A/N: Just a heads-up—Russell Edgington will eventually be in this. I don't want to copy the line of the story because I want to do something different, so his character is going to be a little different. The whole issue of Russell killing Eric's family doesn't exist in this fic, but he does still want Sookie and he does still have all those Weres.

Enjoy!~

Made – Chapter 7

There was a knock at her door about twenty minutes after it was fully dark. Sookie pulled herself out of her bed, slid on her slippers, and shuffled across her small bedroom. Through a yawn, Sookie asked, "Who is it?"

"Eric." He sounded wide awake.

He didn't ask this time for her to let him in; Sookie opened the door immediately, and held it open for Eric. "What's up?" Sookie asked nervously when he did not move from the doorway.

"We're going to go away for a couple of nights to train," Eric announced with a straight face.

Sookie's whole face lit up. Living here wasn't horrible; it was actually several steps up from her life in Bon Temps, but it was almost too much excitement all at once. That and she really did not enjoy dancing for Fangtasia already. "Where are we going?"

"A little outside Shreveport, in a more rural area," he said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. He was acting so nonchalant, but Sookie could tell that he was actually looking forward to getting out and training her some more. She wasn't sure if it was because of their bond, or she plucked it out of his brain. "I believe that training you here would be too much of a luxury. We need to get out in the wilderness."

She walked over to her closet and pulled out a medium-size suitcase that Pam let her borrow. It was hot, hot pink and had a giant "P" embroidered on the front with golden thread. "Are Pam and Alcide joining us?"

"They'll be available, and around, but not explicitly with us unless we run into some trouble," Eric told her, looking thrilled at the prospect of a fight. He turned to walk back down the hall, but kept his head in the doorway to say, "You won't have to work while we're gone, but you may feel free to bring some of your outfits if you wish." He left giving Sookie a small wink.

Only Eric would suggest such a thing of her, but as Sookie was packing, she took Eric up on his offer.

Thirty minutes later, and Sookie and Eric were speeding down the highway in Eric's red Corvette with their luggage jammed in the tiny trunk and calm instrumental music playing softly through the speakers. Sookie tapped her feet absentmindedly on the floor of the car, and stared out the windows, watching as the trees zoomed by. She loved being in Eric's car; it was the nicest vehicle she's ever been in, and she had a huge desire to drive it some day.

When the silence was too thick, Sookie finally asked, "So, where will we be staying?"

Eric kept his eyes glued on the road as he considered Sookie's question. "No where in particular."

Sookie wasn't sure if she liked the sound of that. "Are we going camping?"

He snorted with laughter. "Vampires can't sleep in tents if that's the kind of camping you're talking about. They don't provide enough protection from the sunlight." He brought his hand up to brush his hair out of his eyes. Eric held the steering wheel with a loose grip and at about eight o'clock position-wise, looking extremely relaxed. "We might be able to stay in a house if I can find a human to glamor enough into letting us, but if not then we will be retiring to the ground every morning."

"Urrgh," Sookie sighed.

"Being a vampire isn't always glamorous, unfortunately," Eric told her with a grin, remembering the way that Sookie looked when she rose from the dirt after she was made. She was a filthy mess, and she would probably hate getting all that junk in her hair again, but that was half the fun. "But I'll try my best to find us a place."

"Good," Sookie huffed. She had brought along her shower things, a hairdryer, and a bit of makeup. Now she wondered if packing all of that had been a stupid mistake.

"It would also be nice to have a bed for sex," he started thoughtfully as the corners of his lips curved up into a wide smile. "But then again, having sex outside wouldn't be half bad."

Sookie's jaw dropped, and she slapped Eric lightly on the arm. "You can't be so sure that we'll...do that!" she told him in a high-pitched voice, but she knew it was probably a lie. She'd eventually succumb to him completely.

"But I can be sure," Eric said proudly. "I know you want to." She had to admit that she was curious. That little scenario they shared after she danced for him left her wanting more. He had an expert touch and his kisses drove her crazy...not to mention that Eric felt like he was extremely well-endowed, possibly more than Bill. And he'd probably be a better lover than Bill, too, for Eric had over eight hundred years of practice in that department on him. Eric leaned over, lightly touched his fingertips to her neck, and whispered in her ear, "I can smell how much you want to."

