A/N: A HUGE thank-you to Vamp Winter, who pointed out my mistake of incorrectly writing barely as barley much too often. Thank-you so much! These are the kinds of reviews I want from people...ones that help me out with my writing and improve my story. While I thoroughly appreciate the reviews that I continue to receive telling me that people like my writing and that I should keep going, I really want more suggestions for improvement and growth. Remember I am not afraid of flames and actually welcome them, so feel free to tell me exactly what you think of my story and point out any mistakes that I make, whether they be spelling mistakes or major character flaws, please, please let me know!
I would also like to thank my new Beta Carlisle's grl! (Who also happens to be someone I consider my twin sister in pretty much every way (except for our different parents))
P.S. I am so incredibly sorry this chapter took so long. And I know that there's no excuse but I have been swamped with homework and have been trying to keep up so that I can pass my exams. I will attempt to write faster in the future and hope that my readers can forgive me and not give up on this story!
Happy reading and don't forget to help me out by reviewing!
CG here just wanna say Team-Edward-addict has sent me this chap and I have read it but when I try to send it back it won't open for her so that added to the time problem. TX x
Chapter eight - The deeply buried truth
Amelia POV
I could have screamed in frustration at that point. It was nearly 6:00 pm and Sam and I had tried so incredibly hard to find Sookie but to no avail. We had done everything physically possible; I had even contacted the generous stranger Mrs. Annette Bridges to ask her to take us to where she had found me the night before and she was kind enough to oblige. From there Sam had tracked my scent down the road to where the disgusting thugs had thrown me out of their car. That was where we were when I realized that Annette was probably wondering how Sam knew that that was the spot I had landed, I had to come up with a good excuse and fast.
"I- uh- Sam, he ah-" I stuttered attempting to come up with a half decent explanation.
"He's a shifter, I know" Annette laughed pointing towards where Sam was standing.
"Yeah well... Wait! You're- you're human how do you know about shifters?" I asked totally bewildered at how an average human woman could know anything about the supernatural world at all.
"I had this boyfriend once, just before I met my husband, he was a Were-bear" She explained "I knew he was hiding something from me from the start and eventually I got him to tell me, I'll admit I was more than a little shocked at first. I mean to find out that there are other things out there, things that humans don't know about. But soon enough I got used to it and now I don't even think twice about it. As long as I don't get on the bad side of a shifter I should be fine, right?" She directed that last part at Sam who was currently standing stock still in the area where he had told us that I was dumped. He stood still for a moment longer seemingly contemplating his answer before speaking.
"You're right but I don't think that you should be so free with that information, even around shifters. Some of them would get a bit uncomfortable and take it the wrong way if they think that others of my kind are going around just telling humans about our existence. So just be careful about who you tell, whether they be human, shifter or otherwise." Sam warned Annette sternly.
"Oh okay thank you for the advice, but ah you won't take this the wrong way right? I mean you're okay-"
"No, I'm okay, but just be more careful next time"
"Oh sure" Annette looked relieved, and as I looked at her I noticed that her cherubic features were even more prominent in the light of the setting sun. Her round face with the sunlight hitting it just right to put her in the most flattering light ever (I was slightly jealous at this and wished that I could look that good in that light), small nose, smoky grey eyes and dazzling smile, coupled with her cropped auburn hair all combined to make her look as if she was some kind of relative of Cupid's.
'Wait!' I thought 'Sunset?'
"Sam have you found anything?" I asked in a rush
"No, there's nothing real important here. Nothing that will help us find Sookie" He answered, not noticing what the sunset meant.
"Sam it's sunset, Pam will be rising soon. She was at the house last night, maybe she can give us the information we need" I informed him. We really needed to talk to Pam or Eric but the fact that it was the middle of the day hadn't exactly helped our cause. Sam's deep blue eyes flashed in realization and he moved toward Annette's car at once, with the two of us girls following behind.
***
SPOV
Joseph left me lying on the floor in a pool of my own blood. I was covered in bruises; every inch of my body was obscured by an angry black bruise or sliced open and caked in blood. Every movement, every breath, was torture. I shifted my left leg to try and throw off this pain, if only for a moment, and was rewarded with a stab of excruciating pain straight from my foot. 'Broken...' I remembered, allowing a single tear to escape and slide down my bloodied cheek.
