CHAPTER 11

Eric placed me carefully on the edge of the bed, then knelt down and began to kiss me. His fangs were down and when I ran my tongue over them, he shuddered. "Lover, I am so hungry," he whispered. He kissed along my neck, stopping to lick my ear lightly, and I sighed. I was so happy when I was with him. "Let me undress you, lover," he said and I nodded. He pulled my shirt over my head, and then rested his head between my breasts as his hands reached behind my back to unhook my bra. He pulled the straps down slowly and slipped it off, throwing it to the floor. He nuzzled each breast, stopping to lick my nipples, grazing them just a bit with his fangs. His hands ran down my sides, and then began to unbutton my slacks. He laid me gently back on the bed and slipped off my slacks. He brushed his fingers between my legs, stroking me ever so lightly over my panties, leaving me quivering.

Eric stood up, kicked off his shoes and began to unbutton his shirt. He tossed it to the floor and slid out of his pants. He stood in front of me for a moment, smiling down, giving me a chance to admire his beautiful body. I could see that he was ready for me, very very ready.

"Do you like what you see, lover?" he whispered in his husky voice, laden with his now obvious desire.

"Yes," I answered quietly, barely able to speak.

"Do you want me, lover?" he asked, as he began to slide my panties down.

"Yes, Eric." I whispered.

He tossed my panties aside and began to kiss his way up to my center, spreading my legs. He stopped to inhale and sighed. "Delicious," he said. His tongue stroked lightly against my folds and I shivered as it found its way to my nub. He licked and tasted while his hands reached up to caress and squeeze my breasts. I pushed up against him, and he pressed his face harder to me, so I could rub against it. My body felt flushed and every pinch of his fingers on my breast felt exquisite.

He began to kiss up my tummy, stopping to lick at my belly button and then between my breasts and I could feel how hard he was as he lay on top of me, pressing slightly against my entrance. "Do you want me, lover?" he asked again as he licked my nipple.

"Yes, Eric." I answered, my voice husky with need.

He began to enter me, slowly pushing in, and then pulling back a little, each push a little deeper. His teeth grazed my nipple and it made me shiver with anticipation. He plunged himself deeper inside me, and I wrapped my legs around him to pull him in as far as he could go. He began to move faster, making little noises and I pushed my hips up to meet him stroke for stroke. My arms wrapped tightly around him and he slammed himself into me. I gasped and cried out as I began to feel the first waves of pleasure engulf me. He thrust again as he sunk his fangs into my neck and I was gone, my muscles clamping around him as he released inside me.

We stayed together like that for a moment, resting while I caught my breath. Eric lazily licked the wound on my neck, and then rested his head against it. "Beautiful," he said and I smiled. When he was satisfied that the wound would heal, he slid out of me and lay at my side, his hand on my tummy, stroking. I could see the glow of his skin in the darkness of the room. "Mine," he whispered and I felt complete.

I must have dozed off for a bit, and when I woke, Eric was lying on his side, his head propped up on his elbow staring at me. I felt disoriented and nauseous.

"Are you feeling okay, dear one?" he asked with concern in his voice.

"I think I am going to be sick, Eric," I said as I got up and stumbled into the bathroom to throw up. Again I found myself sitting on the bathroom floor, my head in my hands.

Eric handed me a damp washcloth. "Is this illness because of the child?" he asked. He looked like he was trying to remember, maybe when he had children of his own a millennium ago. "This is normal and not something to be alarmed about?" he queried.

"I think it is, Eric, but it sucks just the same," I answered. He chuckled at that.

"Let me help you up, lover, and then I will bathe you. That will make you feel better."

He picked me up, made sure I was steady on my feet, and then started the bath while I rinsed out my mouth and brushed my teeth. When I was ready, he scooped me up and sat me down in the warm water. It felt great. He slid in behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle.

"You must tell me if there is anything I can do to make you feel better, lover. I am ignorant about these things. You will have to instruct me."

"I don't know much about it either, Eric, although I suppose I better find out quick."

"There are many changes for you in so short a time, Sookie, but I am sure you will be strong and beautiful in your pregnancy as you are in all things."

I blushed a bit at that. I didn't feel strong or beautiful when I was sitting on the bathroom floor. But he was right, in a way, the thought of bearing a child did make me feel different and special and I could be strong for my child.

He kissed the back of my neck, grabbed the bar of soap and began to wash me. "There is much to talk about, lover, but first I must ask you something." I knew I wasn't going to like this. I usually didn't when his voice got all business like. "Tell me, Sookie, and tell me true, can you hear my thoughts?"

