Disclaimer: I do own any of the characters of the Hobbit that privilege is left to Tolkien. I am only borrowing them for this story.
} Khuzdul {
] Ancient Khuzdul [
“Fairy” Italic
>Black Speech<
~”Mental Speech”~
In the Shire, there is a lovely hole in the ground that goes by the name Bag End, which has currently been invaded by 13 dwarves and a wizard. It also has one very upset Hobbit running around, and a very feverish fairy, that coincidently the dwarves and wizard do not know about, but will be finding out about very soon.
Currently the feverish fairy was tossing and turning in her bed, unaware that her healers would be there to help her in moments of her waking from her having a flash back, but right now she is to delirious and unaware to understand that she is suffering from a nightmare that is being caused by, the poison from her wound, and her brothers emotions that she is feeling from her gift of empathy.
For now we will watch over her as she suffers her flashback.
<Flashback>
Today has been unusually warm, and I still haven’t found any rabbits for that stew Bilbo wants to make for dinner, maybe I should fly out further see if I have any luck.
As she is dreaming she is getting more and more tangled in her covers, which is causing her to whimper.
Why am I feeling so constricted all of sudden, there’s no one holding me down. What was that… Why do I feel fear?…I don’t see any one around me, wait I hear a child crying, I also hear….is that orcs?…Why are orcs so close to the Shire?…The last time they were that close was during the Fell Winter?… Oh no they have a family?…That one is very big, too big to be a normal orc. Maybe if I distract them the family can get away.
As her dream progress’ she is starting to whimper louder and thrash harder
No don’t hurt the family…Did they get away?…Why are they grabbing my wings like that?…They aren’t supposed to be able to hold my wings when I grow from my first form to this form….No!…Don’t do that!…So much pain!…NO!…She hears nothing but laughter from the Orcs that are causing her pain.
<End Flashback>
“NO!” She screamed out in her delirium and never heard the feet running to her room, or the door crash open.
When the hands grabbed her to hold her down, she started to fight.
“No! No more!!” She screamed out trying to get away from the hands trying to hold her down and keeps swinging.
“Bella!” She heard and felt the voice and emotions of her brother Bilbo and it stopped her in her tracks.
“Bilbo?” She said in such a small voice that sounded so scared everyone in the room wanted to cry.
“Oh Bella yes it’s me; no one here wants to hurt you. You were yelling in your sleep, and we got worried you would hurt yourself. Now can you open your eyes, it might actually help you calm down if you saw everyone sister dear.” She could hear the humor in his voice and had to give him a watery smile when she realized she didn’t open her eyes until he mentioned it.
When she did, she saw him smile when he saw her eyes and say, “There they are, my sisters beautiful eyes. Now I think you need to have Gandalf and another healer look at your back. Since you have a fever from what those orc did to you my dear.”
She just nodded at him in response to what he said, and then said, “Why are there so many dwarves in my bedroom?”
When everyone laughed in response, Bilbo just smiled and said, “Well you did scream kind of loud sister dear.”
“Oh I’m so sorry. Did I interrupt something important Bilbo?” She asked him
“It can wait till Gandalf and our healer look at you.” A deep voice said from her left, which made her startle a little, and when she looked towards that direction she saw the face of a very handsome young looking blonde dwarf that had a very lovely short beard and braided mustache.
She also saw two other dwarves giving him a funny look; one was younger looking than him, with a scruffy looking beard, that looked like he was trying to grow it in. The other was older, and had silver in his mane of black hair and also had a short beard. The main thing they all shared is similar looks, so Bella figured they were related, but she assumed the eldest was their uncle rather than father since the look was similar but not exact.
When the eldest cleared his throat, and the blonde looked at him, she got to see him go red in the face; she wondered why until the eldest turned to look at her and began to talk.
“Yes, as my nephew Fíli stated it can wait till Gandalf and our healer have looked at you. By the way I am Thorin, and the leader of this company of dwarves.” He told her with a wry smile on his face, and she returned it with a slight smile on her face, until the pain in her back got to be too much.
When that happened, it turned into a slight grimace and she cried out in pain, which brought Gandalf and another dwarf forward.
“My dear can you tell us where your pain is?” Gandalf asked her
“It’s her back Gandalf; the orcs cut off her wings, you see she’s a fairy.” Bilbo told them by way of explanation.
Everyone in the room froze when Bilbo told them that, then they turned to me in and Thorin said, “You are the last one then?”
Bella managed to nod in answer before crying out in pain again, which prompted Gandalf to jump forward and saying, “My dear I am going to have to rip the back of your shirt open if that is alright.”
“Just do it.” She cried out in pain again.
Gandalf just nodded in answer knowing that she was in pain, when he asked for a knife Fíli handed him one of his many daggers, and Gandalf reached forward, turned Bella on her stomach, and cut the back of Bella’s shirt open. When everyone saw her back they gasped.
“My dear you said it was orcs that did this?” the dwarf healer asked her
“Yes.” Bella said though clenched teeth.
Gandalf said something that really got everyone’s attention, “The orc used a Morgul Blade my dear, unless we can find Athelas to get the poison out there is no hope of healing your back.”
“Garden.” Bella managed to spit out from between her clenched teeth
“What my dear?” Gandalf asked her not understanding what she had said.
“She said garden.” Bilbo told him, and then he asked “What is Athelas?”
“Oh you would know it as Kingsfoil.” Gandalf told him
“Oh I know exactly where she planted that in my garden.” Bilbo told him then went running out of the room.
Bella would have laughed at the surprised look on Gandalf’s face if she wasn’t in so much pain, but she couldn’t at the moment.
“I take it your gift of foresight told you to plant it my dear?” Gandalf asked the poor fairy.
“Yes.” Bella almost hissed out at him in her pain, and Fíli did hiss at the wizard, this had his brother looking at him funny again, and his uncle looking at him in contemplation.
Everyone was distracted from the odd behavior, when Bilbo came barging back into the room with what looked like a bundle of weeds in his hands.
“I didn’t know how much you would need so I just grabbed a bunch.” Bilbo stuttered out because everyone was looking at him in surprise with how much he was holding.
“Well that’s alright my lad; we could always save what we don’t use for later on.” The dwarf healer said so cheerfully it had Bilbo grinning at him.
Bella would have smiled at him for it in thanks, if she could have, but she was in too much pain.
“Alright Bilbo we are going to need a bowl with some warm water, an empty bucket, and then a backless shirt for your sister.” Gandalf said to get everyone moving.
Bilbo nodded getting ready to go get everything. Then he froze, “Why backless?”
Gandalf looked at him and said, “Well she will need it for her back to be able to heal properly.”
Bilbo just nodded and headed out of the room, never even asking about the empty bucket, which Bella was happy about; because she knew he was going to be pretty upset when it came time for her to use it.
It wasn’t much later when all the supplies were together and ready to go, and Bella finally knew the name of the dwarf healer because he had asked what they needed the bowl of warm water for.
“Well Oin we need to shred the Athelas into it; then spread it onto Bella back, also onto my hands, and hers. Then I need to make a link with her to combine our powers to be able to heal her. When we do this we will both be speaking in her language which will be fairy, so please do not get upset if it sounds different than what you are used to. I will let you know now it is a beautiful language so please just listen, and I will translate what we said later if you must know, alright?”
Bella watched as some of the dwarves nodded in answer to what Gandalf said then she felt him spread some of the Athelas on her back, then her hand and held it in his hand, then he set another of his hands on her back, and then they linked together.
She took a deep breath and then when she felt that they were linked, and her marks glow, which had the dwarves in the room gasping over, which she decided to ignore for now, they both began to speak, “Spirits of healing, I call on thee from across the skies. Come forth! The power of healing that you can do, I ask of thee to deliver into this wound through and through. Oh spirits of healing, I call on thee. Answer my cry, so mote it be.”
When they were done she knew it was working because she felt the poison leaving her system, and Gandalf put the bucket in front of her, which she would have said thank you for if she wasn’t busy puking the poison out of her system.
“Oh boy, that has to be the worst ways to get rid of poison if you ask me. Dori can you go get her a throat soothing tea please.” She could hear Oin in the background, and she would have laughed at his statement if she wasn’t so busy.
She could also feel Bilbo’s distress for what she was going through, and knew he would need something in a moment. She nudged Gandalf hoping he would understand what she was trying to get across to him.
“What my dear, Oh never mind I understand.” Gandalf said almost to himself.
“Dori will also need to get poor Bilbo some chamomile tea.” Gandalf said to Oin in a low voice.
“Alright, I think a few of us will after this, we don’t like seeing women hurt no matter what race they are.” Oin said to Gandalf.
Bella felt nothing but honest gratitude towards Oin in that moment when she felt the truth coming from him. When she was done with her expulsion of the poison she fell back against her pillows, and couldn’t even complain when Oin came forward to wipe her mouth clean like she was a little baby, even though she was 2,000 years old. So she just smiled at him in thanks, which had him smiling at her in return, and patting her shoulder gently.
When Dori came in with her tea, she almost hugged the dwarf her gratitude was so great, and when Gandalf started chuckling, she just looked at him in question.
“He probably would have blushed all the way to the tips of his hair if you had been able to do so my dear.” Gandalf said in response to her thought, which had her wondering if he read her thoughts or her emotions.
When the dwarves around them gave them confused looks, Gandalf just chuckled even more.
“She was thinking about hugging Dori for bringing her the tea.” Gandalf said in answer to their confused looks, which had Dori blushing really red, Fíli giving him a really nasty look, Kíli giving his brother a confused look, and everyone else laughed in understanding.
“Well thank you for the tea, Dori.” Bella said to him in a very scratchy sounding voice, which had everyone wincing in sympathy.
“Oh sis please don’t talk until you at least sound somewhat normal.” Bilbo whimpered out
“Alright Bilbo.” Bella rasped out before going back to drinking her tea, which after a little while was making her feel rather good. She didn’t know what Dori put in it, but she was going to start having it in all her tea from now on if it made her feel this good.
Bella start shifting around in her bed feeling restless, tingly, and hot. If she didn’t know any better, this is the same feeling that she had felt around women when they were with their mates during mating season, but that wasn’t right, why would she be feeling like that. What would make her feel that way; unless….Bella looked down at her tea…Gandalf shot her a quick look before he gave a chuckle, and left the room.
“Bella, are you alright?” Bilbo asked his sister; because he had seen her shifting restlessly on the bed and began to wonder if something was wrong with her.
“Hmm, I’m just fine brother dear.” Bella said, and this time her voice came out sounding very smooth, with a slight purr to it.
Bilbo snapped a look at her, but the thought that went through his head was quickly dismissed because he knew it was impossible. He knew she didn’t get a hold of any honey and he didn’t give her any at all.
“Are you sure you’re okay sis?” Bilbo asked one more time, sounding very worried about his sister now.
“Oh I am just fine Bilbo dear.” Bella purred out, which had Fíli snapping his focus towards the bed, and Kíli and Thorin watched him, because their understanding was that he may have found his One. Thorin was denying it, because he wanted his nephew to find her in a dwarf not another race.
“What’s the matter Bilbo?” Oin asked sounding suspicious about someone second guessing his healing techniques.
“It’s almost like she got a hold of some honey, which for a fairy is something you don’t want, it’s an aphrodisiac to them, and they would need their mates nearby if they got a hold of it. Since Bella has yet to find hers that would be a big problem.” Bilbo explained sounding very troubled
“How big a problem?” Oin asked, and Bilbo heard a tone in his voice that had him snapping his head towards the healer.
“Why do you ask that way?” Bilbo asked slowly, which also drew Thorin closer, but to where he could keep a close eye on his nephew.
“There was honey in her throat soothing tea.” Oin said in a troubled sounding voice.
“To bad I don’t have my mate here then, because I would spread honey all over him and then lick it off very slowly, starting from his toes, then traveling up slowly north, towards his hmmm.” Bella purred out from her bed, which had everyone snapping a look towards her.
“That is why you don’t give her honey.” Bilbo squeaked out with a very red face, but it was a choking sound that drew a look from Thorin.
When Thorin saw the look on his nephew Fíli’s face he knew, he quickly walks over to the poor dwarf, and whispers in his ear, “Go find the bathroom and take care of yourself.”
Fíli just nods and stumbles out of the room, almost tripping over his feet in his hurry to get out of there.
“Uncle?” Kíli sort of questioned from Thorin’s right side.
“Your brother is having a reaction to what she said that is all.” Still wanting to deny that his nephew has found his One, but he saw the look on Kíli’s face and stopped.
“Uncle if he reacted this way, then she is more than just some female, he has never reacted to any female this way.” Kíli told him and saw the look of surprise on Thorin’s face.
“Are you sure, are you absolutely sure he hasn’t reacted to any female this way?” Thorin asked him, desperately trying to get Kíli to deny what he was now figuring to be true.
“Yes uncle and some of them have said things worse than this and not by accident. Some of have even thrown themselves at him, naked and on purpose, and he never reacted this way. Well he did but with disgust, you could even ask mother if she was here, or ask Dwalin, he was there for some of them. They only did it because of Fíli being a prince, and he has never reacted this way, that is why he has never been with a female.” Kíli froze when he realized what he just revealed to his uncle.
Thorin looked at Kíli in complete surprise and asked, “Are you saying he is a…”
Kíli just nodded really quickly so Thorin didn’t say it, and said with a red face, “We both are because we didn’t want to sleep with anyone that was after just the title.”
“Oh Kíli.” Thorin just grabbed Kíli in a hug, because he realized in that moment that his nephews missed out on a lot because of the females that were title chasers.
“You might want to help your nephew.” Bella spoke out of the blue from the bed, still having a purr in her voice, but she also sounded very frustrated.
Bilbo kind of giggled out of nowhere, and had everyone looking at him in question.
Bilbo cleared his throat rather quickly and said, “She has the gift of empathy, so she can feel the emotions around her, and if she is still under the influence of honey and feeling frustrated it’s not her feeling frustrated. I laughed because it sounded funny to have her purring from the bed while sounding frustrated.”
Thorin snickered after Bilbo said that, until he realized who would be feeling frustrated, and why he would be feeling so.
“Kíli if you and your brother have never…has anyone ever explained how to…?” Thorin almost hesitated in his questioning.
Kíli rolled his eyes then spat out, “We haven’t ever not done anything with ourselves Thorin.”
Thorin relaxed, then said, “You might want to go remind your brother about something he neglected to do then, because if he’s feeling frustrated enough for her to feel it.”
Kíli finally understood what Thorin was alluding to and said, “Oh okay.” And took off towards the bathroom where his brother would be.
When he got close enough, he could hear his brother almost crying in frustration, he didn’t bother knocking he just opened the door, and went in.
Ever since they were younger and started getting interested in anything alluding to sex, they talked about it together. When they started to experiment with masturbation, they figured out real quick that they had to massage their balls first or they wouldn’t get anywhere with their pleasure, or they would but it would last forever. Which if they wanted it to last awhile was a good thing, but if they wanted to get it over quickly wasn’t a good thing.
So when he saw how upset and frustrated his brother was, and how sweaty and red in the face he was. He realized Fíli, had rushed things and forgotten to do things correctly. So instead of saying anything, he just crooned out, “Oh Fíli.”
He walked up behind his poor brother, and snugged up right behind him real tight, and rather than let him fight, like he knew Fíli would, Kíli reached down, and letting Fíli continue squeezing and rubbing along his shaft and tip, went straight for Fíli’s balls and massaged them; and the very moment he did he felt Fíli stand up straighter because every muscle Fíli had tightened. He also heard Fíli suck in a deep breath, and Kíli just tightened his other arms hold and continued to do his light massaging. He could feel Fíli speed up his work on his shaft, and also felt Fíli’s balls tighten and knew that it wouldn’t take much longer, so he reached behind where he was massaging, for the patch of skin, and lightly pressed and massaged the perineum. Once he did that, Fíli chocked and Kíli moved his other hand, which had been holding his brother to him, and covered his brothers’ mouth. When he had it over Fíli’s mouth, Fíli was able to hide the roaring shout that would have been quite loud otherwise, when he was finally able to orgasm.
Once he felt every muscle in his brother’s body relax, Kíli stopped his massaging, since it had only been causing Fíli to twitch, and held his brother to him. He also uncovered his brother’s mouth so he could breathe like normal, and once he did his brother spoke.
“How did you know?” Fíli asked in a quiet voice sounding very tired.
“Your One has the gift of empathy, and even under the influence of honey, was still able to feel your frustration. Thorin was the one to realize what was happening, and after I told him what was going on with us, about us not going after any females and such, he sent me to remind you about something you may have forgotten in your haste to relieve yourself. I came in here to tell you, and saw you were too far gone to talk, and decided to just help instead; which we will not be talking about to anyone ever, nadad.”
Fíli gave a tired sounding chuckle and said, “Don’t worry nadadith I would have done the same for you.”
Kíli just hugged his brother tighter, and then let Fíli up so he could get dressed.
Fíli then cleared his throat and said, “Although it’s going to be pretty difficult to keep what she said out of my head.”
Kíli just laughed at him and said, “I can imagine it will be nadad.”
They walked out of the bathroom after Fíli had finished getting dressed and cleaned up, and headed back into where Bella was, to find one very cranky fairy with an amused audience around her.
When Fíli and Kíli walked back into Bella’s room, Thorin looked at his nephews, and gestured for them to come over to where he was standing.
When they did, they noticed he had an amused look on his face, and looked at him in question.
Thorin shook his head and said, “Bella is pretty cranky right now because when her and Gandalf linked powers to heal her back of the poison something they didn’t expect to happen, happened.”
“Okay, so what happened?” Fíli asked in concern about what was happening with his One.
“I’m growing my wings like a newborn fairy.” A feminine voice growled from the direction of the bed, and their heads snapped in that direction and they saw Bella glaring their direction.
What had them looking at her in awe though, instead of hesitation or fear, was she had what looked like tattoo’s glowing on her face.
Kíli noticed that they were the same color as his brother’s eye’s and filed it away for later, because for now he could see that she was really irritated even though he had no clue what she had said.
“Alright, I have no clue what you said, but I can tell you’re upset.” Kíli said with his big innocent eyes and grin as he walked towards where all the others were standing.
When she looked at him in confusion for a second, then snickered and said, “I said, I’m growing my wings like a newborn fairy, and don’t think the innocent eyes and grin will get you out of trouble with me too often, curious little wolf. No that one I won’t explain so don’t try it.”
Bilbo snickered when he saw the look on Kíli’s face at what she just said, and also at what she just called him, because it was really fitting for him.
“Bilbo I wouldn’t snicker at that if I were you. I still have to pay you back for allowing them to dose me with honey.” She dryly said then raised her eyebrow when he glared at her.
“Why am I getting paid back?” Bilbo yelped out in outrage
“Well brother dear what else goes into soothing throat tea, it was your kitchen, and since I am your sister for the last 21 years I feel like it.” She said before sticking her tongue at him.
“Why do I have a feeling I liked you better when you had a fever for the last week.” Bilbo muttered.
“Be nice or I’ll let you go with all these nice dwarves on their adventure alone, and I’ll stay here and let Lobelia steal your house in a years’ time like she plans on doing. Besides you need to do this and you know it, or I wouldn’t have told you about company coming 2 weeks ago, and to get all those cookies made, which you really should be thanking me for Master Dwalin.” Bella said with a raised voice, so those out in the hall could hear her.
This had Dwalin himself yelping out in the hallway, and what sounded like a cookie jar breaking and the sound of someone getting smacked on the head.
“Now see what you did, now clean it up, and quit eating all of Bilbo’s cookies.” Came Balin’s voice from the living room.
Bella giggled from her bed, and she looked at Bilbo who was looking at his sister with a weird look on his face.
“Sister, are you telling me you knew all this was coming?”
Bella got a sad look on her face and took a deep breath, before she told Bilbo, “I told you a long time ago I have the gift of empathy correct?” This had Bilbo nodding his head, and had Bella looking at Fíli in confusion when he went very red in the face, which had Thorin clearing his throat; Kíli just turned his head and snickered.