I wondered how much longer I had, I knew my execution wasn't far away Joseph had let me know that I wouldn't have to wait long. Though at that time I was a little incapacitated I distinctly remember him saying 'Now we just have to wait for the sun, your time is ticking you pathetic little fangbanger.' I guess it all depended on what time of day it was now. Maybe they were planning to do it at dawn or dusk or who knows it might even be midday. I had planned on escaping at some point but now it seemed that that plan was out the window, there was absolutely no way that I was getting out of here with the injuries I had sustained during Josephs torture.
I remembered the way that he had laughed at me as I tried to drag myself away from him as he destroyed my body with his knife, his hands and his feet. Though once he had begun I didn't scream, I refused to give him that kind of satisfaction. I winced again as my mind conjured up the sound of the bone in my foot breaking and replayed it over and over. I shivered and howled in pain at the resulting pricks of agony that I received from every single part of my body. If that was the kind of pain I got from a single shiver then I was doomed when they came for me. I couldn't even stand let alone fight them off.
I drifted in and out of consciousness for a while after that, constantly in a state of pure torture and the next thing I knew, I was being dragged out of my cell by the scruff of my neck and hauled out into the last few rays of the setting sun.
***
EPOV
I rose determined to rescue my Sookie. All I could feel through the bond was pain, sorrow, anger and disgust and it did nothing but spur on my own rage. I didn't even bother with my car, I flew. Sookie was close and I knew that flying to her would probably be faster. I was flying at full speed and pondering how to kill these deranged captors when I felt a sudden burst of fear from my bonded. My fangs immediately snapped down and the possessive monster inside of me reared its ugly head. Someone was hurting her, she was scared and the person who was doing this to her had just incurred my wrath.
And I was so close...
***
SPOV
Two pairs of hands grabbed me from behind and I screamed in agony as they bound my hands behind my back with a piece of thick cord and dragged me across the ground. Rocks and sticks on the ground collided with my head and back surely giving me even more bruises (if that was possible) and causing me to constantly cry out in pain. The two people pulling me along threw me into a dark room, the only light I could see came from a tiny window about three feet above my head.
"The clothes, take them off." I heard from the doorway and I looked down at my tattered sweatpants and too-small shirt. My mind was still foggy from my brief nap and I blinked to try and force it back, wondering what they would do to me if I disobeyed 'I mean, they're going to kill me anyway' I thought, so I slumped down on the floor of the dark room, closed my eyes and stayed there, waiting for them to react. It only took a few seconds but those seconds were bliss, it was so quiet and I could have almost fallen asleep, but then a strong hand pulled me up and tore my shirt from my body causing me to wince and left me standing there in my sweatpants and an old black bra.
"I said, take them off!" A man's voice growled at me
"I can't," I argued "my hands" The man sighed and stepped even closer to me, his hands reached down and I yelped as he yanked down my sweatpants revealing my panties. Another person standing at the doorway threw something to the man; in the dim room I could just make out that it was a piece of material. The man grunted and circled around to the back of me.
"George you have to untie her" The male at the door said
"I thought I said no names you idiot, and I know what I'm doing." George hissed and I felt his hands on my wrists. 'Oh lord, please make it quick' I thought, wishing for at least an easy painless death. But even as I thought the words I knew that it wouldn't happen. If I wasn't in so much agony I would have fought back, but I just didn't have the strength 'Still isn't it at least worth a try, I can't go down without a fight. I need to let these guys know that I'm no push over; I'm a Stackhouse I have to fight back, At least a little.' I reasoned, slowly convincing myself that maybe I could resist. Just maybe if I was strong enough I could have a chance of escape, even if the odds were against me.
I braced myself, ready to attack as George finally managed to loosen the cord and slip it from my wrists. As soon as I was released from my makeshift cuffs I spun around as fast as my injuries would allow, drew back my arm and slammed my fist into George's gut as hard as possible. At that moment everything happened very quickly but for me it all seemed like someone had hit the slow-motion button on my life.
