Chapter Ten

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Recap – Sookie and Eric are hiding out in a cabin, in a forest somewhere. They awake in the evening after fleeing Bon Temps that morning. Back in Bon Temps Bill has spoken to Sam.

"Im starving, can I get you a blood?" she called from the kitchen.

He had to laugh at her self effacing personality as he pulled his trademark black singlet over his head. "Yes please, Dearest. There are frozen meals for you in the freezing unit." he said. In the few moments he had to himself he tried to strengthen his resolve. I'm doing the right thing, it's the only thing I can do.

"You mean the freezer?" she said to herself sarcastically.

"I heard that," he called out.

"Sorry"

"No need to apologise, Pet" he said as he entered the kitchen.

"Pet? I don't think I like that. I'm not your cat," she said before she realised, then quickly added, "don't even say it Buster!".

He grinned. "But I do love stroking you, Petal." She mock-scowled at him. While he drank, she popped a frozen dinner in the oven and set the timer then went about opening every cupboard and drawer. "Looking for something?" he asked.

"Nope" she grinned, "just being nosy." He leaned against the door frame and shoved his free hand into his jeans pocket. He tilted his head and admired the view. Sookie was dressed in one of his dress shirts, sleeved rolled up, naked underneath. A strange sensation fell over him. He actually felt at ease for the first time in a long time. This domesticity appealed to him. Eric entered the kitchen opened the laptop computer.

"Where's the phone line?" she asked as she removed her 'tv dinner' from the oven. The smell of tarragon chicken made her mouth water.

"This is a wireless computer network. It even works underground, inside a steel box. Modern technology, wonders never cease." he said, eyebrows raised, "I must check my messages. Good, I have news from Pam." He read the email silently.

Master,

The shifter has confirmed our suspicions. There is a bounty. We await your call to arms,

Pam

He deletes the message and closes the laptop. Pam is going to be chagrined that he kept her in the dark but she would certainly understand the need for secrecy. Felipe and Victor will not find us here, unless they started looking for a Georgia local by the name of Walter Matthews.

"What does she say?" asked Sookie, jarring Eric from his thoughts.

"Not much, just confirming my instructions were followed. My people have gone to ground until such time as I recall them." he said struggling to keep his emotions from flowing through the bond.

"Oh, okay" she said. She thought for a minute while she formulated her question. "Eric?"

"Yes Lover?"

"What are we going to do?"

"I can think of one thing we could do," he said seductively. Not the answer she was looking for.

"You know what I mean. What are we going to do about Victor and Fe...." she was stopped mid sentence with a kiss.

"We will discuss it later. But right now you should finish you meal and get dressed. I thought we might go 'top-side' and enjoy a stroll through the forest?"

And there she was thinking she was the evasive one. She would definitely bring it up again later. "Okay. Are you sure it's safe."

"Yes, no one but you and I, and Walter, know of this place." Eric took her hand and before she could blink, he had moved them outside with vampiric speed.

"Walter? Who the Hell is Walter?" Confusion was setting in.

"My dearest, Walter Matthews is my alias, one of my aliases anyway. He is an elderly man who lives on his own, though his grandson visits him most weekends, but he never visits during the day." Eric turned to Sookie and gave her a wink. "This is Walters cabin."

"Wait a cotton-pickin' minute! You created a fictional human...and you visit him?"

Eric laughed out loud. "If I didn't, he would be lonely Sookie!"

She looked up at him incredulous before pinching his arm as hard as she could. "How could you keep me in the dark about all this?"

"You told me you trusted me, yes?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then trust me to do what is best for us."

Sookie retreated to the bedroom to get dressed. Eric follow close behind. Standing at the bedroom door, he watched Sookie pull on a pair of jeans. She saw the silly grin spread across his face and thought to herself trust him to find something so mundane, so erotic. When she was dressed she was silent before addressing Eric. "Then Felipe really has no idea where we are?"

Eric chuckled as he shook his head, then he started to laugh heartily. "What's so funny Eric?"

"I sent the King on what I believe they call a 'wild goose chase'. I own a cabin similar to this in South Carolina. I spent quite some time coming and going from it over the last few weeks, allowing myself to be followed and watched. All the while I had someone stocking and refurbishing this cabin.

"Who? Pam?"

"Someone who can easily move from kingdom to kingdom and not arouse suspicion." He said as he winked then walked away from her, towards the hatch. She caught up with him at the door to the underground room. Eric grabbed hold of her and swiftly moved them both outside before she could speak again. Before she knew it they were standing on the porch. She looked up at him with a questioning look. He moved a strand of hair off her face as she swatted his hand away.

"Who? Tell me!"she demanded

"Our friend from Memphis."

"Bubba?"

"He may not be bright but he can follow instructions like no one else. Ahhh, I wish I could have seen the look on Felipe's face when he heard the news. Aha!"

"You are one sly devil, Mr Northman, a master of deception"

"Indeed" he said, proud as punch. He embraced Sookie and held her close. She allowed herself to fall into him. "So we are safe here?" she asked.

