THANKS TO: ncmiss12, marilyn59, lunjul, evalilly, patracco, racecz5, VAlady, charhamblin, Eternal Kaila

Please note: italicized words would be the thoughts from another's mind they hear. So when it's Sookie's POV, the italics represent things of Eric's she hears. And if it's Eric's POV, the italics are things of Sookie's he hears.

Chapter 29

After listening to Pam and Eric go on for literally an hour, they finally seem to have finished whatever they were discussing and she heads off.

"Unfortunately, I should probably enthrall the masses for another hour and then we'll leave. Are you hungry? Pam can have something delivered and I hear there's good pizza somewhere," he shrugs as if he'd really know.

"What happened to Bill?" I ask, realizing that he'd come up a couple times and we'd gotten distracted. But if this Istvan guy is Lorena's maker, then Bill is part of him as much as Pam and Tara are part of Eric. "I mean… how did you get out and he didn't?"

"Because Bill Compton is a traitor," he states as he looks at me and I know he's worried and even jealous about my connections to Bill. I feel the rage and betrayal he has toward Bill flying through the bond. He has to understand it's simply not neccesary.

"Eric, I chose you. There's no reason to-"

"This isn't about you, Sookie," he growls, fangs out. "It's about how he betrayed me, us, all of us. It was his idea to bomb the TruBlood factories! He betrayed me to the Sanguinistas when I was trying to get Nora and I out. He sided with them and took the wrong side. He is not worth your thought."

So much is going through him that it's hard to concentrate but I concentrate on the same shields I learned to block out people's thoughts so I can focus on my own emotions.

"Eric-"

"NO, Sookie. You are mine!" he growls and stands up violently, kicking the chair back as he does. It breaks. Pam will be mad. "I will not allow you to waste a second thinking about him or feeling guilty. He's a fucking liar and a traitor and he can rot in hell for all I care!" Faster than I can blink, he's in front of me and has me in his tight grip. "You are mine!" he growls.

I flash to images of him tearing my throat open as it splatters us both and spurts out.

I am yours, Eric, but you're scaring me.

I lift my hands up to touch his arms as he holds me and I get flashes of what he's thinking. I see him carrying a girl and Bill walking into the room and rage and anger. I see him on his knees next to the girl with Bill holding a stake to him. I see tons of different flashes, others I recognize of me and Bill at Fangtasia and I feel Eric's extreme jealousy and possessiveness. I feel his worry when he started to suspect Bill was not pure in his intentions and how much it killed him to know I was unprotected.

When I look down at my hands, they're glowing purple light and that's completely new as well but when I look back up into his eyes, he seems perfectly calm, as if he wasn't just thinking about ripping my throat open.

"I am yours, Eric," I whisper and touch his cheek. "I love you. I'm completely in love with you and I wish with all my heart that I'd met you first. I wish I'd never let him touch me. I wish I hadn't fallen for the lies and deceit, but I can't change the past. You have to know, you have to feel inside that it's you I want, you I choose. Forever."

I pull his face down so I can kiss him. It starts tentative but becomes passionate.

He pulls his mouth from mine slowly and says, "I love you too, Sookie, more than I ever thought possible."

"I only asked about him because I'm wondering if that's part of this guy's deal. Like… if someone killed you and Pam, wouldn't Godric have had something to say? Especially since you've said he always kept his line close?"

"Yes," he states as he pulls away and releases my arms. "Yes," he nods and sits on the desk. "I've never met him but Godric didn't care for him at all and that's saying a lot since Godric rarely had a problem with other vampires unless they threatened his line. But he told me to stay away from any dealings with him."

"Is he older?"

"Yes. I don't know by how much, but he was younger than Godric but older than me and completely crazy, which is why Lorena was the way she was. Like I've said, some maker/child relationships are good and some are sheer torture for the child. This was one of the latter as Godric said he was sadistic and cruel, probably before he was turned."

Great. So a sadistic psychotic vampire is out for vengeance on people I care about and probably me since I- Oh. It occurs to me that Eric probably doesn't know.

