Hey guys,

how are you all? I hope you had a very good Thanksgiving and a good week in general. So what's new this week; i've finished my first term at vet school, all thats left now is an exam on tuesday and an essay, i have a cold :( but it's all good and i don't have really news worthy.

England has been thrust into winter with lots of snow, several feet back where i'm from although the area of london where i am had about an inch of fresh snow on two separate occasions and its all melted away now. Kinda pathetic really although i don't really want any more snow either, i want to be able to get home for christmas vacation.

This week at college it's been all about reproduction so i know some very strange facts, i'll share a few;

A boar can ejaculate up to 500ml of semen in one go

A dog only has one accessory gland the prostate

The boar again, he literally screws into the female's cervix where deep pressure on the glands stimulates ejaculation

It's very difficult to artificially inseminate a ewe due to her twisted uterine horns and stuff, so artificial insemination is usually done laproscopically.

There are two types of penis; fibroelastic such as the bull and musculovascular such as the stallion and human.

I'll leave it at that. :) So as always a very big thank-you to my wonderful betas campyrs and trajedy99, i really couldn't do this without them. Also, Charlaine Harris owns the wonderful Southern Vampire Mysteries.

On with the chapter

When I awoke the next morning I was, of course, alone with soft sunlight filling my room even though my curtains were securely shut. I sighed and rolled over onto my back, keeping the duvet pulled up snugly around me, creating a cocoon affect that effectively kept the cold out. I didn't particularly like waking up alone, especially after the night I'd had and well, the past few days in general. The last couple of nights had been bad because I was quite simply terrified to be alone when I was sleeping. It had a been a joy staying at the hotel to wake up with Eric beside me, it hadn't happened much, thrice really and none had been brilliant situations; the queen waking us up, and my Gran on the phone or after I'd been kidnapped. I finally glanced over at my alarm clock finding that I was quickly running out of morning. I was lucky my Gran hadn't been knocking yet to wake me up; she would consider sleeping in this late to be a waste of the day. It was while I was dressing that I began to wonder where Eric was since I couldn't remember him waking me to say goodbye and he hadn't mentioned his definitive plan to me earlier. I suppose it was safer to not tell anyone. If he had gone to stay with Bill I needed an immediate recount of the tale and preferably a picture of his reaction. That would have been a wonderful Kodak moment.

"Sookie? You up girl?" my Gran called through the door and instead of just replying I pulled a shirt on over my head and threw the door open, a big smile on my face. "Oh!" She exclaimed before quickly regaining her composure. "I have some food on the table." That was how I spent the rest of the daylight hours; catching up with my Gran in the way that only women can. We spoke endlessly about silly little details like the cleanliness of the hotel, what'd I'd eaten on my date, what clothes I'd worn and the architecture of the buildings I'd seen. I left Sam a message letting him know that I was back in town and willing to be put back into the work rotation as soon as he needed me. It may sound big headed of me, but I read it directly from the heads of patrons every day, or at least enough for me to believe it; I was the best waitress at Merlotte's and I had a feeling I would have been missed.

"What do you want for dinner? I'm cooking." My Gran was in the living room watching a documentary on the history of St. Louis, Missouri while she sewed up a little hole in her favourite cardigan.

"Toad in the hole, unless you're fed up with English food," she replied, pausing her hand movements so that she could safely look up at me. I hadn't dared to tell her that I hadn't really had that much English food while I was over the pond, so this meal was completely fine with me. It was also easy to cook and clean up afterward.

I padded down the hallway to my room so that I could grab an old sweater to put on over my shirt; it was a little chilly and I didn't want to get anything too nice dirty. I pushed the door shut behind me, offering myself a little privacy, and grabbed my sweater from where it was folded neatly on top of my chest of drawers. I stretched up to pull the material over my head and as I did so I saw a flash of something in the mirror behind me.

"Argh!" I squealed out, spinning around with only one free arm to face whoever was in my room. I really wasn't prepared for what faced me. Eric was standing just outside of my closet, the door still partially open and best of all, without a shirt. My eyes were already wide with shock, and if I was honest fright, that he was in my room; that I let myself ogle his wonderfully defined pecs that only had a smattering of pale hair. "What the hell?" I asked with my hand on my throat where I was sure my heart had jumped to.

