A/N: The author's note will follow at the end of the chapter. Read, enjoy,review.
Eric flew through the night toward Bon Temps, pushing himself to his absolute limit. He'd never clocked his own flying speed, there had seemed no point. But now, each minute seemed like an hour.
"Sookie Stackhouse...," Eric said that first night, enjoying his view of the lovely Southern belle's cleavage and how much that annoyed Bill Compton.
"Great. That's just great." Sookie said nervously. "It's nice to meet you."
"Well aren't you sweet," Eric drawled mockingly.
"Not really." Sookie snapped.
Her spirit was the first thing he loved.
Wave after wave of terror and pain flooded the bond. He tried to suppress his own fear and send Sookie strength and reassurance.
"The Sheriff of Area 9 in Texas has gone missing." Eric told Bill tersely. "Have you heard about this?"
"I hadn't, but I know the vampire of whom you speak. His name is Godric, correct?"
"He needs to be found...which is where Sookie comes in." Even then, Eric had felt torn between his desperation to find Godric and the knowledge he could be putting Sookie at risk.
"No," Bill retorted.
But Eric's first loyalty had to be to his maker after all. "As she's yours, I'm asking your permission to take her with me to Dallas."
"I cannot and I will not allow you to bring her into these matters," Bill said, as if he had a choice. It infuriated Eric that Bill would pull this shit when Godric's safety was in question.
"I'm only asking your permission out of respect." Eric snapped. "If I want her, I can simply take her!" In that moment, Eric knew Sookie would belong to him.
Sookie was broadcasting her agony with all her being, leaving no room for what he tried to return to her. "I'm coming," he promised. "My lover, be brave."
She stood there, looking absurdly delectable in that oversized T-shirt, ranting about his treatment of her precious Lafayette. Her loyalty to those she loved was remarkable. "You surprise me, and that is a rare quality in a breather," Eric observed.
Sookie never pulled her punches when she was riled. He loved that. "You disgust me."
She intrigued him. Her mouthwatering scent magnified the fascination. He couldn't help poking at her to set off those delightful sparks. "Perhaps I'll grow on you."
She snapped. "I'd prefer cancer!"
Once she, Bill and the troublesome Lafayette were gone, he'd erupted in laughter until Pam came to see if he'd lost his mind.
Sookie would survive. She always did. He would give her his blood and she would heal from whatever injuries were causing her such pain. This time would be no different. He was sure of it.
In the basement of those fucking fanatics in Dallas, he'd found his maker. He knelt in devotion and relief at Godric's feet only to be chastised for sending humans to look for him. He'd noticed then that Sookie's clothes were disheveled and torn, and his brave girl was pulling herself together after some kind of attack. Godric had clearly saved her, and Eric sensed his maker approved of Sookie's valiant spirit.
Eric had called Lorena to Dallas to drive a wedge between Bill and Sookie for several reasons. One, he needed unfettered access to Sookie's talents to help him find Godric. Bill was an irritating obstruction. Two, he knew Bill was hiding something regarding Sookie, and Eric desperately wanted to know what it was. He'd made Lorena's finding out a condition of providing her access to Bill. And three, he wanted Sookie for his own. He could take her by force, but he found he needed her to desire him, to choose him over the pompous, melodramatic Bill. Once she saw Bill and Lorena together, Eric would be there to provide consolation.
Bill might get there first, but as long as he saved Sookie, Eric would forgive him even if he fed her his blood again. Eric was the one she took to her bed, and there he would comfort her as she recovered from this ordeal. He would caress her smooth skin and kiss away her tears, soothe her fears until she slept in his arms. He would keep her safe.
Sookie's territorial attack on Lorena at Godric's nest proved that Eric underestimated her feelings for Bill, although Eric knew he was not worthy of them. When the bomb blast provided the opportunity for him to finesse her into taking his blood, he couldn't resist. Although he fought it, he yearned for the day when she would defend him as fiercely. His blood in her veins was the first step and when she put her soft lips on his skin it had been sublime.
