Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the books or True Blood. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 14

Sookie spent minutes staring at herself in Eric's bathroom mirror, where she went to get a splash of water on her face after that nightmare. If she was lucky, she dreamed everything that happened tonight … or today. She did not see Heimdall feeding from Eric and kissing him, nor did she have some sexual contact with Heimdall that was so darned good, she had an orgasm when he wasn't even doing something to her down there. Actually, if things were this easy, she might as well picture Bill at home and not bother going to Jackson.

First off, the dream she had was wrong because she was with Eric. Thanks to his lowdown trick, Sookie could not help having nasty dreams about the Viking, especially when he walked around shirtless or totally naked. Sookie was going to rescue and marry Bill in Burlington, Vermont … and they would live happily ever after, thank you very much.

The weirder part was dreaming that Heimdall was her son named Langford. Having some kind of sex with him and then dreaming that person is your son was the kind of no-account, backwoods trash someone had to dig up the Appalachian mountains to find, buried under all the 'XXX' bottles of moonshine.

Of course, it ended in tragedy with Langford being real sick, and Eric stopping her from taking care of her son. He said he was dying, and vampire blood was not curing him. Was that a reference to earlier tonight when he was feeding from Eric? Heimdall was still going to die? Or was it, that he still wanted to kill himself?

Needing a distraction, she opened the mirror, which was not really a medicine cabinet because Eric had none. He had a few items Sookie was not expecting like dental floss next to his toothbrush. She already knew he used hair gel to keep his hair back, but what did he need with shaving stuff? He had a wicked looking straight razor folded into a fancy looking handle with a leather strap rolled up next to it. And no can of Edge, it was Givenchy shaving cream … whatever that was. Jason never used that brand when he lived at gran's before he moved into their parents' house.

Heimdall had three items on the bottom shelf. A comb, a toothbrush and a canister of something she didn't recognize called hair pomade.

Sookie sighed. Vampire bathroom cabinets were boring. Not worthy of taking her mind off anything. Coming out of the bathroom, Sookie opened the door completely and the light fell on Eric lying on his back. Heimdall, still naked, was curled up facing the wall, with his hands over his head and face. At the moment, she didn't know if she was angry at him, or herself.

Sookie went upstairs, and marched herself into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she cursed herself out. Right now was not the time for yogurt, soy crisps, carrot sticks with dip, a pear, a women's nutrition bar, or an iced green tea with ginseng and honey. She needed crisis food. Sookie would kill for a Krispy Kreme right now.

Since she had no crisis food, Sookie ate everything she had, not worrying that it was only a little after two in the afternoon. What was she going to tell Bill? How would he perceive it? There are so many places where he could say she went wrong. When Bill first went missing, she went to Fangtasia to look for him. She was wrong. Bill was not there. Then while she was there she asked Eric and Heimdall to help her look for Bill. Sookie remembered exactly how Bill said that he would not ask Eric for help with the maenad, even while he was spitting out green, foamy slime from getting poisoned. Having a werewolf turn up at Merlotte's and her house, and inviting Eric in to take care of the werewolf. Bill might forgive that since she shot Eric, but letting Eric protect her by taking her to his house, and ask a strange werewolf to take her to Jackson were going to be seen as mistakes by him, even if Sookie found him and got him rescued. Hell, even if she went in wherever by herself and dragged him out.

Fucking A … Eric had the cleanest garbage can Sookie had ever seen, outside of brand-new in a store. He was even the type that put a bag in his recycle bin to keep that neat. It was not even close to full with two of his Tru Blood bottles along with her iced tea bottle dropped on top. Sookie washed the spoon she used for her yogurt and put it on the dish drain.

There was sun leaking into the great room through the vertical blinds. The colors in here were similar to Eric's bedroom, except there were greens here too. Lime and olive and forest, besides the blue and red. His bedroom had gold and dark yellow tones instead of green.

Sookie figured out the television remote, but even with the promise of so many channels, she was not in the mood and left it on the weather to get the forecast. Not that it mattered since she was locked in Eric's temperature controlled house. Wait, she was locked in Eric's house … Sookie went up the few stairs and went to see if he left everything open.

She walked into his office and sat down in his chair. It was Eric sized, and also had the seat positioned high for his longer legs. Sookie was not a computer user so did not know what she could do with that since it appeared to be turned off. She rolled to the side and looked at what was in the paperwork. It was not her type of paperwork, a pile of bills. Eric had some contracts here, and a copy of the Fangtasia lease renewal that began in two months. Wow, that was some rent.

