Chapter 10 Teach me to live

"Oh my god." Allison's voice came out in a weak little whisper as he stood across the room with Godric and Pam and watched in horror as she fell to the floor with an enormous stake sticking out of her chest and blood starting to fly out everywhere as she disappeared from view. It had happened so fast that at first no one even knew what was going on. But then the smell of blood filled the air and the sight of Allison standing there briefly with the stake thrust inside of her explained it all. She must have heard the thoughts of whoever had sent that stake through the window because neither of the three vampires had heard any voices. And if it was a stake and Pam was currently still on the floor at their feet, then it was Pam who was meant to die and Allison had shoved her away only to be hit instead to take the fatal wound. It was only when he heard another whimper of pain that he was able to start moving and he flashed across the room and knelt down at Allison's side to grab her shoulders and turn her over and he was devastated to see the amount of blood that she was losing. Her eyes were fluttering closed as if she were about to close them permanently and never wake up again.

"Oh no you don't. You're not dying on me tonight. Not on my watch. Open your damn eyes." He practically shouted in her face while harshly shaking her and feeling bad that he was being so rough, but it didn't matter because it was the only thing that would keep her from shutting her eyes. Because if she closed them then that was it, she would be gone and he would have lost her. He shook her harder then ever before and screamed. "God damn it, open your eyes."

"Er...eric." She weakly looked up at him, her vibrant green eyes clouding over in the sort of pain that he could not even imagine that she was feeling as one of her hands brushed against his wrist. Her face contorted in a tightness that showed just how much she was hurting and when she opened her mouth to speak again, she only uttered one word. "Pain."

And then before he could stop her, she reached up with a bloody hand and pulled the stake right out of her chest and dropped it on the floor at her side. Eric watched in horror as the blood started gushing out at a more alarming rate and he did what his first instincts told him to do. He used his hands and placed them right over the gaping hole in her chest and applied pressure to make it stop, but the blood continued to seep out between his fingers, staining his pale white skin. He was both horrified and fascinated when he could feel her heart beat literally right under his hand but that fascination ended when he could feel it almost shudder and then resume its beating, but at a slower pace. One look at Allie's face showed that she had gone pale and her eyes were rolling around, losing focus as she struggled to stay awake.

"No, no. Don't you dare fall asleep. Stay awake." He yelled at her, his hands never moving from the wound as he watched her weakly nod at him to show she was still there but she wouldn't last much longer. He knew he was losing her and he felt an old fear start to creep in but he pushed it aside. He couldn't start letting himself feel that right now. All his focus had to be on keeping her alive.

"Eric." Godric appeared at his side, also kneeling on the floor as his own face twisted in concern at the dying girl in front of them. "You need to heal her. Take her to your office, it's safer there."

"Ok." Was all he could manage to say before ripping his hands off her bloody chest and gathered her up in his arms where she leaned against him lifelessly and he knew if he didn't get blood inside of her then she would die. He wasted no more time and flashed across the room and through the door that lead to the back hallway and then into his office, followed behind by Godric and Pam who shut and locked the door just as he laid Allison's body on the floor and put his hand back on the wound. He looked down at her, relieved that she was still looking at him even though her gaze was heavy. "It's ok baby, I'm going to save you. It's going to be alright."

Eric brought his other wrist to his mouth just as he clicked out his fangs and harshly bit into his skin, trying to make as large a wound as he could. The bigger the wound then the more blood that would flow and that was needed. It would take a lot to heal Allison from this injury. Once the blood started seeping down his arm, he turned back to the girl and placed his wrist against her shaking lips and waited for the feeling of her drinking from him to start. But it never came. She never attached her mouth to his arm to start sucking on the blood and when he looked at her eyes he was panicked to see that they had closed. He yanked his arm away and immediately began shaking her as he did before but her eyes remained closed never opening no matter how hard he moved her. And that's when he felt the true ice cold grasp of death creeping into the room towards them. But he refused to let her meet death all the way, he wasn't going to lose her. Not now, not after everything they had been through.

"No! Don't you dare die on me right now. Do you hear me?" He growled, hoping his words somehow reached through to her and got her to open her eyes one more time just so he knew she was still here with him. "You can't die and leave me here. I refuse to lose you. I'm not...I'm not done loving you yet."

