Ain’t nothing to worry about me. I don’t have a heart he can break,” Sookie replied with certainty. “Besides, he said so himself, he’s done with me.
Pam waltzed inside Eric’s office a couple of hours after noon. She found him busily tapping the keys on his laptop. He didn’t look up when she entered which meant his mood hadn’t improved overnight.
“The contractors are here. Shall I send them in?” Pam asked as she placed the ledger that held all their revenue along with bills and contracts that required his signature on his table.
Eric didn’t pause from typing as he nodded his assent. He needed a lot of distraction today.
“And Jake Purifoy called. He’s asking for a meeting later. He said you were expecting him?”
This time Eric pried his eyes away from his laptop as his eyes became pensive. “Yes. Return his call and tell him I’ll meet him in a couple of hours,” he replied.
Pam nodded before she made her way to the door.
“Pam, can you drop by Fiordilatte later. Miss…” he paused as if the words got stuck in his throat. “…Stackhouse gave me her verbal resignation last night. Tend to it. Have Miriam nullify her contract so the proceedings would go without a hitch. And make sure she gets paid duly.”
“As you wish,” Pam replied curtly before she exited the door. She pulled her cellphone out and started dialling Marco’s number.
E/S
The door leading to the dining room from the kitchen swung open for the hundredth time since noon and Sookie would still look up from her station to check if it were him. And each time her heart would drop when it turned out it wasn’t him.
Sleep eluded her last night and when the sun peeked at the horizon she finally gave up on sleep and filled her system with enough caffeine to last her the day. She woke Jason up and said her goodbye to her brother in case she couldn’t make it back before he left for the airport for his evening flight.
A very hung over Jason managed to pry his flaccid limbs off the couch to give her a hug. She gave him two grand – all their winnings from the Venetian – for him to pay the bills and to send to Long Shadow for their monthly installment. Sookie didn’t tell Jason about Long Shadow. Not yet, she told herself. Not until she had enough information about the sonofabitch who could or could not be the man who killed their father.
She wrote Alcide a note, thanking her friend for everything he had done for her and her sibling. She promised to give him a call soon. She kept the note brief and concise and put it in the counter beside Jason’s duffel bag.
While she laid in bed, willing her body to succumb to a little respite, she had made a decision. She would stay in Vegas. She would like to stay at Fiordilatte, but if Eric Northman would forbid her, then she would not grovel. She didn’t go to Vegas to be treated like a lowlife. She had enough people judging her and her family in Bon Temps to suffer fools like Eric Northman in Vegas as well.
She started her job search at the small-time casinos. She didn’t have sufficient education to apply for white-collar jobs but she knew enough about gambling and dealing cards to apply for a dealer or barmaid. It was stated in her contract in Fiordilatte that she could not work in any other food establishment because of conflict of interest and because her status in the restaurant was still indefinite she would try the safer route.
She was turned down by the three small-scale casinos immediately due to her inexperience. She was already downtrodden when she went to the Mandalay Bay. She had made copies of the resume she gave Tara when she applied to Fiordilatte.
The hiring manager was cordial and accommodating enough. The manager took a good ten minutes to run her name in the system for any previous record. Her surname raised a red flag and she was instantly ushered into another room which was more intimidating than the first. It wasn’t an interrogation cell like the one at the North but it sure felt like one. Then a middle-aged man who looked like he was of Latin-American descent emerged inside in his crisp business suit.
He introduced himself as Victor Madden and asked Sookie if she were in any way related to the late Corbett Stackhouse. At the mention of her father’s name, Sookie instantly became rigid as a cold chill ran up her spine. They had her resume. They must have known for a fact that Corbett was her father, and yet they still wanted her to confirm it which meant Corbett was a person of interest to them. After a few seconds of contemplation, she put on her fake smile and forced herself to look sheepish. She nodded her head and answered truthfully.
She felt like she was under the microscope with his deep, narrow eyes. She kept her innocent façade as she kept her gaze shifting from her hands on the table to the man across from her. She might have seemed like a naïve lost girl, who had no idea what she was getting into but inside her mind, she was trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Could Victor Madden be connected to Long Shadow somehow? Was this the casino where her father lost everything? Damn, she wanted answers.
Finally, Victor relaxed his stance and leaned on his chair. He told Sookie that they would be willing to hire her if she could provide someone from Vegas who would be willing to give her character reference since her only recommendation came from her former employer Lafayette Reynolds in Louisiana. He also asked for her permission to do a comprehensive background check on her. It was mandatory for applying for a gaming license and if she didn’t have any previous criminal record there would nothing to be worried about, he said. He asked for her contact number to let her know how their proceedings worked out and Sookie, not wanting to compromise her ruse, gave Fiordilatte’s office number.
