Authors Notes:
Hey everyone first let me say thank you so much for your patience and understanding on the delay. My beautiful, wonderful, magnificent beta worked her butt off to get these chapters edited and back to me so I could get them out to you as fast as we could. Hopefully I didn't lose a bunch of ya to the delay.
As always I want to give all of you a ton of love for taking the time to read and review my work. It means a ton to me and truly encourages me to keep going. So please people remember to hit the little green button and tell me what you think, be it good, bad, or indifferent. I know I don't always respond to you guys, because if I did I would be spending more time writing responses then writing the stories I create, but I try and take the time to answer those of you who are confused or have something negative to say. I will always try and explained myself if there is something you are bothered by. I am more than happy to give my reasoning for doing things in the story, as long as I don't give away and future plot.
One last thing, I am in the final stages of my website going up. Catie, my beautiful editor, is working on my past work so that it is all polished and shiny, my sister is helping me with the music factor, even though a ton of you have helped with that as well, I do still have to get some pictures together for the site, but that isn't as important as the rest. I will let you guys know so you can go and check it out. I am excited to have all of you come and tell me what you think.
Much love from the west coast,
Lilli
Chapter 14 (Eric's P.O.V.)
The battle is going well, but I would expect nothing less. Even with the odds being what they are, my brothers and I are a force to be reckoned with. Add in Sookie and Pam, and we are unstoppable. Much blood will be spilled today, and I know none of it will be ours. Another thing that I am sure of is that something has to be done about Bill fucking Compton. Twice now, in as many days, he has come after Sookie, and he keeps upping the ante. It is really hard for me to believe that he is so young, considering that he seems to have unending resources. How else would he be able to muster up such a large force in such a short amount of time?
The heavy, wet sounds of battle percolate my brain and fuel my blood lust. It has been so long since I have had a good battle. Well, if I don't count the other one I was in the day we met. Two battles in three days, as much as I love a good fight, like a respectable Viking vamp should, I hope that this won't become a trend. No matter how skilled my lover is, she is still human, well mostly human, and I have seen the signs of her fatigue throughout this skirmish.
I think the only reason she has done as well as she has is because she has the distinct advantage that these vampires are not looking to kill her, they are only attempting to knock her out and get her away. That tactic severely limits what they are going to be able to do and how they approach each fight with her. She is also at an extreme disadvantage in other areas as well. The fact that she is slower than most supes is a HUGE issue that leaves her vulnerable. As much as I hate to even think it, I know soon enough we are going to have to have a discussion at some point about her leaving her humanity behind and becoming a vampire. I will never pressure her, nor will I change her without her permission, but with the world that we live in I think it would be for the best. It isn't just because I am selfish and want her with me forever, really it isn't.
A scream that chills me to my very bones rips through the small cabin of the plane. A blood curdling cry that pleads not to let the reality of something occur, that I pray to never have to hear again. I turn and see my Sookie, my delicate little flower, rushing at top speed through the plane directly at Pam. Pam is so wrapped up in her current fight that she is unaware that a enemy is barreling at her, stake in hand, ready to end her life.
I don't know what to do; in all my years I have never just frozen, but in this moment that is just what is happening. I am rooted to the spot knowing that soon, either my child who I love more than I have words to describe will meet her end, or my little human wife would make it in time to save Pam but put herself directly in front of that stake. The scene opens up in front of me in slow motion; each step Sookie takes is almost painful. I want to scream out to her, tell her not to, tell Pam to move, something, anything. I know I am screaming in my head, but the words are not managing to leave my throat.
All of the sudden everything just speeds up, and as if making up for the slowing down of time it almost moves in fast-forward, almost so fast that even my eyes are having problems keeping up with it. Perhaps it is just my perception of the terrible event unfolding, but it sure as hell seemed to me like everything was blurry around the edges because it was moving so quickly.
