The Key to My Heart

This one shot takes place at the end of Dead as a Doornail, the fifth book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries Series. Charles Twining has been staked, and Eric has arrived at Merlotte's to check that Sookie is okay. In the book she lets him leave with just a chaste kiss. Yeah, right. This is what I think should have happened. Flavour: rather sweet with a hint of citrus tang.

They are Charlaine Harris' characters of course. She can do what she likes with them.

"I shall go back to my own bar, and look at my own patrons, from my own office"

"Eric there's no need to be sulky. I know you like being the big action hero, but we humans can sometimes look after ourselves"

"I am not being sulky" he said pouting.

"Look I really do appreciate you coming over here to save me. And I'm sorry if being beaten to it by a bunch of red-necks has hurt your pride"

Suddenly his face was serious "Sookie, Charles Twining could have killed you. It was my fault, I should have checked his background more carefully"

"Yeah, well, everything turned out okay. Only a broken rib to show for it, by my standards that's nothing" I tried to force a smile.

"You must let me heal you" I thought about that for a moment. I didn't want to become dependent on Vampire blood, but I was in a lot of pain. Although I still had Eric's money sitting in my bank account I didn't really want to pay more medical bills, and it wasn't fair to Sam to take more time off work.

"Okay, but not here, can you come back to my place"

"That dear one, would be my greatest pleasure" Suddenly I wasn't so sure it was a great idea.

Back at the apartment Eric settled me on the couch so I could drink from his wrist. I tried to take only a little, and could soon feel the healing effects as the pain in my side began to fade. He held me against him, one arm wrapped gently around my stomach and the other stroking my hair.

"Why were you so reluctant to tell about what happened when I lost my memory"

I thought about it for some time. "Well, I thought it would give you a hold over me, and I was worried you might be embarrassed, angry. You were so different for those few days. It was as if all your outer shells had been peeled off, the power, the ego, the pride"

"It was those things which made you resist me before? You knew I wanted you, I had told you many times"

"You told me you wanted to …." I couldn't use his normal term, it was just too crude "…have sex with me. That's not quite the same thing"

"Had I not shown you that I cared for you. I helped save you after the Maened attack, I drank your poison blood. I cared for your wounds in Dallas, I took bullets for you. I saved your life in Jackson"

I felt a little awkward. When he put it like that, it was true he had been there for me plenty of times considering how short our acquaintance was. "If I remember correctly most of those occasions gave you the opportunity to drink my blood and get up close and personal. I'm not convinced that was a terrible hardship for you." I said, with probably just a touch more sarcasm than was strictly necessary. A flicker of a smile crossed his lips, then he looked hurt. I was never sure whether to be convinced by Eric's expressions so I tried hard not to let it affect me

"Sookie, you know how to wound me, I do care for you, and I don't want you to die"

"I'm not Bill Compton, I won't trail around after you like a lost soul, sitting in your section at the Shifter's bar night after night. If that's what you want, you had better go to him. You know he will take you back, he is sorry for the hurt he has caused you"

I thought about that for a moment. He was right of course. And being will Bill was probably the closest I could ever get to a normal relationship, taking account of him being a Vampire. I thought of my teenage dreams, meeting a steady guy with a good job who would take care of me, marriage, a family. I was very glad that telepathy was my only gift, that I hadn't been able to see into the future back then. Now, I was more like Dorothy, I certainly wasn't in Kansas any more.

One thing I did love about being with Vampires was that they were comfortable with silence. Having all the time in the world, they never felt they had to rush things. I allowed myself a few moments to just luxuriate in the feeling, to soak up the sensation of being held in Eric's arms. To breath in the dry smell of his body, and the faint scent of his cologne. His description of Bill was accurate, if a little cruel. Whereas Eric, well being a relationship would be like stepping onto a roller-coaster, a very high, very long, very scary roller-coaster.

I was a little uncomfortable with the direction my thoughts were going, and I was pleased when Eric changed tack suddenly. He had a way of doing that, just changing the topic without warning.

"Why did you take me in that night, were you not frightened?"

"I guess I was, but I did think then of all the things you had done for me, and I really appreciated my new driveway"

"The driveway" he repeated, sounding a little incredulous, which I guess he was entitled to do, after all it hardly compared with saving my life, three times.

