Chapter 3

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Bill Compton slowly grasped the freezer door, preparing himself for whatever may still be lingering inside. The door loosely swung open revealing a sea of red blood. Bill stood there in amazement, not by the gruesome carnage, but by the young man that laid silently in the middle of it all. The young vampire with the piercing blue eyes, the lone survivor of the infected vampires. One foot after another, Bill slowly walked towards the motionless vampire. Bits of gory debris slithered under each step. He knelt down beside the body, intensely studying him. A flash of blue caught Bill's eye, and he was soon staring into the eyes of the only hope they had at a cure.

"I told you so…" Jeremiah said tiredly.

"Jessica!" Bill screamed as he bursted into the heavy doors of the Compton house, in his arms he carried Jeremiah. A blurred streak appeared in front of him, followed by the serine face of Jessica, his progeny.

"Bill, what the fuck, do you know what time it is? It's almost dawn! Something better be good, bringing you around here this early in the day," Jessica said as he eyes went from Bill, to the body he was carrying. "Uh…Bill! That's that Hep V vamp! Have you gone crazy?"

"He is still alive, I don't know how, but he is still alive. He said he was infected almost 2 months ago, and he shows no signs other than these faded markings. Jessica, I surmise that this may be the answer to finding a cure." He swiftly walked past Jessica, and made his way to the spare coffin under the floorboards. He then made his way back to Jessica, "He needs to stay here until I can figure out what our next plan of action should be. He was turned rather young, maybe late adolescence. I'm confident you can look after him while I'm gone."

Bill walked past Jessica again and headed back towards the front door, this time with Jessica hot on his trail. "Wait Bill, what if the…thing, wakes up tonight and tries to kill me!"

Stopping in his place, Bill turned around, looking his progeny directly in her eyes. "Listen Jess, I would never knowingly put yourself into a situation you couldn't handle. He seemed to be like the runt of the litter when it came to those infected, hell I don't even think he laid a hand on a single person. You will be fine. I will be back tonight, I've got some people to call." And with that, Bill turned around and headed out into the twilight.

Jessica's hands reached up to her forehead as she let out a deep sigh. "Why do I always get stuck babysitting."

A hand fell upon hers, gently caressing it with a caring embrace. Jessica reached her hand up to the man's face, pulling it in, colliding it with her own in a deep kiss. She tugged on his dark, shaggy hair as he started to slowly slip her clothes off. His lips trailed down to her neck, gently biting it. Jessica moaned with anticipation. It was James. She's back in his arms. For the first time in a long time she felt safe. James grasped her inner thigh, caressing his way up to her stomach, then her breast… THEN he clasped his hand tightly over her mouth.

Jessica's eyes flew open as panic set in. Hovering over her was Jeremiah, piercing down at her with his eyes. She flailed her arm to hit him, but he quickly pinned her down with ease.

"Now now, Jessica, I'm much stronger than you, so why don't you just calm down and relax, because I have a feeling you're going to want to hear what I have to say," Jeremiah said, squeezing her even tighter.

The tension against his hands loosened as Jessica submitted. "Okie Dokie then! Now when I tell you this, I want you to remain as calm as you possibly can, okay?" Jessica nervously shook her head. "Okay, so… gosh it never gets any less awkward telling one of you this… Well, see, I sorta… infected you with Hep V as you slept." Horror filled Jessica's eyes.

Bill walked up the steps to the Compton residence, his mind racing with the possibilities of this new discovery. He was about to finish his trek up the porch when he heard a presence behind him.

"It's okay, it's just me Bill," a familiar voice rang out behind him. It was that of Sookie Stackhouse. Bill awkwardly turned around to face her.

"Sookie… what brings you here?" Bill questioned.

"I just came to see if you had heard from or seen Tara since the party? No one in town has seen her. With the luck we have, I always expect the worse." She said as they both tried to awkwardly avoid eye contact.

"Uh, can't say I have…" He replied.

A silence fell over them.

"…but you're welcome to come in and inquire Jessica about the matter."

….

Sookie slowly opened her mouth, "yeah, I think I'll do that…"

They were about to open the front door when a loud noise erupted from inside. Sookie looked up at Bill. "Is that music?" As they opened the door, two voices sang out in unison, a record played in the background. Bill had gone over several scenarios in his head about how Jessica was going to react to Jeremiah, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight that graced his pupils.

