A/n: Thank you all of my wonderful, amazing, stupendous readers! And, a big thank you to my fantastic, extraordinary, supermegafoxyawesomehot reviewers: sydkiwi, erin1795, bwtawny, IkeaGoddess, desireecarbenell, xxxbulletxxx, nordiclover, CeruleanKitten, KoteDiM, VAlady, capital6, writergirl89, KaiaRay, Daph Lina, cdsnow, alexandra76, tbloodlover1000, kerriki, Ericsfae, Ruby Sword, sluggysmom, aprilshowers021, foxgodess07, livesimple, jenifaui, Queen of Night, whitestripes123, Dawn Leon, cante, bbet, Spygrrl, ebm1, Thorsminion, Anna-Rogue-Marie-Howlett, ArmyGirl2010, StarKiss666, Kojichan.x, kista-angel, lovinthevamp, Ozzykomakozzy, Jackia, Crystal Moon Magic, sweetdamage, kardamon, and losingmymind3696. We've broken the 250 Review mark, and are literally two reviews away from 300! YAY!
How'd you like the ending of last chapter? I'm such an evil bitch. –sighs- Sorry y'all. I just can't help it sometimes. Anyway, I know the majority of you are probably reading this thinking 'yeah, ok, is there a point to all this? You're taking time away from reading the chapter' and the answer would be…no. I kind of just like hearing myself talk…even virtually. :P
So, no beta for this chapter cause I babysat and had two hours to kill while the kids were down for their nap and I was sans internet…So I did it myself. Aren't you proud? (and if the quality of the chapter is less than average, well, you know why)
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 10: Déjà vu
Eric looked up from his position on Sookie's stomach, and couldn't help the bemused smile creeping its way onto his face. Motherfucker.
"Brion," His voice was smooth and emotionless, hiding his irritation at not hearing the Faery enter. "What a surprise. Did you get lost again?"
"Not at all, Eric. Did you? I could have sworn that you said your home was in Shreveport."
"I do, but my girl lives here, in Bon Temps,"
"Well that's truly amusing, because so does mine – as a matter of fact, you're laying on her right now," Brion's voice was smooth and held a hint of humor.
"Actually, I'm lying on my girl right now. Perhaps yours is invisible, and she could move? Sookie and I were busy."
He could feel Sookie tense beneath him, and the disapproval rolling off of her in waves. Brion laughed and gave them both a cheeky grin before sitting in the love seat opposite them. Though Eric's Vampire demanded that he challenge Brion for daring to call Sookie his, Eric restrained himself. The man had yet to show any hostility towards either of them, and seemed rather at ease with the situation.
Brion observed them with a critical eye, before smiling and turning his attention to Sookie. "Sookie, darlin', how are you?"
"I'm alright, Brion."
Eric said nothing, but watched carefully as they conversed.
"You left in an awful rush."
Though the sentence was spoken like a comment, Eric had no doubt it was a demand for an explanation.
"Damian didn't give me much of a choice, I'm afraid. He killed my maid and then blackmailed my grandfather! I had to leave, fast,"
Brion looked at her sharply "Darlin', don't you go feeling sorry for your grandfather. Damian wouldn't have ever touched Mab; she's his aunt. It was an empty threat, and your grandfather knew it – it was just easier agreeing to the marriage than it was to fight back."
"Fight back with what, exactly?" Eric could feel Sookie begin to warm beneath him, her blood stirring in anger. He resisted the urge to smirk. "Damian has all of the weapons!"
"Oh, Sookie," Brion smiled, and Eric felt a growl worming its way from his chest to his windpipe. Eric knew that smile – he wore it all the time. It was the smile that betrayed exactly what the wearer was feeling, in this case amusement mingled with adoration. "Your grandfather betrayed you," Brion said bluntly. "Being angry with him for doing so, doesn't make you a bad person or a bad granddaughter. He sold you out – twice. Once to Damian, and once to…me."
Sookie frowned and looked at him, alarmed. "What?"
"Well, I had to find you some how. What's a man to think when you don't leave a note?"
"What did you do to my grandfather?"
"What I had to, in order to find you."
Sookie paused and Eric could hear the cogs turning over in her mind. "Meaning….?"
"I tortured him." Eric's eyebrows shot to his forehead.
