Alright time for the truth, you guys...I don't exactly remember what my alter ego whom I decided to name "Tiger" did. I hope she gave everyone grief and caused a lot of shut because that is-

I stopped my inner monologue as I heard loud muffles coming from beside me. I glared down at Gary and then promptly kicked him in the stomach. As I gave him my version of the evil eye which happened to be me just making my eye twitch weirdly, I said, "Silence is golden. Haven't you ever gone to the movies before? They have it playing all the time. I don't obey them cause I'm a rebel if I'm being honest."

Bill scoffed. "You have issues with authority figures which is probably why you don't obey any kind of command that someone gives you."

I raised an eyebrow at as I replied sarcastically, "I'm sorry, did I ask for your opinion, scowl lines?! No, I did not nor will I ever!"

Anyways that is exactly something that I would've done. I only remember the visions that the Tiger ego of me had. Pieces really. I would as Eric, but knowing the stupid corpse, he wouldn't tell me a single thing. He would hold it against me. ME! A precious, innocent, little girl. I rolled my eyes at the thought of Eric holding something against me.

Why it made my teeth grind…

"What is making your teeth grind, Belle," Bill asked curiously.

"The fact that you two stupid corpses actually thought that not killing Russell is a good idea," I easily lied to them. My eyes widened as I felt Eric nibble a spot on my neck. My hand came up and pinched his nipple.

Eric slapped my hand away as he growled, "Stop it. You know I hate that."

I smirked. "And yet I do it anyways. Don't be a pansy, corpse. You love it."

"No, I love you."

There was a silence in the air as I stared straight ahead. Bill looked uncomfortable as he looked back and forth at Eric and I. Was Scowl Lines always this fucking nosy? Or did I not it before?

"It might be best that you both discuss the, uh...elephant in the room."

I looked around as I stated, "Billy, there is no elephant here. It wouldn't fit in here!"

Bill sighed then actually chuckled. He pat my head and said affectionately, "I'm glad that you're back."

"Ew," I whispered to Eric. "Don't get soft on me, Bill. Sookie needs someone strong and yes, she can take care of herself...but let's be honest here. Its Sookie. She attracts trouble like a moth to a flame."

"You get that saying and yet…" Bill trailed off and shook his head beige smiling at me. "Welcome back, Belle."

After Bill left, Eric questioned, "What are your feelings towards me?"

I didn't know how to answer his questions because of my confusing feelings for him and Godric. There was a pull towards the both of them and while I knew that I could never have the both of them, that I had to choose. The idea saddened me. I leaned over and kissed Eric on the lips as softly as I could. I wanted to show him that I did have strong feelings for him.

"Isn't this enough?" I asked softly. "I care for you and you care for me. I'm here."

"Everytime the idea of loving me comes up, you try to distract me," Eric explained. "I love you, Belle Marie Deveraux. I know you love me too, but you won't dare to say it."

"It's Godric," I confessed. "The way I feel for you is the same way I feel towards him. I don't want to waste anyone's time by choosing the wrong person. I don't want to hurt you both."

Eric shook his head. "Godric won't choose you because of the love I have for you which is rare for him to see. I haven't truly loved anyone in a while, and I lost you once...I don't plan on losing you again. Not even to my own maker."

I frowned and said thoughtfully, "Eric-"

Then we heard peals of laughter coming loudly from behind to where Gary still sat. He shook his head at as I felt rage coming from Eric at being laughed at. "Eric, she doesn't love you and doesn't know how to tell you because she's just a selfish little girl who wants great sex and no strings attached...I mean isn't that what you do best, son."

"You're no maker of mine," Eric growled fiercely before walking out of the room.

I heard Gary tsk when I watched him leave. I heard him whisper to me, "You're a great liar, Belle."

I scoffed. "I'm not lying."

"Yes, you are. They don't want to see you for what you really are, you don't simply have a little bit of darkness inside of you, Belle. You are the darkness."

What the fuck? That's some fairytale villain shit!

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Just cause I fuck around a lot and tend to get sidetracked, doesn't mean that I'm evil. If that were true then we'd all be evil," I explained. "Besides I think that I'm doing okay especially after the shit that I went through."

I crossed my arms over my chest as I heard Gary ask, "Why haven't you had sex with Eric? It's been more than enough time."

In truth, I didn't do it because I value my body. I don't want Eric to get bored with my inexperience. I gave myself to Cooter and then he cheated on me. I did love him for a moment, but then he betrayed me. I'm scared and that's okay.

