Sj61 asked me if I had anyone in mind when I created Lucio's character, a celebrity or someone who he'd resemble. The answer would be no, I just like my characters to have interesting ethnicities. I'm a bit of a mongrel myself, I'm English nationality, but ethnically part Indian, Bangladeshi, Portuguese, and German. I love choosing an ethnicity for a character, it's as exciting as choosing a name to me. As it is, when I get a review from someone in a foreign country I get stupidly excited, hahaa ;)

"You realise you have a blood bond of sorts now…" Eric grunted quietly and thoughtfully as Eva recounted the story to him over a drink. Lucio had carried her all the way back and heated her some True Blood immediately. He'd offered himself to her on the way but she'd declined and just told him to take her back to Fangtasia and snuggled against his chest. He was now sat behind Eva, the pair of them across the table from Eric and Pam.

"I hadn't thought of that…" Eva replied with a small smile. As she nursed her True Blood with one hand, Lucio squeezed her other under the table.

"You have a blood bond…with him…" Eric repeated.

"Sad to lose me for good?" Eva taunted, her smile growing into a full beaming grin. Pam was also grinning as she always was when Eva was winding Eric up.

"You can do what you want; I'm just pointing it out."

"Of course you are. You have a blood bond with Sookie, and I have one with Lucio. We're all where we belong." Despite just teasing him, she reflected back on her words and realised the truth in them. It was like pieces of an angry jumbled puzzle slotting into place now.

"And Pam's still free and promiscuous," Lucio added, bemused by Eric's annoyance and somewhat gloating as he shifted slighter closer to Eva.

"Way I roll baby," Pam retorted with a wink.

Eric scoffed and got up angrily to stamp outside. Lucio and Pam sighed, but Eva followed him, intent on finishing the conversation that had been needed for so very long.

When their situation was ignored after Eva found out about Sookie, it was like everyone was holding their breath rather than exhaling in relief.

They needed a resolve.

The night was close to meeting dawn, and very soon they'd have to retire to their coffins. Eric stood outside staring at the darkness, blood still staining his face where he'd savaged the martyr boy's friends. Things like that barely fazed Eva anymore, the grotesque violence seemed to come part and package with the lifestyle.

"You sent me and Lucio to deal with him because you thought we had to most restraint?" Eva confirmed as she stood next to him, staring straight ahead as he was.

"Yes. I was being strategic."

"Yeah…Good one…" Eva huffed sarcastically. Eric turned to her with his eyebrows raised.

"Everything turned out okay, did it not?"

"Almost."

"Almost?"

"It's like we're coming to the end of a story," Eva sighed, taking his hand in a gentle way. More maternal than romantic.

"What do you mean?" Eric inquired, allowing the strange show of normal affection. Normally affection to Eric was just a step along to pathway to sex, but that couldn't apply here. Never the less, he let Eva have the closeness she so desired with those around her. He'd learnt a lot about women in his long life, and he could recognize the signs of vulnerability and yearning from a woman – especially in a young girl who'd lost so much and been through so much savagery.

"When I found out you we're pledged to Sookie…that you had a blood bond with her…I was so deeply struck. So distraught…"

"I remember…" Eric interrupted with a smug smile.

"And now me and Lucio have formed a weird blood sharing bond of sorts…I having his blood when we fought before, and he drinking mine earlier tonight…now we're a part of one another…you too feel distraught?"

"Yes." Eric was being blunt but honest.

"You love me?"

"I can't help but love you. You are my own blood; you are a part of me more than you and Lucio are a shared. It is the way it works, and you love me. Its biological love."

"Exactly, though our situation didn't stem from nothing. Would we still be together if you hadn't saved me that night from Russell Edgington though? If I were still human, my life not endangered every half hour of every night, would you have carried on and forgotten about me?"

"Maybe, we'll never know. You may have chosen the Spanish boy over me then as well."

"Maybe, we'll never know."

There was a quiet moment that washed over them as the sounds of the city night time buzzed around them.

"If I left Sookie now and you left Lucio…it wouldn't feel right…"

"No, because we love them in a different way to the way you and I love one another."

"If I didn't have Sookie, and met you in a series of events that didn't involve that boy…"

"Then maybe we'd have fallen in love with each other properly."

"You say the word love to much."

Eva laughed a gentle laugh that pierced the silence, and Eric took great comfort in it. It was a sweet laugh, a feminine laugh. The laugh of loving girl, who was naïve at times and impressively smart at others. Who loved her life, but realised when she lost it, that wallowing in misery would get her nowhere – and it was this optimism that was wonderful. She had pretty dark eyes, and long chestnut coloured hair, and skin like silk, but what made her beautiful was her sweetness, her courage, her loving nature. Eva was sometimes strange, and said things that were a bit off topic. She was sometimes a bit lost in the world. She was sometimes a bit thoughtless and silly. At the end of the day though, she found her way.

