Ch 25: Beautiful Release

Godric All I could see was darkness and shadows of murky gray through my glazed-over eyes. My vision was so weak, so foggy, so clouded. I blinked trying to focus. Someone was talking. It felt like my ears were under water. The sound was so muffled. I shook my head and closed my eyes lids tight, trying to clear the fog from my mind. What had they done to me? It felt as if I was poisoned, and yet it is not possible to poison a vampire. How I knew this, I am not certain, perhaps a remnant of a human instinct telling me my body was not working properly. I dangled there as I waited for my mind to clear. Yes… I realized I was dangling from the ceiling with my arms above my head. My feet were not touching the ground, and my ankles were bound in silver. I strained to look up and try to ascertain how I was bound. Although delirious, I saw my wrists and arms were wrapped in silver nearly to the elbows, several thick chains hanging from the ceiling. I looked down and saw that it was not just my ankles bound, but my legs all the way to the upper thigh, wrapped in silver by chains secured to the ground. I was completely nude, other than the chains that wrapped around my arms and legs. The pain of the silver on my arms and legs was excruciating. But I was no stranger to pain, I can bear enormous quantities of suffering without blinking an eye. I tried to move but only managed to barely sway my body. I was so weak. They were not taking any chances. If I broke free I would rip my captors apart, limb from limb. I would smear their remains all over my naked body. I would make a necklace from their teeth and carve a spoon from their bones so I could scoop out their heart and feast on it before their very eyes. My inner beast snarled and growled and paced within. I heard the muffled voice again and looked around, trying to focus. Another figure was dangling from the ceiling. Shaking my head, I looked again. The face started to come into focus. It was Alan Nut. “Wake up. The witch cursed you with a poisoning spell. It’s just temporary,” he said desperately. His voice was so strange as if he were talking in slow motion. I tried to focus. “You…” I hissed out with all my strength. “We have to get out of here.” “I will kill you,” I growled, starting to regain my senses. “I… I’m sorry Godric. It’s not my fault.” I laughed. “Not your fault you say? How unfortunate for you when I rip your head from your body.” I looked away. “Please!” He cried. “My maker forced me to do his bidding. You have no idea the degrading things he’s made me do.” I looked back at Nut. I felt a small twinge of pity for him, for I too have been in such a predicament, forced to do the most depraved things against my will through the makers command. “I’m really sorry Godric. It was me who told Edgington you returned to this world. He forced me to tell him everything I knew about you through the maker command. I had heard you and Eric talking upstairs when you first returned, when I was chained up in the basement at Fangtasia. He also knows about the stone, but I told him there was only one more.” I looked at him without saying a word. I realized Edgington had been keeping tabs on me for far longer than I thought. Most likely before I ever met Sookie. Alan Nut had been part of his plan all along. “I tried to accept my lot in life. I tried to play the part. I was so angry about everything that happened to me.” He closed his eyes and shook his head as his voice softened. “But I couldn’t. I just couldn’t be that person. Edgington says I don’t have the evil finesse required to be a vampire. I guess that makes me a shitty vamp.” “No,” I said through gritted teeth. “Your ability to feel remorse for your actions can be more powerful than all of the ruthlessness in the world.” He looked at me with wide eyes full of hope and took a deep breath to quell his emotions. “Why?” He said. “Why did you want to meet the sun? I don’t get it.” “I have not always done what is right,” I said looking to the side, lost in my own thoughts. “My bad deeds far outweigh the good.” “So you feel remorse?” he asked. I nodded. “But someone once told me that our mistakes are what make us grow as a person. She said that is what shapes who we are. We cannot feel pleasure without pain.” “That’s good advice. Who was she?” “A very special woman, who saw through everything, saw into my soul.” Alan Nut dangled silently from his chain bindings, staring at me as he absorbed my words. I looked up again at the ceiling and tried to yank my arms. A loud noise echoed off the walls from the chains rattling and wrenching at the stone above. I yanked again and dust fell in my face. “Keep trying. You might be strong enough to break it.” “Someone is coming,” I said quietly. The door to the room opened and in walked my captor, Russell Edgington. I was disgusted to know that a vampire such as he was my grandsire. It shamed me beyond words. “Are you two bonding?” Edgington said chuckling as he approached me. “Nothing like a little family bonding. Alan Nut here is your uncle after