Chapter Twenty-Six

The scene in Fangtasia was trying my patience. All evening I'd been trying to understand what Godric meant. He'd said Sookie was as stubborn as I was. I knew that but it didn't answer my questions on-if she knew I loved her. It did lead me to believe that she might feel something for me that she was fighting, much like I'd been fighting. That wasn't farfetched, in the beginning she saw herself caring deeply for me. Had that remained even after her relationship with my maker began? It was possible.

Even if Sookie felt the same, and that was a very big if, what was there to be done? I didn't want to take her from Godric, and I didn't want to take him from her. I wanted to be with them be a part of all that they shared and share all I was with them. It was not something I thought she would accept. I couldn't blame her. It wasn't something many vampires could do, being as inherently possessive as we were. It went without saying that it would be different for us.

Speaking with Sookie was a must but I didn't know what to say. It was pointless going to see her because the lovely telepath came to me the next night. She was waiting for me at the bar when I arrived. I couldn't help but smile. It never dawned on me how much of her I had been seeing lately. I'd missed her so much more than I had ever thought possible. It wasn't just her body or the sweet scent of her. It was the woman, who was my friend, the one that smiled, the one that stuck her tongue out at me for being cheeky. I'd missed just seeing her face and hearing her laugh while I served my self-imposed solitude. Her presence alone was like endless starry nights. That sounded so incredibly…mushy…but it was what came to mind that even began to do her justice.

"Hey," she greeted with a bright smile.

There was something in her smile that was forced. It was nothing like her. It didn't radiant warmth or happiness. It was just her face mimicking movement that she deemed necessary. Something was wrong. Without hesitation I took hold of her elbow and guided her into my office at full vampire speeds.

To her credit she wasted no time commenting on my tactics. "So I was asleep when a vampire showed up at my door last night," She said.

"Who?" I hissed.

My fangs were in full view. She didn't look worried nor should she have. That show of aggression was for the vampire that had dared to encroach on a place that bared Godric's scent. There was no doubt it wasn't a vampire of my area. None of them would dare, especially after what I'd done to Long Shadow in the not too distant past.

"Thalia," Sookie said rubbing the back of her neck.

I growled, low and dangerously. Thalia's modus was defiance. That was how she haunted me. I had no idea she even knew who Sookie was or where she lived. She never cared about that kind of thing. This was never a route she had ever taken before but it was the point that had sealed her fate. Her reckoning was now. In going after Sookie, she had gone too far. I would personally usher her unto the true death.

"Eric," Sookie called as I was heading out the door. "Wait, it was Thalia except it's not her." I paused with my hand on the door to stare at her in question. "She's not herself, she doesn't know where she is, who you are, she didn't even know her name, nothing."

I was aghast and it wasn't for the reason she expected. "You let her into your house, didn't you?" I barked. "What is wrong with you?" I was in front of her. I held her face in my hands "She could have killed you."

My reaction had clearly taken her by surprise, she wasn't the only one. Before her well being would have mattered to me because she was valuable asset to the crown but now it mattered on more than an intrinsic level. I was touching her because I needed to know she was well. All of that happened without my thinking to make it so.

"She was more afraid of me than I was of her," Sookie replied, sounding genuinely distraught. "I couldn't not let her in," right, of course. Heaven forbid she not take in an amnesiac vampire.

It wasn't that I was worried about Thalia per se. It was the situation that surrounded her. It reeked of all kinds of trouble. The trouble part wasn't surprising it was the strangeness of the story so far. If Thalia had been wounded in some way that impaired memory which was really impossible, she should have come to me or Pam. Blood always recognized blood especially if nothing else was familiar. She hadn't.

I looked down at Sookie, thinking of all the things that had been running through my mind. There were questions I wanted her to answer and truths that I wanted to tell. "Take me to her," I said instead, now wasn't the time.

We drove from the bar to the bed of a small lake that skirted a small home. The house was more of a cottage, quaint and so unremarkable it looked as though it sprang from the ground it was built on. The scent of the lake engulfed everything in the area but I could sense the vampire in the area. Thalia. I couldn't sniff her out still I knew she was here, just lying incredible low, somewhere down wind would be my guess.

"It's Sookie," Sookie began. Her voice was so soft that not even a mouse would balk. "The vampire I said I had to find is here." Her steps were slow and I didn't have to be told to follow suit.

Slowly Thalia emerged from a thick stash of bushes. It was eerie. She looked like the vulnerable woman she hadn't been in centuries. Our eyes locked but I knew she didn't know me. Instead of glaring she looked up at me with big green eyes that were filled with uncertainty. She trusted Sookie but she was scared to the final death of me. I was used to Thalia destroying, maiming, killing and breaking. This, what I was looking at was all kinds of fucked. I couldn't even begin to fathom what had happened to her. The perplexing and inexplicable aspects alone gave me the answer: witch. Perfect.

