A/N: Thank you to my ever so faithful readers who seem to be genuinely enjoying a story I am genuinely enjoying writing. It is just flowing from me like Eric's rich sweet blood. So thank you again. And if you don't usually read the songs at the beginning, read this one. It is a perfect E/S song. And BTW- this is another of those sneaky 'M' chapters, for those of you who might want to skip it. But a lot of stuff happens that you probably won't want to miss that is not 'M' so…

Paradise Within…Happier Far

Chapter 10

Darkness falls and she will take me by the hand.
Take me to some twilight land
Where all but love is grey
Where time just slips away
Without her as my guide.

Night falls I'm cast beneath her spell,
Daylight comes our heaven is torn to hell.
Am I left to burn?
And burn eternally?
She's a mystery to me
She's a mystery girl.

In the night of love words tangled in her hair.
Words soon to disappear
A love so sharp it cuts like a switchblade to my heart
Words tearing me apart.
She tears again my bleeding heart
I want to run she's pulling me apart
Fallen angel cries
Then I just melt away.

She's a mystery to me
She's a mystery girl.

Haunted by her side the darkness in her eyes
But that so enslaves me
If my love is blind then I don't want to see
She's a mystery to me.

Night falls I'm cast beneath her spell,
Daylight comes our heaven is torn to hell.
Am I left to burn?
And burn eternally?

She's a mystery to me
She's a mystery girl.

Mystery Girl, Roy Orbison

Eric came tearing up Sookie's still unfinished driveway, uncaring of the potholes or damaging his precious corvette. Sookie felt through the bond when he woke, and she felt his fury mount as he listened to her messages. Her fury had waned throughout the day, and she now knew it was time for her to pay to piper. Tonight would likely be a very long one.

Randy had already come and gone thankfully, and as Sam saw Eric's corvette tearing up the driveway, he made a hasty get away as well. Two weeks ago, even a week ago, he never would have left Sookie alone with an obviously furious Eric. But now, he knew she was really in no danger from Eric. Eric could no longer hurt Sookie as he could cut off his own head.

Eric stopped his car suddenly, sliding on the hated gravel road, which only served to ratchet up his anger more. He yanked open the car door, slamming it shut, the force of his strength tipping the car on its side. Eric turned back to the car and looked at it sitting upended sideways on the gravel, the underside exposed to the world. He then turned and looked at the darkened outline of what he could tell was an amused Sookie, her face hidden in the darkness with the light directly behind her. She stood in a bright yellow flowered halter top and short denim skirt, (a very short skirt he noted, saving that information for later knowing other men had been around while she pranced around in that VERY SHORT skirt), and bare feet. Sookie, who was in a much better, if a dangerously smart-aleck mood , gave a mental 'Oops' to the car falling sideways, and realized she heard parts of Eric's thoughts about the very short skirt and 'prancing around' in front of other men. That surprisingly overheard thought almost solicited a very unwelcome snort of laughter again, but she schooled her face to neutral. The situation was inflammatory without her adding gasoline to the fire.

He stalked quickly to her, while she gave him a predatory smile. "Hello, lover…. You really must control that temper of yours, your beloved car…" She stopped as he pushed her completely through the doorway into the house, crushing her against the wall, her arms extended above her body, his giant hands holding her at her wrists, his body wildly aroused. His eyes had become dangerously black, his hair wildly scattering in the wind that seemed to follow him tonight. She could feel through his jeans an arousal she had never felt before, sure that if he intended to use that on her, she would be ripped in half.

His voice sounded positively lethal as he began. "How dare you, Sookie? How dare you endanger me and you by refusing to answer the Queen's summons? How dare you insult me, your lover and your bonded mate, by assuming I would not clothe and teach you correctly in dealing with our Queen? How dare you Sookie in believing that I would do anything less than bring you home with me, or die if I could not? Your faith in me, your bonded, seems to be lacking. I feel there must be lessons to be taught before Pamela gets here with your clothing."

He crushed his mouth to her, taking her mouth by force, their tongues dueling violently, both of them growling and tearing at each other. Still holding her hands above her, his other hand lifted her tight bottom up to meet him while his hand reached under the denim and ripped her tiny silk underwear away. Her legs wrapped around him, squeezing him with the strength given to her from his blood, forcing a breath from his body as he fumbled with his belt and jeans, dropping them to the floor. Without pretense, he shoved himself deep inside her heated core, banging her hard against the wall. Pictures and mirrors threatened to fall from their hangers as his powerful thrusts ripped through her.

