Epilogue-Chapter 3 All that is new is old...

"Fang-fucking-tasia! I am not one to swear," Bill wanted to spew filth out into the universe, "because I am a gentleman. But once more, Sookie comes here with me and...and...! Just like the first time!"

Bill kept his emotions close at hand. At the beginning of the HepV madness, perhaps he had suggested to the infected vamps that maybe Fangtasia would be a good place of sanctuary for them. He thought it was funnier than hell that Eric's place of business was a place of refuge for some very bad folk who had contracted justice! Just like Eric was very bad folk and by rights, he should have all ready met the true death! But no, Eric was still alive and fucking, feeding and fighting! Fucker!

Just like all Sookie's friends that had been chained here were still alive. They should have been vamp snacks as well. With all those humans gone, that would have just left the two of them to console each other!

And who the fuck knew Eric had a back door into this place?

"A part of the Underground Railroad," Bill wanted to cry out at the injustice of it all. "Why did I not know this? The original owner, Kelly, threw me out of here one night for being pro-North. Of course, that explains the wheel of misfortune in the basement. He just had that installed so people would think his sympathies ran with the South. Someplace to keep runaway slaves my ass! That bastard! He could have confided in me!"

All the vampires in Fangtasia and those humans closest to the hall door knew what had been going on for the past two hours. There was a vampire named Eric and a human named Sookie, and a great big penis by the name of King Eric having all kinds of good sexing fun going on in the back. It was really loud and really often! All manner of nasty and fun sounding things were being screamed and names were attached to those acts! Well just woo-hoo! The Sheriff of Area Five was having his own little private rodeo! So mixed in with the woo-hoo was yee-haw! Ridem' Sheriff! And fuck'm Sheriff...and o-o-o la la, they would all snort from time to time...King Eric really was all that! King of the Rodeo!

The hall door opened and out walked the happy couple. Well just damn! Smell that sex! And the Sheriff was back to being his bad, 1,000 year old self. Nobody here was going to mess with that! And his Miss Sookie, well she reeked of the 1,000 year old sheriff. Nobody was going to mess with that either.

Time was wastin'. Bill had come here for the cure, not to listen to Eric and Sookie bellow like animals in Eric's office! Why, it had been his idea to come here. He had even showed Sookie his veins and had suggested that she drive. "Just in case," he had smiled at her sadly, his voice soft. "Just in case Sookie I get to feelin' weak and unable to drive. I understand some have blurry vision with the onset." Fuck, with gas almost four dollars a gallon and that gas guzzler he drove...it was the perfect plan to play upon her love for him...and his blood that was still in her.

"Perfect," he thought in disgust. There were the just fucked and sucked couple! Just what the fuck was he supposed to do now? Clearly, Sookie was staying until closing time and Eric would see her home.

Was he suppose to drive her piece of Were shit home?

Things had been much simpler when he was a human. His loving Caroline had been his wife in all ways. Loyal, faithful, and had birthed his children. He wiped a bloody tear, away. Her sweetness and light was all that had sustained him during those awful days of being ridiculed and called a Northern sympathizing pussy...and sometimes in the presence of his wife! It was just horrifying and shocking at the name-calling he had to endure from his neighbors!

Then came the war...having to be gone. Worrin' for his family. Would Fredrick Taylor make a play for his sweet, sweet wife when he had been buried in an unmarked grave someplace that was just a spot on a map? And if he did make it home, would he be able to perform his duties as a husband and get his wife with child before that Fredrick Taylor noticed that he had come back wanting only to quote poetry and sit by the stream and smoke cannabis while that scoundrel made a play for his sweet, sweet wife?

"Oh fuck no!" Bill sobbed and the tears started in earnest as he concentrated on Fredrick! "Come to think of it, Andy Bellefleur looks like Fred...! Just like him!

Oh fuck, no, no, no!" he sobbed.

"Bill, you okay?" Keith asked him.

"Keith?" Bill took a step back. "Are you infected?"

"No man, Eric just asked us to play. Put some live music out there and let folks get back to normal. Looks like Fangtasia is back up and running. This place smells like the inside of a sauerkraut barrel though, but that just means it has been wiped clean."

Ginger was having a very good evening. "I just have the best boss in the world," she kept telling folks. "Ginger Shots! That was Eric's idea to call them that! He fed from me and the Bragg's I drink cured him. Instead of taking all the credit," she smiled. "Well," she smiled bravely, "he is giving me all the credit."

Humans would look very interested in her and move in closer.

"Of course, now that he is back, I have health insurance once again and I can get treated for STD's."

And then humans would back away from her.

