Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein are the sole property of Charlaine Harris and HBO (though I wish I owned Eric)

Chapter Two

It was like time stopped, and not in a good way. Eric broke from what he was doing and with vampire speed he straightened up and the only way to describe the way he looked was aware. I was overcome with a certain urgency and I knew that wasn't my feeling. I was feeling horny and that pretty much summed it up. His eyes opened wide and before I knew what was happened Eric grabbed me and spun me around from the door pushing me forward, as I heard a loud BANG. This whole incident probably only took about two seconds but for me it felt like a life time.

I had lost my balance, no thanks to the shoes that Eric wanted to "fuck" me in, and fell hard to the floor. His back was now against the door and there was a small puddle of blood forming underneath where he stood. I knew it wasn't my own. Not again, my thoughts groaned. Why did this always seem to happen when I was around Eric?

Many emotions ran across Eric's face in the few seconds after the blast, which I now assumed was a gunshot but due to the door and his body the bang had been muffled to my ears. The most surprising emotion that I felt come across the bond was relief, relief that I hadn't been harmed.

Once Eric was sure that the threat had passed he dashed to help me up off the floor. Good cause I'm not so sure I can get up with these stupid heels on, I thought. Once off the floor I straightened myself out and glanced over at the wooden door, there was a nice little splintery hole in it, then I looked at Eric. Other than his fangs being extended, if he was excited or in pain he wasn't showing it. Eric simply hauled off his Fangtasia tee to reveal a nasty bloody hole in his back, along with a set of perfectly chiselled muscles that would make even the gods weep.

"My shirts always get ruined around you." He almost sounded amused. I just rolled my eyes.

"Eric, what's going on? Won't they get away?"One of us had to sound concerned.

He ignored my first question. "Unlikely, I sent Pam after them and it is better that I stay with you." Hmm...interesting. " Did you hear anything?"

"Uh, no." I wanted to tell him that if he hadn't been sucking my tongue down his throat maybe I would have sensed our shooter, but that didn't seem appropriate.

Eric sat on the edge of his desk, probably because he didn't want to get blood on his chair or couch waiting to heal. I couldn't resist walking over to him and checking out the wound. Maybe it was my maternal instincts kicking in (or the bond) but I felt like I needed to take care of Eric, the thousand year old Viking vampire. Silly, I know.

The wound was deep, that meant the shooter was close to his (or her) target. I had so many questions that I didn't know where to begin. First things first, I grabbed a water bottle from Eric's mini fridge and some Kleenex and began to dab at the wound until the blood flow stopped, which didn't take long thanks to vampires having such thick blood not to mention healing like nobody's business.

The bullet had nearly protruded from the wound when Eric turned to face me, that smouldering look in his eyes. He was extremely pale and it didn't take a telepath to know what he was thinking.

I could feel his bloodlust through the bond. And thanks to the bond I really, really wanted him to have the blood and, ah, release that he so desired. But for some miracle I snapped myself out of it. There was a hole in the door, Jesus Christ Sheppard of Judah anyone walking by would have been able to hear or see us and I am so not into that sort of thing. I'm a lady and ladies don't have sex where other people can see them. Plus Pam or Amelia would probably be back here in a couple minutes. I hoped Amelia was alright. I thought that Eric would tell me if anything happened in the bar area.

Eric was still smouldering down at me intently but I wasn't in the mood anymore. There were too many unanswered questions.

"Eric, snap out of it," I waved a hand in front of his face then proceeded to hop off the desk to go heat him up some TrueBlood.

"But, Lover, why can I not have you?" Geez, he sounded so innocent and for about the tenth time that night I almost gave in. Then I got a chilly reminder that just because the lion is charming doesn't mean the gazelle shouldn't run for its dear life. And that's just what this little interaction was, predator stalking prey.

"I think you can manage. Besides, there's a bar full of fangbangers out there who would just die to be your meal," I joked but Eric just looked indifferent. I wondered if a little part of me wanted to know what he thought about having other women now that we were...well, what were we? Certainly we were bonded by blood, but that isn't really a title you would give to a questioning third party like the terms "boyfriend" or "husband."

