CHAPTER FIFTY

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            THE DAY HAD BEEN INCREDIBLY LONG AS DAKOTA WORKED AN EVENING SHIFT AT MERLOTTE'S THE NEXT DAY. The woman had been up most of the night, staring at her bedroom door and wondering if Eric was alright downstairs. Despite her resentment toward the whole vampire situation, the worry she had for him was stronger.

Entering the home, she threw her keys on the kitchen table before stumbling around in the dark toward the fridge to down a class of ice tea. Dakota had taken some Tru Blood bottles from the bar and put one in the micro wave for her maker.

"Eric?" she called, knowing he should be awake right now. "Are you up? Brought you some Tru Blood. I know you hate this stuff but it's the best I can do right now."

There was no answer so she made her way toward the living room, where his cubby was located. The woman stopped in her tracks and cussed loudly when she saw the door open, and no Eric to be found.

"Oh, boy."

Dakota grimaced as she saw the screen door wide open, his scent leading out into the backyard. The blonde glanced outside for any sign of the viking but she had no such luck, not even when she continuously called his name. Pam was going to kill her, hell she might even do it herself is she couldn't find him before those witches got to him again.

"Fuck," she muttered, stalking back into the house to slid her shoes back on.

Dakota blinked as she was momentarily blinded by a white light, and she thought her cousin came home in her car but when she opened her eyes there was no trace of it. There was a soft knock on the front door and she made her way toward it, cautiously.

"You're not Sookie." said the woman.

Her hair was long, flowers weaved into the strands. Her dress flowed behind her, hiding her bare feet and she smelled incredibly good. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she looked at Dakota, eyes moving behind her to get a trace of her cousin.

"No, I am not." she stated. "Who are you?"

"You're Dakota." she acknowledged. "You are Claude's."

"I am no ones." she raised a brow, but she remembered the Faerie she mentioned from her dream. "You're a Faerie."

"Indeed." she nodded. "I am Sookie's Faerie godmother."

"Faerie godmother?" Dakota repeated. "If we didn't live in this world I would have declared you insane. I'm sorry, but Sookie isn't here tonight. I don't know where she is, and I don't think she wants to go with you after what happened."

"I just want to speak to her." the woman said, Claudine was her name. "To explain things."

"Unfortunately, that won't be tonight." Dakota said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I see." she said, smiling softly. "Claude has told me all about you. I can see why he's your godfather, you have the same spirit."

"I barely know him." she shrugged, but her words were new to her since she had no idea what it exactly was the fearie meant with god-father and mother, they weren't human after all.

"Come with me." she said, raising her arm to reach for her. "You'll be safe with us."

"No way," she shook her head, taking a small step back. "I am not going anywhere with you."

"Dakota," she frowned, face turning serious. "It isn't safe here, there are vampires ever-"

Claudine wasn't able to finish her sentence as she was ripped away from the front porch with a screech, down the steps and into the front yard in a blink of an eye. Dakota stood there frozen for a moment before her eyes fell onto the viking, fangs deep within the fearie's throat. The vampire let out a moan at the taste of her blood and drank as fast as he could.

"Eric, stop!" she called, legs moving quickly to rip him off of her.

It had been too late as Eric slid away from the force of her grip and Dakota watched as Claudine's once porcelain skin turned gray, soft pink nails turning into what looked like talons as she began to grow into some kind of monster before turning into dust.

The blonde's eyes turned toward Eric, who was licking his fingers clean with a soft smile on his face.

"You just killed Sookie's faerie-godmother."

"Sorry," he pulled a face, trying to give her a toothy smile.

"We are sitting ducks here of any of her friends decided to show up. Hurry, into the house." she began, already making her way back toward her home. There was a thud behind her and she glanced back at him, seeing him face first into the bed of flowers she had planted. "We're heading for the cubby, you hear me?"

Eric made no move to get up as he laid there with his eyes closed, distant smile on his face. Dakota let out a huff as she kicked him in the side. The viking glanced up at her and slowly, very slowly, got to his feet with a grunt and messy hair.

As Eric got to his full height, he showed her his best smile with his fangs out and blood dripping down his chin. "Hey," he stumbled toward her and said. "more. I need more."

"Quit." she smacked his hand away as he brushed her hair from her neck.

"I want more." he pouted.

"You can't have any more, there isn't any. You drank the whole faerie, and you're going to your room."

The viking didn't listen as he wrapped one arm around her waist and the other to brush all of her hair toward her back to expose her throat. Dakota wasn't scared of him, it wasn't as if he could actually kill her. At least, she thought he couldn't.

"I said no." she said firmly. "You'll hurt me."

This seemed to sober him up as he pulled away for a moment, evident frown on his face as his fangs disappeared into his gums. "I would never harm you."

"You better not." she nodded, stepping away from him and he let her. "Come on, back inside. I'll tuck you in."

Dakota turned her back to him and made her way toward the porch when there was a sudden sting on her backside. Eric passed her with a giggle as she jumped and shot him a dark glare. He ambled backwards, eyes solely on her.

"You just pinched my butt." she accused.

"Beautiful butt." he agreed, walking a slow circle around her.

"Well, thanks." she narrowed her eyes. "But hands off."

Eric continued to giggle and did it again, vamp speeding ten feet away from her with a lazy smile on his face.

