29.
A/N: Yes, Eric had a bit of a nutty, poor guy. Can you blame him? You guys are awesome with the reviews! For those of you that don't review, but have been adding me to your favorites lists, thanks so much! Sorry about the typos. Clearly I should wait and edit better when I decide to drink and write. Oy! That was just cringe-worthy. Did I really use the word "still" three times in one sentence? Ugh! Well, I fixed it in the draft and my beta still needs to get a hold of it so when I archive the story at Area 5 where Dead On is, it'll read a lot better.
Anyhoo, I don't own the characters. I'm willing to let Ball and Harris keep them for a little while longer (provided they don't fuck them up anymore than they already have).
~Eric~
When you want to have a private conversation, there's no better way to go about it than in a very public place, especially when it's a vampire meeting with a fairy. There's not a lot of damage we can do to each other in public. We walked down by the casinos on the riverfront where no one pays attention to anyone they pass and if they did, they would probably only see two men extremely uncomfortable with each other's presence.
"Where is my granddaughter?" Fintan immediately demanded.
"At Fangtasia with Pam."
"Does she like your business?" he asked. "Does she like going there?"
Since he sounded like he was actually curious and not, for once, being surly, I answered him honestly. "I don't know for sure. I think it's a bit overwhelming to her; it's not an environment she's used to, but Pam is there and she will defend Sookie with her life. Quinn is also with her."
"You said it was urgent you speak with me."
"You have to start her training, Fintan, as soon as possible. Her powers are manifesting quickly and not in a good way. I'm not sure I'm best suited for her anymore."
He looked at me sharply, clearly displeased with everything I had to tell him. That made two of us.
"What has happened?"
I told him all about the evening before, keeping all the emotion and inflection out of my voice and sparing no detail. Supernatural beings weren't shy about sex like humans were. Sookie, I'm sure, would be mortified if she knew I just recounted our lovemaking last night in explicit detail to her grandfather.
"She has more power than I thought."
"No shit."
"What is it exactly you want me to do, vampire?"
"Take her to Fairy."
I had given this a lot of thought. I saw no other way to completely ensure her safety, especially from me. Jesus fucking Christ, what was I supposed to do if her scent suddenly got stronger during one of her little expositions? She'd be drained and dead in less than five seconds. I couldn't take that chance. If she left, I would miss her like I would miss a limb, assuming I didn't go insane, especially if she were someplace I could never go, could never check up on her, but I'd rather that than her die because I couldn't protect her.
"She won't come."
"She has to," I insisted with a hiss. "I don't have the knowledge of your kind to protect her. You made it that way."
"I want nothing more than to bring her to Fairy; I've tried already and she refuses. She refuses because of you and my grandson. The fact of the matter is she's got more enemies inside Fairy than out of it. I thought you loved her so much."
"I do; and that is why I will do anything I can to keep her safe, including giving her up. If her secret ever got out, she's as good as dead. She exploded, Fintan, light was bursting out of every pore in her body and it engulfed me and I never wanted to leave the place she brought me to. I'd have done anything to stay there. I'm not even sure I'm safe for her now."
"You're the only one outside Fairy who truly is. Naida and Tana have chosen you. Do you think I approve of leaving her in the hands of a vampire? Do you think that's what I want to do? No, vampire, I don't want her anywhere near you. But this is not in my hands anymore."
"You're putting your faith in rocks!"
"I'm putting it in our legends and a power greater and more absolute than any of ours. She needs to be trained and I will do that, starting in the morning, but you are her husband, you have been chosen to protect her. If you say you aren't equipped to do so then the Prince will see that you are. If you need more knowledge, we will give it to you. She has what you call markers against her in Fairy. She cannot ever go there. She will either be killed there, or they will breed her. She cannot go there."
"She was brilliant," I said. I wasn't sure what made me say that. "She was the brightest thing I've seen since I was turned."
"I cannot say if she will ever get to a fairy's full power," Fintan replied. "She may not have strong enough blood for it. And you had better hope not, vampire, because a fairy at full illumination is ten times brighter than the Earth's sun."
"Well, I wouldn't imagine I'd suffer long at that point. It's a hell of a defense mechanism for your kind."
"Not all of us can do it."
"Well, your granddaughter can. I can't help her if she can't control herself."
"She will control it."
"She's terrified she can't. What else can I expect from her?"
"What do you mean?"
"What can you do, Fintan? What might you have passed to her?"
"That does not matter. The powers are different; she can have a power that I don't, that nobody in her blood line does. The only thing guaranteed to come from me is the telepathy. I'm surprised at you, Eric, you are not one known to be so self-conscious and unsure of your abilities."