He didn't know if it was the screaming, the shaking or his declaration of his love for her or even just divine intervention, but somehow she managed to force open her eyes and look right up into his face close to death, but still alive. He saw her lips part and once more placed his bleeding wrist against her mouth and although it took a few seconds, he began to feel a small sucking at his skin and he was flooded with relief. She was drinking his blood, he could feel it leaving his body and entering her mouth and he knew she was going to be ok. He was so overcome by relief that he crumbled all the way to the floor and gathered her bloody form in his arms once again as she weakly continued to drink from him. Godric and Pam had kept their distance by the wall by the door but he barely noticed their presence and his only focus was on Allison. He cradled her against his chest, keeping his wrist at her mouth so she could keep drinking his life force that would in turn sustain her own life.

"It's going to be ok. You'll be ok, I'll protect you." He told her, stroking her hair with his hand as he closed his eyes just as the blood started seeping down his face. He didn't care if it looked weak or stupid to his child or his maker. He had been so close to losing her and he knew how devastating that would have been and with her healing, he was allowed to feel the fear that had been threatening to take over him. And when it hit him in full force, he felt like he was being suffocated. He held her tighter to him, needed to constantly reassure himself that she was there. "Don't worry Allison. I'm not going anywhere."

"Eric, you need to get her out of here. She needs more time to heal and to rest." Godric's voice spoke to him as he joined Eric on the floor and he felt his maker's hand on his shoulder and for the first time, he didn't feel the urge to push him away. And instead, Eric turned to look at his maker for guidance. Godric's eyes were drawn to Allison and his young face scrunched up uneasily and it was then that Eric remembered the bond his maker had with Allison and how he was feeling her pain almost as strongly as Allie was experiencing it. Godric broke his gaze and looked at Eric and said "Take her to your house. Pam and I will meet you there. Fly hard and fly fast. We don't know what else is out there."

Eric nodded, not putting up a fight and as soon as Allie had enough blood in her to at least close the wound in her chest, he stood up with her in his arms and shot out the back door and launched himself up into the black night sky and flew away from Fangtasia.

2 hours later

I knew when I groggily opened my eyes later that night and my vision was still foggy, I still somehow knew that I was in Eric's bed and that the night's events had lead me here back to this house that I had not been in for over 5 months. But that wasn't the main issue in the forefront right now. Right now, what had happened to me was flooding back to my head and I found myself shooting up into a sitting position with my hands going to my chest to search for the wound that was no longer there. My skin was smooth and taut and showed now sign that there had been a wooden stake shoved deep into my chest. There wasn't even any blood anywhere on me, a clear sign that I had been cleaned before I had woken up and judging by the loose fitting white dress I was wearing, someone had changed my clothes and disposed of the bloody ones. I was perfectly ok, granted I felt a bit disoriented but I was alive and well and I was so relieved to see no lasting damage. And as I looked up to take in my surroundings, the three faces staring back at me were just as relieved as I was.

"Allison." Godric's voice came from my left and I whipped my head to the side to see him sitting down on the bed next to me, a weary but happy look in his eyes as he reached out and grabbed my hands. "Thank god you are ok. We were so worried."

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up further and pushing away the sheets that had been pulled up over me and sat with my legs tucked under me. "After I was hit, I don't remember all that much. The details are kind of hazy. But I heard a lot of yelling."

"That was me." Eric spoke up from the other side of the room where he was sitting in an arm chair hunched over with dried rivers of blood on his face, indicating that he had been crying for god only knows how long. He didn't really meet my eye as he spoke. "You were dying and I had to scream at you to keep you awake."

"I was dying." I whispered, a frown coming over my face as bits and pieces of what happened after I had been staked came back to me and now I was remembering the pain and the how the cloud of death had been looming over me. It was horrible and I shuddered when I thought of how I had almost passed on.

"After you were staked, you started losing a lot of blood and when Eric reached you, you managed to speak to him but then you pulled the stake out of your chest and that's when the real damage started happening." Godric explained, looking like it really pained him to have to recount the details to me. "So Eric got you to the office and that's when he started to heal you. He gave you enough of his blood to close the wound before we all took off for his house, where it would be safer. And since then we were just waiting for you to wake up."

"You healed me." I turned to look at Eric, who had still refused to meet my eyes directly and was just staring at the wall beside the bed, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. "Thank you."

"Whatever." He snapped, getting to his feet as his face came alive and before I could utter another word, he was stomping out of the room in huff, slamming the door shut and leaving me alone with Godric and Pam who stared after him in disbelief.

"Um, ok." I said softly, not knowing what else to say after seeing Eric react so bizarrely and felt myself shrink back against the headboard with my knees pulled up to my chest. "He's angry."

