A now, by request, a bit more fluff and some plot progression.

An apology to those lovely reviewers that I haven't been able to get back too this past week. I sincerely appreciate every word that you have written and you make me feel so good about crafting this story. Things are winding up and I would love to hear what you think of the journey thus far.

Thank you,

Merick

Part 34

"Darling? Can you bring some rum up from the back please?"

She knew I could hear her, even though I was in my office and she was organizing things behind the bar. She counted on me being able to hear her in fact. As for the 'darling', well, we were the only ones in the club at the time, and so I tolerated the term of endearment she had chosen for the evening. Now don't get me wrong, I say tolerate, not in a misogynistic kind of way, but in a self-preservation vein. I am still the Sherriff of Area Five, and still the most powerful vampire in a great many states, I am also a businessman, and part of my business relies on the fear factor my brooding yet dangerous visage lends me; most nights at least. (On ladies night, it requires another personality entirely, tonight being Ladies night.) Darling just will not cut it around here.

"Could you bring some vodka too please sweetie?"

Okay, that one annoyed me.

I set the two cases on the bar for her, and she smiled brilliantly at me. I love that smile.

"Is that all right honey?" I asked her, in the most sarcastic tone I could muster. She wrinkled her nose at me. We ended up laughing at each other. It felt good; kind of carefree, but do not tell anyone I said that otherwise I will deny it; vehemently. Sookie was working tonight; she worked all the ladies nights, which were Thursday, and she also worked Friday and Saturday. Thursdays I worked behind the bar with her; we had made such a profit that first night we had tried it that Pam had insisted we create the tradition. Hence the other personality I mentioned above. When I am behind the bar I need the women to 'want' me. You understand I am certain. I mean, part of my business at the club has always been the customers who come in trying to catch my attention and garner my favors, men and women alike, but most especially on ladies night, when the easiest way to get close to me is to order a drink, at ten dollars a piece. It would not do to have my girlfriend gushing over me, driving away all those credit cards. Sookie understood, better than I did I must say, about the women hitting on me. Never once had she shown any jealousy with their clever and not so clever offers. I cannot call myself quite as magnanimous when it comes to the men.

Sookie is beautiful, even moreso to humans now that she regularly takes my blood. Vampire blood makes a human seem to glow, and of course it deals with most injuries and issues as well so that the complexion always looks flawless, the lips redder, the eyes brighter. Not that Sookie actually needed any kind of enhancement, she was always perfect, but it did bring the men to her side of the bar, as opposed to Arthur's on many occasions. Their pick up lines were usually quite pitiful, if not persistent. Arthur dealt with many of them; he still felt a need to protect Sookie, which I appreciated, be it out of his own guilt or his sense of self-preservation. But the times when the men would not leave off I watched her; (I always watch her), lean over the bar towards them and say that she would have to check with her boyfriend first. Then she would look up at me, on the dais, and smile. I would smile back, fangs extended, and that usually took care of things, mortal and immortal. Secretly I think she enjoys the attention and the validation of her beauty, but she knows that I love her, and she loves me just as much. Our bond is stronger than it has ever been, due in part to the fact that we spend most every night together, and share blood every time we make love.

"Thanks Eric." She pulled the cartons down effortlessly; my blood had other advantages as well.

It had been six months since we had broken the spell that had held her memories captive, and since we had banished the witch from the state. There had not been any tell of her since, and that suited me just fine. I still wondered if I should have just killed her, and part of my mind nagged at me for that choice, worried that it, or she, would yet come back to haunt me. I had yet to convince Sookie to finally move away from Bon Temps completely, but her reluctance was wearing down with every night she had with me. I spoiled her terribly.

