Chapter 9

Invalid

"As entertaining as listening to you berate and threaten Pam is I am anxiously wondering why you are currently parked in front of my house, Eric."

He had not realized at what volume he had been speaking to Pam but Bill had obviously overheard their conversation.

"Can a Sheriff not drop in on his subjects from time to time?"

"You are not my King, Eric and I am most definitely NOT your subject."

"Very well."

Eric strode past Bill towards the front porch and pivoted when he reach the top step.

"I am in need of a place to stay for a day or two and instead of burrowing into one of those gravesites," he motioned in the direction of the cemetery separating Bill's house from Sookie's "I will be troubling you for accommodation."

Bill's eyebrows shot up and a look of disgust crossed his lips.

Sookie's sweet voice invaded Eric's mind then, chastising him to add – "If it would not be too much trouble, of course. I would be" he grimaced in his head but forced the words out as pleasantly as he could "appreciative of your hospitality."

Bill didn't know exactly what Eric was up to but he knew positively that it had to do with Sookie and her blood bond with his Sheriff. This made him cringe inside but protocol was protocol.

With a forced smile that was more of a sneer he responded "Why yes, won't you come in?" and motioned to the door behind Eric.

Eric turned and entered while he heard Bill striding up the stairs.

Odd. He should have been right on my heels but he's ascending the steps as a human would.

He turned to regard Bill as he closed to door behind them.

"Bill, forgive me but you look like shit." Attempting to sound more concerned than insulting, but failing to do so.

Bill, with his back still turned to Eric, sighed and lightly banged his head on the door three times.

"Why are humans the only one's who get to rescind invitations?" he said under his breath knowing full well that Eric would hear every syllable.

"I am merely concerned for your health, Bill. Don't be so touchy."

The words were absurd. Comical even! Bill couldn't hold it down, not one second longer. His shoulders started to bob up and down and the laughs started to roll from his nose and then his mouth.

He could barely get the words out now, "You?! Concerned?! My Health!"

Turning and facing Eric's disgusted look of horror only made it worse. What started out as snickering was now a full-on belly laugh. Had he been human he would have been clutching his stomach by now from lack of oxygen.

"Well I don't see how your hysterics are at all appropriate."

Bill tried to compose himself but another sequence of laughs came bubbling up making Eric more perturbed. He stalked into the kitchen to find himself some sustenance.

Fucking imbecile! Why am I all of a sudden so amusing to my subordinates? This is not a reputation I can afford, goddammit!

"Eric…Eric…" Bill reached towards Eric who was now retreating to the kitchen with an un-amused scowl. "It's just…I needed that. You have no idea." He followed Eric into the kitchen.

Eric turned around to look at Bill with a blank stare after he had inserted a True Blood into the microwave.

"Granted…you would have been the last person I would have expected it from and please know I did not mean to offend but it's nice to laugh a bit…after so long."

Well at least I succeed at making the undead laugh. Humans on the other hand.

Eric sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he let his head hang with weariness. The microwave dinged. Eric took out the bottle, shook it and handed it to Bill before procuring another from the fridge to warm up.

"Thank you."

Eric nodded and proceeded to stare at a small picture sitting on the corner of Bill's hall table. It was of Bill's family. His human family. A wife - a pretty wife - and two small children staring happily out of the framed sepia tinted photo.

Bill's unwillingness to let go of his former life. Allowing the last vestiges of his mortal existence to haunt him. I wonder if, each time he looks at them, it is the equivalent of 10 lashes or 100. Is he so eager for pain? So keen on self-flagellation? And the humanity that Bill so greedily clings to…is it forever lost to me?

"Eric, why ARE you here? And don't insult my intelligence by insisting that your motives are selfless. I know you better than that. And I also know that the convenient location of my home, so close to Sookie's, is no mere coincidence."

Eric downed his, now heated, True Blood and disposed of it in the rubbish bin next to the counter. He took note that there were few empty bottles inside.

Bill's trash is usually filled to the brim with empty bottles of this synthetic shit. Another method of punishment and denial he submits himself to. Such a pathetic, mainstreaming martyr! But where is he getting his food, I wonder?

Eric brushed past Bill and in half a second was sitting back comfortably on the living room's velvet upholstered couch. His legs already stretched out and lazing on the coffee table. Bill did not mimic Eric's speed but walked slowly to the chair across from him. He watched Bill with examining eyes. In the bright lamp light he could clearly see the dark half circles under Bill's eyes. His facial bones jutted out over gaunt cheeks and his lips looked dry and cracked. Minute flecks of black swam across the filmy surface of Bill's eyes and there were two small droplets of red growing in size at the edge of his tear ducts. Bill notice Eric's analyzing stare and quickly retrieve a black linen handkerchief from his shirt pocket to wipe away the discharge. As he lifted his hand Eric could see the outline of bone just below the thin pallid flesh covering each of Bill's knuckles. Which reminded him of Sookie's current condition.

