A/N: Hey, sorry this took so long. This chapter was killer! I bitch about that at the end, but feel free to ignore me. Also, anyone want to be my beta? I will be whiny and demanding and will discuss these books in detail to the point where you won't want to be friends with me. Sound appealing?

Also, what with fanfiction alerts being broken, you might have missed chapter nine. If you did, go check it out. It was fun to write. Unlike this chapter.

I didn't wake up until my bladder was telling me rather insistently that I needed to. The room was dark, but Eric had left the bathroom light on, which I could see around the edges of the closed door.

Eric had died for the day with his arms wrapped around me and his leg hitched over mine. His face was buried into my neck and one hand was gripping a fistful of the shirt I was wearing. I tried to edge out from under him, but he was heavy. I poked him in the shoulder, hard.

"Eric!" The only response I got was his arms tightening around me. "Eric, you have to let me go. I need to get up."

He whispered, "Mine," in my ear before snuggling into me.

Now I was getting exasperated. I punched him in the arm. "Eric! Let me go. I need to go to the bathroom."

He shifted slightly, not yet relinquishing me. "You'll come back?" His voice was quiet, and heavy with sleep.

I laughed, softly, and assured him I would, which finally got him to let me up. I sighed with relief as soon as my butt hit the seat. I took a moment to look around. Eric's bathroom was gorgeous, with a huge shower stall as well as a sunken tub big enough for at least two. Thankfully, Eric had left my bag of toiletries, which included the toilet paper, on the counter. Need number one taken care of, I brushed my teeth and washed my face, two things I'd neglected to do in my state of post coital bliss. My purse was on the counter too, so I got out my phone to check the time. It was already quarter to three. I was amazed at how late I'd slept, but I guess sleeping in a pitch black room will do that to you.

I quickly read a text from Jason: hope u enjoyed ur night ; ). Rather then replying, since I hated text speak, I opted for giving him a call. We chatted for a minute before he said he had to go as he was taking Hunter to a movie in Monroe. I told him to behave and to say hi to Hunter.

Eric was much more willing to let me back into bed than he had to let me out, especially after I tripped over an armchair after foolishly turning off the bathroom light. He actually sat up at the noise and pulled me into bed, not that I could see what was going on. "Come back to sleep, my lover." He kissed the side of my neck and pulled me close again before he was pulled back under. Wrapped in his arms, I soon followed.

When I woke up, Eric was kissing my neck, his hand gently teasing my nipple. I sighed and leaned into him, feeling his erection against me. "Don't we need to get up?"

He shook his head against my neck. "Sunset is in an hour. We've got some time, and you've managed to wake me." His fingers brushed down to my thigh. "I find I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping the day away with you."

I stretched and rolled over, smiling when his lips found mine in the darkness. We kissed for a few minutes, before I groaned and tried to push him away. "Eric, I need to get in the shower. Don't we need to leave right after sunset?"

He pulled me back into him. "We can be a little late." His cool mouth found my ear lobe, grazing it with his fangs.

"Eric!" I tried, and failed, to not let his name come out as a moan. He laughed slightly, before sliding my t-shirt off and finding my lips again. His kisses were impossible to resist. And I found myself simply returning his passion rather than thinking about how late we were going to be.

I pushed Eric's shoulder, getting him to lie on his back, before swinging myself on top of him. He sighed happily as I slid him into me, and I groaned. "Jesus, Eric, how do you feel so good?" He laughed, stopping abruptly as I started moving on top of him, opting to grunt softly instead.

I rearranged my legs, so that I was basically crouching, perching above him on my toes. The tone of his voice said that he was cursing softly, but I couldn't understand the words coming from his mouth. It was incredibly sexy. His hands made their way to my hips, guiding my movements, but I would have none of it. I wanted to take control. I lifted one of his hands to my lips, kissing his palm before biting down gently on his finger tip, slowly increasing the pressure of my teeth as I increased the speed of my hips.

His hands reached into my hair, tangling his fingers in it, before he pulled my face to his, practically bruising my lips with his kiss. Before I even knew what was going on, he flipped us over so that he was on top. I could taste the slightly metallic, almost sweet tang of his blood, just a few drops on my tongue. I bit down on his lip slightly, not breaking the skin, and he growled. He was moving in me quickly now, and the feel of him was pushing me to the edge. Within minutes I heard myself murmuring, "So close," and then crying out as he bit into my breast just as I clenched down on him. A second later, he was kissing me as he climaxed, tasting of my coppery blood. Somehow that managed to be sexy, not disgusting, so I didn't worry about it.

