ANGER

She pulled up in front of Fangtasia and flung herself from the car, locking it before she stalked to the door. The bouncer nodded to her, instantly allowing her through, but he placed a heavy hand on Alcide's chest.

'He's with me,' she said, grabbing Alcide's wrist to drag him through the door. She pulled him through the crowd – still in full swing – to Eric's office out the back. Pam was already waiting for them, her arms crossed as she paced for another moment before her gaze settled on Sarah.

'He's our help?'

'Yes, and don't diss him because he's the only one who can get us in.'

'We don't even know where we're going,' she scowled. 'And I can't sense where Eric is yet. He hasn't called me again.'

'Yeah, well, he might be too weak to call okay, but I know someone who knows where he is,' she said before she left the room, knowing that Pam and Alcide would follow her to the basement. She sprinted down the stairs, hearing the clinking of chains and a snarl as she stopped before the werewolf.

He shot forward, snapping his jaws and swiping desperately, but she was just out of his reach, her arms folded. Pam and Alcide stopped beside her.

'Who's this?' Alcide asked.

'One of the top pups. He's led the last two attacks on Sookie and I. He seems to be the one calling the shots.'

'How'd you catch him?'

'Vines,' she said, raising her hands as ice coiled over his body, trapping him. She glared. 'Change into a human form.'

He snarled, snapping his jaws even as she saw a shiver streak down his back, the ice chilling him through his thick fur.

'The ice will move to accommodate your new form. Now do as I say,' she said, holding one hand up to coat it in flame. His bright gaze flickered to her other hand, his eyes growing wider as it flared blue.

Just as she'd said, the ice moved with him as he transformed. He shook a ragged head of black hair before he looked up. 'What the hell do you want?'

She stepped forward, inches from his face. 'I can't believe you actually have the balls to ask me that,' she sneered. 'You bastards have tried to attack me and Sookie far too many times, even though you know you can't win. Why won't you give up?'

'You killed our brothers.'

'You attacked us. It was self defence.' She reached up, running her flame covered finger down his nose, hearing the sizzle of his burning flesh. She nearly gagged at the smell, but she refused to show weakness. 'Now, let's try again. Tell me what you want.'

He sneered for a moment longer but she could see the fear in his eyes, knew that he would not risk more burning flesh.

'It is not what we want, but what they want.'

'Who are they?'

'We don't know their names. We have never seen their faces, only heard their voices and the promises that they give to our pack.'

'What have they offered?'

He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath before he said, 'safety. Our pack has been in Mississippi for a very long time, but the pack that was controlled by that psycho freak Edgington is out of control. They're trying to expand their territory and are killing anyone who stops them, even the few in their pack who protested the expansion into the territory of another pack. Now there's war raging and we have been promised sanctuary.'

'Where?'

'It's somewhere out of the city. There is lot's of land to run with lots of small cabins and we're allowed to build more. They will even help us with money as long as we give them Sookie Stackhouse and you.'

As if that was going to happen. 'We keep stopping you though. Why do you keep coming back?'

'Because if we can get the two of you, then we get safety. You we have a chance against. The pack that was under Edgington's safety, well, we will never win that war.'

She folded her arms over her chest. 'Yet you think you could win against us?'

'It is worth trying.'

She doused the flame that coated her hands and gathered a piece of ice in her palm. 'Be still,' she said before she ran the ice down his nose. He flinched but did not move as she coated the line that she had burned, ice growing to cover the wound. 'Now tell me where we can find the sanctuary you were promised.'

He blinked. His first urge was to reach up and cover his sensitive eyes, the block the blinding light that shone down on him, but he couldn't move. Slowly, he became aware of the constant burn and hiss of his flesh as the silver seemed to bond with his skin, keeping him still against the cold metal of a table at his back. He clenched his teeth, wishing he could just cover his eyes to fend off the blinding light and see where he was, but there would be no relief.

He heard voices nearby, in another room judging by the slightly muffled quality to them, though between the agony of the silver and weakness from a loss of blood he wouldn't even have known if they were two voices if not for the great difference in the pitch.

'…Just kill him. He's disgusting and you know it,' a woman's voice said, sweet and high with a southern accent.

'We need him. We can't get to the girls without him.' A man's voice this time, the owner of which would meet a prolonged and painful death at Eric's hands.

'The werewolves will get them. Let's just–'

'Those mongrel freaks have failed again and again. We need to find a way to get rid of them before they find out that we've fucked them over.'

'Watch your language.'

A tense pause.

'Sorry, I got a little carried away. I just want to get this over and done with. As soon as we have the girls, we can start to rid this world of all of these disgusting creatures. Vampires and werewolves, and then when we're done we'll return this earth to its rightful owner.'

