Hey guys,

I want to thank you all so much for being so kind. Hoping you enjoy this one! :-) Feel free to let me know, as I love reading what you think!

P.S: I apologize for a few certain confusing things that still have been left unresolved. The plot I started where a young girl was hanged and her throat sliced with her blood drained, will be picking up again in the story (and the murderer/s will be revealed shortly). Also, Sookie at Church and Eric's bleeding incident will be explained soon, where she'll find out she may have had more to do with it than she realized. Plus, Eric's ability to day walk will be touched on as well. I'm sorry for spelling mistakes, characterization issues, etc. I don't have a beta and I'm not exactly sure how that works. But I'm hoping it isn't enough to detract from the story too much. I'm a big fan of Dracula, by Bram Stoker as well, also some other novels featuring vampires, such as Let The Right One In. This is kind of an attempt to make an eerie story, and I'm still completely new to fan fiction so I apologize if it's bad. That said, I want to thank you all. I appreciate all the reviews and PM's I have received on the story, and take every comment seriously. So thank you :-)

Chapter Twenty-One

We sat there for a while in the blinding darkness, for an uncountable amount of time. No matter how hard I tried to make his face out in the dark, I couldn't. But if I tried extra hard, in squinting my eyes a bit, I could only just see the whiteness of his face and the outline of it. That was pretty much it. I also became aware, after a while, that I couldn't hear him breathing. I could only hear myself, each and every time I sucked in a deep breath to calm myself down. Every breath inhaled in, I also grew aware of a dull aching around my ribs. Something was broken from the headlong crash into the tree, and even breathing was beginning to feel painful. I probably had to get to a hospital sometime soon. I wasn't sure how extensive the injuries I had on my body were.

I could feel my legs a bit better, now that I wasn't squashed in the confines of my car. They were aching as well, and they felt full and heavy, every time I tried to sit up against the ground and move them. I could feel something wet trickling down my forehead, and I was vaguely aware that it might be blood from an open head wound. Considering how smashed the windshield looked, it didn't seem to surprise me. Glass probably got in me somewhere. Tears prickled in my eyes, but I was trying so hard to be strong and keep on a brave face about the whole thing I had only just endured however long ago it was. I hadn't ever been in a car crash before, so it had me shaken up deeply. I was also more than just a little concerned over the severity of the injuries I had sustained. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I didn't want to die anytime soon.

Dying was not something I wanted for myself just yet. I was twenty years old, almost twenty-one. I still felt I had so much to live for, so much I still hadn't yet accomplished or experienced.

Sitting up with some trouble, I stretched out my legs and closed my eyes. I gnawed on the tip of my tongue, in a way to hopefully distract myself from all the different pains that were going on around various places of my body. I felt almost at peace, as I let the darkness under my eyelids engulf me, while I soaked in the surroundings of the night, until Eric's voice interrupted me, bringing me back down into the situation at hand.

"Sookie, how bad is the pain for you?" His voice was soft and right near my ear. He had... somehow moved stealthily near my side in the dark.

I opened my eyes and glanced over to where his voice had come from. I still couldn't see him properly at all. I thought I could make out the dark roundness of his eyes shining at me. It took me a moment to process what he was asking me. "I don't know," I whispered slowly. "In some ways, it doesn't feel too bad. It isn't like it's excruciating or anything like that. But I do notice, that when I take in deep breaths..." I paused, doing exactly that in drawing in a long and shaky breath, only to have the shape aching around my ribs stab me again, "... it does actually hurt a fair bit. It feels like, I've almost been beaten to a pulp. Like I've taken a few hits into my chest. Do you think that's normal or a sign of something bad?"

"Well, there is a way I can help you, Sookie. You've only just got to let me." I knew what he was meaning in saying that: I would have to consume some of his blood, and that idea wasn't exactly the most appealing thing in the world.

"I don't want to be a vampire, like you, though," I objected weakly. "Not that there's anything wrong with what you are, of course. I just..." I got all knotted up with my words. My brain was still feeling slow and foggy. "I just don't wanna be one. Will I turn into one, if I do drink a bit of your blood?" I didn't know much about vampires, of course. I only knew about what I had heard of them, as a little girl, whenever my Grandmother would sometimes tell me scary stories before I went to bed. I didn't know what parts of those stories were true, however.

