Eric struggled briefly to make the switch from flat out lust to brisk business talk, hiding his astonishment at her observations. Feeling a bit defensive, Eric asked, "What's it to you, Rio?"

Rather than answer, Rio tipped back her head and held a chunk of melon over her open mouth, letting the honey drip off it onto her extended tongue. Then she dropped in the melon, and Eric could not tear his eyes from the movement of her jaw and throat as she chewed and swallowed. He could smell their recent sex on her, and his train of thought was derailing from wanting her.

His voice was ragged when he spoke, "If you are going to keep eating like that, I will take you right here on the bar."

Rio's eyes shimmered, her pupils dilating. She reached for a grape and held it delicately between her teeth, her lips parted so he could watch her slowly bite down, slicing it in half, slurping at the oozing pulp and juice. Eric stood up, looming, and Rio burst into giggles, holding her hand over her mouth to keep from spraying him with grape juice.

She made a sit down motion with her other hand, and gulping in a big breath, she quelled her laughter and said, "Just testing. I'll behave."

Eric made a pouty mouth at her to show his disappointment, knowing he would be rewarded with her smile, then he began to explain:

"My King…" he gave Rio a look to see how much he needed to tell her. She waved her hand and said, "Filipe De Castro, the King of Nevada and Louisiana."

"And Arkansas, yes," Eric confirmed. "He has been King for quite some time, and is looking to expand beyond his publishing and entertainment empires. He is acquiring restaurants, hotels, and… bars." He looked at her again.

"Al told me," she said.

"Did he also tell you Diablo's is not doing very well?"

"Yes. That's why I'm helping him out."

Eric made a connection between her statement and the affection he had seen her demonstrate with Ailling. "You care for him?"

Rio stared in front of her. "After I left Niall, I had nowhere to go. He took me in. He let me live in his house for a while. He gave me this job," and here she swept her arm to take in the room, "and he feeds me." She popped another grape in her mouth, this time without all the show.

"Rio," Eric said carefully, "I don't think the King intends keeping Al on here."

"I've suspected," she mumbled, ducking her chin into her chest. Then she looked at him, her eyes supernaturally bright. "Northman, where will he go? This place is all he knows. He'll be destitute. I don't want to see that happen."

"Yes," Eric acknowledged. "And I will be the instrument of his destitution, it seems."

She shrugged. "Not you in particular. Things are changing. For my whole life, vampires have been out in the open. Now there are weres everywhere. So many of the ways humans have operated—for decades—are all but gone." She took a deep breath and finished, "I just hate to see it happen to Al."

Eric laid his cool hand on her arm. "It might not have to."

She looked puzzled, and he had a momentary thrill that she had not anticipated something he'd said. He continued, "On the nights you play, the bar does very well. Once the King knows this, he will want to keep you on in some capacity—if not here, then somewhere else in his empire. He will pay you handsomely and you will be able to provide for Al."

Eric was aware as he spoke that Rio was looking at him incredulously.

"Northman, I did not escape from a prince to work for a king!"

Eric felt a flash of anger, then instantly an overwhelming memory from decades ago: he'd found Rio's mother struggling with the Queen of Louisiana's second, Andre, in the hotel in Rhodes. Andre intended to force his blood on Sookie, to bind her to him and insure her loyalty to the Queen. Sookie was revolted by the idea, and Eric knew it would be huge problem if Sookie became bound to Andre, who would use her cruelly. He felt he had no choice but to offer to his own blood instead, and Sookie accepted. She instinctively understood it was better to be bonded with Eric than with the Queen, through Andre.

Rio was waiting for him to speak—she was so perceptive that she saw myriad emotions flying across his face. Eric summoned his voice from deep within himself, "I went through a similar… issue with your mother. It was how she became my blood-bonded."

Rio pressed her hand over his. "I'm so sorry, Northman."

He shook his head. "It's in the past. She decided on a different path, one that took her far from me."

"Tell me about her."

Eric's eyes glowed as if he was looking at some far away, lovely memory. "Her name is Sookie—it is, I think, a name handed down from her human family.

"She was less than 30 human years when she was turned.

"She is as beautiful as you are, but in quite a different way. She is not as tall as you, and is much more curvaceous…"

Rio smiled and said, "I get it, you lusted after her. Tell me why I'd like her."

