A/N: The main reason for the three year gap between chapters 29-30 was because I was working on an original novel, Superstition (it's the first book in a trilogy about witches!). After lots of writing, edits, queries, and talking to agents and publishers over a long period of time, it now seems like it will be published! More details to follow if you are interested.

Anyway that's why I didn't get this chapter out a few days sooner as well. It's been a crazy week. I hope you enjoy it and have a great weekend.

Chapter 38

Eric POV

My maker would be meeting me in the woods behind Sookie's farmhouse in under an hour. I wondered if that was because he couldn't enter the wards surrounding her property that the witch Amelia had recently put in place. If that were true, Amelia had risen much higher in my regard.

I silently prayed to Odin that my bonded was safe and well. I had seen her before the dawn, but any number of things could have taken place between then and now. Surely Ocella would have taken the necessary measures to ensure that I'd comply with whatever it is he needed from me.

I didn't want Sookie involved, but I knew I couldn't leave her completely in the dark. I wouldn't be able to call or text her, however, as I still had her cellphone in my jeans' pocket. In my haste to be with her and taste her I had forgotten to leave it on the nightstand as I had planned.

I quickly tried the landline. She didn't answer and eventually the machine kicked in. I left a brief message asking her to call me immediately.

That done, I still had forty minutes to wait until our meeting and thirty before the sun was completely down and I could leave Bill's. He and Bubba were still at rest.

I thought about what I could do next. I had already alerted Pam about being careful when she rose. I couldn't contact Thalia, Karin was likely still en route to Shreveport and Ocella had warned me against involving her. But I needed some kind of leverage.

I'm a fucking King, dammit! I thought in frustration as I punched a hole right through the cement wall of Bill's dusty tomb of a house. No one fucks with me. Ocella might be my maker but his power over me ends now. It's time to become who I was born a vampire to be.

But who was strong enough to stand by my side tonight? I wondered With Thalia captured and Pam watching over Preston?

And then I knew exactly what I needed to do.

0o0o0o0

Sookie POV

5 Hours Earlier

I quickly returned Sam's call and apologized profusely for missing my shift. He assured me it was no problem and told me to be safe before hanging up the phone.

Be safe I thought the supe way of saying goodbye.

I thought then about what a wonderful thing it was to have friends, supernatural or otherwise. Sam, Amelia, Tara, even Pam…things could be difficult at times with each and every one of them but I knew in my heart they would always have my back. After a lifetime of hearing people's thoughts and therefore not being capable of friendship, it was almost staggering to me to have not just one but four friends I could trust.

But now it was time to call someone I didn't consider to be a friend anymore: Quinn. I gave him my word, albeit reluctantly, that I would help him find Frannie. Since she was indirectly taken because of me, my conscience wouldn't allow me to turn my back on her.

I dialled his number and he picked up on the first ring.

"Babe, I'm so glad you called" he said.

I found it incredible that he still thought he could use pet names with me.

"Stop that Quinn" I said in exasperation "just tell me everything you know about Frannie, De Castro's original orders regarding Sam, and me, and any leads you might have as to her whereabouts. That way I can get started on finding her."

"Don't be like that, I was just-

I cut him off.

"I mean it. This isn't a social call and frankly, you should have better sense. Start talking now or I'm hanging up."

"You've changed" he said, sighing "but okay, here's what I know. Word was that De Castro had designs on you since you saved him in the Merlotte's parking lot. It drove him crazy that Northman, a mere Sheriff at the time, had you. When word got out that you two had gone to Hawaii, and that Felipe wasn't informed of your visit to another kingdom, he saw it as an opportunity to swoop in and make allegations that it was an unauthorized and therefore formal political trip. Since Hawaii has always been regarded as weakly protected, this was a two-birds-one-stone kind of thing for Felipe. Get you and take over another kingdom in the process."

"I already knew all that" I said. I thought it was strange that Quinn was wasting time when his sister was missing.

"I'm sure you did" he replied "I just want to lay out the whole scenario. Anyway, Felipe knew you wouldn't go to him willingly, even with Northman out of the picture. But he also knew of your loyalty, and figured that with Sam as leverage, if he killed Eric you would go to him for Sam's sake. When he figured that out he knew he needed someone stronger than Sam, in this case me, to take him by surprise and abduct him. What he didn't count on was my unwillingness to help." Quinn said.

"But you did help him, Quinn" I said, pointing out the obvious "and you are definitely not stronger than Sam."

In my world, the lion is King of the jungle not the tiger. I would have said so aloud but didn't want to sound petulant.

"I didn't want to help him, Sookie. You have to believe me. When I told Felipe in no uncertain terms that I had no quarrel with the shifter, he told me someone in his retinue had already taken Frannie to ensure my cooperation. And for the record, I am stronger than Merlotte. Otherwise how could I have captured him?" He said, a little smugly.

