A/N: Okay, if this blows, guys I apologize. My eyes are bleeding and I'm asleep at the keyboard. But, I promised to have this out last night, but it's just a never-ending chapter. I'll do better on the next one. It was just so long but I had to get the longest night ever, over with. Love you all, I own nothing, yada, no beta. Toodles.

Ch. 12

He held my hand, leading me through the crowd. I saw the vampires from moments ago at the door staring at me. Just as he said, they looked at me from across the room very hungrily, their fangs snapping down. I held his hand a little tighter. He lead me down the hallway and stopped outside the door to Pam's office. He turned to me," Sookie, if I go in here with you, we won't come out for many hours. And, I really need to go check out what we just learned."

"Okay" I said a little more breathlessly than intended. "I'll be fine." He gave me a hard to read look and kissed my forehead. When I opened my eyes, he was already down the hall. I sighed and watched his butt till he went into the crowd and all I could see was his head. That was an ass. I wanted to bite it. I went into the office and found the small bathroom. On a hunch, I locked it and turned to splash water on my face. Jesus, what the hell had come over me. I flushed in embarrassment as I patted my cheeks with paper towels. I cannot believe I acted that way-like a sex depraved maniac in front of all those people. I wasn't embarrassed I acted wild in response to Eric, only that I had done it with an audience! I had better have a heart to heart with myself, however, before we went any further. While I was no longer on a secret mission, there were a lot of parties at stake here and I needed to make sure if our-whatever it was-evolved into something, it wouldn't distract us from the bigger picture. If I got distracted for a hot time with Eric and someone I loved got hurt, I would never forgive myself. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to cool my jets and also talk it over with Eric. He seemed very practical. Not that I wanted to approach it like a business contract, but we didn't need to be selfish during a crucial time like this either.

I was doing my business on the toilet, when I heard the doorknob rattle. I smirked-I knew it! "Sookie, what are you doing? Why is the door locked?"

"Pam! Cripes, I'm peeing. Can I have a second?"

"Gross. You can have more than a second. But why does the locked door help with this?"

"It doesn't help anything, other than to keep your nosy ass out, while I do something private, thank you!"

Ignoring that, "I heard you and my Master had a dry humping session on the throne. How was that? Told you you'd be his soon enough."

I flushed the toilet and whipped open the door. "Foof! Did he tell you about what he saw and what I heard?"

"Briefly, yes." She sniffed the air and floated closer to me, pupils huge. "Okay, seriously, if you're going to stay around here tonight, you have got to change your underthings. If you don't, you're going to start a frenzy and I might do something to you that you and Eric won't like much. So, come on." She gestured impatiently with her hands.

"Whaaat?" I was mortified. Again.

"Oh, stop being a child. Here"-she opened her closet and pulled out a pair of teeny, tiny panties. "Go change, please. There is no discussion time. We need to go out and handle our problem and I need you."

I huffed and stomped back to the bathroom. I wasn't sure why I was mad, other than being embarrassed that my underwear was Vampire Febreeze. And being ordered to change into a piece of dental floss. Again in the bathroom, I slid the old Sookie Air Wick ones off and slid the new dental floss one on. I found some brand new washcloths so wiped up a bit to see if it would help. I balled the old ones in my fist and came out.

Pam was waiting impatiently, shocker. "Do I want to know why you keep new panties and washcloths just lying around?"

She fanged at me, "Do you?"

"Yeaaahhh...So, does Eric have clothes here, like you do?"

"He has some in his office, yes. Why?" I wafted the balled up panties at her and wiggled my eyebrows.

"Oooohhh, yes! But I have a better idea for them." We dashed over to his office and did our deed. It felt weird treating my underthings like one of those pine tree air fresheners. But a prank is a prank.

Before we left she said, "You go first. Go to the bar and get a drink from Longshadow. I'm going to send him on an errand and see if I can find his stash."

I sidled up to the bar and ordered a soda. He winked at me and flashed some fang. "How do you find your first night on the job ?" Was this fool actually flirting with me? What a dumb ass! Not only was he stealing from other vamps, but he was flirting with the boss' hookup.

"Very entertaining thus far, thanks." He leaned toward me, in an intimate conversation kind of way, but Pam came up behind him.

