Okay, I know that there was some readers who were disappointed with the feeding scene in my last chapter. In response to that, I refuse to make Eric a softy. He is a Viking Vampire, not a hopeless romantic sap that I've seen him turned into before. In the books, with the exception to Dead to the World when he was cursed, he has always been written as a strong character who is not easily manipulated. I know that I have given Sookie the reigns in some previous chapters, but that was only to counter Eric. He likes his women strong, so I felt that Sookie needed to match him wit for wit. I explain more of the situation in this chapter, so I hope this clears up a lot of disinterest of confusion. Thank you for reading and all of your wonderful comments,and I hope you stick with me for the long haul! ;) Thanks again and enjoy!

Chapter 21

I left the bar first. My face was burning from my anger. How could Eric do that to me? I knew that we hadn't made an agreement about his feeding methods, but I had always assumed that it was only from me. I pulled my suitcase out of the back of my car. I must have had a good time filling it cause it weighed a TON!

I wheeled it over to Eric's Corvette and went back into the bar to let him know that I was ready to go when I passed Jen. I tapped into her mind again. Usually I felt bad when I invaded other people's personal thoughts, but I was curious this time.

'Oh, what was I thinking?! Now I remember. He was hot, and I needed the job, and I didn't know about her. What am I gonna do? I'm gonna be evicted with no where to go. I wont even be able to get back home to my parents. Oh no, here she comes! Should I go talk to her and apologize? No, that would be stupid. I don't know what to do!'

Wow. I didn't know the circumstances of which she was acting on, but I couldn't help but to still be a little mad. I shot her a smile, but she still seemed a bit scared. I headed toward Eric's office and leaned against the door frame.

"I'm ready now." I said as I crossed my arms.

"Alright then, let's go." he said as he grabbed his massive sword from behind his desk and slowly walked to the door.

I climbed into the passenger's seat of his Corvette as he loaded my things. I was antsy all of a sudden. I wasn't sure about how well this car ride would be. I sat and listened to the 'THUD' of my suitcase, and I knew that it would be only seconds before he was sitting next to me.

I took two deep breaths as his door swung open. He sat down and started the car. We slowly rolled out of the Fangtasia parking lot in silence.

I couldn't help but to keep looking over at him, wondering what he was thinking, and what he had been thinking. I fished a tissue out of my purse and licked it. I was tired of looking at her blood on his face. I dabbed his face, earning an odd look from him.

"Would you like to talk about it, Sookie?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to keep my composure…" I said as I turned to look him in the eyes.

"Alright then, I will talk, and if you feel it best to sit in silence, then do so."

I raised my eyebrows at him, surprised, yet not, at his bluntness.

"What went on tonight meant nothing, Sookie. I needed to feed, and it was not going to be from you. You need all the strength you can get for what we will be doing. I was weak and had not fed since you the night before. I would have drank the synthetic blood except it would have done me no good. I almost died, Sookie, and you saved me. Do not think for a minute that I take that for granted. I am still eternally grateful for you taken me in when Hallow cursed me. I have not forgotten, lover. It was not I who chose to feed from that girl tonight. Pam practically threw her at me. In fact, I'm sure that Pam is also feeding off of her this very instant. You must remember Sookie, I am a vampire. I have to feed when I can. It is not as simple as a human going to a store and having a vast majority of food to choose from."

He had a point. I had never requested for him to only drink from me anyways. I stayed silent, not because of his comment before, but because I didn't know what to say. I had already made myself look foolish, and I wasn't about to dig the hole deeper. Ten minutes finally passed before I said anything.

"Where are we going?" I finally piped up when I realized we weren't headed toward New Orleans.

"My House. I'm gonna drop your belongings off first, grab a few things, then we will go."

We turned onto the long dirt road, and within minutes we were approaching the tall fence. He carried my things in for me and took them up to his bedroom where I changed out of my work, well, old work uniform. I still needed to tell him about that.

