Chapter 1
They were visiting the place of his past and though it was summer time, here in the mountains, there was plenty of snow and cold to be had. And yet in the confines of the ancient castle, they found themselves more than warm enough. With him out like a light and it being daylight, she had been wanting to explore the area near the Viking castle further, having yet to have the chance to do so on her own on the few occasions she had been there. She felt the spirits of the past around her, watching over the both of them. Namely his parents, who were able to appear within the walls of the castle whenever called upon. Sneaking out of their large bed replete with a mixture of modern day bedding and thick and clean real animal pelts, she dressed for the weather, retrieving boots, jeans and a heavy sweater and jacket from a armoire that they had recently had put in. being what she was, she was better able to withstand the cold and the elements but she was also still somewhat vulnerable to them and took no chances, bundling her self well. Completing her look with thick gloves and a hat, she took a last look at the sleeping Viking in bed, wanting for a moment to return but knew that this was her only chance to be on her own, the explore this storied place without him. She knew he still worried about her too much, regardless of the powers she possessed. Still, she was independent and would do as she pleased, when she pleased.
She pushed the heavy doors open, ever grateful that this place was so well protected from humans and those who besmirch this place by thieving or worse. That it was literally a haunted castle certainly helped and thanks to the efforts of Sookie, she had been able to use her magic to shield the palace from anyone who didn't belong there. Namely pretty much anyone. Walking through the few remains of the village that had been around the castle, she finally made it to a thick wooded area, where she knew wasn't terribly far from the hot springs she knew was a well guarded secret . She was nearly two miles from the castle when she had reached the other mountain and not wanting to get too far-though she could certainly use her magic to get herself straight back where she belonged-she stood at the base of the mountain and breathed in the fresh air of her Nordic surroundings. It had been some time since she and Eric had come here and it had been her constant urging that they had finally made it back. The sun was starting to go down and she knew she had little time left before he rose. Still, she sat on a overturned tree trunk and just sat, surrounded by nature and the elements. She was so at peace that she failed to see the figure about to set off a explosion. He had followed her all the way here from Louisiana and though unable to get close to the castle thanks to her magic protecting the area, he had hoped she would come out alone. And now, here was his chance. Throwing a rock as hard as he could, he struck true, knocking her to the ground and out cold. And then, off went the explosion. Snow started to slide down the mountain in her direction and yet, she remained still. No one would take him alive, this was always a suicide mission and before he hung himself from a tree, he scribbled a note he would make sure was found. Tucking it into her inner jacket pocket, he smirked and went to do what he then intended to do he smirked at her prone figure right until he took his last breath, as he saw the snow encase her completely. Dozens of feet and he was only too glad to die for what he had long since wanted to see done. Justice for the brother and sister in law that hadn't known had existed and yet, he thought perhaps he would meet again in the afterlife. Lionel Newlin lived long enough to see what he knew, felt, was the end of a travesty, a abnormal abomination of a relationship.
Chapter 2
The sound, coupled with the fact the sun had just gone down had woken him from his slumber and it was the voices that he heard that only added fuel to the feeling he had that something was wrong, that she was not only hurt but in a bad way. Because they could appear when they pleased but preferred to come only when called on, the spirits of his long dead parents appeared as he raced for the doors leading from the palace. He had foregone dressing in anything other than the sleep pants he had gone to bed in and he stopped just shy of the door as his parents looked at him , concerned.
"Something's wrong….we heard the noises. There hasn't been a avalanche anywhere near here since…..well, I do believe it was you that caused the last one that was in the mountains here….." his father said with a frown.
"Yes, that one was quite…deadly…..but enough talk, go…GO!" his mother said as the vampire had his hands on the door, ready to flee the castle to find Sookie. He froze in place, turning to look at the translucent but nevertheless concerned faces of his parents.
