A/N: So heres the next chapter, I hope all of you guys enjoy and let me know what you think. Not beta'd so all grammar and spelling mistakes are mine - same as always! xx

Disclaimer: I do not own True blood; I just borrowed the characters for a bit of fun!

Chapter Forty-Two
(Interrogations)

The young boy couldn't have been much older than his late teens, Sookie thought in horror as she watched Eric roughly handle the kid without an ounce of remorse. She may not be surprised at Eric's actions, but she had to ask herself what would drive such a young boy into such a dark world. From the little she knew of Sophie-Anne, Sookie knew the female queen wasn't a nice woman, that she enjoyed blood, torture and killing to a whole other level.

It was disgusting.

Fighting against her maternal instincts to crowd the boy and hug the life outta him, Sookie settled for pursing her lips at Eric, "Please be careful with him, Eric" she pleaded, moving forward when Eric roughly shoved the kid in the chair. She frowned. "He's terrified!"

She hoped to God that the kid was innocent enough that she could try and convince Eric to spare his life. He was too young to die, it wasn't fair, not when he had his whole life ahead of him.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders Godric held her back from immediately rushing over to the sweating human, however, he did shoot his Childe a look of warning before Eric went too far. Their lover was not one who could stand by and see another human being hurt, what they had done to deserve such pain irrelevant to her.

They didn't have to like it, but they had to respect it.

Witnessing Sookies distress and his makers non-verbal warning Eric reluctantly relented, moving to take off the cloth piece that had been used as a gag. He and Godric had planned to insist that Sookie stay with them tonight. Upsetting her would not work their favour, not when Sookie was as stubborn as they came.

Surprisingly the human didn't immediately beg for his life, rather trembling in his own urine as he shook and shivered away. Eric rolled his eyes in distaste.

Moving his office chair Eric led Sookie over towards his seat, making sure she was comfortable before cringing as she moved to touch the disgusting human. He didn't comment. While he hated the fact she was having to touch such shit, he recalled her mentioning that it was less of a strain to read thoughts if there was some kind of skin to skin physical contact.

"Hello Jonathan, my name is Sookie."

She didn't get a response.

"I'm not here to harm you, I just want to ask you a few questions if that's ok?"

While verbally the boy didn't say a word his thoughts were running a mile a minute, phrases from don't kill me, oh god please don't kill me… and …pretty…why is she hanging around with vampires…kind…don't want to be here…promised….sister… quickly flashing through his mind. It was the stray thought about his sister that had her confused.

"Eric?"

"Yes, Lover."

"What's Hep-V?"

It only took the familiar sound of fangs clicking into place for Sookie to realise that whatever Hep-V was it wasn't good. Turning around it was clear that neither Eric nor Godric looked pleased, in fact they looked down right pissed.

"Does he have it?"

"From the sounds of it Sophie-Anne had a woman inject it into him on purpose, I mean, that can't be right can it? Why would you purposely infect someone with something bad?"

"It hurts us, Älskling," Godric explained. "It infects our blood, slows our healing and generally makes us weaker. For some very young vampires it would be a death sentence."

Jesus!

She carried on scanning through his thoughts, trying desperately to ignore the sobbing her words were a result of. The boy thought he was going to die. It was horrible.

"They have his sister, something about not wanting to glamour him?" she shook her head, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. "Is it really that easy to identify when a humans been glamoured recently?"

"Yes."

"Oh." Sookie didn't question it further. Now was hardly the time. "Other than agreeing to come for the sake of his sisters life he doesn't seem to know all that much, didn't even meet Sophie-Anne until he was met at his home by Andre. That was only a few days between him being injected and forced to come here."

Godric nodded. "A few days would be enough for the infection to be dangerous towards us. No doubt Sophie-Anne planned to suggest we feed on them in order to weaken us."

The realisation that Eric, Pam and Godric could have been hurt, or worse killed in their weakened state ,made Sookies heart go cold. It made her realise just how much they already meant to her, thoughts of losing either of them too much to bare.

Still…

"We can let him go right?" she asked hopefully. As far as she was concerned he was innocent, he hadn't done anything wrong other than try and save his sister, and while it made her sad to admit it to herself, it was probably more than Jason would have done for her.

Eric grunted, "I will let him live."

Sookie breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she breathed, watching as his face softened in response.

It turned out the second human was put in roughly the same tough situation, one of their families members being threatened and their forced compliance. It was a horrible manipulation on Sophie-Anne's part, one that made her sick.

Sookie couldn't wait for things to go back to normal.

Eric didn't ask Sookie to follow him back into the clubs main area and she didn't ask, choosing instead to stay with Godric who was attempting to explain that while the humans could be allowed to leave freely after being glamoured, the vampires on the other hand had already shown where their loyalty lied.

That type of betrayal could not be forgiven.

They could not be saved.

Eric stared at the woman who had ruled over his for centuries, the bitch that had once suggested he service her as it was his duty and her right. She was attractive, yes, but vindictive and childish. They were not attractive qualities in a vampire, female or not.