"You okay Sookie?" My Gran called out and she didn't seem quite as far away as before, as though she had moved from the corner of the living room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thought I saw a spider." It was the best I could come up with, to be fair I didn't like spiders but I also didn't hate them enough to scream at the mere sight of one. I just hoped my Gran wouldn't think too much of it and come investigating; it wouldn't be good for her to discover that Eric had spent the night, well day.

"Good evening lover," was his only reply as he pulled a shirt on. I noticed that it was both clean and different to the one he'd been wearing last night. I had no idea where it had come from.

"Where did you?" I stuttered out, trying to ask several questions at once.

"I called Bill last night, he told me about the 'hidey hole'," at this point he actually used air quotations around the words, obviously quoting Bill. "So I spent the day here. You said I could stay."

"Of course, that's fine. I can't believe it's still light tight down there."

"Minimal wear and tear, I will line it before I use it again." With that simple statement, he wasn't even looking at me while he spoke instead he gazed studiously back into the closet, but it was enough to send my heart fluttering all over again and a happiness spread through me. If he planned on using the hidey hole again he planned on staying with me again. It was strange that I'd actually forgotten about the bolt hole hidden under the floor boards in my closet.

I walked straight over to him, placing my hands on his shoulders and standing on tip toes so I could place my lips on his in a hello kiss. He wasted no time in slipping his hands around my waist to pull me even closer so that I fell against the long line of his body. His lips moved softly against mine so that I could feel his elongated fangs behind them; he was hungry for something or possibly someone.

"That is a nice hello," he whispered appreciatively as we broke apart too soon for my liking. "But I do have to leave. I need to get back to Fangtasia." I nodded my head in reply; having him staying over in my house had exceeded my expectations so this had been a lovely surprise.

I nodded before reaching up for him again. He met me half way, turning us around so that I was sandwiched between him and the bedroom wall. He was forceful against me, fighting for dominance and this time I fought back. My tongue entered into his willing mouth, teasing along his fangs, running the tip around them slowly to the length of a rasping groan from him before I returned my attention to his tongue.

"We have to stop," I breathed out as soon as my mouth was free for words He'd begun to kiss along my jaw line toward my neck in a pattern that I'd already begun to realise meant he wanted blood as well; I wasn't complaining at all.

"Why?" He asked, pressing his lips into mine ever so slightly so that I could feel just how ready for more he was.

"Because if we don't stop you'll never get back to the bar in time and I'll never leave my bedroom." I replied as I began to push ineffectively against his shoulders. He got my point and stepped back, allowing me enough room to straighten my sweater and smooth down my hair.

"You started it." He was sullen and it took all my effort not to start laughing out loud at his childish statement. Even so a smile tweaked the corners of my mouth so I carefully placed a chaste kiss on his lips, pulling back before he could even begin to kiss back.

"I have to ask, why did you name the bar Fangtasia?" It had been something I'd wanted to know since I'd learned the Shreveport vampire bar's name quite awhile ago. Whenever I asked Pam she would simply shrug and continue with our conversation as though nothing had been said about it. Although the name worked to get across the point that it was a vampire bar but then again so would a lot of names weren't quite so cheesy.

"I chose it, I liked it. I wanted a play on words that did not have any hidden meaning." I understood the name perfectly although it didn't stop the slight giggle from escaping my lips. He actually growled in response.

"I will lock the bedroom door," he threatened, calming me instantly, even though I could see the soft set of his eyes and the beginnings of a smile on his lips. "Better. When is your next night off?" His demeanour shifted then, becoming more businesslike and it was a little startling. His playfulness was gone although I could tell he was still happy.

"I don't know. I won't until Sam gets in touch with my schedule for the week."

"Call me when you know." With that he walked across my room, his fingers brushing against my hips as he passed me. I didn't have time to warn him that he couldn't be seen before he disappeared from view. I reached the door in time to see the front door closing softly behind him, though I didn't see him at all.

"Sookie? What was that?" At least my Gran was still safely in the living room.

"What was what?" I asked as I walked into the lounge with a smile plastered across my face.

