A/N: 'Dead Ever After' is officially out and the forums are on fire. So I know you guys don't miss me at all! But I was able to get something's done ahead of schedule so I figured I'll pop back into my favorite fantasy world, where no one is asking me about their wallet or keys and a Tasmanian devil is posing as my daughter.

Eva (Guest) who left me a review and was worried, have no fear. Seriously, I really am all for readers voicing questions and concerns to answer your question,:

The purpose of the witch was to ensnare her. If Sookie had touched Quinn in the dream she would have reawakened her infatuation. Quinn is full of himself. He went back because Sookie dared to 'dump' and he wanted to ruin her happiness just to add insult to injury. (Hope that helps)

On another note, 'Happy Birthday' to me!

Eric

Chapter Thirty-Two

As Bobby approached, I knew I was out of time to speak with my wife. So I broached a topic that had never been far from mind since she mentioned it.

"Before you go…" I began but then I hesitated.

It wasn't that I didn't want to ask the question I wasn't sure I could handle the answers. Truthfully, I never stopped thinking about it. I never stopped dreaming what it would be like to have her as the mother of my child.

"Yes?" she replied.

No matter how badly I wanted anything, I never wanted Sookie to feel forced with me with anything she gave, especially not this. This was something she couldn't undo or take back. "Back in Manhattan," I began carefully. "You said you were thinking about babies." I heard her sharp intake of breath but I spoke over her. "What did you mean?"

She floundered for a second as she tried to answer. Then she finally said, "I was looking forward to my next birthday when we would be able to start trying to make some."

I smiled to myself. The possibility wasn't something I'd ever imagined. When she had first offered, it had been a mere act of desperation. Yet, when she had spoken the thoughts there had been a happy glow to her face, like it was something she too would relish. I wanted to watch her body swell with my seed. It was something that the inherent male in me desired. I wanted to have with her no other man had; walking, talking proof of the love we shared.

It was my turn to be stunned speechless but she misinterpreted the silence and tried to assuage any concerns. "That's months off and—"

"I wanted to… I just wanted to hear you say it," I couldn't even tell her how happy she just made me. "I need to go lover, we'll talk more when I get home. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she said.

"Sorry to interrupt," Bobby said. "The Bards found him. He's in New Mexico. The jet's fueled and ready."

"Thank you," I told my assistant.

Lilly and Bard Leeds had finally found Marcus and come hell or high water, I was getting him to return to his post. Marcus, like everybody Illeta had kept close, was devoted to her and therefore devastated by her loss. She had watched his great-grandfather grow-up. From the time of her arrival in this valley ages ago, she had taken a patriarch from his line as her squire. Since then she acted as the de facto guardian of his descendants. With her blood she had saved many from the family, but never has she turned one. My sister only had one son and she had been forced to kill him herself. Had she lived forever she would never have made a vampire child. Pam and the descendants from her squire were as close as she got.

During the flight, my mind traveled back to the recent conversation I'd had with Sookie. Now would be a good time to talk about the one subject we were both avoiding, Sookie and her affair with Quinn. I would have to tell her the whole truth. The thought alone made me cringe. What did it matter? I wondered. After all, I'd forgiven her and it wasn't something I thought of often. When I did, I felt no more anger toward Sookie, just him.

It wasn't so bad we were pretending it never happened, was it? We had moved on, so what would it hurt? I wanted the future she painted without revisiting our ugly past. She loved me and I loved her more than anything. She wanted to have a baby with me. Was it so terrible that I didn't want to cause her pain?

"How did they find him all the way out here?" Clovache wondered aloud.

The Bards were the best. "It's the crossroads of dusty as hell and hot as hell," Batanya commented.

I looked around and found that I had to agree. My jet landed and there was nothing around the tiny municipal airport. Saying the place was remote was being a master of understatement. There was nothing but miles of red dirt and sand dunes. I had no reception on any of my devices; the air was heavy and the terrain unforgiving.

It saved me time to fly to him instead of waiting for a vehicle able to navigate the terrain. I finally landed on the steps of a tiny cabin that was miles from any trail. I couldn't imagine how a human of this time who'd lived in a city like Los Angeles was surviving here. Then again when looking to cut ties to the world, there was no better place. The area was so devoid of life there was only a single human heartbeat to be heard. It had to be Marcus.