"I was the one who staked her," I confess.

He's in front of me in a split second. "What?"

"Me. When Tara and I were escaping Russell's, she had pinned me up against a wall and bit me. Bill managed to get her with silver and I staked her so we could escape."

"No you didn't," he says quickly. "Never ever tell anyone else that, not even Pam. Never. Do you understand me?" He takes my arms again. "Bill did it. Bill did it trying to protect his pet for the Queen. Tell me you understand."

"Bill staked Lorena," I repeat.

"Again."

"Bill staked Lorena protecting me for the Queen."

He nods and kisses my forehead.

"Who else knows beside you and Bill?"

"Tara might? She wasn't there but she brought the van and perhaps Alcide put it together?"

"Tara!" he yells and she's in the room in a second, Pam right behind her.

"Yeah?"

"What do you know of Lorena's death?" I ask as I advance on her.

"Eric, what's going on?" Pam asks. "You think she's involved?"

"Lorena, what do you know of her death?" he growls as he grabs Tara's arms and shakes her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tara says. "I don't know who she is! I swear!"

"ERIC!" Pam growls loudly and pushes between them, effectively removing his hold on Tara. "You will not harm my progeny, our blood. Now… ask her what you want to know."

I'm shocked and I sense the same surprise coming from him and Tara's face shows surprise as well.

"Lorena, Bill's maker. What do you know of her death?" he asks, a bit more calm.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she repeats.

Eric, she doesn't know. She wasn't there. She came in after she was dead. She probably doesn't know it was his maker.

Pam says something to him and he says a few things back before she leaves, taking Tara's hand as she does.

"Eric-"

"I had to be sure she knew nothing," he states.

"Why is it so important?"

"Istvan is crazy, Sookie. Psychotic and if he were to capture and start questioning people close to me about her final moments-"

"You're trying to protect me," I acknowledge.

"Always," he tells me as he pulls me close to him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I have to make sure that is never discovered. I'll stop by Alcide's later and glamour him to make sure he knows nothing. Better to blame on Bill who's already in the ground than to let him ever find out the truth. I also think a call to Agostino, who should be in Atlanta awaiting his flight back to Europe, is in order since he may know more about Istvan that could help.

I kiss her forehead as my mind spins on how to handle things.

Brandon should be arriving later tonight with the vampire he captured and Pam knows to take care of that and give him and his underlings accommodations.

"There's nothing more I can do here," I say. "Let me finish a couple things with Pam and we'll leave."

"Thought you needed to stay for a bit?"

I shake my head. If I sat on stage tonight, I'd probably bleed someone dry. I can't deal with their petty bullshit tonight. I just want to be home in bed with my fairy.

"Can't deal with that now. I'll be back."

I kiss her cheek and walk out to find Pam. Tara's back behind the bar flirting with a couple college aged boys. "Where's Pam?" I ask her as I take a glass of blood she just poured for another vampire and drink it. He doesn't say anything though. Good.

"At the door," she states.

"Masster," I hear someone say and feel hands creeping up my body. I turn to the woman and I remember her name was Anna.

"Anna, I'm not interested," I tell her crudely and remove her hands from me.

"We had such a good time. No one made me feel that way, Master. No one bites like you."

"I am not interested," I repeat and take her hands off me once again before zipping away from her to the door. "Pamela, Sookie and I are leaving. We'll be at my house tonight. You'll take care of Brandon's arrival and secure the prisoner?"

"Yes, of course," she nods.

"I am protecting our family," I remind her. "You have to trust that."

"I do," she says as she turns to me. "Men jag gillar inte dina metoder." (But I don't like your methods.)

"Fair enough," I say. "Let everyone know we're closed tomorrow night."

"Eric, if I may, closing every time you have business to do isn't gonna work for my bottom line."

"Yeah, I'll take care of it, but for now, we'll make due," I inform her before feeling a bit relieved. I'm glad that's all done for now and I can get back to my fairy.