Chapter 06: Lonely Months

The final few months before the election were hell for me.  Of having been so close to ‘her’ but yet so far away just a few short weeks ago.

I knew she had good enough reasons to stay away from me; I was just hoping one day she would find it in her heart to tell me why in person.  I have been hoping that day would come soon.

What did I always hear, ‘you would rather be lonely by yourself then be lonely when someone is with you Or you may not be alone, but you do feel empty’.   I knew I probably got the sayings a bit wrong since I didn’t much care to learn them years ago but you know where I was heading with my thoughts.

Loneliness of the heart sucks.

I was neither here nor there, I had my children at my side but I was lonely as fuck.  I wanted her to be with me, always.

I thought I could finish up these final months without knowing her reasons.

I was wrong.

I carried on for me, for Sookie, for min döttrar and for the people of the United States.

I went to all of my rallies, I talked to the newspapers and journalists who attended, I talked to my supporters, I talked to my children, I talked to anyone who asked me a question but the one person I needed to talk to was not available to me.

So again, loneliness of the heart sucks.

The time was finally upon us where the Republicans and Democrats were gearing up for all their debates, I laughed at them while I watched it play out.  Since I was of neither party I was not allowed to attend.

They talked out their asses as they responded to questions asked, as if they all had no clue what was going on around them.  When asked about me, they would tell the press I was a non-issue even though my numbers in the polls were far better than theirs.

After I watched the last of the debates with Willa she turned to me and asked me a question that I was honestly not prepared for.

“Master, may I speak openly?”

“Yes child.”

“Why are you so sad?  Others have noticed.  I have noticed and I know Pam has too.  Do you not want to be running for president any longer?”

“I am sorry; I have a lot on my mind.”

“Master, is it Sookie?”

“Yes”

“She would not want you to be so sad.  If she were here now she would tell you to pick up your big boy britches and march right out that door and do what you have been doing all along.  Trying to make this country of ours great again.  Trying to make people’s lives easier.  Trying to win over those who still fear vampires after all this time. Trying to win over all the Supes that have come out of the closet thus far.  Making them know that we are a unified front.  That we are all equals, along with the humans.  She would not want to see you like this.”

“When did you become so smart?”, she just chuckled and shrugged.

I also chuckled before I responded to her again.

“I know my child, but my heart aches for her.  It has always ached but it has been of late that I have realized what has caused that ache.  And I cannot do anything about it… YET.”

“Master, I have seen her occasionally at the rallies and at a few news briefings that we have held.  She looks almost the same as when I last saw her, but she is too quick to get to after I have noticed her to find out if it is truly her.  I just want to be able to talk to her too.  I too miss her very much, she was there for me when you were not and I will always be grateful to her.    But if she is following you, letting us know by allowing us to see her then you should honor her and go on.  It doesn’t matter anymore if you win or lose.  WE have run an honest campaign and that is what matters most.  I am proud of you and I am sure she is as well.”

“I know you are right, but I just wish she would come to me so we can talk.  I have so much to ask.  And I am sorry min dottir for not being there during your early vampire years.”

“Master, I am sure she knows this and I have forgiven you years ago at her suggestion for how you had left me.  I understand why you did it and I understand you gave me my choice. I chose to stay away from you because I thought it was best. I now know I was so very wrong. But I am sure if she could she would stay with you too.  But something happened twenty years ago to change her, to change how she does things now. From what Jessica said she has become very protective of all of her family and friends.  They have built homes on Jessica’s property so that they are all close to one another and she can protect their own within seconds.  Even Jason has moved onto Sookie’s property.  She has bought more property around her and in town, Sookie’s property has homes built further back from her house so that her whole family, which includes her children and grandchildren are close to her.  They are all protected by the wards weaved around her property. There are wards at Jessica’s too but they were lifted for our visit so that the reporters did not know something was afoot.  Before you ask, Jessica did not tell me more than that, it felt like there was more to be said but that was all she was allowed to tell me at the time. It was like she was glamoured to not speak about it.”

“Thank you my child, I will take it under advisement.”

With a nod she vamped out of the room.

I had much to think about.

How did Sookie look the same?   Yes but how

Glamoured, hmmmm.   A vampire even?  How could that be.

Was she more FAE?    unknown

She had not aged?   Apparently not, but why

What had happened twenty years ago that she had faked her own death?   I am sure there are no records to tell me what I need to know.

So why the headstone?   To carry on the ruse of course, but for whose sake.

How did she still live in BonTemps as well as her brother and his wife and no-one mention they no longer aged?  Supes of course.

Were there other inhabitants who lived in Bon Temps besides those who lived on Sookie and Jessica’s properties? I should have paid the town a closer visit, not just Jessica’s and Sookie’s.

What was she doing for money?  I am sure she no longer worked. Niall

Does she feel me through the bond like the way I still feel her?   It is Minimal at best for me, but still there.

