Godric landed outside a beautiful mansion, something that would seem a little out of place in Jackson, Mississippi. There didn't appear to be any guards, but there was a strange smell about the place - something that reminded him of Alice, and he knew it was because the owner of the mansion in question had someone living there that was just like her.

He sighed as he trudged up to the front door and rapped three times. He still found it bizarre that nobody had tried to stop him, but perhaps it was a quiet night for all around here. Maybe the king lived far enough in a remote place in Jackson that he didn't need an excessive amount of guards at this time of night.

His eyes widened when the door opened and he was met with a familiar face. Likewise, the vampire who opened the door would have gone pale if he were still human.

"Bill," Godric breathed, unable to comprehend what was going on. "This is…"

"A surprise, yes," Bill finished, opening the door wider and stepping aside to allow Godric entry. He closed the door once the other vampire was inside. "What - what are you doing here?"

"I came to see the King," he replied, glancing around at the marble hallway and staircase. He caught sight of a woman with long brown hair watching from the top of the stairs; she immediately ran away when they made eye contact. Godric's gaze fell back on Bill. "Business, if you don't mind the fact I'd rather not discuss it around you."

"Understandable," Bill said, gesturing down the marble hallway, leading Godric down that way. "The King is in the study. He'll be pleased to see you."

Godric didn't say anything and merely followed Bill, until such a time he was left to go into the lavishly decorated study - books lining a wall, a roaring fireplace in the other. Two sofas were at the centre of the room with a coffee table between them, and a large wooden desk at the window behind one of them.

Russell Edgington, King of Mississippi, was reclining on one of the sofas talking to Lorena. Of all the vampires. Godric suddenly understood why Bill was here now.

"Your majesty, I'm sorry to intrude-"

"Nonsense!" Russell waved him off. "I was wondering if you've ever drop by, Godric. It's good to see you in one piece - you had a lot of us worried." He turned to Lorena. "Leave us."

The female vampire inclined her head politely and headed off, closing the door behind her. Godric went to settle on the other sofa.

"So what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Unfortunately it's not quite a pleasure for me to be here…" Godric shifted uncomfortably, the whole thing to do with the wolves and Bill falling into place in his mind - he couldn't let Russell know that he was starting to cotton on... "Earlier on in the daytime, and not an hour ago, some Werewolves from this area decided to attack someone that belongs to another vampire - in Area Five, run by Sheriff Northman. He sent me here while sorts out some other… personal matters. I was wondering if I could get your permission to scout the area to find them?"

Russell shot Godric a toothy smile, one that would have unnerved anyone if they didn't know it was a genuine smile. "How very old fashioned of you. Except I can't let you do that."

"Oh?" Godric raised an eyebrow, still trying to play dumb.

"You see, the wolves here answer to me," Russell said. "But since you so graciously came to ask about it, I will see to it that I deal with it personally."

"Your majesty, that would be very kind of you." Godric bowed his head gently.

"It's no worry at all, Godric," he drawled. "It's strange to see you work for your progeny, though. You were a Sheriff yourself not last week! What changed that?"

"Nan Flanagan wasn't too impressed with me, let's just say. It meant I had nothing left in Dallas, except to return to my family. I don't mind working for Eric, your majesty, in fact I am glad to."

"So I can't try and sway you to work for me at all?" Russell teased.

"Unfortunately not," Godric chuckled, if anything out of politeness. "My loyalties lie with my family and Louisiana."

Russell nodded, getting up and straightening out his suit in the process, beginning to walk towards the door. "Well, at least rest here for the night. I have someone you should meet tomorrow evening, and then you can be on your way back to Shreveport."

Godric rose and followed Russell back out into the hallway and towards the stairs. "Of course. Thank you for your hospitality, and for speaking with me about the… ahh, issue we had today."

They started going up the stairs and down a long, winding hallway.

"It was no trouble. And since you've been so good, you can rest in one of the rooms that doesn't have silver lining the door. You can walk freely here as if it were your own home. You're old enough not to need a guard, are you?"

The idea of silver lined doors made Godric shudder internally, but he still kept face and agreed with what Russell was saying. They eventually came to the end of the carpeted hallway, and Godric was left at his room.

He was glad to be left in peace, because he had to call Eric.

Alice's front door was fucked, to say the least.

All the same, Eric had done his best to put it back in its rightful place, going so far as to find some old wood panels in the spare room and nailing them horizontally across the door to keep it in place. Alice had sat on the stairs watching him as he fixed her home for her, trying not to drop off from how tired she was.

By the time Eric was done, she was leaning her head against the bannister and her eyelids were drooping.

"Ali," he murmured, gently shaking her shoulder. "Go to bed. You didn't need to wait up."

She blinked rapidly, trying to make herself more alert. "I wanted to," she told him, allowing him to help her stand up. While on the stairs like this, she was just about as tall as Eric, bar a couple of inches. The moment she made eye contact with him, Alice dropped down a step so that she was chest height and promptly began to cry on him.

Not expecting that to happen, Eric went tense for a moment before he put his arms around her. "It's okay," he said quietly. "It'll be okay."

"Sorry," she murmured against him, and that word only served to make him kiss the top of her head. She was overwhelmed by the event earlier, and that didn't surprise him. What did surprised him was how long it took for her to register it. Maybe it was because he'd spent the past twenty minutes trying to think of a good temporary fix for her door.

"Don't apologise," Eric replied softly, scooping Alice up into his arms and carrying her up to her room, where he set her down on the bed and lay beside her.

She curled up into him, as per usual, and it made him wonder how someone such as himself - an ancient vampire, a killer, one of the iciest people to exist - was firstly, wrapped around her little finger, and secondly, practically her safety net. He played with her hair silently until she drifted off to sleep, tears staining her face. He hated how it was near enough impossible to stop them half the time, not that he was particularly good at stopping them.

