Dark Desire – Epilogue
The Bon Temps woods, almost ten months later,
It was an unusually warm night for December as Katy raced through the thicket, skimming easily over the ground, avoiding trees, jumping over sinkholes and fallen logs. The bright, full moon lit the landscape, but Katy needed no light to see; her night vision was excellent now.
Nocturnal, warm blooded animals shuffled and snuffled in the darkness. Katy could hear the screeches of mating pairs nearby. She could hear the death cries of others as predators found their prey. From a nearby pond, she heard the croaking of frogs and crickets as they played their mating songs. In the distance, the howls of a large pack of wolves sounded eerily through the bright night. She heard the low snarl of a wildcat stalking through the trees a few feet away. They were all sounds of night and Katy loved them all. Night was her time.
Katy moved on, but made no sound as she ran. Although she was not moving at vampire speed, she was still moving so fast her T-shirt and jogging pants were plastered against her body. A sound that was too soft and too quiet caught her attention. She stopped for a second brought her head up listened and sniffed the air. "Eric," she thought.
Laughter spilled out as exhilaration coursed wildly through her veins. She began to run again, moving at vampire speed now. Stopping after a few moments, she listened and sniffed again... nothing "Lost him!" she exulted to herself. She changed course once more, moving in a 180 degree direction.
Eric was hunting her; it was his turn tonight. She was determined not to let him win this time. The impulse to laugh out loud again was strong, but she clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle it. Although Eric was more than likely a good mile or more behind her now, his sharp ears would have easily picked out the sound of her voice from all the other night noises.
As usual, both she and Eric had both turned off their blood bond when they started the game tonight near their house in Shreveport. "Its not fair to take advantage of the bond to find each other. We have to find each other on our own," she told him months ago.
It didn't matter if the blood bond was silent; she could smell him anyway. He had given her the usual fifteen minute head start. She was determined to make the most of it, planting false trails and doubling back on herself over and over again.
They hunted each other in the woods running from Shreveport to Bill and Sookie's house at least once a week now. Every time they hunted each other, Katy had made the most of the time scouting out new hiding places. Each time that she was the prey, it took Eric a little longer to catch her, but catch her he always did. She frowned to herself as she remembered that she never once won the game, but then she smiled.
That wasn't quite true that she never won; the prize for winning the hunt as always was a rousing round of very creative and uninhibited sex that the victor always got to control. Eric was always quite inventive, so she was a winner either way. But still, Katy had always been very competitive, and she was even more so now. She wanted to win, even if just once. "It's my turn tonight, love." she couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips.
Stopping for a third time beside a big pine tree to get her bearings, Katy lifted her nose to the wind and inhaled. She could smell that Eric was closer now and moving fast. She looked up at the large yellow full moon as it rose over the crest of a small hill in the distance. "Time to move," she told to herself.
She ran about a half a mile when she hit a small stream. Changing directions, she ran through the water downstream for several more miles. A noise off to the side caught her attention. Coming to an abrupt stop, she sniffed the air again just to make sure it wasn't Eric. It was a large stag. Satisfied that her husband was nowhere around, she made a flying leap and landed a good fifty feet away on solid ground and began running again. She knew exactly where she was headed: a small cave near the starting place that Eric did not know about.
Katy gloried in the feel of her legs pumping up and down and the feel of her feet hitting the soft forest floor as she moved. She loved the sound and the feel of the wind as it blew past her; she loved the way the trees swayed and cast shadows over the landscape even in the dead of winter. She loved the call of the night animals that preyed in the night. She loved everything about this game.
About fifty feet away from where she last stopped, Eric stood behind a large tree and watched his beloved as she moved. He reveled in the excitement that rolled off of her as she used her enhanced abilities to avoid him. His Katy moved as gracefully as a gazelle. She never made a sound as she traveled through the heavily wooded area. He had never been more than fifty feet away from her during the whole game, but he stayed hidden and well upwind from her.
