It took ages for Eric to get there. It was hard to predict how much time had passed, but even I could guess he was starting to push his luck.

My captors had left the door of the shed open, and while I couldn't get outside, I could at least see what was happening. The night was humid, a disgustingly kind of humid, perfect mirroring the situation that I was in. Sweat dripped down my temples onto the ground, and for a moment I found myself wondering how much more I needed to sweat until I could use the water as a weapon.

I took in a sharp breath when I heard the sound of tires approaching through the slick mud. The vehicle sounded heavy and old, not like Eric's Corvette, but more like the cars outside in the yard. I ruffled my brows, scrunching my nose to get a drop of sweat to fall off. The car sounded like a van, and I found it hard to imagine that the stylish Eric owned one. The image of him stealing it in the dead of night made me chuckle, even through all the misery.

"Come out of the van slowly," one of my captors shouted, but I couldn't see who. The only thing I was able to see was that the rest lifted their guns higher in the air, probably aimed right at Eric. I had never seen them so heavily armed before. Their weapons looked military grade to my untrained eye. It was apparent they weren't taking any chances.

"We are armed with wooden bullets!"

I couldn't see Eric, but I heard a pair of footsteps which I figured belonged to him. He was so close now. Only the exchange was left and I was back into safe hands again.

"I have come in peace," I heard him say. "I'm unarmed. You can have one of your men check."

"Even if you're unarmed, you're still a vamp."

My captor spoke the word with a load of disgust I had never encountered before. These people really believed supernaturals were the scum of the earth. If only they knew that not all vampires were so bad, and all shifters were pretty decent people. I didn't have much experiences with weres, but I had never had any trouble with them. And mermaids, well… I was the only one.

"Where is Daniel?" another asked.

"You show me Serena and I'll give you your guy. You get your Daniel after I get her."

"No," someone replied sternly, which I recognized as the voice as the leader. "You give us Daniel first. For all we know, we give you that creature and then you'll disappear into the night. We know of your abilities."

Creature. I had never been called something like that, and I had to admit it was a little confronting. I had always considered myself as more human than mermaid. Just a regular girl with strange abilities. But apparently I was a creature now. A freak. Perhaps I should join the circus.

"At least show me she's alive. I give you my word I give you your guy first."

"Your word means shit to me, vamp," the leader spat. "But fair enough. Get her, Josh."

I swallowed as I pressed myself backwards again as far as I could. Josh came in, the gun swinging on his hip (I hoped he wasn't stupid enough to leave the safety off). He got on one knee and opened the lock on my shackles. First they fell off my feet, and then my hands. Underneath, my skin had colored in a rainbow of colors, but there was no time to worry about that.

Josh grabbed me by my t-shirt and forcibly pulled me up. It was as if my legs were made out of jelly, but he took me with him nevertheless, partially dragging me over the ground when was necessary.

I didn't dare to look Eric in the eyes as they placed me down on both knees. I was still yards removed from him, but he could come and get me in a split second. The problem, however, was the heavy weaponry surrounding us. Even with his speed, he was bound to get hit by a bullet, and with them being wooden that could be fatal.

An image of my possible appearance flashed through my mind. Sweaty, dirty, and above anything else, I must have looked very scared. But at least I was still alive.

Eric didn't say anything, but when our eyes finally met I could see remorse. In that moment I could honestly say that Eric Northman truly cared for me, and perhaps that was the best thing I learned about this entire situation.

"Now get us Daniel."

Eric nodded slowly, and I could see a shift in his expression. He put on his poker face, and it became impossible to read, and that scared me. It was as if he was hiding something, but what?

With immense speed he returned to the van and pulled open the doors on the back (almost ripping them off in the process). But he didn't return with the same speed. It seemed like he was doing something back there. Eric was behaving unusually slowly. I grew nervous as I began to have the suspicion something was wrong.

"Hurry up," the leader demanded, and that seemed to be enough to spur on Eric to move. He returned, and dropped something right in front of us.

I let out a high pitched shriek when I realized what it was.

It was Daniel. The photographer. Their guy. And he was dead. His skin was as frosty as fresh snow, and his eyes were closed. In his right hand he was still clutching his broken camera, and even though I wasn't an expert on the matter, it looked like he had been dead for hours, perhaps even days.

"What is the meaning of this?" the leader said, a tone of uneasiness to his voice as his comrades began to whisper to each other behind me.

I couldn't believe he had actually killed Daniel. Or perhaps Pam had. In the end, it didn't matter. This deal was about a trade between two people, and that couldn't happen when one of them was dead. This was a huge gamble, and I had no idea why Eric was willing to take it.

"Sadly," Eric began, his fingers flexing in and out of fists. "Poor little Daniel didn't make it to see the end. My apologies. I just got very… tired… of his constant screams."

And then I felt the machine gun pointed right at my temple. The barrel touched my skin, and I began to breathe very heavily as I realized what was happening.

