Sorry about any confusion yesterday after I pulled this chapter. I think everything is working again so I have reposted Chapter 10 here. Enjoy!

A/N: Let me take a few lines to say thank you, thank you, thank you for the tremendous support and attention you have given this story. I am honored to have such a staggering number of alerts and favorites listings, and thank you also for the (gracious and) plentiful reviews! I appreciate your feedback and encouragement. It motivates me SO much to know that you are enjoying my writing! And now… a very long chapter for you.

CHAPTER 10

Eric POV

"Why are you here?" I asked harshly as Sookie, uninvited and unwelcome, sat across from me. She had tried to soothe me by caressing my arm, but in my present state of mind I would have none of it. I glared at her, more than ready to reciprocate the pain she had recently caused me and then some.

I was surprised she had shown up here tonight, so soon after our falling out; then again, her unpredictability was one of the things I had always found interesting about her. But since our blood-bonding, I was much less surprised by her actions and could better gauge her emotions. Yet here she was, sitting before me, and I had not sensed her presence tonight because of my own recent actions. After I left her house last night, upset beyond reason, I had blocked our bond to the best of my ability. It had become too agonizing to remain connected to her. This evening I had initiated more formal measures to sever our union. Permanently.

She looked beautiful to me, as always, but from her face it was evident she was tense and fatigued. Even without the bond's aid, I could sense her apprehension and fear; I was unsure if it was fear of me or of the 'discussion' I was certain she wanted to have tonight. She reeked of fairy, which meant she had either been around her cousin recently or had used the cursed crystal again. It was an intense strain to my willpower to simply sit at the same table with her.

She was smart to choose Fangtasia to make her approach tonight. She knew I would never willingly cause a public scene in my bar in front of my workers, my subjects, my customers. But it took every ounce of my self-control not to jump across the table and strangle her. Tightly. Or jump across the table and fuck her. Savagely. Sookie had gotten under my skin like no other creature during my long existence, and after last night, I was ready to finally be done with her and end this torture and frustration.

"Why are you here?" I repeated when she didn't respond the first time. She looked like she was carefully choosing her response, as if anything she could say to me now would make a difference.

"I came to apologize, Eric. You were absolutely right… I should have given you the crystal, I should have listened to your warnings, and I should have accepted your engagement ring…" she said before I cut her off.

I needed no reminder of my lapse in judgment last night: the extensive preparations for our special evening together, the perfect outfit, the perfect ring... mistakes I would certainly never make again.

"Enough!" I said too loudly, causing the curious bar patrons to focus their attention on us. I glowered at the onlookers and they quickly turned their stares elsewhere.

"It is too late for your apologies," I said bitterly.

"No, Eric, it's not too late at all," she replied. "I have seen the future and I know now that we will be together -- everything will be okay and we'll be happy, so happy," she said, hoping that would satisfy me, hoping that would be enough.

"I refuse to waste my time with a woman who relies on a crystal and not her heart to guide her future," I said coldly. She looked at me with wide, shocked eyes, eyes which then began to fill with tears. Fuck. I cannot stand it when she cries.

"Eric," she said as she tried to compose herself. "I am following my heart now. Please, Eric," she begged. "I'm sorry. I love you," she said sniffling. She was doing her best to hold back her tears and appear strong, but her voice was shaky. This was obviously not going as she planned.

"You are such a child, sometimes," I said disdainfully. "You think that saying you are sorry can just fix this, Sookie? Can you fix your stubbornness? Can you fix your lack of common sense? Can you fix your lack of trust in me?"

My voice escalated in anger with each successive point. I was losing control of my emotions, in the middle of Fangtasia, no less. But I had to get through to her and make her realize how much she hurt me. I stood up quickly and then leaned down, just inches from her face, trying to look menacing as I ignored her intoxicating fairy essence. We stared at each other, neither one of us able to move or speak. Her eyes pleaded with me for forgiveness; but I was still struggling with my impossible, irrational love for her, and my intense, darker desire to keep punishing her. It was a battle whose outcome was yet to be decided.

"Eric," a familiar voice beside me said, breaking the spell. "Master, perhaps you and Sookie would like to continue your discussion in your office?" Pam suggested. She quickly realized that our very public conflict was bad for my status, as well as business, and was wisely trying to minimize the damage.

"That won't be necessary, Pam," I sneered, my darker side claiming victory. "Sookie was just leaving," I said as I pulled her roughly from her chair and started dragging my stunned former lover to the front entrance.

Sookie turned to me with her characteristic spunk, all traces of fear gone from her, anger fueling her actions now.

"Get your vampire hands off of me, NOW!" she shouted defiantly as she struggled to break free from my grip.

"I am still your pledged wife and your bonded, and I demand that you treat me with some respect, Master Eric!" she said sarcastically at full volume.

