Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with HBO, Alan Ball, Charlaine Harris, True Blood or the actors who portrait the characters. No money was gained on the making and distribution of this fanfiction. All characters, settings and story lines are fictitious. Any relation to a real life person, place or even is purely coincidental.

AN: This story has not been beta'ed. English is not my first language, so I apologize for all mistakes in spelling and grammar. Takes place during season two of TrueBlood. Description of weakness of vampires came from Southern Vampire Mysteries's mythology rather than the show's.

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Aftermath

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Her once white sheets were tainted with blood, but she lacked the strength to stand up and change them. Or really, to anything at all. At least, she had stopped crying, which was a good sign.

The pain had gone from being all consuming, to an ever preset ache. But Nora knew it was a matter of time before it rouse up again, chocking her with emotions she hadn't know she was capable of.

She ignored the knock on her door. Nora was aware that her absence in the last couple of days have been noted and curiosity was raising. Vampires had an unchanging health. There was only three things that could cause illness to a vampire: A near draining, Hep D, and silver poisoning. All of them highly unlikely to occurred to the common vampire, let alone to a Chancellor of the Authority. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say about her sudden behavior, it wasn't like she could confess she was mourning the death of her maker. Especially, when that could let them to know who her maker had been, and more importantly, lead them to the rest of her family.

But she didn't have it in her to lie, not at the moment, so instead of raising from the bed and answering her door, Nora curled up once more, tugging a pillow over her head.

"Go away. Go away. Go away. Leave me alone." She murmured as the tears she thought she cried out, started coming once more.

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~•~

On the third night after Godric's death, Salomé broke into Nora's room.

"Nora, my child, what have you done to yourself?" She asked, sorrow both in her eyes and in her voice. Without waiting for acknowledgment she went towards Nora, her arms wrapping around the small build of the younger vampire. "Look at you. When was the last time you feed? You look like a corpse." Salomé didn't try to hide the scolding tone of her voice, hoping it would get a reaction from her protégé, but seeing it didn't have any result at all, sighed. "Come on, you need a shower. And blood."

She carried Nora to the bathroom and sat the plaint vampire on a chair in the corner, before turning her attention to filling the clawfoot tub with hot water. With a gentleness that came from centuries of caring about one another, Salomé undressed Nora from her blood stained clothes and helped her into the tub.

"He is dead." For a moment, Nora looked startled, like she couldn't quite believe she has spoken aloud and regretted her outbursts immediately.

"I know." Salomé replied, sitting at the edge of the tub, rubbing the bar of soap against a sponge. "My Maker died a long time ago. The pain is like anything you ever felt before. Or will feel since." Gently, like a mother with a newborn, she started to wash Nora. Her back, shoulder blades, down to her hands.

"Do the rest know?" Nora asked after awhile, not elaborating who the rest was. Salomé already knew.

"Roman knows you are in mourning. He understands. The rest don't need to know. They think you are out on a mission." She paused for a moment, both in her words as well as her actions, before resuming the later. "We don't know who your maker was. There was a few deaths recently. And there is always the possibility that his death hasn't been reported yet."

If Salomé was telling her that so she would tell her the identity of her Maker or to put her at easy, Nora wasn't sure, but she kept silent either way.

"You are not alone." Salomé told her after a few minutes of silence, just as she started to wash Nora's hair. "Lilith loves you. She is your mother now. She will never leave you." At her words, Nora only nodded slightly. "I love you as well. You are my sister, my daughter." For a moment, Salomé thought she saw Nora flinch, but then the girl relaxed against her hands. "I will never leave you."

"I know."

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~•~

Six days after Godric's death, Nora found herself alone in a small cabin in Siberia. She had gone as far away as she could manage in such a short time.

Salomé had pulled a lot of strings to get Roman to give Nora some time off. He had been reluctant at first, the Authority was in a very perilously position and he needed all his chancellors, but in the end he had caved. In the condition Nora was in, she would be of no help to anyone.

Nora was very grateful for everything Salomé had done for her. Making the arrangements so she could get out of the country, getting her time off and even making sure she had plenty of food on the remote cabin, thanks to the group of humans heavily glamored to sit and wait for their time to be eaten -the last part unknown to Roman of course -. But even with her mentor and partner doing all that, Nora had found no comfort at all.

