PART FOUR

Chapter 8

Everything fell into dead silence after the loud noises and thought she could read the weak, rambled thoughts of Lafayette, knowing he was still alive gave her hope. Still, she felt the power of the room she was trapped in getting to her and after checking on the apparently drugged form of Lafayette's mother, she turned to the cage, which she was finding herself too weak to use either side of her powers to get Eric out. Her powers leaned mostly to the faerie side, though her vampire part was nothing to sneeze at. That being said, she was weakened and as such was not to be much of help to get this cage opened up. She knew her friends upstairs had to be in trouble of some sorts as her hearing wt least wasn't affected by her surroundings. It sounded like the end of a scuffle and there were jeers from what few weres seemed to remain. Evelyn left them in the room for a moment, no doubt to check on her employees and hoping that their unwanted guests were contained. And as the door closed with a heavy thud and a unmistakable locking sound, Sookie managed to get over to the cage, though she was surprised she was even able to walk, the iron of the room being unlike anything else her fairy powers had experienced.

"Why didn't you leave when you had the chance? That you brought the one responsible for this along is something I can't understand and…well I guess I do understand. You are too goodhearted…." the Viking said, sounding as if even speaking was difficult, painful for him. She saw that there was still a lot of healing he had to go through and no thanks to the shackles and chains, it would only take longer.

"I would not, can not and will not leave you here in this place. And the others….they refused to leave when I asked it of them….you have wanted to be honorable, it is in your heritage to have honor, isn't it? Honor doesn't mean leaving those you love behind. Especially in a place such as this." Killerz, the so called hot were nightclub, would cease to exist one way or another, Sookie vowed, after this was over and done.

He couldn't help but smirk, appreciative of her fierce determination, loyalty. "I have to admit, this was a….creative way to get me….gives me ideas on how to better make my dungeon more….welcoming to my own enemies."

She couldn't help but laugh, marveling at his business idea considering their dire situation. Something had to give as she heard more scuffling upstairs. "I am getting us out of here….now." the is one way I can think of to make it happen and it is gonna take all my anger, my fear…everything I got….brace yourself because I've only done this once before and it wasn't intentional…..lets see if I can call on this whenever I need to…" she closed her eyes as she focused on everything she was feeling, her hands on the silver bars keeping her separated from him, her strength too low to break through them. And as the images of the past hours raced through her head, she knew it wasn't enough. She drew from every other encounter with those who had tried destroying them, whoever had tried and managed to harm them. And she felt it surging up through her, opened her eyes and saw the crackling of her light racing around her and felt her body strengthen, fighting off the effects of the iron all around her. And she knew there was a eerie glow her eyes had taken on, a effect of what she had come to learn was called the Faerie's Fury. Destructive as it was helpful, she saw the door of the dungeon open, revealing Evelyn and some of her were friend racing down but in violent blasts of light from her fists, Sookie had cut them all, save for Evelyn, down to nothing but dust. She wanted to save Evelyn for another purpose. And there came two shadows from behind her and in no time, Lafayette and Godric, though beaten and bloodied, grabbed her and restrained her with some electrical cord that they had scavenged, clearly they too wanting to see her suffer more for what had happened.

It took her a few moments to calm, to get the glow around her gone but when she did, Sookie looked surprised to see Lafayette standing but he explained that though he had, in fact taken some bullets upstairs in the melee, he was glad to have a willing vamp door to heal him fast. Seeing the shock on the others faces as she powered down from her rage, she looked sheepish. "Sorry…you two didn't know I could do that…"

"Impressive. Freaky, but impressive." Lafayette said, hurrying over to check on his mother, still out cold. "You think…maybe we can get her to forget this night, at least make sure she won't remember any of this, as little as I guess she may know…." Lafayette hated asking a favor when they were so weary, so tired after their ordeal.

Sookie knew all too well that it would, in fact be best for his mother to be left without even a shred of memory of what had happened, what with her mind being what it was. Most times, she was rather coherent but when she did slide into her less than lucid moods….well, she was just glad Lafayette was able to support her by having her in one of the top homes in the state, the south, for that matter. As soon as the woman awoke, then she would be cared for. In fact, there was already a volunteer for the job. "If you would like, I can get her back to her home and watch over her. Perhaps wake her long enough to glamour her and set her to rights…..then I could return here and….." Godric made a offer that was appreciated but there needed to be a slight change.