Fucking Fairies! Would that I could kill those cursed siblings again and again. Slower and more painful with each slaughter.

But that was a battle he had missed. Something he would unquestionably never forgive himself for. Not having the chance to explain to her why, though, was killing him more and more…piece by piece.

"Are you planning on answering my question this century?" Bill knew he had struck a cord with his facetious remark by Eric's sudden return to coherence and resulting glare of contempt. "No one rivals your skill at the 'brooding-vampire-look' Eric but this one-sided conversation is beginning to irritate me. I can think of a thousand other things I'd rather be doing than sitting here being scrutinized by you."

"Enough!" his hand went up and his eyelids went down. "Your speculation is accurate. I am here because of Sookie. I…"

How much does he need to know? I cannot have him interfering but I lack insight that he may be willing to impart. Just need an approach and a carrot to dangle. Ah yes! Evil Sheriff! Truly Evil!

"I am deeply worried for her."

"Is she alright? What happened?" Bill was sluggish but still managed to get to his feet in a hurried panic.

"Compton! Sit down. Do you think I would be here at this moment if she were in mortal danger?" Bill's face did not relax but he did sit back down. " It is her health that is my main concern. She has obviously not been eating properly and looks absolutely skeletal compared to her normal self. Also, her witch has left town today leaving her alone, unmistakably distressing her already fragile state of mind."

Emotions rolled over Bill's bony face. Shifting from panic to confusion to rage. "Then what the fuck are doin' here? Why are you not over there seeing to her? You should be comforting her you black-hearted-son-of-a-bitch!"

"Shut your face, you provincial half-wit!" in an instant Eric's legs lifted off the table as he leaned towards Bill with aggression. "Sookie is being her per-usual stubborn-self and will not speak to me or let me comfort her which is the precise reason I went over there. The second I awoke this evening I could feel her depression and need for me. She allowed me in but when I tried to embrace her she recoiled and ran away from me."

"Eric, you cannot let her stubbornness impede you. If she is not eating and is all alone then you have to persevere until she's sees reason. This is unacceptable!" he was now speaking to himself "Why didn't I notice? I tried to give her space like she asked but I should have been more vigilant!" his attention then focused again on Eric "Eric, you should be able to calm her through the…" he couldn't say the words. It was like surrendering to defeat. Submitting to a superior opponent. "…well…you know." Bill's eyes lowered, overcome with agony.

Eric would now have to admit to Bill his failure. Confess the flaw in the bond he held with Sookie. Would that give Bill a glimmer of hope? Some optimism to inflate his futile pining for what he so pitifully lost?

Hmmm, no matter. She will never go back to him. He scarred her too deep.

Eric utterly ignored the almost imperceptible undercurrent of doubt that thought was splintered with.

She is mine.

"Bill. I would rather pass a silver-plated kidney stone than talk to you about my relationship with Sookie. But I feel, at this moment, that I have no other choice." While still mortal, Eric had indeed passed a kidney stone. Not even a millennia could wipe away the memory of pain that intense. "I am about to give you information that I had fervently hoped to keep to myself. If I hear that you have divulged this to anyone or that you even murmur a word to Sookie about what I am about to say I will end you in the most inhumane, unnatural and excruciatingly painful way I can conceive of."

Bill couldn't imagine a torture worse than what he was presently enduring and meeting the end to this existence did not seem like an unpleasant offer. But he was intrigued by Eric's words. Though they were callous, cruel and nasty the tone in his voice and the expression in his eyes had a subtle hint of nervous doubt and apprehension. He nodded with consent to Eric's threat.

"Sookie has shielded herself against our bond. She will not allow my emotions and influence to reach her. She blocks out everything that I pass to her whether I intentionally send it or not. I do not know how she has managed this. Typically only the vampire can successfully obstruct the flow of a bond with the force that Sookie has managed. A human should not have the strength or will power to deny a blood bond that has been taken to the level our's has." He leaned back and let out a long sigh. "I, on the other hand, still feel everything she is broadcasting. Her mental state is exceptionally fragile right now. I know what she is struggling with but after tonight I am at a loss as to how I can get her to listen to me so I can help."

"May I ask a question?" Bill reckoned his questioning should proceed with trepidation.

"You may."

"Can you tell me what is troubling her?"

"She is suffering what humans now call post traumatic stress syndrome. Sookie's resilience and capacity to withstand the trauma she has endured, since entering our world, has been pushed to the limit. The torture…" Eric paused and they both let the guilt and accountability wash over them in a wave of sorrow. "that she suffered…Bill…I believe they broke her." His eyes lifted to meet Bill's gaze. He was glassy eyed and stared right through Eric. "I believe in attempting to shield herself from the terror she feels when remembering Lochlan and Neave that it is also blocking her connection to me. I am certain that I can alleviate enough of her agony in order to get her through this but I need to be close to her for this to work. If she keeps rescinding my invitation into her home I will accomplish nothing and she will stay…broken."

