Sookie's POV:

It was him, it had to be him. Emotions began swirling within me as I stared at the vampires in front of me. I don't think they knew what they were going to be up against. Marius had lived in almost obscurity for hundreds, if not thousands of years. We continue to feel the invisible energy building up around us. The energy was making all the other vampires, except Marten, nervous. It was making me nervous too.

"What?" Octavius James mumbles to himself. I could tell he didn't know what was happening. Fear was starting to grip him.

He looks up at Marten, who is still standing in front of him, slowly moving into a fighting stance.

"Help me," he pleads to Marten, but Marten does nothing. He readies himself for the next battle.

Suddenly, Octavius bursts into flames. I could hear gasps fill the room. It takes less than three seconds before his body is engulfed by flames. The stunned onlookers look on, without offering him any kind of assistance.

Meanwhile, the rest of Octavius' vampires who were aiding him and were standing by the windows and doors begin crying out in pain, as they are attacked by an unseen force.

The several vampires who were near us begin to attack us. Marten grabs his sword on the floor and starts fighting them off. Alexanders' guards grab their swords and surround their king to protect him.

I go to try and retrieve my sword which is lying on the ground in the back of me, but I notice Freyda coming towards me. I quickly try to walk backwards as she continues to rush towards me.

"I was told that I needed to make sure your life was over," she sneers. "He said you would be the one to end my life."

I don't respond, but it was true what she said. But maybe I would end her life today rather than forty-five years from now. My sword was still on the ground about seven feet away from me. I try to focus all my energy on that. I had once been able to summon my weapon to me. I practiced many times with Claude to achieve that again but to no avail. Maybe this life and death situation would bring it out of me again.

I muster up my Fae power to call the sword back to me.

Just as I can feel my power working and the sword is in my hand, Freyda lunges her sword in me. Her blade pierces my side. At first it feels like a slight sting, then a sharp pain as she extracts it from me. She brings her sword back to her. She is momentarily stunned as she sees that I have my weapon back in my hands.

I use the opportunity to swing my blade and slice her head off, again.

That was odd, I think to myself stunned. I watch her head roll off her shoulders and into the air. It hits the floor with a soft thump.

I looked around the room and see Marten fighting Alexei Romanov. Despite Alexei's young age, he proved to be a tough opponent. I could tell Marten was getting frustrated as Alexei evaded all of Marten's attempts to kill him. It looked as though Alexei was toying with Marten too as he grinned at every attempt.

I look over to the other side of the warehouse where Appius was frantically looking around for the unseen attacker. Eric was looking around the room as well.

"Kill him!," Appius yells out, ordering Eric to protect them both.

I start to feel weak and my side was feeling sore. I drop my sword to my side. It was feeling heavy.

All of a sudden, I see a blur rush through the warehouse. It was Marius! He stands in front of Appius and Eric. Appius looks momentarily stunned as Marius plunges his blade through his heart without a word. He falls to the ground and is dead instantly. I take this moment to look at him and I lose my breath. I couldn't tell you what kind of emotions I felt this moment. It was a mixture of joy, sadness, relief, and hope, but also love. I had spent three years waiting to see my husband alive (or rather undead) again. He was almost unrecognizable at first. Marius was in complete fighting mode. His handsome features were darkened and his eyes were bright red. His hair was still styled the same way when I knew him and he was wearing a black shirt and black trousers.

Eric roars out in anguish as he watches his maker die. The look on his face is a mixture of anger and grief.

He stares at Marius with anger and hatred in his eyes. Eric immediately starts swinging his sword at Marius and Marius begins blocking his attacks.

Oh no! I am instantly worried about the outcome of this battle. I frantically look on the other side of the room as Marten finally finishes off Alexei. He plunges his right hand into Alexei's upper chest and rips out his heart. He squashes it with both hands and throws it on him as he lies dead on the ground. Poor boy, I thought to myself gloomily.

Marten comes to stand near me to watch Marius and Eric fight as well. He holds his sword in attack position, however, he does not interfere. If Eric gained the upper hand, Marten would defend his maker without hesitation.

As we watched the battle, I knew Marius was stronger than Eric. He was at least a thousand years older than Eric. However, Eric's anguish seemed to have given him the extra strength he needed to challenge Marius.

Oh no, I whisper to myself again. I had a feeling that this was going to end badly. One of them was going to meet their final death if I didn't do something about it.

I start summoning more of my Fae power to try and stop them from fighting. I raise my sword in the air as I feel my blue energy building up around me. As I feel the power reach its maximum, I hit my sword to the ground and the blue energy ripples out. I look up as the jolt hits them both. Eric and Marius both go flying in the opposite direction.

As the blue energy wanes, so does the last of my strength.

The soreness on my side starts hurting a lot more. I look down and touch it to find blood gushing out from the place where Freyda pierced me with her sword. Oh shit! I guess my injury was worse than I thought.

"Eric," I whimper out as the world around me starts to fade quickly.

I lose control of my legs as my knees fold. I begin falling, but before I hit the ground, someone grabs me.

I close my eyes as the sounds around me begin to fade away.

"Sookie. Sookie, do not leave me," Eric whispers into my ear clearly.

His words give me strength to open my heavy eyes.

He bites into his wrist and brings it to my mouth. "You must drink. You are dying."

I weakly nod and latch on and take a couple gulps. We lock eyes and I could see my Eric, the one who loved me and would do anything for me. Did I make it home? Did I accomplish what I set out to do? I don't have the strength to ask him or to tell him that I loved him. I could see the love for me in his eyes and it touched my heart and soul. I only take a few gulps of blood before my strength begins to wane again.

