Dead on New Years Chapter 23

Amelia and I finished our dinner while we chatted about the things that girlfriends do. It was nice just to “be,” and not worry about all of the troubles I’d been dealing with since falling back into my bizarre life in vampire/fairy land. Things only got interesting when we tried to leave.

The waiter kindly informed us that our tab had been paid and pointed to a dark haired man with his back to us at the bar. Normally, this is the time I begin to panic, but in an instant I realized who it was. In that same moment, the gentleman turned toward us and focused his bedroom eyes directly on me.

Amelia gasped, “Oh my sweet Lord, Sookie! Who is that man and where can I get one? Wait, is he a vamp? Who IS that?”

I couldn’t hold it anymore and I burst out laughing. Seamus walked over with his TrueBlood and grinned. He moved his eyes to Amelia and I could hear her rampant sex thoughts as I introduced them. I shook my head, I hadn’t really thought about how fast I’d left the house. I should have known Eric wouldn’t let me go out unchaperoned with everything going on. Seamus pulled his eyes from Amelia’s and addressed us, “Ladies, I don’t mean to intrude on your evening, just merely making sure that two such beautiful women remain safe and sound.”

“Thanks Seamus. I guess I knew better than to think we were really alone.”

“And I am glad to see that you are not upset. Eric warned me that you left in such a hurry with your friend that he could not tell you I was meeting you here.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay. These day’s I actually do feel safer knowing there’s usually a vampire in my shadow. Well, I guess it depends on whose side the vamp is on, but you know what I mean.”

“I understand. I am as they say, at your beck and call, this evening. Will you be continuing on to another venue?”

I glanced at Amelia, who was blatantly staring at Seamus, and I knew she was trying to come up something to say so that he would stay with us longer. I threw her a bone, knowing full well that nothing was going to happen between them, since he was pretty tight with Ellsey these days, “Yes actually, we’re going to the Wharf for a martini and then home.”

Amelia blinked a few times and nodded vigorously.

“Wonderful. I shall follow you to the bar and then over to Eric’s. If you don’t mind I may come in to see what decisions have been made about the bartender.”

“Sure. Thank you for dinner Seamus. You didn’t need to do that.”

He grinned, “I didn’t, Eric gave me a credit card.”

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By the time we walked in to the Wharf I was regretting my decision and had to pull out my bitch card for a second, “Amelia – you need to pull it together. I am blocking you as best I can but you are projecting seriously pornographic images to me about a man that I know has a, well, girlfriend, and is part fairy so he sends out sex vibes to every woman he meets.” She was looking at me like I was insane. “Welcome to crazy town Amelia – this is my life. He is hot as hell, but things are not going anywhere with him and I cannot listen to all of the ways you want him to take you for one more second.”

“Alrighty then,” she said with a bite. “I guess I’ll need a real martini now, not a fruity one.”

“I guess you will. Too bad Fangtasia is still closed, we could have gone there so you could hit on Pam for a while.”

“Sookie, I’m with Tray these days. I don’t know why you think I’m interested in Seamus or why I would flirt with Pam.”

I was just looking at her, like, seriously?

“Well, I mean…. I guess I know why you think I think those things. I just…I wouldn’t have acted on any of those thoughts.”

“I know you wouldn’t have. And I also know that hitting on Pam would probably be just foreplay ‘til you got home to Tray. It’s all good Amelia. You were just getting a little carried away. It’s the fairy in him.”

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When we got back to the house Amelia headed straight home. We had agreed that I would come out to Merlotte’s on Wednesday to check out Sam’s new girlfriend and I could tell that she was anxious to get home. Seamus had her all sexed up and she was heading back to Bon Temps to find Tray.

Eric was back from Fangtasia and said they were still on schedule to open tomorrow. Bill and David were watching Gladiator on the flat screen and things were all just a little surreal. I was waiting for some kind of news about Gill or the plans for David, but no one was talking.

Eric came to stand behind me and put his arms around my waist. He breathed in the scent of my hair and sighed so quietly I wouldn’t have heard it if he wasn’t right next to my ear. “Lover,” he thought, “We need to strategize. I have an idea about helping David now that Gordy is coming, and I've decided how we'll deal with Gill.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“No lover, you are a part of all of this whether I want you to be or not.”

With a nod of his head the others knew to join us in the kitchen. We sat at the table and Eric told David that Gordy was on his way. If he hadn’t been a vampire I would have sworn he got emotional about it. He just kept blinking like he was trying not to tear up. Finally he cleared his throat, “You mean he’s not dead?”

