House of Cards (Chapter 5)

House of Cards

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. They belong to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball.

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT

Chapter 5: Goodbye Is All We Have

Medical personnel rush past me. They got here ten minutes after Eric made the call. I was too hysterical to do it. I don’t know what I would have done without him. Against all odds, Gran still had a pulse when we found her lying there on the kitchen floor in a pool of her own blood. We may have cheated death when Eric fed her some of his blood, but only a little. We didn’t know how badly she was hurt, and I don’t think she would have wanted to become a vampire, which could have happened if Eric gave her too much blood.

They rush her to the hospital. I ride in the back of the ambulance with her, willing her to live. Eric is going to meet us there. He volunteered to stay behind to answer what questions the detectives may have. It’s going to be a long night. Gran is rushed into the operating theatre. I sit outside in one of the hard plastic chairs, waiting, and waiting. The sharp smell of antiseptic surrounds me. I’m not very familiar with it as I’ve never had any reason to visit the hospital. The only time I can recall being in a hospital is when Jason broke his arm when he was seven.

I call Jason, but he doesn’t answer his phone. I call Tara, who’s spent more time with us than in her own house. Gran’s like her grandmother too. She promises to come over immediately. Then I stare at the phone and realize that there isn’t anyone else to call.

Eric arrives at the hospital. He doesn’t say anything, but he does hand me a hot cup of coffee and watches me to make sure that I drink all of it. I don’t really taste anything, but the warmth is comforting. I’ve been feeling cold tonight. He waits with me in the hospital waiting room until it’s almost dawn. His presence is soothing, and I seek solace in his mental silence. I am extremely grateful. He doesn’t have to do this. This isn’t what he signed up for when he agreed to help me. He tells me not to worry.

Tara arrives just before Eric has to leave. He’s stayed as long as he possibly can. “Oh my God, Sook,” she says as she rushes over to hug me. “How is she?” I shake my head. I have no idea. I’m not sure if I want to know the diagnosis.

“Take care of her,” Eric says to Tara. “Make sure she eats something.” Tara nods. She’s thinking that maybe he’s not so bad for me after all.

 

House of Cards (Chapter 4)

House of Cards

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. They belong to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball, as I have used elements from both the books and the shows. 

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT

Chapter 4: Red Omen

The paparazzi make camp outside my building and pester everyone who comes out through the front door, even the deliverymen. So far, it’s all going according to plan. I research all the brands to find out which one vampires like the most. After all, if there are going to be vampires in my life, then I want to be able to offer them something if they come by. Granted, I did offer Eric a drink of Sookie last night, but I don’t count that as being genuine southern hospitality.

There’s something called ‘Royalty Blended’ but that has to be specially pre-ordered and you need to wait for a month. It also costs something like thirty thousand dollars per bottle because it’s a blend of blood donated by real life royalty and the highest quality synthetic blood. I don’t see why it’s going to be better than normal blended blood. I mean, I refuse to believe that the biological make up of royalty is better than the biological make up of any other person, provided that they are healthy. Sookie Stackhouse is a great believer of meritocracy.

Finally, I send Norma Jean, my housekeeper, out to pick up half a dozen bottles of a blend that uses paid donors who have to observe a strict diet. It has received pretty good reviews from tech savvy vampires who have bothered to leave comments. One does have to be careful when purchasing foodstuffs. Some of the cheaper brands of blended blood use infected blood donors and stingy vampires have contracted something called ‘Hep D’ from drinking those brands. I find out that there’s a huge lawsuit going on between the infected vampires and the company.

Once Norma Jean’s gone, I finally get dressed. There’s no way I’m going to let people see the huge bandage on my arm, although granted, now that I’m a celebrity simply because I’m ‘dating’ the Eric Northman, if I go out with a huge bandage on my arm, that might become the newest hot accessory. It will cast serious doubt on my fashion credentials, so I don’t try it.

 

House of Cards (Chapter 3)

House of Cards

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. They belong to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball, as I have used elements from both the books and the show.

