Chapter 51 War is the answer
"This has got to be the creepiest thing I have ever done." I whispered to myself as I passed under the old metal sign at the entrance of the graveyard and watched as the taxi drove off down the road, leaving me alone in this dark and foggy place lit up by only a few aged lights. There had been many times on the drive here when I had been tempted to tell the driver to turn around and take me back to the house. The temptation had been so heavy that I had been on the verge of grabbing the guy's shoulders at one point. But something in me forced my body to remain still in that backseat and I didn't do anything to stop my journey to this cemetery. And now as I watched the cab disappear around the corner, leaving me truly alone, I cursed myself for not being chicken enough to bow out of this. But it was too late. I was here now and it was time to await my fate.
I walked through the entrance and headed down an old dirt path that wound along the length of an old iron fence. I took in the sights of the gravestones, their stone bodies thin and suggesting their age was immense. The inscriptions on the fronts were faded so I couldn't even make out more then a few letters. I wrapped my arms around myself and kept walking, keeping my eyes and ears alert for anything that would resemble danger but there was nothing. It was just me alone in this graveyard on a foggy, dark night. If there wasn't so much at stake, I would find this situation amusing. After all this was like a scene directly out of a horror movie. I was the young defenseless girl walking alone in a cemetery, basically just asking for something to come out and attack me. But with my ability to hear thoughts, I knew that for the moment I was truly alone and that was good. It meant I had gotten here before the witches had and when they showed up, they would think I had followed the plan. I just hoped the others got here on time like they were suppose to.
"I never wanted to be in another graveyard for a good long time." I said out loud to myself, finding comfort at breaking the silence and seeing my breath in the air in front of me. I sat down on an old wooden bench against the iron fence, my twisted hands in my lap as I waited for whatever was to come. I tried not to be too bothered by the fact that I was surrounded by old graves that had been here for years before I was even born. I hate graveyards with a passion and with all the deaths in my family, it wasn't hard to understand why that was. I only went into a cemetery when I was with Sookie visiting our Gran's grave site. But that was it. I never imagined that the night I would be fighting for my life was going to take place in a place where people who had lost their lives were now resting. It was kind of the irony of ironies.
The wind picked up at the moment, blowing a icy chill across my body and I quickly wrapped my arms around myself to stay warm. I would have brought a coat with me, but any extra clothing would have gotten in the way once the battle started. And any second spent trying to pull it off could be the seconds that lead to my death. So I had taken up the notion of I would rather be cold while I was waiting for these witches rather then be warm and risk it being a detriment when the fight started. But now that the wind was whipping my loose hair across my face and my body was starting to shake, I was beginning to think I was a complete idiot. And I would have said that out loud had it not been for the whispers of thoughts I began to hear crackle inside my head.
"It's her! It's the girl."
"I can't believe she actually came. I was certain she would chicken out by now but no. There she is waiting for us. How nice. This makes it easier."
"I guess there was no reason to deploy the entire coven here since she obviously showed up alone. But until we physically have her in our grasp, I'm not relaxing."
"This is going to be all kinds of fun."
It only took a few seconds before I saw them and when I did I found my mouth dropping open in shock.
There were more of them then I had been expecting to see. I knew this was the Dallas coven even if I hadn't heard their thoughts and also because I knew none of the people striding towards me. They were all strangers, none of the witches in Holly's coven. There were young and old witches. Some not much older then me and some that were as old as my grandmother had been. There were both male and female witches, most of whom looked to be in their mid forties. They were all dressed in black as if that singular color was meant to reflect the darkness in their souls. And even from this distance, I could sense that darkness, it filled my head and I was surprised at the cruelty and insanity that was going on inside of them. I was immediately brought to my feet as I faced the open graveyard and the coven of witches all the way on the other side of the field. They were being slow on purpose, I got that much from reading their minds and in the forefront there was a redheaded girl, that looked to be not much older then me who appeared to be their leader. I knew that because she looked back at them and said something to make them pause and they remained that way while she continued to stroll forward.
I stood still even though I was hit with the desire to turn around and run. I couldn't run, not now when it was all about to go down. As scared as I was, I would need to appear calm and somber, like I was ready to hand over my life to this coven without a fight, when in actuality it was the complete opposite. The redhead walked toward me with the most twisted and cruel smile ever on her face that made me step back. I thought I had seen crazy and insane on Eric's face before but that was nothing compared to this woman as she came to a stop a few feet away from me with her hands on her hips and her dark eyes staring intently into mine.
"Well I have to say that I am quite surprised that you actually showed up here in the first place." The red head said to me with a flick of her hand. "And what's even more shocking is that you are here alone. I was so certain that you would make an attempt to fight back."
"I made a deal with Steve Newlin and I intended to stick to it as long as he did." I told her, getting from her thoughts that her name was Anna. And that made me frown. That was such a nice, sweet name for a girl. And she was no where near being considered nice or even sweet. She was dark and violent and was driven by insanity to get what she wanted, which was me. And she scared the crap out of me but I couldn't let that show. "I told him I would give myself to his witch army as long as he left my loved ones alone. And I won't put up a fight if you do that. You leave them alone and I will come willingly."
"Of course you will." Anna cackled, seemingly amused by my statement but I knew if I kept her talking then it would delay time enough to give the others the minutes or seconds they needed to show up. Anna stood there and studied me like I was a textbook she was trying to figure out and for the briefest of seconds, she appeared confused. "What are you?"
"You know what I am. Or else you wouldn't be so interested in me." I shot back, my voice more wobbly then I had wanted it to be but I remained calm, keeping my composure steady. "I'm a full blooded Fae, that's all."
"No...no you're not. You are more then just one of the Fae. You are something else." Anna's voice was almost dreamy as she looked at me, her hands twitching upward like she wanted to touch me. "Why is it that you feel like one of us?"
