Chapter Text
Avery walked up the stairs of the building, she headed towards her apartment door with weariness washing over her body. It had been a long night. Her shift as a waitress at a little café was barely covering her bills and allowing her to pay the rent of a tiny flat in Paris; but it didn’t matter how much she had to work, the feeling of leaving an entire ocean of darkness behind her was priceless.
She opened the door and found the lights on, which was strange, she turned them off every night before going to work so the electricity bill wouldn’t be as expensive as it would probably be after that night. Her eyes wandered around the place and finally stopped when she noticed two silhouettes sitting on her green velvet couch.
Her first instinct was to attack them, but she shook her head slightly and thought better than that. She walked slowly towards the living room and stopped in front of the couch.
The first person she saw, was a blonde woman; she was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands resting on her lap, her lips were covered in a red coat of colour and her hair was off her face in a headband. She was the one who caught her attention rather than the man she was sitting next to, because Avery didn’t know her. The man, however, she recognised easily.
“What are you doing here?”, Avery asked firmly, clearly annoyed by the fact that these people had broken into her home.
“Avery”, he stood up from the couch, but stayed in his place. His hair was dark, as it always had been, and his skin was pale. Avery remembered him perfectly as she remembered his maker, Lorena. “We need your help.”
“Why would you possibly need my help?”, she questioned through gritted teeth; oh, how happy she had been away from the unnatural world.
“Godric’s been kidnapped”, another voice spoke from the unilluminated area at her right. This voice was much more familiar than any she could have heard that night, she felt a shiver run down her spine at his very presence.
Avery turned her head slowly to the right and found him leaning his arm against the wall, looking at her. His blonde hair was not long as she remembered, but there were still certain strands that hung over his face in a careless way. She found his deep blue eyes staring back at her blankly.
“By whom?”
“Humans, obviously”, he said in a deep voice. Avery returned her gaze to the other vampire in the room and his companion.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help you”, she said and turned away from them, walking away from that world that was trying to drag her back in. As she was about to go to the kitchen and have a drink, a hand grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall where he was just leaning on a couple of seconds earlier.
Avery shuffled away from his grasp and he let go of her throat, but he stayed right in front of her.
“Are you seriously refusing to help Godric?”, as he spoke that name, his fangs fell out of his lips in a menacing sound.
“I am sorry about your maker, but there’s nothing I can do”, she said and tried to walk away from him, but he slammed his hand on the wall, caging her.
“There is”, he muttered in a gruff voice. “And you are going to do it.”
His words made Avery scoff. “Am I?”, there was a glint of sarcasm on her words.
“You are”, a smirk appeared on his face.
“What makes you so sure, Northman?”, she asked and looked at him defiantly.
“Because you owe me”, he said. Avery was suddenly left speechless.
“I paid my debt”, she murmured, wanting to keep the other two people out of the situation.
“No, you didn’t”, his grin grew wider and his voice took a smug tone, the tone she remembered perfectly. “But if you help us find Godric and take him back home in one piece, your debt will be paid.”
Her head started to ache for the decision that she had to make. She did want to stay as far as possible from the vampire world, but being in debt to a thousand-year-old vampire with such reputation was like carrying a time bomb on her back, so she made her decision and prayed it had been the right one.
“Fine, I’ll help you find Godric”, she said and stopped herself from rolling her eyes at the vampire before her.
“Deal”, the corners of his lips spread widely and the entirety of his sharp fangs were visible for her. He extended his hand to her, grazing her stomach with his fingertips. She shook it and let go of him quickly.
“Deal”, she muttered and stepped away from him. He chuckled lowly and took a step back.
“Uh, I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s gonna be dawn soon”, the woman spoke with a Southern drawl. Avery frowned at her for a moment, she had no idea who that girl was, although she did resemble someone she used to know.
“I only have a room to spare, so you’re probably gonna have to share”, Avery told the vampire that stood beside the girl. She nodded and smiled gently at Avery.
“Bill and Sookie here are a couple, they can share the room”, the blonde vampire said. “Where am I staying?”
“There’s a hotel across the street”, Avery told him coldly. He laughed.
“So I don’t get to share a room?”, he crept closer and towered over her again.
“Maybe you can get someone to keep you company. At the hotel”, she said and walked past him, heading towards her room.
She closed the door behind her and threw herself to the bed. The darkness in the room put her at ease, it allowed her to sleep through the day and take her mind off of the earthly problems she had to endure. This time was different though, two vampires and a strange human had bursted into her house and demanded her help. She had felt goosebumps in her body as soon as she heard Eric’s voice, it had been at least six years since the last time she had heard it, and having his body so close to hers had been nerve-wracking as it had also been the first and last time. Avery smashed a pillow on her face and pressed it tightly, trying to erase the image of his deep blue eyes staring down at her from her mind, but they had been burned into her brain since many nights ago.