But what she had done for Godric on the roof in Dallas carried Eric far beyond thoughts of claiming or ownership. He was astounded at her grace and understanding for his 2000-year-old maker. She was no saint, thank the Gods. But Eric thought Sookie was the most humane person he'd ever met. He left Dallas grief-stricken at the loss of his maker, but also greatly confused at the depth of his feelings for this amazing human.
Flying through the moonless dark, Eric made himself believe he would be in time to offer rescue and not just vengeance. Although vengeance would surely follow.
Still reeling from seeing the mark he'd chased over one thousand years and across three continents drawn on the back of a beer coaster, Eric turned his intensity on Sookie. "Here's what I know about werewolves. There's a reason their existence has remained merely a myth to humans for thousands of years. They're territorial, vicious, pathologically secretive."
"Boy, does that sound familiar." Sookie quipped.
Infuriated by her naiveté, he gritted out, "And here's what I know about you. You're so blinded by your obsession with Bill Compton, you're likely to run through the streets, screaming "Werewolf bait!" - alerting whoever has Bill that we're onto them, or getting yourself killed."
"You think I'm that stupid?" she snapped.
Eric looked into her eyes. "No, I think you're human."
Defiantly raising her chin, Sookie said, "Don't underestimate me."
"Don't underestimate yourself!" Eric growled, his feelings for this woman making him feel vulnerable and exposed. " Your life's too valuable to throw away."
Sookie raced into danger at the drop of a hat, it seemed. Brave, fierce, and quick-thinking she challenged beings thousands of times more powerful than herself. Despite her demure Southern facade, claiming her was like trying to leash a force of nature. Only a fool would attempt it. Even with a thousand years of accumulated survival instincts, Eric was willing to be that fool.
Eric could not stop thinking about her, no matter how hard he tried. She even invaded his dreams. What was it Jung said of dreams about flying?
"So... how goes the search?" Eric drawled, gracefully sliding into her apartment window in Jackson.
Sookie, unaccountably inviting, purred, "Turns out, he's not who I was looking for." She caressed his chest and stepped close enough to kiss. "You smell like the ocean in winter. How is that possible? Bill doesn't smell like anything."
Eric was mesmerized by her scent and her words. "It's not possible."
Sookie inhaled deeply and he sensed her red blood cells flooding with oxygen from the air exchange in her lungs. Intoxicating. "You played by the North Sea as a child," she decided.
"Yes," he said wonderingly. "How do you know?"
She smiled like the siren she was, the mysterious smile of every woman in her power. "I'm smelling your memories."
Eric felt uncertain and excited, like a young boy with his first lover. "Not even you can do that," he whispered.
"Oh, I've got skills you can't even dream of, cowboy," Sookie pulled his head down for a kiss. Then she pushed him back on the bed and crawled up his long, lean body. "Want more?"
Eric would not let anything or anyone take Sookie from him. She was destined to be his. For all time. He knew Russell Edgington was behind his lover's suffering and the older vampire would pay dearly. Eric wished Talbot was alive so he could torture Russell all over again. Eric would allow Sookie to wear Russell's fangs as earrings and bathe in his blood if she wished. He would lay vengeance at her feet as a gift.
Eric stood in the foyer of Russell Edgington's ridiculously ornate Mississippi Palace, at the crossroads of his greatest dream and his worst nightmares coming true all at once. Russell, the fucking King of Mississippi, was the one who slaughtered his human family and stole his father's crown. His thousand year old quest was over. But the Magister had Pam, his child, in his bony hands and he was torturing her; toying with her while Eric attempted to bring back that troublesome pissant Bill Compton. Compton seemed to have suddenly developed a backbone and betrayed his Queen to swear allegiance to the King of Mississippi.
It hadn't been difficult to trace Bill to here. Lorena's greedy little fingerprints were all over Bill's pre-emptive kidnapping at the restaurant, though the wolves had thrown Eric at first. A little checking had revealed her most recent travels had taken her to the court of the King. And, of course, that left Sookie right in the middle of everything. As usual. Why was her safety always pitted against the thing he wanted most? He had to bring Compton back to save Pam. He had to obtain vengeance on Russell to fulfill his vow to his father. He had to make Russell believe Eric was loyal to him to help bring these things about. And Russell wanted Sookie, whatever she was.
