Dead Broke

Chapter 8

Of course, when I woke up, just after sunset, I was feeling more myself. Eric was standing over me. I wasn't sure how long he'd been awake, but the curtains in the villa bedroom were wide open and the sky was still stained with red streaks. Eric bent down over me and touched my forehead with his cool lips. I was shocked, but extremely glad that he was cold again and I wasn't. I half-smiled at him. My neck was itchy.

"That butler is a good man," my Viking murmured. He reached to touch my neck but I couldn't feel his fingers. I reached up as well. Ah, bandage.

"Well, this is the best hotel in the desert." I chuckled. Did I sound as much like a whimpering kitten as I thought?

"It's too bad the vampire amenities are sub par. We need to be going. I'm not spending another night in a powder room." Trying not to picture Eric stuffed into a bathtub. Ooh, too late.

"How are we getting back?" I blinked. Were we really going to fly, ala Viking? I thought about how cold and uncomfortable that would be.

"Same way I got here," he smirked that trademark Eric smirk. "Air Louisiana."

By that, he meant Felipe's private jet. I didn't realize that until we were on the runway.

Eric had insisted on bringing the organza, strapless number that Felipe had dressed me in on Friday night. I told him it didn't fit but he didn't believe me. The rest of the dresses, except for my own things, we left in a pile on the bathroom floor. I hoped the maid would scoop them up before the King had a chance to collect them. Don't even think about what he would do with them, I thought, blanching.

The jet lifted us into the air at a little after seven. I curled against my Viking while his fingers stroked idly through my tangled, madcap hair. It had had so much hairspray and gunk in it, and then I hadn't had time to wash it properly in the bath, and now it looked like a blond rat had taken nest in it. Fortunately, no one seemed to obsess over it.

"The King will…" Eric was sneering. He paused the motion of his hand in my hair. "He'll do his best to make amends now that I've humiliated him in front of the rest of them. He should never have…" he frowned. His hand balled into a fist. His knuckles were whiter than bone. "I should have claimed you, Sookie, whether you wanted it or not."

"I didn't." I whispered, trying not to sound ungrateful. "I still don't."

"It's done now."

"I know."

"Bill, I'm sure, told you that the claim is necessary. Of course, his reasons were his own. He was guarding you, not just for himself. The King extended you his protection, and I thought, with the bond, I'd made a claim on you without actually deflating that pride of yours." I winced. "I'm just glad I got there in time."

"Eric?" I murmured. He looked down at me. His fist relaxed a little.

"Hm?"

"I don't want to be a vampire." I said it quietly. The thing is, I didn't want to offend him. I liked vampires, for the most part, and I definitely liked him.

"I don't want that either, lover,"

"So why did Felipe…I mean the King…"

"I haven't asked, but I gather he wanted to control that gift of yours, see what he could do with it once you turned. You'd be his child, Sookie. You'd be bound to him, like Pam is bound to me, like Bill was bound to…"

"Oh please don't say it," I cringed.

"I gather it would break what we have." He said simply, and a little sadly.

We sat quietly for a minute, but I couldn't sit still too long. There were too many questions and now was the perfect time for answers. There's no escape on a little jet.

"Tell me about the bond," I said. I knew next to nothing about it.

"It's mythic," he said quietly. "No one knows much about it. It's one of those things that happened to a friend of a friend a hundred years ago."

"I don't see why. We found occasion to share blood, and Bill and I…"

"How many times did you drink from Bill?" I blinked. Talk about personal questions!

"Uhm, twice." I'd had to count on my fingers.

"How many times did he drink from you?"

"A lot more than that." Actually, it had been every time, or almost every time we had made love. It occurred to me that Eric rarely bit me when we made love. Huh. Weird.

"That's often how it is," he was going on. "Many of my kind, they get off on feeding, and less so on being fed from. Think about the difference between, hm, eating something you enjoy, or having Mops bite you on the hand." I couldn't help but giggle.

"The human, whoever it is, must drink from the vampire to have the bond occur. Otherwise, it isn't much of an exchange."

I thought about the room in the King of Mississippi's mansion. I'd fed from Eric there. He looked like he was enjoying it to me. My cheeks felt hot.

"I enjoy it when you taste me, Sookie," Okay. That was eerie. I was definitely blushing. "But it's different."

"Why?" Remembering Bill brought a pang to my heart, but I tried to imagine him giving me his arm after I'd had the shit kicked out of me by the Rattrays. Boy, that seemed like a lifetime ago. I couldn't remember whether he'd liked it or not.

"I don't know." He sounded a little bit flummoxed, like he'd thought about that a lot, but didn't know the answer. "You're not like any human I've ever known."

Deep breath, Sookie. That's probably a good thing.

"I'm perfectly normal!" I protested. Damn pride. I felt like the unsinkable Molly Brown or something. "Telepathy, fairy heritage be damned! I'm just average waitress Sookie Stackhouse!" Except that I wasn't, not really. When you're sleeping with a 1000 year old Viking, you have to accept that maybe you're a little unusual. I just wasn't ready to accept it.

"Of course," was all Eric said. He pulled me back against his chest. In the heat of my frustration, I'd managed to jostle myself upright. Though I was feeling better, I wasn't exactly in tip top physical condition.

I wanted to know more about the bond, but I couldn't think of another question that translated into words. I wanted to know how long it would last, what it felt like to him, how he felt about having emotions that he hadn't had since…since he'd turned. I finally realized I hadn't asked him the most important thing.

"How did you know?" I tried to filter through my memory. I hadn't asked, not once. How did he know where to go? How did he get to the hotel so fast? Everything seemed so blurry. I couldn't believe I'd never asked.

"One of the waitresses said we got some prank call on Saturday, but I didn't realize it was you at first." Eric seemed to be trying to express something. He tilted his head to one side. His hair fell down over his cheek. Finally, he closed his eyes. "I heard you, Sookie."

I blinked at him. In my head, I'd screamed his name over and over again. But I didn't think it would actually work.

"When?" My mouth hung open even after I spoke.

"In my sleep," he murmured, obviously perplexed. Stunned, that was what I was. Weren't vampires pretty much dead to the world during the day? Eric was shaking his head. "I could feel you, your distress, fear…" he pulled me tighter against his chest. "I knew I had to be with you."

"I didn't think it would work," I admitted in a small voice. I wanted to tuck myself inside him to be closer to him. There seemed to be too much distance between us, even now. My eyelids seemed heavy, but I didn't want to fall asleep. Eric was brushing my hair with his fingers again.

When I woke up, I was lying in my own bed again. It was day, sometime. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was four in the afternoon. I hoped I wasn't supposed to be at work, if I still had a job after the way I'd yelled at my boss. I rolled out of bed and loped down the hall to find Mops curled up in a sliver of sunlight. She mewed at me as I walked to the kitchen table. Eric had left a note. I lifted it to my face, since my eyes were still groggy with sleep. Underneath it, a key sat on the table.

Sookie, the work men will be at the house on Wednesday to repair the porch. I've ordered you new appliances. They'll be delivered on Thursday. I will be speaking to Victor about the King's behavior, as well as the money owed to you in exchange for your work. I have also called Sam, and said that you'll be out sick for the week. Get plenty of rest, my lover. I will see you tonight.

E.

PS: The car is a rental. I had yours pulled in for repairs. Mind that pride of yours.

I picked up the key and looked out the front window. A green Mazda convertible sat on my gravel driveway, gleaming in the late afternoon sun. I swallowed and tried to hold in a fit of outrage. Somewhere, deep underneath my bruised ego, I was smiling.