Oh I hope you like this, I know I've made you wait an awful long time, but I think it might just have been worth the wait. Do let me know.

Merick

Part 10

Midnight blue, it could have been the darkened sky that had been my only glimpse of the firmament in a thousand years. I'm certain there was a name for the style of the nightgown she was wearing, I didn't know it, not that that fact would have surprised Pam at all. Periodically she'd get it in her head to try to explain A lines and Empire waists, stilettos, and kitten heels to me. It never held because fashion never interested me. I'll try to describe it.

Lace triangles covered her breasts, modestly enough not to display the changes in shades at their centers, but enticing enough to display their firm lateral swells. The spaghetti straps crossed at the back, which plunged to reveal the gentle curve at the small of her back. A satin strip banded under her breasts and from that a river of fabric cascaded downwards, clinging to her hips as if it was truly dark water, covering her legs almost all the way to the floor. She looked breathtaking with her long blond hair draped over her shoulders. It was exactly as I would have pictured a lover; elegant, poised, beautiful, speaking to me with her mere being, not over-exposed flesh and sexual poses.

'Me, me, me! You bought it for me!' The little devil sitting on my left shoulder began to shriek as he frantically hopped up and down, pitchfork thrashing about erratically. The angel on my right shoulder was slightly more subdued, and before you say it, yes, I do have an angel, and I am offended that you would think otherwise. That angel whispered in my ear, 'you are not the only man in her life Eric. You may believe that she has shared her body with you, but you know for certain that she has found comfort in the arms of the wolf.'

Bloody, fucking hell! Alcide Herveaux. I had completely forgotten about him. That midnight blue was the same sky he looked into when he expressed his dual nature. When Sookie had been in Jackson she had stayed with him, and I knew he wasn't going to have any further issues with his ex; I'd dug the grave after all. That meant that he was truly single, and so was Sookie, and after a relationship with a vampire having gone so wrong perhaps, just perhaps she wanted something different? A warm body to lie beside? A chance at having a family? She might not have wanted to tell me the truth of what had happened because she truly felt nothing for me, at least nothing akin to what she felt for the wolf. Perhaps it was guilt?

Doubt is a cancer, and worse than silver at breaking a spirit. Pain threatened anger and I looked away from her.

"Eric? The tags were still on it, do you have any ideas?" I didn't know if she was simply naïve, or if she was teasing me. All of a sudden I couldn't read her.

"No." I said sadly. One lie, gods forgive me. I couldn't say his name, and the angel wouldn't let me say mine. The devil stabbed me with his pitchfork.

"I'm going to go and get ready to sleep." I mumbled, and stepped into the bathroom. I ran the water in the sink and glared at myself in the mirror, my grip on the counter threatening to snap off two fist sized chunks of the marble. What the hell was I supposed to do? My chest hurt, but my gut ached with desire for her. I wanted to be good, but I also wanted to be really bad.

I wanted to lift her into my arms and carry her to my bed. I wanted to slide that blue fabric up her legs and plunge myself into a willing body. And I wanted to hear her cry out my name. The devil said 'do it!' she probably won't remember this time anyways when you get her memory back for her', the angel said 'she might, or this might become her new reality, don't fuck it up', apparently my angel could swear like a trucker. Seemed reasonable at the time especially since it was just my own mind talking. I took off my shirt, and splashed water on my face; it was hot, it didn't matter. I still didn't know what I was going to do when I heard her approach the door, and then tap on it, with just her fingernails. I dried my face and opened it to her.

"I've hurt you." She said.

"Of course not." I grit my teeth and made to move past her, but a hand placed on my arm held me fast.

"I'm sorry. I'd say that I forget sometimes, but that seems a little stupid right now. I'm just trying to find answers and sometimes it seems that I just say things out loud as they come to me."

"You always did." She laughed.

"Bred in the bone I suppose."

She looked past me to see herself in the mirror and brushed her hair away from the left side of her neck, where I had taken her blood.

"I thought the marks would be bigger." She referred to the two puncture wounds.

"They don't have to be. If you're careful." Seeing them forced me to look at her again, the innocent beauty that she seemed to hold about herself was intoxicating as was the memory of the taste of her and the cusp of awareness we had shared. "This must be so hard for you Eric."

"Why would you say that?" I leaned back on the counter, willing myself not to break it.

"You don't know what to say to me, I don't know what to say to you. Both of us seem to be so afraid of the doing the wrong thing. You are trying so hard not to hurt me, and to not tell me the truth of so many things that must have been so sad for me. And I know I've hurt you, and I don't want to hurt you again."

"Sookie."

"I don't know what I can promise you for the future Eric, but if you are willing to take what I can give you right now?" She stopped speaking mid sentence and stepped towards me, almost to touching me. I could hear her heart beat, fluttering again, I could feel the shy trembling of her chest in the scant air between us, and I could smell deeply of her, her perfume, her hair, the salt of the anxious perspiration on her lips. She curled delicate fingers around the back of my neck and pulled my face down to hers, pressing her mouth against mine so softly. She stepped into the circle of my open arms and allowed me to crush her against my body, even as I crushed her lips with the passion that washed through me.

I think the angel even gave me the thumbs up.

