Kyra blinked at Eric's piquantly spoken vow, "Okay, how about we put a pin in that and come back to it later when I'm not emotionally exhausted and you're not suffering from a wicked case of Stockholm." A colossal crash shook the small house, causing the floor boards to quiver. She broke away from Eric with a jump, staring up at the still shaking ceiling. "Jesus, the hell was that?"

Eric slowly dropped his hand, his attention shifting upstairs, "I believe that my progeny is done asking nicely." She shot him an aspirated look before making her way up the stairs and into the kitchen. Kyra rammed into something that was sticking out of the wall next to the table; knocking the wind out of her. Gasping, she ran her hands along the shuddering mass, her eyes widening when she realized what it was.

"Christ, Pam," Kyra snapped, carefully moving around the jagged hunk of wood, glancing towards the now open front doorway, "Remind me not to keep you waiting. How the hell did you even manage to do that?"

"Invite. Me. In. Now." Pam ground out. Kyra moved to the side of the living room, "Please, come in." The words hadn't even fully left her mouth before Pam was already in the basement, Bill close behind. She leaned back against the soft, soggy wall, running a hand down her face. Sookie moved next to her, "You get use to it." Kyra graced her with a smile, "Somehow, I very much doubt that. These last few weeks have pretty much met this year's quota of crazy."

Hushed voices filtered up from the basement, the steps making their customary protests as heavy footsteps climbed. Bill emerged a few moments later, sending Sookie a small smile as Pam lead Eric out, desperately fighting back the red tears in her eyes. Sookie joined the small group, her concerned voice adding to the whirling vortex of noise.

Kyra listened for a moment but then turned away, suddenly feeling like a voyeur; this happy instant didn't belong to her, she had no right to intrude on it. With Eric safe and back with the people who cared for him the enervation from the last few weeks overcame her; making her legs go weak and her mind sluggish. She wanted to sleep for a year after consuming an extra larger cheeseburger.

"You need to feed." Sookie stated to Eric, pulling Kyra away from her longings for artery clogging food, "You can take a little from me to tide you over." A dark, completely unwelcome emotion prickled under her skin and she leveled the petite belle with a heated glared before she caught herself. It didn't matter to her who Eric fed from, what the hell was with this feeling?

Bill replied instantly, "I don't think that is such a good idea, Sookie. In Eric's weakened state, he most likely wouldn't be able to stop."

"I'm right here," Eric snapped, "Act like it. What I need is it this hell hole burned down to the fucking studs and the heads of those blood bags on pikes."

Kyra laughed then, "All hail the Viking warlord. I believe now would be a good time to excuse myself before the bloodlust spreads." She hadn't even taken a step before Eric's hand curled around her arm, "And where do you think you're going?"

"Down the block to call a cab." Kyra stated, glancing up at him. "No, you are not. You will remain here with Sookie and Bill until I have fed." Eric commanded. Her eyes instantly turned stormy, narrowing until they were slits of slashing steel, "Oh, you can so shelve that Viking attitude, buddy. You're safe, I'm tired. I'm going home to sleep for a week and you have no right to tell me otherwise."

He snarled at her, "I have every right. You traded places with your cousin. I own you." She shoved at him, her temper flaring. "The hell you do. Our agreement was that you killed me instead of her. I never once agreed to become your slave, so, kill me or let me go home."

"I don't like repeating myself, Kyra." Eric said darkly, his hand tightening in a clear warning while she continued to glare up at him. "But you seem to need some clarification on this, your life for your cousin's; not your death for hers. I want your life, this is the only way I will let the bitch live. Choose."

She scoffed, "You can't be serious."

"Choose."

"Eric, think about this."

"Choose!"

"Fine!" She snapped, stepping back, desperate for some distance from him. His hands tangled in her curls, his body pressing tightly against hers, shielding her from the surprised stares of the others. "Say it." Kyra swallowed the suddenly lump in her throat, fighting back the welling rush of burning tears; her voice the thinnest thread of sound, "My life for hers."

She was barely able to contain her rage when he patted her head as if she was a dog, "Good girl. Now stay until I get back." There was a slight tug of wind that toyed with the ends of her hair and she knew that he and Pam were gone, leaving her alone with Sookie and her brooding companion, Bill. "Unscrupulous, wretched, egotistical, filthy relic. I should have let Malcolm stake you from the start!" Kyra called after him. She wanted to throw things, to stomp her feet, and pout; but, she knew such childish antics weren't going to help.

Miserably, Kyra covered her face with her hands as a single tear streaked down her cheek; the realization of her actions too much for her to bear. She had sold herself, indenturing herself so that her cousin could go free. Dear God in heaven, what had she done?

Desperation suddenly tore through her system, causing her to yank her cellphone out. Her hands were trembling terribly as she tried to dial. "What are you doing?" Bill asked, moving closer. Kyra pinned him with a contemptuous look as she forced her fingers to work, "I'm leaving, and, I swear to God, if you try to stop I will destroy you."

