"Do you have any fucking idea of the PR mess you've made?" Nan Flanagan asked the group of them.
Bill, Marilyn, Sookie, Eric, Godric, and Isabel had all been dragged before Nan to explain the events of the last few days. Godric and Isabel sat next to one another, as well as Bill and Sookie, Marilyn perched on the end of the same sofa, next to Eric. They hadn't spoken at all that morning, they had both gotten ready in silence and that silence still hung in the air between them even now.
"And who has to clean that shit up? Me, not you, me. I should drain every one of you bastards" Marilyn rolled her eyes at the vampire woman, she really was taking things a bit too far, Marilyn could feel Eric's muscles stiffening next to her. She knew what a big deal public image was to the vampires and this whole mess that's just occurred could screw up decades of hard work.
"Stan went into the church on his own, none of us knew about it" Eric told Nan, desperately trying to convince her of his story.
"Really? but everyone that met Stan in the last three hundred years knew he had a kink about slaughtering humans, but not his own nest mates, his sheriff, had no clue?" Nan retorted.
"And how were we supposed to know that this time he meant it?" Isabel asked.
"Not my problem, yours" Nan told Godric.
"Don't talk to him that way" Eric growled at the woman.
"Don't talk to me that way" Nan said back. Eric stiffened even more; Marilyn went to touch Eric's knee but pulled away at the last second. This wasn't the time nor the place.
"Let's get to the point, how did they manage to abduct you?" Nan asked Godric.
"They would have taken one of us sooner or later, I offered myself" Godric replied, Marilyn seemed to be the only one in the room who wasn't surprised by this turn of events. She was the only one who knew about Godric giving himself up and how he had wished it had turned out.
"Why?" Nan asked.
"Why not?" Godric said back.
"They wanted you to meet the sun, and you were willing?" Nan asked, looking confused.
Marilyn glanced over to Eric, he looked terrified, his eyes were wide, like a child in a world of titans and terrors.
"What do you think?" Godric asked the woman.
"I think you're out of your mind" There was silence for a moment, Eric gulped noisily next to Marilyn, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees. "And then I hear about a traitor?" Nan continued.
"Irrelevant, only a rumour, I'll take full responsibility" Godric said.
"You bet you will" Nan nodded at the man.
"You cold bitch" Eric mumbled to Nan from next to Marilyn.
"Listen..." Nan said, turning to Eric. "This is a national vampire disaster, and nobody at the top has any sympathy for any of you, sheriff you fucked up, you're fired" Nan told Godric.
"I agree, of course, Isabel should take over, she had no part in my disgrace" Godric offered.
"Godric, fight back" Isabel told him.
"What are you saying, she's a bureaucrat, you don't have to take shit from her!" Eric told Godric.
"Wanna lose your area Viking?" Nan asked Eric.
"You don't have that sort of power" Eric told her.
"Hey, I'm on TV, try me" Nan threatened.
"I'm to blame, I should have contained Stan the second Godric went missing" Isabel cut in.
"Isabel" Godric interrupted, nodding at the woman to be quiet. "I remove myself from all positions of authority"
"Works for me" Nan said.
"Ms Flanagan, Godric saved me, and all the humans and vampires in that church, you should be thanking him, this could be so much worse" Sookie butted in.
"For getting kidnapped? For attracting a suicide bomber? For piss poor judgement? I think not" Nan corrected her.
Eric growled, and shot up from his seat, heading for Nan. Marilyn shot up and grabbed his arm.
"Eric, no" Marilyn told him, and he looked back at her. "Don't, she's not worth it". After a moment of deliberation, Eric sat back down.
"Well won't you look at that, Eric Northman, tamed by a human" Nan mocked.
"Don't push your fucking luck" Marilyn growled, and Nan raised her eyebrow. Heat rose to Marilyn's cheeks; she did not know where that came from, but she liked it. Being territorial, even though Eric wasn't technically hers to claim.
"I could make you disappear" Nan told her.
"And I could reveal every last one of your dirty little secrets" Marilyn retorted. "Don't tempt me"
"I'd like to see you try" Nan chuckled. Marilyn stepped forward ready to start sifting through the hateful vampires' mind, but Godric stood up in front of her.
"Marilyn..." He spoke. "It doesn't matter" Godric patted the woman's shoulder, and she turned and went to sit back down next to Eric.
"What a fucking fiasco, you're lucky I don't send you all to the Magister" Nan threatened, Marilyn clutched Eric's hand with great force, trying to control her anger.
"Godric, come to the suite, and fill out the forms" Nan asked, getting up.
"Soon, first I have something to say, I'm sorry, I apologize for all the harm I have caused, for all our lost ones, human and vampire, I swear I will make amends" Godric told them.
"Take it easy, it's just a few signatures" Nan said, before leaving the room.
Eric and Marilyn jumped up, Eric going to his maker.
"No" he told Godric.
"Look in my heart" Godric told him.
"You have to listen to me" Eric begged.
"There's nothing to say" Godric said.
