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Bon Temps was still messed up. It kind of figured, having a goddess, or the closest thing they'd ever seen, hanging around and screwing with people's heads did that.
Andy Bellefleur was the only cop who hadn't gone nuts during the whole thing, and so he was back on the job, and taking care of things until the Sheriff and the rest of them recovered. Jason had been deputized, which was a freaky thought, but not much more than everything else that had happened.
Everybody was dealing, or not, and Lafayette put himself firmly in the 'no way in hell do I ever want to think about this, and if you even think about asking me if I'm okay, I will fuck you up' camp, and he was in good company. Sam was running his bar like it was a military operation, and Lafayette and Terry were acting as if they'd never wanted to do anything else but cook and serve drinks. They didn't talk all that much, any of them, and it was better that way. Lafayette told himself he was okay, and that worked, up until he was back home, and there wasn't anybody around to take his mind off of things. That was when he had to admit he didn't know what he was supposed to do.
He could have gone out, found a party, gotten high and had a good time. But, the problem was, he was waiting for the bad things to happen, and knew they could, now. There weren't any safe places left anymore.
Most nights he got home, curled up on the couch, and watched the t.v. until he was too tired to stay awake. Most of the time, that worked fine, but one night, he twitched himself awake, running away from another nightmare, and there was a vampire in his living room.
"Jesus," Lafayette said, and sat up so fast he almost fell off the couch. "What are you doing here?"
"Watching you sleep," Eric said. "You have nightmares quite often."
"How'd you know?"
Eric smiled, and he wasn't showing his teeth, but Lafayette still felt it in his scar, which was almost freakier than having a vampire sitting in front of him waiting for him to wake up.
"Yeah, because you gave me those nightmares, I bet you're happy about that."
"It does make you easier to handle, but the dreams are effective as well."
"What dreams?"
"Come now, Lafayette, where do you think they came from?"
"You put all of that stuff in my head?" Lafayette asked. Like he needed another reason to hate Eric.
"When you drank my blood, a bond was formed, but the thoughts you have about me are not my doing." Eric grinned, teeth blunt and normal, but still not comforting.
"Like I'm gonna believe that."
"Can I be blamed for your desires?" Eric asked.
"Yeah."
Eric laughed, and Lafayette shivered.
If they'd met someplace else, Lafayette would have thought Eric was hot. He noticed now, he wasn't blind, but waiting to die just had a way of giving a man priorities. Sex wasn't one of them, but back in Eric's office, Lafayette had thought that if he could get the vamp to be interested in him, as an asset, then he would be able to get out of there alive. Now he knew that he hadn't stood a chance, and no matter what he did, he was tied to Eric, maybe forever.
Eric's jacket was laying over the arm of the chair, and he had nice shirt on, maybe silk, Lafayette thought, and he had noticed the way it was unbuttoned almost all the way down to Eric's stomach. Now, Eric kept his eyes on Lafayette as he unbuttoned one sleeve, rolled it up, and then did the same on the other arm.
Lafayette had never wanted something so bad it scared him. Sure, he'd wanted lots of things that people told him he shouldn't, and he hadn't listened to anyone who tried to stop him from doing what he wanted. But this was different, this time he was telling himself that he shouldn't be here, and he couldn't blame anybody but himself.
It was his own damn fault, mixing up with vamps, and selling V. He'd known it could get him in trouble, but a little danger was good, it made you feel alive. But being chained up in a basement watching people getting fed on and not knowing when he was gonna die, that wasn't just scary, it was fucking scary.
"You are still unsettled by what has happened," Eric said, and Lafayette rolled his eyes.
"No shit."
"You cannot change what has already happened."
"That's your advice? To get over it?" Lafayette asked.
"If you don't, you'll be tied to it forever."
"Do you even know what you're talking about?"
Eric's expression shifted, and suddenly he was still, and when he looked at Lafayette, it was like he was seeing something else, maybe all those years he'd been through. "As it happens, I do."
"Is it easier from where you are?"
"You get used to it, and keep going." Eric paused. "That is, if you want to live, is that what you want, Lafayette? Or are you tired of your life and ready for me to take it from you?"
"No way, I'm not ready." Lafayette knew he probably looked dumb, wrapped up in a blanket and hiding inside his house, but he sat up taller and stared at Eric. "Got it?"
"Yes." Eric waved a hand at Lafayette. "It's enough, come here."
"Why?"
"It's what you want, there's no point in resisting," Eric said. He dug his nails into one wrist, and when the blood began to run down his arm, extended it toward Lafayette. "Have a taste."
"This is just your way of making sure I'm hooked," Lafayette said as he slid off the couch. He watched Eric nervously as he got closer, but the vampire didn't move.
"You're not gonna punch me for this?"
"How will you learn if you're not given positive reinforcement?" Eric asked.
Lafayette snorted, he knew when he was being made fun of, but Eric just turned his wrist upwards so that the blood welled up in front of Lafayette's face. "Don't waste it."
"What's this get you?"
"A bit of peace and quiet, nothing more."
"If you think I'm gonna buy that, then you're even crazier than I thought."
"It's possible." Eric eyed his wrist and then licked the blood away. "The wound has closed."
"Too bad for me, then."
"I can make another, all you have to do is say that you want it, Lafayette."
"It's not gonna stop me from having bad dreams."
"On the contrary, we both know what sort of dreams my blood will give you." Eric laughed, and somehow it was dirty and warm at the same time, and Lafayette knew he was going to go along with this.
"Nothing else? Just the blood?"
"You're acting as though this is a hardship for you," Eric said, and Lafayette shrugged.
"Before I got mixed up with you vamps I didn't get shot, brainwashed or locked in basements and tortured for weeks."
"There are consequences for everything you do, and some are more pleasant than others."
"So this might be one of those, yeah, I get it, okay." Lafayette nodded and slid off the couch, and Eric smiled as he cut his wrist again, and Lafayette swayed forward, hands closing on Eric's arm. He glanced up one last time, to make sure that this wasn't just another trick, and Eric stared back impassively, then he smirked, and Lafayette put his mouth on the wound.
He got hard, it was always that way when he did V, but with Eric, it just came over him all at once, and when Eric told him to stop way too soon, Lafayette groaned. "I'm gonna need to get cleaned up."
"Not just yet," Eric said, and his hand came down on Lafayette's neck, stroking it like he was petting him.
"What are you doing?"
"Relax, sweetheart," Eric said, and when he didn't try anything else, Lafayette couldn't help it. He leaned against Eric's leg and let himself sit there, not moving. The scariest vamp he knew was right there, and he couldn't think of anything that would want to fuck with him, so for right now, this was the safest place he knew.