I'm so sorry this chapter has taken forever, sometimes real life gets in the way. Thank you so much for all your comments, I'm so happy you are enjoying this story. Oh and Kerriki: you and me both:)

"Godric, no! This is too much, too soon. I've already said I'll stay with Eric, that'll have to do. I'm not going to take his blood!"

Godric's face was expressionless, but I swear I saw something close to hurt on Eric's.

I knew that vampires rarely gave their blood to humans, so Eric was offering me a great gift. Turning it down was probably very rude, but I simply couldn't do it. I felt bad about hurting his feelings though, so I tried to explain.

"Eric, I'm really honored that you would offer. I'm so grateful for what you've done for me and what you're willing to do. But it's just such a huge step and I've had too many of those lately. So please don't ask me to do something I'm really not ready for."

They both turned to each other and I swear they were having a silent conversation. Finally Godric looked at me.

"You're right, Sookie. There have been so many changes in your life lately it must be overwhelming. I won't ask any more of you. You staying with Eric will be enough for now."

With that settled, we left Eric's office and went into the bar. Eric had work to do and Godric needed to make arrangements for his trip, so I sat down for another drink. Pam came over to chat a little, but mostly I sat by myself, sipping my second gin and tonic.

I was getting a little bored, so I let my shield down. People's thoughts weren't exactly interesting, mostly they were about sex. A lot of them were about sex with Eric or Godric or both. I can't say I was happy about that, but I couldn't blame them. They're both very handsome men and it's not as if anyone knew they belonged to me.

I picked up the thoughts of a couple of under-aged college kids who'd gotten in with fake ids. I knew the bar was raided on a regular basis, with the authorities looking for an excuse to shut it down. The bar was important to Eric, so I didn't want that to happen. I went up to Pam and told her and a minute later they were asked to leave.

There were no other interesting thoughts after that and I was getting tired and about to put my shield back up when I heard them. There were two distinct thought patterns, but they were thinking about the same thing. They were both thinking about draining a vampire.

I couldn't tell who they were, but from their thoughts I knew they were sitting with a female vampire. She was a young vampire, so they figured she would be weaker and easier to subdue . They were pretending to be fangbangers; they planned to lure her to their car with the promise of sex and feeding and once there they would trap her with silver chains. They'd done this before, I saw several female vampires in their minds, all drained and eventually staked. They seemed to prey on the young and inexperienced and it just made me sick. I couldn't let them go through with their horrific plans.

I looked for Eric and saw him sitting up on the stage, managing to look both intimidating and bored at the same time. I walked up to him and with one sudden move he pulled me onto his lap.

"What can I do for you, lover?" he whispered in my ear.

"What did you just call me?"

"I was just thinking of the things I will do to you when you finally yield to me. You will be my lover eventually, so from now on that is what I will call you."

If it'd been anyone else it would have just been sleazy, but coming from Eric - his tongue firmly in cheek - it was kind of funny and endearing. I wasn't about to let him know that I thought that though.

"Just call me Sookie, Eric," I said, trying to sound unamused. "I have something important to tell you."

I told him what I'd heard and he took my hand and led me through the crowd.

"Show me who you saw, Sookie," Eric whispered in my ear and I tried to look for the faces I'd seen in the men's minds.

I finally saw them, hidden away in a booth close to the exit. I nodded towards them and Eric let go of my hand.

"Go to Pam," he said. "Stay with her until Godric or I come for you."

Pam was at the door, carding people and scaring the hell out of them. I wasn't sure which was considered her more important task, but I suspected it was the latter. It was part of what drew people to Fangtasia, Eric had told me.

"Hi Pam," I said and plopped down on a chair next to where she was standing. "Eric wants you to babysit me while he deals with something. Can I help out here?"

She just flashed a fangy smile and I took that as a yes.

I stamped people's hands while Pam checked IDs. I also read their minds, but apart from a couple of underage kids, there was nothing that caught my attention.

I sat there for a long time, just working and enjoying Pam's company. As intimidating as she'd been the first couple of times I'd met her, she'd really grown on me. She was funny and clever and very different from any of the women I worked with at Merlotte's.

Pam was just in the middle of scaring some tourists from Iowa when Eric came over, put his arm around me and walked me towards his office.

"Sookie, you just made most valuable employee of the month," he said with a big grin on his face. "I have a proposition for you. You said you needed to work while Godric is away?"

"Yes." I had a feeling where this was going, but I let him continue.

"I want you to work for me. It will be very difficult to protect you if you go back to Bon Temps every day. If you work here at Fangtasia, Pam and I can keep an eye on you at all times. And you have proven to be a very useful employee."

"I will pay you three times what the shifter pays. And we have excellent health insurance for the humans," he added.

Good to know. The way things were going that could come in handy.

"Ok. But only while Godric is gone. When he comes back I go back to Merlotte's".

Godric joined us in Eric's office soon after and he was smiling broadly as he looked at us. I was pretty sure he knew what had just happenend, and I wouldn't have been too surprised if it turned out to have been his idea.

"Are you ready to go home?" he asked and I nodded.

We were both quiet during the drive home. I had a lot on my mind and maybe Godric did too. It's hard to tell with him, because he's always so calm and quiet.

The moment we were inside the house I reached for him, pulling his shirt over his head. I'd waited all night for this, and I couldn't wait one second longer. I put my arms around Godric neck, and a second later I had my legs wrapped around his waist.

"Why don't you take me to the bedroom and let me have my way with you?" I whispered into Godric's ear. He didn't answer but a moment later I was laying on our bed, doing exactly that.

When we were both sated I turned to him and traced my fingers across his chest.

"So, Godric. Do you have any nicknames? Maybe I should call you God. You know, short for Godric," I giggled. Godric just smiled. God, I loved it when that man smiled. He was so beautiful. And so mine. I told him as much and he pulled me to him and gave me a long, wonderful kiss that left me breathless. I fell asleep soon after and didn't wake up until almost 3 o'clock the next day. Being with Godric really messed with my sleep patterns, but I didn't mind. Falling asleep with him next to me and waking up to his beautiful smile was worth it.

After I showered and got dressed I went down Eric's library, which was a large room with bookshelfs lining the walls all the way up to the high ceiling. I could get lost in Eric's vast collection and spent a long time looking through it. He had all sorts of books in different languages and a lot of them were first editions, some of them really old and really beautiful. When I finally managed to pick one, I curled up in one of the over-sized chairs and read until Godric woke up and distracted me. Did I mention that I really enjoy being distracted by Godric? He had taken my place on the chair and had me on his lap, doing things to me that a librarian would probably not approve of.

"I see you are enjoying my library, Sookie" I heard Eric say behind me and I blushed. I wasn't exactly fully dressed anymore, but it didn't seem to bother Eric. Or Godric for that matter. I guess vampires have a slightly different attitude to sex and nudity than what I'm used to.

Godric helped put me to rights and we went into the living room, Eric and him talking in another language, which Godric had told me was Swedish. He was getting ready to leave for his trip and I was going to Fangtasia with Eric.

Godric had his arm around me as he walked me to Eric's car. He gave me a long kiss, before I had to reluctantly get in the car. I stared out the window as we drove away, watching Godric as he slowly disappeared from my view.