Chapter 4

Eric deposited me on the edge of the bed, kissed my forehead, and stepped away. Without hurry, he turned to a dresser next to the bed and struck a match to light a couple of thick candles. He glanced around the room for a moment, then lit a third candle. The bed was enormous and tall, with four massive posts of carved wood at the corners. The room was sized to match, complete with a sitting area by a fireplace. Its flames suddenly came to life via some button that Eric had pushed.

"Do you sleep in here?" I asked. I scooted myself into the middle of the bed.

"No," he said mildly. He unbuttoned his jeans and gave them a push down his hips, along with his boxers, so they fell to the floor. He stepped out of them. Facing me, he gave me a look of appraisal. I'd seen this expression before, the first night I ever met him, at Fangtasia. Then as now, he seemed very still and… predatory. I'd also seen him naked – and aroused – before, but on the previous occasion I'd been trying not to look. Trying my best, anyway. With this second view of him, he still looked stunning.

"Sookie… don't look so scared," he said in low voice, as he moved onto the bed.

"I'm not," I whispered. "Not hardly."

Eric's hands were at my sides, pulling the stretchy camisole up and over my head. My panties were removed in an instant. He tossed them aside, and bent his head to my breast, nudging me to lie back. He followed me back with his mouth and stretched out on his side next to me, resting on one elbow. He played with one of my nipples with his tongue, then the other. Sublime. I arched my back up to bring my breasts even closer to his lips, and I sighed.

His hand trailed down between my breasts, over my stomach, and over the curls between my legs. I felt one of his fingers inside me, and then a second. Against my neck, he muttered something in another language and then kissed me languorously. My hips were rising to meet the thrusts of his fingers, and my hands clutched for his back, a delightfully broad expanse of thick muscles below velvet-smooth skin. His thumb was circling, expertly. I lost myself in his rhythm and kisses. I was so close to going over the edge, but his hand left me.

He brought his slick fingers to his mouth, and licked one of them, before gently tracing them over my lips. I snaked my tongue out and tasted my own brininess, then took his middle finger into my mouth. I swirled my tongue around it, and sucked softly, meeting his watchful eyes. Eric groaned, and then his hips were between my legs, urging them further apart.

Despite the earlier work of his fingers, it still hurt when he entered me, and I bit back a cry. I squeezed my eyes shut. He paused for a few moments, withdrew slightly, then thrust deep. I felt split in two, but his next thrusts were slow enough for me to recover. "Open your eyes, Sookie," he whispered. "Look at me."

I did, and he gave me a little smile as he quickened the pace gradually. I gave myself over to him, locked on his eyes. The sensation of him inside me had turned exquisite, and I panted as I met his thrusts.

"More… more…" I gasped. His hand tilted my hips slightly… there, and I whimpered his name as he answered my plea. His strokes turned shorter, harder. In a rush I saw slashes of light. I cried out and shook under him, around him.

Eric's hips had slowed to a lazy rhythm as I caught my breath below him, but as my wits returned, his thrusts turned stronger and faster. His hands curled through my hair. Aftershocks from my release rolled through me, and my nails dug into his back. He kissed me roughly, nicking my lip with a fang. The taste of my blood drove Eric to seek more, and he bit my neck, pulled once deeply, and reached his release with a growl.

After a few moments, I felt Eric's tongue at my neck as he healed me. He licked my lips, kissed me softly. He sighed my name in a tone of languid contentment, and rolled us over, pulling my limp body atop him. My head was tucked under his chin, his hand in my hair, and I never wanted to move again.

"I've waited so long for this," he murmured after a time, and one of his hands lazily swept down my back.

I smiled. "It hasn't been that long... You've only known me a few months." Since I'd gotten acquainted with vampires, my life felt like a blur.

"I have been very patient," he assured me, and gave my ass a little squeeze.

"It was worth the wait then," I whispered, and gave his neck a few little kisses.

"I should have had you that first night," he mused, "when we met."

"I was with Bill then," I reminded him, and Eric's presumption of winning me over or fucking me just after we'd met was so predictably… Eric. He and Pam had been frightening, but I had to admit that I'd admired Eric's cold beauty that night. Our short conversation at Fangtasia had felt like the start of… something.

"Not really… You were still a virgin."

I lifted my head. "How'd you know that?" I was genuinely surprised that he did, and hated to imagine Bill bragging about this to Eric.

"I just knew, that night," he said easily, and kissed my nose lightly. "It's a vampire thing."

"I'm glad I'm here," I said softly, "with you."

"You delight me, Sookie… You are my dearest. And you're mine, now."

"So possessive," I murmured dryly. But I'd felt something very tender for him when he called me his dearest.

"Yes." I felt his lips in my hair for a moment.

With a little groan I moved off of Eric, and curled up next to him. I wondered if I felt as possessive as Eric did, and if he was really "mine" too. I mulled that over for a long while.

"Are there others?" I finally asked, gently. A normal girl probably would have thought to ask this question before.

"Other… women?" he asked, sounding slightly surprised. "Not like you, Sookie. Not at all like this."

"Yvetta?" I whispered.

Eric turned onto his side, and leaned on one elbow. He searched my face, and took one of my hands in his own.

"Darling," he said, in a low voice, "I wish you hadn't seen that, in the basement… I would never do that to you." His paused and one eyebrow lifted. "Unless you wanted me to…?"

I shook my head quickly, and he pressed his lips into a little smile.

"Yvetta is gone already," he said, and squeezed my hand. "Sookie… for vampires, taking blood and sex… they are tied together. One lust feeds the other. And it's just lust. But what I feel with you… I don't feel like this with any other woman."

"So if I hopped into bed with Sam… or Pam, for God's sakes, and it was 'just lust'…?"

"Do you want to do that?" he asked, a little edge in his voice.

"No, of course not."

He thought for a moment. "I would kill Sam, certainly. But Pam… I think I would enjoy watching that." He gave me a little grin.

I frowned, and chided him, "That's a double standard, Eric. You'd kill Sam, but I should turn a blind eye to all of your fangbangers at the bar?"

"They mean nothing to me, Sookie," Eric murmured, shrugging a little. "But if it will please you, I'll try to only feed on them."

Months ago, his answer would have horrified me. And now… "That would please me," I said, and leaned up to kiss his mouth.

"If you did want to bed Pam…" he said smoothly, suggestively.

"No, Eric." I smiled. I paused for a long moment, still slightly uneasy. "Anyone else… besides Yvetta?"

He gave me a look and raised his eyebrows, and I mirrored his expression.

"Are you being… possessive, Sookie?" he teased. I didn't answer him, so he said gently, and more seriously, "Vampires aren't monogamous, Sookie."

"Bill was faithful to me."

Eric just looked at me skeptically, until I added, "For a while, anyway."

He bowed his head for a moment. "Let's not speak of Bill right now," he said quietly, "or anyone else. Sookie, you mean more to me than you understand."

He kissed me then, pressing me back onto the mattress, and his fingers massaged a sensitive spot on my hip. I mewed against his mouth and ran my fingers through his short, sleek hair. Eric's hand shifted to the folds between my legs and he caught my little wince at his touch.

"Do you want me to heal you?" he asked.

I shook my head a little and pulled him back to my mouth. Our coupling this time was gentle, like he was trying to prove that my past dreams of him had come to life. Afterward, Eric's arms held me close. I felt sated, and safe. I felt something close to love through our bond, and I smiled. My beautiful, dangerous Viking kissed my shoulder, and I drifted off towards sleep.