I was thrown a bit by his use of my actual name. He'd only ever called me "vampire" before. "Because I'm asking you to reveal more about your race, let me tell you something about mine. When a bonded vampire loses his mate, they tend to go mad. Much like the loss of a child, it's one they don't easily rebound from, if at all. I would not be able to feel Sookie in another world and I would never be able to see her or contact her again if she went to Fairy. She would be completely lost to me. I could go mad, Fintan. But I'm over 1,000 years old and I was willing to risk it if that's the best way to keep her safe. I do not want to lose her, but if it is I that is charged to protect someone of her talent, then I need more information on what exactly I'm dealing with. I need to know that she can control it. So far, she has not. I would rather have her with me; I would rather be the one to protect her; I'm the only one I fully trust to do it, but not if I'm not efficiently prepared. I need to know if she can get brighter; I need to know if her scent can get stronger. I understand your need for secrecy from vampires, but you'll need to make an exception in this case."
"I will discuss it with the Prince and we'll decide what you need to know. I highly doubt her scent can get stronger. She is only exposed to me. She would need to constantly be surrounded by her kind for that kind of change."
"She thinks I'm over-reacting. She thinks it's just something I bring out in her."
"I do not think you are over-reacting."
"Neither do I." I felt justified now.
"I'll come to her house in the morning. There is more I need to speak with her about." He looked extremely unhappy with his granddaughter at the moment. I wasn't sure what that was all about, but let it rest. There was what I needed to know about the fairies to protect Sooke, and then there was stupid family stuff and that's what that looked like. We crossed into an alley and Fintan popped away. I reemerged onto the riverfront alone. I decided to hang around down here for a little while. I had associates and business interests down here I could check on while I was out for my stroll.
I was still mulling everything from the previous evening over in my head. I had a bit of a nutty, as Ginger liked to say – well, she's never said that to me, but she's said it to Pam. It's not that I've never had a so-called nutty before, but I've just always had them inside. I'm accustomed to letting nothing that's happening on the inside show on the outside. That I let Sookie see all that is a testament to what she means to me and how comfortable I feel with her. It wouldn't have done any good to hide it inside anyway, since the blood bond would just give me away.
Sookie has changed all the rules; not intentionally I know, but just by being who and what she is. I never had any intention of bonding with a mortal before. What would be the good in that? If the bond is broken by her unexpected death, that would be very bad for me. Ideally, the bond should be broken before she were to die, though now that I'm shoulder deep in her, I can't imagine ever breaking it willingly. It's clouded my judgment and that is certainly not Sookie's fault. But then I think that it really hasn't clouded my judgment so much as it's made me look at things differently, see things from an angle I never had before and since her feelings directly affected me, take them into consideration.
There is no way to accurately describe what I felt last night. I can describe what happened scientifically, but what I could never recreate with words was what I felt and how it changed me. There I was in the most luminous light I've been directly exposed to since I was turned. It consumed me. I felt warm, safe and welcome there. It made me wonder if I could really be safe there if Sookie got brighter. Did Sookie's love and connection to me make her my protector from that light? Could she recreate it? Would she even want to after my reaction to it?
It immediately left me feeling a harmony of all the parts of me; the good, the bad and the ugly fell into perfect accord. It was the first time, to my memory, I felt truly content. How could anybody want to let that go? How long could Sookie hold that light for? There I was in a place of perfect beauty, with a person of perfect beauty and I didn't feel damned; I didn't feel like the creature God never intended to make. I felt like I belonged there and I belonged there with her.
I had spent a lot of time this evening fixated on that place and getting back to it. That is the danger; what I could do to feel that way again, what I would do. I had thought that Fintan might give me some insight into the whole experience, but he absorbed what I told him and resolved to talk to Sookie as soon as possible. He didn't seem pleased or particularly alarmed.
After checking in on my interests in the casinos, I headed back to Fangtasia. It was getting late and Sookie would want to be leaving, or I would have to escort her downstairs. She wouldn't be able to go down alone since we still had guests.
The parking lot was full. Pam was not working the door; she had a younger vampire staffed there. When I went inside, Long Shadow was at the bar. It was packed tonight; it usually was when there was a band performing. The crowd was circled around the dance floor and as I moved into the throng of people, I saw why. There in the center of the floor, much to my surprise was Sookie and Pam dancing.
Pam never dropped the ferocious vampire image when the bar was open; she was always the bored beauty in black leather. She was wearing her black leather now and dancing with Sookie, quite suggestively, to a cover of The Rolling Stones' Paint it Black, a very ironic song to return to given my earlier conversation with Fintan. Sookie was quite the dancer, too, which was kind of surprising since she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it. Of course, she was dressed the exact opposite of Pam in a delicate blue sundress, with her perfect tan and a smile that practically took up her whole face and could light the room on fire. Every male eye in the bar was trained on them. Quinn wasn't too far away, lucky for him, but he seemed just as enraptured as the rest of the male population.
