Epilogue

"Alright, don't move," Pam ordered, as she put more bobby pins in Raven's hair.

Her sister's fingers were always so gentle, but her mean demeanour made Raven stiff as a statue, sitting like a life-sized doll in front of the large luxurious hotel vanity. Pam was two hours into Raven's 'makeover' for the evening, and she was growing impatient but knew better than to disturb the process. It wouldn't be out of character for Pam to intentionally burn the back of her neck with the hot curling iron if Raven tried to rush her. Raven barely breathed while sitting on the fine leather stool, watching Pam meticulously curl her hair and fluff it just right before pinning it so it would frame Raven's face in whatever way Pam thought was best. There was a lot about crafting public appearances that Raven had no idea about, but there wasn't another person on earth Raven trusted more on the matter.

"Nervous?" Pam asked.

"Not really," Raven almost shrugged but kept still.

They had a big event to go tonight, a fundraising gala for… Something to do with starving kids somewhere, or was it a disease? Unimportant. They were already in France for the opening of the 4th New Blood factory in the world, and the first one in Europe. Eric, Pam and Raven had been cordially invited by the billionaire Emmanuel Bisset himself, who was throwing this fundraiser. Bisset owned the largest multinational dairy corporation in the EU, so much like New Blood, he knew a lot about manufacturing, bottling and distribution (and tax loopholes. So many tax loopholes). Many political leaders of the EU and some of the wealthiest and most influential humans would also be attending the gala. Raven knew from being a Bishop's daughter, that these events were everything. It would be here that they would work their backdoor deals to pay fewer taxes, to lobby politicians, and to buy seats in their next elections, and ultimately protect their own assets. Never again humans would claim and take away what was Eric Northman's.

But let's go back to the beginning: It all began after Raven's turning. Humans had injected her body with their filthy synthetic disease, and Eric still drank it - knowingly - in order to turn her. Eric was so adamant he would never let her go, he decided to risk sacrificing himself to save her. He got sick, very fast. Raven had to watch him go weak, and lethargic merely hours after becoming her maker. His pale skin got covered in dark black veins in a matter of hours. But luckily she knew they had the only antidote - the one redeeming act Sarah Newlin probably did in her entire existence. Having to drag a semi-dying Eric into Fangtasia, angrily screaming for Pam to get the antidote from the bar's vault was not the introduction she was expecting to have into her new vampire family, but it was the one she got.

Regardless, Eric wasn't the only one. The new disease spread like wildfire. All cases were connected to the poisoned Tru Blood batch from Louisiana and the prisoners who drank it. The virus quickly spread around the world, wiping out a big part of the vampire population, but not without bringing terror and destruction with it. The only two things that seemed to help slow down the progress of the disease were age and constant feeding. Which meant all the new baby vampires created in the last era of the Authority died horrifically gooey deaths, but only after draining many humans bone dry. And the ones old enough to survive had to feed 10 times the regular amount. Meaning the vampire attacks on humans increased 100 times over, the highest ever recorded. And that was the story for the timely demise of one Bill Compton, who got Hep V and refused to drink more to live. His own guilt would not allow for any more pain in this world. Bill died exactly how Raven predicted: by the merciful hands of Sookie Stackhouse.

Called it.

But the real twist happened when the news broke out Hep V was man-made. The disease alone would maybe have been praised as a solution for 'pest control' as certain conservative News channels put it. But once the footage of horrific experiments that happened in the Louisiana prison leaked to the press, it struck a chord with a lot of human activists. The graphic footage of the antithetical "scientific" experiments made mortals see the very real humanity in vampires. The wave of vampire attacks that followed was nothing more than humanity's own doing. The irony was palpable.

The movement for Vampire Rights quickly took off again, especially now that witches had also come out publicly. The Wizard Revelation came just a few weeks after Raven died at her own trial. The Mages had told her about the video footage of her doing magic but it was surreal to watch it herself. Luckily, the camera only showed her back, and never her face so her real identity was never discovered (despite witches everywhere knowing exactly who it was). The words she spoke in that room and the magic she performed were clearly recorded with only minor static interference. Magic was undeniable. Not even 1000 Bishops could perform enough memory wiping spells on the millions of mortals who watched the video. It was on every TV, on every cell phone, every computer screen, all over the internet. There was no counterspell for that. Scientists and physicists were truly puzzled at how one woman could have moved the moon and held it still with just words.

