Hey guys, here's the other update as promise. Now, I was a little upset with the last chapter, I didn't get many reviews at all. I expect more this time or I might make you guys wait a bit for an update and I know a lot of you are following the story, remember I get the emails about it. I would like to give huge, huge, HUGE thanks to the people that have reviewed multiple times. You make my day that much brighter. Charlaine Harris owns the amazing Southern Vampire Mysteries, I'm just having a little fun with some characters. Here it goes...


"Sookie! Let me in!" A deep, anger filled voice broke through the silence of the night. I cringed and turned further into Eric so I could hide my face. His unique scent wafted over me and more than ever I didn't want to respond to the vampire outside.

"Who is that?" Eric asked; his body was tense as every muscle prepared for a fight.

"Sookie!" The voice took on a threatening lilt as it grew even louder, clearly now coming from underneath my window.

"Bill." I groaned. I extricated myself from Eric's grip and walked over to the window.

"I know you're in there! I can here you." Bill yelled again. Why was he even here? Better question; why was he acting like this?

I pulled back the curtain to see Bill stood directly opposite me and looking decidedly red in the face for a vampire. His floppy brown hair was pushed back erratically to reveal his mud brown eyes that were staring intently at me. His skin gave off the faint luminescence that I associated with vampires; he literally glowed in the moonlight. I shook my head at him and held my hand up, indicating it would take me a few minutes.

"Just let me in!" He growled up at me. I shook my head again before turning back around to face Eric, who was stood at my elbow, encased in shadow so he was hidden from view.I pushed against his hard chest so that we walked towards the hall and hopefully out of earshot. The house was completely in gloom as I hadn't bothered with any lights.

"Why is he here?" Eric asked quietly, speaking into my ear.

"I don't know. Bill's my ex-boyfriend, it could be anything. He's been trying to get me back for awhile." I crept quietly towards the door and searched with my other sense for any other brain patterns, of which there were none, before opening the door.

I came face to face with Bill who was stood as close as he could physically get to the inside of the house. His toes were pushed up against the invisible barrier that prevented him from entering my home since I'd rescinded his invitation. His eyebrows were pulled down deeply in a scowl that bored straight into me. Eric had ducked into the kitchen so that he remained hidden. He wasn't in any immediate danger, or so we thought, but the fewer people who knew about his current predicament the better.

"Let me in Sookie."

"No." I growled back. I knew my eyes would hold the fierce glow they get when I'm mad. "Why should I?"

"There's another vampire in there Sookie, you aren't safe." His eyes darted around so he could see every nook and cranny within the hall.

"Yes I am. You're not the only vampire I know. This one I happen to actually like." I huffed as I remembered all the hurt he'd caused me. Here he was, wanting to protect me from imaginary danger when he'd been the one that had put me in danger countless times and had treated me like rubbish.

"Sookie what is going on?" He asked with a calmer tone.

"You don't deserve to know." I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned all my weight onto my left leg.

"Please." The word sounded foreign coming from his lips due to the flat tone that screamed out to me that he didn't mean the pleasantry at all. I'd seen Bill like this before and I knew I'd have to give him some information or he'd never leave. He couldn't come into the house but there was nothing to stop him from standing, noisily, on my porch all evening.

"I have a vampire friend over; he's staying for a few days as a break from work. Now, why are you here?"

"I was walking through the woods earlier tonight and I heard a couple of vampires here earlier, I assumed they were just visiting. I stayed around in the cemetery for awhile; I noticed Pam leaving but it's been several hours now and there's still someone in here. I'm worried for your safety."

So that was the sinking feeling I'd had since Pam had left; I'd been subconsciously picking up on Bill's brain signature, or lack of, and I'd been dreading another visitor. When I'm around vampires I can completely relax that part of my mind; there are no thoughts to pick up on so I don't have to fight to keep them at bay. I didn't bother looking out for people so I don't consciously think about brain signatures at all.

"I am perfectly safe thank you very much; Eric is being a perfect gentleman and is looking out for my safety." I brought my hand up to my mouth and traced my lips, wondering how I'd managed to let Eric's name fall from my lips.

"Eric is the vampire that's in here?"

"Yes." I whispered back. I heard shuffling from behind me and turned around to see Eric walking towards me through the shadows of the hall.

"Do you know what he's like? Sookie, think of your reputation." Bill's voice took on a disgusted look as his face finally lost the scowl. That did it; Bill had no right to even think about me like that, not after the way he'd treated me.

"Stop right there Bill Compton! You will keep your opinion to yourself as you've never considered such things as my 'reputation' before. You have no right to be here and I don't have to explain to myself to you."

"But Eric?"

"Yes." This came from the man stood behind me as he placed his hand tenderly, yet possessively, on my shoulder. "Sookie is perfectly well, thank-you. You will leave us alone now. I won't take kindly if I learn you were stalking her again. Sookie has no interest in you and I have every interest in Sookie. Goodbye." Eric finished his little speech and I helped out by slamming the door satisfactorily in Bill's face.

We stood there for a few minutes, both deep in thought, as we let what had just happened sink in. "He's gone." Eric stated a few moments later. I nodded and walked back into my room. I settled down on the bed, pulling a comforter around me in the process, so that I was warm. Eric laid down beside, laying his head on the pillow so that he was looking at me.

