Bottled Up Ch. 6

A/N: Sorry about the poor editing on this chapter, everyone. My software was down. Also, please read the note at the end of the chapter! Enjoy!

-Andi

Chapter Six: Glass Coffin

Graduation came and went far quicker than Sookie would have liked, and to make matters worse, Jason and Hadley had returned from New Orleans to see her off. Before Sookie began to prepare for her departure, she was already standing on the driveway with a suitcase of mementos and little else. She weakly handed the luggage to Eric to place in his car so that she could hug her family goodbye.

“Write lots and lots,” Gran pleaded as she gripped Sookie tightly in a strong embrace that belied her aging body.

“I promise,” Sookie uttered as she squeezed her eyes shut to keep her tear ducts from leaking.

“If you need me, I’m just a phone call away,” Jason encouraged as he pulled Sookie into his own hug. “No matter where you are, or what you’re doing, I’ll be there quick as a flash,” he promised.

“Thanks, Jason,” Sookie pressed her cheek to his chest and held on a bit longer. The numerous fishing trips they had taken over the years seemed to blur into one short excursion. All the shows they watched and music they listened to were a single memory, and Sookie felt cheated by that realization. She had tried so hard to make her years with her family memorable ones, but she could not think of one individual memory that stuck out in her mind. It was all a collage of smiles and tears.

“Aw, don’t cry,” Jason sniffled as he hugged Sookie tighter. Her shoulders shook with the effort of holding back sobs. “Please, don’t cry. I never know what to do.” She felt a warm drop on her crown that quickly cooled. “We’ll see each other again soon.” His voice was raspy and hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Sookie choked out. “It just feels too much like goodbye.”

“Hey now,” Hadley interjected. “You always got us here,” she tapped Sookie’s head before placing her hand just below her collar bone, “and right here. Now you go out in that world and show them what you’re made of just like me and Jason.”

“Okay, Hatty,” Sookie gave her cousin a tight hug. “I love you guys, so, so much.”

“We love you too, Dear. Don’t be a stranger,” Adele called as Sookie broke away, attempting to make a fast getaway before her resolve failed her.

Eric quickly shut the door behind Sookie before making his own quick goodbyes. When the Stackhouses pulled him in for big hugs, the vampire felt his own dismay at leaving them behind. He wished it were in his power to keep them part of the next leg of their journey, but the reality was never that kind.

“Are you crying?” Sookie asked when Eric sat behind the driver’s seat.

“No,” Eric answered too quickly. She could see that his eyes were bloodshot, and that could only happen if he had blinked back a small tear. “Shut up,” he snapped before Sookie could call him out.

The young woman smiled at his defensiveness and whispered, “I love you.”

Eric looked at her in surprise as he turned the ignition, “Why are you saying that all of the sudden?”

Sookie shrugged, unapologetically as they bounced down the driveway. “After all your stories and all the losses you’ve gone through, I love you for being able to still get that attached.”

Sighing in defeat, Eric admitted, “Honestly, I thought myself incapable of such a thing any longer. I am sure Godric is regularly surprised by the emotions he has felt coming from me over the last decade.” It was true that Bon Temps had grown on him and in him over the years. Somehow, despite how small and isolated the town was, existing there had changed something in Eric. Perhaps it was the sunlight, or maybe it was being surrounded by the Stackhouses throughout the majority of the last few years. Whatever the cause, Eric was certain a part of him had been transformed by the experience.

“It doesn’t seem all that long, does it?” Sookie realized. When Eric looked at her with raised eyebrows, Sookie laughed, “I guess it really doesn’t from your perspective, but ten years is over half my life. It should feel longer or more significant. Instead, I just feel like you showed up, and the world became a blur.” As if to mark her statement, Sookie realized they were already at the edge of the small town and found herself holding her breath.

“I am glad we had the foresight to fake my ‘mother’s’ death before we departed,” Eric commented thoughtfully as the ‘Now Leaving Bon Temps’ sign flashed by their car. “Otherwise, people would have started ghost stories about the recluse woman of Bon Temps.”

