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A Sookie/Eric/Godric fic.
Chapter Six.
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Disclaimer: See Ch. 1.
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A/N: Thanks for all the amazing feedback so far, you guys are great!
I totally forgot to put my Author's Note in when I first uploaded this chapter, so I had to go back and fix it!
Things start to move forward in this chapter between Eric and Sookie, and I hope to wrap up the Maryann storyline in the next one.
I hope you guys like this, I know I'll love writing it.
As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!
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If it had been just Eric in the room, he never would have let me live it down. As it was, Godric was there, and with his help the mood slowly ceased being awkward. Eric gathered what few belongings he had in the hotel room, preparing to send them for delivery to his residence in Shreveport.
I allowed him to do the same with my suitcase - for shipment to my home, not his - though I wondered why we weren't just taking them with us on the plane. Godric had mentioned that we would be flying home.
It was a couple hours past sunset before we were all ready to go.
Eric sent for a bellboy to collect the bags and have them shipped, and then walked over to where I waited in the middle of the large room.
He presented me with the leather jacket that he sometimes wore. "Don't want you catching a chill."
I eyed him in confusion, accepting the jacket slowly. "... Why would I catch a chill?"
Eric only smirked, walking over to the window of the hotel room and opening it.
I could only think of one thing, and asked rather stupidly, "What, we're going down the fire escape?"
Eric snorted, and Godric smiled at me as though I were something precious.
I didn't know what they had in mind, but I slid the jacket over my shoulders, sliding the zipper end into place and pulling it up. It nearly swallowed me whole, going down past my butt.
Eric turned back towards me, his eyes raking over me. "I find that I quite enjoy the sight of you in my clothes," he confessed, stopping in front of me.
I didn't have time to respond to his statement. His pulled me into his arms swiftly, wrapping one arm around my middle and tucking the other under my legs. "What are you doing?" I asked in a high-pitched voice, shocked.
He only chuckled lightly, stepping closer to the window.
When he put a foot on the sill, I instinctively clung tighter to his body.
"Trust me," he whispered in my ear, his hot semblance of breath ghosting over my skin.
Despite my fears, I felt a little part of me begin to calm, ever so slightly.
And then it all shot out the window - literally.
Eric didn't so much take a step out of the open window, as he did a leap. I clung desperately to his neck, wondering what I had done that he wanted to kill me in such a terrible fashion. Was it because I witnessed the intimate moment between he and Godric? Was it because I'd refused his advances for so long? Why, in the name of - hang on. Why aren't we falling?
I couldn't bringing myself to look, so instead I sort of wiggled my shoe-covered toes, thinking he must have jumped onto a balcony, or a tree, or a ladder ... anything. I couldn't feel anything around me other than Eric himself, though my feet were held up by his arm under my knees.
"Sookie, open your eyes," he prodded.
I shook my head, my eyes buried in the skin of his neck.
He was silent for a moment after, neither chuckling nor growling; he showed no amusement, nor admonishment for my actions. I felt him draw in a breath, and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized he must be smelling me ... why else would he need to take such a deep inhale?
After he managed to pull his nose away from my hair, he spoke again, in the same low, assuring voice. "Trust me, Sookie. Open your eyes."
I wanted to continue hiding my head in his neck - well, what I really wanted was to get back into the hotel and use the elevator like a normal person. Instead, I responded to Eric's request, slowly cracking my eyelids open.
I could see the light coming from the hotel room behind Eric, and opened my squinting eyes a little further. There was about ten feet or so between us and the window we'd sailed out of. That ruled the balcony and fire escape options out. After taking an exaggerated, deep breath, I pulled my head away from Eric and looked below us. There was nothing between us and the ground but air.
"Oh my god!" I couldn't help but shriek, holding to Eric tighter, if that were even possible. "Oh my ... what the ... you can fly!"
"That I can," Eric replied in amusement.
"This is ... we're actually flying ... floating." I knew I sounded like a total dope, but I couldn't help myself.
"Godric, are you seeing this?" I asked, lifting my head back up and glancing towards the window. I was shocked to see Godric taking his own leap of faith, his body gliding through the air as though it were attached to invisible wires. "You can fly, too!" It was all so much to take in. Bill couldn't fly ... or if he could, he'd never taken me flying.
"Who do you believe taught him to fly?" Godric question, a light smile on his face.
I shook my head in disbelief, a wide grin settling over my features. "This is incredible ... can all vampires fly?"
