Sookie sat on the concrete floor with her niece curled up in her lap. The little girl had fallen into an exhausted sleep an hour after they had been forced into the basement. Sookie had confirmed with Hugo that Godric was somewhere in the church, as well as that there was a traitor among them who had tipped off the church about who they were.
It was a mistake to have allowed Annabel to come with them. She should have spoke up, but the young woman had said nothing when Eric had ordered the child go with. Sookie sighed as she ran her hand through the little girls hair. It was another moment Sooie would be adding to her list of bad decisions concerning the child.
Annabel herself was trapped with in her own exhausted mind as her dreams turned into images of the past. She was trapped reliving the day her mother had taken her away from her Godric.
"You mean to tell me that this child, has a 2,000 year old vampire bonded to her?" A dark skinned woman with long dreaded hair decorated with a piece of, what looked to be, white bone, beads, and bits of fabric crossed her arms before the blond haired woman and the little girl who had walked into her shop.
"It's true alright. Whatever her Father was, wasn't human. Any time I take her too far away from that vampire, she gets sick." The blond haired woman was twitchy and if the shop owner was being honest, looked a bit strung out. But the woman shrugged it off.
"Alright, I can't make any guarantees." The woman shrugged her shoulders. "But I'll take a look at the kid and see if I have anything that will sever this 'bond'"
Annabel stared at the strange woman from behind her mother. She didn't understand what the two adults were talking about and was starting to feel uncomfortable in the cluttered wiccan shop. The place was full of hanging jars and cages filled with different kinds of uncustomary objects. Anna found the shop to be quiet frightening in her opinion.
"Come here kid, lets see what you are." The woman kneeled down to Annabel's level and reached out for the child's hand. Anna stayed half hidden behind her mother, but raised her own small hand and placed it onto the strangers. As the woman began chanting, the strange words were hard for Anna to make out, but whatever she was doing caused a slight pale glow to over take their combined hands.
"Well, do you know what she it?" Mary asked, shifting from one foot to the other. The woman only had four more hours before the sun set. She needed to be out of Texas before that if she wanted to live to see tomorrow.
The dark skinned woman looked at her glowing hands in confusion, ending her chanting and watching as the glow dissipated. This child was truly something special. A being of fairy tales the woman's grandmother used to tell her as a kid.
"That's impossible." The wiccan whispered in disbelief.
"Well, can you take away the bond?" Mary hoped the witch would be able to sever whatever bond her daughter and that vampire shared. The woman felt anxiety well up with in her as the shop owner stared at her daughter with a frown.
"I'll need an hour to get what I need ready, but I should be able to almost completely break the bond." The wiccan stood and looked from the child hiding behind her mother, to the woman herself. Something was definitely off with the lady, but the shop owner could only sum it up to having a vampire bonded with her child, not to mention even having a child such as the one hiding behind her.
Whatever the story was with the two, the wiccan could only hope she was doing the right thing. It's not every day you have such a being walk into your shop.
Upon waking, Anna found herself resting on her on her Aunt's lap, the older woman running her fingers through her hair. The nightmare from her memories faded away and the nightmare she was currently in came to be. The child remembered being forcefully grabbed by the large man, Gabe, and tossed into the closed off storage area in the basement. It was a terrifying ordeal for any child to have to go through. She feared what was going to happen to her and her Aunt if no one came to rescue them.
"Hey there sweetie, how are you feeling?" Sookie was concerned how this would end up affecting the child, but she trusted that Bill would come for her, he had to.
"Tired." The little girl mumbled out. Annabel felt exhausted and run down. Those sick episodes she would sometime have, had nothing on what the child was feeling right now. Her head hurt and stomach turned every so often with a mixture of anxiety and hopelessness. No one in the basement was doing well, even Hugo, who hadn't stopped pacing was feeling the affects of the failed mission.
There was a sudden sound of the door at the top of stairs opening and shutting, then footsteps were descending into the basement. Steve Newlin and his muscle appeared at the bottom of the stairs, that fake smile plastered on the mans face. The preacher pulled a folded chair out and sat before the caged in storage area where his hostages were being kept. Sookie gently set Annabel on the ground, where the child sat up staring at the men who had locked them up, and stood up to stand beside Hugo.
"Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot." The revernded started, his fake smile plastered on his face as he eyed the two adults and child. Annabel stared at the human, she felt a burning anamostity for the man boil in her veins as he spoke to her Aunt and Hugo.
Annabel stopped listening as her Aunt yelled at the two men. The child sat up rigidly, she suddenly felt a wave of dark emotions wash over her. The feeling lasted for only a second, but it had been unmistakeable. Those weren't her emotions she was feeling.
