A/N: There's another note at the end of this chapter, so I don't have like 50 emails in the morning asking me if I'm gonna kill anyone off. I'm not.  This note is for Charlaine to get her credit for borrowing Eric, Sookie, Pam, and Tara. The rest are mine. Here's the next one!

Chapter Thirty Seven

SPOV

"You are going down!!" Sven yelled in triumph as he beat my high score handily. "Sookie, you're gonna have to play on expert if you're ever gonna beat the Svenmeister. Hard's not even a challenge!" he walked past me, and ruffling my hair. I swiftly reached out and grabbed his foot, tripping him.

He hit the floor with a loud thud, cracking everybody up as his smug ass took an embarrassing little spill.

My eyes drifted to the patio as Pam slid the door closed. She walked over and shut the Wii off, pulled the footstool to the middle of the den, and sat down.

I glanced to the balcony, and immediately felt on edge. He wasn't there, and he hadn't told me he was leaving – highly unusual.

Pam eyeballed everyone briefly, making sure she had everyone's attention. She could command a room without saying a word.

"We have a problem" she said simply, calmly. She looked cool as a cucumber, determined and focused. I hadn't seen Pam this way since the last time something had went down back home.

Yrjan and Peter visibly tensed, along with Sven and Alrik, looking fierce and ready to be commanded. They understood something was happening, while Tara and I were still unsure exactly what 'we have a problem' meant, exactly.

Was it the opening tomorrow night? Was there something going on with Bill?

The tension in the room was palpable; pupils were dilated and muscles were tense.

"Speak" Yrjan said, sounding a bit impatient. Preach on, brother.

She looked at him and Peter both, her voice still monotone and calm.

"Tomorrow is opening night at Amaranthine. Eric's going to need someone to be there tomorrow night. Until we hear from him directly, I'm asking you both to stay until close. I'm also going to need you both," she looked to Sven and Alrik, "to stay and make sure the bar, the music, and the crowd are handled. The help will be there at 6, as instructed. You will be simply overseeing."

"Whatever you need, we got your back" Alrik said confidently, his fists gripping his thighs, waiting to hear more.

"Tara, I'm going to need you to man the office, make sure someone picks up the phone during the night, and provide any assistance these four will need, or any of the help."

Tara nodded as well, stealing a glance my way. I didn't return her gaze; I was waiting to hear what was going down right now with my Viking.

I wasn't angry that he hadn't told me what was happening, or that he was leaving. That would be stupid of me. If something was up so that he had to fly off the balcony, then coming back inside and wasting time doing what Pam was doing right now wouldn't have made much sense.

I knew he had good reason…and whatever Pam told me to do, I was ready to do it. I was mentally chanting over and over in my mind, 'let me help', 'let me help', 'let me help'.

"James, you'll be missing opening tomorrow night, unless something changes in the next couple of hours. Will you accompany me if needed?" She said nothing more, and he didn't ask questions.

"Hell yeah" he ground out, putting his arm around Tara as she looked at him anxiously. I reached over and put my hand on her leg to try to comfort her. She didn't want him to go, and I felt for her.

She hadn't been with James through the sort of things that Eric and I had experienced together. I had been nearly killed a half a dozen times or more, and fought alongside Eric several times for my own life. I was confident that Eric could handle himself, whereas my friend was unsure of James' abilities.

I realized Pam was speaking to me, so I turned my attentions away from Tara momentarily.

"Come with me" she said simply. Leaving the others inside, we stepped out onto the fifth story balcony, sliding the heavy glass door shut behind us.

"You're handling this well. Eric would be pleased." Her face softened a bit as she put her arm around my waist, pulling me to the railing. She let her hand slide away, and we both casually leaned over the railing, looking down over the sparse traffic and beautiful city lights.

"If it makes you feel any better, the only thing I know is who he was talking to. One minute he's telling that loser he's gonna kill him, and the next minute he's up and over the railing." She looked at me as I processed what she was saying. "I don't know where he is."

I felt no panic, no alarm. There had been nothing in the bond to indicate Eric being in danger at all. He'd carefully concealed his anger from me, though. I hadn't felt a wall of anger crash into me during the time he took off.

"You know he's smart. He's beyond pissed, and just needed to let his anger out somewhere."

I looked at her, knowing that he wouldn't rush into anything blindly and stupidly as Bill did. He had several capable and strong vampires ready to back him up, and he was nothing if not a plotter.

