Sookie's buttoning her dress, staring up at Gabe in Godric's arms. He yells, "Godric, it's me!" But before he can elaborate, Godric snaps his neck, and drops the body. He meets Sookie's eyes and tells her she shouldn't have come, but before she can answer they hear screaming up above. Godric smiles and closes his eyes; she thinks it's Bill, but he knows better. "I'm here, my child. Down here," he says, happily. Eric comes zooming in, straight from the Hotel Carmilla, and there are many magical sounds. Eric kneels without looking at his face, and says his name softly.

Sookie's fascinated; she's never seen this before. Certainly Jessica and Bill don't act this way with each other. Nobody acts this way. "You were a fool for sending humans after me," Godric says gently, and Eric apologizes without looking up: "I had no other choice. These savages..." Godric's aware of their plan. He knew all along. He's sad, but not forthcoming. He's too tired and Eric's not tired enough. Eric's tired, but not enough to understand.

He points at Hugo, and Sookie explains about the trap. He can barely hear her. "How long has it been since you've fed?" Eric asks, and Godric is once again tender without answering: "I require very little blood anymore." The alarms start, up above, and Godric tells Eric to take Sookie -- he won't brook any protest -- and to do so without spilling any blood. Eric follows his orders, and they leave him there, looking at the darkness.

Gabe had to die, because of what he was about to take: he shamed Godric, and their association, by attacking Sookie. But one thing vampires understand more than any of us is that our worth isn't dependent on our greatest sin any more than our highest glory, or our deepest kindness: our worth isn't dependent on anything we've done, but only what we do, once the sun sets and rises again. Sam was so terrified of what he was that he never even had a friend; Tara was so afraid of getting her mother's sin on her that she killed a little girl. And Jason, well. Jason's been through that one, around and through it and over it and under it so many times he can be forgiven for getting lost. Who you are isn't made up of what you've done or who you've been, but what you do, and who you're willing to become. Only gods are above change. Maybe that's all they are.

Jason opens his eyes on the ground and touches the blood on his chest gingerly: it's paint, but he hasn't registered that yet: "Holy shit, God saved me. I'm saved!" Sarah stares at his amazing dumbness, crazed and grossed out: "Oh, for heaven's sake, grow a brain cell!" It's the "for heaven's sake" that really sells it. Jason sits up, notes that she's a crazy bitch, and then she explains exactly how and why: "I let you into my house, into my bed and into my heart. All I stood for, all I believed in, I violated to be with you!"

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22Next