….Chapter 44….

"I'm right here, Bitch," Eric whispers before going back to his meal. In mere seconds, she was completely exsanguinated, never knowing what hit her. We watch her body deflate as her power visibly flows into Eric with every pull. For a moment, he takes on a horrible visage, a monster bore of magic and vampire. The bulges in his face scare me as they move under his skin in hues of purple and orange, changing him as they go. The effects fade with her life force.

When she dies, her magical sway over us falters, as well and we're released from the bindings. Eric drops Cartimandua's corpse and smiles down at it eerily before it disintegrates. From the front comes the calvary we no longer need along, thankfully with all her captives.

"You found them!" I pull myself to my feet and throw my arms around my husband. He growls deeply in his throat before kissing me passionately. He tastes amazingly of faery, giving me a contact high. After he gets too into it to be appropriate around others, I detach myself from him. I stare deeply into his half closed eyes. Yep, drunker than a skunk.

My feet echo in the room as I run to hug my miffed cousin. Despite being obviously angry, he hugs me back, at least with one arm. I go to my uncle next.

"Dermot! I'm so relieved y'all are okay!" My uncle squeezes me back, thrilled to be rescued.

"Okay? Okay?!" Claude's voice changes pitch. "I lost a fucking finger, Sookie!" An upheld hand with a grubby bandage and a missing middle finger and emphasis to his point. And I think the bandage might be a piece of an old t-shirt. It does match what he's wearing and oh, look. It's missing a piece at the bottom.

"Oh, no. Oh, no!" I wave my finger in his face. "I will not let you make this my fault." I poke myself in the chest before angrily throwing my finger back at him. "I told y'all not to talk to her and you didn't listen! I said that she was insane! That is not on me, and my husband just saved your lives! How about a 'thank you'?!"

"Thank you," he yells louder than I did.

"I didn't mean me," I scream.

"Oh," he says in a normal tone. "Right. Thank you, Eric," he says with a coy smile. I roll my eyes in response. Eric nods before leaning in close to the injured fae.

"Be nice to her."

Claude opens his mouth to argue, but Eric speaks first. "She did tell you not to go there. She was worried sick about the two of you. Now go see your grandfather." Eric sways slightly.

"Eric." Pam hugs our maker and he wraps his arms around her protectively and whispers in her ear. She nods and shakes her head as he takes her face in his hands, then he kisses her forehead.

I welcome her back next and hug her tighter than I had the others. We share more blood, that's all. Stronger blood.

Claude and Niall embrace as he exchanges sidelong glances with his son. There's some bad father-son history there. Bad enough that Niall deliberately shut Dermot out of Fae when he closed it.

"Hello, Father."

"Son." Niall gives a curt nod. "I know you may not believe it, but I am relieved to see you are in one piece, unlike my nephew here."

Dermot smiles as he's beckoned in for a long-overdue hug from his father. It's nice to see them making up after all these years of being at odds. Claude glares up at Niall for his pieces comment and Niall laughs aloud.

When Pam finishes hugging Eric again, I go back to the circle of his arms.

"Thank you for saving them, and for saving me."

"I would never let her hurt you," he slurs drunkenly. "I love you."

"I love you, too." I grab his arms to steady him and stand on my tippy toes to smooch him. He even giggles with a slur. Man, it's gonna take a bit to sober him up.

"Let's get out of here," I smile at my family. It's larger than it was when I was a kid and it warms my cold, dead heart to this many of them together.

"I'll fly us home! Zoom, zoom, zoom!" Eric throws his hands above his head. Pam and I who are at his shoulders have to jump out of the way.

"Or I could drive us," I suggest and pull his arm back down to his side while Pam wrangles the other.

"You," he yells, leaning down to my level. Oh, great. "You are so, so smart! Boop!" He giggles after he boops my nose and the rest of us join in.

"Come on," I tell him as though he's a puppy and I slide my arm around him for support. He leans on me heavily enough to slump and Pam helps by copying me and together we walk him back towards the car.

"I'm sorry about your aunt," I tell Niall as we all make our group exit.

"Aren't you a sweet thing," he smiles at me. "It's quite alright. That wasn't my aunt. My aunt died a long, long time ago."

I can't argue with that and I let myself become part of the background as they all talk and laugh, reminiscing on the battle that Niall and I apparently missed. Eric got to unleash his blood lust a bit and no one on our side died. They're definitely results I can live with.