"I thought I heard the door."

"Nope, I didn't hear a thing and there's no one here." I tapped the side of my head to let her know exactly how I knew for definite before finally heading toward the kitchen to start on dinner. At least I knew what I would be thinking about while cooking; the strange behaviour shift in Eric as he left. I concluded that it must have just been him getting ready to head back into work mode, I couldn't bring myself to consider any other option at this time, not after the night we'd had.

"Hey Sam," I called out as I walked through the back, employees, entrance to Merlotte's. My boss wasn't in his usual position behind his desk although I could hear his mental signature, despite him being a shapeshifter, somewhere within the bar.

"Sookie," his voice was sincerely happy to see me and I clamped down on my mental shields as he walked into the room. The bar towel used for dusting tucked into his jeans pocket telling me that he'd been cleaning behind the bar. "How are you doing?" He walked straight up to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a warm embrace that I instantly returned, allowing myself to feel his heat soak into my skin. Shapeshifters ran wonderfully hot naturally.

"I'm doing good." I replied, pulling back so that I could smile up at him and see his blue eyes sparkling. Sam was a very good friend, one whom I trusted and who trusted me back in return. He was the best boss I had ever worked for and probably ever would work for; he understood me, knowing what it was like to be different and having to hide it from most of the people in your life. "How about you?" I finished shucking off my jacket so that I could hang it up on the hook in the office allocated for staff belongings. His slight gasp was what alerted me to the fact that something was wrong. "What?"

"Your neck." My hands flew up to my neck, wondering what he'd seen, immediately feeling two little bumps right at the junction between my neck and shoulder. The lumps were tiny, barely more than pinpricks and the swelling told me that they must have been from last night; any longer and they would have been completely healed. I turned around and gazed in the little mirror that hung beside the coat pegs; the lumps were barely pinker than my normal skin and there was no bruising at all. If you hadn't known they were there, or were looking for them you weren't very likely to notice them at all. "Sookie, please tell me it wasn't Bill." Sam's hatred of all vampires was pretty mellow really for a shapeshifter unless it came to my ex, then he seemed to harbour enough grudges for all of his kind.

"It wasn't Bill."

"Good. Dare I ask who?" He came to stand behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders so that he could spin me around to look at him.

"Eric, you know the vampire that runs the bar over in Shreveport."

"I know who he is." I couldn't tell from his tone his feelings on the matter and I didn't dare lower my shields enough to figure out exactly what his statement meant, or if I should read anything into it at all. "He's better than Bill, but Sookie you have to be careful; he's not someone to mess around with Chere."

"I know Sam and I am being careful. He helped me out a lot in London, he gave me a reason to trust him and he hasn't done anything since to say that I shouldn't."

"Okay," just keep your guard up." He gave me another brief hug, leaving his arm around my shoulders as we stood in his office. "Now, speaking of London, is it all true?" Just like that I had someone that I could tell nearly everything to; he wouldn't squirm at the gory violent details and he wouldn't blink about a demon being thrown into the mix of supernatural creatures. The only bits I couldn't tell him about were the details pertaining to Eric and I which I really didn't want to tell him anyway, those would only be for Amelia's ears. Speaking of which I hadn't been in touch with her for far too long.

"So, it's all true. Have you heard about the Fellowship's response?" I spun around to stare at him then; I hadn't heard anything about the Fellowship since I'd returned. We sitting in the store room, using a couple of crates as benches, because it was the only place where we could both seem like we were working and wouldn't be disturbed, although when I'd told Arlene that Sam wanted me to work in the storeroom for awhile her expression hadn't been a happy one.

"What have they said?" I didn't need the slight wave of emotion I got from him, despite my shields, to tell that the Fellowship was planning something I really wouldn't like.

"They have said that the vampires started all of it and that no vampires were killed in the supposed attack, only the Guardians meaning was that it couldn't have been them attacking."

"But that's ridiculous! It wouldn't make any difference who attacked first if you're just going by the number of dead." I was already breathing heavily in anger; I was taking this too personally.

"I know Chere," he rubbed my shoulder, trying to calm me down but a hot touch did nothing to ease me anymore, not like it used to. "No one's listening to common sense on it either, because there were humans that died. I don't know how they're explaining how they all got inside a secure vampire hotel though."

