, that makes no sense. How can you be responsible for what he does?”

“You don’t know how deeply I hurt him.”

“He’s never seemed hurt.”

“There are parts of him that I don’t recognize,” said Violetta. “But then I guess…oh. Wait. You’re asking how I left.”

Sookie nodded. “How were you able to leave?”

Violetta smiled.

“In the end, I guess I wasn’t,” she said.

“Because you’re his Sire?”

“I suppose,” said Violetta. “Do you remember who your first love was? It’s okay, I won’t pry in your mind. I don’t mean like a schoolgirl crush. I mean, the first person you really felt you would do anything for? That person never leaves you, no matter how far you run or how much time elapses.”

Sookie nodded, casting her eyes away.

“But I had to come back when he called,” said Violetta.

“Eric called you?”

Violetta nodded. “A few nights ago. I’m not sure why. He won’t tell me, but then again, it’s not my place to ask.”

“Had he never called you before?”

“Not since…” Violetta stopped, and held her thoughts. “Not for centuries. He thought I had met the True Death. He had no need.”

“And you think he called you because he needs you now?”

Violetta let her mind go blank.

“You’re hiding something from me,” said Sookie.

“What do you want me to say?” It may be something that hurts you.

It’s okay. I can take it. I’ve been hurt before.

You don’t love him anymore, do you? You broke your blood bond without telling him, and that hurt him. He’s been hurt a lot lately, and I guess he just called because he was remembering the one person who had never hurt him. Until I showed up.

“Eric’s really that deep?”

 “You know he is,” she said.

“No,” said Sookie. “I never really did. I mean, I know he can love very deeply, and he’s extremely possessive and loyal in his own way, but…Oh Vy, I’m sorry.”

Violetta shivered as Sookie hugged her.

“You didn’t know,” she said. “He didn’t know. Again, something else that’s my fault. Godric warned me…”

Violetta bent her head. Sookie followed her eyes to her neckline.

 “Your pendant is beautiful,” she said. “May I?”

She reached her hand to Violetta’s neck, and caressed the green jewel.  As the back of her fingers brushed against Violetta’s backbone, Sookie felt a sudden and deep sadness come from within Violetta. Sookie embraced her.

“I was with him, on the roof that day,” she said. “He wasn’t alone.”

“You were?”

 “Eric didn’t want him to be alone. When I arrived, Godric was glad that someone was there. He faced the sun bravely. It happened quickly. He was at peace.”

“Good.”

Violetta sat down at Sookie’s kitchen table. Sookie placed a bottle of Bpositive in front of Violetta, and started to take food from the basket.

“Tell me about Godric,” said Sookie.

Violetta smiled.

“Gladly,” she said.

16.

Violetta opened her eyes to find Godric’s lips on hers.  Eric’s blood had lit a fire inside of her; Godric’s had awoken new strength, so overpowering that she collapsed shortly after drinking from him. She had been too weak to pull herself to him, though her body had cried out for Godric to take her. She turned her head and saw Eric’s hair framing his eyes, and she reached her hand towards him. He took her fingers, one by one, in his mouth, as she felt her head turned to Godric once more. She shuddered in ecstacy as all of their bodies mingled into one. She cried out for Eric, and he called to her as she came. She kissed Godric hard and beckoned to him to take her once more. He gave her more of his blood to drink while he and Eric kissed above her.

It went on that way for years. It was as if they could never leave each other.  Godric would take Violetta and teach her the hunt. He taught her how to control her hunger and to suppress her power. When she was overwhelmed by her feelings, Eric would stay beside her, comforting her, their sex fuelled by the raging passions inside of Violetta, as she let go of all of her boundaries while her hungers and needs consumed her being. Eric obliged every one of her desires, and every morning he was blissfully spent.  

Then, suddenly, one day, Godric told Violetta she was ready to leave the nest. Eric refused to let her leave alone. Godric had told him that he needed to let Violetta be on her own; that he could always call to her if he needed her. Eric and Godric had argued terribly about her, and Godric had been about to spurn Eric when Violetta spoke.

“It was I who asked Eric to turn me. He did not do this solely of his own desire. Do not punish him for what I caused him to do. He cares for me out of concern and not out of disobedience to you.”

Godric knew what her words had meant. His prophecy was coming true in spite of everything he had done to prevent it from happening. He allowed Eric to leave with Violetta, fearing the next time he would cross paths with her.

The next time Violetta saw Godric was after the Revolution. He had taken up residence in Russia, which had been far enough from Spain, but close enough to be aware that they were being discovered and hunted. Although ingratiated into the society of the small town where he resided, Godric still remained closed off from those who surrounded him, and travelled often, until the news of the Revolution spread.

Violetta went to Godric since he was the wisest person she knew, and she needed to find  answers before she could face her Maker. Her knock had been quiet and weak, but Godric had still answered the door with his fangs bared.

 “Hello, my lovely,” she had said with a smile.

Godric would later tell Violetta that he expected her to send him to the True Death when he had heard her voice. He had not expected her to kiss him and then collapse from a long and weary journey.

When she awoke the next night, Violetta explained to him what had happened to her in the sun, and Godric told her what he had tasted the first time they had shared themselves with each other.

“If I am part fairy, then how would I have been turned? Better still, how have you not drained me and destroyed me?”

“Eric did not know what he was doing when he turned you, and you went to him willingly. As delicious as you are, my lovely, I would never destroy a child that my Sire had created. As to how you were able to be turned, I can only believe that your willingness to be with him allowed you to become one of us. I am curious myself. Let us see what we can discover. If you are indeed a turned fairy, you can never let this be known.  I warned Eric about your power. He did not listen. Did he tell you to come to me?”

“I have not seen him yet,” she said.

“He thinks you have met the True Death. He mourns your loss.”

“If this is true, Godric, then I should let him believe I am still gone.”

“If this is true, Violetta, you have an obligation to tell him. If only so he does not mourn your loss and destroy himself as punishment.”

She had spent the next few months with Godric, learning all she could about the history between fairies and vampires, and learning about her own past, while remaining hidden from the vampire world. During that time, she had discovered the truth about her own lineage, and that the fairy who had impregnated her mother had disappeared behind the fairy portal. When she had asked Godric about the portal, he told her that she would be destroyed the minute she approached, simply because they would smell the death lingering about her.

Godric had convinced her that she needed to tell Eric the truth. Violetta needed to find out if Eric had loved her for her, or if it was an obsession with fairy blood that had drawn him to her.

“Return to your Maker,” Godric had said. “No matter what, he will not destroy you. He may even still care for you. But he has to know the truth.”

18.

Connell knocked at the large, ornate door, prepared in advance of the confrontation readied by his silver chain mail.

“It must be my day for fairies,” said Godric, answering the door, salivating.

“Listen, monster,” said Connell, “I have only come here seeking information. I will stake you if I must.”

“Little weak fairy,” said Godric, “Before you could even think the thought, I would have you drained. Silver chain mail will only make the challenge more exciting. Now why have you left your world to seek me out? Vengeance for a perished relative?”

“I hope not,” said Connell. “I am looking for the girl with violet eyes.”

“Violetta?” Godric sounded surprised. “How did you know she was with me?”

“Is she here now?” said Connell, unamused at how the monster salivated when he mentioned his daughter’s name.

“She is not,” said Godric, “She has returned to her Maker.”

“And where would I find this Maker?”

“That information comes at a price,” said Godric. “For one drink of your blood, I will tell you all.”

“Do I look a fool to you? One drink from a vampire is certain death.”

Godric smiled.

“What do you want with Violetta, fairy?”

“She is a relative of mine,” said Connell. “As you well know. I am surprised you have not drained her and devoured her flesh.”

“I have not out of respect for her Maker,” Godric said “Though it has been difficult.”

“Again, where would I find this…”

“If she were your relative, would you not already be able to find her?”

Godric looked at the fairy directly in his face.

“You are her father!” he exclaimed. “She has no knowledge of you. You have not bonded with her. Is that why you have crossed the portal?”

“They say you are as wise as you are tyrannical,” said Connell. “Tell me where her Maker is.”

“I can only tell you that she has gone to him at their home in France. As for which home, that is something only she knows through her bond to her Maker. So, goodbye fairy. I wish you luck during your quest. Hope your daughter does not drain you.”

Godric began to close the door.

“Please,” said Connell, “I need to find her. How can I locate her?”

“You need a drop of her Maker’s blood,” said the vampire, “and from there, you can locate him and any children he has sired.”

“And where will I get that if I cannot find him,” said Connell.

Godric shrugged and smiled. “That is up to you to find, fairy. I wish you well.”

As he closed the door in once more, Godric said, “You may want to start just north of the Pyrenees. I believe that may be where she’s headed. Then again, I could be leading you on.”

Connell heard Godric’s laughter as the door closed in his face. He dashed and flew through the cold night to the northernmost end of the Pyrenees. He landed close to a settlement and sniffed the air. Vampires. Could this possibly be the place? He followed his nose, smelling for any sign. He caught a slight scent of heather as he moved towards a large chateau, mixing with scents of death and sex. As he took a step closer to the chateau, he felt a breeze blow across his face and neck, and turned to see the girl fleeing from the chateau. He turned to follow her, but she moved too quickly.  He was convinced she would return soon, if this was indeed her home, and most likely by dawn. He decided to wait.

19.

Texas was a very strange place. It was as hot as the Andalucians one moment, and it was as frigid as the northern fjords the next. Violetta wondered what had brought Godric here at the dawn of the twenty-first century, as she stood outside of his door, hesitating before she knocked. She had felt his call, and wondered why she was the only waiting. She hoped she hadn’t been the last to arrive. That could possibly mean facing Eric after all of this time. What would he say to her? What could she say to him? Sorry, I’m not dead. How are things?

A young vamp, possibly in her early hundreds, answered the door. She had a cute cropped cut and looked dressed for a business meeting. She surveyed Violetta, not sure what to make of her. Violetta tapped into her mind and discovered that she nested with Godric, then made a mental survey of the house to see who else was there. Before she could finish, she heard Godric call, “Come in, Violetta. I’ve been expecting you.”

The young vampire moved out of the way out of deference.

Violetta slowly walked down the hall to a large living room with an enormous fireplace. Godric had always loved his hearths. He was in the middle of a very long sofa, seated, while two large, beefy vampires, only slightly older that the girl who had answered the door, stood dressed in black, with their arms stereotypically folded. It was all Violetta could do to suppress her laughter at the ridiculous scene. Instead, she bit her lip, and let her throw fall to the floor.

“Leave us,” Godric said, and the two vamps walked past her with glances of suspicious deference.

Violetta removed her sunglasses.

“My lovely,” Godric said, “Please, sit.”

Violetta kissed him on the cheek as she sat beside him.

“Why the disguise?” he asked.

“I thought you had called everyone,” she said. “I couldn’t tell.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said. “I would have at least sent word if I had called Eric here.”

“So you just called me? Why?”

“I need to know something, and only you can help me,” he said.

“Gladly, my lovely,” she said.

Godric stood up and walked to the fire.

“I am old,” he said, “and I grow weary. I have spent too long on this earth, and seen too many changes. I no longer want to be a part of this anymore.”

“What are you saying?” Violetta stood. “You want to…leave?”

“Violetta, my lovely, you can read minds and feelings. You know exactly what I am saying without me having to say it.”

“No.”

Violetta threw her arms around Godric.

“You can’t. I need you.”

“You haven’t needed me for centuries. Both you and Eric have your own lives now. I feel that my time has come. But I don’t want to just stake myself and be done with it. I want the end of my life to have meaning.”

Violetta looked into his eyes.

“There has been too much animosity for too long. It is nice to see that people are more accepting of our lifestyle, and who we are, but perhaps, if we show them that we are not so different from them, they will stop trying to harm us for what we do.”

“Godric, my lovely,” she said, “That is human nature. To harm those who are different. To destroy those who show strength and prowess and individuality. You have seen enough of the world to understand that.”

Godric’s eyes pierced through her.

I need to see the sun one more time. Your blood could help me.

“But I can no longer walk in the full sun,” she said. “It will still harm me. I don’t know if my blood will do anything for you.”

“I understand that,” he said, “but if I could just try to see it one more time, maybe I would have some clarity. And if you were there with me, you could help me if I change my mind, or discover what I need to do.”

Violetta nodded.

“The forecast tomorrow is for overcast skies,” she said. “It would be perfect.”

Godric smiled.

“In case something goes wrong,” he said, “I want you to have this.” He reached around his neck and removed a pewter pendant with a green jewel.

Violetta raised her eyebrows.

“But you have had this forever,” she said. “You said your Maker gave this to you.”

“Then it is appropriate that I give it to you,” he said, “since you could be giving me a new start. Or a final end.”

Violetta lowered her eyes as he placed the necklace in her hand.  Godric raised her chin, and kissed her on the lips.

“Stay with me,” he said.

“Always,” she said softly, and kissed him back.

They spent the rest of the evening sipping synthetic Bpositives out of gigantic goblets, laughing as they recalled better times, Violetta holding back tears when Godric spoke to her about her obligation to her Maker, and reliving their discussions from the days of the Revolution.

“I should thank you for not draining me once we discovered the truth,” she said, “So long as you don’t do that in the morning.”

Godric smiled.

“I won’t be draining your blood,” he said. “But I might drain you of your energy.”

Violetta looked at the clock on the wall.

“We have two hours until the edges of dawn,” she said. “What would you like to do with them?

