EPOV

I lean back on the bed after kissing Sookie goodbye and her running out to the living room so that Niall won't come in here and see me in my undressed state, I chuckle, her modesty is always endearing. Since she's planning on going to the Faery with Niall I do not have much to do today, I was being honest when I told her that we're as prepared as we can be for the council meeting. Well, except for one piece of information. When the sun sets I must call Pam and see if she's been able to dig up any information about the demon on the council. Although we're promised five out of seven votes, six out of seven would be even better, I don't want to worry if the other side happens to persuade someone to change their vote.

I hear Sookie greet Niall in the other room then a moment later my eyes widen, and I gasp when I feel her completely disappear from the bond. I vamp out into the living room, to hell with keeping my day walking a secret if it'll keep her safe but when I get out there, she's gone, they both are. There's a stabbing pain of emptiness inside me where the blood bond was, it's all I can focus on, it's hard to think straight. I take a deep breath even if it's unnecessary to try to calm my mind and think, once I do I realize her light is still alive and well inside me. Thank fuck. Okay, okay, think, what was she supposed to do? Right, go to the faery to drink something from some weird fairy magic fountain, the idea seems ludicrous and made up, even to me, a. thousand-year-old vampire. Okay, so she switched realms, is that enough to disconnect our bond? Enough to block her from me? I'm not sure, it wasn't until Sookie came into my life that different dimensions and realms even became a consideration for me.

I close my eyes and feel for my blood that's alive out in the universe, there's Pam, of course, she's in her day rest, as well as Karin, though she's much harder to feel. Wait, there it is, there's a pull coming from… somewhere out in the multiverse, I can't get much more information than that but it's enough to calm me down and know she's okay. Fuck, I really should have prepared myself for the possibility of this happening. I hope Sookie is handling it better than I did.

I look around, unsure what to do. It's not as if I can get work done, no one other than Sookie can know I'm awake right now. I look at the fridge and consider warming up some bagged blood but decide against it, after the copious amount of blood I drank and exchanged with Sookie last night I won't need sustenance for a few days now. I walk around the living room and look at the TV. For a moment I honestly consider turning on the 'daytime TV' Pam loves so much that she begged me for months until I finally gave in and bought a TiVo before coming to my senses. Am I… bored? Is this what being bored feels like? Don't get me wrong, I've experienced ennui in my long life, of course, I have, and there have been years, decades where I just went through the motions of unlife, especially the decades leading up to Sookie walking through my door but I've never been left without anything to do to the point where I've been bored like this. I'm not sure how to handle it.

I walk over to the balcony and look outside. Hmm, I'm far enough up that if people happen to look at it, they wouldn't be able to tell I was a vampire, I could safely go out there. No, that'd just be causing unnecessary risk, can't let my lack of entertainment affect my safety. I idly walk around the suite for a while before I get angry at myself, what the fuck am I doing? I'm Eric fucking Northman. I don't do shit like this. I sit down at my laptop and try to get some work done before realizing I've already handled it all, there aren't even any unanswered emails, I even empty my junk mail. I do some online shopping, order a few things for the new house, get me new clothes for the council meeting as well as some surprises for Pam and Sookie. Pam has been wanting the new fall line and after all the great work she's done and how big of a help she's been to me while sorting out my feelings between the two Sookies, she deserves it.

An hour later I hate myself a little bit as I'm sitting in front of the TV watching something called 'Jerry Springer', the whole show is just one big reminder of why I hate humans so much, they're terrible, absolutely disgusting fucking things. If you're going to fuck a lot of people, be proud of it, and most certainly don't do it with your sister, no matter if it's sister by blood, or your brother's woman. I sit up straight and use my vamp speed to turn the TV off, I might be going insane. I go to the bed and relax into downtime before deciding getting actual rest might be better, if I'm going to be sitting still doing nothing, I might as well be recharging. I haven't gotten tired yet from staying up for such long hours but now is not the time to test it, not so close to the council meeting and the takeover. So I lay on my back and go to rest.

My lips quirk as I rise because Sookie's scent is all around me, her body is wrapped around my side, her head on my chest. My eyes still closed, enjoying the moment, I ask, "How was your trip, Lover?"

I feel her head lift off of my chest and sense her looking at me, "What trip?"

"To see Niall, was he helpful?"

"I didn't go see Niall, you know I'm not talking to him right now, not since he almost convinced Alarik to go with him to the Faery and learn to rule."

