Disclaimer: The Sookie Stackhouse Series is the creation of Charlaine Harris. Don't sue me Charlaine! I love your books.

Strong Warning- there will be a scene of implied sexual violence in one of the last chapters. I strongly suggest caution on the part of readers uneasy with such plot elements.

Gambit

II.

The next day, Saturday, I slept in. I'd swapped out days with Holly because of covering for her. Hoyt was going to watch Cody if he was still sick.

I awoke in Eric's bed and guessed he must have carried me upstairs because I'd fallen asleep. It was past noon. I had been so caught up in trying to analyze the situation, and so exhausted, that it was one of those rare nights that Eric just let me sleep with no 'distractions'. He'd undressed me, though, I noticed with a smile. I sat up, looking around the dark room. The glow in the dark stars I'd put on the ceiling (much to Eric's amusement) would have faded hours ago if he'd had the lights on to read just before dawn. In the dark, I could still make out Eric, all tangled up in the sheets, naked as usual, his hair everywhere. I combed through it with my fingertips, straightening it out. I kissed him and then I got up carefully in the dark room and went down the hall to my room, first closing his door and then my door once I was in my room.

The desk in my blue room was overflowing with papers, notebooks, books and my laptop. My bookcase now had over thirty books. I glanced around the room observing that the room was much more mine these days. I had several African violet plants, which could get sun if I opened my light shielding panels. Since my bedroom door was closed, I went ahead and slid open the panels and enjoyed the sunshine. It was the perfect light for them in this window. Gran had loved African violets.

Before taking my shower I checked my email. I was delighted to see that I had gotten an A- on my economics test. What a relief. I had started taking classes at LSU Shreveport in mid May, in the summer semester. I had enrolled as a Political Science major. College was working out okay. So far, I had taken two classes in the first summer session, English Composition and a College Algebra class, and I was proud to have gotten As in both. In the second session I was taking Economics, and an English Literature class, which I was enjoying immensely. If I kept my grade in Economics at no lower than A, I wouldn't have to take the final exam.

Eric had been very supportive of my taking the classes. I think he still hoped I'd quit working at Merlotte's, go to college, move full time to Shreveport and we'd live happily ever now. Of course, that would be way too simple for a girl like me. I was determined to keep working and to spend time in my family home. Sam had been had managed to create a work schedule that let me get to my classes, and still not offend Eric's sensibilities. The economics class was two and a half hours at night, Mondays and Wednesdays, so I worked those days. English Lit was Tuesdays and Thursdays in the morning, so those days I worked my two nights. Then I'd usually work Friday or Saturday lunch. We'd made it work.

After taking a shower, I lay in bed reading for my English class. I had to write a short paper on Keats' poem Lamia, which is about a woman who changes from snake to woman and back again when she is discovered. I had read in a mythology book that Lamiai drank blood and had vampire like characteristics. It made me think of the Ancient Pythoness. I had heard she had survived the Rhodes summit because she had left well before the explosions.


In the late afternoon, after finishing and emailing my paper, I crawled back into bed for a nap. I could really use more sleep. And I loved waking up with Eric. He was still in exactly the same position as he was at noon. I squirmed back under his arm and sank into a blissful sleep.

I awoke to Eric's lips kissing my eyes, my nose, my mouth, and his hands were… everywhere. With joy that just didn't seem to diminish with time, we made love. Afterwards, I lay with my cheek on his chest looking down his long, lean and muscular body and sighed. The thought of getting up, showering and getting dressed to go to Fangtasia was almost unbearable.

Eric sensed my fatigue at the prospect, he said "You need a vacation, Sookie. You really need to take time off."

"Time off would just end up being time working at the club with Pam, Eric, so I'll just skip it. Fangtasia is, if you'll excuse the pun, more draining than Merlotte's."

He groaned at that one.

"Maybe we can take a break after the summit," he suggested.

"Maybe," I sighed. Pulling Eric away from Fangtasia did not look like a good prospect.

"So what was churning away in your mind last night?"

