A/N: This chapter is a bit short, but it seemed like a logical place to end. We are back to Eric POV for the time being. WARNING - sexually explicit content in this chapter! Also, after the sex scene, at the very end of the chapter, I recommend that you listen to You Could Be Happy by Snow Patrol. It pretty much encompasses everything that Eric is feeling and will lead in to some interesting content involving Sookie. There are also some interesting things going on with Pam. I've already gotten grief about it from my boyfriend. But just wait and see, you might like where this is going. So 'please fasten your seat belts and your trip will begin shortly' ;) Enjoy!
***
For six months she had been living in my house, working for me, sleeping just downstairs. I had gotten used to seeing her in my kitchen when I awoke. She'd be chatting with Pam, or confirming a meeting or a shipment over the telephone or via web conference. She slept little and ate as little again. She was awake when I ended one evening and awake again when I began the next. If it weren't for the surveillance cameras, I wouldn't be sure she slept at all.
Despite my concern, I couldn't complain. She was attentive in meetings, efficient in seeing to household affairs. She made an excellent dinner date and dance partner. She was professional while on the clock and amusing in her time off. It was understood early on that she was to entertain no one in the house, either socially or professionally. Se held to this explicitly. She would go out for drinks or to movies with Joss occasionally, and she mentioned a female companion, Alison, once in a while.
Nonetheless, though our blood exchange had been minimal, and months ago, I could feel her becoming worn, almost threadbare around the edges. She needed to slow down. While she had been performing the job I'd hired her for without incident, her intuitive nature had been suffering. Her comments to me about business contacts had become less frequent, and frequently slightly off.
I planned to give her some much needed time off this week. Her birthday was tomorrow – February 24th – and she should rest and enjoy herself. I was also planning to give her another small infusion of my blood.
"Eric," she was waving papers in front of me as I stood, looking out my bedroom window at the river. "I need you to sign these when you wake up. Pam's flight is leaving in ninety minutes from Austin/Bergstrum. You should call her."
"It is unnecessary."
"She doesn't know when she'll be back. Aren't you even a little worried?"
I looked away from the river, over my shoulder, at the bed. Pam and I had said our goodbyes last night. "It was my choice to leave the world of politics behind me. If she wishes to be dragged back in, so be it." Pam had been called on by Sandy to host a royal wedding at a Vampire hotel in Shreveport. As Pam was now a powerful businesswoman in vampire and human circles alike, Sandy wished to discuss a return to politics with her.
As my child she had come to ask my permission to leave me for an extended period of time. I made it clear that her decisions were hers alone, and under no circumstances was I going to become politically involved in the affairs of Louisiana and Nevada. If she found herself running, she would be running alone. But I also made sure she knew she would always be welcomed back into my household, as long as she left politics behind.
We stood in silence, after all the necessary words had been spoken. We had been each other's constant companions for the past fifty years. I would not make her do this. And she understood.
She came to me with as much lust and love as I possessed at that moment. We remembered each other from nearly three hundred years ago. It had been that long since we had made love. It did not last long and the passion dissipated as quickly as it had risen. She dressed and left, well before dawn, knowing we may never see each other again. The word was not spoken, but I felt the finality of it as I heard her shut her bedroom door.
I glanced from the bed back to Devon, still holding the papers out to me. "That is all that will be said about it. Now," I tried a smile, though it came out more as a smirk. "Get me a blood, would you?"
***
As I came down the stairs on my way to the kitchen, I heard an old movie playing in the great room.
"You arrogant son of a bitch!"
"Would you just stay with me?"
"Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we're already fighting."
"Well, that's what we do. We fight. You tell me when I'm being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you're being a pain in the ass. Which you are 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. They have like a two second rebound rate and you're back doing the next pain-in-the-ass thing."
"So, what?"
"So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. And we're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that, because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me? Please? Will you just picture your life for me? 30 years from now, 40 years from now, what's it look like? If it's with that guy, go! Go! I lost you once, I think I could do it again, if I thought it's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out."
Devon stopped the movie as she noticed me standing behind the couch.
"The Notebook, you know it?" without looking back she lifted up a warm bottle of blood and patted the cushion next to her.
