Hi! I thought I owed y-all! :) I've worked long overtime (!) to produce the next chapter... I'm not sure how long we have left - only another one or two chapters! I hope you all liked my first story.
Sorry to all you blood-thirsty Bill-haters (:P I'm kinda with you!)... I can't write gore! I hope you like this anyways!

I have't mentioned it in a long time, so I'll just say it again (cover myself): I don't own anything (except Jökull) - everything belongs to Charlaine Haris! She's a fantastic writer - perhaps the most interesting vampire novel I've read (beats Stoker easily... too long to read :) ). Anyways, it's gone midnight, so I'm going to bed! Hope you like this!

Brotherly Love
Chapter 13: Our Father

With one final glance at the house filled with so many memories, the good still outweighing the bad, I stumbled into the forest... and landed on the dirty floor. I'm pushing myself too hard – even with vampire blood I'm not fit for this mission. But I shrug the pain off and put it to a dark corner of my mind. I follow the trail, worn by my many trips to and from Bill's during our relationship. It was dark under the trees and the fall air was thick with the smell of the forest. I could hear the nocturnal animals scurrying around, fleeing from the clunking human staggering through the forest (amazing since my heart was beating so loudly in my ears).

My house wasn't far from Bill's, but it seemed to take forever, especially with my fear that Jökull would return at any minute to finish me off. But eventually I could see the first of the gravestones that marked the final resting place of Bon Temps oldest residents. This was a place of great peace to me – I was never phased by the proximity to the dead (one reason why a vampire boyfriend worked for me). I used to come out here when I was angry or sad, and no-one would bother me. Gran was the only one who visited regularly, to talk with her old friends, and she was the only one who knew where to find me. Gran was closer to me than anyone, even my own mother. And I miss her. Perhaps I'll be with her soon... only the Lord can know.

That's all it took for me to stay panicking about my immortal soul. I'm not a pious woman, by any stretch of the imagination, but I try to be a good Christian woman. But I've committed some terrible deeds in my short life, and I haven't attended church anywhere near as often as I might have. Immediately I started running through the Lord's Prayer, and I repeated it several times, interspersing it with requests for forgiveness, as I crossed the graveyard.

'Our Father, Who are in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name..."

"Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name..."

That carried me to the open door of Bill's beautiful home without me noticing anything, but what I saw immediately wiped it from my memory. There were ashes on the floor... ashes covered in clothes. A dead vampire.

Eric's POV:

"That fucking traitor" I stormed quietly to Pam. She looked at me as if to say 'I-told-you-so-but-you-never-listen-to-me-I'm-going-to-remind-you-of-this-for-the-next-century' – she's great with her expressions.

With all of my still heart, I wanted to charge into the house and slaughter everyone I met until I found Bill, and I could torture him. But I knew that was a stupid attitude – I'd only end up getting myself killed. With only Pam and myself, I'd have to be smart. Not really a problem – you don't become Sherriff without being cunning. It was just a matter of being smarter than those inside the house.

I sent Pam around, to see if she could find a good entry point while I moved to the edge of the house (keeping to the shadows) and peeked into the window.

The traitor's sitting there, surrounded by my brother's enforcers, but without chains or any force. He is actually fucking LAUGHING! I'm grateful I'm not human, because my blood pressure would be causing me serious problems right now.

I managed to resist the urge to jump through the window like some bad action-movie hero and beat the shit out of him. Instead, I bottled my anger inside me, and moved on to find Pam. Bill would pay, and soon.

Vampiric hearing is a double-edge sword – it had helped me so much over the centuries, but it makes it almost impossible to sneak up on my enemies. However, Bill was too self-secure – the geek didn't truly understand the dangers that could sneak into his home. And I'm certainly not the biggest danger. But I'm dangerous enough.

And his hubris had let me sneak into his house, using a serious of weak windows (he's a vampire, why does he need opening windows?) and useless locks. Pam's skills extend far beyond the fashion world – she's come far from her uptight Victorian-lady days. Together, we managed to find ourselves upstairs, listening to the idiots moving downstairs. My house is secured with motion sensors, cameras, pressure pads and many other things that even Vampires can't evade. Bill is too trusting, and too proud of his strength – no matter how strong you are, there's always someone stronger than you. That philosophy, drummed into me by my Viking Father in an effort to toughen me up (he usually ended it with 'and if you don't beat them, I'll drown you myself' but that only scared me when I was a child) has kept me alive long after my people have passed.

As much as I'd love a weapon, something to overcome the weakness I'm feeling, I know that I'd find nothing around here. Bill's most dangerous weapon would probably be a Compact disk... My own strength will have to do.

I listened for any pattern to the walking, but evidently there was no guard or any regularity. So we'd have to 'wing' it. Pam and I waited until someone passed close to the stairs, someone who wasn't talking, and we practically flew down the stairs and together decapitated the Swedish bastard we found. I patted him down and was rewarded with the simplest object, but one of the most symbolic in the entire supernatural world... a wooden Stake (damn Buffy).

If wield with vampiric strength, this would be sufficient to kill a vampire.

Pam proved herself, once again, the best child I could hope for... she killed no less than 3 vampires in rapid succession while I dealt with the other 2 (She will rib me for years about this). Even for other vampires, killing vampires is very difficult. But they didn't expect it – the element of surprise can be worth more than backup. But none of them were Jökull or Bill – the two I wanted to get my hands on.

"Where the fuck is he?" I practically screamed at Pam. We had only a few hours before dawn.

"Perhaps he's gone back to his crypt", Pam really knows how to annoy me, which she uses to her advantage.

"Where's that then?" I asked coldly. I've never been to his house, and most vampires keep their daytime resting place secret anyway.

"I may be blond... but I'm not as naïve as young Sookie," she retorted and I resisted the urge to stake her myself, "I know how people operate". She smiled and walked into the main hallway. Just beside a hideous picture that was probably 'modern art', she pressed on a secret panel and the ersatz-wall slid back to reveal a light proof room.

"Fucking geek, why can't he stick with a normal door?" I asked her quietly. No doubt Bill thought he was safe, but no reason to give time to prepare a defence. I counted to three, and we moved together, pulled on the cast-iron ring set in the floor and opened the door set in the floor.

Bill's eyes immediately snapped open and he began to reach up to lift himself up, but I was faster. I grabbed his arms and dragged him up. Pam caught him about his waist and helped me. Together, we moved him into the corridor, away from any possible secret defences he might have set up. The practical mind considers everything.

As soon as I had him secure, I knelt on his chest and Pam held him down. Immediately, I began the torture, pulling off his fingers - one at a time. I was weakened, but Bill was no match with me, especially not with Pam helping.

"WHY DID YOU FUCKING DO IT?" I began punching his face – for no reason (it was having no effect) except to vent my anger.

"You took her from me – if I can't have her, no-one can". I have ancient Viking Berserker blood in me – and that has remained through the past millennium, and it boiled up now. I went far beyond seeing red, I saw black. When my vision returned, I was sitting on a slowly transmuting vampire – he was returning to dust. Pam gave me a shocked look – obviously I went violent. But he's dead now, that's all that matters.

Pam and I left – Sookie wasn't here, so we needed to help her. Jökull can't have many others with him – Sophie-Anne takes 3 guards, and she's overcautious. We can handle him – as soon as we feed. I need human blood if I want to start healing properly, so I had to start drinking... soon.