Eric's forehead creased in thought. "She is spontaneous. Very brave. Smart. Funny. I liked teasing her—she was adorable when she was irritated…"

"Gah," Rio made an exasperated sound. "Stop with the lust, Northman, you're talking about my mother!"

Eric tried to look chagrined, but failed miserably. "Did I tell you she is a telepath?"

"Yes, you did, but tell me more about that."

"She is very good. She used to help me read recalcitrant humans when they were causing me business woes. When the Queen—who Filipe had killed in order to take over Louisiana—learned of your mother's talents, she hired Sookie to assist her at political meetings and summits."

"She kept her telepathy when she was turned?"

"Yes. I had always suspected that her telepathy was somehow linked to her fairy blood, but she was only one-eighth fae, and told me that telepathy was not intrinsically part of the fae."

"No, not that I know of," Rio said, but she sounded uncertain. She played with a piece of fruit. "You said she lives in another country?"

"In England. She has a psychology practice there, helping vampires adjust to… ah, whatever it is vampires need to adjust to." Now it was Eric's turn to sound uncertain.

"Are you in touch with her?"

"Less than I would like. Her maker was an investigator in my area; I was his boss. When she was human, Sookie loved him more than she should have."

"Excuse me?" Rio's eyebrows went up. "That was your business how, exactly?"

Eric chuckled at that: "Sometimes you are so like her.

"He did some bad things to her—he had no choice in doing them, but he also chose not to inform her of his unfortunate behaviors. Yet, when she found out, they continued to be… friends"—Eric sounded like this was too alien a concept to even be speaking of—"… and when Sookie lost… went through some difficult experiences, she turned to him to bring her over. Not too long after that, they left Louisiana for England. She got her psychology degrees there.

"I have heard she is very happy.

"I have not seen her in a long while."

His voice had trailed off to nothing and he stopped.

Eric looked at Rio, his face like marble. "The King must not know about you. He will want you for himself and he will not treat you as you deserve. It would have been a terrible mistake if I had told him about you."

"It's okay, Northman, I'm a big girl," Rio tried to lighten his darkening mood.

"No," Eric spoke with force. "I could be leading him to you right now. I have been staying at your house."

"I want you to," Rio insisted. "I… like it ."

Eric brushed his fingers along her cheek in a gesture of reassurance. "I like it too, but I have been thinking about this all wrong. I…" Eric's jaw clenched and his face twisted with unhappiness. "I faxed Sandy about Diablo's. She wasn't there… Rio, I cannot stay at your house anymore."

"Northman, I told you, you are safe there. No one can get in."

Eric practically hissed, "It's not me I'm worried about! If I'm not at his hotel, Filipe will be wondering where I am staying. He'll have me followed to you. Once Sandy gives him my report, he will know how valuable you are, and he will know I value you, too. He will want you for himself."

"You're being silly, Northman," Rio started, but the look on Eric's face silenced her.

"Silly is one thing I never am."

Rio looked around the bar, indicating the total lack of interest in her. "As you've noticed, I'm not easy to find if I choose not to be seen."

Eric set his jaw in a way Rio had never seen (her mother would have instantly recognized that set and held her tongue; there was no arguing with the vampire when he had that expression). When he spoke, his voice was hard, "The King is ruthless. He will stop at nothing to obtain what he wants. He is not above using others…" and here, Eric nodded his head down the bar toward Ailling, "…as a means of persuasion."

Rio drew in a shocked breath.

Eric ignored her surprise and plowed ahead—he intended to make his point no matter what (while this should have been a yellow flag that he was letting his feelings for Rio get the better of him, he batted it away). "The King might even torture me to find out about you."

If Eric thought he was playing for her sympathy, he was wrong. Rio's eyes flashed the illuminated green of a traffic light. "I thought it wasn't you you were worried about! Here I thought the powerful vampire could take care of himself."

His eyes narrowed dangerously and he growled, "I not only can, I will: I will not endanger either of us by staying at your house."

"Northman…" Rio reached for him, but he stood up so fast she couldn't see it.

As far as Eric was concerned, the matter was closed. But his confusion over how he felt about Rio and how to protect her from the King's notice had him flustered in a way totally alien to him; that, however, did not excuse his rudeness when he stepped away from her and vanished into the office, slamming the door behind him.