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT

Chapter 3: If You Really Knew

Eric’s office is very tidy and organized. He’s into minimalism, I can tell, and really big swords. One hangs on the wall behind his desk. His chair is one of those nice leather executive ones with the tall backs. He fills it up entirely. There’s a bottle of Tabasco sauce on his desk, although I have no idea what it’s for and I’m not sure I’d actually want the answer. There are two other guys inside with him, and together the three of them are probably taking up sixty percent of the space in the office. It’s a good thing I’m not that big, even though I can’t really say I’m that small.

The other two guys are introduced to me as Alcide Herveaux and Trey Dawson. Alcide is ruggedly handsome and his teeth are so white that he can probably get a gig doing toothpaste commercials, although I don’t think a guy like him would see that as a legitimate way of making a living. He seems more like the ‘live off his sweat’ kind of guy, from what I could get out of his head, which is strangely impenetrable, like Sam’s.

All of a sudden, it strikes me that Sam could be something supernatural too. Is he a werewolf? I make a note to ask him the next time I see him. Alcide’s hand dwarf’s mine as I shake it. His palms are rough. Just as I thought; someone who knows the meaning of physical labour. I don’t know many guys like that. Trey is like that too, and I see traces of motor oil beneath his short blunt nails. He tells me that he’s a mechanic. Alcide is in the construction business, but his family owes Eric, so he’s taking this job as a way of repaying the debt. Trey is ‘between jobs’ at the moment so he’s happy to find a source of revenue. It’s not the first time he’s done something like this. They, of course, know who I am, and Eric has told them that I’m his ‘woman’ —I don’t think he remembers that we’ve been through the sexual revolution and the feminist movement— and that I need to be protected, but I can’t go about doing what I normally do if people see that I have two burly bodyguards trailing me. They’re buying his story. I can tell that they’re worried for me. Me and my sanity

“Herveaux and Dawson will watch you during the day,” Eric says.

“And at night?” I ask.

“You’ll be with me.” Oh yes, that’s right. I’m supposed to be dating slash having a sex with him. At least, that’s what I want the murderer to hear. The truth won’t be anything like that. Maybe a few movies, dinner (mine) and drinks (his). There will be absolutely no sex whatsoever. Sex usually complicates things in the worst way. I’ve witnessed enough scandals to know that. I just hope Eric knows it too.

 

House of Cards (Chapter 2)

House of Cards

 

 

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. The character belong to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball. I have taken elements from both the books and the show.

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT 

A/N: Thanks for all the great responses! It’s really heartening for a writer when she knows that her readers like what she’s doing. Feedback is much appreciated.  

 

Chapter 2: Just Good Business

Being analyzed by a vampire is not so different from being analyzed by another one of my peers. The female at the door takes in the sight of my shoes, my dress, my clutch, my jacket, and then finally her eyes reach my face. “ID?” she asks.

It’s funny. I haven’t been carded in a while, not since my twenty first birthday bash when Tara and Arlene and a few other of my friends insisted on dragging me to a night club to party the night away. I hand over my driver’s licence. A lot of the girls I know have never learned to drive, relying only on chauffeurs and boyfriends, but I like the independence of being able to operate my own vehicle. I have a yellow Volkswagen New Beetle that I drive out to the Hamptons every weekend.

The vampire inspects my licence, checks my face against the photo on it —I have no idea why driver’s licence photos are always so unattractive— and then nods. “You can go in,” she says, giving me one last look. “Good luck getting out.”

As Bill leads me inside, the music and the thoughts slam into me all at once, almost overwhelming me. I thought the minds of the people outside were bad enough, but the people inside are even worse. Yes, the thoughts about sex are still there, but now they’re more specific, and they’re centred on a few identifiable individuals. We sit down at one of the round glass top tables and a waitress in black leather pants and a black leather cropped corset comes to take our orders. I’m definitely not dressed appropriately for this place. My white bodycon dress makes me stick out like a sore bandaged thumb.

