Chapter 13

She lay; eyes closed, quilt drawn up over her, curled into his arms and Andre thought to himself as he carefully combed her hair with his fingertips, that he had never felt so happy. She was warm and she smelled wonderful and her heart was beating slowly, just this side of sleeping. He had not hurt her as he had fed, and as he had loved her. He had been able, somehow, to restrain the urges that earlier in his life had called for dominion, and satisfaction through subjugation, or the pure physical act. It amazed him as he thought over it. Things had come on, come over him, and come through him in a rhythm that seemed so natural as to be innate. He really had never believed he'd had it in him; but that had been before Sookie. Maybe it was being away from Sophie Ann and her hold on him as his maker, maybe it was the fairy blood, maybe it was just Sookie? Maybe it just didn't matter right then? He pressed a kiss to her head and inhaled the scent of her hair, as clean as the rain that had soaked it, and as honest as the fire that had dried it.

"Mmmm." She moaned softly, and pressed her body against his. He felt himself growing hard with desire for her again. He clutched her, burying his face against her neck. Unmoving. He felt her hands reach up for him, stroking his head and shoulders carefully. He allowed himself to enjoy her touch; not immediately aware that his immobility might be confusing to her.

"Andre? Are you asleep?"

"No." He whispered.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no," He moved to look into her eyes, "You are perfect, your blood is perfect, your body is perfect."

She giggled a little, hiding her face with a southern modesty that caused Andre to smile. He was doing that a great deal all of a sudden he noted, and he leaned in to kiss her squarely on the nose. She giggled again, her voice and heart beat gaining strength as he pulled her into wakefulness. He began to stroke down her side, wanting to curve his fingers against her abdomen, and downwards from there.

"Will your Grandmother be home soon?"

"No, she won't be back until the day after tomorrow." She said it as if it was the most natural thing to say, but Andre felt a lightness wash over him like a breath.

"Really?" He was incredulous.

"Yeah, she's going to New Orleans. She and some of the ladies are going on a museum tour. She was supposed to leave tomorrow morning, but the storm made her nervous, so she asked me to drive her into town tonight, she's staying with a girlfriend overnight so she doesn't miss the bus."

Andre had totally forgotten about the storm raging around them, he had been so lost in her. He offered a silent thanks to it, as he rolled himself over on top of Sookie, grinning at his good fortune.

ooOOoo

The rain had stopped just a few hours before dawn, and Sookie had fallen asleep finally, as much as she had tried to fight it. Andre had bundled her into her quilt, taking the time to feel its softness under his fingers as he drew it about her. The motion of the bedclothes released the scents of her, and of them, and of the house itself, such a safe, comfortable place right then. He found his clothing, still warm from the dryer where she had set it, clean and ready for him, and as much as he hated to cover himself, (he would have much preferred to stay naked with her) he knew that his time was drawing short for that night. He couldn't immediately leave though. In the sitting room the fire had died back, but he could see well enough to make out all the pictures that covered the mantle. Sookie, her brother Jason, from childhood to adulthood, some photos faded, with two other adults, features betraying them as the lost parents. There were others of Adele and the children, and Adele with an older man, her husband, but more than likely not the father of her children. Andre grinned. Even 'back in the day' such indiscretions were not impossible; especially with a fairy thrown in the mix. It was easy to trace the lineage when presented with the pictures. The strong features of Mitchell Stackhouse had not been passed down to his children or grandchildren. He wondered whom the fairy was, and how he had come to Adele, and he wondered if the fairies were even aware of Sookie's existence. He concentrated on the stillness of the house now that the storm was over; he could hear the old refrigerator humming and the intermittent drips of water from the eaves and down the roof. And he could hear Sookie's quiet breathing. It drew him back to her.

Sitting carefully beside her, he leaned into her and kissed her forehead softly, wanting her to waken for him, but not wanting to startle her in doing so. She stirred, smiled and opened her eyes to him.

"You look so beautiful Sookie, I don't want to leave you." He watched as her forehead wrinkled up and she pushed herself up on her forearms.

"Why do you have to leave?"

