(Eric's POV)
Sookie took a step closer to me from behind, but I ignored her, and charged the few steps to take the man down. I felt a wave of sudden love come from her, and tried to send her reassurance, but it was dominated by the intensity of her emotions.
I tore the stake out of the human's hand, and Mark hurried from near the bar to restrain him. The slight twang of what could only be a crossbow caught my attention, and nothing hit me, but I could hear the tear of fabric and flesh from behind me.
I turned around instantly, and couldn't stop the fear from creeping over me as I witnessed the arrow protruding from the center of her chest. With the kind of speed that only a vampire has, I leapt to stand behind her, and pulled her against me. "It was worth it to save you." She whispered, and I could feel the cold bloody tear on my face. Before I could respond, she gasped and I could feel the spike of pain from our bond. She slumped back into my chest, and I took her up in my arms. A dark red spot formed around the arrow shaft, and began to spread across her shirt. The few vampires present caught the scent of her blood, and their fangs dropped as they moved closer. I snarled viciously, and all four of them disappeared out the door at the likelihood of facing my wrath.
Pam came over with a Fangtasia logo blanket, and with her help we wrapped Sookie up, before taking her to my office. She cleared my desk for me, and we lay Sookie down as gently as possible. I removed my shirt, and balled it up before putting it under her head, then pulled up a chair from the corner.
"Get Ludwig here, now." I ordered as I sat down, and she immediately pulled out her phone and went out to the bar to take care of the humans. She closed the door behind her, and the tears began to streak down my face.
With my hand, I began wiping the blood away and applying it to the inside of her mouth in an effort to keep her alive long enough for Dr. Ludwig to arrive.
It only took ten minutes before Pam came back in with Ludwig behind her, and the short troll of a woman got to work immediately. "Vampire, put your hand around the base of the shaft, brace her skin, and pull it out as fast as possible. Then feed her your blood."
I did as I was told, and as my blood started to dribble into her mouth, the doctor started to treat the wound. It was all I could do not to tear up again when the bleeding of the wound didn't stop. "Something's wrong." Ludwig said, "Her blood should be clotting by now, and it's not." She picked up the arrow from where I'd tossed it, and examined the head. "Damn it." I heard her mutter under her breath, and I turned my head toward her in question. She sighed, "The arrowhead is barbed, and was coated in a de-coagulant poison. They intended for it to kill you before you could heal, but obviously they missed. Now the poison is keeping her blood from clotting." Pulling something out of her bag, she revealed a small glass vial of a dark purple substance.
"What is that?" I demanded, before letting her apply it to Sookie's wound.
"If you want her to live, then you need to let me work, vampire." She said, and started to rub a few drops of the thick purple substance into the hole. "This is something I invented, sort of a human-healing blood concentrate. It's the perfect mixture of vampire and human blood, along with a few other chemicals, which instigates healing on any damaged area." I watched hopefully as the savage hole smoothed slightly and scabbed over, and I felt a response from her mouth under my wrist. She swallowed several times, taking my blood, and I kissed her forehead. I looked up from Sookie's face to see Ludwig staring at me intently. She nodded, before examining the area around the hole. "She should be fine now. The arrow punctured her left lung, missing her heart and any other vital organ. But the wound is only closed. It's not completely healed. Make sure that when she wakes up, she doesn't go back to sleep or slip into shock. Feed her another cup of your blood as soon as she opens her eyes. Don't let her exert herself too much, or the hole could open back up." She started to pack things back into her bag, and threw away the used gauze and towels. "I recommend you take her to a hospital for x-rays, and mind her breathing to make sure it isn't too labored."
I nodded, and thanked her for coming so quickly. Pam stepped forward from the corner, where she had stood the entire time, and I quickly listed off my orders on what I wanted her to do. She hurried away to close the bar, and sent Mark back to the office just as I'd asked. "Here's the keys to my car." I tossed him the set of keys, "Pull it around back, and wait there."
I took Sookie up into my arms carefully and slowly walked to the back door. In reality, I wasn't walking, but gliding less than an inch off of the ground so as not to jostle her, but no one would notice. I slid into the back seat, and looked at Mark. "Take us to the Ochsner medical center in New Orleans." He nodded, and started to drive.
Mark broke every speed limit, and the drive took just over 4 hours. I ordered Mark to return to Shreveport with my car, before picking Sookie up, and carrying her in.
"I need a doctor!" A nurse shouted when she saw me walking in with Sookie, and I lay her gently on an empty bed in the hallway. They wheeled her into an empty room at my request for privacy, and started to take all her vital signs just as I started to fill out paperwork. In doing so, I realized just how little I knew about her history, and decided to call Jason to answer different questions. Her brother had never seemed to be the smartest person, or full of common sense, but he loved his sister and helped me without protest. I promised to call him as soon as I knew anything, and gave the nearest nurse the completed paperwork. Using the skills that I'd gained over the years, I lied smoothly about her having an accident in the woods, and they bought it without question. I told them that I hadn't seen what happened, but had found her right afterward.
