.
Title: Counting Bodies Like Sheep
Rating: 16+, M
Contains: Violence, language, rape, possible character death, and graphic sexual content between males.
Spoilers: General spoilers through seasons 3 and 4 [diverges far from 4].
Summary: With the fulfillment of his revenge for the death of his human family, Eric finds himself hallucinating about his creator, Godric. Eric, unsure of his madness, reminisces on the history between himself and his maker. Distraught with grief and anger, Eric decides to promote his own form of self-destructive therapy.
-Counting Bodies Like Sheep-
Part 2.
….
"Go back to sleep…Go back to sleep (counting bodies like sheep)…I'll be the one to protect you from all your demons, I'll be the one to save you from yourself."
–'Pet' by A Perfect Circle
….
RECAP:
Sookie's tears trailed down her face as she started kicking at Eric, "I hate you! I hate you I hate you I hate you!"
"Good," Eric said, bending low enough to meet her eye to eye, "because when I'm done playing with your dog, I'm going to eat you."
Sookie cried out before Eric knocked her unconscious, setting her body down in the old rocking chair on the porch.
Alcide instantly reacted, screaming in rage, "Northman!"
Eric turned to him, beckoning Alcide with a finger, "Come on, puppy."
…
Alcide roared as he threw himself at Eric, tackling him to the ground before Eric had a chance to dodge.
Eric's fangs instinctually lowered as Alcide straddled Eric, one of his fists pulling back and snapping forward, making contact with one of Eric's perfect cheekbones. To Eric, it felt like the werewolf had shattered the bone, which he might very well have accomplished.
Before Alcide could get another good punch in, Eric rolled, managing to catch Alcide off balance enough to snake a long arm around Alcide's thick neck. Eric could feel the tense muscles of the beast below him as he struggled for air.
"What are you waiting for, puppy?" Eric murmured above Alcide's thrashing, "If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to be a big dog."
"No," Alcide managed to gasp, his fingers clawing helplessly at Eric's forearm, "I won't-"
"Oh come on, I even made it convenient for you: a night with a full moon, my blood, a helpless unconscious damsel in distress…" Eric trailed off with a smirk in Sookie's direction, "a delicious damsel in distress that I plan on draining dry as soon as I'm through with you."
The baiting words had done the trick. Perhaps Alcide had been maintaining most of his composure before due to some twisted sense of werewolf pride or honor, but all that was thrown out the window now that Eric had threatened Sookie.
Eric released his hold on Alcide, watching as the werewolf fell to the ground, raking his fingers through the dirt, his back arching and making a popping sound that would surely mean paralysis for a human.
Alcide snapped his head up, his eyes bloodthirsty yellow as his mouth gaped open, revealing dripping sharp teeth.
Alcide let loose an animalistic roar that had Eric's spine tingling.
"Eric."
Eric snapped his head to the side to stare at the apparition of his dead maker.
Godric. Godric again.
Eric hit the ground hard, the very breath knocked from him from the force of Alcide's wolf form slamming him to the ground. Alcide's fangs went for Eric's throat, but using both large hands he managed to pry the werewolf's snapping jaws away from him, his fingers hooked on either side of the wolf's mouth, keeping his jaws from snapping.
Alcide thrashed his head hard, trying to break Eric's hold, but Eric wasn't having any of that.
Perhaps Eric had given the werewolf race too much credit. Even if it was the night of the full moon, Eric's age seemed to have far more leverage in the situation than he originally thought.
Even in his weakened state, even with his mind nearly completely eroded.
Desperate, the large wolf began clawing at Eric's chest, shredding his shirt, his claws digging into his ancient skin, making Eric cringe and hiss.
Fingers still hooked on his jaws, he threw the dog to the side by the neck, the large wolf somersaulting across the lawn with a howling whine.
"Bad dog," Eric murmured, standing up and ripping off what remained of his shirt. Not much.
"Eric."
