A/N: "A few words":

I guess something funny has come out of Season 6. Warlow's a fairy vampire? Heeehee. I laughed out loud when I heard about that particular plot reveal. I'm gonna have so much fun with that in this story, when I finally get to that point. Obviously there is going to be different "rules" to Lina and Warlow. I wrote fairies like Harris wrote them, basically more like humans than in True Blood except for the ears and the teeth. They don't turn into dust as they die and they don't have a creepy "second look" beneath the human façade that makes them look like Gollum's cousins. But let's see how it will turn out in this story when I get back to the TB storyline for Seasons 5 and 6.

Thank you for your reviews! I love them. They keep me in check. I know the previous chapter was one big emotional smut wreckage, but to those of you, who survived it and lived to tell me about it, thank you! Yes, Eric is being selfish and yes, he's being a grade A asshole with his controlling ways, but he doesn't always do the right thing. Not in this story. The man has got to have at least one flaw, don't you agree? This Eric screws up a lot by doing what he thinks is right or in his power, but he will face his mistakes later. I promise. My only worry in this chapter was if I was making him too much of a sap. :D And I can't stand sappy Eric. Every time I wrote something too syrupy, I gave myself a quick slap. My cheek is throbbing red. This chapter is lighter and more lovey dovey than the rest. It has more Lina's inner musings than action and drama, but it's still an important one to the story. Thank you for reading.

CHAPTER 21

Lina thought she knew dance. Every form of it. Passionate dancing, slow dancing, hot tease dancing, waltzes and tangos. Dancing out of sorrow, aggression and joy. She had seen it all. Dancing was her outlet. She danced through the highs and lows of her life, never being afraid of baring her soul on stage. Without thinking too much of it, she let her audience have a sneak peek into her emotions and into her most cherished memories conveyed through music and the art of dance. Every routine she made was personal, bound to reveal a piece of her life if the viewer paid attention. But she had never felt more naked than this night on the dance floor in the arms of this man. The two of them only had an audience of a few curious onlookers, but with Eric, dancing turned into something she hadn't experienced before.

It wasn't about how well their bodies moved to the music. It was even less about their combined talent or ambitious dance steps. Their movement was simple. It was effortless.

Eric held her hand in his. Their eye contact didn't waver. He spun her across the floor, now almost empty of any other couple. Lina guessed they gave intimidating competition. Nobody wanted to be compared to them right now and for that she found herself smiling. Just like this, looking into each other's eyes, they tried to read one another. What it was that he wanted, and what she wanted in return. They touched each other discreetly always aware of the other people around them even if no one was looking. The quick brushes of his fingers down her spine to her backside, the small touch of her hand on his neck made it feel like a wicked game. Her skin vibrated at his touch, like static or musical waves. Always subtle, but bold enough to make it feel risqué. She felt the pull between them stronger than ever. It had been excruciating to fight it and she was glad the fighting was over.

They were in a bar that was more like a club. A club themed after film noir, filled with men in their dark suits and women in their little black dresses. The colors of black, grey, and burgundy gave it a shadowy, if not dirty look, but everything was elegantly designed. Simplistic, but rich. The few patrons were standing by the bar leaning their work exhausted bodies on the counter or sitting on the couches near the walls with their heads bent low in conversation. Humans drank their poison from high cocktail glasses and the vampires present kept sipping their favorite flavor of TruBlood like dirty Cosmopolitans. The air was smoky and it smelled of expensive perfumes and flavored cigars. It was the kind of bar where everyone minded their own business. The music drowned all conversation offering Eric and Lina a strange illusion of seclusion in a wide open space when they finally retreated to lounge at the back of the bar.

Two glasses of TruBlood sat before them, untouched. They were brought to them by a young waitress with brown girly hair and pretty figure. She had infatuation written all over her face when her shy gaze casually swept over Lina and finally rested on Eric. She had smiled politely, blushed and fumbled a bit with her tray. On the house, she had said and went her way. Both vampires found themselves watching after her as she walked back to her post and then smirked at each other when they caught the other one looking.

Lina sat beside Eric on the couch with one leg crossed over the other. She traced the seam of his slacks and dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands, while she pretended that after that dance being so close to him, breathing the smell of his skin and the hint of his cologne didn't cause her senses to go haywire. After her near meltdown in the car, this easy night was a blessing.

"I like it here. Thank you for bringing me," she said.

Eric had his hand stretched on the backrest of the couch and he turned his head to rest it on top of hers. She was sure that if she could still blush, she would've glowed scarlet throughout the night.

