Updating again? Just a couple of days after last chapter? Yes, because I'm leaving to Dublin tonight for the week and I didn't want to have you guys waiting too long for this chapter! My soccer team FC Porto is on the UEFA Europe Cup Final (we also won our National League Championship) and I actually took a week off work so I could be there to watch the game live - we're really soccer-obsessed here in Europe (and so am I...). But now, after paying for the air plane+game tickets, I'm just hoping that they don't lose the match! :)

Anyway, here's chapter 17. I hope you'll like this chapter and give me some feedback. ~Célia

Eric "I'll Be There for You"

Somehow, and I don't know why, Pam thought that I might meet the sun or something because of Sookie's pregnancy. Well, that had been a hard blow, for sure, but not one that would make me forget the privilege that's being… me. I just… I just had to leave that night. And so I left Pam, after she told me the news, because I really needed to be alone. I had to think. And I had to take Sookie out of my mind. Once and for all.

Being immortal gives us, vampires, lots of time. And when you have infinite time, you become a very patient being. And you know that eventually, and with time, the circumstances change. And if they've changed against you in the past, chances are, they'll change in your favor in the future. So, even though I had closed the bond and had been with Natércia for quite some time, deep down, I was still just waiting for Sookie to chance her mind.

"I will not follow you. I will only hope that you'll come back." That had been my promise that night when Sookie left me. And I, unknowingly (even to me), was still waiting and hoping that she'd come back. But Sookie's child would change that. I had been a father when I was alive. And I still kind of was, with Pam. And I knew that kids change all. Sookie's priorities would change and would revolve around the child. She would not come back to Louisiana. Not anymore. Sookie would not come back to me. And so I needed to leave. So I could make myself understand this new reality.

I was not trying to kill myself. For fuck's sake: I was a vampire. A 1000-year old vampire. But Pam thought so, and she even made Sookie call me to beg me to stay safe. I almost laughed at her words. The irony. I would never meet the sun by my own hands, but Sookie (who was then asking me to be safe), had almost made me wish for death with her absence. Either way, I told her that I'd be alright and I kept trying to remove her from my thoughts.

Almost two months later, Pam entered my office with an "I have something to tell you" face. And she did. She told me that Sookie was back to Bon Temps to tell her friends about her baby.

"I'll meet her in Monroe tomorrow. That is… if you don't mind." She said.

"Not at all. Just don't come in here smelling like her, that's all." Pam nodded and kept looking at me. I unnecessarily breathed deeply and added: "And besides, I actually want you to meet her so you can tell her that I'm doing just fine. I don't want her worrying about me. Our relationship is no more, so we must sever all ties between us. And that includes her unsubstantiated worry about me."

The way I said "unsubstantiated" told Pam what I thought about her fears a few weeks before. And Pam, thank the Gods, just nodded again and left without further commentaries. And I stayed here, trying to figure out, how in hell had all that happened to me. How did I, Eric Northman, felt for a girl that way? I really had to forget Sookie. She really had to come out of my system.

The next night, my phone rang a little after 10 pm. It was Pam. "She looks good. She's happy. She told me that she's on her second trimester already and it seemed important to her, for some unknown reason." Pam's voice sounded gleeful.

"And did you tell her?"

"Yes. I said that you were all right as well. She was happy. She said she worries about you."

Before Pam said (again) that Sookie still liked me, I thanked her, shut down my phone and left my office at Deadliest. It was time to entertain the vermin and choose who was going to be my dinner. I didn't need to drink blood every night. But I could. So why wouldn't why? And so, sometime after I went to my booth, I picked a lovely dark-blonde girl, Kate, who was visiting her uncle and aunt in Shreveport for the week. I took her back with me to my office. She sucked me, I fucked her and then I drank her. She was all right and we had a good fifty minutes together before I dismissed her. Then it was time to work a little more and resolve a few problems regarding my area. Later that night, I received a couple of important vampires in my bar and then I went home.

The following two nights, I did the same routine. But instead of Kate, I chose the green-eyed and dark-haired Maria, my best waitress at Bloodbath, who was already married. But that didn't seem to bother her whenever I chose to be with her. And it sure as hell did not bother me. And so I did choose her, many, many times. She tasted good, she had a great smile and she always kissed my cheek whenever she left the room. Lust made humans want to be with us sexually. But a kiss in the cheek is an intimate act. And it's really rare for humans to be that comfortable with us. So her kiss always made me think about Aude and our kids, because we used to kiss each others that way. Yes, Maria was a nice girl. And a good fuck too.

And so time passed. I worked. I fed and fucked. I traveled and checked the Fangtasia franchising and the new and first Bloodbath franchising too. I talked about franchising Deadliest at well. I met old friends. I met Natércia once or twice a year in Canada for a couple of weeks or so and we usually went to Europe for a couple of weeks too every year. I talked to Ocella on the phone sometimes. And I even stopped fucking Pam. That had been… wrong. In general, I kept living. As living as a dead vampire could be. And sometimes… Sometimes, I thought of Sookie.

