Further On Up The Road: Chapter Five

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Chapter Five

Eric’s eyes widened in surprise as the five Weres and vampires he had heard earlier with Pam tripled in size and surrounded him. A quick glance told him the vampires were rather young. None of them were in triple digits and some weren’t much older than Willa. While he stared at them, his eyes were continually drawn back to a young brown-haired woman standing close to his treacherous child. By her scent, Eric knew whoever the woman was, she was also Pam’s child but more than that, she also smelled of magic. His idiotic child had turned a fucking witch. Eric shook his head in disgust at the realization. Vampires and witches didn’t mix, and you sure as hell never turned one.

As he watched the group move closer, Eric began making plans in his head. The easiest solution would be to simply take to the sky. He doubted any of them other than Pam had the ability to fly, so it would be easy for him to escape. He dismissed that idea though. He wouldn’t give Pam the satisfaction of seeing him turn tail and run. He refused to let her believe her actions were acceptable. She had betrayed her Maker and now she was trying to kill him. He would kill everyone there before he allowed her to believe she was justified in her actions. That left him with only one course of action then… Fighting. He would fight his way out and make Pam sorry.

Pam smirked when she saw Her Maker eye the group she had put together. She believed she had finally gotten the upper hand. She was in charge now and she would soon have everything she ever wanted. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You are thinking I won’t do it, that I won’t let them attack you, but I was serious when I said it… If I can’t have you, no one else can. You are mine!”

“No,” Eric replied, watching both the group who was getting closer to him, and his unstable child. “I was thinking… I should have let you bleed to death on the floor of that brothel like the whore you are…”

Narrowing her eyes in anger, Pam let out an otherworldly scream as the last vestiges of sanity slid from her mind. It was one thing to refuse her the privilege to return to her rightful place at his side, but another altogether to say he wished he had never turned her. In her shattered mind, that was the final betrayal. Nothing she had done could ever be as bad as that.

At Pam’s scream the group attacked en masse coming at Eric from all sides. The Weres shifted into wolf form, attacking low while the vampires aimed high. Bloodlust rose in the vampires as they clawed at The Viking and tried to bring him to his knees as their Mistress had ordered.

Pam could barely contain herself as she watched her little soldiers attack Her Maker. She had to admit, she was a little surprised that it had come to this. She had foolishly expected Eric to back down and allow her to return. She had been convinced that once he looked at her face again and saw reason, he would have welcomed her back with open arms, and begged forgiveness for having banished her. Still, he would learn in time that it was always her. She was the one who was loyal to him, and would do anything for him.

Eric grunted as he felt the Weres and vampires pile on him. He hadn’t been expecting them to attack altogether. He assumed they would have known that tactic never worked. When there were that many of them, attacking all at once was stupid. You couldn’t get a clear shot at your opponent if there were half a dozen people in front of you in the way.

Throwing out an elbow, Eric hit one of the vampires in the face; breaking his nose and making him back up slightly. With the break in the pile, Eric threw out his fist as he used his legs to launch a wolf across the training camp. As he fought his way out of the pile, Eric cursed himself for not bringing a weapon. His broadsword would have come in handy right about then. Once he was upright, Eric used his height, strength, and speed to thin the herd. The baby vampires were no match for him and he ripped their heads off with ease.

As he fought, he couldn’t help but wonder what the hell Pam was thinking in giving Weres vampire blood. He knew it was she who had done it; she might not have given them her blood, but it was undoubtedly her bright idea. She knew the dangers that V could make happen and she had still done it for her own selfish desires. I turned a fucking idiot… 

Pam grinned while she watched Eric fight. It was a magnificent sight and she couldn’t help but be turned on by it. This was the Eric she wanted, the one who fought and got dirty, not the one who pined over a pathetic fairy gash. She should be the only woman he pined over, and she would be soon. She would have everything she wanted, everything she deserved.

Tapping her new child on the shoulder, Pam jerked her head toward Eric, silently telling her it was time for the next stage of the plan. She was practically giddy with eagerness as she waited. Finding the brown-haired witch ten months ago had been a blessing in disguise, and Pam took it as a sign that her plans were justified, necessary, and she was within her rights. How else could it be explained? She needed a witch for her plan and one had fallen right into her lap… Quite literally. The witch, Amelia, had been Pam’s entertainment one night. She had spicy blood, could eat pussy well, and had a modicum of talent when it came to witchcraft. That was all she needed. She had turned the woman the next night and once she rose, Pam had her working on a spell that would benefit her… when she didn’t have her head buried between Pam’s thighs.