Her directed attempt on the life of not only him, but his maker, had to be taken into consideration, not to mention her desire to practically enslave Sookie despite the royalty of her blood, the beauty of her soul, and the kindness of her heart. They were hard qualities to find in a female who was willing to take not one, but two vampires on as lovers.

Sookie was perfection on so many levels.

Frowning at the softness of his thoughts, Eric continued to take in his surroundings. His guard were all in perfect position, his queen and her followers in silver chains, and his own childe smugly standing off to the side, everything was going according to plan.

Still, taking her life would not be a simple decision, his crowning of king of Louisiana would be time consuming and difficult, yet if it allowed Sookie to be by his side, and keep his maker desiring to walk the earth, he would take on the challenge it would present.

He had never turned his back on a challenge.

Walking towards his apparent queen he kicked her in the gut, watching her grunt and hiss through blooded lips, no doubt cursing him and attempting to order him into submission. She had always been a stupid bitch. She was not his maker, and her words had no effect over him, they never had. He did not fear her, nor respect her, and it had only been his lack of interest in ruling himself that had kept him appearing subservient towards her.

Now his patience had finally run out.

Hands wrapped in thick gloves, Eric strode towards his queen, fingers curling around the metal that had been steadily burning her mouth as to keep her quiet. It was a delicious sound when she was unable to contain the whimper as it fell from her mouth in desperation. It made him wonder whether she had ever been tortured before. It was a common misunderstanding that vampires felt nothing, when in fact it was the opposite.

"You release me at once, Northman!" she screeched. It was music to his fucking ears. "You and me both know you don't have the balls to be king! You would have taken my throne decades ago if you had!"

Eric raised a brow at her admission that she had never actually viewed him as a threat. It only served to further heighten her inability to be a efficient ruler. Every vampire should be considered a threat, especially him! "You should have left Sookie alone."

Sophie-Anne grunted, "all of this effort over the little telepath? Please, she would be an asset but I'm not that desperate."

"You sent a spy into my area. You ordered Compton to attempt to spy and procure her. You personally came here in order to collect her when your patience ran too thin. You are more than pathetically desperate."

She screamed, "I am your queen, you have to do as I say and I order you to release me and give her too me now!"

Eric rolled his eyes, kicking her in the gut once again. "You are going to die here, Sophie. I am going to slaughter your guard for making the decision to follow your lead. I am going to kill your precious Childe for his devoted loyalty towards you. Then I am going to kill you."

She laughed manically. "You don't have the balls, Viking!"

Eric smirked with fangs while Pam snorted. "Would you like to practice your killing skills, Pamela?" She might as well get something out of the inconvenience Sophie-Anne had caused.

"Oh I would love to, Master" she purred, moving to a member of the royal guard before digging her nails into either side of his neck, nails easily cutting through the skin before she twisted as Eric had taught her, the sound of tearing making her laugh before she stepping back before she was covering the nasty shit that was the idiots insides.

The rest of the guard was destroyed quickly, the mess a consequence they couldn't prevent. There was bound to be blood and guts.

When it came to Andre Eric paused, watching as reality dawned on Sophie-Anne's face as she witnessed his favoured sword pressed against the pale skin of her Childe's neck. It was something that had always intrigued Eric, how much Sophie-Anne truly did adore her Andre.

"Wait! Please-" She screamed in rage, pain hitting her as her Childe was beheaded in front of her.

Quickly having grown bored despite the carnage of it all Eric was quick to kill Sophie-Anne, her pleas and shouts cutting off the moment his sword his her neck. He had planned to drag it out, to take full advantage of having the vampire who had caused him so much irritation and annoyance in such a weakened position, yet with the possibility that Sookie could come in any minute, and the night nearly over, he made a tactical choice to simply behead her right there and then.

Sookie forgave him for a lot, but he doubted seeing him torturing a woman, no matter her past skins, would work in his favour in gaining her trust. Not to mention he wanted to lay with her.

"Does this make me a princess then?"

Eric rolled his eyes at Pam's sarcastic tone, yet smirked slightly as he glanced in her direction. He had to admit he was proud. "Do you want a crown?"

She sniffed distastefully, "I would rather increase my shoe collection, these ones are ruined" she gestured to her bright soled Christian Louboutins. She should have worn a less likeable pair for this shit, then again she had wanted to kill Sophie-Anne in style.

It was worth it.

"Clean this up and I'll give you my credit card."

Pam snorted, "like all the money in the world would get me to clean up this shit." She looked around at the blood and guts littering the place. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Plus you'll just give me your card later."

That or she'd steal it from his wallet.

So, believe it or not but we are nearly finished with this fanfic. I may do a sequel, I wont rule anything out, but I'm also not making any promises. But before you start shouting, I will not be finishing without some serious lemons, because even I'm getting impatient that these three haven't got it on yet and I'm writing the thing, lol.

Reviews are most welcome!