"I'm really getting fucking tired of people saying that." I growled, finding an inner strength as I fired back at her. This was the second time that I had been told I had some kind of connection to witches inside of me. And just like the first time, it freaked me out. "I'm not one of you. I am not a witch."
"There is something there, a power that is hidden." Her forehead furrowed in concentration. "You have abilities that even we don't. Perhaps you are more special then you know. We will gain a lot from you."
"Whatever you say, but I don't have any other untapped abilities." I hissed, eying the crowd of witches in the distance before I looked back at Anna. "I said I wouldn't fight and I won't. I just don't want anyone I love to get hurt anymore."
"How noble of you. I was almost hoping you would try and fight because that would make it even more fun for me but I guess you are going to deny me that pleasure. Oh well." Anna shrugged her black covered shoulders and threw her hands in the air. "Looks like you're going to keep up your end of the bargain. Now give yourself to me and I'll make sure it doesn't hurt too much when I kill you."
I went to step forward and that's when all hell broke loose.
I had barely taken one step when I heard a collective gasp come from the Dallas coven and from Anna. At first I thought it was because they were surprised and thought I was giving myself up but I saw the look in Anna's eyes and they were focused on the space behind me. My head shot over my shoulder and to my surprise I was starting to see bodies starting to pop up all over the place. My eyes landed first on Holly who had appeared first only a few feet away followed by the emergence of every male and female in her coven. And then came the vampires, showing up in clumps behind them, fangs bared and their faces dark and ready for a fight. It all happened so fast that I barely even realized that the people I loved were showing up behind me. Godric arrived first, looking more scary then I ever thought he could look and then Bill with Sookie came next, side by side and each sending me looks of relief that I was still alive. And finally, Pam was there with Eric, who upon seeing me nearly melted to the ground in happiness.
"You bitch." Anna gasped, drawing my attention forward again as she was now eying the large army standing opposite her as she began to back away. "You tricked us."
I didn't waste another moment and threw my hands out in front of me, the white light shooting out fast and hit Anna square in the chest, sending her flying backwards across the grass and away from us. I didn't even stop to see where she would land because the second I dropped my hands, the vampires rushed passed me just as the Dallas coven began to charge.
"Now it's time to play." Eric found himself saying out loud as the two groups began to clash, watch in earnest amusement as the air was filled with screams of pain and shouts of triumphant as the other vampires had started their attack. Allison had disappeared as soon as the fight had started and through their blood bond, he knew she was ok. He wanted to stick close to her side, but he knew that could be detrimental to the both of them. So he had let her go while every one else scattered to do their part. Holly and her coven had already cast the spell to trap both armies in the graveyard and surrounding field before putting a spell on their army to halo them in electric blue so they could all tell each other apart. No one would be getting out until one of the groups had defeated the other. It wouldn't take long being as that bodies were already starting to pile up all over the place.
"Oh I could have fun with you." A female voice spoke up from his left and he cocked his head to the side to see a tall brunette standing there a few feet away, looking like she was ready to take him. "It will be shame that I have to kill you."
"I would like to see you try." Eric smirked, feeling the old rise of a challenge wash over him as he pivoted his body to face her full on. "I'm faster then you, I could kill more quickly then you could kill me."
"We'll see about that." She hissed, raising her hand toward him just as her eyes glazed over in blackness and she began chanting in an ancient tongue that he did not recognize. She was casting a spell, a spell that was beginning to ravage a horrific pain through out his body that would become so great that he would be paralyzed to the ground. He had to act and act now before she could do any damage.
He flashed forward, pushing through the pain her spell was casting on him until he reached her. Once she was within arm's distance, he grabbed her, his speed taken her by surprise and her concentration was broken. She screamed just as he yanked her head to the side and quickly sank his fangs into her smooth neck, feeding on the frenzied, pulsating blood as long as he dared. He didn't like to feed on anyone else these days except for Allison. But the more blood he consumed, the stronger and faster he would be. So he drank her, clutching her to his chest so she couldn't get away. And before he could kill her by drinking all her blood, he stopped. The brunette stopped whimpering, almost like she was thinking he was going to let her go but that wasn't the case at all. As soon as he released her, she went to run but he was quicker and brought his hands to either side of her head. With a quick twist and tug, he ripped her head from her shoulders as easily as it had been cork and her blood splattered all over him as the body fell to the ground while he clutched the head in his fist. The sight of which brought him great joy as he knew they were one step closer to ending this.
Not too far away he spotted Godric toying with a male witch as if playing a game. He watched his maker continue to run in circles around this male, taunting the witch with his speed while the man tried to cast a spell on him. Eric was just thinking about rushing forward to help Godric when he was stopped by the sight of what was going on in front of him. Godric did not need any help as he came to a stop behind the man and just when the witch turned around to face him, Godric didn't waste a second before he shoved the entire length of his arm through the witch's chest, his fist coming out through the guy's back with a bloody organ in his hand. Godric let out a maniacal laugh before ripping his arm back out and the body fell to the ground at his feet while Godric clutched the witch's heart in his hand before tossing it in the dirt as if it were nothing. Eric couldn't help but stare in surprise at his maker's sudden and violent actions.
"Uh...that was fairly gruesome." He stated, joining Godric at his side as they surveyed the scene. There were dead bodies lying across the grass in all sort of states of raggedness. But the most disturbing was the witch Godric had just killed since he had been able to do it so easily. He had seen Godric in war before, but it had been a while since his maker had had to be so ruthless and violent. It was quite a change from his calm, serene demeanor. "I can't remember when you were last like this."
"Sometimes a situation calls for a change in character." Godric shrugged in explanation, wiping his hands on his dark pants before looking up. "But now is not..."