"And you won't be like me, just by ingesting my blood," he said, in a voice just as low and as whispered as mine was. "It isn't that... easy. But our blood has amazing healing properties. What you are feeling now will be erased in seconds, if you simply drink from me. I can have you completely healed within a minute. It would be as if... nothing of this, with the crash, had ever happened to you."

It did sound pretty great, the way he said it. I couldn't deny I wanted this whole thing to be over with already. I just wanted things to be back to normal again.

"I'm not ready to die," I said again softly. I felt my throat tighten, and tears running down my cheeks. "I don't want to die just yet, I know that much."

"And you won't. Not if you drink from me. The solution is that simple."

"Simple?" I repeated, making a face in the dark. "I don't think it is anything simple one bit. Drinking from you, I just... I don't know how I could do that? I'm not like you. I can't just... drink somebody else's blood, can I?" It just seemed all kinds of disgusting to me.

"You can, and you will. If you want to survive, anyway." Before I knew it, his hands were cupping the sides of my face. He guided my head slowly, tilting it on an angle. I felt the tip of my nose prod into his cool skin, but I couldn't be sure what part of his body that skin belonged to. "Bite me, Sookie," he breathed, a little raggedly. "Bite and drink from me, and all the pain you are feeling will magically go away."

"Just what am I biting exactly?" I breathed into his skin.

"My neck," he explained, and his voice turned very soft and cajoling. As he uttered the words, oddly enough, I could feel the pulses in his neck twitching. His husky voice reverberating through his skin, all the way to the curve of my lips. "Don't worry about hurting me. I'll enjoy the pain. Most of all, I'll enjoy knowing I have taken away your pain completely."

I liked the idea of biting into him with my own set of teeth as much as I liked the idea of swallowing down his blood, which was pretty much nil. But I knew, beyond anything else, that I didn't want to die tonight. I knew, above everything else, that I wanted to live and wake up the next morning, and go on living. If this was the only choice I had in order to do that, then I supposed I had no other option but to suck it up and just do it, no matter how strong my reservations were on it.

Sucking in another heady breath to harden myself up a bit, I opened my mouth, stretching my jaw as wide as it would possibly go. I felt his hands slide up, until his fingers were threading gently into the strands of my hair, and he helped guide me a bit closer in towards his neck. And then, at last, I grew courage and had it over with. I clenched down into his skin, feeling my teeth dig into the tight flesh covering his neck, and then it was evidently enough for blood to ooze out.

Liquid escaped into my mouth, coating around my tongue and around my teeth. It builded and builded, to the point where I feared I was going to choke on it. I almost very nearly did, and I gagged and spluttered. Panic raced inside me, before I forced myself to swallow. I gagged again. With that first swallow, my taste buds began to work. I tasted his blood, and it was clumpy, salty. I was definitely not like a vampire, who did this in order to survive in drinking people's blood. There was nothing about the taste that I particularly liked, or thirsted for. It was like forcing yourself to swallow down a meal you hated, and then having the aftertaste linger on.

I thought, besides the taste, most disconcerting of all was Eric's reaction to it. He made a few noises that sounded terrifying to me; It was if he truly was enjoying the pain, and every time he made a throaty rumbling groan of pleasure or excitement, it reverberated back to me unnervingly.

His fingers weaving more tightly into the strands of my hair, he pushed the line of my lips back over his weeping wound again, forcing me to drink some more down. I did, trying to be as obedient as possible. I tried to get over the taste, only I couldn't. I felt more and more sick, each mouthful I forced myself to swallow down.

But when I reminded myself how much I wanted to live, it became easier. This was all about survival. Panting, I licked around my lips quickly with my tongue so that I didn't waste any single bit. I noticed I did feel instantly better. I was no longer aching, like I had, every time I breathed around my rib area. I almost felt back to normal. Like an involuntary movement, my arm rose and my hand clamped over the back of his neck, as I latched on for more greedily.

It only made the disconcerting noises he was making come on more frequently and gruffly.

