Trade in the Sun

Leather and Lace

Aya jumped awake at the sound of banging. Thinking it was a dream, she tried to roll over and go back to sleep. Bang Bang Bang! It wouldn't stop. She looked over at the alarm.

"Who the hell is over at 8am?" She muttered angrily. Bang Bang!

"Dear GOD make it stop!" Aiden yelled from the floor and pulled a pillow over his head. Laura was sleeping soundly next to Aya, completely oblivious to the ruckus.

Aya begrudgingly got out of bed and went to open the front door. "Well Shit!"

"Miss Reznik!" Mrs. Vandiver greeted in her high pitched voice. "You are looking lovely! Mind if I come in?" The social worker left no room for argument and walked past Aya into the living room. "Have you any idea what time it is?"

"Half past too damn early." Aya growled out in a startlingly good impression of Godric.

"8 O'clock." Vandiver ignored Aya's comment. "Which means the twins should have been in school a half hour ago."

"Oh, well, you know... sick days and what not."

"Let me be frank Miss Reznik." Vandiver said in what Aya supposed was her stern voice; it sounded like a petulant eight year old. "I do not like you. I think you are horribly ill suited to raising children and plan on getting the twins away from you as efficiently as possible. Consider this strike one, two more and you are out."

"Oh, I am so sorry. In my country we do not know zese, how you say, 'strike'." Aya purposely made her accent extra thick, and threw in a few Romanian curse words at the end before switching to her best impression of the Louisianan accent. "Now get the fuck outta my house lady!"

Vandiver started to back out, "Two more." She said in a sing song voice before slamming the front door.

Laura came down the stairs. "Well that was mature."

"It doesn't matter." Aya told her. "Your Dad will be back tonight and that old hag will be out of our lives forever."

        ***

Sookie knew it was wrong. She knew nothing good would come of what she was about to do, but she couldn't stop. After making sure the blinds were closed tightly and no sun was shining through she opened the closet door. The vampire-who-lived-next-door, whose name she was not willing to speak had made the space big enough for him to lay flat in. Being substantially taller, Eric had to bend his knees slightly.

Sookie stared at him for a long moment, trying to piece together her emotions. On the one hand, Eric was manipulative, scary, crude, selfish. But then she thought of him in the Fellowship of the Sun church and how he had willingly been bound in silver to protect Sookie and Godric. Then later on the roof, how broken he had looked when he thought Godric was going to meet the sun. Godric said that that was Eric's true side. Sookie had problems imagining Eric as a sensitive, cuddly man, but crazier things were possible.

"Sookie." Eric said suddenly. Sookie fell back with shock.

"Eric! I'm sorry!" She tried closing the door but was stopped by Eric's hand.

"What time is it?"

"About eight thirty in the morning. I didn't know I would wake you up." She knelt next him and put her hands in her lap.

"I doubt another human could. I can't stay up long, I need my strength for tonight." He straightened his legs so his back was resting against the wall of the closet.

"The thing you were talking about in Jackson, the thing you've wanted since you were human, Russell has it, doesn't he?"

"The thing is Russell." Eric said. "He had his wolves kill my family. My father, mother, and baby sister. She was only eight months old, the only one of my siblings to survive past a few weeks."