all.” My fangs snapped out, and I growled when he came closer. “Oh!” he said putting his hands in the air. “Easy there. I just want to talk.” “I have nothing to say to a swine such as you,” I growled. “That may be so, but I have a few questions.” He said coming to stand directly in front of me and looking me in the eyes. I stared at him. I summoned my vampire ability, the infamous vampiric stare that my child Eric mentions so much. This ability has caused many a woman to crumble under my gaze, but there was another side to it as well. This full reversal of my vampiric stare could only be accomplished when I was full of rage and fury, something that so rarely happens anymore. It was the flip side of this stare that could cause ancient men such as Edgington to fall to their knees crying like a newborn babe, weeping in hopeless despair. Edgington flinched under my gaze, unaware that I was squeezing the happiness from his soul. Taking a step backwards he frowned. “What are you doing?” He growled, his fangs snapping out, but he did not take his eyes from mine. I lowered my chin and glowered at him, my upper lip snarling as the surrounding atmosphere became cold and dark. Godric was no longer here. I was Death, and I was stripping his soul. I knew he must now see the pigmentation of my eyes turning a dark red as I leeched the sanity from his mind. My scowling glare had him paralyzed as he struggled to look away. “Stop!” He pleaded in a shaky voice. But I did not relent. The world faded away as I gave him the stare of death. All of my attention was focused on him. It had to be in order to summon the strength of the stare. That is why I did not realize what was about to happen next. A metal pipe slammed into my face, breaking not only the stare but also my nose, and my head flew backwards from the brute force of it. “Fuck!” a gruff voice yelled. “One-Ear.” Edgington huffed and puffed, bending over and supporting himself on his knees. “Hit him again. He will learn that is unacceptable.” The pipe slammed into my face again, but I raised my head imperiously without making a noise. Again and again it hit me. But not a sound escaped my mouth, not an expression of pain dwelled on my features as I endured the beating from this One-Ear. “Enough.” Edgington said. “And don’t look him in the eyes.” He came to stand in front of me, this time standing sideways with his hands neatly folded behind his back while he looked at the wall. I could feel the cold liquid of my blood covering my face from the pipe beating. “Now, if you are quite done Gaul. I have some things to discuss with you. Firstly, Nut informed me that you returned to this world by using a second stone. If there is another stone in existence, it will be mine.” I remained silent. Edgington’s words confirmed that Nut was being truthful when he revealed to me that he had told his maker about only one remaining stone when there were in fact two. How Nut managed to hide this information from him, I know not. But it could work to my benefit should I escape this place. The ornate case originally had three stones, one destroyed by Eric and the other two hidden at Sookie’s homestead in Bon Temps. “The idiot Viking destroyed the other stone.” He looked at Alan and scowled. “The only stone which I thought to exist. My dear child neglected to tell me of the second until after you returned. Where is it?” I did not speak. If he thought I would tell him anything then he was sorely mistaken. They could beat me all night, and I would not speak. “Should I hit him some more? I can make him talk boss,” the Werewolf growled. “No,” Edgington shook his head. “He’s not going to crack. He’s a 2000 year old vampire you idiot. No matter. We will get the information another way. Bring the witch in. It is time to perform the resurrection.” “Master,” Alan pleaded. “Please…” The ancient ignored him as the witch was brought into the room, walking in her glamoured dream state. I image Edgington had to keep a strong glamour on her at all times to prevent her consciousness from stirring. She most likely would be more than capable of doing quite a bit of damage to him, despite his age. I remained motionless and did not flinch from pain, even when the Werewolf sliced a long cut down my chest. As he gathered my blood in a goblet I looked at him and jerked my body so violently and growled so loudly he staggered backwards and fell on his backside. Edgington bellowed out in laughter at his frightened Werewolf. “Don’t get too close to him. He could rip you apart One-Ear.” Alan was dangling dejectedly as One-Ear and Edgington approached him. He would soon serve as a host for my maker. His consciousness would descend into the darkest corner of his mind, trapped there while Angur took over. It was a truly miserable way to exist, and I pitied him. “Now, now Nut, you will serve as Angur’s skin suit. You know you can’t resist. Open your mouth. I command it.” Edgington told him. Soon the witch would perform the ritual, and if she was powerful enough Angur would make his presence in the body of Alan Nut. He would ascend from the underbelly of the world and darken the living realm with his evil soul once again. I had one advantage. My maker held no power over me. He could not control me through the makers command as all my connections were severed by the witch. I could rip his heart from his chest and feast on it before his eyes and nil a command could stop me.  