"GET BACK HERE BITCH!" Bill's voice erupted through the air and both Godric and Eric stared as the younger vampire came charging right in between them in pursuit of a witch on the other side of the field. Bill caught up to the shorter female and tackled her to the ground in a flash before she met the same fate as Eric's witch. Her head falling to the grass with a thud before Bill looked up and caught their eyes. "What?"
"Nothing at all." Eric shook his head before they all jumped back into the fight again.
10 minutes later
"Come back little girl, I just want to play with you." Anna's playful innocent tone was calling out to me as I ran away from her as fast as I could when there were bodies flying and ripping apart all around me causing me to trip and stumble as I tried to get away.
After that first initial hit I made on Anna, I had taken off away from the battle, trying to put as much distance between us as I could. I was doing what Eric had told me to do by following my instincts. And my instincts were telling me all to run, so that's exactly what I did. I didn't know what I was suppose to be doing but I knew that if I kept on moving then it would be nearly impossible for any of the witches to catch up to me and hurt me. If they were concentrating on trying to capture me, then they couldn't put their focus on performing a spell. So with the adrenaline pumping through my veins, I ran out from the small cluster of trees and by passed a pile of bodies lying on the ground, relieved that they weren't of anyone from our side. I heard Anna still running behind me so I sped up, entering the rows of tombstones that would hopefully throw her off course. But of course with my luck, it never quite happened that way.
I was weaving around the old stones blocks when out of no where, I felt a heavy force slam into me and knocked me off balance so much that I went flying over a nearby tombstone and landed hard on my side, the breath being stolen right out of me from the force. I felt an ache in my arm as that had been what broke my fall but from what I could tell nothing was broken. I was dizzy and my breathing was still uneven but I had gathered my composure to get to my feet so I could start running again. But before I could even move, the person that had ran into me suddenly appeared in front of me, showing that it was a male witch who had been the heavy forced. He grabbed me by the arms, locking them behind me as he whipped me around to face Anna who had finally caught up to me and was strolling forward with a twisted smirk on her face.
"You know, you're really beginning to piss me off." She said in a voice that was more appropriate between friends. "I just wanted to have some fun and you keep denying me that. I guess I will have to be a little meaner."
Before I could even begin to interpret what she meant by that, she attached her hands to the top of my head and began this very creepy chant that was a cross between a Spanish accent and an Italian one. I didn't know what she was saying, but I certainly felt what she was doing as a second later I felt something rip across my forehead near my hair line and I couldn't stop myself from screaming out from the pain. It was sharp, throbbing and kept coming in waves before I felt a hot liquid dripping down the side of my face and I smelt the metallic scent that said to me I was bleeding. This spell had opened up a cut on my skin and once Anna had seen that it worked, she removed her hands before proceeding to run the tip of her nail right down the middle of the gash, causing me to scream out loud again which only further delighted her as she kept doing it again and again.
"I told you this could have been over faster but you just wouldn't listen." She shook her head, bringing her fingers to her lips and licked my blood off her skin, smiling in satisfaction. "You taste so good. No wonder the viking likes you so much."
Then she brought her hands to my face again, that disturbing spell being cast again as the male witch behind me kept my arms so tightly bound that I could even use my own abilities to save me. They clearly wanted to use slow torture before they decided to kill me and that's exactly what was happening as another long cut appeared on my head, bleeding down the other side of my face, paining me so badly that tears also began running down from my eyes. And my reaction was exactly what they both wanted because I heard the same cruel laughter coming from them both. And just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore and I thought they were going to kill me right then and there. I had a savior swoop in at that very moment.
A fourth body had moved in on us, grabbing Anna by the shoulders and throwing her off into the distance where she would surely die whenever and wherever she landed. The male witch holding me, suddenly let me go and the air was full of the sound of bones breaking and whoever my hero was, they had just snapped the neck of the witch behind me. I couldn't see properly with the blood in my eyes, but when I wiped it away, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I reacted quickly. Somehow the vampire who had saved me fell to the ground and I tripped over the dead body at my feet and proceeded to fall right on top of my savior, landing hard on them but otherwise uninjured. I had just up, trying to gather my composure when my mouth fell upon as I saw who it was who had swooped in.
"Pam?" I felt my eyes widen in utter shock as I took in the sight of the leather clad female vampire laying on the ground underneath me. I couldn't believe she was the one who had saved me, I hadn't seen her at all as I had been running. But she obviously had spotted me and I was glad she had. "Oh my god I …."
"Now, you know whenever I fantasized about us in this position, I always thought I would be the one on top." Pam grinned mischievously as she laid back on the grass with her hands behind her head, completely at ease like there wasn't a frenzied fight going on around us. "But I'm not going to complain."
"Eww gross." I shuddered, climbing off her and getting to my feet in a huff. "We're in the middle of a war and all you can think about is sex? You really are Eric's progeny."
"I learned from the best." Pam shrugged, winking at me as she too shot back up to her feet, dusting off her clothing as she stood up straight. "You're welcome by the way."
"Thanks." I quickly said turning to look over her shoulder to see if I could spot anyone else I knew. "Pam, what about the others? Are they ok?"
"Sookie is alive and unharmed, Bill was chasing after some annoying witch and last time I saw Godric and Eric, they were ripping heads off." Pam reported with a sly grin as I nearly melted in relief that everyone was ok. "So it's all good for now."
"Alright I'm going back in. Thanks again." I told her as I turned to head back into the fray, not about to let these minor injuries stop me from fighting. "Stay safe Pam."
"I should be the one telling you that." Pam scoffed before she too disappeared back into the fight.
15 minutes later
"Come out come out wherever you are. We know you're in here Blondie." A male witch's voice called out through the maze of trees, while his three comrades paraded behind him, their heavy footsteps crunching the leaves on the ground.
