Pressure pushing down on me

Pressing down on you, no man ask for - Queen

Sookie POV

No one has been happy the last few nights, and this one doesn't look like it's going to be the one that breaks the mold on the pattern we seem to have fallen into. It does seem like we've had some storm clouds following us around in this past week. If I am being honest though, it's been more like a few months. We have certainly have some rays of sun breaking through those clouds, my relationship with my little family especially Eric being one of them. I can't help but think of the earlier ray of sun the two of us managed to find when he rose this evening. Just thinking about makes me smile and makes me tremble as ghost feelings dance across my skin. I feel cool lips pressed to my neck as the sensations work their way down my body.

"I wish we had more time," the lips say as they kiss a path up my neck to my jaw.

I sigh and tell him, "Something tells me there would never be enough time for you." I feel his lips smile against my skin before they pull away.

"Is that a complaint?" He asks with the smile still on his lips as I look at him.

"Not at all," I tell him, as I lean back against the couch. We are currently in my house in Bon Temps, having decided to meet Claude and Claudine here, on more neutral ground. This was according to Claude. I didn't exactly consider it neutral with my thoughts that it is now Eric's home too, as he has made one of his houses home to me but I am not going to complain about the choice in venue. It's not the club Claude owns or Fangtasia so I guess it is as neutral as it can be.

"You don't have to be here," I tell him again, for what feels like the millionth time tonight. I also know that for the millionth time he will tell me that he is not leaving me. As much as his instincts are telling him to ensure Karin's safety, they are also telling him to ensure mine.

And I hate the fact that I am contributing to him feeling so useless, even though he would never admit that I was.

See, Karin should have been here tonight. If all had gone well with the plans that Eric had set up for her four nights ago, tonight would have been the night that Karin arrived in Shreveport, all safe and sound. But she will not be arriving here in Shreveport tonight. As a matter of fact, she hasn't even had the opportunity to leave her country yet; the plane had engine trouble and was not able to take off.

The jury is still out on whether that was just a bad luck coincidence or if the plane was sabotaged so she couldn't leave. All the things that happened afterward were definitely more than coincidental, so we were all leaning towards sabotaged but with how things were going for us lately, bad luck wasn't ruled out either.

Ezekiel had met his final death quite suddenly. He did not go to rest with Karin after the plane didn't take off. Instead the two went to ground separately close to the airport hoping they could leave quickly come nightfall, however Karin was the only one that rose after sunset. And the plane had much more than an engine issue when night fell again. Or I guess it was still an engine issue actually. The engine wasn't simply malfunctioning anymore; it was gone completely, a huge hole where it should have been.

Needless to say, Karin's plane was indefinitely delayed. She hasn't been able to leave since. The one piece of good news is that she hasn't seen an Appius look-a-like again. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean no one is following and keeping track of her. The new plan is to have another plane fly in and land with Karin jumping on it as soon as it is safe to before the plane takes off again. The plane would be on the ground for mere minutes however, as the evidence grows that Karin is being followed it puts her at great risk. We have no idea how desperate Appius would be to keep her there.

Just as I thought he would, Eric tells me he would not be anyplace but with me right now. "Pam can handle things for a few hours." I don't say anything to that; there is no point. Pam can handle things but that doesn't mean that I don't know that Eric wishes he could be there and be getting the latest updates.

And I love him even more for being here with me instead, especially since my cousins are late.

"We'll give them ten more minutes," I tell Eric kissing his nose. "If they aren't here by then, we'll head back to Fangtasia and try to figure things out."

"If we leave in ten minutes, we will run into them on the way out," Eric tells me with a bit of a smirk on his face. Seeing the unasked question on my face he explains, "They have been here for the last fifteen minutes. They are arguing outside about coming in. Claudine is nervous but can understand that I will not hurt you so in turn will not hurt them unless necessary. Claude does not agree and believes I will kill them indiscriminately for simply being Fae."

Well, Claudine sounds quite reasonable. Claude not so much. I'm not sure how much of that I can deal with. But Eric and I are here and they are keeping us from trying to figure out how to get Karin here safely so I am done waiting for them. I get up off the couch, Eric's smile growing as I do so, and make my way over to the door. I throw it open and that causes the two faeries in my yard to stop their bickering and look up at me. I say nothing to them however; I simply leave the door open and make my way back to the living room and sit back down on the couch.