Godric led her to his underground bedroom, where they made love for their final time. Violetta tried to hold onto every single moment for as long as she could. Godric had never been as tender with her as he was that night. At one point, she opened her eyes and expected to see Eric beside her.

“Kiss me the way you would kiss him,” he had breathed. Violetta obliged, and released emotions she had been holding back for centuries. Godric obliged, helping her to release the pain. As she began to reach what would be her final climax with him, she offered him her wrist. She came as he bit down. Although she was spent, she knew Sleep would have to wait.

“Come quickly,” she said, offering a blanket to wrap the both of them.

They stepped outside, and saw the red hues of dawn underneath the edge of the overcast sky. Violetta held onto Godric, as he stared with the wonder of a child.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered.

She felt the sun slowly climbing higher to find its place behind the clouds. She watched him closely. His firm hold on her began to waver. Quickly, she opened her wrist again and offered it to him.

“I have already taken too much,” he whispered weakly.

“I need to get you inside,” she said. Godric was beyond the bleeds now. If he stayed for a minute longer, he would burn even in the shaded rays of the sun.

“Just one minute more,” he said. She held her wrist to his lips and he drank, watching the clouds get brighter as her energy left her body.

“We have to go,” she said in a hoarse voice.

Godric nodded, as they held each other up, staggering into the house, and down into Godric’s cellar. 

 “Thank you,” Godric whispered as they both lay down. “I now know what I must do.”

Violetta slid her hand into his, as she felt her eyes become heavy.

20.

Violetta uncorked a bottle of champagne, and poured Sookie a glass.

“To help you relax,” she said.

“I’m not thirsty,” Sookie said. “But thank you nonetheless.”

“Okay.”

Violetta sat down at the table with another glass of Bpositive.

“So you helped Godric walk in the sun?”

Violetta nodded. “That was the last thing I did for him. I left the next day and went to Milan. I found out a month later that he…”

Violetta swallowed. Sookie held her hand.

“And then I realized what he needed to decide,” said Violetta.

“So why did you call him ‘my lovely’?”

Violetta laughed and took another sip.

“Because nobody could be lovelier than Eric. He’s the loveliest.”

Violetta looked at Sookie and they both laughed.

“Well, Vy,” said Sookie, “thank you very much for lunch, well, I guess that would be dinner now. It was delicious. Though I don’t know how much of this bubbly stuff I can drink.”

“I can help you out,” said Violetta, pouring a second glass.

“You can drink?”

“Sparingly,” she said. “Fairy blood lets me have the occasional glass. I probably could eat too, but if I do any more than taste, I usually end up pretty sick.”

“The storm seems to have quieted down,” said Sookie. “I don’t mean to shoo you out, but won’t Eric be waking up soon, looking for you?”

“He’ll probably show up here,” said Violetta. “You know, Vampire GPS.”

“Will you be in trouble?”

“Not unless you’re divorcing him to marry me,” Violetta smiled. “We’re just talking, is all, right?”

“Right,” said Sookie with a smile. “I’m sorry I misjudged you.”

Everyone always does.

That’s not fair, Vy.

Okay, you’re right. It’s not fair. And you’re not everybody.

“Why thank you,” said Sookie. “Did you want to take your drink into the living room?”

“I should help you clean up,” said Violetta, and in the blink of an eye, had the kitchen tidied, dishes done, and basket put away.

“I love having vampires around some days,” said Sookie.

“You said something about sitting in the other room,” said Violetta.

“Oh yes, please come in,” said Sookie, leading the way across the hall, sitting at one end of the sofa.

Violetta sat in the middle, closer to Sookie.

“Thank you again for letting me in,” she said, setting down her glass. “There aren’t too many of us fairy types on this side, so we shouldn’t try to start things out as enemies.”

Sookie nodded, as Violetta slowly reached over and brushed away a stray lock from Sookie’s face.

Vy, what are you doing?

“May I?” Violetta whispered, and kissed her deeply.

I don’t know about this.

You’re not pushing me away.

Sookie pushed her away.

“I guess you are, then,” said Violetta.

“Look, Vy, I don’t know what it is about you vampires that think the universe is your sexual playground…”

“It’s not us vampires,” said Violetta, “It’s us fairies.”

She whispered a laugh as she ran her hand along Sookie’s shoulder.

But you are curious, aren’t you, Sookie?

I’ve never done this with a woman before. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it.

Have you done this with yourself?

Well, I think that’s kind of private.

That would be a yes. Think of me as you.

Violetta edged closer to Sookie, bringing their foreheads together.

Vy, you can’t glamour me. Can you?

Violetta smiled.

Do you feel like you’re being glamoured?

“A little,” Sookie whispered.

Violetta pecked her on the lips.

“I can stop,” she said, “But your mind is telling me not to.”

“I…” Sookie hesitated. “I’m not sure what to do.”

 You don’t have to do anything. I can do it all for you.

Maybe if you kiss me again…

Violetta’s tongue intertwined with Sookie’s. Sookie slid her arms around Violetta’s shoulders.

I..I like that. You’re a beautiful kisser. Where are your fangs?

Did you want me to drop them?

No. I always worry about cutting my tongue on those things.

If you don’t like them, I won’t drop them. I have very good self-control.

Violetta slowly moved her hands down Sookie’s blouse, and with a quick slip underneath, was cupping her breasts playfully. Violetta mounted Sookie, her hair brushing gently across Sookie’s face.

Eric is right. You are beautiful.

They both laughed softly as the thought came to them at the same time.

“Am I moving too fast?” Violetta whispered.

”Maybe,” Sookie whispered back, “Or maybe not.”

 Look at me. Look at me with those gorgeous brown eyes of yours.

Your eyes are…violet?

“Yes,” Violetta whispered in ecstasy, as she took Sookie’s hand, and placed it between her legs.

“Touch me,” she spoke quietly.

“I’m not sure…”

Follow your instincts. Show me what you like.

What I like having done to me?

“No,” said Violetta, “Show me what you like to do to yourself.”

Sookie took her hand from between Violetta’s legs, and began to unbutton her blouse.

“Can we start up here instead?” asked Sookie, sliding the garment from Violetta’s shoulders, and running her fingers softly down her breasts.

Absolutely. Whatever you would like.

Sookie slid her blouse from her body, and kissed Violetta hard.

I don’t know where this is all coming from. I’ve never even contemplated kissing a girl before.

It’s your fairy side. Let it shine.

Violetta smiled, holding Sookie’s head close to her chest while she planted small kisses along her sternum.

Is that okay?

“That’s perfect,” Violetta said breathily. She kissed her hard once more, using her hands to remove the remainder of her and Sookie’s clothing.

Are you ready for me to touch you? Or did you want to touch me first?

Sookie looked up into Violetta’s eyes.

I think I trust you, Vy. Maybe you can go first.

Do you want me to use my hands or my mouth? No fangs, I promise. You’ve never had oral sex without fangs involved? You poor thing.

“Lie back. It’s okay,” said Violetta.

Violetta bent her head down over Sookie’s midriff, and began to plant small kisses and flicks of her tongue. Sookie arched her back.

“Oh my God,” Sookie cried out.

Is this okay? Need me to…

“Don’t stop.”

Violetta continued working her tongue along her midriff, to Sookie’s inner thigh, and back again. She dived straight for her juices, and slowed her tongue.

You’re about to come on, did you know that?

Right now?

Well tomorrow. I can start to taste your blood.

Will your fangs drop?

I’ll try really hard not to let them, but I wasn’t expecting this. Wow.

Violetta drove her face into Sookie, who moaned in ecstasy.

You taste like honey mixed with Eric and someone else who’s pretty tasty of his own. He’s quite a few centuries younger than us. Lovely blood you have.  Have you ever tasted yourself? Or any other fairy blood?

Violetta pushed her face harder, devouring Sookie, who squealed with delight.

“Oh yeah, Vy…oh God…oh my God…”

Violetta moaned from the taste of Sookie as she came. Suddenly, Violetta pulled herself away from Sookie and dropped her fangs. She bit down into her wrist.

”Taste this,” she said, offering her arm to Sookie.

Sookie took her arm and was about to drink when her front door flung open. Eric ran in, and shoved Violetta to the floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled.

“I…I’m sorry, my Master.”

Eric bent down to pull Violetta’s face to his.

“Sookie is mine,” he sneered.

“I apologize,” Violetta said, “I got carried away.”

Eric looked at Sookie, who was trembling, half from orgasm, half from anger.

“What is my punishment, my Master?” said Violetta.

“Eric, what the hell are you doing?” said Sookie. “Vy didn’t mean anything by it. She just wanted me to taste fairy blood because I’d never tasted it before. Besides, what harm would it have done? Isn’t her blood half yours anyway? What’s the difference?”

 “What’s the difference?” Eric shouted. “What’s the difference?! The difference, Sookie, is that I am Violetta’s Maker. She blatantly disregarded me and tried to steal you away from me. Whether she wanted you to taste fairy blood or whatever excuse she made up is irrelevant. If she weren’t my progeny, I would have killed her already. As my wife, you cannot drink the blood of any other vampire, even if they are my child.”

“Well, I didn’t drink from her, so it’s okay, isn’t it? You stopped us, she’s sorry, it won’t happen again. Look at her. “

Sookie walked past Eric, and knelt next to Violetta.

 “Sookie,” Violetta gently pushed her hand away, “I know you’re his wife at the moment, but this is between Eric and me, and he’s right. I need to be punished.”

“Is he going to kill you?”

Sookie turned to Eric.

“Are you going to send her to the True Death?”

Eric’s fangs were fully exposed. His eyes seethed with anger.

Sookie, it’s okay. I’ll get dressed and we’ll get out of here.

Violetta began to dress herself, trying to meet Sookie’s eyes.

I’m not ok with this, Sookie projected to Violetta, I was really enjoying that. You’re a wonderful lover. And we’re getting a divorce so all of this possessive crap…

It’s protocol. You are still technically his wife, and, technically, I did try to steal you when I offered 
you my blood.

“You vampires and your damn protocols.”

Sookie dressed herself quickly.

“Nothing happened that we didn’t want to happen, Eric. Vy is a gorgeous girl, and she’s too good for you with loyalty like that. I was never that loyal, even when I was supposed to be your wife. Whatever it is you have to do to her because of protocols, would you please not do it in my house.”

 “Violetta,” Eric’s voice was as calm as death, “We are leaving.”

Eric waited by the door as Violetta stood up.

“Wait.” Sookie stood beside Violetta. “Vy, what would happen if I did this?”

Sookie took Violetta’s open wrist and put it to her mouth. Eric stood in front of them, about to reach for Violetta’s arm.

“Make one more move and I will rescind my invitation,” said Sookie, drinking more from Violetta.

Sookie, you’re making this worse…

For him, or you?

For him. I’m not concerned about…

“There,” said Sookie, releasing Violetta’s arm, and looking at Eric. “Does that make our divorce final now?”

Eric growled and let his fangs drop.

“Eric…” Violetta began.

“Quiet,” Eric grunted, storming out of the door.

Violetta turned to Sookie.

“Why did you do that in front of him?”

“Why did I do that? You offered me your blood.”

“That was a sex thing,” said Violetta. “In the heat of the moment. I never meant to hurt him.”

“So does this mean we’re bonded now?” said Sookie. “According to the protocols.”

“Damnit,” said Violetta. “You don’t care if we are, so long as Eric thinks we are. And after all I told you about how sorry I was for hurting him. This is possibly the worst kind of hurt. I’ll never be able to make up for this.”

“You’re really upset.”

“This is a joke to you?” Violetta seethed. “I never meant for all of that to happen. It just did. Meeting someone who I thought might understand me, opening up to you, something I haven’t been able to do since…damnit.”

Violetta flung open the front door. Eric stood in the front yard, his back turned to the house.

“You really don’t know what you just did, do you?” said Violetta.

“You offered,” said Sookie. “Remember, you came to my house.”

“I did,” said Violetta. “To try to make things better between us for my Master’s sake. And now it’s worse.”

Violetta walked back into the house, stopping at the dining room credenza. She opened a drawer.

“Vy, what are you doing? That’s my grandmother’s good silverware.”

Violetta grabbed a silver table knife by its stainless blade, and headed to the kitchen.

What are you doing?

“Stopping this now. I’ve hurt Eric enough on my own, and I won’t be a conduit for your hurt feelings.”

Violetta opened the fridge, and took out a lemon from the crisper.

“Vy! You can’t…”

She took a sharp knife from the butcher’s block and cut the lemon in two. She rubbed the handle of the sterling knife with the cut lemon, and bit into her wrist. She took Sookie’s arm, and looked into her eyes.

“This night, I call back my blood from your body. This night, I call back my bond from your soul. This night, I call back my love from your heart. This night, I become whole as myself. This night, I take back my power from you. This night, I rescind all ties to you. This night, this now, shall end.”

Violetta placed the silver lemoned handle against her wrist. Sookie felt a searing pain within her soul and screamed. She watched the smoke rise from where Violetta’s flesh burned from the silver. Violetta’s fangs dropped as she pressed the handle harder against her skin.

“Vy, stop it. You’re dying.”

 “This night, this now, shall end,” cried Violetta.

“Eric!” Sookie screamed.

 “All your bonds have been broken. My Master can no longer hear your call.”

“But I can hear yours, my Sire.”

Eric knocked the knife to the floor. He caught Violetta as she collapsed backwards, and carried her out of the house.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Sookie called to them, as Eric sped off into the dark.

21.

