Chapter Text
Music pumped through the club wrapping around the writhing bodies oppressively. The lights flashed to the beat adding to the ambiance. The bar area was surrounded by eager clientele looking for their next drink, or picking up a partner for the night. In all, it was a typical nightclub scene, if one ignored the little nuance of it being a Vampire club.
Fangtasia was the hottest spot in all of Shreveport Louisiana since Vampires had ‘come out’ nearly ten years ago. The owners were vampires themselves, one being Eric Northman, the Sheriff of the area. He kept the local vampires in line and reported to the Queen of their state. Currently he was on a raised dais, lounging in his throne texting away. All around him females, and even some males, fought for his attention. Very few would ever receive it, and even then it wouldn’t last long. But it was hard keeping the attention of a vampire as old as Eric, especially if one was mortal.
His Child and business partner, Pamela Swynford De Beaufort, also known as Mistress Pam to the staff and local vampires, manned the door, checking IDs and scoping the ‘menu’ so to speak. Like Eric she was one of the older vampires in the area and not easily impressed.
Both were highly respected in their community, and with their power and experience it was no wonder. So when Fangtasia opened and Eric ‘requested’ his people to show up to enthrall the masses, they listened. Occasionally they would also work the bar, if Longshadow was out, or even serve the patrons. He had even set up a well-scheduled rotation for them, though they could certainly come more often than their slotted time.
Morgan was probably one of the few that stuck strictly to the rotation schedule. It wasn’t that she minded clubbing; in fact she loved to go dancing. She just preferred a different club scene when she did go out, though mainly she stayed home on her computer playing in the cyber world. Not that anyone should really expect different from one of the world’s prominent hackers. As her friend Hardison often coined, it was the ‘Age of the Geek’, and she was one of the best.
It was her skills and intelligence that led her to being such before she was turned at twenty years old. She worked freelance, earning money legally and illegally with her skill set. If she wanted she could disappear at any time and become someone else. She had certainly considered it after being turned against her will ten years ago.
Apparently her ‘maker’ had disagreed with the Great Revelation and decided to cause problems. By the time he was caught he had made eleven new vampires, including Morgan. Within two years she was the only one left ‘alive’. It was unusual for a vampire to be without their maker, and often dangerous for everyone, especially if a maker didn’t form a bond of any kind with the new child. Without said bond most vampires usually lost their sense of self, relying solely on new instincts. Also controlling said new instincts, which developed when one was turned, was extremely difficult, so it was an unspoken rule that Makers stayed with their progeny at least a decade training them. The bond between Maker and child would continue, helping the child all through their life, even if the maker ‘died’. She had never gotten that chance thanks to the insanity her own maker suffered, causing him to turn people at random with no connection forming between him and the new vampire. Eric had dealt with him personally. Her ‘siblings’ had been offered a chance to ‘prove’ themselves, only to fail epically, thus meeting their own ends. Though no one had expected differently.
Her own success had been surprising to everyone. Not once had she lost control, as young and/or un-bonded vampires were known for. But unlike most people she had an unusually high intelligence and her mind worked in such a way that she could literally defy the natural order of things. For example, she never believed that she had to submit to ‘sleep’ once the sun rose, so she really only ‘died for the day’ from eleven to three, when the sun was strongest. Sometimes though if she was working on a very important project she could stay awake even then, though she would definitely get the bleeds. From what little she knew of her new race, only the oldest of vampires could stay awake that long. But she’d always been big on mind over matter.
Being turned into a vampire had definitely not been in her life plan. However, she rolled with the punches, so to speak, and accepted her new ‘condition’. She preferred to work at night anyway so she hadn’t lost too much. Thankfully the friends she had in the cyber community didn’t care a whit about her undead status, though several had offered to ‘take care of’ her maker for his transgression. Their support really helped keep her going during her more depressed moments.
It had been hard enough to find acceptance among the mortal world, for even in cyberspace her type of geek was in short supply. In the vampire world she was ostracized simply for not having a maker and for said maker not forming ‘the bond’. On top of that her lack of blood lust and a superiority complex only made it harder. Many had hoped she would anger the sheriff and meet her end like her siblings. However, Morgan was anything but stupid.
