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Vagaries	By : viciousv Category: S through Z > True Blood Views: 2100 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own True Blood or any of its characters, and I profit in no way from this work. Blood play, violence

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
Sookie could not remember the last time she’d had a quiet night at Merlotte’s. But for some reason, folk were staying home tonight. Maybe it was the unseasonable chill. Or maybe it was some other reason. Either way, with the exception of a snoozing Jane Bodehouse, there was no one at the bar, and only one couple passing through sitting at the booth near the wall. She’d told Arlene to go home, and had contented herself with loitering by the waitress station.
“Sam,” she called back to the office. “I’m going to start my closing now.”
“‘Kay,” came back faintly. He was taking advantage of the quiet time to catch up on the books.
Sookie looked back to the bar, which was powerfully empty without Tara. She had been gone for nearly eight months. Killed, presumably, by Franklin. They’d looked- of course they’d looked, but Franklin’s trail had gone cold in Las Vegas. Bill, as the king of Louisiana, had been able to requisition certain information from the hotels, but that’s as far as it led. No one had seen or heard of the bounty hunter since then.
So it was with considerable surprise (and near cardiac arrest) than Sookie turned to see Tara standing at the threshold. She was dressed in a silk chambray and soft black buckskin pants, her hair in thick waves. The boots on her feet were easily six hundred dollars worth of real snake skin. And the man behind her was a black shadow, dark haired, white skinned, obviously dead.
“Oh my god,” Sookie said. “Tara.”
She could not hear a single thought, and the arms that embraced her were welcoming, but unyielding.
“Sookie.”
Sookie peered over her shoulder at the man- was it Franklin? It must be, though she had never actually laid eyes on him. His smile was cursory and settled into something more amused than gracious.
“Sookie, I just came to say goodbye.”
“No, Tara, stay. Please stay. Have a TruBlood. Tell me what happened.”
“She’s cute,” Franklin said, his English accent as sharp as a papercut. Then he winced as Tara slammed her heel down on his toe. “Ow.”
“Don’t mind Franklin,” Tara said, glaring back at her maker. “He’s never mastered the art of manners.”
“That is an outright lie,” Franklin sulked. “I am very good at pretending I have manners.”
“Fool me once,” Tara said, though there was an alien note of tolerance in her voice. She gave Sookie a small smile, and then headed towards the bar. Franklin followed in her wake, eyes only for her. Sookie thought it was strange- normally vampires immediately took an interest in her, drawn by her faerie blood. But Franklin wasn’t remotely interested in anyone but Tara.
“Can I tell Sam?” Sookie ventured, uncapping two TruBloods for the pair.
“I suppose you’d better,” Tara said, a little wearily.
Sookie turned and went down the hall, but stopped halfway, and glanced back at them. Tara and Franklin seemed to be communicating in some unspoken language. When Franklin kissed her forehead, she leaned into it. One of her hands had linked into his. It was confounding. Franklin was not supposed to be a good guy, and it seemed very unlikely that he’d reformed. And yet, here Tara was, wearing him like black leather coat.
“Sam,” Sookie said gently at the door.
“Come on in, I’m about done,” he said, clicking off his computer.
“It’s Tara.”
Sam looked, at her, and then lifted a hand to his mouth. “She’s dead.”
“Well…” Sookie said.
“Oh my god.”
Sookie followed after him as he pelted towards the bar. He stopped short, staring with full amazement at the vampire couple perched on his bar stools. At the sight of him, Franklin looped a possessive arm over Tara’s shoulder. She shoved him off, and went to Sam.
“Hi, Sam.”
“Christ, you had us worried sick,” Sam said, wrapping his arms around her. “Why didn’t you call or anything?”
“I just...I needed to be away from people for a while, Sam.”
“You,” Sam said, glaring at Franklin as he moved Tara gently aside. “You did this to her.”
“And I would again.” Franklin said blandly, though his mouth twisted unpleasantly.
“Franklin,” Tara said warningly. “We talked about this.”
He picked up his TruBlood and sipped through the straw, looking so much like a scolded child that Sookie had to hide her smile. Tara turned to him, and he set down the bottle, his whole focus tunnelling down to her.
“Go on,” he said, touching her cheek with his knuckles. “I’ll be here.”
Tara kissed him, and then silently they left him at the bar and went into Sam’s office.
“My god,” Sam said as he sat down in his office chair. Sookie understood how he felt, but she herself felt nothing but relief. She could sense his confusion, his disappointment.
“Where have you been?” she asked, cutting across whatever Sam was intending to say.
“A lot of places. Europe, mostly,” Tara said, shifting from one foot to the other. Sookie realized it was the first time she had never heard her best friend’s thoughts. She was very truly undead, and yet there was a glow about her, a confidence and contentedness she had never seen. She seemed comfortable in her own skin.
Sookie found it difficult to square that with the predator at the bar. Franklin, from everything she had heard, had a deeply unsavoury reputation as a stalker and murderer of young women. How had Tara survived his affections? She wanted to ask, but Tara anticipated her.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she murmured. “I don’t know how to account for it. He says I changed him, and maybe I did. I don’t think he really planned on me, though.”
“Tara, he’s crazy.”
She nodded, but there was just a hint of fondness in her expression. Sookie suddenly caught herself wondering if Franklin had not also changed her. She thought of Loraina, of the all-consuming cruelty, and how it had ultimately repelled Bill. But here was Tara, on the arm of this monster, and she seemed to have genuine feeling for him. Sookie didn’t know what to make of it.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked, finally. “I mean, really? Because if you aren’t, we could-”
“I’m okay,” Tara said, with a small, wistful smile. “I’m safe.”
It was the way she said it, heavy with the knowledge that safe was something Tara had never felt, that made Sookie decide to shelve her curiosity. She was no stranger to vampires, had no illusions now about their natures. A vampire could, she had decided, be forgiven for that. Maybe she wasn’t ready to forgive Franklin, but if Tara had, then she had no right to question that.
She had left them with a smile and a hug, and she and Franklin had gone out together, her arm through his. Sookie was tempted to follow, but instead, she remained, and wondered if she would ever see Tara again.
- 9
- 10
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Vagaries