Chapter 21- 37

Chapter Twenty-One

Once we’d gotten into the car Sookie fell asleep. I thought she might be shaken by the battle but she wasn’t. She was just tired. She woke when we got to a pit stop and had me buy her clothes from a random human woman. The white dress she’d worn was doused in blood, ash and dirt. It was a pity, it had been lovely.

“You are the second best lover I’ve ever had,” I told her. “And I am the best you’ve ever had. I don’t understand why you won’t give into me.”

I’d been watching her as she changed in the back seat and her curves had simply forced to me voice that point of frustration. My view also allowed me to see her disbelieving and infuriated expression. I sighed, knowing I had signed up for more silent treatment.

“How long are you going to remain angry this time?” We had spent the last hour and half in silence. I wondered if perhaps I should say something. It wouldn’t be an apology because I’d done nothing wrong.

“I’m not angry,” she said and she truly did not sound angry or smell of it.

“What are you?” I asked genuinely curious.

“Confused I think.” I did not press her and she did not volunteer more than those three words. We had to stop for gas and she had human needs to see to.

“Do you want anything?” she asked. I knew she was asking more out of her polite ways than thinking I would want something.

There was nothing in that hovel for me. In response I rolled my eyes and she smiled as she walked away. I liked that she was easy like that. Nothing weighed her down for too long. The way she was walking was light instead of the stomping troll act. It told me that whatever her problem was she was over it. I was so absorbed in watching her walk away that I did not notice the mortals approaching me from behind.

The next thing I felt was splitting pain through my head and then darkness. I woke in the bed of a truck wrapped in silver chains. I was grateful that I had kept on a sweater. The chains across my body were only heating my skin through the fabric of my clothes but not burning me. It was painful but not as excruciating as the thick silver around my neck. I held very still; struggling would only force the silver deeper into my flesh, and then I risked poisoning my blood. Blood was soaking my shirt and I saw some of it on the weapon that caused my blackout. I had lost a lot of blood but it was not severe. The main thing to do was calm myself.

I heard a heavy steel door open and the Sookie’s scent was in the air. It was unfortunate. She would have reported me missing but we were now in the same boat.

“Eric,” she whispered. I cast my eyes down without moving my head. She was alone. Her face was a mirror of concern and anger but she was not afraid. Typical. She climbed nimbly into the truck bed and began removing the chains. When she reached for the one around my throat, she hesitated.

“Do it,” I rasped. “Quickly.” She closed her eyes and pulled. I ran my fangs into my lip to choke back the scream that I knew would have escaped. The pain was insufferable but it was short lived. I remained still while the worse of my burns healed. I was thinking of how I was going to kill those that did this and it was comforting.

“The cops are coming,” she said. In the distance I heard sirens. It meant I wouldn’t get to kill the people that had done this to me “We should go.” She had brought a pack of bloods with her. This time she drove and I sat in passenger seat choking down, cold bottled blood and seething.

“Are you okay?” she asked after more miles of silence.

“Fine,” I said coolly. “What happened?”

“Two Weres, they have been following us since Arkansas. Anyway, they were supposed to take me back with them.” There was zero evidence to suggest such, but this had Threadgill written all over it. Only he would send Weres to do a vampire’s job. Then again they presumed she was alone, not that having me with her did any good.

“How did you get away?” When I didn’t even see it coming I added mentally.

“The clerk had a gun,” she said, making it sound so very simple, which made me even angrier.

“You didn’t have to come for me,” I spat at her. I saw her surprise turn into indignation when she finally registered my anger.

“Was there something wrong with me saving you?”

“Yes” I said evenly. “I could have managed.”

“Huh!” she said with voice laced with venom. “Okay just answer this: is it because I’m a woman or because I’m not a vampire?”

I was being unreasonable. When you wanted to live, it did not matter who saved your life but that logic did not silence my ire. “Both, but mostly because I didn’t need you.” I have gotten out of worse scrapes. I was overtaken by two mutts and had to be rescued by a human woman. It was a disgrace.

She hadn’t flinched at my words though they were dripping with venom and I knew lesser men would have squealed. Once I’d spoken I realized I was lashing out unjustly. I wanted to take them back but it was too late and I was too angry to pursue it in any case.

“I’ll remember that.” There was nothing in her voice that indicated any emotion.

The remainder of the drive was made in poised silence. When we finally arrived at her house she got out of the car without a word or backward glance. I exited after her feeling like an ass. My pride had been wounded but she still saved me. In thanks I’d lashed out.

“Lover, I—” I began. A deafening crack rent the air. It was accompanied by a piercing pain tearing through my head for the second time in less than three hours. The exception was that this occurrence did not come with the luxury of unconsciousness. I crumpled to the ground with the knowledge that I had been shot. There were fragments of skull and brain tissue on the driver’s side window. My blood was splattered over the car and pouring from both the entry and exit wounds. I think I could say unequivocally and conclusively that tonight sucked silver stakes.

Sookie came to me and horror was plain on her face. I regretted my harsh words now and wished I had done something to make amends. Behind her the assailants approached. I tried to speak but that function along with almost all others was damaged. I looked past her in an attempt to warn her. It was unnecessary. Her telepathy provided warning enough.

Working quickly Sookie shrugged off her jacket and rolled me onto my side. The side of my head with the bullet wound was no longer lying in the cold dirt though it did nothing for the pain. Then she pulled off her heavy sweater and threw it over me. If I still had control over any of my facial muscles I would have smiled at the touching but unnecessary gesture.

Now the only thing between my impending final death at the hands of four large Weres was Sookie, empty-handed, wearing nothing but jeans and flimsy t-shirt. In other words I was doomed.

“Howdy boys,” Her tone was very friendly and familiar as she addressed the would-be assassins. She was walking casually towards them as if they were invited guests to her tea party. “I’m sure he’s done something to deserve that but I’m gonna have to ask that there be no more violence here, please.”

Two of them laughed, one of whom was the person who fired the shot. He still had the rifle thrown casually over his shoulder. Nothing would save him if I survived this. I would rip his fucking heart out and use his arteries as a straw.

“Well, why don’t you come with us sugar and your dead friend can remain just dead and not finally dead.”

“He’s like what?” She turned to look at me over her shoulder to shoot me questioning glance. “A thousand and some change, I’m only twenty-four. Doesn’t sound like a fair trade to me.”

The Weres laughed at her wit. There was honesty in her tone that made me want to laugh too, but it also made me nervous. I had told her in the not too distant past that I didn’t need her. That had come to bite me the ass pretty fucking quickly.

There was nothing for me to do but watch intently. It gave me a chance to see what Sookie was intending to do. She was stupid, so very stupid, and suicidal by the looks of things. As the Weres laughed she was inching closer to the one with the rifle. Her eyes were clear and calculating. I wouldn’t meet the true death for her. I hated that she was thinking of doing that exact thing for me. Not enough that I wished she would abandon me but enough to pray that she wouldn’t suffer much before she met her end, before we both did.

“Quit fucking around, Miles. Grab the bitch and let’s get the hell out,” one of them called.

“There’s just no need for that kind of language,” Sookie muttered under her breath. Then she attacked.

They never saw it coming. They had not been paying attention to body positioning. She had drawn them into a small circle around her. Their size and numbers would not be to their advantage in that small space. The one that called her a bitch was the first to meet her wrath. She struck him twice with exceptionally fast and well-targeted blows that had been accompanied by the unmistakable crunch of bone. He went down with no plans to get up in the immediate future, if ever.

The swiftness of her attack caused a delayed reaction from the other Weres. After all, how often was it that a human woman did that? Their delay gave her time to grab for the rifle. It had already been primed by its owner and it went off, but it was one of his companions who hit the ground. There was a bullet lodged in his throat and he gurgled as he choked on his own blood. Sookie kicked the other one that was still standing. The force knocked him back and she used the momentum to literally climb up the arm of the one with the gun. The gunman could not maintain his grip as she pulled the gun upward.

It had to be hand to hand combat. If they took the time to shift she would have time to take the gun and shoot them both before they finished their transformation. She fought to maintain her hold of the gun and it ended up breaking from the strap taking away both their chance to take hold of it.

Sookie wasted no time in shifting her methods. All she had in her hands was the broken strap of the gun that was already tangled around the Were’s neck. She leapt off his shoulders with both ends of the strap in her hand. He flailed wildly; trying to connect a blow and throw her off as he fought for breath. Given the difference in their height she was safely behind him, choking the life from his body.

I was sure she would have killed him but the last accomplice who was still mobile grabbed Sookie off his friend. He threw her so forcefully that she bounced off the ground and landed several feet away. He kicked her as she was down and I heard at least one of her ribs give way. He tried to kick her again and she grabbed him at the ankle and used her foot to snap his leg at the shin. There was a howl as he went down because of the break. She twisted his ankle for good measure. He threw several punches before he hit the ground. He landed two. She broke something in his hands but I could not say what. They fell out of my view as they rolled on the ground.

I watched the half strangled were who had caught his breath and finally untangled the strap of rifle from his neck. He began running for the gun.

Sookie saw him despite her preoccupation. She was closer and pulled out from under her current opponent. She began running for it as well. She was moving slower because of her injuries. She wasn’t going to make it, even I knew that much. She realized this too because she slid on the grass like she was running to home base and tripped him. Down he went like a log. He let out a shout of pain; pure frustration and outrage.

They faced off because the gun was now out of both their reach. Her poise and strategy under fire was more than impressive. Despite her odds she had kept the fight on her terms; hand to hand. Sookie was not a foot from me. I could feel the heat from her body. I could see the damage she had taken. She was cradling her right side with her left hand. Her opponent was limping and I knew something in his right foot was damaged.

“What’d you say? Huh?” She wheezed wiping at the heavy flow of blood from her nose “Truce.” She coughed and spit out a mouth full of blood. His response was to pull out a large hunting knife from his boot. She sighed, “Figures.”

She ran closer to me with him at her heels. Quickly she removed the sweater she had draped over me. She pulled her hands through the sleeves, using the garment in its half on half off position to deflect her assailant’s wild stabs. With her ability she knew where he would strike the instant he thought it. Every time he lunged at her she dodged and made him pay with a well-placed kick, all of which were targeted at his injured leg.

The fight ended when he stumbled under a particularly vicious knee to his side. Wasting no time Sookie kicked the knife from his hand. A kick to his ribs brought him to his knees. Then she leapt off the ground with force and agility. Her knee connected with his head and it snapped back with a satisfying snap as his neck broke. Yes, Weres could heal quickly, but when they died they were gone for good. And that sack of filth was no more. Score four for the telepath. I simply couldn’t believe it. She’d overcome the odds.

When the fight was over Sookie staggered and limped to the gun. By the time she reached it she’d dropped onto her hands and knees, gasping for breath. Every time she coughed and wheezed she cried out in pain. She was coughing up blood by the mouthful. I knew the pain from her ribs must have been incredible. I knew she had to be freezing now that the adrenaline was wearing off. I wanted to go to her but the hole in my skull had not yet closed. She crawled back to me with gun in hand. Even with all the blood and dirt on her face she was smiling. Of all the absurd things, she snuggled with me. Her head rested on my chest. She moved my arm to drape over her while she wrapped her arms around herself. I was staring at her trying to understand the conundrum. I was coming to the realization that this woman was completely other. She couldn’t be human.

“You know Eric, I’m getting tired of saving that pretty ass of yours.” The pain was so intense her words were a pant but I could still hear the humor in it.

So, she finally admitted my ass was pretty. I’d known all along of course.

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I know a lot of you are excited for the return of Godric but he’ll get here when the time’s right.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Sookie closed her eyes and faded into unconsciousness with a smile still on her face. Eight minutes passed. I was measuring the time with the beating of Sookie’s heart. The amount of blood she’d lost was negligible. Her body was battered and broken but her life was in no danger. The cold would actually work to her advantage. It would numb the pain and slow the swelling.

Not being able to defend myself didn’t keep me from searching for danger. I heard the approach of a vampire. I knew it was a vampire by the almost inaudible footfalls. As they drew closer his scent confirmed his identity. Compton. Yes, I knew he would be good for something someday. Bill stilled momentarily as the wind blew. I guess he caught a whiff of blood, were, death, and gunpowder. It was distressing for a vampire who was out on an evening stroll.

I tried to speak. I meant to call out to Bill but I ended up making a gurgling noise instead. I heard him move a little closer so I repeated the noise. It was no clearer this time but it served its purpose. Bill was immediately beside Sookie and me. I was sure the scene was odd. We were cuddling on the front lawn in the freezing cold with dead or unconscious bodies strewn about. Depending on what vampire you asked, it was the making of a really good time. Were it not for the hole in my head I might be one of those vampires who would agree.

Bill ran his hands through Sookie’s hair and she groaned at his touch. From the look on his face I knew he was livid and would kill who had hurt her.

“Darling,” said he murmured to her. “I know it hurts. I know,” he crooned. “I need to move you.” She made a noise that he took as assent. He lifted her as easily as possible but she still cried out at the initial jolt. He crooned and held her close to him with his head over hers. I could just be in a very bad mood but his attention to her was irritating me. It was nice of him to check on his sheriff too. The fucking ingrate.

Compton returned momentarily after bringing Sookie inside. He was wielding a kitchen knife. Billy Boy was out for blood. He headed to the closest of the Weres and dragged him to me. Propping my head on Sookie’s jacket he snapped the neck of the already dead man. It was meant to move his head out of the way but I also thought the excessive force made him feel better. He opened my mouth then drove the kitchen knife into the jugular vein of the Were.

My fangs should automatically descend when I was in such dire need of blood but I was too badly wounded. My body was focusing on knitting the hole in my skull with the blood I had on hand. Bill was meticulous in his actions but his eyes were glued to the house where Sookie was. I was wondering about their relationship for the millionth time. Then the fountain of gushing blood began pouring into my mouth and I stopped caring about anything else.

Bill massaged my throat to help me swallow. It didn’t matter that bottled blood could sustain a vampire. Fresh blood was what was best for us, like mother’s milk. The were was already dead, his body slightly cooled but even then his blood was doing what a dozen bottles of synthetic blood and a day’s rest couldn’t.

I closed my eyes and moaned. The powerful pull of bloodlust was not something I allowed to engulf me too often but in this instance I submitted fully. I wanted so badly to grab the body over mine but I still couldn’t move. Involuntary ticks were reverberating through my body. The hearty stream of blood began to slow as my fangs shot out in search for more.

I tore into the neck of the second donor myself. He was alive and with the pain of my bite he regained consciousness but Bill held him down as I drained him dry. After the second body my reflexes returned. With it came the aches and pains of being starved nearly to dust. Bill brought me the third corpse. He then returned into the house as I remembered he’d been anxious to do.

By the time I’d drained the fourth (he wasn’t dead and I enjoyed it even more) I was healed and sporting flushed cheeks. I even felt warm tingles deluging my cold body. All that warm blood allowed me the unusual ability to register the cold temperature of the night and I gave a slight shiver. I wanted to go into the house to check on Sookie but Bill was with her. The bodies also needed to be disposed of. I set to work on the task. I realized a few things as I moved them about.

The group of now deceased werewolves suffered multitude of injuries. The gunshot victim got off easiest. The ones Bill and I inflicted were obvious. Sookie’s damage had been more systematic and precise. She had thoroughly dismantled them. There were broken femurs, ankles, and tibia. They went nicely with the fractured collar bone and crushed nasal bones.

“Pam,” I said into my phone.

“I’m almost there.” I could hear her moving through the air. “Bill called.” She continued, sounding annoyed. “Said he was caring for you and needed me to procure some items for Sookie.”

“Yes,” I said. “Make sure you have them.”

I breezed into Sookie’s house once I dumped the corpses in a shallow grave deep in the woods. When I’d envisioned myself returning here it had been under much better circumstances. In her bedroom Bill had removed her soiled clothing. I could see that he had to cut them from her body. The slightest movement caused her to cry out in pain.

“Ludwig can’t come,” he said. “I’m going to give her blood,” From the way he was looking at her I knew he had been having that inner debate since he picked her up.

I moved to the bed beside Sookie. “There might not be a need if there’s no internal bleeding,” I replied.

I could give her blood and deal with her ire. I had already resolved to do so. She had saved my life at great personal sacrifice, again. That was worth my ensuring her health. There was no sense in that though. I could make sure she was well and Bill would be the target of her anger. It might have been underhanded but I much enjoyed it when Sookie wasn’t angry with me. I knew she didn’t want vampire blood in her or even near her.

Bill did not hesitate at the mere mention of internal bleeding. He punctured his little finger with his fang and placed it in her mouth, she swallowed reflexively. The amount of blood he gave her was minuscule. It would indeed mend any internal bleeding or the damaged organs I knew she probably didn’t have. She wouldn’t notice the additional strength depending on how soon she was on her feet again.

I wanted him to give her more blood all the same. The main reason wasn’t because I wanted to place a wedge between them (which I did). It was because his blood was weaker and she had taken a lot of punishment. I didn’t want her to be in pain. I rolled down the sheets to her waist to better see her injuries for myself. Bill shot me an irate look as I exposed her breasts.

What I saw was horrific. I hissed and Bill growled. Sookie’s entire right side from under her breast to her waist was ghastly. The skin was scraped raw to her pelvic bone. She had at least three broken ribs, one of which was threatening to force its way through her skin. The point where her rib broke was vibrating unnaturally with every shaky breath she took. Aside from the ribs, nothing was broken but the breaks were not clean. That was very bad. It would require more than we could do for her here, a doctor, if not some form of surgery.

“Move,” I said to Bill. “My blood is stronger.”

He ignored me and almost sliced his finger off to get more blood into Sookie’s body. It would be enough to mend the bones. The rest of her injuries would have to heal naturally.

“What the hell happened to her?” he growled. I ignored the question and took the rocking chair in the corner of the room.

My eyes were on Sookie but I wasn’t really seeing her. I was trying to reconcile so many assumptions I had. In the beginning all I’d wanted was sex so it didn’t really matter if I knew her or not. Once I got that I have been focusing on getting more. Then there had been the issues of keeping an asset of the Queen safe in my area. Knowing her didn’t seem like a priority matter.

That was why I had nothing in the months of interactions to explain why she had been able to dismantle four grown werewolves not only empty handed but single handed. Not to mention be able to take that kind of physical punishment and still be witty. Then there was earlier this very evening, she’d helped the vampires of my state turn the tides in a fight and helped us get away after. I came to the conclusion that I knew nothing about her.

I watched as Bill cleaned her body gently. The swelling of her injuries was stagnant or receding thanks to his blood donation. Fortunately, his blood had done its work. The worse of her injuries were healing at a rapid pace. Her breathing seemed less contrived. Her ribs were once again whole, even some of her worse scrapes were looking days old. She was no longer in so much pain that she was unconscious but she was still in enough pain to suffer, and for that I pitied her. Truly, I would take it away if I could.

I wanted to move closer to the bed but Bill was into his role as a nurse. Since I knew nothing of tending to an injured human I sat back. He got a promotion to doctor when Pam arrived ten minutes later with the items he requested. The syringes were self-explanatory, the vials of clear and cloudy liquids not so much. Reading the labels didn’t clarify the contents further. I knew nothing of human medicine. Bill explained what they were as he accepted them from Pam.

Pam and I watched as Bill worked. First he licked the back of Sookie’s badly bruised right hand before finding a vein. The morphine was the first to be injected into her body. Once it began to work Sookie was happier and goofier than I had ever seen her.

She looked up at the three vampires in her bedroom with a look that was part humor and part scorn. “Now, I just know I’m living wrong,” she said with a shake of her head and a dramatic sigh. I was grinning down at her. Pam actually snorted. “Hiya Alice,” she greeted Pam cheerfully. She smiled and the cut on her lip bled. She could not care less.

“I am Pam, Sookie, you know that.” My child looked to Bill. “Compton, are you sure you dosed that properly?”

“The high means I got it perfect” He replied pulling a night gown gently over Sookie’s head.

“Wow! This stuff is great!” Sookie declared, plainly unconcerned about where Bill got his medical degree.

“Can you tell me what happened to you darling?” He asked stroking Sookie’s face to get her attention.

She smiled as if taking notice of him for the first time. “Bill,” She crooned, reaching to pat his face unsteadily. She almost jabbed him in the eye. “Hi.”

“Hello Sookie,” he said, pushing that ever wayward strand of hair from her eyes. He cupped her face and stroked her cheek. “How did you get into a fist fight with Werewolves, huh sweetheart?”

“I love your eyes and the way you call me darling,” she murmured leaning into his touch. “even though I never act like it.”

I saw he wanted to press her but he let the topic drop and returned to tending to her, not before he told her, “You’ll always be my darling, no matter what.” She smiled and closed her eyes in deep contentment. I didn’t know I was looking away until I felt Pam’s eyes on me and knew I’d been caught.

Okay, the complements Sookie paid Bill annoyed me a lot more than they should. Mostly because I knew it was nothing but the truth. Inebriated as she was, she wouldn’t be able to cook up a lie or anything that was meant just to annoy or fend me off. It made me think her indifference towards me wasn’t feigned, as impossible as that sounded.

“She fought to save me,” I said to no one in particular.

“Yup,” Sookie chimed in.

She didn’t even flinch as Bill forced a disjointed finger into place; she had three on her right hand. It required some difficulty and finesse to right them. Once that was finished, Bill taped them all together and placed a bag of ice over them. It was impossible to think that hands so small and soft and warm could dole out so much damage and death.

“I’m an idiot,” she said with that little snort thing she did that conveyed so many things all at once. Her eyes turned to me and they were oddly focused even as glazed as they were. There was no silly humor left in their blue depths. While she was still high as a kite it was no longer a happy high.

“Don’t give me grief about this Eric, because if you do, I’ll watch as your cards play out, I’ll do nothing when your number gets called. ‘Cuz we both know you wouldn’t risk your life for me”

Bill turned to give me a look that was somewhere between disgust and disbelief. I ignored it but it wasn’t as easy as it usually was. Sookie broke the tension. All her inebriated humor came back in effect. She prattled about all kinds of things from the quilt to some dessert treat but I wasn’t really listening. I was struggling with some emotion I couldn’t understand. Yeah, emotions were rare for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t have them. It was just that I controlled them.

Over time I had become a creature of sheer pragmatism. My emotions made sense because I had planned and charted a course that caused whatever I was feeling. This was so not like that. What I felt was a mixture of shame and regret, but why? She merely told me the same truths I had told her. Guilt was also present in the symphony. It was not an emotion I partook in. I didn’t like it, but no rationalizations I used would make it go away. It was because of Sookie. I looked up at her and her rambling was slowing. Morphine was pulling her towards unconsciousness and I wouldn’t get answers tonight.

“Is there someone you want me to call to be with you during the day?” I pulled her lids back to force her to answer. “Terry perhaps?” Her former roommate seemed to care for her and he was the only other human she ever spoke of.

“No Terry. Tell no Terry” she mumbled. “Blood, can’t see Terry,” and that was all I could get out of her.

I got the gist of what she was saying. Blood and Terry didn’t mix. It explained a lot. Since she was so adamant against Terry I could send Bobby but I knew she disliked him greatly plus he would be useless in terms of domestics. Someone needed to watch her home during the day she would be less than capable of defending herself in her current condition. I knew just the mongrel for the job. While we waited outside for him to arrive I filled Pam in on what happened. She, like me, suspected Arkansas.

“She really saved you?” Pam asked, puzzled.

“You should have seen it,” I said to my child, shaking my head. I still couldn’t properly articulate the thrashing an ordinary tiny human woman handed out to a group of Werewolves twice her size.

“It’s not so surprising,” Pam reasoned.

“How so?”

She arched a perfect eyebrow at me. “Look at her. Everyone with or without a pulse wants her. It would be foolish of her not to have learned how to defend herself.” Explained that way it appeared rather obvious.

“She’d made no mention of being skilled.” I wasn’t sure what I was getting at.

“She abhors violence,” Pam said thoughtfully. I shot her a disparaging look but she nodded certainly “Truly, I know this to be so. When we went to the mall a human man was openly staring at her while he had his wife with him, the woman moved past Sookie and bumped her intentionally.” From Pam’s face I could see the mere memory irritated her. Her English accent hung heavier “When the woman demanded Sookie apologize for her clumsiness, she did.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

She shrugged “Nothing. She told me she apologized because it cost her nothing and that was exactly what that other woman was worth. She’s a pacifist yet with her looks and ability she is a target of violence. Shouting about her capabilities as a fighter would only invite more. With her silence she plays up her faults and let them become that of her enemy.”

That right there was the idea I was having trouble reconciling. Where she was concerned I had to completely reassess my thoughts. I realized I was accusing Sookie of something but I wasn’t sure exactly what. It wasn’t that she’d intentionally lied to me. She didn’t lie. I guess I was accusing her of not being what I assumed she was, which was unreasonable on so many levels.

Having the illusions I had of her shattered all in one night prickled at me. I felt like I had fallen into a trap, like I saw her as she wanted to be seen. Being blinded by anything or anyone was as good as a death sentence. I rubbed my head and felt a lingering twinge. It wasn’t the time to think, there was more than a little blood and brain matter on my person. Not a great analytical stand point.

“Come now Eric,” Pam said with a snicker. “This is just because she is a tiny woman child and she saved your skin twice in one night. If you add the fight in Arkansas she has saved you three times.” I was spared from having to throw something at her because Alcide arrived.

Alcide Herveaux was the son of the pack master of the Long Tooth pack. That pack master had a gambling problem. It was so out of control that he had borrowed heavily against his construction company and had been in grave danger of losing what took generations to build. That was when he came to me. Being the Good Samaritan that I am I couldn’t turn him away. I lent him the money and I used the debt to make him heel as I wanted. It made my job as Sheriff so much easier.

“What?” Alcide asked. For the above mentioned reasons, the son of the pack master resented me but every time I called he had to answer. It was a delightful feeling really, taking an alpha male and turning him into my bitch.

“Do you have any dealings with any packs in Arkansas?” This confused him because I had never paid the slightest bit of attention to their mutt groupings. He nodded.

“The one I am looking for will report some people missing. Several in fact.” He bared his teeth and fought the urge to shift. I sighed. Just because you’re a vampire people blamed you when blood was spilled. Most times they were right, but still. “They shot me and manhandled my lover.” I introduced Sookie by that title because I knew find her appealing. Even with large bruises and broken bones could not hide her beauty. “Which brings me to my next point, I require you to watch over her during the day.”

“I’m not a fucking nurse. Why not bring her to a hospital if you care so much?”

I glided past him and towards Pam’s car. It was a silent dare for him to defy me on this. I knew he wouldn’t.

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It is long awaited but Godric is in the next chapter. i think you guys will understand why he had to go away and why Sookie and Eric took so long to get to where they are now. A great big thank you to all my avid reviewers and thanks to all of you who have me on your Favs. It makes all the work rewarding.

In case I didn’t do so in the last chapter I wanted to thank my super awesome Beta. Rebecca. t. p. wrecker. Without her, my pace would definitely slower.

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Chapter Twenty Three

I made it a point to check on Sookie the very next, even though I was pressed for time. I wanted to make sure she was comfortable. She was more than that. I found her and Alcide looking quite cozy as she had dinner. If I wasn’t used to the amount of attention she got from anything with or without a pulse, it would have irked me. It still did in fact but in my defense I’d called the mutt to make sure she was well looked after not to buddy up to her.

“Hi Eric,” Sookie greeted. Her smile was bright and her voice was airy. Some of my irritation evaporated.

“Hello lover,” I said with a heavy emphasis on the last word.

I got the satisfaction of watching Alcide frown. It was a small thing but it pleased me so. She looked just as beautiful as she’d ever been. All the bruises and scrapes were gone and so was the swelling. It was her fingers and the tight wrapping around her ribs that told of the previous night’s battle.

“You’re good for the night?” Alcide said looking at her in question, and she nodded her assent. “Okay, I’ll be in touch.” With that he rose from his seat.

He spared me a sneer but that was it for communication. It was pretty standard. I watched him go, thinking of all the ways I could fuck up his life through his father alone.

“I’d offer you a blood but heating it would be a production,” Sookie said. Her smile was apologetic. Her inability to prepare it simply gave me an out—as if I would willingly opt for that sludge.

“I understand,” I replied, taking the seat closest to her.

I watched as she took a few more bites of her steak. The silence was comfortable, mainly because I was too old to be bothered by the smell of human foods. I was busy stealing furtive glances at her in an attempt to acclimate the fierce fighter, the fiery vixen and the sweet southern belle into one body. I had no luck and I knew I wouldn’t unless I asked questions.

When she pushed her food away I asked the question that bothered me most, “Who taught you to fight?”

She sipped her glass of water before answering “Look at me,” she said and I did. What else did I ever do when she was around? “What do you see?” Her eyes shone and I thought whatever response I gave would be of great importance to her. Not wanting to hurt or offend her I went with the whole truth.

“I’m not sure anymore.”

She smiled softly but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked strangely haunted.

“Okay. What if I had something you wanted but I didn’t want to give? It could be my purse, information, my body, whatever,” she shrugged. “What would you see then?”

Of course I knew what she was getting at. Pam had all but spelled it out for me. Now that I was no longer healing from a gunshot wound to the head, I remembered she had run away from home when she was a little more than a child. That explained a lot. It explained her attitude even in the worse of situations, her resilience and endurance for physical pain, and her mental fortitude to know not to trust anyone she couldn’t read. Life had taught her many lessons and she had learned well.

“What would you see then, Eric?” She whispered.

Her eyes hadn’t lost that harrowed edge and they captured mine with their intensity. The expression was so wrong on a face so young and beautiful. I wondered if this was what she looked like when she had talked with Godric in the hotel bathroom. I wondered if he, too, had felt the urge to wash it away.

“Easy prey,” I replied.

“Yeah,” she murmured, looking away. “Easy prey.”

“Why did you run away from home?”

“How do you know that?” she asked, sounding more surprised than annoyed.

“It was my business to know your business, remember?” I shrugged, unrepentant.

By the look on her face I knew she was contemplating telling me off or not answering. In the end she sighed and leaned farther back into her chair. “For the same reason most teenagers do I guess. I was angry. I was hurt. I felt alone. My whole family was dead. I wanted to get away from it all.”

“Where did you go?” I asked genuinely curious. “How did you survive on you own?”

Her face broke into a smile. It didn’t radiate her usual warmth but it wasn’t sad. “I went where I wanted. It could have been worse. I knew who to avoid,” she tapped her temple. “The great thing about telepathy, I get to learn lessons without making the mistakes that come before them and when I spend enough time in someone’s head I pick up their skills.”

“Hot wiring cars and shooting guns?” I concluded wryly.

She did that little snort thing. “That’s just the beginning. I can tune an engine, panel a house, play bass, and a whole slew of other things I might never need.”

We fell into silence once more and I decided now was a good time to right my wrong, “I’m sorry.” I began “You saved me at the gas station and I snapped at you, you didn’t deserve it”

She stared at me and I was one hundred percent sure she didn’t believe me. She wasn’t going to make this easy on me this time, obviously. I drew in a breath I didn’t need and exhaled it.

“It wasn’t a ‘you being human woman thing.’ It was a pride thing.”

“Oh,” She said after a pensive moment “Okay”

“Thank you for defending me after the way I behaved.” It only made my behavior that much more atrocious.

To this she smiled brightly “Wish I could say it was my pleasure” She eased to her feet and began trying to collect her plates.

“I’ll do it,”

I offered, because I knew she wouldn’t ask. She would make ten trips from the table to the sink instead asking for help. Since she preferred I work off my offenses, this would go towards my tenor in reparations. I got her comfortably seated on her couch with the remote and a drink in hand before I prepared to take my leave. I needed to get to the bar. Pam was itching for a day off and with Sophie-Anne injured and out of sight for a while all her sheriffs needed to be seen in full view so no one got the wrong idea.

“Goodnight lover. I will return to check on you soon.” I kissed her head and because I couldn’t resist, I brushed my lips across hers.

It shocked me that she reached her good hand to cup my face. She let her lips slide past mine and kissed my cheek, then she buried her face in the crook of my neck. I didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t to initiate sex. Depraved as I was, even I wouldn’t think to put that kind of strain on her. It just seemed she wanted closeness of my touch. I obliged. I held her as close and stroked her hair.

After a full minute she pulled in a deep breath and began to pull away. I stared down at her and for the briefest moment I saw vulnerability. It was only there for a moment and then she smiled brightly.

“Bye Eric.” She kissed my lips ever so softly once more and then let me go.

---

The next two nights were spent focusing on my duties as sheriff. There was more than one traveling vampire that had smelled blood and thought to come for closer inspection. They had their asses kicked soundly and sent back on their now not so merry way. This would be the norm until Sophie-Anne made a public appearance. I really wished she would hurry the hell up.

