I Disclaimer:  Don’t own any of it.  My world, their characters.  Capiche?

Pre-Edit Count: 2,710 Words

Song: When They Come For Me by Linkin Park

Previously:

Imagine his shock and that of everyone else in the room, when the back doors fly open and there stands 6’ 4” of pure Nordic fury that contrast wildly with his words as he calmly states, “I have reason.”

Now:

The wedding guests are standing and shouting, wanting to know what right this stranger has to walk in and interrupt the wedding.  At the altar, Edward snarls at the man who had interrupted his marriage ceremony, recognizing him from the pictures they had acquired of Eric Northman.  The tall blond just smirks and Edward gets more agitated as he realizes that he cannot read the mind of the man before him.

Stalking down the aisle towards his mate, he answers the demands of the crowd. “I do not think this marriage will be legal since mine to the bride is on record.  Luckily, someone told me that there was an attempt to overturn it.  I am sure my wife doesn’t wish to be here judging by the look on her face.” He stops close to her, but just far enough away that there is the illusion that there is nothing he can do to stop Edward.

Edward goes to grab her, however a voice from the rafters lazily stops him, momentarily halting the movement of the copper haired Cold One.  “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Looking up to where the voice came from, the group sees a tall brunette in the rafters, with a bow in his hands.  Edward snorts. “What, you are going to shoot me?” The sheer idiocy of something like an arrow hurting him, much less anyone shooting it at him in the crowd where anyone can see it, makes him feel comfortable thinking he is safe.

The man just lifts his eyebrow, conveying in a bored tone to the Cold One, “I don’t care if I expose myself.  What about you?” He knocks the arrow to the bow in a single smooth movement, as though he has done this all his life.

Inflamed at how quickly this is digressing, Carlisle stands and demands, “What the hell is going on?  Bella, are you seriously married to this man?” He turns to the woman, hoping that their threats will make her think of denying them.  They may not be able to attack her father right this second, but surely she knows she can’t get away with this.  A marriage to a human being more important than Edward?

From where she stands, just outside of where Edward is, Bella lifts an eyebrow up. “What part of ‘No, I do not and cannot marry your son because I married another man’ did you not understand the 47, now 48 times before.  The only reason I am here is because you have forced me by threatening my father.  I have fulfilled my promise.  I walked up here, willingly, and the only reason this stopped was not because of me.” She is beginning to see the reasoning behind the person telling Eric to wait.  By doing this, it gave her the high ground, and she is able to claim affront if they went against their word to not hurt her father.

Events are finally falling on their side, instead of being stacked against them.

Unable to gain control as well as knowing what the result will be from her words, Edward grabs Bella and pulls her to him, as the crowd of shape shifters react to her statement.  He snarls at Eric, “You will NOT have her!” Venom sprays from his mouth at his declaration, as he tries to gain control over what is going on.

Lifting an eyebrow, Eric replies coolly to him, “Oh, but I already have.” There is no sign of the lie, but then, he plans to correct that as soon as he has them home.  His eyes meet Bella’s and they both share a heated glance for what they both want. Then his face hardens as he demands, “Release her.”  There is a slight feeling of pain through the bond from Bella, and he is not sure if it was from what he had felt earlier, or if this is because of Edward’s grip on her.

Backing towards the guards they had placed, Edward chuckles, “Why should I?  One step closer and I will bite her.” He is pulling her with one arm putting her behind him to make sure there is no way anyone can get her.

Eric lifts that eyebrow again, and tells him bluntly, “And?  I will do as you did already, suck it out.”  He releases all his inhibitions, loosening the chains on his inner beast as he straightens and sends out his aura for all to feel as he growls out, “Last chance.” Eric’s fingers twitch just so very slightly you have to be a vampire to see it.  He is ready to move and get his Mate to his side, safely.

Up above, Ewan catches the eye of the blond who had been edging along the back wall towards the so called bride and groom.  The blond lifts an eyebrow to him, and Ewan smirks, acknowledging the sign for are you ready.  He mutters lowly, “Showtime guys.”

