A/N: Wow, what can I say? I'm sorry it took so fuggin long for this update-the longest I've taken in a while. I literally had writer's block. It was awful. It wasn't for lack of trying, I assure you. For a solid week, I sat in front of the computer, would tap some nonsense out, then delete it completely. It's about honoring the story-going where the characters would go, not crap that just poops itself out because it's easy. I even got this chapter done, then deleted the last half. It was giving me a migraine, I was stressing it so bad. I finally got my shit together, womaned (not manned) up and finished to my satisfaction. Anyhoo, now that I'm done whining, I have some great news. I actually qualified for a Fangie Award?! Holy shit cakes. When I was notified, I thought it was a joke lol. I am up for the Lafayette Reynolds Award-Best AU. I am honored to even be on this plane of existence with the other contenders, so that alone is enough for me.

You can look at all the awards and contenders here: http(colon forward slash forward slash) (forward slash)fangiegdocs

And vote here: http(colon forward slash forward slash)eSurv. org?u=Fangies2013

The whole lack of being able to just type the damn link here still confuses me, so I copy pasted what they sent in my pm. You have to copy paste in the address window, then put colons : and forward slashes / between characters. I hope that works. If not, you can just google 2013 Fangreaders Awards. If I am supposed to say "go vote for me" that's not going to happen as I will never, ever do that. Vote for your opinion on the best. As I said, the others in the same category are awesome, incredible authors, so just to be listed with them completely floors me. As always, thank you so much for all your patience, love and comments. You are all my muses (can you pluralize that word?). Many apologies for the delay. I have no beta and I own no characters, except for a few I sprinkled here and there. Smooches to you all.

Ch.29

We were alone in the bar and I suddenly found myself pinned to the bar from behind, caged by his arms.

"So, Lover" he made sure to purr into my ear, "How shall I feed you?"

"Mmm, what are my options?"

"I can take you out to eat." He nipped at my neck. "I can cook for you." He kissed right behind my earlobe and I felt a flood of warmth between my legs. "Or I can fuck you right here on this bar and we'll review the options again, afterward." He squeezed my hips and pushed his crotch against my bottom, as if I didn't already know he was hard and ready to follow through with option number three.

I wiggled my hips against him. "Uhhm, all of those sound feasible." I quickly dodged under his arms, then hopped up to sit on a stool, trying to clear my head of lust. He looked at me woefully, till I opened my arms and gestured for him to come in for a hug. When he did, I lay my head on his chest, "But I want to talk about everything we've learned tonight. And I know damn well, no matter how much you promise to keep on topic, you're going to distract us if we are home alone."

He gave me the oh-so innocent look,"Moi?"

"Oui, vous." My French retort only fueled him on as he pushed into my hips with his crotch.

"See! That's what I mean."

"I can't help it lover, when you speak French-" he broke off and started kissing my hand and up my arm, ala Gomez Adams.

I giggled, "Okay, okay, you're already trying to sidetrack me-let's go." Truthfully, it wouldn't take much for me to cave and forgo eating and talking for a round of monkey sex. After a little more teasing, we headed out. I felt bad-since I came in to his life he hadn't had any time for doing his sheriffly duties. I vowed, barring any fairy world collapse, we would come in tomorrow and I would help Pam and he would get his things done. Once we had locked up the bar, "Oooh ooh! Can I drive? Pleasepleaseplease!"

He looked at me sideways, but chuckled and handed me the keys. "Well, I guess two years was long enough to have her. Just give me enough time to order another one before you wreck us." He made a huge show of pretending to send Pam a text to order him one.

"Oh, hush. You taught me the other day and I've been watching you-I'm a good pupil."

"Indeed." Eyebrow waggle.

"Speaking of which, don't forget, you said you'd show me some things with weapons and sparring." I reversed us, put it in first gear fairly smoothly.

"Any time, Sookie. You just let me know when and I will get my swords together."

"Okay, well get them ready. Maybe tomorrow night after work?" He looked so excited I thought he might leave me in the car right now to go gather his swords. Taking off from a stop light, I made a little grinding sound in between gears and I saw him clench his jaw. What I really wanted was to take this kitten out on the open highway and haul ass. Getting back on current topic, "Okay, your dream. Spill it."

