Hi! So, most of you thought that Sookie was right when she forgave Eric, though I still received a review that suggested me to "throw Sookie to the water fairies and let them chew on her" :) Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter, a Sookie's POV. And please review if you can. And, as usual, the disclaimer: not my characters, obviously. And besides, I have to publicly thank Charhamblin's help for betaing this story. She's awesome! :) And so, without further delay, here's chapter 43. Thank you for reading. Célia

Sookie "Fear"

The first time I saw Eric Northman, I could only think that he was dangerous, extremely attractive, and also that he exuded power and sensuality. Everyone, everywhere, would think the same. Of course, then, he… well, he talked, and I changed my mind about him, and I started thinking of Eric as a self-absorbing, narcissist prick. But soon I started to notice how he would, many times, go out of his way to help me whenever I needed. And as soon as I recognized that the ghastly and egotistic aspect of him was just a hood under which the true Eric Northman would hide, then I quickly fell in love with him. But, even when he was just the obnoxious Sheriff of Area 5, I trusted him for some unknown reason. I still remember when he went with me to a party to help me find out who had killed Merlotte's cook, Lafayette Reynolds. And that night, on the drive there, Eric bluntly asked me if I trusted him. And when I answered that I did, he said that it was crazy to trust him. But at that time, I was absolutely sure that I did trust him. And that I always would.

However, he went and kissed another woman. A supposedly "old friend". The same "old friend" that he had never told me about before. And when I was told about those kisses… Well, I just didn't know if I would ever be able to forgive and forget what had happened. I guess that Eric was paying the price for both Bill's and David's infidelity. But forgiving him… it was just… too hard. And that was why I had decided to stay at a hotel that night. But when I was about to wake up my daughter, I just didn't have it in me. I lacked the strength to pick her up and carry her to the hotel bedroom. I lacked the physical strength because Liz was too grown-up already, and I was too tired. But I lacked the emotional strength more. Because, even angry and disappointed with him, I wanted to be close to Eric; though I sure didn't want to talk to him. At least, not yet.

And so, I drove home. And after Liz was sleeping safely in her bed, I asked Eric to just stay away for another night. And again, he did what I asked of him.

On the next day, a very excited Liz woke up happy to be at home. I could hear in her mind that she thought that I had forgiven Eric already, and so, when she asked about it, she was disappointed when I told her that I hadn't. And then, Liz insisted that she wanted to know what Eric had done. I wouldn't tell her the whole truth, of course, and so I just replied that it was a grown-up's matter and that she had nothing to do with it. And when she kept arguing back, I had to threaten a "no-TV" punishment for her to stop quarrelling with me. Anyway, I drove her to school and then I went to Bloodlust to work for a while.

And later that day, I went to pick up a still-angry-with-me Liz. And you know what? I had had a dreadful day, full of problems. And I hadn't stop thinking about Eric the whole day and I had a huge headache. So you could definitely say that my patience was almost non-existent. And when Liz kept talking about Eric during our dinner, and in a disrespectful way to me on top of that, I just couldn't hear it anymore, and I sent her to bed when it wasn't even 8 pm yet. There would be neither TV nor a bedtime story that night for her. Why the hell had my daughter taken Eric's side without even knowing what had happened? Damn it! I watched her brushing her teeth and then I waited for her to lie on her bed. I told her that she had misbehaved and that she wasn't allowed to talk to me that way because I was older, and her mother and she had to respect me. And then I left her bedroom and closed the door, leaving her there alone to think about the way she had behaved. Or misbehaved. I went to my bedroom, and I sat on my bed, waiting for my daughter to fall asleep. And an hour later, I heard her brain shutting up because she was finally sleeping.

I went downstairs and I cleaned the kitchen. And later, I went to sleep, alone. I wondered if Eric had indeed slept in our house, or if he had slept somewhere else… In the same hotel where Natércia was, perhaps? And like on the previous night, I cried myself to sleep. But then, later that night, I woke up when I heard Eric walking between my bedroom and Lizzie's. And when some time later, he walked back along the stairs, I called him.

