Chapter 22: Monsters

Sookie stood by her parents' graves alone in the cemetery. The sunny day, the fresh spring breeze and the happy birds chirping failed to cheer her up. She had buried yet another friend. Sookie was so incredibly tired. Tired of losing friends. Tired of making hard choices. Tired of getting her heartbroken. Tired of being lied to by everyone she thought she loved. Tired of not feeling good enough. Sookie felt stuck between a rock and a hard place. Warlow told her he would help get rid of his maker but only if she agreed to turn for him and be with him forever. Needles to say, it was not the proposal she dreamed of.

She fell for him, hard. It should be the easiest 'would you rather' game of all times: get her house back from Eric Northman, and turn into a vampire and stay young for all eternity with your one true love; or, continue to be Eric's little plaything and lose her soulmate forever.

But the whole thing felt… Wrong. It just did. Dying, turning, having to drink blood to survive, outliving every single friend and family she had left… Love shouldn't be this hard.

Sookie's eyes filled with tears. She stood by her parent's graves, staring at their names like she's done a million times before. But this time, she did not find comfort. She found more anger, resentment and betrayal. A part of her wanted to become a vampire just to spite her mom and dad. They tried to murder their own daughter to stop her so-called destiny. It would be like giving them the ultimate middle finger, and God knows they fucking deserved it. Vampires were not bad people. Not all of them anyway. And not all the time. They were no worse than humans, Sookie knew that much. Hating vampires just for the sake of them being different was pure bigotry. It was like them hating her for being a fairy, which Sookie was starting to realize… They also did, in a way.

She dried her tears with the back of her hand and started to make her way home. She was going to give Warlow her answer tonight. Sookie had to tell him… She couldn't do it. She just wasn't ready. As much as she wanted her house back and be free from Eric… It shouldn't be like this. It should be her choice.

Her stomach did a full flip when she thought of how disappointed Warlow would be. Maybe he would be relieved that he wouldn't have to face his maker again. She remembered the witch and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for not helping Eric. Within a year of knowing her, Eric Northman was ready to die in front of the Moon Goddess Empire for her. And from what Bill told her, Eric gave up a seat in the Authority - a chance to be one of the most powerful and influential vampires on Earth - just to keep her safe. That woman had awoken something in Eric, and it was so violently ripped away from him. It was unfair that she died, but Sookie dying too didn't guarantee anything. What if Warlow failed, and he got hurt instead?

Sookie looked up to the bright blue sky above her and saw a lonely raven fly above the trees of the graveyard. With a small sigh she muttered. "I'm sorry you had shitty parents too."

Sookie felt nervous going into the fairy dimension. She walked through the dark graveyard and opened the portal, stepping into yet another beautiful summer day in the garden. She watched Warlow from a distance just for a minute, decorating a pole with the most beautiful flowers made her a bit more at ease. It's going to be okay. Sookie approached him and before she could ask what he was doing, he told her with a heart-melting smile.

"It's a wedding maple pole. It's a tradition for the husband to craft one for his future wife."

She felt a punch to her gut. "I have something I need to tell you," Sookie sighed, guilt rattling her body. "I buried a friend today, his name was Terry,"

"Sookie, I am so sorry,"

"Thanks but… It made me think-"

"You won't accept my proposal." He interrupted.

"Yes. No! It's just…" She stuttered, trying to find the right words.

Warlow sighed in disappointment. "Do you want Eric Northman in your life? Is that it? Because I don't plan on sharing you-"

"NO!" Sookie told him, raising her voice. "Trust me, that chapter in my life is over. The truth is, I need my friends and my brother right now. I am not ready to say goodbye to them. And I want you to meet them, and love them like I do. They are my family, Warlow. I want us to spend time with them, as one unit."

Warlow clenched his jaw and frowned. "Then move houses."

"What? No! It's my gran's house, it's all I have left of her."

"Sookie, I've waited 6 thousand years for this-" he said, growing impatient.

"I know! I know you did, and I do feel awful asking you to do this but please wait a bit more. I want to date you-"

"Date me?"

"You know… Go to the movies, and dinner, apple picking, and spend Christmas together. Introduce you to Jason, properly. And I want a real proposal, a really romantic one. And a big country wedding, too."

