OOM - Fangtasia/Northman residence

[lazy_but_loyal]

Okay. She's got this.

Eric has left with Russell Edgington and his new bride Sophie-Ann. And now Pam has ensconced herself in Eric's office and is actually doing stuff. And things. Because she has to, and procrastinating isn't an option. With one eye on the clock, she needs to get things in order at Fangtasia at least an hour before dawn if they're going to be open for business tomorrow night.



She calls the number for the professional cleaners that ask no questions and talks to a guy with a Russian accent who requires cash up front. It's a lot of cash, but it'll be worth it. They'll be at the club in forty-five minutes.

With that out of the way, she calls Ginger.

"Pam!" she nearly shrieks over the phone. "Oh mah Gawd, are you all right? I was at the bar two nights ago, but there were these guards at the door who wouldn't tell me a thing, so I tried callin' y'all and callin' y'all, but there was ever any answer, so I figured you and Eric were outta town or somethin', but why--"

"Ginger."

"...Yes, Pam?"

"Shut the fuck up and listen."

"Sure thing, Pam."

"Don't come in to work tonight. But come in tomorrow during the day, and straighten up the place. It looks like a fucking pigsty."

"Okay, I can do that. Anythin' else?"

"That's all for now."

"Okay! Just lemme know if there's anythin'--"

"I will."

Click.

Pam rubs her temple. That Ginger.

The Magister's minions had trashed the bar. Fortunately they hadn't destroyed much of what was in the storeroom, but Pam will still need to restock their supply of liquor and TruBlood. And buy new glassware to replace what's been broken. Fuckers.

And now she has to tell the rest of the staff not to come in. That's easy enough. She leans back in Eric's chair and scrolls through her phone's saved numbers, and after composing a quick text message, she sends it out to all the staff.

There. Done. Next?

Jay. Pickup truck. Right.

She calls the vampire-friendly rental place. The woman on the other end of the line tells her that they can get a truck to Fangtasia within the next two hours. Awesome. Pam will just have to get a ride home with Jay, but whatever.

While she's putting in orders for liquor, the cleaners arrive. They are two large men in overalls, one human, one vampire, equipped with an industrial grade vacuum pump, mops, and a large drum of bleach. Pam pays them, and then shows them down to the dungeon. As is their business motto, they don't ask questions. It takes them about an hour to completely sterilize everything. Pam is impressed.

No more Magister.

It's not long before the pickup truck arrives in the parking lot. Pam signs the paperwork, and the driver hands her the keys.

So far, everything is going according to plan. She anticipates the moment when the whole thing goes off the fucking rails, but for now, she'll take it.

Time to go get Jay.

Milliways napkin in her back jeans pocket, she opens the door to Eric's office--

--and enters the bar at the end of the universe.

Comments

[runningred]

Jay looks up from the bar when he spots Pam. He sees the keys in her hand. "Ready to go?"

[lazy_but_loyal]

Jay said he'd be here, and he is. Good boy.

"Ready as I'll ever be. Catch."

She tosses him the keys to the truck and holds the door open, turning to step through.

[runningred]

He nods and catches the keys on the move. "Lemme just grab my gear."

He vanished into the garage and returns a few minutes later dragging a full sided car trailer. The bar accommodates by making the door wider and opening it into the club's parking lot. He hitches it up to the pick-up. "Follow you back to the house?"

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam watches as Jay pulls the trailer through the door, then shuts it securely behind him.

Milliways magic at work.

"Actually, I figured I could hitch a ride with you. If you don't mind."

[runningred]

"Certainly. Unless you'd prefer to drive?" He offers her the keys.

[lazy_but_loyal]

"No, it's fine. The directions are simple. Let's go."

She heads for the passenger side of the truck.

[runningred]

"I remember the way." Jay assures, He has almost perfect memory for direction. He drives sedately but confidently, the way to move to avoid police interest.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Jay knowing the way gives Pam the excuse to not have to talk to him. But in all honesty she's too preoccupied with thoughts of Eric. She's been too busy all evening to worry, but now that she's sitting still, she can't help it.

She tries not to, though. Eric would feel it.

They approach a residential area, an affluent neighborhood lined with modern, stylish homes.

[runningred]

Jay's more than happy to let Pam goes where she needs to go in her head.

"It's this one on the left, right?" He knows it is but they're entering her territory now and he doesn't want her to feel like he's intruding at all.

[lazy_but_loyal]

"Yeah. I'll get the garage door."

As they pull into the driveway, she digs a set of keys out of her jacket pocket and presses a button on a key fob. The garage door rises, and parked inside the spacious garage is Eric's car.

"Sunrise is in about half an hour. Can you start working?"

[runningred]

"Straight away. I'll try to keep things as quiet as I can." He gets out and starts unloading his gear. "Show me where you want me to start. Your room or Eric's?"

[lazy_but_loyal]

Once inside, Pam presses the button again and the garage door lowers. No point letting the neighbors know what's going on.