Though Katy didn't know it, he knew every single one of her carefully found hiding places. He knew where she was heading. He had deliberately left his scent in various places in the woods to confuse her when she tried to use her heightened sense of smell to find him. More than a thousand years as a vampire had sharpened his instincts as a hunter. There were vampires much older than he, but there was none better at the hunt.
The hunt always excited him. It made his dead heart pump. It called to all of his animal instincts; he always got his prey. Tonight he was so sexually aroused thinking of the payoff at the end of the game, he could scarcely contain his excitement.
Every every cell in his body craved his soulmate as it did from the moment he first met her. It had only gotten worse since he had turned her. In all his long life, Eric had never thought that it was possible to want anyone as much as he wanted Katy. She had become integral to his very existence, and every night he wanted her even more; so much so he often felt out of control, and it scared him sometimes.
Many times tonight, he wanted to laugh out loud as he watched Katy double back and lay her false trails. Katy was good, much better than vamps several hundred times her age, but he would win as he always did. She was his; she could never get away from him.
Eric didn't need the blood bond to find her. He didn't even need the bond he had as her maker. He had another advantage that Katy didn't know about, and he used this advantage shamelessly: Since her turning, they could read each others mind; they could hear each others thoughts. Their telepathy didn't extend to anyone else, so they both concluded it was a result of their combined blood bond and maker/child bond. But Eric had realized early on that Katy could not read his mind unless he was in the same room, or within ten or fifteen feet of her.
He, on the other hand, could read Katy's thoughts over many, many miles. He never told her that. That's how he knew what she was planning tonight. Eric knew it would take Katy another twenty minutes before she felt safe enough to seek out her hiding place. He began to glide silently through the woods, stalking her slowly.
He laughed to himself again. Ten minutes after she set off at the start of the game tonight, he had found her cave and prepared it for them with soft furs, scented candles and rose petals scattered all over the makeshift bed. Even though they didn't need them, he would light the candles at the last minute. Several bottles of the best Regency True, a new real/synthetic blend that he and Judith had just put on the market, sat in the back of the small cave along with a small battery operated microwave. Regency was even better than Royal Blue and even more expensive. Their love den was ready.
He was cheating, of course, but Eric was determined to win this game. "A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do," he thought happily to himself. They both enjoyed the game so much, and he was even more competitive than she was. He wasn't ready to let her win yet. "Maybe, I'll let her win next time," he thought, even as he knew wouldn't.
Standing in front of the covered opening to her cave, Katy waited a few seconds, listening as she sniffed the air again. When she was satisfied that Eric was nowhere around, she dropped to all fours and began to remove the brush that blocked the entrance.
She was giggling to herself when she suddenly was tackled by a big, heavy body and knocked sideways. The two of them rolled over and over down a small incline, coming to a stop a few feet from a small stream. She was flat on her stomach and her attacker was laying with his full weight on her body and his face buried in her neck.
"Thought you could escape me, lover? Never!" A familiar deep voice rumbled against the sensitive flesh of her throat sending thrills down to her groin. The voice was all male and very pleased with itself. A feeling of joy rushed through Katy, all thoughts of her winning the game were gone.
"Where did you come from?" Katy purred. "You weren't there a minute ago."
Eric just laughed. In one liquid movement he was on his feet and holding Katy close to his side with one large arm. He tilted her chin up and looked down into her luminescent gray eyes. In the clear moonlight, Katy could see that Eric's eyes were darkened with desire.
Eric held her for a long moment. His chest tightened as a rush of deep emotion made him feel lightheaded and weak kneed. He felt as if his dead heart would burst. He tried to lighten the moment. "I gotcha. I win! I always do," he said smugly.
"Really? That's funny because I thought I won every time." Katy said softly in a half whisper. She was mesmerized by the feeling of love that rolled off of him; she was fascinated by the emotion she saw in his eye. It made her feel intoxicated; she felt breathless and shaky on her feet.
Eric finished brushing away the branches and twigs that covered the opening to the cave and gently pushed Katy through; he entered right behind her. In the darkness of the cave, Katy's vampire senses could smell and see the rose petals and the candles. She exclaimed, "Ah, Eric..." as he moved to light the candles. Happiness welled in her heart.
