She Walks in Beauty
Sookie walked amongst the graves in the still of the night, appreciating the peaceful silence of the dead, the calm death brought to all the people who resided in this cemetery and just for a moment felt envious that the complications of their lives were at least over. Sookie had always loved the night air, the cool crisp breeze on a warm eve, the crunch of grass beneath her feet and the feel of it beneath her toes. In all the craziness her life with Bill had become, she had forgotten the simple pleasures of the night, the ones that cost nothing but her time.
"You shouldn't be walking the night alone." Eric Northman's voice came on a breeze from behind her. She was not alarmed, nor surprised, and simply stopped rather than turned.
"I can take care of myself, but I reckon you know that." Sookie replied.
"I reckon I do, or I should." Eric tilted his head. Her form in the moonlight was magnificent; her golden hair wisped around her shoulders, her hands hung by her side though he could not quickly forget them enclosed around his face. He pushed himself off the tree he leant against and took steps toward her, though she stayed unmoved. "You have been gone."
"Have I?" She replied cryptically. "I suppose I have, in some ways." Her tone was soft and calm, Eric perceived this to mean she was still upset over her insignificant ex, and to see her dimmed without the light she carried made him feel in a way he hadn't for centuries.
He walked slowly, as if he didn't want to spook her and scare her off, and she still stay frozen in time unwilling to look at him. "Where did you go?" Eric knew how to get information out of people and vampires alike, it usually involved pain and torture until silence broke, but Sookie inspired a different kind of approach. In some ways, it wasn't about the information she had, but the way she expressed it that intrigued him.
"Everywhere and nowhere." Sookie whispered, the curve of the face now luminescent, the length of her eyelashes, the downward arc of her lips, the dull shine from her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it, especially with you."
She began to move away from him, and like the cheetah who has spooked the zebra into running away, he engaged his vampiric speed and rounded her off, coming within inches of her face. Sookie knew it was an intrusion, she knew that he had no concept, or care for, personal space but she didn't pull away, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
"It was not I who betrayed you Sookie." Even the feel of her name on his tongue made him want her. "I would not have given you to Russell."
"You would if it had saved your skin, Eric, and don't pretend it was anything more than that. You had a problem, I was the solution. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be bitten without consent?" Sookie shook her head in disgust, and moved past him once more.
Eric paused in silence; nothing about him was passive. His life as a Viking before was about war, his turning by Godric was consented to for the most part and since then Eric had never lived for a moment as a vampire being anything but powerful. No, he did not know what it was like to be a victim and he ventured he never would. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, Sookie, it was the only way to protect you." Eric called after her.
She paused, and turned a few steps back towards him, somewhat enraged. "Don't flatter yourself Eric, you saved your skin, it's what you're best at." Sookie spat. They glared at each other for a moment, until Eric spoke.
"If you truly believe I care so little for you, and you so little for me, then why did you pull me out of the sun?" Her response stuck in her throat, all she could do was glare at him, and ask herself that question.
"It was the right thing to do. You did not deserve to die with Russell." Sookie replied.
"If you knew of the death I've lived, you would not be so quick to say that." Eric warned, and moved a step into her body. "No, you care for me, though you would not admit it."
His eyes laid intensely on hers, and for the briefest of moments, she felt herself look to his lips and blush, feeling the passion of the kiss they shared resurface in her memory. "Whatever feelings I may or may not have for you are the direct result of the blood I drank, and nothing more."
"And what of mine for you?" Eric challenged. "If you remember, I kissed you before I ever tasted your sweet Fae blood."
"And the fact that I was Bill's, someone you couldn't have, that made no difference to you? You're a child, Eric, and I'm sick of fucking vampires. I've had enough." Sookie rolled her eyes and continued on with her path; Eric's frustration at her inability to accept that she was walking alone with vampires, werewolves and god knows what else roaming around in a town where people get killed off every day, nearly made him grab her and shake her.
He sped round her, grabbing her by the arms. "Get your hands off me." Sookie warned, her voice low and serious.
"Sookie, I am truly sorry that you feel pain for learning the truth about your relationship with Bill – "
"Don't even think about – " Sookie began, trying to wriggle herself free from his grasp.
"Shut! Up." He raised his voice, and tried to regain his temper as she mellowed in his arms. "Please know, it was not my intention to make you suffer, I just thought you should know the truth. You asked me for it, in my office, did you not?"
"I did." Sookie conceded in a whisper, and he let go of her arms, his head leaned into hers and did not move away. "And it's better that I know the painful truth than live in a lie, I know that. It doesn't make the truth any less harder to live with."
"I know what it is to live with pain." Eric whispered. "It gets easier."
"I need to step into the light, Eric. I need a break from all this supernatural bullshit." Sookie sighed, and fell softly onto a gravestone. "Or at least a break from vampires."
"I would have thought the 3 months you've had would have – " Eric began.
"Three months? What are you talking about, 3 months?" Sookie shook her head in confusion.
Eric narrowed his eyes, "You have been gone for three months, Sookie, but surely you know that." His question was met by silence, and Sookie's eyes shifting around in a confused manner. "Where have you been?" Her focus immediately stopped on his face, a panicked expression accompanied it.
"No where. A friend's house in Ohio. I needed to get away." Sookie said unconvincingly.
"You're lying." Eric mused; his eyes locked with hers, in an effort to try and read her thoughts.
"So what if I am? It's no business of yours, why should I tell you anything?" Sookie challenged him, and his silence answered her question. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I haven't seen my brother in a number of months. Goodnight Eric."
He took her hand as it began to float away with the rest of her, and pulled her back with minor force. He pulled her in close where her hands rested in his white shirt covering his chest. She looked up at him neutrally, without fear, lust, interest, though he hungered for her. "You've been thinking about my blood." She said in hushed, inviting tones. "The warm pumping of sweet Fae juice through my arteries and veins, the opportunity to feel the sun on your skin once more."
He inhaled her scent, her neck inviting him closer and closer, her words doing the same. In the months she was gone, he'd missed it, flirting with the idea of having her, taking her, and knowing she would not allow it, and yet now, her words invited him; he knew she was testing him, testing his intentions. His lips lingered over hers, brushing past them until they whispered "Goodnight Miss Stackhouse." And she stood all alone in the cemetery again, partially wondering if it was all a dream.
