Chapter 14: Destiny

Eric could not believe his eyes!

What the hell just happened?!?

She did it again…I am sure she did this…It was the same like before…What is she? What the bloody hell is she? Where is that creep Andre? I can’t smell him at all! He was right fucking here! Shit!

Eric stared at Sookie who was coughing in the dirt. Bill stared at Eric who appeared to have popped in with the light. Somewhere in the neighboring trees, a very shocked fairy king felt hell break loose in his mind as he recognized what just happened in front of him.

~~

Niall’s thoughts were in a snarl. He knew what he saw. He felt it even before he saw it. He knew the girl Sookie Stackhouse was not an ordinary human being. He marveled at the intensity of power that had saved the girl from being drained. No one could make an old vampire disappear without a trace like that. No one…Niall looked frantically in all of his perfect memory if he could identify what he felt in his skin. It slowly dawned on him. He could practically feel a remaining crackle of the explosive light that had just lit up the night like day. It had come from somewhere far behind him in the trees. As quietly as he could, he turned and went towards the source.

~~

Sookie tried to rise again and fell down. Eric caught her before her face went in the dirt again, knelt beside her and cradled her head in his large hands. He took in Sookie’s bleeding shoulder and quickly decided that putting his mouth on it as his saliva healed the cuts would not be prudent. He knew how just her scent was sending him over the edge already. If he tasted her blood now, for the first time, he may put her in serious danger. He cut his finger over his fang and rubbed it over her open wound. Bill hissed as he saw Eric’s blood mingle with Sookie’s and her skin smoothed immediately.

Eric held Sookie’s face and gently nudged her.

“Are you ok?”

She opened her eyes. “Eric?” Oh Eric…Wait this isn’t a dream…I was being killed! Oh thank god I am alive…baby steps Stackhouse…breath…who helped? What happened to Andre? Bill has taken root to that spot so… Eric saved me? Dang when he looks at me like that! So beautiful…Why is he so damn beautiful! And shit I am covered in mud and blood! Shit! Would I ever meet him when he doesn’t have to save me or something? I am always in trouble! She blinked her eyes and her heart did a little flip.

Eric looked deep into her beautiful eyes and fought with control. She is so much trouble! Why did I have to fly to her rescue tonight? Now I am sucked into her little drama again and I can’t turn back. Shit! Why was Andre here? Compton saw me after the flash, and I’ll have to find Andre or Sophie Ann would most probably pin all blame of her favorite lost child on me in her madness…Wait, there was the Brigant nearby. He may have done this. The light seemed like that of the sky fae. I have to get to him before he pops away…Why do I want to be with Sookie right now when there is my ass to cover? Why does she look at me like that? So beautiful! Why is she so damn beautiful?

Before his addled thoughts could confuse him anymore, Eric took control of himself and forced everything but self-preservation out of his mind. He lifted Sookie and in another second, Sookie was sitting on the ground, way inside the back entrance of Merlotte’s and Eric was gone!

She could dimly see the stunned Bill Compton still standing outside, looking like landed fish. To hell with him! He almost got me killed tonight. If it was not for Eric…She sighed loudly as she thought about her savior and how he had vanished again before she had a chance to at least say thank you. Why does he always have to disappear like that?

~~

The Ancient Pythoness sat perfectly still in the dark and trained all her energy to the flat shallow stone basin filled with dark soil and pieces of wood, set in front of her. Opposite to her, on the other side of bowl, sat her most trusted and powerful witch Octavia, chanting a spell. The Pythoness nodded and Octavia struck a match and dropped it in the basin. A bright red flame sprung to life in the basin. Octavia closed her eyes and kept chanting her spell. The ancient one’s eyes became smoky white orbs and shone red like the crackling flames in front.

A red haze started forming in the basin, in the fire. The haze spiraled and reached upwards. It started taking the shape of a face and kept rising till it was about six feet high. Then the red haze dispersed to reveal a woman standing in the middle of the flames. She was tall, as much as six feet, with flowing gold hair and sapphire blue eyes, incandescent from the fire. The queen of the Earth and Fire fae, Lady Zisa, stood at her magnificent full height and nodded at the vampire priestess sitting cross legged in front of her.

“Pythia…”

“Zisa…I had a vision. The wheels are turning. Everything is in place. Your son has found her.”

Zisa’s eyes doubled in shine and a brilliant smile lit up her face. Suddenly she frowned. ““We must protect them. Niall would do anything to stop them.”

The Pythoness chuckled at that. “They cannot harm the girl. Her kin protect her. No one can lay hand on her without burning. You think about your plans for your boy.”

“I need your help for that. I cannot enter this realm without Niall knowing about it. If he suspects anything, he will start a war.”

“He is going to know about it and there is going to be a war, whatever you do. You know it. I have seen it.”

“Not if the girl can do what you say she can do. Can this come to pass?”

Pythia smiled. “She may be banished from her rightful place Zisa. But just like your son, she holds great power within her. She may not remember it. She may not know how to use it. But the power would not leave her. She was made that way.”

“Would she remember enough?”

“The question is Zisa, would she do what you want when she remembers?”

It was the turn of the fairy queen to smile smugly now. “Do you remember that day Pythia? The day when she was banished? When she made that choice which took all her power and all her family away from her? She chose to love him a thousand years ago when she had everything to lose. She lost everything, and then she lost Eric, whom she left everything for. Her heart still bleeds for him even though her curse doesn’t let her remember. I am sure of it. She will do exactly what I want.”

“Nothing is sure to come to pass. The world is always changing. All within the world constantly grow. She may choose a different path. She may walk towards her own destiny and leave the road you want her to tread.”

A shadow crossed the fairy’s proud forehead. “We shall see how the wheels turn.”

The pythoness dipped her head at that. “Yes we shall see how the wheels will turn.”

The dark room shone red for a moment and then there was just the vampire, the witch and the crackling flame of the basin sitting between them.