onceaviking | Season Four

Season Four

She opens the door behind her and walk him back inside with her, still kissing him.

She is kissing him.

Just one kiss and he promised her that he would be happy. And now they are raining down on him like the sweetest dew and she is moving back toward the couch (kicking off her slippers on the way) and his hand is touching the soft fabric of her dress and - yes. Yes he is happy.

They settle on the couch and he touches her, almost hesitantly.
Sookie is far more resolute, as she grabs hold of the hem of his top and pulls it off him, grinning a little.

It's the sweetest thing he has ever seen.

Her dress goes too and she lies there in her underwear, all beautiful and radiant and warm and alive.

He leans down and kisses her rib cage.
Then her belly.

Sookie lets her head fall back and moans -

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Eric looks at thrm. The guns. The cuffs.

They really must think he is dangerous.

He turns his back and crosses his wrists. "You'd better cuff me," he says, quietly.
"Just in case."

The guards glance at each other before one of them nods once, sharply, and slips the handcuffs from his belt. He secures them around Eric's wrists, his flesh smoking and burning when it comes into contact with the silver.

Pam winces, and as she moves to the bars of the cell, another guard slams the door shut. She wants to call out to Eric, to tell him to go down fighting, to tear Bill's face off when he can-- but it wouldn't do any good. So she remain silent, watching the guards lead Eric away. And she braces herself for the moment she'll feel his true death.

The guards March Eric down the hall and up the stairs, and into the main room of Bill's mansion. A fourth guard joins them. He's holding an old, ornate box, about a foot and a half long. From there, they escort him outside.

There's a full moon tonight.

In the distance, wolves howl.

And Bill Compton is waiting on the front lawn.

He hisses a little as the silver touches his flesh.

It hurts.

But it's a small pain. And it will be over soon enough.

He doesn't look back at Pam. It wouldn't do any good.

He walks quietly, looking down at the ground as the guards lead him across the lawn. When they reach the King, one of the guards press down on his shoulder and he kneels.
Willingly.

This is wrong, and you know it!

Sookie's voice rings in Bill's ears as he waits in the moonlight for Eric to be brought to him.

She shouldn't involve herself in the affairs of vampires. And she was making herself a nuisance. So he had ordered the guards to arrest her if she ever set foot on his property again. It was for her own good.

This is what he keeps telling himself.

He'd spoken to Nan Flanagan, requesting a warrant to impose the True Death upon Eric Northman. With the witches still a threat, they could potentially control him, use him as a weapon. There was no other option.

This is wrong.

And you know it.

Bill turns around at the sound of footsteps, and watches Eric pad across the grass. He looks down at him as he kneels.

"You understand why you're here?"

He understands.

"I've been told I'm under the spell of a necromancer," Eric replies, quietly.

He is a threat. A weapon.
This is the right thing to do.

Eric looks up at his King. Sad. Earnest.
"And that I consorted with your human."

He knows that now.

Unexpected answer is unexpected.

"Sookie is not mine," Bill says, thrown off a little.

She'd made it perfectly clear to him that she wasn't. Anymore. And not ever again.

Eric looks up at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"But you love her," he says, earnestly.
Why else would she have been his?

If you ever loved me, Sookie had pleaded, for Eric's sake, you won't hurt him.

"Irrelevant," he says coldly.

Eric's eyes betray nothing but sincerity, and Bill is finding it harder and harder to ignore this in spite of everything.

"You are here, Sheriff Northman, because I have been given orders to sentence you to the True Death."

Nan Flanagan granted his request as easily as he had asked.

"You have anything to say?"

He wants to look away, but he doesn't. He keeps looking up at his King as he softly says,"According to my Progeny, I was a - I am a barbarian thug who's never respected your authority."

His gaze briefly drops and then he looks back up at his King again.

"I don't expect you to show me any mercy."

Why would he?
And why should he? All things considered.

Bill also wants to look away, but he cannot fathom the utter...innocence that he sees in Eric's eyes.

He remembers the last time he spoke to Eric. Insolent, sarcastic, arrogant. Pushing back against Bill's authority every step of the way.

Bill had sent him to get rid of the witches. He never expected this to happen.

"Surely, you don't wish to die," he says, questioning why Eric would submit so willingly.

No.
But I don't wish to live this way, either.
"The vampire I used to be is a stranger to me," Eric replies quietly and calmly.

He has been giving this a lot of thought.
A lot.

"I have nothing to say in his defense. I will accept my sentence."

His very existence is hurting people. Either because of what he has done yo them in the past or because he has forgotten them.

And he is a threat.
To Sookie too.

"But I have a request."
That too is stated calmly. But politely.

He's scared and alone, Sookie had told Bill. His whole life has been wiped away.

She'd been hiding Eric. Talking to him. Getting to know this...stranger.

That Eric would give up his existence...

At his request, though, Bill attempts to recalibrate his cynicism.

"Naturally," he says dryly, but he's still listening.