We stumbled from the confined bathroom back into my living room, me unwilling to let her go, her seemingly the same. The amber glow of the fireplace light played off her hair. Already golden it turned to further brilliance and her skin gleamed with warmth and the desire I was beginning to scent on her body. She could not have failed to feel the physical manifestations of my arousal as I held her.

"Do you wish to take my blood Eric?" She began to twirl her hair again, away from her neck.

"It isn't your blood that I want right now Sookie." I spoke my words sincerely and carefully, looking into her eyes and running two fingers down the side of her face. I saw a shiver run the length of her body, and her lips begin to tremble as she yielding slightly into my touch.

"I want you too Eric." She whispered, still too shy to hold my gaze as she so.

It was all she needed to say, and all my heart and mind needed to hear. As in the fantasy I did sweep her up in my arms and press her to my chest, and carry her to my bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us. Pam could put her damned earplugs in for all I cared, I intended to make Sookie scream; in a good way of course.

My bed was piled with blankets, a way to remember my past, and perhaps delude myself that I could still have that comforting sense of warmth about me as I slept. I laid her down atop them, though she would not let go of me as I did it, keeping our bodies only inches apart. I didn't mind being compelled to hover over her; I loved hearing her heart begin to pound, knowing that it was wholly for me. I pressed my mouth to hers again, and met her tongue searching for mine. She arched her back to press her chest against me even as my hands pushed the straps at her shoulders aside, and my fingers delved underneath the lace.

Her body was hot and she quivered as I brushed my fingertips over her breasts, delicately tracing the swells and teasing her as she cried out very softly, closing her eyes.

"Watch me." I asked her, wanting her to see me, wanting selfishly to know that it was only I in her mind. But of course, who else could it have been? Not that I had thought of that at the time, I was well distracted. Lazily she opened them again as I brought my mouth down over her nipples in turn, suckling them and swirling my tongue over them till they stood for me, even as I ground my hips against hers, rod hard and desperate, straining against my trousers.

"I want you Eric." She repeated between caught breaths; words that only fueled my desires. My hand went to the hem of her gown, pulling it upwards to where her hands could take it, and pull the river of satin over her head to cast it away.

My god she was beautiful, lying on my bed, perfect curves, skin so perfect, not white like mine, but porcelain, the summer's tan faded to a healthy glow offset by the darkened circles at the center of her breasts, and the blush of arousal. I bent again to kiss her and she pulled my hips to her again, tugging at the waistband of my pants. In a swift blur I had the buttons undone and was pushing them off my legs, freeing my erection to brush against her warmth. Her whole body trembled as I touched her.

It took too much conscious thought to really hover, so I leaned on my bent left arm and ran my right hand down the side of her body, curving inwards as I reached her hips, following the gentle slope downwards to between her legs. Her muscles, at first relaxed, tensed to electric arousal as I drew my fingers across her most intimate places, and I could not help but moan just a little as well at the state of her; hot and so obviously ready for me. I took the time to run my fingers in tiny circles over the center of her pleasure, prompting the most delicious noises from her, and the closing of her eyes once again. I could not blame her, succumbing to the delight. With the feel of her, and the smell of her my fangs dropped, uncontrolled by conscious thought. At the sound of the snap she opened her eyes again, just to look at me, and to smile at me, before giving herself over to me completely.

I brushed myself against her, in a long stroke, her heat tantalizing me beyond the point of being able to hold out any longer. With a careful, deliberate push I entered her. I didn't want to hurt her by being too vigorous, and I knew that if I tore her delicate skin and she was to shed blood, that the scent, and the way she felt, wrapped around me would have driven me out of my mind. She cried out, long and low, arching into me, begging me with her hips to go as deeply as I could. I was only too happy to comply.

Her arms wrapped loosely around my back, as I began to thrust against her, feeling her muscles tighten against my rod as she rocked her pelvis to take me. Her breath began to come in rasps, every note a song to my ears. And beyond it all, beyond the immediate sensations, which were heaven to me, there was something more, the cusp I had been sitting upon so precariously in regards to my memories finally tipped in my favor and I was flooded with the images, the remembered scents and feelings, and though it was as if it was the first time between us, with all the glory of the mutual discoveries, I did know finally then that I had made love to her before. I could see the bedroom, feel the patchwork quilt atop her bed against my skin, I remembered her hands on me, and her mouth and it brought such intensity to the passions I lavished on her. I bent to kiss her again, roughly that time, grinding my lips against her even as I ground my hips, and I captured her cries and her breaths with my desperate mouth. Fangs still extended her frantic dance to capture my tongue with hers, slashed both and the swirl of mingled blood was shared between our two mouths and I could do nothing but come for her, driving my body and my juices deep into her. Then it was my turn to cry out for her with an animal growl, better than Were.

The hands from around my back tightened their grasp, and I felt nails against my skin, their force pulling me closer to her body till I was nearly laid out over her, and able to feel the taut bands under her skin as much as I felt her body tighten around me further as I continued to move within her, and then I was awash with her orgasm, and the strong waves of contractions which threatened to push me over the edge a second time. She screamed my name, and with her implicit permission I sank my teeth into her neck again, this time pulling the blood from her, needing her within me, as much as I needed to be within her.