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Chapter 5

Damaged Goods

**

**EURO ERIC**

Not having the opportunity to hear the details of why Sookie was so distraught needled me until I was raw. I could understand why she’d have been worried, but the crippling anguish was a bit melodramatic coming from the little spitfire who’d shown me no fear… it wasn’t befitting her temperament. I was convinced that one of two things was happening… Sookie was putting on one of the two extremes, even if I couldn’t be sure if it was the bravery or the depression… Or… there was much more to the attempted suicide than she could explain.

Her state wasn’t the only thing to contribute to my mood… I had hours to try and figure out why I fucking cared.

By the time we were landing, I was still at a loss… As petulant as the little bitch next to me had been, I couldn’t call her much more than a fragrant curiosity.

Collecting Sookie’s shopping bags for her hadn’t saved us any time since she still had to give Cicely a status report on the two Humans in tow, both of which were clear of any concerns that would keep them from being made Vampires.

I barely let the cab door close behind us before I asked, “Who?”

She sniffled, “Who what?”

“Who is such a coward that they couldn’t bear the thought of another day alive?”

“Me.”

“You?”

She nodded slowly. “The Sookie that woke up with My Eric. She ate dinner with my family and then went to the bathroom to look for pills. It wasn’t her first attempt.” I couldn’t fathom it. As brazen as Sookie had been since I’d met her, I couldn’t picture her so defeated that she’d be suicidal. I could certainly see her running her mouth until someone else killed her, but being that hopeless? No.

“Do you know why?”

She gulped, padding her eyes as though there was any makeup left to tend to. “Compton was sent to find me by Sophie-Ann, like so many other versions. Since you weren’t Sheriff, Bill is keeping that Sookie as a slave because Aunt Gwen is covering his ass…”

“Why wouldn’t she? She has a telepathic pet by proxy.”

“And a Fae snack… Bill’s been sharing Sookie with Lorena and Gwen.”

“Do you not enjoy variety in lovers, Sookie?”

“That’s not funny. They’re raping her for everything they can. She’s tried to kill herself.”

“It happens.” It didn’t happen often anymore, but at least they weren’t torturing her. At least she was still alive. If they’d turned her, they could be more sadistic.

“Yeah, well, I don’t have to be happy about it happening to Me. Do you know how to get in touch with Sophie-Ann anymore?”

“We don’t exactly send one another Christmas cards. Why?”

“Because as far as Sophie-Ann knows, Sookie was left alone. She doesn’t know that her Sheriff is lying to her.”

“You think Sophie-Ann would help?”

“I can hope she would on principle. Belonging to Sophie-Ann is definitely a step up from belonging to Bill Compton.”

“If that Sookie belongs to Sophie-Ann, where will I find one for me?”

She sighed and shook her head. “As mean as you are, you’re the last thing Sookie needs. She’s already getting treated like shit. I want to help her up, not offer a lateral move that’ll make her just as miserable.” That stung more than I wanted to admit.

“It sounds like anything would be an improvement. At least I wouldn’t share her.”

“No. You’d manhandle her and call her stupid. She’s lost everything including her pride. It’d be cruel to…”

“Would you stop? Insulting me isn’t going to do the other Sookie any favors. Just a few hours ago, you told me how good I am.”

“Just a few hours ago, I thought your version of Sookie had it in her to help you see it.”

“I could take her back to Amsterdam with me and she could start over.”

“Bill would find her. If he’s true to what we’ve seen so far, he’s given her his blood. By now Lorena and Gwen would’ve too just to have her more trapped…”

“She could kill one to escape, but not all three. It’s smart.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed, “I’m glad you approve. Maybe you could stay in Shreveport and tag-team her with them.”

“Maybe you should stop talking before I stop giving a fuck about all Sookies. You don’t seem to realize that no matter what, Sookie is going to need some sort of help to escape her predicament. You might as well be digging her grave.”

“You don’t want to help her. You want to fuck and drain her.”