Eric looks at me, barely containing his laughter. "Well, they will either come in now or leave. Either way will get us back to Fangtasia sooner than if I didn't."

He doesn't get a chance to say anything though before I hear, "We'll come in. If we are still welcome," Claudine says stopping at the door looking sheepish. Claude is behind her looking anything but sheepish. Yeah, Claude definitely does not seem like a fan.

"Come in," I tell them, my voice tense and I know Claudine at least picks up on it. I don't know if Claude does but if he did, he sure as hell doesn't show it.

The two of them look at me sitting with Eric on the couch and I can read the disapproval on both of their faces. Claudine is at least attempting to hide it, though she is failing. Seeing the looks on their faces, I grab Eric's hand in mine and bring it into my lap, holding onto it tightly. I am not trying to upset them; I just want to make it clear to them in no uncertain terms that Eric is a part of my life, a very important part. And that he's here to stay.

"Well," I say to them after about a minute goes by and no one says anything. "You're the ones who wanted this meeting," I add hoping that will get them, well Claudine really, talking.

"I wanted to meet you," Claudine says as she takes two steps towards me before looking to Eric and stopping. I roll my eyes at her as she continues to say, "We were due to meet before now."

"Well, the fact that we didn't is not through any fault of mine," I tell her. She looks at Eric as if to say the fault is squarely mine. She then looks back at me before looking at Claude as if looking for help. Claude doesn't seem to want to give any. The female Fae looks down at my words when she sees no help coming from her brother. But at that I see the anger start to brew in Claude. He's angry that his sister is hurting. That is something that I can work with; that's something that I can appreciate.

Even his anger is directed at me for the moment.

"Could you really expect us to come around?" Claude asks with anger in his voice. "You have surrounded yourself with vampires. You have surrounded yourself with our enemies. You have given yourself to someone who would tear out your throat without a second thought," he continues screaming by the end. Claudine immediately tries to step in but that does not do anything to slow down the angry vampire who just stepped away from the wall he was leaning on.

I know I don't have to worry about my throat, but I am hoping Eric doesn't prove Claude right on anything at the moment.

Eric POV

I was content to simply be here and have Sookie talk with her cousins but I will not allow her to be spoken to like that. I push away from the wall as Claude finishes his tirade. He can think what he wants but he will not yell at Sookie, especially not in her own house in which he is a guest. And he will also not tell her that I will rip out her throat. I would never do anything to hurt her and that is a message I need to make loud and clear to them, if for no other reason than it may allow Sookie to be able to have more family. So I slowly push away from the wall, but I have Claude backed up into the opposite one with my fangs at his neck before anyone in the room can blink.

I hear Claudine's sharp gasp behind me but she does nothing to interfere. In a low voice I say to Claude, "Sookie has surrounded herself with vampires who care for her, vampires who love her. We have done more for her in the last few months than you, her family, have done for her in years. You may be right in saying that she has surrounded herself with your enemies but that does not mean we are hers. We protect her from enemies, both yours and ours. We make sure that she is safe." I drop my voice even lower and run my fangs down his neck. "But the one thing you are completely wrong about is that I would tear out her throat. I would sooner see mine torn out than do anything that would hurt her."

I run my fang along his neck one more time, careful not to draw blood and give them a reason to claim a blood offence. I then back away from him, never taking my eyes off of him and make my way back to Sookie. "You liken me to an animal," I say to him. "If I was, I would have torn out your throat without a second thought. You should be thanking whomever it is you thank that I am not an animal, that I have more control than an animal."

Sookie takes a hold of my arm as Claudine rushes over to her brother to make sure he is okay. Once she sees that he is in fact unharmed she hits him. She hits him over the head. Hard.

I think I may like her.

Claudine straightens up and looks at me saying, "I think we can work with that."

Sookie and I look at each other, confused at her words. "What?" Sookie asks looking back at her.

"Sookie, I would love to have a relationship with you, to be true cousins. We are Fae, we are family and that is how it should be." Claude makes a sound like he will interject but the female Fae silences him with a look, which makes me like her even more. "And though your selection of a life mate is not…traditional," she says giving me a weak smile. "I can feel that he cares for you. I can see that he will protect you. I am grateful that he will do so when I cannot. But that just leaves more time for us to be friends," she finishes and I can hear the question in her voice.

