I felt bad because I've been neglecting you so much lately. I don't want to make you all wait for the next part, so I whipped it off this afternoon. Hope you enjoy.
Not mine, Charlaine Harris has the honour of authoring the original books series, and Alan Ball has the TV series. I gain nothing from this fanfiction.
Chapter seven
Eric was up like a shot, while I looked at the door in shock. It thrummed with vibrations as whatever it was attacked it, but it held and I was glad that I okayed the extra funds it took to purchase and install it. Eric was on his phone, speaking rapidly in another language to someone, and I heard him tell whoever it was to hurry up.
The pull of the dawn yanked me away from the current scene, and I felt the nothingness of dead tow me beneath the surface of consciousness. I fought it, and I saw a drop of blood fall from my nostril. I took one step, and then another as my willpower drove me towards the door. Eric's glowing pale face was turned towards the door as well, and here I was stumbling like a drunken sailor towards it. Concentrating harder than I ever had before, I reached out with my mind's eye. I felt Eric turn towards me, and yell at me to stand back, but I ignored him, and felt the heavy patter of blood as it ran out my nose and hit the front of my shirt. I sent him an image, and he ran towards the television and flicked it back on to identify the assailants.
"I think they're weres!" He screamed it across the room and into his phone at the same time.
The door shook again, as another body pummelled against it. I had identified three, no four minds, not the blank voids of vampires, but definitely the glowing red pulsating of Weres... And one other being. I couldn't identify the other, but I placed my hands on the door palms out, as it shook again with another assault. I pushed my power gently out, and felt myself engage the four minds, and then hooked my mental claws in. The shrieks on the other side of the door as they felt the invasion of my mind penetrated like ice picks into my ears, and mentally in my mind and I howled in pain. Eric took a step towards me in concern, as I began to push out with my mind, towards the beings on the other side.
I felt them stop in their tracks, and I willed them to sit down and shut their mouths. I felt them lose their will to attack, and I compelled them to stand down with their aggression. I literally sent them the command to 'go to sleep' and I heard the thumps of their heads as they slumped and fell to the floor. I mentally disengaged myself from them, and then closed my eyes. If my heart had been beating, I am certain it would have been pounding out of my chest. As it was I felt strangely out of breath, like I had run a marathon. Opening my eyes, I took notice of my palms still lying flat against the steel door. They were glowing blue white, with tendrils of light flickering around the sides. As I removed them, I saw that a charred imprint of my palms remained like an engraving. I turned towards Eric, holding my hands up in awe, and found him crumpled on the floor in a heap. His eyes were closed and his cheeks were streaked with blood.
I ran to him crying his name, and threw myself on the floor beside him. He didn't stir, when I called his name, and the only way I could tell that he wasn't finally dead, was that he wasn't flaking away. I grabbed him around the waist, and managed to half drag and half carry him over to the bed, where I stroked his brow and dripped bloody tears on his pale face and all over the new sheets on the bed.
I could hear the squawking of his cell phone across the room, and I knew that it was Pam, who had somehow evaded the dawn, but definitely couldn't reach us. I could feel him, so she couldn't either. I placed my head against his upper body, wrapped my arms around him and began to cry, staining his bare chest even more. I felt so alone, and I was scared. It was only the beginning of my third week as a vampire, and here I was alone; my maker, my lover, and my friend lying lifeless in my arms. I pleaded for him to return to me, to talk to me – when he didn't answer, I began to curse at him.
"God DAMN you Eric Northman, you wake up right now," I shrieked at him, and I felt myself begin to lose it. There was so much, so very much that had happened, so many deaths, how could I begin to describe the loss. I needed him so much. Even in our daytime slumber, I had felt his presence. Now I felt a void. "You wake up, you have to wake up." I had resorted to begging, and I felt the power in me flare up again, and I ignored it knowing that it seemed to come out when I was upset. I bowed my head on his, and cried.
"Ouch, Sookie, you want to take it easy please," said Eric sleepily.
I raised my head and looked at him gazing back at me. He was rubbing a blackened mark on his sides, which was healing quickly, when it must have dawned on him that he had lost some time between being in the bed, and the Weres attacking the door. He shot out of bed like a cannon, and was over to the television surveillance where he looked incredulously at the screen showing the three Weres slouched against the wall, and crumpled against each other on the floor. He picked up the still squawking cell phone off the phone, and abruptly spoke something into the phone and the screeching on the other end ceased immediately. He looked down at the almost healed hand shaped burns on his sides and then back at me.
He spoke in some other language for a moment, all the while looking at me warily. My heart just about broke at that, the cautious and mistrustful way he watched me while talking to Pam. I gulped and turned my back to it. I couldn't bear it. I walked back to the bed. I didn't want to deal with it right now. I was bleeding, my new sanctuary had been invaded and somehow I'd taken down my thousand year old vampire Viking boyfriend, who now was looking at me like I was going to light him on fire. This was bad.
"I've had just about enough of this," I mumbled to myself and I felt a flare of comfort through the bond from Eric, which I promptly ignored. I struggled into my nightshirt, and didn't care that I gave him a full view of my naked body as I did so. I climbed into the bed, regardless of the stained sheets and I held the pillow next to me, and succumbed to sleep. I really don't know if Eric came to bed with me that day, as I was out immediately, and felt nothing through the bond.
