"It's strikingly dark outside."
"Yeah, well it is nighttime, Eric," she reminded him.
"Yes, but usually it does not look so...ominous to me."
She shifted her hands on the steering wheel and glanced over at him. "Are you afraid?"
"No!" His voice was sharp. "I am just not accustomed to these human handicaps anymore."
"Okay well in that case I just want to remind you that humans can't fly so don't forget that and try to jump off a building or something."
"I thank you for your concern," he said dryly.
They arrived at her house and walked up the porch steps. Sookie unlocked the door and walked in, switching on the light as she went. As she went through the processes of putting her keys away, kicking off her shoes, and checking her phone for any messages, she continued to talk to Eric.
"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty tired after all this excitement so if you want we can just head to bed. Or, I mean, you can stay up if you want. What do you-" She looked up and blinked. "Eric?" She peered around the door to see him still standing on the porch, looking into the darkened forest around her house. "Eric?" She said again. He turned around.
"You rescinded my invitation, remember?" Sookie felt a wave of empathy wash over her.
"Eric," she stepped onto the porch and put her hand on his arm. "You're human now. You don't need an invitation."
Eric's expression was unreadable. After a moment he walked into the house with no problem. He stood silent and still in her kitchen with his back to her for a minute. Slowly he turned around.
"Well, that's certainly a convenience." There was a smile on his face, but it looked a little strained. Sookie regarded him uncertainly. His face had a healthy glow to it she wasn't used to seeing and he was beginning to get some stubble on his chin.
"You look different as a human," she said slowly. He lowered his gaze and then looked back at her and his eyes were such a bright blue that she had trouble looking away.
"Well, anyway," she stammered. "I was just wondering if you were tired or if you wanted to stay up or something."
"No, sleep seems appropriate. I am finding that my human body feels very..."
"Exhausted?" Sookie supplied.
"Yes," Eric smiled at her mischievously. "Now where do you want me, Sookie?" He took a step toward her and Sookie swallowed thickly. It suddenly occurred to her that she was in the house with a man who, on numerous occasions, had made it clear he wanted to sleep with her. A man, if she were honest with herself, whom she had fantasized about sleeping with many times.
She spun on her heel and began walking through the house. After a moment, she could sense him following her.
"Where are you taking me, Sookie?"
She stopped outside her spare room and gestured inside. "Here you go, Eric. You can sleep in here. The bathroom's right down there." She pointed then marched over to the closet. She shoved a few extra blankets into Eric's arms. He stared at her with a passive expression on his face, but she caught a flicker of uncertainty so unheard of for Eric that she lost some of her self-righteous steam. She took a breath.
"Are you okay?"
He looked down at the blankets in his hands. "I'm fine."
"I mean, you must feel, I don't know, so overwhelmed with all this. Do you want to talk about it or something?"
"It has happened. Pam will track down the witch and we will settle this and everything will go back to normal. Until then I simply have to keep myself safe."
"But how do you feel, Eric?"
He tilted his head. "Feelings do not matter in this. It is what it is. I would prefer it was not so, but it is and I must deal with it." He smiled at her. "Although if you wish to be a gracious hostess you could keep me company tonight so I don't get lonely."
She snorted and rested her back against the wall. "I cannot believe I agreed to have you here in my house."
Eric's brow furrowed. "Why? We're friends."
"We are not friends! Eric, the only time I spend with you revolves around vampires and werewolves and me almost dying."
"Well that's not my fault, Sookie and anyway we have fun."
"Fun? Every time I let myself get wrapped up with your crap I wind up getting hurt."
"You work for me sometimes and-"
"You use me and never give any thought to what might happen to me."
"That is not true, Sookie. I have done my best to protect you. Sometimes in my world it is difficult to-"
"It's not your world anymore, Eric." She heard the smugness in her voice and although she knew she was being unfair she couldn't help but feel put out and angry even if she silently acknowledged that some of the rage she was directing at him might be misplaced. "You're a lowly human now."
He regarded her seriously. "I hardly think a few days under a spell qualify me as a human after over a thousand years as vampire."
"It must be hard since you despise humans so much."
"I do not hate humans, Sookie. I am bored by most of them, yes. But some of them," he gave her body an appreciative look. "Some of them I like very much."
Although she tried to steel her nerves, an irrepressible thrill shot through her body. She ran a hand over her tired face. "Maybe we're in over our heads here, Eric."