“Shadow the heart and open the eyes,” Amelia started, reciting the spell she had memorized. She could feel the magic building in her as she prepared to do the spell her beloved Maker wanted. She didn’t understand Pam’s reasoning for the spell. From what her Maker had told her, the vampire before her wasn’t worthy of someone as wonderful as Pam. If he was, he would have never cast her out in the first place. Regardless of what she thought, she would do the spell for Pam. It wasn’t her place to question her Maker. She was a good and dutiful child. Pam had promised her she would be rewarded for her work. “Erase the weakness and remember the strength…”

Eric groaned as he felt a strange feeling wash over him. It was as if a foreign entity had entered his body and was stripping parts of him away. He had felt like that once before; over five years ago when Marnie Stonebrook had stripped away his memories and robbed him of whom he was. His eyes widened in alarm at the realization, and he snapped his head up and searched out Pam and her child. A feeling of dread filled him when he saw the vampire-witch was casting a spell and, given the way he was feeling, it didn’t take a genius to figure out she was casting it on him.

“What are you doing?” Eric shouted as he was forced to his knees by the power of the spell. He could feel parts of him closing off and he hated it. He hated the feeling of not being in control of his body and mind.

A wicked smile lit up Pam’s face as she sauntered over toward Eric. Crouching down in front of him, she let him see her happiness, not hiding anything. “I told you, Eric. You are mine!” She said, her fangs peeking out from behind her painted lips. “When I told you if I can’t have you no one can, I didn’t mean I was going to kill you… I meant that I will make you mine so no one else will have you. It would’ve been so much easier if you would have just accepted that we are meant to be together but you had to choose those whores over me once again. Well, no more. I’m not letting you do that again. I want my Happily Ever After, Eric, and you are it. My new child will give me that. Soon, I will be the only thing in your heart. Willa and that fairy gash will be blurred memories who will mean nothing to you…”

“No!” Eric shouted, both disgusted and afraid of what she was doing. She couldn’t play with his mind and heart that way. He refused to let her make him forget Sookie and Willa. They meant everything to him. Willa had kept him sane when he felt like he was losing it, and Sookie owned his heart. She had given him back his love of life. “You can take my memories of them, but you will never take my love. I will never love you. Stop this now, Pam!”

“Never!” Pam spat, lifting her hand, scratching his cheek, and drawing blood. “It’ll be over soon. You’ll forget them and it’ll be just us, like it was always meant to be.” Straightening up, Pam turned to face her child, “Finish it!”

“See the faithful and forget…” The rest of the words died on her lips as a flash of white light slammed into her body and sent her flying. Pain wracked her body and the spell was broken while she convulsed on the ground.

Pam let out a scream when she saw her child go flying and she spun around in search of the person who dared attack her. Hatred shone bright in her eyes when they landed on the woman who had caused her so much pain. “Sookie!” She snarled as she crouched down into a fighting stance. She should have known the fairy gash wouldn’t have minded her own business. She always stuck her nose in where it didn’t belong. If she couldn’t bespell Her Maker into returning to her, she could at least kill his fairy whore. Maybe that would be a more fitting punishment for him. She could take everything he loved away from him, just like he had done to her.

Someone’s gonna hurt you like you hurt me, she thought, casting a quick look in Eric’s direction. She smiled darkly when she realized he hadn’t recovered yet from Amelia’s spell. She would have the time to kill Sookie before he did. Won’t that be a fitting gift? You’ll recover to the sight of your whore’s dead body. 

Pam was just about to attack Sookie when a blur of movement caught her eye and before she had a chance to react a body slammed into her and sent her flying. A snarl tore from her throat when her eyes landed on her vampire sister. Jumping to her feet, Pam hissed at Willa as she crouched down and prepared to attack. All thoughts of Sookie left her mind as she stared at the woman she hated more than anything. Sookie might have taken Her Maker’s affection, but Willa had taken everything else. She had taken her place as his child. That was a role that was supposed to only have ever been hers.

“This is all your fault!” Pam screamed all signs of sanity gone. “You took him away from me. NO MORE!” She screeched the words as she threw herself forward and attacked her vampire sister.

Willa met Pam’s attack head on, showing no fear. Pam may have been older than her, but she wasn’t stronger. Willa put the lessons she had received from Eric and Thalia to good use, and used Pam’s own momentum against her. Stepping to the side, Willa grabbed Pam’s arm and brought her leg up, kneeing her insane sister in the stomach.

