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Chapter 21: Your Words are Gelignite

I had crawled into bed an hour before the sun would set for a little nap. Eric's travel-coffin was right beside me. It was slightly eerie, but I was so used to weird things like this that I hardly blinked twice. I thought I'd try and re-vitalize my body. We had arrived in Vegas at around one in the afternoon and it was an exhausting trip. I was so tired and so out of it that I just let the bellboys lead me to our room which was being shared, much like the room in New Orleans, with Pam and Alina across the living quarter. I assumed they didn't have one bed like Eric and I and had two separate ones. Who knew, though?

I woke up from my power nap when I heard the coffin being shut. I sat up sleepily and saw Eric straightening himself up, discarding his shirt. He looked over at me and smiled. He went over to the bed, kicking off his shoes and wrapped an arm around me, I rested my head on his bare chest.

"We don't have much time, I have a meeting to get to," he said, kissing my head.

"A meeting? Is it serious?"

"Yes."

There went my heart again. "What? Will everything be okay?" I asked him, my voice on the edge of hysteria.

"Shh, Sookie," he moved from under my cuddle and I rolled onto my back, staring into his eyes, confused. He hovered over my body.

"You're not answering me," I told him. I tried not to pout.

"Take my pants off," he said.

I debated telling him to get bent, but my hands had a mind of their own and I slowly undid his zipper and button. I pulled his pants down as much as I could in this position. He wore no nothing underneath, so his cock was hard and ready. Eric lifted one leg and I pushed his pants down with my feet till they were gathered at his ankles. I could feel need pulse through my body. This was it.

"Don't leave me," it left my mouth before I could think about what I was saying.

He didn't move to take my own clothes off. I could see his Adam's apple bob and I eyed his beautiful neck, and I found that I desperately wanted to bite it. His hand went to play with the small bit of skin that was showing between my t-shirt and shorts, his other arm balancing himself above me. His hand went flat on my stomach and caressed my stomach up my shirt to my bra. His eyes were dancing, hungry, full of want. I couldn't breathe, I wanted to feel his weight on me, his fangs, grazed my neck. I turned my head to the side, inviting him to bite. He remained still though. He cupped my breast over my bra, nudging my shirt higher up my body.

"I thought you said we don't have time for this," I said impatiently, bending my legs at the knees and opening them wide for him to settle there.

He found my gaze and he nodded, removing his hand from my breast and he quickly pulled off my shirt, and my bra was tossed to the floor. He pushed my legs back down so he could take my shorts off and I quickly put my legs back to where they were before. He eyed my throbbing center, licking his lips, his fangs exposed. He slowly settled himself between my legs, his length teasing my clit, pounding to enter. I lifted my hips for him to be right at my entrance. We stared at one another and a curious feeling enveloped me and then...

I cried out when he pushed himself to my hilt. I gripped his shoulders, pressed my legs into his side, desperate. He growled low, and pulled out before crashing back into me, his balls colliding with my ass. I whimpered and stretched my neck upward as he filled me completely, his long, full strokes feeding the flames – I was on fire for him. When I looked back at him, he looked as if he were on the brink of losing control. His eyes left mine and travelled to my neck.

"Take me," I said. His hand brushed over my sensitive breasts and he brought his mouth to my nipple, his fangs grazing and I writhed anxiously underneath him. It felt as if he were tempted to bite me there but instead he brought his mouth back to my neck, his hips still thrusting into me, creating beautiful tension, that was making my body sing. He made a noise as my muscles contracted around him, so close to my release. "Eric," I begged. He was moving so slow.

"Patience," he reminded me and his fangs plunged right under my chin, his head at an awkward angle but it felt so lovely. I clamped down on him and came hard as I sobbed my appreciation for the way he made me feel.

"Oh, Eric," was all I could enunciate. He pulsated and I felt him release as well and as soon as he finished feeding and licked my wounds, he rolled off me too soon and was on his back. He grabbed my wrist and dragged my weak body on top of his.

"Take me, now, my sweet," he said, kissing my cheek, where tears had fallen. My mouth was right at the crook of his neck and I lazily kissed him, over and over, moving on top of him, feeling as if I could just lie with him forever. This would be messy, and I thrived for it. I wanted to tear him. I bit into his neck, where a tendon was protruding invitingly. He cried out and his hand twisted in my hair. "Sookie!" he said and I pulled at the bite, drawing blood into my mouth. I moaned, and his hand dipped between my legs and his fingers began pumping me. Mouthfuls of his precious blood filled my system and I was shocked when I got a brief glimpse into his mind. A fuzzy blur, his full attentions on me, his ecstasy, his need and his want for me were overwhelming. I pulled my mouth away from him as soon as he crooked his finger inside me and I had an orgasm that had me clutching onto his chest fraught with emotion.

