A/N: Sorry this took a while longer than normal - family emergencies blow. Very unpleasant details, which I'll spare you from. Nutshell, I've been too distracted to write and I wanted to get this one just right. This was the hardest chapter yet.

I've been passing the time being worried and watching Being Human. BBC version, of course. I want to put Mitchell on a stick and lick him! If you've never seen it, I highly recommend it. It's about a vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf that live in a house together and try to mainstream. It's not as high octane as True Blood, but it's very witty, emotionally intense, and the acting is brilliant.

I've also been spending some major time on my book, but I promise to update sooner next time. I miss your kind words, so gimme gimme gimme reviews! You know I'm a junkie.

And now, I am happy to announce the return of Mr. Eric Northman...

As always, props Ms. Harris.

Chapter Eleven

Sorren sat in front of an open laptop. The glowing screen illuminated his pale face, casting his eyes in darks shadows. "The good news," he said, "Is that the boat's tracking device is still activated."

"So we'll be able to find it?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes, I'm waiting for the security company to email me the coordinates right now," he replied.

"Okay, and the bad news?"

Pam snorted. "Either they're incredibly stupid or they think we're incredibly stupid."

The rest of us looked to Sorren for clarification. Pam, Bill, Greger, and I were sitting around a tiny table on the bridge on our "borrowed" boat. It wasn't anything nearly as glamorous as the vessel we were chasing - a forty year-old fishing trawler that smelled worse than I could ever explain- but it got the job done. Greta was leaning against the wall next to us, an enormous pout on her face. Her father, Henrik, was steering the boat, but I could tell he was listening to every word we said. From what I'd gathered since meeting him three hours earlier, he was an older, male version of Greta. A little wiser, perhaps, but just as surly and suspicious.

"Basically," Sorren said, "If Marcus is the one that has him, we can go ahead and assume one of two things. He's old, and many of the old ones aren't as tech savvy as Eric or myself. He could've just left the beacon on with no knowledge of it even existing. We also know that he's strong, possibly stronger than Eric. But could he keep Eric down by himself? Personally, I doubt that. I think he has at least three or four other people with him. Vampire or were, it doesn't matter - they're all gonna be strong and hard as hell to get rid of."

He looked around this motley crew gathered together with the best of murderous intentions, looking each of us in the eyes one a time. He was preparing us for the worst of it now, and we all just stared back at him, unblinking.

"I think they left the homing device activated with the intention of us trying to find them." Pam and I silently locked eyes, as he added, "They're luring us."

"It's a trap," Greger said, his voice more of a weak question than a statement.

Sorren nodded. "Ja."

"Oäktingar," Henrik muttered. I had no idea what that word meant, but I'd heard it more than once come out Pam's mouth, so I could only assume it was dirty.

"We are the stupid ones," Greta said, shaking her head with a cigarette hanging between her lips. She slid the deck door open and left the room with a quick whiff of smoke.

Bill sat back and crossed his arms over his chest, anger etched all over his face. "Sookie should not be here."

"Where the hell else would I be?" I asked, my voice full of simmering anger. "Sitting in a hotel, watching TV while the rest of you die trying to do my dirty work?"

"We all have obligations to Eric, Sookie, in our own way," Sorren added, though it was in a gentle, unobtrusive way.

"I am his wife."

My words were firm and loud, and it was the first time I'd ever said those words and really meant them. It was the first time I'd said them without pretense of any kind. I hadn't traded a ceremonial dagger with him to merely keep me from the clutches of another vampire. I wasn't his fake wife only to be paraded around Victor or Philip DeCastro. I wasn't living a completely separate life in another town. I was a woman who was desperately scared of losing the only man she had ever felt real love from. I was Eric's wife.

The computer beeped.

No one moved or said anything for a few seconds. We all knew that if we turned around now, Eric would be dead before we changed our minds. Finally, I leaned forward and said in a very challenging voice, "Well?"

