There's some things in this world

You just can't change

Some things you can't see

Until it gets too late – Matchbox Twenty

Eric lets out another pain filled hiss and curls up in my lap, as thoughts that it's Pam who is actually hurt, dance through my mind. Eric releases another groan. He's not the one who's actually hurt though and I don't know what to do. I can't take his pain away because it's not actually his. And I can't help Pam because we are still hours away and don't even know what happened to her. What probably is still happening to her. I look at the phone in my hand hoping it will magically give me all the answers. I'm not really surprised when it doesn't or when I hear the click of whoever picked up the phone hanging up on me.

Maybe it's not Pam that Eric is feeling. I take a deep breath and try to think about the situation. Eric is in pain but he said he's not hurt. I'm not in any pain, so he's not feeling the phantom pains from me. My face falls into my hands when I think that could only leave Pam as the one who's in pain. As her maker, Eric has a bond with her and would know if she was in pain. Suddenly, I remember Eric saying something about feeling other bonds the night he appeared with amnesia. Maybe he's not feeling pain from Pam.

"Thalia, pull over," I tell her. "We need to figure out what's going on."

"No," Eric gets out between his gritted teeth. "Keep driving. The pain is lessening. We have to get back as soon as possible."

Looking at the grimace of pain on Eric's face, I'm not sure I believe him. I start to stroke Eric's head, trying to give him any ease from the pain, both the echoes he's feeling and the knowledge that it's his child's in pain. Thalia looks at me in the rearview mirror not sure of what to do. Usually, Eric's commands are followed without question but with his amnesia questions have started. I don't even want to think about what the repercussions of that will be once his memories are back.

I nod to let her know she can follow Eric's directions and keep driving. If he is feeling pain from Pam, it is important that we get back to Shreveport quickly. I will just have to figure this out in the back of a moving vehicle.

A really fast moving vehicle.

"Thalia, please remember there is a human in the car," I tell her.

"Remember there is a vampire driving," she responds, increasing the speed again.

I take a deep breath and try to ignore how quickly that we are moving past the trees outside the window. I bring my focus back to Eric. "You said before you felt other bonds besides me and Pam. Can you tell if it's the connection with Pam? Is she the one in pain?"

He opens his eyes for the first time since he initially collapsed. "You are okay," he asks again quietly. The pain is out of his voice but his face is not relaxed yet. I lean to kiss his forehead and his hand wraps tightly around mine. "Yeah, I'm okay," I tell him. "Is it Pam who's hurting? Can you tell," I ask him.

He closes his eyes again for a few seconds. Wrapping his arm that is not firmly attached to mine around his stomach, and trying to unsuccessfully hide another hiss of pain, he nods. "The pain is coming from the bond I have with her."

A shiver runs through me at the thought of Pam in that much pain. It had incapacitated Eric and he would only feel echoes of it through the bond. "Is she still being hurt," I ask, unable to keep my voice steady asking about the female vampire that had become my friend.

"She is still in pain. It is not increasing though," he says barely above a whisper. "I do not feel the need to be with her anymore."

"She was calling for you," Thalia says suddenly from the front seat.

"I should go to her if she needs me," he says starting to get up.

"Hold on, Eric," I say trying to keep him down with my hands on his shoulders. The fact that I am able to hold him down, tells me how weak he is from the pain.

"I must go to her." And part of me thinks that would be a great idea. Eric could fly in, save Pam, and kill the bad guys. But at meeting, Eric gave into his impulses when he yelled at Threadgill. It could have had devastating consequences. If he loses it again during a rescue mission, both he and Pam could end up dead.

"Eric, you wouldn't be much help to her now," I say trying to keep my voice steady. His instincts still seem to be there so he should listen to reason. "We have no idea what happened or what you'd be heading into. We need to find out what happened and figure out a plan. We need to get a group together so we can be sure to get Pam out safe. You going by yourself when you're not at full strength could make things worse right now."

He seems to take that into consideration. I can't help the sigh of relief that escapes me when he nods and says, "Call again," while relaxing back into my lap. "We need to know what happened."

