EPOV

I arrived home with almost two hours until dawn. Hmm. What could Sookie and I do to pass the time? I grin covered my face as I stepped into the hall and noticed a note on the table.

Wake me.

S

Yes Ma'am. I began undressing as I walked upstairs to our room. I was down to my underwear and one sock when my beautiful wife came into view, the moonlight spilling onto her hair. We have been together for over twenty years . I ran a hand through her hair, now gently shot with gray. She worries that there will come a day when I no longer want her because of the gray in her hair and the wrinkles on her face. Silly woman. I've tried to explain to her that I will always want her. Before our last move she told me, trying hard to be brave, that if I wanted to tell others I was her son instead of her husband, she could live with that. I told her incest was frowned upon, even in northern Lousiana. She had laughed and let it go.

We've made it through some difficult times, Sookie and I. A little over a year after we moved to St. Louis, Sookie's gran took sick and Sookie went back to Bon Temps to care for her. I told her when she left to hurry back, I would miss her every night.

"If I don't return, will you track me down and lock me in the cellar?" Sookie asked. I shook my head.

"Don't come back because you are afraid, come back because you love me." Could I have really given her up that easily? Luckily she came back all on her own.

We spent eight wonderful years in St. Louis. I invested well, Sookie made some good friends. People were beginning to wonder why I didn't age when I finally decided it was time to go. I dreaded talking to Sookie about leaving.

"Sookie, it is time to move on." She looked at me with huge, sad eyes.

"Please don't leave me." I just looked at her.

"You want to come?" I asked. I breathed a sigh of relief. I worried that she would want to stay behind with her home and her friends. I promised myself I would give her the option. "If you wish to stay in St. Louis, we could fake my death and you could play the grieving widow. Missouri property laws will let you keep everything."

"I don't want the house or your money, I want you." Foolish girl. She was all I really wanted also.

We moved north to Dubuque, Iowa for a few years, then onto Minneapolis. Sookie complained about the cold, but I wanted to avoid the war being fought in the southern states. We enjoyed some very long winter nights in front of the fire. Like St. Louis, Iowa and Minnesota were fairly calm places for a vampire to live. With so many immigrants, there were plenty of people to feed from. I am far older than any American vampires and the old ones from Europe knew my reputation and left me alone. Of course all good things must come to an end. Sophie Anne sent for me. After the war and the disaster that was reconstruction, she needed someone strong to be the sheriff of northern Louisiana. If I were a little less selfish, I would have left Sookie behind this time.

"Eric?" she whispered, looking up at me.

"Expecting someone else in your bedroom?" I asked with a grin. She laughed.

"How was sheriffing?"

"How was the Ladies Hospital Aid Society meeting?"

"We planned most of our spring fundraiser and started making decorations for the tables. Then Maybelle brought out the mint juleps…" Sookie wasn't much of a drinker, but some of these 'ladies' were.

"Did Helen fall out of her chair again?" I asked.

"No, but she had to be helped into her carriage to go home. " Sookie grinned then looked at me full on. "You didn't answer my question about tonight."

"Two new vampires checked in and I staked one named Mickey." That got her attention. I handed out punishments regularly, but rarely anything so severe.

"What did he do?"

"Took another vampire's human and killed her." Raped her until she bled to death. A vampire that bad could not be allowed to walk around.

"You are frightened," Sookie, my wife and bonded said softly, stroking my cheek. "Are you afraid of repercussions?"

"No, just afraid that someone will harm you." She was so fragile. "Let me turn you."

Sookie shook her head. "I love you, but I don't want to be a vampire." This was not a new discussion. Truthfully I loved having a human companion, warm and delicious. When I left my bar tonight, I was determined to turn her, even against her will. But when I saw her…I changed my mind like so many times before. Would she hate me if I turned her? Would I miss her soft, warm skin?

"Someday you will change your mind," I said. Wishful thinking, Northman. If only I had turned her that first night.

"I am getting too old anyway."

"You have met the Ancient Pythoness?"

"Don't you dare turn me when I am that old!" We both laughed and I kissed her. Soon her soft blue gown and my remaining clothes were tossed to the side. Then I was inside her. Heaven. We found our rhythm. Sookie was so close, digging her nails into my skin. Then I bit her shoulder – her sweet, delicious blood in my mouth- and we both were lost to the moment.

"Worth it?" Sookie asked.

"Hmm?"

"Did you get your money's worth?" Ahhh. She was worth every ounce of gold I paid for her, and then some.

"An incredible bargain," I whispered, cupping her breast, stroking her nipple with my thumb. Sookie moaned. "Mine." She moved, pushing me on my back. Sookie, straddled me and ran a finger down my chest.

"Mine," she whispered. "Always." Who was I to disagree?

I did not abandon my story - completely. Hope you enjoy this last chapter.