She screamed with the roughness of the coupling, both of them knowing this was new for her, and her screams were not completely from pain or violation. Soon she was slamming herself back into him, forcing him to use all his strength to hold her into place. He did finally release her hands, while she clawed at his silk shirt, ripping it along with his skin on his back to shreds. His dark, rich blood coated the black silk shirt, while her back became just as raw and bloody from the pounding against the wall board. He leaned his head down to her breast and bit, hard, tearing intending to cause pain as they both came violently against each other. He drew his first meal of the day from Sookie's well endowed breast, the violence of their coupling adding a different spice to her usual blood.

As he licked the wound closed, he slid them both to the ground, breathing hard. He was still angry, Sookie could feel it through the bond, but at least some of the immediate danger had worn away.

"Do you accept me as your bonded mate, Sookie Stackhouse?" Eric said out of the blue.

"How can you ask me that when I don't even know what a 'bonded mate' is? And neither do you."

"I know you are meant for me, and only for me. I am meant for you and only for you. Whatever else there is to know we will have to find out from other sources, after we pay our respects to the Queen." Eric's voice was very soft, but made of steel and unbending.

"I am not going with you to see the Queen. She is not my Queen. I live the United States of America, and we kicked Kings and Queens out on their not very well respected asses 250 years ago. I have a President of the United States now, as do you as a newly made citizen of the United States. Not that I would pretend that he knows who I am, or who you are, but if he needed me to be his pet and help him in whatever way I can, I would do so. The Queen of Vampires…not so much Eric. I'm not even a vampire, so no way. No fucking way." Sookie's voice dripped with sarcasm. She had obviously been thinking about this a lot this afternoon.

"If you do not go, you will humiliate me. She and others will believe I cannot control you and will come to take you to someone they feel will be able to control you. While I would wish them luck in the controlling part, we would be forever separated. I would probably be put in a silver coffin, with silver chains, never to feed again. And worst of all of course, being kept away from you. I would die long before the silver and lack of feeding would kill me. You, Sookie, would be given to someone probably carefully cruel who would abuse you in order to get and keep you in line. You will waste away without me and my blood. You will die a very slow and painful death, all because you refused to accompany me to meet the Queen." Eric's voice held sadness and reigned in fury.

Sookie disentangled herself from Eric, righted her clothing, and stormed into the kitchen reaching inside the fridge for a cold Coke, with lime of course. "She wants to keep me. Once I am there, she will not let me leave, I just know it. How can you protect me from her?"

"Once again you insult me!! You doubt my strength, my cunning, my understanding of vampire politics, my ability to manipulate the situation, my willingness to die for you. I think another lesson is in order." Eric grabbed Sookie by the waist with one arm, spilling her fresh soda all over the floor. With the other arm he swept everything off the kitchen table, and despite his frustration and anger, gently laid her on the table. He pulled her legs to him putting one leg over one of his shoulders and the other over the other, sliding her skirt up as he dragged her ass to the edge of the table.

"What is this Eric? Fuck Sookie until she agrees with you? You might be in for a very long night." She said sarcastically.

"No, lover. We only have about an hour and a half before Pam gets here. You must capitulate to me before she arrives." He once again entered her without any preparation, not that she needed any. Their lovemaking (was that what this was called? No she decided, this was plain old angry fucking, but despite herself, she liked it) fluids dripped from her onto the table.

As she was shoved into and raised her hips to meet his from the table, she asked breathlessly, "Remind me again as to what I am supposed to capitulate to again. If you keep fucking it from my head, we'll never be done."

Eric laughed, his first all night, and she was relieved despite herself. "Oh, lover…are you in such a hurry to be done already?"

She made a particularly hard thrust upwards, slamming him all the way into her, knocking her breathless. "No, not done already. But I would like to know what I am supposed to be agreeing to. I could pretend to forget and go all night and then some, but we do sort of have this approaching deadline of Pam." He was keeping up the dialogue, even as he held her shoulders tightly and pounded unmercifully into her much abused pussy.

Eric responded, breathless himself at keeping up a dialogue with her and her on-going sarcasm. "You believe that I will take care of you, even with the Queen. You believe I will not leave you there with her. You believe that we are bonded mates, and even if we don't know all that entails, we will find out together as we search the world for answers. You capitulate to all these things."

Sookie raised herself up on her elbows, looking him in the eyes as he held her still while he impaled her time and time again. Her breathing was hard and her eyes were glassy. She took a sharpened fingernail she kept for just this purpose and slashed across his breast. She looked into his black eyes, and smiled slightly as she felt herself ready to come, again. "Oh, is that all…" as she leaned her mouth to the now dripping slash and sucked his blood, his life giving, bonding blood into her. He brought her once again to a screaming climax which she buried in his chest, practically drowning in his blood.

