Disclaimer: I am not the owner of these characters. The original story and the characters belong to Charlaine Harris. I am only borrowing them for a little while.

Chapter 19

Sookie's POV

I just couldn't believe what was happening in front of my eyes. I dialed Alcide's number again and, once again, it went straight to voicemail.

"This can't be happening!" I screamed out of desperation.

I was so consumed with my feelings that, when my phone rang, it startled me.

I picked it up immediately, "hello."

"Sookie! Is everything alright? I have multiple missed calls from you, but no message," Alcide worried voice made me feel guilty.

I took a deep breath, "I should have left a message," I said knowing it was too late for that. I continued, "I came back to Fangtasia and the U-Haul was gone."

"My men decided to move it to a different location because there was a car with four men that drove by suspiciously. It's better not to take any chances," Alcide explanation helped me to calm down.

"Where's the truck now?" I asked.

"We're hiding it in Jannalynn's property."

"But that's dangerous. Jannalynn could be around and do something stupid."

"Not a chance. We got her. Which reminds me, tonight we'll have a ceremony. Your presence is required since you're one of the parties that got affected by Jannalynn's actions."

A ceremony or an execution? I wanted to ask Alcide, but I kept my mouth shut. "Do I have to be there?"

"Are you whining?" Alcide asked.

"I am. Eric and I have lots to talk about and last night we didn't get the chance," I explained. I knew that Alcide knew I meant I wanted to get naked with Eric and stay like that all night, but I wasn't going to spell out my private life to him.

"His presence is required too. Eric and Warren were primary victims. The debt needs to get settled."

"So is Sam. He's losing her too," I said.

"Losing or winning. Depends on how you see it. Nonetheless, he'll be there too," Alcide said.

"At what time?" I asked, resigned. He was there for me last night; it was my turn to return the favor.

"Ten o'clock at Jannalynn's property."

"We'll be there. Now, tell your men that I'm on my way there. I'm taking Eric with me."

"It doesn't make sense. You want to open the truck that we sealed to protect them," Alcide said.

"I know. I'll be careful."

"Are you sure this is a smart move? Those four men could be driving around looking for the truck. If they see you, they could follow you. Those vampires are under my protection. I won't let something happening to them; it would come back against the pack," Alcide, "the pack master" spoke. His tone meant serious business.

"Those vampires are my friends. I'm the first one that wants their safety. The last thing I want is to lose any of them," I stated as a matter of fact.

"All right then; your call," Alcide said.

As soon as I hung up the phone, Jason and I were on the road again. Next stop: Jannalynn's property. We drove carefully; paying attention to those that droved passed us. We wanted to make sure nobody followed us.

The truck wasn't visible from the main road, so Jason entered the property slowly. Jason drove this time and that gave me plenty of time to think about tonight. I couldn't understand why everything had to happen this way to prevent Eric and me from talking? I didn't know if life was going to be this way for us, but I was going to do my best to change it; hence, bringing Eric to my house tonight. I didn't want to waste any more time.

"Sook, you want me to go out and find them?" Jason offered.

"Maybe I can help," I said while letting my walls down to listen. There were some movements inside the house, but that wouldn't be them. I switched my attention to the woods in the back of the house, and sure enough, there was movement there too.

"Go that way," I told Jason as I pointed my finger towards the commotion in the back woods. When we got closer, we were finally able to see the U-Haul and four members of the pack nearby.

One of them stepped out of the woods and guided us to park. We got out of the car and went to the trunk to get the comforters I brought to cover Eric's body from the sun.

It was a good thing that they were here because they could help us carry Eric to my car. Jason walked towards the guard and they shared a secret handshake or something like that.

"How long have you been a werepanther?" Guard number one asked. By then, we have arrived to the area where the other three guards were sitting by a tree on a lazy afternoon. The three guards stood up and went to Jason where they shared the same secret handshake. I needed to ask Jason about this because apparently I was missing something here. Once the handshake was over, they returned to their assigned spot under the tree.

"Not long. I'm still getting used to it," Jason replied.

The guards nodded understanding the struggle, "You did good last night," guard number one told Jason.

"Thanks man. You did too," Jason turned his attention to me and continued, "we found a vampire out in the woods and we fought him together. At first, because we were disorganized, the vampire was taking advantage of that. But then, something clicked and we started coordinating our moves. We got him," Jason smiled at his recollection of memories.