"I know. I'm not upset with him. I'm not even afraid" I mused, smiling a bit. I stared out into the dark, noting the slightly lighter shade of navy in the sky. Sunrise would be in just an hour or two.

"I'm proud to have you as my sister," she said out of nowhere, not looking at me. I could tell she was out of her element a bit, so I didn't gush over it.

"You're pretty awesome yourself. So, am I gonna get to kick some ass with you and James or what?"

She laughed loudly, throwing her head back.

"Aaaahhh, well, therein lies the problem, little sister. You know damn good and well he'd have my ass if you come with us. So I have no answer for you. You know if he was in serious danger, you bet your ass I'd bring you along. I'd bring anyone without a heartbeat."

Her phone started ringing, "Cold Hard Bitch" blaring out unexpectedly. She winked and answered on the first ring. I was going to have to start carrying my damn phone again. I'd been leaving it at home lately, since we were all together all the time.

She didn't speak, but nodded on two separate occasions, and then finally held out the phone for me. She turned and went back inside.

"Alright you sexy bastard, you have a hot bitch waiting for you back at this apartment. Are you coming back tonight to claim what's yours or am I going to bed alone this morning?"

His beautiful warm laughter surprised me, making me smile like it was Christmas morning.

"Oh I am most definitely coming back to claim what's mine. I'm almost there now; I just wanted to let you and Pam know I'm fine. Pissed off, but fine."

"What did you do?" I asked suspiciously, wondering what the hell he'd tore up.

"I didn't do anything" he feigned innocence, and I could hear the smirk on his lips by the way he spoke.

"My bullshit meter is reading that as false" I said sternly, still smiling myself.

"Hmmm, don't you look mouth watering" he purred from behind me, instead of in my ear.

I dropped Pam's phone, watching it plummet to the pavement. No one was below where it was heading, luckily. It hit the ground, smashing into a million little pieces.

I turned around, as he grabbed me and spun me against the wall beside the glass door.

"Honey, I'm home" he sing-songed, grinning wickedly.

"You scared me, you shit!" I narrowed my eyes at him, my lips curving into a half smile at his wild hair and crazy eyes. He looked extremely fuckable right then, and somehow I didn't give a shit in this moment what the hell was going on.

Later.

We locked eyes and the sparks started flying.

"Pam's gonna be pissed about her phone. I'll have to get online tonight and express her a new one" he smirked.

Eye fucking.

"Do I look like I want to talk about Pam?"

More eye fucking.

"No."

He licked his lips.

"Perceptive."

I bit my lip, eliciting a sound out of him that made my insides say, "please and yes".

"I didn't want to destroy something, as it turns out."

He pressed himself into me harder, and there it was - the entire reason for waking up every day.

"Oh?" I breathed, our noses nearly touching. "What did you want?" I nearly whispered the words, my voice faltering from the lust that was quickly taking over my body.

His eyes crinkled as he smiled the sexiest damn smile, leaned over to my ear, and whispered, "you".

He leaned back just enough to watch my reaction.

My lips parted, and my nostrils flared, as I noticed my arousal perfuming the air around us.

He picked me up and held me against the wall, grinding himself over my center as he crashed his mouth to mine. He bit my bottom lip, and I pulled his hair. We both groaned in unison as the pain fueled the fire, already burning out of control due to all of the tension in the air.

He slid me down the wall and set me on my feet, swiftly undressing me from the waist down. He freed himself and picked me back up, driving himself into me as he crushed me against the wall again.

I cried out as he filled me, the pain and pleasure mingling momentarily, before turning into complete ecstasy.

It was hard. It was quick, and it was more than satisfying.

It was rejuvenating.

As our orgasms washed through us, we were one – physically and otherwise. It was the one time where it was literally impossible to control the bond between one another. Neither of us could shelter the other from the intensity of our pleasure.

It was like being hit by a tidal wave from both sides at once. You were everywhere all at once, not knowing for a few seconds which end was up.

He stayed inside me for a few moments after we came down, still hard, making long, slow thrusts.

"Mine" he growled, biting my shoulder.

"Yours" I hissed, sinking my teeth in his hard flesh in reply.

Loud rapping on the glass ruined whatever second round we were heading for.

"Remind me why I keep her?" he complained half-heartedly.

"Because nobody would put up with your shit, that's why. Besides, she rocks and you know it." I grabbed his face for another kiss as he held up a finger to let Pam know we'd only be a moment.