Sookie kept her sickly sweet smile as she thanked Victor Madden for his time. Madden gave her a lingering look that didn’t sit well with Sookie but she kept her mouth shut as she made her way out of the Mandalay.
It was almost noon when she got to Fiordilatte and lunch shift was in full swing. Selah barely paid her any attention when she went in and put on her uniform. She wasn’t supposed to be there until 4pm for the dinner service but because she didn’t have anywhere else to go, she decided to wait for Eric Northman at the restaurant, if he ever decided to show up after the disaster that was last night.
She couldn’t figure out how Eric Northman could stir so many strong emotions in her. With him it was a constant roller coaster ride. He could be so manipulative that would send her reeling with rage one minute then he would do something unexpected and seemingly selfless and Sookie would be elated and grateful, verging on lustful. But then, as if he were legally obliged to irritate her, he would say something appalling and she would be seething again. All in under an hour.
He was right. It was very tedious. Their cat-and-mouse game was toxic.
Sookie let out a heavy sigh as she helped Terry scale the salmon. She had already divulged to Terry and Holly about her impromptu resignation last night. She skipped the part about the Rat and whatever happened after that. She then asked Holly if she could stay with her in case the boss wouldn’t accept her apology.
– Yes, she would apologize. She had realized while she was making her way to the restaurant that she had been very impulsive and imprudent for quitting her job without any safety net to fall back to. She would swallow her pride and try to ask Eric Northman to disregard her resignation. In return she would do her darndest to be professional and not be so hostile anymore. She also included in her speech that she would like to request that he would also forget whatever transpired last night between them so that they could work like adults and start over as employer and employee.-
Her prepared speech sounded good in her head. If only she could write down some keywords on an index card so she wouldn’t miss a word. Eric Northman had an ability to make her lose her focus.
It was half past two in the afternoon and the customers were dwindling down. The reviews from last night’s event must have been the culprit for the sudden downpour of diners. Sookie’s extra set of hands were greatly appreciated earlier. She was cleaning the fish station of scales and fish entrails when the door swung open from the dining hall again. Sookie was up to her elbows in fish guts and she was sure her face was riddled with scales that she didn’t have to time to look up this time.
She was scrubbing her arms when she felt someone standing behind her. She swiveled and came face-to-face with the bored looking Pam Ravenscroft in her couture red business suit. Red must be Pam’s favorite color, it suited her, Sookie thought.
“Office. Now,” Pam ordered Sookie before she marched toward the office.
Sookie wiped her arms dry with the cloth that hung under her apron belt, before she dutifully followed Pam, dodging the curious looks from Selah and her other coworkers. Holly gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she walked past her. Sookie felt like she was on her way to the principal’s office but once she caught the ghost of a smile on Selah’s lips, Sookie reconsidered her analogy and decided for the man who was walking toward the electric chair while Selah was chanting ‘dead man walking.’
Sookie repressed a shudder when she closed the door behind her. Pam went to sit behind the desk and pointed at the chair across from her. Sookie took her apron off and folded it under her arm before she sat down.
“I was told, you’ve given a verbal resignation last night to Mr. Northman?” Pam said in a clinical tone.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Then what are you still doing outside helping the crew?” Pam asked with raised eyebrow.
“I was actually waiting for Mr. Northman. I would like to apologize for my behavior last night and was going to ask if I could have my job back.”
There was a slight shift on Pam’s apathetic face and Sookie couldn’t quite place it. Pam drummed her nails on the table as she studied Sookie.
Sookie kept her features remorseful and solemn as she waited for the verdict. It was one of those times when she despised being poor that she had to compromise her principle because she had no luxury to be finicky.
“What happened last night?” Pam asked after a while. She was still wearing her mask of apathy but the tiny twinkle in her eyes betrayed her.
‘Ugh! Didn’t he tell you yet? Or do you just wanna gossip about it!’ Sookie thought exasperatedly. Last night was five levels of awkward and seven layers of awful and she didn’t want to relive it again by telling Pam about it.
“I thought Mr. Northman already told you, ma’am.” The ma’am was an afterthought to mask the grating annoyance in her tone.
“He didn’t. He only told me that you resigned and that I shouldn’t give you hell about it. Even though we have a contract that forbids you to quit out of sheer whimsy the same way Eric can’t fire you without solid ground.”
‘Well, I’ll be…’ Sookie thought stunned by the fact that Eric Northman ordered somebody to cut her some slack. She had actually considered the contract. That was her last bargaining chip. If he decided to terminate her, she would bring out the signed agreement that was Tara’s last act of kindness toward Sookie.
“He kissed me,” Sookie blurted. She didn’t want to share that piece of information to anybody but she felt the need to defend herself against Pam’s biting remark.
Pam’s lips hitched to a smirk before she leaned forward. “Oh? And I think it’s safe to assume that you didn’t like it?”
“Of course, I didn’t!” Sookie retorted defensively. ‘Damn, that was overly defensive!’