Eric took Violetta’s hand, and rubbed more of his blood onto her wound.

“What were you thinking?”

Violetta held her arm from where the silver had burned her.

“Violetta,” Eric said, “You still haven’t answered me. Why did you offer your blood to my wife?”

“She’s intoxicating,” said Violetta. “I know why you fell for her so deeply. I just became so carried away. I completely forgot about you, and forgot about everything else. And she has fairy blood…”

Eric smirked.

“That’s understandable,” he said.

“But she’s not your wife anymore. Right now, she’s not bonded to anyone.”

“I wasn’t upset with you as much as I was with her. I would have dealt with you, and with her. You didn’t have to expunge the bond right there and then.”

“Yes I did,” Violetta said. “I’ve hurt you enough. And I didn’t want to be used in whatever game Sookie wanted to play with you. Let her do that with some other vampire.”

Eric inspected her wrist.

“You’re healing fast,” he remarked.

“I always have,” she said. “Remember when Godric hanged me for hours because I tried to take on that roving gang of soldiers on my own? I was walking about five minutes after he finally took me down.”

Eric raised his eyebrows, and sat beside her. Violetta stroked his hair.

“Thank you,” she said.

 “You had done enough to break the bond,” he said. “It seemed to me that you were carrying things on for longer than you needed to. Were you trying to…”

“I needed to make sure it had ended,” she said.

“Any longer, Violetta, and you would have been severely poisoned,” he said.

“It’s nearing dawn. We need to Sleep,” she said quickly.

Eric kissed her gently on the cheek.

“How are you?”

“I’m okay,” she said. “You?”

“I’m fine,” he said, offering Violetta his hand. She needed to use his entire arm to hoist herself up. The silver and lemon had made their way into her bloodstream, taking away her strength.

 Eric picked her up and carried her.

“Thank you, Master,” Violetta said quietly, as Eric lay her down on the bed. He bit down on his wrist.

“Here,” he said, offering it to her. She drank from him, as he kissed her forehead. She licked the wound closed and moved her lips to find his.

“You need your strength,” he said softly.

“I find my strength in you,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“As much as I would love this right now,” he said, returning her small kisses, “You have poisons running through your blood. You need rest. Lots of it. Sleep, my loveliest.”

Violetta sighed, and turned into his arms, settling in to sleep.

“You’ll need your rest for what I have planned for you once you’ve recovered.”

Violetta felt his smile creep across his face. She laughed softly as she lost consciousness.

22.

Violetta had stolen out of the house in the early afternoon, dashing off to the airport, to catch a flight to New
York City.  She needed to be alone, today of all days, for just a short while. This day was never easy for her. Some years she felt like celebrating until the wee hours of the morning. Other years, she felt like walking out into a sunny noon sky and staking herself with a silver dagger. This year was different, perhaps even more painful, because of Eric’s residual pain mingling with her own inside of her.  It had been two weeks since the ‘Sookie incident’, and she was forbidden from mentioning her name in the house. 

Taking a taxi from JFK airport, she began to smile as she saw the tiny dots of golden light spread out like rows of orange stars in front of her. As she neared her destination downtown, the number of lights would multiply and the size of the lights would get slightly larger as the buildings enveloped her with their shelter from the world beyond the city. When she got out of the car at Rockefeller Center, she tilted her head upwards and stood motionless as her eyes followed each twinkling light on the gigantic Christmas tree up its trunk and around its girth to the very top.  The tree always made her feel alive, the sparkling lights filled her with joy, and, since they started hoisting the tree almost a century ago, she had always made it to New York to be revitalized by the wonder of its lights.

Stepping back from the tree, Violetta felt the smile from inside of her nearly burst as she watched the young people skate around and around on the ice surface. She dashed to the rental shed.

Violetta’s fingers moved at vampiric speed as she tied up the laces on the skates. She took a firm step onto the ice, and pushed off, skating a few warm up laps to get her ice legs back, and then, after checking to see if it was clear, jumped into an axle. Skating always made her feel like a little girl again, even though she was well over five hundred years old before she had even donned her first pair. As she followed the flow of the crowd, she looked around at the young couples holding hands, or towing each other along by their scarves. She watched a young woman tumble onto the ice as she let go of the end of her scarf, laughing as she fell, while her partner teased her mercilessly about her lack of skating skills. Violetta turned her head, feeling a bittersweet happiness.

 “Look out!” she heard a voice cry.

Violetta turned her skates to a sudden stop. A small girl, no more than three, had just fallen on the ice in front of her.

“Oh no,” Violetta gasped, and bent down. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

The girl nodded and held out a hand.

“Up, please,” said the little girl.

Violetta smiled and helped her to her feet. Just then, another woman skated up to them.

“I am so sorry,” said Violetta, “I was a million miles away. I didn’t even see your daughter.”

The woman smiled.  “She fell before you reached her, but thank you for stopping.” The woman took the child’s hand. “What do we say to the nice lady?”

“Thank you,” responded the child.

“You are most welcome,” said Violetta with a wide smile. “Take care, and Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Kwissmas,” said the child as her mother nodded.

Violetta watched them skate away. Her heart began to break, as the sadness she had tried to leave behind at the house seethed back into her bloodstream.

She skated a few more laps on her own, glancing at the tree, gazing at people, and at other vampires who were narrowing their eyes at her. Violetta pulled out her phone and saw that her return flight was leaving in ninety minutes. But she had seen what she needed to see, and she had sorted what it was that had been making her heart ache more than usual on this day.

Quickly, she returned her skates, grabbed a taxi, and headed back to the airport, barely making her flight. Violetta kept picturing the look on the little girl’s face as she helped her from the ice, and the grateful look on her mother’s face that her daughter was not hurt. She clenched her teeth inside of her mouth, and swallowed hard, as the plane began its descent.

She felt the chill in the air as she sensed Eric stirring. Taking one last look at the darkening sky, she sped back to the house and opened the door as quietly as she could.

She was surprised to find Eric awake, sitting in the living room.

“Hello, my loveliest,” he said softly.

“You’re up early,” she said.

 “I woke myself early so that I could be here when you got back.”

He stood from the sofa. He was half-dressed, with his shirt open.

 “I have something for you.”

Eric picked up a white box from the table.

“Happy birthday.”

He handed her the box and kissed her lips tenderly, the way he had before she was turned. Violetta felt herself going back in time. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt herself being swept away by his words, his voice, the moment.

“My loveliest,” he said, as his lips followed along her shoulders.

Violetta held him tightly, as she felt the sharpness of his fangs caressing her skin.

“I…”

She hesitated.

“I…can’t…”

Eric stopped kissing her, furrowing his brow.

 “I…I’m sorry,” she said, sitting down on the sofa, holding the box in her hand.

“What have I done?” Eric said, sitting beside her.

 “You’ve done nothing,” she said. “This is all me.”

Violetta set the box on the table. Eric took her hand.

“Look at me. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

Violetta started to tremble. Eric took her into his arms, and held her tightly, allowing her to hold herself together as she spoke through her pain.

“I miss them,” she said. “I’ve missed out on so much…”

“Who? What have you missed?”

“My children,” she said.

Eric raised his eyebrows.

“The orphans,” she explained. “I miss looking after them. It’s the closest I ever came to being a mother…”

Violetta avoided his eyes.

“What happened to them?” he asked.

“They grew up, moved on,” she said. “The house was an orphanage for almost two hundred years. But then the last of the war orphans grew up. I went travelling after, but I’ve always missed it.”

Eric sniffed.

 “You hate children,” she said.

“I don’t hate them,” he said. “I just don’t understand them. But I’ve seen you with them. Whenever we’d encounter children in the villages, you would always stop to help them, make sure they were fed and had a warm place to sleep. Even when Godric and I just wanted to feed on them. You think I didn’t know that you longed to have children, even then?”

Violetta pushed away a stray lock of hair from Eric’s face.

“I thought I had finally come to terms about never being able to carry my own child decades ago,” she said.

“But somehow this year, it’s haunting me.”

“We can’t adopt,” he said, “If that’s what you wanted to do.”

“I know…” she began. “Wait, did you say ‘we’?”

Eric nodded.

“I will always give you whatever I can to make you happy. Even if it’s sneaking out in the middle of the afternoon to go to New York City on your birthday.”

Violetta smirked as she lowered her head.

 “Remember, Violetta, no matter how much fairy blood or vampire blood or whatever it is you have in your system, as your Maker, I feel you before you can feel yourself. And now that you’ve returned and opened yourself back to me, it’s made our bond stronger.”

Violetta nodded.

 “You still haven’t opened your present,” he said.

Violetta took the box from the table.

“What’s this?” she said, finding a velvet box inside.

“It’s for you,” he said.

Violetta took the large, glass teardrop pendant out of the box. The pendant itself was clear and filled with a silver liquid.

 “Eric!” she gasped.

Eric kissed her forehead as he hung the pendant around her neck.

“I lost out on my first chance to give this to you,” he said, “I will not risk losing a second chance.  Violetta Covington, accept this quicksilver amulet and bind yourself to me for eternity. ”

Eric kissed her deeply. Violetta broke her lips away.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“I’ve waited five hundred years to give this to you,” he said.

“But I’ve hurt you…”

“And you’ve hurt yourself,” he said, stroking her hair. “That’s punishment enough.”

Violetta hung her head.

“Is there something wrong, Violetta?”

“Why now?”

“Because I love you.”

“Not because you’re worried about me? Or because you’re upset about the ending of your marriage?
Or…”

“I was supposed to give this to you when we met up in Madrid,” he said. “Had I given it to you then, you would have still had it today. Have you ever known me to do anything out of duty or pity?”

Violetta thought about his words, and took his hand. She looked into his eyes. They were soft, caring, the way she had always remembered them, even when they were in the midst of slaughtering villages of people. She kissed his hand.

“Eric Northman,” she said, “I accept your amulet, and bind myself to you for eternity.”

She turned her back to face him, and held her hair as he hung the amulet around her neck. He kissed the back of her shoulderblades, sliding his hands down her arms. Violetta leaned her head back against his chest, longing to feel his skin next to hers. She could hear him inhale the heather scent of her skin, and, in an instant, bit down on her neck. She gasped, her fangs bared, as he slid his hands from her arms, underneath the skirt of her dress, and between her legs. Violetta moaned in ecstasy, throwing her arms over her head and around his shoulders, as he brought her to come. Eric released his bite and laughed softly as Violetta purred with satisfaction.

“Look at me, Loveliest.”

She quickly spun around to sit facing him, and kissed his lips. They exchanged smiles while she ran her finger down his bare chest. Eric rose from the couch, allowing her to undress him while he flung her dress across the room.  Eric looked into her eyes, then cocked his head to the side. Violetta  inhaled the sweet deathly smell of his skin, and bit down on his neck, launching them both to fall onto the sofa as she slid him inside of her. Eric moaned as she climaxed around him; she drank sharply as she reached its peak. Violetta leaned back, as drops of blood fell in a trail across Eric’s chest. Eric thrust into her, matching his speed to her rhythm. Violetta screamed and Eric howled as they brought themselves to be as one together.

23.

Connell walked the dark streets of Galway, wearing his silver chain mail under his cloak as he wandered down another narrow street in the rain. The Informers had told him she would be here. But he had neither seen nor smelled any sign of her, and thought he had reached yet another dead end.

He stopped as he spied a girl with raven hair holding hands with a tall, blonde man dressed in black.

“Marry me, Viola,” said the man. “Spend eternity with me here. We could be so happy.”

“Francis, you know you’re so very dear to me,” she said, “But I can’t spend eternity here. I have duties that call me away.”

“That’s what I admire about you, Viola. So fiercely loyal to those wee orphans. Those delicious wee orphans.”

“Francis,” she said in a warning tone. “If even one of them is missing, I’ll…”

“Who do you take me for? Think I want to cross you?”

“Good Night, Francis,” she whispered to him. She kissed him on the lips, and flashed her fangs as she sped off into the night. The man smiled as she fled, and turned to walk away.

Quick as lightning, Connell wrapped an arm around the man, slicing the back of his hand, and taking a taste. The man turned to hiss at him with exposed fangs. Connell stole away to the shadows, hearing the cursings of the vampire echo behind him.  He ingested the drop of blood from the tip of the knife. The vampire blood tasted different. Like death if it were full of life. Connell felt his perceptions focus, and could hear the gentle breeze speak in whispers to the spirits in the town. He felt more powerful than he had in a long time. Connell realized that this was not Violetta’s Maker, but another vampire, and though he did not find his own child, he was able to find the sire of the blond vampire.

A profound thought occurred to Connell at that moment. If he could get one drop of blood from every vampire he encountered, he would eventually run into the Maker of Violetta’s maker or a sire from Violetta or her maker.  And then he would finally be able to find his daughter and take her back through the portal where they belonged.

Connell reeled and slumped against the alley wall behind him. This blood was powerful, raising his sense of perception and bringing his dark pleasures to his forefront. He felt an evil smile rise within him, and held himself back. He could not seek out any vampires at the moment. He would start again once the power of the blood cleared his system.

24.

Violetta stood behind the bar, in a red patent leather corset and black patent thigh-high boots with silver-tipped stilettos, layering seven shots, liqueur by liqueur, with scientific precision.  She knew she would have to do this faster as the time neared to Mardi Gras, and the lull in business was the perfect time for her to hone her still rusty cocktail skills.

“That’s a gorgeous necklace you have,” said one of the cutesy girl daywalkers waiting for her shooter.

