A/N – DISCLAIMER AND OTHER GIBBERISH...
Welcome back. I'm giving it another stab and hope that you'll be okay with that. This takes off directly from "It Makes No Bloody Difference" – and we're going explore Sookie's new world with Eric. There might be lemons... Oh – BTW – I didn't know the term Lemon when I started and just WTF it meant. So I've been informed, and I also looked it up. Lemon: lemon is a story describing sex in detail between two characters and can be boy/girl. A PWP stands for "Plot? What plot?" The difference between a PWP and a lemon is that a PWP is blatantly without a plotline... the whole story is to get two characters in bed with each other, whereas lemons usually have some sort of plot.
This being said – I think I write lemons – I try for the plot as weak as it may be. Let's get it on.
I don't own these characters. If these characters belonged to me, I would be living somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. I'd have a nice luxurious cabin near a mountain somewhere. It would have solar panels, central air-conditioning, and a manservant. There would be plenty of cold Canadian beer and Russian vodka. The food would cook itself and I'd drive a sweet ride. Charlaine Harris owns the all of it, I'm just playing. Anyway, I don't own this stuff.
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Chapter One
Eric and I stepped out into the night and he looked up. The stars were intense, and the light breeze carrying scents that I could not identify. I could hear little hearts beating in their burrows, blood pulsing in their veins. I felt the heat of them, hiding from me... It made me want to run, and to hunt and to bite. I felt aggressive and primal as I moved lithely across the yard – like a huntress of nature. I wasn't sure if I liked the fact that I enjoyed feeling predatory and dominant and I stopped, looking back nervously at Eric. He glided to my side and smiled at encouragingly at me. It was apparent that he definitely enjoyed seeing me this way as his fangs ran out. Did I mention that his enjoyment was apparent in more ways than one?
"Lover, would you like to fly with me?" I nodded, and he placed his hand around my waist, and we lifted off the ground. I didn't feel the chillness of the night, but only the wind rushing through my clothing, and the weightlessness of my body, as he took to the air. I wondered if I would ever be able to fly. He looked down at me and frowned slightly, but we continued over the rooftops of Bon Temps, and the houses became farther apart, as we soared over the swamps and farmlands, roads and highways. I closed my eyes, and took in the night. We soared higher and higher, and he took the opportunity to spin lightly in the air, and as we twisted through the sky, my hair fanned around me like a sheet and I laughed like a loon. He squeezed my waist, and brought me in front of him. I swore I heard him laughing softly. We began to descend and I recognized the neighbourhood we were going down into as the one containing Fangtasia.
If I had a beating heart, I'm sure that it would have been pounding. I wasn't too sure about being around people who were alive yet... What if I couldn't control myself? Eric squeezed me harder, obviously feeling my apprehension, and whispered to me.
"You'll be fine, and I'll be here. There is nothing to worry about. Besides I need to deal with this. The fallout from Bill's final death will not be agreeable to some." I nodded and we lit down lightly at the back door of Fangtasia.
He took a long look at me and smiled. "Your hair is a mess." I raised my hands to my hair and began to fuss. He took my hands away from it, and lowered them to my side. "I didn't mean you don't look absolutely beautiful my lover. You look wild and exotic." He cocked an eyebrow suggestively at me, and that other need, secondary only to thirst reared its head. The heat in my eyes must have shown, and Eric leaned down and lightly kissed me on the lips. "All in good time lover," he said.
He took my hand and we entered through the back door of Fangtasia with a key from his pocket. We went into his office, where I could hear the music booming from the other side of the building. He looked me up and down and then pressed a button on the phone in his office.
"Pam come to my office, and bring 3 type O bags please." He looked at me again. "We keep some real blood on hand. Despite the claims, synthetic blood is not a sufficient substitute for the real thing, and when you are a new vampire, you need more. I want you to drink what Pam brings in. It will help you maintain your self control when we go outside my office."
Pam entered the room, carrying a small cooler. When she opened the door, the music got louder and a breath of air from the other room followed her in. I immediately tensed as I could feel the blood of the human patrons singing to me, I could smell the copper of it, flowing through their veins like crimson lava. I ached for it so, and I felt myself moving towards the door fluidly without even being aware of having made the decision to do that. Eric was in front of me in a flash, shutting the door, and I moaned.
"How can you stand it? How can you just stand there, and not want to drink it all? I want to so badly. I need to." Eric looked down at me sombrely.
"It is the way of the vampire Sookie. I cannot tell you that you will never crave blood, because you will. I can help you deal with it, and in time you will learn tolerance of its swan song." He opened the cooler, and took out a bag. "For now, this will do. You will find it satisfying."
