Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers who celebrate it! Many thanks to EVERYONE who reads, reviews, puts this story or me on their favorite or alert lists. You keep me going!

Many many thanks to my fantastic beta charhamblin, who took time out from holiday preparations to help me get this out. You're the best, girl!

WARNING! THIS STORY IS INTENDED FOR MATURE AUDIENCES. It is rated M for a reason! If you are under 18, please don't read my story! Eric is dark in this story and his actions toward Sookie have been questionable. If you have a problem with non-traditional and alternative (read *kinky*) forms of sexual play, this is not the story for you. If you do not want to see Eric and Sookie in a Dominant/submissive relationship, please stop reading now. I hope that you will keep reading, but you have been warned!

I do not own any of these wonderful characters. They belong to Charlaine Harris. No infringement is intended.

Previous:

"Oh, God, Eric, Baby, will you just shut up and fuck me already?" Sookie cried from beneath him, trying to pull him down to kiss her again. He resisted, and then Sookie saw what he had gone away to get.

He pulled a length of rope from behind him on the couch, and her eyes widened as she gaped at it. Then her eyes went to his, seeking confirmation that he, too, had seen the same vision. His next words left no doubt in her mind.

"Take your clothes off, Lover," he ordered. "All of them. I want you naked. NOW!"

Chapter 14 - Pecan Pie

Sookie froze, stunned, her mouth gaping open in shock. How could Eric have seen that vision in her head? There was no way that he could have seen what had gone through her mind. She was the mind-reader; he wasn't! Could it be a coincidence that he wanted to play some kinky games at the exact time that she'd had an x-rated thought? Then there was the other half of the question. Why was she even thinking something like that? To tell the truth, it actually turned her on, but she would never want Eric to know that!

"Sookie? Did you hear me?" Eric demanded. He stood up from the couch, pulling her with him. "Do you want to start off our new arrangement with a punishment?"

She closed her mouth and focused her attention back on Eric. "But…" she started to say.

Eric didn't let her finish her sentence. "But nothing!" he insisted. "Do as I say, now! I will count to three. One… Two…"

"OK, OK, all right, Eric!" she stuttered. She pulled clumsily at her T-shirt, fumbling to get it over her head and throwing it on the couch. She hastily stripped off her jeans and looked hopefully back at Eric, eyes wide.

He shook his head. "You heard me, Sookie. All of them. NOW!" He knew he was being rough with her but he felt like it was necessary. He was determined that she learn to listen to him and obey him without thinking, no matter what the situation. What was now a game might someday save their lives.

Her hands shaking, she reached back to unclasp her bra. Her fumbling fingers couldn't do it, and she looked at Eric again. "Would you?" she whispered, pleading with him to help her get it undone.

He cupped her cheek gently and leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips. "Calm down, Lover," he finally soothed her. "Turn around." She complied and he took care of it for her, his hands going to her shoulders to ease the straps down. He let his fingers work on her muscles for a few seconds, hoping that she would relax.

Still facing away from him, she stepped out of her panties. Slowly she turned to face him, one arm holding onto the other across her breasts, the other hand trying to hide her sex from him. She didn't understand why she was suddenly so modest. There wasn't an inch of her that he hadn't seen, touched, bitten, and/or kissed. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze.

"You have a beautiful body, Lover. Do not try to hide it from me. Your body is mine," Eric reminded her. He took both of her hands and held them away from her body. "Beautiful," he repeated, pulling her toward him and wrapping her arms around his waist. All traces of gentleness left him at that moment. His fangs clicked into place and he pushed her hair back, baring her neck to him. Nudging her head to the side, he nibbled, kissed, and licked her neck until he reached the pulse point. Then he bit hard, enjoying the way she jumped in his arms. She made no effort to get away, a fact that he took pleasure in.

As Eric enjoyed her neck, Sookie began raking her nails lightly up and down his back. He startled her when he bit, and she responded by squeezing his ass. He growled as he bit her, pulling hard on the wound. She could tell that he wanted to leave a mark, a sign that she was his.

Eric took only a full hard pulls of her blood before he closed the wound. With bloody lips, he claimed Sookie's mouth, forcing his tongue inside, demanding her submission. He grabbed a handful of her hair to keep her still. His other hand squeezed her breast, rolling her nipple between the fingers until it stood out, then pinching and pulling it hard. She let out a tiny sound in the back of her throat, a sound he enjoyed. He rubbed his thumb over her abused nipple to soothe it, and then he released her from their kiss and leaned down to run his tongue across her nipple. He sucked it into his mouth but did not nibble or bite. He released it with a gentle kiss. Then he straightened back up and turned her to face away from him.

While Sookie had been pulling off her clothes, Eric had rolled up the length of rope and shoved it in the back pocket of his jeans. Now he pulled it out and crossed her wrists behind her back, wrapping the rope around them and making an elaborate knot. He tested it and found that it was perfect; there was no way that she could escape it. It was tight enough to hold but not tight enough to cut off circulation. He had left a long, loose piece, and this he wrapped around his hand.