"Yes, there is!" Eric replied.
"On the roof" Godric said, before leaving for the roof.
Eric followed his maker, and Marilyn followed him a few moments after.
Godric was standing in the middle of the roof, with Eric a few steps behind him.
"Two thousand years is enough" Godric explained.
"I can't accept this" Eric told him, his voice wavering. "It's insanity!" Eric swallowed.
"Our existence is insanity" Godric turned to face Eric. "We don't belong here" he told him.
"But we are here!" he yelled back. Marilyn stayed a few steps away from the two, letting them have their moment.
"It's not right, we're not right" Godric shook his head, turning to Eric.
"You told me there is no right or wrong, only survival, or death" Eric's hands were shaking.
"I told a lie, as it turns out" Godric corrected.
"I will keep you alive by force" Eric said, walking closer to his maker.
"Even if you could, why would you be so cruel?" Godric asked. And Eric cracked.
"Godric, gör inte det" (Godric, don't do it) Eric begged, tears welling at the corners of his eyes.
"Det har varit århundraden av tro och kärlek mellan oss" (There have been centuries of faith and love between us) Godric replied.
"Snälla. Snälla."(Please. Please.) Eric begged, bowing his head and fell to his knees before Godric. "Snälla, Godric" (Please, Godric)
"Fader, broder, son" (Father, Bother, Son) Godric looked down at his progeny. "Let me go" he told the man, who was now sobbing, but he stopped, the tears still on his face.
"I won't let you die alone" Eric told him.
"Yes, you will" Godric corrected him. Eric began sobbing again, all his usual stone-cold exterior gone. Godric put his hand on Eric's shoulder, making the man look at him. "As your maker, I command you" He smiled at Eric, and Eric smiled back, but ever so slightly.
Eric then stood up and started walking towards the stairs back into the building. Marilyn caught his hand before he left.
"I'll stay with him" Marilyn went on her tiptoe and kissed away the tear sliding down his cheek, he nodded at her down at her, and walked down the steps.
"It won't take long" Godric told her, and she walked over to stand beside Godric. "Not at my age"
"I know why you're different" Marilyn said, smiling at Godric, he glanced at her face.
"Why is that?" Godric asked.
"Because after two thousand years, you've become the very thing you started as, in your mind at least, you are human" Marilyn said, looking at the Dallas skyline.
"Are you familiar with what our people did after battles?" Godric asked.
"I am not " Marilyn replied.
"After a battle, the dead would be gathered up and a platform made out of wood, the bodies would be burned, and as the fire consumed them, their essence would be absorbed by the other druids, it was quite magical" Godric explained, reminiscing.
"It sounds beautiful," Marilyn told him, he simply nodded. "To release your loved ones to the air, to the breeze, to know that wherever the wind blows, they are right beside you"
"Do you think I will be punished?" Godric asked, sounding slightly worried.
"No, you will be forgiven," Marilyn told him, with a smile, and the sun was just producing rays in the morning sky, and Godric began to steam.
"I don't deserve it" Godric admitted, "But I will hope for it."
"Those who repent shall be forgiven, those who shan't be damned," Marilyn told him.
Godric turned to face Marilyn, and she did the same.
"You will care for him?" He asked.
"Of course," Marilyn nodded. "As long as he allows me" She smiled.
"Never give up"
The sun began to rise above the horizon, a burning pinprick in the distance. It began to expand, and Marilyn pulled Godric into a hug, his body bursting into blue flame around her.
"Goodbye, Godric," Marilyn said into his ear, as his body disintegrated into blue dust and spread over Marilyn's skin, fading into nothingness. Marilyn stood there for a while, not really feeling anything just being. Remembering.
Marilyn walked along the corridor to her room, the room she knew Eric would be in, she opened the door and closed it behind her, not sure whether she should turn around.
Eventually, she did, Eric was facing away from her, sitting on the bed, hunched over, she could hear his sobbing sounds from this side of the room.
Marilyn walked slowly over to him and sat beside him.
"Godric is gone" He whispered. Marilyn nodded at him, she pulled him towards her, hugging him. She rubbed his back, Eric's bloody tears dripped onto her shoulder.
Marilyn pulled away from him, leaving her hand on the man's shoulder to show her support.
"I am sorry, I know how it feels to lose someone so close to your heart" Marilyn smiled sadly at him, and he looked up at her knowingly.
Marilyn went to pull herself up off the bed, but Eric's hand on her knee stopped her, he put his hand on the side of her face, stroking her skin sensually.
Eric edged his face closer and closer to her, and she didn't move away, unsure of whether to abandon him, especially when he was in his time of greatest need.
Eric pressed his lips against Marilyn's, letting his hands run down to her neck, and pulling her body closer to his.
She didn't fight it, she couldn't fight it, she wouldn't fight it.
Their mouths moved in sync, and Eric pulled her ever closer to him, letting his hands wander down to her waist.
The rest of the night was a haze of pleasure and joy. Marilyn finally became his and Eric became hers. Belonging only to themselves and each other.