“I was surprised how many people showed up for the wake,” Sookie replied slowly, realizing that no one in town every really focused on the recluse character Eric had created to explain his caretaker. Everyone had concentrated their energy on being there for the young boy they thought needed grown-ups in his parents’ absence.

“Considering what a shithole I always thought Bon Temps to be,” Eric continued thoughtfully, “I have to admit that the amount of townies that tried to watch out for me was surprising, though unnecessary.”

Sookie smiled gently. True, most of the adults that had fussed over Eric had mostly wanted to gossip about his mother and her upbringing. Despite that, there had been genuine concern felt for the seemingly neglected boy. Those who attended Jeanie’s fake burial had done so out of morbid curiosity of gazing upon the woman no one had ever really met.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Sookie asked curiously as they arrived on the highway and began heading West.

“Jeanie said we needed a secluded place,” Eric shrugged. “Something defendable and isolated because the next step is supposedly going to draw a lot of energy. According to the last census I was privy to, our best choice will be Iowa to avoid a vampire onslaught. With any luck, it will be a low interest location for marooned fae as well. I am concerned about Were communities, however, since Iowa is a bit of a hotter spot for them.”

Frowning, Sookie considered what this next step would be. Jeanie had been keeping her in the dark for years, and while the creature always obeyed orders, the telepath could not help but feel that her supernatural IKEA was being less than forthcoming about the extent of her limitations.

“But what is the next step?” Sookie wondered aloud. “She’s always been vague about all that. It makes me nervous,” she confessed.

Eric frowned thoughtfully, “To be honest, her silence on the details has me on edge as well. It makes me wonder if she is trying to keep you from panicking over the tediousness.”

Leaning her head against Eric’s shoulder, Sookie admitted, “I think it makes me more anxious.”

“Me too,” Eric whispered. “If you are meant to use some great power at this time, I cannot help but worry over your safety. Jeanie made it seem as if your magic would have increased by now, but you are only mentally, physically and emotionally stronger; not magically,” As they came to speed, Eric raised his hand from the gear shift and wrapped his arm over Sookie’s shoulders. “Regardless, whatever it entails, I will not let anything harm you. You focus on whatever it is you must do, and do it right. I will protect you in the meantime.”

Letting out a cathartic sigh, Sookie murmured, “Do you think that’s why you were brought in to protect me so early? Even though there wasn’t much of anything to protect me from all these years? Could it be so we would be close when the time came for the actual protecting to come into play?”

“It is possible,” Eric considered, “but Endymion can only directly influence events by so many degrees. Eventually, his presence creates a paradox, and to have any universe built upon a paradox is a great risk. It can cause not only the collapse of that world, but other associated realms as well.”

“So, how long has he been playing this card?” Sookie wondered. “Jeanie’s bottle has been in our cupboard for years. Since I was about six, it’s been sitting on that shelf, and I think it was somewhere in or around the house well before that because I’ve heard her ‘voice’ as far back as I can remember.”

Considering the information he was given, Eric pondered, “Endymion must arrive in this realm through Elfyria. I know for a fact that the gateway has been magically sealed for nearly twenty years. Quite possibly, that bottle has been in Gran’s possession since before you were born, or right around that time.”

The conversation pittered away after that observation, and Sookie sat silently as the roadside zipped past them. She knew vaguely where they were headed, and that it would take the entire day to arrive at whatever fortress Eric had in mind for the next step in her mission. Despite all of this, Sookie was still uncertain about her fate. Nothing Eric could say at this point would alleviate her growing trepidation, and she thought it best to keep it to herself. In a way, Sookie wondered if Eric would not only allow, but assist her in abandoning her promise.

Eventually, Sookie dozed off, hypnotized by the changing scenery, and perhaps exhausted from her mind searching for answers to questions she was unsure how to ask. When her eyes opened again, her bladder was screaming in protest and the sky was pitch black.

“How long was I out?” Sookie murmured with a yawn and uncomfortable stretch.

“Eight hours,” Eric smiled at her. “Do you need a restroom break?”

“Desperately,” Sookie confessed.

Chuckling, Eric drifted into the empty right lane and eventually exited the highway when signs for a gas station appeared. As Sookie used the facility, Eric topped off the gas tank, glamoured a nip of blood from another refueling motorist, and waited for her to return.

