En route to Fangtasia

[onceaviking]

He moves through the air, silent and fast, the crazed King of Mississippi and Louisiana next to him, cradling the slimy remains of his dead consort encased in crystal in his arms.

Honing in on Sookie.

He can feel her.
Giddy with relief. Having escaped.

And yes, there she is. Or rather, there is her tiny car.
And he can hear her too. Chattering away, high on adrenalin.
"..,happily married. And I'm not a waitress anymore. I'm - I'm going to college. No! I'm a real estate agent, and I'm really rich."

Happily married? Happily married?!
Oh, for fuck's sake. She wants to play house with Bill Compton. And he had been so sure he'd planted enough doubt in her mind.

And then there's the dulcet tones of Compton, trying to one up her in the sap department.
"I teach third grade," he says, voice sincere, "and I love my job."

Third grade?!

And he sounds like he means it. He's either a much better actor than Eric would ever have given him credit for, or he's beginning to believe his own mainstreaming bullshit.

William Compton, the shredder of whores, no wait, sorry, the third grade teacher.

Next to him, Edginton starts laughing.
Manically.
It drowns out some equally, sappy shit about gardening and dinner parties.

Then Sookie says, "We don't even know Eric Northman."
"Everything is peaceful."

They land in the road in front of the speeding car.

Sookie screams.

Edgington slams his hand down on the hood and the car's rear end lifts high into the air, almost toppling over, and Eric can't help himself, quickly bending to see if she is alright. To make sure that she is alright.

He needs her alive for this.

Comments

[onceaviking]

"I'll just make sure everything is switched off in my office,"' Eric says.
Bill's chained up and Edginton has been convinced.
He can leave the room for a couple of minutes.

"I'll be right back."

He brushes past Edginton and manages avoiding looking at Pam.
And Sookie.

He does switch off his computer, once he reaches the office. And then he walks over to the shelf holding the crown.

His father's crown.

He strokes a finger along the etchings on the side.
The metal stays cold.

It should feel more momentous than it does.
His revenge.
His True Death.

He gets out a pair of handcuffs from his desk drawer and stuffs them in his front pocket.

He's ready.

As ready as he'll get.

The sun is close to the horizon now. He can feel it.
Soon.

He heads back, shutting the door behind him.

[lazy_but_loyal]

The images on the CCTV screen grow lighter and lighter as the sun rises.

Pam waits near the bar, keeping watch over things, while Russell tries to get Sookie into a chatty mood. He asks her all sorts of absurd questions about any fairy secrets she might be keeping from him, like if she can grant wishes or if she has wings. He sure talks a lot. A lot about shit. Bill exhaustedly looks on, slumped in his seat.

Those second thoughts that Pam was having are quickly becoming her first and foremost thoughts. A sense of worry and panic starts to seep in, and as much as she tries to suppress them for Eric's sake, she can't pretend that she's okay with this plan. And right now she doesn't want him to go through with it. There has to be another way. He doesn't have to die.

The door to the back rooms opens, and Pam turns around.

She quickly approaches Eric, stopping him before he goes any further.

"Don't do it," she says in a quiet but urgent tone, looking up at him.

"What if it doesn't work?"

She feels a small trickle at the corner of her eye.

[onceaviking]

"It'll work," he says, sounding a little preoccupied.
And then he looks down. And sees her.

Really sees her.

His Pamela.

"Come on. What's this?"
His eyes resting on her face. Her eyes.
His voice softening.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam needs Eric to look at her like that. To hear his voice as it is now. To know that she is his and always will be, whatever happens.

She shakes her head and rubs the inner corner of her eye with her fingertips.

"Nothing," she sniffs. "It's the bleeds."

[onceaviking]

His Pam.

He cradles her face in his big, cold hands.

"You know I love you more," he says quietly, "when you're cold and heartless."

She's his Progeny. He can say that if he wants to.
And he wants to.

[lazy_but_loyal]

It feels as if he's never held her closer than in this moment, never told her anything more true.

She doesn't take her eyes from his, and she nods firmly, reassured. She even feels a smile tugging at her lips.

[onceaviking]

He feels a smile spread on his own lips.
Small. Soft.
Full of meaning.

He bends down to press a kiss to her forehead. Closing his eyes. Letting himself feel.

He steps back, reaching up to stroke the back of his fingers down her cheek.

His Pam.

And then he strides past her, into the room. Over to Edgington.

"Shall we?"

And the madman is easy. Keyed up and roaring to go. "Do let's."

[lazy_but_loyal]

When he smiles, she smiles.

And she closes her eyes when he presses his lips to her forehead, his hands still cupping her face. Their century-long bond means too much to her for it to be broken, but she'll be strong for him. Always.

She follows Eric when he makes his way back over to Russell and company, and she moves to stand behind Bill.

Bill looks to Russell and Eric. "One caveat, gentlemen," he warns them. "If you drain her completely, that's the last fairy blood you'll ever drink."

[onceaviking]

"Mmm," Eric says. "Good point."
And a good thing, Bill thought to say so, or he would have had to himself. And that would not have been completely in character.

"We are schooled!" Edgington says, giddy with anticipation. He is practically bouncing.
"Onward to adventure!"