And you know something? For the first time ever, Eric looked tired. And I felt bad that he was that way because of me. Especially because I knew that I could forgive him. I just wasn't sure yet if I could forget the whole thing. But looking at him… Seeing his given-up air… It pained me.

And then, we talked.

And while we talked about what had happened, I thought about all the times that he had made me happy. And I thought about how he cared for Liz, and how he had received us both with open arms in his house and in his life. And I thought about how I loved him and how I had always felt loved by him. But above all, I thought about how I never wanted for that to end.

And I just forgave him, while I vowed to myself that I would do my best to forget it as well.

And, as usual, Eric just knew how I was feeling. He knew what I needed. And he did his best to take away the sadness that was still in me. And he actually made me smile. And then, he even made me laugh.

And how did he do it, you ask? Well, he made me remember that even though I hadn't known him for 800 years like… some other people, the two of us also had a history together. A great history together. And so, he made me recollect the first time he kissed me after I… helped him after he was shot. Okay, fine, I admit it: my help consisted on sucking a bullet out of his chest after he was shot by the Fellowship of the Sun at a party in Dallas. And he made me recall that time in Jackson when we really kissed for the first time after I had drunk his blood. And then, I kissed him again, and it felt like a first time all over again.

And after that, we made love. And he was so gentle and affectionate…

Our sex life was… Well, pretty healthy. And so we kept trying different ways (but not too different). Sometimes it was urgent and fast. You know… The kind that was purely hunger-driven, when he would almost rip off my clothes and, well… fuck me senseless. And at other times, it was of the slower kind, which just seemed to build and build until I couldn't stand it anymore and just begged him to have me. Yes, the sex we had… it could be either hard and physical or caring and emotional; and absolutely everywhere. And if you asked me to choose which one I liked better, I really wouldn't know what to answer you.

But that night? That night, he was particularly tender and sweet with me. And every time he entered me, it was deep but slow. And then, when I started feeling that my orgasm was just around the corner, I tried to make him go faster and bite me, but he kept his slow pace. I even cut my tongue on his fangs on purpose because I knew that it would make him crazy. But it was as if he hadn't even tasted my blood in his mouth. So I asked him to bite me. Hell, I begged him to bite me. And let me tell you that it is something you never have to ask a vampire (any vampire) twice. Especially, when you are having sex with said vampire. But Eric didn't. He didn't bite me. Instead, he just licked my ear and told me in his low, sexy voice that he loved me. My body was on overload already and his words alone made me cum. After wondering for the last two nights if Eric would still want to be with me, the feeling of him inside me and his words whispering that he loved me were just… Well, an otherworldly experience.

And soon after that, the sun rose and Eric died for the day. I managed to sleep for another hour but then it was breakfast time for Liz and I had to get up.

My day was as normal as any other. It started with Liz's hug and apology for misbehaving during breakfast after I told her that everything was alright again between me and Eric. And after I drove her to school, I worked at Deadliest for a while. I then had lunch with our new liquor suppliers. After lunch, I went to the Post Office and then I picked Liz up at school and drove her to her swimming class. The only different thing that day was that when we left the pool, we went to Bon Temps, rather than Shreveport.

I had called Jason earlier that day and I had explained our situation (without many details, obviously). And he had been great about it and he had said that we'd be welcome at his place. "Of course you can stay Sook. You'll both sleep in the boys' bedroom. They'll be here to have dinner with us but then they'll sleep at their moms'," he said. Jason had a boy from his second marriage and another boy from his third. He was currently with wife number four. People in Bon Temps were starting to call him "serial groom".

And so, after Liz's swimming class, we did go to Bon Temps. We intended to stop by Tara and JB's so Lizzie would meet Tara's new baby, Alice, who was just two months old (I had already seen the baby once when she was just a few days old). But when I called her, she said that the baby wasn't in a good mood that day, so we rescheduled the visit for next time we would be in Bon Temps. Because of that, as soon as we arrived at my small town, I drove immediately to Jason's.

