Eric's POV:
I look at Sookie one last time before leaving the room. She doesn't look back but rather stares at her hands, fidgeting her fingers.
As I walk out I continue to evaluate Sookie's emotions through our bond. She hadn't closed it yet. She was still hurt and very stubborn but at the same time there was hope. She was conflicted. I was certain that she was very adamant about never returning to me, but I could feel that had now changed. I could also sense the emotions she felt towards him, that ancient vampire. I try to suppress my anger.
As I reach the elevator Sookie closes the bond again. I think about what I have to do next in order to get her back. Firstly, I must get the council to agree that she is still mine. Once she is back with me then I will do everything in my power to win her affections back. I silently think about my plan until I reach the main floor. The doors open and Rosamund is standing in front of me with a smug smile on her face.
Damn, I had almost forgotten that she was down here.
"What do you want?" I demand, frowning.
"We should discuss this in my car," she replies.
"I'm not going anywhere with you," I tell her, walking away from her. I leave the building and the valet hands me my keys and I get into my car.
As I get in, she swiftly jumps into the passenger side.
I look at her angrily, "Get out before I throw you out the window," I growl.
"Eric I have a huge problem," she laments. A single bloody tear falls down her cheek.
A few more start to form around her eyes. I don't know if this is authentic or if it's another one of her games.
"You have one minute to explain," I say.
"Etienne has been taken. My child Eric, they took my child!" she cries out.
"Who took him?" I respond.
"Marten and his maker," she says as she looks up toward the building.
I stare up at the building as well for a brief moment before shifting the gears and driving off.
"How do you know he was taken by them?" I say firmly, driving towards the park.
"Like I told you yesterday I hadn't heard from him for awhile and I was beginning to get worried. It was about early this morning that I started to sense him again. I could feel that he was near. I took a few of my men to locate him. As I got closer I could feel that he was weak and dire. My men assessed the building and found that it was heavily guarded. I also had my men find out who owned that building. They said it belonged to someone named Alex Hawthorne."
"How do you know that's Marten?"
"Because that's one of his aliases. He used that name when we first met in Bath," she tells me.
Intriguing, I think to myself. It is apparent that he wanted her to know that he had Etienne. But there was more to this story.
"Why is he holding Etienne? What did you do?" I demand.
"I didn't do anything!" she cries out. "Neither has Etienne."
"Except..." she says quietly.
"Spit it out!" I yell.
"I wanted to do something nice for you, something that would earn me your favour. I knew that Sookie had left. Hell every vampire on the planet knew she was gone. I knew that ruthless, conniving vampires would try to seek her out. So I sent Etienne to Canada to look for her before she got hurt by one of them."
"Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" I growl.
"Because I wanted it to be a surprise! I thought that if I found her safely then you would look at me more favourably. Etienne obviously did find Sookie and now he is paying the price for it," she says.
"There's more that you are keeping from me," I say sternly.
"Yes, I think that Felipe had something to do with why Sookie left. I don't any proof, but I am certain that he had something to do with that. Every time I went to Las Vegas to go see him, he always talked about her. He would say things like how she was going to eventually live with him and how he would make a lot of money off her by using her talent."
I grip the steering wheel harder as I drive through the park faster than usual. I don't believe what she says entirely, but I think the part about De Castro was true.
I mull over what she has just said.
"Eric? So are you going to help me get Etienne back?" Rosamund asks.
I stay silent for a few minutes thinking about my next move. I can use this as leverage to get Sookie back. I can also finally interrogate Etienne about what he knows. "Alright I will help you on this matter. I will confront Marten and his maker when the time is right."
She sighs and smiles happily at me.
"Thank you so much Eric. I knew you would help me," she says. She moves closer and tries to hug me, but I push her away with one hand.
"Just because I am assisting you, doesn't mean that you can touch me," I say angrily.
"I was just trying to show my gratitude toward my husband," she says in a soft tone.
I abruptly stop the car causing her to jerk forward.
"Jesus Eric you could have warned me," she whines.
I ignore what she says, "You can leave now. I will contact you shortly."
"Hmmpf," she says annoyed.
Just as she is getting out I tell her, "Oh and by the way Rosamund." She looks back at me. "If I find out that you had something to do with Sookie leaving, you will wish that you were never made a vampire."
"I swear that I would never do anything to hurt you Eric," she says. She looks at me one last time and leaves. I watch her get into her own car that had been following us.
I drive back to my hotel.
When I enter my room, Pam is sitting on the lounge chair waiting for me.
"Well?" she asks curiously.
"She is angry and hurt still. I need more time to convince her to come back to me," I say as I take off my jacket. I open up a bottle of blood.
"What about her relationship with Marius?" she asks hesitantly.
