NOTES: Okay, so I re-read the first chapter of my other True Blood story ( the original Parting Shot ) and realized I hated it. So this is a re-write. Same idea. Same setting. Post season 2 ( since I haven't seen a bit of season 3, which drives me a little crazy... ). From there it will veer wildly into the realm of A/U. I did this re-write in third person because I thought it would be easier to include other characters that way, rather than limiting everything to Sookie's point of view. Please let me know your thoughts.

PAIRINGS: Eric/Sookie

SPOILERS: Through season 2, some liberties taken with details from the Sookie Stackhouse novels as well.

PARTING SHOT
Chapter One

Fangtasia was closed.

Eric Northman sat in the silent bar, his long body sprawled across his chair as though everything was normal, but it wasn't. Outside, the night was quiet apart from Shreveport traffic, and even that had become a dull roar as the dark deepened. He was glad; he'd never much liked the sound of motor traffic, although he had to admit a certain weakness for a well-made machine. His face was expressionless and his eyes stared at nothing, though he vaguely registered the sound of Pam moving about in the employee's-only areas. It was white noise. All his focus was on one thing. One human.

He could feel Sookie Stackhouse's panic even from Shreveport, although their blood-bond told him she was still in Bon Temps. Her panic was thanks to Bill Compton – Eric was assuming this point, of course, but considering their history it was a fair assumption. He wrestled with himself, wondered if he should go to her. Sookie wasn't likely to accept his help, not without a fair amount of convincing, and the fact was, Eric plain didn't care for Bill. His fellow vampire was a thorn in his side; a stuffed-shirt bore with such stiff Victorian manners and such utter self-righteousness that Eric often found himself wondering how to chase him out of Bon Temps and his domain of Area Five in general. Of course, that would mean chasing Sookie away as well…but it was still a temptation. Bill's lecturing tongue had landed him in hot water before, and his knowledge of Eric's trade in V was highly inconvenient.

What to do… Eric's long fingers drummed against the armrest of his chair, and then he unfolded his long body and stood.

"Pam. I'm going out for a bit."

Pam appeared in the doorway. She arched an eyebrow at him, clearly disapproving. "You're off to find that Stackhouse girl."

"Something's the matter." He shook his head. "With her, something is always the matter."

"Is that why you shut the bar down early?"

Eric regarded Pam for one long, cold moment. "Always questioning me. How did I end up with such an insubordinate progeny?"

"Just lucky that way. Go then, save the damsel in distress. I suppose I'll track down Lafayette and see how he's doing with the merchandise."

"What an enterprising idea." He flashed a cool smile. "I'll be back before dawn."

Pam only turned her back to him and sashayed out of the bar, her hand lifted in a parting wave. Eric watched her go, still thoughtful, and then turned his attention to other things. What had Bill Compton gotten up to this time? He had a bad feeling that it was something he'd rather have no part of. He grabbed a jacket and headed out of the door, off to discover what the latest Stackhouse emergency was. He had a feeling he was going to wish he'd stayed in Shreveport.

Sookie found herself describing how she had come out of the bathroom and discovered Bill missing again. She was wearing the ring he'd given her, and that should have been some comfort…but it wasn't. Something was very, very wrong. Someone – something – had overpowered a hundred and fifty year old vampire. This was not easily done. And they'd disappeared all within the five or so minutes Sookie had spent in the lady's room composing herself.

Kidnapped on the night of his proposal.

Oh, Bill, she thought, probably for the thousandth time. Sheriff's deputy Kenya Jones was staring at her, and it took her a moment to realize that in her distraction, she'd missed a question.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked.

"Miss Stackhouse, how can you be sure that Bill Compton was taken against his will?"

"I—" Sookie faltered. She was really too frazzled to try and explain the bad, bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, the fear that had come with the dead certainty that Bill would never have left her at that restaurant alone if there had been any sort of help for it. She opened her mouth, floundering for an answer, and then suddenly she wasn't alone with Kenya anymore.

Silently, Eric Northman had arrived. Sookie looked up at him and drank him in; the leather jacket encasing those huge shoulders, the blonde hair slicked back from his marble face, the unruffled calm of his appearance and manner. He had been a Viking once and then a vampire, a killer for over a thousand years. But even Sookie had to admit that he looked more like some sort of archangel.

"Sookie," he said with a nod for her. His eyes were on Kenya. "Deputy."

"Great. This is just what I needed." Sookie glared up at him, and Kenya seemed startled by his sudden arrival.

"Have you finished asking Sookie questions? I'd like to take her home, if that's alright," Eric said, his voice very smooth and pleasant, and after a moment, Kenya nodded. Sookie wondered if he'd glamoured her, but she didn't get a chance to ask. Eric's hand had closed on her elbow and he was already drawing her away from the deputy, steering her toward his car in a manner that left her helpless to do anything but follow his lead. His fingers wrapped all the way around her slender arm, and though he was firm, he wasn't hurting her. Still, the presumption rather irked her. She didn't like being dragged around, especially not by Eric Northman.