Bella then looked back at Bilbo and said, “I also have the gift of Foresight, it can often tell me things years in advance of them happening, such as when the Wizards would be coming to Middle Earth; or the Shire was settled by Hobbits in 1601 by brothers Marcho and Blanco. There are also times I don’t see things in time to stop them or be warned about them, such as when Smaug invaded Erebor, and when I look back on it I asked why it would be that I wasn’t warned of why? I also had to ask why I wasn’t warned about Thrór’s madness getting worse when the Arkenstone was being removed from the mountain, and then I realized the two are linked.”
Bella stopped there when she heard Thorin suck in a breath, because she knew he must have realized the same thing, and when she looked at him she saw the look on his face. When she looked at him, she almost started crying in reaction to the heartbreak she saw on his face, but she waited until he spoke to say anything.
“Did we ask to be invaded by Smaug when we removed the Arkenstone from the mountain?” Thorin asked her hoarsely
“What was its name before it was renamed the Kings Jewel?” Bella asked him in a trance like voice, which had Gandalf snapping her a quick look, and raising a hand to Thorin when he would have said something about the question.
Thorin realized she was having a vision and instead tried to remember, it was Balin’s hoarse voice that answered from the doorway, “It was called The Heart of Erebor, my lady.”
“Heal the Heart of Erebor, King of the Mountain, and you will not have to worry about losing the Line of Durin, my son.” It wasn’t even Bella’s voice at this point.
Thorin dropped to his knees when he realized who it was that was talking to him.
“What must we do Spirit Father?” Thorin asked their Father
“Follow the Queen of Fairies, she will lead you home, my son. Do not question her too much, or she will lead you on a very merry chase indeed. She will tell you how to heal the Heart of Erebor. It was never meant to be the Kings Jewel, my son. True Kings don’t need a Jewel to rule, just a true heart, good people to advise them, and love for their family. This I know you already have my son, and you have the guide of a 2,000 year old mischievous fairy to guide you and keep you on your toes. I will warn you now my son; do not ever piss her off to much, because those that do don’t ever live to tell the tale twice. Ask her who removed her wings; he was the one who killed your grandfather Thrór, who just told me to tell you he is very proud of you. Let Bella deal with the Gundabad Orc, he will know more pain with her, than he ever would with you, my son. Now I must go, for to talk to you through Bella makes her tired. Know this my son; I am also very proud of you.” When everyone looked up again it was to see Bella looking at them with every mark of hers glowing.
“Umm Bella you’re glowing.” Bilbo stuttered out.
Bella just growled at him in answer to what he just said and he squeaked and went silent, and folded down to the floor in a very low bow. When Bella looked at Thorin, Thorin could see that her eyes had even started to glow.
“Azog is after you Thorin, son of Thráin, son of Thrór, King of the Mountain.” Bella growled out towards him, and her voice had an ethereal quality to it this time.
Kíli saw, out the corner of his eye, his brother shutter in response to her voice, and nudged him to get him to focus; because they really didn’t need a pissed off fairy queen to feel a dwarf that was feeling lusty towards her.
“Azog still lives?” Thorin asked her hoarsely, in disbelief and horror.
“Yes it was him and his group of orcs that removed my wings a week ago, when I saved a family of hobbits from them.” She told him, only this time she sounded almost gentle.
“He still has the price on your head, but he also has a price on your nephews’ heads. This is why if we come across him, you will leave him to me, Thorin Oakenshield. If you go anywhere near him I will take my blood debt out on you instead of him, is that understood?” Bella told him sternly
Thorin nodded to her in understanding, even though she knew he didn’t really understand, and she also knew he would try to protect her as any overprotective male dwarf would. When she looked towards Fíli, she could feel the haze of lust and protection clouding his mind. She decided to gently push the lust back so he could actually think straight for a little bit, and once she did so she saw him snap a look of utter surprise and complete embarrassment towards her.
When Fíli saw her looking at him in confusion, he knew she didn’t understand the surprise or embarrassment, and he knew they really needed to talk. When she turns away from him towards Bilbo, he almost feels like she cut him off, and he had to admit he felt slightly hurt even if he knew she had done no such thing, let alone understood why it would hurt so much.
“Bilbo do we still have all that unused cloth?” Bella asked her brother
Bilbo thought for a moment and then he shook his head, and said, “No we ended up giving it to the Gamgee’s so they could make their new little one some clothes.”
“Oh drat that’s right.” Bella said then she sat there thinking for the moment.
Bilbo walked a little closer to his sister before asking her, “Why did you need the cloth sis?”
Bella looked up and saw more than her brother looking at her, but only Gandalf was looking amused, “Well this is the only backless shirt I have, and until my wings finish growing in I won’t be able to wear regular shirts. I also won’t be able to switch back to my second form until they are done growing.”
She watched as the look of realization crossed Bilbo’s face and confusion crossed the faces of everyone else. Before anyone could say anything she decided to explain.
“This form I’m in now is technically my normal form, and my fairy form would be the one where I am about 3 inches tall with wings. You see in this form my wings would cover my back in the form of a tattoo, and would probably be the same color as my marks when they show. When I am in my fairy form, my wings would be more transparent and the ribs would be the color of my marks.”
Thorin was the one to speak next and he sounded kind of confused, “Why do you say it that way when you say, the color of your marks?”
Bella looked at him for a second in confusion, then a look of understanding flashed across her face before she answered him, “Because whenever my marks have glowed or my wings have been visible I have never seen the color of them. So I do not know the colors they are, you see when a fairy is in the presence of her true mate, it is the only time they take on the color they are meant to be, and that is a unique attribute to her mate. I say it that way, because my mother’s took on my father’s hair color because it was very unique among his people. It had a green tint to it when he was alive, so her marks and wing ribs were a shade of green. So my marks and wing ribs would be the color of my mates’ unique attribute.”
Gandalf was the next one to ask a question, “My dear you say your mate like you don’t know who he is.”
“Fairies never do until the male tells her. So I truly won’t know who my mate is until he tells me Gandalf, just because I can feel the emotions around me doesn’t mean it would tell me anything. I also wouldn’t be given a clue by foresight; I tried looking a long time ago a saw nothing but blackness. When I asked my mother, she said I would never see my mate that way, and that I would have to be patient and wait for him to come to me and tell me I was his like all fairies have had to, and to answer any other questions yes fairies are only females. That is why no male fairies have been seen, well at least none with wings, so far at least.” Bella told them and you could hear the sadness in her voice when she told them she would never know who her mate was.
“Are you saying anyone could walk up to you and tell you that you belonged to them, and you would have to believe them?” Bilbo asked in anger, and Kíli felt the same way he did and Fíli felt like growling, which Kíli and Thorin knew so they held him back.
Bella actually started laughing at that one, and no one could understand why Gandalf joined in.
“No Bilbo, but thank you for reacting like a true brother would. You have to remember I have the gift of empathy. If just anyone were to walk up to me and tell me that I would feel their deceit. If my True Mate were to walk up to me and tell me I was his mate, he is going to be feeling what a True Mate is supposed to be feeling Bilbo, so I would feel the truth of what he is feeling. I would also have the reaction every female fairy has had since they began. You see, when a female fairy is told by her mate that she is his mate all her marks glow, and she can visibly see them for the first time in her life. Along with a special mark that is unique to her mate alone that only shows itself after they have bonded through their mating, but that will be determined by my mates’ race. So for the first time in 2,000 years I would be able to see my marks glow not just feel them glow.” Bella said with a giggle, but after she said it Fíli relaxed, which had Kíli and Thorin relaxing their hold.
} “Tell her soon, nephew” { Thorin muttered to Fíli.
Fíli just nodded in answer to what his uncle just said. Kíli just patted his brother in the back because he knew his brother was actually nervous about the conversation, so he decided to nudge his brothers’ memory of a certain item he had finished before coming to the Shire.
} “Don’t forget what’s in your left pocket nadad.” { Kíli muttered to Fíli.
Fíli startled and looked at his brother wide eyed, and Kíli almost laughed, because he realized his brother actually did forget. When Fíli’s hand went to his left pocket, and felt that it was actually still there and his brother relaxed, Kíli did snicker, Fíli nudged and muttered for him to shut up, Kíli continued to snicker.
Balin was the one that brought up Bella’s courting rituals by asking her, “What are Fairies courting rituals when they finally find their mates?”
Thorin look at Balin in surprise for his asking such a question, and said “Balin don’t you think that might be a secret where her culture is concerned?”
Bella looked at Thorin and said, “No it’s alright, and to answer your question Master Balin, it would all depend on the race my mate came from. You see Hobbits for example, court by going to parties and asking their mate to dance. Then they give her a potted plant so she can have a flower or plant to grow for years to come, and not just a bouquet of flowers that would wilt and die. They would then exchange more gifts that would get them prepared for their lives together as a married couple, and all the while prepare for their wedding. While this is all going on they would have chaperoned outings together to get to know one another better so they would know things such as favorite flowers, colors, and childhood friends and memories. Now if I was unlucky and found my mate in an elf there wouldn’t have been much courting because when one finds their mate in an elf they are basically bound as soon as they know they are meant for the other, and they sleep together under the stars as soon as they find their special spot within the woods. As soon as that happens they are then wed, which I find the least romantic of all the races if you ask me, and they all act as if they are the best of all the races. I do have to admit they have some great healers, but for the rest they sure are stuck up assholes.”
Bilbo sputtered at that one and turned red in the face when he saw the look on Gandalf’s face. When he saw everyone looking at him for an answer, he just shook his head and said, “She called the elves stuck up assholes.”
All the dwarves started laughing in response, even if Dori looked pretty scandalized that a lady used such a term.
“So you’re saying that you have to use the courting rituals of the race your mate comes from?” Kíli was the one to clarify and he sounded happy and upset all at the same time.
Bella looked at him for a moment with a blank look on her face before she gave him a gentle smile and said, “Yes, but I do not mind curious little wolf, as long as he is not from the elves I won’t mind. Of all the races, the 2 cultures that I find I love the courting rituals of the most are the dwarves and the hobbits. Well I find the dwarves come before the hobbits in regard to who I love the most, but you guys get the idea. I mean as a fairy I feel close to nature, but I have always felt more drawn to healing plants than to all of the plants in nature, I have also found myself drawn to gems when out in nature. I remember over 1500 years ago I was in the mountains and I felt this call, talking to it the whole time, and when I followed it to the end, I found the most beautiful sapphire that I have ever seen. It wasn’t all the big, but it had no flaws that I was almost afraid to bring it out of the earth. It finally convinced me to do so, and I have had it with me ever since. In fact, Bilbo can you go get me my jewelry box off that shelf over there?”
Bella pointed to the shelf she was talking about behind where Thorin himself was standing. Bilbo nodded and went and got it for her, thinking over some things because he had been watching everyone for their reactions to what she was talking about, but it was Fíli he had watched the most. He was beginning to suspect Fíli was his sisters’ mate, and from the poor boy’s reaction earlier to what she had said when she was affected by the honey, he knew of something that would make the perfect wedding gift if he was indeed her mate. He would watch and observe, but he would be making his purchase anyway, because his hobbit instincts where telling him he was correct about the wedding gift being needed.
Once Bilbo handed Bella her Jewelry box, she opened it, and got out the sapphire she was talking about. Everyone gasped when they saw the sapphire the size of an acorn, which was completely clear and completely flawless.
“Oh my, you have a priceless jewel there my dear. Would you mind telling me where you found it?” Balin asked in a pretty hushed voice.
Bella got a pretty wicked smile when he asked that, and Gandalf started chuckling, which had the dwarves and Bilbo looking at him funny.
“No I don’t mind telling you where I found it. It’s just pretty ironic, that I found this little guy 1500 years ago, in a mountain that would later on become the very mountain we are going to go and reclaim from the dragon Smaug. This sapphire came from Erebor you guys, but 1000 years before it was Erebor.” She told them, and saw the awe on their faces when they realized the history behind the sapphire she had.
Thorin looked at her, and gestured towards the sapphire in question.
“Yes Thorin you may hold it, but you cannot keep my sapphire. It still talks to me, won’t tell me what it wants to be yet, but it says it will tell me when the time is right. Never had a jewel turn clairvoyant on me before, and it also said it would decide then if it wants to be a boy or girl. Was pretty sure it was joking, but you can never tell with something’s.” Bella told them, and watched as Thorin cradled her sapphire like it was a little baby, and had to shake her head and smile.
When she looked at Gandalf she saw he was also shaking his head, and she said, “You think he’s gonna start singing it a lullaby next?”
Gandalf broke out in very loud laughter from her much unexpected question, and when she looked towards Thorin she saw him giving her a very grumpy look.
“Don’t look at me like that, grumpy little wolf, you’re the one cradling it like a baby that needs swaddling clothes and a bottle. You looked like you were gonna start crooning a lullaby to it next, and it prefers the ones I sing anyway, so don’t try any of yours at all Thorin Oakenshield.” Bella told him before sticking her tongue at him.
Thorin gave her a grumpy look for calling him grumpy even if he didn’t understand the rest of what she called him, which was until she admitted to singing the stone a lullaby, then he broke out in laughter of his own, and handed her sapphire back so she could put it away.
“Don’t lose that it is truly priceless like Balin said before learning where it came from, based on the clarity alone, but now that we know where it’s from its would be worth a lot because of that.”
Bella nodded her head, then told him, “I wouldn’t sell it for any amount of gold in the world, no matter if they offered me your mountain and all it held in it Thorin Oakenshield.”
Every dwarf looked at her in utter shock when they heard her say that, because to admit that her sapphire was worth that much to her, told them just how loyal a person she would be, and helped them feel just that much more comfortable around her.
Thorin smiled at her, and said, “Then you are a rare person in this world to know what something is truly worth Miss Bella, and I will let you know now that I am glad that you will be coming with us on this quest.”
Bilbo decided to intervene before anymore silliness got in the way by going back to his sisters original question, “Bella I was wondering do you have enough coin to buy the cloth needed for making up some shirts you need for while you are healing, and anything else you would need to wear while during that time?”
Bella turned to him and smiled before answering his question, “Yes but you know that neither of us are very good at that kind of sewing. I’m not bad at hemming garments, but I have always been better at leather work for sheaths, quivers, and saddles you know that Bilbo. So unless we find a tailor that is willing to work overnight I am out of luck.”
Thorin stepped forward and said, “Dori has the skills of a tailor if you don’t mind him doing some of the work.”
Bella turned to the mentioned dwarf and saw him looking at her in question, and gave him a smile and said, “I will give you the needed coin to buy the cloth, leather for the corsets I would need and any supplies you would need. I don’t trust Bilbo with our coin, he has gone to many times to the market and come home with nothing but food, smoking tobacco, and books, and completely forgotten the other supplies I had on our lists, so I no longer let him around our coin. You, however, I can trust, Master Dori.”
Dori gave her a big smile, even though they could all hear Bilbo grumbling about it being only a few times.
Bella looked at Bilbo in disbelief and yelped out “Only a few times, you have been doing this for the last 15 years Bilbo. At first I thought if I took you to the training yard as punishment and had you do your worst skill to train as punishment for 3 hours you would get over doing it, but after being shot in the foot with an arrow, and the ass with the arrows for the past 10 years I gave up trying to teach you archery skills. For someone who can be so deadly with throwing daggers and have no skill with a freaking bow is grrrrr.” Bella threw her hands in the air.
“I have no clue how I have lived the past 21 years training you to fight and survived that is all I know.” She finished with a huff.
By the end of it the dwarves were laughing and poor Bilbo was looking like a grumpy fauntling.
“Wait are you saying he has 21 years of training on throwing daggers under his belt?” Thorin asked in a disbelieving croak.
Bella looked at him in confusion and nodded before saying, “Yeah I started teaching him when his parents were killed during the Fell Winter, and he had such terrible nightmares from not being able to save them or others in the Shire from the wolves, Orcs, and Goblins that had come across the ice and invaded the Shire. There had been no help from the rangers that winter because they had been up in the Blue Mountains helping Lord Agnor with something, and could not get down here; but I had heard the screaming and came to help. I was able to fight off the rest, but when I heard Bilbo’s screams from watching his parents get killed by the orc and goblins and not being able to do anything about it. He was only in his 20’s at the time, and in Hobbit years that would make him about 50 or so in dwarf years so just a wee lad for you guys but he felt so helpless and he was an only child. I felt such rage that I had never felt before, and I had felt drawn to him like he was a sibling. So when I saw them start to advance on Bilbo, I lost it and I don’t remember much after that, but Bilbo said I had started to glow and killed everything that was evil within my sites and didn’t get out of my way fast enough. When the rest saw what was going on amongst them, they ran and I was able to kill the ones that didn’t. After everything had settled down, and I had helped clean everything up, I asked Bilbo if he would like to learn how to fight so something like that wouldn’t happen again and he said yes. So for the next 21 years we went to the training yard we made and trained every day in swords, throwing daggers, because this little guy is wicked good when it comes to things like that, and hand to hand fighting combat. So now when we go hunting together, I am the one that uses the bow, and Bilbo uses his throwing daggers, which is a much better arrangement for everyone’s feet and ass if you ask me.”
Thorin looked impressed but still kind of upset over what he heard, and it wasn’t until Bella heard about how everyone was introduced to Bilbo that she understood. That was when she had to say something about it.
“Well did you ever think that maybe he was insulted about how everyone was treating him, his house, and how not even the same day he was asked about the quest he has dwarves show up on his door step demanding food he never knew he was supposed to provide. Gandalf never informed him you guys were coming until this morning, if I hadn’t of told him about it a few weeks ago, you wouldn’t have had all those lovely biscuits and cookies to snack on.” Bella told him, and then before they could act on the rapidly escalating anger she could see, this time directed towards Gandalf.
“Also Thorin, you did only ask about if he used sword or axe, singular. He uses dual swords, and throwing daggers. So I can see why he never mentioned any of his weapons or skills, he had already had enough of being disrespected by the very people wishing for his help, and all for a home they had lost. You see you came here hoping for a burglar you had already decided to hate because you refused to admit you needed help, well Thorin I think its high time to get the fucking stick out of your fucking ass, before I beat to fucking death with it, and see your heir on the throne.” Bella growled out in anger, and all because she was pissed at their arrogance at the way they treated her brother.
“Bilbo top drawer of my dresser I have a blue velvet sack full of coin. You will hand that to Dori and take him to Daisies house I know it’s late, but you tell Daisy she owes me a favor and I am calling in my mark.” Bella told him, and then told him one more thing.
“If she still gets uppity, tell her if she wants to keep her husband alive she will do as she’s told or I will refuse to make his potion.”
Bilbo looked at Bella in complete shock, and decided not to ask any questions for once. He went to her dresser and got the sack of coin, and handed it to Dori.
“Dori any supplies you need for making these cloths or any others along the quest you buy them while you’re there, and anything else you see while there that you think we may need along the way, go ahead and grab it.” Bella told the dwarf and saw the poor dwarf nod without arguing.
“Dori I also want you not to stint on quality you silly dwarf.” She saw him relax when she said that to him with a gentle smile because he had realized she wasn’t angry at him.
“Oh and Bilbo that gift you thought of earlier, Daisy has it in, so go ahead and grab it while you are there, along with all the things that go with it.” When Bilbo shot her a look, she just looked at him with a wicked smile before shooting him a wink.
“You are so hard to surprise you know that, it gets frustrating sister dear.” Bilbo muttered out as he walked out the door.
“I’m not the one it will be surprising Bilbo.” Bella shouted after him.
She just laughed when she could hear Bilbo squawking and choking on a laugh. She then laughed when she saw everyone else but Gandalf looking at her in confusion; he was just trying not to laugh too hard.
“Oh Gandalf this is going to be so much fun.” Bella said to the wizard, and it had him choking on his pipe smoke.
“You just say that because they don’t have any clue what you’re talking about my dear.” Once he was done coughing.
“Yes isn’t it lovely. Especially certain people that the surprise is meant for, and when the time comes it will be ever so much fun.” Bella said with excitement because when she got the vision of the gift he meant to buy it showed her who it was meant for and why.
