A Better Tomorrow

Chapter 6 Pack

Eric followed Sookie down to the bakery knowing that his child had arrived and that she wasn't alone. She was standing in front of Sookie when she looked up at him with a smirk on her lips.

"Master" she whispered but Eric could clearly hear her.

He approached them slowly and stood right beside Sookie who was looking at Sam and the doctor. They were already busy trying to save Alcide. Sookie stepped in Alcide's direction touching Eric's arm in the process which made her stopped in her tracks. Eric looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. She had this look on her face, the same from yesterday when he had grabbed her and she had seen a memory of his; Pam. He saw before his eyes another memory play out. This time it wasn't about Pam but about his v iking family. The kitchen table, the meal his mom had prepared, his dad coming in with the sword on his hip and then the fire and the screams.

Eric grabbed Sookie by the arm trying to break the connection that was making this memory sharing possible as if a simple touch could do it but instead it intensified it and made it more vivid. As fast as it came, the memory stopped its course and Sookie just stood beside him in shock. Eric knew the sharing of the blood had some side effects but never such strong ones.

" What's wrong?" asked Pam in old Swedish.

Eric simply growled and walked towards the front door before Sookie could say anything. Pam followed him instructing Sookie to stay where she was leaving her with the terror she just had witnessed.

Once they were outside, Eric hugged his child.

"it is good to see you Pam"

"Its been lonely here since you have taken to the ground Eric."

"You will have to bring me up to speed with our new reality…"

"Of course, the bar is gone"

"I have noticed'

"and most humans, makes feeding complicated"

"So I have seen and experienced"

"there is that fake crap we can drink if we are desperate since feeding in the community is rare"

"Where Sookie comes from? You live with them?"

"Indeed, and Bill Compton, it is a nice place, you will like it"

"why the sarcasm?"

"I feel we have regressed to the 1800s"

"Lovely"

"what happened back there?"

" I am not too sure, in my thousands of years of blood sharing, I have never shared memories with a human before"

"I am not so sure Sookie is human"

"Meaning?

"Well, she has a tendency of hearing people's thoughts. Not vampires, but everyone else's and makes life in bon Temps quite entertaining."

Eric did not respond. Pam didn't know what Sookie was but if she could truly hear people's thoughts, he had a vague idea of what that could be.

"Have you heard back from our queen? Is there any progress in finding a cure to this virus?" he asked bluntly obviously changing subject.

" The lastest news I have heard was 3 months ago. As per procedures, if in another 3 months we do not hear back, we will have to go and try to find her ourselves. The last news was not great. It seems that the virus is constantly mutating."

"well it is attacking wolves now"

"yes, and the result is not very pretty although I would enjoy putting the dogs down myself but the community is so attached to the pack"

"let's go back inside, it isn't safe here"

Pam had heard it too, noises coming from the main street. It seems that another horde of undead was slowly walking towards them. They both headed back inside and once they reached the group, they found them packing up.

"he can be move now" had declared Dr Ludwig. "Nice to see you again Eric. "

Eric nodded in her direction.

Once they were all ready to go, Pam signaled to them to be quiet.

"Corpses, outside, back door now" she whispered to Sam who gathered everyone else.

Eric wondered why Pam would not simply go to the front door and kill all the corpses. She was a skilled fighter and would normally not doubt herself. As if she had heard his thoughts she simply stated

"Killing the corpses can attract more corpses but also unwanted visitors. I had to kill 2 vampires the other day because they wanted to feed on some members of the community."

"You killed vampires to protect humans?"

"No Master, I killed vampires to protect my food source which is now yours"

Eric knew he would have to adjust to this new life style which had nothing to do with any of his past thousands of years. He found himself lucky that Pam was instructed to stay behind from their queen although she didn't seem to really enjoy life, or death, as much as she used to. For a moment she looked worn out to him. Vampires always looked good but a limited source of food would do that to any vampires that age.

The group reached the end of Shreveport without too much hassle. There was the odd corpse here and there but nothing Eric or Pam couldn't handle. The walk to Bon temps was in silence. No one was addressing each other. Tara, Pam and Sam were transporting Alcide while Sookie stayed back along Eric side. Dr Ludwig had left in another direction.

No one really knew where she lived. They only knew how to contact her which was a very simple process. They had to burn a specific spice they could find everywhere around Bon Temps and light a candle at a window. Any window.

Somewhere half way, Sookie broke the silence. She was whispering so they others couldn't hear her.

" Was it your family I saw Eric?"

Eric didn't respond right away. Instead, he simply kept walking at her side looking straight ahead but after a minute he quietly said yes.

"I am sorry for your loss" she answered stroking his arm in a friendly gesture which she stopped right away when she realized what she was doing.

"It was a long time ago" Eric's tone was the same. He was a master at hiding his true feelings. Most vampires were but Eric had a thousand year to perfect the art

"Time doesn't always heal everything"

Eric didn't respond to her. He wasn't sure why this human was addressing him in such matter but then again the world had changed. She was being overly friendly and Eric was simply not used to it.

Sookie did not address him again until they reached Bon temps which was in due time as the sun was near.

"we have a ward protecting the community. You should be fine if you do not wish us any harm" Sookie explained while they past the fence of objects. As they approach the community, Eric wondered what would happen if he actually had bad intentions. He was also wondering what really qualified as bad intentions. He saw humans as food; something most would consider bad.

He reached the main street with the group without any problems. He guessed that the ward had judged him with good intentions which made him laugh a little. He wondered what kind of witches had cast the spell.

"Eric and I need to take to the ground, we will see you this evening" Pam told Sam and Alcide who was more and more alert throughout the journey but just couldn't walk on his own.

"Do you need to feed?" Alcide asked both Pam and Eric "I don't think you have fed in the past few days"

" I will have true blood for tonight" Pam answered while looking up at Eric

"I do not need to feed at the moment" Eric replied following Pam who had already started walking towards an unknown location to the others. Since Eric was really old, he did not need to feed as frequently as other vampires which would be an asset in these times.

"Goodnight!" said Sookie waving at them "or should I say morning!"

"Bye Sookie" plainly replied Pam who sounded a little annoyed which Eric found funny.

Pam guided Eric to the woods surrounding Bon Temps. After a couple of minutes of walking she used vampire speed to reach a small lake. Eric had no problem following her to the entrance of an underground cave. The entrance was a trapped door on the ground covered with leaves as camouflage and by judging the direction the room was taking; the cave was situated directly under the lake.

"Our queen built these after a couple of months to keep communication with all vampires, we used this radio" Pam pointed to a radio on an old desk in one of the room they were passing by. They walked down a long hallway lit by torches. It reminded Eric of the Middle Ages which he never really liked in the first place. Pam was too young to know that time but he remembered it like it was yesterday.

They finally reached a bigger room lit by a fireplace where Bill was sitting lost in his own thoughts. He looked up at Pam and Eric and stood up right away

"Eric, they found you" he exclaimed as Eric walked around the room examining it

"indeed, you both have a lot of explaining to do, I will expect a full debrief when we rise tonight"

As they both agreed, Pam pointed out to a coffin in the back of the room for Eric while she sat in the one beside it. Bill took one at the opposite of the room. There were enough coffins in the room for at least another 5 vampires. Eric laid in his new home as the sun took them away in a dreamless state.

Thank you for reading!

xox

Z