Wow, those reviews were amazin! Thanks to everybody again! I promise more action in the future.

Chapter6

Sookie pushed Eric off and rushed to the door, combing her hair out with her fingers. Opening it and finding Alcide on her porch.

"Hey Sookie, I swung by Merlotte's hopin' to catch you, but you weren't there..." He stopped looking at an angry Eric behind her. "Northman?" He asked sniffing the air with a questioning look on his face. Eric only stood behind Sookie with an angry glare in his eyes.

"Excuse us for a moment Alcide." Sookie managed to say before grabbing Eric by his arm and pulling him into the living room.

"What are you thinking? Nobody is supposed to know about the state you're in! Pam is so gonna kill me."

"Alcide has shown loyalty in the past, and I trust him as much as a dog can be trusted anyway." He told her. But Sookie knew the score.

"Bullcrap Eric." She said walking past him. "Your jealous of Alcide and you want him to know your here." She watched Eric's jaw drop. Wow she hadn't seen him do that before. "I'm not as stupid as some people think I am Eric." She said rolling her eyes and inviting Alcide inside.

He did not like the way the dog was looking at his Sookie, as if they were in on some private joke that Eric was not. He sat much too close to her, and was attending to her as if they were together in some way. Of course there was the kiss between them to consider. Sookie had said she preferred Eric's kiss to the dogs but Eric still felt threatened. Eric was not used to feeling threatened, especially when women were concerned. Though Alcide knew what had happened only moments ago on the couch in the living room. Eric was sure he sniffed it out with his supe nose, the same as he had sniffed out Eric's humanity within seconds. Eric smiled a smug smile knowing that Alcide knew. He wanted to jump up and proclaim "Sookie might have kissed you first, but she let me use my hand on her, and was one step from oblivion underneath me!" But Eric knew Sookie would not appreciate this.

"You said the witch that did this was Hallow?" Eric nodded.

"You know of her?" Sookie asked.

"Well, yeah she came through Jackson once a year or so back. Dated one of the pack for awhile. Until he decided to break it off." He stopped looking at Sookie and turned towards Eric. "She put a curse on him somethin' awful. Anytime he so much as looked at another girl with any amount of lust he said his eyeballs felt like they were burnin out his sockets." Sookie gasped.

"How awful, just for breaking up with her?"

"Well, the way he chose to do it might have had something to do with it. She caught him cheatin' and Dave didn't apologize, hell he didn't even act sorry. Sort of told her, that he was a wild animal and that she should have expected it. Or somethin like that." Alcide finished rubbing his neck with his hand, and turning back towards Eric. "What did you do to her?"

"I merely refused her advances towards me." Eric stated.

"Are you sure that's all you did? I mean I talked to her a couple of times and she seemed like an alright lady. A bit backward but what witch aint?" Eric was growing bored of this conversation and of the dog. He wanted to get Sookie alone, to finish what they started.

"Whatever happened to Dave?" Sookie asked Alcide.

"He finally found her about a month or so later. He apologized for the way he treated her. She did some kind of witchy chant on him and told him she could feel his heart wasn't being truthful and told him she didn't accept his apology. Boy Dave got angry then went into the change and lunged after her. She killed him, dead on the spot." He finished his eyes widening. Sookie thought over what she had been told about this witch, about Eric refusing his advances when she left.

"Of Course! You led her on Eric." Sookie jumped up pointing at the hulking figure across the room.

"What?"

"Of course, any girl woulda been angry for that Eric. When I was there you were flirting to beat the band." Eric smiled.

"You noticed?" His eyebrow raising.

"Not now Eric." Sookie said rolling her eyes. "Then when I left you stopped. Knowing you, you were probably incredibly rude." Sighing she sat back on the couch.

"She was a witch! And I a vampire, I have no reason to be polite to her. She is beneath me!" Eric yelled back his voice rattling the windows.

