Flashback
"I think you may be the tastiest thing I have ever eaten," Eric whispered into his meal's hair.
"I've heard Italian girls are better," the girl quipped, running her hands over her body in amazement at the sensations she had just experienced. "The men who pass through always rave about the Italian and Spanish women they've had and the things they're willing to do."
"I have had Italian girls, as well as English girls by the score, and truly, you are exceptional. And I have yet to find something that you find objectionable to participate in," Eric stretched out as much as he could in the inn's small bed. He and Godric had stopped in some small town three days ago, with just the one inn, with an elderly couple living in it, who had easily been glamoured into renting out their cellar to the strange vampire couple. Eric had expected seducing this little British blossom to be difficult, since small town girls tended to be prudish and very concerned with reputation, but this girl had literally jumped into his bed with no hesitation.
She laughed, "I would give you a compliment but I'm not sure your ego can take much more. Besides, any compliment would be meaningless since I have no previous lovers to compare you to."
"A compliment doesn't necessitate a comparison."
"My, my, now doesn't he just love his ego stroked."
"I can think of a few others things I like stroked as well."
Norah laughed again, this time louder. "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and this will all have been a dream."
Eric chuckled at the thought of the sweet little virgin (virgin until two days prior that is) having a dream this lurid, and then sobered slightly at the thought of leaving her behind in a matter of days. He and Godric had been nomadic as of late, and he did not relish the idea of explaining to his maker that he wanted to delay their trip because of some British toy.
"So what is exactly is your blood doing to me?" Norah asked, "I like it. I feel very different somehow."
"You are different," he replied evenly, admiring her naked body. She was magnificent. Pale, soft skin and lean muscles from daily hard work.
She frowned slightly at his evasion of the question, but admittedly she was a complete stranger, and was she in his position, she would not trust easily either.
"How many more days will you be here?" She asked as she sat up in bed and began rummaging in the sheets for her petticoat.
"Stay," Eric commanded, gripping her wrist.
"I can't, it's almost dawn," she replied regretfully, "But I will come to you tomorrow at dusk. I wish it could always be night."
She impulsively leaned down and placed a proprietary kiss on his forehead before getting dressed and sneaking back to her home next door.
It was not long before Godric entered the cellar to find Eric sitting in a corner sulking.
"Don't tell me you didn't have a good time, Eric," Godric joked, wiping the last traces of blood from his mouth.
Eric continued to sit in stony silence.
"Well, I at least had a good dinner. He was very feminine, not to my usual tastes, but surprisingly strong. I had to glamour him to make him more pliable."
Eric grunted his acknowledgment. He would never disagree with anything Godric did, Godric after all was God in his eyes, but Eric himself preferred willing victims. And there had never been a scarcity of women and men willing to do anything to please him. Whether or not the feed ended in a kill, Eric seldom if ever used glamour on his prey. It was egotistical, certainly, but he wanted them to remember him till their dying breath, whether that breath be in five minutes or 50 years later. And with the current social climate with its fear of witchcraft, no victim was going to confess to having a supernatural experience of any kind. It made Europe a perfect playground.
Godric sighed and crossed the dank space to his child and ran his fingers through the Viking's long blonde hair.
"We could stay a few extra days if you'd like," he offered kindly, tipping Eric's face up to his and kissing him lightly on the lips.
"Wouldn't make any difference," Eric grumbled, turning away.
Godric sighed again and began undressing for bed. When he had opened the lid to the storage chest they had been curling up in and Eric still had not moved, Godric crossed the room and knelt before his son.
"Look at me, Eric," Godric begged. It had been getting harder and harder lately to hold Eric's attention. "Please," he whispered.
Finally Eric made eye contact and Godric almost flinched at the iciness of his glance. However, his face softened after gazing into his maker's face for a moment and when he spoke his voice was gentle,
"I don't know what's wrong with me, Godric."
The admission was all that Godric needed to hear to know that Eric's time with him was limited. Nothing was wrong with him, he was just growing up.
"I have a present for you, Eric," Godric exclaimed gleefully two nights later, opening the lid of the trunk to wake his child.
"You did not come back last night. You worried me," Eric replied. He was not in a happy mood since Norah had only stayed briefly the previous night and had left rather abruptly. She had seemed enthusiastic at first, and then grew more and more distant.
"Yes, I'm sorry," Godric impatiently dragged Eric out of the trunk and up the cellar stairs into the night, "Aren't you excited about your present?"
"Godric, you never fail to surprise me," Eric smiled, his mood improving. His maker had given him "presents" before, and they had always been highly enjoyable.
They walked a few more paces into the glade of trees behind the inn before Godric made Eric close his eyes.
"Now open," Godric commanded a few seconds later.
There she stood, dressed in a beautiful white gown, her skin paler than ever before.
Eric positively froze. She looked like a doll. So unlike how she had been two nights prior, her body flushed and sweaty beneath him.
"I made her for you," Godric stated the obvious, trying to shake Eric from his reverie.
"Hello, Eric."
Her voice broke the spell and Eric rushed to her, touching her hair, her face, smelling her, testing her, seeing if she was real and still the same.
"Is this what you wanted?" He asked her huskily after kissing her thoroughly.
"Of course. Shame it had to be your maker. I was rather hoping my first night in my new life would be spent with you. Silly Viking, I had all but begged you to do it."