I need a sign to let me know you're here

All of these lines are being crossed over the atmosphere

I need to know that things are gonna look up

'Cause I feel us drowning in a sea spilled from a cup

When there is no place safe and no safe place to put my head

When you feel the world shake from the words that are said

And I'm calling all angels

I'm calling all you angels

And I won't give up if you don't give up

I won't give up if you don't give up

I won't give up if you don't give up

I won't give up if you don't give up

I need a sign to let me know you're here

'Cause my TV set just keeps it all from being clear

I want a reason for the way things have to be

I need a hand to help build up some kind of hope inside of me

And I'm calling all angels

I'm calling all you angels

Just a little reminder that some tissues may be needed for the next few chapters.

Sookie POV

Thankfully, we did not need to go to New Orleans a few nights ago, as was the concern when Eric got off the phone with the Queen. Sophie-Anne thought she had found a spy of de Castro's working for her. The woman in question was someone that had worked for Sophie-Anne for years and had shown no signs of betraying her in the past. If de Castro can get someone that has been loyal to switch their allegiance, we have a much bigger problem on our hands. Sophie-Anne wanted me to see if I could determine if the woman in question had betrayed her. I had hoped for all our sakes including the woman's, that she had not.

So the good news is that we did not need to go down to New Orleans last night. The bad news is that Sophie-Anne came here the night after.

I've actually come to like Sophie-Anne. Of course there's still a lot of caution there as she has the ability to make my life much more difficult, but I am not convinced that she will. Though I have no doubt that she will use me when it comes to her safety and the safety of the state, I also think she is content with our current arrangement. Eric agrees though I know that if there is ever a time she does not seem content with 'allowing' me to stay here, he will do what he needs to do to ensure I keep my freedom.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed. When Sophie-Anne came to Shreveport, I had been able to see that the woman who had worked for her for years, seemingly faithfully, had turned on her and had been relaying information to de Castro and Nevada even while Threadgill was doing all that he could to take Louisiana. Who knows how much information he now has about our states? The bigger question that we have was what was he going to do with the information?

The Queen was obviously upset and angry upon finding this out but there was also worry there. The Queen thought the woman, Fiona, was quite the faithful servant through the years; if she could be compromised anyone could be. Fiona had apparently missed my questioning earlier as the Queen did not see the need to have me listen to her thoughts in the past. That is a mistake she doesn't want to make again, which means I will be heading down to New Orleans to listen to just about everyone in the near future. She was being generous and spreading it over two nights. I'm not about to go anywhere without Eric though and he more than agrees with that so we are just trying to figure out when it could fit into everyone's schedule.

Needless to say, the next few nights and weeks could be hectic.

But tonight we are all at Fangtasia again. I actually miss the nights it was open, as frustrating and annoying as some of the patron's thoughts were. At least it meant we were not using it as a meeting place to discuss how to stay alive. I'd take the women's thoughts on my husband over planning against an attack almost every night. At least I know he won't touch them.

My husband. I know I get a goofy smile whenever I think of Eric as that, as what he is to me. I know this because not only can I feel it appear on my face but also because Pam is sure to tell me. With the look she is giving me now, I'm sure the goofy smile is currently on my face. But Eric is talking and she won't interrupt him to tell me.

I'm sure I will hear about it as soon as he is finished though.

Eric called a meeting with the vampires of Area Five tonight. In the past, he has not wanted me present during these meetings for multiple reasons but wanted me to be here tonight. I personally think it's because he really just doesn't want me out of his sight, which I am fine with. He says it's because he wants all in his Area to know who I am as few were actually present at the ceremony. In theory, all in Eric's Area should protect me as the Sheriff's wife.

Unless of course, they are secretly working for de Castro.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact though. These vampires, many of them virtual strangers, would protect me simply because I am married to Eric, their leader. He tried to explain to me that this happens all the time in certain cultures; the leader's spouse is protected. I can understand that, but at the same time most of the leaders marry those that are also leaders in their own right. Eric then countered with that fact that I am a Fae princess and there was nothing else I can say to that.

Many of the vampires have already known who I was, having been at Fangtasia and seeing me with Eric. Eric had also made the announcement months ago that I was his, so their protection services would be nothing new. Apparently now as his wife, they would simply be elevated.

The announcement goes over well. There is obviously some who are not happy, but no one voices anything against it so it goes better than last time. Of course, my statement last time had complicated things last time and that is a mistake I won't be repeating.

The other vampires clear out soon after Eric announces it. I know they are enjoying this little break from having to be on display at the bar; most of them do not like being so.

I wish I could say things calm down as they leave but that just is not true. The calmest portion of the evening was when Fangtasia was filled to the brim with vampires. Not necessarily something I ever thought I'd say.

The craziness of the night is just what has become the norm for us, unfortunately. What's even more frustrating is that it really has been all planning on our part and without knowing exactly what's coming and where it will be coming from, we don't know if we are planning adequately. We just have to keep hoping we are.