Eric sat down in his chair and pulled Sookie onto his lap.

"That is real nice of you to let Ginger take all the credit," Sookie smiled at him.

"Lover, just giving credit where credit is due," Eric smiled at her.

"There is a lesson here somewhere," Sookie said watching Ginger as she poured up Ginger Shots and told her story.

"How so?" Eric asked.

"Little Miss Richer and Holier than Thou Newlin, a blonde, spends a gazillion dollars to help cook up HepV and spreads it around the world. Ginger Shot Ginger, also a blonde, with no money and no health insurance to her name, falls back to the only remedy she can afford. Apple cider vinegar. We used it for everything. My favorite as a kid was to dye Easter Eggs with it and now to clean showerheads. It's been around for thousands of years and will be around for thousands of more.

And here sits a blonde on your blond lap. And this blonde is thankful for Ginger, apples and Fangtasia.

And you," she let out a deep sigh. "You are somethin' else, Eric Northman," leaning in she gave him a kiss on the nose. "Death comes knockin' and you kick his ass. Standing stronger, richer, more handsome than ever."

Eric's grin covered his face. "So lover, if there was a moral to this story, what would it be?"

"Don't fuck with The Viking!" she chuckled.

"Unless of course," his eyes smoldered at her, "you are Sookie Stackhouse." Wrapping his finger around a strand of her hair his eyes watched her face. "Stay with me until closing?"

"M-m-m-m," she relaxed into him. "Best seat in the house."

At midnight there were TV crews outside the club. Ginger gave interviews! Eric gave interviews! The boys in the band touted their newest album, The Bottom of the Cider Barrel along with their new hit single, Let's Rodeo!

Bill was snickering to himself as he watched news personalities by-pass him to speak to someone, anyone, who worked at Fangtasia. Use to be they lined up to talk to him. Do his make-up. Always get his best side. This three-ring circus could just go fuck itself. No way was he partaking of "the cure"! Ha! Vinegar...ha! His sweet Caroline had made her own to do the pickling and laundry with. Eric was trying to convince the world that he had the cure all. Well fuck, vinegar was nothing new to the world and anyone could make it!

The veins on his stomach were starting to itch, just a bit. They would throb on the inside with something that felt unhealthy. That was a new feeling for him. The laying on of silver was burning...but this...he thought back...this was like when he would get "the fever" as a human. No, Eric and his miracle cure...hah! He would rather die the true death than take what Eric had to offer.

Well, yes. That was his way out. He would let the disease run its course through his body and then he would leave this world and be with his sweet Caroline once again...no wait...Andy looked just like Fredrick...just exactly like Freddy...so his sweet Caroline would not be in Heaven with him. Served her right...whoring around like that...well...she had paid the mortgage with her egg money one year. Well, maybe she had been a well-paid whore and she had done right with the money...well, maybe her heart had been in the right place. Sleeping with and birthing for Freddy. That had paid for the home of which he was still the proud owner.

Sookie just broke his heart. He had been her first...suckled that sweet blood and fought off Eric like a hero of old...he had held her heart until Eric showed up with "the HepV". Fucking HepV! If not for Eric needing to be nursed back to health, why, he and Sookie would be married and...

"Sookie! What was I thinking! Well no," he hissed to himself. "Sookie could not birth my children. There is no way I would ever marry her. I am not being with a woman who is infertile. Her womanhood not fulfilled. Not like my sweet Caroline. Why she was fertile for me and Freddy. Sookie. Sookie is just a sad reminder of what will never ever be.

So, it really is for the best that I just let this disease run its course as was intended. And to think I contracted this when I was helping her to fight all those Heppers the other night...or maybe," he chuckled slyly to himself, "or maybe it was that very good time I had at Katie's Kitty Korral. Me in my chaps was a sight to behold.

No," he shook his head. "It was when I was fightin' to save Sookie. All those girls at the Korral are clean. Sookie is the only dirty one here. All those men she has had in and out of her bed! Just disgustin'! Shame they did not pay her. If they had, maybe she could afford a newer car. That old death trap she drives, I fear for my life every time I get in it.

And now that I have contracted, just what is she gonna' drive me around in? I shall need to have my comforts seen too. I will need the ease of getting in and out and sitting in a fine automobile."

Looking around he spotted the bane of his existence. She was over talking to some vamp he did not know. Figured. She would let her true friends die the true death while she chatted up some unknown.

"I am done here," he gagged when he smelt another Ginger Shot go by in a Solo cup.

"Well, if she is spending time with Eric, he can just get her home. I am taking her car. No way in hell am I walking, seeing as how I am ailing and all."

