Beautiful Stranger

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sam phoned to ask how I was doing. It was lunch time and I'd not been awake long, but I was glad to hear his voice and we chatted for over an hour. Before he hung up he told me to take some time off, for which I was grateful. After a shower I spent the afternoon in the garden topping up my tan. My Gran came to check on me and bring me ice tea. We didn't talk much, but she sat with me for a long while, just content to be in each other's company.

I felt as if there was something missing, and just wanted the dark to come so I could see my lover again. Lover, he wielded the word as he did that huge sword, effortless but with huge effect. My excitement started to grow as the sun went down and the time I could see my Eric approached.

Shortly after dark he pulled up in the big Chrysler. Eric was fresh from the shower, his hair was still wet, and dressed in black jeans and shirt open to his belt. My eyes lingered on his firm chest and abdominal muscles as he crossed the space between the car and the veranda.

Without a word Eric smiled at me, his blue eyes full of mirth, then leaned in to steal a kiss. I threw my arms around his strong neck and kissed him back fiercely, only breaking off when my grandmother came out to join us.

"You two going out?" she asked.

"If that's okay with you, Adele," Eric told her. She beamed with pleasure at his confident good manners, then left us to it again.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To review the troops, after that the night is ours." He kissed me again, longer and more passionate than the first time.

"Still love me?" I asked him playfully.

"I think I always will," he told me.

Easily he lifted me and carried me to the car. I relished the touch of his strong arms, his light but safe grip. I hoped that reviewing the troops, whatever that was, wouldn't take all night. As he drove towards Shreveport Eric put his hand on mine, and we just sat in easy silence as the big car cruised along the highway. We passed through the town, and finally came to a stop outside a warehouse in the commercial district. The big vampire outside cast an eye over me, then held the door open to let us pass. Eric changed from the loving man I'd been travelling with to the arrogant Sheriff of Area Five as he swaggered into the room beyond.

Inside the warehouse was just one big open space. Forty-nine vampires, all dressed in black, were listening to Pam as she explained their new condition and the restrictions it came with to them.

"Does anyone else need a demonstration of what stakes do to us?" she was asking, face serious. She saw me looking and cast a sly wink at me, before returning to her teaching.

With his hand on the small of my back Eric guided me to a small ground floor office which he had clearly claimed as his own. There was a Fangtasia calender on the wall, open at the wrong month. I'd never seen that picture of Eric before, shirt off and arms behind his head, but I knew I had to get me one of them.

"What are you planning here Eric?" I asked him when he shut the door over.

"Simple seduction, no foreplay, straight to main event," he laughed.

"I mean right here, right now," I said.

"So do I!"

"I mean with the soldiers, what are you up to?"

"Oh that. We're training the only vampire fighting unit in America, or at least the biggest," he said the last word into my neck, making me shudder with excitement. I had to step away from Eric to keep my concentration.

"But why?"

"Because no-one else has one," he shrugged.

"What are you going to do with it when it's ready?" I was worried he might be planning something stupid, or dangerous. No way I wanted to lose him over some scheme he was working.

"Nothing, Sookie. The fact that it exists should be enough."

"But enough for what?"

"For whatever I want it to be enough for!" he laughed.

"Eric what are you up too?"

Instead of answering me he planted one of his delicious kisses on me. For a while I forgot about the soldiers and instead enjoyed the closeness I felt with him. Only when his hands found their way under my sweater did I push him back.

"Not here Eric," I laughed.

"We won't be disturbed," he assured me. Pam opened the door and marched in to make a liar out of him.

"They're ready for you," she told him, cocking an eye at me as I fixed my sweater. He'd got my bra open too, we'd have to talk about that later. Pam offered to help me with it, but the look on her face made me unsure of what kind of help she was offering. I declined and struggled with the clasp myself.

Eric was on his feet, he smoothed his hair back then walked out among the Twenty Second Louisiana rifles like they were all naked and he had the biggest dick in the room. I giggled at the thought.

On seeing Eric approach it was the cavalry officer, the one who had ordered his soldiers to kill Eric in my back yard, who called the men to attention. They snapped upright, heads back, chests out, hands by their sides. I let out a little gasp at how dangerous these lost souls suddenly looked.

Shit Eric what have you got here?

"At ease," Eric told them. As one man they moved their feet apart, placed hands behind back, and dropped their heads slightly. That was impressive to watch too.

"We have a future together, you and I," Eric began. I love him dearly but he had lost me already. My eyes ran across the room until they fell on someone I thought I'd never see again. Max, former owner of Fix-a-Flat, and now new child of Eric was over by the door. He looked grimly approving of what he saw here.

Albert, the crooked bartender from Fangtasia, the one who had turned Max's daughter, was standing behind Max with his head down. I'd seen Eric go like that once or twice, like someone hit the standby button.

"We were soldiers, you and I. You fought on the soil of your homeland, for your homeland. I fought on the shores of Iceland and Albion, Skye and Lindisfarne a thousand years ago. We were soldiers."

My ears went up, Eric had fought a thousand years ago. My new boyfriend was not only dead but a little older than me then. That came as a shock, a big one. Pam was looking at me strangely, and I knew she'd heard me gasp at Eric's age. She came over to stand beside me, put a hand on my shoulder.

"Soon we will fight together. The South is going to rise again!"

Eric was done, he stood bathing in their cheers for a minute before he turned and strode back to me. I'd been listening attentively after the age thing, and knew he hadn't really told them anything. But it was the not told anything they wanted to here.

"What do you mean the South is going to rise again?" I asked him when the door was closed.

"Sookie the queen has plans, ambitions. I own the tool she'll need to achieve them. The south, at least the bit run by vampires, has been sneered at by the others for too long. Fifty vampires would be dangerous even before I trained them."

"But what's in it for you? Do you want more money, more power?"

"I want a bit of excitement Sookie, the other things are nice, but if the queen wants to start a war I want to play too!"

We left a little after that, to go back to the hotel. I wanted to quiz Eric some more, but he wanted to play. I like to play too, so the questions would wait.