All Characters are owned by Charlaine Harris and may be found in her Sookie Stackhouse Series. Thank you for letting me play with them.
Summary: Set at the end of DR, Bubba's performance is cancelled. Despite Bill's best efforts, Bubba has run off after a particularly tasty-looking feline, and cannot be found. What do Eric and Sookie get up to, instead of killing Victor that night? Getting rid of Freyda, but how?
It's Now Or Never
With a gasp, I sat up in my bed. I turned to see Eric sitting up beside me, mirroring my movement - minus the gasp, of course. Shooting me his trademark smirk and cocked eyebrow, he gazed at me with a question in his cool blue eyes.
Did I hold the answer to that question, I wondered, as I glanced down at the cluviel dor clenched tightly in my right hand? Easing my white-knuckle grip, I looked at it more closely. Yes, it was open.
"Sookie, are you alright?" Eric asked softly, into my silence. Was I?
"Am I?" I asked, almost to myself, but Eric answered.
"Ithinkyouare,mybeautifulvampirewife." Eric's tone was warm enough to melt ice.
He reached out. His careful touch was feather-light, as my hair streamed through his splayed fingers. Tucking a wild strand behind my ear, he exposed the curve of my neck and shoulder. Eric leaned into that curve and breathed in. Well, more like breathing me in. The action had that quality to it – and anyway, Eric didn't just breath for nothing. When I heard the snick of fangs descending, I knew he liked what he smelled ... and wanted to taste too.
Surprisingly, Eric's moves didn't engage me. His automated, fangy response was like background noise – there, but not. I did feel the tingle where he caressed my scalp and touched the shell of my ear. I did feel the whisper of his breath where it tickled my neck. Those sensations lingered on, but I was still pondering the 'vampire' part of his 'beautifulvampirewife' remark. I didn't remember being drained dry ... or dying for that matter. Surely a girl would remember something like that. Maybe, I'd let him glamour me first...
Looking at the cluviel dor and thinking of death jolted me right back into the moment. I had one cluviel dor, dead in my hand. Oh yes, I knew it was dead. Its magical pulse was gone, which was a bit like my pulse, I realised. Dead and gone too. Eric probably had the vampire thing absolutely right. I'd let the wife bit go for now!
Vampire! A surge of panic swept over me like an all-consuming tidal wave come to carry me away to my death! Except I was dead already. My panic hadn't caused my heart to pound, not once. I didn't need to breathe. Jesus Christ, Shepherd of Judea!
That's when I suddenly remembered ... everything!
With a grin at the cluviel dor, I snapped it shut and placed it on my night stand. Turning to Eric again, I found him still smirking, satisfaction written all over his handsome, fanged-up face.
"Sookie." He breathed my name out on a long sigh. I smiled, because he was still breathing. Eric must really like my aroma - dry vampire, with a hint of fairy-human, perhaps.
"Eric, I remember!" I said, knowing I looked crazy-happy. "It worked?" I asked, but I knew it had. I was here ... without my pulse.
"Oh, yes," said Eric.
"If your fangs are anything to go by, I'd say you like what you see! So how do I look?"
"You appear to be a vampire, Sookie." Eric relaxed his smile a little, but his fangs stayed put as he went on to describe me.
"You have a vampire's glow over white skin." He lent in again and brushed his lips and fangs against my shoulder's snowy flesh. His exhale tickled my neck and collar bone. I shivered, but not from cold.
"Your aroma is vampire with a hint of something a little more exotic. You can hear me when I am speaking at vampire speed, myvampirewife. You are no longer warm to the touch and have no pulse."
He kissed my throat's deadened pulse-point, before settling back and touching a fingertip to my bottom lip, tracing its fullness. "Your taste ..." Eric's voice trailed off. I could see his desire to have an investigative kiss, or maybe a bite, in the slight tremble on his lips and heated glow in his gaze.
That heated look brought a surprise to my lips. Fangs, all my own, shot out in a very vampire response to that merest suggestion of a bit of biting and sexual promise.