I watch in horror as Sookie reaches Pam the millisecond before the enemy strikes her down, and my little Sookie shoves her out of the way and sends her flying into the wall of the plane. I hear the sickening thunk of the stake hitting the back-plate of her armor. She stands there, dazed for a moment, as if her brain is trying to process what has just occurred, and then I watch as Sookie falls. Her blond hair streaming upwards, her bright blood slowly trickling down the silvery shine of her armor, her limbs almost limp beside her, as time did that funny thing again, and she slowly falls.
The minute, no the second, no the millisecond, that Sookie, my lover, my bonded, my wife, my… well for lack of a better turn of phrase, my everything, hits the ground, my world shatters. I feel like someone has just cleaved my head in two and ripped open my chest. I watch still in this weird frozen silence as Pam kneels next to Sookie and screams her name, trying to get her attention.
"Of course I can hear yah, I'm not deaf just dying," Sookie mumbles, her words are slurred and sluggish, but something in them frees me from my self-imposed prison and finally enables me to react.
I quickly scan the cabin and see all the vamps left standing were fleeing the scene quickly, dragging Herveaux behind them. I look over at Kaare and nod in their direction. He knows what to do; those assholes are not to leave, and he needs to ensure that.
I rush to Sookie's side and Pam looks up at me, the look on her face is fucking heartbreaking; blood red tears are freely streaming down her face and she is clearly afraid. I don't think I have ever seen the mighty Pam be afraid of anything, of course I had never frozen in place unsure how to react before either, but still, it is disturbing to me to see her react this way. I guess I am not the only one who has completely fallen for the little blonde angel on the floor.
"Lover," I say and am floored by the sound of my own voice. I mean to be strong, comforting, confident, but my voice is anything but those things; it is small, and meek, and more than a little bit scared. Was I suddenly having a split personality or something? I feel two distinct parts of myself warring for control, but the only part that is acting is the scared little human that is apparently still alive and kicking within me. It is weird as hell; I can think everything through logically, and yet none of that logic is coming into play. Eric Northman does not do indecisive, illogical, scared rabbit. NO! Eric Northman always has an even head and a million plans for every possible outcome. What the fuck is going on with me?
"Hey handsome," she says, her voice rough and cracking and she smiles softly at me. She moves her hand towards me, as if to touch my face, but the movement must have done something because I watch helplessly as my wife's small frame contorts in pain and she lets out a wail of anguish.
"Lover, it's all right, everything will be all right, you'll be fine, you'll see." I cup her face, pleading with every single God and entity out there that is listening to make my words true.
"No it isn't," she says, her chest wheezing with the effort to breath. "I love you Eric."
"No Sookie, you'll be fine. Just hold on, you're fine." I plead with her, begging her to just have the strength to get through the next hour. If we can get help, and get the stake out of her without hurting her further, I can heal her and everything will be fine. I turn my head towards Pam and bark at her, "Get me something to cut her out of her armor, quick!" I don't even bother to see if she is following my order, I just turn back to my woman and try to comfort her more, beg her to hang on just a little bit longer. "See lover, we are going to get you out of your armor and then we will fix you right up. Everything is going to be okay."
"I love you," she whispers and her eyes flutter closed.
"Sookie! NO DAMN IT! NO OPEN YOUR EYES! SOOKIE!" I scream at her; I want nothing more than to pick her up off the ground and shake her until she opens her eyes again. Her eyes flutter once more and then I hear it, a mere whisper in my mind and I know it is my beloved Sookie. 'I love you Eric,' she says, and promptly is sucked into the abyss of unconsciousness. I feel something cool and wet on my cheeks and I angrily wipe it away and am surprised to see blood coating my fingers and palms. What the fuck? It takes a moment for me to realize, I am crying. Eric Northman the baddest, fiercest, most respected and most feared warrior is crying.
After what seems like forever, my two halves finally, FINALLY merge and something within me clicks into place. I turn back to Pam. "Where are the scissors I asked for?"
