I'm falling even more in love with you

Letting go of all I've held on to

I'm standing here until you make me move

I'm hanging by a moment here with you - Lifehouse

Eric POV

At seeing Victor Madden walk in, I feel my blood running cold in fear of what his presence could mean. I have not felt this afraid for a long time and I sure hope my outside demeanor is managing to be stoic as this cold of fear creeps along my insides. I fear for the future of Louisiana, whose fate ultimately would impact those I love. I fear for my children, for their own safety. I fear for Thalia whose friendship is something I did not even know I wanted. But most of the fear I have is currently focused on the tiny human currently wedged on the couch between Pam and Thalia. She does not fully understand what just walked into my office.

With everything going on at this point, I am not sure I even fully understand what just walked into my office.

Madden is de Castro's lap dog. The fact that he is here is not a good one. It means de Castro is upping his game and feels that applying pressure to the different Areas in Louisiana, and most likely those in Arkansas still being organized, will make Sophie-Anne more likely to agree to his terms. When in reality, if you back Sophie-Anne into a corner, you better be willing for a fight.

Unless de Castro has decided to bring the fight to her, because if Felipe was going to try and take over Louisiana by force, Madden would be the one he sent to do his dirty work. I hope it has not come to that.

Before addressing Madden, I set some papers on my desk in an attempt to appear unaffected by his visit. If it is not already too late for Louisiana, that is what this visit is about – appearances. Victor will appear smug and confident, not that it will be hard to do for him as those characteristics fit Victor to the bone. I, we, will appear unaffected by his visit. Victor will know this as well. The telling point will be which one of us will be the better actor.

"Pam, take the human into your office," I tell her as I finally look up at Victor. I want them both out of here. Honestly, I wish I could get Thalia out of here too but at the moment a practical reason for her to leave is escaping me and that is not like me. Pam gives me a pointed look at my words and I know it is not because she is angry that I am trying to get her out of here. She had taken her phone out the second she saw Madden coming through the door. I only hope that she has been trying to get in touch with someone at the Queen's compound and the look on her face means that all is well there.

Because if it is not, we are in trouble.

But before Pam and Sookie can even get up, Victor motions to them to stay seated. "Come now, Eric. There is no need for your child or your human to leave. Our states may become one soon. It would be nice for everyone to get to know each other."

I have a split second to make a choice, a very important one. I fear it is not enough time and I have had many different scenarios and responses racing through my head, as soon as Madden opened his mouth, guessing at what he would be saying. Both options have their benefits and their setbacks. My task is to pick the option with the least chance of a massive setback, because in this case a massive setback would be the death of someone important to me, the death of someone I love. That is not acceptable to me. So I spend that split second thinking over the possibilities. If I have Sookie and Pam stay it will make Madden think he has the upper hand; that it was his directives that I followed. It could make getting through this conversation difficult but in the long run might be the better decision. In thinking that his demands mean anything to me, the arrogance that idea would give Victor will make him cocky. In the end, it will most likely make him act foolishly.

But if they leave, it would put a bigger target on both of their backs, and bigger targets tend to be the first ones hit.

The thought that this could be a test of sorts does not escape me either. I do not doubt that with everything going on, Sookie's importance to me has been well documented. That fact is one that both upsets me and pleases me. As with my children, the fact that I care for her would offer her protection; not many will want to face the consequences that would come with hurting someone under my protection.

But again it also puts a large target on their back where my enemies are concerned, having a way to get to me through them. That is very upsetting to me.

In the end after going through all my thoughts, I motion to Pam to stay where she is. I hope that is the best decision. Victor smirks when I do so and I clench my fist so I do not punch it right off his face. Between the dangers surrounding Karin, the dangers surrounding us, and dealing with Claude tonight my patience is wearing thin. But I cannot do anything to provoke Victor tonight or the near nights in the future, not until I have a better idea of what the hell is going on around me.

"Is there a reason you came tonight unannounced, Victor? As you can see," I say while sweeping my hand over my desk. "I am a very busy vampire."

"Yes well, aren't we all?" he asks snidely. I stay quiet, waiting for him to get to the point of why he is here. I know from past dealings with him that if I do not give him the satisfaction of rising to his bait, he gets to his point much quicker, especially if he thinks it will knock me down.

But he is forgetting that I am a Viking. I am hard to knock down.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Victor?" I ask him as the tone in my voice is telling him that his presence is anything but a pleasure. That is not something that I have to hide from him. That much will be clear. No vampire Sheriff would like an ambassador from another state coming into his or her Area unannounced. I like even it less knowing what Felipe is trying to pull with Sophie-Anne and knowing what his potential angle may be.