Pam’s smirk curled into a full smile. “So he assaulted you? Is that it? Would you like to file a complaint? I may work for Eric but I’m a woman too and I don’t tolerate sexual harassment in my place of employment.”
Sookie jerked backward in her chair as she discerned what Pam was implying. Did he force himself on her? In some aspect yes, but she wouldn’t call it an assault. If she takes Pam’s advice and files a formal complaint, there was a possibility that she could be compensated generously to keep such a scandalous thing from leaking and wrecking the Viking’s oh-so immaculate reputation.
Then as though someone had knocked her head with a coconut, her moment of guile left her. She would not do that to him. That kiss was special. At least to her. It was the time when she threw caution to the wind and hoped the moment wouldn’t end. It was the time when she was just a girl and he was only a boy. Not the bitch and the bastard like they were. She might not like Eric Northman, but he wasn’t a sex offender. He wasn’t.
Sookie shook her head and dropped her gaze to her lap. She noticed that she had missed a few scales right before her elbow.
Pam became quiet for a good minute before she spoke again. “What time is your shift?”
Sookie drew her eyebrows in confusion. Did that mean she could keep her job? “4pm.”
Pam stood up from her chair and grabbed her purse from the table. “Good. You still have more than an hour before your shift starts. Come with me.”
Sookie scrambled off her seat as she followed Pam outside. She barely had time to get her messenger bag above her station as she dashed toward the back door to go after the leggy blonde. Holly and Terry threw her puzzling looks and Sookie just shrugged before she became scarce.
E/S
Pam was also a daredevil behind the wheels as they sped off the intersection at the Flamingo road. Sookie watched Pam as they drove off to an unknown location. ‘Shit! Why did I get into the car with her? Good job, Sookie! What a freaking idiot you are!’
Sookie was debating whether to ask Pam where they were heading but when she finally mustered enough courage to inquire, Pam was already making her way inside a luxurious estate before she slowed down to park at a lot beside a sprawling Victorian manor.
At first Sookie thought it was where Eric Northman or Pam Ravenscroft lived but as she looked around she could see at least ten high-end cars that varied too greatly to belong to one owner.
“Where are we?” Sookie finally found her voice.
Pam was applying fiery red lipstick and smoothing the top of her perfectly styled French twist while she stared at her reflection through the rearview mirror.
“Red Cavern. It’s a high-class brothel,” said Pam in a detached tone as though she was telling Sookie that they were in a supermarket where they would shop for artichokes.
Sookie’s eyes widened in surprise as she glanced at the mansion then back to Pam. “Wh-what? Why?” she stuttered. She couldn’t quite wrap the idea in her head that Pam Ravenscroft had brought her to a brothel. Would she show Sookie other job opportunities so she wouldn’t work at Fiordilatte anymore?
Pam let out an amused huff. “Because your indecisiveness is quite frustrating.”
“What?”
“I can tell that you’re mad. You’re angry at your situation and you feel like you’re being left with no choice,” Pam replied without a hint of enthusiasm in her voice. “You’re probably mad at Eric, too. Because let’s face it, he can be a child sometimes.”
Sookie bit her lip as she realized she was not a very good liar after all. It was either Pam was very good at deciphering her or she was losing her skill to bluff. Either way, she wasn’t happy.
“I brought you here because I want you to see that yours is not the worst kind of hell,” Pam continued.
That struck a chord in Sookie. Pam had no idea what she was talking about. She didn’t know the kind of hell Sookie had been thrown into. “You can’t say that. You don’t know anything about me,” she said between her teeth.
“Your father was a gambler who left you with a ton of debt. Your mother died in a car accident when you were seven. And your grandmother died of a heart condition three years ago,” Pam said without batting an eyelash.
Sookie’s expression changed from shocked to livid.
“Before you go all Amazon on me, it’s my job to keep tabs on everybody who worked for Eric. How do you think Eric found out about that scumbag swindler for you? By magic? We’ve already told you, Sookie, we have eyes everywhere.”
Sookie was still enraged. She could not believe Eric Northman would invade her privacy like that.
As though Pam had read her thoughts, she spoke again. “You have forfeited your right to privacy the minute you walked in the North with Bill Compton, Sookie.”
Sookie didn’t know who to hate more, Pam, Eric or Bill. She decided she loathed them all. She reached for seatbelt and started unbuckling it.
Pam seemed unperturbed by Sookie’s attempt for departure as she checked her image on the mirror. “How do you think you’re going to get out of this place? Do you think you can simply walk out? I told you, this is fucking Hotel California. It can be heaven or hell.”
Sookie grunted loudly. She was sick of getting undermined. She decided that she would rather take her chance against whoever was manning this damn place rather than get stuck with the Devil who wore Prada. She got out of the car and sprinted toward the iron gates located at the far end of a vast and magnificently manicured garden that had swan topiaries on its isles. She was almost at the gates! Just a few more steps.
