A/N: So I've been listening to my new Swell Season album (deal, people. I love it). And there's this little monologue Glen Hansard does, describing one of his songs. He says, "Your head, your logical self is saying, 'It's grand. She loves me. We spend all our time together. Her parents like me. We have this great thing.' But your heart is an abandoned train that's speeding, being driving by a lyon (But because he's Irish, it sounds like "layon"). Just braaaaaaaaaah! On ice. Khhhhhhhaaaaaa! Your heart is just out of control."

Sounds about right for our telepath and our Viking.

This is getting harder to write because even I am getting tired of the angst. But I'm just stubborn enough that I can't just let sex fix Sookie. And I can't just let them declare themselves and live happily ever after. (Maybe that's why I like Sookie so much. We're two of a pair.) Plus, I like the tease. There's more to be revealed here--hopefully in a fun and erotic way. Hope you enjoy and keep commenting.

Disclaimer: I am not Charlaine Harris, and don't own Sookie or Eric. But I do have a dirty mind.

Chapter 7: Open and Closed

Sookie's POV

Eric was licking lazily. When he saw me looking, he smiled a fangy smile and licked me again and I about collapsed in the best, liquidy way.

"Lover," he whispered, and the cool air on my slick skin caused a tremor up my body. "Look at me."

I found I couldn't resist him, or didn't want to. I was too relaxed, a state I knew far too little of lately. So I lifted my heavy head to gaze at his eyes. He looked delicious. I could see he wasn't done with me yet, that sent a thrill of pure pleasure through me.

"You are healing quite well, inside and out," he smiled, almost smugly. "I have checked." He looked like he wanted a gold star, or a merit badge. I laughed softly and stroked his head, his face. He was not deterred, though, and he nibbled voraciously at me. I felt his fang tickle across my folds. I shuddered and closed my eyes. A little moan escaped me. He waited until I looked at him again.

"You look quite better than you did even yesterday."

His tongue parted my folds and found my still sensitive nub. My breath caught, and he played with it, orchestrating my breath with his tongue until I was groaning.

"You feel exquisite."

He closed his eyes and nuzzled into me. I emitted a high sound of surprise to see his face pressed full into me, not holding back at all. I could see that I was still flaking and peeling and it made me nauseous. But to see him--oh to see him reveling in me anyway did something to me I can't explain. I felt tiny and broken still, but safe in his hands--and wild, too. I couldn't believe him, that he wanted me this way, now. I tingled against him and felt myself building, a sudden desire taking me. I pulled at his hair and rubbed myself on him. I groaned and nearly lost myself to him again when he put his big hands on my hips to still me. I sobbed in confusion, in need.

"Patience, lover," he said, a dark smile in his eyes. "Now watch me."

I couldn't help but. My chest was heaving. I was riveted.

Sure he had my attention, he went back to his slow tease.

"You taste divine."

He held my eyes as he stretched his long tongue out and just into me, licking all the way up to my nub, gathering wetness as he went. I rotated my hips on his tongue, getting just the tension I needed. And then I contracted--back arching, head falling back, knees rising. Yes. Yes.

That position did remarkable things to how he was touching me and suddenly his fingers were there again, stroking carefully into me, looking for the spot. I made some kind of sound but I can't say what it was. It just continued on and broke with my breathing. I bit my lip and looked at him with effort. I knew he'd like it, and he did.

And then without words, he seemed to know what I wanted more than anything, because his jeans were off and he was pressing his strong, cool chest into mine, gliding along my folds, teasing my nub. I liked to have fallen out at the pleasure of it all.

He pulled my face to him and took my mouth in a hard, long kiss until I was clean out of breath. With my new mobility, I wrapped my legs around his waist hard and brought him to me, guiding him with my hand until I felt him nudge inside.

