The following sunset Eric awoke in the cubby he'd built in Sookie's house. His younger roommates still slept on, and he found himself jealous of their ability to "sleep in" as it were. He quietly ascended to the main floor and shut the armoire door behind him. He turned to his right to find Sookie sitting on the stairs with a shotgun propped up against the wall beside her, and a stake in her hands. Her eyes were trained on the front door. Eric could feel the tension rolling off her in waves.
The previous night very little planning had gotten done. Unsurprisingly, Pam's idea had been to run and hide, which Tara and Norah happily seconded. Jessica adamantly disagreed, that Bill was her maker and even though he was completely fucking nuts she wasn't going to run and hide. If he needed to be killed, then they'd kill him. At that statement Sookie had clammed up and not spoken another word. Eric himself agreed with Jessica, but was not nearly as optimistic about the simplicity of the strategy. Jason had done a lot of yelling but it was unclear where he stood. However, he had gone home for the night and was planning on going back to the police station in the morning. The vampires had gone to ground without any plan being made. Now it was night once more and it was time to make some decisions.
"Did you sleep?" Eric asked her. Sookie shrugged in reply and set her stake aside. Eric took that as the invitation that it was and sat down beside her. She immediately leaned against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her, a foreign gesture for him but in this moment it felt completely natural.
"What are we going to do?" Sookie asked wearily. She already knew he agreed with Jessica. She was just hoping she'd have one last chance to try to bring Bill back to himself.
"Jessica is right. I am going to send Norah to Washington to attempt to prevent an all-out war on vampires but as far as we are concerned the government will be of little help."
Sookie nodded and when she spoke it was very slowly, haltingly, "Do you think there's any chance…for Bill?"
"For the creature Bill has become? Yes. He will most likely destroy us all. For Bill the vampire you thought you knew? No."
They sat in silence for a few seconds, Eric absentmindedly stroking her back as his mind worked a million miles a minute.
"Why didn't Bill turn me?" Sookie asked suddenly.
Eric fingers froze in their lazy circles, "Why do you ask?"
Sookie looked down at her hands in her lap. "That was the one thing…when he asked me to marry him…I thought he was going to ask something else."
"What would you have said?" Eric asked, far too invested in her answer than he would like.
"It doesn't really matter, does it?"
"Yes, Sookie, it matters a great deal," Eric replied fiercely, turning her to face him.
Sookie swallowed and met his eyes with great difficult, "I would have said no."
"You're lying," Eric replied, his mouth set in a hard line.
"I don't particularly look forward to spending eternity alone, thanks for the offer though," Sookie said wryly, easily reading between the lines. Eric's eyes were incredibly soft when he spoke next.
"If it were me who asked."
"We'll never know, will we?" She said as flippantly as she could under the circumstances, and looked back down at her hands. Eric grabbed her chin and lifted her face to look at him.
"I'm asking now."
Sookie smiled softly. She had been wondering when it would come to this. And as much as she'd tried to prepare herself, she didn't have her answer yet. But looking into Eric's eyes now, and the hopefulness there, the hopefulness he could still feel after 1,000 years, she felt a renewed weariness.
"Eric," Sookie started quietly, patiently, "You're upset. You're sad about what happened with Pam and looking to fill a void. But you and I both know that in the end, you're going to get bored with me."
Eric's voice was deadly quiet, "If that's what you believe."
"Eric, it's the truth. And I don't blame you. But I also don't want to sign up for an eternity of misery wishing things were different between us, that you were different."
"You would have said yes to Bill," Eric accused.
"Fine! Yes, I would have!"
"Then don't you think despite your telepathy you are perhaps not the best judge of character. After all we are preparing for a full-scale war against your ex."
Sookie smacked him across the face as hard as she could.
"Now isn't that a pleasant sight to wake up to," Pam drawled from where she was lazily leaning on the armoire.
"Pamela, would you please give us a minute?" Eric growled without looking at his progeny.
"Oh but this is so much fun," Pam gushed sarcastically, "It's like I'm constantly watching the "previously seen on" this fucking soap opera that my existence has become ever since the day Sookie Stackhouse walked into my damn bar."
"What did Sookie do?" Tara interjected as she climbed up the ladder.
"Nothing," Pam answered smoothly before Sookie could get a word in, "As usual she is making no decisions of her own."
"Pamela, that is enough," Eric spoke quietly but with deadly conviction.
Norah and Jessica appeared in the foyer as well, all eyes glued on Eric.
"Norah is going to Washington, immediately," he commanded, standing up and crossing the room to stand in front of the vampires before him.
Norah nodded obediently, her eyes seeking Eric's for reassurance.
"You can't be serious, Eric," Pam cautioned, "You would willingly risk our lives involving the government?"
He sighed, understanding very well Pam's fears, since he had raised her to hold no regard for vampire governments, and even less for human ones. His voice ringing with regret he replied,
"We have no choice. It is unlikely we stand a chance against Bill and it needs to be made clear that he poses a threat not only to humans but to vampires and other supes as well. There needs to be an action plan should we fail."
Pam and Jessica nodded grudgingly. Tara's eyes never left Pam's face. Once her Maker reacted, she followed suit. Sookie watched in amazement the change that had come over her childhood best friend.
"We can assume that Bill will be here any moment. Pam, Tara, Jessica, please guard the perimeter. Should he be bringing any fire power with him, we will need that neutralized. When he reaches me and Sookie, he must be alone. Is that clear?"
Everyone nodded this time, and Pam, Jessica, and Tara hastily left the house and assumed their positions. On her way out, Jessica gave Sookie a sheepish smile and wave before darting out into the night. Pam and Tara left without sparing a glance for either Eric or Sookie, and Sookie wondered what could possibly have been so terrible that her best friend did not even so much as look in her direction when she might never see her again. Now only Eric, Norah, and Sookie remained. Sookie had not moved, except to pick up her stake.
Norah hesitated in the doorway, trying to catch her brother's eye before leaving. He crossed to her and folded her into his arms, tucking his head down into the crook of her neck.
"Do the right thing, brother," she whispered into his ear. Eric nodded solemnly, and Norah stepped outside and took to the sky.
"Now where were we," Eric purred, turning back to face Sookie.
She couldn't help but grin at the overt come-on.
"We were discussing how you're going to get tired of me."
"Shall we make a bet? Say, a million dollars? You win if after 500 years I have tired of your companionship."
"A million dollars? I don't have that kind of money!"
"You will in 500 years," Eric replied evenly.
"In all seriousness, Eric…"
"No. In all seriousness, Sookie, you have had two sexual partners in your twenty-odd years of life. You loved them both. You have little room for comparison or appreciation for what either one had to offer. I, on the other hand, have fucked hundreds of men and women over a millennium, and yet still I feel confident saying I would be content with you and you alone for the next millennium. Is it not more likely that you would grow tired of me, given these circumstances?"
He was here. Sookie froze, her eyes widening in fear, her blood throttling through her body and she stood shakily. Eric turned slowly to find himself face to face with Bill in all his naked bloody splendor on Sookie's front porch.