Ch 15: Whispers of the Heart

Sookie

 

I had managed to catch us an early flight back to Shreveport, a little earlier than I would have liked but the next one wasn’t available until 6:00 pm and we simply didn’t have the money to stay another night. It meant that we would have to leave shortly before dawn but I was ready to go. Staying in a hotel room and crying all day over everything that had happened wasn’t doing anyone any good, and I was responsible for Alia now. She was stuck in a world that was completely alien and foreign to her, so much so that simple things seemed like magic. She was like my sister, and I planned for her to stay with me at the house in Bon Temps. Her presence made the loss of Godric a little easier but just. The pain was still so incredible that I was sure it was the worse thing I would ever go through in my life.

 

Barriers started to lower over the windows, so I knew the sun would be up soon. We were in one of the vampire rooms, Eric’s old room to be precise, so the barriers went down every morning and rose after sunset just like they did in the room next door where I stayed with Bill before all this started.

 

I pulled the first aid kit I had bought in the hotel gift shop out of my suitcase and started to reapply the bandages on my hands. I still had scrapes all over my body from what happened three days ago in the Wraith Lair, a painful reminder of losing Godric. I wasn’t feeling very well either. I woke up a few hours before dawn feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach. I figured it was just nerves; my emotions had been through hell and back after all.

 

“Are you about ready to go?” I called to Alia who was in the bathroom while I reapplied the bandages. “Our flight will leave in about an hour.”

 

She walked out of the bathroom with a small smile on her face, a smile that seemed forced and covered a great deal of sadness. I knew how she felt. Despite the sadness she felt over Godric’s death there was something else. Alia and I had spent a long time talking over the last few days. She had told me so much about her and Godric’s lives as slaves. The things she told me were so horrible I couldn’t imagine how anyone could have coped with it. I knew that she felt a great sense of relief for being free of that life and I felt so much respect for her and Godric after learning the atrocities they were forced to live through. They were truly strong in every sense of the word. They were both incredible people in spite of those injustices. “My brother has saved me. You have saved me.” She had told me with a profound gratefulness in her big teal eyes. I truly had started to think of her as my sister, my family, someone I would be close to for the rest of my life.

 

“I am ready to go to my new home,” she mumbled as she sat beside me and assisted me with my bandages.

 

I smiled softly. “You’ll like it there. It’s a rural area… ya know trees all around. Not like here with all the tall buildings and cars and concrete. It’ll be easier for you to adjust to the modern world in a more natural environment.”

 

“This land was truly conquered by the nomadic tribes of the British Isles?”

 

“Yeah,” I nodded. “After the Roman Empire fell, the nations of Europe, like France, that’s what they call the Gaul lands now, and England, well they got more powerful and built huge fleets of ships to explore the oceans. Eventually the British established colonies here. Your ancestors, the French, established trading posts in Louisiana where we’re going, so a lot of the culture is handed down from them. I suppose that culture is a lot different than the ancient Gauls though.”

 

“And it has grown to a nation to rival the Romans.”

 

“I suppose so, yeah.”

 

She tucked the bandage around my hand and patted it to indicate she was finished. “The world has changed much in 2000 years. Never before would women live by themselves. It was too dangerous. This new world is not dangerous.”

 

“Believe me, we still have dangers and problems but the human race has come a long way as far as human rights go. There’s no more slavery and women have equal rights, at least in most parts of the modernized world. The things you had to go through in Rome, those things really don’t happen anymore.”

 

“It sounds wonderful.”

 

I smiled. Seeing the world through Alia’s eyes was inspiring. She was always full of so much wonderment and awe. She didn’t seem to take anything for granted, and after living just a few short weeks in her time, I understood why.

 

I slipped the first aid kit back in my suitcase and zipped it up. Looking around I said, “Well, I think we have everything. We better go catch a taxi to the airport.”

 

We walked out of the hotel room and I answered Alia’s questions as she asked about airplanes and taxi’s but I froze at the sight of Bill’s hotel room door missing.

 

“What is it?” Alia asked, stopping beside me and looking over at the door.

 

“The door is missing, something has happened.” I walked towards it before turning around to Alia. “Wait here, okay?”

 

She nodded and I turned back towards the missing door, my eyes wide. I didn’t know what I would find in there. I knew Bill should be going to rest right now and I couldn’t imagine why his door would be missing at such an important time. I didn’t want to see him but I just had to know what was happening. I slowly walked towards the door; my heart beat rapidly increasing with every step, so much so that I could practically hear it thumping in my ears.

 

I stepped in the doorway and saw that the small one room hotel suite was empty. I sighed in relief at the anti-climatic moment, but my curiosity was peeked. I stepped inside and switched on the light. Looking over, I saw the door lying on the ground, against the wall.

 

“That must have been the loud crash we heard earlier.”

 

Why was Bill ripping the door from the hinge and throwing it against the wall? Was he that angry that I was missing? Was he going to show up at the house and try to get me back the moment we got back to Bon Temps? The first thing I planned to do was withdrawal his invitation.

