A/N Thanks so much to Sephyir for helping to improve the German!!! She's the best!

IX.

"Hallo, Dieter." Eric stood before us, dressed all in black, his hair tied back and carefully wrapped almost to the tip of the ponytail. His eyes sparkled. He leaned on the longest sword I had ever seen. The sword was bloody. I felt a spark through the bond, only a glimmer. This was what I had feared most. Was he really standing there alone, in front of Dieter and Helga?

"Grüße, Vikinger. Es ist eine lange Zeit gewesen," Dieter said. ("Greetings, Viking. It has been a long time.") Dieter had already closed the distance between us from the moment that Eric had entered the room.

"Dieter, sie haben etwas, dass mir gehört." ("Dieter, you have something that is mine.")

"Was könnte ich wohl haben, das Ihnen gehört?" Dieter asked him. ("What could I possibly have of yours?")

"Das gehört mir," he said nodding to me. ("That is mine.")

I was totally lost. What were they saying? Clearly something about me, but… If he knows Dieter, how could he possibly think of coming into this room on his own, I wondered? Why was he even bothering to discuss me with Dieter? I just trembled. He has a plan, I told myself. Even if the plan looks crazy.

Dieter smiled. "Really. I'm supposed to believe that? Niall Brigant's great-granddaughter is bound to a vampire?" He laughed. "Surely not."

"Ask her." Eric suggested. His face gave not a single thing away.

Dieter turned to look at me and I cringed. He looked down at me with a clear command in his eyes as to what I was to do and say. I felt a distant flicker of cold fury push through the bond from Eric. He could sense how afraid I was of Dieter. But it was not just fear of Dieter, I thought, but of but of all the silver weaponry stashed around in this room and what that meant for Eric. The thin flicker from the bond convinced me further that Dieter's power over me was weakening slightly. I didn't know why it was weaker, but I was going with the idea that he didn't quite have me where he thought he did. Maybe Eric's presence was making me resist? Who knew. Irrespective of their discussion, there was still no way that this was going to end with Dieter letting me walk out with Eric, I thought to myself. I was so afraid in the knowledge that Dieter had been planning for Eric's arrival. Even if Eric had help, there were at least fifteen Fae in the room, all trained by Dieter and the lovely Helga.

It all took much less time to think that than had actually passed. How could Eric stand there like that before them if he knew what they were, I wondered? How fearless would a person have to be to come into that room alone? I met Eric's eyes and was awed by his courage even as I dreaded the thought that I could spell his final death. I would do anything to prevent that, but there was nothing really, that I could do. I guess I could let him know that I was still mentally present, so it had been worth his while to so bravely try to help me, and to stop a war.

Dieter loomed over me. "Do you know him?" Dieter asked me. I nodded slowly. "And do you belong to him?" he said with the fangs of his words, pressing venom into my mind.

If I was going to die, or we were both going to die, at the very least, I would let Eric know what I felt. I pressed back out against his firm hold on my mind, I looked up at him and with my all my strength focused the anger I felt to say clearly "With every fiber of my being."

Dieter stared wide-eyed at me in surprised anger, growled with bared teeth and then backhanded me so hard I fell to the side. Then all hell broke loose. Vampires seemed to pour through the doors into the room. From my vantage point on the floor, I saw Pam, Indira, Maxwell, Thalia, Felicia, Bill, Rasul and a number of others I did not recognize at all. They all carried long pike-like iron bars with sharp tips on both ends. Finely graded particles started flying through the air. Iron. It looked like iron filings. Immediately to my left, tiny Thalia took a swinging jab at Helga, who seemed as if she was trying to set everything afire, but missed her. Then she threw a handful of what must have been iron filings up at Helga's face and as Helga screamed and lost her focus when the iron hit her face, Thalia impaled her on the iron pike. I saw Eric advance on Dieter with his sword. Dieter tried to reach out for me, withdrawing the silver dagger from its sheath at his waist. It glowed oddly and he dropped the blade, puzzled, losing precious time. I managed to crawl away from him. Suddenly, Claudine and Claude appeared and surrounded me and the next thing I knew, we were gone. They had popped and taken me with them. We were now outside the building. This was no warm reunion, however, as they both appeared to be on highest alert, keeping me pressed in between them. I was shaking all over. My mouth was filled with my blood from the impact of Dieter's latest blow, which had split open my lip. I flicked my tongue against a tooth that had been knocked loose.

Then I felt Dermot's thought signature nearby. I grabbed Claudine and whispered "Dermot's still here. He's still here. Be careful."

"Maybe we should get her out of here, now," said Claude. "Just in case."

"We have to stay to protect the witches, too," Claudine reminded him. "We can't leave until we are sure they are all safe. We agreed we would stay with her here."

"The witches?" I asked.

"Yes, Amelia and the entire coven from Shreveport are here." She whispered to me. "They are weakening the magic of Dieter's group. That is how we could get in. They wove a field of energy that impairs their magic, but they shielded us so that we could protect you. And there is other, even more powerful magic at work here..."

