A/N: Hi everyone! Well—the confrontation between Eric and Appius has begun! Thanks to those of you who are still reading – and an extra thanks to those of you taking the time to comment! I very much appreciate you!

So—for the upcoming chapter, I need to give a content warning. Graphic sexual violence is not described directly; however, Sophie-Anne does remember her own past in this chapter, and her recollections include her experiences as a human—and the way that men prostituted her and treated her extremely badly. Again, no graphic violence is described in detail.

Chapter 49: Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby

Last Time:

"I am feeling generous," the elder vampire said without segue.

"You are?" Eric responded—when Appius looked at him expectantly.

"So generous," Appius nodded. "Are you not curious about how I intend to show that generosity?" he asked, his fangs lowering.

Again, he looked at Eric expectantly.

"How?" Eric asked, though he dreaded hearing his maker's answer.

"Send Pamela away from your side permanently," Appius said so casually that it was almost as if he were commenting on the weather.

"What?" Eric asked, wide-eyed," even as Pam gasped out, "No."

"You can send her away from your side, or I can send her away from this earth," Appius taunted.

Pam's fangs slammed down.

Appius just laughed at her.

"Your young one does not understand how generous I am being," Appius said, focusing on Eric. "You once severed a bond with a child to remove her from my path. Tonight—I very much worry that your brashness is going to lead me to," he shrugged, "take certain things out on others—your children, for example." He turned his attention toward Pam for a moment. "And your sweet Pamela should not have to suffer for your trespasses against me—should she? I would think that you would jump at my offer."

"No," Pam repeated. "I—please—I want to stay by my maker's side."

"Surely, a permanent separation is not needed," Eric whispered, his head bowed and his shoulders slumped.

"I am not unmerciful," Appius said to Eric after a moment's pause. "I will command you to send her away, instead of asking you to do it by yourself. Of course, you could resist my command, but you know what that would force of me—do you not?" he asked, again burnishing the stake in Pam's direction.

Eric knew that the stake was just a prop really—since his maker was much more deadly with just his hands and his fangs than with a piece of wood. But it was an effective prop.

"As punishment for keeping Karin's existence from me for all these years, you will banish Pamela from your side—forever."

"Pam is an asset of my kingdom," Sophie-Anne inserted.

Appius gave her a dark look. "Dear Sophie-Anne, I will ask you one more time to stay out of family business. I would hate for your own family to suffer," he cautioned, glancing at the two Saxons who flanked her.

The queen looked ready to speak again, but Eric turned to her slightly and then shook his head in warning.

"Given that Pamela is an asset of the queen," Appius said facetiously in Sophie-Anne's direction, "I will allow my child to pay you for any losses." He winked at the queen before looking back at Eric. "Now, do as I have asked, child. Order Pamela to leave your side. Better yet, order her to leave the country—immediately! Oh—and no contact! None at all." Appius paused dramatically. "I command you, Eric!" he proclaimed with a self-satisfied look.

For just a moment, Eric resisted as he looked at his younger child. He knew that—if he didn't do as Appius was commanding—the elder vampire would kill her. He hoped that his eyes and his maker-child bond were conveying his love for his child.

"Pamela, I command that you leave my side. Never again are you to be in the same place as I am. I further command that you leave this country immediately and that you have no further contact with me—ever. Now go!" he ordered firmly, even as she wiped tears from her eyes.

Pam had never resisted her maker's command, and she had no power to do so this time either. Indeed, without a word, she sped from the room.

Trying to look more stoic than he felt, Eric turned his eyes back to Appius.

"Master, please, may I . . . ," Karin panted from behind Appius.

"Patience," Appius interrupted her, his voice dangerously steely.

"What have you done to her?" Eric asked, his focus now on Karin. She was still looking at him with fervor, though her feet seemed planted where they stood, and her mind did not seem to be comprehending anything that had been occurring, beyond his declaration of love for Pam.

"I am helping her to obtain her heart's desire," Appius grinned. "You! Can you believe that? All these years, and you remain the utmost desire of her heart. She is in love with you!" he triumphed.

Eric gasped and looked again at Karin, wondering how true his maker's words were. He knew that Karin had held great affection for him before he'd used the severing spell. And—after that on the rare occasion when they'd met—he'd felt that she admired him. Indeed, at their last meeting, she'd sought to have sex with him—before Eric made his monogamy with Sookie clear to her.

Even with their severed bond, Eric had been able to pick up her strongest emotions when she was close-by. But Karin had always had the ability to block him from understanding her true emotions—at least, for short periods of time—even when she was a newly-turned vampire.