"You can return to our place once she is put to rights." Eric said. I want to take care of her alone….Sookie I think it would be best if you go with the others…..and Lafayette…." the cook managed to meet the steely gaze of the healing vampire. "You and I have some….face time to share in the not so distant future." the look in his face made Lafayette's blood run cold, taking him back to the time he had been prisoner in the basement.

"Yeah…I suppose we do…" replied the cook, taking a last look at Evelyn, who was struggling in vain to break the cord around her. "I don't envy myself any more than I do you, lady." he said and he helped gather his mother and in a matter of a couple minutes, he and Godric took his mother from this terrible place, leaving the couple alone with a defiant looking Evelyn, who appeared ready to take whatever was going to come her way.

Chapter 9

Free of every trace of silver that had injured and restrained him, every trace of silver reduced to harmless dust thanks to Sookie's impressive display of power, a slightly weary and greatly pissed off Viking paced before the woman trapped with the electrical cord. "So…I do hope you enjoyed tonight…..I would very much like to wipe that smirk of your face….and you dare find this funny?"

Evelyn shrugged. "You freaks were made for each other, weren't you? Whatever you decided to do to me, remember that there are always other opportunists out there…..ready and willing to exploit you both. You can never have a life, nor do you deserve to. You are nothing but freaks, murderers and poor girl, you actually seem to have given your soul to become…well, whatever you are. Was it worth it?" Evelyn asked, venom in her voice. "Losing so much for such little reward. No reward, I should say, considering the company you keep."

"I didn't lose anything. I only had a new life-a better life-to gain." replied the sassy waitress, who wanted nothing more than to tear the woman limb from limb. And it was her anger that pushed him over the top, Eric lunged to bite the woman, who had a bite of her own, using her lunge of all things to give one last insult to injury. As it seemed no one had noticed that she not only had a pierced tongue, but a piercing of silver. And a pointed one at that, which she used to her advantage, pressing it hard against the him, her psychosis come full circle. Of course, it was not nearly enough to do any real damage and as startling and foolish as it seemed to Sookie, it was clear Evelyn had merely wanted to get a final lick in. laughing as she had every bone in her body broken, Evelyn was silenced only when her trachea was crushed and her head was unceremoniously twisted enough for her spine to snap. Tossing the body aside, the fury in his eyes kept Sookie at bay as she watched for a moment of more clarity. Not that she thought he would harm her in this current state of mind but this all felt….different. Though he had been trapped for only a couple days, she couldn't help but had reservations as to whether this would be easily put behind them. "Its…ok." he finally managed to say as he glared at the remains of the one responsible for this latest drama. "This place needs to burn. She needs to burn." he said as Sookie sidled up to him and to her surprise, he went to his knees and leaned into her middle, the girl taken aback by his behavior.

"I am so sorry for what you went through…..I can't even begin to understand how-" she said before he tugged her shirt.

"I hate feeling helpless….this….took me back to when I couldn't save her. I was there in front of her…but I couldn't do anything to stop them from hurting her."

It took her a moment to think who he was referring to and she wanted to slap herself for being so clueless for those moments. Then she remembered. "You felt as helpless as you were when they injected your sister with hep-v….that's why you felt…feel…helpless. That you couldn't do anything to help us. I know you were fearful for our lives but we all ended up fine, right? And that is what matters." but she knew no words could heal him at the moment, she crouched to join him on the ground and stroked his hair as he tended to do to her when comforting her. It was a nice change of pace bus she felt him tense up again.

"Let's be rid of this place and get home…I have one last thing to take care of after we are done here." he got to his feet and she followed, unsure if she was going to like what this was going to be.

Chapter 10

They had left the building before the flames really took hold, the fire spreading fast and furious and within moments, the bodies within would be eliminated, Sookie having suggested that the bodies be thrown in the basement first and as such the fire start there first. It was a rare gruesome idea on her part but one that made sense. The glow and heat of the fire far behind them as they flew back to Bon Temps. He had dropped her off at their house but had soon found himself outside the kitschy dwelling that belonged to Lafayette, who so happened to be sitting on a hammock on his porch, drinking and smoking a much needed joint.

"I figured I'd see you again tonight and didn't want to be hiding in the house. Wanted to face you man to man." he said, sliding off his hammock and meeting the vampire as he walked up the stairs with a purpose. "Sookie ok with you doing this, I guess. I don't blame her, I did a crappy thing, should have come to you first and-" he was stopped by a large, raised hand by his…well…he didn't know if he had regained a enemy or what at this point.

"I came to see how you were…and how your mother is doing."

"She sent you here, right? Even though you would just as soon tear me apart like you did Evelyn's brother…well, do what you gotta do but ill go down swinging. Mama's gonna be fine, ain't gonna remember a thing, thanks for askin tho."