Sookie shuddered in fear but remained hidden behind the fallen tree trunk that kept her nearly invisible from her pursuers. She had run into this thicket of trees in the hopes of throwing off the 4 men who had been chasing after her. It took a combination of constant running and use of her Faerie light to distract them long enough to disappear into the treeline to hide. And now here she was, breathing heavy with a cut on her arm from diving to the ground to avoid being seen by these witches. She could hear them getting closer, their steps stomping loudly and she looked around for anyway out that would not have her being detected. And it was while she was looking around that she spotted movement out of the corner of her eyes.
It was Holly!
The older woman was crouched behind a tree not too far up ahead from where Sookie was hiding. And when their eyes met, Holly raised a finger to her lips, indicating that they should both be quiet before she tapped the side of her head. At first Sookie didn't know understand what Holly was trying to tell her by the repeated motion of touching her temples but then it hit her suddenly that Holly wanted Sookie to read her thoughts. They couldn't speak out loud with the witches hunting them here in the trees. But it was obvious that Holly had a plan and Sookie needed to hear it. So she let down her mental guard and let in the thoughts Holly was sending her way.
Sookie, you need to listen to me very carefully. I have a plan, you just need to follow what I say exactly. When I yell out to you, you are going to jump out into the path and send that white light at those witches. And once they are on the ground, I will take care of the rest.
"Now!" Holly's voice yelled out suddenly, gaining the attention of all 4 of the male witches and they turned on the path right at Holly. Sookie dove out from her hiding spot right behind them, her movements going unnoticed until Holly shouted again. "Sookie, do it!"
Sookie threw up her hands, willing with every fiber of her being that all her strength was going to her fingertips and sure enough that was what she was seeing happening in front of her. She had never had to take on 4 people before all at once, and she just hoped her power would be enough to at least throw these guys backwards like Holly wanted her to do. Speaking of Holly, the older witch's voice was chanting some kind of incantation that was being muffled by the sound of splintering wood. The men didn't to catch on to it and just rushed towards her with their hands outstretched to grab her. Sookie willed all the power she had in her body to push back at these witches and the white light shot out in a powerful beam, separating into 4 different trails and taking on each of these guys and tossed them to the ground on their backs just as Holly stopped chanting and yelled at her to back away. Sookie barely has a chance to fall off to the side before a heavy tree trunk came sailing passed her rapidly and landed with a sickening thud on top of top of the group of witches. She slapped her hands over her ears as the screams of pain filled the air from their sudden injuries, it was horrific and emotionally damaging to hear their cries as they slowly met death. But she couldn't feel too bad about it because if she and Holly hadn't combined their powers, then these guys would have killed them. It was self defense and self defense was not murder.
"Sookie? Are you ok?" Holly's voice was muffled as it called out to her and Sookie realized she had never removed her hands from her ears. "Sookie, answer me right now."
"It's ok Holly. I'm fine." Sookie dropped her hands from the sides of her head and pulled herself to her feet, catching sight of Holly climbing over the fallen tree towards her. Sookie kept her eyes high, not wanting to see the dead bodies lying only a few feet away. Holly got within arm's distance before Sookie moved forward to hug her. "Oh my god, that scared the crap out of me."
"Me too." Holly replied shakily, her voice sounding distant as if she hadn't quite comprehended what had just happened. She pulled back, running her hands over her face. "Oh man, I cannot believer we just killed 4 other witches. I've never killed anything before."
"I get that, I really do but there's no time to feel bad about it right now." Sookie told her, feeling empathy towards Holly for the situation they had just gone through together. "We are still fighting for our lives. So kill now and feel bad about it later."
23 minutes later
"Hmm, I have forgotten how much fun violence could be." Godric said out loud to himself as he finished ripping the leg off the body of a witch cowering at his feet, and felt himself being showered with blood as he tossed the limb away like he had done all the other. He didn't even bother killing this one because she would die fairly quickly any way with the amount of blood she was losing.
To say there hadn't been all that much carnage at his hands would be an understatement of the century. Not more then a few minutes had gone by without him tearing apart any witch that came into his eye line. He had started off just playing with them, wanting them to feel the slow creep of death as they all had felt these last few months before he killed them. But now, he didn't waste any time in slaughtering whatever walked across his path. He didn't like this part of him and he would have rather shied away from that side of himself, but this war didn't really give him that much of an option. If he didn't tap into his more unleashed, violent side, then it could contribute to his death or to someone else he cared about. So he let his unhinged side take over, reigning over everything else while he killed without mercy. These witches had done everything in their power to kill Allison and the others, there was no way he was letting any of them go with retribution.
"I'm going to make you wish you never touch our coven, dead man." A younger male witch shouted at him, running forward with his hands outstretched to perform a spell but Godric was quicker, appearing behind him and with a twist of the head, the young man fell dead in a heap on the grass that was already stained with blood. Godric felt a brief stab of shame wash over him, this kid was barely older then Allison and now he was dead at his hands. It was a kill that affected him more then the others because of the age, but he couldn't feel too bad about this because this kid was working against them. This could have been the kid who could have taken Allison's life and therefore he had to die. There was no way around it.
He had sprung away from this spot for not more then a few seconds when he was suddenly finding himself on his knees, frozen to the ground in a crippling fog of pain that sent shock waves through out his cold body. It felt like his head had tiny explosions going off inside of it while his blood was boiling so rapidly that it was sending electric currents shooting through him, causing him to shudder in pain. He couldn't hear anything going on around him except for the sound his own mouth was making as he screamed out in agony. It was the worse pain he had ever felt, more agonizing then when he had been peppered with silver bullets. That was tame compared to this. This was on another level entirely. And the presence of another figure forced him to look up, his eyes landing on a middle aged male who had his fingers stretched out to Godric, chanting something incoherently, obviously the one trapping him in this pain fog.
