Chapter 35
Why was I not hearing anything or anyone?
I reopened my eyes. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the light. Why was I on the floor? Who was that Were beside me, why was he smiling?
Suddenly I felt the pain in my stomach, the sharp pull on my temples and the room spinning. Nothing was coming into focus, and I coughed up some blood as I tried to lift myself on my forearms.
Did I pass out?
My eyes finally focused on the last spot I had seen Eric. He was standing looking away from me. It was so hard to see anything, as if everyone was constantly moving, staying on the floor seemed like a good option for me at the time. I tried harder to focus on what he was looking at. He eventually looked over his shoulder and saw me. At vampire speed, he made his way to me and after kneeling beside me, he held me closely.
I was confused, having no idea what had happened. I gasped, looking up at Eric. I brought both my hands to his face and kept asking him if he was okay. I look at the wound on his leg, it looked like it was crippling, and it was still burning. The smell of his burning flesh made its way to my nose and I gagged.
"I'll be fine Lover." He said but how could he be so sure?
He stood up and grabbed me on the way up despite his injury. I looked around and noticed that all the hunters had been neutralized by a vampire or a Were. In the middle of the dance floor, Fintan was on his knees in front of another vampire that I had never seen before. He was completely dressed in white and was talking in a language I did not understand.
The vampire was noticeably shorter than the others, but it didn't take away from his tenure or how imposing he was.
Eric placed me on my feet and helped me make my way closer to the vampire in white and Fintan. Eric stood behind the vampire; the light in his eyes told me that he knew him, on a much different level than just an acquaintance.
I wondered who he was, as seeing Eric behind him, was a strange sight. He was literally the opposite of him physically; short, brown hair, brown eyes and he had tattoos on his arms. He said something in the foreign language which Eric responded to. I was still relying on him heavily to stand and feared if he was to let me go, I would quite literally fall to the ground.
After a few exchanges with Eric, the vampire started speaking English.
"I should have known that the Fae would eventually come back and put their noses where it does not belong." The new vampire said with clear disdain in his voice.
"We will always protect the humans from creatures like you!" Fintan replied in a hiss.
"Yet, we are not the one responsible for the savagery and the death toll tonight." The vampire replied, sadness punctuating every word. "I must say, it is pretty clever of you to be the frontman of this band. It means I cannot take your life tonight, not if we want the humans to accept us. We can't be responsible for the death of an important rock star. Not now."
"It was a great cover for travelling as well." Fintan replies smiling.
"Indeed. Now I must say, the hardest thing for me to wrap my head around was how my own child, who is far from an idiot and who I have trained in the art of politics and war, couldn't see all this coming with the arrival of your band in his bar. That is not a typical venue for a band." The vampire continued while Eric squeezed my hand harder.
The vampire was his maker? From what I knew, Eric had not seen him in years.
"I am sure you have your answer now." Fintan replied while defying him with his body language and his gaze.
"Witches." Is all Godric said and I heard Eric growl from where he was standing.
I don't think I had met a witch yet and all I knew about them was what I had read in the hunters' book. I couldn't begin to comprehend what it meant, but somehow, I knew it had something to do with the fact that every time I had mentioned the band or questioned anything about it, Eric had been evasive and colder towards me. Perhaps a witch had done something to control him? I just simply never picked up on the red flag.
Godric turned from Fintan and looked up at Eric who slowly bowed to his level. Godric whispered something into his ear and after nodding, Eric signaled to a couple of werewolves to take Fintan and the members of his band away.
While some of them were complaining and moaning about their injuries, Fintan kept asking where they were being taken to. No one was listening to them and after a few minutes, they made their way to the basement and silence surrounded us.
I tried to not look around us, afraid of what I might see. The lights were fully on leaving very little to the imagination. The stench of death made it clear that the casualty count was high and I had no desire to confirm it. I guess I was staring into nothing because I had not notice Eric making his way back to me. He was standing in front of me and had placed his hands on each of my arms.
"It is over lover." He said quietly, and I let him guide me into an embraced. I could sense him so clearly, I wondered if he had given me blood? How else would I be almost healed? I had not uncrossed my own arms but it didn't matter; just having him hold me was enough to already make me feel better.
After a few minutes, he broke away and I noticed that Godric was standing, staring at us, with a smile at the corner of his lips.
"You must be the object of his affection," he said as he extended a hand.
I hesitated for a few seconds, but I could tell Eric wanted me to extend my own, so I did. I was fully expecting a hand shake but instead, Godric pulled me into an embrace like old friends would do.
"I am thrilled to make your acquaintance Miss."
"Sookie Stackhouse." I blurted out and then corrected myself by saying "Just Sookie."
He eventually let me go, allowing me to wrap an arm around Eric's as if this would prevent him from doing it again. I mean, I didn't know this vampire and the only information I had was that he had technically abandoned his own child because it was supposedly the right thing to do. Was I judging? Hell yeah, he had hurt Eric, I knew this.
Pam walked in slowly and quickly smiled at me and Eric before embracing Godric and kissing him on the hand.
"It has been too long old friend." He said to her and she nodded her agreement.
"You have not been returning my calls." She said cocking an eyebrow.
"I am here aren't I?"
"You called him?" Eric growled but was interrupted when the werewolves that had taken the band away made their way back to us.
"I had my concerns." She replied with fear in her voice.
"I am glad she did my child" Godric said placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently.
Eric broke the stare first to look in my direction. "You must be exhausted lover." I heard in my ears while Eric wrapped his arms around my waist.