Vampires were rooted in magic and a great witch could wield it like it was nothing. The only good thing about that brand of supernatural was that they were mortal. They were just as breakable and fragile in the flesh like all the rest. It was just getting your hands on one that was tricky. By the number this one had done on Thalia they weren't at all new to the arts. I sighed internally. Apparently no one cared that I had declarations of love to make tonight.

"Can you tell me the last thing you remember before going to her?" I asked the question in Greek hoping it would jog something in Thalia. It worked. She blinked as if surprised that she understood the language and she answered in kind.

"Water and darkness," she replied pulling at the heavy orange sweater Sookie had loaned her. "Is it a common thing?"

I shook my head. Her face fell, and her shoulders slumped. "I'll figure it out then you can get back to being the bane of my existence."

"I am sorry if that was what I was, or am" Thalia murmured, looking away.

I shrugged "I'm quite used to it." I replied.

I was a masochist I realized or maybe I was just processing a lot of emotions in too short a time span. The sane thing to do would be to find this witch and thank her. With a meek and obedient Thalia I wouldn't have to deal with her shit. That was appealing but it would also mean I was letting someone get away with harming a vampire under my protection. That was unacceptable no matter the payoff.

I held my hand out for Sookie and she gave Thalia a reassuring smile before she came over to me. "Keep her hidden at your house for me, please."

Without question or hesitation she nodded her agreement. I cupped her face and kissed her head softly. I expected her to still or tense but she didn't. She wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned into me. I felt like she missed Godric. I didn't know how I could read the emotion without her ever having my blood but I could read it, it was there if only vaguely. Maybe I was able to pick up on it because I missed him too.

"I was going to come to you tonight," I murmured.

"Yeah," she sighed resting her head in my chest.

My chin rested atop her head and the comfort of her touch was a relief I so needed and craved. "Yeah, I wanted to talk." I replied. I wished we were alone somewhere and not being watched by my amnesic offspring. "I guess it'll have to wait."

I left Sookie and Thalia to begin searching for a way to make sense of all this. The first place I went to was Thalia's house. By house I meant the tomb she kept at the cemetery in Monroe. It had been disturbed by some kind of two natured. Her other place, a studio apartment on the borders of my area hadn't been left intact either. That made absolutely no sense. The locations were tens of miles apart. I was looking for a place that was close to water but I couldn't think of anything that was along her route to either places.

Frustrated I returned to the bar to pick Pam's brain. I told her of all that had had happened. I needed a different point of view and I could always trust hers. Like always she didn't disappoint.

"She does her patrols," Pam said. "The square is a place to look."

The square was the place where Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana kind of kissed. It was also in the asshole of nowhere. There were no towns, just woodlands, bogs and…a small body of water, lake something or another. It never occurred to me because the thought of Thalia doing something I said was unheard of.

"That was where she was attacked most definitely but where are her attackers?" I mused out loud staring at the map on my desk. They had to be close.

I had half expected that whoever had attacked Thalia would be foolish enough to make their presence known. Most witches were too cocky to be careful. This one wasn't. To openly pick a fight with a sheriff of a vampire regent would be equal to reopening the Salem witch trials. Yes, that was us, vampires glamouring humans into attacking them but they had started it.

"You've wanted her gone and gone she is." Pam said. I looked at her wondering if she'd had a bad night and was now being snappish or if she was actually being serious.

"Since you are obviously done being helpful you may go." I bit back.

She ignored me, "I wondered if your love is conditional upon obedience, a sense of humor and a charming smile," she folded her hands across her chest and rested against the office door. Though I wasn't looking up I felt the weight of her stare. I ground my teeth because I was in a less than patient mood and she was pushing me. Her words cut too deep. The misconceptions of them were too much, it stung. There was no one I had ever catered to the way I did her. Everything she had ever desired of me she had been given. The only limitations were those to her safety. I had treated her so well because I didn't want another Thalia.

"Are you done," I asked calmly. Pam was turning into my walking talking conscience and emotional translator. I had to admit I really hated it. I wasn't through dealing with one thing and she was already piling on another.

"I am hypothesizing. Maybe there was no disagreement maybe you did something you regret and she reminds you of it always." she replied with a shrug. "You refuse to tell me what happened,"

I growled low and dangerous. "All you need to know is that if anyone is to end Thalia it's going to be me." I'd fucking earned it. Pam eyed me for a moment but nothing and since she was done force feeding me my demons we returned to strategic planning.

The first thing that registered to my senses at first dark the next night was the ringing of my phone. It was Sookie, "Eric," she sang once the line connected. "Hi,"

Her voice was sunny and chipper. That would have been great, if I didn't detect the manic undercurrent to it. In fact the last time she sounded like this was at the church in Dallas. I really hoped that was where the similarities ended. While I wasn't sure what I heard in the background I knew it was trouble. I listened harder and it sounded like the drumming of paws. That couldn't be right. There were just entirely too many.

I was already up and dressed. "Are you alright?" I asked. That was what I cared about. She hummed her ascent, "Is Thalia?"

"Yeah, so hey, um…listen, I'm fairly confident I won't get mauled by the pack of were witches…"

"What!" I gasped. I was horrified and angry. "Where are you?"