"You killed my apprentice." The older male witch said, his eyes turning dark as the spell was dropped momentarily when the chanting stopped. "And now, I will have fun torturing you before I kill you as quickly as you killed him. This will be such an accomplishment, killing a 2000 year old vampire."
Godric couldn't even say anything before this man started the spell up again, forcing him back down on his knees as the pain rose up once more. Only this time the results were more then just internal pain, it was beginning to show on the outside. There was a drip coming from either side of his head and when he touched his ear lobes, his hands came away red, he was bleeding from the ears. Another stream of blood was rolling down his face from the corner of his eyes as if he were shedding tears and he wasn't. Another shudder of agony passed through his body just as a scream of pain exploded out of his mouth and the blood started dripping down from his nostrils this time. He couldn't move from the spot he was in, feeling utterly powerless under the spell this witch was commanding.
"Had enough yet?" The man asked, a smirk twisted onto his wrinkled face as his hand shook in front of him. "Or should I continue a little bit longer? Because this is really fun for me. Getting revenge on a friend's murder is always enjoyment."
"I was defending my loved ones. And if he hadn't been a part of a coven that was attacking an innocent girl for no reason, then he would still be alive right now. This is not my fault." Godric managed to spit out despite the pain making its way into his voice and the blood disrupting his speech. He looked up at this man and even though it would shame him in the eyes of every other vampire, Godric fell to the point of begging. "Have mercy on me. I was only doing what I had to do."
"Now why should we show mercy to a dead man?" The witch asked, narrowing his eyes into slits. "It doesn't matter. In a just a few minutes you will be deader then you already are."
He started chanting faster, the blood started too gush again from his eyes, ears and nose, only this time it was much heavier. The witch was trying to drain every ounce of blood from his body so he couldn't put up a fight when it came time to die. This was the beginning of the end, Godric could feel it with every drip of blood that left his body. He was going to to shrivel up and become a shell of his former shelf before he was finally met the true death for real. And he wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye to anyone. He would just be gone.
But fate intervened and sent him an angel. Or as close to an angel as you could get. Because one moment the air was filled with the frenzied sounds of this spell being cast and the next it all was gone and so was the pain that had been attacking his body. He looked up and caught sight of the male witch, whipped into the air by a beam of white light and being thrown back first into the trunk of a nearby tree, breaking his spine with a loud snap upon contact before the body fell dead to the dirt and Godric was able to get to his feet, wiping the blood from his face with the back of his hand.
"Godric? Are you ok?" Allison's worried voice came at him right before she appeared at his side, her hands landing on his shoulders in concern to look at him. "Oh my god, look at what that bastard did to you."
"I'm fine, I didn't lose that much blood." He assured, finding relief and comfort at her being the one who had saved his life from the brink as he looked into her young face only to see the damage done to her. He instantly grabbed her chin in his hand, turning her head to both sides and seeing the gashes near her hair line. "Oh god, you're hurt too."
"I'm fine, really." She pulled her face away, shaking her head in discouragement of his worries. "Pam saved me in time before they could do any real damage. So I'm ok. I just want to make sure you are ok."
"I am, thanks to you." He sent a gracious smile at her before he knew they would have to go their separate ways. Staying in a group would put an easy target on their backs. So he turned to her and said. "Now keep moving, staying still is dangerous."
5 minutes later
"Come back little girl, we just want to play with you." A male witch's voice cackled at me as he and his friend, a large man with brown hair came chasing after me on the outer edge of the graveyard while I tried to run away. They had ambushed me when I disappeared back into the thicket of trees and I had just barely gotten away from them. But now they were gaining on me, running faster then I thought possible and covering ground more quickly then before. I weaved in and out of the tombstones, trying to throw them off course but I was not in luck as the leaner one was able to charge ahead of the other and grab a hold of me, yanking me back against his chest roughly. "Well now, looks like we are about to have some fun with you."
"I don't think so." I snapped, swinging my leg back and kicking him swiftly in the balls, forcing him to let me go as he fell over in pain and I immediately tried to take off. But by that time, the other man with brown hair had reached us and yanked me back into the spot of grass where he and his friend were and then proceeded to drive his knee right up into my rib cage.
"How do you like those turning tables bitch?" He laughed, his hands grabbing at me again even though I was hunched over on the ground and he dragged me to my feet and I saw the evil smirk on his lips. He shared a knowing look with his friend who had recovered and was now returning a smirk just as wide. "You know what? I don't think we will have to use magic to make you suffer. I have a more pleasurable idea in mind."
I already knew what that meant before they even reacted and was already shooting my hands out in front of me to blast them away me. But the stronger man ducked out of the way and grabbed my arms, yanking them down to my side before the other one sent a well aimed back handed slap across my face, making me cry out in pain as I tasted blood on my lips. I heard their laughter in my ears as they dragged me kicking and screaming across the grass to the nearest tombstone where I was thrown over it so my midsection was resting on top of it and my arms were being held down over the front by the larger male witch while the other one leaned over me from behind, running his hands down my body in a way that no other man had done besides Eric. I shuddered in fear, knowing they had every intention of violating me because I could hear everything going on in their heads. When someone was that excited about something, there was no hiding their thoughts. Those foreign hands roamed freely over me as tears wound their way down my cheeks as I struggled to get my arms free so I could use my powers. But this guy was too strong and he held me down as his friend's fingers made their way up long sleeved shirt and inched towards my chest. His body was pressed close to mine and I could feel his growing erection against the back of my leg as he thought of how sweet it was going to be to ram himself into me and cry me scream in pain. They both were screaming in their thoughts that they wanted to rape me, to take away every part of my dignity before they finally killed me. And hearing it broadcasted what they were about to do and knowing I couldn't do anything about it, made my heart squeeze painfully as the male witch began to unzip his pants.