Moments later Pam strolled into Eric's office like she owned the place, Amelia in tow. Upon seeing me, Amelia quickly rushed over and gave me a huge hug then stood me back and gave my entire body a good once over to check for damage which made me assumed that she had been at least briefed on the situation by Pam. She whispered that she had been worried about me and I returned her sentiments.

"I am here, Master." Pam announced and I had to stifle a little giggle at her formality. She didn't continue, instead she waited, like a good little child vampire, for her Master to address her.

"Did you apprehend our shooter?" Eric questioned, sipping on the synthetic blood that I handed him.

"No." Simple. One word answer. And it was the reason for all the "Master" business moments ago. When Pam wasn't in public or near other vampires, she did not address Eric as "Master" unless she had to suck up to him. I guess it had to do with appearances. Again she waited to be directly addressed.

Eric looked slightly annoyed and I felt anger coming through the bond. "Why?"

"I hunted after the culprit, but they're trail disappeared."

"Like into thin air?!" I spat out slightly shocked.

I wasn't dignified with an answer, instead the two vampires began having one of their creepy mental conversations. Because of the bond I was now able to pick up more of the vampire mystiques such as I could feel the mental conversations going on (but I still couldn't hear a word they said, or thought). I could also sense glamour more. One time, while I was working for Eric, I had frustrated him so much that he attempted to glamour me as a sort of last resort. I screamed "I am not going to let you fuck me right here!" and the look on his face was priceless. I still couldn't hear the glamour but I got a very good sense of what was trying to be willed at me or even other people. Eric tested this out a couple of times by glamouring fangbangers or other waitresses in front of me and I was very accurate in my assessments.

Amelia and I were still standing around looking at our fingernails grow while the silent conversation was ending.

"Sookie, you're staying at my house tonight." Eric said in tone that told me that there was no point in arguing, but a girl could try.

Uh. I don't think so. "No Eric. I'm staying at my home. In Bon Temps. You remember the place?"

"Oh Lover, of course I remember." He gave me a wicked grin. Well, that sent shivers down my spine.

"But no, you will be staying with me. There is far too much danger for you to go home."

"What about Amelia?"

"She's staying with me." Pam piped up. "We are going to have a slumber party."

As creepy as a slumber party with a vampire seemed, I would rather do that than end up in bed with Eric tonight because I know that's exactly where this evening was leading and I knew I would be powerless to stop it, hell I wasn't so sure I would want to stop it.

"Then I'll go with Pam." I pleaded at her with my eyes not to let me go with the big bad Viking, something I had done to Bill the first time Eric summoned me.

Eric just chuckled at my gesture. "I do not want to put Pam in harm's way, or Amelia." He obviously added Amelia as an afterthought due to a long pause between their names. "The attempt was on your life, Sookie." This was news to me as I shot Eric a very questioning look motioning him to continue. "Lover, they were using a gun and unless we are dealing with incompetent imbeciles, they would not use bullets to kill or harm me. Either they are after you just because you are you," I shot him a nasty glare "or they are after you because they are trying to get to me, or someone else that you are closely associated with. Either way, I am not going to risk any harm coming to you."

"Couldn't they get to you through Pam also?"

"Possibly, as a last resort, but for one, Pam can handle herself and secondly; if they were going to go after Pam they would have already done so when she was alone on her breaks this evening."

I had run out of good arguments. Eric was right. It would be stupid to put Pam or Amelia in the middle of this and Amelia looked downright giddy at the prospect of spending more time with Pam. Amelia verbally assured me that this was the best way to go about business and I apologized almost a million times for her ruined birthday party and told her that I would make it up to her somehow.

