Chapter 23

A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews, anonymouscsifan, YaoiLovinKitsune and Fangirling007! It totally warms my heart to read that you like my story and even find it amazing!

Here's the next chapter, and I hope you like it as well – happy reading!


Godric did not know what to say. He had been ready to meet the sun. Now he was once again in the arms of this young woman, who was in many ways much wiser at her young age than he was with his two thousand years. She gave him hope, a chance to find happiness again. And all he had to do was break that damn wall inside of him. It should have been so easy, but this wall was centuries old. It had cracks now, oh yes, it had. But it was hard to just drop such an old conviction from one second to another. He himself had taught his children that a vampire always controlled his emotions. But when she kissed him on the forehead and looked at him with those deep green eyes, the wall slowly began to collapse. He wanted it! He wanted her help and was ready for it. A statement from her, however, had particularly attracted his attention.

"Enid… Who do you mean that I myself excluded?" He had expected a lot, but not the broad grin that spread on her face.

"I've met your son." She chuckled. "And what can I say; Eric... he's special." She raised her eyebrows and laughed again, then looked at him with her head tilted and her eyes defiant. "He loves you, you know? You should open the bond you have with him. Eric would probably never admit it, but it bothers him immensely that he cannot feel you through your bond anymore."

Godric looked at her with admiration. Just who was this unique woman, who could apparently even see his son, although he almost always wore an indifferent mask? Could she really be his salvation? For the first time in a long period he felt abysmal fear, fear of all the pain he had suppressed over the centuries, and Enid saw it in his eyes. She cupped his face again and pulled him to her, gently placing their foreheads together.

"I'm here. Just allow it… release it... I'm here for you and holding you... It will get better, I promise." Without thinking Godric than pressed himself against her and it was as if a deafening pain was going through him and he groaned. He knew that this excruciating wall was broken in half. But before it could collapse completely, the two heard a terrible scream.

They both looked up at the same time and his Enid gasped in shock. "Why did a woman scream there? What the hell are these fanatics doing?"

Godric had already stretched out his senses and sighed sadly. Then he looked at Enid and squeezed her hands.

"Stay behind me, my Enid."

Then he let go of her and in a matter of seconds, the door of the cage was torn from its hinges and the door to the room stood wide open.


Without thinking, Enid jumped up too and ran carefully after Godric. But she didn't need to run far to find Godric again. He stood in a cage not far from the basement stairs, holding up a man who apparently had wanted to do bad things to the young woman cowering on the ground. Her dress was torn in several places and Enid became aware of what exactly he had intended to do with her. The moment a dangerous growl escaped Enid's throat, Godric broke the man's neck and let him fall to the ground. Enid approached the cage door and looked coldly at the dead body.

When her eyes fell on the second body lying in the cage, her eyes widened in shock. She ran to her uncle and knelt down next to him to feel his pulse – breathing in relief when she found it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blond woman throwing her a weird look, but before either one of them could say anything, Godric addressed the woman.

"You should not have come." She made big eyes but said nothing. But when they heard loud noises and isolated screams coming from the floor above them, she stood up and suddenly called, "Bill!"

Enid couldn't see Godric's face the way he turned to the stairs, but his voice picked up a warm tone. "No. I am here, my child. Down here."

Then Enid heard the door to the basement open and in the next second Eric Northman stood in front of them. Something was different about him, and while her uncle was currently unconscious, but not in danger, she curiously stood next to the other woman to be able to look at Eric better. It was his hair! His long blond hair now only reached to his neck and was combed back elegantly. Enid wondered what had happened in the few days since she had rushed out of Fangtasia to have his golden mane cut. If the situation had been different, she would have asked him, but that moment belonged to the two vampires in front of her and she remained silent.

Meanwhile Eric completely ignored her and the other woman. He had only eyes for Godric, looking at his maker with a mixture of quite a few emotions in his eyes.

"Godric."

Eric finally bowed his head respectfully and knelt down in front of his maker. At the same moment, Enid noticed the angel statue with golden hair standing behind Eric like himself with its head bowed. And behind Godric stood a statue of Jesus looking at the angel like her vampire looked at his son. Knowing Godric's age, this image chased Enid a shiver down her spine. She had never been religious, but at the sight of them, she felt something of deep contentment and an unwavering faith in Godric, which almost seemed like providence to her. She too was glad for Eric that he had the chance to meet Godric once again now; but Godric didn't seem to be content with his progeny, as his next words proved.

"You were a fool for sending humans after me."

Stubborn as always, Eric defended himself at once. "I had no other choice. These savages… they seek to destroy you."