"Here master," she says quietly and hands them to me. I immediately start snipping and the leather straps holding the two pieces of the plate together, when I feel a strong hand firmly grip my shoulder.
"Eric." I look up into Ivar's stern, yet compassionate face. "You have to stop."
"I will not just sit here and watch MY WIFE die."
He shakes his head softly. "I am not suggesting anything of that sort, but if try and remove the armor now, without the proper tools, you could harm her further."
"Explain," I say coolly to him. This better be fucking good, because every second is another step closer to my losing my wife.
He crouches down next to me and looks me in the eye. "If you try and remove her armor without the proper tools, you could cause a lot more damage to your little wife. You could bump the stake and it could pierce her heart, and there is no coming back from that."
"I can't sit here and just do nothing while my wife bleeds out all over the rug!"
"I am not saying that you should do nothing, I am saying that you cannot remove that armor right now. Look at Sookie as if you don't know her, and assess her injury; she is bleeding very little at the moment, the stake is preventing her from bleeding out. Listen to her lungs, they are working fine at the moment, I do not hear any puncture there either. Her heartbeat is beating regularly, just a little slower than normal. She is in shock and her brain shut down to protect itself from the pain. It is a good thing she is not conscious at the moment, because when we do remove that stake it is going to hurt like hell."
I close my eyes and take a moment to just stop and listen, and I find all of my brothers words to be accurate and for the life of me I am at a loss as to what to do next. I slowly open my eyes and look at Ivar. "What do I do?" I ask, my voice sounding small and timid, almost like that of a child asking if their parent was certain the monsters under the bed were really gone.
He smiles at me kindly and pats my knee; he opens his mouth to offer a suggestion and my phone rings, effectively cutting off whatever he was going to say. "Well there's your answer brother. Answer your phone, deal with your king. I will stay with Sookie."
I nod at him, stand, walk away a few steps, and flip open my phone. I try to center myself as best as I can, I cannot and will not show weakness to Felipe. I may be able to show my softer side to my family, but I refuse to show it to my king. "Northman," I say as my greeting.
"What has occurred?" the smooth rich accent of de Castro asks, floating into my brain and helping me to stay on task.
"The plane was boarded."
"And…" he says impatiently, "do you know who was behind the attack? What occurred once you were boarded, what is your status? You are obviously still alive, but what of the others? What of Miss Stackhouse… I mean Mrs. Northman?"
"Bill Compton was behind the attack. He somehow managed to glamour a Were."
"WHAT!" de Castro roars in my ear. I hear him cussing rapidly in Spanish, too rapidly for me to pick up exactly what he is saying. Something about fucking Bill's dead mother, or maybe desecrating the grave of Bill's ancestors, I am really not certain. But whatever it is, one thing is certain; Felipe is pissed. I let the king's tirade wear itself out until he finally calms down enough to say, "How? Who? Why?"
"I am unsure of the how your majesty. Sookie said that she saw the memory of the occurrence while we were questioning the Were as to his motives. The who, is Alcide Herveaux. Are you familiar with him?"
"Yes, he is the pack master in Shreveport, correct?"
"Indeed."
"But why would he help Compton? Isn't Sookie a friend of the pack?"
"She is, but Sookie seemed to think that Bill took advantage of Alcide's little tirade about her marrying me and glamoured him into believing the dumbest shit I have ever heard in my long life. As to the why, I can only hypothesize at this point, but I believe that Bill's motivations were that Sookie would perhaps be more amenable to leaving with Alcide than she was to leaving with Quinn."
"Hmmm… jodido idiota (fucking idiot). What is your status? What occurred during the battle? What do you want to do next?"
"Your majesty please forgive my rudeness, but at the moment, I don't really give a fuck. I need you to call whoever is the Queen or King of this area and get a helicopter or something out to our location. I will gladly pour over every miniscule detail with you at a later time, but during the skirmish Sookie was staked and we need help. I am unsure of how to proceed because I do not want to harm her further, but I know that we cannot leave the stake in her chest forever."
