To be a maker

Jessica sat in Bills office, leaning in the rolling chair as she looked at the desk before her. Hands slowly reaching to touch the mahogany wood. Her maker had sat here once. He was king of Louisiana. A smile came to her face as she recalled the many times she sat here and pretended to be in charge while he was away.

Her eyes cast to the right to see the picture of them on her wedding day only three years ago. Hoyt had been the one constant thing in her life besides Bill. Her smile brightened. If Bill were here, what would he say? Longing for his words, she opened the desk drawer and pulled out the book he'd written before the entire Lilith commotion had taken away most of his sanity. She opened the book and began to read where she'd left off, unable to continue the last time because it hurt too much.

"Laws of the vampire authority were not gray. They were black and white with no in between. I'd accompanied sookie to help the sheriff of area 5 get to the bottom of recent theft from his prospering club. It was that night that began the path I never thought I'd ever take...."

".....Lorena had stolen my humanity, my family...my life. I swore never to create another, to steal a future from an innocent. To condemn them to a life of eternal darkness. But the Vampire Authority had their own laws that every vampire must abide by...and I had broken their laws."

Bill rounded the corner from the grand hall and slowly walked down the hall towards the front door. Everything remained the same, even in death.

"Her name was Jessica Hamby, she was to be the innocent human that I turned. To become one of us, she was just a child....A burden on my life, that is what I was led to believe. Until she entered my life....and she complete me. To be a Maker is to be a master, and true that is what I had to become. But she didn't just become my progeny, she became something so much more. She became my daughter."

Her eyes watered as his voice rung in her ears, almost as if he were here in this room speaking. Blood ran down her cheeks as she continued to read. Remembering her own version of that night and how it had changed her life forever.

"Jessica was, at first, the most impossible person I'd ever met. Stubborn, impulsive, headstrong, curious. It took me a whIle to realize she was but a newborn to this life, and a teenager at that. I myself had never watched my children mature past elementary ages. Except Sarah. I sat at her bedside as she took her last breath as an old woman. Although she knew not what I'd become, she was able to peacefully pass away with hopes of seeing her father again. Jessica was everything I didn't see myself having or being. Until I realized, I cared for her. Much more than I ever thought possible."

His words flowed. An eloquently worded passage about his first experience at being a maker, her maker. It touched her heart and she closed her eyes, almost as if she could smell his cologne.

"Oh, Bill. I miss you so much." She smiled, remembering her first awakening.

"Oh my god! I can curse all I want to. Fuck. Shit. Fuck, fuck, shit, damn, hell, ass!" She squealed in delight of her newfound freedom. Freedom she'd never dreamed possible from under the thumb of her strict parents. "I'm a vampire! Woooooo!" She smiled big and cast glance at the man before her. His jaw tight and his stance was one of authority. "So who the fuck are you?"

She giggled and opened her eyes, a gasp leaving her lips.

"As the years went by, I no longer saw myself just as her Maker but as someone I hoped she would become to see as something more, family. The Bellefleur's and I may have been related, estranged not of only what I was but the fate that I had afflicted upon their family. But Jessica? She was all that I needed, and it was to this date...she is the single most greatest creation in my immortal life."

Bill rounded the corner to his office and stood resting against the frame, hands stuffed deep into his pockets.

"It was an honour to walk her down the aisle, to watch her give her love to another. To stand there as a proud father and watch his beloved child take steps into the world...."

A small smile spread across the face of Bill Compton, dressed in a black shirt and dark pants. His head tilt to the side in admiration to the woman sitting before him. He could smell the blood, see the red streaks down her cheek and under her eyes.

"I do miss that laugh," he spoke up, the small smile remained on his face.

She stood quickly, blinking her eyes rapidly to clear them and focused on the man standing before her.

"Bill...is-is it...am I--"

She swallowed nervously and couldn't believe her eyes. She had to be hallucinating. Moving around the desk and nearly tripping over her feet to get closer to him. Hesitantly extending her hand to his face, she touched his cheek and gasped. "Oh, Bill!" She threw her arms around him and held onto him so tight as if he were her lifeline.

Bill let the small smile remain on his face, the expression painted across Jessica's face and her eyes shone brightly. "Jessica..." and he felt her hand on his cheek almost testing to see if he was real and to Jessica he was.

As her arms wrapped him, he did the same and pressed a hand against the back of her head and just let them hang there.

"Shhh, I'm here," he paused for a moment and released her and pushed her back for a moment. "Let me take a look at you," cupping her cheek "I do believe that you have grown far more beautiful...and so grown."

Tears welled once again in her eyes as he spoke, admiring her. Her hand was placed on his that rested on her cheek. She wrapped her hand around his and smiled through the emotions balled up like a rock in her throat.

"It's not been the same without ya, Bill. I...I sometimes feel lost. Like...there's somethin' missin'." She met his eyes, still the deep hazel she always remembered.

"Hoyts been so wonderful. I mean, we have our fights but...he loves me. I love him. I can't make myself move anything from your office. It's like ya left it." She looked at him, wondering how she was imagining him. But he was so real, she could touch him.

The soft gentle southern smile resided on his lips, his eyes bore into Jessica's as he looked upon his progeny with such admiration, pride and love that shone in his own eyes. He didn't need to speak the words directly because he hoped that she knew.

"I'm always with you Jessica, I never left." His smile faltered a little and he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm part of you as you are part of me. My blood runs through your veins as yours is in mine. We are bonded, something far greater than any human could understand."

Listening as Jessica spoke of Hoyt, he smiled a little.

"And you don't need paper clips or a desk to have me close Jessica. I'm always here...I'll never leave you...I never did."

She hurt, not physically. But emotionally seeing him before her, knowing that she must be going crazy because it wasn't possible. He'd died, the true death and that was final. Sookie said there was nothing left but blood.

"Bill...why can't you come back to me? I need ya, Bill. I...I--" blood tears began to run down her cheeks as she spoke through the pain of what she felt.

"It's not the same, Bill." She whispered. Shaking her head, she looked down sadly at her hands.