Chapter 9

They had reappeared in the study where she had been questioned and attacked by Carter. There was not a sound to he heard, nor a body to be seen, save for the dead wolves littering the once immaculately clean mansion. "We have to get Pam and Willa out of the shed!" Sookie remembered but as if on cue, the two female vamps entered the mansion, looking weary and almost as badly injured as Eric had been but they were at least still standing.

"Taught those fur balls a thing or two about messing with our bloodline. " Willa said with a grin. "Made my first decapitation." she said proudly.

"There's a proud moment….too bad you're too old for a baby book." Pam quipped with a smirk. "I killed three in the shed and even I have to admit, Willa was impressive."

Snorting, Eric raised a eyebrow. "Could there be any doubt?" there was pride in his voice and normally Sookie would find this endearing but they needed to put an end to Carter and the wolves. Sooner rather than later. Then they heard the noise, wolves howling and shouting from those who had not shifted. Reaching the gaping hole where the front doors were once in place, the four companions saw a sea of wolves, led by Carter, ready to surround the place.

"Even if we were to fly out of here, they would only keep on coming." Pam said. "So I would say we have our work cut out for us?"

"Understatement of the year." Sookie muttered but them she saw something off in the distance, a bright glow that could only come from a fairy. As the light vanished, she saw not only her grandfather had come to the scene, but he had brought Jason in tow. Surely the car trip to Mississippi would have taken them too long, Sookie thought to herself as she felt a surge of relief pass through her. The sounds of Jason's pistol going off over and over sped the four into the fracas. At least, Sookie tried to. But she was stopped by a pair of strong, pale arms.

"I am not letting you get into this, Sookie, not when you are in such a delicate condition." Eric's gaze drifted downward pointedly.

"I feel fine, I mean, after the trip to the faerie sanctuary and….." she winced as she felt her stomach and gasped. The first thought she had, strangely enough, was that Pam was gonna be pissed off if she couldn't fit into whatever garment she had selected for her for tomorrow evening. Because as she stood here on the front stoop of the mansion while the melee was just starting to ramp up, she saw she was clearly looking more like she was 8 months along rather than a matter of a few days. "Well crap." she saw as she couldn't take her eyes off her suddenly expanded belly. "I want to fight though….I can't let you all go out into that and-" she was interrupted by a flying wolf body being blasted into the side of the house to the left of them. Bloodied and beaten, it was clear that it was dead. "Look, we have this covered, Sookie. Get into the house where it's safe and we will come for you when this is all over."

Though she looked pained, she also didn't want to risk her baby in the increasingly violent scuffle. Nodding, she raced back into the house as fast as she could, going up the stairs with a slight waddle to her step. Shutting herself in one of the smaller bedrooms, she secured the lock, using her light to cut through a part of the wall, large enough to let her see the carnage below. Large enough to still allow her to assist. She knew it was likely to attract attention but she was still far from helpless, what with her variety of powers. Thankful to see her friends and Jason still battling and in one piece, she searched for the one target she wanted desperately to be rid of the most. Odd, she thought to herself, she had seen Carter out on the lawn, right when the fighting had began. Turning to go to another room to get a better perspective, she walked right into the broad chest of the ancient vampire, who so eerily reminded her of Eric, save for the good qualities she had come to bring out of her Viking.

"Well, well, you really thought I wouldn't keep my eyes on the prize…." Carter shook his made of blonde hair and frowned, taking in her changed figure. "Well, it would seen the time is almost here, far sooner than even I had hoped. And I had a change of heart. I decided I only want to keep one fairy. The other one, I hope to make a nice….slow…meal of. A meal that I am not about to wait any longer for." he put his hands on her belly and she knew just what sick plan was running through his mind. And it was at that moment she started feeling pain and it was no contractions she was feeling, it was his fingers trying to tear the baby clear out of her, utter insanity etched into his face.