Eric's lips now trembled, but with laughter. My expression must have been comical. One of my fangs had sliced a nick in my lip. Well, crapola! I knew I wanted to appear to be a vampire; in fact, that is what I had wished for through the cluviel dor, but the reality of it was... Well, it was a lot more real than I had thought it would be. I don't know why I was surprised though. Members of my Brigant family were talented at the fae magic of illusion, masking their form and taking on another. It was this very cleverness that had given me the idea for using the cluviel dor.
Reaching up, I touched my new illusionary teeth - hard, smooth, sensitive and ... Ouch, real sharp. I'd pricked my finger on a needlepoint tip, and that was too much for Eric. He was suddenly sucking on my bleeding digit - without asking - a millisecond later.
Eric's tongue swirled. I licked my bleeding, but healing, lip and couldn't resist smacking both my lips together in delight; my blood was delicious. Of course, this smacking action cut my lips some more. Geez! Eric quickly abandoned my now-healed finger, as he eyed my bloodied lips.
"I like your lip gloss," he said. I guess that meant he still fancied my blood!
In one fluid movement that I knew would have been a blur to human eyes, Eric pulled me around to straddle him and proceeded to crush his lips, hard, into my bloody ones. Our fangs clashed with a crack; pain and pleasure mixed together. Wow, were these little suckers ever sensitive?
Then there was more blood. I'd managed to nick Eric as well as myself, or had he nicked me? The blood was thick and sweet on my tongue and I liked it. It was better than a fine bourbon, aged to perfection. That's when I felt my first urge to bite. I could swear my fangs quivered with desire. I pulled back from Eric, who had been cradling my head in his hands, holding me steady while I learned how to kiss him. I found I had to pout a whole lot more to kiss around my new gnashers.
"Eric, I want to bite," I lisped. Yup, talking was tricky too. "I don't think it's hunger. I just have this urgent need to nibble your neck! And can fangs quiver? Is that normal?"
"Yes, perfectly." He looked entirely happy with the neck nibbling idea and explained, "The kiss, it makes you desire me." Well, duh. "For vampires, sex and biting go together, whether we're hungry or not. Our fangs are erogenous!"
"Okaaay, erogenous ... so sensitive and shivery and sexual. I hadn't fully understood that before. You always seemed to feed from me when you bit, Eric."
"That's because I wouldn't waste a single drop of your blood, Sookie! Let me show you something. Bare your fangs."
It was my turn to give him a raised eyebrow.
"What? Why?" I asked.
"Trust me. You will love it," he promised.
So I bared my fangs, consciously pulling my lips back. It felt weirdly natural.
Eric moved fast and latched onto one fang, closing his lips around it. Then he sucked and licked it at speed, with a little of the red stuff lubricating the tooth-teasing. The friction tickled the fang in a hot way, but that wasn't the most surprising thing. The surprising thing was that my yahoo palace felt that friction too. There was definitely a direct connection between the two erogenous zones. Pluck one end of a string and the other end will quiver, and Eric was playing me. His finger vibrated against my neglected fang and twang ... I went acoustic.
A screaming orgasm, and I don't mean the cocktail, with Eric's name thrown in for garnish tore through me. My fangs had moved me from foreplay to finished, faster than a fairy eating lemons. I screamed "Eric" in a vocal range, I hadn't known was possible!
I heard Eric say, "You called," in answer to my scream, but I didn't reply. I couldn't. My mouth was filled to overflowing with him. I'd removed myself from Eric's fang-flicking, while screaming his name and then bitten! I hadn't nibbled either. My fangs were embedded deep in Eric's neck, right up to my gum-line. Mmmm, my fangs were sheathed in Eric, tightly, which made a change because Eric was usually sheathed in me. Eric's blood began to pool against my lips where they were wrapped around his throat. Should I drink? I remembered vampires didn't like drinking from one another. Or was it already too late? Eric and I had swapped blood just kissing.
"Drink," said Eric, solving my internal debate.
So I swallowed. What the heck! This wasn't real ... but it felt so real, I realised again, as the sip of Eric's blood slid past my lips and down my eager throat. I licked the last drop up as my bite mark disappeared and then sat back quickly, so I wouldn't be tempted to bite again. Well, I was still tempted, still wanting more, but I needed to get a grip on this vampire thingamabob, before it really ... got me. Of course, as soon as I thought that, I realised that vampire magic really depended on 'getting the human'. Ewww! I was pleased I'd be able to turn back to me again. That was the plan anyway.
