Chapter Thirty Two: Love Comes Tumbling Down

"I can't believe he gave you his car." Sookie shook her head. "And that you're keeping it?"

"Why not?" I grinned at the blonde. "After last night, I so deserve it."

"Are you sure you're okay? I mean, from the sounds of it you were pretty shaken up." Sookie asked as we sat on the stairs of Sam's trailer while she had a break later that day.

"Honestly? I'm still shaken up over it." I shuddered. "It was horrible, Sookie. You've seen vampires die before it's just..."

"I know what you mean." She squeezed my hand. "I'm here if you want to talk."

"I know Sook." I sent her a smile. "I think I just want to try and forget about it."

"I understand." She nodded. "We can instead talk about what happened last night. You were in the shower with Eric, huh?"

I rolled my eyes at the wink she was sending me. "Not like that, Sookie. He was just being...well he was being very sweet."

"That doesn't sound like him at all."

"Oh I know." I nodded in agreement. "He was actually very unlike himself last night. And I honestly liked it."

"Do you think it's genuine though?"

"I'm not sure. I mean it could just be an act but...I don't know, it just seems like he is trying." I shrugged. "I don't really know."

"Do you think you'll give him another shot?"

"Now that I really don't know." I sighed with a shake of my head. "I think I want to, I just...I need to figure things out first, you know? I need time for things to settle, to know that this is all genuine coming from him. Eric and I talked about this last night, and I think he realizes that it will take a lot of time and effort on his part for me to forgive and forget."

"The fact that he knows and isn't pushing you in amazing." she mused, glancing down at her watch. "Oh I should get back; Arlene will chew my head off if I take a minute longer."

I snorted as I nodded and stood up with her. "Send Quinn out?"

"Of course. We need to go for a joy ride sometime." She nodded at the red corvette.

"Sounds like a plan." I grinned before hugging her tightly. "We're going to all get through this, right?"

"Of course we are, Ellie." She assured me, hugging me just as tightly. "And then you and Eric are going to have wild passionate sex and have a fairy tale happy ending."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Somehow I honestly doubt that. I mean, it is Eric and me after all."

"True." She chuckled before pulling away. We could just hear the faint screeching of Arlene's voice and we both burst out laughing as the blonde hurried back inside of the building, waving behind her.

I shook my head as I began towards my brand new car, still in disbelief that Eric had literally given me his car. Sure, he had many others, but he loved this car. He'd had it for years, and hell, after I had destroyed it when I had run off to kill that half demon, he made sure to get it refurbished. And now it looked brand new, not a single scratch on the bright shiny paint, and somehow, for some reason, Eric gave it to me. I didn't try and understand it, because part of me knew Quinn was right. This was just a bribe from Eric, an attempt to buy my love. And god knows that wouldn't work on me. But Eric also had to of known that when he decided to drop it off outside of Sookie's house last night. I wasn't the type of girl who accepted being showered with gifts and in return, fall madly in love with someone. He knew that. So then maybe this gift was just an act of love, not bribery.

"Well whatever the reason, I am so loving it." I grinned as I ran my hand over the side of the car before I caught sight of Sam exiting the back of Merlotte's. "Like my new car, Sam?"

Sam's eyes widened as he took in the red corvette. "Isn't that..."

"Eric gave me his car, isn't that exciting!"

"Sounds like he's trying to buy your love." He pointed out.

"Yeah yeah, but hey, at least I get a new car out of it!" I rolled my eyes.

"Can't beat that, huh?" He winked before he began to shift from one foot to the other, almost like he looked uncomfortable.

I raised an eyebrow as I leaned against Eric's – no – my car. "What's up Sam? Where's Quinn?"

"Oh he'll be out here in a minute. I just...uh..." Sam rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes darting in every direction. "I was just...er..."

"You are never at a loss for words, Sam, what's up?" I asked curiously, hoping nothing was seriously wrong. I don't think I could possibly take any more bad news. We had enough on our hands with Victor. And after last night, all I wanted was to take a nice vacation somewhere nice and warm. With a beach. And no supernatural creatures. Except maybe for Eric. Yeah, I would certainly like to be on a nice little vacation with Eric right now. Just because I haven't forgiven him, it didn't mean he wasn't able to make me feel nice and relaxed. In many many different ways.

"Nothing, I was just..." Sam searched for the words, his lips set in a firm line as he shuffled in his pocket before pulling out a small velvet box.

