CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

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          DAKOTA HAD GONE AFTER HER COUSIN, MUCH TO ERIC'S DISMAY BUT HE DIDN'T STOP HER. The blond had made Eric promise to make a few calls to see if he could figure out the reason why the vampire had disappeared before she left. There was guilt gnawing at her, Bill had saved her life before and she didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

Sookie's car stood out like a sore thumb beside their shared home, already parked in front of it and Dakota locked her own car before walking up the steps of the front porch. The lights were on, illuminating the front garden.

"You signed his death warrant and that's all you got? Fuck you!"

Dakota pushed the front door open with her foot and her eyes were immediately drawn to the living room, where Tara was screaming at a frowning Sookie. The latter tried to get a word in, confused before Tara threw herself at Sookie, pushing her friend on her back as she straddled her in anger.

Lafayette, who had been sitting on the chair beside them jumped up and tried to pry Tara off. "Get off her! Get off her!"

Tara was shaking Sookie violently, letting out all anger she had been building up the last few weeks. The blonde screeched loudly as Tara pushed her nails into her shoulders. "You fucking bitch! It's all your fault!"

"Tara!" Dakota called, joining Lafayette's side and pulling at her shoulders. "What are you doing?"

It was Lafayette who was successful as he pulled his cousin off and tried to get her as far away from Sookie as he could. "Is you crazy?"

Dakota helped her own cousin to her feet as Sookie began to yell, "We're in the same boat, Bill's gone too!"

Lafayette held Tara back, pushing her up against the wall as she tried to make another run for Sookie. "What the fuck is wrong with you! That's Sookie. She's your best friend in the entire fucking world."

"He didn't need to know!" screamed Tara, clawing at her cousin's arms.

"What on earth is going on?" demanded Dakota, glancing at Tara to Sookie.

"Ask her." spat Tara, eyes narrowed.

Dakota let go of her hold on Sookie and turned to face her, brow raised as she waited for an explanation. The blond kept her mouth shut, glaring at her best friend. "Eggs is dead." said Lafayette, not daring to let go of the girl in his arms. "He got shot by Andy Bellefleur, they say he came at him with a knife."

"What?" she frowned.

"And Sookie was the one who told Eggs ..." she began, tears streaming down her face as she mourned the death of her boyfriend. "who told him about what he had done while under the influence of Maryann."

"He asked me to remember!" Sookie defended herself, throwing up her arms in frustration.

"Jesus Christ." breathed Dakota, running her hands over her face as she closed her eyes.

Tara's anger was justified, there was no doubt about it. On the other hand, Sookie wasn't in the wrong either. The entire situation was fucked up and Dakota watched as Tara stormed from the house, slamming the door shut behind her.

"I'm sorry, Sook." Lafayette grimaced, sending Dakota a quick smile before he went after Tara.

"I can't do this anymore." confessed Sookie as she let herself fall back onto the couch, head in her hands. Dakota frowned, sitting down beside her and pulling her to her side, rubbing her back to comfort her.

"We'll find him." she said. "I promise."

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IT FELT ODD TO BE BACK AT MERLOTTE'S AFTER THE WHOLE MAENAD ORDEAL AND DAKOTA WAS GLAD TONIGHT WAS A SLOW EVENING. Sam wasn't even there, he had gone out of town for a couple of days and he had put Lafayette in charge of the bar, who was now stirring a pot of chili on the stove.

"Why don't you go on home, babe?" began Lafayette, peering at the dark circles around her eyes. "Take a hot bath and get some rest."

"Sookie is still at the station talking to Bud." shrugged Dakota, though a hot bath did sound nice. "I promised i'd help her search for Bill after."

"It's been two days." stated Lafayette. "Bill doesn't want to be found. If he did, he'd be back already."

"Don't let Sookie hear you say that." sighed Dakota, leaning against the wall beside him with her arms crossed over her chest. "I honestly have no explanation as to why Bill would have run away, he loves Sookie too much."

"Love makes you do crazy things."

Dakota scoffed, rolling her eyes before smiling at Arlene who came to pick up an order. Lafayette handed Dakota some chili for her to hand to the redhead and she placed it before her while he continued with the onion rings.

"Hey, Lafayette," began Arlene, frowning. "is there something different about the chili tonight?"

"Actually yeah," nodded Lafayette. "It was tasting kind of flat, so I put a pinch of -"

"Cinnamon." finished Arlene, brows furrowed.

"Yeah," he grinned, placing a basket of rings before her. "how the hell did you smell that? I only put half a teaspoon in the whole pot."

"Shit," breathed Arlene, eyes going wide. "I'm pregnant again."

Dakota and Lafayette shared a look as Arlene began to curse, stomping away and toward the bathroom. The red head left the food on the counter in a hurry and Dakota clasped her hands together.

"Good luck with that." she began, turning to glance at her friend. "I will go home and take a hot bath now."

"You're cute." he rolled his eyes, planting a kiss on her cheek. "Get some rest, Koko."

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DAKOTA HAD WRAPPED A TOWEL AROUND HERSELF AS SHE MADE HER WAY TOWARD HER BEDROOM ON BARE FEET. The floorboard creaked beneath her weight and she stepped out of the bathroom. Her hair hung in dark blond waves down her back to air dry. Sookie had let her know that she'd be home later and that she had decided to go look for Bill with Jessica, his progeny, instead.

To be honest, she wasn't complaining, she loved having the house to herself.

There was a knock on the front door and she made her way down the stairs, arms wrapped around herself as she squinted at the front door in the dark. It was two in the morning and she wanted to know who was crazy enough to visit at this hour.