I had wondered about maybe meeting Bill that night, because I always visited him when I was in Bon Temps. And I decided that yes, I would meet Bill, but without Liz because he had never felt comfortable around children. Therefore, she would stay with her uncle, so I drove to Jason's. His boys were already there, and Liz immediately ran to the back yard to see her cousins' tree house, that they had been slowly building for over two months.

I then helped Linda, Jason's new wife, start the dinner, while Jason watched a repeat of a game in the living room. Linda was a former high-school flame of Jason's and she had been married once before herself, with her other high-school sweetheart, who got her pregnant a couple of months before she graduated. The marriage didn't last though and she had been a divorcee for eighteen years, before Jason managed to convince her to give him a shot. Linda's son, Brian, was living in California and trying to become an actor, while in reality, he was a bellboy in a fancy hotel.

When I realized that it was almost night-time, I then told Jason and Linda, that I had to go run an errand in town, and that they should just start their dinner when it would be ready because I wasn't sure how long I would stay in town. Jason looked at me in a brotherly-concerned way, but when he didn't ask me when I was going, I just said that I would try to be back in an hour and then I left. And I drove to Bill's.

As soon as I got there, I rang the bell, and a smiling Bill opened the door, with a polite: "So good to see you here, Sookie. I wasn't expecting you tonight."

"Hello Bill," I said hugging him, "I'm sorry I didn't call before I came."

"You know you're always welcome here, Sookie. Please, come in," he answered me and then he kind of pointed to his living-room telling me that I should go there.

We both sat on his couch and he offered me juice or water. After I thanked him, but then declined, Bill asked me if everything was alright with me. I told him that I was alright, but he knew me better than that, and after five minutes of small-talk, he said, "Why are you really here, Sookie?"

But I didn't answer. Not even I knew why I was there. I guess I needed to talk to someone who understood the vampire's nature and Bill would be that person. Yes, there was always Pam. But she would never stop being Eric's child, and I knew that she would try to make me see Eric's point of view on what had happened between him and Natércia. Where as with Bill, I would get an honest opinion about the whole thing.

And now, you're probably wondering: if I forgave Eric, why was I still thinking about it? Well, I had forgiven him. But I was afraid that I would keep resenting him. And if that were to happen, then the forgiveness wouldn't matter, because I would have lost all my faith and trust in Eric.

"I…" And then I shut up. Should I really talk to Bill? I knew that despite Eric's silence on my friendship with Bill, he really didn't like my former neighbor. Was it fair to Eric that I would share our personal life and problems with Bill? On the other hand, was it fair to me that I couldn't be able to confide in my friend?

"It's been many years, but my blood is still in you. I still know when you're not yourself Sookie," Bill said.

"You do?"

"And I will always. You could be turned and live for five thousand years, and my blood would still be in you," he answered. And then he added, "Unless I would go through the same process Eric did when you separated, we will always have a connection between us Sookie. My blood calls to you. And it's telling me now that there's a problem with you. Now, will you tell me, so I can help you?"

I took a deep breath and then I asked, "Do you know a Natércia? She's Eric's friend."

"Nat Amaral? Yes, I've met her. She lived here in Louisiana for a few years when you were in Tennessee. Why?"

"She… She's back."

"Oh…" was Bill's only reply.

I waited for him to add something more, but when he didn't, I had to ask him, "What do you mean 'oh'?"

"Natércia is… she's a very good friend of Eric, Sookie."

"Yes, so he told me," I said.

"And you mustn't…" Bill started saying, but then he stopped.

"What? What mustn't I do?"

"You mustn't get in the middle of them."

I mustn't get in the middle of them? Eric was my boyfriend, we were living together and he was my kind of husband. My daughter thought of him as her father and he kept telling me how much he loved me. But despite all that, Eric had kissed Natércia twice. And now Bill, my friend Bill, who knew (first hand) that cheating was a deal-breaker with me was telling me to just shut up and let Eric and Natércia get on with it? I wondered what was behind Bill's words. "Why?"