"I'm scared," I admitted. "Of the both of you. I'm scared that Godric and Eric don't really love me especially Godric. He's never here anymore."

Gary seemed surprised at my confession and his eyes closed for a moment. I watched as they opened and he said, "Oh, Belle. Why did you never tell me before?"

Godric. It was him. I rushed over and happily hugged him. "You're back!"

He kissed my head and said, "You have no reason to fear love. I know you've been hurt by Cooter, but Eric is different."

I smiled as I thought about how Godric always knew what I was thinking. "What if I want to be with you?"

Godric smiled sadly at me. "You don't love me-"

"I could," I interrupted him. "There's something there. You feel it too. Since the first time we met, you've always shown me kindness and-."

"Don't," he grunted when he closed his eyes. "It's not fair to any of us. Let's be honest, I'm not going to fight Eric for you. If you love something then let it go. I can't stand to watch you with him. I sound selfish and it's killing me. I asked your mother to let me go and she did this. So don't."

Tears slid down my cheek as I leaned against him and hugged him tightly to me, my arms around his waist. "You're leaving me because you can't stand the thought of me being happy with someone else."

He nodded. "I don't want to ruin myself. I've come so far I believe...if I were to fight for you then I would lose Eric, you, Pam, and myself. I would everything. That's why Gary is back."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I questioned softly, "You traded your life? How could you?"

Godric sighed heavily. "All of you never understood why I wanted to die and so why should now be any different? Celeste stopped me from meeting the sun. I find peace when Gary takes over."

I scoffed and stood up, running my hand through my chocolate curls. "I don't get it. Godric, he's evil. Worse than evil actually! He's despicable."

"Evil is worse than despicable," Godric stated with a smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Who cares? They mean that someone is shitty and bad ergo Gary! You can't do this because he tried to kill me and I'm pretty sure everyone else. He beat Leo, tried to rape me and my dad which I still think is fucking messed up, fucked my devilish mother, tried to kill me and Eric! I could go on and on about his crimes. He's bad."

"I am selfish, I told you this before," Godric reminded me which caused me to narrow my eyes at him once again. He's being such an asshole right now. I would let him go only if Gary wasn't the effect of his going.

But he is.

"I'm sorry. I must go. He's getting antsy." Godric told me. I kneeled down in front of him.

I cupped his cold face in my hands and said, "I do feel something for you and that won't go away. I'm not letting you, but I'm not going to stop you. I'm not my mother. I want you to know that."

I leaned over and kissed him passionately on the lips. Godric leaned closer to kiss me back and I felt his tongue dance with mine. Godric pulled away and kissed the corner of my mouth before his head lolled to the side.

I moved away, wiping away the tears quickly. I turned away and took out two glasses as I started to pour them with the liquid in the pitcher on the table. I heard soft laughter from behind me. I grabbed the glasses and walked over to Gary and set one of the glasses beside him.

"So I take it, Godric's given up on life," he mused. "Again. What is this? The third or fourth time he's done it? The man doesn't want to live so why fight it?"

I sighed. My hand curled into a fist as I replied, "He's not all that bad. I'd rather have him than you any day, but he disagreed."

Gary pouted mockingly. "Aw. So sad. He doesn't care for you as you did for him. "

I rolled my eyes. "No, he cared more about peace for himself than Eric or I."

I walked over and continued, "Godric may be gone, but that's is bad for you. You see, the minute I let you loose, I know that you're going to try to kill all of us. So why not an eternity of misery, pain, and suffering?"

Gary's smile widened. "Eric won't let you."

I shrugged. "What he doesn't know won't hurt him."

Gary stopped smiling as he examined me drinking whatever was in my glass. "You've changed. This isn't you. What happened to your honest and just side?"

I coughed out my drink as it burned down my throat. I spit it out and groaned, "Fuck! That's disgusting! Who would drink this shit?!"

"Nevermind," he mused. "It seems you haven't changed. Good act though. I almost believed you."

Shit. How did he guess that I was bluffing?! I bet you it was the drink that I couldn't down.

"It was," he murmured.

I rolled my eyes and moved my drink away as Eric came back into the room. "It's the Authority."

"What's their decision?"

"We're going to find Russell and give him to Roman to kill. Or they'll kill us. You're coming with us," Eric informed me as I raised an eyebrow.

"How does that make any sense?" I asked.

Gary sighed, "As you would say, you're the protagonist of this story."

I nodded and gasped, "Oh! So it makes sense as to why I would be coming along!"