“No. I want to fuck and drain you. Given her recent history of being enslaved, I doubt she’s as much of a pain in the ass as you are.”

“Aww. That’s sweet. You should…”

“You’re proving my point. Unless you have another idea, I’m Sookie’s only chance at freedom. Stop being a bitch about the arguing we’ve done, which was two sided, and help me think of something… Is her brother an option?”

“No. Bill had Gran, not that she’d be any help, and Jason murdered to isolate her. She doesn’t have anyone. Why do you care all of a sudden?”

“It’s not sudden. Curiosity put me in the first cab with you. Now that I’ve read the journals, the only reason I can think of that would make me wonder about my preoccupation with You is your mouth. Are you always like this?”

She shook her head. “No… Are you really willing to help her?”

“What makes this different?”

“I’m… I don’t want to talk about it. Are you willing to help?”

“The Sookie described in the journal is opinionated, but sweet. Free spirited, but devoted. ”

“You’ll just make fun and I’ll get fired up again. It doesn’t matter… I’m sure Eric has been thinking about how to help her.”

“If I were to promise to not make fun…”

She scoffed, “My Eric isn’t mean to me. It hurts. Ok? I know you’re not him, but it still burns when nasty shit comes out of his mouth…”

“Then I apologize for my part in our bickering. You took me by surprise.”

She nodded, concentrating on her knees. “Me too… and I get that… that poor man wakes up with hostile and confused Sookie’s more often than not. Sometimes he’s lucky and he wakes up with a Sookie who has her own Eric and it’s just a ‘oops, we did it again’ thing. The usual rule is that he wakes up with a Me that knows who he is and doesn’t like him. Usually because a Bill has filled her head with BS and Eric misplayed a couple of hands.”

“He made all the right moves with you, yes?”

“Definitely.”

“What about you? What do you usually wake up to?”

“It’s a mix. Whenever I wake up with other Erics, y’all don’t seem to mind so much even when you have no clue who I am.”

“It’s your scent. It’s… calming and exciting at the same time.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard, but that’s not exactly firm enough to hold a foundation.”

“With some encouragement though, the less fortunate Sookie might rediscover some tenacity. I don’t entirely dislike you. I’m starting to wonder, are American Humans just less docile towards Vampires than Europeans?”

“Let me guess, you have pathetic, sycophantic dregs scraping at your feet, begging to be bitten or turned, right?”

“Are you making fun now?”

“Not at all. They’re like that here too. Eric hates it. You?”

“To my marrow… What makes you different?”

She shrugged. “I think it’s because I don’t look at Vampires any differently than I do anyone else… Some of you guys are assholes, but the same can be said of Humans.”

“Ah, but I dare you to find one that isn’t a murderer.”

She snorted, “I dare you to find one that doesn’t miss something about being Human. The older y’all get, the worse y’all pine. At home, he isn’t a badass and I’m not a telepath. Pam calls us Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

“You treat your Eric like a normal man?”

“No. I treat him like MY man. I love and respect him. He…” She paused, shivering and taking a deep breath before she knocked on the Plexiglas partition to tell the driver to hurry up. “Sorry. He’s calling me… Anyway… you were a family man when you were alive. Why is it so hard to believe you’d pick up the habit again?”

“Because that doesn’t happen for Vampires.”

“It’s not like Eric put an ad in the paper for a family. We love him more than anything. He might not have been looking for a family, but that’s what he got… Why haven’t you made anymore children since you and Pam parted ways?”

“I learned my lesson. She was no better than an insolent urchin. If I cared for being leached, I’d keep pets.”

“You know you’re full of shit. You two wouldn’t have spent so long together if you didn’t love her and enjoy her company. Why not just swallow your pride and tell her you miss her.”

“That isn’t…”

“Ok. Nevermind.”

“Nevermind what?”

“Nevermind because you were about to lie to me and say Vampires don’t work like that… I know better because I’ve been sitting at the campfire long enough to know you and Pam have always been close. You need to mend that fence.”