Sorren gave me a encouraging half smile, then looked over my shoulder to Henrik. "57 degrees north by 16 degrees east."

Henrik nodded, already pushing the coordinates into the navigation thingy. "Aye, captain."

"Alright then, people, let's do this thing right." Pam stood up, zipping her sleek and trim leather jacket up to the neck. Her hair was secured into a high, yet stylishly poofed ponytail. She smiled as she hoisted one of the duffel bags full of weapons onto the table. "Now, be fair, split them up evenly. There's enough to go around for everyone."

While everyone milled around our little arsenal, chattering about calibers and clip holders and how to properly throw a hand grenade, Bill moped in the corner. He seemed to wait until I noticed his funk, because the second I made eye contact with him, he stormed out of the room onto the deck. I sighed and rolled my eyes. He was going to tell me what he was fretting over one way or another, so I figured I might as well go ahead and listen to him. I knew he was probably going to risk his life for mine before the night was over, so that earned him a little of my respect. Plus, if we were outside, I could yell at him if I chose to without embarrassing him in front of Pam.

The wind bit at my skin as I stepped outside. It was bitter cold on the water and the boat was moving at a fairly good speed through the dark night. I pulled my fluffy hood over my head and stuck my hands into my pockets. I saw Greta, leaning over the railing and puffing away. Even she had her black biker coat fastened up to her neck with the collar turned up.

"You'd better get in there," I said to her. "They're passing out guns like Tootsie Pops."

She winked at me, flicking the butt overboard. "Oh goody."

I heard the door slide shut behind me as I headed toward the back of the boat. Bill would have gone in the opposite direction of the were without even thinking about it. Sure enough, there he was, elbows on the railing and looking back toward the shrinking city lights of Kalmar harbor. I walked a little closer to him and he stood up, but kept his back to me.

"What did you expect of me?" I asked. "Really?"

He shook his head. "I had hopes, I expected nothing."

"Hopes of what? Me running into your arms? Forgetting everything that happened between us?"

His silence spoke volumes.

"Bill," I sighed, taking a few steps closer to him. "I am a very forgiving person, because that's the way that I was raised and that's the way I chose to live my life. I have forgiven you, many times over in my head and in my heart. But I will never forget the way you betrayed me. I learn from every terrible thing that happens to me - I'm not the naive little barmaid that you met at Merlotte's four years ago."

I couldn't hear his sigh over the rushing water sounds, but I watched his shoulders heave up and fall down miserably. "We will never get past this."

He turned around and looked at me with those damn eyes of his. He took a few steps and the space between us was suddenly gone. There was a little part of me that always cried out and felt mushy when he got too close to me. It was the part of me had that loved Bill and felt pain every time I thought of how he broke my heart. It was the part of me that could still look at him and see a handsome, dignified man who, in his own way, was actually a good person. A good person that was capable of making terrible decisions.

He looked down at me and that little part of me was screaming. The wind was blowing in his hair and he smiled kindly. He would never give up on that Southern charm of his, which let's face it, I was a sucker for. That was one of the reasons I fell so hard and fast for this man, like a fool. Like a little girl.

I wasn't a little girl anymore. I had the scars to prove it.

"I will do whatever is necessary to protect you," he said with a tone of finality.

"I know you will. And I'll do whatever it takes to get Eric back."

"I know you will."

We stood there, and just stared at each other. Not much to say after that.

Our conversation was stopped blessedly short, when we felt the boat slowing down. The engine stopped, and it was only then that I realized I couldn't see anything around us. The lights of the city were gone, obscured by a thick wet, cloud. We were rolling into a fog bank and I felt a tinge of fear in my chest. It added something creepy and dangerous to our situation.

Pam stuck her head out of the cabin and looked back at us. "We're here, if you two wanna stop making out and go rescue your husband." Her voice was at its usual sarcastic best, but the way she arched her brow and frowned told me she was going to tattle on me when it suited her best.

I smiled a little as I walked past her. It was good to have her back on my side.

