A/N: There's a scene in this chapter that originally belonged to Eric and Sookie in S06. It was sweet and definitely one of my favorite scenes in the season, so I'm kind of sorry for using it here and twisting it like this, but it had to be done. Review, if you have the time. :)

CHAPTER 26

He came right after the last rays of sunlight died.

When the porch light came on by itself as a warning of the night approaching, Lina started counting the seconds. When she was down to two minutes, the wind changed, and sure enough, when the day finally turned into night it began to rain lightly, only adding to the cliché.

The moment Eric's feet touched the ground he was walking, closing the distance between him and Lina in slow, but powerful strides. The taut muscles of his arms and chest flexed with tension, as if he was expecting an attack. He scanned the yard carefully, observing, and mentally checking what did not belong, before he settled his gaze on her. Lina felt the small hairs on her neck stand.

There was nothing common in Eric Northman. He was everything the legends said he was and more. As she looked at him walk forward uncaring of the rain falling on him, with his focus solely on her, she understood perfectly why vampires around the world feared him. Behind the unforgiving blue eyes lurked something feral and untamable. His eyes were too sharp, his expression far too even. He didn't need her talent to command the air around him; it bent at his will. If it wasn't for the burning, sizzling anger clouding her mind, she'd too want to fidget uneasily under the man's stare.

But as it was, Lina sat still with her eyes narrowed to slits.

Eric halted. She saw him hesitate at the sight of her and for a few passing seconds something close to uncertainty flashed through his face before he assumed the controlled, unaffected mask again. Though, there were things he couldn't hide behind it. The dark circles shaded his eyes and belied the calm exterior he tried to maintain. His day had been as restless as hers. Without a word, he studied her. Lina could almost feel him reaching for her through their weak, one-sided bond, prodding her emotions, tasting the hurt and the anger he'd surely find there, hoping it all would open to him like flood gates and offer some answers to why she was feeling the way she was. Her lip curled. She felt the power inside her hum to life. She didn't rise to meet him, only watched him take a few more steps towards her – one... two... and three – before he ran into an invisible wall.

Eric flinched from the impact, but it didn't take him long to get over the surprise like he'd already been half expecting it. He pushed his foot forward to test the barrier between them, but Lina kept him standing at a ten feet distance. He frowned. He exhaled through his nose, pressed his lips together and looked at her with concerned eyes, but she didn't miss the barest flicker of irritation there. Lina knew he hated this handy little trick of hers. He probably saw it as a cowardly self-protection mechanism, but this time there wasn't a way around it.

The pull.

The pull was wreaking absolute havoc on her senses. She wasn't sure if Eric could feel it. It was playing with her head, more powerful than ever as if it was feeding off their emotions, not liking the hostility there and pulling them together. It had long surpassed its harmless, seductive spell. Now, Lina felt like caught in a magnetic force field.

Her blood didn't understand why she couldn't just give into him, but her heart thankfully had more sense than that. If she gave in now, she and Eric wouldn't have a future - at least not one in which she could still respect herself. They would never stand together as equals. Even if the vampire community was always going to see Eric as the formidable warrior, sheriff and strategist, and her behind him as his mate, his woman and his property, she would never want him to think that way of her. Her existence should never be defined by his alone. She wasn't one to stay still, mute and be wronged.

Lina let out a shuddering breath with ugly thoughts popping and blistering in the back of her mind. Angry tears were pricking her eyes again, but she kept them hidden. She'd rather die a violent death than cry right now.

The soft sound of her shudder made Eric's firm expression waver. Even if their bond was still a weak one, they'd shared enough of each other that he could no longer ignore the little piece of him that was alive in her. Her unhappiness echoed in him. The hard lines around his mouth disappeared and if only for a little while he was looking at her with true tenderness.

"You're hurting," he whispered, as if there could be listeners and he was shielding her hurt from them. But they were truly alone. This was a private moment. She'd kill anyone for intruding.

Eric crouched down when he realized that she wasn't going to let him near her, his eyes searching hers.

"Because of me," he murmured.

Lina licked her lips. "I'm surprised. I thought you were known to please women, not give them pain," she said, repeating his words to her from that night. She barely recognized her own voice. It was flat and gritty, sulfurous. The drag of a match head before it burst into flame.

She got Eric's undivided attention. He knew those words and what they implied. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

"I watched my brother die because of you and your men. I am what I am today, because of what you set in motion... And you knew this."

"I did."

Lina smiled a sad smile. What a twisted, cruel joke of fate their life was. Maybe if she thought about it all for a while, she'd be able to find some humor in it. Maybe she could someday have a good laugh. But as of right now, she hated fate. She refused to believe in her anymore. Unfortunately, the bitch seemed to believe in her.

