True Anarchy - Chapter 4

Chapter Song: I Had Me a Girl by The Civil Wars

Sookie crouched behind the newly installed bar top clad in a tight white tank top, shorts and sneakers, her hands busily loading cans and bottles of beer into the mini fridge behind the bar. Her blonde hair swayed from side to side amidst the ponytail she had it pulled back in as she idly whistled to herself.

Jax swung the door open to the shop, the bell atop the door ringing as he did so, one hand lifted to run down the blonde goatee on his chin as the other adjusted his slightly baggy pants. A brow rose as he looked at the new bar area and couldn’t help but cock his head to the side to take in the sight of Sookie bending over to put cans in a mini fridge. Sookie turned around with a wide grin splaying her hands out to the side in presentation.

“Well, whatta think?” Sookie asked, as Jax crossed his arms over his chest causing the leather of his vest to creak in protest as he did so. His head began to nod slowly as he looked from one side of the shop to the other, running his hand across the smooth mahogany of the bar top.

“I think you’ve outdone yourself, Darlin’. The boys are gonna dig this for sure, “he said as Sookie nodded emphatically, causing her pony tail to sway again. She stood to the side to show the two bar taps that were currently resting on their side uninstalled.

“Supposed to be havin’ someone come next week to install the kegs and bar taps, but for now there’s cans and bottles,” she said with a grin as Jax leaned on the bar top giving Sookie a sly grin, catching her gaze. Sookie offered an awkward smile in return, clearing her throat and finding the need suddenly to tug at the bottom of her shorts. Jax pointed behind her to the mini fridge.

“Mind if I have one of those?” he asked as Sookie jolted back to attention, opening the fridge to hand him one of the bottles across the bar top.

“‘Course! You do own the place after all,” Sookie said with another sheepish grin as Jax took the bottle from her grasp. He used one of the rings on his right hand to pop the cap off and took a long swig.

“Thank you, keep up the good work,” he said with a wink as Sookie dug one of her finger nails into the bar top absently, watching as he turned to ascend the stairs. Once he was out of view Sookie rolled her eyes at herself, grabbing a rag to clean the bar top of debris.

“Get a hold of yourself, Stackhouse,” she mumbled to herself, repeatedly moving the rag back and forth on the bar top, even though the thing was spotless.

Upstairs, Jax slunk into the head chair of the table looking around to the empty seats where his brothers normally resided. He let out a deep sigh as he took another swig of his beer, letting his head rest on the back of the chair, sinking down deeper. He raised his fingers and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes so tight it caused the skin at the corners to crinkle. There were times that he felt like stepping down from President and all the responsibilities and expectations that came along with it. Everyone looked to him for guidance, trusted him to make the right decisions, and amidst all that he had to push down the seething hatred and anger still swelling in his gut from Tara’s death. He was jolted back to reality when he felt the pocket of his jeans vibrating, his hand reaching in to bring the handset to his ear.

“Yeah?” he answered as he quickly jumped to his feet, slamming the bottle down on the table causing some of the foamy contents to spill.

“What the fuck are you talking about? When?” he asked as he began to pace, running a hand over his face and over the hairs of his chin. The hand holding the handset began to shake with tension.

“I’ll be right there,” Jax said, as he ended the call, pressing the hand set into his forehead for a moment before he slammed his fist onto the table in a bout of anger.

“God dammit!” he bellowed, before throwing the door open and running down the stairs. Sookie found herself pressing up against the back counter behind the bar watching him making his way furiously through the shop towards the front door. He pointed a finger at her as he continued to walk.

“Lock the fucking door and don’t let anyone in until we get back, you understand?” he said as Sookie’s face contorted into pure confusion.

“Sure, but we were supposed to open to-,” she started to say but was quickly cut off by the sound of a slamming door.

“Well, that was rude,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She hadn’t a clue that he gave her those orders for her own protection, given the event that had just transpired.

Jax mounted his steel steed, slipping the glasses over his eyes and clipping the helmet under his chin. The motorcycle roared to life as he peeled out and headed straight to the auto shop. Once he arrived, he barely put the motorcycle in park before he was clamoring off it, whipping his helmet and glasses off upon seeing a familiar form lying on his back motionless in the middle of the auto shop parking lot, as the rest of the club members stared down at him in angst. Jax dropped to his knees, feeling actual tears beginning to well in his eyes as he grabbed on the back of his friends head, Bobby.

“Jesus Christ, Bobby! Bobby!” Jax bellowed as Chibs reached out a hand to grab onto Jax’s shoulder. Jax shrugged it off.

