Chapter Twenty Six:

"Can we stop fussing over me already?" I clicked my tongue as Isabel fixed my braided hair for the sixth time. "I look fine."

"I'm nervous." Isabel admitted.

"I'm the one who's going to the church, and you're the one nervous?" I raised an eyebrow, throwing her a look over my shoulder. "I'll be fine Isabel. You saw what I could do."

"I also saw what happened right afterwards."

"Alright, so I lose energy quickly. But Eric is old and strong." I pointed out. "It's going to take more energy to do it to a vampire than a human.."

"Do not underestimate them, Ellie. While they may be merely humans, they have means of keeping Godric there."

I sighed. "I know Isabel, but I can handle it. So please, leave the braid alone, it looks absolutely fine. My hair is going to fall out if you try and do it anymore."

Isabel chuckled slightly as she took a step back, allowing me to gaze at myself in the mirror. I looked innocent. Innocent and different. My hair was pulled off to one shoulder in a long braid that reminded me of when I was a little girl. Isabel had gotten a sundress for me to wear to the church, something I huffed about for at least an hour until Eric came in and yelled at me to shut up or else he was going to snap my neck. I pouted for another hour until I just gave in. It was a mixture of yellow and oranges, with a hint of pink every so often. Despite the fact that I hated it, I did have to admit that I looked fairly good. Innocent and angelic like, but good. I looked different enough for them to believe that I was just some ordinary person.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Ellie? You can still get out of it." Isabel laid her hands on my shoulder, looking at me through the mirror.

"I'm sure Isabel. I need to do this for Godric. I can't let him die." I spoke softly, grasping one of her hands and squeezing. "I'll make sure Hugo is safe too. I know how much you love him."

"I do." She smiled sadly. "I can only hope that he is still alive."

"They wouldn't just kill two humans." I shook my head.

"Look what they did to you." She reminded.

I quickly looked away at the thought. Isabel squeezed my shoulders one last time before motioning me out of the bathroom that we had been in for the past couple of hours. I kept my gaze on my feet as we walked into the main room where Eric sat talking to who I presumed to be Pam on the phone. When he heard us enter, he ended the call and I could feel his eyes on me. I fidgeted on the spot, feeling dreadfully uncomfortable. I heard him stand up and walk over, Isabel moving away as Eric moved around me. I couldn't look up at him, unable to meet his scrutinizing glance. I wondered what he thought. Did he think I looked ugly? Too unbelievable? Did he like it? Would he much rather me in that dress for Fangtasia? I shouldn't have even cared about what he thought, but I couldn't help it. Just because he was an ass that could kill me, and probably would at some point, it didn't mean that he still wasn't gorgeous and I wasn't attracted to him. Maybe it was our blood bond, or just that he was drop dead gorgeous, but I wanted nothing more than for him to think that I looked nice. I wasn't even asking for amazing, just nice.

"You look..." I bit my lip, waiting for him to insult me. "Believable enough."

"She looks beautiful." Isabel offered, making me smile.

"It doesn't matter." Eric snapped. "It just matters how you're going to behave. That mouth of yours will get you into trouble."

"Oh you're a jackass." I gritted my teeth as my head snapped up, my eyes finally meeting his. "Can you not be civil for two seconds?"

"Not when it has to do with the safety of my maker and...The human he's interested in."

"Glad I mean that little to you." I narrowed my eyes.

"You mean even less to me than that." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, are you going to behave and be a nice obedient dog for once?"

I wanted to hit him. I wanted to slap him, kick him in the balls, and possibly just rip them right off.

"I'm not a dog."

He smirked as he took a step closer, forcing me to stare up at him unless I wanted to stare at his nicely sculpted chest. Which I didn't have any complaints with to be honest.

"You are a dog." He snickered. "So behave like one or else you're going to blow your cover and get yourself killed."

"You don't know everything Eric."

"I know more than you do." He bent down so he was looking directly into my green eyes. "You have to make yourself believable to them. Do you even know what that entails?"

"Hating vampires? Yeah, I get it. I'll just have to think of you and I'll have enough hateful things to say." I shot at him.

His smirk merely grew. "Good. Because if not, I'm going to have to run in and save the day, again. And I'm getting tired of doing that."

"I never asked you to."

"Yes you did. I do remember you calling for me through our bond that night." He straightened, a smug look on his face.

My face paled.

"Eric, not now." Isabel stopped him. "It's almost dawn; I need to return to the nest."

"What time do you want me to leave?" I refused to look at Eric any longer and let my eyes rest on Isabel.

