Eric's Demons

Chapter Six

Figures scurried away from the club in all directions to carry out the orders the Magister had given them. Tonight he would be attended by every vampire of rank or influence. In a corner Sophie-Anne stood, sulking and all but forgotten as the Magister used her followers as his own.

For the second time tonight Eric scrubbed blood and gore from his taught muscular frame. Against the shower door leaned the massive sword, it's blade already cleaned and sharpened.

Only feet away in the next room Sookie lay on the couch while Pam paced back and forward like a caged tiger.

Chewing her lip Sookie tried to make everything that she had seen and heard make sense. She knew the vampires were wound up and in some kind of danger, and that Eric thought she could help.

More importantly Bill had come clean. He had told her everything about the queen's plan to harness and use Sookie as a pet once she was bonded to Bill. There had been tears, begging for forgiveness, even anger when she refused to believe that he had no choice. There was always a choice. Never again would Bill mistreat or misuse this girl.

Funny Jason had said Bill only wanted her for whatever he could get.

Through the wall she could hear the shower running, could hear the big Northman as he washed dead men and filth of his body. And what a body.

Without a thought he had fought and killed the intruders, heavily outnumbered. Like a true epic hero he had overcome insurmountable odds, triumphed. But he had also protected her, his touch had been so light and gentle, his eyes so full of passion.

Then there was the dream, the one where she woke him with her mouth and hand, and the others. Even when Bill was there she had always felt a mixture of attraction and revulsion for the Sheriff. Now that Bill was gone...

Pam had stopped pacing, was staring down at her.

"Sookie, I don't believe you, bet it's not Bill that's putting that glow in your cheeks," she laughed.

"Pam!" Sookie's cheeks flushed red. "Is it wrong?"

"Hell no, girl. Sooner you forget that low life Bill the better," Pam grinned at her.

"What's going to happen?" she asked Pam to change the subject.

"Damned if I know," Pam shrugged, and picked up her pacing where she had left off.

There was a knock at their door, a vampire neither had seen before, a cross looking female told them they were wanted.

In the main room of the club Sookie first noticed that the mess was gone, scrubbed clean. Then she noticed how many newcomers packed into the room. Not one human among them.

Behind a table sat the Magister, flanked to his left by a regal looking Sophie-Anne. To his right stood a tall cloaked figure, face covered. In front of them Eric Northman, viking and War Chief. He wore only leather trousers and a very lose fitting vest which left nothing of that body to her imagination. Well very little.

"How did you survive the attack on your house?" the Magister asked.

"There were only two of the Watchers there, the rest were human," Eric shrugged. "Not sure how many more than two I could handle."

From the crowd a male voice asked what they were all wondering.

"Who are the Watchers?"

Sookie looked first at the Magister, then Eric. She was as surprised as everyone else when the cloaked figure answered. The voice was a rasping whisper, but everyone heard what was said.

"The Watchers are the oldest enemy of all vampires. Long before most of you were made they fed on our kind, hunted us. Eric led the war against them then, and it was he and his warriors who defeated them in battle, close to the city of Rome.

"But they cannot be killed, only displaced. Eric arranged for them to be bound and imprisoned for eternity, locked away where eventually only our kind would remember them. And guard them. Something has gone wrong, the prisons are no longer holding them."

"Eric do you know which of them you faced?" the Magister asked.

"Satarel and Turel," Eric answered, "two of the chiefs."

"Do you know how to beat them again?"

Turning to face the room, to stare down any dissenters, Eric nodded.

"I do!"

"What are they? What is the danger?" another voice asked from the assembly.

It was Eric who answered.

"They are angels, or they were. It was their kind who corrupted humankind. Cast out of Heaven for their crimes they were bound on Earth for eternity. They have no mortal body, but use human hosts, and when they burn out or kill a host they simply move to the next one. For that reason none of us can have human company until this is resolved, we must stay to our own kind.

"We think they pretty much ran amok and served their own ends, until one of them first tried to jump to a vampire host. Because we're already dead there is no life for them to steal, but they developed a taste for our energy, it's like a high to them. They had been hunting our kind for decades when the Magister and I realized we were under threat. By then our numbers were perilously low, and we lost plenty of good vampires fighting them.

"At the end of the battle in Rome we barely had enough warriors left to drag our captives from the field. We took them to isolated prisons, and along with our allies undertook to guard the prisons for eternity. It would appear that this undertaking has been forgotten in some parts."

There was silence in the room.

"So how did they escape? Did they have help?"

It was the Magister who took up the tale.

"A deal was done. The European families would each take on the guarding of a prison, myself and Eric's warriors, along with other selected individuals would come here, to the new world. We were to come here to preserve our bloodlines, in case disaster fell in Europe."

"But why have most of us never heard of them?"

Sookie thought she recognized the speaker this time, all tall dark haired Sheriff she had seen in the club once or twice.

"After Rome our allies helped us to suppress the history of the Watchers, we convinced them to conceal the Book of Enoch, bury the stories about vampires. You have heard of them before, the name crops up from time to time, as does the other name they use, Nephilim."

"What happened to Eric's warriors? Are they gone too, passed into history with the Watchers?"

Beside the Magister the cloaked figure pulled back his hood, his face was a mess of scars, part of his nose was missing. His eyes seemed to shine with a pale inner light.

"The Warrior Chief's men are here. I command them," he rasped.

From the crowd other figures stepped forward, dropping their cloaks. They were all big men, underneath their cloaks they wore swords and mail armor. Like something from history brought to life again.

Eric scanned the faces of his friends, counting and naming them. Twelve, only twelve had survived to answer his call. If all of the Watchers were free they would have little hope. He felt Sookie's eyes on him, looked straight back. She might be the only hope they had.

After the crowd had dispersed to spread word of the danger, Eric led Sookie to his office. A glance at Pam earned a pout, but she waited outside. Two of Eric's own men flanked the door.

Once the door was closed he took her hands, tenderly. She was amazed at how gentle he was with her.

"Sookie, I'm sorry. This isn't really your fight, but there is no other way. I need your help," he told her.

To answer she leaned in to him, smelling his clean flesh, feeling his cool body. She planted a little kiss on his lips.

"You could get killed here," he warned her.

Sookie didn't care. She still had no idea what they thought she could do, but she had watched Eric speak. And had seen they way his own kind treated him. From the moment she knew that Bill had betrayed her she had known she was with the wrong vampire. Eric was strong, noble and decent. He had looked after her, protected her. He had never lied to her.

So strong and yet so gentle. She knew it was time to go with her instinct and yield to Eric.