A/N: We're getting sooo close to Eric! I promise, he's right around the corner. Who has him? Did he find the mysterious Freyja? And what is with those dang cats? Hummmmmm... Thanks to everyone that followed me after my short absence. I've started working on my novel as well, so I'm going back and forth between two worlds of hot vamps and flawed, yet likeable female heroines. I'll keep you updated.

As always, props to Ms. Harris.

Chapter Nine

As it turned out, my boots were made for walking, and it was a good thing.

We'd been walking through a dense wooded area, steadily making our way uphill for over an hour. We were silent, partly because we had to be, and partly because I was simply keeping my mouth shut. Vamps do not feel the need to jabber like I do, so I think it was a welcome change for them not to hear me asking a hundred questions. We were in stealth mode, which was fine by me, though certainly a little challenging. Everywhere I stepped, a branch creaked or a twig snapped, while they seemed to glide over the ground without making a sound.

I had some time to think of what had happened that day as we went along.

They all came up to the suite together as soon as they fed and dressed. Back in their creature camos, I realized that we were heading out to the hills to find the mysterious Roman, or Vampicus, as I had started calling him. I decided to vamp up as well and dress in all black, but I certainly didn't look as battle ready as they were. We looked like a twisted troop of cat burglars.

I ignored Sorren, pure and simple. I was mad at him for sicking Greta on me, and I was not in the mood for yet another this is why your life is always in danger lecture. I assumed that Greta's father had told Sorren what happened and had mentally prepared myself for a barrage of fangy Swedish curses. But he didn't say anything to me, which I found to be even worse. So, I kept my gaze away from him and didn't speak unless spoken to. He secured a huge sword to his back, his seax, then just sat in a corner and brooded. I guessed he was ready.

Pam and Bill prepped me on where we were going and how to defend myself if I was separated from the group. Bill strapped a shoulder holster onto me, which was a surreal moment in my life, to be sure. I also had a large stake velcroed into my inside pocket. They assured me that this was only to be used as a last resort. There was no way any of them were gonna let Vampicus get close enough to me that I would have to use it. And yet there it was. As I stood with my arms out, Bill tucked a large handgun loaded with sliver onto my side and pulled my coat over it.

"This is a Glock .45, Sookie. It's lightweight and easy to handle. All you have to do it take off the safety, point and shoot," he explained, but I wasn't listening to him. I was vaguely horrified that a deadly weapon was being attached to my body, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to care. I looked over his head to see Sorren staring me. He crossed his arms and sighed, and it felt like Eric was looking back at me. He was nervous. And he was keeping something from me, to be sure.

Later, after another silent car ride, Sorren lead the way as we parked the SUV behind some trees and headed into the darkness. After a while, he fell back and let Pam pilot the group. Bill stayed annoyingly close to me, but even he moved a few paces ahead when I noticed Sorren was walking beside me. He didn't say anything for a while, and we just walked and watched Pam and Bill creeping ahead. As even more space ebbed between us, I knew he wanted to speak to me alone.

Here we go. I figured I'd go first, like a band-aid. Rip it off quick and get it over with.

"No Greger?" I asked, my voice very low and indifferent.

"Of course not," he replied. "It was foolish of you both to even consider him coming. It's bad enough you're here."

I swallowed back my pride and tried to use an even tone. "He works for Eric, you know."

"I am well aware of their arrangement," he said quickly. "It does not mean that he should go on a fool's errand and lose his life when he could be of good use to us in the future."

"If you have any other ideas, then by all means, let 'em rip."

The muscle in his jaw tightened and I could see tension all through his body.

"Then a-hiking we will go," I said dryly, pushing a large branch away from my face. It snapped back and hit me in the eye. I cursed as held my face and felt stupid. It burned like hell and I could feel tears dripping onto my cheek.

Sorren cupped my chin and looked down at me, inspecting me carefully. "Ah, you're fine," he sighed. We looked at each other like that for a moment, and he sighed again, shaking his head.

"You're angry with me," I supplied.