"Before we go any further, Sookie, there is something I need to remind you of." He couldn't neglect to give her a way out if something happened to stop her enjoyment of their activities.

"OK, Eric," she responded with slight confusion.

"Do you remember your safe word?" he asked her gently, tilting her chin up so that he could see her eyes. To his surprise, she giggled. "What is funny?" he wanted to know.

"Elephant." She repeated the word back to him. "Why such a silly word, Eric?" She was still smiling.

He laughed with her for a second but then sobered, wanting to make sure she understood that he was serious about her safety. "It should be a word that has nothing to do with sex or anything else that goes on," he explained.

She rolled her eyes and teased him. "Eric, you big, strong elephant! Your trunk is so big!" she giggled again and then became serious. "Now I get it. I won't be yelling that out in the throes of passion."

"Remember, I will not stop unless you give me the safe word. You are the one in control of it. I will not punish you for using it. If you cry, scream, or even yell stop I will continue unless I hear the safe word." He wanted to make this last point very understandable. "Even if I know I am hurting you. Part of this is about pushing beyond and testing boundaries. Are we clear?" He leaned down and looked directly into her eyes without a trace of a smile on his face.

She nodded. "Crystal clear. Eric?" She laid her head on his shoulder, holding his gaze.

"Yes, Lover?"

She sent all of her trust and love to him through the bond. "Thank you for taking care of me. I love you!"

Eric could feel that she was nervous and needed his reassurance. "And I you, always." He leaned in to kiss her lips. The kiss started out soft but became more demanding as he deepened it. A low rumbling growl came out of his chest as he wound more of the rope around his hand, removing all of the slack, until there was nowhere for her to go.

He used his rope-filled hand to pull her roughly back against him. "Ohh, Lover, I like this very much!" he purred into her ear, taking his free hand and squeezing the breast that he hadn't been handling before. He proceeded to give it the same treatment, pinches and pulls followed by gentle caresses. He undid the fly of his jeans and pulled her bound wrists so that her hands were in front of his huge erection. "I have something for you, Sookie," he growled into her ear, scraping her earlobe with his fang. "Do you want to play with your new toy, Lover?" He splayed the fingers of his empty hand across her stomach and then moved them lower, his fingers moving through her curls to find her nub.

Sookie gasped with pleasure as Eric's fingers began to circle and caress her little button, teasing it softly and alternately stroking it with purpose. She gripped him and pulled him out of his jeans, unable to do much more than squeeze and fondle as he held her bonds so tightly. He used his knee to force her legs apart, reminding her to keep them open while in his presence. She was entirely his at that moment, able to do nothing but lean on him for support and respond to his attentions. His hand moved even lower until he dipped two fingers inside of her, curling them against her inner sweet spot while his palm provided needed friction to her sensitive spot outside.

Her hips began to move in time with his fingers and she threw her head back against Eric's shoulder. She rolled her head to the side, giving him access to her neck, and he nuzzled her until she stiffened under his hands. Her knees gave way and he used his grip on her ropes to hold her against him while she cried out his name and came almost violently. She thrashed against his hold, moaning and calling his name again. His hand left her lady parts so that he could wrap his arm around her waist, and he struck, his fangs sinking into the soft skin of her neck. He moaned against her, intoxicated by her taste mixed with the smells and sounds of her climax.

Sookie was delirious and her body felt like it had turned to jelly. The feel of Eric's lips on her skin while his fangs pulled at her life's blood drew out the aftermath of her orgasm. Her hips still bucked softly as his fingers caressed her stomach and hipbones, also very sensitive spots.

When Eric finished with her blood he used his grip on her bonds to turn her around to face him. He cupped her chin and leaned down to kiss her with his still bloody lips. She tasted the salt of her own blood and pressed against him, hampered by the way he was using her bound hands to control her body. As she tried to hold on to their kiss, Eric drew back and didn't allow her to stand on tiptoe to maintain contact.

"Kneel down for me, Lover," Eric coaxed her, helping her to get to her knees before him. She gazed up at him in anticipation, eagerly waiting to see if this encounter would go the same way as the vision she'd had. He used his toes to nudge her thighs apart. "When I tell you to kneel, or get on your knees, I want you to spread your legs for me, like this," he instructed her, his expression sober and his voice soft but firm. She nodded and did her best to obey him. "Sit back on your heels when I allow you to relax in this position. You may do that now, for the moment." She found that it was easier to balance with her knees apart when she could sit back. "When you are not bound, you will clasp your hands behind your back and keep them there unless I instruct you to do otherwise. I will be lenient at first because we are just starting out, but after a while I will punish you if you forget. Do I make myself clear?"

