Hey everyone, sorry for the late post. I actually finished writing this chapter by Christmas. It's taken me this long to edit it. And to top it all off, water got spilled on my laptop, so now 7 of my keys are broken, which makes for some incredibly annoying typing and editing. Anyway, here it finally is. Hopefully it won't take as long for me to write the next chapter. Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a review.

Sookie

There was unimaginable pain in his eyes, and now thanks to his blood and our strengthened bond, I could feel it too. A bone chilling scream turned to painful tears as he desperately tried to hold onto what was left of her. I had never seen him cry before, let alone the sight that was now before me.

He was broken…

…and it ripped my heart and soul in two.

Knowing that I had done this to him made it a lot worse. He hated me, I could feel it. His anger was at boiling point, on the verge of spilling. It was raging, animalistic and dare I say… vicious.

He looked at me with wide black eyes, a predator's gaze, and yelled in Latin. Though I couldn't understand his words, I knew how he felt. He wanted me to leave, so I did. As tears filled my eyes, I turned on my heels and sprinted for the woods. My heart was racing, and tears were stinging my cheeks. A great weight was on my chest. Holding me down, constricting and stopping me from being able to breath properly.

I stumbled through the dark, not knowing where I was headed, only that I needed to put some distance between us. Though I knew Eric would stop him, I feared that such pain could drive Godric to hurt or even kill me. I knew better than anyone just how brutal vampires could be when provoked.

A voice called from behind me, someone was following. I stopped running and turned towards it. Under the shade of the trees, it was very dark. I could barely see, my vision blurry.

"Who's there?" I wiped my eyes and tried to make out a shadowy figure, coming ever closer.

A youthful looking faery stepped out of the darkness. He held his hand out in front of him, summoned energy swirling in the palm of his hand as he used it as a beckon to light the area. I immediately recognised him, he was from the other realm.

"You're one of them." I cautiously back away from him.

"I am a halfling, like yourself." He spoke telepathically to me, his lips still and unmoving. "I will not hurt you, I only wish to help."

"How are you communicating with me? I've lost my powers."

"I have the ability to send thoughts as well as receive them. My telepathy is not bound by language or species. I can communicate with whom I wish."

"What do you want? Why are you following me?"

"I am a friend of Eric's, you can trust me. I only wish to help. The vampire's death was not your fault."

"It doesn't matter who's fault it was. Cassia's dead, and Godric will never forgive me."

He stepped closer to me, bridging the wide gap that was between us "Let me take you home,"

"I'm not going back there, Tiberius wants to add me to that stone or whatever the hell it is."

"Then let me take you to a safe place. There is a small cave nearby where I often go to be alone. The other faeries are unaware of it."

I sighed, too tired to keep fighting and gave in "OK fine, whatever. I don't care anymore."

He smiled and bowed before gesturing for me to follow him.

"What is your name?" he asked as he led me through the woods.

"Sookie"

"A pleasure to meet you Sookie, I am Brier."

Unlike the other faeries in that realm, he was sweet and seemed to genuinely care. He didn't appear to be dangerous or give off any weird vibes. I felt like I could trust him and if it was true that he really was a friend of Eric's, then I most certainly could. Eric always chose his friends wisely and with utmost care. He didn't just befriend anyone.

We walked in silence for around thirty minutes until we reached the cave.

"Were you being held against your will by them?" I asked as I followed him inside.

"In a way" he replied, "I was sent by the elders to investigate what they were doing."

"You were spying on them?"

"Yes." He reluctantly admitted. "I wasn't particularly thrilled to go, but with my telepathic abilities I was the perfect faery for the job. I had no choice, for the sake of the safety of the realm, I had to go."

I thought it strange how he so willingly told me something that normally one would keep a secret but decided to put the thought aside for the moment. If his story was true, then I really could trust him.