"Not angry, liten flicka," he said, lowering his hand. "I worry for your safety. Eric is my brother, I owe him much. You are my responsibility as long as you're here."

I rolled my eyes. "Bill would argue with you about that one."

He chuckled deep in his chest. "Bill. He is almost as helpless as you are. He is blinded by his emotion, as is Pamela right now."

We started walking again and I asked, "So I suppose you know what happened today?"

"Yes."

"And I don't suppose you plan on explaining it to me?"

"No."

"That's what I figured," I sighed.

"It's not important right now," he said, then added in a mumble, "You could've just stayed in the hotel, as you were told."

"I don't take kindly to being told what to do."

"Hence Greta's presence."

Arguing with him was like arguing with a Vulcan. "Yeah, she's a real peach."

"How is it that you and Eric have not killed each other yet?" he asked, and it sounded like a genuine question.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we just balance each other out. He tells me what to do, I say no. I almost die, he saves me. It's pretty give and take."

Sorren let out a hearty laugh and it immediately made me feel more at ease. I could listen to him laugh all day. I smiled back, giggling a little as well. I guess our relationship was fairly insane, to a vampire or a human.

"He loves you very much."

"Yeah, I know. That kind of snuck up on him, I think. I'm the last thing he expected."

"Hmm, you speak the truth. You are smarter than they give you credit for," he said, nodding toward Bill and Pam. "Are you sure you can't read vampire minds?"

"Boy, would that have made my life easier over the past few years."

"Or infinitely more complicated."

I looked up at him, impressed. "You're pretty smart yourself."

"You make a lot of mistakes over a thousand years," he said humbly. "You live and learn."

"And Pam?" I asked, my eyebrow arched.

He smiled wickedly. "Some things I'll never learn."

Okay, so he had a weakness for Pam, a great sense of humor, and a streak of humanity that was a mile wide. And he was friends with a werewolf. He was probably the most unique person, living or dead, that I had ever met, aside from the Pam part. Half of the men in Shreveport had a thing for her, and a select few even had the pleasure of getting stepped on by her five inch stilettos before being sucked on. It was common knowledge that she preferred women, and had made countless comments about my assets over the years. There must have been something very special about Sorren for her to actually have feelings for him. I wondered, for a brief second, about the crazy vampire sex they must have, but I quickly realized that I didn't want to know.

Sorren stopped moving suddenly, and I became very aware of the stillness surrounding us. No animal noises, no insects, no wind - nothing. Bill turned around and silently motioned to a cave on the hill face about a hundred yards ahead. I could barely make it out through the trees. Pam turned to us with a nefarious smile, her fangs gleaming in the moonlight. She was ready to rumble.

"We shouldn't have been talking," I whispered. "He might've heard us."

"He knew we were coming," Sorren replied, not even bothering to lower his voice. "He heard us the second we stepped foot in his territory."

"He could be anywhere then," I whispered, inching closer to Sorren's protective bulk.

"No, he's there. I can smell him."

Bill and Pam concurred. They were both hunched behind large trees on either side of the ancient path we'd been following, stakes gripped in their hands.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sorren asked me.

No. Panic was slowly rising up from my toes throughout my body and I could taste bile in my mouth. I was about to put myself out to bait a vampire that was old as Eric, maybe even Ocella. I'd had good ideas in the past, and I realized that this wasn't one of them. But desperate measures, right? If this guy had really been living in a cave for a thousand years, there was no way he'd just roll out the welcome mat for three unknown vamps. Once he got a whiff of me though, all bets were off.

"Don't let him eat me," I muttered.

"I won't."

I slowly kept moving forward, and I could feel the sweat balling up on my forehead and in my palms. I stopped next to Bill. Shifting my coat to the side, he popped open the holster and flipped the safety switch off on my gun. I looked him in the eyes and I saw that he was just as uncomfortable as I was. He smiled quickly and gave me an encouraging nod. I nodded back, and turned to Pam. Sorren had taken his place next to her. They both gave me similar fleeting looks, but Pam had a bit too much excitement on her face for my liking. She definitely took after Eric, who would've been in the cave ripping out fangs by then.

