Pre Edit Count – 2,148 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Believe by SafetySuit

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The family look at each other in shock, but Eric looks down, “Later this evening?” He asks his lover.

She shakes her head. Still staring at Brandon, she tells them all, “Only if you want to see Eric not have a chance of surviving. Now.” She is working to keep from being in shock with the information he holds in his brain.

The room just stares at her in shock.

Now:

Eric shakes his head, feeling the determination from his lover so much clearer than before, and it was not like they’d had a poor blood connection even then. He nods to her, acknowledging her words, then informs their family, “You heard her. Get everything ready, and clear the throne room. It will be the best place to hold this meeting.”

Brandon and Aisling remain close to their Mother while the men start moving and Arathorn makes some calls. He then turns to Eric and asks, “Do you know what will happen when you raise him?” He lifts an eyebrow, wanting to know in case they need to make additional immediate preparations for Godric’s return. Would he need blood, would he need blood specifically from the Family due to his injuries when he died? Anything really would be information they could use.

Watching his Mate, Eric shakes his head, worrying because he can feel through the Bond that she’s becoming slightly overwhelmed. “No one has ever explained to me what happens to the person when they come back. I do know that you have a period of time to convince that person to remain, or you will lose them forever. It is a one-time try, so if we cannot bring him back, no one else will ever be able to raise him again. If it weren’t so hard to bring them back, some houses would use it as a way to make sure certain people would never come back.” He rubs Sookie’s arm, sending his love to her.

Watching Eric, Sookie wonders aloud, “That would be the perfect way to punish a family. Make them raise someone beloved to the line, then make that person leave, knowing it would be the only chance they have in coming back and taking it, and the ability to draw someone back.”

Leaning back in his seat, Brandon frowns. “What, you mean to take the ability also? Eric can do it once every 500 years.” He is trying to make sense of what she is saying…something is telling him that it is important.

Aisling looks at Sookie with wide eyes. “She means they will take the chance of it happening for that 500 years. Our family is unheard of for having so many in it who can bring back vampires. But we haven’t really lost anyone.” She is amazed by the cunning of this woman. She had heard of the mistakes Sookie has made, but this idea is not one from that person, no, this is one who thinks with strategy in mind.

Understanding floods through Sookie, who frowns as she asks Brandon, “Then why does Eric have to be the one who does it?”  Why does he need to be the one who raises the one from the line?

He shrugs. “I have no idea. I just tell you what I get. It makes no sense, but it hasn’t been proven wrong yet.” He is watching her, however, and getting an idea that she saw more in his brain than he did.

Leaning back against Eric, Sookie thinks. She finally shrugs. “It doesn’t matter really, does it? And you may need to have something for Godric to drink when he gets there, donor blood at least.” She is fighting to not think of Godric coming back as burned as he was when he left. And, since there was nothing left of him, she was wondering how they had anything to bring him back with.

Arathorn nods to her, smiling. “Already done, Mother. Now, if you and Fader will make your way to the throne room, we will get this started. We have no idea how long this will take.” He indicates the door with a slight bow to her.

As they get up and leave, Sookie frowns. “How do you know how to do it if you never seen it done before nor know any information about it?”

Looking down at his Queen, Eric informs her, “The how-to was told to me by Godric. I listened, as it was part of the Lore, but I never thought of these questions. So while he told me, I wasn’t curious enough to ask more like you do, min älskare.” He sends his pride to her for thinking of these questions and everything else she has thought of since she had arrived. He knew she would be perfect for him when she came into her own, and Sookie is only proving his thoughts to be true…

She smiles up at him, and he teases her some more as they walk through the halls to the throne room. When she is surprised by how close it is to their rooms, Brandon tells her after his infamous knock, ‘The hallway we are in is guarded stronger than any other since it is the main passage-way through. This is typically the way you would come from the suites. Just you two won’t always be coming from there.’

She looks back at him and nods, then laughs at something Eric mutters in her ear, her eyes laughing as she looks up at her Mate.

Soon they are through the doors at the end, and they walk around a corner to find themselves in a room with a chair easily large enough to seat both of them behind a table.

The back window is lit with what looks like sunlight, but the tree she has seen on her cabinets is on the wall of windows. It is not in a wood color but she can see the black ribbons through the tree. She stares around the room, muttering a soft, “Wow.”

Eric chuckles as he brings her around the table. He sits in the chair, then pulls her down into his lap. Seems she was mistaken…it was a chair big enough for Eric and half of her. However, she feels no issues from being here. Instead, she looks around the room, and then down at the desk, blinking when she realizes it is a huge touch-screen desk. The tree symbol is here, too.

When she taps it, Eric tells her, “It is the sign of the House of Mäninorr. If you look closely, it is everywhere. I will explain more later.” When she smiles, he continues to explain since he is noting curiosity in the bond. “Microsoft made a desktop called the Surface. It will scan your documents, allow you to interact with it and so on. It is based off this desk, which is Gainor’s invention. He wanted a way to interact with whoever was in the room without worrying if they know our language. I am waiting for him to come up with an idea for you to tell me what you read…” He trails off with a raised eyebrow. She nods to him.

Gainor looks up from where he is, and cocking an eyebrow, tells them both, “Right now I am making sure the desk’s shields are up since I have no idea if this will fry the circuits. Everything else is being taken down, but that big monstrosity is bloody hell to move around. But I will have them move it if I cannot be sure it will be safe from the magic.” His Scottish accent makes the words a joy to listen to, but Sookie can’t help but chuckle about the fact that Eric has a descendant who would probably be right at home in a traditional kilt.