It was a quick stop at his house and we continued in his car, headed toward New Orleans this time. The trees went whizzing by and I began to get the same feeling that I had when I was driving home the night before. I had thought it was because Eric had fed from me, but I couldn't possibly be still coming off of that high. I peered over into the woods as we sped back and once again I saw something running through the trees. I couldn't tell what it was. It was more of a blur with some moments where I could see what looked like a head. I closed my eyes and put my hand on my forehead. I could feel it throbbing.

"Eric, I…."

Everything was spinning now and it felt like all of my blood was rushing to my head.

"Sookie, what is it? What is it….." I heard Eric say as his voice faded, and I was out.

I didn't know how long I was out, but I had a massive headache when I awoke. I lifted my head off of the pillows that I didn't remember laying on and searched the room for anything familiar. It was dark and I couldn't find the lights anywhere. I scooted to the edge and felt around. My hand grazed a table with a phone, a pen and some paper, then another hand. I jumped back as I figured out what it was and the light suddenly switched on.

Alcide sat on the opposite bed from me, smiling. He was half naked, only wearing pants.

"What are you doing here? Where am I? What is going on?! Where is…." I tried to say but he reached over and placed two fingers on my lips. I turned my head away from him, not wanting anything to escalate from there. He pulled his hand away and watched me, his smile never leaving his face.

'Oh no….what has he done with Eric?'

I eyed him suspiciously, giving him strange looks. He simply blinked, and kept smiling. I was starting to question whether this was indeed Alcide, and not Victor. He had inhabited my brother's body before, and I knew he could do it again. Alcide's green eyes twinkled in the glow of the light. It was almost mesmerizing. I shook my head and backed up onto the bed.

"Alcide, I will beat that rabbit off of your ass if you don't tell me what's going on…" I said in the most threatening voice I could muster.

"Don't worry, everything is fine."

'No, everything is not fine. Tell me what is going on!"

He leaned back onto his elbows, smiling again. We sat in silence. He pulled a book out of the drawer on the table and pretended to be interested. I stared at him, waiting for the response I wanted to hear. If this was his idea of a game, I wasn't having fun.

Ten minutes passed as we sat there in silence, me staring at Alcide, and him smiling, pretending that everything was normal.

"Are you going to tell me?" I asked with a bit of annoyance in my voice.

"I already told you, Sookie. There is nothing wrong." he said as he stared me dead in the eyes as I had been doing to him.

The hotel room that I seemed to be in was not anything I had anticipated and I knew that it wasn't part of the plan. Alcide got up off the bed and made his way to the bathroom, returning with a shirt on. I felt a little better about things now. Soon after, I got up and went into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror. I had a large gash on the right side of my forehead. No wonder I had such a bad headache. I must have hit the window in the car when I passed out.

I wet the small rag on the counter and applied it to my wound. It stung tremendously, but I knew I needed it. I walked back out to join Alcide, whom was still on the other bed, and I laid on the other, still clutching the wet rag to my head. I still didn't quite believe Alcide. Had he turned me over to the Fellowship? Was this his way of stealing me away from Eric? I didn't even know where I was, besides a hotel room. I had no idea if Eric was dead or alive at this moment. I closed my eyes and tried to think of all possibilities of my current situation, but I came up with hundreds of ideas. I finally decided to probe the bond to see of Eric was still around, and what condition he was in.

He was still alive.

I sunk back onto the pillows. I didn't feel any pain or discomfort coming from his end, so I knew that if I was being held captive, it wouldn't take long for him to find me.

I heard footsteps outside of the door and immediately jumped to attention, as did Alcide. I suddenly felt uneasy about this if Alcide was also preparing for what ever was coming through the door. I tossed the rag and backed up against the wall, Alcide standing in a defensive stance in front of me. The door handle wiggled a little and I shuddered to think of who it could possibly be walking through.

My Viking was back, bearing food. Alcide was right, there was absolutely nothing wrong. I had become somewhat paranoid over time, and not many could blame me as to why.

"Eric!" I yelled as I ran to him, kissing him as he tried to juggle the bags, and me.

"I see you are feeling better, lover. The were took care of you, I presume?"

