AN: First of all, I just want to take a second to genuinely thank everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on this story. You are all absolutely awesome. It makes writing even more fun. Secondly, this is an interesting chapter and I 100% hope you guys will tell me what you think of it. Anyway, let me know and do, please, enjoy!

Chapter 35

Maria had been let out of her "cage" to clean the house. She was in the middle of sweeping the front entryway when she heard an odd sound in the kitchen. Sookie wasn't expecting company because, if she was, it was common for Maria to be locked in the cubby. Whoever was in the kitchen was unexpected.

She set the broom aside, ready to tell the thieves where the best things to steal were, but was presented by an old man in a suit with wild hair. He stunk and it instantly set Maria on edge.

Fairy.

"Who the fuck are you?" The old man asked with a level of disgust that, frankly, pissed Maria off.

"Who the fuck are you?" She shot back. She didn't recognize him and Sookie had only told her not to speak to specific individuals. That meant the old man was free to insult.

"I'm Sookie's fairy godfather." There was undeniable arrogance in his voice that only served to anger her further. And it wasn't simply the arrogance, either. It was the other things he added to it. "You're that thrope she was talking about, aren't you?"

He scowled as he looked her over, twisting his face as though he smelled something disgusting.

"Do you really need me to answer that?"

"I suppose not. Your stench is too pungent to ignore." He brushed the back of his curled index finger under his nose. "Tell me, do all of your kind simply refuse to bathe, or just smell like wet animal all of the time?" She didn't reply, though her body was beginning to vibrate with hatred. "That's what I thought. Now then, make me some spaghetti. I'm hungry."

"No,"

He seemed genuinely shocked by her reply. "What did you just say to me?"

"I said no, you wrinkled ball sack. Make your own spaghetti." Maria knew she was being rude, but he started it.

A flash of fire radiated in his light eyes. An instant later, she saw a buzzing, electrified ball of energy form in his hands.

"You will speak to me with the proper respect, girl." He growled. "I am your better in every way, and you will address me as Your Majesty from now on. Do you hear me?"

Maria felt as though her head would explode with the bullshit that was being forced into her ears. She wanted to believe that the fairy wasn't serious, but one glance in his eyes told her otherwise. He was being entirely genuine.

"I don't think so, old man." She said. "Do you have any idea what your little granddaughter or whatever has done to me? I already have to kiss her ass. I'm not about to kiss yours, too."

"Hm," He scoffed at her and let the ball of energy disappear again. "Clearly, she's being too lenient. I never used to let mine off their leashes, or be in human form. You have mouths on you. Best to shut you up."

She was shaking again. "You owned thropes."

He smirked at her. He actually fucking smirked at her.

"Of course I did." He said. "I've probably had half a dozen through the years. Thropes aren't known for being intelligent, but your brawn is useful." He looked over her with distaste once more. "I should have warned her to ensure you remained in animal form when she branded you. I'll have to speak with her when she gets home."

Somehow, through the ringing in her ears, Maria learned one thing in particular that she hadn't known before.

"You told her to do this to me?" Her voice was tight and rigid.

"Of course." He offered a shrug. "If it comes between the safety of my family and some animal's hurt feelings, I'm more concerned with protecting the last fay in my line."

"Oh," The word trembled and Maria's vision began to pulse. "You are, are you?"

He gave her another smug smile and that was when her vision blacked out entirely.

Maria lunged.

She heard nothing but the beating of her own heart, the blood rushing through her body, and a high-pitched ringing that wouldn't subside. The smell of blood saturated the air and her head ached more than she thought it was physically possible, but it was necessary.

Heat burned under her hands and a litany of things clumped under her fingernails, but she didn't care. She didn't care that she'd torn the fingers off her gloves or that half of her wardrobe was caked with blood. She only cared about her plan.

Sookie appeared in the doorway and paused at the sight in the kitchen. What could only be considered pure terror saturated her face. She looked from her grandfather to Maria and back again. Maria saw her mouth move, but was relieved when she heard nothing. The fairy, on his knees in front of Maria with her hand around his throat, spoke, too. She could feel his vocal chords vibrate, but didn't hear a word. Whatever he said, Sookie was furious when she looked back at Maria.

She yelled, said something, and again, Maria couldn't hear it. She began to smile.