"Don't worry. No one will think to look here for me. You will not be hurt." She had been concerned about a different kind of danger, one that involved her will-power and an attractive and currently warm-blooded man under her roof. She had temporarily forgotten about the danger of death. Her feelings of lust were quickly overtaken by those of fear and apprehension.
"Maybe we should get more help. Bill could watch the house or something."
Eric gave her a look. "Since Mr. Compton attempted to end me when I was vampire, you'll forgive me if I don't trust him with my much more fragile human life."
"I...I'm sorry, Eric. I still don't understand why he did that." Once again the intensity of his stare made her look away.
"I have a few theories," he murmured.
"Couldn't you just have Pam turn you again?"
"I could, but then I would have a new master and I would lose all the power and abilities I have earned over the last thousand years. It would not work to my advantage. Besides, I am uncertain what would happen if my progeny turned me and I then became her progeny. It's a bit too incestuous."
"Okay, well," Sookie was fresh out of ideas and she clasped her hands together. "I guess it's off to bed then. Like I said: bathroom," she motioned again. "And if you need anything I'll be right here."
She gave him a final once-over to make sure he had everything he might require during the night. As he stood there with flushed cheeks, mused hair, and a stack of her grandmother's homemade quilts she couldn't help by snicker.
"Boy, Eric you would have been the last person in the world I would ever think I'd be roommates with."
"Why?" He smiled a little at the mirth in her voice.
"Because I've hated you from the moment I first laid eyes on you." She regretted it as soon as she said it, simply because it sounded so harsh, but it was the truth.
Eric's face betrayed no emotion as he digested this information. "Well," he offered. "I have always liked you."
"Eric..." Sookie trailed off when she realized she didn't know what to say.
He silently walked into his room then turned back to face her. He peered at her from behind the mountain of blankets in his hands. "Perhaps you should take the time to get to know someone before you decide to hate him. Goodnight, Sookie." He shut the door quietly behind him.
It was the click of the door that woke her up. It sounded like the noise of someone trying not to make a noise. She rolled onto her back and listened for a long moment. Nothing. Could someone have broken in to try to hurt Eric? She slid out from under her covers and slunk over to her door. She opened it a crack and looked out. The house was still. Weighing her options uncertainly, she grabbed a flashlight and stepped into the hallway.
As quietly as possible, she tiptoed to Eric's room and swung the door open. His bed was empty but the rumple of the sheets indicated it had been used.
"Eric?" She called out in an exaggerated whisper. "Eric!"
When he didn't answer, she headed to the door she had heard open. Taking a breath, she opened it and stepped outside. The sky had that pre-sunrise haze that paints it as the first rays brush against its canvas. She squinted into her still darkened backyard until she spotted him a few yards away with his back to her.
"Eric!" She hissed. No reaction, of course. She sighed and shuffled toward him. The dew on the grass chilled her bare feet. When she reached his side she realized he was shoeless as well. She shivered dramatically.
"Eric. What are you doing? I'm supposed to be protecting you here and how am I going to do that if you're wandering outside at all hours of the night? You're in danger here, and so am I by extension, so you need to be more careful! You may not remember this but vampires and other nasty creatures can harm you outside."
She realized he hadn't heard a word she'd said. He was simply standing with his head tilted to the sky and his eyes fixed on some invisible point.
"What are you looking at anyway?"
"The sun." As if it had heard him, the glowing orb began its slow ascent into view, banishing the darkness from the sky for another day. Eric's arms slowly raised and it looked like he was absorbing every fraction of light he possibly could. The sky shifted into pink and orange and blue and Eric never blinked. They stood that way in silence for a long time. Finally, Eric forced his eyes away from the first sunrise he had seen in one thousand years to look at her in wonder.
"It's the sun, Sookie."
"I know," she said quietly and he turned back to his phenomenon. As the air began to warm up, he closed his eyes and reveled in the feeling. Sookie wrapped her arms around herself and watched him.
They stayed outside until the sun had completely risen and the night fully transformed into day, complete with chirping birds and a lit backyard. When Eric spoke, after hardly moving for so long Sookie had questioned his humanity, his voice was husky.
"I know it must seem odd to you that I reacted this way having just seen the sun a few weeks ago with Russell, but this is different. It's just so,"
"It doesn't seem odd," Sookie interrupted gently. "Not at all." She was tempted to touch him, to reassure herself that this tender moment really involved Eric Northman. She lifted her hand behind him to rest on his back. It wavered there uncertainly for a moment then she dropped it without contact and they stood side by side in the morning light.