"You what?" Oh, she was positively furious now. Eric felt himself settle into the couch with a smug feeling; he wasn't going to have to work at all.
"Oh, don't be angry with me love," Eric couldn't stop the growl this time. Brion ignored him. "He deserved it – selling you to the man who tried to rape you."
"He's still my grandfather!" Sookie's voice was indignant and angry.
Brion shrugged. "He's alive and recovering. It's his own fault; he betrayed you, broke our courtship agreement in the process, and then refused to tell me where you went off to – likely so he could tell Damian."
"You would torture a man just because he betrayed my trust, and insulted you?"
"No, Sookie," There was no humor in Brion's voice, now. "I would kill a man that betrayed your trust and insulted me in such a way. The fact that he is your family spared him."
Sookie, Eric felt, didn't quite know how to respond to that and so fell silent. Brion, seeming to sense it as well, changed the subject.
"So, you made a Vampire for your Chosen. That's…interesting." Much to Eric's surprise, and suspicion, there was no malice in his tone. Rather, Brion was teasing her, gently pulling her out of the foul mood she seemed to have sunk in to.
"I didn't. Well, I did, but it wasn't me…"
Brion's eyes widened. "Really? Well, now my curiosity is peaked. Why?"
Eric spoke before Sookie could, having decided that he wanted to test this man. "So I would be bound to her for the rest of her natural life and have to protect her."
Brion's eyes traveled to his slowly, and Eric could very clearly see him taking stock of the information. "I see. So, congratulations are in order!" He grinned broadly at Sookie with a wide, beaming smile. Eric was astounded. This man didn't just contradict the expected, he was a contradiction. He hunts down Sookie, who he was all but engaged to, only to find out that she's pregnant by a Vampire and bound to him for the rest of her natural life and he…smiles, and congratulates them. Eric didn't like this. His instincts were telling him that not everything was as cut and dry as it first appeared; this man knew something and was purposely withholding it until he could use it.
Sookie, however, didn't appear nearly so surprised. As a matter of fact, she looked like she'd been expecting it. "Thank you, Brion, that's very kind. We don't actually know yet, but…"
Brion snorted. "Oh, if your Faery was the one who did it, then you most certainly are and can count on it."
"You think?" There was a shift in her tone, one Eric couldn't identify and made him wary.
"I do. Now, the question is, who's going to be the father?"
Eric sneered. "And here I thought you were mildly intelligent,"
Brion's gaze snapped to Eric's and his tone became a little more chilling, and sharp. "Watch your tone, Vampire. I know who the sperm donor is," He paused before returning his gaze to Sookie; it was far more gentle and kind than the one Eric had gotten. "My question is, who is going to be the father?"
"Eric and the Faery made a blood and magick agreement that stated that he would abide by all Faery Laws as they applied to him."
Brion leaned forward, with his hands clasped before him, a thoughtful look on his face. "That doesn't mean he has to be the father."
If Eric hadn't been paying attention before, he sure as hell was now. Sookie seemed to awaken to the words as well, her sleepy state vanishing completely. "Come again?" Her voice was a little shaky. "Brion, Faery laws state that the bond of creation binds the parents in blood and magick. We are bound by that and by Vampire law as well."
"Sookie, you don't have to do this," Brion's voice was gentle, pleading; it made Eric want to rip his head off. "There are ways around the laws – everything has a loophole."
Sookie said nothing, but Eric could feel a veritable hurricane of emotions overwhelm her. He sat up and removed his head from her stomach, leaning back on the couch in a relaxed pose – one that would enable him to attack the man across from him without injuring Sookie, if the need came. He glared threateningly at the Faery across from him, daring him to say something more to upset her. The Faery ignored him.
"You will be ostracized in our society, Sookie. Bearing a child out of wedlock is bad enough, but bearing a half-vampire child out of wedlock would be grounds for banishment – perhaps forever from the Underground. The Faery Laws apply to him, only so long as they actually apply to him."
"What does that even mean? He is the father!" Sookie was getting frustrated, and Eric didn't like it – why did she even need to know?
"They don't know that."
You could have heard a pin drop. "What?" Sookie's voice was barely above a whisper.
"They don't know that he is the father. Our hierarchy goes through the matriarchal line specifically because you always know who the mother is, but who the father is could be unclear."
"It isn't unclear!" Eric snarled, not liking where this was going one bit.
