Disclaimer: I own nothing...
Sookie's POV
We follow the tall blond creature to a carriage and the guard is just about to toss me in when the man...Eric... turns around and offers me his hand to alight. I am terrified, more so now after the confusing conversation they've all had about me than I was before. This little show of gentlemanly courtesy is quite welcome though and I take the offered hand. I'm immediately startled by how cold it is, and realize that I was too frieghtend before to realize that all the others, Mr. Compton, the woman named Lorena, the Queen, and the smaller blond man were all cold too. Perhaps it is the fact that this man is not trying to bite me that allows me to think about something as trivial as the temperature of his skin.
Once we are both in the carriage we set off. I want to ask where. I want to attempt to jump from the coach, but I do nothing. I have to keep my wits about me if I am to get home, jumping from a carriage and breaking my leg will not get me anything but injured and then put back in the carriage. It has only been two nights, but I am beginning to feel hopeless. I don't understand anything going on around me other than that I have somehow become a prisoner to beings who cannot possibly be human. I want to cry and scream and pull out my hair all at the same time, my mind rebelling completely at the evidence my eyes have gathered. Instead I look at my newest captor and try to figure out how to proceed, if indeed anything is really up to me at this point.
The man, creature, named Eric sits stone still across from me on the other carriage bench. He is looking at me, I know, but I can not tell in the slightest what he might be thinking and I doubt my asking will get me anywhere. So instead I just look at him in return. I am not a complete innocent. I have kissed a man before, my fiance Sam Merlotte, and even though I have lived in a small town most of my life I have seen a great many men since coming here to New Orleans and so it is not without some experience that I say that I have never seen a man such as the one before me in all my life.
When I was brought back infront of the woman they all refer to as Queen I was only terrified that they would bite me again, but when I looked up it was as if the whole room ceased to exist and there was only this being before me. Taller than any man I have ever met, with hair like spun golden silk, and eyes that look as I imagine the ocean does during a storm. I can see that under his fine clothes he is broad and muscled with huge shoulders and arms. He looks like something out of history book, a man to masculinely beautiful to be a part of the dull humdrum of everyday life.
Despite my fear, and the knowledge that he is no more my friend than any of the other creatures that have imprisoned me, I desire to kiss him. To see if the full blush colored lips are as soft as they appear. I want to know what it would be like to have him take me in his arms and wind his hands through my hair. I wonder what his hair would feel like running through my own hands. My thoughts seem to carry me away and soon there is an unfamiliar aching between my legs and it's all I can do not to reach under my skirt right here in front of him and try to alliviate it. As I become more uncomfortable it seems he does too, though I can't figure out why that should be. He shifts around slightly in his seat as though he is looking for a more comfortable angle, all the while staring at me with an expression that has been evolving from cold disinterest to something else, something heated. Finally when I can take the throbbing between my legs no more he suddenly speaks.
"What is your name?" It's brusquely said and his voice has a gravelly quality it did not when we were infront of the other creatures. I am still terrified, but the ache between my legs is so bad that I will do anything to distract myself and so I answer him.
"Sookie Stackhouse sir." He smiles at me ever so slightly and nods his head.
"Sookie Stackhouse, I am Eric Northman." He does not hold out his hand and truthfully I think that touching him again would be a mistake for many reasons and so I nod in return.
"Do you know what I am Sookie? What the others in the palace where?" I read a book once by a man named James Polidori about dead creatures who remained alive, drank human blood, and slept in the ground, but they're appearance was nothing like the divinely beautiful man in front me. And besides I was raised with better sense than to believe fairy tales and stories about things that go bump in the night. Although after the last few nights perhaps I should rethink some of the things I have taken for granted as truth. Still I don't want to embarass myself by spouting fiction as fact and so I shake my head and hope that he will answer his own question.
"I am, we all are vampires," he says. My eyes light up at this, not because this is welcome news but because it is nice to be right about something after two days of being terrified and completely in the dark about everything.
"Like the story by Mr. Polidori?" I ask, letting it slip out in my excitement.
"Not quite," He chuckles, and then, once he has disgested my statement, his eyebrow shoots sky high. "You have read this book?" He asks looking astonished. I don't know why but I am starting to feel comfortable with him. He has not yet hurt me and he has been more kind and forthcoming than any of these creatures so far. It is perhaps niaevely stupid to do so but I cock my eyebrow right back at him in offense. I can't tell if he is astonished that I read this particular book, which it's true is passing unsuitable material for a lady to read, or if he is astonished that I read at all.