While she might have broken mortal laws left and right without being caught, she knew better than to play such games with vampire law. The punishments for such were far harsher than one could imagine. Granted she bent the rules sometimes, but ultimately she would bow to her sheriff, he had spared her life when he didn’t have to.
So she would do her rotations at the club, often switching between bar tending and waitressing, as she didn’t mind serving the masses. The only problem was she often got bored. It was a result of her vast intellect, often leading to learning new things like languages or hacking into various government agencies for fun. Sadly she didn’t always find ‘safe’ productive ways to alleviate said boredom.
For example, she was currently lifting wallets left and right then returning them on a second pass, just to see if she could. The dangerous part? She was only doing it to the vampire patrons. If they caught her it could end very badly. But it kept her occupied and stopped her from doing something more drastic, like switching everyone’s credit cards around, or using her phone to change peoples’ identities. And yes, she can do that.
She did this for a few hours, before boredom returned. A part of her hoped one of them would notice, but none ever did. Well at least none of those she actually pick-pocketed. She got the strange feeling that Eric knew what she was doing, as his eyes had come to rest on her several times during the night. But since he didn’t say anything to her, she figured he’d let it slide. It wasn’t like it was affecting her job duties.
For a moment she considered starting a game of battleship with one of her cyber buddies, but Eric and Pam both disliked it when they used their cell phones while working, so she managed to refrain. Barely.
Instead she flitted in and out of the crowd, getting orders, delivering drinks and ignoring the mortals who offered themselves to her. She didn’t understand that part. Yeah, she was a vampire, but she wasn’t anywhere near as pretty as most of them. She was an average height of five foot six, with long brown hair she had up in a high ponytail and brown eyes. Her features were pretty, but not beautiful, and while she was lean she didn’t have the preferred ‘supermodel’ body most men went for, though she was proud of her modest c-cup bust. She wasn’t even wearing anything half as provocative as most of her fellow vamps in the club, just a simple vest top, dark green, and tight, hip hugging jeans and boots; nothing impressive or ‘sexy’, just functional. Mistress Pam had complained often about her lack of fashion. Vaguely she wondered what she would say if she saw her normal attire. The poor woman would likely have a conniption.
Morgan supposed it was just the novelty of being bitten by a vampire that had the mortals trying for her attention. Well, she would burst their bubble as she only fed from blood bags or True Blood; though the latter was only on rare occasions as the taste was horrendous. This was another mark against her from her brethren. Hell her fangs didn’t even come out when blood got spilled accidentally in the club. So apparently the others had dubbed her as unnatural.
On her latest round she paused at Eric’s throne, as he had just invited a pair of young women up and he would have summoned her anyway to get them drinks. Sometimes she tried to sneak up just to see if he wouldn’t notice, but as of yet he had always caught her.
“Morgan, get these ladies what they would like to drink,” he ordered calmly the moment she stopped next to him, his voice sensual and deep. The two women twittered like lovesick teens.
Bowing to him in respect she turned to the mortals trying hard not to sneer at them. Really could anyone look trashier? Even when she was human she disliked females like this. Both of them managed to order a drink, each trying to sound sophisticated and sexy at the same time. It failed dismally, though she didn’t comment. If the boss wanted to waste his time with such floozies that was his problem.
She made sure to get this ordered filled fast, as the boss was always a priority. On the way back she ran into an issue, or more accurately she spotted a potential issue. She saw a male making his way up quickly behind Eric’s chair a silver stake in his hand. It was small enough that no one else seemed to notice, and Eric was a bit too preoccupied with his future meals. His eyes were full of determination, clearly set on his course of action.
Letting an unnecessary sigh out she used her vampire speed to intercept the fool. Tossing her tray straight up so the drinks did not spill, she struck the male in his solar plexus, grabbed the hand holding the stake and slammed him bodily into the floor placing a foot into the small of his back to keep him down. Then she used her free hand to catch the tray, glancing to note that she had not spilled the drinks. Yup, she was that awesome.
Everything came to a halt, all eyes on them. Wonderful. Please note the sarcasm.
In her sweetest voice she addressed the downed man. “I’m afraid stakes are not allowed on premises. As such we will have to confiscate your weapon and ask you to leave.”
She had a feeling the man would be cursing a blue streak had she not knocked the wind out of him. All around them vampires showed fang, hissing in anger at the clearly visible silver stake.