Well, it was a little more than just words. It was Agatha's secret key. A secret that she told no one, ever. It was a gift Agatha trusted to Raven, and it was going to die with her.

Raven would never forget watching the speech Alexander Randall gave on TV, explaining magic, customs and the journey their kind went through over the millennia, running from persecution. And because witches and wizards held such a vast amount of precious books, literature and knowledge, humans agreed to be on friendly terms with their kind as long as witches were to share their magic knowledge. Turns out a lot of roadblocks humans found in advanced quantum physics and dark matter research, could be explained by certain magic principles. The real twist, however, was that Randall had also opened a school of magic in California, the Raven Blackwood Academy of Witchcraft. It taught all magic subjects to anyone with a drop of magic blood. Witches and wizards no longer were forced to pick only one kind of magic to practice for all their lives. Instead, they could learn all of it. Or as little of it. Magic was knowledge, not power.

She sat on Eric's couch watching the news live, with her jaw on the floor. Randall didn't disclose anything about their Pope, Circle of Mages, Lilith, or even Satan. She could only imagine how the other Bishops took it. There's no way he had their blessing. But it didn't matter, did it? He couldn't be prosecuted. The fact that no other Bishop or even the Pope himself came out, probably meant Randall was ex-communicated from the Church.

Randall explained the school would be a safe haven for all the magic children. He understood, Raven thought in relief. Magic - no matter how much, and where from, should be shared. Raven was truly moved that Alexander created such a place in her honor. She wished she had a place like that to go to when she was young, alone and lost. The magic community she grew up in was very judgemental of many things, but especially of her lack of formal education. But here was a Bishop declaring everyone should have access to all subjects they desire to learn, no matter how much of a half-blood they were. Witches and Wizards would no longer have to choose just one thing to do for the rest of their lives.

Humanity, as expected, lost their collective shit. For weeks, it made the headlines almost every day - and deservingly so. The only downside was that it made her name a common household name.

"This school is named after a brave witch, who taught me more about what it meant to be magical than most people I've ever met," Randall said in an interview.

To the world, Raven Blackwood was a pioneer witch who died to free witches and wizards from the shadows. So Raven had to accept a new name, of Pam's choosing: Raven Croft. She didn't like it at first, having to take a new name for herself. It felt that even her own name was taken from her - just another thing she had lost. But as time went by, it was healing in a way. The person she was, Raven Blackwood the witch, was dead. She died a couple of times actually. And both times, were by the hand of people who ultimately didn't care for her, despite claiming they did.

Raven never spoke about her father again. What he did to her was unforgivable. But in the end, she did turn into exactly what her father wanted: she was their light. She led the witches out of the shadows. They no longer had to live in fear, in hiding, underground. They didn't have to fight for their survival or their existence anymore. It may not have been in the way he wanted or imagined, but she did it. Not Lilith, Raven. But resenting him forever was of no use. She was immortal now, she couldn't carry pain like that with her anymore. Forever is just too long. So she let him go. That part of her past wasn't worth wasting energy on. Elijah Blackwood was simply forgotten.

Plus she had bigger and more important things to do now. The world had become a much more intricate place since her turning. But also a much safer one because of Eric, Pam and Raven's new company: New Blood.

Bill Compton had the right idea for the new synthetic blood formula, but his approach had one fatal flaw: he was using science in order to make magic. It would be like trying to launch a rocket into space but only using chemistry, and not physics or mathematics. Vampires drank the life force off human blood. They were magical creatures, they needed magic to survive.

There was, and there would never be a substitute for magic. Only magic can make magic. Despite not being a witch anymore, Raven still knew alchemy and all the magic principles of potion-making. It took her a month to create the human blood substitute, since trying to make potions without spells was a hard puzzle to crack. It took another two weeks to stabilize the Hep V antidote from Eric's blood into it. But it was Eric's taste test that took another three months. He just wouldn't approve the damn thing until it tasted actually good. According to him, had the Japanese made Tru Blood taste half-decent to begin with, thousands of lives - both human and vampire - would have been spared because mainstreaming would have an actual fighting chance of happening.