"I need a few more cases of red wine brought up, please, Longshadow." Without taking his eyes off me, "Get a human to do it." I leaned back in preparation for what surely was going to be a blood bath. She hissed at him. "I am not sure what part of that sounded like an option. If you know what's good for you, you will stop flirting with the master's human and Go. Get. The. Wine." He sighed and pushed off the bar, giving her a sideways look as he passed.

Pam looked as though she might spit nails, but as soon as he was out of sight, she started looking all around the register. There weren't many places to hide things there, so it was quick work. She found nothing. "Sookie, go into my office and have a seat. I am going to send Ginger to you in a few minutes. See if that black hole knows anything." I did as I was told.

As I passed by Eric's office, he was in there barking out orders into the telephone. He gave me a head nod and curled his finger for me to come in. I did, then he pointed to his lap, to which I shook my head and took a seat on the other side of his desk. He did his best to look heart broken, then pulled something out of his pocket-my undies!-and put them to his nose and took a deep sniff. Eww. Guess he found where we stashed them.

Pam had rubbed them on everything in his office then threw them up into the air vent above his desk so he would smell it all over, but not be able to find them, or so we thought. He finished his conversation rather quickly, I wondered if that was on purpose. "Do you like my new handkerchief? I found it in the air duct. Strange how it would have gotten there. Know anything about that, my little minx?"

"Not a thing."

"Hmm. So what were you up to?"

"Pam and I looked for his stash," I assumed he could figure out who I was speaking of, "but found nothing. So the next step was to talk to-"

At that, there was a light knock on the door, "Miss Suzie? Are you in here?"

"Yes, Ginger, come in."

"Oh, Master. I didn't know you'd be here." She licked her lips and patted her hair. Vomit. "Mistress Pam said to go to her office, but you weren't there. So, I thought I'd check here too."

"Wise assumption, Ginger." She smiled, pleased with her brilliant deduction, picking up on none of the sarcasm. "Please sit. You've been working hard tonight, take a break."

"Whew! Thanks. I could use the rest."

I leaned in closer to ask her a series of mindless questions to get deep into the recesses of her thoughts. "Do you like working here, Ginger?"

"Oh, I do, a lot." She was thinking of all the tips she made and all the vamps she'd been with, and how much she loved being bitten.

"Is the money here pretty good?"

"Yeah, better than any place I've ever worked." Cashing out at the end of the night and adding it all up. Taking it home and stuffing it under a mattress. Fifty and hundred dollar bills being thrown at her in the back seat of a car or in an alley after being bitten. Of a bank envelope and Longshadow's face. Then one of those black, fuzzy gaps of nothing.

"Are there certain nights you make more than others?" "Yeah. Friday, Saturday, Sunday are always real good." Busy tables, loaded drink trays, Longshadow changing out large bills for her, then reaching under the bar.

"Thank you Ginger, this was a nice chat."

"Uhm, you're welcome? Didn't you need to tell me somethin'? Mistress Pam said you did."

"No. I just wanted to try to chat to everyone one on one for a minute, get to know them better."

"Would you like anything Master?" She smiled at him for all she was worth, leaning her neck back and her eyes glazed over.

"No thank you."

A look of disappointment shot across her face. "Okay...well, back to work."

As soon as she was gone, "There's a compartment under the bar on his side! Pam didn't look for that, just something obvious or out of place. It's a secret panel!"

He thought for a moment then told me his plan. He zipped out, but not before pinching my bottom and kissing my cheek. I went to find Pam. She was at the door, winding things down. I quickly filled her in. "Ah, a panel underneath-that's why I didn't find it."

"Yep. Hey can I use your desk to work some numbers out?" She nodded. "How many do you think you let in tonight?" "Humans, approximately 325-350. Vampire, 23." "Okay, thanks." I headed back to the office. I wanted to see how much, roughly, this place took in on a Friday night. I let in about 150 people, Pam said 350. Clancy had to have let some in as well, during gaps when Pam or I weren't there, but I would count that just yet. At $15 pop to get in that's $7,500, just in cover fee money. I won't count vamps, since they didn't pay to get in-they were part of the attraction. Even if those 500 people only bought one $4 soda, that's $2,000 but it was more likely most people spent at the very least $15 on drinks, which is $7,500. So, bare minimum, the club should take in $15k on Friday. Not counting the cover charge or drinks of anyone Clancy let in, or for people who spent more than the $15 calculated on drinks. That vastly differed from the numbers I had peeked at before we opened tonight. He will have a hard time explaining that.