"Yes, Sookie," he breathed quietly, his voice full of appraisal. "Drink it all in."

I lost myself, for a few seconds there, until awareness slowly seeped in of just what I was doing and with who.

"Sorry, I think that's enough," I managed, pulling myself away.

Sliding my legs up, I sat back on my heels, marvelling how my legs were working the right way again. I guessed it was true then, everything he said. Vampire blood could heal everything. I felt exactly like myself again, before the crash, aside from the wetness of his blood slathered on my lips.

It was the most relieving thing in the world.

"Thank you," I muttered honestly, knowing full well I had to say it. "I feel so much better now, surprisingly. I don't feel any pain at all. Thanks." It took me a belated moment to realize his hands were still tangled in my hair, so with silent resolve, I lifted my arms up to gently pull his hands away. I didn't want to seem too ungrateful, so I held them cupped together in mine for a few seconds, squeezing down into his skin gratefully with my fingertips, before letting them go.

I took an inwards evaluation over my state; I felt invigorated, less depressed. Not only was the pain gone, but the headiness I had felt tonight while driving was also gone. I felt I could look at things more coherently, more level-headed and rationally.

"How did you know to follow me here?" I asked breathlessly, once my bearings were right again. "How did you know I was in trouble?"

He was silent for a few minutes. I assumed he needed some time to recoup after me biting him with my teeth and drinking from him himself. "It was that morning, at Church, when you entered into the restroom with me. I consumed your blood then." Along with his softly spoken words, that morning came rushing to me all over again. It had been so confusing. I had felt him bite me then, and I had most definitely seen the blood on his mouth afterwards, and those two strange things glistening below his top lip in his mouth. At least I knew for sure now what those two things were. His fangs. "I sensed your fears over the crash, as if it was my own. It happens when we ingest even a little bit of your blood. Even a sip or two, is more than enough for us. It enables us to sense when a human is in trouble and in need of aid. It's why I knew you were in trouble tonight."

"I knew I had felt you bite me then," I admitted nervously. Then I felt an unbearable heat gush up over my chest, my cheeks. "Only I was kind of... preoccupied. It didn't really hurt much at all."

"And it shouldn't have hurt," he said, sounding almost haughty. "Especially not with the way I do it."

That left me with no where else to go conversationally, on the topic. I wasn't sure I understood what he meant. "So," I said, "Promise this won't make me a vampire, all because I drank from you?"

"I promise," he said, without hesitation. Fortunately he sounded nothing but sincere, so it took a load off my back. "It doesn't quite work that way, Sookie."

"How does it then?" I asked, without thinking. Maybe I was just a little curious. Hell, maybe more than just a little. I was a whole lot curious.

"It's a very long story," he said, sounding almost drained and exhausted himself. "Probably even longer than the time we have left between us tonight. I think I should take you home so that you can recuperate on everything that has happened this evening."

I knew he wasn't one to argue against. And, besides, maybe I did feel a little tired myself. I had gone through enough tonight. Sleeping suddenly sounded like a very enticing thing to do. Although I still had no hope in hell of seeing him in the dark, I still felt it when his thumb caressed the side of my face, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my earlobe.

"Do you have something you can tie your hair up with?" he asked, startling me. I didn't know why he would feel it necessary for me to do that, but since I couldn't be bothered answering him verbally, I brought my hands up in a very deliberate move and slipped my hair band out of my hair. I brushed all my hair back tightly from my face, and knotted it into a secure bun. He seemed satisfied by that, and he let me know. "Well, I suppose that will have to do. I'll get you home."

He stood and I felt his hand curling gently around my wrist to help me up. I didn't really need much of his help, since my feet and legs seemed to do their job. They were working perfectly well on their own again, and I swooped up onto the balls of my sneakers without any trouble whatsoever, I noticed.

I bit my lip as it slowly dawned onto me about my predicament. My car was wrecked! How was I supposed to get home, unless... he brought his car with him? And, more importantly, what was I going to tell Gran about all of this? Even stressing on it made me feel exhausted.

"Did you bring your car?" I asked, hopefully.

"No, I didn't. I didn't think of it. I have faster ways of getting around."