Just being next to Alice in this state made him sleepy too, but Eric knew he had to stay awake until dawn. He had to leave her house before then, as much as he didn't want to leave her alone. He supposed he could call the shifter to keep an eye on her daytime tomorrow, since that was their agreement.

His phone buzzing in his pocket snapped him out of his thoughts.

Eric sat up and crept out of Alice's room so he could talk without disturbing her.

"Godric?"

"Eric, Bill's here. Bill is at Russell's mansion."

"I know," he sighed, stepping into the spare room. "I know. We figured it out. Alice had an unwelcome visitor while Pam was here - a wolf."

"Russell owns the wolves in this area. Wolves took Bill. Bill clearly told Russell about Alice to save Sookie's neck - except it didn't work…" Godric was clearly gritting his teeth. "Also, Eric… that would mean-"

"Yes. Russell and his wolves killed my family." It was odd to say it out loud. "Are you still there?"

"I'm staying the night, but I'll be back tomorrow. Hopefully. He told me he wants me to meet someone, and I can only assume it's the girl who's like Alice…"

An idea struck Eric. "What if you're able to take her with you when you leave tomorrow?"

"If Russell knows about Alice, he'd want her in place of what he lost," Godric replied solemnly. "We can't play it like that. Listen, Russell only thinks you're after the wolves - he has no idea that you've considered Bill as 'missing.' This could still work in our favour."

"I was planning on using Bill as bait for the vampire blood, but there's a chance it might not work."

"Eric, you've had a millennia to practice lying. You're good at it. Use that to your advantage in this."

Eric cocked an eyebrow. "You're actually going to endorse me lying? To a regent of all?"

"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

He shook his head, smirking. "No, but if it goes wrong then I at least have you to blame."

"Thanks, Eric," Godric was rather deadpan in that response. "I have to go. I'll update you tomorrow night."

"Sure." Eric hung up almost as swiftly as Godric did, and moved back out into the upper landing once more. He stared at Alice's bedroom door, and decided it would be best to leave for tonight.

He crept through and used the window like normal.

The moment Godric was off the phone to Eric, he heard a very quiet knock at his door. He frowned, uncertain of who would be trying to call him on at this time of night. He cautiously answered to find the woman with the brown hair from earlier on.

"Are you Godric?" she asked quietly, her dark eyes filled with horror. He nodded and allowed her in. He checked that nobody was lurking in the hallway before shutting the door after her.

"What's your name, child?" he asked her. "How long have you been here? I only heard about you recently."

"Miruna," she said, and it was then that Godric detected a faint hint of an Eastern European accent. "My name is Miruna Gavrila, and I've been here since nineteen eighty five." She drew her lips together into a tight line. "You can't help her and you can't help me. He'll just keep coming back - he'll keep. Coming. Back. I've seen it."

"You would have," Godric nodded. "How old are you?"

"I stopped aging when I was twenty four. So that would make me… about fifty two. I tried to see your path, but instead I saw your past. I'm too good at what I do and sometimes it gets away from me - are you Death?"

His face turned stony. "I was. I was the boy called Death, but no longer. Miruna, you know about Alice, don't you?"

"He wants her too. He wants to see if anything happens if me and her worked together. He knows too much about his own path and it's my fault-"

Godric gripped her shoulders. "No, child, it's not your fault. You never wanted to be here, did you?"

She shook her head.

"Will you get into trouble if Russell saw you talking to me?"

She shook her head once more. Godric sighed in relief.

"Good. Despite what you might think, I can help. There's someone else who can help, too."

A cold smile drifted across her for the briefest of seconds. "You're both the reason he keeps coming back."

"Alice is proof that the future changes. Eric has mentioned that she's done the most minor of actions and it's changed the most minute of details," Godric insisted. "Please, we can help."

"Then you have to become Death again. There's no room for mercy with Russell. Not with something like this."

"I can't."

"You can be Death, but still have a soft heart," she said gently, shrugging out of his grip. "Like how the Viking is still powerful, but he has a gentle heart when it comes to Alice."

"You know too much," Godric hissed at Miruna, and her lips twitched upwards for a moment.

"I've been here nearly thirty years, with Russell making me do things over and over - of course I know too much." Miruna sank down onto the bed, Godric joining her. "Would you do anything for your son?"

"Yes. I would."

"And he would do anything for Alice?"

"Yes, but he refuses to admit it."

She chuckled a little. "You made him with an icy heart."

"I did," Godric's shoulders sagged. "And now I regret it more than ever - but I was Death, and he was my companion. He was the Darkness that followed Death…" he mused. "And Alice's sweet nature - let's say she's Light, for the sake of the metaphor - has touched him. An icy heart no more."

"That sounds nice."

"Miruna, I'm frightened about what might happen if Russell gets hold of Alice."

"Me too."

"I'm scared he'll break her."

Tears formed in Miruna's eyes, and that was the only answer Godric needed from her. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing that he had allowed Eric to rid the world of Bill Compton at the first opportunity possible. The woman sitting next to him tried to pat him on the shoulder in comfort, but he flinched away.

He wanted to be alone right now so that he could process the fact Miruna knew what was coming. She took the hint and left him be.

Godric could only hope that whatever happened, that he and Eric could get Alice out of the impending mess as quickly as possible.

Yeah, I changed the old character of Maria a little bit. :)

anonymouscsifan: Godric is gonna get his happy ending, I assure you! I've actually written how this overall fic series ends (I say series, it's just 4 stories). But yeaaahhh... Death might make a comeback at some point in the near future, because GOD I couldn't not write that part of Godric's character. Hope you're doing well!

Comment?

-OL.