"For now, yes. But I will have to deal with De Castro soon. Please, come sit with me." He gestured to the swing at the end of the porch. They sat down together, the beams overhead groaning under his weight. He casually lay an arm across her shoulders. "Darling wife, close your eyes and listen to the night"

Sookie lay her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Without the constant bombardment of human thoughts in her head she was free to hear the night. A gentle wind whistled through the pines that surrounded them. The sound of crickets was strong and musical. When she listened harder she could make out the noise of frogs talking to each other.

"Shall we find that waterfall?" he asked

"Okay" she realised she didn't have a suit with her. She doubted Eric even owned one.

He picked her up in his arms and moved at speed though the trees. She hoped to God that she didn't whack her head on one of them. When he came to a sudden halt he placed her feet on the ground. Before her was a small but beautiful waterfall, cascading into a pool, illuminated by the moon and stars. She turned to smile at Eric but he was gone, his clothes in a pile on the ground. She turned back to the waterfall to find Eric was standing on the rocks beneath it, water falling around and over him. Rivulets rushing down his long back and over his sculptured backside. She suddenly felt her heart thumping hard as if it had been still until now. Seeing her beautiful vampire lover like this was almost to much to bear. She thought her eyes might explode. He could feel her gaze searing into his back. He turned to give her a full frontal view and a smouldering look.

"Come in Lover" he beckoned to her.

She dipped her big toe into the water and shuddered at the frigid temperate. "No way, Buster!"

"Then I shall bring you in" he said and before she could get away, he had her in his arms, freezing water soaking through her shirt.

"Nononononono, stop Eric" she said, half serious, half laughing. He turned her to face him and he gazed down at her. Her flaxen hair, loose and wild, and the smile she tried to hide, drove his desire. He moved to take off her wet shirt but she stopped him.

"It's my turn, Lover" she said. His mind was completely blank but for the desire he felt. His hungry eyes devoured her every movement as she pushed him backwards, hard up against a tree. She looked up at him and fixed his gaze. He took himself in hand and stroked his cock but she swipped his hand away quickly. Never once breaking eye contact, Sookie knelt on the ground and took him in her mouth. The instant warmth made Eric gasped. He was sure his legs where going to give out under him so he reached up and held onto a branch above him. Sookie took long slow strokes in and out of her mouth. She licked and kissed his tip while massaging his balls because she knew he loved that. She plunged back onto his shaft. She was determined to give him a mind blowing orgasm in return for all the pleasure he had given her. It was the least she could do. She felt his hand come to rest on the back of her head as she watched him, watching her. Then his eyes closed and she knew he was close. It took great effort for him to focus his eyes and look down at her, his pleasure was so great.

"Min Sookie, Min Sookie" he cried as he had his release.

She took everything he had to give because she wanted it, a part of him inside of her. After a long moment she stood up and they held each other. He hadn't thought it possible to love her any more, but he did. It just kept growing, taking over every part of him. He dressed and they walked slowly back though the forest to the cabin. When they got to the clearing he heard Sookie gasp.

"Look at the moon," she said. She thought this must be what it's like to be a possom stuck in the headlights.

"It's nearly full, tomorrow night it will be magnificent" he said as he saw her shudder. Before she noticed him gone he returned with a blanket and wrapped her warmly in it. He could feel her contentment and it soothed his anxiety. He watched her watching the moon. So beautiful in the moonlight he thought. He took her by the hand and they walked to the end of the wooden jetty. The moons glow bounced off the rippling water. Sookie stood at the very edge of the jetty and looked out into the unending darkness of the forest across the lake, her human eyes unable to detect any light. "What can you see out there?" she asked

"I don't see anything. There is no one out there. Just trees, water, the moon and us."

She closed her eyes and focused on listening to the noises around them. Frogs, water, her own breathing and the steady beat of her heart. "What can you hear that I can't hear?"

"Sookie, why do you wish to know these things?"

"I don't know. I guess I just want to know what it's like to be you" she shrugged.

He embraced her from behind. "You know what it is to be me. You feel what I feel." Their mood was conjoined, they are content and happy. Eric felt a shadow darken her happy mood.

Sookie swallows hard. She looks down at her hands as she pushes her cuticles back, a nervous habit. "Eric?"

"Yes?," he asks, his eyes questioning.

"I'm scared. I have never felt so fragile before. I am truly terrified that forces beyond our control are working against us. I'm scared I am going to loose you."

He tightens his grip around her waist and whispers in her ear, "That's never going to happen, Sookie"

After a long silence, she sighs. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I won't anything separate us."

"How can you stop what you can't control?"

She felt him smile against her cheek. He firmly believed every man was the master of his own destiny. "Sookie, what does your heart tell you?"

She thought for a moment. "My mind tells me to be smart, it tells me to run and hide. But my heart tells me to follow you."

"But you don't know which to listen to?"

"No."

"Trust your instincts Dearest, mine have never let me down." He said as he stroked her face.

She turned her head and smiled up at him, pushing her happiness through the bond. But she was still afraid, the cause of which had been plaguing her thoughts for weeks and she knew she had to say something. Before she could form the words to speak, Eric spoke.

"Sookie, I have something to tell you."

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Thanks everyone for all the great reviews. Another 5-10 chapters to go.