As we wandered deeper into the mountain side, we came to an open and mostly flat area. Brier must have come here often as the place looked like some semblance of a home. Supplies littered the area and there was room to lie and rest. I could hear running water coming from deeper into the cave and guessed that it was an underground stream of some kind.

"How long have you lived here?" I asked.

"Long enough," he replied as he walked around the area, lighting it with candles that were hammered into the walls "for the most part I remain in the other realm, but whenever I need to escape, I come here."

He walked over to a large chest and opened it, taking out some clean clothes.

"You must feel filthy." He stated as he looked me over.

I was still covered in her remains. My clothes were stained red and my hair was clumpy and hard as the blood had dried. I felt filthy alright.

"Follow me" he said as he began to lead me to another area. "The water is cold but fresh enough to drink and bathe in."

"I don't mind, I'll just be happy to be clean." I said before thanking him and taking the clothes.

He took me to an area where the cave walls opened into a large underground reservoir. There were several small openings in the walls of the cave where fresh water was trickling into the lake. The water was near still and was so incredibly clear that you could see all the way to the bottom. I almost didn't want to get in for fear of contaminating it, but Brier reassured me that it was fine. I thanked him for the clothes and he left me to it. I stripped down and sat on the edge of the pool, gazing down, I stared at my own reflection.

My cheeks were slightly sunken, and half of my face was covered with blood. It had dripped down my neck and as it had dried, it left trails. I thought back to the first time this had happened to me. As Long shadow met the true death, he covered me in total gore as I struggled to breath and scream at the same time. I remembered the shock and how frozen I was as he puked blood all over me. Since that first incident, I had been bathed in blood more times than I could count. It was something I'd never get used to. You could say I had been baptised, again and again into the lifestyle. With each incident taking a little bit of human and innocence with it. But this time was different. This time it was Cassias blood that covered me.

I still couldn't believe I had killed her. Me, of all people. Before I had come here, I had no idea that Godric even had a sister. I wondered if she was still around by the modern era, and if so, where was she at the time of Godric's suicide? If not, then she must have met the true death by other means. If that was the case, then I wondered if her death had contributed to Godric's ultimate decision to take his own life. By killing her, I had changed history, but the out come would still be the same. 2000 years from now, Godric still might make that same choice.

Eric was right. We had an opportunity to save Godric from himself, and I had ruined it. And to top it all off, he now hated me too.

I put my feet in the water. Brier wasn't kidding, the water wasn't just cold, it was liquid ice. I'd have to be quick, or else I'd freeze.

I deserved to freeze after what I'd done.

I decided not to procrastinate and jumped in feet first. As the water engulfed me, my entire body went into shock. I gasped for air, my muscles seizing up at the offensive temperature. I felt as if shards of glass were pricking my skin. I shivered and quickly scrubbed the blood and guts from my skin and hair as fast as I could. Once I was sure it was all gone I climbed out. I realised I had nothing to dry myself with or keep me warm. I shook off and wiped away as much water as I could. I squeezed my hair and it dripped onto the stone floor.

I straightened up and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to retain some warmth. Suddenly a large cotton like towel was thrown over me followed by a thick woollen blanket.

"Hey" I began to protest, not knowing who has trespassed on me, but as I looked behind me, I realised it was Eric.

"Hey yourself" he greeted me.

I relaxed, forcing my alarm to turn off. I took the woollen blanket and placed it elsewhere, so I could properly dry off. As I allowed the cotton cloth to drop, Eric's eyes shifted and latched onto me. He stood there drooling, fangs out with no shame whatso ever. Such an Eric thing to do, especially at a time like this.

"Well, don't you clean up nicely" he teased, his eyes relentlessly staring. "Do you mind?" he gestured that he wanted to do the same.

"Of course not" I stepped aside, and he began to undress. "Thank you for the blanket" I said, wrapping it back around me now that I was dry. There was a long stone slab nearby, so I helped myself and sat down, giving him a taste of his own medicine as I began to watch him unrelentingly.