I slam the bottle down on the coffee table causing it to break. "It is nothing. Nothing will come from their relationship," I sneer.
I tell Pam to leave and I spend the rest of the night doing my work and thinking about how to approach this new development. As the sun gets closer to rising, I lie on my bed thinking about Sookie.
Sookie's POV:
I stand under the showerhead letting the warm water soothe as I think about Eric. Yesterday evening was the first time in months that I had seen him. He had surprised me. I thought that he would try to deny cheating on me, but he didn't. Not only did he take responsibility, but he also went down on his knees asking for forgiveness. When I saw him I realized that the feelings that I had for him were still there; maybe not as strong as they once were, but nevertheless they were still there.
Setting aside those thoughts for now, I wash and put conditioner in my hair. In a few hours Marius and Marten were taking me to a nightclub opening. It was the opening of The Bank New York. Apparently that was why Marten was in Las Vegas when I was last there.
I turn off the water and wrap myself in a warm fluffy towel. I put a smaller towel on my head. I go into the closet to look for a nice dress to wear tonight.
There are more than a hundred dresses in this closet. I settle upon a sexy tight, strapless black dress that had a full skirt, a black belt and went down to my mid-thigh. It wasn't entirely black as there were a few yellow stripes around the skirt. I pick out my underwear. I choose a strapless black satin bra and matching black satin panties.
After choosing my attire, I put on a pale pink robe and carry out my clothes to the bedroom. I find Marius lying on the bed with his eyes closed, having some downtime.
"Hi," I smile down at him. He smiles back. I lay my clothes at the foot of the bed and go to sit next to him.
"Did you have a good day?" he asks, while rubbing my lower back.
"Yes I did, Tara and I had so much fun. We got to see the Statue of Liberty, the Met, and the Empire State Building. It was phenomenal!"
"I am glad you had a great day," he says. I smile down at him. He had a strange look on his face, as though he wanted to ask me something else.
"It's not too late," he says. "If you want to return to Northman then I will not stop you." He tried to keep a stoic expression, but I could see the hurt behind his eyes.
I turn away for a moment and look to him again. "No I haven't changed my mind. I don't want to be with him if he is going to continue to cause me hurt in the future. His marriage is for a hundred years. I don't think I have the willpower to wait that long," I lightly laugh.
"If I could do something about that, would you return to him?" he asks me.
My eyes widen. I know what he is referring to. He was willing to kill Rosamund for me in order to set Eric free. "No!" I gasp. "I may despise his wife, but I don't want to have her killed. I couldn't live with myself."
"You didn't answer my question," he says.
Would I return to Eric if his wife was out of the way? I deliberate for a moment and breathe in deeply. "I don't know. Obviously I wouldn't be here if he had never married her. But as for going back to him, I'm not sure. He still betrayed my trust and hurt me deeply. So that is why I don't think I would, but on the other hand, I still have feelings of love for him. I can't help but feel that way still."
He pulls me onto his lap. "I know that you still love him. Strong feelings like that just don't away so easily. But I want you to give me a chance. I will wait for you until you are ready," he tells me gently.
"Thank you," I smile at him. I give him a gentle kiss.
Soon things start heating up and we continue to make out on the bed. He moves me underneath him and strips off his shirt. I run my hands down his chest and back as he kisses my neck and collarbone. I untie my robe to give him an indication that he can go down further. I haven't put my underwear on yet, and he cups my breast with his hand, rolling my nipple between his thumb and finger causing me to moan. Just as he is about to put his mouth on my breast a voice interrupts us.
A man clears his throat. "Sorry to interrupt father, but I thought that Sookie might be hungry."
I look towards the doorway mortified. Marten is standing there with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
Marius stares back at him with an annoyed expression while shielding my body with his. "Leave us now Marten and close the door," he says.
He lifts himself off of me and ties my robe. "Would you like to eat dinner?"
I nod and sit up. I put on a t-shirt and yoga pants. We walk to the dining room holding hands.
The chef serves me the first course; a bowl of creamy mushroom soup.
"Are you excited about the opening?" I ask Marten who is sitting across from me sipping on a glass of blood.
"Not really, it's the same old thing. The only reason I am opening this club was to just to piss off Felipe because I detest him. I own 60 percent, something which he was not too happy to agree with. Eventually I will own all of it and that will piss him off even more," he laughs. "He wants to open more clubs in Buffalo and New Jersey."
"Oh," I respond. "How long have you known Felipe?"
"Since the first year he was made a vampire. He was clumsy and an idiot. I found him one night in Manacor feeding off a small boy and his sister. He had already drained the girl and the boy was close to dying, but I saved him. I threw Felipe off of him. Like a coward he ran away. I could have gone after him, but I wanted to save the boy's life instead. I gave him my blood and carried him home. After that I gave the girl a proper burial."