But before she could take another fleeting leap, two giant men stepped in front of her with shotguns pointed at her. Her hands shot up in the air instantly. She was still gasping for breath when she heard Pam’s heels as they hit the paved driveway.
“Put those down. She’s my guest,” Pam told the guards offhandedly. And just like that they loosened their grip on their weapons and the guns that hung around their shoulders with a strap, fell to their sides. Pam took Sookie’s elbow and pivoted her toward the mansion.
They walked in silence as Sookie tried to catch her breath and steady her heartbeat. They reached the two enormous wooden doors, and Sookie watched Pam as she buzzed in. Pam looked up at the corner of the ceiling as she uttered a four-digit code. It must be a password. Of course, there would be a password, didn’t they all, Sookie though sarcastically as she recalled her trip with Eric Northman at Murello’s hideaway.
Her epiphany came like an eight-wheeler truck speeding straight toward her on black ice. In less than 24 hours, she had been made privy to all sorts of organized crimes. She was sure Murello wasn’t making a living by selling balloons just like Mr. Fredrickson who looked a hell of a lot like him. And now, prostitution? Would she be able to make it out of this underworld alive? Or should she resign to a similar fate as her father?
The door creaked open and a woman, with raven-black hair, gray eyes and a stunning physique that was obvious through her tight leather corset and black leather pants, emerged. She was like Catwoman only more slutty.
She gave Pam two air kisses on the cheek before she turned to Sookie. “Pamela, she smells fishy. I mean that literally.”
“Don’t complain. She rode with me. I had to open my windows to air out the wet market smell.”
Sookie didn’t think she could shrink any smaller, but she did. But she bit back her tongue, afraid that one wrong word and the guards would storm in again and shower her with bullets.
Pam and the woman stepped inside and Sookie followed meekly. They went up an elaborate staircase and Sookie could see five widely separated doors with numbers on them. There was another spiral staircase but it was more modern, unlike the carved wooden one by the entrance that reminded Sookie of the one on the Titanic ship.
They went up and there were two doors that only had names on them, Red and Black. The woman led Pam to the Red door and Sookie followed. The woman did not get inside, though, as she shut the door before her.
There was a huge red four-poster bed in the middle of the room and there was a 60-inch plasma TV attached on the wall. Pam grabbed the remote and pressed another set of numbers and the screen sprung to life. It was porn.
‘How lovely,’ Sookie thought as she looked away from the screen. The worst part was it was the disgusting kind of pornography. The demeaning kind where a woman’s hands and feet were bound apart from each other while a soft ball was jammed in her mouth to keep her from screaming as a middle-aged man with leather mask would whip her while asking ‘Who is your master?’
Sookie had had enough as she leaned her back against the door and pinched her eyes shut. “What the fuck do you want?” she growled at Pam. “This is sick. You’re sick!”
“No, Sookie. They’re sick. He’s the degenerate one,” Pam pointed at the man on the screen. “He gets off by deluding himself he actually has power. Do you think she likes being lashed? Do you think she wants to not be able to scream for help? What do you think is their safe word, Sookie?”
Sookie was taken aback by the animosity in Pam’s tone. It was the first time the intimidating woman had showed her that much emotion.
“They. Don’t. Have one! All she can do is wait for him to cum and hope to whoever fuck is listening that he doesn’t kill her in the process.” Pam didn’t take her eyes off the screen as she spat her words out.
Sookie gaped at Pam. The pain and hatred in Pam’s eyes as she stared at the screen were enough for Sookie to put everything together. Sookie finally realized why she was there.
Pam was one of them – one of the women who had no choice but to surrender every sense of control to the man with the whip. She stared at Pam and she could see myriad emotions flashed through the tall blonde’s features.
“How did you get out?” Sookie breathed out, cautious.
Pam was trying hard not to blink because the tears that were pooling in her eyes would fall. She swallowed thickly before she replied. “Eric.”
Sookie went beside Pam as she yanked the remote from her shaking hand. Sookie fumbled through the buttons a number of times before she finally found the one that would turn the television off.
Pam was still trembling as she fished for something inside her purse to wipe her tears.
Sookie grabbed a small handkerchief from her jeans pocket and handed it to Pam. “If you don’t mind the fishy smell,” she offered Pam a meek smile.
Pam grimaced but took the hanky anyway. She carefully dabbed the side of her eyes so her mascara wouldn’t leave a disgusting goop.
Sookie tugged Pam by her elbow as they sat on the edge of the soft red bed. She gave Pam time to collect herself all the while thinking the amount of dried sperm she was sitting on.
The minutes went on for like forever. Then finally, Pam took a deep breath before she started telling Sookie how she ended up in a brothel and how she escaped the hellhole.