After a few hours of driving and stopping at different locations, Eric and I finally make it back to my palace. Or, what there currently is of it. It's almost fully restored to its previous majesty and I make a mental note to give the construction crew a hefty bonus for their quick work as I maneuver Eric around scaffolding and hanging plastic sheets.

My staff look alarmed and offer to help me with the giant Viking and I politely refuse. Instead, I drag him to our room and toss him down on the bed where I yank off his socks and shoes before removing his shirt and pants.

"You are so beautiful," he smiles up at me as I tuck him in, sounding a tad more sober than before.

"Oh, yes," I reply sarcastically. Surely I look fabulous right now. Dirty and covered in blood. Though, that's always done it for him in the past. He probably really is enjoying the sight of me. I pull the blankets up to his chest and he nods an 'mmhmm' at me. His head is still warm from draining Cartimnadua when I kiss it and I leave him to rest while I go to the kitchen.

By the time I get there, I can barely stand and I chug two True Bloods cold before I start to feel more myself. Since I do feel a tad better, I warm up the third before I sip it and return to my room. To Eric.

Surprisingly, he's still awake when I come back and I strip down myself before I climb under the sheets with my king. He snakes his arm around my neck and pulls my head to his chest, stroking my head.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he says, kissing my hair. We both need showers, but I think sleep might be more essential for now.

"How did you find them," I ask.

"Quite by accident, really. I caught their scents and followed it to the pool house and grr! I ripped their restraints and freed them." He chuckles at himself. "But when I felt you hurting and I heard your scream, I remembered the time with Neave and Lochlan all over again. It terrified me." His arms tighten around me, protecting me. I let my mind glaze over the time I was tortured and Eric couldn't get to me. It was a long time ago and I don't want to relive it.

"It takes more than that to take me down," I smile up at him and pull myself up to reach his lips. "I feel like we haven't slept in days."

"We haven't," he reminds me and kisses my head again, rubbing my arm and sending chills all over my body.

"Sleep," he tells me, but I can't. His touch is making electricity under my skin and I can practically feel the magic crackling off of him and awakening my body. Not to mention, there was a big fight and I didn't get to kill anything. Now I'm left feeling...unfulfilled. I'm tired, I'm dirty and I'm sore, but I still want him. So, instead of closing my eyes, I crawl on top of him, the sheet no longer separating our naked bodies.

"This is not sleep," he says with a smirk and a quirk of his eyebrow.

"No, it isn't, but I want you," I sigh as I bend down and put my lips to his neck. He groans and grabs my hips to guide them as I begin to thrust. His arms tighten around me as I feel him grow hard and wasting no time, I reach down and guide him inside of me. As I ease down, I stare at his hungry face, his gaped mouth and I can't resist grinding on him like a destitute stripper on a pole. The more I increase my speed, the bigger his smile gets. I reach what must be mach speeds as I rocket into my first orgasm of the night, but as I slowly ride it out, Eric decides it won't be my last.

He pulls me close again and kisses me before flipping me over in a quick blur. My leg lifts of its own accord and he loops his arm through it to reach my depths better. Now I'm the one with my mouth hanging open as he makes me come again and again. Each stroke makes me unbelievable wet and by the time he reaches his own pleasure moment, there's a pond in the middle of the bed, contoured to the shape of my backside.

I slide out of bed with a grunt, feeling like a walking jell-o mold when he grabs me by the wrist. I look back at him and see a wicked smirk.

"More," I ask, surprised, but not really.

"Always. I always want more," he growls.

"No, I need to wash up," I squeal a giggle as I try to escape and he catches me by the ankle, dragging me back to bed.

"Where do you think you're going, Woman?" His growl in my ear is mischievous as he puts me on all fours.

"There's a giant Viking after me!" I feign terror as he grips me around the abdomen.

"Oh, really? Well, you are his, after all."

I fake a squeal before he enters me from behind. "Aren't you?"

"Yes," I moan as he thrusts behind me. "I'm yours."

He growls again and bites my shoulder as I come again. "Say it again," he orders me as he slinks his hand up the length of my stomach and settles with his fingers around my throat. A sign of domination, a show of power, but an embrace of love. Strong and unmistakable, it's impossible for me to shake it off and I would never try.

"I'm yours, Eric, forever," I moan as he comes inside me.

We take our time cleaning each other up in the sudzy bath before we crawl back into bed as we had done before, only now we're definitely dead on our feet. Our positions resumed, my head on his chest and his hand back in my hair.

"sleep," he tells me again as I snuggle in closer to him. And then I die in his arms, just like I will every day.

Forever.