With a contented noise, he pulled out of me, lowering his head to lick lazily at the bite mark. "Join me in the shower, lover?"

I smacked his arm playfully, but got up to join him after he turned on the bedside lamp. Eric's shower was amazing. It had one of those monsoon heads, making it feel like you were showering in a hot rainstorm, but it was huge, with both of us easily fitting under the cascade. He did actually hurry me along when I tried to linger, causing me to make a face at him. "You're the one who doesn't want to be late. I'd be more than happy to stay here for a couple of hours and relive some very pleasant memories of another shower we shared." My breath hitched and he flashed me a bit of fang. "You know, one day we should discuss all those memories I recovered." I made a face at him and rinsed, before jumping out of the shower and grabbing a towel. He laughed before rinsing himself and turning off the shower. "That made you run. Pass me a towel lover."

I stuck my tongue out at him, not really caring if I was being childish, and passed him a towel, before going back to the bedroom and turning on the overhead lights. "Hey, Eric," I asked as he walked out toweling his hair, "Is it alright if I go downstairs? I need to find my dress."

"You could probably fit into a pair of my jeans, if you prefer."

I laughed. "They'd be about a year too long. I'd also need to borrow a shirt, and the last time I borrowed a shirt of yours, I wore it as a dress."

Eric frowned as he rubbed the towel through his hair. I tried not to focus on the fact that he was completely bare. "When did you borrow my shirt to wear in public?"

I smiled. So, the vampire didn't have completely perfect recall. Good to know. "After the maenad attacked me."

He looked a bit distant for a moment before he dropped his towel on the floor and dragged a pair of jeans out of his dresser. "That was a button down. My t-shirts aren't that long." He sighed, seemingly lost in thought. "That was the first time I tasted your blood. Even with the poison, I knew there was something different about you."

"Seriously, Eric, hang up your towels. It's really not that hard." I picked it up, hanging it over the bathroom door before I frowned for a moment. "Did you know I was part fairy?"

He shook his head. "No. I might have picked up on it if I'd had your blood when I wasn't cursed, but I'm not sure. There is more to it than just fae."

Great, the chance of yet more crazy relatives out there. I sighed. "Niall didn't think my telepathy came from the fairy side of the family. He said it was all me, anyway, and that he couldn't take it away." I changed the subject before Eric could grill me on that. "Okay, I'm going downstairs. I'm going to eat something and make coffee, so will you just meet me downstairs when you can?"

He nodded. "Of course. The sun will set shortly." He gave me a soft kiss on the cheek and I slipped out of the bedroom. The first order of business when I got down stairs was to start the space age coffee maker, and then I wandered around trying to find my clothes. My bra and dress were both in the kitchen. I couldn't find my panties anywhere, which was irritating, solely for the fact that they were floating around Eric's house somewhere. I didn't have an issue with re-wearing a dress and bra, but I did draw the line at underwear.

By the time the coffee was finished, I'd found my shoes and was dressed. I managed to get the machine apart without killing myself, even finding the bit of the base that folded out to form a stand for the top. I sighed at the first sip. I had to give Eric some credit. It did make a very good cup of coffee. As I started working on my second cup I cleaned out the top part of the machine, since I didn't want Eric to have to deal with my dishes once I left. Finally I sat down with a bowl of cereal.

By the time I'd finished it and decided that a third cup of coffee was completely appropriate and not a bad idea at all, Eric came downstairs holding a hairbrush that had a few ties wrapped around the handle. He started brushing my hair without saying anything.

I glanced up at him before he forced me to straighten my head. "What are you doing?"

"I'm braiding your hair. Hush. You said you liked mine in Jackson." It took him a surprisingly short amount of time to work his way through my thick mane of hair. I enjoyed the brushing the most. There's something about having your hair brushed that is just completely relaxing and soothing. Even the braiding felt good, aside from a few moments when he pulled my hair a bit too vigorously. I finished my coffee at about the same moment as he finished with my hair.