"What happened between you and Bill?" He asked. No one had ever known the full story of what happened as it involved vampire mythology and politics beyond a level that the general public could know. My girl friends knew of the typical male-female problems between us but that had only been the basis of the problems between us.

"You want the full story? It's long and boring."

"Yes. I want to know things about you, you're interesting. I find you fascinating." His tone was sincere as he spoke. I closed my eyes briefly, hoping that it would help me keep the tears from falling.

"When I first met I'd only been dating Bill for a few weeks. At first things between us were fantastic; he was a gentleman, he showed me respect and honestly it was my first real relationship so I had nothing to really compare him to. Things remained okay between us; we went on dates that he wanted, we hung out at his place, he drank my blood every time we had sex. We couldn't just be together though, couldn't just relax or chat. Everything always seemed to lead to something."

I felt the tell tale pin pricks of tears jostling for position at the edges of my eyelids so I blinked furiously, trying to remain composed. I couldn't think about that time in my life without thinking of my grandma and I found that time didn't really heal the wound of her passing; just made it more distant. It was still a bubbled scab in my mind just waiting for the slighting touch for it to split so that the blood could come pouring out.

"That's no way to treat your woman." Eric stated softly as he pulled me into his side with the comforter still around me. I may not agree completely with his possessiveness but I couldn't really argue with the sentiment.

"I didn't really know what to expect from my relationship though; Bill was my first real boyfriend, he was a vampire and very much old fashioned in some ways. At first it was chivalrous; opening doors, pushing my chair under, carrying my bag but eventually I came to see myself more as an addition to his possessions; I was the human trophy on his arm." At that there was deep bass growl rumbling through Eric's chest which actually calmed me down.

"Nothing truly bad happened so I didn't end it; I loved him, he said he loved me and overall things were decent. But then my grandmother passed away. It'll be a year in March." The tears reared their ugly pearls again and they splashed in large droplets down my cheeks.

"You loved her." His surprisingly soft thumbs traced over the flushed skin of my cheeks so that he could brush away my tears. More fell, silently, but he still kept wiping them away.

"Yes, I did. She was my grandmother, my mother, my friend. At the time when I most needed the one person that said he truly cared for me he wasn't there. Two days after the incident he told me he had to travel for business; something to do with some computer software he'd been working on. This struck me as odd once I'd been able to think it over; he'd never had to travel before, he was secretive about it and the plans came suddenly, without warning. I should have read the signs."

"What happened to your grandmother?" I tucked my head further into his chest as I brought my hand up to tightly grip the soft material of his sweater. His arm tightened its grasp around my waist in response.

"She had cancer, it indirectly killed her. She fell in the kitchen one day and she was too weak to get up for the phone. I was out on a date with Bill. She'd cut her head badly on the counter when she fell and she bled profusely. She passed out before anything could be done. When I got home she was barely breathing. She died before the paramedics could get here."

"I'm sorry. I would have liked to meet her."

"Why?" I asked into his chest. I took a deep breath, taking in his unique scent which was currently mixed with my own, to calm myself down.

"She raised you and made you the person you are today. She must have been a truly remarkable woman." I offered him a weak smile at his words before continuing on with my story; it would be harder now to leave it half way through than to finish as I'd already brought up so much pain.

"Bill was gone for three weeks 'on business'. I was left with only my brother who had his own problems to sort everything out; the funeral, the estate, her belongings, my grief and help my brother. When Bill got back things were different between us. He no longer did the little things that had at one time proved he cared. Then last summer I walked over to his house after work and I found out he'd cheated on me." The deep growl came again; this time it almost scared me.

"You deserve better than him."

"Thanks. The worst bit is next; I caught him red handed cheating on me. I had my own key at this point so I let myself in but I couldn't find him. I heard the shower running from his ostentatious bathroom. I knew how much it pleased him when I joined him in there and I was in a good mood so I started to undress and I walked in. I found him in the shower naked with a woman named Lorena, they were in the middle of sex. I screamed, ran outside and proceeded to through up in the bushes. I refused to speak to Bill for a week after that. When I finally agreed to see him I dumped him, rescinded his invitation and threw a bottle of Tru Blood at his head."

"That is despicable behaviour. To think he calls himself a gentleman."

"He said he had no choice in the matter, that she was his maker. It didn't change anything. He's been trying to get me to go back with him since."

"That is just an excuse, you did the right thing. In fact, he deserves more than a bottle to his head. You should never go back with him." There was a commanding tone in his voice with that last bit but I didn't mind it. My grief for my grandmother had gone, replaced by the anger of recalling Bill's escapades.

"Do you have a maker?" I asked without thinking.

"I don't know." I felt his shoulders shrug underneath me and I pushed myself closer to him so that I could be his comfort blanket.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. You should rest. It's only a few hours until dawn; I can feel it." He rolled away from me then and stood up. He pushed the duvet back before leaning over and picking me up. He laid me gently in the bed before crawling, gracefully, in after me. I turned onto my side, away from him, but he immediately pressed the long length of his body up against me, mirroring my position. "Sleep." He gently grasped my hand, interlocked our fingers before placing our hands over my stomach. His one word washed over me like beautiful order and I was lulled swiftly into the bliss of ignorant slumber.


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