"I have. I know it's not proper reading material for a lady, but there were precious few books to be had during the war and my Gran thought under the circumstances that any distraction should be welcome." Again his eyebrow lifts.
"Your Gran seems like a wise woman." He says it nonchallantly but the mention of my Gran causes a deep pang in my heart and I have to stifle the sobs that want to break free. I do not know what will happen to me or where I am going, I do not know how I will ever get back to my life, but I will not cry infront of one of my captors. I didn't cry when Jason left for the war, I didn't cry when the union soilders took over our town and took all of our food, and I did not cry when news came that Jason was dead. I am a lady, and a southern lady at that, I will not bend or bow before the trials that God puts before me.
Just then the carriage stops infront of a stately mansion in the Garden district. Eric descends from the carriage and again offers me assistance. I take his hand again and this time I do not startle at the cold temperature of it. The front door is opened by a servant and Eric leads me up several flights of stairs and into a rather large and nicely furnished bedroom. He closes the door behind him but does not lock it.
"This will be your room for as long as you stay." He says gesturing to the bed, wardrobe, vanity, couch, and small tea table that make up the rooms furniture. I follow his eyes and swallow hard.
"And how long do you anticipate my staying here?" My voice sounds small and frightened but there is nothing that I can do about that since small and frightened is exactly how I feel. Eric walks up to me and takes both my arms in his hands, pulling me just close enough that I have to crane my neck to look him in the face but not close enough that we are touching at any other place. I feel my pulse quicken at his nearness, and as I take what I hope will be calming breaths I breath in his distinctly masculine, entirely dizzying scent. For some reason his scent more than anything else puts me at ease, and I am able to look at him without beginning to tremble as I feared I would. He in turn is looking down at me and there seems to be a malestrom churning in his storm blue eyes. I have no idea what he is thinking but I know that I do not want to look away.
"What have they told you about your future?" He says it softly but it still manages to terrify me. My future? I don't know whether to be more frightened that it seems as though I am to have one I know nothing about, or that I might not have one at all. I shake my head and try to keep the tears at bay.
"They have told me nothing. First I was on the street walking home two nights ago when I saw a man who had been my neighbor before the war, Mr. Compton. He kidnapped me and brought me to the home he shares with a woman named Lorena. From there they took me to the place where you came for me. I don't know anything except the conversation that you had with the woman they call the Queen, and honestly I didn't understand any of that, it just frightened me." I feel myself becoming more and more worried and as if knowing that physical contact would calm me Eric brushes his hand accross my cheek. The sensation is calming and exciting all at once and I feel a little frizzure of energy pass between us.
"Sookie, you must listen and accept the things that I am going to tell you. If you fight against them it will only go badly for you. The first is that there is no escape from this place. There will be a guard outside your door at all times and there are guards roaming the property. They are not anymore human than I am and you will not be able to trick or allude them. To attempt it would only bring severe consequences. Do you understand?" I gulp and nod. I can feel my eyes getting wider and my heart sinking all at the same time.
"If you are wise and choose to accept the hand that fate has delt you though, you will not be harmed and your life will be in no danger. In fact you will find that life can be very comfortable for you and you will never have to worry about money or the things it can buy again. Though there are many differences between the book you told me you've read and reality several things are the same. The first is that my kind, vampires, do drink the blood of humans, but only the very young are in danger of killing by accident. No one here is a threat to you in that way. The second is that we can only move around by night. So you will only see me after the sun sets, and you and I will see each other every night. You heard them say that you are to be trained yes?" I nod my head and again I feel that fear. I also heard them say that they intend to give my virginity away.
"Yes, but I don't know what that means." He smiles at me and I know he means it to look kind and reassuring, but I see something dark just beneath the surface of his eyes and it makes my stomach churn though from fear or from something else I couldn't exactly say.
"Your blood, according to her Majesty, is quite unique. It has saved you from what might have been an unpleasant fate, but it has also bound you in slavery Sookie." I see that Eric is done beating around the bush and is now going to tell me what my future supposedly holds. "Instead of keeping you for a pet or making a one time meal out of you, her Majesty has sent you to me an my master to be trained as a kind of... cortesan." I look up at him and I know the horror in my eyes is apparent.
