A/N: I'm baaaaaaaack!
As you can see, I actually was able to finish this chapter MUCH faster than I thought I would, and it's all because of your reviews! I'm not kidding … I just passed 500 reviews, yeeeah boiiii! Thank you guys so much, and please, keep it coming! This is proof of what your reviews do to me. *coughs* ;)
As always, a ginormous thank you to my beta chiisai-kitty. *hands cookie and juice AND a napkin* :P
These characters are not mine. Easy as that. Although I did borrow from a few scenes. I'm sure you'll be able to tell which ones.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
I woke up and the first thing I saw was Eric's eyes, almost white in the darkness, about three inches from my face. He was kneeling down at the side of my bed, so that his face was on the same level as mine. I smiled lazily and whispered, "Hey."
Eric whispered back, "Sookie, it's Pam. The Supe meeting is over, and she called to inform you what's going to happen tonight."
"Oh, okay," I replied, stretching my arms over my head. Once I finished Eric handed me the phone and as soon as I said hello I realized that I was naked. Oh. My. God. Please tell me vampires can't tell what someone is wearing while talking on the phone.
Pam was saying hello back when I jumped up. Eric had straightened and I could see that he was naked too. Evidently he didn't feel any qualms about talking to Pam on the phone sans clothes. He threw me a quizzical look that softened when he saw me quickly throw my old flannel bathrobe on. He shook his head and chuckled as he climbed back into bed. I shushed him and lay on my back next to him, looking up at the ceiling and wondering what Pam was going to say. Her phone calls were always … interesting. And scary.
"Are you listening, Sookie?" Pam squawked. I hadn't been. Whoops.
"Sorry. Still sleepy. What were you saying?" I mumbled apologetically.
"We attack the witches tonight." I sat up straight. Well, that's one way to wake me up.
"Tonight?" I squeaked. Did she mean before or after her daytime slumber? I glanced over at Eric. He was lying with his eyes closed, listening to his iPod with his hands behind his head on the pillow. I was so shocked I didn't even take advantage of having the chance to ogle Eric without him knowing. Just then he opened one eye, peeked at me, and sat up straight. He took the earphones out and raised an eyebrow.
I was momentarily distracted by the eyebrow porn until Pam sighed, loudly and unnecessarily. "Yes. Tonight. As soon as the sun sets."
"Wow. And you decided all this at the meeting?"
"Yes. It went much better than last time."
Eric stiffened. I looked over and rolled my eyes as I waved the phone in the air, trying to comfort him. He looked better, but not by much.
"What happened?"
"The Were trackers found the location of the building Hallow is using for the witches' headquarters. We will launch a surprise attack tonight and fight. I am confident that we will emerge victorious."
"Oh."
"What I need you to do is bring Eric to my house at eight o'clock sharp. Here's the address. Do you have a pen and paper ready?"
I didn't, but I did about three seconds later when Eric zoomed back into my bed with a notebook and a pen from down downstairs. I kissed him thank you and replied, "Uh huh. Shoot."
I copied down her address and Pam said, "I'm sure Eric's warrior tendencies haven't disappeared with his memories, so we will need to have him with us when we attack. You are welcome to stay at my house and wait for our return."
I didn't like that. Stackhouses aren't cowards, especially not this Stackhouse. And even though Eric was the vampire, I still felt a need to protect him or keep him out of harm's reach. I may not have fangs or a tail or a supernatural double-life, but I was a telepath and certainly that bumped me up from human to a useful human?
"No thank you. I want to help. I could read the minds of the witches, like I did back at Fangtasia," I said. Eric shook his head vehemently and mouthed the word, "No."
Luckily, Pam agreed with me. "That is a surprisingly good idea. Now that I think about it, the witches might have placed anti-Supe spells around the area, so only a human could go through. The Weres said they detected magic but didn't want to go close enough to investigate. Also, your telepathy would be valuable. Yes. Both you and Eric will come to the witch fight."
"Okay. And we will be at your house at 8."
"Or even earlier. The sooner we leave, the sooner we fight, the sooner we win."