“I’ll take that under advisement.”

“No you won’t… but you need to behave yourself.”

“Why?”

“Because my Eric would end you for hurting his Pam… I’m sure she’s at the house.” Fuck.

“Why would she be?”

“Because as anxious as Eric is, she wouldn’t stay away.”

“What would be in it for her?”

“She loves her family as much as we love her.” Or she loves the camouflage for her spending and excuse to travel.

“I’ll believe that when I see it. Pam isn’t capable…”

“Stop that. If you’re going to think the worst of everyone, keep it to yourself instead of publicizing how wrong you are… If nothing else, Pam loved you for 300 some-odd years. She was hurt by what you did… You pretended to not care. Am I right?” Yes.

“Maybe.”

“And you’ve missed her all this time, thinking that she’s better off now that she can’t use you as a crutch, right?”

“She’s serving as one of Bartlett Crowe’s Sheriffs. I was her excuse to be lazy.”

“No. You were who she served. She practically runs Area 5 as Eric’s second now because we travel so much… Sweetie, you weren’t her crutch. You were her priority. Call her.”

“Don’t meddle.”

“I’m done. I spoke my peace. I know it’s none of my business.” I couldn’t believe she was willing to shut up about it. If I had known it was that easy, I’d have stopped her sooner.

“Thank you.”

**

As the cab pulled into a neighborhood that was nothing but overgrown bog the last time I saw it, Sookie dug into her purse and shoved a hundred dollar bill into the small slot in the partition and hastily fumbled with her seatbelt.

The car hadn’t stopped in the driveway yet before the other Me appeared next to the car, opening Sookie’s door and yanking her out.

She had her arms over his shoulders, being held up with her feet dangling… I couldn’t imagine having anyone so eager to see me, or being so eager to see them in return…

He muttered into her neck, “It’s about time. I need to shorten your leash.”

“I think this is what we get for complaining about the drive to Bon Temps to find one another.”

Rather than awkwardly watch another me act as though a Human was the most important thing in the world, I met the cab driver at the trunk to get our bags…

I didn’t notice that I had company until my hands were full.

Pam snorted as she looked over the contents of the trunk. “Sookie might be spending too much time with me. When did she find the time to go shopping?” Even knowing she wasn’t Mine, seeing her again nagged in the pit of my stomach… It had been too long.

“We only went to three shops. Clothing for each of us and to replace my vanished phone and laptop. Most of this was gifted from Milne.” And we’d ‘forgotten’ to take the lamb out of the cargo hold since it was still alive.

She reached into the trunk to grab the rest of the packages. “Ah… I heard we aren’t talking. Are you being an asshole, am I being a cunt, or is it a Mexican standoff?”

“All of the above.”

She chuckled, “Makes sense. The only thing more stubborn than either of us is Sookie.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

“Not yours though… the one that’ll go back with you. She’s broken.” Broken? Not just desperate?

“How broken?”

“Starving herself to make her blood less tempting… asking to be drained… it’s sad. It’s been hard for us to see her like that. You haven’t spent much time with ours, but I’m sure you’ll see a difference.”

“I already have. She’s changed drastically since she heard of the suicide attempt. She was cheeky and spirited. She’s been holding a private funeral since she called from Logan.”

Pam showed her surprise. “That’s not like her… She doesn’t usually care. Eric’s the one that always gets invested. He’s been miserable since he rose. Seeing what condition she was in…”

“What condition was she in?”

“Half a dozen bite marks- all recent, hand shaped bruises, she’s frail and ashen… her scent is gone.” Lovely.

“I assume you’ve all been brainstorming since you have more experience.”

She nodded. “We’ve made a list of possible contingencies.”

“And?”

“If you aren’t willing to help her escape, she’ll be given the money to travel… All we ask is that you command me to turn her.”

“She’d be willing to be turned to escape Compton? What has he done to her?”

“Everything… It’s a failsafe. She knows she doesn’t have anything to lose.”