When I woke the next night, Eric was already up. He had showered and was pacing the room, on his cell again. He was speaking abruptly and the staccato of his tone told me enough, even though I didn't understand what he was saying. His pillow beside me was indented telling me that at some point, he had lain down beside me, but he didn't look at me now, as I removed myself from the bed, and made my way to the bathroom.
I showered quickly, and grabbed a change of clothes from the very limited selection of clothes in the tiny bathroom closet. I braided my hair, while it was wet and threw it in a long cable down the middle of my back. Tying my shoes back on my feet, I hung my towel and tidied up my mess. I looked in the mirror to check out my appearance, and saw nothing different. I looked deep in my eyes, and couldn't see anything that would indicate a change in me. Straightening my back, and keeping my chin held high, I walked out. I went straight to the bed, and removed the soiled bedding intending to wash them. Luckily the mattress had remained unscathed, and I felt relief. I deposited the bedding by the foot of the short stairway, and turned back towards Eric.
He had hung up the phone, and had heated up some blood, which he had placed on the coffee table. He was seated on the couch, and he patted the spot next to him. I sat down next to him, and he handed me the glass and I inhaled its hot, coppery scent before I took a sip of its life giving qualities.
"Pam will be here any moment, with Chow. The Weres are still outside the door. It is my intention to open the door as they enter your house so we can corner them, if they are still a threat." He looked towards the television which showed the Weres in the same positions as at dawn that morning. "I don't think they are a threat, but I want to ensure that before we put ourselves in such a vulnerable position."
I nodded but I didn't say anything.
"I am not really sure what happened Sookie, but I believe it's safe to say that until we know what this aspect of your abilities entails, we must take precautions to ensure not only your safety, but ours as well." He took a sip of his glass and looked at me again. "Do you have any idea what happened?"
I gave him a rundown of how I could feel their minds, just like I did when I was human, and just like I did for Chow. He nodded as I was speaking, and then he asked me if I could feel him through the bond.
"Yes and no, the feeling of the Weres was stronger, but I think that is because I was looking for it, I was concentrating on it. I always feel you through the bond Eric, and I could hear you speaking to me, and I could feel your concern, but I didn't feel you like I did the Weres." I looked at him imploringly. "I didn't mean it you know." I looked down at me hands again, fidgeting around the glass of warm liquid.
"Lover, I know you didn't mean for whatever happened to happen. This is not something that I've ever gone through though, and you'll have to excuse me if I act a little strangely that my not so long ago human girlfriend just took me out." He smiled grimly at me, but there was no humour in that. "It's a bit of a blow to my pride."
"If Sophie Ann sent those Weres and I think there is a good chance she did, we only have a small window in which to act, and those actions we take must be smart and one step ahead of her at all times." He looked intense as he said this, and I felt the violence in his words from the bond.
A car turned down my driveway according to the surveillance cameras, and we stood up. I went to the weapons cupboard and pulled out the shotgun, finding it loaded. Eric grabbed a short metal sword that had been hiding behind the gun and we both stuck sharpened wooden stakes into the backs of our pants. His fangs ran down with an audible click, as did mine – and at the sound of that, Eric turned towards me and swooped in for a deep kiss, where he cupped the back of my neck in his hand and pulled my face towards his.
"You are mine, Freyja, and no one will take you from me." With a whoop he leapt towards the door, where he punched in the code and flew out into the hall. He hurdled over the immobile Weres on the floor, and met Pam and Chow at the head of the hallway. Pam's eyes widened as she took in the Weres.
"Fuck-nugget!" Pam had a real way with words, but she grinned at me, blood lust apparent in her eyes.
I could still sense the mind of another in the tangled mess of were minds, but whoever, whatever it was, wasn't in the hallway. It was here though, and I could sense that it was coming around to be able to be a threat again. Eric caught my growing concern, and I opened up my bond to let him feel what I was feeling.
There was a movement to my right, and the smashing of glass as whatever it was took flight out my old bedroom window and entered the woods. Not to be outdone, my Viking lover leapt after it and pursued it out the window and into the woods, with Pam at his heels. Chow and I stayed behind, I with my shotgun trained on the Weres who were regaining their senses. Chow glanced at me nervously.
"I know what you can do." He said this so matter of factly that I couldn't help but look at him. "I remember, and I will have to tell the master of it."
All of this had transpired in a matter of seconds, and before I could respond to Chow, a flash of white light blazed out of the woods behind my house, and a crack not unlike thunder echoed through the woods. Then the woods were silent again. Pam and Eric were soon silhouetted by my security light returning to the house, running lightly – he with his sword and her with two of the stakes that he must have handed to her during their initial chase.
They came into the house, and immediately went to the Weres who were definitely coming around. They were alternating between mumbled threats directed at Chow and myself, and complete silence.
"Whatever that was we were chasing just disappeared like a fucking ghost." Pam shook her head. "Like an apparition, or whatever – I've never seen anything like that."