"Listen, she's Sookie Stackhouse, and that's her niece, Annabel." Sookie looked to Hugo with wide eyes as he gave them men their real names. "I'm Hugo, and were not a couple looking to get married."
Steve Newlin looked at Sookie with wide eyes. "Your Sookie Stackhouse. Jason Stackhouse's brother?" The revered looked at the blond haired woman in a new light. This changed some things for the man and those with in his congregation.
"How do you know my brother?" Sookie questioned the reverend. "He's got nothing to do with this!"
Without answering the woman's questions, Steve and Gabe quickly left the basement in a hurry. They had a new agenda to take care of at the moment. With the new information the two had, they now needed to take out the loose end that had infiltrated their forces.
"I can't believe you just gave us up like that Hugo." Sookie turned to the distressed man with frustration.
"Listen, that thing I said earlier about being claustrophobic, it's the truth. I can't take closed spaces." The man was fully giving in to his aliment, feeling the closed space he was in close in further around him.
Hugo leaned against the fence and did his best to even out his rapid breathing as his lungs begged for breath. Sookie looked at the man with pity before sitting down beside Annabel. She had lost track of time a while ago and now had no clue as to if it was dark or not outside. With another hour or so going by, Sookie was starting to feel like Bill was never going to show up.
A sense of quietness came over the little group as they settled down, unsure of whatever time of day it was. Annabel sat close to her Aunt as she tried to work through the emotions that were currently bombarding the little girl. She had been so used to feeling nothing but her own emotions and the slight tinge of her Aunt or even her Gran, but this, these emotions were not her own.
Sookie gently ran her fingers through her nieces hair as she sat beside the little girl. Sudden movement caught the woman's eye as Hugo suddenly leapt to his feet and began to pace again. He seemed frantic, and the woman could just tell that his claustrophobia was truly starting kicking in now. Sookie stood and carefully approached the stressed man.
"Hey, it's going to be okay. Just calm down and breath." Hugo stopped pacing and Sookie took the moment to place a supportive hand on the man's arm. But something unexpected happened, thoughts from Hugos weakened mind filtered into Sookie's.
"You, you're the traitor?" Sookie stepped away, shocked by the new information.
Annabel looked up the man who Isabel had trusted enough to allow him to join them. Hugo had betrayed them, making all this his fault. Anna felt sad at the relizatio that Isabel had put her trust in Hugo, hoping that with him this mission they wouldn't have ended up like this. But, what they did not account for the was selfishness of a human who wanted to be immortal.
"Gabe! Steve! Come one let me out, she knows everything!" Hugo began shouting and shakin the chain link fence that bordered them in. As Hugo shouted and demand he be let out, the door leading into the basement opened and Gabe came stomping down the stairs.
"Thank God. Gabe they know everything, you've gotta let me out." Hugos face relaxed as Gabe went to unlock the gate, but was sadly mistaken by the man's actions. Gabe called the man a diry fangbanger before punching Hugo hard enough to knock the man out cold.
Sookie screamed at the action and quickly lifted Annabel off the ground and forcing the child to hide behind her. The large man stalked toward the woman in a threatening manner making Annabel panic and start to cry. She didn't want this man to hurt her Aunt Sookie or herself. But there wasn't anything a little girl could do to stop the much larger man.
Sookie screamed again as Gabe grabbed at her and threw her to the hard ground. Sookie yelled for Annabel to make a run for it, but much like before, the little girl stood frozen in fear. The woman struggled against the large man, doing whatever she could to get out of his grasp, but was overpowered. Anna felt her stomach drop and her throat become tight. She had to do something, anything. She had to save her Aunt.
"GODRIC!" The little girl hoped, prayed, that whatever connected her to the vampire would be enough to help. Annabel was powerless against a grown man, so the child could only hope that her shrill scream somehow found its way to her vampire.
The child's scream echoed in the room as Sookie continued to struggle, but then, the weight of the large man was gone from Sookie's back. The woman turned over and found a young man, no older than 18, holding Annabel against his chest with one arm and his other hand wrapped around Gabes throat.
"Godric. It's me, Gabe." The vampire ignored the man's plea and snapped his neck like a twig. The body crumpled to the floor with a thud. The action made Sookie jump and quickly stood, doing her best to fix her ruined dress.
Annabel held on tightly to her vampire, pressing her face into the cold skin of the older creatures neck. Godric himself basked in the feeling of having the little girl back in his arms once again. The old vampire had believed his charge to be dead and that knowledge had forced him to slip back into that dark depression that once housed his thoughts.
