Chapter 36 Blood exchange

"Hey Bill, can I ask you a favor?"

"Absolutely, what do you need?"

"I was just wondering if I could stay here for the night? I don't really want to go back to Shreveport and face Eric right now and I have no where else to go."

"Of course you can stay here. You know you're always welcome in this house. There's a spare bedroom down the hall from ours, you can use that one."

"You don't call it a guestroom?"

"No...because you're not a guest, you're family."

"Thanks."

And that's what I had ended up doing that night after Eric left Sookie and I alone, I had calmed myself down long enough that when Bill showed up, I was able to ask him to let me stay there because I just couldn't bear the thought of having to return to Shreveport and be in the same house as Eric. I just couldn't do it and Bill knew that, which I think was why he was so quick to say yes to this idea, even though I knew he loved his time alone with Sookie. But she too was worried about me after our dramatic encounter with Eric and she wanted me to keep close by. It probably wasn't the best idea, considering I had left Bon Temps so I wouldn't be easily found by anyone and no one knew I was in Shreveport. But having to face Eric after he pushed me so hard was just more then I could take at the moment. I didn't have the energy to deal with him emotionally or physically. My strength was basically gone and it was going to take a few days before I was back to my old self. Of course that process would be sped up if I drank vampire blood, but there was no way I was going to do that after the way Eric had treated me. Just no way.

"He's remorseful about his actions."

"Yea, I'm sure he is Godric."

"He may not have said it, but I know he regrets the way he went about everything."

"Until he says it to my face, then I just can't believe it. I'm sorry, but this time he went too far and I don't care to see him any time soon."

"I understand that, but I really think you should come back to the house. It's the safest place for you."

"At this point, I don't think it really matters..."

So I didn't end up going back to Shreveport after that first night. In fact, I didn't return for a few days even though I had been visited by Eric more then a dozen times asking me to come back. But I had refused to talk to him and I asked Bill and Sookie to not let him in the house and they were only too happy to agree. Neither of them wanted me to go back until I was ready, so Sookie had gone to Eric's house during the day and had gotten me some of my things so I wouldn't have to do it myself. And I had spent these last few days and nights with her, Bill and sometimes even Godric. It was Godric who tried the hardest to convince me to go back, claiming that Eric had seen the errors of his way but I wasn't willing to believe it just yet. But then again, as I told Godric, it didn't really matter how I was treated since I was just going to end up dying anyway. That disturbed him greatly and he forbid me from ever saying that again. He said that it wasn't fair to talk to him like that when he was the only one keeping my secret, and that if I wanted him to continue keeping it then I couldn't talk so morbidly. I only agreed because he was my friend and I knew it caused him pain to listen to me talk like this. But I was beginning to be so overwhelmed with all the destruction going on around me that I was just at the point of not wanting to deal with it anymore.

"Godric, I don't know if I can do this anymore.."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, all this bad stuff keeps on happening all around me and people are getting hurt because of me...If I'm just going to end up dying, why don't I just do it now and get it over with..."

"You mean...take your own life?"

"Or at least let someone else do it.."

I didn't want to die, not at all. I wanted to live my long immortal life. I wanted to spend all my long years with Eric by my side and Godric in the background as my best friend. I wanted to live to see Sookie get married to Bill and to see them live their own happy lives. I wanted to watch as this war would end the torment these witches were putting on all of us. I wanted it to work. But I knew it wouldn't. No matter how much I wanted to live, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do that. I had to die, just so everyone else could go on living. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right but it was my reality and nothing was going to change that. And I grew so frustrated with this that on more then one occasion , I told Godric that it wouldn't matter how I died just as long as I did. I even suggested that he just kill me himself and drink my blood so that at least he would be at his strongest and could fight should the witches decide not to stop attacking. I had never seen Godric get so mad at anything I said until I said this. It was a good thing we were alone because after I said he should kill me, he grabbed me by the arms and pushed me into a wall, saying he would never be the one to take my life no matter how much I begged him to. And this was one of those times that had gotten too intense and too emotional by just one sentence and I ended up crying in his arms with him trying to comfort me, telling me that they would try and figure out something and that maybe they could come up with a plan so I could live. But he and I both knew he was only saying that for my benefit because if there really was a way for me to live, then we would have discovered it by now. And we hadn't, so there was no hope for me.