“How much further is it?” Sookie asked as she emerged from the convenience store with a bottle of water and a hot dog.

“About another two hours,” Eric told her as he opened her door for her. He could hear her heart slam against her ribs at his reply, and the vampire could not help but feel regret that she would soon be facing the unknown. “Are you alright?” he asked gently as he came to sit in the driver’s seat.

“Not really,” Sookie murmured, looking at her hot dog as if it had the answers she sought.

“We could always chuck the bottle in the ocean,” Eric whispered. “We could Bond and forget all of this.”

Sookie felt the aching in her heart recede, “No. As long as you stay by my side, I don’t need anything else.”

The vampire leaned forward to place a comforting kiss against Sookie’s forehead. “I hate how scared this situation is making you feel.”

Sookie smiled sheepishly, “It’s the unknown,” she finally admitted. “Something you don’t even know the answers to is scarier than anything else. Knowing that you’ll face it with me, though. Knowing that you’d stay with me if I chose to run away… It’s not so scary now. I feel like I have a choice, and no matter what I choose, you’ll be there.”

Taking Sookie’s hand into his, Eric squeezed it gently and assured, “I will never leave you.”

Smiling at his declaration, Sookie nodded, “Let’s keep moving forward.”

{†}

Sookie followed Eric toward the decrepit shack in the middle of the woods. Shutters hung askew from the windows, formerly white paint flecked and exposed gray rotting boards, and every bit of glass was broken.

“This is it?” Sookie asked wondrously.

Eric nodded silently as he took Sookie’s hand and lead her into the dilapidated building. As the vampire pushed the door open, Sookie was surprised when the floorboards did not creak under his weight. She was impressed when she did not feel the wood sag beneath her. Taking in this peculiar turn of events, Sookie discovered that the cause for her stability stemmed from the fact the shack was a decoy when Eric stooped down and opened a hidden passage beneath the floor. A slab of cement nearly four feet thick resided beneath the wooden floors, and a tunnel of gray stone was hollowed underneath them.

“A bunker?” Sookie asked in surprise as Eric took her into his arms. She was unsurprised when she discovered there was no ladder, and that Eric would have to fly them up or down. As they descended into the darkness, Eric reached up to latch the trapdoor above them before continuing down into the underground fortress.

The descent seemed to take much longer than Sookie expected. “How deep is this?” she whispered, feeling a chill when her voice echoed.

“One hundred feet,” Eric replied, “No slopes, it is a dead drop, and after the first four feet, the walls open to an eight foot by eight foot hole. Those without flight would require repelling gear to meet the floor without death or at least catastrophic injury. There are teleportation wards all throughout the bunker. Anything that enters must do so through the drop… There is a spear pit at the bottom for good measure.”

“What is this place?” Sookie asked at his explanation.

“My fortress,” Eric shrugged. “A place for the bloodline to retreat after illness or catastrophic injury until we are healed.”

“Has it ever been used?” Sookie asked.

“No,” Eric answered. “One like it has been utilized, and the new models came after discovering flaws with the original.”

Sookie shuddered at the thought, “Who was hurt?”

“Me,” Eric replied as his feet finally touched the ground and slowly walked through a narrow passageway.

“What happened?” Sookie asked in alarm as she felt the wall of the hallway brush her arm. She realized the cramped space was meant to keep anyone who survived the fall from filing through more than one at a time.

Eric shrugged, “Bad injury during a war. Godric stayed with me, kept me fed and protected me until I was capable of doing so again myself.”

“I’m sorry you’ve had to stay away from him for so long,” Sookie frowned sadly. “And Pam.”

“We have all been apart longer than this,” Eric reminded her. “It is not an issue. Besides, knowing that Pam is safe with Godric is enough for me.”

As the walls opened up, the young woman heard Eric manipulating something nearby. She blinked furiously as Eric suddenly flipped on a light switch. Despite the dim incandescent, it was glaring after so much darkness.

“You have electricity?” Sookie asked in wonderment.

“A battery,” Eric explained. “Which is why it took a moment to turn on. I had to add the batteries.”

“Why not leave batteries in it?” Sookie wondered.

