Hey gang!

Someone nicely pointed out that I could reply to each review in PM. Well that's a brilliant idea! Now I must explain myself. Back in the old days of fanfiction, there was no option to reply directly to a review (this is like back in 2002) so we used to reply to people within the chapter just like I was doing. Now I realize how silly I was and I will for now on, reply to you in PM.

A Better Tomorrow

Chapter 15- I hope it doesn't last

Sookie kept her eyes closed when she woke up the next day. She stretched slowly letting the sun caressed her skin and its warmth penetrate its pore. She sighed heavily knowing Eric had long left her to hide from the very thing she was enjoying. After many stretches, she finally opened her eyes as the need to eat was stronger than the need to rest. She looked at her reflection in the cracked mirror of her dresser while combing her hair. She found her lips redder and her skin seemed to have a glow to it she wasn't used to. She was surprised to see herself look so healthy and wondered if Eric's blood had anything to do with it. She knew it could heal almost all human diseases and wounds but what if the person was already healthy? What would happen then? She imagined the community drinking vampire blood on a daily basis to keep them strong and giggled at the idea. That same idea was probably what kept them from telling the community about their blood in the first place.

On her way to the community kitchen she was hit with a couple thoughts from some members she crossed path with. Thoughts about her being with Eric, a stranger, and she even heard someone calling her a ''fang banger''. By the time she reached the entrance door, she was boiling with rage. Alcide was sitting a table and noticed Sookie coming in. She walked by him without acknowledging his presence until he grabbed her arm.

"We must talk. Here have my eggs"

Sookie glared at him but sat anyways; after all Alcide was the community leader. She looked at his eggs for a minute and took a bite without appetite. Today wasn't the day she would let good eggs go to waste.

" I heard you are leaving tonight with the new vamp?"

"Eric, his name is Eric" she mumbled with a mouth full of eggs.

"We need you here Sook'"

She signed rolling her eyes. She felt guilty she was not going to be there for them but somehow she didn't feel as bad as she thought she should and blamed it the fact she never felt like she belonged there in the first place. She did not reply to him but Alcide noticed she looked sad.

"I am not going to stop you from going Sook' but I must warned you against Eric"

She pushed her plate aside and simply stared at him without a word. She was working really hard on keeping her breathing slow and calm.

"Before the plague" he paused as if looking for the right words "It is not the first time I meet Eric"

She got up to wash her plate still listening to Alcide wishing she was somewhere else.

"He killed two members of my pack"

Sookie signed heavily before returning to her chair.

"And I am sure he has killed many others before and after as well… He is a vampire. Do you really think I am naïve enough to think Eric has never killed?" She asked.

"Oh I don't think that Sookie but killing without a cause? Without any sense of boundaries? Vampires don't need to kill to feed and as for Sarah and Myriam, he has killed them in cold blood without any reasons. My pack was on their way to Shreveport when another pack told us about the plague coming."

Sookie felt her heart sink at the words. She could feel her body weak as if her veins were filled with a heavy poison threatening, at any time, to take her mind away. She closed her eyes and tried to brush off the overwhelming feeling of defeat that was taking over her body but in vain. Alcide had just managed to break the dream she had built herself. She felt silly for believing Eric to be a gentleman. She had known all along he was no hero but somehow it had helped her to believe in something, in someone.

And somehow, this was gone in an instant. She felt broken, her mind screaming to be left alone with her memories of how she had portrayed him.

She shook all the thoughts and feelings away for the moment. She didn't understand why she felt so alone at that very second but she was not about to show it to Alcide. Her face became hard and as she looked up at him she said between her teeth

"I don't care, I am still going with him tonight. I want to find my grandmother"

"I won't stop you from looking for her Sookie, but you cannot trust Eric"

Sookie got up from the table again but this time her gestures were abrupt and loud; Alcide could tell she was mad.

"Thank you Alcide for the warning" She turned her back on him and walked away.

As soon as she reached the main street she was hit with thoughts about her and her new vampire friend. Under normal circumstances, she would have just blocked them but after the conversation with Alcide, she was too upset to do so.

She needed some time alone to think, to make sense of her feelings and she was not going to be able to do it while being hit with all these thoughts so she decided to walk to the wall even if she wasn't due for watch. Sometimes she had felt that although the walls were for their protection it was also their prison. Most members of the community avoided it when they were not on duty, which was making it the quietest part of town.

On her way, she had encountered Tara who informed her that Jason and a group of men were out looking for Adele. If Tara had not been in a hurry, she would have noticed her friend's distress but instead she left Sookie with her own thoughts.

