Pre Edit Count – 2,132 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Preacher by OneRepublic

Previously:

He holds his lover closer so many things falling into place about his beloved, and he realizes that he and Godric will have a lot to work on. But he swears that his little fairy will be fully healed of what harm others in their pettiness have done with her. He kisses her on her forehead, and settles down to talk with her, letting her know everything about him, as he wishes to know about her.

Softly in the background a radio station is playing, and the song’s melodic sounds soon are joined by the sounds of Eric and Sookie letting go of their lifetimes of hurt, allowing the other to shoulder the weight of the world, since another pair is always easier than one.

Now:

Later that afternoon, Godric is up again, working on the plan to give them all a new lease on life. He is not looking forward to being King, but this is something he needs to do to give them the control they need.

Plus the more he finds on Sophie Anne, the more he is disgusted by the Authority for allowing her to get away with all the stuff she has been. She acts like there was no Revelation, unless it suits her. She takes everything and anything she wants. It was only because of Hadley and the wish to make her happy that didn’t have Sookie being kidnapped, never to be found again.

And the money issues… Godric hated to have to admit that there was no way to get the state back on level without using his personal funds. He will not be taxing his sheriffs, though. No, that just leads to hatred and thoughts of taking the throne. They have enough issues without that added on.

Godric, when he was younger, was a chief. And his grandfather was the one who taught him how to lead his people. Never take more from them that you would resent being taken from yourself. But also never give more than you would give of yourself. It makes no difference that it was food back then and money now. It is what they worked to gain for themselves.

This has governed Godric’s way of thinking, and it works so much more in life. He had taught Eric the same, and you can tell that from the way both of them seem to spur loyalty from their underlings. Eric has often placed himself in front of the vampires in his fiefdom. He has paid taxes from his pockets for those that could not afford it. And he has never told any of what he does, but as things do, it always gets out.

That is the lesson most Kings and Queens don’t learn. That while you may not know it, the truth always gets out. It is part of why Eric refuses to treat Sookie anything but the angel she is to him. It never works to treat people one way in public and another in private. Someone will find out.

And this falls right back to what he is finding now. People talk and he now has much proof to take down the Queen. But will this be the better way, or would it be better to take over by walking in and taking her head. Decisions…

Godric leans back in the chair as he ponders the situation. If he wanted to, he could go right now, and kill the Queen, placing himself in her place. Then he could deal with everything.

Or he can wait until she makes a mistake with Sookie. It had been proven in the last timeline that she will not give her up. Nor will Bill.

If he plays his cards right, he can take the kingdom, and get the revenge that he knows Eric wants on the ones who basically hunted his beloved. And to be fair, he too wanted revenge for many things he is finding in their memories.

Sighing, he pulls out one of Eric’s non-traceable phones, and calls one of his progenies.

“Hello.”

“Godric.”

With a slight smile, Godric leans back, “Roman, how are things?”

Roman is in his office in his private home, and cannot help but smile at his Master. “It has been a long time.” He leans back in his own chair, relaxing.

“It has. I have news for you.”

Roman leans forward and comments, “Interesting news I take it for you to call me now.” An eyebrow lifts as he ponders what it would take for Godric to call him.

A small smile forms on Godric’s face. “Eric and I have found our Mate.”

Roman sits back shocked. “Mate? As in singular?” A bout of jealousy rises in him.

Godric sighs. “Yes, our Mate happens to be the same person. But I suspect we are not Mated to each other. Either way, it does not matter. But what does, is that magic is part of what led us to meet.”

Roman frowns, but he asks, “Magic?”

Godric leans forward to rest his elbows on the desk, “Yes, Magic. It is the only excuse I can come up with. Eric and Sookie were dying at the same time, far apart from each other, and both wished at the last second to be with the other. Then they wake up on the day that changed Sookie’s life on that timeline. I woke because I felt something in my Bond with Eric, and when I touched her, then him, I saw everything in that timeline. There is much I am disappointed with, my son.” His voice becomes harder at the end.

Roman shakes his head. “If it happened then, there might be other reasoning. Either way, you cannot fault anyone for how they acted there, and not now.”

Godric chuckles. “There is the man I changed. Tell me Roman, how would you feel if I told you that you had a chance to help your brother get revenge for the death of his family and you did nothing to help him? In fact, you and your Authority authorized a puppet King to kill him. Later, after he survives all of that, he comes to you, and you subject him to the true death by something called an iStake if he does not kill someone older than he is. The one he is sent to kill is the same person you swore to help your brother get his revenge against. I am not understanding this, and though Eric and Sookie made a case that you would have been upset by the death of me, it still makes no sense why you would allow this, or even allow your own death.” His voice is cold. He is upset that this happened, that nothing of the promises of those that know about Eric’s past were there to help him. Their allies failed him when he needed them the most.

Roman is shocked. “Master, I have no excuse. I have no idea how any of this would come to be!” His mind is in shock as he tried to even think of reasons why he would do any of this.

Godric closes his eyes and centers himself. “Roman, I have taken into advisement that you may have been suffering as Eric had been from my death. In fact, I am shocked to find that somehow I had given up. This is not typical of me, nor is it of you, my son. But that is what happened in that timeline. I had watched the sun Rise with my Mate, which somehow I did NOT recognize. She shed human tears for me, after promising to be there for me to Eric. Then you had allowed the vampire responsible for much suffering to stake you. This is not something I understand from either of us. Then there is an issue of Warlow is coming.” The tone is flat, knowing that Roman will know about Warlow.

Roman gets up to pace. “Warlow is coming? Do you think this may have been something he did to clear his way to coming back? Neither of us would stand for that monster to come back.”