I gasped, my eyes growing wide as I knew what it was right away. It almost looked identical to the velvet box that Eric once had holding the ring he had bought me. I wasn't sure if he still had that ring, though I realized that a part of me hoped that he did.

"Sam Merlotte!" I just about yanked the box right from his hands as I slowly drew it open, another gasp emitting from my lips as I saw the modest, but absolutely beautiful engagement diamond ring staring up at me. "Is this what I think this is?"

"Yeah." He admitted shyly. "I know it's not the best timing and all but I...I've been wanting to do this for awhile now. I just wasn't sure when."

"Oh my god this is amazing!" I threw my arms around Sam. "She is going to have a complete freak out!"

"Do you think?" Sam looked unsure as we parted and I handed him the ring back. "You don't think she'll say no?"

"It's Sookie Stackhouse." I rolled my eyes. "All she's ever wanted was that white knight in shining armour to come along and sweep her off her feet. And that's you Sam. So no, I don't think she'll ever say no to you."

"Good." He sighed in relief, closing the ring box and slipping it back into his jean pocket. "I just wanted to know what you thought about it. I wouldn't try and propose if you thought it was the wrong time."

"You mean because of the whole new regime and Victor could kill us all?" I snickered. "Maybe not the best timing in the world, I admit. But just tell her that you've been planning this for awhile now, that not even a stupid ass war like this will make you stop loving her."

"Well maybe not in those exact words." A relaxed smile crossed Sam's face. "You really think she'll respond well though? And she'll like the ring? I know it's not much but..."

"It's a beautiful ring, Sam. and I don't think it would be possible for anyone to say no when you're the one proposing. You're the sweetest man I know. And you love her more than anything, and that's all she deserves." I hugged the man again. "I'm so happy for you two, Sam."

"Thanks, that means a lot." He returned the hug before pulling away and running a hand through his hair. "I was planning on proposing tonight."

"Really!" there was a spark in my eye. "Oh I so cannot wait for you too!"

"She'll be calling you afterwards I'm sure."

"Of course, we need to have one long girl talk, obviously!" I clapped happily. "If only every relationship had this fairy tale ending."

"You never know, you might get this one day." Sam pointed out with a shrug.

"Oh I doubt that, Sam." I shook my head with an eye roll. "This is Eric Northman we're talking about, remember?"

"What the hell is going on over there?" I muttered as I stood out on Sookie's front porch, frowning as I gazed through the trees lining the start to the cemetery. Ever since the sun had set, there had been a decent amount of noise going on across the cemetery, and what I presumed to be at Bill's house. I had no idea what was going on over there, but it was starting to annoy me. Quinn had fallen asleep on the couch, the poor guy just gets tired out from hanging around me daily, and while I tried to fall asleep myself, trying to make up for the lack of sleep last night due to nightmares, that damn vampire who I just wanted to kill was making so much damn noise!

"Oh forget this." I stormed right off of the porch, my anger peaking. What the hell could he even be doing over there to cause this much noise anyways? It doesn't sound like a social gathering, and I honestly doubted vampires could possibly be this loud. They didn't need any help getting attention at all. No, this almost sound like some sort of construction was going on. But at this time of night? Construction workers usually only worked during the day time. But then again, if Bill had paid them enough, which I'm sure he would have, then any construction worker would gladly skip a night of sleep and work until morning.

Of course, that didn't make me happy one bit.

It was like he knew I was over here and trying to get some sleep. He obviously knew what had happened last night. That had too of been some elaborate plan concocted by Victor and Bill to try and take out those that would give them the biggest problems. They sent a message to all of the vampires in Louisiana that if they didn't bow down to them, if they didn't pledge their loyalty to this new regime like Chow refused to do, well then, they would find themselves meeting the true death.

It was absolutely disgusting, and I even found myself wishing Russell hadn't killed the magister. There were laws against killing another vampire, weren't there? I mean, Bill was punished for doing just that, or so Sookie had told me long ago. But then again, Nan Flanagan and the Authority, along with the AVL, didn't seem to think anything was wrong with Louisiana and Mississippi being invaded. Just as long as the human public was unharmed and it didn't bother them, then no one seemed to care.

Except us.

Except the residents of the states that now had to deal with the consequences of the new regime.