Once New Blood hit the shelves it was extremely successful from day one. Not only it tasted good, but it completely cured Hepatitis V. It made its first million within a month of its release. The company was going to be valued for 250 million dollars at the end of the next quarter, according to Pam. It was the fastest-growing company in the world, and it attracted a lot of attention left, right and center. Eric was the CEO (obviously) and Pam was the CMO of New Blood. Despite Raven telling them over and over again, she knew nothing about running the multi-million dollar company on any level, they insisted she'd be the COO since Raven was responsible for the formula. But really, it was Eric's way of telling her she was part of the family business.

Raven watched the tall blonde, dressed in a beautiful deep red gown, do her hair with the precision of a surgeon, picking pieces to fall around Raven's face, the soft curls of her hair barely brushing against her collarbones. Pam was not like any sister she ever had. She was hot-headed, sarcastic-bordering on rude, and a total bitch. The first thing Pam told her upon learning Eric had turned her was that Raven was forbidden from ever wearing a black satin slip dress ever again. That was their first fight. Raven hated wearing pants. Humans in this century lost their goddamn minds, calling tight low rise skinny jeans 'pants'. They were so fucking uncomfortable, the plastic denim mix, the thick sewed overlay of the crotch, and the zipper always rubbed weird on her lady parts, which meant she would have to start wearing underwear. Are you fucking kidding me?! After a screaming match, they compromised on dresses and skirts but only if she wore high heels. That was their second fight.

"Voila," Pam told her, taking a step back, looking at Raven through the mirror. "You're all done, doll."

Pam had pinned half her hair back in a side-swept style, highlighting Raven's long pale neck. She also chose Raven's dress: a navy blue, off the shoulder Dior mermaid gown that was absolutely stunning. Raven felt absolutely stunning. Pam could be a bitch at times, but she was her sister when it counted.

There was a knock on the door, and Eric entered. "The limo is here-" he was definitely going to say more, but his voice trailed off when he saw Raven. He looked at her hungry. She gave him a smirk and wondered how fast she could sew this dress back together if Eric ripped it off of her.

It was definitely different being a vampire. In some ways, she felt more alive than she ever felt before. Raven could see every star in the sky. She could hear even the most minute sounds, so loud and clear. All her senses were heightened to proportions she could never even imagine. Her strength and speed were hundreds of times more amplified than any potion would ever make her. And then, there was blood. Drinking blood was not like drinking liquid food. Blood felt like absolute pure power. You could feel the exquisite magical life force run all throughout the body at once. There were no words to describe the taste, let alone the feeling, the euphoria, the absolute high it was to bite a human. It was almost a full-body orgasmic experience. And the hunger, the all-consuming hunger that infected every thought, every second of the night. It was also very strange having fangs. It was a peculiar sensation feeling them slide in and out of her gums, especially when instincts took control of it half the time.

But it wasn't all roses either. Feeling the instant burn of the sun scared the shit out of her the first time she ever opened the curtain one morning out curiosity. A rush of emotions took over her - never again she would feel the warmth of the sunlight. She would never watch another sunset or sunrise. She would never bask into the unexplainable magic that beamed from it. Touching silver was a rarity, but having to let go of the sun was hard. Luckily Eric helped her every step of the way with her vampire transition.

Except there was one thing he couldn't help with: sometimes Raven missed magic. She missed feeling the energy run in her veins, she missed the connection she had with nature, with the stars, with the cosmos. She missed the rituals, the Holidays, Lucifer. Not all of it was gone, however. Just as Eric kept his battle instincts, and Pam kept her sexual prowess, Raven kept her intuition. It wasn't the same, not in a long shot, but it helped a bit. She could take solace in the fact the only part of the magic world she left behind was the trust she had in herself.

Plus there was a lot about the world she had to get used to. Constantly having humans around, technology, the internet, politics, the parties, having to actually work for a living. Not being able to summon items into her hands, and having to do everything without magic was one of the biggest habits she had to break. But even that wasn't the worst since Eric was practically made of money and they lived a pretty luxurious life - no cleaning, no errands or other minute human tasks were ever necessary. Plus Eric gave her a crash course on technology after she attacked his Roomba vacuum, thinking it was possessed. Not being able to figure navigate the latest cellphone, figure out the 5 different remotes on the TV or how to unjam the fucking printer (in all seriousness FUCK printers) was definitely a learning curve she did not expect ever having to overcome, but luckily, Eric was always there. He made fun of her, sure, but deep down he found it endearing.