Thus, Eric couldn't completely discount the idea that she was in love with him. In that moment, the Viking felt a strong surge of pity for his first child—and guilt.

However, he felt nothing from the Karin in front of him—no emotional connection whatsoever through what was left of their bond. A flame of hope lit within him as he looked back at Appius.

"Will you command me to send Karin away too?"

In that moment, Eric knew that would likely be the very best thing he could do for her.

But the question made Karin growl miserably, her body twisting as if in pain.

Gleefully, Appius turned his back on Eric and looked at the tormented vampiress.

"Dear Karin, fear not! Eric cannot order you away because the maker-child bond between you has been broken."

"Why? Why broken?" Karin managed to ask in Eric's direction, even as a red tear slipped from her eye.

"To make you more equal with him," Appius answered with a lie. "You were to be his beloved partner, not his subordinate."

She shook her head. "Don't send me away."

"Of course, I will not. You are not going anywhere! I would not allow him to expel you from his side," Appius comforted. "You will have him soon; just wait a few more minutes."

The vampiress managed to get herself under control and nodded. "Yes, Master," she whispered, her voice sounding as dry as a desert.

Appius turned back to Eric and winked at him. "Kids these days."

"What have you done to her?" Eric pushed.

Appius ignored him. "As diverting as the drama with your children has been, I think it is well past time that we deal with the telepath. William?"

"Yes, Master?" Bill answered, taking a step forward.

Eric could see the hatred in Bill's eyes as they glared at each other.

"William, what was the telepath's name again?" Appius asked—as if his recall was not perfect.

"Sookie," Bill responded. "Sookie Stackhouse."

"Ah—yes! Such an unusual name. I want her here, Eric. Now!"

The Viking shook his head. "I have no ability to command her."

"And yet I am sure that you can influence her." In the next moment, Appius threw Eric a phone. "Call her; tell her to come here. Now!"

Eric's eyes moved from Bill's to Appius's.

"Call her! I command it!" Appius yelled out.

Eric dialed the phone, and—in the next moment—the call was picked up.

"Eric," came Sookie's voice. It was clear to the Viking that she'd been crying.

"Do not come here. No matter what," Eric said quickly before crushing the phone in his hand.

Appius growled. "I am losing patience with you, child," he said sternly.

"Then kill me," Eric challenged.

Appius smiled sickly. "I believe Miss Stackhouse had been crying." He looked around the room. "Tell me, Eric. Can she see us? Is she watching our reunion via the cameras that the queen's child failed to do away with? I command you to tell me," he sneered.

"Yes, she is watching," Eric snarled out.

"Then, it is time for us to have some fun!" Appius announced gleefully. "Strip off your clothing and get down on your knees!"

"No!" the queen yelled out.

Minutes Earlier

Sookie had not been able to hear any of what had happened in the ballroom where she'd been dancing with her bonded just an hour before. However, she'd seen it all.

Moreover, she'd felt it all through her bond with Eric.

She'd seen Eric kneeling in front of Appius. She'd seen Pam be practically ripped from where she'd stood beside Sookie and then reappear less than thirty seconds later by Eric's side. Minutes later, she'd watched as Eric had turned to Pam, and she'd felt his sorrow through their bond as Pam had exited the ballroom. According to one of Colonel Flood's men, she'd left the estate—very quickly—and no one knew where she was going.

Thalia figured that Appius had commanded Eric to send Pam away.

Sookie had hated the anguish in her bonded as Pam had left, but she'd also felt his relief. For—at least—if Pam was gone, she was no longer in immediate danger from Appius.

She now watched as Eric and Appius seemed to be talking about Karin. And then Appius spoke to Bill, and her first "love" stepped forward a little. Now, even the sight of him made Sookie's stomach turn, for she knew that her feelings for him had never been real; they had been the manipulation of his blood!

She watched as Eric was handed a phone and answered hers before it had completed its first ring.

"Eric," she whispered, not quite stifling a sob.

"Do not come here. No matter what," he pled right before she saw him crush the phone.

"Eric," she whispered again—her hand shaking the phone it still held. Thalia took the device from her.

Sookie held her breath as there was another brief exchange between Appius and Eric.

But then something happened, and Sookie's mostly human eyes could no longer follow the movements of those in the room!

Sophie-Anne had witnessed great horrors during her life.

No—she hadn't just witnessed such things.

She had lived them.

She'd been twelve years old the first time she'd been forced to prostitute herself for food. Her small village, too small to have a name, had been completely wiped out by an illness, which only she and one other person survived—Clovis.

