Author's notes: Charlaine Harris is the sole owner of all of these wonderful characters. I am just playing for my own amusement.*****Thanks for all the reviews, they keep me going!

Chapter 25

Making love in a sheik's tent was a wonderful experience. Making love to my vampire that night was nothing short of a religious experience. Eric licked and sucked and bit in all the right places. He was tender, rough, and everything in between. I have never felt so cherished and yet so needed in my life. We had finally gotten to the sated stage (at least for awhile) and he said, "Sookie, I wish we could stay here all night, but I can't stay here during the day. We need to go elsewhere."

I groaned because I did not want to leave our beautiful nest. He began dressing me, and then himself. He stood up and began to extinguish the lanterns, keeping only one lit. He covered the fire pit with a large steel lid.. He pulled me to my feet and said, "Come my Love, we must go."

Eric pulled open the flap and stepped out into the beautiful but chilly night. I shivered a little, and he put his arm around me and said, "Come."

I was surprised when he turned away from the direction of the car. He said, "I have arranged for shelter not far from here."

We walked towards another path through the woods, which wound a little to the west. We came upon gate in an elaborate old fence, which Eric opened and we passed through. Almost immediately, we broke free of the canopy of trees and ahead of us loomed the most beautiful old house I had ever seen. It looked almost exactly like a house out of "Gone with the Wind". It had a few lights glowing within, and we walked up the front steps and onto the huge front porch. Oddly enough, the front door had a very modern electronic lock. It looked very much like the lock on Eric's house that I had visited with Pam.

Uh oh.

Eric punched in a code, and swung open the enormous old front door. We stepped into a beautiful foyer that had twin curved staircases that swept up opposite walls; from the ceiling hung a fabulous crystal chandelier. Oddly enough, where there should have been wallpaper, the walls were bare. There was very little furniture, only a few pieces scattered about. "Eric, honey, whose house is this?" I was almost afraid to ask.

He led me over and we sat at on the bottom steps of one of the staircases. He held my hand and said, "Angel, this is my last surprise of the evening. This is your engagement gift."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I couldn't help it. I began to laugh hysterically. I laughed until tears were running out of the corners of my eyes. I gasped out, "You....bought me....this place...for an engagement gift?"

He said quite seriously, "Well, you didn't like the car."

This incited another peal of laughter. Finally I settled down, and wiped the tears from my eyes with the hem of my sweater.

"Mr. Northman, you are too much. Did you really buy this house because I wouldn't take the car?"

His blue eyes twinkled mischievously, "Not really. I bought the house first."

I said softly, "But honey, I already have a house."

He nodded his head, and then said, "Yes, I know that you love your family home, and I want you to keep it if you like. There will be plenty of times that you want to visit your friends in Bon Temps, and I have to admit I have a certain affection for the old place...particularly the shower." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and made me laugh.

Running a finger down my cheek, he told me, "My Love, I bought this property not long after I met you. It was a plantation many years ago. It was passed down in the Allison family, and over the years bits and pieces of land were sold off. The last owner had some illness and was institutionalized for many years. Upon his death, his will was contested, and the property became tied up in litigation. The case was finally settled a couple of years back. By then the house had fallen into ruin. No one else wanted to spend the fortune that would be required to restore it. Do you know something? This place is in almost a direct line from Fangtasia to your house. I first noticed it when flying back from your place one night."

He continued, "I was intrigued. It somehow reminded me of you; lovely, quintessentially Southern, and undiscovered. It was just waiting for someone to appreciate its beauty. I bought it without really knowing what to do with it. I had been having work done on it since our Bonding in Rhodes, without any real plans for it. Then, when I recovered my memories of our time together, it became clear to me. I wanted for us to have a place that was half way between both our worlds. I was certain in the long run, we would be together."

Wow, so that meant that all the time I thought he had forgotten me, he had been planning this. I asked, "Does this place have a name?"

"No, it was always just called the Allison farm. I will leave the task of naming it to you."

He looked around and said, "So, madam, would you like to see the rest of the house?"

I nodded. We stood, and went from room to room, each one as lovely and graceful as the next. He said, "I left the finish-out for you. I know that women prefer to pick wallpaper and those sort of things. And of course you may furnish it however you wish." We stopped in what appeared to be a sort of sun room. The over-sized windows looked over a beautiful formal swimming pool, whose underwater lights made the water glow like a jewel in the dark.

He pulled me back against him and rested his chin on top of my head. He said, "I had the pool put in so you will have a good place to tan. He was silent for a moment, and then said, "Lover, you have not said a word. What are you thinking?"

I couldn't help it. I blurted out, "How on earth can you possibly afford all this? Just how rich are you?" Gran would paddle me for asking that, because ladies never ask directly about money.

He didn't seem at all offended by my questions. He laughed and said, "Very. We couldn't possibly spend it all. I have always been blessed with the gift of making money. Also, I have always loved acquiring beautiful things. I am a bit of a pack rat in that respect. As it turns out, items that I salted away centuries ago have become quite valuable."

I said dejectedly, "You have all this...but you, Eric Northman, powerful vampire Sheriff of Area 5, are going to marry a human barmaid from Bon Temps, Louisiana." I just shook my head.

He took my left hand, turned my hand over and kissed the band of my new ring. "Yes, I'd say that is it in a nutshell. However, as my wife, I hope you'll give up working for the Shifter."

I stiffened a little, and opened my mouth to argue but then shut it. Until I had made up my own mind on the subject, I was not going to argue. Even Sam had recently lectured me about my job, and it was his bar. I knew I would miss working for Sam, but maybe now I could do other things. I thought of my dreams of writing. That might not be impossible now. I guessed right now I had more important things to think about than my job.

I knew it must be getting fairly close to dawn, because I was suddenly beyond exhausted. I said, worriedly "Isn't it getting late? Can we make it back to Bon Temps before sunrise?"

He shook his head, and said, "Come with me." He led me back to the library. He swung open a bookcase, and behind it was a door with a keypad. He pressed in the numbers and opened that door, which revealed a downward flight of stairs. He flipped on a light switch, and the passage was instantly illuminated. He shut and locked the door behind us. He said, "The code is L-O-V-E-R.

I just smiled. I didn't want to blow Pam's cover if he didn't know that she had taken me to his other house. We went down the stairs to a short passageway, which in turn opened into a large rectangular room. It was furnished in a very masculine way, with a seating area, a desk, and a tiny kitchenette at one end and a bedroom area with a king sized bed at the other. There were two more doors that were closed, and I hoped one led to a bathroom.

"I went ahead and furnished this one room," he said. "I wanted for us to be able to stay here tonight. There is food for you in the small refrigerator, and clothes for you in the closet in the bath. You can wander around your new home tomorrow as you will. All I ask is that you be with me when I rise."

I looked at my beautiful vampire and what could I say but, "Of course."