"The deal is off. I have a new deal. You surrender yourself in exchange for her. If not, she's dead. We hate vampires even more than whatever the hell she is supposed to be."

I bit my lip as my eyes were actively searching for contact with Eric. I knew he was going to do it. He would stupidly think he was going to survive a sea of wooden bullets. He was arrogant, but even with his old age he wasn't invincible.

"Don't do it," I mouthed, but he was paying no attention to me.

My heart was practically bouncing out of my chest as I watched Eric contemplating what to do very closely.

And then, I heard something rustling in the trees. It was completely dark back there due to the thick forestry. The other guys had heard it do, and momentarily directed their attention away from him to whatever was moving behind him.

I wanted to do a leap of joy when several vampires emerged from the shadows. I recognized Pam, and the other employees from Fangtasia. I couldn't even bother to worry about what they had told the rest of them about me, because I was full of hope again. While it had been only Eric against all of the supremacists before, it was now almost equal. Even though the other guys were armed, we now certainly stood a chance.

"I said you had to come alone," the leader hissed, the panic in his voice very apparent.

"Technically, I did come alone," Eric replied. "They just joined me later."

"We will shoot!" a supremacist shouted in fear before repeating his words once more.

Eric suddenly stood next to that same guy, and with one clean move he ripped of the guys head. The ease with which he had done it showed me he had done something like this before. I had always wondered how many people Eric had actually killed, but perhaps it was more than I had anticipated.

The head rolled off down the slight slope, stopping conveniently before the leader. Who looked at the dismembered body part in sheer terror, and I could fully imagine why. We had underestimated them, but I also suspected they underestimated what Eric was capable off. He didn't need weapons to kill, and perhaps that was what made him dangerous the most.

No one moved. Everyone needed to come to grips with what the hell had just happened, but when that moment finally came, all hell broke loose.

"Oh, you made a mistake right there, vamp."

On the leaders command, bullets started to spray everywhere. I ducked to the ground, my hands covering my head as I pressed myself as far into the mud as I could. Everything hurt, and I suddenly grew very tired, but I didn't dare to look up to see what was happening. I didn't want to see Eric, or Pam, get killed right in front of me.

The fire fight continued, but slowly but surely the sound of machine guns seemed to face away, and when there was only one left I heard a deafening snap of broken bones, and it was silent.

My body was still aching, and I wasn't sure if I could get up to see if it was safe. I perked my ears, and was surprised to find a dog barking before getting shooed away by Pam, who was then wondering, "where the hell did that fucking dog come from."

"Serena?" Eric said, and when I judged his voice sounded gentle, I lifted my head out of the mud, rubbing my fingers in my eyes to see.

"Is it over?" I asked, albeit a bit naively.

My vision came back, and I could just make out Eric in the darkness. It helped that he leaned forward, and when he was closer I could see he was covered in blood. My eyes did a quick body scan but he seemed not to be harmed. A miracle, considering the bullets I saw laying on the ground all around me.

"Is Pam okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Pam said with her usual disinterested voice. She then told me no one on their side got hurt, but as I wanted to let out a sigh of relief I couldn't.

"Why does my still body hurt?" I thought out loud. My muscles were tensed, but I quickly figured it wasn't that what was causing the pain. Pressing my hands in the ground, I tried to push myself up, but a stab of incredible pain shot through my left leg.

My initial reaction was to grab where it hurt. Because I couldn't push myself upwards, I rolled on my back and lifted my leg to grab it. When I laid it back down in the mud, I saw my hands were painted crimson.

"Eric?" I asked in confusion as I continued to study my hand.

With supersonic speed he sat besides me and examined my leg. I couldn't even think about the fact that my leg seemed to be covered in blood and I had a blood thirsty vampire right next to me. Not to mention that my blood was supposed to be like crack to a vampire. The pain was numbing me completely.

"Everyone stand back!" he then ordered with such an amount of authority that everyone did as they were told.

"Eric, what has happened?"

"Serena," he began. "You were hit."

"What?" I exclaimed as I pushed myself upwards to see, regretting it immediately as another surge of pain went through my entire body and I let myself fall again.

"You were shot," Eric stated.

A/N: I see some of you were disappointed with last chapter. I will take all of your comments with me when writing the next 'book', since all of this has already been prewritten. The critique is very much justified, and I will do my best to work on it in the future! I have to defend Serena on some parts though: since vampires have super strength and what not, how can a human/mermaid ever compete? Same goes with fighting multiple people. Also, a story has to have a little drama and that includes doing something very stupid every once in a while. If my memory serves right I believe Sookie gets injured/attacked/etc. many times.

That being said, any feedback is helpful and I am currently planning and writing the second book and I will do my best to have her stop relying on Eric so much.

As always, thank you for sticking with me and hopefully I can persuade you to read the coming chapters. Take care 3