I look over Eric's shoulder and see Marius hovering behind him. This time it was him and he looked just the way I remembered when I first met him many years ago. A happy tear slides down my cheek as I give him a weak smile. I was overjoyed to know that he was alive again. I had so much to tell him, to share with him, but this vampire wasn't my husband. He didn't know who I was and how much we had meant to each other. He looks at me with curiosity and confusion in his deep blue eyes.

Suddenly, the fatigue overwhelms me as I fade away, this time I don't wake up.

Eric's POV:

"Sookie?" I say quietly as she lays in my arms. She does not move. I place my ear against her chest. Her heart was still beating but at a much slower pace and her breathing was very shallow.

"Eric," Marten says as he looks over my shoulder. "You have to heal the wound."

I lift up her shirt just below her breasts and assess the wound. It was deep and it was still bleeding profusely. I bite on my wrist again and place it firmly against it. I could only hope that this would work. I did not want to lose her.

It was at that this point that I realized that I loved her. No, I think I may have loved her the moment I saw her standing outside Karlsson's club. If she didn't survive, then I would turn her. I had no idea how she would feel about this, but I had a feeling it would not be a positive reaction. She did say she lived with vampires for almost fifteen years and was never turned. I can only imagine it was because she didn't want to be a vampire. But I was a selfish vampire and at the moment I wanted her to remain with me, forever.

Slowly, after a few minutes her wound starts closing and healing. I begin licking the wound and she still does not stir.

Her sweet blood permeates the air around us and I knew the remaining vampires were about to lose themselves in bloodlust. I had to get her out of here quickly.

I pick her up and carry her out of the warehouse as the remaining vampires all watch us. I was relieved that they all stood aside and watched as I carried her out. I did not want to fight anymore this evening, I just wanted to take care of Sookie now. I shoot up into the air with her in my arms and fly us to my home outside the city.

I carry her downstairs. She was still soiled in blood that was a mixture of hers and others, so I take her to my master bathroom and draw a bath. I wash away the blood on her body and gently wash her hair. After the bath, I wrap her up in towels and place her on the bed. I put one of my t-shirts on her and cover her under the blankets.

I wash up quickly as well and join her in my bed. She still didn't move. I put my ear against her chest again. Her heartbeat was still slow but was slowly improving. I reassess her wound as it continues to heal rapidly.

I close my eyes and listen to her sleep until dawn when I rest for the day.

The next evening, I awake and she is still sleeping. I listen to her heart again and notice a vast improvement, but also her stomach is grumbling in hunger.

I did not want to leave her, but I had no human food in my home.

I dress quickly and fly to the nearest grocery store to retrieve various human food and drinks. I make it back to my home in less than twenty minutes.

I undress quickly and rejoin her in bed. I wanted to be close to her when she awoke. I could hear my telephone ringing non-stop in my lounge room.

About a half hour later she slowly begins to wake up.

"Eric?" she says in a hazy confused tone.

"My lover," I reply gently.

"Is everyone okay?" she asks concerned.

"Everyone is fine," I reply. I think about Appius. I did not expect to feel the agony that I felt when I watched my maker meet his final death. I felt a murderous hatred toward the vampire who had ended him. My only thought at that moment was to kill him. Marius appeared to be everything that Marten had described about his maker. He was fast, agile, and possessed skills that no other vampire had. When I battled him, his eyes were bright red. I could feel heat burning through my body, but that did not stop me. I had a deep desire to kill him and I may have been able to until I felt a deafening jolt rush through my body. It hurled me in the air and I hit a wall. Although it did not hurt, the jolt brought me back from my insatiable need to kill Marten's maker. I looked at my opponent, who was lying on the opposite wall and his eyes changed from bright fiery, red to dark blue. He looked surprised and confused as I did. After a few seconds of coming back to my senses, I heard Sookie's weak voice. I looked up and saw that she was standing about twenty feet from me, gravely wounded. She was starting to collapse and I reached her before she hit the floor.

"I'm sorry Eric. I'm sorry about Appius," she says in a trembling voice. She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"You do not need to trouble yourself over him. He met a good death," I said. I was still somewhat reeling from his loss, but I think it was partially due to our maker/child bond. Though I was still harboring anger that Marten's maker killed him, I was not feeling spiteful about it. I can only guess that the combination of Sookie's fae energy and the potential loss of her had hindered that resentment.

"Is that your telephone ringing?" she asks suddenly. I had tuned that incessant noise out.

"You should go answer it. It's probably the king," she says as she sits up on the bed.

"Ugh," she groans as she rubs her side. "I had forgotten how it feels to get hurt in battle. You know, several days ago, I killed Freyda before she could get a chance to touch me. I was not expecting having to kill her for a second time in a week."

I chuckled. I was glad she was returning to her old self. "So that was to be my future queen slash wife?"

Sookie nods.

"You are more than a thousand times worthier than her," I say as I cup her cheek.

We get interrupted again by the telephone ringing in the background.

"Please answer it," she groans.

I sigh, "As you wish."

I go into my lounge room and answer the phone.

It was the King of Sweden.

"Eric, I am pleased that you have finally answered my call. I would be angry, but after all that you and your woman did last night, I will not hold it against you. How is Miss Anna… I mean Miss Stackhouse doing?"

"Thank you, your majesty. My woman is doing well. She is healing quickly," I say in a clipped tone. I was hoping that he was going to leave us alone this evening but I doubted it. I just wanted to be alone with Sookie tonight.

"Come to my casino in about an hour. I will bring you up to speed on everything," he says as he hangs up the phone.

Shit. That fucking vampire better not be there.