"I thought you might. It's nice. It's private, relaxed and sexy – all things I'd like you to feel tonight," he murmured.

She closed her eyes for a while to feel his fingers draw invisible patterns on her shoulder. She was not the only one feeling a bit more relaxed tonight. He seemed free of any obligation, like he had left all pretences and responsibilities behind him, if just for this night. Then it occurred to her how right she could be on that thought. Maybe they crossed an area line somewhere and she hadn't noticed. He had this aura of ease around him, which she didn't see too often and least of all in public places like this.

"But what I like the most is what this place does to you. We crossed an area line a few kilometers back, didn't we?" Lina asked.

"Kilometers. You're in the States now, Aislinn. You should start thinking in miles, feet and inches. But yes, this is Area 1. How can you tell?"

"You smile more. You don't keep flicking your eyes from corner to corner. These little displays of affection. You remind me of a lion in its downtime, taking a little break from its day knowing that he still rules the land."

He chuckled a little at that comparison, but it was how she saw him. A beautiful, self-assured creature that was able to heat up a room with his mere presence. The way he moved was almost lazy, but there was never doubt that he couldn't rip you to shreds faster than you could blink. She had never met a man so intent on making her feel comfortable, but also so very uncomfortable at the same time. Even when he had her in his arms like this, he left her with the impending feeling of being hunted.

"Mm-hmm. Maybe. The Sheriff of the Area owns this club. Kirsch. She's a friend of mine," he said.

"Oh, is she here tonight?"

"Yes."

"What is she like?" she asked warily. They were in another vampire's turf and she wondered if her night was about to take an unpleasant turn. She tiptoed through vampire area registrations and formalities. Vampire politics was something she loathed more than the red, sewer liquid in front of her. Too much ass kissing, too much backstabbing.

"She's a bitch," sounded his curt answer.

"In a good, merciless way or in a bad, heartless way?"

His lips curved upwards. "I mean it in the most affectionate way. Kirsch is an honest sheriff. She has your back, but fuck with her and she comes after you like a bloodhound. She's opinionated, relentless and direct. Not a very good politician, but a reliable business partner."

"Sounds like a woman after my own heart," she said and was sincere with it. She had a knack for women who knew what they wanted.

"She has a background not much unlike you. Aside from the obvious. Kirsch lived in Germany before coming here. In World War one, she lost her husband to the American front line. After dealing with the pain of her loss, she became angry and she found some angry, reckless friends to play with her. She began running with the cabaret crowd of Berlin. Nights of debauchery, absinthe, and reckless behavior led her into the arms of an American expatriate vampire. She followed him here in the '40s, where this vampire turned her. She's a young one, but ambitious."

Lina looked at the bar once more, now seeing the little hints around her that spoke of the owner's history. Eric leaned back on the couch with his legs outstretched and looked at her with that certain glint in his eye. "She still has a taste for show business."

"Of what kind?"

"Nightclubs and performance arts."

"Why do I get the feeling you're up to something, Northman?" she asked and narrowed her eyes.

He caught a lock of her hair between his fingers and played with it, shrugged and said, "I would like you to meet her. You might find something in common. If not, you at least got to let loose here and I got to show you off."

"Show me off, huh? Well what do you know… I thought you wanted to keep me locked in the house, hidden from prying eyes, like a dirty little secret. Keep me out of vampire politics and lay low for a while," she said and lifted her legs on his lap and turned towards him to study his face.

"And I thought you wanted to be my partner, not my housewife?" he countered, locking her watchful eyes with his.

A little rush of warmth coursed through her at hearing that.

"You got me there."

He smiled and squeezed her thigh and the affection was doing twirly, tingly things around her heart. Her chest ached in a weird, pleasant way. Strange. Maybe her dead heart had a little heart orgasm. Could hearts do that? It felt like hers could.

It was almost miraculous how he was able to learn to read her in such short time. He seemed to have dug deeper into her mind than even she ever had and then he began the process of disarming her. He was outplaying her, plucking all of her weapons from her hands and making her feel like a toothless tiger. The surprising part was that it didn't bother her for a second.

The only thing that she was afraid of was how vulnerable it made her. It had taken a long time for her to build the stronger skin she needed in this world without her family. She wasn't always this untrusting. She was thrust into the world of kill or be killed, and she had had to change if she wanted to survive. But feeling vulnerable was the tradeoff to pay when you cared for somebody. It was a risk she would have to take.

So here she was. The stubborn, combative, standoffish Miss Lina Collett was falling in love so hard she could already feel herself starting to change to meet him at least halfway. And she guessed that she was fine that.