"Well it was what I needed, and you just knew"

"In that case I had better take out an annual maintenance contract for you. Tell me more about what happened during those days?" He made it a question, a request, not an order and for some reason that allowed me to respond. Also he had moved the hand that had been around my stomach down, had unbuttoned and unzipped my shorts and was now slowly stroking me between my legs. It felt warm and comforting, too slow to be really sexual somehow, but I knew I didn't want it to stop.

"Well I took you in, and washed your feet. You were bare foot, and they were bloody and full of stones"

"they would have healed"

"I know, but it just seemed like the right thing to do"

"Then Jason got you some clothes and Pam and Chow came by. " We were both silent for a moment at the mention of the dead vampire's name. I hadn't liked him much, he was way too scary for me, but Gran had always said you shouldn't think ill of the dead.

"Pam wouldn't tell me anything about it"

"She probably didn't want to upset you. You were a little scared of them, well maybe not scared, but apprehensive." I could feel his body tense up a little and the stroking between my legs stopped.

"Eric if you must know you sat on the floor clinging onto my knees like I was some kind of security blanket" He began to chuckle, then laugh more loudly. I relaxed back against him. His free hand was now under my T-shirt, stroking my stomach. He began to push the T-shirt up a little. "Sookie" it sounded more like a moan than a word, there was no doubt what he wanted.

I thought for a long moment. This was probably a really bad idea. I had been very fond of the Eric who lost his memory. Very close to falling in love with him even. But this was Eric Northman, Sheriff of Area 5, a very different proposition altogether. All those promises he had made, to give up everything for me, they would be just foolish dreams. I doubted he could even be faithful to me, surrounded as he was by beautiful women throwing themselves at him every day.

But I missed the intimacy, I missed someone being there for me, even if only for a short while. I missed talking about the day I'd had, sharing my life with someone.. I had to admit it to myself, I missed the sex. It had been amazing. Just stop thinking, Sookie, it's bad for you. I stripped off my T-shirt, and my bra.

Eric growled in appreciation and moved his hand to my breasts, gently stroking and teasing them. I was getting seriously turned on.

"So, Lover, are you going to get to the good part" He said in his most sultry voice.

"Well I think it was Jason who put the idea into your head. He clearly decided you were quite the Romeo. Then I burst in on you as you were changing, and we ended up in the shower together, and well one thing led to another"

"And was I good?"

"Eric you were amazing, I'm really don't want to boost your ego any more, but I never thought anything could feel that wonderful."

"So why didn't you come to me, when I got my memory back"

"Well there is the small matter of the woman I killed, in my kitchen"

"I knew it. I knew you were lying, I could smell the blood. I knew it was not animal as you claimed. Who was she?"

I explained that she was Alcide's girlfriend, and how she had come to the meeting, and Bill had exposed her as an torturer and would be murderer, and how Alcide had abjured her. I hadn't understood that bit, but it was obviously a very bad thing.

"So she deserved to die"

"No, Eric, she did not, but she was pointing a gun at me – you took another bullet for me – so it was in self defence. It's just that I should have called the Police, reported it, not got you to hide the body. Now its something I have to live with all the time, the guilt, the worry that I will be punished"

"Sookie, you will not be punished for this, I will protect you. I will speak up for you"

"You don't even remember what happened"

"you've told me and now I know"

"Can we be lovers now, now you've told me everything?" That's my Eric, blunt and to the point as usual.

"I do feel bad about Bill"

"Bill Compton?" He sounded a little incredulous "This would be the Bill Compton who betrayed you, abandoned you, attempted to rape you?"

"Yes but it wasn't all his fault, he was under Lorena's power, and he is truly sorry, I know he is"

"So you do still love him"

"No, but I do care for him, I would like us to be friends. I just feel I should finish things with him properly"

"Fine, call him now and do it" Eric extricated his cell phone from his pocket

"No, I can't do it over the phone, that would be cruel"

"Well I'll tell him to come over then and you can tell him in person. Sookie, I have waited too long for you, I am not prepared to wait any longer"

Part of me wanted to slap him for being so domineering and high handed. I'd read the magazine articles, how you should be wary of men who tried to control you,, how it could be the start of a slippery slope. But I could also understand how this behaviour could seem really attractive, make you feel wanted.

"Fine" I sighed deeply "I'll call on him tomorrow night and tell him"

"Good now where were we." Eric turned me in his arms so I was straddling him, and he bent down to kiss me. Kissing Eric, well it had to just about my number one favourite activity, well maybe number two favourite. It was just so perfect. Gentle and passionate at the same time, and incredibly erotic. I was sure if he kissed me long enough I could probably climax without any other help.

