I own nothing other than Arianna

Chapter Three

I fiddled with my hands as Sookie and Bill sat down on the couch that Bill had previously occupied by himself. I was looking at anything other than Eric and thought I was doing a pretty good job of it too. I had studied the furniture (aside from the seat that Eric was on) with great interest, wondering who had made the decision to paint the feature wall a deep purple when they had a choice of so many other colours. I had then eyed every painting in the room and found none of the contemporary squiggles appealing and couldn't see how they suited the room we were in.

I stopped my examination of the room when I realised everyone had fallen silent. Eric had yet to say anything and I refused stubbornly to speak to him first not that I expected him to mention anything that had happened in front of others. Smart vampires kept everything to themselves because they knew it was the only way to survive.

"Do you want me to organise a wake-up call for you?" Sookie offered after an uncomfortable silence. It was clear they were both eager to leave us alone.

I considered my chances of waking and I nodded gratefully, "Yeah if you don't mind."

Before I had a chance to start a conversation with either of them Sookie jumped to her feet smiling, "Well I'm awful tired so if y'all excuse us we'll be heading to our room now. I'll see you tomorrow." She said goodnight to Eric and Bill gave the older vampire a nod before following Sookie out the door.

I sat stunned in my seat and realised that I was truly alone with Eric for the first time since I woke up. I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes wearily, not surprised to notice he was wearing black jeans and a black tank top. I doubted that he even owned anything that wasn't black. I looked away with a sigh, rubbing a hand across my forehead tiredly hoping he'll take the hint.

He didn't.

"If you have so much as an inkling of self preservation you will tell me exactly who and what you are and what you have done." He told me without a hint of warmth in his voice.

I stiffened, glancing over at where he was only to find his seat empty. I jumped, leaning back into the armchair as he stood over me with a very pissed off expression. I wanted nothing more than to kick him in the balls and run out of the stupid hotel but unfortunately I knew logically that I could never physically overpower him or out run him. That was kind of why we were both stuck in this situation.

"Could you at least sit down?" I glared up at him until he sat opposite me on the couch.

He waved a hand at me expectantly, "You'd better start talking." He growled warningly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Arianna." I said innocently.

He clenched his jaw and I had a strangest feeling he was used to people giving him exactly what he wanted without having to ask a thing, "And what are you?"

I looked down, wondering how to best answer him, "I'm assuming you're old enough to know that we've been bound together." I looked up at him and was rewarded with a cold nod, "So you know that bindings are rare and not many beings require them."

"It is my knowledge that only deities and some fairies require them for protection." He spoke though I knew it was more for his benefit than mine, trying to clue together what he already knew.

I nodded, "Clearly I'm not a fairy otherwise you'd have eaten me by now." I shifted uncomfortably at that thought and any thoughts to do with him eating me in general, "Since we're stuck with each other I've kind of got no choice but to tell you." I paused and studied him for a moment. Could I really trust him with this? Vampires only cared about what they could use for their own gain and this was exactly the type of thing that could benefit a vampire.

"You will tell me." He commanded, "If I wanted you dead I would have snapped your neck rather than bringing you up here. Now speak."

I glared at him, "I'm a fucking Goddess you dead piece of shit!" I hissed at him and immediately tried to calm as an expensive looking vase exploded behind him.

He stared at me in shock and I allowed myself a small victory for startling someone who was clearly not used to having such information thrown at him. His hands were gripping his knees and I forced myself to look away from his stunned expression. I thought vampires could handle everything?

"You're a Goddess?" He phrased it as a question and his eyes didn't leave my face.

I sighed irritated, "That's what I said. Congratulations, you've been chosen by powers above our frigging control to be my Protector." I said mockingly and slumped back in my seat. "Although why they gave me to a vampire I'll never know." I muttered to myself.

"Why exactly does a Goddess need a 'Protector'?" Eric asked leaning forward in his seat.

I raised an eyebrow at him but answered, "Before we were so kindly bound I couldn't tap into my entire range of abilities because my body needed all the energy it could get so I could stay safe. Once I am bound to my Protector my body loses its physical strength so that more energy can be used on my magic." I explained as best as I could. "Basically you've been deemed fit as my Protector because you're the strongest being that can protect me so I can do more than make things explode when I'm pissed off."

