Chapter 4

I gasped as I held onto Eric's back. I felt disoriented for what seemed like forever but in actuality was about 3 seconds long. I looked around and saw that I was standing in my old bedroom in Bon Temps. There was no sign of dirt or dust, everything looked like it remained the same as the last time I was here.

Eric stumbled forth and turned around to face me.

"What did you do?" he said with a coarse throat. He did not look too happy.

"I don't know what happened. This is the first time I've actually teleported," I said quickly. I tried many times to learn this skill with Claude but to no avail.

"I must go, I must go back to my wife," he said as he made his way towards the door.

"Eric wait! What's the matter with you?" I asked bewildered.

"Freyda and I are bonded," he retorted. "And you've taken me away from her!"

He looked at me with menace in his eyes. For a moment I thought he was going to attack me, but he turned around and left the bedroom. I went after him.

"You can't just leave!" I yelled as I raised my hands towards and shot out a light blue glow. It hit him from behind, causing him to tumble down the rest of the stairs.

Oh shit, I thought to myself in a panic.

He got up and in vampire speed came up stairs and threw me on the bed. He was hovering over me, baring his fangs, snarling at me.

I took a deep breath and placed my hand on his chest. "Eric," I said gently.

All of a sudden, he started to glow blue.

The expression on his face suddenly changed and he retracted his fangs. The dull, lifeless look in his eyes changed as well after the light faded. There was a mixture of anger, confusion, sadness, and a hint of happiness.

"Sookie," he whispered.

He stood up beside the bed and held out his hand to me. I took it as he helped me off the bed.

"Eric?" I asked hesitantly. "Is it you?"

He looked at me for a moment and grabbed me gently. He lifted me up a little bit as he held me against his chest.

"Sookie I have missed you greatly," he whispered as he nuzzled my hair.

I was somewhat stiff and surprised at first, but eventually I returned the embrace. I held my arms around his broad shoulders and placed my hands on the back of his neck. This was the first time in over three years that I had touched anyone this way. I closed my eyes and for a moment I allowed myself to enjoy the familiar feeling of his touch.

"I'm glad you're back," I replied quietly.

He let me go and placed me gently on the floor.

He closed his eyes. "It feels like I've just woken up from a long, long, nightmare."

He sat down on the bed. "I could see my body moving and talking to her, to Freyda. It was as if I was looking through a mirror. I watched as I bound myself to her through the bonding ceremony. I can still smell her blood as I drank it. I could feel her fangs pierce my skin as she took mine. From that moment on, it felt like I was immobile. I could see myself doing things that I did not want to do."

He looked up at me. "She took my phone and told me she did not want Pam in our life. I agreed with her and commanded Pam to never try and contact me again. I let Freyda take control of Louisiana. She kept me in our chambers most of the time, only allowing me to come out when we received others at court. I haven't had anyone else's blood except hers since I married her."

"What!" I said as I sat down beside him. "You mean you haven't drank anything else except her blood?"

"She made me have sex with her every night. Sometimes she brought in other men and women. I was never allowed to touch them nor were they ever allowed to touch me, but she made sure she received her pleasure from them. I cannot deny that the sex was her was incredible. She is a very skilled lover," he said with a hint of shame.

"Ohhh…" I said. I didn't know what else to say. "But you were basically a prisoner."

"In a way….", he said as he eyes drifted off towards the ceiling.

"Do you….. care for her?" I said carefully. I knew it wasn't any of my business about what he felt for his wife but for some reason, I needed to know.

"No," he stated. "But the bond makes me feel a strong attachment to her. It's like there is an emptiness there. And the only way to fill it is to be with her again."

I knew a lot about that. I felt it twice for two people. Him and Marius.

"I need to leave. You need to go back to New York where it is safe. She is probably already heading this way," he said as he stood up and walked to the door.

I got up and followed him downstairs. "Eric we are safe. This is one of the safest places to be. I had Amelia and Claude put wards and spells over this house. Nothing can penetrate it. She won't be able to sense where you are. Marius and Claude tested it several years back. I think this is why I chose this place to teleport us to."

He turned to look back at me. He looked around the foyer. "I think you're right. Though the need to be with her is still there, it's not very strong."

"We should talk," I told him.

We sat down in the living room. I told him what I had been up to for the past decade. I told him about my training. He laughed at the mess-ups I made when I was training with Claude. He didn't tell me much about what he had been doing though. But I didn't care. I was just so content to be with him here, in my home. He reached for my hand and I gave it to him. I smiled at him. This moment felt right.

Eric's POV:

Sookie let me hold her hand. The only woman that I have ever loved. It was strange that I could not feel her life force. I couldn't sense what she was feeling. I had only agreed to break the bond because it was what she wanted to do. I did it because I wanted her to be happy. It hurt me immensely. After she left me, I drowned myself in my work. I made deals, I punished people, I lived my life as the King of Louisiana, like a true vampire. No remorse, no feelings.

