Chapter 1
Things were forever changing. In the past few days, the twins had been forced to move to Faery, the monarchies of the vamp world were no more, instead an Authority was put into each state across the United States and the rest of the world, while sheriffs were made more numerous and given added responsibilities. Pam was glad to at least keep the house she inherited from the late and not exactly mourned for Sophie-Annie. Tara still lived there with her but it was a knock on the door that had interrupted her bi-weekly mani-pedi session. Annoyed, she opened the door to find both Godric and Nora standing there.
"Good timing." she said sarcastically. "You sent word that something was wrong. I thought something felt funny but since being released by him, our bond isn't as it used to be. I only get flashes now and then."
"Same as I. Willa said the same thing. And she is working now, helping out at Fangtasia to help keep the humans in line. She said she would try to get over here before dawn but wasn't sure if she could.. But there is something troubling going on and I sense you feel that as well."
Pam frowned. "I have had a lot on my plate recently, distracted by the fact that I am no longer queen, that the authority has decided to instead install small authorities in every state…..they are , however, keeping sheriffs in place. At least they're letting us keep this place." Pam smiled as Tara entered the room at this moment.
"Yeah, I've liked living it up in style. If nothing else, Sophie Anne had good taste in mansions." Tara said, her smile fading as she looked at the serious faces all around her. "Uh, something else happen besides the twins having to move away?"
Godric and Pam, the only two in the room that had the closest of bonds with the Viking nodded. "I released him and he her," he nodded to Pam. "But there is always to be that faint bond remaining and its power is never wrong. It can guide us to his location and vice versa, though I can no longer compel him to obey my wishes and so on."
"Ok…..so what's the problem?"
"Sookie called me last night and explained their little trip to Faery a couple days ago when they went to visit the twins." Godric revealed how a ambush by evil faeries had left Eric dead. Deader than dead and when he got to the part when he was resurrected, the mere mention of the one ingredient needed to make the magic work sent Pam into a rage driven my panic and fear.
"Didn't we learn anything from the last time that bitch's blood was in play? That Lilith was a freaking wacko who put a number on Bill like I have never seen and now that blood is in him?"
"From what I gather from Sookie, the waters used were supposed to help temper any negative effects of the blood. But it now appears something has gone wrong. And she's trying to play it cool. But he has been gone for two days and it's unlike him to do so without keeping in touch with her.. "Let's get out of here and find Sookie so we can try to help-" Godric was cut off as the lights of the mansion flickered and there came a agonizing scream from outside that soon grew louder as the blur entered the house in a flurry of noise, violence and chaos.
Chapter 2
She paced the living room as she once more tried to call him on his cell. Nothing. And she had spoken to Willa at the bar, where she worked part time as well as the New Blood offices. Willa was going to try to close up early to get over to help them all figure out what was going on but it was not set in stone it would happen. "Great." muttered Sookie. And to her further distress, she found her self unable to open a passage to Faery to get a hold of her grandfather or the twins. It would seem they were cut off once more and she could only pray they were all safe. He had left his bracelet behind on the nightstand, the only way he could enter Faery or day walk and it was something of a relief to Sookie. Not that she usually feared him going after anyone in Faery. But the sudden disappearance coupled with his bizarre resurrection did not a good combination make, she feared.
Leaving the house, she walked right into a bloodied but mostly uninjured Pam and Godric. "What happened to you guys?" Sookie asked, horrified by their conditions.
"We're fine. it's the others that are in trouble. He has gone off the deep end. Blabbing something about being pulled by her voice. That she's making him do these things. He was incoherent, mostly and I don't know how he managed it, but he's keeping Willa at bay. She called when she was trying to leave the bar and she said something about some energy field keeping her from leaving. All the people inside can come and go but she's stuck."
"Well, I can't get into Faery and I am guessing that they cant come to this realm either. Like we're being cut off from people." Sookie shuddered. "How is this even possible he's done this? What of the others?"
"I feel that a horrible mistake was made with the resurrection." Godric said. "The waters of the faerie pool he rose from were purified but I think perhaps it may have further enhanced the power of that wicked blood. And as a result, made things go horribly awry. Ironically, I believe that if just plain water was used, none infused with fae magic, things wouldn't be as dangerous as they are now."
"What are you saying? We have to….." she trailed off but he took her hands gently into his own.
"I am not saying we have to kill him. I am saying he is clearly having trouble controlling whatever lurks in him now and I suspect that he is having trouble coming to grips with the new power he has. And I believe he trapped the others back there and is keeping the passages to Faery closed off out of fear of what he is capable of. This is unlike anything I have seen before. He is a loaded weapon, even more so than he has ever been."
