Do you know what's worth fighting for?

When it's not worth dying for?

Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?

And you look for a place to hide?

Did someone break your heart inside, you're in ruins – Green Day

Eric POV

I was not really thinking of anything as I was told the one who set of the wards was hiding down in the basement – usually the opposite of where any guilty party would hide. I really was not thinking anything out of the ordinary as I made the decision that Sookie would come downstairs with Pam, Thalia, and I. I was not leaving her safety to anyone else. I really was not thinking of anything but punishment as I led the other three women down the stairs. I was not thinking of anything but anger when my eyes first rested on the female vampire. All very simple and basic thoughts.

But as I took in the female vampire's face, those simple thoughts flew out of my head as new, complicated, painful ones took their place. Even as all my instincts are telling me that this vampire cannot possibly be who I think it is, I cannot stop myself from running to her, with Pam a step behind me, and ripping the chains off her. As soon as I am closer I can see the subtle differences in features like her hairline and nose. That does not stop me from gently picking her up so that I can see her face and be sure. And it is her gaze that does it. Those eyes prove that this is not she.

Pam has stayed behind the vampire too afraid to see what we were both worried about. "Is it, Eric," she asks me her voice shaking. I immediately tell her that it is not and after making sure one last time, I throw the vampire across the room and watch her hit the wall and sink to the floor. I move across the room at the same time and am standing over her as she crashes to the floor. "Who the hell sent you," I snarl out not even recognizing the sound of my own voice.

I hear Sookie gasp and I regret that she was here and saw that. But I will get the information I need out of this vampire. I will know who sent her to me and find out what the fuck the message is that they wanted me to receive, because I have a message that I will be sending back to them.

I pick up the female vampire to once again throw her across the room but a hand on my arm stops me. I turn, not understanding why Pam would prevent me from exacting punishment. She was just as worried as I was when we first saw this vampire. She, just like me, should be desperate for answers. It is desperation on Pam's face but I can see that the reason behind it is not the same as what is currently driving me.

"We need to know, Pam," I growl out at her. I turn away from her tightening my grip on the unknown female vampire. The panic in her eyes increases as she can feel my hand squeeze down on her throat. She may not need to breath but a crushed larynx hurts like a bitch.

"I agree, Eric," Pam says gently, her own grip on my arm getting stronger. "But I don't think we are going to be able to learn anything from her."

That gets my attention as I drop the vampire to the ground and turn to my child. "What makes you think that?"

She gives me a pointed look followed by one I would almost call pity if it

were coming from anyone else but my child. "I don't think she has the ability to tell us anything."

The gravity of what Pam said hits me. If she is correct and this vampire is under her maker's command, then Pam is right and there won't be anything we can learn from her. Pam kneels down beside the vampire and says, "You can't tell us anything, even if you wanted to can you?" Her answer is a shake of the head and the wall has a new hole in it thanks to my hand. I turn and take two steps away wanting nothing more than to punt this vampire's head like a football.

But she is young, feels like only months young. Chances are she is nothing more than another pawn in whoever's game this is. If I thought for one second that feeling the death of a child would hurt whoever was behind this, the stake would already be through the vampire's heart. But this vampire may not deserve the final death and a bigger punishment would be for her maker to not feel her death and be left wondering. A maker's command is final but one about communication? It is very difficult to make a command that would cover every single way to communicate.

We will just have to see which one he did not cover.

I turn and start to make my way back over to the unknown vampire and see that Pam has been talking to her quietly. If I did not know my child, I would say she was attempting to comfort what we thought minute ago was a huge threat. I suppose having been under a maker's command herself recently, may be affecting how Pam views this situation. Or it could be just how this vampire looks.

Many ways of extracting information cross my mind in the four steps it takes me to stand in front of where the two vampires are still on the floor again. Both look up at me as I approach. I lift the one I am desperate for information from, much more gently this time. When I look at her face, there is another one that I am seeing. It is very similar and I have to blink three times before I truly see who is in front of me.