"They… Listen Sookie, I've told you this before. We aren't good. There's lots of madness and wickedness and immorality in all of us, vampires. And just a very few of us are capable of friendship. Even amongst our kind."

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"Vampires aren't friends with other vampires. The only time a relationship between vampires lasts is when there's a Maker/Child connection. And even then… I've told you how my long relationship with Lorena was rare because it lasted for 70 years. We are almost incapable of staying on good terms with other vampires for more than a few decades," Bill said and then he stopped. And I was sure that there would be a big "but" coming my way. And, unfortunately, I had been right. "But… What I meant was…" And then he stopped again.

"What, Bill?"

"Like I said, we are almost incapable of staying on good terms with other vampire for more than a few decades. But Nat and Eric have been friends ever since they met. They are the only non Maker-Child couple that I know of, who kept a good relationship between them for that long. And Natércia… She's not good, Sookie. You really should stay away from her."

I sighed and then I said, "Eric kissed her. Twice. And then he came home, said he was sorry and asked me for forgiveness."

"And you did?"

"I love him. I had to," I answered.

"So, there you go. You've made your decision already Sookie."

"But…" I wanted to scream at myself "but what?" because I sure didn't know what I should be saying after that "but". So I just closed my mind and didn't utter a single word after it.

"But you're still afraid that he'll cheat on you?"

"I don't think so. But… They'll be meeting tonight… I guess," I told him.

"You guess?" Bill asked.

"I… I… I just don't know Bill. He doesn't tell me everything. He never told me everything and I don't expect that he will start doing it now. So, I just… I don't know. He said that he would call her tonight so they could meet and then figure out things between them. But I don't know if he did, or if he didn't. I just don't know. He texted me saying that he would meet her tonight but I just don't know. Hell, I don't even know what I should think about the whole thing. I don't know if I did the right thing forgiving him. Or if I even really forgave him. Maybe I didn't really forgive him and this will always be between us. But… there's Lizzie too. And she loves Eric. Should I keep her away from him if we separate? Or will he still want to spend time with her? And what should I tell Liz? But the main thing is that I love him. I know you don't like to hear this, but I really love him… so much, Bill. But… what if he makes love with Natércia tonight? What if he chooses her over me? I really don't know how I will react if Eric cheats on me… And even if he won't… Will I be able to trust him in the future, as I did until know? And what if, in a week or a month he just calls me saying that he's delayed at the bars for some reason. Will I believe him then Bill? Or will I stay at home wondering if he's having sex with a blond, a red-haired or a brunette? What will happen then?"

And that was when I realized that I had started crying during my speech. Bill moved close to me, and just grabbed me and hugged me in his arms. His hands kept moving up and down my back and he would kiss my hair every couple of minutes. And you know what? It felt damn good to be comforted by my friend.

Eventually, I managed to calm down again, and Bill then started to say that I should "give it some time". He told me to keep playing my cards one hand at a time. And then he said that he knew that I was an intelligent woman and that he was sure that I would decide the best outcome for both me and my daughter. And a little less than one hour after I had arrived, I left Bill's and I drove to my brother's house.

The roast beef had cooked easily, and they were starting to sit at the table when I arrived there. And then the six of us had a family dinner. The children talked among themselves the whole time, and I was able to spend an almost nice evening with my brother and my sister-in-law, even though my mind was in Shreveport with Eric. And Natércia.

By 10 pm, everyone was in their bed. Well, everyone but me. Eric had texted me earlier, a little after he rose, saying that he was to meet Natércia at our place at midnight. If I wasn't so worried about everything that was to happen then, I would think that a meeting between vampires, at midnight, was somewhat poetic. Five minutes after that text message, he texted me again saying that Pam would be at my brother's at 11 pm.

And so, there I was, in Jason's living room with the TV on but not really watching it. I was waiting for Pam and silently praying that my (kind of) husband's ex-girlfriend wouldn't kill him.

At five past eleven, Pam arrived. She looked worried. And that worried me.

As soon as she got inside the house, she asked: "You've been to Bill's?"