I don't know what I had expected, but it wasn't that. I began to say of course not, but I stopped to think. He must have felt my hesitation, and maybe how fearful I was because he stroked my arm and said, reassuringly. "I will not be mad at you, Sookie, and you must know that I would never hurt you. This is important and it could be of great value if your gift extended to hearing vampires."

Of value to whom, I wondered, probably not me! I couldn't really lie to him, though, even if I wanted to.

"Eric, I have heard your thoughts maybe three times, and I have heard brief thoughts from a few other vampires. Each time it was soon after I had vampire blood. Most of the time, I don't hear anything at all when I am around vamps," I confessed.

"Ah, I thought this might be the case. This is a very good thing, Sookie. Now I will tell you something." He stroked my neck almost unconsciously as he seemed to think about what he wanted to say.

"Several times in the last few days, while I was in my daytime sleep, I heard you calling to me. Of course I answered you, and it seemed as if you were in distress and I tried to comfort you. Once it seemed as if I was trying to wake you from a nightmare, and once I felt as if you were lying beside me sleeping. Vampires don't dream, Sookie. I am very puzzled about this."

I thought about that for a minute. "I had a very bad dream a few days ago, and in the dream, I did call for you, Eric, and you came to me to help me. You told me to wake up. You yelled at me until I woke up! And then, yesterday, I was napping on the couch, and you spoke to me and I thought you were lying with me, but when I woke up, it was daytime and of course you weren't there."

Eric turned me around to face him and gave me a very big smile. "This is a wonderful thing, Sookie. It seems as though we can communicate with each other while we are sleeping, but in dreams. This must be some gift of our bond. I wonder if you tried to reach out to me in the daytime, if I would hear you, while you are awake I mean. Would you be willing to try tomorrow?"

"Yes, I could try that. I have called to people before. I called to Barry when I was being held by the FOTS in Dallas, remember?"

"Perhaps Sookie, you might try to see if you can read other vampires, Jordun for example. It might be that it does not come as easily as reading humans, but you might be able to if you put effort into it."

"Eric, I don't want to read vampires' minds. That is going to just get me killed. You vampires all value your privacy too much."

"Yes, we do value that. Secrecy was so necessary to us for survival for so long, that it is second nature. You must try this, Sookie, but do not tell anyone. Only you and I must know how it turns out. You are right that it might be dangerous, but it could be of great aid to us in times of danger. If you and I could communicate without words ---you remember that Sophie Anne had that ability with her children. It was of great usefulness to her."

"Okay, Eric. I will try. Now, I have a question for you. Amelia said there were strange vampires hanging around my yard, but that they were talking to Jordun, so she thought they were yours. What's going on, Eric, are you going to war with Felipe or something?"

Eric took a minute to consider before he answered. "Felipe wants you. I have been gathering vampires to my side that have a reason to be loyal to me or who owe a debt to me. I am not planning to war against anyone at this time, but I will defend what is mine. I am satisfied with my little piece of Louisiana and have no greater ambitions, but Felipe cannot have you. He knows this, and he would be a fool to try to take you. No court would excuse him for going against our traditions of bonding in that way. However, if I was no longer in the picture, you would just be a human and one of his assets."

"Do you think you are in a lot of danger because of me, Eric?" I could feel the guilt building up already. I had gotten enough people killed. I couldn't stand the thought that something would happen to Eric.

Eric put his hands to the sides of my face and looked me straight in the eye. "Any danger that I may be in is not your fault, Sookie. It can only be my fault if Felipe manages to kill me, but I don't think he will succeed if that is what he is planning. I have been on this earth longer than Felipe de Castro and I intend to outlive him. Do not worry. I am being cautious, in case he should be foolish enough to try, but he cannot have you and he will not take me." He said this with so much confidence that I almost believed him.

I guess I still looked worried, so he gathered me up against him. "My Lover, you will get cold if you sit in this bath too long. Let's get you out and dry before you shrivel up." He grinned at that thought, then pulled the plug, lifted me out of the tub and started to dry me off with a towel. After he dried himself off, he put his clothes back on while I found some pajamas to wear.

"It is time for a little snack, Sookie. The doctor said you are to eat, and I don't want her to be mad at me tomorrow if you haven't been eating. She will think it my responsibility to make you eat, since you are my bonded. Her tongue can be very biting, don't you think?"

I laughed, not just because I agreed with him, but because I loved the archaic way he phrased things sometimes. "I don't want her yelling at me, either, Eric. I am a little hungry anyway."