**

Eric and Sookie were still clinging to each other as we filed into the house and the kitchen was full of people…

An elderly woman, a Were, a child and a man… all of them were easily identifiable thanks to the photos and journal. Adele, Alcide, Hunter and Jason, in the flesh…

Sookie hugged each of them in turn as though she hadn’t seen them all in the past couple of days and then reattached herself to Eric’s side.

Pam offered to make introductions that weren’t necessary, so I shook my head. “I know who everyone is. The other Sookie is… where?”

“She’s in the study, reading the journal.”

“Rather than spending time with Adele? Isn’t that her usual course?”

Pam nodded, looking more disheartened than I could remember. “She’s trying to detach. They had a chat, but she doesn’t want to get back to her reality carrying more grief.”

“Is that better or worse than the versions that glom onto her lost kin?”

Pam shrugged. “Different. Those break our hearts too…” She pointed to the archway. “It’s the door just to the right if you want to talk to her. This could take a while. Sookie makes me look mute and Eric hasn’t mellowed yet.”

I nodded and left them in search of ‘my own Sookie’.

She was dwarfed behind the desk. Even without the fact that her own clothes were swimming on her, she would’ve looked thin in comparison. She was nearly skeletal… The first Sookie I’d met had just enough weight to be considered curvy… the one behind the desk had hollow cheeks and painfully boney hands and wrists. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot. Her heart was pounding and her breaths were shaky…

And again, I was tormented by the acidic scent of her tears.

She didn’t look up from the screen when she sighed, “You don’t have to babysit. I know you’d rather go watch for the other Sookie.”

“You’re upset.”

She nodded and leaned back in the chair. “It’s just hard to get through… how sad is it that I think marrying Sam and being cheated on for years is a step up from the cards I got dealt?” It only took a moment to remember the version she was talking about from the tangle of different scenarios I’d read.

“The children?”

She shrugged. “More that Sam would be an easier asshole to get away from… and she had so much going for her.”

“You did too before Compton whittled your options down. You can recover.”

“Gran and Jason can’t… I’m sure the bank owns the property my house used to be on by now… Jason’s too.”

“Your house?”

She gave me a puzzled look, so I assumed she’d already covered that detail. “Bill burned my house down when I uninvited him… Why would the other you help me? It’s not like he’s got any reason to give a shit.”

“You read the journal. How many times did various Sookies get under the skin of countless versions of Me in just one meeting. 16 hours is a long time.” It took Sookie less than an hour.

She snorted. “You’re too attached to your Sookie… If nothing else, maybe he’ll just kill me.”

“Do you really want to die? Be turned? Or do you want to be free from Compton and his Maker?”

“Don’t… please… I don’t want to get my hopes up. It’s sweet that you love your Sookie, but that other you could’ve lived the rest of his life without ever hearing about me… You’re the one that cares. Not him.”

“Ideally, what do you want?”

“I don’t know… I just know that I can’t keep going like I was. I’m just glad to have a break from the bites… it hurt to move. Thank you… you didn’t have to heal me.”

I sat on the chair closer to her and huffed, “She didn’t need to feed me either, so I suppose our version is up by 2.”

“Our vers… You?”

“We just arrived. Our other selves are reuniting in the kitchen… Back to the original question… what do you want?”

She sighed. “I want to stay here. Is that too much to ask?”

“I think it is… otherwise they wouldn’t be so panicked over how to help you… They’d just keep you instead of letting things be corrected.”

“I don’t know… I’m prepared to go along with anything you’re willing to do. Things can’t stay like they are.” Her sincerity was difficult to take. She most likely would’ve happily accepted a bus ticket to New Orleans.

“You don’t know what you could be agreeing to. You could be making a deal with the devil.”

“Even if you’re thinking about turning me, you’re good to Pam… As much as the other Eric is worrying about me, I trust you… I don’t have a choice but to.”

“Come here.”