She jerked her arm away from his grasp as he unlocked his car, and the knowledge that this was possible only because he allowed her to irked her even more. She had no patience for the sheriff of Area Five tonight. Her thoughts were consumed with Bill. She climbed into Eric's car only because she knew better than to walk back to Kenya and request a ride. She buckled in and refused to look at the vampire in the driver's seat. Eric ignored her as well. He put the car in drive and turned onto the street that would eventually take her home.

"I take it Bill's missing."

Sookie crossed her arms over her chest and looked out of the car window. "Yes."

"That's…unfortunate." In more ways than one. Bill's knowledge of Eric's involvement in the black market for V was dangerous for him. Very dangerous. But where would Bill go? Not to Sophie-Anne, or his phone would have been ringing already. Not to the magister, or Eric would not be free to drive Sookie home. So where? He had no allies that Eric was aware of, but then he had always been exceedingly private. To his maker? That was an interesting idea, one that would require further exploration. He never would have gone without his reasons.

"I think he was kidnapped."

Eric glanced at her in surprise. That was another interesting avenue. Kidnapping a vampire was not easy, but nor was it impossible. Hell, even Jason Stackhouse had managed it once. His brow darkened. The night was not improving.

"Did he speak to you of enemies?"

"Heavens, no!" Sookie turned to him at last, her brown eyes wide and angry. "Bill Compton is a decent man, no one would have any cause to take him. Except maybe drainers."

"Or the Fellowship of the Sun." Eric frowned. "Although the last time I checked in on them, they were still trying to reorganize. I doubt they have the resources to take a vampire as old as Bill, not unless he surrendered himself to them."

"No, I would have known if anyone from the Fellowship had come to town." Sookie seemed certain. "Or else Jason would have recognized them."

"And no one here had any reason to want him gone?" Eric sounded almost amused, although it was hard to tell in the intermittent lighting from the lamps over the street.

"No, why?"

"Because he was a vampire. And usually that's reason enough."

"This is a good town, Eric. These are good people."

"Mm." Eric was staring at the road. "Rene Lenier. The Ratrays. Your own brother kidnapped and killed one of my kind, and then there's Lafayette's enterprising business in V."

Sookie didn't say anything. There was nothing to say, and she knew it.

"Well, I suppose a manhunt is in order. Although I'm not sure the vernacular is quite correct in Bill's case, as he's a vampire." Eric's tone had turned thoughtful. Sookie felt the shock of his words sink in just a moment too late, and her response was delayed as a result.

"You're…going to help look for him?"

"I'm his sheriff. This is my area. It's my responsibility to determine what's happened to him, and if vampire law has been broken, it's my duty to ensure things get put to right." His eyes flicked to her again, and then back to the road. "You shouldn't be surprised. I'm doing no more than I must."

"Of course you're not. Heaven forbid you do more than you must."

"You're going to make me angry, Sookie." His voice was tight, his expression stone. "It won't take much."

She fell silent. Conversations with Eric Northman too often went this way. The quiet stretched for a few long moments, but as Eric turned the car into her driveway, she turned to him.

"What do you think this means? Why would someone kidnap a vampire?"

Eric only looked at her. He could think of many, many reasons. None of them were good. He held her gaze for a long moment, testing her emotions through their bond. She seemed stable. Angry, worried, but stable.

"Go inside. Lock your doors. I'll call you when I know more." He looked away from her at last, and she let out a breath she hadn't meant to hold.

"Eric—"

"Go on." His patience had run its course for the evening, and she smelled too good. Looked too good. He hadn't missed the ring on her finger, the one that made her Bill Compton's in human terms. He'd already claimed her as a vampire. Why hadn't that been enough? But of course, for Sookie, it was this human engagement that would have special meaning, and not the far more binding connection Bill had made by proclaiming her his in front of his sheriff. Frustrated, Eric's eyes flicked toward the road, toward Shreveport and the bar, things that made sense to him. His attachment to Sookie was irrational and unwise.

And until he knew what had happened to Bill Compton, she was still completely off-limits, no matter what she smelled like. Which, at the moment, was pure summer sunshine.

"Goodnight, Sookie," he said, and his voice was hard. She stared at him for a moment longer, he could feel her confusion…and then she straightened up and closed the car door.

"Goodnight, Eric," she said, lifting her chin. Normally this show of pride would have amused him, made him poke fun at her for a moment or two longer. Tonight he simply started the car and stared at her. She hesitated for another moment, and then she walked up the path to her porch, back stiff and head high. He waited until he heard her lock engage, and then he drove away.

What sort of hell have you unleashed on us now, Bill? he wondered, and then reached for his phone. In Bill's absence, protection for Sookie must be arranged. And there was another call he needed to make, as well. To, of all things, a hunter. He sighed. Suddenly life in Louisiana was never boring, and he wasn't sure that was a good thing. Not at all.