Dead with the Vikings – Chapter 25

A/N:

I had a tsunami of reviews after the last chapter. Thank you so much for all of them. I hope I didn`t scare you too much!

I also want to thank all the generous people who supported Stacie Holeman in the Support Stacie Auction. She got almost $11,000 for her cancer treatments - $3,400 of them came from the tiny SVM-part of the auction. That is amazing and I`m so touched that so many people opened their wallets for a stranger in trouble.

As a result of the auction I am writing two one-shots. One is an outtake of my story Dead on the Football Field. E-F-M had a great idea about telling Eric`s story in Birmingham before Sookie got there. WAGs will be an important part of the story. The other story will be about a Swedish Eric living in Stockholm and running a club on the club-area Stureplan – where all the girls have blond hair, huge breasts and orange skin. Miss Construed had this wonderful idea and especially asked for an orange-skinned Eric. I`m looking forward to writing both of those stories.

I want to thank Rascalthemutant for reading and correcting all the 30 pages that are left of this story before she goes on vacation to Scandinavia this week. You have been such a great beta on this story – and on everything else I`ve written, Rascal!

I also want to thank Peppermintyrose for all our great discussions about Eric and Sookie. If you want to know more about our two favorite characters, you should go read her stories.

From the previous chapter:

He looked at my stomach. "And bursting with a little baby-telepath for me too." He sent Eric an evil grin. "Are the rumors true that you actually impregnated this one yourself?" Eric nodded slightly. "Well, then you are carrying what might be a fantastic specimen." He lifted his hand to touch my stomach, but I stepped one step backwards. "A child with the combined skills of a telepath and a great warrior. Oh, I wish my sister had been here to see it."

He walked around me like a cat walks around a mouse before it kills it. Then bent down and sniffed my hair. My heart stopped for a few seconds and it restarted only when he withdrew.

"If your child lives up to my expectations, I will look forward to making it my child too."

Chapter 25

I stiffened.

I wanted to shout `over my dead body`, but that would sound like an invitation I wasn`t planning on giving Appius. I wanted to kick him, but knew I couldn`t. I wanted to run, but even without Appius after me, that would be impossible. I was too large. Too pregnant.

So I stiffened.

I looked at Eric and saw him shake his head slightly while I had Appius` attention. Unfortunately, Appius noticed where I was looking, or maybe he just saw my pleading eyes. He smiled and it was not a nice smile.

"Eric will not be able to help you, my girl," he whispered in my ear. "Look at him. He is my child first. My child before he is your bonded or pledged or whatever you two are to each other."

Appius straightened up and walked towards Eric.

"You are being a poor host, Eric. I have yet to hear you offer me blood from that delicious smelling creature." Appius pointed at me.

Eric shook his head. "Don`t," he whispered.

Appius was next to Eric in two fast leaps.

"You are denying your master blood from your bonded?" he asked as if it was the most ludicrous thing he had heard in ages. And maybe it was.

"She needs the blood for the baby," Eric said in a neutral voice, but I could hear the emotions behind it. Appius probably could too.

"Are you telling me that you have such a sweet-smelling bag of blood walking around in your home without having the occasional sip? You do know that humans reproduce the blood you take?"

"Yes, Master. But her doctor told her she had a low blood count so I have refrained from taking any."

Appius laughed.

"That is probably the funniest thing I`ve heard since…" he stopped laughing and looked at me. "I can`t even remember having heard anything so funny." He paused. "Are you denying me blood, human?" he asked me.

I never got to answer.

"Please don`t, Master." Eric`s face was still neutral, but his voice was more strained now.

Appius turned around again. He was shorter than Eric and had black hair to Eric`s blond. His skin was slightly darker too, though being a vampire had probably paled it from what it had been when he was alive. His eyes were brown, but now they looked almost black. He had probably been handsome when he was human, but now he looked so evil, his straight nose, high eyebrows and white teeth didn`t do him much good. His beautiful features only enhanced the cruelty he radiated.