"How long?" she asked quietly. "How long have you known?"

"Five days," he admitted. "Pam suspected that I could've run into your maker in the 1750's England. I served as an enforcer and right hand of the King at that time. No vampire passed through Britain without me knowing it."

Lina felt an unpleasant chill take over her body like it did every time she was forced to speak about her maker. She was almost afraid to ask, but she had to know. The possibility of Eric once being friends with the vampire who almost ruined her made her sick to her stomach. "Did you know him?"

He slowly shook his head. "I didn't. I've never heard of a vampire named Carth, but then again it's not uncommon for us to change our names over time... But I knew who you were for certain the night we sat on this very porch."

"And then you thought the moment of truth just passed?" she asked coldly.

"Like I told you before, you weren't ready to hear it."

Lina's eyes flashed. Her fangs snapped down and for a moment she felt like clawing his eyes out. Hard truths could be dealt with and triumphed over. It was these mind games that pushed her buttons.

"You make a lot of decisions for me, Eric... Do you think you do it to protect me or yourself?"

Eric was looking at her fangs, but didn't bare his own. He stayed calm, unmoving and unthreatening, like he was the jockey, trying to gentle a spooked horse.

"Us... to protect us," he simply said. "Prove me wrong, Aislinn. If you'd heard what I did that night before you had the chance to get to know who I am, what would you have done? If I was a complete stranger to you, how would you have reacted to news like that? Because we're not that different, you and I, and I know what I would do."

Lina eyed the small, faded scars he adorned on his pallid skin. She didn't even need a moment to think. She knew perfectly well what she would've done and she understood that it wasn't something someone without her kind of a past and roots could ever relate to. It wasn't a myth just like most myths never are; her kind was unforgiving. There were better chances of survival when caught swindling a Mexican drug cartel.

"I would've come after you," she told him dryly after a while. "I would've hunted you down, driven a stake with your name on it through your heart and smiled at your remains."

The corner of his lip twitched up. "And why is that?"

"You try to hurt me or my family, you don't get to live very long," she stated as a matter of fact.

"I know about personal vendetta more than you know," Eric stated. He watched the younger vampire's head tilt to the side in confusion. "Revenge is a visceral need. It's never about fair judgment, sometimes it might be coldblooded, but it's always personal. I know very well how it feels like."

A flash of violence in his eyes hinted her of some old, raw feeling that seemed to run deep in him. Something she had no clue about. His past was layered with ancient secrets and she got the feeling she'd only had the chance to touch some of them. Whether or not they were secrets she would want to unravel, she didn't know. She could only tell they shaped a great part of his soul.

"Are you going to kill me, Aislinn?" Eric whispered and licked his lips. When she didn't answer, he continued. "Or aren't you at least going to ask me if I regret what I did back then?"

"I don't need to," Lina said with a low voice, lost in the wonder of one thousand years the man in front of her had lived.

Eric raised an eyebrow.

Lina stood up, and he followed her suit. "I know you regret it. You wouldn't have hidden it from me, if it wasn't something you were ashamed of," she stated.

Keeping her eyes in his, Lina backed away until her back hit the door behind her. With a curl of her fingers, she told him to step away from the rain. Eric walked up the steps, took off his wet leather jacket and threw it on the porch swing. His hair was an unruly mess. The black t-shirt he'd had underneath clung to his skin; a view that managed to mesmerize her even now. Carefully testing how near she was going to let him, he moved closer and stopped only when she could feel his cool breath on her face. He towered over her, his chest the only thing visible at her eye level. She stood as tall as she could get, careful not to touch him. The phantom pressure of his hands on her hips, on her chest and ghosting between her legs was already almost too much to handle.

Eric only looked at her curiously, thoughtfully, wondering about this creature who seemed all contradictions.

"I had to tell my cousin yesterday that it wasn't a flush flood that killed her parents," Lina confessed in a hushed voice. "From the very day that I met her I knew her parents had been murdered and she had no idea. She was led to believe that nature had taken its course. Accidents happen and humans get killed by acts of nature every passing day, so the girl had no reason to think otherwise. Sure, I had orders not to say anything to her, but I knew if I was in Sookie's place I would've wanted to know the truth. But like a good girl, I kept that information to myself." She opened the front door, but before she turned her back to him and went inside, she said, "So you see, I understand you didn't know what to do with that memory you had of me. I forgive you for finding it hard to tell me... Follow me."

