WolfEagle! Chapter 22 is all you. Of all the guesses yours came closest. Kudos! I hope you don't mind your name being attached to the chapter where shit starts to hit the fan.

Eric

Chapter Twenty-Two

Vampire Ghost

It was well after first dark but Sookie was still asleep. She wasn't feeling unwell she was just tired. Most of the night a position that offered comfort eluded her because of the activity level of the children. I would never admit it to her but it pleased me that they appeared to me nocturnal as they grew. While she slept I took the time to try my hand at something out of the ordinary.

Preparing a human meal was interesting. It was something I had done a hand full of times in previous centuries in an attempt to throw suspicion. Gideon helped but surprisingly he was very little help. He told me what entrée went with what side dishes but he usually bought him food in his past life. He complied something acceptable and I did the rest by following directions I found a book. I was quite pleased with myself.

It only reaffirmed my assessment that there was nothing I was incapable of accomplishing. The smell of the food was not appealing to my senses but it wasn't intolerable. The only downside of preparing a meal was having the scent cling to me. Such a thing would make me easy to find even with the dullest senses. Overall the experience was worth the trouble because Sookie enjoyed it and I felt better doing something more for her.

We were barely outside the grounds when I turned to Gideon. "Stay with her"

"No" I scowled at him. Unlike Pam he was much more obedient, he complained less and rarely had a snide comment to offer. He also didn't have to have the last word. With his military background he was already good at taking orders. In his young age he was yet to disagree with me on anything. All vampires were like this with their makers because they knew nothing else when they were made but I could already see it. I gather in a century he would be worse than Pam ever was. They were both alike in the sense that they refused to do as they were told when they felt it was in my best interest. He was showing me images of the last time I left him behind and traveled with Pam. Sookie was more than safe in the house and she was going to stay there he reasoned. It wouldn't be worth my trouble to argue or give him an edict. I changed tactics.

"Pam would love to hear that you think she is incapable of watching my back around Isaiah no less" I smiled. She would wipe the floor with him if ever I suggested such a thing and he knew it. He put his hands up.

"No sir. That's not what I said but I'm coming with you all the same" He opened my door and climbed into the driver's seat. Usually we took a Mercedes sedan when the two of us traveled. Tonight he opted for something leaner and geared for speed. Arkansas was our destination. It was going to be a very quick trip; quiet and off the radar. I wanted to know if Pam or Isaiah had such unusual activities to report from their states or any of our neighbors. We were also due to discuss the Eliza problem. I was not counting her out of anything.

As we moved through the night more thoughts entered my mind they were of an unpleasant nature because I felt the one thing I was attempting to prevent was happening. Last night was as enlightening as it was unnerving. The fairies that had now taken up residence in Sookie's former residence brought with them difficult choices that I had to face.

Niall was dead. It was a good day for very many creatures. The prince was a feared and respected figure in the world of the supernatural. He has been growing even more powerful in his old age and in a fight he would make a formidable opponent. His passing troubled me only because it invalidated a fairly solid theory I had concocted. The fairy coming to me was a sign that there was some impending conflict of some sort amongst the fairies. I thought Niall was attempting to use Sookie and the gift he had given us to force me into his corner. It appears I was mistaken. It made all this all the more troubling especially coupled with the vampire.

It was a guess but I assumed the vampire had to be old and whatever aid he was offering the elves lay in a mixture of their blood and some spell. Elves in my opinion could be just as tricky and vicious as fairies with the added detriment of being poisonous. It was all something I wanted no parts of. However, being that a vampire also had a role in what was befalling the Fae I had a duty to uphold the order in my state. I was very curious. I had never one to believe in coincidences. The fact that a vampire was single handedly decimating vampire-were relations through the south was not an accident and neither was the situation with the fairies. I felt those two were correlated but I saw no rational explanation as to why. An elf was more than capable or wreaking havoc on the two natured, but why would they bother? And why use vampire Henchmen? I suppose the gain of unlimited fairy blood was a big enough draw but it didn't seem like a strong enough incentive for such extreme actions. There was no debating the attacks on the two natured and helping exterminate the fairies was extreme. All this could be a distraction from a bigger plot but I had no idea what or whom was behind it all.

All I had to go on right now were my own speculations and baseless facts that were delivered to me by fairies. I could not completely abide by their words. They had their own agenda be it their survival or something else. I was not in a place to make a final decision but I knew Sookie's prolonged contact with them was going to make it problematic to draw my line when the time came. I wanted to make her happy but my position on the whole thing has not changed regardless of the unfortunate perils they were facing. Fairies would not get involved in a fight for us. I was not going to choose sides with or against them. I wanted them to take their strife to someone else's state. The problem was finding a gentle way to explain this to her. She valued the family she had and she was a naturally caring person it was not going to be easy.

