PART THREE
Chapter 5
There was nothing she could say at this moment, she had been hopeful that in a day from now they would be together, headed back to the states. But now, even with her best efforts, she was unable to get him fully out of this funk and that he seemed almost suicidal at this point….she was disturbed to say the least and she followed him through the increasingly snowy weather. She flashed herself in front of him, stopping him juts short of the clearing that led to the entrance gates of the secretive community. "I am not going to just let you walk away after what you just said. How selfish can you be to say what you said, to be heading in the direction you are seemingly going in."
"What direction would that be?" they had reached the gates where it seemed Elsa and Gunnar had dressed and was apparently coming after them with the weather taking such a turn. The blonde queen, even with the wind shipping her long blonde hair looked forceful and regal in the elements. She looked from her sister in law to her brother, Gunnar looking like his anger was gone and replaced with a concerned look.
They all watched as the guards let the fur clad Viking through the gates and the three left in his wake looked at one another with concern and worry and as she told them what had happened in the time since she had followed him to the springs, she was even more worried than she had been a hour before. "I really thought…I thought I could get to him….he is struggling more than I ever thought possible." she said as Elsa let her and Gunnar into the privacy of her throne room, guards standing at their posts outside the cozily lit room. "It wasn't easy but we managed to get ourselves internet access up here and though only a few of us here have any interest in learning to use it….Google has taught me much. This WebMD…..it sounds like he suffers from a deep depression." Elsa said as she read from her cell phone that she had pulled out from the folds of her soft woolen cloak. "Your son has been instrumental in helping us get technology up here…though he, myself and only a handful of others have a interest in getting a real grasp on techy stuff. That being said, all those living here can at least use the basics of a cell phone." her worry was making the queen babble on and she must had realized she was doing so as she mage a cringy face. "Sorry, I mean, I just want to help…."
"No doctor physical or online is going to fix this." Gunnar said, crossing his arms over his chest, leaning back in his high backed chair beside his mother. "It seems to me that the strongest one is the one who needs the help the most. He can only take so much and this may be the straw that broke the camels back, as it were." he shook his head. "I may know his past from what has been told to me by you mom, but I can not imagine how he has dealt with all what he has. And that he has lived for ten centuries, I just can't imagine living that long with that much suffering."
"I wanted to follow him back into his room….I just….this is worse than anything else we have ever dealt with and that includes witches, maenads and vamp religion…and yet all of tat crap combined…its worrisome. The toll its taken on him. All these years of trying to play it cool, to make people think him invincible…..its not working anymore. Clearly."
He shouldn't be alone. At all." Gunnar said as she got to his feet and strode to leave the chamber and toe other two agreed, though were wary at what they would find. And their wariness turned to fear as they were forced to break down the door with their superhuman abilities. They entered the room and the smell of blood hung in the air and there in the center of the room, dripping in blood of what they all suspected had been some of their friends, judging by the remains of the clothing amongst the goo that was once vamps. And they stood there in the doorway, staring with gaping mouths at the carnage surrounding their troubled loved one. And it was not just the blood of the victims that covered the Viking, the smell of silver in in the air and they saw, in his wrists, large gaping mounds where silver had been jabbed through.
It was not a easy thing for her to do but Elsa knew she needed to do something drastic and gave a shout in a foreign tongue that Sookie was still trying to master. But she understood enough to know things were about to go down and in a instant, there came a dozen armed Viking vamps and they were gloves to protect them from what they needed to use. It was surprising and yet not to see the situation taking the turn it took and Gunnar seemed to have been in on the plan, clearly made before they had even returned from the springs. The guards had silvered him more than he had already done to himself and they led him from the room, Sookie stopped by her sons strong arms
"Look, he is a danger to himself and clearly to others. I think he has lost his mind."
And internally, she ached for his misery and yet had to agree. The question was, how to help him from going to the point of no return. Or had he already reached that point?
Chapter 6
She peered into the bars of the dungeon, the dungeons had been made to keep vamps safely trapped and therefore were laced with silver from the bars to the door to the ceiling. And in the light of the torches outside the room coupled with the battery powered lights set into the walls outside the cell, she made out the simple cot where she saw her Viking. He seemed to have not only lost his mind, but ….well….everything that made him who he was.
"He is safest here….the silver was removed from him and it was clearly an attempt on his life….or perhaps he wanted to punish himself for what he did to those three guards." Elsa said as she sighed, looking through the bars of the door to where she saw the faint outline of her big brother in the gentle light. "I can't let him out until we resolve this, Sookie, I hope you realize that. And execution is not an option."
"Clearly." Sookie replied as she turned her troubled face from the door to her family. "And I know this is hard for you too, I mean, he is your brother and this…..this isn't him, you have to know that even though you haven't gotten to know him all that well."
