Chapter 11

EPOV

The only way to keep track of time while chained up in the basement was by counting how many times I was forced into my daytime rest. I estimated I had been down here for five days at least, but my brain was getting a little off kilter due to torture and lack of feeding. Appius came down a couple times each night to check on me, to see if I had weakened enough for him to break me.

However each night he was disappointed and angry. My shirt had been ripped off so he could easily stab at more of my skin with silver. My charred flesh no longer healed since I had not fed in so long. That left deep red lines and stab wounds scattered across my chest and back. The basement air was also heavy with moisture and did nothing to give my sore covered skin any sense of comfort.

One thing I could be happy about was that vampires did not have bathroom needs like humans. Therefore I was lying in a dirty puddle instead of my own filth. Over the last couple days when I was not being tortured I laid down on the damp cement, too weak to bother sitting up anymore. I could feel the musty water against the side of my face, soaking into my hair. I knew I looked like shit but I could not force myself to care. My only goal was to piss off my maker and prove to him he could never fully control me, not without his cowardly commands.

I also spent a lot of time thinking about Sookie. I thought about before I was turned vampire months ago, back to when we were both humans. At first I was angry at her for never letting us be together. I figured if she had given us a chance, at least we could have had a few good years together. However as the hours inched by in that basement, I found I did not blame her. She was doing what she thought was best at the time. She was protecting a friendship that mattered more to her than anything in the world. It was the most important thing to me as well. If I met the true death in this shit hole with Appius, at least I had that to comfort me. I had a friend out there that had given me years of wonderful memories, some of those memories were even able to make me smile while I lay here alone.

"Eric" I groaned as I heard my maker's voice echo down the stairs. I wished it was Pam, but he had to have commanded her away… I had not seen her since he locked me up.

"Have you had a change of heart yet son?" He glided down the cracked steps and stopped at the edge of the puddle I was kneeling in. I had forced myself upright once I heard him, not wanting him to see any weakness.

I did not respond. I stared at the floor, not willing to grace him with eye contact. He was not deserving of it, the little cockroach.

"Answer me!" He swung his fist forward, punching me square in the nose. The force alone killed but it was combined with the stinging sensation of silver. As I twisted my head back to meet his eyes I noticed a chainmail glove on his hand, pure silver. It had to be lined with something if it wasn't burning him.

"No" I spat out the blood that had run from my nose into my mouth.

Appius grabbed my neck then, his fingers constricting around my neck tighter and tighter with each second. As his grip tightened I felt my flesh melting away beneath his hand. My fangs snapped down and I snarled at him, unable to defend myself in any other way.

"I have given you a week's worth of time to come to your senses, but you give me no choice. Apparently you do not care about your own life, but what about your little blonde human?" He chuckled as I leaned forward against my chains, trying to snap at him. It was exactly the reaction he wanted and I couldn't help myself.

"Leave her out of this" I growled.

"I tried to do things the nice way for days now, but you do not leave me with another option my son. You might not care about yourself enough to listen after being silvered and starved, but I have a feeling you will be listening very well once I have her locked up down here… feeding me and satisfying my needs." He shoved me backwards with vampire force, slamming me back into the wall.

"Touch her and I will kill you, I will find a way to kill you so slowly you will be begging for it." I knew my threats were empty ones unless I found a way to get out of here.

Appius just laughed and went up the stairs.

Shit… what if the next time he came down here he had Sookie?

SPOV

When Godric said we had to wait, I never thought it would be almost an entire week. As each day passed I was more on edge. After having Godric's blood I was out of the hospital in hours and back home. However the house felt lonely, Eric had never lived here but he was always visiting. Jason stopped by why I had not picked up his calls. I did not know what was safe to tell him, so I wrote it off as needing alone time for a day or two. Hell, he still thought Eric had gone missing for months so it was not too crazy a notion for me to need some time to think. I also had a couple messages from Jack Northman telling me the police had no new leads on his son. He sounded defeated. I felt terrible for not telling him Eric was alive… sort of…

Once this was straightened out I was ordering Eric to go see his father. I had to believe there would be a day when that would happen… the other alternative was too grim.

I went into work at Merlotte's for my shifts as usual in hopes it would take my mind off things. Plus there was this little thing called money I still needed to pay my bills and eat. Sam tried to cheer me up with jokes and some extra crispy sweet potato fries he knew I loved… but it did little to improve my mood. He never asked what was wrong, his thoughts were like everyone else's….

Poor thing, she must finally be accepting that Eric is dead…. Probably murdered.

I did my best to take Sam's kind gestures in stride and not burst into tears at his thoughts. What if Appius had killed Eric by now? I thought about looking for him on my own but I had no idea where to start. I had no way of contacting Godric and Fangtasia had been shutdown since Appius showed up. That would have been my only way to get in touch with other vampires quickly.

I got home Sunday evening after working all day and my heart leapt into my throat when I saw Godric on my porch. I parked my car and bolted out of it, running up the steps faster than ever before.

"Did you find him? Is he okay?" Maybe they already rescued Eric by some miracle, a girl could hope.

"He is alive Sookie and we know where Ocella is hiding now." Godric looked to the tree line briefly and I saw three other vampires. "These are friends, they will help us rescue Eric and Pamela."

Godric introduced the other vampires as Bubba, Chow and Wybert. They were an interesting looking bunch to say the least.

I would swear on my Gran's grave Bubba was Elvis Presley… but I had no time to be asking about that. Chow was a muscular asian vampire with spiky hair and tattoos down his arms. Wybert had curly brown hair that fell to his shoulders and the stockiness of a bull.