I became aware, now that I was away from Dieter, of more than a dozen whirring human minds, a chorus of voices around us, chanting. It was so persistent that it almost melded with the chirping of the crickets. It must be the source of the weakening of Dieter's hold that I had felt earlier, I guessed. It had been so subtle, steadily increasing, while decreasing his magic and now it was as if I felt his magic was just drifting away from me. I felt this surge of energy that I knew had to be from Eric. I closed my eyes with the pleasure of feeling him again.

When I opened my eyes again, I tried to gauge my surroundings. It appeared that the building was some kind of office building, I thought to myself. It was next to a wooded area. There was a large parking lot, and there were a number of cars. In the dark, I could see many kneeling figures, spaced about every ten feet. They were the witches, chanting without interruption, but with their voices growing steadily in intensity and purpose. Near each witch there was a fairy standing guard and they provided, from their own corporeal form, the soft illumination by which the chanters read their spell.

Sounds of the fighting inside emanated from the building. Horrible sounds. Suddenly, I trembled and then collapsed into Claude's arms. He picked me up. And then a feeling of complete warmth flooded into me again. I felt suffused with a sense of wellbeing. Dieter had to be dead, I thought. His magic was fading with him. And Eric was alive. I bowed my head and breathed deeply, inhaling the cool night air. Alive. My head still ached from all the hits I had endured, but my mind was once again my own.

Where was Dermot? I thought to myself. He is still nearby. The thought signature was weak. But it felt like it was moving closer. Then it seemed to sputter out.

Suddenly, a lion appeared, dragging Dermot, who was now unconscious. He had serious wounds. Preston stepped back into his familiar human form behind Sam, the lion, having shifted from being some sort of very large bird. Dermot's wounds looked as if they could have been caused by talons, or by claws. Then I saw a large wolf appear, with swishing tail and eyes wild, blood on his muzzle. I recognized him as Alcide Herveaux. We four waited with the lion, the wolf and the unconscious Dermot while the fighting raged on inside and the chanting grew ever louder and stronger. It seemed to go on and on. Claude still held me, seemingly effortlessly. I rested my head on his shoulder, feeling safe in his arms.

At last, there was silence inside the building. The door swung open and Eric stood in the doorway, resting slightly on his sword. He was unburned, I thought to myself, amazed. He was splattered all over with blood as I could see in the light. He had a gash across his right thigh, his shirt was ripped and it looked to me as if he might have been stabbed, but I couldn't tell from his manner. He gazed slightly wild-eyed at me. His eyes glowed like soft embers.

Claude lowered me to the ground and tried to encourage me to stand. He kissed my forehead and steadied me.

Eric called out to Amelia and the chanting stopped.

Claudine nodded to Eric, hugged me and said "We must depart. I will see you tomorrow." She glanced down at the lion and smiled softly. She kissed me and then she, Claude and Preston popped. The witches also all disappeared, one by one, along with their Fae guardians.

Sam stood next to me and nuzzled my hand. I brushed through his mane. The wolf howled and came to stand on the other side of me. When I thought about it later, I realized they were worried that Eric could hurt me because he was likely so high on fae blood.

Eric picked up his sword and walked slowly toward me. His eyes were calmer as he approached. He put his arms around me, still holding the sword in one hand, still watchful, but rested his chin on the top of my head and rubbed it there gently. I sighed heavily against him. He inhaled deeply and groaned. The fae scent was everywhere, all over me and he had had so much fae blood. He pulled away for a moment and looked at me, fangs down, swaying. It was obvious that he was straining mightily to keep himself in check. He looked at my bloody lip, the blood crusted on my throat and his eyes started glowing again. Then abruptly, he stepped away from me. Without looking at me he said softly,

"Sam, take her home. Lover, I'll try see you before dawn. I have to round up my people and we have to dispose of the weres. Niall will do the rest." He looked over at Alcide and out of it though he was, appeared to nod curtly.

I looked up at him, wanting so much to say what I was thinking, but now was not the time.

Pam came out and though she had burn wounds on her arms and one on her face, and her clothes were in tatters and she had a slash across her chest, she seemed relatively unaffected by it, as if she didn't feel it. She looked wild-eyed as she moved eagerly toward me, smiling with her eyes glowing like rubies as she looked at me. Eric grabbed her by the shoulder and held her off the ground. Her feet kept walking as if she was determined to get to me. Through the doorway, I seemed to see Thalia and Rasul entangled with one another. It was like some kind of frenzy inside.

"Go," Eric said firmly.

I glanced down at Dermot, who was still unconscious. "What will you do with Dermot, Eric?"

He did not answer me. Pam snarled and hissed at him, glancing back at me. He nodded again at Sam and Alcide, and we swiftly walked off toward Sam's truck. I was still unsteady on my feet. Sam shifted quickly and pulled on jeans and a shirt that he had in the flatbed. Alcide did the same at his truck and then came over and touched my battered face gently with his hands, shaking his head.

"What?" I said, looking at the two of them.

Sam just shook his head, too.

I was so amazed that I had survived that I couldn't even begin imagine what their concerns were… I had dwelled in Hell and lived.