Eric heated a bucket of water, took off all his clothes and looked at me questioningly from his nakedness. I didn't give him truce, so I took his stinking clothes to the street and he cleaned up himself a bit. It didn't matter, because then we all got filthy cleaning the pig. Eric cut some bristles to seize them for brushes and burned the rest of them with a dry branch. He opened the boar carcass and began to clean the meat and separate according to its use. Helga came to help us, and we stayed all day and part of the night arranging meat. We take salted hams and hooves and smoked the bacon outside as we had done with the fish. Helga and I proceeded to make a mixture with different spices and boil all the onions I had in the cooler. Eric got the loin and gave it to me as if it was the best of the gifts. He gave to his mother a piece to get chops.
We were left alone and Eric emptied pig guts and cleaned them because then we would use them to embed a hash of meat we would do with the various parts of the pig that couldn't be salted or smoked.
Eric used a metal instrument was like a meat grinder that chopped the meat and I picked it up in a wooden bucket, where I mixed and stirred it well. I smeared my hands with mincemeat while blood dripped Eric fingers. This way he resembled in a macabre and sordid way to the vampire whom I loved.
He helped me with the heavy bucket of meat we get after chopping it all, we add salt and the boiled onion and spices mix that Helga and I had done. And to mix! I sank hands to stir the ingredients well with the meat. When I pressed, the mincemeat crept through my fingers and it was messing me even more. I started doing dirty deeds and laugh and Eric acquiesced. I buried my hands again and started playing with Eric on a very disgusting but very erotic dance. We were like Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in Ghost when they get turned on while playing with clay, only that we were Sookie Stackhouse and Eric Northman and of course we were more onto blood, flesh and viscera than clay.
We were kneading the meat a little bit more. Finally, Eric took his hands, took a pinch of meat with his fingers, sniffed and ate. He picked up a pinch and offered it to me. I didn't want anything, but I thought it was a good time to encourage a rapprochement, so let him enter his finger in my mouth, I sealed my lips around his finger and wrapped it with my tongue, pulling the meat with me as I pulled my mouth. My lips brushed his finger, I licked my lips and a second later, Eric covered my mouth with his. His lips were cut by the cold air, his mouth was hot and tasted spices. I had no time to react because I kept thinking it was the first time he kissed me with his warm mouth, and just when I was going to respond to his kiss it enthusiastically, Leif interrupted us. I know Eric calibrated the possibility of wring his neck to his offspring.
"Are you going to take so long? Can I go to sleep now?
"Yes, go to sleep now" Eric snapped. Leif thought about his father bad temple, but still rubbing his eyes turned around and went to his bed. Erik and Audr had been sleeping for a while.
I liked to know how sausages are stuffed. I hummed as he tried to see if smoke was coming out from Eric's ears. The moment was broken and he was fuming. I figured how much days had been without fucking for him and clicked my tongue. He had no right to be so frustrated, I was much worse than he was.
We mortise all meat and I left apart a bit to make hamburgers. We tied with yarn the guts and hung them in an outdoor shed that was a few feet from home, between our cabin and Helga and Halvar's palace. They must be at least three in the morning when we finished doing this. I went home shuffling and put water to be heated to clean myself a little bit me before going to bed with Audr.
Erik woke me when he told, a little louder than normal, Audr not to scream or she'll wake me. I smiled and stretched up. I had the two young Northman by my side in less time than it takes to say "good morning"
"Look, look" Erik pulled me and I got out of bed, I covered a bit and followed him to the table where they had prepared lunch (I deduced by the height of the sun): fresh milk, boiled eggs, and fresh bacon.
"Mmmm" I sat down and Leif and Erik served me like in a hotel "And this?"
"Now you're not going with Ivar, are you?" Leif asked. I stroked her hair and kissed him on the cheek.
"I never thought about leaving him, sweetie" Leif sigh of relief, but looked to where Eric slept thinking he would feel better if his father did something to make sure I stay with them forever.
"I've collected eggs" Audr said "And I haven't broken any."
