A/N: Lots of love and sweet Viking kisses to NorthmanMaille/AlisonbyNumbers. Get well soon, sweetie! XOXO tvgirl. nicole/tvgirl_
In lieu of reviews, please leave well wishes for Ali (story also found at pen name Alison-beads-of-fiction).
This take places during Definitely Dead. Disclaimer: Not mine. None of it. *sad panda*
NOLA E.R.
Can this woman go twenty-four hours without trouble finding her? Eric thought angrily as he entered the emergency room where Sookie had been taken after being attacked by Jake Purifoy, new child of the night. A were turned vamp. Hadley would have been better off letting him die, Eric thought. After news of the incident had come through to the palace, he had set off for the hospital hastily, much to the surprise (And dismay, perhaps? Eric wondered) of the queen.
As he walked through the halls of the emergency room he was bombarded with the decrepit stench of sickness mingled with the delicious smells of varying blood types. For a vampire, it was a tantalizing and repulsive aroma, all at the same time. A bit contradictory, but not completely unpleasant. Sookie's blood was calling to him, but the most wonderful scent stopped him dead in his tracks as he passed a private room that had its door slightly ajar.
Eric halted, backed up, and peeked into the private room. A beautiful young woman lay sleeping soundly in a hospital bed adorned with ivory Egyptian cotton sheets and a plush, deep purple duvet, hardly standard hospital fare.
The sweetest scent wafted from her room, enticing him to enter. There was a hint of lemon in the air. Odd that what seemed close to a fairy scent would be combined with any form of citrus, Eric thought. He looked at the dry-erase board hanging on the door to the room and spotted Dr. Ludwig's name listed as the woman's attending physician. So that is fairy I smell, Eric thought, as his eyes began to glaze over.
Eric stilled himself and shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and senses of the fairy and got back to the task at hand. Sookie. He could investigate the fairy after checking on Sookie. Ugh, he thought, after checking on her and dispensing the despicable news of Bill's betrayal. No matter how much he disliked Compton, he wasn't looking forward to the effect it would have on her. He felt an overwhelming desire to protect her, but he also knew that she needed to know the truth. She was strong, though, and would recover. He was confident in that.
^v^ o ^v^ o ^v^
"Spineless coward," Eric muttered under his breath.
Eric walked away from Sookie's curtained-off area overshadowed by visions of all the nasty things he would love to do to Bill Compton in retribution for hurting his Sookie. So ensconced in these thoughts, he nearly walked by the fairy woman's room without a second glance. But that glorious fae scent captured his attention and roused him from his musings.
Eric looked up at the dry-erase board and read beyond Dr. Ludwig's name for the first time.
"Alison Northman Maille," he whispered.
That doesn't sound like a fairy name, he thought. He pushed the door open further and stepped over the threshold.
Eric stood at the foot of the well-appointed bed, staring at the lovely girl snuggled under the covers. She was breathtaking. He picked up the girl's chart and read Dr. Ludwig's cramped handwriting. Obviously she was fae if Dr. Ludwig was caring for her; and she no doubt had fae relatives caring for her, indicative of the fancy bedding and plethora of plush flower arrangements placed throughout the room. But why was she in a human hospital?
The chart explained she was suffering from slight lemon poisoning due to accidental ingestion of lemon in her sweet tea. Dr. Ludwig had made her notes in German to keep the human doctors in the dark. The fairy was a visitor to New Orleans and her human friends had taken her to the E.R. when she had fallen ill at Café Du Monde, obviously not knowing that fairies didn't belong in a human hospital, or probably that fairies existed at all, let alone belong in a human hospital
Hmm, Eric thought. She must still be here because it was too late to whisk her out of this hospital once all that pesky paperwork went through the computer system. Sometimes modern technology is more of a hindrance than a help.
His gaze returned to the sleeping beauty. Sleeping beauty… maybe a vampire's kiss might help what ails her, he thought with a smirk.
Eric rounded the hospital bed and leaned in towards the fairy, Alison, inhaling deeply as he inched closer. Her smell was intoxicating. It reminded him of Sookie, which was odd seeing as Sookie was not fae. Eric put that thought aside for later consideration. The fairy at hand stirred and sighed in her sleep, a slight smile crossing her lips as she dreamed.
This fairy, this Alison, reminded him of his Sookie when she slept, so sweet and innocent. Eric shook his head, overcome with a brief flash of the time when he was cursed, Sookie curled up into his side, sated and sleeping soundly with him in her bed. The memory was gone as quickly as it had appeared.
Eric felt frustrated at the sudden appearance and disappearance of a memory. Anger flooded him, and he wanted nothing more than to drain the beautiful fairy before him. But, that flash of Sookie sleeping so peacefully subdued him. Instead, he placed a soft kiss on Alison's lips and quickly took leave.
^v^ o ^v^ o ^v^
Sunshine filtered through the windows of Alison's hospital room as she slowly awakened from her deep sleep.
"Hmm, that's weird, it almost smells like vampire in here," she muttered to herself.
Alison gasped as the night's dream returned to her, a tall, blonde, staggeringly beautiful hunk of a man standing over her bed, leaving the softest of kisses on her lips. She blushed and pulled her covers over her head, willing herself back to dreamland. It couldn't have been real, could it have? she thought to herself, as she fell back to sleep.
oOo – FIN - oOo
A/N2: Thanks to seastarr08 for putting this together for Ali, being my beta on this and just generally being an all-around cool chick. Ditto on beta skills and all-round coolness to my baby girl, LindsayK/scribeninja. :-)