I blew out a long, unsteady breath and kept walking.

The plan was for me to just stand outside the cave and wait for him to come out, maybe share a few words of small talk (if he didn't try to tear my throat out first), and then the others would pounce. We were all counting on me being irresistible, which part of me still found laughable. So I walked to a close-enough-for-me distance and tried my best to be irresistible.

And that plan might have worked, if there'd only been one of them.

I saw the familiar blur of vampiric speed fly around both sides of me. I whirled around to see Pam and Sorren struggling to bring down a large dark haired man. Bill was on the ground under the grip of another. For a long second, I just stood there and watched them, twisting and writhing so fast that I couldn't make out where one vampire started and the other ended. But I quickly realized that while Sorren and Pam were managing to hold their guy down, Bill was about to be very dead. The other vamp, a lean and grizzly looking character, had hauled Bill off the ground and had his arms pulled behind his back. One pull or twist and his arms would be gone. Another, and it would be his head.

With a shaking hand, I pulled the Glock out of its holster and aimed. It wasn't the first time I'd used a gun before - I was well acquainted with my good ol' Benelli shotgun - but this was somehow different. It was light and easy, like I was shooting a rubber band.

Bill saw my movement and ducked just enough not be hit himself. I fired and fell backwards. I didn't see the damage I'd inflicted until I scrambled up and saw Bill covered with brains and blood. His vamp was writhing on the ground behind him with half his head blown away. Without a moment's hesitation, Bill leaned down and staked him where he lay. The other vamp, who was in a very effective headlock between Sorren's arms, let out a guttural scream of anguish as his pal fizzled away and turned into a pile of goo.

I raised my arm up at the other vamp and took a step forward, but that's as far as I got.

In the same instant that Bill called out my name and rushed toward me, I felt a grip like a steel vice on the back of my neck.

"Drop it," a voice hissed in my ear, and I let the gun fall to the ground. Bill tried to sidle closer to me, but I got squeezed even harder and would've fallen to my knees had I not been held up. I yelped out in pain and the voice said, "Not another step, or I'll crush her like a grape."

Bill reluctantly stepped back, shooting daggers from his eyes to Sorren and Pam.

"Let him go."

"Don't do it, Sorren," I cried.

"Shut up, Sookie," Pam snapped, but she looked at me with unmistakable concern. "We'll rip his fucking head off if you so much as scratch her," she then said to my captor. My thumping heart swelled.

He sniggered, and I could feel him inhaling the scent off my neck. "It just might be worth it," he said in breathy voice. "She's a special one, isn't she?" I heard his fangs click down and the breath caught in my throat. I knew it was Vampicus, I just knew it. The older ones have this weird vibe, I mean like an actual vibe. I could feel the power pouring off him, just from the sound of his voice.

"She belongs to Eric Adilsson," Sorren said, his voice unnecessarily loud.

The grip on my neck loosened just a bit and he took pause. "You speak of the Viking?"

"I speak as a Viking," Sorren said assuredly. "You hurt her, and you might as well stake yourself."

"You are fae?"

I assumed he was talking to me, so I slowly turned to look at him. I saw a wild-eyed man, vamp or not. He had very short hair and a face that looked like he belonged on a statue. He actually had a Roman nose. But his skin was covered with grime and he was wearing a thread-bare flannel shirt.

"I'm his wife," I said, my voice cracking and betraying my brave face.

The vamp's eyebrows furrowed. "Wife? The Viking has married a faery?"

"Yes." Please don't eat me now.

He laughed deep in his throat and his arm slid from my neck to my upper arm. He turned me around like I was modeling a dress and said, "No wonder they're looking for him."

"Who is they?" Sorren asked.

"I have no reason to answer your questions," Vampicus replied .

Pam stuck the tip of her stake into the other vamp's side, growling, "I'll give you a reason, fucker."

Vampicus merely glanced at Pam, barely giving her threat merit. He kept his eyes on Sorren. "You come here with a faery, two baby vamps, you end the life of thirteen hundred years old soldier, and you are threatening me?"

