Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my fan fiction! I appreciate everyone's thoughts and comments.
I am seeing that some readers are confused and/or irritated that Eric is involved with Sookie's daughter. You are allowed to feel however you like about my writing; I have no expectations for my stories once I put them out there for you.
However, I thought it might help to review canon and how I rely on it as the jumping off point for my own writing.
We know from the CH book 8 that Sookie is Niall's great-granddaughter and is one-eighth fae; we know that Niall wants to be in her life, but he does not want her friends to know about him. We know that Niall is a Prince of the Fae and is very old and very powerful. We know that fairies and humans can inter-breed. We know Niall has known Eric for a long time, and we know Eric would kill him should the opportunity arise (i.e. a pitched battle). We know that fairies are intoxicating to vampires and that vampires are consumed by wanting them. And we have known through all the books that Sookie desires a child.
We know from "The Gift" (short story) that the fae man Preston was sent to Sookie by Niall as a Christmas present, and that Sookie had wonderful sex with Preston.
In my romance about Bill and Sookie, "Better Off Dead," I use that canon as a jumping off point. SPOILER IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MY OTHER BOOK, BUT WANT TO, DON'T KEEP READING! If you have read "BOD," you know that Sookie got pregnant by Preston and had a daughter, but that she did not raise her daughter or interact with her in any way. You also know that Eric knew about Sookie's daughter and that Sookie very much wanted to find her. And you know that, because of Bill, Eric and Sookie are not (likely EVER) going to be together.
So, while it may seem odd or perverse in human relationships that Sookie's former lover (and in "my" world, that is something like thirty years former!) would be Rio's lover as well, I would encourage you to expand your fantasy world vision to remember that vampires AND fairies are not operating under the morals that humans deem obligatory.
And on a strictly personal level, I wanted Bill and Sookie together forever, but I enjoy Eric tremendously and would like him to be happy (can Eric be happy?); I sense from the CH books---and all this can be exploded in book 9, of course---that he is quite miffed about not possessing Sookie, and I think he would be tickled to have her daughter. It is a way to throw in Sookie's face that he doesn't miss her, while of course demonstrating to all of us that he misses her terribly.
I hope those reminders help, and again, I appreciate your reading and reviewing my work. Missmelly
The first thing Eric knew when he came awake was that something very close by smelled delectable. The next thing he knew was that delectable smell was Rio, snuggled up to him fast asleep. Sleep turned her salty smell musky; it was pure sex. Even in the pitch black of her attic bedroom, he could see her hair glowing like embers in a dying fire. He wanted to stoke those embers to a blaze.
With great tenderness, he kissed her eyelids. Using the mere edges of his lips, he nibbled along her neck. He ever so gently sucked her earlobe into his mouth and exhaled quietly in her ear.
Rio shifted and murmured. Like the softest breeze, his hands drifted up under his shirt, in which she'd fallen asleep, and with the lightest possible touch, he caressed her breasts. He thrilled to feel her nipples beginning to crinkle up, and she rolled onto her back, taking a sleepy swallow. Eric moved just enough to kiss the golden brown skin of her flat, taut abdomen, letting his hair tickle her. She sighed and parted her legs.
Pleased with the course this was taking, Eric slowly hoisted himself up to position himself between her legs, taking care to not rock the bed—he didn't want her completely awake just yet. He reached down with one hand to stretch her open and then her entered her smoothly, making no noise. Her inside muscles were still relaxed in sleep and he let himself enjoy the different feeling of her, before slowly and sweetly beginning to stroke. Holding himself on his elbows so most of his weight was off her, he brushed back her hair and began covering her face with tiny butterfly kisses. Rio lifted her chin with a soft "mmmmmm" and he licked under her jaw with just the tip of his tongue. Her skin tasted like sleep and—could he detect it?—arousal.
With a jolt, her muscles tightened around him and her eyes flew open. "Wow," was all she said before responding fully to his movements. It was slow, sleepy sex and it was wonderful. When they came, it was calm, like ripples spreading out in a pond, and Eric let himself down on her with a sigh.
Rio shoved his shoulder hard—it was still tender from ramming the door—and bounded from the bed when he rolled off. In the same instant, he heard the door on the landing shut, then a pause, then the toilet flushed.
Rio returned, and stood by the bed, looking at him in the dark, "Whew," she breathed. "You make a swell alarm clock." She clicked on a floor lamp standing in one corner (she did use electricity, it seemed) and shrugged out of his shirt. "Sorry I wrinkled your shirt, Northman, " she smiled at him, tossing it on the bed. Eric smiled back, "Fresh ones in my car." Then he snuzzled into it, inhaling her sea breeze scent, and said, "I may never have it cleaned." He patted the bed so she'd join him, holding the covers up for her to slide under.
Eric was reluctant to break the spell cast by their tender lovemaking. He knew he had to tell her, and he knew there were things he wanted her to tell him as well. He gathered up a handful of her glorious hair, running it through his fingers. How could anything be so lovely? Her hair was like magic. Maybe it actually was.
