Finally finished with all the proofreading so I am posting the final chapters.

As always I don't own the world or the characters, I just take them out on playdates.

Chapter 20 - Reward

Eric was at the doors as they parted, he pulled her to him, hugging her then holding her by her shoulders so he could look her in the eyes. "Are you okay?" he was dressed in his usual black beater and jeans.

"Yes, I'm fine. The guys following me were amateurs and their directions were just to find out where I was going. I was able to get rid of them by pulling into a police station." She smiled wryly at him. "I think I kicked an anthill."

He looked confused, so she explained the idiom. "It's when you go into a quiet situation and create chaos. Some ants start putting things to right, redigging the hole, but others run out to bite the kicker." She shrugged, "It's pretty much what happened in Dallas. Except then, the ants knew I was coming."

"Come, sit down, tell me what you found out." He took her hand and started to lead her to one of the couches.

"Oh wait." She pulled her hand out of his, the held it palm up to him. "Smell my hand."

"All right, I'll bite." He grinned and bent his head over her hand.

"I'm well aware of that." she said with a grin.

"Fairy." he said after a deep inhalation, "Neither Claudine nor Claude."

"That's what I thought, I couldn't read her and she had the same dazzling smile as Claudine. She said her name was Aine Summers. Do you know her?"

"No, so a fairy is working there?" He smelled her hand again. "Maybe the one from the mall, but it's too faint." He looked concerned, but led her back to the couch.

She set her food on the low coffee table. "Do you mind if I eat while I talk?"

"No, go ahead." he seemed impatient for the story.

"She said she is a liaison with a company providing research money. Jerry Carbonne, the Director didn't disagree with her, although I doubt he could if he wanted to." At his questioning look she clarified. "She just dazzles him with her smile and he's pretty gone." She took a bite of her chicken sandwich.

"Is he in on it?"

She shook her head emphatically. "No, he was easy to read. He's exactly what he says he is, the director of a chemistry company. He was very nice and enthusiastic. I felt pretty bad deceiving him. He really seems to be looking forward to hosting a field trip."

"What about Taggert, was he there?" Eric obviously had no trouble with the deception.

"He was there, I saw him, and got a good read on him. He freaked when I asked if the plant produces cosmetics." She paused while she continued to eat. "He's close to being fired. He's worked there for the past 12 years and was really good at his job, but for the past 3years or so his attitude and work has gone downhill." She finished her sandwich. "I would sure like to know what happened to cause that."

"Without knowing more about him it would be hard to say." he looked thoughtful.

She started digging through the huge purse for her phone. "I'm going to call Claudine and see if she knows Aine. I think she could tell I'm different and since I couldn't read her, I don't know what her involvement is." She looked at Eric curiously. "Are there bad fairies?"

He rolled his eyes, "Lover, there are fairies out there that make me look like a saint." His voice became seductive and he moved closer to her. "You did a wonderful job." he smiled proudly at her. "Call Claudine after you get your reward."

"Hmm, would that be a medal?" she mused as she took his hands and straddled his lap.

He leaned forward and kissed her lightly. "No, not a medal." he murmured before kissing along her jawline.

"Maybe a plaque, with my name engraved on it?" She released his hands and moved hers to his shoulders.

"Not a plaque." he whispered into her ear, before catching the lobe with his blunt teeth.

Her breath caught. "Ooh, I know, the key to the city?" One of her hands moved to the back of his head, her fingers getting lost in his hair.

His hands began unbuttoning her blouse. "You're out of guesses." He said against her neck, his mouth trailing a path of fire across her skin. He finished the buttons and one hand came up to the back of her head. He stilled and pulled his head back.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her mind already cloudy with passion.

"Take the wig off." he said flatly, almost a command.

"Right now?" she asked, she didn't want the interruption.

"I want to see you, my lover, no false persona when I am having you." His eyes were intense.

"Alright." she agreed. The faster she did it the sooner she could get her reward. She backed off his lap and stood. Reaching up to unpin the wig. Removing it she put it down gently over the arm of a nearby chair, then starting unpinning her own hair. He watched as she released each tendril, until she was able to shake her hair free. "How's that?"

"Much better, now take off your clothes." This was more of a coax than a command.

Her cheeks flamed. She had never stripped in front of someone before. Sure she had been naked with both Eric and Bill, but the clothes were either already gone, like in the shower, or came off as part of the process as it were. Standing here and stripping in front of him seemed different somehow. "Umm." she stammered.

He smiled, "Don't be embarrassed. Just look me in the eye and slowly take off your clothes. I won't even break eye contact."

"If you aren't going to look then why?" It didn't make any sense to her.

"Humor me." he urged, his eyes already locked on hers.

