Well, here is the first chapter following Eric's side of Dead Set. This picks up on the night of Victor's death, right after Sookie walks out the door. I will not be updating this story as regularly as I do my main story, but I will of course keep this flowing after Sookie's experiences and let you all in on how Eric is dealing with things. So, without further ado, Mr. Northman, if you please...

Dead Set - The Viking's Side of this Tale

The taste of her rich, sweet blood lingered on my tongue long after she had walked out of the club with Bill, his arm wrapped around her like it belonged there. I had wanted to rip his limb off for touching my wife - she was no longer his to touch. But I had held my wrath in check because she was weak from me taking too much of her blood, something I have never done before.

I had watched them leave. The feelings of triumph after our victory and the anger I felt toward Sookie all diminished as I stook in the middle of the carnage that was my bar, completely oblivious to the clean up taking place around me. How could I have allowed myself to take too much, to have kept going until she had no other choice but to twist my ear to get me to get off of her neck? I had gone too far, and I hated myself for that. I actually had seen a touch of fear in her eyes, and that, more than anything, drove me to the brink of insanity. I couldn't stand for her to be afraid of me.

"Eric," Pam spoke to me, practically skipping over to me with the sword that had killed Victor. My child would be the only female in my life to rejoice at being covered in her enemy s blood, even though it stained her couture clothes. She held Akiro's sword out to me, the blade still stained with Victor's blood. "Would you like this as a souvenir to add to your collection?"

I glanced down at the Samurai sword, taking it by the hilt from my child. I turned from her and held it in front of me with both hands wrapped loosely around the base. The steel that had forged this weapon was extraordinarily light and durable. The blade sliced through the air swiftly, back and forth in a rapid motion that I had perfected throughout the centuries. I felt exhilarated, the same feeling I always had when wielding a sword. When I was a child, my mother told me that I had been born with a sword in my hand, and I had never doubted her. Killing my enemies with these weapons was in my blood, part of who I am, a Viking warrior.

I turned back to Pam and she watched me, worshipfully. She had always been fascinated watching me when fighting others or when practising with her, she told me I was art in motion. I forced a smile for her sake, handing it back to her. "You keep it. You killed him."

Pam's smile disappeared, and she took the sword from me. "Actually, Sookie killed him." I wasn't as surprised as I should have been. Sookie had killed many Vampires in the time I had known her. I had problems finding Vampires to bartend; they avoided my bar now like the plague thanks to the handy work of my fiery, blonde wife. "He was on top of me and she was standing there with the sword in her hands. I held him away from me and told her to do it, and she did. She didn't have the strength to get all the way through his neck, but she did most of it. I just gave it that little extra nudge of love that it needed."

I shook my head, staring back at the door where she had left from. Most of the time, I am sure I know my wife better than anyone, but then something like this happens and she reacts in a way that leaves me gob smacked and wondering what the hell happened. She had been responsible for tonight. She had been the one to light a fire under all our asses to end Victor. She had come up with the plan for him to come here to listen to Bubba tonight. She had been the one who handed me the stake that I tried to plunge into Victor's chest while he had been distracted.

We were victorious tonight, all of us had survived. I had thought she would have been ecstatic, overjoyed, thrilled. Instead, she had been disgusted, detached, almost shell shocked. If this had been Sookie's first experience in blood shed, I would understand. But my wife, my Sköldmöns , had seen death, had delivered it firsthand to humans and Vampires alike, had fought in Were battles, had killed Fairies with an iron trowel and a squirt gun filled with lemon juice. She was courageous. Inventive. Tenacious. I just didn't understand.

I saw things in black and white, where Sookie saw the grey areas too. Perhaps I needed to step back and see the situation through her eyes. Maybe then I could understand why she felt like she did. The Vampire in me balked at the idea, but the man I had been, the man that Sookie Stackhouse brought out in me, considered that the death of so many might be getting to her. And what had I done? I had let my Vampire nature take control when she had needed me to recognize how she felt, and I had treated her no better than a fangbanger.