"I know enough and have learned enough about him to know that he has decency in him. He's never been a saint but there is that goodness that I sense about him that is keeping him alive. If he was any other person though I would have ended him. You must know that. I need to keep my-our people safe. The people here are as good as family to you as well as they are to me. That being said, I can't have him out and about, a threat to himself and others. And for your sake, until we can figure out how to help him, I would strongly suggest you not go in there."
"Looks like I am staying here longer than I thought I would and I can only hope not to drag….." Sookie trailed off as there came a flurry of guards into the room as they led in someone that they knew, but with things being as they were, everyone was a little on edge. To put it mildly. Sookie found herself somewhat unsurprised to see Pam and Willa there, looking agitated.
"Get y'all hands off me….this is vintage Chanel." Pam snapped at the guards that had taken her by the arms, her magenta pantsuit very much out of place in this rustic hideaway but she didn't care. "I may not be connected to him like I was before, but every now and then I still get flashes through the ghost of our bond. And I had to get here. She had to come with too." Pam said, gesturing towards Willa. "I don't see the manhandling here, you all know who I am so I don't get why rough hands are still all over me. Years ago I may have loved that but I don't swing that way anymore….not with the lack of decent prospects in the cess pool that is men now a days."
The guards let the two go with a gesture from Elsa, who apologized for their reaction. "I know they all know who you are here but with all the strangeness if the past, we can not take anything or anyone to chance. It is good to see the two of you here. Perhaps the more family he is surrounded by, the better."
"I don't know the whole story yet but I don't deal well with emotional bullshit, even with family." Pam said
"You've gotten better." Sookie pointed out. "And we don't need your attitude getting in the way, I love you dearly but we….this is bad." and so she explained to the two newcomers what had happened in the period since the funeral. "He's unstable in a way I never imagined, all these years he has been strong and stoic and…this death….its like the icing on the crap cake. Its broken him in more ways than one. I can only hope you guys are of help with this. Family…..its more powerful than you think it may be."
"I may not have been a part of this family as long as you both have been…..but he freed me from the restrains of my father…..he really did become my father in place of my dead one….the governor was a reprehensible person who always held me back…..now, I am allowed to live my full potential. And I want to do whatever I can to help him in this. He gave me a new and better life and I am grateful for it."
"Ok, hallmark card." Pam said as she looked at the younger vamp with a annoyed look that broke into a smirk. "Were you this cheerful as a human? Optimistic? Because maybe a card writing career could work for you."
The moment of levity was broken by a strangled, pained shouting from the cell up the hall and all turned in the direction, all looking more than a little concerned. "I think it would be good to try your faerie magic, sweetie." Pam suggested with a concerned look.
"That's just it…..its going to take more than magic to solve this…if we even can. If we don't, he may just have to stay there forever and that is not a option for anyone."
Chapter 7
The others were taken to the throne room, to be given some much needed blood. They all would nee their strength in the upcoming time that they would need to try to right things. Meanwhile, she kept vigil outside the cell, taking heed of the armed guards not to reenter. And for several days, she and the others had decided to throw caution to the wind, much to Elsa's disapproval, to try to talk to their loved one, to try to get him to get out of this funk. As it was, they saw the physical toll this madness was taking on him. After a week confined in the silver lined cell, after everyone else had tried to talk some sense into him, it had seemed fruitless. Pam was taking her turn trying to talk him out of the funk, having managed to do it once before. "You Can't just lay here like a lump, people…..need you. What happened with Aurora….you can not blame yourself and think of what y'all still have. Think about the torment you are inflicting on those who are about you. As it is, your wife is in her room, exhausted in every way possible." Pam stopped a she realized just how bad things really were. She saw that his arms were mutilated with bite marks and how weak he looked. "you're not taking any of the blood sent in to you….so now you've got an eating disorder and look like shit. You really are trying to off yourself. Well me and the others, we ain't taking it and-" she was stopped as he sat up from the bed and looked not angry at her, but pleading.
"Pam…out of all those I care about I would only ask this of you….end this…..now." he shook his head as she took in just how ill he looked. "I'm tired, so tired, of living like this and if you don't want to end me, I'll give you a reason to." and out of the dark place he was in and that desperation, he lunged at his oldest friend, who managed to move swiftly away as he fell into the wall, hard and by then, there had been enough commotion to bring the other back to the scene and silently, Sookie popped into the room and flashed quickly out, Pam in tow.
"He really has lost his mind, even worse than I could have imagined….worse then bill going all crazy on vampire religion." Pam said, looking more worried than Sookie had ever seen him and as they gathered, they heard noises from the cell, pounding sounds as if he was trying to bust loose but a glimpse in the room showed them he was biting into his flesh, clearly trying, hoping to bleed out to the point of no return. Something needed to be done. Now.
TO BE CONTINUED
