Chapter 4: Champions

Nora.

She is as close as I can get to my beginning.

I turn my head to look at her familiar profile, trying to memorize every changeless feature on her face. Soon she will rise. Sookie may have denied me a final look into her eyes, but not Nora. Nora is here.

"No-ra." I whisper sing-songing her name like I used to when we were 'young' just to piss her off. I want her to wake. I want to have every last minute I can with her before I am gone.

I trace her profile from forehead to chin with the rough pad of my thumb. She stirs. I try again: "Nooooo-raaaaa." I prick the digit with my fang and press a dot of my blood to the tip of her nose, knowing she would be aware of what I was doing but unable to move. It is a strange action, born on impulse alone. It is at once a gift, a branding and a teasing provocation. I have barely finished saying her name before my thumb is in her mouth and I feel my blood moving into her. She runs her tongue up the side of it as if she was giving me head. I feel… nothing. I feel no pleasure but there is nothing here to hurt me either. This is safe. This is the opposite of Sookie taking my blood when we formed our bond.

Before I knew it she was straddling me and had my hands pinned above my head. I could easily overpower her of course... but where would be the fun in that? We have always had a comfortable routine. Tease, bicker, fuck. Bicker, tease fuck. It always ends well. Or at least it used to.

"You want to fuck me, min bror." She stated it like she knew me. Like I was the same. I wasn't. "No." I replied. I made like I was teasing but I knew I wasn't. The idea of being with anyone but Sookie made me ill. She just chuckled, unaware of the darkness under the surface of my reply.

I couldn't be celibate forever. Could I? No... yes... maybe. A farewell fuck with Nora wouldn't heal me but it was better than the alternative. Wasn't it? Yes, this is much better, I think to myself as I grind my hips upwards. Or, at the very least it is familiar. She moves her face towards mine at a deliberately slow pace and I smirk up at her, knowing how much she wants me even as she plays her little games. She always needs to feel like she's in control. And I let her. Mostly.

God, when was the last time I'd had a good fuck? Yvetta? No, that was just to numb the pain of Godric's death and the ... uncomfortable... feeling of the blood tie with Sookie. No, with Yvetta I wasn't really there, I was trying to escape.

And then after Sookie went missing I just...didn't. Fuck, that is. Not that it was a conscious decision. I just... wouldn't. Oh sweet Jesus, if Nora ever found out I was celibate for over a fucking year, she will laugh her fucking ass off. I'd never live it down and I'm immortal, so that's not an option!

It wasn't really a laughing matter though. I nearly drove Pam fucking crazy. No wonder she hates Sookie now. It's a good thing Pam is not involved in this. She and Nora would be a force to be reckoned with. Of course, part of me yearns for that. Family. To introduce my sister and daughter. To laugh with them. But that would never be. Perhaps it is for the best: even individually Pam and Nora's teasing wears on me on the best of days. And they would have far too much fun at my expense. Besides, it could never by family without Sookie among us. The thought is like a punch in the gut and I feel bloody tears spring up behind my eyes. I freeze.

Nora might have come close in her assessment: perhaps I need to fuck her, even if I don't exactly want to.

No, I can't remember the last time I fucked purely for... pleasure. Fang bangers never really counted on that score. They're more for the alleviation of boredom and a convenient physical release. And, no: I sure as hell didn't count all the times that "sappy-Vamp" did the deed with the Fairy. That wasn't me there after all. At least not entirely. And it wasn't fucking either.

It was so goddamn unfair. I had waited over two years to have her. I had dreamed it, wished for it, desperately imagining the moment when she would give herself to me, and waiting to give all of myself to her. My memories, my fears, my thoughts, my feelings: I stored them up for her. Waiting. Knowing that the first time I pushed into her she would see that I am hers. But no. Believe-you-fucking-me, things would have been much, much different if it weren't for the curse. She would have had all of me our first time. Instead it was tainted, just like the first time I took her blood.

And, of course, I could never just 'fuck' her. It would always be something... more with Sookie. But the modern notion of 'making love' could only ever be part of it too: passionate and primal is how I would have 'made love' to my Fairy if she had given us a chance. I growled at the thought.

I heard the door of the shipping locker open and close as Bill made a hasty escape. Good. Unconsciously my hands flex and stretch above my head, preparing to take back the upper hand.

"Keep your hands there, bror," Nora brought me back to the present "or else."

My eyebrows raised but I complied, biding my time. Echoing my earlier gesture, she traced her finger down my forehead, along the profile of my face, over my Adam's apple, chest and then with all five fingertips she followed the lines of my muscles that led to what she really wanted. She lowered the blood-stiffened and charred zipper of my jeans.

Nora continued to hold her face just above mine, lips poised a millimeter from my own. No breaths passed between us. They are unnecessary and we're nothing if not efficient in our foreplay. Her eyes are so familiar that I could swim into them and imagine my way to Godric. Yes, I know those eyes. Dark. Warm. Safe. And for that moment, everything went perfectly still and I could almost pretend that time had stopped. That the Authority would never come. That I could stay here forever and I would never be gone. Neither here nor there… nowhere. It was a welcome reprieve.

I raise my head and lick my blood from her nose slowly. Her hand finally wraps around my cock and her fingertips only just touch as her hand closes around me. I am ready. A look of fondness crosses her face, turning to lust and then mischief as she grabs my cock and tugs it. Hard. Bitch.

In a split second I have her on her back and wearing only a scrap of a black bra and her gloves; now she's pinned the floor with her hands above her head.

"Or. Else. What?" I taunt. The tone and cadence is familiar. I am on solid ground again.

She tries to look annoyed but gives up quickly, choosing to redirect her energy elsewhere as she rolls her hips toward me, hooking her legs around my hips, bringing herself up in invitation. She's wet and she knows it. She knows I'll feel it. I reach down to tease her, rubbing her clit. Hard. Two can play at that game.

"Try me."

Always teasing. Always taunting. It might be tiring in some ways. But at least I always know where I stand. I always know what she wants. Sure, I may not want it but I think I might need it. It's hard keeping the fucking bond shut. Exhausting. I need an escape. I need to lose myself. And with Nora I can lose myself and find myself in the same instant.

Before she could continue her game I changed the rules. With a loud hollow 'clang' I pin her against the wall and I thrust into her. "Mmmm." I hear myself groan. I sound smug, cocky. But I feel… empty, hollow. I start to thrust and she meets me at every turn but there is no pleasure here as there used to be between us. I've lost my ... what do the kids called it these days? Mojo.

Not it's not pleasure but it is… something. It is a greeting to a long lost 'sister' but also to myself – my old self that is. At the same time I know that this is even more than a greeting. It is also farewell. I close my eyes at the thought. I know I will not climax tonight, but I continue, eager to at least bring her some release. Struggling to stay with her, I am losing focus. Becoming morose. I think of everything I have lost. Godric. Pam. Sookie.

"I miss you too, my brother."

I didn't realize I'd said a word until she replied.