Even thinking his name made the vampiress shutter a little. Clovis, though not much older than she was, had a take-charge attitude, and he took charge of Sophie-Anne right away. He used her, and he tried to condition her to be "grateful" that he had a use for her. But she retained her spirit and tried to run away from him many times. Always, he would find her, beat her, and rape her. Still, she tried.

Her name had been "Judith" then, and her only memory of her mother was when the woman told her that she'd been named for a person that a Christian missionary had told her about—from a Christian story. Of course, Sophie-Anne later learned that the story of Judith was a particularly bloody one—with the heroine ultimately beheading Holofernes.

But the story started off with a widow, Judith, being pissed off. She was angry that her fellow Jews didn't trust God to deliver them from a group of invaders led by the general, Holofernes. Judith infiltrated Holofernes's tents, and there, she waited for just the right time to strike. Then, with his head in her hands, she returned to her people. Her actions saved them, and many men courted her after that, but she found none worthy. She remained independent of men for the rest of her life.

Sophie-Anne had liked that story very much, though she still shook off the name of "Judith" four centuries after she was made a vampire by Alain, who saved her from being Clovis's prostitute, only to use her as his own.

But Alain didn't turn her right away. No—he enjoyed her blood too much. He—too—tried to condition her to be grateful that he "took care of her." But, against the odds, the young Judith retained her spirit. She tried to escape him, too; as punishment, the bastard used glamour on her.

She could still remember what it felt like when she "woke up" from being glamoured only to realize that she was in a bed full of men—her body sore and bruised.

"Oh—how you moaned!" Alain taunted her. "Oh, how you loved being their plaything, fucked in every hole your God put onto your body!" he laughed.

She had never hated anything more than she hated him, but she also learned not to disobey him.

In return for her obedience, Alain promised that he would never glamour her again as long as she never tried to escape and put on a "good show" when he pimped her out.

So she learned to pretend that she loved being fucked by one filthy man after another, just so that she could avoid having her mind violated. The strong young woman never prayed for death though. Instead, she prayed that God would give her strength—prayed that he would have mercy on her. And—one night—God did.

Alain and she were in France at the time. And—always arrogant and careless because of it—Alain was discovered to be a vampire. Moreover, the villagers were clever enough to capture him. Desiring to be a vampire by that time—so that she could have the power for a change—the young Judith snuck into Alain's cell and made a deal with him. She would free him if he agreed to do two things for her: turn her and then free her right after.

Alain agreed and turned her. Thankfully, Alain's honor was not tested for the second requirement of their deal, for the villagers found him again and killed him—finally—before she rose as a vampire.

Young Judith muddled through the first few months of her vampirism, staying alive by using her natural cleverness and a control not often found in young ones. She turned Andre not long after she'd eked out a relatively safe situation for herself; like her, Andre had suffered abuse as a human, but his had not been sexual in nature.

Sophie-Anne couldn't help but to spare a moment of regret that her first child had met the true death that very night—a moment of regret because she'd not been a better guide to him, though she'd tried to do her very best. It was just that—sometimes—Andre did not understand her.

Her memories zoomed to the late 1500s—when she and her children, who by then included Sigebert and Wybert, were traveling in France not far from where Alain had been killed. They came across the site of a cathedral being raised—as if into the heavens themselves. Though Andre wanted to move on right away, Sophie-Anne—still "Judith" at the time—saw the teeming worksite as an opportunity to learn; specifically, she found individuals whom she could glamour to teach her how to read and write in both French and Latin. It was in a little church library near the cathedral site that she first read the story that she could barely remember her human mother mentioning: the story of her namesake. Not surprising, her mother had left out the "good" parts of the tale. All young Judith had been told was that her namesake was the most faithful of all of God's people during the time of her life. The vampiress liked the full story much better. Unsurprisingly, the biblical figure's darkness very much appealed to her.

Still, on the very night she read Judith's story, the vampiress decided to adopt a different name—Sofia Anna Leclerq. By then, she'd had time to develop her likes and dislikes for names. Simply enough, she liked both "Sofia" and "Anna," so she took them both as her monikers. And she chose her last name because she was learning to write from a particularly kind clerk, and "Leclerq" quite literally meant "the clerk."

Andre did not understand why his maker changed her name as a reaction to the story of a character she liked so much. Indeed, Sophie-Anne actually copied the story of Judith many times—using that as her practice vehicle for her writing more often than not. In fact, amongst Sophie-Anne's treasures were several scrolls of that book of the bible, all scribed by the vampiress herself many, many centuries before.