"For you, lover," he said simply.
Katy pushed Eric down on the furs and began to straddle him, but he caught her, pulled her down along side him and molded his body to hers. He moved his large leg in between hers and scraped it lightly against her thigh. Even through her clothes, the sensation made her feel hot all over as little flutters of pleasure raced upward.
Eric placed his nose into her throat and began to inhale, drawing her essence into his lungs several times. Her smell clearly pleased him, and it always excited her when he did that. A hot streak shot from her throat down to her hardened nipples and then to her groin. Katy gasped as he began to knead her buttocks.
Eric's tongue began to make warm wet circles where his nose was only moments before. Katy could feel the excitement in his body as his arousal started to pulse against her, but it was restrained by his jeans. Katy slipped her hands down, unzipped his pants and freed him. She lifted her T-shirt and rubbed his erection against her exposed skin, cupping her hands around him as she did. Since she had been turned, their bodies were the same temperature, so his skin no longer felt cool to her; it felt very warm. Eric trembled and shivered as she touched him; his erection growing longer, thicker and harder. He began to pant in short harsh gasps.
He began to whisper to her in his native language. Katy understood every word now, and whispered the words back to him in the same language. She didn't bother to unbutton his shirt, she ripped the offending piece of cloth off of him and flicked her tongue across his hardened nipples. She gently scraped his skin with her extended fangs. Eric groaned deep in his throat and jerked as her tongue lashed him again and again; his own fangs were fully extended now. He wanted so much to bite her, to sink his fangs into her deep, to taste her precious sweet blood as it filled his mouth, but he clamped down hard on that instinctive urge. He would hold off biting into her sweet throat until she was screaming for him to do it as she sank her own fangs deeply into his chest or shoulder and drank deeply of him too. The biting would come at the moment of a shared climax that would rock them both while they drew from each others veins and became one. He had sex with hundreds of thousands of women in his long life, but nothing had ever prepared him for the pleasure of making love to his vampire wife. Nothing on this earth had ever felt so good; it never got old.
Seconds later, with Eric's tongue probing deeply inside her mouth, Katy was struggling as she tried to get her T-shirt and bra off. She quickly realized Eric's big hands were in the way, touching and feeling every little bit of skin that she exposed. "Ooh! Stop that, Eric. Help me!" she demanded.
"I have to touch you!" he groaned, rasping out the words. He pulled her sweat pants down and cupped her mons with a big hand. With the pad of his thumb pressing down slightly against her clit; he began to rub.
Katy shivered. "Not fair! Help me get these damn things off, and you can touch me much better," she exclaimed as she wriggled and moved, trying to get her bra and her T-shirt off. Her movements only inflamed Eric's lust and passion for her even more. Finally her bare breasts were pressed tightly up against his bare chest. He sighed happily as he rolled her under him.
"Ahem!" Pam's voice sounded from outside the cave entrance.
Eric and Katy both moaned in unison. "Go away, Pam!"
"Can't! You're already late. Daniel and Judith want to make an announcement soon, and Bill and Sookie have an announcement to make too. Besides, don't you two ever do anything besides fuck?" she asked with a dirty laugh.
"Not if we can help it." Eric answered back.
"What announcements?" Katy asked.
"You'll just have to be at Fangtasia in ten minutes to find out. Come on you two. Let's get going. They don't want to make the announcements without you," Pam said firmly.
"Do we have to?" Katy asked Eric, but even as she said it, she was putting her clothes back on. He was dressing too.
"We'll be there in five minutes. Give us another five to put some suitable clothing on once we get there." Eric said. Katy could hear the disappointment in his voice.
"Okay." Pam said. By the time the two of them stepped out of the cave, Eric's first child was gone.
"What's going on?" Eric asked Katy. Katy had a pretty good idea, but she didn't say. Neither announcement was her secret to tell.