"You are dead!" Eric screamed, unwilling to look to the side to see his maker's agonized face, "You chose this, not me."
Alcide had righted himself, his eyes glowing in the darkness, a low rumble issuing forth from his chest as he paced, obviously planning his next means of attack. Eric didn't like that Alcide still seemed to be in control of himself, not relying on his base animalistic instinct.
Eric had been born a warrior, so this was nothing but weakness in his ancient eyes.
"Eric, stop this," Godric pleaded from his side, his skin whiter than alabaster in the moonlight. His dark stormy grey eyes were filled with pain and longing.
"Give me a reason," Eric ordered in Swedish, daring to look at the apparition.
"This man is honorable. He has done nothing to deserve this."
Eric's eyes trailed the werewolf, wary, "Not good enough."
With his superior speed, Eric pounced on Alcide, sinking his fangs into the wolf's jugular. The wolf howled in pain, the body below Eric transforming quickly at the man's intense pain.
Well, a naked Alcide was surely something Eric wasn't going to complain about. Besides, the man was good as dead anyway.
"Eric!" Alcide gurgled, pushing at Eric with what was left of his strength, "Stop, please, S-Sookie…"
Eric pulled away, not particularly fond of the wolf's blood, but blood was blood to a starving vampire, "Don't worry, I'll eat her too."
"ERIC, STOP!"
Well, that certainly wasn't Godric's voice. Then again, Eric wasn't sure what was dream or reality anymore.
This was Sookie's property, after all. There was nothing strange about Bill Compton deciding to make an appearance, considering he had probably honed in on Sookie's desperation before she had been knocked unconscious.
"Ah, your heighness," Eric said silkily, still straddling a barely conscious Alcide as he looked to his side to see a formerly dressed Bill Compton and a half-dozen loyal followers. Four smelled human, "What a pleasant surprise."
"I assure you that it is not," Bill said scathingly, gesturing to the porch. The human guards hurried in that direction to attend to a very unconscious and quiet Sookie while Bill and two vampires Eric had never seen before stared daggers at him, "You will begin by removing yourself from that werewolf."
"Self defense, Majesty," Eric said with a crooked grin, wiping his mouth of the excess blood as he stood up from his perch atop Alcide, "Last time I checked, there was no laws prohibiting self defense against others of the supernatural. He attacked me first."
Reading Bill's face, that little detail mattered little to him, especially in regards to the prime fairy pussy that he was so desperate to protect. How pathetic.
"Eric Northman, you are hereby suspended from your position as Sheriff until further notice and will await trial at my estate," Bill said coolly, watching his guards carry Sookie to an unmarked black vehicle not very far away, "If I were you, I would cooperate and pray to whatever it is you believe in that The Authority lets you off with a slap on the wrist and a warning."
Eric's eyes landed on the two vampires accompanying Bill, one male and one female, their black-gloved hands showing long silver chains.
Eric couldn't help but chuckle, "Really, Bill? You can't be serious. If Nan herself were here, she would laugh in your self-righteous, megalomaniac dead face."
"Perhaps, but now that I am King, my judgment is what matters. Unfortunately, your childlike temper tantrum bullshit has now become my bullshit. So, please, won't you enlighten me as to why you saw fit to attack a young HUMAN woman and her werewolf bodyguard amidst one of the most trying times for our kind? If you had succeeded tonight in killing them, I know for certain you would have been meeting the true death by my hand tonight."
Eric approached Bill slowly and stood only a few inches away from him, towering over Bill, his icy eyes challenging, "I have over 900 years on you, Billy boy, not to mention your two cute little toys smell younger than my fucking bar."
"Are you threatening me?" Bill said, exposing his fangs.
"Threatening?" Eric said with a fanged smile, "No, your incompetent Majesty, I'm challenging you."