It was close to three when I turned onto my street tonight. Going to my house never felt like coming home. I lived alone and there was nothing to mark the three bedroom modern fixture as mine. It was nestled in deep in the suburbs of Shreveport. The interior was decorated in rich jewel toned colors that I found pleasing to look at, but that was it. It was a safe place to rest during the day, which was my only requirement.

Since I moved into this house only two people knew where I lived. One was Pam and the other was my day man. The car that was parked in my driveway belonged to neither. It was an Aston Martin One-77. It was jet black with completely tinted windows and black on black rims. A car like that could probably move through the night like a shark through water. There was only one person who it could belong to.

Killing the engine, I flew out of my car. I found him in the backyard. He was seated at the edge of my pool, his trousers were rolled up and he had his legs in the water, kicking with the perfect amount of force to create mini tidal waves. From my vantage point I could see his hair was now long enough to obscure his face. It was curly and fell to his chin. In the moonlight, I could see the strips of honey and wisps of red in his other wise dark locks.

“I didn’t know your phone number offhand,” Godric said without looking up from the whirlpool he was creating with his feet. “It was either sit here and wait, or go to your bar.”

I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. The sheer joy of seeing him here was rendering me immobile. I just watched him. Since Dallas, I had been forcing myself not to reach out through the bond we shared. I didn’t want to face what it would be like to reach out for him and find that there was nothing there. Reaching out and getting nothing but more of his deeply rooted depression was not something I’d wanted to do either. With the former, I would have gone into mourning that I wasn’t sure I could recover from. With the latter, I wouldn’t be able to fault him for wanting to meet his end. Like him, I’d clung to senseless hope. That hope had not been in vain. He had come back to me.

“You have a problem with my bar?” I asked, feigning outrage.

He chuckled softly. “Just the cliché,” his tone implied the whole bar was a cliché.

More silence fell and I struggled for the right thing to say. I didn’t know if he only came to tell me a proper goodbye before he left this world. I didn’t know if he was just passing through or if he came to ask me to leave with him. It might be too much to hope that he had come here to stay.

“I’m happy you are here,” I said sincerely. “I have missed you.” No matter the reason he had come, that was the truth.

He didn’t respond with words. He didn’t stop watching the water. There was no physical change, just emotional. I felt our bond spark to life. I braced for at least some lingering pain but there was none. It was like expecting the most vicious of bites and getting a soothing balm. From my maker there was nothing but tranquility. Where his emotions had last felt like a diseased, festering sore, now there was nothing but serenity. I let it engulf me and read into it more deeply. There were some undertones of sadness but it wasn’t abysmal. It was as if he had accepted the things he hated but couldn’t change.

Godric rose from the pool and faced me. He had been right. The maker I’d known was gone. I could feel the difference. It was written all over him. This wasn’t a vampire who existed to see his goals fulfilled, this was someone new. It didn’t matter. All I knew was that he was mine and I was his, always. That hadn’t changed.

At his age Godric was afforded a few extra minutes of wakefulness. He could rise at twilight, I had to wait until first dark. The next night I woke to find him already dressed and heating a blood. He drank the contents of his bottle without so much as a single grimace. He was stronger than I. Reading the expression on my face, he grinned.

“Come with me tonight,” I said scrolling through my phone. “I need to make an appearance.”

He shook his head. “I want to see Sookie.”

I looked at him and tried to think of what to say. I knew the fact that I’ve had sex with her wouldn’t bother him. I wondered if it ruined his chances with her though. Sookie might find it immoral to pursue anything with him after sleeping with me. Probably not, she wouldn’t hold anything I’ve said or done against him. That wasn’t her style. While she didn’t entirely trust vampires, for some reason I didn’t think that applied to Godric.

I have never had a woman give herself to me with so much passion and then not return for an encore. Even worse, she refused me when I finally admitted my desire for her. Was I bothered by her hit and split routine? Yes, I sure as hell was. Did it mean I had a problem with my maker’s interest in her? No, not at all. He was the only other one I would want to have her.

It wasn’t just because I wanted him happy. I knew to compare what I felt for her to what he felt was like comparing a tree to a forest. Just the way he spoke her name said it all. What he wanted was deeper. What he seemed to get just from talking to her was tons more than what I got from her body, which was quite the accomplishment.

“Something has happened,” Godric said, tilting his head to the side. He was staring deeply into my eyes and it took all my years of experience to not squirm. “And it troubles your…conscience?” That had sounded like a surprised guess.

“Easy on the ‘C’ word,” I warned. “That’s how ugly rumors get started.”

He smiled wider but didn’t let the subject drop “You can tell me on the drive. I don’t know where she lives.”

Godric and I talked while he drove like he never heard of a speed limit. I knew I’d learned that from somewhere. I told him how I met Sookie. I told him that she found trouble at every corner. He knew she could defend herself. He had seen as much when they’d fought off Newlin’s Weres in Dallas. I was now inclined to believe Pam. That eased any suspicion I had that she had wanted to appear helpless for some nefarious reason. She was a pacifist who was plagued by violence. I pitied her enemies the day she fully embraced her ability to kick ass.

I told him about the night I spent with her and the fact that she was happy to leave it at that.

“What did you expect?” Godric asked with a chuckle. We both knew it was my ego that was bruised and not much else. “That she would throw all caution to the wind just for your skills in bed?”

Well, yes. “I wouldn’t ever intentionally hurt her.”

“No,” he said with absolute certainty. “You wouldn’t, but you are so easy to love and so hard to hold onto, impossible to tame. For all those who’ve had their love go unrequited, it is harrowing all the same, no matter how unintentional on your part.”

I said nothing as I mulled over his words. It wasn’t that I could deny them. If there was anyone who knew me, it was him. I was also starting to think Sookie knew me very well. Her words now made sense. Being my lover would lead to her having feelings for me that went deeper that the physical or necessary. She knew those were feelings that I wouldn’t reciprocate. A month ago I would have eagerly agreed to that assumption but not now.

Sookie was wrong. Caring about me wouldn’t be the only thing we would have in common. If she could imagine that her feelings would grow, why couldn’t mine? In fact they had. The first night I met her I would have had sex with her and not cared if she died the next day. The very next time I saw her, I was contemplating killing her. Now it was different. I would never hurt her, not because she was a valuable asset, but because I liked her. She intrigued me. I cared about her, if only a little, I cared.

We missed Sookie at home. That was how I found myself at the bar of the shifter. His name was escaping me again. It was Shane or Sean something close enough to it. Point was that I was at Sookie’s place of employment. We were told we just left and had gone home for the night. This hit and miss was the norm when most vampires were searching for someone. It didn’t bother Godric or me. Telephones were for emergencies and half the time we forgot we had them. Most vampires were old world. It meant that if we were looking for you, we’d send an actual person or we’d come ourselves. Hell, Cleo just stopped using messenger pigeons. It was just the times we grew up in.

Back at Sookie’s house I saw Bill moving through the cemetery from the distance. If he heard the approach of the sports car he didn’t show it. Given the direction he was coming from, I knew he had been at her house. That annoyed me but I let it go as I saw Sookie emerging from her shed. Her decrepit car was traded for a sleek black motorcycle with grey markings that looked like vines of a rose. This was a look I haven’t see her wear. Tonight she looked like hell on wheels.

Sookie had on a pair of black riding boots, her low rise fitted jeans tucked into them. She was wearing a copper colored turtleneck to combat the cool temperature. There was a black leather jacket draped over that. Her helmet matched her bike and it was tucked under her arm. Her usual purse was traded for backpack. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail with the end braided. I recognized the items. I’d simply assumed it belonged to the shifter. I’d been wrong. She stood in the middle of her driveway and stared at us as we approached. The car was unfamiliar to her. By all rights it should register as nothing more than two vampires. She would be anxious. I got out of the car the minute the engine stopped in order to abate her fear but found that I felt no signs of anxiety coming from her. She didn’t straddle her bike to try to get away, she just watched with a cool expression.

“Lover, with your luck you really shouldn’t ditch four wheels and air bags for two wheels and a helmet.”

A derisive smile curved her lip and she snorted. “Hey Eric, I gotta—”

Her words died as Godric emerged from the car. He smile fell from her face. Godric was however expressionless, as if he’d expected it. I could feel he was anxious, but he was also confident as he moved towards her. She watched his every step and paced her breaths with each one.I had no idea what to do with that. She gaped at him as if expecting him to disappear. When he didn’t, her face crumpled and she looked so sad. Finally she settled on crying. Her brows furrowed and her bottom lip trembled as she fought tears.

“Hi,” was all she said. She was blinking rapidly, but the tears still fell. Godric moved in and cupped her face to wipe them away.

“I did not mean to make you cry,” he murmured.

“Good tears,” she said with a weak chuckle. “I’m deliriously happy.”

It felt like I was intruding on something private but I watched because it was new. I have never seen Sookie cry or be rendered speechless. Since my turning I have never witnessed or even heard of anyone receiving Godric’s affection, the intimacy of sex, yes, but not affection, not like this. I wondered how I would feel about it; turns out that I wasn’t jealous. In Dallas when I noticed their connection I was feeling disjointed and rejected by him. Now I felt in tune with him as I should. While there was no jealousy, there was a strange wistfulness I didn’t understand.

“I am happy to see you,” he said. His thumb was stroking her cheek lightly. “I will wait until you return from your trip.” He inclined his head to her bike.

“Just a joy ride,” She leaned her face into his touch and her hand rose to cover his. “C’mon, I’ll heat you a blood.”

They were set to turn into the house and she looked at me, “Eric, you coming?”

“Rain check” I said “Fangtasia calls.” I wanted to give them time alone but the offer of blood was all the more reason to refuse.

---

Now the real fun begins!

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was a busy Friday night at Fangtasia. I was late after trying to track Sookie down, but Pam was holding down the fort on both the business and political aspects. She was doing it, but that didn’t mean she was happy about it. She had all sorts of ways of making that clear without saying a word. It didn’t help that the humans were acting like they didn’t have only one life to lose. That would annoy me as much as it normal did except I was in a seriously good mood.

I went over to Pam and kissed her on her head just because.

“You’re still late,” she huffed.

“Fire me,” I called over my shoulder.

She chuckled, “You should be so lucky.”

It really would have been too much to ask that the pleasantries I’d been experiencing since last night would continue. They didn’t. I didn’t so much as see her. I felt her. It wasn’t much, just a tingle of awareness. It told me that whatever she was feeling—rage was my guess—was particularly strong. I couldn’t quite discern the emotion and I didn’t care to look further.

Thalia sat at her usual table. She was dressed the same and looked as if she hadn’t been AWOL for over two months. For a fraction of second I’d entertained the possibility that she’d fallen prey to the bounty hunters. Obviously not, she’d just been proving she was the bane of my existence. Not having the grit to end her finally meant I had to endure her.

If I exiled Thalia from my area she would only find trouble with another sheriff in a different monarchy. I was sure she didn’t care about living, but when her immortal life was in danger, she would invoke my name, belying that notion. My name carried a lot of weight amongst the supernaturals. When that happened I would get a call looking for verification, at which point I would be forced to claim her as mine.

That was the manner of our relationship. Every fucking time, without fail, I saved her, knowing full well that I would be responsible for whatever damages she’d caused. Where Thalia was concerned it was always a lot. We were coming to a crossroads, she and I, but it wasn’t something I could deal with now. I didn’t spare her another glance after registering her presence. I was still having a decent night and I wasn’t going to let her ruin it.

The number of rogues looking for weakness in Sophie-Anne’s monarchy was dropping with every passing day. Who would come to piss all over that but Hot Rain in the flesh? There was no mistaking that he was powerful; it radiated off him. He stood like a blend of his past and the present. His russet complexion, deep set eyes, high cheek bones, and fall of jet black hair spoke of his Native American descent. The suit he wore was proof of his ability to adapt.

Long Shadow wasn’t finally dead. Ending him because of sixty thousand dollars would have been entirely petty. I would have owed his maker four times that much in the end. It wasn’t worth it just to make a point with a vampire so weak. The money itself wasn’t where my issue was with Long Shadow, it was the reasoning that led him to the act.

My former partner thought I was weak and foolish. Foolish enough not to notice the theft, foolish enough not to pick up his deception, and certainly weak because he thought there would not be a consequence from me that he couldn’t handle. That was the problem. As a sheriff, it was one that I had to deal with swiftly and brutally. After I helped him redefine the meaning of torture I threw him in a silver cage half his size and left him there. Ever since that night I’d received calls from his maker. Hot Rain had insisted that something had befallen his child and he wanted to know what it was. I’d told Pam to give him the run around.

Hot Rain moved through the throng of people but managed not to touch a single one. His presence didn’t go unnoticed even by the most plastered of my patrons. All the vampires in the bar were watching his advance and were creeping forward. “There is a three drink minimum for the booths.” I said once he reached me. My expression told him to get with it or get lost.

Deftly he flagged down a waitress as he sat across from me in my booth. Once his order was placed he turned to me.

“You know why I am here.” His tone was deep and slightly accented and there was no mistaking the edge to it. Unfortunately for him I was now in a piss poor mood. It would be best not to antagonize me in any fashion, subtle or otherwise.

“I know, but ask me if I care,” I replied slipping my phone into my pocket.

“I speak out of courtesy,” the Native American growled. “I know my son is here starving and suffering.”

“Why do you think that is?” I bit back.

Hot Rain stilled as if something was just occurring to him and it surprised him. “He is guilty of something?”

“You sired nothing but a thief and a coward,” I said. “He stole from me even though he had absolutely no reason to. He betrayed my trust, insulted my lover, and tried to harm her in my presence.” I’d been annoyed at those things then but now just listing them put me in a slightly homicidal mood.

“He would never succumb to mere greed,” His eyes were flashing dangerously, warning me to recant what he deemed a specious, debasing accusation. Looking at the Native American vampire and the way he held himself I knew he was one of the vampires with a high code of ethics. Clearly, he thought he had instilled the same in his offspring. He hadn’t, and I was going to enjoying raining on his parade, pun seriously intended.

“Come,” I rose from my booth and waved for him and his people to follow. The only other one who came with me was Thalia. It wasn’t because of any attachment. She was spoiling for a fight and there was a good chance it would happen with this bunch.

With a parting glare at me, Hot Rain approached the cage, risked the contact with silver, and stroked Long Shadow’s face. I could feel his fury boiling at the conditions in which I’d kept his child.

“Order him to tell you the truth of his crimes,” I said to Hot Rain.

“It’s not true,” he murmured. “Tell me what he says, it is not true.”

No, of course not, my accusations were based on nothing. I simply liked my employees to draw straws every other Thursday and whoever draws the shortest straw gets to be tortured and be imprisoned in my dungeon. I mean, after all, there was no way I had anything better to do with my time.

All Long Shadow said was, “Don’t leave me here. Please, don’t leave me here.” His voice was barely a whisper and his skin flaked and cracked as he spoke. I’d cut off his hands and they had yet to grow back and he was too bloody and burned to determine what he had once looked like. He was just a gangly, charred humanoid creature with dark hair. Actions had consequences and this was his.

Half an hour later a hundred and fifty thousand dollars was wired into Fangtasia’s business account and I was ushering a barely conscious Long Shadow and a tight lipped Hot Rain out the back door.

“He will be executed on sight if he ever returns,” I called after them. The lack of acknowledgement was of no consequence. I knew they heard. We all had perfect hearing.

By the end of the night I was eager to see Godric, to talk to him. I wanted to know how his evening with Sookie went. More than once I’d found myself hoping they hadn’t disagreed or argued. I knew firsthand how bad that woman’s temper could be. Yet something was telling me that it was a special case where I was concerned. It wasn’t like I asked for it. I simply didn’t know how to stop it. So yeah, I was curious how their evening had gone. I couldn’t run home to meet him just yet though.

Pam had bailed early because she’d reached her limit on drunks, idiots, and all creatures in general. It was up to me to oversee the closing of the bar. I noticed that Thalia lingered longer than most of the other vampires. She was no doubt wondering what her punishment would be this time. Last time she had been gone a week, this time two months. Next time she pulled this shit I knew it would be for longer. I would let her stew because the truth was I didn’t know how to punish her.

Godric was home when I arrived. He was unpacking properly with soft classical tunes weaving from the stereo in the room he’d taken. I sat on his bed and watched. I didn’t want to read into it, but given the amount of clothes he’d brought, I knew he would be here for a while.

I had a lot of questions but the one I asked first was, “Where did you go? After?” The question had never left my mind since we parted ways in Dallas. Always I wondered, it was the last thing I thought of at dawn and my first conscious thought at first dark.

“Nowhere really, not for a while,” he replied, setting aside a shirt he’d been folding. “I roamed, trying to shake all that, but after a week I felt worse.”

I couldn’t repress a cringe at the thought that he could have gotten any worse. Seeing my reaction, he caressed my face briefly.

“I was trying to outrun deeds I’d done, sins I’d committed, and that is impossible.” He said taking a seat beside me. “The second I realized I was so much more than what I had become, it all began coming back and it ripped me apart. Every life I’d ever taken, be it justified or not, every act of barbarism, no matter how warranted, every single sordid thing I’d done in the two thousand years I’d survived rose in my heart and spread through me like poison. It was killing me. It was either face it all and make my peace or keep running and die.”

Godric looked down at his hands as if they were new, then he cupped my face. “There is more to living than survival and death. When all your enemies are dead, when you alone stand victorious on a hill of ash and blood of you realize there is no way down and you can never go back.”

Kill them before they kill you; know the moves of your enemies better than your own because there is no more living, just survival and death. That was what he’d instilled in me and spent centuries training me for. Yet, here he sat, dispelling it all. It was so contrary but it helped piece together the conversation he’d had with Sookie. It helped me make sense of how time had broken him.

Godric, too, might have been a pacifist who no longer recalled what it was like to not kill for one reason or another. The time he’d been born in was vicious, and as a human he’d had to fight to live. Becoming a vampire had only made taking lives easier, and often more necessary. It was a miracle his guilt didn’t break him entirely.

I leaned forward and rested my forehead against his. His strength while he faced all that was truly remarkable. It made me all the happier to have him here. “Stay with me,” I said without pulling away. “Stay here and you won’t have to do anything that would make you hurt.” I would do it for him.

His leaned into me and brushed his lips across mine. “Yes, I would like to reside in the area permanently,” he replied, pulling away “If the sheriff permits that is,” he tacked on with a smile.

“Welcome to Area Five,” I said with a chuckle.

The next night when I rose there was a heartbeat in the house. It only took a fraction of a second after I left my day chamber for the scent to register. Sookie. The first thought I had wasn’t worry about some human knowing where I lived. I couldn’t even think of all the ways I would have punished anyone else upon exit. Where she was concerned, I was strangely pleased. Godric had shown her trust that had taken much longer for me to build. She was trustworthy.

“I’m not saying a vampire can’t beat Superman,” Sookie said. “I’m just saying heat vision’s a real bitch so…”

Godric chuckled. “But that would be all for earth’s defenders and he isn’t even human from what you told me; if anything he’d be on our side.”

Obviously I’d caught the tail end of the conversation and if not for comics in the 70’s and cable television I would have had no idea what they were talking about.

“For the record, Superman would get his ass kicked to Krypton and back if he ran into the wrong vampire,” I said entering the room.

Godric and I exchanged nods of greeting. “Hey, Eric” Sookie said.

“Hello lover,” The greeting was so natural and it didn’t occur to me to alter it. Any change would have been for her sake, not Godric’s. He wouldn’t read into it the way most humans would. She didn’t seem at all awkward and I wanted to keep it that way.

“We’re discussing what vampires would do if aliens invaded Earth,” she said, clearly not bothered by the moniker. “I said I would call Superman.” With an eye roll directed at Godric she continued, “He says vampires would defend their food source vehemently.”

“What do you say?” Godric asked. There was a smile playing at the corners of his lips that told me he already knew my reply.

“It depends I suppose,” I said with a grin.

Sookie, “On?”

“Are they more or less delicious than humans?”

Godric chuckled, “I told you,” he said to Sookie.

She shook her head and tried not to smile but lost the battle. Her smile was glowing and radiated more than amusement, it radiated happiness. Her eyes shone brighter, her fingers were absently running through Godric’s hair. I found that I was smiling for no other reason that I was the privy to it. She’d never been so at ease with me, not even when I’d been in her house. Surely this should make me feel out of sorts even the least bit. It didn’t. The strange wistfulness I sensed yesterday was gone completely just being here with them.

---

For the next two months I watched in bemused delight as Godric sparked back to life a little more every day. He spent his nights with Sookie and they went on dates. Going to movies and carnivals, dinners and shows was something most males, human and vampire alike, did to please their women. That wasn’t the case with him. I knew those were things that he either had never done or never wanted to do, but he enjoyed them just because of her. Nights when she had to work, he came to Fangtasia with me, and then he and Pam would make snide comments about how my bar was a bad movie waiting to happen.

During all this, it never occurred to me that my Queen might take issue with Godric residing in my area. It wasn’t like she’d ever cared who else I allowed to live here. My maker should be no different. There was really nowhere that I was that he couldn’t follow. I guess that was the problem. Having a vampire who was over a thousand years old in your area was one thing. I had sworn fealty and was loyal to her. Having a vampire that was twice my age taking residence in the same area was cause for concern, especially if it was the Visigoth. Worst of all, one of her sheriffs and strongest fighters belonged to him.

From an objective standpoint I knew where Sophie-Anne was coming from. Between Godric and me, we could raise hell and overthrow her with ease, especially given my rank in her regime. There were few who could match us in fighting skill and physical power. The thing was, I didn’t want to be king or anything close to it. I wouldn’t even take a position as lieutenant if it were offered on a fairy-blood filled platter.

As sheriff I had the perfect balance of power, responsibilities, and free time. The thought of donning a crown was enough to make me cringe. Seeing that was how I felt, I knew Godric probably wanted a throne as much as he wanted a silver crown. These days he was happier than I had ever seen him and I was willing to do anything to keep it that way. He had found love and I would allow nothing to take it away from him, and that included Sophie-Anne.

Tonight I woke to find Godric in my day chambers with me. He was seated with his legs under him and his hands folded across his chest. He was already dressed for the night and by the color of him he’d already had a blood. His dark hair and tribal tattoos stood out against his crisp white t-shirt. The identical cuff markings on his upper arms marked him as a slave during his time. The one that sat low around his neck marked him as a warrior.

“I talked with Sookie,” he began. His eyes were the lightest shade of blue with specks of amethyst dancing in their center. They were boring into mine intently. “I will take the position.”

“No!” I snapped.

“Beloved,” he sighed. His accent was heavier, making the word sound like, bee-lo-ved instead of bee-lov-ed. His voice was soft and while it did nothing for my dislike of this conversation, it did soften my frown. I’d always liked the way he called me that.

“No,” I repeated. “It’s not that bad yet.” The stages of negotiation with Sophie-Anne were still preliminary. “More time and she will see she has nothing to fear from you.” I leaned forward and cupped his face. “Don’t worry.”

Seeing that there was no way she could order me to ban Godric from my area, Sophie-Anne offered to let him lead the task force, the one that would trace victims of Newlin’s drug operation and reimburse their kin. We all knew it for what it was: Her Majesty wanted my maker where she could watch him closely.

I would have been alright with that because I knew he had nothing to hide. He had no schemes to usurp the crown or cause unrest. But the position would mean him having to spend more time away from Area Five and pretty much relocating to Area One, New Orleans. I wasn’t having that shit. He would be forced right back into a game he hated. It was that same aspect of the vampire world that wrought his misery of past. He didn’t want any position in the hierarchy and he shouldn’t have to take one in order to remain with me. All he wanted was to be left in peace and mainstream, and even if I had to kill someone, he was going to have that opportunity.

I’d proved my loyalty over and over again. I’d bled for her stupid ass throne. Sophie-Anne should not refuse me the one thing I’d ever asked of her in return. It wasn’t even like she was doing me a favor. I was in the right and I wanted her to back the fuck off. She wouldn’t, and for the past two weeks we were at an impasse. I had some leverage though. I was still the golden boy of the undead after Dallas. Sophie-Anne wouldn’t want to make me angry and risk losing me. So she was testing me, pushing me, and I was pushing back—hard. But if she tried to abuse her power over me, I would threaten to walk and it wouldn’t be a bluff.

“She is okay with it. I want you to okay with it also,” he continued. His eyes were beseeching. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. “Please Eric, it would make me hurt to see you suffer.” I couldn’t refuse no matter how badly I wanted to. I nodded my assent because I couldn’t verbally agree either. It was like swallowing silver.

He cupped my face and kissed my lips softly. Then bounded out of the room. I was shocked and it wasn’t just because I knew he was in a monogamous relationship. The instant our lips touched, that nagging, wistful yearning for something that I hadn’t been able to place dimmed as if a switch had been flipped. I ran my fingers over my lips and tried to make sense of it.

If it was his intimacy that I had been yearning for, why couldn’t I drum up even an ounce of jealousy because Sookie had him and I didn’t? The same was true with the roles reversed. If I wanted her all for my own, why didn’t I begrudge Godric having her? I’d witnessed their displays of affection and it pleased me. The only times of discomfort were the nights when Godric would come home with her scent all over him, mixed with his own and making me…

“Aw, shit,” I muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Godric asked from downstairs.

Everything. “Nothing,” I called, getting out of bed.

I didn’t want one or the other. I wanted both Godric and Sookie.

---

So sorry to be gone for so long but school is a real bitch. My daughter is a diva and her dad can never find the goddamn keys!

I am at the tail end of my college career and in the thick of it. I’m all out of easy electives…I have five classes of hell…I will be back just as soon as I can.

Pushing my crazy realizations to the side I made a call that was as necessary as it was unpleasant.

“This is Sheriff Northman” I barked at the Queens secretary. I wasn’t even going to pretend to be polite. She was used to it at this point anyway.

“Please hold Sheriff.”

“May I speak freely for a moment?” I asked, after the series of clicks stopped.

“Of course Eric,” Sophie-Anne said. “I hold you in the highest esteem I will hear you always.”

“This is bullshit” I growled “And you know it. He wants nothing but to remain with the people who love him. That is his purpose in my area.”

“Be that as it may, my position still remains the same.”

This too had been the norm and it was infuriating. All throughout negotiations she would listen to my reasoning and then at the end of it she would reinstate her position. It was like bashing my head against a brick wall, a falsely understanding one. Her voice was sweet and comforting too, as if she was my fucking therapist and not the object of my vast ire.

I bit back a growl. Giving her an ultimatum was on the tip of my tongue but I had already told Godric I would do it his way.

“Three days only,” I stated. “Her Majesty will provide cars, guards, a secure abode separate from the royal court that is fitting of him and a salary of thirty thousand dollars a month, minus expenses.”

The Queen hung up and I knew the matter had been resolved. She had agreed to my demands, no negotiations or bullshit. She might have known what would happen if she attempted to haggle. That solved that but it left me with nothing to focus on. The anger I had been harboring over that had kept me from processing my earlier revelations. I no longer had that luxury. It got worse as I heard Sookie’s car putter its way onto my driveway. Before she could knock I opened the door. Godric was trying to find his keys. Yes, even two thousand year old vampires lost their car keys.

“Hello…” I cut off the last part of my usual greeting.

It was funny how a single thought could change so much. Prior to my earlier self-reflection nothing had been awkward. Our dynamic hadn’t changed much. She and I were still able to talk and laugh when she came around. I hadn’t even stopped calling her lover, until this second and of course she noticed.

“Hey, Eric.” her greeting was tentative but she showed no other sign of having noticed my minute hesitation.

Sookie had her hair—and I had to admit I adored her locks—pulled into a neat chignon. Her legs were clad in opaque seamed stockings and she had on sliver colored heels. I stared at her and tried to find something I didn’t want. In the dress she had on it was pretty impossible. The sad part, I couldn’t even see all of it. Her knee length pea coat was simply left open and I got a glimpse of black lace underneath. It was more than her body I realized with awe. It wasn’t her scent. That wasn’t want I desired. It was her smile, the sparkle in her eyes, and the happiness that radiated from her. I wanted it her body was…second. I was in such deep shit.

“Can I come in?” she asked. “I’m getting cold.”

It was then that I realized I hadn’t moved out of her way. I had just parked my frame in the doorway staring at her. I moved with a nod of apology.

“My love,” Godric called from the study. He had raised his voice for her benefit.

“Hi baby” She replied. “Where are you? We’re gonna be late.”

“I’ll be just a few moments more, I promise.” Calm and even as his voice was I could hear him tearing through the other side of the house at full speeds.

“Can’t find your keys again? Huh” She asked with a smile. The expression on her face was one that was just for him. It was affectionate and adoring. It wasn’t even directed at me but it warmed as though it was. It further confused the hell out of me.

“It’s not that I can’t find them,” he replied. I could hear the smile in his voice. “They’re just never where I remember leaving them.”

Sookie chuckled under her breath and shrugged off her coat. “I’ll help you look.” She looked over her shoulder probably to tell me something but found me staring at her, again. I sighed internally. I hadn’t even left home yet and I already felt like I wanted to be dead for another day.

“You okay?” She asked facing me. Her hands were on her hips, her expression inquisitive. Her body was clad in black lace that depicted sin and it took all the centuries of experience I had to keep my eyes on her face. “You’re giving off all kinds of vampire weirdness.”

You don’t know the half, I added mentally. “I told him about taking the job,” Godric chimed with a chuckle. Judging by the echo I knew he was in the bathroom. Seriously, why was he in the bathroom in search of his keys? “He’s sulking.”

“Oh” Sookie said walking as if that explained it all. It didn’t, not even a little bit.

“I don’t sulk,” I snapped. “And how could you be okay with it?” I asked following Sookie into the living room. I found that I was angry. He would deny her nothing. If she had even put up an ounce of resistance he would have continued to let me fend off the Queen. “You realize that he would have to be gone for days at a time now,”

“Don’t take that tone with me, Eric,” Sookie said. “I don’t like it.”

It had been so long since we disagreed. I haven’t been on the receiving end of her anger in months and I barely recognized it. After I did I welcomed it. This was familiar, fighting with her was good. It was pointless to be picking this fight. I’d already agreed and the deed was done but…

“I don’t care what your fancy is. You should have asked him to stay,” I said flatly. “But you didn’t and now he has to spend three days a week in New Orleans dealing with bullshit.”

Godric appeared in the doorway. He closed off his emotions and watched as if we weren’t discussing him. He looked between us but said nothing even as the discussion began to deteriorate.

“Do you think that this is what I want?” she asked. She was facing me, hands braced on her hips; scowl in full effect. Under that I saw her pain. My anger instantly fell away and was replaced by guilt. “Do you think I don’t want him to stay right here?” She pulled in a deep breath and her anger dissipated. “I agreed for the same reason you did, because he needed me to, because we knew there was no other way.” She moved to the chaise lounge and dug her fingers into the cushions. I heard the jingle of car keys being disentangled long before she pulled them out.

“Found them” she called. I was already in my car with my foot pushing the pedal to the floor.

Later that night I walked into an empty house and the silence was deafening. I had no idea why I noticed it now. I never have before. I supposed it was worse with the way I had left things. I hated the quiet but since I wanted something—some ones—I shouldn’t the silence was the lesser of two evils. Why couldn’t I drum up any negative feelings outside of wistfulness and yearning? Some shame or guilt or jealousy would do me a world of good at the moment but I had none, not where those two were concerned.

At the bar this evening I tried to pick up a fang banger but I simply couldn’t touch her. I tried more than one. I tried male and female and the results were the same. I found them all unappealing from the inside out, they were disgusting. I didn’t have what I wanted but I didn’t want anything else. Fuck my life right now.

Coming home a little early had done nothing to clear my mind. I had a long bath. The tub in the master bath was custom built. I was able to submerge myself in it comfortably and that’s what I did. I needed to make sense of what I was feeling or even how I got myself into this. I had to admit I never saw it coming.

The more I thought about it the more obvious it all became. The feeling of wistfulness I had that very first night had been sporadic in the past two months. When either Sookie or Godric was around it faded completely. When one of them touched me even in passing it dimmed. I just never contemplated the thought that it would take both of them to ease me.

I couldn’t blame it on the ties I had to my maker. He could sense my emotion but never influence it, not even if he forced his will upon me. It didn’t affect emotion. Sookie and I had never shared blood, so that wasn’t it. It was a few hours until dawn and I was in my day chamber with the realization that there was no making sense of it. My situation got a lot worse when I heard Godric enter the house and he wasn’t alone.

