So, how did Eric react? Read on.

Chapter 13

EPOV

Her voice on the phone, earlier in the evening, when I had called to set up a time for our 'meeting' had encouraged me. She had sounded happy, even excited to hear from me; and not in a booty call kind of way. (I was familiar with the tone of those calls as well.) She had remained articulate, which I appreciated, and had not fallen into adolescent giggling, and verbal hair twisting in her anticipation of our rendezvous. She sounded rested, and even animated, different than the girl whose writings I had been pouring over for weeks, and different than the shy thing I had first spoken to, so innocent of the world in general, and not just the world of the supes, a world she rightfully belonged in, whether she knew it or not. That had been the first time I had spoken with her. But when I had arrived, promptly at ten, and found myself alone, and when after thirty minutes she had still not appeared, I admit to becoming concerned. I had intended to go about building a relationship with her slowly, so that she would trust me, and open up to me about the many things that intrigued me. For her to dismiss me, while not making me angry, made me 'upset'. Hearing her voice on the phone pushed me much closer to distress than I have been in a great while.

While I could not hear her heartbeat, her staccato breathing betrayed her anxiety. Something had happened, at some time between eight and ten thirty, and I could hardly keep myself from guessing what it was. Her breathlessness suggested vigorous activity, and I could not help but think that perhaps she had brought a man back up to the room I was paying for so that she could ply her trade, and perhaps elicit a higher fee for the surroundings. I did not wish to think of that, but it was hard not to. I could not pretend to myself that I had plucked her from that previous life into security in twenty-four hours with a couple of good meals and some spending money. I'd seen Pretty Woman too. That's Hollywood. She might have called her brother and that was certainly a better possibility as far as I was concerned, for my own peace of mind. If she had, and he had not believed her, or had berated her for her choices then I could understand her upset. Worse, if she had called and her Uncle, who I now knew was still very much alive, had answered I imagine that her panic would have been crippling. Of course, any type of fright to her tiny person might have had the same outcome. I preferred to concentrate on those scenarios, as least they would practically give me someone I could exact some physical revenge on, in the name of Sookie's honor. The first, I found myself feeling a bile raising amount of jealousy over, even though I had little right to do so, and certainly no claim either.

I will admit, I felt much better when she did appear, still out of breath, but that time definitely from running. She was beautiful, especially with the flush on her cheeks. And as she drew near to me I could tell immediately that she had not had sex with anyone, bidden or not, because the only obvious scent around her was the salt of her fear and anxiety. It made me happy, in a very selfish way.

"Thank you so much for waiting for me." She gasped out, the nervousness and panic still quite evident in her voice. "I know you are very important and I'm so sorry for wasting your time." I stood, to greet her properly as she tried to arrange herself to come into the private lounge, trying at once to stuff a room key and the phone I had given her into her purse while at the same time trying to close the door that needed to be drawn inward to be latched. It was a funny dance of fingers and hips, but I did not laugh. I simply picked up the flute that I had poured for her myself, and held it out to her so that when she did find her balance in everything that it would be there for her.

She sat, finally, a little more gingerly and set her bag on the table, and then realizing I was still standing jumped nervously back to her feet. At that I had to smile. She was, what was the word I needed? Flabbergasted? Yes, that seemed to work. I handed her the crystal and reached down to pick up my own, I tapped hers with it, producing a happy little chime that I likely heard resonate far longer than she did. Crystal was lovely that way.

"What are we drinking to?" She asked, in the hesitant voice that did not so much as grate on me, as make me feel very sad.

"We will drink to you Sookie, and your continued health." I paused on the last word, wondering for a second if I should not say 'life' but I chose against it. Perhaps I should not have, for as soon as she had taken a tentative sip she burst into tears and dropped to the chair. In an instant, and faster than she could certainly see, I had my handkerchief pressed into her hand, and her flute set back on the table with some measure of stability. I did not want her to ruin the beautiful dress with champagne, or with tears for that matter. I could just see the way she moved in it, and the way she had initially smoothed it that she was proud of her selection.

"Sookie? You had better tell me what has happened." I was not at the stage of trying to glamour the answer out of her, but it was getting close. I knelt beside her and dared to finally lay my hand on top of hers, the one that was griping the chair arm as if it was a life line, not the one that had my handkerchief pressed to her tightly closed eyes. She started at the touch and then relaxed. I knew my skin was cold, but I did not think it was icy enough to shock her. I could feel the bones under her skin, and at that moment her fragility became completely real to me.

She looked up at me, her hollow blue eyes glazed with tears, which made them seem more alive than the past night, but not in the way I had hoped to see them.

"I got frightened." She squeaked out, clearly terrified.

"Of what?" I prodded.

"Of whom." She answered, dropping her eyes again.

