Bill POV - Bill learns some strategy from the Viking
I'm doing my nightly rounds on my property despite the icy rain this evening because I enjoy the bounty of nature, no matter the weather. Somehow the beauty of my world of endless nights seems enhanced by the smell of wet wood and the melodic rhythms of rain hitting the ground.
I'm pulled from my relaxing thoughts by the loud hoot of an owl in a tall tree. I find it very odd to hear an owl out in this kind of weather, but before I have time to think on it, the glow from Sookie's living room window catches my attention. There is a certain flicker of luminescence and an enchanting smell which confirms a roaring fire, surely lit to remove the chill from this cold night.
I barely realize that the light is drawing me nearer, like the attraction of a moth to a flame, until I'm much closer to her home than I have been in weeks. I listen with my exceptional vampire hearing in an attempt to catch the reassuring sound of her heartbeat, slow and steady. Her pulse is anything but slow and steady though. On this night it is beating at a fast, erratic pace, much like the excited rhythm of someone on the edge of ecstasy. That is when I realize that he must be here. Eric!
I retreat with the knowledge that my sheriff has most likely already registered my presence so close to the house. I would like to give the impression that I'm leaving, but I already know that I have not yet quenched my desire to see her. My Sookie.
My curiosity was sparked the moment the light of her home began calling out to me, as if trying to entice my interest through the darkness. However, now that I now she has romantic company, I find myself wanting the sweet sorrow that comes from seeing her in the throes of passion, even if it isn't with me.
If her pulse is any indication, I suspect they are making love in front of the fire. As I ascend a tree that would give me the best vantage point to peak into this private moment undetected, I can't help but recall how that used to be me inside, enjoying the warmth of her home, her body, and her heart.
'I really hope I don't get caught out here.' Perhaps Eric will be so preoccupied with Sookie that he won't even realize I'm here or he'll think I went home defeated, not that he'd mind if I saw them like this anyway. In fact, he'd probably enjoy the idea of me seeing her satisfaction with him, as an unattainable object of my desire. 'Our situations have completely reversed,' I sadly note to myself. Bastard Viking!
Surprise is an understatement when I realize they are not making love, but simply playing a game of cards on a blanket in front of the fire. 'Why is she so excited then?' I wonder. 'Maybe she's winning,' I muse, 'Eric probably always wins when they play games. He wins at everything.'
It is at this exact moment that I see her remove her shirt and laugh. 'He does truly win at everything,' I sneer. Eric waggles his eyebrows at her suggestively. Apparently, he is in fact winning this game of cards. Not just a simple game of gin or poker though, but strip poker, which they both seem to be enjoying immensely. That explains the amusement I can still feel from her through our fading connection.
I notice that she is losing articles of clothing at an exceptionally fast pace. Either she's terrible at poker or Eric is cheating somehow. 'For this infraction, I can't say I blame him. If I had been playing this game with Sookie, I would do the same thing.' I notice that he keeps glancing at something behind her, so quickly that this action would be imperceptible to her human eyes. 'Ah ha! That cheat can see her cards!'
'Oh how I wish these two never met,' I punish myself by thinking. 'If I hadn't been so foolish as to bring her to Eric's attention in the first place, I would surely be the one reaping the benefits of knowing this magnificent human.' I miss everything about her. Even the things that used to annoy me, which somehow Eric seems not to even notice.
Right now, for instance, he seems perfectly at ease with the fact that she's snacking on some sort of undoubtedly awful smelling human food. It used to annoy me that she would eat in front of me knowing that I couldn't. I always found it a little rude. Though, I think now that maybe I could put up with it again if that is what it took.
I watch as he reaches out his long arm as if to grab her breast in a not so subtle way. She merely slaps his hand away as they laugh together. If I tried to grab her that way, even when we were at our best, she would have gotten huffy and stomped around at my inappropriate behavior. But for him she simply laughs it off, likes it even. I just don't get it. Eric?
I am aware that he is a very attractive man. At any time in history, a man of his physicality and appearance would have been considered extraordinary. He has that look that many women consider dangerous and sexy. I know that I'm handsome in a disarming way. I know that I'm attractive too, but Eric gives off a seductive pull that both men and women always seem to notice. I wouldn't say that I'm jealous of him, but it is hard not to be when people throw themselves at his mercy. He has no need to use glamour. Even when he was a human, I'd bet his very presence would be the equivalent of glamour.
But, glamour doesn't work on Sookie anyway and she is thoroughly enjoying the Viking's showy movements. I'm convinced that he throws his last hand in their card game just to divest himself of his pants in a very strip tease way. This gives him the perfect opportunity to reveal his lack of undergarment. 'Oh my god,' I think to myself. Now I see the bigger picture of the draw to the Northman and I truly do mean the bigger picture. 'The man truly wins everything'.