"Mid afternoon." She answered. "There will be a car downstairs waiting for you. The front desk will have the keys. Don't bring anything with you that could identify you at all. You will get a disposable cell phone with the keys. If you need one of us, call."

"Not that we can do much in the sunlight." Eric snorted.

Isabel shot him a glare before pulling me into a hug. "Be careful Ellie. Don't do anything stupid, please. I don't want to lose you as much as Godric doesn't want to lose you. I never had a daughter; you're the closest I've gotten to having one. Please be careful."

"I will Isabel." I hugged her tightly. "You're the closest I have to a mother too, Isabel. I'll get them out, I promise. I won't do anything stupid."

She laid a soft kiss on my forehead before parting. She gave me one last long look before she left the hotel room. I gulped as I watched the door close, leaving Eric and I alone.

"I'll stay up until you leave." Eric informed, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

"No, go rest." I shook my head, turning towards him. "I don't want to see you bleeding like you were yesterday."

"Do you care, Ellie?" He smirked, gazing me up and down.

"No. But Godric does." I wrapped my arms around myself, not liking the way he was looking at me. "I like you just as much as you like me."

"I don't think that's true." He was before me in a flash.

My heart began beating faster as he backed me up into a wall, his hands on either side of my head to trap me there.

"I know what you dream, Elizabeth." He lowered his head down to whisper in my ear. "I know just how satisfied I make you in those dreams. Your arousal is enough to wake me up."

I squirmed up against the wall. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"You're uncomfortable, that says everything I need to know." His nipped at my earlobe. "I excited you, don't I, Ellie?"

"No."

"I do. I'm doing so right now, aren't I?" he accused.

"No." I shook my head, not willing to admit it out loud, even though I was slowly beginning to grow aroused at this very moment. What in the world was wrong with my head? I needed to go to a doctor and get myself checked out.

"You're lying." His lips moved down my bare neck. "You're extremely aroused."

"I-I..."

"No use hiding it, Ellie." His hands moved to my hips, forcing them forward. "I'm not hiding it."

My eyes were as wide as saucers as I realized what I was feeling beneath the jeans of his pants. I went to pull myself away, but he just grinded his hips against mine, pushing them back against the wall, but made sure to keep himself flush against me. My breath was caught in my throat as I closed my eyes tightly. My face had to be red as anything as he pressed even harder into me, the cloth of our clothes the only barrier between his arousal and mine.

"You want it, don't you?" his husky voice asked as he lightly began sucking on the base of my neck, thankfully without his fangs out. "Say it."

"I-I don't." I somehow managed to gasp out, but knew I couldn't say much more. It was a complete lie. I wanted nothing more than for him to just take me right now.

"Hm, I think someone is holding back." He grinded against me once again, causing me to moan. "Yes, someone is definitely holding back. What do you want Ellie?"

I felt one of his hands move to the hem of the dress, his hand rising up my bare thigh. I nearly jumped at the cold touch, but he kept me pressed to the wall so I couldn't move even an inch. His hand grew higher and higher, now resting on my panties, his fingers moving in a certain rhythm that made me want to scream out in ecstasy.

"Say it."

I couldn't say it. I couldn't even breathe as my back arched with a mind of its own. The back of my head rested on the wall as my body moved into his touch, silently begging for him to continue. I wanted to scream at myself to stop, but my brain was temporarily detached from the rest of my body at the moment. All I could think about was how good this felt, the way that his arousal felt as it pressed against me, the way that his fingers felt as they pushed back the fabric of my panties. He was the only man I had ever been this close to physically and emotionally ever in my life. I was 22 and a virgin in every way when Eric walked into my life. He took my virgin blood, and at the moment, I would care less if he took every other virgin part of me.

"Say it. You know you want to."

I let out a moan in response, not able to do anything else. That seemed to be all he needed as he pushed his fingers into me. Another moan emitted out of my mouth as my body began tingling with pleasure. It felt like I was flying, like the only thing holding me to the ground right now was Eric. I couldn't think straight, and only wanted him to continue. It was the only thing I cared about.

And then he just suddenly stopped. My eyes popped open as he sped towards the door, leaving before I could even blink. My mouth dropped open as I just stared at the open door in shock. What the hell! I could hear hushed speaking in the hallway, but I felt too embarrassed and upset to care. I fixed my dress, making sure everything was in its proper place as I fingered the ends of my haired. I leaned against the wall, banging the back of my head as I thought about what could have happened. I groaned, but didn't deny to myself that I wanted it. I wanted him. I wanted him to take me right then and there, to ravish me.

"Change of plans." Eric strode back into the room as if nothing ever happened. He looked calm, cool and collected. Meanwhile, I was a complete wreck. Fantastic.

