AN: Ten days, woo! I didn't know it'd been that long since my last update. Sorry about that, you guys. I'd like to say it won't happen again, but I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm working on another book, so I don't notice how many days have gone by without me writing for this story. That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter. There's a little bit of smutty-smut, which is always nice, lol. Anyway, please let me know what you think and ENJOY!

Chapter 41

He could feel her. He could feel her sitting so close that it woke him up in the middle of the day. The sun was out and he knew the Bleeds were on the way, but that didn't matter to him. Instead, Eric pressed the internal release and opened his coffin. Sure enough, Maria was sitting only a few yards away in a chair. She stared at him plainly.

Eric didn't speak as he rose and closed the silver box behind him. He kept his gaze to hers, slid his hands into his pockets, and simply stood there.

A minute passed, perhaps another, before Maria stood as well. She took the back of the chair and set it once more beneath the table she taken it from, and approached him. Eric noticed her tugging off one of her white cotton gloves.

"Give me your hand." She said as she offered hers.

Eric arched a brow. A number of things raced through his mind.

Firstly, Pam had said it to him before, but it wasn't until that moment where Eric noticed that Maria's accent had, in fact, become stronger. Her 'R's curled now, and 'H's started in the back of her throat. It was, genuinely, rather sexy, and he hated her for it. For whatever reason, he chose to believe that she intentionally strengthened her accent just to tease him.

Secondly, Eric wanted to remain childish and refuse, but he was glad that she was at least willing to touch his skin. There was no way for him to know what had changed her mind since he first offered, but something clearly had. His hand shifted within his pocket, it unfurled and was ready to emerge when he somehow "thought better of it".

"Why?"

The childish side of him reared its ugly head.

Though her expression remained primarily blank, he could see her agitation. "Give me your hand." She said sternly.

"No,"

"You ridiculous, infantile, irritating little-"

"That's not very regal, Empress." He didn't bother to remove the mocking tone, which he knew she noticed.

"I've had enough." Maria said. Eric watched curiously as she removed her second glove, tossed the pair to the side, and then began to remove her extravagant, vintage Cartier, diamond earrings. "I had to tell a woman that her son was butchered on my behalf." She began to remove her matching necklace. "I was yelled at by your Progeny." He grinned to himself while Maria set her jewelry aside. "And now, you're being a prick." He arched a brow to her, his first external show of emotion since he'd awakened. "I no longer have patience for you or anyone else." She kicked off her shoes. "You will show me what I want to know."

Eric felt his heart struggle to start beating once again with excitement. He knew a fight was coming, possibly violent, and he wanted to partake.

"Will I?"

"You will."

Maria dug the ball of her foot into the expensive rug a split second before she launched herself at him. Eric let her get close enough that he felt the air shift when he dodged her swipe. His smile immediately emerged as the battle began.

Eric knew that all she had to do was touch his skin for a moment to glean everything from him, and he wanted to keep her from that. It was part of his enjoyment. Maria was relentless in her attempts, though. If she'd had any of his blood in her system, she would have been more evenly matched. As it was, Maria (while still quick) wasn't fast enough to grab the thousand-year-old vampire. That didn't stop them from breaking furniture in the process, however. They weren't delicate, basically.

The longer they "played", the angrier she became. Eric should have known that was when Maria would resort to underhanded tactics.

While Eric recovered from another dodge, Maria reacted. She launched shards of a broken piece of furniture at him. The mini-stakes embedded themselves in his legs. Eric cried out and couldn't immediately run away, which was probably the point. That brief hesitation was more than enough for Maria to finally sink her claws –literally- into him.

Maria leapt onto his back like a crack-ridden spider monkey. She immediately dug those talons into his shoulders, wrapped her legs around his waist, and held tight. Eric was less concerned with her than the stakes in his thighs.

He angrily jerked each of them out while her fiery hand immediately clamped down on his face. As his legs began to heal, Eric grabbed her by the arm and threw her over his body. Maria spun in the air and landed on the crumpled bed on all fours. She stared up at him through tendrils of hair. He glared back, though honestly didn't even mind.

Silently, Maria stood. Being on the bed, she was able to look down her nose at him. She exuded superiority. It rolled off her like thick fog and while it would have angered him with anyone else, while he would have wanted to skin them alive for presuming they were better than him in any way, he didn't mind it with her. In fact, he liked it.