This gave her a huge clue who her mate was, now she just had to be patient for the silly dwarf to ask her to allow him to court her.
She all but huffed, “Hmm maybe I need to relearn my skills of being patient.” She started muttering to herself.
Gandalf starting laughing really loud because the dwarves were watching her sit there with her arms crossed the very picture of impatient fairy, muttering this to herself and it was rather adorable.
“Meditation might do the trick my dear.” Gandalf told her humorously.
“No I’ve tried that in the past and I always fall asleep, or I just flicker between forms and that just gets exhausting. I found my best form of meditation is target practice with my bow and arrow, I hold the pose before releasing. My longest hold time is 1 hour so far, and I plan on lengthening that if I can just to see if I can. I also use training with my swords or dagger throwing and as a form of meditation since it’s all repetition. I just have to find sparring partners that I haven’t sparred against for the past 21 years to really get out of my mind because going up against Bilbo isn’t a challenge its meditation for the both of us.” Bella told him in complete contemplation while thinking.
Thorin asked her a question that he had been thinking about since Gandalf helped her heal her back.
“When will you be ready to go on the road?”
“I only need 1 day. Tomorrow I will go to our training field and see after some stretching and some combat fighting with Bilbo, what I can do about sparring, then I can tell you if I can leave the next day and just do some healing chants or drink some Athelas teas and things of that sort, but I will be able to assess more after tomorrow morning. Will that be alright with you?” Bella let him know what she thought she needed to do.
Thorin nodded while thinking over what she said, and then said, “Yes that will be fine, and for sparring I think it will be me or Dwalin for swords, but I would also like to see you use your bow if you feel you are able or your throwing daggers either one you feel you are able to show me.”
Bella just nodded in answer to what he asked, not telling him that she felt she would be able to show him both. She sat back and relaxed and watched as the others were sitting around getting comfortable and talking with each other. She wasn’t too sure why they had chosen her bedroom to do this in, but she wasn’t going to complain because it gave her company while she was healing.
“So you are 2,000 years old?” she heard from Kíli’s curious voice next to her, and when she turned to look at him, she saw that Fíli was standing next to him.
She smiled at the both of them in answer to the question, but looked at Kíli when she answered, “You know it’s never a good thing to ask a woman her age, but since I was technically the one that spilled the answer, yes, curious little wolf, I am 2,000 years old.”
Kíli huffed when she called him that name again and not being able to understand it, and Bella had to smile when he did.
“Are you ever going to tell me what that means?” Kíli asked sounding quite grumpy about it.
Bella laughed softly about his grumpiness and when they both looked at her in question, she said “I can tell you are definitely related to Thorin by how you sounded just now alone. In answer to your question I will answer it someday, but only when I feel you deserve to know the answer and have let me know by your actions.”
Kíli shook his head and said, “Now you are sounding like Gandalf with talking in riddles.”
They all heard a laugh from across the room and when they looked they saw Gandalf looking over at them.
“Who do you think taught me to talk in riddles Master Kíli?”
Bella laughed at that one, and smiled at Gandalf before saying, “You should have seen how frustrated he use to get when trying to get answers out of me when I talked to him that way. Then he learned how to talk that way and learned how fun it was to do the same to others, especially after I told him it was a way to teach someone that they often learn the answer to the very question they are asking along the way.”
Kíli got a look of understanding on his face and when she saw that she had to smile at him, especially when he looked at her and said, “So you will only tell me the meaning of what you called me when I discover for myself who you are to me?”
She laughed softly before saying, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that are anything but smart Kíli Durin Son.”
Kíli puffed up when she called him that one, and Fíli had to laugh at him for it. Kíli elbowed his brother and said, “Just you wait till she gives you a nickname and see how frustrating you find it that you don’t understand it.”
Bella had to smile and when Kíli saw that he grinned at her, but she beat him to it when she said, “Who says I don’t already have one for him?”
Fíli looked at her in question and was a little pink in the cheeks knowing she had a nickname for him already. When Kíli saw his brother blushing he almost laughed but he held it in, and asked Bella his question instead.
“So what is it?”
Bella smiled softly at Fíli before answering Kíli’s question, “My golden lion, and he will also have to wait to gain the meaning of that one.”
Before they could pester her further everyone saw that Bilbo and Dori had returned, and were carrying quite a bit of stuff with them. Bella knew that Bilbo had hidden the item he had bought to surprise Fíli with later on, and by the blush on Dori’s face he had figured out what it was. She also knew that he wouldn’t say anything about it.
She had to laugh because the poor dwarf was blushing all the way to his ears, and wouldn’t look at her. So she looked at Bilbo and he came up with a good excuse as to why Dori would be blushing like that.
“Daisy is officially terrified of you and happy to hear that you are leaving the Shire, but glad to know that her husband will be safe since his potion has been locked in for the next 5 years since she not only gave us access to her shop but gave us a discount on everything we bought. At first I thought it was because I had brought Dori with me, but she said a dwarf was less frightening than you and even asked if he would be able to protect her from you if needs be.” Bilbo was giggling by the end of it all and he only laughed harder when he saw the evil looking grin cross Bella’s face.
“Good it will teach the evil little strumpet to mind her place.” Bella purred with her dark voice, and it had poor Fíli shuddering again.
Kíli, Thorin, and Bilbo were the only ones to notice though, and when Thorin looked at Bilbo in question he just got a wink in return and almost growled. Bilbo just giggled and got a questioning look from Bella.
“Bilbo what are you up to little brother, and why are you teasing Thorin?” Bella asked him, and had both Bilbo and Thorin looking like they got caught with their hands caught in the cookie jar.
“Shit.” Bilbo sputtered out without thinking, because he had never been really good about hiding things from his sister.
“Bilbo!” Bella said with a sputtering laugh of her own, and then gestured for him to come over to where she was sitting. When he was close enough, she asked him what she had on her mind but in a way no one but Gandalf would understand.
“Why are you teasing Thorin about knowing Fíli is my mate?”
When both Thorin and Fíli looked are her funny she knew they understood that she was talking to Bilbo about them, because they had understood their names, but not what she was talking about.
“When did you figure it out?” Bilbo asked her with quiet excitement and happiness that had Bella smiling at him gently in return, because she knew that he approved.
“When you decided on the surprise.” Bella answered in Westeron, and had to laugh when Bilbo groaned and Dori blushed bright red to the point that his brothers started questioning him what was wrong, and why was he blushing so.
Gandalf started laughing again, and Bella looked at him and said, “Yes Gandalf I am going to have ever so much fun along the way.”
Thorin just shook his head and told everyone it was time to head to bed so they could get some rest, and then he grabbed his nephews and dragged them both out of the room.
“Fíli stop arguing nothing is going to attack her in here, and you need the sleep so you can think about how to approach her tomorrow.” Thorin finally said in irritation when Fíli kept arguing about needing to be close to protect her.
Bilbo finally stepped forward and said, “Why don’t they both sleep in front of her door, if that will help.”
Thorin jumped because he hadn’t realized how Bilbo had gotten so close, and saw Bilbo look at him in apology but thought over his suggestion and nodded his agreement.
“You both must stay outside her bedroom though.” Thorin growled at them when they looked at him like eager puppies.
They both just nodded and walked back the way they came with both Thorin and Bilbo watching them. Bilbo tried really hard to muffle his snickers, but he didn’t do too well because Thorin heard them.
“I take it you figured out what Fíli is to your sister, and it doesn’t bother you?” Thorin asked him gruffly and looking pretty intimidating.
Bilbo just looked at him and had to admit to himself that Thorin was pretty good at looking intimidating, but he had 21 years of living with Bella who could be scarier.
“A word of warning Thorin, you are intimidating, but my sister is scarier. To answer your question though, I figured it out when Fíli had to rush off to the bathroom earlier and her marks glowed a color they never have before, and match the color of his eyes. I also have good instincts where this kind of stuff is concerned, and when I went out earlier with Dori I thought of a surprise that would be great for her and Fíli later on. That is what was making poor Dori blush so red, and my sister saw a vision of it and figured it out but is waiting on Fíli to do something about it on approaching her. Anyways, if you must know what the surprise is since I can see you want to ask, its honey dusting powder that you use with a partner in the bedroom, and I bought it for them as a gift for later on.” Bilbo got to see what a rare sight of Thorin blushing red was probably when he figured out what honey powder is for.
“Well…Um yes… I guess…hmmm.” Thorin stuttered out, before he had to stop and clear his throat.
“Then you have no issue with my nephew being with your sister, I take it since you got them such a gift?” Thorin gruffly asked just to make sure and watched as Bilbo blinked at him for a second then giggled.
“No Thorin I do not.” Bilbo gasped out before giggling again.
Then he just shook his head and said a rushed goodnight, and headed off to bed.
“What did you say that had our Burglar laughing so hard?” Dwalin asked him from the doorway to the living room.
Thorin just stood there kind of stunned at what just took place, because he had to admit it was kind of nice that Bilbo took his embarrassment so well, and it was kind of endearing.
“I asked him why he didn’t find me intimidating, and he said he found his sister scarier than I.” Thorin said sounding stunned.
Dwalin barked out a laugh because he had to admit he was stunned about it himself, but had to admit the fairy reminded him a bit like Dis.
“Come my friend let us get some sleep. If we are to spar with the little fairy come morning we will need the sleep. I have a feeling she will keep us all on our toes.”
Thorin followed him into the living room where all the others were settled down and already falling asleep. Having a feeling that the next morning would be interesting but never knowing how interesting. They would all find out though that you never mess with a pissed off fairy.
A/N: Final Word Count was over 11,000. Hoping everyone enjoyed this first chapter. My muse would not let me stop typing until the words were done being spat out of my head.
Please Click on the Author’s card to be taken to their site.
NOTE from Kittyinaz: I ended up taking this from a PDF to Word, and only later did I realize it separated sentences. If there is such an error, it is not the author’s, but my fault. I hoped to have caught all of them but wanted to make sure.
Lily made her way through the woods to her favorite clearing as she did every night of the full moon. Her aunt Agatha, being a free spirit herself, never minded her late night trips into the unknown woods. She knew as soon as Lily turned eleven that she was just like her mother, and her mother before her. She was one of the chosen wild children: The deep of the night calling to something within their very being. Agatha would watch Lily play in the gardens near her house. Lily, though always such a small child, didn’t seem to show much fear: Often getting too close the fire when they held bonfires to the spirits. Her black hair in the moonlight and her flowing dresses gave her an otherness glow.
One such night when she was in the woods, she met a very strange boy. He had messy black hair and green eyes to match her own. His messy appearance would have scared a normal child. Lily, however, was no normal child. Instead she walked closer to the boy, undaunted and regal. When she got close enough she noticed he had a mark around his neck. It looked like a symbol in one of her aunt’s history books. Something about Gaul? She couldn’t remember.
“What is a little girl like you doing out here at night alone? And without any parents near by?” Her eyebrows rose as she gazed on his youthful face.
“And where are you parents? Is it not too late for you as well? This land has been in my family for years.”
The stranger smiled boyishly. “I am older than I look: You should never judge by what you see little girl.”
Lily snorted, “Why not? You certainly did.”
The stranger smirked. In all his milleniums he had never met someone who would talk back to him. He found this little girl quite entertaining. “Fair enough, and do you speak to strangers often?”
She smiled, “I’m Lilly. What’s your name?”
He cocked his head, curious as to where she was going with this. “Godric,” he replied.
Lily smiled widely. “ Nice to meet you Godric; we are no longer strangers for I now know your name.” He laughed, the small child was clever indeed.
“I suppose you are right.” She nodded, pleased she had won.
She remembered the first question she had asked her new friend. “Why are you out here tonight? I haven’t seen you around before.”
Godric nodded. “I am out here hunting. Why are you out here?”
Lily was puzzled at first. “Unless you wish to catch a rabbit, there isn’t much in these woods. I’m here because they called to me as they do every full moon. They call me to dance in the moonlight.” This surprised Godric. Was this child ill? She must be if she was hearing voices.
“Who calls to you Ma petite?”
It was her turn to tilt her head, “ The spirits, they call to me. Do they call to you, too?” He shook his head,processing everything she has said. A sudden noise behind Lily had Godric’s fangs out and he got into in a defensive crouch. Lily, noticing the two white sharp points protruding from his mouth, looked surprised. A loud howl from close by startled her and she spun around.
“Who’s out there? I am not afraid of you!“ Turning to Godric she urged him to, “Run Godric! I’ll hold them off.” Godric chuckled at the bravery of the little girl in front of him. Surely she must the strangest creature he had ever known.
“I am fine child. You should go home. I fear you will not dance this night.”
Lily shook her head. “ I am not leaving you alone! Besides the noise is coming from the path I have to take to get back home.”
He nodded; brave, but still a child. “Very well but stay behind me.” She looked at him and nodded.
Snarling echoed in the little clearing and Lily jumped, and turned around to see a huge snarling wolf flanked by one other wolf. She had seen wolves before. Sheba, her pet wolf, was still in the house back home. She was wishing she had brought her on this outing.
The bigger black wolf jumped at her. She closed her eyes, but opened them again when she realized the wolf hadn’t hit her. Instead, it lay broken and bleeding a couple of feet away, and the second one was engaged with the Godric.
Lily watched her savior, engrossed in his every move, as Godric and the wolf seemed to go blow for blow with each other: Each striking and blocking until she heard a loud yelp and the ripping of fur. Godric turned and took in the shaking form before him. He walked up to her, but still maintained some distance, “Are you scared of me now?” Godric’s voice sounded somewhat forlorn at the thought of this tiny human being scared of him.
Lily shook her head, “No, you killed the bad wolves, why would i fear you. You are all messy. Come on, there is a stream not far away where you can wash.” She took his hand and led him further into the woods.
It was about fifteen minutes before they came across the stream: She let his hand go. Godric decided to accept her offer and started to bathe. He smiled when he realised she had her back to him: Most likely to give him privacy. He couldn’t help but think how cute she really was. Something in his heart tugged at his mind. He just didn’t know what it could be.
He thanked the Gods that he could clean up faster than a human. “You can turn around now. I’m done washing.”
Lily turned around smiling. “Can I touch them?” He looked at her curiously for a minute. What was she talking about? Lily sensed he hadn’t known what she meant. “Your fangs. May I touch them?”
He nodded and dropped his fangs again. “You are not afraid of me? I could kill you right here and no one would find you.”
She shrugged, “If you were going to kill me I would be dead and you wouldn’t have killed those wolves. “
Godric laughed; this human was too much. “ Do you still want to dance in the moonlight?” He asked. She nodded, so Godric took her hand and pulled her close and spun her around and around. until Lilly started to yawn. Godric brought her back in the direction her scent had come from. Once he arrived at the pale blue porch he woke her up. Sleepily she rubbed her eyes as he placed her on her feet and she smiled up at him. “Will you be my friend?” He smiled. He wanted to say yes, but what place would she have in his world? Lily, not being as naive as most eleven year olds added, “Will I at least get to see you sometimes?”
He smiled and shrugged, “Maybe sometimes.”
She nodded and threw her arms around his waist. “Night Godric, thank you again.” She was up the stairs and in the house before he could speak.
The next morning Agatha was sitting at her kitchen table eating a muffin when she heard the distinct footsteps of her niece. That girl couldn’twalk quietly to save her life she mumbled to herself. Taking one last peaceful sip of her coffee she waited for the energetic ball of energy she was about to get hit with.
Agatha hadn’t even looked up from the paper in her hands before a musical, “Good morning Aunt Aggy! Guess what I did last night?”
Putting the paper down and out of the reach of anything remotely liquid, she asked, “Oh? What did you do last?”
Smiling, and without missing a beat she said, “I met a superhero, and he saved me from some huge bad wolves. Not wolves like my Sheba, these were huge aunty, and mean. But Godric the superhero killed them and I showed him where he could wash up in the stream. He was like that Logan guy from X-men, only his pointy weapons were in his mouth. Isn’t that cool Agatha? I met a real hero!”
Agatha listened calmly as her eleven year old niece rambled about her night out. She was concerned about this superhero though. He was most likely a vampire. Dangerous! The vampire could have killed Lilly, but he didn’t. Why? Leave it to her niece to meet a vampire, and most likely befriend it. So much like her mother!
“And did you do anything else last night?”
Lily nodded excitedly “He put me on his toes and we danced in the moonlight together. But then I must’ve fallen asleep because when I woke up I was home.” Lilly watched with interest as her aunt nodded, deep in thought. Taking this time to grab an apple, she called to Sheba who dutifully bounded to her side.
“Aunt Aggy I am going to go play in the flowers today. Is that okay?”
Agatha nodded, “ But after lunch it’s school time.”
Lily nodded so fast she looked like a bobble head. “ Yes Aunty, I’ll be in round lunch time.” Lily kissed her aunt on the cheek before she skipped out the door.
The rest of the day went by too slowly for Lily’s taste. She couldn’t help daydreaming about her fanged hero. Agatha couldn’t shake the feeling that she should just let it be, that she shouldn’t be worried, but what parent would be okay with a vampire hanging around their child? For the first time she doubted the powers that be. Lily is just a child, she should be allowed to be a child. Agatha sighed. She had known from the start that this child was one of the otherworld: That she would walk in both worlds, this one and the next. She had been born under the sign of the crow: The messenger between this life and the next.
The clock on the wall struck 4:30pm and she looked over at a studying Lily. She had finished her normal school work and was reading a book of Prophecy and fortune telling. It was full of old family visions dating hundreds of year back. Lily looked up, a question written on her face. “What is it Lily?”
Lily bit her lip for a minute, “The spirits told me to tell you the answer you seek you already know. And a Whisper of death? They went silent after that.”
Agatha could feel her stomach turn and was sure her eyes had gotten huge. The only Prophecy she could think of was the one where it said that a child born to their bloodline would face death and befriend him:
She would embrace death and take death within herself. Was her niece the child?
She half wanted to lock Lily away, she didn’t want her to die. Then again, prophecies were never without metaphors. She knew she would not be able to keep Lily away from her destiny, so she would prepare her as best she could. But first she would seek out this Godric when Lily was asleep.
10:30 Pm that night.
Agatha wandered out to the clearing she knew her niece visited. Seated on a rock, she waited to meet the vampire who, she had reasoned, would be there. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Evening. You are not my little friend. Is she not well?” A voice said from the darkness.
Agatha stood, her shoulders tense but not overly so. “What do you want with Lily?”
Godric’s eyebrows raised. “She was wandering alone in the woods,” he shrugged. “I killed the wolves which were threatening her. She is enchanting and clever for her age.”
Agatha nodded. “Did you taste her?”
His brow furrowed. “Did she say that I did?”
Agatha shook her head. “No she didn’t.”
He nodded, relieved. “I did not. I do not feed on children. If you wish for me to never come back I will.”
Agatha thought for for a few moments too long, so Godric nodded and started to walk off, but stopped when the woman sighed and spoke, “No, stay. She doesn’t make friends easily. I fear it’s because she is not exactly of this world.”
He nodded his understanding. “ Yes I sensed that, what is she?”
Agatha sighed; she might as well tell him. “It all started long ago, with our Ancestor Cassandra of Delphi. She found favor with the Gods so they blessed her with the gift of talking to spirits, to commune with the dead. She acted as a seer, or soothsayer if you would. Cassandra passed beyond the veil, and her daughter was granted the gift, but Cassandra’s granddaughter could only see the future.
She had not received the same gift as her mother. Soon the gifts passed into myth, with only a few of us practicing the old ways. My twin and I had the strongest traces of the gift than has been seen in many years. I can not have children of my own. My sister conceived, but died shortly after. Lily, she feels the pull stronger than any of us. I fear she may have the full gift of Cassandra.”
Godric stood thinking over everything he had heard and what he knew of Lily. Agatha just watched as the man in front of her seem to be lost in his own mind. “I don’t think I can really leave her alone, not after last night: She has my interest. And I would like to be her friend.”
Agatha nodded and spoke, her voice stern. “Remember Death, she is just a child.”
