Annie didn't know how long she had been trapped in the apartment. She didn't quite understand the bond she shared with Eric. She had drunk his blood. Could he not feel her? Could he not sense where she was? All she longed for at that moment was for him to turn up, smirking in his blond glory with his ridiculous vest.
"Annie, you can have some of my blood," Jonathan snapped her from her thoughts.
She was silent and kept still on the sofa. Her legs were curled underneath her and her head rested on her arms on the armrest. Jonathan was stood by the window, the backs of his thighs resting against the windowsill. She didn't bother to look over to him. She knew that it wouldn't help her.
"I don't want it," Annie whispered against her skin.
"Why not?" Jonathan dared to ask her. "We can have that bond you used to love so much, Annie. I can wipe Eric Northman from you."
"No," Annie shook her head. "I'm fine without it."
Jonathan sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He walked slowly over to the sofa and settled down on the side of it. The apartment they were staying in was small and basic. Jonathan had no intention of keeping Annie in Shreveport. He intended to take her far away and where her parents couldn't find her.
"You're not, Annie," Jonathan whispered, his cold hand running down the nape of her neck.
She shivered and he smirked at the feeling. He continued to brush his fingers along her skin until she looked up and over to him. Her eyes were wide and almost pleading with him. She moved her hands slowly onto her lap, but kept her feet underneath her.
"My mommy...mommy and daddy will be worried...please, Jonathan," she begged him. "Just let me go to them and I will come straight back. You can come with me and see."
Jonathan arched a brow and his lips tugged to the side and upwards. He wrapped his arm around her waist and cradled her against his side. Annie inhaled sharply then and felt herself turn faint at the close proximity between them. He contemplated her offer for a moment and then thought again. She had lured him into a trap before. It would take time before he could fully trust her again.
"I don't think so, Annie," he informed her.
"Why not?" she snapped at him, using all her strength to do so. "You're not going to let me go back to them for good."
"No, I'm not," Jonathan promised her and he made a move to stand.
A sudden knock on the door snapped him from his thoughts and he was at the wood in less than a minute. Annie kept the blanket tightly around her shoulders as Jonathan sniffed at the door. She would have moved to open it herself, but it would do her no good. Jonathan smirked as the door knocked again and he rushed back to Annie.
She barely recognised the duct tape he held in his hands and by then it was too late and it was covering her mouth. Jonathan kissed her forehead lightly before binding her hands behind her back and her ankles together. He was too quick for her to register what happened until it was too late. She tried to yell as Jonathan manoeuvred back to the door and opened the wood, suspicious about who was knocking on his door.
"Oh, hi there!"
Annie's ears pricked up at the sound of a deep southern accent. She had heard it before.
"Hello," Jonathan replied, knowing that being charming was better than being rude. It was less suspicious. "How can I help you?"
"Oh, I'm new in this building," the woman said with a giggle, "and I was just introducing myself to everyone on the floor! My name's Sookie."
Annie continued to look apprehensive until she heard her name. Sookie? What was Sookie doing here? Sookie couldn't stand Eric and Annie doubted that she was there to help her.
"Have you just moved in yourself?" Sookie continued to ask. "Your apartment looks bare!"
"Yes," Jonathan replied, flashing Annie a quick glance from behind the door where she was hidden from sight. "I just moved in a few days ago. I'm new to the area."
"You don't say!" Sookie continued to exclaim and Annie tried to scream from behind her gag. "So is your apartment the same layout as mine?"
"It could be," Jonathan replied.
He had no intention to let her in, but he barely noticed that she had managed to put one foot in the door. Sookie had stepped inside and she quickly turned around and shouted.
"Bill and Eric, come in!" she roared and Annie barely saw what happened next.
Jonathan backed into the living room and grabbed Annie by her waist, tipping her over his shoulder. She shrieked loudly against her gag, but Jonathan didn't get far. Eric had his hand wrapped around Jonathan's wrist and he pulled him back from the window he was advancing towards. Another dark haired vampire stood in front of Jonathan and pushed him in the chest. The force caused Jonathan to stumble, but he barely lost his balance.
He tossed Annie from his shoulder and she landed on the floor on her side.
"What is this?" Jonathan demanded as he ducked a punch Eric threw at him with ease. "You came for her?"
"Good job I did," Eric said as Bill glanced to Sookie and tried to grab Jonathan, but the vampire was too fast for him. "Have you almost drained her?"
"Not far off," Jonathan shrugged, "but I will finish it one day. She will be mine again. You don't need to worry about that."
Sookie knelt by Annie's side and tried to untie the ropes which bound her. She failed miserably as they were too tight around her skin and Sookie wasn't strong enough.
Bill and Eric stood side by side as Jonathan remained near the window. Eric was stood in front of Annie and he refused to let Jonathan by to get to her. Annie had nothing to fear about anymore. He would see to that. It took a moment or two for Jonathan to realise that Annie had one weakness. She may detest her parents sometimes, but they were still her parents.
"Donald and Maria," Jonathan drawled her parent's names and Annie looked over to him, the worry evident in her gaze. "I would hate to hurt them, Annie."
Annie screamed and Eric glowered to Jonathan. Eric reacted with haste and he shook his head slowly as he bent down to grab Annie by the waist and pick her up into his arms.
"I've glamoured them to stay inside her apartment," Eric said and Annie wondered if she could relax with that knowledge. It was a slight comfort. "You're invitation was rescinded there."
"As it was," Jonathan noted and he cursed Eric Northman for what he had done.
"It's for the best you leave then," Eric said and Jonathan shook his head.
"Not without her."
"She doesn't want you," Bill was the one to speak.