"Your brother? Your Uncle?" I felt the rage begin to simmer in my gut again but I kept the display of emotion from her, not wanting to further scare her with my ferocity, which I have heard described as considerable.

"William Compton."

"Bill Compton?"

"He came by to see me tonight, well, last night too."

"He came to see you?"

"He brought me flowers."

"Flowers?" I was certain that my repetitive answers were not doing much to establish either my intelligence or my concern. I shook my read to reset my thoughts.

"Why is Bill Compton bringing you flowers?"

"He was apologizing to me."

"For what?"

"He offered to kill me?" She visibly shrank back in the chair, and dabbed at her eyes again as her voice broke. "And he kissed me." She added as a seeming afterthought.

Right then I was quite certain that I was going to kill Bill Compton.

"Perhaps you had better start at the beginning Sookie?" I suppressed the urges, (I have been known for my patience, at times) and I sat back in my chair, a little loath to leave her without my touch, but understanding why she had flinched when I had made it.

She proceeded to tell me the story of how Bill had talked her down from the bridge, to be honest, I had assumed that he had simply glamoured her, I was just so pleased that she had gotten in the taxi I had sent, that I had not questioned how she got there. To hear that Bill had offered to drain her blood, and spare her the pain of leaping from the bridge, while innovative, actually made my skin crawl. Perhaps it was just the vision of him, darkened eyes and curled up lips, wrapped around her beautiful white neck. I could have almost forgiven him the 'ruse' if he hadn't followed it up with his visit just after I had left her, and forced a kiss on her. Not that she related it that way, the way she defended his actions as being all her fault made the bile rise in my mouth again, and that is quite a feat for a human where vampires are concerned, especially me, I have seen far worse than an unbidden kiss, assuming that you view disemboweled remains as more disturbing. She spoke so honestly of the look in his eyes, and how it had nearly paralyzed her, forcing her to retreat to the room she had written of in her blog, the coping mechanism that had me so intrigued.

I have seen strong women in my time, one gave birth to me, and I made another my child, and to see this girl, as taking all the ills that had befallen her as her own fault, as least as far as it came to Bill Compton right then made me want to shake her; in a nice way mind you. At least she had understood, and used the advice I had given her in not inviting him into her suite. That action alone had likely saved her life, if not her physical body, for I could truly not know just then what Bill's motives were. He had been closer to her than I, and while she had a most enchanting 'fragrance' about her I had not explored it further than that. Bill's actions though necessitated a change in my plans, because if I was going to keep her safe from him then I needed to somehow claim her as my own, and my methodical planning had certainly not included taking her blood so early, or offering her my own. I was briefly at a loss as to how to proceed.

"You've done the right thing by sending him away Sookie, and by confiding in me." I tried to put on a reassuring smile so that she would stop crying. "I am sorry that those memories were forced on you again, but I will take care of things." I reached across the little table that separated us and brushed her hand again. I did not try to hold it, but I have observed that humans value touch, some memory of that from my own life, but mostly from observation. I watched her take a deep breath and then finally look up at me.

"Please don't do anything that will anger him Eric."

"His attentions to you are not your fault Sookie, and if you do not wish them to continue I will see that they do not."

"I just don't want him to take out any anger on me." I could actually hear the trembling in her voice.

"He will not. I have many holdings around the country, indeed, even some in my home country. I am certain an opportunity for travel will be coming his way in the near future." And that opportunity would be one for me as well, to cement her trust of me so that he would have no claim, or hold on her.

"Sookie?" She was beginning to gather herself up and had even taken another sip of the champagne.

"Yes Eric?"

"You have done me the great courtesy of telling me so much about yourself. I feel it is only fair that I share with you. Perhaps you have some questions to ask me?" I set about putting my plans for the evening back on track, despite Bill Compton.

BPOV

"Bloody Hell!" I cursed under my breath. Once again I had said or done completely the wrong thing when it came to this girl. Women liked flowers, didn't they? I'd been charming, I thought. I had apologized for my offer to drain her, which had clearly frightened her, the offer, not the apology. Women liked apologies didn't they? This was going to be so damned difficult, especially when I couldn't glamour her. These broken girls were supposed to just fall into your arms at the slightest hint of a kindness weren't they? Clearly, I have to learn a bit more about this particular girl. The way she had looked at me, as if she was going to vomit, no one looked at me that way, unless I was attending to them for a very different purpose than I wished to attend to her. And on those occasions I took it as a compliment.

There had to be something I could do to get to her, something that would soften her to me. She had another meeting with Northman, a further opportunity for him to use his own, not inconsiderable charms on her. I needed something he did not have. And women certainly did like Knights in Shinning Armor. A road trip was in order. And kicking my bike to life I set out to find my way to Bon Temps.

Next chapter: what will Sookie ask of Eric, and how will he answer?

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