"An avalanche….that's what it was…. " he asked and they both nodded grimly. Shades of the past hit him hard as he recalled his encounter with an avalanche. But as similar as it was, this was different. She could, realistically speaking, not survive this. Without a second glance back at the two concerned spirits he would leave behind, he raced towards her, their bond guiding him to her and yet he felt it becoming shaky, a sign that she was barely alive. The cold on his feet didn't bother him in the least and as he passed by the otherwise beautiful surroundings, he soon came to the fallen snow and scented the blood. Finding a body half peeking from the snow, he knew without a doubt that the man had had something to do with this. There was a chemical scent about him that screamed some sort of device had aided in the avalanche. With a single hand, he pulled the corpse from the snow and tossed it, slamming it so hard into a nearby tree that he heard bones shatter. He then retreated to the body and started tearing it apart until there was barely anything recognizable to it. Finally, he returned to the task at hand and feared he had wasted precious time. "Sookie…come on, where are you…." he was digging through the snow feverishly and if he could sweat, he certainly would be dripping by now. But finally, his senses and strength guided him and he felt a clammy and chilled hand and soon extracted her from the cold. It wasn't until he had carried her back to the castle that he had extracted her from her soaked clothes and set to warming her cold body that he found the note from this apparent Newlin relative. Another person with a grudge against him and his own, the Viking thought angrily and as he set to work redressing her in dry clothes and folding her in the warm blankets they had, there was little more he could do but lay her close to the fireplace in their room. It was then that the spirits of his parents appeared once again.
"Good heavens, she's blue." commented his father who looked pained for his son and daughter in law. "If there was anything we could do we-"
He shot to his feet from his crouched position he had been in, hovering over the unconscious girl. Fangs out, he looked wild with rage, rage he knew was misdirected and yet he was so tense, so angry at that which had happened, there was a haunted look on him as he backed down from his territorial stance.
"We see your fear….we saw it the night we perished. And we also know how much she means to you. If there was something we could do, we certainly would. Sadly, we can be nothing more than moral support." his mother said as she reached over to touch her son's cheek, though a spirit, the two could become somewhat solid and as her cool, tingly hand touched his face, something that had not happened in such a long time. It was the only other person-being-that could ever make him feel like he was human again and though he had come to embrace that feeling, it was still hard for him to deal with, wanting to forever be seen as tough. Strong.
"I….I can't warm her up any more than I have….she is barely breathing and I think maybe she was trapped for too long. Even with all her powers, even with what I can do. It may be too little too late." there was a despondence about him that unsettled the two observing him and they said nothing for a moment.
"You are nothing if not persistent. We know of your exploits since you went out on your own after we were gone. And time after time, fate has thrown you challenges. Have you quit? Have you given up. Are you giving up now?" his father asked sternly, to which his son looked away from the bundle lying by the fire to his ghostly face. There was a spark there in his blue eyes, a almost awakening of sorts that brought him out of the despair that was threatening his sanity.
"I don't give up ever. Never have and though there have been times I was tempted…..you've no idea how weary it was for me from time to time being around as long as I have been. Life started to be nothing more than going through the motions. But she….she gave me a second wind. She gave me so much and…" he rolled his eyes as he wanted to kick himself for not having done the obvious. It had taken the words of his parents to knock sense into him, to clear his mind but he wasted no further time and went to give her some blood. "All I see is vengeance when me and my own are wronged and it is my mistake that could have done more damage to her." he said after he had bitten into his wrist and tried to get her to drink. But if she was so far gone that she couldn't drink….."I let blind anger and the want for vengeance waste time…..ripping that body apart felt good for a moment…every time I think I have learned a lesson, I take steps backward." he closed his eyes and spoke just once more. "Leave. Now….please?" he didn't look at them but knew they were to leave him as he had requested. Alone with only a flicker of life at his side and try as he might to pull her into his lap to try to help warm her up, her knew that he had, in fact, done all he could.