Gripping the back of Pam’s neck, Willa dug her nails into her flesh and pushed her down hard, flipping her over so she landed on her back. She stared down at Pam, a look of disgust on her face. “No, Pam, this is all your fault!” Willa spat as she lifted her foot and brought it down hard on her face, shattering her nose.

Pam cried out in pain as she felt blood spurt all over her face. Despite the pain, she refused to give up. She was convinced she could salvage her plan, or at least amend it to make everyone suffer and not just her. Lifting her arm, she lashed out at Willa, hooking her arm behind the younger vampire’s knees and knocking her to the floor. Willa may have been stronger than her, but she was more experienced. She had a hundred years on her. She knew how to fight, and fight dirty.

As Willa and Pam fought, Sookie was torn in two. Should she go to Eric and check on him or, should she take out the vampire who had been casting a spell on him? Her heart wanted her to go to Eric. It screamed at her to go check on him and make sure he was okay, that the spell hadn’t taken hold of him. She might have fallen properly in love with Eric while he was under a curse, but it was the full Eric she loved. It was that Eric she wanted. She didn’t want him to lose all he was again. She cursed Pam in her head for even attempting to use witchcraft on him. That was beyond cruel in her mind. She wasn’t sure what the spell was supposed to do, but she could hazard a guess it wasn’t anything good. It would have been something Pam wanted, and seeing how she fluctuated from wanting to kill them all to wanting to use them, Sookie wasn’t in a hurry to discover what the spell was.

“I’m fine, Sookie,” Eric said, though his voice wasn’t as strong as usual. He could see her indecision and he wanted her to know he was fine… or as fine as he could be given the circumstances. Whatever the vampire witch had tried to do to him hadn’t been completed, but he was still recovering his strength.

Sookie cast another glance at Eric to make sure he was telling the truth before heading toward the vampire witch who was just climbing back to her feet. She silently thanked her great-grandfather and some of the daemons in the Dae realm for teaching her how to use her light properly and training her. She would never be as strong as a vampire or even a full-bloodied Fairy, but she could hold her own in a fight and her fairy magic more than made up for a lack of strength.

Flicking her eyes over the vampire witch, Sookie wrinkled her nose in distaste as she scented her magic. Sookie never understood the explanation when Niall told her, but since she had replenished her light, she had gained the ability to sense other’s magics. Niall had rambled on about Fae gifts and blood. In truth, she had tuned him out for most of it, but the upside was she could now sense magic and, to a lesser extent, recognize different types of Supes. Of course, the fact that she had seen the woman performing a spell also told Sookie that she was a witch.

Amelia glared at Sookie, still suffering the effects of the fairy blast. Amelia fancied herself a powerful witch, one who was in touch with nature but she had no idea what Sookie had done to her or what she was. Pam had often ranted about the whores that had poisoned Her Maker’s mind and turned him away from her, but she had never told Amelia what they were… Or rather, what Sookie was. She knew Willa was a vampire, her Maker’s vampire sister, but Sookie was a mystery to her. She’s probably a dark witch, Amelia deduced, believing it to be the only logical explanation. It would certainly explain how they had managed to poison Eric’s mind and turn him against somebody as wonderful as her Maker. In Amelia’s opinion, no one in their rightful mind would turn their back on Pam.

“Don’t even try to cast your spell on me! It won’t work.” Amelia said, her tone bordering on arrogance. “I am a powerful witch. Stronger than you…”

Sookie rolled her eyes while she listened to Amelia. For a powerful witch, she sure was clueless, not to mention way out of her depths. From the looks of her, Sookie doubted she had ever faced any threats. She was untested in battle, unlike Sookie. Sookie had seen battle and she had been in the middle of quite a few. The one thing she did know was that when you were in a fight, probably to the death, you didn’t waste time exchanging, “I’m stronger than you,” threats.

Lifting her hand, Sookie sent another burst of fairy light at Amelia hitting her in the chest. Sookie winced when she heard the vampire witch scream out in pain as the light seeped into her skin and burned her, immobilizing her. Sookie knew she could have used her light to kill the baby vampire outright, but she didn’t want to go supernova on her in case she lost control of it much like she had the last time she had used that much power. Last time, in addition to killing a group of humans, she had caused a blackout in Bon Temps. She didn’t want to risk doing that again, knowing both Eric and Willa were just a few short feet behind her. Last time her light might not have hurt Jason but her brother wasn’t a vampire.