"I still think you should go back to him...Eric wants to see you."

"I just can't right now...I'm not ready."

"But Allison, you don't know how much time you have left...and you really ought to spend it with the people who love you..and that includes Eric.."

"This may be for the best if I distance myself from him."

"How is that for the best?"

"I'm going to die Godric and it's only a matter of time until it happens...and I can't bear the thought of torturing Eric with a few last good days only for my life to be ended sometime soon. I just don't think I can do it. At least if I stay away then he can start to get over me and maybe my death won't hurt him as much."

"It's not right."

"No..it certainly isn't."

Later that night

"You need to go and get her Eric. She's hurting." Godric told his progeny one night when they were both gathered at his child's house and Godric was doing everything in his power to reunite the two of the most important people in his life but Eric was making it very difficult. "And we both know why she is hurting."

"And what exactly do you want me to do about it?" Eric asked, turning his face up from the book he had in his lap and set his steely eyes on Godric. "What else should I do that I haven't already done?"

"Maybe you should try and apologize, that sometimes gets these humans to respond." Godric replied with his eyes rolling far too often in his child's presence. "You do know what how to do that right?"

"Of course I do, I'm not a complete idiot." Eric scoffed, shaking his head and turning his focus back to his book.

"You sure about that? Because from where I am standing, you look very much like like an idiot." Godric raised his eyebrows in triumphant when he saw Eric's face shoot back over to him with a look of surprise on his pale face. It wasn't often when Godric felt the need to say something harsh to his child, but there were those rare occasions when Eric's head was so thick that it took an insult to make him pay attention. "Trust me when I say this Eric, you are brilliant. But you're not very smart."

"What has gotten into you?" Eric demanded, his icy blue eyes filling up with a cloud of confusion and fury. "You never talk to me like this."

"Maybe I am just getting sick and tired of watching you piss away the best thing that has ever happened to you." Godric hissed, not even having to directly say what it was that he was referring to, because it was obvious what he was talking about. "Allison loves you and you continue to test that love by being the most stubborn and idiotic vampire on the planet. You need to suck it up and be a man already."

"Jesus Christ you are obviously in a bad mood tonight." Eric frowned, tossing the book aside and sitting back with his hands clasped together. "What the hell happened to you? Have you not gotten any action lately?"

"Hmm, no wonder Allison doesn't want to return to the house or to you. You make it impossible to stay serious." Godric threw his arms up in the air, so ready to run out of there and never look back, but he had to stay for Allison's sake. "This isn't the time to be yourself Eric, you have to be better then this. You have to learn to adapt and become a better vampire."

"There's nothing wrong with the way I am and if Allison really loves me, then she won't want me to change." Eric replied smugly which was just adding to Godric's increasing fury.

"That may be true but this behavior of yours is not going to keep her with you for much longer." Godric flinched slightly as he said this, because it was hitting close to home on the secret he was hiding but Eric couldn't know that. "There is a war upon us, Eric. A war! And instead of acting appropriately, you are behaving like a child. Pushing her to the point of exhaustion, attacking her out of no where as part of training, scaring her so badly that she can't even look at you. Does that sound like the kinds of things you do when you love someone? Is that behavior going to be what keeps her convinced that you love her?"

"Don't even insinuate what I think you're going to say because it's bullshit." Eric snapped suddenly, his body rising up to it's full height in an act of intimidation, but as Godric had a thousand years on him and he was Eric's maker, it really didn't work, even with the flash of rage in Eric's eyes. "Of course I love her, I wouldn't be fighting so hard to keep her alive if I didn't."

"I told you before that its not coming across as love to me or to her. And if you expect to keep her with you, then you better go to her and apologize." Godric warned him with crossed arms. "Do not make you command you, I don't like doing it."