"I'm deaf, bitch." Maria actually laughed. "None of your commands mean shit, now."

Sookies face fell just a bit. Maria could tell that the halfling understood. She'd commanded Maria not to hurt humans or her brother. The old man was neither, so he was free game, and now deaf, Sookie couldn't change that.

"Release me." Maria said. Sookie's tirade ended immediately.

She saw the fairy mouth something like, what?

Maria repeated, "Release me now, or I'll rip his throat out."

The fear returned and Sookie did her best to try and think of something, but Maria knew she had no recourse. The fairy "king" was battered, his arms useless because Maria had broken them to keep him from using his Light. His face was bruised, and bloodied and Maria's very dangerous claws were dug into his throat. Sookie didn't have a lot of options, and Maria knew it.

The seconds ticked by and as they did, the ringing in her ears began to subside. Maria's heartbeat increased. She had intentionally deafened herself so that Sookie couldn't bark new commands (a pencil in each ear was unbelievably painful) but she was beginning to heal. If Sookie didn't hurry up, Maria would be shit out of luck, and she knew it.

"Release me now," Her voice was stern. "Or I'll rip his fucking throat out. You know I will, fairy."

The longer Sookie went without speaking, the more worried Maria became. Seconds felt like they were going by even faster and now that she was healing, that was a bad thing.

She didn't know what she expected if she was released. Maria assumed she didn't have to hear it. She hoped, at least, that she would simply feel it. That's what she was betting on, in fact.

Sookie yelled fine and Maria watched her mouth closely. She spoke the words, and toward the end, Maria could begin to hear them, like someone was slowly turning up the volume in her ears.

"Ooo," Sookie said.

The last part of you made it through the haze with ease and the ringing had gone. Maria could hear again, hear Sookie's heavy breathing and the bugs outside. And she'd been right -she felt it.

It was a hard thing to describe. In fact, maybe it wasn't even a feeling. It was knowledge, knowledge that Maria's body was under her control once more.

"Now let him go!" She yelled.

"You tortured me." Maria said. "You tortured me in ways that were more sinister and evil than any vampire I've ever met, and that's truly saying something." Her grip tightened. "And I meant what I said, Stackhouse. I will kill you. I'm not a vampire. Sunlight and a house won't save you from me. After what you've done, rest assured I will pay you back in kind."

Maria wrenched her arm sharply. Her claws ripped through the old fairy's throat and before Sookie could finish screaming in pain over the loss, he was reduced to nothing but dust. An instant later, Maria was gone.

She ran from the house before she could risk being branded again. When she returned, and she would return, she wanted to be at her full strength. She wanted to catch Sookie by surprise. Besides, the thought of Sookie Stackhouse being terrified that Maria would pop out of the shadows, or was lurcking under her bed, the thought that she wouldn't be comfortable in her own home, made Maria happy.

Sookie let out a loud, angry scream. Many, in fact. She couldn't help it. It was the only thing that helped her come to terms with what was happening around her.

Niall was dead.

She was Hep-V positive.

Bill was dying and it was her fault.

Eric was dying.

Everything was happening all at once and she didn't know how to cope. It felt like the world was collapsing around her. What could she have possibly done to deserve it? She was a good person and she knew that her bad luck wasn't her fault. It was someone else's.

Maria.

Everything bad was Maria's fault. It had to be because Sookie knew damn-well she did absolutely nothing to deserve any of it.

But now Maria was free. She was out in the world without a leash and Sookie was aware she was in danger. What little she knew about the thrope, Sookie could say definitely that Maria seemed to be a woman of her word. If she said she would hunt the fairy down and kill her, she would. Sookie knew she had to find someone to protect her, someone who could stand a fight with the thrope and wouldn't have a problem killing her if they had to. Pam, or maybe even Jessica…

Hell, if it came down to it, Sookie would lie to the other vampires she knew like Keith or Jessica's ex-boyfriend and get them to kill the thrope.

It was late in the night, not far from dawn in fact, when Eric found his way to Bill's mansion. He'd sought out the fairy he could still feel.

His senses felt like they were dialed up to eleven and he hadn't stopped smiling since feeding from Sarah. He would live.

