disclaimer: I do not own the Southern Vampire Series or any of the characters featured below. All rights belong to Charlaine Harris.

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous."

Ingrid Bergman

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"Fine," I said shortly and we headed in. When I got inside, I held the door open for him, but he didn't budge.

"You admiring the front door?" I said, wondering if he was going to remind me of where it came from. He could take it back for all I cared.

"No, you need to invite me in," he said flatly.

"Eric, I never rescinded your invite. Get in here," I said tiredly.

"Yes. But when I arrived the witch did," he said querulously.

"Well, why…" I said and then laughed for the first time in days.

"You walked right in, didn't you? And she threw you out, huh?" I said, still snickering at the thought that little Amelia tossed the Viking out onto the stoop. Good girl, Amelia.

"Yes, she has very bad manners," he said with superiority.

"You're one to talk, " I replied, "Eric, you may come in."

I noticed Eric sampling the air as he entered my living room, and I was tempted to tell him to try to not take up all the air in the room for once. He sat on the sofa, and I decided to sit next to him. This blood bond was a real Catch-22. The more distance I wanted from him because of my rotten mood, the more I felt compelled to be near him. I felt better by the inch, the closer I got to him. It was a great relief from my internal torments. So, although it wasn't my first choice for an antidote, I was willing to take any relief I could get, no matter what form it came in. But I couldn't help admitting to myself the form wasn't bad either. As he angled his body to face me, his muscles rippling as he did, I thought I saw a small smile pucker in one corner of his mouth. It took that one flash of arrogance to get me focused again.

"Who is Niall at war with?" I asked in a hurry, to get the ball rolling in the right direction. He deliberated and it looked like he didn't want to answer at all.

"She goes by Najine. She is very dangerous, and she is not alone. She is just as magical and powerful as Niall, if not more so. She has been in the Americas for centuries, since being driven from Scotland, and before that, from farther north. She was but a legend in my human life. She and Niall have been well-known enemies for as long as I can remember."

I took a minute to process this. Those fairies sure know how to hold a grudge, because Eric is 1,000 years old and remembers everything. Even if it only goes back half that far, it must be some vendetta. Of all the great-grandfathers in all the world, I ended up with a supernatural who had warmongering immortal enemies. Nothing has ever been easy for me, so I was happy to have Niall in my life, fairy prince baggage and all. I've lost all the family I'd ever had, and now the newest addition was in jeopardy. So on top of Jason, today's new reality was that the very last relative I had left might die. It left me hollow on the inside.

And the rub was that I seemed to be the last one to know, again. You would think being involved in a supernatural war would be just the kind of thing you would share with your loved ones. He should have told me about this himself. Or at the very least, Claudine could have confided in me. I thought we were close. So instead, I was sitting on my sofa finding out from a vampire, who had showed up on my doorstep after a month of no contact.

"So Niall is at war with other fae." I paused. "And why are you telling me this? What does this have to do with you?"

"I have allied with Niall."

I was stupefied. I let out a gust of air and sat speechless for the second time tonight. He'd said it with some pride, but that just didn't fit. Eric's top ten list of favorite people consisted of the name "Eric" written ten times in ten different languages. Other than the fact that fairies were walking vampire cupcakes to him, Eric didn't like them. So why was he fighting in a fairy war?

"Why?" I hoped I didn't sound callous, but I just knew better than to think he got involved out of the kindness of his heart. Ha! Kindness of his heart…good one.

"I owed him from many years ago. When he asked for my assistance, I obliged," he said nonchalantly.

I mindlessly nodded a few times. Maybe I was trying to shake loose a reason any of this made sense.

"So you see, I had to avoid you. There is too much risk. Niall is too confident, it is a mistake for him to visit you. Najine will use any leverage she can find to trap him. You should have been warned sooner." His eyes glowed with anger at his last statement.

"So you're at war, too."

He nodded. I shouldn't have cared, but I felt down right depressed.