Eric looked pretty pleased with my newbie-vampire appearance though, if the tenting in his boxers was anything to go by. After feeling something pushing against my 'straddle' in an extra-sensitive spot, I'd glanced down. Eric's ... um, 'tent post' had pushed upwards on its way to full erection!
My gaze remained on the tent site, as Eric asked in an amused voice, "So how does my blood taste now?"
"Warmer," I said. "How about mine?"
"Cooler," he said, "but I've only had a tiny sample. I'd need more to be sure!"
"You would?" I asked, still mesmerised by the activity in Eric's underwear, as he answered, "Naturally."
The strain on the silky, red fabric was beginning to tell. With my vampire sight, I could see the warp of the weave stretching, fraying. I could just hear the creak of the threads unravelling. This glamour was good; it was even convincing to me.
"It's not only my fangs that want to penetrate you though, Sookie," Eric continued in a husky voice, evidence of the 'strain' he was under. I wondered if his fangs were quivering, like his now fully-erect tent.
"Are you up for some hot, cold vampire sex?" he growled at me.
Well, Eric was most definitely up for it, but I was a little concerned. I wasn't really a vampire – I was only appearing to be one, but my glamour was so convincing that Eric now wanted to have vampire sex with me – whatever that was.
"Hmm, honey. You know, I think I'd like to explore the vampire sex thing a little later. Perhaps some hot sex with me as a human might be good. I want to know if I can change back. Has my wish really worked?"
Eric just smiled. "Sex will be hot with me, however you appear!"
Right, I thought! Good to know ... because one day, if I managed to survive long enough, I was going to appear old and grey!
I glanced at the cluviel dor - not that it was necessary. I'd used it up by wishing and meaning it, three times in a row, just like Mr Cataliades had hinted. Now I could appear to be vampire whenever I wanted. It had been my idea. In this form, Freyda could not interfere with our pledging. If I was vampire and Eric was vampire – our pledge stood. Simple, I hoped.
I also hoped that reviving my human self would be simple too and I wished hard for just that. My lungs went pump and my heart went thump, as the glamour died away. Without any drama, I returned to the real me. Alive, that is.
"Your tan is back, your scent is hu..."
A loud knocking on the front door stopped Eric mid-word, but I didn't need his description. I knew I was me again. I sensed a vampire void on my porch. I realised then that I hadn't read Eric at all in my vampire form, which made sense. If I was going to be a vampire, I wasn't going to be a telepath too, it seemed.
"Pam," said Eric, at the same time as the vampire in question shouted for my benefit, "It's Pam." I should have guessed. Weren't Eric and I just about to get down to some serious sookie-nookie to take care of the tent? Pam always had perfect timing ... for coitus interruptus, that is.
"Coming," I said, knowing Pam could hear me. Eric gave me a wry grin. Yup, not coming in the way we'd expected.
Eric unstraddled me and redressed his lower half in black jeans, quick as a vampire flash.
At human speed, I pulled on my robe, although I was tempted to vamp it up again. The blurry speed-dressing that Eric had completed looked like fun ... and just think of all the extra time I could have, if I moved like that.
"Vampire or human?" I whispered.
"I think ... vampire. Let's surprise Pam, and it will test the glamour on another."
I sat back down on the bed's edge, wishing to be vampire again and this time, I transformed instantaneously. The magic sizzled through me like a power surge, then fizzed over my skin and although I may have swayed a little, I stayed conscious. Was I, to all appearances, one of the undead again?
Eric's nod and a wink said I was. "Show time," he said.
Together, at vamp speed, we glided to the door. It was quick and effortless and I loved it. The air flowed smoothly over my skin in an invisible caress. No wonder Pam liked to run! Perhaps, there were some things about being a vampire that weren't so bad!
I opened the door ... carefully. Vamp strength 'nall. Pam's eyes ran over me and they weren't slow either. I'd say they almost spun!
"She's a vampire," Pam said on a breath.
"Very observant, Pamela," Eric replied.
"What have you two been doing? Eric? Sookie?" Pam looked perplexed.
I said, "Pam, please come in. Although you probably don't need an invitation from me now! Anyone can enter a vampire's house ... right?"