"Because he trusted you is how" I argued "but again, Quinn, I already knew all this."

"Well then here's something you don't know about" he started "Bill was the one who organized Frannie's abduction."

You could have knocked me over with feather.

"That's impossible. Bill arrived in Hawaii the same night we did."

"So what? Does Bill not have a cell phone? Does he not know how to use a computer? Bill designed that vampire database, Sookie. He knows a lot of important people, and a lot of vampires willing to do just about anything in service of a King as powerful as Felipe was." Quinn stated.

"It just doesn't make sense" I said, thinking back to my interactions with Bill in Hawaii "besides, how could you possibly know Bill was involved?"

"I wasn't going to simply take Felipe's word for it. For my help, I demanded the information I would need to ensure my sister's safe return after the job was done. De Castro pointed me in Bill's direction. After Felipe was killed and I let Sam go, I tried contacting Bill but he hasn't answered or returned any of my calls. I would have gone to his house but he just got back to Louisiana this morning. That's where you come in, Sookie. He will listen to you. You're my only chance of getting Frannie back." He pleaded.

"Wait a minute, so Bill's like what, a double agent? Actually, by my count he's a quadruple agent. Excuse my language but what the fuck?!" I said angrily.

"Babe, I think Bill's only loyalty is to himself. His only motivation is you." Quinn said, and I knew he was right.

Bill would say anything, pledge anything, and work for anyone if it meant the outcome was winning me back.

"Alright, but what makes you think he'll tell me anything?" I asked "if I know Bill, he will deny any involvement in this. He knows how I feel about traitors. He couldn't have thought that helping Felipe would ever gain him my affection."

"Of course he didn't think that. He didn't expect you to find out. By playing both sides against the middle at every turn, I assume he intended to take out both Eric and Felipe in one. Sam was just a bonus. Distracting me, even, would have been beneficial to him. Think Sookie, was Bill acting differently in Hawaii? Did he do anything unusual?"

He had, and on more than one occasion. But I didn't want to believe it. Bill was my friend, and for all of his sins against me I always thought that deep down he had good intentions. Had I been wrong all along? I wondered. It certainly wouldn't be the first time. But then, how could I trust my own judgment at all from now on?

"You still there" Quinn asked, startling me out of my reverie.

"Yeah I'm here" I said quietly, painfully.

"You'll talk to him then?"

"I will" I said "but look, Quinn, I have to go. I'll call you as soon as I know what's going on." I finished.

"Be safe" he replied, echoing Sam's earlier sentiment "and Sookie?" he said "I never wanted to hurt you. And who knows? Maybe in Bill's mind he was doing what he thought was best for you. Either way, I think there's more to the story. If I know vampires, he'll have made other arrangements in case his original plans failed. You should be prepared for that." Quinn said ominously, and hung up.

Well that's just great I thought.

And then I remembered that Eric had gone to ground at Bill's.

Even better I added sarcastically to myself.

And about the mysterious vampire who had conveniently showed up at Fangtasia the moment Eric was gone.

Fuck was all I could think of to, well, think.

It looked like Quinn was absolutely right: Bill had been involved in all of it, since the beginning. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he was even responsible for telling Felipe we had gone to Hawaii in the first place.

If I was going to Bill's at sundown, I would need reinforcements.

0o0o0o0

Four hours later (2 hours to sunset, 1 hour until Eric rises)

After my call with Quinn, I had needed to sit down and think. I knew I had to make a plan and find some help.

Eventually I decided I just couldn't ask any more of Sam and Amelia than I already had.

I owed both Calvin and Alcide a favor for their help in looking for Sam while I was away and didn't feel quite right about involving them further in vampire business.

I loved my brother, Jason, but he would be next to useless in a situation like this.

Pam was busy looking after Preston.

That left the fairies.

I then called Niall and his operator, as usual, put him through with total indifference. He answered right away.

"My child" he said grandly "I wasn't expecting to hear from you again so soon!"

I wasn't sure if he was glad to hear from me or simply worried that my asking for favors was going to become a regular thing. I got right to the point and explained the situation to him.

"That is grave indeed" he said "that the young vampire would go to such lengths for your affections. But do you suppose he's an actual threat to you physically? What assistance could I offer? I will gladly end him if that's your wish."

"Eric is resting at Bill's house as we speak" I said "and I think there's something else going on that I don't totally understand yet."

"That is always the case with those awful bloodsuckers." Niall said, and I could almost hear him nodding his head in agreement with his own statement over the phone "and we all want Eric's coronation to go ahead as planned without further delay."

"Who is we?" I asked, confused.

"Never mind dear" he added hastily "I need to make some calls right away. I will send Claude and Claudine to your house for the time being."

"Won't they be in danger around the vampires?" I asked.