I knew Pam talked to her. They even met quite often. Whenever that happened, Pam would tell me: "I met Sookie. Want to know anything?" I usually answered 'no', but sometimes my masochistic side would win and I would say 'yes'. And that was how I knew that Sookie had a 5 year-old daughter, Elizabeth. "They call her Lizzie," Pam told me once. And I also knew that she was still with her husband, she still worked at their restaurant and she still visited Bon Temps quite frequently.

"Bill's her golden boy," Pam also said to me one night, "since he almost died with the silver poisoning, he's like her private hero or something. I don't get it." I didn't get it either. I couldn't understand why she was able to keep in touch and be friends with her former boss, with Bill and hell, even with Pam, and not with me. Didn't she think about the two of us when she was with my progeny? Pam said she always asked about me, so I guessed she still thought about us, and that she still liked me. Unlike Niall.

When her daughter was born, Niall had wanted to officially test the kid, to see if she had the same fucking essential spark that he was always talking about. Sookie didn't authorize it, of course, and they fervently argued. "The only Fae she talks to are the twins: Claudine and Claude," Pam told me once, "I hope we won't have any more problems with the fucking fairies." I hoped the same. But, as usual, it doesn't matter what we hope. Things happen. And as the bumper sticker says, 'shit happens'.

And so, a little over than five years after Sookie's kidnap, I received a phone call that made me shiver.

"You remember how you wanted to know all the news of Fairy?" the voice asked. It was Gilbert, a close to 400 year old fairy-vamp. A former half-fairy turned over vampire, Gilbert (former Gilberael, when he was just a fairy) wasn't totally accepted by either vampires or fairies. But somehow, he always managed to get all the info he needed. He was a weasel. He would do anything he had to do to get his way. And you just couldn't trust him. Unless you were paying him. And I was. Big bucks.

"What?" I was in no disposition to talk to Gilbert. There was a new franchise to open in a few months but I was already expecting difficulties with the Arkansas' construction permits.

"This is hot stuff Eric. Hot, hot, hot. Will cost you…"

"Talk!" I almost screamed to the phone. Yes, I was in no disposition to talk to Gilbert. At all!

"Niall was hurt. Lemon hurt. He'll probably recover but he's on bed rest now."

"That's it?"

"No. Niall's on bed rest like I told you. But his enemies aren't. And there has been talking about maybe closing the portals, again. You know… like six years ago?"

"Shit." I had only one thought crossing my mind then. And it was: 'fucking fairies'.

"I'd say. But hey, there's more…"

"What?"

"Niall has five children still living: four full fairies and one half-fairy, Lincel. She's Niall's oldest but because she isn't full fairy and her essential spark isn't 100% like Niall's…"

"Again with the fucking spark?" I had to interrupt Gilbert. This subject once more? What was it with Fairies and sparks?

"Wait, listen: this Lincel chick, she wants Niall's place. She says it's her duty as the eldest to carry on her father's work while he's recovering. Two of her brothers and her sister don't care about it. But there is this other full-fairy brother, the oldest son, that doesn't agree, obviously. And so the mixture of human and fairy blood is on the spot light again. Do you have to be full-fairy to rein? Lincel says no. Her brother says yes."

"And that spark thing? You said that she doesn't have it like Niall's. Doesn't she need it?"

"That's where the crumble eats the cake, see? Lincel doesn't have the essential spark but her spark is pretty strong too. Actually, it's even stronger than her brother's spark. No one of Niall's still living five children have a pure, perfect essential spark. That's why your girl was such a finding that she was taken back then."

Fuck. "I see."

Gilbert continued: "So, there's stress firstly because Niall's enemies might attack now that he's weak and secondly even among Niall's kin."

"What else?" Gilbert's voice told me that he had even more to tell.

"They've been talking about your girl again."

"Who has?"

"The question is: who hasn't?"

"But why?"

"Niall has a grandson, Cisco'Ar, from his youngest daughter, who is a full fairy and has the perfect essential spark. Great, right? Well, not so much! The kid is only 3 years old. And so, here comes your girl. Like I said, Lincel's spark is pretty strong and other than Cisco'Ar, there's only your Stackhouse human with a strongest spark. Without them both, Lincel's would be the closest to Niall's spark."

Shit. "But what the hell is the spark? Why does it matter?"

"Even fairies have Gods, Northman. And we believe that the purer our essence is and the brightest our spark is, the closer we are to Gods. A pure essential spark means you were touched by God. Chosen. And Niall failed because he didn't have a child with an untainted spark. The word on the streets say that he's supposed to marry again soon so he can have new children, hopefully full-fairy with perfect sparks children. But as of today, in his bloodline, there's only Cisco'Ar and your girl with perfect sparks. And then, there's Lincel with an almost perfect one."