Violetta smiled slyly.

“Shhh,” said her friend, “You’ll throw her off. This is a really hard drink to make. I googled it – sometimes it takes the bartenders two hours to make one of these, and she’s making seven.”

Violetta switched bottles in a flash, and then began the painstaking process of adding a precise amount of Goldschlager to each shooter glass.

“But look at that – it’s full of silver liquid or something. Is it to protect you in here?”

Violetta raised an eyebrow as she added two drops of the next liquor in the sequence to the first glass.

“What?” said the cutesy girl to her friend who had just slugged her on the arm. “I mean, it’s really cool and all, but I’d be afraid of some vamp going off in a rage if I gave him the wrong drink. She might need protecting.”

Violetta added the last drop of something red to each shooter, and handed one to each of the girls.

“It’s to protect them from me,” she said, smiling slyly.

The two girls stared at her in fright.

“Now where are your friends who wanted these?”

“Over there talking with that tall blonde hottie,” said the cutsey girl. “Boys always want to talk to a real vampire about the chicks they can pick up if they become one.”

Violetta snickered. “Become one…yeah right. Because it’s that easy. There’s a lot of bad to sort through before you get to the good.”

“I wouldn’t mind that blonde biting my neck,” the cutesy girl said. “He is totally hot.”

The two girls laughed and shot back their drinks.

“Oh my God,” they said simultaneously, “That was amazing. What is that? Can we get another? Can we have theirs?”

“Hey, you paid for them,” said Violetta. “Distribute them as you will. But it took me ten minutes to pour those. After twenty years of practice in dark bars in Manhattan. So I might have to charge you double if you ask me again.”

“What are these called again?”

“Serenity,” said Violetta. “Shots of Serenity.”

“How amazing. Guys, you gotta have one of these.” The girls picked up their shooters and took them over to the group of young men who were mesmerized by Eric.

Violetta smirked as she wiped down the bar. She sensed the man sit at the bar before she saw him.

“What can I get you this evening?”

Violetta turned her head and did everything she could to maintain her customer service smile. The patron was new to her; his thoughts were not. He was another spy type who was sent here to find out about…Eric? No, not quite. His thoughts were jumbled – she could tell that he was here to keep an eye on someone, but she couldn’t tell who exactly it was supposed to be. More and more of these surreptitious spies had been showing up at the bar lately; some known to Eric, some new. He had warned her that there would be more of them coming as the Area and District Conference dates drew nearer. Some of them were business spies, wondering how come Fangtasia suddenly became the go-to place for trendy daywalkers and vampires alike. Some of them had heard the rumours of Eric’s divorce from the empath, and had come to discover if it were true. Many of them had feared that he would be bringing the empath to the conference. And some were simply curious about the new bartender who dared to mix and serve Mistfires to those vampires who were crazy enough to ask.

“A positive,” he grunted.

“Okay,” said Violetta. She was sure he was a shifter, considering his thoughts were so unclear.

As Violetta warmed up the bottle, she struck up a conversation with Mr. A positive.

“First time here?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly. “I’m meeting someone.”

“Friend or foe?”

Violetta got a clear sound from Mr. A positive’s mind. Surprise, fear, a bit of inferiority complex. If she could catch someone with an unusual question, they usually dropped any guards in their mind while they figured out how to answer her. Mr. A positive was looking for Eric’s empath wife.

“First date,” he answered. “Not sure yet.”

Violetta laughed as she set the bottle in front of him.

“This isn’t exactly a date venue,” she said. “Why here?”

“Dunno. It’s what she said.”

“Can I help you find her? Maybe she’s here already.”

Violetta scanned his thoughts. Mr. A positive was trying to figure out who she was in the scheme of things. He was familiar with vampire protocols, as he had made a mental note of her amulet.

“Nah, I’m early,” he said, and took a sip.

“Well if you need any help, or if she doesn’t show, just let me know. Good luck.”

Mr. A positive grunted as he took another sip.  Violetta tried to sort through the jumble in his mind to very little avail. He had not rested in a while, and had just driven in from…Texas?

“Nice amulet, by the way,” said Mr. A Positive. “Your husband lets you work? Behind a bar?”

Violetta smiled.

“Thank you. I’ll let him know you object.”

 “Well it’s kinda crazy, considering the clientele here. Tourists. Slayers. Fangbangers. He’s not afraid something’s gonna happen to you? I know I wouldn’t let my wife work here. If I had one.”

He was trying to bait her. From what she could detect, he could not read thoughts but he could sense auras and mood changes.  She understood why his thoughts were unable to come in clearly. He was told to find the empath, and do something to her that would send a message to Eric regarding his “unfair advantage” in the upcoming area meetings. Someone else wanted that advantage.

She saw Eric approaching the bar. He was growing weary of the tourist questions.

“Eric,” Violetta said loudly, “Remember I said I had to leave early?”

Eric gave her a strange look.

“No,” he said.

“Yes, I did. Remember I have to meet my husband at one?”

Violetta sent a shiver of fear through her spine and looked at Mr. A positive. Eric followed her eyes.

“Sigh. I suppose if it’s your husband,” Eric said, “But if you could please remind him that I have a business to run, and that he can’t have you running back to him when my patrons need drinks.”

“Thanks very much.”

“Stop by my office before you go,” he said, walking away.

Mr. A positive looked at his phone and took another sip. He did not become suspicious about his inability to read her aura. He knew she was a vampire. Mr. A positive believed he had reached a dead end and was wondering what to report to his superior in Texas.

“No date yet?” Violetta asked, as she caught herself staring at him for a little too long.

“Guess I’ve been stood up,” he said, pushing the bottle away, which he had barely touched. “Thanks for your time. And your boss is right – your husband had better decide if he wants you to work or if he wants you to be with him. It’s not fair to your boss if your husband keeps calling you away.”

“Do you run a bar or something?”  Violetta muttered below her breath.

“Pardon?”

Thanks for confirming you’re not a vampire.

 “I said, ‘Thank you. Sorry about your date.’”

Violetta watched Mr. A positive the shifter leave the bar. She sashayed past her relief in his black t shirt and jeans and headed to Eric’s office.

“Shut the door,” he called as she stepped into the doorway.

Violetta waited for a beat before she spoke with a low voice.

“This one was from Texas. Looking for your empath. He’s supposed to harm her to send you a message to keep your unfair advantages out of vampire business next week.”

Eric kept his back to her. “Where’s he going now?”

“To report back. He’s at a dead end, so to speak.”

Eric stayed silent.

“Anything else?” she asked.

Eric waited a beat before answering.

“Wait for about twenty minutes then go back to the bar. It’s starting to get busy. I need both of you working back there tonight.”

“And what should I tell my husband?” Violetta said slyly.

Eric turned around in his chair.

“That you’ll be working very, very late. And he might not want to wait up.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t wait at all,” she said, straddling the chair, leaning in to kiss him.

Eric smiled, moving his hands down her chest.

“There’s someone I have to meet right now.”

“They can’t wait?” she said, between small kisses along his neck.

“Violetta.”

She pulled her face away.

“Do you need me to sit on, er, with you?”

Eric continued to run his hands along her front.

“I want you to do both,” he said. “But like I said, we’re busy tonight. You need to stay behind the bar.”

“Okay,” she sighed, running her fingers down his chest, past his midriff.

“My loveliest,” he said, “don’t make me stop you.”

“Okay,” she said. “Then don’t. We can be quick.”

She kissed him hard on the lips, and with vampire quickness slid him inside her.

“You clever girl,” he said, holding the back of her head. “But we have to stop or I won’t leave you all night.”

“Just…” she leaned back in ecstasy, “Just one…please…”

“How can I refuse just…one…”

They both dropped fangs as Violetta ground into his groin hard. She leaned her face into his neck to muffle the scream as she came. She brought her lips back to his, as she dismounted, and straightened her outfit.

“You’re going back out there looking like that?” he asked.

“My boss likes it,” she said.

“Keep your ears open,” he said.

Violetta nodded, as she opened the door.

“And your legs closed. For now.”

Violetta smiled as she walked back out to the chaotic floor.

“Crap,” said the other bartender, “In literally five minutes, all these people showed up…wow. How did you make yourself so hot in less than ten minutes?”

Violetta smiled as she turned her attention to customers clamoring for her attention.

25.

Connell had found her.

She was inside the small ramshackle house with sheet iron fencing in the dingy slum area of the town. He noticed that most people in the area had at least one giant Brogandale Hound. He hadn’t seen Brogandale hounds for centuries. They had once been the guards of the portals, until the humans figured out that they could guard themselves from supernatural attacks. The only super that Brogandales showed no disdain for were the fairies. He had no idea that Brogandales had made it to this side of the ocean, never mind in a slum area in a dank Texas town.

He walked up to the door, and knocked. The emaciated girl answered, her finger stained red from continual doses of V.

“Who the fuck are you?” she asked in a gravelly voice.

Connell reached in for her arm.

“The child,” he hissed. “Where is the child?”

She had no memory of giving birth to the child. Her imprint merely showed that she gave the child away and continued with her V habit.

“Let me go,” she screamed, wrenching her hand away and reaching for a vial on the counter.

Connell picked up the vial and drained it.

“What the fuck?!” The girl began to panic.

“The child,” he said, holding her face in his hands. “You must remember.”

“Diane,” she breathed before she passed out.

Connell threw her body onto the floor. She was still breathing, but he needed to find out who ‘Diane’ was. Perhaps she was the child.

He heard the Brogandales howl as he ransacked the house, looking for even a small trace of the child. Nothing. Not even the first lock of her hair.

Connell scowled and dashed away. He would have to seek out both of his daughters. And they would both come back with him through the portal, so he could finally leave this foul place.

26.

Violetta closed her eyes behind her sunglasses, feeling the wind blowing through her hair. She sighed with a mixture of bliss and worry.

“You’ll be fine,” Eric said, shifting down a gear as he reached their turnoff.

“I haven’t been to one of these things for nearly two and a half centuries,” she said.  “And last time, it was in Europe, where people have a sense of decorum and respect. And I was the bartender.”

Eric chortled.

“It’s nearly the same job, except you don’t have to pour drinks. Or drain humans.”

Violetta turned to look at him.

“It’s not the same job. I’m going as your protégé, or assistant, or whatever it is they call us these days.”

Eric slid his hand along her thigh.

“You’re attending as my wife,” he said. “You’ll be able to attend more meetings with me.”

“Oh joy,” Violetta said, rolling her eyes. “Just what I want to do in Dallas. Attend meetings. Why the fuck are they in Dallas? And why do they have to be just after Mardi Gras? Why can’t they give us a little recuperation time? Or at least continue the party and go somewhere exciting, like Vegas?”

Eric’s hand reached behind Violetta’s neck.

“We could go to Vegas after, if you want.”

Violetta leaned into his hand.

“Maybe,” she said. “Do you know many people there?”

Eric nodded, as he slowed the car to take the upcoming turn.

“Quite a few. We’d be treated well.”

“Then no,” she said. “I want to go somewhere where nobody knows either of us.”

“Violetta, that’s impossible, given who I am,” he said without a trace of ego.

“There are still places,” she said. “Antarctica.”

Eric slammed on the brakes as he slowed the car in front of the hotel.

“Antarctica?”

Violetta kept her face stern while she spoke, “One – nobody knows us there. Two – Six months of night. Three – lots of snow.”

Eric smiled as he pulled into the valet pickup area.

“Are you ready?”

Violetta nodded. Eric handed his keys to the valet as a bellhop opened Violetta’s door, and assisted her out of the car. She wore a barely-there black mini dress, and a matte pair of thigh-high boots with silver stiletto heels. She shook her hair in the floodlight of the entranceway, causing everyone within the radius to stop and stare. Eric kept his smile in check as he took Violetta’s arm to walk her into the lobby.

 “You’re doing great,” he said.

Violetta spoke audibly, “Should I check us in, or did you want to do the rounds first?”

Eric moved Violetta’s hair away from her neck, allowing the amulet to sparkle in the artificial light.

“Check us in,” he ordered in his authority voice. Violetta looked over his shoulder. She nodded, and headed to the concierge desk.

“Welcome to the Maverick,” said the human concierge with a fake smile. From her thoughts, Violetta discovered that this was her first vampire convention, and she had been expecting a bunch of fangbangers and fangirls with a few live vampires, and not an actual business convention between area and district sheriffs and their rulers.  “How can I help you today, er, tonight, er…”

“Checking in for Northman. Executive Suite. 19^th floor, west-facing.”

“Oh here we are, yes. And you’re checking in for…”

“Both of us,” said Violetta.

“Oh, um, it says only one person is checking in on my reservation.”

“Really? Because I made it myself. We’re supposed to have suite 1907, west-facing, confirmed by Raeanne.”

“Ok, well, it says…”

“Northman, not Norman.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…yes, here you are. Sorry about that, Mrs. Northman?” the girl was shaking at the prospect of being drained by an angry vampire where she stood, yet had a problem accepting that someone would marry one of those creatures. Since marriage was an act under God. Violetta shook her head and tried not to laugh at the absurdity of the mess of this poor girl’s thoughts.

“Here are your keys. Do you need someone to take up your luggage?” The girl was wondering why vampires would carry luggage. Violetta was trying very hard not to answer her thoughts instead of her questions.

“Well I supposed I could take them myself, but if it wasn’t too much tr…”

“I’ll help you with your bags, ma’am.”

Violetta looked at the very eager bellhop who had helped her out of the car, and had been standing close to her luggage the entire time. She smiled.