The last few days have been very busy for us. Between defending against what we think may happen and trying to plan an offense ourselves, there has been no time for anything enjoyable.

Well, almost no time.

Eric has been sure to find time for the two of us to be alone each night. Unfortunately, the longest uninterrupted time since the night we pledged has been an hour.

But we did make the best of it.

I have been seeing more of my brother the past week too. It appears that he has been more inclined to come and visit after his little dance, and I'm thinking not all of it was vertical, with Thalia. They both are being tight lipped about everything going on with them, which I would expect from my vampire friend. My brother on the other hand has never been shy about sharing. The fact that he isn't makes me think my brother is growing up.

That, and he finally found someone he actually cares about.

I must fall asleep at Fangtasia again because I have no memory of getting home. I wake up in my big, comfy bed far too early once again. I snuggle closer to Eric, who had gone to his rest with his arms wrapped loosely around me. We had found out what happened when his arms are too tight, not allowing me to 'escape' from the bed. I take some more time, just enjoying being in his presence as our time together has limited. Well, our alone time and time for anything other than trying to stay alive has been limited. I think we have earned a month long honeymoon after this is all said in done.

At least a month.

I finally roll over and get out of bed, my thoughts once again not allowing me to go back to sleep. Eric wants me to see Ludwig about the few hours I have been able to sleep. I have a feeling I know what she would say though – too stressed. Though she probably wouldn't say it quite like that. Unfortunately, stress can't be avoided at the moment, and things are most likely to get more stressed before we are relieved of it.

I take a long shower, likely not to get to take one tonight. We've been leaving the house soon after Eric gets up. Everyone is trying to insist that we take more time and as much as we would like to, we can't do that to them. There will be plenty of time, possibly lifetimes of time, to take more time for ourselves. We first have to make sure the state we both currently go home is left standing for those lifetimes.

I make myself coffee and a small omelet once I am out of the shower. Eric isn't happy I'm not getting more sleep so I'll cut him a break and eat a little bit more, even though I have not been hungry with everything going on.

I bring a book with me as I go outside to spend some time in the sun. Though not quite warm enough for sunbathing and a bikini but sitting in the sun does give me a little comfort.

And I know Eric loves it.

I open my eyes when I hear some shuffling in the yard but am not surprised to find two giant wolves looking back at me before they nod and start circling the property again. Eric hasn't once tried to keep me inside during the day, never once even suggested that I should. That didn't stop him from asking Tray if there was anyone from the pack who could be trusted to know where we live and to watch over the property, read me, during the day. Tray didn't even hesitate to volunteer himself for the duty when Eric asked. Alcide also volunteered his service. They may have started out helping because they were worried what would happen to the pack if the vampires in the state had a changing of the guard, but it has become obvious that it has been far more than that for a while now. These two have become part of our family and I can't help but feel more comfortable that they are around.

I do manage to read a few chapters of my book before my thoughts get the best of me and require my closer attention. I'm worried what will happen if more of the people working for Sophie-Anne in both states are in fact working for de Castro. With Threadgill we had a warning as an influx of his people started coming into t Louisiana; he may as well have just sent a newsletter warning us he was sending spies. Though I am sure plans are set in place to try and prevent him from using any, we still have no way of knowing what information de Castro may have gotten from his people before he was found out.

Plus, Sophie-Anne's compound will probably just be the start for me. I will probably be traveling quite a bit between the two states trying to make sure that de Castro doesn't have spies all over, or at least we would know who they are.

I don't get much of a warning; suddenly a shadow appears over the page in the book I was not reading. I don't even get a chance to turn all the way around to see the cause. I just have enough time to see a pant leg and to worry because it's not Tray or Alcide as they patrol in their wolf forms, before I feel a pain on the side of my head and black fills my vision.

Pam POV

I have exactly three seconds when I wake from my rest before I realize that something is wrong, deathly wrong. The feelings that I am getting from Eric tell me that. I am getting plenty of anger; he feels like he needs to kill something. There are other emotions mixed in but the other most prominent emotion I feel is despair, and that is most definitely not a good feeling.

I call him immediately when I sense that something is wrong. He does not pick up and that adds to my dread. I hang up and call again, this time with an answer from him though he simply says my name. But his voice as he says my name, is something I never want to hear from my maker again. I never want to hear it from anyone, except an enemy, again. I have a feeling it's something I will be hearing again though as he tells me the reason for the strong feelings I am getting from him.

"Sookie is missing," he says his voice losing all of the emotion it held a half second ago. It's like he's reporting it instead of living it. At his words my heart that has not beat in centuries, feels like it is falling out of my chest. Sookie's missing? My heart breaks for what that could mean for my friend, what that could mean for me, what that could mean for Eric, what that could mean for us all.

But I can't focus on all of that right now. Right now I need to focus on my maker who has come so far. He has finally understood what he should have always known, just in time for it to potentially destroy him. As much as I could use some comfort myself right now, Eric needs it more and I need to be there to offer it to him.