Sookie's expression was one of utter embarrassment; she slammed her thighs together, foolishly thinking that somehow that would mask the scent. She felt his fingertips stroke the nape of her neck near her hairline. "You don't have to be ashamed of what you desire, Sookie."

She had no idea what to say. She couldn't deny it since Eric had already pointed out that he had sniffed out the evidence that he truly had turned her on. Must change the subject, must talk about anything, anything at all other than this, Sookie thought to herself, until a question finally popped up in her head. "Do you know why Bill is in Mississippi?"

Eric stilled in his seat and kept his eyes glued to the road. "I am not sure why he is there, but I know that he is with the king."

"Is it bad that he is?" Sookie asked in a near whisper.

"It certainly isn't ideal," Eric said simply.

What a vague answer. Sookie wanted to try and press Eric further, but knew that she'd be fighting a losing battle. She didn't know a single thing about the king of Mississippi. Sookie hoped that he was a reasonable vampire that showed mercy. She was quickly getting over Bill Compton, but she didn't want his life to be threatened.

She had another question; one she almost did not want to ask, but had to know the answer. "Do you think he was really kidnapped, or was it just a set-up?"

Again, Eric didn't answer right away. Sookie watched his jaw clench and his fists tighten around the steering wheel as he took the exit off the highway. "I do not think Bill left on his own accord." Sookie felt herself relax considerably until Eric added, "I am not sure if he remains there willingly, though. Even if I was in Mississippi in the king's mansion with him, it'd be hard to tell. So much of what we do is secretive and deceptive, although I daresay that Bill is not crafty enough to fool Russell Edgington. He's a very old vampire; even older than Godric."

"So, are the werewolves hunting me, and Bill's kidnap related?" If they were, then fucking hell, it meant that one of the most powerful vampires in America was coming after her, and she was just a baby vampire.

"It's looking like that," Eric said with a heavy sigh. They were driving down a mostly deserted road, and Sookie hoped that they were headed towards humans or Tru Blood. She hadn't eaten yet. "I didn't enlist the help of Alcide Herveaux randomly. He has connections with other werewolves in Jackson who have been bragging about a new vampire to feed off of. Alcide researched, and those werewolves have connections with the king, who supplies them with V so that they stick around and do his bidding."

Sookie was extremely uneasy at this information. "How do you know that the information is true, or how do you know that Alcide is not working for Russell, too?"

"Giving me false information would only put his family further in debt, and Alcide wouldn't do that," Eric told Sookie simply, as if her question was the easiest one in the world. "And Alcide is sort of a lone wolf, to be frank." He chanced a glance at Sookie, who looked worried down to her very marrow. Eric reached over to stroke Sookie's soft hair affectionately. "There's no reason to be scared. The werewolves haven't started searching for you up here yet. If Russell decides to pay us a visit, it'd be more difficult to anticipate his arrival time since he flies and he's fast, but we can deal with it if it happens. We'll be okay; I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Even though Sookie wanted to be frightened, thought she ought to be frightened, she wasn't, and she trusted Eric when he said that they'd make it through this. Russell couldn't be all that bad, could he? Maybe he was just misunderstood.

They slowly emerged into a somewhat small city; it was larger than Bon Temps, but not quite as populous as Shreveport. The city was lit up with bright lights, advertising restaurants, stores, bars, strip clubs—just about everything a city could have. It didn't look familiar to Sookie at all, and she wondered if they were still in Louisiana, or if they headed so far north that they were now in Arkansas.

"You hungry?" Eric asked as they passed a McDonald's, although he was not asking Sookie if she wanted a Big Mac for dinner.

"Extremely," Sookie answered as she leaned back in her seat and inhaled the scent of humans out on the town, walking along the sidewalk to their destinations. Sookie pressed a small button on the side of the door and watched as the window rolled up automatically. Having it down was almost too much for her to handle.

"I am going to get a bottle or two of Tru Blood in you, and then you will be in charge of finding us dinner tonight." Sookie was certain that the bottles of blood were only to ebb her hunger so she wouldn't go crazy on a human and maybe kill one, and for that she was thankful. Eric drove down the road a piece and pulled into a gas station that advertised that they stocked Tru Blood and other synthetic blood products. "Sookie, look at me," Eric said sternly, and Sookie easily turned her head so that she made eye contact with him. "You are to stay in the car while I am inside the gas station, do you understand? Under no circumstances may you leave, unless there's danger."

