AN: Okay, so, probably not going to end at 40 chapters, lol. Most likely won't go past 45, though. Anyway, here's another. I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think and please, ENJOY!

Chapter 39

Eric wandered the palace grounds without real purpose. He didn't have a destination in mind, but he couldn't sit idle. Not doing anything wasn't an option, especially in Maria's house.

His eyes danced around the corridor he found himself in. It was as elaborate and highly decorated as one would think a palace hall would be, and the knowledge that this belonged to Maria, his little Girl in the Box, made him uneasy. There was no real reason why, no genuine discomfort or agitation that the palace brought out in him, but there was definitely something. It felt like a mixture of disbelief and simple shock.

He'd been shocked that Maria turned out to be royalty in the first place, but the fact that she had a kingdom, a kingdom that she could return to, never crossed his mind. He considered her crown as ceremonial as his own. While yes, Eric Northman was indeed a king in his own right, his lands, his kingdom, no longer existed. He was so old that it had faded through the centuries. Hers hadn't. Hers was still very much real, and apparently accepting.

With his hands in his pockets, Eric continued down the dimly-lit corridor, noting the way the light shined in through the windows as he did, when he felt the air shift. He heard the soft rustle of fabric and the patter of someone walking on carpet. It sharpened his attention and when he looked up, he saw the source. Eric had expected a guard or one of the random people he'd passed, but no. It was Maria.

She turned the corner in the distance with an antique silver tray in her hands. Atop the glittering surface was a teapot, an overturned teacup on a saucer, and another saucer with a few cookies resting on it. She had made herself a midnight snack, but it looked like an incredibly proper one, which just made it odd.

Maria paused when she saw him. He was still bedecked in the navy suit Pam had put him in, but Maria was now in her nightclothes, a burgundy robe tied tightly around her waist. While it wasn't as long and fanciful as the one he'd dreamed her in, it was similar enough that the dream flashed in his mind.

They stared at one another in silence for a moment or two before Maria seemed to gain control over herself again. She approached him, her eyes unblinkingly focused, and her demeanor calm. He wondered if their conversation would be as awkward as he assumed it might be.

"Hello," She said.

Eric didn't reply. He simply nodded to her. He didn't want to speak, not really. For some reason, he was struck with that same childish desire to be rude, the same thing that made him be so standoffish when they met in the parlor. It would start a fight, he knew, he just didn't care.

Maria arched a brow. She seemed to wait for him to say something, but he had no plans to, and when she realized that, she glowered. Despite the sour look, Eric still noted how beautiful she looked cast in the soft light coming through the window, and he loathed it. He more than loathed it, actually. He hated it.

As she stared at him, Eric could practically see her mind race. He wondered if anger would come through. Maybe she'd remark on how he'd acted earlier in the evening. Maybe she would finally ask to touch his hand so she could know the truth about Sookie. He wouldn't let her out of pride, but he still wanted her to ask.

But she didn't. She didn't do any of those things. Perhaps he should have expected that. Maria never seemed to react the way he wanted her to in these sorts of situations. It was as though she knew what he wanted and refused to give it to him.

"Goodnight," She said.

Still holding the tray and standing with her back regally-straight, Maria walked by him. Eric shifted only enough to keep his gaze on her, but not move out of her way as she passed him. But as she did, he smelled it. Through the stench of the tea and beyond the smell of the cookies, he caught the scent of sex.

Eric was instantly brought to the moment, his attention sharpened. He spun.

"Someone's touched you." He grumbled. Eric hadn't meant for the words to leave him, but they had just the same.

Maria paused. She slowly turned to face him, her face twisted curiously.

"What?"

Now that he'd noticed it, the scent of sex was all he could smell. It overwhelmed her food, the faint smell of cleaners and the people who'd walked through the halls throughout the day. He might as well be in the room while the task was being performed, given how strong it was in his nose. And it made him angry.

Eric glared. "Someone touched you."

She blinked a few times before a slow smile took her lips. There was no happiness in it. Her smile was arrogant, proud, and it made his glare deepen.

"And?"

The level of challenge in her voice angered him deeper than he could put into words. It was quick and mean, the sort of anger that forced people to do things that they wouldn't be able to recall later. It was the sort of anger that ended in blood, but it vanished just as quickly as it had arisen.

He didn't hear the shot, not at first, but he saw the aftermath. The glass shattered, exploding inward. Maria lurched and dropped the tray. The teapot and teacup shattered immediately, spilling all over the carpet. Maria joined it soon enough, crumbling to the floor. He smelled blood.