"She rescinded your invitation tonight?" Bill's eyebrows raised but he did not make the mistake of grinning with pride or satisfaction.

"Yes."

"What was it, specifically, that set her off?" Though silently amused, Bill's memory of being barred from Sookie's house, all those months ago, still smarted.

"Over the phone I was able to get her to surround herself with things I knew would comfort her until I arrived but the moment I tried to put my arms around her she flung herself away from me as if my very presence caused her physical pain. When the blanket she had wrapped around herself fell to the floor and I saw what she has done to her body I…" he shrugged dismissively "…may have over-reacted."

Bill closed his eyes thinking hard on what Eric had said.

And he called ME a fool?

Bill steadied himself to preempt the reaction Eric would have to his next question.

"Before tonight...how long has it been since she's seen you?"

Without pause, Eric let out a hiss that turned into a growl directed at Bill. "I do not answer to you, Compton! Do not presume you have the authority to judge or criticize ME! You are a flea under my shoe and when it pleases me to do so I will not hesitate to crush you!" Eric shot up off the couch and rapidly shifted to the window facing the front porch. He leaned heavily on the sill. The hard reality and ramifications of Bill's query had hit the target dead center and it left Eric reeling. It had been almost ten weeks and though he checked on her from time to time he had not been able to visit her.

He's right...I let her down...AGAIN!

"Save your breath, Eric. Your threats are meaningless to a man who has lost everything he ever treasured. My true love; my honor…gone. What else is there?"

"Then why don't you go ahead and meet the sun?" his voice cold and spiteful as he gestured to the east where the sun would rise in nine hours.

"My obligation of course. She may never love me as she once did and I will never deserve her forgiveness but my purpose for staying bound to this earth will always be to protect her." the vow wasn't laden with self-pity or heartache...just a statement of fact. Then Bill whispered, "Until her dying breath...and then I will keep my appointment with the sun." Bill sat quietly then, resting his eyes.

A vampire measuring his life against the mortality of a human...because he loves her...that much. I detest him...I admire him.

Not even Eric had the heart - as dead as it may be - to scoff at Bill's reverent devotion.

After a few minutes he was suddenly aware of a change in the bond.

Sookie is crying again. Fuck! Let's get this over with.

Bill had been letting his mind wander through a labyrinth of memories - The sweet smell of her hair; her little girl's laugh; the way her tanned skin glistened while submerged in bathwater; the taste of her...his dream interrupted by Eric's hand that was now firmly squeezing his shoulder.

"Bill."

"What, Eric?"

"I can see how much you are suffering..."

Bill snorted "You know nothing of my suffering, Eric!"

He had to bite his tongue before continuing. "I am referring to your physical discomfort. From the bite Neave gave you."

Bill shook his head and pulled away from Eric's grip. "Do not concern yourself with my 'discomfort', Sheriff." he spat out the words with contempt and bitterness. "I have no doubt there are far more pressing matters to attend to than playing nurse-maid to an invalid." he sneered upwards and slowly lifted himself from the chair. "Now if you will excuse me..." Bill started towards the hallway.

"Who have you been feeding from, recently?"

Bill didn't turn but stopped to answer, "None of your fucking business, Eric."

"Have you been feeding off of junkie hookers, Bill? Is that why your car has been spotted in Shreveport's red light district?"

Bill spun around and...well...if looks could kill, Eric would have been a pile of ash in an instant. He raised up both palms towards Bill and added, "I have seen what blood like that can do to a vampire over time. You are only making your condition worse."

If he allowed himself to glamour a clean human into feeding him he could heal so much quicker. Again with the self-denial. If only the Catholic Church allowed vampires to serve as priests, Bill would make a superb man of the cloth.

He waited for a response but Bill just stood still, slack-jawed. Eric slowly moved towards him with his palms still raised. When he was a mere foot away from Bill, Eric lowered his left hand and reached out his right with his fist clenched and wrist upturned.

"I offer you my blood, Bill. You will not heal if you keep drinking from spoiled goods."

Bill's eyes squinted with suspicion but he would have been a liar if he claimed the offer did not tempt him.

"Why?"

"As much as it irks and irritates me I am aware of that fact that you are valuable to me as a guardian to Sookie. And, though she has every right to hate you enough to wish for your final death, she still holds affection for you...most likely, she always will."

"And what will I owe the Mighty Sheriff if I take his offer?"

"For my blood you will owe me nothing. I only expect you to continue watching over Sookie when I am unable to be at her side."

Bill chuckled darkly. "Being at her side is gonna be a bit tricky now that she's banished you to the dog-house." Bill silently congratulated himself for the insult.

