I know, I know, I kept you waiting. The only thing I have for my excuse is that I wanted to write the whole night before giving you a chapter - and as you see, as a result it's really long.

It's time for Sookie and Eric to face the outside world. Enjoy.

Breathesgirl takes credit for correcting this not-so-little chapter.

Disclaimer: I'm just quoting Sookie.

Previously: I took a deep gulp of air when he released me and I was still trying to get my giggling under control. I felt like the carefree teenage girl that I had never been.

"What?" I asked Eric when I noticed he was staring at me.

There was something in the way he was looking at me, something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"What?" I asked him again, a little embarrassed but unable to stop laughing.

"Nothing," he said after a beat, putting his hand on the small of my back. "Let's go inside."

The minute I walked into the room I realised how brilliant Eric's idea to bring me there was. It felt like almost every person's thoughts zeroed in on us, and while there was some curiosity and lust (and even envy – from both females and males who wanted to either be me or have me) pointed toward me, most of it was focused on Eric. No wonder – he was a big fish, especially in the small Shreveport pond, but I suspected that the latter had more to do with the fact that he wanted to stay in it, not that he had to.

These people were not working for Eric so I couldn't simply question them, as we did with his employees, but this was a perfect opportunity to listen to their minds without raising any suspicion. Eric explained to me that this was more of a social event, so there would be no closing any deals tonight, but it was more about getting a feel of a person and their intentions toward him.

I blinked as the wave of thoughts swept over me and forced myself not to use my crazy smile, but then the initial force of the interest subsided and I was able to catch my breath. I felt Eric squeeze my hip. At least I knew that he wouldn't let me fall on my face if I stumbled.

The good thing was that it reminded me that I could use his silent mind to help me keep myself from getting overwhelmed. Turns out, staying on a vampire's arm at the party was quite handy, at least for a telepath.

I got a grip on myself just in time to see a thin, nervous man making his way to us. He was the host of the party.

"Mr. Northman!" he said. "I'm so glad to see you've made it."

I could tell that this was a moment when he'd normally shake his guest's hand, but he knew that vampires don't shake hands, so he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He settled on a slight bow. Not a terrible choice. I wondered if he was smooth enough to acknowledge my presence. Eric nodded his head.

"Mr. Carlsson," he said as a way of greeting.

Mr. Carlsson dropped his gaze all the way from Eric's face to my cleavage, without stopping anywhere in between and instantly ruining any good first impression of him I might have had.

"And your lovely companion is..." he said talking to my left boob.

"Right here," I finished his sentence.

His gaze shifted from my left to my right boob before he caught on and finally lifted his eyes to look at me.

Oh, he thought.

Seriously? Oh?

"Sookie Stackhouse," I said smiling sweetly at him.

"Nice to meet you," he answered automatically. Now he was sweating that Eric might be upset with him. "I hope you'll enjoy yourself this evening," he said slipping back into character.

"Sorry," I murmured sheepishly to Eric when our host left us to greet someone else.

He seemed more amused than irritated with the exchange.

"Don't be. He's too scared of me to take offence, anyway."

I was grateful that he didn't seem to mind, but still, I should have been more careful. I was there to help him, not to get him in trouble by pissing off the wrong person. I just hoped that Eric knew what he was doing when he decided to take me to the party.

"I can't blame him completely, though..." Eric said, eyeing me playfully.

"Is my cleavage too low or something?" I asked, suddenly nervous.

"Your cleavage is absolutely perfect." He downright leered at me, but it was okay, because it was Eric. "Relax, Sookie. None of these people has any real power over me."

No. They just had money.

We drifted farther inside the room, with Eric giving nods and greetings left and right. He fetched us both drinks in elegant glasses – his looked just like red wine but I knew better. I was sipping mine slowly – I didn't want to drink too much. I reached with my mind to do the first experimental scan and found out that most of the guests were human, but a few of them were supes. Eric wrapped his free arm loosely around my waist and off we went to mingle.

