Hello dear Readers! Sorry for the late update, but I had kind of a writer's block and lost inspiration and Eric was being difficult with me. He just was being very difficult for me to pin him down right. Anyway, here is the new chapter, I hope you like it. Please Review and Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own True Blood...

Finding Her

Chapter Twenty-Three

Godric would have rushed after his stupid and stubborn childe and dragged him back his long blonde locks right into the room. No one abandoned their responsibilities, the only thing that stopped him from doing so, well truthfully, what glued his feet on the floor was the devastated look on Arya's face. She was staring at Eric's back as he walked away and she looked so incredibly rejected then. It was a look that did not suit Arya's usual confident face at all. She closed her eyes tight and let out a slow dragging breath, and after a few seconds she opened her eyes and looked relatively calmer.

Godric sat down beside her and touched one of her hands lightly and asked softly, "Are you alright, my dear?"

She looked back at him with mellow eyes and replied, "I am. I am going to be strong now and hold my ground. This is something I must do, you know."

Godric cursed the Gods above for making this mate bond a two-way thing. She was far too young to feel hurt over his stupid childe's angry spiteful words. The bond was strong between those two and she cared for him just as much as he did. Otherwise why would a smart and wary little girl feel affectionate, loyal or even care about a vampire like Eric?

Godric sadly whispered back, "I understand, my friend. I am deeply sorry for how mulish Eric is being. He truly did not intend to hurt you so."

Arya snorted and told him matter-of-factly, "You must know he is right in his own way as well. I am making him go against his word by purposefully hurting myself. He gave me his word to protect me, you know. I am making things difficult for him, so he is right to be angry with me."

Godric looked at her with pride shinning in his eyes and softly kissed her warm forehead. Arya smiled brightly for a second and told him conspiratorially, "I'll be done with this and later on, I will just have to make sure to apologize to Mr. Northman and make it up to him. He couldn't possibly stay mad at a face as cute as mine."

Godric couldn't help but chuckle, "Pam is being a horrible influence on you. You are so vain already."

Arya murmured, "Really? I always thought I got my vanity from Mr. Northman. He is the one who keeps on comparing my clothes to a homeless person's and fusses with his hair that much."

Godric couldn't help but slip out a chuckle even in this dire situation. He teased, "You really like his hair, don't you?"

Arya wasn't even fazed, then again she was far too young to be embarrassed about attractions to the opposite gender and such. She snorted and answered, "With hair like his, who wouldn't like it? But I actually am very curious about his genes and the living conditions he lived in to have hair like that. How could he live a life of a Viking, such hardships, battles, traveling in horrible conditions, not a nutritious diet and such things and still maintain that mane of hair? Also, which of his real parents passed onto him such good genes that gave him that hair? They must have been very healthy people even in that much of a primitive time."

Godric, in fact, Mihael as well, couldn't help it, they were chuckling out loud now. How could they not? The girl was in a sick bed and even in the face of unimaginable pain, she is thinking about things like blonde hair genes and factors of malnutrition. She really was amazing.

Mihael poked her, "A lot of brain activity in that little skull of your's, huh, sweetheart?"

Arya deadpanned, "Not a lot in your huge skull, I reckon."

Godric couldn't help it and laughed at his two friends bickering and at the complete look of mock-affront on the older vampire's face. Arya slipped out a little giggle as well. Casper on the other hand was busy drawing diagrams and writing incantations in an unknown language on a few papers. Apparently, he needed to write up a plan before implementing it, especially since it was someone's health he would be messing around with. He wasn't a healer after all.

He could hear Mihael, Godric and the kid joking about to relieve the tension and the hurt the blonde hulk left behind, but he couldn't participate in it. How could he when he still saw the hurt lingering in the kid's eyes? The child did not deserve it. Also, having a life's mate was a monumental thing, so rare and something to be cherished above all else. This idiot of a vampire dared to hurt her with harsh words and leave her in the time she needed him the most. She was a child, she needed him so much. Casper thought about his own mate, he could never leave Lucas in such a condition.