"Rio," Eric spoke softly. She nodded her head, cradled on his shoulder, and replied, equally softly, "Northman."
"Why do you choose to call me that?" Eric asked, genuinely puzzled. "No one I know calls me that."
"That's why," Rio responded, as if that cleared up everything.
"I need to tell you something."
Rio stroked her warm hand down his chest and belly, to encircle his cock. It stirred at her touch. "I know your needs, Northman."
He tugged her hair at her teasing him. "Point taken; I want to tell you something."
"Mmmm. Know even more about your wants," she said, kissing then biting his nipple. The sound he made was half desire, half exasperation.
"Okay," she said and sat up, crossing her long, lovely legs to sit Indian style, looking at him. Her back was straight, her hair flowing around her like a waterfall of sunlight down to the mattress. Eric reached up to sweep her hair behind her back; he enjoyed seeing her perfect breasts (they were not as large and heavy as her mother's, but they were still a bountiful handful, full and completely tanned, with rosy nipples). She sensed his enjoyment of them and arched her back a little to show them off. He rumbled his appreciation, then reached up to touch his fingertips to her face.
"I feel lucky to have found you," Eric mused. "And finding you brings me to what I want to say.
"About 25 years ago, quite by accident, I met a telepath." Eric could feel Rio's attention fully on him. "From the moment I laid eyes on her, I was enamoured." Rio snorted; like mother, like daughter, Eric could not help but think. "She was beautiful physically, yes. But I sensed from the beginning that she was different. She was bold and brave and irritatingly human, stubborn and proud. The way she grabbed life by the tail and swung it around… but first and foremost, she was lovely. She made me miss sunshine for the first time in my existence as a vampire."
Rio's eyebrows were up, and her look was skeptical. "I don't actually want to hear about your conquests, Northman."
Eric ignored her slur. "I was challenged by her, and I came to…" Eric hesitated, memories rising up in him unbidden. "…care for her a great deal." Now he really had Rio's attention—vampires had never been much known for their caring about humankind. "Through a series of complex events, she and I became blood bonded." Rio actually inhaled sharply at that; she understood the complexity and permanence of a blood bond, and instinctively knew Eric's story was more important than she'd thought.
"Where is she?" Rio asked. Eric had learned that Rio always cut right to the chase, not asking who the woman was, but understanding that if she was his bonded, she should be present in his life; the "where" was the more pertinent question.
"She did not understand our bond; I did not create the opportunity to explain it to her. The bond was not made at her choosing; I assumed she hated it and hated me. I believe she proved me right when she asked another vampire to bring her over.
"She no longer lives in this country."
"So…" Rio pondered, "She broke her bond with you by being turned?" She could still startle him with how much she knew about vampires. Not just the common knowledge—which wasn't all that common, in his experience—but the secrets and inner workings as well. He found himself wondering yet again if it could be true that magic recognized magic, in all its forms.
"So she was important to you, but you never got to fully explore what that meant?"
"Yes."
"I am sad for that. But why share your regrets with me?"
Eric looked at her. Her eyes were the deep green they turned when she was at her most serious and focused. Little flecks of gold glinted in them. Her lashes were impossibly long and thick, dark brown and looking like they were dusted with glitter. He had never seen anything so lovely, in a millennium of lovely things.
He took one of her hands in his. Never taking his eyes from hers, he spoke so quietly he could not hear his own voice in his ears, "That woman is your mother."
If he expected tears, denial, anger, denial, astonishment, denial, he should not have. Rio went very still, and Eric could feel her sinking down into herself. He waited for her—he was beginning to realize he would wait for her forever—when he felt her come back into herself and her eyes met his. They were hurricane green, almost gray, and dilated. He felt like he could disappear in them.
"I have never wondered about her," Rio said then. "My father… " and here she took a deep breath, " …never spoke of her. Sometimes I sensed he wanted to. But my great-grandfather kept him silent."
"You knew that?" Eric asked.
"I have always been able to tell what Niall is doing. I make him nervous."
The shock of her statement made Eric bark out a laugh. "Niall? Nervous? This could not possibly be the Prince of the Fae I know!"
Rio looked momentarily scornful, but her voice was even when she said, "Perhaps I have a different relationship with him than you do."
"No doubt," Eric said. "I am not entirely certain I would say we have any relationship. But he selected me to bring your mother to meet him for the first time. I believe he knew she would not refuse me, and he also knew that I would protect her with my life if hers was threatened."
"Yes," Rio mused, "He would know those sorts of things." Eric waited for a moment, rubbing his thumb against her palm as he held her hand. Then he asked, "Did you never wonder why no one spoke to you of her?"
"Did I?" Rio said, as if she'd never thought to question it. "I don't think I did.
"The place I grew up… well, it's like nothing you've ever seen. Time is different there. Thought processes are different there. I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to wonder; when I was there, I'm not even sure I knew I needed a mother in order to be produced."