And with that, he raises and shoots the arrow he had ready, and as it goes through Edward’s chest, where his heart would have been if he had been human. At the same time, the blond grabs Bella out of Edward’s hold as he reacts to the shock of actually being shot.

The teams fly into place, as Eric receives his mate in his arms, and around him, the Cold Ones in attendance are being held by daggers, swords or other weapons in place.  Beside his vampires, are the Wolves who had allowed them to be able to do this.  The same wolves who have sacrificed much in hopes of the treaty that Eric offered them in the name of being King of Nevada.

Falling back from the shock of actually being shot, Edward is on the ground, his father by his side as he looks on as everything they had planned is brought to shambles.  “Jasper?” He states at the person who hands Bella to Eric.  How did this all fall apart so quickly?

The blond smirks.  “I think I will be refusing that trip to Italy.  Bella too.” He states from his place, guarding the two mates who are lost in each other.   There is no mistaking that bond with the emotions flowing through them.  These two are truly mates in every sense of the word.

Eric is purring at his mate as his hands trail over her body, making sure she is fine.  He murmurs to her softly, “Ready?” He looks down, ready to do whatever she wishes.  He will not push her for the second bond right now, but everything in him is screaming for his blood to be in her, to make sure she is fine.  There is something wrong, and he needs to fix it.

She nods, and bares her neck to him, staring Edward down as she offers Eric her blood.  Edward shouts “No!” at the same time as Eric presents her his bloody wrist.  When she takes it and starts swallowing his blood, Eric gives a gleeful look to the Cold One before telling him, “Mine.”  With that, Eric bites her neck, completing the second exchange. Then all is gone from his perception as he drinks the ambrosia from the gods and feels the second bond forming inside the two of them as his blood moves to heal her.

The humans all react, screaming and trying to run away as Charlie attempts to dive for his daughter, but Jacob grabs him, and assures him., “She is fine.  Trust me.” He looks at the proof in front of him that she belongs to the male as she had claimed.  He smiles, only accepting when he can see the bliss and pure love the man has for her.

Charlie stares back at him, then looks to the two surrounded, lost in their own world.  He then turns to stare at Edward, and shakes his head. “Someone better tell me what the hell is going on here.”  In the last five minutes, his world has been turned upside down.

An accented voice comes from the doors, “What is taking place is my Son claiming his mate.  From the Cold Ones who have forced her into submission, when their powers wouldn’t work on her anymore.  They threatened you, and it was the only reason she walked down the aisle.  Your attempt at bringing her to her senses was a little late and not needed frankly.” You could hear the dismissal in the male’s voice and Charlie turns to see who is talking.

A young man walks forward, looking too young to be in control as is evident.  Then you feel the sheer presence of him as he allows his age to saturate the room along with his children. His blue-green eyes are as full of fire as the son’s eyes he stops by.  Looking at pride at the two locked around each other, and shocked at their control, Godric looks around the room.

Seeing panic and confusion being the two main emotions, he continues to explain, “Right now, the world is being told of our existence.”  Then he gives a look to the Cold Ones in disgust clarifying, “So there is nothing we are exposing that we are not telling the rest.”

Looking back at Charlie, seeing the need for information and love for his daughter, Godric’s face softens a little as he gives that information. “My son met your daughter in Las Vegas.  An instant meeting and the two of them knew what they were to each other.  My son is offering a bride price of a Kingdom, and his wealth to secure them.  He also offers her the moon and stars, to walk by her side for eternity.  She has accepted.” He glances fondly back at the two, ready to defend them if needed.