She stood up without hesitating even though her legs were weak. She wobbled towards me, looking more withered as a whole than she did while she was obscured by the large desk.

She let me lead her onto my legs, focusing on my face rather than my eyes… Her pelvis achingly dug into my legs and she didn’t flinch when I ran my fangs down. She stunk of pathetic Vampires who had no idea how much more fun she’d be if they hadn’t broken her.

“What if I told you I wanted to keep you as a pet? Something to feed from and fuck when it suits me… that I’d kill Compton and his cow puppeteers in exchange?”

Her lip quivered, still focusing on the bridge of my nose instead of my eyes. She’d been reduced to slave mentality. “Pam said…” She paused to clear her throat. “Pam said that you don’t share… not with anybody… it would be better… I’d behave.”

“And your ability, that would be Mine too. You understand that, yes?”

She nodded. “Yes sir.”

“You’d be trading one cage for another.”

She looked down at her hands as she began crying again.

“If you behave, I’ll set you free in 10 years.”

The most tragic part of testing how broken she was… her eyes lit up at the idea of only a decade of slavery. “I will… I’ll be good. I swear.”

“What is the best way to get them together?”

She sniffled. “I um… They’re going to be flipping their lids by the time we get back… they’ll probably all be out looking for me.”

“The journals mentioned that we’d return as though this was all a dream. We should return at sunset or close to it.”

“Oh… then… Gwen does her Sheriff business out of a hotel lobby… you know, where they set up continental breakfasts. She keeps a room there, so she sits there with a cold cup of coffee.”

“Does she have any staff?”

“Lorena finds donors for her and that’s what she uses the room for… she does business like a drive through. Checkins and checkouts… the occasional dispute. I sit there every night helping her build her ‘Wisdom of Solomon’ reputation while Bill sits next to me.”

“And then you’re taken where? Do you have a guard?”

She shook her head. “Gwen’s house… well, nest. The three of them stay together. The room they put me in is like a panic room… the door is heavy like an air lock on a ship.”

“But they all go to rest at the house?”

She nodded. “I can only guess where it is though… they blindfold me… even then it’s too much of a crap shoot to try to look for it because they take different routes to throw me off.”

“Have you tried to escape on your own?”

She nodded. “I messed up my shoulder trying to open the door to my room… I’d tried before, but when Gwen gave me her blood, I gave it another shot because I was stronger.”

“Why didn’t you say something to the doctor who treated it?”

She grimaced, “What doctor? It’s a new way to control me… they just grab it. It’s fun for them because they know I won’t say anything about how much it hurts after the first time.”

I was almost afraid to ask. “What did they do?”

“I thought I was taking Tylenol…” She buried her face in her hands to moan, “They gave me four ecstasy tablets.” I shouldn’t have asked… and I definitely wasn’t going to ask what the drugs had made her do or how they toyed with her… since I could practically feel her humiliation, I didn’t need details.

As cocksure and feisty as the other Sookie had been, I preferred it.

Sookie had been through the emotional equivalent of a chop shop… Her blood and telepathy had been the only ‘parts’ Compton felt like keeping and he’d done his best to unload the rest of her.

“Describe the hotel.”

She wiped her face and cleared her throat. “It’s just a Holiday Inn Express. One clerk works the desk. The only other night staff is a maid, but she makes herself scarce. The lobby has a TV and a few sitting areas and computers, but it’s pretty much a ghost town at night anyway. The clerk can’t see the breakfast area from the counter. There’s security cameras at the entrances and right behind the counter, but nowhere else.”

“Gwen, Lorena and Bill… are they armed? Do they have gifts I should know about? What do they carry with them?”

“Gwen and Bill carry laptops. They all have cell phones… I’ve never seen them do anything out of the ordinary so if they have gifts, they’re keeping them quiet. I’ve seen them scuffle with other Vampires and they’re fast and strong, but they’ve almost been bested by Vampires their own age… Are you thinking you can get the better of them?”

“Easily.”

She finally smiled, even if it was miniscule. “Really?”

