I humbly beg your forgiveness for the earlier version of this chapter. I have made changes to retrieve the true Eric persona we all love and dream about. I hope you will give me another chance to earn your reviews and your continued reading of this little story.

Continued thanks to CB for creating these wonderful characters, and the FanFic girls for the inspiration.

Yours in Vampy goodness,

Merick

Part Two

I ordered her some food from room service; it wouldn't do me a damned bit of good if she passed out on me. My glare at her forced her to eat, even though I was quite certain that everything she'd put past her lips tasted like cardboard. My own hunger was gnawing at me, but being over a thousand years old, I knew it was mostly habit, and the proximity of her damned fairy blood more than actual need, so I shoved it aside.

Only when she'd finished did I lay down the law of the way things were going to be for the next two days and nights, and thankfully, she actually listened to me, quietly for the most part.

"Of primary importance Sookie is that you keep you mouth shut. Unless a Vampire actually addresses you, you will say nothing, and offer nothing in their presence." She nodded mutely. "And if you actually do need to say something, because it is an emergency you will first apologize for the interruption and then you will speak to me only, and you will address me as 'Master'." That was one of the points that she began to try to stutter an objection against. I dropped my fangs and snarled at her. That quashed that particular point of contention quickly enough.

"You will also address me as 'Master' when we are alone."

"Alone?" She got that one out.

"Yes, when we are alone! I will not have anyone overhear us and believe that your behavior is nothing but a ruse. You well know, because I have explained it to you that these conferences are not about open dialogue, but about what can be deduced by spying on all the other delegates. That is why I brought you in the first place."

She nodded mutely.

"Say it! Tell me you understand!"

"I understand." She paused for a breath, and I didn't know if it was to fight down the bile she must have felt at my orders, or because she was genuinely afraid of me. Either or, it was all the same to me. "Master."

Oh I did love the sound of that word rolling off those red lips.

"And you will follow every order that I give you, in public and in private, without question. The King and everyone in his entourage must understand that you are under my control and that you are contrite for your earlier actions."

She looked up at me. I could see the tears starting to well in her eyes.

"I am keeping the both of us alive. Now go and do whatever you need to do to get ready to sleep and then come back here."

"Why?"

I glared at her.

"Have you heard nothing I've said! You will spend the day here, with me. I will not take the chance that you will go wandering around the hotel getting yourself, and me in turn into greater trouble. That, or I can tie you into your own bed to prevent you from leaving your room."

"I promise I won't leave Master." I could see how much it choked her to say it out loud and to beg.

"I don't trust you. Now do what you need to do and return."

"I hate you." She whispered it as she spun, I don't know if she thought I wouldn't hear it, but I did. It stung a little but I held to my purpose resolutely. If she didn't learn the King would do much worse to her than I ever could.

She seemed defeated when she left my suite for her adjoining one. I heard the sobs in her throat as she busied herself in her room. A small part of me felt a little guilty for treating her that way, but only a very small part. I pushed her dinner tray back out into the hallway, locking the door as I closed it. And I sat in one of the hotel chairs and watched her open doorway waiting for her to reappear.

She couldn't even look at me when she came back, face scrubbed of make-up, which she didn't need anyways, hair pulled out of her pony tail and lying loose on her shoulders, also an improvement, in a long nightshirt. It gave me the chance to examine her body without her realizing it. She was put together very well, even if she was considerably shorter than I was. I quickly wiped the grin off my face though, because I had no intention of letting her see it.

"You may have whichever side of the bed you prefer." She crawled in to the left side. I shut off the overhead lights in the room, leaving only the light spilling in from my washroom. Only then did she look at me. I pulled off my shirt slowly, all the while staring at her from under the sheets of my bed. I wanted her to watch me, I wanted her to see my body; it was all part of teaching her.

Now normally I didn't sleep in anything, but for a few reasons I had brought along lounge pants; a gift from Pam, to the hotel. It wouldn't do to have to rise for an emergency wearing nothing, at least not in front of this King. Others, well perhaps? But not the one I was dealing with on this trip. I'd left them in the bathroom, so I changed into them quickly and returned to her, her eyes still wide open, staring as best she could in the dim light at me, wondering, I am certain, at what I was planning for her. She could never have guessed what was running around my mind.

Well, she probably could have guessed at some of the desires running around in there at that moment, but those weren't the ones I intended on acting on right then. No, Sookie was going to learn patience at my hands, along with all the other protocols of dealing with Vampires.

Closing off the last light I slid into the bed beside her. I could feel the radiant warmth of her body beside mine. It was pleasant. The smell of her was better. I lay perfectly still, which I am quite capable of doing. I understand humans find it very unnerving. I wanted her to be unnerved, and I wanted her to be aroused all at the same time. I know, terribly evil.

After a good few minutes I rolled towards her, and reached an arm over her body, letting it rest along her hips, pulling her back against me. I kept my fingers flat against her abdomen, feeling her trembling. She likely thought that I was going to rape her. Part of me felt a little offended that she did not know me or understand me better; but really that was the heart of this whole situation wasn't it? No, I wasn't a rapist. It didn't mean that I didn't desire her. Because I did, I always had. And it didn't mean that I didn't intend to finally make love to her that weekend, because I did. That and a great deal more.

I pushed my face into her hair and breathed in deeply of her scent. I could hear her heart speed up and her breathing become ragged. I felt the blood rushing to stiffen my body, pressed against her back where she could not possibly misinterpret what it was. She did not know that I was aware of her attraction to me. Being able to scent her when she watched me at the club betrayed her. By the end of the conference she would be thanking me for everything I was going to make her do. And I was going to delight in the feel of her body wrapped around mine.

"Sleep well Sookie. We have much work to do tomorrow."

I don't think she slept a wink. I did, and had the most wonderful dreams.