"I have no quarrel with you."

"It seems you do."

I turned a little toward him again and tried the honest approach. "We're looking for Eric. We thought you could help."

"And why would I help you?"

"Because," I said, a stream of logic suddenly flowing out of my brain, "You obviously know Eric, which means you know his maker. And there must be a reason why you've been living in a cave for the past thousand years."

My words seemed to hit a nerve. Sorren and the man stared at each other for a long, tense moment, then they released me and the other vamp at the same time, like a supe hostage negoiation. I ran to Bill, silly enough, and he put his arm protectively around my shoulders. The other vamp stood behind Vampicus, though he tried his best to look tough peering over the other one's shoulder.

"Ocella is here?" Vampicus asked, not quite so sure of himself.

"Oh no," I piped up. "He got staked in my front yard about a year ago." We didn't need to mention that it was my faery uncle that did the staking.

Satisfied with this answer, he seemed impressed with me, when before I had just been an appetizer. He stood a little taller and took a step away from the other vamp. "I have lived in these hills for over a thousand years, with this spineless swine behind me, and the solider at your feet which you have so carelessly dispatched. In all that time, we have witnessed, perhaps, a dozen people come anywhere near this area. And now, you are here a mere four days after the last visitor. I hardly think that is coincidental."

"Was it Eric?" I asked. Bill pulled on my shoulder, gently urging me back. I knew Sorren should be doing the taking, but I couldn't help it.

"No," he replied, "But it was someone who knew him, a very long time ago."

"Another Viking? A girl?" Sorren questioned.

"No, a Roman. His name is Marcus Sisera Avitus. He was Ocella's second in command."

"You were there," Sorren grumbled. "The battalion that attacked us."

"Yes."

There were disturbing curses and expletives flying out of Sorren's mouth, but I wasn't paying attention. I looked over my shoulder, suddenly distracted. All I saw was Bill's impatient face.

"Why did he come see you after all this time?" Bill asked.

"To renew our allegiance to him. We declined the offer."

"And yet you still live?" Sorren asked.

"Marcus is not my maker, I have no reason to follow him. And he came alone, the arrogant bastard," Vampicus said with a chuckle. "He was no match for the three of us."

"Two of us," Pam corrected with a sneer.

I wanted to smile at her, leave it to Pam to throw a bit of humor into any life-threatening situation. I turned to her, but I got that nagging feeling again. I squirmed in Bill's grasp, turning all the way around this time. There was no one there and I couldn't sense a thing. I turned back around and Pam was staring at me, her eyebrow arched.

"Ocella was not your maker," Sorren said, stating something we knew already. Eric was Ocella's first child.

"Ocella didn't have to stomach for it," Vampicus scoffed. "He made Marcus do all the dirty work, but there were a thousand of us. So it passed down from captain to commander to lieutenant to solider to footman - it was a plague we were all forced to endure. And if you refused, you were served for dinner."

"So how did you end up here?"

He smiled at Sorren, taking a glance back at the vamp behind him. "You Vikings put up a bit more of a fight than we expected."

Sorren nodded, crossing his arms over his puffed up chest. "Ja, that we did."

"My maker died during the battle, and there two were the only ones left of the men I turned. So we left."

"You deserted," Sorren said, disgusted.

"Would you want to live like this?" Vampicus cried.

"I have lived like this," Sorren bellowed, "Thanks to one of you cravens that failed to finish the job!" In a flash, Sorren had his seax in hand, pointing the broad tip out. He, like Eric, seemed to have a very clear patience threshold. Vampicus has just stepped over it. "What did want with you?"

The little guy backed away, but Vampicus lifted his chin defiantly and replied, "He wants the Viking. He offered fae blood in exchange."

I knew I should've been paying attention at that point, considering the ravenous glint I saw in his eye as he said the word fae. But I felt that pull in my stomach. I closed my eyes and had to physically hold myself back from running through the trees to the car. I looked to Pam, she needed to know. She was already watching me, and she understood immediately. Eric was summoning me again, and he was close.