"We got lucky last night. We didn't suffer casualties," I said.

"We got very close… twice," guard number one said while he unlocked the U-Haul. He then continued, "This is as far as I'll help," the guard said as he backed away from the truck.

Jason helped me lift the door just enough for us to roll in with the comforters; he then closed it right away. I realized I had forgotten something important: how was I going to see inside the truck in the darkness? Leave it to Jason to be a true construction worker who carried a small set of tools with his key chain that included a tiny flashlight. He turned it on and we could see the tiny space we had between the U-Haul door and the thick clothed wall that Alcide's pack created for extra protection from the sun.

Jason crawled to his nearest corner, and with his pocket knife, he cut the tape that glued the cloth to the U-Haul wall right on the bottom corner while he held the tiny flashlight with his mouth. He lifted the corner and slowly crawled in.

"Sook," he called flashing the light through the opening, "give me the blankets."

I crawled towards the small opening while pushing the comforters in front of me because there was just no space to maneuver. I pushed them towards Jason's hand which was sticking out through the small opening and he pulled them through. As soon as they disappeared, I followed carefully.

I had to be careful because I didn't want to make the opening any bigger. It could jeopardize the sun leaking in, giving the final death to the vampires. I taped the cloth back as much as I could.

When I tried to stand up, I misplaced my hand and stumbled with one of the vampires. Jason pointed the flashlight to my direction and I saw it was Bill's leg that made me lose balance momentarily.

Bill was sitting the closest to the entrance. It was pitch black with the exception of the small spot that Jason's flashlight illuminated. Jason then moved the light towards Bill's left side and followed the edge between the floor and the wall.

There was some empty space between Bill and the three vampires of Oklahoma, the survivors, who were sitting next to each other towards the back corner. I wondered why Bill was sitting so far from everybody else. Oh well.

Jason continued searching. Right after the three Oklahoma vampires was Thalia, followed by Palomino, then Indira, Maxwell, Karin, Eric, Pam, and Rubio. Of course, Eric was still holding his sword. Was there significance to that sword that would explain Eric's attachment? Maybe after everything calms down I'll have the chance to ask him.

The middle of the truck was empty as everybody was pinned as far back as they could have gone. I didn't blame them; they had little protection. I didn't think they fully trusted this plan, but their choices were very limited.

Jason pulled Eric's legs to move him away from the corner followed by a loud bump; Eric's head hit the floor.

"Jason! Be careful," I called him out while I went to grab Eric's shoulders to help move him.

"It's not like it hurt him," Jason replied as he continued pulling Eric by his feet.

"You don't know that," I challenged him.

"Uh… he's dead. Very dead," Jason replied.

I took a deep breath and decided not to reply to his comment. We set Eric on the floor and proceeded to open the comforters. We fully extended the first one and then settled Eric at the edge of it. I was about to pick up the opposite corner of the comforter when Jason started to roll Eric and the comforter together 'burrito' style.

I wanted to glare at Jason, but in this darkness it was a waste of time.

Eric was so tall that his feet were still fully exposed and part of his head too. "Let's use the second comforter to cover his feet properly and then we need to fix this one to cover his head better," I told Jason.

"Ok," Jason replied and proceeded to do the same thing all over again with the second comforter, but this time he covered Eric mostly from the waist down to cover his feet.

"Can we roll it around Eric instead of rolling Eric with it?" I asked sarcastically.

"Sis, he won't get dizzy either," he replied.

"Jason!" I replied with frustration.

"I know that you're in love with him and all, but he's dead during the daytime. He won't feel anything," Jason said.

"You're right about that, but we should at least respect the dead just the same we respect the living," I said.

He took a deep breath, very loud, and then continued fixing the covers until all of Eric was fully protected.

We tried to carry Eric wrapped in the comforters, but it was challenging to keep a firm grip on him. We ended up sliding our package to the corner where we first came in. Unloading him off the truck was going to be tricky, but there was no other choice.

Jason lifted the un-tightened corner and slid out.

"Sook, let's go," he called as I heard him lifting the U-Haul door.

