48

What Can We Do?

Hello, everyone. Here's the next chapter. I hope that y'all enjoy it. Once again, I want to apologize for posting the chapter so late. As always, I want to thank each of you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and sticking around even though it's taking me forever to update. I hope that you enjoy. And always, I have not forgotten. I will update as often as I can.

Update: And to the cowardly guest that left me that nasty review, dwbz, it hasn't been a few years since I've updated this story. I have a job that comes before this story. I have a life that comes before this story and if you'd take the time to read the author's notes, you'd recognize that. You and your self-entitled attitude can go fuck yourself. I do this because I absolutely love it and it helps me to relax. If I could do it every day, all day, I still wouldn't do it. I have a life that I have to attend to. I don't get paid to do this. As I said, I do it because it helps me to relax and I love it. If you don't like how long it takes for me to update the story, find something better to do with your time. You don't have to read it. Better yet, sit down and write your own story and see if you can stop your daily life to update for unappreciative people like you. You came off with a straight up attack and the fact that you think it's okay lets me know what type of person you are. And once again, you can go fuck yourself.

To everyone else, please enjoy and as always, I will update when I can. I have not forgotten about you or this story. I give you my word. And I hope that everyone, including dwbz, has a great holiday. Just because I give you what for doesn't mean that I want you to eat burned turkey or dry ham.

I was so happy to see Pam. Regardless of the blood that was covering her body, the menacing look on her face and in her eyes; none of it mattered to me at first. My first thoughts were that she'd killed her kidnappers and few of the guards that were keeping her away from us. What's a little blood of your enemy, am I right? It was great that she'd fought for her freedom. She was back. She was home, and Eric would be happy to see her. Things would be happy in our world, and things would be as they once were. Our lives would almost go back to normal after we've found our enemies and made them pay for what they'd done. Eric and I could finally have our first real date. We would travel together to my pending jobs, Pam, Eric, and I, and then we'd make love in every city that we stay in. Well, only Eric and I would do the making love part, but Pam would be close by. The one important thing is that we would all be together. That's what I believed when I ran to the door but after a closer look at her eyes, I knew not to go any further. That look she'd given me almost made me slam the door in her face, but I didn't do that. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at my friend. She looked sad and confused. She looked lost. She didn't look like the Pam that I've grown to know. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

"Pam?" I said as I stood at the door.

For just a flash, I saw the Pam I know. She raised her hands and shook her head at me, and she did something that I never expected. She talked to me telepathically. Rescind my invitation.

"What?" I asked.

Do it!

"No," I whispered as I shook my head. "I can't do that." I didn't want to rescind her invitation. She's my friend. She's in trouble and needs me. I couldn't do that to her. Eric would never forgive me for sending his child away. This was our chance to get her back. Again, I shook my head no but when she looked at me, in that moment, her eyes changed. She looked as if she wanted to kill me. I know deep down in my heart that if I'd let her in, she would have drained me dry.

"You're no longer welcomed in my home," I whispered.

She dropped fang on me when the words passed my lips. She lunged forward and growled at me as I took a step back.

Salome walked to my side. "I thought that you couldn't read the minds of vampires." I could feel her eyes burning a hole in the top of my head. "You lied."

I shook my head no. "I don't lie."

She looked from me to Pam. She inched closer to the door and raised her head as she inhaled the air surrounding us. "Witchcraft." She glanced at me and said, "She's not Pam, but she is Pam. Someone's put a spell on her."

I wanted to tell Salome that Pam spoke to me telepathically, but something told me to stay quiet. That something was that void that was on the opposite side of the hallway. Someone was listening. It wasn't safe for any of us; especially not for me. I needed to get what I could from her. If she had the wherewithal to tell me to rescind her invitation, some of Pam was left somewhere in there.

"Pam," I began. "What happened to you?"

She snarled at me.

"It's me. It's Sookie,"

Her growl deepened.

I inched closer to the door. "Who did this to you?"

She continued to snarl and show aggression towards me.

Salome grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to her side. "You stay next to me. If something happens to you, I'm as good as dead. I'm sure Eric would rip my head from my fucking neck." She smiled at me. "I like having a head."

I returned her smile. "I like your head too."

Her smile reached her eyes.

"Eric?" Pam whispered. Her posture returned to normal.

Salome and I stared at her.

And just like that, she was in my head once again. He's alive. He's supposed to be dead, but he's not. He's alive. He is the reason Maxwell took me. He wants to use us to kill Eric. We can't let that happen. She looked frightened and there was nothing that I could do to help her.