Though, unsurprisingly, he seemed to love the attention and took his time. Peeling back each layer a little slower than the last until finally he was stark naked. He didn't seem to be bothered at all as he stepped into the freezing water. I watched and wondered what it must feel like to not be affected by such temperature changes.

I marvelled in warmth from inside the woollen blanket which completely surrounded me. It even covered my feet and put padding between me and the cold floor. Now that I was dry, my body could begin to warm up and return to normal.

"How did you find us?" I asked.

"I felt your pain."

'Really?' I thought. It made sense I guess. After all the temperature was so low that it was painful. "And you sped here just like that? After all you've been through?"

"Not that kind of pain Sookie." He said, as if reading my mind. "You should go easier on yourself. It is Tiberius who is to blame not you."

I sighed, of course it was my fault. If it hadn't of been for me, she would still be alive. "How's Godric?"

Eric's eyes disconnected from mine and he turned away. He focused on getting clean for a minute before climbing out of the water. I handed him the cotton towel and watched as he dried himself off with it and then wrapped it around his waist.

He sat down next to me. "He's… beyond devastated."

"I know… I can feel it." I nodded with a heavy heart. The guilt I felt was near unbearable. I stood up and began to pace back and forth.

"You can?" Eric seemed surprised.

"Before we came to rescue you from that place, Godric gave me his blood to make sure I'd be able to get us there and back again."

"Normally it only works one way"

"Then how come I know?"

"I don't' know"

My pacing began to bother him, and he stood up and grabbed my arms, stopping me.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concern heavy in his voice.

I scoffed "other than the fact that I just killed Godric's most beloved sister, nothing. I'm just peachy, thank you."

"Sookie, it wasn't your fault."

"Like hell it wasn't. If it weren't for me she'd still be alive right now."

"You don't know that. We're lucky any of us survived. Tiberius could have killed us all." he lifted my chin, my eyes meeting his concerned gaze. "what's wrong?"

I took a deep breath and exhaled. "…I'm no longer Faery."

"What, how?"

"The light ball… it was meant to be used as a last resort only. It had every drop of Faery in me. And now it's gone. I'm just a plain old human now."

He pulled me into a comforting embrace. "Oh Sookie..." he soothed, his fingers playing with the hair on the back of my neck, while his other hand stroked my back. It felt so good being in his arms again. I'd missed him so much.

For so many years, all I wanted was to be normal. Until Bill asked me to let it go, I never realised how much of my identity was linked to my heritage. It's who I was, I was Faery. It took me a long time to accept and appreciate it, to like or even love it. Since coming here, I had unlocked power I had never dreamed was inside of me. As I stood over Tiberius, ready to end his existence, for a fleeting moment, and for the first time in a long time, I felt in control, and even safe. I could easily defend myself. I felt like a whole new person full of energy and life. I got a taste of what my life as a fully-fledged faery could be like.

Then it was just gone, and I was now nothing but a drained, empty shell of that wonderful, infinitely beautiful and powerful woman that I so desperately, and at the time unknowingly, wanted to be. I had finally got what the old me wanted. I was human, but now all I could think about was how much I wanted that power back.

After a while he pulled away. I could tell by the way he looked at me that he knew exactly what I was feeling - worthless and plain.

A silent tear strayed down my cheek. He gently cupped the sides of my face with his palms and wiped away the tear with his thumb. "It'll be ok, we'll fix this."

"No Eric, we can't. It's gone forever."

He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead, slowly and comforting. "I love you Sookie Stackhouse. Faery or otherwise. Come on, Brier apparently has a room we can use."

I didn't ask but I assumed that Godric was also here somewhere. We left the reservoir and walked down a narrow tunnel until we came to a bedroom. A small wooden bed just big enough to fit two people sat in the back of the room. Several woven rugs were scattered across the ground and the area was dimly lit by wax candles. It wasn't much, but it was clean and dry, and the mattress was nicely stuffed and compacted with wool.