Lina took in the little surprised look on his face, turned and disappeared inside the house. She walked to the kitchen, where she went to stand against the wall, next to the photograph of Sookie's grandmother with a brand new frame. Her grandfather's briefcase sat on the kitchen counter and a piece of paper and a fountain pen with ink were placed on the dining table in the middle of the room.

Eric walked in and noticed the blank paper. He stood, his height filling the room, and crossed his arms.

"What's this?" he grunted.

"You're going to return the ownership of this house back to its rightful owner," Lina informed him and pointed at a chair. "Please, sit."

For a moment, Eric didn't move. Then slowly, without removing his eyes from her, he took a seat and sat with his wide shoulders square against the chair. He picked up the pen and rolled it between his fingers. Lina could hear the clock on the wall tick, as she watched him sit there thinking what would happen if he actually did what she asked. When he made his decision, he didn't use the ink to write. Eric jabbed the pen deep in his arm, filled the core with his own blood and followed amused how Lina's gaze darted to the wound and stayed there. The scent of ocean air, winter, and earth filled the room.

His life force, her heroin. She bit her cheek and turned her head away, staring decidedly at the raindrops racing each other down the window. The pull rejoiced.

She heard the pen drop.

Eric's eyes were burning into her. His mouth had moved into a smile that she'd grown very familiar with over the past few weeks, shaped of competing emotions: part intrigue, part mockery, part pissed off, and part turned on. The red handwriting on the paper declared Sookie Stackhouse as the new proud owner of the Stackhouse family home.

"What now, little one?" he teased her with the devilish grin on his face.

Lina exhaled a deep breath, forced the fiery gnaw of lust right down into the pit of her and opened Niall's briefcase. She took out an envelope, in which she'd hidden everything valuable to her: the certificates to Niall's estates in Europe, the contact numbers, the check books and account information. What remained inside were stacks of cash. She put the envelope away and placed the briefcase on the table.

"Here's roundly three and a half hundred thousand euros in cash. It should be enough. I counted in all the renovations you've done here and the possible increase in the market value of the land."

"She can have the house," Eric sighed. "You can keep the cash and buy yourself something nice."

Lina pursed her lips. "You're going to take the money, Eric. I can't have her feeling like you're holding this over her head."

"I have no designs for her anymore. I thought I made that clear." He leaned back in his chair and threaded his fingers behind his head. "Sookie's free as a bird. Free to fuck, feed and get drained by any vampire she chooses." He gave her a heated look, as if goading her to try and do the same.

"As you wish," Lina swiftly responded. She shut the briefcase and threw it back on the counter. "From this day on, her services as a telepath are unavailable to the vampire community of Louisiana. When it comes to asking something of her - her talent, her blood, whatever it is - she's my human. You come to me first."

Eric smirked, his eyes glinting with laughter. "You're claiming your cousin, Aislinn?"

She crossed her arms. "Yes and no. She's her own girl, but out of any vamps' reach."

"Our King might want to differ."

Lina curled up an amused lip, showing him some fang. "I'd like to see the young fool challenge me."

"That's treasonous talk, lover. I might have to put you in cuffs..."

Her face darkened, all amusement vanishing in an instant.

Lina stalked forward, moved to sit on the table right in front of him with the smooth agility of a panther and placed a check for him there, signed by Ms Aislinn Collett-Brigant for the benefit of Area 5 of Louisiana. Eric sat upright and took the check in his hands.

"That's my tribute to this area. For the time I've spent here," she explained, keeping her expression blank. She was ridding herself of all obligations. Legally nothing would now bind her to stay here, if she chose so.

Eric's lips curled in distaste. He flicked the check on the table behind her, pulled his chair forward and placed his hands on the fleshiest parts of her outer thighs. His touch felt like fire.

With one hand he cupped her cheek, unhurriedly feeling the soft skin behind her ear with his fingertips. His gaze trailed up to her face and fixated on her steely eyes, which were penetrating into him. "Whatever it is that's going on in that beautiful head, don't even think about it."

Lina stared down at him her eyes ablaze. She said the words slowly, carefully, enunciating every syllable. "You called me your lover... such an interesting word to use when I'm not sure you know what it means."

Silence rippled over the room – an active, electric silence, the stillness between a lightning strike and the rumble of thunder overhead.

Lina realized that whoever told this man the fairytale that vampires shouldn't feel was selling pure bullshit. Vampires felt. They felt the entire range of human emotions and they were just as much slaves to feelings as anybody else. They just handled it all a bit differently; with patience born of eternity. Schooled in the harsh reality of survival and true death, they donned the masks of impassivity because they had forever to play out their games. This man in front of her thought he had forever to fight with her and when you had forever, you never really lost anything. You could practically do anything. Time healed all wounds and the pull between them was his powerful ally.