"What kind?" My voice is again little and truly I wish that my body were just as small so I could scurry under the door like a mouse and make my escape.
"The kind who services vampires." His voice gets a cold edge to it.
"Then they want me for a prosititue. If that is so then why send me to you? I didn't think that sort of thing required an education." I want to sound cheeky but who knows how that statement really comes out. Eric chuckles again, but it isn't a sound made from amusement this time.
"Not a prostitute a cortesan Sookie, there is a difference. When you are done here and return to her Majesty you will have a position of great prestige. You will be treated better than any of her other pets and you will not need to worry about how you will live, her majesty will provide you with anything and everything you desire."
"Provided I give her my body." I say feeling the disgust rise into my voice. Eric chuckles again and again I find the sound of it unpleasant.
"That is not a choice Sookie, you will give her and anyone else she chooses to share you with your body. Your only choice will be whether or not you please her, and again I suggest that you be wise and do so, for your own good." I don't know what to say, my mind is realing and I feel that sickening sinking feeling in my stomach getting worse and worse.
"And you will... train me?" Eric nods this time taking one hand off of my arm and using it to tilt my chin all the way back so that we are eye to eye.
"I will. I will teach you everything that you will need to know to please her Majesty. I will show you all the ways there are for one being to pleasure another and I promise you Sookie, once we begin, you will not want me to stop. You will come to love the things we do to each other and the things I teach you to do to others." From terror I am transported again to that state where the place between my legs throbs. Perhpas the terror only heightens the other sensation because instead of just a throbbing I also feel a strangely pleasant moisture at the juncture of my thighs as well. At that exact moment Eric inhales deeply and I see the sharp animal teeth that the other vampires had come snicking down. If he were not holding me by one arm and my chin I would have jumped back startled, but I cannot move. Still Eric seems to sense my new terrror and he smiles, but kindly. Then suddenly I see his face coming towards mine and without warning his lips are gently brushing mine. I can feel the sharp teeth grazing my lower lip, but he does not allow them to puncture or cut me. Instead he he runs his tongue over my bottom lip and gently pries it open.
The feeling of his lips on mine is indescribable and his tongue gently tasting the inside of my mouth makes my knees go week. Suddenly, as though he knew my fantasy in the carriage, his arms are around me, supporting me, and molding my body to his. I hear a moan and realize that it's coming from me and then I hear his own answering mine. Time seems to stop and it is impossible to tell how long we have been like this, but after a while he gently releases me. I look up at him and I know my expression must be as dazed as my mind is hazy.
His own expression is predetory, but not in the way that the other vampires were. I don't fear that he will suck me dry and leave me like an empty husk on the floor. No instead I know that he wants things from me that I myself do not yet know or understand, but that he has clearly promised me I soon will.
"What you feel Sookie is arousal," he says in a voice more dark and thick than any I have ever heard before. "You may be frightened, but your body wants mine as much as mine wants yours." I know he is telling the truth and I feel both excited and shamed all at once that I am so transparent. He lowers his head and brushes his lips against mine again, but this time he does not allow the kiss to go any farther. "Tomorrow night I will come to you and we will begin your lessons. For tonight rest, knowing that you are safe from harm. When you awake pull the cord by your bed and someone will bring you food and fresh clothing." I nod my head and stare up at him still unable to form sentences. He nods in return and lets me go. When I am sure that I have my balance back I turn and watch him leave.
"And Sookie, take my warning to heart. There is no way of escaping, do not be foolish and try anyway." His look is cold and hard and I know that he is telling me nothing but the truth. I am still terrified and I still want to find a way back to my Gran and my real life, the one that has nothing to do with this nightmare, but part of me, the part that is still aching and throbbing and wet, suddenly wants to stay. Wants to find out what this man, this being, has instore for me, and if it will be as very blissful as he promises.
With that Eric closes the door and I hear the snick of the lock. I stand there for a few long minutes more and then decide to shed my clothes and lay down on the bed. Whether or not escape is possible I know that at least for the next few hours I am physically safe and it would be better to try to gain my freedom with my wits about me. Sleep can only help that.