Chapter 52: Decode

The taste of blood coated her whole mouth. Long gone were the sweet tastes of hazelnut souffle and expensive wine. There was an absolute ringing in her ear, drowning out everything else. Her senses seemed to be coming back one at a time, but her vision was blurry at best. All she saw were different shades of blue with swirls of red and black. A nice pale yellow seemed to be growing from somewhere, oddly soothing her. But she had no idea where she was or how she got there. She couldn't remember much of anything.

Then the pain came all at once, and it made her deeply regret living. She winced, and it made it worse. Her mind spun in fear, trying to logically assess the damage, trying to find a logical way out of this hell. She was sitting on a hard plastic chair of some kind. Her right leg was broken, she could feel her pulse throbbing just below her knee, and then nothing below it. Breathing caused sharp stabbing pains, making her inhales shallow, quick and uneven. Her stomach felt hard and swollen, her clothes felt two sizes too small. She couldn't move either of her hands, something sharp and thin was crushing her wrists together. Her head felt heavy and her thoughts felt like running on water. Even the most simple movements felt like climbing the fucking Everest. Everything else just hurt. Being in her own skin was borderline torture and she just wished to stop existing at that very moment.

The ringing in her ear slowly died down and she could vaguely distinguish voices, though they felt like they were underwater for some reason. They weren't happy or angry voices, but they were fervorous and loud and almost in unison. Who were they? Where was she?

Her vision came back slowly. She now could see the outline of her red dress. Red? She very seldom ever wore red. No, her dress was lilac, wasn't it? Eric had given her this beautiful lilac dress.

Eric-

She blinked repeatedly, forcing her eyes to work. She wasn't sitting in the car anymore. They had crashed. Where was Eric? The colours became bright, too bright, the yellow was making her eyes water, so she looked down, hanging her head low, focusing on her lap. Her dress was just blood stained and ripped, but it was still the same thing she wore earlier. She saw her wrists tied together and then tied to the left armrest of an old sun bleached monobloc chair. With far more effort than she thought possible, she slowly raised her head. The ringing was making her dizzy, and the blood in her mouth was making her nauseous. She saw blue - a light blue grid. Light blue tiles. Light blue tiles?

When her eyes landed on swirls of red and black, they could now zero in on what it was. The figure in front of her became HD again, in focus. What she was seeing was just as critical as every broken piece of her.

They were at the bottom of an old empty pool. Eric was covered with a net made of silver mesh, wrapped around him like a heavy blanket, tied to a chair a few feet in front of her. They had removed his blazer and shirt and the net dug into the skin, creating deep long gashes, painting his skin red. Blood dripped from the tips of his fingers as if whoever did this to him was trying to fill the pool with him. There was blood, so much blood, spilled all over the blue tiled floor. Her peripheral vision came back and now she could see people standing at the edge of the pool, watching from above, singing in unison.

She did not have to look up much further to see the two white and golden figures to her left, to know exactly who was behind all of this. Steve and Sarah fucking Newlin. And sure as shit, once her head made its way up she found them standing at the head of the pool, palms up leading about two dozen people in prayer. Anger filled every part of her. They had skipped bail, became fugitives of the law for months, and threw all caution to the wind for this? If she could only awake Eric she would show them what really happened to anyone who fucked with Eric Northman.

Except it took her a minute to realize the golden light, the yellow that hurt her eyes, was not in the Newlins' clothes. Steve wore a full white suit, and Sarah was wearing a white flowy dress like a strange hippie bride. No, the golden glimmer her eyes caught was the sun rising over the horizon. They were here to perform a Light Ceremony. For-

"Eric!" Olivia's voice was broken and raspy, and blood flooded her mouth again, making her spit red. "Eric!"

But he did not respond. His shoulders were slumped, his head hung low. Eric looked weak, pale and grey, other than the red staining his skin like an undershirt. He looked… Terrifyingly human. Mortal. She remembered the way his eyes looked at her before they crashed the car. They begged her forgiveness for failing her, for not protecting her when he swore he would have. When he swore she would be untouchable if she was his. Olivia knew it now his promise wasn't the only reason she had agreed to be his. It hadn't been just the logical choice.

"Eric!" She shouted as loud as she could. "Wake up!"