Eric shook his head and said, "I'm surprised you're still alive, Gary."

"It wasn't her choice," Gary answered gleefully. "She tried to act tough, but I saw right through her."

Eric eyed that spilt liquid and looked back at me. "Did you do that?"

I nodded.

"Did you know what it was?"

I shook my head.

Eric sighed and stood over me as I glared at him, pushing him away from me since he was crowding my space as usual. "We leave tomorrow night."

Someone knocked on the door and I quickly whispered to Eric, "Move that thing into the closet. Shut your mouth, Gary or I'll castrate your ass."

Eric moved him into the closet as I called out, "Come in."

A guard came into the room just as Eric closed the closet doors. "Mr. Northman, Chancellor Deveraux. Chancellor Agrippa has requested that-"

"Who the fuck is that?" I bluntly asked. "Agrippa? What kind of a name is that?"

"It's Salome." The guard answered curtly.

My eyebrows went up into my hairline before I gave him a look of shock as I exclaimed, "Oh my god! That's Salome's last name! No wonder she's such a bitch. It's worse than Pam's last name."

Eric chuckled. "What's wrong with it?"

I shook my head. "Her name is too long. Sounds cool, but is too long."

"Does she know you know it?"

"If it's a secret then you've done horribly at keeping it from me. I like to snoop," I told him with a wide smile.

Eric smirked. "Pam will have your head. She's very sensitive about it."

I rolled my eyes. "What does Salome want?"

The guard barked, "To request Mr. Northman's presence in her chambers. Alone."

Eric and I shared an unimpressed look as I said, "Alone, huh? I wonder whatever for?"

"Fine." Eric reluctantly agreed. "I'll go. Give us a moment."

Eric and I turned to each other when the guard left. I glared at him. "It's a trap. She wants sex from you."

"I'll be fine." Eric kissed her forehead. "I will tell you if anything goes wrong."

"Oh please, corpse, you're a whore." I scoffed. "You can't resist the allure of an open vagina. It's probably loose for all you know and its big too."

"You sound jealous," Gary sang from the closet.

"SHUT UP, YOU PERV!" I shouted angrily at him.

"You are jealous," Eric replied then embraced me which caused me to growl and him to laugh, his chest vibrating. "I like it."

"When you come back, we need to talk."

The closet doors opened as Gary tsked which pissed me off so I grabbed a pillow off of the sofa, throwing it at him. HOW THE FUCK DID HE GET OUT? Are my knots that bed? If I ask Eric about it then it will most definitely turn into a sex game. He would torture me for sure…

"Your knots are horrible," Gary responded as if reading my-

"You spoke your thoughts aloud again," Eric commented.

I threw my hands up in the air as I gave an exasperated sigh. "I really sort that shit out. Why do I keep doing that?"

"Maybe you're just…" Gary trailed off, trying to find words to define me. Fuck you, Gary! I'm perfect. "Mental, I suppose."

"Shut up, you little cockroach!"

Eric gave me a small smile. "More than anything I missed your violent words and aggressiveness."

I returned his smile with a sickening one. "And I missed your dickery, manipulative, creepy ways."

Eric gave me one last kiss before leaving my bedroom. I suddenly drew a bottle at Gary. "If you as so much as hint at what we talked about then I will-"

"You're not very threatening with that bottle, you know?"

Damn it. He was right. So I broke the bottle on the wall causing it to break with jagged and sharp pieces sticking out of the other end of the broken bottle. I smiled victoriously before setting my mouth into an angry frown. "Watch your mouth, Gary the snail."

Gary glanced around the room curiously before sitting on the sofa with his arms spread out behind it. "Aren't you going to ask about how I got out and am not killing you all?"

I thought about it, tapping my chin as I made a thoughtful face. "Nope! I don't care anymore."

Gary sighed. "If only you played for the other team. You'd be unstoppable."

"Yes, if only I liked woman then I'm sure life would be easier...but then I would probably lose all the fights because everyone knows women are good at arguments. I just yell at them and men are stumped by me-"

"What?! No, I meant if only you were evil," Gary replied then rolled his eyes. He looked disappointed for a moment. "Why couldn't you be like your mother? Celeste was simply fantastic! She knew how to make someone suffer and bring them unimaginable pain."

I frowned and said sarcastically, "Yeah…right. Aw, dang it. Man, I wish that I was evil."

I left him quickly and decided to go check on Eric because it's not that I didn't trust me, but I definitely don't trust Salome's slutty ass. She's fucking Roman and that's disgusting because he's Roman.