Fuck.
"Please tell me you were just doing that for the king's benefit," Sookie pleaded after Eric stood by while Lorena was ordered to execute Bill.
"I don't think anyone plays the King of Mississippi and gets away with it. I certainly have no intentions of trying," said Eric, furiously trying to come up with a plan that would achieve all his goals with everyone he loved coming out alive.
"Why are you even here? I thought you had other things to deal with," Sookie said sarcastically while Eric escorted her to Russell's study.
"Yeah, I do, and I need to think," Eric said absently, his arm around her shoulders to make sure she didn't try something stupid. "So please don't take this the wrong way, but shut up."
Sookie's distress was utterly distracting, even if it was for the benefit of stinking Bill Compton. "Eric, please, I'm begging you-"
As much as he desired her, he'd often thought of doing this when Sookie's mouth just didn't know when to stop. His large hand covered the entire lower half of her face and there was blessed silence. "Thank you."
In Russell's study, Eric deposited Sookie in an overstuffed chair. She sat up, quivering in anger. "So all that stuff about caring about me? That was just crap?"
Eric kept a look out for Russell coming back. He didn't want him to hear this conversation. "I never said I cared about you. Maybe you dreamt it."
"You big phony. Big hat, no cattle," Sookie spat.
Where did she come up with these expressions? "Do you mind? I'm trying to think here." None of his options looked promising.
Sookie tried another angle. "I thought you said my life was too valuable to throw away."
"You are valuable." Eric said, deliberately misunderstanding her. "That's very clear. I'm just not sure why." He hoped her fear and anger would persuade Russell that Eric was on his side.
"Sookie, I'm risking everything to tell you this 'cause you mean so much to me." She mocked him insultingly. "You make me feel almost human."
She had pushed him far enough. He had let her glimpse his soul and she ground it in the dirt. Couldn't she see what he had tried to do for her?
"You mean nothing to me, understand?" He shouted at Sookie's shocked face. "Nothing! I'm very close to getting something I've wanted since I was still human. Do not get in my way!"
"I hate your fuckin' guts, Eric Northman," she snarled. "I promise I will pay you back for this."
He could feel Sookie calling for him in agony. He knew she depended on him to come save her, to stop the pain and end the fear. Her pleas in the bond were becoming more terrified and desperate. But she was not giving up. She believed with absolute certainty that he was coming for her. That he would destroy who or whatever got in his way.
Eric didn't know why he should be surprised at Sookie showing up at Fangtasia when he was minutes away from a final showdown with Russell Edgington. She always turned up at the least expected, and usually, most inopportune moments.
"What did you mean, you're not gonna be around much longer?" She demanded without preamble.
Eric was tired and he still had to fight the most dangerous battle of his life. "Don't pretend you care about me. This is about Bill. Deep down, you know you shouldn't trust him."
"Okay," Sookie admitted, much too quickly for Eric's taste. "Tell me why."
Eric stared deeply into the eyes of the woman who'd fascinated him, enthralled him and aggravated him every single moment since he'd met her. "Here's the truth. There are forces beyond even my control, and if I meet the true death without having at least kissed you, Sookie Stackhouse, it would be my biggest regret."
Sookie's sable brown eyes gazed back at him, full of doubt, and desire. "Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye to me?"
"Because I am," Eric said and grasping the back of her neck firmly, pressed his lips against hers. At first she resisted, and like the Viking he had been, he plundered the sweet depths of her mouth with his tongue. But in a moment her arms wrapped around his neck and she returned his kiss with interest.
Until Pam knocked on the door to bring them both back to reality.
Eric knew that as a vampire and a Sheriff, he'd sometimes put Sookie rather far down on the list of his priorities. He'd seen Bill try and fail to serve two, maybe even three masters in his relationship with Sookie: The Queen, the AVL, and his lover. Bill had twisted himself up with so many secrets he'd ended up betraying the one he loved most. Eric would not make the same mistake. He wouldn't give up being the vampire he was to play human for Sookie. She needed him as he was, to protect her and love her as only a true vampire could.