"Okay, what are they saying unofficially?" I knew that Sam had a contact within the inner circle of the main Fellowship of the Sun church over in Dallas.

"They're planning some sort of attack on one of the main vampires that attended the Summit." I didn't even get a chance to open my mouth before he held up one of his hands and continued. "She hasn't got any more information than that; she isn't privy to the more confidential details. I don't know when, I don't know what and I don't know who. There are several vampires it could be. Personally I have my money on the Queen."

"Our Queen?" I suddenly felt rather queasy, I also realised that I hadn't heard anything about Sophie Anne in a couple of days so I had no idea whether she'd made it back to the United States or not.

"Yeah, she's high profile in St Louis especially, I don't think she's capable of living a quiet life, she was one of the higher level vampires at the summit and it's not that far away from Dallas compared to the others."

"Oh fuck," I muttered knowing that I'd have to tell someone and that I would somehow get drawn into security or protection because it always seemed to happen like that.

"Perhaps they could keep you out of it this time." Even Sam didn't seem as convinced when he spoke. He was trying to comfort me, just knowing that someone cared enough to speak kind words to me worked though and I pulled myself together quickly.

"Of course they will, when don't they?" I slapped a broad smile on my face, the one that I usually expressed when I was nervous or just trying so hard to keep my shields strong that I couldn't think too hard. "Now, I better get back to work or the boss will be docking my pay."

My shift at the bar was long and arduous; I'd only been out for about a week yet I still seemed to have fallen behind, taking longer to complete small tasks than before. I quickly decided to blame it on the patrons stopping me quite often to see how my holiday had been and what I'd been up to. Most people were just after some gossip, I let my shields down enough to see if they were sincere, so I gave them the basic details of the places I'd visited and left it at that. It turned out to only be Hoyt, my buffoon of a brother's best friend that was genuine about his questions. When I got off work it had just turned eleven, quite early even considering it was a week night and everyone had to get up and go to work in the morning, I already knew that I had to call Fangtasia. I'd almost been caught by Arlene when I'd been deciding on a course of action.

"Fangtasia or the Queen?" I muttered to myself under my breath while I sliced some fresh lemons and limes behind the bar. "Eric or Sophie Anne?" When I phrased the question like that it was obvious which one I was going to do, no matter the repercussions; the Queen would likely get mad if she found out I told a mere sheriff about her possible plight instead of going straight to her.

"Who's Eric?" Arlene asked in a rather loud voice that caused several of the people sat at the bar to turn around and stare at us.

"Arlene!" I stage-whispered back, reprimanding her for drawing so much attention to us. The last thing I needed on a night like this was people paying too much attention to me due to gossip. "And it's no one important."

"Nonsense, that's a man and you're talking about calling him." She either hadn't heard the second name or was choosing to ignore it completely. I didn't stoop low enough to just pluck the answer from her brain.

"Fine, it's a guy from Shreveport." I went back to slicing the lemons, taking much more care with them than what was really needed.

"So, what's he like?" She actually came to rest her butt on the counter next to where I was working, facing forward so that she could keep an eye on her tables.

"Tall, blond, European." I replied, making sure to not actually tell any lies but also keeping the most important fact to Arlene to myself. "Hot." I whispered as an addition but the little squeal that emitted from her lips telling me that she'd heard.

"Oh Sookie, it's about time you came back to the living men, there's a lot to be said for a bit of warmth." I didn't bother to correct her, it would be easier all round if she continued to believe that and it wasn't like I was going to be bringing Eric into Merlotte's any time soon to introduce him to all my friends. The only person's approval I would like here would be Sam's.

When I got home I was relieved to find that my Gran was already in bed, the light coming from under her door telling me that she'd stayed up reading so that she could make sure I got back alright.

"Night Gran!" I called out to her happily as I made my way to my own room, having already decided that this would be a call I made from my cell phone; I couldn't risk being overhead.

