Eric woke with a start. He felt her fear, her pain. He looked at the watch on his wrist. Four-thirty p.m. The sun would not set until five forty-six. He roared in his coffin. He flared with hope as he felt her anger. He could feel her fighting back. Then he recoiled from the pain. Over and over, so much pain! He clenched his fists, until he could feel the blood from where his nails had dug into his palms. Then the pain was just a steady hum. She wasn't being hit anymore. If he still breathed, he would have exhaled right then. But something was wrong, very wrong. She was growing fainter. He felt her start to fade away. He howled with rage, with pain, in his helplessness.
Then he felt her growing stronger. He could feel the pain lessen. She felt very strong. He was relieved. He was also confused. What is that? Then realization hit him. Someone had healed her. It was the only thing he could think of. Who? Pam? Claudine? Niall? Bill? It was possible. Bill had left the day before, no longer needed by de Castro. He hit the lid of his coffin in frustration and it opened fractionally. He flinched for a moment, then remembered he was in a light safe room on the floor for vampires. He rose. He dressed. He paced. He waited for the sunset.
While he waited he kept his focus on the bond. Then a curious thing happened. It seemed to fade a bit. It wasn't gone. She was fine, it was just muted somehow. While this unsettled him a bit, he took solace in the fact that she was okay.
He called Pam. As soon as she answered he asked her, "have you heard from Sookie?" Pam was ready to begin teasing him, but something in his voice told her this was not the right time.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I don't know. I could feel that she was hurt, badly, but now she seems fine. I think someone healed her. I thought perhaps it was you."
She told him briefly of her call with Sookie the night before, but avoided teasing him, and then told him that she had not heard from her since.
It had been an hour since he'd first been awakened by her pain, and now he was relaxing as he could tell she was okay. Then he felt something flare along the bond. It hit him like a freight train and ...[EDITED]
SEE NOTE IN CHAPTER 2