"If you need me, call me. No matter where you are. No matter how far!" Jeremiah sang as he danced around Jessica.

"Just call my name. I'll be there in a hurry. You don't have to worry!" Jessica sang back to him, smiles streaked across the pairs faces.

"'Cause baby, there ain't no mountain high enough. Ain't no valley low enough. Ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from getting to you!" They sang out together, Jeremiah twirled Jessica around and she stopped facing the now open door.

"OH! BILL!" She ran over to the record player and silence filled the room. She walked back over to Bill, a giant smile still brightly displayed on her face. "Sorry… Bill, I had forgotten was it was like to just have fun and dance."

Sookie's big eyes hovered around the room, finally landing upon Jeremiah, who was nervously trying collect himself in the corner. A marking on his arm caught her eye. It wasn't the veins, she didn't even have time to comprehend the veins because her attention was solely focused on this other marking. It was a tattoo, a black tattoo that traced around his arm in a band. Where had she seen that before…

"Well, you two seemed to have become firm friends," Bill said studying Jessica. A sensation was itching at the back of Bill's head, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what he was feeling.

"Nah, we are just both 'firm friends' of Marvin Gaye," Jessica replied, shooting a smile towards Jeremiah. "OH! I don't even know if you guys have been formally introduced, well I know Sookie hasn't. This is Jeremiah…" Jessica waved her arm out towards the young vampire, as if she was presenting a prize on a game show. Sookie looked at her in confusion. "Oh, I guess Bill hasn't told you yet, Jeremiah is our way to curing Hep V!" She finished excitingly.

"Well I was born in 1883, in a small settlement right outside of London, over across the great pond. I was turned shortly after my 18th birthday… my maker met the true death not long after, so I've kind of just tried to make it on my own. Blending in, it's got me this far… I had a run-in with an infected about 2 months ago, the first couple hours were rough, I didn't think I was going to make it. But then it sort of just…went away…" Jeremiah said, looking around at the faces surrounding him. "That's it I supposed, not much else to say."

"That's it?" Bill repeated. "It sort of just, 'went away'?"

"I'm sorry, I wish I had more answers for you. I really do. All I know is that there has to be a reason why I'm like this… it just might take the great Bill Compton to figure it out. I'm a fan of your book by the way," Jeremiah said as he leaned back into the chair he was now sitting in. He looked back up at Bill, who was deep in thought.

It was Sookie's voice that broke the silence. "Hey Jessica, have you heard from Tara lately?"

Jessica looked up, "Uh, yes, I have actually, she just stopped by earlier, right before you guys got here… said something about working things out with her mother…"

Sookie looked at her, confused. "Oh," she replied, "I see… well she's probably at my house trying to find me, when I'm out trying to find her… oh life's just full of irony isn't it? Bill!" Bill jumped out of his comatose state and focused his attention on Sookie. "Would you walk me home? This night is just given me the jeebies."

"Uh, sure. Yes I mean," Bill quickly stood up.

"Well Jeremiah it's been a pleasure, I'm sure I'll be seeing you 'round, you being all important and everything," Sookie said, motioning towards the door.

"Uh Jessica, just keep doing what you're doing, I'll be back shortly," Bill said following Sookie out the door.

An eerie silence fell over the room as the sound of their footsteps lessened outside. Jessica shifted her eyes to Jeremiah, who was now standing.

"Well I guess you can come on out now Tara," Jeremiah said as he paced around the room.

A very stiff Tara Thornton streaked into the room, taking a seat next to Jessica on the couch. Their eyes followed Jeremiah back and forth as he paced.

"Okay, things have change," he finally said. "You people here have WAY too many friends, too many people that can take focus off of me and MY goal here…" He looked over towards the girls, who were shifting anxiously. "Oh, it just breaks my heart that I have to do this."

Tara tightened her jaw, forcing herself to speak. "Do what?" She asked.

"I just can't have so much going on, there are just too many of you. If I'm ever going to get what I want, I'm going to have to…trim the fat." He walked over to the record player, the sound of Marvin Gaye again filled the house. He looked back towards his anxious audience. "Listen, I'm not going to prolong this any longer…tomorrow morning… one of you is going to walk right out that door, and shake hands with the sun."

A single tear slid down Jessica's cheek.