Before I could comprehend what he was doing, I felt his arms wrap around my back and without warning he was scooping me up, bridal style, with one of his arms tucked underneath the back of my legs and the other snaking around my waist. I made a shocked noise, as he held me effortlessly in his arms, cradling me to his chest. What was his intentions on doing this? I wondered fearfully. Why did he feel it necessary to grab me and hold me? I knew I wasn't the most lightest girl in the world, but it seemed he had no trouble holding me at all. I guessed it was a vampire thing, which now I knew he was. They must have had loads of strength in them.

Turning slightly, I wrapped one of my arms around his neck and pressed the side of my face into his shoulder. I had no idea what was happening, until I felt it. I felt a sudden jolting movement, as if we were being suspended into the air. I also felt the night-time breeze buffeting my face and flaying my ponytail around like crazy. I remember one time, the only time that I had ever been on an airplane. I had gotten this funny feeling in my stomach, this vertiginous sensation that made me feel dizzy, made me feel as if my intestines had dropped right out from me. This feeling, was very much the same, as then. Turning my face slowly away from his neck, I dared to look around us, stealing a very quick peek at our surroundings.

Holy hell.

The reason I felt exactly the same as I did on that one time being in the plane, was because this was pretty similar to it. We were high, high up in the air. Eric was evidently levitating, or flying- something that vampires could do. I couldn't see much from below us, but I could only just make out tiny pin-pricks of orange light that told me it was lit houses or stores that were still opened at this hour of the night. Tightening my arm around Eric shoulder's, I turned to glance at him tentatively. I could see his face a bit more easily now, thanks to the silvery moonlight illuminating it.

"You can fly?" I asked anxiously. He turned to look at me, throwing a side-long glance my way, only his expression wasn't one I could work out.

"I can, but don't worry. Just relax, Sookie. I've got you."

"Jesus," I gasped fearfully. "I've only been on an airplane once, and I couldn't even stand that. Heights scare the living daylights out of me!"

"Like I said, you don't need to worry. I've got you. I won't let you fall."

"I never imagined it was possible for vampires to do this-" Lifting my hand carefully from his shoulder, I quickly waved around- "for vampires to be able to fly. It's pretty amazing."

"There is a lot of things that we are capable of, Sookie. A lot of things that you don't know of yet."

Apparently, he was also a lot faster with his flying than I thought he would have been capable of. I felt us descending, gradually getting lower and lower in height, and I had to squeeze my eyes tightly closed as another wave of fear hit me. It was definitely a lot smoother than a plane landing. Before I knew it, he landed on the ground and he unwounded his arms from around me, setting me down. I only bothered opening my eyes once I knew for sure I was on safe ground. I felt hard flooring underneath the soles of my sneakers, and then when I glanced around, we were standing on my Grandmother's porch. I took in a deep breath to get over the shock. I felt hundreds safer now that we were down on the ground and there was no risk of taking an unpleasant fall.

"Oh, that's better," I said unevenly. "So much better. It was scary, but amazing... all at the same time." My voice wavered and I became self-consciously aware of myself breathing heavily. I couldn't seem to get over it. Then again, it wasn't every day that a person took you flying in their arms. My breathing was way too loud, and I felt a bit embarrassed by that. I couldn't hear him breathing at all. "Not only can your blood heal," I went on, panting, "But you can... also fly to places. It's just... crazy." Suddenly, I felt his hands gripping the sides of my face, pulling my gaze up gently to look at him. His eyes were darkened and luminous, reflected in the porch lights, and I closed my eyes again tightly. I couldn't endure looking at him, for some reason. My mind was just completely... boggled, with everything I had learned. I felt my head was swimming, swimming with all this information. Drowning. "This is crazy," I laughed. "Everything is just so... overwhelming. There's just so... much. I can't even begin to-"

One of his hands went behind my back, gathering the length of my messy bun in his hand, flattening it against my scalp, and then he stepped closer, so much closer... until he was standing pressed against me with his chest against mine. Then his mouth found mine. This warm feeling spread through me, like melting butter all throughout my body, as he caught my bottom lip between his and sucked gently, pulling, tugging. My hands settled on his forearms, grasping tightly, as I kissed him back tentatively once he released my bottom lip. I felt that warmth spread within me like a fire, when he let go of my ponytail and then, faster than my hazy mind had enough time to process it, I felt his cool fingers trailing up the side of my right thigh, in my work shorts.