It all happened within seconds, but seconds was all it took. Someone had shot into the palace with the express intent to assassinate the monarch. Unfortunately for them, Maria Romanova wasn't human.

Maria was crouched forward on the floor for a moment before she moved. She flipped her head up, sending her hair flying back over her head, and stood. Blood stained her left arm where the bullet had gone in, and the front of her chest where it had exited before it hit the wall. The shot wasn't very good. If she'd been human, it might have killed her. As it was, the assassin only served to anger the animal.

Maria rose to her feet in a fluid motion. Her lips were curled back over her teeth, revealing their dangerous points. He could hear the growl deep in her throat and before he could speak or bother asking whether or not she was alright, Maria launched herself out of the same window the bullet had broken. Her body finished the task.

Eric arched a brow and approached the broken panes. Maria had landed on the paved ground two floors below and ran toward the fence. A piece of shit sedan with rusting panels and chipped paint sped off and disappeared before she reached it. Eric knew she would have run them down on foot if she'd been given the chance, but the guards and twenty-foot fence kept her from being able.

The thought of her running down the shooter, leaping onto the roof of the car, and yanking him through the windshield made Eric smirk to himself.

His smile faded quickly, however, when the courtyard-like area below was swarmed with men shouting orders and mobilizing around their leader. The palace was immediately thrust into red alert.

Maria hadn't stopped stewing since leaving St. Petersburg. She was furious. Beyond furious, really. Someone had tried to kill her and they had gotten the furthest of everyone thus far. They actually shot her.

Protocol meant that she was immediately taken away from the palace, whisked away to some sanctuary. None of her homes in St. Petersburg was an option in case the assassins were banking on the fact, which meant Moscow was the best option. The problem was that Moscow was a seven hour drive away. The flight, however, was little over an hour.

The private plane filled with security and a small bit of staff. The others would arrive on a later flight. Pam and Eric were in their coffins in the back because the sun would already be peeking over the horizon when they landed. Maria was surrounded by people and all she could think of was how badly she wanted to sink her teeth into the person who'd shot her. She would have, happily, regardless of how it would have looked to the normal population.

The captain spoke over the intercom. There was a storm meant to hit Moscow soon. They were racing it. The captain was determined to make it before the snow because, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to land. Snow storms in Russia in mid-December were not the kindest. The winds could blow a plane out of the air with ease.

Maria's knee continued bouncing. She wanted to calm, but she had no idea how. The need for retribution was strong. She needed something to release the built up energy inside her, something-

Her eyes drifted across her security team and landed on Pasha. He was sat in one of the chairs not far from her, facing her in fact, and staring out the window. Maria arched a brow and her knee began to slow. She knew how she was going to get rid of her excess energy.

The Wooden Palace on the Kolomenskoye Estate looked like a gingerbread house. There were no other words to describe it. The building looked like a gingerbread house made real. Red walls, golden accents, bright colors, and the snow outside only gave it an even more Christmas-y feel.

That was where Eric found himself when he woke up that evening.

He emerged in a room that was as extravagant as the one in Saint Petersburg, but far removed, too. After he dressed, he left his room. Pam was apparently in the room closest to his, and had finished getting ready for the night as well.

"Well," She sighed with annoyance. "That was interesting. What the hell happened, anyway?"

Eric told her about the assassination attempt, that he'd been there when Maria was shot, and how the monarch charged after her assailants before she was stopped by her guards. Pam seemed surprised. He understood why. The entire palace was a flurry of action after the word went out and as he was gathered up (a guest of the empress and in need of "protection") he was never told what happened. They simply told him to grab his things because they were being evacuated. As a result, he understood why Pam wouldn't know entirely what happened.

"Hm," She muttered. With her hands on her hips, Pam approached the nearest window and looked out over a sea of white, with even more falling from the sky. "We're in the middle of fuckin' nowhere. Great."

He grinned a little to himself. They weren't far from the Russian capital, but the building was surrounded by a park, orchards, and gardens which were now blanketed in snow. It gave off a desolate, isolated feeling.

Eric and Pam took it upon themselves to wander, both in the search of food and something to do. Pam wasn't a fan of the cold. It wasn't that they could feel it, so temperature had nothing to do with it. She hated to bleakness of it, the monochromatic color of winter. She wasn't raised in the north, not like him. Eric loved the cold. He loved the snow. He loved the biting winds, the icy rain, and the tempests that a proper winter brought. He wished he could still feel it, but was happy enough to be surrounded by it.

The pair eventually broke apart. Eric wanted to explore the grounds, and he was well aware that Pam had no interest trudging through the snow.