I hadn't really realized how much Pam might have missed genuine female companionship. She favored women as lovers, but she never bothered with anyone she didn't intend to fuck or eat. But since neither of those options were available to her with Sookie, it left no other avenue open. It was either be Sookie's friend or be miserable hating your maker's bonded mate. That wasn't very appealing. But now Pam seemed happy. She didn't seem happy, she was happy. I couldn't feel her as strongly as I used to be able to, it's been awhile since we've exchanged blood, but I could still feel her. What's more, I knew my child very well.
Sookie seemed to be having the time of her life dancing with Pam. Pam spun her out and back, dipped her (during which she gave Sookie a long, sensuous lick from her cleavage up to her neck, which made Sookie shriek in surprise and squeal as if she was unexpectedly licked by a cute puppy instead of a vicious vampire) and then as the song ended, she twirled Sookie to land in my arms. Well, placed, my child. Pam leered at Sookie, gave her a wink and then turned away and pushed through the crowd of men now vying for her attention.
All the men eyeing Sookie turned quickly away now that it was established she wasn't available.
"Did you see what she did!" she asked breathlessly, with an exhilarated smile on her face.
"I did. She must still be hopeful I'll share you."
"I think she just wants to be outrageous."
"That too. I'm surprised you got her to dance with you. That's not something she normally does here. She's very careful about her image when the bar is open."
"I didn't have to try very hard," Sookie shrugged. "Besides, she looks like she's back to her public persona." Sure enough, Pam was back at the bar looking bored, uninterested and ferocious.
"Are you alright? Where have you been?" Sookie asked as I led her to a booth in the corner. She slid in across from me and Ginger appeared with a sweet tea for Sookie and a True Blood for me.
"I was meeting with Fintan; he'll be at your house in the morning."
She was a little surprised and choked a bit on her drink. Once she had herself back under control she looked at me. "You met him without me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted to talk to him about what happened last night and you keep blowing the whole thing off."
"Eric -"
"Unsurprisingly, he agrees with me. You start your training in the morning."
"Oh do I?"
"You do not deny you need to learn how to harness your power," I hissed low enough for only her to hear. "He is going to teach you how to do that just like you asked."
"I don't deny that, no. And I do appreciate it. It's just…Eric, you make it sound like I did something wrong. That was something I wanted to share with you."
She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout and I immediately got distracted. I envisioned latching onto that bottom lip and tugging it gently into my mouth….
"I've spent most of the night anticipating the time when you'll share it with me again, Sookie. It wasn't wrong; it was so right. In that moment, lover, everything was absolutely right. It was perfect, and I mean that in the humblest sense of the word. But I need to be sure you're not going to accidentally share it with anyone else."
"I just don't know how to ease your mind."
"Fintan will teach you and that'll ease my mind." I reached over and picked up her hands. "Sookie, please understand I don't see any of your talents as something bad. I think, with the proper training, you'll be a tremendous asset, even more than you already are. Extremely talented people are not wasted in my area, Sookie, and neither will you be. Beyond that, I want you safe. I want it more than anything else; it's what I've always wanted. I gave you my word the night we met and I will do whatever is necessary to keep that word."
Sookie nodded and stifled a yawn.
"You're tired, lover. Do you want me to bring you downstairs or take you home?"
"Home," she sighed. Good, because one of the guests downstairs was Amy Burly. "I should be there when Fintan comes. You don't have to come; Quinn can take me."
"I want to come."
"You've got to work though. I feel like I take up too much of your time."
There was no such thing.
"No, you don't," I countered easily.
"I feel like you might be afraid of me." There it was then. She looked down at her hands and I reached across the table and lifted her chin with my finger.
"For you, my love; not of you. There's a huge difference."
"You're not afraid I might fry you?"
I smiled lightly. "Fintan doesn't think that's possible. You'll talk to him tomorrow and we'll both feel better. Let's go home."
She eased out of the booth and I took her hand as we walked through the bar. "You're going to bed with a microwave, you know."
I chucked and draped my arm around her shoulders as we moved through the crowd; I caught Quinn's eye and waved him off for the night. One of the things I loved about Sookie was she was endlessly entertaining. "I told you before, vampires like to try new things."
"And live on the wild side."
"That goes without saying."
"It's part of my job description to worry about you too, you know."
"Your job description? Your job description as an Authority telepath?"
"My job description as your wife." We cleared the employee entrance and moved further away from the building. She was really going to have to stop wearing those cute little dresses when we were flying.
"I think I'd like to see this job description."
"Eric!" She was frustrated and she slapped my shoulder.
"I'm just trying to get a rise out of you, lover. I'm touched that you worry about me. I'm not accustomed to it."
"I just wouldn't know what I'd do if you were hurt and it was because of me or something I did to you."
We both had the exact same fear. That was oddly comforting. My life had changed quite a bit in the last few weeks. Not even a month ago, I would never have imagined this is where I'd be. In fact, I'd have probably killed whoever suggested it. But as Sookie climbed onto my back – and I considered getting her a harness – I realized that despite the many new challenges presented to me, I wouldn't have my life any other way.