He nodded his agreement, “You remember, witch: If she is what you say, she is also an old soul trapped in a young body. ”
Agatha nodded. “Do not tell her you go by death. Promise me vampire, on your honor.”
Godric was mildly surprised at her request but nodded. “I promise I will not tell her I am Death.” Pleased with that, Agatha turned and walked away. Godric stood silently and looked at the sky. What had he gotten into?
Three days Later
Lily found herself once again walking the familiar path to her magical sanctuary. When her small bare feet felt the sweet cool grass, she couldn’t keep a smile off her face. There sitting on the grass was Godric. Filled with glee, she ran to him and sat herself on his lap. Over the past few nights it had become their routine. Where they would meet in the clearing and talk about their day.
“Good evening little one, how was your day? You smell of lavender and freesia.”
Lily smiled and nodded. “You said you liked those smells.” Her eyes tracing once again the tattoo around his neck. Finally feeling brave enough, she brought her index finger up to trace the marking. Godric smiled at her as she looked into his eyes.
“And how was your day rest?” She asked in return. He smiled at her simple acceptance of who he was.
Letting out an unneeded breath he responded, “It was peaceful Lily.Thank you for asking. Did you learn anything new today?” She smiled up at him and nodded. “Yes, I learned about candles and how to make them.” He smiled at how proud she seemed to be over making candles. “That is a very handy thing to know. You know back in my day we made candles too.It was one of the few ways to see in the dark.” She nodded, understanding his words.
“Godric, can I ask you something?” Her attempt at a serious face was just too cute in his mind. But instead of laughing as he wanted to, he return her seriousness.
“You, Lily, may ask me anything you want. I promise to answer you the best I can.” Lily nodded as she thought about the words she wanted to say. “What does this mean? Where did you get it?” She hadn’t stopped tracing his markings. “It is a symbol of my people Little one. It means protection: It granted to the best warriors and and those of higher ranking families like chiefs.” Lily just looked up at him, letting his words absorb into her ever growing mind. Godric hoped she understood. She seemed quite smart, but he was not the best judge of human children.
“Godric were you a prince? How did you become a vampire? I read about Vampires? Say are you Vampire Prince?!” Whatever he had thought she would ask,he wasn’t expecting a rapid fire questions.
“I was a chief’s son when I was human. I was also a great warrior. No, I am not a prince among Vampires. I am, of course, respected for my age.”
Lily remembered she didn’t know his age. “ How old are you?”
He smiled a toothy grin. “ I am over 2,000 years old. Does that scare you?”
She shook her head.” No you don’t scare me.You are my hero,you won’t hurt me ever! Right?”
He smiled softly at the trusting little girl. He couldn’t remember the last time he smiled this much outside of a battle. “You have nothing to fear from me child, but I am no hero.”
Lily pouted for a few minutes. “You are my hero! And you can’t say different!” He nodded, letting her words echo in his head. This little child had won over his cold heart.
“If you say so Princess Lily. May I have this dance?”
She smiled as she got to her feet. “I would love to Prince Godric.” They smiled as Godric twirled her around on his feet until she started to yawn. Godric held her to his chest as he flew her back to her home and handed her to her aunt who smiled.
“I shall see her tomorrow night,” he kissed Lily’s forehead. “ Good night ma petite. Sleep and dream.” WIth that Godric took his leave into the night.
One Year later
Lilly was excited. It was her birthday, and it was a full moon. The fullness of the moon meant she would dance with her spirit friends, but not before talking with Godric. She remembered over the past year every conversation they’d had. He had been so many places, and seen and done extraordinary things. She had found out he had lived in Rome. He said it was where he got the red disk on his shoulder, but henever said what it meant. And the feelings she would get from him made her scared to touch it. She had some scars herself that she wasn’t very fond of, but Godric would kiss a new scar and say that it showed how strong she was.
It was around that time he had started to teach her the basic forms of self defense: Showing her how to use her size to her advantage. She had gotten so good she could topple Godric, though she often expected he let her. But she would take a win wherever she could get it. Her feelings she knew were changing.
She had also started what her aunt Aggy said was her frequent visit from Aunt Flow, and that she was turning into a lady. All she knew was that every time she thought of Godric, a warm fluttering feeling in stomach would overcome her. She cared so much for her dark knight, that even the thought of seeing him brightened even the worst of days.
The thought of verbalizing that she thought he was her Dark knight made her laugh. He was so not Batman. He didn’t wear a cape, or need fancy gadgets. All he need was his fists!
The clock on her dresser told her that her Aunt’s coven would be coming over to celebrate her birthday before they would go out for the night. Tonight was one of their Holy days, and Lily would be spending the time with Godric. Agatha had even invited him to their house.
The voices of the spirits would start to whisper after sunset, just before the tugging in her chest would draw her to the clearing. Their clearing, as if the universe was calling them to be together.
“Lily come on, the party is about to start. Get down here, everyone is here.” Letting a sigh slip from her lips, she made her way down the stairs and into the gathering crowd of over zealous women. You would swear they were old grandmothers by how much they pinched her cheeks. She put on her best smile and just rolled with it all: That is until one very nosey lady came into view.
Grace Mathis appeared to have everyone’s good on her mind. But Lily hated her! The voices always warned her about Grace and her coven. She even warned her Aunt that they were not good people. But Agatha never listened, and so Lilly stopped talking.
“My Lilly you have grown, haven’t you? You Aunty says you are almost of age to join us. What do you think? Are you excited?” Lily smirked. She would love to show that crone where she could shove that invite. But she knew her aunt would be mad and she didn’t want to risk her visit with Godric so she bit her tongue.
“I am unsure Lady Grace, I am sure it would be a honor to join your coven. However, I have not yet declared a power or a specific skill set. Unlike my aunt, who is a healer. But I shall keep your invitation in mind. Now if you would please excuse me? I need to find my aunt.” Grace was pleased at the girl’s answer but still not content. She wanted the girl like she had wanted her mother. The poor mother though! The voices in her head drove her mad. Grace couldn’t help smirk. Poor Olivia. Falling from that height! All because the spirits told her too. Maybe her daughter would prove to be much stronger.
Lily hated the party! There were soft whispers about the poor crazy girl who would fall sick from the voices in her head. But they never pushed to much as to why Lily had never been to a meeting, unlike the other kids. It was just not healthy for a girl of her age to have no friends. Lily just smirked. Her best friend could kill all of them in a second if he wanted to. Her best friend was older and smarter than anyone at the party.
The sun setting was the coven’s cue to leave and meet somewhere else. Agatha kissed her forehead before saying good night. Lily went upstairs and changed into something more comfortable. Jeans and a purple top. She grabbed her jacket since it promised to be a chilly night. She jumped off the porch steps and made a beeline for the woods until a musical tenor laugh stopped her from going further. She spun around squealing, “GODRIC!!!” She ran and jumped into his arms and he held her close.
“Lily how was your big day?”
She smiled her biggest smile. “It dragged on forever! I couldn’t wait until sunset! Those crazy friends of my aunt’s came over and they felt weird. The voices tell me they are not good people. So thank the Gods you’re here. What are we doing tonight?”
Godric sighed, shaking his head. “How about you start by telling me your day then I will give you a gift?” Lily nodded happily and launched into a full on story about everything she did that day, pausing only after Godric sat on the ground and she sat in his lap.
“Sounds like a busy day Ma petite. Now I have something special for you.” He took out blue velvet box and handed it to her. Curious as to what it was, she looked at him and he chuckled, “well then? Open it.” Lily didn’t need to be told twice.
In the box on a white gold chain sat a blue lilly. She smiled back at Godric and then back at the necklace, “Will you put it on me?” Godric nodded and slid the chain around her neck.
“You will always be my little flower.” She settled back against him and they fell into their normal questions until the night drew to the peak of the moon and the feeling to dance was at its strongest. So they danced. Lily closed her eyes this time, wanting to stay this way. But Godric had a different plan. “Open your eyes Lily. Look where we are!” Lily squealed again as she saw they were flying a few feet off the ground. After they finished dancing it had gotten really cold out, so Godric took her back home and tucked her into her bed.
“Godric never leave me…I love you..”
Before he could reply she was out cold. His kissed her forehead whispering, “I will never let you go my little flower. Think of me when you hold your necklace close and dance around in our little clearing. I will be there even if you can’t see me.”
The sound of her Aunt’s car came to a halt as Godric heard a car door close. He sped downstairs as Agatha entered the house. The look on Godric’s face told her she was in for a very serious conversation.
“Do you have minute to talk with me? She is asleep and won’t hear us.”
Agatha nodded and led the way into the kitchen. “What is on your mind Godric? “ She was curious, since the last time they talked like this she had warned him about her niece.
“In several years time Vampire are going to reveal themselves. This, we suspect, will be a hard and dangerous road. And the high council of supernaturals has decided that those who are oldest and strongest should lead our kind to peace with the general populace: If we are successful more may step forward.”
Agatha took his words and thought them over before replying. “And what does this have to do with Lily?”
Godric’s face fell. “I have been chosen to take the throne of Texas: my life is too dangerous for now. It could be much worse in the future. I meant to say goodbye to her tonight but she was so happy and then she just passed out.”
Agatha nodded, “It was probably for the best. It’s going to hurt her to see you leave. Will you be back?”
Godric stopped to think for a minute before deciding it probably wasn’t wise to return.
“Not for a long time, if ever so watch over my little flower. She should probably go to normal school and make friends. Surely she will be able to find them.”
Agatha nodded. “The sun is coming up, you should go. And good luck with everything.” He nodded and flew off into the sky.
Four years later
Lily made her way down the moonlit path her feet knew so well. Her spirit answering the spirit’s call to dance. Maybe she would run into Godric. She doubted it though, since he had stopped coming around four years back. Why? She didn’t know. She often thought she had done or said something for him to be mad about. But each time she would ask he wouldn’t answer. But tonight, surely tonight her vampire would be there waiting for her and they would dance in the moonlight, and maybe she would get the courage to tell him she loved him. He looked no older than 17 and she was 16 now, not a big difference to her anyway.
The familiar smell of flowers was comforting to her;they gave her an odd sense of strength. Soon the beat she often heard in her heart started and she began her dance around the clearing: Spinning, twirling dancing her heart out. All the while praying to the moon to send her Godric to her. The moon peaked in the sky and her movements got faster and faster until the energy inside her rose to the surface so fast and hard it took her breath away. She could feel the energy rising to the sky, an offering to the moon and the spirits. The energy inside her body around the full moon got stronger every year. This started just after she met Godric and got worse as she felt his absence in the years after.
What happened to him? She often wondered if he was okay. She would know if he wasn’t alright. Surely the spirits would tell her? He was a vampire after all, but he still had a soul: She could see it! As the night dragged on her heart fell into despair. Why did her only tangible friend leave her? She never felt like a freak when he was around. Her aunt had long since stopped homeschooling her, insisting that she go to public school. Agatha had wanted her to make normal friends. Sure, like it was going to be easy. What would she say. Hi, I’m Lily. Do you knowyou have a spirit following you? It’s your grandmother, and she she says she loves you. Oh, and once a month I dance under the moon where this energy rises to the moon. Wanna be my friend?
Lily scoffed at the idea at first. But she tried harder to make friends as the years passed and Godric never showed. Snapping out of her memory she sighed loudly into the darkness.
“I guess tonight marks the last time I shall pray to the moon to give me my friend back. It is time to put away childish notions. So mote it be I will leave this night and remember fondly the past and let it be that: The past. One such as I am is better off in the here and now. Goodbye Godric, wherever you be, I hope you are well and happy.” With that she gathered her blanket and some food she had brought and made the walk back home.
Her Aunt was sitting on the porch waiting for her. Agatha was all smiles when she saw Lily approach the house. “Did you have a good dance tonight?”
Lily shrugged, “The spirits got what they wanted as usual. I am going to bed, I have school tomorrow. I don’t think I will dance the next full moon. I have midterms that week.” Agatha took in the defeated form of her once vibrant niece.
Few years ago she had realised that Lily had fallen in love with Godric.And Godric knew this too, but Godric had stopped coming altogether. And Agatha enrolled her in public school. Agatha had written Godric a few weeks ago, asking him to write Lily a letter for her birthday. Hoping that if she knew he was alive she would be alright, but no letter came. And Agatha’s guilt weighed heavy on her soul. What had she done to her Niece! They should have had Godric explain things to Lily instead of just disappearing.
Three months later..
Agatha had gotten the mail and she smiled. There were two letters: One to her and one to Lily. She brought the mail inside and sat at her table and opened her letter and read it.
Dear Agatha ,
I am sorry my letters will not reach you in time for her birthday. I do hope it was a good one. You wrote to me about how sad she has become. I am sorry to hear that. I am hoping she has made many friends by now.
Does she still dance under the stars? I regret my choice of walking away from her. But we are right, she has no place in my world. She should remain innocent as long as possible. I hope this finds you well.
Godric.
Agatha let out a breath and grabbed a pen to answer his letter. She couldn’t wait until Lilly came home, her little girl may just smile again. Agatha had just finished making cookies when Lily came home.
“Hey Lily come in here for a minute please,” she said as soon as she heard the door close. “I have a letter for you.”
Lily walked down the hall and into the kitchen. “A letter from who?”
Agatha frowned and responded, “Whom,” and almost immediately looked apologetic, “Sorry, a throwback to homeschooling you.” She then smiled and handed her the letter. Lily read the return address and the name … Godric had sent her a letter! part of her was curious as to what he had to say: The other had stopped caring. She tossed the letter on the table and shrugged.
“Thanks Aunt Agatha. Maybe I will read it later. I have homework, then I think I’ll spend the afternoon reading the tomes. I have Tae Kwon Do tonight, too, S o I need to stretch before i go.I think I will take aikido next. It sounds like it would be a good workout.” It wasn’t lost on Agatha how much Lily kept busy, but she never saw Lily go to the clearing.
She could tell she hadn’t been dancing by Lily’s increase of frustration. Her little girl was going to snap if she didn’t express her soul.
Lily had reached her room and closed the door. Her hand was shaking as she held the letter: The need to read his words, to know how he was weighing on her mind. A voice within her whispered, “Do you really want to read his lies? Do you want to know how he has forgotten you? You are a child compared to him. Why would he wait for you. You don’t even know if he really loves you?”
She couldn’t take it anymore so she threw her letter in her closet and opened her book to the chapter on the history of England. Once she was satisfied she had jotted thorough notes on the matter she went to the little library in the house and picked up a ,small although very thick book.The title read Prophecies of Cassandra . A sudden zap of energy made her drop the book. When she bent to pick it up she saw another book shoved behind the rest. As she pulled that one from its hiding spot she opened the cover. There was no title to this one, so she read the first page.
To my daughter.
Lily, if you are reading this then I am no longer with you, and for this I am truly sorry. I wrote this after I had a dream. And I caution you to keep this book safely hidden. If you found this book than the spirit deemed it time for you to know the truth about my death. And if you are not 18 when find this, you are in danger.
Lily closed the book, and grabbed the book of Prophecies: She had heard of Cassandra, but never really saw any books about her or everything she saw. What was up with the cryptic book from her mom. What did the spirits know of this?
She could hear footsteps on the stairs. “ Lily? Are you still up here?” She stashed the book under the one of prophecies. And walked toward her room.
“Yes, Aunt Agatha I haven’t left yet. I think i may just stay home: I am feeling kind of sick.” There was a pause, and for minute Lily held her breath. She hoped her aunt wouldn’t ask questions. Tonight was one of those nights her aunt went with her coven.
“Oh, alright. Take it easy kiddo. Okay? Dont over do it.”
Sighing in relief she replied. “ I promise, I’ll probably stay in bed and eat some noodles. Anyway, have fun at your gathering.” Lily heard her aunt go back down the stair, and once she heard the door shut she flipped open her mother’s book and read on.
You can not trust my sister, I know this will be hard but you need to trust me. She my not be acting the same way she used to, you wouldn’t have noticed.
We were young when we moved to the house you are in now. Our parents, your grandparents, were fair and hardworking. My mother was the oldest daughter in her family, as I was a few minutes older than Agatha and you my only daughter. You know by now you are not normal. You never were meant to be. You hear the Spirits of our Ancestors, and those of the ancient beings of old. My mother met a woman by the name Gracie Mathis and they became great friends.
It wasn’t long before my mother and father started to fight. And soon life became a living hell. I was 18 when my mother died. She was found in a clearing not far from our house. My father and I found her. The spirits led me to her before she bled out. No one could figure out how she had gotten cut so deeply and we never found the knife or a suspect, w/o the case was dropped. But I kept being drawn to the clearing. It is our sanctuary. I can only surmise my mother gave her life to make sure I was safe, and you are safe, in that clearing.
My father was devastated and he clung to Gracie, my mother’s best friend. My father buried himself in his work, leaving Agatha and I under the eye of Gracie.
Since I was 18, I could move away: And I did. That is when I met your father, Ken Thompson.
We fell in love in the college dorm I had been living in. I majored in the plants and flowers. Your father studied architecture.
When my father died, we moved back home. At this time I was pregnant with you.
Your father tested positive for cancer: It was stage four Brain cancer. He got to hold you once before he stopped fighting. The doctors never knew how someone as healthy as your father could, out of the blue, get cancer. No other tests were positive before.
I am sorry sweety. It is really hard for me to write this. Even the thought that I won’t see you grow kills me inside. Gracie came through for us again. And Agatha and I joined her coven. She soon approached me and told me she knew about the voices and she could help me translate them better, and get them to work for me. So I started training with her and I got stronger than I ever thought possible.
The voices did get quieter and quieter. And my paranoia grew by leaps and bounds. Only the potion Gracie gave me would help put off the anxiety and pain.
I came across this book of Cassandra, the one you most likely have next to you. There was a prophecy. Find it and read it. And do something for me. After you graduate you run baby girl and you run far and fast. Do not drink anything Gracie gives you. She is the one who killed me. And she is the one your aunt is close to. Agatha may not know what is going on, but you need to be careful. Go to the clearing as much as you can. Seek help from the spirits. You are powerful you just don’t fully understand it.
Remember even in the darkest night there is always a light. I love you.
Lily slammed the book shut, tears rolling down her face. She had known Gracie was bad news. Gracie had her aunt in her grasp right now! She grabbed the letter she had stashed and her book and ran back to the clearing. Back to where she had found her peace, where she found her heart.
A/N: This is the first part in a four-part story, you would have had it all, but I had a major brain-block. Sorry ‘bout that. Also, this story isn’t the happiest and contains blood and violence, but not too graphic. I think, maybe, not too sure, I’ll let you judge. 🙂
Summary: When Godric rescues a broken girl, he never expected to find a reason to live, a new being that would help bring his family-by-blood back together. But this girl has a dark, supernatural past that her mind does not remember. Actually, she doesn’t remember anything but flashes and darkened blurs. Will she ever break through the chains of her past? Will she ever remember? Will she want to?
They are coming.
Her footsteps fell almost silent as she swiftly ran through the dense forest, bark scraping against her hardened skin and branches crunching under barefoot as she went. The icy raindrops that managed to slip through the drenched leaves, hit her skin with a piercing force that went unfelt as she races away.
She could hear them behind her, calling out orders and firing guns. All they knew was that she was to be taken, dead or alive… preferably alive, but not unharmed. It was their mission, their orders, and they would complete them, if she let them.
The fear and adrenaline pumping through her reached an all-time high as she broke through the trees and into a misty field, her once white nightgown, now ripped and dirt encrusted as it flew out behind her as she ran.
The field itself seemed to glow in shades of blue in the fog-covered moonlight. It also seemed to stretch on for miles and she just knew that they would get her if she continued forward.
But they were still behind her, so she could not go backward, the only way was on and to hope to lose them in the fog.
So she continued on as the soldiers converged, getting closer and closer to her as the seconds, or was it minutes, went by. Despite her barely unnatural speed, she felt tired. She had been running for what felt like hours and had barely any energy left, mostly because she had not been able to eat or drink often enough, but also from the injuries she had gained while she escaped.
Suddenly, a great white light blinds her so that she stumbles, barely catching herself in time as a voice, one that chills her right to the bone, blasted through a megaphone, making her cringe as the sound ricocheted in her ears.