Eric stepped forward and thrust his sword directly into the chest of the one closest were, killing him instantly. I yelped and leapt back. The blood, hot and coppery flowed like water and I felt my fangs run down. Eric pressed his hand against my back and pushed me up against the wall. I let him.
He grabbed one of the other werewolves and nodded at Pam and Chow to grab the other one. He clipped the one he was holding across the jaw, and dragged the stunned werewolf outside to the gravelled parking area in front of my house.
When Chow and Pam brought out the other werewolf, he nodded towards Chow and said, "Take Sookie into the house." When I began to object, Eric held up his hand. "Enough Sookie, for once will you just do as I say?"
I grumbled and stalked into the house, not bothering to hold the door for Chow, who was on my heels. I grabbed a plastic drop cloth leftover from the renovations and made my way back to the now dead were. Enlisting Chow's help, we wrapped the rather greasy male up and dragged his body to the back porch. Since I wasn't allowed outside, I figured that this would be the best I could do. I walked back to the hallway with a bucket of hot water and some Lysol. I scrubbed and wiped until there was no trace of blood left, and then I examined the steel door. It was scratched, but there wasn't a dent in it, and it looked to be solid and intact. The bedroom window hadn't fared so well, and I used a piece of cardboard to block it off, until I could get it repaired. I grabbed the soiled sheets from the bottom of the stairs and brought them to the laundry area on the back porch, having to step over the dead were.
Chow had remained sitting at the table all this time, his eyes following me as I worked.
"I know what you can do Sookie," he said as I dumped the dirty Lysol water down the sink.
"Yeah I heard you the first time Chow. If you're going to do something, then do it already." With that I continued to ignore him, just as I continued to ignore the occasional screams and pleading that was going on in the front yard. Just as I thought that I couldn't take it anymore, I heard a sharp crack, and the screams were silent.
Eric and Pam re-entered the kitchen, and I looked away. They were in mid-blood lust and the spatter of blood across their chests and forearms and misted across their foreheads held a scent that appealed to me in a way that I knew never would have in my previous life. The violence in the air was palatable and I felt my fangs drop. Chow too was affected, but Eric took no notice, and although he must have been feeling it, his self control was astonishing as he casually sauntered over to me, and placed a long and lingering kiss on my lips.
"I never did do this, when we woke today did I lover?" He smiled. "There was quite a lot going on, you'll have to forgive me."
I was ready to just about stake him myself, and I said as much, but he just laughed and went to the fridge and got a true blood out for me. He warmed it, and handed it to me, just as he had done this morning.
"Chow, take the bodies about five miles south and bury them. There's a pond back there that will serve nicely." Chow nodded, opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it as abruptly as Eric pointed towards the door. "Sophie Ann is behind this, definitely Sookie. The Weres confirm this, but I can't prove it. The Weres are from New Orleans, and they admitted that they met with Andre. But Sophie Ann can always say that Andre has gone rogue. I need more proof than this." He nuzzled my neck and Pam rolled her eyes. I stiffened, because I was still pissed. "The problem is, is that she is going to know that something happened to her Weres and there will be another attempt, of that there is no doubt." His hand caressed the top of my thigh, and I moved away from it. He was obviously quite turned on by his recent activities. Well I wasn't. However, I nodded but I disengaged myself from his iron grip. He chuckled at me. The washer had stopped and I walked out to put the bedding in the drier. That body was gone too, and I heaved an unnecessary sigh of relief.
"So what the fuck Sookie? Eric says you took him out?" Pam grinned at me when I came back in, while Eric scowled. "I would pay to see that."
"You're lucky that I trust you Pam. This isn't a good thing." Eric was looking her seriously.
"I don't know how it happened, I just know that this is the third time that it's happened to me, and I don't know how to control it. Eric was fine, and I was thinking about the Weres and I could feel them, but the next thing I know – he was on the ground." I looked down at my hands. "I burned him when I touched him."
He brushed a stray hair back from my face. "But I'm all right now lover. We will get to the bottom of this, believe me." But he looked up at Pam. "I'll stake you myself if you tell anyone she took me down."
Pam threw back her head and laughed, and Chow entered the kitchen unaware of the conversation and looked confused.
"Oh this is rich Master; this is definitely going to cost you." Her eyes lit up, and she held out her hand, to which Eric sighed and pulled out his wallet. He extracted several credit cards and placed them in her hands. She clucked contentedly.
"Go easy Pam." Eric said something that may have been a curse in Norse, and then reached for his pocket, as his phone had begun to ring.
He answered with a grunt, and his eyes widened appreciably. He mostly listened, and nodded while the voice on the other end spoke.
"We'll meet you there for three after the bar closes." He snapped his phone shut. "That was Alcide. Seems the pack leader from New Orleans has contacted him about three missing Weres from his area. Alcide has reason to believe that their disappearance has something to do with us." He looked around at all three of us. "Get ready, we have to go now – this is moving faster than I anticipated."
I grabbed my purse and made sure the doors were locked, and before Eric took flight with me in his arms, I took a long last look at the house – with a dreadful premonition that this was going to be the last time I was going to see it. And then Eric took flight into the inky blackness.
