A/N: All characters belong to the marvallous CH.

A/N: Many thanks and big Viking hugs to my beta, txone, who took the time to beta this for me today, in the middle of 100 other obligations.

Chapter 10

The next day, when I showed up at the office at 2PM, the staff tried to hide their surprise. Did they think I was fired? Oh yeah, Sookie had yelled at Pam and me last night, making sure that everybody heard. When Pam showed up later, they were going to be surprised again.

I called Victor into my office to catch up on what I had missed, there wasn't much. I wanted him to make a report on all overdue, outstanding account receivables. And because I was an unreasonable bastard, who wanted him to stay late tonight, I ordered it done by tomorrow morning. Using the computer, he would be here just long enough.

Shortly after it got dark, Pam came sashaying in to the Accounting Department. Some vamps had already shown up for the evening shift, and there were still a few humans working, perhaps helping Victor. She nodded to Victor, and stood by the door to my office, with a seductive look on her face.

"Mr. Northman," she oozed, "I have some papers for you from the Queen."

"Don't just stand there, Pam, bring me what you've got," I tried to put sex into my voice, and it was a good thing Pam closed the door behind her, because I almost burst into laughter. We waited about twenty minutes before I opened the door for her. She had rubbed off her lipstick and mussed up her hair, just a little, we didn't want to be too obvious. But just in case anyone missed our show, she leaned over and lightly kissed me, as she walked out the door.

"See you later, Eric," she whispered, but loud enough for Victor to hear.

I leaned over to her and whispered in her ear. Something about fixing her hair and make up, before she saw the Queen. She smiled and left, hips rotating, giving me, and everyone else a first class show. I smiled appreciatively at her ass, and went back into my office.

When Victor finished the report, I thanked him and told him I wanted follow-up on each one. He'd have a week to go over everything, and report. Barring death or bankruptcy, I expected everything to be cleared. After that, I wanted him to make a report of our owed account payables, and why we hadn't paid them. He had another week to clear those too. Then we would get started on the next quarter's taxes. That seemed normal enough.

I took the papers he had given me and made copies. Office workers liked it when the bosses did that. It gave them a chance to chat with you, and you never knew what you could find out. Just as I said, one of the accounting clerks walked over with a sheaf of papers in her hand.

"Hi, Mr. Northman," she said shyly.

"Hi, Justine, how are you today?" I put on the big smile, and she blushed.

"Oh. I'm fine, Mr. Northman. I was wondering, since you put in such long hours, do you know we usually have snacks in the break room for our department? We all chip in $10.00 each week, and if you chip in, you get to choose the snack for everyone, once per cycle," she said hurriedly, trying to get all the words out before her nerve failed.

She was getting flustered, but I thought it was sweet of her to think of me, so I told her, "Thank you, Justine, that's very thoughtful of you. It's good to know."

I went into my pants pocket and pulled out some cash, "What day is the money collected, and who collects it?"

"Ginny, the head bookkeeper, collects the money every Monday morning, and we all take turns going to the store."

"I'm not here in the morning, so if I leave my share with you, will you take care of it for me?" I took a ten from my clip, and gave it to her, "This is for next week."

"Oh yes, Mr. Northman. I'd be pleased to take care of it for you," she barely breathed out, "And I'll remind you on Fridays, too."

"Thank you, Justine, I appreciate it," I gave her another smile, gathered up my papers, and left for my office, stopping at Victor's office on the way. I handed him back the papers, and headed to the Queen's office. I sat at Pam's desk for a few minutes, and then was buzzed into Her Highness' office.

"Your Highness, I have the report you requested," I closed the door behind me and grabbed her. "Oh god, Sookie, I've missed you," I whispered. I bent my head down to kiss as she started to protest, but for once, my lips and arms moved faster than hers, and she was caught in my arms with her mouth open and warm. I didn't give her a chance to protest, before I picked her up, and carried her over to the secret door, then down the stairs.

I couldn't wait. I had to be inside her or I was going to explode. I shoved her against the wall, pulled up her skirt, and tore off her panties. She seemed to feel the same way. Her hands were opening my pants, and I sprung free. We had to separate our mouths, as I pushed into her. She took all of me and I could hear her groan.

"Shit, Sookie, I can't stop," I said desperately, "I need you so badly." I didn't want any creativity or teasing, I just had this animalistic need to take her. Her body responded quickly to mine, and together we built towards release, synched, pumping stronger, then pounding, frantically, until we came together in noisy, triumphant yells. I leaned against her, and caught my breath. Walking over to the bed, still in her, I dropped onto my back, and then rolled onto my side, taking her with me. I brushed the hair from her face, kissing her softly. Now, maybe I could think straight.