There were heavy woodlands that would offer a shorter route to the meeting place between Arkansas and Louisiana. It was a messenger path. Members of the original regime were familiar with it. Gideon and I parked under cover of thick brushes and continued the journey on foot. From this course there was about a thirty minute light sprint to the outskirts of little rock.

The only thing that gave me warning was that scent; the same one that hung in the air after the assault on Pam's estate. It was the same scent that was impossible to track. The same one that was present at the bar of the shifter. It descended like a blanket as we reached the middle of the woods. My sense of smell was more acute than that of my child. He immediately stood to my back when he picked up on my change in stance. We were surrounded. He handed me two hawk style daggers. I did not have to check to know he was armed as well. We rotated to get a full view of all the people that surrounded us. Total there was a dozen. I would have figured another state was behind this attack. It was bold to attack me so close to the boundaries of my state and that of Pam's. As I looked I could not identify any of the faces which meant that none had any ranking. It was insulting when someone sent inferior underlings to kill me given my old age and title.

From the looks of our assailants they were very young. They were young when their human lives had ended. They were all new as well vampires. It was in their faces. Their eyes were darting around their surroundings it was a sign of anxiety in young ones. I was willing to wager there wasn't a single one that has seen a half a century of life. I could not identify a leader. They were all wearing similar expressions vacillating from fear to excitement. Their bodies were humming and I saw the focus shift in their eyes when they became blinded by blood lust.

Beside me Gideon was losing himself as well. He snarled and slipped into a crouch. He wanted to charge the crowd but I needed him to remain still. It was a big challenge with all the blood that would be spilled. He was very young and would give into instinct in a fight of this magnitude. Such a thing would make him a liability because he would not be fighting smart. Against these odds he would be less likely to survive.

"What do you do when there is no escape?" I felt his body calm slightly as he remembered his training. He repeated the answer to himself then outwardly to me.

In his voice there was no fear. "Surrender" That was not an option here we both knew that; not to mention it was an affront to his personal philosophy.

"When surrender is not an option?" The movements of our feet were in tune. Our two man circle was rotating in a constricted motion within the larger one we were trapped in. I knew his focus was back. He was removing his jacket and I was pulling my hair from my face.

"Fight hard; fight smart" He concluded the basic battle strategies that has kept me alive for so many centuries. I have had many close scrapes with the true death this would not be one of them. I had too much to lose. This would not be my end.

"Stay with me no matter what" My advantage in the air would be lost but his ability made up for the deficit. Our best strategy was to have him blind as many as he could and I would pick off the others. If he could not maintain his vision then I would have to do all the fighting. The advancing line stopped all at once. They lurched like puppets whose strings had to been pulled taught much too abruptly and with excessive force. I could not pick up a scent but that gave them away. I knew they all shared the same sire. This was despicable by standards of the most degenerate vampire. It was then I saw the person responsible; my former queen.

My steps faltered and I stopped moving as did Gideon. "Sophie-Anne" It was a question. I couldn't be seeing what I thought I was seeing. This couldn't be. I took in an intentional breath to catch her familiar scent but it was useless. The sappy poignant aroma weighed all in its essences. My gaze was piercing as I tried to find some evidence of a ruse or that she was now more than vampire I saw none. Her body still glowed in the moon as it should. There was no breath of signs of life from her apart from the undead sort. She survived the takeover.

Her death had been nothing but a widely accepted myth. If nothing else was apparent about Sophie-Anne she was a survivor. Her human life was tragic for many years before she was made vampire. Her children worshiped her. They would have faced a thousand suns in her defense. There was no possible way Sigebert her child and personal guard had survived the hostile takeover and she hadn't. I should have known; when he returned to Bon Temps I assumed he was coming to seek vengeance. He had been a messenger. Sophie-Anne knew I was loyal to her as were many vampires in my area many of us were strong. In her time of need she would have turned to area five for people loyal to her.

That plan had gone terribly awry. Having a telepathic link to her children allowed her to know the situation without having to expose herself to danger. When Seigebert saw me with Felipe he must have deemed me a traitor; an instrument to the usurping of his maker. After all I was the only sheriff that was spared and left with his ranking intact. That in itself was evidence enough. All this time she had been lying in wait, plotting her vengeance and healing from her grave injuries. Her body had mended entirely but her mind was broken.

Sophie-Anne did not have to speak for me to know she has taken leave of her senses. Her hair was cut and dyed like Andre's. She appeared even younger than she had been when her human life ended. His familiar saber was strapped across her chest. There was feverish look in her eyes but in their depths were sadness. She was wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans and knee high boots. In all the years I have known her she was never dressed in anything other than the finest; even before she was queen.