I nodded. “You smell like all of them. Are you bonded to any of them?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think so. I talked about it with the other Eric. I hadn’t heard of a bond until he mentioned it.”

“You haven’t had any instances like this before, the skipping?”

“No… I was thinking that you’d probably just send me in the Queen’s direction… are you sure you want to go to the trouble of…”

“Ending 3 Vampires is a small price to pay to have my own personal telepath, wouldn’t you say?”

She shrugged again. “I dunno about that… Then what? Are you taking me back to Holland?”

“Is there a reason for you to stay in Louisiana?” I couldn’t imagine that there would be since her family had been slaughtered and her house was ashes.

She frowned and shook her head. “I guess not. I was just curious… I’ve never really left the area.”

“Do you have an interest in seeing Hadley?”

She thought about it for a moment before she shook her head. “No… no, she’s… I hate her right now. If it hadn’t been for her, none of this would’ve happened… and in the journals, the only Hadleys that weren’t complete bitches were in versions where Gran was still alive… If she mouthed off to me at this point, I’d probably get myself killed trying to whoop her ass.” I actually smiled… there was a little spark left. Compton and his cronies hadn’t killed all of her spirit.

“Then our working plan is to end Gwen, Lorena and Bill, find where you were kept so you can retrieve your things, and then move on, location pending.”

She sighed, “We can skip the middle step. I don’t have anything.”

“Nothing? Your clothing and…”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I wasn’t even given any clothes because they thought I’d use them to hang myself. The only thing in my room is a futon and… a bucket.” That was more barbaric than necessary… those conditions were more apt for criminals. Slaves were given some freedoms, otherwise there was no way to control them other than brutality.

“Then returning to your cage will be replaced with shopping for some personal effects. From what I gather, we’ll be traveling light to return to our own reality.”

She nodded. “Eric said that Sookie’s purse was gone so he knew she had money and a cell. They can take small things.”

“Since they seem to be preoccupied with Sookie’s return, why don’t we join them so you can say goodbye to your brother and grandmother. We should move things along.”

She nodded, leaving my lap and standing to the side to wait for me.

**

I crashed the Welcome Home Party in the kitchen with Sookie obediently at my back.

Considering the way everyone looked at us, it had slipped their mind that we were in the house.

“We’ve come to an accord about how to remedy Sookie’s predicament. We only need to return.”

The Sookie I met first narrowed her eyes. “What kind of accord?”

“In exchange for my services, she’ll provide hers. How do we return?”

She demanded, “Details.”

“I kill her captors. She reads minds. Not that it’s any of your concern. How do we return?”

She leaned to look past me at her other self. “Are you ok with that? Seriously, if you’re not…”

The wrecked girl behind me hissed, “Please don’t piss him off. He’s agreed to help me. Shut. Up.” Broken, yet pragmatic.

The other Me took his arm away from his Sookie’s waist. “Sookie, why don’t you grab a few things and pack a bag for them while I… talk to myself for a moment.”

He pointed to the archway I’d just come through and led the way back to the study.

“Did she mention the hitch?”

I shook my head. “Other than the fact that she was kept like an animal and broken to the point of being a meat puppet?”

“You noticed?”

My eyes rolled on their own. “She agreed to being a slave for 10 years. I prefer yours. The one I’m left with doesn’t… the contrast is depressing at best. I left Amsterdam hoping to find a Sookie like yours. That would’ve been fun.”

“If you keep her for a decade, she might get some of her personality back.”

“I don’t intend to keep her. I only made the offer to determine how damaged she is. You healed her… did you sense any resistance?”

“None.”

“I told her that she’d be a telepathic blood doll for ten years… Yours would’ve hit me… in fact, she did hit me. That one was excited to be freed eventually. She didn’t even try to negotiate the terms.”

“If you don’t intend to keep her, then what are your plans?”

“End Compton’s despotic trio and return to Amsterdam. She’ll be free to do whatever the fuck she wants. I’ll give her some cash so that she can start over.”

