Dark Storm Rising

Kill Bill Part II

A/N: First thanks so much for sticking with this story. You are wonderful, faithful readers.

Massive thanks to my wonderful friends and editors, FDM & AmaZen who have always told the truth and never steered me wrong. DSR would be a sad creature without your guidance.

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing.

Let the whole world know that today is a day of reckoning.

Let the weak be strong; let the right be wrong.
Roll the stone away.

Let the guilty pay,

It's Independence Day.

"Independence Day" Martina McBride

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Followed by Pam, Kirsten, Toller, Adele, Zeline and Stan, who carried the royal regalia, Eric and Sookie processed up the long aisle through the body of the assembly. They passed the great pillars of ash that marked the entryway to the great temple modeled upon its ancient original in Uppsala Sweden, and ascended the steps to a towering live ash, the temple's roof tree, where the High Gythja of the Aesir awaited them.

When they knelt at the faldstools set for them before their thrones, Finna Hrutsdottir began the ceremony. More than two thousand guests, including Felipe DeCastro, and the heads of human and vampire states from around the world, watched as they both took the Coronation Oath and bound themselves to serve their "people" and to maintain the laws of the kingdom of Minnesota.

"I, Eric Northman son of Thorkel Grimhelmson, confirm by oath that I will lead with justice, protecting my kingdom through wit and might, rewarding loyalty and punishing disloyalty. Generous to my friends, pitiless to my enemies. Preserving peace and amity with my allies, and leading in battle, destroying all who threaten my kingdom. I will make known my ancestry to one and all: I came from a mighty family of Öland stock; my father was Thorkel a great Jarl fearless in battle, my grandsire was Grimhelm who vanquished the armies of Gottland. I came from the fight where I destroyed my enemies, and rebound the Jottun. I have avenged my family and ground enemies to bits.

To uphold my troth until the end of the world before my gods and this assembly."

In her royal blue gown, with her golden hair swept up, Sookie was radiant. The High Gythja turned to Sookie.

"Madam, is your Majesty willing to take the Oath?

Sookie's gaze was calm, her voice steady. "I am willing."

"Do you Sookie Stackhouse Northman, solemnly promise and swear to govern the peoples of the Kingdom of Minnesota and of your other territories and to uphold the laws and customs of this kingdom?"

"I solemnly promise."

"Will you to the best of your power support the King, and cause law and justice to be executed in all your judgments?"

She lifted her chin and responded firmly, "I will."

Kirsten and Adele stepped forward with gold crowns, chased with runic knot work and rubies that symbolized prosperity and abundance. The curtseyed to their parents and bowed to Finna Hrutsdottir who took the larger crown from Adele and placed it upon Eric's head.

Her voice rang out. "Receive this crown, symbol of your kingship. Stand firm, and hold fast from henceforth the seat and state of royal and imperial dignity, which is this day delivered unto you and blessed by the gods."

She then turned to Sookie and placed a more delicate crown upon her head. "Receive this crown, symbol of your authority as Minnesota's Sovereign Lady, rightful queen and defender of this realm. May the gods bless you and your heirs unto the end of time."

She then took the other symbols of authority from their kinsmen - the orb, the scepter, the royal sword and the royal ring of sapphire and rubies –and gave then to Eric.

Finna's austere expression relaxed into a smile as Eric and Sookie ascended a raised platform and took their seats upon marble thrones inscribed with runes of prosperity, strength and success. She turned to the Assembly.

"I here present unto you King Eric and Queen Sookie, your undoubted King and Queen: Wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service."

The Assembly cried out with joy, with one voice. "All hail King Eric and Queen Sookie!" while the horns rang out in celebration.

As he surveyed the assembly, Eric's voice resonated with depth and authority. "Hear now assembled guests and oath-swearers. Most important and most binding is the oath of loyalty to one's lord. This oath takes precedence over any oath which precedes it. I ask that my retainers rise, come forward, and swear their fealty before us." He unsheathed his sword and laid it across his lap, so that its point extended just beyond his knee.

Finna Hrutsdottir nodded. A tall, thin faced vampire with hard, passionless eyes, stepped forward, knelt so that the sword point touched his chest.

"I Gustav Elofsson, swear upon my soul, before you my king and queen, and before this assembly always to wrest glory from your enemies, to support you and the royal family in all ways, to avenge all wrongs, and to fight in your cause unto victory or final death…" Eric laid the flat of the sword blade upon Elofsson's head. "This oath we do hear and acknowledge. Gjöf sér æ til gjalda, 'A gift always looks for a return.' In return for your service, I grant you the position of Sheriff of Area 3 and ownership of the following commercial properties…"

One by one each subject approached, knelt and swore their oath of allegiance and fealty, each oath swearer was granted some choice item, be it a position within the kingdom, stocks, properties or treasure from Maude's estate. When the last oath was sworn and the last gift, given, Finna Hrutsdottir banged her stave and cried out, "All hail the King and Queen of Minnesota!"