Sookie nodded, breathless and unsure whether he wanted her to speak or not. His firm voice and stern manner were having quite the effect on her body. She was trembling with want, extremely turned on by his domination of her. When he forced her to keep her thighs apart, she was sure that she would drip some of her hot juices onto the carpet. If Eric didn't touch her or fuck her very soon, she thought she would burst into flames.

Eric knew exactly the way she felt. Not only could he feel it through the bond that united them, but he could smell the thick perfume of her arousal. He wanted to lay her back and fuck her until she screamed, but he knew that he had to appear in control to credibly maintain his confident and dominant demeanor. He would never have guessed that his Sookie would enjoy this kind of scene; she was such a spitfire! But the more control he exercised, the hotter (he could tell) she became. He was hard pressed to keep his own extreme need for her beneath the thin veneer of his dominant persona because of the way she affected him. Knowing exactly how to stoke the fire that burned between them, he continued his lecture.

"When I ask you a question, I expect you to answer me. When you answer me, you will always use my name." He smiled and touched her cheek tenderly, breaking out of his tough-guy persona long enough to reassure her of his love for her. "I do not want you to call me 'Master," My Lover. Such role-playing is beneath us." Then, he slipped back into his dominant role. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Eric," she practically purred at him, lowering her eyes beneath her thick, full lashes to show him proper deference. He didn't miss the way she regarded him hungrily before she did it.

"Sookie, look at me!" he suddenly demanded. She immediately stared back up at him in alarm, wondering if she'd done something wrong and spoiled their new game. He reached out again and touched the same place he'd touched a moment ago. "What did I tell you, about hiding your eyes from me?"

It took her a second of confusion before she remembered one of the first times he'd mentioned his need for dominance to her. Rule number one, he had said, no hiding your eyes from me! "I'm sorry, Eric!" her voice was full of remorse. "I had forgotten." Tears threatened to spill onto her cheeks but she kept her eyes glued to his as she silently waited for whatever he would do.

"Do not forget again!" he commanded her.

She nodded silently. "I won't, Eric; I promise!" she whispered.

"Make sure you do not!" he threatened. He had been loosely holding the end of the long length of rope that was tied around her wrists, and now he quickly wound it tight. This action forced her to straighten her back and lift up off her heels to stand straight up on her knees. He further pulled the rope so that her wrists were pulled high up between her shoulder blades, her elbows bending outward behind her. This position forced her back to arch and her breasts to push forward. With his free hand, Eric roughly squeezed her tender flesh, pulling one nipple outward so hard that the sudden sharp pain brought fresh tears to her eyes. She threw her head back and gasped, never moving her gaze away from Eric's. Her breath came in short pants as she waited to see what he would do next. Loosening his hold on her abused nipple, he caressed it firmly with the pad of his thumb until it stood at attention for him. He pulled harder against the rope that bound her wrists, causing her breasts to thrust forward even more, and repeated his harsh treatment with her other breast.

After caressing her nipple back to attention, he held it firmly between his first and second fingers, pulling her upper body toward him and causing more strain on her already aching wrists. His eyes were glowing, dangerous, and he licked his lips through his menacing, fangy grin. Shifting his grip on her nipple to his second and third fingers, he used his thumb and forefinger to unbutton his pants.

"When did he have time to do his pants back up?" she wondered.

He let go of her nipple and fisted her hair in his hand, never reducing the pressure on her bound wrists. He gripped her hair hard enough to pull it while forcing her face forward. "Take the zipper down," he ordered softly. Before she could acknowledge what he'd said in any way, he said, "Take it down with your teeth!"

Gingerly, trying not to get her lips get caught in the zipper, she grimaced and moved forward to bite the zipper with her front teeth. She succeeded on the second try, and gently eased it downward. It was difficult for her to do, the way he was gripping her hair. As soon as the zipper was undone, she was hit full-force with the deliciously musky, Vampire-laced, too-sexy-for-words scent that was unique to her Eric. Her newly enhanced sense of smell made his fragrance all the more delicious. She took a deep breath and leaned into him, nuzzling against the coarse hair at his groin and the soft feel of his velvet shaft as it sprang free. He was going commando this evening! Yum! Sookie took a few seconds to gently rub her cheek against his hardness, back and forth like a cat marking a newfound toy with its scent. As much as Sookie wanted to nudge him completely out of his jeans and devour everything he had to offer, she knew that to go much further without seeking his permission would be a mistake. Stroking against his silken skin one last time with the bridge of her nose, she pulled back only far enough to meet his eyes with an inquiring look.

Sookie's reaction to springing his cock free of the confines of his jeans was almost Eric's undoing. Only barely did he stifle the moan that threatened to burst forth from his lips when she nuzzled and stroked her skin against him. He waited, still as stone, to see what she would do. If she tried to do anything at all with her mouth before he told her to, he was ready to yank her back by the hair. He couldn't tell how she knew, maybe by instinct, that she needed to ask permission. When she raised her eyes tentatively to his, he could have burst with the pride and love he felt for her. He sent it to her and her eyes closed.