"Dear one, you need to know because you need to be watchful. It is possible they know about you. They could harm you." He paused. I looked up at him from the frayed edge of the pillow I'd been unraveling. He was looking at me with great sincerity.

"So you think they may be after me." I let that sink in for a moment, then something terrible clicked in my consciousness.

"They killed Jason." My brain chimed and echoed with sadness at the memory of his broken body, not even him anymore.

His jaw line tensed, and he looked thoughtfully at me for a moment. He hesitated before speaking, "It is a possibility, yes." He kept his eyes on me. "The shifter called me, so I came right away, otherwise I would not have come. They could be watching me as well."

"I am very sorry, Sookie," he said, and surprised me as he reached across the sofa and held my hand, giving it light squeeze.

I began to really feel the magnitude of my circumstances, only to find the weight of my sadness was crushing. Jason was gone in a more brutal way that I could ever have imagined possible, and it was likely due to Niall's war.

Niall—whom I brought into our lives.

If I was looking for the responsible party, I need look no further. I wanted to check my hands for bloodstains, but they were trembling too much to move.

Niall was in danger, and now Eric, whom I shouldn't give a flying flea about, was on the line, too. At the rate I was going, I would have no one left by sunrise. I tried to remind myself I had my friends, but Amelia would probably marry Tray and move on with her life soon.

My old best friend Arlene thought I was an abomination and declared me "inhuman" in front of half the town. If it were two hundred years earlier, I'd be burned at the stake by her doing. I would never have a normal life, a family, or even some small happiness to call my own, which is all I'd been trying to create for myself. These days I knew better than to hope for anything more than waking up alive. My eyes welled and I fought the urge, but I felt a rogue tear blaze its way down my burning cheek. When that the first tear broke through my wall of pride and bravery, a flood quickly ensued. Eric looked startled as I covered my face under my hands.

"Sookie," he said quietly.

He reached over and pulled me onto his lap, and I buried my face into his broad chest. And with his big arms engulfing me, I was sobbing profusely before I knew it. He let me hide in his arms and cry without saying a word, which was the best part because it felt so good to let it out without having to listen to a pep talk. My spirit was broken, and it made me feel like a weak fool. I'd let all the bad things around me win, but I just didn't have any fight left. I am not in the habit of crying on people (or in this case, a vampire), but it was a release, and if Eric didn't mind, I was willing to indulge myself.

When the worst was over, I sucked in a few jagged breaths, and I looked up from my cocoon. My vision cleared from my blurry tears, and I saw I'd made a nice little Rorschach inkblot test in tears on Eric's nice white shirt. It looked like a disfigured butterfly.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry!" I said as I sniggered a little at my artwork, through my stuttering sobs.

"Not a problem. I keep a spare in my car when I know you will be around," he said, giving me that dazzling "Eric" smile.

I could tell he wanted to say something else, but it seemed like too many things. So instead we just stared at each other like the answer would walk in the door any second. I don't know what I was searching for that night from Eric. Comfort? Companionship? I didn't think he could offer me any of those things in a lasting way. But being this close made me feel safe and beautiful, and best of all right now, it made me forget.

My enjoyment of his company wasn't entirely due to the blood bond, either. I couldn't deny that I did care for him, but it was useless and painful knowing he didn't seem to feel the same way. He'd run off just like all the others. I bet when he'd finally remembered the time he spent with me, it made him feel like I was already a conquest, another notch on his infinite bedpost. It was the mystery and the chase that held his attention, not me. Been there, done that, moving on.

Granted, he had a whopper of a reason, but they always do have their good reasons for disappearing, don't they? My maker, my mama, my job, I'd heard it all and I was tired of excuses. I just knew I deserved to come first in a man's life because that's what I was willing to offer in return. And Eric had confessed nothing of his heart or intentions, so there was no reason to hope for anything more than our current non-relationship that was now barely a friendship. No reason to reach up and touch his cool perfect face with my hand, or to lean in those few inches and place my mouth on his.

But that's exactly what I did.