"GET OFF HER YOU BASTARDS!" Eric's voice came out of nowhere as did his body flying past the side of my face to rip the guy on top of me away. His friend let go of my wrist and I sank to the ground against the tombstone, too much in shock to do anything but stare at what was happening in front of me.
Eric had charged onto the scene with an old iron fence post in his hand as a weapon even though he didn't need one. He as a vampire, he was just as deadly without anything in his hands. But he enraged and we could all see that clearly, he wanted to make these two suffer as much as they were about to make me suffer. And that's when I saw the reason for the fence post. It only took a second for him to strike and when he did, those two witches were dead before they even hit the ground. With one swing, he drove that piece of iron right across the front of their necks, essentially slitting their throats and spraying both him and me with droplets of blood before there were two more dead bodies in that graveyard. Eric dropped the fence post and his face looked up and met mine at the same time mine met his.
"Are you ok my love?" He asked, flashing over to me on the ground, taking me into his arms without hesitation or disgust over the amount of blood we were both covered in and held my close to him while I tried not to whimper like a child. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."
"It's ok, you got here before anything happened. That's good enough." I moved my head back to look at him, still feeling unnerved by the feel of that man's hands on me. I looked over Eric's face and even though he was coated in blood, I don't think any of it was his, because our blood bond was open and I didn't feel any pain coming from him. And that was such a relief that I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly and squeezed him. "I'm so glad that you're ok."
"Right back at you." He said into my ear, hugging me back and bringing the sense of safety to the surface that I always found when I was in his arms. I felt his lips brush against my neck before he said. "I love you,"
"I love..." I never got the chance to say that because I felt something tighten in my head and I knew I was about to have a vision, so I immediately let my guard down just in time to see myself and Eric in my mind's eye. But that vision wasn't a peaceful one, it was a dangerous one as suddenly an orange ball entered the scene and engulfed both of us. I gasped, pulling away from Eric in shock. "Eric move."
I removed my arms from around him and pressed my hands to his chest, the white light shooting out and sending him flying clear across the grass and away from me. I barely had a second to run away before the ball of fire was launched into the air and hit the exact spot where Eric and I had just been, sending the grass up in flames. I tripped over my feet but remained steady as I turned back to look for Eric. I spotted him standing on the other side of the fire, waving his arms at me so I could see him. He was ok and I waved my hand back at him to show him I was the same. He was looking like he was going to come over and join me, but I saw his eyes shoot off into the distance and I saw that he was being approached by a handful of witches, one of whom looked like she had created the fire ball. I too was being stalked by a female witch who had dark eyes and a look to kill on her face.
"Be careful Eric." I yelled out before taking off in the opposite direction, hoping that we all would make it to the end of the night. I didn't know about the others, but there had been too many close calls tonight.
12 minutes later
"Bill, this is really bad." Sookie said to her husband, glancing to the side at her husband as two female witches came towards them, one blonde and the other brunette, but both of whom were sending the same spell at them. A spell that was exposing the roots in the nearby trees, causing both Sookie and Bill to stumble long enough for the two women to gain ground on them. They couldn't run in the other direction because those women were coming at them from the front and from behind, cutting off any chance of escape. "What are we going to do?"
"Just stay calm and we'll get through this." Bill whispered to her, his eyes going towards the brunette. "You take on one and I'll take the other."
"What?" Sookie could barely even mumble in response as Bill left her side and edged towards the brown haired witch while she was left to the one coming towards her in the front.
"So...are you and your dead man ready to die?" The blonde witche asked Sookie as the two women began to circle each other while Bill stood not too far away having a stare down with another female. The blonde that was facing Sookie narrowed her eyes and growled "This would be a lot easier if you would just lay down and die already."
"Never going to happen bitch." Sookie snapped, her anger getting the best of her and she charged forward, intending to strike the girl with her bare hands but she wasn't able to get within grabbing distance before the young witch uttered a few simple words and Sookie found herself on the ground in pain, her wrist hanging at an odd angle after being snapped under the weight of a spell. "Bill!"
Bill wasted not even a second before responding. He charged at the witch casting the spell on her and before the blonde could turn it on him, he grabbed her her around the shoulders and with one simple twist, her head was on the ground rolling to its side, the body joining it not too long after. The other witch, who had been in shock went running towards Bill, her hands rising up to perform a spell but Sookie had enough strength to stop her before she could hurt Bill. Her right hand went flying straight out, the light exploding from her fingertips and hitting the charging witch in the shoulder. She went flying off course towards the old fence and before Sookie could look away, she watched in horror as one of the loose iron posts came through her body, essentially impaling her through the back on that fence before her body came to a stop and she fell limp.
"Oh my god." Sookie was so sickened by what she had just done that she didn't even notice the pain in her wrist any more. She couldn't believe what she had been forced to do and what was even worse was how easy she had been able to do it. Bill appeared at her side, his arm going around her and directing her head away from the gruesome sight. She was grateful for this and cuddled down into his arms, knowing it wouldn't last long before the ache in her arm came back. "Bill, she broke my wrist."
Bill nodded, and without saying a word he brought his arm to his mouth and bite into it before offering the bloody wound to her to suck on. She took it immediately, knowing there wouldn't be more then a few seconds or at best a minute, before danger would show up again. So she latched on to her husband's arm and quickly drank his blood, feeling the healing effects of it almost instantly. The broken pieces of bone began fusing back together, becoming whole again under her skin before the swelling started to go down and disappear completely. She dropped Bill's arm and flexed her wrist, feeling no pain at all.
"Thank you." She managed to say, allowing him to grab her hands to pull her to her feet and into his arms. "I thought we were going to die for a moment. Those two were vicious enough for the whole coven."
"I wouldn't have let them hurt you." Bill assured her, hugging her tightly against him before taking her hand. "Come on, I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
5 minutes later
"Whore!"