She only kept her eyes closed for a few seconds. The feelings Eric was sending to her made her shiver, and she leaned into him for support. Some women might feel degraded in this position, kneeling before their lover, bound, silently asking permission to suck him. But those women didn't have a live wire right to his heart, by way of the blood bond she shared with Eric. While he dominated her, he didn't seek to humiliate or otherwise hurt her. There would have been no way for him to hide something like that from her. She opened her eyes and leaned in to him as much as she could, rubbing her face against him, quickly getting lost in her own desire. A tiny sound, almost a whimper, found its way from the back of her throat, and she bit her lips to keep herself quiet.

He felt every emotion that coursed through her. He had pulled her to him with force and decided he no longer needed it. He let go of most of the coil of rope around his hand, keeping hold of only the end. As the tension on her wrists was taken away, her shoulders relaxed and her wrists dropped down to rest in the small of her back. She could have moved away from him, but she didn't. Instead, she sighed with pleasure and nuzzled against him with her cheek, never lowering her eyes. His fingers in her hair also relaxed so that he was no longer pulling, but his grip remained firm. His eyes were full of love even as his words were demanding.

"What do you want, Lover? Tell me!" he insisted, huskily, tightening his grip on the back of her head.

"I want you, Eric!" she replied breathlessly. "I want to taste you! Oh, God, Eric, you smell so good!" She leaned in, as close to him as she could get, and managed to rub her cheek, her neck, and her shoulder against his hardness.

"Take it easy, My Love! Slow down!" he tightened his grip even more, holding her still. She relaxed against his hold, breathless, her eyes anxious, waiting. He didn't know how much longer he could stand to draw this out. The second the scent of her arousal had begun to permeate the air, his fangs had clicked into place and could not be contained. He showed her those fangs now, growling slightly. "You mentioned something about a big, scary Vampire last night?" His eyebrows waggled at her and he gave a wicked sexy grin.

If Sookie ever had any fear of his fangs at all, she'd more than lost it by now. Her eyes darkened and zeroed in on them, her own smile playful and seductive. "I said I'd be good, but maybe you'd like it better if I was bad!" She amplified her southern accent and poured as much sex as she could into her soft, feminine voice.

Eric lost his battle to be stoic and unmoving. He reached into his jeans and pulled out what she had been waiting for all night. She looked at it like it was the prize you got at the bottom of the cracker-jack box, only a thousand times better. "I think I would like it better if you were bad!" He growled again. "Very, very bad, as a matter of fact. Show me! Show me just how bad you can be!" This was a moment he had dreamed about but never really thought would happen. He'd wanted her in this exact same position the moment he'd seen her at Fangtasia that very first night. Completely submissive to him, wrists tied behind her, on her knees and about to pay homage to his cock. By the Gods, what had he done to deserve such a woman? The best part about this was that she was completely willing. In reality, it had been her idea! The fact that he had read her mind was not lost on him, and he was sure she also knew what had happened. Once she had projected it at him, there was no way he would ever turn it down. He was a man, after all!

Holding her head still, he rubbed his hardness over first one cheek, then the other. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, and he stopped until she opened her eyes and looked up at him again. He moved the head against her soft lips, watching as she smiled and her tongue darted out to taste the drop of moisture at the tip. At the first touch of her tongue, he hissed through clenched teeth, forcing himself to let this happen, to draw out the intimacy of this experience for both of them. He could feel through the bond that she was enjoying it every bit as much as he was.

She didn't stop there. Her tongue appeared again, this time to move slowly through the slit at the tip, then making its way around the edge where his head met his shaft, finally drawing the entire head into her hot mouth for a very long and sensual version of the French kiss. His grip tightened in her hair and she knew that he fought to stay in control.

Eric wanted to force himself into her mouth and fuck her face until every drop of come his body could produce had been shot into her throat. Instead, a moan came from deep within his chest, followed by another primal growl. "Ooooooohhhh, Sookie!" he breathed, his throat feeling hoarse. As soon as his eyes refocused he realized that his grip on her hair was hurting her, and that he was forcing her to be still. He didn't let go, but his touch softened, stroking her scalp lovingly as she continued to explore him.

Sookie turned her head to briefly rub her cheek against his palm, and then she set about exploring the underside of his swollen rod. Her tongue licked firmly down his seam until she'd arrived at his balls. She gently sucked one, then the other, into her mouth, scraping each one lightly with her teeth and making him jump slightly. She may be kneeling before him with her hands tied, but she loved the power she had over him when she did this. Who else in the world could make Eric Northman moan and turn to jell-o? His hips bucked gently back and forth, his muscles shaking with the strain of trying to be still.

She licked him all the way around and under his balls, then moved back up to lave her tongue over the top at the base of his member. She kissed her way back up toward the head, lapping at him while her teeth very gently nipped and scraped against his sensitive flesh. She could hear him panting hard above her, even though he didn't need to breathe. Finally arriving back at his tip, she opened her mouth wide and sucked in as much of him as she could, relaxing her throat and calming her gag reflex. She realized that she was able to take more of him than before and briefly wondered why that was. Then she concentrated on the task at hand.