It was only 12AM by this point but Eric and I couldn't risk putting anyone else in danger in the bar so Pam was charged with the duty of closing up shop. Eric threw on one of his spare shirts that he keeps in the wardrobe in his office and I kept the bullet that he had been shot with in order to protect me. It had become something of a tradition to do that. Then Eric and I hit the road in his red Corvette going faster than a bat out of hell down the narrow two lane streets of Shreveport. Pam said that she would move my car to the back of the bar, so I gave her my keys. The drive to his house was comfortably silent with both of us immersed in deep thought, but only took 20 minutes or so.

I never gave much thought to what Eric's place of residents might look like. I just sort of assumed it would be some big ostentatious Castle Of Doom. I wasn't far off, metaphorically speaking. It was in the back part, which is the wealthiest part, of the only gated community in Renard Parrish. As we approached his house, in the dim light I could tell that it wasn't symmetrical; rather, it had at least three or four sections, all of varying heights with flat roofs that were coming off of a large main section. The outside walls were definitely laid with stone bricks but I couldn't tell what colour because there were only a couple of lights on. Wooden beams were coming off of the house in patters. The whole place looked very earthy and organic and extremely different from all the other typical southern Victorian mansions and estates that we passed on our way here.

"Bat cave." I muttered under my breath as we drove into Eric's garage. He chuckled. Before I could even unbuckle my seat belt he was opening my car door helping me out like a perfect gentleman. He took my hand and escorted me inside, disarming a security system as we entered the first set of glass doors. He casually said "I'll show you how to use this later. " Referring to the alarm console.

Entering our second set of doors Eric flipped some switches, for my benefit, and I gasped. It was beautiful. His place was like a work of art. It was extremely open concept only separated here or there by a sheet of glass or a stone pillar or some changes in the level (one step up here and one step down there). Many of the walls facing the front of his property were brick stone, but the walls facing the back were glass, bulletproof he informed me. The ceiling was quite high and sectioned off with wooden beams. All the furnishings were of course minimalist, which fit with the earthy natural quality of the space. All the couches and chairs were black leather. The floors were a dark hardwood with a few area rugs. I noticed some relics encased in large glass boxes strategically spaced around. I would have to ask Eric about them later, they were probably artefacts from his human existence or items of meaning that he had acquired earlier on as a vampire because they looked that old and I knew that Eric wasn't the sentimental type so those must have meant a lot to him.

After what seemed like an eternity of my gawking and Eric practically preening he was so proud, he led me to a stairway that was in the middle of the main section. It was probably as wide as I am tall. It too was made out of smooth pebbles inlaid into concrete. The black steel rail of the banister actually hung from the ceiling. As we walked up and into the new space I was once more quite shocked by what I saw. The expanse of it was massive, like the first floor, but everything was level here so you could actually grasp the enormity of the space. Of course, I'm just a simple barmaid so my idea of huge might be a bit off from a worldlier person's, but I know a big space when I see one.

Like the first floor it had a lounging area, but I noticed a large home office in the left back corner sectioned off by glass panels. I also noticed a sort of entertainment centre with a large screen plasma television and a lot of audio-stereo equipment.

There was only one room that seemed to be completely sealed of by stone walls. For the life of me I couldn't imagine what else this place was missing.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"One of my bedrooms." He replied, before adding with a wiggle of his eyebrows, "Would you like to see it?"

"Uh, maybe later." I was in a serious daze.

"Definitely later." Well then, I guess that was settled. He continued "But first lover, we are going to have a little talk."

"Eric, do we really have to do this right now? I'm tired and in need of food."

"Sookie, what are you so scared of?" I hate it when he answers one of my questions with another question.

"I...I don't really know" I let my head fall down to look at the ground. It wasn't that I didn't know it was more just that I didn't know how to tell Eric that I hated all his vampire political bullshit and so on.

My stomach growled and before I could say "put me down" I was in his arms and in a very large kitchen. He set me on a high stool at a large island with a black sparkly granite countertop as he moved to the pantry. All the appliances appeared to be brand new and top-of-the-line, which is odd because vampires definitely do not eat food.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"Well Sookie, this is a kitchen." I just rolled my eyes at his attempt to be cute.

