Greeting the Dawn

Chapter 1

A/N

Hey ya'll! So this is my first fanfiction in 12 years, and trust me, you don't want to read the others. I'm toying with the idea of writing a follow-up to this piece. Let me know if you're interested! I hope you enjoy this!

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Godric's Point of View

I turn to face the sunrise and stare out over the urban sprawl of downtown Dallas. Even though it has cooled down during the night, I can still see the waves of heat rising off the concrete below me. Looking off into the horizon, the tips of the clouds are painted orange.

I told my Child to go, and so he left me. It is done. There is nothing left to fill the black hole of aching emptiness in my chest. It has been growing for years, and I can no longer bear its existence. My existence.

That black hole has been my companion far longer than my Child has been alive. Eric filled it once. Filled it with the brightness of his humanity, until I beat it out of him, although his laugh never changed. He grew, he grew into himself. A vampire in his own right, and I know that it would be wrong to continue using him as a distraction from the emptiness inside.

I can no longer share his delight in the hunt, the kill, or the warm welcome of a woman's flesh. But I refuse to rob him of that joy. And so I released him, my Eric. He is no longer mine now.

I feel the warming breezes blowing against my cold skin, and I slowly unbutton and remove my shirt. I want nothing between my skin and the sunlight besides the air currents that would blow me away. The wind swirls the smoke that my body is beginning to generate. I will burn. I will burn and there will be nothing left of me. Just like on the inside.

The black emptiness has eaten away at everything. No amount of blood or violence or sex could ever fill it up. It was wrong to try. We were wrong to be here. Wrong for ever existing.

That dark companion reminds me of every person I have taken from another. A punishment I know I deserve so well.

I move my hand up to press against my sternum. Holding it in, as if that small gesture could contain the blackness inside me from expanding further and taking the only little piece of my soul that I have left. Oh yes, I have a soul. I am going to purge it with the light of the sun, and this blackness will finally be gone.

A touch – something is tugging at my arm. I pull my gaze away from the slowly brightening sky and onto the human woman. Sookie Stackhouse. Both of her warm hands are wrapped around my free one, engulfing it. The light blue of her eyes is shining. Why is she still here?

"Come on, Godric!" She says forcefully.

What?

Apparently, she has been talking for some time.

The woman huffs impatiently and drops my hand, bringing hers together to wring them fretfully. I feel the loss immediately, and the blackness within surges. I push harder on my chest to contain it from exploding out of my skin.

"No, Little One. This is my time. This is right." As I breathe the words I know I must destroy the darkness. It is a part of me.

I tilt my head slightly in order to see her better. Her face is filled with determination and desperation, not unlike my Child's. "Godric, you have to listen to me! You need to get off the roof!"

I shake my head gently to soften the blow. "There is nothing that you can say that I have not already heard, Little One. There are nothing but rationalizations with no sanity or truth."

I look back to the horizon. I can see the heat rising off the buildings. For each second the sky looks even redder. In this moment I cannot blame the humans for their pollution because the slight green cast makes this sunrise even more beautiful.

The breeze shifts, blowing a speck of grit into my eye and I blink. Blue. The blue of her eyes fills my vision. She is standing before me, blocking the light. My body whispers relief as her shadow blocks the harmful rays beginning to crest over the earth. Even the blackness slows its unrelenting growth in this moment.

I reach up with my free hand, unable to stop myself. Her face is so close to mine that each of her exhalations feels like a kiss. My hand slowly ghosts over the side of her face and I can feel each tiny hair along her skin. I catch a tear with my thumb, and it hangs there.

That strange wetness mirrors one of my own, but mine is dark, like me. I blink again in surprise. The sun is rising now, pushing even closer to our crust of earth, and I waver. I move my hand slightly drawing both our eyes to the movement. Her tear glistens in the sun, reflecting the light, no more than just the light.

I know then, dawn is just around the corner. I will burn. But I want this last thing. This one last thing. And as the sun crests over the horizon, she is backlit. Strands of her hair cast about in the wind, catching the light so it looks almost like golden fire.

The blackness within me is totally still, the gaping maw in my breast frozen by the moment and my actual want.

I look into her eyes as I open my mouth slightly, and slip my tear-covered thumb into my mouth. I close my eyes in anticipation. I don't want her to see, whatever my reaction. As though if I close my own eyes, she won't see me burn. I tense, hoping for one more moment, one last breath.

And then I taste it.

Bliss.