"Well, Alcide kept me company, but he wasn't very social." I said as I shot Alcide a quick sarcastic smile, and he smiled back.

"I have brought you some food since I knew you had not eaten in a while. The only place open was a convenient store that did not have much to choose from, so I apologize now."

"What ever you brought will be fine, Eric." I said as he laid it out for me. He had brought bottled water, an assortment of soda's, chips, and a salad. He was also kind enough to bring Alcide a hamburger and a soda, which I was amazed at.

We ate as Eric sipped a True Blood. Alcide was still smiling at me and I knew it was bothering Eric.

"You have done your job for tonight, shifter. You may leave."

"I will leave when Sookie wishes me to leave, Northman." Alcide snapped back. Eric's fangs were down, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold him, weak or not.

"Alcide, maybe it is best that you should leave." I said to him, and he nodded. He knew that I was Eric's and that I knew what was in his best interest.

"I'll see you later, Sookie" he said as he left, slamming the door behind him.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I overate. Between blacking out and stuffing myself senseless with food, I was tired again, but there were a few things that I needed to know first.

"What did you mean that Alcide had done his job for tonight?" I asked him, curious to as what he meant.

"Ever since de Castro walked into Merlotte's, I enlisted the pack master to watch over you. There hasn't been a day that he hasn't been with you since, except when you were with me of course."

"Was he running alongside us tonight?" I asked, still wondering what that was that I saw.

"No, lover. He has followed us in his truck this whole time. Why? Did you see something?" he asked, concerned with what I might say.

"I have been seeing something in the trees lately. I saw it for the first time yesterday when I drove home. I get weak and dizzy when ever I seem to notice it."

"Sookie, I have acute senses, and I have yet to pick up on any of this." he said and it scared me. What had I been seeing?

"It must have been all in my head, Eric. I'm sure I've just been imagining it." I said to calm him down. "I am feeling a little sleepy right now though." I said as I stretched across the bed.

He laid me back, snuggling into my every curve. I had forgotten all about what had happened at Fangtasia. The only thing I cared about was here and now. He stroked my hair back and lightly kissed my forehead, and I closed my eyes, falling asleep against him.

There was a large patch of grass that I was laying in, and behind me was an old house. I was back home in Bon Temps. I stood up, my bare feet sliding across the green earth beneath me. The clothesline was full with my clothes and Gran's. I could smell a pecan pie baking in the oven, and hurried to the backdoor. There she stood, smiling, holding the pie in her oven mitt covered hands.

"Well hello, darlin. How was your day today?"

It was all so surreal. She set the pie down and I ran to her, burying my face into her chest, breathing in her scent that I had almost forgotten. Her soft, delicate hands stroked my back as she had when ever I had bad days. I held onto her, afraid that she would vanish if I let go. I felt the tears pouring out of my eyes and my cries became louder as she rocked me.

"Shhhhh, there, there, Sookie. It's alright. Have a seat and we'll have some pie."

I pulled my face away and nodded. I would do anything she said as long as she stayed with me forever. I don't know what I would do if I lost her twice.

I sat as she pulled a knife from one of the drawers and a few plates with silverware. She cut the pies into large chunks and dished some up for the both of us. I took a bite and closed my eyes, unknowingly letting out a soft hum. It was just as good as I had remembered. I looked up at Gran and she was grinning, nodding her head to ask of my approval. I nodded back to let her know that it was fantastic. She sat down with me and took a bite of her own, also closing her eyes as she savored the sweet taste.

I couldn't find any words to say to her. I was still coming over the shock that my grandmother was with me. I wished Jason could have been here with me. He missed Gran as much as I did. I felt almost selfish keeping her to myself. I continued to eat my slice of pie, letting the taste linger on my tongue with each bite. I looked up and Gran was watching me eat. It was odd. She had never done that. She would either eat also, or strike up a fabulous conversation, but there she sat, watching.

"Gran," I finally said, "Is everything okay?"

"Sookie, honey, Kill the Viking…"

TBC…