Who knows what a hard drive failure entails? I do now. Yikes! Either way, I hope I was able to piece this back together, as I had saved everything externally except for chapter six... LOL. Now, a new laptop later, I continue. Hope you like it.

As always, Charlaine Harris owns the characters and Alan Ball takes them for a ride in the TV show. I own nothing, nor do I make anything monetary out of this.

Tryllium

Chapter Six

So between the bar in Shreveport, going to ground at Eric's and going back at least once every two days to see what was happening at my house in Bon Temps, I was going stir crazy. Eric rarely let me out of his sight, and now that I was a vamp, it's not like I had an excuse to go to the ladies room to have some alone time. After 8 days (or nights I guess) of the same day in day out, living in a gilded cage, I snapped.

Eric was sitting at his desk, going tapping away at his computer, occasionally speaking on the phone. He regarded me calmly as I ranted, cocking a perfect golden eyebrow at me.

"I have to get out of here Eric! I'm not used to having no purpose, nothing to do. This has to end." I had practically screamed the first part, but when I got to the last part about it ending, I had dropped my voice to a low murmur. I stalked across the room to his desk, and planted my hands on the edge of it, looking deep into his eyes. He had remained silent. "I know you only have my best interest in mind Eric, but this isn't any way to live." I took a deep (and unnecessary) breath. "I won't live like this Eric, I just won't. I know you can command me as my maker to do your bidding, but I won't be happy. Eventually the queen will figure out a way, if she even wants to at all."

I stopped and looked at Eric, because his silence was unnerving me, and his luminous blue eyes were revealing nothing in their depths. After a moment, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Sophie Ann has already contacted me Sookie." He paused. "I passed off what Andre saw as glamour."

My temper began to flare, as I took in the fact that Eric had been keeping the a conversation about the very reason I was being confined from me. I know he had my best interest in mind, but this was far too controlling, and I didn't like it one bit. He continued speaking, as he tapped on his laptop, and if he felt a surge of anger through the bond, he didn't show it.

"I attributed the strength of the glamour to the fact that you and Jason are brother and sister, and there would be more of a bond there between the two of you than a normal vampire and human. The fact of the matter is, is that there is probably some truth to that. I can't say that Sophie Ann is completely disinterested in you, but right now – I believe she's occupied with other things." I nodded, raising my eyebrow at him, and opening my hands in supplication. Eric frowned.

"Nevertheless Sookie, caution is merited. You are a new vampire, you have much to learn and there very well may be latent talents that you have. Until we know for certain, prudence in all things is the wise choice."

I rolled my eyes, because it sounded like Eric was telling me that I ought to look forward to more weeks, possibly months of the same. I just couldn't bear it. Gran had always taught me to be active, and to work hard. I didn't have a job, I didn't have a home to be in and I was bored. I said as much to Eric.

"Perhaps you would like to work for the bar? You are a vampire now. This would be helpful." I thought that it would be at least something to do. I nodded. "There are ground rules Sookie... And you'd have to wear the uniform." He laughed when he saw me stick out my tongue.

"What do you want me to do, waitress?" I thought I could do that – but Eric shook his head. "Vampires don't serve drinks. You basically just have to be there, make your presence known. Perhaps you could work the door with Pam one night, but mostly you are just to be there."

"On display," I stated.

"It's something to do Lover, and you are saying that you are bored, here's your solution."

He stood up from the desk, and stretched. The bottom of his shirt pulled up as he reached his arms above his head, revealing a perfect washboard stomach, with a trail of golden hairs below his belly button leading down towards his... I stopped that thought, as I caught him looking at me with amusement.

"You like what you see? You know if you are so bored, I'm certain that I could come up with other things for you to do." He walked towards me casually, but with a slight edge at the same time, as if he was stalking me. I grinned.

"Pam would freak if we did it again in here. It's not like we're quiet. Face it, she's jealous."

He took me in his arms, and began to run his lips up and down my neck. "Really don't care Lover." He nipped at my ear, and I gasped, and for the next hour, I wasn't bored at all.

I was straightening my hair out, and getting dressed, when there was a knock at the bathroom door. I opened it and saw Pam standing there, with a garment bag in her hands. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of me.

"This won't do at all. At least if you and he are going to fuck like rabbits, then you should get a little better at managing your hair. It looks like a rat's nest." She proceeded to take the hair brush right out of my hand, and began to brush it. "You will be charming the humans tonight I hear. How sweet."

I resisted the urge to smack her in the mouth, but she caught a waft of violence off me, and flashed me some fang, so I dropped it. She continued to brush my hair.