You might think this would be a scary moment, but it was just like when he came to me after I killed the fairy: Like he'd never left. It was as if Crystal had never been killed, as if Niall had never discovered me, as if Eric had never left my house. As if I'd never been hurt--ever. We both groaned deeply, in relief. I knew now what Eric had meant those months ago when he said this was best. This was. It was best.

I opened myself to him further, holding him close and buried my face into his chest. I sighed deeply, contentedly.

"Missed you," I murmured, feeling him fill me, running my fingers through his hair, rocking slightly. "Ah, missed you."

He emitted a low sound, some beautiful word from long ago, and thrust into me. Just like that, the time for tender words was over.

I arched and bit into his nipple lightly and I heard him groan.

"Harder," he rasped. "Drink."

Mmmm, yes. I took his nipple in my mouth again, sucking for a second, savoring, and working up my nerve. Then I bit as hard as I could just above it. I felt his flesh tear and in the second before he started healing, I sucked hard. His groan was so deep that I felt it rumbling through his chest and into me, vibrating my nipples and folds deliciously. His hands pulled at my bottom, bringing me onto him more directly, more insistently. I let out a high, strangled sound and couldn't have been happier.

He pressed deliberately, mindfully into me, but with force. I wanted, suddenly, unexpectedly, for him to bring it on. I didn't say it. A tiny dread held my mouth shut. I was still so wounded. If I was going to collapse from anything tonight, I didn't want it to be from pain.

It was just a passing thought or feeling--or... something--anyway and I released it as Eric bombarded me. Then my body remembered and I kept up. The sounds of him, the feel of him, the rightness of this, overwhelmed me until I was calling out, begging him to bite me, too. When he did, a sharp pleasure surged through me, built and crashed into me, stilling my brain while my body moved and thrashed and clinched and, finally, finally released.

I fell back with pleasure, grasping at him inside and out, wanting to keep him. I must have been half out of my mind because I started thinking about Eric as a pet, someone I'd have to get permisson from Gran to have around. Can I keep him? I promise to feed him and clothe him and take real good care of him. I petted at his neck for good measure.

I didn't stop moving, not wanting to give up any little part of him, even as my healing body became more sensitive to every movement. He seemed to appreciate the gesture by the way he was thrusting now, groaning, his eyes on me in a way that made me feel like a field mouse to his hawk. I knew that look: I'd seen it the first time I'd laid eyes on him. He'd been sprawled on his throne in Fangtasia and he'd been looking at me so hard I thought he was counting my eyelashes. He'd called me sweet. I'd scoffed.

And just now the memory of that craving look in his eyes combined with the reality of it in front of me made me want to show him how not-sweet I could be. I scratched my nails up over his chest, bit against his shoulders and dragged myself weakly up him until I was at his neck. I snaked my tongue out and licked his ear.

I whispered, "Baby, I want to watch you. Come for me now." I tried not to growl, but I'm not sure I succeeded. And then I bit his neck, as hard as I could.

And what happened then was maybe one of the most amazing thing I ever experienced. My big, Viking vampire rammed into me hard--OK, that did scare me. I was so used to tearing apart at the slightest thing and Eric was not slight, not by a long shot. But I didn't feel any twinges of pain. Instead, I felt flooded with lust, relief, joy....

Love.

I blinked.

Love.

And just like that I opened to him in a different way. I felt pulled in by him and floating at once. I couldn't stop myself from getting swept up, from continuing to rock as I felt him swell and release deep into me. Love, safety, contentment, lust--lots of that--and the feel of him on me, in me, holding me took me over the edge one more time.

I took a minute to collect myself and when I looked into Eric's eyes, he was looking at me baldly, like he had those days when he didn't know who he was and I was all he had in the world. Unsure--Eric, unsure! Surprised. Horny.... And something bigger, harder to define, there staring back at me through those pale blue eyes.