"I didn't come to kill you but rather to check on you and make sure you were doing well. As angry as I was about what you did, it wasn't that long ago when I would have done the same to save me and my own. I think where we share common ground is that any more bad blood between us will only hurt her. As it is now, she is still smarting from what you caused to happen to me at that bar. But I have changed, believe it or not."

The usually laidback and mellow cook glared at the Viking. "I know you've had her happy and you and I, we were good until this mess. And I know you have every right to be pissed at me. But all I can think of after this mess is the past, when I saw you do to her brother. And I can't help but think that could still very well be me."

There was a long silence. "You mean a great deal to her and as such I wouldn't dream of harming anyone who means something to her. She has lost many of her loved ones over the past few years especially and I can't…..I can't bear the thought of being the cause of her losing someone else. This is something I rarely do but I do forgive you for your actions. I have acted out of impulse and desperation as well and I think you and I are more alike than you realize." and it was then that he offered a rare outstretched hand. "I do forgive you….I for one just want to move past this. And for her sake, I would do anything. Besides, it would take a lot more than that Evelyn and her dogs to take me out anyway. To break me. And with Killers nothing more than a pile of ash now, I think I made my point to any of the stragglers left alive that I don't take kindly to captivity. And Sookie will forgive you if she doesn't already."

Lafayette saw that there was something about him he wasn't believing. It wasn't that he didn't believe the forgiveness. He did. But there was a specter of pain and humility that was in the eyes of his friend that make him realize that this was true. That he was forgiving him. And that this had done something to him. Affected him more than he would dare admit to anyone and as he accepted the handshake, Lafayette secretly thought he had never seen his ally-his friend-look more human than he did now. Try as he might to put up that stoic front. Lafayette knew better, that there was so much more to him than what he had ever knew. And for that, he knew without a doubt that Sookie was right, that there was more to the Viking than what it seemed. And it was good that they were on the same side.

Epilogue

She was reading…something she had had so little time to do lately and yet was finding it hard to concentrate on the printed words when she knew where he had headed. Her anger at her friend Lafayette was subsided somewhat and she understood his desperation. Having decided to forgive him, though she couldn't ever forget, she felt somewhat at peace. Then again, she hadn't liked it when he had said he needed to leave for a few minutes upon getting home. Stubborn as she was, she grudgingly let him leave on his own but had said if he didn't return within a hour or that if he harmed her friend in any way, there would be trouble. Looking at the clock on her cell phone display, she sighed as she really didn't want to become the image of that what would be seen as the stereotypical worrying and nagging wife. Though the image if lecturing him was amusing for her for a brief. moment. She had barely reached the hallway towards the stairs leading out of the furnished basement dwellings when she walked straight into him and considering he hadn't had time to clean up after everything….she dared not to think or wonder if any of the dried blood on his flesh and remainders of his clothing was of Lafayette.

"Don't worry….he's fine, Sookie. I….forgave him."

She looked up at him, confused. "I….I mean I know that wasn't easy to do but-"

"I didn't do it for his sake so much as I did for yours. He is your…our…friend and I don't want anyone else lost to this family because of the actions brought on by others. Honestly, I can't stand it any more. I want to move on from this." he started to walk past her, not wanting to reveal everything he felt. He still had times where he wanted to keep things bottled up, to himself. And she watched him as he swept into their room and straight to the bathroom, a place where she would typically join him when she heard the shower running. This time, she gave him space and let him be alone. Ten minutes later, she was sitting on the edge of their bed with her book. Tossing it aside as he settled into bed, she frowned at the slight lack of interest in her she was perceiving. But before she could ask him to talk to her, she felt him pulling her back towards him and they sat in silence for several minutes.

"I hated it…it brought back so much…Nora….and…" he was trying, fighting it but it was too much. Though it had only been a couple days in captivity it had clearly made a impact on him, unlike any of the other hairy situations they had found themselves in. and it was then she knew that even one as strong, as old and as battle worn as he was, he also was not immune to emotional breakdowns, fear and guilt. Regret and pain. And she did all she could to comfort him through the night, right up till morning when he had finally fallen to a much needed rest. Her heart was breaking, and yet she was joyful, knowing that she had helped strengthen the humanity within him she had once doubted he had ever even had. As she fell asleep beside him, she too decided to forgive Lafayette. Life was too precious to keep holding deep grudges and hatred. She had done that too much before in her life and had lost much time because of that. Never again.

THE END