“Aren’t you supposed to be assisting the valets, Jack?”

This annoyed the concierge girl to no end. She wanted to date the bellhop, and he had never even given her a second look. Violetta sighed. If only she had such simple thoughts to listen to over the next four nights.

“Thank you very much, Jack,” said Violetta with a grand smile. “I really appreciate it.”

Jack towed the luggage towards the elevator. Violetta brushed past Eric on her way, and handed him a key card.

“Nineteen oh seven,” she said flatly. She had interrupted a business conversation.

“Violetta, wait please.”

She stood as still as a statue, following her protocols to point, in spite of her disdain for them.

“Take this with you upstairs,” Eric said, handing her his jacket and an envelope. “Then be back down in twenty minutes. We’ll be in the bar.”

Violetta nodded. As she walked towards the elevator, she dropped the envelope and bent over to pick it up. Surges of approval from Eric, and surges of jealousy and lust from the people near his conversation.

“Your wife?!” she heard one of them exclaim as the elevator doors closed in front of her. Violetta snickered.

“Is everything all right?”

She had nearly forgotten about Jack. That was strange. In a room full of vampires and she could barely read the human next to her. Violetta opened her mind a little more. This bellhop wasn’t quite all human. He wasn’t part fairy, but he had a way of blocking her ability to read his mind, unless there was truly nothing there…no wait. There was. Strong lust, which made sense. But he was hiding his thoughts by using the lust as a block. He was supposed to find out if she was the empath. She couldn’t tap past the lust or else he would know her secret. He was most likely a shifter who had a drop of something mystical, so he was given the task of “find the empath”.

The doors opened on the 19^th floor.

“You lead the way,” Violetta said, in a light and breathy way, and giggled, “I don’t want to get lost.”

“Well you turn this way,” said Jack the bellhop, while mentally dropping a guard, “And then it’s the fourth door on your right.”

“On the right?” said Violetta, raising the pitch of her voice slightly, “But west is always on the left!”

God, this girl is an idiot. No wonder she’s a vampire.

Violetta kept her thoughts hidden, glad to have tricked the bellhop into opening his mind.

“Well, we’ve turned around a bit,” he said, “So if you come down the hall from the emergency exit, west would be on your left.”

“Oh! So I’m, like, backwards, then?”

We should just stake her too. If she were alive she’d be brain dead. I’d still do her though. Look at those perfect tits. Wasted on a dead body. I have to remember she’s dead.

“Yes, I guess you are,” Jack laughed, thinking of bending Violetta backwards while he fucked her.

“Oh, darn, I can never get these keys to work. Can you show me?”

“Sure, you just put it in the slot…”

Violetta leaned over his neck and exhaled slowly along his collar.

Can she really overpower me? She’s so thin. I’d just bang the shit out of her and then stake her. They’re all going to be dead soon anyway. Which one is this one again?

“There you go, Miss…?”

“Northman. It’s Mrs. Eric Northman.”

“Oh, you’re married?”

Violetta smiled.

“Newlyweds,” she said. “Typical husband, combines a honeymoon with business. Oh well. At least I get to see your gorgeous city. Thank you so much for your help, Jack.”

She gave him a $100 tip, and as she grazed his hand, she heard him think No this is definitely not the psychic one. So we’ll put her back on the list. No use for her.

“You’re most welcome, Mrs. Northman. Enjoy your stay.” For the next 24 hours anyway. Damn, I don’t care if they give you diseases, I would fuck that piece of ass all over town.

Violetta slowly closed the door.

Another plan to attack the vampires. So much for security in Dallas, she thought, making sure to block the thought to herself.

Violetta plopped down on the bed, and opened the envelope Eric had given her. Inside was the itinerary for the next four nights, contact names and room numbers, groupings, and day activities for the human protégés. She checked the clock. The introductory pre-meeting was in two hours. Eric wanted her to be seen with him as much as possible, he had said. He wanted to take the focus away from Sookie, since her powers had become widely known and the rumours of the reason for their divorce (because Eric’s new love interest was more suited to his needs) spread like wildfire. But there was another reason which he hadn’t told her about aloud. She needed to be seen as his Child and his Wife politically. And others needed to see what kind of power she could wield on her own. Eric needed to be seen as the one controlling that power. Violetta understood what that would mean to him and his standing if he was seen as the one who held all power over her, no matter how she felt about the ridiculousness of the tradition.

She fixed her makeup and tousled her hair. She looked at the clock and was about to leave when she sensed Eric in the hall. She reached for the door.

“I couldn’t wait for you,” he said, slamming the door behind him.

“I was coming now,” she said. “It was only ten minutes, and I found out something…”

Eric kissed her hard.

“I want you now,” he said.

“Now?”

“Right now,” he said, sliding his hands under her dress, and slipping his fingers insider of her. Violetta kissed him and moaned. She looked up.

Damnit, Eric.

She took her hand away from herself. He was projecting from downstairs.

Do it for me.

She heard his thoughts, and slid her hand down her dress once more.

My loveliest…

Damn you, Eric. I’m going to be a mess.

Violetta wished that he could hear her thoughts the way she could hear his. Then she realized what he had been asking her to do. She smiled as she took herself to the edge of her climax, then slipped her fingers out, and left the room, carrying a clutch and a leather notebook.

Violetta held on to her edge as the elevator travelled downwards. She t hrew her hair back to expose her amulet as the doors opened.  Those who had been waiting to enter the elevator gave her a wide berth to exit, dropping their fangs as lust exuded from her body.

Violetta strolled into the bar, watching Eric smile with an amused look as she appeared to turn every head. Violetta took her place behind his left shoulder. The conversation halted.

“No protégés at the bar,” one of the sheriffs at the table hissed. His eye had not been turned by lust.
“Vampires only.”

Violetta dropped her fangs.

“Gentlemen, this is my wife, Violetta. Given that we’re not in conference, I don’t suppose it would inconvenience you if she joined us for a drink.”

The hissy sheriff was in shock, and even more so when he noticed the amulet glistening from her neck.

The other vampires at the table nodded in acknowledgement. One stood from his chair.

“I insist that you take my seat, Violetta,” he said with a southern drawl by way of Eastern Europe. “And may I congratulate you on your recent nuptials. Please let me buy this round. B positives?”

Eric nodded.

“Could I get a Mistfire instead?”

“Uh, sure,” said the vampire, stunned.

Out of the corner of her eye, Violetta caught Eric smirking.

“Those things’ll kill you,” said one of the other vampires at the table.

“I keep trying and they haven’t yet,” she said.

Hissy vampire was still upset over a woman being allowed to sit at a table where business was being discussed. Violetta found nothing but an old soul trying his best to understand how things worked in this day and age. He had only taken the rank of sheriff to help him get boys, and it hadn’t worked so well, given the district they had put him in.

The other vampire who had spoken was only a couple of centuries old. He hated these conventions. He was intrigued by Violetta and could hardly believe that that fucking Northman had managed to get a woman in this day and age to agree to wear a quicksilver amulet. He was convinced that Violetta was a depressive or just liked to live on the edge.

Next to him was a vampire who had said nothing. He was wondering where his protégé was and what she was up to when she wasn’t in the room. He was convinced she was fucking one of the other human protégés – the one who looked after Boris. But who was…

“A B positive and a Mistfire.”

That was Boris. Romantic at heart. Wished he could give an amulet to his male protégé. Loved him to bits, loved him too much to change him. Wanted to desperately get Eric to invest in his chain of clubs. Wanted to ask about the bartender at Fangtasia whom he kept hearing about who did all of these tricks. Wondered if that’s where his wife had had her first Mistfire.

“Thank you,” said Violetta, taking a sip.

“Where did you develop a taste for those?” Boris asked.

Violetta looked at Eric. Eric nodded. She hated this ritual but she had bound herself to it when she agreed to come to the convention.

“Milan,” she said. “Last century.”

“I love Milan,” said Boris. “I couldn’t stomach those there, either. How does this one compare?”

Violetta looked at Eric.

“You have my permission to speak freely until the convention officially begins,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said.

The vampires, except for hissy vampire, seemed impressed by the ritual.

“It’s not the greatest one I’ve ever had,” she said.

“What would you do differently?”asked Eric, letting the table know that she was also the newly-famous bartender at Fangtasia, too.

“Separate out the plasma from the corpuscles,” she said, “Then you go plasma, vodka, corps, two drops of blood, and voila.”

“What did they do here?” asked Boris, fascinated.

“Synthetic, cheap ass bar rail vodka, more synthetic, not split. No finesse.”

Suddenly, the sound of multiple broken glasses silenced the room.

“What is this pig vomit you are serving me? You trying to kill all of us here?”

Fangs dropped like raindrops in the room.

Violetta closed her eyes and tried to make sense of the chaotic room. Suddenly, very loud laughter roared from the bar as two large vampires embraced and tossed back their drinks.  Violetta stared at the back of the vampire with wavy, reddish blond hair, and felt a shudder of something familiar.

“It’s nearly time for the meetings to begin,” hissy vampire said. “Good timing.”

As they stood from the table, Violetta turned to Eric.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

“You can sit with me,” said Eric, taking her arm and guiding them to their seats in the large convention hall.  Eric nodded at the vampire next to him, and turned to Violetta.

“You’re all right?” he asked.

Violetta nodded. Something was still bothering her about the ginger-haired vampire she had seen at the bar, but she was becoming overwhelmed by all of the voices flooding into the hall, both spoken aloud and within. She sat down in her chair, sunglasses on, eyes closed.

“You’ll be fine. You have my link if you need it.”

The words were spoken at sublevel, below vampire hearing, and so it caught her attention. Violetta opened her eyes to see a vampire and his sire one section over to the left, standing intimately close, speaking to each other. The master vampire’s hands were shaking. It was the sire who had spoken.

“It must be done,” the vampire said.                                                                              

His sire nodded. “Everything is nearly in place. The humans will be told what to do as soon as we adjourn. They are all waiting.”

“We must stop now,” said the vampire. “Go and sit with the other sires. We shall speak soon.”

Old bastard. Waste of my energy. Just wait til he finds out what his plan is really all about.

Violetta kept her head still as the sire walked to the back of the room, where most of the sires, assistant vampires, and baby vampires had been segregated. These conventions were the pinnacle of vampire protocol, which made her wonder how Eric managed to have her sit beside him. As his sire, she should have been relegated to the back. As his wife, she should have been seated at least two rows behind him. Unless of course he was breaking protocols for a reason.  She was about to ask, when the red-haired vampire from the bar approached the podium.

“Would everyone please take their seats?” he announced with an Irish brogue.

Violetta froze. She hoped her sunglasses were enough to disguise her from his view.

“Thank you for coming. And now, without further ado, please welcome our host, Her Majesty, the Queen of Texas.”

Polite applause resounded through the conference hall. Violetta swallowed, and relaxed when the Irish vampire had returned to his seat without seeing her.

“Thank you, Magistrate,” the Queen of Texas began.

Violetta tried to tune the vampire grumblings to a low level, and listened in between the silence as the Queen of Texas spoke. The queen had been gorgeous at one time, but even though her outward appearance was still stunning, she had grown into a tyrannical, hardlined ruler, who only showed hospitality, poorly faked at that, at events like these. The Queen had fought to host the convention in Texas, bribing officials with human blood, as she wanted to remind everyone how things were to be done.

The other royals loathed her, and this exuded from the area in which they sat.

Violetta could easily pick out the District Sheriffs from Texas from their inner cooings over their Queen.

Stake her right where she Sleeps…

The vampire who had been speaking with his sire was now sitting in the Texas section, his thoughts flowing out uncontrollably.

Keep it together, Master. Others could be listening.  

Daywalkers are outside.

Some of them can still hear you, even through walls. It will all be sorted shortly.

Have they found one yet?

Not yet.

There is one. In here.

In here? Impossible. Only vampires are allowed in here, Master.

Do not be so defiant, sire. I tell you the empath is in here.

Violetta blinked slowly, and blocked her thoughts down. It was common knowledge that vampires could not be empaths. Common knowledge that she had banked on since she was made aware of her own powers after the Revolution. But this Texas vampire was convinced; perhaps he could hear voices himself, other than his sire's.

Yep, you’re right. I’m right here. Watching your every move. What are you up to? Why are you talking to daywalkers? What’s your plan?

Violetta used all the force she had to project the thought to the Texan. The Texan started to twitch nervously. Violetta felt pinprick shocks inside her mind.

Keep it together, Master.

Did you not hear that, sire? The empath is talking to me.

Violetta blinked slowly, holding her thought.

You found the empath?

The sire was skeptical.

Yes. He said that we have to move forth with the plan.

Violetta held in her smile. If this Texan could hear her, the message was coming through worse than messages sent through a telegraph in a thunderstorm.

Most wise, Master.

The Texan was becoming clearly agitated, so much so that the Queen of Texas turned to look at him in the middle of her speech.

Violetta felt a sharp pain pass through her head, and it was all she could do to hold herself from visibly swooning. Eric held her arm. He had felt it too, through her. Violetta nodded quickly, and composed herself. The nervous vampire had stopped shaking.

Keep yourself together, Master. Remember the plan.

The mental energy that the sire was exuding towards his maker felt like a tight rubber band inside her mind. His inner voice was screaming – it was so loud she wondered if other vampires could hear it.

Keep yourself together, Master. Remember the plan.

The strength of the repetitions made Violetta start to feel dizzy and warm.