Sookie had finally given in. Eric had alleviated her panic, and she did believe he would do all those things for and with her. They exchanged blood over and over again, once again sealing their bond. Eric carried her from the sticky soda covered floor to the bedroom shower. He warmed the water and they both peeled off the clothing that remained on them both. He pulled her tightly to him and lifted her into the shower. The hot water stung the wood burns on her raw back, but with her large intake of his blood the wounds were already healing completely. He soaped her hair and her body, taking special care of her injured back. She returned the favor, shampooing and conditioning his long hair and soaping his body thoroughly as well.

"Sookie, there is one more thing I want." Eric whispered quietly as he held her against the wall running his soapy soft hands against her back and bottom.

"And what would that be lover…" Sookie had that deep, sexually satiated sound in her voice. "I think you have taken everything from me, my body, my mind, my soul, and my will. What else do I have to give you?"

"I want to take you in a way we have never done before. I want to introduce you to the Queen tomorrow knowing I have claimed you in every way possible." Eric's voice was gentle and soothing, knowing this might spook her.

He felt her body stiffen and then just as suddenly relax. "Will it hurt?" Sookie's voice was quiet as well in the pounding water, but she had completely capitulated to him, at least for the moment and was willing to try something different.

"It will not hurt. I will make sure it will not hurt. It might feel unusual, perhaps even uncomfortable at first, but I will not hurt you."

"Eric, my love, my bonded mate, I release my body over to your care. Take me however you like, claim me however you want, I am yours, just as you are mine."

Eric nuzzled her neck, already beginning to prepare her, "I am yours just as you are mine."

Pam found Eric in the kitchen cleaning up the spilled soda and the bodily fluids everywhere. She laughed out loud at the sight of Eric on his hands and knees, shirt off, jeans and bare feet, scrubbing the kitchen floor.

"Shut up Pam."

"First I see your car on its side, then walk into the house and smell what can only be compared to an orgy level of sexual scent, and then find you scrubbing Sookie's floor. You have to admit Master, there must surely have been a scene earlier this evening, one I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for." Pam laughed again and left the room to bring in more packages to the house.

Sookie heard Pam arrive and laughed herself at what Pam must have thought at the sight of Eric on his hands and knees scrubbing her floor. She felt it was only fair. He had spilt it after all. She dried her hair and pulled on his black tank top that hung to the tops of her thighs and put on black underwear and a red silk shirt he had left here earlier and prepared to walk into the kitchen. They had thrown his black silk shredded and bloody shirt away.

"Hello Pam." Sookie said in her very satiated voice.

Pam looked Sookie over, hearing the tell-tale sound in Sookie's voice of a woman who had been very loved, regardless of how rough it might have started. Pam smiled an actual warm smile. "You please him very much you know, Sookie. Otherwise, he would never be cleaning up spilled soda."

Sookie laughed. "I suppose you are here to dress me and make a princess out of a frog."

Eric walked in, leaning against the doorway. "You have never been a frog, Sookie. But, yes, when Pam is done with you, you will surely be a princess, worthy of this King."

Sookie responded slyly, "Am I not already worthy of you Master? And to assume the King-ship is probably a very dangerous thing to do."

Eric laughed at Sookie, refusing to be drawn into another argument. "Merely a turn of phrase, lover, nothing more."

Hours later, Sookie's head was full of do's and don'ts, bowing and scraping (ok, they called it curtseying but still…), and just general political information she was sure was important and she would know why once that piece of the puzzle became apparent. The whole time this was going on, she was also a grown up Barbie doll, being dressed, undressed, bejeweled, painted, hair styled, and by the end of all of this she was very grumpy indeed.

"I will NEVER be able to get all this figured out tomorrow night. Which shoes, which by the way Pam, what sadist designed these stilettos—YOU?"

"No my dear, I did not design those particular ones, but you will wear them. Practice in them the rest of the night and all day tomorrow."

"Whatever…what about what jewelry goes with what, and how will I ever decide what to wear when? I can't do this. I get my clothes at Wal-mart- nice and simple."

"And the material they are made from will outlast Armegeddon. Whereas, the fine clothing and material I am dressing you in will not even out last you. Natural fibers, very expensive."

"What if I lose some of the jewelry? What then? It is very expensive." Sookie was just stretching for any reason not to go.

Eric finally spoke up. "Sookie! Enough. Pam will be accompanying us. She will help you with everything. Nothing will be lost, and if it is I don't care. We have already decided what you will wear on the plane ride, what you will wear to meet the Queen, and if we are there for a second night, what you will wear then. The decisions have been made, right down to your hair, makeup, lipstick, and jewelry. There are no more decisions to be made. It will be fine. Pam will meet us at the plane tomorrow evening and we will all fly to New Orleans together. The end. I tire of this whole ordeal as I know you do. Pam could go for hours more, but we will not indulge her further."