“I don’t recommend it. She shouldn’t be left alone. You should keep her for a while so that she can get back on her feet. She doesn’t have anyone to keep her from being taken advantage of again… Perhaps give her to Pam.”

“I’ll consider it… If her state isn’t the hitch, then what is?”

“Sookie and I always return to our room. Any time we’ve hosted a skip, that couple returned to their room. We’ve yet to have company that wasn’t already a couple and to add to that, you can’t return from this house because the safe room doesn’t exist in your version. You could dig out, but Sookie would suffocate… Did you sell the house in Western Hills when you left the States?”

“No. I never sell property that hasn’t been compromised.”

“That’s what I was hoping… we think that if you go there, then you’ll still be in that house when you merge back into your reality.”

“You think?”

“We’re concerned that you and Sookie could return to your starting points.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem for me, but I’m assuming Sookie would keep her scent… she’d smell like she’d been in contact with others, yes?”

“It’s possible. This is a new ballgame… We return in the exact condition we lie down in… clothing and scents. It’s how we’re able to take small items with us like phones and Sookie’s purse. In the interest of continuity, Sookie’s going to have to try to reset after she showers to remove as much scent as possible. She’ll have to lie down nude since she was denied clothing… If you do return to your starting points, she’s going to have to play along until you can get back to Shreveport… would you still help her if that were the case?”

I nodded. “Sure. It would take a night or two for me to travel. Has she been prepared for that possibility?”

“She has… I suggest giving her your blood so that she’d be easier to find. Since I’ve given her my blood, the damage has been done. Given Compton’s track record for vindictiveness, she’ll most likely be punished. They’ll know she’s lying when she denies having been outside of her room.”

“And you healed her wounds.”

He huffed. “She remembers where they all were… She’s prepared to have you recreate them.”

“And suffer them all over again?”

“A means to an end. I doubt you’d be as rough… it was obvious that she was being held down.”

“She hasn’t lost all of her spirit if she was still an unwilling donor after several months…”

“When I healed her, she offered her neck to me in return. I doubt it was a feeding she was resisting.”

“If you can take things with you, then how would we be separated? If I just have a firm grip of her…”

“We can’t be sure of anything. Every time we notice a pattern, something happens to disprove the rule. We’re hoping it doesn’t happen. The other possibilities we’ve considered, is that you could go to either starting point.”

“Meaning, she could be sent to Amsterdam with me or I could end up in her cage.”

“Yes. In her cage, with three other Vampires on the other side of the door.”

“Is there a reason she can’t just be taken out through the wall?”

“It’s underground.”

“Fuck. Of all the times for Lorena to do something smart… that option would involve breaking the door down and getting into the open before they attempt to retrieve her.” Things just kept getting better.

“Right. She says there’s usually about half an hour after they rise before Bill enters her room.”

“She’s proving to be a lot of trouble.”

“I know you don’t have any preconceived notions that she’s worth it because I wouldn’t. She is worth it. Even if you only utilize her telepathy, she’ll easily return the favor.”

“I’ve yet to see her use it. How accurate is it?”

He chuckled, “She’s been using it all along. She can’t read Vampire minds, but she knows me inside and out and would’ve been reading your moods.”

“My moods? That sneaky little…”

“Bitch… only when she needs to be. I didn’t feel her usual panic from the landings either, so she was most likely using you then too… Free advice: give yours some time. If she rebounds, she’ll be fun too.”

“In the time she’s been here, have you seen any signs of life?”

“She was laughing with Alcide, Adele and Jason. She’s more reserved with Pam and me.”

“Conditioning.”

“Definitely. Did you see anything?”

“I asked her if she wanted to go to New Orleans to see Hadley. She mentioned that she might try beating her ass.”

His eyebrows went up. “That’s promising. Keep in mind, Sookie is a force to be reckoned with and Compton’s only had her for a few months. She could get back what made you follow Mine 5000 miles.”

“One can hope.”