From where I was I could hear the sounds of his trying to get under Sookie’s clothes. I heard the thud of shoes as they were discarded, the rustle of clothes, the zip of zippers and the delighted moans that went with being free of them all. That slight yearning was turning into a tidal wave. It was getting worse with every passing second they enjoyed each other’s bodies.

I had to wonder if I was just taking note of all these things now because I knew what I really wanted or if I was seeing what I wanted to see because I knew what I wanted. Neither was likely they hadn’t been intimate here. Old as Godric was, carnal desires lost their appeal. From what he’d said, I’d been his last sexual partner. It was kind of fitting because I was Sookie’s also.

‘They are the best you’ve ever had’ that was all this was. I kept telling myself that in the hopes that it would sink in and I would stop wanting but no matter how many times I said it nothing in my body changed.

It didn’t help that I couldn’t censor the images that danced across my mind. First it was the imagines of my most intimate moments with Sookie and Godric separately but they began to raid my mind in unison as their passion began to burn on the other side of the house. It only lit my desire. I craved it like a drug and the symptoms of my withdrawal were growing ever stronger.

I knew what Sookie sounded and looked like as she found her release. I knew the taste of her sweet wine. The same was true with Godric. I knew what he liked. I loved watching him fight the utter loss of control I caused in him. I knew how to push him over that precipice no matter how hard he tried to cling to the edge.

Thankfully Godric was still able to block his emotions from me despite the close proximity. It would have been negligible if I wasn’t interested but I was. Then the one thing I thought I couldn’t handle happened; Sookie begging for mercy of sorts.

“Baby, please…” she was breathless; her voice was throaty and desperate.

“Patience,” Godric purred. “I will ease us both” The tenor in his voice sent shivers up my spine. I recognized that tone and so did my body. My erection went from somewhat under control to rampant in that one instant. It pitched under my sheets and my body sang with all the need that I had been denying.

“Now,” she panted. “Need you now.”

“As my love wishes” Godric groaned. He never slowed as he continued to drive his body in and out of hers.

I low pained whine escaped through my clenched teeth. The wisest thing for me to get up and out. It was what I should do but I couldn’t move. I swallowed against the burn in my throat. My cock was hard and jerked to the beats of Godric’s groans. It pulsed and throbbed to Sookie’s mews. My eyes closed and grabbed fistfuls of my sheets to retain some control.

I had no idea how long I lay there trying to control it all but I was failing. My cock was weeping, my sac tighten with unspent lust. It was torture but I endured. It all went to shit when Sookie let out a sharp cry as she peaked. She continued to whimper and moan as the force of it pummeled her lithe body. By the way her cries were somewhat muffled I knew her face was in the pillow. I knew just what it was like to be in her as she came. Her body would seize, sucking my shaft deeper into her needy wet canal. Godric couldn’t resist following her into bliss. He cursed in Welch. It was the tongue he used when he was truly at his basest, rawest form. I have not heard it in so long.

“…love you,” he groaned. “With all that I am.”

He plunged into her depths with reckless abandon riding her deeper, harder and faster. With every stroke her mews began mounting into screams. With every stroke he was losing control over his bonds. He was no longer blocking me from the desire and love he felt.

I had no idea how it happened but I found myself outside his bedroom door. My hand was out stretched to grasp the doorknob before I got a grip. I had to get away. With all the determination I could muster I turned from the door and out the door. Pam didn’t live too far away. I could rest with her for the day. I hoped the distance would help but already I knew it would be useless.

---

At this point I was fairly sure Pam suspected I was on drugs. I was always twitchy and tense, short and edgy. I was sure she could have ignored it if I wasn’t taking bringing my crabby mood into her house for the past four days. She was getting pretty sick of it and I knew she would let me have it the minute we rose. I wasn’t wrong.

“You have to stop this,” My child began. I hadn’t moved from the position I rested in. Her day chamber was draped in frills and pink and white lace. I didn’t really know where to begin, there was just so many things wrong with subjecting myself to it, especially because it was perfectly safe to go home. It was safe but I was avoiding the inhabitant and his woman.

“You have to stop this,” she repeated firmly. “You will make us all miserable.”

I kept quiet and waited for her to say her peace and or kick me out. She turned over and as fast as lightening she struck me on both ears with the heels of her palms.

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I shouted. My ears were ringing. Her lips didn’t move and she watched me patiently for the shock to my senses to wear off.

“Cut the shit,” She hissed. “You want them and you’re denying it.”

“It’ll pass,” I said patiently. “I just need time.”

She gave me a look that was equal parts scorn and disbelief “You love Godric,” and it wasn’t a question “And you love her.”

“I don’t love her.” I snapped knowing exactly who she was referring to. “I just…” words failed me. It was mainly due to the fact that the yearning I felt for the pair had only grown with so little contact from them. Already knew I would be have to go back to see them, it was a matter of time.

“Love her, wait all you want. It isn’t going to pass.” Pam inserted. She looked ready to hit me again. While I would never really hit her back getting walloped wasn’t pleasant. I moved out of her reach instead “If you didn’t love her you wouldn’t be here hiding. You would be drowning your thoughts in the feel and warmth of nameless faceless woman.” Like in the beginning, she didn’t say it but it was so heavily implied that she really didn’t have to.

The thing about being around someone as perceptive as Pam was that when you lost your shit mentally they were the first ones to know. She didn’t even need the advantage of my emotions. The connection that I shared with every other creature through blood was cut off since the other night.

“The only way you’re getting back into my house is with an edict,” she continued “Face your shit or leave me out of it.” she said getting out of bed.

I remained where I was thinking I had done a really good job choosing Pam, too good in fact. There was no way I would give her an edict that would force her to allow me to rest with her. I mean, realistically I could but I wouldn’t. I only used edicts to keep her safe. So at the end of a busy Tuesday night I went home.

There I found Godric packing a small backpack. I wasn’t alarmed. He would be going to New Orleans. He would be gone from Wednesdays to Saturday, for as long as he wanted to remain in Area five or until Sophie-Anne was appeased. It was a tough call on which would happen first.

“Beloved,” His face broke into a smile that had become so familiar since his arrival. I found I had missed it. It made me wonder what all else I had missed. “I hoped you would come.” he walked over to me and kissed my cheek. There it was. That calm that I had been searching for but couldn’t quite achieve. It came from his touch alone. While most of it dimmed it didn’t fade entirely. It was just he and I, Sookie was gone.”I have missed you.” He murmured.

“And I, you” I told him sincerely.

“But you have been avoiding me,” and it wasn’t a question.

I averted my eyes but took his hand in mine. “I’ll walk with you.”

The fastest way for him to get to New Orleans would be to fly there himself. I walked with him at human speeds from the house, heading south. We’d been walking in silence for fifteen minutes before I spoke.

“Nothing would grieve me more than to make you unhappy or hurt.” I said because I wasn’t exactly sure what his reaction would be to what I had to say. I really couldn’t help mentally cursing Sophie-Anne once more. If he wasn’t going away I could have procrastinated a few more days.

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “I know this.”

“I love you…but I think I’m in love with her too”

“And that’s what this is about?” He snorted a chuckle.

I hadn’t really known how he would react hence my preamble. To have him laugh and shrug it off was the furthest from any guess I could have made. He all but worshiped the ground she walked on. I’d claimed to want nothing but her body. I at least thought he would be wary of my sudden declaration.

“The only person that thinks you love her is you, everyone else knows it.” He continued. By everyone I knew he was referring to himself and Pam but I didn’t know if Sookie knew. I honestly didn’t think so.

“Does she?”

“Moon lights burning,” he replied looking up into the sky.

“Wait” I called. There was no way he was not going to answer that question. “Does she?”

“She’s as stubborn as you are,” was all he said and then he was gone.

---

Ladies and gentlemen can you say, monster posting? Enjoy! A word of caution: PACE YOURSELF.

Another big thanks to my beta. Really couldn’t have done it without you, thanks for making the time and taking the ride with me!

Chapter Twenty-Six

The scene in Fangtasia was trying my patience. All evening I’d been trying to understand what Godric meant. He’d said Sookie was as stubborn as I was. I knew that but it didn’t answer my questions on-if she knew I loved her. It did lead me to believe that she might feel something for me that she was fighting, much like I’d been fighting. That wasn’t farfetched, in the beginning she saw herself caring deeply for me. Had that remained even after her relationship with my maker began? It was possible.

Even if Sookie felt the same, and that was a very big if, what was there to be done? I didn’t want to take her from Godric, and I didn’t want to take him from her. I wanted to be with them be a part of all that they shared and share all I was with them. It was not something I thought she would accept. I couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t something many vampires could do, being as inherently possessive as we were. It went without saying that it would be different for us.

Speaking with Sookie was a must but I didn’t know what to say. It was pointless going to see her because the lovely telepath came to me the next night. She was waiting for me at the bar when I arrived. I couldn’t help but smile. It never dawned on me how much of her I had been seeing lately. I’d missed her so much more than I had ever thought possible. It wasn’t just her body or the sweet scent of her. It was the woman, who was my friend, the one that smiled, the one that stuck her tongue out at me for being cheeky. I’d missed just seeing her face and hearing her laugh while I served my self-imposed solitude. Her presence alone was like endless starry nights. That sounded so incredibly…mushy…but it was what came to mind that even began to do her justice.

“Hey,” she greeted with a bright smile.

There was something in her smile that was forced. It was nothing like her. It didn’t radiant warmth or happiness. It was just her face mimicking movement that she deemed necessary. Something was wrong. Without hesitation I took hold of her elbow and guided her into my office at full vampire speeds.

To her credit she wasted no time commenting on my tactics. “So I was asleep when a vampire showed up at my door last night,” She said.

“Who?” I hissed.

My fangs were in full view. She didn’t look worried nor should she have. That show of aggression was for the vampire that had dared to encroach on a place that bared Godric’s scent. There was no doubt it wasn’t a vampire of my area. None of them would dare, especially after what I’d done to Long Shadow in the not too distant past.

“Thalia,” Sookie said rubbing the back of her neck.

I growled, low and dangerously. Thalia’s modus was defiance. That was how she haunted me. I had no idea she even knew who Sookie was or where she lived. She never cared about that kind of thing. This was never a route she had ever taken before but it was the point that had sealed her fate. Her reckoning was now. In going after Sookie, she had gone too far. I would personally usher her unto the true death.

“Eric,” Sookie called as I was heading out the door. “Wait, it was Thalia except it’s not her.” I paused with my hand on the door to stare at her in question. “She’s not herself, she doesn’t know where she is, who you are, she didn’t even know her name, nothing.”

I was aghast and it wasn’t for the reason she expected. “You let her into your house, didn’t you?” I barked. “What is wrong with you?” I was in front of her. I held her face in my hands “She could have killed you.”

My reaction had clearly taken her by surprise, she wasn’t the only one. Before her well being would have mattered to me because she was valuable asset to the crown but now it mattered on more than an intrinsic level. I was touching her because I needed to know she was well. All of that happened without my thinking to make it so.

“She was more afraid of me than I was of her,” Sookie replied, sounding genuinely distraught. “I couldn’t not let her in,” right, of course. Heaven forbid she not take in an amnesiac vampire.

It wasn’t that I was worried about Thalia per se. It was the situation that surrounded her. It reeked of all kinds of trouble. The trouble part wasn’t surprising it was the strangeness of the story so far. If Thalia had been wounded in some way that impaired memory which was really impossible, she should have come to me or Pam. Blood always recognized blood especially if nothing else was familiar. She hadn’t.

I looked down at Sookie, thinking of all the things that had been running through my mind. There were questions I wanted her to answer and truths that I wanted to tell. “Take me to her,” I said instead, now wasn’t the time.

We drove from the bar to the bed of a small lake that skirted a small home. The house was more of a cottage, quaint and so unremarkable it looked as though it sprang from the ground it was built on. The scent of the lake engulfed everything in the area but I could sense the vampire in the area. Thalia. I couldn’t sniff her out still I knew she was here, just lying incredible low, somewhere down wind would be my guess.

“It’s Sookie,” Sookie began. Her voice was so soft that not even a mouse would balk. “The vampire I said I had to find is here.” Her steps were slow and I didn’t have to be told to follow suit.

Slowly Thalia emerged from a thick stash of bushes. It was eerie. She looked like the vulnerable woman she hadn’t been in centuries. Our eyes locked but I knew she didn’t know me. Instead of glaring she looked up at me with big green eyes that were filled with uncertainty. She trusted Sookie but she was scared to the final death of me. I was used to Thalia destroying, maiming, killing and breaking. This, what I was looking at was all kinds of fucked. I couldn’t even begin to fathom what had happened to her. The perplexing and inexplicable aspects alone gave me the answer: witch. Perfect.

Vampires were rooted in magic and a great witch could wield it like it was nothing. The only good thing about that brand of supernatural was that they were mortal. They were just as breakable and fragile in the flesh like all the rest. It was just getting your hands on one that was tricky. By the number this one had done on Thalia they weren’t at all new to the arts. I sighed internally. Apparently no one cared that I had declarations of love to make tonight.

“Can you tell me the last thing you remember before going to her?” I asked the question in Greek hoping it would jog something in Thalia. It worked. She blinked as if surprised that she understood the language and she answered in kind.

“Water and darkness,” she replied pulling at the heavy orange sweater Sookie had loaned her. “Is it a common thing?”

I shook my head. Her face fell, and her shoulders slumped. “I’ll figure it out then you can get back to being the bane of my existence.”

“I am sorry if that was what I was, or am” Thalia murmured, looking away.

I shrugged “I’m quite used to it.” I replied.

I was a masochist I realized or maybe I was just processing a lot of emotions in too short a time span. The sane thing to do would be to find this witch and thank her. With a meek and obedient Thalia I wouldn’t have to deal with her shit. That was appealing but it would also mean I was letting someone get away with harming a vampire under my protection. That was unacceptable no matter the payoff.

I held my hand out for Sookie and she gave Thalia a reassuring smile before she came over to me. “Keep her hidden at your house for me, please.”

Without question or hesitation she nodded her agreement. I cupped her face and kissed her head softly. I expected her to still or tense but she didn’t. She wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned into me. I felt like she missed Godric. I didn’t know how I could read the emotion without her ever having my blood but I could read it, it was there if only vaguely. Maybe I was able to pick up on it because I missed him too.

“I was going to come to you tonight,” I murmured.

“Yeah,” she sighed resting her head in my chest.

My chin rested atop her head and the comfort of her touch was a relief I so needed and craved. “Yeah, I wanted to talk.” I replied. I wished we were alone somewhere and not being watched by my amnesic offspring. “I guess it’ll have to wait.”

I left Sookie and Thalia to begin searching for a way to make sense of all this. The first place I went to was Thalia’s house. By house I meant the tomb she kept at the cemetery in Monroe. It had been disturbed by some kind of two natured. Her other place, a studio apartment on the borders of my area hadn’t been left intact either. That made absolutely no sense. The locations were tens of miles apart. I was looking for a place that was close to water but I couldn’t think of anything that was along her route to either places.

Frustrated I returned to the bar to pick Pam’s brain. I told her of all that had had happened. I needed a different point of view and I could always trust hers. Like always she didn’t disappoint.

“She does her patrols,” Pam said. “The square is a place to look.”

The square was the place where Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana kind of kissed. It was also in the asshole of nowhere. There were no towns, just woodlands, bogs and…a small body of water, lake something or another. It never occurred to me because the thought of Thalia doing something I said was unheard of.

“That was where she was attacked most definitely but where are her attackers?” I mused out loud staring at the map on my desk. They had to be close.

I had half expected that whoever had attacked Thalia would be foolish enough to make their presence known. Most witches were too cocky to be careful. This one wasn’t. To openly pick a fight with a sheriff of a vampire regent would be equal to reopening the Salem witch trials. Yes, that was us, vampires glamouring humans into attacking them but they had started it.

“You’ve wanted her gone and gone she is.” Pam said. I looked at her wondering if she’d had a bad night and was now being snappish or if she was actually being serious.

“Since you are obviously done being helpful you may go.” I bit back.

She ignored me, “I wondered if your love is conditional upon obedience, a sense of humor and a charming smile,” she folded her hands across her chest and rested against the office door. Though I wasn’t looking up I felt the weight of her stare. I ground my teeth because I was in a less than patient mood and she was pushing me. Her words cut too deep. The misconceptions of them were too much, it stung. There was no one I had ever catered to the way I did her. Everything she had ever desired of me she had been given. The only limitations were those to her safety. I had treated her so well because I didn’t want another Thalia.

“Are you done,” I asked calmly. Pam was turning into my walking talking conscience and emotional translator. I had to admit I really hated it. I wasn’t through dealing with one thing and she was already piling on another.

“I am hypothesizing. Maybe there was no disagreement maybe you did something you regret and she reminds you of it always.” she replied with a shrug. “You refuse to tell me what happened,”

I growled low and dangerous. “All you need to know is that if anyone is to end Thalia it’s going to be me.” I’d fucking earned it. Pam eyed me for a moment but nothing and since she was done force feeding me my demons we returned to strategic planning.

The first thing that registered to my senses at first dark the next night was the ringing of my phone. It was Sookie, “Eric,” she sang once the line connected. “Hi,”

Her voice was sunny and chipper. That would have been great, if I didn’t detect the manic undercurrent to it. In fact the last time she sounded like this was at the church in Dallas. I really hoped that was where the similarities ended. While I wasn’t sure what I heard in the background I knew it was trouble. I listened harder and it sounded like the drumming of paws. That couldn’t be right. There were just entirely too many.

I was already up and dressed. “Are you alright?” I asked. That was what I cared about. She hummed her ascent, “Is Thalia?”

“Yeah, so hey, um…listen, I’m fairly confident I won’t get mauled by the pack of were witches…”

“What!” I gasped. I was horrified and angry. “Where are you?”

“The docks in Shreveport,” She replied. I was already out of the house and in the air. She said something else but it was drowned out by a piercing howl, one that was answered by snarls and barks of wolves.

“Listen to me,” I begged, idling in the air. “Do not hide, run or find higher ground.” My panic was full blown but I didn’t race off yet. This might save her. “They can’t swim. If all else fails jump in the water.” In the late November weather she might freeze but I wouldn’t let that happen.

I was moving as fast as my body would allow. There was only one thing on my mind, Sookie. Coming in at a close second was committing mass murder. I would bathe in the blood of the ones that threatened her. I landed at the docks in time. Pam touched down right at my back. I never called her but she knew me enough to know if I was letting her feel my emotions I needed her.

I had taken inventory of the scene from the air. Sookie was safe, as safe as she could be in this situation. There were two werewolves in front of her standing in her defense. She was in the middle of an all-out war that between two werewolf packs. I wanted to groan. How? How had she managed to be here of all the places in the world?

It was all out war. Everyone who had a wolf form was wearing it. It left me with a predicament. I didn’t know which ones to kill. It became very easy when some of them turned on Pam and I, the wolves in the area knew better. These ones were all but foaming at the mouth, snapping and salivating. They were circling us but we didn’t flinch.

“Well bitches,” Pam drawled, sounding bored. “Are we going to dance, or what? We don’t have all flipping night, you know.”

We grinned and slipped into identical attack positions then the blitz ensued. This fight should have been easier. These wolves were strong, unnaturally so. I didn’t realize why until one of them clawed at me and lost his ever loving mind at the scent of my blood. He stopped lunging for my throat and began trying to lap at the wound. Perfect just fucking perfect, we were dealing with werewolves that were addicted to V.

“Pam, get in the air.” I ordered.

She couldn’t. She was buried under her current opponent keeping his massive jaws from her neck. I snapped the neck of the wolf closest to me. I used his limp form as a cannonball to knock Pam’s opponent off her. The distraction didn’t last long but it was long enough.

Thalia landed in true Thalia form. Her presence was loud and impossible to ignore. She left a wide crater upon impact. She shot me a look that was familiar in its hostility but that was all. There was no recognition. She took inventory of the wolves trying to corral me shot then she shot off in the opposite direction. Normally I would be annoyed but she was beside Sookie acting in her defense so I pardoned her utter indifference to my well-being.

Pam and I changed fighting styles. I began launching the mutts into the air and she picked them off from there or they shattered on impact once gravity set in. The herd was thinning and I was pushing my way closer to Sookie one wolf at a time. I was completing the task with single minded ferocity but a part of my senses were on her. I didn’t so much as see it or even feel it within me. I sensed it. It was a tingle of something unpleasant washing over my skin. Then the scent of her blood permeated the air. It was followed by her sharp intake of breath that ended on a hiss of pain.

“Pam!” I called looking beside me.

“Go” she replied.

I was in the air and by Sookie’s side. There was a dagger buried in her left shoulder just above her heart. It wasn’t life threatening but it hurt, it pierced cartilage and cracked bone. I never thought it would be possible to feel such a tangled mixture of anger, terror and pain for an injury that I did not suffer. The sight of her blood staining her blouse, the image of her gritting her teeth in pain, and the tremor in her hands as she tried to wretch the dagger free, all added to that emotion. It was hell for me to watch.

My hand intercepted hers and I held it tight. “Look at me,” I said. I knew she wasn’t susceptible to glamour but I tried anyway. “It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt.” I kept her eyes in mine “It’s just a scratch.” She nodded and I pulled the knife out. She didn’t scream but she all but crushed my fingers. With my back against the wall I gathered her in my arms and bit into my wrist then I brought the wound to her lips.

“It’s not so bad,” she huffed. “You don’t have to.”

“Want to,” I insisted. “Drink.”

It was more than a want. It was a need. I needed to know how much pain she was in. I needed to shoulder all of it that I could and I needed to comfort her. She leaned in and latched on and instead of the flare of lust that accompanied blood exchanges, I felt utterly whole. It was completely bizarre considering the mayhem all around me but there was no denying that almost tangible glow I felt kick into existence as she drank from me. I held her tighter and her body relaxed further into my embrace.

Beside us I saw Thalia had a dark haired woman pinned down. She was a were by the smell of her but she also reeked of magic. I only had a second to see her face before Thalia twisted her head clean off her shoulders. That too, was typical Thalia behavior. The eyes of the newly deceased woman blinked several times. The ticks stopped and at the same time Thalia let out a piercing shriek. She fell to the ground and convulsed. Her hands were buried in her hair as if to keep it from exploding.

I was at her side but there were no signs of physical damage which meant nothing. I held her to me and tried to keep her from doing more harm to herself as her body contorted in pain. It lasted half a minute and then her body went slack in my arms. I knew she was herself again the moment our eyes locked. She looked horrified and pulled away instantly realizing who held her.

Thalia took one look the scene and said, “I didn’t do it.”

---

Review! It’s like tipping your waitress! :-]

I DON’T KNOW THE LAST TIME I GAVE MY BETA A SHOUT OUT BUT THANKS A MILLION. REBECCA! BTW THE LONG AWAITED LEMON IS BELOW. I HAD FUN WITH IT AND I HOPE YOU DO TOO.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven

I flew Sookie back to my house. I hadn’t even taken the time to get a proper debriefing. Once Thalia left Pam, Sookie and I had been right behind her. The damn werewolves could clean up after themselves. We had barely gotten into the door when I felt him. Godric was close. I couldn’t say where, he was he was moving too fast. It was Saturday and while I hadn’t forgotten he was coming home, I’d been up to my eyebrows in werewitch bullshit.

“Shit,” Sookie said. We were thinking along the same lines. “Get changed, hurry.” She was tugging her blood soaked shirt over her head. I ferried her upstairs and deposited her in the shower with her jeans half off. Then I gathered the clothes, both hers and mine and tossed him in the back of the closet. I washed my hands and face so I was free of blood. That was as far as the cleanup got.

I heard Godric land on the front steps. By the time the knob was turning I was seated in the living room with a towel wrapped around my waist looking cool as you please. I’d turned the television on pretending to be interested in Jeopardy.

With his senses, the minute Godric entered the house he could detect it all. He stood in front of the door, his hair windblown, his eyes narrowed, and his body coiled to spring. I understood the feeling. He probably had been miles away when he felt Sookie’s panic and pain; coupled with mine it must have left him imagining the worst. Idly, I wondered if giving her my blood had dimmed his access to her emotions and if that added to his worry. I hoped not.

“What. Happened.” he demanded.

Several replies ran through my mind. “Nothing we couldn’t handle,” I settled on saying. “We are fine.”

He tilted his head to side and I practically saw his senses move into hyper drive. I never really thought about how super senses annoyed me until it wasn’t in my favor, like right now. “So, you gave her your blood because nothing happened.” I shrugged. “And you are dry and wearing a towel, why?”

Okay, I truly hadn’t expected him to buy it. I was hoping I could maybe get him in a less anxious frame of mind before I was forced to come clean. He had been so happy lately that that was all I wanted for him. I didn’t want to upset him more and the truth was upsetting but I refused to lie to him either. It wasn’t because he would feel the deception, it was just because I never lied to him. “All is well, truly,” I replied.

“Eric,” he said setting down his bag and coming over to me “I know what you feel, both of you, but not knowing what befell the people I love is worse, so much worse. Just tell me, please.”

The thing he and Sookie had in common was that I could refuse them nothing when they begged but I also knew if it were me, I would want to know. So I told him about Sookie’s injury, about Thalia being cursed and about the werewolves.

“For right now,” I concluded, “That is all I know.”

Getting Sookie away from the disaster area had been a higher priority. I didn’t know how that mutt, Alcide, dragged her into something like this. For that matter I didn’t know how Thalia had done the same. I didn’t see nearly as much violence as she seemed to find just getting out of bed in the morning and I was a freaking vampire sheriff. I had to laugh in frustration. It would be my luck that the first human I fell in love with would be a magnet for all kinds of trouble.

“What’s funny?” Godric asked. He was calmer now. The worry that had him wound so tightly seemed to have fallen away almost entirely.

“Sookie,” I replied running my fingers through my hair. “You realize the woman we love is an absolute disaster.”

It was the sharp intake of breath that alerted me to her presence. I hadn’t forgotten she was here. I’d just been wrapped in my thoughts and her steady heartbeat had been thrumming through my mind. But I never heard the shower turn off or her getting dressed and moving downstairs. And to think, I’d been visualizing a proper way to make my feelings known. Inadvertent exposure didn’t make the cut.

There was silence as she gaped at me and then at Godric and back again. She seemed to be caught between wanting to run and needing to hyperventilate. I could only imagine what she was feeling. Then I realized she had my blood. I didn’t have to wonder. I tuned into the part of me that was in her. There was a profound sense of joy, a bone deep sense of love and belonging, but also fear and uncertainty. It certainly took me long enough but I knew what I felt and where I wanted to be. I didn’t want her to ever be unsure of me again.

“I don’t expect anything,” I said, and it was the truth. Considering how hard she fought, and all the good reasons I’d given her to resist me, I had no expectations. I was willing to earn her trust and love no matter what it took. “Nothing has to change, if that is not what you want, truly.”

She looked down at her hands for a full minute and then she risked a glance at me from under her lashes, “What if I want it to?” she murmured. “What if I love you too?” She looked at me full on then and I couldn’t say what expression I was wearing. This was the one thing I wanted most. She walked towards me and I fought the urge to run to her. “I mean…what if I want things to change?”

She was in front of me and I was barely able to form my reply. “I would welcome it. I would hold onto you and I would never let you go.”

It wasn’t until that point that Godric let the hold on his bonds go. I felt his relief and the utter sense of completion. This was what he wanted. Reading in further, I realized that this was what we all wanted. Sookie stood and it felt like she was leaving herself totally exposed for me. I somehow knew to make a move. In closing the inch gap between us I would be taking a greater leap. I took it.

I have shared lovers with Godric but that been nothing but a prelude to a feast. We partook in it after hard fought battles or before a long journey. The carnal pleasure was nothing but a side effect of having that much blood available all at once. This, what I was experiencing now, was in a league all its own. I was laid on the bed and had both he and Sookie touching, kissing and tasting me.

They were kissing their way up my body, side by side, inch by excruciating inch. Every caress from the hands of my lovers left me feeling rawer and so emotionally bare. It loosened the tether on my control. This was more than physical. I felt so whole with them that I wondered how I ever managed to go without.

Godric rose. He kissed his way up my chest. The look of pure want and adoration he wore only made me want him more. I reached out and pulled him closer and he kissed me. It wasn’t the light pecks I’d been receiving. This was so wrought with lust and love that I was stunned. Truly it was impossible to love one person do much. He kissed me as I felt Sookie dragging her nails up my thighs. Her breath was falling on my weeping erection making me ache. The torment lasted only a second then she took me into her mouth.

“More,” I moaned. Godric’s lips left mine. He moved to my neck and kissed and marked me. I threw my head back to allow him better access. He teased the hollow beneath my ear, the hollow of my throat. That was normally enough to make me want but combined with how Sookie laved and suckled me it was too much. This was heaven and I was lost. They had reduced me to this, the both of them.

I shuddered and moaned and cried out helplessly with all they did to me. I was falling much too hard, much too fast but I didn’t want it to stop. I never wanted this to stop. My back arched off the bed; my eyes closed; my fingers were clutching at the sheets as I fought for control. Godric allowed his fang to scrape over a nipple, at the same time Sookie cupped my tightened sack.

“Can’t…” I groaned. That was all I managed to get out, then this world crumbled and gave way to another. I was in a place where nothing else mattered. I was a baser creature and all I wanted, all I needed was the people in the bed with me. I had to have them.

It was a mercy that they sensed that maddening desire. I didn’t have long to wait before Sookie mounted me. I wanted to think that the choked moan that resounded through the room didn’t belong to me, but it did. I’d wanted to be inside her since the moment I left her. Godric and I hadn’t been intimate in so long. His touch was not one I had ever forgotten. The dripping wetness of her tight hot glove, encasing me, the feel of his hands in my hair, I was relishing the feel of having both come together.

“I’ve missed you,” Sookie moaned. Her back was to me and my arms were around her waist, cupping her breasts and holding her close as she continued to ride me. We were on the very edge of the bed and Godric was below heightening the pleasure for all of us. They owned me and I savored it. I wanted to be owned. It also meant that I wouldn’t last, not at all. No one ever felt the way either of them did, individually. To have both at the same time, to love them the way I did, to want and crave like I did, and to have that need fulfilled was more than I could handle. I couldn’t last.

“Bite,” I growled. Already I could feel my climax; the force of it was making me quiver. “Both of you bite me.” I felt half out of my mind but I wanted them drinking from me as I experienced this blinding moment of completion. “Now!” and they did.

I heard the different crescendos as we all found release, and I felt it all. The last thing I was able to consciously identify was the difference between Godric’s fangs and the bluntness of Sookie’s teeth. Then I was transported into a plane of the most hedonistic passions. It was like having my body be emptied and transformed into nothing but a raw nerve. I was in a place where all my sensory organs were attuned to pleasure only. It was too much, much too much.

This was he strongest orgasm of my life and it was also the longest. This felt so good it hurt. It hurt even more because I had absolutely no control. I couldn’t channel it or slow it down. I never ever knew anything could feel like this. This was not a high I had ever reached with Godric in my early days or that time with Sookie alone.

Everything added to that pinnacle and seemed to drag it out; the sheets on the bed, the drying fluids on my body, the feel of the pillow under my head. In another part of my mind I was vaguely aware of writhing as if I was in pain. Yet, it was the polar opposite.

“Is he okay?” an angelic voice asked, and even the sound of that made me want. My body trembled as if it knew what and who that was and all the joys it could bring.

“Don’t touch him my love,” someone else called. “He couldn’t handle it at the moment.” That voice was deeper but the effects were the same. I had no idea how much of this I could take. I heard myself moaning and groaning as this frenzied orgasmic storm continued soaring through me.

Angel voice, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Remember the first time we exchanged blood? How insatiable I was? ” The deeper voice asked. “It is like that for him, multiplied by ten, I couldn’t control myself and neither could you so he fed off our pleasure as we drank from him. The flood gates crashed so to speak.”

There was a gasp, “He’ll be okay?”

There was husky chuckle. The tremor of it, faint as it was in the air, sent ripples over my flesh that made me hurt, hurt so good. “He’s having the longest and most explosive orgasm of his life. It’s not him you should worry about. It’s us.”

I was gaining more ground mentally. I knew the state my body was in and how it got there. I just had to get past the worst of it. The air in the room stopped being so lascivious. The all-consuming blind lust receded. The sheets didn’t feel like a lover’s most intimate caress. I was getting a hold of myself, enough to recognize voices.

“Once the worst of the high wears off,” Godric started. I felt him and Sookie so close to me. I felt the heat of her body and the lust of his scent. “He’ll want…”

“Again,” I supplied looking at them both. “I want you both, again.”

