Fool No More: Chapter Fifteen

“What the hell do you want?”

Eric chuckled when he heard Sookie’s greeting; he couldn’t believe she had opened the door dressed only in his shirt. However, as he thought about it, he realized she was sending a message to the vampire at the door. She had worn his clothes and carried his scent. She was making it perfectly clear she was His.

“Well, what the hell do you want?” Sookie repeated, her hands going to her hips as she stared down the unwelcome vampire.

Bill stared at Sookie in shock, taken aback by her greeting. He knew things were tense between them the last time they had seen one another; he believed this was due to the “unfortunate incident” that had occurred in the trunk of the Lincoln, but he wasn’t expecting her hostility. Two years had passed since that time when he had lost his control, and Bill believed this to have been plenty of time for Sookie to “get over it” and realize she had more than overreacted.

“I was worried about you, sweetheart,” Bill finally replied as he pushed his way into her hotel room. A growl tore from his throat as he noticed a naked Eric lounging on the bed.

“Come in, why don’t you?” Sookie snorted as she closed the door turning to face Bill. She shook her head as she stared at him and wondered what she had ever seen in him. Next to her Viking, Bill was nothing. “Why is it you would be worried about me now?” A moan tumbled from Sookie’s lips as she saw Eric stretch out on the bed, and she wanted nothing more than to get rid of Bill in order to go join her vampire in bed. “No, you know what? It doesn’t matter; I don’t care,” she added, dismissing his concerns with a wave of her hand. “I’m fine. In fact, I’m much better than fine. Now if that’s all, you may leave. I’ve got much better things to do.”

“Much better,” Eric purred, giving Sookie a smoldering look.

“No!” Bill growled, insulted by both her tone and behavior. “You disappeared two years ago without a trace, taking my database with you. I never heard a word from you…”

“Didn’t you give him my message?” Sookie asked, directing the question to Eric as she interrupted Bill.

“I did,” Eric told her as he rose from the bed. Grabbing his pants and pulling them up, while purposely leaving them unbuttoned, he strolled towards Sookie telling her, “I passed your message along.”

“So you did hear from me?” Sookie said, casting her eyes back to Bill. “It was just a message you didn’t want to hear. Now, will that be all?”

Bill couldn’t believe his ears at the way Sookie was speaking to him, of all vampires! He always knew she had a fire, but never to this extent, and she had never directed at him. Bill wasn’t sure he liked this Sookie. He wanted the old one back, the one who had given him both her love and trust.

“Where have you been?” Bill asked, attempting to move the conversation in the direction he wanted.

“Away,” Sookie replied simply, making no attempt to expand on her answer.

“Away where?” Bill questioned, not liking her vague answer.

“None of your business,” Sookie answered.

“None of my business?” Bill sputtered. “Sookie, you are…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Sookie growled in warning as she interrupted. “I am NOT yours and will NEVER be. Where I have been, or was, and what I’ve been, or was, doing is none of your business.”

“Yet I suppose it is Eric’s,” Bill replied petulantly, unable to help keep his mouth shut, as usual.

“As a matter of fact, it is,” Sookie admitted.

“Are you His now?” Bill asked reluctantly, hating that he even had to ask.

“Yes,” Sookie answered truthfully, making Eric smile. “I’m Eric’s, just as Eric is mine; there is nothing you can say or do to change that, so don’t even try.”

Bill scowled as he heard her words. Things were not going as he had planned. Bill had foolishly believed Sookie would run into his arms and tell him how sorry she was for running away from him. He wasn’t expecting her to tell him she was now Eric’s, and he hated it. He despised Eric.

Unlike the rest of the vampires in Area Five, Bill had been ecstatic when Eric’s Maker had arrived. Bill had been well aware that Sookie stayed in contact with Eric and he absolutely hated it. Bill couldn’t stand that his Sookie had reached out to the Viking but not him.

When Appius had shown up with the marriage contract to Oklahoma, Bill was overcome with joy. He knew the contract would destroy any possibility of the remaining relationship between Eric and Sookie. His Sookie would never become involved with a married man.

Sophie-Anne’s objections to the contract had aggrieved Bill, but even in that he had found some pleasure. Watching Appius punish Eric over their Queen’s objections had been a sight to behold. Seeing the mighty Viking brought to his knees, literally, pleased Bill more than he could ever describe. Many a night Bill had masturbated to the image of Eric on his knees and sucking the cock of some worthless blood bag.

