Thanks for the reviews :) Just to comment a few. Eric didn't kill Roman because he was in the center of the Authority. There were armed guards and Roman is much older than Eric. Besides it wouldn't have worked well with the story line. :) Just kidding. The Authority doesn't know that Sookie is Niall's great granddaughter, although I'm guessing (I know) that they have an idea of what she is.

I own none of the characters in this fan fiction. They are based on the Sookie Stackhouse series. This story is located somewhere between "Dead as a Doornail" and "All Together Dead". It takes parts from the whole series, but there is a twist I promise. I was devastated when the author did away with the blood bond and ultimately ended the relationship which I think defined the series. This is very Team Eric / Sookie.

Chapter 11

Sookie's POV

Eric kept busy putting reinforcements in place; after all, he was the King of Louisiana. There would be guards surrounding the house day and night now. I used my email to schedule some emails and make everything look like normal, just explaining I had come down with the flu and had been sleeping a lot.

Alcide was going to Virginia to see what he could see. I doubted that he would see much, Vampires were extremely paranoid and they tended to keep things close to the chest, but still it couldn't hurt to know who was going in and out of the Authority. Maybe if we could figure out who they are working with, we could figure out what they wanted.

As for me, I have the biggest decision of my life, or rather death to make. I didn't expect to ever be a vampire and I would have never chosen it, however, I don't want to die either. Eric told me he would basically commit suicide if I decided to…I love him…but knowing that doesn't make this decision any easier. The blood wasn't as horrible as I imagined it being and I did like being strong. No one would be able to hurt me anymore; especially when I was done training with Eric. We had made plans to train every day as soon as we got up. If we didn't, we would inevitably get involved in some werewolf or vampire crisis that needed our attention.

I looked at him on his laptop. He loved me so much. I could feel it in the bond. I know that he wanted to kill Roman and he would someday for doing this to me. I'm not sure I'm even upset about it. I never get used to the death but it in this world it is necessary. Either you take out your enemies or they will take you out. In a world of us versus them, I'll choose us every single time.

Eric looked at me as he closed the screen on the laptop. "You know lover. Maybe we should tell Niall. I know that he will not stop until he destroys the Authority."

"Yes…however, I'm a vampire Eric. He won't be happy and I'm not sure that he'll even consider me his granddaughter anymore. Not to mention what he would do to you for not protecting me." His eyes fell. "Hey…hey. I'm not saying it's your fault. I'm not and I don't believe that. But I do think that he will think it's your fault."

"Still he's a powerful ally to have if we can somehow convince him not to kill me."

"Maybe I should tell him alone?"

"Well Sookie, Niall is powerful enough to kill me if he wants to whether I'm actually with you or not."

"Let's get married."

"Excuse me?" I could feel the shock was from confusion.

"Well. I don't think he'll kill me and I don't think he would kill my husband if he thought it would hurt me. It will distract the Authority long enough to give us some time to plan."

Considering this option, he said "Sookie we are already married technically. Not that I don't want to marry you legally if that's what you want, but I don't want you to feel forced into it."

"Eric I would have married you eventually anyways. Its maybe a little sooner but it is just another step in our relationship."

Eric's POV

Okay. That was a little sudden. Of course I would marry her. I know that humans are obsessed with the legality of things. In my mind, we are already married. Well if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right. I'm getting the ring and doing the proposal. It will be an affair to remember.

"Okay Sookie but I want to do this the way someone normally would so don't say anything until I propose." Her face lit up as I spoke.

"Okay Eric. You don't have to do anything special. Then after we marry, I'll meet with Niall."

How could I not? She was everything to me.

"So does this mean you want to live Sookie?" The words stuck in my throat as I said them. Whatever the outcome, I would handle it and give her what she wanted.

"Eric I love you. There's nothing I'll ever love more. We've been through so much. There are some things that I like about it, like feeling strong and invincible. I don't like not being able to be in the sun, but my forever is with you, whether I was human or not. I don't know that I would have chosen it, but I might have someday. So yes, I'm going to live and we will conquer this just like we have everything."

The tears welled up in my eyes. Of all the things I had heard in my long life, this was best. She was choosing to live with me, regardless of anything that happened and choosing to be my wife.

As we went to ground that morning, I held Sookie close. It was like I'd never felt her in my arms before. I knew that I would be feeling this for a really long time and I would never ever let anything hurt her again.

The next evening I came back to life before Sookie, but I lay there silently and held her close. She started to stir about a half hour later. "Hey you" she smiled up into my face.

"Lover. "

I drew her into a long and tender kiss, knowing there was a lot going on this evening. "Let's go up and get a blood and spend a few minutes together before my appointment gets here."

