Chapter 10 now updated with more content.

Hope you enjoy xx

I kept myself awake, as it seemed the thing to do at the time. However tired I was from the journey and general feeling of 'on edge-ness' at least staying awake was something that I could control. It was a physical act that I could do, instead of the many physical things that I couldn't control. When I was thirsty I made myself a coffee, and when I was hungry I had another cup. Better that than the Brunch Burger on the room service menu that, however mouth-watering it sounded, would put me in a very sated and sleepy mood.

I watched crap on TV, including the stupid 'advert channel' for everything the hotel offered, until the only thing I could concentrate on was keeping my eyes open. The only logical thing registering was that sleep meant dreams of Eric, and I would rather be exhausted and angry with him, than asleep and... whatever I was when I was asleep with him. Yes, I have a very stubborn side.

When I saw Eric enter the room I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or not but when he gave me no acknowledgment at all I guessed it was real life; if it was a dream shouldn't he be kissing me by now? He simply walked in and headed for the sideboard on the opposite wall to me. I watched his face in the mirror as he removed his jacket and threw it behind him (it landed almost perfectly on the sofa next to me). He then took his cufflinks and watch off, laying them on the polished black surface under the mirror. He looked at himself and ran his hands threw his hair but not in the usual 'look how good I look' way. It seemed to be more a comforting gesture. He hadn't smiled throughout this strangely domestic routine. When he seemed to have come to whatever conclusion his thoughts had taken him, he turned to look at me. That in itself made me jump a little, seeing him be so… normal, doing mundane things and then looking right at me, making it even more real.

He came over to me but still did not address me. He simply picked me up and walked me to the bedroom.

What was even more shocking to me than that action was the fact that I did not protest or struggle against him. I could say that I was too tired or it was too much hard work to think of something to say; both would have been true. I could also say that I wouldn't have been able to fight him off, which was definitely the case. But I would be lying if I said I didn't want to go to bed. I wanted to sleep and not dream, just be still and rest and for whatever sleep-deprived-logic reason I truly believed that if anyone could give that to me it was Eric.

If I had been thinking straight I may have considered his motivations, his presumptuousness at simply picking me up and not being concerned on my opinions on the subject, as well as the fact that it was the human torturer that was taking me into his lair for who knew what.

Fortunately I was out for the count before we passed the threshold to the bedroom, and good luck to anyone, including Eric Northman, who tried to wake me up.

I still dreamt, it would be stupid to think I wouldn't, but they were different than before. They were slower and brighter, not taking place in the dark but maybe in some kind of dappled daylight. There were still caresses and kisses, lots of kisses in fact, but they too were slow; I was able to savour them rather than have the need, the reflex action of devouring them hungrily. The sensations meandered over my body, they didn't run or blaze only to burn out quickly. It was a steady building, a slower pace of pleasure that left me completely and utterly satisfied.

I woke up moaning loudly, my back arched and my body greedily thrilling in the climax that the dream had caused. God it felt amazing; not any stronger than previous nights but certainly a different kind. To go with a different kind of dream, some little voice in me tried to say over my own moans. I relaxed, spent, back into the mattress and soft pillows, keeping my eyes closed and feeling my heart rate slow down, my muscles stop jerking every now and then, until I was completely at rest.

Then I remembered where I was and jerked my head to the side. I managed to clap my hands over my mouth to muffle the gasp-come-scream of shock.

I was lying in bed with Eric who appeared to be sound asleep next to me. I tried to slow my breathing but it hitched again as I realised Eric wasn't breathing. Of course he's not, idiot my inner voice snapped at me. oh yeah, he's a vampire. I continued to watch his utter stillness while the realisation crawled up my spine; I was in bed with a dead body.

I jerked away from him, my body having previously been almost snuggled up against him, and scrambled out of bed. My movement threw back the covers and provided me with the unhindered knowledge that Eric slept in the nude. I couldn't help it, my jaw hit the floor and for a good few seconds my mind was a complete blank. My body pushed away all logical thinking, all unpleasant thoughts of cold dead bodies, in order to make room for the full appreciation it wanted to give to the view before it. He was lying on his back spread out on the bed, his feet almost hanging off the bottom, one arm draped over his stomach and hip while the other was raised over his head. And although he was still not breathing and his skin was its usual washed out pallor, he was beautiful.

There was no arched eyebrow or sarcastic tilt to his lips. His features were relaxed as only they could be in sleep. Or in death, I heard, but quickly pushed it aside. He looked young as well. He could pass for being in his mid-twenties, maybe even earlier, without the weight of his age showing.

It was shocking to see how little he looked like the Eric that I knew, the Eric that I hated. Without consciously thinking about it, I was knelt on the bed next to him, inspecting the completely different man laid out before me. I smiled to myself looking at his lips which were slightly parted in a very human and cute way. The only thing missing was his breathing; I should be able to hear the air pulled in and out of him.

