Author's note: It's been 8 years since I've updated this fanfic. I originally published the first chapter of SLtD back in 2008. 15 years ago! Since then, I've had children, published novels of my own, traveled the world and basically changed completely as a human being.
Lately I've been tying up some loose ends in my life and it occurred to me how unfair it is that I've never finished this story. Over the years I've received a lot of positive feedback from followers asking me if I'd consider coming back and drawing it to a close.
After the way CH completed the SVM novels, I needed to take a long, long break from Sookie and the Louisiana vamps. I'd been following her story since the beginning, and I struggled greatly with how the books and also the show ended.
For those of you whom want better for Eric and for Sookie - - this is for you.
Chapter 40
Eric POV
I realized with immediate fucking clarity that I had no room for fear of my maker anymore when the only fear which could ever bring me to my knees again would be for Sookie's safety. My bonded. My mate.
A woman so brave and fierce and loyal that she had an entire community of supes standing with her and behind her, keeping her safe. She was well and so there was nothing to fear.
My warrior fairy Queen in every respect. In my thousand years on this earth, I have never once met her equal. If something were to happen to her, I now knew that I would meet the sun willingly.
My life began again when she walked into Fangtasia that night and now I vowed that nothing would ever come between us. Not my maker, not politics, and certainly not Bill fucking Compton.
And this thought alone bolstered me enough to take a calculated risk and pray that my thoughts could reach my bonded more quickly than Appius could rip my head from my shoulders.
Sookie, I thought If you're wearing the dagger, nod.
The tiniest dip of her chin ensured she could hear me loud and clear.
I figured I had seconds before all hell broke loose.
Niall stood by the silver coffin holding Alexei. Claude and Claudine were a few yards from them and were slowly edging their way closer.
Pam and Karin were too far to reach me quickly enough to make a difference, as they had landed closer to Sookie.
The witches were poised for defensive magic but seemed unsure where and how to direct their energy. The were packs were clearly waiting for a cue from Sookie, who seemed to be unwilling to endanger me. Oklahoma and her retinue, along with Bill Compton, were standing back and watching things unfold with Appius while making it very clear they were here to protect their current investment in our arranged marriage.
I knew what I had to do.
"I shall honor the bargain Appius made with Oklahoma to ensure the Romanov boy's safety." I said loudly, at which point Appius relaxed his grip on my neck while a chorus of shouting and confusion came from everyone in the surrounding area. I then used the commotion as a distraction so that I had more time to communicate with Sookie.
My love I thought to her furiously Ready the weapon. On my mark, get as close to Karin as you can.
The first look on her face was one of confusion, but then I could tell she knew what I meant to do. A lonely tear escaped her eye and her love flooded the bond. It was all I could do to keep standing from the sheer weight of it.
I nodded that it was time.
Sookie then grabbed the dagger from where she had strapped it to her back and dashed towards Karin in what I assumed was a new fairy-lightness of foot. With Sookie within arms reach, Karin took to the sky, as I knew she would, and flew directly at me and Ocella.
Rather than lose his leverage with Oklahoma by killing me, Appius simply let me go and leapt high for Sookie, taking them both down.
For a moment, the world seemed to stand still.
Karin dropped Sookie to either free herself from Ocella or to help her gain the element of surprise. Karin then took off towards Pam while Sookie started falling before she started to…glow?
There was no other word for it.
Sookie was glowing.
The dagger in her hand shone like a beacon and she absorbed the light, reflecting and refracting it throughout the entire clearing full of supernaturals.
She shone brightly a few inches above Appius for a second, whom she had shaken free of, before looking at him with something resembling pity as they hit the ground.
Then she stabbed at whatever part of Appius she could reach, which happened to be his shoulder. Not a killing blow, even with her fairy weapon, but the wound began to char, and pieces of his arm turned to ash at the shoulder as he screamed.
By now I had finally, finally, reached her side.
"What happens next is your decision, Eric" she said sadly, and by the look in her eyes I knew that it would be a long time before she recovered from this night.
"My angel" I said to her reverently "you don't need to see this" I said, but she simply stood still and waited.
In a moment which felt like hours but probably lasted no more than a few seconds, I let go of a thousand years worth of servitude and ripped my makers head off.
And in that moment, chaos erupted.
Pam had seemingly decided to go after Bill single-handedly despite him being backed up by Oklahoma's retinue.
Thalia arrived a split second later from the woods looking half dead but still willing to fight. Niall and the fairies, along with the assembled were packs, were suddenly in open combat with the Oklahoma vampires.