"Master, are you all right?" Pam asked quietly, following my gaze.

I shook my head, turning quickly and storming off in the direction of my office. I stopped short of my office door and entered the private bathroom next to it, shedding my clothes quickly and stepping into the shower, not bothering to close the shower curtain. I watched as the clear water turned red, my hair and skin stained from the death of so many, the blood swirling hypnotically in a circular motion.

I placed my hand against the shower wall and hung my head, closing my eyes. I wished I could feel her, to understand her emotions better, but I couldn't. She had severed our bond a few days ago. I still couldn't believe she had done it, that she thought that I would influence her to love me through such a sacred connection! That she couldn't feel for herself that what she felt for me was real.

When I had intervened in Rhodes in the hallway where Andre had been pressuring Sookie to take his blood, I had offered myself without a second thought, desperate to save her the travesty of being tied to Andre. I had always despised him. He was a sick individual, sadistic, and I had never let my true feelings for him show since he had been the child of my Queen. I couldn't bear the idea of her even having a drop of his blood on her tongue, let alone his fangs marring her perfect, tan skin.

As our connection had established itself, it had grown stronger over the hours that followed, and that is when I began to question the decision I had made. I had never been bonded to a human, the only bonds I shared were with Ocella, Pam and my other child, Dajanna(Dah-yanna). I wasn't foolish enough to believe that being bonded to Sookie would be similar to a Vampire bond, but I hadn't expected it to be so powerful. It felt as though we were tightly wound around each other, any change of emotion almost bringing me to my knees.

In my thousand years of being Vampire, I had never needed to be roused during the day, had not needed to move or flee due to human threat or exposure to the sun. The pull of the sun sucks all energy away, taking with it the blood magic that animates us at night. Ocella had taught me well, had showed me how to choose a resting place that would never be found, how to blend in with the change of time, going unnoticed as I stayed the same as civilizations rose and fell around us.

I wouldn't have survived Rhodes if it hadn't been for Sookie, our bond responsible for the shock of energy that had woken me. I had felt her pushing at me in a way that was new, motivating me, her will alone making me move, both of us communicating silently as though we had one mind to push the coffin that held Pam against the window. It had resulted in my first glance of sunlight in over a millenia.

After that day, I had no more doubts and had embraced the bond. I had learned to listen to our connection, and where before I felt like I was walking through a mine field where Sookie had been concerned, after Rhodes I felt her love for me when I was around her, her desire and need, though she would never admit it out loud.

When she had severed the bond, it had been a small death, I felt as though half of me had died. I had been answering emails, Sookie's emotions making me curious as to what she was up too, her excitement and anxiousness an unusual mix. From one moment to the next, I felt her and then she was gone. I had gasped at the abrupt break, no warning of fear or adrenaline alerting me to a threat, she was just...gone. Yanking my cell phone out of my back pocket, my fingers shaking as I hit her programmed number, my fingernails scoring the top of my desk as I prayed to the Gods that she was still alive.

When she had answered, I had been so relieved to hear her voice, and then so angry when she told me that she allowed that witch to break our connection. She always denied me everything, first her love, then refusing that we were husband and wife, and now the bond. When she told me that she wanted to be sure that she loved me without the bond, I marvelled how this tiny woman held the fate of my life, my happiness, in the palm of her hand and could snuff out the light that had entered my world when she waltzed into my bar. When she said that she did indeed love me all on her own, I had felt weak with relief, truly afraid that she was going to turn me away. She was all that mattered. She was my wife, my lover. She made me feel...complete.

It had taken me a long time to decipher the feelings that I had for her, which at best were new and alarming for someone like me. I had never had human attachments, had only seen them as food, sex and possible business prospects. I have traveled the globe, had countless women and even some men, moving on and searching for something that would keep my interest for longer than two nights. I had never found it until two years ago when a petite blonde with piercing blue eyes walked into my bar and had changed my undead life forever.