Very few of the staff seemed openly frightened of me, while most did their best to keep up a professional demeanor. But every person who entered the room was twice as careful about making mistakes of any kind while I watched over her protectively.
It was just half an hour before dawn when Pam arrived with our light-tight travel van. She called Alcide Herveaux, who agreed to be there as soon as possible to watch over Sookie during the day, and arranged for a guard to stay by our van during the day.
I went out into the van, where Pam was already asleep, at the last possible moment. My mind fought my body, and I stayed awake for a long time, caressing the bond between Sookie and myself. She didn't stir, but I kept sending waves of love and reassurance her way, until the sun finally pulled me under.
When I rose that night, it was still half an hour before sunset, and I could feel that Sookie was still asleep. But it was different somehow. Her sleep was strangely less peaceful, almost as though she were forced into a deep slumber.
Being in the underground parking structure, I trusted that the sun wouldn't find me, and exited the van being careful not to disturb Pam. A man wearing civilian clothes exited the passenger seat at the front of the van, and met me around the side as I stepped out. "Sir, I would recommend staying down here in the parking structure. The sun is not quite gone yet."
"I'll be fine, watch over my child until she wakes, then be gone." I ordered, and he didn't react or move as I started toward the elevator.
The sun was just over the horizon when I got up to the 12th floor with her room. I glanced out the window as the last stray beams of light reddened my skin, but didn't do any real harm. I walked down the white hallway to her room, and opened the door quickly.
Alcide still sat in one corner, flipping through a magazine, and looked up warily as soon as I entered. "She hasn't changed any. But the nurse told me that they wanted to ask you a few questions when you got up. I'll tell them you're in here on my way out." He said, answering my unspoken question, and stood to leave.
"Thank you." I said, swallowing my pride. "For being here when I couldn't."
He seemed unsure of what to say, and finally just nodded and walked out after one more wistful look at Sookie. I pulled a chair up next to the bed, and took one of her hands in mine before setting down.
A nurse came in a minute later, with a clipboard, and looked slightly nervous as she approached the bed. She jotted down a few notes after looking over the machines, and finally turned to me. "Sir, may I ask you a few questions?"
I gave the signal for her to continue and she looked down at her paper, flipping through them clumsily. "Are you related to her, in any sort of biological way?"
"No." She nodded, and started to write.
"Do you have reliable contact with her biological family?"
"Yes." Jason popped into my mind, and I made a mental note to call him when the nurse left.
"Upon waking up, would Miss Stackhouse be willing to make a statement clearing you of any liability for her injuries?" She asked, and I could hear the undercurrent of accusation in her voice. It didn't surprise me that the doctors and nurses might suspect me for being the cause of her injuries.
"Yes." Of course Sookie wouldn't blame me, even if I blamed myself, and I smiled slightly more.
"Do you know of any domestic abuse occurring in her home?"
"No, she lives alone, and has a very good relationship with her brother." I clarified for her, and she seemed appreciative as she wrote down my responses.
"Have you ever inflicted any physical injury upon Miss Stackhouse, against her will?" She stared at me intently, and seemed disappointed when I answered.
"No. I am her fiancé, and would never hurt her." To my annoyance, her eyes looked to the hand I held, likely trying to find a ring, and I made another note to ask Sookie to go along with my lie when she woke up. Maybe she'd even let me buy her a ring at the nearest jewelers for show. I could only hope.
The nurse looked at me disdainfully, and my aggravation finally got the better of me. "Why hasn't she woken up?" I asked, trying not to sound too demanding, but still firm.
"We gave her a sedative to help her stay asleep." I raised an eyebrow, asking for an explanation. "Often times with these types of wounds, where the patient can't actually see the damage, it is assumed by the patient that the injury isn't very bad. So there's a high chance of her being too physically fit and hurting herself further without even realizing it." I nodded, understanding exactly what she meant, and knowing that Sookie would do just that. "Plus, while she's asleep, it lets her body focus on healing itself. So you can expect her to be very tired even when she is awake."
She picked up the clip board with Sookie's information from the end of the bed, and leafed through the pages. "We're going to stop giving her the sedative drip at about ten, and let her wake up if she's ready. Then we'll try to see if she's comfortable eating. Whatever it was that punctured her chest left a hole in her left lung, and it nicked her esophagus, which may cause a slight pain when she swallows. The hole in her lung is very small, and will heal with time. We suspect that it was more of the suddenness of the damage that caused her mind to shut down."
I took in everything she said, making plans for when she got home in the back of my mind, but I could tell that there was more. Urging her to continue, she took a deep breath, "With the trauma to the lung, the doctor believes that in the future she will likely experience asthma-like symptoms. She will probably have shortness of breath from time to time, and her family doctor can give her an inhaler to help her with that."