She was intentionally causing a scene, hoping I would give in quickly to avoid the attention she was drawing to us. Smart.

"I ask only that you give me fifteen minutes of your valuable time, privately, so that we can clear up a few things between us," she said quite loudly, illustrating to the many onlookers how reasonable she was compared to me. Smarter.

I reluctantly let her go and she said a curt 'thank you' before stomping off to my office.

Fuck. I had no choice but to follow her. I steeled my resolve to remain cold and distant, but being alone with her tonight would be the ultimate challenge to my willpower.

I still loved her. And hated her.

Sookie POV

I knew I had just bested Eric by my public outburst but what would happen now, behind closed doors, still remained to be seen. I had expected him to be angry and upset with me, but not so… hateful. Part of me knew I deserved everything he dished out to me tonight but I was still shocked and outraged at his humiliating 'handling' of me just now. During our encounter, I had desperately tried several times to reach out to him through the bond, but I could feel nothing. Nothing at all.

I knew him well enough to realize he was battling some intense feelings, probably including the desire to kill me. Maybe I was stupid to think so, but I still felt safe and confident that he wouldn't physically hurt me. He was certainly doing a good enough job of that emotionally.

Before I had time to gather my thoughts, he stood behind me in his office and motioned me towards the couch. He sat behind his desk and pushed back on his chair, his nostrils flaring. He was obviously tying to put some distance between us. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes – and that was a good thing. It gave me time to think about how to proceed from here.

Eric finally broke the silence with sarcasm. "That was a stellar performance you just gave out there. Are you proud of yourself, Sookie?" He looked at me coldly.

"Not especially," I answered truthfully. In fact, I had very few proud moments to recall recently. "Are you proud of your actions just now, Eric? Does it make you happy to know you've hurt me, too?" He wouldn't answer or even look at me. He tried to busy himself with papers on his desk.

"Eric, will you at least listen to what I have to say?" I asked. "Please?" He met my eyes and slowly nodded. He had a pained expression on his face, though.

I tried to repair the damage. "I am so sorry and I would say it a thousand times if it would make you feel any better, but I can see that it won't. I know I screwed things up but the only excuse I can give you is that I wasn't myself. The crystal made me act in crazy ways, I know that, but I just couldn't help myself, Eric. I was an addict," I admitted.

"That's not good enough for me," he said tersely.

"I know it's not. But you yourself told me how the crystal affected Gildran, how it consumed him. Why can't you accept that the same thing happened to me? It was out of my control, Eric," I said, hoping to reason with him.

"No, it wasn't," Eric replied, his voice tighter and sharper. "Gildran was a prisoner who was forced to use the crystal against his will. I suspect he possessed the stone for many years before that, yet he somehow managed to keep his sanity during that time. You had the crystal for one day, under your own will, and you lost all reason and self-control. Why were you so helpless, Sookie? Why?" he asked.

"I don't know why, Eric, but I was. Gildran had more Fae blood than me, he could handle it better than I could, I guess," I said defensively. It was the only excuse I could think of.

"No!" he snarled. "It's more than that. You could see how it was affecting you, but you chose to be more curious than cautious. Despite my warnings, despite my begging, you did not have enough faith and trust in me and my years of experience to listen. And that was under your control. You could have given the crystal to your witch of a roommate, you could have given the crystal to me… but you made your choice and now you must live with it," he said in a low growl.

So that was the underlying problem among many ones here tonight: my apparent 'choice' of Niall's crystal over Eric's ring.

"I didn't actually choose the crystal, Eric. You gave me a ridiculous ultimatum that I should never have had to make. It wasn't fair," I whined, even though I didn't fully believe that.

"Do not talk to me about fairness, Sookie," he said indignantly. "You didn't choose me, remember? Was that fair? And now you are here, along with the fucking crystal I presume, ready to 'make up' and pretend none of this happened. Am I correct?" he hissed, piercing my heart even more.

"Not exactly," I said. This was the part that couldn't be avoided. "I mean, of course I would like to make up with you, I want nothing else but to put this behind us. But... I no longer have the crystal, Eric," I admitted.

He raised his eyebrows, waiting for me to say more.

"Claude helped me to use the crystal today, one last time, and...," I struggled with how to say this.

"He will be keeping it for me from now on," I said. It was technically the truth. There was no need to explain how things ended so badly.

"He's keeping it for you? For what reason? So if you decide next month to use it again, you simply call him up for a repeat performance?" he asked, his voice laced with disbelief.

"No, it's not like that, Eric. The crystal is rare and a part of his Fae heritage; it should stay with a fairy and not end up at the bottom of some ocean," I said, and he scoffed.

"It will be fine in Claude's safekeeping, Eric. And I promise that I will NEVER try to use it again," I said solemnly.