Brion continued to ignore him and kept his focus on Sookie. "It could be though. We courted, and it would not be uncommon for you to take another during your Cycle. Let me claim the child as my own and let me claim you as my wife. You would be well respected in Faery, protected from Damian in a way that he could never reach you – he wouldn't dare offend the Unseelie Court! Forget this world and the Vampire. Neither of them have ever done you any good – both have only brought pain and danger to your life. Tell them I am the father!"
Eric had had enough. Before Sookie could even blink, let alone respond, Eric had Brion by the throat. The two tipped over the loveseat and struggled – the Faery was fighting back with as much spirit and strength as the Viking. Sookie shrieked at them to stop, but the words fell on deaf ears. These men were in a different mindset right now, one that would not be altered by the shrieking of a woman. Eric thought that Brion would go down easily enough – after all, the Faeries were almost wiped out of existence by Vampires, so they couldn't be that powerful. Eric was wrong.
With a roar of fury, the Faery's eyes began to burn gold, his right hand gripping Eric's throat and his left holding onto Eric's wrist. All too quickly, Eric felt himself begin to weaken; his blood was boiling beneath his skin, almost as it would under the sun. Eric struggled against the pain to keep his hold on Brion, but could not. The moment his hand released Brion's throat, Brion hauled him up by his shirt and slammed him to the wall, causing all the pictures that weren't being crushed by Eric's body to fall off of the wall. Eric brought his hands over Brion's ears and clapped him hard, causing Brion to lose his concentration on his magick. Eric took full advantage. He slid down the wall and pulled his fist back and began to furiously pound the Faery, only to have the Faery regain his concentration.
There was no magic heat boiling his skin from the inside out this time – Brion was too spent for that, it seemed – but there didn't need to be. Eric was forced to grudgingly acknowledge that Brion was not only just as strong as he was, but an excellent fighter as well. Still, something was bothering him. Throughout the entire fight, Eric had the deepest sense of déjà vu. This man… he had seen him before, fought him before. He was sure of it. But where? The fight raged on. Sookie was still screaming, still shouting at them to stop, but she was, at the moment irrelevant.
Eric felt himself get thrown backwards towards the entry way; the Faery had managed to get his foot in between them, and used it to launch Eric across the doorway. He clipped the side of the wall on the way down and took a chunk out of it. It looked like something out of a loony tunes episode. Sookie stopped screaming. Brion advanced on him, ripping a piece of the baseboard off of the wall; he was intent on ending this now.
Eric snarled and charged forward, ripping the wood from Brion's hands. As a consequence of that, Brion's hands began to bleed. The moment the smell hit Eric's nose, he could feel his mouth begin to water. If it wasn't tempered by the fact that Eric fucking hated Brion, he would have admitted that the Faery smelt almost as mouth watering as Sookie. Eric realized that showing any reaction to it had been a mistake the moment Brion purposely sliced his arm. Eric's eyes darted to the wound immediately. The scent was intoxicating, distracting even – as it was intended to be. Eric let his eyes wander to Brion's, and tried to understand the man in front of him. This wasn't a stupid move. The Faery knew that Eric would react in such a way, knew that there was potential for Eric to go completely crazy over the smell.
Brion was playing with fire, but he was not an amateur. Eric forced his mind to focus, trying to fight his instinct to feed – which was now growing stronger by the moment. This was a tactical move, and a risky one. Brion wanted Eric to attack him, wanted him to lose control. Why? Eric didn't have the presence of mind to figure it out; he was too busy keeping himself from losing his actions to reckless hunger. As the two men glared at each other from the space of the few feet between them, Eric caught Brion sneaking a quick glance at Sookie. Eric did the same. She was sitting on the couch with her hands folded primly in her lap, looking generally upset, and utterly furious.
All too quickly, the pieces fell into place. This fight had nothing to do with them, and everything to do with Sookie. Brion wanted Eric to lose control because he wanted Sookie to see Eric for what Brion would have her believe him to be – a monster, a danger to her and their child. That cunning, underhanded bastard had thought everything through. His little jibes about being a father to Sookie's baby, it was meant to rile Eric into this fight. Of course, Eric had no doubt that Brion very much meant the words he had spoken to Sookie – but the way he had said them had been with the intent of pulling Eric into a fight. This was a grand, strategic, well-thought out plan, and Eric had fallen right into it. This man had just, very grudgingly, earned Eric's respect.
