12. As We Know It
Eric was ripped from their shared dream so abruptly that for a moment, his consciousness wheeled in confusion. He felt her emotions draining away, and thought for a moment that she had lost consciousness herself.
But her heart no longer roared against the ground that imprisoned him. He quailed, struggling with the remnants of a once cataclysmic strength. It was insufficient. He felt tears come as the Earth pressed in around him.
He could not save her. In a few minutes, it would be too late. He wanted to let the sleep of day take him over. For a while, there would be no suffering, no pain... no sense of unyielding sorrow. He felt a longing for the True Death, because for the first time in his very, very long lifetime, a human had given her life for his—and he truly wished it could have been the opposite.
"Tonight, my love," she had said, knowing there would be no 'tonight'.
He ached. Their lives were so very short, and they threw them away so carelessly. It was hard to be a thousand years old, because there were so few surprises left. Vampires were predictable in their very unpredictability. Humans were predictable in that they reacted in the same way, if only with different words.
But Sookie had surprised him. He had coveted her for that precious ability to surprise him, but she was a faerie. Half faerie, really. But Alexis was human, and she had gone beyond surprising him. She had delighted him. Her willingness and the incredible pleasure that she took in his own pleasure had touched something in him he had thought long gone.
Now it would be lost to him for another thousand years, if another like her were even born then—and if, in the ocean of humanity, he stumbled upon her.
Sleep stole upon him in the darkness, imprisoning his mind and stealing his thoughts.
He woke and considered spending another night in the darkness. But her body lay above him, and he would not leave it for the rats and the vermin. He would not let rain come and carry it away, lost to the bowels of the Earth.
He would do his duty to her and he would burn her so that if the Indians were right and the soul could only rise home on the mists of the wind and the smoke, then she would be free. Perhaps to come to him again, if such a thing were possible, as the Buddhists believed.
He crawled from the ground, still aching. He needed to feed. But he would not until he had fulfilled the rites of her passage from life.
He rose, dusting himself off.
"I was beginning to think you were going to stay down there," Pam said acerbically.
"Pam," he said. "It took you long enough to get here." Too long.
"You only called me three nights ago. And there was trouble at home, but I see already that you know that. I couldn't reach you on your cell. Your inbox is full."
"Alexis was abducted." He knew already.
"They took her in the day," Pam told him. "There was nothing I could do. I felt you call, but I was tracing them. When I got there, the house was burned down. So I came here, since your call came from here."
"You should know, Eric-"
She sounded apprehensive, fearful. One of the things he loved about Pam was that he couldn't read her. He was uncomfortable when she sounded like this.
"It can wait," he told her. "I'm filthy and I have things to see to before-" He looked at her closer. "You're filthy."
"Yes," she said dryly. "I've ruined my shoes, as a matter of fact. But about that-"
"Really, Pam, it's going to have to wait."
"Eric," she snapped. "Listen to me for once in your life!"
He gripped her and lifted her, forcing himself not to tremble. "Watch your fucking mouth, Pam."
"You told me to choose a Progeny, Eric."
He dropped her. "Yes. We will deal with that when we get home."
"Now, Eric," she defied him. He snarled at her, his fangs coming out.
"Here she comes now," Pam said, her voice droll and unconcerned. He glared at her and turned to look up the mine shaft.
A hand gripped him and he looked down. Reaching down, he helped Pam's Progeny climb out of the ground and then stared, dumbstruck.
"Pam, what have you done?"