"Your appointment?" Yes, first we are training, then my accountant is stopping by and I have some things to attend to in the kingdom. It is bound to be a busy night lover."

We quickly downed a blood and went straight into training. As in the previous training, she excelled in defensive movements. Her engagement improved slightly as she seemed to be less afraid of the sword. After forty minutes, I left her to go upstairs and take a shower.

Ten minutes later, I walked into the kitchen where she was sitting on the laptop. "Eric. I got into the college. They sent me an email. All I have to do is pay. Classes start in three weeks."

"Lover. Just forward me the email and your information and I'll pay it tonight when I'm paying bills." As soon as he got the words out, the doorbell rang. Assuming it was the accountant, I opened to door to none other than Rose. I'm rarely surprised, but this was a surprise. "Rose." I looked around.

"I'm alone Eric. I need to talk to you."

"Please come in." She was no sooner in the door then Sookie flew out of the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?" She spat staring down the dark haired vampire on the other side of the threshold.

"Sookie, Eric, please I need to talk to you." She had her hands up in a defensive position. Sookie studied her for a good two minutes before she stood aside.

As we walked into the kitchen, I could feel Sookie's anger in the bond. A part of me was worried that some part of her would rationally decide to go after a vampire that was older than both of us. Of course she was only a few years older than me, it was still not a fight that I wanted right now.

Rose looked at us both, back and forth for a few minutes before she began. "Sookie. First, I'm sorry. I know that doesn't begin to make up for what happened but I am sorry." She sighed stopping after that for a second. "You are both in grave danger. Just me being here is risky."

"What is going on Rose?" Eric questioned. He knew fear when he saw it.

"Eric, there is so much to this story. I'm not sure where to begin so I'll start at the beginning. Years ago, rumors started swarming about your bonded's condition."

"My condition?" Sookie glared.

"Your condition Sookie; the entire council knows you are a fairy, or were." Both Sookie and I nearly lost our balance when she said it and I moved in front of Sookie out of habit, ready to bear my fangs. "Eric I'm not here to start a fight."

She continued. "When they deduced that Sookie was a fairy after Sophie-Anne tried to commandeer her for herself, the council, or more specifically Roman, decided to come up with his own plan. The council has been watching for you for years. When Bertrand blew the kidnapping, which Roman planned, the council decided that it was too dangerous to have anyone but the council involved. Bertrand was supposed to hand over the blood that he was taking from Sookie, but he failed to do that. That is when the council decided to make it easy for you to take him out. Then all they had to do was appoint you regent, call you in and request your bonded come with you and do it themselves."

"Why are you telling us this? You are just a much a part of this as they were."

"No Eric, I was never agreed on this course of action. I went along with Roman because he's my partner and because I love him; which is more to the point of why I'm here. I don't want him to get hurt; the things that the council is planning are dangerous."

"What are they planning?"

"Eric, the council is planning to infiltrate the government. I'm not sure of the end game. Roman is keeping all of us in the dark. However, I know that he plans to use Sookie's blood to do it and possibly even Sookie somehow."

"Why would the council want to be involved in human politics? It doesn't make any sense. WE don't care about human politics." He studied the girl who really did look worried. "Excuse me for one moment." I took out my phone and dialed my accountant. "This is Northman. I need to push our appointment back an hour. Fine. Thank you."

"Eric I don't know what the end game is. I feel that he is in over his head."

"Why would he want to use Sookie? To read someone's mind? Her gift is gone. She can't read anyone's mind anymore."

"Eric I doubt that's true. They have tested Sookie's blood. If she did lose it, I'm sure she'll get it back, but it's not for that. Sookie is the only vampire in the history of vampires that can walk in the sun."

Dropping my hand to the side; my jaw dropped slightly before I remembered to hold my face straight. "How do you know that?" I glanced at Sookie with a look that said don't say anything.

"Eric, someone visited Sookie and withdrew a drop of her blood. They confirmed she didn't have a blood type which is common in fairies; is it not?" They also tested her blood after she became a vampire and it stood up to every light test they did. They are very sure that Sookie can walk in the sun. I can't stay much longer, they will miss me. In fact they have a team of doctors that are dedicating every waking minute to synthesizing it."

I was slightly speechless. "Sookie isn't in service to them. I am. She didn't sign a contract."

"Eric, they will force you in one way or another. She's with you and you belong to the council. Right now Sookie is the council's greatest secret weapon."

"Why are you telling us this?" I could feel the blood rushing to my face. Sookie put her hand on my arm.

"Because Roman is in over his head and I don't want him to get hurt. There are powerful forces at work here Eric."

"More powerful than the council?"

"Much more powerful. I will try to help you but I want your word that you will save Roman when things go down, whenever that is."