I know Fae are tricky creatures but I am sensing nothing but honesty from Claudine. Nothing about her composure changes as she is speaking, which would suggest that she is lying. Her scent also suggests she is telling the truth. Sookie looks to me at her cousin's words but I motion to her, letting her know that the decision is hers from here. I will support it if she says no and walks out of here never again thinking of her relatives. I will also support her if she wants a relationship with them; well, with Claudine at least.

But I hope she will agree with not meeting her alone until we are sure we can trust her and what she brings. Though I do not believe Claudine will intentionally hurt her cousin, a lot can be done unintentionally, even if your goal is to be sure you do not hurt the person, the people, you care for.

And that is something I know all too well.

Sookie nods at her cousin and explains that she would be willing to meet with her again but with me or another member of her family present. "If you all want to be a part of my life," she says motioning at us around the room. "Y'all are going to have to figure out how to get along. Do you think you can manage that?"

She gets a yes from me, a nod from Claudine, and a grunt from Claude. I am not entirely sure he will be meeting her again.

"Well then, I think I can manage meeting with you again Claudine," she says, emphasizing the female Fae's name. "I would like a chance to better get to know you."

Claudine makes a high-pitched sound that I am coming to understand females of most species will make when they are happy. She glances at me before slowly taking a step towards Sookie. I take a step back making an attempt to make her feel more comfortable approaching her cousin. I am sure to stay within an arms reach of Sookie, just in case my instincts that are telling me Claudine can be trusted are wrong. She does nothing but give Sookie a quick hug though before backing off looking at me warily.

That is something that we can work on.

They try to make arrangements to meet again but unfortunately with everything up in the air, nothing can be decided on tonight. The Fae take their leave, with Claudine showing her trust by turning her back to me on her way out. Claude does not.

Sookie goes upstairs to grab something she wanted as I go around and make sure everything is locked up. It looks like Jason has been taking good care of this house for his sister. As she makes her way back downstairs, I take the bundle from her as she starts out the door, locking it behind us after I walk out.

I am not quite sure how to take meeting Claude and Claudine. I am just happy it went as well as it did. It could have been a lot worse. Sookie is demanding an answer or at the very least my input as she asks, "Well?" as I get her into the car. I walk at human speed to the driver's side to give myself time to gather my thoughts. I have not gotten anything past her though as she says, "That bad?" as I get into the driver's seat. I hate the disheartened look on her face and I will do anything to make it disappear.

"No," I tell her, taking her hand in mind. "Not bad at all. In fact, it went better than I had thought it would." Well, that much was true but there is no need to tell her I was worried this was a ploy to get us alone so she could be kidnapped from me so almost anything would have been better than that. That she does not need to know.

"Claudine seems to genuinely care for you, for family."

"But," she says, as if daring me to say something against her Fae relation.

"But nothing," I tell her squeezing her hand. "Family is important to the Fae. It makes sense that she would want to know you, especially given her role in your life."

"Family is important to me too. If she wants a relationship with me, she needs to be prepared for everyone that includes."

"She seems to be," I say honestly. "She is willing to meet you with me present again."

"And you would be alright with that?" she asks and I can hear the hesitance in her voice and I can feel it in our bond.

"I would never tell you that you could not do something." She narrows her eyes at me and I quickly amend my words. "Unless it was necessary for your safety, I would never tell you that you could not do something."

"And you don't think I would be unsafe if I continued to see Claudine?"

Part of me wants to say that yes, I do think it would be unsafe for her to have a relationship with her faery cousin. That same part of me that Pam calls the Neanderthal wants to take Sookie somewhere far and away from everyone else and keep her all to myself. But I know that I cannot do that. I know that to do so would take a piece of her away that I could never get back. Sookie needs to be surrounded by those she loves and those she feels loved by.

Plus, Pam might kill me for taking away her shopping partner. Thalia is not a shopper, and that would be putting it lightly.

So I give Sookie a smile and tell her honestly that I do not think Claudine will intentionally put her in danger. "And Claude?" she asks but I can tell she feels the same way about him as I do.

"I think it would be best if you did not meet with Claude without me for the foreseeable future," I tell her. This is for her safety.