"Okay." She looked at him as she undid the buttons at her cuffs. Then she shrugged out of the shirt, rounding her shoulders, feeling a little shameless.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, you are beautiful, and besides, I'm not looking." It was true, he hadn't broken eye contact.

She straightened, then stepped out of her shoes. She was glad that she hadn't worn socks, she didn't want to have to bend over to take them off and she thought nothing looked stupider than the naked-except-for-socks look. Her hands went to her belt, her fingers were shaking a little and she was having a little trouble with the buckle. She bent her head to look at what she was doing, actually a little relieved to break eye contact.

"If you stop looking at me, my eyes will start to wander." he warned.

Her head popped up, sure enough his eyes were roaming her body. Fine! If that was how he was going to be. She glared at him and cleared her throat. "Ahem!"

With a sparkle in his eyes, he looked into hers again. He was laughing at her, she thought, he didn't think she was going to be able to do this, that she would chicken out. She decided to show him. She undid the belt quickly, and pulled it out of the loops with a hard yank. Tossing it onto the other couch in the setting. She unfastened the hook on her slacks and slid down the zipper forcing herself to do it slowly. Hooking her thumbs into the waistband she slowly lowered them down, bending at the waist, but keeping her face on Eric. Despite the good view of her bosom she was providing, Eric kept his eyes fixed on hers. She straightened, stepping out of the pants. Reaching behind her with both hands she unbuckled her bra, letting it relax, she slowly slid each strap down. Taking a deep breath she lowered it, exposing her breasts. True to his word, he kept his eyes raised, although she could see the muscles in his jaw flexing.

She stood before him in nothing but her panties. She was a little taken aback at her own brazenness, but really turned on, and a little proud of herself. She found herself a little irritated at Eric for again tricking her into being more bold. She decided to make it a little harder for him to keep his promise. She brought her hands up, lifting her hair up off her neck and tilting her head to the side. Lowering her hair, her fingers traced the path of her jugular.

Passion flared in his eyes, and he licked his lips, but didn't shift his eyes away from hers. She let her hands trail over her body, just lightly, as they made their way down to her remaining garment. She stretched out the elastic and slowly pushed them down, again leaning towards him. His fangs were down, his tongue tracing them, but his eyes remained fixed. Just as she was straightening to step out of them she heard a faint whirring behind her. Glancing over her shoulder she saw the shutters were opening, apparently on their own. She let out a little shriek and jumped onto the couch, curled into a ball.

"Can you close those?" she asked into the cushion.

"The glass is shaded, no one can see in." He put a hand on her back. "Besides, we're up higher than the nearby buildings."

She lifted her head, relaxing a little. "Are you sure?" She looked at him and slapped his arm. "You're laughing at me!" she accused.

"You just boldly stripped in front of me, and yet you curl up in a little ball at the thought of an open window." His eyes sparkled with mirth.

"There's a difference!" she insisted.

"If you say so." He leaned in and kissed her shoulder, he shifted onto the floor behind her, kissing towards her neck, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her against him. She leaned back against him, her arm reaching back around his head. His hands moved up to cover her breasts, kneading them and teasing the nipples into hard points. He kissed up the side of her neck to whisper in her ear. "Next time, I'm going to watch."

She smiled, "Who said there's going to be a next time." she taunted, but her expression said there would. "Besides, it's your turn next."

"I thought you'd never ask." He gave her a quick kiss on the lips, then stood so fast she would have fallen backwards off the couch if he hadn't steadied her. He took a step back. "Don't watch my eyes." he said with a wink.

She turned on the couch to face him, shifting a little, as uncomfortable at the thought of watching him strip as she was stripping herself.

He stood proudly in front of her, not a trace of embarrassment or shame on his face. He looked at her intently as he began to pull the bottom of his shirt up. She tried to look him in the eye, because she thought it would be less embarrassing, but his look was so intense she couldn't hold his gaze and she looked down. That's when she fixated on his hands, which had slid under the bottom edge of his shirt and were moving slowly across his taut abdomen. She found her fingers clenching, wanting to displace his hands themselves. Slowly, his hands moved up his torso, pushing the shirt higher as they went. Just as they reached the bottom of his pecs, he ripped the shirt down the middle, causing her to jump.

She looked up at his face again and he had a slight smirk. She knew he could tell how turned on she was. She shifted so she was sitting on her legs, because she didn't want to get the couch wet, a very real possibility in her current state.

The movement of his right hand caught her attention, he placed it, fingers pointing down and spread apart, in the middle of his chest and rubbed it down his body to the top of his pants. His other hand met it there and he slowly undid his belt. Once unbuckled, he took his time pulling it from the loops, until the end when he pulled it so fast it snapped like a whip and she gasped in surprise. Only then did she realize she had been holding her breath. He tossed the belt to join hers on the other couch.