As he stared at Sookie, Bill wondered if she knew how her precious Viking had been a whore for half of the fangbangers of Area Five. A cruel smile spread across his face as he considered graphically describing to her all about how her strong, powerful Sheriff had moaned like a bitch while he had taken it up the ass from a disgusting Were.

Bill was sure that would change her mind. He couldn’t wait to tell her about it all, but he was wise enough to choose the correct timing. Now was not the time. Eric could definitely stop him, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t above sewing a few seeds of doubt in her mind.

“You think you can trust him?” Bill sneered.

“Compton,” Eric growled in warning as he took a step toward the younger vampire.

“Yes, I do, Bill,” Sookie said, placing a hand on Eric’s arm and stopping. “I trust Eric more than I ever trusted you. You can go ahead and play all the little games you like, but it won’t make any tiny shred of difference. You will never make me doubt Eric, so just stop already!”

We will see about that, Bill thought to himself.

“Unlike you, Bill, Eric has never hurt me.” Turning her gaze to Eric, Sookie smiled at her Viking, love shining in her eyes. “It was never Eric, who had me running.”

“You can’t honestly be saying it was me from whom you were running, Sookie!” Bill snarled.

“Who else would have had her running?” Eric snapped. He couldn’t believe that Bill was still under the mistaken impression he had done nothing wrong. “I would have thought by now, you might have gotten the message, but then you were never very bright, were you, Bill? Two years ago you accused me of having something to do with Sookie’s disappearance.”

“Why the hell would you think that?” Sookie asked bewildered. “What happened?”

Two years earlier

“Where is she?” Bill growled, as he barged into Eric’s office. His face contorted into an angry scowl.

“Where is who?” Eric asked as he looked up from the paperwork he was doing. “By the way, please, come in.”

“Sookie!” Bill spat, glaring balefully at Eric. “She’s not at home, and I can’t enter the house…”

“That is because she rescinded your invitation,” Eric replied with a smirk.

“It was just a misunderstanding,” Bill said dismissively.

“A misunderstanding,” Eric repeated, disbelief creeping into his tone. “You call betraying and cheating on her a misunderstanding? You raped and almost drained her. That is not a misunderstanding. That is abuse.”

“I couldn’t help myself,” Bill defended. “I was starving and had been tortured. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“The devil made me do it is not an excuse, Bill,” Eric replied.

“If I’d have been in my right mind, I would have never hurt Sookie,” Bill argued.

“You really are going to stand there and lie to me, aren’t you?” Eric said. He shook his head at Bill’s inability to take responsibility for his own actions. “You were in your right mind when you went running back to Lorena…”

“She was my Maker, I had no choice,” Bill cut in.

“Don’t give me that shit,” Eric growled, his voice rising as his anger grew. “I understand the hold a Maker has over you. I know they can command you to do anything, but you chose to climb back into bed with her. You chose to lie to and betray Sookie. If Lorena had used her Maker’s command to have you cheat and deceive Sookie, she would have also used it to make you tell her where the database was or to just bring it to her. I do not begin to claim I understand why she didn’t, but I suspect it is because she didn’t have as strong a hold over you as you claim. It also begs the question of how Lorena knew about the database in the first place. Sophie-Anne had ordered it created and demanded silence on the matter. Only a few vampires in Louisiana knew about it, so how did Lorena find out? Or are you going to claim she commanded you to tell her about it as well?”

“She was my Maker,” Bill repeated weakly.

“Meaning you told her in a pathetic attempt to impress her,” Eric scoffed. “You are no innocent victim in this, Bill, so stop pretending you are one.”

“I was starved and tortured,” Bill whined.

“I have been starved and tortured, but I managed to refrain from raping and almost draining the woman I claimed to love,” Eric replied, casting his gaze over Bill judgmentally. He didn’t bother to add he hadn’t actually loved anyone, but the sentiment was the same.

“I’m not here to answer to you!” Bill spat, not appreciating the way Eric was treating him. “I’m here because I want to know what you have done with Sookie.”

“I haven’t done anything with Sookie,” Eric replied simply. “There are plenty of things I would like to do to her,” he added with a wicked smirk.

“She’s not at her house…” Bill said.

“This is somehow my fault?” Eric questioned.

“Her car is still there, but she has gone,” Bill continued. “No one has seen her since the night we returned…”

“Maybe she needed to get away for a few days,” Eric suggested. “You can hardly blame her—”

“My Sookie would never leave without telling me,” Bill replied arrogantly as he cut Eric off. He was convinced Eric had done something to her, and he wouldn’t stand for it. Sookie was His, and as soon as he had a chance to speak to her without Eric interfering, he would make her understand he had no choice in returning to Lorena. He would explain the hold Lorena had over him and make Sookie see it wasn’t his fault, just as it was not his fault with what happened in the trunk of the car. While it was regrettable, he couldn’t be held accountable for his natural instincts.