I had been surprised by her boldness, how Compton had tried to shush her and she just ignored him. I had known in that moment that the connection between them was not as strong as Bill might have liked, he had no control over her even though I could smell that she had had his blood. She didn't bow to his influence, even when he kept grabbing her hand and glaring at her in concentration, trying to get her to heel. I knew then that she was more than what she seemed.

As time passed, I couldn't help myself, I had to taste her. Kiss her. Touch her. Even though she was with Bill and he had proclaimed her as his, I had known that she didn't truly feel the way he did. I pursued her relentlessly, the initial fascination I had for her fading away and I actually came to care about her well being. I found myself in situations that I would never be in, not for a human. I knew in Jackson that I was falling in love with this woman, this mortal who was honorable, passionate, fierce and who tasted like the strawberries I used to pick on the bushes near the village of my human life.

She had sheltered me when I had been cursed and had fallen in love with me, finally able to see who I truly was without the baggage of a thousand years. When I had regained my memories, I had known that she had finally yielded to me, I could smell myself on her, and it was more than just my blood. I had wanted her to tell me what happened, but she seemed withdrawn, sad. I hadn't understood then what was wrong, not until I had regained those precious days that I had lost. She had opened herself to me, heart, body and soul, and then she lost me with the reversal of the spell. She had been angry with me, resentful that the Vampire she loved to hate had come back, but in reality the amnesiac version was truly the man I was, buried at the core and kept locked away.

She had punished me, driving me mad with jealousy when she chose the Were-Tiger. I had endured it though, I did it for her and wasn't surprised to see Quinn screw up in the end, just like Bill had done. Sookie couldn't abide betrayal, something I had never done nor would ever do to her. I may not tell her everything, but what I do tell her is the truth.

I suppose that is why I was so frustrated with Sookie's reaction to what had taken place tonight. She knew the truth of what was going to happen, that blood was going to spill, that more than one may die. She acted as though I had lied to her about the outcome of this evening, that she expected it to end differently.

"I hope you are not wasting all the hot water," Pam's voice complained. I looked over my shoulder and saw Pam standing in the doorway, a bundle of clean clothes draped over her arm. She placed them down on the chair that stood just inside the door, and with one last glare, she turned and closed the door.

Turning off the water, which had at least rinsed all the blood away, if not the scent, I dried off quickly and pulled on the clean clothes which I kept in my office. I left the bathroom quickly, Pam standing out in the hallway waiting for her turn to clean up. It would not do to drive home in blood spattered clothes and be pulled over by the police. Nowadays, there were more and more Vampires who played the role of cop, and they took their job seriously. I did not need word to reach Felipe that any Vampires in my area were caught covered in blood, especially once Felipe noticed that his Regent has gone missing.

"Eric, are you sure everything is all right? You don't seem as happy as I thought you would," Pam hesitated at the door to the bathroom, a duffel bag over her shoulder.

I stopped right before the door to my office, sighing unnecessarily. "Sookie, I treated her badly tonight. I let my anger out on her since she didn't share in my jubilation."

"Well, go apologize." Pam stated the obvious.

"It s a bit more complicated then that," I said, letting myself into my office and closing the door. I glanced at the clock. Enough time had passed now for Bill to get Sookie home. I sat down behind my desk and snatched up the receiver to the office phone. I was going to let Sookie have time to deal with her emotions, so I called the only other person who could tell me that she was okay.

"Did my wife get safely home?" I asked the minute Bill picked up on his end.

"Of course. But from what I understand, she may not be your wife for much longer, Consort," he replied smugly, almost gleeful.

"Watch yourself, Bill." If I had a blood pressure, this would be the moment that it would be sky rocketing.

"A Queen. Bad enough any marriage, but I doubt a Queen will release you, Eric. I understand that Pam had to push you into telling her." At times like these, I was regretful that Sookie had gone to Jackson and had saved Bill's lying, cheating ass from Lorena. Or that he had not succumbed to the silver poisoning that he had gotten from Neave's silver capped teeth. "Just as you pushed me. As my humans neighbors say, 'What goes around comes around.' Now you know how it feels to be forced by a Queen to betray Sookie."