“Indeed,” Eric spoke up from his seat, looking completely unsurprised. “Weapons of any kind are prohibited. Pamela.”
Pam appeared in front of them in an instant, carefully wrapping a towel around the silver stake and yanking it from the man’s hand, more than a few of his bones breaking. Served the idiot right for attempting this little stunt in a vampire bar. Chow and Teyla, two of Eric’s enforcers, came forward and relieved Morgan of her guard duty, dragging the struggling mortal away.
Morgan just turned towards the boss and his two mortals of the evening. Ignoring their shocked faces she deftly handed them their drinks. “Is there anything else I can get for you ladies?”
Both of them just shook their heads, unable to even speak. Eric looked highly amused by it all, at least to other vampires. To the humans his lips simply twitched upwards slightly. With a wave of his hand the music started again and people went back to their conversations. Morgan bowed to Eric once more and returned to her rounds, boredom only marginally alleviated.
When the night had finally ended and the masses sent on their way Morgan cleaned up her section as fast as she could, hoping to get in some time on her computer before going to sleep for the day. Jensen had hinted at a possible multiplayer game to start at six. Usually she, Hardison, Jensen and J teamed up against various other teams. Their record had yet to be beat.
“Morgan.” Pam’s sultry tone stopped her in her tracks. “Eric would like you to join us in his office.”
She raised her eyebrows in question, wondering what he could possibly want. It’s not like she did anything wrong tonight. Pam of course said nothing and simply turning on one dangerously spiked high heel and meandering down the hallway. Allowing a small huff of annoyance she soon followed. She had actually never been to Eric’s office, so the trip felt strangely reminiscent of her past sojourns to the principal’s office.
She found Pam waiting for her, nodding her inside. The door closed with an ominous click behind them. Looking around she noted the large black leather couch off to one side, the large mahogany desk and comfy looking chair sitting behind it. A few bookcases with various trinkets, books and paperwork lined the far walls. He even had a mini fridge and microwave. Two more chairs were situated in front of said desk, one occupied by the suicidal human from earlier. Eric leaned against his desk in front of the mortal, no doubt using his rather impressive figure as an intimidation tool. Chow and Teyla stood towards the back, silent shadows waiting for orders. Morgan felt like she had stepped into a scene from the Godfather.
“You wanted to see me sir?”
Glacial blue eyes flickered towards her for a moment before returning to his prey. “As a reward for your actions this evening I am allowing you to join us for this mortal’s punishment.”
Great. “Thank you sir,” she said out loud instead, still a bit confused. While Eric took his duty as Sheriff seriously she’d never had him really take an interest in her. In fact, aside from telling her how he would destroy her should she step out of line back when she was newly made, he only dealt with her when she was working at the club and even that was limited. He certainly had never invited her to join such a vampiric event, or any event really.
“So Mr. Howard, are you finally ready to tell me why you attempted an attack on my person in my club,” he asked in such a way that only a fool wouldn’t answer.
Unsurprisingly this mortal proved to be a fool. “Fuck you!”
Eric stared harder holding his eyes. “You will tell me what I want to know.”
The man smirked when the glamour didn’t work, earning a growl from Eric. Morgan cocked her head to the side studying the mortal. The glamour should have worked; there was nothing remotely special about this man. However, his skin was taking on a strange tint, and he looked very flushed, more so than nerves would account for.
“Then I have no use for you,” Eric stated evenly, his fangs out as he prepared to bite the man in front of him.
“Wait!” Morgan moved forward hand out to stop her boss. The others in the room looked at her like she was crazy, Eric just looked furious.
“While I may allow your soft nature to continue outside this club, you will not interfere in my rendering of punishments, nor will you command me to do anything,” he hissed at her, his tone deadly.
“I’m not, sir,” she hastily replied, shaking slightly from the danger emanating off of the older vampire. “But something’s not right with him. Look at his skin, it’s not right…”
His gaze captured hers, testing the validity of her words. When he was satisfied with whatever he found he tilted his head to one side and pulled back from the mortal, taking a moment to study his prey. Sure enough he noted the bluish tint now prevailing in his skin tone. Taking a deep breath he scented the pitiful man. With his rage no longer blinding him he finally saw what his younger vampire had. The idiot had silver in his system, a large amount of it from his current condition. Hiking one fine brow high he stared at the mortal.