"Yeah, okay," Sookie said, giving Eric a weird look. She thought that was a mighty odd thing of him to say, and didn't get why he demanded her to stay in the car like a child. Where the heck was she going to go? She didn't even know where she was!

But as soon as he left, she understood why Eric said the things he did. A human walked by, very close to the Corvette, and Sookie got a whiff of her sweet blood. Sookie's fangs clicked into place, and she was overwhelmed with the desire to open the door, sink her teeth into the girl's neck, and suck all the blood she had to give. But a second before Sookie even attempted to move, her whole body was overcome with paralysis, all but her eyes in their sockets, but a lot of good that would do her. Her hands couldn't move one inch, much less several to open the door to the car, and she couldn't move her feet or her legs. Hell, she couldn't even arch her back up from the seat. It was like she was frozen solid.

Eric came back to the car quickly with three bottles of Tru Blood and passed two to Sookie, who could now move since she was no longer trying to feed off humans. "Did you enjoy that?" he asked with the smallest hint of a smile on his face.

"No," Sookie said stubbornly as she popped the top of one of the bottles and guzzled down a bit of it. "Did you just do that 'as your maker, I command you' sort of thing?"

"Pretty much," Eric told her simply. "You wouldn't have stayed put if I hadn't."

Sookie sure as heck wasn't thick enough to argue that point. "So, that was our bond?" Eric nodded. "So, you can make me do anything—whatever you wanted me to do—and I'd have to do it? Even if it's against my will?"

"I can, but whenever I command something of you, it will be for your benefit," Eric said before taking a sip.

"So, you won't make me have sex with you?" Sookie asked.

Eric had to laugh. "I believe that would qualify as a benefit. Don't be so quick to forget what happened the other night—you wanted it."

Again, Sookie wasn't thick enough to argue.

Later that night, Sookie was able to find herself a nice fangbanger who was more than willing to "donate" some of her blood to a couple hungry vampires. After much effort of picturing spiders crawling all over her and the disgusting smell of animal manure, Sookie was finally able to stop feeding off the human without Eric having to command her to do so.

She was certain that it was one of the hardest things she's ever done.

"You did well with that human," Eric said again when they were back in his car, driving out of the city. "I am actually impressed. Hopefully you'll be able to do that without me being there." He noticed that Sookie tensed next to him, and gently placed his hand on her cheek that was slightly rosy from feeding. "We won't be trying that soon. You still need more practice."

Sookie nodded and smiled weakly. "Thank you for being so patient with me."

"A maker must be patient with his new child," Eric told her. "Otherwise you'll never learn or be obedient, and that's a good way for a baby vampire to die."

"I guess I just thought that all maker-progeny relationships were like what Bill and Jessica have," Sookie said, staring at her feet.

"I am not like Bill, and you are not like Jessica," Eric said simply as he drove off toward a lush forest. "Bill is a lazy maker, and Jessica reacted badly to becoming a vampire since her life was taken from her." Jessica was also stubborn as hell and was a bratty teenager, but Eric conveniently left that part out since Sookie considered Jessica a friend. "We won't be anything like them."

Sookie knew that Bill wasn't a good maker with Jessica; she tried to get through to him about it, tell him he was misunderstanding her and treating her badly, but Bill could be just as stubborn as Jessica sometimes. She hoped that Jessica was doing well. Sookie missed her a lot, and often considered asking Eric if Jessica could come live with them, but never actually got around to doing it.

"Where are we going to sleep?" Sookie asked when she no longer saw any hint of a city. She wasn't even sure if they were on an actual road anymore.

"In the earth," Eric told her. He wasn't too excited about sleeping there himself, but he was looking forward to seeing Sookie emerge from the ground again, covered in dirt.

Sookie sighed. "How are we going to dig a hole? You didn't bring a shovel." Eric reached over, took her hand in his, kissed it gently and gave her a pointed look. Sookie yanked her arm back. "With our hands?" Eric nodded with a grin.

Lovely. Not only would she be covered in dirt when she woke up in the evening, but there would be dirt under her fingernails. But she supposed that it was at least better than burning to death.

They drove and drove until Eric was finally satisfied. He parked his car in the outskirts of the woods so that it was nicely concealed, and together the two of them got out. Eric didn't pop the trunk to retrieve their luggage. "Since you'll be using a lot of your energy to dig your sleeping space, how about we fly into the woods?"

"But only you can fly," Sookie said, looking utterly confused.