A knock on the door brought the beautiful blonde to him. The shock and joy in her eyes at the sight of his perfectly ivory skin made him smile again –a smile that faded when she spoke.

"Bill's sick." She told him. "And Maria,"

Eric felt a shock of ice race down his spine at the mention of the other young woman, and he didn't know why, but Sookie didn't continue.

"What?" He pressed.

Sookie's head fell forcing waves of blonde hair to fall into her face. She still held his jacket and tugged on it briefly. When she looked back up, he saw tears welling in her eyes. They hadn't been there a second before and he highly doubted it was for the woman she'd mentioned.

"She's going to kill me." She said in a shaking voice. His brows pulled together. "She killed my fairy godfather, and now she wants to kill me, too."

She's been your girlfriend's salve for months now. Eric still wasn't willing to believe Pam even though he knew she wouldn't lie to him. He couldn't say why, but Pam's statement and his view of the fairy were so different that he swore his Progeny had to be wrong despite a voice, quiet but there, telling him otherwise.

So, he'd give Sookie a chance.

"Why?" He asked.

"I don't know." Sookie said. The tears had trickled down her cheeks while she stared up at him with desperation. "She's insane. I've never done anythin' to her, and she wants to kill me, and with Bill sick, I don't have anyone to protect me." Sookie suddenly wrapped her arms around him. She buried her face in his chest. "You have to help me."

"I…"

Further words seemed to refuse to come. Eric couldn't make himself agree or tell her no. He couldn't do much of anything, and Sookie could tell. She drew back, but not far, and stared up at him with that innocence that made people want to protect her.

"Then tell me how you're cured. Let me help Bill. I can't be on my own. She will hurt me."

"I can't."

Eric surprised himself when he managed to pull her arms away and step back. Her crying instantly stopped, as did the begging. Instead, she became angry. The shift was sudden and he noticed.

"What?" She almost growled the word.

"I can't." he said. "It's not ready yet."

"Not ready?" She repeated angrily. "It worked on you."

"It's complicated." He began to retreat through the door. "It's almost dawn. I'll be back tonight."

"He might not have 'till tonight." She snapped and grabbed at his jacket again. "And what are you going to do about Maria? Don't you care that she wants to rip me apart?"

"I have to go," was all he could say.

And before Sookie could say anything else, he launched himself into the air.

Her words circulated through his mind over and over and over again as he flew back to Shreveport. He couldn't believe it, and yet…

When he finally landed, he noticed that Maria's house wasn't abandoned. The lights weren't on, which didn't surprise him given it had probably been a long while since the bills were paid, but he heard movement. It was brisk and quick-paced and then, just as suddenly, the front door opened sharply.

She made it down the front porch steps after locking the front door, a military-like duffle bag over her shoulder, and paused the moment she saw him standing there.

Silence.

Maria didn't smile. She didn't rush for him. She didn't do anything. In fact, she stared at him like he was a complete stranger, which made the smile he'd formed drop slightly.

And then her eyes drifted to his chest.

"You're healed." She said as confusion twisted his features. He nodded. "Congratulations."

And without anything further, she headed down her driveway. There was no car, no bike or truck. Apparently, she chose to walk.

"Maria," He said when she'd made it roughly ten yards. She paused and turned to him. Eric slowly approached. He could feel the sun creeping. "I've come to take you back with me to Fangtasia."

Her eyes sparked with anger. "You're kidding, right?"

His brows narrowed slightly and she seemed to take that as her answer. Suddenly, she dropped the bag. It fell hard, causing bits of dust to puff into air. She was in front of him in an instant.

"Why should I?" She asked angrily. "You chose the fairy twat, remember? You want nothing to do with me." Maria ran her fingers through her hair out of frustration. He could practically taste it. "Look, I'm glad you're okay. I really am, but fuck you, Northman."

She said it with such animosity that he couldn't even make a joke about it.

"You are so goddamn blind about what kind of person your little girlfriend is. Granted, I'm not a good person. I know that, but I'm nothing compared to her. She is probably the most sadistic individual I've ever had the misfortune of meeting, and coming from me, that's truly saying something."

"Are you honestly telling me she's worse than Rasputin?" Eric didn't know where the condescension had come from, or why it stained his words as thickly as it did, but the tone was there regardless and her rage at it was instant.

