Chapter 17

Previously

From the corner of my eyes I could see a baseball bat lying on the wall. Quickly grabbing it I swing it with all the force I had.

“Take that, fucking asshole!”

The first blow hit Gabe on the side of his face. Unfortunately for me, he blocked my second blow, sending the bat flying across the hallways. He tackled me to the ground, pinning me to the floor. The look in his eyes made me sick.

“I guess you’re the fucking spy those fangers sent… The Reverend will be glad I found you. But in the meantime Gabe is going to enjoy that hot little body of yours. So you like them dead, don’t you? Let’s see how much you’ll like having a live man pounding in you.”

I let out a shriek before his hand clasped on my mouth. I could feel his filthy hands roaming on my body, trying to rip out my clothes. I closed my eyes for a second, then his weight was lifted off my body with the distinctive sound of a neck snapping. I didn’t dare open my eyes until I felt a cold hand stroking the side of my face. I finally opened my eyes and sighed.

“Godric…”

---

I expected him to look a shell of himself. He had been missing for 2 weeks and I doubted that those Fellowship bastards had giving him a Tru Blood, let alone allow him to feed from a live donor. But surprisingly he looked… well, okay.

“You should not have come.”

I got up and swiftly slapped his cheek.

“That’s for scaring the shit out of us!”

I then proceed to hug him.

“And that’s because I missed you like crazy!”

He awkwardly hugged me back.

“It’s good to see you, little one.”

He suddenly closed his eyes and at the same time I felt this shiver down my spine, the one I get whenever Eric is close by.

“I’m here my Childe. Down here.”

In a whoosh, Eric appeared from the corner of the hallway, Gran and Hunter by his side. Relief filled his face as he approached his Maker.

“Godric…”

He respectfully dropped to his knee.

“You are a fool for sending Sookie and Adele after me.”

“I had no choice…”

“Don’t you dare try to blame Eric, young man!” exclaimed Gran.

“Adele” softly said Godric, “you need to leave.”

“Not without you!” I said. “Eric, they’re planning on having him meet the sun in the morning! It was Hugo! He’s the one who…”

Hunter clearly picked up on the tense situation and started to cry. Eric quickly got up and snuggled our son to his chest. The ghost of a smile appearing on Godric’s lips didn’t escape me.

“Go!”

“Godric…”

“As your Maker I command you to leave! Get your family to safety.”

I was pissed as hell at Godric for using his Maker command as I knew Eric couldn’t fight it. But no such command governed me and I stayed right where I was standing. With my high heels I was towering over the teenaged looking vampire.

“Sookie… You have to go” he said softly.

“And leave you here?”

“Min alskäre…”

“We can’t leave him, Eric!’

“Sookie we have to…”

My son is what brings me back to reality.

“Maaamaaa…”

His heart wrenching cry sent tears to my eyes. I quickly took him in my arms, humming softly, trying to sooth him.

“You have to go, little one” whispered Godric, his hand on my shoulder. “Keep them safe, my Childe.”

We made our way back upstairs, lucky enough not to encounter anybody. I sighed in relief, thinking we would be able to escape… It would have been so easy, too easy. And easy isn’t part of my vocabulary.

“There was a breach!” yelled somebody.

Suddenly a bunch of men were guarding the main entrance, people were running everywhere…

“Trust me” whispered Eric, taking Hunter from me and kissing my temple.

I counted the men guarding the door… Men being a strong word, they looked more like a bunch of little boys playing soldiers with their plastic guns. But I knew those guns weren’t fake.  And there was too many for Eric to attempt to glamour them.

“Sorry sir, we have orders from the Reverend. Nobody leaves the building.”

“I know… But you see my son doesn’t take orders from the good Reverend and won’t calm down without his favourite blanket. I’m pretty sure Reverend Newlin wouldn’t want a cranky baby to disturb his celebration…”

I lowered my shields and listened to their thoughts. I almost let out a sigh of relief ‘hearing’ they were going to let us go.

“Alright, sir… But I’m not sure you’re going to be able to come back…”

“Stop them!”

I turned around to see the Light of Day Institute guy coming from the basement. What was his name? Lucas? Luke? Anyway it was good and we were in deep shit…

“Gabe’s dead! And the fanger’s out of his cell!”

In a matter of second everything went to hell. Eric tried to push his way out, but one of the guards grabbed his hand, sending him hissing and dropping his fangs. The tale-tell smell of burned skin told me that the rings they were all wearing were made of pure silver.

“He’s one of them!”

“He’s a fanger!”

In the commotion, we were led to the church main room. Eric was still holding Hunter close to his chest, his other arm around my shoulder, Gran squeezing my hand. The Reverend was standing at the altar, surrounded by his followers who were armed with staked and silver chains.

“Mrs. Preston… If that’s even your real name… I’m highly disappointed in you. I would have never pegged you for a whore of Satan.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Look at her” he said to his flock. “A wolf dressed in sheep’s clothes. What kind of woman, what kind of mother would allow her child near one of Satan’s spawns? Because that’s what this woman does! She allows her innocent baby to be held by one of those evil creatures.”