"Aw, look at her!" Someone in the crowd mocked her. "Fangbanger slut is sad her dead boyfriend is gonna die again!"

"Fuck you!" She roared, her ribs stabbing her immediately. She had no idea who had spoken, but the threat was aimed at all of them. Fuck each and every one of them. She could not believe the lengths these people had gone to… To what? Commit murder for Jesus?

Her eyes roamed the crowd, hearing each and every nasty thought and emotion they projected at her. Disgusting slut. Whore. Dead fucker. Fangbanger.

"It's alright, sweetie!" A familiar female voice called out - Sarah's. "You'll see that once our righteous God takes the vamper, how beautiful his mercy is-"

"NO!" She thundered. "Fuck you and your righteous God specifically!"

"Wow!" Steve laughed. "The mouth on ya, miss! You sure didn't talk like that when you were pretending to be our accountant's daughter!"

"Oh, I'll show you how I really talk, Steve," she hissed. "Just let him go. It's me you want, right? I'm the one who taped you, I'm the one who handed it to the FBI, I'm the one who exposed your cult. He had nothing to do with any of it-"

"Oh, he's got everything to do with it!" Steve shouted. Everyone stopped chanting to hear their shepherd speak. "He's the one who made you do it in the first place!"

"I'm fucking sick and tired of everyone telling me that! He didn't make me do anything! I did it. I did all of it!"

It was a strange concept for these people to grasp, that she had her own agency in this world. She had chosen to work for cartels and vampires. She had chosen to launder money, evade taxes, extort politicians, aid and sell drugs. She had recorded the Newlins, and she had given Flanagan the tape. She had done those bad things out of her own will. Eric did not corrupt her. She was a bad person all on her own.

"I'm doing you a favour for freeing you from this blood sucking demon."

"This demon is worth more than all of you combined." She could hear all their anger loud and clear. But they all paled in comparison at the rage she felt. That could not - would not - be the last time his eyes looked at her. That would not be how they said goodbye. They had come too far to only come this far. She refused to let that be the.

"He's an aberration, Olivia. He's dead, and he should stay dead. That is His will. Vampires are soulless and not God's children, and we should not fall to the temptation of their ways."

"Stop pretending this has anything to do with what he is or isn't! This is about your fucking ego, Steve. Why run away from the police, run your cult underground and target him? There are thousands of vampires in the country. Why him?"

"Because you think he loves you," Sarah cooed. "And that's just wrong sweetie-"

"You don't fucking know anything-"

"We saw you two dancing on TV," the blonde looked tired and dull, her hair no longer in a perfect blowout, and her nails were chewed to nubs. Fugitive life was not agreeing with her. "And what I saw was a lost little girl doing the devil's bidding and I understood why the Lord had put you in our path. Don't you get it?"

"I really don't want to-" she was going to puke blood again.

"He wants us to save you! We've tracked you down to free you from his wickedness, Olivia. We forgive you for what you did, and we've come to cleanse you-"

"Cleanse me?! YOU ALMOST KILLED ME-" more blood erupted from her stomach, and this time it was acidic, burning her lips as it drooled out of her mouth. She did not have the breath in her to continue fighting them like this.

And she lacked the time too. The golden paleness of the sky was growing quickly over the large trees and tall grass behind them. They must be at an abandoned or empty house somewhere in the sticks. She was sure Louisiana only had a few of those.

"Just kill me, please. Bury him or throw him a trunk somewhere-" her words were wasted. She knew they knew if Eric lived he would retaliate, but she couldn't accept it. She couldn't accept being responsible for Eric's death. She couldn't live or die knowing she had lost him, or that it had been her fault. He vowed to protect her, not die for her.

"He's a child of Satan Olivia, who looks human and has lied to you, deceived you-"

"Shut up!" She cried. "Please! Eric, wake up!"

But he did not move or reacted. Think Olivia, think - the darkness was quickly fading in the sky above them, the sunlight swallowing the stars as it rose. Eric could not have summoned Pamela for aid, as they were no longer bonded. But Eric and Olivia were, did that matter? She reached him through the invisible cord that tied them together. She focused everything she's ever had into it, calling out to him, pulling him close. What she received wasn't a sound, but her mind still grasped the words.

Let me go.

Her eyes flooded with tears.

I love you.

