Prologue:

I leaned against my car parked at the end of the long driveway, watching as the ceremony took place in the backyard. I could faintly hear the minister, faintly hear the vows being spoken between the very much in love couple. No matter how long I stood there, no matter how much strength I had mustered to fly here, to park in this very driveway, I just couldn't take another step forward. I couldn't. My heart ached. It swelled and I thought it was going to leap from my chest, leaving me completely empty. This was what it felt like to watch the man – no vampire – that I loved getting married to another. It could have been a nightmare, but I had pinched myself too many times tonight for it to be. This was real, this was very real.

"You came."

I jumped at the unexpected voice. I peered through my dark sunglasses, and wasn't surprised at all to find Godric standing only a few feet away. I sighed and slowly lowered the sunglasses, which must have looked ridiculous when it was the dead of night. But I didn't want to be recognized, not that I could at this distance. I was hoping to watch from afar before sneaking off without anyone, including this vampire before me, catching sight of me. I should have known my attempt at sneaking around would be futile. Godric and I shared a bond, one that would never just disappear, no matter how hard I prayed for it to. He must have felt that I had arrived, he must have known that I was just standing here, watching as my world crumbled down around me.

"I feared that you wouldn't." Godric stepped towards me, but paused when I held up a hand to stop him. "It's good that you're here."

"I was just leaving." I was surprised at how raspy my voice sounded, almost as if I had been crying. And I had been. I had been crying every night for a week leading up to this night. And that's when the tears stopped. I had woken up today with dry eyes and a broken heart that I knew would never be mended.

"Please stay Savannah; he would want you to be here." Godric flashed before me, laying a hand on my closed car door to ensure I didn't try to escape.

"That's a lie and we both know it." I looked away, my gaze falling to the ceremony, or what I could see of it anyways. I was able to catch sight of him in his suit, looking as dashing as I last remembered. That tore me to pieces and I had to look back at Godric, the lesser of two evils, to keep myself together.

"Savannah..." he raised a hand to my cheek, his cool fingertips grazing over the smooth skin. He brushed a single tear away and I slapped his hand away before slipping my sunglasses back on. I didn't want him to see me cry. I wanted to hide from the world, from this vampire, from everyone. "I know you're in pain, I can feel it and it tears me apart."

His handsome face was distorted in pain, but I tried to ignore it. I didn't need his pain as well as my own. I could barely cope as it was.

"He's not doing this to hurt you. He's happy, he's..."

"He's in love with her." I forced out, turning towards the car and staring at his flawless hand pressing against the door. "Please just let me leave, Godric."

"You can't run away from this forever."

"Yes I can."

"What about me?" he sounded so sad, just as heartbroken as I knew I looked.

I couldn't meet his gaze however, not with my blurring vision. I kept my sunglasses firmly in place, but not even they hid the tears as they slid down my tanned cheeks. I felt my hands beginning to shake and had to clench them tightly, my car keys digging into the palm of my hand so hard that I could feel the few drops of blood already forming.

"Savannah, please..." His hand moved from the car door to my chin, turning my head until our gazes met. His other hand took hold of the sunglasses, slipping them off and placing them on the car. I could no longer hide from him. I could no longer mask my broken heart. I could no longer cower away from how I felt about Eric Northman, from how I felt about this vampire before me too. I had fallen in love not once, but twice, and at the same time. How was it possible to feel so strongly for two people at the same time? It couldn't be possible, and yet it was. I hadn't only given my heart to one, but to two. And now, as one was marrying another woman, I was left with a hole in my chest, one large enough to cover the heart I had given to both maker and progeny.

"I-I can't." My bottom lip began to tremble as I stared into those sea coloured eyes. "It hurts. It hurts too much."

"I know, my love, I know." His arm circled around me, tugging me against his chest. I nestled against him, too afraid to move. I didn't struggle, I didn't pull away, I didn't even embrace him in return. I just stood there, my cheek pressed against the black fabric of his suit jacket. He smelled the same as always, like the earth, like wildflowers. I would always remember his scent. I would always remember the feel of his arms around me in comfort. He had held me like this on more than one occasion. Though as I thought back, he always seemed to be comforting me when it concerned his progeny. It had always been Eric who had torn my heart to shreds, leaving me to pick up the pieces all on my own.

Except I wasn't alone, not entirely.

I had fled from Louisiana, I had returned home, never to speak about those 8 blissful months with the two vampires that had changed my life. I had left that life behind in hopes that my heart would become whole again, that I could learn to love, to function without them. I had left because of Eric, because of what I had witnessed on that night. But he hadn't been the only one I had left behind. I had left Godric too. I had run away from him when he had done nothing to me. Maybe deep down inside a decision had been made after months of confusion. Maybe I had loved Eric more, maybe that was why I left. Or maybe I had been scared. Maybe I feared that Godric too would break my heart, tear it apart just as his progeny had. So maybe I had been too scared to stay, to find out the truth. I fled that night because of my fears, and part of me regretted it.

I had gone a year without any of them. I went from having two vampires at my side, showering me in sex and love, to being completely and utterly alone. I just went cold turkey, and it had destroyed a small part of me. Maybe if I hadn't left, none of this would have happened. Maybe I could have persuaded Eric, reminded him that he had been the one who sought me out. Maybe I could have had a life with Godric. But I would never know now, because I had been a coward and left. And now a year later, Eric was marrying Sookie Stackhouse, and I was left trying to figure out how I felt, how I could possible go on.

"You're not alone, Savannah. You've never been alone." Godric whispered in my ear. "I've always been right here, waiting for you."

I wished I could forget. I wished I could close my eyes and when I opened them next, everything would be back to how it used to be. It was simpler before I had met Eric, before Godric had entered my life. I had a set path in life. I knew what I wanted, and I would have done anything to get it. But then these vampires had swept in and changed everything, they had turned my world upside down, and somewhere along the way, I stopped hating them, I stopped blaming them and just allowed myself to fall in love.

But what good had that gotten me?

I was heartbroken, watching one of the vampires that I loved get married, while the other held me in his arms. My life had gone from perfectly planned to disastrous in such a short amount of time. I tried to remember when it had changed, when it had all come crashing down around me. I knew the answer before I even had to ask the question. That first night that I met him, that I laid my eyes on Eric, that had been when everything had changed, when my life as I knew it had forever changed into something so unrecognizable, some days I wondered if it had all been a dream.

The music began playing, wafting in the night air, and I knew the ceremony was over. I squeezed my eyes shut as my arms began working, as I clutched onto Godric for dear life. He held me against him, never letting me go, just as he always promised. I wished to return to the simple days, to the time that I had first met them, that we had all fought, that we had all loved one another. I didn't want to be standing here, while I was forced to let one love of my life go, while the other consoled me. I didn't want any of this to be real.

Why couldn't this just be a dream?

Why couldn't this be some fake fantasy that I would wake up from at any moment?

Would I find myself back home in bed if I clicked my heels three times?

Would I find myself in an alternate universe, one where vampires didn't even exist, if I found a rabbit hole and fell down it?

Fairytales were so much easier; they made their lives and problems out to be nothing. But in the real world, everything was so much more difficult.

I couldn't escape this reality though, no matter how hard I tried.

It all started with a kiss, just a fiery passionate kiss that changed my entire life.

And it happened twice.