Trust Me

Chapter 4 (Eric)

After Isabel and I had fucked each other senseless, she turned toward me--her bare skin almost glowing in the firelight--propped her head up on her hand, elbow bent, and looked at me. I turned my head toward her and smiled.

"Feeling a little better, are we?" she asked.

"Great sex always makes me feel better," I admitted.

"So, tell me Eric. How long have you been attracted to Sookie?" Before I could speak, she added, "Do not tell me again that you are not interested in her. I could smell her on your skin and breath, and she was seen sucking silver out of you right after the bombing. What did you do the other night?"

I sighed and rolled over on my side to face her. Not usually one for sharing, I chose my words carefully. "Sookie is too… multi-faceted for the likes of Bill Compton. He may have convinced himself that he cares for her, even finding the strength to stand up to his maker for her, but I suspect that there is something else going on there. He's nearly slipped up a time or two with his comments to me, even actively kept me away from her, and I plan to get to the bottom of it."

"So, giving her your blood is getting to the bottom of it?" Isabel inquired demurely.

"Let's just say that I am merely giving her… other options."

"As cryptic as ever, are you not?"

"Occasionally," I admitted and grinned.

"When you and Bill left the room to talk the other night, Sookie and I had a chance to talk a bit about her relationship with Bill. She can be very… chatty once she relaxes."

"Yes, she can be, though I haven't seen her friendlier side very often."

"She met Bill at the bar where she works. She overheard two humans plotting to drain Bill and went outside to find him after she noticed that they had left the building. She used a heavy metal chain, and confronted the humans. Apparently, there was an altercation, and she injured one of them and rescued Bill from where they had him chained to the ground with silver and were draining his blood."

"Compton let two scrawny humans chain him with silver, and a mere female rescued him?" I repeated out loud, and then I laughed. What an idiot! How humiliating! I could not believe that someone such as he had attracted Sookie Stackhouse. "What else did she tell you?"

"Did you know that the two humans that were draining Bill later attacked Sookie in the parking lot where she works, and that she was nearly beaten to death right after she and Bill met?"

"No, surprisingly, I did not. So, he fed her his blood to heal her?" I asked, already suspecting the answer.

"Yes, he did," she confirmed.

"Interesting. Very… interesting. How thoughtful of Sookie to share that information with you." Some of the cogs were starting to fit into place. No wonder she had fallen for him so quickly. The little bastard. He'd had the audacity to be put out because I had given her my blood? How convenient that he was there in the nick of time to save her with his blood. I would have to look into this more thoroughly.

Isabel turned serious as my thoughts were whirling inside my head like a tornado with this revelation. "Eric, humans have a deep capacity to feel and to love. Just remember that. Sometimes, having one in your life is more rewarding than you could ever imagine. I just wish that Hugo could have trusted me more with his insecurities. Perhaps things would have turned out differently between us. Mutual trust is one of the most powerful things to have between two people, whether they are human or vampire. Without it, you have nothing."

"You cannot always predict what humans will do. They are irrational beings full of emotions that I have difficulty relating to. I find that Sookie is unusual. Attractive, undoubtedly, but in a word, she is... plucky. She can look me in the eye and call me to task for things that she does not like about me. Very spirited, that one."

"You are enjoying this cat and mouse game with her, aren't you? Just be careful that once the mouse is caught, she does not tame the cat."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. "I'm an opportunist, not a feline."

Then a thought occurred to me, and I continued, "Speaking of mice, let me return the favor for your information about Sookie. She sent a young man to Compton's room to let him know the whereabouts of herself and Godric while she was being held captive. The only way she could have contacted anyone was telepathically. I believe the young man works here, since she hasn't been in contact with anyone other than us, the Fellowship or the hotel staff. If he is a telepath like Sookie, he might be a useful asset to you here in Dallas. Something for you to consider."

"Interesting. Thank you, Eric. I will certainly look into that."

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Later that evening, I heard Sookie and Bill in the hallway making plans to go to the dining room. Hoping to find a moment to chat alone with Sookie, I quickly changed clothes and went downstairs. When I arrived, my timing couldn't have been better. Sookie had just gotten comfortable on a high-backed lounger, and Bill was walking away from her toward the bar. Moving quickly, I sat down next to her, leaned in, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She smelled like fresh soap and vanilla cream.