I gasped, searching for oxygen. "Eric, I -"

"I love you," he interrupted me, kissing my temple, and my face over and over, telling me how much he loved me. He gave me one last long, passionate kiss and he was off the bed as if none of it had just happened. He closed the bathroom door just off our suite and I was left in the bed trying to collect myself. It took me a while, my limbs wobbly, to find my clothes around the room. I pulled my bra and panties back on, then my t-shirt and shorts. I straightened out the bed, going over everything that just happened like it were a movie. I sat on the edge and waited for him to emerge. He walked out in his trade-mark jeans and t-shirt ensemble, and he looked gorgeous. My hair was probably a mess, and my lips red and puffy, but he looked ethereal. He walked over to me and kissed my lips chastely.

"You should eat. Make sure you have a lot of protein, vitamins," he said. "Get your strength up." He kissed my forehead and exited our bedroom. I followed him in a daze, wondering what the hell was going on. Alina was on the couch and she mentioned Pam went out to find a meal. Eric nodded approvingly. "Order food for Sookie and make sure she eats it all."

"I can do that myself, thank you very much," I said hotly.

Alina handed me the menu and I looked over my options, sitting grumpily on the couch. Eric began talking to Alina swiftly in whatever the hell language. They were secretive and at the moment my annoyance overruled my curiosity.

"Titta på henne försiktigt. Jag ska göra mitt bästa för att hon är okej, men om jag inte kan, så hjälp mig Alina –"

"I know, I know," she answered him in English. I hmphed and lifted up the phone on the side table to give in my order.

Eric did one more overall sweep of the room and then his eyes rested on me as I put the phone down, my order placed. I gave him a dirty look for the way he had just treated me – after the sex, of course.

"Do not worry, my lover," he said. I raised my eyebrows at him, despite being pissed at him, not worrying about what was happening was easier said than done. "You will return back to Bon Temps, soon enough." I didn't like the way he said that. He gave me a nod and I glared at him, hating his involvement in politics, hating his opportunistic personality, hating his manipulation, hating his ambition to become king, hating his infertility – but not hating him. I loved him.

He left the room and I felt as if my heart had broken.

...

I sat on the couch with my legs tucked close to my chest, my arms wrapped around them. I was nervous as hell. It had been fifteen minutes. My heart felt heavy and was nervously beating. It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe. Alina sat at the other end of the couch, in downtime. The television blared, an attempt at distracting me, but failing miserably. I couldn't concentrate on the night-time soaps impression of drama. That was nothing compared to sitting in a hotel room in Vegas while your vampire boyfriend was in a serious meeting with the king of his state. I wasn't sure what was going on in that meeting, but I could feel Eric being rather sure of himself. That didn't settle me though. I hoped my own erratic nerves weren't disturbing him.

Stupid television drama – do people actually watch this? I changed the channel and it was one of those home-renovating shows. They always depressed me. They never worked on houses that actually need help, like mine. I don't even know why I was even trying to watch it. It wasn't distracting me from anything! I flicked off the television and moved my legs from my body. I looked over at Alina who had her head close to her chest. She was alert when her phone rang.

Thumpity-thump-thump. My heart is crazy as she answered it. Could it be Eric?

"Yeah," she answered softly. That didn't sound like Eric. I tapped my hand nervously on my knee. "Οχι, Eric εξακολουθεί να είναι στη συνάντηση. Κορίτσι του είναι με μια κρίση πανικού, όμως... Ναι, έτσι φαίνεται. Της αρέσει πάρα πολύ... Είναι όλα εντάξει; Είσαι νευρικός;... Το ξέρω. Τίποτα δεν μπορεί να με σταματήσει... Δεν ξέρω πότε θα είμαι πίσω, ξέρετε. Μπορεί να είναι λίγο. Μπορείτε πάντα να έρθουν εδώ. Eric αναφέρθηκε σας βλέπω ξανά... Θα."

That went right over my head. But it was beautiful to listen to. Alina talked slowly and in a most lovely voice that only someone as beautiful as her could acquire. She hung up and looked over at me.

"Who was that?" I asked. It was rude of me, but I was very curious.

Alina pursed her lips. "Nathanial..."

"Who's he?"

"The man back in Greece," she said.

"Oh," I said. That was her lover of five-hundred years? The vampire who's maker she killed? That was something we had in common – oh, and Eric – oh, and the blond hair and blue eye thing – oh, and the fairy blood...huh, I had a lot in common with this thousand year old vampire. "Do you mind talking about him?"

Please give me this distraction. I didn't know when Eric was officially going to attack. I didn't think it'd be tonight but Eric was hard to read at times. He did say that he wouldn't enter a fight without Alina, for that I am grateful.