"Eric," I hear Sookie call out softly. The question can be heard in her voice but I don't have any answers for her at the moment. I barely have any answers for myself at the moment. I turn towards her and apologize. "Would you wait for me upstairs? In my office," I ask her. I need to have a firmer grip on myself before I can do anything else. I need to have a better idea of what is going on before I can even start to explain it to someone else.

I can see by the look in her face that she wants to say no. I know she is fighting her every instinct to not just scream the word, dig in her heals, and refuse to move. But as her eyes move to Pam before landing back on me, I understand why her instincts are telling her to do just that.

It is because she saw how panicked we were at the sight of this intruding vampire. She does not know what is going on and does not want to leave Pam and I in a situation where we could potentially get hurt, because we have all come to know that it is the emotional and mental pain that it is often harder to heal from, even long after the physical wounds have healed.

When she looks back to me, her eyes tell me all that I need to know. She does not like it, but she is willing to leave if it will help me. She takes a step to close the gap between us and wraps her arms around me. "If that's what you need," she says softly.

I kiss her head and watch as she turns from me and starts to head upstairs. Thalia looks from the still unknown vampire to Pam before her gaze lands on me. She does not like leaving us down here either. But after a few seconds she gives me a nod before following Sookie up the stairs. As I hear the door close behind them, I turn back to the two female vampires still in the basement with me and try to figure out how to get some information.

Sookie POV

I can't sit down. I can't stand still. So instead I pace back and forth in Eric's office doing my best to wear a path in his rug. If vampire could get motion sick, Thalia probably would from her gaze following me as I go back and forth. Or at the very least she would have whiplash. She doesn't say a word though and simply just lets me go. After about 45 minutes, I understand why after I collapse on the couch.

"Are you finished yet," she asks as I close my eyes. Her words could be mistaken as cruel if you didn't hear the emotion behind them.

"If only my mind can get tired and collapse," I tell her.

"I will second that," she replies coming over and sitting down on the end of the couch.

"I don't suppose you know anything about what that was downstairs."

She looks at me and tells me that she has her ideas. Yes, I do too and I tell her so. I'm just hoping that her ideas are better than mine, because something that can unnerve both Eric and Pam like that is probably not good.

And the hits just keep on coming.

The door swings open and Pam comes in followed by Eric. Their faces, which are usually calm and steady in a way that comes with centuries of practice, are anything but. Eric has told me that he feels exhausted before with some of the things we've had to deal with and with his silver poisoning. But I have never seen him or Pam look this utterly beat.

And all I want to do is fix it, but I am not even sure where to start. Thalia seems to have an idea though as she asks about the vampire. Eric explains that Felicia is going to be taking her to Mississippi. "Russell has agreed to keep an eye on her. It appears that she is nothing more than a pawn but has been commanded to not speak, not give away her maker or the area she was made in. The only information we can understand from her is that she was not made vampire in the United States, and that is if we can believe her."

I ask why send her to Russell and Eric explains that Russell has proven he can be trusted. "I want her close enough that we can work with her if Octavia can find a way to break the magic of a maker's command, but I want her far enough away that she cannot get information from us or be an immediate threat. She intrigues Russell so he has agreed that she can live in Mississippi and will make sure she stays there."

"When is Octavia due back," I ask. Eric explains that Octavia and Amelia were planning on staying in New Orleans for another week but that he called both Octavia and Sophie-Anne to see if it was possible for them to come home sooner. "They will be here in three days."

I simply nod, not knowing what else to say or do. So I simply move over to Eric and take him in my arms, not being able to take the look on his face any longer. His arms are quickly around me, holding me like a lifeline. And if that is what he needs from me right now, then that will be what he gets. I am a little confused when I feel one of his arms leave my shoulders, but the confusion vanishes as soon as I feel Pam come under it and I too wrap an arm around her. Seconds later, I feel a jostle and surprisingly, Thalia has joined the group hug.

Thalia and I may not understand what's going on with them, but we will give them this and more if that is what they need.

We make our way out of the club. Well, three of us do. Thalia is going to stay behind and make sure everything is locked up and stay with the vampire till the next evening when she will be taken to Russell. There is not enough time left before sunrise to make the journey tonight. I am concerned with Thalia staying at Fangtasia, but Eric assures me with everything in place she will be safe. Still he calls Tray on the way home to ask if he and Alcide, no one else, will guard the club during the day.