Coming back to himself, Eric stops drinking, and cleans her neck of any stray drops as he encourages her to drink more from him.  He is paying attention to all, but his mate is owed his attention during this time.  When his wrist closes from the wound he made, and she bites down for more, he chuckles into her ear. “Bloodthirsty, Min Älskade.” Petting her hair as she drinks more until that bite heals, he tells her, “Enough, I will feed you more if needed later.” But he is worried because he can feel the hunger in her for more. However, the need is also great inside himself to feed her more of his blood.  But knowing that he could accidently turn her, he holds them both in check. If nothing else, until they get to Las Vegas so that they can rest in their soil, not here in this thrice damned state.

He pulls her closer, and she turns in his arms to hide in his chest as she her body heals from the abuse it suffered at the hands of Edward. The sheer amount of relief she feels is enough to have Eric close his eyes briefly and send her his love and relief to have her where she belongs.

Opening his eyes, Eric looks evenly at Edward. “I call for einvigi.  Though you are not deserving of the honor of death by my hands, nothing would give me better revenge than to rip your head from your body showing my right to my mate.” He growls the end part, needing the revenge for the hurts he is feeling in his mate as his blood is rushing around her body trying to heal the damage.

Carlisle just gapes his mouth, stunned.  He then turns to Aro and beseeches his mentor, his sire.  He has not heard the term before, but the rest of what the tall warrior said left nothing to the imagination.  There needs to be a way to save Edward.

Pissed at Carlisle’s weakness, Caius snarls, staring holes into the male before him, holding a sword that had come out of nowhere, that he has no doubt would cut him as the arrow penetrated the upstart’s chest, on his throat.  The man on the other end of the sword chuckles.  Ignoring him, Caius enlightens Edward, “He just challenged you to single combat.  I don’t know how, but he is holding you to the Viking idea of it, which any weapon is allowed, and can be to the death.  Which he just told you it was.” He smirks, but still bewildered how this man can claim his own culture’s ideas as revenge.

Looking at the younger of the so-called Kings, Godric nods, “Since my son is over a thousand years old, he has every right to claim the rite as part of his heritage.  Per yours and ours traditions.” He watches the man, thinking there is something odd about him. He is pissed, but he hasn’t fought once since they came in, and he saw Bella happy.

Carlisle snarls at the two, “My son has an arrow that I am still not sure how it is placed, in his body!” He cannot understand how these barbarians think Edward can fight some ancient duel with this wound!  If he had been human, he would be dead!

Still up in the rafters, watching over the group from his position, Ewan laughs. “I told him to not underestimate me.  That shot should have killed him, but since he has no heart, my brother will do the honors.  We know he can’t die from it, and that he is still talking and arguing shows that the pain is hardly anything to him, which I will give him credit.”  With that, he tosses a bag down in disgust to Benedict, who smirks as he puts it in his pocket while maintaining the sword on the blond kid he had claimed.

Emmett finally is brought out of his shock, as he asks, “What the hell is going on?  Bellsy?  Why are you saying all this?” He had no idea she had been married and been saying this the whole time.  How did he miss this?

Bella finally caught her breath and control of her body while they all argued.  She had been panting with the sheer need to have Eric here and now.  She looks up at Eric, and he raises an eyebrow at her, knowing that she cannot be thinking he doesn’t want her now. After all, she can feel the proof of it.

Instead when he feels her determination, he grins, kisses her forehead.  Then he loosens his arms around her as she turns, throwing off the veil on top of her head, and shaking out her hair. “Fucking hairspray and pins.  Next time, try to come before they torture me with so called spa treatments.” And she can feel his amusement and lust through the bond they have as she rubs against him.

Enjoying her movements, Eric laughs as he gazes adoringly down at his mate, “If you were in pain, per my child, then they were not doing it right.”  His hand trails up and down her arm affectionately.  He is calmer, having his mate in his arms, and back in control.  He figures it is a good thing she wanted the second exchange now.  The next one will be joining their bodies, and he cannot wait.

And neither can she  if her feeling and movements against him are any indication.

Staring down at the family that had tried to keep her captured, she asks Jasper, “So what is this about a trip to Italy?”  She ignores Emmett’s questions, thinking that once the entire plot is exposed, he will understand and have his answers.  Now if he does anything about it that will be the next hurdle for him to pass.