"Was beneath you." Sookie said softly. "She made you human, as punishment for treating her as if you were better than her. Took you down a few pegs." A part of Sookie wanted to yelp in triumph. Finally the big lying A hole got some comeuppance. But that was getting to be a significantly smaller part of her these days. She watched Eric's eyes get farther away as he was thinking over what he had said.

"I suppose that was the purpose, but who cares? I don't need the purpose I need the solution."

"Maybe they're one of the same." Sookie's train of thought began. "If you can find her and apologize then she would maybe turn you back!" Sookie leapt back to her feet, very proud of finding a solution.

"No." Eric said evenly.

"No?" Sookie asked deflating. "You refuse to apologize, honestly? What a stubborn, pig headed..." She grumbled.

"No Sookie, did you not hear the rest of the story? She could tell that he did not come to her with a sincere belief that he was in the wrong, and did nothing to reverse her spell. I am not sorry, only angry." He told her putting his chin on his hand. "We will stick to the original plan, kill the bitch." He shrugged his shoulders at the statement as if it was already taken care of.

"Northman, maybe you haven't come to terms with the power you've lost." Alcide told him. "You don't stand a chance against her." Eric felt rage, rage from the bottom of his now beating heart. He leapt to his feet intending to throw the dog across the room, eager to hear the pup yelp. But Alcide was quicker, and much stronger bringing Eric to the ground his palm on his chest. "See." Was all he said but Eric saw the laughter behind his eyes.

"Let me up this instant, you will regret this once I return to being vampire!" He pushed against Alcide's arm, managing to push it away from him. Getting to his feet Eric stormed out of the room and into the kitchen. Alcide laughed but stopped when Sookie pushed him.

"What? He had this coming. This and much, much more." He told her pleading his case.

"I don't care Alcide." Sookie said her arms crossed over her chest. "Nobody knows better than me the kinds of things Eric's capable of." Her mind betrayed her skimming over the part where he locked her in the basement and on to the part where he was making her putty on the couch not so long ago.

"Sookie?" Alcide asked, wondering why she had gone silent.

"Oh, where was I? Oh yeah, that doesn't give you the right to embarrass him. He's going through a lot of different emotions right now. He's used to being the strongest in the room; it's all he's known for one thousand some odd years. Give him a break."

"What's going on with you and him Sookie?" Alcide asked stepping towards Sookie, and putting his hand to her face. "I knew he wanted you, but I didn't think you felt the same way. I thought you were through with all this vampire shit?" He asked her softly moving his mouth towards hers. Sookie was surprised, what would have made her burn with lust only a day or so ago now felt lukewarm. She moved her head and walked to the front door.

"Will you call if you hear anything?" She asked changing the subject. Alcide grabbed his flannel jacket walking onto her porch.

"Yeah Sook, I will." He smiled at her faintly. "I missed my chance didn't I?" He asked sadly. Sookie wasn't sure how to answer that question.

"Goodnight Alcide." She told him smiling a small smile and shutting the door. Sookie walked to the kitchen looking for the sulking Viking. He wasn't there, so he had to have gone out back. She walked out the door and made out the outline of his shape sitting on the ground by the pond. Slipping on her shoes she went to him. She stood beside him, watching the shadows of ripples the moonlight was reflecting off the pond on his features. He looked like a lost boy. So much unlike the Eric she had known.

"I will leave." He told her sadly. She sat beside him crossing her ankles.

"There's no reason we both can't sit out here." She told him looking up at the sky.

"No, you misunderstand. I will leave this town; I will leave your home." He told her slowly.

"Why?" Sookie was confused.

"I am unable to protect you." He ground out, ripping a blade of grass into pieces angrily.

"Eric..." She started putting her hand on his arm.

**Embarrassed myself...Cannot be the protector and provider she needs...Ashamed...What would father think now? She deserves so much better than what I can give her...So perfect.**

Sookie dropped her hand, putting up her shields instantly. That was such a private thought, and such a lovely thought at the same time. She smiled at his downcast face. He had been humiliated enough for one night, no need to add to the pot.