"I'm sure she's fine, Eric," is all I can manage to get out and I am far too aware of how lame that sounds and how that will offer no comfort to my maker. It's what we have to cling to right now. He didn't find her body. They took her alive and they must need her alive for something. That's what we have to keep telling ourselves. I know he can feel her through their bond and there is so much I want to ask him. Is she close? Is she in pain?

Can he still feel her?

As I am searching my brain for something, anything useful to say Eric tells me "It is obvious she has been kidnapped, taken," he says still in a monotone voice. Unfortunately, that is what I assumed. She would not leave without letting Eric know with a note, or phone call, or a fucking smoke signal or something. She would not do that to him, especially with what is going on.

It isn't until he can barely get out, "It is her blood," that his voice again becomes emotion filled. "Her blood is here. Out on the deck," he says again, his voice breaking before the sobs take over.

More questions enter my mind. How much blood? How old is the blood? I have to push those questions aside, push aside my own tears and sobs for my friend, for my maker and try to help Eric through his. Though I know it is for the best, I can't help the guilt that flows through me for a second. I had wanted him to allow himself to feel emotion for centuries but I never wanted him to feel this. I wanted him to feel emotion so he could be happy, so he could feel the completeness I know he had never felt in life.

I never wanted him to be destroyed by it.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," I tell him, already out the door and planning my phone calls to Karin and Thalia.

"Meet me a mile north of the airport," he said his voice back to being flat. He's shutting down and that feels like a stake to my heart. He then hangs up before I can say another word.

If he wants me to meet him at the airport that means he feels Sookie is close to there. Saying that is bad would be the understatement of the last few centuries. If Sookie gets taken onto a plane, it will become a great deal more difficult to track her. It's not like whoever took her will purposely leave us a clue or put a homing beacon on her. We will have to try and determine which plane she was on and do our best to track its path. It is something that will not be easy.

I curse, upset that it will take me more vital time to get to the airport than it would to get to Eric's. Though I am not about to tell Eric not to go after Sookie, I am worried that he is walking straight into a trap. That thought fills me with dread and I refuse to think about what could happen if he does.

I can't lose the both of them. Hell, I am going to make sure I lose neither of them.

I am quick on the way to the airport and call both Thalia and Karin to have them meet us there. I know they will both call reinforcements to meet us so I do not have to but there is one more phone call I have to make. I dial Tray's phone. Eric did not need to tell me that something had happened to Tray for Sookie to be gone. I know that he put the two of them on day duty guarding his house, guarding Sookie, happy that it was Tray and Alcide who volunteered.

The phone is answered and I don't even get the chance to say anything before I hear Amelia's voice crack as she says my name. I may think about changing my name after this. I doubt I will ever get the sound of how Eric and Amelia said it tonight out of my head.

"How is he?" I ask not recognizing my own voice. Amelia explains through her tears that he is still unconscious from having being hit over the head. "If he wakes in the next twelve hours, he should be fine," she tells me.

I don't want to ask what would happen if he doesn't. Alcide then gets on the phone and tries to tell me what happened. I use the word try because he knows very little. He too was knocked on the head and I don't want to think what it could possibly that he is conscious while Tray is not.

Alcide can tell me that there was at least five who attacked, all of them Were. They hit both him and Tray at the same time and must have known they were there. "They did not go inside the house though," he tells me, explaining that their scent never once crossed the barrier of any of the doors. That proves the target was Sookie and not Eric. It also suggests that whoever did this did this to get to Eric, to hurt him. Taking his wife and leaving him alive would do just that.

"Octavia will meet you," Alcide tells me before explaining there was evidence that magic was used, possibly to conceal the assailants. I thank him before hanging up as I pull up to the location Eric told me to meet him.

He's just standing there, staring at the airport as a plane takes off. Happiness fills me because if Sookie were still missing, he would definitely be down there looking for her. My happiness doesn't last more than two seconds though as my senses pick up no evidence that my friend is here.

She is still missing.

"We will get her back, Eric," I tell him coming up behind him and wrapping my arm around his back. I tell him that for me as much as I say it for myself. It is something that we have to believe it if it is going to happen. We have to get her back. There are no other possibilities. Our family will be whole once again, no matter how many heads I have to detach to get it to be. "Is she still here?" I ask surprised he hasn't yet turned every plane upside down trying to get to her.

"I do not know," Eric tells me his voice breaking. I take him immediately into my arms before he can finish telling me, "I cannot feel her anymore."

We may have to practice breathing again dear readers - in through your nose, out through your mouth. Everything did have a bit of a slower start and I hope it's a bit understandable now. A little bit more development in the characters were needed to get them through this (fingers crossed at that ;)).

There is a clue or two in this chapter that hint at why Eric cannot feel Sookie. If you do need to know and can't possibly wait until the next update, feel free to ask questions – if you really want me to answer them lol.

Jackie69 – So happy 2015 has started off well for you and I do hope it continues that way! I loved hearing your thoughts. Pam and Eric have grown to care for their little Were friends – a very important fact – and I 'm glad you've enjoyed that. We do have some tough times ahead though. Buckle up!