It was after three in the morning when I finally fell asleep. One minute I was curled into Eric, his fingertips stroking my temple, and the next I was wincing at the sunlight.

Lately, my life with Eric had made me feel like Juliet in that scene where she dreads the sunrise because she doesn't want to let Romeo leave her. Honestly, I didn't know how I could spend the rest of my life like that. Some folks are night people. Not me.

On the drive home, I saw a McDonald's sign at one of the exits, so I stopped by there and got a large coffee. It's a good thing I did, too, 'cause I was glad to be alert when I got to my house and found Dermot there.

He was sitting at the kitchen table like everything was normal. He even smiled at me when I walked in.

"There you are," he said, rising to meet me. "I was concerned when you didn't return home last night."

I frowned. "I was with Eric. And were you looking for me because you wanted to return something?" I asked, giving him a pointed look.

Dermot pulled out the chair nearest to where he had been sitting. "Please sit with me," he said.

I knew my eyes must've been wary as I tossed my empty coffee cup in the trash and sat down next to him. He reached over and took my hand. If I wasn't wary before, I damn well was then.

"My dear Sookie, I had to take the cluviel dor."

My mouth dropped into catching-flies position, and I didn't know if the shock was that he actually had stolen it or that he confessed so readily.

"I have known for a long time that there was one in this house," he continued. "I could feel it always. I spent many days and nights searching for it in your absence. I did not tell Claude, for he would have tried to steal it."

"And what makes you think it was okay for you to steal it?" I demanded. I tried unsuccessfully to yank my hand away from his.

He shook his head at me sadly. "You would have given its power to the vampire. How could I stand by and let that happen? Especially… especially because you and I are the ones who must join together. Do you not find me beautiful? Do you not feel how we are drawn to each other?"

Ew! was my first thought, but I refrained from saying it aloud and making myself sound like we were in kindergarten and Dermot had just dangled a worm in front of my face.

"You're my uncle," I said. He remembered that, right?

"These human relationships have no meaning for the fae," he countered.

Yeah, Sam had warned me about that. I had chosen not to believe that it might become an issue. So much for that.

"Okay…" I said slowly. "Two things, Dermot. First of all, you had no right to steal what my grandmother left for me. Second, I love Eric, and I'm not giving him up for you – or anyone, for that matter."

He released my hand, and I pulled it away while I had the chance. His beautiful face was dark and unhappy.

"It grieved me to betray your trust, dearest Sookie, but I had no choice. You would throw away the gift of the fae and our own future offspring for a vampire. No. I love you – I love our kind – too much to allow that."

Dermot withdrew the cluviel dor from his pocket, and I saw that in the hands of a true fairy, it glowed and pulsed with energy. He kissed it.

"I call upon the fairy kin to grant my request…"

"Dermot, no!" I cried out. I leaped up and tried to take the cluviel dor, but I was no match for him.

"…and to sever all ties between Sookie Stackhouse and Er-"

"I said NO!"

I used all my might to knee him in the groin, and he stumbled backwards with an ooph, his eyes bugging out like some kind of cartoon. The cluviel dor fell to the kitchen floor and broke into several pieces. Dermot let out an unearthly wail. For a moment I thought he might attack me, but he clasped his head in both hands and wept. I had absolutely no idea what to say or do.

Telling him to leave would be a good start.

"Dermot, I want you to get your things and go," I said.

He didn't move. "Everything is ruined. I weep for the children we will never have."

Oh, for Pete's sake.

"That was never gonna happen anyway," I told him hotly. "Now get out."

I followed him all the way upstairs to his room and watched as he put what little possessions he kept at my house into a bag. Once he was out of my house, I returned to the kitchen and stared down at the broken cluviel dor. I could think of only one person who might be able to help me, and that was Mr. Cataliades.

His phone went straight to voice mail.

"Hello, Mr. Cataliades," I said as brightly as I could. "This is Sookie. I wanted to ask you about getting insurance on that heirloom my grandmother left me. The one we talked about before? Please give me a call when you get a chance."

I set my phone on the table and squatted to pick up the pieces of the cluviel dor. I laid them on the table beside my phone and flopped into the chair vacated by Dermot. At some point, I dozed off. It was mid-afternoon when the phone rang and dragged me back to consciousness. I lifted my head gingerly from my arms and squinted at the phone. Sure enough, it was Mr. C.

"Miss Stackhouse, I am returning your call," he said, and I could hear other voices in the background. The line had a lot of static, too. No telling where he was.

"Yes, I wanted to ask about… damage insurance on that heirloom we discussed?"

