A/N My second story update today. I have decided to forgo sleep to write, well at least for now. A little warning, towards the end of this chapter is a bit of torture, so if you don't like that just skip it and also if you are a Bill Fan you'll want to skip it too. I am completely Anti-Bill and I have been since I first started reading the books. I started with Club Dead, so by that time Bill was already mostly out of the picture and that was fine with me. Also it's not just Eric doing the torturing. I want Sookie to show that she's not weak like people think she is. So there you have it. Leave me some love, it makes me smile when you do. Enjoy!

Over the weekend I slept peacefully with no dreams. Apparently Nessa didn't need to speak to me since Eric was with me and we were going to bond. Friday night after work Eric took me out for a late night supper where I had lobster dripping in butter, French onion soup an crème Brule for dessert. The food was delicious and a new experience for me. I'd never eaten anything like that and I'd added the whole meal to my list of favorite foods. Eric promised that he would take me out more often. I liked that idea.

Saturday night we had out second blood exchange. Eric thought it would better to have a day in between exchanges so we would have time to cool down in between. It was completely insane to think that that would work. Somehow we both ended up naked and came very, very close to having sex that night. Eric was actually the one who kept us from going all the way. He knew that I would be upset if we didn't wait. I was personally upset at the time that he stopped us, but the next morning I was grateful for it.

Sunday night was slower than normal and seemed to go on forever. It was busy early on in the night, then it slowed to a crawl earlier than normal. While I was doing busy work, wiping down counters and tables that were already clean, filling up napkin holders and listening to the few people that were there, I couldn't keep my eyes from glancing over at Eric every chance that I got. I could feel him even more now, it was only a little bit louder than before, but it made me anxious in the best possible way to know what it would feel like to have a complete bond with him.

I could feel that he was bored sitting up on his throne, so I decided to think about doing something special for him to make him smile. My thoughts were pulled away from that pleasantness when I felt a chill run down my spine as someone came through the door. I slowly turned around and was met with the sight of Bill Compton walking into the bar.

Seeing him made the horrible images that Nessa showed me come to the front of my mind in full force. I wanted to run to Eric or as far away as I could, but I wouldn't show fear in front of him. I could feel when Eric saw him and I was afraid that he would cause a scene, so I sent him calm through our weak bond, but it wasn't enough for him to sit back down in his throne.

I straightened my spine and went back to my tables. I was getting an order filled at the bar when I felt somebody come up next to me. I didn't have to look to know who it was. My skin was crawling so it could only be one person. "Sookie, what a pleasant surprise it is to see you here."

"Mr. Compton, I'm not comfortable with you addressing me in such familiar terms. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work."

"I beg your pardon Miss Stackhouse. I was wondering if I might have a moment alone to speak with you."

He was completely mental. "I assure you that that will not be happening Mr. Compton." I turned and looked at him without a trace of fear in my eyes or in my voice. "I know what you were planning to do to me Mr. Compton and so does my bonded mate. If you ever think about coming near me, you will live to regret it."

I couldn't believe that it was possible, but he grew even paler hearing my words. "Who are you bonded to?"

"Me asshole." I turned around and Eric was right there behind me. He slid his arms around me and pulled me close to him.

"Why would you do something so stupid Sookie?"

Before I realized that he moved, Eric had pulled away from me and had Mr. Compton by the throat and dangling three feet off of the ground. "How dare you be so familiar and insulting to my Lover. I think that you and I need to have a little chat Billy boy." He tightened his grip around Billy's neck. "Lover, Mr. Compton and I have some business to attend to, but I should be done before closing."

I was pretty sure that the "business" Eric was talking about was beating the shit out of Billy boy, but I really didn't have it in me to care. He was planning on taking me against my will and if somebody didn't do something about it he would just keep coming after me until he got me. "Okay Eric. This won't ruin our plans for tomorrow nigh will it?"

He reached up with his free hand and stroked my cheek. "Nothing is going to spoil our plans tomorrow." He leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips. I could feel that kiss all the way down to my toes. I wanted to pull Eric to a nice quiet spot and make out with him for awhile, but we were both busy. "I will see you later Lover."

"Okay." I watched him disappear out back with Billy and I went back to tending to my tables.

The rest of the night dragged on, so I spent some time organizing the Fangtasia merchandise, dusting anything that I could find and organizing the bottles of alcohol and True Blood.

By the time closing time came around everything was done. Pam sent everybody else home and fixed me a gin and tonic while we waited for Eric. I could feel Eric was taking great pleasure in what he was doing downstairs and that was peeking my curiosity. I downed my drink in a few gulps, then headed for the basement. Pam was quickly in front of me to stop me. "Sookie, I don't think that you want to go down there."

"Pam, I'm not so naïve that I don't understand what is going on down there. I know that Eric had probably beaten him to a pulp and is taking great pleasure in it. I'm hoping maybe I can take a whack at him myself."

"Sookie…"

"Pam, I dreamt about what that bastard had planned for me. He was going to take me to your queen, rape me and violate me until my pelvis was broken, then he would keep going before sharing me with every other vampire in the room. I think it might do me some good to take some of my untapped aggression out on that little maggot."