Turned out Pam was from a very opulent family in San Francisco. Her parents were antiquated and snooty and they wanted Pam to marry into a family of old money to keep their line pristine. She had watched as her older sister was forced into engagement at a young age of sixteen. So when Pam hit that prime age she cashed all her money from her accounts and ran away from San Francisco.
She skipped the country and went to Japan. Her parents would never look for her there. She got tangled with a very prominent Yakuza in Tokyo and after a year of tolerating his many sexual quirks. She fled again and went back to the US. She stayed at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. At first she loved everything California. But then she found the thrill of illegal drugs and that was when she started spiraling down.
Without any more cash to finance her addiction, she had to go and look for an occupation. Because she was an addict she couldn’t hold a job for more than three days. Then she met Madame Calisto in one of the exclusive bars she and her friends frequented. One thing led to another, and the next thing she knew, she was a submissive in Madame Calisto’s Red Cavern in Las Vegas.
For a year she had endured all kinds of beating that only the demented minds of emasculated men could concoct. It was probably the reason why Pam reconsidered her sexual orientation.
Pam had been a frequent flyer at the local hospital and she would always be questioned because of her bruises. Madame Calisto had sent a lot of women in the emergency room for much worse. Three actually died and the legal battle was pure horror for the governess. That was when Madame Calisto decided to employ a private physician that would make house calls at ungodly hours.
A year and six months later, Pam was promoted to be the dominant while some new recruits would be the new subs. Pam was more wired to Vicodin and coke than she was before she entered the brothel. She needed the high to numb every nerve in her body.
Then came Eric Northman.
He wasn’t the BDSM kind of guy, really. It was his lover at that time. Pam forgot the bitch’s name. Eric couldn’t bring himself to flog a girl but his partner was practically begging for it, it was embarrassing. He finally ceded and decided to hire one of the doms to be his proxy.
As luck would have it, Pam was Eric’s companion’s dom. He was given the choice to watch inside the Red room, which apparently was also called the Fish Eye – where clients who craved the power of voyeurism could peek through a specific room – but the Viking declined.
It wasn’t his thing. He had enough power in his hands and he didn’t need to hold a flogger to stress that.
Pam was allowed to disclose the specifics of her routine to Eric to ensure that his significant other would not be harmed more than she desired. Pam was a candid observer and she would always give Eric a straight answer. Her dry humor also added to her charisma and Eric and Pam instantly hit it off.
On Eric’s third visit, Pam wasn’t in the Cavern. After much snooping from her associates, Eric found out she was in a critical condition after having been beaten to an inch of her life while on her way to a spa. She had been cornered by one of her previous customers who wasn’t satisfied with her service. It appeared that Pam might have gone too far that the patron felt the need to re-establish his masculinity over the dominatrix.
The Viking visited Pam and at that moment he decided that it was time to buy her freedom. Although Eric had enough monetary resources to pay off Madame Calisto, he didn’t have the influence to actually cut a deal with the governess. So he went to his father. Eric didn’t ask Godric for many favors, so when the young Northman went to Godric for help, he didn’t need to ask why. Godric just did.
By the time Pam was stable enough to be discharged, she was transferred to a rehab facility in New York to get clean. It took almost a year for Pam to fully recover physically and mentally. Eric would check up on her doctors but would not talk to her personally. He wasn’t much of a talker, really. And he didn’t want Pam to feel like she owed him.
Exactly one year later, Pam came back to Nevada to ask Eric for another favor. She wanted the man who almost killed her. Godric didn’t concur with Pam but used his connection nevertheless to track down the assailant. It wasn’t difficult since the man was still a regular at Madame Calisto’s. Pam didn’t go into so much detail as to how she had exacted her revenge. She only told Sookie that the man was given the Northman treatment sans the first step. Sookie had to suppress a shiver as she took in Pam’s murderous look while the leggy blonde recalled her attacker.
Sookie knew from experience how tough it was to recall a very painful memory and it mystified her why Pam would share something so personal and disconcerting to her when she was basically a stranger.
They were back in Fiordilatte with barely a few minutes to spare before Sookie’s shift starts. She had been rendered speechless by Pam’s revelation. It was different from Sam Merlotte and Marco Alfonso’s sob stories. This one was more riveting, disturbing and enlightening for the Southern Belle.
Pam was also silent for the rest of the trip. She was probably giving Sookie time to assimilate what she gathered from their little field trip.
Pam parked the car at the lot for employees’ only but didn’t turn off the engine, which meant she didn’t intend to go in the restaurant anymore and that she was merely dropping off Sookie.
Before Sookie could change her mind, she lunged toward Pam and hugged her. First she was hesitant and careful. Afraid Pam would push her back. Then when she felt Pam’s hand on her shoulder, she tightened her hold on the seemingly cold-hearted blonde. “I will never betray your trust. I swear it,” Sookie hushed with genuine conviction.