He pulled me in close and kissed a kiss that meant business and then another and it went on like that until my mouth felt sore and puffy and a chill touched all my wet places. I could feel him softening, finally, inside me but his kiss told me something different, like he'd never stop this, like he'd stay inside me forever if I wanted him to. And in that moment, boy, did I want him to. I shivered and wrapped myself around him like a limpet, not releasing him, holding him into me as aftershocks rippled through me.

With all the kissing, I thought Eric would want to go again, but I was so taken by exhaustion just then that I hoped he'd change his mind. Drowsily, I let out a long contented sigh and stroked his back, enjoying the smooth hardness of it. I still didn't know what his intentions were but in that moment, he felt for all the world like my Eric, like the Eric I had almost fallen in love with.

Eric's POV

Watching my Bonded sleep is a rare delight. To feel her warm skin against my hand, to watch how the moonlight glowed against her now pink skin was a gift. Her eyes fluttered softly with her dreams and her delectable mouth was slack, trembling with breath. Her bottom twitched with dreams and she occasionally stiffened and balled her hands. Her face scrunched up on the side that rested on my chest.

We certainly were bonded now--now more than ever after the intense moment we shared this night. I hadn't expected it. The bond went from decimated by the fairies' dark arts to spread wide. And what I found there... It was my heart's desire. Lust. Trust. And love. Big love. I wondered if Sookie understood what it was, if she'd even admit it to herself if she had. The bond was so open tonight that I felt inside her, could feel her dreams in me.

I had been away too long, I thought, scowling to myself. I rearranged her long blond hair on her back, fanning it out prettily and then grasping it all in my hand, pulling lightly till her head listed to the side. Mine.

I refused to dwell on what I'd done when we were apart. It had all been distasteful: All the negotiating with my new masters, all the strategy required to keep my position and keep Sookie safe. Every single fangbanger. I let the thought slip from my mind and moved on to more pleasant things.

I caressed her lips and smiled. She'd never fed from me without my requesting it before. She'd never used this mouth to command me like that before. I chuckled, thinking of her lips at my ear, growling her kitten growl, commanding me to come as she watched. The thought made mad want to wake her and command her, too. But I knew she was still healing. She needed to rest.

My fingers drifted over her hair and to her arms. These thin things she'd used to hold me to her, tell me she'd missed me. No small thing from my Bonded, who has made a religion of denying her feelings for me. I smiled ruefully, recalling all the times she'd held her back stiff as I held her, all the times she held back from her heart's desire for me. So stubborn.

My Bonded's little confession--ah, it cheered me, made me greedy for more. I would like to think this would be the end of this impetuous resistance to me--that we could move on to the logistics of light-tight rooms and permanent addresses--but I know my Bonded too well. There is still much on her mind and, I fear, many hurdles to cross. And there is the very prominent issue of Sookie's mental health. Both evenings I have been here, she has suffered greatly. I flashed back to Ignatius. Vampire's natures are set at the time they are turned, and he never improve. His maker eventually staked him when Ignatius lunged at her one too many times, ripping a limb from her in a fit of insanity. She had taken a year to regrow that leg.

Sookie was human, and her mind was more malleable. I rubbed her arm hopefully. I could heal, I told myself. She would improve.

Not wanting to dwell on that, either, I drifted back to the greatest gift of all. The feel of her warm, wet pussy pressing into my face, my cheek, my nose, my lips dripping with her arousal--the thing of a hundred fantasies hatched during my long hours on my Fangtasia throne--made me lick my lips even now. Honestly, how she could think surface damage could negate the beauty underneath.... She was so young. I often forgot, she was so strong and determined. Human, I reminded myself. Human and young. I willed myself never to forget again.

I was leaning down to her, kissing the spot on her neck where I'd bitten, covering it with my blood to protect her from Bonita's prying eyes, when my lover roused. I could feel a tiny surge of lust and contentment, followed by a shiver down her gorgeous frame. Then she was looking into my eyes and her gaze was soft, her smile wide and shy. I rubbed her cheek and kissed her lip, nibbling, not willing to let go.