Thirty minutes later, Eric and Katy sat in Fangtasia. Katy had donned a black silk blouse, a flowing black skirt and stiletto heels that Eric loved. He was dressed in his typical black sleeveless T-shirt, jeans and boots. The bar was closed tonight, except for a few invited human and vampire guests.
The humans included Jason and Michele Stackhouse, Andy and Halleigh Bellefleur and a few of Sookie's other human friends. Katy was a little surprised to see the Magister there, as was Eric. Everyone in the bar had a drink in their hand: the humans had champagne; the vampires had Regency True.
Judith and Daniel stepped up to the dais where Eric was sitting on his old throne. Katy was sitting on the arm of the chair with her arm around Eric's neck. Pam was sitting on the other arm of the throne.
"Judith and I have an announcement to make," the handsome male vamp declared. "We are going to be married in a vampire ceremony on Christmas Eve. We hope to have the wedding at the palace afterward if you and Katy agree, Eric. It will be a simple gathering, just a few friends and the Magister." The smile on his face was broad. Judith stepped up and kissed him hard on the lips.
Eric nodded, "We would be happy to host your wedding at the palace." Katy nodded her agreement too. The room burst into cheers. Several people began to hug and kiss Judith and Daniel.
"Did you know about this, lover?" Eric asked as he turned to Katy. He was a little stunned by the news because he knew Judith's feelings about vampire relationships.
"Of course, I did," Katy answered him.
Eric opened his mouth to say something else, but Bill and Sookie Compton took the floor a few feet away.
Bill nodded to Sookie, and she spoke up.
"We have our own announcement to make. I have asked Bill to turn me on our second anniversary next week. We are going to hold the ceremony at our house. The Magister will officiate." Sookie looked over at the Magister who nodded back.
The room was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop. A second cheer went up, but not as loud as the first. Katy and Eric could hear dissenting murmurs among some of the humans, especially Jason.
Sookie spoke up boldly. "This is what I want, Jason. I hope you will all be happy for me. I hope all you will be happy for me."
Katy felt Eric's hand on her arm, and she turned toward him. "Did you know about this too? If so, how come I am the last one to know? I am their king after all." Eric sounded a little displeased.
"Sookie has been talking to me and Judith about it for some time now, but I didn't know for sure that she had made up her mind. I don't think Judith knew either."
"I am surprised Bill asked her. He knows how she feels about being turned," Eric said. He was still annoyed at not knowing.
"Look, you must have guessed how it was going between Judith and Daniel. It was only a matter of time. As for Sookie: I don't think Bill asked her. She told me she was going to ask him. " Katy replied.
"What? Sookie wouldn't do that. She doesn't want to become vampire. If he is forcing her, he will answer to me!" Eric stated harshly.
"Bill would not ask her that; he loves her too much. You know that, Eric."
"Why, then?" Eric demanded, as a surprising stab of jealousy over the idea that Sookie wanted Bill to turn her swept through him, but the feeling was gone in a second.
"Because she loves him. Because she knows that he has pledged to meet the sun on the day she dies. Because she doesn't want him to die. Because she knows with their shared fae blood, they will stay together forever. Anyway, it's their business, not ours, or perhaps, you believe you should have married Sookie, instead of me." Katy said sharply to him; hurt dripped from her voice. She shook his hand off her arm and walked over to Judith.
Katy felt Eric's brief stab of jealousy over Sookie's decision through their bonds. For a moment she was incandescently jealous of the blonde telepath herself. For a moment she wanted to cry, but she knew it wasn't her Sookie's fault. She tamped her feelings down hard and hugged both Judith and Sookie before she congratulated them. She hugged Bill and Daniel and congratulated them too. She felt another strong stab of jealousy coming from Eric, but this time she could hear his mind buzzing with unhappiness because she had just hugged two other men; he definitely didn't like other men touching her. Suddenly, Katy felt warm as Eric's love wrapped around her, and she knew without a doubt that she had no reason to be jealous of Sookie. She smiled to herself, but she didn't look up at Eric. "Let him stew for a moment," she thought.
