A/N: this is roughly a continuation of my story, Eric's Wish. Eric has turned Sookie, at her request, and she is essentially happy with her nature. All SVM characters are property of Charlaine Harris. I own Elliot. Special thanks to my beta, vikingloverelle, for helping me with this!

I had been with Eric about 200 years. He was my maker, my bonded, my husband, my soul mate, but after two centuries, I needed to branch out on my own. I wasn't breaking from him permanently, I loved him too much for that, just taking a trip on my own for the first time.

Eric understood. We had been through many, many things together and were still as devoted as ever. But he understood my need to go out on my own, to hunt alone, to have an adventure. Our lives had become a bit mundane: Fangtasia, his sheriff duties, our home life, feeding together, sex together, more Fangtasia. I needed a spark, something fresh, new and just mine. I went with his blessing.

All this led up to how I found myself in Dublin. I had tried every type of blood there was to sample by this point, except Fairy. The portals had been closed for ages, since just after the last Fairy War. My great-grandfather, the fairy prince Niall Brigant, closed them himself in an effort to keep me safe. However, since then, tasting Fairy had become something of an obsession for me. Eric had tried to describe my taste, my scent, what my human blood had done for him, but it was impossible to imagine. He had done his best to try to locate a human with fairy blood, as a gift for me, but needless to say any human with fairy blood left on our side of the portal was keeping firmly away from vampires.

In my quest to find the next best thing, I decided to travel to Ireland as it was the ancient land of the faeries--mysterious and superstitious even to this day. My thinking was, if any part-fairy humans still remained, chances are they were in Ireland.

I spent several nights wandering Dublin past Trinity College, watching the students come and go in their distinctive scarves, up and down Grafton Street, looking in shop windows, generally acclimating myself to the layout and feel of the city. Vampires were long out of the coffin, of course, but in a country heavily populated with Catholics, not plentiful here. I attracted some attention simply by my pale appearance (I will always miss my tan), but for the most part was left in peace, to my great pleasure. Eric taught me well how to defend myself, and my glamour influence over humans was very strong, but I still wished for a peaceful existence. I never came near to draining anyone, even as a newborn vampire, and I was always careful to heal the wounds on my donors and treat them as people, not food.

I was wandering along the Liffey, passing pub after pub, when I saw him or rather, smelled him. I was mingling in with the Friday night crowds when I was suddenly hit with the most enticing aroma I'd ever smelled in my life. It reminded me of baking chocolate chip cookies, the sweetest perfume and sex, all rolled into one. My nose immediately began to seek the source of this delicious scent. I found the object of my search standing at the railing next to the river, staring nervously at one of the rare pubs for vamps in Dublin.

He was young, no more than 18 or 19, tall - maybe even a bit taller than Eric - and quite gangly. He had yet to fill out his frame, but I could tell from his bone structure that he would be quite a large man when he fully matured, broad and strong. He had soft brown hair, worn in a slightly floppy style, and gentle blue eyes. He had a lovely pale complexion, with pink cheeks, very English rose. His nose was small and pert, slightly upturned on the ends.

My telepathy had carried over when I turned, so I lowered my shields to listen to him.

"...want to go in, but scared. Don't want a male vamp, but I haven't seen any women. Ugh, I don't know why I keep obsessing about vampires surely this isn't normal? But I can't let it go, I have to find one, have to try..."

Perfect. I moved out of the shadows and into the halo of light provided by a streetlamp, next to him. I waited patiently until he noticed me. Once he became aware of my presence, it took him a few seconds to catch on to my vampiric state. When he did, his eyes widened and his heart rate spiked.

I smiled reassuringly and extended my hand to him, in a very un-vampire like gesture. I knew instinctively that, while he wanted a vampire, he needed gentle handling and human gestures to put him at ease.

"Hi, I'm Sookie Stackhouse," I said as I extended my hand. I used my softest Southern accent, and my other hand played with my hair in an imitation of my old nervous tic.

He hesitated, but took my proffered hand, shaking it softly, as if afraid he might break me. His was warm and slightly damp, and I could feel the blood pulsing under his skin. Standing so close to him, his scent became almost overwhelming, and I had to fight to keep control of myself. I had a feeling I had stumbled across what I was searching for, as I never had difficulty controlling my urges.

"I'm Elliot Shaughnessy," he replied. His voice was a rich baritone, and his Irish accent was music to my ears.

"What are you doing here, Elliot?" I gestured with my head towards the vampire pub, still holding his hand.

"I... er, I wanted to meet a vampire," he stuttered, blushing.

"Does your mother know you're here, Elliot?" I asked softly.

"My mam's dead. She died when I was eleven."

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Elliot, very sorry. I lost my parents when I was seven, I know how hard it is. What about your father?"

"My da's remarried, has a new family now. I left when I turned 18, been on my own since."

"How old are you now, Elliot?"

"Nineteen."

"I see. And where do you live?"

"I have a flat I share with 3 other lads. We all work different shifts, so we don't see each other much." He was so much like me when I met my first vampire so open, so willing to share details of himself that would have best been kept quiet. Lucky for him, I was not the type to take advantage of him, drain him and leave him in an alley somewhere, knowing it might be days before he was missed.

"Why do you want to meet a vampire, Elliot?" I kept my voice soft, even.

"I've heard that sex with a vampire is out of this world. I wanted to try it." He blushed, the darkest shade of red I'd ever seen, and he kept his eyes down.

"I see. But you were waiting for a woman?"

"Yes ma'am. I don't... I've never really been into men, y'see."

"Are you a virgin, Elliot?" Again, he blushed, scarlet this time.

"No ma'am. My girl from school days, y'see, a few times."

"I do see. Elliot, you know that sex with vampires means letting them bite you, drink from you, right?"

"Er, yes ma'am."

"And you are interested in that?" A nod. "Elliot, would you like to go back to my hotel with me?"

He raised his head and looked me in the eyes for the first time. "Yes ma'am."

"Sookie, call me Sookie." Another nod.

"Yes, Sookie."