Desmond Cataliades and his niece Diantha appeared from somewhere in the woods and joined the fairies in battle.
Even though they were on the same side of this war, Sam and Quinn began brawling as a means of settling their personal score.
Amelia and Octavia appeared to be casting some sort of magical net, which, as I watched, began to envelop the entire property.
But I only had eyes for Sookie.
She was bleeding from a wound on her head, limping slightly, and clearly very exhausted from having used so much magic to teleport without having trained yet.
But nothing, nothing compared to the look in her eyes.
I knew I should be fighting right now. I had to, as king, to secure my own position amongst so much territorial upheaval. But I couldn't leave Sookie like this. Wounded, afraid, devastated at Compton's betrayal. Unsafe amongst so many enemies.
"You would align with Oklahoma?" She asked me quietly, then, without looking at me.
"Sookie, that was a distraction, only." I said, instantly wanting to rip Bill apart for destroying her trust and for planning the worst parts of this entire shitstorm we now found ourselves in.
She looked up at me and I could tell she wanted to believe me but couldn't quite get there.
"I must join Pam and Karin against Freyda's contingent" I added, full of remorse "stay by my side so I can keep you safe. Please" I begged her.
She looked like she was about to agree, albeit reluctantly, when a boom and a flash of light five yards from where we stood rocked us both off our feet.
And there, walking towards Sookie and I, was the Ancient Pythoness along with her retinue and several council members.
Immediately all vamps went to their knees as the fighting ceased. For the first time in her presence, I remained standing. Nothing and no one were catching me off guard around Sookie again. The Pythoness merely grinned at me as though in understanding before beginning to speak.
"Hear my decree! The fighting stops now! There has not been a war between fairies and vampires in centuries and one does not begin this night. Niall?" She asked, and he appeared before her.
"Yes, lady?" He asked, with the slightest dip of his head.
"You behaved reasonably in helping to protect our interests" she said, while gesturing to Sookie.
I bristled at that. Sookie was mine alone.
Niall merely grinned at her and with a small wave all three fairies were gone.
Fucking fairies.
"Freyda!" She then called "kneel before me at once."
Freyda appeared almost immediately, having run at vamp speed from the other side of the yard. She looked at me without a hint of remorse before kneeling in front of the pythoness.
"The Norseman was named King and territories are being redrawn. The damage you could have done tonight for our kind is beyond your comprehension." She said, with extreme malice, before continuing "you will not seek out this alliance again. You will do nothing but rule Oklahoma, under strict supervision from our governing council. You will not speak. Gather your remaining vampires and leave our sight." Freyda looked at me, once, the expression on her face unreadable. I knew then that this wasn't over, not by half.
"Eric, Sookie, approach" The Pythoness then said.
Sookie took my hand, and we closed the short distance between us and the Pythoness, before bowing.
"For your services in ridding the world of a terrible and cruel vampire, one which I personally loathed for over two thousand years" she said "I offer you my sincere thanks."
At that, she leaned over and kissed Sookie on the forehead before disappearing. In the blink of an eye, it had seemed as though the kiss had left a shimmering mark on her skin before it, too, was gone. And when I looked at Sookie, her wounds were healed.
The visible ones, at least.
Looking to my childe Pam, and my childe Karin, both of whom had been surrounded by Freyda's retinue, I determined that our forces had sustained no losses, largely due to Sookie's many allies, all of whom were from different supernatural groups and communities. I knew I had to speak, to say something to everyone assembled, before I could call a meeting with my sheriffs and take stock of the many challenges we had still to face.
Before I could articulate the right speech, Sookie spoke up, startling me out of my thoughts.
"I can't thank y'all enough for coming here tonight, willing to fight and die for me and for Eric. It was your loyalty and your support which saved lives tonight, including mine. Please come over to the house for a drink so I can thank you properly." She said, before sinking down on an old bench in her yard. I sat by her side, then, pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Leaning in to brush a kiss across her neck, I whispered: "you are magnificent. You are everything to me. Nothing will come between us. I vow this to you."
I felt a warm sense of love through the bond, along with bone-deep exhaustion and some sadness, too.
"Will things ever settle down with us Eric?" She asked me then, in a tone so full of resignation that it almost broke me.
"Probably not" I answered truthfully and said "but for tonight we are safe. Let's thank our allies and go to rest with gratitude for that alone."
She nodded almost imperceptibly and stood up, wobbly at first and then with more surety before heading towards the throng of people assembling near her front porch.