I ask for a gin and tonic, and Bill orders bottled blood, of course. As I sip my drink, my eyes are drawn to the raised dais facing the front door. I noticed him when I first came in, but I didn’t want to seem like a tourist at a theme park. However, it appears that he has deliberately put himself on display. One of the bolder patrons of the club crawls up the steps of the dais. I watch in disgust and morbid fascination as he tries to kiss his boot. Without looking up from his Blackberry, he kicks the man away, sending him flying through the air and into one of the tables. There is no mistake about it. This vampire is in charge.   

 

House of Cards (Chapter 1)

House of Cards

 

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything you recognize. The characters belong to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball. I’ve taken material both from the books and from the show.

Summary: Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic New York socialite. When business and fate cause her to encounter one Eric Northman, cutthroat businessman and vampire, the world she knows comes tumbling down.  

A/N: Think Gossip Girl meets True Blood/SVM novels. Like any chick lit, it has plenty of clothes and shoes, romance and drama. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy!

 

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT 

Chapter 1: Murder Game

Mornings in the Upper East Side are great daily migrations as people move from home to work. Cars lined the streets, and the horns sound like battle cries as commuters vie with one another to slip into any possible space on the road. Even in my seventieth storey penthouse, I can still hear the incessant angry honking.

Mornings are one of those times when I am particularly grateful for my parents’ ability to churn out cash. That is, before they were swept away by a flood on a road trip when I was seven. After that, our grandmother took us in, my brother Jason and me. Gran was from an old and prestigious family, the Hales. Her grandfather had worked in the property business. Her father had taken over after my great-grandfather died, and so the business had been passed down through the family from father to son, until Gran’s generation. At first, it had been passed to her brother, my great-uncle, Bartlett Hale. The thing was, he…wasn’t the type of person that anyone had wanted to represent the family company. At first, when the news had leaked, no one wanted to believe it. Bartlett, of course, denied the fact that he’d had sex with two underage girls from poor families. I suspected that he paid their families a lot to shut them up and stop them from pressing charges, before running them out of the state. However, it is impossible to wrap fire in paper. Those two girls weren’t his only victims. There was my cousin Hadley, and then…there was me.

To cut a long story short, he’d resigned as the CEO and moved back to Louisiana, and my father, Corbett Stackhouse, took over the running of the company until he went and died in a flash flood. This brings me back to the present as I stand at the window of my living room and sip a cup of perfectly brewed coffee whilst I am still in my robe. I, Sookie Stackhouse, am not one of those people who needed to make the morning commute to my work place, mainly because I don’t have one, unless ‘socialite’ or ‘rich girl’ is actually a profession. Granted, sometimes being a Stackhouse woman does feel like a full time job with no set hours.

I suppose I could have worked for the company, but I’d discovered early on that I had no taste for the family business. When I was little, my father sometimes took me to board meetings. The thing was, he was one of the few people who knew about and sort of accepted my little quirk, as I liked to call it. I am not just any Upper East Side socialite. I am a telepathic Upper East Side socialite. Imagine what that must be like, hearing all the thoughts of the people in this particular circle. Trust me, it’s not fun seeing the most intimate details of Kevin Berger’s affair with one of his married neighbours and then hearing his commentary. There is a reason why I tend to isolate myself in order to try and find a little bit of peace.

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 14

True Blood/X-Men Crossover

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. They belong to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO. Balian and Sybille are real people from history, although their characterizations are mine.

Chapter 14: Old Friends and New Allies

The mutant underground in North Louisiana. There was a mutant underground? Marie looked at the stranger. Gambit. She didn’t remember ever hearing that name. As she stood there like an absolute fool with her fingers poised over the packs of bubblegum she’d been tidying, she saw Pam turn and indicate that she should join the little group. Probably Eric’s orders. Ginger and Belinda were dismissed. They’d probably have to come in early the next afternoon to finish cleaning up.

