Bill looked up guiltily from the vial he held in his hand as Eric burst through the door, followed closely by Sookie.
"So, Lilith appeared to you as well," Bill said conversationally.
"Only to savagely obliterate my Maker," Eric said flatly. "She's a mad god, Bill, she's nothing but destruction. Don't do it," he said in a warning tone.
"So you can?" Bill retorted.
"Pour it in the f*cking fire," Eric ordered.
"You'll never stop me," Bill replied with a pitying smile.
"So why did you authorise our entry then?" Eric challenged, thinking back to the relative ease of their entry. "You knew we would try," he added.
"Because I wasn't yet sure I could get rid of Salome on my own," Bill replied smoothly.
"Bill, this isn't you," Sookie said softly.
"What the f*ck do you know about me?" Bill demanded. "For all you know everything I did while with you was an act, calculated to elicit a particular response," he said savagely.
"I know that's not true," Sookie said, her eyes bright with unshed tears.
"Why? Because of the light you bear?" he asked sarcastically, "Did you ever consider the possibility that it's a handicap, one that blinds you to the most obvious of truths: that you are an abomination, just like the vampire bible states."
Inwardly Eric flinched at Bill's words, just because he no longer felt any romantic attachment to Sookie didn't mean that he didn't care when she was hurt. And he could tell that she was through what little remained of their fading blood bond.
"Bill, you are stronger than this," Sookie insisted, her voice breaking slightly, "you are capable of sympathy and kindness and generosity, you are unique among all the vampires I have met. Don't throw that away," she begged, making her way towards him.
"I have spent my entire life as a vampire apologising," Bill said, his tone gentled but his eyes remained hard, "believing I was inherently wrong somehow, living in fear. Fear that God had forsaken me, that I was damned. But Lilith grants us freedom from fear."
Sookie choked back a sob, "If I ever meant anything to you at all-"
"I told you," Bill said quietly, his voice laced with malice, "the first night we met, vampires often turn on those they love the most."
In one fluid moment Bill uncorked the vial and drank, Eric started forward but realised he was too late to do anything except pull Sookie back as Bill suddenly spasmed.
For one brief moment, Bill – the real Bill – looked at them with haunted, horrified eyes before he collapsed in on himself in a pool of blood.
"No," Sookie whispered, stumbling against Eric's chest and sobbing.
Eric stroked her hair, still in shock.
Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, he looked back at the pool of blood that was once Bill Compton.
"Sookie…" he said quietly, staring as the pool started to take shape. Both of them watched in horror as Bill reformed before their eyes, the creature – Eric refused to call it Bill – bared its fangs at them with a growl.
"RUN!" Eric commanded, shoving Sookie out the door.