She would pull him into her throat and make a swallowing motion which gave him the feeling that she was sucking strongly at him. Still in the mood to play with him a little, she kept her movements slow and deliberate. After the third or fourth time of her taking him carefully into her throat, his grip tightened in her hair and prevented her from pulling back. She didn't fight him. Instead she made humming and moaning sounds, the vibrations adding to his body's pleasure and excitement. He would only allow her to move out a little ways before pushing her back down. He was insistent but not brutal, and she loved every minute of it. She used her tongue, teeth, throat, and her strong ability to suck to bring him to the edge, and when she knew he was about to come, she eased her ministrations, wanting to draw it out for him. She locked eyes with him and he held his fingers over the base of his cock, trying to hold himself back from coming yet.

Eric didn't know where Sookie had learned how to give him pleasure this way, and he was thoroughly surprised at some of the ways she used her tongue or moved her head. Thinking about it was getting in the way of his ecstasy, so he banished the thought.

Sookie felt something distract Eric for a second and then began to suck him in earnest. As their gazes locked together, Eric's hand again became hard and demanding in her hair. His moaning became louder and she was ready to bring him home. He added his other hand to tangle in her locks and she gave herself over to him, letting him push and pull her the way he wanted. She kept up the motions with her tongue and throat, humming and moaning to increase the vibration. Then the muscles in his thighs, hips, and stomach clenched as he reached his peak, holding her to keep her still. She swallowed, and swallowed, and swallowed again, accepting everything he gave her and loving it. She sucked gently at him to pull out every drop of his sweet essence, making him tremble through the aftershocks.

Eric swore that he had never come so hard in his thousand-plus years of existence. As Sookie bent to lick him clean, he reached down and exuberantly lifted her to her feet, sweeping her into his arms and kissing her with everything he had to give. "Sookie, oh, my Sookie, my Lover!" he crooned to her, burying his head in her hair trying to hide the bloody tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes. The joyful emotions that she had just brought out in him were overwhelming. There weren't enough words to describe the gift she had just given to him in a single act of submission. It was so much more!

He had never let go of the other end of the rope that bound her wrists, even as he'd fisted both hands in her hair. As he held her against him, he tightened the slack, giving her nowhere to go. He turned her around and inspected her bindings. "How do your arms and hands feel, My Lover?" he asked, checking for circulation, bruising, or other marks that would show that this was hurting her.

"Well, I don't want to walk around for the rest of the night like this, Eric," she smiled at him. "But it doesn't hurt, and they don't feel numb or anything."

"I will release you shortly, Lover," Eric promised. He led her to the dining room and sat her down at the table. When she was seated, he pushed her knees apart. "Remember," he commanded softly, kissing her on the lips. Then he straightened and went into the kitchen, leaving a very confused Sookie in his wake.

Sookie had no idea why, but she guessed that Eric had seated her here, in this position, for a reason. She trusted him, so she sat silently and waited.

Eric returned five minutes later with a tray on which there were several covered dishes. He seated himself at the head of the table and set the tray down at his left, opposite of where Sookie sat. As Eric started to remove the covers from the dishes, Sookie smelled something tantalizing. Her eyes moved from Eric to the plate of food he uncovered, suddenly famished as she saw the steak, broccoli, and red roasted potatoes. There was a wine glass on the tray filled with a red substance that she guessed must be blood for Eric. But why had Eric brought a meal out here if he intended to leave her hands tied behind her? She didn't understand, and was about to ask him what was going on, when he spoke.

"Sookie, what you have given me tonight is far beyond anything I could have ever hoped for." He reached out to cup her cheek in his palm, and she leaned into his hand, turning to plant a kiss on it. He smiled and caressed her face and neck before pulling his hand away. His fingers lingered on the deep bite he had given her earlier, the one that would take a little longer to heal. "You have given me a priceless gift – the gift of your self. Part of our new arrangement involves me taking care of you. I take that commitment very seriously." He leaned forward, his forearms on the table. His eyes burned with the intensity of what he was feeling. Sookie would have reached out to embrace him had her wrists not been bound. He seemed almost nervous, a condition that she would never have associated with Eric. "To symbolize my commitment to you, I would have you eat from my hand."

"You want to feed me?" She asked him, thoroughly surprised. Now was not the time to be thinking of Bill, but Bill had never been able to be around her when she ate. It didn't get past Sookie that Eric wasn't asking. He fully expected her to agree, and if she didn't, he would probably hold her down and force feed her. Not very long ago, the old Sookie would have jumped up and told him to go fly a kite. But this Sookie was touched by his gesture, this simple way to take care of her. Eric had never before shown her such tenderness. "In for a penny, in for a pound," her Gran had always said. She needed to embrace this new life wholeheartedly. The feelings humming through their bond from Eric told her exactly how much this gesture meant to him. There was no way that she would shoot him down as he sat expectantly. She smiled brightly at him. It was a genuine smile, not the old "Crazy Sookie" smile she had worn so often at Merlotte's. "OK, Eric, I would love that."

