To say that Brooke and Sookie were having a hard time was an understatement. Sookie, after killing Debbie and having Pam turn Tara into a vampire, was judged and hated by all, and she had come back from work a wreck, and had dove into the cabinet were gran had always kept the alcohol. She turned on the stereo, and the loud music woke Brooklynne up.

She had spent the entire day in bed, and even though she kept waking up and kept having the worst lucid dreams, she stayed under the covers until way after sunset.

Not only the music was loud, but Brooke could hear her sister's devastating thoughts. She had cast Bill away from her mind, she had enough humans judging her for her to worry about the traitorous bastard her vampire ex-boyfriend had turned out to be. She was so drunk she couldn't hear Brooke think really, really, loudly that she wished she'd turn down the music a bit. Perhaps Sookie didn't even know her sister was in her bedroom upstairs. She rarely were anymore.

Lafayette called. He had found Sookie's car destroyed against a tree, and wanted to check on her. She was fine, apparently, she had jumped out of the car at the right time, and had even found it funny. She must be really drunk, Brooke thought.

She heard another train of thoughts approach the house, but his smell told her who he was before she could even hear anything. Sookie was waiting for another well deserved scolding from the werewolf but was surprised to hear Alcide had told Debbie's parents some lie about how the Alpha from their pack had slept with her then killed her. Good. Because if Alcide had told the truth and Sookie had been sent to jail, not much would have been left of the werewolf after that night.

She tried to tune out the party that was going on downstairs, but it was either listening to Alcide and Sookie's drunk thoughts about each other or thinking about her own issues. And she really didn't want to think about Eric at the moment.

When Sookie and Alcide started to make out on their grandmother's couch, she thought about leaving the house, not only to give them some privacy but also because she really didn't want to hear any of it.

But then she heard his voice. Or rather, his thoughts. Bill was standing right there, outside of their house, watching the werewolf and the fairy take each other's clothes off. A creep until the end. Brooklynne felt like fighting, and he had just given her a reason to beat his ass.

She sped out of her house, wearing nothing but a tight shirt and silk shorts and went straight to Bill whom she pushed away with supernatural strength. The King of Louisiana landed in the cemetery near the house.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as if he were still standing right in front of her.

It took a couple of seconds for him to get back on his feet and return to his spot.

"You know, I am still your King."

"What are you gonna do?"

Bill sighed. "I get that you're mad, but…"

"But nothing. Leave my sister alone."

"I didn't come here for Sookie."

"What then?"

"I told him to meet us here," Eric said as he appeared beside his King. "Granted, he could've picked a better spot."

"Weren't we supposed to go with Alcide?" she asked, remembering the plan. "He's drunk now."

"Clearly," Eric mumbled.

"Let's sober him up," Bill said, and Brooke had no doubt he was more than happy to put a stop to the party.

Alcide took them to Doug, the employee that had found the hole in the parking lot. The werewolf had been smart not to ask about the obvious tension between the vampires while they drove in his van to the site.

Doug was a chubby man almost as tall as Alcide. His hair was longer, and so was his beard. He seemed shy and squeamish, and didn't feel comfortable with whatever was happening. They had taken them to Russell's former resting place where fresh cement had been poured to cover the hole. Brooklynne asked Doug to hold her hand and close his eyes and focus on that night, on what he saw. He had been glamoured by the vampire who had dug up Russell and it was harder for her to get any useful images from his mind.

"It's a woman," Brooke said. "She's digging up Russell with her hands."

Russell appeared like a bloody overgrown baby with no skin and the memory made Doug start to shake in fear.

"What the fuck is this?" he asks as if he were living it for the first time.

"Wait," Brooke squeezed his hand harder as he tried to step away. "It's Nora," she breathed out.

"That's not possible," Eric said, trying to ignore Bill's 'I told you so' look.

"She has the same necklace."

"It could be any member of the Authority, then. Do you see Nora's face?"

"No, just the necklace."

"So we don't know for certain it's her," Eric insisted. "It's not Nora, it can't be. She thought Russell was dead. She risked her life to free us."

"Can I go now?" Doug asked.

But they were far from done.

The woman, whom according to Eric was not Nora, had Doug scoop Russell up like a baby and take him into an abandoned facility at the other end of town. That was their next destination.