He found his way outside and smiled to himself as his feet sank. The snow already reached the center of his shins. It was a couple of feet deep and showed no signs of stopping. With his hands in his pockets, he went on a walk.

The wind howled as it raced along the sides of the palace. The way it had to scale the strange architecture made it sing, despite it not being gale-force. Flurries fell thickly from the blackness up above, to the point Eric's shoulders were soon hidden beneath a couple of inches of snow. He felt how they touched his face and hesitated to melt at first. His skin was too cold for them to manage it quickly.

Around and around, through trees and along invisible paths he wandered. Eric felt at ease and was content to remain in his own head when he saw Maria in the distance. It wasn't until he spotted her lazily walking down a pathway, surrounded by four large, intense men that he realized how far he'd made it from the actual palace. Eric turned. He couldn't even see it. Without noticing it, he'd managed to make it to the apple orchards nearly a mile away.

Eric's attention drifted back to the empress a few dozen yards ahead. Maria looked so small next to her guards. They were intimidating and he could see how they would frighten a lesser being. Each of them stood roughly his height, was broader than a door, and wore thick grey fabric. He was sure somewhere beneath their fur-lined coats was a uniform of some kind. At the moment, very little eluded to them being some form of military beyond their rigid stance, uniformed way of standing around her, and their fuzzy hats.

But Maria, surrounded by them, looked like a child in comparison. She barely reached their shoulders and was nearly engulfed in fabric. Her coat was a deep navy, form-fitting, long one that trailed slightly over the snow as she walked. A big, thick fur collar offered partial protection from the weather, and when the wind blew, he caught glimpses of the same fur beneath. Maria probably needed the jacket to some extent, but he doubted she felt the cold the same as a human.

Her attire, the twisted, gnarled bodies of the barren apple trees, the weather, and the random wisps of light offered by the sparse streetlamps made the entire situation seem oddly romantic, like someone had dreamed it up versus reality.

As he stood there, glad that he hadn't been noticed, Eric let himself think. He wondered how different things would have been if she'd taken his hand all those years ago. He wondered how different things would be if he hadn't sent her away at Moon Goddess. He wondered how different things would have been if Anthony never brought her to Fangtasia.

He wondered how different things would have been if her family hadn't been assassinated.

It was a strange mixture of events that brought them together, a series of moments that went back over a century because Eric knew that if Maria and her family hadn't been in that basement that night, it was probable that he never would have met her. And now that he had, they seemed forever within arm's reach. He had two choices and he knew it. He could either continue to be stubborn and fall back into the way he used to be, or Eric could grow up. The answer should have been simple, and with anyone else, it probably would have been,

Eric decided that his time would be better served elsewhere. He had no intention of deciding one way or the other, so he chose to simply leave.

He made it only a few steps before the air shifted around him. Eric spun and saw the reason why. A handful of people, vampires, stood in front of Maria. Judging by the tension he saw reflected in her guards' bodies, the vampires weren't friends. Eric felt a prickle of the coming fight touch the back of his neck, and he welcomed it.

Within an instant, he was stood beside Maria in the center of her men. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her look up at him with a curious expression, but she didn't speak. Instead, the man in the lead of the vampire group chose to.

"You think you could get away with it?" He asked in Russian.

Maria easily replied. "You'll have to be more specific. I've done a lot of things."

"We liked the ways things were before you came around." He continued. "We worked hard to get things that way in the first place, but you ruined it."

"I feel like you want me to apologize. That won't happen."

Eric might not have known exactly what they were talking about, but he was smart enough to guess. Vampires in politics wasn't a new thing. As far back as any form of ruler-ship went, vampires were in the shadows, generally pulling the strings. Given how corrupt Russia had been for so long, it bore to reason that vampires had, if not been responsible for it, benefitted from it. Maria apparently put that to an end, and they weren't happy.

"I want you to die." He growled.

Maria wasn't even the slightest bit bothered when she said, "That won't happen, either."

"You think this will be enough to stop us?" The vampire asked as he motioned to Eric and the four men surrounding Maria. "Ha!"

When he whistled loudly, another wave of vampires filled the area. What had once been six, perhaps seven bodies, had suddenly ballooned to thirty. Eric arched a brow as he looked over their would-be attackers. Eric's mind began to swim with battle plans, with ideas on how to weave through their assailants and kill them efficiently because he highly doubted her guards would be able to do much about it, but as he did, Eric heard something strange.

The sound of laughter met his ears. It was soft, genuinely amused, and emanating from the young woman at his side. He glanced down at her and saw her smile to match. She wasn't afraid. She didn't even seem concerned. Eric eyed her curiously.