I took a deep breath, and asked, "Good evening, Your Majesty, how is your night progressing?"

"It was a pretty dull until about five minutes ago," she laughed.

"Oh, did it take that long? I thought I set a new orgasmic speed record?" I said grinning, giving her another kiss, "Sookie, what do you do on the weekends? I'm not supposed to be coming here, but I don't know if I can last that long without seeing you," I waited for her answer.

"If I'm not working, I stay home and read, sometimes watch TV. If Pam doesn't have a date, she comes over. I have a reputation to uphold, you know." she smiled again.

"Yes, the 'Snow Queen.' I've heard," I leered at her.

"Well, I haven't been like this," she took my hand, "for six hundred years."

"You must have had someone special in that time?" I probed.

"Eric, my love, you don't need to know. Celibacy is not a choice for vampires. Shit, it's not even a viable choice for humans. Fucking is integral to feeding, and I had to feed. If there was someone who caught my fancy for a while, why not? You can't remember your lives over the past six hundred years, so I can't ask you about your lovers. I'm sure you had them too.

"So let's agree on this: it doesn't matter if we were not the first for each other; as long as we are the last." Sookie was sure of her reasoning here, too.

"You're right. No questions about each other's pasts," I agreed with her again. I liked that she was smart, but did she always have to be right?

I was still in her and despite our conversation, I was getting harder. It seems my cock doesn't care who the boss was around here. Maybe that's the right attitude to take. I turned her onto her back and started moving slowly. Now that the frenzy was over, I thought we could enjoy a leisurely love-making session, but Sookie had another idea.

She pushed me back on the bed, and scooted away from my mouth. Not that she closed hers, she went down on my stiff cock, and gave it a big lick from bottom to top, then stayed around the sensitive tip, running her tongue around and under the lip. Every time she licked the top, my entire body jerked.

I threaded my hands into her hair and pushed down. She understood, and took almost all of me in her mouth. I learned that vamps had no gag reflex, and she could do a fantastic deep throat.

Her hands squeezed my balls and slid up and down the bottom part of my shaft. Meanwhile she sucked, swirled, and licked me, as I got more excited. Finally she was pumping and sucking faster, and as I was close to coming, she sucked so hard her cheeks were concave. I came in gushes calling her name, feeling like I would never stop.

After a few minutes, I sat up, pulled her up to me and my mouth captured hers in a deep, satisfied kiss. Breaking from the kiss, I lay her on her back to return the favor. I couldn't remember when the rest of our clothes came off, but she was lying there as beautiful as Botticelli's Venus, pale as marble, her skin firm and smooth, with pink tipped breasts. She was exquisite.

I got on my knees at the end of the bed, and slid her down towards me. I opened her legs and before me was the pearl above her center. I lightly licked it, and felt her spasm. If I wasn't careful, this would be over too quickly. I spread her lips and moved to lick her center instead. She tasted like a goddess would, sweet and briny. I lapped her center, sucking up her sweet juices, probing around her secret folds with my tongue. She twisted and writhed under my touch. My hand moved to her breasts, remembering how sensitive they were. I lightly kneaded them, and twisted the nipples in turn, but my focus was her hot, wet center, where I was driving her crazy.

"Eric, please..." she gasped.

"'Please', what, my love?" I was in control now.

"I can't take any more," her voice was getting more ragged.

"What do you want, my dove?" I decided to help her, so I blew a cool breath across her nub.

"Ahh, make me come!" she cried out.

"With pleasure, my love," and it was the last thing I said before I suckled her nub and she started to spasm and scream my name.

I held her close while she came down from her orgasm. Little spasms would shake her body, gradually lessening, until she could open her eyes in amazement at me.

Her lips curled up into a sweet smile, and she said, "Forever mine."

"Yes, my love, as you are mine," I replied, contentedly, "Forever, too."

*********************

We both still had work to do, so we eventually dressed and went back upstairs. I doubt if anyone noticed our absence, except for Pam.

"My Lady, would you have Victor's tail let me know if he actually leaves the vicinity, when he leaves work? I also want the tail to report to me during the day, and to let me know when he's approaching the compound. It's a good idea to keep an eye on him, but better to update the information more frequently," I told her.

"Good idea, Eric, I'll have Pam direct him to report to you during daylight hours. He'll call your cell phone. Is there anything else that you've thought of?" She wrote it down.