Eric sat down on the edge on the simple bed and put his face in his hands. I noted that he looked more tired than ever.

"When did you last feed?" I asked.

"I'm fine" He lied.

I rolled my eyes and reached out with my mind to Brier, asking him to join us. He soon heard me.

"Eric needs to feed" I thought as he appeared in the doorway. "You don't happen to…"

"He can have my blood" Brier suggested. He pulled back his sleeve and offered his stumpy wrist to Eric. I wondered what had happened there.

Eric looked up at him and spoke a few short sentences in Latin before Brier replied in the same manor. They must have agreed on something as at first Eric hesitated and didn't accept the offer, but he changed his mind and took the opportunity with little other choice.

"What happened to your hand?" I asked in my mind as Eric slowly drank from him and I sat down on the bed behind him.

He looked at me for a heisting moment before enlightening me. "When Tiberius found out I had been spying on them, he was furious. He threatened to crucify me. Though because he is a sadistic bastard, he couldn't just kill me. He knew if he could control me somehow, stop me from leaving, he could… use me."

"use you?" I asked confused, but he ignored the question and continued.

"He decided to remove my position of power. He knew without both my hands I would be unable to get home, and I've been stuck here ever since."

"That son of a bitch! He tried to do the same thing with me." I gasped.

"He must have known you were Fae, and wanted to keep you here. Though I'm assuming he didn't succeed by the looks of it." He pointed to my hands, which were wrapped around my knees as I held them and the blanket to my chest.

"No, luckily Godric intervened."

I sighed and tilted my head back, leaning against the wall that the bed was pressed up against.

I felt so weak, like all my strength had been sucked right out of me. I was tired, and not just from physical exhaustion. I was tired of feeling like I had no control over my life, that everyone around me was pulling the strings, and I was the puppet.

Eric finished and healed the bite mark. I assumed he thanked him as Brier pulled down his sleeve.

"We'll talk some more tomorrow, Princess." He smiled at me before leaving.

What did he mean by that, I wondered.

"The sun will be up soon" Eric commented.

"You better hurry up and join me then." I teased as I spread the blanket out over the bed and lay down.

Eric crawled in next to me and I cuddled into his embrace, soon finding myself falling asleep.

His hands were attached to my chest. One hand was on each breast, his fingers twisting me in ways that made my back curl. I groaned and tilted my head back in pleasure as he worked his tongue on me. My own hands were reaching down as I pulled myself back, exposing my entire self to him.

He was animalistic and dominating as he skilfully kept me on the edge for as long as possible. Dragging out the experience until it was all too much, and I was pounded by waves of multiple orgasms until I was well tenderised. But he didn't stop there, for his blood was all over me, allowing me to recover quickly so he could repeat the process and keep me under his dominion. The night never seemed to end, and he kept me in that position for hours. Repeating over and over again.

When my blood was thick with dopamine, he rose above me. His fangs out on display as he eyed me from head to toe. His pupils were fully dilated, and he was practically watering at the mouth.

He spread my legs wide and ravished me. This was not the Godric I was used to.

His fangs sunk deep into my neck and he drank ruthlessly. Pinning my hands above my head, he took away my control and held all the power. Ferociously he fed, his inner animal held back by nothing. I moaned as he finally released my neck. Though his dominating nature did not stop there, as he looked down at me with red stained lips, blood trailing down his chin. He growled and pressed his lips to mine in an intimate embrace.

"Godric…" I struggled to breathe between his ravenous kisses. "I thought you hated me…"

"Hate you…" he grew more feverish and rough as he pulled me up off the bed and into his embrace, before kissing me hard. "You're mine."

His lips were seizing my ability to talk, and I let go of everything I had been holding in and let it go as he ravished it out of me. My legs were wrapped around his waist as he clung to me, desperate with hunger and need.