"Really? You could have fooled me. You seem to enjoy doing it a lot in the past week." Eric shot back back, his resistance to apologizing getting stronger and it shined out through his eyes. It shouldn't have surprised Godric because Eric never wanted to admit he was wrong and that was true for most people. But for someone like Eric, it was worse because he was more stubborn by nature and it was made worse by him being a vampire. "I can't apologize for doing something I thought was right."

"Then I can't talk to you anymore right now, because you can't even see your own mistakes." Godric shook his head, fed up with the attitude Eric was giving and made a move to walk out of the room. But before he left, he paused in the doorway and looked back at his child. "You better find it in you to apologize, because if you don't, you will find yourself staring at her back as she walks away from you again. And you will have no one to blame but yourself."

1 hour later

"So this is your idea of finding peace? We jump in your car and drive away with no destination in mind? Are you crazy?" I asked Godric, turning my head to stare at him from where he sat in the passenger seat looking at me like it was no big deal. "And what's even more nuts is that you're letting me drive your car. Did you forget I was recently in a car accident?"

"Don't worry, I trust you and it's just a car. It can be replaced. But a night of just relaxing and doing something fun when no one else can stop us, well, that can't replaced." Godric grinned me as I drove along the back roads of Bon Temps with nothing in sight except empty roads and trees. "Face it, you needed this time away from everyone and I was just helping you get it."

"Well, you are right about that." I nodded, gripping the steering with a small smile as I thought about how this night had started out. I had been prepared to just spend the evening alone in Bill's house but then Godric showed up and thought it would be fun for us to go on a drive together. He told Sookie and Bill that he would be with me, so if anything were to happen then I would be in safe hands. This convinced them and since they were after me to cheer up, they practically pushed me out the door after Godric, telling me to try and have fun. I didn't know exactly what Godric wanted to do but I wasn't going to question it too much because no matter what it was, I always had fun with him. I hadn't hung out with him enough in the past few months since we came back and it was nice to be able to just spend some time together like we use to back when he was trapped in the tomb. And who knew how much time we had left together? I pushed that out of my head as I looked over to him. "I really did need this, so thank you."

"I've seen how much of a toll everything is taking on you and I don't want you to suffer any more then you have to." Godric made a point of saying to me. "I mean, I know that this is going to be a tough road for all of us, but it will be especially hard for you. And I just want your last moments to be as calm and as filled with happiness as they..."

"Godric, I really don't want to talk about my impending death." I cut in, stopping his comment in its tracks as I took my eyes off the road to look at him with my eyebrows raised. "This is suppose to be about me having a moment of forgetting about it, at least for a few hours. So let's change the subject."

"You're right, I'm sorry. Consider the subject dropped." Godric immediately shut down the direction the conversation was going and went another way. "You know, I was talking to Eric tonight and..."

"I don't want to talk about Eric either." I quickly said, feeling my heart pound in my chest at the mention of his name and I hurriedly pushed it away. "He still hasn't apologized and unless you were bringing him up for that reason, then I don't want to hear it."

"Ok, is there any subject that is safe to talk about?" Godric asked, almost sounding amused that this time together was turning into a childish conversation. "Because I'm not really sure..."

It happened so fast that I wasn't sure what was occurring before my very eyes as I watched it unfold. It was so vivid and real that I wasn't even sure I was actually in the car driving with Godric next to me, I was just that caught up in what I was seeing. I didn't hear the sound of the engine or Godric talking to me as the images in my vision washed over me...

"I can see them approaching, the car is just around the bend." The man in black slacks and bright yellow t-shirt said to his companion at his side as he set down the binoculars and picked up the heavy black rifle and cocked it. "Are you ready to do this?"

"Not as ready as you, but I always follow orders." The shorter man replied as he too picked up the same kind of gun as the man beside him. "But what I don't get is why we are shooting for the vampire."