We briefly reviewed our plan and then we were off. I was stuck riding piggy-back style on Godric, which was very strange at first and a tad scary considering our speed. Eventually I relaxed once I realized he was not going to smash me into a tree. We zipped through the dark forest with no car to reduce the chance of Ocella hearing our arrival.

I knew we were getting close when our little group slowed down once we reached a mucky bayou. The bugs were loud and I saw a gator's head slip under the water a few yards away. Why had Eric's maker brought him to the middle of no where? Were they camping out like boy scouts? I had a feeling Pam did not like camping.

We moved slow for vampire standards through the trees and muck, with Wybert leading the way. Eventually a huge, long forgotten manor came into view. I gulped at the ghostly looking building. This was where Ocella was keeping Eric and Pam.

I wanted to speak but Godric warned me once we left my home there should be no talking until Ocella knew we were there. Otherwise the ancient vampire might hear our whispers.

Once we were standing in the overgrown lawn Godric set me on my feet.

He looked over at me with a question in his eyes and I nodded, letting him know I was ready. My heart was racing but I had to be brave for Eric.

I held up my hand and Godric sliced my finger open with his fang. Then the four vampires darted off into various hiding places, leaving me alone in the tall grass outside the dilapidated mansion.

It only took a few seconds and I heard the front doors creaking open with a suspicious but curious Ocella stepping out into the moonlight. He sniffed the air and then his beady eyes focused in on me. My fear spiked but I forced myself to stay put. I had to stick to the plan in order to not get myself killed or Eric.

"Well, well… I was just coming to get you…." He zipped over and was right before me in a millisecond. I gasped and stumbled back a step.

"I see why Eric likes you so much, you smell almost…." He sniffed the air again then his hand darted out to grab mine. Before I knew what was happening he had licked my finger. Gross! "…fairy…."

"I love fairies" He groaned. "I should have paid more attention when I met you the other night, I would have kept you for myself."

I leaned away from him as his fangs snapped down, but he still had my wrist in his icy grip. He was disgusting and everything about him repulsed him from his beady eyes to his oily hair.

"Where is Eric? And Pam?" I wanted to know they were alive.

"Eric is in timeout downstairs… you will be with him soon enough." He chuckled then lunged forward with a snarl to bite my neck.

I screamed but never felt the pain of his bite. He was not even touching me anymore. I looked around and spotted Godric fighting him on the lawn. It was an all out brawl happening so quickly my eyes could not keep up. I did hear someone yell something, then Pam was in the yard too…. Except she was not helping us… she was attacking Chow, Wybert and Bubba.

This was not the plan! The plan was for Bubba to go in once the others had Ocella in battle and he would help me get Eric.

"Screw this…" I muttered and started running for the front door. I would get Eric myself while the others kept the nutty vampires busy.

My legs were burning by the time I reached the front door from running so fast uphill. I gulped in air and darted through the front door. Once inside I skidded to a stop, it was so dark I could barely see. I guess vampires did not need lights. I edged forward inch by inch until my eyes adjusted some.

"Eric?" I whispered in hopes of not attracting Ocella or Pam's attention from outside.

"Eric where the fuck are you?" I mumbled and almost tripped over a pile of junk. "Shit"

I caught my balance and smiled when I looked down. There was a broken piece of furniture, maybe a chair leg, with a sharp end. I picked up what would hopefully be a useful weapon. Then I heard a groaning sound.

It had to be Eric.

"Eric!" I started jogging towards the sound and found a doorway. I yanked open the door and of course it led to a creepy as fuck set of stairs leading down into darkness below the mansion.

I fought off any fears of darkness, spider webs or the unknown and made my way down the steps. It was way too dark to see anything down here, not even a sliver of moonlight made it down here. Finally a light bulb went off in my brain and I remember my damn cell phone was in my pocket.

I guess the mind doe not function great when in panic mode.

I pulled it out and turned the flashlight app on and it illuminated the cracked cement staircase. At the bottom I could see poor Eric lying in a puddle of dirt and what looked to be blood.

"Eric!" I raced down the steps now that I could see and without thinking I dropped the wooden chair leg so I could reach out to him. I kneeled down next to him and shook his shoulder. "Eric! It's me! Get up!"

He sat up slowly at first and I held back a sob as I noticed all of the cuts and sores covering his skin. The intact skin was covered in blood, dirt and mud from being down here for who knows how long. He looked over at me slowly.

"Sookie?" His fangs snapped down and he leaned forward, pulling against the chains restraining him. The silver was burning into his neck and wrists.

"Eric stop!" He was likely starving but he had to control himself if I was going to let him loose.

My words seemed to get through the fog in his brain. He stared at me for a few more seconds and then his fangs went back into hiding. "I'm sorry… I haven't eaten in days… I would never hurt you."

I nodded and inched my way towards him again, tucking my phone into my pocket. I began undoing his restraints but before I could finish his arms wrapped around me. We did not have time to spare but for a few seconds I caved and hugged him back for all I was worth. My arms wrapped around his neck, but not too tight since he still had a silver chain wrapped around it.

"I love you Sookie, I'm so sorry I hurt you…. I never meant to." He whispered into my hair.

"I know it wasn't you, I love you too, and I'm getting you out of here." I leaned back and started working on the restraints again.

"How did you find me? How did you get down here?" He winced as I unwrapped the silver from his neck.

"I have Godric and a team of vampires backing me up." I grinned.

Eric smiled "We might have a fighting chance"

"Of course we do, I'm not leaving here without you." I said with determination.

"No you're not fairy, you're staying right here with us." Ocella's voice boomed behind me. I snapped my head around to see him running at me with fangs bared.

a/n: Thanks for reading! Reviews are 333