"I am starting to feel like your chauffeur, Eric," said Bill Compton as he turned his car out of the driveway and headed towards Shreveport. From the back seat where he was cuddled with Peggy, Eric chuckled.

"Whatever happened to that little hat Pam got for you?" the Viking vampire wondered aloud. "Maybe I should order livery."

"Really," said Christopher Santiago dramatically from the front passenger seat, "If you're going to do that, Eric, you ought to get a limousine. Bill's car is hardly suitable for a Sheriff to ride around in."

"I like my car," Bill said softly.

"It's a very nice car," Peggy said, because she didn't like Eric and Christopher picking on Bill. "And it's very generous of you to drive us back and forth to Fangtasia."

Bill met Peggy's gaze via the rear view mirror and she saw first a flash of heat, which both to her relief and her disappointment Bill quickly repressed, then a glint of amusement.

"You could chip in for gas," he said. Peggy knew he was kidding, but both Eric and Christopher looked offended.

"Well, of course! Do you have five dollars, Eric?" Peggy grinned as she looked into Eric's blue eyes and he shook his head.

"Very amusing, Margaret."

"Could it be that you actually have a sense of humor, Bill?" Christopher demanded. "I might have to completely reevaluate my opinion of you."

"Luckily, I will not have to do the same," Bill replied. Instead of being offended, Christopher chose to laugh.

"I take it that you and Sookie have mended your fences," said Eric, changing the subject.

"We talked some," Bill said shortly. He clearly didn't want to discuss his personal life with Eric, but Peggy knew that her lover wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"She forgave you for selling her house?"

"Mostly."

"Ah," said Eric in a knowing tone. "Is she able to come and work at Fangtasia tonight?"

"She said she would. She should be there already. She went with Sam and Anne Marie."

"Excellent," Eric sounded extremely pleased.

"It's kind of her to help out," Peggy said.

"What exactly are you hoping she will discover?" Christopher asked, arching a dark eyebrow. "You already know who set the bomb, and the fairy is unlikely to come strolling into a vampire bar."

"I am just glad enough to have her for her waitressing abilities," Eric said practically. "Drinks do not just serve themselves."

"There's always the chance that someone in the bar may have met the fairy and know where to find her," Peggy added.

The four of them fell into a silent thoughtfulness that lasted for perhaps half an hour. It was unusual for Christopher to be quiet, but Peggy wasn't complaining about that. Eric began to stroke her hair and snuggled her closer, his hands wandering possessively over her. It felt nice and made her feel loved and protected, until she saw that Eric had locked eyes with Bill in the rearview mirror.

At her glance, Bill looked away, but Peggy felt then a tight string of tension between the three of them. She and Eric were bound by blood, by more than that… did he know that she and Bill had inadvertently awakened something between the two of them? Did he realize how hard they had fought against it?

Peggy realized then what a dangerous predicament she had led Bill into. It was more than the fact that Sookie might not ever forgive him if she suspected what lay between him and Peggy. Eric might actually, really kill him.

But what did she want?

She looked into Eric's eyes and knew.

Eric bent and kissed her, claiming her mouth and her soul besides. The car swerved slightly and Peggy knew Bill had seen the kiss in the mirror. Eric lifted his head and smiled wickedly. Oh, he knew, Peggy thought. He knew everything. He also knew that she utterly belonged to him, and the stolen moments with Bill belonged to a shadow world that would never come to pass unless Eric chose to let her go.

From the look in his eyes, Peggy knew that letting her go was the last thing on Eric's mind.

"I'm very glad that Sookie has forgiven you, Bill," Peggy forced herself to say. "I know that she makes you very happy."

"Thank you," Bill said in a calm tone. "I am glad, too."

"Too bad she'll be dead in a hundred years," said Christopher, smirking.

"Perhaps Bill intends to make her a vampire," said Eric.

"Not unless it is what she wants," said Bill, turning the car into the driveway of Fangtasia.

"She doesn't," Peggy said.

"How do you know that?" Eric asked.

"She told me. I'm her friend. Friends tell each other things."

"I am sure you are a wonderful friend to her, Margaret," Eric replied, and then he was out of the car and opening the door for her, leaving her wading through guilt. He set his hand lightly on her back as they went through the employee entrance followed by Bill and Christopher.

Peggy heard music pulsing faintly as they entered the club. The song was "Voulez Vous" by ABBA, which reminded her that the disco ball had blown up and not been replaced. Fangtasia was open and the night was in full swing. Eric paused in the hallway. He turned to Bill and Christopher.

"You two go on ahead," he said. "I want to speak to Margaret privately. In my office. Now."

Bill straightened up, his hands balling into fists, his chin jutting forward, his posture simply antagonistic. He meant to protect her, Peggy realized, if Eric meant her harm. That alone nearly broke her heart. Eric did not react. He simply looked at Bill with a mild curiosity, while Christopher's head whipped back and forth so quickly as he looked from one to the other of them that Peggy feared it might fly off.

"Bill," Peggy said. One simple, loaded word.

A moment barely as long a heartbeat passed, though none of the four of them had hearts that beat any longer. Finally Bill turned and headed into the bar. Christopher shrugged and followed him, and Eric opened the door to his office. Peggy followed him inside and he closed the door behind her. Turning around, Eric blocked the door, and never before had Peggy been so aware of how thoroughly the Viking vampire could block a door.

Very well, then. She lifted her chin. Let Eric say whatever he wanted to say. She was not afraid of him. She was not afraid of anything he might do to her, and she was not afraid of losing him. Her love for him was overwhelming and pure, and the ghost of what she felt with Bill might haunt her, but never would it override what she felt for Eric.

Instead of speaking, Eric drew her into his arms and kissed her. The kiss went on and on, as neither of them needed to breathe. She lost herself in it, in the clash of their fangs and tongues. She felt his urgency trembling through him. For a moment she thought he was going to take her up against the door. He was certainly ready for it.

Eventually, however, he drew back.

"Do you love me, Margaret?" he demanded.

"Yes!"

"What has passed between you and Bill?"

"Nothing…" Peggy said, but she had to be honest. She and Eric were too well-tied for her to be able to hide anything from him, anyway. "A shadow. A friendship that took half a step in the wrong direction because we were lonely."

Eric looked thoughtful. His eyes were so large and blue, and they reminded her of the summer afternoon sky that she had not seen in three years. Like that sky, they were cloudless. He wasn't angry with her, and she was glad of that.

"You do not wish to leave me for Bill," he said. It was not a question, but she answered anyway.

"No. I never did."

"You felt I had abandoned you."

"No… but I feared that you would."

"For a human. A mere human." Now he sounded amused.

"I was a mere human only a few years ago," Peggy snapped. "I probably still would be if it weren't for Christopher!"

"No," Eric said sensibly, "You would be dead if it weren't for Christopher. The other kind of dead. I am glad you are not. I do not wish to abandon you. And I certainly do not want to see you with Bill Compton. Not now, not in a hundred years from now. What will it take for me to prove to you that you are mine?"

"You don't have to prove anything."

"I know," he said.

"Bill's back with Sookie now, anyway."

"Are you disappointed?"

Peggy thought about it. "I…don't know."

"I won't let you be," Eric promised. He kissed her again, less urgently, slow and seductive.

"Eric," Peggy whispered against his mouth, "I know I am yours… but are you mine?"

Eric chuckled. He nibbled at her lips, her cheek, her ear. She felt him open his mouth to reply, but before he could, an alarm rang and all hell broke loose.