"I'm already tired of this." I mumbled to myself as I entered the cemetery through the line of trees on Sookie's property. I should have woken Quinn up, or really I shouldn't have come out here alone. Bill was obviously not someone to piss off any longer. But I wasn't afraid of him. He can kill as many vampires as he and Victor liked in front of me. It still wouldn't make me fear them. Sure, they were psychotic assholes who I desperately wanted to die. But if I started fearing them, if I found myself too frightened, then I would never be able to come up with a plan to kill them. And I just couldn't have that. They needed to die, and that needed to happen sooner rather than later.

"What the..." My eyes grew wide as I crossed through the cemetery without finding any trouble. I stopped short as I halted along the tree line to Bill's property and stared in amazement at what was occurring before me. I had been right in assuming the noise was from some sort of construction crew. Bill's entire house was getting one big face lift, that was for sure. It hadn't been all that long ago that we had been in this very same spot, looking at the old house that looked like it could have fallen over if it was even blown on. And now, from the work that had already happened, it looked practically brand new.

I may not like Bill Compton, but I could admit that his house looked pretty.

"Quite a sight isn't it?" a voice sounded suddenly before me and I yelped in surprised as Bill flashed before me, that stupid smug look of his plastered across his face. He wore a suit, one much like Victor, and it caused me to roll my eyes. Bill just couldn't look the part of a leader, even if he tried as hard as he was. Eric just oozed authority and had that 'look at me' factor. But with Bill, I just wanted to look away and not bother with him at all. He wasn't going to get very far, that's for sure.

Then again, he could just kill whoever didn't please him.

That wasn't a very pleasant thought at all.

"Do you like?" He glanced up at the house, his smug look widening. "Victor and I agreed that as Sheriff, I needed a new...perspective on things."

"Of course he did." I shook my head. "And it looks...charming."

"I'm glad you think so." Bill stepped towards me. "Has Eric let you off your leash?"

"I'm not someone's pet, Bill." I crossed my arms over my chest and pursed my lips together. "Though I'm sure you have plenty of those now."

"You know I only want one." There was a look of possessiveness that swept over his face for a brief moment before he quickly masked it.

"Sookie will never be yours, Bill." I narrowed my eyes at the vampire. "Sam is proposing to her right about now. She's going to get married to someone who actually loves her."

"I loved her." Bill's smug look was wiped from his face as he took another step closer and frowned. "I will have her again. She will be mine. She is mine."

"You'll have to go through me first." I stood my ground, defending my best friend. I wasn't about to let this vampire destroy my best friend's happiness by doing something stupid like turning her. She was going to get married to Sam and all would be well.

I just had to keep telling myself that.

"We'll see about that." he drew closer, forcing me to finally take a step back to put a bit of distance between us. He only disregarded my personal space however, and drew as close as he possibly can. He was trying to intimidate me, and as the backs of my legs hit into a tombstone, I found that it was slightly working.

And then I remembered that I was a powerful Phoenix who could kill this vampire with only a snap of my fingers.

"You know, I could simply take you." Bill raised a hand, toying with the ends of the ponytail that was pulled over one of my shoulders. "If I wished to, I could."

"I'm Eric's." I brushed his hand away. "And whatever might happen between us, I'll always be his."

"I'm his Sheriff now. Victor is the new regent. We can simply order it." Bill pointed out in a low voice as his orbs bore into mine. It was almost like he was trying to glamour me. But he should know that it was impossible when I had my guards up. And these days, I wasn't about to let them fade and get myself into some sort of bind.

"Just try it, Bill." I challenged it. "I won't tolerate you. I'll just simply set you on fire and take great enjoyment in watching you die."

A low growl emitted from the back of his throat and his fangs clicked out with a hiss. I didn't have anywhere to go as he closed the gap between us and raised his hand, as if he was about to grab me around the throat. A hand suddenly flew out of nowhere though from beside me, grabbing onto Bill's wrist and twisting it painfully. Bill hissed in pain as he retracted his hand, his fangs baring at the form that had suddenly appeared beside me. I looked up and was relieved to find Eric there, looking as gorgeous as he always did in his usual black attire.

"I would rethink what you do next, William." Eric warned him, taking a step forward and towering over the new Sheriff. "Touch her and I will end you."

"I'm your Sheriff." Bill reminded him.

"And I'm nearly ten times your age." Eric narrowed his eyes, his own fangs extending with a click. "Who do you think will win?"

Bill looked like he was about to strike, but quickly rethought it. He knew just as well as we both did that if he got into a fight with Eric Northman, he would lose. Bill might be the new Sheriff and might have the authority over Eric. But Eric was a former Viking; he was over a thousand years old. He could kill Bill with a flick of his wrist if he wanted to.

