A/N: Just a quick note about the flow of time, this chapter jumps about a bit and hopefully I won't confuse you all with it. Plus we finally get to hear from the Viking.
After Sookie passed out at the end of chapter 1 and Claudine took her to the fairy realm, she was out of it for about 2 days. Time passes differently in the fae realm it goes much slower than in the human realm. (It's one of the reasons the fae live so long.) Anyhoo I haven't done any proper maths to work it all out but as long as you keep in mind one flow of time is slower than the other it'll all work out peachy. (I hope!)
Thanks to all of you who have reviewed and added this story to alert and favourite. You guys are great and so encouraging. Please continue to review; it really does inspire me to keep writing.
But I don't want to go among mad people…
Victor was pacing in his office; he needed to come up with a fool proof plan to get the telepath away from the Viking. No matter how he racked his brains he could only come up with a flimsy kidnap plot. He was a better strategist than this why was he finding it so hard to come up with something now? He let out a growl of frustration as he flopped down in his chair behind the large walnut desk; letting his head fall back and his eyes close; he lost himself in several scenarios before he was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Enter." He called, the door opened and his secretary walked in. Her head bowed slightly, a small stack of papers and a notebook in hand.
"Good evening Sir, I have a couple of messages for you and some papers to sign." He liked this one, her no nonsense approach to the tasks he gave her made her invaluable and the fact that she wasn't interested in being a 'fuck n feed' made a refreshing change to the majority of the humans within the building.
If he wanted a whore he would simple call down to the donor pool. It took a long time to find a decent secretary that had a reasonable degree of intelligence. The usual fang banger types had all been glamoured too many times to be of much use and their administrative skills were for shit.
"Thank you Margaret, I'll sign the papers now. I'll be going out in an hour or so, if you could get Felipe on the phone before I go that would be lovely." He gave the woman a genuine smile, she was professional and straight to the point both values he greatly treasured in an employee.
She walked up to the desk and handed over the small stack of papers. "Here are the contracts and I'll just go put that call through for you. Will there be anything else this evening Sir?"
"No that will be all, I'll see you tomorrow Margaret." He dismissed her with a wave of a hand, barely glancing up from the papers in front of him. It really was best to read these thing first, contractors were always known to try and swindle you at every turn and he'd be damned if he gave them more than a penny they were owed. Moments later his phone buzzed, indicating Margaret had put his call through. Taking a deep unneeded breathe he picked up the phone and quickly put his mind to the task at hand; trying to come up with a plausible excuse as to why the telepath had dropped off their radar late this afternoon and had still not resurfaced.
"Good evening your Majesty, I'm afraid I don't have good news for you..."
Eric POV the night Sookie left the human realm
The pain from whatever trouble Sookie had found herself in was nothing compared to the pain I felt when our connection was severed. Pam had been by my side within minutes of rising when she felt my initial distress at Sookie's torture. I had managed to push as much strength to her as possible knowing I had to rely on Pam to go to her aid as I had been incapacitated by her pain and the strength of her call through the bond. I was unprepared for how strongly she could call me; it was much stronger than anything Pam could create almost akin to a call from my maker. After establishing it was not me in danger, Pam informed me she was being called also, somewhere to the North. When I confirmed it was the direction Sookie was calling me from I sent her out to search for my Bonded, assess the situation and rescue if it was possible. I managed to keep my composure far longer than I thought I could in front of Pam, but as soon as she had left my side I slide from my seat onto the floor where I used my remaining strength to compartmentalise the pain to take as much as I could from Sookie. I could imagine only too well what kind of state my Sookie would be in by the time Pam got to her. I had every faith in my child to recover my Bonded but I was preparing myself for her anger if I had to turn her. Several excruciating minutes went by while I continued to imagine the worse. When out of the slashing, ripping, stabbing pains all over my body; came a bright, burning in the centre of my chest. It coursed through me making my blood feel like it was boiling leaving me gasping for air I didn't need. Was this what it felt like to meet the sun? The pain reached a crescendo and thankfully I blacked out.
When I came too, I instantly felt a gaping hole where my bond with Sookie used to be. My chest ached and the sudden realisation that my Bonded was no more caused a bloody tear to trail down my cheek. My insides felt raw and frayed. I immediately sought out my bond with Pam, hoping to gage the situation from her emotions. Panic, shock, awe and rage in quick succession. It didn't give me much to go on and I was still too weak to find my phone and ring her for an update. Just as I was contemplating crawling to the small fridge behind my desk for some bagged blood, I felt Pam disappear from our connection. I immediately began to panic, but when I felt her reappear and a damn sight closer than she previously was I became confused and angry. I could hear her talking to someone outside my study door before she quickly came to my side whispering comforting words to me. I felt broken; I had lost a part of myself and was finding it difficult to comprehend how I was going to live with the jagged hole in my soul. Most bonded vampires didn't live long if they let themselves become swallowed up in the misery and depression losing a part of themselves caused.
I thought I was going mad when I heard her voice from the doorway. Pam leaving my side to threaten what I thought must be an apparition, caused my brain to go into overdrive. What happened to her, one minute she was clearly being tortured the next our bond was severed. Did she do this on purpose? Did she have her witch sever our connection? I was confused and hurt, Pam obviously knew more of the situation than I did currently so I followed her lead while I was so incapacitated and my ability to form rational though was compromised. I trusted my child with my life and she could feel my emotional turmoil and tried to get Sookie to leave. When I heard her say my name, I saw red no longer able to control my emotions I lashed out. Sending her away, hopefully far away until I felt more like myself. I was vulnerable to attack in my current state and with my already precarious position I needed to recover and get full control over the situation before I could deal with what had happened to our bond.
