Charlaine Harris owns the characters I write with. Please don't sue!!

Thank you guys so much for all your great reviews! I hope everyone had a great new year!

Chapter 5

It had been just over a year since I last slept with a vampire. I have only technically slept with two but sans memory Eric I felt was different than the Eric from last night. I forgot what a strange sensation it was to wake up in bed completely alone after a full night of mind-blowing sex. In movies and books you always hear about waking up in your lovers arms cuddling with horrible morning breath kisses but when your lover is a vampire you get the whole bed to yourself and wake up alone. It's a stranger sensation when you think about how your vampire lover is usually either dead in the dirt out in your yard or under the floor somewhere in your house. In my case, over at my vampire-ex-boyfriend who was kicked out's house right next-door

Oh my God I had sex with Eric again.

I panicked for a moment at the thought of what this will all mean but then had the biggest smile of my life and giggled to myself remembering last night. The sex was amazing. I can't say that I was surprised that it happened. The sexual tension between Eric and I had been ever present since I told him that we had sex when he had amnesia from the witch's curse. Well, it's been there since the first time we met, but it became a lot more apparent since the night I told him everything. Since we swapped blood the last time we could barely keep our hands to ourselves in each other's presence. Now my once upon a time lover was my once again lover, but now he was something more that that. Now he was my so-called bonded husband. Ha! I guess we consummated the marriage. I said to myself, but I wasn't really laughing.

I was thinking about the talk I had at Merlotte's with Sam yesterday after he kissed me. "There's no future for you with Eric or any of the vampires! Can't you see that? You are only going to live what, a hundred years if you're lucky…" People said the same things to me when I started dating Bill what felt like a million years ago, but back then I was new to dating and relationships and I was just enjoying myself. Being around somebody that I couldn't 'hear' was so nice and exciting I didn't care what other people thought. A lot has changed since then in regards to my relationship with Bill and all the other men in my life, but as of a few months ago I was permanently bonded with Eric. The only way to break the bond was for one of us to die and Eric has told me plenty of times that if there were ever a choice, he would choose himself. We didn't talk about the future last night other than Eric telling me that he would always be there for me in every way. I knew he meant it and I know he will keep his word.

So now came up the topic of my ultimate mortality. As I got into the hot shower I knew that now I really need to take the time to question what kind of future I would have if Eric and I became a couple. This thought process was making my head hurt because Eric and I has such a strange tale of how we came to the point where we were today. All of my memories of how Eric acted at the thought of myself being "his" were involving Eric having no idea who he was. If he nearly killed a Were at Merlotte's because she insulted me, how was he going to act as his full memory self? Eric has always been possessive of me, but who really knew how far his possessiveness went. And what about logistics? Another word from the word-of-the-day calendar, thank you very much. He is in Shreveport at Fangtasia nearly every waking moment in his life (or death). I didn't want to hang out in a vampire bar every night hearing every fangbanger talk about how much they want to screw a vampire, Eric in particular or have one bite them. What would he do about Bill and Sam? Was he going to make Bill move away from Bon Temps so he wouldn't ever interrupt us? I didn't want that guilt on my mind. And Sam! Sam kissed me yesterday! Eric promised to not kill Sam last night when he glossed over that last question. I was so thankful that he did that and then didn't ask me later why he would want to kill Sam and just went into another topic. I wonder if last night would have gone the same way if he hadn't. Sam is the one who kissed me and I broke it off almost immediately. If Eric found out he would have no ground to stand on because it happened before he came over.

As I was getting dressed I thought about how Eric bit my inner thigh and one side of my breast when we made love last night so I didn't have to worry about hiding bite marks at work. That was a relief and I remembered last year Eric never bit me in a public place. Bill tended to bite my neck so I would always have to get creative with necklaces and different types of collars.

When I went in my kitchen to make some coffee before I left for work, I noticed a folded note left on the kitchen counter set up against my coffeepot.

You are an amazing woman.

-E

I don't know how he does it but Eric has always had the ability since I first met him to just utterly make my heart melt if he put his mind to it. He took the time last night before he left to get my coffeepot ready for me. All I needed to do was press the button to get it started. It was something so small but so heartwarming at the same time. He has always done those sorts of things for me that may seem strange or insignificant to some but to me they were exactly what I wanted or needed. That one sentence in his note tells me more than a dozen roses would and he knows that. Maybe being his bonded isn't such a bad thing.