Pam inhaled sharply and patted Sookie’s back twice. “There, there. I’m going to smell like a fucking sardine. I doubt even Chanel No. 5 will be able to mask this.”
Sookie let out a sound that was a cross between a snort and a giggle before she drew back from the blank-faced Pam.
“I’m not worried you’re going to blab about it to your gossipmonger friends. And if you do, I can always find a way to shut your trap,” Pam said grimly. And for a fleeting second Sookie felt very nervous. Then a slight tug on the side of Pam’s lips revealed her mirth. “You’re missing the moral of this story, Sookie.”
Sookie dropped her gaze to her lap. “I got it. Eric Northman’s a freaking saint,” she said dryly.
“Oh, fuck no! Eric was no saint. My small toe is more pious than he is. What I’m trying to tell you is that, while Eric is no Dalai Lama, he isn’t Stalin either. He’s more Sun Tzu. You know Sun Tzu?”
“‘Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.’ It’s like the rule of thumb in bluffing,” Sookie quipped with a shrug. She had read The Art of War five times since she was in high school.
“Exactly,” Pam pointed seemingly impressed. “But my point, Sookie, is that there are worse monsters in the world. Especially in this city. While I get it that you’re mad at the world because you feel wronged at every turn, you must not let anger rule your life. Live a little. Let other people help you. Everyone needs someone. I’m not saying you should let your guard down with Eric, because I really, really don’t. You have no fucking idea how entertaining it is to watch him not be so ass-y.”
“I don’t think I’m following you,” Sookie said, breaking Pam’s train of ramblings. “You want me to accept his help but to not trust him?”
“Good, you’re catching up,” Pam retorted with an amused smirk.
Sookie furrowed her eyebrows and Pam groaned in exaggerated exasperation. “Have you seen Eric? I may not swing that way anymore but I can still appreciate a nice piece of male ass when I see one. Sooner or later, Sookie, you will find yourself attracted to him. Just be careful, alright? He’s a great friend and a boss but he doesn’t do well with romantic relationships. In short, he’s a fucking heartbreaker.”
Sookie shook her head in derision as she slung the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “Ain’t nothing to worry about me. I don’t have a heart he can break,” Sookie replied with certainty. “Besides, I don’t think he likes me that way, Miss Pam. He said so himself, he’s done with me.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, sweetheart,” Pam shrugged before she revved up her engine that went idle. “Off you go, I have to bring this car to the cleaners first. I have a date later and she might think I’m slumming it up now.”
Sookie rolled her eyes lightheartedly before she exited the car. She waved at the driver and surprisingly, Pam returned her gesture by honking twice. Sookie was virtually skipping as she made her way inside the kitchen.
Selah, arms crossed against her chest, glared at Sookie as she entered the kitchen, which, to her astonishment, wasn’t bustling with crew doing the prep for the dinner service. Her eyes roamed the kitchen and found that Selah and two porters were the only people in the kitchen. Before she could open her mouth to ask, Marco Alfonso strode inside from the dining hall.
“Ah, mia bella! There you are. Come, come! We are about to begin,” said Marco in his usual overzealous demeanor.
Sookie looked at Marco then at Selah.
“Yes, Sookie. We’ve been waiting for you,” Selah said bitingly. “Chef Marco’s going to cater an event at the Luxor next week and he’s looking for staff to help him.”
Marco, looking smug as ever, sidestepped Selah as he nudged Sookie to advance into the dining hall where the other cooks were waiting. “I won’t keep them long, chef Pumphrey. I’ll be quick with my selection process.”
Sookie and Marco left the kitchen. Sookie was willing to bet her month’s wage that if she looked back at Selah, she would be able to see smoke puffing out of her nose and ears.
E/S
“We found Long Shadow,” Jake said without preamble as soon he settled in his chair across from Eric. “The reason he was off our grid was because he was working as the middle man for Victor Madden who, as I’m sure you know, is under the protection of Russell Edgington.”
‘Motherfucker!’ Eric cursed mentally. ‘Why him?’
Russell Edgington was Eric’s archenemy.
Russell Edgington was old school. He would not have any qualms putting anyone down who were bold enough to defy or cheat him on his turf. He owned two major hotels in Vegas – Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand – and three small casinos scattered all over Nevada. There were rumors that he also had a hand in the biggest narcotic syndicate in Carson City. But because he was Russell Edgington, no one would dare point a finger in his direction.
Edgington’s means of torture was prosaic at best. The one he was best known for was ‘the chariot’ where his henchmen would chain a man or a woman (there was no double standard for Edgington, yeah, ladies, you were very lucky) at the back of a car to be dragged around while they were still alive until they were no longer breathing and recognizable. Most of the time severed body parts would be found in the desert, if the animals hadn’t feasted on them yet. Russell rarely used ‘the chariot,’ because the clean-up was always a bitch, so he reserved that particular handling to the ones he despised the most.