"Do you have any idea what I offered to do to have you? I am willing to kill my own maker to have you. I was imprisoned in hell for 20 years, for you! I waited 6 thousand years to have YOU! And now you want me to fucking date you? Like a dirty human? Who do you think I am?!"

Sookie had never heard this tone from him. His rage had come through the surface and it scared her. He paced around her, watching her like a predator eyes its prey.

"I will have you Sookie. I cannot accept waiting any longer."

"I am not telling you no! But I want to turn when I am ready to turn. You are asking me to die, here okay? Don't pretend you're the only one doing a big fuckin' favor."

His hand cut the air and smacked her in the face, hard, making her head spin. It took several moments for her brain to process he had hit her. And even when it did, it didn't register as a single action. It was a domino effect of crumbled emotions. Fear. Guilt. Grief. He wasn't the person she thought he was.

Warlow grabbed Sookie by the arm, tight. "Who do you think you are talking to here?" He said in a low angry voice, his fangs were two inches from her face. His eyes burned with anger.

"Let me go!" She whimpered, her heart beating fast in her chest.

He squeezed her arm harder. "I'm done playing your little game. There's a contract promising you to me, and I will take it whether you want to or not. I've paid my fucking dues-"

"You are hurting me!"

His fangs sunk down her neck, sending her body into a frenzy of terror. Without actually meaning to, she zapped him with her left hand making him let go of her. Sookie ran away, trying to think quickly on what to do. She grabbed a tree branch and snapped it off quickly, but the next moment, Warlow had her pinned against the same tree. He shoved his bloody wrist on her face, trying to force his blood on her. Sookie clenched her jaw and pursed her lips. She had seen this movie before, starring Eric and Raven. She knew how it ended. If a single droplet of his blood got into her, all he had to do was snap her neck and bury her. She didn't want it like this, how could he not see this? How could he not care? He hit her. He was going to kill her. She couldn't get a clear shot at his heart from the way he pinned her against the tree with his body. In a final act of desperation, Sookie just started to stab him on his ribs, around his kidney and on his left thigh. He flinched and growled, but she just continued to stab him with the branch, hoping he would let go. Sookie didn't want to die. And now that she had seen who Warlow really was, she would never be his.

Suddenly the sky went dark. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Sookie saw a woman approach from behind a tall gravestone. She wore a white satin gown, as short as her fingertips. She had long claw-like nails, and the usual long, luscious black hair. She stood tall, with shoulders back, studying them from a distance. Sookie would recognize the woman anywhere: it was Raven.

"Warlow," she spoke in an unusual, honeyed voice.

Warlow let go of Sookie and focused his attention on the strange woman.

"So it is true. You are back." He sneered, his fangs out.

"I am," She agreed with a cold smile, revealing long sharp fangs. Now that she was closer Sookie could see her bright red eyes. If Raven looked intimidating before, she was just straight-up scary now. Sookie got goosebumps when the demon laid eyes on her. "You still can't stay away from them, I see. You've learned nothing."

"What do you want?" Warlow asked her, putting himself between Sookie and the demon.

"You," she told him. "By my side again."

"Never!" He hissed.

She raised her eyebrows, intrigued by Warlow's defiance. "As your maker-"

"No!" He roared.

Warlow created a big ball of light with his hands, just like grandpa Niall had shown her how to do. He threw it at Lilith, but the ball of light went right through her as if she weren't there at all. It hit the big maple pole out in the field, that it instantly burned up in a big but short fire.

"You're not even here," Warlow scoffed, disappointed. "You are astral projecting."

"I'm a little... Tied up at the moment," she told him. "Come on now, your little attitude is annoying me Warlow. I have a lot to do still, so you will obey me, and you will give me the seed I need to make more children-"

"What?" Sookie gasped.

"Haven't you created enough monsters? I am giving you nothing."

"Oh, I am just getting started…" She paced around them, her movements flowed with absolute grace. Warlow followed by putting Sookie behind him, shielding him against the woman. Protecting the very person moments ago he was trying to kill. "I've taken a human baby for every Wicca I made…"

Sookie's blood went cold. She remembered watching the news. Thousands of babies all over the country and the world were being born stillborn, or just died in the womb, or days after being born with no apparent reason. Did that mean… Lilith has created a witch for every baby she killed? That would mean thousands and witch babies on earth right now. Sound asleep in their cribs, or in the arms of their unknowing, unexpecting human parents.