"This is Eric," I said, not bothering to knock.

Lamps were burning so he was awake but he seemed to have been frozen at the sound of my voice. His heart was beating rapidly and he extinguished a lamp, to what purpose I knew not. Perhaps he had forgotten I was a vampire and could hear him breathing. I sighed. My usual mode of issuing threats and using force wasn't something I would employ, not with him. I truly hoped this would be easier.

"Surely you do not intend to leave me out here," I continued, in a reproachful tone.

With a sigh he shuffled towards the door and opened it. He looked like he hadn't shaved or showered in days. "Mr. Northman," he greeted. "I know what you want and I can't go back," he said. "I can't."

"I need your help and if you won't come back because I'm asking, then help me because Illeta would want you to."

"That's not fair," he said, instantly teary-eyed.

"It was not supposed to be," I conceded. "Nothing can diminish your pain but time. Hiding and abandoning the life you had with her only insults her memory."

That was a low blow, but I wasn't above those at the moment. I'd been away from Sookie for days. I wasn't any closer to making heads or tails of my sister's corporate accounts. That was one reason to go in search of him. The other was he would have wallowed away in this hole. I know he would have. I also knew Illeta loved him too much to have him suffer such a fate.

"I will guilt you, shame you, anger you, and I am not above insulting you, but I will get you out of this house and back to work."

He looked down at his feet, defeated. We both knew I wouldn't go away and deep down I don't believe he wanted to sever all his ties to her. "I should have known she wasn't happy…" he said, looking up at me. "But she…I don't get it."

"It is the opposite," I told him. "She chose to leave this world because for so long it was guilt and fear that kept her hanging on. She was happy. She'd finally forgiven herself and found peace. She never wanted to part with it again."

It wasn't the answer he wanted because he didn't understand. The truth was he wouldn't understand in his one lifetime. As old as Pam was she didn't understand either. To begin comprehending suffering so great, you had to live it and fortunately, neither of them had. Marcus would persevere over his grief just as Pam and I were doing. If my sister had seen nothing else in him, she had seen someone that would give to this world, not just take from it. His pain wouldn't yet allow him to see that, but there was no doubt in my mind that one day he would.

"I am leaving," I told him. "I am going home and I ask that you do the same. I need you to help me preserve my sister's life's work."

"She always said you fought dirty," he said, wiping his eyes, but he stood a little straighter. He wasn't happier but he looked less bereft.

I shrugged. "Leta thought me how."

By the time I arrived back at the airport, my jet had lost its place in air traffic. It has been days since I've seen my wife and the separation was an ache in my chest the second I woke. Instead of waiting, I flew myself to the regional airport and took a commercial Anubis flight. Sookie didn't want me racing the sun home to her. In this instance I was racing the sun to wait for her. It was two totally different things. I was already smiling at the fit she would throw if she knew that my flight didn't get into New Orleans until a half hour before dawn. I knew I would find a delicious way to make her forget her anger.

I flew home with fifteen minutes to spare. The lack of my wife's heartbeat disappointed me though it shouldn't. I already knew she wasn't here and I no longer worried that it was thoughts of another man that pulled her away from my bed. It was loneliness. She loved me and sleeping in our bed without me was hard. I would surprise her tomorrow in her hometown. I couldn't wait to see her eyes and her smile and to continue the last conversation we had.

~ooooo~

Someone was attempting to wake me while the sun was still up. The first semiconscious thought I had was that it wasn't Batanya. It couldn't be. If ever she had to wake me it was a smoother transition than what I was experiencing at the moment. The effects on my body were rougher this time. Knowing this was important, I tried to combat my instincts and slowly rise. I was groggy, in a stupor, blinking in and out of consciousness. So it took several me minutes to get my eyes to see anything other than a blur.

What I did see after that was Batanya and Clovache in full attack mode. They zealously guarded a perimeter set across the foot of my bed. Someone was testing that line and they weren't doing a bad job. But good wouldn't be enough to get past my guards. There was a reason I had Britlingens. They were the best.

I was having difficulty seeing much detail. There was a flourish of dark hair and denim. That glimpse was mixed in with those of my guards. All parties involved in the fray were moving too fast for my dimmed senses to hone in on. As muddled as I was, I caught the scent of Fae. This was a full-blooded one and it had been wounded. Its blood was everywhere. It called to me. The scent of Fae blood was causing a new haze to overtake me.

