Hi all! Just a small reminder to not forget and vote for your favorite stories and authors at the ''you want blood'' awards!

I'll be honest; I was extremely disappointed I did not get nominated in any of the categories :( But then I thought to myself, where the hell does that sense of entitlement comes from? I mean I enjoy writing and I am happy with my work. It doesn't mean it's good enough to be nominated or that I can remotely pretend I am as good as the other authors' lol I seriously thought maybe something is wrong with me. Anyways I am over it and I smile knowing that I am having fun and this story is a great therapy to my everyday heartaches.

As always I welcome your opinion, this chapter is explaining a lot of things and I hope I didn't make it too complicated. Love you all!

I would also like to thank FairytaleAmber for being an awesome beta. She reviewed this chapter and is working on a one shot and the next chapters of this fic. Thank you so much 3

(I still wuv you Lady doughnut even if you are too busy for me xxx :P)

Chapter 27- My Heartstrings Come Undone

'' I will wait for her.'' Eric had simply replied to Pam's question.

He was sitting in a chair behind a desk that had once belonged to some businessman. Pam was standing at the door entrance leaning on one side with her arms crossed staring at her maker in desperation.

''I know, but could we please have some fun in the mean time? We do not have to wait around like little kids waiting for their mummies.'' she snickered which had been received with a long growl; warning from things to come if she did not shut it.

''Fine then, stay in this office for all I care.'' Pam had left Eric to his thoughts.

There was only one thing on his mind, one person whom he could not forget and was waiting patiently for. Eric had nothing but time on his side and he had sworn he would wait for her return. No one knew exactly when that would be, or if she was even alive but every night, Eric woke probing the bond. Every night he woke with the bitter taste of disappointment not feeling her nearby. He had survived a thousand years but only had truly lived a couple weeks and that was by her side. His entire being missed her very deeply but like every night he woke, he brushed off the feelings, showed a stern face and awaited her return.

At first, Pam grieved for her Maker. She wished she could find that little Fae and bring her back to him but as time passed, as the vampire civilization rebuilt, she grew frustrated of her Maker's lack of ambition. His only desire was to find who had done this to the community of Bon Temps and since it was also the desire of his Queen, he was happy to do just that. No one was allowed to pronounce Her name around him and Pam had gotten used to walking on eggshells around her Maker. As time passed, she learned to wait too. Not only for Her return but also for His. They spent most of their days obeying to the Queen's orders, which were normally simple: Bring vamps in Louisiana to the Mississippi border, kills specific humans without anyone's knowledge and investigate deaths.

It had not taken long after the destruction of the mansion for the Queen to reestablish her control over Louisiana. As months passed, the vampires over all the United States had reestablished the hierarchy, to their advantage nonetheless. Most royalties were able to work together and contain the running kind of corpses to Louisiana. The queen had taken refuge in Mississippi and had married their King. Louisiana was declared as "a No Man's Land" where no one could go in or out including vampires. Vampires who not only controlled their states, but also were controlling most of the world's population had slowly rebuilt the states surrounding it. As the human population was scared at best, most Kings and Queens decided to wake their most prized foot soldiers and proceeded in conquering every territory at a time, promising the humans a safe haven governed and ruled by vampires. Vampires are opportunists and they all saw a weak world ready to be dominated. Some royals aligned to each other while others declared war onto the other's state. Most humans followed the King or Queen of their current state but some refused and were left in the various no man's lands. Most joined without ever looking back, happy to have safety and a purpose. The vampires had achieved safety by getting rid of any humans that were sick or looked sick into the no man's land keeping only the strong and healthy ones for their own purpose. They had managed to rebuild entire cities where humans had regained a sense of normality. Owning a house, having a day job, and having their families around them. In just a couple months, it was obvious that the tables were turning and that no one could stop the vampires.