Eric was the one who answered, once we'd got seated inside. We did that vampire fast too. Yes, I loved gliding. "That's right, Sookie, but with you, we will need to test this out."
"Test what out?" Pam queried. "Vampires need an invitation to enter humans' houses, all except Bubba. She's not damaged like Bubba, is she?"
"Damaged? No, but appearances can be deceiving," Eric said, going all cryptic.
"Deceptive appearance?" Pam eyed me carefully, then looked irritated, after finding nothing out of the ordinary ... except that I was a vampire! "It is like trying to get blood from a stone tonight, although why anyone would be stupid enough to try that, I don't know. Even Bubba doesn't try that. How has this happened?"
"When I arrived this evening, Sookie had an interesting proposal," Eric told her, "and after using Fae magic, she can now appear to be a vampire whenever she wants. It's a very clever glamour. With Sookie appearing to be my vampire wife, Freyda will have to drop her claim upon me."
Peering at me closely with intelligent eyes, Pam considered this. "So Sookie, you are still human under this illusion?"
I nodded.
Eric added, "We'll say the turning was accidental and as such, is unpredictable in nature. This should explain why Sookie sometimes flips back to being human. As turning is not a science, and Sookie is part-fae and a telepath, stranger things could happen with the magic."
Pam didn't look convinced. "Queens hate to be thwarted, Eric. If Sookie appears as a human too often, Freyda could make a case for claiming you again ... unless Sookie plans to live as a vampire most of the time, even though she isn't one."
I didn't like the sound of that.
Pam warmed to her topic. "Freyda could demand you turn Sookie conventionally to make sure she is completely vampire, before the contract is completely annulled."
I didn't like the sound of that either, and Eric knew it. I didn't want to be a real vampire - not right now anyway, and probably never.
Eric considered Pam's words. "I am certain that Felipe would not support a full turning. He would still want Sookie's telepathy, when she's in human form. That's where her value to him lies."
"Maybe you should consider your original proposal, Eric – the reason you came here tonight in the first place. Just to be certain."
Eric looked thoughtful, then suddenly got down on one knee. It was the first I'd heard of any proposal. Maybe that's why Pam was here.
"Be human, Sookie," Eric said. So I wished to be Sookie, the original, and there I was with my blood pulsing under tanned skin, again deglamoured.
Pam looked impressed and ... expectant.
"Okay, now what, Eric?" I said.
"I believe this is how this is done, Sookie." He held my warm hand in his cool one.
The word 'proposal' flashed back into my mind. Eric wouldn't, would he?
But Eric did, didn't he!
"Sookie, marry me?" he asked. "Marry me by your human laws."
Well, crapola. I hadn't seen that one coming. It was sudden and I was suddenly unsure. We said we loved each other, but would our love be enough?
Eric went on, but not about love. "If you agree, it will be even more difficult for Freyda to separate us. The Queen is mainstreaming ... mostly. She cannot appear to be rogue and must be seen to be following the law, the human law too, especially where it affects vampires. As it is legal in this state for humans and vampires to marry, she must accept it."
So if I was humanly married to Eric, Freyda would not be able to have him either. As his lawfully-wedded wife, I could not be put aside. I suddenly realised that I might not have needed to use up my cluviel dor and said so. "I don't need to appear vampire then. My wish could have been for something else."
"A human-vampire marriage alone may not hold off Freyda. It is a largely untested occurrence, as yet. You, being vampire as well, will bring more weight to the entire situation," Eric assured me.
"So what you mean is that the vampire marriage and the human marriage will cover all our bases, our asses even."
"Yes, of course." Pam suddenly joined in. "You must cover your asses, although not on my account. And you never know Sookie, you might get to like life as a vampire and decide to make it permanent."
"Well, there is that too," Eric grinned. I could see this idea had occurred to him. He liked being vampire and I'm sure he thought I would too, especially if I could get used to it through this illusion.
I smiled at Eric, and sighed. Ever the opportunist, Eric was killing two birds with one stone - getting rid of Freyda and giving me a taste of what he thought would be good for me – vampire existence. And I'd walked, at human speed, right into it.
I couldn't be mad at him though; it's the way Eric operates. But I still wasn't warmed by his calculated marriage proposal ... or order. As marriage proposals go, this one had improved upon the last. At least, it was recognisable to me, not like the pledging six months ago. I had never wanted to marry, if ever, for anything less than love though. And so far ... that four-letter word had been altogether absent.
