-

A SMALL FRAGILE WHIMPER FLEW past her bruised lips, making Sam immediately fling himself across the room to check on the older sister. Alex breathed in a sharp intake of air through her nose and sat up, looking at her surroundings to make sure there were no threats. Her painkiller dream was filled with taunts from Drew Marshall, which made her paranoid as she blinked around the living room.

Sookie was near her, sprung out on the couch, resting her eyes. Sam waved a hand in front of her eyes to calm her, "hey, hey sleepyhead. First time you been awake since the hospital, I think they double dosed ya." His soothing voice let a smile run across her features and she hummed, blinking a few times to get the tiredness from her eyes.

"Sammy," her hand cupped his scruffy cheek and she patted it softly, "thank you for everything." Alexandra let her hand drop to her side as she slowly raised up from her laid back position in the chair.

"Everything is floaty, this is like the best high ever." A giggle slipped through her lips and Sam huffed in laughter, watching as she waved her fingers in front of her face. She noticed her newly painted fingernails and gasped softly, glancing at Lafayette who was sitting in front of her on the coffee table.

At first glance when Tara and Lafayette saw both of the sisters beaten and bruised, lying there peacefully, their eyes slowly began to swell with tears. They had been there for well over twenty minutes, asking what happened over and over until they got a good sense of it.

"Hey hooker, you two ain't supposed to take a beatin', y'all faces be too pretty for that." His natural humor made Alex's eyes light up and a soft chuckle rupture from her dry throat. Tara didn't speak any words, afraid to open her mouth because the cry that was lodged in the back of her throat would echo through the whole house.

Her friends, her family, her sisters had been in a terrible traumatic accident and she was off living lavishly with Marianne. She made a mental note to spend more time with both Sookie and Alex, because in the words of her newfound friend 'life is short, you have to live and love while you can.'

"I love you guys, all of you." Alexandra mumbled to herself quietly, but everyone in the room seemed to hear the soft spoken words loud in the eardrums. The blonde slowly drifted back into slumber, her head falling back into the pillow Sam had placed behind her head.

-

Alexandra woke up not ten minutes later to a strangled sob echoing in her ears. She sat up trying to hold her fists up at any sign of an intruder, but the sling her left arm that was keeping her shoulder set hindered that ability. In front of her, Arlene was shaking, a bouquet of beautiful flowers in her outstretched hands. Mascara was running down her face and it was obvious she was still grieving over her dead fiancé.

The blonde couldn't look her straight in the eyes, not after what she had done just a mere three hours before. The sound of that dreaded shovel slicing through René's neck still fresh and floating in her dizzy brain. She was glad the redhead had her attention settled on Sookie, seeing as though the blonde was awake when she first walked in.

Alexandra watched as Arlene's eyes slowly drifted from her sisters to her, making the redhead sniffle and hold her hand out.

Soon enough, Arlene had both Sookie and Alexandra both on the couch, knees under them as they listened to her speak and sputter, "cause there were things he liked to do in the bedroom." She raised her eyebrows, hinting towards René's sick mind. Alexandra tucked her lips into her mouth and tried not to laugh at her statement. Sookie on the other hand looked as though she was going to throw up any second.

In the midst of their uncomfortable conversation, the front door swung open to reveal Jason, still sporting his clothes from when he was locked up. He ran straight to his sisters, placing a hand on both of their chins to look at the damage done. He quickly tugged his arms around both of them, pulling them in for a tight hug.

"I ain't never been happier to see y'all in my life." He sniffled, ignoring their hisses of pain. Sookie took the liberty of saying something, growing tired over the excessive squeezing. "Jason, that's great, but sweetie we are black and blue and you are squeezing us."

"Oh, sorry." Jason's simple mind started to roam as he looked over all their features. Black eyes, bruised cheeks, hurt body parts. "Shit! Look what the son of a bitch did! If he was still alive I'd fuckin' kill him again." Jason's face scrunched and he punched the air, practically growling his last sentence. Arlene jumped at his words, tears springing to her eyes, "excuse me." She muttered, running out of the house.

Jason taps two fingers on his lips, "me and my mouth."

Alex spoke up for the first time, shaking her head. "Honey, she'll be fine. Eventually." She grasped his hand with her free one and he gripped it tight.

"You know, I was sittin' in that jail cell and I just kept thinkin' about all the stupid stuff I've done." His eyes were concentrated on the hardwood floors, Sookie snorted at his words, "that must've kept you busy."

Jason gave her a stern glare and continued, "and I know it seems like all I ever think about is myself, drinkin', and chasin' women. But that's only 'cause that's the only thing I thought I was good at." He shrugged his shoulders and Alex tried her damndest to think of something else he was good at through her fuzzy mind.