He opened the side of the bag, and poured the ruby contents into a large tumbler, which he heated in the microwave. He handed it to me, and I raised it to my lips and shuddered as it flowed down my throat. How I could have possibly thought synthetic was the end all, was beyond me, I would never mistake it for the real thing again.
I finished the other two bags in quick succession, and my stomach sloshed. Pam and Eric were still in the room with me, and both of them were grinning slightly. Pam elbowed Eric in the ribs and rolled her eyes.
"Kids..." She laughed as she said it. I shot her a dirty look, and she put her hands up in mock peace sign. "Truce Sook, truce. Eric, the queen is here. She knows of Bill and of the Sook here. She is waiting."
Eric looked at me appraisingly, and I nodded. I felt a lot better now, but I was concerned about the humans having an adverse effect on me again.
"Maybe you could hold me Eric? Pam could you open the door to the bar? I just want to make sure that I don't go a-running out there and kill someone." Eric grinned and Pam laughed.
"I would pay to see that," she said. But she opened the door, and as Eric grasped my upper arms, I took a tentative sniff at the air. The scents were there, and they were tasty, but it wasn't as all consuming as it had been before I drank the bags of blood. I still felt safer telling Eric that I wanted to have a steady supply of True Blood coming at me all night. He nodded in agreement, and Pam went to tell the bartender.
Sophie Anne was sitting at the table where Eric usually sat, the one where I had first seen Occella. He led me to the table, and I sat down first, next to the woman –the legendary Queen Sophie Ann La Clerque. She was very slight, her auburn hair wrapped in a sleek chignon and held with a jewelled pin. She couldn't have been more than fifteen years old when she was turned, but her eyes betrayed her age, as she looked me from head to toe. I returned the favour. Her olive green pants were cut perfectly, and the sweater she wore in a slightly darker hue was definitely cashmere. Her jewellery was ornate, heavy and gold – and real. She radiated power and strength, and I felt sloppy next to her in my white tee, jeans and blonde hair loose and wild from my flight with Eric. Her bodyguard was a small blonde man, who was at her side. He looked to have been about fifteen or sixteen years old when he was turned as well. He regarded me briefly, but then turned his eyes back on Sophie Anne reverently.
The bartender brought over my True Blood, and I immediately drank some. Sophie Anne smiled at me, and began to speak.
"It's been a very long time since I was turned; I no longer have the fire in my throat. I can go a very long time without any at all. The young ones always seem so vibrant to me, so virile. Don't you agree Eric?"
Eric nodded and tapped his fingers on the table, looking across the dance floor.
"Eric, I suppose you know why I am here. The news of Bill Compton's demise has reached me, and I must admit I am not pleased with the news that you had a hand in it. Should you have cared to address any issues with Bill with me personally, I would not have turned a deaf ear." She looked at Eric with no hint of emotion. She cocked one perfectly manicured eyebrow at him. "I don't suppose you would care to explain?"
Eric began with the attack that happened to me outside my house on my way to work, the red haired vampire, his name now known as Dennis Carnegie. He explained that Bill had hired Dennis to do some day work for him several months prior, and that Bill had decided to turn Dennis to get to me, once I had broken up with Bill. That didn't end well for Dennis, because Eric and Pam were actually on their way to see me, and intercepted the attack. Dennis ended up meeting his final death, and Bill who had been hiding in the woods watching the attack, was forced to reveal himself and pretend to be coming to my aid when Eric and Pam dispatched Dennis. When Eric and I returned from Canada, Bill had decided to put all pretences aside, and turn me himself. If he would have achieved turning me, I would have been bound to Bill for the rest of Bill's life and he could have ordered me not to see Eric and be with him. It would have been akin to slavery. It was an utter waste in my mind. I had once loved Bill, and he had everything that he had inevitably given his life for. It didn't have to be this way.
The queen nodded during this explanation. I wondered how she could be so cool about this. I wondered if she cared that it was actually she who began this ball rolling, who was responsible for current direction of my life, since she had sent Bill to procure me. I felt myself getting angry, and Eric squeezed my leg under the table. He wasn't too gentle about it either. 'Knock it off, and control yourself Sookie." He looked me square in the eye for a millisecond as he thought that at me, and then continued.
He told the queen about how he and Pam had tried to subdue Bill, but Bill had basically lost his mind. Eric said that when he brought about the final death for Bill, it seemed like Bill was relieved. He then told the queen that I was so near death, that I could not be healed. My spark almost gone, Eric turned me instead of letting me die.
The queen sat in silence, with the music pumping around her. She didn't move, just went into what I liked to call downtime mode, for vamps. I couldn't tell what was going on in her head. Then she swivelled her head at Pam.
