You Reap What You Sow

It’s been a week since Eric and Pam left Shreveport on their quest for vengeance. I’ve thrown myself back in my nightly routine, hoping that the familiar would ease the ache inside me. Hell, I’d even gone to a party at Sookie’s to celebrate life as Lafayette called it. And I was actually having a good time until Lettie Mae stabbed me with a knife. I felt bad for the woman because she thinks my blood will let her reunite with Tara. I wish my blood did let her see Tara, just so that I could find out if my friend was finally at peace. While at the party, I asked Arlene if I could have a job at her bar. It’s not like I have a lot of options given the state of the world today. Besides, it gives me something to do. I need to keep busy or else I’m gonna go insane.

I actually felt bad for Sookie while at the party. You could tell she was very uncomfortable around everyone and that she was highly emotional. When Andy proposed to Holly, I watched as Sookie and Arlene ran upstairs to hide. I knew Sookie was sad and lonely; I just couldn’t figure out which of her former beaus she was crying over. It seemed like all of them to be honest. And Bill was doing his creepy thing of being there when Sookie needed a shoulder to cry on. Is she really so stupid she can’t tell when he’s manipulating her or is she that lonely? Then again, does it matter?

In the spirit of moving on, I actually took things to the next level with Michael. He’s a nice guy and the sex was good, but it wasn’t earth shattering. I definitely see what others have meant about blood tasting better when the human is mid orgasm. But something still feels off; I feel hollow. I want something different . . . I want something more than the existence I have. The problem is I don’t know how to get it.

Tonight Arlene has gathered all the staff at the bar. She decided that the only way to encourage people to come out at night is show that we aren’t afraid to be open. She tried to use some quote from Field of Dreams but she didn’t get it right. I’m not surprised; she rarely gets anything right. And what the hell does a five hundred year old vampire see in her? She’s a hypocrite with a bad dye job. He can’t feed from her, so why the fuck is Keith pursuing her? I don’t get it; I really don’t. Is there something in the water of this town that makes it a beehive of supernatural activity?

Of course, while we’re in here, Sookie comes in with Jessica. It comes as an extreme shock to learn that Bill is now infected with Hepatitis V, and from the sound of things, the disease is destroying his body at an accelerated speed. It’s not shocking to learn that Sookie is the one that infected him. It always seemed that their “love story” was doomed to end in death. To be honest, I thought Sookie would have been the one to die first and then Bill would have followed after her because that’s what happens in all tragic love stories. Their story is the vampire edition of Romeo and Juliet.

How can Jessica be so calm about her maker dying? I know Eric and I have an awful relationship, but even I feel some regret that he will meet his end due to this disease. I follow Jessica outside before she can leave to find out what’s going on.

“Jess?” The titan-haired beauty leans against her car. Her beautiful face is streaked with bloody tears as she sobs uncontrollably. I approach her cautiously, not wanting her to reflexively attack me. She turns around to look at me and then collapses in my arms.

“Bill’s dyin”!”

“I know sweetie,” I tell her softly as my arms wrap around her waist. I understand all to well the pain that comes with knowing you are losing your maker. Unlike Jessica, I will not feel the gut-wrenching pain that will go with my maker’s demise, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still feel pain knowing his days on this plane are numbered.

“He’s so fuckin’ selfish! There’s a goddamn cure and he won’t take it! Why won’t he take it? How can he want to die?” Wait, what? When the hell did they find a cure for Hep V?

“What do you mean there’s a cure? I haven’t heard anything at all about that.” Jessica had moved out of my embrace while she had been on her angry rant, pacing so fast that her steps have created a rut in the dirt and gravel. She suddenly stops and stares at me in horror, her mouth dropping open when she gasps in shock.

“Oh shit! I didn’t mean to say that! Eric’s gonna kill me if he finds out I told you,” she says worriedly.

“Eric? As in Eric Northman? The vampire who made me?” And later abandoned me, my inner voice adds to the conversation.

Jessica grins nervously, dropping her hands to her side as she walks closer to me. “He can’t be mad at me right? I mean, I’m only tellin’ you and he’s your maker. He probably planned to tell you himself when he is able to get away from those Japanese men that are camped out in Fangtasia. I don’t know what’s goin’ on, but Eric seemed really scared of those guys, which is really scary, because Eric isn’t scared of anything!” Jessica’s erratic emotions during her speech make me want to slap her so she’ll focus on the topic at hand.

“Let’s back up for a minute,” I say trying to get her to focus. “How did Eric get a cure?”