"Goodnight, Sookie Stackhouse," he murmured against my mouth, and his voice sounded low and shivery. "I hope you are feeling better now."

The touching, the kissing- everything but the warmth within- stopped and I felt a cold gush of air wafting over my face. Still a little confused and muddled, I reopened my eyes slowly to peer at him.

Eric was gone.

When I slipped inside, I noticed Gran must have gone to bed already, so that spared me having to tell her all the unpleasant details on what happened tonight, what with crashing my car. Gran had given me the car as a late graduation present, and I didn't feel too keen on telling her what happened. I knew she was bound to be very upset, not to mention worried for me and grumpy over my recklessness. Right now, it didn't really feel like something I wanted to have to deal with. I just wanted to get a good nights sleep.

I turned and switched off the light on the porch, made sure the front door was locked, and then up the stairs I went, being cautious not to wake anybody up. I changed into a long shirt to wear to bed, and went into the bathroom to brush my hair and scrub my face. I was a bit unsettled to see that I still had some of Eric's blood on me. There was even some staining my teeth and making them a bit red, so I took some time to thoroughly brush them before I got back into my bedroom.

I got underneath the covers of my bed and stared up at the ceiling for a bit. The events of tonight still felt in some ways like a dream. More of a surreal nightmare, than an actual good dream. I touched my lips as I peered up at the ceiling contemplatively. I still didn't know what I was feeling, or how I was feeling, no less. It was difficult to sort it out. I still felt very betrayed and upset. I still felt somewhat distrusting of Eric, but then there was no doubts that he had saved me tonight. He had pulled me out of my car, he had made me heal from head to toe. I could only be grateful for that side of it, but as far as everything else went... about this deal he made with this great-grandfather of mine I didn't know, how he had tricked me. I just didn't know what to feel. He had actually told me that he loved me. He had somehow grown to love me throughout the years. It was both disturbing and terrifying to know that. I honestly didn't know how I ought to have felt, about anything. What was I meant to feel?

Restlessly, I closed my eyes, and I felt myself slowly dozing off for a few minutes.

When I came to again, I wasn't sure how long I had managed to doze for. My lamp was still on, so I sat up slowly against my pillows to turn it off. I flinched, startled, just as I was halfway through doing it. Something stopped me dead in my tracks.

Eric was standing despondently a meter near my bed, wearing that grey suit he wore on that date we had together out at the restaurant. Or was he there, really? Waiting. He was obviously waiting for me to wake again. But I wasn't sure whether he was really there or not. It still felt so surreal, as if I was dreaming. I thought about hollering loudly so that Gran would come storming in, and it would give him nothing else to do but leave. Only my mouth was dry. I couldn't seem to remember how to use my voice. His eyes glowed at me from where he stood, with tenderness and something else I couldn't recognize, as he took several slow steps closer towards my bed.

Without taking his eyes off mine, he reached down slowly with his hands. He pulled the sheets off my bed and away from me, chucking them carelessly on the floor at the end of my bed, and then his eyes moved- unblinking, steadily, heatedly down my exposed legs and feet as they rested on the mattress, a bit like a predatory lion sizing up its prey. He made a deep, pleased noise from the back of his throat, licking his lips slowly. And then he plopped down heavily onto my bed, making the mattress squeak, as his eyes held mine in.

His eyes raked slowly down my face. His pupils were dilated, and his eyes looked nothing but black. He looked a lot paler than I remembered, too. Sickly so. His eyes were rimmed with redness, and they looked a lot more sunken as well.

"Tell me," he breathed quietly.

"What?" I asked nervously.

He lifted one hand off the bed and touched my ankle with it. He ran it slowly up, higher and higher, stroking and caressing my shin with his thumb. It was impossible to tear my eyes away from his.

"Look me in the eyes and say it," he demanded.

His thumbnail rubbed over my kneecap. I shivered. "Say what?"

"Look me in the eyes and say it, and then I will leave you alone for good."

"What are you talking about? What am I supposed to say?"

