Someday You'll Find Me (Eric Northman/ True Blood)

Hunt and Gather

The next night, I entered the Moon Goddess Emporium with the force of a storm, my presence darkening the threshold.

Before I could so much as sniff the air for a trace of Tara, a small, shrill human launched herself at me.

"Where the fuck is she?" the woman shrieked, jabbing a finger at my chest as if that would do anything other than amuse me.

I stared down at her blankly. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Nosferatu," she snapped, fists balled like she was about to deliver the world's most misguided slap. "Where. Is. Tara?"

I blinked. The audacity. The delusion. The waft of discount body spray clung to her like a bad decision. These witches were bold, I'd give them that—though this one, in particular, was less 'powerful sorceress' and more 'feral chihuahua in a sundress.'

Before I could deliver the icy silence she so richly deserved, a calm voice drifted from behind the black curtain.

"Sookie," an older woman said, emerging with the air of someone deeply exhausted by life. "If he knew where Tara was, he wouldn't be here looking for her." She placed a soothing hand on the blonde's shoulder, but the touch barely registered. Sookie was still vibrating with self-righteous rage.

"Oh, this pasty motherfucker knows something," she hissed, stepping in closer, her cheap floral perfume battling violently with the stench of burnt coffee and impatience. "We all know he's a goddamn stalker."

I growled, low and menacing. Her eyes widened as if her single brain cell had finally remembered self-preservation. She took a step back, but I could still smell the bad decisions on her breath.

For a fleeting moment, I toyed with the idea of launching her straight back into whatever trailer park she had crawled out of, but the older woman, sensing my thinning patience, wisely intervened.

"Sookie," she sighed, in the tone of a babysitter who's given up on discipline, "break room. Now."

The blonde huffed but stomped off in defeat.

Finally, peace.

Now, to find Tara.

"Hello Eric, I'm Holly Cleary, if you don't know where Tara is then," she takes a long despairing sigh, "Well, we really need your help."

My heart had stopped beating a thousand years before, but hearing this was like dying all over again.

"Holly, please explain."

Where else could Tara be in this bumpkin town if not here or at home? I'd done my research on Holly Cleary after Tara mentioned her as the seller of the Moon Goddess. Holly was an Elder of the Franconia Circle. She chose to remain neutral when the Coven divided and moved back to her hometown of Bon Temps. At some point, Tara got word of this and convinced Holly to join her. Tara then bought her shop and rented two of Holly's houses, a small 2-bedroom home for herself and a grand, 6-bedroom home for her dozen followers. Funded by Tara, The Onyx Moon Coven is currently being built from the ground up. It seems my wayward lover has more revenue than she's led me to believe. I'll need to do more research and investigate Stan's reports to know more.

"Normally I wouldn't worry, Tara is always late to work, but last night when she called me...she sounded very intoxicated and she was crying. I couldn't really understand what she was talking about, but she mentioned seeing you. So when she didn't show by noon I figured she was sleeping off a hangover." she said reaching for a tissue on the counter, her eyes had begun to pool with tears as she recounted the events.

"So I went to her house with some coffee, only to find the front door ripped apart and the place completely trashed. The odd thing is, nothing seemed to be missing, the bank bag with several hundreds of dollars was on the vanity, her purse, with her ID, credit cards, everything was there...everything but Tara." Her display of profound concern made it evident to me, that she cared deeply for Tara.

"I see," is all I said in response, it was all I could offer as comfort to her. At that moment, my mind was bombarded with turmoil, my blood fucking boiled with anger. If something happens to Tara, I don't know what I'd...

"Tara has known all these years that you've kept an eye on her." She said, interrupting my thoughts, this was astonishing, I had no idea... "I knew it would not be long before you showed up." She continued, and a wary smile emerged from her. "And I'm glad you did."

"You must contact me if you hear from her," I ask and hand her my card, she takes it and nods her agreement.

And I speed off, fuck the car, I fly to her house. When I got there, the scene was just as Holly described and I was immediately taken aback by the scent of a vampire, I could not tell if there had been one or many.

I also caught the stench of a wolf.

I didn't understand. What would vampires and wolves want with Tara?