Knock at the Door

I awoke with a start. Damn it, another dream about Eric. The less I saw him in the flesh, the more he was in my dreams… I shook myself and sat up. I'd fallen asleep on the sofa again fully clothed, at this rate I'd never get my book finished and started on the vamp novels. Ever since I'd got back from England almost a week ago, I'd been having trouble with the time difference so with falling asleep for hours on the settee, I was struggling to find time to write. What time was it? I had no idea but it had gone dark already.

I stood to go to the kitchen and nearly had a heart attack. My errant Viking was stood in all his glory, leaning against the front door, "Bloody hell, Eric!" I exclaimed. Then I noticed his eyes were troubled and distracted. His face didn't have its normal cheeky demeanour. "What's wrong? What's happened?" He was in front of me before I registered he'd moved.

"Eric?" I looked up at him. He didn't speak, "I've not seen you in a fortnight. Where've you been?"

He walked past me into the living room and perched on the sofa.

"Dallas," he said.

"Oh, do anything nice?" I asked, somewhat sarcastically, my envious mind jumping to the conclusion he'd been there with Sookie, and as the words left my mouth I regretted saying them. Of course not, he'd been back to get Godric. A look I couldn't place washed over his face and my heart sank as I predicted what he would say.

"He met the sun," he shared flatly.

My face dropped and I scuttled over to sit beside him, "Oh Eric, I'm sorry."

"He chose to."

"Oh," I said as I absorbed that information, "He chose to die?" I repeated.

"Yes."

"At least he had the option," I said abruptly, my heart heavy. Visiting England had been difficult for me, I'd been unable to force myself to visit Jack's grave, "It must be difficult for you but if it was his decision then he must not have been happy."

"She was with him at the end."

I knew exactly who he meant, "Sookie?"

Eric nodded, "I wanted to stay with him, but I could not."

I thought for a second, "You really care for her, don't you," Eric didn't as much as glance at me, I continued, "She's Bill's you know"

He huffed, his mood changing, my words hitting a nerve, "In time she will be mine."

I sat back into the sofa, "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

"She will come to me eventually, she came for Godric…" he paused, "and she has my blood now."

I cocked an eyebrow, "That is cheating you know," I replied sardonically before conceding to telling him what he needed to hear, "But it sounds more like she came for your sake than for Godric's."

He turned to look at me, his face heavy and drained. His mournful eyes broke my heart and I instinctively hugged him. The last time I'd seen him there had been very complicated feelings bouncing around. Whilst I was in the UK I'd decided I needed to distance myself from him, but now I found it incredibly difficult when here he was, in pain. This loss had hit him hard. I presumed it was like the death of parent, only Eric had spent ten centuries of time with his maker, more than most humans could comprehend. As much of an impossible brute as he could be, I sympathised with him.

His surprise at my embrace was overtaken by comfort and he pulled me close and tight. He inhaled my scent in my hair, and I felt a pang of shame as I realised I'd not washed it in a couple of days. I pulled away, suddenly feeling self conscious.

"Have you fed?" I asked, and without waiting for a reply I shot through to the kitchen, "I think I have some Tru Blood in the back of the fridge somewhere. I hope it's not gone bad." I pretended to rummage through the fridge, knowing full well I had a 4 pack at the back on the bottom shelf. I wasn't about to offer him mine, it felt awkward. Eric wouldn't drink it anyway.

"It's a mix pack," I called through, but I needn't have bothered. As I closed the fridge door, Eric was stood behind it, I hadn't heard a thing.

"There's an O positive, O Neg and 2 AB's," I said, checking the date on the bottles, "Which one?"

Eric had wiped his eyes and there was barely a trace of red around them. He looked at me quizzically before leaning towards me and inhaling.

This was odd behaviour even for him. He leaned back and smiled at me. I should've twigged when he spoke, "O Positive will be fine."

"Oh!" I was surprised, he'd never accepted my offer of a bottle before. I nodded and dutifully heated it up in the microwave. When the microwave pinged, I reached into the glass cupboard to the right of it and grabbed a Coke glass. And that was when the penny dropped.

I was O positive. How could he still make me feel like this?

I turned and handed the blood filled glass to Eric, who was leaning next to the fridge. He didn't move to make it easy for me when I tried to grab a Coke from the fridge.

I pushed myself up and back onto the counter top and cracked open my can. Eric ruefully took a swig of his blood.

"Something wrong with that?" I asked.

"Not especially," he replied.

"Oh, from your expression I thought I'd ruined it."

"Not your fault, lover. I never could bring myself to like the taste of it."

"What does it taste like?" I asked inquisitively. It had always wondered me, but I had never had the inclination to try some.

"It's like buying the Super Saver Coke from the Payless, when what you really want is Coca Cola."

"Oh, I'd never thought of it like that before. So it's a sort of make do kind of thing?"

"It sustains us but doesn't fulfil the want."

"But what does it taste like?" I asked, not that I'm a connoisseur of fine wines or anything but I was curious.

"Why don't you try some?" Eric said with a smile, bringing it over to me. He positioned himself boldly between my legs where they hung over the counter edge, and handed me the glass. I looked at him anxiously, but took a sip. I don't know what I expected but it didn't really taste of anything, maybe a faint sour metallic taste but that was about it. It was thick in my mouth and I had trouble swallowing it. I pulled a face. Eric chuckled and smirked.