"Why should I believe you? You even admitted that you are an addict. You say one thing now and next week you will change your mind when you are curious about wanting to 'see' something else," he said matter-of-factly.

I hated to admit that he might be right about that. But I was sure that Claude would never let me near the crystal, so my willpower would never be put to the test again.

"I won't change my mind, Eric. You have to believe me. And there's so much more that you don't know about the crystal. Good things that it can do, and helpful things, too. But I don't care any more. I am willing to give it all up for you," I said, hoping he could see my sincerity. And I wanted him to know that I was making a sacrifice here.

He gave a short laugh. "What good could possibly come from the crystal? Have you fallen so much under its influence that you actually think it is 'helpful' now?"

"Eric, it can help me live longer. Much longer. Think of how much time we could have together…" I looked to him but he shook his head. "And full fairies can use it to locate people in the present," I continued. "Niall used the crystal to help find me when…" I wasn't sure how to say this without sounding accusatory.

"When what?" Eric asked, suddenly very interested in what I had to say.

"When I was kidnapped by Lochlan and Naeve. So you can thank the crystal for helping to rescue me, Eric," I said. "Even when you couldn't," I added, just to be spiteful. He hissed loudly at the implication, but it felt good for the moment to hurt him back.

Eric stood up, his anger ready to boil over again. "We have had this discussion before and you know why I was unable to come rescue you. You accepted my explanation, Sookie. We are done with this issue," he said in such an authoritative tone that I had no choice but to agree with him.

"Back to the issue at hand: the crystal. It cannot remain anywhere near you," he decided. "You must retrieve it from Claude and bring it back to me," he said.

I was really caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Well, what if Claude won't give it back to me? I promised him he could keep it and I don't think he would willingly part with it at this point…"

"That is your problem, then," Eric said with a wicked smile. He then looked at his watch before coming to stand before me.

"Your fifteen minutes are up." He motioned to the office door.

"I'm not going anywhere, Eric. There is so much more to discuss," I said firmly. Nothing had been resolved and I had yet to tell him the details about our wonderful future together.

"I'll give you a choice again, Sookie. You can leave now on your own, or I can throw you out," he snarled. And I believed him.

"Okay, okay, Eric, I'll go. But not before I tell you one more thing," I pleaded.

He walked back to his desk, sat down and busied himself with papers again before acknowledging my request. "Go ahead," he finally said as coolly as possible, pushing the papers aside. He looked to me and I knew I needed to make an impressive exit.

I walked to the front of his desk and tried to steady my voice. I refused to cry in front of him.

"I've said this before, but I am sorry, Eric. I know I hurt you and I deserve your anger. But I also know that you still love me, no matter how tough and pissed off you are acting tonight. And I know that we have a future together -- not because of a vision, but because I know it in my heart. But I have seen the future, too, and it's wonderful, Eric. We'll have a beautiful daughter and a happy life together."

I paused to see if my words had made an impact, but he didn't react at all. I leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly which, surprisingly, he let me do.

"I am yours and always will be," I whispered before I headed to the door and softly closed it behind me.

By the time I made it to the parking lot, I was bawling from the intensity of the evening. Just because a happy ending was waiting for me down the road, it didn't mean that the path to get there was going to be an easy one. I understood Eric's pain and regretted having caused so much of it for both of us. I tried one last time to see if our connection had returned, but the bond was as silent as my head. I had never felt so alone with my own thoughts and feelings. I actually missed my telepathy for the first time in my life.

As I leaned against my car, I searched through my purse for my keys and a tissue. I stood there for a few minutes, trying to glean something positive from what had happened tonight. Eric hadn't killed me; that was positive. He let me kiss him and didn't throw me out of his office. He also wanted me to bring the crystal back to him, so he must want to see me again, right? If he was truly done with me, why would he care what happened to the crystal now?

It would simply take time for him to heal. Someday, when we were together and happy in our little family, this whole episode would merely be a bad bump in the road to happiness. In the meanwhile, I would have to be satisfied knowing that it would all work out. Someday.

I fumbled with my keys and heard a slight noise behind me, a little too late. Before I knew what was happening, a strong hand clamped over my mouth and then another forced a foul-smelling cloth over my nose. I tried to fight and resist, doing my best not to breathe in the chloroform. But before I knew it, everything went dark.

When I awoke, groggy and bound, I was certain I would find myself in the abandoned warehouse from my vision. My current situation, the familiar clothes, and the familiar man from Fangtasia were all part of what I had briefly witnessed before. If the future played out the way I remembered from the crystal, it was just a matter of time now until Eric came to save me. But could he save himself?

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A/N: This is the first time I have ever attempted to write from Eric's POV, but I felt it would be insightful for this conversation. I hope both points of view seemed credible here and added more understanding to this chapter. Let me know what you think.