When she reached the wall, she grabbed a handful of rocks from the ground, put them in her pocket and climbed up the wall to sit on top of a dresser. While she was lost in her thoughts, she was throwing one rock at a time, at a corpse nearby. It started to walk in her direction until it reached the wall extending its arm to grab her as it mumbled noises that no longer seemed human.

Since Sookie was out of its reach, she kept on throwing rocks at it which didn't seem to bother it at all. As the corpse tried relentlessly to grab her, she wondered why she was so upset by what Alcide had shared with her. She never doubted that Eric had killed before although never really stopped and thought about it. She also knew that he was no Jesus but, she had wished he had morals. That somehow he obeyed a code that fit her Christianity beliefs and she felt silly for it.

But something about Eric was attracting her on many levels and she was having a hard time explaining it. Sure the fact that around vampires she couldn't hear thoughts was relaxing but that wasn't it. And sure Eric was incredibly attractive, more than she wanted to admit, but that wasn't it either. She saw hope in Eric, hope for her kind but also for herself. She felt comfortable around him, she felt she could be herself without being judged. She had spent her life hiding the truth from others, plague or not, she was never capable of being Sookie yet, since he had laid eyes on her, she had felt more understood, more wanted than ever before. She knew it was risky but wasn't life a risk itself?

When the sun came down, Sookie had run out of rocks to throw at the corpse still reaching at her ankles. She was surprised she had managed to spent the day there and decided it was time to go change to be ready to meet a vampire queen.

She shivered at the thought mainly because she did not know much about the vampire world but she trusted Eric almost naively. Call her suicidal, it felt right to her. She was also hoping the queen would have information on her grandmother. She managed to take a giant rock and to throw it at the corpse head which exploded in a pool of blood before the rest of the body hit the ground.

As she crossed the field in direction to the main street, the sun was completly down. It did not take long after the last glimmer of sunshine for Bill to stand in front of her.

"Good evening Sookie"

She glared at him

"Not now Bill, I am in no mood"

"What is wrong?"

"None of your business"

"Sookie I only want to help"

"Then walk away Bill, just walk away"

"Sookie he is using you and you are just going to walk right into it"

This time she stopped walking and turned to face Bill. She was red with anger. Bill knew he was pushing his luck but he did not care and kept on going.

"Eric is not capable of caring. He is bringing you to the queen because she wants it and he doesn't care what happens to you as long as he can have you for himself. He has already exchange blood with you two times and I am sure he has failed to mention a third time seals the deal, has he? If you feed from him again Sookie, you will be bind to him in ways you cannot imagine"

Bill stared at her for a while, awaiting a sign, a reaction but Sookie simply stared back at him, blinking on occasion. Bill took it as an invitation to keep on talking.

"Once he has you bind to him, you will no longer have any will. You will be his pet, his little human"

The only reaction Sookie had was to close her fist. She imagined slapping Bill in the face, with a chair, but took a deep breath and simply said

"I know about the bond"

She started walking away, Bill following her closely.

"He told you?"

"Yes"

Bill was stunted by the revelation. He added

"He probably told you because he knew I would. He is a manipulative expert"

"Yes, you would know a chapter on that would you?"

As she climbed the stairs of her building, Bill grabbed her arm.

"I don't understand what you are trying to insinuate"

"Oh Bill, stop playing! You said it yourself you gave me the wrong idea back in the tower. Please do not pretend you didn't do it on purpose. I don't know what your deal is but I am sick of these mind games. Everybody is trying to convince me how horrible Eric is but guess what buddy, of all the people I know, he is the one who treats me like the woman I am. He is honest with me, unlike you, and he cares. So unless you have a real reason for me to not trust him, other than your words, than I wish you goodnight"

She took a deep breath having said her piece in one and reached her room. From the entrance she added '' Just leave me alone'' at his attention and slammed the door.

After a couple of minutes, she had changed in black yoga pants, a tank top and a sweatshirt. While looking out the window, she saw Pam and Eric on the main street, walking towards her building. Seeing him, his shadow, after all the thinking she had done made her heart race. She felt her body needs for his, her heart trembling at his very thought and just ran downstairs to meet him.

She couldn't control her legs that took her to him, her upper body throwing itself in his arm and her lips calling for his. At that moment she let herself go, she let her instincts take over as she accepted his kiss commanded by her desires.

As soon as she heard Pam, she broke it and blushed apologizing blaming her crappy day but deep down she already missed the softness of his tongue. As he looked into her eyes, she felt the tug on her soul and she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat.

Hope you enjoyed this one! Please review :D

Xox

Z