"I'll cloak their essence temporarily myself" he said, a little proudly "now I must go."

"Uh, well, thanks" I said in reply, but realized he had already hung up.

Less than a minute later, two fairies popped into my kitchen.

Claude looked as though he'd have been happier with his face stapled to the carpet than here in my house. Claudine, on the other hand, looked positively gleeful.

We still had over an hour and a half until sunset. I couldn't really think of anything to say, so I asked them if they wanted something to eat.

"I'd rather a drink, a strong one if you don't mind" Claude said hopefully.

"Gin and tonic okay?" I asked them, glad to have a small task to do while I thought over the series of events which led to me sitting here with my fairy cousins waiting to accuse my ex-boyfriend and first love of being a criminal mastermind.

"No lemon!" they said in unison.

"Got it" I called back.

I thought I might make mine a double.

0o0o0o0

Eric POV

Half an hour to sunset

Ocella was over two thousand years old. That made him one of the oldest, arguably the oldest vampire presently in North America. That meant that there were few allies with sufficient strength and power to help.

Fewer still who were in close enough proximity to arrive in time to assist me.

For this, I was willing to swallow my pride and call the fucking fairy. Niall. Not only was he powerful in his own right, but he had friends on the council. They would be able to grant me the ability to circumvent the Maker's command. It was an old magic, but it existed for use in extreme cases.

Normally, being a King would provide me with that power on my own. But as I hadn't been officially crowned yet, I was legally entitled to go against my maker's wishes but not magically capable.

While Appius Livius Ocella lived, he still had power over me. For now.

I dialed Niall's number and was put through immediately.

"Northman" Niall said, sounding mildly amused "what do you want?"

I gritted my teeth. It wasn't in my nature to ask for favors. It was in my nature to command others to do my bidding: first as a Viking, then as a Maker, then as a Sheriff, soon – as a King.

"I need your help, Prince" I said, spitting the word "your great-grandchild, and I, are likely in terrible danger."

I knew I would never live this down.

"Calm yourself" he said "I have spoken to Sookie already. I sent my kin to guard her."

"Wait, guard her from whom?" I asked, surprised. Sookie knew nothing of my maker's sudden appearance.

"Your underling, Bill, of course" he said as though I were foolish.

"Bill is less than irrelevant" I said, irritated and not a little confused "Ocella waits on the border to the woods on Sookie's property. I have only an inkling of why that might be. Whatever it is, you can be sure it isn't good." I said darkly.

"You mean to tell me that Appius Ocella is in Louisiana? Already?" Niall said quietly.

"And he has Thalia" I added significantly "do you grasp the scope of my concern now Fairy?"

"Perhaps more than you do" he said "I have heard whisperings from a colleague of an uncontrollable young vampire. A Romanov, I believe. And I've also heard of a certain vampire Queen's desire to move up in the vampire hierarchy. We won't allow that to happen. But I can't help but feel it's all connected somehow…"

He trailed off and suddenly coughed a little.

What did he mean 'already'? And who's we? I wondered.

"This is serious, Northman. I will not have my great-granddaughter hurt in any way." Niall said.

"I would see Sookie become Queen" I said seriously "and never see her hurt."

"She is already royalty without any help from you, vampire" Niall pointed out.

"Even so" I added.

Suddenly I heard Bill shift a little. He was awake. I wondered for how long. I had felt Pam wake a little while ago, and had also felt her resolve strengthen after undoubtedly receiving my message.

"I will be there" Niall said after a short pause.

"You can't be seen" I said, as quietly as possible, and flipped the phone shut.

"I know you're awake, Compton" I finally said to Bill.

"What's your point?" he said "I don't recall inviting you to rest here, your Majesty."

"The invitation was implied since I'm your fucking King" I said, and then reached over and punched him in the jaw. I heard it crack loudly with great satisfaction. It would heal in a matter of minutes but it was fun regardless.

He didn't comment.

A moment later Bubba stirred as well and woke up.

"King Eric" he said "Miss Sookie said you are bonded to her." He looked genuinely surprised. I wondered what Bill had been telling him if not that.

"That's right Bubba" I agreed.

Bill was scowling openly.

"She's a fine woman" Bubba said.

I chuckled in response.

By now I could feel the sun making its final descent in the sky. In the minute fraction of our maker-childe bond that Ocella had opened between us, I felt his sick anticipation roll over me in waves.

"I must go" I said, opening the hatch to Bill's house. "You two are to stay here and not leave this house until I say otherwise." I commanded, leaving no room for argument.

"Yes sir, King Eric" Bubba said automatically.

"Why should we do that?" Bill asked belligerently.

I could have given him a reason. I could have given him 206 reasons, one for every bone in his body. Instead I said: "shut the fuck up Compton" and slammed the hatch shut behind me.

It was time to meet my maker.