"Bitch!"
"Slut!"
"Dead slut"
"Ooo this is my favorite kind of girl to kill." Pam announced out loud, her lips practically smacking together gleefully as she rushed forward, grabbing hold of the arm of one of the female witches and ripping off with ease. She ignored the screams of pain and tossed the limb to the ground like it was simply a stick and then proceeded to place her hands on her hips with a smile. "Ok, who's next?"
Godric grinned at the easy going way that Pam was addressing the situation as if it were merely a verbal disagreement they were all having and not a viscous fight to the death. But then again, the only deaths that were occurring were the deaths of the witches in the Dallas coven. So far, he had come across each and every one of the others throughout the course of the night and while they had been beaten and hurt, no one had died. In fact, it was their smaller army that was doing more damage then the Dallas coven was. Mostly because they had vampires on their side and the vamps could make a kill faster then most of these witches could cast a spell. So the bodies were piling up faster then they thought and it looked like they were winning this. So by the time he ran across Pam, he felt confident enough to stick around her long enough so they could take out handfuls of the witches at once. And that's exactly what they did.
Over the length of the night he had adjusted the method he had been using to kill the witches he had come across. At first he had simply been pleased to just snap their necks and be done with it. But with each kill that he made, he started to feel the urge to be more creative with his techniques. So when he joined forces with Pam, he had taken to trying anything and everything he could think of to kill off the group they had cornered together. One of the females he had killed, had lost her life when he decided to break her in half literally right over his bent leg, putting her body into two separate pieces. Another had been brought down by his original method of tearing her heart out and tossing it on the ground. But his favorite was the slow torturous tearing of the arms and legs from their bodies, watching the blood gush out in a river or sometimes in a spray. But it still resulted in a quick and painful death. He had stopped feeling bad about it a while ago, finally realizing that if he didn't put his all into this battle, then someone he knew could die because he was feeling remorse for the witches trying to kill them. So he threw himself wholeheartedly into this battle and hadn't looked back since. Pam on the other hand clearly never felt bad about any of the people she killed because every time she threw down another body, there was a look of satisfaction in her eyes that said she was enjoying herself way too much at the moment.
"I think this is the most fun I have had in a very long time." She stated, tossing away a leg that she had ripped off the last witch in their group and proceeded to lick the blood from her fingers in joy. "Mm, tasty."
"You are very much a vampire to admire." Godric told her, getting back to his feet and finding his clothes completely drenched in human blood. But that was just a testament to how far they had come in such a short amount of time in winning this war. "You are so ruthless and violent when you need to be."
"Oh no, I am like this all the time." She insisted, wiping the rest of the blood on her clothes before shaking back her hair. "But let's not talk about how great of a vampire I am, let's just focus on finding the others."
"Yea, let's..." Godric began to say, turning to join Pam in walking away when he suddenly stopped with a frown on his face and waved at her to remain still, his mind growing tight in concern as he looked around them. "Pam, do you notice anything odd right now?"
"Not really..." Pam's voice trailed off before recognition dawned in her too and her face shot towards his. "Godric, I don't see anyone else. And I don't hear anything. It's quiet."
"Too quiet." He mumbled, eying the area suspiciously before meeting Pam's eyes. "Something is happening and I don't know what."
10 minutes later
It was quiet. Too quiet.
For the last couple of hours, the air had been full of the sounds of people screaming, of bodies being ripped apart, of people dying. There had been vampires and witches running all over the place, showing that neither side had won yet. And then suddenly, it had all gone quiet.
I stood up in the darkened dirt of the open grave I had fallen into in my haste to get away from the witches chasing me and I hadn't had a moment to climb back out. But there had been no need to. It seemed like no one besides me even realized there was an unoccupied grave site in the cemetery so therefore I was safe for the moment. The hiding place gave me a moment to collect my breath before I would jump back into the fight. But just when I had decided to do that, that's when all the noise went away and I grew concerned. It wasn't like it faded away into nothing. It was like one moment it was there and the next it wasn't. Something had to have happened and that was the thought that brought me to my feet and got me to dig and climb my way out of that shallow grave and back up to the grass. But when I reached the level ground, I was shocked to see that there were no more living bodies around me. There were dead witches all over the place but no sign of the vampires, or Holly's coven or Eric or Sookie or any of the others. It was like they had vanished and this was all that had been left to show there had just been a fight here at all. So I knew I hadn't been imagining it.
"Allison!" A weak voice called out from behind me and I immediately whipped around to spot a sight that broke my heart. Holly was stumbling towards me, her face bruised and her head bleeding and she was holding her side like she had broken ribs or something. She was broken, but she was otherwise ok as we made our way towards each other. She immediately grabbed me in a hug tightly as if I was her most favorite person in the world to see. "Oh thank god you are ok."
"Yea, yea I'm fine. A little battered, but fine." I assured her, hugging her back and feeling glad that I was in the presence of someone I knew. I pulled back and motioned around the area with my hand. "Holly what the hell happened? Why did the graveyard just suddenly empty?"
"I don't know for sure, I blacked out for a while when I was thrown into a tombstone. But I think it was finally setting in that our side was winning." Holly grimaced as she spoke, pressing her hand to her side before going on. "I think the other coven was realizing that they were being killed off a lot quicker then they were anticipating. So maybe they somehow lifted the spell I put on the graveyard to keep them all in and got the rest of the coven to retreat."
"Fuck." I exclaimed, gripping my blood soaked hair with both hands as I lamented the fact that the remaining witches had escaped, which was the very last thing that we had wanted to happen. The whole point of going to war and having Holly trap us in one area together was to kill the entire coven. And now they had broken through the spell and escaped. And that meant this nightmare wasn't over just...All of a sudden I frowned as a thought hit me and I turned around with my back towards Holly and scanned the horizon. "If that's true then where is your coven? Where are the other vampires? And where are Sookie and Bill? And Godric and Eric? Where are they Holly?"