"I'm just going to brush my teeth before we go, okay?" I looked at him sideways. "You don't by any chance know where my panties wound up? I can't find them. I hadn't planned on wearing them, but I would prefer to find them, rather than leaving them for Pam to find when she comes over to make you clean your house."

Eric gave me a lopsided grin and a quick kiss. "I'll have a look. I can put them in the wash here for you."

"Eric, I don't want to be a bother. I've got laundry to do when I get home anyway."

"Consider it returning the favor. You washed my clothes when I was cursed, and you helped me with laundry last night. Plus this way, you can have a pair here in case you decide to stay at the spur of the moment again." He nodded, cementing the course of action in his mind.

Once I'd brushed my teeth, I popped the toothbrush and paste in the Walgreens bag, along with the face wash and tampons. Eric frowned when I walked downstairs with the bag. "Lover, you can leave a few things here."

I shrugged. "I don't want to clutter up your life with my crap."

Eric's hands gripped my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "I like having your 'crap', as you so eloquently put it, in my life, Sookie. I would like to think that someday in the not so distant future you'll stay here again. Leave the things we bought yesterday here. That way next time we won't have to go to the store."

I sighed. After thinking for a moment, I stuffed a tampon in my small purse, just in case, before taking the bag back upstairs. Eric's medicine cabinet was pretty empty, so I found a home for my stuff pretty easily. A few minutes later, we were in Eric's car, heading back to Fangtasia.

Pam was waiting in Eric's office, tapping her foot. She threw up her hands when she saw us. She gave Eric a dirty look. "Finally! I thought I was going to have to go to your house and pry the two of you out of bed." I laughed. It wasn't like Pam to be so agitated.

Eric raised an eyebrow at her. "Have the New Orleans people arrived yet?"

Pam frowned very slightly. "Their plane was delayed. They should be here in half an hour."

Eric smiled. "No harm done then. I'm sure you could have kept them entertained had they arrived before we did. Sookie, would you like anything to drink?" He led me over to the couch, the one I'd laid on while being healed from the maenad attack.

I shrugged, crossing my legs as I sat. "Just a ginner ale, or something." He nodded at Pam, who turned on her heel and walked out. I was shocked. "Seriously, Eric, you don't need to send Pam fetching for me. I have two very capable legs."

I didn't like the way he grinned at me, sliding next to me on the couch. "Oh, your legs are more than capable, dear one. She's being particularly annoying tonight. She occasionally forgets who the child in this relationship is." He pulled me close to him and I relaxed my head into his neck, enjoying the comfort being near to him gave me. When he started kissing me I pulled away.

"Eric, I was serious yesterday when I said we were not having sex in your office. Who's bringing these guys from New Orleans, anyway?" He kept his arms around me, seeming to enjoy the simple comfort of holding me.

"Do you remember Rasul?" I nodded against him. Rasul had been one of the only vampires from Sophie-Anne's regime to survive the Nevada take over, outside of Eric's Area anyway. I'd met him in New Orleans last spring, when he was still working for Sophie Ann, and seen him again at the summit in Rhodes. I liked Rasul. He'd always been nice to me. He'd even helped Eric track me down when the Pelts had kidnapped me. "He's coming up with a couple Weres from the New Orleans pack." He took a deep breath, smelling my hair. "You're like an addiction. Somehow I can never have enough of you." He shook himself slightly, separating us. "This bond affects me in ways I never imagined."

"You and me both, Eric." I gave him a slightly sardonic grin, just as Pam came in carrying a couple of bloods and what looked to be a glass of ginger ale.

Two hours later, I was still sitting in Eric's office, only now I was trying to will away a raging headache. Rasul was eyeing me oddly. "Look, Rasul, you're not helping things. Do you understand how difficult it is to break through glamour? I'm trying really hard here."

The copper skinned vamp shrugged apologetically. "We only wanted them to be docile for the flight."

I snorted. They were docile, alright. They were practically blank slates. Of course, Rasul couldn't undo it, either. That would have been too easy. So I was stuck trying to pick apart the fog was pretty much all that existed in three human brains. I sighed, heavily. I'd actually made some progress in the last half hour, even if it felt otherwise. "Give me another hour and I think I'll have them sorted out. Just remember to do something easy to undo next time, alright?"