 

I frowned, remembering everything he had put me through, all the lies he had told me just to get in my pants. I felt like such an idiot.

 

“My Gods…” A voice behind me startled me and it only took a second to register who it was. I quickly whirled around and gasped. Nothing had changed. It had only been a few days since I last saw her, but 2000 years must have passed for her. She looked the exact same. Her gray and white wavy hair flowing down her shoulders, her wrinkled and imperious face etched with serenity, her milky orbs boring into me, wide with wonderment and disbelief. It was the Pythia.

 

“Mother?” I croaked.

 

She tentatively took one step towards me as if she was looking at a ghost, as if she feared me. “You have returned? When?”

 

“I came back the same morning I left. The same moment I think, when the Jewel was destroyed.” I looked down and tried to hold back the tears. “Titus killed Godric. He didn’t return with me.”

 

She gasped and her white eyes widened even further. “No, child. Godric lives. He believes you were killed in the explosion that emanated from the Jewel of the Underworld. He attempts to end his life by meeting the sun on the roof as we speak. He believes he will be reunited with you in the afterlife.”

 

“What?” I cried in horror. “No!”

 

“Go child! You must stop him before it is too late.”

 

I didn’t need anymore convincing. I rushed past her, a mix of horror and joy surging through my body. I knew if the sun hadn’t already risen it would any moment. I had no idea if I was too late, no idea if I was given this one last hope only for it to be snatched away from me again.

 

“Sookie!” Alia screamed as I rushed out of the hotel room. She had been standing by the door listening. “Godric lives!”

 

I could hear her footsteps behind me as we rushed down the hall towards the elevator. Mashing the button, I growled in frustration. There wasn’t enough time.

 

“Come on!” I screamed rushing towards the door that led to the stairwell. Luckily it was right beside the elevator so I didn’t have to look for it. Six flights of stairs. Six flights and I would be on the top floor!

 

I felt so slow, so heavy, so tired as I climbed the stairs. Usually I had a lot of energy in the mornings but this morning I just felt like my energy was sapped from the moment I woke up. This was not the time to be feeling this way. I needed to be fast because Godric’s life depended on it. He was on that roof. He was waiting for me. I screamed in elation. Godric was waiting for me! We would be together. Only if I could make it in time.

 

As I climbed the stairs I started thinking what this all meant. The Pythia said he was going to meet the sun. That meant he was a vampire. My Lord, that meant he has been waiting for me for 2000 years. It’s only been three days since I last saw him but he hasn’t seen me in 2000 years. Even after 2000 years Godric still loved me, so much so that he was about to meet the sun because he thought I didn’t return to the future after the Jewel was destroyed. Godric was about to meet his true death because he felt like he couldn’t live without me.  I felt the tears stinging the corners of my eyes as I rushed up the stairs. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the torment he had gone through over the last 2000 years only to think he had lost me again.

 

I burst through the doors into the hallway of the top floor. Luckily the door was beside the elevator we had come down a few days ago so I had some bearing of where I was. Alia was behind me, breathing heavily.

 

“This way,” I hollered, as I turned right and ran down the hallway. As I turned another corner I saw Eric sitting on the ground, far at the end of the hall, near the door that led to the stairwell to the roof. He had his knees pulled up to his face and his hands over his head and he was sobbing quietly.

 

He looked up only a second after I turned the corner. I didn’t stop running. Tears were streaming down my face. His face was covered in blood and he looked at me in shock.

 

“Eric!” I screamed as I ran in his direction.

 

“Sookie?” He gasped in a voice of awe. He quickly stood up and started wiping his face. “The roof! Hurry! I can’t go back out there. He commanded me.”

 

I had never seen Eric look so desperate in all the months I had known him and that fact alone was enough to let me know how dire the situation was, how little time there truly was.

 

As I quickly moved past him and pushed the doors open to the roof I was greeted by a sight I will never forget. Godric was standing on that roof, shirtless, just as before, his back to me, his dragon tattoo etched down his spine. And in the distance the first rays of the sun were starting to crest the horizon. It was déjà vu, all over again, back at square one. But this time I was staring at the love of my life as he was about to die.

 

“Godric! No!” I cried as I climbed the stairs onto the roof.

 

He didn’t even turn around. He only hung his head heavily and slowly shook it.

 

He raised his face towards the rapidly brightening sky. “Now you taunt me with illusions of my love.” His voice dropped to a low and hurt whisper as if he was speaking to himself. “I loved her with all that I am.”

 

“Godric, it’s me.” I said as I desperately rushed towards him. “Alia and I came back after we shattered the Jewel. I thought you were dead. I thought Titus had killed you. It’s only been a couple days since I last saw you in the Wraith Lair. We’ve been staying in Eric’s old hotel room. We’ve been there for three nights.”

 

“Sookie speaks true, brother!” Alia was now behind me, on the stairs. She spoke in their native tongue, which gave it an even more dramatic effect.