Despite my trepidation, everyone else was tickled pink about the sudden onset of fog. The sun would be coming up soon and I could sense the vamps in the room getting itchy. This was part of the plan though, because they couldn't follow us once the sun was up. The fog gave both sides a little more wiggle room, because as long as it lasted it would be cover from the sun. The Valkyrie was set up with all sorts of high tech gizmos, but a lot of them didn't work as well in the fog. I wondered what the point was of having gizmos in the first place if they weren't gonna work when you needed them the most, but hey, it suited us just fine.

"She's about four hundred yards off the port bow," Henrik said. "The current will take us in the right direction."

We had to get to the boat as quietly as possible in the two dinghies we had also obtained by less than honest means. Henrik was the only one that knew how to drive the boat, so he would have to stay on board. Once we were on the Valkyrie, he'd get closer so we could just hop back on and make our get away.

"Remember," Sorren said with stern authority. This was obviously not the first time he'd lead a troop into battle. "This is strictly a seek and rescue mission. They will end this one way or another, but we stand to have a better advantage back in the city. We get Eric, we get out. If you can safely take one out, do it. It's one less for us to deal with later, but don't go looking for a fight. Stay in pairs, and stay quiet. I don't want any hero bullshit out there."

Sorren looked directly at Bill when he said this. Bill glared at him with stony eyes, his jaw flexed with tension. Sorren had just hit the nail right on its stubborn jackass of a head.

"Pam and I will take point. Greta and Greger, head below deck, cover Sookie and Bill while they check the cabins. They have to be keeping him somewhere light proof. Pam and I will stay up on deck and cover the main hatch. Maintain radio contact unless told otherwise."

We were all wearing remote ear pieces, very Navy SEAL.

"Any questions?" Sorren asked.

"What do we do when we find him?" Bill asked.

"He'll more than likely be unconscious, so you'll have to carry him," Sorren replied. "Sookie is confident that she will be able to communicate with him."

He sighed with disapproval, but nodded anyway. He was right to have doubts, this was the weakest part of the plan. We had all argued about it for over an hour while we were waiting for Henrik to show up with the boat. There was no way to guess how Eric would react to us, but we were out of options. Sorren and Pam were physically the strongest, so they had to be our offense. Greger and Greta were simply our defense while Bill and I searched the boat. I knew Bill would agree to no one else being with me, so I didn't bother to arguing. I had a plan of my own, just in case, but I kept it to myself.

"Anything else?"

I cleared my throat, and timidly spoke up. "I'd like to say something, if that's all right."

"Of course, liten flicka."

I gazed upon them, most of whom I hadn't even known two days before. Now, they looked back at me with kind faces and steely eyes. Pam smiled with the knowledge that she was about to make some people very dead. Bill stared at me as like I was about to recite my last will and testament. Greger was doing his best to fit in, looking like a plump GI Joe in his black fatigues and combat boots. I was sure he was well aware of his odds. Greta, with a teeny smirk on her face, actually seemed like she was enjoying herself.

"Um, I just wanted to thank ya'll for stickin' your necks out like this," I said humbly. "I think we all know that I couldn't do this on my own and I'm real grateful for the help. Eric is very lucky to have friends like you. Whatever happens, I just wanted you to know that. That's all," I said with a shrug, and looked back to Sorren.

"Right then," he said, picking up a gun bigger than my arm. "May Odin be with us. May the Valkaries watch over our battle. May the halls of Valhalla await our arrival."

Twenty minutes later, we were off. I had been armed to the teeth and forced to wear a very unflattering black jacket to hold in all of my armaments. We each had a gun loaded for vamps with silver cored wooden bullets, and one loaded for weres with hollow point nasties big enough to take down a moose. I however, along with Greger, had been given extra weapons to shove anywhere one would fit. I even shoved a pocket knife down into my boot.

