Eric's POV:

I landed in the queen's courtyard where I was greeted by her guards. They immediately knew who I was and led me into the house.

The foyer was empty but I could hear the sounds of moaning, skin slapping together, and the smell of sex and blood coming from somewhere on the main floor.

She must be having a feast, I thought to myself as I walked closer to where the sounds and smell were coming from.

The guards opened the double doors for me.

Classical music was playing in the background as I walked into a vampire/human orgy. Various vampires that were part of the queen's retinue were fucking and feeding off human women and men. I looked to the left and caught Andre's eye as he continued to fuck some red-haired woman from behind.

I walked forward into the room trying to find the one I was there for, Bill Compton. I continued through the archway into the next room and found him.

He was balls deep into a young, blonde female. She had big tits and blue eyes, but all of it was fake. Her hair colour came from a bottle, her tits looked plastic and she was wearing blue contact lenses. She looked like she had been glamoured to enjoy what Compton was doing to her. He looked up from the woman and saw me. He sneered and started fucking the woman even harder.

I continued on to find the queen. I looked towards another archway where Sigebert and Wybert were standing in front of.

I walked and stood in front of them. "I request an audience with her majesty, the queen."

They stood still for a few minutes.

"She will see you," Wybert said.

I had heard that she had some sort of telepathic connection with her children.

They let me pass and I continued down the corridor.

I opened the door to find the queen lying on a chaise lounge receiving oral sex from an attractive, young, blonde woman. I took in her scent, this must be Sookie's cousin.

"Eric Northman," the queen said as Hadley continued to give her attention.

The queen started moaning out loudly as she enjoyed the attention she was receving. She continued to pant unnecessarily as Hadley continued to lick up the juices.

"Now that's why I like having you here Hadley," the queen said with a big smile on her face. "Did you want a taste of her, Eric? Believe me, she is quite good."

"Thank you for the offer your majesty, but I came here on an urgent business matter," I replied as I bowed again.

"Really? Even on a night like this? I thought I gave everyone in my kingdom who worked for me, the night off to celebrate," she said. She then instructed Hadley to continue with her ministrations.

"It's not everyday we come out of the closet," Sophie-Anne says. "I cannot wait to let everyone know of what I am and to let them see my family. Did you hear? I am also going to be married too. I am marrying Threadgill. We're still ironing out the details but the marriage will be performed as soon as the contract is settled."

She started moaning loudly again. As she continued to receive oral, I recalled one of the flashbacks the 1970s Sookie gave me. It was of us at the Pyramid of Giza hotel. Sophie-Anne was critically injured and was later killed by De Castro's men. Sophie-Anne had been at the hotel on trial for murdering Threadgill. Her association with him weakened her position in Louisiana. I thought briefly about telling her, but decided against it. She would demand where I got this information from and that would put Sookie in danger. I recalled the image of Sookie and I exchanging blood because Andre was trying to force her into a blood bond. Andre was a threat to her and me.

"What did you need Northman? As you can see, I'm busy celebrating," she groaned.

"I wish to discuss Compton," I said.

Suddenly she stopped and ordered Hadley to leave the room.

"I have made Bill Compton to be my area investigator," she said as she rose. "I am preparing my kingdom for what's to come."

"So that includes sending him to my area and to Bon Temps?"

She stopped in front of me and started sniffing. "You smell delicious, Eric. Tell me, what did you have for desert tonight?"

"My woman. I have exchanged blood with a young human woman in Bon Temps name Sookie Stackhouse. She is mine. I caught the scent of another vampire not far from her home this evening. It was Bill Compton."

She continued to stare at me before finally speaking, "She is yours?"

I nodded.

"How did you meet her?" she asked.

"I met her at a club a few nights ago," I responded.

She gave me a hard stare. "So, she knows what you are?"

I nodded.

"Bill Compton went to Area 5 on my orders. I wanted him to investigate something as well as to research the vampires living in the area. He is in the middle of completing a very important project for me. Apparently, he resided in Bon Temps when he was human. He wanted to return home and claim his former land and home. But unfortunately for him, someone beat him to it. The estate was recently sold to someone else."

I gave her a neutral stare. "Yes, it did. I bought the land and home."

She gave me another hard stare. "Oh, I see."