I managed to wrestle control over my body when I felt my hand reach out to touch him. This really was ridiculous. I got off the bed again, this time being more careful not to disturb the sleeping man next to me. I had to remind myself that this was still the Eric who had tortured and murdered people. And it was so frustrating that I had to consciously remind myself of it, as if it was something that was so easily forgotten.

I grumbled to myself, blaming lack of sleep for my irrational thought processes, as I grabbed a hotel bathrobe and entered the bathroom for a shower. I had no idea what time it was, but I sure as hell didn't feel like I would be going back to sleep with him next to me.

I enjoyed the shower; going through my normal routine was comforting. Standing underneath the warm water I could be anywhere; home in London, home at Eric's (hmm, maybe not), or at Sookie's. It was nice to think that I wasn't in a hotel room with Eric, who I had to keep working for and who would be acting all pompous and arrogant and possessive over me because I was pretending to be his. I found this thought made me scrub my head a bit too hard. Time to rinse.

I would do this and would work my notice and then be free of him. I frowned thinking of the young handsome man left in the hotel bed. I didn't think I would want to be rid of him, but that wasn't Eric. That was Eric minus the baggage and Eric had been alive so long he may as well be hauling a freight train behind him. I absently ran my fingers through my hair, getting the tangles out as the conditioner soaked in, wondering what exactly Eric would be like without the baggage, without a thousand years of experience. What would he be like if he was human?

That stopped me. I didn't think I had ever asked myself that question before. He didn't so much have a 'dark side', more wholly dark, but how much of that was from being a vampire? Was it over exposure to blood and gore from his eating habits that made him so blasé about incarceration, torture and murder? Or was everyone like that 1000 years ago? If he were human now, would he be like the other patrons of Fangtasia; leather clad vampire wannabes? I smiled at my shocking thought; would Eric be a fangbanger? He would certainly be coveted looking the way he does. But maybe he would be more like the clientele of Merlotte's with an honest job, drinking beer, going home to a wife and kids…

I don't know how long I stood under the water thinking about every angle of that scenario but when I turned to rinse my hair again my fingers were well and truly pruned.

Still completely clueless of the time, whether I was late or early, I hurriedly dried my body and rubbed the drips out of my hair before opening the door to the bedroom.

I had to sigh in exasperation at the sight before me; the rumpled sheets and bed cover of a completely empty bed. Eric was gone.

I stood tensed in the doorway and looked around the room, even glancing upwards as I knew the big sneak could fly, but he was nowhere. Ugh I hated not knowing where he was – I would rather he be in full view and terrifying than out of sight and unknown. It gave him all the more chances of taking me by surprise and/or scaring me. I am such a wuss.

I tightened the belt of the bath robe around me and resolved myself to getting ready regardless of the vampire's whereabouts.

I had just finished drying my hair when he breezed back into the bedroom as if it was nothing at all. I frowned as I realised I was relieved to see him. I hoped it was just because I could discount him scaring me to death. I narrowed my eyes when I saw him holding clothes as I remembered the last time he dressed me.

"For you, lover" he said as he laid out the dress with a flamboyant flip of the light weight material. It was nice enough, but not very me at all; a light blue summer dress with pearly buttons all the way down the front.

"I was going to wear a shift dress - the grey and black one" I said, letting my irritation colour my voice.

"This will serve us better." He rummaged in his pocket and produced a small lacy pair of knickers, also pale blue "and these" he said smiling as though he was very pleased with himself.

I looked from the knickers he was holding out to me back to the dress and back to him until it all clicked together and my mouth dropped open "I am not wearing Sookie's underwear!" I stood and stomped over to my suitcase. I will be wearing my own thank you very much Mr Northman...

"I presumed you'd say as much" I heard from behind me as I continued to rummage in search of my own underwear, which I was finding very hard to locate. Gritting my teeth I turned to him.

"Where are they?"

"Where are what, lover?" he laughed and I almost screamed at him.

"You took my underwear." His silence was enough. "So it is her underwear or none at all?"

He remained quiet but his eyes flashed with a dark hunger I recognised, his smile shifted oh so subtly into one that made my angry insides tighten for a whole different reason. My stubbornness faltered. I wasn't sure which course of action would excite him more. Then again, both were him exerting his power over me so they were probably both a turn on for him. Only one course of action popped into my consciousness, and it was one I had not considered before. Hell, it was worth a try.

I hung me head in defeat and held out my hand for the underwear. I think I heard his eyebrows creak to the ceiling but I did not look up at him. I would not argue with him, not engage him in an argument about this as it would only work both of us up. If I complied maybe he would give it a rest.