Sookie When we entered the basement of Fangtasia the place was covered in blood. I was hopeful Godric would be there, but he was nowhere to be found. The only person in the club was Pam, lying on the floor moaning. She was torn to shreds and Eric immediately ran to her and picked her up. “Pamela,” he yelled. “What happened?” “They fucking killed him Eric. They killed Godric right in front of me,” she cried. She was so distraught I could barely understand what she was saying. Eric pulled Pam to his chest and held her, rocking his child in his arms and caressing her hair. “It is okay Pamela. I am here.” “It was awful,” Pam sobbed into his shoulder. “It’s all my fault. If Edgington hadn’t tricked me and tied me up in silver then Godric would have never come into the basement. He came in to help me Eric.” She burst out in violent tears. “Did Godric and Edgington fight?” “No,” Pam shook her head. “Edgington had five others with him and he was holding a stake over my heart. He gave his word to Godric that if he allowed some of his blood to be withdrawn then he would let us both live. The ugly pig fucking lied.” “What,” Eric hissed. “He gave his word and broke it?” “Yes,” Pam cried. “Edgington is even more insane than we thought. I will fucking kill him for this!” Eric yelled. “Tell me Pamela. What fucking bastards were in the room with him? I will hunt them down one by one.” “There were three Werewolves on V. He called one of them One-Ear. There was a witch named Kate. And there was a disgusting vampire named Ed.” “Why the fuck did he have a witch?” Eric demanded handing Pam a Tru-Blood to drink. “I don’t know. She was glamoured.” Pam took a drink of the Tru-Blood. “Wait. It was something about a resurrection. I don’t know Eric. Godric told him he can’t use the blood of a child for a resurrection but Edgington said he could.” “A Sanguinista resurrection?” Eric looked up in thought. But he still had his fangs bared and he looked pissed as hell. “Where did they kill Godric. We can perform a resurrection with his blood. We just need to find a powerful witch. I will find this witch Kate and it will be done. Where Pamela? Where!?” The room was covered in blood. He could have been killed anywhere. Pam started shaking her head and crying. “You can’t Eric.” She sobbed, still distraught. “Edgington ordered his Werewolves to lick up every drop of Godric’s blood so you couldn’t. They licked the place as clean as a fucking hospital before they ripped into me.” “Where are his fucking clothes? I’ll leech the blood out of the threads if I have to!” “They took them. They took the stake. Everything.” Eric grabbed a metal table and flung it across the room in blind rage. Screaming and growling and hissing as he tossed around items. He punched several holes in the stone wall and yelled profanities in a language that I didn’t know. “Where the fuck was Long Shadow?” Eric screamed. “He was supposed to come in with you tonight. I called him myself. You weren’t supposed to be alone.” “I don’t know.” Pam said standing up. She was looking much better after drinking the Tru-Blood. She looked over at me curiously then back to Eric. “When I arrived, no one was here. At least I didn’t think so, but I guess Edgington was waiting.” Eric took his phone out of his pocket. “I will kill that bastard if he didn’t show. He better be fucking dead because that is the only excuse I will accept.” He started dialing Long Shadow’s number. I felt my blood rise to my cheeks. How could I have forgotten? How could I have not told Eric about Long Shadow embezzling money from him? So much had been happening that it completely slipped my mind. Now was not the time though. We heard a faint ring tone upstairs after a few seconds. Eric rushed up to the bar with the phone still to his ear. Pam and I were close behind him. We stood in front of the bar and listened. “The back offices,” Pam said. We walked to the back offices to a closed door. The phone was ringing on the other side. Eric opened it and I peeked in beside his arm. “Ohhh,” I said popping my head back into the hall. In the office was a pile of gore, the phone laying in it. Long Shadow had been staked. “Fucking Edgington killed Long Shadow before I arrived,” Pam screamed. “FUCK!” “Maybe it was a good thing,” I said quietly, tears still flowing down my cheeks from the realization that Godric was gone. “What do you mean it was a good thing?” Pam hissed, looking at me. Eric too turned around and stared down at me. “Um, he embezzled 60,000 dollars from Fangtasia. I was going to tell you Eric, but so much has been happening. I forgot. I’m sorry.” I burst out crying. Eric put his arms around me. “Shhh,” he said petting my hair. “I do not give a shit about 60,000 dollars right now.” “What do you want me to do about the club? It’s supposed to open in about half an hour,” Pam asked. “Put a sign out front that it is closed for the night,” Eric ordered. “Get a repair service out here to fix the back door and cleaners to take care of the office and basement. And give a call to Isabel in Dallas to inform her of the grave news. Godric had called her yesterday to tell her he was going to be gone for a few more days, but they need to know what happened and I cannot deal with anything else tonight. When you are done, go home and clean yourself up. I am going to take Sookie back to the safe house.”    