Oh great, Eric thought, testing his bonds again in search of a weakness. A group of psycho's are after Sarah and Sookie and they're about to piss off a pack of werewolves.

'Should we see if he's ready to talk?'

'He better be. Those werewolves just about drained him. At least he knows how all of his victims feel, how he's been hurting the girl that he's entranced.'

'I didn't entrance her,' he growled low, knowing they couldn't hear as he added, 'I can't even glamour her.'

He closed his eyes as he heard them approaching, the click of heels and well made shoes meeting his ears. He gritted his teeth, their heartbeats calling to his deprived body. One stuttered as they got closer, kicking up in pace with fear, his fangs flicking out in response. He growled again, knowing that if he could get the weaker one closer, he could feed from them until his strength was restored. All it would take is a quick look into their eyes.

A door's hinges squealed somewhere near by, but he didn't move. He closed his eyes, forcing his fangs back into hiding as their footsteps neared.

'Do you think he's still alive?' the woman asked, her voice a little higher than before.

'He's never been alive,' the man said.

Idiot, Eric thought, though he did not correct the imbecile. That would have to wait until later.

He felt something push against his side to wake him, but it was not warm and soft. They were being cautious, neither risking touching him or getting too close. He would have to wait until they dared to step a little closer, would keep his eyes closed until he could bluff his way to making them believe he could break the bonds over his body, making them come nearer so they could put more silver over his body.

Another cold prod to his ribs, pulling the silver over his chest tighter until his jaw ached from clenching it. He would not show pain to them.

'Vampire,' said the woman's voice, the slightest shake in the word, 'are you dead?'

'Well according to your definition of vampires, that's an incredibly stupid question, isn't it?' he asked, voice steady with just a hint of boredom that he did not feel.

'You know what I mean,' she snapped, prodding him with the same object, pulling on the silver again. Her scent lost the scent of fear, her heartbeat slowing a notch with growing confidence as he just held back a hiss as more flesh burned. He couldn't wait to drain her blood, to wipe away any trace of her courage at having a vampire strapped to a table.

'Are you going to talk to us?' the man's voice asked. His was stronger, his words unwavering, his heartbeat steady. Eric would have bet all of his savings – his vast, mindboggling savings – that this was not the first time the man had held a vampire for torture and questioning.

'Depends,' he said after a moment.

'On what?' the woman asked.

'On whether or not you're going to answer a question I have for you.'

'What question?'

He felt a smile pull at his lips. 'Would you like your death to be a slow draining of your blood, or a prolonged torture in which I keep you barely alive for the next few months? Years, if I'm feeling particularly pissed off by the end of this.'

'You can't move and you're weak. You can't do anything,' the woman insisted, but he'd already caught onto the flash of fear that drifted to him, sparking the hunger inside until it burned through his body. He barely contained his fangs.

'I don't know how old the other vampires that you've held have been, but I'm very old and very strong.'

'Yet you were still captured by werewolves,' the man said.

'Oh yes, but you see, that's the brilliant thing. I knew that if I were to be caught, they would bring me here, to the person – or in this case people – who are responsible for the attacks on Sarah and Sookie. To the people I've been fantasizing about torturing for the past month.'

The heart rates of both the man and woman kicked up in pace, a symphony of sound to his ears.

He finally let his fangs flick out, the woman gasping. He smiled. 'You should know that vampires are very protective of their property–'

'–See, that's all that poor girl is to him–'

'Oh, I've drunk her blood and fucked her more times than I can count which makes her my property in the mindset of a vampire,' he said, 'but make no mistake. Sarah is my equal, and vampires do not take lightly to people even thinking about harming their girlfriends.'

There was a tense pause, the woman's breath hitching. He could just imagine the look that was on her face as she glared at the man.

'You're lying,' she finally said. 'You don't see her as an equal. There's no way for you to prove it.'

'Actually,' he started, but the smile on his lips dimmed. He barely managed to move his hand into a fist, his body taught as he realised that there was nothing adorning his finger.

'See, he has no way to prove it. He's a liar just like all of the others.'

'Did you take my ring?' he asked, his fangs sharper against his lips.

'What ring?'

'My Claddagh ring.'

'You weren't wearing any rings when you were brought here.'

'Then you better talk to your werewolf pups.'

'Why?'

He strained against the silver, managing to move his arm an inch, his fangs digging into his lips until he tasted blood. 'The longer I am without that ring, the more you suffer before I kill you.'

'Why is it so important?'

'She gave it to me,' he growled, opening his eyes, fighting against the pain of the brightness.

'It's still just a ring.'

'No, it's more than that,' Eric snarled, looking to them, his eyes wide as he locked onto their faces. A smile lifted his lips. 'Wonderful. You just gave me reason number five for my argument on killing you bastards slowly.'

Next update: Wednesday the 22nd of September