A genuine, wide smile crept its way on her face. She averted her eyes from him and reached for her glass to take a sip of her TruBlood. If the owner of the bar was coming to meet them, it was probably polite to try to enjoy her drinks.

A gag reflex. TruBlood was probably the most fucked up and genius thing ever invented.

She looked at Eric, who was watching her curiously.

"What's going on in that busy mind of yours?" he asked.

She thought that for a second and wondered what she should tell him, while swirling the contents of her glass in her hand. She wanted to know more of him and now was the perfect opportunity. She was going to take advantage of that. But there were almost too many questions – where to start?

"Have you ever thought about us? Why we're here? Why you and me?" she asked. She was feeling a little bit philosophic.

"All the time. Have you?"

"Yes."

"And what do you think?"

"Well," she said, trying to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. "I think we complete each other in an indirect way. I mean that we don't exactly need each other like a man needs a woman, and vice versa. I don't need you to protect me and you don't need me to warm your bed at nights, if you allow me to be chauvinistic that way. But I feel there's something else we can give each other. I'm not sure yet what it could be, but I'm getting there. At first, I thought the only thing that we could ever have in common was the color of our hair and the fact that we're both arrogant enough to get ourselves killed. But maybe there's something more…" she said and quieted for a while.

She was going to say something forbidden again and he would have to fight the urge to lecture her… again. She ran her fingers over his collarbone and over his unbeating heart. Dead as hers, but she hoped it could have its own little heart orgasm too someday.

"You attract me in ways that I've never known before. You have this joie de vivre that I'm slowly growing addicted to… and I'm beginning to love my addiction."

He was watching her silently.

She waited for him to respond, but his face didn't give anything away. They were back to the unpleasant territory of speaking out emotions. She waited for him to ignore how she felt, brush it off with a terse comment or do something else entirely.

His gaze travelled from her eyes to her mouth and her lips parted by their own volition. Or his.

Just when she started to feel a bit foolish, he reached his hand behind her neck and pulled her to him.

It was a warm kiss, slow but growing. He led the way and she followed, veiling them from strangers' eyes behind the curtain of her hair. The kiss felt like an opening to what she could expect from the rest of the night. He was building it, but not letting it reach its crescendo just yet. Just before she got lost in it, he released her. She felt all tingly all over again.

He pulled away and went back to studying her, and she let him. It was moments like this when she caught him unprepared and seeing the thoughtful expression on his face again gave her a little high. It was the most endearing quality of his. His eyebrows furrowed a little, like he was trying to solve a puzzle. Indeed, it must be puzzling to act out of emotions he claimed he didn't have.

Slowly his face relaxed into that crooked smile of his. The man was infuriatingly difficult to read, but he could kiss like a house afire and surprise her with very good things. With bad things too, just like she learned in the car. If the man thought the fight over her apartment in Paris was over, he didn't know her at all. She was just biding her time.

He placed his hand back on her thigh, rubbing it. "I expect a lot from us."

"What if you're disappointed?"

"You and I wouldn't be here, if I thought I would be," he said, airing the cruel truth of the ever pragmatist. It was mind blowing how fast he could find his way back to gains, losses and uses after a kiss like that. It was like he lost course for a while, but fought fiercely to steer himself back on it again before anyone noticed.

"Some claim their mates instantly after meeting them. You've seen it happen and I've seen it happen, but that's something I'd never do. Don't think for a second that I'm going to claim you just for the sake of believing in fate. Because I don't. It's the pleasure, the comfort and the routine of a mate that I want to experience with you. Now that I've seen you and been inside you, I'm no longer satisfied with the solitary life I've led. But you're right. We don't exactly need each other, although wants have the tendency to transform into needs, when given time. And you're right again, we do have a lot we can give each other, but what it is, I think we can only learn after a few years of living with the mating bond. Now it's enough for us to feel attracted to each other," he said and as if to make a point, he placed his hand on her inner thigh moving it up until her breath hitched.

Lina flicked her eyes to the crowd, looking if anyone saw them. Eric didn't mind. He lifted her to his lap and continued where he was. He brushed the sensitive flesh just underneath her panty line making her body tense and her mind lose all focus of what they were talking about. When he saw her squirming, he grinned in small triumph and removed his hand before their actions became blatantly inappropriate.

The man could play her like an instrument. It was very worrying.

Lina took another long swig of her TruBlood just to haul herself back to here and now by using the metallic taste of it as an effective mood killer. Finally she'd found some use for the product.