Yet, there were still attacks from the group. The one Eric had heard from Her lips: the Fellowship of the Sun. He had been told they were a group of humans who did not believe vampires should be of this world and wanted to get rid of them. They had managed to delay some of the rebuilding but were losing ground. No one knew where they were located and who they were but every week, they managed to arrange a perfect synchronized attack, weather on the royals, on their armies or on their cities.

On several occasion, Pam had flown over to the nearest border to meet with the Queen's messenger for instructions. Eric and Pam were stuck in the "No Man's Land", denied any luxury the cities could offer and left to fend for themselves. The Queen had made it her personal goal to find out who had demolished her compound in Louisiana, who had attacked her subjects and who had helped orchestrate the community's destruction. Eric and Pam had no idea if she was still experimenting on the virus but Godric had seemed weary of the Royalty. He had seemed suspicious and unwilling to help the Royalty in their endeavors. Eric agreed with his Maker that the vampires were playing with fire but also wished to be back to civilization with the other vampires and their humans. Eric longed for this, but was instructed and reminded to be patient. Godric also reminded him that Sookie would one day come back and that he had to be there for her. If she was to come back on this side of the border, Eric had to be on the same side.

Eric had asked his Maker what they were really waiting for, and had been given a very obscure answer about corpses becoming skeletons and humans having their revenge.

''It is not the first time vampires tried to rule the humans my son.'' he had said to him. ''The vampires thought they could be gods, thought that the humans were to serve them. There are no words to explain the death that had resulted in such arrogance, I have no desire to partake in their takeovers.''

Eric had known at that point he was referring to the Egyptian eras and he knew the current history books had omitted many details on what had really happened during these years. All his Maker had shared with him was that era was exactly the reason why Vampires had remained hidden from the humans all these years. If humans did not know about them, they wouldn't be hunting for them.

As for the humans from Bon Temps, some had survived the attack and were now living on a large farm north from the city. They had found the small community only days after the attack. Walking without aiming at anything, the group had consisted of Jason, Alcide, Tara and a couple members of Alcide's pack. Only surviving on vampire blood; provided by Eric and Pam.

When they found the farm, they had been greeted by a group of humans who at first had shown themselves to be hostiles to strangers but as they all stood in front of each other under a half moon, their leader decided to take them in as extra pair of hands would be useful. Godric had joined them in their endeavor and helped as much as he could the new farm community. The vampires also had decided they would need a new place to rest for the day as it was now custom to not die anywhere near humans. Together they found an old abandoned warehouse where the vampires took shelter in. Conveniently, it was not very far from the farm. Of course, none of the humans knew about their new haven. Close to dawn every morning, Godric, Pam and Eric would come to this safe house to die for the day, unbeknownst by the humans who were waking to survive another day.

Eric was waiting…

…Waiting for his maker…

…Waiting to find who was responsible for all the devastation in Louisiana…

Most of all, he was waiting for Her return.

Months had passed and Sookie had shown no sign of life.

Pam took Eric away from his reverie; she stood silently in the doorframe to his office.

''Are you gonna feed tonight?'' she asked.

''Yes,'' Eric replied, getting up from his seat at the desk. Eric loved sitting behind it as it reminded him of past days where he had ran a bar.

''Do you want to ask for a donor or just hunt and glamour their asses?'' she inquired hoping for the latter.

Eric's fangs came down and Pam saw the small spark of excitement in his eyes, which made her shiver and smile. Her Maker was not always himself but she lived for exactly these moments where he was temporarily back.

''I could use a run''

They both headed to the forest in search of humans who either had gotten lost or were hunting for their own food. The farm had provided them with a constant source of milk and eggs but for meat, they preferred hunting at night to catch small prey such as rabbits and squirrels. The bullfrog was very popular amongst the humans so Eric headed towards the marsh knowing if the humans were indeed out that night, they would be looking for the amphibian first.