Eric snorted. "Can you all sing?"
I had to scoff at that, with almost as much derision as Eric. "Heck no. I can't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid."
"I would like to hear you sometime, anyway," Godric spoke from beside us.
I could only smile at him, thinking that less than twenty-four hours ago, he was planning on throwing away his whole life ... now he was making plans to listen to my dreadful voice, and saying it with such revere like he thought it would be a truly spectacular event.
"Ready?" Eric asked me.
"For what?" It was a stupid question, I know. But, my mind was still reeling from the simple hovering we were doing, and I couldn't entirely be blamed for the shriek that came out of my mouth when he suddenly darted up and away.
"Oh my god!" I yelled loudly against his neck, and I think there might have been a laugh in there as well. It was exhilarating.
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I'd managed to open my eyes a few times on the flight back to Shreveport, but they were fleeting glances at most. We'd been so high up, and going so fast, it was all I could do to cling to Eric and not pee myself. I was glad he'd given me his jacket - I would have frozen without it.
We touched down at one of the larger homes in Shreveport, secluded in the safety of the dark, back yard.
Eric answered my unspoken question, "One of my many homes throughout the world. It's small, but suits my purposes."
It was easily the size of four of my houses put together. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he thought a big house looked like.
"Can you stand?" he asked me, still holding me in his arms.
Godric landed a moment later, glancing around and sniffing the air.
That was a reasonable question. I had no idea. My heart was going so fast, my entire body felt like it was vibrating, and I didn't even know if I could see straight anymore. I managed a quiet, "Maybe," and then Eric slowly lowered me to the ground.
My sneakers touched the grass, feeling the weight of the Earth beneath my feet. I smiled at Eric briefly, trying to let him know that he could remove his hands, but just as he stepped away, my knees began to wobble, and my body swayed.
"Whoa," I commented, feeling Eric's powerful hands gripping my hips, holding me upright.
"It takes a bit of getting used to," Eric supplied, not unhappy with his current position.
Any other time, I might have told him to respect my person bubble, but quite frankly, I was glad for the support. I took a few deep breaths, and then signaled for him to let go. I didn't topple over immediately, so that was a good sign.
"This is a quaint home, my child," Godric spoke. "Not your usual accommodations."
Eric bowed his head in agreement. "I have been adding to it, but it's a slow process. I don't trust human contractors enough to let them work while I sleep."
"Understandable," Godric replied, though he looked mildly saddened.
Eric seemed perturbed by the expression on Eric's face, and immediately pulled out his cell phone.
After a couple rings, I heard him say Pam's name, and then he spoke quickly, in a language I couldn't understand. I made a mental note to tell them it was rude to speak like that in mixed company, but kept quiet for now.
When he hung up the phone, Godric spoke, "Is that really necessary, my child?"
"Indulge me," Eric spoke, and it sounded more like a plea than a statement. "Sookie will be wanting to return home, and you need your rest."
"I am fine, my child. I am well-rested. I do not require a babysitter."
This was starting to sound more and more like a parent-teen squabble, and I kept my mouth shut, hoping the corners of my mouth wouldn't twitch up.
"Pam hasn't seen you in over a century," Eric reminded him. "Relax, catch up. I'll be back before you know it."
Eric leaned closer to Godric then, and whispered something that I couldn't hear. A long moment passed, and then Godric nodded, looking at me briefly.
Whatever Eric had said seemed to appease Godric, and he bowed his head. "We shall meet again soon, Miss Stackhouse."
I wanted to ask him why he couldn't come with us ... I wasn't entirely comfortable being alone with Eric, but before I could speak, a blur whooshed into the yard.
"I'm here," Pam spoke, flattening down her windswept hair.
"Thank you, Pam," Eric spoke, walking back over to me.
She nodded at Eric, and then feasted her eyes on Godric. "It has been too long."
"Indeed it has, Pamela," Godric replied. "Shall we retire inside for the evening?"
Pam waved at me with a coy smile, following Godric inside Eric's house. I could only assume she had a key, as she didn't ask Eric for one. Not for the first time, I wondered what the extent of their relationship was.
"Let's get you home," Eric spoke, breaking me out of my trance.
"Can't we drive?" I asked, as he moved his arms to pick me up.
Eric lifted me into his arms with ease, grinning down at me. "Where would the fun be in that?"
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This was only my second time flying with Eric, but I could already feel the difference. I found myself wondering just how many different ways there were to fly ...
