Still in Mattie's POV. She's fun to write for. I'll get back to Bill next chapter.

I do not own any of the characters from Southern Vampire Mysteries. They all belong to Charlaine Harris. Bless her for sharing them with us. Mattie is my very own.

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Chapter 7

Shit! He was the last damn person that needed to know any of my secrets. He was holding Sookie against him as if he had done the rescuing himself. Smug bastard. To make matters worse, he was smiling at me. It was one of those "I know your secret and now I'm going to exploit it" smiles. God he was irritating! How could anything that good looking be such a pain in the ass?

I looked over at Bill who seemed to be putting the finishing touches on my wounds and was admiring his handy work. I had to hand it to him. The wounds were pretty clean and were actually starting to heal along with the fresh bite in his arm. He must have smeared some of his blood on me to help me heal. I smiled at him and leaned over to rest my head on his shoulder.

"Thank you Bill. I'm starting to feel a little better now. I'm so glad you're here."

"Don't mention it darling. What happened here?" This was the part that I really didn't want to have to explain.

"Can't we just go home? I want to soak in the tub and wash this junk off of me. We can talk about it at home." I looked at Bill searching for some affirmation in his eyes. Not tonight. He was looking up at Eric waiting for his decision in the matter.

"I don't think that's possible Miss Von Teller. In light of recent events, I believe we need to come to an understanding." Eric's voice was quiet, but no less commanding.

"Good Lord! How the hell does he know who I am?" I hissed and looked over at Sookie. "You didn't. Please say you didn't." Sookie shook her head no.

"Do you think that Bill is the only vampire capable of using a search engine? I do have resources to discover this sort of information." Eric was smiling that perfect smile. The one he pulls out when he knows he has the upper hand. "We should leave here and reconvene this little meeting someplace else. Our privacy in this matter is most important. Bill, would you be so kind as to be our host?" Bill nodded.

He pulled me up to him and placed me in the passenger seat of my car. I was too tired to object and let him drive home. The moment we pulled up to Bill's house, Eric began inspecting the body of my car. He was running his hand along the bumper as if he was seducing a woman. He opened the driver side door and reached in to pop the hood as Bill helped me climb out of the passenger seat.

Eric glanced over at me. "Hemi engine, 425 horsepower. Is it a 3 speed?" I nodded at him. Since when did 1000 year old viking vampires know anything about American muscle? "It is really quite beautiful. You've taken good care of it. It's almost as nice as mine."

"It won't be for long if she doesn't watch the way she drives it." Bill replied. He sounded like an old man.

"Who are you Bill, her father or her lover?" Eric looked back at me. "They don't understand the mindset and our need for driving with the wind in our hair. I think we have that much in common. I get the same remarks from her." He motioned to Sookie and she rolled her eyes. "I like the color, very inconspicuous." Eric laughed and walked into the house.

We sat in Bill's living room, all four of us, I was still crying while I recounted the story. Bill held me in his lap and stroked my face with his tongue, licking away the tears. Eric almost seemed grateful that I had come to Sookie's aide so quickly despite my modus operandi. He told me that the vampire I had killed was not one he knew. The fact that he had attacked Sookie greatly concerned him and he would be looking into the matter.

"Now Matilda, there is the matter of how we handle you and your nature. This is certainly an interesting turn of events. Don't you think?" I cringed when Eric spoke my name. I did that when anyone said that name, it was nothing personal. I had a feeling he was not planning on letting me live my life without him interfering in it.

"For starters, I HATE that name. No one calls me that and I don't want to start a new trend here."

"Well it is fitting for you don't you think?" He glanced over at Sookie as if to explain. "It means 'Strong in battle' in Dutch. I would say it is the perfect name for a Dutch slayer." That was mildly impressive that Eric knew the origins of my name. He earned some points for doing his homework or perhaps he had known a few Matilda's in his time. Lucky girls....oops! I mean too bad for them.

"I know you aren't going to let me just live my life Eric. Now that you know all about me and have seen it for yourself, I'm sure you'll be trying to use it to your advantage." I glanced back at Bill who had a grim look on his face. He was dreading Eric trying to steal someone else away from him. I put my hand over his.