After getting my coffee poured in my to-go cup I kissed Eric's note and put it in my bedroom then left for work. Amelia should be coming home today sometime while I was at there. I was happy she was coming back home, I've gotten used to her being my roommate and my house gets awfully lonely at night by myself. I wasn't sure if I should fill in Amelia completely on the events of my weekend. I guess I'll just see how it goes.

"G'morning Sookie." Sam said looking up from his desk when I walked into his office just a little early to my 10:30am shift.

"Morning Sam, How are ya?"

"I'm alright, I'm just going over payroll, so how did things go with Eric last night."

I knew he would ask about it and I prepped myself on the drive to work on what I would say when he did.

"It was actually pretty good, Eric is going to be taking an extra effort into when and who wants to contact me. He really does care and wants to keep me safe." I figured that was ambiguous enough and didn't out and out say 'We had sex.'

Sam furrowed his brows trying to think about what could happened between us, but decided against asking any more details. He looked off to the side for a second then turned to me; "Sookie… Listen, I'm sorry about—"

"Sam it's okay I promise." I cut him off before he could finish. "Maybe the next time you try to kiss me you should ask me first." I gave him a small smile that was kind but also showed that I was serious. I couldn't imagine kissing Sam again after the night I had with Eric but I didn't want to hurt his feelings and tell him so.

"I'll try to keep that in mind." He looked back down at his work and I took the opportunity to walk out and start my shift.

My day went by surprisingly fast. Usually when I was looking forward to getting off of work the day tended to drag and last forever, but everyone was polite and everything was pretty easy-going. Even Andy Bellefleur was in a good mood. I guess things had been going well in newlywed-land with his new bride. He was only thinking of getting home to her and wrapping his arms around her. It was a sweet side of the detective's mind that I didn't see too often. Usually around me he would think mean thoughts about my brother or the vampires and sometimes myself but he tonight he didn't and he even left me a little more than 20% for a tip.

"He must be in a good mood." Terry said from behind the bar seeing the tip money Andy left me.

"Maybe he's making up for all the times he never left me one." There were plenty of those to make up for.

"Yeah maybe. Karma's a bitch ya know." Terry said gruffly.

"That's what I've heard." I have definitely had my fair share of Karma, good and bad. And quite a few people I know have been on the bad side of it.

I grabbed my coat and purse from Sam's office and said short goodbyes to everyone before heading out the door. I made my goodbye to Sam extra short. I didn't want to make the situation any more uncomfortable than necessary. I like Sam a lot as a person and a boss, but right now anything more than that would be not so good and extremely complicated. For him and for me.

There was just a little sunlight out when I was on my way home. Eric, because of his age was probably stirring out of his daytime slumber but most likely not up yet. He said he was staying at Bill's but I didn't see his car when I drove past his driveway on my way to my own. Maybe he flew?

I did see Amelia's car when I pulled up and when she heard my car door she greeted me at the front porch with a hug.

"Oh I missed you Sookie! This weekend was rough!"

"I missed you too, I'm glad you're home. How was everything?"

"Well my dad spent the entire weekend treating me like some kind of trophy to show off to the Howard's. They own a few commercial buildings down there even though they don't live in New Orleans and they need them to be renovated and my dad wants the business so he spent the entire time wining and dining them. It was way too boring for me. And I missed Tray. Have you seen him?" When you get Amelia talking, it takes a lot to slow her down.

"Yeah he came into the bar yesterday for lunch. Didn't say much though, we were pretty busy." She and Tray were getting pretty serious and I didn't need to be telepathic to tell.

"Well I hope he missed me too." She said cheerfully. We sat down at the couch. "So how was your weekend? Were you able to get a hold of Pam on Saturday?"

Saturday seemed so long ago.

"Yeah, she just wanted to ask me a few questions about something at the bar, no biggie. Um… Eric will be here soon." I didn't want to tell her everything just then, it would take awhile and Eric would be here any minute. He was right. Bill's house was less than a half-mile from mine and just a few minutes before I got a sudden spark of happiness and an acute awareness of his presence. I noticed the sun was fully set so he would be making his way over shortly.