"Oh Eric, oh Eric. Do you know how long I have waited to hear you plead with me again? You were so much more fun when I could torture you by doing things you hated to you. It only lasted a hundred years or so before you learned how to act as if you liked my ways. Those were a hundred lovely years, but afterwards…" He shrugged. "You got boring. I mean, who wants to fuck someone who is willing?"

My hair stood up on my neck and arms. I wished I could put my index fingers in my ears and not listen to what Appius had to say. I wished I could grab Eric`s arms and let him fly us out of here.

No, what I really wished was to put a stake into that cold heart Appius had in his chest.

"And now you provide me with a whole new bag of fun, Eric," Appius continued. "You won`t even let me drink from your human. Now, what would you say if I threatened to fuck her or to torture her?"

"She is mine to protect, Master," Eric said in that neutral voice of his, but now the despair was gone. It was replaced with determination.

"Indeed she is, Eric. But you are my child and I can do with you as I please. You lost your fear for me centuries ago. She…" he pointed at me "is bringing it all back. And you know how fear is my greatest aphrodisiac. You might just be fun to play with again, Eric."

In vampire speed he was next to me and had my arm in his hand and his mouth at my wrist.

"NO!!" Eric yelled and then he fell down on his knees. "Please, Master."

Appius` laughter was loud and raw as he looked back at Eric. He let go of my arm and without me noticing him actually walking over to Eric, Appius had Eric`s hair in his hand and pulled his head backwards.

"Your pleading is music to my ears. I am not an unreasonable master so I will take your blood instead. At least for now." And then Appius bit into Eric`s neck and the sounds he made drinking Eric`s lovely blood made my stomach turn.

I swallowed heavily and tried not to watch Appius on Eric`s throat, but I couldn`t look away. The image was forever in my brain and I felt so miserable and helpless like I`d never felt before.

Then I caught Eric`s eyes and they were very calm as if he wanted to tell me it was all right. That I shouldn`t feel bad for him. That he would take care of me. Of us. I knew he couldn`t, not with the power Appius had over him, but it felt very good to see that look in Eric`s eyes.

I smiled slightly at him and he winked back. I had to smile a little more. Eric and his winks.

Appius has stopped drinking and stood up and drew the back of his hand over his mouth as if he had just had a sip of beer. His mouth was red from Eric`s blood, but I wasn`t as afraid of him as I had been five minutes earlier. I knew Eric and I would be fine. Or rather, I didn`t know we would be fine, but I felt confident. For no reason at all, I felt sure Eric and I would get through this.

It was as if Appius could sense the calm in me. And in Eric.

And he hated it.

Xxxx

It was a long night. Appius strived to keep Eric begging, but every time he tried something, Eric just nodded and said "yes, Master." I also kept my calm and as it turned out, Appius didn`t hurt me. Maybe he was afraid of hurting his future child or maybe he just didn`t have it in him to torture a pregnant woman.

Somehow I doubted Appius had any problems torturing anyone. It may just have been Eric`s new unconditional submissiveness that turned Appius … the best word would be impotent. Not sexually impotent, but it was as if he was a balloon that had deflated.

Eric was by no means treated with silk gloves. He was beaten and spat on and kicked. His nose was broken pretty early in the evening. But I was allowed to go to bed when I got tired of standing. And with Eric`s wink in fresh memory, I actually managed to brush my teeth and crawl under the covers.

I didn`t change into my pajamas and didn`t fall asleep. But I was not used as a pawn against Eric and that was a consolation. You know you are in trouble when you are happy you are not tortured to make your husband suffer.

Xxxx

I must have dozed off, though, because I woke up with a gasp when the mattress moved from someone getting into the bed.

"Don`t worry, Sookie. It`s just me." It was Eric`s deep voice.

I looked at Eric in the light from the nightstand.

"Oh, Eric." He looked awful and my finger followed the traces of wounds and cuts on his face.

He bent over and kissed me.

"I`ll heal."

"Yes, but you will get new cuts and bruises again." I pulled Eric down to me. "Oh, Eric. What are we going to do?"

Eric held me close and made comforting `ssshhh`-sounds into my hair.

