Once outside, Sarah turned to look up at Eric with the edge that she usually adapted around him. He simply grinned in response, leading her towards a red Corvette which screamed Eric. On their way out of the bar, Sarah had noticed Bill standing next to Sookie at the bar so she assumed that Eric had come into Merlotte's with Bill to collect their women (only Bill's collection was in a romantic way. Sarah knew Eric was collecting her as a valuable). She had been anxious and apprehensive about leaving Sookie alone with the strange woman she'd just met, and she couldn't help but quiz Eric about it.

"Did she seem a little odd to you, too?" She asked, surprised that she wanted his opinion on something. Usually she would dismiss him just as he dismissed her, but at that moment she found that she cared what he thought about this topic. Mary-Ann had seemed dangerous, and who better to discuss danger with than a vampire?

"Initially, no," he responded, unlocking the car. Once they were both in, he continued. "When I smelled her, however, I knew that something about her was not human." He paused and frowned, as though he was going to say something prophetic. "And she said it was 'nice to meet you'. Any person who thinks you are nice seems odd to me."

If they were closer, like she and Godric were, or even how she and Isabel were, she would have playfully slapped him and laughed. Since they were not, however, she settled for a raised eyebrow that she knew gave away her amusement.

He was trying to make the situation lighter, she knew. The night didn't need any more drama than it was going to have at Fangtasia with her training.

As though he read her mind, Eric said, "I am not working tonight. We will go to your home to practice with your talent."

Sarah frowned. "But there are no humans there. Sookie's working."

When he smirked dangerously, she knew that he'd already thought of that and was way ahead of her. "You've invited some fangbangers to Sookie's house, haven't you?"

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Sarah sighed heavily and wearily, knowing that it was not in her best interest to argue. The humans wouldn't do anything harmful to the house while she was there, and she doubted that Eric would risk Sookie's wrath if he let anything happen either. He wished for her approval too much.

"I'd like to be finished for midnight. I need some sleep." If she couldn't argue about the house guests, she was determined to complain about the late hours he kept her up until. She needed to stand her ground with something - it was not in her nature to simply submit, but she wasn't overly stubborn. When she knew that an argument couldn't be won, she wouldn't take it on. Call it lawyer-intuitive, she just knew if she'd lose. She knew that she'd not win The Magister's child's court case, but she'd wanted to try anyway. She'd liked Joseph. With Eric Northman, however, she didn't want to embarrass herself by trying to argue a lost case. He'd won this round. She was going to practice, one way or another.

Eric nodded his head in acceptance as he drove, keeping his eyes firmly plastered on the road.

As Sarah watched him drive, she couldn't help but rake her eyes over him. She disliked him from the moment he tried to kill her, but she could appreciate an attractive man when she saw one. She took note of his tidy hair that was begging to have fingers run through it in the heat of the moment, his angular profile which made him look sly and cunning even when he smiled. He was really a sight to behold, and if she had been a normal human woman she would have tried to gain his attention like the girls at his bar did.

But she was not normal. She didn't want his attention in that way. Sure, it would be flattering, but she'd had his number pegged when she saw him eye-fucking numerous women from his throne at Fangtasia. He used women for sex, just as they used him. It was a cycle that worked.

They didn't speak for the rest of the journey, though that wasn't long. The gravel beneath them crunched under the weight of the car, making the vehicle bounce. Sarah noticed that a generic rental car was idling outside the house, and as Eric pulled the Corvette behind it, two humans - one male and one female - exited. Neither were wearing many clothes and Sarah couldn't help but notice the multiple bites scattered across their bodies. Evidently, they were a favorite amongst vampires.

"No biting in the house," she warned Eric, pointing a finger at him as she undid her seatbelt. He grinned slightly in response, his eyes holding the same anticipation that Mary-Ann's had earlier that night. Eric's, however, instilled something else inside her that wasn't fear. She passed it off as irritation.

She walked past the humans who didn't acknowledge her without even a glance. She unlocked the door, feeling Eric's eyes on her but doing a wonderful job of ignoring him, and walked in, tossing her keys on the side. She heard footsteps behind her - heeled footsteps - which was the only indication she needed that the fangbangers were following her into the house. She walked into the kitchen and turned the coffee-machine on, her movements so familiar they were robotic. Soon, the smell that made her mouth water wafted through the air. She had not turned to face the three people in the kitchen since she'd walked in, but she knew they were there from the deep breathing of the human helpers.

Once the coffee was made and offered around (nobody accepted), she took a seat at the table at which they were sat and looked to Eric.

"So how is this going to work? I tell them to do something simple and pointless and you see that I do actually have something strange about me?"

Eric didn't reply straight away, choosing instead to look around the room. When his eyes landed back on Sarah, he said, "I know you can persuade people to do whatever you want. I have witnessed this first hand. I want to see how far you can be pushed in regards to a human recipient since vampires make you weak."

"So what exactly do you want me to do?" Her voice had a strong and defensive undertone to it, even though her eyes betrayed her nervousness. She didn't want to be susceptible to Eric's unpredictable anger - practicing too much would do exactly that.

"We'll start with memories."