"The docks in Shreveport," She replied. I was already out of the house and in the air. She said something else but it was drowned out by a piercing howl, one that was answered by snarls and barks of wolves.

"Listen to me," I begged, idling in the air. "Do not hide, run or find higher ground." My panic was full blown but I didn't race off yet. This might save her. "They can't swim. If all else fails jump in the water." In the late November weather she might freeze but I wouldn't let that happen.

I was moving as fast as my body would allow. There was only one thing on my mind, Sookie. Coming in at a close second was committing mass murder. I would bathe in the blood of the ones that threatened her. I landed at the docks in time. Pam touched down right at my back. I never called her but she knew me enough to know if I was letting her feel my emotions I needed her.

I had taken inventory of the scene from the air. Sookie was safe, as safe as she could be in this situation. There were two werewolves in front of her standing in her defense. She was in the middle of an all-out war that between two werewolf packs. I wanted to groan. How? How had she managed to be here of all the places in the world?

It was all out war. Everyone who had a wolf form was wearing it. It left me with a predicament. I didn't know which ones to kill. It became very easy when some of them turned on Pam and I, the wolves in the area knew better. These ones were all but foaming at the mouth, snapping and salivating. They were circling us but we didn't flinch.

"Well bitches," Pam drawled, sounding bored. "Are we going to dance, or what? We don't have all flipping night, you know."

We grinned and slipped into identical attack positions then the blitz ensued. This fight should have been easier. These wolves were strong, unnaturally so. I didn't realize why until one of them clawed at me and lost his ever loving mind at the scent of my blood. He stopped lunging for my throat and began trying to lap at the wound. Perfect just fucking perfect, we were dealing with werewolves that were addicted to V.

"Pam, get in the air." I ordered.

She couldn't. She was buried under her current opponent keeping his massive jaws from her neck. I snapped the neck of the wolf closest to me. I used his limp form as a cannonball to knock Pam's opponent off her. The distraction didn't last long but it was long enough.

Thalia landed in true Thalia form. Her presence was loud and impossible to ignore. She left a wide crater upon impact. She shot me a look that was familiar in its hostility but that was all. There was no recognition. She took inventory of the wolves trying to corral me shot then she shot off in the opposite direction. Normally I would be annoyed but she was beside Sookie acting in her defense so I pardoned her utter indifference to my well-being.

Pam and I changed fighting styles. I began launching the mutts into the air and she picked them off from there or they shattered on impact once gravity set in. The herd was thinning and I was pushing my way closer to Sookie one wolf at a time. I was completing the task with single minded ferocity but a part of my senses were on her. I didn't so much as see it or even feel it within me. I sensed it. It was a tingle of something unpleasant washing over my skin. Then the scent of her blood permeated the air. It was followed by her sharp intake of breath that ended on a hiss of pain.

"Pam!" I called looking beside me.

"Go" she replied.

I was in the air and by Sookie's side. There was a dagger buried in her left shoulder just above her heart. It wasn't life threatening but it hurt, it pierced cartilage and cracked bone. I never thought it would be possible to feel such a tangled mixture of anger, terror and pain for an injury that I did not suffer. The sight of her blood staining her blouse, the image of her gritting her teeth in pain, and the tremor in her hands as she tried to wretch the dagger free, all added to that emotion. It was hell for me to watch.

My hand intercepted hers and I held it tight. "Look at me," I said. I knew she wasn't susceptible to glamour but I tried anyway. "It's okay. It doesn't hurt." I kept her eyes in mine "It's just a scratch." She nodded and I pulled the knife out. She didn't scream but she all but crushed my fingers. With my back against the wall I gathered her in my arms and bit into my wrist then I brought the wound to her lips.

"It's not so bad," she huffed. "You don't have to."

"Want to," I insisted. "Drink."

It was more than a want. It was a need. I needed to know how much pain she was in. I needed to shoulder all of it that I could and I needed to comfort her. She leaned in and latched on and instead of the flare of lust that accompanied blood exchanges, I felt utterly whole. It was completely bizarre considering the mayhem all around me but there was no denying that almost tangible glow I felt kick into existence as she drank from me. I held her tighter and her body relaxed further into my embrace.

Beside us I saw Thalia had a dark haired woman pinned down. She was a were by the smell of her but she also reeked of magic. I only had a second to see her face before Thalia twisted her head clean off her shoulders. That too, was typical Thalia behavior. The eyes of the newly deceased woman blinked several times. The ticks stopped and at the same time Thalia let out a piercing shriek. She fell to the ground and convulsed. Her hands were buried in her hair as if to keep it from exploding.

I was at her side but there were no signs of physical damage which meant nothing. I held her to me and tried to keep her from doing more harm to herself as her body contorted in pain. It lasted half a minute and then her body went slack in my arms. I knew she was herself again the moment our eyes locked. She looked horrified and pulled away instantly realizing who held her.

Thalia took one look the scene and said, "I didn't do it."

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