A/N – Aaand we have reached the end of this somewhat bumpy and bloody ride. I hope y'all enjoyed it. Feedback, constructive criticism and comments are welcomed. Happy reading.

Part VII

Tara felt as though an elephant were sitting on her chest, pressing her into the ground. The pressure was relentless, ceaseless, unbearable. She tried to move; her body wouldn't listen. It was as though each limb had been laden down with weights, her veins infused with lead and cement that had hardened, stiffened.

The young vampire's body raged with pain and it was so tempting, so easy to slip back into that realm of darkness, of quiet, of peace she had just floated from. The call of unconsciousness was seductive, alluring, its voice husky, smoky with persuasiveness, singing to her senses like a siren's song.

But Tara resisted. She resisted darkness' embrace around her, holding her like one would a lover.

She resisted because the pain she felt throughout her body was nothing compared the pain she felt throbbing from the bond.

The bond.

Pam.

Tara's brows furrowed, teeth clamping down on each other as she forced herself to swim through the thick, viscous fog that seemed hell bent on keeping her encased in this black hole.

Pam. She needed to get to Pam.

Obsidian eyes fluttered, resisted Tara's command to open, her eyelids feeling as though they had the weight of the world sitting on them. Dark brows knitted further, creating a deep groove between her eyes as she pushed against the dark, against the pain, against the god awful pressure pressing against every iota of her body.

She staggered to consciousness, her body screaming with agony on a cellular level, the pain so great that Tara couldn't stop the gasp that escaped unbidden from her throat, the flinch that only made the pain engulfing her body worse.

She sank back against a hard body that seem comprised of lean, sculpted muscles. Long fingers that perched on her shoulders, tightened, steadying her, supporting her.

"That's it," a low alto murmured into her ear, cool lips brushing against its shell. "Good girl."

The voice wasn't Pam's but it was familiar. And so was the scent that accompanied the body she was currently propped up against.

Ice. Salt. Winter.

"E-Eric?"

God, even the sound of her voice hurt, making her head buzz and her eardrums to recoil. Tara burrowed into the body that held her, needing comfort, needing a reprieve from the jaws of pain that wouldn't stop sinking its teeth into every available nerve in her body.

"You're okay," Eric's voice drifted from above her head, his tone lulling, soothing, wrapping Tara in that blanket of comforting and safety she so desperately craved. "You're okay."

A large hand settled on her hair, carding long, lean fingers through the messy, blood-soaked and tangled tresses.

Darkness. It called to her again and Tara felt her control slip as vertigo swept her up in its arms, tilting her equilibrium on its head.

The tattoo of anguish against her breastbone snapped her out of it.

Tara gritted her teeth, hands forming twin fists as she dug her nails into her palms, creating half-moon indents in the flesh below. She forced her eyes to open; they nearly slammed shut involuntarily as light assaulted her pupils, like twin pokers of heat that speared into the depths of her irises.

She pushed against the horrid sensation, forced her eyes to adjust to the light.

And found a pair of sorrow flayed cerulean blue eyes locked onto her.

"Pam…"

Tara tried to push out of Eric's arms, fought to lean forward, to tumble into Pam but she couldn't move, her limbs so heavy, so unresponsive.

A sob escaped her, frustration building and causing that agonizing thrum of pain in her chest to tenfold.

"Easy." Eric's voice was skimming that level of calm, of forced serenity though the worry and concern that fringed his voice ruined his efforts.

The Viking helped Tara to sit up properly, slowing his movements when he realized that every seemingly casual motion induced in his grand progeny a bone-deep flinch that bespoke of unparalleled pain.

"P-Pam?"

Tara wondered why her maker didn't make one move towards her even as she slumped bonelessly, helplessly against Eric's tall frame. She stared at the blonde through blurry eyes, the pain in her body still so overwhelming that even the simple act of using her sight was proving to be a Herculean feat.

Pain-riddled onyx orbs struggled to focus on Pam, the lone act sending a javelin of pain to lance through her brain. But it was her heart that ultimately suffered when her vision finally sharpened, the distorted, rippling edges of Pam's figure solidifying and clearing into an image that immediately rent deep grooves across the soft muscles of her heart.

Pam.

Kneeling in front of her. Motionless. Unblinking.

And her expression? Painful. Like she was in complete and utter agony, sorrow all but leeching out from dull blue-gray eyes.

"Pam." Tara pushed away her pain, forced it all into a box and kicked it into the furthermost corner of her mind.