Sookie turned on him as soon as he unlocked the door and walked in his office. "Where the hell have you been?"
"I needed to think." Pam had been right. He had the answer in front of him.
"Well, I am not some kind of prisoner you can just lock up any time you feel like taking off," Sookie announced, getting ready to leave.
To go back to Bill. Which made this a tiny bit easier.
"Actually, you are." Eric picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. She didn't just hammer her fists uselessly on his back like a stupid movie heroine. She grabbed at shelves, chairs, the doors; she fought like a tiger to escape him. Her courage and ferocity warmed his cold heart. She was magnificent. He would not let that spirit be snuffed out.
He carried her down to the basement. Russell had to believe she was his prisoner. So she had to believe she was in prison.
"I knew I shouldn't trust you!" Sookie screamed.
"You were right," Eric said and dropped her onto the cement floor. He tried to imagine that she would forgive him for this but he would settle for her survival. He locked an iron collar around her throat.
"Let me go!" Sookie cried. "Eric!" Her fear echoed in his mind as he left to lure Russell Edgington into his fairy-baited trap.
That the first time he tasted his lover was against her will, while she writhed in pain from Russell's assault and his own, would always haunt Eric. He wondered if that was why he'd so quickly promised not to feed on Sookie after she found him lost and alone on the road. When they made love, he'd concentrated on the exquisite sights and scents of her body, rather than thinking about how sweet she must taste. His vampire instincts had ridden him hard, demanding he sink his fangs deep in her smooth skin. But he saw her trust, so fragile at first, begin to blossom into faith and then love as he disciplined his own desires. He'd promised never to betray her.
Standing on Sookie's porch covered in cement, Eric wondered if he'd chosen the right penalty for Bill's assassination attempt. By all rights he should have torn his head off. But watching Bill finally be forced to tell Sookie the truth about how he was sent by the Queen to procure her, he thought this was a far more satisfying punishment.
"He tried to silence me tonight so you would never know. He doesn't want to protect you. He only wants to protect himself," Eric couldn't resist twisting the knife in Bill's back. He so richly deserved it. Eric tried not to smile as Bill was forced out of Sookie's house and she threw him out of her life.
Eric saw Bill land in the dirt as he flew off the porch. "I want my phone back," Eric said. The vanquished rival quit the field. Good riddance, Eric thought. Then he turned to see the heartbreak in Sookie's beautiful face. It unaccountably caused him pain.
Though emotionally devastated, she was not defeated. "You too. Get the fuck off my porch and out of my life."
Of all the things he could tell her about how she made him feel, he felt this was the most important. "For the record, I would never have given you to Russell."
Sookie wasn't ready to listen to anything he had to say. "Go back to hell where you came from, you fucking dead piece of shit."
Eric looked directly into her tear-filled eyes. He knew hard truths had to be faced and dealt with before healing could begin. "I am sorry to see you suffer like this. I thought you had the right to know."
Leaving her alone in her grief was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.
Sookie vanished the night he buried Russell Edgington. At first, Eric reeled like a ship in a storm without an anchor. His bond with her gone, his panicked thought was that Russell had returned somehow and killed her. But there was no sense of pain or fear, no tell-tale signs of violence in their connection before it ended. It simply switched off as if a current was cut. Sookie was part fairy, a creature so rare even Russell had thought her kind was a myth. Who knew where she had escaped to in the extremity of her heartbreak? Wherever she was, Eric vowed not to give up hope, even if everyone else did.
In the yard of Compton's house, Eric knelt in the moonlight, submitting to his King's verdict for being a puppet of the necromancer. He pled for Pam's release before she succumbed to the witch's rotting spell. His last request was for Sookie. "Tell her: I was born the night she found me. I will go to my true death knowing what it means to love. Tell her thank you."