"Who?" I whispered; afraid to speak louder because of the void on the other side of the hall.

She glanced at the wall next to her. You're next.

And just like that, she was ran at me. The invisible barrier that blocked her from attacking me, threw her down the hallway. She jumped up as if nothing happened and ran at me again but stopped before she hit the barrier.

"Pam, please," I begged. "Who did this to you?"

With her hands clawed, she took a step towards me. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "What are you?"

"You know who I am," I replied. I looked at Salome and whispered in my quietest voice, "There's someone else here."

"Who?" she asked as her fangs made an appearance.

"I don't know. It's a vampire, but whomever it is, they want me." I glanced at Pam. "She's working with him, but she doesn't want to be. She told me to rescind her invitation."

Leaning close to my ear, Salome asked, "Telepathically?"

I nodded.

"I'm calling Eric," she stated.

I grabbed her hand before she could begin dialing his number. "Should you? There's someone else here. She said that he wants to kill Eric. What if there are several others here waiting for him to show up? The void that was here earlier is now gone. I can't sense any other voids, but they could be here … scattered throughout the area." I shook my head no. "We can't put Eric at risk."

Salome thought about her answer for no more than a second before replying to my concerns. "Yes, we can. Eric is a fighter and he's very old. He can handle himself." He obviously answered on the first ring. She looked at me and grinned. "It's him." To my vampire, she said, "Get here now, Eric. Pam is here and something isn't right. There's another vampire here, but we don't know who it is." She was silent for a moment before speaking to me. "It may be Victor Madden. This may have been his doing." She looked at and asked, "Do you know him?"

"I don't know a Victor Madden. I've heard that he owns a vampire bar, but I've never met him," I replied as I shook my head no.

She rolled her eyes and said, "That's a good thing. He's an unlikeable asshole."

I remembered Pam saying those exact words when I almost walked out of Fangtasia that first night. "I've heard," I said.

Salome nodded before speaking to me again. "Guinevere is here. Thalia's child; maybe it's her that's out in the hallway."

I looked at Pam's snarling and bloody face. "I don't think that's possible," I said. "I can sense only three voids; yours, Pam's and whomever is in the hallway. Open the living room window so that Eric can come in."

She gave me the thumbs up as she walked to the window with the phone still close to her ear. Her mouth was moving a mile a minute and couldn't hear a thing she was saying. Damned vampire hearing. I returned my attention back to Pam. She was staring at me. She had bloody tears running down her face. "What happened?"

She shook her head. I don't know. I was fighting him and the others. She looked down at her hands. I was going to kill him, but I failed. I had the stake aimed at his chest." Something was soon in her eyes. An old black woman. She was there. she was chanting.

I didn't know who this old woman was.

They're going to kill him and it's my fault.

"It's not and it will be okay. We won't let anything happen to him."

He's going to kill him!

"Who's going to kill him?"

Pam screamed out and dropped to her knees. "It hurts!"

I almost ran to her, but Salome stopped me. "You can't," she warned.

I stepped back into the safety of Salome's body.

"He's on his way," she whispered in my ear. "He's agreed to come through the window."

"Okay," I answered. "Is it …?"

Salome gently placed her hand on my shoulder. "He will be safe, Sookie. I will fight with him." She squeezed my shoulder gently before letting go.

"Thanks."

"You like my head and want me to keep it," she said. "And because of that, we are friends."

Before I could reply, Pam's sudden movement caught our attention. She slowly got up from the ground. She closed her eyes and inhaled before looking at me. When she opened her eyes, I could see that whatever semblance of Pam that was once there was gone. I could not see any of the Pam I once knew in her eyes at all. Whomever took her … did this to her; their plan worked. Whatever spell they put on her, it seems to have taken her fully. She tried fighting it but lost. She was gone. She tried giving me her sweetest smile, if there was ever such a thing, but it didn't work. "Let me in, human," she said. "I want to get to know you better. We can't do that with me out here in the hallway. I just want to be your new friend."

I shook my head no and gave her the thumbs up. "I'm good. Though, I'm sure under different circumstances you're a great vampire, I think it's better that you stay out there and I stay in here. Agreed?"

She stared intently in my eyes. I could feel the tickle in my brain. I hate what happened to her but at least she doesn't remember anything about me. "Let me in."

Again, I shook my head no.

Pam looked surprised as she cocked her head to the side. "What are you?"

"As I said earlier, I'm good," I answered.