I told her that I had and then I asked her why. And Pam just replied that I "reeked of Compton" and that Eric wouldn't like it at all. But, at that moment, when I was waiting for the outcome of Eric's meeting with his ex-girlfriend, who wanted to have sex with him, and who, by the way, he had kissed twice a couple of nights before, I just absolutely didn't care that Eric wouldn't like that I smelled of Bill. Hell, for all I knew, it could even be good. Then Eric would better understand what I felt when he told me that he had kissed that… person.

I pointed to Jason's living room, and we moved there. We then sat in silence, until I had to speak.

"Any news?" I asked.

"Sookie, they'll meet at midnight. It's not half past eleven yet," Pam answered almost angrily.

Maybe she was hungry? So I then I told her that Jason didn't have any True Blood there because he hadn't been expecting her visit, and I said that I was sorry for that. But she only answered that it didn't matter because she had already ate that night. And then we kept in silence for a little longer, watching TV. Or rather, pretending that we were watching TV because in reality we were both doing some serious over-thinking and we were both just worrying about Eric.

Ten minutes after our silence had started, a Van Helsing movie also started. And I sure didn't want to watch a movie about vampire-killers because even thought I wouldn't be sad for Natércia's death, I was sure that I would die if I lost Eric. And so, I just turned-off the TV and I moved my body slightly in Pam's direction. It was time for a little tet-a-tet.

"Did Eric tell you about a couple of nights ago?"

"He did. He told me they fought and he said that he told Natércia that you were his wife and that she didn't appreciate it." Didn't appreciate it? Talk about an understatement. She had attacked him!

"Did he tell you that he kissed her?"

"Yes. But he also said that it didn't mean a bloody thing to him," when I didn't answer her nor did I shoot her another question, she added, "He's crazy about you,Sookie. I hope you know that."

"But he also loves Natércia…" I whispered.

"Of course he does. They met in the twelfth century for fuck's sake! And they've been friends ever since. Can you imagine what 800 years are? Can you grasp the concept of that much time?" Pam asked. And then I forced myself to think about it. "I don't think you can," she added a minute later.

And I figured that she was right. I really couldn't comprehend what that much time meant. It was overwhelming just to think about such a vast period. And Eric and Natércia had been friends and sometimes lovers for that long. And Bill had said how rare it was. Eric and Natércia had went through different eras together, and they had trusted each other during that whole time, when their own survival depended on who did they trust. So, yes, even though I couldn't comprehend what that much time meant, I could understand the deep meaning that such a friendship would have for them both. And I was okay with it. It was Eric's right to choose his own friends, even if I didn't like them. Hell, he didn't like my friendship with either Sam or Bill; but Eric let me meet them whenever I wanted. And he never sulked about it. Or hardly ever. So, yes, Natércia being Eric's friend was something that I was willing to accept. But just the friendship.

My problem was that Natércia wanted much more than that. And I wouldn't allow her to have sex or even kiss my "kind of husband". Because even though our marriage wasn't a marriage at all, Eric was with me. He had chosen me. We were a family now. And Natércia wanted to break us apart. Jesus! How I wished she'd just go back to whatever God-forsaken place she had come from.

"Do you think she'll go away now?" I asked a minute later. I trusted Pam's opinion and I wanted to know her thoughts.

"I seriously doubt it," Pam said.

I was dreading her next answer, but I couldn't keep myself from asking: "What do you think will happen tonight?"

"They'll meet and talk. She'll try to convince him to kill you. Or, at least, try to convince him to leave you for her. And he'll try to convince her to accept you," Pam answered.

"And then what?"

"And then they'll either fuck or fight, depending on how the talk goes. If they fuck, then we'll all have to deal with Natércia here in Louisiana for four or five years before they are done with each other again. And if they fight, then one of them will win," she said.

And I almost trembled when she talked about how they could "fuck" that night. Eric had told me that he loved me and he had said that he wouldn't cheat on me. And even Pam had said, not even ten minutes before that he was crazy about me.

"And which do you think will happen?"

"I'd say it can go either way."

"But you've just said that he's crazy about me. Would he cheat on me then?"