I collapsed onto my bed, not bothering to unfasten my shoelaces before scraping them off using my toes. My hands worked to undo my bobble, allowing even my scalp to relax and I knew I had to make this phone call quickly because my bed was inviting; soft duvet and plump pillows. So I sighed and grabbed my cell phone from my purse which had landed beside me.

"Hello, you've reached Fangtasia the bar with bite where life begins at night." I recognised Pam's bored drawl as soon as she started speaking but decided to let her continue through with the rest of the speech for my own amusement.

"Hey Pam," I called out happily.

"Sookie, you could have said something." I could have just been reading too much into her tone but I could have sworn that she sounded slightly less fed-up; perhaps she was pleased to speak with me. "What do you want?" It was nice to see her telephone manners hadn't improved any since I'd last called her.

"I'm very good thank-you Pam, how kind of you to ask." It seemed I was in a sarcastic mood, I guess working a long, busy shift would do that to you. "I need to speak to Eric."

"Oh, he's busy at the moment. Business or pleasure?" I actually began to stutter over my words before I answered; would one reply get a different response than the other?

"Both actually."

"Oh, then that isn't as much fun for me. What's the pleasure?" Even just speaking while we were miles apart I felt hot blood flow over my cheeks in a deep blush.

"He promised me a date, I had to let him know when I had a night off work."

"I'll let him know, he said that I had to take a message. I don't see why he can't take his own messages, he has a phone. So what's the business aspect since you're not being fun?" I could hear the sounds from the other end of the phone changing as though she was walking through the bar, it was getting quieter and as soon as I heard a dull thudding everything went quiet.

"I have some information regarding the Fellowship and the Queen he needs to know."

"Can you tell me?"

"No." It was best not to involve Pam if possible; I didn't know if she was allowed to know or not, I also highly anticipated that the Queen's and Eric's opinions on the matter would be different.

"Fine," she whispered so quietly I was on the verge of calling it mumbling. "Eric!" She called out, louder than I'd anticipated, the yell was swiftly followed by the sound of a door opening and I could only assume she was walking into his office which was on the back corridor of the bar, sound proofed from everything else. I'd actually been in his office once when I was on an errand run, it had been during the day time though and it had been poor Ginger that had let me in.

"Pam, I said not to disturb me." Eric's voice was deep and commanding, making me squirm on my bed through slight shock and fear at the reaction he obtained from me.

"I thought you might want to know some information regarding our dearest Queen."

"Pam, she is not even in the country, I said to not disturb me. Get out!" The last was almost thunderous and I couldn't imagine how Pam hadn't fled from the room or how she'd even plucked up the courage to enter in the first place.

"He's still a little busy right now Sookie."

"Pam!" I heard another shout from Eric, this one was different as though he was actually calling her when he realised it was me on the phone.

"I'll get him to call you back when he isn't busy. Have a good night." With that she hung up and I had to re-evaluate my earlier assumption of her phone manners; that was more of a pleasant goodbye than I'd ever got out of her.

I half expected to get a call back straight away, I purposefully kept telling myself it wouldn't happen so as to avoid true disappointment and it was a good job I did because I didn't get a call that night. In fact I got no contact from any vampire at all for the remainder of the night. I fell into a deep sleep before I even got a chance to shower or change into my pyjamas. In the morning I blamed it on jet lag.

When I arrived at Merlotte's the next evening the bar was already busy with the dinner time rush and I took over from a very relieved looking Arlene who thankfully didn't ask me anything else about Eric, although I did get a rather blunt stare from her as she walked towards the office. I shrugged the feeling off; sadly I couldn't keep it to the back of my mind for long because as soon as I stepped out into the main dining area I felt the buzz of gossip around me. My shields were low enough for me to hear people saying my name; I couldn't get away from it. It's like when someone says your name across the room quietly; even if you aren't listening in to their conversation you still hear it even though you couldn't make anything else out. So I knew walking up to my first table that needed a fresh pitcher of beer that they'd been discussing me.

"Anything else for you guys?" I recognised the men from around Bon Temps, probably working for the Parish road crew or something; they were regulars though I couldn't recall their names.

"No thanks, though you can answer a question for us." The guy speaking was obviously the leader, he was sitting closest to me and his speech was slurred, showing he'd had a bit too much beer than was good for him. He'd be feeling it in the morning. In hindsight I should have just walked away or at least checked to what I was agreeing to first.