It was difficult to explain, even to himself, but the only other person he could say that about was Pam. Eric loved it when Pam lorded over others, even when she sent some of that in his direction. Perhaps it was simply because she had the personality for it. It was genuine when it came from Pam. Other women couldn't manage it properly. Nan, for example, acted superior without substance. As did Sookie. But Pam, Nora, and Maria were a different breed.

So as she stood over him, surrounded in the aura that could only come from thousands of years of thrope ancestry, from hundreds of years of royalty, and from decades of a difficult life, Eric felt that it was deserved. Despite her disheveled hair and the dress that was slightly ruffled after their bout, Eric could believe that she was a ruler.

As they stared at one another, he noticed her gaze shift to her hands. Eric could see crimson staining her pastel manicure. Her attention was sharply focused on her digits. It was clear that he'd bled onto her when she dug them into his shoulders, but was surprised to see how intensely she was staring at them.

For those few seconds, Eric knew he disappeared to her. In fact, he could see something else: hunger. He narrowed his eyes briefly and even took a step closer just to be sure.

Maria's lips were parted slightly and her breathing heavy, which made sense given their previous exertion, but this was different. Eric drew even closer and noticed that her eyes had darkened as well. Closer and closer her fingers drifted to her mouth and he found himself wanting her to taste the blood there. While the sight of her desiring his blood after so long was enough to stroke his ego, he wanted so badly to see her succumb to it.

When he stood within six or so feet of the bed, he finally drew Maria's attention. Her eyes darted to him and he was finally able to see just how much of the green was being choked out. His blood coursed through his body and began to centralize below his belt. He wanted her to lick her fingers, to taste him like she had so many times before.

His mind suddenly flashed with a memory he rather liked: the first time they slept together.

He felt her reaching a climax and knew what he wanted. Blood was never sweeter, never better, than when it was saturated with pure elation.

Her fingernails tore into his back, her body began to tense, and just before he knew she would have plummeted over the edge, Eric bit into her neck. Maria cried out while her orgasm immediately tore through her body. Her blood exploded in his mouth, every muscle clamped down around him, and all of it was too much for him to take. Eric came an instant later.

Maria trembled beneath him, her breathing nothing more than soft and delicate whimpers, and he felt the same. If he'd been reliant on air at all, he would have been struggling for it, too. As it was, he did still breathe heavily.

Eventually, when he had control over himself again, Eric drew back. Maria looked up at him with her skin tinted pink, a light sheen of sweat already forming on her brow, and her eyes filled with absolute adoration. She looked beautiful.

He felt her finally remove her fingernails from his back and unwrap them from around him. A moment later, he noticed her bring them forward and, as he thought, she had in fact pierced his skin. His blood, deep and crimson, stained her fingertips thickly. If he hadn't healed the instant she removed them, he might have been worried.

Heavy eyes met his and, in what was perhaps the most alluring thing he'd ever seen, Maria placed her bloodied fingertips into her mouth. Her full lips encircled her digits as she sucked the blood, his blood, and it made him want to go through his skin.

He smiled and as she withdrew her finger, he took her hand into his. Eric proceeded to suck some of the lingering blood away as well. She drew her bottom lip through her teeth when he did.

The moment he took her finger from his mouth, they kissed and started all over again. That was their first time together, their "reward" for surviving the nightmare that was Rasputin. It began everything, good and bad, and it was all he could think of as she stared at him now.

Just do it, he thought angrily to himself.

As though sensing what he wanted, Maria's lips parted further. Her tongue slowly emerged and drew his focus. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, which made his nerves even thinner. He felt as though he was about to go through his skin and just before she would have finally swept her tongue over the bloodied fingers, the door to the room burst open.

Eric spun. His fangs sprang free and he lowered himself, ready for the fight he knew was coming. The intruder was Pasha and he looked furious. When his eyes landed on Eric, he let loose a ferocious bear's roar. Eric hissed back. He didn't care how big Pasha became when he transformed, the Viking had every intention of ripping the ursanthrope apart.

The air was electric.

"Enough!" Maria shouted angrily.

Everything stopped, but Eric kept his eye on Pasha, whose gaze danced between the two he'd interrupted. From behind, he could hear her leap off the bed and her soft footfalls take her into his line of sight.

"What are you doing here?" She asked Pasha.