He didn't give me a chance to find out, first his fingers resumed their stimulation, but more urgently this time. He was inside me stretching me, making sure I was ready for him. Then he lift me up just a little and suddenly he was fully inside me. I cried out at first, then started to moan as he moved, filling me with every thrust. It was a sensation I could not get enough of. I tightened around him and heard him moan as he kissed my neck.

I arched my neck for him, willing him to bite me, but he didn't. His passion grew more urgent, and we climaxed together. Afterwards he held me against him. He didn't withdraw but kissed me all over my face and in my hair.

"You are so beautiful, how could I have forgotten this. Did I really tell you, you were the best I had ever had" I nodded "well I was telling the truth."

Then after another long but comfortable silence. Sookie, will you share blood with me.

"I've already taken your blood this evening"

"this is different, we take each others' blood at the same time. It will form a bond between us"

"What kind of a bond"

"Well, it marks you as mine" I must have looked a bit unhappy at that point as Eric added hastily "and marks me as yours". We will feel each others' emotions"

"So this bond, its temporary, right, it wears off after a while"

"It might after a very long while but no, its not temporary. It can be broken, if both parties wish it. There is a ceremony"

"Sounds kind of like a divorce"

"Don't you think this is a bit sudden, I mean…" I tailed off, I was going to say we hardly knew each other but that was such a cliché, and it wasn't exactly true. We hadn't know each other very long, less than a year, but we had been through some pretty intense experiences. At least I regarded being saved from death three times as pretty intense.

He was gazing at me, his eyes more serious than I had ever seen them. "Sookie believe me I know what I am doing. You have stirred up feelings in me. If you knew how long it was since I had any feelings at all you would understand. Tonight, being here with you I can remember the feeling of contentment I had when we were together those days. I felt happiness for the first time in hundreds of years"

What about me, I thought but didn't say it out loud. I believed what he was telling me, his face was too serious for him to be lying. But even if he did have those feelings now, how could they last? I was an uneducated waitress from a small town in Louisiana. I'd only ever been out of the state three times. He was the most powerful Vampire in the area, probably the State if truth be told. He was a thousand years old. He had seen so much, done so much. How could I possibly be a match for him?

He asked me what I was thinking so I told him, pretty much just as I had thought it.

"You think I will be unfaithful to you?

"Eric I know you will be, it's not a big deal" that was a lie but I was trying to sound cool about it "I can't even imagine how many women you have had in your existence, grand ladies, princesses"

"Movie stars, supermodels" he added, unhelpfully, with a grin "sorry"

"Look, all I ask is that you are discreet, don't rub it in my face. And please Eric, don't let Pam rub it in my face, that would be even worse."

"Sookie, I know you won't believe me, but for you I am capable of being faithful. I really don't need any other woman. Look, the bonding, its too soon. I can see you don't want to be rushed. Just think about it, let me know if you are ready. Now don't you think we have done enough talking."

He resumed his kissing, and the other things, and pretty soon we were making love again. This time as the sensations built inside us, he leant down to lick my neck. I arched to give him access, "bite me Sookie, do it" his voice was a low moan barely audible. "Eric…I…can't."

"Do it Sookie" Something about the urgency of his voice seemed to control my mind. Perhaps this was what it was like to be glamoured. So I did it, I bit his neck as hard as I could, and there his thick sweet blood was oozing out into my mouth. As I sucked he sank his fangs into my neck. The sensation was overwhelming. He thrust into me harder, and I could feel myself tightening around him. I'd never experienced anything so powerful. The room seemed to disappear, we were floating in darkness, aware only of each other. I never wanted it to end.

Dawn was coming too soon. I was starting to develop Vampire senses, I could feel its approach a good hour before time, maybe it was the blood.

"You have to go" . I didn't want to hear him say it.

"I know." He let me go reluctantly, with lots of soft kisses.

He was standing by the door when he turned to look at me

"I meant what I said you know, I would give up being Sheriff. We can live anywhere"

"Eric, please don't. I'll settle for having you as my lover, I don't want you to make promises you'll regret"

"You'll settle for me." He sounded disgusted "It makes me sound like second best"

"Alright then, you'll be my Viking Sex God, does that suit you better"

"Yes dear one, I really think it does"