"Dear heart, have you had your dinner?" I asked, hearing her stomach working. I would need a Blood, as well, if Sookie was to get through this evening unscathed.

She looked at me blankly, as if food was irrelevant, and shook her head.

"Shall I feed you?" I asked leaning in close and growling. She laughed. I loved the sound.

She is mine, and I shall make her healthy, I thought as I regretfully rose and wandered to the kitchen.

"A drink, my lover?" I called as I procured myself a TrueBlood and looked at the tiresome cartons in the refrigerator. Human food all looked the same to me. She asked for milk and I procured that, as well, pouring her a drink and putting my Blood in the microwave to heat. I would have to remind Bobby to bring a case of the stuff here during the day so I would be well stocked. I was losing my resistance to Sookie's charms and was feeding on her far too often. I wasn't sure that bottled synthetic dreck would make Sookie's fae-laced blood any less appealing, but I thought I should but on the show, at least.

I was leaning into the fridge, considering two different covered dishes filled with brown, lumpy matter when I felt hands on my bottom and a warm kiss on my back. My Bonded leaned against me, pressing her cheek and hot breasts into my back and sighed.

"What are you feeding me?" she asked, teasing, running her nails over my bottom.

I stood and turned, leering at her, pushing my hips forward slightly. "Whatever you like, whenever you want it, my lover."

She groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, Lord." She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. Sookie must be feeling better. She was impertinent again.

I scowled down at the dishes in my hand. "Which do you choose?"

She grabbed one of the dishes from my hand. "Well, since that one's a container of salsa left over from the chili, I choose this one."

She removed my blood from the microwave, shaking it absently before handing it to me and placed her dish in the microwave. She moved around the kitchen easily, walking almost assuredly and I could feel in the bond that she was content and a little tender.

"What did you do today, my lover?" I asked, as she sat with her dish and a spoon.

She took a big bite of the food--whatever it was--and sighed in happiness as it rippled down her throat. Her contentment pleased me.

"Not much," she yawned. "I got up and thought last night was a dream and panicked. But then I remembered and went to the guest room and sat there in the closet with you for a bit."

I sat frozen, the lip of the bottle at my mouth. She had come to me. In my rest, she had come to me and been with me, wanted me. Unbidden, willingly. I cursed Sookie's old house. I cursed the tiny space designed for daytime rest. I cursed Bill. So small-minded. So secretive. He could have made the room light-tight, and instead he carved a hole in the dirt to lay himself in. Imbecile. But then I flashed on an image of my Bonded curled with the dark-haired vampire and my fangs began to run down. If I were to light-tight the room, I would be the only vampire to ever lay with her during the day. Mine. I would have to consult with Bobby about the least invasive way to make it so.

"But then Bonnie got here," Sookie continued, oblivious to my impulse to stake her ex, who lingered in the wood outside even now. I hoped he could see us sitting here naked. Sookie spooned another mound of food toward her mouth. "She's a big thinker. I mean, her thoughts are loud. I can hear her mind from a mile a way, seems like. I would have been mortified if she had found me on the floor in the closet just laying there like a lunatic."

Mmmm. The image of her laying in only my shirt above me made me hard. I would have liked to have seen that.

Sookie looked at me sideways, taking in my mood, I thought. She gave me an exasperated look and went on.

"I tell you, the first day she was here, I about collapsed from the pain. It was like she was yelling at me. It felt like I was a kid, before I learned any shields. I had a pounding headache, and she was only here for a few hours."

She looked up at me suddenly, studying me with a grateful, confused expression. She bit into her lower lip. She looked like she was deciding whether to say something to me so I leveled my gaze at her, inviting her, daring her. She always surprises me.