“Jackie Boy, he’s gone,” Chibs said and Jax ran the back of his hand across his nose to dispose of the mucus that was starting to form from the tears that he fought back, looking down at one of his oldest friends, dead in a fucking parking lot. Jax shot to his feet and looked to all the men surrounding him, looking just as mournful as he was.

“What the fuck happened!” Jax yelled as Chibs crossed his arms over his chest, fighting back tears himself as Tig rubbed the back of his head with discomfort.

“A black van pulled up, tossed him out like this. Some of us went after the van but we lost it. It had to be Cartwright, there’s no other explanation,” Tig said as Jax began to pace, his nostrils flaring.

“Cartwright’s a fucking dead man. We did everything he asked! And why is he missing a god damn eye!” Jax bellowed pointing down to the hole in Bobby’s skull where an eye used to reside. Jax clasped his hands over his nose and mouth as he continued to pace, thinking.

“We have that meeting with that vampire tonight, maybe he-maybe can help,” Tig said as Jax stopped pacing and came toe to toe with him, pointing a finger in his face.

“I don’t need a damn blood sucker to solve my problems for me, Tig,” Jax retorted as Tig lightly rolled his eyes, raising his hands in defense.

“I’m just saying to bring it up is all,” Tig said as Jax’s jaw clenched and nodded slowly, realizing that his friend was right and he was just too fumed to react appropriately.

“Let’s uh, let’s get him out of the parking lot. We’ll bury him behind the shop, give him a proper send off and then everyone meet back at the club house tonight. I want all of us there for this meeting,” Jax said looking around to all the men as they solemnly nodded in agreement and began the mortifying task of burying their own friend.

Back at the clubhouse, Sookie was beginning to get restless as she sat atop the bar watching the sun starting to set outside. She had really thought they would all be back by now and she wasn’t about to waste any more time sitting around twiddling her thumbs.

“Screw it,” she said as she hopped off the bar top and rummaged through a stack of random items on the back table, looking for the writing pad and a pen. She wrote a quick note to Jax explaining that she had to grab a few items from home to bring into the shop that would make her job a lot easier and that she’d be back. Sorry, not sorry as the popular saying was these days. Sookie thought to herself that she had been through enough in her life that she felt confident in being able to defend herself, not to mention she never was good with being ordered around. She unlocked the door, walked out and locked the door behind her.

Later that night…

Eric stood outside of the shop staring up at the neon lights blazing the word Scoops and grimaced to himself with a sigh. He crossed his hands one atop the other and let them rest at his front, patiently waiting for someone to come to the door. Pam stood at his side, picking at her fingernails with impatience.

“You do know Jess is ticked with you for not allowing her to attend this little soiree, right?” Pam said deadpan as Eric maintained his gaze through the glass door as he spoke.

“I don’t really care, Pam. Just because I allowed her to tag along doesn’t mean she has to be on our coat tails the entire time,” Eric responded as he saw Jax finally start to approach the door, his gaze mistrusting as he unlocked and opened the door, stepping aside to allow them entry. Jax cocked an eyebrow as he watched both of them just standing there, not budging.

“What are you doing?” Jax asked as Eric rose his eyebrows and leaned forward slightly.

“You need to invite us in,” Eric said simply as Jax fought off a smile at this amusing notion as he cleared his throat, realizing that Eric was serious.

“Seriously? That’s a real thing?” Jax asked as Eric let out an annoyed sigh.

“It’s a real thing, now will you invite us in before we die of old age out here?” Eric said sarcastically as Jax furrowed his brows.

“Come on in?” he said in more of the form of a question rather than a statement, having not known the best invitation for vampires to enter an abode. Eric nodded once and brushed past Jax, followed by Pam who gave him a seductive smirk before reaching a finger out idly tapping his nose. Jax cocked an eyebrow as he ran a finger down his nose where she tapped him. Eric paused a moment as he looked around the shop, glancing from the ice cream bar and then over to the alcoholic bar and cocked his head.

“Ice cream and alcohol?” Eric asked as Jax locked the door behind them, moving to the center of the shop.

“Oh, yeah, we hired this new girl, was her idea actually,” Jax said as he started for the stairs. Eric nodded slowly, a look of mild impressiveness spreading across his features.

“Intriguing,” he said as he and Pam followed Jax up the stairs where the rest of the members were all waiting at the table. Jax motioned to a pair of chairs whose backs were to the door of the meeting room, as Eric and Pam took their seats, Eric adjusting his leather jacket as he did so.

“Let’s get right to it gentleman,” Eric began as he scooted forward on the chair steepling his fingers on the tabletop looking around to each of the men individually. Most of them look scared out of their wits, others were on edge, and a few seemed actually intrigued by his presence.