"And I know where he is. I feel him, and I guess you can too?" she replied softly
"Yes. And I fear what he may do with this blood within him."
"It's Bill all over again. Even worse since he managed to create some kind of shield around Pam's place and is keeping us separated from Faery. I would bet it's the faerie magic that was in the water that gave him that power."
"Agreed. Shall we?" Godric offered her a hand and she knew how they would be going after him. By way of the cloudy night sky. A storm was coming, she saw as they rose into the air and as she curled up in the arms of the ancient vampire, she saw the lightning in the distance and hoped that would be all the fireworks that would transpire this night. As she hung on to Godric, she couldn't help but be reminded of the blood flowing through him, that it was the very blood that ran through many others, connecting them as family. And now that family had expended and she feared that they would lose forever the biggest piece of their family.
Chapter 3
They flew for a short time, guided by her bond to him. And then they came to a place they hadn't expected to find him. The still abandoned town of Saint Alice, a town decimated when the hep-vamps had come about, killing every last resident within. It was eerie, a ghost town that was steered clear from. Still, they both smelled blood in the air and knew that it was home to some vagrants and homeless people who had settled into the ghost town. Even in the moonlight, they saw the streaks of blood and body parts scattered on the roads and with a gulp, Sookie followed the trail of destruction to a abandoned high school, where, as they entered through the broken open door, their missing Viking had taken up residence. And had chosen to feed on the unfortunate souls who had crossed his path.
"I really don't like this. This is almost as bad as the place where we found Edgington after he was dug out of the cement."
"I have seen worse." Godric said. "But this is no picnic either. I shudder to think what we will find.
They called his name, their voices echoing off the walls and metal lockers in the hallway, Sookie using her bond to track him. And then she doubled over in pain, blood coming from within her and bubbling out her mouth. She remembered the time the same thing had happened to Jessica when she had been summoned by Bill and had remembered the agony she had been in. it felt like her insides were being torn apart. "Please…..stop it!" she screamed in pain as Godric scooped her up into his arms, his fangs popping out, reluctant for any battle that was looming before them.
"Eric. Come out where we can talk. You don't really want to do this to her, do you?" Godric spoke firmly as he was guided towards the glowing light of a open doorway. Arriving outside the cavernous gymnasium, he saw more carnage all over the polished floor. And in the center of the room, bare chested and as wild in appearance as he had looked way back in the day when Godric had first laid eyes on the fearsome Viking in battle. There was a anger and rage in Eric's eyes as he looked at his maker but as he saw Sookie injured in his arms, he made his fangs come out instinctually.
"You two should not have come after me. I am not….it's not safe. I don't even know how I did what I did. The magic I apparently wield, its out of my control but I managed to keep everyone else at bay so I can not harm them. Why I couldn't stop you two….."
"Because the bonds we share are the strongest out of all of the bonds you have with your family members. Magic is a funny thing, it seems to sometimes have a life of its own."
He said nothing as he held his fists up and to the stunned silence of his loved ones, a familiar yet menacing glow forming around them. "See what your resurrection magic has helped to do? Coupled with the fact that all I can hear is the voices of everyone who comes around…"
"It's telepathy." Sookie breathed as she took in the sight of Eric. "You've got faerie powers now.
"But there is a madness in him that's caused him to lash out and spill innocent blood. If we can't undo this….."
"I am remaining here so I don't purposefully harm anyone….but as you see, it has not been successful. Imagine what would happen if I made a attempt to come home. To go to work at Fangtasia or the New Blood offices. And it's not so much Lilith I feel invading ho I am, but it's the voices I hear and I can't shut it off. I don't even have to be near a group of people to hear them. Even now, I hear voices all thinking and its overwhelming. And there's nothing I can do about it save for meet the true death." he looked forlorn and slightly manic as he spoke. But neither of the two facing him were afraid.
"Look, you remember how Bill let those vamps feed off him in vamp camp so they wouldn't burn? Before he met the true death himself, he had told me that losing all that blood caused him to become himself again. Completely himself."
"But this is different." Godric said. "He has gained fae powers as well., what with the shields, the light. The telepathy…."
"We have to try…." she said as she watched the mighty Viking fall on his knees, clutching his head before tearing his own tank top to shreds in some kind of insane fit. "This is destroying his mind. His body isn't meant for fae magic and certainly Lilith's blood hasn't helped, save for bringing him back from being a pile of goo."
"Then we need to spill his blood. As much as we can without draining him fully." Godric said. "But we can not put that blood to our lips, not until his body is purged of the darkness and the fae magic."