That makes us all feel better.

We get back to Eric's house and Pam immediately heads off to her room. Eric looks after her and I can tell that he doesn't want Pam to be alone during the day. I know they are dead for all intents and purposes during the day but I know they find comfort in who they go to rest with and who they wake from that rest with.

It has been something I have seen with Eric numerous times.

I am about to tell Eric that I can sleep upstairs tonight so that Pam can rest with him but before I can he asks, "Can Pam rest with us tonight?"

There is no way I am denying him the comfort of both of us right now, just like I am not going to deny Pam what she clearly needs at the moment. "Of course," I say taking his arm and leading her to Pam's door. "Why don't you tell her and I'll get ready for bed."

Without a word, he enters Pam's room. I stare after him for a few seconds hoping that the two of them get through whatever the hell is going on. I hear the murmur of the two of them talking and I take that as my cue to head into Eric's room and make my way into the bathroom. They will talk to me when they can.

Hopefully.

When I come out of the bathroom, I can see that Pam has not yet made her way into Eric's room. Eric hasn't even gotten changed for his rest yet. I feel a pain in my chest when I take in how he is simply sitting on the edge of his bed with his head hanging down. I move to take a seat next to him and lean on him, leaving the decision for more in his hands. When after a minute he is still quiet and has done nothing to increase the contact I say softly say to him, "Don't shut me out, Eric."

I still get no real response from him and I can feel my heart break a little. It feels like he is pulling away from me and I don't know enough about the situation to understand why. Suddenly, my thoughts go back to the clearing when Eric must have been thinking the same thing. I had asked for time to sort through my thoughts and though he had been willing to let me have it, it would have come at his expense, as he was sure I was walking away from him for good. I know he is not walking away from me and the pain I feel at him being hurt and not talking to me about it is so strong. I can't imagine feeling that coupled with the thought that he was leaving me.

If I hadn't already have vowed to stop running, this would have made me.

It's Eric's arm wrapping around my shoulder that finally starts to bring me back to the present. It's the kiss he places to my temple that further cements me in it. "I do not mean to shut you out," he says softly. "You are the last person I wish to do that too."

"Then talk to me," I tell him. It should be relatively simple, talking to the person you love and letting them know what is wrong. So why is it sometimes the hardest?

He lets out an unneeded sigh and tells me, "You have no idea how much I want to."

"Nothing is stopping you," I say to him, keeping my voice gentle.

"The sun is," he responds sadly. "Once I start to talk Sookie, I am not going to be able to be able to stop until I get it all out. That will be impossible now as dawn is too close." He finally turns his head and I can see the red rimming his eyes as he holds back tears. I cannot hold mine back any longer at the sight, especially when he asks in a small voice I have never heard him use before, "Can I talk to you about it tomorrow night."

"You can talk to me about anything whenever you need to," I tell him before I start to pull him up so that we are lying on the bed. I put his head on my chest and run my fingers through his hair as I wait for the dawn to take him to what will hopefully be a peaceful rest for him.

As Eric and I get comfortable in bed, Pam comes into the room and makes her way over to the other side of Eric. As she gets in she mutters a thank-you but says nothing else about our current sleeping arrangements. Though usually her lack of comments would tend to make me happy, it now just sends another tear to make the journey down my face.

Eric moves slightly so that he can wrap and arm around Pam. I hear her sigh as she relaxes into his hold, accepting the comfort that he is offering her. I know when dawn comes because Eric finally relaxes from the tense way he was lying next to me. I again find myself jealous of a vampire's ability to just turn off when the sun rises. It's a long time before sleep finds me and before it does, my mind goes through what seems like millions of scenarios that could explain my vampire's behaviors.

I just hope that I am thinking the worst-case scenarios here, but something tells me that in the vampire world, my worst-case scenarios might be their best.