Gideon was going to begin tampering with her sight I stopped him. I wanted to keep her talking. With Sophie Anne's presence and Gideon's ability this fight was too evenly matched. I did not like our odds. Sookie could feel what I was feeling she would send help if she hadn't already.

"Eric" she said sweetly. "You do not look happy to see me" She was circling us as she spoke I moved with her to keep her in my sights. She was old and if she had the element of surprise Gideon would not last against her even with his ability.

"I am surprised" that was nothing but the truth. "Not an easy to do. I am one of few that can say I have seen it all" She laughed as if my attempt at humor was well received. "To what do I owe the honor?"

I was wondering if this was attempt at a takeover because it was sorry at best. The vampires in our state will no longer recognize her as queen even if she managed to kill me here. In fact they may execute her on sight for abandoning them. Many of our colleagues were lost during the takeover. Many of us suffered after under the rule of Felipe and Victor. Knowing she still lived would have provided much needed morale.

"I want to show you something" She said coyly she stopped moving and the circle parted and the Ancient Pythoness was kicked inside it. She fell forward on her hands and knees. Her unseeing eyes had a silver chain wrapped around them it coiled around her neck and gagged her as well. Her hands were also bound with silver chains. My attempt to keep cool and drag this out evaporated. I was outraged.

"Sophie Anne you go too far, have you gone mad?" I knew the answer to that question. Given all the suffered before the takeover she had become unhinged. Making all these children at the same time was what has broken her sanity. The constant push and pull of all those emotions; sharing a telepathic link to all those bodies; having your blood spread out so thinly over so many vessels. I would say she was poisoning her children with her toxic feelings. It was more a less a cycle of unhealthy blood exchanges. It was like Ocella and Alexei. As Alexei ailed his emotions polluted Ocella making him more sadistic and cantankerous. When he gave Alexei blood to curb his deteriorating mind he was just giving back what he was receiving. Sophie-Anne was suffering the same but magnified by at least a dozen. That act was depraved enough. What she was doing was now was unspeakable. By vampire law she was committing a crime against the entire species by attacking the ancient one.

"No, Eric I most certainly have not" She went over to the Pythoness and gripped her by her hair. They were both facing me. "It is you who is blind, so very blind. Can you not see? Our existence is a game. The orchestrations of which begins with her" I could not even begin to make heads or tails of her rambling.

"What you are doing will serve no purpose. Stop this" I was trying to implore her to see reason but I knew it was a lost cause. I was attempting to slow her hand and find an opening to end her.

"It will, my dear. It will. I will take the very foundation of vampire hierarchy in these lands and I will splinter it down to its smallest fragment. In that chaos I will make my war. From the ashes a new era will rise. It will be glorious" She was out of her mind-clearly.

"Why do you threaten the Fae? They have no stake in our world" I knew it was her. There was no way another crazy vampire was roaming about raising hell. I was not that unlucky. She shrugged.

"Nothing can be gained without sacrificing something of equal or greater value" Elves weren't using a vampire henchmen a vampire was using them. They wanted the downfall of the Fae she would aid them and in return they would help her accomplish this. The two natured were a distraction to send me chasing after a shadow in a room full of smoke.

"Anarchy, you want to see our world burn. Your will has turned to madness Sophie-Anne please stop this" This wasn't just going to affect vampires, elves and fairies. Her actions would include all supes in this plane. It was going to lead to a supernatural world war. She had been strategically placing the pieces and this was the flame that would ignite it.

An indulgent look played across her face it was like she was explaining a complex concept to a simple child.

"Quite the opposite I want peace Eric. This world, the world we have created is wrong. We are wrong" Her eyes were pensive but still half crazed. "We will self-destruct. Everywhere there is pain and death; deaths that are deemed acceptable by a council, and for what?" Her gaze moved to Gideon and she smiled knowing I was keeping her in my sights for his benefit. "I want peace Eric. A world with no more dead Hadley's and fallen angels like my Andre. No more fallen guardians like my Wigebert and Sigebert" Her eyes were running over all the new children she has made. There was no emotion there. She was weeping for all that she has been robbed of. I was waiting for her to wipe her tears but she was no fool. "No more takeovers and sanctioned murders in the name of king and country. Every monarch in every state in every territory will fall. There will be nothing to fight over"

The picture she painted was a fantasy. When I was younger I too had one day hoped for the same. Eradication of the careful game all of us were forced to play; the spying; the deceit; the necessity to rise and conquer it would be gone. Sadly vampires needed order; a hierarchy that was clear and concise. Otherwise we would embrace savagery as we once did. There were hefty consequences on both sides of the sound where that argument was concerned. "Can't you see it? It will be beautiful" She was almost crooning at the idea.