"Good Lord Eric, you should have said something right away. Of course I will help you. I believe that Queen Clarissa is in charge of that area. Let me make a few phone calls and I will…" the king paused as a loud popping sound occurred in his office. He growls loudly and bellows, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?"
"Are you on the phone with the boy?" I almost growl myself. Fucking great. Just what I want to deal with, fucking Niall.
"What boy?" the king hisses at him.
"Do not play games with me Felipe, I know my granddaughter is hurt. Now, let me speak to the boy while you run along and do whatever it was that you were getting ready to do."
"You do not have to speak to him Eric."
I sigh heavily. "Yes I do."
"I will still call Clarissa, and I will let you know an E.T.A. and if she has any ideas."
"Thank you your majesty."
"Of course," he says, and I assume he must have handed the phone to Niall because I hear a small amount of rustling and I can hear Felipe dialing another phone somewhere in the distance.
"What is her status?" Niall demands.
I take a deep breath and count to ten; this is Sookie's family and she would not be happy with me if I threatened to rip off his head and shit down his throat. Well technically I am incapable of doing the last bit, but that doesn't mean I can't get creative and still make it happen.
"She was staked in the skirmish."
"WHAT? HOW!"
"She jumped between my child and one of the attacking vamps when he tried to stake her."
"Stupid fucking girl. She is always doing this. You know this is the second time she has saved one of you blood suckers from getting staked? That time she ended up with the stake in her side. Can you remove the stake and heal her?"
"Not at the moment. We think it would be best until we have her somewhere safe and perhaps have someone to help slow the bleeding before I give her my blood."
It is eerily quiet on the other end of the line; I can just make out the hushed whispers of Felipe speaking to someone on the phone somewhere else nearby. "Turn her," Niall says and if you tried in this moment to knock me over with a feather you would have succeeded.
"Excuse me?" I say. Shock, incredulity, utter surprise, all of it an understatement to the emotions I have pouring through me at the moment.
"Turn her now Eric. You and that girl are destined to do something that will change the world and that cannot happen if she is dead. Turn her NOW!"
"NO!" I scream at him.
"Excuse me?" he snorts in disbelief.
"There is no excuse for you," I snap.
"You will turn the girl," he growls at me.
"I most certainly WILL NOT!"
"You know, for someone who was just professing their undying love for my granddaughter yesterday, you sure have a funny way of showing your devotion by allowing her to die."
"First of all," I growl, "you will never question my devotion to Sookie, not to me and most certainly not to her. If I ever, EVER hear you speaking that way to either one of us again, let's just say I will make a whole lot of vampires a bunch of very happy campers when they get drunk on Niallade. Second, we do not know what is going to occur with MY wife yet. She is not at death's door; she is merely in shock at the moment. Third, I will not turn her because she has not given me permission to do so. She is unconscious at the moment and unable to make a decision one way or the other. I WILL NOT and I will repeat this just so that we are crystal fucking clear, WILL NOT turn MY WIFE without speaking to her first."
"Why by the Goddess not? It isn't like you haven't done so before. It isn't like hundreds, nay thousands, of others in your race do not do it. So help me Eric, if that girl dies it will be on your head."
"The girl has a name or did you forget? Are you so caught up in your intrigues that you forgot to consider for one second what Sookie might want? I will admit to turning my child Jim without his permission, but that was a mistake. One I do NOT intend to make again."
"Just fucking do it Northman. Drain her, have one of your brothers pull the stake, and feed her your blood. She needs to be kept safe."
"For the last time NO! I will not make that decision unless absolutely necessary."
"I can come and make it necessary."