Chapter 3
He felt guilty about sending them away as he had and yet knew they would reappear if he asked it of them. The flickering of the flames of the fire was all he could hear, her breathing was barely audible, even with his acute hearing. He wanted to warm her up with more than just blankets but knew his cool flesh was certainly not going to do the trick and he could only sit in anticipation of any changes. hours passed and he ignored the fact that another morning was fast approaching. He felt the presence of his parents' spirits about the place but knew they wound only ever appear if he wanted them to. And he didn't want that right now. What he wanted was slipping away and it was mid way through the second day of her near comatose condition that he saw her stirring. Saw something of a faint glow flickering about her and as if gasping for air, she breathed in deeply and blinked her eyes, her vision blurred for a moment. And he knew without a doubt it hadn't been any of his own brand of magic that had revived her but that her own magic had slowly but surely healed her and he could see the normal tone of her skin return before his eyes. He sensed her heart beating at a much more normal pace, her pulse returning to a normal rate. Long gone were the bumps, bruises and broken bones she had sustained in the avalanche but the emotional scars, he knew what it was like surviving what she had, thought the outcome of his had resulted in a inadvertent massacre of a ski village and many innocent lives. He Hadn't given it much thought but he suddenly felt quite guilty about the deaths that had happened that fateful day.
She still looked a touch on the weak side but as she lay on the bed he had moments earlier put her on, she managed a small smile and could see the worry and relief on his face. "You think a little snow could keep me down…granted it was one of the more unique ways someone's tried to off me….I knew someone was around and by the time I knew what happened…" she trailed off, not wanting to relive the terror she had so briefly felt before being knocked out cold. She leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling, the light of the candles in the sconces giving her eyes a glow. Blinking back tears she didn't turn to look at him as he sat on the bed beside her, looking her over to make sure she had healed completely. At least physically. "To think I drove you to end up…trapped….scared…now I know what you must have been feeling when it happened to you. I don't even care that it was caused by someone once again trying to hurt me….hurt us. It's just….." she stopped as he sat by her closer, finally pulling thick blankets over himself and another layer onto her.
"If I knew that day what was going to happen, I never would have left town. I should have never left town. But I didn't know how else to cope….." he clenched his jaw, still hating that, from time to time, he felt so vulnerable. That feeling was still one he detested no matter how much ha had changed over recent years. "I thought you were going to doe. I tried saving you myself….but I wasted time trashing a body that was already dead. Perhaps if I had focused on you first, you wouldn't have been as bad off as you were and needn't have suffered as long as you did."
"it was only for a couple days and I feel better already. My faerie magic….it saved me and that other part of me….it helped, trust me, but it could only do so much when my body was as far down the tubes as it was…..don't think for a minute you're powerless. I felt you with me, I knew you were with me and it was the one thing I think….I know was what brought me back to you." she put a hand to his face and gently pulled his face to hers and planted a gentle, firm kiss on his lips, and as he reciprocated, the spirits of his parents appeared.
"Perfect timing." he said, almost grumbling like a teenager and Sookie laughed at seeing the big bad Viking almost reduced to some embarrassed teenager. He rolled over on his side to look at his parents, almost amusedly, that hint of bad boy there and yet there was that slight embarrassment that made Sookie see all over again how far he had come. Getting to his feet, he was somewhat surprised to see her, out of the corner of his eye, follow suite, taking his hand into hers and nodding reverently towards his parents' spirits.
"I hope you are well." his father said as his wife nodded in agreement. "You know, we have yet to see anyone who has made him as whole as he is now and your near loss…"
"not the first time we've almost lose one another." interjected the Viking as he looked from her to his parents. "Its almost like a game we have now….not exactly a fun one…but….."
"Each trial you've gone through has made you both grow stronger and more resilient. And for what it is worth, if you were this way back when we were alive, I daresay you would have made a excellent king." his father said with a note of pride in his voice. "I know we have said this before but we truly are proud of you….happy for you."
"And I am happy for me as well…..but if you don't mind…..I am determined to help her heal a little further should she feel up to it." Eric replied saucily and the two spirits, along with Sookie, rolled their eyes, knowing that there would always be that mysterious streak to him and yet, Sookie knew she wouldn't have it any other way. As the spirits vanished, the two were left to their own passionate devices, taking it slow, not wanting to waste a moment of the peace that had once more returned to their lives.
THE END
AUTHOR"S NOTE-stay tuned for the longest story I have written to date….I wanted to branch out and try something unexpected and different. One word hint- MERMAIDS…..Thanks for reading!