Do I dare send a private investigator to find out more about her? …. No no that would not be advisable; she would hate me for that.  I will wait.

Why NOW, why now was she showing herself to me, why not before? Only she can answer that, for how long has she ghosted me but only now I see her from time to time.

So many questions racing through my mind.   And not enough time to figure out all the answers.

I had hours before dawn, so I sat on the couch and thought on my life. I have had a wonderful life.  I have had many ups and downs.  I have had joyous occasions from my human years through my vampire years.  I could always list the most special of occasions to me.  But if I were to truly narrow it down to one occasion that speaks above all others it would be the day that spitfire walked into my bar and the shit hit the fan for the next four years.

As I think of everything she and I have been through during those four years there are some very special occasions that are worth remembering and some not so much.   US becoming ONE in the cubby was at the forefront of my mind.  But there are also the ones that disturbed me the most, the ones that made me wonder why I still wanted her, the ones I could kick myself in the ass for not walking away sooner.  The times she tried my patience and made me look a fool in front of others of my kind.  The ones I am sure my human mother Astrid would frown upon, but then again once she would have met Sookie, she would have fallen under her spell as well.

Of that I am sure.

Yes, many many times, good, bad and ugly.

I could daydream and remember for days… some of the foolhardy things that I did for her…for us…. some of the fun things I could have or would have done for her… orgies… pink spandex…. things the two of us had done together….bullet sucking…. showers…. fur pallets and snow… and who can forget the sun, the warm glorious sun and what that fairy blood did to me…running around and pinching her butt… drunk as a skunk and loving every minute of it…swimming… but then there were the bad things too… Hugo… FOTS….WERES on V…Death…. Godric… Moon Goddess Emporium…Bullets…. Maenad… Russell… the AVL and Nan…Being Burned at the Stake with Beehl… and of course the Vampire Authority turned into sycophants on Lilith’s blood… Billith and Vamp Camp and then the one that finally broke the proverbial back and took her away from me, HepV.  Thanks to the gods and Odin that we no longer had to deal with that because of New Blood.  And the most hurtful of all memories was the day she turned her back on me… the day I signed her house back over to her and she did not invite me back in…. the day I had thought I had finally lost her to the douchecanoe… Like I said so many memories in such a short period of time with some good, some bad and others horrific.

But let me not digress to far, the past is the past and I cannot change it but the future is still ahead of ME….US…. let me/us see how quickly we two can come together and be joined as friends…husband and wife…president and first lady (oh yes if I am to win, that woman will be wrangled into being my true and forever wife).

But until that happens I needed to continue on the path I have set and win this damn election.  I believe that is my destiny now.

To do this for me, for us, and for the people of the United States.

As I sat there and contemplated my past, present and future, I had come to a decision.

I had decided to allow myself  the opportunities to think about her when I rose for the day and again before death took me to slumber, I needed to remain focused on the election until it was all over and then I would have time to contemplate plans A,B and C to win her back.

Besides I had her picture in my wallet in case I needed a quick pick me up.

As I sat there and pondered some more, my phone went off.

What good can there be when a phone goes off so close to dawn?

There hasn’t been any trouble around me for years.

My little trouble magnet is not even a blink in my life yet so I suspected it was not about her.

Min döttrar are relaxing and enjoying the end of their night.

Like they say curiosity killed the cat, I needed to know, so I did what anyone would do, I looked at the phone and cringed.  The fucking AVL, what the hell does that bunch of yahoos want from me?  I am sure I could guess and the answer will still be Hell Fucking NO.

I do the right thing though and pick up my phone; I am greeted by a sweet voice of my past but not one I will give in to…Not ever again.

“Hello Felicia what can I do for you and the AVL?”

“Oh Eric so proper, we are old friends after all…since you asked point blank I will get right down to business as you say… Well the new regime was thinking you need to have a first lady on your arm and we would like to have the honor of picking out that vampiress who is best suited for the role and whom would look out for the AVL’s interest if you were to win the presidency.”

I could feel my blood boiling because of her words.  I have not lost my temper in years but I am sure that bunch of yahoos is going to be a thorn in my side until this is over.   I will have to make sure they understand me and heed my words.  I do not want to go over this bullshit again and again.  Those antiquated fools will be the death of us all.

And those fools probably think I will fawn all over whomever they pick.  I shake my head as I can see the list of names with Felicia being in the forefront and Freyda following close behind her.  Over my fucking dead again body.  Never, there is only one person for me and she is a fairy-human hybrid.