"Let me in!" she yelled.

"I can't," I answered. "You're no longer the Pam I know."

She looked closer at me. "You know me?"

"I do. You helped me get to know Eric. We've gone shopping together. We had plans to go to Mississippi and Texas in a couple of months. Don't you remember?" I asked. I looked down at my shirt. "You bought me this shirt." It was pink and had the words Pink Princess written on it.

She didn't recognize any of what I said to her. She didn't remember our shopping trip and didn't remember our planned trips. She definitely didn't remember the shirt because she looked at it with disgust. Regardless of what I said to her, Pam was gone. The magic spell had taken her completely.

I turned my head towards the living room window. "He's coming," I said. I could feel chills of anticipation running through my body at just the very idea of him coming. I couldn't wait to see him. A smile broke out on my face as he sailed through the window.

"The bond is strong," Salome wondered aloud.

"It is," I answered.

Within seconds, he'd kissed me deeply as he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Hello, lover," he said as he broke the kiss.

With my eyes closed and my lips still puckered, I said, "Hello."

"You are safe."

"I am," I assured him. "Salome took great care of me."

He didn't even acknowledge her. "I am sorry about your father."

I swallowed deeply as his words brought me back to reality. "Thank you."

Salome stood next to him. "Can you smell the magic?"

"I can," he replied. "A very powerful witch has cast this spell. Any ideas?"

"Octavia Fant," Salome replied. "She's the most powerful witch in the area. It surprises me that anyone would go to her. She never involves herself in vampire business. They must've paid her a pretty penny."

"No amount of money can make her work for the vampires," Eric countered. "She hates our kind. No one can make her work for the vampire race."

"Unless they have someone that she loves," I added. "Is she the old black woman?"

Eric nodded.

Salome frowned. "She is. How do you know that?"

I used my head to point at Pam. "She told me."

Salome walked away as she made a phone call.

Eric was soon focused on his child. "Pam," he said as he walked towards the door. He gently placed me behind him.

She snarled and dropped fang him. "Give me the girl."

"You can't have her," Eric proclaimed. "She is mine."

Pam smiled. "Not for long."

"Did you kill Guinevere?"

A smirk was still on Pam's face. "I had no choice. She tried to stop us."

My heart broke for Thalia.

"She's Thalia's child," he told her. "You know her. She's a very good friend of ours."

A full on smile appeared on her face. "I don't know her, and I'm sure she doesn't want to know me."

With my body pressed to Eric's back, I told him what Pam said to me. "She sent me her thoughts, Eric. She said that he wants to kill you. She didn't say who wants to kill you, but he does. I think he's the void that's in the hallway. Is it Victor Madden?"

Eric shook his head no. "From what we've learned from Maxwell, Victor is lying low until Bill's party."

"We have a spy living in Victor's area. He hasn't left his home or made any phone calls," Salome stated as she put her phone back in her pocket. "My spy says that he will keep me posted if anything changes. Should I go to his home myself and stake him out? I can do that."

"No," he answered. And I noticed that he answered a little too quickly. "I need you here. Bill promised to help, and we need your help. We will see him at the party."

Salome agreed. "I'm with you."

I could feel uncertainty flowing through Eric, and it didn't make sense to me. "What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing that we need to discuss at this moment," he assured me. "We will talk about it later."

I was too scared to speak, so I sighed and rested my head against his back. He was right. It could wait. There was too much going on. Too much had happened tonight. We needed to focus on what was happening now. I had to let him know what I'd learned from Pam. "Someone is with her that wants to kill you," I whispered. "I can sense his void in the hallway."

He glanced at me over his shoulder. "Have you seen him?"

I shook my head no.

Looking at Pam, he asked, "Who sent you?"

"My master," she answered.

Eric smiled slightly. "I am your master … your maker." He took a step closer to the door with me clinging to his backside. "I would never send you take my woman."

Whispering, I said, "She responds to your name."

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

Pam only stared.

"I'm your maker. Your brother. I'm Eric."

Salome looked from Eric to Pam but didn't speak.

Her eyes widened. "Eric?" She suddenly looked scared. She looked around as if she didn't know where she was. "What's going on? How did I get here?" She took a step towards the door and found that she couldn't get in. "Why can't I come in? Is Sookie mad at me?"

I stepped from behind Eric and said, "I can't let you in. Not now. Not yet."

"Why?" she asked. "Have I caused you harm?"

"Not yet," I answered.

She began to rapidly shake her head. "I would never."