"Why does he want Eric?"

"I do not know."

Sorren stepped ahead of us and put the tip of his sword dangerously close to Vampicus' neck. One thrust either way was all it would take. "I'll ask you again, what does he want with Eric Adilsson?"

"I do not know," he repeated quickly. "All he did was ask us to go with him. We said no, and he left."

"I find that very hard to believe." Sorren said, casually pulling the blade down the vamp's dirty shirt. The fabric easily gave way to show an equally soiled tee shirt. Vampicus nervously cleared his throat and the seax was against his Adam's apple in an instant. He was clearly scared, and we all knew it. He was deserter after all, and no matter how long he'd been a vampire, some character traits never seem to waiver.

"I could assume."

Sorren smiled, like they were old pals. "Sure, let's assume."

"Ocella and Marcus planned on invading all of Europe. They were going to make a vampire army. But when Ocella turned Eric, he became obsessed with him. He lost all interest in his army and just left us. Marcus became leader by default, not because he wanted to be. He quickly lost control of the men and most of us left. By the time he made it back to Rome, some twenty years later I've heard, he had a mere hundred men and nothing to show for it but a curse. His family name was shamed."

"He wants revenge."

"Yes."

"Why now?" Sorren asked.

"Because he is weakened by his love for a mortal."

Everyone looked to me suddenly, and it was all I could do to stand up straight. Sweat was pouring down my back and I was trembling. By now, of course Bill had noticed something was wrong. He looked down at me, then his eyes quickly shifted over to Pam. She curtly nodded and Bill let out a low, barely audible sigh.

"What's wrong with her?" Vampicus asked as Sorren's eyes quickly darted to me.

He didn't let him change the subject that easily. "Where is he?"

"I don't know." Sorren jabbed the seax just slightly and blood trickled down onto Vampicus' chest. "I swear to the Gods, I don't know!" he yelped.

Sorren eyed both of the grubby vamps for a few seconds, then lowered his sword. "Know this - we leave you in peace because it is our choice, not your will. I suggest you do not make me regret this decision."

They were out of sight, back into the shelter of their cave, before my knees even hit the ground.

"What is it?" Sorren demanded.

"Eric is summoning her," Bill replied, trying to scoop me up into his arms again.

"Get off," Pam and I both screamed at him and he scurried away like I was covered with sunlight and silver. "Make sure those idiots stay up in that hole," she ordered, and like sulking child, he obeyed.

Pam kneeled down next to me. She was careful not to get too close, but I didn't mind her being there. It was the first time in three days that she didn't look as though she wanted to pluck my eyebrows off. "What are you feeling?" she asked.

"He's close," I said between big gulps of air. "He's tryin' to pull me to him, that way." I pointed toward the direction we'd just come in, back toward the city.

"Pamela?" Sorren questioned. Without even looking up at him, she quickly shook her head. She wasn't feeling a thing.

And then she did.

I cried out, and she gasped in horror. My hands flew to the right side of my ribs, holding the spot like I'd just been stabbed. Pam staggered around and Sorren rushed over to hold her up. Blood tears fell onto her face and she cried out in agony that was not her own. I was face down in the dirt by then, inhaling dust and pine needles as I screeched Eric's name. I felt myself being turned over and saw Bill hanging over me. Helplessly, he tried to brush my face clean and wipe away my tears, but I kept screaming out my sorrowful howls.

"Sookie, tell me what to do," he whispered to me. I curled into a ball in his lap, trying to keep the pain from spreading to the rest of my body.

"They're killing him," Pam sobbed, leaning against a boulder. "We have to go!"

"Where?" Bill pleaded. I knew he'd do just about anything to make the pain stop.

My legs and arms were going numb. "Car..." I uttered, then I had a hard time keeping my eyes open.

The next few minutes were a haze of trees and black sky. I knew I was in Bill's arms, I knew he was running faster than a cheetah with its feet on fire. By the time I felt the cool leather of the SUV's backseat under my head, I was already out.