It had been two weeks after that fearful night waiting for my brother at Fangtastia. Eric hadn't talked to me since, instead he passed along messages by using his protege Pam. She was nice if not stoic and I couldn't help missing his voice, and that scared me. He hadn't made any advances on me except for that first time we met. He had told me I would be his. And now...nothing. I wondered if my kindness towards Quinn had made him take a dislike to me.

Sighing from thinking about a man who had no interest in me I turned back towards the kitchen and placed the food ticket in front of Lafayette. "Two cheeseburgers without mustard."

Lafayette dropped a plate on the counter and Arlene came and swooped it up, going back to a waiting table. We watched her go before Lafayette turned to me. He cocked a plucked eyebrow and scowled. "What's wrong, Sooks?"

I sighed again, heavily. "It's a guy."

I hadn't seen her come back but Arlene was now standing beside me. "Oh, Sooks you got you a man? Who is it?"

I shook my head, I was talking too much. Taking a step back a smile spread, and stretched tightly across my face. "No, I was talking about one of my last customers. He.."

Arlene's face fell in understanding, false understanding. "You heard him say something mean about you?"

I knew what she meant by 'heard' and I wanted to roll my eyes. Not all of my problems were connected to my...ability. Then I remembered the King and the wolves and changed my mind. It was one of my biggest problems. I bobbed my head, and took the platters that the other cook placed before me and went to serve my tables.

It was disconcerting how calm I felt as I thought about the tall, pale Vampire. His bright blue eyes, and smile lit up my heart and I breezed through my tables. And I wasn't even bothered by their thoughts, with Eric on my mind their babbling turned into a humming sound at the back of my head.

After closing up a few hours later I made my way, tiredly, to my car. I couldn't wait to get home to a nice hot shower and then bed. After locking my doors I made my way down the driveway of Merlottes on to the main road.

"You are going to be a very big pain in my ass." Eric Northman said from my backseat.

Shocked I whipped my head back and saw him glaring back at me. If I wasn't so enthralled at the fact that he was in my car, two feet away staring me in the eye I probably would have screamed. It wasn't everyday you found a Vampire in your car. "Eric." I said breathlessly, I couldn't help my voice.

"Yes, it is me. Drive." It was clear that Eric Northman wasn't too happy with me and my lack of attention. I turned around in my seat and began to drive home. Not seeing him for two weeks made his appearance even more welcome. In the silence I couldn't help but think, and my thoughts turned to him slashing his wrists to heal my wounds. It was such a protective and selfless act that his coldness after had hurt.

The silence was killing me, I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to hear him speak to me. "Have you been very busy?"

"Why are you interested?" He replied coldly.

I looked in my rearview mirror at him and saw him staring at the back of my head with narrowed eyes. "I was just wondering why you haven't called, you've been passing messages through Pam." I tried to sound less bitter but it was there nonetheless.

I watched him rake a hand through his hair and he looked out the window rather than my head. "She's my protege she does my bidding when told to."

"That's not what I was getting at." I snapped, pulling into my driveway I gathered my purse and keys and exited the car. Eric followed and made his way up to my stairs. I locked my car and unlocked the front door to my home. Eric followed me in and I couldn't help but feel the relief in being back in my home.

I tossed my jacket on the back of the table chair and like the good hostess I am heated a bottle of True Blood for Eric. He sat down at my table and seeing him there at my old but sturdy table in his high end clothes and haircut made my pride hurt. "What were you getting at?" Eric asked as if there wasn't a three minute delay in our conversation. He looked up at me as I handed him his bottle knowingly. What was he playing at? He ignored me for two weeks to what? Make me miss him, want him?

"There were important things I had to take care of so I had Pam handle a few calls." He said nonchalantly as he sipped at the warm bottle. He sat there looking up at me like he hadn't just called me unimportant in a roundabout way. I turned my back towards him to the fridge and grabbed a pitcher of lemonade. I wouldn't' be able to say this to his face.

"How is Quinn?" I asked sweetly. I hadn't thought about Quinn in the two weeks passing but I knew that Eric disliked him immensely.

Eric decided to ignore my question. "There hasn't been any talk coming from the King of Arkansas since...your kidnapping. He's been ignoring the Queen's summons so we're going to take action. I wanted to make you were aware that his wolves may try to attack you."