"Right." I said hesitantly. Was that really as good as Pam made it seem? "Oh, I almost forgot, Alcide doesn't need to come over tomorrow. I can handle everything on my own. I have a lot of chores to do."
Eric didn't bother trying to hide his shit-eating grin. So I didn't bother trying to hide mine.
Pam replied, "Fine. I will tell Colonel Flood that when I call him after this. We have to organize transportation for tomorrow night."
I tried my best not to snort. Pam wants to carpool to the witch fight. She would. "Okay then. Is there anything else?"
"If you have to leave the house, call the shifter. Do not go out alone. He has agreed to give you the day off again. Other than that, I think we are finished. Good bye." Click.
Wow, this must be really serious if Pam didn't bring her usual sauciness to the table. That worried me. I flopped back down, my head hitting the pillow. I turned over to Eric's side of the bed, where he was gazing intently at me.
"Sookie, you know you do not need to go and fight," he said carefully.
"Yeah, I know. But I want to. I want to help. I have to help. And I will. It's as simple as that."
"But you are a human, fighting against Weres and witches. You could be hurt or killed."
"I also could have gotten hurt or killed when I picked up a strange vampire running on the side of the road, and look where that got me." I arched an eyebrow. There's no way Eric could argue that. And if he tried to, he'd be an even deader man.
He studied me before he sighed reluctantly. "That is true."
I added, "Plus, I don't think I'd be needed to fight. I'd probably just need to see how many witches there are, and like Pam said, go through the Supe detection." Saying the words out loud didn't make me feel any stronger. I was still nervous.
Eric cupped my cheek. "Don't worry, Sookie. I will protect you. I will look out for you. I will make sure you are safe, always," Eric said determinedly. He moved so he was lying down facing me. I placed my hand on top of his on the bed.
"I know you will, sweetie."
"Good." He lifted up my hand and kissed it, letting his lips linger.
"What time is it?" I asked. I would turn around to look at the clock, but I was too lazy. Plus, with his vampire vision he could probably see it. Living with a vampire certainly had its perks.
I was right. "A little after four. I'll have to retire soon. It's getting late for both of us." He sounded as sad as I felt about that.
"Will you lie with me until I fall asleep?" I asked shyly.
His white teeth glowed white as he grinned. "Of course. I would love to."
I kissed his cheek and rolled over so he could spoon me. "Good night, lover," he whispered in my ear.
"Night, Eric," I replied sleepily. I was out soon afterwards.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
I woke up and did all the chores I knew I had to do—laundry, dishes, vacuuming, cleaning. What I didn't know was that I would be the nervous wreck.
I jumped when I heard a particularly loud bird chirp outside the window I was cleaning. I caught myself spelling out Eric's name while vacuuming the carpet. I even started tearing up when I saw his clothes mixed in with mine when I was doing the laundry.
Was this the last time Eric would need his clothes washed? Was this the last time I would wash his clothes, or even my clothes? No. No no no no no. I'm not going down that road. I can't think like that. I won't. I refuse to.
Everything will work out fine. No one's going to die. Eric's lived for a thousand years—of course he'll live through one lousy night. God, he's probably fought like goblins and trolls and Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster and hey, maybe even the Abominable Snowman. Eric was a Swedish Viking, after all. You never know.
And with him by my side, I'll be fine. Totally fine. Like, construction-worker-whistle hot damn fine. I shouldn't even be worrying right now.
So cleaning wasn't enough to take my mind off of things. I decided to stop and take a bath and shave and use my favorite conditioner to try and relax. It didn't work. So then I decided to put some makeup on, hoping that the impeding threat of poking myself in the eye with my mascara wand would be enough to snap me out of this frightful reverie. Thankfully, it was. I mascara-ed and bronzer-ed and lip glossed my way through half an hour, and I was so relieved that my dawdling was making the time until Eric wakes up go by even faster that I decided to blow dry my usually curly hair straight.
Once I finished with that I looked at my watch. Four o'clock. Almost there. I sadly reflected that I was partaking in the activities that most women do to get ready for dates—except I was preparing for a witch war.