Eric, on the other hand, wasn’t the physical type. He took after his father, who taught him that mental torture lasted longer than physical ones. He was barely of legal age when Godric had allowed him to witness one of his interrogation sessions with one of the undesirables –people who were either big cheaters or better cheaters – and it was both disturbing and educational experience for the younger Northman.
“The one who has the gun isn’t the one with the most power. It’s always the one with the most information,” Godric had told Eric before he went inside the cell that could be viewed from the other room. From there, Eric had watched his father purge every bit of information from the undesirable without lifting a finger. He had watched with growing fascination how easily Godric could manipulate someone just by saying the right words. Godric would never go in without enough intelligence on the transgressor and he would twist every piece of material he already had to get more information or to scare the hooligan away. Some called it blackmail but Godric called it strategy.
On certain occasions where the undesirable proved too tough to crack, that was when the Northman treatment would be applied where Godric would ask his men to start ‘breaking stuff’ where his hatchet men would start pummeling one hand with a steel pipe, then the other hand before they moved on the feet.
Usually, one pounding was all it took for the victim to start cooperating. But if all else failed, there would always be another step – the plucking of vestigial body parts such as nipples and wisdom teeth. Those were useless anyway. Female offenders were spared of the Northman treatment. Godric was conservative that way. He would never hurt a woman. He would badger and blackmail, of course, but if those failed, he would turn them over to the LVPD and purge himself of the guilt.
If Godric’s motto was ‘knowledge is power,’ Eric’s was ‘where there is love, there is fear.’ Eric had discerned long ago that there were only two strong driving forces in life: fear and love. He picked that up from his favorite Beatle, John Lennon. Ironically enough one could not exist without the other. One could only be afraid when one loved enough to give a damn.
Those were his weapons of choice against the incalcitrant people who had the gall to irate him. Like Godric, he would look for something his victims loved the most, be it their love for their spouse, children, money or power. Then he would find a way to engrave in his victims’ minds that he could easily take the things he loved most away. He wasn’t actually going to hurt anybody else except for the fool who crossed him. And fortunately for the both parties, no one had dared call Eric’s bluff, yet.
His methods might be wicked but at least he wasn’t downright sadist and evil like Edgington. At least, not yet.
In a city where the seven deadly sins were always present and sometimes done in plain sight, there were still a few unspoken rules and guidelines to be implemented to keep the place from becoming Sodom and Gomorrah 2.0. But if there were very few tacit bylaws in Las Vegas for the commoners, there were even fewer when it came to someone as influential as the Northmans and the Edgingtons.
However, those cardinal rules were considered sacrosanct. Inviolable.
Most of the implicit agreements among the casino lords were pilfered from the Mafia Family code such as the Family should always come first, and ‘dirty laundry’ should never leave the wash room, which meant problems and arguments among Family members were to be settled within the Family. There were a few more unwritten no-no’s among the big bosses, but the two that stuck with Eric the most were the farcical ones.
One of those rules was never to touch a kingpin’s mistress. Wife, you could fuck as long as it was consensual. Most of the honchos’ wives were only there for show, anyway. Trophies. Mistresses, on the other hand, were more personal. They were kept because of a reason, sometimes that reason was, ridiculously enough, love.
Another rule was never to rig a kingpin’s vehicle. Never. Unlike in most casino films, where the most popular way to assassinate a big kahuna was to plant a bomb in his or her car, there was an assumed agreement against that. Top dogs were not supposed to be scared to start their own automobiles.
Eric, still brimming with puerile behavior, violated one of those outlandish rules during his first year of tenure as the head of the North. He had made the mistake of sleeping with one of Edgington’s mistresses.
Her name was Tabitha Angelis and she had been Russell’s favorite concubine for seven years. In the Viking’s defense, it was Tabitha who came on to him and because he was still relatively new to the business and its machinations, he wasn’t aware she was Russell’s until after he slept with her.
Eric bumped into Tabitha in one of Russell’s lavish galas and because Russell’s legal wife was there, Tabitha couldn’t be seen with Russell the entire night. Then entered the Viking, the new kid on the block who was surrounded with an air of danger and power, two qualities Tabitha craved for in a man. Tabitha was a twenty-something brunette with emerald green eyes that were luminescent like cat’s eyes in the dark.
When Pam went in Eric’s fuck suite the next morning to do the usual hello-and-goodbye ritual to Tabitha, she could barely contain her horror when she recognized Eric’s latest trollop.
Pam had begged Eric to lay low until they could make amends to Russell. But the Viking, who had only laughed it off, was too cocky and pig-headed to do such a thing. Absurd rules didn’t apply to Eric Northman, he thought without a hint of remorse or doubt. He was fucking untouchable.