"Oh really now." Amelia said wagging her eyebrows. "I take it you two 'discussed' your issues." She said making air quotes around discussed. Well I'll be damned if Amelia and Pam didn't have more in common than I thought. I let out a small chuckle about to answer when Eric did it for me.

"You could say that. Good evening Sookie." He stood behind the couch behind me placing his hands on my shoulders and kissing the top of my head. I reached up to take one of his hands. "Hello Amelia. Make any new feline companions while you were away?" He said jokingly

"Ha ha…very funny. And no I didn't. I won't be trying anything like that for a long, long time." She smiled at me and gave an annoyed look towards Eric. "Well I'm assuming that you two want to talk some more and I want to go see Tray. I don't know if I'll be back tonight so don't wait up!" She was so excited about seeing him she didn't care about Eric's teasing jab anymore.

Eric waited until he heard Amelia's car reach the end of the driveway before pouncing on top of me on the couch.

"I can not believe you are all mine again Sookie, I haven't much time before I need to go back to Shreveport, and I don't want to waste any of it." He said peeling his clothes and mine off at the same time. His lips found mine and his hands found and explored every inch of my body. "I don't want you to waste any either" I said back between kisses. There were a few things that I did want to talk to Eric about but being this close to him, touching his skin, smelling his scent, feeling his desire for me through the bond the only thing that I wanted was Eric inside of me. To feel the same amazing closeness that we felt last night. To feel as though the whole world disappeared.

He started out slow taking time to caress my body and get in plenty of kissing on my neck, chest and stomach. Drawing blood from my nipple like he did in the past I felt his fingers massage me from the inside and I let out almost like a whimper of desire. He replaced his fingers with himself and I was suddenly riding the biggest wave of pleasure I've ever experienced. He shouted in another language and groaned when he came, he had somehow timed it perfectly to my own and we were wrapped in each other's bodies on the floor completely relaxed in front of the fireplace pulsating with contentment. Some how in the heat of the moment we migrated there from the couch. I don't know how long it all lasted but it was amazing. "I could get used to this," I said after catching my breath. "So could I." Eric said soft as a whisper almost as if he didn't want me to hear while running his hands down the curves on my side. I thought I felt a tinge of nervousness but it was gone before I could fully register it.

"Do you really need to leave soon?" I asked. He was lying behind me on his side holding me close. Think big spoon.

"I do. If you like you can come with me. It is always a pleasure having you at the bar. And maybe tonight I could have you there in more ways than one." He said nibbling on my ear.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I could stand hearing all those people's thoughts about wanting to have sex with you right after we have here."

"Those people just want me because I am a vampire. They don't care who I am or who any of us are. Just that we have fangs. Unfortunately they will always be a part of the bar. They are my biggest source of revenue. We can sit in a booth if you like for the extra privacy." He must have really wanted me to go. I thought for a moment of a reason not to and didn't come up with anything. I didn't have to work tomorrow and Amelia was most likely not coming home tonight so nothing was keeping me here, and truthfully I didn't want to be away from Eric. "Okay why not? I just need to change clothes, I don't think that my uniform would fit in very well there."

"Good, now that I have you here I do not want to be away from you." He kissed the back of my head the helped me sit up. We kissed for a little while longer almost going into another round of passion but I pulled away "You keep that up and we won't be going anywhere." I said standing up. "That was the plan." He said with a grin watching me go to my bedroom to change clothes.

I chose a pair of tight jeans with black dress boots to go with one of my favorite red sweaters. It was dressy enough to be eye pleasing but considered underdressed for what most other people would be wearing. Once I went to the kitchen to grab my purse and bag and turned off all the lights we were ready to go.

"Where is your car?" I asked remembering not seeing it at Bill's.

"I didn't come here in it, we will have to take yours so you can go home tomorrow." He said that to me making it perfectly clear that he was not happy about it.

"I like my car just fine even if you don't."

"At least it's a small step up from the old one. That thing was a monstrosity."