"You concur Pamela? With the story that your master says?" Pam nodded and the Sophie Anne turned to me. "Of course, you Miss Stackhouse would have to agree to what your maker says. You are too young to be disobedient to him." I thought about saying something back to that, but the manacle on my leg tightened again. "Are your powers manifesting themselves as they did in your human existence?"
I shook my head. "Not so far." I couldn't feel human or vampire thoughts, but I also was completely overwhelmed right now, and I felt emotionally shut down.
"Well time will tell on that. Of course Eric, you will keep me informed on whether she displays any latent talent that is manifesting itself in any way similar to her human existence? Such an endowment would be something I would extremely interested in."
Eric nodded at her, "Of course, your majesty – I will keep you informed of anything unusual."
Sophie Anne turned and looked at me speculatively. "I am aware that you know why Bill Compton returned to Bon Temps. I hope you don't think too badly of me for what part I played in what was done to you. For the record, most humans are easily glamoured and are happy when performing tasks for me. I treat them well; many of my contemporaries do not ." She stood up and the small blonde male rose with her. I guess that was as good of an apology as I was going to get from Sophie Anne, but it didn't make me feel much better. I sure wasn't going to be too fast to tell her about any developments with my telepathy.
"In light of the recent events Eric Northman, I will deem the slaying of Bill Compton as just and fair and will report it as so to the League. You will have to pay the fine, and take care of any legal matters pertaining to the estate he left, but beyond that the gods have felt fit to smile upon you." She did not say good bye, she simply drifted towards the door, her entourage in tow, and the crowd parting before her.
"Wow." That was all I could think of saying. "She was pretty intense." Pam nodded and Eric looked thoughtful.
"She will call in this favour; there is no doubt about that. The punishment is too light, she wants something, but she doesn't know what yet." Pam inclined her head towards me, and he nodded in agreement. "It remains to be seen."
"Look I don't like you guys talking about me when I'm sitting right here. If you're going to do that, I'll just go on home to my own place." Pam smiled at me like an indulgent parent and I felt my temper slip a notch.
The bartender brought over another True Blood, and I picked it up, glowering at the bottle, and my general surroundings. Pam stood up, and sauntered over to the bar and then to the front entrance. I just noticed that she was wearing her black Fangtasia gown, and realized that she was to be working this evening. The bar was starting to wind down as the night drew on, and it emptied quite rapidly. The time on the wall indicated it was almost 3 in the morning, and I realized that I wasn't even remotely tired.
It was hard trying to think of how I was going to deal with this, how I was going to be able to tell Sam, or Jason, or Tara. Would I keep my job, would Sam even want me to work at Merlotte's anymore? Would I stay in Bon Temps? These thoughts flitted through my mind, and I felt sadness wash over me. Eric squeezed my hand, which I hadn't realized I was holding, and I looked up at him. He was looking at me intently.
"It doesn't have to be all bad you know. Most of it is just tolerance of each other, and the recognition of our differences, doesn't necessarily have to change the person as who they are. Essentially, you are the same person you were before."
"Except for the fact that I'm a blood thirsty monster." I looked at him balefully.
"Your are vampire Sookie, but it doesn't have to define you." He regarded me and spoke again. "Did you consider me a monster while you were human?"
"At times, you scared me Eric, but I never thought of you as a monster."
"You see what I'm saying then. There are those who choose to live a certain way, that way defines them as the beast. But that beast can be present in those who either human or vampire, and isn't limited to just one or the other."
I knew what he was saying, and I thought of the Rattray's or Steve Newlin and realized that the monster could be human. And I thought of Pam, or Eric or even Bill when he spoke at my grandmother's civil war club, and knew what Eric was saying.
"So it's more how understanding people and vampires are of each other's differences right?" Eric nodded, and I thought about it. I knew Jason would be pissed off, and Sam would be upset – Arlene, well... I am sure that she would come around... Eventually.
The bar was nearly empty, and Pam had disappeared. Chow was behind the bar leaning against the counter, and the waitresses were going through their routine of closing, placing chairs on top of the tables and mopping the floors. Eric stood up, and I followed him down the hallway to his office again. He rifled through the papers on his desk and made a quick note on a calendar. He checked his Blackberry and texted a few times, frowning once but said not a word.
"Are you ready lover?" He looked at me, and suddenly I felt shy, and I knew what was coming this evening. My body felt so different, and I wasn't sure if that difference would translate when Eric and I had sex or not. And I certainly wanted to have sex, and soon.
I conveyed that to him, as I walked over to him, and ran my hands up his arms, and kissed the side of his neck. He lowered his lips to mine, and we continued on that train of thought for a moment. Then he pulled away from me.
"Lover, I won't have it take place here. Not a chance." I groaned into his chest. "Let's get out of here."