“You actually ingested silver.” Eric huffed in amusement as he relaxed his tense muscles. Morgan heard Pam’s soft curse from right next to her, the other likely having moved into her space to deal with her should Eric command. Chow and Teyla both looked even more severe. “And to think I was just going to end your life quickly. You however have written your own death sentence. One that will be long and painful. Unless,” he drawled the word letting it hang in the air. “You tell me why you tried to attack me, and I will put you out of your misery.”
“Go to hell!”
Eric smirked evilly as he leaned down into the man’s personal space. “You first. Chow, Teyla, show our guest to the basement, let him enjoy his last few hours there.”
The two vampires dragged the bound man to his feet, practically carrying him from the room. Silence reigned before Pam huffed dramatically.
//Now how are we going to get the information?// She asked in Swedish. Morgan stayed quiet deciding not to answer, as she was not even sure she should still be there.
//I will get it, no need to worry.// Eric assured her grabbing an old worn wallet from the desk. //I will find someone to look up the information for me.//
//Yes, and pay how much?// She growled back, clearly not liking this plan. //Besides none have proven sufficient in the past.//
“Um… if you want I can look it up for you now,” Morgan offered, deciding not to speak in Swedish, as she didn’t want to offend them with her horrible accent. While she could speak and read a multitude of languages current, old and even made up, she had little skill in the proper pronunciation. She fidgeted when their eyes zeroed in on her. “I, uh, just need to use your computer…”
Pam looked skeptical but Eric had an intrigued gleam in his eye. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. He held out the wallet in a rather challenging fashion.
“Why not? You do seem to be full of surprises this evening.” He gestured to his chair and computer.
Cautiously taking the wallet she moved to the computer taking an unneeded breath to calm herself. There was something unnerving having two old and powerful vampires watching your every move. Thankfully though, she never got performance anxiety when it came to computers.
The machine was already on, business documents displayed from where Eric was likely working earlier. Saving them quickly and closing them out, she began her search. Using her skills she moved through the system, easily hiding her IP location in case anyone tried to back track. Her fingers practically flew across the board as she worked her magic.
During this time Pam flopped gracefully onto Eric’s couch reading the latest issue of Vogue. She wasn’t sure the young vamp could do what she said, but she figured it was worth a try. Besides she did seem to know what she was doing, and if not, Eric would deal with it.
Eric though was fascinated. Morgan had already surprised him this evening, something anyone rarely did anymore, let alone more than once. When he had dealt with her maker and her other siblings he had considered just getting rid of her to prevent future headaches. However, something about her stayed his hand. Unlike her maker or siblings she had a control not seen among newly turned, especially those without a sire/child bond. Though he honestly expected to have to clean up at least one mess, i.e. dead body, for her, she had proven to be an ideal subject in his area. She worked her rotation shifts with efficiency, she followed their rules and laws, and she showed proper respect to her elders. He especially enjoyed her antics when she got bored while working. The only real worry was her lack of vampiric behavior. From what he had learned she lived solely on donor bags and True Blood. At least with the latter she only drank it rarely and mainly fed on the human blood. Still he had seen her in the club when blood had been spilled and she didn’t show any fang, at all. No one had that kind of control when they were that young. She was also one of his loners, preferring her own company to other vampires. While not a bad thing, it could be worrying.
All in all she was an enigma. One he thought on often, but quickly dismissed, as she did not burden his own existence. Tonight though he had seen sides of her that were even more interesting. When she took down the man trying to attack him she moved with a grace and fluidity that spoke of practiced ease. Her ability to remain calm and keep from causing a larger scene, that likely would have frightened their human patrons off, proved useful. Then her willingness to stand up to his wrath in an attempt to keep him from harm, showed loyalty and bravery, both traits he valued highly.
Now she was working away on his computer with a speed and confidence he had not originally associated with the young one. She had also seemed to understand him and Pam when they spoke in his native tongue, though she did not outright speak it. Perhaps they had a hidden diamond in the rough?