Once she was satisfied that Amelia wouldn’t be getting up, Sookie picked up a broken branch off the ground and moved closer to her. “Sorry,” she whispered as she raised the branch up in the air. “But you tried to hurt someone I love and helped to kidnap my brother.” She didn’t give Amelia a chance to reply before she brought the makeshift stake down and drove it hard into her chest, piercing her heart and sending her to her True Death. “Well, that was kinda anticlimactic,” Sookie grumbled as she rose to her feet.

Pam let out a cry of anguish as she felt her child die. Pain bloomed in her chest and it took all her strength to remain upright. For the second time in five years, she had felt a child die. Pam swore the only thing that could possibly be more painful would be feeling Her Maker die. Although, right about then, Pam wasn’t sure she would care if she felt that. Once again, Eric and his whores had taken everything from her.

Raising her arm, Pam clenched her hand into a fist and swung, punching Willa hard in the jaw forcing her to back up slightly. Spinning around, her eyes narrowed into slits when they landed on Sookie. In that moment, the hatred she felt for Sookie surpassed anything else she may have been feeling. She hated her with an all-consuming fury. The fairy gash had stolen Her Maker’s affection, she had usurped her place in his heart, and now she had killed her child, her beautiful, powerful Amelia; her last chance to regain Her Maker.

Sprinting forward, Pam raced toward Sookie intending to rip out her throat and end the fairy once and for all. Never again would that bitch steal what was hers. In Pam’s chaotic mind, if she could get rid of Sookie everything would be all right. She bared her fangs in anticipation as she grew closer. The speed of her attack would take Sookie off guard and she wouldn’t be able to react in time. The foul, to her, stench of fairy filled her nose and Pam swore she could almost taste her blood in her mouth. She was just mere feet away when she felt a hand wrap around her throat. Pam let out a cry of surprise when she felt herself being lifted into the air before being driven hard into the ground. Looking up into the face of her attacker, Pam’s eyes widened in fright as she stared into the murderous eyes of Her Maker.

Eric had seen Pam race toward Sookie and he knew what she planned to do, and he refused to let her. He would not allow her to kill the woman he loved and take her away from him. He would not let her delusional mind cost him Sookie again. He would sooner meet the sun than live without Sookie Stackhouse. She was his heart, his soul, his blood.

Eric tightened his hand on Pam’s throat as he forced her more firmly against the ground. He couldn’t believe the lengths she had gone to just to get him back. If he was a lesser man, he might have said she did it out of love, that her love for him was driving her own, and he might have even thought it was romantic. After all, who didn’t want that kind of devotion, that kind of love? But, Eric wasn’t a lesser man. He wasn’t blinded by acts of obsession masked as love. He saw Pam’s actions clearly for what they were. They weren’t acts of love. You didn’t lie, betray, and use witchcraft for love. You used it for obsession. Pam’s love wasn’t pure; it was steeped in selfishness and obsession. Eric doubted her love was even real, at least not in the way she believed.

It wasn’t as if she wanted his fidelity. She honestly didn’t care if he fucked a hundred different women. She just didn’t want him to give them anything other than his body. She wanted to be the only person in his life in terms of feelings. He could only have her. She was supposed to be the first, second, and last person in his heart and life. Pam couldn’t see past her own selfish desires. She only cared about her own happiness.

“You have been a very bad girl, Pamela,” Eric growled, trying to hold back his fury. He feared if he let it out, he would rip her head off and send her to her True Death.

“Are you going to punish me then, Master?” Pam replied almost mockingly. She was positive he wouldn’t do anything to her, or just send her away again. Eric loved her too much to harm her. He always had.

As he stared at Pam, Eric realized she would never change. She was too far gone. She still believed everything she did was justified; he could see it in her eyes, and, given the chance, she would do it all over again. She would kill Sookie and Willa, and then try to bind him to her side. She would rob him of the right to choose. She would take everything he loved away from him, and she would tell herself she was doing the right thing. It pained him to realize he couldn’t let her go. She would never stop trying to get him back. So if he couldn’t let her go, what was the alternative? Going with her, binding her in silver for eternity, or sending her to meet the True Death…

The first option was out of the question. That would just be giving her what she wanted, and it would mean walking away from Sookie for good. That was something he would never do. He loved Sookie more than anyone or anything. Leaving her was not an option.

The second was a viable solution. He could have Pam chained in silver and locked away in a coffin for the rest of eternity. She would be out of the way and no longer be a threat to Sookie and Willa, or his relationships with them. He could do that. It would be one way to deal with her.