She still worked for Sam Merlotte, at the beginning of each week, she just couldn't bring herself to quit completely. I had done my best to send him some good leads on help, but it seemed he had as much trouble keeping waitresses; Sookie excepted, as I had keeping bartenders. She stayed with him those few days out of that innate sense of loyalty she has, and I cannot completely fault her for that, even though I know it has gotten her into trouble, as much as it has served her. The days she stayed in Bon Temps I made every effort to meet her at her house after her shifts, and even though it meant spending the day in the earth, either under her guest room closet, or in the woods, it was worth the 'discomfort' to have those moments with her, even if it was just watching movies with her in my arms. I think one of the other reasons that Sookie stayed in Bon Temps was to maintain her Grandmother's house because she really did not have much else holding her there as far as I saw it. Okay, there were her friends and her brother, but they seemed to be spending more time at Fangtasia all of a sudden, and their talk, which they believed I did not hear, was all about how Sam was getting ornery all of a sudden. Sadly, most all of them, excepting Sookie again, seemed more interested in speculating as to the reasons and spreading the latest gossip instead of looking to help the man. So far, my help had not been requested, though I expected that it would, likely sooner rather than later if I knew my Sookie, and her loyalty. It did not mean though, that I did not try to take her mind away from Bon Temps, given the opportunities.

"You know Sookie?" I leaned over the bar to reach out for her hand. "We should get away for a little break."

"Really?" She looked up from replacing the empty liquor bottles with the full ones I had brought. She took my offered hand and I marveled in how soft and warm her skin was. I craved her touch.

"Yes," I jumped over the bar, to corner her against the back wall. "We should take a vacation." I brought my face down to hover over her neck, kissing her quickly there as I let my hands run up the sides of her body. I purred just quietly into her ear. It had been a few days since I had been with her, business had kept me in Shreveport till long after her bedtime, and as much as I desired her, I would not demand her attention at the expense of her health, at least not regularly.

"Eric." She scolded me, "Pam is going to be here soon." The smile on her face did not say she wanted me to stop, just the opposite in fact.

"We have five minutes." I told her as I nipped her neck again.

"Well then."

In an instant I had her back in my office, laid out on my desk. Thank the gods she had worn a skirt for me, and not those silly black shorts from Merlotte's. I pushed it right up around her hips and let my hands part her thighs as I brought my mouth down to her and began to tease her quite mercilessly. I know just where to touch her to make her squirm, and just how long to torture her before she releases herself to me. The way she moans and the way she twines her fingers into my hair are good clues, beyond what I can feel through our bond. And when she reached that point, in very short order, I knew that I needed to be inside her to finish us both. In a blur I changed positions and drove myself into her, loving the sound of her cries as I thrust myself against her desperation. Her nails raked down my back, the smell of my blood filling the room, mingling with the sex as she let herself go for me. With a roar I joined her, a roar that almost downed out the voice of my child in my head.

"Honestly Eric? Bloody Rabbits." I burst out laughing, and Sookie, now sensing it from my mind did the same. I kissed her hard. She had fit herself into my life so easily, it was as if she had always belonged there. And yes, I acknowledge that it had been she who had made most of the sacrifices in our relationship. I loved her for that. And, as I have said before, she understood me.

She pulled herself back together with a twisted up grin on her face and told me that she was heading back out to the bar to finish setting up for the night. Pam took the opportunity to enter the office, brushing past Sookie with her eyebrows raised to chastise me with one of her powerful looks of disapproval. Honestly, sometimes I think she forgets who is the child and who the maker.

"You two should get a room you know."

"We have one, in fact we have several." I replied, as deadpan as I could make my voice while still hearing Sookie snickering behind the bar.

"You're working tonight?"

"Of course, it is Thursday."

"Just try to keep your hands off her if you can Eric."

"I can control myself just fine Pam."

"But you do make me wonder Eric." She turned to leave, having admonished me sufficiently for her liking, but I stopped her.

"I am going to take Sookie away for a few days Pam, you will be in charge of things while I am gone."

"Meetings?"

"No, pleasure."

"Good, then you can perhaps get some of this schoolboy foolishness out of your system."