"You're upset," Sookie started, her voice unbearably reasonable, "And you're not thinking this through. Eric isn't someone that you can reason with, and he's defiantly not someone you can break promises to. He'll hunt you down; killing everyone you love in the process. You can't out run him."

She brushed aside the warning, rolling her eyes as the phone connected, "Jesus, I'm not running away. I'm going drinking. Momo? I need you."

"Oh, my God," Melody declared after pulling the lime wedge from her mouth, licking at the tart juice coating her lips. "This was the best idea you've ever had, Momo. We haven't done this in ages." Ryan, her husband, let out a booming laugh helping the waitress hand out more clear shots. "That's because we can never find a babysitter. As soon as we say twins they run for the door like their tails are on fire."

Kyra laughed along with the rest of the table, her mood light; partly because of the company, mainly because of the liquor. She didn't drink often but this was exactly what she needed after the events of the evening. Right now, surrounded by her friends; Eric and her moronic choices, they just didn't seem to matter.

Jackson, a co-worker of Momo's, slung an arm around her shoulders, nearly pulling her into his lap. "What's up with you, Red? You're usually the life of the party." Kyra shoved at him, laughing when he rocked heavily into his girlfriend, Olivia. "That's because after a few drinks I can't feel the floor then I end up spilling all over myself and the night ends with me soaking, cold and the winner of a wet t-shirt contest that I didn't enter. Believe me, after a few more round, the party will start when I try to make my way to the bathroom."

The table erupted in drunken laughter again as another shot was thrust into her hand. "This was so what I needed after the fucking week I've had." Michael, a friend from college, admitted, downing the shot before taking a chug from his beer. "I swear, if I have to listen to another couple bicker about who hit whom harder with a riding crop I'm going to have to start prescribing myself meds."

"See," Chris leaned over his wife, Daniela, to clink his glass against Michael's bottle, "I told you that you'd go crazy being a sex therapist. Mom always wanted you to be a normal shrink, but, no, you had to go all rouge and say that sex was where the money was. Boy, I don't want to hear you bitch. Besides, you want to talk crazy shit? You ever had to listen to what people fight over when they split, kids and pets are easy. I've seen two grown adults fighting over dinner plates like they were the keys of Heaven. Shit over the last few weeks makes me want to do drugs."

Melody waved over the waitress, ordering another round of shots and drinks. "Please, lawyer boy, don't talk to me about drugs until you put up with two puking, sick babies. Ever wonder why Valium was called 'mommy's little helper' back in the sixties? Colic-y babies, that's why. Last night was the first night in three weeks that the twins slept most of the night through. Judge me all you want but there was a moment of weakness where I thought about putting a shot of whiskey in their bottles. God save me."

"Tell you what," Olivia said, sipping on her diet Coke, "We'll make a game out of it like we did in college, who ever had the shittiest month gets their drinks free." Kyra started to laugh, ordering another shot. It wasn't as if she was going to end up paying for the Patrón.

Eric Northman wasn't the kind of person who tolerated disobedience; even his beloved progeny followed his demands, albeit never quietly. He was accustomed to those around him jumping to his every whim. A fact that the young Kyra didn't seem to be aware of. He returned to the dilapidated shanty to find Bill and Sookie absent his human. Although he was disappointed, he wasn't that surprised to find her gone. The independent little human was in desperate need of a lesson in compliance, one that he was all too willing to instruct.

"I take it you were unable to stop her?" Eric asked Bill, looking down at the smaller man with bored contemp. "I am not in the habit of holding young women against their will, Eric." The Southern vampire snapped, "The poor girl was panicking and scared. Can you really blame her for that?"

Sookie quickly came to the defense of her boyfriend. "You made her give up her freedom so you wouldn't hurt her family. Anyone would be scared yellow. Slavery is illegal, by the way."

"Depends on the type of slave, darling." Pam drawled with a lusty smirk. Eric was at the end of his tolerance for the conversation, "Pam, we're leaving. Sookie, Bill, always a pleasure." He used his species gift to speed through the silent streets, stilling only once he reached the balcony of his apartment.

He opened the glass door, inhaling the clean scent of his home. Though Eric would never admit it out loud, he was pleased to return to the modern penthouse. A reunion he owed to a feisty, rebellious redhead. Stepping into the dark living room, he stripped his soiled clothing, completely unabashed as he strolled towards the large bathroom naked.

Pam rolled her eyes, following behind her marker; leaning against the doorframe as he started the multi-spout shower. "Why don't you just kill her cousin and be done with it?" She asked as steam billowed from the glass stall, instantly making the spacious room balmy.

"No," Eric said over the rushing, scalding spray, "Her devotion to her family is her weakness. One I fully intend on using to my advantage."

"I don't understand your fascination with her." Pam stated, picking at her jacket, "Granted, I wouldn't mind a few nights with my head between her thighs but, beyond that, I don't see the interest."

He turned off the water with a jerk, stepping free of the foggy shower before roughly toweling himself dry. "Like Sookie, she's an anomaly." He wrapped the damp towel around his hips, "One that I fully plan on exploiting."