Faery or not, my guards were fighting to kill. Their attacks were directed at vital organs and her head. The faery rolled neatly from a series of stars that had been aimed at her neck. Mid-summersault she vanished, when she came up her hands glowed and they were pointed at my face. Clovache launched, and Batanya moved to take the blow of whatever was coming.

It went through her causing her to shudder and drop to the ground then it hit me in the face. It blinded me momentarily but it didn't harm. It seriously annoyed me. I was instantly alert and the faery knew she was done for. Instinctively she backed herself into a corner and by the look on her face she was out of tricks.

Batanya had already shaken off the pain. She was behind me with my head trapped in lock with no wiggle room. "Focus on her face, remember her voice," she said. "Focus Eric."

The faery called out to me. "Your wife is dying!" she shouted at me but her eyes were on Clovache who was closing in on her.

All three of us froze and looked at her. Without needing to be asked Clovache was using my personal phone to try to reach Sookie. He called her cell, her room, and car, all to no avail. Still I refused to believe Sookie had come to harm.

"That's not possible," I said calmly.

She was lying to buy time. She was trying to trick me. There was no way that was possible. I made sure of it. "Lynx and Cypher…" I mumbled trying to rationalize the fear that was growing. "They—"

"She bound them," the faery said. "She seeks to punish herself and to free you."

"Quiet!" I growled. "She wouldn't do that."

I couldn't even process what she was saying much less accept it. The last night I'd spoken to my wife we had been discussing her day and the prospect of children. She wouldn't ever do what the faery was suggesting, not now. She loved me; she wouldn't do this to me. An assassination attempt was a much more favorable explanation for her presence if that was the truth. But she couldn't tell a direct lie. My denial was only wasting time.

"Lock down the house," I said, getting out of bed.

My movements weren't fluid because I was attempting to move faster than my body could manage. I didn't care. I left the room without awaiting confirmation on the order I'd given. I was moving through the sunlit house as carefully as I could. The metal shades were falling slowly and I was moving in whatever shadow I could find. I didn't avoid all the burns but most were negligible. In this part of the house there was ample coverage.

By the time I reached the long walkway connecting me to the rest of the house I could move freely. It when I caught the scent of it; blood, her blood. It was unique in its blend and taste. I would know it anywhere. There was so much of it. It permeated the house and it was all I could smell.

I flew to her room and it was there I saw what she had done. Sookie had trapped both her guards in sea salt. They snarled and hissed but couldn't get free of the confines. The salt exposed their demon forms. The laws of this world refused to allow them to roam in that state. The teachings from the inter-dimensional college, I shouldn't have allowed it. I should have fought her but it had made her so happy to be able to better understand her guards. I'd made her safe from everyone but herself.

I have seen and done many horrific things throughout my long existence. What I saw upon throwing open the bathroom door thrust me headlong into the deepest circle of hell. My wife was lying prone and unconscious in the empty bathtub with her wrists slit. They were gaping, so much so that I was offered a view of tendons and bone. The faery had been wrong. Sookie wasn't dying, she was dead.

I didn't get to see her take her last breath. I never heard her heart patter and give out. There was no life in her. Instinctively I gave her my blood but nothing happened. I gave her enough to turn her but I didn't feel the connection forming between us. She was utterly and truly beyond my reach. All the positive emotions she had awakened in me withered to dust and died along with her. I did the only thing I could do. I denied what I knew was true. I retreated into a place where she was safe and still with me.

Changing Sookie's clothes and cleaning her body was a compulsive thing. There was blood everywhere, so much blood. It was all over her and it didn't belong. I had to get if off her. It would all be alright if I just cleaned her body. With gentle strokes I wiped her clean and dressed her in an oversized shirt she loved. If she was wearing something familiar and comfortable she would definitely come back. I brushed her hair and pulled it away from her face.

I laid Sookie down and tucked her into bed. She was sleeping, not dead. I stood watching, waiting for her to wake. She didn't. Her chest was still and her heart silent. I wanted to hold her and beg her to come back. My legs refused to move. I was too far gone for tears. I was beyond words. I couldn't feel the wetness of the blood and water still on my skin. There was nothing.