Wait a second. I could be preparing for a date. That would be a great way to surprise Eric—much better than sneaking up on him (cough, cough). I smiled for the first time all day. I could arrange a date for Eric! I love my brain.
I quickly put together a list of date activities we could do. I could order a pizza and—would that be okay? Ordering a pizza and having someone come to the house? Oh, who am I kidding? I know everyone who works at the only pizza store in town, thanks to Jason and my job at the only restaurant in town. Then again, I have no idea what I know anymore. I decided I'd order the pizza when Eric was up. I'm sure that'd be fine.
Eric. What to do about Eric? I hunted around, but couldn't find any paper umbrellas like I jokingly suggested last night. That's okay though. Eric doesn't really seem like a paper umbrella kind of guy.
I did find Gran's best set of china, the one her mother gave her on her wedding day, and decided that would be nice. I found some candlesticks and a glass vase that I could put whatever remaining flowers I had outside in. After some cloth napkins and good silverware, I was in business.
Now that the dinner part was taken care of, what next? What did people do on dates anyways? It's not like I was an expert on that. We could watch a movie, but we already did that on what Eric considered our first date. Granted, it was only Twilight, but still. Maybe I could pick one of Jason's manly action movies he left lying around here?
Oh, or maybe Eric and I could watch some of my home movies? That'd tie into the whole 'introduce yourself and any cute family background or stories' thing that people did on first dates in the movies. That could be fun. Eric always listened when I talked about Gran or Jason or my parents; heck, he'd even commented on my family photos the first night we met. Although there's no way I'm showing Eric the one of my fifth grade ballet recital, where Jason zoomed in on me picking this humungous wedgie my hot pink leotard gave me. Seriously, I even stopped dancing in the middle of the routine to paw at my butt. Yeah, that tape should have been burned, but for now it can just hide under the sofa cushions.
Would we even have time for a movie? Eric wakes up at 5:30 and Pam wants us there at 8. And there were other … non-first date activities I wanted to do with Eric. Maybe we could just eat dinner, watch a few short home videos, and then ... enjoy ourselves.
Okay, now it was five o'clock. I went upstairs and, after much deliberation of what one would wear on date night, slipped into my darkest pair of jeans and a nice black button down shirt. I even decided to ignore one of my rules and wear my shoes in my house—my only pair of black heels. I wore Gran's pearl earrings. I dabbed some perfume on. I wanted this to feel like a real date.
While I was upstairs, I placed Eric's freshly laundered clothing on the bed, and placed a note on top of the pile:
Eric,
I have a surprise for you. It should be ready once you shower and put some clothes on. But PLEASE don't come downstairs until then. It'd ruin the surprise.
I stopped. I didn't know how to sign it. "Love, Sookie" sounded like how I'd sign my name if I was writing a letter to my brother. And "From, Sookie" was way too impersonal for Eric. Finally, I decided to write "Your Lover" and went downstairs to order the pizza.
I was in the middle of lighting the candles when I heard the water of the shower turn on upstairs. I almost burned myself when I jumped up and down in response. If Eric zoomed outside and rang the doorbell, my complete transformation into a high school girl on her first date night would be complete.
I warmed up Eric's blood and poured it into a fancy glass. Everything looked perfect. I dimmed the lights so it looked like we would be eating in a romantic restaurant … Chez Sookie. And even though the table only had one set of silverware and one plate, it still looked amazing.
The water stopped. I scurried over and sat down in my chair, and not soon afterwards Eric walked down the stairs, human speed—he even walked down with his hand on the railing. I smiled. He smiled too, making him look even more gorgeous. He was wearing the pair of jeans he had worn that first night, coupled with Jason's sweatshirt ... the one that just barely made it to the top of his jeans and rode up whenever he moved around a lot.
He stopped once he got to the kitchen. "What's this, lover?" he asked playfully.
I rose from my seat and replied, "Hi, Eric. I'm glad you could make it." I walked over, and with each step I took his smirk got even bigger.