In the van, Eric and Bill kept arguing about Nora while Brooklynne, helped by Doug's blurry memory, led Alcide to Russell's location.

"She's a traitor and a liar, just like her brother," Bill spat at the sheriff who showed fangs at the insult. Bill followed suit.

"Take that back," Eric growled.

But the fight was cut short as Bill's phone started ringing. Brooke couldn't help but listen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, guys. It's Molly. Remember me? Giving you a shout-out to let you know your countdown has started."

"Our countdown?"

"Yeah, your iStakes are set to activate at dawn. Bummer, right?"

"There must be some kind of mistake."

"No, I'm launching a test. Is your iStake glowing?"

Brooke took a look at the two vampires at the back of the van. Eric opened his jacket and a red light was coming from under his shirt, right where his heart was. iStake. It sounded stupid, but scary. That was what she had felt the previous night when he had held her against his chest. And that stupid but scary thing would kill Eric if they didn't find Russell before the end of the night. She looked up at her maker with a heart and eyes full of worry. They wouldn't have time after all. She wouldn't have time to forgive him. And as he stared back at her, she saw in his eyes that it was okay. That he knew.

"Yeah, they're glowing…"

"Cool. Means we're good to go. Good luck. And if you don't make it, it's been rad serving you. Peace out."

Brooklynne wanted to tear that Molly apart for the total indifference she showed at her maker's True Death. But she had bigger problems. They all did.

Doug was reluctant to enter the building, but all Alcide wanted was for it to be over, so he dragged him in and started looking.

"Wolves have been here," he sniffed.

"They come with Russell," Bill said with a sigh, wondering which would kill him first, the iStake or a werewolf.

The building was an abandoned asylum. Brooklynne would find it ironic that Russell would hide here but she was too anxious to find it even remotely funny.

They dragged Doug, or rather Doug led them, through Brooke, down to the morgue, walking pass freshly severed hands and other dead bodies being eaten by rats.

"Well, at least we're in the right place," Eric said.

"The morgue," Bill thought aloud as they walked pass the indications on the wall. "How convenient."

Helped by a flashlight, Doug and Alcide followed the vampires into the darkness of the basement. Hearing, or perhaps sensing something Doug couldn't, the vampires revealed their fangs as Alcide said:

"We're being watched."

Doug had reached his limits and let go of Brooklynne before he ran away. Knowing it was a bad idea to leave the human alone in this abandoned asylum where a three thousand year old psychopath was hiding, Alcide went after him. It was only when Doug started screaming that the three vampires followed him.

They found what seemed to be Russell's pantry, where over a dozen humans were hanging from hooks like pigs in a butchery. A man started begging for his life, begging for them to take someone else, anyone else but him.

"Where do they take the prisoners?" Bill asked him.

"Down the hallway. There's screaming and then there's not!"

"What do we do with them?" Brooke asked.

"We'll come back for them after we're done with Russell," Eric said before turning around and exiting the room, followed by the rest of his suicide squad.

Stakes in hands, they made their way to the end of the hallway where they found Russell lying on a hospital bed. He looked pale and sick, even coughed a few times. He looked almost human. Almost.

"Ah, miss Stackhouse. I see you've joined us," he said with an eerie smile.

"We came here to finish what we started," Eric told him as he approached.

"Well… give it your best shot."

Russell's smile grew bigger before Alcide, who was still standing in the hallway, behind Brooke, got jumped by a wolf.

"Eric!" Brooke shouted as a wolf launched itself at her maker.

She went to help him but was stopped by Russell who positioned himself between her and the Viking.

"Mmh, you're just what the doctor ordered," he smirked. "I'm sure becoming one of us just made your fairy blood even stronger."

He trapped her against a wall and as he aimed for her throat she used her light to push him away. His back hit the wall at the other end of the hallway and he collapsed on the floor painfully.

"Yeah," he cackled like a maniac as he sat up and leaned against the wall, "there is that aspect of you which I loathe."

Eric killed the wolf that was after him then sped towards Russell. He crouched to get to his level then seized his face and made him look away from Brooklynne and directly at him.

"Look at me. I want to be the last thing you ever see," he growled as he directed his stake towards his heart.

But before he had the chance to make a big mistake, Bill had his own stake aimed at Eric's heart.

"He dies, we die. Most certainly. But if we take him back alive, maybe we don't have to die."

"Unlikely."