And part of me really wished that he did.

"I would be careful who you threaten, Eric." Bill began to retreat towards his house. "And I would keep her on a tight leash if I were you. Before she ends up getting herself hurt."

I gritted my teeth and began to raise my hand, wanting to just set him on fire already. But Eric stopped me by grasping onto my wrist tightly and twisting me around as he began pulling me through the cemetery.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ellie? Have you gone completely insane?" he hissed at me, glaring over his shoulder as he dragged my form along behind him. "You should not be picking fights with fucking Bill Compton."

"I wasn't trying to pick a fight." I grumbled, trying to shake his grasp off of me. But of course, it was no use at all. "I was just wondering what all the noise was when I'm trying to sleep."

"It doesn't take an idiot to figure that out." He rolled his eyes. "It almost seems like you want to get yourself killed."

"I can't die, remember."

"No, but you can find yourself in the In-Between for weeks." He retorted, malice and pain in his voice.

My face fell as he spoke those words and I fell silent as he tugged me the rest of the way through the cemetery before reaching Sookie's property. I should have known that even after all this time, Eric would still hold those two weeks in the In-Between over my head. I knew what I had done was wrong, and if I could do it over again, I would have chosen life in a heartbeat. But I had been confused and scared, and I used terrible judgement. But I had come back, didn't I. I had come back for him after all. And anyways, I wasn't the only one who had left.

At least I stayed here when I did come back.

Unlike someone.

"Try and not get yourself killed again tonight, Ellie." He let me go as we reached the porch, his arms crossing over his chest as remained on the grass while I stepped up onto the porch.

I sighed and tugged on the ends of my ponytail. "You don't have the right to continuously be mad over what happened, Eric."

"I think I do." He countered with narrowed eyes. "It took two fucking weeks, Ellie. Two weeks. Do you have any idea how hard that was for me?"

"Of course I did." I stepped back down off of the porch and tried to reach out to him. He only stepped back stubbornly however, causing me to sigh in annoyance. "But remember, you left me too, Eric. And when you came back, you just left me again. Or well really, you said you were leaving and then lied to me."

"I was protecting you."

"Well you did a pretty crappy job then." I snapped. "You did an extremely shitty job at protecting me."

"If you didn't make it so damn hard." He stepped forward, like his intimidation tactics would work on me. But I had known him long enough for his height and fangs to barely even send a shudder of fear through me. I was used to his anger. I was used to his horrible temper. This vampire couldn't scare me, not so easily anyways. "You know it's dangerous for you to be out here alone. Why the hell do you think I'm allowing that shifter to be with you?"

"Oh you're allowing it are you?" I rolled my eyes. "Why thank you."

Eric growled and I knew he wasn't pleased at all.

Well neither was I, not for one minute.

"You lost the right to tell me what to do, Eric. You left. You lied. You didn't love me. So no, you cannot tell me what I can or cannot do." I glared up at him, anger flashing in my eyes. "You don't get to tell me who I can spend my time with. You don't get to tell me where I can go. You lost every single right when you walked away from me. Just because your back, just because you professed your love for me, it doesn't mean a damn thing. You. Still. Left."

I flashed him one last seething glare before I twisted around and stormed up the porch with the intention of stomping inside the house. Of course, Eric was much faster than that, and appeared just in front of the door, causing me to grumble curses under my breath. He stepped towards me and I tried to move backwards to put distance between his large form and mine. He grabbed onto my arms however, and shoved me against the porch railing, the entire porch creaking.

"Don't you think I regret that?" he hissed in my face, leaning down so our gazes were level. "Don't you think I wish I could have acted differently?"

"How am I supposed to think that way when you never prove to me that you actually love me, that you care about me?" I tried struggling against his grasps, but once again, he was just too strong.

"What the hell did I just do the other night?" he growled. "Do you think it was easy for me to come to the conclusion that I loved you? That I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you? I'm a vampire Ellie, love does not come easily to us."

"And do you think love comes easily to me?" I felt tears forming in my eyes and I tried to blink them away. "Everyone I ever care about dies on me, Eric. Everyone I love, they all leave me. You only proved that point."

"But I'm here now!"

"You still left!"

"Damnit Ellie, what the hell do you want me to say?" his hands tightened around my arms. "What do you want me to do and I'll do it. Do you want me to apologize? Would that help? Would that make you believe me? I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."