"There is so much cleaning up to do." I said while looking around. It seemed that most of the bodies I had seen were people I didn't know. Lexi, Nathalie and Kim were being talked to by a vampire and I assumed he was in the process of glamouring them.
"Don't worry, they will be taken to a hospital and won't remember a thing. I know you are not fond of us wiping memories, but in this case, it is best for everybody, including them."
I couldn't really put a finger on how I now felt. Shock was probably the only word that came to mind.
"What about Jason and my Gran?" I blurted out suddenly remembering that they were in the battle as well.
"She will be fine." Pam said with a smirk. "For your bother, as long as he can see the light, he will also be fine. He is with the other hunters downstairs. We just need to have a little chat."
"You won't hurt him?" I asked and she shook her head negatively. "How can my Gran be fine? Can I see her?"
"No, not right now." Pam said and exchange a weird look with Eric. "She needs time to heal."
I frowned trying to understand what it meant but I was too tired to even care at this point, all that mattered was that they were both okay and there was hope that I could change their minds about vampires.
"Come on, let's get you in bed." Eric said gently pushing me towards his office.
With his first step, I noticed his limp and I remembered his injury. I looked down at the wound that was still sizzling.
"You are hurt." I said.
"So were you" he said with a smile.
"Did you heal me?"
"I had no choice." He responded as we left.
"I will be fine." He added but to me, it seemed as if the wound was still burning.
"No you won't, it has not even started to heal!" I exclaimed but he dismissed me and placed his fingerprint on the door
I was exhausted. It was the least I could say. I felt as if my body was no longer responding to me and all I could do was to crash somewhere, anywhere. The bed seemed so far away and with every step we took downstairs, I feared I would miss one and make my way tumbling down.
I had Eric to lean on but I could tell that his wound was painful, now that no one else was with us, he didn't keep a front like he had upstairs. I mentally debated whether I would take a bath before going to bed but opted not to. Eric followed me without a word.
The minute my head hit the pillow, I started drifting away, a deep sleep only minutes away. I felt the bed shift, I knew Eric was right beside me but he wasn't touching me or holding me. I was so tired, I couldn't even think or rationalize anything. I tried to reopen my eyes, slowly, heavily. He was laying down beside me but facing the other way.
"Eric?" I managed to say but he didn't respond to me.
Panic quickly made its way to me and I shot back into adrenaline mode. I reached for his shoulder but he quickly pushed me away. I frowned and using my body weight I pulled on his shoulder.
His fangs were fully extended as he growled his disapproval. His hands were making fists and he looked shaken as if he was having a hard time keeping control. The sight made me scoot back a little but after a few seconds, and the flash of hurt I saw in his eyes, I extended my hand to his cheek.
The wound was still burning and now was spreading. It was clearly not getting any better so I took it upon myself to get up and go to the fridge.
"I have already fed lover. It is useless."
"There must be a way to stop it from burning you." I said determined to find a solution.
"It has been a very long time since I have seen a weapon like this one."
"Fae?" I asked and he nodded.
"I can't get up." He stated looking at his leg.
I watched him, unable to think how I could fix this. If blood was not what he needed, then what? Was there a cure to its magic? I sighed heavily trying to put sense into my thoughts. The knife, the light out of Fintan's fingers, the trance, was that all powers Fae possessed?
Eric's fangs were still extended and he was trying to look away from me. Why? He said he had had blood and it had not worked. But wait a minute. He had not had FAE blood, just regular blood, could it be that the only thing that could heal him was Fae blood? I had Fae blood!
I ran to the bed and extended my wrist to him.
"Drink now Eric."
"No." he said looking away. "I don't think I can control myself." He stated.
"Eric, please. I think the only thing that can heal this is Fae blood. Besides you know I want to form a bond again. If tonight taught me anything is that I don't want to wait until its too late. Please Eric, take my blood. You already fed me some of yours tonight."
"Sookie, if we form the bond again, it will be permanent." He simply stated. I couldn't be sure if he wanted it and was trying to down play how important it was for him or if he was being dismissive.
"Good." I replied kneeling beside him on the bed. "I don't want to spend another minute without you. " I said with conviction.
I reached for his chin and guided it so he was facing me. I brought my wrist to his fangs, my eyes never leaving his. He waited, as if he thought I would change my mind with one movement. He didn't need my permission, I was fully giving it to him but still, he waited.
I didn't.
I pushed my wrist into his fangs letting my blood flow into his mouth. He didn't bite down right away, I could see panic in his eyes, but he eventually closed them and drank slowly, as if he was savouring every sip of it.
I laid my head on the pillow next to him never breaking the connection between his mouth and my wrist. Instead he just followed where my hand was going. My head was getting heavy and I thought he was drinking a lot but then again I knew Eric could control himself, so I was not worried. Or could he? Had it not been panic I had seen in his eyes? Was it the reason he kept pushing me away a few minutes ago?
My instincts kicked in and I tried to take my wrist away from him, but it was in vain. He kept on drinking. I could tell I was losing a lot of blood but how to know if it was too much blood? Sure, I was already weakened by the stab wound earlier and exhausted from all the fighting, but Eric had fed me his blood, so I was stronger. I tugged on the bond and didn't feel it any stronger than before and wondered if Eric was keeping it closed.
Instead of letting my fear take over, I decided to opt for the side of caution. I held my wrist in place and reached with my other hand for his hair. I slowly intertwined my fingers with his blond locks and gently stroke him until he took an unnecessary breath and his shoulders roller back. With every sip he tookthe pull of blood grew sluggish until Eric relaxed, and his fangs retracted.
I closed my eyes, unable to move, comfortable just the way I was.