But in an effort to pacify Pam’s relentless pleading, Eric agreed to meet with Russell and ‘apologize’ for his faux pas. They met that same night at the MGM Grand, Edgington’s flagship hotel, and Russell brought his cheating lover with him. The vivacious Tabitha from last night was gone, replaced by the diffident and nervy woman in front of him.
Eric remained unfazed by Tabitha’s demeanor but, for all intents and purposes, had managed to make himself look contrite as he apologized for his indiscretion with Russell’s companion. Edgington waved his hand dismissively before he cackled and asked his chief of security to take Tabitha in the next room.
As soon as they were alone, he turned to the Viking and his next words were still vivid in Eric’s memory. It was the first threat he had received. And it was, until now, the most convincing.
“I get it, Eric, really, I do. I tried to usurp your position when your father died. So your first attempt to get back at me was to fuck my whore. Out of respect for Godric, I will not kill you. You’re still practically an infant, after all. But make no mistake, Eric, that the next time you touch anything that is mine will be the last thing you’ll ever do.”
As if to stress that his words could hold water, Russell escorted Eric to the Viking’s car down at the basement lot. Roman and the rest of Eric’s security detail stalked the two tycoons with extreme caution. Just as Eric was getting into his bullet-proofed town car, he heard a bloodcurdling wail that he knew came from Tabitha. The Viking had watched with muted revulsion as the Greek brunette was being dragged face down around the parking lot by a black pick-up truck.
Eric could feel Russell’s eyes boring into him and not at the atrocity that was in front of them. Russell was waiting for his reaction. Would Eric wretch in disgust? Would he show utmost fear?
The Viking held his ground as he kept his face blank. He did not look away from the savagery that he was sure was meant to unhinge him. It went on for like hours, but according to Roman it, mercifully, took only less than half an hour before the poor woman stopped moving altogether. Russell ordered the vehicle to halt immediately. The flayed, lifeless body of Tabitha was unchained from the truck before four men in white beige overalls emerged from the lift to sweep the area clean of any traces of the brunette.
Tabitha was collateral damage. Russell made sure Eric would realize the role he played in Tabitha’s demise. And that it was not yet forgiven. Nor would it be forgotten.
That night, Eric had learned his first lesson in the dark and twisted world of Vegas: it was time to grow the fuck up.
Eric gave Russell a wide berth in Vegas since then, and except for Russell’s initial attempt to overthrow Eric with the help of Bill Compton, Edgington also kept his distance from the Viking. He knew Edgington was only biding his time until he could find the right tool, the perfect weapon, to use against the Viking, before he would strike.
Now, as Eric stared at the convoluted list of clients Long Shadow was supplying money and drugs to, he couldn’t help the dread that was starting to swathe him as he realized that Corbett Stackhouse might have inadvertently signed his children’s death warrants when he decided to gamble their future away.
Eric suddenly realized he didn’t like Corbett Stackhouse. In fact he detested the lowly gambler. Of all the loan sharks in Vegas, why did he have to borrow money from someone Eric couldn’t touch? ‘Fuck!’
He had to find a way to pay off her debt without involving her. Because if Russell found out about her and her connection to Eric…
Eric curled his fingers and his nails started digging into the soft flesh of his palms under the table as he tried to suppress the image of Tabitha at the basement. Only this time, Tabitha’s hair wasn’t black and pin-straight anymore but golden and wispy, and her eyes weren’t green but chocolate brown.
He didn’t realize that he was being awfully quiet until Jake tried to get his attention. “Mr. Northman? Do you still want us to bring Long Shadow in for questioning?”
Eric didn’t want to draw Russell’s attention to him or her. Not yet. Not until she was still in the city. A sharp pang sliced through his chest as he thought of her leaving. He let himself dwell in the pain before he chucked it away entirely. It was for the best, he thought. They were better off without each other, anyway.
The Viking became pensive for a while as he thought of his next course of action.
“Find out everything you can about the shark. I want to know how much Corbett Stackhouse owed him and the terms of the loan. If it were a decade-old loan then there must be some kind of agreement drawn. A usurer like Long Shadow would not allow a credit drag on this long. Discretion is vital, Jake. I don’t want anything to be traced back to me. I want that debt paid off without Edgington finding out about it.”
He might be done chasing after her. But he would be damned if he would let Russell get his hands on her.
As soon as he was alone in his office, Eric sank down in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. The reason he was deemed fearless by the people around him was because he was, indeed, of no fear.
Even Russell Edgington did not terrify him. He had a certain amount of – for lack of a better term – respect toward Russell’s authority. Edgington had earned it when he showed Eric how he could easily take the life of someone of value to him just to make a point.
How come he didn’t feel so invincible anymore? He could only think of one reason why. And she was probably on her way back to that goddamn podunk town right now – that didn’t even realize how lucky it was to have her.
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