Layla rubbed her arms, she was beginning to feel chilly in the bar. She wasn't sure if it was the air conditioning or Eric's story. He was explaining to Nan and the authority all the information he had gathered on Russell Edgington and the wolves.

"The Authority will no-" Nan began.

"FUCK the Authority." Eric snapped. Everyone froze and for a moment Layla wondered if he'd forgotten there were cameras watching him. "Russell's words." he explained. "Verbatim."

Nan listened to whatever the Authority said into the bluetooth device in her ear. "This is why he killed the Magister?" she asked.

"No. He killed the Magister because the Magister defied him. He kidnapped Queen Sophie-Anne because she refused him, now if the Authority or the AVL stand in his way, well..." he trailed off. Layla worried at her lip and watched him carefully. Eric being honest was strange to watch. He never seemed totally honest. Not really. That man would always have walls upon walls around him.

"These are treasonous allegations." Nan said, looking almost confused by it all. "Why didn't you report this?"

"I should have." Eric admitted. "But the Authority has existed for only a few hundred years. My history with Russell Edgington goes back nearly a thousand." Layla perked up and paid careful attention. Eric glanced over at her. His eyes said everything. He didn't want her to hear this right now, but he did want her to know. He turned back to Nan."My family was massacred. All of them. By Wolves. I managed to kill one, and I watched him change into a man at the end of my sword. And these wolves, they're the same. Sweden, Germany, here..."Eric paused and then looked directly into the cameras. "With all due respect, I did not report Russell Edgington to you because I want him to die at my own hands. I have waited a thousand years for this."

The cameras swiveled back to Nan. "Yes." she said clearly. "Yes, I understand. I'm flying immediately to Portland. Thank you." she said, disengaging her earpiece.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So I'm stuck here too?" Layla cried once Nan Flanagan had left. She had told them all that the Authority would review the case even though it sounded like complete bullshit. Bullshit? It had been the truth! Vampires thought they were so smart when they couldn't even tell fact from fiction. Probably because they lie so much they can't tell the difference anymore.

"It's not exactly an ideal situation for any of us." Eric gritted. The three of them sat in his office. Eric was holding the crown he had stolen from Mississippi. Two travel coffins had been brought in but dawn wasn't for an hour or two yet.

"So, are they just going to keep us all here until they decide if you've done something wrong or not?" Layla asked.

"That's the idea." Pam said glumly. "Guards are outside, too. Can't even sneak off."

"Fuck." Layla breathed, sinking into a chair. "I left Sookie alone. I should never have come here."

"Why are you here?" Eric asked, annoyed. "You should have stayed with Sookie."

"Yeah, well, we all fuck up sometimes, now don't we?" Layla said caustically, walking out to pilfer a drink from the bar and leaving the Vampires in the office.

Layla stayed out in the bar for a long time, sipping whiskey and trying to figure out a plan for herself. She had even taken a nap, curling up in Eric's throne-like chair onstage and dozing for a few hours. Now that she was awake she was starving. Layla popped behind the bar and grabbed herself a bottle of O negative before walking back towards Eric's office. It was late in the afternoon judging by the clock on the wall. Pam wasn't visible so Layla assumed she had already climbed into one of the travel coffins to get some rest, but Eric was still awake, casually wiping blood away from his nose as he stared down at his desk, deep in thought.

"Do you think that with everything going on you should be keeping your strength up? Why are you still awake?" Layla asked, sitting on the edge of his desk. Eric looked up at her blankly.

"Too much on my mind." he said, glancing at Pam's coffin.

"Is she in danger too?" Layla asked.

"I will not allow her to pay for a crime she had no part in." Eric said in a soft but protective tone. Layla frowned.

"But it's alright for you to pay for a crime you didn't commit? Eric, you didn't kill the Magister. You are a fabulous liar, I give you that, but I know you well enough to know when what you're saying is true." Layla said gently.

"Oh, you do?" Eric asked with the faint trace of a smile lurking around his lips. Layla reached out and covered one of his big, cold hands with her own.

"I'm so sorry about your family, Eric." she said. Eric removed his hand.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. It happened centuries before you were even born, Layla."

"Still, to carry the weight of that-"

"I am not weak." Eric snapped. Layla cocked her head to the side and studied him for a moment.

"I know that." she said quietly. "You are, without a doubt, the strongest man I know. You could probably have carried that and much more for the rest of your existence alone. I'm just saying you don't have to." Layla told him. Eric looked at her.

"The burden is mine alone." he said with a note of finality. "Besides, I doubt it matters anymore."

"I won't let them hurt you." Layla said. Eric laughed quietly.

"Thought you hated me." he said. Layla shrugged.

"I always wind up forgiving you until you give me a new reason to hate you. If you die, I'll just forgive you and then be stuck mourning you, and I don't want to mourn you. So I need to keep you alive so I can keep hating you." Layla explained. Eric laughed quietly, but sadly before taking Layla's hand and kissing it.

"When this ends, I need you to take care of yourself." Eric said.

"When this ends? Eric-"

"Promise me, Layla." he said, tightening his grip. Layla swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and nodded.

"Of course."