Note*** is armed with caffeine and sugar! Might try to wrap this sucker up today! Shiny penny for anyone who notices the hopelessly overt 'spin off' hint I've thrown in for a new set of stories I'm not sure I'm even writing yet LoL
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Staying close proved easier said than done. Eric's reach with his long sword was unbelievable and Sookie found herself constantly ducking and weaving around him, trying to keep out of his way. Off to her right, Bo and a vampire she didn't recognise had taken positions in the phalanx, plugging a hole she supposed was made by dead defenders... Bo had lost the Axe somewhere and instead had snapped two silver tipped ends off the spare sarissa and was wielding them to devastating effect.
"SOOKIE!" She heard Jason yell, and when she glanced back he was stripped to the waist and sweating profusely, pushing a wheelbarrow full of Molotov cocktails.
Sookie glanced up at Eric who nodded, "go," and then she was running back to Jason.
The blowtorch that had be used to set off the initial explosions was lit and tied tightly to one of the arms of the wheel barrow. Jason grabbed a bottle, dipped the rag that hung from it into the flame and threw it over the heads of the hoplites and into the enemy army. Sookie followed his example as best she could, and though her range wasn't as good, she could get them far enough out that they were making a difference.
"I dunno if this is gunna work, Sook," Jason gasped, out of breath, though he continued to lob his burning bottles at an impressive rate. "You'd asked me this mornin' I'da said I had enough o' this shit to last forever, but we're startin' to run pretty damn low."
"Fuck," she hissed as the line surged forward. "I can't throw that far. You'll have to do it."
Bill had recovered enough to move forward, past the riflemen on cars, to where Jason and Sookie stood by their dwindling supply of incendiaries. His eyes were sad, his face still streaked with blood, but he reached out and took a bottle from the pile, aimed carefully and threw it as hard as he could, hitting Edgington's limo and lighting up like an Autumn bonfire.
"Compton! You fool! Now I will kill you and take her anyway!" The King screamed, looking in horror at his burning car.
Bill looked at Sookie sadly and she reached out and patted his arm. "Thank you," she breathed, and Bill took the opportunity to step in closer.
Things might have ended very differently had Sookie not heard a snarly, vicious voice in her head so clearly that it drowned out everything else. Think you're a big fuckin' vampire sheriff, I'mma bite you're fuckin' throat out! She scrambled for the vial at her throat as Bill looked on confused. She spun and screamed "ERIC GET DOWN!"
The Viking didn't even look around, he heard her voice and half a heartbeat later he was flat to the concrete as a werewolf sailed through the space that used to be occupied by his head and shoulders. Bill watched in horror, realising too late what it was Sookie was drinking as she threw the empty vial aside and ran.
Eric rolled smoothly to the side and came up with his sword held ready, but the wolf had changed into a howling, naked man and had closed the distance between them. One powerful shoulder shoved Eric's sword aside and the two began to wrestle madly. "Sook!" Jason had half a lance and he threw it to her as she ran, her newly improved reflexes allowing her to catch it without stopping. Bill could only look on sadly as she copied a move she'd seen Bo perform earlier. Just before she reached them, she spun, hard, bringing the silver tipped spear around and connecting with the naked man's side sending him spinning to the ground. "That is mine!" She screamed. Eric plucked the spear from her hands, careful of its dangerous point, and drove it through the stunned man's body.
When he turned back to her she was trembling violently, her hands clenched at her sides and her eyes wide. He took two quick steps to close the distance between then and grabbed the back of her neck, kissing her hungrily. "Yours," he hissed against her lips, and Sookie's knees nearly gave out at the sound of it. How could he sound like that? Her mind flashed in V-propelled madness through all the times she could remember saying she was Bill's. The shy, submissiveness in the way she'd said it, the guilty little turn of her face and the way she couldn't meet anyone's eyes as the words left her lips.
Eric didn't sound submissive at all! Jesus, he sounded strong and proud and powerful, as though to him there was nothing weak at all about that word, about the surrender it implied or the rules it set.
"Seriously, Brother!" Bo's breathless voice interrupt them, "You're doing that now? For God's sake, kill now, fuck later, OK?" She'd already sent two or three would-be attackers spinning painfully to the pavement, defending their moment of stupid mid-battle passion.
Sookie could see and hear everything, it was like all her life she'd needed glasses and a hearing aid and this was how she was meant to experience the world! She pulled Eric's knife from her belt and yanked its twin from the sheath at the small of Eric's back and screamed her defiance at no one and everyone. The whole world that'd always thought she was weird or odd or ownable.
"I can see why you like her though," Bo had managed to recover her axe from the spine of a werewolf at some point, though the head was looking somewhat the worse for wear. She heaved her shoulders up and down, sucking in massive breaths and hissing them out along with deep, rumbling words that Sookie couldn't understand.
Eric lent down and whispered to her, "She's reciting the names of her war gods... for strength," he told her.
Sookie wished she had war gods to call on.
"HOLD!" Up on the roof of the jewellers, the magister lent on his cane with Nan Flanagan standing next to him, her hands set on her hips and her face twisted in anger and consternation. "What the fuck! Russell Edgington, you will explain yourself. NOW!" She bellowed.