I watched as Sorren and Pam climbed over the stern railing, sleek and silent like a pair of panthers. I closed my eyes and scanned the area for any telltale mental signatures. No weres on board, just the empty voids of vampire minds. Sorren looked down at me as I held up my vamp gun with one hand and motioned the number five with the other. Five vamps, plus Eric. He was so close, it was making my heart palpitate.

They crouched down in the corners of the deck, their guns and fangs at the ready, but no one came. After a minute that seemed like an hour, Sorren signaled us up. The fog was rolling over every surface and I couldn't see more than a few feet in front of me. Sorren moved forward as Greger and Greta walked on either side of Bill and I. Pam brought up the rear. I couldn't help but marvel at our surroundings as we tip-toed along. It was exactly as it had been in my dream. The colors, the textures, the swirling mist. I got distracted, looking through empty windows. It was too late by the time I noticed the three black spaces quickly surrounding us, from both sides and above.

And then it all went to shit.

Pam was silvered by an enormous dark skinned vamp before any of us could stop it. He threw a net over her face and her screams echoed through the dense air. A beefy vamp that looked like the Terminator grabbed Sorren by the elbow and his gun careened into the harbor. Another one jumped out of the fog hovering over the roof of the cabins and landed on Bill, holding a steak to his throat. The black vamp leapt over Pam's writhing body and jumped on top of Sorren as well. They knew exactly what they were doing, I realized as they completely ignored Greger, Greta, and I. They were getting rid of the bigger threats. Two humans and a baby werewolf were not fair game.

I looked down at Pam, and almost reached down to help her when I saw her skin sizzling under the silver mesh. But she screamed out, "Go, go!" So I ran.

I didn't need to look, I just kept going until I knew he was there, my Eric radar blipping steadily in my head. I hopped down a small flight of stairs and navigated the narrow hallways like I'd lived there all my life. In front of me was a closed hatch, it's small window taped over from the outside. As I reached out for the handle, the door swung open and another sumo-sized vamp was standing in front of me, fangs out.

I didn't have time to grab my gun, as he pulled me into his grasp and wrenched my neck to one side. I felt his saliva drip on my skin and I screamed until my throat dried out. His fangs sank into my neck and his arms squeezed around me, when I heard a shot. He turned into a pile of vampire Jell-O at my feet and all down the front of me.

I looked up and saw Greta with her arms locked in the air, still pointing the gun. She was trembling and looking horrified at what she'd just done. Greger came up from behind her and gently pushed her arms down.

"Thanks," I said.

She merely nodded, not even trying to look tough.

"Watch the door."

Another nod.

The moment I turned around and walked into that room seemed like slow motion. I breathed, in and out, and all I heard was my breath. I saw Eric, slumped in the corner of the galley, half sitting up against a cabinet. His arms were held up with silver chains, or else he would've been on the floor. I couldn't see his face, just the top of his down-turned head. I couldn't see much of anything except for old blood, splattered all around.

I heard Greger gasp behind me. "Oh, God, we are too late."

I fell to my knees in front of him. "Go get Bill."

"He's fighting the big black one."

"Just go get him!" I screamed, and Greta pushed him back down the hall.

"You said five?" she asked, her back against the wall just outside the doorway. She was doing the same vampire math in her head that I'd done already. I nodded, one left somewhere.

I looked at him and drew in another deep breath. If he was human, he would've looked dead. "Eric?" I whispered. "Eric, wake up."

He didn't budge.

"Eric, honey, it's me." I carefully lifted his head to see his face. His eyes were shut and his cheeks were hollowed in, like he'd been starved. His skin had no color left now at all, and I could see the gray wiggles and swirls of his veins just under the surface.

I realized that his hair was gone, chopped off in blunt chunks all around his head. Why hadn't it grown back on its own? I got closer to him, examining the rest of his injuries. I saw three holes in the filthy tee shirt he was wearing, each one exposing an injury. The first was merely a scar. The second was filled in but red and inflamed and oozing a bit. The third was an open, festering hole in his side. It was where he'd been stabbed earlier that night. He wasn't healing, and he wasn't moving at all.