She placed her hand on mine on top of the table tentatively. "Thank you, Eric, for sending her," she started and she suddenly seemed as terrified as she'd been the night I arrived. Her eyes glanced to the table and I saw a drop fall on her hand. "I... I was in a real bad way that day. In a real bad way for a while now, as you can tell." She glanced up apologetic and then hid her eyes from me. I filled with rage, remembering the decapitated bodies of those fairies, and my hands itched with the need to shred them all over again. "And even though it scared the bejeesus out of me when she arrived at my door, I can't tell you... I can't tell you how much it means to me that you... thought of me and that you sent her."

Her voice trailed off then, barely a whisper to human ears. I was unable to pull my eyes from her.

I wanted to tear something apart. I wanted to lay her down on this table and kiss her until her tears turned to moans. I wanted to break this table, this house. I wanted to smile in victory--that my Bonded had finally, finally, conceded something to me. I wanted to go back in time and encamp on her front porch and wait her out instead of returning to Fangtasia without her. I wanted to... I wanted to.... Feelings. Filthy, uncontrollable, unpredictable things.

I must have betrayed my... emotions... because she was looking at me in fear. I wanted to kiss her tears. I felt just as confused as she had just looked. I suddenly felt this hateful sensation, this flood of... contrition. I wanted to apologize for leaving her, for neglecting her, for believing her, for letting her have her way, for not saving her in time, for ever leaving this place, for having anything in my life but her. I did not care for the direction my mind was taking my body, so I opted for the easiest, yet truthful response.

"Dear heart," I whispered, rubbing my thumb over her cheek, kissing her softly on one cheek and then the other. And then in my native tongue: "I would meet the sun tomorrow if it could erase what you've been through, what I've done to you."

I ran my hand down to her delicious, edible neck, rubbing there too. I pulled her to me for a kiss. I ran my hand down her arm to her hand, studied it and then kissed it.

Then in English: "I should have done it sooner." The words came out stiffly, unaccustomed in my mouth. I studied her hands, which were now resting in mine. I had never dropped my gaze from another being, vampire, demon, fairy--anything. And yet here was this frail, 26-year-old human woman and I could not look her in the eye. I marveled again at her power over me. I never would have imagined.

Just then, I saw moisture on her hand and looked up to see her crying. It wasn't gratitude anymore, but more deep grief. Her beautiful face twisted and she curled into herself, dropping her head between her knees, stealing her hands from me. Rage flashed through me. I'd made it worse. How had I made it worse?

I dropped to my knees and gathered her to me. By Freya, the sun would be preferable to this pain. I felt compelled, the words dragged from my mouth by some magic that was not my own.

"I am sorry, my love," I said into her hair. "So sorry."

She sobbed into me, heaving with the effort of it.

"I was all alone," she said in a high, hopeless whine. "I hurt so much. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't... I couldn't stop seeing them... seeing them... c-c-cutting me... And teeth and... Their sharp teeth and... and biting!"

I wanted to rip a throat out. My hands flexed but I managed to keep a tenuous grip on my emotions and my reactions. Human and young, I reminded myself. I put my hands on her shoulders and stroked her gently. But deep inside... Very, very deep inside my still heart, I felt like a newborn vampire: Human emotions so strong, mingling with my bloodlust and my physical strength to make me dangerous, confused. I reached to gather her to me but as I did so, her hand flung up, her eyes still squeezed tightly closed.

"And laughing..." she growled, trembling. Her little fingers balled into fists, as they had done in her sleep. "Laughing!"

Her growl wasn't kittenish anymore. It was the roar of a lioness, protective and provoked.

Just then a surge of rage and desperation and terror and need slammed into me through the bond and I found Sookie fighting my embrace, pushing against me, shrinking away, curling down, winding her way out of my embrace. Her hands and arms beat at my chest, my arms, my neck, my face. Her leg reached up to kick wherever she could. And roared.

"No!" she shrieked. "NO. No! Nononononononono. Get off me. Off! Don't touch me. Stop!"

Her eyes looked around wildly, not seeing. And just like that, the bond slammed shut again.