"Me too, whatever 'it' is," he grinned. "Sookie, you look beautiful."
"Thank you. We match," I giggled, going in for a hug.
He laughed. "Yes, we do." His arms circled around my waist, bringing me closer. "What's this surprise? I'm intrigued." He softly kissed me on the lips.
"We're on a date right now, silly," I replied. Eric stepped back and looked at the table, the flowers, and the candles. His eyes lit up.
"You did all this?" he asked, clearly surprised. "For me?"
"All for you, Eric," I said. The doorbell rang. Eric tensed, but I patted his arm affectionately. "Don't worry. It's probably just the pizza guy. I ordered in."
I walked over and grabbed some cash. It really was just the pizza guy.
"Okay, now that the food's here we can start this date," I called out over my shoulder, bringing the pizza in the dining room.
Eric followed behind me and sat down in his spot. I served myself a piece of pizza and poured myself a glass of wine. Hey, I'd probably need it for later. For the witch war-later.
"Cheers," I said giddily, holding up my glass. Eric looked confused until I explained, "It's something you do to celebrate something. You clink my glass and then take a sip."
"Oh. Okay. I can do that," Eric said. He looked puzzled, but he still clinked my glass and drank his blood.
An evil thought popped into my head, one that referenced the Last Supper, but I quickly pushed that aside once Eric asked how my day was, like he always did. This time I didn't really have anything exciting to report back. That was okay; we still found lots to talk about. Eric might not remember much, but he was a great listener and he always made me laugh.
Except he made me feel a little sad once I asked him how his daytime slumber was and whether or not he dreamed during the day; he replied that he didn't know how to dream, because everything was just black. Although I paused for a couple moments, I recovered by meekly saying that at least he couldn't have nightmares either, and he eagerly asked if a nightmare was what I was having when I woke up talking about evil grapes. We laughed after that, and I told him some of the craziest dreams I could remember. He especially liked the one I had where Jason and I were gingerbread cookies who were shipwrecked on an island full of other cannibalistic gingerbread cookies.
"I like dates," Eric said as he was rinsing out his glass. I was wrapping up the leftover pizza.
"Me too. I think this was our best one yet."
"It's over already? We didn't even watch a movie though," Eric said, turning off the water and walking over to me.
"Yeah, I know. I picked out a couple home videos to watch; our itinerary doesn't have enough time for a whole movie. And there are a couple extra things I want to do too."
"Home videos? You are an actress also?" Eric asked. I stifled a laugh. He was too cute. Although
"No, not really. Home videos are what families make if they have a video camera. They take videos of anything they want. Usually they're of little things, like playing catch with my brother or getting ready for a high school dance, or big things, like my graduation from high school. On first dates people usually talk about themselves, but I figured since we already kind of did that and you don't know that much about yourself, we could just watch some of these for a little while."
"I'd like that," Eric said. He strolled into the living room and I grabbed the tapes from the coffee table. I popped one in and sat down on the couch next to Eric, who already had our blanket ready. I snuggled into my usual position and waited for the video to start.
It was the one of Christmas when I was seven years old. I had received a Barbie doll and was interviewing her for the camera; I even called her Miss Barbie Doll and everything. I complimented her on her hair-do and her hot pink mini dress before asking about her relationship with Ken. Eric asked where this was from so I explained everything that was happening, like where and why that scene was taking place, and who the actors were: Jason was in the background, playing with his toy fire truck and even making "vroom vroom" noises; my mom and dad were cleaning up the wrapping paper, and Gran was the one videotaping me. At one point I even asked Gran to dance with me and Miss Barbie Doll, and she obliged; she placed the camera on the table and shuffled around in her bathrobe and slippers, holding my hand and Miss Barbie Doll's hand so it looked like we were playing Ring around the Rosy. I was smiling so much there, something that was made even clearer when I walked over to the camera and smushed my face against the lens before everything cut to black.
Eric laughed softly. I looked up at him and he said, "Thank you for showing me that. Miniature Sookie is silly."
