A/N So guys, thanks by the way for all the amazing reviews you have been sending in. I appreciate all of them a lot. Also, the PMs I've received are just more proof of your engagement with this story, which is just awesome. Oh, and as I said, this is a Sookie chapter. Let's see how she reacts to the things in human realm.

With that, a special shoutout to the ones who have been with me throughout this story, as well as from the prequel. Thanks for sticking with me, you guys! A specific one goes to onthegp, who has sent in what is possibly one of the most amazing reviews I have ever received. All hail the Sookie Clobbering and the nice, long PMs. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 11

Sookie jolted awake from her sleep, only to find her great grandfather staring down at her with serious, baleful eyes. The Prince looked worried, a look which never suited him, in her opinion. Niall was also fidgeting a bit, slowly toying with the collar on his dark cloak.

'What is it, Grandpa?' she said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up. She was somewhat groggy, but was transitioning from sleep to wakefulness.

'Come now, we must attire you. You are going home this instant,' the Prince said, by way of explanation. Sookie also noticed a piece of paper in his hand.

With bright eyes, she inquired about the correspondence. 'Is that from Eric?'

'From Scott, actually. Now get up and get dressed, we will talk in my study,' he said, leaving her without another word. Sookie looked perplexed by his reaction, but Niall paid it no mind.

As the Prince walked to his nearby study, his mind was reeling at the news he was about to impart. He had come for his regular visit with the Viking at 7:30 pm, only to find that the king was suffering and in pain. The sight had been frightful and unexpected.

Obviously, from the time of injury up until his arrival, the Viking had worsened to an amazing degree. After Scott's brief explanation, the Prince had immediately left to jolt Sookie awake.

Despite his meetings with the Pythoness, she had never mentioned any such event occurring. This was a fact he found notable. He had been conversing with the seer quite a lot, and the things she had told him were quite run-of-the mill, except for the few ultimatums she had given. Truth be told, the ultimatums had been jarring.

As a distraction though, his great granddaughter arrived, wearing a pale blue dress and the bracelet he had given her as a gift. She bowed to him slightly, before taking her usual seat across from him. Taking a breath, the Prince prepared himself to deliver the tidings.

'The Viking has suffered an attack, my dear,' he said, without preamble. 'I have here a letter from the honorable Mr. Anderson, your overseer.'

The telepath took it from his outstretched hand and began to read. Suffice it to say, she was weeping by the end of the page.

'I need to get home right now,' she said, trying to control her sobbing.

'A last thing before you go, my dear. I will no longer be available to you too much. I have often come when you needed me, and I am afraid it creates too much dependence,' he said, taking a pause. 'I must heed the warning of the Pythoness. This matter is in her hands the moment you step back into the human world.'

'I understand, just get me home,' she said, already standing up.

The Fairy Prince nodded and gave her a medium sized flask of viscous gold liquid, which he had enhanced to contain strong healing properties. After she took it, he clasped his hand in hers and they both dematerialized, straight into the living room of her Bon Temps house.

The first person to greet them was Scott. 'Welcome home, Majesty. Thank you for coming so very soon. The King is upstairs with the Sheriff,' he said, looking pointedly at Niall.

The elder fairy took it as his cue to leave, after a brief kiss on Sookie's cheek. As for the telepath, she had nothing else on her mind except her bonded.

'Come now, madam. Time is of the essence,' the English vampire said, leading her up the stairs and into the bedroom she shared with Eric.

Clearly, Pam was a mixture of relieved and miffed. 'So you've finally come. See what you've reduced him to? Damn this all to hell.'

'Pam, leave us,' Eric said curtly, before he let out a few bloody coughs, his body wracked with tremors from the action. 'You too, Scott.'

The two scurried out, leaving Sookie alone with Eric. As soon as they were gone, the fairy telepath immediately knelt down beside her vampire. Downstairs, Pam had already placed a call to Dr. Ludwig regarding the fairy telepath's arrival.

'I came as soon as Grandpa told me,' Sookie said, placing a small kiss to his hands and then his cheek. The bruise-like markings on his arm made her cringe.

'I have missed you, my lover,' the Viking replied, trying his best to keep himself steady despite the pains in his body. 'Give me a kiss again, please.'

She did as he requested and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, before following it up with a kiss to his cheeks, forehead and jaw. Unable to fight her tears, she let them flow onto his face as she took in his gaunt appearance.

Her appraisal ended in a question, though she was pretty sure of his impending answer.

'Have you been feeding, Eric?'

He shook his head. 'I did not want to pollute our connection with the blood of others, Sookie.'