"Why not? You know how the church is against these dead folks, we are just doing the world a favor by taking care of them in our own way." The taller man laughed, quietly hoisting the rifle up at the same level as his shoulder. "Besides, this is the plan Newlin and the witches came up with and if we expect to rise in the ranks, then we do what we're told."

"Ok ok, I was just asking." The small man said, gripping his gun tightly as they both looked through the empty tree branches towards the road. "But what if we accidentally shot the girl and she dies?"

"Then we are as good as dead too. And that's why we need to be careful. We just need to send a message and then get out of here, the coven will take care of the rest." The man assured his friend, his body getting tense. "We are under orders to take care of that vampire she is with, without causing harm to her. If she dies before they get her soul, then trouble will arise for us. And Newlin will not like that."

"So we shoot the vampire?"

"Yes...that's exactly what we're going to do." The first man said evilly, placing his finger on the trigger and a second later, the firs round was shot into the car...

"Shit" I barely was able to scream this as my body took on its own reaction and I felt my foot slam on the brakes while I came out of the vision just as the first shots were fired through the window. I couldn't even bring my body to move as I listened to the glass shattering as the car skidded to a stop in the middle of the road and the air was filled with the sound of bullets hitting the metal exterior of the car as well as inside. I heard the cry of pain that was not my own and it was so full of anguish that I knew it was going to haunt me for the rest of my life. I felt my face being splattered with a dark liquid that I knew was blood and I couldn't bring myself to turn my head to see where it was coming from. The sound of over a dozen rounds of the bullets entering the car did not take precedent over the scream that suddenly came out of my own mouth as I felt three bullets strike me in the leg, bringing me a fresh pain that I had never felt before as the blood began seeping down my skin while the bullets lodged themselves into my bones. But believe it or not, I barely felt the pain as my eyes drifted to the side and caught sight of Godric's body slumped over in a bloody mess against the window, his chest and arms riddled with holes from the silver bullets. I felt my heart slam heavily into the side of my chest as I watched his eyelids flutter out of pain.

"Oh my god." I barely was able to whisper this as I tried to reach across the seats to him, but his hands shot up and grabbed mine tightly, surprisingly still strong after being shot this many times with silver. I watched as he pried his eyes open and turned them to meet mine as his mouth opened slightly.

"Drive...back to Bill's house..safer there." He managed to croak, his voice sounding weak which was something I was not use to and it scared me to see him like this. And when his eyes shut as if he had blacked out, I was even more frightened. I was able to restrain myself quickly because I had to get Godric out of here and I couldn't waste time. I quickly let my foot off the brakes and hit the accelerator,twisting the wheel all the way to the left so I could turn in the other direction and go back. I had to use my left leg to use the pedals since my right was in too much pain, but when I had the car straightened out, I barely remembered I had been shot and took off at breakneck speed back to Bill's house. I took a second to reach over and squeeze Godric's lifeless hand and whisper out loud as comforting a phrase as I could managed at this point.

"It will be ok Godric. You'll be ok. I will make sure of it."

7 minutes later

"Sookie! Bill! Get out here quick." I screamed out the open window towards the house where I knew Bill would at least hear my voice, but I laid on the horn just as I swung the car around in the driveway and brought it to a stop right by the front steps, practically falling out of the seat in my attempt to exit the car quickly. I had barely gotten the door shut when Bill and Sookie came running out onto the porch, coming to a stop when they saw the bullet damaged car and me trying to unsuccessfully pull an unconscious Godric out from the passenger side. I looked over my shoulder, setting my eyes on Bill and called out to him. "Bill help me, he's been shot."

Bill shot down the steps without another word and over to the car. He pushed me aside gently so he could yank Godric's still form out of the vehicle and fling him over his shoulder, zipping into the house where I felt a wave of relief come over me from knowing that my friend was now in a safe place. I watched Sookie look between me and then at Bill, not sure if she was seeing what she was seeing. I felt my lips shake as my body was filled up with a pain that was not my own, it was Godric's. I was feeling the pain of his injuries through our blood bond and it was torture to feel that. It was what pushed me to move my body quickly up the porch steps and hurry passed Sookie and into the front foyer of Bill's house to see Godric's body lying on the shiny wood floor with blood continuing to seep slowly out of him.