I open my eyes, who is she talking about? And how does she know that name? It was the name of my oldest son back when I was still human. I look around and don't know where I am. The room looks familiar but different. Is this… Sookie's house in the farmhouse? It looks like it but in much better condition. Actually, it looks very similar to how I imagine it will look once the repairs and updates on the house are complete. A memory of a few days ago pops into my head, the one where Sookie told me about how the other dimension's version of me upgraded her house when she was missing. That along with remembering just a few nights ago and the strange occurrence Sookie had, makes me deduce where I am. I'm in Sookie's original dimension, this Sookie, the Sookie laying on me and looking at me confused is my wife or my ex-wife? I don't have time to worry about semantics right now, all I know is this is the woman who I loved so much, who hurt me so much, who I've hurt, who I missed for so long. But recently all those happy and longing feelings have turned into anger, Pam helped me figure that out.

I stand up quickly, making the part of Sookie leaning on me fall off. I move across the room to get some distance from Sookie and turn away from her, trying to get my thoughts and emotions under control. What the fuck was happening? I mean, I could see why Sookie would be sent here in her sleep, kind of, if I squint really hard and ignore all the laws of physics, time, and space. I mean, this was her home, she was born here, but I don't have any connection to it.

'Eric, you're freaking me out, what's going on?' I jump, still not used to my Sookie sending me thoughts like this, but it feels like an intrusion coming from her.

I turn to her and snap, harsher than I mean to, "Don't do that. Stay out of my head."

"Eric?" She asks, getting up herself and making her way over to me. Her hands are stretched out preparing to rest them on my chest but I hold my hands up ordering her to keep her distance. She stops and I feel a moment of guilt when she looks hurt but I viciously push it down, holding onto my anger. "What's wrong?"

"Did he, or I, did I tell you about the visit I had last week?"

She stares, trying to piece together my words, it doesn't take her long for her eyes to widen. Though people in her small-minded town always liked to bring her down, and she hasn't been properly educated, she's one of the smartest people I know. Her eyes become teary and she slowly takes a cautious step forward. "E-Eric?"

I simply nod my head once, she lunges and wraps her arms around me, a part of me wants to push her off, I even try to do so but I can't, I don't return the hug, however. She notices and pulls back just enough to look at me with big confused and hurt doe eyes "What's wrong? You're not happy to see me?"

Gods, a part of me hates her, wants to hurt her as she hurt me. I could too, I can see it in her eyes, she's vulnerable and I could rip her to pieces. But… she's still Sookie, it doesn't matter what version, and even though I've moved past her, moved on, she's still the first woman I ever truly loved. Still, though, I can't just pretend everything is okay, "You ran. You left me again and moved on that same day. First with the mutt, then when you came here to be with another version of me. Every single day for six months I watched the door in Oklahoma waiting for you to save me like the Valkyrie you are, like you've done for so many you love in the past, but you didn't. You left me there. Left the dimension, and moved on, not caring that I was trapped, a slave, a fool who was spending his days loving you."

I did not mean to say that much, it all just came pouring out once it started. Perhaps it's for the best, I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to speak my mind to her. Her tears falling give me a change of heart, they make me feel like an asshole. Without thinking about it I reach over and swipe the tears from her cheeks and bring them to my mouth, I hold back a moan at the taste. Also, without thinking, just relying on instincts, I quickly take her into my arms and try to calm her, I don't want to be the reason for her hurt, no matter how angry I am at her, I still love her, if only for the fact that she's a version of my Sookie.

I soothe her by running my hand down from the top of her head down to her back, "I'm sorry, Min Kara, I don't want to hurt you."

Unfortunately, my words just make her cry harder. Eventually, she gets a hold of herself enough to pull back to look me in the eyes, "You? Eric, it should be me who's apologizing, everything you said was true, I did treat you terribly, and I get why you'd feel like I abandoned you. I felt the same way, that I abandoned my whole family, friends, hell, my whole planet, and let them die. I'm a terrible person. I know I didn't do a great job at showing you but I did love you, more than anything, I still do!"

That's hard to believe but I nod my head all the same. There's no reason to bother hashing out the problems between us, it's not as if I plan to ever see her again. No, I've moved on past her and need to find a way to get home, back to my Sookie. "It's alright, it all worked out for the best, you've seemed to make a good life for yourself here, and you seem happy."