I don't remember when was the last time I met so many new people. All of them were smooth talking and, if not glamorous, then at least well dressed. It was exciting, if a little tiring. Many of them were Eric's business partners and associates but there were also those who were his competition. Some of them admired Eric, some feared him, and some were jealous of him, while the others were just genuinely looking for an opportunity to gain his interest and work on a beneficial deal. All of them had a healthy dose of respect for him, even the ones who wished him the worst. I also learned that in reality not all of them were as prosperous as they were trying to appear. Eric, on the other hand, looked like he was right at home while he was skilfully manoeuvring through the shoals of the diplomatic conversations.

It became harder to keep a track of the guests and their thoughts after a while so I tried to catalogue them in groups in my mind. I hadn't thought through what the evening might entail before then. I was just starting to realize, that I had no way of taking notes without getting anyone's attention so I had to try to remember everything, or at least the most important details – like making sure to warn Eric about the guy who was a closet vampire hater: he was a real hypocrite too. He was carefully hiding his true feelings in the hopes that he would still be able to do business with the undead, since it was very lucrative.

Eric must have sensed I needed a break because just when I felt I would be overwhelmed he surprised me by asking me to dance. I looked up at him, caught off guard.

"You dance?" I asked before I could stop myself.

I'm not sure why I was so surprised. Maybe because it was rare for a big man like him to be a good dancer? But then I'd known for a while that most vampires could move with a cat-like grace and Eric wasn't an exception.

"Why, yes. There were times when you couldn't avoid ballrooms if you wanted to keep certain company."

"Well, do you like dancing?" I asked, allowing him to lead me to the dance floor.

"It depends."

"On what?"

"If I have a good partner," he teased.

"Is that so?" I said narrowing my eyes at him and he only smirked in reply.

He pulled me a little closer than necessary, making it feel more like a promise and reminder of the things to come. Luckily dancing is something that I not only enjoy doing, but am also quite good at so I didn't have to worry about embarrassing myself, especially since it turned out that Eric was a good lead partner. I allowed myself to just follow and relax.

"It is a form of sophisticated torture to hold you so close and watch you in this dress all evening and not be able to take it off you," he informed me in a cool, polite tone, as if he was sharing an interesting observation with me. It made me smile.

"What happened with your patience?" I asked, moving my hand from his shoulder to the nape of his neck.

"My what?" he said with a stone face.

I laughed and he twirled me and dipped me, making me cling to him, which was exactly what he aimed for. Damn, he smelled good. He gave me a wicked smile that let me know that he was perfectly aware of what he was doing to me and he was clearly enjoying it. I wanted to kiss him, but he put us back upright just before I could close the gap between our lips.

"You're evil," I whispered.

"Are you just figuring that out?"

He pulled me flush against his body, letting me feel how the teasing was affecting him and I gasped. He only smiled wider, letting his fangs peek out.

"You had me fooled," I shot back, but some of my conviction that he wasn't all bad must have leaked into my voice because I saw it in the answering glimmer in Eric's eyes.

I was slightly out of breath and more than a little horny when we finally stepped off the dance floor. I was beginning to regret telling Eric that I wouldn't stay in Shreveport for a sleepover.

I could use some refreshment and a moment to cool off so I left Eric alone for a while to get myself a snack from a cold buffet in the corner. I picked out a few of those elegant, tiny sandwiches that you have to eat at least half a dozen of to feel them. I was looking for something non-alcoholic to drink when I saw a man to my left holding a pitcher of juice, watching me with interest.

"Do you want some?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure," I said smiling back. "Thank you."

He was tall and quite handsome with his athletic build and caramel skin. His mind was muddy, indicating that he was a were of some kind, but I could tell that he was curious about me and that he liked me. A lot. I think I might have blushed a little.

At that exact moment I got that unnerving prickling sensation at the back of my head that you get sometimes when someone is staring at you. Without looking I knew that Eric's eyes were boring holes in my skull from across the room. I ignored it defiantly. I wondered what he felt from me that made him turn all his focus on me though?

"So, what's a beautiful lady like you doing at such a boring event?" my new friend asked as he poured my drink.

"How do you know that I'm not boring?" I answered with a question of my own.

"Oh, I don't believe it."