He loved her. He'd told her, in the chaotic moments after his memories returned. He'd expected her to throw herself in his arms, share his happiness at finding himself once more. But nothing was ever simple with Sookie. When she said she was confused and might still love Bill, too, he'd been furious. Even when she returned to his arms and his bed, he'd punished her by never saying the words again.
Freed due the King's mercy, or guilt, Eric flew back to the haven of Sookie's embrace. After surviving the first call of the witch to meet the sun, Eric desired only to become one with his lover. They mutually exchanged blood and the bond deepened between them into profound intimacy. Eric felt exposed to the bare bones of his soul but knew he could trust Sookie. He wanted this idyll to never end.
Eric stirred the fire, then joined Sookie nude in bed. Sookie caressed his arm, and said dreamily, "Wish you could stay this way forever." Eric curled next to her. "Then let's run away. From everything. And I'll be this way forever. I don't need to know who I am."
Sookie shook her head. "You can't just run away. Those witches attacked you. And other vampires I care about." Eric gazed into her eyes. "My King," he added. She gave him a direct look. "Yes, your King. Who released you so you could be with me."
Eric lay back on the pillows. "He's good this King. I understand your love for him." Sookie sat up. "We have an obligation to stand by his side and fight with him."
"No," Eric said. This much he knew as a vampire. "The obligation is his. As King he has no choice. Let's just leave this place while we still can." He hated the pleading in his voice, but he was terrified of losing her if the Viking barbarian returned to inhabit his soul.
Sookie gave the answer she always gave if someone suggested she run. "This is my home and we cannot just leave Bill to die. It's not right."
The words came to him as if from out of dream. "There is no right or wrong," he told her. "These are human notions."
Sookie refused to give in to such sophistry. "And I am human." She added, "mostly. "And so were you. And I've never seen you as human as you've been these past few days. It's what I've fallen in love with." Eric savored those words. She loved him. "But you're also a warrior, and you'd never run from a fight," she urged. "You'd never forgive yourself."
Eric felt colder all of a sudden. The old Eric never ran. Noble death over a shameful life with Sookie? Some choice. "I just want to be with you. Only you." He pled one last time. "Forever."
Sookie gazed at him sadly. "There's no such thing as forever."
He spotted the lights of Bon Temps and a few seconds later, the gravel driveway to Sookie's house. Finally. Eric swore he wouldn't let her forever end tonight.
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Sookie tried to roll with the kicks and punches raining down on her face, her breasts, her belly...Being unable to scream was a torment...bones cracked, then broke...blackness came and went...there was a knife...countless little slashes everywhere...both her eyes were swollen shut...couldn't see where the next blow came from...each new pain a horrible surprise...her sobs were muffled by the tape but she tried to control them, if her nose became too clogged she would suffocate...pain seized her mind and body; with no beginning and no end; it was her new religion...she prayed for rescue-Eric, Bill, Sam...then prayed her captor would let her speak, she would tell him, promise him...what?...anything...make it stop...Eric, where are you? It hurts so much...please come...pleasepleaseplease...
For a blessed moment, the pummeling and cutting stopped. She was flipped over to her stomach, her legs spread apart. The wrong end of the knife...No, God! No!
Violation...
Then nothing.
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A/N: This chapter was a bit of an experiment, moving back and forth in time between Eric flying to Sookie's rescue and his memories of their past. As you see, I used extensive dialogue from scenes in the True Blood TV series. I did this with all humility and thanks to the talented writers. I tried to stay true to the meaning of the scripted lines as I turned it into narrative. In the past I've had mixed feelings when fan fiction writers use a lot of dialogue or prose lifted from the original writer. So I was nervous about doing this. But after trying many different approaches to Eric's scene, this is the one that felt right. I hope it worked for you. I'm interested in hearing either way. I like a dialogue with those who read my stories so I can see how to improve and if what I think is effective really is.
So, let me know what you think. Thank you to all who have stuck with me so far. I hope you won't be disappointed as we go forward. The story does go really dark for awhile with a few alleviating lemons here and there. I hope the journey is worthwhile.
As always, my beta Lady Anne is fantastic and I could not do this without her.