"I won't put Roman above Sookie, Rose. It won't happen. Sookie and I are getting married. No one knows this yet. However, if you promise to help us as much as you can. I will try to save Roman. "

"That's all I want Eric." A single tear rolled down her face. She wiped it away; leaving a small smudge across her face. I felt for her. To have your partner after a thousand years be involved in something that you felt would separate you, had to be a difficult position. She was choosing love over politics. I didn't know in truth that I would do anything that Roman couldn't do himself, but I would try if I could. Having a friend on the council couldn't hurt though. I stood and Rose stood with me and I showed her to the door.

Sookie was silently staring out the window when I walked back into the kitchen. I could feel a mix of confusion, fear and happiness in the bond. Happiness? "Sookie?"

Turning to look at me. "I don't know what to think Eric. I'm so angry about the council, but I'm kind of happy I can go in the sun. I mean, I'll still be able to have a semi-normal existence."

"Sookie, we don't know for sure if you will be able to. We also don't know if you will get the bleeds or if you will be able to even stay awake during the day. We don't know what the council wants. And Sookie, if you can walk in the sun; you are going to be the number one target of every vampire in the world. They will want to possess you. "

"But they won't be able to. We'll be married. We'll be married and we are bonded. Right?"

"Sookie. It will be harder yes. It just means a whole different level of threats. Right now, no one knows anything. If people find out about this, forget being a fairy being in danger. This coupled with you being able to read vampire minds. I will get challenged by vampires that are much older and much stronger…." I paused. "FUCK!"

The doorbell rang. I walked over to her and pulled her close to me. "I love you. I need to meet with the accountant. We will pick this up in a little while."

As I walked out the room, I could feel the confusion in the bond. I greeted the accountant and we walked in to the library. I signed the papers he had for me, requested some new papers for our marriage and asked him to set up an appointment with my jeweler. Afterwards, I darted upstairs to take care of some email and called each of the sheriffs to check in. I also paid Sookie's tuition bill. Sheila was doing well, she had submitted the reports on Area 2 and she caught me up on the state of affairs. She seemed to be really on top of things. I could tell from her voice that she wanted to do well. Pam was my last call. I told her that I would be in tomorrow night to catch up in person.

Walking slowly down the stairs, my thoughts ran to the council. The sooner Sookie and I announced our wedding the better. It will bring a lot of media attention and right now that was the safest place for us. I considered this as I reached the bottom.

Sookie was sitting at the counter on the laptop. She looked up. "Hi." She smiled. "They already emailed my confirmation for my classes. That was fast."

"Hi Lover. I was thinking next week we could get away for a few days. Would you like to go New Orleans?"

Her bright smiled filled the space between us; she jumped up and hugged me. "YES! I would love to go to New Orleans." She pulled me down to into a deep kiss. She looked up at me for a moment before beginning to speak again. "You know it doesn't matter what their plan is. We have always survived everything and we'll survive this too. I want to try to stay up and walk in the sun tomorrow." I started to shake my head no; she put her hand on my chin. "Eric we need to know what we are dealing with. I will try my hand first and then go from there."

Sookie's POV

I knew his reaction would be no. He was predictable. NO matter what the obstacle, he would always put my safety first; I knew that in my bones. However, in this case, I needed to know. Being able to walk in the sun was one of the main reasons I didn't want to be a vampire.

Deciding to distract him with more pleasant topics, I drew him into a long, wet kiss. He growled under his breath as he yanked my body closer to his. He brought us to the kitchen floor with so much force that I wondered if we cracked the floor.

I could feel his hardness against my thigh and I moaned as I pulled him into me before I grabbed him and threw him to the ground. I rolled on top of him. Not wasting any time, I leaned down and undid his pants and found him. I pulled him out and slammed my hips down on him. I kissed him deeply and kept rocking my hips against him. I collapsed my upper body on his as I felt my release coming and sank my fangs into his chest. He moaned loudly and with vamp speed switched our position so that he was behind me slamming into me. The wave of my climax hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt my entire body shudder against him violently. He didn't let up, pumping in and out of me and holding me in place. I leaned up on my knees and grabbed his neck; pulling me down into a throaty kiss. His body started to tense and he jerked me back into his chest. I reached around with my arm and arched my back as his body shuddered one last time.

"Well that's one bonus for being a vampire. Better sex…" I laughed. "And I didn't think that was possible a week ago." His laughter roared through the house.

It was still pretty early and Eric said he had work to do. I asked him if I could join him in his office and we could work together. Not that I had to work but I wanted to prepare for school and get my books. I also wanted to send a few emails to my brother and Amelia. I checked the time that the sun would rise. 6:48am.