He was definitely flirting. Was I flirting back?

"My name is Jack," he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Jack. I'm Sookie."

"A special name for a special girl. Now, how could anyone named Sookie be boring?"

I chuckled.

"You don't know me," I said.

"I just have a feeling about you."

"What feeling?"

"A good one. It makes me want to get to know you."

Such a pretty girl, never seen her before, would have remembered... And a nice smile too...- he thought. - Smells of a vamp though, such a shame... But she doesn't look like a fangbanger and doesn't have fang marks on her neck... what's up with that?

Of course, you couldn't rub yourself against a vampire without other supes in the room not knowing about that.

Just then someone called him and he looked torn.

"Go," I told him. "I have to get back, anyway."

"Would you care for a dance later?" he tried.

He seemed like a nice guy and he was definitely attractive enough. Under different circumstances I might have considered giving it a shot but I came here with Eric. No matter what it was that we were doing, aside from the fact that I still was on my secret telepathic duty, it wouldn't be right to ditch him now – even if Eric wasn't staring at me at the moment.

"I'm sorry but I'm here with someone," I said smiling apologetically.

He shook his head.

"Of course you are," he said. "I'd be surprised if no one had noticed you before me. Well then that's a shame Sookie but if you change your mind about that dance, please, let me know. It was wonderful to meet you. I hope we'll see each other again. Maybe another time?"

"Maybe," I said noncommittally.

After he left I bit into my food and looked around for Eric. I saw him at one of the tables, sitting with some people. There was an empty chair next to him, probably left for me, so I devoured the rest of my sandwiches and made my way across the room. I smiled politely and said my hellos as I slid into the place next to Eric. Thankfully he didn't make any comment about what I'd been up to.

"Sookie, this is Mr. and Mrs. Connor," he said, introducing me to the middle-aged couple that has been keeping him company, "And this is my Sookie."

"Nice to meet you," I piped up.

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes at his not so subtle usage of the possessive pronoun. There was no need for that – he was talking to good ol' humans, not supes. I guess he was just feeling possessive at the moment. It could also be why his hand moved to my knee as soon as I sat down. Or maybe that was simply because he was opportunistic.

"Here she is," said Mr. Connor, "the woman who got Eric Northman to take her out and make an effort to find out what her name is. I thought I wouldn't live to see that day."

"Tom!" Mrs Connor scolded, mortified.

I simply smiled. I knew where he was coming from, he just said what he thought – which was a rare practice, I can tell you. Eric's face was unreadable so I covered his hand with mine, just in case.

"To be fair, my name is not so hard to remember," I played along.

"Oh, I'm sure it has more to do with you being hard to forget."

Well, well, well, it looked like there was some balance in nature, after all. I've always hoped that there were some charming men out there to act as a counterweight to the assholes that I kept running into!

"You're too kind," I said.

Eric was being awfully quiet through the whole exchange.

The conversation flew easily after that, staying on the light topics. I learned from the Connors' minds that they wanted to rent a big office complex owned by Eric. It looked like they were going to come to an agreement but the details were still unclear. It also wasn't the first time they had done business with Eric.

"I've seen your proposal," Eric said finally, sounding casually.

"Ah, yes. Do you have any questions?" Mr. Connor managed to sound equally cool, though he was both excited and nervous.

Eric leaned forward.

"Only one," he said. "Where is the catch?"

Damn, he was good. The Connors laughed and assured him that there was none but the second Eric asked, their thoughts wandered to what they wanted to hide from Eric. In a way, they were being honest: there wasn't exactly a catch: the deal was legit. The thing was, they really wanted it more than Eric needed it and could pay much more than what they initially proposed. They were ready to bargain if Eric said no.

"Well then, I'll look through it again and I'll give you my answer next week," Eric replied curtly.

I waited a few more minutes in case there was something more for me to hear and then excused myself to the ladies. I slipped out of the room and welcomed the silence that awaited me in the empty corridor. The noise dimmed with the distance. There was only one other woman in the ladies room, but she left before me. I listened to her heels clicking on the tiles as she wandered off.