"What, and grown up Sookie isn't?" I exclaimed in mock-anger, punching him in the arm.
"I feel like Pam would enjoy having a Miss Barbie Doll to dress up," he said after we stopped laughing.
I snorted. "Yeah, we could even buy her Vampire Barbie. That doll even comes with its own fangs and bottle of TrueBlood. Pam wouldn't like the clothes though, I think: they're all either black or red."
"Pam would like the pink dress your doll wore though. She seems to like pink."
"That she does."
I looked at the clock. Six thirty on the dot. Call me selfish, but I wanted to do some more-than-PG things with Eric. I wanted all the alone time with him that I had before this stupid witch war.
I stood up and held a hand out to Eric. He instantly took it and stood up as well. "I have one last thing planned for this date," I said.
He nodded. I led him upstairs. Once we were both inside, I closed the door and turned around. Eric was standing in front of me, waiting. He was in for a show.
I started undoing the buttons on my shirt. Eric's eyes shone but he didn't do anything. He also didn't look anywhere else but me, especially when I took off my shirt and revealed the one sexy bra I owned, a nude one with black lace. I had never worn it with a purpose before tonight.
Eric licked his lips and his fangs came down but still he didn't step forward. Instead, he stood up straight and slowly—too slowly—lifted up the bottom of his shirt up higher, revealing inch after inch of toned muscle and abs. Finally, the shirt came over his head and he carelessly crumpled it up and threw it on the floor. He looked at me.
My turn. I shook out my hair, making sure I arched my back and pushed my boobs out. Then I nonchalantly brought my hands down to my jeans. I fumbled a little, but was able to unbutton and unzip. I slowly stepped out of my jeans, trying to make it as slowly as Eric had taken off his shirt. The waiting had been very … thrilling, to say the least, for me when he was doing that; I wanted to make him to feel the same way.
I stepped out of my jeans, kicking them to the side. I now stood facing Eric in my bra and my matching bikini panties. Now I started to feel a little self-conscious, with my hopefully size-eight body fully bared for Eric to plainly see. This was new for us. This was the first time we were doing this kind of thing. I couldn't wait to see how it ended up.
Any doubt I had disappeared once Eric unbuttoned his jeans; he was going commando and he didn't waste any time letting me know that—or how much he liked the sight of my hopefully size-eight body.
I reached back to undo my bra, and that was when Eric broke and walked determinedly over to me. "No. I want to do that," he murmured, stopping my hands. That was okay with me. I threw my hands around his neck and started kissing him recklessly. He took my bra off forcefully and then his cool hands were everywhere. He seemed to have six hands and I didn't mind one bit.
Somehow we ended up on the bed and Eric was helping free me of my last article of clothing. He was working his way up the inside of my thigh and my hands were fisting the sheets. "Eric," I panted, amazed I was able to talk during a moment like this, "We don't have much time. Let's make this good."
He paused and looked up the length of my body at me. He smirked when he saw I was watching him. "Oh lover, we'll make this more than good."
And we did. And then he did. And then I did. And then we were holding each other, sated and happy. More than happy. Ecstatic, even.
Until I happened to look at the clock; I don't know why I would do such a thing when I had a naked Eric in my bed. Silly me.
"I hate to say this, but we should start getting ready to go to Pam's," I whispered. I looked at the clock again. "We really should start getting ready to go to Pam's."
"I know," Eric sighed.
Neither of us got up.
"Eric, I'm serious!"
"So am I!" he protested, raising an eyebrow.
I threw a pillow at him (of course it went nowhere near the target, but at least it got my message across) and got up out of bed, not even worried about my nakedness. If Eric wasn't in the room, I would have skipped over to my drawers giddy with good self-esteem. I didn't even worry about bending over to pick up my panties and slip them on.
Eric rolled out of bed to walk over to where the rest of his clean clothes were. I gaped. Even with the darkness of the light, I could see that he had the most fantastic butt ever—more fantastic than I had thought possible. If there were an international butt competition, Eric would win, hands down—or cheeks up. He would get a large, large trophy.