"Sophie-Anne, listen to me. This is not the way. I know, believe me I know" My voice was soft and placating. It was to avail my new title automatically made me her enemy.

"No your majesty you do not" Her voice was cold. I shook my head to disagree.

"I do" The pain of losing a child was something only a vampire who has suffered it could understand. I have suffered it once and though I knew I should not I pitied her. This was a leader that I once respected. She had been good to me when she was queen. I had been loyal to her and a part of me felt like I had failed her. I held her eyes in mine as if I could glamour her.

I was attempting to buy the Pythoness some much needed time. "I want the same. You know me. I have desired peace amongst our kind I always have but this is not the way" More tears fell from her harrowed eyes as I spoke. I saw so much pain but also resolve; unreasoning and unswerving. I was desperate and so I continued my useless attempts at dissuading her madness "I want to help you Sophie. Let me help you" I held both my hands out to her dropping my daggers to the floor. I beckoned her to me as if there weren't more than twenty feet between us "You and I, we can come up with another way but not this…not like this" She looked at my hand. Hers was shaking as she extended it and for a moment I thought she would take it but she continued to raise her hand to draw Andre's blade from its sheath.

"Gideon" her eyes lost their focus but it was not enough. Simultaneously I ducked to retrieve my daggers and he threw one of his at her. The angle he threw it allowed it to clear her ribs and hit its mark but it still wasn't enough. She was intent on the final death of the Pythoness. She swung wildly several times and the Pythoness lost her head.

The blitz ensued. Sophie Anne stumbled from the fray blindly pulling the silver tipped dagger from her chest. Her pawns came to die in her place. Gideon's range was roughly fifteen feet but limit has never been tested it appeared to be five. I had not made a single kill when out of the night came an unmistakable aroma; fairies. I recognized Dermot, Dillon, and Iain. Their presence shattered the focus of Sophie-Anne's minions.

Contrary to Andre and Hadley they were not created out of love; loneliness or even desire. They were instruments that weren't supposed to last; sheep's for slaughter. They were made to die in this senseless war of hers. I doubt any of them knew anything about the world of the supernatural other than what they saw on television. The ones that could see ignored me to chase after fairy. The fight was over quickly. In truth it was not a fight. It was a massacre; one that I partook in with a heavy heart. I killed the ones that weren't blinded. The fairies eagerly butchered the rest. I looked away. It felt inherently wrong to watch fairies kill my kind and bear it. Sophie-Anne had to die or she was going to bring about nothing but more scenes like this.

"Gideon do not speak or breathe" I grabbed a hold of his shoulder. The odor that obscured the trail was helping minimize the scent of the fairies and helping him maintain focus.

"Elfish magic" Iain said. He waved his hand the thick scent evaporated as quickly as it descended. Even then I knew Sophie-Anne was long gone. I patted Gideon on the shoulder and his vision returned. He was eyeing the fairies but remained at my side with strenuous effort.

"Your wife called me" Dermot said. I nodded. It didn't matter that I was now in their debt because we all had the same problem. I went over to the ashes of what had been the highest authority in the new world. The chains had fallen. Her clothing was still weighed down by the chains that had bound her body.

Pam landed not a stone's throw from where Gideon and I were kneeled. Her eyes quickly examined the scene but when they rested on the pile of ashes before me. She too dropped to her knees. What she was seeing was impossible and for the first time since I have known her Pam looked afraid. Our circle grew as Tristan arrived. He was followed by Isaiah and his second in command Bruce . We knelt and not even the scent of three fairies in the night could lift what we were feeling. In any and all dispute she had been uncompromising in her impartiality. I was angry. She did not deserve to die for Sophie-Anne's madness. Gideon placed a hand on my shoulder. He looked at me. I saw it there in his eyes. This was just the beginning. Open war was now upon us whether we would risk it or not.

"It is unwise to linger" Dillon said. He looked uncomfortable. "She will send them here"

"Let them come" Bruce said. Dermot scoffed at him without really ever looking in his direction.

"I told her I would bring you home" He said to me. His words pulled Pam from her moment of silence. Her eyes ran over him looking for signs of harm. She was relieved but it quickly turned to pain as he disappeared without acknowledging her concern; her presence or even her existence.

Having nothing else to do here we cleaned up the scene and left. I needed to get home. I needed to plan and I needed to plan well.

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Okay WolfEagle I hope you enjoyed your chapter and I hope everyone liked it as well. Happy Easter to all those who acknowledge it!

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