They reached a small pond where Eric stopped to smell the air. He could tell a small group of humans where lurking around and had stopped at that exact spot just minutes ago. Pam's fangs came down sensing the humans' proximity. They both silently followed where the smell of sweat and various body odors was bringing them. Nothing could stop them at this point; they had locked onto their prey. Moments later, they could hear people whispering, a man and two women. A silent nod decided a flank maneuver was best, Pam headed to the right of the group while Eric took the left. In a flash, Pam pounced on a girl while the other screamed and the man took a defensive posture. Eric knew they were from the farm as they reeked of chicken shit. While Pam was feeding, the other two had run on the opposite side to meet with Eric. The man recognized him right away.

''What the hell guys! Why are you attacking us?'' The man shouted.

Eric smiled and grabbed the woman by the arms.

''We are not going to kill you, we are just feeding. Now you can choose to run or watch. It is up to you.'' Eric said.

''We have an agreement!'' the man exclaimed.

''tststs'' Eric said while nodding his head. ''You think you have one.''

He sank his fangs into the woman's neck while she screamed. The man had started running away but was stopped by Pam, who had finished her own meal. Staring at him, she managed to glamour him and told him he had run into some corpses and that is why they all had screamed. They were to go back to the farm empty handed. Eric finished with the woman and proceeded to do the exact same to her, leaving the three humans to walk back to the farm alone and glamoured but unharmed.

Eric and Pam then headed to the western border of Louisiana near Mississippi. They reached the big gate where they were to meet with the Queen's messenger. Since no one were allowed to cross the border, the Queen had established contact by banning another vampire to Louisiana to let Eric know that he was still a Sheriff and still had duties to his Queen. She requested regular meetings with messengers to keep up-to-date on her land and on his progress on finding who was responsible for the attacks and the mess that was now Louisiana.

However, the state was big and Eric did not have many resources and now months later, they still had no clue how or who had managed to destroy everything is such short period.

The Queen was convinced that the attacks were originating from her state since they had slowed down as soon as the state had been contained. She saw no coincidence that as soon as the border had went up; the attacks on the other states had diminished greatly. Yet, their entire attempt within Louisiana or any other states of no man's land like Arkansas, was failing.

The messenger was a recently turned vampire and Eric thought he could not have been more than a couple months old. The vampire stared at him, silently knowing and feeling how old Eric was. Something about his presence made younger vampire queasy.

''The Queen wants an update on the investigation.'' he asked with an unsure voice.

''I have nothing to report.'' Eric said.

The vampire nodded and left without any other orders. Eric knew she was growing restless and impatient. The impasse they were facing on the investigation had made her on edge. Eric had requested more resources but the Queen had denied every attempt explaining she needed all her assets in Mississippi to ensure the security of the state and its inhabitants which was all off-limits to her true subjects; Louisiana.

Eric and Pam could have both decided to go AWOL and leave the state without much trouble but that would have also meant to put the royals against them, which in these uncertain times was a bad idea. So they both stayed in the state without much of a fight but as the weeks passed, both became bored.

''Shall we go back to the farm?'' Pam asked.

''And do what?'' Eric replied walking in the opposite direction of the border.

''We could always just try to find some runners to kill or maybe chase down the beast?''

Eric kept walking without any aim but then turned to Pam who was still behind him.

''We will check up on them, we have not been there in a couple days. I also have to transmit the message to Godric.''

Pam rolled her eyes and Eric did not miss it. He knew she hated spending time with the humans and could not understand why Godric did. Most of their nights, they had spent either helping the farm in hunting to ensure the survival of the humans, killing corpses and any other creatures they came across or hunting to feed always glamouring so the humans wouldn't know they were feeding without permission. Godric had never partaken in any of it except when it involved the humans. Eric was not so critical of his Maker and he could understand him. He knew his maker actually loved every one of these humans and cared for them, something Pam seemed to be incapable of. He could relate somehow because that's how he felt about Her. The one he could not name anymore because it hurt him deep in his undead heart.

When they reached the farm, two guards who were walking the perimeter greeted them. One of them was the man from earlier. He looked at them and smiled quickly before returning to his duties, not remembering anything that had happened earlier that night.