"He was a twisted prick, but he never hid that behind anything. As much as I fucking loathe that man, at least he was true to the psycho piece of shit he was. But Stackhouse? Oh, no. Prancing around with her little blonde curls with vampire, werewolf, and human alike chasing after her with their tongues hanging out acting like her shit doesn't stink. She is, without a doubt, one of the worst people I've ever known."

That unidentifiable chill prickled the back of his neck, forcing the hair on it to stand on end. He didn't know why, but he spoke.

"She thinks you're going to kill her."

"Oh, I am." She was for too casual for his liking. "I have a whole plethora of things I'm going to do to her, but I'm going to let her sit with it for a while. I want her to be afraid first. Then I'll kill her for what she's done to me."

"You're not going to touch her."

Her brows rose. "No?" He shook his head. "Did Pam tell you what I showed her?"

"She might have mentioned something."

"Hm," Maria nodded her head sarcastically. "Well, allow me to take away some of the mystery."

Maria yanked off a glove and took his hand. The heat of it burned his skin. He reveled in it before his mind was bombarded with a thousand images. They lasted only a second before she let go. As his mind continued to reel, she met his gaze unblinkingly.

"I will skin that bitch alive when the time comes and if you get in my way Northman, I'll take you down, too."

And with that, she turned to walk away. He saw her grab her bag, throw it over her shoulder, and walk away as though she was prepared to walk a thousand miles. Maybe she would and in truth, Eric felt like she might just to get away from him.

The burn of the rising sun had reached a point where Eric knew that if he didn't return to Fangtasia, he would burst into flames. Unable to linger, or go after Maria, he flew into the air back to his nightclub.

It wasn't quite midday, but toward the end of the morning and creeping ever closer to noon, and Eric hadn't stopped thinking about what had happened at Maria's house.

That had been the third time since meeting Maria that she had forced memories on him. The first time it'd been disorienting as one would think it was. He'd been shown a century of memories, after all. The second time, he'd been a blank slate so her memories were the only ones he had in his mind. It was much easier than the first.

The third time, however, was an odd combination of the two. While Eric was more capable because he knew what to expect, he doubted he'd ever truly be used to viewing a life through someone else's eyes, and that was exactly what she did to him. It was like watching something on VR (virtual reality). He was experiencing it, but not part of it, and truthfully, he was glad for the fact.

He saw everything that had happened to Maria since she had joined with Sookie. He felt her helplessness, her rage and loneliness. He also saw a part of Sookie he hadn't thought existed. She was cruel for cruelty's sake. There was no reason for it other than her own desires to hurt Maria.

On a small level, he could understand her reasoning. Maria had hurt her –slicing through the blonde's face with her fingernails. But, what Sookie did was far beyond that. She physically starved the thrope, deprived her of water or a bathroom. She wouldn't let Maria out of the cubbyhole he'd built for himself for days on end, or allow her to shower. More than once, Sookie had nearly suffocated Maria. She isolated Maria, forbade her from speaking, and turned her into a literal slave.

But the foulest of the physical torture was, by far, forcing Maria to stab herself in the chest. It was slow and painful, and Eric felt every second of it.

The absolute worst, though, was the loneliness. She was so isolated despite being surrounded by people. Maria blamed him and even Pam for turning their backs on her when she'd gone through so much to keep him safe. He knew she was angry at him for it and he didn't blame her. They had spent a year together, as close to a couple as they could possibly be, and the second Sookie showed up, he turned his back on Maria. He cast her aside in favor for a woman that she and others had said wasn't the person Eric thought.

He had been stewing for hours, filled both with Maria's anger over the last few months, and his own over her treatment. Was he so blind as to fall in love with someone he'd been so wrong about? Eric was generally a good judge of character, but what he saw through Maria's eyes… He had never thought it possible, but there was genuine joy on Sookie's face in those memories.

And the command for Maria not to speak to Eric, not to utter a word, made him angry. He'd thought she simply didn't want to speak to him. It turned out that no, her voice had been stolen from her.

She tried to ask for help when she showed Pam everything, but Eric ignored it. He ignored all the signs.

As he sat with Mr. Gus and Pam, someone approached from behind and spoke in Japanese. The only thing that made it through his mind was Sookie Stackhouse.