"My King simply wishes to have a better idea of what he will be gaining in merging Nevada with Louisiana and Arkansas," he says in a matter of fact fashion. I know that though his words may be true, that there are many things he is actually saying in that simple statement. Something else that does not escape me is the way his eyes flick over to Sookie as he mentions what Felipe would be 'gaining.'

That is something that will not happen even over my finally dead body. I have made arrangements to ensure it.

"From what I have heard, my Queen is hesitant to enter into another marriage," I tell Victor. "The other did not go so well, though it went much better for Louisiana than those that were against it."

Victor smiles at that and says, "It's good then that Felipe can be quite persuasive when there is something he wants." Again his eyes flick to Sookie. Madden is egging me on, enticing me to start something with him. The danger here is that I do not know if he is simply trying to get a reaction or if de Castro is truly after Sookie. It does not matter though. I will not be fighting with Victor, not tonight anyway. In addition, Felipe will not be getting Sookie. Of that I am certain.

"I think you will like him, Sookie," Victor says looking right at her for the first time since he walked into the door. The only reason he still has his head having done so is the women on my couch would be in danger if I remove it, like my fingers are itching to do. But I must remain in control. It is what will allow us to get out of this and any situation that comes in our way. We all must remain in control.

"I highly doubt that," Sookie says under her breath before looking at me. She knew everyone in the room would hear her and she got her point across. Victor's statement was as much a test for Sookie and it was for me. Seeing as Madden is not a pile of goo on the ground means that I passed this particular test. Sookie did well as she made her stance clear but at the same time, her look to me showed her deference, to me at least. That is very important in my world.

It also helps that both responses seem to get to Victor, as anger crosses his face for a split second.

"Well, time will tell I suppose," Victor says, his statement filled with arrogance. He and de Castro are sure that they will get Louisiana and Arkansas. Madden's presence here, coupled with his words prove that. It is too confident for someone who is trying to bide their time and wait until they are sure to win, which tells me there is more going on here than meets the eye.

"Yes, I suppose time will tell us many things," I tell him, my words meaning so many things. I have no doubt that time will tell us what de Castro is truly after. I have no doubt that time will tell what Victor thinks he will be getting from this is. There is also no doubt in my mind that the two of them will see just why they should never have messed with Louisiana.

Madden says a few more things trying and failing to get a rise out of me. I see this little visit as a ploy to get to Sophie-Anne through me. Finally, he announces his departure and I show him to the door and close it as soon as he is through it. I lean my head on the door for a second as I gather my thoughts about what just happened and what it could possibly mean. When I know Victor is out of earshot, I tell Thalia to ask Felicia to track him as he leaves. I want to know where he is going and be sure as hell that he is not only leaving my Area but my state as well.

I turn to face the three women. Thalia has gotten off the couch at my words, but with me blocking the door, has not been able to go much further that that. I move so she can and feel her hand on my shoulder as she passes. I am thankful, grateful that she is here and it is for much more than her skills in battle. I close the door behind her, much more gently than I did with Madden.

"Pam would you be able to take Sookie home. I am afraid I will be here a lot longer than I planned." But as the words leave my mouth, I quickly rethink them and pull Sookie up to stand with me as she accepts the hand that I extend to her. "Is that permissible?" I ask her, knowing that she does not like to be spoken about when she is right there in the room.

That earns me a smile and she says, "As long as you come back to me before the sun rises. I don't want you to sleep here." Her tone is light but we all know the situation is anything but. No one has been sleeping at Fangtasia lately, as it could easily be a target for our growing list of enemies.

"Promise," I tell her wrapping her up in my arms. "I would not miss the chance to go to rest with you wrapped in my arms."

And at that my delightful child, starts making a gagging noise and starts to pull Sookie from my arms. "Enough you little love swans," she says to which Sookie does her best to correct her. "If we leave now Sookie, we still have time to do all the slumber party stuff minus the slumber," she adds while pushing Sookie through the door.

"I was going to tell you to see if Tray and Alcide could stay with her. I know you would want to be involved in the discussions."

Pam nods and says, "But I know that though you trust the wolves, you would feel better if I stayed with Sookie. You do your best work when you feel better. One less thing on your mind."

"Thank you," I say to her softly before kissing her head as Sookie sticks her head back in, wanting to know what is taking so long.

"Just seeing if Eric will let us borrow his credit card," Pam says looking towards me hopefully.

Sookie starts dragging her out the door saying, "No more sprees, Pam. I don't even have enough closet space for everything you bought during the last one."

"We will have to get you a bigger closet," Pam tells her as she allows Sookie to drag her from the room. I am about to close the door when I feel a small push of resistance right before Sookie sticks her head back in.