The most noticeable and thankful difference was that we were moving much slower. It didn't sting my eyes when I opened them, there was no rushing wind to send a chill through my body. And, most importantly, we were much closer to the ground, but still high enough up to avoid detection in the dark.
He flew with ease over the roads that I often drove, and across trees that I'd never seen from above.
I was beginning to thoroughly lose myself in the moment when Eric's voice brought me back to Earth, so to speak.
"I want - I need to thank you, Sookie."
I blinked, looking over at him in surprise. There wasn't much distance between my face as his, what with my arms wrapped around his neck. "What do you mean?"
"What you did for Godric ... you saved him when I couldn't," Eric told me, sounding as though he were trying to contain a powerful burst of emotion. "I won't forget that."
I could only shrug lightly, trying to brush it off. "It's fine. I just wanted to help."
"Oh, you've done much more than that. The difference in Godric is exponential ... I still don't wish to leave him to his own devices, but he looks ... healed. The haunted look I saw in his eyes in gone now, and I can't take credit for that."
I pressed my lips into a warm, half-smile. "Don't mention it."
Eric was silent for a long moment, his body sailing carelessly through the air in a straight, purposeful glide. It felt like hours before he spoke again. I felt his head turn upwards to glance at the night sky before his lips opened. "It has been over a thousand years since I stood in the light of the sun, and came out unscathed."
I listened while I watched his face, fascinated by the new, almost wistful expression that he wore. I found myself silently wondering what he'd been like as a human ... was he sweet and kind, tender and loving? Or, was he the cold, calculating bastard that he'd appeared to be for so long? Godric must have seen something good in him, to have turned him.
"What are you, Sookie Stackhouse?" Eric whispered, almost more to himself than to me.
I sighed, absentmindedly resting my head against his shoulder, breathing into the base of his neck. "I wish I knew."
Eric turned his head again, and I realized how uncomfortably comfortable I was all of a sudden. He didn't say anything, which I was eternally grateful for. Just one small crack about how he'd finally gotten me into his arms would have been enough to spoil the moment.
When we finally arrived at my house, I found myself hesitant to extricate myself from Eric's arms. His body, while normally hard and cold, was oddly comforting at the moment.
"Godric will want to see you again tomorrow night, close to first dark, if you can manage," Eric told me.
I nodded, and slowly moved my legs to let him know I wanted down. Well, I didn't want down, but I knew it was the smartest choice.
Eric complied, bringing his hand out from under my legs in an unhurried pace. His hand trailed along my thigh as my legs slid down, stopping to rest on the curve of my bottom. His other hand remained on my back, though it also drifted lower.
At this position, with his hands cradling me against him, and hands joined around the back of his neck, I felt supremely short. I knew I should feel uncomfortable, or irked at the presumptiveness of his hands, but instead, all I could feel was short, with this giant Viking towering over me.
"You're so tall," I mentioned, my voice quiet.
He smirked at that, moving forwards, rather than away. If there had been any space between us, it was gone now.
I blinked a few times, recognizing the look in his eyes. Pure, unabashed desire.
His head began a slow descent towards mine, his blue eyes never once looking away from mine.
I was trapped in his gaze, unable to move even if I'd wanted to. "Eric ..." I whispered, not sure what else I was planning on saying. Something needed to be said, that was for sure.
He didn't hesitate or falter, simply continued lowering his lips to mine. He was close enough that I was sure he could feel my breath on his face, and I was suddenly glad that I'd brushed my teeth before we'd left.
His leather jacket shifted around me with our movement, his hair tickling my fingers that were still clasped around his neck.
Throwing all doubt and reservation to the wind, I began to press myself up on my toes.
Just as his lips ghosted over mine, a loud shriek pierced the air.
I jumped, and Eric whipped his head in the direction of my house, searching for the body that the voice belonged to.
Before we could move, music began playing from inside my house, loud and uncontained. There were several more shrieks and hollers, and then the front door burst open. Sheriff Bud Dearborn came running out, his uniform shirt still on and tucked into his belt, though he wore no pants. He was grinning like a fool, dancing around on the front lawn.
"What the ...?" I couldn't bring myself to say anything else, watching the odd display.
He drew closer to us, his head bobbing back and forth, and it was then that I saw his eyes. They were black as coal.
"Sheriff?" My eyes flickered between Eric and Bud, not knowing what the hell was going on in my house.
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End of chapter six.
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Until next time ...!