Suddenly the mental screaming stopped. The Queen’s speech was over, and all conventioneers were to separate into districts and regroup in fifteen minutes.

Very good, Master. I must go feed for both of us. I will check with the daywalkers.

The nervous Texan had composed himself and was laughing with several of his colleagues.

Violetta stood up, removed her sunglasses, and turned to Eric.

“Are you all right?” Eric asked. “You felt so…what the hell does he want?”

Eric looked over Violetta’s shoulder.

“Viola?”

Violetta turned towards the familiar voice.

“What are you doing here?”

The tall, broad vampire with ginger hair stood behind her, a surprised look on his face.

“Hello, Francis,” she said, trying to keep her voice and face neutral.

“Did you move to Texas? How come I…?”

His eyes caught the shimmering glint of her amulet.

“How are you?” he stammered. She felt his pain as fresh as the day she had put it there.

“I’m okay,” she said. “How are you?”

“Okay,” he said quietly.  “Are you living here, or…”

“Louisiana,” she said. “I used to go back and forth from Montreal, but I’ve been there for about half a year now.”

“I guess I should congratulate you.”

 “Thank you very much, Francis,” said Eric.  She felt Francis’ ire rise sharply.

“Eric Northman,” he growled.  Both men stared each other down.

“Come, Violetta,” said Eric, “We’re expected at the areas meeting in five minutes.”

“It was good to see you, Francis,” Violetta said, the words sounding colder than she had meant them to.

“Viola,” Francis reached for her arm. Eric dropped his fangs.

“Is he treating you well, Viola?”

“She’s very happy,” said Eric.

“She can answer for herself,” said Francis.

“I’m fine, Francis,” said Violetta. “Eric is my Maker.”

Francis took a step back. Eric whisked Violetta from the room.

“So what was that all about?” he asked.

“Calm yourself,” said Violetta. “There are bigger things to concern ourselves with right now.”

“What was going on? I felt you get weak. Have you fed today?”

“It wasn’t that. I have to tell you later. Too many ears.”

“Come,” he said, “The meeting’s nearly started.”

“I’ll be there in just a moment,” said Violetta.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I just need a moment,” she said, dashing across the hall to the bathroom.

Sometimes these human-vampire hotel hybrids are wonderful things. 

She dabbed her eyes in the mirror. She had not even sensed Francis in the room, but that could have been because she was overwhelmed by the Sire’s psychic power. She tried to shake her feelings out, and compose herself. Francis’s pain had been the last thing she had expected to deal with at this point in her life, never mind at what was supposed to be a very dry southern sheriffs’ conference.

Why the hell couldn’t he find a sitter?

A human was in one of the stalls. Violetta hadn’t even bothered to check. It was late, and what human, except for maybe a protégé, would be awake at this time.

What the hell am I supposed to do with the damn kid? I can’t leave her here. She can’t see this. He’s a damn idiot. What did I ever see in him?

Violetta donned her sunglasses, and repainted her lips.

I don’t know if I’m going to make it to noon. I could use a coffee.

Violetta heard the toilet flush, and dashed across the floor, using the sound to muffle her steps. Once in the hallway, she took her time to get back to the meeting room. Some of the briefer meetings were already starting to wrap up, and there were already a number of vampires gathered in the hotel bar. The voices alone were chaotic, never mind the thoughts, mostly lust and hunger.

In the distance, behind the door of the Texan room, she felt a small blip of Francis, still attending his meeting.

“What took you so long?”

Violetta nearly crashed into Eric.

“Not here,” she said. “Upstairs.”

 “They’re expecting us at the bar,” he said. “Can you keep it steady?”

Violetta looked at Eric. He took hold of her arm to guide her to the bar.

“So what does Francis want with you?”

Violetta sighed, and took his arm.

“Protocols first,” she said, as they walked towards the bar.

27.

The night air was moist and warm, with a cooling breeze.  Violetta  had needed to feed. She had been searching the streets of her Milan for those most unsavoury types of daywalkers whose souls had crossed over into the darkness. There had been rumours of the devils who walked at night spreading throughout the city; some of the younger vampires had been careless when they came to the Mediterranean, and had nearly exposed them all. More and more daywalkers carried pieces of silver on them, believing the ghost stories and rumours. Violetta had found herself caught unawares by a daywalker who held a silver knife to her throat. He cursed her for being what he thought was just a prostitute, telling her all the things he was going to do to her body before he slit her throat. Summoning her strength, she flung his arms away from her body, but as she pushed him back, he had managed to slice her arm with the blade, and she slumped against the alley wall. The daywalker lunged forth, and just as he was about to plunge the knife into her, a hand reached through his centre, holding his still beating heart out for him to see with his own eyes.

Violetta held her arm where the blade had cut her, wary of the creature on the other side of the now-dead daywalker.

“Here.”

He cast the carcass aside, and held the heart to her lips. She bit down and drank, making his smile widen to show his fangs. He was tall and broad, with long and wavy ginger hair.

“Where’s your nest?” he asked her in very broken Italian.

“I speak English,” she said to him quietly. “And I don’t have one. I’m on my own.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be if you’re this careless with daywalkers,” he had said gruffly.

“His knife was made of silver. How was I to know that?”

Violetta cast aside the remnants of the heart, and narrowed her eyes.

“Still, you should be careful.”

“What are you doing in this part of the world, English?” she asked.

“I’m Irish,” he said crossly. “And I’ve come south to escape trouble at home. The crops are dying. No crops, no people. I starve.”

“So you’ve come to take ours?”

“Seemed like as good a place as any to settle, away from most.”

Violetta stood up.

“Well thank you, kind sir,” she said, “but it is nearly time to go to ground, and my home is far from here. Though if I may give you some advice, I would say don’t draw so much attention to yourself. Do things quickly and don’t linger. Good night.”

“Wait.”

Violetta turned to the stranger.

“Look, I know you don’t know me, but I’ve really only just arrived, and I could use some help figuring out where I can go to ground around here.”

Something about him struck Violetta as charming. He was younger than she was, but only by about half a century or so. She tapped into his mind. He was telling her the truth, as he drained blood from the carcass on the ground.

“So you came to Milan even though you knew no one here?

“Like I said, I needed to get away from most things at home. I wasn’t about to go to France or Spain, given the situations there. If you can’t or don’t want to help me, I’ll just head out to the outskirts of town and dig a resting spot for myself.”

Violetta sighed.

“Fine. You can shelter with me but for one night. And I’m not interested in anything else.”

“Thank you, Miss…”

“Shhh!” Violetta held him down in the alley as orderly footsteps approached. The soldiers were on their evening rounds. By herself, she had been able to dodge them, but wasn’t so sure if she could when she had to hold another vampire’s hand to maneuver him through the city.

“Come quickly.”

Violetta took his hand and led him through the alleyways and streets to her home.

“This is spectacular,” he said, as he stepped inside her house. “How long have you been here?”

Violetta lit a candle on the mantle.

“Almost a century,” she said. “Now…wait, I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Francis,” he said. “And you are…”

“Violetta.”

“That’s gorgeous,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said coldly. “Now we have to find somewhere where you can go to ground.”

“Where do you go?”

“In my bedroom which I am not planning on sharing with you or anyone else today.”

“I was just asking,” said Francis.

“And I’m just telling you how things are,” said Violetta.

“Is there anywhere else?”

Violetta contemplated the question.

“I suppose there isn’t,” she said. “But you are sleeping on the floor. Come with me.”

Violetta led him though a door and down a small walkway, and then another door. The room itself was pitch black, and she held the candle to show the objects contained within.

“There,” she said, pointing to the floor beside her bed. “You can go to ground there. I can give you a pillow if you need to rest your head on something soft.”

“That would be greatly appreciated,” said Francis. “I’ve been travelling and the ground is not as soft as you would think it would be at this time of year.”

Violetta tossed a pillow at him.

“Thank you, Violetta,” said Francis.

“Thank you for helping me out there,” she replied. “That was kind of you. I apologize if my behavior has seemed cold.”

“No need,” said Francis.

“I’m blowing out the candle now,” said Violetta. “If you need to see for a little longer, just let me know.”

“No, I am going to Sleep now. Thank you.”

Francis set the pillow on the floor and laid his head down. Violetta snuffed the candle.

Francis closed his eyes. He heard small shufflings, and opened his eyes. In the dark, he could see Violetta removing her clothing, and, sitting on the bed in nothing more than a camisole, she inspected her arm where the blade had cut her. Francis inhaled deeply. Her scent was intoxicating, like the spring fields back home he had run in when he was a boy. He sat up, and suddenly, he was sitting beside her, holding her arm gently.

“Let me have a look,” he said quietly.

“Francis, you should be…”

His gentle touch stirred something inside of Violetta that she hadn’t sensed in years. 

“You’ll be fine,” he said.

“I know,” she said, softening her voice. “I just need to rest.”

Francis stared at her outline in the dark. His eyes focused on her pale skin.

“Where’s the candle?” he asked

“Why?”

“I just…I want to make sure your arm is really all right.”

Violetta relit the candle which sat on a table beside her bed.

Francis held it up to the cut in her arm. He gazed down at the wound, and glanced upwards into her eyes. They were a dark indigo in the light, and opened wide out of curiosity and concern.

“Is it worse than it looks?” Violetta asked, worried.

“Is it? Oh is it? Well, I…ouch…Shite…”

Wax had dripped onto Francis’s hand, and as he cursed, he dropped the candle onto his foot, extinguishing the light. Violetta’s laugh rang through his ears like music. He stooped to pick up the candle and relit it, reaching across her to set it into the holder beside her bed. He brought his hand to her face, and brought her face to his.

Violetta kissed him hard. It had been a while since she had been with another vampire; it had been a while since she had been with a lover at all. Milan was lonely for her, but in some ways she had needed to be by herself. In Vienna, she had been on her own but had nested with a group whose appetites had sometimes been insatiable. She was glad for her music teachers who enjoyed staying out till all hours, and would take up playing music at parties if only to escape her nest mates. When she left Vienna, she had headed straight for Milan, where she had enjoyed her solitary life.

Francis backed away.

“Look, I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’m sorry. I’ll respect your limits.”

“But you don’t want to, do you?” said Violetta breathily.

“If I’m honest,” Francis said, moving closer to her, “I want to take you right now, and make you laugh with that melodious voice of yours.”

Violetta laughed softly, and took his hand.

“Then, please, do,” she said, kissing him gently.

Francis was tender and kind to Violetta that first night, making her slow her pace to enjoy what he had to offer her. His fingers travelled lightly across her body, making her laugh and giggle, and making him smile with joy he had not felt since he had been turned. As he entered her, she moaned softly, and he kissed her tenderly.

“You are my sweet Viola,” he whispered, “since I hear only music leaving your lips.”

“Francis,” she whispered, “you’re so kind. Are you sure you’re…?”

Francis bared his fangs and bit into her. She tightened her legs around his waist and cried out as she came.

Francis stayed with Violetta for years. She showed him Milan, and he watched over her as they hunted together. The streets were becoming more dangerous as more vampires from the north were headed to Southern Europe because of the famine. The daywalkers and witches in the regions were becoming more aware of their neighbours who slept all day and hunted all night.

One night, they had been strolling along the streets of Milan when a group of people had seen them, and chased them far out of the city. Violetta wanted to stay and fight; Francis had wanted to protect her from any further hurt. When they had snuck back into the city and back into their bed, Violetta let out her built up energy through a very strenuous lovemaking session with Francis.

“Viola,” he said, breathlessly, at the end, “Why don’t we go to Ireland?”

“Because you left there since people were dying,” she said.

“I know,” he said, “But maybe it’s improved. At least I was never chased down the streets and cursed at back home. Why don’t we try it out? If it’s still bad, we can come back. But,” he sat up to look at her, “I’ll bet you’ve never seen the moon rise over chalk cliffs with the ocean pounding below. Or the sound the wind makes at night as it blows through fields of barley. Or …”

Violetta laughed, and Francis smiled.

“All right, Francis,” she said. “We’ll try it your way.”

Violetta had loved the Ireland that Francis had shown her. It was as beautiful as he had described. Francis took her to his home in Galway, and they had spent a few months there together, when she first came across the orphanages. She volunteered to work night shifts at two of them to help with the “difficult” children. The children had responded to her in ways that the staff had never seen, and she had helped them to become more sufficient and confident in themselves.

Francis admired her for caring for the children, and enjoyed the different side of vampire life that she was showing him. Her hours were long, and sometimes he would not see Violetta for several nights. But when they were together, he felt their bond was stronger than before she had left.

Then the second famine hit Ireland. Violetta returned with news. She had been asked to accompany a group of famine orphans to America on a boat leaving from Galway. Violetta was torn. Francis took her for a walk one evening in Galway, and at the edge of the pier where her ship would be leaving from the next night, asked her to marry him.

Violetta could not tell him the truth; instead, she told him she had committed to travelling with the orphans. She kissed him one final time and left that night for the new world.

The ship had reached the island of Montreal in New France. She was able to purchase an existing house and have it rebuilt to meet the needs of a small orphanage, which she devoted herself to running, primarily to help the children, but also to help her forget all of the damage that Europe had done to her over the past three centuries.

She had survived well in Montreal; soldiers had insatiable appetites, and were easily glamoured after providing sustenance for her survival. She had run the orphanage for a decade, and most of the children who had arrived with her were well on their way to establishing their own lives. One night, there was a loud knock at the door. Violetta’s duty had been to always answer the night calls; they were usually from ships that had arrived in the ports in the late evening. That night, she opened the door to find Francis, dressed regally in a cape and flourished hat.