"Then what do you need me for?" He asked.

"First, you need to take care of my little... Human problem. Then, I will create a new kind of vampire. It seems your progenies and their lineage… Well, they really made a mess of this place, didn't they?"

Things were finally making sense. Lilith had created the first vampire like Bill explained to her, but the ones after that… That had to be Warlow's doing. He had to turn at least one other person in the past 6 thousand years, and that person created others, and those created others… Lilith was not the first vampire. For one, no vampire she's ever heard of could astral project like a ghost.

It's not like Sookie suddenly hated vampires. But creating a new kind of vampire with how hostile humans were already… It wouldn't end well. Lilith had spent the last months killing human babies. She was a monster who clearly had no regard for innocent human lives. And the only person who could stop as she found out… Was also a monster.

Wait. What human problem? What else was she going to do to humans?!

"Now stop being so childish," she told him in an angry tone. "As your maker, I command you to come with me."

And just with those few words Warlow simply walked away. He obeyed her, just like Bill told her he would. Even being so old, or a fairy hybrid he was not immune to the Command. She couldn't let Lilith do this. She knew Warlow could still kill his maker and he probably would, given the chance. But would that be before or after he gave her his… Seed?

She took a deep breath, held onto the stake tighter, and ran towards Warlow. She plunged the stake right in the middle of his back, piercing right through his heart. Warlow cried out in pain, then went silent as he crumbled to the ground. He turned grey, then exploded into a red burst of blood, soaking Sookie completely. The woman stood still, pursing their lips and raised their chin slightly, disapprovingly. She stared Sookie down, rage burning in her red eyes. Her white dress was still pristine, and just up close that Sookie noticed Lilith wasn't even touching the ground. Ghost form or not, Sookie knew she had zero chance against Lilith alone. But in the real world, with any luck, Bill would have sensed her fear and be near if she teleported back. So that's exactly what she did.

Sookie teleported back to reality, running as fast as she could. When she landed on the graveyard's grass, she saw not only Bill but Eric too, waiting for her. The moon was high in the sky, shining down on the graveyard.

In the next moment, Lilith had followed Sookie back into the real realm, fangs out, screeching like a mad owl and hissing in foreign tongues. Bill shielded Sookie, and she stood behind him and Eric. Both vampires were ready to attack the demon. But as soon as Lilith laid eyes on Eric, she stopped. Suddenly she didn't stand so tall. None one spoke, for a moment. Eric and Lilith just locked eyes for the longest minute on Earth. Then, Eric took a single step towards her and Lilith vanished into thin air. It was as if Lilith was… Scared, somehow. God herself was scared of Eric Northman. If that wasn't some kind of omen or metaphor, Sookie didn't know what was.

Everything moved in slow motion for a moment. She had Warlow's muck all over herself. He was dead. Her love was dead. But the man she loved died to her minutes before she actually staked him. She grieved all the same. Could she be so stupid? She was so desperate to love someone, and be loved… That she didn't see it coming?

"Sookie, are you okay? Whose blood is this?!" Bill asked her.

"It's Warlow's. I had to… Kill him."

Eric spun on his heels and growled at Sookie. "You've killed him?! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"As a matter of fact, I do know!" She yelled back, not even realizing she was crying. Not of sadness, but of anger. "I had to kill him, Eric! He tried to turn me against my will, and then Lilith showed up… And she wanted him to help her make a new kind of vampire! I figured the world is fucked enough as it is, so I killed him!"

"You really fucked our deal in the ass, Sookie!" He yelled, angrier than she had ever seen him.

"Eric, Sookie did the right thing-" Bill tried to defend her, but Sookie yelled right back at Eric. She didn't need Bill to defend her.

"Did you not hear me?! Lilith is the one killing babies out there! She's been makin' an army of witches out of their little souls! And to top it off, do you really think a God fuckin' an ancient, day walking, ming reading, silver-immune fairy vampire monster would solve any of our problems?!"

But Eric didn't say another word. He just ran away and disappeared in the woods.

Eric drove fast, with no real destination. He blasted music as loud as his speakers could handle in a futile attempt of drowning out thoughts. He zoomed past other cars on the highway, leaving them quickly far behind in the rearview mirror. He noticed his cellphone's screen light on the passenger seat light up. He hoped it was Nora, finally texting him back with some good news. Much for his disappointment he read the words Bill Compton calling for the tenth time, so he turned his phone off. Where the fuck had Nora been? She had been gone long enough. Why won't she answer him?