Pam looked at him, pretending to frown. "Spoilsport."

Sookie looked at her, back at the white stilettos, and back to Pam, "Sadist."

Pam laughed at that and whirled and left the two lovers on their own. Sookie immediately removed the shoes and sunk into the couch, Eric joining her. She leaned her head against his shoulder where he wrapped his arm around his.

"Eric, there was something else that happened today. I think I should show you."

"Can it wait?" Even Eric sounded tired after the Barbie Party.

"Actually, we don't even have to move from here if you don't want to. But you do have to promise to replace whatever I ask you to."

"Fine. Show me then."

Sookie looked around the room. She chose the fake flower arrangement on top of the TV to start with. "Eric, watch the flower arrangement on the TV set."

"Why?"

"Just do it." She quickly gathered the power in the room, which with Eric in the room with her made it quite easy. He was very powerful and carried that power with him. Before Eric could realize what was happening the flower arrangement blew apart.

Eric jumped up and looked from Sookie to the flowers and back. "How…?"

"I don't know. I did it the first time to the phone in my bedroom after I got furious about the 'Bite Me…Beeps.' Before I knew it I had melted it. Then I blew up a mug, exploded a 2500 year old tree trunk in the forest, set the old train trestle on fire and then doused it. I've been practicing a lot today. It doesn't seem to tire me. I even practiced a few little mind tricks with Pam… just trying to get her to do something and then having her change her mind. It worked too and she never knew. And Eric, I can read your mind now. Not all the time, only when you are really sending, like when you were mad earlier about me 'prancing around' in my short denim skirt. You were jealous and that came through loud and clear."

By this time Eric was pacing around the room, excitement and fear coming off of him in waves. "This is amazing. This is the sort of stuff that is a part of our long dead legends, part of the bonded mate. After we meet with the Queen, we must immediately leave for somewhere safe where we can learn from those who know about this. You must keep your mind schooled at all times tomorrow while we are with the Queen. We don't even want her to get a whiff of this."

"Ok. But you will have to communicate to me at least minimally if she starts to say something that surprises me or may cause me fear. I might give myself away."

Eric stopped pacing and stood in front of Sookie. She looked into his eyes as he looked into hers. "There is something isn't there Eric? Something you haven't told me."

"Sookie, the Queen and I… we have been lovers off and on for centuries. I helped raise her to power. She may be bringing us both there to try to tear us apart, particularly if she thinks we are bonded. She must not be allowed to think that. But if she does decide she wants me for a night, we must play along. To her, you are simply my human pet. The less she knows or suspects of anything stronger, the better it will be for all of us."

"You will make love to her tomorrow night." Sookie's voice was completely calm, and dead.

"Not if I can find a way to stop it. But if it is a part of protecting you and us, then yes, I will do what I have to."

Sookie remained silently, mulling over the situation. There was no way she would allow Eric to make love to another woman. Not on her watch. But she didn't need Eric to know that. Her life she was willing to risk, Eric's she was not.

"Eric, I tire of this whole conversation of tomorrow night. Make love to me tonight in our new safe room with the iron windows down and stay with me all night tonight."

Eric was suspicious that Sookie didn't flip out about him and the Queen, but decided to not probe further into something he didn't want or need to know.

Eric started to close up the house. Sookie looked out the front door, and laughed. "May I right your precious car, my lover?"

"You can do that too?"

"Yes, good thing I didn't set it on fire like I wanted to earlier today." And with that, she gave the car a slight mental pull, righting it into the correct position, although she was sure the side that lay on the gravel was damaged.

She set the alarm as Randy had taught her, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, walking across her freshly scrubbed kitchen floor, and headed for the bedroom, dropping clothing like breadcrumbs where she went. Where she went, Eric followed, as it always would be.

Their lovemaking this time was as tender as ever. Eric took his time, gave her all his sweetness and passion as he worshipped her body into multiple orgasms. Finally, just as they were both exhausted and prepared to sleep, Eric's body slithered down Sookie's to that special place she so loved for him to bite, and she whispered, "Eric, bite me."

He laughed huskily in his arousal, "Beep," as he sunk his fangs deep into her heated apex, listening to her cries of pleasure. Beep indeed. He'd leave his voicemail exactly as it was just because he loved her even more when she was crazy, and enraged, and mysterious. That was his Sookie, and he would never let her go. She was his guide through the twilight of grey, into a world of color where time just slips away.

TBC

A/N: The consensus seemed to be no one was bothered by longer chapters, so I hope this one satisfactorily made up for the last short chapter. Next chapter…The Queen, the Queen…off with her head!