He stroked her face.

"It isn't safe here for me during the day Sookie. A stray beam of sunlight," he brushed his fingers over her lips, "would hurt me greatly. I could not bear it if you were to see me that way. And you don't have a basement where I could hide. I'll have to go back out to the woods for now."

"I wish you could stay Andre." Her voice was so deliciously lazy it crossed his mind to find a way somehow to make the place habitable for him in his daytime slumber; a hidden room, perhaps beneath the floor? But there wasn't time just then.

"I wish I could too, but rest assured," he took up her hands and squeezed them, "I'll be back tomorrow night, if you will have me."

"I will. I will Andre. But I have to work, I won't be home till after midnight." The worry that crossed her face only disposed him further towards her.

"I will wait. May I kiss you before I go?"

"Yes."

ooOOoo

The taste of her lingered on his lips as Andre went to ground. He had no intention of leaving her woods that night to seek shelter back in Shreveport, even if he couldn't lie beside her, he couldn't leave her. Returning to the grove that had so frustrated him the night before, he stripped to his bare skin and re-excavated the grave he had previously made for himself, the rain having collapsed most of it. Clutching the clothing she had washed for him to his chest; the scent of her home, and her body filled his nostrils as he settled himself into the earth. It seemed to embrace him and hold him in much greater comfort than it had before. Feeling that enveloping calm sent him to his day's sleep quickly, the images of her the last thing he remembered, and the first thing to fill his mind when he woke. Sadly though, that peace did not last as he emerged, immediately feeling the presence of another Vampire; his fangs dropping with an unbidden hiss.

The sky around him was black, and the very air itself was vibrating again. He dressed, grabbed up the duffle bag he had hidden away under the scrub and followed the disruption to his calm with a single mindedness; intent on killing whoever had been stupid enough to ignore the warnings yet again. He stalked through the trees, low to the ground, taking deep breaths for the scent, scanning at his preternatural speed for any disturbance. But his prey was making no secret of hiding himself, stepping through the undergrowth with determined steps; cocksure or stupid, it remained to be seen. Standing to his full height he confronted the interloper with a growl.

"Andre? Well this is fortunate." The smile was smug, the eyes gleaming, and it only infuriated Andre further.

Eric Northman was lit by an internal luminescence, or so it seemed to Andre then, but the sight of the Viking did nothing to stay the rage that the disobedience had raised in him.

"What are you doing here Sheriff? I left instructions that no one was to come out here! Was the example I had to set with Matthew not enough?"

"Who is Matthew?"

"The foolish Vampire who came in search of me only a few nights ago. No doubt at your bidding."

"I swear to you Andre, I have sent no one to spy on you. I would not even be here myself but for the orders I was given. I have much of my own business to oversee. But, when your Queen commands you, you do as she asks."

"Sophie Ann sent you?"

"You have been unreachable for two days and nights. The Queen was worried for your safety. Does she have reason to be?"

"Do I look like I am in danger!" Andre's answer was not formed as a question; it was a statement of a growing sense of dread. Northman had not sent Matthew, though he could have been lying about that, and now Sophie Ann was sending her Sheriff to check up on him? Andre saw the fragile relationship that he had only just begun to build, suddenly crumbling to dust. If he could have trembled, broken out into a cold sweat, Andre believed that he would have done just that right then, under the ambiguous gaze of Northman. He fought the panic.

"No, you don't appear to be." That even tone was beyond aggravating to Andre and he clutched at his bag tighter, fighting the urge to simply end Northman.

"I will call her myself then!" He tore at the duffle, digging for his phone, only to find it soaking wet in an outside pocket. "Morbleu!" He cursed. It was no wonder that Sophie Ann, and whatever new minions she now had in her employ had been unable to contact him. He crushed the phone to plastic shards in his fist, tossing it away from himself.

"Telephone your man, and tell him I will be needing another phone Sheriff. We will go to Shreveport directly and I will speak with the Queen." Andre knew that he had to mitigate whatever damages his carelessness had caused, though he had no idea exactly what he was going to tell his maker to buy himself more time in Bon Temps.