Rasul nodded to me before settling back into one of the seats Eric had brought in from the bar. "Pam, can you do me a favor?" She nodded before I continued. "Can you see if any of the waitresses has some kind of pain killer? I'm getting one hell of a headache." She left the office quickly, leaving me with Eric, Rasul and three very loopy humans. I shook myself slightly before getting back to work.

I put my fingertips back on the temples of a man with sandy blond hair and about three days worth of beard. I'd made the most progress with him, but it felt like I was trying to pick out complicated embroidery in the dark while wearing giant rubber gloves. I leaned in close to him, so that our foreheads were touching. Finally it felt like something clicked, like a subtle shifting in his mind and I was in. I felt like jumping up and down and cheering, but settled for a murmured, "Gotcha!" before I started exploring his mind. "Hey Mike. How you doing tonight?" I was quickly working my own brand of hypnosis, getting Mike to relax and open his mind to me. I could feel the vampires watching me with interest. I'd gotten better at this while working with the other telepaths I knew, both Barry in Rhodes and Hunter here. I don't actually think Eric had really ever seen me get inside someone's mind like this. He'd seen me do it when he'd needed to find an embezzler, but it had been the first time I'd really tried it and my efforts had been pretty crude.

I puzzled my way through Mike's mind, quietly asking him questions to steer his thoughts in the directions I wanted them to go. If he started resisting the slight mental shoves I would give him to get him going, I would get him to focus on calming thoughts before moving him again towards what I needed from him. The vampires in the room watched me with interest, but I ignored them. I walked Mike through the planning leading up to that night, who he'd been in contact with, how he'd been chosen to help. Every time I spoke a name or a place, Eric jotted it down When Mike had given me everything he knew, I pulled myself out of his mind while physically pulling myself away from him. I sighed heavily, giving Pam a thankful nod as she handed me a glass of water and some pills. I was past the point of caring what they were, so long as they worked.

"So do you need me to fill in some blanks, or did you follow my questioning okay?" Not all of Mike's answers had been verbal. After getting a look from the three of them I started talking. "Well, Mike here is pretty low rung. Steve Newlin is trying to get things moving again after Rhodes. They're planning things like this wherever the Fellowship has enough members to get the job done. Mike's heard rumors that Alabama is next, but it doesn't get more concrete from him. The names I got are other people that were involved in the planning aspects of the New Orleans side of things, some of them were helping out in other areas of the state as well. The places are weapons caches. That's all he knows. I'm going to try to get into Chris's head next, but I need to sit and just decompress for a minute."

I relaxed back into Eric's couch, closing my eyes. My head was still pounding, and I really needed to give myself a few minutes for the pain killers to kick in. I jumped when I felt fingers brush my head. I opened my eyes to find Eric next to me, and the office empty. He pulled me closer to him and started rubbing my temples. I sighed and relaxed into him. Eventually the pain killers started working and I felt like I could keep my eyes open. Eric was looking at me oddly. Finally I broke down and spoke first. "What is it?"

He frowned before responding. "You're getting better at getting into people's minds." I nodded. Couldn't really argue there. "When did that start?"

I shrugged, thinking back. "I guess when I started taking a more active interest in reading people. Before I met you guys, I tried as hard as I could to stay the hell out of anybody's mind but my own. I figured out I could pretty much hypnotize anybody after helping you figure out about Longshadow. Dallas was an opportunity for more practice, plus with everything going on in Bon Temps, I was getting into people's heads more and more often, usually while trying to keep my brother out of jail. Then there was Rhodes, and Barry and I spent a lot of time locating survivors, which really got me good at getting a fix on minds. Now that I've been working with Hunter, it just seems to come a bit more naturally. Practice makes perfect, I guess."

Eric was silent for a long minute. "Would you consider working for me occasionally? I do not meet with humans all that frequently, so it would only be a night a week, maybe less. Having you simply sit in the bar from time to time and listen could also be helpful."

I frowned slightly. "Look, Eric, I don't want to commit to anything right now. I'll think about it."