She walked back to her lounge chair and sat down. "Since you have beaten me to the punch, I may as well tell you why he was there. Hadley is from Bon Temps. She was telling me that she had a cousin there who possessed a unique ability. She said her cousin was able to read minds. Naturally, I sent my investigator to see if it was true."

She leaned back. "So, is it?"

I did not want to tell her about Sookie's abilities, but she already knew. I cursed myself briefly for not killing Hadley before she told the queen about Sookie, but then I realized that people will know about her telepathy sooner or later. There were still vampires whom she had met in the 70s that were aware of what she was capable of. I had no wish to keep Sookie hidden away from our world.

"She is telepathic," I responded. "But she can only read human minds, not vampires."

"Now that is interesting," Sophie-Anne smiled. "She can prove to be a valuable asset as we take our place in the world."

I did not respond to her.

"I will tell Bill Compton to back off. I did not know that you had a claim over her," Sophie-Anne said.

"Thank you, your majesty," I said as I bowed down and moved backwards slowly.

I started to walk away.

"I will require you to introduce me to her one of these nights, Eric," Sophie-Anne called out. "I would love to meet her."

I nodded back to her and walked out. Fucking royalty. Most of them were tools. There were only a few who deserved respect.

Bill Compton was now lying on his back getting his tiny dick sucked on by a different woman. This one was another bottled blonde.

I walked up to him and grabbed him by the hair.

"I know that you were at my woman's house this evening," I said in a menacing tone. "If I catch you there again or anywhere near her, you will experience the worst kind of torture before I end your pathetic existence, do you understand? Sookie Stackhouse is mine."

And with that, I left.

The next few weeks went by quickly. The vampire council had hired a PR team to announce the creation of synthetic blood. The following day vampires were on the news telling the world of our existence. It was one of the biggest new stories of all time. Pam ordered new signs and merchandise for our bar. We were now going to call it Fangtasia.

It took several months for the humans to come to terms with our existence. Countless news stories and interviews explained our origins, anatomy, and lifestyle. One of the main messages that the vampire council tried to convey was that we were not dangerous, that we were just regular beings trying to live our lives as well.

Synthetic blood was now being sold throughout the world. The more popular choice of these synthetic blends was True Blood.

During this time, I continued my relationship with Sookie. She eventually introduced me to her brother. Her grandmother had accepted me as a vampire who was courting her granddaughter, but her brother was proving to be difficult. It hurt Sookie that he was not accepting our relationship. One night, I cornered him on his way home and glamoured him to accept his sister's choices and to not give her a hard time. Sookie also told me about her Uncle Bartlett one night. He had molested her as a child. Needless to say, I paid him a visit one night and he died a slow, painful death. He was someone that Sookie did not mention to me in the past, nor did I see images of him. Though I was not aware of him, I still cursed myself for not killing him before Sookie was born.

Sookie was in love with me and trusted me completely as our relationship grew. I had told her a month after we started seeing each other that I loved her deeply as well. Though I loved her, there was still something that bothered me. It was that fact that I had known the older version of her in the past, the one who had travelled through time. I had not told her about this yet. But the longer I kept this from her, the more difficult it would be for her to react positively. I had been reading more relationship books in my spare time and one of the cardinal rules was to be honest about everything that was important. I was currently breaking that rule. She was going to be hurt and perhaps she would feel betrayed.

But one thing I knew for certain was that I needed to tell her soon. I needed to tell her because I was going to ask her to marry me in our vampire traditions. There was already talk of making vampire/human marriages legal in Vermont and I planned to ask her to be my wife when that law was passed.

She was coming to spend the night at my house. I had bought a plot of land in a gated community on the outskirts of Shreveport. A new house was going into construction after my approval of the building plans. I wanted Sookie to come live with me, but first, I needed to tell her the things that I was withholding from her.

I heard the front door unlock and it was Sookie. I had given her a key to my house early in our relationship.

"Hey handsome," she said as her face lit up when she saw me.

I was standing in the hall, shirtless. I could not help but enjoy the love and happiness I felt whenever I saw her. I help my arms up to her and she dashed over to me quickly. I picked her up and started kissing her as I held her up.

"I missed you sooo much," she said as she continued to peck my lips and eventually started kissing my neck.