Eric nodded understandingly but with a small frown, "Well this is inconvenient." He murmured to himself and looked at me curiously, "How long will you live for? You're in the body of a human." He commented with disgust.

"I'll live for however long you keep me alive for." I snapped, "I may be in human form but once I reach twenty one I stop aging. No illness or disease can kill me but I can be killed by any physical injury. So basically you're doing a shitty job if I die."

"You will not die while under my protection." Eric finally said after a few heartbeats.

I blinked at him in shock, "What?"

He regarded me blankly, "I do not let others harm those in my care however annoying they are."

"Hey, I'm not exactly thrilled about this whole thing either." I snapped crossing my arms under my chest and leaning forward, "I never even thought there was a chance that a vampire could become a Protector since Protectors are able to go outside and..." I cut off abruptly, not wanting to mention that part of being a Protector.

Eric however had not lived however long he had for no reason. He narrowed his eyes warningly, "What else are Protectors able to do?"

I gulped and shrank back slightly, looking around me for some type of distraction, "Isn't it getting close to dawn? Isn't that when you guys have to, you know, sleep?" I said desperately, my heart thumping wildly against my chest.

Eric was in front of me before I could blink, his hands pinned on either side of the armchair, and "You will not hide anything from me." He hissed glaring down at me dangerously.

Well fuck, I definitely didn't want to tell him this while he was so close and angry but I knew it would piss him off even more if I didn't tell him, "Protectors are also the, um, soul mate of the Goddess." I squeaked. He didn't look bothered by that and knew there was more to come, "Aside from being the soul mate of the Goddess they have to father children to her." I finished hurriedly.

His fangs popped out and I knew he was even angrier if it were possible, "Vampires cannot have children." He seethed and I could hear the arm rests cracking under his grip, "So unless you have been lying to me..."

"Why would I tell you if it weren't true?" I exclaimed, wanting to calm him down before he jumped to any wrong conclusions, "Do you think I go around telling everyone about being a Goddess let alone tell a vampire?"

He didn't move away and I couldn't help but wonder if I would be the first Goddess to be killed by her Protector. He retracted his fangs after a few moments and I could feel his anger die away as he took in my words. Eric calmed slowly, pushing himself away from the chair and straightened to his full height. I stayed frozen in my seat, wondering how it was possible I was still alive and looked up at him hesitantly. He was still standing above me impressively, his stomach muscles clearly defined by the black tank top and his thick biceps made it easy to understand how he could have been chosen as a Protector.

"Come." He said suddenly, holding out a hand for me. "You need to rest if you're going shopping tomorrow and it is almost dawn."

Without thinking I took his hand and he gently helped me to my feet, letting go of me almost instantly. Did this guy seriously just go from being furious at me to calm and wanting me to rest?

"Are you hungry?" Eric asked as if remembering that I was in a human body.

I was starving but I was more concerned with going to sleep, "I can eat later." I said dismissively.

He quirked an eyebrow but didn't comment further and turned away from me. I wasn't paying attention to whatever he was fluffing around with (yes the image of Eric fluffing around did make me giggle slightly). I was too preoccupied with figuring out where I was going to sleep. I knew I had woken up in the giant bed that I had avoided looking at since I had come out of the bathroom but there was just one problem with that bed. Well not the bed specifically just more to do with the fact that it was clearly the only one in the room and that did not settle well with the infuriating butterflies currently taking over my stomach.

'Is this what teenage girls feel like when they go on a date?' I thought to myself but dismissed it immediately. Those types of thoughts would make me question everything I did around him and what he thought I was doing. Acting like a teenager, even though I am one, was not something I was about to start doing.

Finally I slipped into the bed too tired to care about who was sleeping where. The bed is big enough, I decided, and sleep was far more important. Besides, if he had a problem with it then he would have said something. All thoughts vanished as I closed my eyes and curled up to go to sleep.

A/N thanks for all the reviews. I'm glad everyone likes this story so far. I also hope that the explanation isn't too confusing. If it is, let me know and I'll expand on it in the next chapter. Read and review