She observed my state for a moment before speaking, "Ask me anything."

I curled my legs under my bottom and looked at her curiously. Her hair was in a loose bun and she wore tight fitting jeans and a regular blue t-shirt. Honestly, she was annoyingly pretty. I couldn't imagine what it would have been like if she had taken to me unkindly.

"Well, how did you meet him?" I asked her, timidly.

"Rivalry introduced me to him," she said, shrugging. "I had left Eric not too long before. We had separated on and off for the five hundred years that had past for us at that point. I was wandering through Greece, I hadn't been there in years when I ran into an old acquaintance. I never got along with this woman; her name was Manshaa and was terribly cocky. I had fought with her in France about a hundred years previous over a human male. He was an adorable young boy, named Edwin that I had snatched from England; he gave me my first taste of this language. I fawned over him for months, he was under my thrall and was so dedicated to making me happy." I tried not to scowl or wince at the abuse and use of humans back then. I had to remind myself those were completely different times. If the vampires were still like that, well, if Alina were still like that, I wouldn't be sitting here with my own mind intact, now would I? "Manshaa met him one evening and asked if I would share. You must know how vampires get. I refused.

"One evening I came back from wandering through the streets of Paris and there she was, draining and killing my Edwin. Needless to say I was not pleased. So when I encountered her once again in Greece, I was deeply agitated. She had recently, by only a couple of months, turned a man. He was her first child and she doted on him, doing everything she possibly could to make him happy – for he was miserable. Manshaa was extremely dim and it was a shock that she had survived as vampire for almost one hundred and fifty years. She cared deeply for the man. We were all staying at the house of an old friend of Eric's, a vampire by the name of Orr. He was settled far from town and welcomed me with open arms, and it was my misfortune that he was hospitable to Manshaa as well.

"The man had no expression and looked deader than any other vampire I had met. He was very handsome and still held a dark tan that had yet to fade, so I knew he was a hard, but poor worker on this island off the coast of Greece. He had jet black hair, that was cropped shorter than any man I had known and his eyes were a navy blue that, at times, looked black. I was immediately reminded of Manshaa stealing Edwin from me. I didn't love the English boy, but I was vengeful and bitter, so while Manshaa went to retrieve their food, which was odd, I confronted the man. Orr had warned me that the man never spoke and they weren't even sure of his name. I asked Orr why Manshaa was getting the food and Orr mentioned that the man refused to hunt and would not feed from any women or children that Manshaa would bring back. I found this very odd, especially for a young vampire.

"I began talking to him and he refused, just like Orr said he would. Of course, I had means to get him speaking that Orr was unaware of. At the time, I wasn't too familiar with Greek, but I knew quite enough and it was easy to pick up after a couple of weeks. When Orr had left to find food, not soon after, I glamoured the man into telling me his name.

"'Nathanial,' he said. Right away, I loved his voice, it was deep and scratchy.

"'Why are you troubled?'

"'The monster killed my family.' She was a monster, but then so was I, and he was now one too. And then he told me what had happened. He had met Manshaa when he had gone down to the water one night to check on the fishing. Normally his brothers would do that, for he was not a fisherman, but they had recently succumbed to flu and so he was helping their business. He was the only one of his family who had not become a fisherman. He was gifted with carpentry and had settled on that to make a living for his wife, four daughters and son. He spoke of being seven and twenty years and wanted to make as much money as he could before he died, for the average age of death was very low on the island.

"Nathanial had no such luck with Manshaa who asked him to be hers. He refused and said he loved his family and they were his priority. Manshaa glamoured him, took his blood and sent him back home. She did this to him several nights in a row, beckoning him from his family in the middle of the night. Nathanial spoke of how he felt trapped in his own mind when she would hypnotize him and he did everything he could to get away. There was an old witch just outside of town and he had seeked her out, willing to do anything to protect his family. The witch gave him an elixir to fight off the demon. He drank it before bed and when Manshaa summoned him that night, he went like always. She drank from him and was sickened, his blood poisoned to her. In a fit of rage, as Nathanial regained his mind and ran back home, it didn't take long for Manshaa to regain focus and she attacked his family, killing his wife and children right in front of him. She told him, as punishment, he would live with the pain and that it was his fault his family had died. She turned him that night.

"After his tale, I realized I didn't like her anymore than before. I was intrigued by this man and wished he had been mine as a human. Eric had taught me everything I knew about possessiveness and I wished to regain the upper hand on Manshaa, for damning this lovely man and for stealing the expendable human boy Edwin. My logic still doesn't make much sense now, but I brought Nathanial out of Orr's house. He was reluctant and I hate to admit I wished not to glamour him anymore, so I brought him relief from my influence.