"I am a very powerful sheriff due in part to my affiliations. My lover's gift has given me a great advantage. I would be lying if I said your gift wouldn't also be an asset to me. Having a slayer in my entourage would make it very difficult for other vampires to try and remove me from my position. It would also make my underlings fear wronging me just a bit more."

Eric was never going to let me away from him now. Great, just great. "Come and work for me willingly when I ask and I will not get in the way of your life, too much that is. I will even let you keep Compton."

"Oh wow! Really? You mean your highness will let me date whomever I want to? Wow Eric, you're so kind and generous." I rolled my eyes as Bill kissed my ear lobe. He had obviously appreciated that.

"If it pleases you. Sookie tells me it is in my best interest to keep my retinue in good spirits."

"She's a smart girl. Just not smart enough to have better taste in men apparently." With that Eric was up on his feet and pulling me off the couch. His hands were wrapped around my upper arms and bruising my flesh.

"Eric, you're hurting me!"

"You will not speak of my lover that way. You will learn your place Miss Teller." Bill was up standing behind me with his fangs down. His defense was sweet even if there was very little he could do to help me. "I won't stand for your attitude for long." Eric's voice was deep and he was practically growling.

"Hey! Guess what Northman? This might come as a shock to you, but I'm not afraid of you. I won't stand for YOUR attitude much longer. You can take your damn hands off of me or you can forget ever getting my help!" We stood there staring each other down. Eric's fangs were out and I could feel my eyes burning.

"Eric, will you just knock it off!" Sookie jumped out of her chair and smacked Eric on the butt. He whirled around to face her. His personality suddenly changed from anger to lust. It was amazing that Sookie had such a strong impact on Eric. Not so tough now are you mister whipped?

"Lover, am I to assume you have other things on your mind? Perhaps we should leave so I can take care of your needs." Eric grabbed Sookie's hand and led her to the door. "We'll be in touch Matilda. Don't get too comfortable." With that, they left.

The water works started up again and I just couldn't control it. I didn't want Sookie to be mad at me. I didn't want Bill to be afraid of me and I was actually feeling kind of bad for being so rude to Eric. After all, his girlfriend had just been attacked and for all he knew I was just as dangerous.

"Well, that was eventful wasn't it" Bill stated as he settled me back down on his lap. "I've seldom seen anyone stand up to him that way and live to tell about it. I've never seen it done by a human. It was very....arousing. To say the least." I could tell since something was poking me in the backside.

"Well thanks sweetie, but I'm no ordinary human. I understand if you want to keep a little more distance than we have been. At least until I get all of this sorted out. I would be devastated if I hurt you. I never want that to happen again." I gave Bill a little kiss and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. He followed me.

"This isn't going to be easy you know. He will demand you work on things for him. He doesn't take no for an answer." Bill seemed grim. "You probably won't be able to fight with him like that too many times before he loses his control. You are very lucky he listens to Sookie because I surely would not have been of much help if you two were truly fighting."

"Bill, he saw what I did tonight. He knows just how far he can push me before I lose control. I think we'll be fine. We seem to be developing a nice little love/hate relationship. Granted the hate side is a bit more pronounced at the moment. I'd like to stop bickering with him all of the time, it really isn't fair to Sookie. I don't really want to hate him, he just reminds me of this guy. Anyway, no big deal. I'm more concerned about how this is affecting you. You saw me tonight too. You saw the rage in me, the glowing eyes, the whole bit. What does that mean for us? I don't give a crap about Eric at this point. It's you I'm worried about. I'm not at all afraid that WE would end up fighting. I'm fairly certain we could channel it into something else if it ever came to that."

There is definitely something to be said for vampire speed because in the blink of an eye, Bill was across the room wrapping his arms around me. Our lips met and he looked fiercely into my eyes.

"I meant what I said before when you were fighting with him. It was quite a turn on." He gathered me up into his arms and up the stairs we went. He was ripping my Merlotte's uniform off my body and throwing me down on his bed before I was even aware we were in the bedroom.

"Well, this wasn't exactly what I had planned for tonight. So much for girls' night." I mumbled between kisses.

"Quit talking."