I rolled over onto my stomach and propped myself up a bit on my elbows, looking at him.

"You don't know of any link between Victor and Rasul?" I asked.

"No, although hopefully Bill's been busy trying to find out if there is one."

"I don't know. I wonder about Rasul. I just… I think it's very odd that Sigebert ended up in the Merlotte's parking lot that night, Eric. All the way from Baton Rouge, on his own, so injured. It doesn't make sense to me. I know he and Wybert were Sophie-Anne's strong men, but it just doesn't seem to me that he was smart enough to have tracked all the way up to Shreveport and then to Bon Temps, on his own, to find Felipe, and maybe you."

"So you think Rasul led him?"

"If he did, he meant to kill you, too. But I would think there would be more to it as well."

"Such as?"

"If Felipe hatched a plot to take over Louisiana and Arkansas, what if there was a subplot on the part of Victor to then lure Felipe here, kill him and then they divide the spoils. Victor takes the biggest part, Nevada, and then maybe Rasul, since you're out of the way, takes Louisiana, right? So who was getting Arkansas? Because I really can't see Rasul getting both. And I don't think that they had the support to hold three states between the two of them, do you?"

Eric was silent, thinking.

"Could it be Sandy?" I asked.

"If that was the case, why did Victor let me surrender, Sookie? He could have killed me, kept you, Bill, and moved forward from there."

He was right there. Why had Victor let him live, if he was directly involved in the plot? Was Victor then caught in something else just as we were? Perhaps he became involved in a plot after the fact? After Eric had sworn loyalty to Felipe?

"How long have you known Victor?"

"About a century. We were in New York together around 1900. He came over from England. I knew him for about twenty years there. Sophie-Anne recruited me to Louisiana in the 20's and I hadn't seen him since. Victor is a pretty slippery character, Sookie."

"Well, then why did he let you live, and why does he continue intercede on my behalf with Felipe after we got him to talk to Felipe in May? He's told Felipe several times that I won't move and has reminded him that I can't work if I'm upset or unhappy. He's kept a close eye on me. Why bother?"

"He could want you for himself. By biding his time and earning your trust now, if he did takeover Nevada, he'd have built a better likelihood of getting you to Vegas when he's in charge."

"But I'd still want to stay with you. You would still be here."

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe that's part of a plan. From their perspective, if I'm out of the way, you are free to bond to another. You are certainly one of the most valuable assets in the three states, especially for Nevada. But the one that seems to be keenest on exploring that option is Rasul. Victor has certainly never expressed his interest in you in the same fashion as Rasul did last night."

I shuddered at the thought. Even if my worst fear could never be visited upon me, the thought of it made me feel ill.

"Shhhhhhh," Eric turned toward me and kissed my forehead. "It will be fine, Sookie."

He stroked my hair, and as if responding to our mutual worry, my eyes just welled up. He stared at me for several moments and then looked away.

"Can Niall alter your bond to me?" he asked in a low whisper.

I was shocked. "No! It was a gift, given and accepted. It is irrevocable. And why would I ever want him to?"

I rolled over and got out of bed. In a flash, Eric was after me, pulling me to him and then turning my face up to his.

"I just want to keep you safe. I'm not rejecting what you have given. You've refused to tell me anything specific about the bond. I know you've put your life in with mine. I don't know… the boundaries of it."

"It's simple Eric. If I die, you'll be fine. If you die, I'll be fine, according to my idea of what would be fine to me at that juncture. It just might not be what everyone else thinks of as fine," I said in a cold voice.

"But if I was harmed, would that bond affect you?"

He had never seriously asked me about the bond before. I hadn't been too receptive about discussing it. "My life force is bound to yours. You could in theory draw on it if you needed to, and yes, I would likely be affected by it because I am mortal. I'd rather take that risk than be left alone if you died."

Eric blanched at that information.

"And Niall let you do this? He helped you do this?" He looked at me in an inscrutable way.