The hardest transition of all, however, was leaving behind her house. In a last cathartic goodbye to Louisiana when Raven visited her childhood home with Eric and Pam. Seeing what had happened to her home broke her in unspeakable ways. It had fallen decrepit - half the roof had caved in, the windows were shattered, the wood rotten. A floorboard on the porch snapped broken when she stepped on it. The stone that fully shattered her reality was when she tried to enter - she could not. An invisible wall held her back. The very magic that once protected her, betrayed her. Raven would never again enter her house. She was now a stranger to it, not welcome in the one place she cherished the most. She would never again watch movies on her couch, take baths in her large tub. She would never sleep in her large canopy bed, make dresses in her sewing machine, listen to her albums, read her books, visit her sisters' paintings, sit in her kitchen and watch it cook, smell the jasmine tree in the tea room. She would never again hear the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway, the humming of the old fridge, or argue with the boiler in the basement. She would never garden again, pickle and conserve vegetables for the winter, tend her chickens, or take a refreshing lake dip at the end of a hot summer day. Her socks would never rip again on that one nail that perpetually poked out the floorboard on the third step on the staircase. She would never drink coffee in her sunroom among her plants. She would never hear Lucifer's hooves tippy tap across the house, constantly in search of his next napping spot.

It was the first time she loudly cried in a very long time, especially in front of someone else. But neither Eric nor Pam judged her. Her Maker held her and let her cry in his shoulder. Her witch life was gone forever. It had been for a while. Her life was slowly chipped away at - losing her mother moments after she was born. Losing her father the day he gave her away to Agatha. Losing her sisters in the pyre. Refusing to move on without them. Losing Jesus. Losing her familiars, her name, her magic, this house, her own life.

"Sometimes you have to lose something to make space for something new," Pam told her. Even though Pam and Raven wanted to slap each other in the face about a third of the time, Pam was weirdly supportive too.

Eric gently stroke her hair until Raven stopped crying. She looked up at his Maker. He gave her a look, showing he understood. Eric had lived a thousand years' worth of loss. But he was here. He had more to give. As long as he had her, he had more of himself.

Eric was her home now.

So taking Pam's advice, she made space. Raven burned it down. She lit the house on fire and watched the red flames take over. She watched the walls cave in as the fire raged over, feeling the heat consume everything. Ambers flew up in the sky, lighting the way to the stars, turning her house into ash and dust. Her old life as a witch was over. A part of her may always miss it, but there was a lot about being a witch that didn't serve her either. In being a witch, she was used, lied to, seen as an asset rather than a person. What she could do was worth more than who she was. This world took everything from her. But Eric Northman gave her a new world. One she truly loved, despite being filled with chaos, blood, politics and meticulous planning.

Now, they only ever visited Louisiana once in a while. Eric and Pam had turned Fangtasia into a franchise of bars across the Southern US, and every so often they had to attend meetings and check things over. Raven still thought Fangtasia was incredibly tacky and overall kind of stupid, so she spent her time in Louisiana visiting Lafayette and Holly. Lafayette was now the owner of Tara's Bar and Grill (former Merlotte's) and was dating a lovely vampire named James. Holly and Andy got married, and Holly was now attending college to become a horticulturist. Her goal was to own her own plant nursery of medicinal plants and herbs, following much of the magic botany knowledge Raven had passed along in the short time she taught Holly magic. To say she was proud of them, would be the understatement of the century.

It took a long time, but Raven eventually grew into her new skin. Raven Croft was strong. She was intelligent, loyal, cunning. She had a loving (in their own way) family again and it felt right. Raven no longer felt the haunting feeling she had a part of herself missing. The life she lived with Eric made her feel complete.

The three vampires left the penthouse hotel room and took the elevator down to the 7-star hotel lobby. Pam took Eric's left arm, and Raven took his left. Outside, they were swarmed by Paparazzi from the door to the limo. The media ate them up like candy. Maybe it was because the trio (well, mostly Eric) looked like they walked straight out of Photoshop and had a mysterious, sexy and dangerous air about them. Said image was perfectly crafted by Pamela, of course. Or maybe the obsession was due to them being the first vampires to be considered 'good for humanity'. They were solely responsible for the creation, supply and successful distribution of life-saving synthetic blood. And to top it off, it was actually delicious (although, nothing was more delicious than human blood), and attacks on humans decreased to almost nothing. Governments everywhere made sure their countries had New Blood readily available everywhere, along with a doomsday supply tucked away somewhere. If that sounds like fuck ton of money, it's because it is.

