This is it, folks. The last chapter of this story. It's going to tie back into an episode from the show, even though I've completely changed the universe. My thoughts are that I've left it in a reasonably satisfying place, with the possibility that I can do a sequel down the road after finishing some other stories. For now, I thought the most important thing was to wrap this up and move on to my other WIP stories.
I've made you guys wait so very long for updates! And I'm so sorry for that. Thanks to all of you who stuck by me. I love all of my readers, I'm very lucky to have you all!
I didn't wait for MissyDee with this chapter either! And Ali989969 was my beta for the earlier chapters, but she's been extremely busy with everything in her own life as well as the tragedy in VA recently, so I didn't send the last few chapters to her. I love both ladies dearly and can't thank them enough for their help and encouragement.
Disclaimer – Don't own them, wish I did. CH & AB, plus HBO do.
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I awoke shortly before sunset, my gorgeous husband still hard inside me as he took his day-rest. The smile that overtook my face would have probably blinded him, it was so big. As it was, it actually hurt my cheeks! Never had I dreamed my life would turn out as it had.
Somehow I'd gone from Bill's girlfriend, to marriage proposal decliner, to wanton hussy, to Eric Northman's bonded, to his wife, all in one night.
And I didn't regret a single second.
I went to the bathroom to tend to my human needs and decided a shower was in order. I turned on the faucets to warm up the spray, brushed my teeth, and was just tilting my head under the water when Eric joined me.
"You said you'd be right there when I rose," he accused as his body wound around mine, his chest rubbing lightly against my nipples.
"I didn't know you'd be up this early, honey. It's still daylight out," I smiled as I leaned forward to capture his lips.
"I rise earlier because of my age," he explained as our kiss broke. "But I am up earlier than normal, perhaps either from our bond or your blood," he shrugged. "Though not by much."
I smiled at him softly as I leaned in to kiss him again. "Good evening, husband," I breathed against his lips.
"Mmmm," he rumbled. "Good evening to you, my wife."
Those were the last coherent words spoken for a while. We cleaned each other thoroughly before getting ourselves filthy once again. Our coupling was unhurried, romantic, and terribly sweet. I'd never felt more cherished in my life. After cleaning up again quickly, and thanking the heavens that Eric had one of those on-demand water heaters, we dried off and got ready for our night.
Pam and Chow met us on the patio just as I was finishing dinner (which Eric was kind enough to have delivered from an amazing upscale restaurant in town). We talked strategy only after dismissing Chow for the night. While Eric trusted the vampire to a point, there was no way he wanted anyone other than his progeny to know of my bloodlines and temporary sun blocking ability. He sent Chow off to put up signs that Fangtasia was closed for the night, and told him to head over to the cemetery between my house and Bill's to keep watch on both places.
After planning for every contingency we could think of, we finally felt as though we had the best possible solution to the Russell/Bill problem. Our hopes were that Lorena would be the one to go to Bill's for the database, in which case Chow was to end her on sight. If not, she would have to be dealt with at a later date. She was just too obsessed with Bill and too crazy in general to remain alive.
Eric called the king back around midnight. "I've secured your prize, your majesty," he said respectfully. "I would like to request a small favor, if that is not too much trouble."
He listened for several seconds before responding, but the excitement in the bond, coupled with Pam's smile told me that the king had taken the bait. "I would ask that you return Compton to me so that he can see his precious Sookie taken into your custody. I have never cared for the sniveling coward, and would love to rub his nose in it, if you will." Eric did more listening then, which I was really getting annoyed with.
Not having super hearing was really starting to piss me off!
"Yes, your majesty. And if you're feeling particularly generous, I'd like to give Compton his final death… Yes, sir… We'll see how it goes, then… Yes… be at my bar shortly before dawn, I will have her waiting for you… Yes, until then," he smiled smugly as he hung up.
"He bought it then?" I asked cautiously.
"Yes. We are all set, now we just have to get to the club and make sure everything is ready for their arrival."
Pam apologized quietly for her actions last night as Eric stepped into the house to retrieve my sweater. I told her all was forgiven, of course, and said I'd have done the same thing in her shoes. Pam was scary as fuck, but not at all a bad person from what I could tell. Sure, she was bitchy and sarcastic as hell, but she was also fiercely loyal and had a wicked sense of humor. I believed we could eventually become great friends.
Besides, she was stuck with me now, whether she liked it or not.
I giggled to myself at the thought.
We gathered up what we needed and Eric flew us to the bar while Pam ran. There hadn't been much to carry, and since Russell was able to fly as well – if things went south, a car wasn't going to save our lives. We'd be dead before the engine turned over.
The parking lot was deserted just as we'd hoped, and there was no sign of Chow. Eric reluctantly took me into the basement as the time of their arrival drew nearer. He appologized several times before I finally convinced him to go back upstairs. I could hear his phone ringing above me and felt his sudden glee and then fear through the bond.