I lifted the cloth slightly and Jason had half of his body on the truck and the other half dangling on the air. I pushed Eric, which wasn't easy, until Jason had a hold on him. He pulled him through the cloth opening without effort. I guessed being a werepanther had its benefits. The minute Eric was gone, I crawled out as fast as I could, but unfortunately for Bill, I wasn't fast enough and his hand caught fire.

"No!" I panicked.

"Sook," Jason called and threw a small towel that he used to dry his sweat at work. I crawled back in again fast and slapped him with the towel many times until the fire was gone. I then pushed his body as hard as I could until he was further away from the entrance.

I crawled out again and was thankful that there wasn't another fire to put out. I taped the corner back as good as I could, hoping that the clothed wall would continue to keep the sun out. I then sat on the edge of the truck and jumped off it.

Jason had Eric safely wrapped over his shoulder without an effort. At least guard number one was by my side to lock the U-Haul again.

"Thank you," I said, but I would have been more thankful if he had helped us in there. Anyway, it was done and I had my Eric safely on the way to my car. I hurried up to open the trunk and Jason set Eric not in the gentlest ways. We closed the trunk and off we went back home.

Before I forgot, I texted Pam, Eric is with me so she won't panic when she woke up to find Eric gone. I should text Bill too to apologize for his burnt hand, but I let it be. He'll know once he found out about Eric.

The ride back home shouldn't have taken more than thirty minutes, but it did. We got on the highway, and five minutes into it, a pickup truck, which I recognized because it drove by Fangtasia earlier today, passed us in the opposite direction and a loud tire screeching followed. We both looked back and the pickup truck was cutting through the grass that divided the highway.

"What the hell," Jason said.

The truck swerved slightly, but eventually regained control. The driver sped up and it was catching on us fast.

"Let them pass Jason," I said hoping that was their plan.

"Oh man, that truck is fully loaded and chromed out," Jason's admiration was palpable.

The pickup truck caught up with us, but instead of passing us, it rear ended us.

"What the hell!" Jason said.

"Watch out!" I screamed as the truck accelerated hitting us again.

The armor-like equipment smashed the back of the car like if it was made out of cheap plastic and bent the trunk lid so far up that it left the trunk fully exposed.

"Eric!" I panicked.

Jason struggled to keep the car on the road and accelerated as much as he could. I kept my eyes on the trunk praying that Eric wouldn't burst in flames with the sun. So far, the comforters were protecting him.

We left the truck slightly behind, and with it, the rear bumper. But my car was no match for them; not only they run over my bumper, leaving the pieces all over the pavement, but they also accelerated and hit us again smashing the trunk further in.

I screamed.

I feared for our lives, including Eric's.

This time we weren't so lucky. Jason lost control of the car and we went off the road, passed the shoulder onto the verge. We hit several small, unimportant trees, but unfortunately Jason couldn't bring the car to a full stop and we went straight into a lake.

The car came to a full stop for a couple of seconds, but then it kept rolling deeper into the water which started filling up the car very fast. Jason broke his window because he couldn't open the door. By the time he exited the car through the window, the car was submerged in totality. Jason held on to the car with one hand while he extended the other one for me to reach it. I struggled with the seatbelt and with the need to breath, but eventually it came loose and I swam towards Jason. He helped me out and up we swam.

It felt nice to take a full gasp of air, but it wasn't good to see our attackers waiting for us to come out. Their grin made me sick.

"Come out here vampire lover," one of the attackers said.

"You better leave my sister alone" Jason warned them; they laughed at him.

I couldn't decide what to do. I looked around looking for Eric's body to float to the surface.

"What are you doing?" Jason whispered.

"Eric is going to float and the sun will kill him," I whispered with panic.

"I saw in one of those FBI shows that a dead body sinks until it's decomposing. That's when they come up and the police find it. Vampires never decompose. Actually, he's safer now under the water. No matter what, the sun can't get to him," Jason explained.

"Really?" I asked. I have always known that dead bodies float and that's how the police found out about the crime. Right now, I could only pray that Jason was right.

"Get out of there bitch or should we go get you?" Attacker number two said.

There was nowhere else to go, so we got out of the lake. By the time we reached the shore, several things happened very fast.

Attacker number three produced a long rope which he was playing with while waiting for us.

Two wolves came out of nowhere and jumped on two of our attackers. Attacker number three tried to help the other two by trying to tie up one of the wolves with the rope, but it back fired him because in the middle of the fight the wolf took a chunk out of his arm. One minute there was too much screaming and growling going on, the next minute it was silent.