"W-What?" I snuck a look at the tall vampire.

"They're in the basement of the church. The church is having a lock in tonight, so you'll have to go this morning to not raise suspicion." Eric informed as he walked over and sat on the bed, his eyes still on me. "Did you hear me?"

"Huh? Oh yeah...right, go this morning. Gotcha." I was distracted. Extremely distracted. But how could I not be when I was so close to getting exactly what I wanted? Damn world working against me!

"Good. Now run along. I need to sleep." He waved at me to leave.

"What happened to staying awake until I left?" I crossed my arms subconsciously.

"I want to be rested up in case I have to save the day." He shot me a pointed look. "Out."

"You're friggin PMSing I swear, you bipolar ass." I grumbled as I stomped out of the room. "Godric couldn't turn a nice one, could he?"

It was mid morning when I left for the church. Like Isabel had said, there was a set of car keys and a cell phone waiting for me at the front desk. The moment the phone was turned on, there was a set of directions to get me to the church. It was on the outskirts of the city, and with the traffic of Dallas, it took a good bit to get to the hell hole that was the fellowship of the sun. I felt anxious the entire trip. My hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as my knees bobbed up and down. While I had been dying to do something to help, and I was confident in my powers, I couldn't help the nerves that were beginning to surface. What if I used too much of my power and I grew weak like I had with Eric? What if they were all dead and I got there too late?

"Stop thinking." I muttered to myself, shaking my head.

I needed to stop thinking and just drive. Thinking was my worst enemy. I would just over think everything and blow my cover. I could do this; I just needed to follow the plan. I was new to Dallas and found out from my neighbour that this was a perfect church to join, so I was here on this beautiful afternoon to check it out. I could do that, couldn't I? I was never a good actress, but this was to save the lives of three people that I knew and cared about. I could do this. And even if I couldn't, well I was going to damn well give it my best shot. At least if something goes wrong, Eric would know and be here the minute the sun went down.

Right?

I arrived at the church with the sun blazing overhead. How ironic. I parked the car in the nearly empty parking lot and slid out. I fixed the dress and grabbed my small clutch bag and turned towards the church. Huge would be an understatement. I was never a religious one; I hardly believed God even existed. The only times I had been in churches was for death. There was no celebration for me when it came to God and churches. I wanted to jump back into the car and drive until I couldn't see another church. But I knew I couldn't do that. Somewhere in there was Godric, the person who saved me from death and turned my life around. And then there was Sookie; she was like a sister to me, the best friend I never had. She understood me maybe even better than Godric did. And I needed to save Hugo for Isabel. She deserved happiness, and Hugo gave her that.

"I can do this. Just keep cool Ellie." I encouraged myself.

"Well hello there! You must be new; I haven't seen you around before!"

I jumped. Like literally jumped into the air. I twisted around to face the typical Dallas housewife; big blonde hair that probably used so much hair spray that global warming was their fault, and an even bigger fake toothy grin plastered on her face. She looked like a golden marshmallow. I wanted to puke just looking at her. She reminded me of everything I hated about the south, about the people I used to go to school with. She was perky alright, a skip in her walk as she bounded towards me. She grabbed my hand and shook it wildly, her smile growing even wider if that was even humanly possible. That had to of been hurting her face. How could someone smile that big? It was just not natural.

"Hi!" I replied as cheerful as I could possibly get. There was no point in trying to be sombre around this woman, might as well match her with perkiness. "I just moved to Dallas and my neighbour gushed about this church! I just had to come check it out!"

"Well you came to the right place." She nodded, not one strand of hair moving out of place. How much hair product did this woman use? "My name is Sarah Newlin, my husband Steve is the Reverend."

I thought this woman looked familiar, like I had seen her somewhere. And I had. She was always on TV with her hateful husband. I wonder if she had any idea that it was her husband and church that had sent men to rape and murder me? I wonder if she would be this cheerful if she found that little piece of information out.

"I thought I recognized you. You look just adorable in person." I plastered on the fakest smile.

"Well you're just a cute little thing, aren't you? Why don't I show you around and then you can meet Steve! He just loves new members of the church!"

All I could do was smile and let her whisk me away into the church. For the first time in months I prayed to god. I prayed to whoever god was that I wouldn't have to kill myself for being in this woman's presence.

God give me strength!

A/N: and we're at the church! this is gonna be interesting...what will she do, will she be able to get them out? oh, and all will be revealed why Eric suddenly just gave in and allowed for her to go to the church. I couldn't resist having a hot Eric moment...felt like we haven't had one of those in a bit hehe.