He made a throaty noise of frustration, and lowered his eyes to my leg. To what his hand was doing to it. Sliding his hand swiftly, it went underneath the back of my thigh, his cool fingers skating higher. My breathing went shallow, as I kept my eyes fixed on his face. His eyes flashed bleakly with pain; His agonized eyes were staring right through me, consuming me, breaking me.

"Say you want me to stay away from you, and I'll go." His voice wasn't angry, but resigned. When my tongue went slack at the unusual dexterity of his thumb hooking beneath the band of my underwear and I couldn't seem to find my voice again over shock, it seemed I had been uncertainly quiet for too long. He sighed heavily and pain crossed his features. And then swiftly, he rose to leave, turning his back on me.

"Wait a minute," I called desperately, and I reached out to grab his hand. The moment my fingers closed over his, he turned back to look down at me. There was no longer sadness in his expression, but hope. Wonder and tenderness, for me.

He smiled at me slowly through his dark lashes, and his pearly fangs glistened at me in the soft light.

He took my face in his hands and bent down to kiss me. I lifted myself up to kiss him back, and our breaths mingled together, as I spoke softly against his lips, "You're forgiven." I pushed back his jacket, and he leaned back to look at me, before he tore it swiftly off his shoulders and threw it down on the floor without breaking my look. Then his lips were on mine again, claiming me, his tongue delving into my mouth.

"Oh, Sookie," he breathed into my mouth, and my name sounded like a prayer coming from his lips.

Cupping his face in my hands, I grew confident enough to start using my tongue as well. I touched his fangs with it tentatively, tracing the pearly smoothness of them with my tongue.

He groaned loudly, and then he was on top of me, holding me down on the mattress. I twined my arms around his back, as the entire length of his body pressed into mine, weighing me down. Abruptly, he disengaged his mouth from mine, leaving me panting and on fire, craving for more. He reached around with one of his hands, clutched onto one of mine, and weaved it back around and up towards his mouth.

Then he pressed a fervent kiss on my hand, and mirroring his movements, I guided our clasped hands towards my mouth to press a kiss into the back of his. He groaned again loudly, and then he brought himself back down to me. His mouth found my neck, and I made a few incoherent noises as he made a leisurely taunting trail, dragging his lips over my throat.

He reached up to hold my head tightly in his hands, pinning me down, making sure I didn't move too much. And then he skimmed his teeth along my jaw line, plucking and nipping. I groaned loudly, and then it happened.

Without preparing me, he bit into me, hard and brutal.

I gasped, just short of shriek. Making a terrible snarling noise, he tore his mouth away from me and peered down at me. His eyes were full of hunger, insatiable need. A thin stream of my blood was dribbling from his chin. My blood was staining his teeth. But, above all that, a shred of my flesh was in his mouth, pink and torn apart.

Raising his head towards the ceiling and with an animal's growl, he swallowed my flesh down loudly. And then, with cold brutality in his eyes and no amour, he lunged down to finish me off.

My eyes popped open just as a high-pitched, piercing scream was building up in my throat.

Hoping you enjoyed this one and that her dream wasn't too weird? Thank you all so much. Sookie's warming up to him a bit, but they still have a long way to go. Also, questions have been asked if whether Sookie is telepathic. We will find out very soon. There has been a lot of things in her life that she has been deceived about.

Hope you're still interested in the fic? Just to let you know, I probably won't be updating for a few weeks, as Christmas time gets real hectic, for everyone, as I'm sure you all know. But I will hopefully before Christmas if I get the chance. I hope you all have a wonderful one, filled with happiness and love shared with family and friends. x Thanks so much for reading, I have loved and appreciated every review, and most especially, every alert and favorite for this, even if this story has continuously disappointed and frustrated people. Thank you, and have a great Christmas!

EDIT: 12 Feb,

I apologize for not updating for so long. I promise to get back into the story hopefully in a week, once I get the time to update it. Real life has been so hectic at the moment, I'm starting a new job and that takes up pretty much all of my time lately, but I promise to get back into it and update regularly as soon as I can. I'm so sorry, and I hope you will still be interested in the tale despite my tardiness for over three months!