"Lover, Lorena is finally dead, along with the king's husband, Talbot. Chow was able to end them both fairly quickly, but it is now absolutely imperative that we end Russell as quickly as possible tonight. He will be overcome with grief and very unstable," he thought to me.
"I understand," I thought back.
I felt Eric's nerves triple several minutes later and knew our guests had arrived. Eric and I played our parts perfectly; me going as far as beating him on the back while I called him horrible names, as I hung from his shoulders as he carried me from the basement into the bar. He dumped me into a chair like a sack of potatoes and looked at me like shit on the bottom of his boot.
"She is a passable lay, my liege, and her blood is superb. But I'm afraid she is an insufferable shrew and quite annoying. Until you expressed an interest in her, I was honestly considering draining her," my husband lied like a rug.
"Shut up and let me taste her, Northman," Russell strained to get out. He looked horrible. "Something has happened to my Talbot, and it's too close to dawn for me to search for him without this bimbo's blood."
"As you wish, your majesty, but remember that if you drain Miss Stackhouse tonight, you won't be able to utilize her again. Plus, her blood seems to speed up the healing process, so she could be of use to your husband if he's injured," Eric offered, trying to keep Russell from killing his new wife.
"Yes, excellent point, my boy," Russell nodded jerkily. "But since I need to be alive in order to find my love, you will be drinking with me and will go out into the sunlight first to test the power of her blood. I MUST remain safe!"
We'd planned for this. Eric had fed deeply from me shortly before chaining me in the basement. He'd fed me some of his blood first, and then afterwards gave me some of that nasty True Blood. I gagged trying to get it down, but it was the quickest way to replenish my blood supply – which was hugely important if I wanted to live.
Our hope was that my blood would remain strong in Eric's system long enough to protect him as he ended the king, but that my blood would be diluted enough to give Russell very little protection.
As Eric bent me forward on the table, I prayed with everything I had that we were right.
The bites were horribly painful, making me scream out loudly. I noticed Bill then, chained to the stripper pole by silver. I smiled evilly at him, knowing the tears streaming down his cheeks were for his finally-dead, bitch maker. I tried hard to be a good Southern lady and a good Christian, but I honestly wished that man all the pain and suffering he could get before his final death.
I was beginning to feel light headed and knew they were taking too much. Actually, it was Russell feeding too deeply as Eric was barely sipping at my vein. His hand was stroking my hair in a reassuring manner and just as I tried to speak, he pulled himself off me and told the king that he was killing me. Russell snarled viciously, but thankfully released my vein. I hoped Pam would seal my wounds once they were outside, because I was in serious danger of bleeding out from Russell's savage bite.
I heard the door close behind my husband and the crazy king just as Pam zipped to my side. I felt her finger sealing my wounds and smiled weakly at her. She handed me another bottle of True Blood, which I guzzled down cold before asking for another. My stomach hated me for it, but I was critically low on blood at the moment. Russell had come way too close to draining me.
I felt infinitely better after the second and third bottles, even though I wanted to hurl. I stood on shaky legs and made my way to the door. I'd seen on the monitor that Eric was now handcuffed to the king. That was NOT part of our plan. I could only guess that things had gone terribly wrong.
I stumbled out the door to find Eric's skin beginning to sizzle as Russell struggled against his hold, looking like one of those burn victims you see on crime scene shows. It was horrible. And the smell was ungodly! Russell collapsed to the ground just as I screamed Eric's name. He turned to me and apologized as he fell next to the king.
I ran over and began to panic as Eric's skin began to truly char. Suddenly I felt a great pressure rising within me. I willed myself to break the chains as my hands wound around them, pulling with all my might. A glowing began in my palms and the chains snapped in half as if they were tissue paper. I didn't even stop to process whatever I'd done, I turned all my attention to saving my husband.
I grabbed Eric's arms and dragged him toward the door as fast as I could. I screamed for Pam to open the door, and the moment I was within reach, she grabbed hold of Eric and flung him inside. I yelled for her to bring Bill to the door as I went to deal with Russell. I'd managed to grab a stake on the way out of the bar, so I retrieved it from where I'd dropped it in my haste to save Eric, and leaned down over the king.
"You had no right to assume you could just take me and use me like your sunblock, you sick fuck! I might not be vampire, but my existence still matters," I hissed.
He laughed that horrid laugh again. "You are nothing more than cattle, you hillbilly fool. You exist because we let you. And as soon as I get out of this and find my Talbot, I'll show you horrors your pretty little head couldn't imagine. AFTER you watch me kill your precious Viking."