“Project Zero One Three. Put your hands in the air and surrender and you will not be hurt.” The man said, his voice belittling and patronizing. They both knew if she surrendered, she would be in more pain than ever before.
She never knew his name or even his face. Just his voice, the one that taunted her, was always there, talking while doctors cut up her skin. She assumed by the way he spoke and the orders he gave that he was a military man and she always pictured him like William Stryker from the X-Men movies.
Though how she knew what William Stryker from the X-Men movies looked like was a mystery as she didn’t know what ‘X-Men movies’ actually were.
“I repeat. Project Zero One Three. Put your hands in the air and surrender and you will not be hurt.”
She didn’t know what to do. She could hear them all around her, their guns cocking, ready to fire, their heavy boots falling against the soft grass. She knew there was at least twenty of them and, she was tired. She was sure she was about to collapse, but she refused to go down without a fight even as her body shook and the fear consumed her.
She had not come this far just to give up and go back.
So backing down was not an option, even if she knew she was doomed to fail.
“Never.”
Her hoarse, unused voice seemed to echo through the almost silent air.
She could hear the soldiers. Some shifting uneasily, others ignoring the fact that they were about to shoot at an innocent and getting ready to fire.
“I will NEVER go back. Not alive.” Her unused voice was full of as much conviction as she could muster, though it sounded weak even to her ears.
“So be it.”
And with that, on instinct she crouched down, her hands going over her head as she waited for the impact of the bullets…
…an impact that never came.
Seconds went by and all she could hear was snarling, screaming and gunshots. What was happening? Was there an animal there? Was she going to die by an animal’s hands, or claws, rather than the peace of becoming Swiss cheese via bullets?
Soon the screaming stopped and all she could hear was the agitated pantings of a predator.
Cautiously and with fear, she peeked a look at the being that had… saved her?
A figure, short, a boy? No, a man. He had short, roguish brown hair that was coated in a dark red color, his back was arched slightly as his fingers curled into the clothing of the soldier his face was buried in the neck off.
He was wearing a once white hoodie and light gray sweatpants, though she could not see his feet beneath the bloodied, torn up bodies.
The body dropped and she shrunk back as striking, angry, blue eyes shot straight to hers. She fell backward as he appeared before her, pointed white fangs(?) peeking out from in between his lips.
Now she really looked, there was a black sun-like tattoo on his collarbone, partly hidden by his bloodied hoodie and his skin seemed sun-kissed, but still a nightly-pale.
She heard a sound, like a click but sharper. She drug her eyes up to bravely meet his eyes and was surprised at the sudden now calming, worried gleam in them, though she could still see the anger behind the blank-ish mask.
“Are you alright, barn?” (Barn means child in Old Norse) He asked. There was a barely veiled concern in his carefully controlled voice, and it made the girl wonder as to why he helped her, why he was trying to hide that he cared, cared what happened to her, cared for her.
Or maybe the care she saw in him was just fake, just a disguise that would help him get her to trust him. She wouldn’t, she would never make the mistake of trusting ever again.
He saw the hardening of her face, the blankness in her eyes, and was barely able to stop the surprisingly strong and quick attack of her right fist, then her left. He pinned her down, so that she would not hurt him or herself, but that just made her fight harder.
He blinked, stupid. Of course she would fight to being held down if what he had witnessed was anything to go by. He swiftly got off her, letting his grip go and was standing a good five feet away from her before she could blink.
He watched as she lay there, still, for a few seconds before she looked to him and scrambled to her feet, backing away but tripping over her feet in her haze. He was surprised she could see him, the fog was quite thick so no normal human would have been able to act as she was, see what she could.
Then again, he did not think her a normal human.
“It is ok, I will not hurt you. I give you my word.” He tried to reassure her, holding his hands out in a calming manner as he slowly etched closer to her.
“W-w-words me-mean n-noth-nothin-ing but-but broken promises an- lies.” Her words were strong, but her voice and body shook and stuttered, as if her mind and body were at war within itself as to what to do, whether he was a threat or not.
“Not with me, barn.”
She looked at him as if she were studying every part of him. Like she were taking apart and examining every inch and microscopic part, just to see if she could trust him.
She looked awful, like she was about to fall over. In fact, he was mildly surprised that she was still standing in the state she was in. Her dress was dirt encrusted and torn into nothing but dirtied rags. There was not one part of her that was not encased in mud or blood, most of which he could tell by the smells was not hers.
Her body itself was nothing more than skin and bones, a hollow, sunken frame. Her hair was almost non-existent, nothing more than a short, cropped mess of brown and red. Her eyes, a gleaming dark-chocolate brown, rich and warm but filled with horror and pain. Mistrust and defense was in her stance, despite the cuts and scraps, and the bullet hole he could so clearly see on her left shoulder, not to forget the limp in her left leg.
She was a wreck, to put it simply. It was her appearance, and the general’s words, that had made him go into what his eldest child often called ‘berserkr (berserk in Old Norse) mode’.
Godric, within the last millennia since he created his faðir, bróðir, sonr, (Father, brother, son in Old Norse) had come to love and respect most of humanity. Had come to not wish to kill, but with people like this, who would willingly and knowingly hunt a young girl, as no matter what she may or may not be, for Godric just knew she was not entirely human, she was still a girl. But for someone to harm another like that, a defenseless child no less…
It made him angry, very angry. An anger he had not felt in over four centuries, one that caused him to attack and kill all in that field, bar her, without a thought or second glance.
Looking at her now, he knew she was about to fall and she looked at him, all the fight and strength quickly leaving her as the adrenaline dissolved and the fear took over.
Her eyes locked with his as she came to a decision, her back straightening and shoulders locking with what little she had left.
Two simple, yet forceful words left her lips just as she collapsed, her body finally giving out and it was these two words that confirmed his growing and overwhelming need to protect and care for her.
Two words that she just knew she had spoken so many times before as they felt oh so familiar as they left her weak, chapped lips.
“Help me.”
As he caught her failing body, she fell into blackness, only just registering the sweet yet coppery taste that flooded past her lips as her mind went free.
Five weeks. That’s how long she had been here. Five weeks since she escaped the facility. Five weeks since Godric saved her. Five weeks since she almost died.
Once he had fed her his blood back in that field, he had scooped her up bridal-style and flown straight back to his home in Dallas. As sheriff of Area 9, Texas, he was known to be calm but strict when it came to discipline. Everyone knew of his love of the humans, how he fully supported the reveal and how he made sure that no vampires killed humans in his area.
However, everyone was shocked the day he landed back in his main house with a broken, bloodied girl in his arms. They had been broken out of their shock as he called orders and phoned up Dr. Ludwig, a supernatural doctor he knew he could trust.
Stan, of course, had his objections. They all did, in fact, but Stan was the only one to ever really question Godric.
That night, however, they all saw the true beast behind the calm and collected vampires blank façade. As Stan kept making snide and bitter comments, calling the bleeding girl names while the good doctor tried to save her life.
Godric had sat there and listened to every hate-filled word, but when Stan started to get confident. Saying things about how the girl was probably nothing more than a piece of trashy scum like the rest of the blood bags, and that the girl would be better of as dinner, if not for the fact that her blood smelt sour…
…Godric had snapped.
He had Stan up against the wall with a stake of wood at the area just above his heart, before anyone could blink. He had said, in no uncertain terms, that the girl was under his protection and that he, as sheriff, had power over any vampire residing in his area, meaning that their lives, were in his hands and, if any of them stepped out of line again, blood would be spilt.
Needless to say that no one had questioned Godric since, and most stayed away from the girl, or were kind to her, hoping to gain favor from Godric through their good deeds to her. Stan, also, had kept his distance, though he still gave them both the evils when he thought no one was looking.
The girl woke up five days after she fell asleep, and many had been shocked that she knew of more of the supernatural world than most humans knew of, especially as she could not remember much else.
It was worrying at best, suspicious at worst but no matter how hard she tried, despite Godric telling her to take it easy, she could not remember who she was, where she came from or how she knew what she knew.
Godric had taken to calling her Barnie, something that had started out as a joke after she had asked him why he kept calling her barn, but had eventually started calling her it all the time as she did not remember her own name.
When she had found out the meaning of ‘barn’, she had flipped out. Going on and on about how, even if she could not remember much, she wasn’t a child. She knew that much.
To the vampires, it had been quite comical. A human, or mostly human, girl bitching out to a two-thousand-year-old vampire, who looked barely younger than her in physical looks, about not being a child.
But when she said something about him being barely legal, and him being ‘just a kid’, Godric had calmly informed her that ‘I am older than Christ himself, Barnie’, then he had walked off. Every vampire that was watching could practically see the smoke coming from her ears, and it looked like she was going to follow him when she noticed all the eyes on her.
She had immediately started stuttering and had ran straight to her room, giving every other being a wide berth as she went. This was a normal thing for her. Whatever had happened in the facility, it made her body and mind feel afraid whenever she was near people, more so with males.
For some reason, Godric was the exception to the rule, but no one knew why. Most thought it was simply down to the fact that he had saved her, killed her attackers and did all he could to make sure she healed, gave her nothing but kindness and patience and made sure she was always looked after.
That was the popular theory, at least. But she knew that was not it. She still questioned why he helped her, questioned his motives and was still scared, to some extent, of him. But there was this feeling that she could trust him, one that came from deep within her and stuck to her very bones.
But she did not know why she felt this way and nor did Godric, though he had some idea as he had felt it once before, long ago, and he was now researching all he could. Not just on the differences and what was done to make her like she is, but also on their connection, something that, if he was right on his theory, was truly rare indeed.
But, back in present times, the girl was up in her room watching someone TV crime show, Criminal Minds. The horror she saw on that show rocked her to the core, and often made her paranoid mind expand and make her fear the shadows around her, but there was something addictive about it, something that made her want to know more.
She was currently on an episode where a child had been kidnapped and her divorced parents were arguing.
This particular scene sparked something in the girl watching the show, and she found herself hearing some broken words, and watching a blurry scene, like she was watching TV screen in the middle of a storm. You know, when it stops and starts, the picture pixelates and the words become broken and static.
“I can’t do this anymore!” A young woman’s voice was first to hit her ears. “I-
The scene before her was of two blurry figures, a man and a woman, in what she assumed from the shapes, was a kitchen.
“-can’t do that!” The man’s voice sounded heartbroken, disbelief in his tone.
The woman said something else, but it was just a shrill in the girl’s ears.
“R- possi- think that- best for her.”
“It is.” The woman sounded confident, “Now I’m tak- Char-“ The woman was suddenly looking at the girl as the memory distorted and started to fade out, “-la.”
The girl gasped, her body shaking as she realized that she had remembered something of her past, not much and it was barely there, but she had remembered something. That was good, it meant that she might remember more soon.
“Char-la.” She tested the word out on her tongue. It felt familiar, and yet foreign. “Charla.” She said again, she liked it. It sounded right, different, but right. She, Charla, felt the excitement well up inside her, even as the fear hid at the edges. “Charla!” She said again, beyond happy to finally have a name for herself.
She heard a knock at the door and instantly spun around, her happy mood disappearing as the fear swallowed her.
“Barnie?” Charla sighed out in relief, it was only Godric. “Can I come in.”
“Yes.” She said, not as loud as you might have thought, but not a whisper either. More like, in between the two. A human would not have heard her answer, but a vampire would.
She sat back down on her twin bed, wondering when she stood up, as Godric entered the room, an amused smile on his face.
He walked at a human pace over to her, looking at her questioningly and waiting for her approval before he sat on the other end of the bed as she scooted so her back was to the headboard.
Godric’s eyes flickered to the now commercial-playing TV, then back to her. “What had you so happy, Barnie?” The strong emotions he had felt through their weak bond had been enough to rouse him from his office, it wasn’t often he truly felt her feelings, and when he did, it was usually fear or sadness.
She hesitated for a moment, before stuttering out, shyly, “Ah, I re-remembered s-something.”
Godric sat up straighter at hearing this, “You did? What did you remember?” He asked her in a calm manner, not letting the wonder, worry and slight fear show as he stayed strong, though he knew she more than likely could see some hint of his true feelings despite his mask. She was good like that.
“There, there was a man and a woman. They, they were blur-blurry and ah-I think we were in a kitchen. T-they were ar-ar-arguing and, and, the woman said, something.”
“What did she say?”
“My name, I think.”
Surprise registered on his face for a fraction of a moment before it was a clean slate again, he looked at her, silently asking her if he could know her name.
“Charla, I-I think.”
“You think?”
“It-it doesn’t sound r-right, but it does, s-s-sound, sound right.”
“Hmm…” Godric hummed. Charla. The female version of Charles, meaning ‘manly’. The Spanish word for ‘chat’ and not typically a common name in this day and age, if he remembered correctly.
It didn’t seem right somehow, it just didn’t seem like her name. But he could see the hope and excitement hidden in her eyes and couldn’t help but smile at her.
“Charla.” He said with an affirmative nod.
“Charla.” She smiled.
That night, Charla ventured out of her bedroom while everyone was out. Godric had told her that he would be back in a few hours and to not worry. That she could explore the house and grounds, but to not leave the property, not that she had any intentions in doing that.
She was just trailing through the open living area when she heard a noise behind her and, gasping, she whirled around, backing up against the wooden draws, looking back for a second as they banged against the wall, the trinkets on the top and the fine brass handles rattling as it did.
“Now what do we have here?” The unfamiliar man asked, his clean-shaven face twisting up into a smirk, “Godric left me a snack, how thoughtful.”
His hand reached up to brush a strand of brown hair out of her face and she flinched, her body shaking with fear and her heart thumping loudly in her chest. She tried to stutter out that she was not a snack and under Godric’s protection, but her mouth was frozen shut as she cringed back in fear.
“Shhh…” He said, condescendingly, “It’ll only hurt a little… or a lot.” His smirk widened as she tried futilely to move and his hands came up to bruising grip her arms.
“P-p-p-p-ple-p-p-please.” She stuttered out while she whimpered, internally shouting at herself for being so weak.
Fight, fight fight.
That’s what she wanted to do as he lowered his face to her neck, breathing in her wondrous, mixed, yet slightly sour, scent. But she couldn’t move, her body had locked down in itself and Stan’s words, from when he had been left alone with her last week, came back to her.
“You’re just a weak, pathetic blood-bag who will always be too afraid to do anything. If you are ever in a life-threatening situation, you will die. I personally don’t know what Godric sees in you, you are weak and you will always be weak, because you are afraid.”
She honestly did not know if that was advice or not, but she guessed by his hateful sneer and cold personality, that it wasn’t. But now, thinking back on it, she realized that what he said was true, she was weak. She was letting her fear control her, and she didn’t want it to.
But even as she made the internal decision to fight, her body would not, only managing to push him back but as she started to run, something grabbed her ankle and next she knew she was hitting the wall. Hard.
Blood came out of her mouth and she had no time to recover as she was thrown into another one, the sound of something snapping and crunching, and the agony her back was now in was nothing compared to the paralyzes that encompassed her body, locking it down as though she were frozen in ice and she could do nothing but watch as the predator stalked towards her, her eyes wide with fear.
His fangs dropped down as the scent of her fresh blood filled the room and he bit into her neck, pulling blood from her greedily as her heart became slower and slower.
Her last thoughts before she passed out, was not that she was about to die; she did not care for the fear of death anymore, more the fear of life. No, her last thoughts were that this seemed all too familiar, like it had happened before, but she could not remember how or when…
Meanwhile, the vampire, Samual, was enjoying her taste. Most did not like the bitterness of sour blood, but it was his favorite and this blood-bag was like a cocktail of mixed flavors, all blended together to make such a beautiful bouquet.
But, suddenly, he was thrown off of his meal and was being held back by two other vampires, watching as the famed calm Sheriff, the one who he had come to ask if he could stay in the area, snarled into his face.
Samual was confused, why was he being taken from his meal, had he drank out of the Sheriff’s personal blood-bag? He hadn’t smelt his scent in her, on her yes- but he had just assumed that was because she was in the Sheriff’s home, he had not thought…
“Taken him to the basement. He is to have nothing and to be chained in silver until I come to deal with him. No one hurts those under my protection and gets away with it.”
The guilty vampire could only watch with disbelieved horror as he was dragged off, somehow knowing that he would never leave this place undead, again.
Godric tried to desperately heal her wounds, feeding her his blood, but she had lost too much blood and so, all he was doing was helping in turning her. Though he did not mind this, in fact he had been working towards doing such since he had rescued her, this was not how he wanted it to happen.
“Go dig her a grave, quickly!” He shouted to no one in particular, but no one moved, too frozen in their shock. They knew he cared greatly for the girl, but to turn her? “NOW!”
His angered command sent the vampires into a frenzy as they went to dig her a grave as
Godric carefully lifted her up and vamped outside with her in his hold, so that he could put her in as soon as the grave was dug, which would not be long as the vampires were digging, abet grudgingly, at an inhumanly fast pace.
He didn’t even know if turning would work, he knew the risks of turning someone who was as close to death as she was. But for a reason he did not fully know, he could not lose her. He would not.
Once the grave was dug he carefully placed her inside, kissing her forehead and muttering, “Gipta eða rísa vel, minn barn.” (Good luck and rise well, my child in Old Norse) before he jumped out and personally closed the grave.
He was not sure how long he stood there, staring at the freshly turned dirt, but it was enough time for his saddened thoughts to turn to anger as he set his sights on the one who hurt his new barn. His Barnie.
The idiot was locked up beneath Godric’s home, and Godric had at least two days to make the one that hurt his child paid. Violently.
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Summary: Shortly after the conclusion of the Witch War, Claudine finds herself haunted by recurring nightmares and decides she needs to take a more hands on approach with her ward for both their sakes…
Characters / Pairing: Claudine Crane, Claude Crane [Sookie Stackhouse/Eric Northman]
Genre: Supernatural, Romance/Drama
Rating: M (Language & Sexual Content)
Status: Complete
Claudine’s POV
“Ugh,” I groan out, rolling in my bed, having to wipe glistening sweat from my brow as remnants of my nightmare continue to play vividly through my mind. That same damn nightmare that manages to vary subtly yet always remains the same. It relentlessly haunts me, refusing to grant me even one night of much needed, peaceful rest.
This time I was standing in the middle of a field. The night, as per usual, was dark and foreboding, a dense dread seeming to hang in the air, thick enough to nearly choke upon. Drizzling rain was cascading heavily from thick, gray clouds above to leave me clutching tightly onto my umbrella in a rather weak attempt to remain warm and dry.
So there I am, all alone, trudging through this endless field, the forbidding night surrounding me, ominously cloaking me in thick, ceaseless blackness. I trudge on, longing only for refuge, an escape from the bitter night, my steps soon quickening, yet seeming only to carry me further into this miserable abyss.
Then it happens, just as it always does, a bright, near-blinding light appears high above, splitting the bleak darkness wide with its glowing splendor; a benevolent light, a heavenly light. It’s astoundingly beautiful, instantly able to captivate me with its radiating warmth that I swear I can almost feel caressing along my skin. It’s calling me, silently promising me protection, an escape from this eternal desolation I so desperately crave.
And then I’m running, faster, faster, pumping my legs just as hard as I possibly can, desperate to touch that beautiful glow, to feel it surrounding me, engulfing me fully within its unfathomable warmth and security. Winded gasps soon fall from my lips, my lungs burn, my muscles ache, yet still I run, pushing with literally everything within me, desperate to catch hold of the glowing promise before me, which is just out of reach.
But then, as always, the light begins to pull further away from me, slowly at first, only to gradually pick up its speed, leaving me careening ever faster, pushing ever harder as I chase after the waning glow. It’s only once the light disappears completely, leaving me nothing more than a heaving, desolate mess upon the dampened ground that I realize I’m sobbing and have been for some time now.
I weep openly over my loss, over the longing ache left resonating within my hollow chest that serves only as a painful reminder of the light I just wasn’t fast enough to seize. And that’s when I wake, that same, resounding ache still emanating within my chest and more often than not, remnants of salty tears still to be found upon my cheeks.
