A/N: Hi all. I'm sorry for such a hard chapter 10, it had to happen for the story to play out the way I need it to. I've been home sick for three days so I had the chance to get Chapter 11 done early. I may still be able to get one out on Sunday, I'll have to see how the weekend goes.
I think I confused some of you with my note at the end of last chapter so I had added a long(er) A/N at the beginning of this chapter explaining my intent with the story including a clearer guarantee for the ending and an explanation as to my reasoning for the choices I'm making as I write it, just to give those of you who struggle with angst a little support and hope. Then I thought that it might ruin the 'fun' for some people who didn't want to have any clues as to where this is going (although it won't give much away in terms of actual plot details). So I'll give you the choice. If you want a little insight into the story, PM me and I'll send it to you. If, like me, you like screaming out in frustration at the end of a chapter, wanting to know more...don't.
While I'm potentially sharing story insights, I should let you all know that there will be a torture scene (no rape, man do I hate being surprised by that, and very little blood) somewhere in the twenties lasting at least one if not two chapters (I'll warn you again closer to time), oh and a small one pretty soon too, but it hardly counts (well to the person being tortured it counts but not to me and probably not to you since you are reading a fic that's rated M). Just a warning...'cause Eric's going to get his revenge...but of course, things are never as easy as they seem (at least not in my twisted imagination).
and now...Pam's story...I really like her.
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Chapter 11
My child...My maker
PPOV
I was satisfied...finally. Satisfied in every way. I'm sure I looked like a kitten fat on cow's milk, flat on my back in my bed at the safe house I had taken my Miriam to when I received Eric's call telling me I could make her my child. I had never made a child before, but I knew how to do it and I was sure it had worked…I could feel the magic. It had been so easy; my poor Miriam was so weak already.
I hadn't expected her tears at the end since this is what she wanted and she knew what I was doing, but I guess it was just her body's way of giving one last fight to live. I would have to ask Eric if that was the norm. Still, I got to enjoy almost all of her before giving her my blood, another thing I had never done before. Now I finally understood why Eric was so into giving Sookie his blood, it was incredible...feeling the person I care for sucking the magic carried within my blood from my body. I'd never felt anything like it before. Plus, it had been a long time since I drained a human without being in a rush or disliking the human intensely. Oh, how I missed the feeling of completion. Drinking without draining was like sex without orgasm. It was better than nothing, but that's just about it.
There was a moment, when she actively began sucking my blood that I felt a small part of myself being transferred into her. I didn't feel a loss from the shift, instead it was almost as though I had gained another level of awareness and what was our bond, a weaker bond than what Eric and Sookie have but still a bond, became a permanent connection. I sighed in relief as I felt it take root and grow as she strengthened and then faded away again to a dull hum as she entered her temporary death.
Now my Miriam would rest for three days and then she would rise as my child. I basked in those words, 'my child'. I knew that I would be a good maker. Fair, but strong for my child. My Miriam.
I thought back to the first time I saw Miriam. She had been a contestant on my favorite television show, Project Runway. I was enthralled by her classic style, impeccable workmanship and perky little body. Plus she was a genius with my favorite materials and didn't tolerate disrespect from anyone. I was instantly drawn to her whole package.
The week she was eliminated from the show, the challenge was to create an outfit for a vampire to wear to a social outing. She created a beautiful mauve chiffon blouse paired with luscious grey tweed pants with slight mauve accents that cupped her model's ass perfectly. Heidi Klum had loved her design and said that if she were a vampire, she would wear the outfit, no duh.
To my horror, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia and the guest judge Paris Hilton (who some decade old idiot had turned after a drug induced driving accident) tore Miriam another asshole for her perception that vampires would ever want to be caught dead wearing mauve. Heidi had been furious, but Paris, dressed in black leather and lace, got her way by claiming that she was the authority. Please...we all know what the only thing that Paris Hilton could be considered an authority on is, and it most certainly isn't clothing.