"Eric, " I said as I stood up to check out the chain situation. "I'm gonna unchain you and try to move you. But you gotta promise that you're not gonna eat me or drain me when I let you go. I know you can be strong."

The chain was simply looped through a cabinet handle above him and loosely tied around each wrist. I got him out of it and he flopped down onto the floor mat. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe that he'd jump up and fly away like I'd just taken a kryptonite necklace off him. I used every ounce of strength I had in me to sit him up, but he kept falling back over.

I sat on top of him and shook him like a slap of meat. "Eric, get your ass up, you big stupid fucking Viking. Jesus in heaven," I cursed, smacking his chest. I was frustrated and terrified, but I knew that I wasn't gonna be able to handle this one on my own. Pride be damned, I turned my head toward the hallway and shrieked, "Bill, help me!"

He was next to me in a blur, covered in fang marks and blood, some of it his own. He took in the scene before him and his shoulders fell. He kneeled down on the floor next to me and let out a long sigh.

"He's alive," I insisted.

"Yes, of course," he replied, or else there'd be nothing left for me to sit on. He looked at Eric's face and touched the skin on his exposed arm. "I'm afraid he won't last much longer."

I shook my head, determined. "No, we're fixing this right now."

"Sookie, he is but a shell-"

I ignored him completely. "He needs to feed. My blood is the strongest here."

"No."

"I'm gonna let him drink 'till I can't anymore, then you're gonna heal me."

He made a guttural sound in his throat, like he couldn't even comprehend what I'd just suggested. "That's madness."

"We're doing it, Bill."

"No!"

"It'll work," I insisted.

He sighed heavily. "You could turn."

My eyebrows creased. I'd thought of that, of course. He was grasping at straws, but it had been know to happen. I'd heard the stories of donors that donated just a little too much, and woke up the next day changed. How many times had Eric urged me, how many times had he explained how easy it would be...

"I don't care," I said finally. "We'll be careful."

"You don't care?" he cried, almost laughing.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes and forehead. "Of course I care, but we don't have a choice, and we don't have time to sit here and argue about it."

"Sookie, he has silver poisoning. Look at his color. He will not be able to recover quickly, no matter how much blood he takes from you," he insisted. "Remember how long it took me to -"

"You aren't Eric," I said simply and I saw malice frost over in his eyes.

"He can't even drop fang. There is nothing we can do for him!" Bill yelled, his voice echoing against the walls of the tiny chamber. "I will not let you risk your life for a corpse."

"Fine, I'll do it myself," I grumbled through strained lips. I pulled the pocket knife out of my boot and quickly sliced my wrist open with barely a wince.

Bill grabbed my arm and the knife fell to the floor with a clink. Blood was dripping down my arm and onto his hand. Even I could smell it in the air. "He will rip you to pieces," he said through ragged breaths, staring at my oozing blood.

"Sookie?" a familiar voice whispered.

I looked quickly to Eric. His eyes were barely open and he was looking at me, his mouth opening slightly. His nostrils flared at the mere scent of my blood. Relief flooded through my body, even as I felt Bill's grip on my arm tighten. "Yes, it's me."

He looked vaguely confused, it seemed all he could move were his eyebrows. " Are they here?"

"Who, honey?"

"I can go now?" he asked, relieved.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, don't worry."

"I knew you'd save me. You are as beautiful as I've always imagined." He smiled, with a soft serenity I'd never seen on his face before. "I'm ready. Take me, my Valkyrie."

It felt like my heart was being squeezed in my chest. He thought he was finally going to Valhalla. Giant tears involuntarily dropped from my eyes and I yanked my arm away from Bill, cradling it against my chest. Blood was pooling quickly and I had to make a choice. Did Eric really want to die? What if he didn't want to be saved? After a thousand years, maybe he'd had enough. Maybe he'd just hung on long enough to say good-bye.