I pick up my phone from where I had dropped it and hoping against hope that whatever happened had past, I try Pam's phone first. Not surprisingly, there's no answer. In fact it goes straight to voicemail telling me it's likely either off or smashed into tiny pieces. I try not to think about which is more likely. Not knowing what's going on, I try Octavia again before calling Fangtasia, as someone had picked up her phone when I called earlier. The same male voice picks up and I ask, "Who is this?"

"Chow," he says as I hear an awful lot of noise in the background. "You the one who called earlier from the Sherriff's phone, Sookie?"

He must have recognized my voice. I tell him, "Yes."

"You didn't say anything."

"Something happened," I tell him not sure how much detail to give. "Is there a reason you are answering Octavia's phone?"

"Yes."

I wait for him to explain. He doesn't. "Care to share with the class?"

"She's unconscious." Vampires. The really aren't to forward with their information. After a few more questions, I find out that when Chow and some other vampires got to Fangtasia tonight, Octavia was lying unconscious on the floor. She had performed the spell there, as it is the last place we are certain that Stonebrook had been. She's alive but hasn't regained consciousness since. I close my eyes.

"And Pam," I ask worried about the vampire.

"It seems she has been taken." Chow explains that Pam and stayed at Fangtasia during the day and seems to have been taken from there. That's about as far as he got before the phone is yanked out of my hand and Eric is yelling into the phone, "Why was my child spending the day at that bar, without protection?" I feel him sitting up next to me before I realize he sat up.

Well, this does me no good. Eric could hear both sides of the conversation with his vampire hearing but I can't hear what Chow is saying. I do hear when Eric asks, more calmly, "And the security that was there?" After a pause he says, "Fine, keep looking for clues to what may have happened and alert us if the witch wakes up," He says into the phone. "Thalia how much longer until we get to Fangtasia?"

"With this car's top speed, probably just under four hours."

Eric asks Chow if he heard that and then tells him he expects a full report on anything they find when we get back before hanging up the phone. The familiarity of the situation brings a slight smile to my face. It's wiped off when Eric asks, "Should I just fly back? It will be quicker."

I hesitate in my response. I don't want him to go flying off on his own because I would worry for him. It may be better but again in other ways it may blow up in our faces. Luckily for me, Thalia actually responds saying, "You think you could find your way back by yourself?" That tables the conversation, as he is not exactly eager to admit he may not be able to.

The remaining car ride is made in mostly silence. Silence isn't unusual coming from Thalia. I've found it's also not unusual coming from Eric when he's thinking. I have learned in the past though just because it's a usual habit, doesn't mean it's a comforting one. The silence in the car ride right now reinforces that thought. I grab a hold of his hand and stroke the back of it with my thumb. "We'll get her back," I tell him trying to fill my voice with confidence.

"Before or after I get back my memories," he says sourly.

"Does the order really matter," I ask him, taking his chin in my hand and moving his head so he is looking at me. "We will get back both Pam and your memories. I promise you that," I tell him, not understanding where my confidence in this bleak situation is coming from. I then realize that it's probably from Eric, himself. Through the last few weeks, Eric has been reassuring to me in my time of struggles, of doubting almost everything, even myself. It was now my turn to do so.

"We'll get your memories back. We will get Pam back. And you and her will have fun doing whatever you do to those who have wronged you."

He gives a little smile before saying, "You will allow that? You did not allow it with Bill."

I look away from him as he mentions that. Or I try to at least. He doesn't let me look to far away. "I will not if it bothers you so," he says softly.

"This time you're the one that was hurt, Eric. You and Pam. I get that your world is different from mine. Plus you weren't the one hurt last time," I say in a rush. I hate that he's the one hurting this time. Double standard, thy name is Sookie.

"I very much doubt that," he says pulling me closer to him.

"Doubt what," I ask leaning into his side.

"That I was not hurting. I doubt very much that I was pain free if you were hurting," he tells me laying a kiss to the top of my head.

I think about Eric's words. He definitely didn't seem so happy go lucky. I figured it was because of everything that was going on with the Queen, and the Weres, and the witches. There definitely was a lot going on at the time. But now looking back it seems more than that. Eric, himself, seemed as lost as I was at the time.

That had to be a conversation for another time though, as now he can't really tell me what or why things were bothering him. I snuggle into him more, not minding this quiet as I continue to think.