He sighed, feeling like some sort of villain and that was saying a lot, he had done so many things, bad things that he did not waste a second regretting, he was a soldier and that meant he needed to do things without thoughts and feelings sometimes, but this was a bit different. He was going to help a child, but hurting her seemed to etch a scar on his conscience. He announced gravely, "We can start now. If your ready, kid?"

Arya nodded and Casper noticed with a little affection, like a brave little soldier she called out, "Bring it on then!"

Casper nodded and sat up closer to her. Suddenly Arya asked, a little panicked, "Wait a sec! I am going to let you do god knows what to me and I just realized I don't even know any of your names yet."

Everything and everyone was silent for a few moments and then it began and no one could help it. Mihael snorted, Godric gasped out a little laugh and Casper's mouth twitched uncontrollably. Then all of them burst out into belly aching laughter, the little girl on the bed with her stomach exposed included. Godric had collapsed on a chair nearby, laughing; Casper's cheeks were bright pink and his cold eyes almost teary, laughing, well to be specific he was cackling madly; Mihael had sort of fell into the bed by Arya's legs, also laughing. Arya on the other hand, was clutching onto her stomach, giggling and gasping for breath.

They tried to stop, they honestly did. But every time even one of them stopped laughing, even the slightest snort of amusement from someone else started the process all over again. So on went their laughter attack with no way of stopping. For Casper and Arya it was a very common thing, laughing, but for two ancient vampires, to laugh so much, it was a little bit incredible.

By the time every one stopped, the vampires were just a little bit short of breath while the two mages were gasping loudly and clutching onto their aching stomachs. But be as it may, they were incredibly grateful for the sudden bout of laughter. They needed it to relax.

Finally, Mihael stood up and with a bow that was a little bit too dramatic he introduced himself, "I am called Mihael, my sweet lady."

Arya blinked once and then said, "I am not your sweet anything, Mihael."

Casper snorted and said, "Too right. I am Casper Jinx."

Arya once more blinked and then turned to Godric and said utter seriousness, "Just my luck to be unsealed in the most painful of methods by a man named Jink, huh?"

And that made both the vampires start snickering once more. Casper had to admit it despite the intended insult, the girl had a talent of making old vampires laugh.

Two floors down, an especially irate vampire had stormed into a room, slightly shocking his usually laid back progeny. Pam looked up to find Eric storming in and on the verge of strangling someone, well that or biting into someone and draining them dry. She kept herself extremely still and watched as he snarled and zipped around the room, throwing things here and there. His anger wasn't a surprise to her, he was her maker, there wasn't a thing of his behavior that could surprise her. But what she did question was the fact that what was he doing there instead of being upstairs fixing their pet human, and how could he leave her with a vampire far older than Godric and something as suspicious and powerful as that mage! She still shivered as she thought about that mage's presence. It was like power and something menacing was rolling off of him.

So she did what she did best, she put her attention back on the Vogue she was holding, and waited for Eric's steam to run out and then prod for info. She didn't need to wait for long, just about ten minutes. She flicked a look at her master who was hunched over a table huffing and snarling with his fangs out.

She deadpanned, "Feel better?"

Eric growled out, "Not now, Pam."

Pam considered the warning for a moment, rolled her eyes and then took a risk. She sighed out, "Then when?"

Eric threw a paper weight at a mirror on the wall and yelled, "When I am not this furious!"

Pam blinked once and then drawled out, "We could wait for your temper to cool down or we could talk about the reason for your temper tantrum and then take care of the problem. Let's also not forget the fact that we still need to talk about our little pet upstairs!"