His answering smile was enough to make Sookie's heart flutter. Of course he heard it and his eyebrow went up along with the trademark Eric smirk. But then he was all business, and the nervous Eric came back out again. "I have not done this before," he admitted. "You will have to tell me how small to cut the pieces."

They spent the next half-hour laughing and talking as Sookie taught Eric how to feed a human. Eric stopped every once in a while to take a sip of his blood, but he concentrated mostly on Sookie. After the third time Eric spilled sweet tea on her, Sookie begged him to get her a straw. There just happened to be one included in the meal, which she found out that Eric had asked Pam to deliver. As soon as Eric had made the decision to act on the vision he'd shared with Sookie, he'd texted Pam and ordered her to purchase and deliver a meal from the same restaurant he'd flown off to the other night.

The thought of Pam being somewhere in the house while she was on her knees in front of Eric horrified Sookie until he explained that Pam had only stuck her hand inside of the back door to put the bag on the counter, under threat of severe punishment by Eric. That made Sookie feel better.

"Doesn't this strike you as a little bit weird, Eric?" Sookie asked him in between bites.

His forehead crinkled. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I don't know," she tilted her head to the side. "I mean, look at us. I'm sitting here, well, like this," and she looked down at her naked body before continuing, "and I'm perfectly fine with it. It's actually fun, having you feed me. We're acting like we do this every day."

"Maybe we will do it every day," he answered, waggling his eyebrows at her and giving her a fangy grin. The grin got wider when a blush spread over her entire body and he heard her laugh, shaking her head at him. But he understood what she meant. "You are more, what is the word, accepting of me than I ever thought you would be." He wanted to spend every day for the rest of their lives showing her how much he appreciated that fact.

"This is not what I ever thought my life would be like, you know," she smiled tenderly at him. "Even with all your demands, and your Vampire nature, it's easy for me to be with you. I don't know why I fought it for so long. I don't ever want to be anywhere else, or with anybody else, than right here with you. I don't know why, but I just needed to tell you that."

Eric's undead heart swelled in his chest. He got out of his chair and fell to his knees in front of her, then he reached out to pull her into his arms. He could feel the bloody tears in the corners of his eyes. "It took me a thousand years to find you, Sookie," he said huskily, his voice full of emotion. "You are my eternity. My existence is no longer possible without you. I will never let us be apart!"

She was comforted by his words and leaned in to him, pressing her warm body against his cool one. Eric growled at her, a familiar sound now and one that brought shivers of pleasure to her more so than fear. "Maybe we can finish our dinner before it gets cold?" she suggested, knowing where his mind was headed. Probably in the same direction as his hands. Due south.

Regretfully he let her go and sat back in his chair. He smiled playfully at her and held a forkful of potato in her direction. When she leaned forward to take it, he pulled it back and kissed her instead. "Mmmmm," he said. "I am enjoying my dinner indeed!"

"Eric!" she laughed, and he concentrated on getting her fed so that they could play.

The steak dinner and most of Eric's blood meal consumed, Eric produced another dish from the tray, this one containing a slice of the pecan pie that he knew she loved. "I'm not sure if I can eat that, Baby!" Sookie exclaimed. When Eric started to look hurt, she explained quickly. "I'm full!"

"Oh, I think you will want to eat it!" Eric stated confidently. He stood up, swept her into his arms, grabbed the pie, and zipped back to the master bedroom. He deposited Sookie in the corner of the room and tied the loose end of her rope to a lamp. He set the pie in the middle of the bed, of all places.

"What are you doing?" she laughed as he walked away from her, deliberately shaking his "world class ass" as Sookie liked to call it.

"You will stay there, and that is an order!" he said sternly, dramatically lowering his brows down over his eyes to look like he meant business. Sookie laughed and thought about telling him how cute he was. Somehow, she surmised, Eric wouldn't like to be called cute, so she held her tongue.

When he had finished doing what Sookie would from that moment on refer to as the "Eric Strut," he turned to face her, standing next to the bed. He made a show of unbuttoning each button of his shirt, then shimmied a few times as he pulled it off, swung it around, and threw it at her. Sookie giggled in delight and licked her lips. "Whoooo! Take it off, Baby!" she yelled.

"I think I shall have to punish you for that comment!" he declared, appearing suddenly behind her at Vampire speed. His hands palmed her breasts and he squeezed them, enjoying the feel of their weight in his hands. Then he pinched both nipples hard enough to make Sookie gasp. "No!" he stated adamantly. "That will not do! Perhaps I will tie you with your legs spread apart and beat you with my knight stick!" Sookie giggled again as she felt him "whip" her backside with his cock a few times. "No! That is not it, either!" Then she felt his fingers encircle her bound wrists and caress her arms up to her shoulders. He whispered darkly in her ear, "I hereby reserve the right to punish you for insubordination at a time, and with a method, of my choosing!" His fangs scraped her earlobe and traced a path straight down her neck. She could feel that he was drawing blood, and the feel of his tongue lapping it up confirmed her suspicions.