The final option was something he didn’t want to do. No Maker wanted to see their child dead, and especially not at their hands… At least not any good one. Eric knew of a few Makers who had in fact killed their children. As he stared at Pam, Eric believed she would have been one of those Makers if fate hadn’t intervened and killed her children first. At the very least she would have abandoned them. She would have never wanted them around if she had gotten what she wanted. She abandoned Tara just minutes after she rose the first time and then again a few weeks later. Pam really had no loyalty to anyone but herself.

As much as he didn’t want to, Eric knew there was really only one viable option. He wouldn’t go with her and, as much as he might have preferred it, keeping her chained in silver forever wasn’t either. That only left one choice. It was one he didn’t really want to choose, but Pam’s actions had made him realize it was the only choice. The problem and he hated referring to Pam as that needed a permanent solution.

Sookie watched Eric as he stared at Pam. She could see the pain on his face and she knew he was hurting. She would have given anything to be able to take that pain away. It should have been a time of celebration. They were supposed to be preparing for Jason and Willa’s wedding the next night; instead they were preparing for something far less celebratory. From the tautness of his body and the pain etched deeply on every line of his face, Sookie had a good idea what Eric was thinking and planning on doing, and she felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

“You don’t have to do it,” Willa said softly, stepping forward and standing next to Sookie. Like the telepathic blonde, Willa had a good idea what Eric was planning on doing. She cursed her slowness. If only she had been a little bit quicker, she could have dealt with Pam and spared their Maker the pain of doing it.

“Do what? Let me go, banish me again?” Pam snorted, not comprehending the seriousness of the situation. It never even entered her mind that Eric might be considering ending her. The very thought was preposterous and didn’t even bear thinking about. He always forgave her if she fucked up, and she was convinced he would this time. So what if she tried to use witchcraft on him? He would forgive her eventually. He always did. He forgave her when she fired that rocket at his precious Sookie.

“Yes, I do,” Eric replied, speaking to Willa but never taking his eyes off Pam. He had to do it, it was the only way. He was the Maker. It was his duty. He couldn’t let anyone else do it. She had to die by his hand as he didn’t want to risk the possibility that he would blame them. “It is the only way…”

A shiver of fear passed over Pam at the hollow sound of Eric’s voice and she started to get an inkling of just how much trouble she was in. Looking up at Eric, a look of comprehension entered her eyes as she finally realized what they were talking about. “No!” She screamed, fighting desperately against his hold. “I’m your child! You can’t do this. You can’t… Eric, please…”

Tears streamed down Sookie’s face as she watched the scene unfold in front of her very eyes. As much as she disliked Pam, Sookie couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. It was clear she wasn’t stable; her mind was pretty much gone. She had guessed as much before she had even arrived in Dallas, and she thanked her great-grandfather for showing up when he did, helping her and Willa get to New Orleans quickly so they could get a flight to Dallas. Eric might have been ordered to “come alone” but Pam never said anything about Sookie and Willa following him a few hours later. Sookie realized Eric would probably be pissed at them, but there was no way they were going to stay behind and wait while Jason and Eric were in possible danger.

Willa couldn’t help the crimson tears that trickled down her cheeks as she watched her vampire sister beg their Maker not to kill her. She couldn’t say she felt sorry for Pam. She might have been able to if the psychotic vampiress hadn’t kidnapped her fiancé, tried to kill her future sister-in-law, bespell their Maker, and been an all around bitch from the moment they met. Pam had brought it on herself with her obsessive, spiteful behavior. No, Willa’s tears were for her Maker. She was crying for him.

“Eric, please,” Pam begged, truly frightened. The realization of what he was planning scared her beyond words. Never in her most frightening of nightmares did she ever think they would come to this. Eric forgave her. He always did. “I’m sorry,” she cried, trying anything she could to stay his hand. “I’m so sorry. I won’t do it again. I’ll leave you alone…”

“No, you won’t,” Eric replied, his voice reflecting the pain he was feeling. He was torn up inside, but he knew he had no choice. “You would never leave us alone. I know that. You tried to rob me of my choices. You tried to steal my heart and turn me away from the woman I love. I can’t…”

“Please, Master,” Pam pleaded, her face streaked with blood tear tracks. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t want to… I’m your child. Your Pamela. We can work this out. I love…”