Sookie smirks with this thought, and admits to herself that Eric probably wouldn’t have a problem in a kilt either. Getting her mind off the idea of Eric in a kilt, she can’t help but ask, “How the hell do you have so many descendants with all these accents?”

He smirks back at her. “Well you see, there is this thing called sex. And when a man and a woma-“ He breaks off laughing from her slapping his chest.

Rolling her eyes, she retorts, “Cheese and rice Eric! I know about sex!”   Then she mutters to herself, “Since we did enough of it last night and this morning…”

Trying to hold in his laughter, and deciding to save her, Arathorn settles into the chair on the right and he tells her, “Eric is a Viking, and so is Frey. Their bloodline spread out to England, to France and Scotland, and the rest.   A thousand years is a long time when lifetimes were only 30 years at the max normally. That is actually why so many of us were Turned fairly young by normal vampire standards of the time. But since Godric was willing to help train us, and since none of us left, we made it possible for Griffon and me to both be changed, and he is my great grandson.” He is proud of his descendant, and that they know each other.

Blinking, she tries to imagine the extremely sophisticated Englishman in front of her being what they would call a barbarian. “I guess changing with the times is a must, too?”

Frey settles into the other chair on Eric’s left, chuckling. “Mother is perfect, Fader.” He turns to her. “It is harder for me to drop my accent and way of speaking than it is for others. Fader is one of the best at changing himself to meet the times and be what is needed, but even then, there is a hint of his original accent in his speech.”

She can’t help but smirk. “Nor his height, I expect.”

Rubbing his nose up and down her neck, Eric growls, “You like my height.”

The vampires chuckle, but Gainor is arguing with Carter and Griffon, and finally just throws up his hands. “Fine! Bloody hell!”

They move up to the desk, and Eric pulls her closer as Gainor reaches around the desk to hit a button and waits, all the time muttering curses under his breath.

Lifting an eyebrow, Sookie looks up at Griffon.

The silent dark-haired man smiles at her, then says, “I can’t guarantee that the desk will survive. With the three of us, we can move it into the side room. Closing the door will prevent it from being damaged.” He shrugs as if it not a big deal.

Gainor grunts, and then stands. “You are not the one who has to hook the bloody thing back up!!” He nods, and the three of them lift the desk up and move it out of the room.

Unable to help herself, Sookie tries to hide her laughter behind her hand, but Eric is soon chuckling too with his head resting on her shoulder.

The two of them sit there relaxing with each other as the rest of their family readies the room per what they had been taught.

Soon Arathorn meets Frey’s eyes, and when they both are in agreement, he sends a push through the Bond to Eric.

He looks up at that, then seeing that they are ready for them, he places Sookie on her feet. Eric stands up and after taking her hand, they both walk to the circle that is made from the building itself, and only one step above the circle, he pulls her in front of him. He then informs the rest of the Family who have taken up their places around the circle with Brandon and Aisling behind him, “From what Godric told me, the person who is revived has the right to ask questions, and even can demand something from us before coming all the way through. If it is something that you can agree to, and it will not harm the Family or the Clan, then do so. And if it does cause harm, you make the judgment. You are all aware more than any other of what I will accept and will not accept. I trust you. You know what Sookie and Brandon have said. ”

Staring them all in the eye, he waits until they all agree. Then he turns his attention to the pile of ash on the floor that is so fine he has been worried that it would be lost. Right now, he can feel the power of the circle. There are multiple ley lines that intersect the castle and in this spot, they have no less than 8 lines bisecting through the circle. That much power allows some off things to happen, but it also allows them a lot of power to perform acts that normally would not be possible.

He takes a deep breath and asks his Mate, “You ready?” He sends his love and confidence in her. He is sure that she will do what is needed.

She nods.

He swallows, then commands in the language of the Dead:

أدعو الآباء في الماضي، لمنح هذه نعمة من يدعو دمي. طلب لدي هو من حق قوتي، من خلال حق الدم أحمل في داخلي. أدعو جورديك Nervii شمال شرق Maninorr أن يأتي إلى دعوتي. أن أعود للإجابة على حاجتي، رغبتي، صلاتي.

(I call upon the fathers of the past, to grant this boon of calling upon my blood. The request I have is by the right of my strength, by the right of the blood I hold in me. I call upon Godric Nervii ne Mäninorr to come to my call. To come back to answer my need, my wish, my prayer.)

His voice rings out in the room, and before them the room brightens, and the ashes on the floor rise up, twisting upon each other, and then the ashes start to glow blue. A flash of fire spreads out from them, running across the floor then up the edge of the circle, looking like a barrier of fire.

In the middle of the fire, a being was forming, and Sookie exclaims, “He is reforming as he left.”

Eric glances down at her, then watches the movement from the circle, hoping that his Maker will be returned.

Then in the middle of the room, the shape of a man forms: his body highlighted by the blue flame, his arms spread out from his sides, his head held high.

The flames around the edge flare up, and then flatten enough for all the people inside the room to see Godric standing there with a small smile on his face, looking as though he is greeting something.

Eric can feel his Bond with his Maker, and rejoices in it. If he could, he would dive into the circle and beg on his knees for Godric to remain. The feeling that he has of his Maker returning to him is the only one that rivals his Bond with his Mate, and even then he is aware that once he completes the Bond with Sookie, it will become second with him.

The dark hole that has lived inside of him since that morning in Dallas leaves, and ignites something inside of him. Eric pushes his love, joy, and need for his Maker through the meager Bond as soon as he can feel it forming.

In the circle, Godric’s eyes snap open, and for a second there is pure sadness on his face. Then he sees Sookie, and tells her, “I was not accepted.”

Final count:  2,627 words.

Fairfarren~