I straightened a few things up in the office and went back out into the bar. They were kicking out a few stragglers. I passed Longshadow in the hall, headed to Eric's office. She was behind the bar, as was the plan, feeling underneath the wood of the bar. Her eyes gave her away when she found the panel.

Ginger was coming up behind her with a rack of glasses to put away. My turn. "Hey, Ginger, those look heavy" arm touch, mentally suggesting she go away "let me grab those and you work on melting down the ice." She looked bewildered but agreeable, "Uhh-okay, sure." I took the rack and set it down.

"Get it?"

"Oh yes." She looked pissed now that she had the physical evidence in her hands. And dangerous. Just then her head turned sharply, "Eric is summoning me. Come."

"Are you sure I should..." but never finished since she was dragging me with her I figured the answer was yes. She flung open the door to his office and Longshadow looked a little thrown off, then resumed his normal stony face. I thought they might ease the conversation slowly into money, but Pam had other ideas.

She marched up to him and shoved the money in his face. "What in the holy fuck is the meaning of this?!"

He looked calmly at the wad of money, then at her, then shrugged. "I don't know. Why are you holding that money in front of me as if I know it's origins?"

"Don't play cute with me. This is from your little hidden panel under the bar."

Still completely unfazed, "I have no clue what panel you speak of. If there is one, it is not from me."

Eric spoke up, "That's interesting, since I watched you stash large bills into it all night." He came around the side of the desk and they were both flanking him now.

I tried to fade into the woodwork, unsure what I was going to see next, but wanting to be out of the splash zone. "But this is merely a small representation of what you've been swindling from us isn't it, Longshadow? 'Lo and behold what we found when we looked over the ledgers." Now he looked worried. "Yes, as our friend Suzie has alerted us, the numbers just don't fit do they?"

I spoke up, "Very roughly adding up numbers from this evening, your total take, accounting for cover charge per head and a low drink minimum, is about $15,000. That's being very conservative. Compare that to last Saturday, which you have said is typically busier by about a quarter to a third, the reported intake was approximately $12,000. That seems way off. And that's just one day of one week. I've gone back by a few months and spot checked a few days per week and found many inconsistent totals."

I found myself looking into a pair of very black, very angry eyes. "You nosy, snooping bitch!"He was suddenly gripping me around my neck, squeezing any air I had. I popped out of his grasp, over to Eric's swords on the wall, grabbed one, but before I could turn to use it on him, he had me from behind, gripping me around my arms so I couldn't move. I head butted him in the nose with the back of my head, popped out again, popped in right behind him, swept his legs out from under him and on the return spin, brought the sword across his neck, removing his head cleanly from his shoulders.

Lucky for me, Eric regularly sharpened them. I took a calming breath and looked down at my the body of my enemy. Where the neck and head were severed was a gooey mess, but the body was starting to ash up. Weird. His hand had apparently grabbed onto my calf and clawed a huge gash into it, right before I killed him, since it was still lightly hanging onto me. I kicked it off and looked over at Eric and Pam. They were poised in attack position but looking at me in shock, awe and lust. Their nostrils flared at the same time and they both moved their gazes from the scene before them to where my leg was torn open. Fuck.

I held the sword up. "Guys...don't start. Get a-fucking-hold of yourselves, or whatever, because I really don't want to-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence because, so fast I could barely hear or see all of it, he said, "Pamela I forbid you to touch, harm or drink Sookie." She hissed and the door slammed behind her and he locked it. All in the space of about two seconds. In one more second, he had me laying on the couch, with him sitting under my feet. He was holding my leg, lapping at the wound and staring very intensely at me. Glad I had shaved. After the first swipe of his tongue, his eyes rolled back into his head, he closed his eyes and groaned. I also felt something very big and very hard against the leg that was still in his lap. All of which I felt right in my core. The way he licked my leg was the way he would lick something else and we both knew it. This went on for a few seconds and when I felt the lady bits start to get very warm, a little self preservation kicked in. That and my leg started to hurt like fuck. The adrenaline must have worn off.

"Uhm, Eric." Why was my voice so husky?

"Hmm?" HIs dreamy response. His hands were slowly inching up my leg and had made it to my thigh.

"Eric. My leg, really, really hurts." He looked up at me, his eyes glazed over.

"I'll give you blood."

"Excuse me? I hardly think that's appropriate right now."

