Part 25

"You're angry Eric." She had walked behind me as I sat at my desk, still at the club, still reeling from Bill Compton's latest attempt to discredit me. I was trying to decide if it amounted to treason, but failing in that attempt. "Don't try to deny it, I can feel it in my mind."

"I am angry Sookie, angry that Bill Compton continues to try my patience with his lies." She began to rub her hands into my shoulders, trying to get me to relax. I turned the chair around slowly and she let her hands brush across my neck and then chest as I came to face her. I have never grown tired of the warmth of her skin on mine.

"I know the truth, and so do you, isn't that all that matters Eric?"

I pulled her into my lap and inhaled deeply of her scent, hoping it would clear my mind of the hatred I was feeling. I wanted to tell her that it was all that mattered, but I knew it was not. Bill Compton was a cancer. It was against our laws to kill another Vampire, but there were ways around every law.

"I have some news Sookie." I left the question of Bill Compton's imminent demise by the wayside as I shared the important revelations of the night with my lover. "I know the name of the person who has cursed you."

"You do? Really?" She seemed as disbelieving as Sam when I had told him that I was not keeping Sookie prisoner, and I felt a shudder run through her body as I held her.

"I do." I tried to soften my voice. "Her name is Marie Stonebrook. She is the mother of the witch who cursed me. It would not surprise me if Mr. Cataliades already has Diantha and Gladiola out looking for her."

"She couldn't hurt them, could she?"

"I have been given to believe that it is quite difficult to harm a demon, let alone kill one. But I am certain the girls will take every precaution." I felt Sookie sigh in relief, and soften into my arms again. I listened to her steady breathing for a good minute, but she did not ask me the question I expected. 'And what will you do when you find her?' In fact, she stayed quite quiet. I ran my fingers through the golden hair she had left long for me. I could feel the conflict in her mind, just as she felt the anger in my own. She was still so unsure about regaining the life she had led before coming to me. I hated to feel that uncertainty coming from her because it worried me that I was the cause. Doubt crept into my heart, not of her, but of the way I had perceived the situation between us.

"You do not think I have imprisoned you here with me, do you Sookie?"

"Eric? No, of course not." She crinkled her forehead into little lines and stared at me with a little pout that I just wanted to kiss.

"But I will not let you return home, and I keep you at my side, or at the side of trusted guardians constantly." I do not know why I was making the case against myself just then. "You spend all your waking time either here at Fangtasia or at my home."

"And all my sleeping hours in your bed." She whispered, her voice made me tremble.

"I've even changed your sleeping and waking schedule." I heard myself saying it, but it did not really register as she began to brush her fingertips against my face.

"If this is a jail, and you are my jailer then I never want my freedom."

She leaned in and kissed me hard on the mouth, my fangs dropped in response to her and I wrapped my hands tightly around her back and pulled her against me, wanting to feel her staccato breaths since I had none of my own to accompany the arousal that was rapidly overtaking my senses.

"You care for me like a was a princess, I haven't had to cook anything for myself since you brought me home, you have someone who cleans up after me, and you are always around at night to talk to so that I am never alone." She giggled, "You sent me shopping with a wad of cash the size of which I get the impression I've never ever held in my hands. And I spent it all. You've been honest with me about everything, and you've protected me from people who want to hurt me. And best of all," she ran her hands coyly down my chest, just tugging at the shirt tucked into my trousers, "you make love to me, and stay beside me every day. I feel like I don't have to worry about ever waking up alone, or that you'll leave me."

"I will not." I forced my mouth against hers again and parted her lips to draw her tongue into my mouth. She cut it against my fangs and the glory of her blood flowed into me, only making me hold onto her harder. And that was not the only hard thing about me just then. I saw the light on the phone start blinking once again, but that time I did not answer it. I was about to start pulling her shirt free from her jeans when there was a knock at the newly repaired office door.

"Eric?" Pam's voice disturbed my hunting. I sighed in that human gesture again. I felt Sookie's chest begin to twitter, she was laughing.

"Yes Pam?" I tried not to sound as annoyed as I felt just then.

She opened the door to find Sookie still in my lap, she raised one eyebrow at me and cocked her head as if to say 'really?'. It was not as if she had not walked in on me before but she seemed slightly more 'disappointed' shall we say. I snarled at her wordlessly, not the first time I had done that either.

"I need some help behind the bar please Eric."

"What happened to Arthur?"

"He just called, someone rear-ended him at a stop light, he's going to be a bit late as he sorts out the insurance."

Arthur is quite young; he still clings to the trappings of human life. Not to say that I don't own a car, but I rarely use it, only when I have to transport things that are too bulky to fly with, such as special orders for the bar that I do not trust to other carriers. Or when I need to chauffer special guests, like the one that was still sitting in my lap, still vibrating with laughter.

"Maybe I can help Eric?" I had not expected that response from her, spoken mostly into my shoulder. She put her head up and looked Pam. "I'm sure I can pour a beer and mix a drink. As long as no one asks for a cocktail." The hope in her eyes was beyond my ability to deny her.

"Yes Pam, put Sookie behind the bar, I will come as well, I can mix a cocktail if she can not." It sounded like an excellent idea to me, and like a bit of fun, something I had not allowed myself in a very long time; unless of course you counted the lovemaking. Surprisingly Pam did not disagree.

"We could probably sell a lot more drinks if it was you mixing the cosmos Eric; the ladies would just keep coming back." She looked at me with a familiar grin in her eyes that worried me. "Could you do it without a shirt on?"

"Do you want me to put on a Fangtasia tee shirt Eric?" Sookie was still sitting in my lap but Pam had left us alone.

"No, wear the purple top you showed me earlier, the one with the ribbons on the front?"

"Okay." She popped up from my lap and pulled out a beautiful light purple blouse. I liked it because it was high cut, so no one else would be staring at her décolletage, but it hung beautifully over her breasts, which offered the most tantalizing ideas of what lay beneath. Of course I did not have to imagine much as she pulled off her white shirt right in front of me, revealing a demicup bra that pushed those beautiful breasts up so that every breath made them quiver.

"Why must you tease me so Sookie?"

"Tease you?" She raised her eyebrows and pasted an innocent grin to her face. I pulled her into my arms again.

"With things that I cannot have right now." I buried my face in her neck and drew in a deep breath.

"Who says you cannot have it Eric?"

"Gods Sookie." My words were breathless and my fangs practically itched with desire of her.

"Do it." She urged. I needed no further prompting.

I bit into the soft flesh of her breast, raised above the satin cups of the bra. Her moan was music, and her blood absolute life. I took only a few mouthfuls, playing over her skin with my tongue as I did. Her arms held me softly, and I could feel her yielding to me. It was enough to rouse my passions fully, but I was able to release her somehow and she stepped back to pull the blouse over her head and then returned to my arms. I held her close and listened to her heart for just a moment longer. It was becoming plainly obvious to me that I could no longer conceive of a life without her in it.

"Stay with me forever Sookie." I whispered in her ear.

"I will." She answered so quickly that it startled me somewhat, but made me feel happy. It was another foreign feeling for me, but not an unwelcome one.

She pulled back and started to undo the buttons on my shirt, beginning at the top.

"We do not have time for that now." I grinned at her.

"Silly. It will make Pam happy. Let's go to work."

Anyone need a drink?

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