Aug 12th, 6:30 a.m., Eric's cabin, Berge, Sweden
For three long, agonizing hours, Pam paced the time-worn, decrepit wooden floors of the small, windowless, two-room cabin nestled protectively among the snow-covered pine trees; the wood planks cried at every step.
Berge was a village at the base of Ares, one of the tallest mountain ranges in northern Sweden, and at that altitude the highest elevations were already buried under several feet of snow. Pam understood why Eric spoke of it fondly over the centuries. It was the perfect place to find solitude, peace and to ponder the meaning of life, making it the first place she could think of to look for him.
The sun had been up the past hour and she was finding it difficult to stay to awake, but she had to be awake when they brought Eric back, if they found him. Even then there was no guarantee he would return with them. It had been no problem for Pam to find and send them to locate Eric, considering she had his resources from Fangtasia at her disposal. It was harder to keep them when they discovered it was Eric Northman; that only brought the price up to an outrageous amount.
She had already searched the mountains but found no sign of him, and she didn't have the endurance her former Maker had when it came to flying. But she would have done anything to find Eric. He was her everything. She didn't have a choice. She had to get to the bottom of why Eric had pushed her aside, talked to her like she was a lowly human, treated her as badly as he had.
Her thoughts flooded back to the moment she saw him standing in the industrial park of the TruBlood plant. She knew what he was going to do. She felt it. "Don't you dare leave me," she'd mumbled. He gave her a tilt of the head and a distant smile, as if that was an efficient apology and explanation then flew off into the sky. Her heart broke. Her world ended. Her Maker, her friend, her confidant was gone.
A day later she had watched the vampires playing volleyball and frolicking in the sun of Bill Compton's manor. For some of them it had been only months since they'd been able to be outdoors during the day; for others it had been centuries. Still being high on the blood she'd taken from Bill, Pam so wanted to be out playing with them, to loosen up for a change. But she couldn't. Her heart wouldn't allow her the pleasure of having fun, not with Eric out there somewhere doing only who knew what.
"Pam, would you stop! You've woken me up twice already!" Kris hollered from one of the two beds in the living room.
"Get over it, Kris," Pam replied curtly.
"Do you need to eat?" Kris asked sitting up, bringing the comforter up around her. The only heat provided was from the fireplace, but Pam had let the embers die down.
"No," she snapped. "I brought you for Eric."
Kris sighed. "Pam, from the little you've told me about him I don't take him for the type to face the true death intentionally."
She turned and stared Kris down. "You know nothing. You'd best—" Suddenly her face contorted and she looked down her body. "What the hell?" she said, standing upright at the odd sensation that overcame her.
"Pam? What is it? Is it Eric?" Kris asked alarmed as she rushed to her side.
"It's … I … I don't think so. But I don't feel the same."
"How do you mean?"
Pam didn't reply but went to the door, put her hand on the door handle and paused before she slowly cracked it open. A soft beam of light flowed into the room, causing her to scream in pain. She slammed the door, her exposed skin slightly smoking. "No, not now. This can't be happening."
"Hey, what's that over there, Aron?" one of the rescuers in the helicopter asked in Swedish, pointing to a ball of fire on a mountaintop that had just erupted.
"Flying over there now, Vidar," the pilot replied.
A few minutes later Vidar asked, "Is that … a lounge chair? It's got to be him."
Aron said, "Men, get the equipment. I'm landing."
Within minutes he landed on the snowy summit only a hundred feet from the diminishing 6'4" inferno. The wind from the blades did not quench the flames one bit; it only enforced it. Vidar ordered, "Loke, get the fire-retardant blanket and go cover him! Neo, call Pam. Tell her we've found Eric Northman."
"The blood I told you about, it's worn off for some reason. If Eric is out there in the sunlight with no protection…" If it were possible for a vampire to turn pale, Pam turned twenty shades whiter.
Pam's cell phone rang, and she answered it before it completed the first tone. "Tell me he's alive," she said, her voice panicked.
Listening to the confirmation that he was, she closed her eyes in relief. But it was fleeting when she was told he was badly burned. She collapsed onto her knees, the phone slipping from her numb hand, tears pouring from her eyes.
Kris rushed to her side and put her arm around her. "Pam?" There could only be one answer. Eric was dead. "Oh, no, no."
"He's … alive, but …"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know it's a short chapter, but it's just an introduction. The proceeding chapters will be longer. I would love reviews! They keep me going and writing more. Chapter 2 is already to post.