“Dammit,” I sigh out, prying myself from my bed, knowing full well I’ll never manage to fall back asleep. I trail over to my bedroom window, looking out over the deceivingly peaceful atmosphere sitting behind cool glass.
I can’t do it anymore. I just can’t continue living like this, with the remnants of these foreboding dreams continuously haunting me, never granting me any sense of peace. It’s slowly killing me, wearing down my carefully built resilience to render me but a mere shadow of the Fae I once was. I refuse to live like this for even a moment longer.
With a pop, I find myself standing, once more, just outside my ward’s living room window. Sookie. These dreams only started after I’d accepted my place as her Faerie Godmother. She hasn’t made things easy on me, what with the way she’s always charging headfirst into danger, it’s enough to give a Fae a damn complex, really, but lately things have been worse, so much worse.
I genuinely fear for my ward as of late, not in a physical sense for once, for what ails her currently is a matter of the heart. Even now she sits, tears streaming down her face, the sound of her breaking heart nearly loud enough for even human ears to hear, and I swear, the deeper she falls into her depression, the worse my nightmares become, leading me to believe the two seemingly unrelated circumstances are in all actuality, innately linked.
This all started months before, when my ward stepped up to care for the Viking during his bout of amnesia. I watched, as I always do, as she and the vampire became close, the two of them finding an unexpected kinship in one another while the Viking was in his memory-less state.
At first, I couldn’t help but worry for my kin’s safety, knowing she was in such close quarters with a millennium old vampire, but then, I suppose such fears likely stemmed from my own ingrained fear of vampires as a whole, as the Viking never so much as harmed even a hair upon my kin’s golden head. No, the Viking displayed not even a hint of malice in their time together; in fact, he seemed to fall head over heels for my stubborn, southern bred kin, who, in turn, seemed to fall just as hard for the ancient, vampire warrior.
And then it happened, the one event that even I, as Sookie’s magically inclined guardian, was unable to protect her from. Eric, the Viking, the Norse Man, the Sheriff regained his memories, inevitably returning to himself once more and, in a cruel twist of fate, was unable to recall any of the time he and Sookie shared in this old home together, seeming not even to recall the obvious love he held for her.
Sookie and I haven’t been the same since. Her subsequent heartache along with my terrifying nightmares, have left the two of us in mirroring agony and I’ve come to conclude that the only way I’ll manage to find any semblance of relief for either one of us, is if I can somehow find a way to fix this. The ‘this’ is obvious enough, really, the only question remaining is how. How does one go about mending a broken heart?
I’ve saved Sookie’s life on several occasions thus far, keeping her alive sometimes by the very skin of her teeth, yet I’ve always somehow managed. But this, well, this is a different problem entirely. Fixing this will take subtlety, finesse, and, I can only assume, a whole hell of a lot of patience.
“Eric,” my head snaps up, hearing the Viking’s name fall miserably from my kin’s trembling lips. Oh, Sookie, sweet, human kin of mine, I’m here for you, always caring, always watching, and am hurting right along with you. There must be a way, there just has to be something I can do. Every fiber of my being is screaming at me to make this right and if my dreams serve as any indication, my very fate may be at stake here as well as my kin’s.
Think, Claudine, think! Okay, let’s start with what we know, that’s simple enough. This all began when Eric regained his memories and moved on with his life once more. Since then, the two have hardly spoken and Sookie’s heartache, along with my nightmares, have worsened exponentially ever since. Therefore, I’m left to believe the only way we can begin setting things right once more, is to bring the two of them back together.
“That’s it!” I exclaim, a triumphant grin finding its way to my face as a plan begins to formulate. “Don’t worry, Sookie, things will be better soon, you’ll see,” I offer through the glass, knowing full well my kin hasn’t heard my promise, but this, of course, makes my pledge no less heartfelt.
I pause a moment then, knowing the first step of my plan is a rather risky one, but one that needs to be seen to all the same. Shit. Fates don’t fail me now. I close my eyes, focusing my concentration before abruptly popping myself away.
Eric’s POV
Heart’s desire. Those two words have resounded endlessly within my mind ever since Pam discovered the source of the curse Hallow so graciously bestowed upon me. I would be close to my heart’s desire without ever realizing it. That was the curse the Were-Bitch used, really? What the fuck does that even mean?
Sookie. She holds the answers, of this I have no doubt, but she stubbornly refuses to tell me of what transpired during my amnesiac state. Sweet Odin, how that woman infuriates me! Why must she always be so fucking stubborn as well as so nauseatingly obstinate!? It’s almost more than a vampire, even one as ancient as myself, can endure!
The two of us obviously exchanged more blood in my memory addled state, because to make matters infinitely worse, I can feel her. Odin, the despair is radiating off her in endless waves; how can one, small human even manage to muster this level of misery!? Her emotions are poignant and inconceivably distracting, running through my very veins to render me a complete and utter mess.
Nightly, I have to fight the urge to run back to that decrepit farmhouse just to check in on her. But I won’t. I just can’t. The very thought of coming face to face with Sookie once more is enough to make my undead heart ache, but more than that, I fear her rejecting me once more, and that is just something I’m unwilling to face yet again.
Pop! The loud and unexpected noise reverberates through the small room, managing to instantly set me on edge as I note a vaguely familiar form now standing in the middle of my office. Faeries; fucking fantastic, because it’s not as if my night wasn’t troubling enough as it is.
“Viking,” the dark haired Fae greets solemnly as I’m left gripping the edge of my desk tightly, half in annoyance, half in an attempt to restrain myself as my senses are suddenly assaulted with the heavenly sweet scent of the Fae.
“Faerie,” I answer back, my voice strained and laced with irritancy. Dark, determined eyes meet my stern glare and I’m somewhat surprised to note the fearless nature of the woman before me. She seems to be evaluating me, those chocolate colored, calculating eyes wracking over me carefully to leave me even more frustrated than before. “What is it?” I question harshly, wanting only to be rid of my uninvited guest already.
“It’s Sookie,” she states firmly, instantly quelling my anger as icy fear is suddenly taking over to grip me tightly.
“Sookie?” I question incredulously, certain I must have misheard her as I’d likely be the very last person that anyone, especially of Fae persuasion, would come to with any matter concerning said woman.
“She needs you, Viking, now,” the dark haired Fae insists before abruptly popping away once more to leave me utterly bewildered. I stand gaping for a prolonged moment, my senses nearly overwhelmed with the lingering Fae scent left behind by my recent visitor and my mind positively reeling with the implications of her words.
Suddenly, I’m flying. I don’t even recall exiting the bar, yet I find myself soaring at breakneck speeds, intent on reaching Sookie just as quickly as possible. She needs me. The words replay over and over again in my mind, fear over said woman’s safety welling within me as I continue to speed through the star studded night.
What feels like entire ages, yet can only be mere minutes later, I land upon a very familiar, paint chipped front porch. My feet barely make contact with the worn wood below before I’m flinging open the front door, my terror widened eyes already scanning the farmhouse’s interior fearfully.
“Sookie!?” I cry out in a panic, my entire world coming to a complete standstill as I anxiously await a response.
“E-Eric?” I hear Sookie’s voice just before said woman comes into view, her own eyes wide, though in apparent shock instead of shared fear, leaving me momentarily confused.
“What happened? Are you alright?” I question anxiously, shaking off my puzzlement as I step closer, my eyes searching for any outward signs of harm. She’s been crying, this much is clear, but other than that, she seems to be fine, physically speaking that is. I let out a small sigh of relief, grateful at least for this small miracle.
“Wh-what? Eric, what are you doing here?” she demands, her golden head shaking in confusion, to leave me standing before her in mirroring bewilderment. I open my mouth to answer her just before a telling pop sounds out around us.
“I sent him,” we hear, leaving Sookie and I whipping our heads in unison to come face to face with the dark haired Faerie from my office.
“Claudine?” Sookie questions, her face scrunching in puzzlement.
“Listen, I have a few things to say and you two are gonna listen,” she insists, earning a clenched jaw from me as I have absolutely no intention of listening to anything this irritating Fae on an apparent power trip has to say.
“I’m out,” I murmur, turning on my heel before marching directly back to the front door. “What the fuck!?” I hiss out, twisting the door handle only to discover the fucking thing won’t budge.
“You will find any attempt at escape to be futile, Viking,” I hear Claudine claim from behind me, bringing a menacing growl from my throat.
“Let me out, now,” I demand, letting her note the sincerity of my words. A soft sigh falls from her lips as she proceeds to shake her head at me.
“Must you always be so confrontational?” Claudine questions to leave me clenching my fists in ire.
“Yes,” Sookie mutters, stepping up beside the two of us, a disapproving frown settled over her face. I raise a brow at her, seeing her set her hands defiantly upon her hips. The room falls eerily quiet then, with Sookie and I staring one another down as Claudine proceeds to look back and forth between us in clear exasperation.
“This is gonna be even harder than I thought,” Claudine sighs out, shaking her head at the two of us, only to earn mirroring scowls from both Sookie and myself.
Sookie’s POV
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I question, already over this whole thing as I see Claudine’s face set in firm, exasperated lines.
“I’d be glad to tell you, that is if you two think you could put your tantrums on hold for a minute,” she answers back, raising a brow at the two of us to leave me wondering if she doesn’t have more than a few screws loose as no sane Fae would knowingly taunt a vampire the way she is.
“Fine,” Eric sighs out, marching between the two of us to leave both Claudine and I both staring after him in mirroring shock. Not one to be outplayed, I follow along after him, careful to keep my distance as I settle at the opposite end of the sofa from him with a defeated sigh.
“Well, now we’re getting somewhere,” Claudine remarks and I find I can’t help rolling my eyes at her triumphant smirk. This is far from amusing as far as I’m concerned. “I suppose you’re both wondering why it is I brought you here tonight,” she starts, earning a light scoff from Eric.
“Is there something wrong with Tara?” I find myself questioning anxiously, having seen the two women together several times now.
“Your friend is fine, Sookie,” she assures me, instantly quelling my rising fears with a soft smile. “Before I continue though, I suppose there’s something I should tell you,” she continues. “Believe it or not, I’m actually your Faerie Godmother,” she claims, earning an incredulous brow from me. “I know, I know, it’s not the easiest concept to accept, but you can trust me when I say you’re my assigned ward.”
“Oh,” I answer back, recalling the way she magically appeared in my car, assuredly saving my life by showing up just in the nick of time.
“You haven’t exactly made things easy on me,” she adds with a sigh that leaves Eric snorting in amusement. I send him a hard glare, before seeing the apparently amused vampire shrug his broad shoulders. Ugh.
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, but in my defense, my life wasn’t nearly so dangerous before I got sucked into vampire bullshit,” I accuse, my gaze fixed steadily upon the blond pain in the ass at the opposite end of the couch.
“Really? You’re blaming me for dragging you into the supernatural world?” Eric throws back, angry lines creased over his face.
“Well I don’t see any other vampires around, do you?” I retort, not missing a beat to leave Eric scowling at me.
“Enough!” Claudine cries out, instantly gaining both our attentions once more. “Seriously, you’re both acting like spoiled toddlers!” An annoyed huff falls from my lips as I’m left crossing my arms in annoyance. Spoiled toddler my ass. “This is precisely the reason I’m now forced to intervene,” she sighs out.
“Intervene?” Eric questions, slanting his eyes at the Faerie. “Just why are we here?” he demands of her.
“Well, like I said, I’m Sookie’s Faerie Godmother and therefore, her wellbeing is of great importance to me,” Claudine explains, leaving me looking up to her in fear.
“You’re saying I’m in danger?” I question anxiously, hardly having even come to terms with the whole Witch War debacle, let alone the Debbie Pelt fiasco. Dear God, will I ever get a break!?
“What? No,” Claudine assures me to leave me sighing in relief. “Well, not physically anyways,” she adds lowly to leave me and Eric both looking to her in question. “Look, believe it or not, I’m here not only for my own sake, but both of yours as well,” she insists, dropping down to the nearby sofa with a defeated sigh.
“Our sakes?” Eric questions her, apparently finding it difficult to believe a Faerie could care at all about any vampire’s wellbeing.
“Yes, Viking, I’m willing to set aside petty prejudices for the sake of the greater good,” she assures him with a shrug. “Look, whether you’re ready to admit it or not, the two of you are positively miserable right now and while normally, I’d be perfectly content to just sit back and let you both stew, that’s simply not a feasible option at this point.”
A thick silence settles over the three of us then as I’m left shifting rather awkwardly, not having realized my recent misery was being witnessed from afar. I steal a glance over at Eric, seeing him sitting utterly still; a blank mask set firmly over his face to leave me wondering just what it is he’s hiding. But then, she did say we were both miserable. But what on earth does he have to be miserable about?
“So you’re what, here to counsel us or something? Get us to air out all our emotions before leading us in a heartfelt rendition of Kumbaya?” Eric questions sardonically, apparently already having returned to his normal, cocky self once more before he’s rolling his eyes at the utter absurdity of the situation.
“Yes…and no,” Claudine answers back with a shrug. “I’m not about to sing, but you two are going to air your shit out and you’re not leaving this house until you do just that,” she states determinedly to leave Eric and I staring at her in utter disbelief.
“But you can’t do that!” I cry out, jumping to my feet as I’m not about to be forced to hash out things with that man.
“Can’t I?” Claudine questions with a quirked brow, standing to her own feet once more. “Eric has felt for himself the strength of the wards upon this place and you can trust me when I say nothing short of an Act of God will allow entry or exit to this home until you two have come to terms. And you need not worry about work our social obligations of any kind as this house has been frozen in a magical stasis of sorts.”
“Like fucking hell I’ll allow myself to be trapped by a goddamn Faerie!” Eric cries, his fangs shooting down in rage as he makes to leap towards the woman before us.
“Drain me and I can promise you, neither of you will ever leave,” Claudine warns, her voice seething to leave Eric standing frozen in place as he seems to be weighing the consequences of seeing his threat through despite her claims.
“Claudine, please, just be reasonable,” I plead, not wanting to see this situation get any more out of hand and really, really not wanting to go through with her plans for us.
“If I thought there was any other way, Sookie, I wouldn’t be asking this of you,” she answers back, her eyes never leaving the incensed Viking before her.
“Bullshit!” Eric cries out, pointing an accusing finger towards Claudine. “You can let us both out of here right now and you very well know it.”
“Well of course I could,” Claudine sighs out tiredly. “But I fear the consequences of such would be staggering,” she adds in a somber tone, giving both Eric and I pause.
“But, Claudine, how are we supposed to fix this?” I question her, earning a sympathetic gaze from my Faerie Godmother.
“I’m leaving that up to the two of you to decide,” she answers back with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter how you go about it, only that you strive to fix the rift the two of you have created betwixt yourselves,” she claims, earning a deep frown from me as I just don’t see that happening, not in this lifetime at least. “The two of you shared something truly special within these very walls not so very long ago, perhaps retracing your steps will lead you there yet again,” she reasons before abruptly popping away.
Eric’s POV
I stand frozen, staring at the spot the Fae only just stood, hardly able to believe what just happened. No. This can’t be real, I can’t be fucking stuck here, I just can’t. There has to be a way out and I won’t rest until I find it. I march to the front door again, proceeding to twist the handle hard enough to leave it utterly misshapen and unrecognizable, yet the door still remains unmoved.
“Hey!” Sookie cries out, running up behind me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” she cries, gaping down at the destroyed handle before hitting me with a spiteful glare. I pay her no mind though, proceeding to take a nearby table firmly in hand before slamming it up against a nearby window.
“Shit,” I mutter, looking down at the wooden remnants of the table that proved unsuccessful in leaving even so much as a scratch upon the glass.
“Damn it, Eric, knock it the hell off, will you?” Sookie demands, swatting the wooden shards from my hands with an annoyed huff. “You’ll tear up my whole damn house if you keep this up.”
“I’ll be sure to replace your precious belongings,” I grit out, already searching for another way out.
“Seriously!?” Sookie questions once I begin ferociously slamming my fist against apparently unwavering drywall. Damn, these wards really are insanely strong. “You done yet?” Sookie questions, sending me an exasperated gaze.
“There has to be a way out of here,” I insist, eliciting a loud sigh from Sookie who proceeds to march up to the window I was unsuccessful in breaking.
“If you think you can spare a moment from the whole He-Man, brute routine,” she sighs, pulling the curtains open fully before us. “You’d see Claudine wasn’t kidding when she said this house was in some sort of magical stasis,” she claims, pointing at the glass. Letting out an annoyed sigh of my own, I step closer before following her gaze through the glass.
“No fucking way,” I whisper, gazing out over the wholly stationary world beyond. Grass and tree branches are bent under a now stilled wind and just behind the cool glass, I can clearly see a moth hovering motionless, suspended only through what I have no choice but to accept as a spelled stasis.
“She wasn’t lying, Eric,” Sookie remarks softly. “Which means no one’s coming for us. There’s only one way we’re getting out of here,” she sighs out miserably, a deep frown forming over her face as I feel distress rolling off her in waves.
“Right,” I have no choice but to concede, thinking the two of us would likely have more luck in bringing lasting peace to the Middle East than trying to actually mend things between us.
“Ugh! This is impossible! How could she do this to us!?” Sookie groans out, collapsing to the nearby sofa with a deep sigh.
“She must have her reasons,” I find myself musing aloud, propping myself up against the back of the sofa. Sookie sends me an incredulous look and I can only shrug before continuing on. “Look at it this way; she’s purposely trapped an ancient vampire, the very species her kind has been at war with for centuries now in order to see this thing through. In doing so, she’s willingly risking her own life, so I think it’s safe to say she’s pretty damn serious about this.”
“Maybe, it still doesn’t make a whole lotta sense though, I mean, why force the two of us together? What the hell could that possibly accomplish?” she questions and I find I have no answers for her, having been wondering that exact thing myself.
“She’s your Faerie Godmother, you know her better than I ever will,” I sigh out, lying myself out along the back of the sofa, my gaze raised to the ceiling above.
“I didn’t ask for a damned Faerie Godmother,” Sookie complains. “And I certainly never pictured myself being magically jailed by one, but then, perhaps I should just learn to accept that my life will never turn out the way I expect it to,” she adds, her voice becoming softer as I feel those same, mournful waves stirring within her once more.
“And this is a bad thing?” I can’t help but question, tilting my head to catch sight of her frowning face.
“Of course it is,” she insists with a huff. “Ugh, just never mind, you wouldn’t understand,” she sighs out, proceeding to roll onto her side to leave her back facing me.
“Of course I can’t understand if you’re unwilling to explain why it is you feel this way,” I argue, unable to keep my rising frustrations from leaking into my words. Sookie looks back over her shoulder then, her bubbling anger welling between us as she hits me with a hardened glare.
“You just don’t get it, do you?” she bites out, sitting upright to bring her incensed face inches before my own. “I never wanted this, any of it! I just want a normal fucking life! A life that doesn’t include me ending up in the damn hospital every few months, a life that doesn’t include me constantly having to look over my shoulder, a life that doesn’t include any fucking supernatural beings, especially goddamn vampires!”
“Was that really so hard?” I question back coolly, watching her eyes widen in surprise before an annoyed growl rises from her throat.
“Ugh! You always have to be so damn smug,” she throws back at me to leave me raising my brow at her.
“At least I can accept what I am,” I answer back smoothly, watching shock play over her face before she opens her mouth to argue. “No, just hear me out,” I say, cutting her off abruptly. “You say you want a normal life, one free of supernaturals as a whole, but have you ever considered this is the world in which you truly belong?”
“I-, but I’m human,” she insists, even as I feel her own self-doubt rising between us.
“Yes, because telepathy is clearly a common trait amongst humans,” I state to leave her frowning deeply.
“Whatever, I can’t deal with this right now,” she states before abruptly rising from the couch.
“Fine,” I sigh out, proceeding to levitate myself down to the now abandoned sofa cushions below. “But you do realize you’re only temporarily putting off the inevitable,” I remark, earning yet another scowl as she proceeds to march away from me.