At his admission, she broke down into even more sobs. The guilt was eating at her immensely, consuming her soul in a cacophony of mirthless pain.

'Why on Earth did you do that? You should have drunk some if you needed it, I would've understood! Did you even try True Blood?'

'The taste was revolting. I simply could not keep it down,' he said, coughing once again. Sookie used this painful interlude as an opportunity to use her grandfather's gift.

She opened the top of the flask, familiar with the gold color. Niall had explained that it was for topical use and to minimize pain, so she poured some on her palm and took hold of his arm.

'What are you doing, lover?'

'Helping you,' she said, before rubbing the gel-like liquid onto the places where the arrows had struck. Immediately, the pain began to lessen, though the holes from the arrows didn't really close. As it was, even a little relief from the pain was a huge help.

For the first time in what seemed to be a very long time, Eric found himself experiencing milder pain. 'Thank you. Is this from the Prince?'

'Yeah, it is.'

Eric scoffed as he spoke. 'Well, at least the bastard is good for something.'

The telepath let the comment pass, knowing the enmity between her vampire and her grandfather. Thankfully though, the ensuing awkwardness was eradicated by the sound of the opening door.

It was Ludwig, carrying a small siphoning device, two catheters and two bowls. She was shortly followed by Pam, who took up position by the open doorway.

'Good thing you're here or he would've died in a few hours,' the doctor said to Sookie, not bothering with Eric's small glare. 'Now, let's get on with this.'

'What do I need to do?'

'Simple matter, little girl. We siphon out his blood and he feeds from you while we're doing it. If your blood isn't enough, we can use his child's as well.'

Turning her actions into words, the doctor took up position on Eric's other side and stuck one catheter into his arm, the other on his leg. Before she could do anything else though, she noticed the flask beside Sookie.

'Is that fairy salve?'

'Uh yes, from Grandpa Niall.'

'Good! Let me have some,' Ludwig said, before taking the proffered flask. She poured some on her hands and rubbed it on the places where the catheters were stuck in. 'The needles move a bit during the process. This will help keep his pain to an absolute minimum.'

'Just get on with it!' Pam said, already anxious for her maker's healing.

'Let me explain the process first,' she said, turning to the Viking. 'We will drain your blood first, to take out as much of the toxin as possible. When you start to get weaker, Sookie here will step in and you have to bite her on the neck. Pretty simple from then on.'

Seeing the vampire king nod, the doctor hooked up the catheters to the siphoning equipment, via the small attachments on the sides. She let the hose from the equipment rest on the first bowl.

'Get ready girly,' Ludwig said, as she looked straight into the telepath's eyes. After a moment, she pressed a small button and the process began.

Eric's groaned a bit but suffered pretty much in silence, as he was taught to do from childhood. As for Sookie, she tried to control her sobbing as her Viking's blood welled in huge rivulets, before flowing down continuously into the catch basins.

For Pam's part, she edged a little closer, carefully observing the entire process unfold. Dr. Ludwig was doing the same, making estimates in her mind regarding the quantity of the blood. After about three minutes, she turned to Eric's progeny.

'Go ahead, you need to replace some of it already. Stackhouse's blood will be better used when it's nearly over. That will be the better approach.'

Following the doctor's instructions, she knelt down and offered her wrist to Eric. The Norseman let his fangs elongate, biting smoothly into the skin of her wrist while Sookie looked on.

Ludwig kept a watchful eye, gladly noting the healthy tinge which was beginning to color Eric's skin. Though the Viking was still extraordinarily pale, the degree of paleness more resembled that of a normal vampire as the seconds ticked by.

'Alright, stop,' the Supe doctor said after a while, watching Pam withdraw her wrist. She quickly pressed the button again, and Eric's blood began to flow out once more.

As before, Dr. Ludwig trained her eyes on the basins, her mind working to estimate how much blood was already cleaned, and by what percentage. She did this for near five minutes, by which time Eric was already pale from blood loss, but in very little pain.

Inside the bowls, globules of silver floated on the surface of the Norseman's blood, effectively bound together by the medicine which Dr. Ludwig had administered. At least, a slender majority of his blood still flowed within him, as the particles had bound themselves to a limited amount.

'Your turn,' the doctor said, finally nudging Sookie forward.

The telepath knelt and leaned over, positioning her neck over Eric's waiting mouth. He pressed a languid kiss to the area, followed by a quick lick of his tongue, before he sank his fangs in and began to drink heavily.

In that instant, a multitude of things happened.

Their bond, which had been weakened by distance and nearly fully severed on the Viking's end, began to knit itself back together. As for Eric, he was floating on a glorious feeling of euphoria, his ebbing pain masked by the sweetness of the blood beginning to suffuse him.

