***Correction to Chapter 4 ****

Bubba's statement to Sookie should end in a period "." not a question mark "?"

It should read: "He loves you a whole lot too you know; as much as you love him."

Sorry for the typo. Now back to our story.

We flew to a vacant three storied building that seemed to almost take up the entire city block. There were no guards outside so our entrance was relatively uneventful. We moved towards the stairs and descended to the lower floors. I checked for brains and informed Eric of the count of weres and vampire brain voids, so we knew more or less what to expect.

Bubba was true to his word. He never left my side. I clutched my hand into my pocket to keep the little green (glowing) bottle tucked tightly and prayed as we moved from one floor to the next. There were three other levels below ground.

When we met the first group of Bill's captors I looked towards Eric. He was in his element; he was carrying the biggest sword I'd ever seen. He was smiling and his moves seemed as if he was dancing with his sword as he cut down one vamp and moved to the other. I could feel his bloodlust through our bond, but I could also feel his sadness and love.

For the first time, I could feel his love for me with such clarity, it was heartbreaking, it was comparable to what I'd felt for him but it paled to what I felt for Bill.

Pam was fighting some were when another jumped behind her, I pushed Bubba and pointed him in the direction of Pam. At first he hesitated but with one look from me he sat me in a corner and jumped on the other were and broke his neck in a flash. He was at my side in an instant and brought his index finger to his mouth in a 'hush, that's our secret' motion and winked his right eye at me. I had never noticed his eyes were green before.

We kept moving at that vampire speed as the others followed us, seems Bubba was the one that was going to smell Bill out – I just didn't know how. We finally reached a huge and long hallway somewhere in the basement and vamps and weres flew out from different rooms all hell bent on killing all of us.

Eric flew by and in a flash, Pam and Clancy were in front of me with my two guards now joining the attacking gang. All I could think was 'thank God I convinced Eric to bring me along or I'd be a gonner.' Apparently he thought the same as he turned to me and then went straight for my former guards.

The first one he cut from navel to throat before swinging the sword and cutting off his head. The second one he ripped into pieces with his bare hands; only time I'd seen that before was in my dreams when Bill killed off his captors. I shuddered in fear.

Then I felt it again, that heart searing pain that threatened to kill me. It latched itself to my heart and wouldn't let go. I let out another moon piercing scream. Everyone fell to the floor covering their ears, except for Bubba and me.

Bubba moved towards a closed door at the end of the hallway and kicked it in. I felt all my breath leave my body and was about to pass out when Eric flew to my side and whispered "not yet, go find him first, tell him you love him, only then can you die." My eyes flew open and we rushed in.

I looked around us but couldn't see Bill. It was too dark for my human eyes, but I could feel him in my heart. I felt his restlessness as he became aware of me.

Bubba moved me in another direction and whispered before letting go of me, "you can find him, you can feel him, you can see him if you love him." And, just like that, I felt Bill and saw him in the farthest corner of the big room tied in silver chains just like in my dreams; but now I knew what was coming and was prepared.

One of his captors was hiding somewhere behind me ready to grab me or kill me, another was ready to strike Bill with a large knife of some kind, while another was to the side with a stake in his hands. As the knife flung down on Bill, I called out his name and his head shot up to see me and all my bruises plus the (new) cut I received identical to the one he'd received.

Blood spilled out from my lips and as they struck Bill again, he clearly saw a new bruise developed over my left cheek – a bruise just like his. I felt his bloodlust, I felt the strength he used to pull the silver chains from the walls. I felt everything he felt, every move he made and the savagery of the killings that raged in him were also my own.

Eric was standing to my right, he wanted to touch me the moment he saw the blood spilling from my mouth, his eyes were brimming with tears as Pam and Paul held him back. He let out an agonizing growl. Bill turned to him and was piercing him with his rage-filled eyes, ready to strike him dead where he stood but, I moved in front of Eric and called out to Bill changing the focus of his eyes.

"Bill," it was all I could say and kept repeating it as I fell to the ground, he kneeled down next to me.

"Sweetheart? My darling? What have I done? I've killed you, I've killed you," he kept repeating those words as he took me in his arms.

I looked him in his eyes and told him with all the strength my heart could let me muster, "I love you, I've always loved you. I'm sorry please forgive me as I've forgiven you."

Bill's eyes were red with his tears and in the sweetest most loving voice I heard him say, "Oh my darling, you are my life, I love you, forgive me, forgive me, forgive me. I will die without you. Your love saved me. Don't leave me. I have nothing to forgive you, your love is all I need. Please stay with me. Please, don't leave me. I love you."

He tried to bite down on his wrist to feed me his blood but I knew that in his weakened state he would die if he did. I shook my head no and told him "you will die if I drink from you," and he said, "I'll gladly die to save you. I will die if you leave me." But I wouldn't let him bite himself.

He shouted to the heavens and let out a growl that shook the room. Everything went into slow motion after that.

I took the green glowing bottle out of my pocket and told him to drink some. My body was getting cold and I watched as Bubba and those green eyes walked over to us. He looked down at me and I heard him tell Bill, "she must drink too or she will surely die. Forgive her and love her true or she will die."

Bill brought the little bottle to my mouth and poured in its remaining content. I tried to swallow but had no strength left, I just couldn't do it.

"Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her, kiss her, …, kiss her" where was that coming from. It seemed to be the song of angels circling the room. No, not angels, fae. Fae were circling the room, I thought.

I looked at Bubba as he pushed Bill's head down to kiss me. He winked and brought his finger up to his mouth again in that "hush, it is our secret" move again. That's when I knew and said "grandfather?" just as Bill's mouth covered mine.

Bill's kiss tasted of his immense love for me. It tasted of his sorrows, his regrets and his fear of my death. It tasted of his willingness to die along with me. It tasted of him, My Bill. My Love…

I lost all consciousness of time, space and place. And then everything went black.

TBC