Disclaimer: I don't own Eric. And now that I've been reminded of that oh-so-sad fact, I'm going to crawl into a corner and cry.
Chapter 11
Sookie glared up at the infuriatingly smug vampire who had somehow figured out how to mitigate her fairy powers. Keeping the heat of her anger in her eyes and the obvious tension of her muscles, she split her mind off, running on another train of thought. A train that explored deep inside of herself, searching the depths of the power she inherited from her Fae relatives. It was there, and there was nothing she could sense wrong with it or weakening it, so it wasn't a spell that worked internally that was blocking her from accessing her power. It must be something external. As she went to turn her exploration to her surroundings she was forcefully reminded of the stupid a-hole vampire who thought force and violence was the answer to all of the world's problems when he leaned down, bringing his face within a hairsbreadth of her own. His completely unnecessary breath was wafting gently across her mouth, the scent of him scattering her thoughts a little.
"Problems, Sunbeam?" he asked solicitously. She narrowed her eyes at him and opened her mouth to give him an earful, but right then she became painfully aware of exactly how he had limited her powers. Her wrists were begining to burn in a way that she identified immediately as the poisoning that was a direct result of prolonged contact with iron. He knew she was part Fae and still shackled her with iron! The absolute ego of the man to think that he would ever win her over, body, mind heart, or soul with tactics like this!
"Yeah, I've got big problems with you, Vampire! You better get me out of these shackles really damn quick or I promise I will leave with matching scars!" He frowned and pulled away from her at the mention of scars. What the hell was this crazy creature talking about, scars? He had seen no marks or imperfections on her delectable body.
Then he became aware of a scent he was very familiar with. The smell of burning flesh was unmistakable. He looked over to her shackles and saw streamers of smoke rising from the edges of the thick iron shackles. He had assumed that she would be safe when there was no immediate reaction to the touch of iron, and had only hoped that it would be enough to limit her ability to use her powers, but now he realized that she was not immune thanks to her human and other blood, only slightly less allergic. He became aware of her pain through his blood flowing in her veins while he stared dumbly at the cause of that pain. The pain that he had caused. His stomach twisted in unfamiliar ways. Ways that he did not like.
He quickly undid the shackles and stared in shock at the bands of grossly burned flesh that circled both of her wrists. It was similar to the way acid would eat flesh and it was a gruesome sight. A sight that he had been the cause of many times in his existence. He had gloried in the damage and the pain he was causing at those times, but this time his stomach twisted tighter than before and his chest ached. If this was an example of emotions, he wanted nothing to do with it.
Sookie switched her heated glare from the infuriating vampire to the wounds that were burning her so badly. It felt like thousands of tiny embers burning deep into her flesh, all the way down to the bone. It was so bad that she was shocked that she didn't see bone. Not that what she did see was much better. It looked like thick bands of festering flesh, infected with a flesh eating virus. The wounds were bubbling and smoking and the removal of the irons had done nothing to ease the burning pain. She had no doubt that she wouldn't be able to fully access her fairy powers until she managed to cure the iron poisoning she was suffering from. Thank goodness her Fae powers weren't the only ones she had.
She jumped up off the bed, twisting in uncomfortable ways to avoid any contact with Eric, and walked to the other side of the room. He stood and stepped towards her, concerned against his wishes, but she turned and shot him such a heated glare he was surprised he didn't immediately burst into flames. When she reached a corner she turned and gave him another glare, warning him to stay the hell back. He held his hands up in front of him, trying to communicate that he meant no harm. Her eyes narrowed slightly before she looked down at her wrists and dismissed him completely from her mind, focusing entirely on the fiery bands marking her wrists.
She reached into herself and accessed her other powers, the powers that she still didn't fully understand beyond the fact that they seemed limitless, unlike the fairy powers. She had already discovered that she could heal others, but had never had the need to turn that healing power on herself. She might have after the Rattrays had been stopped from kicking and beating her, but Bill had been there so quickly with his bleeding wrist against her mouth that she hadn't had enough time to think through her options. Something she regretted as soon as she came to with him licking the wound on her forehead. Which made her wonder now, would that count as a mutual exchange? God she hoped not. The last thing she needed right now was a bond to yet another vampire. Especially Bill with his shady and heartless agenda.
Pushing all exraneous thoughts from her mind with more effort than she felt she could afford to expend at this moment, she slowly sank down to the ground as all the strength left her muscles and was redirected elsewhere. The corner she had wedged herself into was the only thing keeping her upright. Her head was hanging on her boneless neck and her eyes rolled up slightly to keep her wounds in sight.
Eric stepped towards her, alarmed at the weakness she was showing. As much as he had done to weaken her and put her at a disadvantage, he now found, to his great consternation, that he did not like to see this maddening woman, who seemed to find joy in angering him, show weakness. She had always projected strength and power, even when she was at a clear disadvantage, such as being chained to his bed. It bothered him now to see her slumped in the corner, appearing unconscious aside from her open eyes focused intently on the wounds that he had caused. And there was that sickening twisting sensation in his gut again. He got no more than two steps towards her when her eyes flared with a bright, electric blue light. A light that stopped him in his tracks with the memory of the pain she had caused him with a light of that color. It spread out from her eyes, lightening up and becoming less of an electric color the further it was from her eyes, until it reached the festering bubbling wounds on her wrists where it flared momentarily with the electric blue and then became a painfully bright, white light that circled her wrists around the poisoned flesh and spread slightlly out from there along the intricate tracing of her veins, encompassing all of the poison, form where it originally entered her system to where it had managed to travel so far. He vaguely recalled that white was a healing color and was relieved at the thought that she could fix his mistake. Then he was just angry that he had thought he had made a mistake.
He had been confident in all of his decisions for over a thousand years, and had never regretted his actions, but he could no longer deny that the twisting in his gut and the ache in his chest did not come from Sookie, but rather came from regret. He hated that he felt that way, hated that he felt anything. He had spurned emotions ever since he had woken as a vampire, recognizing quickly that they would weaken him in the dark, violent world that he now inhabited, but this little part human, part fairy, part something, pulled emotions from him without even trying to and he did not like it at all. He probably should have just drained her the first night while she was unconscious and saved himself the trouble. If he was smart he would drain her now and save himself any of the future trouble that he had no doubt her continued existence would give him. He stepped towards her with that very intent on his mind when the white light flared out from her body and filled the room, knocking him back into the far wall. He was unaware of his hard impact with the wall. He was knocked unconscious as soon as the light touched him.
Sookie looked up from her completely healed wrists, staring at the unconscious vampire from under her lashes. The look on her face was primitive, and if he had been conscious and seen the way she was looking at him, he would have recognized the look on her face. It was the look of a predator assessing it's next prey.
A/N: Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I can't say enough how sorry I am for the extremely long wait between updates. There's been illness, my own and that of children, my own and like my own, death of a loved one, and a hectic schedule interfering with my love of writing and playing with Eric. There shouldn't be any other long waits like this one again though, barring any other personal catastrophes. (Knock on wood!) Hopefully this story hasn't been forgotten and my readers will forgive me.