Eric snarled at Pam so loud that if had been any other vampire in the room they would have taken it as an attack and a fight would have most definitely ensured. But Pam was Pam and she knew exactly how to handle her master just like he knew how to handle her. She raised an eyebrow and looked back down at her magazine and said a little helpfully, "Fine, if you still want to be like that, then there is a room next to this which has more furniture and will be far more satisfying to destroy. You go do that, reign in your temper and come back for a talk and I will finish going through this magazine and mark my pages."

Pam waited, Eric was cooling down, her last statement did hit it's mark. He could see how completely unreasonable he was being, not to mention it was a hissy fit of epic proportions. He was huffing, pacing the room in angry stomps and strides, snarling, growling and even muttering a little. He sat down on a seat near Pam and then proceeded to glare intensely at Pam.

Pam looked up as if she just realized something and then simply said, "Oh, you're done. Now do tell what happened, Eric. Where is my blossom?"

Eric looked like he wanted to kill something, not a vast improvement from his hissy fit, but at least this one looked like it would be followed up by a useful piece of info. Suddenly, his mask came right back on, every bit of rage tucked in and the cold, emotionless mask slid right on. He leaned back, took a few seconds and then proceeded to tell Pam everything that had transpired upstairs. About that idiotic vampire Mihael, about Casper Jinx, about all that food and how much Arya could eat, he told her about the seal, the pain, the magic killing her, about her being a mage and what her future held, about the seal and the reason for it, about how Casper would unseal it and most importantly he told her about Arya's stupid decision about tracking the magic from the seal to find out her absent, unimportant, insignificant father and the pain she would go through to find out.

Pam listened intently and without any reactions. For once, she would take a leaf out of Arya's book rather than Eric's. She would take in all the data and then think it out rationally. Not give into her vampiric tendencies, not go into a flying rage and be all possessive and go claim their human pet. Eric was far more invested in this little problem, that much was obvious from his hissy fit and the fact that Eric had suddenly gone all cold on their human and was now calling her by her name and not by the pet name he had for her. He wasn't thinking things through rationally.

Though he did have a point, but then so did Godric and Arya. Eric did not know her as long as she did. She was the one who had found the little girl and had talked with her and essentially found out all the little details about her life. Pam knew how much her mother meant to her and how insignificant her absent father was. But now the whole situation had changed. Her father wasn't some man who had fooled her mother and left, no he wasn't a man at all. He was a mage and this would the only chance for her to find out about him. Finally get the answers to all those questions. The same questions she had denied herself. She needed it and Godric was right, it was her decision.

In a way, Pam saw this as a test of sorts. Arya would most definitely come out of this alive and victorious. She would come out with answers and be stronger. It was like that saying, what didn't kill you only made you stronger. If Arya was willingly going through this then she had made a rational choice for herself. Eric had to see the logic in that. Then again he was supposed to support her not leave her to fend for herself and hurt her before leaving her be. Pam scoffed, what a mess all of this was. She was in a manner thankful that she wasn't a part of any of it.

There really was no point in making Eric see sense at that moment, because he was obstinate enough to not see reason at all. He thought he was in the right and he would hold his ground and his anger. Forcing him to see reason would only bring problems for the fragile girl upstairs. So she decided to leave him be and talk to him after Arya was unsealed.

From where they were, sounds weren't all that muffled, loud voices and certain sounds that humans made could be clearly heard. While they waited, they could clearly at one point hear the two vampires and the two mages laughing uncontrollably upstairs. While it sort of amuse Pam, she was sure that Arya had once more said something hilarious by being her usual self, it made Eric all more angrier. He had glared at the ceiling and growled.

They waited some more, and about twenty minutes later, it started. First of there was a slight yelp, as if someone cut themselves accidentally. Pam felt a sharp twinge in herself and almost jumped out of her seat to rush of to her blossom. That yelp was from blossom and blossom needed her help, that was all her instincts were roaring at her. But then her mind took over, Arya was going through a treatment and they were clearly told it would be very painful. So, she tensed up and kept her seat, her body was already ready for any defensive or offensive approach. A quick look at Eric surprised her, he looked as still as a statue and lost. His blue eyes looked lost.