"Ignore him, he's just feeling the full brunt of what happened. But he's not angry at you." Godric assured me, taking my hand again with a gentle smile. "He was just scared of losing you. It shook him up badly and he doesn't know how to deal with it."

"I didn't mean to scare him." I replied, feeling bad that I had scared a vampire like Eric to the point where he couldn't even be in the room with me now that I was awake. But I also was secretly loving the fact that he had such a strong reaction to what had happened because it proved that he was still very much in love with me and in a way it was eye opening for me. But I pushed that aside for now, Eric's sadness was the only thing I wanted to think about. "Is he going to be ok?"

"He will and I'll make sure of it." Godric told me before he reached over and places his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. "But right now, all that matters is that you are alive and ok. Everything else can wait."

15 minutes later

"Pam, you keep looking at me like you want to say something." Allison said to her as the two of them gathered in the empty kitchen while Pam was in search of blood and kept on shooting glances at the young Faerie until she finally commented on it and Pam found herself forced to turn around and answer. Allison sat at the table with her hands in her lap and a curious look on her face. "What is it?"

"Look, let's get one thing straight. I rarely ever get in touch with my emotions or ever find myself feeling like I am indebted to someone so to be in that situation now is not easy for me so you better not give me a hard time when I say this." Pam warned her, setting down the bottle of blood she had swiped out of Eric's cabinet and turned to look at the girl with narrowed eyes. She had been trying to find the right way to say what she needed to say ever since Godric had left them alone together but it hadn't felt right. They had just been able to stare at each other without saying a word or making any noise until Pam had said she was getting herself some blood and Allie had followed her down to the kitchen. And since then Pam had been glancing at the brunette from time to time to find the best second to blurt it out and get it over with so she wouldn't have it weighing her down. And right now was as good a time as any. "Thank you."

"For what?" Allison questioned, her lips pressed into a tight line as she honestly appeared confused about what this was getting at.

"Cut the crap, you know what I'm talking about." Pam snapped, stopping herself from rolling her eyes at that very moment. "I'm referring you to saving my life tonight and taking the stake instead. So thank you."

"Really, it was not that big of a deal." She waved her hand like she was officially ending the conversation but Pam wasn't through, she had something to get off her chest and she was going to say whether this girl liked it or not.

"Actually it is a big deal and even I know how seriously bad everything could have gone tonight. And I rarely take things seriously." Pam stated, looking at her her high heeled boots that she was wearing and wishing more then anything she didn't have to say this. But she had to, because after the sacrifice Allison had made, Pam knew that it now set in motion a new relationship between the two of them that had never been there before. "I could have died if you hadn't shoved me away. I would have met the true death and Eric would have lost a child but because of you, none of that happened and you saved us all from a lot more pain then what we felt tonight. And I am forever indebted to you. So just freaking accept my gratitude for what it is and let's move on."

"Alright Pam, I accept your gratitude. Now just stop it with the feeling the emotions thing and go back to how you usually are. I like you better that way." She said with a smile as she ran her hands through her hair. "Although I will tell you this. I think considering the events of tonight, we just might be on the path of becoming friends. And for us, that is not going back to normal."

"You're right about that, even though it pains me to agree with you." Pam smugly shot back as she grabbed the blood and sat at the table with the girl. "But then again, it looks like we might have a battle on our hands with this assassination attempt. So we all need to be on the same side."

"So...friends?" Allison stretched her arm so she could extend her hand to her and Pam only had to hesitate for a second before she accepted it.

"Yea...friends." The female vampire agreed, strongly shaking the girl's hand before letting go with a smirk. "For now..."

"Don't even start fantasizing. It will never happen." Allison warned, this time her being the one who rolled her eyes. "Don't go there."

"Too late." Pam laughed, relieved that she could stop feeling her emotions and go back to a manner of speaking that she was more comfortable with. "It's already unfolding..."

"Pam, leave the room immediately." Eric's voice suddenly joined theirs in the kitchen and once glance found him in the doorway of the room with his hands at his side and a glare on his face. He walked in and pointed out into the hallway. "Leave...now."

"Oh this will be fun to listen to on the other side of the house." Pam joked, grabbing the bottle of blood she had taken and hightailed it out of the room just in time for Eric's voice to start shouting.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?"

20 minutes later

"Stupid...reckless...insane little girl.."

"What would possess you to take such a risk?"

"How could you be so incredibly idiotic?"

