Chapter 15

I landed us in the junk yard and walked hand in hand with my ladies it the front. We took our seats as everyone else was arriving. It was a sea of black, you could see makers mourning their children who had been lost and other mourning lost lovers both vampire and human. There would be no judgment for their shows of emotion. I can honestly say that if I had lost Sookie or Pam I would not have been much better off. The Queen arrived in an all black ball gown walking hand in hand with Sigbert, who I know lost his human lover. They took their seats in the row in front of us. Like the classless bitch that she is I saw Jade Flower former supreme ass kisser of the late king Peter Threadgill walked in wearing red from head to toe. Vampires are not known for their reactions, but she got quite a few gasps as she took her seat on the opposite side of the isle.

We were approached by Bartlett Crow who said.

"Northman, may I address your Mate?" I put a protective arm around Sookie and nodded.

"Princess, I wanted to thank you for protecting vampires from sun exposure during the day after the blast, if you hadn't my future husband would have punished. He's sorry he couldn't be here to thank you himself, but he lost a limb in the explosion and regrowth is a painful and dangerous process. Indiana and Tennessee are in your debt." He bowed to her and gave Pam and I a quick nod before stepping back to take his seat. To say I was astonished would be an understatement. Sophie Ann turned in her seat and stared at us with her mouth gapping open. Sookie just smiled and shrugged. I pulled her up onto my lap so I could have her closer. I felt like I needed to be in constant contact with her to ensure that she was indeed still alive. I grasped Pam's hand and held it discreetly between us and waited for the trial to begin. We didn't have to wait long because the Ancient Pythoness and her guards and hand maidens walked out soon after we got comfortable. What happened next blew all of our minds, 1000 years and the last three days have been the most shocking.

"The ancient one will speak, hr word is law." The grizzled old woman took a seat on a throne and spoke in a gravelly voice that made the age of her turning all the more evident.

"Sophie Ann LeCraw Queen of Louisiana is innocent of treason. No trial shall be held." She turned to the room and started pointing at people we all knew she could not see. "Jade flower rise, Victor Madden rise, Felipe DeCastro rise, Charles Twaining rise." She appeared to look around and asked. "Where is the Queens child Andre?" Sophie Ann rose to her feet and bowed her head as she spoke.

"He is in silver serving punishment for crimes against one of my sheriffs and his bonded." She nodded and said.

"Ahh, yes the Viking and the fairy Brignat. I will get to them in a moment; you listen well to me then and carry out my wishes."

"Of course." She bowed deeper and took to her knees to listen attentively.

"All who stand are guilty of conspiring with Human religious zealots and having 103 of our kind meet their final deaths, 70 with severe injuries and the death of one human bonded and her vampire by extension…" Sookie tensed and stared at me with horrified eyes. I may have left out the fact that vampires never survive long after the deaths of their bondeds, hence why it is so rare. "The death of 200 Were and human companions and twenty three million dollars in damages. The punishment is final death by sun." She turned to her guards and said. "Tie them to the crosses that their human friends like so much." She shook her head as they were all bound to crosses facing east with silver. "I want the human leaders of the fellowship of the sun and I want them now. If you are not a monarch, sheriff or lieutenant you will be out hunting these people. They will be publicly brought to trial and punished by our laws. We have come out to the humans so now they need to accept that just like they have laws that we follow, they too must follow ours. I will not allow our kind to be picked off by these monsters." It was not lost on us that she used the name so often used to describe our own race. "Human relations will change, they will respect us or we will eliminate any who resist." She raised both hands in the air and asked.

"Do all agree?" Everyone in the room including Sookie raised their right hand and said.

"Here, here!" The pythoness seemed satisfied and turned her blind eyes towards Sookie and I.

"Northman, Princess?" I nodded, but Sookie like the sweet southern bell that she is said.

"Yes Ma'am?" The pythoness' mouth curved into a slight smile and she said.

"You are Bonded?"

"Yes." I replied.

"You are in love?"

"Yes." I said again, not really giving a shit who knows that I love Sookie now, I will never act as if she is not the most important thing to me ever again, her life is too fragile to waste any of our time together playing a game for politics.

"What of you Princess, do you love him?"

"With all of my heart, none come before him." She said crushing herself to me. I filled our bond with love and pride.

"You are a well matched mated pair. I want Princess Sookie to give the illusion that she is human and you two will be the poster couple for vampire human relations. You will be open with your relationship and I want you two too…." She was searching for a word. "Ham it up, we will be launching a pro vampire campaign, you two will be heading it up. You are relieved from your duties as Sheriff; you work for the authority now. Your child will take your place until we no longer require your services."

"Yes, Ma'am." I replied, I could feel Sookies panic in our bond… she did not want to be in the public eye. She is very comfortable with me, but over all she is still very young and self conscious. I tried to send her strength and comfort through the bond, but what really seemed to calm her was the contact from my hand that began rubbing her back.

"You submitted the paper work to pledge to her." I sighed, I had not told Sookie of this because I wanted to ask her properly… and have it be a surprise. I guess I can scrap that idea.

"I had not asked Sookie yet because I wanted to be sure of its approval first." Sookie was looking up at me beaming with excitement. I took that as a good sign for her wanting to pledge to me.

"I will approve it… only if you agree to have a public human style wedding."

"What?" Sookie burst out. I quickly cupped my hand over her mouth and said.

"Why must we adhere to a custom that neither of us are accustomed to. Human marriage ceremonies mean little to nothing to us." She narrowed her eyes and said.

"You question me?" I knew we were on thin ice, but I would never force Sookie to do something she didn't want to do. That little naughty fairy bit me drawing blood and pushed my hand away and said.

"He's sorry for questioning you, we'll do it, but I want it done right. I want to get to plan it." She waved her hand dismissively and said.

"Fine, fine. We are done here all return to your homes and hunt the fellowship. You have your instructions now go." She stood and walked off the stage. Everyone got up to leave. I stood with Sookies body still flush to mine; I wanted to carry her, so sue me. We said our goodbyes and Pam decided to travel back with the Queen so she could discuss her new duties. I picked Sookie up and flew her to the air strip. We were going home, we had a lot to do, everything was changing for us… but mostly I wanted to go home to my dog and lay in bed with my Lover. I knew the next few months would be crazy so I wanted to have a least a moment to pretend everything was normal… well as normal as it ever gets for a Thousand year old Viking Vampire and a Human hybrid Fairy Princess.

The sequel to this story 'In Love We Trust' is up now. I cut this part of the story off here, because it felt wrapped up. Please go check out the sequel and enjoy. As always thank you so much for the awesome reviews. I was really amazed and excited by all of the traffic this story got. I know its not that much for this site, but it's a lot for me, so again thank you for sticking with me.