"In my human life I had always been intuitive. I saw things before they would happen. Examples would be dreaming that a neighboring tribe plotted to invade ours, that a family member unexpectedly died or that I would have an especially successful hunt. The visions only came to me in dreams, though, never in a vision while I was conscious like some might have. I never told anyone and just used it to my advantage, when I could. Though, often, it was a trait that haunted me. Once I was turned, that ability went away and I was glad to be rid of it. Knowing that a dream could come true made sleeping very difficult. I never knew if a dream was going to be just that-a silly nocturnal dream, or something vital to my survival. It had become a nightmarish burden. However about a couple hundred years after becoming a vampire, I dreamed that Frigg came to me. I was a believer in the mythology of the era, in my human life. Frigg was Odin's wife and had powers of prophecy. She came to me and alluded that I was meant for much more in my new life. I was now immortal because They, The Gods, made it so. There was a woman who I must make mine-protect and guide. She would come to me, but Frigg never said when or how or who this woman would be. Or what our purpose together was. Protect from what? Guide how? In the beginning, I put much faith in Her words. I was on guard, on the lookout for her, decade after decade; for centuries I waited. I was to be destined for something great by The Gods themselves. I felt proud and honored. But it never happened. Remember when I told you I became disheartened and left Godric and Europe to be on my own? That was why. After half a millennium of hoping and waiting, nothing happened. Frigg had stopped coming to me in my dreams. Since I never had any other dreams, I convinced myself I had imagined them and time continued to pass. Truthfully, I hadn't even thought of it in a long, long time. Until Dr. Ludwig told me this evening that you were she. And here we are. The dreams were real, Frigg spoke the truth and I found you." His tone was light, but we both knew this was pretty epic.

"Okaaayyy...But, what the hell does that mean about me? Who am I or what am I supposed to do? No pressure." I beat the steering wheel with my hand. "It's like everyone knows what's going on but me. Again." Eric was quiet while I had my pity party for myself. I just wished someone would give me a straight answer. What was I supposed to be doing? Was I wasting time, living a selfish existence on my current path? Shouldn't I be solving world problems? Instead of eating dinner and having alone time with Eric?

He finally spoke, very quietly but with a lecturing tone I had never heard from him before. "Sookie, every mythology, every religion has a hero that must endure a struggle to find their role, their purpose. You are on that path. No one knows what's ahead of them, immortal or mortal, human or supernatural. I know my part, now. But it took a thousand years to define it. Your journey might take as long; we don't know. But it must be significant if those currently in higher power are involved and if my role, assigned almost a thousand years ago, is to support and defend you. So, until you are enlightened, let it go. You won't know until you are meant to know."

I stopped the car at the valet station which was good timing because I was overwhelmed right then. Yet again, I was left with more questions than answers. He sandwiched both my hands in his, "Sookie, do not rack your brain with the information you don't have, no matter how much you want to know. Right now, let us handle the things that are in the immediate future. We have Alberik back, thanks to you. Now we focus on Phaedra and Breandan. To shoot for anything further than that would be folly. A waste of energy and time."

I sighed. He was right. "Is that how you've survived for so long and not lost your mind?"

"That and my dashing good looks."

I gave him a weak smile. "So, now what?"

"You eat. We bond." He leered at me, whether in earnest or in an attempt to lighten my mood.

"I guess you enjoyed eating here the other day?" We were at the same place we came on our date.

"It was the only place I knew of, honestly. It's fairly fast, quiet, close and it's Supe friendly."

"Are you in a hurry, Lover?" Of course that was all he took from that sentence.

"Yes. Would you prefer me to take all night eating?"

"No. I just like to hear you say you can't wait to get me alone."

As we got out, loud enough for the valet to hear, because I know he loved it when I proudly lay claim to him, "Eric, if it were up to me, we'd never leave the bedroom." Then I winked at him. The look I received in response made the verbal PDA worth it.

He pulled me in close, to wind his arm around my waist while we walked in, "If we didn't have serious things to talk about and your energy to replenish, I would be following through on my statement about winking."