"I guarantee that if you show your fucking fairy face right now you will be dead in under a minute flat and then I will have to explain to my Sookie that I had to kill her grandfather because he wanted me to kill her. I do not and will not take orders from you. Put my king back on the fucking phone so that I can get back to saving my wife."
"Fine, but know this Northman; this is not over."
"Oh far from it. Just wait until my wife hears about how much you care for her safety. Why don't you do us both a fucking favor and trip and fall onto an iron rake or something?"
I hear the loud thud of the phone hitting the floor and then the unmistakable sound of Niall popping to wherever the hell it is he pops too. I for one was hoping that he accidently popped himself right into a fucking volcano. Fucking fairy. The light tap tap tapping of Felipe's designer shoes come closer and closer to the phone until he finally picks it up. "Northman, you still there?"
"Yeah, where else would I be?" I snort in an attempt at humor but my underlying frustration kind of killed the sarcasm and humor of it.
"Indeed," he chuckles lightly. "Down to business then. First, Clarissa is five minutes out, ten minutes at the most. She suggested that you call Edgington because he was the one who took care of Sookie the last time that this occurred. Perhaps he will have some ideas."
"As soon as we hang up I will call him and inquire, thank you your majesty."
"Of course Eric, don't mention it. Now, were there any survivors from the battle?"
"Yes."
"Do you have them in custody?"
I look over at Ivar and Stephan who are hovering over my Sookie, and Ivar nods in agreement without ever looking up from Sookie's still form. "Yes."
"Good. Will you need transport for them or do you have vehicles there you can use to transport them?"
"Hold one moment and I shall inquire." I zip out of the plane and find Kaare standing over five vamps and one Were. I can't contain the growl the trickles from lips when I see them.
"Kaare, do they have a vehicle you can use to transport them to Queen Clarissa's compound?"
"Yes, but a few managed to escape on foot before I managed to catch up to them and I don't know about you, but I will feel better to catch the few that fled before the fight."
"Indeed, but we will work out our next move after we reach the Queens compound. I want you to take Pam and Ivar and start heading in that direction. Hold on one second let me get the address from Felipe."
I turn back to the phone and ask, "Did you get all of that your majesty?"
"Yes. Tell your brother to head into Albuquerque and look for Las Mañanitas. He won't be able to miss it. It is a huge building in the middle of the city right off of Rio Grande Blvd. It is one of the few buildings that is adobe style all of the other buildings are more modern art deco looking buildings. Call me as soon as you can so that we can discuss where to go from here. In the meantime I will put out word to every single Sheriff, King, and Queen in the states to be on the lookout for Bill. But see if you can get the location they were supposed to meet him from one of the prisoners. Narrowing down his location would be much easier for everyone."
"Hold a moment." I look up at Kaare and nod towards the plane. "Go grab Pam and Ivar."
He pauses for a moment, looking at me questioningly and I just wave him off. He walks towards the plane and I crouch in front of one Alcide Herveaux. "Wolf, where were you supposed to meet Bill after you had gotten Sookie to go with you?"
"Fuck you Northman."
I growl loudly at him, grab his pinky finger and rip it right off his hand. A sharp yowl of pain bursts from his throat and echoes through the night. "I do not have time to play games. I do not have time to gently persuade you into telling me what I need to know. Because of your idiotic behavior Sookie could die. So no wolf, FUCK YOU!" I grab his pinky on the other hand and rip it off just as quickly, another howl of pain bubbles out of him and I smirk at him.
"Now, tell me where you were supposed to meet that fucking asshole Bill Compton or I am going to rip off your fucking dick."
"Oregon… tomorrow… after sundown," he pants heavily, barely getting out the words.
"Where in Oregon fucker? It is a big fucking state."
"I don't know where we were supposed to meet him. We have a private plane that was supposed to take us into Portland tonight and then he would call us at our hotel to let us know where to go."
"Fucking pathetic loser," I say and kick him in his thigh as I stand up. "Did it ever occur to you that there is something wrong with this picture? If Bill bought you a home for you and Sookie to share down south why would he have you go up north to meet him? You dumb fuck," I say and kick him again, this time in his stomach.