She left then, and I pulled my phone out as I felt Pam wake up, and called her. "I want you to get ahold of someone about putting air filters in Sookie's house to minimalize anything that could harm
Sookie's breathing further. Also find out who Sookie's doctor is, and make her an appointment for next week sometime at night, when I can go with her. Then find me some daytime supe guards for Sookie, people that Alcide Herveaux recommends." I hung up, and felt Pam's determination as she started to follow my orders. I knew Alcide had an attraction to Sookie, and would put real thought into whoever he recommended.
I called Jason at around nine-thirty and assured him that Sookie would be fine, and that I'd have her home as soon as possible. Just as I hung up with him, something occurred to me, and I dialed the number for Merlotte's.
"Merlotte's, this is Arlene." I could hear the bar in the background, and knew it was probably busy.
"Can I speak with Sam?" I asked, and she asked me to wait while she got him.
"This is Sam." He said into the phone a moment later.
"This is Eric Northman. I was just letting you know that Sookie got hurt last night, and I have her at the hospital in New Orleans. I understand that you do not like me, but I know what she would want you to be aware that she's going to be fine and will be home soon. You can talk to Jason about visiting her when she gets home." I didn't give him a chance to speak until I was done.
"Vampire, if you hurt her, then I promise I'll be sharpening my stakes." He threatened, and I almost laughed at the thought of him trying to hurt me.
"I am not the one who hurt her, and the person who is responsible will be dealt with quite soon. I promise." He was silent, and I could almost hear the chill run down his spine.
"Well…thanks for letting me know. I'll tell her friends for her." He said, and hung up.
I smiled as I put the phone back into my pocket.
At half past ten, the doctor came in and told me almost all the same stuff that the nurse had, and proceeded to remove her sedative drip from the IV rack. "This will wear off in about fifteen minutes, and then it's up to her whether she wakes up or not. If she wakes up, then she will be allowed to leave as long as all these last tests come back okay." He said, taking two vials of her blood. "It will take about a month for her to be fully healed. Or less time, depending on your involvement." He said the last part in a quieter voice, winking at me as he left, and I understood exactly what he meant.
Close to midnight, I felt her side of the bond begin to buzz with activity, and I knew she was waking up. My cold heart warmed a little as she opened her eyes, and I felt an immense relief wash over me.
She blinked around the room for a long moment, as her eyes adjusted, and she looked at me in question.
"Do you remember what happened?" I asked, and she nodded after a second.
"You're in the hospital in New Orleans. I brought you here after Dr. Ludwig seen you first." She accepted that, and hesitated before speaking.
"Does Jason know?" She asked, a little nervous.
"Yeah, I just talked to him a little while ago. He said he'll be over to see you as soon as you get home." I paused, and she looked at me in my silence. "Ludwig said that when you woke up, I should feed you my blood. Are you okay with that?" I wondered if she realized how much blood I'd given her in the last 24 hours, and whether or not she would feel the effects.
"Of course." I got up, securing the door lock, and quickly bit into my wrist. She drank deeply for a moment, and I couldn't help the arousal that I got out of it.
She smiled slightly after letting my wrist go, and I knew that she'd noticed the bulge in my pants.
A knock sounded on the door, and after making sure there were no traces of my blood anywhere, I let the doctor in.
Sookie ate a large meal, with lots of small portions of different foods, and I suspected she felt no discomfort while swallowing. The doctor noticed this as well, and I gave him a threatening look that he only responded to with a smile and a nod. Pam came in, seeming genuinely concerned with how Sookie was doing, and I realized that her feelings toward my bonded had changed dramatically over the last week.
The doctor left when Pam arrived, and Sookie looked at me. "He likes you. Now he knows that vampires can't be so bad when one like you obviously cares about me. His daughter used to come to Fangtasia all the time before she moved away for college, and she'd told him all about how brutal you could be. He respects you, and assumes that you're always so ruthless with others to protect me."
I nodded, and decided that the hospital would appreciate a large donation.
But looking at Sookie, I could see that she was deep in thought, and something seemed to be bothering her. "What's wrong?" I asked after a moment.
"It's nothing really…I was just wondering about the medical bills. I hope my boss doesn't mind if I ask for more shifts." She said with a smirk, and I chuckled for a second, before getting serious.
"Don't worry, you're job comes with medical benefits. You get medical and dental insurance." She looked shocked for a second, before shaking her head.
"Eric, you can't just go paying for everything that happens to me." It was as though she didn't expect me to take care of her, as I intended to.
"Sookie, don't be ridiculous. You are mine, and I take care of mine. I've had a thousand years to amass my fortune, and the only person who really spends is Pam, but even she can't make a dent in my accounts. Your medical bills are just pocket change for me." She looked away sheepishly, and I knew I had made a mistake.
As a child, she'd never had much, and what I called pocket change was several months of hard work for her when she worked at Merlotte's. Never had she had the opportunity to spend without worry, or to buy something expensive on a whim.
"Sookie, you chose to be with me. I even lied to this hospital about being your fiancé. What's mine is yours, and spending money to make you better is something I'm happy to do. I'm privileged to be able to take care of you, and I'm grateful to you for saving me from the monotony of my long life." A tear streaked down her cheek, and she leaned up to kiss me fiercely.