Pam didn't dare to reach out to him via their link, something in her just knew what he was going through right then was very private. Something he would even keep from Godric. Pam remembered Godric's words, Arya was Eric's soul's mate. They were bound together, so logically if Pam was hurt Eric would feel it, so just like that if Arya was hurt it would also affect Eric. Not in the physical sense, but that little girl was his and his to protect, knowing she would be in so much pain and hearing her screams couldn't possibly be bearable for Eric.

Eric had already gone through and witnessed so much of little Arya's suffering already, he was the one who held her while she writhed on the floor of her kitchen, he was the one who looked after an unconscious Arya at Fangtasia, he was the one who held her this evening when she was choking on her own blood, in short he was the one who had to bare with her pain. To be the one who had to helplessly be at her side while she suffered and he suffered along with her. In a way, Eric was a little right by being angry and unsupportive of Arya's choice. She was defying him and hurting him by choosing more pain and not going along with Eric and making things easier for him. Pam frowned and tried her best to concentrate on her magazine, but was failing miserably.

A loud, shrill scream, a haunting one ripped out through the house. Pam couldn't help it and a growl slipped her lips and her fangs dropped, her little blossom was screaming. The loud crunch from Eric got her attention, he had crushed the wooden armrests of his chair and was growling low in his throat, his eyes flitting back and forth the room, his nostrils flaring, fangs out and ready to bite into someone.

The screams did not stop. She kept on screaming and yelling. After her third scream, the screams changed. Pam glared sharply at the ceiling and then she found her answer, the screams continued, but they were a lot more quieter and clearly muffled. Pam knew all sorts of screams, it came with the territory of being a vampire and she knew immediately that Godric must have gotten her to bite onto something.

Eric had leapt up from his seat, let out a roar that sounded like a wounded enraged animal and swept his arm at his already damaged chair with so much force that it hit the wall, damaging the wall and breaking into pieces with a loud crash. He was but a blur to the naked human eye while he continued his destruction of the room in his rage and the muffled screams upstairs continued. Eric had just picked up another chair in his rage and was about to fling it towards some direction in his rage when a clear voice by the door stopped him in his tracks, "Ever tried anger management classes, Godric's progeny? I am told they work rather well."

At the door stood a very ancient vampire with the most nonchalant expression on his face. Eric growled and dropped the chair and snarled out, "Why the fuck are you here?"

Mihael merely walked in, every instinct in Pam's body went on defense and flee mode, that was one hell of an old vampire, Pam knew. Mihael replied, "I am here because I was called in by an old friend to save a little girl, Godric's progeny. But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Eric's stance changed and Pam knew it was the one that he had when he was seconds away from ripping into someone and tearing them apart, he growled out, "You are messing with the wrong vampire right now and my name is Eric Northman, you would do yourself a very great favor by remembering that fact and the fact that I am the Sheriff of this area."

Mihael simply stood his ground with his arms crossed across his chest, looked at him arrogantly and stated, "I am far older than you, so much older that common vampire etiquette simply doesn't apply to me. Also, to me all you are only Godric's progeny. You have not done anything significant to earn even a little bit of my attention. Why the fuck would I bother to remember your name?"

Pam wanted to intervene but somehow she knew that this vampire was there for a purpose, a very important one. Also, Eric had drilled into Pam's head a long time ago, that she was not to intervene when he was having words with an older vampire, it looked bad on his authority if he couldn't keep control over his subordinates. Also tangling with an older vampire meant that she could be used as a liability to Eric, so she observed and kept mum.

Mihael then glared at Eric as if he was the lowest scum on earth and growled out, "You are a pitiful vampire who has the mood swings of a teenager and is currently running away from a child who had been depending on him. Where as a child can be so very brave to bear that much pain, you are running away like a coward balking at even the mention of her pain. You call yourself a Viking! Hah!"