I was indulged in all the wickedness of the flesh that I could handle. No matter how many times I rose my lovers sated my need. I took all that they could give and they inducted me into something new. Godric and I initiated our lover, our mate, into all the ways we could please her. All I could remember was her cries, our groans of delight. It was nothing but a blur of passion, pleasure and the barest bit of pain. I never wanted it to end but it had to. The sun rose and I was dead for the day. If it hadn’t I would have glutted myself to the point of insanity.

I rose at first dark the next night in a cluster of limbs and warmth. Sookie was still asleep. I could tell she had left the bed at some point. She had on a t-shirt that belonged to me and was tucked under Godric’s arm. My arm was draped over them both from my place behind her. This was the most peace and solace I’d found in centuries. It was almost comical how I didn’t know I was missing something or someone’s until I had them right here in my arms. I never wanted to move.

“I know the feeling.” Godric whispered. I shot him a questioning look. That hadn’t been a coincidence. He knew what I was thinking at least to some extent. “Her blood doesn’t make us telepathic, just more intuitive with one another,” he smiled and traced my bottom lip with his free hand. “I know you don’t want to leave the bed, because I don’t want to either. I have never seen her sleep so soundly,” he concluded looking down. I kissed his fingers but remained still.

I had to admit that I enjoyed watching Sookie sleep. I think both Godric and I did. There was nothing confrontational or combative about her. Her beauty took on a different light. She was serene and peaceful. It was nothing like when she was awake. She was just a fair-haired beauty with a button nose and kissable lips dreaming of pretty things.

From somewhere in the house I heard my phone. Pam was probably looking to end me. She had overseen the cleanup of the battle. She had also debriefed Thalia and the Shreveport Weres to get details of what happened. Just thinking of what I had to deal with had me wanting to crawl back into bed. It couldn’t be helped.

“I need to go,” I said to Godric. He was home for three more days. I wasn’t sure what Sookie’s work schedule was but I would make time to be with them. “I’ll see you both tonight.”

He nodded and held Sookie tighter the instant I let her go. “We will wait for you.” I kissed them both lightly on the lips, and I left.

The first person I had to see was Pam. She looked annoyed but had more or less contained the situation and she had some facts. “Basically,” she began, “Hallow and her pack thought they could out power the local pack if they had the extra boost of vampire blood. The one we kept said they were supposed to find a vampire source to keep on tap.” She rolled her eyes. “They obviously chose the wrong vampire,” she mused.

“You spoke to Thalia?” I asked.

She grimaced, “Her natural temperament wasn’t improved by the fact that she can’t remember anything, as she can recall one minute she was in the square the next she was at the docks.” A smirk fell over Pam’s face, “So where did you get off to last night?”

I smiled and said nothing as I headed for the bar. She chuckled and came along side me. “You’ll need my help with relationship rituals. I read about them a lot.” I had to laugh. Only someone who had no hands-on experience would refer to the events of a relationship as ‘rituals’. I was out of touch but I could just go off what I felt for Sookie and Godric and what I knew they felt for me. It would work. It did for the most part because knowing emotion did nothing to understand the cause of it.

---

“Lover, explain to me again why you insist on working.”

Two weeks later I was in Sookie’s home trying to get her to move in with Godric and me. I had also been trying to get her to quit her job. I had also been trying to buy her a new car. I was having no success with all of it. Godric too had apparently failed in the endeavor. These were all things that were important to her I knew, living alone, making her own money and keeping her outdated car. I knew I just didn’t understand.

She sighed, “Eric, sweetheart how long you gonna beat this dead horse, huh?” There was a smirk on her face.

“Till it comes back to life,” I answered. It wasn’t that unbelievable an answer coming from me. I have, after all died before.

I moved to her and helped her tie her shoes. She smiled and cupped my face. There was no way to explain the hold she had on me. When she touched me I felt so many things all at once. My body stilled to wait what she or her body would ask of me. It was the same for Godric. She had our blood in her but it was as if our bond had centered on her.

“I love it when you pout,” she kissed the corner of my lips. “It’s sweet and sexy.”

I tried not to smile but lost. I leaned into the touch like I wanted to. “That explains why you never give me my way.” I grumbled.

“Christmas is in less than three weeks you can get me something,” she allotted.

“A car?”

She leaned forward and kissed my lips, drawing a sigh from me. “Think smaller, much smaller.”

I had never paid attention to holidays Christmas was no exception. When it came into existence I had already been a vampire for fifty years. This year was different because Sookie loved it. She never had to say it for me to know that she had spent this and every other holiday alone. This year had Godric and me to spend it with. We took it as a license to splurge. That and only that was the only reason why I was in a red t-shirt instead of my usual all black ensemble.

Tonight was Christmas Eve and I in Sookie’s little home. The tree had been decorated weeks ago and presents had been piling underneath. I still had one more that couldn’t be boxed. Just thinking of her reaction was enough to make me smile at her as she whizzed passed me. Her eyes were bright and she was brimming with too much happiness for me to pay heed to the fact that I was in the same room as Alcide and the visit was social. No, I wasn’t hallucinating.

Somehow the little ‘get together’ my lover had planned on Christmas Eve had turned into a party. I had no idea how. That wasn’t entirely true, I knew exactly how. She had said please and I had caved knowing the guest list. Once Pam got involved as executive party planner, there was nothing I could do even if I wanted to.

The atmosphere wasn’t as tense as I would expect considering there were three different species in the small farm house. Most of my vampires were present. In addition to Alcide I also had to endure Steve or was it Silas the shifter, the were panther Calvin Norris, Terry her former human roommate, along with his wife and there were a hand full of other humans whose names I couldn’t remember. That wasn’t the worst of it Bill had been invited no matter how many eye rolls I inserted, Compton was present. I really couldn’t believe I let him feed her his blood and let him live after seeing her naked.

“I guess she’s not coming.” Sookie said to Pam. They were in the kitchen warming more bloods.

“Who?” I entered the kitchen and wrapped my arm around her waist. She’d sounded disappointed.

“Thalia,” she replied leaning into me. “I invited her.”

Okay. There were a couple things wrong with that. The main one being that Thalia still didn’t remember anything from the time she spent here. She was back to her old self, scowls, defiance and all. While Sookie might have a soft spot for the tiny ancient vampire the feeling wasn’t at all mutual. I didn’t touch any of them. “It was nice of you to invite her but she prefers to be alone.”

She sighed and I knew the no show really bothered her. “Even the devil may cry when he looks around hell and finds he’s alone.”

I kissed her head but said nothing. Many nights before she drifted off to sleep she would ask Godric and I to tell her stories of our past and she often did the same. There was something in her that wanted to reach out to all broken and lonely creatures she came across. It was because she’d spent most of her life being one of them.

Luckily I got the perfect distraction. “You get an early present,” I said kissing her head.

She gave me an inquisitive look as I pulled her to the back door. “Oh, Eric” Her breath caught and she gasped audibly. Her hand flew over her mouth and everything. I had done exceptionally well. It took really extreme things to make my woman speechless.

“Merry Christmas, lover”

Elvis Presley or Bubba as he was now known smiled at me. That night he gave Sookie his best rendition of “Have yourself a merry little Christmas” It lasted from two minutes of the eve and a minute into Christmas day. He sang several other songs and it was pleasing to all. Sookie looked happier than I had ever seen her. Seeing her like this made me want to keep that happy always.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“I can’t even sneeze without knocking one of these damn boxes over,” Sookie grumbled. She looked around her crowded home for the easiest route into her bedroom. There wasn’t one.

I smiled. The end of January meant a home invasion for Sookie. She had been on her way to work this afternoon only to have three UPS vans show up and turn her quaint little home into a warehouse, the very day after she took down her Christmas tree. Like I had predicted many regents had taken it upon themselves to attempt to entice her with presents and trinkets.

Unfortunately for her they had been delivered through Sophie-Anne, who had been waiting for the pile to grow and then she had them all delivered to Sookie. It had been a way for her Majesty to save on shipping but it annoyed the hell out of my lover.

There came a sad little meow from somewhere in the living room. “Casey,” Sookie called, changing direction. “Aw, poor thing. I’m coming.”

Casey was a kitten. She had been Godric’s Christmas gift to Sookie. Her coat was a deep even shade of grey that looked blue in some lighting. Sookie adored her. I had no idea why. That little flea bag was the devil wearing a fur ball. The first chance she got, she’d carved and clawed my leather jacket and it has been downhill from there. When Sookie was around she acted all angelic but when her back was turned, Casey hissed and clawed at me. It had nothing to do with me being a vampire. She liked Godric just fine, Pam too.

In her haste to reach her pet Sookie bumped a precarious stack of boxes and narrowly managed to prevent it from toppling.

“I’ll get her,” Godric offered.

“Thank you,” she huffed. She looked around at the mountains of boxes and garment bags. “I don’t even know where to start.”

I went over and took her hand. She looked and felt overwhelmed. “You’ll have to stay with us until you can in fact sneeze without knocking something over.”

She snorted, “You just don’t quit, huh?”

I shook my head unrepentant which made her chuckle. We worked through the piles attacking boxes that were making navigating dangerous. The process took longer because Sookie insisted on keeping a log of who sent what. No matter how annoyed she was I knew her manners would never allow her to not send thank you cards to each and every person who had sent her something.

The box I just opened held an oval Victorian hand mirror. It was one of those things that a vampire my age saw, and it took us back to that time. The design was intricate, it showed a winged cupid with a bow and arrow pointed at a long haired woman whose body formed the handle. The two are surrounded by roses. This was early eighteenth century. It was in the handmade craftsmanship and the detail. It was also made of silver which was very popular then. The mirror came with a pair of ivory hair combs and a hair brush both were adorned with diamonds and sapphires. What I found odd was that the set wasn’t new. It was in no way worn but it carried the scent of polish. The card attached was from someone named Christoff.

“Not all are from Regents,” I noticed.

“No,” Godric said. He had unwrapped yet another box that held a gown. “Some are from individuals that had claims approved.”

I held the box out to Sookie because I couldn’t touch it. She gasped in awe. It was the first time all evening that anything had remotely impressed her. “This is beautiful,” she said. “Who’s it from.”

“Someone named Cristoff,”

“I remember him,” Godric said.

“He’s the one you told me about?” Sookie asked “With the wife?”

Knowing I had no idea what they were talking about but was interested Godric filled me in. “A decade after his turning he returned and found the wife he had left behind dying. He turned her but she refused to leave their children. Together they have watched over their decedents from the shadows. Now she is gone because of one man’s hate and greed. He wants to end existence but…”

“It’s not what she would have wanted.” I said softly. That sat heavily with us all for a few moments. The moment Steve Newlin ever showed his face in the night, he was dead. All vampires now knew what he had done. Human police had uncovered evidence of him dealing weapons from his church. He was a man that would die in a hole because he wasn’t safe under the moon or the sun.

Sookie stroked the back of the mirror gently then she covered it and gently set it down. “Come on, that’s enough for one day.” She packed and together we headed back to Shreveport. They dropped me off at Fangtasia before heading home.

I was barely through the doors when Pam began her nightly briefing. “Stan wants Sookie to train his telepath.” She gave me a folder that held his restrictions.

Sookie no longer worked for me. She was also my mate. I was now well versed in the dynamics of a relationship to know that making a call on this was a guaranteed fight between Sookie and I. I knew that while she had been the one that offered it to Barry in the first place, I still couldn’t agree or disagree without her consent. There was nothing she hated more than feeling like she had no say in her life.

“Someone killed the local drainers,”The Rattrays had been under surveillance. I wasn’t going to have them executed over something Sookie had found, which was true. I had just been waiting for them to do something new. They hadn’t.

“Who?” I asked.

“Don’t know, officially it’s being ruled an accident; trailer caught fire,” she shrugged unconcerned. If you asked me they deserved worse. “Thalia is acting strange,”

“Strange, how?”

She shrugged. “For more good news,” she gestured over to a thick manila envelope on my desk. “We were billed our tariffs for this year at last year’s rate. We need to audit in order to be paid the difference returned from her Majesty, and note that when I say we, I mean you.”

I gave her a baleful expression, “That’s your job.”

“I’ve already done it,” she said turning for the door. “You can send it as it is and forfeit the two hundred thousand, or you can do it. I can’t stand doing the same thing twice.”

Later that night, after enthralling the vermin, reading over Stan’s ridiculous terms and keeping an eye on Thalia (who was acting weird, though I couldn’t say exactly how) I had to go home to pour over my taxes. There, my lovers waited with smiles and kisses of welcome. It wasn’t about sex. It was about being with them seeing their smiles, listening to their voices and simply soaking in their presence. I was missing all that, for math.

“I’m not in the mood, you little demon,” I said to Casey, the kitten from hell. I don’t even know how she got in. I had been in my study trying to get through my paper work. “Don’t test me.” In response to my threat she hissed and her hackles rose. “I warned you.” I flashed out of my seat and had her by the scruff of her neck before she could blink. Of course that was when Sookie walks in.

Seeing her protector, Casey immediately turned her aggressive hissing into pathetic mews. You would think I was hurting her, which I wasn’t. I was just trying to get her out of my study before she peed on something.

“Eric,” she barked. “Why are you always picking on her?” Behind her back Godric was shaking with silent amusement, he knew I was getting a bad rep. If it didn’t amuse him so much he might attest to my suffering. “Did the mean old Viking scare you?” Sookie said taking the cat from me.

I scoffed “She’s just lucky she’s not big enough to make a fur hat out of yet.”

Sookie swatted at me then set the cat down and gently shooed her out of the room. “You’re just cranky because you hate paper work.”

“We have come to help,” Godric said.

“Yeah,” Sookie said kissing my cheek. “so stop pouting,”

I didn’t bother arguing that I wasn’t pouting. I would take their presence even if it didn’t come with much help. While we worked, I told Sookie about Stan wanting her to train Barry. Of course she agreed. She didn’t mind his terms even though it meant she would have to fly to Texas. Neither Godric nor I liked the idea but she would be there during the day and wouldn’t venture from the airport for any reason.

Dawn was close by the time I was finished. I had long abandoned my leather chair. Sookie and I sat on the floor with our backs to the couch on either side of Godric’s feet. He ran his fingers through my hair and I relaxed. My head fell back and I let the feel of his fingers in my scalp melt my tension away. There was no physical kinks in me, what he rubbed away was mental. He combed his fingers through my hair and drifted down, to the nape of my neck and then my shoulders. With every touch I received I wanted more. I was rubbing my face against his thigh and leaning into every caress. No longer was a deriving comfort from him my body was teeming with the need to make love and be loved. I wanted him.

The physical expression of love I shared with my lovers couldn’t be classified as sex. It was in a level all it’s on and I still couldn’t bring myself to reacting any differently when the three of us made love. It was a blinding and powerful thing each and every time. Nights like this one, nights before he left there was an edge of hunger that made us all insatiable. Truly I never knew sex could be like this.

“Take all that you need,” Godric said. He had left the couch. His face was inches from mine and his eyes burned a bright captivating shade of amethyst. “I will give you all that you desire.” I cupped him by the back of the neck and drew him to me. Our kiss was slow but all the while our hunger grew.

I was sharing my body with the two people that knew it best. There were no needs for words. The bonds that held us always guided us in how to please one another. It was always explosive. It always felt right. I couldn’t really describe the bond I now shared with my lovers. It wasn’t a typical blood bond, where a vampire shared blood three or more times with a human.

This was something between a maker and child and we were binding ourselves to a human but it in turn heightened what we shared. It was separated from the ties that bound me already; this was new and entirely autonomous of that which he used to give me new life. I could sense both their emotions but could exert no control over Sookie’s will because she had Godric’s blood and the same was true for him. No matter how many times we shared our blood with her that didn’t change and it was the way we wanted it.

Sookie was content to watch and so she did. All that we felt in lavishing each other’s bodies, she knew. It wasn’t long before she couldn’t remain idle. There was something in feeling both of them at the same time. With her between us I felt Godric and he felt me. With every thrust into her depths I felt them both. I felt every nuance of pleasure. It was like giving pleasure and then receiving it tenfold. One round of love making couldn’t last long with the three of us together because it was so intense.

By mid-February, despite my sabotaging the process we had been able to get Sookie’s home in order and she was going back.

“Stay,” I said.

“You threaten to strangle Casey every other day,” she joked.

“I’ll tolerate the little monster,” I said. I just wanted her here with us. I liked the fact that her scent was saturating into every room of the house. I liked that I saw her every day, even though it was just to slide in beside her and watched as she slept. I wanted her with me always. Sensing it she wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest.

“Eric…” she didn’t seem to know how to continue. Her emotions clouded. She felt torn, guilty and ashamed.

“No.” I said pulling her away and forcing her to look at me. “Please, don’t do that to yourself,” I brushed my knuckles across her cheek. She smiled though it was brittle and she leaned into my touch. “I understand we can’t lock you here away from the world. It would make the minds of others louder if you’re gone too long. I understand that I just want…”

She rose on the tips of her toes and kissed me. In that kiss her emotions shifted from negative to positive. I felt all her adoration and devotion. I felt how much she wanted me. I felt how much loved me. Never, would I want her to feel like she was shortchanging me as a mate just because she didn’t want to abandon her whole life for me. I kissed her goodbye and promised myself I wouldn’t broach the issue again.

---

It was Saturday and Godric was set to return but what I got was much worse instead. I had just risen for the night and the first thing I felt his alarm it was quickly followed by piercing pain. Sookie and I both felt the shrill and unfamiliar emotion and that only made it worse for us. Like the feelings of elation we had grown so used to, this one echoed and ricocheted off him to Sookie and then to me and back again.

I got the call from Sophie-Anne herself and that made me more afraid. “He lives,” My Queen said. “He was attacked just outside my boundaries.”

“How?” I asked.

“I know not,” she replied “I will keep him until he is well and then you must come to claim him, for I desire no blame in this matter.” then she hung up. It went unsaid but she thought I blamed her and having no other suspects I did.

Through that twenty five second phone call I had received about three missed calls from Sookie. I’d tried to calm her through the bond but she wasn’t having any of it. “He’s okay,” I said the minute the lines connected. Even as we continued to speak I felt his pain retreating. It wasn’t that the damage had been undone. He was simply sound enough in mind to block us because he knew it was what we needed. “I don’t know what happened.”

“Sophie-Anne was supposed to protect him,” she growled. She didn’t sound worried she sounded beyond furious and somewhat homicidal. She was feeding off my anger, obviously. “He can’t go back if she can’t keep him safe in her area.”

“I agree,” I said gathering everything I needed to leave. It was mostly weapons and a jacket to cover said weapons.

She made a noise that was somewhere between a hiss of aggression and a moan of pain. Her worry, that had been buried under her ire was rising quickly. “Calm down, lover please.” It would feel like I was being pulled apart if her distress continued. Knowingly, she pulled in a deep breath and I knew she was holding it in. “I’m going to bring him home, okay. Don’t worry we’ll both be back before first dark tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she huffed. “I’ll wait at your place. Be careful.”

“Always am,” I replied.

“Love you,” she said.

“Love you more,” my retort had the desired effect. I swear I could almost see the smile on her face as we said good bye.

It took me less than an hour to arrive in New Orleans. I was marching into the Queens estate and I was in no mood for bullshit. Thankfully I was speared the usual procedure. André was waiting to receive me. Wordlessly I followed him past the usual receiving area and into the private living quarters. We stopped at a door that was password protected and most likely alarmed. I was sure it was supposed to make me feel good, like they were taking great care of my maker. What I wanted to know was what the fuck happened in the first place to require such provisions.

Inside Godric sat prone on an overstuffed chaise lounge. He reeked of some chemical I couldn’t identify. His shirt was destroyed and was strewn nearby. His slacks were tattered, singed in some places, blood and ash stained them also. His eyed moved to the side to register my presence but his fangs were buried in the neck of a human male. There were several other humans lined up for him.

I was immediately at his side, “Hello, my love”

His eyes followed me but I could see the strain on his brow as he fed. His body’s demand for blood was too great. He was trying really hard not to drain his donors. I kneeled at his side and ran my fingers through his hair to calm the worst of his blood lust.

While my maker fed I took inventory of his injuries. It began at his side and I saw a pattern. The upper portion of his body had been burned, extensively. The worse of it had been healed but I could see the unnatural raw pinkish hue to his skin. It continued up both arms, up and around his neck and down his back and across his chest. His hair was cropped shorter now and that was probably what kept the fire from his face.

I pulled in breath I didn’t need and held it for the count of ten. It was something Sookie did and apparently a habit I had picked up. The thought of my maker and lover burning made me angry in a way that wasn’t safe for any one. I was willing to bet he had been burned to nothing but bone in some parts of his body. Now that I knew how badly he was wounded, I didn’t think he would be able to fly tonight even if we chose to. No matter how much blood he ingested he needed a full days rest.

“I’ll be right back,” I murmured as Godric swapped one donor for another. He held my hand. He was too hungry to argue with what he knew I would do but he was lucid enough to try and stop me. I kissed his lips lightly and pulled myself free.

She must have known I would ask to see her. Outside the room Sophie-Anne waited with André at her side. She was dressed as normal as I’d ever seen her. Her coppery red hair was in a ponytail and she was in a blue sweater dress. I must have dragged her out of bed then.

“I deserve more from you,” I said glaring at her. “You will provide it or I will sever my ties with you and with this state.”

She didn’t as much as flinch from the venom in my tone. “That seems a bit drastic,” she mused.

“Drastic!” I hissed, incredulously. “Drastic, a century, I have given you a century of loyal service, I have gone above and beyond for your honor. I have bled for your glory and the one thing, the only thing that I ever asked you refused.” Now that I thought about it, I realized I never gotten over that not too distant slight. “All so he could meet his end on your watch, and for what?”

“Viking, you know your Queen, yes?” she said leaning against the opposite wall. “Had I wanted him beyond the veil he would be. This, what happened was out of my control and I regret it. I understand your frustrations and I understand your devotion but this was not my doing and it did not happen on ‘my watch’ as you have eloquently stated. He was headed home. Instead of the escorts to the airport that were scheduled, he flew as he always did.”

Flying was Godric’s mode of transport. It was known by anyone who knew of him. All that was needed by an assailant was the time and place in order to coordinate an attack. I ground my teeth to the point of pain but said nothing. While Sophie-Anne was convenient I didn’t think she was behind it.

“Whoever attacked him, knew when and where,” André chimed in. I felt like they had been having this discussion before I arrived. “He was in no man’s land when they stuck, it slowed response time.”

New Orleans was such a bustling city that had patrols assigned according population. It kept both species in line. Godric must have been several miles from the capital for him to be open to any violence. No one in the Queen’s area visiting or domestic would dare fight in the open, let alone attack an honored guest of hers.

André continued telling me what he knew so far, “They were vampire most definitely, they knew to attack right beyond our borders. They also knew better than engaging the Visigoth in hand to hand. They launched Molotov cocktails simultaneously from the roof tops as far as we could gather. The method was crude…but effective.”

“I have nothing to gain in his end,” Sophie-Anne said in a softer voice. “You know this. I value your service, Eric too much in fact. Attacking Godric would cost me both you and the telepath.”

I bowed slightly and returned into the room to be with Godric with my thoughts in a snarl. Someone was looking to use the Queen as a scapegoat maybe even weaken her by having me walk out on her. This was a bad time. Peter Threadgill after, flagrantly attempting to end her was now filing a suit against her. Breach of contract, property destruction, and inciting unrest were just some of charges.

Peter insists that he had nothing to do with the attempt on her life. He attests that a plot by his own closest people to overthrow him had been the objective and we simply got caught in the crosshairs. He was still trying to hold Sophie-Anne to their engagement. He would benefit if I walked away. It didn’t seem likely. He had nerve but this seemed like too much risk for such little turnabout. The only thing that made sense was that there had to be a loose end Godric hadn’t tied up along the way.

Sookie picked Godric and me up at the airport in Shreveport the next night. Relief was rolling off her and she was in tears. She held Godric in a hug so constricted that if he needed air she would have suffocated him.

“I’m alright, beloved.” He murmured running his fingers through her hair. “It was nothing, really.” He never lied to us but in this instance, knowing how anxious our lover had been I said nothing.

She held him tighter. “You don’t go back,” From her there was so much fear and anxiety. Having her cry tears of joy was one thing. To feel her uncertainty and fear was a whole other matter. Anything that was required to have her feeling happy again, we would do.

“I won’t go back if you do not wish.” Godric said wiping her tears away. “Don’t cry over something so little, please my love, don’t cry.” I knew it pained him to witness her sadness and he wasn’t the only one.

---

www. bozined blue- british- shorthair-cats. html

The link for Sookie’s cat, so freaking adorable.

Chapter twenty-Nine

Godric did not return to New Orleans after the attack. He continued his work from my area. It didn’t mean more quality time for us. Things were tense but that was still the place where I found solace. It was also the place I got to spend the least time. It couldn’t be helped because their safety came first.

I was dangerously close to spreading myself thin and nowhere closer to finding my makers enemy. Godric having to work from area one meant I was experiencing an influx of unknown vampires, which in turn forced me to increase patrols and assign a guard for Sookie, on nights when she wasn’t with us.

No one that had as much as looked at Godric the wrong way over two thousand years had lived to tell of it. He was absolutely certain that there was no one he had missed. While we searched for a lead we were all awaiting another attack but none came. It was both reassuring and disconcerting. I didn’t understand it.

Why attack him while he was in the Queen’s back yard but not here? By any estimation I should be a weaker point. It helped me believe that it was meant to cause a rift between my Queen and her most powerful sheriff. February turned to March and March turned to April. Nothing happened and I slowly talked myself into a false sense of security. April led into May and then in June the summit in Rhodes came.

Godric had been scheduled to attend but without a lead neither Sookie nor I wanted him in such an open place. In the end the separation would make all three of us more vulnerable. Also many of those who had lost a child or master or any relative since the great reveal would be there to plead their case to him. Sookie, Godric, Thalia, Pam and I were the only ones from my area I was taking with me to the summit. Everyone else was being left behind to compensate for me taking my best fighters.

Our bags had been checked and we were taking the long walk to the private hangers to await the Queen’s jet at a private airport in Monroe. “Only someone with a gruesome death wish would fight you.” Pam said to Godric, from her place beside me. “If I wanted you beyond the veil, I’d hide it, so you wouldn’t consider me a threat,” my child continued. “I could bid my time, learn my enemy, even befriend him if possible, I’d gather my forces, and plan.”

Having nothing else to do these brainstorming sessions were becoming very common. The only persistent idea was that someone was trying to weaken Sophie-Anne through me but that angle had its obvious shortcomings. It was confusing. Godric had never been less of threat than he was now.

“That could be anyone,” I muttered.

“It’s personal,”

“Then he should have some idea,” Sookie said. She was the first one to shake off the shock of the fact that Thalia had just spoken. Sookie sent Godric an encouraging smile.

“And I do not,” Godric said. Thalia shrugged because that was all she was going to say. Pam and I shared a confused look but let the subject go.

One second we on the tarmac headed into the hanger. The next we were fighting off an ambush that came quite literally out of nowhere. That was distressing in and of itself. Godric was a master vampire. His senses were superior and when Sookie was around we were both fanatical about her safety. For him to miss it was not an accident. The fact that Pam, Thalia, myself and Sookie missed it made no sense.

The crackle of gun fire rented the air and it was a testament to his power, Godric moved faster than the bullet. He knocked Sookie to the ground before any of the other vampires could react. Using his body as a shield he was able to get her to the minimal cover in the area. The rest of us scattered just as the smoke bombs were thrown.

I knew Godric was hit. I felt his pain. Sookie was scared but trying to focus. All I could smell smoke and it was also blinding me. We couldn’t fight and we couldn’t run. The vampires could wait out the smoke but she couldn’t we had to move. For them to have dared to attack this close to a commercial airport they must have had their bases covered. Just as suddenly as the siege began it ended. They retreated and I soon saw why, the Queens jet was landing.

The vampires aboard didn’t wait for the plane to stop. The first voice I heard was Cleo, “Eric, Pam?”

“Here,” I rose and made my way over to Godric. He’d been shot several times, the worse of which was through his spine. His head was in Sookie’s lap. She looked distraught, his blood was on her skirt but otherwise she was fine.

“What happened?” Cleo asked.

We all looked varying degrees of awful and the smoke was yet to wash away in the wind but it didn’t change my response, “Nothing,” It wasn’t like there was anything any of them could do now. Whoever had come for Godric was now long gone.

Maxwell Lee had been left in charge and Clancy was his second. That was the first call I made after getting on board. I wanted to know of any unusual activities they’ve had since dark. So far, they had nothing to report. I wanted to be angry but I had just as much to work with and it wasn’t from a lack of trying.

Sookie offered to feed Godric a few minutes after takeoff, “No,” was his instantaneous reply. He was on his third bottle of blood but he was still pale and in need of more.

“For me,” she pleaded.

“I will take too much,” he said.

“I won’t let you okay, promise” she murmured. “Drink, baby please.”

Sookie kissed him. He succumbed and his body went pliant as it always did when we begged something of him. I couldn’t see all that transpired but I felt it. The needs and hungers of Godric’s body gave way to what his mate desired. His thirst fell to the background. All that remained was his desire to please her. There was that and the never failing hunger for the completion that only she could offer. I sat in the seat in front of theirs feeling every nuance of pleasure as if I was with them.

Their kisses had been a prelude to ease him into feeding from her but it quickly spiraled and turned into something more. His groans slowly morphed into growls of utter need. Sookie was only too eager to oblige him. She gave her body and it was only I that felt how far blood was from this act. I felt Godric’s physical pain give way to pleasure just from her touch alone.

My body was unmoving but I felt every nuance of pleasure as if I was kissing Sookie with my lips and caressing Godric with my hands. I knew what position they were in. Sookie was astride him, her skirt was hiked up, her blouse undone, her bra pulled down. His lips were searching and tasting every inch of her skin that he could find. Their fingers were interlaced and braced behind her back. When they joined, when his body buried into hers I experienced that slight shiver that only her sheath could bring. It was true that every other vampire heard the coupling but I was the only one that felt it.

Our bond was fully opened and the pathways were flowing and overfilling with lust, love and the need to reassure. Sookie wanted to reassure herself that Godric was safe and well in her arms, Godric wanted to make her believe that truth. His body was relentless in its demands for hers. It was like being a conduit, every delightful caress passed between them and flooded through me and then back again. Each time the feeling was greater ushering us to that sweet pinnacle.

“Godric,” Sookie moaned. Pleasure was consuming her, them, us. The bond we shared ignited a blinding crescendo of love. It wasn’t until then that Godric bit. No matter how much blood he needed he wouldn’t hurt her, not feeling the depths of what we shared, he couldn’t.

It was the best plane ride of my entire existence. By the time we descended at the airport in Chicago, Godric was healed and all three of us were sated to the point of exhaustion. The remaining vampires on the flight however couldn’t wait to disembark. They needed to feed and fuck after that prelude to the mile high club. For that I couldn’t blame them.

There were so many things happening at this summit. Luckily I didn’t have to pay heed to it all. In between watching Peter I focused on Sookie and Godric. I saw that with several monarchs from different territories present my maker had his hands full. He was listening to claims, ferreting out liars, consoling hurt, explaining events and writing checks. Sookie was close to me, moving with the Queens entourage and sticking close to the Queens Defense attorney. Every now and then our eyes met and she smiled. It helped me count down to the second when I could be with her and Godric again.

Rhodes was supposed to be a four day event. The first day was the bazaar. Pam made a killing from transcribing old songs from any format into discs. Bill debuted his computer software that data based vampires. The next night didn’t go so well for Sophie-Anne. We were all there that night as her fiancé tried to end her. Our testimony was in admissible. In any case it would have been detrimental to her cause. None of us actually witnessed him raise a hand to her. Once the fighting began he had been nowhere to be seen.

So even though it sounded like the most outlandish of tales it was plausible that Jade Flower had tried to usurp the throne by killing Peter’s beloved bride to be. Sophie-Anne had accepted his betrothal gifts. She had signed the preliminary documents accepting his proposal for marriage. The Queen’s lawyer was good but physical evidence was on Threadgill’s side. She had to marry him or pay what he desire in order for him to settle. The pythoness ruled in his favor.

André was in a homicidal mood as we escorted the Sophie-Anne back to her room. This was usually the time of night I looked forward to. It meant that Sookie and I could break from the group and return to Godric.

We were set to exit the room when Sookie turned to the Queen. “I’m sorry you didn’t win. It wasn’t right.” She said.

She smiled. “No worries. Everything will be alright in the end. This is not right and so it cannot be the end.”

“Forgive me for saying so but isn’t it better just to pay him and not have to marry him, you know, so he can’t try to kill you again.” My lover continued.

“Yes,” André growled from his place beside his maker.