"What was that about?" Eric asked Sookie as he watched Bill walk off.

"He is goin' home. Wanted the keys to my car. He said he is not taking the cure. He will die as is his right and destiny to do."

"I told him that I was leaving shortly and that he could just wait on me.

He got so delighted about that that he started talkin' all kinds of trash. Like how proud he was of me that I had just enough smarts to see through you and other shit about how stupid I am.

Then I told him that I was going home early to take a bubble bath, put clean sheets on the bed and get ready for you to stop by so we could continue on with our wild night of sexing."

Eric watched as the lone vampire sulked his way through the parking lot. "Billy Boy has his panties in a wad," Eric smirked. "We will be mindful, lover. I'll take you home. I'll arrange for someone to drop your car off. Like maybe at the dump."

"Eric," she started and then stopped.

"Is this going to be a problem, Mrs. Northman?" he smiled at her.

"No," she grinned, wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tight as she could and then kissed him.

"Good," he gave her a light kiss on the nose. "We shall continue this conversation a bit later. But for now," he grinned, "one last roll of the cameras."

The more Bill walked, the angrier he got. "My shoe leather is wearin'," he hissed. "These are some good shoes. If I was to vamp speed, it would just be harder on them."

About that time, he could hear the roar of a powerful engine and then it passed him. That was Eric in the Vette with the top down going a hundred miles an hour! That was Sookie sitting on his lap, facing him, with her head thrown back, yelling "Ge-e-e-t som-m-m-m-e!" at the top of her lungs with her ass bouncing up and down on him. And he swore he could hear King Eric screaming something about being King of the Cowboys and Happy New Year!

Well, that was it. He had gone to war for less! Shaking his fist he shouted into the night air, "This is war, Eric Northman! Death before dishonor! And you have dishonored me for the last time."

An hour later, Sookie's and Eric's phones both chimed. "Text from Pam," they both said at the same time.

"It's from Jess. Says Bill has declared war and is on his way over," Sookie said as she got up and went to the window. "If you bring him the final death, Eric, don't get his fucking blood on you. He has the HepV."

"But Sookie, I would love to rip his head off," he said with a sad little face.

"Eric, kill him from a distance, please. We just got you cured."

"Well, the sun is about to come up. You think he is stupid enough to just stand there and let it take him?"

"Well," Sookie giggled, "how about if we gave him something to watch?" she said wiggling her eyebrows. "Out on the front porch. You should be shaded from the sun and then quick like bunnies down to your cubby."

"I like it," he chuckled. "But he does not get one final glimpse of your sweet body. But he can stare at my fine ass all he likes."

Bill was alarmed and titillated and scandalized and turned on and horny and aroused and shocked and had a powerful itch in his veins, all at the same time. Sookie was sitting on the porch swing, and Eric was...was...leaned over her and her legs were wrapped around him and that old porch swing was just a rockin' and squeakin' and jigglin' and rockin'...and...and...wow...would you just look at Eric's ass!

Well yes...Eric's very fine ass! Bill forgot all about how he was going to set fire to the old farmhouse. He had told himself that he was going to do a reenactment of Sherman marching to the sea. But in history, it would be recorded that Bill had driven The Viking back to Sweden! Or Norway..or Denmark...or any of those cold and forlorn countries above the Artic Circle. Why did those tall, blond, good-looking, fearless men think they needed to come here for women? They had their own. Stick with what you know!

Oh yes, Sookie was whimpering and calling out for her creator! Eric was growling something in a language that had probably been dead for a thousand years, just like him. Fucking old Viking Vampire!

Well, maybe...just maybe...he'd give Ole' Nub a stroke or two. Yes, there was the familiar rhythm. Up, down, up, down, up...oops missed a beat. Up, down, up,down...oops, missed a down stroke...Up, down...

"Sunrise," Eric said glancing over his shoulder and seeing Bill go up in flames.

"Inside," Sookie yelled.

"But lover," he grinned, "I am inside."

"Eric, the rays are comin' this way..." she hissed at him.

"Yes lover I am," he kissed her, exploded inside of her and then vamp speed they were down in his cubby.

Grinning at her, Sookie gave him a kiss, pushed him down onto the bed and said, "I'll see you at 6:37. I'm gonna go dose Bill's burned goo spot with vinegar. I don't want him killin' off the woods with either fire or his nasty assed blood."

As she turned to go, Eric took her hand and said, "I love you Sookie Northman."

Grinning like an idiot, she turned around and got into bed with him. "I'll just hold you until you fall asleep. Bill can wait."