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "It will heal you. My blood will heal your injury."

"Oh. That's nice of you. Do you like slather it on or..." I was saying that part through gritted teeth because it was getting hard to talk. The bleeding had stopped thanks to his saliva, but that wasn't doing a damn thing for analgesia.

"The healing would be more complete if you drank it."

"Uhm, yeah...No. I don't feel comfortable doing that." I snapped a little more than I meant to. He looked a little offended. "Please" I hissed "seriously, this is pretty bad." He gave me one more look, then bit the tip of his finger and rubbed the blood into the gash, which burned at first, but then felt immediate relief. My body relaxed as I felt the tension ebb from me. I had been sitting up, so I threaded my hand into his hair, while we watched the tear magically heal. When the bite in his finger healed, he bit it again and repeated the process. In mere seconds, the skin was back together with only a small line of taut, shiny pink skin, where my injury had been. I felt loads better. He bit his finger again, I guess for good measure, but I stopped him.

I took his finger in my mouth and sucked it. I felt bad denying his offer. It was mostly the pain talking. It really had to be an honor for someone of his age and status to offer it to me. Plus he looked so hurt. A few drops couldn't be too bad. I hoped. His blood surprised me. It wasn't metallic, or bitter, like I thought it might be. It was oaky, like really good wine, and a little sweet. My eyes met his and he looked surprised, happy, horny. Okay, now really horny. Mostly horny. The little wound had healed, so I swirled my tongue around his finger a little. I pulled it out, and before I could blink, he had his mouth on mine, kissing, nibbling, begging entrance. I allowed it and our tongues dueled, fighting for dominance-his won. He was an amazing kisser so I just held on for the ride, hoping I could at least kiss back decently. I could count the amount of real kisses I'd had on one hand.

I whimpered into is mouth and pulled him, via his hair, closer into me, which elicited a growl from him. I pulled away for a minute, so I could catch my breath. "Thank you."

He picked his head up from out of my neck that he had been snuffling. "For what?"

"For your blood. It was very nice of you to offer and I didn't mean to be a bitch, but it was really hurting and I was a little scared of taking it. But once I saw how it healed my leg..."

He was looking at me incredulously. "What?"

"It is I, that should be thanking you. And apologizing. You found a thief in my ranks and handed him to me. And killed him for me, I might add. But not before he attacked you and you were hurt. Which I should have anticipated, but didn't. For that I am truly sorry." He absentmindedly rubbed my leg.

"I didn't either. Who knew he was going out all gangbusters?" We looked over at his remains-nothing more than a dark ash stain now. "Which reminds me, if there are repercussions for his death, I will take them."

"You will not. The only one owed an explanation, will be his maker. And when I tell him he attacked the employee who revealed the evidence to me, I will be within my right to have sent him to his final death. He need not know who did the actual deed."

There was a curt knock at the door. "Am I allowed to come in now, or will you issue a maker's command against that, as well?" He rolled his eyes as he got up to open the door. Pam stood in the doorway, miffed, her shoulders squared back. She looked a rosy pink, however, so she couldn't be in too bad of shape. "Please, enter, Pamela." She sniffed the air and made a face. "I smell Sookie's delicious blood, and sex, but mixed with the scent of crispy vampire." She sat down, as far away from me as she could manage without being in the hallway. "Are you okay? I see your leg is healed."

"Yes, thank you. Eric healed it."

"I see." She gave him the hairline high arched eyebrows.

"Yes, Pamela? Something to say?"

"No, Master. But you didn't have to kick me out like that, or command me not to eat her. I was under control."

"I couldn't be sure. I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to refrain from anything...drastic. But, while I still felt the bloodlust, it was calmed somehow." She looked at him in surprise. "I felt that, too! Normally, I would need to feed and fuck, at least a little, but it was kind of...dulled." They both looked at me in curiosity, as if I were a sample under a petri dish. "Maybe that's some kind of influence I have? I dunno. You guys are my first vampire besties." I shrugged.

They were silent for a second then howled in laughter. "Besties?!"

"I assume that is short for best friends?"

"I think that's the first time we've ever been called besties before!"

They had their good laugh, while I had a big yawn. Wow, that snuck up on me. I was exhausted. "Okay guys, I am beat." I stood up and stretched. "Do you need help cleaning up Sitting Bull, here, or can I go for the night?" That made for another round of laughter.