They ignored the excited shots and ludicrous questions from the Paparazzi, which were almost as loud as the clicking and flashing of their cameras. They knew better however than to get too close. They were still vampires.

"The British PM will be waiting for us in the limo," Eric whispered quietly in old Norse, letting the hotel security swat away the photographers.

"That's some fancy dinner," Pam joked, while a hotel staff opened the car door.

Pam and Raven ducked into the car first, followed by Eric. In it, were PM Mr. Andrew Woods and a middle-aged beautiful woman, one who they recognized immediately as the first lady. They sat near the driver, on the opposite end of the car, and the couple sat so close together Raven wondered if they were secretly joined at the hip. They weren't, of course, they were just scared of being in the same car as three vampires.

Good. They should be.

The door closed, and the air instantly thickened along with the heavy silence. Pam quickly hopped on her phone, probably to sext with some Italian model who was also attending tonight. Eric and Raven remained in the bitter staring contest with the humans. Woods was a leader in the anti-vampire sentiment in the UK ever since vampires came out of the closet. For years, he spewed hatred, blocked pro-vampire laws and funded anti-vampire propaganda. His slogan was for a long time "to serve humans, not leeches". And now that witches had come out, he wasn't so fond of them either. Woods called them "untrustworthy people, who hid in the shadows and thrived silently by tricking humans into doing their bidding". It was a joke by now, since every scandal in recent years involving a politician or celebrity, that they claimed to be "glamoured or tricked" by insert-whatever-supernatural-creature-would-be-more-believable. To Raven it was just more testament that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Yet, somehow, this mere agglomeration of mortal cells landed the highest seat in parliament. With his country pushing for the creation of jobs and his economy desperately needing to grow, his party was starting to bend to the opposition. Laws and amendments for vampire rights passed in most countries (however not the UK), allowing vampires to run businesses and own land since it generated the government a pretty penny in taxes. Vampires lived forever after all and had accumulated old money, money politicians wanted to "improve highways" and "put into healthcare" and definitely not "to bail out his corporate buddies" when times get tough. Humans - especially politicians - were easily bought. None of them had any balls at all. New Blood put in a bid in the EU for its next factory and headquarters, but Andrew Woods made his opinion loud clear that no country should put a bid for it. It would be the "chicken inviting the fox into their henhouse", as he put it. A stupid metaphor, since the foxes have gone vegan (kind of). However, money is money and many of the EU countries put a bid on it, and France won. Hence, the gala.

"This must be awkward for you," Eric stated.

The man shifted uncomfortably on his seat and replied with a frown. "It's good optics to be seen arriving at the gala with you lot. Trust me, it's not personal, it's just business."

"Yes, but it is my business," Eric told him. "I understand if you wish to resign."

The man let out a loud scoff, shocked at Eric's suggestion. "Me? Resign? Have you lost your bloody mind? Why on Earth would I do that?"

Eric smiled quietly for a moment. "Then I suggest you hide everything about your personality when it comes to me."

Even that comment made Pam look up from her phone.

"Or what?" Woods challenged him.

"Or," Eric slightly leaned back further into his seat, and gently placed his large hand on Raven's thigh. Eric had the ability to turn anything he sat on into a throne. He could just command everything and anything inside a room into submission. Eric looked like absolute sex in his perfectly tailor-made charcoal suit. Raven was certainly going to devour him the second she had him for herself. And judging by how he gently squeezed her leg, she knew it would be soon.

"I can make you resign."

"Bullshit," he called out. "I take anti-glamouring medication, you can't make me do anything."

"Oh, Mr. Woods, but I find it endearing how naive you are. I can make you go away before we even reach the gala tonight. I can make you disappear. I can destroy everything you've ever built; make the whole world forget who you are, even your darling wife. So trust me when I say, I can make you resign, just like I did with… What's his name?" Eric turned to Raven.

"Which one?" he asked, holding back a smirk.

"Exactly," Eric told him.