She nodded. "Then we have to….what, beat the blood out of him?"
"I think that's exactly what you have to do. Restrain me and cut me. Do whatever you have to do to bleed me to the point just before death." Eric replied as he was still on his knees. "You wouldn't imagine the thoughts racing through my head and it's not just due to the telepathy. She's telling me to do….things that I think would greatly upset you both."
Pained by the way he looked, so desperate and yet still dangerous, she looked at Godric. "Go get some silver chains. There's a supply in the cubby in my house. Kept it as a just in case during the whole hep-v crisis."
Godric frowned as he looked from Eric to Sookie. "I don't want to leave you alone with him he is…unwell."
"I will be fine. I have his blood running through me as well and I have my powers too." she made her light appeared around her own hands and dropped her fangs down before retracting them again. "I'll be fine."
He made his own fangs drop down and offered her some of his blood. "At least drink from me for a moment, then I can sense if you are in danger. It should work, with the family bond we already share. Bonds can be complicated and useful all at the same time."
She did as he told her and with a pleased nod, he fled the gym. And then the metal doors of the gymnasium slammed shut and locked, the big Viking getting to his feel slowly, turning his gaze to his own wife who could only state, wide eyed as he approached with coldness and a shred of regret in his eyes.
Chapter 4
She stood her ground as he gripped her arms into his own and she saw the desperation within his blue eyes, the inner turmoil he was feeling. "Maybe the faerie magic is making the influence of…her…stronger. Harming your mind more than it would have if you had merely drank that blood." Sookie stammered as he continued to look at her. She was trying to get him to listen to her, to stave of whatever he was thinking about doing.
"You….you are the only thing keeping me grounded for now but I feel that control leaving me by the moment. If Godric delays getting back here with the silver…" he looked away from her as he let her go suddenly. "I swear, if I do anything to harm you…I would be only too willing to off myself to spare anyone else I could."
"Don't you dare talk like that." she replied as she followed him to where he was leaning against the wall, looking upwards at the dead lights above. "If I had to go back and do it all over again, if it meant saving your life….eve knowing what I do know what would happen, I would do it. I need you and you? You need me. If this doesn't work, the draining, I will be there for you to help you. To teach you and we can maybe get Niall to help-"
"He's helped enough, hasn't he?" growled the Viking angrily, he winced as he saw the hurt look on her face. "You see? You knew I had a temper before but now….it's like a war between myself and whatever this is inside me now. I blanked out, Sookie, when I got to this school. I barely remember killing all those homeless people that were here. I think I even grabbed some people off the street when I decided to come to this town…" red tears began streaking down his pale face and it was breaking her heart more than anything she had ever seen from him.
Godric entered that that moment replete with more than the silver Sookie had stashed in her house. "I picked up some extra at the abandoned anti vampire shop back in Bon Temps as well." he was wearing gloves to keep his own flesh safe but there was another parcel ha had slung across his back that gave Sookie pause to be concerned further. He revealed to her a pair of daggers. Silver, of course. "We have to do this, for his own good."
Nodding, she looked at Eric. "Are you ready?"
"I just want this over. Whatever it takes." he replied as she looked into his eyes and saw there was something there, the dark influence that the blood had put on him. And it gave her chills, bad memories of the whole Bill situation came flooding back to her mind again. Shaking it off, she assisted Godric in restraining him on the cool gym floor, wrapping the chains around his arms and legs and draping yet more around his midsection. "Start. Please." he begged, proving how desperate he was to be well again. He was certainly not one to ever, ever beg and it was hurting the two above him that they had only one option. They started cutting, making slashed in his skin from his arms to his toned middle, tears rolling from Sookie's eyes with each cut she made. She met his gaze as he managed to smile. "you're doing spectacularly. Do not hold back, whatever you have to do to get the blood from me…."
"Let us know when you feel any change. Then we can give you our blood to recover." Godric replied as he took his dagger and plunged it deep into his side, a fountain beginning to flow from his wound. And as they watched their handiwork cause the Viking to bleed out, they saw the blood did not look right, there was a aura about it that could only be the remains of the vampire goddess that had tried to take hold of him. But they also saw a metallic hue to it as well, the evidence of the fae magic within the blood. He was fading fast and they could only hope they weren't overdoing it.
"One more wound should move it along." Eric whispered as he closed his eyes, ignoring the pain he felt from the wounds and the silver restraining him. She had glimpsed his eyes and had seen the life leaving them but also the darkness was leaving too. She felt relieved yet worried about it and taking her dagger, she knew she was only doing this out of love and closing her own eyes, the dagger met his jugular. And it was done.