“Okay.” He blinked at her sudden exclamation, glancing at his watch to see only twenty minutes had gone by. “Name, Christopher Terrance Howard. Age 40. Married when he was 20, divorced, no kids, major bar bills though, so I’m thinking alcoholic. He wasn’t in debt until three years ago when he started going to the racetrack… Yikes. Man certainly has poor choices in horses. Looks like he owes a lot of money to these three men.” She pulled up their profiles for Eric and Pam to see, missing the impressed look the two shared. “From his phone records he’s been texting one number an awful lot the past few days.” A few taps later had her cursing. “Well, Howard may not be a smart boy but his contact is. Used a burner phone. Can’t be traced. But…” More tapping occurred and suddenly a video feed popped up. “There is surveillance for the location of their meet.” She enlarged the screen so they could watch their prisoner meet with a shadowed figure two nights ago according to the date on the screen.
“Even with our eyesight the picture is not good enough to tell who he is speaking with,” Pam grumbled irritably.
“Maybe, let me try…” Morgan enhanced the picture then typed away some more. Suddenly the video screen shot cleaned up pixel by pixel until they could see the mystery figure quite clearly.
Morgan didn’t recognize the person, but the hissed curses from the other two indicated they did. When the two started conversing in their native tongue in rapid-fire succession, she tuned them out figuring it would be best if she did not know. Instead she found pulled and empty thumb drive from her pocket, you never knew when you would need one, and started down loading the information. Once done she began the process of scrubbing Eric’s computer so no one could find any evidence on his IP Address.
“Why are you erasing that,” Pam practically screeched in her ear, startling her.
Holding up the thumb drive like a shield she prayed the other female would leave her intact. “Uh… what I did is not exactly… legal. So to protect you guys I’m scrubbing the Sheriff’s computer of any traces of the information. I already downloaded what you needed to this thumb drive. No one can trace where it came from. Also you might want to invest in better firewalls, these aren’t very good.”
Neither said anything as they simply stared at her. Finally Eric took the offered data source.
“You will not repeat what you heard here,” he ordered.
“Wasn’t even listening and as far as I’m concerned, I left when Howard was removed,” she replied honestly. Eric gifted her with a pleased smirk, while Pam gave her a considering once over. “May I go now?”
Eric merely nodded and waved for her to leave. Not needing to be told twice she practically bolted only to stop short when he called out.
“And Morgan. I expect you to update my computer security sometime this week.”
Figures. “I can do it Sunday, when the club is closed. It’ll give the computer a chance to reboot and not slow down your business,” she advised. At his nod she left glad to be out of there; even though she got the feeling showing off her skills to him had not been the best idea. Still, he was her sheriff and he had been fair to her these ten years, and there were worse people to know her abilities.
“Well that was interesting,” Pam muttered once the girl was gone. Aside from lamenting about the child’s choice in clothing she honestly had not thought much of her this past decade. Then again, she had not done anything to stand out and make Pam think of her. But tonight she had saved her maker not once, but twice, and she had found them the information they needed in a very efficient fashion. Morgan most certainly had her attention now.
“It was,” Eric mused quietly as he checked his Internet history. As she said, there was nothing marked except the few sites he had gone to earlier in the evening. In fact he could not find any trace she had used his computer at all. “And immensely helpful. Though I am not pleased she has never shared her unique skill set with me before.” He thought on it for a moment. “What does her file say?”
Pam went to the large file cabinet unlocking the portion Eric used to keep the information on the vampire citizens of his territory. Finding the file quickly she flipped through the unsurprisingly thin contents.
“She’s listed her employment as a freelance computer technical specialist.” The blond let out an amused snort. “I suppose that is the legal title for hacker.”
Eric chuckled softly. “Smart girl. Technically she didn’t lie, and she did tell us. It makes me wonder what else she has not…elaborated on.”
Pam remained quiet for a time growing more serious. // You are lucky her maker is no longer among us. He would have had the right to ask you favors for what she did for you tonight, even without the bond.//
Eric eyed his child stoically recognizing the anxiety in her frosty tone. // I am aware. But he is not, so any favors owed will go to her directly, though I doubt she knows of that tradition of our culture.//
Pam nodded her shoulders releasing some of their tension. // I suppose we could keep an eye on her a little better. She is one of the more tolerable minions.//
Eric flashed her a grin in response.