"Oh, I see." He insisted on checking out the other diners, to make sure there were no other vampires there. No vamps tonight. Waiting for our table, apparently Eric's presence indicated we got the same primo booth from last time, I stifled a laugh as I saw Skank, the bitch waitress that coveted my boyfriend. She looked momentarily thrilled when she saw Eric, then immediately disgusted when she saw me. At that I couldn't hold my snicker in. Rather, I didn't really try. I laughed right at her, in fact. I saw that yellow flash in her eyes that weres get before they shift, and I caught the stray thought of her strangling me with her bare hands, then walking away with my vampire.

I looked her square in the eyes, and with no forethought, pushed myself in to her brain. I showed her an image of her beaten body, laying on the ground. I was stepping on her throat, my sword pushed up against her heart. Her eyes widened in fear and she looked at me, terrified. I nodded once to let her know I had done it. She almost dropped her tray on her sprint to get away from me. Needless to say, she wasn't our waitress tonight.

Eric looked at me strangely, aware something had passed between us, but not what. Once we were seated and I had ordered food, "Okay, Sookie, what happened there, with that waitress?"

I looked at him wide eyed and innocent, "What ever do you mean?"

He chuckled, "You're a bad liar."

"I just laid claim to what was mine, Lover." I crooned his own pet name back at him and squeezed his leg under the table.

"I like where this is headed. Tell me more." I told him what I had done and he was impressed but I tried to shrug it off. "Sookie, don't dismiss it so readily. She was a were, not just a human. The fact that you could influence her is proof of your increasing power. We need to experiment more with this."

"We'll squeeze it in somewhere after we work with swords." He narrowed his eyes at me, fully aware I was trying to distract him with the more appealing task of the two.

I changed the subject. "So, what do you think the chances are we could get audience with The Council?"

"I will place a few calls. It is likely they will send a representative out to speak with us first, to deem us worthy of an audience. But it may be best to see if Dr. Ludwig can tell us what happened with her visit with them, first. We may need to see where this Phaedra business goes, first."

I nodded. A comfortable silence passed between us for a few minutes. "You are quieter than usual, Sookie. I know there is much to absorb but try to remember what I said about not driving yourself crazy with thoughts you have no answer to."

"It's not that, actually. I was just thinking, I want my grandfather to look me in the eyes and tell me what he knows. Even if he just said 'There are things I can't tell you right now, but I know you have a purpose.' Just to restore my faith that he has my best interests at heart."

"That still falls under the category of things to yet be revealed." He grabbed my hand and held it to his lips. "Sookie, trust me. Stop analyzing and planning. I appreciate that you like being prepared and knowing everything but sometimes you can't. So stop. Look at me. We are feeding you, we are going home and then we are finishing our bond." He gave me a look that could have melted stone.

I sighed, closed my eyes and gave myself a pep talk. He is right. Cool it. Obsessing won't change a thing. Enjoy this night with Eric. Enjoy the bonding. Dr. Ludwig said things were never going to be quiet so make the most of those moments when you can. I opened my eyes and he was still giving me that look. I leaned in and kissed his lips, "Thank you."

He cocked his head in question. "For calming me down when I get all spazzy."

He laughed, "Spazzy? Is that what you call that?" I nodded as the food arrived. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. After a battle over fork dominance-Eric wanted to feed me again-I won, but only after I told him I wanted to just hurry up and eat so we could leave. He watched me shovel it all in, in no way repulsed. I made him describe, in detail his dreams of Frigg and any details of me. There was never a vision of me or any description, just Frigg telling him about me. That he was to care for me, protect me and he was to bond me to him, as together we were meant for many important things. I was shocked that he never told a soul, even Godric, about his dreams. "There are things a person keeps to himself." Ah, private vampire stuff. Okay. I finished up quickly, much to Eric's delight. I was feeling a little jittery and he must have sensed it. Was I that obvious, or was it because we could feel each others' feelings? Hmm. On our way out, he rubbed my back, he leaned into my ear, "Don't worry, Lover, I'll be gentle."

"Ha. Smart ass"

"You like it."

