A/N - Thanks for all your wonder reviews for Part I -- here is Part II for your reading pleasure! The last two lines of the story are the last lines of the song.

The characters in this story belong to Ms Harris - bless her heart for introducing them to us!

Part II

Sookie slipped off her robe and crawled into bed beside Eric, winding herself in his limbs while he slept. The bedside clock read 5:03; he would wake soon. He loved finding her in bed with him when he roused from his day-death, and she loved being the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes.

"Good evening, lover," Eric crooned as he kissed her cheek and then her lips. True to his vampire nature, he woke hungry and horny. Sookie expected no less, and she rolled toward him and pressed her nakedness to his.

This is it, she thought to herself. This will be our 'last time together.' She would commit to memory this one single act of loving him. All of the other times, including the first time, in her shower, suddenly seemed less significant.

It was sweet, slow, and satisfying.

Afterwards they lay panting and spent, limbs tangled and Sookie's head resting on Eric's shoulder.

"Eric..." Sookie began hesitantly.

"Yes, my lover?" Eric murmured into her hair as he stroked her shoulder.

Sookie swallowed hard. "We need to talk."

"What is it you wish to discuss?"

"I want you to do something for me," Sookie replied. "Actually, I want you to give me something. Call it an early Christmas present." She knew Eric didn't really celebrate Christmas, but it was only a week away and she hoped the giving spirit of the season had found its way to him.

Eric continued to stroke her shoulder. "You know I will give you anything you desire, lover." He had fought hard to finally convince Sookie to allow him to take care of her. Now she was actually asking him for something.

Eric's undead heart leapt as he wondered what it was she wanted. Maybe she wanted a new car (her little BMW Z4 was a couple of years old, maybe she was tiring of it.) Or, she may desire another piece of jewelry (he had already given her a hundred carats worth of precious gems, including the four carat baguette-encrusted diamond solitaire she wore on her left hand -- the engagement ring that would be joined by a wedding band as soon as the idiots in the Louisiana legislature legalized vampire/human marriage.)

"You may want to retract that statement when you find out what I want," she cautioned him.

Eric was truly puzzled. He suddenly remembered a speech he heard years ago. The speaker had described something as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." That was his Sookie, alright.

"There is nothing I would not give you, dear one," he reassured her.

"Does that offer extend to immortality?" Sookie's voice was a mixture of timidness and self-assurance.

Eric was stunned. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was at a loss for words. A myriad of emotions flooded through him and the bond. It was several moments before he collected himself enough that he dared speak

"By immortality I assume you mean..." He silently cursed himself for the quiver he heard in his voice.

"You know exactly what I mean, Eric." Sookie's voice was more confident now. Each passing minute only fueled her resolve. She knew she had to do this now before she lost her nerve.

Eric dared to be hopeful. "But you never wanted to consider this before. You would not even discuss it with me. Why the change of heart?"

"I've been doing a lot of thinking. About you...about me...about us. This is my life, here with you. You are my only life. I have no kin left except Hunter. But the way our lives are scrutinized, you know I can't have a relationship with him without revealing his ability. He's twelve years old now, old enough that every vampire king and queen in the world will be vying for him if he's found out. I can't have that."

Sookie paused and sat up in the bed. She looked at Eric with serious eyes -- eyes that said this was not a lark or a whim, but a carefully considered decision from which she wouldn't back down.

"I'm not getting any younger, Eric. I'm thirty-four years old and getting older with each day that passes. I've given up hope that my fairy bloodlines and taking your blood will keep me young."

Sookie fought back the tears as she thought about how her life was nothing like she had imagined it would be when she was younger. She had always thought she would eventually marry, raise a couple of kids, grow old, and then die. That was pretty much the way of life for most humans. After falling in love with her Viking, her mortal dreams no longer a possibility, she realized growing old was the last thing she wanted to do. All that was important to her now was being able to stay with him...forever...or at least far beyond the range of her piteously abbreviated human life expectancy.

A single tear breached her lower eyelid and tracked down her face; Sookie wiped it away with the back of her hand. "You are my family now. I can't bear the thought of leaving you. Please..." She was practically begging. "Do this for me...for us."

