A/N - As the blurb below says, this is my IWTS contest entry. I hope you like it :)
I Write The Songs . CONTEST ENTRY
TITLE: 1000 Stars
CHARACTERS: Eric and Sookie
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, Charlaine Harris owns SVM world and characters. Song "1000 Stars" owned by Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Sony BMG
you tube (dot) com/watch?v=2eMnr4UswQI
BETA NAME: sophiemyst
VIRGIN WRITER : NO
TEASER: Sookie has finally changed her mind, she's with Eric for life… this is where it begins.
I'd never thought about it before, but breathing in and out was an automatic reflex. My body needed the oxygen and so it moved my muscles to pull the air into my lungs.
Eric rested beside me, completely still, but not dead. He was frozen, as if someone had pushed the pause button on his life and he was recharging. Soon the sun would be setting and he would awaken, full of vitality and a zest for life that I had never seen in another person.
I love him. It had taken me a long time to admit it and an even longer time to accept that it wasn't going to lessen. It was hard to believe I could have so much of myself tied up in another person and that I lived because he willed it. I should have been dead years ago.
After the fairies had left me in tatters he had cared for me, given me his blood so that I would recover and be physically whole again. Some of the injuries had been too deep and I had scars. As much as I hated them, I was also proud of them. I, Sookie Stackhouse - barmaid, telepath, pledged and bonded of a 1000 year old Viking vampire had survived when so many others had not.
I'd never given much thought to my heartbeat until the night Neave and Lochlan had me at their mercy. It kept me sane during that horrible time. When I was crying out for Eric to come and save me, I was also counting my heartbeats as they slowed and quickened. When I passed out, I lost count and had to start over again when they woke me up. This kept me together well enough until Bill and Niall came to rescue me; when they did, I knew I was safe, knew that I could let go of everything, even if only for a little while.
Eric was like my heartbeat: always there, keeping me sane, keeping me going, sometimes raising my blood pressure and not always in a good way, although I enjoyed that too. Passion without balance is obsession, but we balance each other perfectly. He calls me on my shit and I call him on his. Who would have thought my perfect mate would be a man who was born over a thousand years ago?
And Holy Cheeses, we are fan-frickin-tastic in the bedroom. We've been together for eight years now, and it's still fun and exciting and wonderful and beautiful and earth shattering… and I'm running out of words to express what this man is able to do to me. He says I'm the best he's ever had, and because of our blood bond I can believe him. When we make love the world slows down and disappears: it's just him and me in our own little bubble of blissed out happiness.
Although I was nowhere near a window, I knew the minute the sun hit the horizon. I felt the buzz in the back of my mind that indicated when Eric woke, and I was filled with lust and happiness as he smiled at me.
"You have been outside today, lover" he growled, pressing himself against me. "Mmm, I can smell the sunshine," he moaned as he ran his nose up the curve of my neck, breathing me in.
"I know you love smelling the sun on me, so I laid out today and topped up my tan." I smiled, wiggling to lie down, sliding my body beneath his, wrapping one arm around his neck and moving the other to place a hand on his gorgeous ass.
"It is not all I love smelling on you, my Sookie," he said with a predatory smirk, settling between my legs and proceeding to show me the stars without the aid of rocket fuel.
"You outdid yourself this time Viking," I laughed, panting as I recovered from his enthusiastic attentions.
"It is your own fault," he laughed, picking me up and taking me to the bathroom. "If you did not smell so good and if you were not such a perfect match for me we might get something done. But no, I had to fall in love with a part fairy with a tanning fetish." He grinned, kissing me quickly before setting me down on the bench and turning on the shower.
"I can't help being part fairy," I pouted mockingly. "And there are plenty of things I could be addicted to that are worse than tanning."
"Yes, and I thank all the Æsir every day that you never succumbed to the lure of those things, and chose to become addicted to me instead," he laughed, picking me up again and walking into the shower.
After we got clean and dirty and clean again, we walked back out to the bedroom to get ready for our night out. I had been planning this night for a few weeks, not that Eric knew. We'd go out to dinner, then we'd come home and I'd knock his socks off.
I was wearing in a gorgeous green dress that fit as if it had been specially made for me. Eric wore a grey suit that I loved because it showed his ass off to perfection. After a quick primp and twirl we were ready to go out. I was nervous and excited and looking forward to the night.
Eric could feel that I was unsettled, but he left me to my thoughts, knowing I would eventually tell him what had me all wound up. We had no secrets from each other anymore. I didn't know everything about him: he had been alive for a thousand years after all. But his life was an open book: I had only to pick a chapter and he would tell me all about it.
We chatted and laughed while I waited for my food. As I ate my favourite meal of crawfish étouffée and dirty rice, Eric shifted in his seat, sipping his blood and obviously trying to keep himself from launching across the table. Dessert was a slice of pecan pie à la mode, which was nearly as good as Gran's. I took my time with my meal, savouring the flavour in the wine and committing to memory the taste and texture of everything that passed my lips.