They roll around for a minute, clearly giving up on the game. She fights for dominance and he allows her to roll them over. She's on top of him, grinding lightly in small movements that seem to be deliberate and seductive, yet sweet and innocent. The supreme contradiction that is Sookie Stackhouse.
The rain has died down enough for me to hear them clearly. "You know Eric, I never told you this but I can do magic," she giggled. "Have some of your fae relatives shown you some tricks?" he teases her while placing languid kisses on any part of her skin he can. "No. I meant a magic card trick." She laughed innocently.
"Really, my love. You want to do this now? I will indulge this… trick, but I must warn you that if your fanfare does not amuse me, you will be punished for delaying my reward for winning our poker game." I'm surprised that he thinks nothing of disrespecting her this way. 'He has a lot of nerve to speak to her that way,' I think. 'If I know Sookie, she's about to start her petulant routine and he'll be the one sitting outside, stupidly played Viking.'
"I understand your terms Eric and would expect nothing less than proper retribution for any delay in your absolute satisfaction." She spoke those words with such whimsy and sultry deference to him that I'm completely stunned at the implication. 'She's getting to be as bad as Pam in allowing him so much power over her. Sookie surely never behaved this way when she was with me. He's such a bad influence on her.'
She does her showy trick for him, almost naked and totally uninhibited in front of the roaring fire. 'She has changed so much,' I ponder that notion for a moment, before my attention goes back to the two blondes.
Eric is sitting in front of her, completely entranced by her beautiful form. "Alright, Eric is this your card?" He shook his head slowly and in a way that warned that she better get the next try right or she'll be in trouble. "How about this card?" He pounces on her and she squeals with delight. The remaining stack of cards flies into the air and falls to the ground like the rain that has engulfed this night. She roles on to her belly and gropes the pile of clothes in an attempt to mock fleeing his hungry embrace.
He suddenly covers Sookie's mostly naked body with his own. He smothers her with kisses and caresses as she writhes against his hard body. Eric rips her bra off with a quick flick of his wrist and begins to suckle her luscious breasts. Her heartbeat is pounding like thunder with anticipation as he roughly drags his sharp fangs across her neck, up to her ear. 'A place that I was first to touch and long to touch again,' I'm crushed to think that will never happen again.
Even from this distance I can hear him softly proclaim, "Look at me, lover. I am going to fuck you roughly on top of these cards all until you can manage to find the right one. Find my card or you will be sorry." He is suddenly buried deeply inside of her small body. She cries out in hunger for him as he complies at a ravenous pace. She wraps herself around him and holds on tightly as he claims her completely with his wild thrusts. He pushes her to the breaking point over and over again but refuses to give her the release that she is literally begging him for. 'Oh I see, this must be her punishment. This is both disgustingly sadistic and deviously clever.' "Please, Eric?" she moans, frustrated. He responds coyly, "Yes, lover?" "Your card was… oh my…God… the Queen of Hearts… it's in the back pocket of the jeans you were wearing before when you were… ohhh… cheating at strip poker." He rewards her honesty with shifting to a different angle which brings her to an immediate and glorious, body convulsing orgasm.
After her breathing changes into a more stable rhythm, his bellowing laughter fills the air. It's a relaxed sound that I've never heard from him in all the time I've known the sheriff. 'He acts differently around her. Maybe that's why she doesn't seem to see what a cold, calculating bastard he really is?' The sound of the amused Viking rumbles through the air like crashing waves in a storm from her attempt to manipulate him, "My little minx, where are your ethics of fair play?" She smiles as she instigates him, "Hey, you cheated first mister! And hiding the card, that was the trick! That I had slipped it into your pocket without you noticing."
She searches his jeans for the evidence of her magical mastery only to come up empty-handed. I can see his smug smile spread across his face as he knows there is no way she'll ever find his card. I know what he's done even before he has the chance to tell her, "My dear, keeping in mind that you said we could have sex all night if you did not produce my card, I am sorry to tell you that I saw you hide it there. I am also afraid to report that the Queen of Hearts has met an unfortunate end as kindling in the fire and will never be recovered."
They are instantly tangled in each other as she wraps her legs around his waist. He stands up with her in his arms, clutching him tightly, kissing him lovingly. Eric walks to the window, completely satisfied with the way the evening strategically played out. He glanced into the night and winked in my direction as he quickly nods in another as he shut the curtains with a gesture of finality. Bastard Viking!
The owl hoots again loudly and flies away quickly. I suddenly smell the familiar scent of a certain shifter hanging in the air and realize I wasn't the only one sitting here tonight in envy of the Viking and all that he has won. I hate Eric Northman!