Suddenly he was knelt at my feet, ensuring my downcast eyes saw him there. I wanted to scamper away but my new plan was in play, and I wanted to see if it made any difference. Pausing only for a second, and not raising his eyes, he took one of my feet and put it through one hole for the knickers, then did the same with my right. I had to put my hand on his shoulder for balance but that was the only physical contact between us. He then slipped the material up my legs, putting the knickers on me himself. I could keep myself from running away but not my heart from racing and certainly not my breath from pitching. The higher he got the more lightheaded I became. My robe was parting with his slow ascent but at the moment where I thought I couldn't resist covering myself up, when I knew he would be face to face with my nakedness, his eyes raised to mine. I couldn't look away, and in some crazy weird way it was comforting to see him looking up at my face, rather than directly in front of him where he would have an uninterrupted view of my-

Oh! I gasped as he pulled the knickers over my butt and snuggly against me. He rose to his full height slowly, now taking the time to look at me with Sookie's knickers on, as well as the expanse of skin that my open bath robe revealed. He was excited, I didn't have to look at his jeans to know that, but he wasn't smiling, so I tried to match his poker face.

"Now dress" he said and left me to it.

Well, I wasn't sure if that went well or not. He had gotten what he wanted, I was in the damn underwear, but hopefully he didn't get a whole lot of satisfaction out of it. I smiled to myself, slipping out of the robe and heading for the bed and Sookie's dress; I would be meek and cooperative and malleable. I would be exactly what he thought he wanted, and he would hate it.

Hopefully then he would let me go.

The dress fit well and yet again I was surprised that Sookie and I seemed to be about the same size, maybe my boobs were slightly less than her large handful... but the dress was tight enough at the top to make a pleasing enough amount of décolletage. It synched me in a the waist and then had a much fuller skirt. I hoped that Dallas was not a windy city otherwise the locals would get a great view of the matching blue knickers in an unfortunate gust of wind.

Eric was in the living room waiting for me, stood almost exactly in the middle of the room texting or emailing on his blackberry. We were probably dressed in equal casualness, him in jeans and a wife beater with his leather jacket. All black, all perfectly fitted to show his body. When I felt a deep tensing inside me he turned and smiled at me, making me blush. Stupid blood sharing vampire.

"You look lovely" he said looking and apparently speaking only to my breasts.

I held myself in check and said nothing, only going to the door and waiting for him. He got the message and opened the door, gestured for me to precede him and we both exited the room.

My mouth popped open when I saw Sookie. She was wearing my black and grey shift dress. She looked great, very presentable with her light makeup and hair scraped back into a high ponytail. She smiled at me "Thanks. You don't look too bad yourself" we smiled at each other and then stopped. I presumed we were thinking the same thing - we were wearing each other's clothes and underwear. I felt myself redden at the thought and Sookie looked equally blushed.

"I guess it helps with the scent" I said, looking at Eric for confirmation. He seemed smug so I must have gotten it right.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked and without waiting for an answer strolled back out of the room. Guess we were leaving now then.

The nest was not what I expected. I couldn't tell you what I thought it would be like, but it wasn't this. We had driven through the city and into the suburbs. The pristine lawns reminded me of my own house. Well, Eric's house. But the houses here were obscured with thick treelines or hedges and gates. But however upscale it was, it was still the suburbs and that was just kind of surprising. The driver eventually stopped at a large blocked out gate which, after he had been buzzed in, drew apart and disappeared into the high hedge surrounding the front drive way. When we drove inside he stopped us perfectly by the entrance, and proceeded to open the door for me.

I stepped out of the car and nervously brushed the sides of my skirt down. I was very aware that we were already being watched, and that was before I saw the security cameras. I held my hand out and Eric took it without hesitation, bringing it to his lips and kissing it lightly before placing it in the crook of his elbow. I looked around at Sookie and she and Bill were in an identical position. We entered the already open front door like some strange and nervous procession.

Stepping down into a large living room I was surprised with how chic it was; whites and beiges went into darker browns and black highlights. The sofa and chairs placed just so. It was nothing like Fangtasia. There wasn't a goofy toy coffin anywhere in sight. It seemed grownup. The atmosphere though… Jesus. I didn't need to be a telepath to read the people in the room. Or rather, the vampires. There were a few on the outskirts of the room but the two main figures stood ready to greet us, or maybe tear our faces off. The big guy really was big and really was wearing a black cowboy hat! My inner self giggled nervously (perhaps hysterically) but I most definitely did not outwardly show my amusement. He looked like he should be a bad guy. A bad guy vampire, as tall as Eric but wider, with what looked like more weight behind him. He would tower above me. The woman by comparison was petite but elegant. She was maybe a couple of inches taller than me and dressed head to toe in white leather. I almost gawked before remembering that it's not like a vampire would get hot in this weather. It may even be pleasant for her to wear that.

They both stared at Eric until he halted in front of them. Only then did their gaze shift to me. They both seemed impassive, though the guy's eyes lingered longer on my breasts. Well, I was the one without a bra. After an unspecified signal, Bill and Sookie stepped from behind us, as if making themselves viewable. They got the same treatment, as did Sookie's boobs

"Stan, Isabel" Eric said, dipping his head fractionally to each as he said their name. "What the fuck happened?"

Shit, I thought as I dug my fingernails into his arm.