“I need to get some sleep,” she sighs out. “Hopefully a clear head will help me in dealing with this mess,” she adds before proceeding to ascend the creaking staircase of our temporary prison.
“I’ll be here when you’re ready to talk some more,” I call out, really not looking forward to more arguing, but then, it’s not like either of us really has much choice in the matter. I hear Sookie mumbling irritably under her breath and can only sigh once more, realizing it’s likely to be a very, very long time before either one of us is permitted to leave this place.
Claudine’s POV
“Holy shit, Claudine!” Claude cries out, shaking his head at me, his eyes wide with disbelief. “You can’t just lock the two of them up in that house together! They’ll kill one another!”
“Oh, please,” I sigh out with an eye roll, dropping unceremoniously down to my bed. “Must you always be such a drama queen?”
“Claudine, I’m serious, this is way outside the guidelines of normal Fae Guardianship, I mean, what do you think Niall would have to say about this?” he persists to leave me shrugging with indifference.
“I can honestly say I don’t give a shit,” I enlighten my dumbfounded twin. “This thing with Sookie and Eric, it’s more important than you realize, Claude, I can feel it.”
“This is about your nightmares,” he remarks softly, clear concern shining in dark eyes that mirror my own perfectly.
“Yeah,” I whisper, an icy shudder running through me at the very mention of those insistent nightmares.
“And you really think this will help?” he questions, dropping down beside me as I’m left shrugging.
“I don’t know, Claude, but I had to do something and literally every fiber of my being is telling me that this is all somehow connected. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I can’t just sit back and do nothing, I just can’t,” I explain, feeling familiar arms wrap themselves comfortingly around me.
“Alright,” my twin remarks softly, his hands rubbing small circles over my back.
“You’re alright with this then?” I question, glancing up to see a small smirk play over his face.
“It’s insane,” he answers back, his dark head shaking. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t support you. These nightmares of yours affect me too, ya know,” he adds, his voice falling softer. “I hate seeing what they’re doing to you, Sis, so if you really think this will help, I’m all for it.”
“Thanks, Claude,” I sigh out, somehow feeling better in knowing I have his support as I pull him in for a tight hug.
“Besides, this should be exceedingly entertaining to watch,” he remarks, earning a quirked brow from me as I pull away to see him pointing towards the large mirror hanging up over my dresser, the mirror presently displaying the current happenings of the Stackhouse residence.
“Claude!” I chuckle out, shaking my head at my mischievous twin. “We’re not spying on the two of them,” I insist, noting the incredulous look upon my brother’s face. “It’s just a safety precaution, you know, in case the two of them really do try to kill one another,” I add, seeing amusement shining in Claude’s dark eyes.
“Whatever you say, Sis,” he answers back before he’s looking back to the mirror, his head tilting in question. “Hey, what is that?” he whispers, squinting up at an image of the Viking lounged out over the living room sofa.
“What’s what?” I question, looking on as Claude stands, before drawing his face closer to the reflective surface.
“That, right there, in the vampire’s hands,” he says as I step closer, noting what appears to be parchment of some kind held within the Viking’s hands.
“Hm,” I muse, reaching up to tap the glass, instantly enlarging the image to leave Claude and I staring at the amplified page together. “Heart’s desire,” I whisper, my eyes scanning over the scrawled writing intently before realization sets in.
“Is that?” Claude questions to leave me nodding my agreement as there’s only one logical explanation.
“Hallow’s spell,” I conclude, a small smile finding its way to my face as I realize what this means.
“But that would mean Sookie-,” he muses aloud, his eyes widening in realization. “Do you think she knows?” my brother asks me as my smile widens.
“Something tells me she will soon enough,” I answer back, earning a matching grin from my twin.
“Damn, Sis, you’re good,” he commends. “And to think, Niall was ready to send Preston over to visit Sookie to ensure she wasn’t alone for the holidays, if you know what I mean,” he adds lowly to leave me staring at him in disbelief.
“He wasn’t,” the words fall from my lips as my eyes widen in shock.
“Oh, he was, Preston was bragging to anyone who would listen down at the club about the prince’s plans,” my brother enlightens me to leave me positively fuming.
“That-, that-, ugh, I just can’t believe he would do that!” I sputter out in irritation.
“Hey, you’re not the only one to take notice of just how miserable Sookie’s been lately,” Claude reasons, his hand landing upon my shoulder. “Niall was hoping it would help is all, but now, well, now I guess Preston will be in for quite a surprise,” he adds amusedly and I find I can’t help the smirk that pulls at my own lips.
“I suppose you’re right about that,” I answer back, glancing back up to the mirror thoughtfully. Come on, Viking, don’t let Sookie down, not again.
Sookie’s POV
Slowly, I peel my eyes open, having tossed and turned restlessly throughout the entire night, Eric’s words echoing endlessly through my mind, insisting that I’m more than merely human, a thought that, if I’m to be perfectly honest with myself, has haunted me for years now, even as I’ve stubbornly refused to believe it.
“You’re up!” Eric’s voice sounds merrily to leave me snapping my head to the right, seeing him crouched down beside my bed with his chin perched atop my mattress.
“W-what the hell?” I stammer out in surprise, seeing cobalt eyes twinkling up at me in apparent amusement. “Were you watching me sleep?”
“Only for…,” he starts, glancing over to my digital clock. “About the last three hours or so,” he admits with a shrug, earning an annoyed huff from me.
“That’s creepy,” I tell him with an eye roll. “Why are you up anyhow? Shouldn’t you be, you know, dead?” I question curiously, watching as he begins wandering through my room, his curious gaze taking in every detail.
“It’s still night,” he answers back absently, shrugging his broad shoulders as he stares down at the framed photographs I have scattered across my dresser. “Likely will be for as long as we’re trapped here too, so I guess I won’t have to worry about finding shelter from the sun,” he explains to leave me glancing out still darkened windows. Right, the stasis, I guess he’s probably right then.
“Hey!” I cry out then, rushing forward just in time to slam my dresser drawer shut before prying eyes. “Will you knock it off already?” I hiss out in embarrassment, having only just kept him from sneaking a peek into my underwear drawer.
“Sure,” he answers back with a sly grin. “Though, I’ve already searched through every other room quite thoroughly during your slumber,” he enlightens me, bringing a low growl from my throat that only manages to widen his grin.
“You’re such an ass,” I sigh out, not really all that surprised about his apparent lack of understanding as far as personal privacy is concerned. “And why the hell do you keep grinning like that? It’s too damn early for this amount of enthusiasm,” I grumble out, proceeding to wrap my fluffy bathrobe around myself before making my way towards the bedroom door, fully intent on brewing a very strong pot of coffee.
“Actually, it’s technically still just after midnight,” he sounds out cheerfully as he proceeds to follow along behind me.
“Whatever,” I sigh out, finally making it to the kitchen before going about my brewing. “So you spent the entire night going through my things, find anything interesting?” I can’t help but question sardonically as I push the start button on my trusty coffee maker.
“Several things, actually,” he answers back rather cryptically, to earn a raised brow from me. “But mostly, I had time to think,” he admits, a sly grin stretching over his face as he sits just across the table from me.
“About what?” I question, even as I can’t help but fear his answer.
“About how we can get out of here of course,” he answers back matter of factly, as if this is the most obvious statement in the world, though, given our present circumstances; I suppose it very well may be.
“Let me guess, you’re plan includes a sledgehammer and perhaps a bit of C4,” I answer back sarcastically, recalling the way he went all Hercules-esque upon my poor old farmhouse the night before. I keep his gaze, watching glittering cobalt eyes twinkle deviously.
“I’ve come to realize brute strength is not the answer,” he admits, his head tilting thoughtfully as he watches me pour a steaming cup of joe. I take the first heavenly sip, already grateful for my extensive supply of the mystical beans before pressing ahead.
“Alright, I’m listening, how are you going to get us out of here, if not by knocking my poor house to the ground?” I question, watching him draw his face a bit closer before my own.
“We’ll take the advice of your Faerie Godmother, of course,” he answers back, giving me momentary pause. Claudine gave us advice? I find myself thinking over her words from the night before and soon my eyes are bulging, finally realizing what the infuriating Viking is going on about.
“No, not happening, not in a million years,” I insist, seeing his golden head nodding before me as his smile grows impossibly wide.
“I’m afraid you have no other choice, dear Sookie, you finally must not only tell me just what happened between us in my memory-less state, but must walk me through it, step by step,” he insists to leave me shaking my head in disagreement.
“I can’t, Eric, I just-, I can’t,” I insist mournfully, my heart pinching painfully once more as my mind is assaulted with bittersweet memories of my Eric, of the sweet, kind, caring man I fell in love with who has all but disappeared, having once more transformed into the smug, know it all vampire sitting before me now.
“I don’t think we have any other choice here, Sookie,” Eric’s voice is softer, the start of what appears to be concern shining in his eyes as I’m left sighing in defeat. Claudine did say the two of us may need to retrace our steps if we were to find what we’ve now lost between us, but this doesn’t mean this will be easy, not in the slightest.
I can’t help but think Claudine really does want to help the two of us, she did say both our sakes, as well as her own were at stake after all. That’s right; she claimed Eric has been in misery as well. My head tilts thoughtfully then, my eyes carefully scanning the supposedly self-assured man before me as a plan formulates.
“I’ll agree with this,” I start, watching his entire face alight before I press on. “On one condition,” I add, watching instant suspicion play across his features. “You have to tell me why it is Claudine believes you’ve been miserable as of late,” I insist, seeing his lips set in a stern line as he seems to be considering my offer.
“And you promise to tell me everything? Leaving out not even the smallest detail?” he questions, his voice laced with suspicion. I hold up one hand then, crossing the other over my beating heart.
“Scout’s honor,” I promise, seeing his face scrunch up in puzzlement to bring a small giggle from me. “You know, like girl scouts, those girls in the cute little uniforms that sell cookies door to door,” I explain, seeing he still appears completely clueless before I’m left shaking my head. “Never mind, yes, I swear I’ll tell you everything if you agree.”
“Ah, then yes, I agree,” he promises, holding a large, pale palm before me. I take firm hold, sealing our agreement before seeing a sly smirk play upon his lips. “Tell me, Sookie, were you one of these girl scouts? Because the idea of you in a cute little uniform-,” he starts, earning a smack to the arm as I shake my head at him.
“Shut up, pervert,” I chastise, knowing this is going to be a very, very long day…night, whatever.
Eric’s POV
I send Sookie a triumphant grin, hardly believing she’s actually being agreeable to this, but then, it’s not like the two of us really have much choice in the matter. I really wasn’t expecting her to make any demands of her own though, and the very thought of having to reveal the source of my own, recent misery is honestly more than a little terrifying, especially since, only just recently, as in, within the last few hours, have I begun to realize just what Hallow’s spell actually means.
“So,” I start, putting such thoughts aside for the time being before clapping my hands together. “Where do we start?” I question anxiously, unable to hide my excitement, having been searching for answers for months now. A rather annoyed expression settles over Sookie’s face before she lets out a sigh.
“Well, it was New Year’s Eve,” she recalls. “It was real late, and I was just coming home from work when I saw a man, well, you, running in the dark,” she explains somewhat absently as I find myself listening intently. “You were barefoot, only wearing a pair of jeans and I stopped the car, wondering what on earth you were doing.”
“But I didn’t know you,” I reason, seeing Sookie’s agreeing nod.
“You didn’t even know who you were,” she remarks sadly. “You hissed at me, like you were gonna attack me or something and I had to explain that we knew one another,” she explains to leave me raising my brows in surprise.
“I made to attack you and you didn’t run?” I question incredulously, seeing slender shoulders shrug in response.
“You made to attack me, but you didn’t,” she asserts to leave me frowning, not for the first time finding myself wondering just how this woman has lived as long as she has. “Anyhow, I explained that we knew one another and invited you home. Your skin was all splotchy and red from the cold, so I wrapped a blanket around you before driving you back to the house,” she admits somewhat sheepishly just before I vamp from the room, returning swiftly with a repulsive blanket in hand.
“This blanket?” I question, having taken note of my scent embedded in the garishly colored textile.
“Yeah,” Sookie sighs out, shaking her head.
“It’s truly hideous,” I remark, grimacing down to the blanket before raising my face to see Sookie gawking up at me. I tilt my head at her in question before she’s shaking her head fervently.
“Sorry, that’s just what, well, the other Eric said about it as well,” she informs me to leave me slowly nodding my understanding. “Anyways, I brought you inside and then, um, oh right, I noticed your feet were bleeding on account of you running around barefoot,” she explains earning a firm nod from me.
“Okay, so I was wrapped up in…this,” I say, holding out the atrocious blanket with a sneer. “And I was standing in your kitchen bleeding, so what happened next?” Sookie’s face turns bright crimson before she answers back softly enough that even my own perceptive hearing cannot catch her words. “What?” I ask, seeing her drop her blushing face into her hands.
“I washed your feet,” she murmurs into her fingers, only managing to confuse me further as I just can’t understand the source of her current embarrassment. I step closer, placing my hands over her own before seeing sapphire eyes peeking up at me. “I had you strip off your wet, dirty jeans so I could wash them and then I washed your feet,” she finally blurts out, bringing an instant grin to my face.
“Just couldn’t resist getting into my pants, huh?” I tease, seeing her face darken to a deep, tomato red before she slaps my arm once more.
“I can’t do this if you insist on acting like a total letch, Eric,” she chastises, a wave of sadness welling between us as a deep frown settles over her face. “I think that’s one of the things I miss most about, well, the other you,” she admits before a matching frown forms over my own face, letting this information sink in as it’s obviously immensely important to her.
“I’m sorry,” I admit, not one to use these words lightly, yet feeling as though she deserves to hear them all the same. Sookie’s eyes go wide with disbelief before I press ahead. “I…I had not intended to upset you so greatly. I’ll strive to do better.”
“I-, well, thank you,” she answers back softly, her head tilting as she seems to be studying me closely, looking for something I can only guess at before she’s slowly shaking her head. With more struggle than I’d care to admit, I proceed to stoically peel away my clothing before wrapping the itchy, ugly blanket tightly around myself, somehow managing to make not one obscene gesture or murmur even the slightest of teases.
“Like this?” I question, seeing Sookie’s head bob, her face etched in utter disbelief.
“Um, yeah,” she answers back softly, slowly seeming to come to herself once more before she pulls over a kitchen chair. She motions for me to sit and I willingly oblige, watching as she proceeds to fill a tub with warm sudsy water.
“My injuries must have been quite minor,” I muse aloud once Sookie is carrying the steaming tub towards me. “I likely would have healed them easily enough on my own.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Sookie answers back with a shrug, proceeding to kneel down before me before motioning for me to place my feet into the prepared water. “I guess it was a bit silly, really, but if anyone else had shown up at my door bleeding like that, I’d do the same for them as well,” she reasons, beginning to rub my feet with a dampened cloth.
“Hm,” is all I say in return, noticing the way she carefully avoids looking at anything other than my feet. Sometimes I think she forgets that I can feel what she feels. I know she lusts after me, and although she actively fights against her own urges, just as she seems to be doing even now, they’re there all the same.
“Anyway,” she says, breaking me from my thoughts. “I warmed up a bottle of True Blood for you and called Fangtasia to let Pam know I’d found you. She asked me to keep you hidden away for the night and I agreed,” she explains, still washing my feet, a rather absent visage having fallen over her face once more. She pauses then, looking up to me somewhat nervously. “You don’t need to feed now, do you?” she questions rather anxiously, earning a firm headshake from me.
“I had only just fed before your Godmother appeared before me,” I enlighten her, unable to keep a rather chagrined smile from my face. “You’re precious flesh is safe, at least for now,” I remark, seeing her look up to me rather sheepishly.
“It’s not like I expect you to attack me or anything, I just-,” she starts to explain with a sigh.
“You do not trust me,” I state, a declaration, not a question as I well know her true feelings more intimately than she likely realizes.
“It’s not like you’ve given me much reason to,” she throws back to leave my brows rising in surprise.
“I’ve never once lied to you, Sookie,” I defend myself, seeing her head lower as she begins to wring out the dampened cloth.
“Perhaps not blatantly, no, but lies of omission are lies all the same,” she murmurs to leave me in stunned silence. I know I’ve purposely kept a great number of things from her, but in my defense, I did so for her own safety, or at least that’s what I’ve told myself.
“I suppose this is something else I must strive to improve,” I admit, seeing Sookie raise her face to hit me with a pointed glare. What the hell?
“Alright, what the hell are you up to?” she demands, making my eyes go wide in surprise. “Oh, don’t even try and play sweet and innocent with me, I know you’ve got ulterior motives, you always do,” she insists to leave me sighing, understanding just why she may feel this way.
“Look, the only motives I have right now are getting the two of us out of here,” I assure her, seeing her still eyeing me skeptically. “I-, I realize there are things about myself I need to work to change, though until recently, I didn’t realize just how important those changes really were,” I explain, seeing Sookie’s lips set in a firm line.
I can’t help but frown at her reaction, knowing my past actions drove her to feel this way, but I refuse to let my past mistakes dictate my future, our future. I may be over a millennium old, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still learn from my errors and it certainly doesn’t mean I can’t change. I can and will strive to better myself not only for my own sake, but for Sookie’s as well.
“I don’t believe you,” she tells me and I can feel the sincerity of her words as she proceeds to shake her head sadly. “I wish I could though, you have no idea just how badly I wish I could,” she adds miserably, those startling sapphire eyes of hers welling with the beginnings of tears as she turns away, taking the now dirtied water tub along with her.
“Sookie,” her name falls pleadingly from my lips, my undead heart aching right along with her beating one as I stand once more, following along behind her as she begins sniffling softly. “Sookie, please, just talk to me,” I beseech of her, stepping closer before placing my palm upon her slightly trembling shoulder. “Please,” I whisper, hating having to see her this way, having to feel her this way.
“This is all my fault,” she whispers, her gaze affixed upon the sink before her. “I just couldn’t let him go, but he was never real, not truly. I’m a fool for having let myself fall for a lie, but I wanted so badly to believe. That has to be why Claudine did this to us, she had to watch as I broke, longing for something I could never have, never again,” she admits before turning to send me a rueful smile. “So I’m sorry, I’m sorry I got you dragged you into this mess.”
“By him, you mean the other me,” I reason, seeing her nod, a shuddering sigh escaping her. “You do realize he’s not truly gone though,” I add, seeing her send curious eyes my way. “I’m still here Sookie, just because I regained my memories, that doesn’t mean anything has to change, not really,” I insist, cautiously reaching up to gently cup her chin as tearful eyes stare back up at me.
“God, I miss him…you, you can’t understand just how much,” she whispers, managing to bring a resigned sigh from me as I truly do understand, probably more than she could ever realize. “Sometimes I could swear I still see him though,” she adds with a wistful smile. “On the rare occasion you actually let your guard down, I swear I can still see those same, sweet, caring eyes staring back at me, I guess that’s silly though,” she sighs out, before I find myself shaking my head, cupping her small chin within both my palms.
“No, Sookie, it’s not silly, not at all,” I insist, hearing her breath hitch slightly. “You can see him now, can’t you?” I question, hearing her gulp audibly as she nods her head. “You look at me differently when you see him, this other me you speak so fondly of,” I enlighten her, stroking my thumbs over her warm, golden cheeks. “I love the way you look at him, as if he’s your entire world,” I admit, wishing there were a way to ensure she always looked at me this way.
“Eric,” she chokes out, as the first, fat tear falls from the corner of her eye. Instinctually, I lean closer, darting out my tongue to catch the salty droplet from her porcelain skin before leaning closer to press my lips against her ear.
“Help me, Sookie,” I whisper, my fingers slipping into silken locks. “Help me find this other side of me, help me bring him back to the surface once more. Please, Sookie, I can’t do this on my own,” I plead shamelessly, knowing this woman is the key to my own, personal salvation.
Sookie’s POV
My breath catches in my throat, noting the utter sincerity of Eric’s words and as he draws his face before my own once more, it’s not the cold Viking I see staring back at me, no, it’s him, my Eric, the man I’ve longed to have back for months now, the man I love.