With one voice, the crowd roared, "Hail!"

Eric rose. "Oaths have been sworn and the spoils of war shared. I keep my oaths—reward and renown to the loyal and death to all traitors. The Bound One is fallen. I have vanquished my enemies. Only one remains. William Compton. His crime is doubled because he is both enemy and traitor. There is no disease I spit upon more than treachery. I have crossed the mighty gates of Hel to crush my enemies. Let this death, the last of a great war that rocked the supernatural world, stand as a witness and a warning to oath-breakers. Bring forth the traitor!"

The great doors boomed open.

A ripple of murmuring, then hissing and hooting filled the hall as two massive vampire guards, the "Angels of Death", dragged Bill Compton up the long aisle. They had bound Bill Compton to a silver frame. The silver had eaten through skin and muscle leaving a cross hatch of blackened smoking pulp—every vampire's nightmare.

They paused before the thrones. He ignored Eric, but his burning eyes were fixed upon Sookie, who gazed back steadily. The tension between them increased. Eric's cool fingers touched her arm, and she looked into Eric's clear, observant eyes.

Their daughters came forward bowed and presented them with rune inscribed spears with razor sharp heads. Eric and Sookie rose, and accompanied by Adele.

Kirsten and the High Gythja, walked to the foot of the great ash tree where servants had had set a stump and lit a bonfire in a fire pit beneath an opening in the roof a safe distance from the tree. Sookie froze into blankness as the Angels of Death wrenched Bill Compton from the frame and hoisted him onto the stump.

Eric thigh barely brushed her. You don't owe him anything. Not even pity.

Resolve flowed across their bond. I owe him release from this life. I keep my promises.

Eric's mouth tightened. "And I keep mine. He will die a dog's death. He will die in pain."

She didn't enjoy Bill's suffering, but she thought of Adele and Jason and the devastating void of loss. The names and faces of many more dead slipped through her thoughts. She thought of the misery, fear, and destruction that Bill had chosen to embrace in order to claim her.

She would never be Bill's victim again. Even now, even with the death Eric had planned as a part of their Victory Blot,

Bill wouldn't feel the pain that Jason felt when he was massacred, or Del's when she was raped. She gripped her weapon as the High Gythja purified the ritual spears; sprinkling them with saltwater and swathing them in sage smoke. Then she purified the bonfire.

Eric nodded and the Angels of Death twisted a thick silver threaded noose around Bill Compton's neck. "I name you traitor; the name of William Compton is cursed and disgraced."

He placed his foot against the stump and kicked it aside. "Now I give you to Odin."

A vampire cannot be asphyxiated, but a silver rope tightened quickly by a body's full weight will eat into the neck of the strongest vampire.

Bill screamed. Once. Before the silver severed his vocal cords. Dark blood gushed. Her back ached between her shoulder blades. Betraying nothing to anyone beyond her family, she shook off the numbness and fatigue, straightened her shoulders and watched. Bill's death would end his treachery and remove a threat. She was a queen now. This was justice.

Eric voice rang with cold authority. "Cut him down."

Sookie tried to keep her heart cold and still. A chill black silence surrounded them as they watched Bill writhe, gurgle, and heal.

Eric handed Sookie his spear and unsheathed his long knife, bent deliberately before Bill, his eyes gleamed with savage joy as he slowly ripped Bill's stomach open and reeled out the thick slimy ropes of intestines, then almost casually, reached in and flipped Bill's useless lungs over his shoulders.

The muscles of his forearm hardened as he grabbed bill's face and forced him to look into his eyes.

"You raped my wife once bastard. You would have raped her again. A 'gift' always looks for a return."

Sookie choked back a cry. Her breath seemed to solidify in her throat as Eric raised his arm and plunged the knife down, twisted viciously, and flung Bill's balls and guts into the fire. Some vampires roared with laughter as Bills screams echoed from the rafters.

She handed Eric his spear.

End this!

So soon? He deserves far more agony!

She handed Eric his spear, and reversed hers so that the spear head pressed against Bill's chest just above his heart. It's enough for me.

Eric stood on the other side of what was left of Bill Compton and placed his spearhead next to Sookie's.

His voice was filled with contempt. "You don't deserve to be released so easily, dog."

Bill smiled hideously. His voice was like an echo from an empty tomb. "You don't deserve her!"

Bill turned his head. His eyes locked upon Sookie's and darkened with emotion as he drank her in. She held his gaze as she tensed, shocked by her driving need to end the agony so that they all could find release and freedom. Bill smiled as Eric screamed a victory cry and they drove theirs spears into his heart.

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LMK