"He understands me fully on the matter. Really, if you were honest with yourself, you'd understand, too. And if you were very honest with yourself, you'd see what an advantage this gives you in the present situation in the longevity department. If anything happens to you, the little mind reader that you say is so valuable is toast."

I pulled away from him, turned and walked down the hall to the bathroom.

I was breathing heavily. I was incredulous that Eric still didn't seem to grasp what my life would be like if something happened to him, had I not fixed things the way they presently stood. It was as if he never saw me beyond the boundaries of my being 'his'. While part of me accepted that, at times it made me angry. His faith in his own survival seemed to just obviate any ability to put himself in my shoes if he was killed. Well, I thought to myself, thank goodness I'm motivated to take things into my own hands…

I ran the water for the shower and turned to find Eric right behind me. I no longer jumped when he did that.

With his presence so near, tears ran down my face. Eric brushed them away and then pulled me into the shower with him. I stood there while he soaped me and rinsed me, and then himself. He didn't say a word, but I could feel a maelstrom of confused emotion, including anger, from him. Stopping the water, he suddenly pushed me hard against the cold tile wall and kissed me passionately for a long time. Then he stopped and looked at me with a burning intensity, even anger.

"Don't tell me that I'll be fine if something happens to you ever again," he said angrily.

He left the shower, grabbed a towel and stalked out of the bathroom.

I went into my bedroom to change. Eric came in fully dressed and stood with his arms crossed.

"Given the state of things, I'm concerned, " he said quietly.

"And?"

"And I want you to tell Bill."

"Tell Bill what?"

"We should actually tell Bill, and Pam, about your bond to me. Bill has no idea and Pam probably thought it had to do with fidelity or some such thing. They need to know. If I'm to keep you safe, they have to help keep me safe, for you."

"Why Pam? Why does Pam have to know?"

"I trust Pam fully, but it will be an extra ounce of motivation to keep us safe. You and I both know she's crossed a line where her friendship with you has the potential to divide her loyalties. This just focuses them."

I tried to take a deep breath and process that thought. I'd have to deal with that one later. Pam had never been disloyal to Eric and I would never knowingly put her in such a position where there was a choice to be made. How could he even suggest such a thing?

And how, I wondered, could I possibly tell Bill?

"I can't face telling Bill. I just can't. He's barely over our marrying."

"Well, he's going to have to tough it out, Sookie," Eric said coldly. "If he loves you as much as he says he does, then he's got to have a vested interest in covering my back to keep anything from happening to you. He may not be looking at things from that perspective, Sookie. And he has a right to know the truth."

I absorbed what he was really saying. Could Bill actually be waiting in the wings to see if something happened to Eric so that he could pick up the pieces of my life? Could that lead to Bill even plotting against Eric? And Eric was in turn going to exploit Bill's affection for me to keep himself, and by extension me, safe? The words 'a vampire, by definition, is twisty and deceptive' came to the forefront of my mind.

My head was spinning and I plopped down on the bed and leaned forward over my knees. Eric sat down next to me and stroked my back gently. Maybe these reports of my being so sensitive to stress were not so exaggerated after all, I thought to myself, taking deep breaths.

He spoke to me gently. "I can tell Pam, Sookie, but there is no way I can deliver that kind of information to Bill without his thinking that this is something I forced on you. You'll have to tell him yourself. But you need to tell him."

I realized, sadly, that he was right. At one point I had been so angry at Bill I didn't even what to hear or speak his name. Now, I almost pitied him. I did not relish the idea of hurting him further.

I rose to dress and chose non-Fangtasia style clothes yet again. A long sleeved pink shirt that matched my nails, and white slacks. Eric visibly rolled his eyes a bit, but said nothing. I was not in the mood for dark and twisty.

Once I was dressed, Eric kissed my forehead and reminded me,

"You need to eat, Lover." I was down to a trim size 8 these days. It was hard to focus on meals when you lived with a vampire. I'd gotten into the habit of eating only once or twice a day, generally at Merlotte's. Eric was making a concerted effort to keep me eating.

He took my hand and we went downstairs.