"Eric!" she breathed, leaning back against him.

His hands moved from her shoulders, back down her arms, grasping her wrists once again and then caressing her ass. His fingers stroked her folds for a few seconds before he used his hands to push her legs apart again. "I grow tired of reminding you!" he hissed into her ear, and this time he was serious. She could tell.

Sookie's body had gone into overdrive with all of Eric's confusing attentions. She didn't know if she wanted him to fuck her, punish her, or put her back on her knees in front of him again. He moved away as quickly as he'd come, and stood back at his original place next to the bed. He began the striptease routine all over again, gyrating and pumping his hips in a very tantalizing manner while he slowly peeled his jeans off. She knew he had nothing on underneath. She licked her lips in anticipation.

Finally as naked as she was, Eric sauntered over to her and put his arms around her. She melted into his embrace. As she leaned against him, he finally untied the ropes that bound her wrists. She moved her arms and wrists tentatively, not surprised to find a stiffness in them. There were red marks on her wrists where the ropes had been. Eric caressed and kissed each wrist before leading her back to the bed. He piled the pillows and lounged against the headboard and seated her between his legs, massaging her shoulders and upper arms. She made sure that she sat cross-legged so Eric couldn't get mad at her for forgetting his instructions again.

"We will heal you later, Lover," he promised her. "But are you sure you do not want to try some of your pie?" He scooped up a portion of it, generously covered with whipped cream that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and teasingly pulled it back away from her when she opened her mouth. As she chased after it, laughing, he dropped it. It landed on his chest. "Oh, look at that!" he pouted. "I am so clumsy. Now what are we going to do?" He looked at her, eyes smoldering and fangs on display.

"Eric!" she pretended to scold him. The word clumsy was not something she would ever associate with him. "What a mess you made! Now I'm going to have to clean it up! What am I going to do with you?" She sighed dramatically and got to her knees, turning around and leaning in to him. With her face about an inch from what he had dropped, licking her lips, she took her fingers and picked it up, neatly tucking it into her mouth. "Mmmmmmmm!" She made exaggerated sounds of pleasure. "I guess that since I can't trust you not to make a mess, I'll have to do this myself!" She reached for the plate.

"Not so fast, My Lover!" His quick hand snatched it out of her reach. "Let me try again. I promise I will make it up to you." He raised his brows and gave her puppy-dog eyes.

She rolled her eyes at him and folded her arms. "All right, you have one more chance!" she told him firmly. "But I expect you to do it right!" She lowered her brows and gave him her best impression of himself when he was looking mean, barely able to keep a straight face.

Eric's lips twitched as he watched her imitate him. Still playing with the puppy-dog eyes, he made a show out of carefully sectioning out a piece of pie that was shaped in an exact triangle, scooping it up, and holding it out for her. Of course, as soon as she moved to take it, he dropped it again. This time it landed on his stomach. "Oh no!" he scolded himself. "I did it again!" This time he stuck out his bottom lip in addition to giving her the puppy-dog eyes.

Sookie sighed again, louder and more dramatic. She was barely able to stifle a giggle as she pulled her brows down closer to her eyes and frowned. "Why do I always have to take responsibility for your messes, mister?" She shook her head at him. "You made me get my hand dirty last time! Now I can't even pick it up!" She moved back away from him, never taking her eyes from his, leaned down, and slowly licked the sugary goodness off of him. She deliberately left some cream there so she would have an excuse to lick him again.

Gracious Plenty stirred and began to make his presence known.

"Do you think you can do it right this time?" She asked Eric.

"Yes, definitely!" he promised. He scooped out another big bite, held it out, and promptly dropped it. On his thigh.

"Eric, this is the best pie I have ever tasted!" she told him. "I don't think I can stand to waste a single crumb." She backed up and began to lap it up, chasing crumbs and whipped cream closer and closer to his thickness.

Sookie didn't know what hit her. Suddenly she found herself pinned beneath a large and very horny Vampire. He wasted no time sliding into her in one hard thrust. She gasped at the delicious sensations that one movement had caused inside of her. Then a devious little smile played around the corners of her mouth. "But what about my dessert?" she pretended to complain.

"I thought you were full!" he growled at her. He laced their fingers together and emphasized his words by pulling back and thrusting again, deeper than before.

She gyrated her hips beneath him and he made a sound somewhere between a moan and a growl. As he enjoyed her movements, she breathed at him, "No, I wasn't full. But I am now!"

The loud sound in his chest intensified and his fangs came out to play. "It is my job to make sure that you are full and satisfied," he told her gruffly. "I take my job very seriously!"