She shoved away from Eric, ignored how barely regenerated muscles screamed and shrieked out a long note of never ending agony and shuffled forward, one agonizing inch at a time.

"Pam." Shaking hands lifted, her very skin howling with displeasure as Tara forced her arms to rise, her palms to land, to slide, to cup either side of a pale cheek. "Pam."

Pam stared at Tara, those grief-laden Prussian blue eyes empty and blank save for pain and sorrow that marked those blue orbs like a prized possession. The blonde was clearly still in lockdown mode; uncertain of how to act, how to feel.

"Pam." Her maker's name was all Tara seemed capable of saying, though her throat screamed with rage with every forced vibration the young vampire made it conjure in order to verbally say aloud her maker's name. Limber fingers dipped in midnight ached with hurt as they played over smooth, soft snow-kissed skin, urging some semblance of emotion to flicker across Pam's disturbingly vacant face.

"Pamela." It was Eric this time who spoke, sliding out from behind Tara only to reposition himself next to his child. He tenderly touched her blood-matted hair, stroked a lone finger down an incredibly tense back. "She's here," he whispered softly into a crimson stained ear. "Tara's alive."

Tara nodded, aggravating her head in the process as jangles of pain ricocheted against her skull. Dark fingers pressed into soft, alabaster flesh, willing Pam to snap out of her emotionless void. "Please," she husked, her voice sounding to her ears like nails on a chalkboard. There was so much pain flaring through the bond that it almost knocked Tara back into unconsciousness. Pam's pain was like a live entity, wounded, cornered and hurting. It clawed at the walls of the bond, shrieking and howling as it went, fierce echoes of its torture washing down to Tara's end until it all but consumed the younger vampire in its potent madness.

Tara shuddered, eyes bloodying with unshed tears as another noxious pulse of agony slammed into her end of the bond, momentarily robbing her of sight and sound of mind. Shivering, she clamped down on the hurt beating against her breastbone and batted weakly at the fingers of darkness that crept into the corners of her vision. It was a losing battle, Tara knew it, the darkness knew it. The only way she was to emerge victorious was for the pain in her chest to stop. She wanted, needed, the pain in her chest to stop. There was so much pain, too much pain. It hurt. It hurt so much.

Touching the tips of her fingers to Pam's cheek, Tara tried again. "Pam."

Perhaps it was the desperate plea in Tara's voice. Perhaps it was the way Tara stroked her fingers softly, soothingly, lovingly down the sides of her face. Or perhaps it was what Tara projected into the bond:

Warmth. Safety. Reassurance.

Pam suddenly lunged forward, smacking Tara into the craggy wall at her back and eliciting a surprised gasp and pained moan from her progeny that was quickly swallowed when Pam covered Tara's mouth with her own.

The blonde kissed Tara as if her lips meant Pam's life, speaking volumes to the young vampire beneath her with just her mouth, her lips, the act saying more than words ever could.

Tara was in a world of pain, her battered and bruised body, her reeling senses, her very mind not ready for Pam's sensual assault. But it was a pain she welcomed, needed, craved.

Quivering hands wound around Pam's back, pressing the blonde impossibly closer to her even as Pam shoved her painfully up against the stone wall, her mouth plundering hers with an intensity, a desperation that Tara had never before experienced.

It was more than a kiss; it was a brand, a memory, a mark of possession that Tara was meant to carry for the rest of her nights.

The young vampire went lax beneath her maker, every nerve in her body ignited with equal amounts of pleasure and pain, her jaw aching as she fought to reciprocate, to give back to Pam what Pam was currently infusing her cells with:

Promise. The promise of today, tomorrow and all the tomorrows to come.

A choked sob escaped Tara, crimson squeezing out from the corners of her eyes as the bond buckled under the ferocity and intensity of Pam's emotions and pain and bewilderment from Tara's.

At the pained sound, Pam tore her lips away from Tara's, sapphire tinged eyes widening as the last waves of possessiveness and lust ebbed from her lithe frame, retreating to allow her common sense taking over the reins.

"Shit." Pam wrenched her body away, the immediate loss of contact drawing out a displeased keen from her progeny. "I'm sorry, I…"

"Don't you dare apologize," Tara rasped as she sought for Pam's hand, dark fingers wrapping themselves around pale ones the second she found them. She squeezed at her maker's fingers, searched and locked her obsidian gaze onto those disturbingly profound orbs of steel-gray and winter blue. "Hey," she offered quietly.