“The price is too high,” Sophie-Anne inserted. She looked at me and then in an imperceptible movement inclined her head to Sookie. It explained André’s mood. He wanted to pay the price and she didn’t.

My tone was controlled although I felt rage broiling in the back of my skull. “Lover,” I called. “Would you please excuse us a moment?” She nodded and left without question though I knew she had many. I waited till the count of ten before speaking to André “She is bonded to me and my maker, both.” I chose my words carefully and spoke calmly. “She is ours. There is no law above blood. You know this.”

“I know it. I have to respect it but I don’t like it.” He replied. I really didn’t like him.

“It is done. I have signed the wedding documents.” The Queen said. “Tomorrow when Russell weds Bertrand I will wed Peter and then I will end him. The end.” Fair enough.

Sookie was waiting with Seigebert just outside the doors of the room. Together we made our way to the room where Godric was waiting. He kissed me and pulled Sookie into a hug. It wasn’t until then that I realized I hadn’t let go of her hand or said a word since we left the Queen’s room.

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” she asked. “Tell us,”

“The price to free Sophie-Anne of Peter is you,”

Sookie took it better than Godric. I supposed she was used to vampires trying to enslave her. Godric skipped anger and fell right into a homicidal mind frame. His eyes were blazing blue. He slipped right us and headed for the door. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

“Sophie-Anne isn’t going for it.” Sookie called after him.

“Then I will end Peter only,” he replied calmly, smoothly shrugging his suit jacket back on. “So I’ll be back in three minutes.”

I arched a brow at that. I knew he had been on his way to kill someone—quite a few—someones I just hadn’t known he had placed the Queen on that list. I found that while that bothered me I had calculated doing the same thing. It was just that simply now. Anyone that threatened Sookie was as good as dead.

“Baby, no” she moved and placed her back to the door.

“And why not,” he asked conversationally “He threatens the woman I love.”

Sookie opened her mouth but was drawing a blank so she looked at me for help. I shrugged. “I want him finally dead,” she frowned at me which made me smile.

Seduction was an art I was well versed in. I called on it now. It would help ease his worries and channel the energy that had his muscles coiled to spring. Walking over to them I stood beside Sookie. “I do want him beyond the veil.” I unbuttoned my shirt as I spoke. The color of Godric’s eyes was shifting signaling the change in his intent. He watched us with unconcealed hunger. I dropped my tone, making my voice huskier. “Not by your hands,” I reached for Sookie and she came willingly. “Not tonight,”

Sookie peeled off my shirt and planted errant kisses across my chest. She had lips from heaven. I couldn’t mitigate their effects every time they touched me. Then she freed me of my slacks and stroked my hardened length, drawing a hiss from me. I threw my head back knowing I was close to losing my train of thought entirely. Slowly I unzipped the dress my lover was in. With every inch of her flesh he saw, the heat in Godric’s eyes flared. The dress fell into a pool at her feet showing her in nothing but a flimsy piece of lace.

Godric groaned as if he was in pain. “We can find better uses for your hands,” Sookie whispered. She had her back to my chest, the soft globes of her ass pressed against the hardness of my cock. Her legs were parted and I wound my arms around her holding her closer still. Her body was always willing and always ready for us. My fingers caressed her most feminine flesh giving her, parting her lips, teasing her and making her ache as much I did. It didn’t last long. Having none of her was hell. Having a little of her only made me want for more, for all of her.

“Yes,” Godric managed to force out. “Much better uses,” and then he joined us.

At the joint reception of both royal newlyweds the next night my lovers were able to have some down time in the otherwise hectic evening. They found their way into each other’s arms and headed for the dance floor, though I had no idea why. What they were doing couldn’t be described as dancing. Godric simply held Sookie and they were swaying and stealing lazy kisses at intervals or laughing at some funny thing or another. I smiled unable to help myself. It was difficult to put into words just how much I loved seeing them together even though I could do was watch. It helped me ignore the fact that Peter Threadgill was within my arms reach.

I was still throwing Peter death glares when I felt the emotional shift. Sookie tensed in Godric’s arms. Her eyes were following something behind the far left wall of the ball room. Godric had his arms wrapped around her with her back to his chest. His eyes were scanning the area but she was sensing something that no one else could.

A communication took place between Sookie and Barry the bell boy. Whatever it was that was making her uneasy she wanted a second opinion. The man stopped where he stood by Farrell’s side. He too began scanning unseen things. I could almost see the conversation on the telepath’s faces as they continued to search. Then Barry shook his head as if confused.

Sookie turned and placed a kiss on Godric’s cheek then she moved to Barry’s side. I could see my maker hadn’t wanted to let her go. He did so all the same, no questions, no explanations. He trusted her to know what to do; he trusted her to call him if she was in need. The telepaths held hands, their eyes were closed and their brows furrowed in concentration.

I knew the minute they found what they were looking for. In chorus their eyes snapped open like shades that had been drawn too tight and they were wearing a similar emotion. It was one of absolute horror. Godric and I were beside Sookie immediately.

“Burn them,” The telepaths said in an unnerving resonating tandem. It was as if the mind they were in had trapped them and they were feeling every nuance of that person’s hatred. They were lost in animosity that wasn’t their own. “Send them to the fires of hell. Then the Lord’s work will be done.”

“Sookie,” I called, taking her face in my hands.

Tears had begun streaming down her pretty face and she seemed to have lost her ability to blink. She was trembling slightly. Beside me Farrell was having similar trouble with Barry. The boy opened his mouth but nothing came out save a strangled noise as if he couldn’t breathe. Unlike Sookie he couldn’t seem to pry his eyes open.

“Lover,” this time I slapped her softly to snap her out of it. “It’s okay. Come back to us, we need you to come back.” I pulled her into my arms and even through my suit I could feel her nails dig into me as if to keep her anchored to who she was.

“Bomb,” Sookie rasped, “They’re going to blow up the hotel at dawn with all of us still in it.”

Never in history, had there ever been a quieter and neater mass exodus during an emergency. André was a lip reader. At the word ‘bomb’ he was already by the exit of the ballroom with the Queen tucked safely at his side. Farrell sent an unseen signal and Texas was next to part, then Mississippi, then Arkansas, followed by Indiana and Tennessee.

“Pam, Thalia with Godric and Sookie. Go home. If you cannot find a flight drive until you find safe lodgings beyond the state for the day. Just don’t stop moving.”

“No,” Sookie said rubbing her arms as if she was cold. “We stay together. All of us or none of us.”

“I need to track down the sheriffs that aren’t here and we need to travel with the Queen’s guard.” I said.

“Then we go with you,” she replied.

I gave her a look that brooked no argument. “I need you to do as I say,” I told her firmly.

Godric shot me a look that said I should know better. Sookie never did as I said and I should really have known it by now. True to form she ran for the closest fire alarm and pulled it.

“He’s got a gun!” She yelled pointing and gesturing profusely at me.

That was all the remaining humans needed to hear. The band stopped playing. The music was replaced with the sounds of chaos, people screaming for security and others were shouting for their friends. Of course that caused more trouble that there needed to be. Humans trampled over one another to reach the exits. No one would be allowed to remain the hotel now.

“Seriously?” I asked Sookie. “Label me a gun man. That was the best solution.”

We were in a stolen SUV with the grand pyramid hotel falling farther into the distance. I had been able to touch base with André and was driving to regroup with our numbers at a train station not too far off.

Sookie shrugged unrepentant. “I wanted us all to stay together seeing that some psychos were going to blow up the hotel we were in. Plus, I wanted to get everyone out not just vampires. I didn’t want to argue with you over any of it. “

“Woman, you’re lucky I love you.” I muttered. Chicago was now another place I would most likely be banned from. It went nicely with my banishment from Texas and the California’s (don’t even ask).

“Love you more,” she murmured, running her hand ever so softly down the back of my neck. The touch was feather light but I felt the profound truth of her words.

Pam had checked in with the other sheriffs, everyone was fine and heading to the same location. We could leave Chicago as a unit. It would make everyone safer. The drive to the rendezvous point was made in comfortable silence. Surprisingly Thalia looked less…like herself. By that I meant she wasn’t scowling. She looked relaxed as she watched the night pass us by.

“We have a tail,” Sookie said. “And they mean business.”

I was quiet trying to figure out what to do. “Weapons check,” I asked. I knew neither Godric nor Sookie had any. I only had two daggers.

“Two daggers,” Pam said.

“Same” Thalia said.

That might be enough but it depended on how many we were fighting. As if he read my mind Godric asked, “How many?”

“At least thirteen, no more than fifteen,” Sookie replied closing her eyes. “All vampire,”

“Lover,”

“Yes baby,” By the too bright tone of her voice I knew she was anxious and trying to mask it. “If I asked you to let us out and keep driving until dawn what would you say,”

She snorted. “I’d tell you to try and make me.”

Godric chuckled. Pam grinned and I smiled. It was worth a try “I thought so,”

To bring a fight to the Queen was not a good look. These odds might be favorable. It would be a perfect ambush depending on who was already at the extraction point. Calling to check was out of the question. If I brought a fight to them the phone call would tell them I did so deliberately. I looked in the rear view mirror where Godric held Sookie tighter against his side, to offer her comfort. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. I was bringing a fight to the Queen. I hoped like hell that she was ready.

---

Sorry that the past two chapters were long but I just had no good cut off places! We are coming to the very end and I’m getting the bittersweet feeling again! Sigh.

“Pam, you’re with Sookie,” I said as our destination approached with our foes still in tow. “Get in the air.”

“I can run decoy,” she argued. “I can fight.”

If she wasn’t my beloved child and Sookie wasn’t the woman I loved more than anything else, I would have assigned her that very task, such as it was I gave her an edict. “Stay in the air Pam and out of battle.” Since I wasn’t sure what was coming it was the best strategy to keep them safe.

“We’ll run a perimeter,” Godric said, accepting a dagger from Pam.

“Thalia feel free to unleash hell,” she smiled and it was seriously unnerving.

“Call André,” Sookie gasped. “There’s an ambush coming his way and it’s our party. Werewolves, a dozen” her head tilted to the side, “No two, they’re closing in fast.”

I cursed violently. I think at this point I could make the conclusion that this trip to Chicago, from beginning to end sucked silver stakes and used sunlight for a chaser.

Pam had the phone to her ear before it began to ring she locked eyes with me, “Release me,”

“You are free to ignore my previous edict,” I conceded.

“Ambush,” Pam said once the lines connected. “Wolves. Two…” her words were cut off and we heard the noise of a beginning brawl.

I could see the station in the distance and smell the blood just beyond it. “We’re leaving this car on the count of two.” I said.

Godric wrapped his arms around Sookie’s middle. I opened my door and ghosted into the air from the fast moving vehicle. The other occupants did the same. The car rolled on its course and then crashed into the guardrail on the side of the highway. The cars following it first swerved to follow then sped up when they realized it was empty.

Godric was in front of me with Sookie on his back. I covered her back and Pam and Thalia flanked me as we moved through the air. We landed but didn’t join the battle we had walked in on. We knew another was on it’s way. We might have shaken our pursuers but they were vampire and would simply follow the trail of blood. Luck was my friend tonight though. All the other sheriffs and their hands were present.

“Stay behind us,” Godric said once he set Sookie down. At either direction of her were Pam, Thalia, Godric and I. It should be enough to keep even her safe. She nodded with wide eyes and a stubborn set to her jaw.

This kind of mayhem was not something I had witnessed in so long. For the first time I didn’t thrill in it as I would have centuries ago. I had much too much to lose. Immediately south our location the rest of my state were fighting off the second wave of wolves. Some were in their human forms others were on four legs and fighting hard. While the werewolves seemed to have the numbers ours were holding steady.

The vampires that had been following in our wake arrived. I looked at faces and tried to find one I recognized and I did. Peter. For a moment they hesitated at the scene and then they attacked. Between Pam, Thalia, Godric and I there was over four thousand years of power and fighting experience. Peter and his people were going to get their asses kicked.

“André,” Sookie called. “Can I borrow a gun?”

He wasn’t using it. The fighting was too densely packed where he was. He made no response because his hands were full but I saw the weapon as it flew through the air. It landed just to the left of Godric. We were thinning the herd. One of the remaining enemy vampires flittered to behind him with a blade in hand. He’d dropped to retrieve the gun for Sookie. He couldn’t see the blade poised for his heart. I couldn’t deflect the blow I wasn’t fast enough. There was only enough time to take the hit and I did.

Instead of wounding Godric eternally, the silver dagger pierced me through the lower back, breaking bone. There was something about the curse of silver that meant the wound wouldn’t close; it also meant it burned like hell as I continued to bleed out. Godric spun and snarled. It was a noise that sent fear down my spine though I knew he would never harm me. He abandoned formation and went on an all-out rampage. It was not something I have ever seen and I prayed to the forces that be that I would never bear witness to it again.

As my body crumbled to the ground I heard Sookie scream. With all the hell that had come undone, with all the fights I have been through with her at my side, I have never heard her scream. The noise was one of pure terror. It was one of someone that had been thrust into their darkest fears and all the untold torments of hell the devil had to offer all in one foul swoop.

Her face was over mine and tears were streaking down her face. “Oh my God, Eric!” she cried “Eric!”

“Silver,” I panted. “Okay, watch your…”

My words were lost to her as a wolf took hold of her from behind. One of his hands had her by her hair the other had her by the throat. I could see he was half way into his transformation. “You’re dead bitch,” it growled.

“Not today,” she said. She didn’t flail wildly like most women would have. She allowed her body to go limp. “Walk away,” she implored. Her voice now took on an alluring air. The wolf behind her seemed to calm slightly. The features of the animal form began to fade. It was as if she was trying to entice him to leave her in peace by not fighting. I knew it was an attempt to spare him. In her hands were the daggers I had dropped. “You don’t want to fight me, trust me, you really don’t.” Momentarily, it looked as if she had been effective. The wolf looked momentarily confused. A howl blared in the distance and he attempted to drag her away. It was the last thing he ever did.

When my lover had fought four grown werewolves in hand to hand combat I had been amazed. A part of me had attributed some of that to luck as well as skill. Truly, I hadn’t really been able to visualize what an unstoppable force she could be because then she had been unarmed. This time was different. She had two hawk style daggers in her little fists. I was willing to bet in her life she had been around someone that knew how to use them. I wasn’t wrong.

Sookie, my lover was the embodiment of death in all her glorious fury. She was swift; precise; uncompromising; unrelenting in her attack. Both my blades were in hands and she moved with the elegance that any vampire would envy. Pam was her only back up because Thalia was with Godric.

Sookie compensated for the deficit but comprised nothing. Her form was smooth; razor sharp even through thick sheets of rain that had now begun to fall. Every rise and fall of her arm resulted in the immediate incapacitation or death of an enemy. It was beautiful, deadly and nothing like the woman that had given me comfort, pleasure and passion. She never once ventured past the point that would leave me vulnerable to harm.

Sookie stood unmoving when it was over. In her sure grip the blades of the dagger dripped with blood, there was so much of it left none of the blue visible in her dress, it dripped and mixed with the rain and fell from her face, blended in her hair and stained her hands. When no one else came for me, when none of her enemies were left she dropped the knives and fell to her knees with her head bowed as if they weighed down her very soul. Deep down I knew it did. Such a dove looked so out of place fighting in a dark place littered with corpses.

My lover, was a pacifist and this, what she had done was nothing short of a massacre. I hated it, I hated that her hand had been forced but most of all I hated that she was in pain over something that wasn’t her fault. I was in no position to offer her comfort. Pam bit into her wrist and brought the wound to my mouth but I coughed her blood back up.

The silver had spread very far. The back of my throat was burning. She rolled me onto my side and slit my throat. The pain of it didn’t register, my whole body was burning. The last thing I saw before my strength gave out was Godric going over to Sookie. He reached for her but she shrank back and turned her head away. I wanted to know why she wouldn’t let him comfort her but darkness could no longer be denied.

---

When I woke Godric’s face was over mine, his wrist was pressed to my lips and his blood was flowing into my body washing away all the effects of silver in my blood. I no longer felt sick but I felt drained and I was willing to bet that was the case. When the blood of a vampire was poisoned to the extent that mine had been, it was best to drain the tainted the blood and then apply the blood of my blood.

I drank from Godric but there was something in his calm that made me wary. Then the last thing I remember reentered my mind. I didn’t voice it; my eyes were searching frantically for Sookie. I felt disjointed from her, like she was there but not really a part of me. That scared me more than anything else.

“She wants to be alone,” Godric murmured, absently brushing my hair from my face.

“Alone, where?” I asked. Now that I thought about it I had no idea where I was. The last time my eyes had been open I had been in Chicago. I looked around and found that I was home in my day chamber. “How long have…”

“Three days,” Godric said.

“How long has she been gone?” I murmured.

“Since Chicago,” he was trying to sound casual but I knew what he was feeling.

We were both having the same internally struggle, fighting to keep from seeking her out and comfort her through the bond. She wanted to be alone and we had to let her at least for now. I knew her; I knew that she would rather walk away from a fight, run from a threat than kill. She abhorred the taking of life even the lives of people that threatened her. It was different where Godric or I were concerned. There was nothing she wouldn’t do and in Chicago she had to kill because of us.

“She looked so…broken,” he whispered. He wrapped his arms around himself with his head downcast. “At the safe house she washed her hands until they were raw and she did not speak, not a word.” I knew this was something he had been torturing himself with while I had been incapacitated. He looked at me and bloody tears rimmed his eyes. His expression was anguish filled. “What if…”

“Don’t,” I growled. “You know better.” The feeling that she was shutting herself away hung heavy in us both. That place where her warmth usually emanated from was locked away. I fought against it. She was coming back. “If all other truths of the world should fail this one will always remain, she loves us. She is coming back. There is no one she loves more than you and I.”

He smiled and it was somewhere between something genuine and something nervous “Casey,” he said “She loves Casey.”

I rolled my eyes. “As if I need any more reason to kill that fur ball,”

To fill the time my maker brought me up to speed on all I had missed. “Peter is finally dead. His new wife is now regent of two states. We think that you are right, that Peter was trying to incite unrest in this state by targeting me and having you blame Sophie-Anne.”

That was plausible but something about it seemed too convenient now that I thought about it. The vampires following us explained Peter’s involvement but not the two natured unless they had been together. I doubted they were. It was the timing of it that made me believe so. I couldn’t confirm it. Due to the wide scale of the battle no prisoners had been taken.

“Charles handled clean up and provided a safe house and escorts out of his state,”

“The price,”

“Sophie-Anne paid half a million, Sookie also agreed to screen his closest human employees at a discount and we are all banned from his state for the next century.”

I bit back a sigh. I just didn’t have the strength to begin doing anything about it tonight or even process it. Godric stayed by my side. Intentionally we avoided the master bedroom where Sookie’s scent was heaviest. I tried to tell myself that I wasn’t listening intently to the sounds of the night, that I wasn’t straining my ears in hopes of hearing her ancient car. I wasn’t waiting for the phone to ring. Of course I was. Dawn came and I was still waiting. She hadn’t returned or called. That night I held Godric and the pain of not knowing how our lover was faring was so much that for once I eagerly awaited the dawn.

Long before my mind was cognizant my body was well aware. I could feel it in every fiber of my being. Sookie was here. I felt the distinctive energy she gave off cracking over my skin. It was an inexplicable surge of all things primal, of decadent pleasures, the most unspoken but profound understanding, of bone deep love, of blistering passion, and unbridled magnetism. It was all there. She was here.

The last of sun’s rays receded. The first emotion I registered was the sense of wholeness that had been the norm for so long. I opened my eyes and Godric was there between us Sookie lay, fast asleep. Neither he nor I could keep from touching her. I twirled stands of her hair in my fingers and he had his hand wrapped around her. For a while we simple laid all our fears and uncertainties to rest with her presence.

Hungrily I drank in her features. Her lids were hued in fading shades of lavender as if she’d been sleep deprived. Even tired she was so very beautiful. There were markers of the last battle she had fought; healing scratches on her legs and her knuckle were slightly bruised.

“She is sad,” Godric murmured “So very sad and tired,”

“We could go away,” I said to him.

That wasn’t a prospect I had ever considered but seeing her like this, having her look so tired and be so torn made the choice for me. I’d worked hard to rise up in ranks amongst this monarch but it wasn’t worth her happiness. Nothing was. We could leave all of this behind tonight and I would be happy. All I needed was her, it was all Godric and I needed. “Her love for us wouldn’t force her to do things that make her hurt.”

“It’s not that,” Sookie said. Her heart beat hadn’t changed even though she was now awake. In fact, had she not spoken I would have thought she was asleep. “It’s me. I’m losing myself. Things, horrible things I thought I would never do, I’ve done. That line I drew in the sand in the very beginning of all this, is moving closer and closer to shore. And I’m scared. I’m terrified that it’ll get washed away with the next tide. Then there’ll be nothing left of the person I hoped to be.”

The scent of her tears was in the air. It ate at me. I wasn’t aching with her because I felt her pain. I ached for her. Knowing the woman she was I could imagine how much pain and uncertainty plagued her. She knew she didn’t have a choice in what happened but guilt like many emotions, could seldom be reasoned with.

“Soon,” she pulled a deep breath but couldn’t suppress a sob. Godric crushed her to his chest as if he could smother her grief. He didn’t try to hush her because she needed to get this out. “There’ll be nothing in me worth loving or saving. I won’t deserve it because I’ll be a monster.”

I hissed at absurdity of such a thing but simply couldn’t find the words to tell her how wrong she. I wrapped my body around hers. She was safely cocooned in the embrace of her lovers as she fell apart.

“No, beloved no,” Godric whispered in a horrified voice. “That will never be your path, ever. We won’t let you get lost and if you do we will help you find your way again.” With every word he spoke she allowed more of her emotions to show, it was a relief to have her let us in even if it was ugly. “You told me that everyone wants love, it’s when you don’t deserve that you need it. Come what may, you will forever have our love. Not because of what you do but because of what you inspire in me, in us.”

I nodded my ascent and kissed her head. “Yeah, what he said,”

Sookie laughed and while the tears on her face hadn’t yet dried, I felt the worse of her fears had been acquiesced. We stayed in bed for a while. Sex wasn’t a part of it. It was just the closeness that we all craved.

“I need to go,” I said. I had been out of the loop for much too long. That was never a good thing. I also had a lot of work to do.

“Can I tag along?” Sookie asked.

I arched a brow at that. The only person that avoided my bar as much as Godric, was Sookie. Then again she might just want to be close to me which was understandable. I still teased her, “Are you actually asking me for permission to do something?” I gasped audibly.

She chuckled and threw a pillow at me. “We’re tagging along.”

The explanation I received about events just wasn’t sitting right. I had been mulling it over in the back of my mind all evening while I worked. It wasn’t until I was heading home that something clicked. The wolves that attacked Sookie at her home months ago were looking to kidnap her. They had been presumably sent by Peter. If Peter was responsible for it all, why wouldn’t he have utilized wolves again in Chicago? During that hellish brawl the vampires had hesitated. I had assumed it was because they were facing the Viking and the Visigoth head on but they seemed to want to get through us not at us. Why? Because they were on the opposite side of their target.

The vampires target was Sophie-Anne. It made no sense that wolves had come after Godric. You do not engage the Visigoth head on. No one would send wolves after him, a tactical sneak attack like with the gunmen at the airport and the firebombs in New Orleans was the only way to take him out. But a full on assault was suicide.

So, why were the wolves there if they weren’t with Peter? It couldn’t just be exceptional bad luck. No one was that unlucky. The logical conclusion was that they had another ojective. Sookie was the only other person of value at that station. They had been after her. They had to be. I’m willing to bet the wolves had simply followed the Queen thinking she was with them much like Peter followed us knowing we would lead him to the Queen.

I had some questions and I knew the mutt that would have answers. Many werewolves had met their end in Chicago. He would know something. I had no reason to think the son of the pack master was being deceitful, but the only information he had to offer led me northeast, towards Mississippi.

By July Godric had resumed his working trips to New Orleans. While I had no concrete reason to think he was still in danger, I still insisted he traveled with the escorts that came with his contract to the Queen. Sookie had also begun her training sessions with Barry. An addendum was made to her contract with Stan. He provided body guards for the telepaths during their sessions. Sam the shifter saw her to the airport here and the guards watched over her even though she never left the airport in Dallas. By the time she returned it was dark and myself or my other vampires were up.

It was mid-August. The days were painfully long and the nights short. Sookie left at the crack of dawn this morning, she should have returned to Louisiana by now. She’d left no messages which made me worry. I was even more concerned after I called her and got no answer. I went to her house in search of her. She might have finished early and went home and just lost track of time. It’d happened before. I could also feel she was fine, not hurt or under any duress, tired maybe but unharmed.

I was in her house trying to beat back worry when I heard a car making it’s way up the drive. I opened the door knowing Sookie was exiting a taxi. I never realized how tense I was, how half alive I felt when I was without the people I loved. I made no accommodation to the speed I used to reach her. There were no bags to help her with but I just couldn’t wait to be close to her.

“Hi baby,” she greeted.

“Hello lover,” I smiled, picked her and sped us into the house.

“I missed you,” she murmured leaning into me. It was certainly clear in the bond. She was lust filled and dying to get out of her clothes. It only fueled the want I always carried for either of my lovers.

“Missed you more,” I murmured and then I claimed her lips with mine.

At some point I was going to have to mature past ripping off her clothes but it wasn’t tonight. Her body was calling out to me and I knew was I was close to losing it. There was a sharper, almost desperate edge to the way she wanted me, like she was starved for my touch despite the explosive sendoff we had given Godric just three days ago. I fed off her hunger. In this space I knew she could handle all that I could give and I wanted her badly. Her jeans and panties were in tatters and her top was a forgotten memory. I didn’t register it, not really, it was all her.

“Want you so bad,” she moaned. I had her under me in the walk way of the house. It was as far as we could get. I had no control in me to make it to a softer surface.

“Need you,” I replied.

“Make love to me,” she replied biting into my shoulder without drawing blood. It was still enough to send a tremble down my spine.

“Absolutely,” I purred. I turned her over on her stomach and before she could register the change I was sheathing myself in her dripping wet warmth. The sound of her sharp cry, the feel of her body, the feel of her stretching to take me, it all drove me to give her more.

Her body made its demands of me and I obliged, willingly, enthusiastically and fervently. Her pleasure became my own. It wasn’t because I felt it through our bond. It was because I saw it in her eyes, felt it in her every touch and it only burned hotter with every twist turn of her body. No matter how many times she finished me off I was right back begging and aching to give her more of me. She gave in until she was sore and couldn’t handle anymore. It was amusing that I drew the line long before she became conscious of it.

“I was worried about you,” I whispered, wrapping my body around hers. She was hot and sweating so the cooler temperature of my body was welcomed.

She kissed my chest. “Sorry, forgot my phone.” she mumbled resting her head back on my chest again. “Then my flight was late,” she yawned.

“Sleep” I murmured nuzzling her neck.

I could feel all the weariness that she was trying to hide. I held her tighter and stroked her hair as she nodded off almost immediately. The contract with Stan was negotiable. I would insist that Barry begin traveling to Sookie if he wanted to continue the training sessions. She was doing too much. I worried that it was beginning to wear on her.

For a few minutes I just held her and watched her as she fell into a deeper sleep. There was a smile on my face for absolutely no reason. I had to admit it was strange and maybe a little unhealthy to derive happiness from such a little thing but it was just the way I felt. When she was asleep she looked so at peace, utterly out of reach of all that plagued her while she was awake. I kissed her lids wishing her to dream of only pretty things.

I hated that I had to go to Fangtasia and leave Sookie all alone but it couldn’t be helped. She wouldn’t miss me though. She’d felt so tired I was sure she would sleep through the night despite how early it was.

Sookie was usually a light sleeper but she didn’t stir when I moved her into bed. When she was tucked in I began the cleanup in living room. I gathered her destroyed clothes and found a portion of a receipt. It was the top half of a whole that had been discarded. I bunched it up with what was left of her denim and walked to the trash but that little piece of paper floated from its perch and drifted onto the floor, facing upward. It was how I read the words that sent my happy little bubble into the debts of hell and back again.

I didn’t recognize the name of the vendor. I did know the airport and it wasn’t in Texas. It was three states west, in Nevada. McCarran International was written in bold ‘CAPS’ and I looked down waiting for it to disappear. It had to be a mistake. There was only one McCarran International that I knew of and it was in Las Vegas. I crumpled the little portion of a receipt in my hand and tossed it into the trash. That wasn’t possible. Sookie had been to Dallas today, to train Barry. This was a mistake, it had to be. I simply refused any and all possibilities that it could be anything else.

The thing about denial was that if you were sane enough, it wore off. No matter how hard you wanted to cling to it. Your mind knew it wasn’t real. It chipped away at that wall, bit by bit and then doubt crept in so reality could follow. I was in Fangtasia going through the motions trying to bury my uncertainty. It was working but then I heard the conversation of two humans. Truly, I wouldn’t have paid the paltry conversation any heed had I not been so perturbed and looking to escape my own mind.

“Your color looks great,” One human female said to another. “The vamps’ll love it.”

“I didn’t even have to go tanning,” the other woman bragged “The sun did all for me. I did have to get naked though.” They shared a laugh.

I’d just been too driven to read into it hours ago but it had been there. Sookie had smelled of rain. She wasn’t wet but the smell of an impending storm clung to her. It was like incense. It made the scent of her hang heavier in the air. It was so earlier tonight. I’d buried my face in her hair only to have the scent wretch my desire up several octaves.

It hadn’t rained in any part of my area today as the two women had said. That didn’t mean anything. It could have rained in Dallas I reasoned. I pulled out my phone and searched and it hadn’t. I was watching the weather icons flash little depictions of sun shine with bright skies. More of my denial crumbled, even if it had rained in Dallas, she never left the airport. It was a hard limit of her contract while she trained Barry on Stan’s turf. She would have never been exposed to the elements.

Doubt was clawing its way free and I had nothing else to drown it with. Sookie had gone to Dallas but she had also gone to Vegas. The possible reasoning behind it was too painful to contemplate. I couldn’t. It didn’t change the facts. She had gone. She might not have. I had no idea where that voice of optimism had come from but it soon died as I checked the weather for Las Vegas. The city of Sin had gotten rained on all day; in fact it was still raining there now. There was nothing left to help me push away the suspicions I felt. The receipt I’d discarded flashed through my mind. Sookie had lied to me. She had lied.

“Pam,” I called moving away from the main bar area. “I’m leaving.”

I didn’t wait for a response. I just had to leave. It didn’t occur to me that I was headed back to Sookie’s home until I found myself hovering over her house. Talking to her wasn’t going to happen at the moment. She was sound asleep. I would never wake her. What would I say to her anyway? I wasn’t even sure what I was accusing the woman I loved of doing.

I descended and faced the house. The little farm house had never looked sinister before but now it did. I watched it with all its lights dimmed and the slow steady thrumming heart beat from within. Had I come across it and not known who owned it I would have written it off as nothing. That assumption helped me gain a clearer head.

The house like the woman was deceptive. I eyed it and tried to see what I was missing but nothing came to mind. I had shared my body and blood with the woman that owned it. I could navigate through it blind. I knew every creak of the floor boards. All that I knew didn’t help me deflect the truth that there was so much I didn’t. I was missing something.

“Look past all that you know and love,” I whispered through gritted teeth. “Look, Eric look.”

I looked to the woods where bodies of weres were buried. I looked to the east where Compton lived. I searched the night and finally I saw a place I wasn’t familiar with: the shed. I had never in the year and a half that I had known Sookie set foot in that place.

As I approached the miniscule structure I finally felt it. That feeling of foreboding had risen and it was here in full. I stood in front of the doors trying to decide what to do. The thought of forcing my way into the shed felt like the greatest depravity. I stared and stared and then something popped out. The lock was new, heavy duty and used a combination instead of a key.

Breaking the lock would be symbolic of breaking the bond I’d formed and the trust I had been given. It would betray not just Sookie but Godric too. I hesitated. It was at that time that the image of the receipt I’d so quickly discarded fell into my mind. I had to see, I had to know. If I didn’t I would forever doubt her. I would lose the peace I had known in a life time of war. I wouldn’t be the only to feel that sting of doubt. I had to know, for all our sake.

Upon entering the shed I found it unremarkable. Sookie’s motorcycle was parked in the farthest corner and covered. Gardening tools and other kinds of home maintenance machinery lined on the walls. What was I expecting? A house of horrors, a map of lies and duplicity, maybe, I got none of that. I was getting paranoid in my old age. Obviously there had to be another explanation. I pulled in deep breath. It had been a habit I’d picked up from Sookie it gave me a moment to pause and think.