I lose my appetite. "How can anyone be so cruel," I whisper.
"We are not all like that Sookie," he says. "There are some of us who don't prey on the weak. Which is why Felipe is still alive."
I finish my dinner and we all head back to our rooms to change. Marius decides to change in one of the guest rooms to give me privacy.
I do my hair and makeup first, then put my underwear and dress on.
An hour later we are ready to go and head out in a limousine. We stop at Marten's other apartment building first to pick up his date.
He gets out and comes back into the limo a few minutes later with a gorgeous young woman who has honey blonde hair and long tanned legs. Her eyes are green and her white printed strapless dress clings to her slender frame.
They settle into their seats and she eyes me, waiting to be introduced.
Marten sees us looking at each other and grins, "Where are my manners? Natasha this is Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie, this is Natasha."
"A pleasure to meet you," she says holding out her hand. Her accent is Australian.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you too," I smile, shaking her hand.
I lean back next to Marius and put my hand on his thigh.
She looks at Marius and at my hand. I decide to lower my shields. She was relieved because she thought that I was Marten's other date for the night as he usually has two or more dates when he goes out. She was thinking about the last time she went out with him and had to share him with three other girls. They got into a huge catfight after he left them in the bedroom.
I put my shields back up and smile nervously.
We reach the nightclub and there are hundreds of humans and vampires waiting outside. We step out of the limo and dozens of photographers take our pictures as we head inside.
The nightclub is similar to the one in Las Vegas, only the colours of the drapes and chairs were more vibrant. The dance floor area was bigger too. We walk up to the VIP section and to our reserved table. We sit down and Marius puts his arm around me.
"Would you like anything to drink Sookie?" he asks.
"Hmmm... I haven't drank in awhile. I'll try a martini," I respond. Marten motions for a server to come to our table and she takes our orders.
We have a pretty good view of the dance floor and I watch the mixture of humans and vampires gyrating to dance music.
We sit there sipping our drinks talking amongst ourselves. I learn a little more about Natasha. She tells me that she is a student at Columbia and is working on getting her master's degree in engineering. She asks me about my education and I get embarrassed. I tell her that I didn't have a chance to finish but I want to return to school soon.
We chat for a half hour until she asks me something.
"Sookie since these men will not ask, do you want to dance?" she smiles.
I glance at Marius who only grins. "Okay," I reply.
She holds my hand as we walk down to the dance floor. A bouncer clears a small area for us and we begin dancing. The dance song changes to a tune about table dancing. I start to enjoy myself; I missed this.
The third song later we are still dancing and I am having a good time. I spin around and suddenly freeze as I look up towards the entrance. It's Eric and Pam. I could feel myself panicking and I tell Natasha that I am going to sit down. She follows me back to our table.
"Are you alright?" Marius asks me.
"I'll be fine. I am just surprised," I tell him. I gulp down another martini trying to focus on staring at the table and not at the crowd.
As I am on my third drink, Marten speaks, "Sookie would you like to dance with me?"
I look up at him surprised and I look at Marius.
"You don't need my permission Sookie. It is up to you," he says squeezing my hand.
I smile at him and turn to Marten. "Yes that would be nice."
Marten leads me back down to the dance floor by putting his hand on my back. I can practically feel everyone's eyes on us as we dance but that doesn't stop me from enjoying myself. He was an amazing dancer. During the second song he moves in closer and put his hands on my swaying hips. He whispers a joke into my ear and I laugh.
A few seconds later I hear a voice behind me, "I see that you waste no time in keeping your bed warm Sookie."
I turn around to see Pam frowning at me. "I take it that you are not only screwing his maker but him as well."
I glare at her angrily. Just as I am about to say something Marten speaks, "That's out of line Pam," he says harshly. "Apologize to her now."
"Why should I? What I have said is clearly true," she snaps back.
"You don't know anything Pam!" I yell.
A second later Eric is standing beside her just as she is about to retort back. "That's enough Pam!" he says angrily. "Apologize to Sookie."
"Please accept my apology," she says, with no hint of remorse in her voice.
"Accepted," I say, still glaring at each other.
"Sookie I will take you back to our table," Marten says behind me.
Just as he grabs my hand, Eric says sternly, "She is not going anywhere with you."
I hear the clicking sound of Marten's fangs and a swishing sound. Marius is beside me now. Pam and Eric's fangs have come out as well.
Oh fuck, I think to myself.
I was going to write more but I am heading to the airport in a few hours. So when I return I will begin on the next chapter. Merry Christmas everybody! Have fun and safe travels to everyone!