He was hesitant to take his gaze away from Eric, but seemed unwilling to ignore his Empress's question.

"Someone said they heard you fighting with the vampire." He said angrily. Eric wondered, albeit briefly, if Pasha had ever spoken so much. Probably not. "I came to rescue you."

Maria arched a single brow. "I do not need rescuing."

Her tone seemed to bring Pasha completely out of the moment. He even went so far as to almost turn his back on Eric completely to address her. Even though he could only see Pasha's profile, he could see how her words had affected the ursanthrope.

His head immediately fell and he looked ashamed of his assumptions.

"Of course," He said softly. Eric noticed Maria's expression fall as well. She sighed lightly.

"I mean," She said heavily, "that I was in no danger, so in no need of being rescued." Pasha said nothing, but nodded. Maria turned her attention to Eric. "Get some sleep, Mr. Northman. You're bleeding."

And with that, she left the room. Before she disappeared, Maria was sure to gather her things, and then she was gone. Pasha, however, remained for a moment.

His dark eyes landed on Eric and all kindness and respect that was reflected at Maria had vanished. His eyes turned cold.

In an almost too-thick Russian accent, Pasha said, "I do not like you."

Eric cocked a brow and let an arrogant smile tug at his lips. He even went so far as to chuckle, which only angered Pasha further. Eric found himself wondering if the soldier would attack, or was disciplined enough to keep his hands to himself despite how badly he wanted to fight.

Without another word, Pasha turned and left as well. When he was gone, Eric laughed again. His mind flashed with scenes from Rocky IV with Drago. He was as threatened by the ursanthrope as he'd been by a fake Russian character from a movie.

Maria's walk back to her bedroom was brisk. She wanted to remove herself from the entire situation as quickly as possible. While that wasn't exactly how she expected her confrontation with Eric to go, she couldn't say she was entirely surprised by it. What did surprise her, however, was when she nearly tasted his blood. It'd been a long time since his blood had touched her tongue, but in that moment, she remembered how much she liked it. It was that memory that drove her decision. If Pasha hadn't barged in, she knew she would have tasted Eric again.

When she was safely within her bedroom, Maria glanced down to her fingertips. The blood had dried completely. It was caked beneath her fingernails and was far-less appetizing. Now that the moment had passed, Maria chose to wash her hands instead of tasting the blood.

Her heart still raced as she picked the blood out from under her nails. Her fight with Eric had brought back a lot of memories and they were nicer than she wanted them to be.

During the Sookie-free Year:

Egos were a problem with Eric Northman and Maria Romanov. They each had a healthy, strong ego, and their egos didn't get along very well. They were rather fond of conflict, in fact, which caused problems sometimes. Other times, they led to fun experiments.

Maria raced through the forest, pressing her bleeding hands against each tree she passed. When the wound on her palms healed, she would slice them open again and proceed. She ran so quickly that a human most likely wouldn't have seen her, but that was assuming a human being would be so deep into the bayou.

The bet was simple. Maria had one hour to hide and Eric had two hours to seek. They had to stay within a square mile, which would have been a lot of space if they were normal people. If he found her in the allotted time, Eric won. If he didn't, she won. It was that easy and what was the reward? Nothing. There was no money, no prize of any kind. The only thing the winner received was a boost to their ego in the knowledge that they were better than the other.

The moon was at half-mast, though Maria didn't know if it was waxing or waning. Really, it didn't matter. As it was, it simply offered her even more shadows to hide within beneath the thick, swamp canopy.

Dressed like a ninja in black spandex, Maria continued to spread her scent over absolutely everything she could. She was sure to lay down enough that it would linger, spread enough blood that Eric wouldn't be able to use her scent to locate her. She couldn't say how fine-tuned the senses of a thousand-year-old vampire were, so she acted as though he would be able to smell, see, or sense her ten miles away.

As she ran, Maria found a wide space covered with damp moss, and she smiled. After freshly cutting into her hand, she was sure to drop a fair amount of it onto the slimy green flora. The humidity helped her already because it would keep the blood wet longer, but using damp moss would ensure large patches of it would stay wet even longer than that. If her plan worked as she wanted it to, Eric would confuse it with the young woman herself.

The watch Maria wore beeped, alerting her to the fact that her time was up. She had seconds at best before Eric would reach her. As quickly as she could, Maria rinsed her hands in the swamp and found the mangrove tree that she'd spotted earlier. There was a perfect hole in the "trunk" in which she could fit. Maria quickly dove into it and hunkered down.

