AN- All characters are the property of Charlaine Harris.

"Well look at this. She's practically gift wrapped." Sookie heard a heavily accented voice saying. She turned her head a fraction to see a small woman standing beside Bill. She had blond hair like Sookie but she was much smaller and had brown eyes. She bent down and retrieved the phone from Sookie's hand. She could hear Eric screaming on the other end. She mourned the fact that Eric wasn't going to arrive in time to save her after all.

"Goodbye Mr. Northman," she said snidely as she hung up the phone. "Bill, will you be a doll and get this car going?" Bill got into the car and Sookie was amazed to see it turn over on the first try. Bill's companion ripped off Sookie's shirt and examined the mess that was her back. She felt a light touch as the woman sampled her blood. Sookie then heard a crunch and felt cool liquid dribbling over her wounds. She hated to admit that it felt marginally better.

Bill exited the still running car and helped the woman put Sookie in the back seat of the car. The movement was excruciating to Sookie and she cried out in pain. She could feel Eric's rage like a storm on the horizon.

"Eric is going to kill you both," Sookie mumbled.

"He will try," the small woman smirked. "You must hurry Bill, her blood needs to be drained. But it is tainted and you will likely not feel well afterwords."

Bill wasted no time leaning over Sookie through the open car door. He bit down viciously on her neck and drank greedily. Sookie was helpless to do anything but watch as her life slipped away. With the last ounce of her strength she sent Eric all of the love that she possibly could through the bond. It was as if she had cut through Eric's rage for just an instant. She felt his feelings bared for her as he had never done before. It was as if he were ashamed of how strongly he felt and had been hiding it the whole time. A tear rolled down her cheek as she saw Bill's eyes blazing over her and she faded away.

Eric was frantic as felt his bond to Sookie grow weaker and weaker. He realized that she wasn't just dieing, she was being drained of the blood that connected him to her. He almost flew into a tree as he felt Sookie send him her love. She was saying goodbye.

"No! Sookie!" Eric set aside his hatred and opened himself to Sookie like he never had before. He needed her to know that he had felt the same for her.

Then suddenly, he lost any sense that he had of Sookie. She was dead... Animals fled before him as he let out a shout of rage. He would kill Bill and that bitch Lorena!

Eric left a gigantic hole in the ground as he landed where he knew Sookie had been when she was attacked by the maenad. He could smell her blood everywhere. It only enraged him further. Every muscle he had was tensed. His fangs pierced holes through his lip and he ignored the blood flowing freely down his face. He looked down to see her destroyed phone. He picked it up sadly and stuffed it into his pocket. He crouched down to examine the tire tracks and determined that they had turned around. He leaped into the sky as he headed for the Compton home. He instructed his phone to call Pam through his headset.

"Pam, Bill and Lorena have killed Sookie. They are on the run and they must not leave my territory." He was so angry he was practically screaming at his child. "I am headed to Bill's house now. I want all the roads out of Bon Temps guarded." He hung up on her before he got a response.

He spotted Sookie's car outside of Bill's house. It's doors hung wide open and he could see that no one was inside. He saw that they had tossed Sookie in the back seat. Her blood was everywhere. He leaned down and inhaled the scent deeply, a fresh wave of sorrow rushed over him. He shoved it aside. He needed action now, he could mourn later. Lightly he touched a pool of her blood that had formed on the seat cushion. Licking it off of his finger he realized that her blood had been poisoned. He suspected that the stupid southerner was in fact wishing he was dead right now. His lips curled up at the thought.

Sookie's blood left a trail from her car, across the ground, and into what he assumed was another vehicle. Eric noticed a back road that seemed a likely route and soared down it. He soon ran across Pam. He crashed down in front of her in a shower of gravel. She shrank before his fury and dared not look into his eyes.

"I have patrolled this road myself and found nothing Master," she reported.

"I need to know everything about Lorena now," he roared.

She cringed. Pam had never before seen him like this. The anger that was flowing off of him could just as easily be directed at her. She lamented the little that she could tell him. "I only know that she has recently taken up residence in Jackson. And before that her and Bill resided in Seattle."

She heard him shouting curses and looked up to see Eric uproot a large tree. He flung it across the road that they were standing on. "Redouble patrols on any roads leading to Jackson and have the airport watched," he bellowed as he took to the sky once more.

Eric decided to return to the house to see if they had left anything behind that would tell him where they had gone. He blasted through the front door, destroying it and a large portion of the house. He quickly determined that they had raided his fridge for True Blood and left in a hurry. He continued his search of the house trying to find any clues. He was not gentle in his search. The house would soon not be liveable. Eric threw furniture out windows, punched through walls, ripped doors off of hinges, and put the bathtub through the floor.

Eric needed to know if the Queen had a hand in this. He would prefer to talk to her face to face, but he didn't want to take the time to make the trip to New Orleans. He instructed his phone to dial the Queen.

"Eric Northman to speak to the Queen," he growled as soon as he got an answer. While he was on hold he discovered a quaint little hidey hole in on of Bill's closets that was obviously used for resting. In a fit of rage, he utterly destroyed it. Just imagining Bill resting here, fueled him on. He was vaguely aware of someone trying to talk to him on his bluetooth.

"Sheriff you will calm down this instant!" Sophie-Anne commanded on the other end of the line.

He snarled as he fought to control his anger. "Pardon me my Queen." Eric had a thin grasp on his rage and it took everything he had to retain control.