He doubles over and pukes onto the pavement beside him, barely missing himself and the vamps sitting next to him. "You know…" he pants heavily as he tries to speak. "She will never forgive you for torturing me."
I crouch down in front of him again and look straight into his emerald green eyes. I want to make sure he is listening to every single syllable that passes my lips. "Maybe, but somehow I think that she will forgive me," I say coldly.
"Oh yeah? What makes you so fucking confident blood sucker?"
"Well there is the fact that YOU tried to kidnap her, for that scum Compton. Oh, and there is also the fact that I didn't get her staked and nearly killed, again I am pretty sure YOU are guilty there as well. If I recall correctly you were with her the last time this happened as well, so twice you have almost gotten MY woman killed, lovely. Then there is the fact that her friend, that's you in case you were wondering, betrayed her. It is a shame really because from what I have seen of my beautiful wife she would do anything for those she loves. Somehow I doubt that she will have a lot of love for you after the little stunt you pulled this evening. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the icing on the cake is that SHE LOVES ME and she knows that I will do WHATEVER I deem necessary in order to protect her. If that means pulling off your fucking useless pinkies then so fucking be it."
I stand and start to walk away when a thought crosses my mind, and I turn back to the pathetic fucking asshole. "Oh and one more thing." Alcide raises his eyebrow to me skeptically. "If she dies, if I lose my wife because of what you started here tonight, you're in for a whole new world of torture the likes of which you have never imagined. You think me pulling your pinkies off was bad. Well just you fucking wait, because if I lose the woman I love because of your reckless behavior I will fucking drain you dry and turn you myself just so that I can fucking torture you for the next thousand years. Believe me, I have seen A LOT of forms of torture over my time and I guarantee that I will fucking bestow every single one upon your head and make up new ones! If my woman dies, you are well and truly fucked!"
Alcide's face pales, whether it is from the blood loss or the threat I can't be a hundred percent certain, but something tells me he knows I will make good on my words. I stand and walk away from the asshole and never look back. I am done with him, for the moment anyway. I have more important things to tend to, mainly my wife.
Pam, Kaare, and Ivar are standing at the bottom of the steps leading into the plane, waiting for me. I nod to them all and notice my child is sulking. I roll my eyes; I really don't have time nor the patience for this.
"Master," she says and bows slightly to me.
"What do you want Pamela?"
"I wish to remain with you and Sookie."
"No," I say and try and remain as calm as possible.
"But…"
"NO! I want you to go with Ivar and Kaare and make sure that the prisoners do not escape."
"But…"
"BUT NOTHING! DO AS I SAY!" I watch her eyes fill with tears and I almost feel badly for yelling at her. She stomps away towards the prisoners, and I can hear her lifting them and slamming them around in her anger and hurt feelings.
Kaare shakes his head, but says nothing and walks away, to help Pam, or at least that is what I assume he is going to go and do. I never bother to look and see what exactly it is that he is doing, because honestly, at this point, I don't give a flying fuck. Ivar crosses his arms over his chest and leans closer to me. "You should have just told her that her being upset will only make things harder on you. She would have understood. I know you are upset, but taking it out on us will not get you anywhere. If the worst does happen you will need us to be by your side. You pushing us away will do no one any good."
I sigh heavily and feel the weight of all my years dragging me down and threatening to pull me under its undulating turmoil. "If the worst does happen, it will not matter how any of you feel. I will deal with Herveaux and Compton and then I will join my wife in Folkvang." I don't even give him the opportunity to respond; I just pat his shoulder and walk away. I am done dealing with everyone else, right now I need to concentrate on my wife.