In that, he was dead wrong.

He had no idea of the real hurt inside her.

The iron grip on her thigh tightened, as if preventing her from slipping away. His fingers wound in her blonde hair.

"This again, Aislinn?" Eric murmured. "You still dare to think I don't care about you... You really can't see it, do you little one?"

Lina pressed a finger on his lips.

"I'll talk now," she softly whispered, but the shadowy glint in her eyes didn't die.

The air around them felt heavy with uneasy anticipation. She gently took his hand from her neck and lowered it on her lap. She drew invisible shapes on his palm as she searched for words. When she met his eyes again, they were full of purpose.

"A few nights ago you told me you thought love was a useless human emotion. And I used to think that I wouldn't mind, because right then, it wasn't that important. I've always thought that actions speak louder than words, and I believed that underneath this overbearing, highhanded vampire sheriff costume you like to wear I'd find a charming, overbearing, and highhanded man. A man that I can respect. A man who knows how to be kind and care for someone, even if he doesn't understand it." She smiled a little, playing with the memory of two of them in the graveyard. That moment felt so distant; like they were completely different people back then.

Lina released his hand and slid down from the table. "To love someone, doesn't it mean baring your soul to your lover? Letting yourself become vulnerable without hiding behind lies. It's raw. Undoubtedly the most painful thing I've ever encountered. In love, you have to let someone see you, the whole you and then it's in their power how they treat your heart. You need to be able to trust the other person not to exploit it and break you in gazillion pieces. It sucks, I know. I was never really good at surrendering," she smirked.

"But the thing is, you can't really use any games or any kinds of shortcuts to gain this trust. The only way is to let the other one choose you. To feel that good with you that you won't need any force behind it. No guilting, no manipulation," she let the words trail off.

Lina slithered on top of him, sitting right in his lap facing him, her jeans straining because of the wide stance of his strong legs. For a moment she just looked at her man, who had placed his hands with care on the backs of her thighs. His face was unperturbed by a single recognizable emotion; there were so many fighting for dominance. His eyes burned an inhuman blue.

"Loving someone is truly not for cowards," she said silently and brushed his rough cheek with her hand. Neither of them was smiling. She leaned into him and brushed her nose against his throat, sliding it upwards to his jaw. His chest didn't rise, he wasn't breathing. Lina brought her mouth to his ear and whispered with a voice that broke in the end, "Tell me Eric, how do you think you've been treating my heart?"

Underneath her, Eric froze.

Her tears welled. She allowed them to spill. She sat in his lap, leaning against his chest and waited for his reaction, whatever it should be. She hadn't intended it, but she noticed that this was almost the perfect replica of that night in the car, except in another setting, tables deliciously turned.

She felt Eric's fingers trail over the soft patch of skin where her neck and spine met. He entwined his hand further in her hair tugging lightly, encouraging her to look at him. He felt as if she'd shoved him off center, and he couldn't quite find his balance.

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong."

Lina licked away the tears that had reached her lips. She was acutely aware how she looked right now. "Two nights ago, when we were in your Vette, parked just off the main road, do you remember what you did?"

"Of course I do."

"Why did you park the car, Eric?" she asked. "Why was it so important right in that second to have me near like that, telling me that I'm moving here with you, making me swear wouldn't run anymore? We were going to have such a fun night, why push me like that?"

Lina didn't wait for him to answer. "This is how I see it. I know you like having an upper hand. I understand you perfectly well. I like it too. I know for a fact that you'd do anything in your power to get it and you get satisfaction from seeing others play straight into your game. But when you lose that upper hand, you get uncomfortable. And when you get uncomfortable, apparently, you use force."

This irked him. Badly. "I haven't forced you once."

Lina wanted to retract her fangs, but they weren't taking orders anymore. Her hands clung to his shirt and curled to fists. She could barely remember to keep breathing. All human pretences seemed to have left her.

"You manipulated me," she hissed, not even trying to cover the arsenic with some sugar. "In that car you treated me like you would treat your enemy. You were playing a sick game. I told you about my dreams and you knew what it meant. You got scared. You got into a situation you couldn't control, and what do you do? Play with something you say you don't even understand. My emotions. In that sense, yes Eric, you forced me!"

His blue eyes turned arctic. His fangs extended responding to the silently growing anger. Underneath her hands she could feel his chest expand.

"Am I ruthless, Aislinn, is that what you're asking me? Yes. Do I keep my own counsel? I sure do. Do I need to push you sometimes to get you to say and think about things from another angle to save you from the untrusting, standoffish part of yourself? I most certainly fucking do. But don't ever say that I've forced you," he snarled.