"And how much does that Lincel want Niall's place? Do you think Sookie is really in danger?"

"I don't know. It's likely."

"When?" I asked.

"Well, if you are really serious about protecting her, you should do it soon."

"Thank you. You'll get your money".

As soon as I ended the phone call with Gilbert, I called Pam and told her everything. Then I asked her for Sookie's address. She was obviously shocked about my question.

"Will you go there? Yourself?" We were speaking on the phone, but I could almost see the elusive aging line that appears in her forehead when she finds something particularly odd and strange. But she didn't have to worry herself. I merely wanted to inform Sookie about these new developments. Nothing more. She was now a closed chapter in my life.

"Sookie needs to know that she might be in danger. If she was to be surprised with an attack without any warning because of me, that would be… bad. I mean, De Castro offered his protection to her once. And I cared for her at one time and…" I understood Pam's unease, but, really, there was no need anymore. Yeah, I still thought about Sookie on occasion, but now she was only a pleasant past memory, just like a few other women in my past. "Pam, she just needs to know about the danger, so she can defend herself. Nothing more. I'll just warn her, offer her our help if she needs it, and then I'll come back."

"Do you want me to go there instead of you?"

I knew why she was offering. But I also knew that there was no reason for her to be concerned. "Pam, it's been 10 years without the blood bond. I'm beyond all that now."

"If you are sure…" Her voice tone told me that she wasn't sure.

"I am. I'll leave for Tennessee tonight. I'll visit her tomorrow."

"Should I call her? Tell you are on your way?"

"No. Don't do that. Well, I'm leaving. Text me her address and take care of things. I'll call you soon."

I went home, packed a few clothes and got in my car. Road travel. Traveling by night. On my way to Sookie's. Even without needing it, I inhaled and exhaled deeply. "It's been almost 10 years without the blood bond. I am beyond all that now". Yes, I believed I was.

-x-

I parked in front of the address Pam had given me. It was a nice home, two floors, probably three rooms, a small but well kept little garden in the front and the fucking white picket fence. There was also a pink bike with training wheels and a small, colorful, plastic slide in the front of the house. Almost 6 am. The house and the street seemed deserted. I smelled around me. No fairies.

I left her street and checked in a close hotel for the day. I'd be back that night.

When I woke up the next evening, I had a great urge to fly or drive immediately to Sookie's. And that urge scared me. I really didn't want, and I definitively would not, be caught in Sookie's "web" again. And so I didn't go there straight away. Instead, I went to the lobby and searched for my dinner. It would never cease to amaze me the number of young men and women that gravitate around vampire's hotels and bars because they wanted to be bitten. This was a crazy world post-Great Revelation.

I asked for a True Blood and I was immediately attracted to a couple of girls who were in the bar of my hotel. They were already drinking some alcoholic drinks even thought it was just a little after 6.30 pm. I sat by their side and even before I started talking to them, they moved closer and asked what my name was. They were both tall for women, and one was green eyed and the other had dark blue eyes. They both had long, light brown, curly hair and they were dressed in similar dark red and black dresses. The clothes were tight and they both knew they looked good in it. Fifteen minutes later, I brought them upstairs to my room.

Brittany and Candy were roommates, wanna-be publicists, both recently arrived from College in Texas and excited that they were there with me. Really excited that they were there with me. Their blood tasted average, but their sexual dynamic was great. Almost a couple of hours later, the three of us left the hotel, all satiated. I drove them to their apartment and then drove to Sookie's.

After I parked, I went to her door. I didn't want to wait another single minute. I could hear a child's heartbeat on the first floor. It was a little after 9 pm. The kid was almost certainly sleeping now. And I could hear Sookie's heart in what would probably be the kitchen. Water sounds as well. She was most likely washing the dishes. No more sounds. Where the fuck was her husband at 9 pm? He should be there. Protecting them!

Useless fucking bear!

I rang the bell.

He rang the bell! Mini-cliffhanger! :) Hehe!

So, what did you think about this chapter? Was it Eric-like? And what do you think about Gilbert? I thought that he could really exist in Charlaine Harris' books - there has to be a vamp-fairy somewhere! And the fairy names? Are they believable? I had a blast trying to come up with "strange-faely" names. And do you think about this new "time-jump"? Anyway, I thank you for reading. And feel free to drop me a line. Cheers from Portugal, Célia

"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American hard rock band Bon Jovi from their 1988 album "New Jersey" and one of my favorites. Every time I hear the first notes, I have goose-bumps. And God… how I wish that Jon Bon Jovi or Eric Northman (or both) were here singing these words to me…

"I'll be there for you; These five words I swear to you

When you breathe I want to be the air for you; I'll be there for you

I'd live and I'd die for you; Steal the sun from the sky for you

Words can't say what a love can do; I'll be there for you."