Sookie Once we got back to the safe house, Eric went inside and walked wordlessly to the bedroom. I stood in the doorway with tears streaming down my face. Finally, after trying to compose myself I made my way to our bedroom, the same room that Godric had made love to me in a few hours ago. What I saw when I entered the room made the tears rise hot and heavy in my chest. Eric was sitting in a chair. He just sat there silently, with his eyes closed, his elbow on the arm of the chair holding up his head. A harsh and ugly disillusion hung around my Viking. It was the same darkness and bitter gloom that I felt in my own heart. “Eric,” I said coming to kneel beside the chair. “Please say something,” I cried. “Please talk to me.” He didn’t move. He had not uttered a word since we left Fantasia. I put my hand on his arm and caressed him. My heart was breaking, but I wanted to comfort him. I loved him. “I miss him too.” I said looking down. There was silence for a moment as I stared down at his arm, then I heard sniffling. I looked up to see Eric wiping his face with the back of his hand. He looked at me and furrowed his brow. He looked so ferocious. If I didn’t know he was in so much emotional pain I would think he was angry. But I knew it was just sadness. “I cannot live without him,” he said in a low voice I barely recognized. “He warned me this would happen.” “Warned you what would happen?” I asked softly, just glad that he was finally talking. “He told me,” he sighed heavily. “He told me I shouldn’t love him. That it would be my undoing. He kept saying it over and over when he first turned me.” Eric closed his eyes then screamed. “He thought he was cursed! But he was not cursed!” “Godric has seen a lot in his life I’m sure. Done a lot of things he regrets.” Eric grabbed my face. “Until he met you. You gave him peace, Lover. I never thought it possible. But you… you gave him peace.” I shook my head and looked down, trying to quell my tears. “Yes,” Eric said vehemently. “He told me! He told me you loved him even though you saw the darkness in him. You are the first human he has ever opened up to and you loved him. It gave him hope for the future. He thought… he thought you were full of so much goodness.” Eric put his face in his hands. “Now he is gone.” He sobbed. I stood up and bent over his knees, clutching his head against my chest and just held him while we both sobbed. His arms twined around my waist and he held on to me as if he would never let me go. We remained like that for the longest time and finally we both quieted as we continued to hold each other, him sitting while I stood in front of him. I’m not sure how much time passed while we held each other silently. It could have been minutes, an hour. I lost track of everything while I rubbed my hands through his blond hair, his face buried in my chest. Faster than my mind could register, Eric was suddenly standing in front of me, looking down into my face, his eyes burned with intensity and passion. I gasped at the suddenness of his proximity and the unmistakable intent etched across his wonton features. The blood bond confirmed to me that he needed me, wanted me, and was going to have me that very moment. He exhaled a long slow breath as his molten eyes stared into mine, never blinking, never wavering, only blazing with an unimaginable hunger that made my body buzz with adrenaline and my heart beat wildly in my chest. I looked down and focused on his chest to try to get some sort of grasp on the tense moment. “Eric… we…” He moved so quickly, tangling one hand in my hair at the base of my head and forcing me to look back into his face while the other hand circled gently around the column of my throat, caressing me there. When my eyes returned to him I saw his lips were parted, baring his teeth which were now accompanied by sharp fangs. But his face was gentle and full of lust. I stood silently as he pressed my body to his, and I stared into his piercing blue eyes while they raked over my face and throat. His gaze was full of such wild desire that I wasn’t sure if his mind was completely sober. The moment was so silent, so tense, so thick that the world around us faded away. The only thing that existed was Eric and me, as we stood pressed to each other, our eyes locked in a thunderous dance of lovers. He released my head and throat and took one step back away from me. His eyes never left mine as he