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[onceaviking]

He feels her before he hears her, like a low tone mixing with the noise of the bar upstairs.
But he pretends (to himself most of all) to be busy, shifting his hold on Yvetta.

And then he can hear Pam descend, talking, and in front of her Sookie, calling out for Bill.

He stops and pulls out, leaving Yvetta dangling, naked and sweaty, from the chains on the wall.

Sookie. Oh, Sookie. She is dressed in something flowy and pale and she looks so sweet standing there, trying to pretend he isn't naked. Hard. In the middle of fucking a naked woman in chains.

Pam hovers, likely mostly due to said naked woman in chains and he sends her away. He wants to talk with Sookie alone.

Yvetta doesn't count. Not in this.

He does introduce them though, Yvetta from Estonia and Sookie from here, and Sookie says hi because not saying hi would be impolite. And she was brought up better than that. Which is as sweet as her dress and her neck and the way he is sure she'll taste.

He struts closer and yet she manages to keep her eyes on his face.
Almost.

He can feel her.
Angry.
Afraid.

She tells him that Bill is gone and that she thinks he has him. He refuses. Smiling a little. She asks him where he was earlier that night and he says here. With Yvetta.

She is incredulous. Not for six hours. Surely.

His smile grows smug as he asks her if Bill's stamina isn't up to snuff but she ignores that in favor of asking him where Loreena is. Now that he doesn't have Bill, she must.

He has to agree. It's a solid theory. But he tells her that he ought to talk with Loreena. All things considered.
And then he explains, that he is duty bound to find Bill if he has indeed been kidnapped. As his Sheriff. It's the truth.

And then one more truth slips out on the heel of the first, that it goes even if he does want what is his.

And his eyes glide down her neck, her bared shoulders, the half exposed curve of her breast, and then back to her face. Prettily made up. And not very convincingly brave.

His face is calm.

But all the while he feels the anger, no, the rage inside boil.
There has been no word from his assassin. Nothing.

If this is a fuck up, if he has somehow managed to not kill Bill Compton -

He keeps his face calm as Sookie ascends the stairs, reminding him that he owes her money.

He keeps his face calm as he unshackles Yvetta and tells her to leave.

He keeps his face calm as he goes upstairs to his office to pull on track pants.

It's closing time. He can hear the crowd slowly moving outside.

He keeps his face calm as he calls for Pam, hitting the speed dial on his cell.

If this is a fuck up -

Comments

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam had watched Sookie leave the club with a look on her face that made her resemble a spooked owl. Then again, she always sort of did have that expression.

Not even a goodbye? So much for politeness.

As it nears closing time, Pam checks all the nooks and crannies (i.e., the restrooms) for any stragglers, and Ginger starts wiping down all the tables.

Eventually Yvetta shows up. She's pretty exhausted. And tonight was her night off. Pam smirks as she staggers out the door into the approaching dawn.

And suddenly Pam gets that shiver that travels up and down her spine. Eric is summoning her. The sensation has grown to become pleasurable over the decades, but this time there's an angry echo to it, like a white hot burn.

Something's seriously wrong.

It's got to be about Sookie and Bill. Fuck.

She tells Ginger to lock up and go home, and with vampire speed she heads downstairs to the dungeon.

[onceaviking]

He's taken to using the dungeon whenever his business is nobody else's. Most employees quickly learn not to barge in. It should be obvious why that is a bad idea, but a lot of the babyvamps have clearly been made by lax and neglectful vampires, who've failed to tell them that not pissing off someone like Eric is a good idea.
And their humans parents have clearly never taught them anything useful either.

He is down there, pacing, his short red silk robe practically billowing every time he turns.
His call hadn't been picked up the first two times.

That alone would make him furious.

But finally there's an answer. And as Pam enters she will see him listen, one finger resting against his blue tooth headset.

His posture is tense, the seething anger visible in the set of his shoulders.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Well, fuck.

This is bad.

Pam remains standing at the foot of the concrete stairs, well out of Eric's way as he paces.

It's one thing to merely see Eric when he's furious. It's a whole different thing to feel him, in her blood, right through to the marrow of her bones.

Also? Not a good idea to be on the receiving end of his anger.

She waits in silence, hands on her hips and watching him closely, nearly as tense as he is. More for his sake than anyone else's.

[onceaviking]

The anger is easy to hear as well as he lays into the assassin, Mr, Rubin, on the other end of the line.