She smiles softly, "I am."

"Good."

"What about you?" She asks but I don't have a chance to answer before I hear two sets of feet running up the stairs toward our direction. Sookie's eyes widen and I hear her in my head again. 'Please play along! We never told them about me switching dimensions, they won't know you're not Eric, not our Eric.'

I want to question more but before I can the bedroom door swings open and two blond-haired blue-eyed boys who look to be in their late teens run into the room. Both the boys look hopeful, "Hey, so did you think it over? Can we go?"

"I don't know Leif, are there going to be any adult supervision there? Will Andy be there?"

"Mom, you know legally we're adults."

Yeah, legally you are but literally, you're only ten months old. The twins just turned a year yesterday. You know the rules, no dating and mandatory supervision until you're at least two years old.

My eyes widen, Mom? These are my sons? Mine and Sookie's? Or at least a Sookie and Eric's sons. Paying closer attention I see the one she called Leif looks exactly as I did when I was around 18 summers old. Fuck. Both their eyes simultaneously turn to me, The other one, who looks a lot like Sookie, she called him Alarik, I think, speaks, "Father? Please? You know mom will agree if you do."

"Nuh-uh, nope, no trying to turn your father and me against each other. Plus, you know that's not fair, he'd be proud of you if you two gave your light or blood bonded with them so soon. He's ancient, he doesn't get it. Things have changed since he was a kid."

I wasn't sure my eyes could get any wider, blood bond? Give them their light? They're vampire fairy hybrids. My mind is going a thousand miles a minute, unsure how to take all this. Apparently, my wide eyes are worrying them because they're looking at me strangely. And, now that I notice it, I feel my blood in them, I feel their confusion and worry. I quickly get a hold of myself, "I'm with your mother on this."

Their shoulders slump, "Can they come here then?"

I shrug before thinking better of it, "Sure. I don't care."

The kids are happy again, "Thanks, pop! We're still on for sword practice later, right?"

"Of course," I answer automatically.

They both smile before leaving the room. I sit down on the bed, my head spinning. Am I dreaming? What the fuck is going on? Did I really just meet the people who'd be children if Sookie and I could have them? I feel a hand rest on my shoulder. "It's strange, right? Probably a little hard to accept."

"Yes." I open my mouth to ask her how they managed to have the children but feel strange, as if I'm being shaken but no one is touching me. I see Sookies feet in front of me before she bends down to make eye contact, her lips are moving but I can't hear her and the world starts to darken along the sides of my vision. The black slowly takes up more and more of my sight until I can't see anything but start to hear someone calling me. "…ric, Eric? Are you okay? Eric, wake up, please!"

Sookie sounds desperate and I want to calm her worry but my body isn't cooperating as it should, everything feels sluggish. Slowly things start to feel more normal, my eyes open, I can move my hands, I reach up to wrap them around Sookie, who's on top of me in bed looking terrified.

"What's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?" I ask worried about her.

Incredulously she asks, "Me? What about you? What the fuck was that?"

"What the fuck was what?" I ask still coming to myself.

"You were shaking, not responding to me, I was so scared."

I realize this is Sookie, my Sookie, quickly, I sit up and kiss her passionately. She's confused but she joins in after a moment, moaning into my mouth when I take her bottom lip into my mouth and suck, running one of my fangs against it, drawing the smallest bit of blood. I wait no longer to strip her of her sundress, flip her over on her hands and knees, and enter her hard and rough, no foreplay right now. I just need Sookie, to be with her, in her, know it's her and now some other version. I'm a little pent up right now, dealing with the mix of emotions so I'm rougher with her than I've been so far but she's certainly enjoying it, going by the scent of her arousal, the wetness between her legs, and the sounds of pleasure streaming from her mouth.

I grab up her hair wrap it around my hand once and pull it back, hard, exposing her beautiful neck, another loud moan coming from her lips. The hand not holding her hair snakes around her hip, runs up her stomach, and lands spread wide between her breasts before pulling her up so she's no longer on her hands, but instead leaning against my chest. The sounds of my skin slapping against hers with every thrust are almost as loud as her moans. I cup her breast before pinching her nipple with my thumb and pointer finger, pulling it and twisting it, hard, her moans are almost screams now.

"Oh, fuck, Eric, yes! More, need more!"