Minutes ticked by and Maria had gone completely still. She hadn't moved since she took to hiding because she assumed that Eric, no matter where he was, would somehow know, and she was fairly certain he would fly overhead. Even though she was inside the tree and hidden from the sky, Maria pretended that he'd still see her.

The sounds of the swamp were deafening. The bugs and other critters had come back out after her trek through the trees. She'd startled a few, but it didn't seem to matter anymore. The trouble was, they were really, really loud.

For some time, Maria had taken to counting to sixty in her head and counting on her fingers. She didn't dare look at her watch to see how long had passed because the light alone would shine like a beacon. She counted deliberately slow, too. That way, she knew at least a minute had passed. Underestimating was better than overestimating.

Maria had counted nearly forty-five minutes since she'd hidden within the tree before the world around her went quiet. Slowly but surely, the insects began to fade. Maria's body stiffened. They sensed a predator and she knew it was Eric.

In, and out. In, and out. Maria kept her breathing measured because she had no doubt he'd try to search for her heartbeat or heavy breathing through the suddenly-silent bayou. And then, in the distance, she saw him appear.

The tall shadow of Eric Northman loomed twenty, maybe thirty yards away. He was stood on the overturned logs and broken trees where she'd deposited a fair bit of her blood. Her eyes were conditioned to see in the dark, so the shadows did little to nothing to hide him. As a result, she could plainly see him crouch down and touch the blood.

"Goddamn it," he growled under his breath.

A smile curled the corner of her lips. He was frustrated, which meant more than once he'd been tricked by her.

In the distance, Maria heard the sound of a snapping twig and a rush of water. She knew it was most likely a gator sliding into the swamp. Eric probably knew the same, but he vanished in search of it regardless. Maria assumed he was probably double-checking that it wasn't her.

Maria knew she was in the clear and that if she didn't move, she would probably win their wager, but there was a problem. The predator in her, the animal, wanted to hunt. She wanted to stalk and to attack, and Maria couldn't keep it down now that she'd seen Eric.

Slowly but surely, Maria climbed out of her perfect hiding place and up the side of the tree. Her fingernails sliced easily into the soft, waterlogged wood, which helped her get to the lowest thick branch. Like the feline she kept hidden within, Maria slinked along the branch. She kept her eyes open.

When Eric reemerged to continue searching the area he'd left to investigate the gator, Maria flattened herself against the branch. She stopped moving immediately and watched. He moved slowly, deliberately, and she knew he was taking in everything. If he was the hunter she thought he was, Eric was probably looking for footprints, rustled foliage, or broken twigs to give him any indication.

The Viking eventually rose from his crouched position and on very quiet feet headed toward the shore. To be fair, she had run in that direction after leaving behind her blood, but she'd backpedaled, so Eric was actually walking away from her.

So low that her chest nearly touched the branch, Maria began to stalk him. She was sure to keep a good distance between them, but soon reached the end of the line. It would be stupid for her to try and leap to the next one because he'd hear her. Thankfully, her salvation soon appeared.

The sky lit up with a flash of lightning. It was blinding after being so used to the darkness, but a roll of thunder soon followed. It was in that roll of thunder where she jumped. The sound of her landing and the tree's branches ruffling were overshadowed.

Further and further she followed Eric into the swamp until each of them was finally on shore. Unfortunately for her, Maria's path through the trees had ended. The nearest one was too far for even her to jump. As a result, she had no choice but to drop.

She dropped to the ground and remained motionless to see if he heard her. When Eric gave no indication that he had, she began to stalk towards him once again. Her fingers sank into the mud, her toes did the same. The lion within wanted to come through, but she wouldn't allow it. As good as she could have been within the lion's skin, an animal that large would have been easy to see.

Another bolt of lightning caused her to freeze. Then another boom of thunder followed. The rain was even closer than before.

Partially hidden behind some sort of fern, Maria stared at her prey. Eric's back was to her. He wasn't moving or breathing. He was listening and in truth, Maria somehow knew he could hear her. She was so close that her heartbeat must have sounded loudly in his ears. That knowledge didn't stay her hand, however. It made her react.