"You are just so infuriating with willing to throw your life away like that, without no consideration of anyone else...you were rash, and moronic and just plain crazy."

I just stood there against the kitchen counter and watched as Eric continued to pace back and forth while he yelled at me like he had for the past 20 minutes. I wasn't insulted by anything he was saying because I knew part of it he was only saying out of fear and love and he didn't really mean it to sound as harsh as it did. But another part of me knew that he was right. It was stupid to put my life on the line like that without thinking of taking care of myself. Even though I had no time to think and only time to react, I thought of nothing else but to save Pam rather then myself. And I knew most of the country would say it was absolutely insane to risk my own life just to save a vampire. I could have died and I would have left an unhealed wound in everyone's life if my death had come about. But even knowing that, I still don't think I would have changed anything and I think that's why Eric was so angry at me. He had been so losing to having me die in his arms and that couldn't have freaked him out more. And now that I was alive and standing in front of him, he was taking out his emotions on me and I was just going to take it.

"Are you planning on saying anything?" He asked me, coming to a stop by the table and throwing himself down in the chair I had previously been sitting in when he stormed into the kitchen and he just looked at me with the darkest and most saddest expression in his eyes.

"Yea I do, I was just waiting for you to finally stop screaming at me before I said this..." I stood up straight and walked over to him with my hands tucked under my arms and a determined smile on my lips. He wasn't going to like what I had to say but I was standing by my convictions whether they were right or wrong. "I don't regret saving Pam. Not at all, even with all the pain that came along with it. And I would do it again in a heart beat."

"You almost died in my arms." He said, meeting my face and I was stunned to see just how much sorrow lined the planes of his features. "You almost died because you made a sacrifice for a vampire that would..."

"And like I said, I would do it again." I interrupted, unwrapping my arms from around myself and before I could stop, I grabbed his face between my hands so I could make him understand why I did this. And it took all I had not to start crying. "Eric, I had a better chance at surviving a stake in the chest more then Pam did. Yes, I could have died, but I was still holding on until your blood could heal me. But if I hadn't pushed Pam out of the way and that stake had hit her, then she would just be blood and guts right now. So while yes, I could have lost my life tonight, I still had a better survival chance then her. And I don't regret doing it and I never will. So accept that."

"I still hate that you took that risk and gambled with your life. It could have gone in an entirely different direction." He grumbled, his hands coming up to encircle my wrists as his blue eyes stared into mine and I had the distinct sense that if I could hear his thoughts right now then he would be thinking about how much he wanted to say he loved me. But I didn't have to ask because he told me anyway. "I hate it even more when I thought I was losing you. I can't lose you. I love you too much."

"I know you do. At least, I know that now." I whispered, finally realizing what Sookie and everyone else had been saying all this time. That Eric really had realized his mistake and he did indeed know who he wanted and who he wanted was me. It had always been me. I could see that in his eyes right now and I was being flooded by something at this moment and it wasn't pain. It was...love. And that was why I leaned down and before I could talk myself out of it, I kissed him. I kissed Eric the way I would have kissed him months ago if none of this had ever happened. I kissed him as if we had never been parted in the first place. I kissed him with all the love I could manage to remember and as our bond opened from all of his blood I had ingested, I felt the love he had for me and it nearly crippled me. It was that intense. And when I finally pulled away from him, I leaned my forehead against his and said "And I love you for still being the one who is always saving me."

"Then what does this mean for us?" He asked, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me down into his lap in a way he hadn't done for so long. "Where do we go from here?"

"We take it a step at a time and see where it leads us."

30 minutes later

"You know it's all going to be alright, don't you?" Godric asked his child as he walked into the living room where Eric was sitting alone in front of the fire and took a seat in the chair across from him. He was half expecting Eric to still react with the same kind of fury as he had every time they were near one another but Godric was surprised when Eric just looked at him and shrugged. His posture showed that he was deep in thought over something and couldn't be bothered with fighting any more. And neither could Godric, that part of their lives had to be over. There were more important things to think of and that was Allison. "Allison is fine and everything is going to be ok."

"No it's not. Everything won't be ok because this was a planned attack and not only did Allison sacrifice herself and almost died, but she wasn't even the target. Pam was and if that stake had hit her, she would be gone. So please do not tell me everything is going to be ok. Because we don't know that for sure." Eric rubbed his hands up and down his face as if trying to erase the weary expression he wore. "There is something happening out there Godric. The attack tonight and Allison hearing those thoughts are not coincidence. They are connected. They have to be."