"This is the second night we've been with you Sookie and it's the second night of non-stop entertainment."

"Yep. I'm better than a carnival. So, same time, same place tomorrow?"

"Pam, excuse us, please."

Huge dramatic sigh, "Fine! I miss all the good stuff, like sexy goodnight kisses and dry humping." The door was closing behind her "Bye, Suuuzie, can't wait for whatever crazy fun you bring us tomorrow."

He turned to me and took my hands in his. "When I get home I'm telling with my cousins I told you the truth. How do you want me to tell them about Alberik? Or do you want me to tell them, at all?"

"Would it be possible to have Niall meet with me? So I could tell him directly and he could give me his input. He will have to save my brother to have my full cooperation."

We chatted a few minutes more, discussing our plans in that respect.

"Now, what about us?"

I almost choked. I wasn't expecting that. "What-what about us?"

"What do we do now? We can't keep, as Pam says, 'dry humping' each other here. And something more will definitely be happening. Do we want that to be here?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What exactly are you proposing?"

"Would you allow me to take you out to dinner?"

"Like a date?"

"Not like."

"Okaaayyy...are we sure that's wise?"

"I'm sure it's very wise. Why are you hesitant? I know you return my desire for you."

"Uhrrmm...awkward."

"Am I wrong?"

"Well, no, it's just-you're my boss."

"Oh come on. That ruse is up, now, remember? You don't have to step foot back in this place now, if you don't want to."

"But, I do want to. I like it. I actually feel useful."

"Okay, then, you stay. And we go out."

"But it still seems inappropriate for work."

"Sookie, if you haven't been able to tell thus far, I do not run my business like a Fortune 500 white collar, politically correct business. Nor do I care one shit about human influenced morals about work relationships." He looked at me expectantly.

"Okay, what about our...situations?" He arched an eyebrow at me in question. "You're a vampire. I'm a halfling fairy. That doesn't seem like we should...you know-be going out on dates."

"Says who?"

"I don't know. My family?"

"They've warned you against dating me?"

"No, smarty. Not you specifically. But it has been drilled into my head most of my life that all vampires want to do is drain and fuck me, so you can see my hesitation at heading out for dinner and a chick flick."

"Have either Pam or I drained or fucked you? Hell, Longshadow or Compton or Clancy for that matter?"

"Not drained me, no."

Again, his eyebrows went up, "Has someone fucked you?"

I flushed, "Well, no, but you've definitely made a good try at it."

I wouldn't look at him, but he grabbed my chin. "Sookie. When you've been fucked by me, you will know it, I assure you." And he slowly leaned in and gave me a painfully tender kiss. He swirled his tongue around mine, teasing and suckling, which I again felt shoot right down to my hootchie. He finished by lightly nibbling my lips and I wished it was my breasts he was nibbling. And from the look in his eyes, he knew it. I shook myself. "So, as I have proven, I can manage to keep my greedy fangs from you when it's appropriate. Sookie, will you honor me tomorrow with a date? We can just talk, get to know each other better, or...whatever." Despite his words' innuendo, the look in his eyes was serious.

"Okay."He smiled one of those that made me feel like the luckiest woman in the world. "But, I'll be working here for a bit. Can I just bring clothes like I did tonight?"

"You can do whatever you would like. I don't care if you wear a dish mop or a prom dress, quite honestly. I would like to tie up some loose ends here, as well, before we head out."

With that settled, he walked me out, making a pit stop to grab my purse and bags from Pam's office. When we got to my car, he took my keys, opened the door and started the car for me. Pushing me up against the side of the car, he laid another toe-curling kiss on me. He pulled my hair back to expose my neck and laid little kisses along my jugular to behind my ear. "Until tomorrow, Sookie. I look forward to our date. Have sweet dreams." He placed me in my seat and shut the door, before I had even opened my eyes from his kiss. I opened them and took a deep breath, trying to gather my wits, before driving. He rapped on the window.

"Are you okay?"

Smart ass. "Yes. I'm fine."

"Okay, the D is for drive and the gas pedal is on the right."

"Grr, watch it, or I'll run your ass over."

"Drive safely, lover." Why did that term send such chills through me?

As I pulled away, I heard my phone chirp a reminder at me. Wow, I hadn't thought to check it at all tonight. It was a text from Claude. Holy shit! I forgot I pranked him earlier. 'Black teeth, srsly Cuz? Paybax a bitch. So r u.'