"Remove the silver." Godric said to her as in a slight panic, they did so and made to give him their blood. But he was still and mot moving. Were they too late, was he about to leave them once and for all?
Chapter 5
They had to pry open his mouth but managed to get the trickles of blood from their wrists into his mouth and they did so for several minutes, Sookie stroking his hair at the same time, praying this was going to work. If he had not been purged of the darkness and faerie magic that had made such a volatile combination, then…..no, she couldn't think about that, not now.
"We have done all we can." Godric said as he stopped the feeding and gestured for her to do the same. As their wounds on their wrists healed shut, they waited in silent vigil. It felt like hours, those many, many minutes that ticked by but finally, after just under a full hour, there came a stir. His eyes fluttered open and to the hesitant relief of the others, they saw no traces of the magic, the blood that had altered him so. "How do you feel?"
The Viking remained silent for a few moments as he looked into the concerned faces of two of the most precious people in his life. He sat up and still said nothing, closing his eyes and he looked….at peace. "I feel like me again." he tried summoning any of his talents he had gained after his resurrection and one by one, he and the others saw they had indeed gone, "Normal. Well…..not that I am merely normal. I like to think of myself as rather unique." he added with that characteristic swagger he was known for. To which Skokie rolled her eyes but wiped the tears from her face with a relieved look. He took his hand and helped brush the dampness from her face. "Were you worried, by any chance? You of all people should know by now that it will take a great deal to keep me down for long."
There was a light as Niall and the twins appeared, the twins not expected to be in this realm for fear they would go right back to aging rapidly ageing. But as they both revealed pendants that hung around their necks, their parents realized Niall had done what he had promised, to find some way for them to visit this realm as well, without fear of aging. "It is good to see you safe and I must say, we were all very anxious to get here. As you can see, the twins are able to travel here safely, albeit for only a few hours at a time. The pendants work similarly to your bracelet, Viking." Niall looked from the twins to Skokie and Eric. "I wish I could make it something more permanent, but even fae magic has its limits and in the case of these children, it is a miracle I was able to accomplish what I did, considering the…interesting way they came into being as they are."
Adele rushed over to her parents, her dirty blonde hair now streaked with thin brown stripes. Looking at her parents with hazel eyes that were not unlike her brothers, she hugged them both one by one. "Like my hair? I can get anything I want or need in Faery and I like my blonde hair but wanted to try something a little different. not that there's anything wrong with being blonde, but-"
"Geez, she's been all about her hair since she learned she could get whatever she wanted." Hjalmar said with a aye roll that would do Sookie proud.
"Look, brother, I can't help we're treated like….well, royalty."
"Grandpa, you had better not be spoiling them." Sookie looked from her twins to her grandfather who gave her a innocent look.
"Spoil sounds like a terrible word. I choose to go with lavish. Besides, I have them being trained daily by our best guards and they have become adept with many a weapon, both metal and faery. They are warriors who have done their parents proud." Niall replied. "But believe it when I tell you I do not intend to try to usurp your job as parents. At least now, you can see each other more and bond more as a family."
Sookie smiled with thanks at her grandfather. As she and Eric could not be with the twins as much as they would ideally like, it was good to know they were in good hands and were seemingly becoming responsible and level headed people. But now that the twins had these precious pendants to keep them from aging when in this realm…it was hard to believe their luck. However, they had paid their dues in the troubles they had faced in their life and perhaps this was part of good karma coming back to them. Finally. Looking around at the faces before her, she smiled again It was good, being al together. Well, almost. And as if her wish had come true, they were joined by Tara, Pam, Willa and Nora. The family was all there and it took a moment for them to take in the new appearance of the twins and after a quick update on their situation, that they could occasionally visit this realm, Pam was quick to go to the side of her maker, looking angry and relieved at the same time. "You have got to stop freaking the crap out of me, scaring me like that. I did not like what I was hearing, that you got yourself killed….then I couldn't get to you cause of some shield you yourself put up! Oh, and while you were busy, I was informed there will no longer be any monarchies in the country. So…..I suppose I am back to working for you again.-" Pam was stopped by a finger to her mouth.
"Actually, I have missed you being around and am sorry you have lost your title"
"I could care less. I get to keep the house and all that's in it." Pam replied with a greedy smirk..
"Well then. I would be glad to regal all of you as to our adventures in Faery up to where we are at this point. As you may expect, it is not a dull story." he grinned as he felt a burst of pride over his assembled family. It would never get old, seeing them all together, a most unique family and never again would there be a family born of such honor, sacrifice and love.
THE END