"So my tasty blood, my rare power and my convenient connections to the Prince of a powerful race have nothing to do with it?" she teased.

"Absolutely nothing," he said, still grinning his ass off.

She lifted her eyebrows.

"What now, little one? Do you think I'm that good a liar?" he asked.

"I think you can be an excellent liar when you want to be."

He said nothing at that. They both knew it was true.

Then he continued, "I'm taking a risk by having you in my lap, just like you are taking one with me. You do have a lot of enemies and your blood can entice a certain crowd I don't mind having to deal with. But do you know what the most dangerous thing for me is?"

She shook her head.

"You. You could easily be one of the most lethal creatures I've run into."

He turned his gaze away from her and pointed at a man standing near the dance floor, drowning his sorrow in Scotch.

"Without moving from my lap, could you kill that human?" Eric asked with a low voice, not wanting to be overheard.

Lina looked at the man. His expression was distraught and he clearly was in dire need of company for a reason or the other. His shoulders were hunched in defeat. She felt sick. She didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Yes," she whispered. "By multitude of ways."

"Name one."

"Eric," she hissed in warning.

"Name one, Aislinn."

She pursed her lips and muttered, "I could twist his neck."

"And that vampire?" he spoke in her ear, as he nodded to a male vampire by the bar, talking to a woman.

Lina turned her eyes to him. The man was smiling a charming smile, and the woman was blushing at his advances. They looked happy.

"I could harm him badly," she admitted. "But I wouldn't. You know that."

"But you wouldn't," Eric said and brought a hand on her cheek. "And I know that. You're very powerful, but you use it only to protect yourself and the people you care about, and that's why I'm taking the risk. You and I both know that your power is also a threat against me if ever manage to piss you off. Your blood tastes like the sun itself and having your Prince around my little finger would feel so fucking fantastic, but that's not why I'm claiming you. Fortunately, I like being with a dangerous woman. It makes me feel a bit manlier to be able to call you mine," he smirked and made her snort.

Then his face froze back into a thoughtful mask and his voice was somber.

"All I wonder about is how perfect the timing is," he said mostly to himself.

"What do you mean?"

"You're going to have to let go of your family soon. Your grandfather, your cousins, the place you still call home."

It was true. She fought the sorrow of that statement that was threatening to creep its way back in. It was like she was standing in a house that was on fire and the only option for her was to make the jump right out of it. And Eric was standing outside in the unknown, waiting to catch her when she fell.

"And I had to let go of something not so long ago," he said, but left it at that.

She knew whom he spoke of. She didn't need to ask. He would talk to her about the subject when he was comfortable with it and this was hardly the place.

They fell into a comfortable silence for a while. She watched his eyes soften, but then harden back to calculative again. He had the kind of eyes that always looked like they knew a secret she had no clue about. Always a bit unpredictable. It was like looking at the sea trying to read it as the weather kept changing.

"So many secrets," she whispered out loud.

He glanced at her. "You think I have secrets from you?"

"Don't you?"

After a moment of silence, he answered. "I do."

It chilled her blood a little bit.

"Major?"

"Possibly."

"Will you tell me what they are someday?"

"Yes. But not today."

She felt like shaking him, but restrained herself. "How can I trust you without knowing everything there is about you? If you're keeping some corners of you hidden, how can I know what kind of monsters you keep there?"

He looked at her without answering. Of course he couldn't answer that. Only she could. She bit her lip. No, she actually gnawed at it. This was one of the things he just wanted her to accept and she hated it.

"I'm not ready to tell them to you. At this moment, you should only get to know me and learn who I am. My secrets don't change the man I am today, Aislinn. And I will tell you them, when the time is right," he said.

Something was off, but she wasn't sure what. Nothing in Eric's face told her he was being insincere but somehow she got the feeling he was. But to bring that up wouldn't do her any good. She was already on thin ice with him in matters of trust and giving him any more thought that she still had trouble taking his words for granted wouldn't help. She did trust him, until he proved otherwise. And she didn't want to start another argument trying to prove that. He always won those arguments leaving her feeling like a jackass. However she couldn't help feeling like he was selling her a dream house with a horrible history of death, skirting over the inconvenient fact that a mass murder happened in the living room.

"I believe you," she said burying those ugly thoughts. They would come bite her in the ass someday, but maybe she would be ready then.

"I'm sure in a few decades we will be still asking the same things: Why are we here? What are you thinking? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we become?" he said. "I would be worried if we didn't."

Lina took a deep breath and another slimy sip of her drink and placed the empty glass on the table. This night felt longer than ever and it was because of the emotional tug of war she had to play with him.