It was time to get off his lap.

Lina scrambled on her feet and put some space between them. She backed away towards the living room in a crouch.

Seeing her reaction, Eric lowered his voice in an instant. He licked his fangs, fighting for calm and got up. He took the check between his fingers, held it like it flat out insulted him and looked at her accusingly.

"You promised me, we try to fix whatever comes between us. Instead, you come up with this," he said.

"I'm here aren't I? Doesn't that mean anything to you? Doesn't me crying in front of you prove anything to you?" Lina roared. "I promised not to run. Well, you promised me you wouldn't control me. Did you keep that promise, Eric?"

The look in Eric's eyes faltered. He looked away from her with a perplexed brow.

He was overcome by the hurt in her voice. Her speech was slipping; the emotional overload was making it hard to speak in a foreign language. His own sudden anger was dying away and giving room for the growing pang at his heart. He'd done it. Everything she accused him of. The realization hurt him as much as it did her.

Eric looked again at his petite mate, taking deep breaths with crimson tears on her face. They were falling down to her pillow lips, and it disgusted him to think that he'd put them there. She shouldn't be hurting like this. Not when he had her.

He took a couple of steps towards her in effort to somehow console her, but she backed away quickly, her back hitting a couch behind her. He watched her panic and shove the couch out of her way. Seeing all that, he hated himself more than she could ever. Only once before he'd felt as powerless.

Eric spoke to her in Irish Gaelic, the language she used when speaking with her family. "I failed you."

Lina's lips parted in surprise. Her hands had curled to fists, as if waiting for another blow at her heart, but now they loosened.

"You make me do impulsive, unexplainable things," he trailed off.

He loved her. He did love her even if he didn't know how to love her. He knew she hadn't had the time to see what really made him the man he was today, but he very much planned to show her everything.

Eric sighed. "I know what I did, I can see it now. I can't explain it in any unselfish way."

Her mind was racing, he saw as much. There was a constant battle inside her, one he wished to put to rest someday.

"You're mine. I will still kill anyone who tries to take you away from me. When it comes to you, I'm ruthless, I'm selfish. You're right, there's possibly nothing I wouldn't do to keep you, but I won't ever hurt you like this again. This won't ever happen again," he told her with a severe tone.

Eric tried again. He walked a few more steps closer to her, secretly delighted to find that she wasn't barricading herself from him anymore, and placed his hand gently on her arm. She still flinched.

He didn't give up. He placed his both hands on her shoulders and met her eyes. "As much as you belong to me, I belong to you."

Lina shrugged her shoulders and straightened her back. She dragged her hands over her face, making the streaks of blood smudge. She was still beautiful.

"Can you forgive me?"

The battle and thunder in her grey eyes raged on. Her gaze darted around the living room.

"Look at me," Eric commanded, but inside of him it was really a plea.

Eric leaned in, touching her lips lightly with his own, but stopped to see how she responded. Her eyes closed, her hand moved to his chest, and she blew cool air on his lips. He took it as a yes. Eric closed the small distance between them. He kissed her hungrily, letting all of his desperation, his fear of Edgington, his desire for her flow into the kiss. He didn't caution her fangs, but let them puncture his tongue and blood flow into her mouth.

Then Lina pulled away and retorted with a hard slap. His cheek burned like wildfire. The woman seemed to have put everything she got in it, which was plenty. She lost it. She lost control completely and totally. Furiously she pounded on his face and chest, sobs tearing her throat raw, her arms flailing. He took the blows in with some difficulty and finally gathered her in his arms and put his mouth to her hair.

"I'm so sorry," he kept repeating, rocking her in his arms, as she relaxed again.

It was probably minutes, most likely hours. Eric sat with her on the living room floor with her head pressed against his chest, until he felt her energy subside. She was near, but somewhere far away.

A car drove up the driveway.

Sookie.

Lina lifted her head. She raised her top over her head and uselessly started cleaning her face and cursing like a sailor. Eric snatched the shirt away.

That earned him a murderous look.

"Are you coming with me?" Eric asked quietly.

She slowly shook her head. He didn't dare to fight it. The car door banged shut and Sookie ran along the driveway and up the porch steps. She came into the doorway shaking her wet hair and gasped when she finally looked in the living room. Eric stood up. He walked to her and took hold of her shoulders until she took her eyes away from Lina and met his.

"Take care of her. Guard her with your own fucking life. Do you understand?" he said to the girl. She nodded. Without another word, he turned and left, stumbling like an old man as he vanished into the night.