A/N: I don't have anything to say except you're swell.

Chapter 13

The vampire dropped Sookie and she scraped her back all the way down the old barn wall. Her dress had rucked up past her shoulder blades and she landed on her ass. The dogs paid no attention to the vampire fight starting in the middle of the barn floor.

Eric was able to get in one blow before the vampire dodged away, swirled into smoke, and then dispersed. Sookie scrambled to her feet and both she and Eric looked up at the ceiling, trying to find a bit of mist in the gloom. Neither saw him solidify into himself by the workbench until Sookie caught him out of the corner of her eye. He was pulling his arm back to throw.

"Duck!"

Eric did, and the hatchet the vampire had thrown barely missed him. It lodged itself in the wall behind him as the vampire vaporized again.

"Eric, there's another empty spot on the pegboard. He took something else with him."

Or so she assumed. She knew he could at least take the clothes on his back and the things in his pockets. And she was sure that spot hadn't been empty before.

Eric, like all vampires, had a photographic memory. He turned to look at what was missing from the wall just as the pipe wrench hit him in the back. He roared and fell to one knee. It pissed him off. He got right back up again.

The vampire laughed his creepy, crazy high-pitched laugh and the sound tailed off into smoke, along with the vampire. Sookie ran over to a dark corner and turned around so she could see as much of the barn as she could in the dim emergency light. She almost knocked a broom over and grabbed it before it fell and clacked on the floor.

Eric looked at just the right second and saw the cyclone form. He waited a beat and then flew into the vampire-shaped silhouette, and then through him as the almost-vampire reversed his change and dispersed again.

She saw something over by the cache of weapons and watched him solidify and grab something from the bench. His crazy laugh followed him as he swirled away no more than a second later.

"Eric! He has a crossbow!"

The vampire appeared again at the back of the barn near the computer equipment. Eric spun around and a bolt caught him in the bicep and went straight through. It was far too close to his heart for comfort. The vampire turned to vapor again.

Eric grimaced when he pulled the arrow out. Surprisingly, it was fiberglass. Nothing the crazy vampire had done so far had been lethal. No wood. No fire. Nothing that might cut off his head. The vampire was playing with him, like a cat with a mouse.

Sookie saw it that way, too. She thought maybe she should creep down the side of the barn towards the arsenal to find something she could use to help her help Eric. She was really hoping the fight would distract the vampire enough so he wouldn't notice her.

Then again, it would be a hell of a risk. And she would be just as likely to distract Eric as she would the other one. More, maybe. He'd worry too much about her. And what if the vampire grabbed her? Eric might not do what he needed to do to survive if he thought she might get hurt. Because of Felipe, but because of her, too. She sure as hell didn't want to be used as a shield. In that position, they would both be fucked. Her literally, she was sure. She decided to hang out in the dim corner and stay put and out of Eric's way. She needed to keep the attention off her. She realized she was still holding the broom, but just went with it. It made her feel a bit better. She could pretend it would keep her safe in the meantime. She kind of wished for a giant pencil sharpener.

The vampire appeared near the weapons cache again and reached for something else. Eric flew at him but he hadn't been quick enough and the vampire had already turned to vapor. Eric screamed in frustration and grabbed a spear from the wall beside him. He threw it straight through a poof of smoke across the room a minute or two later.

Sookie didn't even know how anyone could fight this guy. It seemed impossible. As far as she could see, he could just turn into vampire vapor whenever he pleased. Couldn't he? Her eyebrows drew together.

He hadn't done it back in the bar, except when he'd slipped inside — under the door, she presumed. She'd attacked him to protect her and Eric, but he'd had Eric out of commission from the very beginning. Changing hadn't really been necessary, despite the chaos.

But he certainly hadn't been able to grab her at the VIV Club and turn them both into smoke. He'd almost said as much. He couldn't have transformed her the way he could the jackknife in his pocket or a pipe wrench in his hand.

He'd also dropped her and moved away as soon as Eric had come through the barn doors. Eric had even been able to land a punch when he and the vampire were scuffling. Then, too, the vamp had jerked away and broken contact before he'd swirled into the darkness. And when Eric had tried to tackle him just a little bit later, there was nothing to tackle except a puff of smoke. She couldn't see things as quickly as a vampire could, but she thought that maybe Eric had gotten there a fraction of a second too early, before the change had been complete.

She'd noticed that it took the vampire a couple of seconds to complete the change in either direction, but he only seemed vulnerable when he was completely solid in between. And if it wasn't safe, he could just reverse the transformation and try again. She didn't know if any of that meant a damn thing, though. It was pure conjecture. Likely just a coincidence.

Eric didn't know how to kill the vampire, either. The creepy fuck could just bide his time until sunrise, turn to gas, and go to his hiding place. Eric would either burn in the sun from the gaps and holes in the barn or go to ground. If he had time. Of course, he really didn't expect the vampire to keep him around long enough to find out.

Sookie saw a few wisps gather not too far in front of her. More followed, and the fog started to thicken and swirl as the vapor condensed. She froze. She thought about yelling at Eric but stopped herself. She had either escaped detection or the vampire didn't care she was behind him. She doubted she was going to get a better chance than this. She had to do something. Eric was looking anywhere but at them and she hoped it would stay that way, just for a few more seconds.

