miracles - eric northman

chapter twenty-eight

| TWENTY-EIGHT |
THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

         The few times Eira had been able to look out the window of her room, she noticed the mansion was surrounded by a forest. She had no idea where the house was located nor even what country. But the house was, actually, in fact quite close to Bon Temps. Her mother thought it would be better to hide Eira right under her grandmother's nose. She had been right.

           The mansion was located in New Orleans. It was spelled to have people turn away when they got close so no one ever found it. It was also spelled to repel vampires.

          It was why Eric had a hard time finding anyone that even knew of her family coven of witches. It was also why he could not sense Eira through his blood.

            But that would all change with the act of one witch.

            Eira awoke from her spell to a very hopeful face. One that had broken the spell placed on her mind. Ethan was smiling as he shook her a bit, "Eira, I did it. I used magic. We can...we can get out of here."

           Eira immediately hugged him, "Thank you."

         Ethan froze a bit and swallowed nervously at the fact that a pretty girl was hugging him. But then he stepped back and grabbed her hand, "Come on. We don't have much time. My distraction will only work for so long."

           Ethan pulled her along through the open door of her room and through hallways as she questioned, "What distraction?"

             "I may have...set the house on fire," Ethan said sheepishly.

             "That's brilliant," Eira smiled.

             "It is?"

             "Yes, this place should burn," Eira commented which made Ethan smile a little proudly as they got to the back doors.
   
             "Your vampire will be able to sense you once you get outside," Ethan informed as he focused on the door and using magic to blast it open. "He should be able to be here and get you away from here quickly."

          They exited the house and went down the steps, "But Ethan you have to get away from here as well."

           "Don't worry about me," Ethan stated.

            "You will not escape me!" they heard the shout of Velma as she came out of the back doors along with the rest of the coven.

            "Go!" Ethan pushed Eira towards the forest. "Run! I'll hold them off."

             "Ethan..."

             "Go!"

             And she ran. There wasn't much she could do to help Ethan anyways seeing as she still had the bracelet on. She looked back as she ran to see the house engulfed in flames and Ethan fighting off witches using magic.

               Eira ran deep into the forest until she was blasted off her feet. She hit a tree which stole her breath away before landing on the ground. She coughed as she fought for breath and clutched at her side which ached horribly.

    "You ungrateful little girl," Velma glared. Her grandmother had suddenly appeared in the forest by her side. "If you will not see reason, then I will drain you of all life and your power will come to me."

          Velma grabbed her hand as she still knelt on the ground in pain. Her grandmother started to chant as she kept a fierce grip on her hand. A white glow surrounded their joined hands and seemed to travel towards her grandmother's chest where it disappeared.

           It felt horrible.

Eira could barely breathe as if her grandmother was stealing her own life force. She was gasping for breath. There was an ache in her chest like it was becoming hollow and her heartbeat started to slow down. And the birthmark of the sun on her shoulder seemed to burn which made her scream.

She realized that she really was dying. Tears started to fall down her face at the thought of not seeing Eric again. Somehow, the thought was more painful than the burning mark on her shoulder.

Because, here she was, having gotten free and yet she was going to die before she saw him. The hope of seeing him again was the whole reason she'd fought so hard against all those mind games. Because she loved him. She would always love him.

It was something her grandmother didn't seem to understand, perhaps, because love had died in her heart. She had pitied her grandmother sometimes because of it. Because she would never know what it was like to love so much that it was impossible to ever feel hopeless.

Despite that love, that hope, never dying, it was somehow going to be her grandmother that won on this night. It didn't make any sense.

           Then there was a blur behind her grandmother and Velma suddenly laid on the ground. Her neck had been snapped by some unseen force.

          The white glow that had surrounded their joined hands dissipated in a wide blast that blew the branches of the trees and even took some trees down. Even though it was over, Eira fell to the ground. She felt weak, drained like she'd lost something. She felt too weak to even move.

      Then she felt weightless and she realized she'd been picked up off the ground. Her vision was hazy but she'd recognize those haunting blue eyes anywhere. Eric. She had started to smile before she passed out in his arms.