"I agree with you on that. I didn't want to say this before but I think there is a battle starting to brew in the shadows that we might need to start preparing for." Godric told him, fearing the worse about what this statement would mean to their lives. "And I'm afraid it sounds like whoever is behind this is not only targeting Allison, but also vampires."

"Then we have to stop these freaks before anyone seriously gets hurt." Eric said, turning his face upwards so their eyes met and for once there was no hostility directed at Godric. "We need to protect ourselves before this gets worse and you know it will. Incidents like this always have a way of popping up again, it's just a matter of time."

"We will figure it out and exact our revenge. I promise you that." Godric assured him, going against his calm demeanor and taking a different approach. Normally he would have tried a less violent way of solving a problem, but these people had nearly taken Allison's like when they intended to take Pam's. So this was not a time for being calm and collected. They had to find out what was going on and strike back hard. Godric looked at Eric and said. "Whoever these people are, they are not going to get away with hurting one of our own. I will hunt them and rip their heads off if I have to to insure Allison is protected."

"You really do care about her don't you?" Eric asked, his eyes flaring up slightly with jealousy but not nearly as much as there had been before.

"I told you before Eric that she was my friend and I intend to do whatever I could to make sure she is always safe." Godric spoke softly, turning his attention to the dancing flames. "And that's what I am going to do."

"So I guess this means you're not leaving after all." Eric replied, also setting his focus on the fire and sat there with his arms on his knees and his back hunched over. "You're staying?"

"I have to. I can't leave when there is a flame of violence being fanned. Besides, Allison needs me." He told his child, knowing there was no possible way he could disappear now. Not when it looked like there was an attack looking over them. "And I think you need me too."

"I can't protect her without you." Eric retorted with a deep sigh that went right through Godric and he looked at his child at the same time Eric looked at him. And there was something in those familiar blue eyes that gave Godric hope that this was the moment he had been praying for. "I can't do this on my own. I need you with me."

"I'm here for you Eric. I have been, always." He wanted the former viking to know, staring deep into the face he had been with for 1,000 years. "And I want us to put aside our differences once and for all and at least try to be the way we used to be. If you and I can't work together then we are all doomed. And you need to know it was never my intention to hurt you the way I did. I honestly thought it was the best way to handle things."

"You still should have told me. I had a right to know." Eric shot back, the hurt still evident in his voice as he continued to look into the fireplace. But there was resolved expression that now took place over his face and he cocked his head to the side and said. "I guess its time that we stop living in the past and attempt to make a better future."

"You know...i was thinking the same thing."

Back in Bon Temps

"Oh man, I need about a hundred years worth of sleep to get over the shocking turn of events from tonight." I mumbled to myself as I sat down on the old sofa in my empty living room and laid my head in my arms on top of my knees and sighed.

It had been a long and emotional few hours and I just wanted some peace after having convinced Godric and Eric that I would be fine on my own. And they both agreed to it only after accompanying me home as my bodyguards where Eric did not let go of me once on the drive here and Godric would occasionally throw knowing glances our way as if he wanted to comment on it. And then Eric would smirk back at him, their previous state of animosity seemingly vanished and a peace truce was established between them to which I was thrilled about. Somehow and someway they had come together again after weeks of fighting and I couldn't have been more happy. Granted the night had been horrible and scary and full of pain that I never wanted to relieve, but it still brought about three very important things. Pam and I had made peace and looked like we could actually be friends. Godric and Eric were back together and it seemed like Eric and I too were on the track to returning to our previous blissful relationship that while still had its share of problems, it was full of love and I couldn't ask for more. I didn't know exactly what Eric and I were after night, but I had a feeling that it was leaning toward pushing us back in each others lives and I was happy about that, I really was. But there would be a time to figure it all out tomorrow. Right now I was going to go up to my room and fall asleep without any more distractions.

And I would have done that had it not been for the ringing of my door bell at that very second. I groaned out loud, wondering who the hell would be trying to visit at this hour and thankful that Sookie wasn't home to be woken up by this. With my luck it was probably going to be Sam trying to make yet another sad attempt at redemption. I flipped the light on and despite what had already happened that night, I threw caution to the wind and opened the door without peeking the curtains to check that it wasn't an enemy and I was stunned down to my very core when I saw who it was. A figure dressed in black that I never thought I would ever see again. A figure that made my heart jump into my throat.

"Damon?"

A/N: i know i know...how mean of me to leave it there...but damon salvatore has come to Bon Temps! and we all can guess where this is going to lead. DRAMA!