Eric's fist went straight through Bill's chest, creating a massive crater before he dropped to the ground. Eric had wanted to kill him for a very long time now, and now was as good as a time as any, he supposed. Bill had only been useful in regards to getting information on Sookie, but now it looked like he was useless in that department.
Not to mention Bill simply was just not cut out for Kingship.
Eric quickly disposed of the two useless vampire attendants, removing their heads quickly and viciously.
The human guards were a pain in the ass with their shooting silver-tipped bullets, but they were still human. Eric dealt with them nearly as quickly. Alcide was still breathing although he had apparently passed out. Eric would allow him to live. He might need him later.
He summoned Pam in his mind, all the while ignoring the fact that Godric's presence had disappeared again.
Pam arrived only moments later, taking in the carnage around her with big eyes. It was hard to surprise Pamela, but apparently Eric had managed to do so.
"Eric, what happened? What…" she looked at the three piles of bloody pulp and touched one of them with the tip of one of her blood red stilettos, "Who are they? And why's the dog here?"
"Pam, I need you to listen to me very carefully," Eric said, approaching her and putting his hands on her shoulders, "You challenged the King of Louisiana tonight and won. I'm sure Flannigan will show up at the estate in the next several days, although I doubt she'll be very upset that Bill's gone. Besides, it'll work well to her political agenda to have a woman in charge for once."
"Eric, what are you saying?" Pam said in one of her rare weak moments as she looked at her maker as if she had never seen him before, "I can't become queen! I don't want to! The politics, the formalities, you're not a part of that!"
Eric had turned down multiple offers to be king in different states, even other countries. His age and experience set him apart from most of his kind, but Godric had never raised himself to the position of King, and neither had Eric. He had always been content to be a sheriff, but now that Godric was gone, he saw little reason why he should remain so.
"Exactly, and I vowed I never would be, but Pam, I need you to do this," Eric said, kissing her gently on the forehead, "Please, for me?"
"Eric…"
"You're the only person left that is of any importance to me," Eric said, feeling unusually gentle as he explained to his progeny, "You are strong, smart, and won't be blinded by the agendas of Nan and The Authority. You are ready to be a queen."
"What about you? What are you going to do?" Pam said, bloody tears beginning to run down her face.
Eric thought about Sookie for a moment. Just a moment. The rareness of her blood.
Then he thought about Godric. Always about Godric, and how he kept appearing to him. Was he truly dead? Was he forever damned or in heaven? Was he caught between the worlds?
Maybe it was a stretch. Maybe.
Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe he'd always had the fierce protectiveness over Sookie for a reason. Maybe she was more valuable than he had given her credit for.
Godric had liked her. That had been apparent in their short time together. Sookie had even been with him on the roof in his final moments when Eric had been commanded to remain alive.
Sookie shared a bond with Godric, whether Eric wanted to admit it or not.
Sookie had powers. Mental abilities, magical abilities…
…and a coven had appeared in Shreveport…
Witches. Fairies. Magic. Necromancy.
Eric kissed his progeny on the forehead one more time before approaching the unmarked black van and picking up Sookie, cradling her in his arms like she was a precious china doll.
"Eric? What are you going to do?"
"Get rid of the human bodies. Take Bill's ring as proof of your actions. You will need it to supply evidence to Nan," Eric said, tipping his head in the direction of the unconscious Alcide, "I have taken his blood. I will know where he is. I wish for him to remain alive. We may need him later. Arrange for Cho to watch the bar for the time being."
Pam looked like she was going to fall apart any second, and that was not something Eric was used to seeing. He could tell she was making an effort to remain cool and unaffected, but he knew she loved him too much for that, as a father, a brother, a son, just like Godric had said to him once upon a time.
"Eric, at least tell me where you're going."
He felt the slight weight of Sookie in his arms, shifting her weight.
Witches. Fairies. Magic. Necromancy. Ghosts.
Alabaster skin. Tribal marking tattoos. Molten eyes. Scorching lips.
Then he said, "I'm bringing Godric back."