Then she became conscious of a pair of eyes drilling into her from a distance. The girly waitress from earlier was sneaking glances at them, while arranging the liquor bottles behind the bar. When she noticed Lina looking, she turned her eyes away and became busy with the cash register. A lovely blush was coloring her cheeks and ears red.

"She's a little smitten," Eric said, breaking away her staring at the girl.

"Like a kitten," Lina chuckled.

"She's pretty," he said and brought his hand on her neck, rubbing it pleasantly.

"Mm-hmm. Maybe she thinks we're one of those wild couples that like to invite innocent little girls like her to our fun time."

"Maybe it's that promiscuous Parisienne flair you have going on."

"Ha. No."

"That promiscuous fairy flair then," he sighed.

Lina laughed.

"Possibly. We fairies take that floozy cake and enjoy every mouthful of it," she said, letting her thoughts drift to her cousins for a while. Thinking about floozy fairies made her miss Claude. Then she turned around and jabbed her finger to his chest. "And look who's talking. In Fangtasia, the first thing that hinted me of your existence in the world was your cum running down a girl's leg. Quite disturbing."

His grin grew devilish. "Did it entice you?"

"Well, it sure as hell didn't impress me."

"But I bet it did something to you."

"If it did, I wouldn't tell you."

Eric was grinning at her like the village idiot.

They talked about mindless little things after that, making jabs at each other and telling stories. Right before they were getting ready to leave, they saw the door next to the bar open and a woman walked in. She was a woman with caramel colored hair and a power in stride as she walked to the bar and asked the girly waitress for something. The waitress answered her and the woman turned her focus on the customers. She searched for something in the crowd and when her eyes found Eric, she smirked. Kirsch, Lina presumed.

Lina stood up, and Eric followed. They watched the female sheriff approach them, not stopping to greet the other vampire patrons in her way. She was wearing everything in black, which was customary to vampires in power. He hair was curled to immaculate waves. Eric took a few steps towards the woman. Lina was glad to stand behind his back, letting them go through the formalities when Kirsch finally stood in front of them. Their exchange was cordial but short before Kirsch's attention shifted to her, forcing her to take part in their little meeting. Lina nodded to her respectfully.

"Sheriff."

The woman ran her eyes up and down Lina's figure like she was measuring her and trying to see if she would meet some secret standard of hers. Then she did the most interesting thing. She moved right in front of her, stopping to stand right before Lina's face, breathing the same air as she did. It seemed like respecting someone's personal space was not part of her usual repertoire.

Lina refused to get uncomfortable. This was some kind of a quirky test, but she had no idea what kind. She stood there calmly, tasting the cool air that the other vampire breathed to her face. She smelled of cinnamon and womanly musk. Her face was had hard German features and she was quite beautiful in her own stern way. She was smiling but her eyes said something else entirely. It was a little creepy. Like a mass murderer smiles before he slits the poor victims throat.

When nothing seemed to happen, Lina got bored. "Want to kiss?"

Kirsch cracked a smile. The woman looked to see what Eric thought about his companion speaking out to her like that. "Cheeky one, but quite lovely. You always had a thing for fair beauty if I remember correctly. A new child of yours?"

"No," Eric answered, but didn't offer any other reason for why Lina was with him.

"She smells of you. And then something else entirely. Sweet. Alluring." Kirsch stared at her for a while. Lina couldn't blame her. Everything about her screamed different. "Well aren't you a little mystery. But sit please. We have a lot of catching up to do."

She and Eric talked about area business, Compton and politics, but avoided the actually touchy subjects as they were out in the open like this and Lina was sitting like an outsider right next to Eric. Lina watched how he got immersed in conversation; learning the gossip and speculating. This was something he liked doing and strategizing came naturally to him. And his little schemes, she thought and smiled a little. One thing she was glad about was that from this day forward she could possibly leave the tedious politics in his hands and focus on what she loved doing. He had his business and she had hers.

Kirsch asked her what she did; business or politics, like the two of those were the only options. Lina could see why Eric liked her; she was outspoken, but tactful and went straight into important matters and left out the bullshit. Business, she answered and went about explaining all the whats and whys of her line of work. How she chose dancing because it was expressive, evolved with time and always offered new possibilities to entertain the viewer. How people will always be fascinated by dancing for the same reasons that they liked fireworks and loved the circus. People would want to see daring tricks, magnificent shows and talent, and her business would thrive. The world would always want to see a show.

Eric was watching her with the same expression that was on her face only a moment ago; that little knowing smile.