"He's also crazy about her. It's almost as if she has some kind of light influence over him. He's always himself, but it's like there's a pull that brings him to her time after time," Pam said.

Okay. So Pam thought that there was a 50-50 chance that Eric would either cheat on me, or not. Jesus! Would I always be cheated on? And with women who weren't worth a damn. My first relationship ever, with Bill, had been based on a lie. And it had ended when he exchanged me for Lorena, who, by the way, tortured him just a little after that. Then, my ex-husband had cheated on me, with a girl that was already pregnant with another man's baby when their son was not even two years old. Jesus!

And no matter how much over it I thought that I was, cheating would always be a sensitive subject to me. And now there was a chance that Eric would cheat on me too. A 50% chance. Good God! I then decided that I didn't even want to ponder that hypothesis, so instead, I decided to focus on the fighting option. And if there was a chance of a fight, then another question was of utterly importance."Do you still think that she's older?"

"I do. Eric does as well. I've told you: they fought once and she won. But no one knows why, she was merciful and let him live, even though he had challenged her," she answered.

Not killing someone, letting him live, was "being merciful" in Pam's mind? Jesus! I would never get used to the vampire way of things. And no matter how close my relationship to them, or how much time I spent with them, I would never have the "kill" concept that they did. Vampires sure had a different way to see things.

"So if they fight, Eric will die for sure?" Amazingly, I was calm when I asked that. I guess that I was still in some kind of limbo. I wasn't yet really considering that Eric's death was a possibility. I just couldn't picture Eric not being alive. Well, him not being just dead, but rather finally-dead, I mean. Yeah, I couldn't even imagine going through the process of losing Eric because he had to fight for me (again!).

"No. He might prevail," Pam answered.

"He might prevail…" I repeated after her, whispering. And when Pam didn't say a thing after that I asked, "How?"

"When you are as old as they are, a couple of decades means less than if you are younger," Pam said.

"What are you saying?" God! It was as if I needed forceps to take the truth out of Pam. I wanted to scream at her to just tell me everything already. But instead, I just added, "What do you mean?"

"Well, let's say that Eric was 200 years old and she was 230 when they first fought. Thirty years in 200 is more that 10 per cent. It matters. And those three decades gave Natércia the necessary physical strength to win over Eric."

"And you've said before… he lost then…" I kept whispering. It was as if I didn't want anyone to hear those words. Almost as if speaking in a low voice prevented it to be true. Eric had lost once when he fought Natércia. Would he lose again? Would I lose him?

"Yes, he did. He once told me that, up until then, it was the hardest one-on-one fight he had ever engaged in."

"Oh…" What else could I say? I wanted to leave Jason's so much. I wanted to go back to my place and just pack a couple of clothes and then beg Eric to go away and run with us. I wanted for him and Liz to just leave with me, and we would leave everything behind. Because we only needed each other. I wanted… I wanted for the world to just let us be. But I knew that if I was to go back to our place, and talk to Eric about running away, he wouldn't be happy about it. And for once, I decided that I would do what he had told me to do.

I was freed from my thoughts by Pam, who kept talking, "But today? It doesn't matter so much. Eric's probably… Hell, I don't know… 1040. She's 1070. The same three decades gap means less now than it did before. You understand?"

I nodded and Pam continued with her explanation, "Besides, he's taller and bigger. And he knows how to fight. He has the knowledge; he knows when to attack and when to defend. And he knows how to do it. And, furthermore, they will meet at your place. And Eric knows the house and he knows where he keeps weapons."

Pam was in a "chatty mode" (something really rare) and so I decided to make good use of it.

"Will Eric be in trouble if he kills her?" I had heard something about Eric paying a fee to Long Shadow's maker when he killed him, to protect me. But back then, Eric and I weren't close, and he never really told me about it. And I had also heard Eric on the phone with Ocella's "younger sister" about the same thing. But I wondered if it would only be a pecuniary fee, or if there was the chance to be even more after that.