"I'll tell you what, buddy," I smiled my sweetest smile at him. "How about I just send you to Talbot now? Because he's as dead as Bill's cunt maker! Rotting in the filth on Bill's front porch as we speak. Well, wait a minute," I paused to tap my chin thoughtfully with the handle of the stake. "I guess he's probably dust in the wind at this point, since the sun rises to shine right over where his body fell."
"You rotten, fucking…"
He never got to finish that sentence.
I staked the bastard with a smile and a wink.
Just as I was turning to go back inside, Bill's body came screaming and crying through the front doors, still all bound with chains except for his lower legs. He stumbled toward me, his eyes blazing with a hatred I didn't know he could possess.
"WHORE! It's your fault my Lorena is dead!" he bellowed as he threw himself at me.
When my eyes landed on him, he'd just begun to smoke; now he was erupting into flames. I was trapped beneath him on the pavement, my body already starting to scorch. I screamed and thrashed to no avail. I was really starting to panic and burn, frankly, when I raised my hands underneath his chest.
I shot him with that strange light in my hands before I knew exactly what I was doing.
Bill flew off me, landing several feet away in a smoldering, screaming heap. I scrambled to my feet, patted out the flames on my shirt, and rushed over near his burning body.
"I hope you rot in hell, Bill Compton," I yelled over his screams. Whether or not he could hear me, I didn't really know or care. I felt better for saying it. "I'd say I wish I'd never met you, but then I wouldn't have met my husband. Thanks for leading me to Eric, you pathetic little fuck!" I said the last bit as I turned away with a tiny little wave over my shoulder. Hell was too good for him, but it was better than him staying in my world.
I ran back inside to check on my husband. He was sitting up on the couch, nursing a True Blood, and looking like hell. Pam was crying silently at his feet, her face a mixture of fear and joy.
I knew just how she felt.
"Oh God, Eric! Are you okay?" I squeaked as I came to a stop in front of him, my hands flapping uselessly because I didn't dare touch him.
"I will be fine, my wife. You can't get a divorce from me that easily," he smirked, sending all the love he had through our bond.
I honestly didn't know whether to slap him, or kiss him senseless.
"NEVER scare me like that again!" I screamed, my tears coming out of nowhere.
"I will do my best, lover," he chuckled quietly before going back to his bottled blood. I offered him mine, but he told me I'd already lost too much and that he'd be fine come nightfall once he rested.
I went and locked the doors, and then the three of us trudged down to the basement to recover for the day. Eric said his blood would heal me while I slept as well; I'd sustained a few pretty nasty burns when Bill tried to take me out. Turns out, Pam had been ready to rush outside to save me right before I blew him across the lot.
I kinda wished he was around so I could do it again.
Fucker!
Pam retired to her coffin off in the corner as Eric and I made our way to the bedroom where our romance began just two nights before. It didn't seem possible that so little time had passed and now I was his wife. But it had, and I was, and I wouldn't change a thing.
Although, maybe killing Bill sooner wouldn't have been a bad thing… these burns fucking hurt.
We settled into bed after stripping off our clothes. We were both too tired and sore to shower, plus standing under fast pouring water with our burns would have been not only gross, but counter-productive. I held him as tight as I dared, not offended in the least that he didn't return my embrace. His arms and face were a mess! So I'd scooted down a bit when we got into bed and laid my head under his heart and draped my arm over his waist. It wasn't as close as I'd like, but it would have to do.
"We made it," I sighed.
"That we did," he agreed. "It feels… strange to have avenged my family's death after all this time. I thought it would bring me more joy," he mused quietly.
"I get that, honey," I sent him calm and love through the bond. "But you have to remember that it all happened so long ago. And while you didn't think on it every day, that anger and vengeance was still a part of you. I'm sure you are happy it's done, but it must also feel like you lost a piece of yourself as well." I hoped my explanation made sense to him, and that it helped ease his mind a tad.
The strong wave of love and gratitude he hit me with gave me my answer.
"You know, technically I am now the king of Mississippi," he drawled out. "And I'm certain the queen is not going to take kindly to not only losing her procurer and her telepath, but losing me as sheriff to lead a rival kingdom. Things could get very messy, very quickly, my wife."
"Meh," I shrugged carefully against him. "Let the bitch come pick a fight. I'll barbeque her ass too!" I smiled as he barked out a laugh.
"I love you, wife."
"As I love you, my husband," I smiled to myself before adding, "but I'm NOT moving to fucking Mississippi, buddy," in a very stern tone.
The sound of Eric's booming laughter was the last thing I heard as I drifted off to sleep.
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Well folks, that's all there is. Hope you enjoyed it and that it ended in a way that pleased you all. I know there's so much more that could happen, and maybe down the road it will. But for now, I'm off to work on Crush and then it's time to finish A Thousand Years and my original novel.
Thank you to everyone who read this story, and thanks to all of you who've left reviews.
You are all the greatest!
Love and hugs to all – thanks for taking this journey with me!