I take a deep breath as we finally pull into the Fangtasia parking lot. I start to open the door but Eric stops me and asks Thalia if she can sense anyone who shouldn't be there. After a few seconds, she shakes her head. Eric then looks to me and asks if I can sense any Weres. After a drop of my shields, he also gets a negative response from me. I start to open my door for a second time yet again Eric stops me. Before I can ask him why however, he is quickly out of his side of the car and opening the door for me. The next thing I know is I am being rushed into the bar between the two vampires.

Chow meets us at the back door. When Eric asks if there is anything new to report, Chow says, "The witch is up."

After finding out Octavia is in Eric's office, I head there as I hear Eric ask Chow why we weren't informed Octavia regained consciousness. He wasn't asking too nicely, upset that we had not been notified. I certainly hope they were able to find something we could use to help find Pam. I knock on the office door and when I don't get a response, I open it slowly. Octavia is sitting on the couch with her eyes closed. She appears to be doing some sort of meditation. I sit in Eric's chair and wait for her to be done. I'm not as quiet as a vampire and there's no doubt she heard me come into the room.

It only takes a few minutes for Octavia to open her eyes. When she does, she looks at me. She looks tired. She hasn't looked this run down with any of the other spells she's done.

Then again she hasn't been knocked out with any of the spells either.

"How are you feeling," I ask her. "Do you need a doctor?"

She shakes her head and says, "I'm starting to feel better. My energy levels were driven too low. It was actually a good thing I wasn't taken to the hospital. They wouldn't have been able to find anything wrong and would have just had more questions than answers."

"What happened," I ask her as the door opens and Eric comes in.

"It was during the spell, when I was trying to track Mark Stonebrook," she starts off explaining. Apparently, there was a trap set on anyone trying to locate the witch. Locating seems to be like following the trail of a string or a path. The hardest part is trying to find the right path. This is made easier by using the person's in question objects. Using the objects that were collected from when the room Stonebrook was thought to be living, Octavia was able to find the right path. From then, she simply had to follow it. It would appear that there was a roadblock.

And it went ka-boom.

"Have you ever heard of a trap like this when trying to locate someone," Eric asks her.

"No. I of course was looking for traps along the way. This is one that escaped my scrutiny. I didn't even know to look for it." Definitely not a comforting thought there.

"So nothing besides the strength and knowledge of this Stonebrook was discovered?"

That question brought a smile to Octavia's face. "I wouldn't quite say that," she says. "The trap wasn't set by Mark Stonebrook. He's not strong enough and it wasn't created from his energy."

"His sister? Marnie?"

Octavia nods and explains that she has come in contact with the witch that set the trap before and she recognized the energy of the witch who placed it. "She goes by the name Hallow, now. That explains why there has been no trace of Marnie Stonebrook for years. I don't know why no one in the magic community has ever picked up on the connection before. A powerful witch calling herself Hallow, came into the picture around the same time Marnie Stonebrook seems to cease to exist."

"So what of this Hallow?"

"Hallow is exponentially stronger than Marnie ever was which is probably one of the reasons her appearance with Marnie's disappearance was never questioned."

"Could her power have suddenly increased?"

"Or she could have been hiding it. If her power did increase it was through nothing good. To an extent, a true witch is born with a finite strength her power could reach. There are tales to how this finite strength could be increased but there aren't too many who believe them. Or would try them."

"What are they?"

"They all require dark magic. It involves trapping the energy of another witch and harnessing it."

"Wouldn't that kill the other witch," I ask. I know just having her levels decreased took a great deal out of Octavia. I can't imagine how taking all of the energy would affect a witch.

The answer to my thoughts comes as Octavia says, "Not if the witch is already dead."

"So she's a murderer?"

Octavia nods but before she can say anything, Eric slams his hand down on his desk saying, "And she has my child."

I put my hand over his as he grips the corner of his desk so hard that his knuckles are white. "Can you still feel her?" At his nod I say," Then she's still alive. We need to focus on that. We will get her back, Eric." I turn my focus to Octavia hoping that since she was here she might know something. "What happened to Pam," I ask her softly.

To her credit, Octavia really doesn't react to Eric's anger as she says, "I really don't know. When I was performing the spell, it was only myself, security, and Pam in her day rest present. It was still light out when I got the blast from the trap. That's the last thing I remember."