The employee bathroom at Fangtasia was sort of a locker room and dressing room combination. There was a shower and toilet combination behind a small partition, and the rest was all open with lockers and mirrors to get ready. A large counter held curling irons, straighteners, blow driers and lots of cosmetics. It was clean, but cluttered and reminded me of the kind of dressing room you would see at a theatre.

Pam groomed me for a while (I say this, because that's what it felt like) and then she turned me to face her. She pursed her lips at me, and began to apply makeup as well. My skin was phenomenal as a vampire, so she worked on mostly my eyes and my mouth. She wouldn't let me look in the mirror, and I humoured her. I was just looking forward to seeing someone other than Chow, Eric and Pam so I figured I would let her do her worst. I was a little afraid though, seeing that Pam was in black latex, with thigh high fishnets and full black eyeliner.

She grabbed the garment bag off the back of the door, and unzipped it. I groaned because I could barely make out the outfit behind the straps, buckles and assorted leather pieces. She pulled out a long piece of leather, and it was revealed to be a long skirt. I thought that it might not be so bad, but then when I pulled it on, I saw that although it came to the mid calf, it was also slit at both side very high. She whipped out a belt, and belted me around the waist. The skirt was low slung, and I felt moderately covered up, even though it was not my style. The shirt was a different matter altogether. I was also made of leather, long sleeved, with low cut scoop neck. It ended in a cinching elastic right below my breasts. I didn't have to wear a bra, as it laced up the back and held me in quite nicely. My abdomen was completely exposed, and I felt embarrassed because it was very revealing, more so than anything I had worn. I crossed my arms in front of my chest, and Pam gave me a sour look.

"You've worn less in a bikini while worshipping the sun as a human Sookie. Get over it."

She was right I suppose, maybe I was just feeling it because it was made of leather and not polyester spandex in white with black polka dots. She tossed a pair of size 8 black heels at me, and I winced at their height but slipped my feet into them. They had a buckle around the ankle that wrapped about 3 times, and I felt secure in them.

"Okay you can look now." Pam smiled at me.

I turned towards the mirror and gasped at my appearance. My hair was iron straight, hanging in a sheet down my back. It was held back with a simple leather band, and was gleaming and shiny. It was apparent that I was wearing makeup but rather than the striking use of the black kohl that Pam had used on herself, she had just softly shadowed the upper part of my lids, some light mascara and that was it. I was surprised. She had only applied a lipstain and this also looked natural. My outfit clung to my curves, and my shirt, full of natural bounty, virtually overflowed with flesh. Eric would be pleased.

She had a self satisfied smirk on her face when I looked at myself in the mirror. I turned to her, and smiled at her.

"I really like it Pam, a lot. Thank you very much." She nodded and I thought I saw the faint hint of a smile on her face, and we walked out. Maybe she wasn't so bad, I thought.

She had a True Blood waiting for me at the bar as soon as we walked out, and I immediately took a sip when we entered the bar and my sense of smell was assaulted with the coppery scent of blood. It thrummed through the veins of the patrons of the bar, and I could hear their hearts beating. More than one head turned towards us as we walked out, and I saw Chow's fangs run down at the sight of me, but he turned his head when he saw me looking at him. He had been hesitant around me since the night I glamoured his ass. Pam nodded towards an empty table normally reserved for vampires.

"Go sit over there and entertain the vermin. You don't have to do much. Let them buy you a True Blood, show them your fangs every once in a while and give them a scare if they get too close." She paused thinking. "I think that is about it. I will be right there, at the door, and Eric will be out soon. Thalia and Nayali are going to be here tonight, and you won't be alone."

I was pleased that I would be able to be doing something, but sitting at a table was entertaining? Feeling slightly angry that I had gotten all dolled up and then stood up, I went and sat down with my bottled blood. A group of young men had been eyeballing me when I walked in from the back, and I could hear them thinking how they would love to have sex with me, and I was amazed at how attractive I seemed to them, how mysterious. I pretended to ignore them for the most part, and just endured the ogling, wishing I had a sweater to cover the tops of my boobs and thighs.

Eric came out shortly after, and his eyes widened when he saw me at the table. I saw his nostrils flare, his gaze come to set on the table of young men and then his eyes narrowed and he began to stride towards them. I thought quickIy and then sent him a thought telepathically.

'You'll have to get used to this Eric. I can't be holed up in hiding forever, at least I'm being useful. They aren't hurting anything.' Eric stopped mid stride and looked over at me.

'You are not on display for men to ogle and fantasize about. I dislike this very much.'

'Eric, you display yourself all the time, isn't that why you have a throne?'

He put up a barrier between his mind and my own, and stalked back to his throne, where he sat and glowered. He knew I was right of course. He just didn't like it. High horse and all...