Marie carefully picked her way over, aware that she was a minor taking part in some very serious adult conversation. ‘You can do this,’ she told herself. She’d hitchhiked from Mississippi to Canada, hopped in the trailer of a guy with claws, gotten kidnapped by a terrorist, had her school attacked by special forces, and she survived. She could deal with this. She hoped. Gambit gave her a smile when he saw her. Did he know she was a mutant, or was he smiling because he was just being friendly? “Bonsoir, cherie,” he said. She managed to whisper a ‘hello’ in return.

Eric glanced at the two of them. “Did you know about this mutant underground?” he asked Marie.

She shook her head. “I knew there were mutants out there evading the authorities for whatever the reason,” she said, “but I didn’t know they were organized.”

“Oh, we’re not, cherie, believe me,” said Gambit. “I just gave it a name because it sounds good.”

“So if you’re not organized,” said Eric, “then what are you?”

“Just people trying to find a way to live in a world that doesn’t want them,” said Gambit. “Same as you.”

“Why did you think we were interested in having anything to do with you, cher?” asked Pam.

“You are forging an alliance with the Wolverine,” said Gambit. “So why not add more mutants onto your list of allies?”

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 13

True Blood/X-Men Crossover

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. It all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO.

Chapter 13: Brother, My Brother

Durnham was a much slower driver than Eric, for which Marie was glad. High speed was not really her kind of thing. The Sheriff’s ‘daytime man’ drove a black Honda with the word ‘Fangtasia’ stencilled on it in red. The seats were of leather, and there was a port for someone to plug in their iPod. The only car she’d seen that had looked that nice had been Cyclops’ car. Of course, that was now Logan’s car. The only thing the Wolverine and his former romantic rival had had in common, apart from their love for Jean, had been super-fast vehicles. Boys and their toys.

The sun was just beginning to set as they arrived at the nightclub. The human employees had already started arriving, to set up before their ‘master’ woke. She hadn’t noticed it before, but Fangtasia was situated right next to a Toys ‘r’ Us, which was highly disturbing in a way, considering the sort of kinky things that went on inside the club. Just as well it did not share the same opening times as the toy store.

One of the other employees had opened the door by the time Marie and Durnham got out of the car. There were some whispers amongst the women —and they were mostly women. No prizes for guessing why they had been attracted to the job. All right, so perhaps that was unfair. Maybe some of them did want a livelihood instead of a chance to…um…get to know the boss. They were wondering who she was, and some of them were giving her dirty looks. Marie nodded at them politely once she was inside.

Durnham gave her the briefest of tours, pointing out the bathrooms, the staff lockers where she could put a spare change of clothes, and, of course, the booth she would be looking after. Fangtasia had a range of merchandise, and she had to be impressed with Eric’s creative marketing schemes. Seriously, what woman wouldn’t want to buy a calendar that had him posing naked on a bed of furs, with eyes that clearly said ‘come get me’? And if that didn’t cater to their tastes, there were t-shirts, postcards —again with Eric and some other very good looking vampires posing on them— mugs, bookmarks, and even pencils and notepads.

“I see you are impressed with our products,” said a voice behind her, making her jump.

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 12

True Blood/X-Men Crossover

Rated: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize; it all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO.

Chapter 12: League of Darkness

Bill was awfully quiet tonight, and Sookie was wondering why. Although one of the main attractions of being with a vampire, at least for her, was the fact that she couldn’t read his mind, she sometimes wished that she could. Her vampire wasn’t exactly the most talkative of people. In fact, he was downright bad when it came to expressing himself and telling her things that he really ought to tell her. She supposed it was one of the things in their relationship that they needed to work on. She snuggled up closer to him, closing her eyes as she leaned against his chest. He was so still; no heartbeat, no breathing. His arms were wrapped around her, making her feel safe.

“Eric called me earlier today,” he suddenly said.

“Do we have to talk about Eric?” asked Sookie, opening one eye. She was in no mood for whatever business the Sheriff had at the moment. The bar had been extremely busy tonight, and she really just wanted to cuddle. Damn vampire politics. Like sand, it got into everything, and there never seemed to be an end to all the conflicts. All in all, it was very similar to human politics. Perhaps that was the one aspect of humanity that the vampires all clung to.