He wanted to tell her about Warlow for days now. Now all he would have to tell was that he was dead.

Eric felt so angry. And he had no place to put the anger. He could blame Elijah, Nora, Bill, Sookie, the Authority until the cows came home, but the truth was it was all his fault. His fault she was dead. It was his fault for him feeling this way. He knew he shouldn't have fallen for Raven in the first place. She was a warm-blooded witch. He knew he was going to lose her. After all, he lost everyone he ever loved, didn't he? So why fucking bother? Why put himself through this?

Eric drove faster.

Nothing had prepared him for this. Raven had turned into a baby-killing monster. His witch was no longer his, not by a long shot. The vow she made turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing. Eric was doomed to walk this Earth forever knowing a monster of his own doing was out there. Knowing she could show up at his doorstep at any time, and there was nothing he could about it. And now his only lead, his only hope was dead. A mere pile of goop, rotting in another dimension.

Eric's foot pushed the gas pedal further down, his body was being pushed firmly against the seat. He lost his only shot at getting her back. Her red eyes staring back at him would haunt his mind forever. The white dress. The pain he felt was starting to become unbearable. He couldn't bury it inside anymore. He couldn't just go back to Fangtasia and pretend anymore. Eric couldn't fuck another woman and hope that was the palate-cleansing he so desperately needed. He had to get away from this place. He had to forget Raven Blackwood for good.

He had to let go of the best part of him.

Pam was refilling the soda machine when Tara finally made her way upstairs. "You're up early," Pam told her, distracted by the tightness of Tara's jeans. God, the legs on that woman were to kill for.

Pam had a brilliant idea of having some basement fun, since this place was empty and Eric was God knows where. All he told her was that Bill Compton needed him for a thing, and he ghosted. Maybe all this free time could be put to good use after all. She could use an orgasm before opening the club - or seven.

"So are you," she told her with a smirk. "Where's Eric?"

"Out," she said with a smirk, as she tossed the towel over in the sink.

"Do you think he's at the haunted house again?"

Pam shrugged and walked closer to Tara while swinging her hips left and right. But her progeny didn't seem to want any of it. "Pam, how come he never does any of the heavy liftin' around here?"

"Oh Tara, don't start with this shit again," she rolled her eyes.

"No, I mean it. You are in here, night after night running this place practically alone. He's never here and when he is, he just sits in that stupid chair and does nothing. I don't get it."

"Of course you don't angel cakes," Pam drawled. She could feel her panties dry out as she spoke. "Having Eric sit on that 'stupid' chair is what makes this place what it is. People don't drive out here to party with me, or with you, or the fuckin' losers that live in this town. They come here to be in the presence of Eric Northman and maybe, just maybe, they will have the honour of being noticed by him and become something."

Tara frowned and made a face. "You give this dude way too much hype. All I see is an asshole who does fuck all around here and consistently chooses other women over you. He released you, Pam, you owe him nothing. I don't get why you stay."

Pam felt a tinge of anger. "That's right, you don't get it." Pam now started to organize the glasses, taking them out of the sanitizer. She had to do so carefully because her anger was starting to boil and God knows how many glasses she'd shattered in the past over shit way less anger-inducing than this conversation.

"I've been there. I know what's like to be betrayed by the people you love most. I know what's like to be left behind," Tara pleaded. And here Pam was, thinking she had saved Tara from those losers all along. Tara still hated being a vampire. It hurt Pam every time she saw her progeny hating being what Pam loved most. "As much as it sucks, sometimes you gotta lose something to make space for something new. So fuck Eric!"

Pam spun around and put a finger on Tara's lips, shutting her mouth. "If I hear you ever say 'fuck Eric' again, I will slap the baby fangs right outta your mouth. Don't try me."

"FUCK ERIC!" Tara yelled right on her face.

Pam waved her arm quickly, her palm was about to hit her cheekbones in full, but Tara grabbed her wrist before she could.

"You wanna be Eric's doormat for the rest of eternity, that's up to you. But I ain't gonna be here to see it. Release me."