"What the hell happened?" Sookie asked me, his face showing the same horror I felt at seeing a two thousand year old vampire lying on the floor at our feet, appearing like he was dead. "You guys were only gone for 15 minutes. How did this happen?"

"I ..uh...I was driving the car down one of the back roads and everything was fine for a while. But..but ..but then I had a vision of two members from the Fellowship hiding in the woods. They were sent there to shoot Godric, to send some kind of message to the coven. And then...just.,just as I came out of it..." I couldn't even form a coherent sentence as tears started to swim in my eyes and my entire body began to shake as I struggle to contain my increasing panic. "Then the vision came true...and they ...they shot him. More then a dozen times...and he looked so lifeless..."

"Allison...listen to me." Bill appeared in the space in front of me, his hands going to either side of my face as he attempted to calm me with his words, looking at me gently. "He's going to be ok. He's two thousand years old and the bullets are just silver, they won't kill him. They will eventually push themselves out of his body and he'll be weak for a while but he will be fine."

"He'll be ok?" I asked, my lips trembling as I looked around him towards Godric where he was still lying motionless on the floor and I found it hard to believe that he could be ok with him looking like that. "Isn't there anything we can do to help him?"

"Not really. As I said, the bullets will come out on their own and he will heal. But because there were so many of them, it will take a little longer to heal." Bill explained, his hands dropping to my shoulders and squeezed them gently. "But there is something that could speed up the process."

"What's that?" I demanded even though I was pretty sure I already knew what he meant. I hadn't thought about it at the time because I was so panicked, but now that I was standing inside the house and was safe, I knew what I could do to ease my friend's pain. I looked up and caught Bill's eye. "It's my blood right?"

"Yes, Fae blood will make the healing go a lot faster." Bill nodded in agreement, looking at Sookie apologetically as if he knew she didn't want me to do this. "But he will be fine if you don't do it."

"No I have to. He was hurt because of me and now I need to help him." I told Bill, moving away from him and walked across the floor to where Godric laid and got down on my knees. There was a gash on the inside of my wrist that had come from the broken glass that I could use to feed Godric my blood and I was on the verge of gathering him up in my arms when the sound of loud steps came from the direction of the porch and we all looked up towards the open double doors and saw Eric's tall frame filling the doorway, his face full of shock and pain as his eyes landed on his maker. "Eric.."

"Do not feed him your blood." He said quickly, his eyes immediately going to my wrist where I had it poised in the air, ready to press against Godric's lips. Eric tried to walk through the door, but Sookie had never reinstated his invitation so he was forced to remain where he was as he glared at me. "Godric will live without your blood. You are mine, no other vampire can feed from you."

"This is not the time to exert your territory, Godric is weak and he needs blood. My blood." I hissed, sitting down completely on the floor before I gingerly lifted Godric's head into my lap and sent Eric a death glare. "You can't stop me."

"Want to bet?" He shot back, his eyes darting over to my cousin and he motioned her to come forward. "Sookie, invite me in right now."

"Do not let him in here, he will just try and stop me and I don't want him to. I need to do this." I snapped at Sookie as she appeared to be debated whether or not to do as Eric said. But she eventually fell back beside Bill, content to follow my orders. I turned my head back to Eric and very harshly said. "Fuck off."

I then shoved my free arm underneath Godric's head so he was at a better angle to drink and then I offered my wrist to his mouth, feeling him latch on almost immediately and begin to drink in slow even gulps. I sighed in relief, my body relaxing into a numb heap as I felt my blood flow out of my veins and into Godric's mouth. Bill was right when he said my blood wold speed up the healing process. Because as Godric was drinking from me, I could hear small little tinkles of metal hitting my legs before they dropped to the floor. And I knew they were the bullets working their way out of his body just as Bill had said they would. And I should have at ease over this and would have been had it not been for the gasp coming out of Sookie's mouth.

"Oh my god, you've been shot too!" She exclaimed, her hands shakily pointing down to my right leg where there were three very clear holes in my skin, showing the bullet's entry. "Allie, you're hurt."

"I'm fine, really I am." I lied to her face because I did not want her to worry about me. If she got too worried then she would tell Bill to make me stop, or worse, she would get Eric to do it and I did not want him touching me right now. I wanted Godric to take my blood so I didn't have to feel his pain any more. That was worse then feeling my own injuries. I looked at Sookie and smiled. "It's ok, I barely feel it."

But that was perhaps one of the biggest lies I had ever told. Because the longer Godric drank from me, the more I began to feel my own pain start to seep back in. It was like the more Godric healed and the more his own pain lessened, mine seemed to triple in comparison and yet I still held on. I had to heal him even if my own anguish was beginning to take over. I knew the last of the bullets had left his body because he suddenly stopped drinking my blood and his eyes shot open. He was just sitting up on his own as my pain got the better of me and I blacked on the floor beside him.

"What a stupid thing for her to do."

"Such a foolish girl for doing this. You would have been fine with out her blood."

"She was only trying to help, my child. She and I share that bond remember? She can feel my pain just as well as you can."

"Still, it was stupid, she needed to worry about her own injuries and instead she made you drink her blood and you did it willingly. I don't know if I can let that go..."

"Eric, shut up."

"Yea Eric, shut up." I mumbled quietly as I came out of my unconscious state and gained the attention of the arguing vampires sitting on the bed in front of me. As soon as they were aware that I was really awake, their faces were both hovering over me as if to make sure it wasn't a hallucination and as I looked at the two of them staring back at me, I couldn't help but giggle, which only confused them and I couldn't stop myself from saying what I said next. "If this was a dream, then its a very good one. Who wouldn't want to wake up in bed with two vampires? That's hot."

"Uh..." Godric shot Eric a look which he returned with an equally confused expression as I pushed myself up into a sitting position and saw that I was back in the room I had been staying in at Bill's. Well that was a relief.

"I was kidding guys, relax." I said jokingly, rolling my eyes as I saw the still puzzled look on their faces as they tried to make sense of what I had just said. I ran my hands through my hair, finding it stiff with splatters of dried blood but other wise, that was the only reminder of what had happened. "Well I feel great."

"That was a very foolish thing you did Allison, giving me your blood." Godric snapped, looking me over protectively like a father would do to his young daughter but I knew he wasn't mad despite the tone he was directing at me. "You should have been getting yourself healed, but instead you wanted to give me your blood first. Very stupid, I would have been fine without it."

"That's what I said." Eric grumbled, his eyes filled with rage that I had let another vampire drink from me without the slightest hesitation.

"You needed to heal quickly and with that many bullets in you, it could have taken days for it to heal properly and we don't know when we will have to fight. So I did what I had to do." I explained, ignoring Eric's comment as I looked at the vampire who just a little while ago had been lying motionless on the floor downstairs. "I don't regret it."

"Next time, you won't do something like that if it can be avoided." He told me sternly, but underneath the frown that he wore, there was a hint of a grateful smile for my actions. But he quickly hid it before nodding over to Eric. "Eric healed you by the way."

"Did you now?" I turned my focus on the taller vampire, watching his face intently when I was told it was him who had taken away my pain and awkwardly said. "Thank you."

"Yea, whatever." Eric hissed, obviously still angry that I had let his maker drink my blood. Eric took it very personally if anything other then him tasted me and I knew he would hold a grudge over this. But what was I suppose to do? Stand by and watch his maker, my best friend, in pain when I knew I could make it easier on him? Sorry Eric, but I was always going to try and help where I can.

"So what now?" I asked, pulling my legs up to my chest as I looked back and forth between Eric and Godric, but it was Eric who responded first.

"Now, you try to not die for at least a few days, can you manage that?" He growled before getting to his feet and shooting out of the room.