“He has arranged a meeting with the queen in two weeks,” said Bill. “He wants you to go with him, and I am to accompany you, of course.”

“Um…Bill?” said Sookie. “I just took three days off work. It doesn’t seem right to take off again so soon.”

“But you did agree to work for Eric if the humans involved didn’t get killed,” said Bill. “He has honoured his side of the bargain, so you must also honour yours.” He sighed. “Even if he didn’t honour his side, you would still have to honour yours. He is the Sheriff.”

“Oh, I hate vampire politics,” said Sookie, reaching up to kiss him on his cool lips. She had intended for it to be a small affectionate kiss, but it evolved from there. Somehow, with methods that completely eluded her, they managed to find their way into Bill’s bed.

---

After Eric had left —and he hadn’t stayed for long, much to Marie’s relief— she immediately called Logan. She needed his advice. All right, so maybe he wasn’t particularly good at giving other people advice, since he didn’t have a clue what he himself was doing half the time, but he did have good instincts and he’d always been there for her. She really just needed to talk things through with someone she trusted, that was all. He picked up after the first ring.

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 11

True Blood/X-Men crossover

Rated: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize; it all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO.

Chapter 11: Worlds Collide

Logan pulled Eric aside as soon as Stan Davis and his retinue had disembarked. “Listen, bub,” he said. “I don’t appreciate you claimin’ that we belong to you, coz we don’t, got it?” Sookie held her breath, wondering what the Sheriff would do. From what she knew, Eric did not tolerate this sort of disrespect, although, strangely enough, he brushed it off when she was the one who disrespected him. There was a niggling suspicion at the back of her mind that he was giving her preferential treatment, and she was quite sure that it wasn’t just her telepathic ability that was making him treat her thus.

Eric, to his credit, did not lose his temper, although he did forcefully remove Logan’s hands from the front of his completely ruined shirt. “I had no other choice,” he said. “He would have tried to claim you, otherwise, and I certainly did not want that, although…” Here, he paused and smirked. “I would have liked to see how Davis would have dealt with you.” That was directed specifically at Logan.

“I would have cut his head off, like I said I would,” said Logan. “It’s very simple, really.”

“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, have you?” asked Eric, shaking his head. He wasn’t sure, but he felt he liked having a completely clueless nephilim as an ally, or rather, a potential ally. It made him so much easier to control. Of course, other troubles were sure to arise in the future. Howlett had made it very clear the only predictable thing about him was unpredictability and the smell of cheap cigar smoke.

The intercom crackled to life again. “Logan!” called Mystique. “Storm’s on. She wants to talk to you.”

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 10

True Blood/X-Men Crossover

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize. It all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO.

Chapter 10: Ad Victoriam

Logan stared at each of the soldiers in turn. Well, just the six at the front. He didn’t have time to give them all individual looks. He could feel the others staring at the back of his head. They were probably wondering if he was mad, or what he was, or both. He didn’t particularly care at the moment. The Wolverine snarled. It was a guttural sound that came from deep down in his throat; an inhuman sound. The beast within him was straining against the constraints he had erected around it. If he had enough hair on the back of his neck, it would be bristling.

He didn’t wait for them to shoot him; the idea just wasn’t that appealing. He lunged first, going for the guns. It was inevitable, however, that they fired at him before he could disarm them. The first bullets hit him in the chest. He almost staggered backwards as the pain struck him. He could hear Marie screaming his name and taste blood at the back of his throat. And no, it didn’t taste different from any other blood, despite what those vamps were saying. He ignored the pain. The claws came down, slicing the gun closest to him in half. The claws of his other hand pierced through Kevlar and silver chainmail. Frothy blood bubbled from the man’s mouth, staining his chin red. Logan yanked out his claws with a grunt and before the corpse had even fallen, he had launched himself at his next opponent.

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 9

True Blood/X-Men crossover

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize.

NB: I used a mix of book Godric and TV Godric.