Raking his hair from his forehead, Jasper enlightens her. “I don’t know what the deal was, but it felt as if you woke me up fighting them.  Then today I heard the plan.  That was the last thing I needed to throw off whatever it was.  They bargained us for the support of the Volturi.  In fact, as soon as they can, we were leaving to live with them.  I have no doubt that Edward never mentioned the sire bond he would have, and I suspect that against the tradition and laws of our people, it was going to be conveniently never broken.  With the amount of venom and compelling you were under, I am shocked you threw it off.” He glares at his former family.  How the hell did he fall so far?  To ignore his own brother?!?

Eric growls at the reminder of that first meeting and how Bella had insisted there were two of her. “It was my blood.  If she had actually taken as much as she did in our dreams, she would be a vampire now.” He tightens his hold on his mate, needing her to help him stay calm.

Carlisle is frantically looking for a way out, but he is noticing how all their guards are gone.  At the moment when he had sufficiently seen this, Peter came walking out of the last alcove.  He snarls and demands of Peter, “What have you done?” This had to be the red-eyes fault!!!

Peter snorts as he joins Ewan up on the rafter.  “I did what needed to be done.  She is not Edward’s, and if this travesty was allowed, well, let’s just say there would be no Cold Ones left alive and not in active hiding from this bloodline.  They would hunt us all down to the ends of the earth, especially the Viking.  He may kill himself to join his mate in Valhalla, but not before he makes sure you all suffer for the loss of his mate.  The world would be in flames when he was done.  All because Edward wanted her.  He wanted to be the one that drinks her blood, the last one that tasted the nectar of her.  And once she was changed, he would continue to drink from her, rendering her as helpless as a human babe.” He growls the last out. He is glad to have this day come.  To have Jasper back, and to have them all working together under Eric will be a much easier and better life for all.  The Viking and his bloodline are the ones who will shape this world in the future.

At Bella’s gasp, he looks down at her, his face kinder as he informs them all, “Yes, if your sire wishes to, they can continue to drink your blood.  His venom would taste as nothing to him, and he would only taste you.  Most Cold Ones cannot do it with their Singers, but Edward planned to, and Alice was going to help her mate.” He finally gives them the last piece of the puzzle.

Bella looks around, and then huffs, “Ok, who has the pixie Bitch?” She does not need her free if she is the mate of Edward.  While suspecting it all this time, to have it confirmed made her sure that the bitch is torn apart and burned.

Benedict shrugs when she looks at him, “I called dibs on the kid over there that Teo has covered.  Not any pixie bitch.” He goes back to watching all of the people around them, knowing his job has just gotten harder with two people to keep safe at all times.  Thankfully, as mates, both of them will want to be close to each other.

Rolling her eyes, Bella declares, “No getting the only Cold One that I know of that threw a fit that I was so under their thrall.  I have no idea why he had the fit, but he threatened them with taking me away and changing me himself.  Which now I know why it was such a big threat to Edward.” She gives a dirty look at Edward as Eric hisses at him.

Unable to help himself, Caius hisses again at the Vampire in front of him. “You were coming with me either way.  This farce of a wedding was for me to see how under control you were.  If big, tall, and lanky didn’t bust in here, I would have interrupted the wedding myself.” There is no way any of his blood, much less the last one, would be enslaved to the idiot!

Eric lifts an eyebrow at him as he slightly cocks his head in inquiry. Caius rolls his eyes, and then tells him, “Det är inte bara kalla dem. Och inte alla valde tidpunkten för deras förändring som ni väl vet. Den Honor av dessa otrogna hade retat mig för att skydda min egen. Visst kan man förstå det. Även om jag inte är glad att du gjorde anspråk på rätten till fejd med den idioten, ska jag låta det passera som hennes frände.” (There are not just Cold Ones. And not all chose the timing of their change as you well know. The Honor of these infidels had incensed me to protect my own.   Surely you can understand that.  While I am not happy you claimed the right of feud with the idiot, I will allow it to pass as her mate.)