Pam jerked her arm away from Tara, her blood was starting to boil. Those words cut like silver. "Don't you dare judge me! You have no idea what being someone's partner for a hundred years is! How long was your longest relationship, huh? Two weeks?"

Tara didn't respond. She just stood there, looking hurt. That was the problem with her. Tara was too easy to hurt. It was why she always ran when things got difficult. Release me, she asked. She had no fuckin' idea.

Suddenly the front door was kicked open with a loud bang.

Both of them froze in place as 6 heavily armed guards stormed the place. Her initial reaction upon seeing the black attire, the vests and the guns with lasers pointing directly at her chest made her believe this was an Authority takedown. But the Authority no longer existed, so who the fuck were these people?! LAVFT was printed on their bulletproof vests.

Here we fuckin' go. Humans were so fucking dramatic.

"Which one of you is Pamela Swynford De Beaufort?" The man in front of her yelled, looking at her through the scope on his gun.

"Yes, that would be me," she told him. "And you are? Wait. Let me guess… Male strippers?"

"We are here by order of the Governor of Louisiana," he yelled, handing her a piece of paper. "To enforce order 846, to close down all vampire run businesses."

She took the piece of paper but didn't bother to read it. Whatever it said, it was bullshit. The Governor couldn't do this, they were squeaky clean. "Gentlemen," she said, looking deeply in the man's eyes. She was going to glamour him into a kitten. "I'm sure there's a way we can work this out,"

But the man stiffened up and yelled back. "Back off! Back the fuck off!"

Confused, Pam took a step back. The glamouring didn't take. Did she do it wrong?

"On your knees, vamper!" Another man yelled. "Hands behind your head!"

Pam was out of ideas. There were four guns pointed at her, two pointed at Tara. Where the fuck is Eric?! She lowered to the ground and raised her arms slowly. The four men got closer, and she could see one of them taking out silver cuffs from his belt. Where were they going to take her? To the prison she kept hearing patrons talk about? The one no one came back from?!

"Hey!" Tara yelled, jumping on the top of the bar. "Get that thing off her face!"

One of the humans shot at Tara, and the gunshot sounded like a bomb had exploded. Pam cried out for her progeny, fearing she had just died. She was scared of the cold empty feeling that followed. The men left the bar, and as soon as they did Pam got up and ran to Tara. The gunshot had thrown her ten feet over across the bar. She howled in pain, blood gushing out of her stomach.

"Tara!" Pam cried. "It will pass, just give it a minute!"

But it didn't. Tara squirmed and cried on the floor as if she was being tortured alive. She caressed Tara's beautifully soft skin, trying to calm her. But there was something different about whatever it was they shot her with. Blood just kept coming out, the flesh around the wound just kept getting bigger - Tara wasn't healing. Pam tried to get the bullet out but severely burned her index finger. Whatever it was, it wasn't just a wood bullet. And it hurt much more than silver.

"Don't cry baby," Pam sobbed. "I'm here, don't cry."

Tara's cries started to go quiet. There was an enormous pool of blood surrounding them. Pam went into shock. There was nothing she could do to help her child. Tara was going to die a horrible death. She hadn't even lived, not really. Eric told Pam to take care of her, and she failed. She had been so busy chasing after Eric that she missed out on being a good maker. Pam cried, devastated. Tara deserved a better maker than the one she got. Release me, was one of the last words she would ever say. And then right after, she tried to save Pam from being taken. If Tara made out of this somehow, Pam swore she would be the maker Tara deserved. Tara was the only bond Pam had left in this world. How could she not see this until now? Until it was too late?!

Sometimes you gotta lose something to make space for something new, she told her. If Pam lost Tara… There wouldn't be space for anything new, because there wouldn't be anything left.

A.N.: HELLO

I will forever ship Pam/Tara. Writing this hurt.

I have less than 5k words to write to finish Black Moon Lilith (and a lot of editing to do) and y'all... So many emotions. I have also decided to go back through the entire story and re-edit it. I will add some easter eggs and improve some details so Book 1 and Book 2 feel like one cohesive story. If you see a *under revision* tag on either Blood Moon or Black Moon Lilith, that is why. It will not change the story at all! But in the future, if you ever decide to read this story again it will be (hopefully) better. I'm just not ready to say goodbye yet, I guess.

Until next week

xoxo