"I am aware of what they have planned." Godric looked briefly at her unconscious uncle and for two seconds his gaze rested on Enid too before looking back at Hugo. "This one betrayed you." He opened his mouth to say more, but the blonde woman next to her was faster.

"He's with the Fellowship. They sat a trap for us."

Looking in their direction Eric now also noticed Enid and for a brief moment he looked deeply surprised before he caught himself again. Enid could see clearly that a question was burning on his soul but another topic seemed to interest him even more right now.

"How long has it been since you have fed? You're too pale, Godric." Eric's tone showed his concern but Godric obviously didn't want to deal with it.

"I require very little blood anymore."

He had barely pronounced it, which caused Enid to frown, when a pesky alarm went off and her frown turned into a grimace as she stood directly under the speaker. At that moment, she hated her sensitive were-ears.

Godric quickly looked at her worriedly but then turned back to Eric nodding to the girl with the torn dress. "Save the girl."

When Eric didn't respond immediately, his tone became impatient. "Go on."

"I am not leaving your side until you-"

"I can take care of myself!" Godric reproached him sternly.

The blond woman gave Enid a scared look and then joined the conversation of the vampires. "Come on, we have to go."

Godric nodded in agreement and warned Eric to be circumspect. "Spill no blood on your way out."

"What about her?" Eric looked questioningly in Enid's direction.

"She is coming with me. Go!" This time, his tone was not to be contradicted and moments later, Eric and the other woman had disappeared.

With a sigh Enid knelt once again next to her uncle and put her hand on his back. A deep sadness spread within her. Looking up she saw games depicting Jesus as a vampire hunter, and many other ridiculous games that were certainly not educationally valuable. When Godric knelt beside her, she looked at him, silently pleading for forgiveness for her uncle.

"I don't understand, Godric. How can my uncle help these fanatics?"

"I cannot answer that, my Enid. But we will find out later. First we have to get out. I will carry Hugo and I think it is better if you turn into your animal. The Soldiers of the Sun are armed and as a human you are too big a target."

Enid nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate. Immediately, she felt the familiar tingling in her, and when she opened her eyes again, Godric stood high above her. She rubbed her head against his knee and purred at him.

Godric let some precious seconds pass just by standing there and smiling at her with a warm expression in his eyes. Then he knelt down again and scratched her head – which automatically elicited an even louder purr from her – and then picked up her uncle.

"Come, my Enid. Let us get out of here."

- x -

It was an unbelievable feeling – running with Godric and feeling the wind in her fur caused a crazy feeling of happiness in her. She could have run with him forever. But of course, they couldn't enjoy it for long. When they arrived on a hill near the church, Isabel suddenly faced them. Her gaze alternated between Godric, Enid and her uncle, and her expression changed from concern to relief and back again.

"Godric, what a blessing that you are well! But what about Hugo? What happened? Why did I not sense what happened? Has our bond become so thin?"

"He is not badly injured, Isabel, but when we get back to the nest, we will have to talk in depth with him. Hugo has worked with Steve Newlin and betrayed our secrets."

"What? That cannot be."

Despite her low height, Enid saw that Isabel was looking at her unconscious uncle with a deeply wounded expression on her face.

"Oh, Hugo... Why?"

"Later, Isabel." Godric carefully laid Hugo down on the grass, then straightened up and looked at Enid with a gentle expression. She couldn't resist, again she felt the need to rub her head at his leg, and when she did so, she heard him chuckle softly.

"Godric? This cat seems to like you very much. But why is it following you?"

Hearing Isabel's curious tone Enid purred loudly as she slipped around Godric's legs and then stopped in front of Isabel.

"She is not a normal domestic cat, right? Her fur is..." Isabel tilted her head, obviously searching for words.

"Beautiful," Godric helped her out and then smirked. "Look at her, Isabel. You know her."

"Oh?" Isabel looked at Enid for long minutes with a deep frown on her forehead. Then, suddenly, her eyes widened and disbelievingly her gaze quickly shifted between her and Godric, which caused Enid to smile inwardly.

"Godric? Can that be? How can that be?" Isabel's low voice sounded confused and a bit anxious too, and Enid wanted nothing more than to hug her. Like Isabel, she also stared at Godric then and silently asked for permission to change back to her human form. He stroked her head with one hand and then nodded.

"Yes, my heart. The surroundings are safe, you can show yourself."

As soon as he had said it, Enid stood again on two legs and threw herself into Isabel's arms. It was so nice to be back in Dallas with her crazy little family and Enid felt silent tears of relief running down her cheeks. All the tension and anxiety of the last few days dropped away from her as she lay in Isabel's arms. The vampiress, on the other hand, seemed to be calm; not a word came from her lips. But when Enid wanted to break away from her after a small eternity, Isabel held her inexorably in her arms.