"But not impossible."

"Eric! Please," Brooke begged. "He's right!"

Eric snarled but eventually let go of his stake and put his fangs away. Russell used this short moment of weakness to pick up the disregarded weapon and attack the Viking. In less than a second, Eric was on his back, Russell on top of him, the sharp tip of the stake on his heart. Brooke moved fast and once again used her light to push Russell away from the man she loved.

It all happened really fast, and Brooke barely had time to register what was happening, as a group of heavily armed soldiers came in. Half of them had their guns pointed at Russell and the other half at her own heart.

"Freeze!"

Russell surrendered without protest, the red lights now aiming at his chest. One move and he'd be a pool of blood.

A tall, black man all dressed in black, from his shoes to his cap, joined them and stared at Brooklynne like she was the worst thing he had ever seen in his entire life. Eric quickly positioned himself between her and the man who was obviously the one giving orders here.

"What is this?" he asked with a strong accent.

"She's mine," Eric growled.

"Yours?"

"My progeny."

There was no hiding anymore, no lying anymore. They had seen it. The light, the speed. It was useless to deny it, they were damned either way, and if they had to die tonight, they were at least going to be honest about it.

"What is she?"

… Well, half a truth was better than a complete lie…

"She's a vampire."

Russell chuckled.

"Lie," the commander hissed.

"I turned her myself."

"I suppose we will see what Guardian has to say about… this," he said, looking around at the room where two dead werewolves were lying naked next to Bill. "Wolf and human are here," he continued as Alcide appeared behind him, buttoning his jeans. "Why?"

"Doug led us here," Bill started to explain. "Nothing that a little glamouring won't take care of."

"Do it," the commander agreed before he exited the room.

After thoroughly glamouring Alcide, Eric made sure he got out safely and wasn't stopped by any of the soldiers that the Chancellor had brought with him.

"He's fine, he got in his van and is driving home," Eric told Brooklynne as he saw the worried look in her eyes, though she didn't worry about Alcide, she knew the werewolf would be okay.

Eric sighed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he cupped her cheeks with his hands. "This is what I wanted to keep you safe from."

He placed a kiss on her forehead before bringing her to his chest. He rested his chin on her head as she hugged him back. Still, no word came out of her mouth.

Chancellor Akinjide seemed impressed, and though he wouldn't let Brooklynne go, he had stopped looking at her with disgust but rather with curiosity.

"No one thought you two would actually be able to deliver Russell Edgington," he told them as he led them out of the building and into a van. "Guardian will be extremely pleased."

"Pleased enough to not execute us?" Eric asked as he sat next to Brooklynne.

"Only Lilith knows that."

"As only she knows all," Bill replied with a smirk.

The chancellor didn't reply as he closed the doors of the van, trapping them inside the vehicle.

"Who's Lilith?"

"Enough with this religious bullshit already," Eric sighed. "Lilith can fucking blow me."

"No, she certainly cannot!"

Bill chuckled.

"Lilith is like the God of vampires," he explained.

"And why are you suddenly so into it?" Eric asked his King.

"I'm just covering my ass."

"Are you telling me the Authority is a religious government?"

"It could be worse," Eric said. "They could take the word of the Vampire Bible literally."

"The what? The what?!"

"At least the sanguanista aren't in charge…"

"Who…"

"Don't worry about it," Eric told her as he took her hand in his. "I'll explain on the way to New-Orleans."

"New-O…" she stopped. "Are we… are they… Are we going to die tonight?"

She caught his eyes and saw. They were most probably going to be executed tonight, and she would be questioned and experimented on and maybe they'll use her blood to give the sun to all vampires… And everything he had done to keep her safe was crumbling down on him, breaking him apart as this voice inside of his head screamed at him that it was his fault and that he should have known better.

He wiped a tear off her cheek and took her chin between his fingers. He tried to give her his most sincere smile as he said: "I love you." And he didn't wait for her to say it back because hearing those words coming out of her mouth would kill him before dawn. So he kissed her forehead and rested his cheek on her head, hoping, praying to whatever God there was that he hadn't just sentenced the woman he loved to death.

Thank you for reading!

I hope you liked it!

Idk when I'll be posting the first part of chapter 24. I'm still working on chapter 25.

You can find chapter 24 on my Patre0n: patre0n dot com slash alonelydreamer