"I never know if I can believe you or not." I shook my head. "You lie to me over and over again. I can never believe a word you say."

"I'm not lying to you, Ellie, not any more. I love you damnit. I'm here, I came back for you. Don't you fucking realize that?"

"No, I don't!"

His fingernails were beginning to dig into my arms, but he still refused to let go of me. I tried to struggle, I tried to even use my powers. But he just continued to hold on, and I was sure I would have bruises in the morning.

"Eric, you're hurting me." I tried to snap him out of the trance he was in. "Let me go."

Something must have snapped in the vampire as he stared down at where his hands were gripping onto me tightly and something changed in his orbs. He quickly let me go, taking a step back away from me.

"Ellie..."

"Look, I'm thankful for what you did last night. I was a complete mess, and you acted like the man that I had fallen in love with. So thank you." I rubbed my hands along my arms, shuddering as the twinge of pain I felt. "And thank you for the car, that was very...thoughtful of you."

"Ellie..."

"And I know you're probably hurt over the fact that I slept with Quinn, and that's probably why you're so pissed off at me, but..."

"What?" Eric suddenly snapped, his eyes narrowing into slits as he stared down at me.

"What?" I raised an eyebrow.

"What did you just say?" he growled so lowly, I jumped in surprise.

"What do you mean? You heard me?" I looked at him on confusion. He had heard me perfectly clear, why was he...

And that's when it hit me.

He didn't know.

Well, not until I just blurted it out of course.

"You...you didn't know?" I found myself pressing up against the porch railing at the look on his face. Now I was slightly intimidated. There was a murderous look in his eyes, and I didn't like that look at all. "Godric, he said..."

"You slept with that thing?" Eric's hands curled into tight fists.

"Godric said that you had our bond open enough that you would have felt it." the blood drained from my face. "You...you really didn't know?"

"I will kill him." he turned towards the front door and I had to hurriedly rescind his invitation just as he was about to knock the entire door down to the ground. He twisted back around and glared at me so darkly, I almost wanted to run in the other direction. "Let me in. Let me the fuck in there, Ellie."

"No, I'm not going to let you hurt Quinn." I shook my head. "It didn't mean anything, I swear to you Eric."

"You slept with him. You fucking slept with another man!" he roared.

"I was drunk. It was stupid. Will you just..."

"I can't believe I came back here." He shook his head angrily. "I can't believe I allowed myself to love you."

"That was a bit harsh, Eric." I felt a pang of pain in my heart. "I didn't mean to sleep with him. We were drunk and it just happened. But it meant nothing."

"It obviously meant enough to keep him around."

"He's my friend, nothing more. We both realized our mistake. I don't see him that way, and even if he saw me in that way, it wouldn't matter because I love you still."

"Lies." He brushed passed me.

"You can't judge me, Eric. You left. We weren't together. You probably slept with countless of women while you were gone." I began following him as he stormed across the front yard. "Eric will you just..."

"I slept with no one." He turned on me after a moment, his fangs extended as his glared darkly down at me. "I slept with not a single soul. I never even fed off of a human."

My eyes widened. I hadn't been expecting that at all. I mean, I had hoped he wouldn't sleep with anyone else, but I had known that it was a possibility, that Eric may just try and blow off some steam. But he hadn't. Or at least he said he hadn't. But as I stared up into the darkening orbs, I could tell he was telling the truth. And that just made me feel a whole lot worse for sleeping with Quinn. I had already regretted it before, but now I hated myself for being so stupid. It didn't mean a damn thing, but it had hurt Eric, and that was the last thing I wanted to do. Yeah, he had left and we were no longer together, but that didn't mean anything. Because I still slept with Quinn while I was in love with Eric, and that hadn't been fair to either of them.

"I'm sorry Eric, I'm so sorry. I made a mistake." I tried to reach out to him.

He reeled himself back however, as if it disgusted him to have me touch him at all. My heart ached as I saw that look of pain cross over his face and he didn't even bother to mask it like he normally would have.

"You hurt me when you broke our blood bond, Ellie." His voice was low, but surprisingly calm and level. And that just made me feel worse. "That bond was sacred."

"I know and I'm..."

"I loved you the entire time. I never stopped loving you. I came back for you." He slowly began retreating. "And this is what I come back to?"

"Eric will you just let me explain?" I tried to close the gap between us.

But it was no use, because within seconds, Eric had vanished completely, and I was left with tears slipping down my cheeks.