She was mesmerized by every movement of his hands, she bit her lip in anticipation. His hands went to the button of his jeans and he undid it with a jerk, then he slowly pulled the zipper down. He moaned as his gracious plenty was released from its denim confines, it was obvious that he was as aroused by this as she was. She wanted to reach out and wrap her hands around him so badly, that she had to clasp her hands together to stop herself. As if he could read her mind, his hand did what she wanted to do, encircling his shaft and slowly stroking it until it came to full attention. She licked her lips and squirmed in her seat, it took all her will power not to jump him.

He let go of his manhood and hooked his thumbs into two belt loops of his jeans. He pivoted then, turning his back to her as he lowered his pants, revealing his magnificent ass at such a slow rate that it was sheer torment. He was adding to her torment by flexing his sculpted muscles, then he bent at the waist to pull the pants lower and she had to bite back a moan herself. She thought she might have heard him chuckle but he didn't turn, instead he sank to a crouch, obviously just for her benefit as he rose again to step out of the pants, but the way his muscles moved was breathtaking. Her will power snapped and she slid onto the floor on her knees to grab his butt with both hands, squeezing it, then leaned forward to bite it lightly, which she had been wanting to do since that night she had walked in on him dressing.

"I take it you enjoyed that?" he said with a chuckle, as he twisted at the waist to look down at her.

"God yes!" she gasped against his skin, still kissing and nipping at his ass. He let her continue for a few moments, making little sounds of pleasure at her actions, then he slid a hand under her chin and lifted her face. She looked up and saw that his eyes burned with passion and hunger.

"My turn." he whispered with a wicked smile. Then with a burst of vampire speed he picked her up and she found herself kneeling on the couch, facing the back of it. He was behind her kneeling on the ground and his hands were on her butt as he nipped it. "Your ass has always looked delicious. Now I am going to find out if it is." he purred to her.

His powerful fingers kneaded her muscles, almost painfully, then she felt him lick up her cleft and she moaned. That shouldn't feel so good, she thought to herself, but couldn't deny that it did. He repeated it, this time his hands had pulled her cheeks back so his tongue went deeper and her whole body shuddered with the pleasure of it. One hand shifted between her legs, seeking out her pleasure center and teasing it lightly.

"Yes!" she cried, then she bit the back cushion of the sofa to muffle the shriek as his fangs sank deep into her asscheek. As he sucked on the thin flow of blood, he brought the other hand around the front to take over stimulating her nub so he could plunge his fingers into her dripping core. She bucked back against them, grunting into the cushion. He started a frantic rhythm, thrusting in and out of her as his other hand worked her nerve bundle. Almost immediately she was at the edge, she felt him lick his bite and as she felt the tingle of his blood mix with hers, she fell over into ecstasy.

As the world came back into focus, she found her forehead resting against the back of the couch as Eric kissed the back of her neck. She could feel him pressed along her back and leaned back against him."Mmm, that was better than a medal." she murmured.

"Your reward isn't over yet." turning her head he kissed her hungrily. One hand went to her breast, teasing her nipple into a hard bud. He broke off the kiss, staring into her eyes as a finger of his other hand traced her lips, she leaned forward and sucked it into her mouth discovering it was covered in her own fluids. He nuzzled back to her ear, "I told you you were delicious." he whispered. He nipped at her earlobe and her breath caught. He pulled his finger out of her mouth, his hand trailed down her body, until it parted her again and started circling her nubbin.

"Oh, God, Eric." she panted. She moved her head forward to bite the cushion again but he pulled her back.

"I want to hear you shout my name in ecstasy." he said in her ear, sending goosebumps across her skin. He shifted back and down, as he came back up he entered her and she moaned.

"That's not going to be a problem." she said with a raspy chuckle as he began thrusting.

He was kissing the column of her neck, his fangs dragging across her skin. She brought one arm up around his head, her fingers burying in his hair. Her other arm was braced against the couch, to keep from being driven into it. With each thrust he sucked on the skin over her vein, tantalizing her with the expectation of a bite. The rhythm drove her, it took over her movements, her breathing, her thoughts, until there was nothing but the crescendo of their joining. She was so close, another few beats away, she started gasping his name, "Eric...please...bite me now...Eric!" His fangs slid into her, but so smoothly, there was more pleasure than pain and that launched her into rapture with his name on her lips and his teeth at her throat.

The bite was already healed by the time she could think clearly again. Eric was shifting them, he was lying on the couch, his head and shoulders propped on one arm. Her head was on his chest and she was lying on her back between his legs.

"I'm not smushing you am I?" she asked languidly, her hand brushing his arm.

"No, don't you dare move." He moved his other arm across her chest possessively.

"I don't think I could." she chuckled, bending her head to kiss his arm.

"Good." He seemed content to just hold her.

"Eric?" she began.

"Yes lover?"

"Remind me to do a wonderful job again." He chuckled and held her close.