Bill answered, “I spoke to him last night in Manistique. He’s headed down and he is not happy with Gill.”

David shook his head a couple of times. “I called out to him and I tried to get messages to him. I figured if anyone could help me it would have been him, but I gave up. I saved money and figured I had to do it all on my own.”

“He thought you were dead as well,” Eric supplied. He cocked his head, “Why did you think he would be able to help you? No other maker has been able to help an employee of Gill’s.”

“Well, Gordy is part of this kind of mid-west alliance. They used to trade businesses and homes every 15 or 20 years and kind of rotate around. Now they still do it when they feel like it, but with the Reveal they’ve all sort of found their place that they want to be right now. There’s about 20 of them up there. They own everything from doughnut shops in the UP to clubs in downtown Chicago. Anyway, I figured somewhere in that group they could find someone to trade for me. Someone that could work for Gill in a bar or restaurant, and not be whored out. I thought if Gordy knew what was going on he would get me back. He’s just that kind of guy – you don’t mess with him, or his children.”

“I believe you underestimate your trade value,” Eric said shaking his head.

Seamus was shaking his head as well, “Bill’s research indicates you’re about 200 years old – is that correct?”

“Yes. I was turned in Hungary and then made the trip to America with a group of stowaway vamps, including Gordy. He was truly a father figure to me, I was only 18 when I was turned. In the old country I should have been married and had children, but I was living hand to mouth in the capitol, what is now Budapest. The country had been at war for so long, I knew nothing but soldiering and stealing -and then I was starving during the long winter. Gordy found me in an alley on deaths door. I think I wanted to die then, but he turned me and taught me over the next few centuries that life was so much more than I had seen. Sorry, I just never really lived when I was actually alive... I’ve worked in restaurants and bars since we came to America. I found I liked the larger cities, while Gordy wanted solitude. After a while, when he started his connection with the other vamps in the mid-west, I worked for the people he knew and we kept in touch.”

“How did you end up working for Gill?” I heard myself ask.

“Hmmph,” he shrugged. “It’s a story that replays itself over and over in history Miss Sookie. I wanted to get rich quick and he promised me the moon. Like I said, I didn’t know much of people except for killing them and stealing from them overseas. When I came to America I learned that people aren’t always honest, but I’d never really been scammed the way I was with Gill. He gave me assignments that seemed like promotions, but they were really just to promote me to future clients. I worked VIP sections and private parties and had no idea what I was setting myself up for. ”

“So what’s the plan?” I asked Eric.

He looked around the table and shrugged, “Believe it or not, I think I’m going to let this go through the chain of command.”

Bill and Seamus looked shocked and I was confused. Eric didn’t usually need an excuse for shedding blood – even vamp blood- so I was sure he was getting ready to fight. “I’m sorry, what?” I asked.

He laughed, “I think it is time that Gill was handed over to the authorities properly. Nothing like this has happened since the Reveal, or at least that we know of. What he is doing to David is akin to slavery and that is between Gill and Gordy – but attacking my bar – that happened in my territory. Times have changed since the Reveal and we are held to a higher standard – his issue with me was business related – it didn’t warrant violence in the least. I am the Sheriff and the 2nd in Command for the State of Louisiana - he has just stepped on a hornets nest. I think going to tribunal in Louisiana or Georgia will have consequences for Gill that he’s not ready to deal with. It will be the beginning of the end of how he has run his business,” he paused, “Mind you, if he shows his face anywhere near me outside of a tribunal I will send him to his final death…”

Seamus said it, he’s the only one who could have gotten away with it, “Are you getting soft Eric?”

Eric’s eyes hardened and his stare bored into Seamus, “I would gut you, but I know you are being facetious. I do not hesitate to raise my sword.” He looked around at all of us. “In my new role I will have to balance my authority - to show my strength and my understanding of the politics. I have thought long and hard and I think that in this instance, the politics outweigh my desire to spill blood. Understand - I do not come to this conclusion easily.”

“What about me?” David asked. “You said that’s between Gill and Gordy?”

“I don’t believe the Yooper would come here without a plan. And if he didn’t have one before he left, he’s working it out on the trip down. He may choose the same route I have, given enough people to substantiate his claim that Gordy blocked you from him and that he came to believe that you were dead,” he shrugged, “Or he might just kill the bastard and save us all a lot of trouble.”