I ignored that. He scared the valet away with a look, as he took the door from him, to hold it for me while I slid in. Once he was in and we took off, "I'm not nervous. I just feel like this is it. This is a huge moment; we'll be bonded for...forever."

He looked at me and smiled so sweet, it made my heart do a flip flop, "Yes. Finally." And just like that, the conviction, joy and relief in his tone turned any misgivings I had off like a switch. I turned in my seat and reached my head across the armrest to lay on his shoulder and we drove the rest of the way in silence.

When we arrived at what I deemed now as "our cabin", though I owned no part of it, it just seemed like our home, he had me sit on the couch and close my eyes. I could hear him coming and going from the room, things moving around. When he told me to open them a minute later, I gasped. He had turned off all the lights but illuminated the living room with a half dozen large candles. He had brought all the blankets and skins down from the bedroom and lay them on the floor in front of the fireplace, which had a fire blazing. He was bare chested. It was so romantic, so thoughtful. I was speechless. He was kneeling in front of me, between my legs. Gulp. I was a very, very lucky girl.

"Sookie, are you ready to bond to me?"

I nodded, "Yes. Are you ready to bond to me?"

His eyes were burning into mine and his fangs slid down. "I have been ready for centuries." He leaned in and kissed me, very gently at first, but it quickly heated up. He slid his hand up to my shoulders, working my cardigan off my shoulders before I even realized it. Breaking our kiss, he squeezed my waist, licking and nibbling his way down my neck, across my collarbone then to the tops of my breasts. My eyes slid closed of their own accord, my head rolled back on my shoulders and I held onto him for dear life. This was going to be good.

The air got thick around us and bright light filled the darkness of my closed eyes. I laughed to myself-He was literally drawing my magic out of me.

Wait, no he wasn't. I didn't feel it inside, so it couldn't be from me. I really was seeing light through my lids. My eyes snapped open and I saw the light shining brightly right in front of us, then it winked out as my cousin's shape formed and solidified. She was wearing Fairy clothing. Fuck. Me.

"Sookie! You must come with me right now! Grandfather wants to speak with you. He has spoken with Ludwig and The Council. He is summoning you, come now!" She had my shoulder and was trying to pull me out of Eric's grasp. I looked down at him, he still had his tight grip on my waist, still had his lips on the tops of my breasts, and was staring up at me in annoyance. He seemed frozen.

"Claudine! Wait-cripes, we were clearly in the middle of something. Can you give me two seconds to gather myself and talk to-"

"No! You have to come now, there is no time." She was pulling me down the length of the couch, out of the circle of his arms. She was stronger than I realized. Though Eric's hands dropped down once I was dragged from him, he still couldn't move and he was now staring back and forth between the two of us-he was livid. Not at me, just whatever was going on and the fact he was helpless to move. It was making me angry as well. Let us handle this like the adults we were, not dragging me along by my ear, like some petulant child. "Claudine, goddammit. I am coming! Now let go of me." I looked to Eric.

I felt sick and was shocked to feel a lump in my throat at having to leave him like this-in this manner. I looked at him apologetically, "Eric, I am so sorry. I will be back as quickly as possible. Please know that I am already trying to get back to you, okay? We have unfinished business here." I winked at him to lighten the awfulness of the situation.

Claudine looked at me and I saw guilt and sympathy momentarily flash across her face."Okay, good. Let's go!" She took my arm and I looked down at my semi-nude chest. As the air thickened again and her light built, I reached down to grab my sweater as a last second effort at modesty. As I grabbed my sweater, I felt the familiar pull of teleportation but I also felt something encircle the wrist that had reached for the sweater. I don't know if he just fought through whatever force had immobilized him or if Claudine's magic was now all wrapped up in popping us out of there. Whatever the cause for his sudden movement, Eric's hand gripped on to my wrist right as the light flashed and we disappeared. If I could have screamed, I would have.

A split second later and we were in my grandfather's chamber at the palace. Claudine, me and Eric.

A/N: Surprise. This is what I meant about my block. I had this sweet, romantic Lifetime movie mushy sex scene for their bonding all laid out and it just didn't sit right. So I had to muck it up. Love yooouuu...