The desk drawers opened along with an unlocked cabinet with folders. Sookie did not find any secret vampire files. It all involved money. She did not want to know too much of Eric's private finances, but did more than glance at his last bank statement. It was difficult to tell if Eric was truly wealthy because a lot of money was coming in, but a lot of money was also going out. The largest check went to someone or something named Sophie-Anne Leclerq.

Fangtasia business was actually kept under 'Bruce'. The Fantasia rent was paid from his separate Fangtasia account, and that definitely had more money coming in than out, but the payment to himself was hefty, Pam's was almost as much, and Longshadow got only half … but he would have had $60,000 in six months, if he had not been so greedy. So Sookie's fee to go to Dallas, would have been a monthly wage for Longshadow, at the rate Eric negotiated, before the bonus. If Heimdall worked at Fangtasia, how much was he going to be paid, even at a starter vampire rate? Ginger pulled in a small fortune, compared to what Sookie made at Merlotte's.

She did find a thick unmarked folder lying underneath the hanging ones, and could not believe the top page. It was Eric's tax return for last year. He paid more in taxes than she made. A lot more. He also needed a lot more paper than her own one page EZ form. So besides looks, Eric also had money. It was so damned unfair.

Disappointed that there was no secret vampire stuff, Sookie left his office and tried the other door in this hallway. It was the other bedroom that was not used as a bedroom. Eric had a weapon collection in it. The swords went all the way up to the really big size, as long as Eric was tall. He also had a couple giant axes that had long handles, besides pairs of other shorter-handled axes. There were shorter blades that might be a sword in her hand, but a knife in Eric's.

On the table, there were items that were lying on cloth that was treated with some substance that made it feel weird to the touch. Perhaps Eric just got these off eBay? There was no big weapon in this lot, but there was an unstrung bow with a case that included arrows, besides shorter blades. The curvy bow wasn't as tall as a man like in Robin Hood. It was not a modern hunting bow because there was laced leather on the ends and in the center. There were no other bows visible in the room, but there was a chest that was locked. She wryly thought to herself that that's where Eric must keep the dangerous stuff.

Sookie walked around, looking, but not touching. Everything looked clean. She thought it was probably more of a little museum, rather than things Eric used. As a vampire, he was strong enough to rip someone apart, like they did with Maryann. Besides, Eric was intimidating looking without carrying around a sword on his back, going all Highlander, one of Jason's favorite movies, when he was younger.

Other than Eric's personal preference for weapons, Sookie did not find out much. It's not like Eric had a big poster-sized list on the wall listing his enemies with names crossed out in blood. Though with Heimdall staying here, Eric may have had to put that away.

Sookie turned off the television and opened some drawers and some fancy wooden boxes. She found a secret stash of playing cards, dice, chips, and some odd looking tiles with a different mark on each one, but not his collection of romance or mystery novels. No books, not even a Swedish-American dictionary.

There was a noise. Sort of a rumbling. Coming from the direction of the kitchen. Sookie took a couple steps to see if she could tell what it was and instead of seeing anything, heard in her head So that's why Eric does not want me or anyone in the house today. Who's piece of shit is that? Sookie clearly saw her own car in mind.

She felt him call someone and read off her license plate number. Sookie Stackhouse. Compton's fangbanger. Car's as white trash as she is. What's she doing here? Bobby Burnham's nasty thoughts became less coherent. It involved nasty, white trash sex mixed with vampire sex, that would be over within a day or two, if it was Eric, and who knew with that little shit, Heimdall. He was leaning more towards Heimdall as her sexual partner since that would be the right kind of trashy sick for a lowlife like her.

Sookie looked at the wall, fuming. He did not know the first thing about her. Or Heimdall. Or Bill. Eric … probably.

The garage door rumbled closed, and Sookie went to the large window in the main room and looked at his ugly car backing out of the driveway.

Going back into the kitchen was unenlightening. Were the plates and cups and pots to fool someone into thinking this was a normal house, or did he have humans here infrequently? Sookie looked in the refrigerator and freezer, and didn't even find a catsup or soy sauce pack. Now that she had eaten all her food, it was just the bottles of Tru Blood … all A positive. What did blood type preference say about a vampire? Did Eric, who did not like Tru Blood, even care that this was labeled A positive? Maybe Sookie could ask Jessica. Bill was trying to blend a couple together to find something she'd like to drink.

She got out her phone, and verified that Bill had not called. After listening to a voice mail from Tara, Sookie cursed being in Shreveport. She wanted to be in Bon Temps for Eggs' funeral. She called and they talked a couple minutes. Tara had calmed down since they last spoke, and Sookie felt it was a step in the right direction to patching up the huge error she made with Eggs.