Eric raised his eyebrows at the question. “Corrosion. I do not come here often.”

“There’s no plumbing then, I take it?” Sookie asked forlornly.

“No,” Eric grimaced apologetically. “I am afraid you will be using the woods for our duration here. There is a lake nearby to rinse off from time to time.”

“Eric,” Sookie moaned in dismay. “We have no idea how long we’ll be here!”

The vampire grinned at her far less graciously than before. “Well excuse me, Princess.”

Rolling her eyes, Sookie looked heavenward and sighed in resignation. If she had any luck, it would only be a few days.

“So, what do we do now?” Sookie asked after finally accepting her fate.

“I suppose it is time to ask Jeanie,” Eric advised as he strolled around the cement prison. It was then that Sookie noticed the multitude of weapons mounted on the back wall. In the dim lighting, she realized that there could be any number of hidden objects in the darkness.

Opening her bag, Sookie took out the bottle her mythical friend resided in and unstoppered it. As usual, a black sludge poured from the mouth and eventually shaped itself into Jeanie’s familiar figure. When the lively color reappeared on Jeanie’s formerly lifeless complexion, Sookie smiled warmly.

“Hi, Jeanie,” Sookie hugged the Djinn. “We’re at the bunker now. What do we do next?”

The creature looked around their fortress and nodded, “Yes, I suppose this will do.” Looking back at Sookie, Jeanie smiled and took the young woman’s hands in its own. “Sookie, the stopper on my bottle is Empyrodite, a mineral used to open the gates of Elfyria. You will need to visit the graveyard by your home, and when you are close enough to the gateway, it will open.”

Sookie’s jaw slackened, “Why did we come all the way over here if the gate was at my house?”

“Because the gateway is sealed at the moment,” Jeanie explained patiently. “You had to come here to unseal the magic closing the gateway. After that, you may return to Bon Temps, see your family and open the gate.”

“How do I unseal the gate?” Sookie asked, happy to hear that she would see her family one last time.

“By killing me,” Jeanie smiled. Sookie’s eyes widened at the words, and the woman could see Eric’s body tighten in her peripheral. “And it must be you, Sookie. Eric cannot do this for you.”

“But,” Sookie felt the blood draining from her face, “I can’t do something like that!”

“You can, and you must,” Jeanie assured. “My last order from Endymion was to seal off Elfyria the moment he departed. A Fae man then delivered my bottle to your Gran, and I’ve awaited this day ever since.”

“But we’re over a hundred kilometers from the gateway! Shouldn’t that mean your magic is negated?” Sookie demanded. “I shouldn’t have to kill you!”

“The gateway to Elfyria is over a hundred kilometers away, but the magic of the realm is ever present. It is the fuel of magic to this world, and no matter where I was, I could tap into that realm. Upon my death, the seal will break, and you will have very little time to get to the gateway and complete your mission before this world is effected by Elfyria’s corruption,” Jeanie explained.

“How little time?” Sookie asked.

“When you wake once more, you will have only three days to restore Elfyria,” Jeanie told her.

“When I wake?” Sookie demanded.

“Killing me will put you in repose,” Jeanie continued. “It is a recoil from my magics being released and my consciousness ending.”

“Jeanie,” Sookie choked, realizing the distance the Djinn had cultivated the past years had been in an attempt to make this part easier for Sookie to take. However, Jeanie’s attempts had failed. Sookie still loved her mythical friend.

“Please, Sookie,” Jeanie urged sadly. “These past years have been the best of my long, long existence, but I am ready to go now. Existing is not living. Please, let my curse end. Let me die.”

“Jeanie,” she sobbed as she wiped at her flooding eyes. Even as she felt her throat tighten and her vision blur, Sookie still walked toward the wall of weapons. Please, make it a quick, clean death, she prayed to the blade as she took it from the mount. The heaviness was both physical and emotional as the metal swung toward the ground. “Will this finally make you free?” she asked of Jeanie as her hand gripped the heavy sword, hoping its weight and deadly, sharp blade would counteract her own hesitations.

“Yes, Sookie. This is how I am freed,” Jeanie replied, hope brimming in her usually dead eyes.