"You will stay here and have our baby. I will go with Appius. That way he cannot hurt you. And with any luck, he will get tired of me again and I will be released."

I pulled away abruptly. "NO, Eric." Then I looked at him. "Where is he now?"

"He is in the spare-room."

Eric and I had an extra light-proof room for Pam and other vampire guests.

"Why did he let you go to me?"

"To say goodbye, I presume. Or maybe just to mess with my head. With Appius, you never know."

"Eric, you can`t leave me. Not now." I did my best to keep my tears from flowing, but it was hard.

"I know. I can`t leave you, but I have to. I just wish…" and then Eric`s voice broke and that brought all the tears I had been holding back, out. When I looked at Eric, I saw blood-red tears flowing down his face too.

"We will find a way, Eric." I said and kissed his cheeks. "We will. We have been through so much. We can`t be parted now. It`s just not… it`s just not fair."

And then I cried into his neck and Eric cried into mine.

Xxxx

We didn`t make love that night. We just held each other close. When dawn was approaching, and Eric knew he was about to die for the day, he kissed my cheek.

"I`m sorry I made you heel, Sookie. I was forced to."

"I know, Eric." I kissed him to make him understand I wasn`t holding it against him.

"But I never made you do exactly what Appius ordered me to. Just know that, Sookie."

"What do you mean?"

"I can`t say because… well, it`s physically impossible for me to do so. I just wanted you to know."

And then he kissed me deeply and lay back on his pillow – and he was gone for the day.

I looked at my beautiful Eric. My Eric with all the wounds on his face and probably even more inside. I loved him so much, but our love definitely came with a price.

I kissed his lips and decided that Appius was a dead vampire. He was in our guest room dead for the day, but he would soon be dead forever.

Eric had said he hadn`t given me the orders Appius had told him to give me. How could that be? Eric had told me not to stake Appius and not just tonight, but ever. Did what Eric said now mean that I could stake him anyway?

I swung my legs out of the bed and walked out of the bedroom and into the living room. I looked around for a stake. I knew I could also cut Appius`s head off, but unfortunately all of Eric`s swords were at the Swordfighting Academy. And I couldn`t really see myself cutting Appius`s neck with a bread knife.

So stake it was. After having looked everywhere, the only thing I could see would fit as a stake, apart from that ridiculous branch I had brought in the day before, was one of the legs off our dining room chairs.

I laid the chair down and kicked it and jumped on it. I was glad I had several additional pounds, thanks to the baby, because it only took be around 15 minutes to destroy the chair completely.

I picked the table-leg up and went to the kitchen to find a butcher knife to carve the stake a little pointier. I worked with an intensity I`d rarely used before. Soon I was holding a nice and pointy stake – very well fit to go into Appius` chest.

I almost felt like screaming ` Yippie-Kai-Yay, Motherfucker`, when I looked at the stake but felt that one, I probably should stake Appius before I made any victory dances and two, I was not going to use anything out of a movie Jason had forced me to watch when and if I managed to slay Appius.

Full of hope and determination, I walked towards our guest room. I knew Appius was even older than Eric and thus would wake up easier and that made me tip-toe. I pressed the door handle slowly down and entered the room. It was dark and only the light from the hallway made it possible for me to see anything.

I walked very carefully to the coffin in the middle of the room and panted for a while because I had forgotten to breathe. Then I took a deep breath and tried to steady my heart before I put my hand on the coffin-lid. I smiled. I was about to change everything. To save us.

But just as I was about to lift the lid - with my other hand ready with the stake - I felt a heavy pull. Something denied me access to Appius`s coffin.

And then I knew it. I could never stake Appius.

If Amelia or Tara or someone else had asked me how I knew that I could not stake Appius, I would never have been able to explain it to them, but that was how it felt. It was impossible. Out of the question. Couldn`t be done.

I tip-toed out of the room again and when I had closed the door, I fell down on my knees. It was as if someone had pulled out the batteries from my body and it just wouldn`t function anymore. I couldn`t even cry. I just sat there on my knees, without any energy. If someone had come with an axe, I would have just shrugged and let myself be killed.