"Knowing Eric, he'll want you to start on my room first. I'll bunk in his room in the meantime. Come on, basement's this way."

Leading Jay through the house, she flicks some lights on, until they reach the door to the basement stairway. She turns on the stairwell light and they descend. At the bottom of the stairs is another door, this one with a simple code lock. She punches the numbers in (letting Jay see), and leads him into a hall.

No human has ever been down here before. This is where Eric and Pam sleep. No fucking or feeding here.

"This's my room," Pam says as she opens a door. The room is decorated similarly to her room at Milliways, in pink and black, but more contemporary instead of Victorian. Even her coffin is pink.

"Funny, it's like having a boy over when daddy's away."

[runningred]

He nods and takes everything in on the way,

"And even more that I'm a boy daddy paid for." Jay turns with a playful half smile. "I'll be replacing security on both your doors and the keycode lock on the main door. I'll do yours and the main door tonight and do Eric's when you're up and about."

[lazy_but_loyal]

She smirks at that.

Yeah, okay, fine, he's amusing.

"Sounds good to me."

She starts heading toward Eric's room at the other end of the hall.

"If you get tired, the guest room is upstairs, end of the hallway opposite the kitchen, or you can crash on the sofa. And if you get hungry, you can order in whatever you want."

Pam is too tired to notice how hospitable she's being. Eric would be surprised.

[runningred]

He gives her a playful salute. "Sleep well, Pam. I'll see you at sunset."

He leaves her be and heads back to the garage to start work.

***

He works his ass off all night to get the doors on her room and the basement entrance upgraded. It still needs fine turning but that will need to wait till she's up. Jay will be found on the couch, his muscular legs (without boots because he's not that rude) are drapped over the arm.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Eric's coffin is sleek, glossy black, with a blood red lining. The Corvette of coffins.

Pam closes the lid on herself, and as the darkness settles into her bones, her last thoughts before she fades are of him.



When dusk falls, Pam emerges from Eric's room. The house is quiet.

She stalks upstairs.

Oh, look, breakfast Jay is sprawled on the couch. At least he took his boots off.

Giving his shin a firm pat, she wakes him. "Rise and shine, sweetheart."

[runningred]

Jay opens one eye and then the other. And then smiles sleepily. "I can rise but it's gunna take a hell of a lot of buffing to get me to shine."

He stretches languidly before flicking himself to his feet far more acrobatically than anyone just waking up has any right too.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Ugh, he might be beginning to grow on her.

"Showoff."

There's an undertone there that might suggest she doesn't think that's an entirely bad thing.

"How much work do you still have to do?"

[runningred]

He dips her a deep, flourished bow that smacks more of an older brother she may never meet. "I'd say I'll be here all week but it really won't take me that long."

"I just have Eric's door to do and then the calibrations run. Shouldn't take me past midnight." He nods towards her door which doesn't look any different than it did when she went to bed. Except the doorknob is now slightly larger and shiny clean. "Mind testing it for me? Just turn the knob the same way you normally would."

As she does, the knob will warm slightly to the touch and vibrate in the minutest way only a vampire might detect.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She rolls her eyes at the bow. That may be a little much.

Still, she is stoically impressed with how much he's already gotten done.

Her bedroom door does look as plain as it ever was, but she saves remarking on it until after she actually touches and turns the knob. Ordinary as it seems, she feels the faint heat and vibration.

"Is it scanning? I was expecting some kind of touch screen or whatever like they have in spy movies."

[runningred]

"Eric specifically requested discreet. You can't pick the lock you can't see. The donor's also been reinforced so even a SWAT battering ram won't get If down in a hurry."

He nods to the outer door. Apart from the keypad having a new inch wide black trim around the edge of it and some metal filings Jay missed it the clean up, it's much the same too.

"I've overwritten the keycode so it won't activate on its own. If you drop your fangs just before you enter the code, it will kick in. And the handle has the same sort of palm scanner as your door. I built in an extra layer of protection so if someone tries to tamper with the keypad or puts pressure on the door, it will lock down your rooms and send alerts to both your phones. That way you'll know if someone's tried to break it."

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam, an eyebrow raised, is a little less stoic now.

"Well, fuck," she drawls.

"If I were the type to actually be interested in how all this stuff works, I'd have a hard-on by now."

This is praise.

"Should I test the keycode lock, too?"

[runningred]

He laughs. "I'll take that as a complement."

He steps back out of her way. "Please do. I want to be sure the pick-up is sensitive enough before I start on Eric's door."

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam does have a sense of humor. Eric has always found her to be funny. Not everyone shares his opinion.

She steps into the stairwell with Jay and closes the outer door, and it shuts securely. After eyeing the new look of the keypad for a moment, she curls her upper lip and her fangs drop with a sharp click. Fangs bared, she enters the code, and turns the doorknob. The door opens.

"It works."

[runningred]

Jay looks thoughtful and pulls a tool from his pocket and opens the edging on the keypad, fiddling for a moment. "Okay, that should react a little faster now. Do you want to try it again at vampire speed?"