"No shit Sherlock."

"My Sookie, you do have a way with words." He paused briefly as he dug out some ingredients. "This is my home, it has been for quite some time. Have you ever heard the name Frank Lloyd Wright?"

I actually had. "Wasn't he some sort of famous architect? He designed that weird museum in New York?" it was more a question because I was unsure, but I remembered who he was from taking an integrated technology course in high school. I connected the dots though. "Wait...the Frank Lloyd Wright designed your house?"

"You do have unexpected depths Lover. You are correct, the Guggenheim. And yes he did design it."

This was definitely a story I wanted to hear and it opened up a whole realm of conversations that were unrelated to The Talk.

"Didn't Wright die in the late 1950s? So that means you've been in Shreveport for over 50 years." What a depressing thought.

"Actually no, I have not been here that long. Wright was made vampire in 1959." Well that was news to me. "Even in his old age he was found very useful since he was able to build effective and secure hidey-holes, as you like to call them."

Eric had finished fumbling around the kitchen and placed a plate in front of me. Again, I was shocked by what I saw. It was a really delicious looking turkey sandwich, complete with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. I probably shouldn't have been so surprised; it's not that hard to make a sandwich, even if you haven't had to eat one in over a thousand years. My first bite into it was heavenly and the hunger pangs in my stomach subsided. I started blushing when I realized that Eric was staring at me all too intently.

"It satisfies me watching you eat." He offered as an explanation.

"I know the feeling. It's the blond bond." I said. He grinned lazily at me.

Once I finished every last delicious crumb I got up to wash my plate but Eric immediately grabbed it from me and just tossed it in the sink. He sat back down across from me and stared into my eyes.
"Well Lover, it seems that you have now run out of excuses to run from me." I was tempted to yawn and say that I was still tired, but after all he had done for me, even just tonight, I decided to throw him a bone. Instead I sighed and motioned for him to continue.

"I want you to be mine. I know that you say that you are your own woman, and I respect that, but I want to take care of you and comfort you. I will be yours as much as you will be mine. You are the most stubborn human that I have ever come across in my long existence not to mention the fact that I find myself constantly worrying about you and your humanity. I know you would like to write all of this off to your insignificant fey heritage, and I cannot understand why you underestimate yourself." A single tear trickled down my cheek at his last statement. He took my hand from across the counter and began stroking it gently,"It is also not only the bond that we share. There are feelings that have run, that do run deeper than both of those and I would like to explore them with you if you would just let me in. I wasn't lying when I said I would give up everything for you while I was cursed. The offer still stands if that is what you desire." The emotions coming across the bond were overwhelming with hope, honesty and...love?

Well, when he put it like that. "Oh gosh Eric no! I would never take you away from everything, you would be miserable because that's just selfish. But," I started blushing, "if we are going to do this, then I have a few conditions. You're right, I am my own woman. I want to make my own decisions about things like where I live and work. I know my working for Sam is a constant annoyance to you but, if you can handle that without interfering then I will--" I struggled with the possessive pronoun but there really was no better way to put it, and I found by saying it out loud I sort of liked the way it sounded in a messed up kind of way, "be yours."

All I could feel coming across the bond now was pure happiness and it was making me feel a little giddy, but in a good way.

Eric was around the counter and in front of me in an instant, scooping me up into a mind blowing kiss. When he stopped licking my neck he said amused, "What, no Kept Woman Clause?"

I laughed and swatted his arm but warned him about that too saying that I was not a whore and couldn't be bought off with Pretty Things. He told me that it made him feel good to take care of me. I also told him that there were other things that needed to be discussed but we both agreed that we had at least reached Eric's goal for tonight and would leave another discussion for later (including my "Kept Woman Clause")...because now we had other matters to attend to.

TBC

Reviews make Eric happy.

A/N: I assumed Shreveport was in Renard Parrish (Or however its spelled) but I really have no clue and my research was inconclusive so pardon me if I am wrong about it. It doesn't really matter for the sake of the story.