"Yes. Her maker is still alive and he'll want restitution. And Natércia is very old. If he kills her, Eric will have to pay Natércia's maker a lot of money," Pam answered.

"But that's it, right? He pays and it's over?"

"Not necessarily. After Eric pays him for his loss, Natércia's maker will want to know why she was killed. And Eric will have to explain to him why they fought. If he agrees with Eric's reasons behind the fight, everything will end after Eric pays him. Then, the case is closed. But if he doesn't agree, if he feels that his child had a wrongful death, than it's in his right to challenge Eric," she said.

Oh my God! So, I was, first praying that Eric wouldn't succumb to Natércia's charms and choose her over me. Secondly, I was hoping that he would kill her, and not the other way around. And thirdly, I was wishing that Natércia's maker wouldn't try to hurt Eric after everything else. Pam had been talking about maybe doing a Creative Writing course or something like that. Well, if she ever did it, she could write about my life, because I was sure that just one book wouldn't be enough. She'd have to write several books about it.

But back to the point: Natércia's maker. Another question was needed on the subject.

"How old is he?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've never met the guy. I just know he was born in Greece. Eric once told me that when he met Natércia in Italy, she had only been there for a couple of years. Before that, she had spent a few decades with her maker in a town close to Athens."

"And Eric told you that? Why?" Why would Eric share that detail with Pam? He knew that she didn't like Natércia. Why would he make Pam listen to him talking about Natércia? Was Natércia that important to Eric that he would force Pam to listen about Natércia?

"Yeah, I did a cruise on the Greek islands in the eighties, and he told me what I should visit there and what not. When I asked him how he knew that, he said that Natércia had showed him the country twice, and that she knew it because she had stayed there for a while with her maker. It was his birth country."

Jesus! More common history between Eric and Natércia. Just what I needed to hear! Damn it! They had spent some time in Greece. And all over Europe, I figured. Whereas we had only been to Tennessee together a couple of times, and also to Las Vegas a few more times. But those Las Vegas' trips had been half work-related, half vacations. And it was my fault. Eric had hinted at me about maybe taking a trip together… He even suggested Florida, so Liz could go to Disney World; but I had always been busy with one thing or the other…

I promised to myself, if we did manage to survive all that, we'd go away for a week with Liz, and then we would leave her with Pam, and go away just the two of us for a couple more days!

"Oh, I see…" I answered.

"But one thing is for sure," Pam said with a worried voice tone, that scared me to my core, "he is older than Natércia."

"I heard them talking yesterday. Natércia made a vampire once. Can he challenge Eric as well?" Would Eric have to fight Natércia's child too?

"She has two children: Francisco and Alvaro. And they can challenge Eric as well, but I don't think that they will," Pam answered.

"Why?"

"First of all, Eric's stronger than them. And moreover, they can't stand Natércia. They are both older than me and she still keeps them on a little leash. They are still living next to her and still working for her."

Pot. Kettle. "You live next to Eric and you work for him."

"Because I want to. Not because Eric demands it."

"Ohh."

"Besides, I came here just because of the Great Revelation. We didn't know how humans would react and Eric asked me to come to him because he wanted me close, so he could protect me if things had gone wrong."

Yes… I had never thought about it before. But vampires had obviously known about the Great Revelation before it had happened. And it made sense that Eric would want Pam close to him, just in case. He was such a pragmatic man. "I can understand that," I said.

"And after that night, Eric decided to open a bar, and he offered me partnership on the first Fangtasia. So I stayed in the US. I hadn't seen him since the seventies, when he came here to study something that I don't recall what. We had only spoken on the phone for those three decades."

Just as with their "kill" concept, the way vamps talked about decades was as if it were months, which would never stop bothering me. And I thought again about Pam's previous question, when she asked me if I truly understood what 800 years meant.

"And if Eric dies?" I asked whispering.

I don't know what I was expecting Pam to answer me. I did not even know why I had asked her that. I just… I hoped to God that our family would survive all that.

"Then, I would somehow kill Natércia," she said.

"But you're younger."

