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Chapter Three

“Did you miss me, brother?”

Eric’s grip on his phone tightened so much so that he feared he might break it, but he couldn’t let go. The voice was unmistakably that of Nora’s. He would recognize it anywhere. He could feel old pains rising up inside him, and it took all he had to maintain his composure. He wanted to tear into, to scream, and shout at the person on the other end of the phone because he knew despite how much she sounded like Nora; the person on the other end of that phone was not her. She was dead. He had held her in his arms as she died; he witnessed it with his own two eyes.

Sookie’s head snapped up at Eric’s comments to the caller while her eyes widened in shock. So many questions ran through her head, yet she couldn’t seem to grasp onto any single one. She felt her heart breaking as she looked at Eric and saw the pain etched on his face. She couldn’t believe anyone could be as cruel as to use his dead sister against him. While she watched Eric a thought slowly began to form in her mind and she grasped onto it, and tried to unravel it.

“You are not Nora,” Eric replied through clenched teeth, finally finding his voice. “I am not your brother, but I am your Maker. Isn’t that right, Pamela?” He called her out, refusing to play her game. Eric wasn’t sure why she was doing it, or even how, but he knew it was her.

“I’m not your darling Pamela,” she replied, her British accent coming in thick. “I’m your sweet sister. Come now, brother, you must remember me. We had so many good times together, don’t you remember?”

“You are not her,” Eric growled while he started to pace. “Nora is dead. I saw her die. Stop this now!”

“Death is never the end,” she said, dismissing his order. “You should know that better than anyone. After all, didn’t you see our Maker after he met the sun?”

Eric curled his free hand into a fist, digging his nails into his flesh while he fought the urge to throw his phone at the wall. What she was doing was beyond cruel. “Now I know you are not Nora,” he replied while forcing his voice to remain calm. “She never referred to Godric as our Maker.” She called him our Father, Eric finished silently.

“Really, Eric, I’m hurt that you keep denying me,” she huffed, letting her displeasure be heard. “You never used to deny me. We had so many good times together, surely you must remember, all those years of feeding and fucking together. No one ever quite fucked me like you, and I know you never had anyone as good as me. Not even your little fairy could satisfy you the way I could. You remember, don’t you, brother? The hours upon hours we spent fucking as only two vampires could. What is it you used to say? We fight like siblings, but fuck like champions…”

We fight like siblings, but fuck like champions… Eric remembered speaking those words, but it wasn’t to Nora. No, he had said those words to Bill the night he and Nora had been reunited after over seventy years apart. It was the night after Sookie had rejected him. It was not something he said often; in fact, he had only ever said it once. Just that one time, and seeing how he knew Nora was dead, there was no way she would have told Pam about it. That only left Bill. Was Bill involved in the whole sordid affair after all? From the way he reacted to Jessica’s death, Eric didn’t think so. You couldn’t fake that kind of pain, but that still left the question of how Pam, and Eric was positive it was Pam, knew about those words. 

“Whatever game you are playing, it won’t work,” Eric replied, his tone stiff. “Your attempts to convince me you are Nora will not work. I know, knew my sister and you are not her, so give up this pretense now.”

“You are no fun anymore, Eric,” she grumbled, refusing to drop the pretense. “We used to have such good fun together. I know you remember, brother. Your little fairy gash might have you housetrained now, but there was a time when you were wild and free. There was a time you swore paradise was my pussy. You used to love fucking it so hard. Do you remember, brother? Do you remember how it used to feel around your hard cock?”

Eric grit his teeth at her words, his anger rising by the second. He knew what she was trying to do, but it wouldn’t work. Memories of Nora and the depraved things they used to enjoy together wouldn’t make him nostalgic. Nora was gone. He knew that. He missed her, but he had moved on. He refused to get caught up in the past and drop his guard. 

As he listened to her talk, Eric heard a hitch in her voice and he realized pretending to be Nora and speaking of the things they used to do was disturbing her as well. Pam always was jealous of his other women and, even though she was pretending to be one, that jealousy still remained. He could use that. Pam might think she was a master manipulator, but she had nothing on him.

Turning his gaze to Sookie, Eric shot her a small smile when he saw her concerned look. He could tell she was worried about him, and it warmed his heart. She really did care about him; he could read it all over her face. Catching her gaze, Eric mouthed the word ‘sorry’ at her as he held the phone up. He didn’t want her to hear what he was going to say, but at the same time he didn’t want to leave her side.

Sookie smiled at Eric and nodded her head. She wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but she guessed it wouldn’t be something she would like. Moving toward the cabinet that concealed the cubby, Sookie pulled open the door and jerked her head toward it, silently telling him he could talk to Pam as the faux Nora in private down there.

Eric paused by the cabinet door, lifted his hand, and cupped Sookie’s face trying to convey his gratitude before heading down into the cubby. He couldn’t help the nostalgia that rose up in him when he reached the bottom. He had so many good memories when it came to that cubby. He remembered making love to Sookie on the bed, and he almost climbed back up the ladder and out of it, not wanting to contaminate the place with Pam’s poisonous venom.