The whirlwind was forming, fast. A tornado of smoke turned into the shadow of a man, holding a bow and arrow. It was notched but wasn't aimed at Eric. Not yet. For the first time, she felt a glimmer of hope, but she was scared to death. Eric found it strange and turned to look at her.

The shadow darkened. Sharpened. Thickened. It started to raise the bow and pull back the arrow. It was time. She threw the broom like a javelin, yelled, "Eric!" and grabbed the vampire's arm, all at the moment he turned solid. It jogged the vampire's elbow and knocked the arrow from its rest just as he released it. The arrow tumbled to the ground with a loud twang of the bowstring. A dry fire.

The vampire looked down at her and yelled, "You stupid bitch!"

He shook his arm hard to get rid of her and she dug her nails in as hard as she could to keep hold as long as she had to. Eric only needed a second.

Eric, almost by instinct, caught the broom, spun it around, and threw it straight back as hard as he could, all in one fluid motion.

The instant before Sookie lost her grip and went flying across the barn, the broom impaled the vampire, right through his chest. He had time to look surprised and reach for the bristles before he dispersed one last time, only into ash instead of vapor. The bow and broom clattered to the ground next to the arrow, which was also fiberglass. She wondered when he would have stopped playing games and gotten down to business. Maybe he should have taken them more seriously.

Sookie started shaking like crazy. Eric looked just as stunned as the vampire had for a moment and then gave her a long, slow grin. She tried to smile back but her bottom lip began to tremble and she ran to him and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head as she sobbed. He held her tight and stroked her hair and it took her a long time to stop. Finally, she sniffled and pulled away.

"Thanks. And sorry I got snot all over your shirt."

He laughed a little and shook his head in almost-awe. It was very possible she'd saved his existence. No, he knew she had.

"My lover, you can do it anytime. Especially after something like that. But how…?"

She smiled back. She tried, anyway. It was close, but she looked like she might cry again at the same time. She rubbed the tears from her eyes with the heels of her hands and took a stuttering breath.

"I thought maybe he couldn't change form if he was touching somebody. He hadn't, as far as I can remember. So I hoped that if I'd grabbed him, it would give you a little time to kill him."

There was a roll of blue shop towels on the workbench near the tools and she tore off a sheet to wipe her face and blow her nose. She realized that, after a year and a half of only crying in secret, she had done it in front of him four times now — twice in happiness and twice like this, after a shit ton of trauma. And she had known him for three whole nights. She'd even hated his guts for most of the first one. It certainly hadn't been love at first sight. But she thought it was love, regardless. She didn't have many doubts about that. On her end, anyway. Especially after what had just happened.

She ignored the fact that he would likely be sent back to Louisiana after she found out who was swindling deCastro. Or until Felipe gave up on her.

While she was composing herself by the toolbench, Eric walked over to the weapons cache to take a look. He moved down to the clutter of electronics near the back and noticed the trap door cut into the floorboards.

"There is a hatch to the space under the building. It will be his resting spot, I'm sure. I'll use it myself if we're still here when it gets too close to sunrise."

"Maybe. That's where he was going to take me."

She shuddered. The thought of going down there terrified her. She wasn't weak. She knew she wasn't. She was pretty sure she was as strong and as brave as she could be, under the terrible circumstances of the past three years. No matter how scared and hopeless and lonely and small she felt sometimes. And, God, she felt so small right then. Even after her pivotal role in ending the monster that had seemed nearly unkillable.

She knew she would have been there as long as he'd wanted to keep her. And nobody would have ever found her in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Except, somehow, Eric had.

"How did you find me? Did you follow us?"

He pulled back to look at her.

"More than two hours after you left, I was suddenly able to feel you, out of nowhere. Somehow, you took some of my blood. We have a blood tie."

It took her a few seconds to put it together.

"I… I thought I had cut my hand on a broken beer bottle when I fell, back at the bar. There was blood on the floor underneath it and a piece of glass right beside it. I didn't feel anything, but I was pumped full of adrenaline. Was it yours?"

"Yes. I think it must have been."

He remembered that he had cut himself on a broken beer bottle when she'd fallen on top of him. He'd hardly noticed; a small cut was nothing compared to the silver net he'd been tangled in at the time. It had healed along with the burns, which had been much more painful

She wiped her tears away again and took a shaky breath.

"When we were still in the city, I was yelling and screaming and banging on the car window, trying to get someone's attention. Nobody noticed. I left a couple of bloody fist prints and some smudges on it. Later on, I tried to clean it off by licking my thumb and wiping it away a few times so I could see better. There was a bunch of dried blood on my hand, too, and I licked that a couple of times to wet it down so I could wipe it off on the seat."

He went to her and took her hand and turned it to check for any fresh wounds. It was dirty, but there wasn't a scratch. He kissed her palm and could smell his blood. He pulled her against his chest and held her. He kissed the top of her head and felt her fear and comfort and relief. And love. He smiled a little and kissed her head again.