The night had been going relatively smoothly. The young men at the table continued to gawk at me, but it never went any further than that. They sent over a drink of bottle blood for me at one point, and I inclined my head at them, but it was nothing more. Eric continued to watch closely, but seemed to relax a bit. Thalia had come in, and Nayali as well. Nayali sat with Eric for quite some time, and they seemed to be having an in depth conversation. My enhanced hearing picked up that they were discussing their maker, and I knew that it was a conversation that I would rather let them have alone, so I remained at the table.

I had asked Ginger to get my book out of Eric's office, and she did, so I basically sat there and read and drank True Blood, it was better than just sitting in Eric's office – but it was just geography and a better outfit. Eric continued to sit at his throne, occasionally speaking to Pam but mostly just staring at me. I wasn't sure what his tactic was, but he was silent both verbally and mentally. Sighing, I snapped my book shut and grabbed my True Blood. I walked over to Eric, probably a little faster than a normal human would, and I heard the gasp of a pair of women sitting at the bar. They had been eyeing Eric with blatant sexuality, burning in their eyes, and I was exasperated with the situation in general, so I shot them a venomous look and bared my fangs at them.

The women turned towards the bar again, and I saw one of them swallow. They glanced at each other.

"That was not very nice lover. Did you just get finished telling me that I should get used to this, and that they weren't hurting anyone?"

I muttered a couple of curses under my breath, and thought about how far I had fallen in terms of polite southern hospitality. Eric waggled his eyebrows at me.

"Something bothering you lover?" He grinned and I laughed. It was hard to stay angry at him, I could feel every nuance of our relationship coursing through the bond, and I could feel his jest and the fact that he loved my reaction to the two trolls who had been eyeing him with such lust. "Did you want to leave soon? I thought we could head back to Bon Temps to see how Alcide is doing on your house. I have it on good authority that he's just about complete."

That sounded great to me, I was tired of neon, and black and leather. I wanted wool, cotton and fire light. I smiled at him, and he grinned back.

"Give me about ten, to get things together and we will go on our way." He stood up from the throne, and gave my hand a squeeze, which would have probably broken my fingers in days gone by. I went to his office to put my jeans back on. This leather thing was fine for here, but I'd be damned if I was wearing it back to Bon Temps.

I threw on my jeans, and a Fangtasia t-shirt and pulled my hair back in a ponytail. I was so excited, and when Eric came back to the office, I leapt at him from across the room and he caught me. He swung me around and gave me a full kiss.

"Thanks for taking me back. I'm just about to freak. This isn't how I want to live Eric." I looked at him seriously, and he put me back on my feet.

"I know lover, and I'm trying – I really am. I just came so close to losing you only a couple of weeks ago. I cannot stand the thought of having to deal with that again." He looked back at me just as seriously. "I love you."

He had only said it a few times, usually unexpectedly, at moments like these, but it never failed to reduce me to vampiric jello. We were only delayed for a moment or two (or three). But we made our way outside in a matter moments. He grasped me around the waist, and I grinned up at him as he leapt into the air. I hadn't really been a fan of the whole flying thing, while I was human. I had just felt so exposed. Now, I felt free and alive (well...) and like I could touch the moon.

It wasn't long before we landed on the outskirts of the yard, and Eric put me down, holding on to my hand. I could hear that the insects and small creatures had ceased their movement at our arrival, but my ears, so much keener now, could pick up their thrumming hearts beating in woodland burrows and nests of leaves. We walked towards the house, and I realized that Eric had landed us in a vantage point to give me the biggest impact as we walked up.

The house had been transformed from the last time I saw it, the gashed earth replaced with fresh sod, and the gardens replaced with night blooming moonflowers, jasmine and bushes of four o'clocks. The fragrance lent its beauty to the silver moonlight, and my hand flew to my throat as I took in what had been done. While I had been out, Alcide had somehow managed to match the shape of the wood siding onto the new addition. The house had been painted a fresh white, and the shutters had been scraped and a fresh coat of black placed on them. The addition, which I was afraid would look like a bunker, had been sided with wood as well, and several shutters placed on it, to add the appearance of windows, even though there weren't. The gardens continued right up to the porch, and my parking area that Eric had put in, flanked it all. I clapped my hands, and raced up to the porch, to run inside. Eric laughed and waved me on, as if to say to go ahead and check it out. He walked around the back of the house out of sight, while looking up and down at the job the Alcide and his men had done.

There was an envelope on the table, just inside the kitchen from Alcide. It just contained a bill, (ouch) and a note saying to call him if there were any issues. I walked through the kitchen and back to the living room. The house had been cleaned, and I detected no dust from the construction. I walked down the hallway, and past my old childhood bedroom, then past the master bedroom that had so recently been mine in another life. Where the old linen closet had been was a door. They had done their best to make it blend in, but there was no escaping the fact that this was a big steel security door. There was a keypad on the outside of it, and I entered in the code that I had given to the alarm company a couple of days ago.