"M-m-m-m lover," Eric nibbled on her ear. "I'd get the bleeds for you."

"No you won't now sleep. I mean it."

Closing his eyes, Eric dreamed of a far off place. A place of ice and snow that held him locked inside a frozen mass. He could watch and hear the world as it passed by him. But those around him never took notice as he cried out. Then he saw her. Walking out of the woods and straight to the place where he was incarcerated. A frozen statue in a block of ice. Then her hands began to chisel away the frozen moisture that kept him safe...and yet unreachable. He felt her hands as they moved and he could see the water that was pouring from his prison. When her hands touched his cold skin, he felt his heart beat. And when she kissed him, he took his first breath in over a thousand years. Taking his hand, they walked out of the snow and stood overlooking the fjords. "You have been asleep," she rubbed her nose gently against his. "Sail away with me," she smiled at him. "To a new place. A new land. A new beginning."

"I would go with you anywhere," he smiled in return and brought her hand to his lips for a kiss. "I give to you all that I am," he said.

"And all that I am is yours," she replied. "Now is our time, Eric."

He could feel the sun setting. He could also feel someone lying on top of him.

"Do you dream in your down time?" Sookie asked him.

"Yes," he replied, opening his eyes. "I dream of you."

"Good dreams?" her voice sounded hopeful.

"Lover, I dream of you. They are only the very best."

They both looked toward the ladder.

"The new dark is here," Eric sighed, "I can hear it."

Standing, he was up the steps and out onto the porch. Out in the yard stood a toasted Bill Compton. Yelling!

"I am going to live, Eric, do you hear me? I am going to live! Sookie loves me and not you!"

"Bill, you know it is summer time in the South and it looks like a storm is brewing. You need to take shelter. All those trees and..."

"Do not, Eric," he screech, "do not tell a Southern gentleman the ways of the South. Here, even nature recognizes her own. You are the one here that does not belong.

See," he said shaking his fists at the sky, "see, I dare the heavens to open up and consume me, and yet here I still..."

A crack of lightning whizzed by followed by a tremendous boom of thunder.

"So," Sookie said pulling Eric back inside, "lightning kills vampires also. Good to know. And I was going to tell you that I did not see a burned spot. That Bill had gone to ground somewhere. I swear, for a while, it was not safe to walk out in the woods for fear of stepping in a hole he had dug for emergencies. The way he stalked my woods. He knew them better than I did."

The rest of the evening they were inside listening to the rain of the roof, Sookie's screams and Eric's moans.

It was a week later and Pam still sat in the chair at Fangtasia. How was this even fair? Eric was in Bon Temps feasting his way around on the tanned twat. Willa had been set free and was here laughing at her. Oh, wait one...she had been set free as well and here she sill sat. "Fucking Eric," she sighed as she gave the stink eye to a human that wore a Bragg's t-shirt. When he wiggled his ass at her, her fang's popped down. "I always did hate the smell of sauerkraut. Damn, now I just can't seem to get enough of it."

Though not infected, she drank the Bragg's brand and word at the club had passed. Her skin, hair, nails and especially her fangs, had never looked so good! The whites of her eyes, their whitest! "Damn, I am just the poster child for good health and beauty! Pity I can't talk worth a damn on camera. Camera fucking loves Eric. So does Sookie. And Willa, even though they are no longer joined.

And Jessica is sniffing around for a new daddy. She keeps asking if Eric is going to be here. She needs to get a real job and she would not have time to miss Bill. I'd put her ass to work here and she would be so tired at the end of the night, her vampire feet would crawl away from her legs and leave her wondering just what the fuck had happened.

Is there a reason I am always left with the shit jobs? Sitting here in this chair that Ginger brought in. Fuck...it is not even comfortable...not that my vampire ass cares.

And Ginger, she has her own stalkers. Who would have seen that comin? Please. They even stalk her on line. And why is it I don't have a web site dedicated to me? Why am I always just an after thought in an article about Eric. Yes, The Viking...blah, blah,blah. And yes, he has a progeny. Then more about fucking Eric! A progeny. That is all the billing I get! And I am the poster child for good health!

Eric Northman," she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Just fuck and fall backwards in it.

Humanity, such as it is, is back and Fangtasia is open for business. All of them wearin' their favorite brand of vinegar on their t-shirt.

Just what the fuck?" she snarled at someone wearing a BlackJack Vinegar t-shirt that made eyes at her. Adjusting her lipstick with her finger she drawled, "I'm a Bragg girl. Everybody knows that."

Dear Readers,

As always, thanks for reading!

Be blessed and be the blessing!

CES