“Are you brain damaged?” Pam asked as she barged into the office. She, along with all the other vampires at the bar, had overheard everything Bill had said, and she, for one, had had enough.

“This doesn’t concern you!” Bill spat as he glared at her.

“You barge into the club I own, where I’m a shareholder, and accuse my Maker, your Sheriff, of having something to do with the disappearance of the woman you raped…”

“I was…”

“I swear to the God I don’t believe in, if you say you were starved, tortured, and didn’t know what you were doing one more time, I’m going to grab a stake, shove it up your ass, and claim I was tortured and didn’t know what I was doing!” Pam growled as she advanced on him. “You’re pathetic; you barge in here and throw around your wild accusations, all the while acting like the victim. If Sookie has run, it is because of you! She’s running from you…”

“My Sookie…”

“She is not your Sookie, not anymore,” Pam said, cutting him off. “Get it through that thick skull of yours. Sookie is not yours! First, you pensioned her off without even telling her, like the coward you are, and then you raped and nearly drained her. Whatever she saw in you was destroyed after all you’ve done!”

Bill glared at Pam but said nothing; everything she said was the truth, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He was sure he could make Sookie see sense, but only if he knew where she was. It was clear to him, neither Eric nor Pam were going to tell him what they had done to her. He briefly considered reporting them to Sophie-Anne, but he quickly dismissed that idea. Sophie-Anne wouldn’t be too happy with him if she knew the lengths he had gone to in order to procure the telepath. He knew she wouldn’t have approved of some of the underhanded tactics he had employed.

“I would suggest you concern yourself more with completing the database for the Queen,” Eric said, thoroughly amused at seeing his child tear strips off of Bill.

“The database is at Sookie’s house,” Bill replied stiffly as he shifted his attention back to his Sheriff. “I can’t get to it until she invites me back into her home.”

“Then I would say you’re well and truly screwed,” Pam said with a smirk.

“I will get the database one way or another,” Bill gritted out as he thought of how he was going to retrieve the database. Sookie was the only one who lived at the old farmhouse so she was the only one who could re-invite him, but he wouldn’t need an invitation if the house were no longer standing.

As if he knew what Bill was thinking, “Damage her house in any way and I will make what Lorena did to you look like child’s play,” Eric growled.

“He was going to do what to my house?” Sookie asked, her voice rising as she whirled around and faced Bill.

“Nothing,” Bill lied as he sneered in Eric’s direction. He couldn’t believe Eric told Sookie he was going to destroy her house to get to the database.

“I really wish people would stop lying to me,” Sookie groused as she let out a sigh of frustration.

“I’m not lying to you, sweetheart,” Bill replied.

“Have you gone hard of hearing?” Sookie asked, giving him a look of disbelief. “Or did you just not pay attention during the trial?”

“I…I…” Bill stuttered, unsure of what she meant. One thing he did know for certain was he didn’t like this new, stronger Sookie. Her power was remarkable, but he hated that she now had a higher standing than him in the Supernatural world. He was supposed to be her Master. He was supposed to be the stronger one.

“I see the truth behind every lie, Bill,” Sookie replied as she began to educate him on her new abilities. “The second the words leave your mouth, I know you’re lying. I see them. I read your soul, Bill. You can’t lie to me, not anymore.”

“I have never lied to you,” Bill defended, puffing his chest out as he feigned insult.

“Really? Then tell me again, Bill, why did you return to Bon Temps?” Sookie asked as she arched her brow.

“My last relative had died and I wanted to reclaim my family home,” Bill replied as he rattled off the story he came up with when he first returned.

“Lying,” Sookie said, her tone taking on a singsong quality. “Now, why don’t you try the truth?”

“That is the truth,” Bill growled.

“No, Bill. The truth is you returned to Bon Temps because, through my loudmouth cousin, the Queen of Louisiana had discovered Sookie Stackhouse was a telepath, and you were sent to procure her.”

“That’s…I…” Bill said, struggling for something to say.

“See, I know all this, you know, I know this, and yet you still lie to me,” Sookie replied. She clicked her tongue as she shook her head. “You’re lying to a member of the Council. Do you have any idea how bad that is for you, or even realize how much worse it makes things?”

“You weren’t a member of the Council when I returned to Bon Temps,” Bill said foolishly.

“No, I wasn’t,” Sookie agreed. “I am now, though, and I have the power and right now to bring you up on charges if I so desired.”