Of course, the only way his butt could look any less eatable was in boxers—and just barely. I sighed. Louder than I meant to.
Eric looked up. He hadn't taken any blood from me tonight, which is why he completely took me by surprise when he murmured, "Sookie, I want you to take blood from me."
"What now?" I dropped the shirt I had been in the middle of putting on and sat down on my bed, my head resting against the headboard. Eric came over so he was sitting next to me.
He explained, "For this witch fight. It could be very dangerous for you, since you are mortal. If you had my blood in you, you would be stronger, safer even. I would feel less worried, and I think you would too."
"I get what you're saying, but why? I won't even be fighting."
He opened his mouth to speak, but waited a little bit before he actually did. "Because … I don't want to risk having you get hurt. Because I don't want to lose you. Because I … because I find I care for you. I have feelings for you."
Something fluttered inside my chest. "What kind of feelings?" Could it be Eric felt the same way about me as I did about him?
"Good feelings. Very good feelings. Warm feelings." He looked over at me significantly. "I like having those feelings."
"I have those same feelings you do, Eric. I like them too." I said, nowhere near as eloquently as he did. He still smiled. I did too.
"So now that you know how I feel about you, and I know how you feel about me … will you take my blood so we can continue to have those feelings for each other?" Eric said before he began kissing his feelings onto my lips.
"I—well … okay," I agreed. He had a good point. As long as I didn't turn into a vampire, I was okay with it. Plus, I had really liked how Eric had given me blood last time. Really liked.
Eric smiled, relieved. "You would need more than the previous time, you know."
I nodded. He lifted up his wrist and bit down; I didn't try to stop him like last time, but I still hurriedly looked away. I didn't like the idea of Eric injuring himself for me, even if it would heal.
"Ready, lover?" Eric asked. I nodded again but didn't move, unsure of how to do this.
Eric knew what he was doing, though, as he slid his non-bleeding arm around me and carefully eased me up against him, my back to his chest, and wrapped his arms around me. It was like leaning against a firm, cool, pillow—one that had muscles and hair. Then his wrist appeared in front of my face, blood running from the two wounds in his skin. I didn't hesitate before taking his wrist in my hands and bringing it to my mouth, sucking eagerly.
Since this was the first time I was actually tasting Eric's blood, I was surprised at how it was sweeter and more satisfactory than one would think blood would taste like. It didn't smell or taste like the coppery way my blood always smelled when I scraped a knee or cut my finger while cooking, but it was better.
Eric moaned, and I could tell quickly that he was once again pleased to be in such close contact. He began to move a little, and I tried to move my hips in rhythm with his. He hissed when I did that, his mouth trailing down the side of my neck. He moaned louder when I snuck a hand back there.
He pressed against me even harder, and then suddenly he groaned, "Ohhhhh," and relaxed all over. I felt wetness against my back, and I took one deep, last draw. Eric groaned again, a deep and guttural sound, and his fangs scraped my neck. I took my now free hand and brought it to the back of his head, pushing him a little closer to me to show I wanted him to take blood from me.
I licked away the remnants of his blood and panted, "Do it. I want you to."
He didn't wait around for an engraved invitation. I cried out with the shock of it, but that cry quickly morphed into a loud moan. Many loud moans.
Eric didn't take as much blood as I did, and after he finished he licked the two fang marks and kissed them. His lips were a little bloody, as I'm sure mine were, but we still kissed and kissed and kissed some more.
We exchanged many compliments afterwards, but I couldn't shake the somber feeling that crept up on me once we both fully clothed in new outfits. I couldn't help thinking that was a pretty nice way to spend what might be our last night together. It was perhaps the last time Eric would wake up in my house or use our special blanket. One of us might not survive this night, and if we did, there was no way to know how we'd be changed. Eric must have been thinking the same thing as me, because he was pretty somber too.
We silently headed to the car. Eric didn't try playing with the radio this time; we were both too tense, especially after I hit a particularly deep ditch in my driveway that caused me to bang my head against the headrest and swear at the stupid driveway for injuring me and my trusty Datsun. I was taking my nervousness and tenseness out on the car and Eric definitely noticed.