Fearful to break the magic of the moment, I keep utterly silent as I reach up to lace my fingers through his own, speaking only with my eyes as I wordlessly assure him of my willingness to oblige his heartfelt plea. He seems to understand as he sends me a grateful nod, the start of crimson tears welling around softened, cobalt eyes. God, I really hope I’m doing the right thing.
With a deep, assuring breath, I find myself taking a rather unsure first step before I’m leading Eric from the kitchen. Keeping a firm hold upon his hand, I proceed to lead him up the creaking staircase, my mind vividly replaying the last time the two of us were in this exact same predicament. He had that same, fearful look in his eyes and was wrapped only in tiny underwear and that same old afghan. Talk about déjà vu.
We make it back to my bedroom and I find myself standing frozen upon stepping over the threshold. What am I doing? Can I really go through with this? What if this is all just an elaborate ruse on Eric’s part? Oh, God, I just can’t handle more heartbreak, not now as my heart has yet to fully heal.
“Sookie?” Eric questions hesitantly then, to leave me looking up to catch his gaze, or is that my Eric’s gaze? I’m not even sure I can tell the difference anymore. But does that mean…? Oh, wow. Maybe, just maybe Eric is right. Maybe my Eric never really disappeared at all. Could it be he’s only waiting, resting beneath the surface of the stoic Viking, longing for me to set him free once more?
I step closer then, still fearful to speak aloud as I reach up to trace my fingertips over familiar, masculine lines. The features are just as I recall of course, but it’s not the features themselves that I really expected to have changed, no the truth lies behind those mesmerizing cobalt eyes. Eyes are the window to the soul, isn’t that how that old saying goes?
“You really are him, or he’s you, but I guess that doesn’t matter, because the two are one and the same,” I muse aloud as large, cool palms settle over my own. “You really weren’t lying.”
“Of course not, Sookie,” he whispers back, the corner of his lips lifting to form the smallest of smiles. “I told you I’ve never told you a lie. I’m not about to start now,” he assures me before I’m returning his smile with one of my own, knowing I can take him at his word.
“Come here,” I ask of him then, proceeding to lead him towards my adjoining bath, vividly recalling the last time, or perhaps it would be more accurate to describe it as the first time, the two of us were in here together. My heart is literally pounding out of my chest as I reach over to start the water before turning back towards Eric and proceeding to slowly peel away my robe.
“Wait,” Eric’s voice suddenly breaks the surrealism of the moment as he reaches up to place his hands over my own once more. “That’s not what-, I mean, you don’t have to do this,” he insists to leave me staring up at him in utter disbelief. If I still held any reservations at all as to whether this was an act, the worrisome look he sends me now manages to all but obliterate any trace of them.
“I know,” I answer back, a wistful smile finding its way to my face as I shake my head at him. “But I want to, Eric. I want this; I want you,” I admit wholeheartedly, watching momentary shock play over his face before a glowing smile manages to alight that heartbreakingly handsome face of his.
“Sookie,” he whispers almost reverently, shrugging the bulking blanket from his shoulders before proceeding to help me strip away my knee-length nightshirt. Nimble, talented fingers are soon dragging my panties slowly down along my thighs. His actions are surprisingly gentle and I notice he seems to be taking his time with his languorous actions, as if he’s treasuring the moment just as much as I.
He takes a step back then, just taking a moment to rake his gaze over my now fully exposed form and though I fully expect to see obvious lust reflecting behind steely, cobalt eyes, there’s something deeper in his gaze. I can’t explain it exactly, yet I get the gut feeling that it’s important all the same.
He chooses that exact moment to peel his own, tiny underwear away and I instantly lose my track of thought completely upon being once more faced with the aptly nicknamed Gracious Plenty. God, I’ve missed him, each and every single part, though, if I’m to be perfectly honest, I missed certain parts just a fraction more than others.
“Shall we?” he questions, stepping forward before pulling the shower curtain back with an overstated flourish that manages to bring a small giggle from me.
“Such a gentleman,” I remark, stepping into the tub before him, hearing a low chuckle rise from him. God, I just love the sound of his laughter, I may have missed that most of all. “Hmm,” I’m left sighing in contentment upon feeling long fingers gently combing through my hair under the streaming waters. Once I feel those dexterous fingers massaging sudsy lathers into my dampened locks, I can’t help but send Eric a questioning look.
“What? Is this alright?” he questions, obviously clueless as to the source of my confusion.
“Are you sure you don’t remember what happened between us?” I ask of him, seeing his brows jut up in surprise.
“No, why?” he asks, his golden head tilting in question as I’m left shrugging.
“This isn’t the first shower we’ve shared together,” I finally admit once Eric has begun his heavenly ministrations upon my scalp once more.
“Ah, so you’re saying we’re still retracing our steps?” he questions to leave me snorting in amusement.
“Kind of, though we’ve skipped ahead a few pages, so to speak,” I enlighten him, catching his smirk from the corner of my eye as he nods his understanding.
“I see,” he answers before helping me rinse out my sudsy locks. “I must say, you’ve certainly managed to peak my curiosity as to what happens next,” he leans down to breathe against my ear, succeeding in sending anticipatory shivers along my spine.
“Well, I recall me helping to wash your hair as well,” I tell him, seeing his eyes twinkling with indulgent amusement as we switch our positions under the shower stream. After lathering a generous amount of shampoo between my palms, I proceed to wash long, golden locks that I find myself noting, not for the first time, mirror my own nearly perfectly.
I must lose myself in my thoughts for a time, because it’s not until I feel a telling poke against my lower abdomen that I realize Eric has turned to face me once more. I recall the very first time I saw that generous package of his, how nervous, yet undoubtedly excited I was about going forward with this beautifully handsome man. I find I’m most definitely feeling that very same excitement once more, though, the nervousness seems to have all but faded away once I glance up to catch sight of Eric’s probing gaze.
His sudden hesitance is obvious and upon seeing him open his mouth, surely intent on assuring me we can stop things now, I rise to my tiptoes, quickly stopping his words before they ever get the chance to fall from his lips with my own eager mouth. Any previous hesitance of his seems to melt away once he begins kissing me back and from that point on, the only sounds that fall from our lips are that of pleasured sighs and desire laced moans.
“Bed,” I finally manage to utter an actual, logical word from my lips. Eric offers no sort of argument; instead he reaches to turn off the shower before the two of us hastily begin drying one another between punctuated, passionate kisses until I find I can’t wait even a moment longer. Our bodies are only half dry, but as I find I hardly care at all about such trivialities, I all but drag Eric through the bathroom threshold behind me.
A surprised squeal escapes me once Eric proceeds to toss me upon the waiting bed and I find myself having to stifle a giggle upon realizing some things apparently haven’t changed in the least. Eric’s mouth pressing firmly against my own once more successfully brings an abrupt end to my thoughts as I feel him moving to poise himself atop me.
“Have we, I mean, have I-,” he stumbles out, becoming hesitant once more before I lean up to kiss him reassuringly once more, taking a brief moment to trail my tongue over now fully descended fangs.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve shared a bed together either,” I assure him, gaining me widened eyes before a small smirk plays upon Eric’s now reddened lips.
“I guess it’ll be up to you to tell me how I stack up against, well, me, then,” he remarks to bring a matching smirk to my own face.
“Shut up,” I whisper against his still smirking lips, hearing him snort in amusement before he’s kissing me back once more, his Gracious Plenty laying across my hip a heavy, heated reminder of what is to come. Eric soon pulls from our kiss, dragging a longing whimper from my throat that leaves him sending me a rather wolfish grin before he’s trekking kisses across my dewy flesh.
“So fucking beautiful,” I hear him whisper lowly between kisses. My head snaps up, recalling the very first time he ever told me I was beautiful and before I realize what’s happening, grateful tears are suddenly trailing down my face.
“Sorry, I’m fine,” I have to reassure Eric who has halted his actions to send me a concerned gaze. “I’m just happy, really, really happy,” I add, brushing away my tears before sending him a fond smile. He seems to accept my words, before leaning up to press a tender kiss upon my lips. He then proceeds to kiss each and every tear away.
“That’s better,” he remarks, once his endearing actions have managed to bring a soft smile to my face. “Now, where were we?” he whispers huskily, those clever fingers of his tracing teasingly along my abdomen. “Here?” he questions tracing his fingertips teasingly over the flesh of my hipbone. “No? Maybe here,” he breathes out against my throat, tracing lines along my inner thigh to bring a snort of amusement from me. “Oh, I know,” I hear him whisper just before he’s lightly palming my sex.
“Eric,” I sigh out, dropping my thighs open wide to grant him unrestricted access. Things really amp up then as eager lips mold against my own, kissing me with an almost desperate passion and long, gifted fingers begin their sinful ministrations betwixt my thighs.
My hips are rolling wantonly against Eric’s palm and I’m unsurprised to feel that familiar heated coil soon tightening in my lower abdomen to signal my impending release. It feels as though an entire eternity has passed, not the actual mere months since I’ve felt these same waves of freeing intoxication.
My head soon falls back in ecstasy and steely, cobalt eyes are suddenly hovering just above my own. Recalling the Viking’s pension for eye contact, I struggle to keep hold of that gaze even as my orgasm rips through me to render me a heaving, shuddering mess.
I’m still gasping raggedly once Eric is positioned above me once more, those mesmerizing eyes of his never having left my own. Large palms work to position my hips at just the right angle and my heart is racing wildly in anticipation once I feel him aligning himself against my entrance. Oh God, this is actually happening, there’s no turning back now.
Eric’s POV
A low hiss escapes me, upon feeling scorching heat enveloping me tightly and even through an intoxicating, throaty moan, Sookie manages to keep my gaze as I delve inch after hardened inch inside my own, personal Valhalla. Sweet Odin, this woman is fucking perfect, in each and every way that matters.
I still upon sheathing myself fully, giving Sookie a moment to adjust to my rather considerable size as my hands traverse over every golden inch of exposed flesh that, for whatever reason, has a voice from the back of my mind screaming that this all seems somehow hauntingly familiar. But then, I’ve dreamed of this moment for so long now, it’s hard to distinguish actual fantasy from this incredibly erotic reality.
“Eric,” Sookie begins moaning my name once more, upon my first, shallow thrust and the sound is sweet, sweet music to my ears. Silken thighs wrap around me tightly and I willingly oblige my lover by leaning closer to bring my chest just above her own as I begin to roll my hips in a gentle, rocking rhythm.
“Lover,” I sigh out in reply, watching Sookie’s eyes go momentarily wide with surprise before her lips are suddenly attacking my mouth with an eagerness to easily match my own. I lose myself in that kiss, falling helplessly under my sweet Sookie’s spell as we continue our gentle lovemaking, somehow knowing this is where I truly belong, right here, in the arms of my Sookie, my love, my heart’s one, true desire.
Slender arms wrap firmly around my neck as Sookie draws me closer and though I’m able to scent more of her salty tears, they’re once more accompanied only by waves of grateful euphoria, and not even an ounce of sadness, letting me know she’s only managed to become overwhelmed once more in only the best of ways. My sweet, tenderhearted Sookie, I can’t help but find her tears utterly endearing as I work to once more kiss each and every one away.
Once the two of us are nearing release, I press my forehead firmly against my love’s, elated to feel her own, welling euphoria rising right along with my own. Close, so very close and I find myself etching every detail of this meaningful moment to memory, from her softly flushed, golden skin, to her plush lips reddened and swollen from passionate kisses, her shining, golden hair splayed out over fluffy pillows, I commit it all to memory, swearing to never forget even one single moment of this shared bliss before the two of us are soon left plummeting together from desire’s lofty peaks.
Shared cries sound from the both of us as my Sookie is left shuddering beneath me. I fall to the mattress beside her, feeling a sense of utter contentment the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. Still gasping softly, my Sookie curls up against me, burrowing against my side and I wrap my arms around her tightly, silently promising to never let her go.
It’s then that it happens. A sharp gasp falls from my lips as my mind is suddenly bombarded with long since forgotten memories and images to leave me staring down at Sookie in utter bewilderment. Dearest Odin, how could I ever have forgotten?
“Eric?” Sookie questions softly, concern clearly written over her face.
“Sookie, I-, I remember,” I whisper, watching her eyes go wide as I’m still piecing together the events of my past, our past.
“So, Debbie?” she questions softly, almost fearfully to earn a solemn nod from me. I feel her welling fear mixed with surmounting guilt and instantly pull her close, pressing my mouth to her ear.
“You did only what was needed, to save your life as well as my own,” I whisper softly, feeling a slight tremor run through her.
“But I killed her, Eric, I murdered someone,” I hear her choke out before my hands are running soothing circles over the exposed flesh of her back.
“And that is why you’re still alive,” I reason, catching sight of watery eyes. “You did exactly what was required, only serving to prove that this is the life in which you belong, that this is the world you were truly meant for.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she sighs and I can’t help the shocked expression that falls over my face, not having expected her to concede nearly so quickly. “You must be, because I’d do it again in a heartbeat, if it meant survival for me…and for you,” she adds the last softly and I find I can only smile before pulling her back into another embrace.
“Lover,” I whisper softly, stroking golden tresses as my undead heart wells with love for this incredible woman.
“You remember the car then, just before the war?” she soon whispers, bringing said instance to the front of mind.
“We could go back,” I had said, my face hard as stone. “We could go back to your house. I can stay with you always. We can know each other’s bodies in every way, night after night. I could love you.” I had said with obvious pride. “I could work. You would not be poor. I would help you.”
“Sounds like a marriage,” Sookie had said in turn, her voice soft and shaky.
“Yes,” I had answered.
“I remember,” I whisper softly, these words echoing in my mind as I see Sookie staring up at me, the beginnings of hope shining clearly behind sapphire eyes. “And I’d offer you the same now,” I state solemnly watching her eyes widen in shock, even as her hearts begins racing wildly.
“It wouldn’t be easy,” she answers back somewhat hesitantly and I find I can only smile, my head shaking lightly.
“Life seldom is,” is all I say in turn, watching a slow smile stretch over her face.
“Isn’t that the truth,” she answers back, a small smirk playing upon her lips before we fall into soft laughter together.
“I suppose it’s time for me to honor my end of the bargain,” I offer then, even as a small part of me is terrified to do so. Before I can talk myself out of it, I rise abruptly from the bed, hearing Sookie’s soft huff of annoyance. “I’ll be right back, Lover,” I assure her, leaning down to press a gentle kiss atop her head before vamping downstairs.
I quickly locate my abandoned clothing, scooping the material up with an unnecessary sigh, hoping against all odds that this doesn’t end up blowing up in my face. In a flash, I’m standing before Sookie once more, the worn piece of parchment held out before me. Sookie eyes me curiously, seeming to note the sudden gravity of the moment as she accepts the ink embedded document from me. Her eyes begin to scan over the scrawled script and I drop myself nervously upon the end of the bed, reading her every reaction intently as I anxiously await her response.
“Eric, I don’t, I mean, is this-?” she questions, her emotions an unreadable storm, giving me no clues whatsoever to how it is she’s currently feeling.
“It’s Hallow’s spell,” I answer back softly.
“This is what’s caused your misery?” she questions, as I finally feel one emotion finally rising above the rest; her fiery anger.
“Before you get upset, just let me explain,” I remark, seeing her lips purse in irritancy. “Pam found this shortly after the Witch War, when I was still left guessing what may or may not have happened between the two of us and all I could do was read this over and over, not able to understand at all what it could possibly mean,” I sigh out before catching her softening gaze. “That is until now.”
“So your heart’s desire, the thing you’d be close to without ever realizing it,” she starts softly, finally seeming to comprehend what it is I’m trying to tell her.
“It’s you, Sookie, it’s always been you,” I admit, seeing her eyes once more welling with more of those joyous tears.
Claudine’s POV
“Yes, yes, yes!” I cry out, literally jumping for joy as I see Sookie take the Viking into her arms, the two of them sharing yet another long overdue embrace.
“What is it? What’d I miss!?” Claude cries out, running back into my room, having been sent away once things were becoming a bit…heated…between our cousin and her Viking.
“They did it! They finally did it, Claude!” I exclaim, taking my brother into a tight embrace as a wave of relief crashes over me. It’s over, finally over. No more nightmares, no more looming despair hovering continuously above me; I’m finally free!
“You know what this means,” my brother remarks, a glowing smile lighting up his face.
“I’m that much closer to my ascension,” I answer back with a grin, knowing that although this was only one step on what will undoubtedly be a very long, difficult journey, I’m that much closer to gaining my angelic wings.
“Aww, they really are sweet,” Claude coos, his eyes twinkling as he sends the elated couple an approving gaze. “I just love happy endings,” he adds, brushing away an invisible tear to earn an eye roll from me. “So how long do you plan on keeping them trapped in stasis?”
“Oh, I lifted that a while ago,” I answer back absently before our attention is brought back to the screen by the sound of heavy knocking suddenly resonating throughout the old farmhouse.
“What on earth?” Claude questions as we see the couple working to to quickly cover their nudity before they’re rushing towards the front door together.
“Claudine! Is that you!?” Sookie exclaims excitedly to leave Claude lifting a questioning brow at me. I can only shrug though, clueless as to who could be dropping in on the happily reunited couple.
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I sigh out upon recognizing the silhouette darkening my kin’s doorway. Preston. The smug bastard, I can hardly believe the prince actually went through with his ludicrous plans, but then, it’s not like I clued him in about my own intervention.
“Oh my God, Sis, this is priceless!” Claude exclaims, pointing excitedly up to the mirror where the towering Viking is looming over a now petrified Fae shifter. The two of us fall into subsequent laughter upon seeing a terrified Preston racing fearfully away, his metaphorical tale tucked between his legs. Serves him right.
“Now that’s a happy ending,” I insist, earning an agreeing grin from my twin as he wraps a comforting arm around me. “Nicely done, Viking,” I remark lowly, knowing full well neither Sookie or Eric can hear me, of course, considering the way the two of them are currently wrapped up in one another, I doubt they’d hear me even if I was standing right beside them. “Just don’t fuck this up,” I warn with a smirk, somehow knowing I’ll never have to worry about these two ever again.
~The End~
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This 1st quarter writing challenge is going to be based off a picture. The one above.
Your Mission, if you so wish to take it on, is to have a story that was inspired by the picture above submitted back to me by March 15, 2017.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with. And please do remember, you can submit it at any time if you need an extension, (since I know the finicky muses sometimes strike at the last possible moment) please ask.
The rules are as follows:
Must use prompt(s).
All fandoms are allowed.
No letting anyone knowing which story is yours.
If you submit, you can grab the Banner for Participating for the month. You will also receive a banner for the story you submit.
If explicit, you need to warn people in the title.
All entries must be received by kittyinazwritingchallenges@gmail.com by Midnight CST at the end of the 15th of March 2017.
To enter, you can send it to the Kittyinazsbetas@gmail.com or to the Writing Contest email, KittyinazWritingChallenges@gmail.com. These are both permanent email addresses that Rissa checks for entries and really anything. Please include the name you want on the banners when the contest is over for Rissa to send to me. She sends the stories to me and erases any way of me knowing who wrote what. They are due by the 15th of March at midnight CST. From there I will reserve until the end of the month to be able to do banners, with the option of opening the contest early if I finish ahead of time.
I am looking forward to this year’s entries as always!
It truly is amazing the stuff you can find on the internet. I searched Alexander Skarsgard leprechaun and the picture above is what popped up. I think it is fitting for today. Sorry I missed posting last week, but Daylight Savings in the USA screwed me up. Losing one hour completely wrecked my week. I…
Can someone please explain to me why I am seeing more snow in March than I did in the entire months of December and January???? I should be getting ready for spring, not worrying about shoveling 8 inches of snow. The only way snow in March is acceptable is if it this is part of…
Hello lovelies. I cannot guarantee I will be back to publishing weekly, but I will try. My dear beta, kleannhouse, is in high demand trying to juggle the stories of three writers. She is amazing and she makes me laugh with all of her comments on my stories. This one especially. I started this story…
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