"I'm not stupid Sookie. I wouldn't fight her directly. But I would kill her. One way or another," she said full of certainty.

"I would help you. I could even kill her during the day," I answered.

And to tell you that I was surprised at myself, at my words, was an understating. That was more than just thinking that someone deserved to die. That was even more than wishing someone's death. I was saying that I would purposely kill someone. And not in self defense. But a planned act. And I was absolutely sure that I really meant what I had said.

Wait… I could do that to prevent her from killing Eric, and not as retaliation.

"Pam, what if I killed Natércia tomorrow? During the day? Then Eric would never have to fight her. Let's call him and ask him to postpone their meeting another day and…" I was already getting up to pick my cell phone when Pam grabbed my arm and made me sit again.

"He won't do it Sookie. He has known her for too long."

"But it would mean that he wouldn't risk his life…"

"It doesn't matter. He still likes her too much to allow it. And he still likes her too much to kill her in a wrongful way. I begged him to let me be there tonight so I could help him if he needed. I'm much younger than Natércia, but there would be two of us. And he didn't let me Sookie. He wants to follow the proper protocol concerning Natércia. And that includes her potential death. Or his, for that matter," Pam said.

Okay, here's the thing: staying immobilized and in silence was something that vampires did quite often. I guess that living for centuries, watching the world change in front of you while you stayed the same could be somewhat disturbing sometimes. So they had a need to stop and ponder everything in silence from time to time. And especially after those last two and a half years, with Eric, I was starting to see the appeal of it. And so, after my unusually long conversation with Pam, we both stayed in silence for a while.

But then I interrupted the quietness, obviously. I just couldn't be left alone with my own thoughts. They were too frightful. "That's the fight hypothesis. But what about if they have sex hypothesis? You said that you think it's possible?" Not that that wasn't as scary as well. Because it was. But at least, Eric would stay alive. With other woman. But not finally dead.

"It is possible, yes. But…" She then paused and put her right hand on top of her left breast. It was as if she was feeling her unbeating heart.

"But what, Pam? Pam?"

"He's angry. Eric's fucking angry. I'd say that… No. I'm sure of it. They're fighting. They are fighting already," she said almost breathless.

But… Pam? Breathless? And besides, her hand was still next to her heart. And suddenly her chest started moving as if she was indeed breathless. It was as if she was taking a couple of deep breaths every second. And she kept repeating that they were fighting and that Eric was angry. I asked her question after question about it, but she just answered that she didn't know anything else.

About an hour later, suddenly, she got up, "Sookie, we have to go."

"Is the fight over?"

"I don't think so. I guess they are still fighting but I'm not sure," she said.

She wasn't sure? She guessed that they were still fighting? I knew that Eric wouldn't want us there if the fight was still going on. I was absolutely sure that he would not want us there. Yes, I wanted to leave Jason's and go back to Shreveport. I had wanted it since I had arrived. But I didn't want to do something that Eric wouldn't want me to do. And Pam sure knew it.

"If they are still fighting, then why do we need to go?" I asked. Would Eric want us there if they were still fighting? Did he need Pam there to help him win Natércia over? But if that was the case, I knew that he wouldn't want me there too. Actually, I was pretty sure that he would want me as far away from there as possible. And I really thought that I should obey him that time. But nonetheless, and despite my fear, I did want to go to Shreveport so I would finally know what was happening there.

"Because Eric is feeling desperate," she said, right before she felt the need to add, "and because he is in pain."

Next chapter: an Eric's POV about his meeting with Natércia…! :) Do you have any commentaries about this chapter or any expectations about the next chapter? If so, please review. Thank you. Célia

"Keep the Faith" is the fifth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on November 3, 1992 by Mercury Records and it represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of Bon Jovi, which turned away from glam metal in favor of a more mature rock sound. This album includes the song "Fear". It starts this way: "I see you looking over your shoulder / Tell me who do you think`s out there / You`re reaching for your four leaf clover / But baby there ain`t no luck down there / I swear that there`s no heart in this city / It`s here the slogan reads `Do your time` everybody`s doing their sentence"