Eric flinched. He cast Pam a glance and noticed her anger. Her jaw clenched, but she said nothing. Eric turned in his seat and there, surrounded by Yakuza men, was Sookie. His brows twitched together. She didn't look the same, and Eric couldn't tell why, but it was as though he was seeing her with fresh eyes.

He saw the way she looked around and when it donned on her that she shouldn't have come to Fangtasia, but he could also see that she didn't care. She never did. Sookie did what she wanted to, what would benefit her in the end. This was simply the most recent instance.

"I don't mean to bother y'all, but, I just need a moment with Eric." She said.

His stomach curled. Of course she did. And, of course, she'd get it because Sookie Stackhouse got everything she wanted.

"Tell me," Mr. Gus said tersely. "How do you two know each other?"

"It's a long story." Eric said as he stood. He looked to the Japanese man at his side. "But I have a few words for her."

"Uh-huh…" He was tense, which Eric understood, especially with the importance of what they were attempting to hide. "Well, you'll excuse me if I don't want her or you out of my sight."

"Fine," Eric replied.

He turned and approached the young woman standing only a few feet behind him. Something was bubbling inside Eric, something fueled by a thousand questions.

"Can uh…" Her gaze danced around. "Can we talk somewhere else?"

"No," He told her. She eyed him with confusion, though he doubted she was really surprised. More than once he'd been mean to her in front of others. "Why does Maria want to kill you?"

Sookie immediately stiffened and twitched in a way he'd seen before. It told him that she hadn't expected, or liked his question.

"I don't know." She said. "It doesn't matter. Can we-"

"Try not to lie to me." He interrupted her. Sookie clenched her jaw and he saw her growing agitation in her eyes. "Tell me the truth."

He saw the shift again, the way she stood straighter and exuded her sort of "strength" and resolve.

"She doesn't like me." Sookie said in a tone to match. "She's jealous, that's all."

He moved so quickly that even he didn't know how it happened. One second Sookie was standing on her own two feet. The next, he had her pinned to the top of the nearest table by her throat, inches from her face.

"Don't lie to me." He hissed at her. "I know what you did to her."

Anger, a higher degree than he'd felt in some time, pulsed through his body. It felt like it'd come from nowhere, suddenly consuming him and overriding the part of his brain that cared about the people watching him.

"Eric," Sookie choked and clawed at his hands. He could feel and practically taste her fear. "Please, you're hurting me."

"You tortured her." He growled. "Why?"

He loosened his hold just enough that she could speak. She continued to stare up at him with an incalculable amount of terror.

"Eric, please," She whimpered. She stopped clawing at him and instead tenderly held his arm. Tears trickled down the sides of her face. "If you ever really loved me, you'll let me go."

That made him angrier than he thought possible. She said something incredibly similar to Bill not a year ago.

Eric was suddenly struck with an incredible wave of clarity. He lifted her back to her feet and tenderly held her face. She was trembling, but relaxing quickly. As sweetly as he could, he wiped her tears from her cheeks before threading his hand through her hair. Eric pulled her close and kissed her forehead.

When he drew back, he did so only far enough to let his forehead touch hers. His eyes drifted shut. He could feel her hands grasp at his back, not hugging him but close to it.

"I do love you." He whispered and heard her let out a sigh of relief. He drew back and smiled down at her while his hand slid down to the base of her neck where it rested on her shoulder. She smiled back. "But I love her more."

The sound of breaking bones is a difficult one to explain because there were so many different sorts of bones in the human body. An arm breaking can resemble the snap of a dried twig beneath a layer of leaves. A bone as thick as a femur is deeper, angrier when it breaks.

A neck, however, was something else entirely. It sounded like someone popping their knuckles. It was a subdued sound, one that wasn't overtly terrifying, but it was effective.

Sookie went limp and fell to the floor, a mass of unmoving skin and muscle. Eric took a long, deep, unneeded breath. As he released it, he felt an odd, almost overwhelming calm wash over him.

Eric turned. Pam was staring, wide-eyed and mouth slack, at what he'd done. He said nothing as he regained his seat. When he adjusted himself, he glanced over his shoulder and saw her lying there. Her heart no longer beat and her eyes, still open, held no spark of life.

Sookie Stackhouse was dead and no amount of vampire blood would bring her back this time.