Godric is staring up at a picture Eric had in his office. “Even worse, Warlow is coming for our Mate. When he died, he almost killed both Eric and Sookie in different ways. But it is suspicious that they both would die in the same moment, when neither had Mated fully to the other.” His voice is no longer cold to Roman.

Roman is pacing around the room, he finally shakes his head. “What is your plan?” Even though he had not done the things they remember, he will do anything to make his Maker be proud of him. They may be equals, but Roman loves his Maker.

Godric smiles. “I plan to dispose of the child Queen of Louisiana that plots to take my Mate so that she can use her. Sookie is a telepath, and part Fae. The Queen wanted her for her abilities and for the chance to walk in the sun again. Foolish, but then, from what I am finding, that is Sophie Anne.” He leans back, one elbow on the arm of the chair, the other resting behind his head as he talks.

Roman logs into his computer and looks up the child Queen. Frowning, he says, “It seems that all of a sudden there is no record of her children, Andre especially. There are records of a new pet that she is obsessed with, a Hadley Delahoussey.” He had directed his own spies to independently develop private files for him on all of the Royalty.

“Yes, Sookie’s cousin, and the one that admitted to the Queen about her cousin. All to stay in favor.”

Reading through the file on the Queen, Roman snarls. “How is this vampire still in power? It shows she has basically bankrupted the state, breaks the rules and is suspected of trafficking in our blood.”

Quirking his head to the side, Godric questions, “You did not keep track of this?” He has not really gotten into the Authority even though two of his work for it.

Angry, Roman tells his master, “I couldn’t without showing why. I did have it and Texas on Nan’s list of states to watch.” He has split up the states under others, but not being trusting of them, he has his own spies in cases like this that they are not doing their jobs and he finds a reason to check on the Monarch’s.

Godric cannot help the growl that escapes him. “Nan? Why her?”

Feeling the anger coursing through Godric, he says, “No particular reason, she doesn’t have as much on her plate as the others, so I thought she would pay more attention to them. Why, what did Nan do in this other timeline?” He is cautious though. Godric doesn’t get that angry without a reason.

Sparing a smile for the fact that his son does not question him on the timeline issue, he informs him, “Did you know she was grooming Bill Compton to be King. She also disposed me after an attack on my nest in Dallas from the FOTS. She had come to kill Eric and told him that he is receiving no help from the Authority to kill a 3,000 year old vampire. In fact he was told to kill him on his own. There are many problems with the time line that Eric and Sookie lived through. I had appeared to him and told him not to kill Russell. This is not me. I would never deny Eric his revenge for the death of his family. The blame he carries for their death has damn near killed him many times!” The last is said heatedly, as he thinks of how many times they almost lost Eric at the beginning because of his grief.

In his office, Roman clenches his fist. “This is not acceptable, but it explains many things. I suspect Nan made a lot of decisions that were really not the Authorities. No matter what, I would never sign off on your dismissal of being Sherriff.” Never. Not only was he his maker, but also one of the best Sheriffs out there, with Eric coming a close second. There would never be a reason to dismiss them.

Remembering their memory of that day, Godric laughs to himself. “When Eric challenged her on it, she told him that she was on TV.” He shakes his head.

Roman snorts. “I am thinking that will change. When do you wish to be King of Louisiana? I can sign off on it at any time.” He thinks there will be a large shake up in the works. They had dismissed so much for the Revelation, and now he needs to make sure the laws passed to make them more humane are being followed. It sounds like too many were still operating as they were.

“Without exposing yourself?”

Laughing at the comment, “There is enough here on her that it would be surprising if I didn’t replace her. And as one of the oldest on the continent, it would actually be a crime to not ask you to replace her, then Eric. So let me know how you wish to undertake this.” He is already grabbing the forms to make it all a done deal.

Thinking Godric asks him, “The punishment for interfering with Mates or Bonded?”

“Death.”

With that answer, and how much the idiot Queen had hurt his Mates, Godric then grins. “Then I think we will sit on this. But can we make her nervous? I want to drive her to the point of making mistakes that can be pointed out. As it is, I am going to be making a huge financial contribution to get this state in control.” He growls out the last. He is not happy about it, and would like any time he can have to build his fortune higher to take the hit easier.

Roman is looking through the files, seeing a lot of issues all around. The Authority itself will need to be brought to task. Shaking his head as he reads through a couple of the worst cases, “I am thinking there needs to be a shake up completely. Is Eric to be your second?”

“Yes, along with Sookie. And I will be pledging to them as soon as possible. Eric will be immediate, so there is no question of whether or not I will entertain marriage proposals. But Sookie will be once I can woo her to fall in love with me.” Godric is smiling a little. The smile that he gets when he thinks of the wooing of their little Mate and the joy he will have doing it. He leans forward on his desk and makes notes on what he will be needing to do.

Roman chuckles. “And the Bonded question?”

“I exchanged blood with her once already, and Eric is currently in the process of Mating and Bonding her. I felt that needed to be taken care of immediately. Sookie is also to be his Personal Assistant, then mine once we are settled in. Obviously, I will be moving the capital to here, since it is the base of Eric’s power.” And where their little one will be most comfortable. But Eric has always inspired loyalty, and they will need that as well.

Roman nods, his mind calculating. “Will it help if Sookie is under my protection also? I could, with your permissions, name her as one of my personal assets. Or have her under contract to me. Whichever will work with your plans.” He shrugs, but he is already planning to do what he can to protect the Mate of his Maker and Brother.

Godric leans back thinking and he finally nods, “Under Contract. Then there will be legal ramifications to their busy work.”

Roman gets an evil grin on his face, “My dear Maker, I think it is time to clean house, starting with this lovely state of ours.”

And with that, plans are born to disrupt plans that had been over 3,000 years in the making.

Final Count: 2,720 words

Fairfarren ~