That was how I caught something in the air that was wrong, a foul acidic stench. Once that registered I was looking around the shed with new eyes. I noticed that it was too clean. I noticed that there was very little dust and debris. Most of all it was the fact that, Sookie’s scent registered heaviest to the left wall. I moved there and it didn’t take me long to dislodge a trick panel.

Pulling the panel aside, I looked down into that little box under the shed and saw nothing but secrets and lies. I don’t know how long I sat there just staring at a thick bundle of cash, a hand full of cellphones, several passports, and a dozen licenses all with different names, state and country of origin but with my lovers face. That would have been enough, truly but it wasn’t the beginning. The panel hid an underground crawlspace. Sookie might have been able to stand in it but when I descended below I had to crouch.

The wall ahead of me held so many guns, nothing like the shotgun she kept in the house. These were machine guns like André carried ranging in size, they were new and some were sniper rifles, others were hand guns. The foul smell that had registered to my senses from above was so heavy down here that it made my skin crawl in warning. I moved towards it instead of away. They were specialized bullets I found. Gun powder was mixed with, shards of silver and wooden splinters they were crafted into a normal looking bullet. It was utterly unique and completely lethal to a vampire or werewolf. Already I was trying to explain it all away.

Sookie was a target after all. That was all this was about. That was all the guns and fake identities were. She was protecting herself. She was afraid. That last remnant, that tiny cloak that had kept my heart from breaking fell away when I turned to the side. There was something that resembled a photo shop. It was basic and coarse but I knew what it was. The only reason I recognized the vile chemicals was because of the photo shoot Fangtasia had of its vampires. The pictures that had been hung to dry tore my whole world asunder.

The picture that was hanging was one of Sophie-Anne meeting with her lawyer. I moved forward even though everything in me wanted to run. I drew closer and found more pictures. They were all of my Queen meeting with various people. Some were of her as she retired for the night. Those had addresses on the back to indicate the location of the safe house. Other pictures were of documents and various contracts pertaining to the Queens affairs. A choked groan escaped and I shook my head to dispel what I saw. I closed my eyes and counted to ten but nothing changed when I opened them again.

I bore agonizing witness to what it was like to be a fool. I had expected to feel unmitigated rage but there was nothing in me but agony. My heart was breaking, my world was falling apart. It hurt so badly and cut so deeply that not even silver on my flesh could burn and mutilate like this. To this, silver was nothing. I would bare the rays of the sun and even then I didn’t think that would compare.

There was no pain like betrayal I learned. Never could I have imagined it was possible to be damaged like this and survive. There was no loss more harrowing than this. I saw and felt the macabre truth of what is was like to love, to be truly and utterly devoted, to blindly trust and to have it all mean nothing, be nothing to the recipient to whom you gave everything. Bloody tears fell and it was only then that the anger came. It came, it consumed me and I embraced it. For it was the only that would keep me sane.

I knew I would kill her. It was for my maker that I would not do so slowly. He would not suffer anymore at the hands of this bitch and neither would I. We both loved her and she used us. We had meant nothing to her. I entered the house and it should have surprised me to see Sookie at the kitchen table but it didn’t. My emotions in all their ferocity must have woken her.

I refused to let her continue to enjoy the damage she had done. I refused to let Godric feel it but the force of holding in so much hurt was threatening to break me. It burned and left nothing in its wake, not a single thing. I’d never before felt so hollow. That void wouldn’t fill with her death but I would still do the deed. For it needed to be done. She did not deserve to live for deceiving Godric. I could pardon her anything else in this world but not that.

“Why?” I snarled slamming her little tin box of treachery onto the floor. It bounced and skidded but neither of us paid it any heed. “Tell me, why?” I repeated.

My voice was not as steady as I wanted it. It cracked because that wasn’t the question I wanted to ask. I didn’t care about the why. I wanted to know if I ever meant anything to her. I wanted to know if Godric did. Had she cared about us even a little? Or was it all just an act? Had we been nothing but pawns? That was what I wanted to know but the words wouldn’t come. Not because I was too angry to voice it but because I was too afraid of what the truth might be.

To her credit though, Sookie did not act ignorant. The truths of her many crimes were plainly written on my betrayed expression. “I had to,” was all she said in her defense.

In her tone there was no beseeching or argument. She was resigned. I looked into her eyes and knew that she knew she would die by my hands. Still she did nothing. That blind acceptance sent me into a rage the likes of which I had not experienced in centuries. I flew before her. I sent the kitchen table that she had been seated at sailing into the wall.

Sookie made no moves to flee. She made no moves to fight. She hadn’t risen from her seat. It would have been futile but it would have showed that she at least wouldn’t rob me of my justice. “You never cared, did you?” I asked glaring down at her. The anger fell to the background and there was just a gaping wound that just wouldn’t stop bleeding or hurting. “About me, about Godric about any of it.” Damn her, she’d pretended to want to reach Thalia. She was Pam’s only friend for crying out loud.

“No baby, I love you.” she said softly. “I love you both, more than…”

“You’re lying!” I roared. With every word she spoke I felt myself falling back under her thrall. “All you have ever done is lie!”

I wrapped my hand around her neck and lifted her from her seat. The part of me that loved her recoiled from what I was about to do. I bound and gagged that weakness. The slight delicate form in front of me was nothing but my end waiting to happen. Her hands went instinctively to my wrists but she didn’t scratch. Her legs didn’t kick. She didn’t try to fight. I squeezed her neck tighter. I felt as the bones creaked and the muscles protested under the pressure of my hand.

“I trusted you,” I hissed. “I loved you,” I couldn’t keep my tears unshed and it was then that I saw something like guilt play across her face but I was too far gone to care. “You abused it, and you abused me and Godric.”

I spoke those words so I could will myself to see nothing else. It worked and I clamped down tighter and cut off her supply of oxygen.

---

Pretty Bad Cliffie, I know but at this point I don’t think the schedule is feasible so I will just do it by chunks.

I looked into Sookie’s eyes and she stared right back. When her lids closed tears, warm tears trickled over my fingers. It was then that I was undone. The finality of what I was going to do descended like the weight of the world. Those eyes that were losing their life, were the same lightening blue stare that had brimmed with so much love, adoration, devotion, joy and passion when we made love, when either Godric or I had made her laugh or when we had simply walked into the room.

I couldn’t. I loved her. She was a liar, a spy, and an assassin. I couldn’t kill her even knowing what she would cost me, knowing what she was. I just couldn’t. She had used me and Godric both. She’d hurt and betrayed us, but I loved her still. No matter how much I wanted to hate her, no matter how little I meant to her, I couldn’t make myself love her any less now than I did at first dark today.

I placed her back into the seat and nicked the vein in my neck and offered it to her. She tried to fight and not drink but she was too weak. She was wheezing and coughing and gasping for breath. I sat her astride me and wrapped my arms around her, keeping her head to my neck and rubbing her back. I reopened the wound and was able to get her to drink from me then. The man I was, the dominant creature with pride that wanted to appear strong, refused to let her see me shed another tear.

I tried. Only the heavens knew just how hard I tried. It wasn’t enough though. Her lips latched onto the puncture I made and I broke. Her scent, one that was synonymous with her love, the warmth of her body, and the feel of it, there were so many happy memories, so many passionate moments tied to this act, they all flashed through my mind when her lips touched my skin. It all made the pain worse. She drank and I buried my face in her hair and wept like a lost child. I was no child, but I was a person experiencing hell. I cried and so did she.

“I’m sorry,” Sookie kept repeating as sob after sob racked her body.

Seeing her cry and hurt was never something I could handle, and this time was no different. I held onto her tightly. I rocked her in my arms as she cried and continued to apologize. I should never believe another word she said. How could I? The sad part was that I did believe her. It only certified that I was a fool, her fool. Yet there had been instances where I had felt remorse coming from her. There were so many things that I could never explain that made sense now.

For a long time there was silence. Just the rhythm of Sookie’s breathing regulating. The slight whine that had accompanied each breath faded as my blood healed her. Her crying had turned into whimpers. I couldn’t offer her a word of comfort. I was drowning in a river of pain so vast I felt I would never resurface even if I lived till the end of time. I was losing more than half of what I cherished in one blow. It truly felt like there was no sense in living now. It felt like I couldn’t face tomorrow but I had to.

Godric would need me and I would need him. We had to try to pick up what little was left of our limitless existence once Sookie was gone. I wasn’t sure if one would be enough to save the other. There was no sane world where we were without her and wanted to continue on. Yet, she never belonged to us. That was irrelevant at this point. It didn’t matter that every kiss, every touch and semblance of love we shared with her had been a lie. We were in too deep. It was real to me and it was real to Godric. It was what we now lived for.

“You have to go,” I began. I held her closer still. “You will run and I fear that you will be doing so the remainder of your days.” My voice broke because that was never a life I wanted for her.

Our life, the one I thought we had, wasn’t what I would have wanted ideally. I wanted her to be happy and safe and warm and never having to fight. Lately I had been thinking of leaving just to make it so, just to make her safe. Since realizing I loved her, I never wanted anything more than to love her and have her love me.

“No,” was her stubborn reply.

Her tone was so familiar in its petulance that I would have smiled on any other day. Tonight it made me want to cry. I was still rocking her as I spoke. The movement was a reflex and an unconscious thing that was meant to soothe her. “Lover, I need you to understand that combined neither Godric nor I can save you from this, not from so many enemies and not from yourself.”

“I’ll die first,” she replied reasonably. “I don’t want to live without you, either of you.”

I wanted to shake her. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t understand that nothing mattered but keeping her alive. None of what I found out changed that. I needed her to be okay. She had to be. I never got a chance to argue my point.

Godric appeared in the kitchen. It was a testament to how shattered our bond was, how deeply my pain had polluted it. Neither Sookie nor I felt him enter but there he stood, frozen. He remained by the doorway and looked from my tear stained face to Sookie. I don’t think he could have approached if he had the will. He looked like a vampire that had a stake at his back and the sun at his front. There was no place for him to go. Idly, I wondered if that had been my face when I found out the woman I loved was nothing but a lying charlatan.

“What has happened?” he asked.

Already I was hoping against all hopes that this would not rob Godric of his desire to continue living. Deep down I knew it would. I was under no illusions. Once she drove the stake just a little deeper into his heart with the raw truth, he would not want to live. It shamed me to admit, even to myself, that I could not blame him.

Our bond had been renewed in a newer and deeper way. It would leave us with nothing but a cavernous hole where there had once been so much joy. The tighter ties we had formed in loving the same woman would not be enough to preserve him; it would damn him as it damned me.

Godric’s gaze left mine and he looked down at Sookie, who had turned in my lap. I wish there was something I could do to make him hurt less. His eyes were beseeching and I could no longer look at him. “Look at me,” he said in a soft and controlled tone. “Beloved,” he called to us both.

I couldn’t face him. I wasn’t the only one Sookie had her head bowed in shame. I looked at the floor wishing it would open up and swallow me and save me. It didn’t. It was like being trapped in a bad dream. I closed my eyes and hoped that maybe that was what this was. But when I opened them again the scene hadn’t changed, the pain hadn’t lessened. The madness hadn’t stopped.

“Please, will neither of you gaze upon me?” There was no trace of anger as he continued to implore. His control broke and his voice cracked. He was begging and that made my chest clench and my fists ball. He was falling apart right in front of me there was nothing I could do. Not one single fucking thing.

In that last question I heard and felt all his fears. It shot through our heightened bond and speared into me. It reared anger and all my protective and possessive instincts. I could hear Sookie’s breathing hitch and break like she was going to cry. With a quivering bottom lip and tears running down her face she did as he asked. We both looked at him then.

I had not known why Godric had insisted that we look him in the eyes as she ripped our hearts with the admission of her many crimes. But when we did all his pain and feelings of dread receded entirely. He came forward and knelt before her where she sat in my lap.

He held her face in his hands as he continued speaking. “Whatever it is, whatever has happened,” he said stroking her cheek and gazing lovingly into her eyes. “I care not. Just this, just the both of you, that is all that matters.”

“You can go with our forgiveness,” I said to Sookie. “Go,” I tried to set her from my lap.

Godric was pushing her back into my embrace with a confused expression. “Go where, Eric?” he asked. “Why?”

It was Sookie who spoke, “I hid a lot of things. I lied a lot about many others and I killed a lot but I had to…I know you don’t believe me but I swear it was never to hurt you. I would die before I hurt either of you. I…please,” her face crumbled and her fear flooded us both. Not even when I’d confronted her had she been afraid. “Please…”

“It is forgiven, my love.” Godric said wiping her tears. “All of it, whatever it is, it is forgiven. You do not have to go.”

“Godric be reasonable.” I said. He didn’t even know the half of it. The picture he had painted couldn’t exist. We couldn’t come back from this and it wasn’t because I didn’t want to. It simply wasn’t feasible, no matter how much I wished it was.

“What else are we to do?” He asked reasonably.

“You don’t understand,” I groaned.

He opened both palms out to me in an open gesture of capitulation. It told me that whatever the price was he would pay it. “Love saves, Eric. It heals and it forgives. I love her and you, more than the moon and all the stars after the longest of days,” He said softly. “I have forgiven her as have you and she is sorry. Nothing else matters.” He reached up and wiped my tears. “The issue in my eyes, it is done.”

I shook my head because I was beyond words. She had betrayed our trust, abused our love. I had forgiven her but it didn’t change the consequences of her actions that weren’t under our control. He had no idea of the shit storm that hadn’t even begun to drizzle yet. We needed her to go so we could begin damage control. It was the only way to save her.

“We can’t stay with her;” I began “She was never meant for us. She never belonged to us.” The words felt like poison but I forced them out because they were true.

“You don’t believe that,” he replied calmly but I felt the conviction. “You want to. You think you must but you do not and neither do I. It is not possible.”

“We cannot abide this.” I urged. His eyes held mine and I had to tell him. It was a truth that I wished that I didn’t know. “We can’t.” It was so pathetic that that wasn’t what made me afraid or sad. “If we do, we will have to witness her end.” His face fell and I felt all the negative emotions rise like tides of the fiercest gales. I pushed through it. He had to know. “She will die, my love, if we try to ignore this, because we cannot fight it. We have to let her go. It is the only way to keep her safe.”

“I’d rather die.” Sookie said with a shrug.

“And we cannot let you.” Godric said falling to sit on his haunches. His head was bowed in grief and he looked as lost as I felt. “I told you, I will endure anything but that. That is my line in the sand.”

Sookie shook her head as if exasperated and exhausted “You don’t get it,” she said whispering as if defeated. “It wasn’t like that. None if this happened the way it was supposed to,” she exhaled a deep breath. “None of it.”

“I know,” I said stroking her hair. If there was anyone with a plan from the beginning it was me and this sure as hell wasn’t it.

“You might know some of what I did but you don’t know why,” Sookie said looking at me.

I had my mouth open to give a retort but I didn’t. There was evidence to point to her as a catalyst in many past plots that involved very dangerous people. I’d found evidence of murder after murder and selling secrets that was just ti name a few. It made no sense. Sookie had no money to show for it. I don’t think in all my lives that I’ve ever met or will ever meet anyone who cared so little about wealth. We had discussed her coming over. That couldn’t be why she was working with Felipe. All she had to do was ask it of Godric and me when she was ready. Nothing I could fathom explained treachery of such magnitude.

“You can still hate me.” Sookie said in a desperate voice. “And believe me, sweetheart, believe me when I say I hate myself.”

“I don’t hate you,” Godric and I said at the same time.

“We couldn’t,” he continued. “You are our bonded mate and we love and honor you always.”

“I don’t deserve it,” she whispered and shame and guilt rolled off her.

“Everyone wants love,” I said “It’s when you don’t deserve it that you need it most.”

Her bottom lip trembled and tears fell but she scrubbed them away. I knew she didn’t believe me. She thought that somehow in her quarter century of life she had committed too many sins and was too far gone, she didn’t think she deserved to be loved the way her mates loved her. I couldn’t make sense of it. I kissed her head and set her down into Godric’s waiting embrace. He wound his arms around her as she began her very long and very sordid tale.

“I ran away from home after my grandmother died. I figured anywhere was better than living under the same roof as my pedophile uncle.” She was looking at the fridge but her eyes appeared a million miles away. “I got as far as Jackson before I ran out of money. So I took a job bussing tables in a little bar, ‘Josephine’s’. I didn’t know what vampires were then. I just thought they were people I couldn’t read so I liked when they came around. It was where I met Russell. He was one of the regulars. He and his friends tipped well and never gave me a hard time. One night a man was trying to rob him; I stepped in not knowing he didn’t need it. For my troubles he offered me a place in his house. He was clear about what he was and that I’d have to be food, a bed warmer or a useful hand. I went with the last option even though it meant I had to pay to remain under his protection. I didn’t mind. I worked hard, stayed out of trouble. The vampires there liked me, I understood their puns, listened to their stories when they felt like talking, and I always minded my manners. I still knew better than to tell anyone what I was.”

She drew in a ragged breath. “The first person I killed was Desmond Sachs.” She looked up at us. “Do either of you remember your firsts?”

“The Roman captain who sold me into slavery,” Godric answered.

I shook my head. “I only remember the last,” Godric nodded his assent.

She too nodded to agree also. “Desmond had skin the color of warm honey, deep green eyes, jet black hair and a smile that lit the room. I don’t know why I remember him when I know he wasn’t worth shit, I don’t know why I remember him when I don’t remember the countless dozens that followed.”

Sookie was looking down at her hands as if she didn’t recognize them, as if she could see blood on them and as if she could never get the stains off. Godric reached for her hand and brought it to his face briefly and then he kissed her palms. It helped calm her, pull her from her past into the present.

“He was one of Russell’s wolves. At the time of the incident I was eighteen. I’d been with Russell four years but when the packmaster asked for my head he offered me up just like that,” she snapped her fingers.

That was a pretty accurate description of how quickly a vampire would sacrifice the life of a human for personal gain. “Without as much as a blink of an eye and knowing what the weres would’ve done to me, knowing that Desmond tried to rape me. He said I violated the laws of his house, that I should have endured and then reported it after.” She shook her head in disgust. “No matter how much I begged and cried for him to help, he just cast me off.”

By the glint in Sookie’s eyes I knew she must have believed Russell would have defended her. I knew as much by the way she stated her length of time in his employ. She knew of vampires long before we came out of the coffin. By the time she came to me she was seasoned and prepared. It also answered all the questions of why she never ran or fainted or reacted like a normal human. It had always boggled my mind how she knew not only not to extend an ounce of trust to a vampire but to mind her manners. She was bold enough not to be taken for easy prey but subtle enough to avoid being a threat.

There was nothing like pain to make the brain a little smarter and my lover had learned a hard lesson that day. Russell probably kept her because she had indeed stayed out of trouble. She was bright and probably completed his day tasks exceptionally well. He had also been taking her money for the economics of it. It did not surprise me that he didn’t fight for a human he was not feeding or bedding. No vampire would. She was a child and was easy prey that had through an act of self-defense made herself a liability.

“I convinced the packmaster that Desmond was a monster, which they knew he was. I’d also saved over the years. I offered what I had and the Alpha pardoned my blood offense. Russell had given them my life and I’d bought it back. I was free.”

The memory of it was plain on her face the exhilaration, the hope, the fear of being all alone all over again.

---

Okay so for all you who have been curious about Sookie’s past, that is the first chapter of it.

“I went to Tennessee right after. It was where I met Quinn.”

“The tiger?” Godric asked.

She nodded. “He was a mess. He’d just had a fight in the pits and barely came out alive.”

Quinn the tiger had been a cage fighter for most of his adolescent years. His mother had been assaulted and the trauma had driven her clear out of her mind. Her son had to care for her and the daughter that came of her rape. No matter how devoted he was, a mentally unwell full grown weretiger was a liability. She escaped and killed. A vampire stepped in. In return for cleaning up the mess, Quinn had to fight in the pits for their entertainment. All the while his mother kept causing more messes. Then out of the blue it all stopped. His debt was paid and his mother never had another incident.

“We enlisted in the Navy together after I healed his mom.”

“Wait,” I interjected “What do you mean you healed the tiger’s mother? How?”

“I not just a telepath,” she replied looking at me, “I’m an empath. Remember when I said touch makes people’s thoughts that much louder?”

I nodded, “Yes, but you can touch some people.” I said.

“In those instances it was with purpose, to control their emotions. Like at the club the guy I danced with wasn’t at all into women but I changed it because he was the strongest and most sober person there and I needed an escort out who wouldn’t push for more later.”

“It doesn’t work with werewolves?” I asked thinking about Chicago and the fight that took place there.

She shook her head. “Not really, if one of them is resolved on attacking me there isn’t much I can do.”

“But you try,” Godric added. He like me could hear that she could change that if she wanted to.

She nodded. Then after a deep breath she continued, “Between being able to read minds and sense and control emotions I developed a kind of glamour. It’s a lot deeper than yours from what I gather. I healed the trauma of Quinn’s mom’s rape, Terry’s combat memories, and a few others along the way.”

It would have been so much easier to accuse her of manipulating my emotions but I knew that wasn’t the case. Nothing she could do applied to the undead. Then I had a thought that explained something that was nagging at me. From what I was able to find out Sookie traveled all over the country during the day to meet with different contacts. Frankly I had no idea how she was able to keep up with two spouses, hold a job, fight for her life quite frequently and still have time for all her scheming and conniving. Now I didn’t think she worked for the shifter at all. It would be the perfect way to cover her back and provide an alibi.

“You don’t really work at the bar do you?” I asked.

“I come in when Sam needs a hand and I show my face enough for people to think I work there.”

“How long were you a soldier?” Godric inquired genuinely curious.

“Four years. It was where I met Sam. He was Quinn and my squad leader. Our team specialized in recon.” She didn’t have to tell me how good she was at that. “The higher ups were sending us on suicide missions and we were coming home before dinner without a scratch to show for it. It was drawing attention. We were either going to get found out or get dead, neither appealed. Sam was facing his tenth year and was tired. Quinn missed his mom and sister. The military was a place for me to hide and learn to be stronger. I was done hiding. When our time was up we went our separate ways. Sam came here because I always used to tell him stories about it. Quinn started E(E)E and I blew with the wind for a bit deciding where to settle. When I heard my uncle died I came back here.” She stopped to give a bitter laugh. “Once I got here though I couldn’t stay out of trouble. It began with a pack war Sam got mixed up in over some broad. That was how word got to Russell that I was a telepath. He was furious. He said I cheated him but I didn’t owe him anything, not a single thing. I knew he would come after me so I placed myself in your path.” Her eyes came to me. “I knew Sophie-Anne would claim me as an asset so Russell couldn’t touch me.”

Not without risking open war with Sophie-Anne and she would have beaten him like a rented mule. Sookie was brilliant for going that route. All this time I had thought my discovery of her was an act of providence. It had just been just part of her plan to save herself from a fate she detested. It now made sense why she tolerated all that she had: my advances, my disrespect, and my disregard. It had simply been necessary. Her standing in the in both the supernatural and human community now made sense, it would make it hard for the Queen to force her to court, the one place that I knew she did not want to be. I never understood that aversion until now.

“That was the only reason I crossed your path, I swear Eric. It was why I fought so hard against everything I felt for you.”

Her eyes were begging me to see, begging me to believe her. I looked away and I felt how much pain it caused her. I regretted it. It wasn’t because I didn’t think she was telling the truth. It was because I did, so easily. It had me afraid that I was seeing what I wanted to all over again.

Sookie continued through the lump in her throat. “Russell offered me the world to willingly come back to him. I told him to suck silver and use sunlight for a chaser. He couldn’t tempt me, he couldn’t scare me. My family was all dead. There was nothing for him to threaten me with, nothing until…”

“Me,” Godric whispered in a hollow voice and the same time I muttered a vile curse.

Someone wanting my maker finally dead made no sense to me. No one should have been targeting him. He was not a threat. He was old but he desired nothing, not territory or power, just Sookie. The mystery had confounded me. It shouldn’t have. The answer had just been too obvious to see. He was being marked for his end because of the woman he loved.

“That night, on the way back from Arkansas when you got shot, it was my fault,” she said as if the mere thought made her sick. “The wolves were sent by Russell. He had been hoping to capitalize on the chaos in Arkansas to get me back to him.”

“After I was healed I was going to ride off and disappear. I loved you, Eric even then, I loved you. I couldn’t deal with having you hurt because of me. Then the both of you showed up at the right time…I just…I just couldn’t. I was selfish but I’ve never wanted anything or anyone the way I did you two.”

It seemed so obvious now. I remembered the way she’d held me to her that night. I had just assumed she had been looking for someone to offer comfort while she was hurt. But she had said, ‘Bye’ instead of goodnight. The expression on her face, the way she kissed and held me it all made sense. The thought never crossed my mind. She was saying goodbye without really saying goodbye.

“I was too weak to leave but I’d made Godric a target for Russell, so I asked Sophie-Anne to force him to New Orleans.” She let out a long breath. “She owed me big time and she was willing. You would have been safer in the Queen’s back yard.”

“And Eric was safe because he was her sheriff,” Godric surmised.

She nodded.

“But I hindered that plan,” I added.

“You got so angry and Sophie-Anne didn’t want to risk you leaving. Three days was all you would give but it wasn’t enough. Russell himself called me after the first attempt. He told me he fell short on purpose as a warning. He said if he wanted to take Godric from us he could and that you’d hate me and I’d have exactly what I deserved, nothing.”

The anxiety from brushing against your deepest fears was written all over her. She sounded so broken and afraid. It ate at me though I fought the feeling. Her hands went into her hair and she fisted the strands briefly. The urge to reach out didn’t even register. I just found I was touching her. Taking hold of her wrists I rubbed the back of her hand with my thumb. Her body relaxed and her grip on her hair loosened.

“I went to Felipe then,” she whispered. “He contacted me after Dallas, said I’d need a friend like him before long. His price was territory and me. I could deliver all of it. All he had to do was train his eyes on Russell’s kingdom, make him nervous so he couldn’t focus all his energy on Godric,” she said. Again I found myself commending her decision. She was right. If Felipe was eyeing my state I would double my defenses no matter what my other interests were. “While he did that for me I would give him a way to take territory from Sophie-Anne.”

Sookie saw the tight strain in my jaw. I was a sheriff and she had just admitted to betraying my Queen. “I promised Felipe Sophie-Anne’s territory. I didn’t say which one.” Sookie continued.

There was no way she could have been that cunning or Felipe that dumb. Then again vampires underestimated her greatly and that was her greatest advantage. She meant to give Felipe Arkansas, which was as broke as a joke. In his attempts at taking take Sophie-Anne’s throne; Threadgill had almost bankrupted his state.

Godric interjected, “So what happened?”

I shared his curiosity as well. If she was a spying on Sophie-Anne she had had the means to come across valuable information especially where Arkansas was concerned. So why had she not yet delivered?

“Victor Madden.” It was as if reliving this tale was making her tired. “The attack at the airport should have never happened. I was feeding Felipe intel he could use. Russell was nervous and Godric was safe. The plan was working. Then Victor jumped the gun. He terrified Russell instead of just making him watchful so he hastily married Bertrand. With Indiana and Mississippi combined Felipe could no longer threaten Russell and we all knew it. Rhodes was my only chance to take Russell out and I had planned it perfectly.” She concluded looking down at her hands.

I noticed that she did this when she spoke of committing violent deeds. She had proven herself to be a more than efficient assassin but she was still a pacifist at heart. All this death and killing troubled her. Despite the necessity she despised herself every time things came to this junction.

How could I explain to her just how brilliant she was? In her shoes I would have made the same decisions. She had the greatest advantage of being underestimated and disregarded when in truth she outmatched her contenders. There was a saying, “The needs of many outweighed the needs of the few” When you were part of the few, it became a matter of survival.

Survival had its own rules: anything, everything, whatever it takes. She had done that with as little collateral damage as possible. No matter what she was afraid of, she would never be a monster, ever. The proof of it was right here. While she had wanted to end Russell, she hadn’t been blinded enough to sacrifice so many innocents by letting the bomb and bomber have their way.

“The bomb cut things short,” I said. “And you were right back where you started,” I concluded.

“I hated it. On top of Russell, I now had Felipe as an opponent. Of all the spies he had in the Queen’s nest none of them could deliver the intel I could. This was his best shot at taking her throne. And he wanted it despite the fact that his lackey dropped the ball. When I took off after Chicago it was to end Victor.”

I was looking at her but I couldn’t really say I saw her. I was looking at a creature that had assassinated a master vampire like it was nothing. She managed to do so without rousing the suspicions of the lovers in her life or people that would be looking for the culprit. Then I thought back to the way she cried after returning from that act, how broken she had been as we held her. Her words had applied to what I knew. I thought she had simply been referring to the fight in Chicago, the bomb, the fire at the church in Dallas, all of it. She had been referring to those acts and so many others. I had no idea how she carried it all inside, I had no idea how she endured.

“Why did you kill Madden?” Godric asked.

I was curious about that also. Everything she had done up until that point made sense. It had all been carefully planned to precision, calculated to the letter and executed flawlessly. Killing Victor seemed like a rash deed. It had been the desperate act of a person with their back against the wall.

“Felipe gave him a pound of flesh with the Russell detail and in doing so he could no longer control him. Victor had his own plans and he wasn’t going to roll with the charted course. Already he was trying to scare me, push me to do something dumb.” Okay, that made sense. He had been a loose end and a threat to the master plan and she had eliminated him. “Felipe lost his lieutenant and had to regroup. Russell was scared he would catch heat for it, and was lying low. I had some time to think. I was running out of options and I was getting desperate. So I did the only thing I could. I bargained with a fairy.”

Fucking fairies, just when I thought this plot couldn’t get any more convoluted. Oddly this was like being a passenger in a car that was on a collision course, I thought. I knew where this was going but there was nothing I could do to stop it. She continued, “Three years ago I came across one named Preston while I was in Ireland. I saved his life and in return he offered me three turns to return the favor or the procurement of items of equal but no greater value. Eric, I knew you didn’t kill the Rattrays, because I did. They’d drained Bill and he was flaking to ash when I found him.”

Bill Compton was a vampire with nine lives or he was the luckiest son of a bitch I’d ever come across. Her affection for him had long been a pain in my immortal ass and from the lengths she’d gone through it wasn’t going to wane. “You used one to save him.” I presumed.

“Yeah but he doesn’t remember. Far as he knows he killed them and burned down their trailer because they took silver to him,” she shrugged “It was kind of true.”

“This fairy, you trust him?” Godric asked.

Sookie snorted. “No. Especially because since he saved Bill I’ve felt someone following me. It was why I started staying over more, hanging out at Fangtasia.” Vampires were a natural repellent for fairies. They tasted like all things sweet and irresistible. We tended to glut ourselves and that didn’t end well for them. “Anyway, I traded an iron inhibitor in return for his help but he kinda screwed me. His help came in the form of a fairy named Niall.”

“Motherfucker,” I groaned. “Please don’t tell you mean the fairy prince,” I begged. There were just too many consequences in that for me to care to consider at the moment. He was a fucking hazard. If there was anything that was a powder keg to all these flames of animosity it was Niall. Her affinity for calamity was uncanny. “How in all the worlds did you attract the fairy prince?”

“He was the one following me. He’s my great grandfather on my dad’s side,” was her reply. “At least that’s what he says.”

Godric and I looked dumbfounded. There was nothing in her voice to say how she felt about it. Knowing Sookie she was happy, mad and sad all at the same time. Then again if she was descended from Fae it would explain her heightened appeal to all things supernatural.

“He said he came for me when my gran died but I had already taken off. He said he has been searching for me ever since. He wanted to know if there was anything he could do for me.”

I thought I knew what she would ask of him. Niall couldn’t kill Russell and Felipe without putting a hit out on all fairies. He could speak of his connection to her. That would be enough to make anyone rethink their position. If there was a choice you didn’t want to pick a fight with the sky fairy prince. Then again by going that route, he would put a target on her back. He too had no shortage of enemies. One is yours truly. From the second our paths crossed that Fae has been on my shit list.

“I asked him to kill Russell and make sure Felipe took the blame,” she said.

That would all but solve all our problems. If he was proved to have killed Russell, Felipe would be stripped of his land, title and all his riches because Bertrand as Russell’s spouse would demand it. That was if he was lucky. The worst case scenario, Bertrand would petition the Pythoness for the Cuban’s life and he would get it.

“He refused. He told me ‘Dead things have their own laws child, and we must not intercede,'” She quoted Niall in a nasally tone. “Instead he offered to spirit me away from the horrors of this place.”

“To the Fae realm,” Godric asked carefully. I knew in his mind Niall was dead but he was trying to be calm about it until he knew how Sookie felt about him.