Once unarmed, I entered the room and flicked on the lights by the side of the door. There was another keypad on the inside. There were three steps down to get into it, as it was slightly below the level of the rest of the house. As a result it was very cool. The lights showed me a very large room, painted an airy blue gray. A large bed was tucked at the very rear of the room, and a wrought iron room divider stood off to the left of it. I thought I recognised it as being one of the rusty relics that had been under a dust cloth in my attic. I smiled, knowing that it was meant to be. An oversized couch done up in a dark gray corduroy chenille stood in front of a coffee table in the middle of the room, facing a wall unit stacked up with books from my living room in the main house, and a mid sized flat screen with DVD. A small desk was tucked away to the right beside the stairs I was standing on, and there was a small kitchenette, complete with microwave, mini-fridge and a single sink to the left of the stairs. There was a door to what I assumed was the bathroom to the right of the bed, and I walked towards it. The floors were polished concrete but there were several high pile rugs on the floor and my footsteps were muffled under the heavy carpet. I opened the door to a pretty basic washroom, although the tub and shower combination was good sized enough to handle Eric's tall frame, which was his only request, and the tub was a soaker kind, which was my only request. There was a small closet in there as well for linens, and a couple of clothing items, but I had plenty of closet space back in the old house.

I heard a noise behind me, and I knew that Eric was in the room with me. I turned to him, with a grin on my face.

"I love it so much, I really do." He laughed at my excitement, and took a wander throughout the room. I walked over to the steel door and shut it. I saw a phone set up on the desk, as well as my computer from the other part of the house. I knew that it had been set up dedicated, and I saw another note on the desk, telling me that the security cameras were set up on channel 101 on my television, in multi-screen. I clicked that on, and saw separate shots of the front, the sides, the back, the roof and the driveway. I could even see down Hummingbird Lane a ways. Eric nodded his head appreciably.

"So does this mean that we can stay here tonight?" I looked at him hopefully and he nodded.

"Well we do need to christen the place." I laughed. I walked over to the min-fridge and opened it. There was a case of True Blood in there, as well as four or five packets of donated blood. I grimaced, but knew that I should have something. I grabbed a couple of packages, and two glasses out of the small cupboard. A tall cupboard to the left of the sink caught my eye, and I figured it would be more in place in a regular human kitchen. I opened it, and laughed because there strapped to the inside, in a proper gun rack was my Benelli shotgun, and hanging on a hook beside that was a genuine Chanel handbag. There was a note attached to the bag, it said, 'Fashion and firearms Sook, always remember fashion and firearms. – P.'

I handed him a warmed up glass of sustenance, and he sank into the couch. We watched the surveillance for a while, and Eric checked his blackberry. I was content, and he must have been as well, because we just sat in silence and I guess went into what we both counted as downtime. I was so relaxed, but after I could feel the approach of the impending dawn, I decided that it was best if I secured the rest of the house.

Eric said he would come with me, but I told him to just watch if he was worried about it. He smiled and I saw him walked toward my new, extra tall bed, and throw himself on the new coverlet. He grinned at me suggestively, and I decided to lock up a little quicker. I went through the house, securing the doors and windows before I made it to the front door in the kitchen. I stood there for a moment, sampling the air. The night was still silent. I could feel something out there, but I couldn't smell anything. There was a whiff of otherness in the burgeoning light, and I could sense the presence around the house, and on the porch. The rapidly approaching dawn limited what investigating I could do, and I felt nervous. I shut the front door and engaged the perimeter alarm. I shut off the lights and closed the blinds as I made my way back to my day room, and decided that I wasn't going to tell Eric.

Whatever was out there, had still been there when I was framed in the doorway. With the approaching daylight I had been vulnerable, and yet it hadn't attacked. I hadn't gotten a mental read on it, but it was there. I didn't want Eric to overreact and remove me from my home again. He wasn't going to be able to protect me forever.

I walked back to my new room, and I shut the steel door behind me, engaging the deadbolts and the top and bottom locks. I set the alarms, and turned on the switch that engaged the circulation fan. Eric was already naked in bed, which was my favourite place for him.

I quickly stripped off my own clothes, and leapt into the bed with him. His arms snaked around me, and he pulled me towards him. I could feel his arousal against my backside, and I parted my leg, throwing it over his. That made it much easier for him to gain the access he needed, much to my breathless pleasure. But it wasn't so easy, that we both didn't hear the thumping of footsteps running across the roof of our hidey hole, or the alarm shrieking as I heard running down the hallway, and a heavy body slamming into the only door that separated Eric and I from the destructive light of the dawn.