I was still in the middle of renovating the old Compton home as well. It was hard to find the time to finish it. Between running my bar, doing my duties as Sheriff, and spending the rest of my time with Sookie, it was a slow process.

We continued like this for several minutes, just relishing our embrace. I eventually set her down and went to sit with her in my living room.

"I missed you today," she said as she sat on my lap.

"I have as well," I responded. One of my favourite things to do with her was to take in her scent. It was almost like a story-telling, the different scents that came from her clothes and skin. I was usually able to sense who she saw and where she was during the day. Though most often, she told me everything that she had done during the day.

"I met someone new today," Sookie said. "She came into the bar and sat down at one of my tables. You should've seen her. She was absolutely gorgeous. She was so tall, almost as tall as you are. She had long, straight, black hair and dark eyes. Her tan was something else. She said her name was Claudine Crane and that she lived in Monroe. It was sort of strange, she asked me questions about my family and if I enjoyed where I lived, stuff like that."

So that was the new scent I smelled on her, a faery. Niall Brigant was Sookie's great-grandfather. I was wondering when he was going to show up. I had been keeping my guard up waiting for his arrival. I had a feeling he was going to see me first before he wanted an introduction to Sookie, like it had been in the previous time period. I had planned to tell him to fuck off and to never go anywhere near Sookie as well. If Claudine Crane was now trying to befriend her, then Brigant was sure to follow soon. I still recalled the immense pain I felt very briefly when Sookie showed me images of the faery attack. I had hired a tracker and a guard to keep Sookie safe at night in Bon Temps. I used the money from my private accounts to pay for the expensive protection costs.

"Sookie, I think you should be wary of new people who come into your life," I said in a gentle tone.

She looked at me curiously. "I suppose so. I mean I've never seen her, ever, around in Bon Temps or Shreveport. I did try to peek into her mind but couldn't. It was almost like the mind of a vampire, but different. It was like her brain activity was telling me that she was there but that was it. Do you know what she was?"

"Yes, she is a faery," I said.

"What? A faery? As in an actual faery? Wow!" she said.

"I believe she is your guardian angel," I added.

"What?" Sookie laughed lightly. "You can't be serious."

Suddenly, I received a call, it was Pam.

"There was an explosion in Dallas," Pam said right away. "Stan Davis is dead along with the rest of their nest."

I cursed in my language. They had heard I was bonded to a telepathic human and asked me for assistance. They wanted to infiltrate the Fellowship of the Sun headquarters and they wanted to use Sookie's telepathy. I turned down their request. I had been turning down several requests from other Areas and kingdoms. So far, Sophie-Anne had not yet asked to meet her. Although now with this bad news, I knew she was going to request an introduction very soon.

"Is everything alright Eric?" Sookie asked apprehensively as I hung up the phone.

I turned the tv on to CNN and sure enough there was a news story about a large explosion in Dallas. We watched the brief report in silence.

"That is so sad. All those people….." Sookie said quietly.

A few seconds later, my cell phone rang again. It was the queen.

"I'm sure you heard by now," Sophie-Anne said.

"Yes."

"There is something that has also happened," Sophie-Anne. "You remember Bill? He has gone missing. He may have been taken during the day. My people think he may have been taken in Mississippi."

I did not view this as a loss.

"I mentioned before that he was working on something for me. Apparently, everything he was working on is also missing," she added.

Sookie sensed I was going to be busy on the phone for some time, so she went into the kitchen to prepare dinner for herself.

"I have had to field several requests regarding your telepathic human," Sophie-Anne said. "Other vampires want to meet her, including some very curious ones from across the sea."

I knew who she was referring to.

"It's getting more difficult to keep her a secret," she said.

"What do you require, my queen?" I asked.

"I want the two of you to go to Mississippi to find the items that Compton was working on. If she happens to find Compton as well, then that is a bonus."

"Edgington would not allow me to enter his state without something in return," I replied. Edgington loved men, especially vampire men. Usually vampires never mated with one another, but he liked men who were as physically strong as he. I had a feeling he would want something from me physically in exchange for permission to enter Mississippi.

"Look, Eric, if Russell wants you to play with his dick, then that's what you are going to do!" the queen said irately.

"What Compton has is valuable and important to my regime," she pleaded. "If it gets into the wrong hands, I will lose millions and it could also cost me my life."