He pulled himself from me and lowered me to stand.

"I feel better now" he smirked, grabbing my pants and holding them out for me to step into.

After I was dressed, he pulled his own jeans on over a very appealing looking, erect thing of beauty.

"Remind me why you can't ignore them and give me some more of that?" I asked, putting my hand down the front of his pants.

"My lover wants more, does she? Ahhhh, greedy…I like it." He grinned, pulling my hand out of his pants. " I would love to have you again and again, but I need to speak to everyone, and it's nearly dawn. Believe me when I say that it is more than a pebble in my shoe right now to have to deal with insolent shit instead of fucking my wife multiple times on a balcony for all of downtown Stockholm to see at 4am."

I giggled and grabbed his ass through his jeans, but he didn't let me play. He turned me around and pushed his hand on my back, steering me inside. As soon as the door slid open, everyone looked at us like they wanted to murder us.

"You're an asshole, you know that right?" Pam yelled, walking over with her hands on her hips. "No one knows what the hell is going on, and you two had to make us sit in here and listen to your….nevermind."

He hooked a finger in my waist band and pulled me with him towards an empty chair. He flopped down unceremoniously, and shamelessly pulled me onto his lap and threw my legs over his knees.

I shrugged at Pam, now looking like she was going to bust something.

"Would you rather me come home with pent up sexual frustration and be angry?" he smiled at Pam, who knew he had a point.

"You're still an asshole" she smirked at him, pulling up a chair and sitting as well. "Now we've all been patiently waiting for you to fill us in on whatever's going on. Spill."

He laid his hand over my thigh, rubbing his thumb as he spoke. It wasn't helping my still up-there arousal level at all, but I didn't want him to stop, either.

"Tomorrow is the opening of Amaranthine, as you know. The timing of this is, of course, "bad", for lack of a better word. "Shitty", "suspect", and "malicious" also work just as well. It's no coincidence, I'm sure.

"Yrjan, Peter, Viktoria, you will remember William Smith…England, 1632 if I remember correctly?"

"You're shitting me" Viktoria spat, looking disgusted, and none-too-happy.

"I'm definitely not" he smirked, amused.

"Has he gone mad?" Yrjan puzzled, looking bewildered.

"He sounds the same as then, I assure you. Just as deluded as ever."

Eric's other hand snaked up the bottom of my pants, caressing my ankle as he talked. I shifted on his lap, aching still for him. Definitely not helping.

He pretended not to notice, continuing on about this William character.

Great. Another Bill to deal with. What, is Bill the name all mothers give to the children they can't stand or something?

"So, what's his deal? He released you in front of us. You do not owe him anything." Peter looked livid, like he wanted to fly off a balcony his damn self.

I looked from face to face, quietly taking everything in. I didn't want to interfere; I just wanted to know what the hell was going on. He was getting there, so I leaned my head against his shoulder and rested my hand over his still heart.

Absentmindedly, he covered my hand with his, as he answered Peter's frustrations.

"He was at the wedding, he claims. I don't believe it, or one of us would have caught his scent. But he knew about the fireflies. He said it was "sweet"..…fucker" he spat, momentarily pissed again.

I tilted my chin and kissed his neck, and laid my head back down on his shoulder again as he relaxed. Pam noticed how quickly his anger drained due to my quiet, comforting presence. I winked at her and she looked away, fighting a grin.

"I think a human, whether it was someone in the orchestra or one of the other vendors, was there for him. He wants to 'even the score', he says."

Peter stood, unable to contain his disgust any longer.

"This is ridiculous. Why does he not leave for the Americas if he will not respect our ways here? You have been released, plain and simple."

"Released from what, if I may ask?" James asked calmly.

"It's a long story, but here's the short of it. He took a human; she was his. Meaning," he looked at Tara, "no other vampire can lay claim to her." He glanced at the clock on the wall as he continued.

"We were all friends once, before you two were introduced into the nest" he said to Alrik and Sven. "William was a ladies man, but he fancied a married woman in Northampton. Sarah."

He spoke her name quietly, as though her name was synonymous with tragedy.

"He turned her one night after watching her for months. He grew obsessed with her, and began to change. He was convinced that she would be unfaithful, and even began to accuse us of wanting her."

"Which was complete horseshit" Peter interjected, still standing. Yrjan pulled on his arm, so he finally relented, sitting down in a huff.