"'Are you an angel?' I was surprised that he continued to speak once we left the place he had been forced to stay at the past few weeks.

"I decided to let him believe I was a gift of the God's as I held his hand and lead him to find Manshaa. She had brought a man over her shoulder for her child. When she saw us, coming down the cliff to meet her she dropped the man and advanced toward me, furious. It wasn't difficult to kill her. Nathanial was so grateful. He cheered and declared his love for me. I wasn't quite used to the affection of a man, like he.

"I stayed with him for a few years. He had built a home for 'us' as he mentioned to me several times. It was a beautiful house and I had grown quite comfortable there. He would only feed from men, which I found an odd courtesy to continue, but he did, the strangest vampire I had ever met, and still have ever met. And he never killed. To this day I still don't know how, as a young vampire, he was able to refrain from inflicting death. Eventually, Eric called to me. I told Nathanial that unlike him, I still had a maker and he needed me. Nathanial did not understand and for the first time in his life he left his island, with me, to meet my maker.

"Eric was displeased with my follower. He didn't like Nathanial intruding on my relationship with him. Nathanial was unused to our kind's perversions and had no taste for it like most vampires. He really is a unique creature in his own, just like I. So when Nathanial realized I was having sex with Eric, he snapped like I had never seen before – this man who had been so quiet, so gentle, so calm and level-headed in a way I had never known, had every intention of killing my maker because of our sexual encounter.

"You know that Nathanial was insane for doing this. Eric, infuriated that this small-minded new vampire was laying claim to me, his child, had every intention of killing Nathanial. I considered my options and realized I very much cared for the young vampire, so I put a stop to it before permanent damage was inflicted. I didn't know how to explain to Nathanial that I couldn't stay with him forever. I cared for him, yes, maybe as much as Eric, but I couldn't see myself staying in Greece. I was already finding it boring – he was the only reason I stayed.

"We parted, he returned to his home and I stayed with Eric for a while longer. Eventually, I missed Nathanial. It took a while, but I realized I longed to return to the island and to his home. When I visited him, he was happy to see me. I was surprised, given his reaction to my relationship with Eric, but he welcomed me back with open arms and has done so for the past five hundred years. Each time I return to him, I stay longer."

When I was sure she was done I whispered, "That's beautiful." I was deeply saddened by Nathanial's life. I was warmed by the way Alina treated him, maybe not so much in the beginning, but I could tell she deeply loved him. Who said vampires couldn't be with one another? I mean as far as functional relationships go for a vampire, this one seems to be doing alright, despite the fact that she leaves him and most likely hooks up with others. I wondered if Nathanial kept any other relations while Alina was gone.

She leaned back into her seat and smiled. "Nathanial would like you."

"I'd like to meet him," I said.

"Maybe one day, if you ever came to Greece or for some unforeseen reason he decides to visit the States – he's never left Europe."

"Really?"

"He is rather exclusive to his home."

I could relate to that. "Thanks for distracting me."

"Yes," she agreed.

"Eric's fine," I said, reassuring myself.

Alina didn't respond.

There was some rustling at the door and I jumped up. Eric! When the door opened though, it was just Pam.

"So excited to see me, Sookie," Pam leered, stepping further into the room.

"Nice dinner?" Alina asked, turning the television back on. "Oh, I love this show!"

"I thought you hated technology," I remembered. And here she was with a cell phone.

"I'm not unfamiliar with it. We have a television back home and when it's on, I like to watch this show," she leaned back into her seat, looking truly excited. She referred to Greece as her home.

We all settled on the couch and watched the television. I wasn't paying attention, but Pam and Alina were really into this sitcom about a red-head woman from Texas and her family. I didn't understand it. Alina was in hysterics saying things like, "You tell her Reba!" or "Oh that Van."

What?

There was a knock on the door. I knew it couldn't have been Eric, he had a key. Alina rose to her feet and her tiny frame made it to the door. She opened it and a vampire entered the room before Alina could invite him in. I think he could smell the fear on me, his fangs were down.

"Don't even think about it," I heard Alina say. "What is it?"

"King Felipe de Castro has summoned you to the meeting," the vampire said.

"All of us?" I squeaked.

"Yes. Do not lolly-gag." I wanted to burst out laughing; hearing a vampire say 'lolly-gag' was too good for words.

"Oh well, we musn't do that," Pam agreed, amusement twinkling in her eyes. I suddenly realized exactly what he had said. At least I'd be near Eric.

The vampire waited for us to collect ourselves and then lead the three of us to the meeting. I could feel Eric's tense anticipation and I was struck with a horrid feeling that tonight very well might be the night.

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