Eric straightened and forced himself to calm down. "As much as I would like to continue this, I do not believe that now is the appropriate time or place,"
"You're just thinking that now?" Brion smirked and his eyes lit up a little; he knew that Eric had figured out his game.
"I don't believe we should endanger Sookie so recklessly, especially not in her condition."
"Now you worry about my safety?" Sookie spoke up, and for the first time since the fight began, they both heard her. She was actually bristling. "I want both of you out of my house, now. It is one in the morning and I am tired. I've had a long week and I need some sleep before I snap and kill both of you. And, on top of everything else, I now need to find a repairman to patch up your handiwork!" And then she stormed upstairs to her bedroom and slammed the door. Eric couldn't blame her.
The two men looked at each other before making their way to the porch. In the cool air, they were both returned to their state of serenity and calm, though they showed every bit of the knock-down-drag-out they had just had in Sookie's living room.
Brion sighed and rolled his shoulders. "I'll apologize in the morning, once she's had a chance to cool down. You know, Vampire," He paused and grinned at Eric. "You're an excellent fighter, one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of combating. In another life, we could have been brothers in arms, if not in blood."
"In another life, we could have been brothers in arms, if not in blood." The words rang in Eric's head and his mind struggled to make the connection, drawing from the recesses of his mind. Images came unbidden to his mind; armor, blood, swords, Godric, the battle.
He turned to look at Brion slowly before replying. "Given the fact that we have fought this battle and come out alive, and drawn blood from each other, I would say we are brothers in blood already."
Brion grinned broadly at him. "So you do remember me! I had wondered."
Eric blinked and pieced things together. That sense of déjà vu when he was fighting Brion, it wasn't just déjà vu. He had fought him before.
1000 years ago, on the very battlefield where Godric had claimed him, Eric had fought in hand to hand combat with an Irish Prince. The two had gone at each other for hours, both unable to overcome the other; they were the same, evenly matched. And when the battle was over, for it was over long before the two were finished fighting, they parted ways as equals.
The face of the man he was fighting had been covered by his helm, and Eric recollected wondering how the man could possibly breathe under it.
"It appears we are evenly matched," The Irish Prince said in heavily accented Gaelic.
It was difficult for Eric to understand him, though he knew enough to get by. "In another life, we could have been brothers in arms, if not in blood."
"Given the fact that we have fought this battle and come out alive," Eric replied in his own native dialect. "And drawn blood from each other, I would say we are brothers in blood already."
The Irish Prince acknowledged him with a wide, bloody grin and tilt of the head. The two walked backwards until they were several yards apart, neither willing to turn their back on the man they couldn't defeat.
Impulsively, Eric shouted to him before they met with their comrades. "Perhaps we will meet again in the next life!"
The Irish Prince slipped off his helm, and though it was too dark, and the man too far away, Eric could make out a pair of gleaming hazel eyes and wild black hair. He shouted a reply in Gaelic first, then in rough Norwegian when Eric didn't reply. "Count on it, friend! Maybe even sooner than that!"
Eric looked forward to their next skirmish with the Irish. He would welcome any opportunity to fight with that man again, that man who fought with his mind as much as his heart. And next time, he would win.
Of course, he never got the chance to fight with that man again. Godric claimed him that very night, and Eric didn't care about anything else after. He would win. He would win because this was a battle he could not lose, because this was a woman he could not lose. He had to win.
A/n: So, yes. Eric and Brion have met before, one thousand years ago on the battlefield. Brion Boru was a real Irish King who conquered much of Ireland until he was overwhelmed by a rebellious fiefdom and was pushed back by a people known as the Nordic Gaels (I think…Don't quote me on that – writing this with no internet to double check what I read a few days ago).
For all intents and purposes, I've shifted history a bit and the outcome but it won't affect the story too much. The grudging respect, can't-help-but-hate-you thing-which-sucks-cause-we-would-be-awesome-friends, is already in full swing (in case you couldn't tell). While I realize that Eric speaks Swedish, I don't believe it was actually called that back then. Just go with it, lol.
Review please! We hit an all time high of 43 reviews for last chapter and it made me positively giddy – no, really, ask my friends; they hid under their beds.