The pain was all consuming most of the time. Only her anger at Godric for dying, for leaving her, overshadowed the pain of losing him. Then, there was the numbness which she welcomed the most, but it never lasted before it all repeated itself. Like a vicious cycle she didn't know how to break.

"It is my turn now?"

Nora turned towards the dreamy voice who had draw her away from her dark thoughts. She wasn't particularly hungry, but there were other reasons to feed than to satisfied the thirst.

"Since you asked so nicely." She stood from her place besides the fireplace and walked towards the man. He couldn't have been more than 30, and judging by the ring on his finger, he was married. "But I think we are due for some entertainment." Nora said, grasping his chin forcefully with her hand, tilting his head towards her, catching and holding his unfocused gaze, as she slipped into his mind easily. "When I open the door you are going to run. You are going to run because if you don't I'll catch you and I'll kill you, and you want to live." The man nodded quickly, and Nora slipped away from his mind. Walking towards the door, she opened it, and step aside.

At once, the man seemed to wake up, and he stood, leaving his place besides the others and ran away from the cabin. Fear and survival pushing him as far away from Nora as he could get.

Nora gave him ten full minutes, before she went after him.

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~•~

There was blood on her face, hair and clothes, but this time it wasn't hers. Straddling a branch of the tall tree she had climbed on earlier, Nora looked down at where the remains of the human were. Wolves were already busily eating her leftsover.

The rush from the hunt and the blood was already fading. Faster than Nora would have liked. But at least, the temporary ecstasy was easy to achieve, and she had a room full of humans to do so.

Wiping the blood from her lips with her sleeve, Nora watched in dismay as the wolves abandoned the remains of the human as her cellphone went off. With a frown, she slipped the small device from her pocket, mildly considering smashing it against the tree.

That wasn't her official phone, nor her private one. Only one person knew that number and Nora wasn't sure she wanted to speak with him. Though she desperately needed to.

Closing her eyes briefly, as she felt the pain raising once more, Nora flipped open the phone and brought it to her ear. "Yes."

"He met the sun."

"I know, Captain obvious. I knew six days ago."

He paused for a moment like he wasn't sure what to say or how to said it. "I should have call sooner. I'm sorry."

"You were there." It came as an accusation, though she hadn't meant it to.

"Not at the end. He wouldn't let me."

"You would have died with him?" Now, she didn't even tried to hide the pain.

"Yes." He answered without preamble. "I loved him."

"I loved him, too." And he didn't gave me a chance to say good bye. But she swallowed the words, because saying them out loud would only hurt them both.

"He loved us."

He didn't, he wouldn't have killed himself if he had. But again, Nora didn't said it out loud. "Was it quick?" She asked instead.

"Yes. It was over quickly." Eric hesitated momentarily, if Nora hadn't know him how she did, she would have missed the paused entirely. "He wasn't alone when he died. There was a human with him... Friend of mine."

Nora closed her eyes again, rubbing absentmindedly with her free hand, over her chest. The place her heart once beat against. "What do we do now?"

"We move on."

"Right."

This time, both of them fell silent, neither knowing what else to say, but unwilling to break the connection just yet.

"I'm glad you didn't die as well." Nora said, finally breaking the silence, as she rest her head against the trunk of the tree.

"Me too. Plenty of things I still want to do." Nora rolled her eyes, not doubt in her mind that by "things" he meant women. "I need to go."

"Thanks for calling." Nora could feel the tears burning in her eyes already and if she was about to cry, she didn't want Eric to know.

"Take care of yourself, sister. I love you."

She took one deep cleansing breath, and tilted her head upward, she could feel the weight that has been so heavy against her this past week, loosening. The pain receding. It wasn't like before, when she knew it was just a matter of time before it roused up again, but rather, though it was still there, it wasn't as intense. It was becoming a part of her.

"I love you too, my brother." She didn't wait for a reply, but disconnected the call, closing the cellphone and slipping it into her pocket. "I will never forgive you for leaving me." She said to the sky, hoping that somehow Godric was listening. "But thank you for not taking him away from me as well."

She jumped down from the branch, falling besides the broken remains of the man that had been her dinner. Knowing that the wild life would take care of it, she didn't gave him another thought and started her way back to the cabin.

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FIN

AN(2): Questions, Comments, suggestions, opinions are all welcome. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoy it!