Eric smiled. "Yes, but I can carry you."

Sookie's eyes lit up. When she was a child, she often pretended and wished that she could fly, just like most other children. Just the prospect of flying in Eric's arms made her body overflow with excitement. "I'd like that."

Silently, he moved to stand behind her. Eric lifted Sookie up a bit off the ground so that he could easily wrap his arm around her waist without having to bend his body down. Once he had a good grip on her hips, Eric took off. They shot up into the air vertically, the air whipping around their bodies, licking Sookie's cheeks harshly, but she didn't care because she was flying. Once they were above the trees, Eric eased them forward a bit so that their bodies were diagonal as they traveled through the air.

With his mouth close to Sookie's ear, he whispered, "Do you like flying with me?"

"I love it, Eric!" Sookie exclaimed happily. It felt like she was on the best roller coaster ride in the history of the world.

Eric nuzzled his nose against the shell of Sookie's ear before he jutted his tongue out and swiped across it. He felt Sookie's whole body shiver against his. "Did you like that?"

Sookie's voice wasn't nearly as strong this time. "Yes," she whined, arching her neck so that more of her cool skin was exposed to him as she pressed her body against the sizable bulge that was developing in his jeans and wiggled.

What a tease Sookie Stackhouse was. Eric swallowed back a low moan that was threatening to escape, and held her body closer to his, making sure that his grip was strong and true. He captured the lower half of her ear in his mouth and sucked gently on the lobe for moment before releasing it. "How about that?"

"Yespleasemore," Sookie managed, her words flowing together as her lips parted into a small "O" from arousal.

Eric smiled into the curve of her neck before he ran his tongue along it, licking and sucking and grazing his descended fangs on Sookie's hungry flesh. Her body gave a greater lurch of pleasure, but mostly stayed still from fear of falling from Eric's grasp.

A light moan escaped Sookie's lips when Eric's free hand reached up her shirt and cupped one of her breasts through the material. He kneaded her small mound with his large hand momentarily before he pushed the material up to free her breast. "Oh God, Eric," Sookie said through a gasp when the pads of his fingertips ran light circles around her nipple, giving it a small pinch every now and then until it swelled into a hardened nub.

"And that?" Eric asked as he pressed his lips to the sensitive skin behind her ear in an affectionate kiss. The groan that worked its way up from the pit of Sookie's stomach was the perfect answer. "Too bad I can't put my mouth there just yet." The arm wrapped around Sookie's waist traveled down, worked its way past the band of her pants, and slid into her panties. Eric pressed his cool palm against her heated core before his middle finger found her clit. "Or here."

"Eric, you shouldn't," Sookie said in a weak, airy voice.

"You don't mean that," he whispered into his ear, and it was true. She never wanted him to stop, never wanted his hands to leave her body. "Just don't look down and I'll fly slower."

When he felt Sookie nod, he slowed down his speed, and tightened his arms around her again. His cool hand worked her reddened nipple into a painful arousal as his fingers in between her legs rubbed her bundle of nerves in quick swirls. When her heated center grew more moist beneath his touch, Sookie started to release quick and heavy pants into the warm air. Sookie was instinctively moving against him in just the right speed and at just the right spot for him to stiffen at the contact.

Sookie rocked her hips as best as she could into Eric's touch without wiggling free, and when Eric reached down to plunge two of his fingers into her wet channel, Sookie cried out and stilled as she released several feet above the ground, literally feeling like she was on cloud nine.

As Sookie started to come down from her high, Eric descended to the earth, landing lightly on his feet. Before Sookie could even adjust her wonky clothes, Eric spun her on her heel and captured her lips in a hungry, desperate kiss.

When they broke apart, Eric had a sated smile on his face. "What was all that for?" Sookie finally was able to ask.

"I guess you can call it your reward for being such a good baby vampire," Eric told her as he crouched down to the dirt. "Let's dig your hole."

Sookie joined him on the ground. With her new speed, digging into the earth was quick and easy work, although still quite disgusting since her arms were covered with dirt. She was just glad that it hadn't rained lately; mud would have made the job messier.

"How deep should I go?" Sookie asked once her hole sunk into the earth about three feet.

"Give it another foot or so, and make it about twice as wide," Eric instructed as he jumped in and started to help her.

Sookie was perplexed. "Why wider?"

"So there's room for two," Eric said simply.

Sookie grinned.