"It tastes of nothing," I said, "How do you drink it?"

"I try not to," he replied with a mischievous grin.

"So what do people taste like?" I asked.

"It varies from person to person, as you'd expect," he explained, then paused, "Have you never tried your own?" he asked.

"Err, no," I answered.

Eric took the glass from my hand and put it on the counter. He held my wrist and slid out his fangs. I watched him carefully as he gently pierced the skin, his eyes not leaving my face. He made a point of not drinking from me and instead lifted my wrist up to my mouth.

I closed my eyes and licked the wound. Compared to the bottled stuff, the taste of my own blood danced on my tongue. It was full bodied and warm, naturally warm and sweet. The voice in my head screamed at me, what are you doing?

Eric spoke, "Does that answer your question?"

I opened my eyes and looked at him, his fangs were still out and there was excitement in his eyes. Though I don't know why that should've seemed odd to me, I had asked questions about blood to a vampire and he was sharing the answers with me, no, he was demonstrating the answers. And of course he was to be excited, my wrist was bleeding.

Shit, my wrist was bleeding.

Eric must've seen the panic wash over me and he swiftly pricked his finger on a fang and rubbed it into my wrist.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the fang marks close before my eyes. Always did amaze me that, vampire magic.

And then, without so much as a warning, Eric kissed me. He kissed me a bloody mouthed, passionate kiss. He drew me to the edge of the counter and pulled me tight to him. Boy had I underestimated his excitement. His tongue battled its way into my mouth and took over control.

There was a knock at the door, interrupting us. Eric stepped back as I jumped down from the counter. I opened the door to find a middle aged woman, with mousey brown hair cascading in curls down her back. She thrust a leaflet on me with a big smile, one that had been practiced once too often.

"Hi there" she beamed. "I'm with the Fellowship of the Sun and I'm giving everybody leaflets to make you all aware of the dangers we face since the vampires have made themselves known to us all"

She didn't give me chance to speak, "Did you know?" she continued, "That in addition to drinking our blood, they are also holding back our economy?"

"Really?" I said, the sarcasm heavy in my voice. She was oblivious.

Eric had moved from the kitchen to behind the door, I only knew because he squeezed my fingers which were holding onto the inside handle.

"Yes" the woman persisted, "They don't deserve to live in our world with the same rights as us."

"Why not?" I replied shortly.

The woman didn't register the agitation in my voice. I was ready for her.

"Do you want your children growing up in a world where they may be tempted to live forever on a diet of their friends and relatives? Live forever? That's not natural"

"I can't have children," I said bluntly and truthfully. It wasn't a lie…as such. My husband was dead and with all the frolicking around with vampires I'd been doing of late there was little chance I would have offspring. She was taken aback and took a moment to gather herself.

"Oh, I am sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"What did you have for dinner?" I asked, abruptly.

"Excuse me?"

"What did you eat for your dinner?" I repeated, slowly.

Confused, she struggled to answer me, "I, I had a burger and fries"

"And where did that come from?"

"Well I stopped about an hour ago at the diner on the main road."

"No. Where did the meat for the burger come from?"

"Well…" I didn't give her chance to finish.

"It came from a living breathing animal," I told her, though she knew this already, she couldn't see where I was going with it, "An animal that was killed for its meat, for human consumption."

She tried to speak, "Yes but…" I cut her off.

"Humans breed cows and pigs and chickens and sheep and all other types of animal for food."

"Yes," she got a word in edgeways, "But that is so we can eat them, so we can live."

"So we can survive?" I questioned.

"Yes' she agreed.

"So why are you prejudiced against vampires?"

"Because they feed from people?" it was almost a question.

"And why do they do that?"

She paused, as the realisation set in "…to survive."

"Well done!" I patronised her, "To survive. So tell me, why is it you think it's ok for humans to breed and kill animals so we can survive, yet vampires are evil and are harming our economy when they feed from humans to survive?"

She couldn't answer me.

"Tell me," I said, "Have you ever actually met a vampire?"

Her back straightened, "No and I never wish to. I do not wish to die."

"They don't all kill" I said as Eric stepped out behind me. I didn't turn around but I heard his fangs pop out with a slight hiss from him. He slid his arm around my waist as the woman watched like a deer caught in headlights. He pulled my head to one side and bit down. Hard, the bastard. The woman screamed and bolted in the opposite direction.

"Something for you to think about," I shouted after her with a laugh with Eric still latched onto my neck, showing no sign of finishing.

I flung the door shut with some force, hoping it would distract him. It only served as something to push me against. Pressing me to the door, his hands got busy. He found his way into my jeans, into my panties and to my clit.

"Oh," I panted and sank back against him as much as I could.

He brought me swiftly to a climax, with the kind of skill only a thousand year old vampire could have, retracted his fangs and licked clean my neck. He stepped back, releasing me. I turned round to face him, feeling a little light headed I leaned against the door.

"Just what I needed," he said with a smirk, "I'll see you soon Evie, I must fly," and with a bump of the door behind me he had vanished.

Tears filled my eyes and I slumped to the floor. I had promised myself I wouldn't let this happen, I wouldn't fall for him, I wouldn't let him use me.

Too late for that, said the little voice in my head.