I did my business and was just washing my hands when someone else entered the room. I looked over my shoulder and saw a short, unfamiliar man. He was watching me closely. I tried to dip into his mind but came up blank: he was a vampire.

"This is a ladies room," I said loudly.

And vampires have no use for toilets - I added in my head.

He didn't answer, instead he took a step in my direction. I was beginning to worry.

"Mister, if you don't leave now, I'll scream," I warned him, but just as the words escaped my mouth I realised how stupid it was to inform him of my plans. Now he wasn't going to let me do that.

The next thing I knew he was right in my face. I blinked nervously and backed away. I had never seen him before which meant that the chances were he wasn't from around here. Otherwise I'd have probably met him some night at Fangtasia since it was obligatory for the Area Five vamps to show up there once in a while.

"What's your name?" he asked softly.

"Get away from me," I said.

He ignored my demand and took another step forward, inhaling deeply.

"You smell good."

"I said, stay away!"

My back hit the wall. I looked at him with wide eyes. Suddenly I felt him pressing into my mind. The bastard was trying to glamour me!

"You will stay quiet. You won't tell anyone about me. When I leave, you'll go outside, walk to the back of the building and wait for me."

I almost opened my mouth to tell him it didn't work on me, but thought better of that and nodded mutely instead. If only I could fool him and get a chance to get away from him for a moment...

He took few steps back, but then stopped and looked at me uncertainly. Shit. I tried to keep my cool and look inconspicuous but there were things I couldn't help, like my galloping heart-rate. He knew that something was off. He furrowed his eyebrows and started to inch closer again. I closed my eyes...

...only to open them quickly when I heard an odd noise and saw something zip into the room and knock the strange vamp off me.

Eric.

I took a deep breath and looked at him. A chill ran down my spine. He was holding the vamp by the neck; his eyes dark and blazing, fangs down and nostrils flaring. There was cold fury in his face. It dawned on me that it's been a long time since I'd seen Eric angry. It was a terrifying sight.

"Did you think that you could just glamour her, snatch her and take off unpunished, right under my nose?" he asked, his voice low, deceptively calm and frosty.

"I didn't know she was yours..."

Eric cut him off with a hiss.

"You followed her here which means that you've been watching her. Now, how could it be that you didn't notice that she was with me?"

There were a few seconds of tense silence before the vampire decided that it would be better for him not to lie and said:

"I apologise, sheriff. This will not happen again."

"Did he touch you, Sookie?" Eric asked, not taking his eyes of him.

"Eric..." I tried.

"Did. He. Touch. You?"

I gulped. My heart was hammering a hundred miles on a minute. Bloodshed in a public place was the last thing I needed.

"No," I breathed.

"Are you sure?" he insisted, not taking his eyes off the unlucky vampire.

"Yes."

It was clearly a deal changer, because after an excruciatingly long few seconds Eric released his opponent.

"You are banned from Area Five," Eric said icily. "You'll leave before dawn tonight and won't come back. If I ever find you within my area again I'll punish you personally. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sheriff."

"Get out of my sight."

He didn't waste any time; he was gone before Eric had finished his sentence. He moved so fast that I barely noticed it and then we were alone in the room.

"I want you to call me immediately if you ever as much as see a glimpse of him," Eric said. He still wasn't looking at me.

"Okay," I whispered, shaken. "What do you think he wanted?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Eric asked grimly. "You, Sookie. He wanted you."

There was still anger in his voice and I wasn't prepared for that.

"Five minutes, Sookie," he spat. "Five minutes when I'm not watching you is all it takes for someone to try and steal you!"

"It's not exactly my fault, now, is it, Eric?" I said, getting defensive.

He finally looked at me and I flinched.

"Do you even realise how serious it is?" he raised his voice. "Do you have any idea what could have happened?"

"I didn't ask for it!"

"Do you know what he'd do to you if I were not here to stop him?"

"But you WERE here!" I shouted. "You DID stop him!"

