A/N: Howdy again! I'll have SE22 up on Mondayish. And hopefully another CTD later in the week. Fingers crossed. I hope y'all are doing swell.
Chapter 10
He stayed in the office for almost an hour after Sookie had left, but he couldn't concentrate on his work. She intrigued him. Her scent lingered in the room, but he wanted to be closer to her. He wandered out into the living room and sat down on the couch. Even though the chair he preferred was empty. Sookie was sitting on the other side.
She looked like she had already pulled herself together. She was curled up with her feet tucked under her, sipping some blood and reading a book. She set it down, open, on the arm of the couch when he sat down. She glanced over at him for a moment and then nodded at what she'd been reading. She looked a little embarrassed at the subject matter. It was Bram Stoker's Dracula.
"I know I shouldn't leave it like that. I worried about breaking the spine, but it was already broken."
He smiled. "I know. I picked it up a long time ago. I have read it many times."
"I used to love to read..." She trailed off and teared up for just a second, but quickly blinked them back.
"You didn't have a choice, Sookie."
She shrugged. It had been a lot longer than ten years since she'd read anything. When she was a kid, it had been a great escape from her life and its abuses, whether from the kids and teachers at school, from the townspeople of Bon Temps, or from her mother — and often great-uncle — at home. And that had all been bad enough. But by seventh grade, that hadn't worked any longer. Her life had become too awful to escape. But she didn't want to think about that right then.
"Someday, I'll introduce you to him."
She looked at him for a second, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion.
"The Count. He is a real vampire."
Pam walked in holding a blood of her own and sat down in Eric's favourite chair. She snorted. "And Eric is his biggest fan."
Eric shot Pam a dirty look, but Sookie smiled and glanced at him again. It made Eric seem more normal, almost. As old and powerful and impressive as he was, even he got a little star struck sometimes. He wasn't human — none of them were — but it almost made him seem that way, for just a moment.
She was very glad that Pam had come in, though. Especially now, after their conversation in his office (which she had crammed away in her mind to unpack later. Thinking about the money, her maker, and her mother was just too much for tonight). She was uncomfortable with how intimate it all felt. How intense. Even just sitting on the couch, talking about a book.
And she wondered again if drinking his blood was affecting her feelings about him, and how much. But it didn't change the fact that she was kind of disappointed that she likely wouldn't need it for much longer. It was so powerful. And delicious.
Eric wasn't especially pleased about that, either. He excused himself and went to the kitchen to fill up a glass before Ludwig arrived and declared Sookie well. The more of his blood that she had, the longer it would stay in her system. He wasn't ready to lose that connection yet. And it would help her trust him more. Besides, she'd said that she still had ten or fifteen pounds to gain before she was finished healing. Better safe than sorry.
And maybe, someday soon, she would get it straight from the source again. And perhaps he would get to taste hers as well.
He had a twinge of guilt — he didn't even really recognize it at first — but he pushed it aside. Being with him would be good for her. She needed a distraction. Something to take her mind off of her past and make her feel good about herself for a while. They would have an excellent time together. He would make sure of it.
He handed the glass to Sookie and sat back down on the couch with a grin. His eyes were sparkling with good humour and mischief. "Since you keep refusing to do this the fun way."
She smiled and thanked him, looking at him through her eyelashes, even if just for a moment.
"Pam, I think that you should take the night off tomorrow. If that's alright with Sookie, of course…"
Sookie looked hesitant, and he could feel her indecision. She lifted one shoulder. "Um. Sure. I guess so."
Pam wasn't going to argue. "I need to make a few phone calls…" She got up and left the room. She had a pet or three she needed to call.
He smiled at Sookie. "Alone again."
God, he made her nervous. But she would have taken that as a threat a few days before, so she figured that she was headed in the right direction, at least. But she couldn't really imagine him not making her nervous.
She smiled shyly, and glanced at him again. He was so handsome. Such an unapologetic flirt. And, somehow, he put her at ease. Almost as much as he made her uneasy.
He had his arm across the back of the couch again, and Sookie wasn't leaning away this time. Her hair was tucked behind her ear on his side, and a little piece had fallen loose. He almost reached over to push it back into place, but he decided to bide his time a little longer. He didn't want to lose any of the progress he'd gained.
"Dr. Ludwig will be arriving soon. How do you feel?"
"Really good, actually. A lot stronger."
"We should take you out somewhere secluded very soon. Give you a chance to test your abilities."
She had never had the chance to learn how to be a vampire, even though she'd been one for nearly a decade. She'd never willingly had sex, with a human or otherwise. She didn't count the first few times after she'd been turned. She hadn't been able to help it. She'd tried, but the compulsion had been so strong, and she'd been commanded not to touch herself. She'd loathed him when he told her that he wouldn't fuck her until she begged him to. And she'd loathed herself when she did.
She had also never been able to use her strength or speed. She had never had a chance to test their limits. Of course, she'd had little of either for most of her death.
And she had never tried her glamour. Even now, she wouldn't be able to. She had been commanded to never use it.