 

Godric slowly turned around his eyes wide. He was about 20 feet away from me. My heart caught in my throat as I watched him fall to his knees. The look on his face was that of a man who had a revelation the magnitude of which the world had never seen.

 

“Could it be true?” His intense gaze swept over my body as he stood on his knees on that concrete roof, the sun dangerously ready to rise behind him.

 

My eyes were full of tears and I laughed. “It’s true,” I nodded as I put my bandage wrapped hands over my mouth.

 

I closed the short distance between us and wrapped my arms around the back of his neck. He pressed his face to my stomach and cried. He cried in a way that I never thought I would see from Godric. So full of emotion as his hands circled to the small of my back. I ran my fingers through his hair.

 

“We have to get off the roof, Godric. The sun is about to rise.”

 

He ignored me as he tilted his head back and looked at my stomach. He put his hand there and rubbed me as if he was amazed. I didn’t understand but I knew he had been through a lot.

 

“You don’t have to wait any more.” I said softly. “I’m here now.”

 

He looked up in my eyes before he slowly rose to his feet, not taking his gaze from mine. His face was inches from away, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled my scent.

 

“You are even more beautiful than I remember,” he said breathlessly. He reached for a lock of my hair and brought it to his nose. Closing his eyes he breathed in.

 

He didn’t even seem to notice the wisps of smoke that started to rise from his shoulders. He was completely lost. “Godric,” I whispered. “We have to go now.”

 

He picked me up by reaching for my thighs, forcing my legs to circle his waste and he walked towards the stairs that led down to the top floor of the hotel. He never once took his eyes off of me. And so Godric and I walked back to safety and to our new life together.

 

Epilogue

 

I stared at her as she lay on the bed sleeping. My Sookie had returned to me after all. The joy and happiness that welled in my heart took me over. It was something I was almost afraid to let in, but let it in I did, and I reveled in the feel of it. I walked to the bed, still in amazement and lay down beside her. After everything I had endured, all I had been through, it would seem that I was worthy of Sookie after all. So long ago this journey had started, when I was a broken and hopeless vampire drowning in the misdeeds of my life. Sookie washed my slate clean when she took us to the past. She gave me the chance to right all the wrongs of my past but more importantly she gave me something so miraculous I was sure it was powerful enough to make the universe come to a stand a still. She gave me her heart.

 

As I stroked her sleeping face, I knew this was only the beginning of our adventure together. We had yet to discover each other once again. I had lived another 2000 years since she had seen me last, and I was now a vampire. And she, well she was pregnant with our child, but she knew not of this knowledge yet.

 

I put my hand on her stomach and relished in the sensation of her soft skin. Within her womb grew our child. Sookie stirred as I caressed her.

 

“Godric?” She smiled as she opened her eyes. “What are you doing?”

 

“Reveling in the feel of you, my love.”

 

I reached down and started unwrapping the bandages from her hands.

 

“What happened? You are injured.” I said in concern.

 

“In the Wraith Lair,” she said helping me unwrap her hands. “I got scraped up when we went to go destroy the Jewel.”

 

“It seems so long ago,” I mused in a faraway voice. I looked back to her face. “You are the bravest woman I have ever known. Do you know that?”

 

She laughed at my words as I pricked my finger and healed her hands.

 

“It is true,” I smiled. “You were so insistent on coming with me on that quest. You showed no fear.”

 

She reached up and touched my face. “I can’t believe you waited for me for 2000 years. I’m so sorry, Godric.”

 

I cupped her hand against my cheek and closed my eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for, Little One.” I opened my eyes and smiled again. “You were worth the wait.”

 

That elicited a giggle from her and I smiled wider at hearing her laugh, being there with her, talking to her, finally.

 

Yes, our adventure had only just begun and the Pythia was right about one thing. The heart was a most wondrous thing and mine now spoke to me. The whispers of my heart told me that I was finally home.

The Beginning…

A/N: So that completes Whispers on the Wind! Phew! I really hope you guys have enjoyed the ending. Thank you thank you thank you so much for everyone who has left feedback and support on this story. I have loved every one of your comments and smile every time my page flashes that I have a new one even though I don’t respond to feedback much they all mean so much. You guys are the best! I’d also like to thank the ladies who have helped me out with this story. Navidasti, MistressJessica1028, Suzymienen, The Queen of Delicious, Royal Ember and Reinla all have beta read chapters or brainstormed or done historical research on this story at one point or another!

I have left this story open for a possible sequel at one point on purpose. If the sequel does happen it will be called “Whispers of the Heart” and it will be centered around Sookie and Godric rediscovering each other, her pregnancy and what that could mean, his very ancient self and the fact that he is now a vampire, and there will be another romance at the center of the story between Alia and Eric. Sookie’s father, “The Arcadian” may also be involved and Niall Brigant may take a bigger role in the next story. Titus, which is pronounced Tight-us not tit-us (hehe) is dead and won’t be back. That’s about all the spoilers I’m going to give on my future plans for the Whispers World which will not be picked back up until Rabbit is finished or until I have mapped it out.