Sleep must finally find me though because I jerk awake when I feel the bed move. I look to see Pam and Eric starting to get off of it. Pam is up and out of the room before I can say anything. Eric seeing that I am awake, slumps back down on the bed. "You still feel exhausted," he says quietly. "I wanted to let you sleep more."

I shake my head and move closer to him putting my head in his lap. His fingers immediately start to move through my hair like I was hoping they would. I know the feeling of it helps to soothe him. Hopefully it will work with what's going on now too.

"I don't think I will get a good night's sleep until I know you and Pam are okay," I tell him.

He stays quiet for a few minutes and I let it settle between us. I don't want to push him on this but I can't let it fester in him either. It's going to be a fine line to walk and I am hoping that Eric will take the first step with this. I stay turned away from him, knowing that sometimes it's easier to talk when you're not looking at anyone. See those you care about tear up over your pain can be very touching, but it can also make you want to shut down even more.

"Pam is not my only child," he says softly, his fingers never once stopping their journey through my hair. I had actually figured that. He has often spoken of children in the plural rather than singular. He shifts under me bending one of his legs and bringing it closer to his body. I don't say anything but I bring up one of my arms and stroke his leg, offering any comfort I can give him.

"My other child, her name is Karin," he says before again falling silent. He seems to be telling me the basics rather than get into why whatever happened last night brought to mind his child, though with some of the things that have happened in the past, I am starting to get an idea of what may have happened.

"What's she like," I ask, eager for him to continue to talk and sensing that this will be easier for him. I can easily feel the pride coming off of him as he tells me about her. He explains that she's strong, like a warrior even having the nickname Karin the Slaughterer. It's when he gets to her physical appearance that my thoughts are all but confirmed. "Her looks are very similar to Pam's," he explains. "She is tall and has long blond hair, at least she did the last time I saw her," he says sadly, as his voice starts to trail off.

"The vampire last night reminded you of her didn't it," I ask gently, hoping that he will respond. His fingers pause in my hand for a second before again beginning their travels. I hold my breath for a few seconds afraid that he will not answer. He takes an unneeded breath. "She looked remarkably like Karin. In fact, even though I did not feel her down in that basement, I was sure it was her and her injuries were what had been preventing me from feeling her."

"That must have been horrible for you," I tell him stroking his leg. I remember how I had felt seeing Jason unconscious and seeing those silver rods through Pam's stomach. I know that whatever Eric had felt, thinking his child had been tortured and hurt would have been so much worse.

"It would not have been the first time I saw her like that," he says and I can hear the anger in his voice and feel the tension as it starts to enter his body.

"She was taken," I ask, again remembering how Pam had been taken and tortured.

"No, she was not taken," Eric says bitterly. "She, herself, always has been a force to be reckoned with herself. And with me as her maker, there would have been few that tried."

I am about to ask what had happened when Eric flips me, keeping my head on his lap but now I am facing him. There is again a pain in my chest as I see the red tears that have been silently moving down his face and I work hard to keep the tears that are building in mine from doing just that. This is about Eric right now and I want to make sure he stays focused on that.

Before I can get the words out of my mouth, Eric offers me an answer to the question I have not yet asked. "My maker wished to meet her." And with those words, he doesn't have to say anything else. Eric may only be starting to understand how much of a bastard his maker truly is but it is something that I have understood for as long as I have known about him.

"In front of you," is what I ask. I don't have to specify just what it is he did in front of Eric; that much can be understood, especially when taking in the form of the vampire last night.

I watch Eric nod as he tells me, "Yes. I watched her get every single bruise, watched her skin split from every single cut." He closes his eyes and his hands are suddenly out of my hair and as far away from me as they can get. Tears start pouring out of his closed eyes as he says in a strangled voice, "One of which came from my own hands."

Hello dear reader, and we have quite a few new ones who have joined the ride. Thanks so much for giving it a try and I do hope that you enjoy it. Thanks also to those letting me know their thoughts on the story.

Now, as you can imagine, there is going to be quite a bit more to this tale. It's going to be an important part in Eric's journey. The locket that was found has not been forgotten either, this is just taking kinda taking over at the moment.

If you're like me and will be trying to get through TB tonight, I wish you luck.