In pain from his attack and the fact that she was now starting to feel contractions, the pain of them both combined causing her to shriek louder than she had ever done before in her life. Flattened onto her back on the floor, Carters one hand was at her throat, depriving her of oxygen that she still needed even being what she was. The other, starting to dig into her flesh, trickles of blood flowing down her stomach. It was clear he meant to do this slowly and deliberately. She tried to get her light to come but she was starting to black out. And then, she saw it, something she had not seen happen in years and yet, it was a sight for sore eyes. As the strong hand plunged through Carter and ripped out his heart, a explosion of blood resulting from the true death that Eric had wrought upon their enemy. Even Sookie looked at him with a bit of terror in her eyes. For a moment, he seemed lost in his mind and it was at that moment, her powers were altered yet again, she could hear his thoughts, his anger at what he had arrived upon. He had slowly knelt at her side and she felt him coming back to himself after the blood lust had waned, though there remained a haunted look in his eyes.

"If I hadn't gotten here when I had….I sent you right into his clutches…" he said softly, staring at her stomach which was revealed thanks to her dress having been lifted up by Carter. The wounds were already healing but she looked sweaty, flushed. "It's almost time, isn't it?"

She wanted to reply but couldn't, the events of the night having more than taken a toll on her mentally. Tears flowed down her face as she was actually smiling. "I think its almost time….go check on the others-"

"The others, are fine." drawled Pam as she, Willa, Niall and Jason appeared in the room. "And it looks as if I won't have to worry about getting you a different wedding dress because honestly, maternity wedding dresses scream circus tent."

She managed a smile but her instincts and increasing pains told her it was certainly not going to be too long now and she said as much to the others. "Can someone at least bring me to a room not covered in vamp goo?" she asked, staling a disgusted glance at what remained of the one that had brought them all her this night. It was a request quickly granted as she felt leather clad arms scoop her up carefully, the most gentle she had ever been touched by him and as she looked up at his face and he glanced anxiously at her, she patted his face. "Are you ok?"

His face was tense and she had not seen Eric look as such in, well, ever. "I have only been through this one time before, when my mother had my sister. But I was outside the room when she gave birth, though I certainly remember the noises I heard that day….."

"Are you too scared to be in the room? I mean, it may not be pretty but from what Andy told me when his babies were born, there was certainly a lot of noise, a lot of light….but none of the mess that comes with normal human births. Does that make you feel better?"

"I am far from squeamish, Sookie. You are well aware of the things I have done to others…..but strangely enough, I do feel a little less…..odd in the hopes that there may not be too much of a mess when you have the baby."

"And there will not be and she will be as good as new mere minutes after she delivers." Niall explained. "Faeries are certainly quite resilient." and entering a untouched bedroom, they set to work preparing for the delivery settling Sookie gently in the large bed in the room. She was barely sweating but it was enough to give her that slight glow that usually came with the average delivery. Niall made sure to get plenty or water at the ready and Jason went looking for some washcloths, mostly to dampen and put on his sister's forehead. Even Pam was looking for some clothes for Sookie to wear once this was over and they could finally depart, though they knew that dawn was quickly approaching and thus they would be forced toe remain at the mansion for the day, throwing a slight wrench in the fairly last minute plans for the wedding tomorrow evening. Having planned everything and arranged things carefully in such short order, there was no way Pam was going to redo this all for another day. And so she was all to willing to help with the delivery so everyone could recover and get back to Bon Temps as soon as possible.

"You can get us all back to Bon Temps fast with that light of yours, right?" Pam asked. "It would save a lot on renting Anubis Van service to get us back to town during the daytime….."

"Really? I don't think this is the time for worrying about getting fairy Uber service." Jason said as he sat next to his sister, holding her left hand tightly for support. "And you, are you just going to stand there or are you actually gonna do something for Sook here? you're the one who did this to her, ya know." Jason wasn't exactly angry but rather perplexed at how standoffish the Viking was being. "With everything you have seen and done, you're going to let something like this freak you out?"

He said nothing but gave Sookie a almost ashamed, sorrowful look and shook his head, vanishing from the room, leaving her to lean her head back in anguish and it was not because of the physical pain she was currently in, but that he had left her.

To Be Continued