"Now what seems to be the matter?"

"Bill Compton and his maker Lorena have killed Sookie and taken her body." Eric tried to gauge the queen's reaction to his words.

There was a long delay on the other end. "Well that certainly is troubling news. Have you located Compton?"

"No your majesty, I thought that you might know." He tried to not accuse her outright.

He heard her sigh on the other end. "I have not done this Eric. She was far more valuable to me alive." She paused for a moment and added, "I know that Lorena has recently taken up residence in Jackson. I will let Russell know to expect you."

"Thank you, your majesty."

"Eric, I really am sorry that she is dead. I actually liked her."

"I loved her," he admitted.

"I know... Good hunting Sheriff." She hung up.

Eric left the Compton house a complete disaster. He had considered setting it on fire, but he didn't want the authorities alerted. His business here finished, he took to the sky, leaving Louisiana behind. In the air he called Pam and informed her that he was headed to Jackson.

"Call Alcide Herveaux for me. Have him meet me at the King's," he instructed Pam.

"Should I call the King?"

"No, the Queen has taken care of that for me." The wind rushed by him as he talked. Only a vampire could have even heard what he was saying.

"I am upset about Sookie as well Eric." For Pam that was saying a lot, nothing ever upset her.

"If you hear anything, call me." He hung up without another word.

He flew straight across the land, as opposed to the meandering roads the humans used. But occasionally he would see a car and wonder if it was his prey. The only thing that was keeping him going was his rage and he fed it everything he could. He cursed and screamed at the gods, or anyone that happened to hear. Eric imagined if any humans had heard him or seen him this night, it would truly have been terrifying.

Eric landed in front of the King's mansion to the surprise of many guards. He glared at them and simply said his name. They led him inside cautiously. Russell Edgington was a short man with red hair and brown eyes. He was clean shaven and appeared to have died in his early twenties. He was entering the foyer as he heard Eric's arrival.

"Eric Northman," he nodded his head slightly.

"Your majesty, thank you for seeing me." Eric struggled to bring his anger under control as he bowed. He had let it reign on his flight over and now he needed diplomacy. He was still seething however, and his muscles were flexed in anger.

"I hear Ms. Ball is giving you quite a bit of trouble." The king ignored Eric's obvious anger.

"She murdered my human your majesty." He kept his eyes down so that the king would not see his rage.

The king's eyebrow shot up. "I hear that this human was even important to your Queen."

"Sookie was a telepath."

"Oh truly that makes some sense now," he nodded. "Such a waste really telepathy is so hard to come by. I regret that I do not have more information for you. Lorena came to me just yesterday and told me that she would be visiting her child in Louisiana for a short time. She had actually been staying here. You may of course examine her room as it has not been disturbed. And please stay here while you conduct your investigation, I insist. Bernard here will show you around." Russell indicated to the short brunette vampire with curly hair standing beside him.

"Your majesty is most gracious." Eric inclined his head.

Bernard silently led Eric to Lorena's room. He glanced back at Eric and eyed him up and down. Had Eric not been furious, he might have played this game. As it was, he was certain that he was frightening the small vampire. Bernard kept his eyes forward, refusing to look at the viking any longer.

"This is her room here," Bernard said pointing to the door he had just opened. "And you can stay in this one directly across." He pointed to the other door. "Is there anything else that I can do for you?" He asked meekly, truly hoping that this angry vampire did not need anything.

"I am expecting Alcide Herveaux," Eric rumbled and closed Lorena's door behind him before Bernard could could speak.

Eric turned to examine the room quickly before his temper got the best of him. He noticed a laptop on a desk against the wall. He moved over to it, carefully picked it up, and took it to the room he would be staying in. He placed it on his bed and went back to Lorena's room. Her smell was everywhere and it only served to infuriate him further. He threw the furniture against the wall and sometimes through the wall. He was certain his shouts of rage could be heard throughout the house, and he couldn't care less.

Eric was interrupted in his fit of rage as Alcide knocked on the door. Bernard had showed him to the door and quickly retreated down the hall. Alcide quickly took in the scene as the door flew open. One glance from Eric and he retreated a step. "What can I do for you Sheriff?" He asked uncertainly, not wanting anything to do with the vampire and hating the fact that his father was indebted to this blood sucker.

"I need you to track down Lorena Ball and her wretched child William Compton. I have reason to suspect that they are in the area." Eric ignored Alcide's unmistakable distaste for him. He had other things to worry about at the moment and the werewolf's fury did not even touch his own. "This room reeks of her if you require her scent." Without further word, Eric stormed across the hall and slammed the door to his own room behind him.

Alcide stood for a moment wondering what this was all about before entering the room and seeing the destruction that Eric had wrought. It was barely a room anymore. Walls had been punched through and no piece of furniture remained intact. He had a hard time distinguishing between Eric's scent and the other vampire in question. Alcide turned to leave the room and found himself staring at Eric again as he stood fuming in the doorway.

Eric merely thrust a finger to a destroyed picture on the floor. "That is the two in question."

Alcide bent over and retrieved the picture, brushing away the broken pieces of glass. He stared at an old picture of two vampires that must have been taken in the twenties. "Am I supposed to know what this is all about?" Alcide questioned as he turned to look at Eric again. The viking had disappeared however and he found that he was talking to himself. With a heavy sigh, he left the King's mansion and decided to seek out the help of the local supernatural community.