The farm consisted of a big century old white house with an enormous porch. The house acted as main living quarters for the humans. A large, tall cylinder gathered water for the humans and the animals. It was located behind the main house. Right beside it was the barn, painted in red, where the cows and the chickens shared walls. The back of the property was all fenced in which allowed the animals to go outside freely without the danger of wild animal or corpses to grab and eat them. The last building was a smaller barn where the farm equipment used to be stored. The humans had moved everything outside and had made the barn their pantry where they gathered their meat and any other food they had collected. It was also, where they kept their medical supplies.

The humans had sentinels walking the property at all hours of the day, which were there only defense. They had an elaborate plan in case of runners or walkers coming in where everyone had something to do or somewhere to go to ensure everyone's safety. The detailed plan had saved them many times over the past few months from hordes opting to hide and let them past instead of fighting them. The odd times, they had to kill the corpses In order to save the animals that were attracting the corpses more than the humans were. Pam decided to head into the house as Eric walked over to the grey tower, which served as a watch post but was also, where the main alarm was located.

The beast, the half-animal half-human tissue creature Eric had encountered at the mansion was running wild in Louisiana. Sometimes it would make its way to the farm where the humans had learned that a loud alarm noise stopped it dead in its track and would make it turn around. So they had built the tower as fast as they could and installed one of those horns they had found at another property close to the border of Arkansas. Every time the beast was close, they would ring it to scare it away. This meant someone had to be at the tower at all time and was usually Alcide, Blake the leader of the farm and then followed by Godric most nights who had enjoyed both their company.

Eric spent an hour in the tower with his Maker and the two humans explaining there was no new development from Mississippi, which also meant status quo. Alcide had growled a couple times at the bad news, as he wanted to learn who had destroyed his community just as much as Godric and Eric. Blake had been very understanding of their vendetta and had done his best to participate in the searches for clues. At first, they regularly sent troops to investigate Bon Temps where it had happened, but as time had passed, the weather had taken their chance away to find anything useful.

Eric was in the middle of a sentence when he felt Her again. For the first time in months, he felt her tug in the bond; he felt her warmness calling and his head snapped in the direction where he thought she was.

''What is it child?'' Godric asked having an idea ''Can you feel her?'' he asked with excitement for his child.

Eric's fangs had automatically gone down as he got up and exited the tower. Alcide had transformed into a wolf sensing something was happening but Godric had made a sign not to go and to let Eric leave. Eric flew to the location he was desperately trying to pin point. He knew she was in Bon Temps but he could not tell where.

He landed on the deserted main street where the community had once flourished and called the name he had not said in months.

''Sookie!'' His voice was stern but laced with anguish.

There was no answer.

He ran to the room where she had disappeared but it was empty. Adele's corpse was still on the floor but now decomposed so badly she was unrecognizable. He went back up to the main street.

"Sookie!"

Still she did not answer.

He then tried to probe the bond see if she would feel it too. He poured all his emotions in one streak. All his impatience, his love, his anger, his concerns. He felt her again. This time she was calling him. He did not hear it but he knew she did. He took flight again knowing she was not on the main street. He headed to a white house, remote from the main street. The lot beside it was a cemetery while the other house beside the cemetery had once belonged to Compton. He recognized it right away.

When he reached the house, he opened the front door but could not go in. The house had still belonged to someone and as he had never been invited in. He decided to call her name one more time, feeling she was nearby.

''Eric?'' she exclaimed crashing down the stairs and running into his arms. He enlaced his arms around her waist and held her so tightly taking it her smell, her very presence.

She smelled of the sun, but unlike anything he had smelled before. There was so much sunshine in her that he felt his years of sunless nights disappeared as she lit up his whole world. Her touch was soft, warm, and reminded Eric how much he had missed her. She pushed him away just enough that she could place her hands on his face to bring it close to hers. As soon as their lips touched, Eric pinned her to the nearest wall and as their tongue met, he moaned and whispered, "I will never let you go again."