He took a moment to compose himself before bringing the phone to his ear again. “I remember,” he said, deciding to take charge of the game. “I remember everything. I remember Tokyo in 1772, and Paris in 1899. I remember Germany in 1940… Do you remember that? Do you remember killing that squadron of German soldiers and fucking in their blood?”

“I…”

“Of course you do,” Eric said, interrupting her and not letting her answer. This was his game now, and he made the rules. He would mix truth with lies and let her expose herself. “It was only the rising sun that stopped us, although none of those times compared to the threesome with Salome while we were trapped at the Authority headquarters. Salome was incredibly tight for a whore, and you just loved watching me fucking her as hard as only we vampires can. It was a shame she met the True Death. She may have been fucking insane, but she could fuck like no other.” Eric grinned when he heard the unmistakable sound of her growling in anger and he knew it was getting to her. Pam knew little about his history with Nora, so she wouldn’t know truth from fiction. She wouldn’t know that while they had killed those soldiers and fucked in their blood, they had never been to Tokyo. She knew he had fucked both Nora and Salome, but she didn’t know he hadn’t actually had a threesome with them.

“We had so many good times together, feeding and fucking. It was never half as much fun with any other vampire as it was with Nora. Now, if we are done with this little trip into pointlessness, how about we stop this stupid game and you tell me what you want, Pam?” Eric continued, cutting straight to the core. “I know this is you, Pam, so stop pretending… Unless, you want to hear more about the times I fucked Nora, and how she was so much better than you. She was… Better than you. We could fuck from dusk till dawn. Then again, it is not that hard to be better than you. Nora, Sookie, Willa, they all satisfied me better than you ever did. For someone who was once a whore, you weren’t very skilled. Now, Willa, she can really…”

“Stop it!” Pam screamed, finally dropping the pretense as Eric’s words became too painful for her to take. His words felt like silver to her skin and she cursed him for his cruelty. Why does he keep hurting me like this? Pam was oblivious to her own cruelty and wicked ways. In her eyes everything she had done was because of Eric, because he refused to love her in the way he was supposed to love her. Since the night he had turned her, Pam had done everything in her power to make him love her like no other. She wanted to be the only person in his life… She was supposed to be! It was her reward for the shitty life she had as a human. She had endured and survived so much. She deserved a Happily Ever After. It was her right! What had Sookie or Willa been through that made them more important than her? So what if most of Sookie’s family had been murdered, or she had to work a job for a wage on which she could barely survive? In Pam’s mind none of that compared to the hardships she had to endure. Neither Sookie nor Willa had to sell their bodies to survive. She wouldn’t let either of them take her Happily Ever After. It was hers; she deserved it. She had earned it!

“Why? I thought you wanted to take a trip down Memory Lane,” Eric replied tauntingly as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “Wasn’t that the whole point of your little game? To remind me of all the great times I had with Nora? Or, maybe it is not only Nora you want to hear about? Would you prefer to hear about all the fun I had with Willa?” Eric chuckled darkly when he heard Pam hiss in anger. “I had so much fun teaching her all about the sins of the flesh…”

“I said stop it!” Pam shouted; anger clear to hear in her voice. She didn’t want to hear about Willa. She hated her vampire sister. She was the one who had ruined everything. “I don’t want to hear it!”

“No? You don’t want to hear how I fucked her on my throne in the middle of Fangtasia?” Eric taunted. He knew he was playing a dangerous game, but it was a game he was determined to win. He might not have known Pam as well as he once thought he did, but he did know, despite her claims to the contrary, she was incredibly emotional; or at least she was when it came to him. He could make her lash out at him in anger and fuck up. “It was a thing of beauty,” he continued, riling her up further. “She rode me for a solid hour. The sounds from her when I made her cum…”

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” Pam screamed, having heard more than she wanted to hear. The call hadn’t gone the way she envisioned. When she called Eric using Nora’s voice, thanks to a little witchcraft, had wanted to make him question everything he knew. She knew he had seen Godric after he had met the sun, and she wanted to play on that to make him believe Nora was alive, or at least suspect she was. Either way she wanted him distracted for what she had planned. However, it seemed she had overplayed her hand. She was positive she could still salvage her plan. She refused to give up. It had taken her over a year to put her plan together and she wasn’t going to give up now.

Realizing he had pushed her as far as he could for the moment, Eric decided to back off slightly. Now that Pam had revealed herself he could change tactics and try something else. “I am guessing this whole thing was your way of getting my attention. Well, Pam, you have succeeded, so why don’t you tell me what you want?”

“You know what I want,” Pam replied bitterly, angry that he was still refusing to give her what she so desperately wanted. “It’s what I have always wanted. You… You and me, together the way it was always supposed to be, but you won’t give me that. You refuse me over and over again. You banished me from the state I should have been ruling with you. You choose whores over me. You gave them what should have been mine. Once upon a time, I was your world, and now you won’t even talk to me unless I take drastic action…”

“You were never my world,” Eric said, interrupting her. “You were my Child, my eldest, but you were never everything to me. I lived centuries before you, and I will live centuries after. Don’t fool yourself, Pam, and make yourself out to be more important than you were.”