I growl and my fangs come down at her words. I do as she bids, fucking her harder, faster, not at vampire speed but certainly faster than a human could do. I knew I'd eventually get her to experiment, rough sex, dominance play, and much more, I didn't think she'd take to it so easily. I move my mouth to her neck, sucking, licking, I use my two fangs to run down her neck and her shoulder, the top of her back, leaving two red lines with little pinprick droplets of blood forming on the trails. Feeling her tighten and quiver around me cumming harder than she has in a long time if the after shakes of her body are anything to go by. I lick up the blood, pulling her hair harder to get better access, pinching her nipple roughly, overstimulating her so soon after her high, moving my hand from her breast down to play with her already sensitive clit. It only takes one, two swipes of my finger for her to be cumming around me again, this time pulling me over the edge, I moan loudly into her neck moments before I bite her, getting a real taste of her blood and not just the tease the droplets gave me earlier. My thrusts slow down to a stop, her eyes closed, panting, using me to keep her upright.

I kiss the spot where I bit her, let go of her hair and. trail kisses up her neck before lying us down on our side, my cock still inside her, her fairy blood making my already fast refractory period nonexistent, ready to go again. One look at her tells me she needs a break though and it fills me with manly pride that I wore her out so thoroughly. I pull out of her so she can lay flat on her back as I get on top of her and kiss her red and angry nipples, cutting my tongue on my fangs and running it over them, healing her.

Sookie lays there breathing hard, almost like a ragdoll, moving anyway I decide to. I see bruises forming on her hips from my fingers, I heal them too, along with any mark or cut I've made on her before laying on my back and pulling her into my side. We stay quiet for a few minutes, just laying there, my arm around her.

"Fuck," She eventually says into the silence.

I chuckle. "That was a good 'fuck', yes? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She lifts her head enough to look at me, "Yes, I mean no! I mean no you didn't hurt me and yes it was good a very good 'fuck'."

"Good I worried I was too rough for you."

"No, I—I liked it," She says, a small blush forming. Her face turns serious, "and I'd like to explore that further but, Eric, what was that about? What brought that on?"

I sigh and look away from her, up to the ceiling. I stay quiet for a few moments before opening my mouth and having the whole story slip out, not just the broad strokes, every detail, including my fight with the other Sookie and explaining to her how her leaving hurt me. Sookie takes it stoically, not giving much away in the bond. As I'm speaking, I hope it's not hurting her. She eventually talks after thinking,

"So did you and Lucky Sookie used to, you know, have sex a lot that way before? Is that why…?" She trails off.

"What? No, why would you think that?"

"I don't know, I'm just wondering why it happened after you saw her."

I stay quiet for a long time, not sure how to explain my thoughts, or if I even want to. "It wasn't seeing her, it was getting back to you."

In the bond, I feel a burst of love coming from her and I smile. She lifts her head off my chest and asks, "So you met the kids? What were they like?"

We spend the next hour talking about the two boys and hypothesizing how they came to exist, while also speculating why and how we've both been through this, I decide to call some witches who are desperate to see if we can figure it out. By the time I'm showered and dressed, the sun has set and Sookie is asleep, I must have taken a lot out of her, I think with a smirk. I call Pam through our bond, letting her know I need to speak with her. There's a knock on the hotel door twenty minutes later. When I open it, she's in her Fangtaisia clothes, leather and lace.

"Good evening, Master," Pam says in her normal bored tone, not even bothering to look at me, instead scrutinizing her perfect nails.

"Pamela," I greet her while stepping to the side and letting her in.

"So what was so important that you needed me to come here?"

"The Council vote is in four days, we must leave the day after tomorrow. Is everything set? Travel, lodgings, attire? Have you been able to dig anything up on the demon? Or Phoebe? Though I don't think we'll be able to sway her vote, you know I like to be thorough."

She pulls three folders out of her bag, "I had a feeling this is what you were calling about. I'm simply the best, aren't I?"

"Ahh yes, I'm so proud, and you're so humble too."

"Fuck being humble, my way is more fun."

I chuckle, "Yes, I'd have to agree.

"Where's my little human friend? I wanted to show her a workup of the outfits I purchased for her for the trip."

"The outfits you purchased?"

"Yes, the outfits I purchased… with your credit card."

"Ahh. Well, I'm afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow, she's resting." I must sound smug because she looks at me with a quirked eyebrow.

"Is she? You finally tired the little fairy out?"

"Indeed."