“Sarah Newlin,” she spits out angrily. I know there is no love lost between Jessica and Sarah. They have fought over Jason Stackhouse (now THAT I understand) and that’s how Jess ended up in Vamp Camp. My almost step-mother made sure that Jessica was put through all kinds of hell while in camp. If I had been Jessica, I would have made sure Sarah had died when Eric liberated Vamp Camp. That would have been the first thing I did when freed.

“Apparently they found her in Dallas. I don’t know why Eric and Pam have teamed up with the Japanese, but they are planning on synthesizing Sarah Newlin’s blood and distributing it as the cure. She apparently injected herself with the antidote to Hep V before fleeing the camp. She’s chained up in the basement spouting some spiritual bullshit and talking to her dead ex-husband,” Jessica says in apathy.

“Did Eric take the cure?” Every word is said slowly and deliberately. I know what the answer is but I need to hear it.

“Of course he did,” Jessica looks at me as if I’m stupid for even suggesting he wouldn’t. I feel like snapping at her that her maker is the stupid mother fucker that isn’t taking it!

“Willa you can’t tell anybody about this,” Jessica rushes forward pleading with me. “If others find out,” she begins only for me to cut her off.

“Don’t worry Jess,” I say while giving her a forced smile but she can’t tell that it’s completely insincere. “You’re secret is safe with me.” Jess smiles in thanks before climbing in her vehicle and leaving the parking lot.

How fucking dare he?!?!?!?! He finds the cure, takes it, and is completely healed and he can’t bother to fucking tell me?!?!?!?!?! What about all the regret he felt before leaving for Dallas and wishing he could atone for his mistakes? Was it the illness or was he just paying me lip service so I would give him the information he wanted?

I hate my fucking maker!

I wish he had met the True Death because of this disease! Eric Northman condemned me to this life and didn’t have the fucking decency to teach me how to survive. I hope he trips on a stake! Maybe these Japanese assholes, whoever they are will end his miserable, selfish existence. I pray to God that they do!

With nothing to do out here, I head back inside; flinging the door open so hard it nearly comes off the hinges.

“Hey now! You break it, you bought it!” Arlene’s shrill voice comes from the table where everyone has gathered to eat dinner. My fangs snap down in annoyance but I keep my lips firmly closed, tasting the blood in my mouth from where my fangs have pierced my gums and cheeks. I want to drain Arlene, teach her that she is at the bottom of the food chain. I would too if she weren’t infected.

But why should that stop me? Daddy dearest has the fucking cure! Maybe I should drain everyone in here and be done with this fucked up town. I take a step forward but stop when my eyes land on my first victim. Wait a minute . . .

Eric . . .

Sookie . . .

Son of a bitch!!!!!!

Sookie fucking knows Eric is cured because she came in with Jessica. And I’m guessing Sookie is the one that took Bill and Jessica to Fangtasia to get the cure. But how did she know?

Because Eric told her, that’s how!

My fucking maker chose to tell the woman who has turned her back on him countless times instead of telling his progeny? He told the heartless bitch that only pretends to care about him when she needs something instead of telling the woman he gave eternal life to?!?! Was he ever going to tell me or was I supposed to think he’d succumbed to this deadly disease?

Why do I mean nothing to him?

He gave me this life, why hasn’t he been here to guide me? Is there something wrong with me that makes every man who is supposed to be a father to me reject me unless it’s for their own selfish purposes? What is it about me that shouts use me and abuse me?

Well, I’m sick of being someone else’s punching bag. It’s time someone else played the victim. And I know just who it will be.

***

The smell of death hangs heavily in the air. The smell of decay wafts through the air from the cemetery but there is a more pungent order coming from the Compton home. It’s a combination of the scent of illness that lingers in hospitals combined with the putrid rotting of flesh from the inside out. The scent is getting stronger so it must mean that Bill is on his way to the cemetery.

Sookie is already in the cemetery, standing beside the excavated grave of William T. Compton. How fitting, I think sarcastically. Bill wants to die in the place where his loved ones buried an empty coffin. I guess he views it as him finally going home or being where he’s needed. Melodramatic asshole merely wants to twist the dagger of guilt more firmly in Sookie’s chest if you ask me. If Bill truly wants to meet the True Death before the disease destroys his body, then he could easily meet the sun or stick a stake in his own chest. Suicide by fairy is not the way I would want to go out.

I hang back far enough so that I can see the two of them, but I know that Bill cannot detect me. And I doubt that Sookie is using her telepathy now since she thinks she is having a private moment between her and Bill. If I were her and I had gone through the insane amount of shit that she has in the last few years, I would never block the thoughts of others. It could mean the difference between life and death.

But her lack of common sense will be to my advantage.

I have no sympathy for either of the two beings that I am watching; they are both pathetic fools that do not understand the concepts of love and loyalty. They are both selfish creatures that care nothing for how their actions impact the existences of others. Bill and Sookie were made for each other; two self-absorbed creatures that claim to love others but really only love themselves. They are a perfect match, and one should not be without the other.

