Sookie's house, Bon Temps

[onceaviking]

He feels her as he races through the darkness.
And then, when he gets close enough, he hears her too.

And that little piece of shit Bill Compton, doing his very best Southern Gentleman impersonation.
And she sounds like she is buying it.

Well, soon she'll change her tune. He is sure of that.

He can smell her tears as he rushes up towards the house. He can hear Bill Compton's footsteps as he walks toward the door. And then stops.
He can hear her tell him, "Don't go."

And then he slows down to a relaxed, measured pace and walks onto the porch. Still covered in cement.

The door springs open. And he says, "Did you tell her you were originally sent by the queen of Louisiana to procure her because of what she might be?"
Sounding casually inquisitive, with his hands in his pockets, looking down at the deck of Sookie's porch.
And then he raises his eyes to Bill's face.
And smiles.

Just a little.

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[dobadthings]

When Bill appeared on Sookie's doorstep, and he asked to talk, she let him inside. She actually let him inside. Even after everything he'd done, everything that happened, she still let him inside.

That was one thing he could always count on from her. Her trust. But how many betrayals will she stand before she truly never trusts him again?

And so he told her that Russell was gone. And she seemed relieved.

And he told her that Eric was gone, too. That he had ended him.

And she seemed...not as relieved or grateful as he hoped. But he expected that.

Bill explained to her that he was going to bring the True Death to anyone who had ever tasted her or knew what she was. Russell, Eric, Pam, the Queen. Just to keep Sookie safe, even if he would no longer be a part of her life.

He stands up to leave. A blood tear begins to roll down his cheek.

"I have never loved, nor will I ever love, as I have loved you."

Sookie, sweet, trusting Sookie, tells him not to go.

But then the front door flies open and--

--there stands Eric, covered from head to toe in dried, chalky cement.

He looks ridiculous and Bill would laugh except he's too in shock. His scheme failed. And practically right in front of Sookie.

There are no lies to hide behind now. And she was buying them all so well until this moment.

Sookie looks to him for an answer, and he falters.

"I did not know why she wanted you," he says sincerely. "As I got to know you, I purposely kept you from her."

[onceaviking]

Eric watches them.

He does sincerity very well, the good Mr. Compton.
But there's more to come.

He turns his back on them and slowly strolls across the porch so he can lean against one of the posts.

He doesn't have to look at them. Her voice says it all - even if he couldn't feel her emotions through the bond - as she asks, "Were you ever gonna tell me?"


She is hurt. And disgusted.
And angry.

[dobadthings]

Bill was so close to getting her back. Again.

The blood tears flow quicker.

"I hoped to someday," he insists.

At this point it comes off as lame and desperate.

"I swear it!"

He is sorry that he put her through so much pain.

He is also sorry that she had to find out. Like this.

[onceaviking]

Eric removes a speck of cement from his hair and studies it. Letting Bill's words hang in the air. Patheticly.

And then he flicks the speck away and asks, "What about you letting two psychos beat her within an inch of her life so you could feed her your blood the night you met?"

Looking over at Bill to see his face as his future - his sappy deluded future of candle-lit dinner parties and third grade teaching and a herb garden - dies.

"Think she'll forgive you for that?"

He feels Sookie's chok. Her growing horror. Her disgust.

Maybe she is remembering what it felt like to be beaten to a bloody pulp? Her voice certainly hints at that as she gasps, "Oh my God."

Because it's more than just the violence. It's the blood.
He doesn't have to spell out what this means. Contrary to popular beliefs concerning women of certain hair colours and cup sizes, Sookie isn't stupid.
Naive, yes. Gullible, yes. Too trusting - well, just look at how willingly she would trust Bill.
And Eric himself.
But mostly Bill.

Everything's a lie, Sookie. Everything.

[dobadthings]

And Bill is remembering that night, too.

Sookie's limp, broken body, pouring sweet blood from terrible wounds; and how she trusted him then, a stranger, a vampire, to drink his blood straight from his wrist.

From then on, he would always feel her. Know her. At every moment, asleep or awake.

"Sookie..." he pleads, not really having an explanation for her except that it had been a necessity. A cold, hard necessity.

[onceaviking]

"Is it true?"

She isn't counting on him to tell her yes. There is no hope in her voice. He can tell.

And for the briefest moment, Eric almost regrets telling her.

But this isn't about Sookie.
It's about Bill fucking Compton.

[dobadthings]

It's difficult for Bill to look at Sookie now. The hurt in her eyes, the hurt that she feels, is too much.

He did fall in love with her. He did. And he still does love her. But he will forever be torn in half by what he'd done to her, and how he felt for her. Wracked with guilt, he dreaded the day that it would ever come to this.

When he would be exposed, and she would finally know the truth.


"...Yes."

[onceaviking]

Admission!

Eric looks over at Sookie, as he continues in a soft tone of voice, "He tried to silence me tonight so you would never know. He doesn't want to protect you. He only wants to protect himself."

And while that is an admirable quality is general as far as Eric is concerned, it does rather clash with therest of Bill'sclaims.

And Sookie seems to think so too.

Finally.

With tear-filled eyes, she furiously hisses, "Get out of my house," at Bill.

[dobadthings]

But he does, he does want to protect her! ...And himself as well, but-!

The sheer intensity of Sookie's anger as she rescinds her invitation is a force that sends Bill flying backwards. He grabs onto the doorframe to keep from being thrown to the ground.

"Please...!"

[onceaviking]

She is openly crying now, tears of anger and pain, as she continues, "Don't ever come here. Don't ever call me. Don't ever talk to me. Ever!"

Eric manages to hide a smirk.

It's like watching a stupid dog get kicked repeatedly in the face.

And he was right. She understood perfectly what he implied with his accusations. He knows it for sure, when she grinds, "You manipulated me into falling in love with you!" Angrily staring at Bill with his bloody tears and his wet excuses.

[dobadthings]

Bill's clinging desperately to the doorframe by his fingertips. He's never seen her so furious, so hurt, and her voice rips right through him like a stake through the heart.

"It is who you are, Sookie, not what you are that I love, and will love always, until I meet the True Death!" he declares.

[onceaviking]

Eric winces internally.

Bad move there, Billy-boy. The time for magnimonius declarations are clearly past.

Sookie stares at him and then she scream, " Love? You don't even get to use that word! I rescind my invitation!"

[dobadthings]

"No-!"

Bill is blown clean off the porch and he lands in a heap in the dirt at the bottom of the porch stairs.

Blood tears streaking his face, he struggles to his hands and knees and looks up at her pleadingly. One last time.

He slowly gets to his feet.

Defeated, his gaze briefly shifts to Eric.


And then he walks off into the night.

[onceaviking]

"I want my phone back," Eric tells his retreating form.

"You too. Get the fuck off my porch and out of my life," Sookie snarls at him, and he looks back at her, before moving, at vampire speed, right up in front of her.

Towering over her.

She looks up at him. Wide-eyed, but unafraid. Too furious to be sensible.

"For the record," he says, voice pitched low, "I would never have given you to Russell."

She want nothing of it.
"Go back to hell where you came from, you dead piece of shit," she spits, eyes filled with tears.

His face softens. Just a little.
He can feel her.
How upset she is beneath the anger and fury.

"I am sorry to see you suffer like this," he tells her.
"I thought you had a right to know."

And then he is gone. Disappeared into the night.