"What do you want from us?" The first lady asked, gathering all her courage.

"Stay out of my way," Eric warned. "If I tell you to bark, you bark. If I tell you to sit, you sit. If I tell your darling wife to take an extra Fentanyl pill at night before bed, she'll take three."

The next moment, the car stopped and the door swung open again, to a different crowd of photographers and paparazzi at the bottom of regal stone steps. They had arrived at the gala. And just as if nothing had happened, they entered the party. Eric's words were not empty though - they had gotten very good at discovering secrets at every level of government, of most governments. What money could not buy - secrets could. And neither Mr. Woods nor his wife had clean records.

The night proceeded without a glitch. Pam "disappeared" after 30 minutes, and Raven knew damn well what her nymphomaniac sister was up to. Raven and Eric enjoyed watching the one-act opera and the ballet pieces of the night. But could that even be called ballet? It looked nothing like she remembered, but what the hell did she know?

Mid intermission Eric left to meet their honorable host, Emmanuel Bisset, to make Satan knows what kind of back door deals men do in the dark. This left Raven standing alone in her Mezzanine, watching the crowd of guests below. Everyone was cheerful and carefree, and even though there were almost 1200 guests down there, they all seemed to know each other. The richer you get, the smaller your social circle becomes, this she had learned. Raven could tell the humans were borderline drunk already, filling and refilling their glasses with expensive wine, champagne and whiskey while they waited for dinner to be served in the grand hall. Raven could hear their excited (perhaps cocaine driven) heartbeats, and it was slightly mouth-watering. She accidentally made eye contact with Andrew Woods, whose attention left his little circle of mates to glare at her sourly. She raised her glass at him and winked with a seductive smile, making his ears go red before looking away at his feet.

You fucking wish.

But no matter how pleasant the people down there were acting, they were still untrustworthy human vipers.

"Having fun yet?" A deep voice spoke just behind her ear, which made the hair on the nape of her neck stand straight.

None other than Alexander Randall leaned on the mezzanine next to her, giving his back to the crowd. His attention was only on her. Words escaped her. She didn't know if she should run, scream, or kill him on the spot by breaking his neck into three pieces.

Her fangs ached to come down and attack, but she held them still. Seeing what he did on TV was nice, memorable and all - saving all the magic children was what she wanted to die for. Liberating the wizardkind was all anyone could have ever wished. Alexander left the Church and everything he believed behind to build a whole new world on top of the one she destroyed was the closure she needed to seek redemption. Yes, he should be commemorated for that. But Randall had also played a significant role in killing her. Raven's last memory of being alive, was having his knife puncture her chest. It was watching him stand over her bleeding body, her mind being inundated with his whispers until she faded away into the cold darkness of death. Even in her last lucid moments, he wanted the key. No matter the size of Alexander's sacrifice, he still wanted her secret.

He smirked under his thick mustache, taking his crystal cocktail glass to his lips and finishing the last of his scotch before setting the glass down on the ledge table. Getting bored of her hostile discomfort, his eyes finally left her and landed on the crowd below.

"You are hard to kill, Raven Blackwood." He spoke again with a stupid smile on his face.

"Oh no, Raven Blackwood is dead. You made sure of that." She quietly lashed out, trying to bite back the anger.

"Right," he chuckled, but he did not find it funny. "It's Miss Croft now. Or is Mrs? I still don't quite grasp vampirical family trees."

"There's nothing for you grasp because it's none of your fucking business. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Believe it or not, the head of the Scientology Church and I are good friends, and-" He rambled on but she stopped listening.

The mere sight of this man-made her sick. What was he doing here? Why was he still talking? Was this a distraction so he could read her mind? Agatha. Being in the forest. Think of something else! Without her magic, she couldn't sense anything. She couldn't hear the whispers. She couldn't feel the intruder in her head. Lilith. Pouring herself wholeheartedly into the mysterious magic of the 14th circle. Stop thinking about it! Raven started to panic. The more she tried to stir the thoughts away, the more intense the memories played in her head. Trying not to think of something was incredibly difficult. Everything she had died for would have been in vain. Raven felt her cold blood starting to boil and her fangs came out at once. Think of -

"Relax," Randall sighed, gently embracing her hand with his. She tried to pull away, but he stopped her. "I can't practice legilimency on the dead. Your secret has successfully died with you." He did not seem to be lying, so Raven lightened cautiously. Her sisters did not die in vain. No one else would ever know about it. The world's most powerful magic channelling circle was safe. "Does he know? Your Maker?"

