| FORTY-TWO |
SLEEPER CELL SUN

          Eric stood outside the shielded building for a moment. His thoughts contained nothing but Eira. How could she give yourself up like that? And the answer was obvious: she would do anything for him even something stupid and idiotic just to make sure he was okay.

      He growled in frustration before he vamp sped away. He needed to get help and he went immediately to Bill. He also called on Pam.

            Bill had just gotten back from a huge PR event. Nan had left and now Sookie was undoing his tie as they kissed. They had gotten back together after the fight with the witches and he healed her with his blood.

           Then Eric busted into the house, slamming the door open, "We have to kill that fucking witch!"

          "Eric," Bill sighed before he analyzed Eric and noticed his more hardened expression. "You have your memories back."

          "I...It was Eira," Eric explained. "She gave herself over to that fucking witch."

        "Eira?" Sookie said fearfully. "Bill, we have to do something."

          Pam appeared suddenly, "Eric, you called?"

          "Eric, we have been ordered not to do any harm to the witch nor any humans," Bill said.

          "I don't fucking care!" he shouted. "We'll all be fucking dead tomorrow if we don't kill that witch."

          Bill squinted his eyes, "What do you mean?"

             Eric paused and he was silent for a moment. He debated whether telling the truth about Eira would help her or not. He had decided that it would. Bill would do anything to stop the witch and prevent his death if he knew.

          "Eira...it's...it's not just her blood," Eric confessed. "She has the power to kill all vampires. The witch plans to use it."

          Pam had gasped, surprise clear on her features. Eric had never told her. He planned to keep that secret to the grave but his hand was forced. He wouldn't be able to rescue Eira alone; he knew that.

          Sookie felt her jaw drop before Bill raised his eyebrows, "So you fell in love with a human that can kill us all?"

          "Eric," Pam chastised. "How could you have been that fucking stupid?"

          "Shut up, Pam," Eric said harshly before his voice softened. "She...she wouldn't."

       "You mean she wouldn't as long as she doesn't hate us," Bill argued. "Our whole species depends on how long she's in love with you. That's just great, Eric."

            "Will you help kill the witch or not?" Eric asked in a hardened tone.

            "Yes," Bill smiled. "I think the right course of action is to blow the place to smithereens."

           Sookie gasped, "Bill! Eira is in there."

           "You can try," Eric glared.

           "Eira is now danger to our race in the hands of that witch," Bill argued. "We can all die..."

          "I don't care!" Eric shouted before his voice softened. "I'll die for her."

          "Well, that's your choice," Bill stated.

             "Yes, it is," Eric glared before he started to leave. "Come on, Pam."

          Eric would kill this witch himself and he would save Eira. He just didn't really know how to do it. How to break the shield?

           Sookie stared at Bill in disbelief, "I can't believe you. This is Eira we're talking about. Maybe you won't help but I will."

            And Sookie went after the two vampires to help her friend.

______

Eric was back outside the Moon Goddess Emporium and the sun was rising. Pam and Sookie stood behind him. He went to test the shield by raising his hand to it.

"Absolutely not," Pam smacked his hand away. "I'll do it."

Pam raised her hand to it and the orange glow of the shield erupted. She immediately yanked her hand back as it was burnt, "Fucking witches."

Eric gained an idea, "I'll be back."

He disappeared and came back minutes later with a random human. The man had been glamoured.

"What are you going to do with him?" Sookie questioned.

Eric didn't listen as he glamoured the human, "Go and enter this establishment."

The human walked forward and as soon as he stepped on a certain spot, the orange shield popped up. The human struggled against it for a time before finally falling through it, unconscious, and some small burns.

"So it's more effective against vampires," Eric noted.

"Which means we can't get inside, Eric," Pam said.

"No, but she can," Eric turned to Sookie.

"Hold on. Wait. That man got burns. I can't go in there," Sookie said.

"You're a fairy, Sookie, and the only thing that Bill cares about," Eric said as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "So we're going to try."

Then Eric pushed her into the shield (he knew that if Sookie was in that building as well then Bill wouldn't try anything). Sookie screamed and it hurt for a moment before she fell through. There were no burns.

"You are such an ass," Sookie stated but she couldn't be too mad; she knew why he was doing this.

"Just get inside," Eric commanded. "Find a way to get the shield down."

Sookie nodded and picked herself to enter the building. Pam sighed as she crossed her arms, "Great. Now what do we do?"

"Wait."

          _____

          Once Sookie was inside, she was basically a prisoner just like all the rest. She huddled with Tara, Lafayette, and Jesus. Eira was in the middle of the room, asleep, and no one was allowed to go near her. There was actually a ring of salt around Eira preventing anyone from crossing.

          But Sookie could read her thoughts. Eira was thinking about Eric and perpetual agony as she thought about the witch killing Eric.

         "Eira, if you can hear this," Sookie projected her thoughts. "You need to wake up. Try your hardest to break the spell and wake up."

        But Eira did not wake. The day passed and it turned into night. Bill had arrived and was now waiting outside the shield as well.

        "The time comes, my friends," Marnie smiled. "To put an end to all these wicked creatures."

           "Someone needs to put an end to you!" Tara glared.

           "Silence!" Marnie bellowed and the room darkened. Everyone went silent.

             Then Marnie started to chant and a ring of fire lit up around Eira. There were shouts of pain outside and Sookie knew that they were burning. In fact, every vampire in the world was burning.

         The birthmark on Eira started to glow. Blood started to flow from her nose, her eyes, her ears. Her breathing was shallow based on the way her chest moved up and down.

         "Stop it!" Sookie screamed. "You're killing her!"

         But Marnie continued. This type of magic was much too strong, though. The type of magic that drained a person even if they were just channeling it.

All her magical barriers started to fail. The magical shield outside started to flicker and the sleeping curse started to break.

Eira started to open her eyes but she felt so drained. She felt like she was floating. Floating away. It felt nice, easy. To feel so wasted away she could melt into the softness that was death.

At that moment, the shield outside completely broke. Despite the pain, Eric vamp sped inside and he punched his hand through the chest of the witch he hated.

His hand was all bloody as he pulled it out and the witch crumpled. His burns started to heal as the ring of fire died. There were screams but he didn't care as his eyes went to one person.

He vamp sped and picked Eira up, cradling her gently as he carried her bridal style. He muttered quietly, "Don't ever do that to me again."

She blinked tiredly. His blue eyes and she did not want to go quietly into death then. She wanted to stay as she promised, "I won't leave you, Eric."

He kissed her forehead before he vamp sped away with her in his arms. He knew there'd be consequences for killing the witch probably from the Authority but those worries could come later. His first worry would always be Eira, his forever.