Sunlight and Ambrosia

Chapter 37 – Season 3 – Bad Elf, Bad Vampire

Anne was practically bathing in her power until she heard a strange gurgling sound just to her left. It annoyed her, her black eyes turning to the sundried vampire lying limply beside her on the concrete. His face looked burnt to the point that it made her stomach flip. The smell was even worse, forcing the power hungry fog from her mind for a second.

Eric.

"Eric!"

Anne instantly grabbed him by his armpits to pull him into the safety of Fangtasia with more strength than she should have had. Sookie opened the door for her, allowing her to pull him into the cool darkness of the bar without having to stop. She allowed Pam to take him from her, slinging his long body across one of the black leather couches. His eye remained closed, his breathing ragged, his skin looking like a burned order of ribs from Merlotte's. It was horrible.

"He needs blood. Human blood," Pam told them all as Anne walked towards them, her body heavy around her. "He's too weak to drop fang,"

Anne slumped down beside Eric, her head resting against his shoulder. It was an odd feeling, having so much strength and power but having her body sagging beneath her. The dizziness and weakness of the thing making her want to vomit.

"Please, Sookie," Anne pleaded without raising her head. "I cannot feed him myself… I do not have enough blood…"

"Sookie-"

"Bite me,"

By the sound of teeth sinking into flesh and Sookie's intake of breath, Anne assumed it hadn't been a sarcastic remark. She felt the half fairy's warmth beside her before she felt Eric shift and began to drink desperately from Sookie's little wrist.

"Keep an eye on him. We both know he could lose control," Sookie told Bill while Anne listened to Pam's hurried steps behind her. "Anne? Are you alright?"

Anne shook her head weakly against Eric's shoulder. "No,"

"Do you need blood or-?"

"No… I did something very bad,"

"What?"

"… I fed from a vampire,"

There was a long moment of silence before Sookie spoke again. "What do you mean?"

"As an Elf, I feed off the energies of the organisms around me," Anne explained, feeling like her body was a thousand pound weight on top of her soul. "Light Elves do not kill their energy sources or feed off of vampires,"

"But you did,"

Anne nodded. "I killed Russell,"

"Good," Pam muttered as she came towards them with the key to the handcuffs. "The little fuck deserved to fry but sooner the better,"

"You do not understand," Anne breathed, trying to get them to understand even as she felt herself losing consciousness. "I have done something horrible… something that could change me,"

"Change you how?"

Anne opened her eyes and looked up at Sookie, allowing her to see what she'd done.

Sookie gasped, shifting as far away from her as she could while Eric had such a tight grip on her arm. "What the hell happened to your eyes?" Though they still looked human, they were no longer the blue that Sookie had become accustomed to, not even the complete green that made her look like an alien… They were pitch black. "You're eyes are black,"

Anne nodded, closing her eyes and turning until her forehead pressed into Eric's arm. "If I am not careful, I will go Dark,"

"What does that mean?"

"It means I will be evil… and you will have to kill me,"

"No!" Sookie exclaimed. "There has to be some way to fix this! An antidote, detox, something,"

Anne huffed out a laugh. "Detox… I never thought I would need such a thing,"

"Don't worry, Anne. You'll be fine,"

Unable to remain conscious, Anne dropped off into sleep. No one bothered to move her from her position at Eric's side, her head to his shoulder. Not that anyone would dare to. Pam knew of the bond the two had that was beyond a vampire to a human. Her cold, calculating, ass of a marker cared for the Elf… he loved her.

A second hand clamped down on Sookie's arm.

"That's enough," Bill warned him, grabbing Eric's hands to pry her arm lose.

When Eric finally let go, he wiped at his mouth as if he hadn't been suckling on Sookie's arm like a newborn, giving Bill an annoyed look. He didn't allow himself to glare for long though, feeling a familiar pressure against his shoulder.

Eric could feel something was wrong with Anne. Her body was exhausted from blood loss but she seemed to have too much energy for her body to hold at the same time. It was as if someone had fed her too much vampire blood and overcooked her. He'd be able to sense the vampire blood if that had happened… and yet there was still something wrong. It was as if… as if she'd drank vampire blood without the resulting bond… like she'd had Russell's blood.

"Anne?"