I contacted Miriam through the show and told her I would pay her top dollar for the outfit she had designed in my size and I had it within two weeks. I also used Eric's influence to get a ticket to the finale of the show and wore my favorite designers ensemble. Miriam and I hit it off right away and I offered to set her up in a studio in Shreveport and give her funds to start her own line (of course the catch was that I would get first pick of her designs). I became her muse and within a few weeks, I had a full closet and a new lover. I admired and enjoyed her more than any lover I'd had before and so I began to think about keeping her. Surely her talent should not go to waste.
Our timeline for her turning was compressed due to her illness, and then thrown to a complete halt by Victor and Felipe. But here I was, despite the odds and thanks to my maker who I had only a few hours earlier verbally berated for his continued hope of finding a way out of our situation, basking in the warm comfort of my lover's blood and in the knowledge that she would rise as my child.
I chose to keep her at the safe house rather than burying her due to the difficult position we were in between Victor and Felipe. Even though I had received approval from my new Queen and renounced my loyalty to Felipe, there still might be reprisals especially since I had not been able to leave the area, so I had to be able to move her easily if the need arose. Plus Eric had dug me up after my family buried me and it had certainly helped speed up my acceptance to this new life not to have to dig my way out of a coffin.
Now that Eric had made his strategic move with Oklahoma, many of the stressful thoughts that had been plaguing us for so long had finally faded into the background and were replaced with pleasure and pure satisfaction. We had both done well. Miriam would be glorious and Sookie would return to Eric and be kept safe as he took his rightful place as King of Louisiana. It should go smoothly, Freyda was vicious in a fight and always had strong supporters, that is why Elisobeth had wanted Eric for Freyda, they were so alike and Elisobeth knew that Eric would keep her treasured child safe.
Eric was smart to tempt Elisobeth with the option of giving Freyda two contractually bound defenders, Eric and another through marriage, with the unlikely possibility of a third. I didn't think either of them would anticipate that Eric would marry a vampire, but he had many old friends and the security that Sookie's telepathy would give any allied kingdom. It would work out, Eric had been right, but he took too big of a risk with Sookie for my comfort.
I settled back next to my…child and waited for dawn to pull me under. I smiled as I thought of Immanuel staying in the house with us, of course outside of our secure room, to keep an eye out for trouble during the day. Granted, he was only a human, but he was a scrappy and tough human and I felt at ease with the added security.
As I began to weaken with the dawn, I felt a terrible sense of fear and anxiety eat into my pleasure. It took me a moment to realize that I was not in danger, it was Eric I was feeling. I had never felt his emotions like this, my body shook with the intensity. The fear that was overflowing into me from him trickled into rage, grief, guilt, loss and suddenly a violent pain ripped though his chest and to a lesser extent, mine.
"NO!" I gasped, "Eric!" he could not be ended! Is this how it felt when a maker was lost? No. Please. No matter how much we had irritated one another this past month, I loved him deeply. I needed him.
I called out to him, child to maker, it was all I could do, and as I slipped into oblivion, I could feel his presence whispering in my thought stream.
He was alive! Wounded somehow…but alive.
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I awoke moments before sunset as my phone rang. I forced my body to move to answer my maker. "What happened?" I managed to force out through my unresponsive lips.
"Sookie's dead, murdered," he said with a hollow voice. I had momentarily thought that the pain I had felt in his chest was him being staked, but that was how it feels when a bonded dies. It must be much more intense when a maker is ended, but this was more than enough, I could still feel the pain radiating through his chest. Eric would be vulnerable right now, he would need my help and protection.
"Where?" I asked, feeling more like myself as I jumped up and made my way to the kitchenette in the safe room, got myself two true bloods and popped them in the microwave.
"North of New Orleans in the swamplands, just follow me in." I could hear him dressing, I would need to leave immediately. This would be a perfect opportunity for an ambush. I threw the clothes I always had placed aside for an emergency, flexible jeans, a tight sweater shirt, good fighting boots, and my fitted jacket that housed my favorite iron dagger, latex gloves and a silver chain. I pulled my hair back, grabbed my pistol that I had purchased after Sookie taught me how to shoot her rifle, gave a quick look at my Miriam and rushed out of the room. The pistol was loaded with silver bullets and I would enjoy using it to revenge my friend.