I could hear her sobbing as she ran through the house and out of the front door, but I found myself not caring about her fragile human emotions. I quickly focused on my beautiful and loyal child who had sunk to her knees by my side; the worry she felt for me was etched across her brow and echoed in our bond. I raised my arm slightly, silently inviting her to snuggle into my side. It wasn't often we would show such outward signs of affection and the small ripple of shock I felt flow from her before she buried herself in my side was quickly replaced with wave after wave of comfort. There were no words spoken between us while we sat on the floor of my study. We simple sought each other's comfort; I was absentmindedly stroking her long blonde hair when she presented me with her wrist. Softly placing a kiss on her head, I turned us gently so I could easily reach her offering. She had felt my hunger and weakness more clearly than I could; knowing the blood from a child or sibling would do more good for me than human blood. I needed to replenish the blood that had been burned out of me; blood from my blood line would make my recovery much quicker. Placing a quick kiss on her wrist, I swiftly bit pulling slightly on the wound to start the flow I resumed my gentle stroking of her hair.
In the woods surrounding the Stackhouse Farm…
A quick succession of two pops pierced the stillness of the air, causing the surrounding wildlife to scatter deeper into the woods. Two water fae approached the farm house fully alert to any activity inside. They sought answers from the owner of the property; an end to the rumours flying wildly around the fae realm, creeping ever closer ready to pop away at the slightest hint of danger. This one was known to frequent the company of vampires; it wouldn't do well to come across one now they were so close to their goal.
Unbeknownst to the two cautious fae, they were in fact being watched. The small band of guards had been cloaked from prying eyes by the Prince himself. They remained motionless; scared to break the illusion and give their position away before they found out why these two had come. Their standing orders had been to watch over the house and woods and report back any supernatural activity, only to interfere if there was intent to harm. So far there had been a plethora of Weres on and off the property, a vampire or two sniffing around the woods and now these two water fae; they had been stationed here scarcely 36 hours! This house was a regular hotbed of Supernatural activity and they had yet to reveal their presence but it appeared with every passing second these two visitors would need to be apprehended for questioning. Their leader quickly signalled them to surround the intruders ready for capture and on the count of three they sprang the ambush. Even as cautious as the water fae were they didn't see them coming and were quickly apprehended.
The small band split into two, half popping away with the prisoners and to gather reinforcements, the other half resuming their silent watch over the hybrids property. If she ever came back to this place she would definitely need to be protected, her fae gift clearly drew in others of a supernatural nature. It was strong indeed to attract such a wide range of species.
Back in the fae realm…
After leaving his granddaughter to her thoughts in his private garden, Niall quickly walked to his study to look over the latest reports on supernatural activity around the Stackhouse farm. It was clearly worrying that the vampires were trying to seek her out or at least keeping tabs on her whereabouts, but until he knew which vampire faction was watching her he could do no more than observe them. Too long had he stood by the side lines when it came to who his granddaughter associated with; it was not fitting for a Brigant, (hybrid or not) to been seen in the company of vampires. If he had his way Sookie would not be going back to the human realm at all. Being exposed to narrow minded bigoted humans and all sorts of riff raff species had put her at risk far too many times than need be and now his greatest opposition had been vanquished by her hand no less, it was perfectly safe for her to take her place amongst her kin.
After finishing up with the latest reports, he moved on to the task of securing a tutor for Sookie. She had shown great promise with her magic so far, but being raised in the human realm had stunted her magical growth. She would need to learn all things were possible with magic and forget her human limitations which had no bearing on her potential.
He was interrupted from his task by a substantial pop, which signalled the arrival of a number of fairies into his office. The head of the guard stepped forward, head bowed fist clenched over his heart in the standard military greeting.
"What news?" He addressed the guard first, as was proper protocol.
The guard relaxed his stance before he answered, "Your Highness, we captured these two water fae that were investigating the Stackhouse farm. We have brought them to you for questioning."
Niall thought for a moment before he asked the guard to take them to the dungeons where they could be properly questioned. He needed to know if anyone was willing to step into Brandon's shoes or whether they were simply looking for confirmation of their leader's death. He was sure it was the latter but it never hurt to be certain.
"Has there been any other activity since you reported last?" He asked, wanting a clearer picture of how much danger Sookie would be in if she returned home currently.
The guard replied, "Some, there have been several weres that have crisscrossed the property and some more vampires; at least one has made repeat visits. I believe he lives on the adjoining land, so he may well be just walking his boundary. I can have him followed more closely if you'd like?"
Weighing up his options he decided it would be a good idea to have this vampire monitored. If his suspicions about the vampire were correct. He was owed a blood debt from him for taking something that was not his to take. It might be time to call said debt in and knowing his location would be tremendously helpful.
"Monitor the vampire, I believe he owes me a blood debt and I intend on collecting it soon." He couldn't help the broad smile that graced his face at the thought of seeking retribution. It had been so long since he had actually gotten to see any action. His role as leader of his people kept him in more of a strategist position behind a desk, where he longed for his youth and actually got to lead his people into battle. The guards popped away to follow out his orders; leaving Niall to his plans for Sookie's fairy education.