I warmed up a bottle of blood for Eric, and then looked to see what I would like for a snack. There was fruit and still some cheese, so I decided to have that and a glass of milk. I was actually pretty hungry. It was nice to have someone to sit with while I ate, too.

"Maybe I will go to the library tomorrow and get some books on pregnancy," I mentioned to Eric.

"I think that is a good idea," he said. "You must have your guards with you at all times, you understand that, Sookie? It is for your safety. Nothing more must happen to you, and I know how you attract trouble."

"I think I feel better with them around anyway, Eric, with Dermott still around."

Eric looked at me quizzically and I realized I had not told him about what Jason had said. He did not look pleased. "He has not tried to assault your brother?"

"Not since that first time, when he threw Mel across the room. And the funny thing is, Jason doesn't really seem afraid of him, it's more like he feels sorry for him, I think. Jason thinks he might be lonely since all of the fairies are gone."

"I think probably there are quite a few fairies that didn't return to the fae world," commented Eric. "I just hope they don't all decide to hang around in your woods. As tasty as fairies are, they are mostly a nuisance."

"Oh," I teased him, "am I a nuisance too?"

"You, my little fairy, are a lot of trouble! But, you are my trouble, so that is okay." He gave me an indulgent smile and reached out to stroke my shoulder. "If you see the fairy, you must tell me or your guards immediately. I will alert them that he may be around. Do not approach him, Sookie, and do not go out alone."

"Okay, Eric, I will be careful."

"So lover, what will you do now that you are a woman of wealth and leisure? Have you thought about it at all?"

"Not really, Eric, since I haven't been wealthy for long. As far as leisure goes, I thought I would call Sam and tell him that I won't be coming back to work." Eric voiced his approval of that. "The problem is, I don't know what to do with my time if I don't have a job. I have these businesses now, but there are people already managing all of that, and I wouldn't know where to start anyway. I guess when the baby is here, I will be busy with that, but until then, I think I will go a little crazy if I don't have something to do."

"That is understandable, dear one, it is good to have something to put your mind to. We can both think about this. Of course, when the child arrives, he will want his mother and I think you will be very busy. I will have to compete to get any attention." He looked at me with puppy dog eyes.

"As if you could ever not get attention when you look like that, Eric," I laughed. He responded with a big smile. Sometimes he was worse than a kid. I loved it when we had this companionable time together.

"Now, tell me, Eric, what you had in mind for our wedding. We haven't talked about it at all, and I don't know if you want to do it soon or what you had in mind."

"I think that will be up to you, my dearest one. It is the bride's privilege, or so Pam informs me. I think Mr. Cataliades is right that it is best to do this soon if we are to deal with any human agencies. It might bolster our position with them. I am not without some status, and as my wife, you will acquire that status too. Although de Castro may not like it, since this is a human ceremony, I have no obligation to inform him or involve him. I think it might be best to minimize the involvement of the Nevada vampires in anything that concerns us."

"I would much rather not have a big wedding, Eric, if you wouldn't mind. I thought we might have something small, with just those closest to us invited. It would be nice to have it here, but with all the construction, I guess that wouldn't work out too well. Perhaps Jason would be willing to have it at his house. That was my parent's house you know."

"That would be a very nice idea, Sookie, if that is what you want to do and Jason would agree."

"I know Jason is not real excited that I am marrying a vampire, but he will get over it. He gets over everything once he stews about it for a while."

Eric looked a little hesitant, then he went ahead and asked, "Do you think you could include Pam in any planning for the ceremony? You know how she reads Dear Abby and she just loves any kind of party or celebration. I wonder if she regrets never having had a wedding, although she loves being a vampire."

"Sure, she can help. I don't think there will be that much to do, but she probably knows more about it than I do. I could use the help!"

"Good," he said, sounding relieved, and I had the feeling that Pam had already voiced her interest in helping. He always seemed strangely reluctant to disappoint Pam.

"I find myself actually looking forward to this wedding, lover, although you are already my wife. I like the idea that you will be Mrs. Northman." He said this so assuredly and with such pride that I didn't even want to mention that many wives didn't take their husband's name anymore. I hadn't really thought about that yet, having only been engaged for two days.

"I like the idea, too, Eric," I said, and I was rewarded with a kiss.

I washed up the dishes from my snack and stifled a yawn. "My lover, it is very late," Eric said as he rose from the table. "Let me tuck you into bed, you must be tired."

That sounded good to me. We went into the bedroom and I climbed under the covers. Eric took off his shirt and shoes and climbed in next to me, spooning against my back. "Sleep, lover, and remember to dream of me," he whispered in my ear. He wrapped me tightly in his arms and I drifted off to sleep.