I rounded the couch and sat down. "I have seen the film." I had watched it with Sookie a few months before she left. I took a swig of blood. I could sense the exhaustion coming from Devon. She was curled up in the corner of the sofa much like she was on that night…
Tonight we were off work. Aside from the few phone calls at the beginning of the evening and the small amount of paperwork she needed me to sign, Devon could relax. She was wearing a pair of brown trousers, a worn white tank top and the sweater I had bought for her last August. As usual, her feet were bare. Tonight her hair ran down her back in two long braids. I smelled woody, smoky scents on her before I realized she had laid a fire in the hearth. I looked at the fire burning steadily, then back at her.
"It's supposed to snow," she smiled. "It hasn't snowed in Austin since I was a kid. They say it'll turn to sleet and freezing rain, but it'll snow for a little while at least. Banks will close, schools, businesses. It's like I'll get my own holiday this year for my birthday."
"How old, this year?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. She was born at her grandfather's home in Dublin, Ireland, Devonee Sidah Blair, on February 24, 2029. She would be twenty years old at 4:28 AM. I was nothing if not thorough.
"How old do you think, Mr. Northman?" she laughed as she sat up and reached for a steaming mug set on the coffee table. I smelled chocolate and chili powder. Certainly an Austin favorite.
"Not even legal, is my guess. You're still drinking chocolate milk." I rarely teased unless I was trying to get somewhere.
"How incredibly vague of you. I'll be twenty, but you already knew that." She became very quiet as she sat and sipped her drink. She was staring at her feet, or the floor beneath them. She didn't look as much exhausted as she did weary. I saw her sadness for a moment. Then she looked up abruptly. "Snow!" she slammed her mug down on the table and jumped to her feet.
I stood and watched her skid across the floor to the window wall. She reached her hand out to the doorknob and looked down at her bare feet. "Oh, fuck it." She said as she slipped out into the darkness.
I stood for a moment, by the couch, smelling her scent dissipate. Finally I followed her out the back door. The temperature was nothing to concern me, but I was sure she had to be freezing. I scanned the landscape in front of me. Snow was falling on the cedars and already blanketing the ground.
I saw her crouching near her cedar tree, gathering the snow into a loose lump in her hand. She stood to aim, but I was faster. I moved just as she was releasing the snow from her hand. She overshot and lost her balance on the slippery ground. I watched her fall backwards into the snow with a thud.
"Ow! Shit!" she cursed as she tried to push herself up on her elbows. Seconds later I had my hands under her arms, lifting her to her feet. She tried to turn around but I pulled her close to me, forcing her to stay still. I stood there until her breathing slowed. I could feel the heat escaping her body through her head and chest.
"Look at how even the dry hills of Texas can be transformed by the snow," I could hear my accent emerge ever so subtly as I whispered into her ear. I felt her shake beneath my grasp. "Are you trembling because you are cold or because you are afraid of me?" My eyes darted down to her neck where I could hear her pulse begin to quicken. She didn't answer me as we stood, close together in the falling snow.
As quickly as the snow had begun to fall, it changed to a stinging, soaking rain. I looked down at her bare feet and picked her up and carried her back to the house.
***
I laid another log on the fire as she discarded her sweater, which had gotten the brunt of the freezing rainfall, and wrapped herself up in the ugly old quilt. She stood next to me in front of the fire, the condensation drying on her face as it warmed.
I turned to look at her, placed my hand on her shoulder and ran it down the length of her arm and back up again. I pushed the quilt back and let it fall to the floor. She was cold and I noticed the goose bumps stand up on her bare arms, just as her nipples began to harden beneath her damp shirt. She stared straight at my chest. She wasn't moving and was barely breathing. I gently placed my hands on either side of her jaw and tilted her head up to look me in the eyes. She looked overwhelmed, unsure and curious all at once.
"What do you want?" I asked as I pushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.
She sighed and stepped forward. I could feel her releasing all of her tension. She buried her face in my shoulder, and I held her for a few moments before she looked up at me again. "I'm so tired of being alone. I want to be with you tonight. However you want me."
The distance from the fireplace to my bedroom was traveled in seconds. I placed her on the bed and walked into the bathroom to run a shower. When I returned to the bedroom, she had undone her braids and was about to discard her shirt. "Let me," I instructed as I took her hand and led her into the bathroom. I placed her in front of the shower and stood back to look at her.