And that is why it will be my absolute pleasure to send her to her death shortly after she ends Bill.

My decision to kill Sookie Stackhouse was further cemented last evening by the fact that Eric was hiding in the shadows outside of Bellefleur’s waiting to speak to her. He had nothing to say to me, his progeny; he couldn’t even bother to let me know that he had been cured. To be honest, I don’t think he knew I was there. All of his attention was focused on Sookie. As I watched them from the shadows, it galled me to see how Eric interacted with her. Rather than stand tall, he hunched his impressive frame so that he would not intimidate her; he tried to comfort her. His eyes looked like a puppy dog’s; big, innocent, and full of love for the woman in front of him.

How could he possibly love her?!?! She is so far beneath him when it comes to everything. I know I’m not in the same league as Eric, but I’m his fucking child! He made me! I was chosen to walk this world as an immortal, yet he has no more concern for me than he does for the lightning bugs that flicker in the night. I hate him! He should have just killed me instead of turning me. Now I am alone in this world with no friends and no family. It disgusts me to watch this display of emotion between Bill and Sookie. Just fucking do it already! How is it she is so in love with Bill today when last night she was inviting Eric inside her home? I know her coy little invitation had been for a booty call. Thank God Eric had turned her down; otherwise I would have gone in the house and staked them both. Sookie’s emotions remind me of a faucet; they run hot and cold, a slow drip or a forceful rush. All you have to do is turn the handle to get whatever reaction you want.

The anticipation is making me edgy. Bill has climbed down in his grave and Sookie has broken the wooden handle of the shovel to make a stake. She climbs in the pit with Bill, so I creep forward. My fangs are fully down and my mouth is salivating at the thought of fresh blood. I don’t even care that she is going to infect me; I’ll find a way to get the cure. Or maybe I won’t. What do I have to live for anyway?

I hear Sookie cry out in a loud sob followed by the sound of an explosion and then the splat of goo as it settles in the coffin. Good-bye Bill Compton. I can’t say I care that you are gone, but I do feel bad for Jessica knowing that she has lost her maker. It’s a pain I can understand all too well. Both of us have been abandoned by the one’s that made us.

Sookie’s hand shoots up out of the grave, clawing at the ground to pull her body up. Rather than watch her struggle, I grab her hand to help her. She gasps in surprise seeing me, but then smiles weakly when she sees me. She offers me her other hand and I take it helping her out of the grave.

“Willa what are you doin’ here? Are you here to comfort Jess?” Sookie stands next to me, brushing the dirt from her hands before wiping at the tears on her face.

“Actually I was lookin’ for you,” I say with a smile showing my extended fangs. Sookie jumps back startled, but before she can regroup I wrap hands around her arms and yank her against me. This position keeps her from turning her hands so she won’t be able to use her light on me as I’ve seen her do with others. My fangs sink savagely in her neck, tearing open the flesh so that I can get to her jugular. I don’t care that her blood is spurting all over from the open wound, saturating my hair and my clothes. Nothing matters except the rhythm of her heartbeat; that glorious sound so strong, so steady. Thump, thump, thump. A staccato march that makes me drink hungrily from her wound; enjoying the heady flavor of fear that makes her blood so much sweeter than anything I’d ever tasted. It’s better than the finest chocolate I’d ever tasted as a human. Sookie struggles in my arm; crying, pleading with me to stop. But the sound of her pleas only fuels my hunger, making me pull more strongly on the wound.

Thump, thump . . . thump, thump. The rhythm of the music is changing, slowing down to become more languid. Her declining heartbeat and shallow breathing let me know that she is nearing the point where the amount of blood loss will be fatal. The feeble struggles of her body have stopped, making her like a rag doll in my arms.

Thump . . . thump . . .

With one last swallow, I retract my fangs from Sookie Stackhouse and let her body tumble in the open grave. She lies there looking like a rag doll; limp and lifeless. I smile with a smug sense of satisfaction knowing how much Sookie’s death is going to hurt Eric. His beloved fairy will be no more.

“NO!!!!!!!” My smiles freezes as a loud bellow pierces the night sky. Before I can react at all, I feel a sharp stabbing pain in my chest, completely crippling me. When I look down, there is a large tree branch sticking out of my chest and Eric is in the grave with his bleeding wrist up to Sookie’s lips.

I smile in satisfaction as I feel the magic in my body fading away and my limbs beginning to disintegrate. At last, I’ll be at peace. My final comforting thought is that Sookie is too far gone to recover, which means Eric will turn her. She will hate him forever, the greatest punishment as far as I’m concerned.

~ The End

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