"Even Peter was accused of wanting her" Yrjan said to those of us hearing this for the first time. "Peter does not go for the ladies, as you know, but William claimed he saw things that said otherwise."

I closed my eyes and felt the vibrations in Eric's chest as he spoke, letting myself enjoy being close to him as more of the misunderstanding was explained.

"You think he went mental on you?" Pam laughed, "ha! He accused me of it when all I was doing was looking. I was window shopping, not buying."

I snickered, not meaning to. I opened my eyes and looked at Pam, glaring at me. "Sorry" I said sheepishly. "You'd be the first one to be accused of stealing the girl away, I guess."

She looked at Eric and pursed her lips. "I wasn't the one accused of that shit in the end."

"I was" Eric said, sounding tired, or bored. "She attacked me one night in my room, horny as hell. I pushed her off of me, but she threw herself on top of me. I was disgusted. William had been acting like a total asshole for some time, but he was still considered a good friend, to all of us.

"He came looking for her, and when he saw her on top of me, he lost it. He threw her across the room and attacked me. He's not near as old as me, and was out of his fucking mind thinking he could take me.

"I kept throwing him off of me, until he stayed down where he landed. I got up and left the nest for a couple of hours to calm down. I very nearly killed him, so I didn't trust myself for a while to return.

"When he did come back, William had killed her, shoved a piece of wooden fence straight through her heart. He screamed at me when I came in that I'd betrayed him. I'd provoked her, he said."

"Which," Yrjan added, "was a lie. You never gave that mixed up creature any reason to think you would return her advances."

"Eric is, and has always been, quite the ladies man" Viktoria said, as if Eric's allure had been a curse at one time instead of a good thing.

His thumb continued to stroke my hand to his chest.

"She had gone mad from his incessant accusations. Someone tells you something long enough, you start to believe it."

I heard Tara's voice next, my eyes still closed as I relaxed against him.

"So what's all this about you being released? Where does that come into play?"

"After he'd killed her, we burned the house down to the ground because of his mess. I wasn't about to stay in a room covered in that shit, and we had means to buy another place."

I remembered how messy it was when a vamp got staked. It was pretty damn messy.

"So we left and found another place of residence in London. He seemed fine for a while, and one night at a local pub, he released me from any ill will and from any responsibility for her actions in front of them," he motioned towards Yrjan, Peter, Pam and Viktoria.

"One night, though, he left without saying a word to anyone. We didn't know where he went, and shortly after that, we relocated to Denmark for a time, and finally, here. We haven't heard from him at all in nearly 400 years. It's ridiculous."

"So what's with the drama queen stalker-ish behavior tonight?" Sven asked, sounding confused.

"He says he wants something of mine."

I opened my eyes, feeling every bit of him tense and anger again.

"Me" I said quietly, staring at his hand as his fingers moved against my body absentmindedly.

Sven jumped to his feet, as did Viktoria.

"Are we gonna just kill this bastard? I'm pretty sure no one's gonna miss him" Viktoria growled, as Sven high-fived her hard, the slap echoing through the room.

Pam just rolled her eyes.

"I've made a couple of calls already. He's a loner. He has no nest mates. He's not been right in the head since we last seen him. He has adopted the new lifestyle of drinking synthetics, but he travels alone. He's also broke, and perhaps tired. How he found out about me being back home, I do not know."

James sat forward, his brow furrowed.

"He's a loner, but yet there was a human that night at the wedding who reported back to him?"

"Either reported back to him, or knows William, and filled him in. Either way, he doesn't hang around humans unnecessarily, so I'm inclined to go with your guess, that he purposefully sent someone."

"Something doesn't add up" James stared ahead, thinking hard.

"I agree. You think Felipe's working with him?" Pam asked, looking bored still, but her wheels were turning.

Eric scoffed. "We would have known if he was in our area before we left. He would have just went over there and made fast friends with him, if so. Another state perhaps, but not Louisiana."

Alrik leaned back into the couch and made an observation. "Well, we have no enemies here. If you have a beef with someone, you take care of it. There's nothing to gain, except ridding yourself of a pest. So why not just kill him and not even waste our time figuring the fucker out?"

Even I knew the answer to that one.

Eric was patient. "That would be easy enough, sure. But, when someone comes at you like this, you have to analyze what's going on, and sniff out anything fishy. It would be foolish to kill him if we could get him to talk, tell us who else might cause us trouble in the future. Maybe get a little use out of him first."