Hell, she had never even had the chance to bite and feed from a human. But the thought of it turned her stomach. She'd been fed from thousands of times, she was sure. Ever since she was still a kid who played with Barbies sometimes. She'd been made to bite her master for just as long. Drinking out of a glass or cup felt like a luxury that she would never get tired of.
Biting Eric had been instinct. She'd been so out of control with terror when they'd found her, but she remembered everything. And she was so embarrassed at how she'd behaved. Even if she couldn't have helped it at the time. She hated how much instinct ruled her behaviour. At least when it wasn't overruled by one of her many commands. There was so little that she'd ever had control of, both before she was turned and after.
She was embarrassed that Eric had seen her like that. Not only feral and out of control, but weak and pathetic and grotesque. And she was sure that he would always see her that way. She knew that she was going to.
And she tried not to think about what she was going to look like after her maker got hold of her again and turned her oasis into a mirage.
Pam walked back into the room with a smile on her face and primly sat back down in Eric's chair. Eric grinned at her. "Have your plans all arranged?"
"Yes, actually. I do."
"Who's the lucky girl?"
"Miriam. And Belinda. And Colton."
Eric laughed. "Making up for lost time, I see."
She shrugged. "They missed me. I couldn't disappoint them."
Sookie smiled. She liked Pam so much. She was, by far, the best friend that Sookie had ever had. And she thought that Pam considered her a friend, too. It was so nice, having someone to talk to and spend time with and whom she felt comfortable around. She had never had that before. Well, except maybe with her Gran. But Gran had died a long time ago.
There was a knock at the door, and Eric got up to answer it. "Welcome, Doctor. You are looking well."
She snorted. "And you are full of shit."
Eric stepped aside and Amy Ludwig walked into the living room. "Ok. Where is she?"
Sookie stood up and smiled a little. "I'm right here."
"Well, now. Isn't that something. You look like a real vampire." Dr. Ludwig tilted her head. "Mostly, anyway."
"She is even nearly pink." Eric gestured at the empty seat and then sat back down on the couch. Sookie curled up on the other side. The doctor struggled a bit climbing into the oversized chair.
"It's because of her blood. Both the quantity and the quality. She should be able to pass easily as human. Even vampires and shifters might get thrown off by her scent."
Eric nodded. "It's not that the sweetness masks the vampire scent. It's almost like the fairy and vampire bloods combined to make something that smells completely different."
"Well, of course it's different. Vampire blood isn't alive, even right after feeding." She looked at Sookie. "Yours has characteristics of both vampire and fairy-hybrid blood, but it's in a category of its own."
Eric drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch. "But it is still an effective drug."
The doctor laughed. "Of course! As I said, vampire characteristics. If anything, it's more potent."
Pam frowned. "How did nobody catch that the blood was different? V gets confiscated all the time. Sheriffs would have smelled it. Law enforcement would have tested it."
Sookie took a deep breath. "Um. I heard my mother say something about a witch a couple of times."
Dr. Ludwig nodded. "Yes, a very skilled and powerful witch would likely be able to manipulate the magic. " She narrowed her eyes and looked at Sookie. "So, Miss Stackhouse. How do you feel?"
Sookie raised one shoulder a little. "It's funny. Earlier this evening, I was trying to figure out what was the matter. Something just felt off, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. And then it hit me. I'm not in any pain. I don't hurt anywhere. Not one bit."
Pam smiled at her, and Sookie smiled back, tearing up a little. "Thank y'all so much. I never thought I would ever feel like this again."
The doctor hopped down and opened up her bag. She took a few measurements and drew a little more of Sookie's blood. She did a cursory exam over Sookie's clothes and jotted something down in a book. She nodded to herself and then smiled at her patient. "As far as I can tell, you're fit as a fiddle. I don't believe in miracles, but I do believe in magic. And yours must be very powerful."
"I still have a little weight to gain before I'm back to normal."
Dr. Ludwig shrugged. "So you'll gain a little weight in your rest. You may be a bit stronger tomorrow, but you're healthy as can be. I would like to maybe do some tests down the road. An MRI, at the very least. See what makes you tick."
After the doctor left, Sookie sat and listened to Pam and Eric chat. She even talked a little bit. She knew nothing about current events — hell, she knew nothing much about anything — but neither Pam nor Eric made her feel dumb.
When it was getting close to dawn, Sookie went to the kitchen to warm herself another blood. Eric followed her and leaned against the door casing again. Her stomach clenched into a big knot when he smiled at her.
"Sookie, what would you think about testing your limits tomorrow?"
She swallowed hard and sort of shrugged. "I guess so?" She sounded unsure, but Eric's gut was telling him to go for it. But without coming on too strong. It required finesse.
"Excellent. We will go at your pace. I won't make you do anything you aren't ready for."
But he would nudge her in the right direction.
She was definitely hesitant, but she finally nodded. He smiled happily. He was very pleased with himself.
He said goodbye to his girls and headed back to Pam's in his Corvette. He called Bobby Burnham, his day man, on the way.
"Bobby, Pam is emailing you a list as we speak. You must buy the clothes she recommends and have them gift wrapped and in my home before sunset."
"Yes, master."
Eric was still smiling when he drifted off with the sun in Pam's bed.