If you had told me a couple of centuries ago that I'd become involved with—no, bonded to—a human woman, I would have told you that you were nuts. (But I doubt if I would have used that term. It's fairly modern.) Anyway, I did become extremely attached to Sookie. After that first memorable night when I watched a thorn open her flesh to me and then bit into her face as I climaxed, I was hooked. I went back the next night for more. And then the next. And the next. And so on.
I kept telling myself that her telepathy was what made her so enticing, but in all honesty, I don't think that was entirely true. She was so open to what I am, so accepting and loving. It was really amazing. I expected her to resist my true nature, to be afraid, but instead she embraced it. It was unexpected, and when I saw her bending to accommodate me into her life, I was touched and responded in kind. She made me feel more human than I had felt in many, many moons. A part of me resisted her acceptance, but then the long-forgotten human part of my heart melted from centuries trapped in ice and let her hold it close to her own fragile heart.
Plus, the sex was amazing.
I was still concerned that Longshadow's theft of Bobby's laptop made me vulnerable. I had no idea whether my personal information was available to others or whether that briefcase was lost forever. I was in escrow with myself on many of my properties, including the house I lived in, but would feel a lot more secure once those transactions were complete.
Sookie kept pressing me for information about where I lived and how I spent my time away from her. I had no intention of revealing anything to her until my escrows had all closed and I felt secure that no enemies could find me. There was no way I would put her safety in jeopardy. Knowing that Ginger was vulnerable at the house was bad enough. I didn't need another human's torture on my newly sensitive conscience. And Sookie was too important to me to risk her safety.
And so I suppose that Sookie's insistence on knowing my home address was a bit of a hot button for me. I couldn't very well explain to her that I was in the process of making it safer for her to come and stay at my house due to the fact that my day man had been killed for that very same address. No, no, no.
Rather than explaining myself to Sookie, I just told her that maybe it had been a mistake involving her in my life in the first place. I knew I didn't mean it when the words left my mouth, but I just didn't know what else to say. I was upset and anxious for her and pissed at myself for letting that idiot Longshadow inconvenience me this way. If it weren't for his interference, Sookie and I could have been playing house in my comfortable home for months.
I stormed out of Sookie's house and went home to lie on my roof and seek answers in the stars. I thought of how much I had changed since Sookie had entered my life, and I liked the changes. I felt happy for the first time in…well, maybe since I had been a human with my family around me. She made me feel like a man worthy of love, not just a blood-sucking monster. By the time I was heading to my bed for my daytime rest, I had made the decision that I was going to have Sookie come and live with me. I would have to make some changes to the house. And get rid of Ginger. But as soon as escrow closes, I'll feel like it's safer to have Sookie here. I'll let her interview and hire a new housekeeper. She'd probably prefer one I hadn't fucked anyway. I'd figure out something else for Ginger to do. I was seeing how this could work and finally feeling optimistic as the dawn took me and I was out.
The first thing I did when I woke was to call my new day man and ask how soon we could close the sale of the house. Seventeen days. Shit. The title had to be searched, which was really quite silly. I'd had the house built myself in 1918, but it had technically changed hands several times as my identity had changed. So, I could invite Sookie over to see the house, but wouldn't have her living here until after escrow closed in seventeen days. Okay. I had some work to do before then anyway.
Meanwhile, I wanted to get the place looking good for her to see it. I intended to bring her over after I apologized for hurting her feelings the previous night. I went downstairs to retrieve some cleaning supplies. I often cleaned my own bedroom and bathroom because sometimes it was just easier than having Ginger stay late to do it and then glamoring her afterwards. I was shocked to see her in the kitchen since she was supposed to be gone by dusk.
Her addled brain was my fault, and so rather than scolding her for remaining after dark, I simply asked her to clean my room instead. She was shocked, as usual, to find my private quarters through the upstairs hall closet. She cleaned the bathroom as I straightened the bedroom, picking up dirty clothes and stripping the bed. When she was done, I walked her back into the upstairs hallway, glamored her and told her she could go home for the night. She wandered down the steps in a fuzzy haze and I retrieved some clean sheets and my favorite comforter for the bed from the linen closet in the hall. I wanted everything to be perfect for Sookie's arrival.
Once my room was in order, I went down to check the kitchen. It was sparkling clean. Then I went to do a quick sweep of the downstairs rooms and realized that I was going to have to do something about the bookcase in the library. Ginger had accidentally discovered it once, but it just took a quick glamor to fix that. I couldn't glamor Sookie obviously and so it was imperative that she not find the bookcase and subsequently the torture room beneath it.
I hadn't used the room for ages, but I still wouldn't want to explain its existence to Sookie. I stood in front of the bookcase and pulled on the candle holder. As the bookcase began to turn, I straightened the candle holder and the bookcase stopped mid-flip. I examined the bookcase trying to decide the best way to immobilize it. I didn't want to damage the wood or the floor, so simply nailing it in place wasn't the answer. It really was a work of art and I hated to ruin it. I had discovered one like it in a castle in Transylvania in…oh, maybe the 1650's or 60's—somewhere in there. I thought it was pure genius and decided to install a replica in this house when I had it built. Unfortunately, the design was depicted in almost every horror movie ever made in recent decades and so its secrecy could no longer be assured. I suppose it was time to render it useless anyway, but it seemed a real shame.
I stood and studied the candle holder; its motion made the pulley system work. I decided that I'd just drill a hole through the base and put a pin in place. That way the pin could be removed later if I ever wanted to use the thing, but it would be easily concealed in the meantime. All I needed to do was to run out to the garage for my tools, fix the candleholder, and then I could go and get Sookie to bring her here to see her soon-to-be new home. And that's the last thought I had before I caught a quick whiff of a familiar scent and my head exploded in pain as the room went dark.