The honest answer was no. Eric knew everything there was to know about her, but this was too dangerous for him to know. It only took one powerful person to start asking questions, and trouble would find Eric (and he didn't need any more trouble). The less he knew the better. She measured the enormous man in the fine burgundy suit standing next to her. How deep was Randall's curiosity? How much was he willing to risk to know? What kind of dark magic did he posses that could torture her enough to tell him? Would he harm Eric? Or Pam? What if he had them?! What if this was a distraction?

Raven was about to tell him to fuck himself when he spoke again, taking her silence as an answer. "After Merlin sentenced you to death, a very curious thing happened-"

"Was it before or after you ripped my magic away by stabbing me in the heart and leaving me to bleed out?" Raven snarked.

"After you plead guilty to avoid answering my question at the trial, I took a peek around your conscience. I was hoping to find how you single-handedly destroyed one of the most powerful creatures ever created. Or how you managed to move the moon using only spoken magic. Or how you could do a tenth of what you did just didn't add up."

Raven remembered the whispers. The millions of voices in her head, louder than her own fear. Looking for answers like hounds. Prying every thought, leaving nothing unturned. Did he see it? Did he find the circle? Is that why he left the Church of Night? Because he didn't need to play by their rules anymore? Was he trying to mock her? This struck a nerve.

"Oh, I'm sure you were absolutely dumbfounded that someone like me managed to do all that. Untrained, uneducated, borderline illiterate witch," Randall raised his brows, surprised by her reaction. "I know what people say about me, that I am a waste of pureblood blood magic for not blinding following my father's steps."

"I never thought that about you," he assured her.

Raven shook her head in disbelief. This whole conversation was pointless. "Then enlighten me, Randall. What was my last mortal thought? How does my story end?"

"Is there a problem here?" Eric's voice sucked out all the air in the room. Her Maker's presence made Alexander stand straight up, assuming his bold posture once again.

"Not at all Mr. Northman, just catching up with an old friend," he nodded.

"Oh, so you stab all your friends in the chest? No wonder there are so few left of you." Eric said, approaching the edge of the balcony, putting his arm around Raven's waist.

Randall had no answer to this. He just simply nodded and walked away from the two vampires, back into the shadows of where he came from. Something shifted inside her as she saw part of her old life walk away, possibly forever.

"Randall!" Raven called out, making the large man's head turn as he stood in the doorway. "You never told me how the story ended."

Alexander shifted on his feet, looking at Eric who glared at him with the intensity of a thousand suns which was very on-brand for her maker. Randall hesitated, carefully choosing the words he would say next.

"You were flying." He said with a small smile, before disappearing into the hallway.

His words shattered a glass ceiling in her head, as the memories returned to her exploding fireworks. Of course. Raven thought of Eric. As she plunged into the weightless darkness of death, her soul called him so strongly it consumed everything. In her very last mortal moments, she thought of how Eric made her feel. In the rawest way, their bond made her feel as if she were flying all the time - exhilarating, confident, wild and free. Eric liberated Raven to be who she really wanted to be.

"Raven?" Eric's voice brought her back to reality. "What did he want?"

"Oh, nothing," she answered, looking at his perfect face from up close.

"That looked like something," a devilish smile formed on the corner of his lips. Eric was just teasing her, but he did have the habit of turning most things sexual.

"Eric," she rolled her eyes. "Not everyone wants to fuck me."

"Highly disagree." Eric walked behind her and pressed his body gently against hers. For a moment she forgot all about the Bishop. His arms embraced her from behind, his lips placed a gentle kiss on the corner of her neck which sent a wave through her body. Both of them watched the crowd below in silence. The feeling of his body pressed against hers, his large hands sitting on her hips was all she could concentrate on. Having him so close made her think of nothing else. Her Maker had that effect on her. She could block out the paparazzi, the politicians, the backdoor deals, the litany of bullshit they had to deal with night after night, as long as she could have him.

"How much longer until we can get out of here?" She asked him.

"Soon," he promised. "Bisset is signing some papers. He's selling me half of his distribution channels, so we can expand all the way through Asia and Africa."