Sitting beside Eric on the arm of his throne, Pam was angry with him, and she made no bones about it. "Way to go, asshole. Katy is right. Sookie has been considering this for months now. She knows how happy you and Katy are. She sees that Katy has not become a dreaded monster like she feared. She knows how much Daniel and Judith love each other. She knows that she and Bill will stay together forever, not just because of their fae blood, but because of their blood bond and because of their love. She knows Bill is her soulmate. She told me that she asked Bill last night to turn her on their anniversary. She had to convince him to do it, and it wasn't easy. Look at her, Eric. Do you doubt it is her choice?"
Pam and Sookie had renewed their friendship months ago, so Eric had no reason to doubt his oldest child. He looked at Bill and Sookie anyway. From the way that Sookie was looking at Bill, and from they they were holding each other, there was no doubt that they were both happy with the decision they had made.
'No. I am happy for her and Bill," Eric said.
But Pam was on a roll; she would would not let it go. Sookie was her friend, but Katy was family; she had come to love her younger sibling and knew Eric had hurt Katy's feelings.
"Are you, Eric? Are you really happy for Sookie? Are you sorry now that you are married to Katy, and not to Sookie? Are you sorry now that it was Katy you turned, and not Sookie? If you want my opinion, I think Katy is the best thing that ever happened to you, you big jerk, and you damn well know it! You hurt her feelings, so go apologize!"
Eric looked down at Pam with a scowl; he was furious and ready to tell her to butt out, but a movement caught his eye. He looked up as Katy glanced over at them. Her eyes glowed, and she had a big smile on her face. She was happy for both of her friends and that happiness was contagious. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him; he could sense that the jealousy and hurt feelings from a minute ago were entirely gone. Katy held a glass of Regency True in one hand and beckoned him over with the other.
"She's so beautiful," Eric whispered softly to no one in particular. An unexpected rush of love encompassed him when he looked at Katy. He felt weak kneed and trembly. Katy always made him feel that way.
Pam didn't need Eric to explain which woman he was talking about.
Eric sighed heavily and patted Pam's hand. "You are right, Pam; I am a big jerk. No, I am not sorry, I married Katy, and you know it. Sookie is Bill's; it's their business what they do. Katy is mine. I am a lucky man; I have the woman I want. I will never want another."
"I know," Pam smiled up at him. She could feel Eric's love for Katy through their child/maker bond. She had felt it many times before, but tonight it was particularly strong. She felt not only the love, but the utter sense of helplessness Eric felt tonight when he looked at Katy. He wasn't aware that he was broadcasting loudly to to his first child. Pam thought Eric's feelings were interesting and intriguing.
Internally, Pam laughed at the tall, handsome viking vampire king who was usually so fierce and so powerful and so in control of everyone and everything around him, but who apparently came unglued at the flash of bright gray eyes flecked with violet, or a smile on his woman's lips.
"Love," Pam smiled to herself. "Someday, I am going to have to give it a try."
"Come on, you big old softy." Pam whispered to her maker; her voice was so low that no one else could hear. "Let's go join the celebration; let's go join your own soulmate."
Author's note: We have come to the end of my story. I hope all of you have enjoyed taking the journey with me; I know it was l an exciting trek for me. I have discovered several things along the way, and reconfirmed others. For instance, a worthy heroine doesn't always have to be model perfect, brave beyond words, or a superwoman; sometimes she is just a normal human female, who is capable of going beyond herself, what is known and what is safe, and loving a being who is totally different. I also learned that is isn't just the big bad evils that we have to fear, sometimes it is the the little evils, like Ralph and Tiffany that can almost destroy us. Katy and Eric went to hell and back for their love; they deserve to be together and be happy.
I will always believe that Bill and Sookie are meant for each other; they are true soulmates. Because of that The Healing Heart will always be my favorite story, but Dark Desire comes in a close second. I believe that Eric is capable of a deep abiding love with the right woman and he deserves his own HEA. It was a kick to make him fall in love with an ordinary human, not a supe, like Katy Dumont, though. Eric is so arrogant, and looks down on humans, as we all know, so it serves him right.