Dakota glanced down at her attire before making her way toward the door, pulling the curtain aside slightly. His eyes bore holes into her own and she swallowed, taking a step back to open the door a smidge.

"If I had known you were going to wash up," he began, eyes roaming down her body. "I would have come earlier."

"You're a pig."

"Only for you." he grinned, leaning against the entrance. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

Dakota pondered for a moment, pretending to be deep in thought before saying, "No, I don't think I want such a dangerous creature in my home. Especially one who can just waltz in whenever he pleases."

Eric let out a chuckle, pulling an envelope from his pocket and waved it at her face. "Okay," he nodded. "then I guess I won't show you what i've got in here. It's for you, but if you don't want it ..."

"What is it?" Dakota was curious, eyeing it with interest. Eric wouldn't budge, staring down at her with no indication he was ever going to let her know what he had gotten her. "Fine, whatever, won't you please come in, Mr. Northman? Now show me."

Dakota gasped as he sped into her home, pinning her against the wall beside the front door. His hands were on her waist and her heart hammered inside her chest as he nose pressed against her throat and up toward her cheek.

"You should be more careful to let dangerous creatures into your home." Eric muttered, lips trailing down her jaw. "You never know what may happen."

"Eric," Dakota breathed, eyes closed tightly as her hands rested on his chest.

Her dark brown eyes met his blue ones and she practically melted underneath his gaze, and he knew exactly what he was doing, satisfied with the effect he had on her. His lips brushed against her own, lightly and Dakota pushed herself against him.

"What the fuck?"

Dakota jumped but Eric made no move to step away from her as he turned his head to see Sookie had entered the home, eyes wide.

"Miss. Stackhouse," he said, annoyed. "you always find a way to ruin a moment, don't you?"

Sookie glared at the viking, eyes flickering to her half naked cousin for a moment before crossing her arms. "I thought you were looking for Bill? I went to Fangtasia but Pam said you were out, she never said you were sleeping with Dakota."

"Sookie, come on." Dakota tried, sighing.

"No," she held up her hand as she handed something to Eric, which he took after a moment. It was a piece of paper with some kind of symbol on it. "I don't want to hear it. While the two of you were fucking, Jessica and I found something. It stands for operation werewolf, some kind of secret nazi commando force from world war two."

"Where did you find this?" Eric glanced at it, standing to his full hight beside Dakota.

"On some dead guy's neck in the woods." Sookie shrugged.

"You found this branded on some dead guy's neck?" he raised a brow.

"Bill summoned Jessica there." she nodded. "He was trying to show us who kidnapped him. That dead guy, was strong and fast enough to take Bill. He had to be something supernatural. I was hoping you could tell me more."

"Werewolves?" Dakota scoffed, but Eric shot her a look and she frowned.

"Never seen this before, sorry." he handed it back, face void of emotion.

"Why do I get the feeling you're blowing me off?" Sookie demanded.

"This is what I know about werewolves," he began, and Dakota felt her heart drop to her gut. "There's a reason their existence has remained merely a myth to humans for thousands of years. They're territorial, vicious, pathological secretive."

"Boy, does that sound familiar." Dakota muttered. Eric shot her another look.

The vampire leaned toward Sookie and said, "And here's what I know about you. You're so blinded by your obsession with Bill Compton, you're likely to run through the streets screaming 'werewolf bait', alerting that whoever has Bill that we're onto them or getting yourself killed."

"You think I am that stupid?" Sookie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"No, you're human." Eric replied, eyes narrowed. "And your obsession with Bill is so strong that I know for a fact you're going to drag Dakota into this mess. And we all know that she will do whatever you want if you ask her nicely enough. I can't let that happen."

"Eric," Dakota retorted.

"No," he turned to face her. "your life is too valuable to throw away!"

Dakota felt a shiver going down her spine at the intensity of his words, and she decided to keep her mouth shut for a moment. Sookie was also taken aback by his outburst and took a hesitant step away from the two of them, though she wouldn't let the subject go.

"What now?" she began. "How do we contact them?"

Eric turned away from Dakota and shook his head. "You have no connections in the were community. They're not going to answer your questions because they don't even want you to know they exist."

"Bill's out there somewhere," she cried, tears streaming down her face in frustration. "in danger. I can't just go on with my life like that's not happening. You know that, better than anyone. When Godric went missing -"

Dakota had told Sookie who the vampire was the next day and what she had been doing in Dallas, something she hadn't explained before. Eric narrowed his eyes at her. "Bill Compton is no Godric."

"But he is everything to me." Sookie sniffed, wiping at her eyes furiously. "Please, help me find him."

Dakota and Eric watched as Sookie stormed off, rushing up the stairs toward her bedroom. It broke her heart to see her cousin in such pain and she couldn't imagine what she was going through right now. The blond couldn't help herself as her eyes filled with tears.

"Please, don't do that." Eric said, face stoic. "It makes me feel disturbingly human."

"We have to help her, Eric." she said, crossing her arms over each other, to keep her towel from dropping to the floor. "I can't stand to see her like this."

The viking didn't say anything and Dakota couldn't quite figure out what he was doing. His entire demeanour had changed the moment he saw the symbol and she knew he was holding back, but it wasn't her place to call him out on it. Eric sighed and brushed a strand of half dried hair from her face and behind her ear, before pulling the envelope from his pocket.

He handed it to her, wordlessly and goosebumps appeared on her skin when he sped out of her home, door wide open to let the night air inside.

Dakota frowned, holding the slightly crumbled paper in her hands before opening it and closing the door with her foot. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside.

"Fifty thousand dollars?" she breathed, in disbelief.

For all your troubles.

Eric