He was making little noises of pleasure, holding her neck with his free hand as he drank. All too soon though, the experience was cut short by Dr. Ludwig's sharp command.

'Enough now, you two,' she said, carefully prying the pair apart. She applied some of the salve to the punctures on Sookie's neck, sealing them in three seconds flat. Afterwards, she inspected the blood in the bowls, before addressing Eric.

'Are you still in pain, Viking?'

'No. No more, thank the gods.'

'Good,' she said, before carefully removing the catheters. The doctor turned her head towards Pam and pointed at the filled basins. 'Dispose of that, please.'

Eric's progeny nodded, using vampire speed to do as she was told. Now healed, the Nordic vampire obviously had other things on his mind.

'Get out, doctor,' he said. 'Scott will see to your invoice.'

'Horny bastard,' Ludwig said, before exiting with a scoff, her tools in tow. 'I'll close the door for you,' she said with some snarky undertones. You just want me gone because you want to fuck her to death. Goddamn it, the doctor's mind added internally.

Soon enough though, the door was closed and the two were undeniably alone together.

'You look lovely, by the way,' Eric said, taking in the sight of his bonded. 'You have grown more beautiful in the time we've spent apart.'

'I'm very happy you're well now, and I'm sorry for our fight,' she said, not lacing her tone with any accoutrements. To her, it was a statement of pure fact.

'Well, you can prove your apology through actions. I will endeavor also to do the same,' he said, copying the tone and neutrality of her statement. 'Come sit beside me, lover.'

Sookie did as asked, seating herself on the edge of their bloodstained bed. 'Grandpa Niall just said something you'll like, then.'

'Oh? And what might that be?'

'Grandpa will try his best to limit his visits. He said something about a warning from the Pythoness,' Sookie answered.

Well, it seems Her Grace is making good on her promise to be on my side, he thought.

'Good news indeed, lover. Now tell me, what have you been up to with the old coot anyway?'

'Like I said in the letter I sent, he taught me a lot about our family history. Apparently I have a long title in the Supe world. Her Royal Majesty, Sookie Brigant, Princess of the Fae, Queen of the Vampire Kingdoms of Louisiana and Mississippi.'

'Mouthful.'

Sookie couldn't help but laugh. 'Exactly what I said.'

'Anything else besides a history lesson?'

'Well, we helped quash the civil war and I did some weapons training with Uncle Dermot. On the magic side, Grandpa taught me to strengthen my spark, plus some useful skills,' she said, taking a short pause. 'Stuff like cloaking, transference and teleportation across big distances.'

Eric nodded, before pulling her on top of him. 'Did you meet anyone I should know about?'

He will soon find himself torn into pieces if I find offense, he thought.

'Nope. For the most part I was with Grandpa and Uncle Dermot. I saw Claude, he was pitiful there, cleaning stables.'

'Good,' Eric said with satisfaction, before capturing her lips in a kiss.

It was a kiss meant to dominate, to establish that Sookie was his and his alone. As his tongue plundered the cavern of her mouth, he found his fangs protracting at the stimulation. Taking advantage, the telepath pressed her tongue against the tip. Within moments, Eric was viciously taking every drop into his system.

'Well that was unexpected,' Sookie said, after they had separated for the sake of oxygen.

'You should know better than to play with fire, my dear one,' he said, before closing his eyes and reaching out to Pam through their maker-child tie.

Seven seconds passed before she was standing in front of them, near the foot of the bed. 'Something you need, Master?'

'Tell Scott to send a reparations request to Niall, then you go procure a week's worth of food for Sookie, plus some True Blood for me. Get me a new laptop, mine is slightly broken from impact and what not. Who's on security?'

'Herveaux and his Weres, Eric. The Area vampires will be providing rotating security throughout the night until 4 in the morning.'

At that point, Sookie piped in. 'Uh, Grandpa insists that I have at least two guards. Alvar and Calixto most likely, since I know I can trust them.'

'We will talk of that later, lover. Pam, good work.'

'Of course, Master,' the English vampiress said, before turning on her heel.

'And Pam?'

'Yes?'

'Thank for protecting me and being here when I needed you,' Eric said, smiling tenderly at his child, before composing his face into its usual even mask.

'Anytime, Eric. Anytime,' she said with a smile, before glancing a little disdainfully at Sookie upon her exit.

As for Sookie's she got off of her vampire and sat in the nearby chair.

'What's the matter, sweetheart?'