Pam wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the verbal exchange. She shivered, Tara's fingers squeezing her own helping her body to revive some of that warmth, that heat that had all but been eradicated when she thought Tara dead. "Hey," she echoed softly, her voice no louder than a whisper. She leaned forward then, carefulness and gentleness etched in every motion. She reached out and cupped Tara's cheek, sighing as the young vampire instinctively leaned into her touch. "I thought I lost you," she confessed in a pained tone, her voice breaking under the pressure of too many emotions still raging within her.

"I know." Tara's voice was regretful even as she rubbed her cheek against Pam's palm. "I'm sorry."

"Don't you ever do that to me again." Pam's eyes flashed dangerous blue fire as she glared down at Tara, the blistering gaze a sharp contrast to the way her fingers were playing almost reverently over soft, dark skin. "Please," she added, her accent shifting as her expression once again softened. She leaned forward, brushed her lips gingerly against Tara's, let their mouths linger, fuse before pulling back. "Okay?"

Tara nodded, winded by too much pain pushing through her body, the earth-shattering, soul-defining kiss she just shared with Pam and the blonde's blatant display of naked emotion. "Okay," she agreed over a ragged exhale, her body still in the clutches of a kind of hurt that was almost surreal.

"Let's get you up." Pam slid a trembling hand under Tara's arm; brought Tara's other equally shaking hand to rest on her shoulders.

"Here," Eric offered as he moved to help the pair, having observed the way they both quivered and shook as they attempted to lean on each other.

The feral, vicious snarl that followed Eric's attempt to help was unexpected and so was the hand that Pam harshly snapped out, its lean fingers curling and locking over a pale wrist before boring down on the bones it housed with a kind of fatal pressure designed to caution then break.

"Pam!" Tara's eyes went wide, her expression stunned and appropriately stupefied as she watched the way Pam turned on Eric, the beautiful features of her face contorting into a mask of savage rage as she whirled around to bare her teeth at him. Fangs had dropped, elongating over lips that were pulled back into an ugly warning snarl, growls falling from those lips in rapid succession.

"Pam, stop." Tara yanked at the rigid arm her maker had attached to Eric's wrist but she was too weak to do anything but induce in her body, another agonizing wave of pain. "Stop," she urged her maker, her fingers shifting from tugging to stroking the soft skin of Pam's forearm.

Eric's own sea blue-green eyes were wide, the ocean-tinted orbs belying the barest flicker of hurt and surprise before it winked out, understanding replacing the two emotions that instinctively reared its heads when his own child decided to treat him like the enemy.

The tall Viking raised his free hand in the universal gesture of surrender. "I yield," he informed Pam quietly, submissively, going so far as to bow his head. He understood Pam's impetuous reaction, respected it, knew where it came from.

Few things were ingrained as deeply into vampires as territoriality. It was strong enough toward anyone a vampire considered theirs but practically rabid if one threw love into the mix.*

Tara was Pam's. She was hers. And Eric had encroached onto Pam's territory without permission.

The tall Viking lowered his head further, his body going plaint, blonde head bowed so low that his chin brushed his chest. It was the ultimate posture of submission, one Eric would never bestow upon anyone but Pam.

Pam dropped her maker's arm, cobalt blue eyes eyeing him the way a starved predator would eye its prey. Primal instinct roared at Pam not to lose Eric from her line of sight so she watched as the Viking retreated, wariness in every gaze as she shifted subtly to cover Tara's still sitting body with her own, effectively shielding her progeny from the Viking.

Eric backed up slowly, cautiously, both hands now held out in front of him, sea blue-green eyes never leaving Pam's.

Pam in turn observed each measured step Eric took, her entire lithe frame organic steel and so very tense. She relaxed a fraction, sapphire-blue eyes losing some of its heat when the distance Eric put between him and Pam and Tara was deemed appropriate in the blonde's mind.

"Jesus, Pam, it's just Eric," Tara supplied, astonishment coloring her tone. She returned to tugging at Pam's arm, waited until the blonde turned to look at her then reached up to cup Pam's face. "It's okay," she assured her maker quietly. "It's okay."