"You have all the fun. Okay, fine, I should be going anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, unless you want to come with me to Fangtasia and enthrall the vermin for me?" She asked the last part hopefully.

"Normally, I'd say yes as she'll most likely be out for the rest of the night, but two of these folders feel pretty thick, so I think you've set me up for a fun night of reading."

"Well, you can say that again. There's some quite… interesting information in there, even for the supernatural."

"Color me intrigued. Now, there's no way you're getting out of vermin duty."

"Have fun," She said in a way I thought she might actually mean it as she turned to leave the suite.

Once I make sure the front door is locked I go back into the bedroom and rest on the bed with my legs up, Sookie seems to sense me close because not even a second later she's cuddling up to me and burrowing her head into my chest. I wrap my arm around her and idly run my fingers up and down her arm as I look at the three folders. I quickly go over the first one just to make sure everything is correct, I know I don't have to worry about our accommodations for the trip since Pam set them up, so I'm only in that folder for a few moments.

The other two are titled Phoebe Golden and Sherman Costaliate. Phoebe is the second vampire on the council, along with Russel Edgington, as The AP is on the council as the seers representative. I know she's a lost cause, she'll be voting for Freyda unless there is something serious enough in this folder that would get her to lose her kingdom, that's the only way I could see her changing her vote. Sure, she seemed to enjoy my cock when Freyda ordered me to fuck both of them but her loyalty was and still is Freyda. I flip it open and am overall disinterested. Sure, there are a few things that could get her into some trouble, like buying and selling humans, she had a procurer of her very own, but so did every other monarch. The only reason it was illegal was to save the asses of the vampires should a human find out, at worse she'd have to pay a few hundred thousand dollars in fines. She's well off from what I've seen so she wouldn't even bat an eye.

Hmm, that's interesting. It's not enough to get her to change her vote but it's good to know should she or Freyda ever cause problems. Apparently, she's been slowly funneling money through some of Freyda's interests without the Oklahomaian's queen knowing. Getting her money tax-free and leaving those taxes for Freyda to pay. Hmm, tax evasion, more tax evasion, illegal force, and punishment to another vampire's child. So she's guilty of the same things just about every other vampire I know is guilty of. No, it's safe to assume if I show her this file and proof of everything it's claiming, it wouldn't be enough to turn her. At least we haven't been counting on her vote.

I put that folder to the side and pick up Sherman Costaliate's. Though demons are technically part of the fairy race, they used to be referred to as the fire fairies, they long since left others of their kind and their homeland, the faery behind. They've been on Earth and other dimensions ever since, because of this, they've changed, evolved, though their powers and abilities are more known to me than other fairies, I'm sure there's still some I don't know. I've never met Sherman before, and haven't heard of him before he joined the council, so I'm running blind.

This file is much thicker than Pheobe's, so I take that as a good sign. I hear Sookie's heartbeat and breathing quicken signaling that she is starting to wake up. I open the folder, hmm, it seems Sherman can't keep it in his pants. Normally, I'd have no problem with that but he keeps choosing inappropriate people to stick it in, not to mention, the man is married. On top of that, he's a judge for his people, he rules over a large area of them. Because he's the judge, he's able to cover up every time he was caught letting someone fuck him to get out of trouble, or fucking him to sway his vote in the way they want. That's not even bringing up being caught in a raid in a sex/BDSM dungeon. On top of it all, none of the people he was caught with are the same species as him, that alone is enough to get his people angry at him, and he would certainly lose his position in the community. Don't get me wrong, I'm not blinking an eye at any of these transgressions, and neither would most of the supernatural community. The thing is, he lives in the demon world where he's an elected official, he could easily lose everything if these got out, including his wife. This might be enough to ensure our sixth vote.

Sookie moans half asleep as she cuddles into me even more, my fingers now leaving goosebumps in their wake. I flip through the folder one more time looking for contact information, once I do I use my phone to send him an email, I make it seem like I have important information about the case that might make him see things my way. Once that's done I put my attention to hiring a moving company, it's not as if we have a of stuff in the hotel but we'll have a lot to buy, I'm sure she'll want stuff from her house, and I have storage. On top of all that, if all goes to plan by the time we get back to the state I'll be king and we'll be much too busy to worry about moving.

Once that's settled I turn my attention to Sookie, she's just waking up and I know how I want to spend one of our last nights before the fight. From the smell of her arousal, she's very much of the same mind.