She was unconscious and wasn't likely to wake up, but it didn't stop him from calling her name. Without moving his shoulder, he reached over and placed a gentle hand on the back of Anne's head, leaning to kiss her on the temple.

Never before had Sookie or Bill seen such softness from Eric. Usually when he was being kind to anyone it was a means to an end, the same way it had been when they had been rescuing Godric. He was being sweet to the woman, even when she was unconscious and he couldn't benefit from his acts. It made Sookie's heart warm while Bill just scrunched his nose at the Viking. They could see that Eric truly cared for Anne… it was just an odd look on him.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked them, his eyes on Sookie. As carefully as he could, he sat up, careful not to jostle Anne as he did so.

Sookie gave him a bit of a helpless expression. "I don't really know. She said that she's turning evil because she fed off a vampire,"

"What do you mean? Who did she feed from?"

It was a silly question but he felt the need to ask.

"She killed Russell,"

Eric stared, rage building in his chest. "… What?"

"She killed Russell so she could bring you inside,"

Eric was instantly on his feet, pacing the length of the room in vampire speed. "No,"

"What's the matter, Eric?"

"I needed to bring him inside," Eric snarled at Pam. "Now he'll have peace,"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Eric snarled to himself, angry eyes landing on the three people staring at him as if he were insane. Russell couldn't be dead. After what Godric had told him, he couldn't allow for the fucking little creep to ascend to anywhere that he might find peace. Russell needed to suffer for what he'd done.

Eric snarled again.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing," Eric spat, moving to head towards his office.

"Eric, wait!" Sookie yelled after him. "What about Anne?"

"She'll have to wait,"

Sookie stared after Eric's back, shocked that he could go from such a caring person to someone insane to someone so unfeeling. It all didn't even make any sense. Eric had been the one who had wanted Russell dead so bad that he'd been willing to bind the two of them in silver to make sure that Russell met the true death. It made no sense and now Eric was going to leave Anne unconscious on his couch so he could go pout somewhere about it.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Eric stopped, turning to look back at the half fairy. "What did you just say?"

Bill went to intercede but Sookie wouldn't let him, shaking him off. "I said; what the fuck is wrong with you, Eric?" she bit out at him, all sense of self-preservation going out the window. "So the cute I-care-about-Anne stuff? That was just crap? You pretend you care about her until she proves to not be as interesting as you are? Until you've got everything you want from her? I thought you cared-"

Eric was suddenly in her face, fangs extended. "I've had just about enough of you, Miss Stackhouse. I would recommend you being silent before I eat you,"

Bill was instantly between them, glaring threateningly up into Eric's face. It was an empty threat; they both knew it since Eric was so much older than him. But it didn't keep the threat from his eyes.

Eric laughed. "It is so cute… how much you pretend to care for her,"

"I do care for Sookie,"

"Oh?" Eric laughed, raising an eyebrow at the younger vampire. "Then explain to me why you let two psychos beat her within an inch of her life so you could feed her your blood the night you met after you'd been sent by the Queen of Louisiana to procure her because of what she might be,"

"Oh my God," Sookie gasped, staring at Bill.

"Sookie-"

"Is it true?"

Bill looked guilty, dropping his eyes to her shoulder. "… Yes,"

Eric might regret doing this later- especially when Anne found out- but right now it just simply felt good to watch the two of them suffer. If he couldn't rid himself of the pain of knowing that Russell had found peace through the one person Eric cared more deeply about than even Godric… then he was going to torture other people.

Tears were in Sookie's eyes as she turned away from the two, stooping down to pick Anne, shaking her shoulder to wake her up.

"What are you doing?"

Anne stirred, her strange black eyes slitting open to look up at Sookie with a bit of tired confusion. "Sookie?"

"Come on. I'm taking you home,"

Anne frowned, turning to look around the rest of the room. The Elf knew something was wrong, the pain that was radiating off of Sookie and Bill and the annoyance Pam displayed was clear enough. But then there was Eric. She could also feel the intense hate that Eric exuded through their bond while his body language just said he was amused. He was angry at her, a vague anger that made Anne wonder whether he was actually angry at her or not. Why would he be angry with her? She'd just fed on vampire energy for him. She just killed Russell for him, to save him. What was he so mad about that had Sookie wanting to take her home?