“Felicia, let me put this as plain and as simple as I can so that you and the rest of your cronies, who I am sure are listening, will understand.  I am NOT for Sale.  I do not abide by your wishes nor the AVL’s.  I haven’t in over eighty years. I do not hold faith in the AVL as I once did.  After the debacle of Vamp Camp and Lilith, I am relying on my own wits once again as most other vampires are also doing.  If you think I will kowtow to the AVL wants and needs you are sadly mistaken.  I was not a promoter of the AVL getting back together again. Nor will I stand behind them nor promote them now.  The AVL did not stand behind My Willa when she was trying to get laws changed for us vampires so that we could live better lives.  So I see no reason for me to jump on your coattails now.  Nor do I want you jumping on mine.  Besides, when and if I am elected, do not get in my way.  When and if I want a wife, I will find myself my own wife; it will be someone I choose, not an arranged marriage.  Not someone that is forced upon me by the likes of the AVL.  If that is all you wanted then this conversation is over.”

“Eric this conversation is far from over.  I will not press the matter at this time but how does it look when an older vampire, one of your stature and one whom may be elected president does not side with the one true authority.  We at the AVL are just trying to make our kind, the top of the food chain once again.  We are trying to get us back to what we once were, having power over other Supes and of course the humans.  It is vampires like you that are making our comeback harder than it should be.  We will table this discussion for now but you will be hearing from us again soon enough.”

“That is where you are wrong Felicia.  My campaign is about us being equals to all.  No one Supe has more power than the next, the same goes for humans.  No power struggles.  Apparently the AVL has not been following my campaign very well or you would already know this.  I do not have an agenda like you would want and I will not change now.  I am in this to help the American people as a whole, not just Vampire Americans.  I want to help make this country great again and if the AVL gets in the way of this plan there will be hell to pay. I have gone years without your help so why start asking for it now. What few vampires out there that do misbehave are taken out by enforcers, not the monarchy or the AVL. We seem to be coexisting nicely, why fuck it up.  What few Kings and Queens that did survive after the TrueBlood factories debacle… which the AVL had a part in … do not even try to change my way of thinking or get in my way when I am in their territories, why should you.  I saved most of your sorry asses with New Blood and that fact I will not be letting you forget anytime soon.   Now this conversation is over.  GOOD NIGHT.”

I was trying to calm down, get to my Zen again as they say.

So I did the next best thing since I did not need to breathe, I focused on my three bonds.  The bonds with my progeny were not as strong as before I released either one of them, but I could still feel them somewhat.

I could feel min döttrar were still calm and I could feel a form of curiosity through the other bond as well.

I do wonder… no it couldn’t be… she feels the bond too? How could that be?

But that was a thought for another day.

Today I must make a game plan on how to deter the AVL and get them to stay the fuck away from my campaign.

It was less than a month away from election night and I needed to stay focused.

The dawn was minutes away so I knew this would have to all be tabled until tomorrow.  I needed to let min döttrar know what happened during the phone call.  And to not fall prey to anything that they the AVL have to say, as it would all be false.  I would not put it past the AVL to try and get min döttrar to believe their nonsense or that I agreed to anything.

Yes tomorrow was another day.

But first I needed to make sure my bags were packed and my outfit was ready for the next day as we would be moving on to another city shortly after we rose for the night.

I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, to get ready for my day rest.

I preferred to sleep in the nude but I needed to be pragmatic while on the campaign trail about wearing clothes in case something happened in the middle of the day and I needed to be moved quickly; my Were guards did not need to be playing around with my nakedness while trying to protect me.

As I entered back into my sleeping quarters something had changed.

The air smelt off.

There was a light scent of something but I could not place it.

The closer I got to my bed, the stronger it became.

And then I knew.  I knew that smell.

……Honey

……Sunshine

…….My Sookie

But HOW?

The door was locked.

The windows were closed and locked.

Where is she now?

It was just me in the room, of that I am sure.

As I looked around the room, I noticed a slip of paper tucked under my phone.

I took the folded slip of paper and sat quickly down on the bed.  But when I do, her sweet scent is released from the covers and envelops me.

I close my eyes and let her scent take me over.

I wonder how she did this?    …. Perhaps she can teleport

I wonder why she did not stay?   ….. I feel the sun pulling me to my rest

I wonder why so close but yet not a word? …..  Her scent is relaxing me

I wonder if she will visit me often?  …… I feel the pull to rest

I wonder what the note says?  ……. By the gods her scent, I need her

I can no longer think so I roll to my side and take one more pull of her lingering scent and realize she had laid her head on the other pillow.  I pull it into my embrace and bury my face into its side; I take one last breath of her before I am pulled under for the day.

Yes tomorrow will be the start of many other glorious days/nights shared with my mate.

Of that I am sure.

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Author’s note:  There are 4 chapters that remain.  They are all getting longer and longer because more things will be occurring for our pair. However, there will be a short stall for chapter 7; I am having a transition problem in the middle of the chapter which is called ‘Election Night’ so until that is fixed I will not post the chapter.  My apologies but until it is fixed I am finalizing the other chapters so that we can move along weekly after I figure out my mess.  Please bear with me, KY

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