Tara was so sure Eggs was the one, even though she knew him for less time than Sookie knew Bill. Bill … where was he? What had he planned for their wedding and after flying back from Vermont? It was kind of strange that Sookie was dreaming of having a son, and she hadn't even talked to Bill about how he felt.

With a vampire, Sookie would not have children. She had a tough time growing up with her parents dying, but Gran was so wonderful. She'd never be a grandmother either.

She didn't even know how Bill felt about the possibility of adoption or artificial insemination or maybe he felt that he had his children when he was alive, and never wanted to help raise more with her.

It was with these heavy thoughts in mind that Sookie went downstairs to get dressed before the vampires woke up, but Heimdall was sitting inside the door on the floor under the light, reading his Kindle. He had put his pants back on. This time, Sookie saw how fast the pages of text went by on the thing before he stopped it, and looked up at her.

"You are angry with me?" he asked.

"You know I am," Sookie could not help replying. She could share in the blame, but Heimdall was not a helpless victim.

"Tell me why."

"Why should I?"

"I want to say something, but it would be wrong if I guess what makes you angry."

"How about you tell me why you did it?" she suggested.

"I wanted to. That sounds too simplistic? I do not know what is different about you, Sookie, but it's enough that I would like to have sex with you again, and more than sex. There's … now is not a good time for this."

"To talk?"

"No, not talking. I would like to talk, but there are complications and so much unknown that now is the wrong time for us to meet, but without the complexity, it … may make anything between us pointless."

"What am I going to tell Bill?"

"You should tell him what your conscious dictates. I only fear for you, not myself, in that matter."

"He expected me to be attracted to Eric and kept warning me. What's Eric going to say about you touching me?"

"Eric? Eric is … I think Bill is more important with regards to you. Eric's attitude toward you might remain unchanged. Don't provoke him is all I can advise. It has happened, and nothing he can do will change it."

"Are we … what are we?"

"We? We were intimate, even though I did not enter you."

"Can you expand upon that?"

Heimdall said, "You are still Bill's. I would like to taste your blood at some point, but I do not want a human to protect in return for that privilege."

"Do you know your honesty could be hurtful? I am still in love with Bill. I want to marry him. So I wasn't thinking of uh … changing to you."

"Without knowing Bill Compton, only his recent actions, I am concerned about the basis of your relationship with him. He is acting more like a vampire, than someone in love. But you don't seem to mind that. Why don't you want someone to love you?"

"He loves me. Do you love me?"

Heimdall's blue eyes widened, then he said, "You specifically? I do not wish any harm to befall you, physically, emotionally or spiritually. I love you as I do most living creatures, and I am directly fond of you for your good nature and yet unknown qualities. A real love for you could still be generated between us, however, with me, that is quite rare. You will undoubtedly die before that happens."

"At least a girl knows where she stands with you," Sookie admitted sadly.

"I am not saying this because I have already touched you. I would have told you something similar if you had asked me yesterday."

"You are probably the only person I have met who knows what he really feels."

"That is not true. I know Eric is aware of what he feels. But you must know, a vampire is never at the mercy of his emotions. He dominates them."

Sookie disagreed, "Bill's not like that."

"I do not think you know Bill Compton."

"Neither do you, Heimdall, or whatever your name really is."

"I am not the same vampire I was when I was turned. And Godric became something that did not work. I need to … go back to when I was developing correctly and resume from there."

"That sounds like a lot of work."

"Not really, because it took me over a thousand years to reach that point. I think I can do the preliminaries more quickly, now that I have learned what the answers are."

"The answers to what?"

"Why? That is what Eric asked me, over and over. It took me years to answer some of those questions. I no longer wanted to be what I was. That caused me to adopt a new name because Eric changed my beliefs."

Sookie doubted Eric could change anyone for the better.

"I know, it is difficult to understand. You are still angry at me. Do you need some physical way to express it?"

"Are you going to suggest something?" she asked.

"You could go into that door past Eric, into the closet, take my cell phone from the charger, and throw it into the toilet."

"That sounds like something you'd like me to do to piss off Eric."

"That was too transparent?"

"Yeah," she said, "since I already know you do not like your phone."

"It's … I do not understand it."

"Even I'm computer illiterate, and I was born now."

"Don't get me started on computers. They were the main reason why vampires were convinced to expose ourselves. Everything is remembered by a computer. It is no longer generations passing and doubting what their elders told them."

"Wasn't it synthetic blood?"

"Well yes, but even we could set up dummy organizations that had a need for that product and buy it, without having it bottled into a consumer product available next to the beer and wine at the liquor store."

"Are you able to go buy it in a liquor store?"