Looking up to Eric I ask, "Chow didn't know anything."

"She was gone by the time he and the others got here. There were signs of a break in around the back door. Looks like they took her right out of her coffin. They must have come right before nightfall."

"Couldn't have been too long. It was almost full dark by the time I got mixed up with the trap."

"Would the witch have known that their trap was triggered," Eric asks her. After Octavia nods Eric says, "They were lying in wait." I look up at him in question.

"They made it so we couldn't get back here. They must have known we would be trying to find their location, maybe even that you were working on it today. With myself, Thalia, and the Weres gone, you two were left here virtually unprotected during the day. You had your magic but if they felt you trigger the trap…"

"They would have known yet another layer of protection was gone," Octavia finishes.

"But why leave you, then," I ask her. "You're one of the best ways we have to combat them. Why wouldn't they try to take that away too?"

"Arrogance? Maybe they figured I wouldn't be a threat because of the trap. Maybe they didn't have time as it was close to sundown. Who knows?"

"How long until you can use your magic again," Eric asks.

"They seemed to underestimate me," she says with a smile. "My energy should be workable tomorrow, especially when my apprentice gets here. I called her and she should be here at some point during the day tomorrow. I can use her as an anchor and can practically be back to normal tomorrow night.

Before anything else can be said, the sudden sound of breaking glass brings us all to the main part of the bar. I would have thought a rock was simply thrown through the window if it wasn't for the rock floating in the air right in the middle of the dance floor. That was our clue that it was the damn were-witches again. "Check outside," Eric says sharply, sending Thalia, Chow, and a vampire I don't know running out the door. Tray and Alcide, who must have made it back when we were talking with Octavia, follows them.

Eric walks over slowly to where the rock is just sitting there in the air, not moving. Thalia, Tray, and Alcide come back into the bar telling us that there is no sign that anyone else was even here. The other two vampires are outside looking for clues.

Eric reaches the rock and starts to bring his hand up to it. I say, "Don't," worried about any traps that may be placed on the rock. At my words we both look to Octavia who has her eyes close and seems to be quietly saying something. She wobbles a bit on her feet and I reach to steady her as Tray gets a chair.

She doesn't sit until she is done murmuring under her breath. "Should be fine," she says in a pant. Hopefully she was right when she said she would be back to normal tomorrow. I don't like seeing her weak like this.

It's the word should that worries me, especially as Eric reaches out and grabs the rock. "There is an engraving on it."

There would obviously be a message on the rock. Why else would it get thrown through the window? "What does it say," I ask, my voice shaky.

He looks at me hesitantly seemingly not wanting to tell me the message. That only makes me more worried and I ask him again what it says. He's angry as he says, "We have your child. We have the brother. We will soon have your girl. Ready to talk yet?"

I feel my knees give out as Eric reads the message. His arms catch me before I hit the floor. I hear the rock hit the floor. Eric must have dropped it to catch me. I hear Tray ask, "You got a vampire brother too?"

"Not his brother," I say barely hearing my own voice. "Mine."

Hello lovely readers. Hope you have all had a good week. I had the first day of camp get hit by a tornado, this past Sunday. Not entirely sure what that means for the rest of the summer. And teen camp starts tomorrow. Pray for me stuck on a bus with 40 teenagers as I take them on trips everyday. Reading and your reviews will be helping to keep me sane.

Thanks for sticking with this story and for the new readers trying it out, especially to those taking the time to review. I appreciate the feedback.

Jfozz – Sorry the last cliffhanger made you a bit twitchy. Hopefully this one isn't as bad :).

Arya – No problem responding to reviews. I'm only sorry you have to wait till the next chapter is posted to get them. Sookie has made a great deal of progress, and you can see even more in this chapter. It'll be good that she has as this tale heads into the second part.

Fanny – Yes, Alcide was a tad bit out of line with what he said. He is worried that she is going to get hurt again but Sookie was probably also right about him being a bit jealous too. We do revisit this convo (unless something happens in editing) a little later too. Just a reminder though – in this story he hasn't gone back to Debbie. He's been with Bill and then working with Tray to try and figure out what's going on. Hope your nails are still there!