"I love you," she says giving me a quick kiss.

"I love you too," I tell her, pulling her to me for a not so quick kiss until she is being pulled away once again by my child. As they leave, Thalia comes back in and nods letting me know Felicia is working on it. As I thank her and take a seat behind my desk, she sits in the chair across from me, ready to work.

But for once, with everything coming at me, I am not even sure where to begin.

Thalia POV

I wish this situation could just be as simple as killing Madden. That is something that I am more than willing to do instead of letting him slink back to de Castro. As a matter of fact, it wasn't that long ago when I simply would have killed him before he left the club, no questions asked. And though there is no doubt that it would help in the short term, in the long term it would make things trickier. Trickier is hardly ever good and in the Supe world it can often mean deadly. It's not like me to hesitate like this but for the longest time it was just me that I had to worry about. It was only me that would face potential consequences for everything. It's not like that anymore and though I wouldn't change things, it does complicate things.

If it were just me Madden would already be a pile of goo on the floor. But it's not simply me anymore. I am part of a group, of a unit, of a family. My actions affect them and I do not want them to be part of the potential fallout. I'm in Eric's jurisdiction at the moment; he oversees me. Anything I do can fall back to him. They could go after him for my actions and Pam and even Karin could get caught in the crossfire. That doesn't even cover Sookie, who in her human from is far too easily damaged for my liking.

So because it would affect those I care about, Madden walks out of the bar alive. Felicia follows him a few minutes after. Barring any more smelly fish fiasco, she should be able to follow him at a far enough distance without being detected herself. Hopefully, Madden will be heading back to Nevada and not New Orleans. That would be a ray of sunshine in this suddenly dark and gloomy evening.

After ensuring that Felicia is tracking Madden, I head back into Eric's office to discuss how this new development can be handled. I sigh as I walk down the back hallway. There is not enough time to discuss possible scenarios and actions we should take to prevent them. On the other hand there is still much time left for something else to go wrong tonight.

I'm just hoping nothing else does.

Sookie POV

I wake up with something on my mind. It is something that I was thinking about when I went to sleep last night. It was something that I had had several dreams, and one nightmare, about. It only made sense that it would be something I would wake up thinking. But even with the nightmare, my thoughts are all good. Sure, it's scary; the unknown usually is.

But this is something I want so bad that for once I am not dwelling on all the ways it can go wrong. Instead, I am dwelling on all the ways this could go right.

With a smile on my face, I roll over and face my vampire. Seeing that his hair has fallen into his face during his rest, I brush it back and put it behind his ear. I'm not going to lie; lying with Eric when his rest takes him is not the best part of my day. One second he's talking or smiling and the next second he's motionless with the still of death. But I would not give up seeing him like this for anything. Yes, he is eerily still but he is calm. He is relaxed. It kills me when I see the stress of everything enter his face when he wakes up. I am just happy that I am not only seeing his face this serene when he is at rest. True that the events and threats clearly weigh on him but he still has moments of calm. He is still finding moments to laugh with me, with Pam, with Thalia. He has reasons to smile and I love every one of them that appears on his face.

I am more than happy that he chooses to gift them to me.

I give his nose a kiss before getting up. There are a few things I need to get accomplished before Eric wakes up if my plan will work, a shower being something on that list. As my stomach grumbles, I head to kitchen first though and make myself some eggs. I'm in the mood for something light.

I catch myself humming and dancing a bit while I cook. That only solidifies my decision in my mind. I only do so when I am happy. I am confident in this decision; I know that it is the best for me right now. Not only that but I want it. I really and truly want it.

I just hope Eric does too.

There is plenty on our plate right now and the visit from that vampire Madden last night only solidified that fact. Pam filled me in on what she knew of him on the ride home last night, Eric having little time to do so. Victor's presence could mean so much, so many things that would make life even more difficult for us at the moment. But my hope is that this will make it easier. I hope that this will offer us comfort, offer us a reason to celebrate and a reason to be happy.

It's a big decision to make and no doubt we have plenty of other things on our minds but I don't want to wait. Why should we wait? If I have learned nothing else from what is going on now and what has happened in the last few months is that life is short, usually anyway. We are never guaranteed a tomorrow. That's why we have to make sure that we are living life to the fullest, to sound cliché. That is what I want to make sure I do.

And I don't want to do it alone.

I had felt alone much in my life. I did learn that you could be in a room surrounded by people but still feel very much alone. Growing up with telepathy was not easy. Granted, I haven't felt alone in a long time, since a few days after Bill attacked me actually. I had Eric and Pam willing and dedicated to helping me see that I was not alone. I had both of them if I allowed it. I had others too, again if I allowed it. And I am so happy that I learned to, that they taught me to allow it.