"I can see that," he conceded. "It does seem fishy that he's working with human informants. So what's the plan?"

"He's going to call me tomorrow at 7pm. He said we'll talk then. This building and apartment is secure. Tonight, we'll stay here. But we're not going back to our place until this is resolved."

I looked up at him questioningly.

"It's for your own protection, lover. He's been in our home."

That did it. Pam was off the chair in a fit, throwing open the glass and screaming out her frustrations.

Everyone was looking angry now that Eric revealed that little ditty.

"So he's not just making calls, sending people near Sookie, he's been in your new place?!" James looked fit to be tied.

Eric nodded. "He took a souvenir to taunt me, and described it, so I know he's telling the truth."

"How the fuck did he get past your security system?" James spewed, his normal calm mood temporarily out to lunch.

"I didn't use the same one Peter and Viktoria use. I went with the one Dr Masen recommended instead."

That certainly got everyone's attention. Sven looked like he was gonna pass out, if such a thing could happen.

"Shit" he said quietly.

I sat up a bit, and looked Eric directly in the eyes.

"Where's your phone?" I asked, holding out my hand.

"Where's my phone?" Pam asked, "don't you still have mine?"

Oh shit, I forgot about that.

"I dropped it off the balcony when Eric flew in behind me. Sorry about that."

"Lovely" she stalked over to the computer.

Eric shifted in his seat, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.

"Here" he called after Pam, tossing her his wallet. "Order whatever you want, and have them express it to the club. It'll be there tomorrow night."

She went to work ordering another phone, thanks to my blunder.

"We're not calling him. If he's the one William's using to spy on us, we'd be showing our hand."

James shot Eric a dark smirk. "I knew that smooth fucker was too friendly. Who the fuck goes out and gets pizza for one of their patients when they're not interested in fucking them? I knew that asshole was off. And so did you." He pointed at Eric, who nodded.

"What do I do when he calls? He said he was coming to opening night tomorrow night, remember?" Sven looked pale still, paler than usual.

"Do nothing. Be yourself. Get a grip on your voice the minute you see his number come up on your phone. Be your normal, charming, dickhead self." He smirked as Sven flipped him off.

Pam walked back over, tossing Eric's wallet at us. He caught it easily and tucked it back into his pants.

"We're safe here, and at Viktoria's. I would call someone and have the boat checked, just in case."

Yrjan flipped open his cell and walked outside to make a call.

Eric's tone changed when he planned out tomorrow night's plans, now sounding ominous.

"We take care of this, quickly. When he calls tomorrow, he's going to want to meet. He alluded to it tonight on the phone. We're going to storm that motherfucker like Normandy. He's coming with us…

"…whether it's in one piece or several, his choice."

Eric's thoughts on tomorrow seemed to appease everyone, and our pow-wow was over for the night. Dawn was near, and everyone was tired.

"Let's get you to bed, lover" he kissed my cheekbone, signaling for me to hop up. We all had a snack, and then piled in to Peter's huge bed, ignoring the other two bedrooms.

It was like one big vampire slumber party, and comforting in a way. We were family.

Peter set the alarm and fire sensor, which goes off in the master bedroom in the presence of smoke or heat, and piled in last.

Eric curled up behind me, and Tara in front, already passed out.

He tucked my hair under my head and kissed the back of my neck, pulling me to him as I succumbed to sleep.

A/N: You know I like things chill, but I missed my Viking bad-ass. So here's the deal…no one's gonna die on Team Eric, that's all I'm gonna say. I'm only telling ya'll this so you aren't worrying your pretty little heads about it. We love the gang, every one of them, and they aren't going anywhere. No tragedies. I can't promise the same for William, though, and whoever's helping him.

Also, remember, obviously, my story is an a/u type of deal. They don't move to Sweden in the books, and Sookie hasn't been turned in the books. It's my story, and this is what it is..something different. So, this William thing is not going to be anything to do with the books.

He is just a tool, literally. Eric and James are gonna possibly get some action real soon. So, I know you love the love and butterflies, but some of you bloodthirsty naughty girls want to see some Eric in action (besides that kind of action).

Hopefully I won't lose your interest by spicing things up in the action department. He's not much of a threat in the big picture, so it's going to still be a good read. Love you guys, and thanks for sticking with it!