"Eric!" She threw herself forward desperately, and the chair scraped maybe half an inch closer. Olivia looked up at the Newlins. "Please don't do this! Don't make me watch him die, please! I can't-"

She felt the disgust and pity of the people around her wash over her like cold water. Many thought she was a lost cause. They were right. Throwing a hail mary, Olivia pushed her senses out in one big pulse. She did not hold back, she did not dodge or avoid their minds. She engulfed them, letting herself be flooded with every single thought and emotion around her. She felt a sharp pain stabbing her temples, overwhelming her entire body, but she just held on. Olivia had to piss them off.

"Luke you made your high school girlfriend have an abortion," Olivia spat. "Caroline, you have twelve maxed-out credit cards. Paul gambles, Mike wants to fuck his stepdaughter, Sarah you blew Jason Stackhouse in the back of your truck two weeks ago. Steve, you have embezzled money from your wife and you have lied about your father's death. He wasn't killed by vampires. He was just driving drunk and hit a ditch."

Everyone was really quiet for a long time. When Steve looked at his wife, her eyes widened. "Jason Stackhouse?"

"Steve, she lies! I was just tryin' to recruit him-"

"Oh, she was trying to recruit alright. But can you blame her Steve? You two haven't fucked in a year."

"This woman is a liar!" Luke called out angryly. "A dirty fucking liar."

"That line may have worked with your parents Luke, but it doesn't here. But deep down everyone knows I'm telling the truth."

The anger she got from the crowd was mixed with fear, guilt and shame and a lot of confusion. But she had one last twist of the knife to give.

"Oh, and by the way, Steve and Sarah have about 12 million dollars stashed in Panama. Steve has another 7 hidden in the Virgin Islands, of course, in case he has to split the 12 in a divorce. Your donations aren't going to the fucking cause, it's going to their fucking pockets. You are all monsters, no better than any vampire I know. And if you think otherwise, you are just hypocrites. Does your God cleanse that too?"

Their followers now all stared at Sarah and Steve, and she could hear the illusions cracking, her accusations shattering the glass ceiling. Some of them had given part of their pension, took out second mortgages and co-signed loans for the Newlins, all in the name of 'cleansing' the Earth, and giving vampires to the Light.

"Only God can judge me," Sarah spat out angrily. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I am the one who's going to fucking kill you if he dies," Olivia started to feel cold, the pain was starting to feel distant.

"You know what?" Steve said, hiding a small nervous tick. "Maybe you can't be saved after all. You think this vampire is a person and not a vicious animal? Fine, then let's test it."

Oh, Eric was vicious alright. Steve suddenly jumped into the shallow end of the pool and watched closer, she could feel the anger emanate from him like a boiler.

"Luke, get down here," he commanded. Luke hesitated but made his way down. Olivia could see morning birds flying from the trees. "Let's tie them together. Let's see who dies first, shall we? If this half-drained vamp eats you like a dog being offered a juicy steak, or if he burns up just like a match. You like him so much, you can burn together."

Olivia felt cold sweats as the two men approached her. A pure disgust crawled on her skin as they held down her arms and cut off her zip ties from the chair. She tried to wiggle herself free, and almost passed out from the pain, blood loss or fear, she wasn't sure. A loud howl of pain escaped her when they lifted from her chair. The arm Steve had a hold of was definitely broken, and the second she bared a single pound of weight on her broken leg her vision went white and her body turned limp. It had nothing left to give.

The two men sat her on Eric's wet and cold lap, pressing the silver metal deeper into his skin. She could hear a growl coming from deep inside of him, bubbling deep from within. Luke and Steve walked away, taking back their almighty position above the ground. They started chanting to the God of Light all over again, praising his cleansing powers to the world, praising His light. She could see sunlight hitting their heads and shoulders. Olivia had maybe minutes left.

"Eric," she murmured. "I'm here."

His eyes opened ever so slightly, and his lips parted, revealing fangs. His chest made tiny breathing movements. She knew she was a chalice of water on the lap of a man who had been in the desert for 40 days. Eric had lost a lot of blood. They had spilled it. She had no idea how he could hold back, but he did. He wouldn't have to for much longer.

"Eric, listen to me very carefully," Olivia whispered into his ear, resting her head on his shoulder. "I need you to drink from me. I need you to drink as much as possible, but I need you to do it now."