Sookie turns her head to Bill and says, "if this is you trying to help, thanks for nothing," her voice filled with bitterness and hurt, as Eric steps closer. Looking down at her.

One of his hands move, as of its own accord, to touch her face.
This was not the way he'd imagined this.
He swallows.
This was not the way it should have been at all. Her filled with fear and hate and loathing, him -

Russell says, "Oh, for God's sake," loudly, obviously bored with the emotional moment, and grabs hold of Sookie's hand, yanking it close to bite down on her wrist. And Eric follows suit, biting down on her neck.

Her taste is -

He runs his fingers into her hair. Trying to soothe her. To give her something else to focus on.
And then he forces himself away from her again.

"We'd better leave something for later," he says, feeling the lightness spread in his limbs. That slight intoxicating feel that would tell any vampire that yes, this is special, this is different.
This is a fairy.

Russell reluctantly lets go - and begins to laugh.
"Oh, my fucking god," he whoops. "Why have I not thrown myself at you sooner, you pretty, little fairy fuckbunny. This is amazing."

Eric smiles. The smile feels strange on his face, oil atop water.
"I'll just - pop outside then," he says to Edgington. "Don't leave me waiting for too long."

And he walks over to the door, the main entrance to Fangtasia, and he opens it, closing his eyes.

[dobadthings]

Sookie's hate hurts Bill more than the chains digging into his wrists. He wants so badly to explain. To tell her that this was the only way, and that she's going to be all right.

...Right?

He sees the way Eric looks at her now. She hates him, too, but somehow, he believes that Eric doesn't want to hurt her.

It still pisses him off that he'll get to drink from her. It's what Eric had always wanted. And now his chance has finally come.

Suddenly Russell grabs Sookie and bites her wrist. She screams in pain, it sears right through him, and he can't do a fucking thing about it. He looks to Eric.

Don't hurt her. Don't you fucking hurt her.

And all he can do is watch as Eric buries his fangs in her neck. He tugs at his chains with a growl, desperate to help her as she screams and writhes against the cold table top.

With two vampires drinking deeply from her it's not long before she stops screaming and struggling altogether. She lies limp on the table as Russell revels in the power of her blood. Bill can still feel and hear her heartbeat, but it's faint. Almost a whisper of what it should be.

He needs to feed her.

But Eric is already heading for the door -- and he isn't even sure if he's coming back through it.

Pam rushes to the bar to watch the CCTV monitor, and so does Russell.

They wait. And they wait. The parking lot is still empty. And bright. The sun is out in full force. And they wait.

[onceaviking]

He stands in the skade of the canopy, eyes closed.
Even in the shade, he can feel the sunlight, streaming down, reflecting from the black Tarmac in the parking lot,

He slowly walks forward, one hand stretched out.
Feeling the warmth of sunlight in his skin.

Warmth like he hasn't felt it for a thousand years.

He slowly opens his eyes, looking at his own white skin. In the sunlight.

Sunlight.

And then he leaves the shelter of the faded, red canopy, and steps fully into the light.
Gasping a little.

Everything is so bright.

[lazy_but_loyal]

They wait.

Then, in the bottom right hand screen on the CCTV monitor-- a tall, black-clad figure slowly wanders into view. Into the sunlight.

Pam can't take her eyes off of it.

It's Eric.

She grips the edge of the bar and watches intently as he moves further out into the parking lot, his every step careful and deliberate, though his hands are open and outstretched by his sides as if wanting to catch the light. It's strange, and strangely wonderful, to see him in the daytime, for the first time since she first laid eyes on him.

Blood congeals on Sookie's wounds as she lays on the table, unconscious.

Bill struggles weakly against his bonds.

"Unchain me," he croaks out. "I have to feed Sookie!"

But nobody is listening.

[onceaviking]

Russell is staring, transfixed, at the small monitor.
"It's fairies! Fucking fairies! Who knew?"his voice is filled with wonder.
And hunger.

Outside, in the sun, Eric is still looking at his own hands. Mesmerized.

Daywalking. The vampire dream.

And then the pain starts.
Dull at first.

You just burn slower.

But steadily increasing in intensity.
He looks down at his hand.

It's beginning to smoke. Just a little.

"Lät dem into se," he whispers.
Don't let them see this.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Eric turns to face the camera for a moment and a tear of blood trickles from the corner of Pam's eye.

He's fucking beautiful in the sunlight.

"Let me go or she'll die!" Bill shouts, desperately trying to get their attention.

[onceaviking]

Russell is crying now, big fat tears of blood making their way down his face.

"My hands are shaking. I feel like a little child! Thousands of years of night. You can't know."

He is so eager he is shaking. Trembling.


Outside, Eric has turned his back on entrance again, doing everything he can to stand still. Relaxed. His hands hanging loosely by his side.

His skin has begun to blister. On his face, on his hands.

He can smell his own burning flesh.
He can only hope that everything else will fill up everything for Edgington, so he won't notice.

"Lät dem inte se." Softly. Softly.

He doesn't know whom he is beseeching with this whispered plea.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam tears her gaze from the monitor and turns to Russell as he wipes the blood from under his eyes with his fingers, leaving red smears on his face.