“No!” Eric growled, cutting her off. He wouldn’t listen to her claim she loved him after what she did. She had betrayed him one time too many. Reaching for the stake Sookie had discarded after she had staked Amelia; Eric picked it up and gripped it tight in his hand. “I am sorry, Pam, but this is the only way you will ever leave us alone…”

Pam fought like a wild cat as she saw Eric raise the stake, but try as she might, she couldn’t dislodge Eric’s grip on her. She screamed like a banshee when Eric brought the stake down. She felt the sharp branch pierce her flesh and move into her body. Pam’s eyes widened in surprise, not quite able to believe he had done it. The moment seemed to freeze in a single second; the sounds of the night fading to silence as the things around them froze in suspended animation… and then like the flicking of a switch, time sped up again and the stake slid into Pam’s heart, destroying the magic that animated her, and sent her to her True Death.

The sight of his child exploding in front of him caused Eric to let out a roar of anguish. He knew he had done the right thing, that it was the only thing he could have done, but it didn’t stop it from hurting. His body shook under the weight of his sobs. For all of her insanity and obsession, he had loved her. It might not have been the kind of love she wanted, but she was his blood, his child.

Sookie felt her heart breaking for Eric. She wept for her strong Viking who was hurting. She couldn’t imagine what he was going through, but what she did know was that he wouldn’t go through it alone. Stepping forward, she moved toward Eric, careful of where she stood. The last thing she wanted to do was step in Pam’s remains. Stopping in front of Eric, Sookie stroked a hand through his hair, silently offering him her comfort and strength. She said nothing, knowing there was nothing she could say that would make it any better.

Eric shuddered as he felt Sookie stroke her hand through his hair. He took comfort in her presence, grateful that she was there. Leaning forward, he rested his head against her stomach and let his tears fall. He knew he didn’t have to pretend to be strong then. She could handle his grief. She wouldn’t be disgusted by it, or think him weak.

Sookie wrapped her arms around Eric’s shoulders and held him; letting him express his pain anyway he wanted. She wouldn’t tell him to stop or try and cheer him up. She would just let him be. He knew what he needed and she was there to make sure he got it.

Willa bowed her head in respect. She might not have liked Pam, but she wouldn’t disrespect her death by celebrating it. In that moment, her own feelings on the situation didn’t matter. She was there for her Maker. Although, as she looked at Eric and Sookie, Willa realized Eric didn’t really need her and that was okay, because while he might not, there was someone who did. Jason needed her and she could finally feel him. The feeling was faint, like he wasn’t fully conscious, but it was there. This meant she could track him. Catching Sookie’s eyes, Willa mouthed the word “Jason” to her and jerked her head in the direction she was feeling him before taking off in search of her fiancé.

Sookie wasn’t sure how much time passed as she stood in the training camp of The Fellowship of the Sun, holding her Viking. Truthfully, she didn’t care. She would have stood there for hours if that was what Eric needed. Her own comfort was second to his need at that point. She stroked her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp, giving him all the love and comfort he needed.

Closing his eyes, Eric buried his face against Sookie’s stomach. He was sure he had ruined her shirt with his blood tears and he snorted at the thought. Taking another minute to himself, he said a silent goodbye to Pam. His pain was still there and he knew it would be for a long time, but it was time to get up and move on. He would mourn his child, but not forever. He had a life he wanted to start, a life with the telepathic fairy hybrid who was holding him.

Pulling back slightly, Eric stared up at Sookie, “Thank you,” he said softly, trying to convey all he felt in those two words.

Sookie smiled as she watched Eric rise to his feet. “You’re welcome,” she replied as she wrapped an arm around his waist and snuggled into his side. “Willa’s gone to find Jason,” she added, sensing Eric didn’t want to talk about Pam.

Eric nodded in reply as he wrapped his arm around Sookie’s shoulders. He had heard Willa race off and he had assumed she had gone to find Jason. He wondered where Thalia was; it wasn’t like her to miss a fight. After everything that had happened, and the lives lost, Eric was just happy to have Sookie in his arms and safe. He knew he should probably be pissed about her and Willa ignoring him, and then following him to Dallas. They could have placed themselves in danger and could have been seriously hurt. However, he couldn’t find it in him to even pretend to be angry. The truth was if it hadn’t been for them ignoring and following him, he would have probably been under a witch’s curse again and thinking about nothing but Pam. Their arrival had saved him, and he was grateful to them.

He cast a final glance at Pam’s remains before dropping a kiss on Sookie’s head. “Let’s go home, Sookie.”

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