“Francis!” she exclaimed as quietly as she could, closing the outer door behind her to stand outside. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to find you,” he said. “If you wouldn’t spend eternity with me in Galway, then maybe I can spend eternity with you here.”

Violetta smiled.

“I’ve missed that smile,” he said. “Can we go for a walk, or…?”

“I can take a few moments,” she said. “But not for long. Some new wee ones are arriving shortly. I thought you were them.”

Francis licked his lips.

“You’re awful,” she exclaimed, and took his hand.

They walked along the top of the hill headed towards the main part of the city.

“It’s stunning here,” Francis exclaimed. “I see why you stayed.”

Violetta nodded. “That’s part of the reason. The other part is that I’m helping these children to have lives they wouldn’t’ve had back in Ireland. They’re bright and strong. It’s a second chance after everything they’ve been through.”

Francis stopped to hold her chin gently.

“Look at the fire in your eyes when you talk about them,” he said quietly. “You really do care.”

Violetta nodded.

“You sound so astonished. Isn’t there anything you care about, Francis?”

“Yes,” he said. “One thing.”

He reached into his pocket and held up the teardrop amulet to the moonlight. Violetta gasped.

“Viola,” he said, taking her hand, “I love you. You couldn’t stay with me so I’ve come to you. Bind yourself to me for eternity. I want no one else.”

Violetta turned her head away, and closed her mind to his thoughts.

“Francis…you can’t do this.”

“Yes I can,” he said, puzzled. “I mean, I know you are devoted to the orphans, but maybe I can help you. I understand your commitment; after all, we’re both orphaned as well. It’s hard to be guided through this world without a Maker, but I think we’ve both done just fine, and you’re able to help those human children from your understanding of their loss.” He took her hands. “But now we have each other. And our bond will help make each other stronger.” He kissed her lovingly.

Violetta cast her eyes down.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Francis,” she said.

He dropped her hands.

“You found someone else,” he said, his voice audibly expressing his pain.

“No,” she said, taking back his hand. “I’m not with anyone now. I am truly committed to helping these children. But I’m not exactly an orphan.”

Francis sat down on a bare tree stump. Violetta sighed.

“My Maker is still alive,” she said. “He just believes I’m the one who perished.”

Francis narrowed his eyes.

“How is that possible?” he said. “I can sense my own progeny anywhere. Even now, while I’m here, I can sense Aidan in Paris. Well not at the moment as he’s gone to ground. But…”

Violetta explained about Eric, about Spain, and about her discovery upon returning home.

“I haven’t seen him in nearly three centuries,” she said. “And he believes I met the True Death. But I do have a Maker, Francis. And I could not bind myself to you without his discovering that I am alive.”

“Then let’s tell him.”

Francis grabbed her hands.

“I will find him and I will tell him that you are now mine. And that I am binding myself to you and he can rescind his claim to you.”

Violetta shook free of his grasp.

“I belong to no one,” she said. “I may be his Sire, but I am not his.”

“Forgive me, Viola,” said Francis, “I just want you, us, to be together.”

“And I’m also committed to these children,” she said. “If we were to do this, you would have to respect that and leave us be.”

“I can and I shall.”

Violetta tapped into his thoughts. Francis was overcome with love and obsession for her. She knew that part of that was because of the fairy blood. But Francis was kind and tender and, in spite of his inability to understand, would allow her to continue with the orphanage. And he would protect her fiercely. She leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

“Francis,” she said, “as much as I would like nothing more to make you happy, I simply cannot bind myself to you. You need to be with someone who will put your needs first. I cannot do that. I have to care for these children first and foremost. I am sorry.”

Violetta tried to hold her quiet stare, but could hear Francis’s heart screaming with sorrow inside of him. Outside, he remained quiet, stunned.

“Viola,” he said softly, “do you love me?”

She swallowed hard.

“I am very fond of you,” she said. “But…”

Francis cut off her words with a kiss. Her heart ached for the pain she sensed within him as he tried desperately to win her love. She pushed him away.

“Francis,” she said, “I will always care for you. But now is not the time for this. I am so sorry.”

“When will be the time?” he said, raising his voice. “Tell me when, Viola, and I will return then.”

“Francis, please. I think you should…”

“I never believed I would have ever felt this way again,” he said, “Not after being turned. Not after turning my progeny. I felt something I haven’t felt since before I was turned. Viola, you made me feel…alive. And I don’t want to feel anything else.”

“Francis, you’re making this more difficult that you need to.”

Violetta stood up. She turned away from him, blood staining her cheeks. She spoke in an authoritative voice.

“My answer is no. I do not accept your bond. Now I must return to the orphanage. Good bye, Francis.”

Violetta sped back towards the house. Her heart was breaking. She would have never wished for anyone to feel the way she did when she had walked back into her home and found Eric with a new lover. And now she had just torn Francis’s heart out and left him confused and puzzled. Violetta stopped at the entrance of the orphanage. She wiped the blood from her eyes.  She tried to sense Francis but he had not followed her. She took a deep breath, and entered the orphanage, closing the door firmly behind her.

28.

“And when exactly were you going to tell me about this?”

Eric growled the words at his Sire. Violetta dropped her fangs in anger.

“You told me your lover was human,” he said. “That he died of cancer.”

“That’s true,” she said. “Marcel did die of cancer. Less than a decade ago. I was with Francis was over two hundred years ago. You didn’t think I had only one lover in five hundred years, did you? You certainly didn’t.”

 “That was completely different,” Eric cried. “I thought you were dead.”

“I wanted you to think that,” she yelled back. “Fucking hell, Eric, you keep acting like I should have been saving myself again for you or something.”

“You acted like it when you showed up on my doorstep last summer,” he said.

“I never,” she said. “Maybe you interpreted my feelings for you like that. But I…”

 “Was too busy being another vampire whore?”

“Eric!”

He turned his back to her. “I should smash that amulet into your breastbone right now.”

“Eric,” she said, calmly. “Do you think I would knowingly walk into Francis’s territory to attend this fucking conference?”

“You nearly married him,” he said.

“But I didn’t,” she said. “I couldn’t.”

“Why ever not? He followed you to the ends of the earth. What did I do? I only sired you. I only mourned you. You know, now that I think about it, you two are perfect for each other. Francis slaughtered almost an entire nation of humans when he arrived here. He betrayed many of us, revealed us, just to climb up the ranks to be magistrate of Texas. You have so much in common with him. Except you did most of your betrayal on your back.”

Violetta turned Eric by the shoulders and slapped his face. Eric grabbed her wrist.

“Do it,” she hissed. “Just do it.”

Eric kissed her hard. Violetta moaned as he threw his weight on top of her, sending them crashing into the bed.

“See?” he whispered. “You like that, don’t you?”

“Only when you do it to me.”

With his free hand, Eric twisted Violetta’s garters until they snapped. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him towards her. Eric let go of her wrist, and they shred off their clothes with rage-filled speed. He entered her and then turned over on his back, holding her by the waist. Violetta writhed with fury on top of him, calling his name, moaning, screaming. He kept his hands on her waist, feeling her ever y turn. He felt her tears falling on his chest, and, taking one hand from her waist, wiped them away with his finger, licking off the blood.

“It’s only ever been you,” she whispered.

“I know,” he said. “My loveliest.  I know.”

She collapsed onto his chest. He flipped her onto her back.

“Eric, I…”

“Shhhhh….” He wiped the tears from her eyes, licking off more blood.

“I love you.”

He smiled down at her words and, gritting his teeth, thrust until he exploded inside of her. They lay next to each other, looking upwards. Violetta slipped her hand into his.

“Can you teach me?” he said.

“Teach you what?”

“How you read thoughts.”

“It’s not that simple,” she said. “I can teach you how to speak to me without speaking, but we do that quite well between ourselves anyway.”

“Mmmmm…”

“What?”

Eric looked into her eyes.

“You’re thinking about…”

He started to kiss her neck. Violetta giggled.

“Is that how you do it? Well that’s easy. You’re always thinking about sex with me.”

“Hah,” she laughed. “Yes, always. That’s right.”

“Look, I didn’t make the protocols.”

Violetta sat up.

“Pardon?”

“You accepted the protocols when you accepted my amulet. Don’t complain about the problems you’re having keeping them straight.”

“I wasn’t…”

Violetta stopped.

Can you read my sublevel thoughts? That’s new. I thought those were mine to keep.

“I own every part of you,” he said. “There’s nothing you can keep for yourself anymore.”

“Eric,” she said. “I’m not speaking.”

“What?”

I’m not speaking. Look at my lips. They’re not moving.

“But I can hear you,” he said.

“Maybe it’s a post-coitus thing,” she said. “But you shouldn’t be able to hear my thoughts in words. Unless it’s from all the fairy blood you’ve had.”

There was a knock at the suite door.

“Expecting your ex?”

“No need to sneer,” she said. “And no I wasn’t expecting him. But yes, it is him.”

“Ha,” said Eric, throwing his shirt over his shoulders, fangs down.

“Wait,” she called, throwing on her panties and a shirt. He doesn’t know I can read vampire minds. Or any minds. Don’t let on.

“I like this,” said Eric. “Now I just need you to talk dirty to me without saying a word.”

Violetta slapped him playfully. He caught her wrist, and kissed her once more.

 “I can smell you in there,” said a voice through the door.

“Damn,” whispered Eric. He answered the door while Violetta finished dressing herself.

“Can I help you, Francis? Or are you just here to shower me with compliments about my bathing habits?”

“I’m not here to see you,” said Francis, speaking through bared fangs. “Where is she?”

“She is my wife,” said Eric. “And she does not have permission to speak to you or anyone else right now.”

“You and your damn protocols,” said Francis. “I can’t believe Viola would allow herself to be controlled like that.”

“Nevertheless,” said Eric, “She is bound by them, and accepts her fate as such.”

Violetta called, “Let him in, Eric.”

Francis smiled. “Now there’s the Viola I know and love.”

“You keep your love in the past,” said Eric, “and you may enter.”

Francis inhaled deeply as he walked into the living room. Violetta poured herself a vodka.

“Viola.” Francis’s voice cracked. “How are you?”

“Well.”

Violetta turned around to face him. Her blouse was barely buttoned, and her amulet sparkled in the dim light
of the room.

“Stay back,” said Eric.

“I wouldn’t dream of…”

“You have and you are,” said Violetta. “But that’s not why you came here.”

“You can be so cold,” said Francis. “No wonder you went back to him.”

“Flattery will get you almost everything,” said Eric. “But not her.”

“Viola could you please…”

“Eric, give us five minutes.”

“I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

Violetta said to Francis, “You know I’m just going to tell him anyway.”

“I’ll get to the point,” said Francis. “Viola, is it true?”

“Is what true?” Violetta said, already having read Francis’s thoughts.

“Is it true what they say about you?”

“Who are they and what are they saying?” she said.

“Maybe it’s not,” Francis said, sighing, sinking down onto the sofa.

“You still haven’t asked,” said Violetta. “I can’t answer a question that you don’t ask aloud.”

“Is it true,” Francis began, “about, well, you. What they say. And they’re saying a lot.”

Eric raised his eyebrows.

“I’m intrigued myself,” said Eric. “What are these mysterious people saying about my wife?”

Francis looked at Violetta.

“I came to speak with you, Viola, not him,” said Francis.

Eric dropped his fangs at Francis.

“Francis,” said Violetta, “Like Eric, I want to know who these people are and what they have said about me that has you up here, risking your own life to confront my husband just to get answers.”

“Fine,” said Francis, “Maybe it’s not true. But there are people who say you’re an empath. That you can read vampire minds. I know I sound right off my head, but it’s what’s being said about Eric Northman’s wife."

Violetta smiled.

“Interesting,” she said. “Is that how they’re wording it?”

“What do you mean?” asked Francis.

“Are they saying ‘Eric Northman’s wife can read minds’, or are they saying ‘Violetta Northman reads minds, you know’?”

“Well, they don’t know your name,” said Francis. “Not yet, anyway.”

“And why do you need to know so badly that you came up here, again, to confront my husband, even though he is perfectly aware of our history together, to ask me right away?”

Francis sighed.

“Is it true, Viola?”

Violetta felt his inner pain and conflict about confronting her. She sat down beside him, and took his hand. Eric sat up.

“Francis,” she said softly, ignoring Eric’s stares, “I never lured you or used mind tricks to fool you. I can’t do that. I can only sense what others are thinking after they’ve formulated thoughts. I can’t put thoughts into people’s minds. I can’t change the way they think. I can’t hypnotize anyone. I can’t glamour vampires…”

“Yes she can,” said Eric. “But not with her mind.”

Francis smiled and cast his eyes away from Violetta.

“He is right about that,” Francis said, softly.

“Look, both of you,” said Violetta, “I hear things. But what concerns me more is people finding out. So I need to know, Francis, who is saying these things?”

“Several people who don’t even know Eric except by reputation,” said Francis. “They know he married an empath, and that he’s divorcing her…”

“So you came to see if you could get a second chance?” Eric laughed.

“Eric!”

“It’s all right, Viola,” said Francis, “I’m more than used to the cruel shite-talkings that exude from Northman’s mouth.”

“If you want to see cruel…” Eric stood and bared his fangs. Francis rose to meet him, fangs down.