"Very well" I congratulated her.
"Then I'll take one large gull egg for you, okay, Sookie?" Erik told me.
"Stay away from the cliffs."
"I'll take those that are at low height" He said. Gull eggs were a delicacy and kids liked as much as quail, although sometimes it was a little dangerous to pick them.
"I said no. Why don't you try to catch rabbits or hares for today?" Erik shrugged although Leif was enthusiastic about the idea. He loved to hunt.
I was tired because of being awake late at night, so I started to make the thread. Eric had a flock of a dozen sheep, in early autumn, a young villager named Einarr, made the seasonal migration with all villagers' sheep and took them to greener pastures at south, where snow cover was less or didn't covered it at all. He received a good salary, all the milk he could wish, he was entitled to at least two lambs and in that way farmers didn't need to worry about their livestock. Eric and his family only drank sheep milk in summer and spring and in the latter they produced the cheese they had with this kind of milk. In summer, wool is sheared and kept to seize it for the remaining two seasons, during which the sheep were in less nuisance climates. So I started making wool yarn to knit me a coat that I will cover in fur after.
The fur was my next challenge, I wanted to learn how to manipulate it (although apparently it was much more difficult than using the loom) to make a new children boots.
Eric got up before noon, just as the bread was starting to smell in the oven, greeted me and began to swallow what was left prepared for him: milk and honey, day-old bread (which dipped in milk), a piece a piece of cheese and fresh bacon that I served with bread and fresh from the burning fire.
"Thank you" he said, and patted my hand. It gave me goose bumps.
"You need a shave" I said back to my task.
"Yes, you prick" Audr confirmed.
"With the long beard I don't prick" he told his daughter while he was tickling her, the girl squirmed between giggles. I looked outside and sighed. It was snowing hard.
"And Erik and Leif?"
"They have gone to see if caught a snow rabbit" I stared at him.
"Really, both of you want me to shave?" we nodded. "O.k. then. Put water to be heated."
I prepared all things for shaving Eric in a methodical and professional way, although I was made a pudding at the prospect of what might happen after what happened last night. But with Audr present I couldn't fantasize a lot and had too many illusions. The girl played with half body behind the woolen curtain that I had woven to isolate a part of the house and to wash up without shame. Eric kept his eyes closed most of the time and this time, I cut him a couple of times, but he never flinched nor protested. Occasionally his hand brushed against my leg and I expected him to sit me down on him and kiss me, but that didn't happen. I went to get the mirror in order to let him take a look as he wiped soap leftovers from his face. I offered it to him and he seemed to be satisfied.
"I'm going to get a lot of cold in the face."
"I'll knit something" I said, and for a moment I forgot where and when I was because I stroked his cheek and neck as if I actually was: his wife. When I was about to apart my hand, he caught it there against his left cheek. He turned his face and breathed against my skin. He thought I had the softest hands that had ever touched him and he liked my skin smelled of cooking and cuisine. He stroked my face and brushed a strand of hair, I looked into his eyes and wished with all my strength him to kiss me now, before somebody interrupt us. Eric didn't kiss me like the night before, he put his warm lips to mine and kissed me several times, I also returned the little kisses. I felt his hot, wet tongue against my mouth and let him try mine too. We parted. I gulped and looked into his eyes open. He liked how I tasted: like milk and honey. It made him want to drink me whole. When I heard that thought I couldn't help but smile, because it was very similar to what my vampire would have thought.
We returned to lean toward the other for another kissing session when we hear Leif's voice on the distance. We were about to swear in Aramaic when we realized the urgent tone of panic, of the largest of the Northman.
"Father! Father!"
"What?" Eric grabbed Leif by the shoulders, the child was out of breath from running and crying was suffocating him "Erik has fallen, father... from the cliff."
"NO!" I shouted.
"Is he dead? IS HE DEAD?" Eric shouted.
"He's ... I dunno, I think he is not" Eric flew off so fast that I thought it had regained his vampire speed "He is stuck on the rocks!"