“Don’t know exactly,” she answered with a shrug. “I didn’t ask; don’t care; wasn’t interested. He couldn’t do what I wanted so he could get lost, great grandfather or not. But he just wouldn’t quit.”

“How so?” I asked.

Unlike witches, fairies had several lifetimes to hone their power. They didn’t rely on incantations or spells. Their power was inherent. From what I knew Niall was my age. I was having a hard time believing that there was something he wanted of her that he simply couldn’t force her to do. His species was varying shades of powerful but he was even more so.

“He wanted me to turn so my beauty would be undying, so I would never die. Which seemed strange because then I would want to drink him to death yet he claimed to only want to know me. All that and I couldn’t get a direct answer out of him to save my life. I figured he had his own agenda and I wanted no parts. I asked the other fairy, Preston, what he knew and why he told Niall about me. He said Niall was trying to place me ever beyond the reach of another fairy named Breandan.”

Godric’s shoulders stiffened at the name. He was looking at Sookie like he wanted to simply steal her away and run to ends of the earth. I was all for that plan. We both knew what this now meant. Breandan was like the less popular, less revered fairy prince. With every passing decade he grew a bit more insane with his fanaticism. He hated humans with fairy blood. He blamed them for the decimation of his species. He’d made it his goal to exterminate them. The instrument he used were a pair of psychopaths named Lochlan and Neave.

“You will stay with us,” Godric said and for the first time I knew he wasn’t leaving it open for discussion.

“I could,” Sookie said. “I want to, now that you know but if this is because of Lochlan and Neave, they’re gone.”

“You killed Lochlan and Neave?” I asked looking for confirmation.

She nodded. “About two weeks ago they showed up out of thin air during the day and grabbed me. They teleported me to an abandoned house in Arkansas. They were real excited about their plans with me so much so they didn’t think to check me for a weapon.”

“Which was dumb,” I inserted sarcastically.

“Yeah,” she concluded as if she couldn’t believe it. “The minute I regained consciousness they were dead and I was jogging to the nearest gas station which was five miles away. That was the hardest part of the whole thing. I had no phone, no money and no wallet. It was such a pain.”

Godric and I smiled at her grumpy tone. I had to admit that of all her feats this was the most astounding. Those two made even vampires cringe. “Is that all?” I asked her.

Sookie looked at the ridiculous ceramic hen on the counter, the one that carried a clock in it’s breast. “Five minutes ago, Felipe and his people moved in on Sophie-Anne and her sheriffs,” she whispered.

---

Egads! Another cliffe…Oh come on it’s not that bad and I promise I’ll be back on the scheduled date. Hey don’t forget I’m on a mission for 500 reviews! Join the cause share your thoughts, feelings and show your support!

I pulled out my phone and tried to reach Cleo. She was the sheriff whose territory was closest to mine. Her phone rang and rang and went unanswered. I tried everyone else, Zane, Julius and Andre all to no avail.

“No one will be home,” Sookie continued absently. Her eyes blazed with concentration as she watched the clock. She appeared almost hypnotized by the ticking red hand that marked the seconds slipping past as she narrated events that neither of us could fathom. “He will be at the Queen’s safe house in the bayou now.” He’ll find her in bed.”

The phone was buzzing with a dial tone in my hand as I watched helplessly. I wanted to do something. I wanted to charge in and fight. But I knew that was useless now. The damage could not be undone. If the choice was between members of my state or her, it wasn’t a choice. It was her, always.

“It should be over soon.”

The house was silent. Sookie looked at me and I didn’t know what expression I wore. I just knew I was sorry for not seeing her as she was. I have seen her as a feisty human with a knack for trouble that had owned my heart. She was so much more than that. I wanted to protect her I now saw that that desire was just strong in her. With this she’d proved that there was no line she wouldn’t cross for our sake. It made me pity my enemies.

The ringing of the house phone broke through the hush that had gripped the scene. It rang once then twice until Sookie moved to answer.

“Hello,” she said in a thick voice. She was unblinking, her heart beat was slow and steady but there was tension in the set of her shoulders.

“Congratulate me!” the voice was almost mistakable because of the ecstatic ring to it. “I just got married!” my Queen said with a delighted chuckle.

Sookie let out a breath that she had been holding and closed her eyes as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “You got everything you wanted?”

Sophie-Anne laughed, not a titter but a full out laugh that ended in a breathy sigh. It was by far the most disturbing thing I have heard in all my years. Considering the night I was having that was saying something. “Yes,” she enthused. “I own him lock, socks and barrel.”

Godric and I shared a confused look. Neither of us knew what to make of this. That was definitely Sophie-Anne but the conversation made no sense. Judging by what Sookie had told us she should be no more. At this point I was sure I was hallucinating. I drank from a human that was fried to the gills. That had to be the answer. The moral of this ghastly hallucination: don’t do drugs. That couldn’t be Sophie Anne. She was not one who used modern idioms no matter how incorrectly. Here she was on the phone laughing and using crude language with Sookie as if they were the best of friends.

“Is everyone alright?” Sookie asked

“Yes, Felipe’s people, they fight like angry milk maids.” She mused. “We are quite disappointed. Verily, it is like donning a ball gown and finding I have no place to go.”

“Hello pet,” André called from the distance. His voice was bright with the thrill of the battle that had passed not too long ago.

“André says, hello.” Sophie-Anne relayed.

“Tell him I said, hey. How did the mags and vests we cooked up work?”

Of course he heard her. He moved closer to Sophie-Anne to speak into the phone.

“The vest is genius,” he chuckled. “They didn’t know what to make of it. But the bullets have too much kick like you anticipated or maybe we should just adjust it for a lower caliber weapon. I’m not sure. Send me your schematics and I’ll send you mine,”

Sookie nodded absently but made no other remark. She looked so worn and tired. Obliviously he continued on, “Come to see me at months end. I’ll send the jet.”

She nodded again, “Yeah, sure. I have to go.”

He paused then said, “You are wetting my show.”

This time she actually chuckled. It still boggled my mind that she genuinely seemed to like that asshole. In the near century I have been here the most I could drum up for him was thinly veiled distaste. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to rain on your parade, bud. I’m happy for ya’ll really. I’m just having uh…guy problems at the moment.”

There was another pause as the phone changed hands and the Queen came back on. “You overplayed your hand by telling them without my presence.” she said sternly. “They could have killed you.” Her tone was cool and commanding like I have come to know it.

“They didn’t,” Sookie said confidently. “They wouldn’t.”

Her hand ran reflexively around her neck due to how close I had come. Physically the pain was gone and so was any damage I had done. But her hand lingered around her neck as if to rub away the memory. The action made guilt surge through me. I had done that to her. She sensed it and dropped her hand and shook her head at me to disagree.

“I need to go,” she said to the Queen.

“Sheriff, when your maker returns to my area I expect the both of you to accompany him. That is an order.” Then she hung up.

There was no way to avoid the conversation though she tried to. Sookie prolonged it for a few seconds. She hung up the phone with deliberate care and then took her time turning around. She turned but she couldn’t seem to face me or Godric. I felt the barest glimpse of her, guilt, shame, remorse, fear and heartache. I couldn’t read more into it because she was shutting herself off, away from us again.

“You would have resented me if I let your Queen die. Plus I like her,” Sookie said. “This was the only way. Felipe’s off my back and Sophie-Anne got a rich and powerful husband she can control.”

None of that mattered. The image of me willfully and purposefully causing her harm was all I could see. I knew why she didn’t try to explain it all to me beforehand. And angry as I was, I wouldn’t have believed her, contrarily it would have only fed my anger. I walked to her slowly and waited for her to shrink back of show fear but she didn’t. She looked at me like she always did. If anything was different, it was the guilt on her face. It had to be heavy to have escaped the hold she was trying to place on her emotions. When I was close enough to touch her I fell to my knees.

“I raised my hand to you in anger,” I said.

The words tasted so foreign I still couldn’t believe I had ever committed such an atrocity. Every sordid thing she’d told me, every presumed act of betrayal, had been born of her love for me and Godric. I didn’t have enough faith in her. She’d shed blood for me, killed for me, she had taken punishment for me. She had bled for me, but I’d been eager to execute her. Nothing she had done had been for herself, it had been for me; to keep me in my position, to keep me safe. It had been for Godric, to keep him safe. We would have done the same for her and so much more, to protect her so she wouldn’t have to suffer or worry or hurt. I wasn’t sure if the roles had been reversed if I could have done so while maintaining my place in power. After all that, I had hurt her.

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” she said with a shake of her head, “because I don’t care.” She dropped to her knees and cupped my face. “Just tell me you know I love you, tell me you believe that I would never hurt you.”

Heaven above, I believed that more than I believed that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. “I know it. I feel it and I will never again doubt it. You love me,” I said reciprocating her touch. “More than the moon and all the stars after the longest of days.”

She heaved a sigh of relief and rested her forehead against mine. “And then some.”

Later that night the three of us were in bed at my house. Godric had his arm partially thrown over mine. Sookie was in the same position on the other side of me. Her fingers were drawing listless patterns up and down Godric’s arms, or tracing his tattoos at intervals. My fingers were running through her hair and his free hand was absently twirling an errant strand of my hair. It was moments like this that I lived for, not the sex that sometimes preceded it.

“I’m curious beloved,” Godric said breaking the silence. “How did you tell Sophie-Anne about all of this without her killing you?”

“In Arkansas, when Peter tried to kill her I saved her life. She called and offered me a life in return.”

That was as close to absolution as one human could get from a vampire. It was a show of the deepest favor. The Queen had offered to turn Sookie or someone of her choosing. She offered to take a life at her behest or save a life without a turning. Old as I was I had only ever heard of that being done a hand full of times.

“The day you came back,” she rubbed Godric’s face. “I told her everything because she wouldn’t help me otherwise and I needed to make sure you were safe. After you got hurt the first time I asked her for help in taking Russell out but she couldn’t risk it. Her hands were full with Threadgill. She knew I would go to someone else, so we chose Felipe. I didn’t have to spy on her. She gave me everything I needed to know as long as she got Felipe in the end,” she concluded.

“I’m amazed.” I said, though I shouldn’t be anymore. “How did you get her to trust you with something like this?”

Sookie shrugged. “She knew the only thing I cared about, and understood that as long as she didn’t threaten the men I loved, I’d stay on her side,” she sighed. “Of course she wasn’t so happy when I used the life she gave me to save Felipe.”

“Why?” Godric asked.

“I know it seems stupid because I’m letting a potential threat walk, but he never tried to hurt me. And though I was prepared to do it, the thought of ending him never sat right for that same reason.”

I wasn’t sure she knew it but that explanation didn’t surprise either of us. It was her nature. My mind moved to the other antagonists. Only Russell and Breandan were left. Russell was a vampire and so to a certain extent his moves could be anticipated. It wasn’t the same for the fairy. I wasn’t sure what could be done but I knew he was coming. We had to plan. If there was anything that was known of that water Fae, it was that he wouldn’t stop. Fanatics rarely ever paid reason any heed. Then there was Niall and his role in all this. He might not be an enemy but he was no friend. I pushed it all aside for the moment.

“Why are you friends with André?” I asked because I thought I would never understand that one. “And if you tell me there’s no good reason behind it, I’ll end him.”

Godric chuckled. Sookie swatted my arm. “Be nice.”

I sighed and nodded. I’d been teasing…mostly.

“After Russell and before Quinn I was in a dark place. I felt like I had to change. I felt like there was something so integrally wrong with me, something so awful, that no one could really love me.”

“That is not true,” Godric interjected.

Sookie nodded and smiled softly. “I know that now, but then…I acted out. I did things I wasn’t proud of. I lived fast. I ripped off people, taking advantage any which way I could. I told myself they’d do it to me. It didn’t change the way I felt when I went to bed at night. I knew I was just ruining things I couldn’t have and hurting a world I felt hurt me. Quinn gave me a different perspective. He was bleeding and half dead and none of his thoughts were about his injuries, he was thinking about his sister. It made me remember the way my big brother loved me. It was something I’d forgotten about over the years of being alone. It’s one of the reasons why Quinn will always be my brother. Seeing those familiar things in people around me helped see more of what I once had, who I’d been and who I wanted to be. André forces me to remember the way I could have turned out. I look at him and see what I would have been like if I’d been in the darkness longer, if I’d been hurt worse.”

“What about Bill?” I asked.

Both my lovers rolled their eyes. “Are you ever going to let that go?” Godric asked with a smile. I shook my head. I still didn’t like him and they knew it.

“Bill is my boy next door.” Sookie said.

“He’s your neighbor,” Godric observed, looking somewhat confused.

Sookie leaned over and kissed the corner of his lips. He was old and had spent the past hundred years in a fog. There was just something’s a year of cable television couldn’t fix.

“The boy next door is a term to describe the perfect wholesome man of the current time.” I said, shaking my head. “Seriously, you might want to add some romantic comedies to your daily sci-fi infusions.”

Sookie chuckled and he bit me gently in swift retaliation. “Mix in some sci-fi to your horror movies.” He had me there.

“When I see him, I see that who you are isn’t determined by events but the choices you make and the values you stay true to. He made me believe that if you fight hard enough no one can take those things from you, not even death. And if I was a normal woman and he was a human, he would have been the one I would have married and had a boat load of babies with; the perfect southern gentleman,” she smiled.

“So you’re trying to give me more reason to end him?” I asked. This time they both swatted at my chest.

“Honestly, where did you get him from?” Sookie asked Godric. “I don’t think he’s a Viking. I would bet he’s a Barbarian,”

I chuckled. Getting a rise out of her still amused me. The only difference between now and the day we met, was that it was never at her expense anymore. She tried not to smile but lost. With all the different people that helped her find a way to maintain who she was I wondered aloud what Godric and I were.

She smiled and replied, “Everything,”

---

It was pointless to contemplate Niall’s motivations because he appeared the next night. Sookie Godric and I were in the parking lot of Fangtasia and he ghosted out from the night as if he had always been. He was in a three piece suit that was as distinguished as it was fitting of his title. Our paths hadn’t crossed in centuries. The years showed. It didn’t mean that as finely lined as his face was he had grown weaker with time, quite the contrary. Even the cane he was leaning upon wouldn’t fool anyone with common sense.

“Hello child,” he said inclining his head to the side. He couldn’t see Sookie, she was behind the wall Godric and I had formed in front of her. “Come, I will have words with you.” He didn’t spare us a glance but he did remain where he was. It was slightly farther apart than two groups should be while having a conversation even though his scent was masked.

“You do not command her,” I inserted coolly.

Sookie didn’t side step Godric and I. She moved and we parted so some of her showed but she was mostly behind us. “Evening,” she said. She inclined her head in an identical manner and her drawl ran thick. “These words we’re supposed to be having, are they new or more of the same ole same ole?”

Niall pretended to think about it then he shrugged his deceptively hunched shoulders. “Come and see for yourself,”

Godric and I hissed, the noise of which was like a swarm of raging bees.

The fairy showed no signs of being slightest bit unnerved. “How ever do you tolerate them?” he scrunched his nose without ever looking at us.

“Lay off the vampire thing,” my lover said firmly. “They’re not in the mood and neither am I.”

He nodded his head as if he had been thoroughly chastised. “Surely they know as you do that I will never harm you. I couldn’t.”

“So you’ve said,” she allowed. “What you haven’t told me is what you want.”

“You are all that is left of my beloved Fintan. I desire nothing but to keep you safe always.” He shot me and Godric a pointed look. “Perhaps find you a suitable mate, but that is neither here or there.”

We growled and inched forward and Sookie wound her arm around our waists It was both to restrain and to offer reassurance. It helped dull the urge to rip his head off and dance on his pile of dust despite the public setting. Niall smirked ever so softly. In response I flashed fang. This was typical fairy behavior. He was prodding at me to incite me and then feign innocence. It shouldn’t get to me but it did. I wanted to hurt him—a lot.

Sookie sighed, “So the same old song then.” She moved the hold she had on me and took my hand. She did the same thing with Godric and then began pulling us away.

“Wait,” Niall said, sounding more serious and we did. “I came with a warning.”

He was late. His warning should have come to her more than two weeks ago. “Lochlan and Neave,” I spat. Not being used to having his card pulled the fairy stood straighter and inched closer.

“I have had someone watching them since they entered this world,” the fairy said. “Now the shadow knows not where they have gone and I fear they will come for you.”

“They did,” Sookie replied with a nod.

It must have been an inadvertent thing. The sky Prince tightened the hold on his cane and his eyes narrowed at that bit of news. For the smallest portion of a second he looked horrified and then he masked it or the minor slip could have been for my benefit. It was difficult to tell with them.

“They killed your son,”she continued looking at him with sympathy. “My grandfather?”

“Yes,” the Prince said grimly.

She nodded. “They laughed about what they did to him, how they made him suffer,” Tears clouded the Prince’s eyes, “They were still laughing about it as I put a bullet through Neave’s skull and two in Lochlan’s heart.”

“You have done your family proud,” he said dabbing at his tears.

“My family is here.” she retorted calmly. Niall couldn’t see but as she spoke those words she squeezed our hands.

He changed tactics and moved to trying to inveigle her. “They can’t protect you like I can,” he insisted. “Come home with me, I will show you a whole new world. You have two great uncles, one of whom is your grandfather’s twin, and cousins who will desire to know you. You won’t have to be alone.”

“A,” I began. I found that I was no longer annoyed by him. It was because while Sookie treated him with the same amount of consideration that she did everyone else, nothing less and nothing more. “She can take very good care of herself…”

“And she will never be alone,” Godric said.

“Breandan knows of you,” he continued in a frustrated tone. “Ask your vampires, they can tell you of his feats. He will not be easy. He will come like rain. He will never stop, not until you are dead. So, what shall you do then?”

“The same thing I always do,” Sookie said with a shrug. “Win.”

---

The story is done and is going through the editing phase. Since I no longer want to torment my lovely readers with cliffies I’ll upload the last three chapters at once.

Or if you guys don’t mind the torment let me know but either ways, ladies and gentlemen this will be over by Wednesday…I’m sad about that 😦

On the upside I’m fairly confident I will reach my mark and I have all of you awesome people to thank!

Chapter Thirty Five

The only thing Niall had done to counteract his feud with Breandan was evade and avoid conflicts so he could avoid war. Since it was impending no matter what he had to say about it, he had offered to tip Sookie off as soon as he heard something. We all knew it was her that Breandan would come for if not for revenge for Lochaln and Neave, then because she was part Fae and attached to the Prince.

So while it wasn’t much the warning was one we would need because the fairy wasn’t our only enemy. We still had a score to settle with Russell Edgington. For now my Queen was keeping her eye on him. Coupled with her unwilling but powerful new husband, Felipe, Louisiana was now a force few wanted to tangle with. Once Breandan went down the king of Mississippi was next.

The next month was fairly quiet. We kept the appearance of business as usual and I took every night without news as good news. It gave me more time to plan. I wasn’t getting any hands from Sophie-Anne. It would draw attention and that was the last thing we needed. Breandan had to be made to feel like he had the element of surprise and the upper hand.

September was half way over and on a Thursday evening I rose to find Sookie dressed for war. The absence of Casey was a big enough indicator. Whenever she was going to be gone for more than two hours Sookie left her kitten with her former roommate. It wasn’t her all black attire that told me she had gotten the call we’d been waiting for. It was her emotions. In me I didn’t feel anything that was familiar in the woman I loved. There was no fear, no uncertainty, no anticipation of the battle to come, nothing. Had I not known what we would be facing when we left home it would have alarmed me. But I knew it was what all of us had to do tonight. It was the best way to guarantee we made it home.

“What would you guys say if I asked you to sit this out?” she looked to Godric. He was dressed similarly in all black and was perched on the kitchen counter with a bottle of blood in hand.

“I would not care.” Godric said. “I care not what we do, so long as we are together. All of us or none of us.”

“I’d tell you to try and make me,” was my cool retort. I kissed her head and went into the fridge to grab a blood.

She smiled and it was a cross between exasperation and resignation. “Thought so,” she huffed.

I got dressed and downed a six pack of blood without a grimace. Once that was done we rode back to Sookie’s home in Godric’s car. I could read the activity of the deceptively quiet night. There were two natured of several varieties. I was guessing werewolf, panther, the shifter and something wilder, tiger. They blended in nicely with those of my vampires. Thalia, Clancy and Indira were present. They were all I could spare but I hoped it would be enough. Pam had been under an edict not to come anywhere near here.

There wasn’t enough information on me to go off where our enemy was concerned. Brendan could have ten with him and he could have twenty, raging anywhere from centuries to decades old. Their abilities were also unknown. Therefore I couldn’t risk them touching any of us. They were almost as nasty as witches in that respect. We had to plan on using overwhelming odds to gain victory. Not the best strategy but not the worse either.

Godric kissed Sookie and me then he left to group the formation to better prepare our ambush. Also I knew he needed space to clear his mind. He would have to drag the creature he had become over the ages to the surface after setting it to rest. I knew a part of him hated it but he would do anything, be anything for Sookie and so would I.

Sookie with her ability caught the approach before I caught the scent. “Someone up stairs likes me.” She said with a relieved smile. “Barry,” she called taking off at a light sprint. She threw herself into his arms and held him tight.

Behind Barry were members of the kingdom of Texas. I didn’t know the specifics on how Sookie had pulled it off but I was beyond glad that she had. She contacted Stan but he had made no promises. My guess was he still very much remembered the last time we had been in his state.

“Thank you.”

“Nothin’ doin’ sug. This don’t even make us near even,” he said “At least in my book. But Stan says and I quote, ‘My debt is paid. Inform her, I owe her no more lives.'”

“Thank you all the same,” Sookie replied.

The vampires from behind him came over to me and Barry wished us luck and parted with Farrell. That had been really good but it wasn’t all. The pair were still visible when more help came.

“André,” I said turning towards the deepest parts of the woods. I was so familiar with his scent that it registered even from the distance and he was not alone.

He spared me a nod. “Hello pet,” he said with a bright smile aimed at Sookie.

Had she not explained I never would have understood their bizarre relationship. There was zero sexual attraction on either part. They weren’t overly friendly. In fact sometimes they were ornery. They had similar interests like guns and explosive but it didn’t seem like enough to tolerate the likes of André. In my eyes very little was.

“S’up bud,” She said going over and nudging her shoulder with his.

“We are friends, aren’t we?” he said throwing a hand around her shoulders and leaning his head against hers.

I still didn’t like André but he had climbed some notches. He had brought the top fighters of the Queen’s guard. It was a sign of the regard in which Sophie-Anne held Sookie. She showed trust. Not much, because I would wager she was in a safe house in the middle of nowhere. Still, this was a grand gesture. It was help we might need.

“Yeah,” Sookie said thoughtfully. “I guess that’s why even though you could be anywhere in the world, you’re here with me, huh?”

He shot her a confused look and shook his head. “No, I want to test the new sig saucers,”

Sookie punched his arm and narrowly avoided his answering jab. They laughed and despite myself I couldn’t help but smile. That was just odd. “The bullets are good for capture and I also brought vests”

They crouched over a black bag he had brought and armed themselves. “No capture on the menu today. Just kills.”

Sookie had created caviler vest for vampires. She had picked many things from Dallas. The research facility had been making ample head way in vampire extermination weaponry. She had taken many ideas and modified them. The bullets I had found were just one of many. The vests she had given André in the fight against Felipe repelled any and all things silver, be they bullets or daggers. Several of the younger vampires were armed with them now.

The tiger came slinking out from the woods and he nudged his head into Sookie’s middle. She shot him a look of censure.

“Yeah Quinn,” she said wrapping her arms around his massive neck. “I’m sure.”

I arched a brow at her to explain but she simply shook her and came to my side and took my hand. Sookie was seated between Godric and I. The night was still as we sat in position to await the fairies. Aside from the rise and fall of her chest she was utterly still. She had closed herself off again. It was just a guess because all three of us had. Feeling blood lust might shake her and ruin her focus, likewise feeling her anxiety might ruin ours. Any anxiety she felt would make us fight with fear instead of skill and strength. It was a weakness we couldn’t afford.

The first indicator was the shifter. He appeared before Sookie as some kind of little raccoon. They shared some kind of communication.

“Two minutes until enemy contact,” Sookie said. She removed the safety from her gun and André did the same. Everyone else did one last weapons check. “Inbound from the northeast and southwest points. Atlas,” There was a low purr as the tiger answered. “You’re with Cap, intercept hostiles from the south. Hit them hard, hit them fast and drive them north. André, you and yours are with me and my guys’.” Because if he fell we would have Sophie-Anne’s wrath to contend with “We’ll take the north. Everyone else, answer distress calls in either direction if you can, otherwise sit tight and await your packages in the center, we’ll bring the party to you.”

“Lover, that is the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” I said it because I simply couldn’t let it go unsaid.

There were several snorts of amusement. “I have to agree,” Godric chimed in.

It was probably warped considering what we were facing but I have never been so turned on by mere words alone. Sookie sounded sure and authoritative. She was armed, dangerous and giving orders in a way that made you want to follow. There was something about her being in charge of such a powerful force and using it to its full capacity that made me want her.

More than the dominant air to her was the fact that she was baring all that she was. Often she’d been our fiery vixen and the bed had been her stage. Add the fact that we were all about to go into a fight and it was a huge turn on. It was too much to contemplate that our opponents were going to be fairies. I was dying to get home so I could make love with my lovers until the sun came up.

“You guys are such pervs,” Sookie muttered under her breath but there was laughter in her voice before she continued to address the fighters. “Team, the objective is to kill, accept no surrender and take no prisoners and show no mercy because I can guaran-damn-tee that you’ll get none in return.”

A minute later, the effervescent warmth in the air that signaled that the fairies were coming. Our ambush had been perfectly coordinated. The roar of several two natured signaled the beginning of the battle. I had no idea what the fairies were expecting but it wasn’t for two species to be working together to take them down.

Before Sookie, Godric, myself, Thalia and André’s team got too far north we heard the team from the south driving the fight to the ambush in the center. It didn’t take long for hell to break loose soon after that.

Once we reached our targets I had lost my visual on Sookie. I didn’t worry. The continuous fall of bullet shells were preceded by the crack of gun fire. It helped me focus. André was firing one gun and my lover was on the other. The thing about vampires fighting fairies was that when a vampire made a kill and allowed him or herself a taste of the kill they became utterly useless. While we had them buried in bodies, we were losing fighters that had never encountered a fairy before because they reacted instinctively. Thankfully there were not many.

“Mag,” André called.

The only other person that had what he needed was Sookie and she was nowhere near him. She was facing off with a fairy female with a mace and the broad knew how to use it. She was having some trouble. Before I could make my way over Godric intercepted. He made quick work of the dark haired Fae, perching on her back and relieving her of her head.

Sookie ran past me but she wasn’t going to reach André soon enough. He was well out of his league with two fairies attacking him head on. I caught her and took the item and launched it to the lieutenant while she covered my back.

To have bet all his forces on this attack, Breandan must have been sure of victory. That was the only reason a fairy would risk what was left of their dying species male or female. The fighting had thinned and there was really no one left for our allies to kill. It was as if Sookie had picked up and verbalized my train of thought.

“Something’s wrong,” she said stilling and whipping her head from side to side. “He isn’t here.” Considering that we were killing his supporters in droves, that was unusual.

“That’s because I am here, you filthy eyesore.” He must have been fast to have gotten the drop on her. He appeared behind Sookie. One hand was around her throat and the other held a dagger to her throat.

I stilled and it was Godric who had to finish off my opponent for me. My eyes were wide with terror and my body stood frozen with it. No matter how fast I moved I wouldn’t be able to intercept that. By the way Godric had tensed beside me I knew there was nothing he could do either. None of the friends Sookie had could save her even as we formed a circle around the last Fae standing. All we could do was watch.

Despair didn’t set in. I refused to lose her. If Breandan cut her throat I could turn her and keep her with me. It was not something we had talked about in great detail but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to care. She wasn’t leaving us. It was just that simple.

“You are truly disgusting, aren’t you?” Breandan hissed looking at the scene with loathing. His people fought fiercely but died all the same. “Your own kind abhors you and they should. You are an abomination; exactly what we warn the others of but they pay us no heed. They allow Niall to continue destroying our people,” he caressed her face in a deceivingly tender gesture. “I will end him and his line with you.”

“Lots of fairies here,” Sookie replied sounding unconcerned. “Some dead; some dying but Niall ain’t one of them.”

“He didn’t tell you, did he?” Breandan mocked. “No, Niall never tells all.” He wound his arm around her waist holding her closer, holding her so tightly to him that she gasped for breath. “No matter,” A manic glaze had washed over his eyes.

Godric and I crept forward in infinitesimal movements. It did not go unnoticed. “You cannot save her, dead things, you can only watch as I place her ever beyond your reach,” Breandan continued with a bright smile. “You have waged this war little girl, you have exhausted your resources and my victory will be achieved with your death. I have won.” He caressed her face.

Sookie laughed and she sounded sincerely amused. “For all your better than thou talk you’re awfully dim. War never determines whose right,” Sookie said with a soft smile. “Only who was left. And at the very end, when the paint dries and the dust settles, when the elusive fat lady finally gets to sing her song, I will always be the last one standing. This dance with the devils’ no different.”

I watched her face and there was no fear. There was nothing that showed that was paying the fairy at her back any heed. Her eyes were on Godric and me. That should have been a good thing. It should have reassured me that she had a plan but it didn’t. What I felt coming from her wasn’t concentration or unyielding focus like earlier, it was grim acceptance.

“Let us put that to the test,” he said.

The fairy lowered his blade from her throat and sliced a shallow path to her heart. In the bond I felt her trying to calm me but I didn’t want to be calm. Sookie didn’t fight or even flinch from the pain. Contrarily the lower it became the more serene she became. Her face was peaceful; it was a clam that only the embrace of death could offer.

Godric flittered from my side but fast as he was he even he was only able to catch her before she fell. Breandan plunged the knife into Sookie a fraction before that. At the angle the blade passed through Sookie’s lungs, and pierced his heart. The Fae bastard got a painless death of his own choosing. While he made sure she would die slowly and painfully and couldn’t be saved by us. I was looking into her paling face and the gushing wound that wouldn’t heal. Her lungs were flooding with blood. She would drown in it. Vampire blood would do nothing.

My lover, my Sookie, my reason for being, wasn’t going to die. I wasn’t selfless enough to let her go. Dying was easy and I wasn’t that merciful. Even if she had to suffer through the fires of hell to get back to us she would do it.

“You can be angry when you rise,” I said. I was used to it and could deal with it even if it lasted forever. “I can live with that but not this.”

She gasped. “…need to trust me,” her eyes were focused even as the life was leaving her body at an alarming pace. “…have to die.”

My hands were fisted in my hair tugging at the strand in utter duress. The pain helped me stay focused even though I was one shard away from falling apart. I was beyond words. I had no idea how I was going to totally disregard what she asked of me. I couldn’t. I choked on the pain and sobbed.

It was Godric who spoke for me. “No, beloved no,” he said “We cannot.”

Bloody tears were running down his cheeks also and he looked like a creature holding onto his very sanity by a scant thread. Seeing her hurt and suffer was bad enough. To watch as the life left her eyes and her pulse fade into shadow was too much for either of us. Damn what she wanted. We would ignore it. It was just a matter of who would turn her.

“I told you. I could handle anything except this. You can hate me,” He said with a nod as he rolled up his sleeve. “I will live with that forever if I must but not this, not like this.”

To the south I heard snarls and sounds of fighting but I didn’t think it was more enemy forces. The weres might have been disagreeing over something. I couldn’t spare the energy to think more into it.

“…never hate you,” Sookie rasped shaking her head. “Ever, love you…both…more than anything.”

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her body trembled and shivered as deaths chill settled over her like an everlasting cloak. She tried to speak but she was seized by a bout of coughs that her battered body could hardly force out. With what little strength she had in her body she averted her eyes to André, Thalia and Lucas of Texas. I noticed much too late that they were the only ones around and that they were grouped oddly close together.

“Stop them,” she whispered.

Thalia, André and his guard blitz Godric and I. The attack was so unexpected that it gave them the advantage they needed. They were fighting to restrain which meant they pretty latched onto us and hung on. We the both of us fought hard but there was nothing to be done for their numbers.

Damn that woman and her affinity for knowing us. Sookie knew we wouldn’t listen. No matter how much we trusted her, to be faced with her death was not something Godric or I could handle. She knew it.

There was a serene smile on her face as she looked up at starry night sky and the crescent moon. “The sun has set on my time in the world of the living. The darkness has come. I call the reaper…” Sookie wheezed and fought to suppress another bout of coughs even as blood seeped from her lips. “…for my soul to take.”