"Sure, what's that?" Perhaps I was too good of a waitress, needing to keep all my patrons happy.

"Is it true what they say? Are vampires really better in the sack?" My mouth dropped open at the gall the strange man had at asking me such a question. I managed to not retaliate, I just stared at him for a second before grabbing the pitcher and angrily storming away, so much so that the little bit of liquid left in the bottom sloshed violently up the sides.

"Men," I huffed as I passed the pitcher to Sam who was bar tending for the evening. Sam really was a good guy, an honest friend and it showed as he only raised a strawberry blond eyebrow in question of my statement. "Some guys over there have had a little too much, they were asking me ridiculous questions."

"Do I need to throw them out?" Without him even realising it his hand slid along the bar to where he kept the baseball bat for defence if anyone got a little too rowdy for even him to handle.

"No, it's fine. Not too bad; nothing that I haven't handled before. Just don't let them have anymore after this. I'll tell them but who knows whether they'll listen." I didn't even speak to them when I returned the pitcher to their table, I just plopped it down in the centre and walked away, ignoring them completely, tips be damned.

My next issue came when I served Jane Bodehouse her final drink of the night; a double jack and coke. It was nearing the end of the night and my shields were beginning to slip a little. I'd actually dropped them to see what sort of state she was in and whether I should cut her off before or after this drink. Unfortunately for me it was deemed to be after this drink since her brain was still making quite a lot of sense.

Don't know why they chose her. What about me? I'm a good catch. Can drink with the best of them, keep 'em company. Plus, liquor makes you hot. This was accompanied by a disgustingly graphical urge for her to take her shirt off to relieve the trickles of sweat flowing down between her breasts. Bill wasn't my type anyway, wouldn't have said no, gotta do a vamp at least once before you die. A second though. That's gotta take someone. I wonder who the bastard is that would take Crazy Sookie. I only let it get that far before sliding the drink over the table and taking a step back, slamming my shields as tightly into place as I could.

"You okay Chere?"

"Yeah, just someone told them." The confused expression on his handsome face only lasted a split second before he understood my statement; someone had told the people of Bon Temps that I had a new vampire in tow.

"I promise it wasn't me."

"Oh, I know Sam." I gave him a half hearted, one arm hug but he got the sentiment and squeezed my shoulders back in return.

I managed to get through the rest of my shift, a further two and half hours by the time all the after-closing chores had been completed, by keeping to myself and thinking deeply as much as possible. It limited the amount of concentration I had for the bits of thoughts that slipped through my shields. I worked on trying to deduce who could have started the gossip about my new vampiric relationship. It was obvious by the rather vague things I'd picked up that the people didn't know a specific vampire, they just knew I was 'screwing' a vampire from around these parts. I only had four people that even knew of my relationship and from those I had essentially two suspects considering the other two were my Gran and Sam, neither would tell. That left Arlene and Bill. Now I knew Arlene liked her gossip and was likely to tell some people what she'd garnered from me yesterday but she didn't know the vampiric aspect which meant it had been Bill that had started everything off. If it had been Bill it also explained Arlene's blunt stare; she knew I'd lied to her about my new guy being a human.

I couldn't believe Bill would stoop to this low level of spreading gossip about me. I actually remembered a time when he was sweet, caring and, I thought at the time, loyal to me. He would take me out on dates that were fun and interesting. He would tell me tales about how Bon Temps used to be and the difficulties he'd had when he first started to mainstream. Of course that didn't last and I knew that most of it had always been fake, it didn't stop me from occasionally missing the intimacy he provided; a comforting hug after a long, horrible day or soft words whispered to me as I began to sleep.

Well there was nothing I could do about it all now, I just had to put up with it until the next rumour or piece of gossip started up, which living in a small town where it was difficult to keep secrets, wouldn't be very long. When I got home that night and checked my cell phone I was surprised to see that I had two new messages blinking at me, so I said a quick goodnight to my Gran and padded into my room, much like the night before to listen to my messages.