Eric's piercing blue eyes searched Sookie's face as he silently questioned her decision. In the past they had talked a few times about her coming over, but the discussions were always brief and usually ended with frustration on his part and obstinacy on hers. Inwardly he was exhilarated by her request. Pragmatic Eric, however, needed more reassurance before committing then to such a life-altering event.

Eric leaned back against the headboard and pulled Sookie to him, the warm softness of her back resting against the cool firmness of his muscular chest. 'I will miss her warmth,' he thought briefly to himself. He buried his face in the top of her head and inhaled the sweetness of her, her mixture of human and fairy that filled his senses like a field full of wild flowers. He would miss that, too.

What he would not miss would be the incessant nagging that buzzed in the back of his brain. The nagging daily reminder that too soon she would be gone from him, her mortal life finished, while he would be forever damned to roam the earth without her.

As her would-be maker, Eric felt it was his duty to caution her about her decision before he actually committed to the act. "Sookie, you realize this is not something to do on a whim. Most vampires are vampire not by choice, but by circumstance. Few mortals actually choose to be turned; even fewer vampires deem them worthy of coming over."

"I know this, Eric," she replied evenly. "I've been thinking about this for the better part of a year. I have no one but you, and I want to be with you. Always."

If his heart still beat, Eric's would have lurched at the sincerity of her words. A single drop of pink spilled from the corner of his eye and slid down his smooth face. Eight years of dreaming was finally becoming a reality. He closed his eyes and thanked the gods for this bountiful blessing.

But there was one more hurdle before they crossed the finish line. The blood bond. This would be Eric's only real concern should he decide to give her the gift she begged for.

"Dear one, I do not know what impact our bond may have on the turning process," he admitted to her. "Few vampires and humans have as strong a bond as ours..." Eric paused as he felt the wave of love and understanding she sent to him, "...and I have never heard of a human being turned by their bonded. I am afraid we are entering the realm of the unknown, and I would not be truthful if I said I did not have concerns about our outcome."

But Sookie had planned ahead for this argument. She, too, had this concern, but she trusted the bond, trusted in its magic. Most of all she trusted in them -- herself and Eric.

"I'm willing to take that chance," she replied softly. "I'll take whatever chances are needed to make this happen."

Sookie turned around to face Eric. Taking his face in her hands, she placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "I'm ready, Eric. I want this more than anything."

"Alright, I will do it. For us." Eric pulled her on top of him and kissed her mouth hungrily, relishing one last time in her sweet warmth. 'Goodbye, my warm lover. Welcome, my forever lover.'

Sookie clung tightly to Eric as he wrapped her in his arms and rolled her over on the bed. He looked down into her blue eyes that were clear with understanding. "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you back," Sookie whispered as she felt Eric's fangs pierce the soft skin of her neck. She gasped lightly at the initial sting, and then sighed into his shoulder as she felt Eric draw heavily on the wound.

Eric moaned as the sweet saltiness of his lover's blood filled his mouth. He drank greedily, never before having the privilege of this indulgence. He bravely fought his overwhelming need to enter her. This bloodletting was not about sex -- it was about love, commitment, and their overpowering need to belong.

He drank from her until only a tiny spark of life remained in her body. Putting his wrist to his mouth, he tore his own skin and held out his arm to her. "Drink, lover," he told her as he let his own blood flow into her mouth.

Fueled by the thick sweetness of Eric's blood on her tongue, Sookie took his wrist in her weak grasp and fed from him. Each pull from her lips echoed through his body and reverberated in his throbbing hardness. She took one last hard draw from Eric's wrist before the wound closed, and he shuddered as the release he had so valiantly tried to restrain spilled forth.

Taking a moment to collect himself, Eric carefully tucked Sookie into her side of their bed. He stretched out beside her, sated and satisfied. He would wait beside her until it was time for him to prepare for her awakening. For the first time in a thousand years, he was complete.

I'm gonna be there all the way

I won't be missing one more day...

Fin