Eric roared out, "She chose this! She defied me and chose this!"

Before Eric could attack the vampire some more, verbally or otherwise, Mihael coldly declared, "She made the right choice. Doing the right thing is never easy, always remember that."

Eric got into his face, glaring down at him, using his superior height to intimidate the older vampire, but Mihael did not even blink. Eric seethed out, "She is mine. She has not right to choose anything other than what I want!"

Mihael snorted and asked tauntingly, "Then why did you not stop her? You had plenty of opportunities to do so."

Eric growled and moved away, pacing like a caged animal, the muffled screams from upstairs still continued. Mihael lazily took a seat across Pam and gave her a quick flirtatious smile and then went back to watching the enraged vampire in the room. Pam knew immediately, this vampire had no interest in her, the smile was something reflexive for him. Finally Mihael exclaimed something which stopped Eric in mid-stride, "You did not stop her because you could not deny her this. You are not prepared to face the consequences of you forcing her hand. She would always remember that one chance her protector, Eric Northman the Viking vampire deprived her of. The one chance to find her father. She would grow to resent you and she would be hurt. She would be hurt on the emotional level and be very much damaged if you stopped her today. You knew that and that was why you let her go through it."

Eric did not even move a muscle, it looked like he did not even hear a thing the older vampire said. But Pam knew just how much those words etched deep in Eric. The older vampire was very much right. Mihael added softly, "Worry not though, you are most certainly a very lucky bastard. The doll upstairs understands you more than you understand yourself. She is a clever little girl and has a good heart when it comes to you. She intends to make it up to you for disobeying you and making you go back on your word of protecting her from harm."

Pam felt a sudden frisson of affection for the little girl. She might be making a somewhat selfish choice but even in that choice and pain, she was looking out for her Mr. Northman. She would most certainly be a wonderful addition to their family. Pam watched Eric, who at Mihael's new words seemed to relax a bit. He was just as affected by Arya's thoughts. That even because of this mess Arya would still be his and things between them would never change.

All Eric grumbled was, "She is right to do so. She knows of her mistakes then."

Mihael snorted and quipped, "No, I rather think she is right in choosing what she chose, because the doll has achieved what she wanted to and there was no additional pain."

Eric snapped his eyes at the older vampire at that and growled out, "What do you mean?"

Mihael leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs and replied enigmatically, "Casper did not need to track the signature in the seal. You see, Godric's progeny, the second he used his magic to make the seal appear on Arya's skin, the identity of Arya's father was revealed. Casper immediately, after being shocked for exactly two seconds went on to unsealing it. He hasn't spend anytime on tracking the man. Currently, the unsealing process is going on upstairs."

Eric took a seat beside Pam and Pam had thrown her magazine aside, this matter needed all of her attention. Eric asked in slight shock, "So Casper knows who her father is?"

Mihael chuckled, "My dear confounded vampire, any mage who would see that seal would immediately know who she is. Casper did not even need to tell me, I knew immediately as well."

Eric demanded, although all his instincts were screaming at him that this would be a huge thing coming at him and he needed to hold his ground, "Explain."

Mihael retorted, "She is of the direct bloodline of one of the oldest mage families in the mage kingdom. She is a Hellios and Casper and I know exactly who her father was."

Eric kind of felt a little relieved, one problem was taken out of the equation. The absent father no longer existed. He did feel a little concern over Arya not being able to connect with her father and get the answers she seeked firsthand from him, but mostly he felt relieved and ecstatic that his Arya was now solely his. Being an orphan meant that Arya would only belong to him without her pesky parents getting in the way if they did exist. Great for him that they did not exist. He did not like the thought of sharing his Arya with anyone. Well, except for Pam and Godric, but even that had it's limits.

Then Mihael said something that sounded both like a good thing and something that was ominous. Mihael with a Cheshire-grin declared, "Your Arya is of nobility, Viking. A lost heiress to be precise."