'It kills me to know how close you brushed with death, and the fact that I wasn't here just makes it even worse. I don't think I'll ever forgive myself.' She ended her admission with a careful shake of her head.

'Time heals all wounds, my love,' Eric said, sitting upright on the bed. 'We will have to forgive ourselves and then each other.'

'I get it. But I really don't think I'll forgive myself for what I've done to you,' the telepath said, closing her eyes.

The Nordic vampire took a moment to think of his reply. 'Then we must talk, lover. We will resolve this and learn from it. Come now, sit beside your Viking. I want to hold you.'

'Eric…'

'Do not refuse me Sookie,' he said, his voice commanding even in its softness. The fairy telepath found herself unable to resist.

She soon took her place beside him, leaning carefully against his chest. A moment after though, an idea popped into her head.

'Get up, Eric. I'll bathe you,' she said, smiling when he acquiesced to her request.

Leading him into the bathroom, she walked past the shower area and into the bathtub, which they weren't really using too much. She slowly took off his bloodied clothes, still in awe of his physical magnificence.

'In you go,' she said, turning on the faucet and watching as the tub filled.

Once it was halfway full, she began her task with his head, using the portable showerhead to wet his short golden locks. She then took a bottle of shampoo and massaged it into his hair, listening intently to the sounds of satisfaction he was making.

Afterwards, she led him to stand under the shower, taking the soap from the nearby niche.

'You are still clothed, my lover,' he said.

'Well, this isn't about me. This is about you being taken care of,' she said, using the soap to scrub him thoroughly, from his neck downwards.

Sookie's subsequent movements were careful and tender, all the way until she was drying him with one of the white towels. Once he was dry, she conjured him a black dress shirt and dark-wash jeans, with the accompanying shoes.

For herself, she changed from her fairy dress to a more normal one, still with a pale blue hue. She had replaced her grandfather's bracelet with a necklace, also from him. Once that was done, she tenderly took Eric's hand and headed downstairs. The sight reinforced the growing sense of normalcy within the fairy telepath, a fact which she liked.

Evidently, Scott had converted the dining room into a makeshift work desk, since his laptop was on along with a pile of papers beside him. Pam was doing the same, sharing the other half of the wooden workspace.

Full of resolve, Sookie addressed everyone around her in a clear voice.

'I regret having been gone when I was most needed. When I was in the Fae Realm however, I learned some very crucial things. One of the most important lessons I had was on respect,' she said, addressing the small crowd around her.

Soon enough, she stood in front of Eric and unclasped her necklace, before laying it at his feet. 'It's customary to those in the Fae Realm to present things of value to their sovereign, an act which I saw a lot with my great grandfather.'

'Where are you going with this, dear one?'

'Let me do this,' she said to her vampire, before continuing her earlier speech. 'So now I'm doing the same, manifesting the customs of the Fae. I am giving something from me to the man I consider my sovereign.'

At last, she knelt down in front of Eric. 'Eric. Grandfather taught me that to the Fae, there is a gesture which most other supernatural races recognize, including vampires. This is our ultimate sign of respect and fealty, done only when we want to express our devotion.'

Finally, she kissed his feet. 'Among my kind, I'm considered part of the Royal Family. I have been taught to embrace this, but right now I won't,' she said, looking up at Eric for the final part of her declaration.

'With that kiss comes a promise. I pledge my fealty to His Royal Majesty, Eric Northman, King of Louisiana and Mississippi. I pledge myself to his person and his protection as best as I am able. I also declare myself his by irrevocable right, according to the recognized laws that bind supernatural races.'

Everyone was stunned as Sookie stood up again. The four vampire guards, as well as Pam and Scott were floored by the sincerity of her tone. Pam most especially, knew how much of a leap it was for Sookie to submit this totally to her Master.

As for Scott, he was unmoving, waiting for what Eric would do next.

'I accept your pledge,' the Viking said simply, pulling Sookie upwards into a long embrace. A moment later though, he sped with her back to the bedroom, cornering her against the closed door. 'I will never want to see you kneel like that to me, lover. You are not some low thrall.'

'Like you said, we can prove it by actions, and for me this is the first of many. Since Grandpa told me about that, I've thought of only one person to pledge myself to, and that's you.'

'That means more to me than you will ever comprehend. I will love you forever.'

'I love you too, Eric,' she said, giving him yet another kiss. 'Now let me show you.'

A/N I know, I know. Fucking cruel cliffhanger. Drop a review and let me know what you think. To the awesome onthegp, you will see your power in action within the next chapter! See you all in the next chapter, which will shed a lot of light into important changes. Next up on the plate, the Coronation and a very important talk ahead.