"No use. I'll burn anyway," he groaned, words barely coming out.

"You won't," she told him. "You'll have a couple of minutes maybe, definitely enough to kill them, call 911 and go to ground. Just trust me-"

His eyes met hers. She could die right then and there, knowing the last time she saw them wouldn't be her last. Olivia was going to protect him now. "Drink from me, Eric. Take as much of me as you want. You will not burn."

The pain felt like a release. Her body could barely process the extent of the damage she had endured in the car crash, but this pain her body knew. Eric's fangs had sunken down her neck. There were voices and cheers around them, pleased the monster had struck against her, confirming what they already knew.

But they didn't know what she was made of.

Eric's grunts and growls grew deeper and louder as life returned to his body. He sucked harder, pulling more of her into him. It wasn't a surrender this time, he was taking her. His arms slowly pushed off the silver net off his body, causing yelps and voices to turn angry around them. But even in his freedom all he did was embrace her body, his sharp teeth biting down deeper into her neck, devouring her. The white spots in her vision were turning brighter, and the coldness was fading away. The sounds too. She didn't feel cold or hot. Or pain. Her body felt nothing. It was good.

"And the animal strikes again!" Steve cheered. "Just like we told you he would! You are nothing more than a meal to him, Olivia! They are animals void of souls, and now it's up to the Creator to forgive both of you, cause he's comin'! The reckoning is here! In the name of the Lord, we're gonna burn every single one of y'all!"

She saw bright golden morning light washing the Newlins and their minions. She saw the sun rays form long infinite fingers between the clouds above, painting the sky orange and pink. Eric was nestled deep in her neck, lost in his own little world. Memories of the greenhouse surfaced in her mind. This was nothing like that. She let Sophie-Anne bite her, she agreed to become bonded with the woman she thought she loved. But she never gave herself completely to her. She never told her what she was, she never shared the deep dark parts of herself. And she most certainly did not trust the Queen with her life.

But she had this time with him. She had given herself completely and irrevocably to him. Eric found darkness in her beauty, and Olivia had found beauty in his darkness. His fingers grabbed her tightly as if they were in her bed again. Steve was right, there was a reckoning coming.

There was another spin in the world. The sky did a full tumble and her limp body had suddenly landed on the floor, his blood splashing her. The sound of chains dropping on the floor echoed inside the pool and there were screams. A symphony of voices with the tearing of flesh, ripping off skin, and breaking of bones echoed in the pool. It was a beautiful melody to her ears. The blue tile was washed with red, blood raining down the pool walls. She smiled weakly, wanting this entire pool to be filled with their blood up to the brim. She wanted to drown in it.

Olivia tried to follow the dark blur dashing all around the poolside, but Eric moved too fast for her eyes to follow. Or her consciousness was giving up. She could taste bile in her mouth, and her chest felt full and yet hollow. Her eyes found Sarah and Steve Newlin standing on the other side of the pool, sunlight bouncing off the white clothes and the blood splatters now covering them. They were trying to dodge the slaughter of their followers that happened all around them. She saw Eric, standing in full sunlight looking beyond vampire, and beyond human, glistening unscathed by the sunlight like she knew he would. He looked like the man standing at the end of the beach with the sword. Rosy cheeks, skin that looked alive. Beautiful.

Neither Newlin knew what to say at the sight of him in the light. They just stared at him both petrified and too stunned. Their Light Ceremony must have taken countless vampires, and they even almost took Godric. But they could not burn Eric Northman. His eyes looked black, his pupils glaring at his enemies. Enjoying their fear before he killed them.

"H-how?" Steve murmured.

Eric's hand reached into Steve's chest and ripped out his beating bleeding heart right out of its cavity. As Steve's body fell lifeless into the pool of blood, Sarah let out a horrified cry, frozen in place. Her vampire stared at her, loudly slurping the blood inside Steve's dead heart. Eric looked so beautiful in the sun. It was the very last thing she remembered.

"Where's your God now?" He asked her with his signature smug smile, his voice strong as a warrior, just like she always knew him to be.

He was okay.

And then Olivia faded gently into the darkness, welcoming the oblivion like a friend. Resting easy, with no regrets this time.

A.N

Be still my hearttt

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