So even though it has been awhile since I felt alone, I still feel that something is…lacking. Missing isn't quite the word as I can feel it but it doesn't feel complete. I am hoping that my latest decision will help with that.

I clean up after myself when I am done with the meal. I would do it anyway, my Gran having brought me up like that, but I can't help the smile that I feel appear on my face as I realize that I am also doing it for Eric. In the time that I have been living with him, I have seen that he likes things clean and tidy. He prefers the term orderly but it means the same thing. Of course, I learned this when Pam would tease him by leaving her shoes somewhere or her towel on the bathroom floor. Also, the time Thalia made me dinner, I thought his head was going to explode.

And both women knew exactly what they were doing. Family sure knows how to push each other's buttons.

But Eric's need for things to be 'orderly,' or in control makes sense. For years, for centuries really, he had virtually no control over his life, his maker controlling all of it. I can see him grasp for control when he can get it. What's more important is that he is also recognizing where he can't get it. Though he realizes if it's for safety, I will listen, I also I know it bothers him that he can't simply command and expect me to follow. Though it's a struggle for him, and though my instincts will still tell me to do my own thing at times, it's a compromise we are both willing to give.

I love him even more to be willing to work with me on this.

As I brush my teeth and start the water for my shower, I also think about what will happen if Eric doesn't want to, if he thinks it's not the right time. I'm not going to lie to myself and say that wouldn't bother me but it is something that I can understand. And especially given Eric's past, I want him to want this. I want him to feel that the decision he makes is a decision for him. I want him to feel as much hope, as much happiness as my decision is giving me.

Even if I have to wait longer for it.

I take a quick shower, fully hoping that another one will be needed later in the evening. I dry myself off and do a time check and see that I have about twenty minutes until sunset.

Now to only make it until then without driving myself crazy.

The best way for me to do that is to be where Eric is. So not bothering with any clothes, I slip back into the bed and lay cuddled up next to him. Immediately, I feel calmer; I feel at home and that is a feeling that I cherish. It's something that I was missing for a bit awhile after Gran died. It's also something that my vampire helped me to feel again. And I will never forget that.

I can feel it as life comes back into Eric. It may not be the most pleasant thought, but that is what happens. I stay still but I know that Eric can tell that I am awake even though I am turned with my back towards him. I can also tell when he realizes I am naked. It's when he is kissing slowly down my neck as his hand is slowly traveling down my side. I can feel him smirk and growl into my neck, as he realizes just how many clothes I am not wearing. The growl vibrates down my skin and causes shivers down my spine. I catch his hand as it leaves my side and makes it's way across my stomach, dangerously close to my center.

"Ruining my fun," he says as I can feel his mouth turn into a smile against my neck.

"Just trying to make it better," I tell him, slowly turning in his arms to face him.

"What did you have in mind?" he asks as I face him.

I press a gentle kiss to his lips and take a deep breath in preparation for what I am about to say. I'm nervous, though I have absolutely no doubt in my mind when I tell him, "I want to complete our bond."

Hello dear readers. I do hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. Quite a few of you have been asking when they will complete the bond and well, we will get Eric's response in the next chapter. I wonder what it will be ;). As always thanks so much for sticking with this story and for the new readers for giving it a try. I appreciate it. Thanks to those taking the time to leave reviews as well.

Jackie69 – I'm glad you liked Claudine hitting Claude. I liked writing it lol.

Jsm88 – I so glad to hear you have been enjoying it. Thanks so much for giving it a try. Hopefully this chapter gave you a bit of an answer to your question about their bond.

So I usually don't do this. I usually let the negative reviews just go by because really, I don't want to feed into them because that is exactly what the posters want. However, I got a review for Amnesia that I can't ignore. Now I do not think anyone continuing to read this trilogy would agree with the poster but again, I feel the need to say something. Let's be sure not to minimize the effects of abuse. By saying someone that has gone through abuse, like Sookie in the story, needs to grow a spine because everyone wants retaliation and retribution is doing just that. If it was only that simple, the number of abused in the world would be drastically lower. The mental, emotional, and psychological abuse that often coincides with the physical abuse cannot be ignored, should not be minimized. It's why victims don't come forward quicker; it's why victims stay for long periods of time. I understand that everyone reacts differently and some do want retribution, especially over time, but the psychological effects that can cause a victim to not come forward, to not demand retaliation should never be diminished or condemned. If it is, this is a problem that will never have a solution.

Now I am off to spend the rest of the evening dreading who may be killed off in the finale of The Walking Dead tonight.