I walk up the steps; each one feeling like it is harder than the last to take. Eventually I make it up those blasted steps that seemed to roll on for eternity and into the plane. My wife still lies right where I left her. Her body is so still and pale; she indeed looks like death has already come and claimed her. I feel my heart break for one instant before I focus and listen carefully. Nothing much has changed, her heart is still beating, slow but steady, and she is still able to breathe on her own.
I crouch down next to her and push a stray hair off of her face. She is so cold and clammy to the touch that I yank my hand back as if her skin has just burned me. "She will be fine brother, have faith. The fates wouldn't have brought you two together only to be separated so soon."
I jump slightly with the sound of my brother Stephan's voice. I had forgotten that he was even here. "Somehow," I say, filling my voice with sarcasm, "I am not feeling so confident in the fates at the moment and I find that my faith is incredibly lacking as well."
He smiles softly at me. "I can understand why you would feel that way."
"Maybe Niall was right," I say bitterly. I feel my heart break and my confidence waver, I look over at my brother, tears once again streaming down my face. "Am I making the right decision here Stephan? Should I just turn her and pray that she will not be angry with me? Should I just save the woman I love and say damn the consequences?"
"Sadly brother only you can answer those questions. There is no guarantee here, no matter what your choice is. The possibilities are truly endless in this situation. I think that you should trust yourself though. I think you should try and hold onto your faith and know that Sookie will be fine. At the moment though you need to stay focused, be the warrior that you are brother, stand strong for you woman, plot and scheme and do all of those things that I have never really been good at. I will pray, you plot." He winks at me and offers me a small smile, one that I can't help but return.
At the same moment we both look off to the west. "The helicopter is close, you should call Russell and find out what he did to save your beloved the last time she found herself in this situation. You will not be able to speak with him when we are in flight. Those damn things are terribly noisy. That is one thing I miss about the supposed dark ages, it was so peaceful and quiet, and now everyone is loud, loud, loud, and busy, busy, busy. No one just stops and takes time to look around and enjoy life anymore." He shakes his head and chuckles lightly.
I narrow my eyes at him. "Shakespeare was a bad influence on you; you were already pretentious enough before you met that uppity poet."
He laughs and I feel a bit of the weight that has been slowly dragging me down lift off my shoulders. "Make your call brother; I think you have maybe four minutes. I will check and see if I can find some time of board to slide under Sookie so that she isn't jostled to much in the move."
I simply nod and take my beloved's hand; I refuse to leave her side again. I need to make calls, and tend to things, but I just can't drag myself away from her. I flip open my phone scrolling through my numbers to see if I have Russell's contact info, of course I don't so I have to find Sookie's cell. Fortunately her purse is close enough that I can reach it, and I quickly pluck her cell out and find Russell's number and call.
After just one ring he answers, "Dahhhhlinggg, I did not expect to hear from you so soon. I would have thought you would have been too busy having hot monkey sex with your stud muffin to remember the little people that have been there for you along the way."
I can't help myself; I burst into a fit of laughter. With everything that is going on, it just feels good to laugh at Russell's ridiculous, over the top nature. "Well, I must admit, wild monkey sex does sound lovely, but unfortunately I have a situation that I need your help with."
I can almost see the shift in Russell's personality; he has gone from fun loving flamer, to all business ruthless vampire in less than a millisecond. "What has happened and why are you calling me from Sookie's phone?"
"The answers are one in the same, but I don't have a lot of time. We were attacked, and before you go off asking questions I will give a very brief rundown and give you the rest of the details later because there is more important matters at hand. Compton." Russell growls. "Yeah that about sums it up. He sent a massive force against us, lead by the pack-master friend of Sookie's."
"Alcide? Are you sure? He would never do anything that…"
"I assure you he did, but let's just skip all that and keep going I will give you more details later. In the skirmish Sookie jumped in front of a big fucking stake that was aimed at my child's heart. Somehow Pam did not notice the attacker and Sookie knew it would have ended her. So… the day after my wedding, on the way to my honeymoon, my wife is staked and now lays unconscious on the floor of my plane and we are stuck in the middle of fucking New Mexico. Queen Clarissa is sending a helicopter to transport us to her compound, but I know nothing about her and her people. The whole reason I am calling though is that I understand that this is not the first time this has occurred to my wife, correct?"