Looking to my childe Pam and my childe Karin, who were both smiling openly with profound relief, and then to the charred remains of Appius Livius Ocella, I suddenly felt overcome with something relatively unusual for me: hope.
0o0o0o0
Sookie POV
After having the Hotshot were panthers, half of Alcide's pack, Sam, Quinn, Amelia, Octavia, Pam, Karin, Jason and several vamps from Eric's retinue come through the house, I didn't have a speck of energy left to oven think over the horrors of the night we had just had.
No one had wanted to linger for more than a few moments after the battle; I handed out some cold beer to the shifters and weres and thanked everyone again.
They all agreed that I would have done the same for them, and that was that.
Amelia went to bed, exhausted after her spellwork and for the long week of working back-to-back shifts at Merlotte's to cover for me while I was in Hawaii. Octavia went to bed as well.
Before leaving, Jason had given me a long hug, lifting me up off the ground, and then he told me to try to stay out of trouble for a while.
Neither one of us expected that to happen but it was a nice thought.
The only people now left in the living room were Eric, Karin, Pam, and me. Eric and his progeny had been deep in discussion, often firing off texts rapidly and making quick calls to other vamps in the area as I saw to the guests.
Another night in the life of Sookie Stackhouse, another opportunity to get kidnapped, beaten up, betrayed, and covered in other people's blood I thought to myself miserably.
But for all that, we came out much better than we could have I added, reminding myself to take life's blessings and be grateful. Gran's upbringing would always be part of who I was, no matter how much bloodshed and violence I was involved in.
Imagine if Eric had been forced into marrying Freyda I thought, disgusted.
Or if I had been taken by Bill. Speaking of which, where was Bill?
"Has anyone seen Bill?" I asked them, then.
Pam hissed and let her fangs run down a little, before replying "he left when the Pythoness arrived. I assume since his plan failed, he couldn't count on Oklahoma's support. With Felipe dead, Preston recovering, and Eric king, his allies are numbered, and his enemies are multiplying."
I felt Eric's answer to that through the bond more than heard him, though he added: "there is nowhere Compton can hide from me. But Sookie, I didn't want to have this conversation tonight. You've been though enough."
"Yes, I have, Eric. But what Bill did, what he's been planning" I started-
"He is vile" Karin interrupted "and I will delight in punishing him for what he attempted to do to my master and his bonded."
"Let me finish" I snapped at her, to everyone's surprise "it's not like him. It doesn't make any sense. Back in Hawaii he told me something" I said, and then turned to address Eric directly "with everything that's happened, I didn't have a chance to discuss it with you. He told me he was losing his hunger. His bloodlust and his thirst, also."
"Sookie, you must understand me" Eric said, pleadingly "Bill will say anything, do anything to gain your sympathy and trust. I need to end him, you know this. He is more cunning than we thought. Cunning, desperate people are extremely dangerous."
Karin and Pam both nodded in agreement, showing fang.
Then Pam said: "Besides, that's ridiculous Sookie. I've never heard of such a thing happening. He needs to meet the true death. Immediately."
"Is it possible that he was being influenced magically, or by compulsion from another vampire?" I asked, desperately.
I knew that Bill was a liar, and that he wanted me back, but if he was truly responsible for half of the things which had happened to Eric and I lately then I never knew him at all. It was that thought which disturbed me the most. That I could fall for someone and be completely wrong about who they are.
Eric looked at me with so much gentleness then that it took my breath away. He understood the confusion and the despair I was laying bare in the bond.
"My lover" he said, holding one of my hands between his own "you do not like to believe the worst in people. It is another reason why you are such an amazing woman. But Bill is just an extremely skilled manipulator and nothing more."
"Quinn needs to be put down as well" Pam piped up, grinning.
"You can't just kill all of my ex-boyfriends, Pam" I said, and then whether it was from the adrenaline wearing off or nerves or just the relief that we were safe, I suddenly burst out laughing. Pam giggled a little as well.
"Is your bonded okay?" Karin asked Eric, alarmed by my change in mood.
"She's tired, I think" Eric said "and it's time I took her to bed" he added significantly, with a look at both Pam and Karin.
"I must go to Fangtasia" Pam said, then added to Karin "join me?"
"How will you get there if I don't?" she replied, eyebrows raised.
Then they both headed for the front door, with Pam turning to wink at me before turning off the light over the porch.
"Shower or bed, my love?" Eric asked me.
"Shower, then bed" I said, yawning.
"Then I shall clean the blood from your beautiful hair and lay by your side until the dawn." He said.
And then she slept like the dead.