My hands visibly shook as I held the glass of lemonade to my lips. "Okay." I said meekly to let him know I was still capable of speaking.

Eric shook his head, his lustrous blonde hair sliding across his read button up dress shirt. "You are...I don't understand."

"Understand what?"

He stood up and closed the distance between us. Eric's body pressed intimately into mine and I felt his hardness against my stomach. "How a little human can captivate me so."

"You said I would be yours." I said softly looking up into his eyes.

He sucked in a sharp breath and just as he had been so close he stepped away from. He may as well had been miles away, a sudden chill filled the void that he had left.

"Forget what I said. Forget it all." He said and then he was gone from my kitchen and my home.

Things went back to normal, with Pam sending messages back and forth between Eric and I. I continued to work, and try to keep up with my bills. The thing was, times were definitly hard for little old Sookie Stackhouse. Gran had been in the hospital in a coma for months and I had been failing at keeping up with her medical bills. I refused to ask Jason for help since he already thought I was incompetent in taking care of myself. He thought everything was fine, and plus he had never even offered to take care of Gran's bills since he got paid more at his job. No I would not ask him for help. On one of my days off I cleaned up the house top to bottom and began sorting through my bills. And found that one was missing. It was one of my Gran's medical bills, the one I owed more than I got paid in three months. I looked up and down the house for it and couldn't find it anywhere. When was that due? Damnit.

I called the hospital to check on Gran and asked about the payment. When the Nurse checked the database she came back irately to tell me that the bill had already been paid in full including the backpay I owed on the other ones. How the hell had that happened? I called Jason but he didn't know anything about Gran's bills and blew me off for Dawn at Merlotte's.

The only other it could have been was Eric. Of course he had done it. There was no one I knew could pay such a hefty amount of money at once. I called Fangtasia and of course Pam answered reciting a morbid greeting. "Hey, sunshine, it's Sookie."

"Eric is busy sitting in his throne." Pam told me sarcastically. If it were up to Pam she wouldn't be parading around at Fangtasia with humans.

"Oh, that's okay. I wanted to ask you something. What did you guys do about...you know."

"Oh, that." Pam said, her voice rising in excitement. "Let's just say things got a bit messy and I had fun. Don't worry your pretty little head, Eric is working around the clock to-Oh, here he is."

There was a few back noises before Eric got on the phone. "Trying to wheedle information out of Pam are you?" I could almost see him smiling at me, I knew I felt it.

"I had a question for you..." I trailed off. He didn't say anything else so I pushed the words from my mouth. "Did you pay my Gran's medical bills off?"

He was quiet for a while, the back noise of the club goings was all I heard. Vampires didn't breathe. "Yes, I'm certain you don't have a problem with that do you?" His tone told me I had better not have one.

"I can take care of my grandmother, I-"

His nonchalance was gone, his voice came like a lash from a whip to my ears. "You clearly can not take care of yourself and your grandmother at the same time. Her medical bills are more than you can afford on the salary that you have."

It was a small consolation that he didn't mention my barmaid wages. I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off again. "As long as you're under my protection I'll take care of your grandmother's medical bills. I-"

"That isn't your responsibility!" I protested, clenching my cellphone tighter in my hand. Once was enough, my pride wouldn't allow him to pay my Gran's bills. To take care of her just because I was falling a bit behind. "I'm taking care of her just fine!" I shouted into the receiver. Tears burned at my eyes.

"I'll make sure she's taken care of like she did for me." I said softly. When Jason and I's parents died, Gran was the one to pick up the pieces and take care of us. I wanted to do the same for her.

"I saw your refrigerator that night, Sookie. It was practically bare...I can't believe your brother is letting you take the burden of your grandmother like he is. Letting me help you doesn't mean you're failing your Gran. Do you truly believe she would want you stressing yourself on her behalf?"

"How can I pay you back?" I asked him giving up.

I didn't expect an answer but he did. "I have a job for you, it requires your...special skills." He said back to his businesslike stature. "I'll pick you up tomorrow night, dress formally. Sweet dreams, Sookie."

"Good night, Eric." I said hanging up. Why oh why did I miss his voice already?

More characters will be introduced in the following chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one, tell me what you would like to see or what you wished I would include. Thank you for reading!