Without warning, Maria leap at the Viking and just as suddenly, he countered. Inches from grabbing him, Eric spun, took hold of Maria, and brought her down to the ground in one fluid motion. He was on her in an instant, his body pressed to hers and pinning her in place.

She looked up into his stormy eyes. Eric grinned. "I win." He said.

"No you didn't." She smiled back. "You have no idea where I was hiding."

He arched a brow. "No?"

Maria's smile broadened to the point she actually laughed a little.

"No," She replied. "You walked by me a few times without even glancing in my direction."

Despite his efforts, she could see his irritation with the fact that she was right. She knew him too well not to see it.

In the distance, Maria heard something interesting. She could hear the rain, and it was drawing nearer.

"If we don't move soon, we're going to get wet."

The innuendo was only apparent to her ears after the fact, but Eric heard it immediately if his smirk was anything to go by.

"Is that a fact?" He asked leadingly. Maria only nodded. "Are you saying you aren't already? You have been running through a swamp."

She glowered lightly at him, but her smile had barely faded. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"No?"

Eric's hand had been pressed to her chest to keep her pinned to the ground, but it began to move. She felt the tips of his fingers glide down her body before they dipped beneath the spandex waistband of her yoga pants. An instant later, they were between her legs. Maria gasped while an arrogant chuckle echoed in his throat.

His fingers began to dance, directed by the skill that he'd gained through his life, and the knowledge of what she liked.

His voice was deeper when he asked, "You were saying?"

On a breath, Maria said, "Stop talking."

She immediately pulled him down into a kiss.

They kissed one another passionately, determined to devour their partner, while Eric worked the magic only he could. Maria was being shoved into euphoria. The desire between them grew until it hit a fever pitch for them both.

Maria immediately began to tear his clothing from his body, and Eric did the same. They didn't remove them, they tore. The fabric put up no resistance and was soon relegated to nothing but useless scraps.

Eric soon drove into her. Maria clung to him as they had sex, and felt her body erupt like it always did. At some point, the sky opened up and rain poured down over them, but it did nothing to dampen their longing for one another.

Maria, eventually, rolled Eric onto his back and took the reins. He allowed it because she knew he loved it as much as she did. There was also something else he loved that she doubted he let anyone do other than her.

Her teeth sank into his shoulder with ease and his blood filled her mouth. Eric groaned from deep in his throat, his grip on her hips tightened, and his thrusts increased. Maria drank for only a moment before she withdrew, flipping her now-wet hair back and over her head. It hit her back with a wet thwack. Maria felt the heat of Eric's vampire blood rushing through her body, felt it ignite everything like it always did, but it was tempered by the rain that fell against her face.

When she looked back down at him, Maria noticed how intensely he was staring at her. She must have looked a state, with her hair falling in tendrils, his blood across her face, and trails of red cascading down her body. To a normal person, she probably would have looked terrifying. If Eric's expression was anything to go by, he liked it.

One of his hands glided up her body. It groped everything it touched until he wrapped it around her throat. Eric tensed his grip just enough to pull had back down and promptly kissed her.

Maria had lost count of how many times the two of them had slept together until that point, but it was a fair amount, which meant reaching a climax never took long. Eric knew how to touch her, Maria knew how to touch him, and as a result, the bayou was filled with the sound of the storm and Maria's cries in a few short minutes.

Present:

Maria stared into nothingness as she rubbed lotion into her hands. After scrubbing them clean, ensuring she had absolutely none of his blood beneath her fingertips, her hands felt dry. She'd taken many baths and showers with boiling hot water in recent days, it seemed, so of course her skin was dry.

While she stared out into the distance, Maria couldn't help but think back. The fights she and Eric had had never been normal in the first place, but after they passed that line, every fight ended in sex. Perhaps that was why the little skirmish that happened a short time ago left her so flustered.

Eric was a powerful man, but he let her take control. He relented to the woman he was once so sure to tell she was beneath him, and she knew why. Maria was well aware that he liked her being the dominant one in their little "relationship". She couldn't say why, perhaps it was simply because he was so powerful, but Maria had wondered for some time if Eric was the sort of man who secretly craved that sort of woman.

Who else would be able to put up with his attitude? It would take someone of a certain disposition. That being said, Maria was fairly certain it wasn't her. She'd kill him eventually. The desire was there quite often as it was.

Shaking her head back into reality, Maria did was she could to try and ignore the intense longing she felt for the vampire on the other end of the palace.