I edged him on, my tongue lining the shell of his ear. He shivered with desire. He was well seasoned with patience and took his time. Taking me on a slow ride first, taunting me for as long as possible before he growled in satisfaction as he took me on the full journey. I melted under his touch, my back arching wide as he pounded me into oblivion.

My eyes suddenly opened, and I gasped for breath as I woke abruptly "Fuck…"

My heart was pounding, and my skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat. The dream still fresh in my mind and was so real that I put my hand to my neck, checking to see if I really had been bitten or not. Thankfully there was no wound, it had been just a dream after all. I looked to Eric. He was still asleep which meant that it was still day time. I got up and got dressed into the clothes Brier had given me the previous night.

I walked back down the hallway until I came to the open room I had passed through to get to the reservoir. Brier was awake and was sitting on a wooden chair next to a small campfire; a heated pot was boiling over it. The smell of smoke and charred meat hung thick in the air.

"Ah good evening." He greeted me as he saw me come in. "Did you sleep well?" He asked as he poked the fire with a metal rod.

"You could say that." I could feel my cheeks warming as I thought back to the dream. The natural consequences of taking V. I sat next to him on another chair.

"Care for something to eat?" He offered.

"Please" I relished at the thought.

He got a bowl and filled it with some sort of stew from the pot.

"It's not much, but it's better than starving." He said as he handed it to me "Careful, its hot."

"Thank you" I said, not forgetting my manners.

I blew on the hot stew and let it cool for a bit before bringing it to my lips and taking a sip. He was right, it wasn't much. With bits of grain, a few chunks of slightly fatty meat and a sprinkle of herbs that I hadn't tried before. Regardless of it's simplicity, I was grateful to be eating something. I hadn't since yesterday, and I was hungry enough that I'd eat just about anything. I sighed and relished in the feeling of the hot liquid going down my throat.

At this point all I wanted to do was go home. My real home, back in Bon Temps. Even though I knew it had only been a few short weeks, it felt much longer. My mind wandered as I gazed into the hot flame of the fire. I felt home sick more than ever.

I considered my life as a human. I had always wondered if vampires, especially those I was close to, had wanted to be with me only for my blood. There was no possibility of that happening now. Though a part of me felt sad, another felt refreshed. As if a veil of confusion and doubt had been lifted from me. Eric still wanted me, albeit in the hope that he could return me somehow to my previous state. But if I was to be human for the rest of my life, any vampire that chose to be with me was doing so because of who I am, not what I am. A part of me felt relief that the faery blood in me was gone. I felt free to pursue relationships knowing they were genuine, and not blanketed by this strange obsession with how I tasted or smelled. As Eric once stated I was no longer sunshine in a pretty blond bottle, and I would surely no longer attract vampires to me as such.

I felt myself calming and becoming numb. I was sick of feeling, I just wanted to feel nothing and be totally still for a while. I moved a little closer to the warm fire and leaned back into the chair, willing myself to relax. Brier sipped at his own bowl and for a while we both ate in comforting silence. Even though he was practically a stranger to me, it felt reassuring being in the presence of someone who understood, if only a little. Being trapped in that realm with those evil faeries, I'm sure he saw more than he cared to.

"How long has Tiberius been doing this?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Brier admitted "at least the last couple of hundred years. Though it has never been this intense until fairly recently."

"And how long exactly have you been spying on him?"

"Six years, perhaps longer." He guessed.

"That's a while."

"The elders knew that something strange was going on, but I don't think they imagined it was this bad." He stated.

"What are they going to do about it?" I asked.

"What can they do about it? They don't even know it's happening. I never got a chance to report back to them." He finished his stew and placed his bowl on the ground.

"Surely there must be something we can do." I insisted.

"Well… we could try to seal off the portals. Which would trap them inside. But that's no longer an option, as I need two hands to do it."

And there was no way I could do something like that, even before I lost my abilities.

"Well… thank you for the meal." I handed him back my now empty bowl.

