A/N: Well, they say there is no growth w/o adversity and that's def true in story development. Eric recalls a fight with Kirsten. If you haven't read it and want to check it out, it's a short called "Battlefield." Happy reading :)

The Shield Wall

Eric gazed out of the bay window that faced the lake. A blood moon brooded just above the horizon. The lake water was still and dark, but the night was alive with creatures both seen and unseen. A loon's haunting cry echoed across the water. Hunting bats flitted, darted and cried out in frequencies too high for human ears to hear. Undine swam in the water and Landvættir, spirits of the land, were everywhere—in tree, rock, and in the rich earth itself. The magic of his powerful clan had enchanted this land and the magical beings who inhabited it awoke from their long sleep to bless it with their waking presence. All of these things were native to his garth. They posed no threat and he permitted them to exist within the shield wall he had created with the might of three realms: Midgard, Alfheim, and Asgard.

Of course, other things, dark unwholesome things, also wanted to enter his garth. But they could not enter. Thanks to Sookie, Pam, Toller, Prince Niall and Lord Ciaran of the Fae and to his Adele, the Bridge between many worlds, he had the best wards in Midgard. No monarch in Midgard could match his army of supernaturals and few governments could match his intelligence network or his hidden arsenal of mundane and magical weaponry.

He felt sure of himself and of his rightful place in the nine worlds. The Northman Dynasty was strong and growing. Great joy surged through him as he thought of his grandchildren: Toller and Kirsten's son Ingvarr already eight years old and a bright, sturdy, handsome boy., and their new granddaughter, Adele and Ciaran's beautiful, perfect Aileen just one month old (at least in Midgard time).

Aileen was a delicate, golden Fae beauty, but Northman blood flowed in her veins. Like his own children, Aileen and Ingvarr were Sons and Daughters of the Blood—and extensions of the Northman Dynasty. Their birth guaranteed the success of a new race of beings more durable and magical than vampires, sturdier and more rooted in Midgard than the Fae.

Aileen's birth was a great joy for the family. With Aileen in her arms, Del slowly emerged form the grief of losing Stan's twins.

And Kirsten was happy- much steadier and less, impulsive since Ingvarr's birth. She had grown up and was a great queen and a loving wife and mother as well as a powerful warrior and formidable stateswoman. But Adele, how his darling girl had changed! Such sorrow and deep knowing in her fern green eyes. Her relationship with the Fae Lord Ciaran was strong. When he asked about her status as a godwife, she smiled a secret smile and told him all was well with Lord Odin.

Adele would only say that Stan was "troubled" and "stressed." But Eric's spies told him that all was far from well in the Kingdom of Texas. King Stan's behavior and choices had become a problem for the Northmans and a liability within the murky realm of Vampire politics. With or without Stan, Eric must move soon to secure Texas, or others would take over and the Northman hold on the southwest would weaken. It was only a matter of time before Filipe or another power monarch struck.

Once steady and focused, Stan was now governed by mood swings and wild outbursts. His staff whispered, that his erratic behavior began around the time that Adele had miscarried their twins. A terrible tragedy for one as ancient as Stan and for his Adele as well. He too had lost children Sookie had miscarried once between the girls and Sigurd—but they had their living children.

Perhaps it was true that the stillborn babies unsettled his mind, but it seemed to Eric that Stan had become physically and emotionally overwhelmed soon after taking Adele's powerful blood. Rage was a monster that destroyed relationships and he feared that Stan and Adele's was at the breaking point if not already broken beyond repair. He wasn't dealing well with Adele's other relationships, especially after Adele gave birth to Lord Ciaran's daughter.

When Eric sent Stan the news that Adele had given birth to Aileen, his spies told him that Stan had bellowed with rage, smashed his desk, and reduced their bedroom suite to matchsticks. By the time Adele, returned he was calmer, but moody, brooding and overly possessive. Although Del and Ciaran had already brought Aileen to her ecstatic grandparents in Minnesota, it was obvious that she could never bring Aileen into Stan's kingdom.

Del was powerful, but he wondered if she would allow Stan to strike her out of some horrible misplaced guilt for the loss of the children and for the unraveling of their relationship. And yet she was a young goddess who saw more, understood more, and had more compassion that was good for any soul that dealt with men like Stan and her devoted father. No. She would never allow Stan to strike her. She had allowed enough for a long lifetime.

She had broken herself to become the Bridge—broken herself to save the worlds. He had lost his Adele and the Nine Worlds had gained The Bridge. Stan had married a young woman, sweet and innocent, but adversity and a hard and glorious wyrd had shaped Adele into a woman who was greater than her vampire husband. It was clear to Eric, that Adele's blood had been too strong for Stan. Perhaps he couldn't adjust to the changes marriage to The Bridge had wrought in his long existence. Like all beings, especially those whose existence was measured in centuries, vampires could become creatures of habit.

It saddened him terribly, but it was true. Adele was never fated to spend much time in Midgard. When Kirsten was a teenager, they had a terrible fight after she had defied him; she had wounded him with truthful words and had reminded him how Adele suffered from the iron in this world—how the burden of living here increased with every passing year. He knew that this was true, but his love for his Fae daughter had been too great. He had been greedy and possessive—he hadn't wanted to let her go even though he knew in his heart that he must.

Despite his love, or his selfishness, or his hopes, Adele left him because she was The Bridge. She must go because her wyrd was greater than anyone could have imagined. She had no need of blood bonds or Vampire politics. Indeed, it was only her love for Stan that had kept the bond intact. If Adele ceased to love Stan it would be because he loved an eighteen year old kitten. But the kitten had grown into a tigress. Perhaps she realized that she could never again be the young woman that Stan had loved and desired. She was more, so much more.

As Adele traveled between the worlds, space-time fluctuated. Her coming and going in Midgard might seem mere minutes when in fact she might have spent weeks with her mates in Alfheim or Asgard. This drove Stan mad with jealousy. Their life together seemed an insult.

Jealousy and the growing realization that he was the inferior mate shattered him and, in turn ,he struck out. Stan was a threat on many levels both personal and political. Perhaps Eric would have to kill him for the sake of Adele—for the sake of the family. Of course he might have to stand in line behind Odin; Lord Ciaran would have to wait his turn. There were many ifs.

If he feared and resented what his wife had become , if he was not strong enough to assimilate the gift of Del's blood, if he came to resent his ties to the Northmans, King Stan would become a dangerous enemy. He was privy to family secrets and secret plans-not the deepest secrets, but enough to pose a significant threat. There was one way to effectively deal with such an enemy.

The Northman's enemies, those afraid of the Sons and Daughters of the Blood, were still , for the most part, well hidden. They waited only for a weakening of the shield wall. The old regime feared the power that his young ones wielded. They feared their ability to make day walkers out of vampires—they feared their wealth, their connections in other realms, and their deep magic. They also feared Eric Northman and with good reason.

None had yet challenged them openly. But whisperings and hints of plots came to his ears. Once confirmed he and his kinsmen and kinswomen would root them out one by one. Never again would he allow enemies to brutalize his beloved family—never again would he permit the treachery that nearly brought about Ragnarök.

The shield wall he placed about the Northman clan would hold firm. He would do whatever it took to protect his own. And his kinsman and kinswomen were strong. Blood, his daughter's blood, bound them. Now, King Toller, Prince Niall, Lord Ciaran, and even the great Odin, All Father, had a stake in the Northman's wyrd.

Stay tuned for chapter 3—Blood Moon!