Sookie helped her to her feet before turning to give the vampires a rebellious look. "I'm leaving and I'm taking Anne with me,"

"You can't take her-"

"Sookie, wait-"

"No!" Sookie screamed at them, making Anne jerk. "I cannot stand to be near you one more minute, Bill Compton, after what you've done to me. You manipulated me into falling in love with you!" She then turned to look at Eric, whose eyes were glued to Anne. "And don't think I'm going to leave Anne here with you. I left her once, I'm not going to leave her hear amongst a bunch of lying, cheating, dead sacks of shit,"

"Sookie…"

Sookie looked over at Anne. "I'm not leaving you here with him,"

"I will be fine,"

"No, you won't," the blonde disagreed furiously. "He doesn't care that you're sick, Anne. It's what you should have seen from the beginning. What we all should have seen," Sookie turned dark eyes at Eric. "He's a wolf in wolf's clothing,"

"Put her down-"

"What are you talking about, Sookie?"

"Anne-"

"Eric's mad because you killed Russell,"

Anne raised an eyebrow at her before turning to look up at Eric. "Is this true?"

Eric frowned, turning his eyes to the ground. "I wanted him alive,"

Anne stared at the vampire. How could he want Russell Edgington alive? This was the vampire that had killed his family over a thousand years ago. This was the vampire that had taken them both prisoner in his house. This was the vampire that had been ready and willing to kill them all.

"Godric appeared to me. He wanted me to spare him," Eric snarled in explanation. "I wanted him alive so that I could bury him in a hole and cover him in cement. He would have never found peace,"

She'd thought that he was the sanest of everyone in the room, someone who understood the workings of the world. She thought she could trust him… she'd been wrong.

"You were going to spare Russell Edgington?" Anne bit at him, removing her arm from around Sookie's shoulders. Her energy was back along with her rage. She was still a bit dizzy but not so much that she couldn't stalk towards him like an enraged predator.

"And when he got out in a hundred years?"

"We'd-"

"We'd have done nothing!" Anne roared at him, her eyes pure black as she stalked towards him, rage building in her chest. "He would have come for us! He would have found us! He would have ripped out our hearts and used an artery for a fucking straw! There would be no way to stop him the next time! We would die because you couldn't stand the thought of Russell finding peace!"

Anne was done with the stupidity of others. She had given everything to her family but her brother had gone Dark and killed everyone she loved. She had given everything to the Council but all she'd gotten from them was a death sentence. She had given everything Luka but she hadn't been smart enough to leave her before she lost her life. She had given so much to Sookie to protect her but it had all ended up biting her in the ass.

Now there was Eric. She loved him and he hated her for doing the right thing. She had turned dark to save him but he hated her for it. She had lost everything over the past month and all he could do was blame her! He was the one person that she'd been able to depend on to protect her without betraying her, to protect her without dying. She'd been stupid.

"You would have betrayed us if I hadn't drained him!"

"Anne-"

"Maybe my brother is right, vampires are better as food source that as pets,"

Eric stared at her, fear entering into his eyes for the first time in over a thousand years.

Anne couldn't keep herself from enjoying his fear at the sight of her. She wanted him afraid, and then he might understand what others had to feel every time they were near him. She wanted him to know what it was like to not be on the top of the food chain.

Anne turned to leave but Eric grabbed her, forcing her to stop and face him. She hissed at him, her glamour fading away as she glared up at him. He smelled awfully good now that his body was healed again… and she was awfully hungry.

Not yet, Andromeda.

Anne's head jerked to the right where she could see the shadow standing in the corner. It was her brother. She couldn't deny the bond that tied them now that she'd turned Dark. She could feel the power he'd collected over the expanse of just this past two thousand years.

Save him for later. Let him come to you.

Anne frowned. She hated her brother. Why was she feeling such kinship with him now?

"Anne,"

She jerked away from Eric, hissing at him as she backed towards the door. "Stay away from me vampire… or I will eat you,"

Anne threw the door open before Eric could reach her, sun shining in and burning him. She watched with interest as he tried to inch towards her, his instincts being the only thing that kept him from reach out to her. She might have laughed if the stench of burning flesh didn't tickle her nose.

"Come, Sookie,"

Sookie followed her out the door, turning back only once to say; "I rescind my invitation to all vampires present. Stay the fuck away from us,"

The two then turned and left Fangtasia to enter the light of day.