"Oh it's about fuckin' time." Jason gasped, dropping his arm and pulling the burning rag out of the bottle he was holing and tossing it aside. Then Isabel was beside him, one finger firmly on his lips. She made a curt nod towards the bank, where the other friendly vampires were carefully herding the humans. "What's goin' on?" He asked quietly, moving in the direction she pointed.
"The magister will have brought his own forces... to dispel the rabble. Flanagan might have as well... we want all the humans safely out of harms way. They do not know you..." She smiled at him gently, "we do not want any mistakes..."
With everyone safely inside the bank or pressed in tight to the courtyard, the remaining friendly vampires closed ranks around them. The move wasn't lost on Flanagan, nor was the fact that there was a news helicopter flying over the area in great sweeps, no doubt with HD camera's. The magister tried to assert his authority, but Flanagan was having none of it. This could either be the incident that saved them, or the one that pulled them under and she wasn't leaving things to an angry little bald man with control issues.
"Take Russell Edgington into custody and remove his teeth," Flanagan said flatly.
"You can't do that!" Edgington bellowed.
"You're on candid camera, you moron. You've moved against a human population, without provocation and you've destroyed an entire town! I am about to make a phone call, and when that phone call is done, I imagine my instructions will be to let you watch the sunrise!" With no lag at all, she was standing in front of Eric, an exasperated look on her face. "And as for you... explain yourself."
Eric opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted from behind. "The Sheriff of area five has established a close relationship with the humans of my kingdom," Sophie was dressed in white linen with airy, stainless steel chain mail over it which looked completely useless. "When it became apparent that Russell was not only providing blood to his werewolves, but as a narcotic to the population at large, I instructed Eric to make enquiries." Her face was calm, cool... there was no hint at all that her entire existence now hinged on Eric backing her... "It was then that the magister, no doubt being manipulated by Russell, began trying to prove Eric's involvement. I believe this invasion was a last resort to protect himself..."
Nan Flanagan had a raised eyebrow and she glanced at Eric, who ducked his head in acknowledgement, his mind spinning a mile a minute. He could turn on her, true, but he wasn't next in line to take the throne, no matter how impressive this little spectacle had been. Disagree and he could end up with a monarch he couldn't deal with, but if he let Sophie have the glory, he ensured his position was unassailable and that he could keep her under control with the threat of relieving the truth.
"You're really letting her take credit for this?" Flanagan asked flatly, her eyes killing off any protest.
"She is my Queen," Eric said carefully. "I respectfully ask at this time that you enquire into the safety of my child... Pam. The magister was holding her as collateral to ensure my cooperation."
Nan snapped her fingers and a lackey vampire appeared at her side. "Fetch Pamela from whatever hole the magister stuck her in. Feed her and ensure her safe return to fangtasia... Also, let the magister know that we will be having a discussion about the appropriateness of taking hostages from our own community simply because he can't do his job efficiently..." Nan looked at the vampires, guarding the bank. "What's happening here?"
"We knew you would have forces of your own, who might not be fully aware of the situation," Bo said from behind her and Nan turned, wide eyed, "it was agreed that should you arrive, the humans would retreat to the bank and we would protect them from any... unfortunate accidents which might leave this situation without witnesses..."
"What're you doing here?" Flanagan demanded.
"I have no official position higher than Sheriff, I'm simply here to help my brother," She smiled, leaning casually against an unbroken sarissa. "Of course... unofficially, it may be of great interest to some, living in my area, exactly what happened here and how it was handled."
"Understood. You two," she gestured to Eric and Sookie, "I want you both cleaned up and presentable first thing tomorrow night. You'll be being interviewed for every network I can get my hands on. We have to put a lid on this before it blows up in our faces."
"You might be interested to know that the security camera's outside the bank, post office and jewellery store have been recording for the last twenty four hours..." Bo said smugly. "You might also be interested in providing a bit of a clean up... as a gesture of gratitude for the heroism of this little town."
Nan's eyes were flaring but she nodded curtly. "The bodies will be dealt with by sunrise. If you'll excuse me, I need to torture Russell Edgington."
Over at the bank, what was left of the phalanx were in the process of pairing up, looping their sarissa together with the white belts of their uniforms, and fashioning makeshift litters for the injured and the dead. Of the original sixty three, only forty odd remained and Terry, Jason, Andy and Sam, hurried to help them.
"Doctor's already settin' up in the surgery... most folks actually look OK but... we lost a couple..." Jason said softly, pausing in front of Sookie, Hoyt was lying on the litter with an impressive gash across his chest, but it wasn't deep. "We gotta get movin'... Sam said everyone aughtta head over to the bar, what can. Folk's gotta unwind."
"Yeah..." Sookie reached up and touched Hoyt's face gently, "You hang in there, right?"
"Mmmm," he managed through clenched teeth.
A small group of vampires had gathered around Bo and were talking softly. In the end she nodded and they hurried away towards to surgery. Bo put an arm around Sookie's shoulder, "Anyone that needs it will be offered... alternative healing." She said delicately. "One time only, and only a few drops... but it should be enough to ensure we don't lose anyone else."
"Thank you,"
"Is that entirely wise," Eric asked carefully, "considering what got us into this situation in the first place."
Bo laughed, "You forget, Viking... people tend to like me a lot more than they like you." She winked at Sookie, "Also I'm scarier than you are."