"Yes. I'd like a watcher on my house. I'd like to know if anyone is snooping around. I don't want to find any booby traps that I haven't placed there myself. I was also thinking that I should bury some weapons around the property, without being watched. And where can I get some silver nets?"

"How many do you need?"

"I think four will be enough; one for the house, one for the car and two for different places around the property."

She nodded, and added to her list.

"Dear one, wouldn't you like to sneak away and go skinny-dipping with me this weekend?"

Sookie sighed, "Of course I would love to. I am just worried about the danger right now. We shouldn't take any chances with informing our enemies about us. You are so impatient, Eric, you are used to only one lifetime. But for us there is no need to rush, we will have many centuries together."

She sat quietly thinking, "I have an idea, Eric. Michael will be here on Tuesday to begin negotiations for Alaska. You can move into the mansion for the period that they supposedly go on. Since he'll be here with Alaska's lawyers and finance people, you'll have to be here to help with negotiations. We won't have a lawyer stay, because Mr. Cataliadies likes to go home every day. But it wouldn't be out of place if you stayed, since you live further away. I can give you a room close to mine and Pam's. Pam has a room here too, even though she has her own home. It's exactly for times like these, when we 'circle the wagons' as they used to say."

"That sounds good, My Lady. Would we have adjoining rooms? Are they soundproofed?" I smirked.

"Yes, they are. We shall see what can be arranged, Eric. Meanwhile, you have work that you neglected while you were out fooling around with my second," she sounded stern.

"Yes, My Lady. I'll report later on my progress," I said, "And once Victor has left for the day, I'll go and practice. I'll stop by to see if you can join me."

"Fine. If I can't get away, maybe Pam can. Her maker is one of the best fighters I know," she lowered her voice, "She's better than me."

"You're kidding," I raised my eyebrows in astonishment.

"Eric, when I said, you had to get better to stay alive, I meant it. You're good for a human, but you don't have vampire speed or reflexes. You'll be a target in a battle, and one of your weapons will be surprise, because you are so good. But surprise is only a weapon once, after that, they'll know your weaknesses and strengths, so you have to be better. Maybe I can have Pam's maker come in to train you, too. He's the sheriff of Area Four, just East of us," she smiled, "I think you'll like each other."

"Really, what's he like?" I was curious. This was the first time she said that I'd like someone.

"He's a big, blond, sexy Viking," she laughed, "His name is Leif Heldson. In fact, he's a lot like you, but vampire."

"So you think I'm a 'big, blond, sexy Viking' too?" I smirked, and waited for her answer.

"No Eric, I think you're a big, blond, sexy man! Leif really was a Viking!" she dissolved in laughter.

I didn't see what was so funny, and I forgot that I wasn't supposed to ask, "Sookie, did you and Leif..."

"I thought we already discussed this, Eric. I can't have you questioning me, every time an attractive man or vamp walks into the mansion," the Queen was not pleased.

The balance of power was definitely on her side now, "OK Sookie, you had my word. I'm sorry I broke it, I won't ask again." I picked up my papers, and started walking to the door.

She rushed in front of me with vampire speed, "Eric, my love, this is why I don't want to get into these petty details. I've been around for six hundred years. It would be an endless stream of questions and jealousy. They did not count, so I will not mention them. Not one of them mattered to the way you do."

She put her arms around my neck and lifted herself in the air to kiss me. Her tongue circled my lips, and then forced its way inside my mouth. It was dream-like, with the office fading away. I wanted to stand there, kissing her forever. Eventually, she pulled back, and lowered herself to the floor, "My love we have work to do. Maybe you can even move in early, say, Sunday night. If anyone should ask, I'll say you're getting things ready for the negotiations with Alaska. But as I am Queen, no one will ask."

I wondered if I was being bull-shitted, but I thought it was better to wait before I decided, "OK, Sookie. I'll have my things here Sunday night, and you can show me around the private quarters of the compound. I'll see you later." And I walked out.

Queen Sookie's POV

Eric wasn't happy when he left. I can't help that I have been vampire for 600 years.

I don't want questions about my past. There are so many things he wouldn't understand about our practices, primarily before we came out. He's going to have to learn to cope. But I think I'm going to have to listen better. I shouldn't say things that might hurt him in ways that will mar our future together. This love thing is hard, and I'm very out of practice.

He and Leif do share some similarities. I think, if they're not competing, they could be friends. Maybe Leif can come over some night, and the four of use can 'hang out.' Pam certainly isn't interested in her maker, but they get along well. He released her so many years ago, I can no longer remember, and she's been my assistant, then second-in-command, and my friend ever since.