A/N Never done any kind of fan fic before, so please be gentle with me. I'm intending on having only Eric and Sookie along, and not using any spoilers. All reviews and comments will be welcome.

Eric's Demons

Gasoline.

Eric stirred from his day sleep, the muscles across his torso twitched, his strong arm moved unconsciously to cover his abs. There was a grin on his sleeping face that would have made a porn star blush.

He was dreaming about Sookie again. In his sleep he reached for her, as her hair brushed against his chest, her breath hot on his skin. She was tracing the line down from his chin to his belly, her tongue applying slight moisture as she went, her breath making the moist skin tingle. Around his back she felt one hand reach for his butt while the other traced a lazy zig-zag down his chest. When her tongue met his hair line she coughed to clear her throat before continuing down the firm sculpted body she had secretly worshiped ever since they met.

Every night this same dream, her tongue found him, then her hand. Involuntarily he groaned as the heat of her mouth enveloped him, her grip tightening. But there was something different tonight, something about her smell was wrong. Normally in his dream she smelled of clean skin and expensive soap. But tonight it was more like...

Gasoline.

Taught muscles stood out on his chest as in his dream he reached for her mouth, running a rough digit from her ear to her soft lips. Those lips were busy, stretched tight over him as she used mouth and tongue together, her firm grip adding to the growing pressure in his groin.

Gasoline.

With strength that he would never have expected from her slender frame she put her hand on his chest, over his heart, pushing him down. He knew how she loved the way his muscles moved under the skin, but in the dream she had never been this rough before. When she put her hand on his heart it hurt.

"Shit!"

Eyes wide open he took in the scene above him in a heartbeat. In the dark a large outline held a big meaty hand on his chest, the other was raised in the air, about to bring the sharp wooden stake down with lethal force.

Eric hit him once before the man could bring the weapon down, locking his elbow and wrist as he hit the intruder in the throat, crushing his windpipe and snapping the bones in his thick neck. As the bulky shadow fell away from Eric the vampire was already on his feet, crouching naked as he searched for more intruders. From the other side of the table he caught the scent of the other man's bowels emptying as he died.

Gasoline.

The stench was everywhere, the room must be soaked in it. Without thought of his naked state the big Northman ran for his life. His powerful legs took him to the door in three steps, his shoulder took him clean through it. Behind him Dante's Inferno was recreated in his chamber as someone struck a light to the gasoline.

Air was sucked in through the smashed doorway, feeding the blaze. Eric Northman was thrown off his feet by the blast, rolling away from the portal singed but unhurt. Still crouching down he searched for other intruders, saw no-one. Instinct took over, he stayed down and still, and waited.

Seconds passed. Eric released the breath he had been holding, he tensed, ready to run to or from the assailants when they came. They didn't make him wait long.

A long ululating war cry sprang from the lips of the nearest intruder as he spotted the naked vampire crouching in the shadows. Over to his left Eric heard another laugh insanely as he rushed to join his comrade. Something about that gleeful howling laugh tugged at his memory, but Eric was too full of battle lust to think. Naked and singed he stood out of the shadows, his toned muscular body lit by the fire raging in the bedroom. Like a demon he bore down on them, unarmed, a vengeful rush of violence on the men who had come to kill him.

Both men were ready for him, and both were surprisingly quick. Eric's first blow missed completely as the laughing man dodged, still laughing. Now enraged, he rushed the loon, seeing his opponent clearly for the first time. Thick black hair framed a swarthy skinned face, beautiful white teeth, shapely nose. This human was beautiful. Striking. Eric's head butt sorted the teeth out, but the whole time the loon never stopped laughing.

Searing pain burned through him as the other man struck him hard across the lower back. No human had ever hit the vampire that hard, and the blow took the wind from him. He stumbled forward feeling something he hadn't felt for years.

Fear.

Laughing man was back now too, his smashed teeth not affecting his humour. His head sat at an awkward angle on his neck, and his movements were stiff and disjointed. The head butt had broken the man's neck, but it hadn't put him down. Turning his attention to the other man Eric saw that he too was beautiful, fair hair over fine almost perfect features.

Eric threw himself at the man with the speed that only a vampire could manage. Ribs cracked under the blow, and his opponent was knocked back against the wall. Before he could react the vampire was on him, his locked fingers had the man's throat out in a gushing splash of crimson gore. As the corpse dropped he turned to find the loon at his back. Slowly he turned to face the beautiful man with the broken neck.

Aware that he was covered in blood, already lit crimson by the fire that was destroying his home, Eric seemed to grow larger as he prepared to spring at the still laughing loon. Every sinew of his massive naked body stood out, every muscle tense. Raising a sharpened stake the loon rushed at his chest, continuing to laugh as Eric side stepped, bringing his left hand down on the stake. Even as the stake fell Eric drove his right hand into the man's shoulder, feeling the massive blow pulp the bone.

The loon fell, still laughing as Eric tore out his throat.

There were others in the house, Eric could sense them. Ignoring the fire he could do nothing about he went to his night room, where he pulled his leather jacket and denim jeans over his blood soaked limbs. From the rack on the wall he pulled a baseball bat, then went looking for the others.

Two figures met him in the hall. Both had their throats torn out, one had a broken neck.

"Again?" Eric asked as he hit the laughing man with the bat. His opponents were slower now, more awkward. Laughing cruelly he laid about them with the bat while they twitched and danced like puppets as they tried to fight back. It was messy and one sided, and over quickly.

When he stopped hitting them Eric was out of breath. His arms were starting to hurt. They were trying to get up again. Finally they lay still.

But the laughter was still there. Only now it was everywhere, as if by destroying the flesh he had freed a laughing soul. It was only then that Eric realized the shit he was in.