"You're welcome Princess." He cockily remarked as he took my bowl and placed it on top of his.

Why did he keep calling me that? Was it just a cute nickname?

"So, what was Tiberius trying to do with that stone exactly?" I asked, "I thought only faeries could use them."

"Yes, but he has many devoted faeries that could use it in his stead. He's been breeding them for centuries and thanks to their addiction, they're loyal to the death."

"Addiction?"

"To vampire blood."

Oh… my heart sunk as I realised why they had taken Eric and why he was so weak last night. They had been draining him, using him to satisfy their habit.

"Yeah," Brier read my mind "it was my job to keep him alive. Not a very easy task when dozens of faeries were after him. A couple of times they almost broke in during the day which would have been disastrous." He ran his hand through his hair.

"Sookie, there you are." Eric approached us with Godric reluctantly in tow.

Was it night already? I must have slept longer than I thought.

Godric's eyes were fixed on the ground and he refused to even look at me. I felt the tear in my heart widen. I wanted to tell him how desperately sorry I was. I wanted to make things better between us, to heal the pain he felt, but there was nothing I could do. Now that I could no longer use the stone as a translator, he wouldn't even be able to understand my words.

As they stood on the opposite side of the fire, Eric began to talk in Latin. I could tell from his tone that he meant well, but I couldn't understand a word he was saying.

Thankfully he soon translated for me.

"Regardless of what has happened or who is to blame, we need to stick together. Godric has agreed to put everything aside for now until Tiberius has been dealt with."

"So… we're going to kill him?" I asked sceptically.

"Yes."

"How? He's ancient as hell and we don't exactly have any wooden bullets lying around."

"We will find a way."

I learned that in the original history Godric had managed to decapitate his maker, and that Eric hoped to be able to do something similar. He knelt to my level and kissed me on the forehead.

"Stay here it'll be safer." He insisted.

"Where are you going?"

"Godric and I are going to return to the house."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"We will be careful. If Tiberius is around we won't go inside, we'll come straight back."

"And I can't come with you?"

"You're safer here." He then gave me a quick peck on the lips before he and Godric promptly left.

"Eric cares for you deeply." Brier stated, "He's a lucky man."

"I'm not so sure."

He looked at me with a strange expression on his face. "Well, I don't know about you but I'm not going to sit around waiting for the enemy to come to me." He stated as he stood up "Care to join me?"

Eric wouldn't be very happy, knowing I had left the safety of this place. Especially after he told me to stay put. But what else could I do? The two men I loved most in this world were putting their lives in danger, and I'm doing nothing to help them.

"Ok." I stood up.

"After you." Brier bowed low to me.

"Why do you keep doing that?" I asked.

"I apologize if I offended you in anyway Princess. I was only trying to show courtesy."

"Princess?" I raised an eyebrow.

"It is what you are is it not? Only the royal family can make and use the light ball. It is what gives them power over all others."

Of course, how did I not think of that. "I may be royalty, but I'm no Princess."

"Who is your patriarch?" he asked.

"My… patriarch?"

"The leader of your family."

"Well, Niall once told me-"

"Niall," he cut me off "as in Niall Brigant, the King of all Fae?"

"Yeah he's my grandfather."

He immediately shrunk to the floor and bowed his head. "Forgive me Princess Sookie, I had no idea you were of such lineage."

"Why does it even matter? I'm not even faery anymore."

"Perhaps not, but your lineage is still the same regardless."

"Please get up off the floor. I really don't deserve such respect, trust me."

I offered him my hand and he took it. He stood back up and brought my hand to his lips, kissing the back of it before letting me go. I wondered where he came from exactly. Was he from that same plane of existence that Claudine had taken me to, or was he from somewhere else. The Fae were incredibly secretive and mysterious. There were so many possibilities.

"Shall we go?" I asked.

"We shall." He smiled reassuringly at me before I followed him out of the cave.