"Sookie, I got your message from Pam." If he'd been a normal person there would have been an apology tucked into the little speech here, since it was Eric he just continued onward. "She did not tell me that it was you that was on the phone. I am intrigued as to this information that Pam says you could not tell her. Call me back." He didn't bother saying goodbye; I had yet to find a vampire that actually possessed modern day, polite telephone manners. I deleted the message straight away; it wasn't like I would forget to call him back.

"Hello Lover," I smiled as soon as I heard his name for me and I knew right from the start that this message would be completely different to the previous one, just by the name he called me. I glanced at the time on the message, realising that he'd called me an hour ago and that there had only been about forty five minutes in between his phone calls. "I have realised I never asked for when your free night is and I have to say, I am much more interested in that piece of information than I am the other. I will not give my personal number out in a voice message, anyone could get it, but call me back please." The please tagged on the end cinched the deal; I would be calling him back straight away, well as soon as I'd stopped grinning from the fluttering he was causing in my chest. I also noticed that he was rather paranoid, but then again I had read somewhere that paranoia was synonymous with longevity and he kind of proved that statement. "I want you lover, call me back." He hung up at that point, leaving me wanting more even form a mere answer phone message. He'd been accentuating his accent throughout, probably because he knew exactly what it did for me. I couldn't get my head around him though, yet again he'd done a complete one eighty mood-wise very quickly indeed.

"Fangtasia, where life begins at night." I grinned all over again when I heard Eric answer the phone himself. A quick glance at the clock told me that even Fangtasia would be closing down by this time considering how late it was, or rather early actually.

"Hey, Eric."

"Lover," he replied back and I heard a soft thud as a door shut a moment later. "You took a long time calling back."

"I was working, I had the late shift at Merlotte's."

"Hmm," he paused, drawing out the sound as though he was considering something deeply. "What are you wearing?"

"Eric!" I chastised a little too loudly and I stared at my door apprehensively, wondering if I'd been loud enough to wake my Gran who really did have brilliant hearing.

"You're no fun tonight." He grumbled but I just knew he wasn't being very serious. "Now, important things first, when is your next free night? I mean all night." I squeezed my thighs together at the delicious reaction he evoked with those four little words.

"I have Saturday off completely. Won't you be working?"

"Yes, but that will not stop me. I'll pick you up at first dark. We will have to come to Fangtasia for a couple of hours first but then I will take you on a date. Does that sound good?"

"Brilliant," I replied honestly; it may not have been ideal to have to go spend time at Fangtasia during out first date this side of the Atlantic but it would be nice to visit the bar for pleasure and be accompanied by Eric. Plus he'd said all night free, I could afford a little bit of time out of the night for a more business aspect.

"Now, about this information..." just like that we were back to business and I couldn't suppress my sigh.

"I found out that the Fellowship is planning something, some sort of attack on a high level vampire that took part in the summit. It makes sense for it to be the Queen."

"Yes, she lives closest out of the main leaders that were there and is definitely within the public eye down in St. Louis never mind New Orleans." He really had intelligence; he'd picked up on my explanation within a second of me telling him the information. I liked a man with brains. "I will see to it that the Queen knows. I will not tell her how I found out."

"Thank-you," I whispered sincerely, trying to convey just how very grateful I was with the simple endearment.

"Right, well if you won't tell me anything about what you're wearing. Wait, if you won't tell me does that mean you're wearing nothing?"

"Eric! No!"

"No you aren't wearing clothes or no you are wearing clothes?"

"Stop it. And I am wearing clothes, my Merlotte's uniform."

"Well that's rather disappointing, not at all what I had in mind." I just huffed down the phone, letting him hear my mock exasperation; secretly I was enjoying his teasing. "Well I will see you on Saturday. Good night lover." I didn't get a chance to say anything back in return before he'd hung up the phone. I also never got a chance to get his cell phone number. It didn't matter; I had a date planned for Saturday. That was how I fell asleep, thinking over the possible places he could be taking me.

So what did you think? You know i love feedback almost as much as i love a certain viking vampire. Have any suggestions for what you'd like to see in future? I already have some stuff planned for Fangtasia!

The title this week, (Can't Get My) Head Around You is a song by The Offspring.

So thanks for reading and i'll see you next week.

*hugs*