"That's not true! You were good at football, and keepin' the fridge stocked with beer." Alex clicked her tongue and Jason shot air out of his nose, almost scoffing at her statement.

"Not good enough for a scholarship, and not good enough to keep you at the house." He paused, "I ain't never been good enough for anything or anybody, well, except maybe Amy. But she's gone now, so I was in there waiting to die too and I realized my life ain't worth nothin'. I've never done nothin' to be proud of. All I could think to do was to end it." He sniffles a bit and Alexandra moved her eyes to Sookie who scolded him by saying his name.

"No, no it's okay. Because then, something happened." Alex saw a light shine through her brother's eyes that she thought he lost in high school. The glimmer of hope was back. "Alex, Sook I was saved! I was given a second chance and now I know that all this bad stuff? It happened for a reason." He breathed in deeply through his nose and flicked his eyes between the blondes.

Alexandra felt truly happy for her brother, he finally had a fire to him that she always wanted for him. When he finally left, tripping over the rug as he made his way to the door, Alexandra moved to the back porch for some much needed peace and silence.

Her hand slowly slipped to the small rounded table beside a wooden rocking chair. She snatched her cigarettes and gently placed herself in the chair, rocking slightly. She could tell from the orange glare reflecting from her black rimmed glasses that the sun would be set in no time, and all of her anxieties about seeing Eric rushed to the surface.

Would he be mad? Would he even come see her?

She made Hoyt shoot him a text from her phone before he had to leave. That was when she was still at the hospital, hours ago.

Alex blinked, her thoughts running wild and before she knew it her cigarette was burned down to the filter and the sun was finally gone. She grumbled at her burned cigarette, not even getting to take a sweet drag from the cotton stuffed filter.

Her hands trembled softly as she reached one handed into her pack to pull out another one. Before she could light it she was roughly plucked from her rocking chair, and tight strong hands gripped both of her elbows.

She looked up, her cigarette sticking to the inside of her lip, hanging from her mouth to see Eric searching every inch of her face for a sign of emotion. The bruises freckled on her face and neck made a strong, throbbing vein pop from his forehead. A growl escaped his lips and he let himself calm down with a large intake of breath.

Alex was silent, waiting for a reaction from the vampire who still had her in a death grip. He slowly let go, embracing her in his arms. The icy chill of his hand on the back of her head sent goosebumps down her arms. Alexandra wished she could brush it off, act like none of it was a big deal but in all actuality it felt as though her world was ripping apart at the seams and the only one who could do anything about it was standing right in front of her.

Tears pricked her dry eyes, threatening to spill over her lower lash line. His lips parted as he whispered sweet nothings in Swedish, trying to comfort the blonde. He pulled away all too suddenly, his fangs dropping down and his wrist going up to his opened mouth. Alexandra was quick, she let her hand fly up and grip his wrist. she sniffled before opening her mouth, "no, it's okay. I don't want to let Sookie suffer while I'm magically healed. I have to deal with the pain, for now at least."

Eric furrowed his eyebrows, but kept a straight face. A thousand years he had walking the earth and studying humans, and he still didn't understand anything about them. Why would she want to suffer? Eric was suffering just seeing her like that. 

Broken, bruised, afraid.

She broke his train of thought by tossing her cigarette into the wet, dewy grass and inhaling sharply. "Will you just lay with me?" It had become tradition for them to lay together after a traumatic experience, which in Alex's mind was completely fucked up.

Eric looked as though he was fighting with himself. In his mind, his options were to inflate his ego by getting angry and turning off all emotions and never letting himself fall for another human again or go upstairs into the small flower-wallpaper covered bedroom and carefully wrap his arms around the human girl he thought he was in love with.

The vampire chose the latter option.

authors note
hey guys! please vote and comment, leave your love, criticism, anything below!

guys if you read these (which i hope you do) i would so appreciate it if you could share this book. i love this story and i would love for more people to read it and give their feedback or any comments! so please help me out!

wow okay, long time no see guys. i really don't have an excuse for being late with my chapters, laziness i guess. but i figured i really needed to bunker down and get this chapter written because so many people might need it right now. 

i hate hearing that some of you are in complete quarantine and  i hope and pray things turn out aright for those people. i also really want to take time to tell you guys that you can totally message me, whether you're bored , need someone to vent to, or you just want to!

also i know you guys have probably been seeing it everywhere, but let us please continue to do our part, which means social distancing! i know its become a meme and even i joke about it cause that's how i express myself (through awkward serious-situation jokes) but i'm still practicing that!

<3

anyway enough babbling, i hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! Eric and Alex are definitely going to have a talk about what happened to her!

comment your favorite part of the chapter! i'd love to hear it!

thank you for all of the votes and comments we have gotten so far!

love mack