Hearing the little girl call out for him had made the vampire believe it was only a dream at first, Gods cruel punishment in his last hours. A cruel figment that his imagination had made up in it's depressed state, yet here she was, safe in his arms once again.
"Godric?" The vampires eyes flickered to the woman standing dishevelled before him. Sookie was shocked to see the 2,000 year old vampire looked so young. The loud sound of an alarm going off startled Sookie and loud crashes from above drew her attention. "Bill?"
"No." Godric spoke up. "I am here my childe."
Anna pulled herself away slightly as another vampire came rushing down the stairs. Eric looked at his maker with relife before kneeling before the younger looking man. Annabel watched as the tall vampire kneeled before her vampire. The sight wasn't new to the little girl, she had seen many vampires kneel before Godric out of respect or even fear.
"You were a fool to send humans for me." Godric spoke, his voice a melody of the obvious age and power he withheld. Anna felt completely safe within the arms of a creature she should have feared. A creature she would have been smart to fear, yet, that wasn't what the child felt, nothing could make her fear Godric.
"I had no choice." Eric admitted, looking up from the ground and into the eyes of his maker, glancing at the child held in the older vampires arms. "When did you last feed?"
"I require little blood." Annabel was unfazed by the mention of blood coming from Godric as she sat comfortably in his arms with a smile on her face. There was an obvious and drastic change in the child's outward attitude, and both Eric and Sookie took notice of it.
"I lost Ic." Annabel suddenly spoke up. Godric looked away from his undead creation and to the child he held in his arms. It was almost unreal being able to physically feel the warmth and life coming from the one thing that kept Godric on this earth.
The old vampire smirked. "We will find him little one." Godric looked to Eric, his face become serious as he gave his child an order. "Go. Take the human and get out of here."
"I won't leave you." Eric stood to his full height.
"Yes you will." Godric spoke. "I order you too."
Eric looked upset by the order issued by his maker, but grabbed Sookie's arm anyway.
"Wait, Annabel?" Sookie looked to the older vampire holding her niece in his arms.
"I will keep her safe." Sookie seemed unsure about Godric's words, but reluctantly followed Eric up the stairs and out of the basement.
Annabel watched her Aunt leave, not feeling any sort of anxiety she once would have felt watching her Aunt just leave. The child was completely at ease in the arms of the 2,000 year old vampire. Nothing could hurt her while Godric was with her.
With Eric and Sookie gone, Godric looked to the small child in his arms. He had failed once in keeping her safe and in an act that could only be considered a miracle, was given a second chance. Annabel was the last of her kind, and her Father had asked Godric to watch over her in his death.
"I missed you Godric." The child had only ever known one life style, and this vampire was at the center of that. He was her most important person.
"I missed you as well little one." Godric rested his forehead against Annabel's, feeling the child form a bond between the two of them. Much like the first time she had done it, Anna had no clue as to what she was doing. The little girl was unconsciously allowing instinct to create a natural bond her kind were known for, between her and the vampire.
"Can we go home now?" Anna asked. Godric smiled at the little girl before making his way to the still unconscious Hugo.
"Yes, we can go home, but first." Godric lifted the man by the back of his shirt with one hand before flashing up the stairs. The vampire then let go of the human at the door leading out of the basement. He would send his subordinate to retrieve the human later.
"Oh, what about Ic?" Godric had given the doll to Annabel sometime after first meeting the child. Godric smiled at the mention of the stuffed doll. The gift from him never left the child's arms.
Godric was able to find the stuffed doll fairly quickly, searching out the little girls scent and finding what must have been a woman's purse that the doll had been stuffed inside of. Annabel was happy to have the doll back in her arms making the vampire smile. It would be hard for anyone to believe that this child was the light in Godric's life. A being that was over 2,000 years old, a creature that had only brought blood a death in his time, was completely owned by a child.
Godric had once considered death to be his only meaning in his undead life, and after years of living that way he found himself trapped in an endless cycle of killing. Until now, he had fallen into a depression, finding nothing his life meaningless and his heart filled with the guilt of his past. Then Casston came back into his life, bringing along his new reason for living.
"Let us go home, little one." Godric told the content little girl in his arms.
A/N: A little late on the update, but I wasn't going to post this chapter until I was happy with it, and I have to say, I am very excited for whats to come. Thank you all so much for the support and wonderful reviews, they really mean a lot to me.
Next chapter will be posted next Monday night, and I am supper excited about it. Soon, questions will be answered.