"You remember our conversation? I asked you to do one thing for me. Bring me Bill Compton. And you said, "Done." So why wasn't it done, Mr.Rubin?"

He is interrupted by explanations and excuses but Eric has no time for that, even at the best of times.

This is not the best of times.

He tears out the small Bluetooth headset and practically screams, "You failed me.
How could you fail me?!"

[lazy_but_loyal]

His enraged bellow reverberates throughout the dungeon.

"Eric," Pam says firmly.

She had hardly bat an eyelash at his outburst and she is as stone-faced as usual. But just as Eric understands all her moods, she understands his as well -- especially when he lets his emotions get the better of him. It usually isn't a good thing when he can't think straight and becomes impulsive, sometimes irrationally so.

She is not going to let him lose control of this situation. It's a fucking major setback. They can't afford to make another mistake now, and his yelling about it isn't going to do any good.

[onceaviking]

He ignores her, snarling, "Find him Mr. Rubin. Or tomorrow's sunset will be your last." His voice is back to low. Low and menacing.
His fangs are smarting.

He puts the earpiece back and listens to yet another excuse from Mr. Rubin. And ignoring Pam. Again.

"Well, then I suggest you find a day walker you can trust to find him for you," he says by way of goodbye and pulls the earpiece out again.

Pacing.

He takes a few calming breaths.

They aren't helping.

"What?!"

Sounding angry and tense. Aware, even with his back turned, of Pam looking at him. Seeing him.

He wants to fucking kill something.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She may not be getting through to him completely just yet, but at least he's not shouting anymore. His rage is still misdirected. At this point they can't depend on a fuck-up like Rubin. There's a bigger picture here, and she's already dreading the consequences.

Finally, Eric hangs up.

And she stares at the back of his head.

"You're losing it," she says flatly, but still firmly.

He may want to kill something but he needs to calm the fuck down and think.

[onceaviking]

"How is that helpful, Pam?"

Still so very, very angry.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She ignores that.

She'll have to do the reasoning for both of them.

"You need to call the Queen."

And she's serious about it.

[onceaviking]

"The Queen is the last person I need finding out," he grinds out, turning to face her.

She will go ballistic.

[lazy_but_loyal]

As much as it sometimes seems like it, the world does not revolve around Eric Northman. There will be fallout.

"You're not the only one whose fate hangs in the balance here," she reminds him.

If he goes down, she'll go down with him.

[onceaviking]

His upper lip twitch.

It's not the good kind of twitch.

"And what do you think the queen will do if I tell her I've lost the one vampire who could link her to the dealing of vampire blood?" he asks her, voice almost back to normal.

"And that I have no idea where he is?"

He is trying to hold on to the anger now on purpose. Anger is better than dread.

He can't let her feel that.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She staunchly faces him, continuing to meet his eyes.

"What do you think she'll do if she finds out from someone else?" she counters.

A shitfit from Sophie-Ann could reach epic proportions.

And there's no doubt that it could go up as high as the Magister in no time.

This is where they have to head things off. Before it gets to him and the Authority. It's too late to keep it from Sophie-Ann but they can deal with her.

Hopefully. (Crazy bitch.)

Pam's voice is slow and clear:

"Call. The Queen."

[onceaviking]

"There are times when I seek your counsel, Pam," he says. Slowly.

Eric's always been proud of his ability to move with the times. Let other vampires revel in archaic eccentricities.
When he veers into stilted grammar and old words, he's normally pretty fucking serious.

He turns his back on her.

"Now is not one of those times."

[lazy_but_loyal]

Turning his back on her is like a slap in the face.

She scowls.

She knows she's right.

But he's still too angry to listen to reason. Every minute he spends fuming is time wasted.

"Fine," she snaps.

"I'm going to ground, then."

No point sticking around any longer if he's too fucking stubborn to do anything else except rant and rave and punch holes in the walls or whatever. He'll cool down eventually. She just doesn't have the patience for that right now. It's almost dawn, and she's not in the mood to get the bleeds over this.

So she turns on her heel and ascends the stairs, leaving Eric to do what he will.

[onceaviking]

He hears her leave.

He feels her leave. Angry and impatient.
Worried.

He swallows. Dryly. A pointless habit left over from when his heart was still beating. When he still produced saliva.

For a moment, just a single, solitaire moment, he allows himself to wish that Godric was still here.

Then he clenches his jaws, shuts off his phone, and heads back upstairs.

Where the fuck is Bill Compton?