"Let's put a hold on the human-marriage thing and see if we need to do ..." I started.
The look on Eric's face, hard as stone, stopped me in my negative tracks. His hand pressed mine tightly. He wasn't going to let up on this easily.
"You are saying no. You do not wish to be humanly-married to me," he said, in a voice cold enough to instantly ice hot tea. "This is why I did not ask you to be my pledged. I knew you would say no, just as you did when I was cursed. On the way to the Witch War, I asked if I could stay with you. I said we could go back, that I could love you, be with you always. You said it sounded like a marriage and I agreed it did. But you kept on going, you did not agree to that proposal of marriage either."
"But Eric, that wasn't the real you. I couldn't marry you when you were not yourself."
"I am the real me now and I am asking you again, Sookie. I have said I love you and now I wish to marry you. If it keeps us together, not parted, then even better. What do you answer?"
No illusion, no pretence now. This proposal appeared to be the genuine article. It's now or never, I thought. What did I want? What was I waiting for? Absolute certainty. There was no such thing in my world any more. There probably never had been; just an illusion is all. I tried to gather my thoughts. Tonight I'd used my cluviel dor to appear to be vampire, so I could keep Eric with me and Eric wanted to marry me humanly to keep me with him. We wanted the same thing! To be together. I liked that.
"We can know each other's bodies in every way, night after night," Eric said with a lusty leer on his lips. I'd heard that before and I liked that too.
"Well, that clinches it." I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in forever. "Let's get married, my human way this time."
"Now, this is what I came for - an engagement. Sookie, you have taken mercy on my master at last," said Pam. "How do we celebrate this event?"
"We, that is Sookie and I, are about to indulge in some hot cold vampire sex," Eric informed Pam, as he rose up and swept me into his arms. We spun in the air. "And Pam, you will be too busy to celebrate because you are organising this wedding for your master and mistress."
Pam actually looked interested, but not in us, at the idea of wedding planning. I was a little concerned about how she would manage what was essentially a human wedding in the 21st Century.
As I looked at Eric with this worry on my lips, he said, "The sooner, the better too." And I saw it then, the love, when he caught my eyes with his.
Then he caught my lips too and our kiss, sealing the deal, distracted me completely. When Eric finally let me come up for air, Pam was gone and I wasn't too worried about the details any more.
"I love you, Eric," I managed breathlessly, "my fiancé." He looked amused at that description.
"Quite an occasion to celebrate. I never thought I'd be married in the human way again!" Eric observed, while still spinning us slowly in the air. "What about that hot cold vampire sex now? It might surprise you."
"I might surprise you too," I said, "How about this?" I wished, then popped out of Eric's arms, only to reappear across the room. "How about some hot fairy and vampire sex?"
A silent Eric looked stunned, as he levitated towards me, removing his jeans as he flew. "You didn't think I only wished to be vampire, did you? I wished to be able to appear in any supernatural form or as myself, whenever I want."
Eric reached me just as his boxers finally burst.
Epilogue
"Happy Anniversary to you," Pam sang. "How fast one year passes, since Eric and Sookie covered their asses, by getting married at Fangtasia ... didn't that amaze ya?"
"Enough!" the anniversary couple cried, in unison.
Sookie and Eric smiled at each other, and clinked their glasses in a toast. They were together, happier than ever. As expected, Freyda had been royally annoyed by Sookie's vampire appearance, due to 'accidental turning'. Then when she claimed Sookie wasn't a real vampire, because she wouldn't stay vampire or drink real blood, Eric had agreed, and played the married human-wife card.
With all the engagements, pledgings, weddings and anniversaries loose in the sultry Louisiana air, the mood had proved contagious. Freyda and Felipe tied the knot too. Peace, not war, had appeared to be the better option. So far, neither was any deader than usual!
Pam did lose Miriam, but she still got her man. Victor ended up finally dead ... under mysterious circumstances. But that's another story.
And Bubba is back.
He took the microphone from Pam and sang, "It's now or never, Come hold me tight ..."
The End
It's Now Or Never – lyrics were sung by Elvis Presley and written by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold