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Chapter 36

My eyes immediately pop open when I hear stirrings from our bedmates. I don't feel Sookie's consciousness so I kiss her cheek and then pull my arm out from around her. I get up and look around, noting the glow around us, though it's much dimmer than it was. Dawn is coming; I sense it in my blood, perhaps a half an hour away. It's funny that I don't feel the pull but I was just technically sleeping.

Vampires don't technically "sleep", in the traditional sense of the word. We do not toss and turn, waiting for sleep to take us, waiting for our consciousness to float away. We do not dream. We feel the sun coming and an intense desire to rest for, what I think are, mainly self-preserving reasons. Baby vamps cannot ignore the call. But around a century of age, you can begin to ignore it for a little while, perhaps stay up to see an indirect sunrise in a mirror. After two hundred years, I wouldn't get the bleeds until noon and felt the need to rest but could ignore it easily enough, if I was well fed.

Godric, at a thousand years old when he created me, reported that he could go a week without going to ground and having minor bleeds if he fed on a human a day. After five hundred years with him, he could go up to two weeks without "dying", as some vamps call it, and he wouldn't have the bleeds. He reported that he'd be a little weaker after the first week, but at nearly two thousand years old "a little weaker" was still stronger and faster than I.

When we "sleep" or "die" or "rest", whatever term you'd put on it, we simply lay down in a sun safe spot and close our eyes. After about a minute, the brain powers down and you're dead, essentially. Cold, complete still, lifeless, unmoving, unflinching until the mystery of vampirism somehow brings you back to life, an hour or so after dusk for new vamps, around dusk for older ones. We do not rise with sleep in our eyes. We do not rise still groggy or wanting to lounge in bed and doze. We are immediately alert and awake, all senses teaming and ready to go.

But… I believe what I experienced tonight would be described as sleep. I slept beside Sookie, holding her close, breathing her essence in, feeling the calm lull of the babies' breath, hearing their hearts gently thumping away. I wonder if that is a side effect of all the magics or if I could do this more often. I would enjoy that because I dreamt. I zip around to the other side of the bed to check on the babies and I remember seeing Godric moving around, caressing their little heads and telling me how incredible they are. I dreamt that we talked, he and I.

He told me how proud he was of what I was doing here, becoming a king worthy of history, worthy of the power I held, a king to protect his people, not harm them. He told me how happy he is on the plane of existence he inhabits, where he can walk through worlds and into history to see things he missed. He can dive deep into the oceans and see all there is that he never dreamt of seeing.

I wonder what dreams the babies have or if they are capable of dreaming at all.

My eyes fall on Erica because she lets out one soft cry as starts wiggling a little, opening and shutting her mouth and sucking on her tongue. Her little heads moves back and forth as her forehead scrunches up and relaxes and scrunches again. I'm fascinated by the scene as they all begin to follow suit, one after another. Aidan starts rubbing his face a little and yawning while he wiggles. Addy does the same and her face contorts to look angry, like she's going to scream, for a second before her eyes open completely.

"Well hello all of you," I greet them as I sit on the bed. I pull the bedspread up to cover myself before gathering them all closer to me. All five are now staring back at me, Liam has a little scowl on his face one second and then his little fingers glow and he relaxes. "I can't believe you're all here, finally. I'm your father. Your mother asked me what 'Daddy' is in Swedish and it's Pappa. Though since you'll be growing up in America, you can call me Dad or Daddy if you wish. Whatever you choose will be fine with me, though I guess it's early to talk about that."

Their skin is so soft as I stroke their arms and they grab at my fingers. Even though they're covered in dried fluid, they're still beautiful. I really wasn't sure how I'd even know them apart, but I just know. Probably because I see every little detail of their little faces, every nuance. For instance, Liam and Cory are very similar, however Liam's nose is a little bigger whereas Cory's cheekbones are a bit more defined. To the average person, they would seem identical, but they're not.

They seem as mesmerized by me as I am by them.

"I will not be one to coo at you or do that insane baby talk thing that women tend to do. I will not have cute nicknames for you like your mother does. She'll call you her lovies or puppies or whatever else she comes up with that is adorable, but I won't participate in that for three reasons. First, I'm a thousand years old. Second, I'm a vampire. Third, I'm a Viking."

It's interesting to finally see the little creatures I've been feeling for a couple months now, though the connection I have with them has faded a little. Is that because I was only feeling them because of the connection I share with Sookie? I need that strong bond with them; I want to feel them, if only for their protection. I need to be able to sense their fear immediately so I can be there.

I stick my finger into Erica's mouth and she is content to suck on it a couple seconds as I touch her gums. I want to know if they have fangs yet, or if they ever will. There's no teeth there, as one would suspect but-

"Oh," I nearly shout in surprise as two little baby fangs prick my finger. "I suppose that answers that question. Though you all shouldn't use those when you're feeding from Mamma," I request, as if they understand me. But it looks like they do. Their eyes are so expressive and is it so crazy to think they could be developmentally advanced already and understand me?

"Do you like that?" I ask with a chuckle as she bites a bit harder and sucks. Aidan, who is laying next to her, scowls at her and looks pissed, actually, like he's about to cry. "What? Do you want some, my son?" I wonder as I extend my thumb over to where he can reach it. He clamps down as well. This is certainly one way to bond.

Addy starts to get fussy and Liam and Cory soon follow suit. "Okay, okay, calm down. We don't want to wake Mamma. She's very tired." I pull my fingers from Aidan and Erica which I can tell does not make them happy, but they allow it. "You have to share," I chide them as their siblings clamp onto the fingers they're offered. "Baby fangs all around then," I laugh softly.

I sense Sookie's consciousness reaching out for me before she hums through a morning yawn while stretching out. The sheet falls off her breast and suddenly, Erica has teleported the foot and a half that separated her from it as she tries to get her mouth to the nipple but doesn't have the coordination to do it yet. Her frustration comes through the bond quite fantastically.

"Okay, Erica, but she's not really awake yet. It's rude to start sucking on someone's nipple before they are awake," I inform her. I pull my finger from Addy's mouth so I can reach over and guide Sookie's nipple to Erica's mouth.

That's an important lesson for anyone.

"Indeed it is, my queen," I smile and lean over to kiss her forehead. "How do you feel? More importantly, she's not biting you is she? They have fangs."

"Fangs?" she asks, suddenly awake. "I don't feel any."

"Well that's probably good then. I had my finger in her mouth to see if they had fangs when she bit me. I did tell them not to bite you while nursing. Though I don't know if they understand."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Having never breast fed before, I had no idea what to expect. Certainly Eric has bitten and sucked on my nipples during sex so I thought it would be awkward to have a baby there, but it just feels amazing. Her sucking is so rhythmic and gentle, yet strong. I can't imagine I'll love it after a few days of non-stop babies there, but… for this first time, it feels magical.

"If you can help me up and prop some pillows around me, I can nurse two of them at once to speed the process along," I tell him while I watch Liam and Cody sucking on his fingers. "I still- it still feels like a dream, like it didn't really happen, any of it."

"But it did, Sookie. We have our babies and they waited for you to be a proper married lady, which I take as a sign that they will have very good manners."

I laugh softly because it's bizarre. I think of that first night I met Eric and how terrified I was and here he is with his hand toying with our little babies.

He helps pull me up because I still don't feel like I have any muscle control right now. I feel very weak physically, but powerful in other ways. Like… I just know the boys want the girls to nurse first. I don't know how I know it, but I do. And my light- whatever it is that makes my light work is strong. I feel it inside me somehow and I know it's supercharged. It's like that night when I exploded red and saved Eric- it felt out of my control when it happened, like it was bursting out of my skin. I sense it now, bubbling just below my skin, but it's in control now, like it's a part of me, not something in me.

We get pillows built up around me once I'm sitting up so that both little girls are tucked close to me under my arms, each at a breast. I pet their heads and note the little sparks I leave. I write their names on their foreheads and the light remains a moment before fading.

"That's new," he mentions. "How do you feel?"

"My body is tired, but… I feel strong, Eric. Not you-strong but… powerful. It's probably from the spell and will wear off in a couple days, but it's like right under my skin is this boiling source of power. It's incredible."

"We can learn more about the spell once we've gotten cleaned up." He kisses my temple and I watch as he pretend fights with the boys, batting at their hands with his fingers playfully. "We must start your warrior defense training now, Boys."

These are precious moments we're sharing but I know there's work to be done. There is- he's going to battle tonight. I don't want him to now. I didn't want him to then, but now he's their father and my mate.

"I wonder if they know you had the babies," he says.

"Layla does," I inform him. "But she hasn't told."

"How do you know that?"

"I just-" I shrug. "I just do, Eric. Like… I just knew they wanted Addy in the middle last night. It's probably just the magics."

"Or the magics that lit the glow cocoon infused with you. I feel stronger as well, faster. I- Sookie, I slept last night, like a human sleep. I dreamt. I had a conversation with Godric in a dream, or something like a dream. But I remember it because I was resting consciously, humanly. We'll have to ask if that's happened before with this fae-lighting thing."

I glow aqua and concentrate on my breathing and letting the energy flow where it ought to go, to see what cannot be seen, know what cannot be known. The answers come to me much easier than they did the last time I did this.

"It's permanent. Like… I see us with…" I concentrate as images float into my mind and tell him that I see "the club… the big room in the back with your new throne… but there's two. You and me and the room filled with… everyone… all kinds, safe, happy." It'll happen. We can protect everyone. We will.

I open my eyes as Erica pulls away from me. "Are you done, Peanut Butter?" I smile as I pick her up and kiss her little cheek. "Was that nummy? Did you like Mommy's boobie?" I laugh and she coos a little at me. "Wanna see Pappa while I feel Aidan?" That makes her hands glow happily and then she disappears from my hands and reappears in front of Eric, who, luckily, has amazing vampire speed and reflexes, because she teleported in front of him in mid-air. He catches her gently and holds her against his chest while helping me to get Aidan.

"Maybe we shouldn't teleport unless people know we're coming," he laughs at her. "Huh?"

"Morgan and Emma are awake," I note because I hear their thoughts as they wake. "They're coming to check on us, to see if the bubble is still up."

It's there but very very thin, almost translucent now.

We somehow manage to get all the babies fed before they get close as they walk down the pathway from the guest house to the main house.

"I wonder if they-"

"Sookie!" Morgan gasps and I wave and smile. "Oh my god!"

"Yeah, they're here! Surprise!" I laugh. Morgan and Emma start to come over in a rush to see the babies and most likely check on all of us, but their little hands are suddenly glowing red and their anger is palpable. "Hey, my little lambies, it's Morgan and Emma. They're our friends, Hunnies. You're safe."

I glow purple at them to calm them, but they are very stubborn.

"They are family," Eric states. "Pappa says they are okay. They take care of you and Mamma."

"That's so strange," I say and keep hoping that suddenly I'll know why they're upset and angry. "Do you want more time with Mamma and Pappa? Because we can't do it alone, Bunnies. We all need baths to get clean and-"

Suddenly, I find myself sitting in the tub in the master bath with the two babies in my arms and the three others are laying in the tub as well.

"This is not funny," I mutter as Eric rushes in the door a second later.