Sarah frowned. "I've only tried to do anything in relation to memory once. Stan made me. It's too complex. It's not what I do."

Eric only looked at her blankly. "I'm not Stan."

She sighed and shifted in her chair, taking a large gulp of the steaming drink. Neither she or Godric had ever broached the topic of memories, since he never expected her to further her skills and only helped her harness them. Finding memories or planting a false one was not something she could do - she could tell people to do something and they would without question. She didn't have the power of a vampire - she couldn't manipulate the mind further than that. Stan had made her try time and time again but she couldn't. Memory was too deep and too personal.

When she told Eric that she couldn't do it, he simply replied, "Have you ever tried it willingly?"

She'd rolled her eyes and reminded him that she hadn't, and he seemed smug. "Then how do you know you can't? You told me once that Godric described glamoring to you and that you think it's similar to that. I concur. So why should you not be able to do what I can?"

"Because I'm not supernatural," she hissed, feeling her anger rising. She didn't want these experiments to be like before - she didn't want to be worn out by prodding and poking at people's minds.

Eric, feeling her anger mounting but not caring, smirked again. "I disagree. You said that you gain someone's trust and influence their actions when you unleash your gift. Making someone believe something that never happened is just one step further. Pull together pieces of their mind to concoct a memory - we'll start with recreating the memory of them walking into this house - and then override it. Concentrate."

Throwing her head in her hands, she murmured, "It's not that simple, Eric."

"Try."

She knew that he wouldn't let it go until she at least tried. She had told him that she would repay him by practicing on humans. He had acquiesced to this... she needed to keep up her end of the bargain.

Looking up, she immediately stared straight into the eyes of the woman sat across from her. She was really quite pretty, Sarah thought. If Celia ever had her hands on her, she'd be beautiful. With less eye makeup, actual clothes, a new hair cut and she'd be deemed a lady by the likes of experts like Celia.

She latched onto the part of the woman's mind easily, as though she was going to persuade her to do something simple like walk to the coffee machine and refill Sarah's cup. That part was easy. Having her attention and that part of her mind, she tried to extend it to the rest of her brain, trying to locate the small section that held memories while still keeping a firm grasp on her decisions. The further she went, the less grip she had. Still, she pushed on, trying to recreate a memory in the woman's head.

Eric watched Sarah try with a great deal of interest. A frown had puckered her tanned and petite face as she exerted the concentration she needed for the task he had set her on. He watched intently as she saw the internal struggle she was having, and he tried to remember if he'd had the same amount of difficulty learning when he'd first been turned. No, he thought. It had come naturally to him.

As he watched the poor girl struggle to find a memory, he found that he really wanted her to learn so that he'd be able to say that he, too, had a part in the girl's life. So that he could have as much of an impact on her life as his Maker did. He wanted her to advance further. To be as powerful as she could be.

He found it strange that he'd never had this urge with Sookie. He'd not wanted her to advance her powers in case it only drew more attention to her and endangered her. With Sarah, he knew that she'd be strong enough to deal with the extra attention if she succeeded in developing her gift. Sookie, although strong, would not. The two women did not share the same strength - Sookie was able to help anyone, regardless of a situation and was strong enough to stand up for what she believed in; Sarah had the ability to continue. She could survive. She had proved that by coming to him for help. Sookie would not have wounded her pride to do so.

Sarah huffed in exasperation as the part of the girl's mind that she had once had a firm grip on slipped away. She had been pushed out. Rejected from the mind of a fangbanger.

"I can't," she complained, feeling like a failure. She rubbed her temples, trying to dispel the headache which would surely make an appearance soon.

"That was only your first try," Eric argued softly, trying to keep her calm. "Again."

By eleven that night, no progress had been made. Each time she felt like she was coming close to a memory, she lost her grip on the part she needed to have a grip on. It infuriated her to the point where she'd thrown her mug into the sink with such force that it shattered. Eric had been resigned to send the two humans home with the driver that had taken them there while he stayed with Sarah.

Frustration. It was another emotion that Eric had not seen before on Sarah's face.

It didn't elicit the same kind of reaction that her anger did. Her frustration was all consuming. It made him want to calm her down and return her to the emotion of exasperation that she usually held around him. He didn't deal well with her frustrations.

Trying to distract her from the night's activities, he started, "I'm sure you've wondered why it is that the Fellowship are also after Sookie?"

She nodded as she tidied up the mess in the sink as quickly as possible. "It has crossed my mind, yes."

"She's telepathic."

On this announcement, Sarah's fingers slipped so suddenly that she cut herself on a sharp edge of the ceramic. Blood oozed out of it in an almost soothing manner. It reminded her that she was still human, despite her abnormal qualities.

"Shit," she murmured, placing the shards she had collected on top of the counter so that she could rinse the wound under the faucet. Just as she was reaching to turn it on, Eric's hand stopped her. He brought the hand he had a grip on to his mouth and before she could try to yank it away, he put the finger that wept blood into his mouth and sucked lightly.