The door swung shut, locking behind me and I tore up the stairs to find Immanuel reading a magazine in the living room. He blinked as I appeared.
"Immanuel, keep guard. Do not open the door for any reason. I must help my master." I said to him with haste.
"Wait! What if she rises? Do you really need to go?" He questioned, looking very worried.
"Yes, he needs me. His Sookie was murdered; this might be the beginning of a war. If I don't return, have many warm bottles of true blood available and use these on her if she turns on you." I threw a bag at him that contained silver jewelry I had purged from Miriam's wardrobe.
I left my resting child in the care of her human brother. I had to help Eric. I ignored my Nissan Murano and jumped into my newly purchased Audi TTS Roadster that I had never pushed to its limits. After Sookie and I had our run in with Bruno and Corinna, I realized that I needed a more road worthy vehicle and so had found the TTS.
In the early evening hours, I pressed the car, weaving smoothly though rush hour traffic, but even the beautiful purr of the engine wasn't enough to block out Eric's suffering. In one horrible moment, I had a flash from him as he thought of meeting the sun. I was shocked, he had never had this thought in all the time I had been with him. It was completely out of his nature to think that way.
The magic that connected us, ensured that maker and child knew when the other had this thought, it was one of our safety mechanisms, and had saved many from a premature end. I would be on the alert, although I was sure that this was just a momentary lapse of reason due to his loss. He would never take that step; he was too strong.
I knew the best I could do for my maker now was to get him answers, and fast, so I called Amelia. She answered, sounding on the edge of hysteria. "Pam, did you find her? Is she OK? I'm so worried. Something feels really wrong."
Amelia always had a keen sense for when Sookie was in trouble; she had been quite helpful while living with Sookie by letting us know things that Sookie was involved in that Sookie herself would never have told Eric.
"Amelia," I said firmly, "breathe." I paused for her to take a breath before delivering the blow. "No, Amelia. She has not been found. Eric felt the bond break just before dawn and is sure she was killed."
Amelia wailed and blubbered. I had expected this, but still, I hated emotional exhibits. I just didn't know how to handle them. I couldn't bear most of my own emotions and tried to control them ruthlessly, so I didn't like to be burdened by anyone else's. It was easier before the revelation when I related mainly with vampires. I rarely got close enough to humans to care anything for them when they died…as they always did. Now I was reminded as to why being separate from them was a good thing.
"Amelia," I said sternly, "we will need your help. We must find out what happened, who did this."
She began to master herself and think logically. "Of course," she made a loud, wet and disgusting snuffing noise, ugh, humans were so gross. I was so relieved my Miriam would be vampire in a few days. "Bob is here and I can get a bunch of witches together. Should we go to Bon Temps?"
"No, she was just north of New Orleans. I'll give you exact directions when I get there. I'm on my way now. We will need you tonight, you understand. This has the potential to get out of hand quickly when the word spreads. We need information before that happens." I didn't need to explain the dangers inherent in repercussions from Sookie's death, Amelia had been around first hand for fae, vampire and Were dealings.
"Yes, of course, I'll try to leave in an hour or so, I have a strong coven now. They'll help me for sure," she said, sounding more like the overconfident little witch I knew her to be.
"I'll be in touch, my friend. I'm sorry to bring you this news," I said. I wasn't being polite, I rarely was. I was serious. I was fond of Amelia in many ways, and I did not like causing her pain.
"Thanks Pam. Oh…how's Eric?"
She sounded as though she were checking out the safety of the situation rather than really wanting to know about his well-being. Smart girl. "NOT good," I said in a gross understatement, "but he will not be a danger to you or yours, he knows you will be there to help. I would recommend that you not try to touch or talk to him at all. Keep your distance," I warned.
I would be following the same strategy to keep my own limbs intact. His emotions were all over the place. One minute I was bowled over with grief and the next my body shook with his rage and hatred.
I didn't have the faintest clue as to what to expect from him...and that scared me.