"Eric, it's me, Sookie," I said, touching the side of his face. He felt as cold as a piece of meat in the icebox.

He sort of nodded. "Sookie."

"Eric, I can't take you there," I said softly into his ear. "That's not my job, honey. But, I can let you go if you want me to."

"This is insanity." Bill pulled on my shoulder. "Let me heal you before you bleed out."

I turned from Eric's empty gaze and stared up at the man I had once loved, the man I had once thought was the center of my life. I felt something akin to hate, I realized, and it caused anger to boil over inside me like I'd never felt before.

"Bill Compton, it is a miracle that I am even speaking to you after everything you have done to me," I said, my words clipped and stern. "If you turn your back on him right now, I swear to God in heaven that I will stake you dead the first chance I get."

I saw the features on his face crumble and I knew that he believed me. I believed me, and for a long second I thought he might actually walk away. I was never going to be his sweet little Sookie ever again, and I frankly didn't care. I didn't have time at that moment to worry about the status of my conscience, but I bookmarked it for later thought. Up until those words came out of my mouth, maybe he really thought there was hope for us. Maybe he really thought that he was going to win me back by playing Sir Vlad Galahad. Maybe I thought I wasn't the type to refuse a dying man's wishes.

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast," Greta called over her shoulder from the doorway. There were the sounds of growling and things being smashed coming from down the hall.

I decided right then, that I didn't care what Eric or Bill wanted. I cared about what I wanted.

I put my wrist to Eric's mouth and he immediately began to suckle, softly like a baby. I could feel him getting stronger already. His hands reached up and held on tighter. He grasped my hand, clinging to me so I couldn't move away. When I felt his fangs pierce my skin, I cringed and bit down on my lips.

I turned to Bill, who was watching Eric chew on me with morbid curiosity. "He would do this for you if I asked him to, and you know it," I said, my words strained with pain.

It took him a moment to reply, but he finally gave a stiff, rehearsed, "He is my sheriff."

Even as he said the words, I felt my body weakening. I was getting lightheaded and my arm was throbbing. Another minute went by and my fingers were numb. I fell against Eric's chest and Bill quickly snatched me away, resting me in his lap.

"That's too much," he said.

Eric growled and reached out for my hand, but he still couldn't bring himself to move. For a second, it seemed like the color was coming back to his skin, but as his body absorbed my blood, the pallid tone returned and he fell back against the cabinet again.

"No, it's not enough," I murmured, my voice fighting against the fatigue I was feeling. "He needs more."

I looked up at Bill, who, despite the dire circumstances of the particular moment, had a happy gleam in his eyes. He bit his wrist open and put the wound close to my mouth. I hesitated, my eyes narrowing with doubt. There was two ways blood could be shared or received between humans and vampires - with pain or with pleasure. There was no in between, no mediocre missionary style quickie before the lights went out. I'd given Eric my blood and it'd hurt, because he wasn't thinking of me. He was thinking of eating.

I could wait for Sorren or Pam, but I might pass out by the time they fought their way to us. I knew I didn't have a choice as I stared solemnly at Bill's eager face. I took his wrist in my hands and closed my eyes, because I couldn't look at him. I couldn't see the look of pleasure on his face when I began to suck. I couldn't look at him as my heart began to pound faster and I pulled more and more of his blood into my mouth. His warm and velvety taste washed over me in a familiar wave, and images of Bill hovering over me in bed flashed through my mind. He moved against me and I heard him moan my name.

I felt him bulge against my back.

My eyes flew open. I scrambled away from him, wiping my mouth off with the back of my hand. My heart was beating like I'd just sprinted a mile.

His fangs clicked back in and he looked away from me shamefully. "I apologize," he mumbled.

"Fuck you, Bill," I grumbled, rubbing my wrist. My wound was already healing and I felt like my body was roasting over a cool ice fire.

"Yes, fuck you, Bill."

We both turned toward the voice. Eric was watching us.