I watched a smile appear on Pam's face. "What I was going to say is that I see why my master is so taken with you. You'd make a wonderful vampire someday."

I let her last statement roll around in my head as I made my way downstairs. Less than a week ago the thought of becoming a vampire was not appealing to me at all, but now I wasn't so sure. I loved Eric and he was willing to do anything for me to protect me. Maybe it would be better if I became a vampire. I would be better able to protect myself and maybe, just maybe people would stop wanting to take me away. I couldn't think about this now, I had a maggot to check on.

I opened the door to the basement and as I started down the steps I could already smell blood and I could hear muffled screams from coming down there. A part of me thought that I should be afraid and that I really didn't want to see this, but I wasn't and I wanted to see what my beloved had done.

I continued down the steps and stopped at the landing that overlooked the basement. I could see that Eric was covered in blood and was working very meticulously. I could see that he was wearing gloves and he was using a razor blade to remove the skin from Billy's body. He was also applying some kind of salve that was keeping him from healing. I assumed that it had some kind of silver in it.

I should have turned and run away at the scene in front of me, but I wasn't disgusted, I was intrigued and even the tiniest bit turned on. "Eric?"

He turned to look at me and I saw that his eyes were huge and black. "Lover, what are you doing down here?"

"It's almost three a.m. I wanted to make sure that you were okay and see if you were ready to go home."

"Of course my love. Let me just finish what I'm doing here and I'll meet you upstairs."

I pulled my gaze away from Eric and looked around the room. There was a tray full of what appeared to be surgical instruments that I assumed were made of silver. I could feel Eric's eyes on me as I went over and picked up a scalpel. "Eric, how would you feel about me taking a stab at Mr. Compton here?"

I could see that he was fighting to keep a smile off of his face and he managed quite well. "Lover, I don't think that's a good idea."

"You're just saying that because you want him all to yourself."

He quirked that sexy eyebrow at me and I had to resist the overwhelming urge to jump him and lick it. "What did you have in mind my angel?"

"I feel the need to show Billy here that I'm not as weak as people think that I am." I stood next to Eric and squeezed his shoulder. "You might now want to stick around to see what I have in mind."

"Ooo, I am intrigued now. Let me just run upstairs real quick to wash up and I'll be right back." He was gone and back in less than two minutes.

"Do you have a pair of gloves for me to wear?" He went over to the table the instruments were on, pulled a pair of gloves from a lower drawer and handed them to me. "Thank you Sweetie." He leaned down and kissed me on the lips, then went to stand off to the side while I focused on Billy Boy.

I slid the gloves on, not because I needed to avoid touching the silver, but because I planned on doing something were I would be touching him and I wasn't about to do that with my bare hands. I removed the gag from his mouth and looked up at him with total and utter disgust. "Good evening Billy."

He growled at being called that. "So you're his whore now, is that it?"

Without thinking I reached up and sliced him across the face with the scalpel. "I understand you wanted me as your whore and the Queen's as well, but that's not what I am and not what I am ever going to be. I am Eric's of my own free will and there is nothing that you can do to change that."

"That's what you think. The Queen will have you and your precious Viking will meet the true death."

I was getting seriously pissed off and couldn't control my actions. I reached up, shoved the scalpel in his eye, twisted it and pulled it back out with the eyeball attached to it. I could see that he wanted to scream in agony, but he wouldn't give me the satisfaction. I dropped the eyeball on the floor and crushed it under my boot. I could feel Eric's enjoyment over what I'd just done, but I didn't have time to think about him right now.

I turned back to Billy, grabbed his hair and held the scalpel against his neck. "Look you stupid son of a bitch, I heard you yelling at the Rattrays the night that you came into Merlotte's. You almost got me, but your own stupidity was and is your downfall." I let go of his hair and slid the scalpel down his bare chest to the edge of his boxer shorts, the only piece of clothing he had on his body. "Do you get off on raping women Billy?" He looked shocked at what I'd said, but didn't say anything in return. "I'll take your silence as a yes since I know that you were planning on taking me and raping me." I slowly slid his boxer shorts down while looking him in the eye. I could feel Eric's irritation over what I was doing, so I sent him calm, love and disgust through our bond so that he would know that I wasn't enjoying looking at the man naked.

When his shorts were down I finally caught a glimpse of what Billy was "packing" and I couldn't stop the laughter that escaped my lips. Eric's fingers were bigger than that. I could hear Eric laughing from behind me and that made me laugh even harder. If the floor had been any cleaner I would have rolled around on it and laughed even harder.

I was pulled out of my laughing fit by another growl coming from Billy Boy. I reined my amusement in and focused on what I was about to do. "I don't know you very well and I'm glad about that, but what I do know is that you are an evil, vile creature and you deserve to suffer." With one quick slice I chopped of his dick, then with two more quick slices his balls followed. This time he couldn't contain his screams, but I didn't care.

I dropped the scalpel on the floor along with my gloves. I turned towards Eric and he was standing there with his mouth hanging open and shock on his face. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Sweetie, can we go home now?"

The sound of my voice was enough to bring him out of his shock. "Of course Lover." He scooped me up into his arms and carried me upstairs. He stopped in his office to grab my purse, then carried my out to my car. He got my keys, sat in the driver's seat and took me home.