Eric is going to die.

She gently lays a hand on Russell's shoulder and smiles.

"What are you waiting for?" she says softly, encouragingly.

Russell makes his way toward the door.

"I have to feed Sookie!" Bill hisses. "She needs my blood now! Pam, let me go!"

And now she is crying. Blood tears run down her cheeks.

[onceaviking]

Russell is making his way outside, every sense bombarded by the mix of fairy blood and sunshine.

"It's glorious!" he exclaims as he reaches Eric.
"It's sublime!"

Eric has managed to get the handcuffs out, despite the way the skin on his hands has begun to blister and break. And now he turns his head, letting Edginton see the burns, red and black and blistering, covering his face. Reaching over to snap the one of the handcuffs shut around Edgington's wrist. The other is already in place around his own wrist.

Russell stares at him in mad disbelief.
"You traitor. Fucking madman!" he wails as eric sinks to his knees, looking up at the white hot sun.

"Be brave. We'll die together," he replies, smiling, the pain of his lips tearing apart forgotten,

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam watches the monitor-- and she gasps when Eric claps the cuff on Russell's wrist.

She presses a hand to her mouth and sobs.

In the grainy video image, she can just make out the red blisters and blackened skin on Eric's face.

She was expecting this. But it's no less painful. He's doing it, he's actually going through with it. And as much as she wants to risk her life and run through that door and drag Eric back inside...she can't. She promised him to see this to the end.

"Pam... Pam, please!" Bill yells.

He's shifting his chair closer to Sookie, trying to wriggle from the chains. They seem to be coming loose. Either that or the silver is just taking the skin off his hands. But he's going to get to Sookie whatever it takes.

[onceaviking]

Eric lets himself fall back, dragging Edgington with him.
The pain is almost unbearable.

"Fucking silver," Edginton snarls,the steam rising from his wrist as well as his face. "Your father deserved it, you know."

"Just as you deserve this," Eric mutters, turning his face to look at him.

"All I wanted," Edginton continues, "was a couple of goats for my wolves."

"You slaughtered my entire family for a couple of goats?" Eric says, disbelief in his voice. Disbelief and pain.

Russell talks on, semi-delirious, but Eric doesn't hear him. Because there is another voice talking to him.
A voice he thought he'd never hear again...
He blinks up against the sun. Bright and clear. Blinding him.

But he sees the white clothing. He sees - he sees his face.
Godric's face.

"Forgive him, Eric," his Maker tells him. In the old tongue, his voice soft and gentle. "End all this hate while you still can. Forgiveness is love. Love is all."

"No," Eric grinds out. He will not listen to this. Not when he has finally made it this far.

RUssell looks at him, a little confused by the outburst at the empty air, but too pain addled to do anything more than mutter, "Just shut the fuck up and die, please," at Eric.

"I swore to my father..." Eric tells not Edgington, but Godric.

"Your father was a self-important, greedy, little putz, and he got what was coming to him," Russell replies, but Eric ignores him. Completely.

"Only peace follows death, for all." Godric tells him. Gently. Kindly.
"Even for him."

His face is radiant as he stands there, telling Eric all of this is in vain.

Peace.

" No!" he roars, the tendons in his neck like ropes.

[dobadthings]

With every last bit of his strength, Bill wrenches his hands free from the chains with a pained growl as his skin burns and tears. But once he's free, he almost immediately starts to heal, and he rushes to Sookie's side. She's faintly breathing, her chest barely rising and falling.

Supporting her head, he drops fang and bites a vein open in his wrist. He holds it to her mouth, letting the blood run in.

"Come on, Sookie," he murmurs. "Wake up. Come back to me, Sookie. Sookie..."

[onceaviking]

she is running, running, running through the forest - and she is happy, eager, free. there's a light up ahead. that light. the many coloured, incandescent light of Fairy - and

And then her mouth is full of blood and all she can see is Bill's worried, upside down face.
"Sookie," he says and she writhes away from him, getting off the table. And she turns. And she hits him across the face.

"You fucking betrayed me again."

Amazing how you can go from otherworldly bliss to being this pissed off so quickly. It's almost dizzying.

[dobadthings]

Sookie's just ingested vampire blood, so her slap is actually pretty hard.

"I only pretended to betray you so that I could save your life -- again," he tries to explain.

"And it worked. Russell is gone."

There's also someone else missing from the room.

[onceaviking]

She looks around.
It's true.
Russell is gone.

And -
"Where's Eric?"

Even to her own ears she sounds, well, she doesn't sound like she is asking about her kidnapper.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Throughout all this, Pam has been sitting at the bar, watching her Maker slowly die on CCTV. She really can't give a fuck about anything or anyone else right now.

But she feels compelled to answer Sookie's question, because it's relevant.

"Outside."

She doesn't turn around or take her eyes off the monitor. Her hands are clasped as if in prayer, her face streaked with blood.

"Burning."

[onceaviking]

"What?""

That can't be true.
Why would he do that? Not Eric. With his love of live and his massive - ego and his -
No.

She turns and looks at Bill. Wide eyed and disbelieving,