"I have never been a schoolboy, you will have to explain that to me Pam." I knew I was prodding her.

"One day you are going to start a fire Eric." And she walked away. I could not help but to laugh again. I was having an excellent night; perhaps that should have been a warning about another shoe dropping in the not too distant future.

"There really aren't many places we could go to Eric, we don't really have to go away. We could just drive up to New Orleans for the night." She was trying to talk me out of a vacation, but it was half hearted, I knew she loved the idea, but she was correct, my nature did rule out a great many destinations.

"I know that choosing a destination will be difficult, but not impossible. The world is opening up to Vampire tourism, albeit slowly."

"It'll be really hard to think about you stored away in the cargo hold of an Anubis flight Eric. Dallas is one thing, but much further makes me uncomfortable." Of course she was referring to the preferred airline of the undead. Anubis had tailored its business around serving vampire clientele preferentially with indoor hangers and small planes and transfer services that were above reproach. Having flown with them before I certainly found them preferable to the old transatlantic crossings on a ship. If any mode of travel made you feel like Nosferatu well that was it.

"It really is the safest way, we'll fly overnight anyways, anywhere you want."

"Anywhere Eric?" That response did make me feel somewhat apprehensive, and I purposely kept myself out of her thoughts, not wanting to view the can of worms I had just inadvertently opened.

"Just so long as they have a proper hotel for us, and a good night life." I knew I was going to regret limiting my conditions to those few, but I also knew that she deserved some time away and I had been remiss in not planning something for us much earlier.

"And you're sure you can take a holiday Eric?"

"If the Sherriff of Area five cannot even give himself a few days off then it says very little for his abilities to control his assets."

"I'm not sure what that means exactly, but I'll take that as a yes then shall I?"

"You can use the computer at home to start planning."

She held my hand tightly. I could feel her practically vibrating with excitement as we stood just past the railway platform stairs. In front of us the narrow main street stretched forward, lined with shops and fronted by light posts whose beacons lit the night, not to make it seem as day, no, that would have destroyed the atmosphere. Here it was all right for it to be night, it did not calm the excited atmosphere a wit. Soft music played in the background, an unobtrusive mixture of classical orchestras and turn of the century ragtime and jazz precursors. As we looked up the street we saw at its very end a castle, lit by spotlights to emphasize its spires and the fairytale quality of its white stone. I could see and hear the flow of the small moat around it, though I doubted Sookie could. The castle was nothing special to me, I had seen hundreds in my time, many far grander than this, and far more practical in their strategic planning, it was looking at Sookie that gave me the most pleasure.

Her eyes were wide, and the glow of the streetlights made them sparkle even more than usual. Her lips were parted in an innocent awe of everything that she was taking in, which told me that despite my reservations in her choice of destination that it had been the correct one for her.

"Eric, it's more beautiful than I could have ever imagined." She whispered almost reverently, it amused me to hear it considering the location, but again, this holiday was about her, and about me being a partner to her, and about repaying her for every sacrifice she had made to be with me. We would never walk hand in hand on a sunlit beach together, we would never watch a sunset or a sunrise in each other's arms, there would be no lunches together on outdoor patios in France or bicycle rides by the Danube. I had seen all these things in her mind before, dreams she had put away to be with me. But this place, this place offered a great deal that we could share, that would make her heart light, and that was what I desired. I bent down to kiss the top of her head, loving the smell of her hair, the fairy, the flowers and my lover.

"Thank you so much for coming with me." She said, her eyes still caught by the castle lights.

"There is nowhere I would rather be than here with you right at this moment my beauty." I meant it in complete honesty. "But my lover, I must insist upon one thing."

"Of course, anything Eric."

"Please, do not ask me to wear one of those silly hats with the mouse ears on it."

Her laughter was the sweetest music to me then, just as it has always been, and she tugged on my hand, pulling me down Main Street USA, and off to the left fork at the town square, headed for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Thanks to those who have taken the time to review, you give me the will to write.