Pam struggled through the thick red haze clouding her vision, drawing strength and reason from the soothing touches Tara's fingers were bestowing upon her cheek. She shook her head, retracted her fangs then leaned forward until their foreheads met. She inhaled her progeny's scent, easily picking up the unique bouquet of cloves and musk hiding beneath the stink of blood and death. One hand lifted, hovered, hesitated then alighted with aching gentleness on the swell of Tara's left breast, right over the spot where the bond hummed, a low buzz that tickled against a pale palm.

"Tara…"

"I'm right here," Tara whispered as she tilted her head and pressed her lips against Pam's, her own shaking hand reaching up to cover the hand Pam had on her chest. She added minute pressure, trembled when alabaster fingers splayed over the ruined cotton material of her top. "I'm here."

Pam nodded though she wouldn't stop sucking in deep breaths of Tara's scent, the hand on the young vampire's chest greedy as it nestled its palm possessively over the slight tattoo emanating from the bond. It was as though she were trying to infuse the aroma of musk and cloves into her pores, drawing in her progeny's scent until it melded with her very DNA, her hand trying to memorize the steady rhythm of notes beating quietly against the confines of dark skin.

"We have to go." Eric's voice was contrite, purposefully non-antagonistic as he watched his child reaffirm and reacquaint herself with her own progeny. He knew Pam needed the closeness, needed the tactile contact but he could only afford the newly reunited couple only so much time. Bill was still lurking around the Authority's headquarters and dawn was but an hour away. Their window of escape was closing and it was closing fast.

"Pamela," he tried again when Pam began purposefully mapping out the features of Tara's face with her fingers, each brush of her fingertips reverent, devout.

"We need to go," Tara echoed her grand maker's sentiments. She brushed her lips against Pam's one more time, soaked up the blonde's aroma of lavender and honeysuckle and vanilla before pulling back, wincing as her body once again howled with pain. "Help me up?"

Pam didn't stop the pout or flash of disappointment that chased itself across the striking features of her face. She surged forward to capture Tara's lips one more time then turned her head to nuzzle her nose into the hollow of a dark cheek before reluctantly pulling back; stark displeasure stamped across her face at the interruption.

"You're pouting." Tara didn't know to be amused or amazed, her face flickering between the two expressions as she stared dreamily up at her maker.

Pam scowled but wrapped her arms around Tara gingerly, carefully, before she stood, cradling the young vampire protectively against her chest.

"Hey, I can walk," Tara protested as she made a feeble push against Pam's shoulder before her hand went limp and boneless. "God, everything hurts," she mumbled, defeating clanging against her stalwart Southern drawl. Her body felt like one big bruise, unhealed wounds still littering and marring almost every inch of her skin. She went slack against her maker, her body starved of resources to object Pam's sudden display and need for chivalry.

"You need to conserve your energy," Pam informed her as she shifted Tara's weight more securely in her arms. Unable to resist, she ghosted a kiss across Tara's cheek, an affectionate smile tugging at her lips when Tara sank further into her arms, tucking her head against her shoulder.

"This way," Eric spoke up, loathing to disturb the quiet moment between his progeny and his progeny's child but they really had to go. He kept a wide berth between himself and Pam and Tara, not wanting to set off Pam's protective streak that seemed to be on a hair's trigger.

Pam followed Eric's slightly hunched back down the tunnel, blue eyes cautious and wary as they scanned her surrounding with a hawk-like intensity. In her arms, Tara seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, her slight weight sagging heavily against her arms though Pam had no trouble carrying her. She pulled her progeny closer to her chest, relishing the contact even as her senses were on high alert.

Relief almost caused her muscles to jelly and her knees to knock together as the trio finally emerged from the bowels of the Authority, moonlight greeting them with a warm silver-white bath of gentle light. A faintly salty, grassy breezed danced around Pam, lifting strands of blood-soaked hair and momentarily chasing away the lingering reek of blood and death.

"Tara!"

A warning growl escaped Pam as Sookie ran towards them only to be halted by Eric. Pam didn't bother tuning in to her maker and the half-fairy's brief exchange, too busy holding Tara impossibly closer to her even as dangerous growls spouted from her lips, causing her chest to vibrate.

"Easy," Tara murmured, reaching up with an exhausted hand to stroke the soft skin of Pam's neck. "It's just Sookie."

Pam tried to curb the almost feral protectiveness that Tara brought out in her but the fear of losing the young vampire was still too fresh, too recent for her to properly keep her emotions in check.

"Pamela." Eric motioned to the van that his sister had conveniently parked nearby, Jessica and Jason already sequestered inside.