George doubled over clutching his stomach and I heard the man from the doors mind click and I knew he was about to try to take me down but I was determined not to let him. He wasn't going to get the best of me, not on Sookie Stackhouse's watch. I turned with my arm thrown back, ready to hit him in the face if I could manage to get my aim right. The man charged toward me and when I thought he was just about the right distance I let loose and my fist flew through the air, connecting with what felt like his shoulder. I grimaced as I heard a bone crack unsure of whether it was his shoulder or my finger, either one I was sure that if I lived I would definitely be feeling this in the morning. I heard him grunt and regain his footing, then I felt George's hands on my arms, he had recovered from the blow I had dealt him and now he was restraining me. He pulled my arms behind my back as I felt the mans fist crash into my chest, knocking all of the air from my lungs and leaving me gasping as George let me go and I crumpled down onto my knees.
"Bitch" the man spat and returned to his post by the door. I did nothing but try to force more oxygen into my lungs. Then George's hands were on my body, pulling the piece of material that the man had thrown him earlier over my head and pushing my hands through holes in the fabric. 'It's a dress' I realized wondering why they would bother to change me out of my sweatpants and into a dress if they were just planning on killing me.
"Get up" George snarled hauling me to my feet and pulling me along behind him out of the dark room and into the setting sun. He dragged me around the back of the building where I had attempted escape and I saw a group of at least thirty people, some of them men, teenagers and even women with their children. When I saw the crowd I suddenly understood, they weren't just going to kill me, they were going to execute me. Publicly, in front of a whole crowd of FotS worshippers. But there were children here! I had thought that even these religious zealots had enough decency to leave innocent children out of this. Turned out I was wrong. I looked past the crowd that were there to witness my death and saw a pile of wood arranged almost in the form of a bed, with a flat wooden surface in the centre. 'Pyre' the word drifted through my mind and I shivered wishing that I could die another way, burning to death was going to hurt like hell. The pyre looked like it was wet and as George pulled me closer I registered that it smelt like a gas station, eventually I got my brain to function enough to piece these two facts together and came up with the conclusion that they had poured gas over the wood so that it would burn faster and as a result I would die quicker.
When we reached the pyre George pushed me down on top of it and began to secure me to it despite my frantic struggling. The cord he was using to tie me down cut into my skin and the more I attempted to wriggle out of it the more it slashed at my body. I turned my head to the side just in time to see two young men carrying flaming torches and I looked at them with pleading eyes, silently begging one of them to see reason and let me go instead of sending me to a fire-y death for no other reason than the fact that I associated with vampires. They both stared back at me with condemning gazes and stepped closer as if sealing my fate. 'This is it' I thought.
As I watched the last rays of the sun disappear below the horizon and the torch bearers lowered their flames I used my last thoughts to say goodbye to everyone I cared about. Jason, my only brother who hadn't always been good to me but if I was in any kind of trouble I knew that I could call on him at any time and he would be there at a moments notice. Sam, who had looked past my reputation as a freak in the small town of Bon Temps and given me a job, even though I could read his mind and most recently brought a lot of trouble into his bar and his life, Sam had always been there and would have done anything for me, I loved him just not in the way that he wanted me to. Amelia, who had gone through so much with me in the short time that we had been friends, and she, like Sam, had overlooked my telepathy to become my friend not because of what I could do but because she liked me for me. Bill, who had been my first ever love, Bill who I had given my virginity to and then ended up betrayed by him, but no matter how much reason I had to hate him I just couldn't, he was the first ever man to truly care about me and for that he would always have some small place in my heart. Pam, who had come to be my friend somewhere along the line and I her only human friend.
And Eric. As much as I hated to admit it Eric had been the only one that was constantly there for me ever since I had become involved with vampires, I had to admit that I had cared for him and when he was cursed and it came very, very close to love. But then he had remembered who he really was...the big bad Viking vampire Sheriff of Area 5, Shreveport, Louisiana. He had broken my heart, I had spent days crying, almost grieving for him like I had just lost everything that had ever been important.
That exact moment, tied to a pyre and about to die, was when I finally admitted the deeply buried truth to myself; I loved Eric, I loved him with all of my heart, it had always been him...and it still was. I let out a heart-wrenching sob as I realized that I would never get to see him again, I had only just found out how much I truly loved him and now I would never get to see him, to tell him, to touch him, to show him my love.
It was with this revelation that I watched Joseph, standing in the crowd, smirk at me one last time
...and then all hell broke loose.
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