He gave me a look, but he dropped it. "Shall I call Rasul back with Chris?" I nodded, and Eric simply raised his voice slightly to summon Rasul, who was through the door a moment later, dragging the disheveled human. Chris had faired the worst of the three as far as bruises were concerned. His face was pretty black and blue, and his left arm was in an air cast, but I figured the vamps had been pretty tame, considering he'd thrown a Molotov cocktail at Victor Madden's residence, and it had come pretty close to getting one of the guards. Vampires did not like fire.

I tried getting into his head again for a moment before snapping at Rasul. "Seriously? 'Be still and do not think'? I mean, come on."

He shrugged. "It should wear off tomorrow." I just glared at him before settling down with Chris, my fingers resting on his temples and my forehead against his. When I finally cracked the glamour, I settled back into my seat, resting my fingers on his wrist. I walked through his head in much the same way I had Mike's, only speaking out loud when I found a new piece of information or needed to give him verbal instructions. Finally I sighed and moved my hand away from his. "So he's also heard the rumors about Alabama. His cousin is involved over there. His name's Greg Matters. Greg says it's going to be Wednesday night. Should be about the same as here. They're planning major raids in Birmingham and Mobile. Rasul, give me fifteen minutes then bring in Brian." Brian was the last one, and I'd had made the least progress with his glamour. I had hopes that I could crack it, though, after getting through the other two. Rasul nodded at me and dragged Chris with him.

Eric's words dragged me out of my thoughts. "You look so troubled."

I didn't even bother to open my eyes, even if the amount of emotion in the words surprised me. "I'm okay. I don't particularly like doing this, even if these guys are criminals." When he didn't respond I looked at him. He was looking at me like I'd grown another head. "What? I'm still human. It's a bit of an ethical dilemma for me to always be siding with supes."

He gave me a very long look before nodding. "Of course. That is not surprising." I could feel that he wasn't saying what he wanted to say, but I let it go. It was a thorny issue and I really didn't want to get into it right now. "I would like to stay with you tonight."

Now I was the one staring at him like he had two heads. "Seriously?"

He frowned at me. "Yes, seriously. You said that your brother is dropping off your cousin's child before he goes to work in the morning. Sunrise is at about seven. I should be down for the day before they arrive. I will awake before it is time for you to put the child to bed. Do you object to this?"

I was pretty freaking startled. "Well, I guess it's fine. The space is a bit cramped for you."

He grimaced slightly before dismissing whatever was going through his head with a wave. "It will suffice. I managed for several days there. I've slept in many worse places. I will be busy this week, and I would like to see you while I have the chance. Fangtasia is closed tomorrow, so I don't have business here at first dark. We can spend at least part of the evening together. Perhaps we can watch a movie."

"Uh, sure, Eric. We'll have to go separately. I need my car back in Bon Temps."

He shrugged. "I can simply fly back tomorrow. I will not need my car."

Thankfully, Rasul walked back into the office. It took me another forty minutes to get into Brian's head, and I found he knew even less than Chris and Mike. I sighed, stretching my arms above my head. "Well, Rasul, it's been great. Next time, don't glamour them to the brink of their existence and it'll be a darn sight quicker." I couldn't help my snippiness. I was wrecked.

Rasul nodded at me. "I am sorry, and it will not happen again. We may contact you later in the week if we are able to pick up this Greg person, or the organizers you named."

I sighed, but I didn't want a supe bloodbath if I could prevent. "Alright. Same rules. Don't hurt him more than is strictly necessary and he goes to the police once we're done with him. Let's just tack 'minimal glamour' on there as well, okay?" I gave Rasul a small smile to indicate I wasn't too mad at him. I did like Rasul after all. I'd been happy to hear he'd survived the takeover.

He smiled at me, showing me the tips of his fangs. "Ah, but if I hadn't glamoured them I would not have been able to spend so much time in your presence." I nodded at both vamps before getting up to head to the bar. I figured he and Eric needed to chat.

Pam was sitting in a booth with a laptop so I grabbed a coke before sitting down with her. "How's it going, Pam?"

She glanced at me before looking back at the screen. "Eric has me looking up those names you got from the first human. Did you finish with the last one?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he was pretty useless though. He was the hardest to crack the glamour on, of course."

Pam scoffed. "Rasul is so lazy when he casts a glamour. I couldn't believe he was unable to release them. It was excellent that you managed to break through it."

I took a long sip of my coke while I watched her fingers fly over the keys. "So, anybody interesting on that list?"