Eric had us out the door almost immediately after the bill was paid. In the car, he claimed my lips with his own, tasting the wine and dessert in my mouth. He released me to catch my breath while he started the car. The taste of pecan pie had been replaced with the taste of Eric, which was infinitely better. Eric snapped my seatbelt into place as I was still too stunned to manage. With a satisfied grin, we took off for home.
He drove too fast, as always, but I had gotten used to it after all the time we spent together. I didn't like it, but I think he enjoyed the effect it had on me: my heart sped up and my blood raced with adrenaline. He always seemed to take deeper breaths when we were in the car.
I breathed in the scent of night air and smiled. I'd made my decision weeks, months, years ago; but tonight it would be made permanent. I was slightly nervous Eric would have changed his mind since the last time the subject was bought up.
We lay out on a blanket under the huge night sky, listening to the insects and the sound of my heartbeat. Eric pointed out constellations and important stars, telling me the folk tales behind them that he remembered from his childhood. Even though I'd heard them a few times before, his voice was comforting. I listened, stretched out against his side and imagined a time when the stories behind the flecks of light had been considered fact, not myth.
"Eric, can you find… this star for us?" I asked, handing him a piece of paper with details on it.
He spun around for a minute as he got his bearings. He looked into the night sky, muttered, growled, and finally pointed out the star I was looking for. "There it is, love," he said. He dropped back down to the blanket and snuggled next to me. "Between that bright one there and the bluish one."
"I don't have vampire vision like some, they're all bluish," I laughed, moving my head to look directly along the line of his arm as he pointed again. "Ok, I think I see it now."
"Why did you want me to find that particular star? There is nothing important about it as far as I am aware," he said, wrapping his arm around me and holding me close.
"Well, there is now," I chuckled. "I have all the paper work back at home. It's called Eiríkr Agnason Northman, for you; it's kind of your real name, if I worked it out correctly."
Eric turned and stared at me for a minute before kissing me gently "You worked out my real name and had a star named for me?" he asked, amazed.
"Yep!" I chuckled. "Now find this one, it should be near yours," I said, handing him another piece of paper with slightly different coordinates. "That one is mine," I said after he had found and pointed it out. "There is now a star called Sookie Adele Northman."
"This is a most wondrous gift, dear one," Eric said gently, hugging me close. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, Eric," I said, pulling his face to mine and kissing him softly. "I want us to be as eternal as those stars. Make me vampire?"
"Sookie…I…" he whispered in disbelief, holding me close and trembling a little.
I could feel the conflict that was raging in his mind, heart or soul, wherever our bond was connected…maybe all three? I could feel that with the enormous amount of happiness he felt at my request, there was an equal sized sense of guilt and reluctance that was close to crushing him. He was worried, but at the same time he wanted to run and yell in celebration that I was finally joining my life completely with his own.
"I want this," I said, sending love and assurance through the bond. I opened myself up to his inspection so that he could find there was no underlying doubt about my decision. We were meant for each other, and the only way we could be together forever was if I was made vampire.
I pulled his head into my neck, stroking his hair. "Take my life and make it ours, Eric." I said gently. "I'm yours forever."
"Thank you," he said, looking deep into my eyes and tracing my curves with his long sensitive fingers. "You will probably be scared," he said sadly. "I am sorry I cannot take that away."
"It's ok, Eric," I said, touching his cheek. "I trust you. You forget, I've been nearly drained plenty of times. It just makes me really tired. I'll probably pass out before I'm done," I added with a laugh.
His laugh was both pained and sad. "I thought I wanted this, I have been dreaming of having you with me forever since we bonded, but…"
"The reality is a little different?" I asked.
He nodded and curled himself around my body. "Are you sure this is what you want, Sookie?"
"Absolutely," I said firmly. "I'll be with you forever, why wouldn't I want this? You should have talked me into it a long time ago."
"It was not for lack of trying, mitt hjärta" he laughed gently. "You know how stubborn you are."
"Yes, I do. I don't know how you managed to keep your patience with me," I laughed. "I just hope it doesn't get worse when I'm vamped up."
"Oh, I am sure to have a stake handy for myself if that happens." he teased, kissing my neck gently. "Make love with me?" he whispered into my ear, instantly serious and sending a shiver down my spine.
"Always," I said with a smile, turning in his arms and hooking a leg over his hip.
We kissed each other slowly and made love for the last time in my human life. It was familiar and perfect. I was looking forward to waking up and making love with him as a vampire. Knowing that everything was heightened for his kind meant that it would be a completely new experience, one that I was looking forward to.
My head was spinning in the afterglow, I gazed up into the thousands of stars, the universe, the endless space above; as his fangs pierced my skin, I heard him groan and start to cry. He felt so torn, blissfully happy and horribly guilty, joyous and so heart-wrenchingly sad; I could feel his pain in the bond that was fluttering weakly, along with my grasp on consciousness. With the last of my strength I smiled and sent him love and certainty. I felt him send back love and gratitude before everything faded to black.
I woke three days later and felt his anticipation. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw were his eyes, looking at me with so much love my heart hurt.
"Hi" I said softly
"Hi" he replied with a smile and kissed me…hard.