Chapter 9: Sin and Retribution

The sun was rising in the east, its golden rays slowly creeping across the sleeping earth, waking it up. It was silent, apart from the chirping of a few birds. Godric turned his face towards the rising sun. He was beginning to smoke. Logan’s cigar dangled from his fingers. He’d forgotten it was even there as he watched the ancient vampire close his eyes and lift his hands to the sky as if in ecstasy. Flames of blue and gold appeared on his skin. His robe caught on fire quickly. Logan’s first instinct was to tackle the vampire and roll him around on the ground until the fire died, but he made himself stay where he was. The flames engulfed Godric’s body quickly, and when they died down, there was simply a charred spot on the yellow grass and the smallest pile of ash.

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 8

True Blood/X-Men Crossover

Rating: Teen

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything that you recognize.

Chapter 8: Choir of Angels

From the outside, it looked so unremarkable. It was just one shed out of many other sheds, and yet, beneath their feet lay remarkable suffering. This was where they had kept her cousin, bruised and beaten, and this was where they were keeping the missing vampires. There was no need to be careful now; the news was out. The entire compound knew that there was an attack. Marie could hear their shouts, like the baying of hunting dogs, behind them. She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. Much to her surprise, it was Eric. It was not a friendly gesture, however. The vampire just wanted her attention. “Now’s not the time to hesitate, little Marie,” he said. For a short moment, she thought about ripping the silver coated door from its hinges and throwing it at him. His condescending attitude was becoming very irritating indeed, and she was not in the mood to humour him. However, he was right.

Marie did rip the silver coated door from its hinges, but she did not throw it at Eric, despite the huge temptation. He’d suffered enough for one night, she figured, and it also wasn’t the best way to convince him that an alliance with mutants would be beneficial to him.

The guards within were completely unprepared, so Marie had no trouble disarming them. “Face the wall!” roared Logan after their guns were ripped from their hands. “I don’t wanna hurt nobody, but I ain’t got a problem with hurtin’ someone if you don’t do as I say, got it?” With no other choice available to them other than suicide, the men did as they were told, although they did so whilst shouting at their attackers, threatening them with hellfire and brimstone.

“You go on in and rescue the vampires,” said Marie to her cousin and friend. Mystique would probably have liked to be here, but she had been charged with looking after the drained Magneto. She hadn’t been too happy about it, since he had not taken care of her after she’d been shot with those cure darts, but she also knew that it would not benefit anyone except their enemies if Magneto ended up dying. “I’ll stay out here and guard the door.”

“Are you sure, kid?” said Logan.

“I’ll be fine, Logan, really,” said Marie. “I’ve…I’ve got Magneto’s powers.”

“Still…” said Logan doubtfully.

“I’ll stay out here with her, Mutant,” said Eric suddenly, surprising everyone. “I wouldn’t be much help with the silver chains anyway.”

 

Fanfiction: Survival of the Fittest 7

True Blood/X-Men crossover

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything you recognize. It all belongs to Marvel, 20th Century Fox, Charlaine Harris and HBO.

Chapter 7: I am Wolverine; Hear Me Roar.

Sookie cast out her thoughts as far as they could go. There were a lot of vampires. They appeared as empty gaps in her mind. She forced herself to go further, to go beyond the confines of these concrete walls. There were men thinking about the vampire that they were going to ritually kill tonight. They thought he was the biggest vampire they’d ever seen. She glimpsed an image of a vampire chained to a stone altar with silver; smoke was rising from where the metal touched his pale flesh. Eric. Damn! How did they manage that? And then her mind brushed another familiar mind.

‘Logan?’ she thought. Marie had said that he was good at knowing when people were messing with his head. She hoped that he could sense her now.

‘Kid?’ came the reply. ‘Is that you?’

‘Yes, it’s me,’ she thought back, hoping that she was strong enough to transmit whole sentences.

Apparently, she wasn’t, because she sensed that he only felt her presence. He couldn’t ‘hear’ her per se.

She ‘heard’ a string of unwholesome words run through the mutant’s mind. Logan could write a dictionary of swear words.