"I know," I assured her. "Do you know what's happened to you?"

"I was taken by Maxwell," she said. "And then I was here."

I frowned. "Is that all you remember?"

"Yes," she said.

"Look at me, Pam," Eric commanded.

She did as he ordered; the fear deepened in her eyes. "He's alive, Eric. He's not dead. We were always told that he was dead. He's even more evil than he was before he died. After all this time, he still wants to cause you pain. He wants to take her from you." She looked at me when she said it. And just like that, she was no longer Pam. Her eyes changed. "Hand the girl over and make things easier for you both."

Eric said nothing and in that moment, I knew that he knew who she was speaking of. "Who does she mean?" I asked.

Eric didn't answer.

"Appius," Pam answered. With a menacing smile on her face, she said, "You should be very afraid, girl. Whatever Appius wants, Appius gets."

Salome stood next Eric. "What is he to you?"

"My father," he whispered. "In my human life."

The scarred vampire, the vampire that tormented Eric and Pam in their human lives sailed from around the corner. His white blond hair framed his face and showed off the blackest and deadliest eyes I've ever seen. He looked ever bit as cruel as Eric described. He smiled at me and those fangs. Those fangs were the scariest looking things I'd ever seen, but I didn't let him know it. I stepped from behind Eric and stared the vampire in his eyes. He smiled at me as he slowly walked towards my door. "Most human cower when they see me," he shared.

"Not me," I responded clearly and loudly.

"Not you," he agreed. "You are every bit as beautiful as Long Shadow said you are." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "I know what you are." He waggled his finger at me. "I've killed several of your kind. Your bloodline tastes so sweet." He winked at me. "I can't wait to taste you."

Standing in front of me, Eric said, "That will never happen."

Appius' smile broadened. "My son," he said. 'It's been years, has it not? You have grown into a very handsome and powerful vampire from what I've heard."

Eric glared at the vampire but said nothing.

"I've been keeping tabs on you," Appius continued. "You are a vampire of great means and power. I can only assume that my harsh treatment of you has been the catalyst to what you've become. It's good to see that you've changed."

Eric was soon smiling at him. "The only thing you taught me was how to be a better man and vampire than you ever were. Your cruelty made you feel like a man. I can only guess what being vampire does for you." He pointed from him and Pam. "You've once again taken your daughter hostage to prove that you're strong. You've taken whatever identity she had away from her … again. And here you are, yet again, trying to prove that you're better than anyone else when you're clearly not. It's sad to see that you've not changed at all."

Appius dropped fang on Eric. "Do you think that I won't kill her?" He placed his hands on either side of Pam's head. "I can twist her fucking head from her neck."

Bloody tears streamed from Eric's eyes. "I think that you will kill her if you believe that it will hurt me." He closed his eyes as the idea of losing his sister flowed through us. I could feel every ounce of his pain… every bit of his guilt. Worst of all, I could feel his resolve. He looked at the vampire Appius and said, "Pam and I have discussed what could happen to her or me if anyone found out what we are to each other." He looked longingly at his sister. "I do love her so and because I love her so, I will kill you regardless of what happens this night. She can survive, and you will die. She can die, and you will die. She can survive, and you and I will die fighting to kill one another to make sure she lives. Whatever you decide, will be your fate."

And just like that, Pam was herself once again. "I love you, Eric. He will have to kill me because I will never betray you … regardless of what happens."

I was in disbelief at the strength of those two; Pam and Eric. Jason has always been an asshole to me, and I know that I'd do whatever I could do to keep him safe. The sad part is that I'm not sure he'd do the same for me. Jason and I have never had the bond Pam and Eric have. Jason would bully me with the other bullies in Bon Temps. He would tell me to stop using my gift when he knows that I can't help what I am or what I can do. When I started high school, he wouldn't even let me sit with him a lunch because I would bring down his stock. He never fought anyone when it came to defending me and here I stand next to the great Eric Northman. The vampire of all vampires, as far as I'm concerned, is ready to die and kill for his sister.

I think I love him.

Appius' laughter interrupted my thoughts. He'd removed his hands from Pam's head and began whispering in her ear. Eric's sister was gone, and Appius' minion had once again appeared. She dropped fang on Eric and said, "Yes, Master."

"I think taking her as my own is punishment enough for you," Appius shared. He offered Pam his hand. "Let us go, my child."

"Yes, Master," she repeated. She placed her hand in his before they turned to walk away.

With his back to us, Appius said, "You will be hearing from me, son. I give you my word."