Pam kept everyone within her line of sight as she carried Tara towards the van, pewter blue eyes warning everybody to keep their distance. When she reached the side of the van, she barely restrained the instinctive urge to backhand Jessica who all but leapt out, wrapping them both in a fierce and urgent hug, relief thundering through her so hard that her body quaked.

"Jessica, let them go," Eric's commanding tone floated over to the trio, worry tingeing the corners of his eyes as he watched Pam's face darken with barely concealed rage. When he saw the tips of his child's fangs peek out from her upper lip, he blurred over, pulling Jessica bodily away from the blonde. "Don't go near them for a while," he instructed the redhead.

"But..."

"Jessica, this isn't the time to argue," Eric barked impatiently. "Get in the van, take a seat away from Pam and Tara and make sure Jason stays away from them too." He knew that while Pam exercised great restraint from staking the young redhead, she would absolutely have no qualms about ripping Jason's head from his shoulders should he make one move towards Tara.

If anyone thought Eric to be exaggerating, all they would have to do to seek confirmation was to look into Pam's eyes. Sapphire orbs were currently savage, almost luminous with rage as they glared at the rag-tag group of vampires, human and half-fairy. Pale fingers tightened minutely on their quarry, the blonde almost trembling with bloodlust even as she tried to angle Tara away from the people in front of her.

Jessica, mouth half open to allow a protest to fall from her lips, stopped cold when she saw the murderous look on Pam's face. The redhead gulped, Pam's wrath feeling like a thousand burning suns against her skin. She closed her mouth, nodded in surrender then disappeared inside of the van, making sure to pick a seat close to the front.

If Pam knew she was being irrational, she didn't show it, didn't care. A deep-seated feeling of protectiveness was currently embedded in her cells, telling her that Tara wasn't to be touched, to be approached. By anyone or anything. Pale arms smudged with blood drew the package in her arms closer to her stiff body, steel-blue eyes little more than narrowed slits and flat with warning as Pam froze where she stood, daring anyone to come closer.

When no more threats to Tara came, Pam waited until everybody was seated before she climbed in the van with Tara, swiftly bypassing Jessica, Sookie and Jason until she was at the back. She dropped into a seat, settling Tara between her thighs.

"You're scaring everyone," Tara mumbled incoherently, feeling her maker's anger, protectiveness and feral, rabid intensity to lay claim on what was hers blister a scorching path down the bond. She snuggled into Pam, the lack of blood, the coming of dawn and all that she went through rendering her body to absolute exhaustion. "Be calm."

"I'll be calm when we get the fuck out of here," Pam snapped. Then her expression softened when Tara sighed and nuzzled her cheek against her ruined corset, seemingly have no cognizance of her needy actions. She reached up, cupped the back of Tara's head then bent to press her lips into Tara's hair. "Sleep," she murmured. "I've got you."

"You promise?" There was a childlike quality in Tara's tone, her onyx stained eyes, though marred with exhaustion, trained onto deep pools of sapphire, seeking needing to soak up the beautiful vision that was her maker.

"With all that I am," Pam replied quietly, pressing another kiss to the top of Tara's head, her fingers gently moving over the back of her progeny's neck in a soothing massage. "Sleep."

Tara fought against the pull of sleep for scant seconds, not wanting to look away from Pam just yet. But it was a losing battle, one the young vampire had no reserves left to fight. Giving in, Tara yawned, pressed closer to her maker then allowed darkness to creep across her vision and sleep to pull her under.

As the van pulled out of the Authority compound and Tara's end of the bond began trickling waves of contentment and peace into Pam, the blonde relaxed her shoulders, allowing herself to sink back against the seat. She held Tara to her, unable, unwilling to relinquish the contact. Blue eyes were contemplative, tired, as they wandered to the window, where the outside scenery was all but a blur as Eric sped down the road, urgency and anxiety in every jerk of the wheel.

Pam didn't know what was going to happen in the near future, didn't know exactly what happened in the Authority with regards to Bill but for now, she didn't care. In that very moment, holding her child in her arms, all that mattered to her was that Tara was safe. She was safe and alive and she was with Pam.

And for now, that was all that mattered.

THE END

A/N 2 - * Quote is from Jeaniene Frost, author of the Cat and Bones book series. I tried to paraphrase but it ruined the effect and deep meaning of the quote so I decided to keep it intact instead. Just letting y'all know, the awesome quote is not mine but I thought it related to Pam and Tara pretty damn well.