"Hey!" she yelled as he continued to laugh at her and realisation hit her. "You're drunk."

The viking bit his lip as he sped back to face her, his nose almost touching her own as he grinned. "Catch me."

Dakota cussed under her breath as he disappeared from her sight and into the woods on the side of her home. "Get back here!" The woman almost tripped over her feet when he stood before her again and he steadied her with his right hand, giggling like a small child. "I am trying to help you. Get back into the house right now."

Dakota could now easily track him with her eyes as he sped through the yard, appearing somewhere else every second when she felt him standing behind her, lips tracing the back of her ear as he whispered, "Never."

"It'll be dawn soon." she tried, facing him and ignoring the shiver that he had send down her spine.

"I don't care." he laughed, and with that he was off again.

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DESPITE HER BOND WITH THE VIKING AND HER HIGHTENED SENSE OF SMELL, SHE HAD BEEN UNABLE TO LOCATE HER MAKER DURING THE NIGHT. It was late in the morning, and though she knew he could walk in the sun after he drained Claudine, she didn't know for how long.

"Dakota?" there was banging at her front door and she rushed toward the porch from the side of the house. "Dakota, where you at?"

"Thank you for coming." she said, holding a thick blanket in her arms. "I can't find him anywhere. I checked the woods three times already."

Alcide turned at her voice and went down the steps. Dakota hadn't seen him since Jackson the year before, but they had spoked a few times on the phone since then. Alcide was kind and wanted to know how she was doing after the whole ordeal. He had always expressed that she could call whenever she needed help and she had taken advantage of it now, she needed his werewolf senses along with her own.

"How can Eric walk around in the daylight?" he asked, already taking off his flannel to reveal his tanned chest.

"It's a long, strange story." she began, eyes moving over his skin. "I'll tell you on the way."

Alcide nodded his head, hand going to his belt and unfastening it, and Dakota couldn't help herself as she watched him shamelessly. His eyes met hers and she quickly turned around, apologising.

"I wasn't thinkin'. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this." she confessed.

"You'd help me if I needed you." he shrugged and Dakota heard the movement of fabric behind her and soon the ripping of skin as he turned into his wolf form.

Dakota watched the greyish white wolf and asked. "You got his scent?"

Alcide was off before she could say another thing. Dakota couldn't vamp speed after him, it was supposed to be a secret and she didn't want anyone finding out so she went as fast as she could without raising suspicions.

The wolf was easy to track, his scent was strong and she tried not to breath it in as much. It wasn't as bad when he was in human form but now as he was running in front of her it felt like a headache had hit her hard.

Are you going to tell me how he can day walk?

His thoughts floated into her mind easily as she read them and Dakota launched into the tale of her heritage and the faerie world. He made her repeat it twice, unable to believe her the first time. Eric's scent came and go, which meant he was moving.

"So, Eric can day walk with the fearie blood, but it makes him drunk like a skunk. He's hammered and who knows how long it will be before he starts to fry." Alcide stopped in front of a small lake, about a mile away from Dakota's home and her eyes scanned the empty waters for a moment. "Look, I know you don't like him but Pam is going to kill me if he dies."

There was a splash in the middle of the lake and Dakota watched as Eric jumped from the water, stark naked. The water pooled low around his waist as he spit out some of it with a gleeful smile. His eyes fell on her and he raised his arms forward.

"Hey, Dakota!" he called. "Where have you been? Come! Come play with me. It's wonderful here. I am Aegir, God of the Sea, and you are Ran, my sea Goddess."

"There is big gators in there you crazy viking. Get on out and let's get home, before one of them chomps off your you know what."

Eric let himself all back into the water, wading around as he took another mouth full and spit it out like a fountains, arms flailing about. "Leave the sun to the water? Nope! I'll just kill all the sea monsters." He got to his feet again, playful smile on his face. "Gators? Krokodiler? Show yourselves! Cowards!"

Beside the woman, Alcide shifted back into his human form, also stark naked as he looked at the vampire oddly. "He really is different."

Eric snarled at the man beside her, fangs on display as he screamed. "Get away from her!"

"Fuck you! She wants me here." Alcide shot back and Dakota took in a deep breath, clicking her tongue.

"Eric, this is Alcide, our friend." she said. "He's gonna help you. You don't want to fight him."

"Yes, I do." glared Eric. "Now prepare to die, you stinking dog."

"Take your shot, you dumb shit fanger."

"Grow up, you giant babies." Dakota glared, shoving Alcide with her elbow as he growled beside her. "Alcide stop making that noise. Eric, put up those fangs and do as I say!"

Eric turned his heated glare away from the werewolf and met her eyes, anger draining away quickly as he frowned. The skin on his back started to smoke and he let out a pained grunt. "I don't feel so good."

"Now, will you listen to me?" she sighed, waddling into the water as he came out, meeting him halfway as she draped the blanket around his shoulders.

"Dakota I hurt." he muttered, skin reddening. "My blood is burning."

"You gotta go." she urged. "Vamp speed to the house."

"I don't want to go back to the darkness." he frowned. "I want us ... I want us ..."

"Just keep the blanket around you." Dakota instructed as she and Alcide helped him out of the lake fully. "Go, Eric. We will be right behind you."