Look Before You Leap [True Blood]

22: Changes

LPOV

I had no idea what was happening. The room was plunged into darkness and everyone was yelling. Bill had pulled me next to him and was shielding me, though if Russell really wanted me dead I'm sure he'd just knock Bill out of the way. I must've closed my eyes without noticing, when Bill made me stand up I opened my eyes and the room was once again lit. I glanced behind Bill and noticed legs dangling in the corner, I followed the legs up to the rest of Eric who was hanging on one of the columns. "What the fuck?" I asked. Bill turned around.

"Maybe you two could stop staring and get me down," Eric suggested. As soon as one of the guards helped Bill get Eric off the column we were escorted back to the cells from earlier. I groaned.

"I thought we'd at least get upgraded to a room without bars," I mumbled. At least this time we were allowed to all be in one room so I wasn't stuck trying to talk to the guys from half way across the room. "So let's see, we find Russell, he gets brought back to the Authority and then he kills Roman. We brought the bomb to the party. Except that bomb shouldn't have gone off because he was loaded up with liquid silver." I realized my monologue was being ignored by Bill and Eric who were having the same conversation with each other. "There wasn't any silver." I sighed and looked through the bars where Molly had her laptop and was typing furiously. "Find anything yet?"

"No! I keep checking things but according to my data everything should have gone according to plan!"

"That's just peachy," I groaned.

"How's that shot working? Any unexplained side effects? Puking, headaches, heart attack?" She asked glancing up.

"You gave me that shot knowing it might cause me to have a heart attack?" I asked.

She shrugged. "You're surrounded by vampires; one of us would save you." I was about to say something snappy but before I could there were footsteps in the hall. I turned to see Kibwe opening the gates.

"King Compton, Sherriff Northman, Lily, Chancellor Agrippa requests your presence." We were led out of the cage and down the halls to Salome's room. Salome was waiting on us, as was Nora. Eric put his arm around my waist protectively.

"Come in," Salome said. We took two steps forward and suddenly Russell appeared from behind a curtain. I squeezed Eric's arm tightly but tried to keep my face serene, I wasn't going to let Russell know that he scared me. I tried to read the expressions on the three Sanquinistas' faces since I couldn't read their minds. I listened as Russell tried to explain his reasons for wanting to turn over a new leaf. Nora and Salome both believed every word he said; though I knew that Russell was only doing what he thought would keep him alive the longest.

"Why should we believe anything you say, Russell?" I asked cut him off.

"You know I've always liked you," he said to me. "You have spunk. But if you really want to know, it's all thanks to Lilith." He winked at me like I would understand what he was talking about.

"Roman knew what he was getting himself into, he did not believe in Lilith and that unfortunately led to his downfall," Salome said.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't pretend like there was anything "unfortunate" about the situation. You got exactly what you wanted, power."

"Lily, my dear, you do not see. I don't want to hoard the power; I want to share it, with Nora and Russell, with Bill and Eric, and even with you."

I shook my head in disgust. "I don't want to be a part of this."

Salome looked disappointed. "Eric?" She asked.

"Never." He tightened his grip around my waist.

"I still believe mainstreaming is the only option," Bill said.