"Actually, that was Stan's business for a long time. He owned a big liquor store, in an area of Dallas with a lot of humans that stayed up late, and he'd be there at night, working in it. Stan did not hate most humans. Humans are … entertaining. He liked the ones that came in for a bit of conversation. The ones that tried to rob him, which was quite a lot, he enjoyed showing the error of their ways."

"Why would people keep trying to rob Stan?" Sookie asked.

"He would be the only one there late because he did not want any of his human employees getting accidentally shot. Humans saw opportunity and even though Stan was big, and might have a gun hidden for protection, they were sure they could get away with it because humans are so sure of themselves. Aren't you sure of yourself, Sookie? Going to Jackson to meet with werewolves that consume V? It's like you having a gun, and thinking you can rob a liquor store with Stan at the counter. Something you did not even guess will happen, and you will fail."

"I've heard both you and Eric on that, Heimdall, but I have to go."

"I understand. You have hope. Hope that Bill Compton is well and unharmed, and ready with an explanation of what he is doing. Hope that you will have love, marriage and happiness."

"What's so wrong about that?"

His eyes shifted down, away from hers, as he admitted, "I am not by nature a hopeful person."

"But you said you hoped for God's forgiveness."

"I have no proof of that. I am punished, not forgiven. More punishment is the likely outcome. Even those that believe in forgiveness and forgiving others, do not practice it. They want me punished. They want me to keep suffering."

"What's changed your mind?"

"I … I don't know if I've changed my mind," he admitted. "I am giving it further thought."

Sookie was not prepared to have a philosophical discussion with Heimdall. Giving it further thought meant … he was not about to kill himself? What about her dream about vampire blood delaying his death? "Can drinking Eric's blood have something to do with you thinking it over?"

"There is also the maenad's. Eric's blood … I enjoy it. It's not something that is common, but I desire something, but not humans. His blood alone will not sustain me. That is common knowledge among vampires that we cannot live on each other. There must always be humans … or now, the bottled swill." Heimdall perversely enjoyed his child's blood. Eric was Life to his Death. Sookie did not see Eric drinking from him to strengthen their mutual bond. They needed to be stronger than ever, with the possibility of Russell Edgington as their enemy.

Any vampire that he knew that dabbled in sharing vampire blood on a constant and regular basis was usually driven mad enough to kill their partner, even if it was a maker and child. The secret was to love Eric above all others, even himself. Their tie as father, brother and son was a paragon. Now, Heimdall was the son, with Eric as the father. It had been long since they shifted the balance in this direction. Great things could come of it.

"You did not feed from me when we uh ..."

When she let her words drift off, her thought unfinished, Heimdall replied, "What I did taste of you was satisfying, Sookie. It promises a sweetness that I would enjoy savoring. The promise may be false, but if it is not, I would like to do it properly, rather than impetuously biting you while enjoying other pleasures."

"It's not tied together for you … blood and sex?"

"No."

"No?"

"No, I enjoyed blood alone for a long time."

Sookie did not know if she should even mention the sex part. She did not know him well enough to know his feelings, other than Eric said he did not talk much about being human.

Heimdall was puzzled by Sookie's sudden silence. She was a talker. He asked, "It was not pleasing for you?"

"As you said, it's not a good time for either of us, but uh … you're good at what you did."

"Next time, I will do more to please you. At night."

"I don't think we should have a next time."

"I believe that will be your loss," Heimdall said with a smirk.

Eric's nasty banter had made her somewhat immune. "Yeah, whatever. I should get dressed. Do you happen to know how long it is till sunset?"

"It is past mid-afternoon."

"Why don't you go back to reading …?"

"I was still on today's Wall Street Journal when you came down. I subscribe to three newspapers."

"You read a lot."

"I am good at reading." With a fond look towards the bed, Heimdall said, "Eric showed me how to first read. Before that, I only heard languages when I was near others. Now I can hear them in my head all the time."

"There has to be some point where you regretted making Eric a vampire."

"When?"

"Can't you think of when?" Sookie prompted.

"No."

"Come on, Eric's not perfect."

"Eric says he is."

Sookie looked at Heimdall, then he cracked a smile, and said, "I have never asked him that. Why are you taking your anger out on Eric? I accept the blame for what happened."

"I'm frustrated that I drank his blood."

He admitted, "Eric is concerned for you."

"Aren't you concerned?"

"Not enough to share my blood with you. I will have to follow you vicariously through Eric's link."

"So does that mean if I'm in trouble, both of you will come to Mississippi?"

Heimdall remained silent.

"Heimdall?"

"No," he said flatly, looking back down at his Kindle and doing something to get the text to change.