stepped back, but for a moment I thought the tension was subsiding. Then he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the ground. I looked at his chest, so smooth and toned and my eyes went lower where I saw he was unbuttoning his pants. My wildly beating heart doubled it’s fervor in my chest and blood rushed to my face. Eric was about to make love to me for the first time. He wasn’t saying a word, wasn’t making a sound, and it made the moment all the more extreme and earnest as the energy could literally be felt in the air that hung around us like a thick blanket of fiery thrill. He pulled his pants down and kicked them away, standing before me in all his glorious six foot four nudity. I gasped which came out more like a squeal of fear, though I was not afraid, just overwhelmed. He slowly stepped back to me and made quick work of my clothes, nearly ripping them off my body in his zealous attempt to remove them. He wanted us to forget everything for these few moments, and frankly I did too. I wanted to forget about all the bad things that happened and just be with him. Be with him while we comforted each other, melted into each other, loved each other. My heart and my soul shut away. I was free of them, free for this small window of time as I clung to Eric, held strong by his embrace. “Sookie,” he whispered. “My beautiful Sookie.” He put his forehead on mine and wrapped his arms around me, rubbing his hands up and down my bare back. I lifted my face and slowly kissed a trail across his jaw until my lips found his. He kissed me slowly and tenderly at first until it turned into something so passionate I was swept away in the moment, knitted to Eric as if we were one. I swam in the bond, swam in my emotions and his as they mingled together. “Say my name.” I looked up at him through thick eyelashes. “Eric.” “Whisper it,” he said, his eyes darkening. “Eric,” I whispered. “Again.” “Eric,” I said in a trembling breath. “Tell me what you want, Lover.” The blood rushed to my face. “I want you.” “What,” He said softly, his eyes searching mine. “What do you want me to do?” “I want you to make love to me,” I said shyly, my eyes glanced to his lips before returning to his gaze. “Describe it to me, Lover.” My heart continued to flutter. “I want to feel you. I want to feel you inside me.” He lifted me and within seconds I found myself being laid on the bed, his body lowering to mine as it covered me possessively. His lips came to mine again, endlessly we kissed, unrelentingly. My veins fluttered and our blood ran together as one stream. “I can feel your desire, Lover,” he said darkly between kisses. “I can smell your desire.” He spread my legs with his knees. “Your blood sings to me,” He nipped at my neck. “It drives me to the brink of delicious insanity.” Still blanketing his body across mine and trailing kisses across my neck and throat, he reached down between my legs. I gasped when I felt his fingers brush me there. Moving, exploring, possessing as he claimed me. He lifted his hand to his mouth and sucked on one long finger as he stared down into my eyes. “This is the scent I smell, Lover, the scent that drives me so wild.” He slowly brought his finger out of his mouth and reached between us again. I felt his hardness press between my legs. “This is what I long for. You, Lover. All of you.” My eyes closed in pleasure as I felt him enter me. He put his hand on my face, so big was his hand that his thumb and fingers nearly reached from ear to ear across my chin and cheeks. “Look at me, Lover.” He said seductively as he continued to slide into me. “I want to see your beautiful eyes looking at me as we become one.” I stared up at him with his hand still on my face. His piercing blue eyes and face filled my entire vision as I basked in the feel of our bodies merging. His throaty groan of pleasure mixed with my whimpers as he completely filled me. He bent his lips to mine and kissed me so possessively, yet tenderly, while he stilled inside me, sheathed to the hilt. There we reveled in the feel of each other, physical and emotional, as our love hummed across the bond in blissful harmony. The darkness was gone, replaced by everything good and right. Replaced by beauty as two lovers bodies came together over and over. The painful night was a memory as I felt his muscles rippling above me, moving dreamily as I cried with pleasure. All the wrong was forgotten, at least temporarily. I held onto Eric and met him with every movement. He was my eternal mate and this was our first time to love each other physically. We whispered to each other in trembling breaths. Whispered how we loved each other, how we would always be together, how much we meant to each other. Every time our bodies joined together we whispered our secrets, revealed our deepest and most hidden fears and hopes. It was sublime. It was beautiful. It was Eric and I… I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to check the calendar for progress and update schedule’s of the stories you follow. You might also find spoilers on upcoming chapters.