“If there’s an evil creature here, Reverend, then it’s you!” spitted Gran. “You call yourself a Christian, but you’re willing to commit murder! Killing vampires is the same as killing humans!”

“They’re the one who cast the first stone! They murdered my family! I say we retaliate and kill one of their own. Godric might have escaped, but this one will do nicely…”

I felt tears stinging my eyes, but held them. I would not let Newlin see them. I turned to Eric, searching his eyes.

“Everything will be alright, min alskäre” he said, kissing Hunter before handing him to me.

I grabbed his hand, not wanting to let go. I watched painfully as Eric surrendered and went to lie down on the altar, bounded with silver chains. The sizzling sounds of his skin being burned, his groans of pain… It was too much. I started to sob as Newlin was explaining to his followers that just like Jesus had been betrayed for 30 silver coins, silver could betray a child of Satan.

They say that dictators and madmen are commonly good orator – Adolf Hitler being the best example, and I had to admit that Steve Newlin was a pretty good one. But Adele Stackhouse was even better than him. Every scripture he used to stir his hateful message, Gran would use it in her advantage.

“Newlin…” groaned Eric. “I offered myself… Let them go…”

“That’s quite noble, but they’re just as guilty as you are. They can’t be saved. They are traitors to their race. The child may be saved…”

At the mention of our son, I tightened my hold on him, while Eric, for the first time since he was tied up to the altar, tried to get up.

“Maybe we should tie the blond one to you, so you can meet the sun together.”

I spit in his face as he came near to me. He drew a gun and pointed it at my head. I barely had the time to take a deep breath…

“Newlin!”

There was a gunshot and the Reverend let his dropped, holding his hand covered in… paint? I looked up and there was Jason, standing in one of the pew, holding a paintball gun.

“Let my sister and Gran go!”

Confusion filled Newlin’s face as a second shot hit him in the forehead. I thrusted Hunter in Gran’s arms before running to the altar to free Eric of his restrain. Everything went so fast, it was dizzying. Eric grabbed Newlin by the throat while Jason made his way to Gran.

“You dared threaten what is mine!”

“Kill me… I’m not afraid to meet my maker…”

“Eric… He’s not worth it.”

At my words, he loosened his hold to the insignificant man, but still held him to the ground. Outside we could hear the sound of several vampires making their way in. The doors suddenly opened on Stan, followed by his minions.

“Steve Newlin! You have pushed us too far. You expect us to sit back while you’re gathering an army to try and defeat us? Well I have news for you. We’ll kill you first, same way we did your father.”

“Shit…”

I knew that the former Reverend’s death was fishy. It had happened soon after one of his televised appearance, spewing his anti-vampire speech. It didn’t surprise me that Stan had been behind it, though I was 100% sure he had done so without Godric’s knowledge.

“Murderers!”

An evil smirk graced the cowboy’s mouth at Newlin’s cry.

“Destroyed them. All of them.”

In a flash all the vampires present dropped fangs and vamped to the helpless humans. It was turning into a massacre, albeit not the one the Fellowship had planned.

“Enough!”

The sound of Godric’s voice, clear and loud, was enough to stop the oncoming carnage.

“I imagine you came for me, orderly?”

“Yes, Sheriff” reluctantly answered Stan, clearly annoyed.

“These people have not harmed me… yet. I was hoping to show them that we could coexist, to open a dialogue. Mr. Newlin, I do not want to cause any more bloodshed. Allow my friends to leave in peace. We will in return leave you be.”

“I do not negotiate with sub-humans!”

He kneeled in front of Eric, offering him his neck.

“Kill me. I’m not afraid for I know my Lord Jesus Christ will protect me.”

What a drama Queen! As if Eric would sullied his fangs by draining him.

“I’m actually older than your Jesus. I wished that I could have known him, but I missed it.”

In a whoosh, Godric came down from his vantage point by the organ to stand behind Newlin, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket.

“Who here is ready to die for this man’s madness?”

No one spoke.

“That’s what I thought. Go home, people.”

Slowly, they exited the church, dropping their stakes and weapons on the way. Godric went to talk to Stan while Eric swept Hunter from Gran’s arms before hugging us both. The wounds caused by the silver chained were almost gone as I kissed his jaw.

“You’re alright, sis?”

I turned and hugged my brother.

“Come on, lover, let’s leave…”

I nodded, sinking in my Viking’s embrace.

“May you all rot in hell!” spewed Newlin. “The doors to the kingdom of Heaven will forever be closed to Satan’s followers!”

Jason let out a snort before throwing the silver ring that had adorned his finger toward the Reverend. He approached the man who cowered to the ground.

“I’ve already been to heaven, Newlin. Your wife’s hand brought me there.”

I let out a groan of disgust as I caught my brother’s thoughts of Sarah Newlin ambushing him in the bathroom and giving him a hand job.

“Jason Stackhouse” hissed Gran, slapping him behind the head.

“What? She molested me, Gran! I’ll need therapy!”

We all laugh as we left behind the awful memory of our encounter with the Fellowship. Even if he was laughing and smiling, I could feel the tension inhabiting Eric through our bond. He had a lot of question for his Maker, so did I… Hopefully, Godric would be willing to answer them.

TBC

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