I had thought I could stake Appius. I had thought I could rid us of the problem that had been such a threat to us for so long. And then I couldn`t. I had a stake and I had a vampire in need of a stake, but I couldn`t connect the two.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. It was as if it woke me from a deep dream. The door bell rang and maybe the person behind the door would have a solution. Maybe it would be Sjur and he could….

I got up and ran towards the door and opened it without even checking first who it was first. I was so sure it would be Sjur.

Instead it was a stranger. A stranger with a huge smile.

"Yes?" I asked while I tried to read the thoughts of the person outside. I barely managed to keep my smile plastered on my face when I realized what kind of creature had rung my doorbell.

A fairie.

A/N:

Oh, no. Am I leaving you with yet another cliffie? And I didn`t even say if it was a nice fairie or a mean one. How could I?

I hope you liked this chapter. The next won`t be too far away, I hope.

Scandinavians and organizations

In the last chapter I went through the important days in Scandinavia. Peppermintyrose noted that there were a lot of religious holidays and very few labor days etc. That made me face my palm in a serious way because I had completely left out our Labor Day, May 1st. I`m sure my neighborhood would have be thrown out of my house if they had known. There are almost as many flags up in my neighborhood on Labor Day as on the Norwegian National Day and most of my neighbors go downtown and join the demonstration for workers all over the world. The people in the more posh parts of town (and yes, that`s NOT where I live) will work their gardens even if it rains (and even if they usually have gardeners doing that job) just to tell everyone, and their neighbors especially, how much they dislike Labor Day.

Some of us, and that would be the female part, also go on demonstrations on March 8th, which is Women`s day here. Every year I end up discussing if men can participate on that day or if they should just stay home and shut up. I say they should stay at home because most of the men in those demonstrations are only there to score anyway (though one can really wonder about men who try and score in demonstrations where women scream and shout about how unfair men are – but believe me, they are there).

In Oslo we also march for peace in December when the Nobel Peace Prize is handed out. We walk by the hotel where the winner is staying and he or she comes out on the balcony and greets the crowd.

Scandinavians do have a lot of opinions on the world and how we should treat it. We usually know exactly how every world problem should be solved and most of us would have been great presidents or prime ministers of any country. At least in our own opinions.

This is why we join so many organizations. I read somewhere that Scandinavians have a world record in memberships. If we disagree on something – we form an organization and try and change things. We are silly that way.

I just had a quick count of the number of organizations I belong to, but stopped when I came to 25. I often feel sorry for our politicians because they can`t burp before some anti-burp organization pays them a visit to tells them how wrong and offensive burping is (and no, I don`t belong to that particular organization. I enjoy my burps very much, thank you :-D).

We are so few in our countries, we honestly believe it matters to complain to our politicians. We often meet them in the streets and can chat with them if we want to (I told you I feel sorry for our politicians).

When we are visited by presidents or prime ministers from other countries, we are surprised when they expect security. We are not used to it.

The Norwegian prime minister was appalled because he was gently asked not to ride his bicycle to work every morning. His security people weren`t nervous about him being shot or stabbed, but because the traffic can be dangerous.

You might say that `they can do that in those tiny countries where no one will kill politicians`. Well, I`m sorry if I`m bursting any bubbles about the peace-loving Scandinavians, but we don`t have to go further back than to 1986 to find a Swedish prime minister, Oluf Palme, who got shot in the middle of the street one night he was going to the movies with his wife. And again in 2003 the Swedish minister of foreign affairs, Anna Lindh, was stabbed and killed when she was at a mall shopping with a friend.

So our politicians are killed just like politicians in any other country. It`s just that our politicians feel that hiding behind security is robbing people of an important part of our democracy and crazy people threatening them is a part of their job descriptions.

Sometimes I`m so impressed with our politicians. They aren`t even paid very well for the job they are doing. But really, our politicians (well, some of them at least) make me proud of these three tiny countries.

OK, I`m clearly running out of topics here when I start praising politicians. Just send me a review or a PM if you have questions or topics you want me to write about.

Have a lovely Easter!