The sensation it created within Sarah was completely unexpected. The action sent a shock of delight straight from his finger down to her stomach with clenched tightly. It was oddly erotic watching him close his eyes in appreciation as he tasted her blood for the first time. A sigh escaped her before she could comprehend it, and she dropped the towel she'd collected to dry her finger. She supposed that it wouldn't be needed any more. As he sucked, a throbbing began to make itself known which matched the rhythm of what Eric was doing to her finger.

She was enjoying this far too much. She didn't like him and she certainly didn't want him to have too much of her blood in his system. She wasn't there as a snack. They had a business arrangement. She quickly took her finger out of his surprisingly warm mouth and ran in under the faucet as though she was trying to get rid of any essence of him on her skin.

"She's telepathic? As in she can read minds?" Her voice shook slightly and she prayed that he was too wrapped up in the high of receiving an impromptu donation of blood to notice.

He hummed in response, and she was left to decipher the meaning of it herself.

"Everyone's mind?"

She suddenly realized what this meant - she wasn't the only freak in the world. Maybe it was naive and self-centered of her to think so, but she really had been so convinced that she was the only human with supernatural qualities that wasn't simply an extremely intellectual mind and the ability to answer math equations in the blink of an eye.

Someone was like her. Admittedly, they weren't exactly the same, but she didn't want to think of that. Maybe whatever abnormality that was in her genetic make up was also in Sookie and it had only manifested differently. She really hoped so.

"Every human mind. Well, except yours," Eric replied, wandering around the kitchen languidly. "But then you are not entirely human."

Sarah frowned. Everything that Sookie had said made more sense now - especially about Mary-Ann. The bad vibe must have come from her mind. Sarah felt idiotic that she had dismissed it as ridiculous when in actuality, Sookie knew so much more than she did.

Sarah simply nodded and asked Eric why Sookie couldn't read vampires' minds when she could persuade them. It was something that didn't seem to add up in her mind.

"I do not know," he replied honestly. "I have my theories."

When it became apparent that he wasn't going to share these theories with Sarah, she led him through to the living room. She slumped onto the couch and he followed suit by sitting gracefully down onto an armchair opposite her.

Sarah remembered something, and she couldn't help but smirk as she asked. "Is that why you're so intrigued by her?"

Eric, uncomfortable with where she was going with her line of questioning, replied, "Initially."

She realized that he was going to make this as difficult for her as possible. The part of her that needed to push decided that he'd pushed her to her limits that night and Sarah deserved to push him right back.

"But now?"

"Now what?" He snapped back, glaring at her. He obviously didn't like talking about emotions, she thought. Godric had never been too apprehensive about emotions or talking about personal things. At first he'd kept most things about him a secret, but as time had passed she'd managed to get him to reveal most of his secrets just as he had extracted personal details from her.

"Now, you clearly like her. You're jealous of her relationship with Bill."

"Bill Compton doesn't instill any sort of emotion in me, least of all jealousy."

He was lying to save face. She could tell by the way his eyes averted to Sookie's curtains, to her coffee table, to her bookcase in the far corner of the room. He was trying to avoid answering in case he didn't get the girl.

She suddenly felt sorry for him that he was being forced to watch someone he clearly wanted be with another man. Having to watch them grow deeper in love. It must've been hard for him to see that, she reasoned.

Feeling guilty, she tried a different approach.

"You should be more gentlemanly toward her. She's with Bill because he got there first. That, and you can really piss people off at times."

He didn't reply and she didn't want to speak again before he had. The obstinate couple sat in silence, Sarah staring at Eric and Eric staring at the window.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, he muttered, "I admire her tenacity. And her kindness." He swallowed against something that was obviously getting in the way of his next words. "She stayed with Godric on that rooftop when she could've left him alone."

Sarah's eyes shut of their own accord when he reminded her of Godric's death. Eric's tone was similar to hers whenever she spoke of Godric - quiet, reserved, devastated. His words left them both reminded of someone they'd each loved more than anything and they say in heavy silence as they both basked in the memory of him with another who understood.

"I owe her for that," Sarah said quietly, admitting it aloud for the first time. A part of her knew that she shouldn't be talking about Godric with Eric since his relationship with the vampire was far more powerful than Sarah's, but she also knew that if anyone was going to understand, it would be him.

Their emotion-filled conversation was cut short, however, when he closed off the link to his emotions and reverted back to his shell. There, nothing could hurt him. "For standing on a rooftop?"

"No," she snapped back, agitated that he couldn't openly admit how much he was hurting. When she spoke again, her voice was soft and vulnerable with the memory of Godric so prominent in her mind. "For being there when I wasn't."

Her reply rang true to them both, and for the first time in many centuries, Eric was silenced by a human woman. He had tried to take control of the situation, tried to bounce back to the banter they shared that would hide the fact that they were both broken. He had tried, but failed, to lighten up the morose atmosphere in the room. His cocky reply caught in his throat and he found that he couldn't say anything back to her. She was right. They both owed Sookie Stackhouse for being on that rooftop.

The clock on the fireplace continued to tick, though both the people in the room were lost in memories of the past.

A bit of a rollercoaster ride there. Eric and his emotions will play a large role in this story, just warning you.

Review if you'd like Eric sucking your finger and I'll see what I can do. ;)