"Release Pam," Eric asks. "At the rate she's decomposing, she can't be much of a threat."

He hesitates.
"At least not for long."

Well...that's a good point.

Pam had lied to Bill to protect Eric, but she would have done anything, treasonous or not. As Eric's progeny, that's where her loyalty lies first.

Besides, she's been suffering enough.

So he'll grant it.

"Anything else?"

"Sookie."

This is important.

"Tell her I was born the night she found me. And because of her, I went to my true death knowing what it means to love.
Tell her, "Thank you."

He isn't crying. His voice isn't shaking.

If this is it, do be it.

But he needs to know that Sookie will know what she means to him.
Meant to him.

And he knows this cannot be easy to listen to. With things being what they are. So he continues,"She still cares for you. I saw it last night."

There is a second part to this request. A wish. A hope.

"After I'm gone, I hope you'll find your way back to each other."

Eric's sincerity is becoming uncomfortable. Even...moving. His words prick Bill's conscience, making him unable to meet Eric's eyes for too long, to see his pale, earnest face in the moonlight. Eric has changed. Has truly changed, and-- it seems, for the better.

Better than Bill had ever been, though he'd tried. For Sookie.

Indeed, none of this is easy to listen to, especially when Bill can still hear Sookie's pleading voice:

If you ever loved me, you won't hurt him.

He turns away for a moment, nodding to the guard holding the long box. The guard opens it, revealing a relic, a gilded, ceremonial wooden stake on a bed of purple velvet, smoothly carved, and tipped with silver. Bill carefully picks it up.

this is wrong

and you know it

Eric continues to speak of Sookie with such hope even now, and Bill cannot help but ask him, incredulous, "Why would you hope for that?"

Isn't it obvious?

"Cause she deserves happiness," Eric replies. Sincerely and selflessly.

"With whoever can give it to her."

And surely the King of Louisiana and Mississippi can give her that?
Surely he will want to.

For Sookie's sake.

For Sookie. Always for Sookie. Even in his last moments, Eric only wants the best for Sookie. If he could bring her the moon, he would try.

Bill knows. Her happiness was all he ever wanted, too, even if it meant giving her up.

if you ever loved me

He sets his jaw and tightens his grip on the stake.

Stepping closer to Eric, standing above him--

this is wrong

He swiftly raises the stake--

Eric lifts his eyes to the sky.
Looking at the vast darkness. The stars. The moon.

He has already hair one more look at the sun that was rightly his.
He has known love.
Now he can see the lights of night (you still have the stars. And the moon ) one final time.

The movement bares his neck and raises his chest.

He is ready.

Bill aims for Eric's heart.

His heart.

Eric...has a heart.

That's what it is. That's what's different.

That's what Sookie has found in him.

With a sharp but silent intake of breath, Bill abruptly steps back, away from Eric, and lowers his hand. His knuckles are white as he still grips the stake, his lips a thin, pale line.

For a moment, Eric may not be able to tell whether or not Bill still intends to execute him.

He waits for the stake - but it doesn't come.

He blinks and shifts his gaze to Bill. And the lowered stake.

And then back to Bill's face.

His eyes are wide and uncertain.

Bill tries to keep his expression neutral and remain impassive, but he is clearly struggling.

He lays the stake down in the box and shuts the lid. With this, his decision is final.

"Release him," he tells the guards.

One of the two guards holding Eric unlocks the silver handcuffs and removes them, slipping them off his burned wrists. They then are suddenly almost benign, helping Eric to his feet.

Bill looks at him, still struggling with his own compassion. Will he regret this? Maybe. But ultimately, he's doing this for Sookie.

"You can tell Sookie everything yourself," he says to Eric, an uneasy kindness in his voice. "You are free to go."

Edited 2017-09-30 18:07 (UTC)

Eric rubs his wrists. Then he looks at Bill.

Confused.

Grateful.

"My liege. Am I not still a threat?"
He doesn't quite understand what happened.

Bill hesitates, but only slightly. As King he will always have an answer for everything.

"What matters is that you are not a threat now," he replies. "As long as I have the witch in custody, we all should be safe."

He signals to one the guards. "Release his Progeny."

The guard wordlessly heads off into the mansion.

For vampires, doing the right thing or the wrong thing is irrelevant. They do whatever is best for vampires as a whole, or for themselves as an individual. Morality has nothing to do with practicality.

But Bill will never forget that being with Sookie helped him reclaim his humanity.

He looks at Eric, and glances away toward Sookie's house, beyond the darkness, and back up at him.

"Go," he says with a faint nod.

He sees the glance.

And so he sinks down again, to one knee, and bows his head.

"Thank you."

He looks up at him, the light of the moon reflecting in his eyes.

"Thank yiu."

And then he gets to his feet and runs off, headed for Sookie's house.

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lazy_but_loyal - 2017-09-30 19:58 (UTC) - Expand

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onceaviking - 2017-09-30 20:32 (UTC) - Expand

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