Her eyes narrowed. "One contractor who has done some work for the vampires in New Orleans." Well, it wasn't Amelia's dad. That name I would have recognized. To be fair, I probably wouldn't have told the vamps straight off if it had been him. He was doing huge contracts all across the state for the vampires. I'd even helped him get in with the new regime. I didn't think he'd get in bed with the Fellowship. He loved money, didn't really care for idealism. "Nothing to do with Copley Carmichael, I hope."

"One of his underlings."

I frowned. "You should let Amelia know. Her dad won't stand for someone messing with his business interests. He'll help you however he can, so long as you keep giving him work."

Pam glanced at me before going back to the computer. "Have you spoken to Amelia since she left then?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we chatted for a bit Friday morning, then I left her a message about what was going down. She said she was going to give you a call that night. I guess she figured you'd have enough on your plate."

"How is she settling in New Orleans?"

I shrugged. "Well, she still needs to go in front of the council for the whole thing with Bob." Pam and Amelia had had a bit of a fling while Bob, in cat form, had been in our lives. "She seems to be coping alright with Trey's death."

Pam's face actually softened slightly. "That is good. I am glad that she isn't too sad." I was floored. Had Pam actually liked the time she spent with Amelia? I mean, I knew they had a good time together, but I'd figured part of it had just been Eric's way of keeping an eye on me. "Do you think she may come visit?"

I shook my head slightly, not disagreeing, just in shock. "Uh, probably not anytime soon. I was thinking about going to see her in a month or so. Maybe we could make a road trip of it?"

Pam smiled at me. "That could be very entertaining. She even has a vampire safe apartment, does she not?"

Amelia was actually living in the apartment that Hadly had used when she was a vampire. She'd lived downstairs when Hadly had been alive(well, undead), but the roof had been damaged in Katrina so her tenant had moved downstairs. The roof was fixed now, but Amelia had gone back on pretty short notice, so her tenant was now living downstairs and she was in the apartment she used to rent out. "I think she does. Talk to her about it if you call her. I don't know how thrilled she'd be to see me. It was hard for her, before she left. Looking at me, limping around, really reminded her of Trey, and how he died. I think we'll be okay eventually, but I haven't discussed the road trip idea with her." It had actually just sprung into my mind when I saw Pam display an actual emotion about a human. I wasn't going to tell her that though. I liked having my head attached to my shoulders. I lowered my voice. "Look, Pam, I need to ask you something, and I'd prefer if you could lay off the sarcasm for a minute or two." She arched an eyebrow at me before nodding. "How big a deal is it that Eric let me sleep with him while he was dead for the day?"

Now both of Pam's eyebrows were up. "Well, it shows a significant amount of trust on Eric's part, but you have always been trustworthy to our kind." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I have let humans sleep with me, occasionally, though I do tend to glamour them first. Obviously he can't do that to you. Waking up is always more fun if there is someone there to enjoy." She gave me a smile, letting me see the tips of her fangs. "You should know that it more significant that he let you into his home at all. He does not like for other people to be in space." I filed that away to think about later.

"Speaking of being in his house, I hear you come by once a week to do his laundry." There was no other work for it. Pam glowered at me. "Oh, excuse me. Do his laundry and clean." I grinned, she scowled.

"He would wear whatever rumpled t-shirt he pulled off the floor if I didn't. It is for the sake of the bar." She started typing again, using more force than strictly necessary. "You simply cannot imagine what it was like to live with him for decades. He refused to hire a maid, even when I glamoured them until they could barely function. Do you understand how complicated some of the day to day outfits were in the nineteenth century? At least I could send the clothing out to be laundered." She shuddered. "Well, when he asked me to come back here, it was with the explicit understanding that we would have separate residences."

I was laughing now, and it wasn't helping Pam's temper, but I just couldn't stop. "Yeah, I had to help him do laundry last night. He's even worse than my brother Jason." Now Pam looked less pissed, edging towards gleeful.

"You helped him do laundry. He took you to his home and you spent the evening doing laundry." She actually took my hand. "Thank you, Sookie. You do not understand how many years that will come in handy for. You really do not."