"I did not betray Sookie. This was Ocella's doing, not mine," I replied between clenched teeth.

"I actually do understand your loyalty to your maker, Eric. I even respect that you still wish to honor his word. Nonetheless, Sookie will see it as a betrayal. And your treatment of her tonight didn't help." The office phone creaked ominously in my hand, my fingers tightening around the receiver.

"Don't think this means you will get her back, Bill."

"Perhaps not. But I do take pleasure in the possibility that you won't keep her, either." Having the last word, he hung up on me and I saw red. Standing up, I slammed the phone into the cradle, picked the whole thing and hurled it against the wall, exploding into a tiny thousand pieces.

I sat back down in my large, leather chair and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. What would I do if I lost her? I felt a nerve twitch on my forehead at the thought. I was trapped, and I hated feeling this way. Ocella had literally fucked me, making this marriage contract without my consent, not that he would have even thought about asking me. He had probably only seen the advantageous side for himself, the money and notoriety that came with having his child as Consort to a Queen. As much as the respect for my maker wanted me to honor his wishes, the rest of me that hated him and was glad that he had met the final death, did not. Fuck his wishes.

I didn't want to be King, or Consort, no matter what. I had had my time in the past, a time long forgotten and it had turned me off of wanting to have anything to do with lording over territory any bigger than my area here in Louisiana. But the main reason, the only reason, was Sookie. I couldn't leave her. She was the air that I didn't know I needed, and to live without her...was not a thought I could bear. Even with her angry at me in this moment, I knew our love for each other was strong enough to survive, aside from Bill's dire prediction.

I would pray to my Gods that I would find some loophole get out of this contract. I had always had luck on my side in the past, and I needed it now since Freyda seemed dead set to have me at any cost. She was calling me nightly, sending me emails, even hand written letters pleading with me, telling me how good we could be together, the last remaining Viking Vampires left on the face of the earth, how powerful we could be. She wanted me to come to Valhalla, which sickeningly enough was the name she had called her palatial mansion and grounds in Oklahoma. I found the name offensive, for when I finally did enter the halls of the afterlife, Valhalla would meet me within Sookie's arms. I would have it no other way.

Standing, I kicked the broken telephone to the side as I walked by the mess and strode out my office door, down the hall and into the night. I needed to think, and the only thing that truly helped was flying the frustration away. I bent my knees as I entered the back parking lot, launching myself into the dark sky, the stars winking at me from the heavens. I closed my eyes in elation as I felt the wind whipping through my hair, the air thick and warm.

I felt the freedom of flight, and I thought of how I had been freed from my maker with his death, only to have someone else now in a seat of power want to control me. I was not going to let that happen. I would kill the bitch first. I flew, lost in thought, until at last I looked around and smiled at myself. Landing softly outside the window, I peered inside and felt a rush of love at the sight that greeted me. Sookie was laying on her bed, her sheets twisted around her body, snoring softly in the darkened room. How I loved this woman. And I would keep her with me, no matter what. I would not let Freyda win.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that. First, I want to say that the conversation that Eric and Bill have on the phone is real, it is actually an excerpt from CH Sookie Stackhouse Companion, in the Secret Dialogues of Eric and Bill. I found it interesting, and it is going to play into my story. I'm sure you can all guess what I mean by that. I was a bit nervous, I hope I caught Eric just right. I hope you like it. For my readers that have followed my main story to this, I thank you bunches. To my new readers who are scratching their heads, just read Dead Set, which is set in SPOV and it will right any confusion. Thanks a bunch you guys. Love XOXOXOXO

Oh, BTW, how do you all like Eric breaking the office phone? Remind you all of a certain alarm clock that someone broke? Hmmm...

Sköldmöns - Shield Maiden