Attacker number one took off running and one of the wolves followed him. The other wolf took care of the attacker with the rope; everything was done pretty fast.

The wolves then left; Jason and I were still there, frozen in place. We looked at each other, and then to the now dead bodies in front of us. The two wolves returned, naked and in their human form. There were two of the guards that were lazily sitting under the tree by the U-Haul at Jannalynn's property.

"Just on time. We'll take care of the bodies; you get the vampire from the bottom of the lake," naked werewolf said.

"How did you know?" Jason asked.

"They drove by Fangtasia a couple of times this morning. Then, they have been driving back and forth the highway because they couldn't figure out which exit we took. We kept tabs on them. We saw them when they attacked you, and here we are," naked werewolf number two said.

"Do you know them?" I asked.

"They were four stupid humans," naked werewolf number one said.

"Let's get this cleaned up before the police shows up," naked werewolf number two said.

"Thank you," I said. They nodded and then got busy with the dead bodies. They didn't bother to put on clothes. If the police showed up, there would be a lot of explaining to do.

I turned around facing the location I assumed the car would be at by now, "we need to get Eric out," I said facing the lake.

"Or we could leave him there. Right now, he's safer down there," Jason said.

"Are you mad?" I asked him.

"Sook, think about it. We get him out and then what? We don't have a car anymore," Jason said.

I closed my eyes in defeat. Jason was right and I hated it. I sat down, in the dirty sand, not knowing what else to do.

"We could call Sam," I suggested.

"He might be out best choice. The people in Hotshot are still working on the kitchen. Let's find a phone and call Sam," Jason said.

I stood up and we met one of the werewolves on our way back to the highway. This time, he was dressed.

"Where're you going?" he asked.

"Do you have a phone I could borrow? We need to call Sam to pick us up," I said.

"I have a phone and I also can get you a ride. Let me call the guys," he said. He got his phone out, made a few phone calls, and we had a ride on the way here.

We waited for about ten minutes when one of Alcide's pack member arrived. He handed over his keys, "bring it back tonight to the ceremony," he ordered. He then went on to meet with the other guys. Another reason to attend the ceremony, ugh!

We got in the car, and without me saying anything, Jason parked the car close to the shore. He got in the lake, and after a little while, he came out with Eric wrapped with the comforters still. I rushed to open the trunk and he settled Eric safely.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful.

Jason carried Eric all wrapped up in the comforters to the secret spot in the closet. After a long good bye hug he took off in his truck and I jumped in the shower right away. In less than one hour, Eric was going to wake up and I wanted to be presentable for him.

By the time I got out of the shower and got dressed it was about ten minutes for Eric to wake up. I rushed to the kitchen to clean the hot water and spaghetti mess from the floor. I put the mop away when, "great granddaughter, last night you made me proud," Niall said. I jumped but luckily nothing fell or broke with my reaction.

"Great grandfather," I went to hug him tight. "Where were you last night? I didn't see you during the fight."

"I was there as promised. We stayed in the woods and helped the shifters fight the vampires that were hiding there, ready to kidnap you," he said.

"It shocked me to learn what Felipe de Castro had in mind for me. I got lucky," I stated as a matter of fact.

"I wouldn't have let him take you. I ensure you that," he said and then he continued, "you enjoyed killing Freyda."

"Too many weird things happened with her. She tried to escape, but she fell from the sky halfway decomposed which is why I was able to kill her. She didn't heal fast enough. Did you have anything to do with that?" I asked.

"You did that. You used your magic to manipulate the air around her when she was flying away. Without oxygen, she couldn't fly or breathe. She suffocated," he explained.

"How did I do that?" I asked.

"Remember your bloodline comes from the sky fairies," Niall replied.

"But how did I do that?" I asked again.

Niall looked behind him slightly, "there's no time for me to explain it, but I promise I will," he poof right in front of my eyes.

"Care to explain this lover?" Eric asked, standing where Niall stood a second ago. He was soak wet, patches of sand all over his body, and even algae stuck to his hair. "Why do I have a slight headache?"

"Well…"

Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to change the tone a little bit to make it funny and well…. Eric suffered the consequences lol

PS: If you have friends that you think would enjoy this story, then tell them so they can read it too!