There was a short pause. "What kind of damage?" he asked. "Will the painting simply need to be restored, or is the damage very bad?"

"Very bad, I'm afraid," I told him.

"I see. Let me call around for you, Miss Stackhouse, but my guess would be that there's nothing anyone can do, since your policy doesn't cover that."

I told him that I understood, and I sighed as I closed my phone and set it down. If the cluviel dor couldn't be repaired, then Eric and I would have to take matters into our own hands to get him away from Freyda. Only problem was, Eric told me that he had tried everything – and I believed him. What could possibly be left, besides killing her?

That was something I simply couldn't reconcile in my conscience. Killing in self-defense was one thing. Killing someone because she wanted my man? Because she technically had a right to him according to their laws? I wasn't even torn; I couldn't do it. Eric would probably not understand, but he and I were used to disagreement.

So that left… what, exactly?

I couldn't sit around and stew about it all day, so I used the rest of the long summer afternoon to pack some boxes to take over to Eric's house. Our house, I reminded myself. And this beloved house, which I would always think of as Gran's house, would be our weekend refuge.

When Eric rose at sundown, I had already unpacked the boxes I'd brought. Most of the items were for the kitchen, since Eric didn't have many of those necessities. I'd also brought a couple of boxes of clothes. My small car didn't hold much, but this would be the first of many trips.

Eric found me in the kitchen and slipped his arms around my waist, nuzzling his nose into my neck. I heard him inhale my scent, and I closed my eyes as I leaned back into him.

"You should have left the boxes in the car and let me carry them in for you when I rose," he said.

He must have noticed the pile of empty boxes stacked by the door that connected to the garage.

"Gave me something to do," I replied.

I turned around in his arms and held myself to him. Odd, really, how a body so cold and hard only made me feel warm and safe. I sighed against him as he kissed the top of my head.

"I can give you something to do," he said, and though I couldn't see his grin, I heard it in his voice.

Tilting my head back to look up – and up and up – at him, I found it impossible not to return his smile, miserable as I felt. But thanks to our renewed blood bond, Eric knew something was wrong with me. His smile curved downwards.

"What's bothering you, my lover?" he asked.

"The cluviel dor is gone," I said, pressing my face into his chest.

I listened to the soft hum of the refrigerator as I waited for his reply.

"Dermot used it?"

"No. I found him at my house this morning, and he was wanting to use it to separate you and me because he wants me to pop out some magical fairy babies for him. When I stopped him, it fell on the floor and broke. I'm so sorry, Eric."

He stepped back from me a little, though he kept his arms around me, and said, "Come."

I nodded, let him go, and followed him into his office. He picked up the chair that usually sat across from him and brought it around behind the desk, beside his. While I sat down, he turned on his computer and rummaged in one of the desk drawers for a pile of papers. Finally, he sat beside me and set the papers in front of us.

"What's all this?" I asked him.

"I'll get to that in a moment," he said. "First, we need to talk. Killing Oklahoma is not an option because I know you would object to it. Am I correct in that assumption?"

"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if we did that."

He nodded, very businesslike. "Not an option, then. Only one avenue remains open to us, but I don't know if you will like it."

I reached for his hand and squeezed it. "If it means that you won't be taken away from me, then I like it," I said.

I tried to smile, but Eric only looked grim. He laid his hand on the pile of papers.

"These are contracts sent to me by Oklahoma's lawyers. Her offer is to release me from this commitment in exchange for your services. Whenever she requires them, for as long as she wishes. At no charge."

There was a heavy, dead weight settling into my stomach, and I didn't know what to say.

Eric continued, "This is her final offer. Believe me, there were many phone calls between us. I would not have you do this, Sookie. I would kill her first. Nevertheless, she sent these papers and has been waiting for my reply."

"She wants me to be her slave," I mused aloud. My voice sounded almost as hollow as I felt. Almost.

"Because you are human, she sees no problem with regarding you as such. Most vampires would say you have no claim on me whatsoever."

I took a deep breath and locked my eyes on his. "What if I'm not human?" I asked. "What if I'm a vampire?"

Whatever Eric was thinking, I couldn't feel it or see it on his face. All I saw was the icy blue of his eyes. Without looking away from him, I reached into my pocket and set the pieces of the cluviel dor on top of the papers.

"I'm waiting to find out from Mr. Cataliades if this can be fixed," I told him. "And if it can't, I want you to turn me. I'm yours, and you're mine, and there's no room for anybody else in that equation, queen or not."

Judging by what I was feeling, both from myself and from Eric, we would've had some really good sex right then. But the explosion nipped that idea in the bud.