"What?" He asked her as she smiled goofily at him.

"Your just being ridiculous is all." She recovered. "You're still strong, for a human yes but still much stronger than I am."

"Pam could come, she could protect you from all the things I cannot." He answered.

"I couldn't stand spending my nights with Pam; besides what would I do during the day when she was sleeping?" She asked him.

"Are you saying you actually enjoy my company Miss Stackhouse?" Eric asked in fake awe.

She slapped his arm. "I'm not saying that, I'm just saying I prefer your company to Pam's right now." She finished laughing.

"Why is that Sookie?" He asked her, his eyes clouding over with lust. Wow, this man could go from Ashamed to Horny in 1.5 seconds.

"It's not that Eric." Sookie told him seriously. He dropped his leer and looked at her eager at what she was going to say. "I have enjoyed your company. I like watching old 90's vampire sitcoms with you, and cooking for you and watching old movies with you." She began. He moved closer sliding his hand along the small of her back. "Eric stop that, I'm in the middle of something here." She teased him in a scolding voice. He smiled bringing his hand back to his lap. "But Eric, we can't continue this with each other." She watched his face drop. "Of course I find you attractive, I've found you attractive the first time I saw you."

"I knew it." He said softly, in a joking way.

"Yeah, yeah Mr. Humble." She laughed lying down in the grass crossing her arms behind her head. He did the same. "But I also found out how manipulative and cold you can be." She said slowly, trying to choose her words carefully. She turned facing her head towards his. "I'm not the kind of girl you want Eric. I can't be the flavor of the week. Or in your case the hour or the day." She sighed. "I need what you can't give me. And I'm only setting myself up for heartache any other way." His eyebrows scrunched in no understanding. "Eric." Sookie began again. "I will not be with a man sexually that I can't see having a relationship with. And to me a relationship is a monogamous one. Something that you are not capable of, with women throwing themselves at you every night. With personal strippers dancing at your beck and call." She had to look away from those deep eyes before she gave into everything she was denying herself. She turned and looked back towards the stars a defeated smile on her face. "Besides something you told me a week or so ago was very true. It does bother me that the only one doing the dying would be me." She finished, thinking back to Eric's recite of traditional wedding vows that night on the porch after Bill had been taken. Eric laid in the grass looking at Sookie's profile in the night and reveling in how beautiful she was. She had innocence and a fire that called to him. He had stopped wanting to tame her some time ago, now he only wanted to stand beside her flame and let it burn with his. But could he be monogamous? He had never tried before, and he seriously doubted it would be easy. Though he thought he would try for her, for Sookie. But she deserved more than a try. She deserved a promise, and that was not something that Eric could give. Besides when he went back to being vampire the mortality issue still laid in the way. No they were not meant to be, but that did not stop Eric from coveting Sookie with every fiber of his being. His cock ached when his thoughts returned to their time on her sofa not so long ago. How much he wanted to skin that dog!

"I understand Sookie." He said touching her arm with his fingertips lightly. "Though I will not stop trying." He smirked at her, causing Sookie to erupt in giggles. Wait, Sookie had never giggled before. She hated giggly girls. Yet that's what Eric had reduced her too, a giggling girl. He stood from the ground wiping the back of his track pants off and offering his hand to help her up as well. She took hold and he pulled her against him where she could feel his cock harden. He wasn't going to make this easy for her. No way. He released her and began walking up towards her house. "Come, I want to finish this Gone with the Wind. I have spent three hours of my life on it already; I want to know how it ends."

"I'll be there in a minute." She told him turning away and staring back out across the pond. He nodded, walking away. She stood there in the quiet night air thinking about what she had heard Eric think. Should she tell him?

~POP~

Sookie jumped looking behind her to find an old man in a white suit.

"Who the hell are you?" Sookie demanded. When strange old men popped into existence the time for manners was over.