"Half? How the fuck did you manage that?"

"His wife was diagnosed with ALS. Nothing my blood couldn't fix."

"How humanitarian of you."

"I know. I also met Pam, and she is fetching our dinner. She even found your favourite - vegan."

Not even the hunger growing in the bottom of her stomach could shake the thought. "Are you sure you can trust him?"

"Bisset? Obviously not. But I have fail-safes, you know I always do."

Maybe it was the presence of hundreds of rich and powerful humans partying down below, or maybe it was Randall's visit that turned her sour, but she felt uneasy all of the sudden. Vulnerable, even. She had to ask. "How long do you think until they declare war on vampires again?"

Eric took a second to answer, as he watched the people down below. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I know they will," Raven confessed. "Last time I had magic to get us out, next time we won't be so lucky. I'm not a witch anymore-"

"Listen to me," he spun her around swiftly and looked deeply into her eyes. "You are enough." He told her softly. "In fact, you are more than I could have ever asked for, and it has nothing to do with magic."

Raven nodded, but she still felt apprehensive. "I'll remind you of that once the world declares war on us again,"

"It won't matter who declares war on us," Eric's thumb traced her jaw, his other hand travelled the back of her dress. "As long as I have you."

The rest was history.

She loved the life she built with Eric - in and out of the public eye. Sometimes they spent weeks on end alone in a beautiful secluded villa somewhere, night after night just enjoying each other's companies and bodies. She no longer had her books to pass the time, so she made do with telling Eric about things she had read and learned. At first, she was hesitant. She didn't want Eric to think she disliked being a vampire or regretted turning. But her Maker would often ask about wizardry, and she had nothing or no one to stop her telling something everything she knew. So Raven would tell Eric all sorts of things: from witchcraft theory to dwarf theology, to portal mechanics, stories of angels and demons, witch customs and holidays, sacred symbols and their meanings, about creatures that longer existed, stories of other worlds, astrology, magic key theory, the ins and outs of potion-making, and even funny anecdotes about her coven sisters. It was no longer painful to say their names. She could talk about herself to Eric without opening wounds. He would never betray her trust like that.

Raven even told him about her few memories of Godric and their brief friendship. Eric had (even though he hid it unfortunately well) inherited his Maker's kindness. He listened to every word curiously, even if her stories probably made no sense, or were so far beyond anything that could possibly be of this world that they sounded absolutely ridiculous. Raven knew she had a tendency of vomiting out stories, but she enjoyed telling him them anyway. And he always liked hearing them. Apparently, when Raven went down these magic rabbit holes, she spoke with a smile on her face, and Eric loved her smile more than most things. One night he even surprised her by purchasing her one of her old books - Catherine's old potions guide. The scribbles and notes on the pages were still all there intact. She had no idea how he managed to not only find a genuine magic book (there were a multitude of spells and rules to keep them out of certain hands) but to find Catherine's exact copy sent her heart through the Moon. Being loved and cared for was the most wonderful thing she had to get used to.

The bond they held now was stronger than any bond they ever held with each other before. Sometimes she didn't know where she ended and he started. Raven felt like she finally belonged somewhere. She belonged with him. And her Maker was absolutely devoted to her in every way possible. The world they built together was the most precious thing Raven ever had. She trusted him completely and irrevocably, just as she loved him. Being his progeny did not ever feel like being owned - in fact, this was the freest she had ever been. She knew Eric would make good on his promise about releasing her if she ever so wished.

But Eric never let her go. Because Raven never asked.

A.N.:

Thank you beloved reader for sticking with Raven until the end. It means a lot to me. It was extremely difficult for me to finish this epilogue, partially because there was so much to be said (it has 7k words, the longest chapter of ALL the series!), but mainly because I will miss day-dreaming of Eric and Raven and this whole universe I built.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who commented/followed/favorited - you absolutely made my day with each and every notification I got.

And thank you also to all my beta readers - you were incredible and helped me grow so much as a hobby writer.

I'm not sure if I will be writing again so soon (it's a lot of work!) but I'm still an avid reader in this fandom, so you'll see my pen name around the comments. Which reminds me, if you have any other True Blood fics you love, PM me!

Anyway. Final bow, thank you again, curtains close

Goodbye for now

Laura