I smiled at her. "I do it all for you, Pam. But, seriously, we didn't just do laundry. We made the bed." Pam couldn't have been grinning any wider without minor surgery. She released my hand so she could clap in what could only be glee. "Okay, since I've completely filled whatever teasing needs you have for about a century or so, can you answer another question seriously?" She nodded. I thought she might hug me. That was pretty terrifying. "Why doesn't Eric ever bite me where it would be visible?" It had been bugging me, since my neck had been Bill's favorite place to sink his fangs into.

Pam looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, you must remember his age. He survived for centuries without being caught and killed. Leaving women with very obvious bite marks was not conducive to survival. It is also a matter of etiquette. It is a fairly vulgar statement, fang marks on the neck. It doesn't matter with the fang-bangers, you understand. They wear bite marks like a sign of pride. If a vampire feels the need to mark someone so publically, they either do not respect their partner, or they are very insecure about the relationship." I wondered which Bill had been. Pam's voice broke me out of my thoughts. "A word of advice, if I may?" I nodded. "Do not discuss this with Eric. Bill's habits of biting will come up, and Eric can get, shall we say, rather intense on the subject." I nodded. So I guess we knew which side of the fence Eric was on for the 'no respect' or 'insecure' question as far as Bill and I were concerned. I wondered if he was right.

"Thanks, Pam. I appreciate you being so forthright with me."

She looked pleased. "Of course, my telepathic friend. May I ask you a serious question?" I nodded. "You are happy with my master?" Her voice was low, almost soft.

I should paint my nails tomorrow. They could really use it. Of course, why I was staring at my hands was another question. I took a moment to think before I answered her. "Yeah, I'm pretty happy. We have a lot of fun together, when I'm not being an idiot, or getting myself nearly killed. I like where we are right now. I'm enjoying taking our time. Do you think he's happy?"

Pam glanced behind me, and her expression changed. "Finally done with Rasul, then, Eric?"

Eric slid into the booth next to me, giving me a quick kiss on the head. "Yes, he's going to bring the humans back to New Orleans so they can be turned over to the authorities."

I decided to throw my two cents in. "They are going to do that, right? I'm going to be pretty pissed if I see these guys listed on the news as missing."

Eric's arm snaked around my shoulders. I could practically feel him smiling through the bond. "Don't worry, lover. No one wants to be on your bad side." I was tired enough that I didn't care. I mean, I asked. That was the best I could do for those guys. "Have you ladies kept yourselves entertained?"

Pam smiled at me before she responded. "Oh yes. Sookie was telling me all about your interesting evening." Eric looked slightly pained. "It sounded very stimulating. Bed linens and laundry! She should really be too tired to even move today, with all of that excitement."

I laughed at the look Eric gave me. "You had to tell her about that part? You couldn't have told her about the kitchen table? Or the couch? Or about you being pressed up against the fr-"

"Eric! Serious over-share!" I was probably blushing to my toes.

Eric sighed and made a face at me. "You're going to be very bad for my reputation, lover." I just shook my head and buried my face in my hands.

By the time Pam had stopped laughing, I'd thought up a suitably horrific punishment for Eric. "You just talked yourself into the passenger seat, buddy. I'm driving." The look on his face was almost worth the embarrassment.

A/N: These are the shower heads I'm talking about, in case you're interested: www .fornaramaulini. it/ING/ECCO. HTML

Just click the arrows to scroll through the different shapes.

I also hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a lot of trouble with it. It really kicked the shit out of me. I feel like I've stepped slightly out of cannon with Sookie's abilities here, but it seems like a logical progression. You saw her improve between questioning Eric's staff and Stan's humans. It only makes sense that actually using her telepathy would hone her skills. I know vampires have different talents (and differing levels of some abilities) so I decided Rasul isn't great at glamour. I do think, since a glamour is a mental suggestion, that it would be something Sookie could get a person to break through, given enough time and mental suggestion of her own.

Anyway, hope that wasn't totally out of left field. At least this chapter being so difficult meant I took breaks by writing later chapters, so the next one is nearly done. Hope you enjoyed this!

As an aside, does it bug anyone else that Aunt Linda started out as Sookie's mom's sister, before becoming her dad's? It bugs me a lot. It would have made so much more sense if that hadn't happened. I mean, Sookie has Niall find Remy. Wouldn't he have been interested in the child? Okay, ending the longest author's note in history!