Sophie-Ann tried to explain to Andre that she'd changed her name because "Judith" was too powerful of a label. When people met her, Sophie-Anne did not want them to think of the strong woman willing to decapitate her enemy. She did not want them to think of her as any kind of a threat at all. It was only after her enemies' heads were in her hands that Sophie-Anne wanted to be recognized as powerful.

She told Andre that she would always be "Judith" in her heart, even as she ordered him to never call her by that name again. Contrasting Andre, Sigebert accepted her new name without any sort of questioning. And, also true to form, Wybert understood her reasoning without her even having to explain it to him.

"Judith" was a woman who had survived being prostituted for many years. And she was there any time Sophie-Anne needed her to rise again to take the head of an enemy, but that did not mean that Sophie-Anne wanted to advertise her deadliness. After all, being underestimated had been one of the ways that Sophie-Anne had risen to power. And it was also how she'd conquered her maker—before he'd even transformed her.

How else would have the villagers known what he was?

How else would they have known that silver could secure him?

She'd told them, of course!

After she "rescued" Alain and they made their deal, she also misled him to believe she'd found him a safe resting place where he could wait until she rose a vampire. She showed him the dwelling of the village priest, who'd been traveling. Sophie-Anne had heard that the priest was due to arrive any day and prayed to God that he would return home during the daytime when she was buried in the earth and her maker was vulnerable.

God had answered that prayer. Alain was found and ended by the priest—on the day before Sophie-Anne rose as a free vampiress.

She hadn't been able to take the head of that bastard herself—but she had a hand in it! And Alain had underestimated her the whole way!

In truth, he'd deserved a much more horrible death—as had Clovis.

As Appius ordered Eric to strip down and kneel, Sophie-Anne couldn't help but recall how Alain had sometimes made her do the same when he auctioned her off to the highest bidder.

Alain liked to belittle her—to humiliate her. And—to avoid being glamoured—Sophie-Anne had obeyed.

As Eric reached up to take off his tie, Sophie-Anne knew that he was going to comply in order to avoid being given a maker's command to do something even worse. But the queen recognized the look in Appius's eyes. She'd seen it in Alain's eyes enough times to know that the torment was only beginning for the Viking.

"No!" she found herself yelling out.

No—she could not simply stand there and watch someone be degraded in such a way.

No—she would not allow such a thing to happen to one of her people.

No—despite Appius's warnings and the deaths he'd already dealt, she would not be silent and complacent because she feared that the worst might be done to her and her children if she spoke up.

She was—after all—still "Judith." And Judith had slain her enemy! But the true point of that ancient biblical story was that Judith had been pissed off and brave enough to try!

Sophie-Anne was brave, and she was pissed! She drew out a small sword and a stake, which had been concealed under her dress, even as she yelled out her defiance.

As soon as the "No" was done echoing in the room, Appius was moving—toward her.

He was faster than any being she'd ever seen. Still, she managed a lucky move and avoided the stake he wielded, even as she sliced into his arm with one of her knives.

However, when he turned on her again, she knew that her luck had run out—that she was about to meet the true death. In that moment, however, she felt great peace—and no regrets for yelling out her objection to the wrong about to be done by Appius.

But—then—she wasn't dead.

Sophie-Anne did not know how Sigebert and Wybert moved so quickly to be in front of her, but they did, and—in the next moment—blood spilled upon her as two arms fell in front of her.

One from each of her children.

As Sigebert and Wybert cried out in anger and pain, Sophie-Anne "felt" with them, but she stood her ground as Appius appeared in front of her, looking ready to tear her head off next.

Sophie-Anne spared a moment to think of the irony that it might be "Judith" being beheaded in her own story, even as Eric zipped in front of her and stood in a protective manner.

From behind Eric, she glared at Appius.

"This is my sheriff!" Sophie-Anne yelled out, still incredibly pissed off. Still incredibly brave. "And I will not condone him being abused by you—not in my state!"

Appius kicked away both Sigebert and Wybert as they moved to try to get to him again. In their debilitated state, it was clear that they could do nothing to stop a vampire as strong as Appius.

"I could just order my child to stake you!" Appius threatened Sophie-Anne.

Sophie-Anne showed the stake in her own hands, now pointed against Eric's back. "If you try that, I will be the one who kills him—to save him from you!" she returned passionately.

She could see an almost imperceptive nod from Eric; he was giving her permission—perhaps forgiveness—if she did choose to stake him.

The elder vampire laughed loudly—maniacally.