“Stop it, both of you!” said Violetta. “This is getting us nowhere. Francis, Eric was married to an empath, but she couldn’t read vampires. They got divorced. When they talk about the ‘Empath Wife’, they mean her. Nobody knows me here, other than Eric, and now you. And the only reason I told you was because you thought you could attribute your feelings for me to some trickery of mine. And I find that insulting…”

“Not as insulting as finding out that the only woman you ever truly loved bound herself to someone else who doesn’t even deserve to stand next to her,” Francis growled.

Eric grabbed Francis by the collar and held him against the wall.

“Violetta is mine,” he snarled. “She is my sire. She is my wife. She is my empath.”

“She doesn’t love you,” Francis snarled back, “She’s only with you out of loyalty. When she was with me, she didn’t even want to know who the hell you were.”

Eric flung Francis across the room with the sweep of his hand. Francis stood up and threw himself at Eric, knocking him to the ground. Eric stood up, as both men reached for each other’s throats.

“Enough!”

Violetta’s eyes were black as she laid her burning hands on each of them. They released their grips and winced from their searing skins.

“I am not a prize to be fought over by wanton boys.”

Her voice resounded inside of their minds as much as it rang in their ears.

“You should be more concerned about the plot being hatched by the Sire of one of the Texas Sheriffs than about which one of you deserves to be in the same room as me. For as far as I can see, neither of you do at the moment. But I need to tell both of you this. So sit down.”

“Violetta.” Eric started to raise his voice, and then looked into her midnight eyes.  He lowered himself to sit beside Francis, both men panting heavily, fangs down.

“There is a Texas sheriff,” she began, her eyes softening slowly while she spoke, “Who is losing his faculties. He has delusional and paranoid thoughts, and his Sire projects his thoughts to help him keep composed. It happened in today’s introductory meeting.”

Francis looked at Violetta, trying to process what she was saying. Eric retracted his fangs.

“That’s what you felt at the meeting,” he said, “when you felt ill.”

Violetta nodded.

“Do you know who I’m talking about?” she asked Francis.

Francis retracted his fangs.

“I think so,” he said. “It’s Walden.”

“Walden?” said Eric. “Area Six Walden?”

“One in the same,” said Francis. “We’ve had trouble with him lately. Doctor P thinks he has vampire dementia from some bad blood a few years ago. But every time we’ve tried to confront him, he acts fine, stable, says he was having an off day, didn’t feed enough…”

“It’s his sire,” said Violetta. “He’s giving his master strength. He feeds, and then transmits. He keeps him calm when he starts to go off the rails. I heard it all happen.”

“A sire? Feeding his master?” Francis asked in disbelief.

“It can happen,” said Violetta. “It’s rare that a sire is stronger than their master…” Violetta glanced over at Eric.

“Don’t even,” said Eric. “I could destroy you with one flick of my…”

“Don’t even try it,” said Francis. “You would disintegrate faster than if I threw you into the sun myself.”

“Gentlemen, please,” said Violetta. “At first, it was flattering, but now I’m really concerned one of you will harm the other.”

“Viola,” said Francis, “I would walk under the noon sun for you, even if you are married to this...”

“This happened to sire her,” said Eric. “You wouldn’t even know who she was if it weren’t for me.”

“You spurned her and betrayed her memory when you thought she had died.”

Violetta sat down. Francis had finally said what she had avoided saying to Eric since her return. She buried her head in her hands.

“He had to know,” said Francis. “You mean, you didn’t tell him?”

“Violetta,” said Eric. “Is that how you really feel?”

“I am trying to stop Walden’s sire from creating a massacre and possibly exterminating all of us staying in this hotel,” she said. “Walden doesn’t know his sire is going to betray him. He thinks his sire has been using daywalkers trying to find an empath attending the conference, who I guess he thinks is your wife, Eric, but Walden’s sire has been telling the humans that this conference is all about the great vampire uprising where we will destroy humanity and turn the world into ungodly darkness. He said he wants to repent, and has asked them to destroy us while we sleep in the day. Most of the humans work at the hotel, so they will have security and card clearances. We could all be truly dead tomorrow. And you two are worried about how I feel about Eric?”

“I need to know if what you said to me was a lie,” both men said together.

“Damnit,” she grumbled. “Did you even hear what I said?”

“She’s right,” said Francis, “and it’s my problem. I should call Walden and his sire together and hold them accountable…”

“You can’t,” said Violetta. “Or they will know an empath is here. “

“We’ll send a message to vampires only. All alarms have to be set on the doors. That alarm can and has woken the dead. Terrorist threat from the League of the Sun. Easy enough,” said Francis.

“I hope it’s enough to distract or dissuade them,” said Violetta. “It might not be from what I’ve heard.”

“It’s the best we can do right now,” said Francis, looking at the time. “There’s only two hours til sunrise.”

“Thank you,” said Violetta. “And I guess that means you’ll have to go.”

Francis looked at Violetta.

“But you’ll be all right,” he said, reaching his hand to her.

“What do you mean?” said Violetta, as she reached her hand to his.

 “I heard a rumour a few years ago,” said Francis. “Aidan said that a vampire with indigo eyes visited Godric and helped him walk in the sun.”

Eric, who had been watching them without emotion, raised his eyebrows.

“Aidan also said that this vampire barely spoke but knew exactly what everyone was going to do and say before they did or said it. Aidan said that she smelled of lilacs and heather and lust.”

“Where is Aidan? Why isn’t he here?” said Violetta.

“He…” Francis stopped.

“Oh Francis,” said Violetta, tightening her grip around his hand. “When?”

“Only a few months ago, said Francis. “He was lost in Houston, and ended up  down a street full of V dens. They came out of nowhere…”

Francis looked at Eric.

“I keep hoping that my Sire will come back, too.”

“Francis,” said Eric, “it’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Including yourself. I am truly sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, Francis,” said Violetta, embracing him.

Francis closed his eyes and tightened his arms around her. Eric took a step forward.

 “My apologies,” Francis said, releasing Violetta.

Violetta sensed the tension from Francis’s pain, Eric’s jealousy, and her own confusion. She cleared her throat.

“So I don’t know what you want to do with this information about tomorrow,” said Violetta. “But something is happening at noon when we’re all supposed to be asleep. I don’t know who you can trust, except for maybe your Queen, if she is really that concerned about her reputation. Still, if any of the humans find out, then they won’t wait until noon before they start.”

 “Thank you,” said Francis.

“You should probably go disseminate that message,” said Violetta.

“Yes, I should.”

Francis stayed rooted to the spot, staring at Violetta.

“If you want to kiss her, go ahead.”

“Eric?”

“Why not? After all, I was the one who spurned her.”

Eric walked towards the window.

“Betrayed her, you said. Or she said.”

“Eric…” Violetta took a step towards him.

“Francis has never betrayed you,” said Eric. “He betrayed his own kind, to become magistrate. But since you’re not really one of us, Violetta, he never betrayed you. So maybe you should be with him instead.”

Eric’s hand reached for her amulet. Francis blocked his arm.

“I will not let you harm her,” said Francis. “She hasn’t betrayed you. You cannot break the amulet.”

“No,” said Eric, “But I can take it back.”

“Wait,” said Violetta. “Don’t I have any say in this?”

Both men stared at her.

“There’s enough hurt in this room to disintegrate my heart,” she said. “Eric, Francis was right. When I told him about you, finally, after he proposed marriage to me, I told him how I had felt when I came back from Spain to our house. And why I hid myself from you. But we’ve talked about that over and over, and even before Francis arrived here tonight, we were arguing about it again.

“Francis,” she continued, “I did love you. I cared for you deeply. You are a wonderful and generous man. But you deserved to have someone who could love you with all of their being. That wasn’t me. For even though Eric hurt me, he is my Master. And he turned me out of love, not out of duty, or companionship, or even simply friendship. I asked him to turn me so we could be together forever. And no matter how deep the hurt was, that feeling never left. So much so that I came back to him.”

The room was silent. Violetta looked at Francis. Francis hung his head slightly, avoiding her eyes. She turned to look at Eric. Eric’s look was transfixed on Violetta, and his expression showed cold anger.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll leave.”

Violetta started towards the door.

“Violetta,” Eric called with authority.

“Right,” she said, taking the necklace with her hands.

“If you remove your amulet, you break all bonds with me.”

Violetta hesitated.

“I should go,” said Francis. “I have to speak to hotel security.”

Francis walked past Violetta.

“It was good to see you, Viola,” he said. “Thank you for everything.”

“Francis?”

Francis kissed her on the cheek. She felt his pain and fear.

“I think you should listen to your Maker,” he said. “Nobody can love a Sire more than their Maker. Not even a betrothed.”

Violetta dropped her hands to her sides as Francis left, closing the door behind him.

“He’s right.”

Eric’s voice was right behind her ear. Violetta hung her head.

“Master,” she whispered.

“Do you know how much I love you?”

Violetta kept her head bent and her back to Eric.

“Yes.”

Even in whisper, her voice trembled and broke.

“Do you?”

His voice grew quieter. She began to shake.

“If you wish to be free of this bond,” he said, standing in front of her, reaching for the amulet, “I will release you immediately.”

“I…”

Eric placed his hand over the amulet, and began to lift it from her neck.

“Violetta Covington,” he said, “it is I who have betrayed you. It is I who have shattered your heart into pieces.  Go now, be free from my…”

“Eric Northman,” she said, holding his hand, “I have accepted your amulet, and I bind myself to you for eternity.”

“Violetta?”

She moved his hand to lower his grasp on the amulet, and she moved her lips to meet his.

“We’ve both hurt each other enough,” she said.

“You loved him, didn’t you?” he said.

She kissed him once more.

“I am still fond of Francis,” she said. “He was sweet to me during a very dark time in my life. But I have never loved anyone the way I love you.”

Violetta undid the buttons on her blouse as she kissed Eric slowly. He picked her up, letting the blouse fall to the floor, and carried her to the bedroom.

“How very gentlemanly of you,” Violetta teased, as he lay her down on the bed.

“Do you remember when we made love in the snow?” Eric whispered, taking off his clothing. “Before you were turned?”

“Of course,” said Violetta, removing the rest of her clothing, and bringing her face to his.

“You were the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. But I think you look more beautiful tonight,” he said, lowering her onto her back, and slowly entering her as he kissed her tenderly.

29.

Violetta stirred in her sleep. Her hand fell across the bed, her fingers touching his cold, bare flesh. She opened her eyes, and checked the time on her phone. One thirty. Violetta slid her body close to Eric’s, and started to settle back to sleep.

 She heard a door open.

“Shhh,” said a human voice.

“They can’t hear us, they’re dead,” said a man’s voice loudly.

“Still, after those alarms, you never know.”

Shit. The alarm.

Violetta  opened her eyes widely. She reached over Eric and picked up his shirt from the floor. Slowly, quietly, she sat up and threw it over her shoulders. There was a man and a woman in the other room.

“Curtains this time?”

She heard the rushing of the runners out in the salon.

“It’s a suite. They’re in the bedroom. It might be locked again.”

“I have a master key,” said the man. “Get the wood ready.”

Violetta slid out of bed, and stood near the door. She heard the beep of the key unlocking the bedroom door, and saw the light from the other room trickle in through the slit of the opening door. The man’s shadow hid the light from Eric’s face.

Violetta moved as quickly as she had during her baby vampire days, startling the man, and slitting his jugular with her fingernails. She threw him back into the salon, slamming the door behind her. The woman stood in front of her, holding the wooden stake, the bright afternoon sunshine streaming in behind her.

Violetta laughed, the man’s blood dripping from her hands.

“Didn’t your god tell you that there are miracles every day?” said Violetta, seething. “Like vampires who walk in the sun?”

The woman screamed and lunged for Violetta. Violetta grabbed her arm, and snapped it back. As she heard the woman’s inner scream, she recognized her voice as the woman from the bathroom the night before. An image of a tattered child being struck, bruised, and left alone in a dank, dirty place flashed through Violetta’s mind, and she let her anger rise to the surface as she tore out the woman’s heart, and drained her. Casting her body aside, she pulled out the man’s heart, and reached for the room phone on the table.

“Yes this is Mrs. Northman in 1907. We’ve had a break in. Can someone come up and clean up the mess? Thank you.”

Violetta heard voices and footfalls in the hallway. The door had been left askew. She threw the man’s body out into the hall. The sound of human screams and the flood of human terror permeated her mind as she let her savage instincts take control of her actions.  Violetta stepped outside the door.

“Oh please,” she said with disdain, as she broke a hand that was pointing a gun with silver bullets at her, ripping into his neck with her hand.

“That’s impossible,” said a woman’s voice to her right. “Vampires can’t walk in daylight.”

“True,” said Violetta. “But these are fluorescent.” She reached into the woman’s chest and closed her fist around her beating heart, cutting off its rhythm, and then, as the woman’s eyes widened and her lips began to turn blue, with a sadistic smile, tore it from its cavity.

“Don’t even think about it,” said Violetta without moving her gaze from the falling corpse. “Your aim is piss poor. You’ll pierce my lung with that toothpick if you’re lucky.”

“Huh?”

The man with the crossbow standing to her left had been thrown for a loop by the walking vampire. She took the stake from the dead woman’s hand and with pinpoint accuracy, lobbed it into his heart.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened. Hotel and vampire security forces exited the floor.

“Nice of you to show up after I did all your work,” said Violetta.

“What happened?” said a man who seemed to be in charge. “And how are you…?”

“I’m old. I don’t sleep very well these days. I get hungry.” Violetta said, taking a bite out of the heart in her hand.