"You are going to have to provide me with much more information than that to even consider your request," I said firmly. I was beyond pissed at this point. I hated being threatened and forced to do anything against my will.

"Compton was working on a vampire database program," she replied. "It would've just been sold to and used by vampires. If this information gets into the hands of other supernaturals or even humans, then it may become a problem for me, since Compton was working on it on my behalf. The council will not be too happy. If I go down, the rest of Louisiana goes down with me."

I was still pissed off. I did not care about Sophie-Anne and the difficulties she was currently having. I knew she was suffering financially. She wanted to raise the dues vampires paid her to be under her protection in her kingdom. She had raised it about four times this past year. She had suffered substantial losses due to Katrina.

I still had my wealth that I kept hidden from everyone, even from Sookie. Sookie knew I was well-off, but she did not know how wealthy I was. I could afford to move to any kingdom in the world that provided more stability and freedom. Currently, it was something I was considering seriously. For my own safety and protection, it would be the wisest choice. But I had Sookie now. I watched her as she continued to hum her favorite song and prepare her dinner.

Sookie would not leave Louisiana or the US. The family and home that she loved were here. And I loved Sookie nor would I leave her. Leaving Louisiana was not going to be an option now or for the near future. I had no other alternative but to help the queen.

"I will look into it and find him," I said to the queen and hung up.

I closed my eyes to recall any images that 1970s Sookie gave me. I saw an image of us around Jackson and in Edgington's mansion. She had been mortally struck by a stake and received medical treatment.

Alcide Herveaux.

I clenched my fists at the thought of him. I had forced him to accompany Sookie to Mississippi. It was because of him that Sookie suffered many injuries, including rape by Bill Compton. I thought back and saw that because of her association with him and weres, she had suffered greatly and experienced many close calls with death. I knew this time I was not going to involve him nor introduce Sookie to him in the future. His life was going to be his own now and Sookie would not be playing a part in his drama.

Since I knew where Compton was, I was going to retrieve him myself.

"Eric," Sookie said softly from behind me. She wrapped her arms around me and lay her head against my back. "Are you okay?"

I let out an unnecessary sigh.

"It is the queen. She wants me to do something for her," I replied.

"Is it dangerous?" Sookie asked.

"There may be some danger, but it is nothing that I cannot handle," I said reassuringly. "I will take all the necessary precautions."

I turned around to face her. She had a sad look in her eyes.

"I guess you have to travel out of town for it," she stated.

"Yes, but it will only be a couple days. I must go immediately," I told her.

She nodded sadly. I leaned down to kiss her. I wanted to take her to my bed and ravish her, but now was not the time. I would do that as soon as I returned.

"Sookie, will you stay in my home while I'm gone?" I asked her.

She gave a half-smile. "Of course, I will stay tonight. I did plan on taking the day off tomorrow, but I'll call Sam and let him know that I can work the night shift tomorrow night. Then I'll use my day off when you return."

I packed my small suitcase with some essentials, said goodbye to Sookie, and drove off in my corvette.

I spent the night in Jackson preparing to look for Compton. The next night I found him with his maker Lorena. The queen had given me the option of returning with or without him. I was hoping to get the database he had hidden and leaving him there.

I moved with stealth as I infiltrated Edgington's mansion and found Lorena with a badly beaten Compton. I gave her a choice; to either hand over the database or die. Needless to say, she chose to hand it over. I stared at Compton who was now laying half-dead on the floor and walked away.

The next night I flew back to New Orleans and handed it over to the queen.

She seemed quite pleased.

"I don't believe it!" she said surprised. "And Compton?"

"His maker would not part with him," I responded. I did not give a fuck about him.

"Oh, well he was a good investigator and did a bit more digging and poking around for me," she responded.

I raised my eyebrow.

"I wanted to know more about my Hadley's background before I make her a vampire," she said. "He found out that she is part Fae and is descended directly from Fae royalty. Isn't that exciting? That means your Sookie is Fae as well."

She rose from her throne and continued, "I am cash strapped Eric. And now I have two potential Faery princesses in my retinue. I am going try and track down Niall Brigant. If Hadley is a member of his family, then she is entitled to a portion of his wealth."

Fuck, we may not be able to avoid a Fae war after all, I thought to myself grimly.