After a long pause and Russell clearing his throat, clearly he is affected by Sookie's being hurt just as much as I am; they have been friends for some time. To be honest that is saying a lot, because vampires do NOT have friends, but to characterize Sookie and Russell's relationship any other way would be inaccurate. "Yes, she ummm… she came to Jackson to rescue Bill. She was in the club and she saved Betty Jo by jumping between a fanatic and her. The stake went into her side. How bad is it Eric?"
"I am unsure how bad it is. I know it went all the way through, from what I can tell it hasn't hit any of her major organs. It went in below her collarbone and above her heart, and somehow has missed her lungs. I cannot examine the wound though until we get to the compound. She is wearing her armor that the blacksmith made for her and we are afraid of jostling her too much. We have to wait until we can use metal sheers to cut her out of it to be able to tell how bad the wound is. Sookie is going to be pissed as hell if she wakes up though because we picked up that armor right before we left for our trip. Literally we were on our way to the plane when we got it."
Russell chuckles lightly. "Oh that silly bitch would be pissed about something as stupid as that." We both have a nice laugh, easing the terrible tension of the situation considerably. "What is it that you need me to do for you Eric?"
"How did you do it? What I mean is, the last time, how did you save her?"
"One of my nest is gifted, his talent was that he produced an abundance of the anti-coagulant that is in our saliva. He treated the wound to stop it from bleeding and then I gave her a very small amount of my blood to heal her. I had no idea that she was a spy sent to rescue Compton. I was just so… so… fuck I don't know, drawn to her. I knew I had to protect her, to keep her safe. I wasn't even mad when I realized she had taken that scum from my nest. She only did what she thought was right at the time and I admired her for that even more."
"Do you know if this Clarissa has someone with a similar ability within her assets."
"I am unsure, but even if she doesn't we will be there soon. I will be there in an hour or so and I will make sure to have Ray Don meet us there. He should be there in two hours at the most. Do you think Sookie will make it that long?"
"I am unsure; I will know more once we can look at the wound."
"Eric, if it comes down to it, my best suggestion, since I am assuming that you are choosing not to turn her since you would have already done it by now, is to give her some of your blood after you examine the wound."
I gasp. "But her body would start healing around the stake. We would have to reinjure her when we take it out."
"Do you have a better suggestion? If that stake is the only thing keeping her from bleeding out because it is pressed just right against an artery then it won't matter if Ray Don is with me or not. We would have to partially heal her first anyways and then remove the stake slowly, healing her little by little along the way so she can make it through. If that stake hit an artery and we just remove it, she will bleed out in just a few minutes; no matter what Ray Don does it wouldn't matter."
I growl at the idea of the tortures my woman has in front of her. I swear I will bring the wrath of all the Gods down on Compton's miserable fucking head. He will rue the day he was ever a fucking sperm in his daddy's nut sack. "Fine, be here as quickly as possible. I will call you when we have assessed her injuries further." I think for a moment. "Call Roland, he is the blacksmith that Sookie and I got our weapons from. I am not sure if he can be of any help, but I just had this gut feeling that he needs to come out here, so see if you can persuade him."
"Of course, talk with you soon Northman."
I click Sookie's phone shut and stick it in my pocket. I never have been one for all those silly pleasantries that people indulge in over the telephone, especially when I have more important things to attend to.
I can hear the helicopter touching down and I am almost relived that it has finally arrived. "Soon beloved," I whisper into Sookie's ear. "Very soon you will be all better. I promise, we will make it through this and then we will hunt." I kiss her forehead lightly and wait for the mysterious vamps to find us and help us transport my wife to the Queen's compound.