I wasn't jealous so shut up, the lot of you! No, stop it!

I'm not-

I know you're thinking it too!

What did I say? Don't be against me! Be on my side!

I stopped when I heard Salome being all sluty and flirting with Eric. I peeked over into the bedroom and saw her take off her robe-THE BITCH IS NAKED AND IS TRYING TO FUCK HIM! I KNEW IT!

Then she touched Eric's chest.

Next thing I knew, Salome and I are on the bed as I started to pull her hair and hit her as well. "He is mine! Keep your grimey paws off of my boyfriend!"

Eric pulled me off easily as my limbs flew everywhere. I kept on kicking him when he threw me over his shoulder. When I turned my head, I saw him smiling and I didn't know why he was. It was really irritating me.

When we returned to our room, Gary was sleeping in MY bed. I growled and Eric smacked my behind. "Enough."

"Put me down," I huffed.

"Will you behave?"

"No." I scoffed. "Come on, corpse. You know who I am?"

"I have a gift for you." Eric announced when he put me down. He went to a computer and opened up his email, shooing me away when he typed in his email and password. "Why can't I see your username? It's not like I'm going to email you nudes and spam you-well, actually that sounds fun. Nevermind, smart choice. I would've sent you viruses."

Eric smiled. "I know. That's why I didn't show you. I know you, Belle."

A couple of pictures popped up and they were corners of rooms with bookshelves. The shelves went all across the dome-like ceiling and there was an upstairs and downstairs with stairs. It had lots of windows which showed sunlight spilling into the room.

"What's this?"

"It belongs to you."

I was speechless as Eric continued as he clicked through more pictures, "You love reading. I thought that maybe this would be your own library. Your name is on the deed so you don't owe me anything, Belle. It's private, but you can make it public if you want to, Belle. There's room for more books, but most of it is filled with various genres. There's a section dedicated to your family's favorite books so whenever you miss them, just read one of their favorites. It has an apartment for you to sleep in. It's protect and safe for you. I planned to give this to you before you were taken then lost your memory. A birthday surprise."

My eyes filled with tears suddenly as I looked at the screen then I looked to Eric who stared at me with an emotion I could never figure out what it was until now. It was love. This is what love looks like and feels like.

"I may not be able to say those three words you want to hear from me, but Eric, I do feel them for you," I confessed. "This is...there are no words, Eric. What you've give me is so beautiful and precious that I don't know how to describe it because those words I used are not enough. You got me a library and a very big one at that. You gave me a home and you love me. I believe that you do now, Eric."

Eric and I kissed passionately for a moment that made the world disappear and it was only just us in it. This moment changed everything for us and we both knew it too. He nuzzled his nose into my neck as he murmured, "So I'm your boyfriend?"

I groaned with frustration and thumped him on the forehead. "Way to ruin a moment, corpse!"

Eric laughed and hugged me closer to him. "You're mine whether you like it or not, just as I am yours. We're together, Belle. Deal with it, witchy."

I scoffed and grumbled, "We're dating. THAT'S IT!"

Eric smirked and kissed my cheek. "I'll take it."

"I hate you."

"Of course you do," Eric mused softly.

TBC…

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES! I'm sorry for the delay! Don't kill me just yet! I'm sorry for killing Godric, but I felt that he would never change because he's a guy who is seriously haunted by his demons and suffers because of it. So Gary is gonna be here forever I guess. I can't kill him off because he's just such a good villain and I know that he's gonna be interesting.

He still wants to kill everyone, but he's gonna chill for a while. He still likes Belle, but won't admit it and when he sees her with Eric and he's gonna have a word or two in there sadly.

The end of the chapter is one of my favorite Belle and Eric moments because although she didn't say those three words because she isn't ready, she tells him that she feels them. The library gift has always been in the works since I first based this story off of Beauty and the Beast type of one. I wanted that specific gift in there because it shows he cares and knows what she likes and he gave it to her without any strings attached to it.

Eric can't let her go because he was without her for a long time and did lose her and that made him truly realize how much he missed her and everything . That scene is gonna be maybe in the next chapter or upcoming ones. A chapter without Belle and just be about Eric "The Life of a Corpse" is what it will be called so be on the lookout.

Eric and Belle are dating now so that's not gonna be fun because they are both possessive, but don't worry that shit won't hit the fan until they are out of the Authority. Let's just say that no one is happy that they are together...

I hoped you guys liked this chapter.

REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until next time...