"Isn't there a way you can get your driveway fixed? So this wouldn't happen again?" Eric asked slowly.
I sighed. "Yeah, there is. I can't do anything about it though. I just don't have the money for it."
"You might soon," he responded darkly, and I turned to gape at him.
"Don't say things like that! Especially not right now!" I sputtered.
He apologized, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. I didn't push it, though.
After that, the drive to Shreveport was silent. I was tempted many times to turn around, but I knew I couldn't do that. I sure wanted to though. If we went back, I would be alive and Eric would be as alive as he could be and we could do everything together. Everything but really live our lives though.
"Why are you so worried, Sookie?" Eric asked. He turned away from the window to look at me. "I will protect you. You will be okay with me."
I smiled weakly. "I trust you. I'm just worried for everyone else. I don't want even more people to die tonight. Too many people are dead as it is."
"But after we defeat the witches, there won't be any more killings." Eric sounded like he was practicing for a debate, not on his way to an epic supernatural showdown. I shot him a look. How could he sound so calm, so controlled? "Sookie, there's nothing like a good fight," he said defensively.
"That depends on who wins, I would think."
That kept him quiet for a few minutes, which was fine. I was having trouble negotiating the strange streets in the darkness, with so much on my mind. But we finally got to the right address, or at least what I hoped was the right address. I had always pictured Pam and Chow living in a mansion, but the vampires had a large ranch-style house in an upper-middle-class suburb. It was a trimmed-lawn, bike-riding, lawn-sprinkling street, from what I could tell. I wondered if the school children knew their neighbors were vampires. I wondered what happened on Halloween. I wondered about everything except what was waiting for me in that house.
I parked near where the other cars were parked; I could recognize Alcide's truck. I didn't see Pam's minivan, but I figured it was in the closed three-car garage.
Before we got out of my old car, Eric leaned over to kiss me. We looked at each other, his eyes wide and blue, the whites so white you could hardly look away, his golden hair neatly brushed and slightly damp from our shower. Our wonderful shower.
"We could go back," he whispered. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone and as beautiful as a statue's. "We could go back to the house. I can stay with you always. We can know each other's bodies in every way, night after night. We could have many dates. We could make our own home movies. I would love you." His nostrils flared, and he looked suddenly proud. "I would love you. I could work. You would not be poor. We would be happy."
"Sounds like a marriage," I said, my voice cracking. I tried to lighten the mood but I felt like I just made it worse. This was everything I wanted Eric to say to me, but he wasn't saying it for the right reasons.
"Yes," he replied simply, his eyes begging me to say the same.
"I want to. I really do," I said shakily. I looked away for a second, breaking eye contact.
"Then why won't you?" he asked quietly, staring a thousand-yard stare out the window.
I didn't know how to translate what I was feelings into words, but that didn't stop me from trying. "I—I mean, we're already here. These people are here to help us. They're risking their lives to be here tonight. It ... it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be right for us."
He didn't say anything.
I continued, "We'll be okay. We'll be more than okay. Eric, look at me. After tonight, we'll go back to the house and then we can do all the things you mentioned. All of them. We just need to get through tonight. That's all. One itsy bitsy night."
"Yes," he murmured. "But until then …." He leaned over and laid the biggest, most passionate kiss on me. I had to unbuckle my seatbelt before I gave myself over to the kiss. It seemed to last forever, or until I accidentally hit the steering wheel with my elbow and beeped the horn.
I pulled back and giggled nervously. "Oops."
Eric shrugged and moved to kiss me again, but then Pam opened the front door and called out to us, waving a hand. I sighed and opened my door. He got out of the car too and zoomed over to hold my hand as we walked up the driveway.
Once we approached the house I could see that Pam looked more surprised than I thought a vampire could be. Her mouth was opened, her eyes were widened, and her eyebrows were raised. She had dropped and broken the phone she had been holding, and it looked like she didn't even notice because she was staring at us so intently.
Eric and I glanced at each other uneasily. So far, not good.