Eric moved passed Pam and into his light-tight bedroom, pulling on fresh pair of dark wash jeans and a tight fitting black shirt. "I still don't understand." His progeny prompted. "And you don't need to." He stated smoothly, "All you need to know is that she is mine, despite what she may think. And I have no intention of letting her escape."

His progeny gave him a jaded look, "Fine, let's go pick out a collar and leash, find your new pet and be done with this. Where is she?" He shifted his attention inward, focusing on the minuscule drops of his blood coursing through Kyra's veins; the trace was weak but he was able to locate her, a small bar off of the main strip. She was laughing; a little light headed but there was a bitter sadness that was darkening her, she was hurting. "A bar on Fourth and Clark."

"Oh goody," Pam stated, "And me without my slumming shoes."

Kyra was enjoying her third free drinking when Daniela choked on her whiskey sour. "Good Lord almighty. Check out the eye-candy that just walked in. Oh, don't look at me like, Chris, I totally saw you eye raping our waitress."

"Guys," Ryan said in a loud whisper, "I think those two are vampires." Michael leaned over Momo, tugging at Kyra's hair, "This vamp that you were tells us about, was he blonde?"

Kyra sent him a look, "Really? Did you really just ask me that? For all I know he could have had three eyes and wore a chicken suit." Michael grinned, "Did you know that some people think that's a turn on?"

Jackson rolled his eyes, "For the love of Peter Pan, could we focus please?" The table fell silent for a moment before everyone started laughing.

"For the love of Peter Pan? Really?"

"I do believe in fairies."

"Oh my God, dude. You hand over your man card."

"Like the little flying imp child or the peanut butter brand?

"I think you need to schedule a session with Doctor Between-The-Sheets over here."

"Fuck all of you." Jackson grumbled good naturedly, tossing back the last of his drink. "Oh shit, they're walking over here."

Momo draped his arm around the back of Kyra's chair as the two vampires neared. The image of the vampire chained up in that rank, tiny room was still burned into his mind; but, the tall, devastatingly hot blonde approaching the table was no longer a victim. No, he was a conquering warrior looking to reclaim a wayward prize. And didn't that just piss his shit right off, vampire or not, Momo was itching to clean this guy's clock.

Eric smiled wickedly as he reached his destination; his human's eyes flickered towards him for a moment as she sipped innocently at her drink while the other humans looked up at him in shocked fascination. "Humans," He offered with a small incline of his head, "Kyra, I believe I gave a clear order for you to remain with Bill and Sookie." The human sitting next to her, Eric assumed that he must be her beloved Momo, bristled but she stalled his attempt to stand by simply placing a hand against his chest; the other humans suddenly became very interested in the worn wood of the table.

Kyra delicately set her glass down before pinning him with a dark glare, "Shove it, Eric, I believe I already told you this but, since English isn't your maiden language, I'll say it again: I am not slave and I'm certainly not your dog. Don't bark at me and expect me to jump. I went drinking not skipping town on a Greyhound. Besides, I won the game, my drinks are free. So, here's what you can do, you can stop scaring my friends, order a True Blood and join with us; or, you can give me your cell number and I'll call you tomorrow evening once I'm done vowing to never drink again."

Pure, undiluted rage rolled from Eric like a storm; he leaned over the table, the wood creaking beneath the strength of his grip. The surrounding humans began to shift in their chairs, glancing between themselves; debating whether or not to intervene. But Kyra continued to stare up at him, her gaze nonchalant. She suddenly sighed, slipping off of her bar stool; stumbling slightly.

"Ky," Momo started but she quickly cut him off, "Mo, baby. I've got this, okay? Eric, let's take this outside before the villagers get their pitchforks and torches." She started for the door but only made it a few shaky steps before he caught her elbow, yanking her nearly off her feet. "You don't get to command me."

She placed her hand on his chest, "Outside, Eric." She took a small step, tugging at his grip. "Please, this isn't the place for this."

Eric relented, allowing her to lead him into the stifling air. Kyra grimaced, shifting the heavy mass of curls over her shoulder and off her neck; leaning back against the brick wall. The vampires seemed unaffected by the sticky heat as they surrounded her. "I don't know what you want from me, Eric." She started, figuring it was in her best interest just to jump into the conversation as her attention focused on the towering vampire, "What am I supposed to do; just forget about my life and sit by the phone, waiting for you to call?"

"I don't need sarcasm," Eric said, "What I need is for you to stop thinking of yourself as yours. You belong to me, you are mine. Accept this and I have no issue allowing you some freedom. You come when I ask for you; you accept that your life belongs to me."

Her eyes narrowed, "You expect me to be okay with becoming your slave?" Eric smiled, almost cruelly as he caged her against the wall. "No, slaves bore me. I have slaves, I don't need another.

She whispered, "I'm not going to let you rule me, Eric."

"You will," Eric promised, his fangs sliding out. "I will make you crave me." He struck, his fangs sinking deep. The alcohol seemed to cheapen her blood, but it was still delectable. She gave a whimper as her legs buckled; Eric was the only thing keeping her from hitting the ground. The sound of the world began to fade as if a blanket was being pulled over her head; the ground falling away as everything fuzzed into oblivion.