"My phone is untraceable, Nora!" he yelled through the steel door of the shipping cargo.

He leered at Bill, who leaned over the side of the shipping cargo as he kept watch while Eric and his sister, Nora, who was also sired by Godric, fucked noisily.

"We fight like siblings. But we fuck like champions." He cast another smug look at Bill before he took his phone out of the pocket of his tight jeans.

He checked the caller's ID and smiled, maliciously.

"Alcide, my faithful friend. How are you?"

There was short pause on the other line before a soft voice he knew too well spoke.

"Eric." It wasn't a question, just acknowledgement.

He was taken aback. He took a few seconds before answering.

"Sookie?"

Bill snapped his head in his direction and moved closer to Eric, but not close enough to invade the Viking's personal space.

"Where are you?" asked Sookie softly, her voice was hoarse, as if she had been crying.

"Why? Miss me already?" he sneered. "I thought you wanted to stay away from me?" He couldn't hide the bitterness lacing his tone, and he chastised himself inwardly for that.

Sookie chose to ignore his snarky reply. This was not the time to play games.

"Are you okay?"

"Why, Miss Stackhouse, I am more than okay. Why shouldn't I be?" he knew he was pressed for time, but he couldn't help himself from agitating the girl on the other line, who just last night stomped on his heart, he so willingly offered her. "Is there something you need? Are you going to tell me you love me, and then ask me to pass the phone to Bill so you could tell him you love him, too?"

"Eric, please." She stifled a sob, but with Eric's vampire hearing, that did not escape him.

"Please, what?"

"Tell me, where you are and if you're still in one piece!" she screeched rather petulantly. She was irritated by his cocky remarks but her worry for her former Viking lover took the reign.

"Why?" he asked through gritted teeth. Then the door to the shipping container squeaked and Nora stepped out looking rather bored. She moved closer to Eric, while Bill steeled himself in his position as he strained his ears to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Hang up the phone. We have to get going," Nora demanded.

Eric paid her no mind, as he waited for Sookie's reply.

He heard Sookie heaved a big sigh.

"Russell's back."

Two words. It only took two words to render Eric speechless.

"You have to run, Eric. Run and hide. If you're with Bill, you both have to hide. You know Russell's mad, and he will be out for you once he regained his strength," Sookie pleaded when words failed Eric after her revelation.

A thousand things run into the thousand-year-old vampire's mind. He wanted to run, that's for sure, but not to go far away. He wanted to run back to Louisiana. To Bon Temps. To wherever Sookie was right now, but before he could utter a word, he heard Alcide's voice on the other line.

"Northman, Russell's body was dug up from the construction site, I am not sure when exactly, but I can only assume that it was recently because I have that site well-guarded."

"Not well enough," retorted Eric icily.

Alcide tried to suppress a growl.

"It doesn't matter now. He's back and he's coming for blood. I got to Sookie's as quickly as I could. I can bring her home with me to keep her safe."

"Put her on the phone," Eric commanded.

A few seconds later he heard her again, this time with urgency in her voice.

"Eric, you don't need to tell me where you are. But you have to hide from Russell." Sookie pleaded anew.

"Not without you'" Eric said quickly.

Nora, who had also been listening in the conversation stood in front of Eric and glared at him.

Eric looked straight at Nora his eyes were cold and murderous.

"You cannot be serious?" asked Nora in disbelief in her thick British accent.

Eric turned around and walked away from both Bill and Nora as he faced the pier.

"Who was that?" asked Sookie. "Are you sure you're alright? Pam is also looking for you."

"Where are you now?" asked Eric, blatantly ignoring her questions.

"I'm at home."

"Pack your bags and tell Alcide to bring you to me. I'll text him the address. I'll wait for you. Tell Pam to go to my safe house in Monroe or to glamour one of the waitresses to give her sanctuary and wait for me to summon her."

"I can't leave, Eric," Sookie interrupted Eric's orders.

"Why the fuck not?" Eric could not believe the stubbornness of this woman.

"I just… can't" How could she possibly tell Eric that she couldn't leave the house because in a few hours her friend would be rising as a vampire with the help of his progeny.

How could she tell him that she could not leave Tara after she took a bullet for her after Debbie Pelt attacked her?

How could she make Eric understand that she could not go into hiding with him because every shred of morality in her screamed at her not to leave Tara and Lafayette– the only family she had left aside from her brother—alone, when she was partly to blame for their demise?

How can she tell Eric all her reasons without letting Alcide know that she shot his ex-fiancée in cold blood right in the spot he stood in her kitchen?

"Sookie, you said it yourself, Russell's mad," Eric was trying to keep his voice low and even to rein in his frustration with the woman on the other line, who kept on disagreeing with him every chance she got. "And after you ground and drained Talbot's remains in the sink in Fangtasia, I don't think you two will be swapping bedtime stories anytime soon. And don't forget that he knows what you are. Even if your blood cannot make him walk in the daylight, the taste of your blood alone makes you one of his targets."

"Don't you think I know that?" yelled Sookie.

"Then why are you being so fucking stubborn and stupid? If you really know the magnitude of this situation you would be running far away from your house and not act like vampire bait sitting there!"

He could not control the fury rising inside him. How he wished, just once, just for one fucking time, she would just do what she was told and not argue.

Then he felt a hand on his bare shoulder. He turned around and saw Bill looking at him sullenly. He looked pointedly at Bill's hand perched on his shoulder and the younger vampire retracted his hand as if he was burned. He stretched his hand palm up asking for the phone.

"Maybe I can talk some sense into her" said Bill.

Eric didn't want to let Bill talk to Sookie, but dire circumstance called for certain actions as he reluctantly handed the phone to Bill and took a few steps back in an effort to clear his head.

Nora was right behind him, shooting daggers at him, as she shoved his singed t-shirt and leather jacket at his chest.

"You're really jeopardizing this mission because of a human?" Nora asked angrily while Eric puts on his shirt, never taking his eyes off of Bill.

"Don't you fucking ignore me, Eric!" Nora grabbed his chin as she willed him to look at her to get his attention.

"Shut the fuck up, Nora!" he yelled.

"I am facing the true death here, Eric. Surely, you understand that now is not the time to play house with your human. You heard her, she wants you to run and that's what you two should be doing right now!"

With three big steps Eric moved beside Bill and grabbed the phone while Bill tried to convince Sookie to run away with them.

"I am done with your bullshit, Sookie. So now, you will shut up and do what I tell you or I will go there and drag you out of your house myself."

"No, Eric Northman, you will listen to me." Sookie said determinedly. "If anyone can beat that fucktard Russell, it's you. But you can't do it without a plan. So for now, I want you to run and hide while you cook up some sneaky and devious plan to kill that motherfucker once and for all, and I mean true death this time. Not some concrete prison bullshit, Eric. And then…" she paused. "And then… you come here. Come back here, where I'll be waiting for you," her voice softened and whispered the last part. But with Eric's hearing, she was certain that he won't miss it.

It took a few seconds for Eric to digest what she just said. And he couldn't decide if he was more proud and or more aroused by his little fairy's outburst.

"How can you be so sure that I'll come back?" he breathed.

"Because you love me." And then the line went dead.

A/N: I own nothing.