The sooner he could end this, the sooner he could take Sookie to safety and keep her with him. Bill didn't want to be dragged into anyone else's business. He didn't want to be involved with Eric Northman's business. It usually meant danger.
"Annie doesn't know what she wants." Jonathan decided and Annie wished someone would take the tape from her mouth so that she could speak for herself. "She loved me once and she can love me again."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Eric decreed.
It was then when Eric dropped Annie onto the sofa as Jonathan charged at Eric again. Bill helped the sheriff fight him off, grabbing Jonathan by the arms and holding them behind his back. But Jonathan was far too strong. All three of them had their fangs bared and a tousle soon ensured. Walls were dented and the ceiling almost collapsed as they fought. Sookie shrieked and stood by the door as Annie watched Eric being slammed against the wall, Jonathan's hand around his throat. It was only then when Bill grabbed Jonathan by the collar of his shirt.
"You can't beat both of us," Eric warned Jonathan once he was stood by the window once more. "You know that."
Jonathan snarled and Annie winced at the sight of his fangs, recalling how they had attacked her skin multiple times.
"I know it," Jonathan smirked, "but I won't give up."
He disappeared in an instance, leaving a breeze as he raced through the door. Annie groaned lowly when he had gone and Eric almost didn't believe that he had given up. But he hadn't given up. He wouldn't give up until he had Annie or until he was dead.
Eric cocked a brow and shrugged before kneeling by Annie. He took hold of her cheeks and quickly tugged the tape from her skin. She screamed at the sharp pain one.
"Son of a bitch!" she snarled and Eric shook his head.
"That is no way to speak of my mother," he scolded her, but she didn't bother to respond.
"I need to go," Annie quickly spoke and Eric remained knelt on the floor by the sofa she was sat on, his hands clutching her cheeks and his fingertips roaming through her blood covered hair ends. "I have to go to my parents...Eric...I need to go..."
"You are in no fit state to go anywhere," he warned her. "He's taken too much of your blood. Half of it has dried on your body."
Annie barely cared that she wore nothing but her underwear as Eric glanced down her skin. She was a mess.
"Eric, please," Annie pleaded with him. "I'm fine. I'm just tired."
"Eric, it's nearly daylight," Bill commented and Eric nodded.
"See?" Annie said. "It's daylight and you need to sleep. Jonathan needs to sleep too. I can go home and I will be fine."
"I don't think so," Eric mumbled and set about untying to ropes from her joints.
He watched her stand up and then collapse again. Eric held her up by the waist and she rested her hands on his shoulders which were clad in a smart jacket for once. Eric shook his head as Bill took Sookie by the hand and led her outside of the apartment to make sure she was safe.
Eric kept his hands on her waist and her head lolled against his shoulder. Eric inhaled her sharp scent of blood. It wasn't like how she normally smelt to him.
"Trust me," Eric urged her in a soft voice, bending down to look her in the eye, his finger tilting her chin. "Your parents are safe and they shall stay in your apartment, but you need to come with me."
"Why?" Annie dared to ask.
"So that Jonathan cannot get to you again," he spoke lowly. "I know what you told me before, Annie. You told me that you wanted nothing to do with me, but I can't let that be now."
"Why not?" she wondered from him. "You had a man-"
"-chained up in my basement, yes," Eric finished for her. "I let him go and I'm sorry for that. Do you think we can move on from that now?"
Annie bit down on her bottom lip and Eric helped to pick her up again. She didn't bother to fight him as she dropped her hands to his shoulders.
"I wanted you to come," Annie admitted to him. "I was scared about what he would do...and I...I wanted you..."
"You've wanted me in many different ways according to your dreams," Eric mused and he began to walk out of the apartment. He grabbed her discarded blanket from the sofa and wrapped it around her as he went.
"Is now really the time?" Annie wondered from him. "It was pretty inappropriate."
"Don't pretend you don't like it," Eric smirked down to her and she rolled her eyes. "But your parents are safe, Annie. They'll be safe until night time, but I cannot promise that for you. You're weak and need blood, but I know you'll never take it because you're too stubborn. I could make you, but that's not how to make you trust me."
"You want me to trust you?" Annie asked.
"I don't know what I want, Annie," he warned her. "You're...I don't know what you are, Annie, but you're something."
"Thanks, I guess," Annie mumbled.
"But your parents are safe, Annie," Eric said. "Just trust me on that."
"Am I in any position to fight you?"
"Do you always ask questions?" Eric spoke as they came outside and he chuckled.
"Only when I'm with you," Annie said.
The outside air chilled her skin and the blanket barely stopped her skin from forming goose bumps. Eric stood her up against his side and quickly took his jacket off to wrap around her shoulders.
"Don't get used to chivalry," he warned her.
She scoffed and he wrapped the blanket over her jacket covered shoulders.
Annie closed her eyes and Eric knew that it would only be a matter of time before she fell asleep due to exhaustion. He felt her wrap her arms around his waist and her hands rested against his back. He cocked a brow and he knew full well that she was barely coherent. Her head fit just underneath his chin and he rested his hands around her upper arms.
"I thought you were different," Annie informed him. "I wanted you to be different...and I don't know why..."
"Different how?" he asked of her.
"Safe," Annie admitted. "I thought you were normal...well...a normal vampire...but there's something about you...you chain people in your basement...that's not safe."
"Most vampires aren't described as safe," Eric said. "And why do you want me to be safe?"
Annie didn't answer that. She shrugged against him and Eric realised coherence wasn't her strong point. She was soon sleeping without answering him. Her head rested on his shoulder and Eric sighed before dragging her back to his coffin for the day.
...
A/N: Thanks to everyone reading and please do review!