Those last words had been made through sheer force of will alone. This was a fucking nightmare. She was dying right in front of me and I was helpless to save her. We both were. Her heart beat was fizzling all throughout and it was now so faint. I could barely hear it. I could now barely feel the warmth of her body. I was so close. I was so close but it wasn’t enough.

“She’s dying!” I roared “André that is not something you want.” No matter what else I knew, I was certain he cared about her even if only a little. He cared. “Let me go! Please, let me go.” His body was wrapped around mine on the ground, his hands snaked more forcefully around my neck, while his guards pinned down the rest of me.

“I do not want this,” and he truly sounded like he didn’t. “I owe her a life and this is how she settles the score.” He replied. “I must prevent your intervention so my debt will be paid.”

I looked and found that Godric was fighting Thalia and Rasul and Lucas. I knew why Sookie had chosen all of them to be here tonight at this last stand, why she had grouped them with us. They all owed her blood and lives in varying amounts. In Arkansas she had saved Seigebert and Sophie-Anne, which explained André’s presence. In Dallas she had saved Lucas at the club and then she also saved the lives of vampires at the Dallas nest. Barry’s comment made sense. During her brush with Hallow she had saved Thalia. The softness that I thought I imagined with Thalia had been real. She had regained the memory of her time when she was cursed. She would do what Sookie wanted even if it killed her. She would do it.

Neither Godric nor I ever stopped fighting for the woman we loved. With every slowing beat of her heart our fighting became more desperate. She was dying and soon there was truly nothing we could do. Finally the last beat came and we froze. Our struggles subsided in unison. Our eyes locked and we realized we were all alone all over again. The bond that had held us together was missing the most vital part. It was the point of pain so deep and so potent there was nothing we could do. The hands holding us were useless. There was nothing else to fight for. She was now forever beyond our reach. She was gone.

It never got a chance to register that glaring truth. There was a shimmer of light and a figure appeared over Sookie’s head where she now so very still and lifeless. From the size it was a male and he dressed in an immaculately cut black suit with black tie and black cape. I couldn’t see the face but I heard more than a few indrawn gasps.

“Felicitari,” the deep voice murmured. In his tone there was surprise but his affection wasn’t lost. The language was Hungarian but with a newer Romanian lilt to it. “You have won fată mea.” He sounded more than a little saddened by what he saw. From my peripheral I saw him drop to his knees and place a kiss on her forehead. His face was still looming directly over hers as he whispered, “You defeated them all.”

The hold André had on my neck slackened enough to allow me to turn my head to the side. What I saw was the last thing I had ever expected. There was just no way that could be who I thought it was. There was just no fucking way that Dracula, the prince of darkness, was here.

He ran his little finger deeply over his fangs and slipped it deftly into the knife wound at Sookie’s side. He caressed her face as he worked, brushing sweat and blood soaked hair from her face. Looking up as if taking notice of the rest of us for the first time, he waved an errant hand. There was an otherworldliness to the way he moved, it was written in that slight gesture alone. It emanated from the glow of his body and the way he seemed to stand apart from all that was around him, untouchable.

“Visigoth, Viking,” he said with a nod of his head. Suddenly the hold of André and his guards fell away. He didn’t have to do the same for Godric; Thalia, Lucas and Rasul had already released him. “Come, your lover needs to go where I go, for now.” He rose, dexterously gathering Sookie in his arms. I noticed that he hadn’t removed the finger that he’d imbedded in her side. It was what kept me from taking her from him. Whatever purpose it was serving it was necessary. The same bright light appeared. It was some kind of portal. Dracula stepped through it and neither Godric nor I needed to think before we followed in after him. We could be walking into the sun but that was the least of our troubles.

The feel of the light that surrounding the opening was cool. It raised the hairs on the back of my neck. That wasn’t at all a good sign but it wasn’t enough to slow my pace. There was a moment where the lighting got too bright and I had to close my eyes against it. The feeling of solid ground beneath my feet fell away. It felt like I was falling but my ability to fly didn’t kick in. Godric’s hand in mine kept me centered while we traveled through time, location, and maybe even through space. I had no idea and in truth it didn’t matter. I would walk through fire for Sookie.

The blinding light stopped. My feet found purchase and the spinning sensation stopped. I blinked a few times and found that I was in a bedroom. The first thing I noticed was the amount of moisture in the air. It told me I was very high up in terms of altitude. Then the room itself registered. It was old world, really old world. The décor was Gregorian in its feel. It lacked nothing in opulence and deep colors. It was intense without being oppressive. There was a candled chandelier that hung from the domed ceiling that served as the only source of light. The carvings that adorned the bed, the paintings on the wall, every well placed fixture, they all spoke of an older place and time.

Dracula placed Sookie on the bed. He waited a few more seconds before he removed his finger from her side. With another wave of his hand over her sleeping form her bloody battle worn clothes fell away. She was in a night gown. Her face was clean. Her hair wound itself in a neat braid that fell over her right shoulder. That should impress me a lot more than it did and I was sure if I was in less of a state of panic it would.

“She has always been so lovely,” he murmured stepping away with her discarded clothes in hand. “So beautiful and extraordinary in her soul that it angered death.”

“I do not understand. How?” Godric asked moving to the side of the bed and taking a seat.

“Have you never wondered how or why she finds so much violence finds her despite her or your best efforts?”

Yes. I have wondered that very thing on more than one occasion. I’d once teased her that I didn’t see nearly as much violence in the dark ages as she seemed to find just by getting out of bed in the morning. All of that I’d simply attributed to her beauty, telepathy and her immersion into the world of the supernatural. Bad luck maybe, but nothing like this.

“Getting struck by lightning is bad luck.” Dracula said, rolling his eyes. “Her’s is a curse.”

He waved a hand and a little glass dome that held a single lily flower appeared and on it was a single petal that clung. The lone petal was the color of lavender and smelled like Sookie. It was her blood and probably her life force that kept the flower alive and nothing else. I didn’t need an explanation on why so many petals had fallen. Those that had fallen were the shade of blood but as the pile rose they gradually began to morph in color. Burgundy bled into bright red and that turned to pink and then lilac. I stared in equal parts dismay and awe. There were countless petals, so much so it nearly covered the entire stem.

“Igen,” Dracula said looking at me and Godric. “You are correct; every time a petal fell she found herself in mortal peril and was gazing upon the reaper’s door.”

I was trying to understand how she had survived because I simply had no idea. My poor lover. How many times had she been hurt, been afraid, and near death but so alone? It made me hurt to contemplate the reality. In my thousand years of life I did not think I had brushed the veil this many times. Mere days ago she had come clean about so much. She had told us everything about her, the good, the bad and ugly. So why had she not told us about this?

“She would have dropped dead,” he said reading our minds. A part of me was aware of it but since it had been helping move the conversation along I didn’t fight or bristle at the intrusion.

“The reaper, he is like all the Gods that govern the forces of this world. Little does he care for the plight of those upon this plane, but it does happen. Someone extraordinary enough will peak his interest, be they evil or good it matters not. Fortunately, there are rules that dictate balance in all the worlds and the reaper, he is not exempt. He desired your mate and couldn’t simply take her for it was not her time. He could however plague her, and plague her he did. He took everything from her eagerly and hoped she would succumb to his embrace on her own.”

That hung in the air. I wondered if Sookie knew and I hoped she didn’t because she would blame herself. “I have mastered death,” the Prince continued. “He coveted me for my particular brand of…shall we say, antisocial behaviors.” He flashed a wicked smile. “Now in turn I see him where he stalks and hear him when he calls. I met your Sookie when she was fifteen years of age. That day she had run away and death walked soundly by her side. He was calling her name so very loudly that it was all I could hear. Truly, I have never seen him haunt one person so. I was further intrigued because this little thing moved with a completely irrational sense of optimism.” He paused to smile down at her, though it was more sardonic than anything else. “As I drew closer I realized she was part Fae, not just any Fae, but the Elite of her generation.”

“What is that?” Godric asked. I shared the confusion; that was not a term I’d ever heard. It wasn’t saying much, Fairies ever let known what they didn’t want common knowledge.

“Niall the sky prince he is the Elite of his generation, powerful and revered even by his foes. Breandan was the Elite of his and so on. Elites are inherently gifted and always leave their marks on the world be it good or bad.”

That explained why Niall wanted her with him. He could have trained her and made her an even more formidable contender than she was now. That was one reason he might want her but the words Breandan spoke were still in my mind.

Dracula snorted and rolled his eyes in a very human way. “I’m not even going to touch that one,” he muttered. “Anyway, that day I told her the truth of her future out of mercy perhaps. She thanked me and with a warm smile she continued on her way. I watched her go, very sure that at any moment something would happen to settle her score. It didn’t.”

Both Godric and I whipped our heads to the bed. Sookie’s heartbeat pattered back into existence. It had stopped back at the woods of her home. We hung on the beat now but it was fleeting. Dracula wasn’t didn’t appear to be surprised by this. He paused momentarily in his tale to slice his little finger again and inserted it into her mouth, seeing the knife wound had been presumably bandaged but not healed.

Once he was finished tending to Sookie, Dracula removed his cloak and draped it behind his chair before he sat. “She did not die that day, obviously,” he continued. “I did, however find her two weeks later. She’d been stabbed. I watched as she bled out and death waited eagerly for her soul to take but a vampire came along and saved her.”

I was willing to bet that vampire was Russell. Obviously it didn’t mean he cared a thing about her. There is law greater than blood amongst the undead. Sookie must have gotten hurt defending him. That had been the only reason he would give her blood. I would wager some of his people had been around and he couldn’t allow the blood debt to go unpaid. A knocked sounded and a female vampire entered through the double doors. She was dressed in a red lace gown with a black veil over her face. She carried a gold tray in her hand. It held three glasses and a crystal decanter full of blood. She set her burden down and filled the glasses. With a look at Sookie, the female left without a word. I’ve been there quite a few times myself to know it when I saw it; Dracula was getting the cold shoulder.

The only difference in the Prince as he continued was a slight frown otherwise he pretended the woman hadn’t come and gone. “Curious over that missed encounter I sought Sookie out again four years later; sure I would find a grave. Instead I found her humming and awaiting a bus with a battle worn tiger, of all creatures. At that time she candidly informed me that she was sick of my doom and gloom forecast. That was how we struck our bargain: I assumed the odds were in my favor. Since the pair was headed for basic training in the military I was sure she would not live to see her twenty-first year. If six months after her twenty-fifth year of life she still survived the odds I would show her how to master death.”

“She just couldn’t evoke that agreement to get here there,” I surmised.

He nodded. “The clause forbade her from even speaking my name in passing and if ever she divulged our bargain, it would be negated. The flower would wilt and die, as would she. Before she turned twenty-five and a half she had to avoid the reaper but never offer a sacrifice to balance the scales and never allow another to die in her place. To defeat death fully he must first desire you and then you must accept him on your terms but never his. This she did tonight. In so doing she could finally meet him as his equal to decide her fate.” He gazed down at her and a shook his head. His disbelief was blatant. If there was anything I’d learned it was not to underestimate Sookie. “So many times, she had come within a hair’s breadth but she refused to yield, she refused to bow. No matter how many times her body had been broken and battered, her spirit never wavered.”

“If we tried to turn her it would have failed.” Godric said with something like revulsion in his voice. “We would have killed her.”

Dracula nodded. “You would have done scores worse. Once the death God speaks your name, the body, and the soul, all that a person is could only ever belong to onto themself or to him but never to another.” He tilted his head to the side as if he heard something we did not. “Even now they fight for it.” There was a look on his face that said the reaper wanted it badly.

She wanted her soul more. She was going to come back to us. I believed those words. Doubt clawed at me though. Sookie was so pale and still. It was so unlike the woman I knew that I couldn’t help but caress her cheek. The temperature felt all wrong. I wanted her to wake up so I could see her eyes. I wanted to hear her do that little snort thing. I wanted to see her smile.

“If I understand properly she cannot be made vampire.” Godric said.

The Prince of Darkness offered him a nod of agreement. I had gathered as much but I just hadn’t cared to think through it. I didn’t care what Sookie rose as, I just cared that she did rise. I needed her to come back. We both did.

“What will she be when she wins?” my maker continued. I took his hand in mine. I loved the fact that he said, ‘when’ she wins and not ‘if.’ He believed like I did that if this was a test of wills that Sookie would win. That woman could bash her head against a brick wall and have the wall give long before she did. Dracula smiled a sinister smile.

“Halhatatlan,” he replied in his native tongue. It roughly translated to demigod. “A bridge amongst the immortal, the greatest Elite the Fae have ever known and a guardian Angel amongst humans.” He smiled down at her, “She will be invincible, a mighty Goddess in her own right.” Then he left the room. Godric was lying beside Sookie. His arm was around her waist. His head was resting on her pillow. My body was wrapped around his so my arm was thrown around them both. Honestly if anyone had asked me three years ago if I would ever allow the dawn to find me outside a place I knew to be secure, I would have answered no. It was amazing that as long as I’d lived, my existence was now so inextricably bound to another—two others. The sun pulled Godric and me under in a place that was less than familiar to either of us. That didn’t matter. If I didn’t rise again I wouldn’t care. Nothing was as absolutely crucial as the two people I was holding in my arms. They mattered. Dead as I was there was nothing that held me to the world of the living but them.

It was like the absence I suffered after Chicago. This instance came without any of the uncertainty. Sookie was back. I wasn’t conscious yet. It was like being aware of a far off sense of consciousness. I didn’t know how I knew it. I couldn’t really say I did because with her turning the bond had been severed but I knew it all the same. My blood didn’t recognize her but my body did because it belonged in part to her.

I waited for the sun to release me but there was nothing to keep time with. The heartbeat of both my lovers was nonexistent. That wasn’t entirely accurate. As I strained against the fog of my mind to listen, Sookie’s heartbeat was in the air. I could hear it. Over time I’d become so attuned to it that I could single it from a thousand others. Now, it was just so much slower than I’d become accustomed to. Still, I could hear her breath of life—faintly.

The sun fell away and I shot up into a sitting position to see my lover kneeling beside me on the bed. Her smile was warm and maybe a little unsure. I didn’t have the mental capacity for words. I grabbed her and crushed her to me.

“Hello lover,” I murmured. Over her head I observed Godric beaming a beatific smile that I saw only when all three of us were together.

Sookie wound her arms around my neck and she held me just as tight as I held her. “Hi baby,”

“IIona,” the Prince called to the woman he had introduced as his wife. “I did as you asked, so you owe me a smile.” He flashed a charming smile that she scoffed at. There was humor in her eyes and she looked away to obviously hide her amusement.

“Whatever Dracula,” she mocked, tossing her glossy hair over her shoulder. “Bram Stoker makes me smile, not you.”

He laughed as if he was quite used to it. Undeterred, he blew her a kiss and she caught it even with her back to him.

There were some things that I was sure I would never ever see. Since I’d been beyond that since last night, the fact that Dracula, the Dracula was so…mellow didn’t shock me too much. For starters I was in Bulgaria. It was where I’d been since the battle. We would leave soon but he sun was still up in the place we were going to and the people we needed to see were not awake.

So far I’d learned that Sookie was a demigod of death. I couldn’t grasp what it meant entirely but I knew that it made her a true immortal and gave her power beyond anything what many on this plane could fathom. Anything she desired was a thought away. When she defeated death she was granted one gift and paid one price, both had been of her choosing. I wondered why she didn’t get rid of her telepathy. We knew how much trouble it caused her in her life but she chose to retain it as her price. What she wanted most was never to be able to read the minds of Godric or I.

Long ago I thought I understood her rationale but it was now that I knew it for what it was; she would never want anything to interfere with the life she had with Godric and me, nothing. Idly I wondered why I couldn’t see her as someone other than the woman I loved. I wondered why her new limitless power didn’t make me want to plan to cultivate all its uses. I wondered why just seeing her smile was the most important thing in the world. It was because I loved her and everything else in the world combined still held no appeal.

“Thank you,” Sookie said to the Prince and his mate for the millionth time. “For everything.”

“You are most welcome,” IIona said. “We will see you all soon.”

“Not too soon,” Sookie added. I think she said those words because Dracula was thinking them. He had been gracious but looked ready to get us all out of his hair. Godric draped his arm around her waist and mine went around her shoulder. We were ready to face the world together.

“Sorry,” Sookie said rubbing my arm. “That probably didn’t feel good.” On the other side of her Godric was rolling on the balls of his feet to test his balance.

You can definitely say that again. I’d never happier to feel solid ground in my entire existence. The past week Sookie had been testing her powers. So far they were limitless, but just because she had them didn’t mean she knew exactly how to use them. She’d been practicing her ability to teleport. So far she could do it very well when she was alone. It was identical to what the Prince had used, with the bright light and the gusts of wind. When she tried it with Godric and me it was nowhere near as smooth.

“I’ll get used to it,” I replied trying to blink my eyes back into focus.

“I got us here,” she enthused sounding ever chipper. “That’s the most important thing.” If I wasn’t so dizzy I would nod to agree.

“But we’re taking the bus back,” Godric teased.

“Hey,” she said with a laugh. “I’m an all-powerful demigod. You best not sass me, handsome.”

He chuckled and kissed the corner of her lips. “I’ll do more than sass you.”

I could hear but my sight took longer to focus on the scene. We had reached our destination of the Queen’s receiving home in New Orleans, “I beat my resignation here,” It wasn’t an easy thing to do. I’d sent it by way of Diantha, the demon, and nothing moved faster on land. “Not bad.”

“Thank you Eric,” Sookie encouraged with a pointed eye roll at my maker. “Come on, I’ll beam us up.” She extended her fingers and wriggled them. I was sure it wasn’t supposed to be sinister but that was what it appeared to me.

“It’s not that good.” I quipped, taking a step back.

Godric laughed. She tried not to join on but lost. “Okay, fine,” she chuckled “let’s hoof it.”

The walk wasn’t long. A guard spotted us long before we were on the property and waved us inside. He was familiar and he looked calm despite the sounds of conflict that I could hear.

“Felipe is having a tantrum,” Sookie translated.

I knew he was a bit into theatrics but this was the first I was witnessing it. It was a sight. The room that had been a grand library but it was now demolished. Anything breakable had been broken. Lighting fixtures had been pulled down. There were holes in the walls and with the exception of the seats being occupied not a single piece of furniture was left standing.

I entered the room first. Sookie was behind me and Godric brought up the rear. I got a chance to register the state of things. On the right side of the room was Felipe DeCastro. He stood glaring at the opposite wall where Sophie-Anne stood with her two children. Upon my entry the king of Nevada whipped his head to the left. My presence caused him to growl but when he saw Sookie he roared and launched forward. Godric and I formed a wall in front of her before he got close. The only way he would get to her was through us and we all knew it wasn’t going to happen.

“If you fancy your fangs where they are,” Godric began. His tone was one of poorly contained aggression. “You will retract them.”

He let out a shriek that was equal parts rage and frustration and hands were fisted roughly in his shoulder length hair and he looked like he was losing his mind.

“Retract your fangs,” My maker insisted once his piercing scream had faded. There were only two people that knew how close Felipe was to catching it. Damned if I’d warn him.

“It’s okay,” Sookie said wrapping her arms around Godric waist, keeping where he was. “He needs to vent,”

Felipe’s head whipped to her and his eyes were feverish. “You think you are so smart,” he hissed. “You think you have won, pero déjame decirte. Vampires have a long memory. We. Never. Forget. You have delivered me to ‘La grande bruja’ but what do you think she will do with you now?” He sneered viciously. “Do you think she will keep you close? No. She will drink you dry and feed the crows your pretty blue eyes.”

“You didn’t get it,” she replied calmly. “I could give a shit about money or anything else. All that ever mattered is them.”

He snarled at her and inched forward, “I should have killed you like Victor said,” he snarled.

“That’s why you’re here and he isn’t.” There was steel in her tone. “It was either this or kill you and I felt real bad about having to go that route.” She flashed herself from behind me and ended up in front of Felipe. I was sure he would have flinched if he wasn’t so dumbfounded. “I came to make it better.”

His eyes were fixed on her and his hostility was gone and he looked curious. “What are you?” He was listening to her heartbeat which was steady. He pulled in her scent which told him nothing. She was the same physically but she drank blood though she still needed human food. She was just a demigod in jeans and a sweater.

“I’m between here and there,” she replied with a shrug. The response was evasive and it told everyone who didn’t know that they wouldn’t find out. She waved her hand and the room was restored. All broken things were made whole, the over turned furniture righted.

“Show off,” I muttered. Godric chuckled and Sookie turned and stuck her tongue out at me. We were the only ones that seemed to be able to do anything but stare at her.

When all was as it should be two chess boards appeared on a table and she gave Felipe a challenging look and he walked over to it. Not having anything else to do, we all watched as they played. Chess was a game of strategy and she had proved to be a master in that art. Still Felipe played admirably and as their matched continued he was happy to forget his ire.

“You know, you might like her if you gave her a chance,” Sookie said, placing her knight in attack position. “You never know, you might make each other happy. Stranger things have happened.”

Felipe sniffed at the utterly ridiculous notion, “The only way that witch will ever be happy is in a broom factory.”

While André glowered at the insult, his maker and mine chuckled. She seemed genuinely amused by the tirades of the Cuban. “My dear husband, you wound me.”

“I could only hope,” he spat.

Before he could gather more steam to fuel another rant Sookie interrupted. “Tell me what I can do to make this better,” she said. “I owe you and I’m now strong enough to pay.”

“End her,” he said pointing to Sophie-Anne.

Sookie ran her hands through her hair. “I knew you’d say that but I’ve sworn to never hurt her unless she hurts me.”

“Make her dissolve the marriage,” he pressed.

“That would hurt her, so no.”

He growled, “There is no end date to the union and this is never done amongst our kind. There is her or the true death but no other freedom for me. And she receives twenty percent of the combined earnings of my casinos as her monthly allowance yet she performs none of her wifely duties, the marriage isn’t even consummated. Even if it were, we have some of the best whores in the world in my state but none of them cost a fraction of that.”

My lover was uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. She looked to Sophie-Anne who was wearing an amused smirk. Be it because of her husband or Sookie I had no idea. My guess was both.

“What troubles you most?” Godric asked. “The lack of sex or the money?”

“Both,” Felipe hissed.

Sookie looked to Sophie-Anne expectantly. The Queen huffed. “Fine, twelve percent of your income as allowance,” She wasn’t being at all greedy. Arkansas, the state that she had inherited from her previous husband, was in dire financial straits. To turn it from a liability into an asset, she needed a steady supply of cash.

“Two,” he retorted.

“Ten and sex twelve times a year,”

He growled losing his temper all over again, “Five and sex anytime I desire.”

The Queen nodded her agreement but Felipe wasn’t done, “I live upon her mercy,” he said facing Sookie, who up until that point had been going through great lengths not to focus on the discussion. “I am to spend three weeks out of the month here. I have also signed a document forfeiting my life if she meets the true death, yet the same does not apply to her.”

“She hasn’t ended you,” André retorted. “Though someone should.” The king of Nevada threw a handful of his board game pieces at the lieutenant. Sookie waved her hand stopping them midair and returning them.

“Okay.” She materialized scissors out of thin air and cut a few strands of her hair. We all watched as the strands wound themselves into two separate braids forming two bracelets. “Your hand,” she said to Felipe. I was sure if he was in a position where he had more to lose he might be more hesitant. Such as it was he held his hand out and watched curiously. She fastened one around his wrist. “She or anyone sent by her or hers will forever fail in doing you harm as long you are her husband.”

“And anyone else,” he prompted eagerly.

She snorted delicately, “Yeah, you’re on your own there,” she said, fastening the other braid onto Sophie-Anne’s wrist.

“Happy?” Sookie asked.

“No,” he said. We all rolled our eyes and shared in an audible collective sigh. He should really quit while he was ahead. “You owe me a life.”

My lover nodded her agreement. “You can have it only to save never to take or give.”

“I have lost too many knights.” Felipe said, yeah that’s because he tried to throw them. “You win again,” he rose to his feet. “I want to have my wife, now.” He held his hand out and she took it.

“You swear that he cannot harm her,” André asked Sookie.

“I swear,” she replied. “If either of them tries they’ll end up hurting themselves.”

We all eagerly walked out of the study. Sigebert was posted outside the door. He patted Sookie on the shoulder as she passed. I think he was grateful that she had finally gotten Felipe stop his tantrums. I had to admire the romantic and the pacifist in her. She had placed both of them in a position where they would be absolutely safe from one another. If nothing else, it would make them friends.

We followed André out of the dimly lit corridors until we reached the main receiving area.

“You said we are friends,” André said, “But you’re leaving,” he accused, frowning at my lover.

“I’m going on vacation,” she replied. “I think I’ve earned it.”

“Then you will come back,” he asked. His eyes came to me and he knew I wasn’t, at least not in the political sense. It had nothing to with the Queen working with Sookie without my knowledge. We were tired. After all our loose ends were sewn we would go on vacation and I had no idea what would come after that.

Sookie smiled then flashed into his personal space. “We’re friends, all you have to do is call. I’ll never be too far away to hear,” she wrapped around his neck and pulled him into a hug. Though it took him a few moments he reciprocated. “Promise you’ll invite me to your coronation as king of Arkansas and I promise I’ll help you choose only the best of the best.”

“Yes,” he said resting his cheek against her head. “I promise.”

Sookie let him go, retreated a few paces and placed herself between Godric and me. The last thing I saw was the most unexpected. For the first time in what I was sure was forever the expression my ever vigilant lieutenant possessed fell and his angelic features dulled almost to the point where it wasn’t at odds with his emotion. He looked vulnerable, like a lonely child worried over the loss of their best friend, their only friend. The scene faded and I found myself in an opulent room that I couldn’t even begin to identify.

I blinked and tried to reorient myself. “We’re at Russell’s,” Sookie said. “They can’t see or hear us,” True to her word Bertrand walked by us and Russell was sprawled in the bed following him with his eyes. I never really had an opinion on him before but now I did and it wasn’t at all favorable. I wanted to rip his head off. If the emotion coming off my lover was anything to go by she was game. “Are you guys good?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Wait,” Godric said and we both stilled. “I don’t want him hurt.” He spoke quickly capitalizing on our shock. “I do not want this new life to begin with blood and vengeance, please.” I knew it was easy for him to say because she wasn’t the one that had been hurt. I kept that point to myself because I knew we would both give him his way. Such as it was I growled.

“I still have to have words with him,” Sookie snarled. “No one messes with my man.” And with that she made our presence known. Surprise slowed reaction time, not that it would have made any difference. With a flick of her wrist she’d rendered Russell immobile on the bed and just because I was in a bad mood I tackled Bertrand and pinned him to the ground.

“Whatever Sophie-Anne is paying,” Bertrand ground out, “I’ll double it.”

We ignored him. “I want to kill you,” Sookie said, materializing a short sword into her hands. “Slowly,” she moved closer to the bed. She moved like a predator. Her gait was easy and sure and he gaze was unswerving. “Make you want to die and I’ll bring you close only to drag you back into a world of pain.”

“Triple it.” Bertrand said. “Please.” He didn’t seem too concerned for his wellbeing. He was fighting my hold but his eyes held Russell’s frantic expression. “Anything you want, just don’t hurt him.” My lover stopped because it wasn’t in her nature to hurt someone that didn’t hurt her as was the case with Bertrand. “They say you are merciful. Please, I beg your mercy.” She turned and nodded at me to release him. He rose slowly but his eyes were on his husband as he spoke. “Tell me what you want be it in my possession or not I will deliver it, I swear.”

“He leaves me the fuck alone,” she said instantly.

Bertrand was confused but he agreed immediately. “He tried to make me suffer what you could have just now.” Sookie continued. “He made me live that same fear. He’s getting to walk not because I want to let him but because he asked me.” She inclined her head to Godric. “That shit won’t work ever again. If I even feel him anywhere near my guys, he better be handing out fairy blood lollipops on Halloween otherwise I’ll personally hand the grim reaper his soul to take. We clear?”

“Does he have to bring them fairy blood pops on Halloween?” Bertrand asked in all seriousness.

“Yes,” I chimed in.

Godric chuckled and shook his head. “No. We will leave you and he in peace and you will do the same, yes?”

“You have my word.” Bertrand said replied.

“I swear,” Russell said.

We left the room the same way we came in and we landed in front of Sookie’s old house. On her porch stood Niall. It took all my years of experience to keep the shock off my face. The last time I saw him he had appeared as an old man with wisps of white in his blonde hair, his face had been finely lined. Now he appeared to be in the spring time of his youth. His skin was smooth and supple and his hair was a richer shade of blonde. He hadn’t parted with his cane or the suit, neither looked out of place despite the regression of his physical markers of age. The smile he wore however was as boyish as it was irritating.

Sookie was stunned for a moment “It makes sense,” she murmured.

Really? Because I was confused. “Fintan cursed me when I was a kid. It was what brought me to the attention of the reaper.”

“No he cursed me because of you. That and the fact that you were mostly human but were marked as the Elite of your generation brought you undue attention,” Niall said proudly.

“I’m flattered,” my lover replied scathingly.

“You out class all others of that title for a thousand generations past and there won’t be another like you for a thousand more if ever,” he gave a long suffering sigh and shot Godric and me a disapproving look. “Such a waste.”

I rolled my eyes. Godric flipped him off. “We’ll walk and talk,” Sookie said squeezing our hands. She kissed us both and walked over to the fairy. He took her hand and wrapped one arm around her and they walked in a short circle for a while before the Prince spoke.

“Fintan loved you and your brother. He loved your father and your aunt. All of which was acceptable but it was his love for your grandmother that I disapproved of. Knowing they had no future, he rejected the mate I chose, he wouldn’t even leave this plane after their union ended. At every turn he defied me because of her.” Grief colored his words. “I spoke out of anger and told him he was no child of mine. Once I spoke those words rejecting him as my son, I could not take them back.”

“Because you can’t lie,” Sookie said.

He nodded, “Yes. He called out to me when Lochaln and Neave had him but I could not hear. So, he died thinking I’d willfully abandoned him. His death was so pitiless and vile that his spirit cursed me before passing onto the Summerlands. Evermore will it my charge to care for those that descend from his blood and that of his most beloved, if ever that blood ceases to walk in any realm as will mine.”

Sookie’s expression was one of shock. Both Godric and I were just as stunned. Fairies were pretty much an endangered species. Their numbers have been dwindling over the years. They rarely killed one another unless they were at war, something they avoided if they could. For one of them to wipe out his own family was unheard of.

Niall nodded grimly. “Curses are heady things child; a curse that is birthed in blood, particularly the blood of thine own, is the oldest of magic.”

There was a moment and Sookie seemed to be taking it all in. “So, that explains why you look like my much hotter younger brother and not my great grandfather?”

Niall chuckled. “I am quite lovely again,” he said flipping his lush hair in truly fairy fashion. Sookie snorted to tell him to get on with it. He pouted but got back on topic “With the last beat of your heart, I turned to dust as did all others with my blood. When you were reborn as were we, the curse completed its course and is no more.”

“That’s really good.” Sookie said feeling genuinely happy. Godric sniffed. I smiled. We should be so lucky that Niall had stayed dead and not come back like a spring fucking chicken. The fairy ignored us. Sookie shot us a chiding glance.

“Yes, but I still offer you all that I had before.”

“No thanks, but we can still get to know each other,” she allowed. “If you want.”

He leaned in and kissed her head. “That would make me happy.” With a parting frown aimed at Godric and me he vanished.

We went inside and nothing was more important than renewing our bond and our vows to each other. In the past when she was just human Sookie’s blood was pleasurable on its own but combined with all the love I felt for her it became an aphrodisiac, a stimulus that made me remember all the ways she loved and I loved her. The taste of her blood now as a demigod was electrifying to my pallet; it was stronger; the force of it was headier. If before I thought my body belonged to her there was no more doubt after tonight. She owned Godric and me both. All we could do was endure the onslaught as she gave us more of her than either of us could handle.

“Where are we going on vacation?” Godric asked us. The sun was close to rising and the three of us were in bed, our limbs intertwined and our bodies sated.

“Don’t know,” Sookie said.

“Don’t care,” I added

He chuckled and snuggled into my side, “As long as we’re together.”

**The End**

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A great big thank you to my Beta rebecca. t. p. wrecker. I really grew as a writer and learned a lot about polishing my work with your guidance and patience. So thank you and if you’re a real glutton for punishment maybe you’ll sign on for another trip? 😀

We’ll I have some unfinished business with my other fic and I don’t know when I’ll be back after I wrap that up but rest assured I am an avid procrastinator and I think up my best stuff while I’m procrastinating.

Until next time ladies and gentlemen…Muuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!