Her eyes were closed as she leaned into my side, smiled, and unfortunately, called me by Bill's name. The sweet way she said it made me want to hear her say my name like she did his. What the fuck?

When her eyes focused on me, they widened as she quickly moved away from me. I immediately picked up several things coming from her. She was surprised that it was me and was slightly annoyed. She had drawn in her breath, and her heart rate had picked up.

I baited and teased her, enjoying our easy, back-and-forth banter.

She went for accusatory and didn't hold back on giving me a piece of her mind, but she also interlaced it with the fact that she had been worried about me and had checked on me. Then I felt traces of jealousy, guilt, betrayal, and a hint of arousal coming from her as she spoke. It was hard to concentrate on what she was saying to me and still respond coherently.

Even though I knew she was angry with me, I found myself thanking her for taking time last night to offer comfort to me for my loss. It had meant more to me than she would ever know.

"You're welcome, Eric. I try to be there for my friends," she said.

I was incredulous. She was calling me her friend after everything I had done recently? Had she lost her human mind? "You call me your friend? That's just…" I started to say, but she cut me off.

"Crazy? Maybe, but I think you need a friend," she continued.

I wasn't sure what to think about that. Why would she possibly trust me after I had tricked her last night? I finally looked at her and asked, "Would you… meet with me sometime, when we get back home, to talk to me about Godric? I would like to know more about what happened after I left."

"Maybe. Do you think you can behave yourself?" she asked, cockily, as her blonde hair bounced around her shoulders.

She had just thrown down the glove, and I was only too happy to pick it up. I looked at her, smiled, leaned in, and whispered in the sexist voice I could muster, "Can you?"

I took a deep whiff of her as I leaned close so that I would have something to remember. I got distracted by the blood pumping through the veins in her throat and swallowed hard, remembering her lying face down at the club with the smell of her open wound filling the bar only a few days ago. Even with the poison infusing her system, her bouquet had been intoxicatingly sweet; enough so that I had offered to be the one to heal her. Bill had not appreciated that in the least. He had no sense of humor whatsoever.

Her body's scent changed at my words, and I sensed heightened desire coming from her. It was a pity that we could not continue our verbal dueling, but I could see, out of the corner of my eye, that Bill was approaching. Poor Billy. He was definitely not pleased to see me.

We exchanged pleasantries, if you could call them that, and I deliberately kissed and fondled Sookie's hand in front of Bill not only because it pleased me to touch her skin, but also because it would annoy him and would let him know that he could not get away with sucker punching me tonight like he had the night before. It would also inform him that I would not back down because he had, as he said, 'made his point.' As I stood up and towered over Bill, I saw his fangs and smiled. I looked down at him, and holding his gaze, said, "Bill."

He did finally nod his head in deference to me as his sheriff, and I left in a very good mood. I smiled at the certainty that Sookie definitely wanted me, even though she was with Bill, and that Bill was annoyed because he knew it, too. "Ah Bill, too soon, 'ipsa se fraus, etiamsi initio cautior fuerit, detegit'."

My night was complete. I whistled as I left the lounge and went to wrap up my affairs in Dallas.

It did not take as long as I thought it might. Isabel had taken her new role as sheriff in stride and was juggling Nan, the vampires under her, and the Department of Homeland Security with aplomb.

Since I was no longer needed, I went up to the roof and looked around, remembering my last moments with Godric. There was white fabric, twisting in the wind, wrapped around the rung of the handrail at the top of the stairs. I unraveled it, recognizing Godric's shirt. I held it to my nose and inhaled his familiar scent, remembering the good times we had together. I took the shirt with me as I lifted off and flew back to Shreveport, arriving just before dawn. It was good to be back. I went to rest thinking about Godric and Sookie.

TBC

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A/N: 'Ipsa se fraus, etiamsi initio cautior fuerit, detegit' is Latin for "Treachery, though at first very cautious, in the end betrays itself."--Titus Livy, Annales (XLIV, 15)