Making the Call

Eric sighed as he barricaded himself in his office. Nora had done a number on the bar that only thanks to vampire speed had they gotten cleaned up in time to open up again, but his throne, which had been hand carved authentic Viking was destroyed. It pissed him off on a level only Nora could piss him off at. Of course Pam wasn’t being helpful, she just wanted her usual allowance to go shopping since she couldn’t understand that he was in deep shit.

Oh no the gods forbid Pamela couldn’t shop for expensive outfits for her and her lover Tara.

Shaking his head he went to address a more pressing matter. On his desk he had two letters from the Queen of Oklahoma. One was addressed to him another to Bill which he had one of his employees intercept. To get Bill involved really pissed him off but there was no other way. Despite his attempts to dissuade her from her pursuit she insisted on marrying him. All she wanted was the power that came from his 1100 year old blood. The Queen of Oklahoma was younger than him in vampire years but if it was shown she could attract a vampire such as him then it would go great lengths into showing her power. Not that he had any desire for the woman. There was only one woman who ignited his passions and she was still, thankfully, unaware of his situation.

Ignoring the letter addressed to him he instead opened the one addressed to Bill. He opened it and began to read.

“King Compton.

I am formally requesting you surrender Sheriff Northman into my territory as I will take his hand in formal vampire marriage. As Eric Northman has not answered my requests I am now taking this to you in hopes that you will see the benefit of this union and order Northman to report to me immediately.”

Eric stopped reading. Yeah this was bad, but hell would surely freeze over before he ever submitted to that Queen. He ran his fingers through his hair. First Nora, then Pam being all sourly over whatever, then this. He set the letter down and grabbed his cell phone. He checked the time. Surely Bill would be up by now. He dialed his number and waited.

“You have reached ‘Bill Compton’ to leave a message press one or wait for the beep”

He swore under his breath. “Dammit Kiara can’t you fuck Bill some other time?” he said before the beep came on.

“Bill, its Eric. I… require your assistance with a private matter of urgency. Call back as soon as possible” he said before hanging up. Gods, what did the world come to that he was forced to see Bill for help? That poor bastard had enough problems, but since he was king….

Putting his phone aside and praying that Bill would answer tonight he went to check on some inventory receipts. The bar was doing alright despite the damage, but all these problems had kept him from Sookie. It was a good thing he had several secret investments that not even Pam knew of. He grabbed his phone and made a few calls. Thankfully a few things hadn’t changed over the ages, such as giving a woman gifts to make amends, so he had some roses, chocolates and good wine sent over to Sookie’s home. Hopefully if nothing went wrong tonight and Bill answered his fucking phone he’d be back with Sookie by the time she finished her work shift.

Bill watched quietly as Kiara continued to nestle into his arms as she slept peacefully, his fingers caressing her exposed arm as she wrapped herself inside the thin blanket, he was completely content on watching her until she rose, but the irritant buzzing from his cell took him out of his trail of thought. Untangling himself from her arms, he reached for his cell on the bedside table; a voice-mail. Hitting a few keys he played the voice-mail.

“Bill, its Eric. I… require your assistance with a private matter of urgency. Call back as soon as possible”

It was Eric, why would he be calling him for help? He speedily started to get himself dressed as Kiara obliviously continued to sleep peacefully as he gentle kissed her cheek before turning to exit the room as he descended the stairs he had told a member of his staff that he had some business to attend to, and if Ms Griffen asked for him he would be home shortly.

A car was already waiting for him to take him to 'Fangtasia', pondering on the thought as to why Eric would call him for help, it was very unlike him. The journey to Fangtasia did not take long, he was unsure if the bar was open tonight or not. As the car parked outside the bar, Bill climbed out and headed towards the door and entered. Knowing that Eric would be in his office, he knocked and entered hearing a rustle inside.

"Eric..You called?" he asked as he closed the office door behind him.

Eric lifted his head. He'd been reading over the letter the queen had sent for him. It wasn't better than the one sent for Bill. At least it seemed as if the queen hadn't found much about him.

"Ah Bill...yes thank you for coming" she said as he turned around. His expression was grim but he kept his voice even.

"It seems...I have a queen after me" he said, figuring he'd get straight to the point. "She is demanding my presence so she may marry me for political reasons" he handed Bill the letter meant for him.

"She's asking for your intervention in this, an intervention I hope you refuse, as I cannot be married to two women, one of whom I have no desire to be married to in the first place"

"And which Queen are we talking about?" he asked curiously just as Eric handed him the letter "Intercepting my mail now are we?" he looked on stern. Opening the already opened letter he scanned through it.

“King Compton.

I am formally requesting you surrender Sheriff Northman into my territory as I will take his hand in formal vampire marriage. As Eric Northman has not answered my requests I am now taking this to you in hopes that you will see the benefit of this union and order Northman to report to me immediately.”

"Ah the Queen of Oklahoma, it has been quite some time since I have have had dealings with the state. And she wishes to marry you. I can see your predicament Northman. Have you responded to her?" he asked curiously as he sat down in one of the chair opposite Eric's desk.

He shook his head. "Of course not. I wasn't about to say yes and she wasn't too keen on me saying no" he said as he leaned against the edge of the desk.

"She had proposed to me about a year ago... when we were..taken by the authority. Due to that she backed off but it seems she hasn't forgotten her intentions. In a fair match I can beat her, but I hold no political power over her and it looks like she's hoping to go over my head and force my hand"

"Eric, I am not going to lie to you, if you would have asked me this last year, I would have been glad to give you to the Queen. But as circumstances have changed. It would be in the best of interests that you remain in Louisiana. But to defy the Queen of Oklahoma could in fact indeed start a war, a war that we are not prepared for. Are you willing to stand against this?" he asked as he folded the letter and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"I think i am going to need a True Blood" he said as he settled further into the chair.