"Oh I intend on changing that very soon." Eric crooked the edge of his mouth into a half grin. "Now...do you accept my offer?" he raised his right fist higher until it was mere inches away from Bill's mouth.

A look of pitiful defeat covered Bill's face as he opened his mouth, fangs already run out. The expression changed to lustful hunger as he gripped Eric's wrist focusing on the blue veins that held his next meal. He looked up into Eric's electric blue eyes with lingering doubt.

"Drink." he nodded as he placed his left hand on Bill's forearm to draw him closer.

Bill needed no more encouragement. His fangs ripped into Eric's flesh violently. Eric let out a raspy hiss as Bill started to suck and pull on his veins. After a few more seconds Eric could see Bill was now completely lost to his blood lust and took advantage of his distraction. With his left hand he shoved Bill towards the living room wall until he had him pinned against it. Eric then used his leg and hip to secure him in place while his free hand slid up to the back of Bill's head.

Eric's fingers gripped the stiff tendons in Bill's neck. Before Bill could register what was happening Eric's mouth was latched onto his jugular. His fangs pierced the soft tissue and he began to suck. It tasted awful and may leave him with unwanted side-effects but it was a risk worth taking if this gave him the missing puzzle piece he needed.

Give it to me, Bill. You will give me your memories of her.

And then it came. Like a tidal wave. Like a hurricane. Bill had no shields to block the theft and every sweet, wretched, joyful, precious, lustful and loving memory he had of Sookie now belonged to Eric. Only the mind of a thousand year old vampire could withstand a memory exchange such as this. Eric was able to limit the reciprocal images Bill would be receiving from him in return. He singled out the handful of sexual encounters he had enjoyed with his bonded and fed them to Bill through his blood. Against Eric's thigh he could feel Bill's hardness growing in obvious response to the X-rated images of Sookie. Eric's own crotch began to feel uncomfortably confined as he enjoyed one particular memory from the multitudes. Sookie lying on her back looking up at Bill; asking him to heal her soreness after their first time together; blood soaked fingers gliding into her; coating her torn maiden-head with the healing elixir. This one now began to mingle with Eric's first memory of fingering Sookie and he began to groan fiercely into Bill's neck now drenched with blood. His thigh began moving from side to side against Bill's erection. The friction, though exceptionally pleasant, woke Bill from his blood lust stupor and he began pushing against Eric's chest with both hands. Eric was still lost in the taste and feel of 'imaginary Sookie' and Bill's weak arms were no match for The Viking's strength. He found Bill's wrists and pinned them above his head. Still feeding, still dry humping Bill's leg, Eric groaned again. Bill knew how wrong this felt and detested his innate vampire instincts to give in to the pleasure threatening to take over. He felt Eric's fangs pull out and could hear him moaning Sookie's name just below his ear as his pelvis grinded harder into Bill's hip.

"Eric!"

"Mmmm, Sookie…"

"ERIC!!!" Bill yelled louder this time which seemed to work as Eric froze immediately.

He reared back his head and looked down on Bill's face which had already begun to show signs of improvement. He then looked up at his own hands still pressing Bill's wrists against the wall. As soon as he released them Bill managed to duck under Eric and retreat to the opposite side of the room.

Eric turned and watched Bill who was now pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Eric's keen self-preservation instinct kicked in and he began scanning the room for anything Bill could use as a weapon against him.

Wooden leg of the coffee table, fireplace poker, rapier mounted to the wall. Nothing I can't handle.

Bill ceased his pacing, placed his hand over his mouth and started shaking his head in disbelief.

"Biiiiiilllll?" it was a question as well as a warning.

Bill let his hand fall "I have yet again, underestimated you, Eric. There is no question of your selfish and cruel nature but you are obviously willing to do just about anything to protect Sookie and your bond with her. You would even stoop so low as to rape the mind of a weaker vampire. I wonder if she knows how debased and despicable your devotion to her has made you." He snorted condescendingly. "And yet you still cannot comprehend why she evokes these emotions in you. It's sad, pathetic…and I pity you."

Eric ignored Bill's words and, after deciding he was of no threat to him, sat back down on the couch. He rested his elbows on his thighs and his forehead in this hands. He began analyzing the images and memories he had robbed from Bill's mind.

Bill took advantage of his rejuvenated vampire speed and tore across the room towards the front door. Eric's reflexes were faster still as he was able to grab Bill's arm while he attempted to pass by. He peered up at Bill with a look of rage and anguish.

"Sookie's Uncle Bartlette…you made sure he suffered?"

"Indeed." Bill answered gravely and firm.

Eric released Bill who then continued his swift retreat to the front door and exited without another word.

After fifteen minutes to process and meditate on the vast quantity of information he had acquired, Eric pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number he had hoped to avoid at all costs. The other end answered after two rings.

"Sandy, Eric Northman…I need to speak to the king."