A year after Sookie left, Appius came to me. He had a new protégé. A young vampire named Alexei Romanov. He was unhinged and wild. He killed everyone and everything that came across his path. It was Appius who was left to clean up after him.

"I can't control him," he said to me pleadingly. "I did what I had to do for all of our sakes."

I soon learned what he meant. He essentially sold me to the Queen of Oklahoma for that little shit. In return she would provide him the help he needed to control Alexei.

I was beyond livid.

At the ceremony I drank our blood from the sacred cup and everything changed. She must have done something to it, I thought to myself as I felt my life force spiraling away. For years, I could only watch myself living through a glass mirror. It is the only way I could describe it. During this time, I didn't feed on humans. She didn't allow me to. The only nourishment I received was from her. I drank from her daily. It felt like euphoria, but not in a good way. She had somehow blood bonded me to her, even though those forms of bonds only passed from vampires to humans. Even now, I could feel the bond calling me to her.

"Eric, what are we going to do?" Sookie asked with big eyes.

I couldn't help but feel elated when she said 'we'.

"First of all, I need to find a way to break the bond with her," I said. "Perhaps we can find those Amazonian vampires in Brazil and they can perform the ritual."

"But that would only work if both of you wanted to break the bond," she said.

I let out a deep sigh. "You're right."

"Don't worry Eric, we will find a way," Sookie said with determination.

We stayed still for a moment relishing the physical contact at our adjoined hands.

Suddenly, she looked around the house and stood up. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I said.

"I hear something, like a bell ringing," she said as she started walking towards the kitchen. I followed her as she went into the kitchen and into the pantry closet. She flicked the light switch on and started feeling the walls.

"What are you looking for?" I asked somewhat confused by her actions.

"I can hear it and it's close," she said. "Quick! Can you punch a hole in this spot for me?" pointing to a spot on the wall.

I went in there and did what she asked.

Crunch! Went the wood chips as they fell to the floor.

Sookie put her hand in there and reached in, looking for something.

"Aha!" she proclaimed.

She brought out a velvet pouch. She opened it and held it out in her palm.

"Eric do you know what this is?" she said with a surprised expression on her face.

"Yes," I said mesmerised by the trinket. Every being in the supernatural world would kill for one of these. It was the rarest, most powerful and delicate charm in the world.

"The cluviel dor," Sookie whispered. "Niall told me about one of these. I didn't know I had one in my house."

It only granted one wish.

"There are countless times in my life when I could've used this," Sookie said as her voice drifted off.

I somehow knew what she was thinking.

"You really need to consider this Sookie. You need to think very hard about what you want, what you wish most for in your life," I replied.

"I can bring back people from the dead," she said. "I can bring back Gran or Marius….."

She went silent for a moment and seemed sad. "It would be wrong to bring back someone from the dead. Especially if they have been gone for so long. I mean I would be happy, but I don't know about them….." she said as she drifted off again.

"No, I've made up my mind," she said frantically, "I wish for Eric Northman to be free!"

A green magical dusty swirl surrounded us for a moment. It evaporated as quickly as it came.

I felt rejuvenated! It felt like I had broken free from my chains. The chains that bound me to Freyda and even to Appius. I laughed out loud, relishing the newfound freedom I had never had in all my life as a vampire.

That moment quickly faded as I started feeling weak and I collapsed to the floor. I needed blood. All the blood that Freyda had nourished me with was now gone after our bond had been broken.

"Eric! Are you okay? What's wrong?" Sookie frantically said as she kneeled down beside me, holding onto my arms.

"Blood, I need blood," I replied. My throat felt so dry.

"I don't have any true blood in there," Sookie said as she looked around the kitchen. "Maybe you can have …."

She stopped to think for a moment. "You can have some of mine." She moved her long blonde hair away from her neck and leaned in closer to me.

I looked at her neck for a moment. I could see the veins pulsating with the blood that would quench my thirst. I leaned in, placed a small kiss on the spot that I was going to sink my fangs into. I looked into her eyes and saw that she was sure.

I went back towards the spot on her neck and sunk my fangs in. Oh the sweet, glorious ambrosia that was her blood! I could feel every droplet nourishing the very fibres of my being. Once again, I felt rejuvenated and alive.

I continued to feed from Sookie. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by my vampire desires. My desire for sex and more blood. I removed my fangs from her neck and sealed the wounds with my saliva.

I looked into her eyes and saw the longing. The same longing that I saw from her countless times during our life together.

I placed my lips on hers and started to kiss her. I was ecstatic when she reciprocated, she held onto me and started kissing me back. I picked her up and carried her upstairs to her bedroom, never letting my lips leave hers.