"Well I'm sorry Eric, not everyone has the ability to have a shiny red Corvette." I didn't want to bicker with him, but he always complains about my car and I was sick of it.

"If you want a new car, all you have to do is ask. I would be happy to help you."

"That's the thing though, I don't want you to help me because I don't want a new car. Why do I need one? Just to please you? This car works perfectly well for me so please just drop it." I wanted this conversation to be over.

"Fine."

"Fine." I can't believe we were having a 'Fine' standoff. Little did Eric know that I had an older brother who would find every way to tease and taunt me and these types of standoffs were a daily occurrence for a few years. I could play this game, and I can play it well.

Eric could too. I found out. We ended up not talking for the entire drive. After about 20 minutes and a few side-glances at each other I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at him and that made him let out a small chuckle causing me to break a smile but neither of us said a word.

Once we pulled into the back of Fangtasia Eric broke the silence. " I have some work to do in my office at first so you can help yourself to the bar. I need to make some phone calls and you will be too distracting alone in my office behind closed doors. I will meet you out there once I am finished."

"Sounds like a plan." He came around the car to open my door and walk me inside. He kissed me lightly on the lips and said, "See you shortly." Before walking to his office and I walked out into the main area of the bar. I looked around scanning for familiar faces and when Pam and my eyes locked she appeared in front of me in seconds.

"So nice to see you here tonight Sookie. Is my master in his office?"

"Yeah, he said he was making phone calls, then he was going to meet me out here. I think I'll go to the bar and get a drink."

Pam nodded at me with a smile saying, "We'll talk later and catch up." and started her way to Eric's office.

I went to the bar and Felicia was acting as bartender tonight.

"What can I get for you tonight Sookie?" She was still weary of me. Every time I saw her I would have to promise her that I didn't want to kill her hoping that she believed me.

"A gin and tonic would be great Felicia, thanks." She poured my drink and handed it to me with a napkin still leery.

I sat at the bar and just people watched for a while. The humans who frequent Fangtasia on a whole were some pretty interesting people. Pathetic yes, but still interesting. I try to put up shields to block the thoughts from every angle but I can't keep them all away.

"I want to fuck a vamp so bad…Scotty said it was amazing…I want to be bitten…where's the big hot blonde vamp who's always here, I want him to bite me…is it rude to buy a vampire a drink… she's here somewhere. Where is Dave at he was supposed to be here by now...Damn that chick is hot I wonder if she'd fuck a human… I want to be one so bad. Why wont they turn me…

I almost forgot why I ever agreed to come here. Everywhere I looked the thoughts were all the same. The woman wanting to become a vampire was just downright sad. The man looking for his friend Dave and someone else was the only one around that didn't have every kind of sex at the front of their mind. After 10 minutes I was already ready to go home. It was hard to be in a bad mood because the thought of Eric in the other room waiting to come out and see me made me want to smile. I thought I would look back to see if the mans friends ever arrived, when I found them in the crowd they were both looking at me in the eyes, completely still.

"Is that her? She looks like the girl in the picture but I can't tell for sure…Adam said he followed her car here…" Dave was trying to look at me discretely and match me up to the picture of me that was given to him by Adam, who was the man that followed me here and had been inside the bar.

"That's her alright…Where is Northman, I didn't think that he would be arriving with her… Its gonna be hard to get her out of here without anyone getting hurt if he's watching...I bet they're fucking…that's just wrong…The Lord will show her the way…"

I was holding my fake smile and light eye contact with them until I heard "The Lord". In a place like this God doesn't come into thought processes much, other than praying to get bitten or have sex, not trying to spread The Word. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. Fellowship. This cannot be good.

"Oh shit! They said she could read minds but I thought that was bullshit. Well this isn't going to be as easy as I thought…"

My head jerked when I saw Eric barrel through the crowd. I knew he could feel my panic immediately. The music stopped and everyone made room. As Eric came closer, Adam took the opportunity when I wasn't looking to get a hold of my arm and twist it to bring me pinned in front of him. Felicia tried to get me out of his reach but the long pure silver knife that Dave held in front of her and an identical one Adam currently had pressed hard into my neck stopped her.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I know its another cliff hanger. I had too. Its just too much fun!

Please Review!!! I love hearing your thoughts!