Eric sighed. Bill was right, defying the queen could bring a war. He brought Bill a true blood before he sat down at his desk.

"I am willing to stand against this, however you were always the one to work with diplomacy. Surely you can find a way to weasel me out of this" he said as he leaned back.

"The Queen won't acknowledge my vampire marriage to Sookie either. She insists I cannot be married to a mortal"

Bill thought about this, there was a strong possibility that with Eric refusing to to marry the Queen could ignite a war, a war that he did not want. Eric handed him a warm bottle of True Blood as he took a few sips of the thick liquid as he pondered his next move.

"I can arrange a meeting with the Queen and see if we can arrange another solution to your problem Eric, but if i am to do this, I am going to need your assistance on a matter. Understand this Eric, what I am about to tell you could and will probably cost me my life, the True Death if this becomes public knowledge. You help me, and I shall make this problem disappear" he said as he sat forward in his chair.

He nodded. Oh this had to be good. Boyscout Bill always lived by the rules and refused to put a toe out of line, but if making a deal with him got him out of this arranged marriage with the Queen he was all ears.

"Well, lets hear what your problem is. If I can resolve it then we have a deal"

Bill stood from his chair as Eric wanted to hear what his problem was, he paced back and forth for a moment, taking a large sip from his blood.

"115 years ago, when i was still a young vampire, i came across a ten year old boy who resembled my human son who died. I befriended a boy named Christian, I found a strong sense of infliction to the child, but it seemed that Lorena believed me in taking a few days to hunt away to heart. But one night she followed me to a barn where i was meeting the boy, she forced me to feed on the boy and turn him. As my punishment for betraying her, she halted my actions to turn him. I believed him to be dead and buried, when yesterday he shows up at my home. You know the penalty for turning a child Eric, this could set back what we have achieved" he said as he turned to Eric to see what he would say about this.

Eric raised an eyebrow. Turning a child into a vampire was a huge offense. No one under the age of 17 could be turned and if they found out usually the authority would be all over that vampire. However it showed just how bad Lorena had been at her job as maker. She'd taken pleasure in the chaos and hadn't taught Bill much except how to be a killer. It seems Bill had learned his good manners after he'd gotten Lorena to release him.

"A child eh? that could be quite problematic if you cannot find it" he began as he thought about it. "However... surely I can find and... erase your little problem before anyone finds out"

"I would appreciate your complete discretion in this Eric. It will not only be my head, but Jessica as well. No one can find out about this. If you help me with this, then I shall make your problem disappear. Do we have a deal?" he asked as he remained still as he looked at Eric pondering the deal.

If he could have Eric on his side, then that would make the problems far more easier, and would make it a lot easier if the threat was taken out, and to keep Kiara safe.

Eric thought about it. "You want me to kill this vampire then? because I don't guarantee the child will be captured alive. If I have free reign to kill him then we have a deal" he said.

Chances are Bill just didn't want the women in his life harmed by this child vampire but if it meant getting the Queen off his ass and not having to have Sookie find out he'd do it.

"Do what you have to do. I do not want him near Jessica or Kiara. So do whatever you need to do to keep this from getting out. The only ones that know about this are you and Kiara. I do not want to involve Jessica unless I need to. Do this for me Eric, and I give you my word. I shall make your problem disappear...I am doing this for Sookie as well as you. I do not wish to witness Sookie unhappy because of this"

As much as he wished Sookie to be with a human, he knew that she was safe with Eric, he would be able to protect her in ways that he could not.

Eric nodded. "Very well. I will take care of your problem and make it...discretely disappear. I shall have my people search for him, but if he is like the few child vampires I've seen, he must be hungry for a freed, so he won't be hard to lure" he said with a grin.

He stretched his hand out. "I shall call you when the deed is done"

"Thank you Eric" he accepted his hand in a gracious handshake as he said he would call when the deed was done.

"I shall speak with the Queen immediately. I shall send word when I have spoken with her. See if we can come to an agreement of some kind. Give me three nights, if you have not heard from me by then, stop by and I shall let you know of what we have arranged" he spoke as he let go of his hand.

He nodded as he stood. "Speaking off...I heard you and Nora had a...fight" he said casually as he grinned.

"Lets just.. pretend my sister didn't try to kill you and that she didn't destroy my viking throne" he added, knowing that since Bill was doing him a huge favor, overlooking his sister's shortcomings shouldn't be a problem.

"Yes, I discovered some information and needed to take sometime out and figured this would be the best place, but it seems that your sister has discovered that i killed Salome, and wanted revenge for what I did. But i do not hold a grudge against her, i believe now that we have come to an understanding. But i would suggest you watch her Eric, she believes me to be her enemy, she talked about Lilith, so i would suggest you keep her away from the public...And send me the bill for the damage, I shall pay for a replacement of anything that was damaged. I know i was responsible for the damage to your throne. I shall have a replacement sent to you by tomorrow evening"

Bill looked at him with concern "I know you care deeply for your sister Eric, i do not wish to have a repeat of what happened at the Authority" he nodded stiffly.

Eric nodded. "Nora is still very confused, but I will tighten her reigns a bit. She should know better than to attack the ruling king" he said with a casual tilt of his head.

"I shall make sure she doesn't cause any more trouble" he added before he opened the door. "I shall call you as soon as I have more news"

He turned and followed Eric as he opened the office door, Bill turned to him and nodded at him.

"Thank you Eric, And I shall send word about the Queen, I shall do what I can. As for you sister, I shall not interfere in how you handle things. Now I must go, I have left Kiara alone long enough. Good night Eric" Bill bowed at him and smirked as he turned to leave Fangtasia, he did not like being away from Kiara too long, so he needed to get home.