Since Eric had been human once, he was certainly aware of being produced by two parents. As a vampire, he had learned creation was possible with a single maker. Why would Rio think differently, if no one chose to teach her otherwise? He remarked, "You certainly understand sex very well."
Rio said, "These days, the fae don't especially associate sex with procreation," as if that was an explanation. So he asked, "Were there children around you who had mothers?"
"Not that I noticed. There were very few fae children. I was mostly an only child. Even my father wasn't around me much. When I was very young, I was with Niall. Or my teachers."
"Teachers?" Eric was surprised.
"I was with teachers from the time I could walk. Niall has always had very high expectations of me. There was much to learn," Rio said with a shrug.
"And yet here you are, naked in bed with me. I doubt his expectations included that."
"I haven't been too concerned about his expectations," Rio said with controlled calm. "He was careless enough to teach me to be his match in every way; I don't think he realized that once I knew the source of his powers, he could no longer keep me under his thumb."
"That explains much," Eric stated. He had sensed in her, along with a great power, an equally great anger. His initial surprise to find the granddaughter of a fae prince playing guitar in a Las Vegas bar gave way to understanding. Rio was not someone to take direction from anyone.
"Does it?" Rio asked, before she said, "Niall has great power. He is one of the rarest of the fae: one who can channel all of earth's elemental forces. He can move through them, flow with them, even direct them. My teachers were each master of one force or two; by the time they were done with me, I was master over all." Rio shrugged like this was only normal and to be expected.
Eric stroked her knee where it pressed against his side. "May I ask you a personal question?" Rio likely had no clue what a concession this was for Eric, who never considered whether or not any question was appropriate to ask, but she nodded. "The fae are intoxicating to vampires; we are dangerous to your kind. Yet here am I, and here you are. While I crave you and cannot seem to get my fill of you, I do not feel that I am out of control of myself or under your thrall. Why is that?"
"You've been in Niall's presence. Had he shown you his true self, you would have done anything to consume him. And that would have likely resulted in your death. He can mask what he is. I can too."
"His true self, your true self; what is that, exactly?"
Eric had barely asked his question when the place where Rio sat burst into dazzling light that made his skin sizzle and crawl. Eric was bowled over with lust as insatiable as he'd ever felt. He was drunk and foolish and blind and consumed by a thirst that was unquenchable. And justlikethat, Rio was on the bed and he was reeling, standing crouched on the floor beside the bed, his hands claws in front of him, his eyes starting from his head.
"WHAT?!" Eric could barely get out the word before he started to cry. Rio held out her arms to him and he crawled into them, filled with an alien emotion: he was frightened. Rio stroked his hair. "That was me," she said simply. "You are not in my thrall because I don't want you in my thrall."
Eric held onto her. He didn't trust himself to speak. He had an erection so hard it was throbbing, but he couldn't imagine doing anything with it. He slowly became aware of her scent: along with her normal ocean smell, there was something new… citrus? Lime? And nutmeg? Ginger? Pine? Copper? The earth before a rain? He raised his eyes to her face, begging her with them to explain.
Rio placed her mouth on his. Her lips were so warm, they clung to his. He hadn't thought about food for centuries, but he was flooded with the memory of fruit. His fangs were still out from the violence and lust of her revelation, and she forced her bottom lip against them, piercing it. A droplet of her blood ran into his mouth and he groaned in ecstasy. She was sweet, salty, metallic, smoky, like wine, like meat, like oxygen, like pepper—he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, drawing her blood from the puncture and swallowing.
Eric's arms went around her, tight, tighter. He sank onto the bed, rolling her on top of him, clasping her hips and positioning her over him. She reached down between them to grasp his fullness, rubbing him over her warm, wet opening and swollen nub. He moaned into her mouth, his hips twitching with the need to push up and enter her. She sank down on him, taking him completely and he gasped at her heat. She leaned over him, her hair forming a tent of gold around them and said, "Northman. Look at me."
Eric's eyes opened. She locked eyes with him, and while he watched, she tucked her bottom lip in her mouth—when she released it, she has sucked out more blood. It was scarlet and sparkling. With vampire agility, he lunged up to lick her mouth, capturing her bloody lip in between his. Stars burst and fizzed on his tongue at the taste of her.
Her taste was orgasmic and without moving inside her, he came. He flipped her over, diving between her legs, licking her clean and in doing so, brought her to climax as well. He climbed up to kiss her mouth, careful of her wounded lip. He kissed her over and over, softly, wonderingly, until she lifted her arms out for a stretch. Her movement against him was glorious and muscular, like a snake or a cat.
With a start, Eric realized he could love this girl.
Rio must have seen the look on his face—or felt it—because she asked, "What's up?"
To cover his bewilderment, Eric asked, "What time is it?"
Rio went into that stillness that he was learning was her summoning of her power, and sighed. "About 8, I think."
Before he could even ask how she did that, she bounded out of bed, saying, "I have to go. I play at Diablo's in an hour." He watched her enticing nakedness disappear into the bathroom, then he stretched back on her bed, smiling at the ceiling.