“Charges?” Bill spluttered. “On what grounds?”

“Would you prefer the full list, or perhaps just the main ones?” Sookie asked as she took a step toward him.

“I did nothing wrong!” Bill replied, arrogance leaking into his voice as he attempted to deceive Sookie again.

“No, Bill, you did nothing right!” Sookie growled. “From the moment you walked into my life, you have done nothing but lie and manipulate me. Even now when I know the truth, you’re still trying to lie your way out of it, claiming you did nothing wrong.”

“Anything I did was for the good, and under the orders of my Queen,” Bill defended.

Eric growled as he heard Bill try to pass the blame onto Sophie-Anne. Eric knew his Queen had sent Bill to try and discover if Sookie was, in fact, a telepath as her cousin claimed, but unlike Bill was claiming, Sophie-Anne never instructed him to try to tie Sookie to him. He was only supposed to discover if she was a telepath, the extent of her abilities, and then report back to her so she could decide how best to proceed. His Queen would have never approved of the tactics Bill employed.

“Maybe you haven’t heard, Bill,” Sookie replied, putting her hands on her hips and staring at him. “The excuse of, ‘I was only following orders,’ isn’t an acceptable defense anymore. You may have been following Sophie-Anne Leclerq’s orders to find out if I was a telepath, but to my understanding, those were her only orders. The rest of your actions were solely yours. It wasn’t Sophie-Anne, who committed a blood offense, but you…”

“Blood offense?” Bill said, interrupting her. His eyes widened at the accusation.

“Yes, Bill, a blood offense,” Sookie replied. “I’m sure you know exactly what those are.”

“I never committed a blood offense!” Bill denied.

“No?” Sookie snorted. “What do you call standing back and watching while I was beaten half to death? What do you call taking my virginity under the pretense of loving me…”

“I did love you,” Bill interrupted. “I do love…”

“Shut up!” Sookie snapped, silencing him. She could feel her power rolling over her as it sought to lash out and strike down Bill.

Bill’s eyes widened in fright, and he found himself backing up as he got a closer look at the power Sookie now possessed. He could see the dark markings appear on her flesh and felt just a hint of her power as it radiated throughout the room.

Bill moaned low in his throat as he felt his dick harden. The power Sookie possessed was intoxicating to him, outshining that of the sweetest fairy. Bill craved that power for himself. He needed it, and as he stared at Sookie, he swore he would have it. He would have her. He had made her fall in love with him once; he could do it again.

Her newfound abilities would make it difficult for him, but there was always a way around it. He would just have to find it.

And I will, Bill promised himself. She’ll be mine again. I will own her.

Sookie smirked as she stared at Bill. She didn’t need to be a telepath to know where his mind had gone; it was written all over his face. Let’s show him how wrong he is.

“Never again claim you love me to my face!” she warned as she pulled her power back in. “You don’t know the meaning of the word…”

“That’s not true,” Bill argued. “I do lo…” Bill choked as the words stuck in his throat. Try as he might, he couldn’t say the words he wanted or speak at all. Something was stopping him. His eyes darted to Sookie, and he felt a sense of unease as he realized she had done this. She was preventing him from speaking.

“Let’s get something clear right now,” Sookie said, her tone firm. “I don’t love you, and I never will. Nothing you say or do will ever make me trust you again. I’ve seen your soul, Bill Compton, and it’s black. Now, I know you won’t listen to me; you never did. You think you know best when in truth you know nothing. Hear this: I’m not the same naïve little girl who ran away two years ago. I’m a strong, well-connected woman who sits on the Council to whom you must answer. I have more power in my little finger than you have in your entire body. I’m not yours, Bill, and I never will be. You have no power over me any longer. My heart will never be yours again. It now belongs to Eric completely. Do you understand me?”

Seeing Bill trying to speak, Sookie let out a small laugh and added, “There’s no need to say anything, a simple nod of yes or no is fine.”

Eric watched proudly as Sookie laid down the law to Bill before announcing her heart belonged to him. He had never been more proud of his lover, and he couldn’t wait to tell and show her.

Bill nodded reluctantly indicating he understood. Humiliation coursed through his body at the effortless way Sookie had taken control.

“Good,” Sookie purred as she realized whatever hold she had placed on him had worked! “Now we have that all cleared up you may go.”

Bill opened his mouth to speak, but thought again when he saw Sookie raise an eyebrow in warning. Snapping his mouth shut, he nodded his head stiffly before spinning on his heels and storming out.

“Well, that was fun,” Sookie snorted.

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