Too shocked by what had just happened, I could only stare at him with wide eyes. Or, more precisely, at his scorched arm peeking through a burnt hole in his sports jacket, already beginning to heal.
Eric's teeth flashed, and he growled.
Had I thought he was dangerous before? Ha! At that moment, I realized how wrong I had been. Not even back in the elevator had I been as terrified of him as I was now.
Before I knew what was happening, Eric's fingers were around my throat, and my feet were dangling in the air.
"What. Are. You."
With each word, the pressure on my throat increased, and I was shaken. My desperate attempts to free myself from his grip failed.
"No... air!"
Black spots began to dance before my eyes in sync with my panicked heartbeat.
Come on, body, burn him again! I pleaded. However, my body didn't seem to understand what I was talking about, as I kicked my feet in a more than pathetic attempt to hurt Eric. I closed my eyes, struggled, and tried to concentrate, but all that happened was Eric's grip tightening even more.
Well, this is it, then.
My last thoughts went to all those who had influenced my life...
Sookie, Sam, and Lafayette. Even Tara. I thought of my recent past, which I had tried so hard to keep hidden. My colorful past and my time as a somewhat shady hacker who helped the crew who had robbed bank vaults. I even thought of James and his ditzy girlfriend because of whom a security guard had lost his life during one of our heists. I had been afraid to leave the house afterward. I thought of other moments when I had been scared, often of James, against whom only one person had ever been able to protect me over the years.
And so, in my final moments, I allowed myself the pain and despair I had so carefully held back and thought of Tom.
The images began to flow through my mind like a freshly opened spring. Held back for too long, they burst forth and shone with new brilliance: How he would throw his head back and laugh deeply and heartily when he was happy. How his hair, always a bit too long, would fall over his eyes. The way he would hold me from behind when I was feeling down, so I could lean against his solid chest and breathe again while he whispered in my ear, "Do you know how much I love you?" as he laid his head in the cool space between my shoulder and neck.
For a moment, probably my last anyway, I allowed my carefully built walls to completely crumble and felt everything. The anger, the grief, the love, the helplessness, and the pain. Knowing I would not have to carry the pain with me any longer, I started to feel... happy.
Soon, I'll be with you again, Tom!
Breathless, more feelings came to the surface. Jealousy, envy, pride.
Are these mine?
Arrogance, loyalty, calm...
A tear escaped the corner of my eye as the dull thumping of my heartbeat grew louder in my ears, while the rest of the world faded into a deep fog. My tear dropped heavily onto my gray hoodie as the door burst open.
"Let her go now."
I landed roughly on my knees and started gasping and coughing. Fresh oxygen flooded my lungs, dispelling the dancing spots before my eyes. I heard muffled arguing, but I couldn't focus enough to identify the people or understand their conversation. My ears rang, and the world tilted. I coughed and coughed, but my throat was crushed and raw. It felt like it had been crushed and now was too small to let enough oxygen enter. Once my vision cleared enough, I was surprised to see a familiar face standing opposite Eric in the doorway.
Megs.
Though she was much smaller than Eric (who wasn't?), she had positioned herself broadly in the door, her black leather jacket's elbow visible in my line of sight. Her expression was grim. But that wasn't the disturbing part.
The disturbing part was the way they were talking to each other. Almost... familiar? Megs had fearlessly, almost challengingly, squared off against Eric. He had his fingers pressed to his forehead, his head hanging, looking like he had a migraine. I tried to focus on them and their conversation. They were speaking in loud whispers.
"...warn you," Megs hissed, finger raised threateningly.
"You can't seriously expectâ" Eric began but was cut off mid-sentence by Megs.
"I don't just expect it, I demand it!"
Eric's shoulders were so tense that I worried for Megs' future safety. I had never heard anyone speak to Eric in that tone before.
Apparently, Eric hadn't either, because he growled menacingly.
But instead of backing down, Megs stood on her tiptoes (which still left her more than a head shorter than him) and glared at Eric with a raised eyebrow. "I warn you, vampire!"
She was warning him?! Was she insane?
I could already see myself again wiping human remains off the walls and sitting in an interrogation roomâBefore the situation could escalate further, I pulled myself up. More or less. Laboriously, I pulled myself up by the wooden tabletop and leaned against it. My "getting active" went unnoticed (or they ignored me because I was clearly no threat), so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind to break their staring contest.
"I like your new haircut, Eric!"
Both heads turned towards me with astonished looks, and then Megs rushed over to me.
Eric, amused, trotted behind her.
"Glad you like it. Figured I needed a new look."
I grinned foolishly, which made him tilt his head.
"Great, now she's brain-damaged!" Angrily, Megs turned back to Eric, who stood behind her, and poked him accusingly in the chest with her finger. "How long did you choke the poor girl, damn it?!"
His grinning face darkened as he looked at Megs' finger, and his voice grew tense again. "Don't push it too far, witch!" he growled, not taking his eyes off me from the corner of his eye.
Or rather, I had the feeling he wasn't taking his eyes off me, even though he wasn't looking directly at me.
Weird.
Very weird.
I blinked and tried to focus. Maybe I did have a bit of oxygen deprivation.
"Oh, I'll push it as far as I want and with whomever I want!" she snapped back. Cautiously, Megs extended her arm towards me and grabbed my elbow. A hissing sound filled the air, and then a spark jumped. Startled, I jumped back, panicking about how they would react and fearing another burst of sparks.
But Megs only looked at me reassuringly, albeit a bit thoughtfully, and Eric just looked annoyed, huffing "See what I have to work with here?"
He rolled his eyes and was shooed away from me by Megs. Smoothly, he walked across the room to the other end. His hands were buried in his sweatpants as if he were gliding down the runway for Lagerfeld.
Had he modeled before? He really did know how to fill out those pants... Only when he leaned against the doorframe and grinned mischievously at me did I realize I was staring at him again.
"Ash, sweetheart..." Megs redirected the focus back to her with a concerned frown. "Ashley, please concentrate."
Reluctantly, I directed my concentration back to Megs, but my eyes kept drifting to Eric in the doorframe on their own accord repeatedly. It felt like I simply had to keep an eye on him... somehow.
Megs asked me questions about the day, our president, or the weather, but I only half-listened, my attention repeatedly slipping to the blonde giant behind her, who seemed lost in thought himself, his blazing blue eyes settled on me. Whenever he caught me starring, my heart felt like it had simply skipped a beat.
When I answered another of Megs' questions with "hm?", she spun around.
"Damn it, Eric, what did you do?"
Eric, who seemed to enjoy my change in behavior, just shrugged and said boredly, "This is the normal reaction I provoke in human women!" before winking at me.
Instead of rolling my eyes or making gagging noises like I normally would, I giggled like a flattered teenager. Shocked, I slapped my hands over my mouth. Megs pointed at me like I was an exhibit and sighed.
"Is this," she gestured towards me, "the normal behavior of the Ashley Simmons you know?"
Eric tilted his head, which made me start playing with a strand of my hair and giggling. Megs slapped my hand out of my hair before massaging her temples with her thumbs. Eric furrowed his brow. "Maybe she just really, really likes my new haircut?" he suggested, causing me to nod stupidly. Oh God. Something was really, really wrong with me.
Also Eric was right.
The new haircut did look great on him.