He blinked and stood there frozen for a second and then suddenly I was backed against the wall once more and he was kissing me frantically with his fangs out. I was scared and confused, but also relieved and grateful, so I let him. I circled his back with my arms and forgot for a moment where I was. His hands roamed, needy and bold, unashamed with what they were seeking and he grunted, pushing himself against me. I broke away gasping for air. It was only when his hand slipped under the edge of my dress when I sobered.

"We should stop," I panted.

He didn't listen to me.

"Eric, stop!" I said a little firmer this time.

I had to shove him to get the message through. It seemed like he simply didn't hear me; but he did stop, eventually. Was it bloodlust? I didn't understand any of it.

"Eric?" I asked uncertainly.

He rested his forehead against mine and closed his eyes.

"Talk to me," I said. "What's going on here?"

He didn't say anything. He simply stood there without moving. I did get one thing after all, though: he might be angry, but it didn't mean that his was anger was necessarily directed toward me. I stroked his upper arms.

"I don't like not to be in control," he offered finally through gritted teeth.

That actually made sense. Eric was a control freak, I knew that. It must have pissed him off big time that someone came so close to disrupting it all: with no elaborate scheme, no backup, no plan – just good timing and some luck. I wanted to tell him that nothing happened and that everything was okay; that he did it, he did manage to get in all back under control. Instead I said:

"Maybe we should just go? You know, like get out of here. If you've already talked to everybody you needed..."

He opened his eyes and looked at me.

"No," he said.

"No?"

"Not yet. Come."

He stepped back, giving me some space and extended his arm for me. I took his hand slowly and let him lead me back to the main room. To my surprise he pulled me to the dance floor again. It was a smart move as it gave us both time to cool off and process. I glanced at Eric a few times. He looked deep in thought. I was almost afraid to guess what he could be thinking about so intently. This time he wasn't flirting or talking in general, but after a while, when I calmed down a little, I was able to enjoy the dancing again and the soothing effect it had on me. The whole episode in the bathroom seemed unreal from here. I allowed myself to space out, so Eric startled me when he spoke at last:

"Did I scare you?" he asked me.

I looked up at him. Scare? No, not scare. I was so glad that he came when he did, that all I wanted was to hug him, but he seemed upset with me. I shook my head.

"I wasn't scared... of you," I said tentatively. "I just... Eric, are we good?"

"I don't know about that. I thought we'd already established that I'm evil."

...aaand he's back.

I sighed contentedly and hid my smile in his suit jacket as I rested my head on his shoulder. We left the floor when the music changed and Eric asked me if I wanted something to drink. I ended up downing a flute of champagne. We didn't stay long after that. We didn't talk much either – except for Eric saying his goodbyes to the VIPs when we were leaving, but he made that quick too.

We walked to the car together, with Eric keeping his hand low on my back, the same way as when we arrived. I knew that we should probably talk some more about what happened but I was reluctant to broach the subject. I was drained and so not looking forward to the possible fight with Eric. I decided that it could wait and kept quiet.

I ended up falling asleep in the car on the way home after telling Eric what I learned at the party and I woke up only when he turned onto Hummingbird Road. I still wasn't one hundred percent awake when we reached my driveway and Eric killed the engine. He got out of the car and moved swiftly to open my door before I even unbuckled my seatbelt.

"Thanks," I mumbled and smiled up at him sleepily, taking his extended hand.

He steadied me on my feet when I stood up and I lingered before pulling away and heading to the house.

Eric stopped when we reached the porch steps and I looked at him questioningly.

"You're tired and you need to get up early," he explained. "I'd better let you sleep."

"Oh," I said, surprised. I was simultaneously touched and disappointed. "Okay."

He leaned in and kissed me goodbye, long and slow, stirring something buried deep within me.

"Goodnight, lover," he said softly and took a step back, releasing my hand. Only then did I realise that neither of us let go of the other since he helped me out of the car.

I blinked.

"Goodnight, Eric," I whispered back. "I'll... see you soon?"

He smiled.

"Of course."

I watched him as he turned around and walked back to his car at a human pace. He waved at me before leaving. The lights disappeared as he drove away. I touched my lips, confused, chasing the tingling sensation his touch awoke. What the hell had just happened?