We exited out the back door, and Eric grabbed me firmly about the waist again as he took flight once more. We took a different direction, away from the bar and not back towards Bon Temps, so I figured that we were heading to his house. We flew for several minutes, and then began to ascend. I recognized Eric's house, and he landed lightly on the lawn.
"We have company lover."
The moon was out, and it lit up the yard, so I could see the truck with its pink and purple flames sitting in the driveway. My brother was sitting on the hood of his truck, and he looked up when we landed. A look of pain crossed his face when he saw me, and he bounded across the front lawn, and punched Eric in the mouth. Eric took a step backwards, and then his eyes flaring, reached his hand out and seized Jason by the throat and raised him in the air.
I grabbed a hold of Eric's arm, and began to beat on his forearm. "Let him go Eric, please. Let him go!"
Eric's nostrils flared, and he released Jason, who immediately fell to the earth, coughing and gasping for air. I dropped to my knees beside him, and my throat contracted with burning flame as I caught the scent of the blood running through his veins. My hands arched into claws, and my fangs ran down. Jason was oblivious of it as he struggled to get his breath, but Eric wasn't. He reached his hands under my armpits and dragged me back. I didn't struggle.
Jason looked up at me, and a look of fear ran across his face which made my heart sink. Infinite sadness filled me, and I felt tears well in my eyes, even as the blood lust took me.
"You might be Sookie's brother, but this is the only time that an allowance will be made for you. The only reason I did not crush your human skull is because she loves you. You will not be afforded that privilege again." Eric glared at Jason, who glowered back. "Do you not realize that your sister is feeling the effects of your being near her, human?" He spat out the word human. "You are causing her physical pain just by being here."
"You motherfucker, what the fuck do you expect? My sister is missing, Bill is missing, and I hear he's dead, and then I hear that Sookie is with you – that no one has seen her. And I find her, here like this. What the hell am I supposed to think?" Jason's chest heaved in anger, and he stood up clenching his fists, and I was afraid that he would go after Eric again. "Sook, I'm sorry that I just showed up – but I had to see for myself." He bit his lip and shook his head. He looked at me with pain in his eyes, and turned his back.
"Come see me when you can Sook. Don't bring Blondie." He had turned his back on me at this point, and his shoulders shook slightly. He didn't say another word as he got into his truck and started it up. As the streetlights lit the inside of the truck, I saw the light glisten on his wet cheeks, and I felt my heart break. I barely suppressed a sob, and I fell to my knees on the dewy grass with my face in my hands.
"The people I love, they are all going to hate me." My voice cracked, and I gulped. I knew I must look awful with bloody tears flowing down my cheeks, surrounded by my unruly blonde mane. I covered my face.
Eric kneeled down, and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed the top of my head gently, and gathered me in his arms. I put my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck, as he unlocked and entered his house. He didn't turn on any lights, but simply walked to the living room, and deposited me on the oversized couch. He left me and quickly went to the kitchen, where I heard the microwave beep as he heated some blood. He brought out one for each of us, and we drank them in silence in the dark room.
The clock over the top of the mantle read that it was well after four in the morning, and I could sense that the night was ebbing and a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. Eric smiled at me softly.
"It is much more intense when you are a new born love. As you age, it will not be so severe." He sighed. "It has been a very testy evening, and perhaps it's best for both of us, to rest and rise tomorrow night refreshed. There will be much to do." He kissed me on the top of my head again. "I am sorry about your brother. His impetuousness is obviously a family trait."
We walked quietly back to Eric's bedroom, where he shut the door. Pressing a button, automatic blinds lowered blacking out the slowly lightening sky. There was keypad at the door, and he entered a code. I heard a heavy lock slide across the outside of the windows, and the outside of the bedroom door. The room was as silent as a tomb, and lit with a bedside lamp. The bed was neatly made, as before when I was here, and I looked at Eric wondering if we were going to have sex or not, but another wave of fatigue hit me, and I must have shown it. Eric reached into a bureau drawer and removed a Fangtasia t-shirt which he handed to me. He stripped down to his underwear, while I put on the t-shirt. We both climbed into the bed, and he wrapped his arms around me.
"It will be okay Sookie, I promise. It's been so long since I was turned; I forget how it was for me – how overwhelming the first day must be." He nuzzled the back of my neck, and I wanted to respond, but the weights on my eyelids were becoming heavy, and I felt myself being drawn into a dark slumber. "Each day will be better, as you get used to it. It won't always be like this, my beautiful lover."
His voice soothed me and I felt love through his bond. My eyes closed, and I felt content, as he clasped my hands. The last words I heard as I entered the dark dreamless sleep of the dead, were his as he told me he loved me, over and over again. Then I was dead to the world.