I knelt down in front of her and peeled the damp shirt up over her belly. I kissed her skin causing more goose bumps to appear and a shiver to run up her spine. As I inched the shirt further up, I followed it with my mouth. When I reached her breasts, I stood and removed the shirt completely. I let my fingers trail down over a nipple and back to her waist. I unbuttoned her trousers and slid them slowly to the floor. She was wearing a tiny pair of white bikini panties. She hooked her fingers under the fabric and slid them down her legs to join her pants on the floor. This was the first time I had seen her naked since I had helped her to dress that night in the hospital.
I motioned for her to step into the shower, and began to undress myself. Once I was unencumbered by clothing, I happily joined her beneath a warm stream of water. She had her back to me and I closed my arms around her, pulling her closer. My erection was pressed up against her back and she jumped a little when our skin touched. I bent my head and trailed my nose along her jaw line up to her ear. "I've wanted you…" I broke off my whisper as she moaned loudly.
With one hand still holding her firmly, I let the other hand wander. It found its way to rest nicely on her hip, just above her pelvis. I could hear her breathing quicken. I ran my hand back up her body to her shoulder, then turned her around to face me. I let my lips fall hard into hers as I pressed her back up against the shower wall. We remained like this for several minutes before I backed away and stepped slowly out of the shower, pulling her by her wrists towards me.
I reached behind me for towels and handed one to her as I began to dry first, her hair, then the rest of her. She followed suite and I was soon lifting her in my arms, carrying her back to my bed. As I laid her down beneath me she turned her head to look out the window at the freezing rain forming ice sickles on the eves. I watched as a smile spread across her face and for the first time in months, I believed it.
I let my fingers sink deep into her as I heard her moan deepen. Her eyes snapped back to me. "I want you to watch." My voice sounded gruff even to my own ears. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at my fingers working themselves in and out of her. Her body began to tense and relax in waves. I rested my head on her thigh and watched her watching me. I kept her from closing her eyes. When I sensed she was close, I let my mouth fall onto her wet pussy. I closed my lips lightly around her clitoris and licked a few times, before suckling gently. She came and I felt her body tense and shake in response. She cried out softly something like "Ohph!" and let out a long sigh.
I immediately replaced my fingers with my dick. I had worked her opening to allow for the size of it, but it was still a pleasantly tight fit. I leaned over her with my first thrust and grabbed her wrists and held them above her head. I inclined my head to whisper in her ear. "You are magnificent," I cooed to her softly.
I kept my pace slow and planted kisses all over her face and arms. She began thrusting up to meet me as I brought my pelvis down. She couldn't get close enough while I held her hands above her. I was in control. She began to beg, "Eric! Please…"
"Shh, dear one. I will take care of you." I slowed my pace even more and rocked back onto my heels until I was in a sitting position and I was pulling her up to straddle my lap. She looked up at me, and I pulled her face close to mine. She wrapped her arms around my chest and under my arms to grasp my shoulders for support. I held both sides of her face and kissed her as we gently rocked back and forth.
I Gently pulled my lips away and began to lean back on my elbows. I sopped thrusting and let her take over. She was quick to pick up the pace. She placed one hand on my chest and the other in her hair. As I began to feel our climax coming I sat up and placed my hand on her hip to help guide her back to me. With my other hand I pulled her breast into my mouth and bit down hard. We came together and collapsed on top of each other.
I managed to disentangle myself long enough to fetch a towel so that she might clean herself a bit. Afterwards, she sat wrapped up in me and my sheets, one of my arms around her waist, the other propped beneath my head. She stared back out into the frozen night, the ice sickles now about two inches long.
"You know what I think the problem is with most women?" she asked suddenly.
"Now this theory, I must hear," I chuckled softly but gave her my full attention. Any opportunity I was given to understand her better, I was willing to take.
"It seems to me that most women - not all of them, but most – want to be in love in a movie. And that's just misleading. Love never happens like that. That's why I like The Notebook so much. It's real and messy. It's not a fairytale, it's life. Not that I haven't cried myself to sleep over a broken heart, but I have to accept that hearts do get broken. Right?"
I managed the most genuine smile I could, but I knew she'd never buy it. "Glad to hear you aren't expecting me to be the 'fairytale' guy." I laughed softly as I thought to myself, if my heart had still beat, it would have stopped the moment she walked out the door all those years ago. I don't know if that's heartbreak, but I know it would have stopped beating.