"Never do that again, do you hear me? Never do that to us again, Enid!"

This broke the dam in Enid completely and she started sobbing uncontrollably at Isabel's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know that you thought I was dead. So much had happened and my phone was gone and and..."

"Hush, little one."

Enid felt how Isabel stroked her head reassuringly, and the warm feeling that then spread through her showed clearly how much she had missed Isabel all those months.

"Please forgive me, all of you. It was only a few days ago that I learned from Stan that you thought me to be dead." Enid sniffed and was abruptly held at arm's length away from Isabel.

"Stan knew you were alive?"

"Yeah? I have been in Shreveport and was looking for a job for a short time because my money was almost used up for the onward journey back to Dallas. As luck would have it, I came across Eric's bar and he offered me a job."

Enid then looked at Godric and was confused as to why he suddenly had a most reserved facial expression. Confused, she continued to explain.

"When Eric suddenly went crazy a few days ago, I called your nest to find out what's wrong with you, Godric. I guessed it must have something to do with you when Eric was so… upset. Stan answered the phone and told me that you were being held prisoner in Newlin's church. Since I honestly was terrified, first because of Eric who looked really murderous that night, and secondly, because I didn't know what they were going to do to you, I didn't think long about my actions; I just turned into my animal form and ran here as fast as I could."

Again, hot tears ran down Enid's cheeks, but then she suddenly found herself in Godric's arms, who gently stroked her like Isabel had done it a few minutes ago.

"Everything will be alright, my Enid. I-"

When Godric suddenly stopped talking and his body went rigid, Enid felt a wave of concern within her chest. His eyes were fixed on her face, but she could see that Godric wasn't seeing her at that moment. Then he closed his eyes for a long second and at the same time gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I have to go back once more."

Enid didn't like that, not one bit. Frowning, she looked at her Godric and her voice hardened like steel as she thought of Steve Newlin. "What did they do to Eric?"

She then was regarded with an astonished look, but it soon changed into such a gentle and warm smile that Enid's knees went soft and her heart beat at a gallop.

"Wait here with Isabel, my heart. It will not take long."

With an infinitely tender movement, Godric ran his index finger across her cheek to her chin and raised her head to give her an equally tender kiss. Then he was gone like the wind and Enid remained alone with Isabel and her unconscious uncle. Flushed and worried, she turned to the vampiress and looked at her questioningly – but Isabel's focus was on the church beneath them. However without even looking at her, her friend answered her unspoken question.

"Eric seems to have been struck down with silver, but the cards have already been shuffled. Do not worry."

Because Isabel was so focused with all her senses Enid decided to not disturb her, instead focusing her eyes and ears on her immediate surroundings so no one could sneak up on Isabel if any of those Soldiers of the Sun should still be out here.

Enid didn't know how long they were waiting on the hill in front of the church but she forced herself to be patient. When Isabel suddenly groaned, adrenaline shot through Enid's body and she was immediately on alert again.

"What happened, Isabel?"

"Stan! This idiot really wants to start a war!"

"What is he doing?" Enid couldn't keep the slight panic out of her voice and that's what made Isabel turn towards her. But instead of a worried face, Enid's friend smiled.

"Everything will be fine, little one. Even without any functioning brain cells, Stan would not rebel against Godric and ignore a direct command. Believe me, everything is under control there. I will organize a car for you so that the sheriff and you can drive to the nest when this drama is over."

Relieved, Enid looked down the hill and while Isabel was on her phone, Enid wondered if she could hear what was going on in that church too. Therefore, she now focused on expanding her auditory sense, specifically seeking Godric's voice in the church. At first it was just a murmur of voices and sounds, but then she could clearly hear Stan.

"Sir, after what these humans have done to you?"

"I have said, come."

That was her Godric! A few moments later she could also hear Eric's voice too, but her attention was already drawn to the door of the church, which was opened at that moment. Despite the suspended training, she had managed to catch a few snatches of conversation over this not insignificant distance and was very proud of herself. Marzenna's training had not been in vain, and when she saw that Godric was leaving the church, she was beaming all over her face.

Isabel was obviously done with her phone call because she suddenly stood next to Enid and looked at her with an unfathomable smile.

"Go, Enid."

When she looked inquiringly at her vampiric friend, Isabel's smile even widened.

"The danger is over. I will bring Hugo to the nest and you can go to him now. Go – and do me a favor, yes? Do not ever let him go again, is that understood?"

With a serious expression, Enid nodded and went down the hill again to the group of vampires who had gathered around her Godric in front of the church.