"It's not the end of a story," Eric said in his deep voice, in a moment of rare sincereness. "It's the end of a chapter."

Eva thought this over for a moment.

"No, the end of many chapters, the definite end of a story."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes…the end of a story leaves you at an entirely different place than where I started, and I definitely am. New stories begin where others leave off though."

"That sounds very poetic."

"Thank you."

There was another pause, Eric's eyes sad and sincere. He didn't hold the same dominant stance he normally did.

"You know," he said slowly. "When I first made Pam, emotion was beyond us. It was utterly new, an absolutely unknown feeling. It was strange and amazing, but it took me and Pam a long time to get to a point where it was comfortable to say, 'be careful out there, I love you too much.' It took us decades to even broach the subject of love. Yet here with you, its my second time round and I find myself at ease to allow an affection…when others aren't around of course…"

Eric's speech warmed Eva, and she squeezed his hand with a smile. When he looked down to her, her eyes round and bright, it was like looking at a child he sought to protect and make feel safe.

They stared at each other for a fraction of a second before Eric leaned in to kiss her briefly on her forehead. Eva closed her eyes for a second or two, and then they parted.

"I once heard, it is not our abilities that show what we truly are. It is our choices." Eva said quietly. "I suppose that applies pretty well here, continuing on the lines of being poetic."

"I can't believe you're quoting Harry Potter to me, the millennia old Viking vampire, Eric Northman."

"I can't believe you know it's from Harry Potter, the millennia old Viking vampire, Eric Northman."

"I knew this witch once that was childishly fond of it and…"

"Don't make excuses," Eva teased. "Hang on…a w...Witch?"

"Yes?"

"They exist…?"

"Yes."

"Hogwarts…exists…"

"No…that would be utterly stupid," Eric chided exasperated. Here were the other moments Eva reminded him of a child.

"But witches do exist?"

"Yes, it seems you still have a long learning curve ahead of you."

"And that you have a secret appreciation for the Harry Potter films."

"I was just curious what the human world would make of the concept…I found it…funny…" he snarled.

"Sure you did."

Eric growled at her, and then turned to stalk back inside. His hand slipped from Eva's as he walked away, and she was left alone with her thoughts.

She stood in the night-time, as she would always be in the night-time. Pam came out to see if she was okay. Eric came out once more to tell her he was having her drink. Then Lucio slipped out, wrapped his arms round her waist, and kissed her neck.

"I have to leave, it's almost dawn."

"Okay," Eva replied curtly, staring at the sky with an intent that scared Lucio.

"I can stay with you if you like for a while…"

"No its fine, your authority might be angry if you disappear without telling them, might worry."

"Good point…I'll be back tomorrow night."

"Yes," Eva said bluntly again. Lucio was about to run off, but Eva caught his hand for a moment and pulled him back. "I love you, now wholly and completely."

"That's good to hear," Lucio said with a smile, catching the significance of her words before he kissed her goodbye and ran into the night.

Eva remained stood outside though, as the blackness of the sky began to dissolve to paler blue.

She wished she could peek into the day; just see the sunlight for a moment. She wished she could say goodbye to it, relish her last moments with its warmth on her skin.

Eric and Pam left Fangtasia, saying goodbye to her, confused as why she was still stood there but not questioning it. Pam assumed she'd be sleeping somewhere else for the night when Eva didn't leave with her and left for the home her and Eva shared. Vampires didn't normally ask questions.

The last dregs of night were fading away, and Eva's skin began to prickle.

She was testing the boundaries of her life and she knew it, but in her heart, she felt it was totally worth it.

The pale yellow of the dawn broke through the skyline, the cloud being tinted pastel shades of orange and pink above the rising sun. Eva skin burned an unbearable pain.

Her body seared and scorched, but she continued watched the beginnings of the sunrise and cherished every single moment of it. Her knees became weak, and her vision began to blur. The smell of burning had become so strong in so little time.

The thought occurred to her that she could just remain there. It popped into her mind for just a second, before passing on. Eva had been gifted with a new life, that wasn't designed to meet its end but in that modern world, she'd run into trouble eventually. At some point in her long life, she may meet a sticky end. Why waste the years she'd been given, the opportunities to love and live she'd been given.

She turned her back on the sunlight and walked inside sun proof Fangtasia, weak and shaky from her moment in the light, but strong hearted. The last fraction of day she'd ever see was warm (and burning) on her back for the last time. She looked to her long new life of nighttimes and excitement, which could only be eventful after the life she'd lived recently.

And there's where I leave her.

Thank you for all your reviews, messages, and for following my story.