Snorting back a wave of snot that threatened to drip from her nose, Sookie returned to her friend’s side, “I guess it’s my turn to grant you a wish.”

“I’m sorry, Sookie,” Jeanie fell to her knees before the future queen, “but thank you, so much.” Bowing her head, Jeanie pulled her hair from her nape, clearing the way for her executioner.

“I love you,” Sookie told her as she raised the blade over her head.

“I love you, too,” Jeanie assured, smiling at the ground in relief.

As the blade swung down, Sookie hoped for divine intervention like God came to Abraham. She believed with her whole heart that an angel would stop the beheading at the last moment, but as the weight of the sword cleaved through the Djinn’s neck, Sookie felt her breath catch in a hiccup.

Color drained from Jeanie’s body until she was the dead body that usually came from her bottle. Inky black blood oozed from the decapitated stump of her throat, and the creature’s head rolled several feet across the cement floor.

“No,” Sookie uttered, shocked at the conclusion. “No, no, no,” she dropped the sword, reaching to run her hands anxiously through her hair. “What did I do? What did I do? Eric-”

“Sookie,” Eric took her by the wrists, turning her to look at him. “You did as you were told. Jeanie asked you to do this, and you did.”

“But she’s my friend,” Sookie sobbed, pressing her forehead to Eric’s sternum and letting her tears fall freely.

“It was an order,” Eric released her wrists and held her to his chest. “You did as you were told. We knew this would not be an easy road.”

Sniffling, Sookie glimpsed down at the floor, seeing the obsidian pool of Jeanie’s blood creeping toward her. Pulling away from Eric, Sookie wiped again at her blurry eyes and turned to look at her first real act as Elfyria’s future queen. As she gazed down at the decapitated body, the black pool touched Sookie’s foot, and Sookie panicked as the fluid climbed up her leg.

“Eric-” Sookie screamed, but the sludge moved like lighting across her flesh. Before another word could pass her lips, Sookie was consumed in the darkness, and the slime ran into her mouth and down her throat, choking her.

The vampire stared in shock as Sookie was immediately encased in the Djinn’s blood. He stood uncomprehending as Jeanie’s body dissolved into more of the mysteriously fluid and swallowed Sookie further. When his shocked body finally reached out to touch her, he found that the substance had hardened, crystalized around Sookie’s form like a sculpture.

“Sookie,” Eric uttered before he was thrown to the ground by a wave of light that pulsed from Sookie’s encased body. The room glowed brilliantly around Sookie’s statue, and Eric felt the energy that radiated around him. He witnessed the Djinn’s bottle vibrate and explode, causing the remnants of the container to cling around Sookie’s form.“By the Gods,” he whispered as he felt the seductive draw of power.

Break me, some dark voice in his head whispered. Release me, and have me, it promised. It was the curse of the Djinn, he realized. A promise of power at the destruction of the vessel that contained it. There was no longer any barrier between himself and that desire.

That is why the Djinn remained in its bottle whenever possible, Eric realized as his body struggled with the urge to shatter Sookie’s statue. Without the bottle, the draw was deeper and more insistent. I have to protect Sookie, he told himself, fighting the covetous feeling within. Min Sookie, his inner voice snarled against the seduction of power. Nothing he could gain by taking the Djinn’s power would bring back Sookie if he broke her statue. If he lost this battle of wills, he would be the same forgotten creature Jeanie became. Even the ultimate power of the Djinn could not bring back the dead.

Picking up the sword that Sookie had dropped, Eric poised himself at the entrance of their hideaway. He would protect Sookie until she broke free from whatever journey she had taken.

Eric needed to protect her at last, and he was certain that failure was not an option.

TBC

A/N: Hey, guys, real quick note. Sorry to say it, but I’m moving next week and might not have the internet set up before the next chapter is supposed to come out. That said, I’ll post as soon as I’m up and running! With the area I’m moving to, I’m not positive how long it will take to get myself settled in, and I ask your patience.

With that said, I want to assure that I WILL give you all the missed updates immediately upon my return. If I miss only next week, you will get two chapters the following. If, God Forbid, I miss two weeks, you will get three the week of my return.

Thanks in advance.

-Andi