There were no words spoken in that cold night air, but there was an answer given in the second after I stopped talking. It took me a second to realize what had happened, but I felt a sharp cruel pain enter my body from the back and come out on the other of me, ripping my organs apart and forcing me to look down and see the tip of a metal dagger sticking out of my midsection, now coated with my blood. And then just as quickly as it had entered me, it was twisted and then yanked out quickly causing me to gasp and slap my hands over the wound just as Holly walked around in front of me. Only it wasn't Holly at all. The real Holly never would have stabbed me in the back. And this certainly wasn't the Holly I knew. I saw the image starting to melt away revealing the true identity of my attacker. I saw the red hair and the black clothing of the very witch I thought Pam had killed earlier. It was Anna.
"Oh would you look at that. You look like you're in pain." Anna hissed as she twirled the handle of the dagger in her before pointing to my hands where the blood was starting to gush out between my fingers. "My oh my that looks painful."
"NOOOOOO!" I heard Eric's voice come from the area in front of me and I was able to make out the sound of Anna chanting something and a second later Eric appeared along side Godric and Pam and then Bill and Sookie and the real Holly, all of them looking absolutely frozen in shock. Except for Eric, he tried to move forward towards me, but something was holding him back as it was doing to the others. They were trapped inside the same spell that Holly had put over the graveyard. Only now it was trapping them away from helping me. They could only looking on in horror as Anna circled around my shaking and numbing body as she laughed.
"You should have just given up at the beginning of the night and this could have all been avoided. But you didn't and now since you weren't willing to give me what I wanted, you get to watch your life slip away from you. And your loved ones get to witness it as well." Anna said cruelly, slicing the blade across my back once more, causing the pain to grow even more before she big farewell. "Have a nice death."
And then she was gone, running off into the night and leaving me alone as my body shivered in an overwhelming pain.
"Allie, don't give in." Sookie's voice came at me as I struggled to breath, forcing me to look up at here and seeing the tears running down her cheeks. "Stay awake Allie. Don't you dare die on us now. You promised me you wouldn't."
I had promised her that, but I realized now that it had been an empty promise because I had never imagined that I could be feeling so much pain and still be standing. But it wouldn't be for long and I would be breaking my promise to her.
This was the end. I knew it was.
I had known it from the moment I had realized what I would have to do to save the people that I loved. Back when I thought I did have to die, I had begun to prepare myself for it, to accept it. That didn't mean I was ready to die. I didn't want to die. Even when I had been so desperate to find death, I hadn't truly wanted to die. But I couldn't bear to see the people that I loved suffer any more then they had. So it was me who was going to end all this madness, all this pain. If I wasn't alive, then there was not going to be a reason for these witches to be in their lives, they would get to be safe. And once the shock of my death had worn off, they would be happy again. I was suppose to meet this fate. I didn't have time to get used to the idea. And now the end was here and I could feel everything slipping away as I looked at the destruction around me. The dead bodies, the bodies that were still alive and around me, kept away by magic, unable to come to my aid as I stumbled.
"Nooooooooo!" Eric's strangled cry came at me from across the grass as I fell first to my knees and then down to my side as the blood started flowing even faster and nothing could be done about it. No matter how tightly I kept my hands over the gaping wound, the blood just flowed faster then I couldn't stop it. There was no stopping it. The damage was too great and I didn't have the strength to stay up any longer. My body was curled on the grass, the ground being stained by my blood as I laid there dying. I turned my head, catching Eric's face as rivers of blood made their way down his pale face and he struggled to release himself from the spell keeping him just a few feet away, he was fighting so hard to get away, to try and help me. But as our eyes locked together, I could see that he knew he couldn't save me. And it was nearly killing him to watch me die right there in front of him. "Somebody help her for Christ sakes. She's dying."
"I'm trying Eric, but I can't break the spell, it's too powerful." Holly told him, her voice heavy and panicked and I could hear her resume her chanting, trying to break through. But it wasn't her I wanted to focus on in my last minute. It was the vampire fighting like hell to get to me, even though he couldn't.
"It's ok Eric. It's ok." I struggled to say as I started to cough up blood that joined the growing puddle surrounding me,my hands still on my abdomen. "Everything is going to be alright now. You will be ok."
"No I wont. I couldn't possibly be ok without you." He told me, his struggling ceasing as he looked at me and the devastation in his eyes grew even wider as my heart started to beat less and less. He could sense that, all the vampires could. But it was seeing the realization in Eric's eyes that moved me the most before he begged me not to go . "Please don't leave me."
I didn't want to leave him. I wanted to stay with him. To have a life with him. To be able to love him and have his love in return. I wanted to go through all the long years of our lives together with him being the only man at my side. We were suppose to get married. We were suppose to have an eternity together. But that wasn't mean to be. We both knew that the slower my heartbeat became. The blood pouring out of me rapidly as I shivered on that cold ground. I couldn't feel pain anymore. There was an icy layer cold over me and I knew that meant death wasn't far off. I could almost see it. My vision went in and out as I kept my eyes trailed on Eric, wanting his face to be the last thing I saw before the end.
"I love you Eric Northman." I was glad I had said that right now,because it was the last thing I would ever say to him as my eyes shut for the final time and I could hear Eric's screams as I slipped away into a cloud of nothingness.
A/N: Yes...I went there and did something Im sure none of you thought i would do. I killed off the main female lead. And with the next chapter being the last in this fic, many of you will assume that this is the end of the series. But thats not the case at all. Believe it or not there will be a 4th fic and it involves the group's ability to move on after Allison's death. I know it will be weird to read a fic without her, but it will still be good. So look out for it. And please review! and try not to hate me too much