“I am important!” Pam snapped, refusing to believe him. She was the one who stood by his side through everything. She was the one who had lied, cheated, and killed for him. She was the most important person to him. She refused to believe any different.

“I never said you weren’t important,” Eric replied, acknowledging her worth. “I just said you weren’t the most important thing. You never were everything to me. Still, I am not interested in hashing over the past with you, Pam. Nothing I say will make you accept my truth, so why don’t we just skip it and you can just tell me what you really want. Tell me why you had Jason kidnapped.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pam said, denying her involvement.

“Do not lie to me, Pamela!” Eric growled, having had enough of her games. “I am in no mood for your childish games. I know you had him kidnapped. Do not take me for a fool. Now, tell me what you want.”

“I want to come home,” Pam replied, her voice softening as she spoke the words. “I want to take my place at your side again.”

“No,” Eric said, refusing her without even thinking about it. He knew he should have probably said yes, or attempted to devise a plan resulting in his favor, but there was just no way he could let her manipulate him. She was not welcome in Louisiana, and would never be, not as long as he was King and his loved ones needed protection. Louisiana also wasn’t safe for Pam any longer. Willa would kill her if she stepped foot back in the state and, what’s more, Eric wasn’t certain that he would stop her. “You cannot return.”

“You would refuse me? Knowing I have your fairy gash’s brother?” Pam replied with a laugh. “What would dear, sweet, little Willa think if she knew you dismissed the opportunity to have her beloved fiancé returned? They wouldn’t be very happy with you.”

“They wouldn’t,” Eric agreed while he stood up and started to pace. “I am still refusing though. You can’t come back to Louisiana. You lost any chance of being able to return the minute you kidnapped Jason. It is not safe for you to return”

“You fear for my safety?” Pam questioned almost giddily.

“I do not wish to see you dead, truly dead,” Eric replied truthfully. “That would be the fate that would await you if I allowed you to return. Willa would never forgive you for kidnapping her fiancé, and neither would Sookie. You would not survive them both.”

“Is that the real reason you are forbidding me from returning?” Pam asked, her tone taking on a hard quality. She wasn’t stupid. She doubted that concern for her safety was the only thing Eric was worried about. “Or is that you fear that your precious Sookie and Willa won’t forgive you for allowing me to return? Are you afraid that your fairy gash will close her legs and not let you play with her anymore? I heard she was back and you were acting the love sick fool again. You’re pathetic.”

“My relationship with Sookie never has been and continues to remain none of your concern,” Eric told her sternly, refusing to get into yet another tired argument over Sookie. “Believe what you will, Pam, but the truth is I do not want to see you return to Louisiana only to meet the True Death. That is something I do not wish to see.”

Pam huffed out an unnecessary breath when Eric refused her once again. She thought she would have been used to it by now. Lord knows he had refused her so many times over the last five years. “Well, then if I can’t come to you…” She began as a new plan started to form in her head. Pam swore she would get what she wanted, and she didn’t care what she had to do to get it. “Why don’t you come to me?”

“What?” Eric replied, unsure of where she was heading now. He had already told her it would never be the two of them again. This now left him uncertain of what goal she had formulating in her mind.

“You heard me,” Pam said, an amused lilt infusing her tone. “Seeing how Sookie and Willa have cut off your balls and are seemingly calling the shots in your Kingdom, why don’t you come to me? If you want Stackhouse back, I want you to come and meet me; just you, no one else. You do that and I will let him go, unharmed. No tricks, no games, just you and me.”

Eric took a second to think it over. He knew he would be giving her exactly what she wanted, but if there was a chance he could save Jason and reunite him with Willa, it was a chance he knew needed to take. He would never forgive himself if Pam killed Jason after offering to let him go. It might only cost him seeing his eldest Child once more, and speaking to her face to face. That he could do. Eric was more than aware that she would most probably attempt something; she desperately wanted to regain her place at his side, and he would prepare for such. Yet, he knew there was no chance of her overpowering him, so he had no fear for his safety.

“Fine,” Eric agreed reluctantly, allowing Pam to hear how much he didn’t want to see her. He might have agreed to her demand, but he would be damned if he allowed her to believe he was less than thrilled over it. He wasn’t about to lie and tell her he hadn’t missed her because, in truth, he had. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t don rose-colored glasses and pretend she was something she had never been. She wasn’t his entire world and never would be. “Name the time and place.”

“Tomorrow night,” Pam replied, not quite able to believe he had agreed. She could hear how much he hated the idea in his voice, but she no longer cared. For the first time, she had the upper hand and she was getting what she wanted, and with it would be able to implement the next part of her plan. “Midnight in Dallas, I’ll let you know the location before we are due to meet… Remember, Eric… Come alone.”

Pam hung up before he had a chance to reply, and Eric let out a groan of frustration as he dropped down on the bed again. The last thing he wanted was to meet with Pam, but in order to save Jason he would have to do just that. Now all he had to do was to let Sookie and Willa know he was meeting with the person responsible for kidnapping Jason, and that they weren’t invited.

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