Maria let out a satisfied ah-like breath at the end of her laughter. He saw her chew briefly on her bottom lip, shake her head, and let her smile fade immediately.

In what was perhaps the sweetest, most innocent voice, Maria said, "Kill them all."

What happened next was beyond words. Eric couldn't truly absorb it at first, simply struck dumb by what he'd seen.

The four guards, who were entirely without weapons of any kind, charged forward without fear. They rushed the vampires and before they reached them, Eric heard a terrifying sound. A chorus of roars -that deep, horrifying rumbling sound that he felt vibrate his bones, echoed through the air. It took him a second to realize that the sound came from her men.

Their uniforms tore, their skin split, and bodies that were no longer human burst through the tattered remnants. Four ungodly-large bears threw themselves into the gathering of shocked vampires. Their brown fur stood out in stark contrast to the white snow and within seconds it was matted down, and stained red.

Maria's personal guard were ursanthropes: bear thropes.

The fight that raged was violent and vicious. The giant beast would periodically rise onto their back feet before throwing themselves onto an attacker. Each time they did, they towered over even Eric. Enormous creatures that were more like SUVs in fur.

But the vampires had gotten over their shock quickly enough and began to fight. The ursanthropes might have been strong, but sometimes numbers meant everything.

A sound of pure agony met his ears. Eric looked in the direction and saw one of the thropes collapse to the ground. A vampire stood over it with a beating mass in her hand. It was a heart and when the ursanthrope shifted back into its human form, Eric knew he was dead. Maria seemed to know the same, and that was as much as she was willing to withstand.

Maria quickly yanked her coat off her body and launched into the fray. Eric smiled to himself. No fear. No hesitation. And she was vicious.

It took no time at all for her lion to emerge and when it had, Eric too joined the fight. With his age and the thropes, the vampire intruders stood no chance.

The battle lasted minutes at best and soon they stood within a sea of red. Viscera and blood saturated nearly every surface. The brilliant white of the snow was gone. The trees too were painted, and some (which had been used as stakes) were decorated with strips of vampire "flesh" that hung disturbingly from many branches. It was a scene of violence and it made Eric grin.

Surrounded once more by silence, Eric glanced down at his body. His suit was covered in blood, as were his hands and any other bits of skin. Pam would be furious that he'd possibly ruined the suit. He glanced around and spotted Maria already in human form wrapping herself in her jacket once again. Not far from her, two of the remaining ursanthropes stalk towards the body of their fallen compatriot. The third, however, was heading toward him.

Eric stared into the nearly-black eyes of the beast as it approached. The crunch of snow beneath its paws and its deep, huffing breath were all he heard. Clouds of steam left its nostrils which made it seem even more frightening. But the closer it drew, the more Eric was able to see the sheer size of the animal. An average Russian brown bear stood at roughly four feet at the shoulder. That would have put him at Eric's chest. Not this animal. This animal could meet Eric's eye with little more than a tilt of the head. And then it stood.

The bear rose to its hind legs, drawing itself to its full height. The tallest bear in the world was a Kodiak. On its hind legs, they could measure ten feet. But this was a thrope, a supernatural animal made larger than its natural counterpart. As a result, Eric's head barely reached the bear's "elbow". He had to take a wide step back and crane his neck just to meet the beast's eye.

The ursanthrope's lips curled back over dangerous teeth and it let lose a loud, ferocious roar that –even Eric had to admit- was frightening. He could feel how badly the blood-soaked creature wanted to attack him, regardless of whether or not he was the Empress's guest.

"Pasha," Maria said calmly.

The young woman, as stained in blood as everyone else, approached and soon stood beside Eric. If he thought she looked child-like surrounded by the guards before, it was nothing compared to how she looked against the ursanthrope.

Unafraid, she said, "Tend to Mikhail."

The beast looked to Eric, paused, and then back to Maria. Eric watched as the bear began to disappear, melt away to reveal the young man he'd once been. The attractive stranger hardly seemed smaller than before, though now Eric could meet his gaze directly. He nodded to Maria, and then turned to join his now-human comrades.

A gust of wind swept over the scene and brought with it a scent that made Eric scowl. It was familiar. It was the scent he'd smelled on Maria the night before, and it came from Pasha.

"Come," Maria said. "We should return to the palace."

She didn't wait for him to reply before she set off toward the gingerbread house. The three men who remained lifted their fallen friend. Pasha and another soldier took an arm each. The third man grabbed the dead guard's legs. They followed Maria back, caked in drying blood and naked as the day they were born.

Eric was slow to join them because now he had a face. He knew who'd been touching Maria, who'd been warming her bed in his absence, and he didn't like it.