She couldn't take any more banter. "I know you do, Eric!" she told him. "And you are very good at it!" She moved against him again. "So shut up and do it, why don't you?" She whispered with a grin.

This time he really did growl. "At your service, my lady!" he said, and he started working to make her a Very. Happy. Customer. And he did.

The pecan pie that had started all of this sat, neglected and forlorn, on the nightstand where Eric had managed to move it before he'd attacked his Sookie.

OoOoO

Some time later they lay in a pile of tangled limbs, sated and still. Eric had gone into downtime while Sookie dozed. She stirred and rolled onto her stomach, laying her head on her hands on Eric's chest.

Gazing deliberately into his eyes, Sookie thought at him, "Are we going to talk about the fact that you can read my mind now?"

He tilted his head and smirked. "So, you admit that tonight was your idea?" Sookie blushed ten shades of crimson and he laughed, then he reached out to touch her face. "This is very important for us, Sookie! I think you know that."

"I'm not sure how I feel about it, Eric," she thought back at him. "All my life, I couldn't date because I could hear their thoughts, and now I can hear yours!"

Eric suddenly realized that this was painful to Sookie, something he had never considered. He thought it was a great asset that they could use for many things. He sat up and gathered her into his arms, kissing her forehead. "I am sure that there is a way for you to block me out, if that is your wish," he said out loud.

"Well, sure, I always have my shields!" she sighed. "But I don't want to have to shield while we're in bed together!"

Eric had a thought. "Did you hear what I was thinking earlier, while we were… busy?"

"No!" she answered him. "I didn't! I didn't even think about it then!" She looked at him with a confused expression.

"Let's do an experiment," he suggested. "Can you hear me?" he thought directly at her.

"Yes, I can hear you," she thought back at him.

"How about now?" he thought in the general direction of the doorway.

No response.

"Sookie?" he said.

"Yes?"

"Think something, but don't think it directly at me."

"OK" she responded. "Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas…" She began to recite the US states in alphabetical order. "Did you catch that?"

"No, I did not. It would seem, then, that we have to be thinking at each other to hear. Does that make you feel better?" Eric wasn't sure how he felt about what he perceived to be a limitation of their new ability. It made Sookie happy, though, and that was a consolation.

"I love you, Eric!" she projected at him, followed by a replay of their pie-eating scene earlier.

He wasted no time reaching over to retrieve what was left of the pecan pie, wilted whipped cream and all, and presenting it to her with a grand flourish. With a sultry smile, she picked out a piece of the pie with her fingers and smeared it on his left nipple. She bent to lick it clean, biting and sucking on the nipple after it was clean. Eric relaxed back to let her continue. She repeated her action on his right nipple, then followed it by dropping more pie onto his belly button. She moaned softly as she cleaned the pie thoroughly away. The last of the sugary goodness in her hand, she winked at Eric and smeared it onto his hardness. It was his turn to moan as she lapped it up slowly and very thoroughly. She used her tongue to lick every last inch of him clean before taking him completely into her mouth again.

Before Sookie could settle into her task, Eric stopped her and repositioned them so that she was on top of him, straddling his face. As she took him back into her mouth, she gasped at the feel of his lips on her nub. Eric was using his magic tongue to drive her quickly to ecstasy. She used every trick in her arsenal to bring him to the edge right along with her. Eric seemed to catch on to what she was thinking, and the feelings humming through their bond were unmistakable. As each felt the other come close, they brought each other over the edge together, Sookie eagerly sucking and swallowing everything that Eric gave her. His tongue delved deep inside her sheath to lap up the nectar she released with her climax. Before she could move away, Eric turned his head and bit into her thigh, enjoying the aftermath of his own orgasm while he tasted and smelled hers in her blood. He let his bite go deep, once again feeling the urge to mark her as his. That compulsion had been strong this night.

Eric licked the wounds he'd made on Sookie's thigh and then gathered her into his arms. She sighed and closed her eyes. There was no need to talk. Everything they needed to say surrounded them and coursed through their bond. Basking in the glow of their love and the safety of Eric's strength, Sookie drifted off to sleep.

The sound of Eric's phone ringing brought him out of down time much later. He knew it was close to dawn; he was starting to feel its pull. He was instantly on alert. There was no innocuous reason for anyone to call him right now. Carefully settling Sookie onto the pillow next to him, he raced to the phone.

"What?" he yelled into it, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"We have a problem, Eric!" Pam's voice came through the line. "We need to call the cleaners."

The cleaners? [Insert Scary cliffhanger music here] What could have happened now?

Since Eric isn't originally from America and actually knows what went down at that first Thanksgiving feast, he doesn't really care about it. He was, however, intrigued by the pilgrim costumes with the big hats and buckled shoes. He's found a group that lives out in the country and keeps to the old ways, even worse than the Amish. He talked about moving out there to stay with them. Please, show Eric your love and tell him not to go! We need him to stay! Review button is below.