She nods before settling back into her seat and I know she wants to be left alone with her thoughts about the evening. She turns to me as I start the car though and says, "I love you so much, Eric," while never letting go of my hand. "Thank-you for meeting my family with me and being willing to compromise to make it safe for me to see them."

"Thank you for being willing to compromise and to allow me to come with you when you see them." I am not going to lie. It would not be too long ago that I would have simply said that I would not allow Sookie to see her cousins, like I would actually have to allow her to do anything. I also know that Sookie would not react well to that and similar to me, a few months ago she would have simply met with them, not willing to listen to my concerns.

Maybe we are growing up.

I let Sookie settle into her thoughts but that also allows me to settle into mine, which are inevitably drawn to Karin. As much as I do not like that anyone is targeting my child, I almost hope it is Appius doing so. At least that would then mean we do not have yet another enemy after us. And better the enemy we know rather than an unknown enemy.

I probe the bond I share with my maker, making sure his location has not changed. He is probably enjoying the brief bouts of anger, frustration, and fright that I am sure are getting through the shields I try to keep up to keep us separate. I am hesitant to close off the bond I feel with Appius completely. Knowing my maker, he has delighted feeling these emotions in me, even if he is not the one who has been sending the look-a-likes, even if it is not him doing his damn best to keep Karin separate from me. The chance of him not being the responsible one is barely existent at this point though as the evidence is stacking against him. I only need to figure out why he is doing this, what he hopes to get out of all of this. That will give me a better idea of how to stop him.

And I am trying to wrap my head around the idea that when I stop him, it will need to be for good.

We make it to Fangtasia and enter through the back of the club and head straight to my office. Once there, I kiss Sookie as she sits on the couch and move over to my desk, starting to move through the paperwork on it. No sooner as I pick up the first piece of paper, my door opens revealing Pam and Thalia who come in and sit with Sookie on the couch. The three start to talk quietly as I focus on my work. Or I should say try and focus on my work as my thoughts cannot help but go to my other child who should be here with us too.

In anger and in fright, I throw my handful of papers across the room unable to deal with them right now. Pam, Thalia, and Sookie all look in my direction at the noise. Sookie is quickly by my side ready to give me whatever comfort I will accept from her. And though part of me is still used to handling things myself, the bigger part of me wants to accept the love and assurance that Sookie offers. So that is what I do. I am quickly in her arms as soon as she opens them for me.

"It will be okay, Eric," she tells me both her voice and our bond telling me that she believes the words that she is saying. I am just hoping that she is right.

A knock on my door has us backing up from each other. I call out, "Come in," knowing that it is Felicia and knowing that she is alone.

"Eric, there is someone here to see you," she tells me.

"I am busy. Tell whomever it is to come another night and do not come unannounced again," I tell her my voice firm.

"Eric," her voice calls out hesitantly, which makes me pause from starting to pick up the papers I threw. Usually, I am not questioned when I give orders. The fact that I am this time tells me I am not going to like what this visitor brings.

And taking in Felicia's face, I doubt that I am going to like the visitor either.

I can see on Felicia's face that she is torn between showing me respect as her Sheriff and leader and having me see the visitor. I can tell on her face she believes there will be more trouble if I do not meet with whoever it is. More trouble is not what I want, is not what we need. We have plenty of it to go around at the moment.

I search my brain for anyone who would want a meeting with me and would affect Felicia like this. I have too many options, far too many and few of them good. I strongly regret not having Sookie leave my office as I hear the footsteps coming down the hall telling me it is too late for her to do so now. I should have sent all three of them out of here while I met with the visitor. I internally hit my head as I push Sookie gently away from me and onto the couch with Pam and Thalia. Though I feel guilt for doing so, the look on Sookie's face tells me she understands. She will play the obedient human until we know what we are dealing with.

I hate that she has to do so in my world.

But I am glad she understands it all the same. Because after Felicia walks back into my office wearing the same timid expression she was earlier, Victor Madden walks in after her.

Hello there dear readers. I hope that you have had a good week and that you have enjoyed this new chapter. So we now have a few more complications this little family will have to deal with. Let's keep our fingers crossed shall we ;)

Thanks for giving this story a read and a special thanks for those taking the time to review. I appreciate the comments and feeback

I wish everyone who celebrates a Happy Thanksgiving. Have a happy, happy turkey day!