“My request is that you continue your normal operations with the inclusion of dealing, ‘V’,” Eric continued before Jax interrupted him.

“Okay, but seriously what is this ‘V’? Cocaine?” Jax asked as Eric smiled to him, leaning back in his chair again.

“Decidedly not. It is vampire blood,” Eric said as all the men’s faces morphed into confusion.

“Vampire…blood? Why the hell would anyone want to dope up on that?” Tig asked as Eric draped one of his arms over the back of the chair.

“Heightened senses, a feeling of ultimate euphoria, and probably the most popular perk being the best sex a human has ever had in their entire lives,” Eric said simply as the men’s faces turned from confusion to intrigue. Eric couldn’t help but smirk at the predictability of humans and their obsession with sex, but he couldn’t blame them, he too was a fan.

“O….kay, and I’m guessin’ you all will source the distribution?” Jax asked as Eric smirked leaning forward onto the table once more.

“Fuck no, a vampire’s blood is sacred,” Eric responded as Chibs shook his head back and forth looking between Jax and Eric.

“Then how do ye plan to source it?” Chibs asked as Eric started to look around the room as if searching for something.

“Does this place happen to have a basement?” Eric asked as Jax’s eyebrows furrowed in curiosity.

“Uh, yeah?” Jax responded and Eric nodded once in response.

“Perfect. It’s quite simple gentleman, we pick a lucky soul to turn into a vampire, chain them up in the basement and repeatedly drain them of most of their blood,” Eric said as his forefinger idly tapped atop the table. The men’s eyes all widened as they looked back and forth between each other.

“Is he fucking serious, Jax?” Tig said to Jax as he pointed towards Eric whose face showed anything but not serious. Jax kept his gaze fixed on Eric as his eyes began to narrow.

“Yeah, I think he is Tig. Remember what you asked me earlier?” Jax said, his gaze now turning to meet Tig’s who was confused, trying to remember what he said earlier.

“Uh, yeah…oh….oooooh,” Tig said as he came upon the realization of the thought pattern that Jax was heading in and a grin spread across Tig’s face.

“Now you’re talkin’,” Tig responded and Eric looked unenthused as he watched the two men mentally jerk each other off with their non-verbal communication.

“Alright, on the condition that we get to pick the lucky soul,” Jax said as Eric couldn’t help but grin, stealing a glance to Pam who smiled like a Cheshire cat.

“Interesting. I’m assuming you already have a candidate in mind?” Eric asked as Jax motioned to Chibs who handed him a photograph. Jax leaned forward as to slide the photograph into Eric’s view.

“His name is Cartwright. He tortured and killed one of my men. We were going to kill him, but I like this idea a whole hell of a lot better,” Jax said as Eric picked the photograph up staring on at the soon to be victim who hadn’t a clue what he was about to be eternally in for.

“I like him,” Pam said wriggling her finger towards Jax who only smirked in response. Eric continued to stare at the photograph.

“Down girl, we have business to get through,” Eric said as Pam idly pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, but not before offering a wink to Chibs who looked behind him as if there was another man she was winking at instead of him.

“Excellent. This makes my job a lot easier. I accept these conditions. Once we have the supply up and running, we will discuss the next steps. I assume you want to be present for his ‘death’,” Eric said as he made air quotes with his fingers upon saying the word death.

“You better fucking believe we all want to be there,” Tig responded as Eric nodded slowly in response and agreement.

“Good, it shall be done tomorrow night,” Eric said as Jax cocked his head.

“You don’t even know where he’ll be,” Jax said as Eric smiled again tapping his forefinger atop the table.

“Oh I have my wa-,” he started to say when the door to the meeting room creaked open, all men’s eyes shifting to the crack in the door.

Listen to Eric Northman's Theme

“Jax? Jax I’m sorry I was just getting ready to leave and wanted to make sure th-,” Sookie started to say, but was stopped short upon seeing a very familiar head through the crack. The back of a head that is, but still very recognizable. Eric too stopped talking when he heard the all too familiar rich southern drawl from behind him. If his face could have paled any further then it had already been it would have paled as his entire body froze, a lump forming in his throat. Sookie’s eyes widened as she opened the door completely, now also seeing the shocked face of Pam and Sookie’s shock suddenly turned to irritation.

“Eric? What the fuck!” Sookie bellowed as Eric’s eyes met Jax’s who looked confused, his hands gripping the table.

“You two…know each other?” Jax asked as Eric’s lips slowly curled into an incredibly wicked grin.

“You can say we have…a history,” Eric said.