Eric looks at his Maker, and with an ease of a millennium of being together, Godric nods to him in agreement to his silent question.  Eric sighs.  “Round them up.  Benedict, it looks like you picked the wrong one this time.”  He then looks down at his mate and softly asks, “Are you ready?” He reaches up to caress her face with a hand, waiting for her answer as the others scurry around them cleaning up and glamouring the normal humans of the knowledge there is more than their kind of vampire.

Not caring on how he asked Bella or what they said, Charlie pushes aside Jacob’s hand.  In large strides, makes his way to the tall blond, and demands, “What the hell are you doing with my daughter?” He is short next to the vampire, but he is not backing down.

Bella smirks, as she looks up at her mate.  “What any Viking does, Dad.  He is taking what is his, and is claiming it.  I just happened to be lucky enough to snag myself a King.”  She steps out of Eric’s arms and hugs her father. Telling him with a happier voice than he has ever heard from her, “I am really ok.  And thank you so much for trying to wake me up.  He has been here for me in ways you cannot understand, and I have agreed to be his.  He is the other half of me and loves to argue with me.  Surely that should tell you something.” She grins up at him, reminding him how Edward hated her disagreeing in any way, and would steamroll over her instead of arguing with her.

Remember, since it was one of the signs that there was something wrong with Edward, Charlie sighs.  Looking up to Eric, Charlie declares to him, “I am coming with her.  And you need to prove you are not the asshole Edward over there is.  Once I am assured of how you treat her, then I will allow this to happen with my blessing.  If that even means anything to you.”  The last is said under his breath, but Eric heard every part of it.

Smirking, but his tone respectful, “Not only will I be happy to host you in my home, but I will also be more than willing to show you the bride price for my mate.  If you do honor us with your blessing, it will be well received and we will feast to honor it.”

Then Eric’s face hardens. “But I will not give you her back.  She is mine now, and you will learn that what we had done in front of you all is more sacred and binding than any piece of paper or ring of metal will be.  She is mine.  And I will honor her decision to be mine, even if you decide against it.” There is no give in his posture, voice or eyes.  Bella is his now and in his arms.  He will not release her for any reason.  Even if she has the true death, then he will be only a half a footstep behind her.

In case, he needs to deal with revenge before joining her, mind.

Charlie stares into the vampire’s hard blue eyes and then nods. “I agree.  And…”  When Eric lifts that damn eyebrow, Charlie continues, “If someone can tell me what the hell is going on, I would appreciate it.”  He continues more politely.  This is not a youngster with his little one.  Eric is most obviously a man.

Eric ends up laughing and wrapping an arm around his mate, he nods.  Then they are gone the next second.  When Charlie looks around, he sees the guy who had stuck by Eric’s side went with him, as well as the blond who had been held at sword point and some others.  The young man who conversely seemingly holds the ages in his eyes comes forward.

Godric looks to the father of his new daughter and informs him, “I will be more than happy to talk with you.”  He waves his hand as he chuckles, “Evidently, they don’t think I am worthy enough of helping them round everyone up.”

A snort sounds and Charlie jumps  due to the man who appears suddenly at the young man’s side. “Master, we do not wish you to dirty yourself with these ruffians.”  The young man looks so serious, but the look on Godric’s face tells Charlie all he needs to know.  He looks at Godric,” Yours?”

With the look of all long suffering fathers, Godric nods, “One of my younger ones.”  He smiles and holds out his hand to the Chief, “I am called Godric.”

Charlie sees the shocked reaction of the young man but thinks nothing of it as he reaches out to shake his hand. “Charlie Swan.  It looks like life is getting interesting.”

Teo snorts, “Interesting is not quite the word I would use, but  it will work.” With that, he leaves to go back to his computers to let the word go out that they have their Queen.

Final count, 4,448 words.

Fairfarren~