Hey guys,
how are you all doing? Good I hope.
It's been a difficult week; real exam on tuesday which, well i honetly don't know how well i did but i'll let you know when i find out, and a mock exam today. Also got given my essay assignment which i need to finish by wednesday, okay that's a self imposed deadline since the real one isn't until friday. I'm quite excited right now, term is pretty much other which means that next week's update will be posted by me from home!
Anyway, since last weeks little facts went down quite well, here's some more. (these are mainly just random though)
1. The reproductive tract of a female isn't a closed system, with one ovary producing a dominant follicle at ovulation. Sperm will swim toward the fallopian tube/oviduct that has ovulated. In research where the ovulated side was blocked off, sperm have swum up and out through the remaining fallopian tube and round to the side that ovulated, cutting through the abdomen.
2. Horses don't have a gall bladder
3. The triceps muscle in a dog actually has four muscle bellies/insertions
Right, so Charlaine Harris owns the wonderful Southern Vampire Mysteries. I want to say a huge thank-you to my betas campyrs and trajedy99, really couldn't do this without them, it's amazing what they pick up on. Also, the last little bit of this chapter hasnt been beta-ed because i was a bad writer and didn't get this chapter completed in time because i was being a good student. If you know this song you'll know what coming up, just ignore the 'spoken for' stuff, that's not important. Oh, and a saloon car is the same as a sedan.
It was with a little trepidation that I walked into Merlotte's the next night. I'd spent my day helping my Gran clean the house, thinking about what I would wear on my date and what might be waiting for me at work. There was a lot of small town gossip but even in Bon Temps things didn't always change overnight so I had an idea that there would be at least some murmuring about me. I shouldn't have worried too much; there was nothing I could really do about it. I was working a slightly earlier shift tonight so I wouldn't be closing the bar which was when the bad things tended to happen; I wouldn't be forced to deal with drunkards.
"Evening Sam," I called out quite cheerily as I walked from behind the bar, still tying my apron laces around my waist. The bar had an overall good atmosphere about it tonight and after I'd checked with my telepathy there were no obviously malicious minds out there, no vampires either. In fact the only supernatural creature in Merlotte's tonight was Sam.
"Sookie, you feeling any better?" He couldn't ask the questions he really wanted to in front of the public so I smiled my acknowledgement before actually giving him a verbal response.
"Yes thank-you. I got in touch with one of my friends last night, we've decided not to meet up yet but wait until things quieten down a little." It was the best I could come up with on such short notice and I hope he took it to mean that I'd told someone about the information I'd been told and that I was hopefully not getting involved with it, I wasn't too hopeful.
"Okay, that's good." He went back to checking the bottles in the fridge then and I stepped out onto the main floor, relieving Charlsie of her section.
Work was surprisingly pleasant, I heard barely a murmur of people talking about me and that was with my actual ears. People were tipping quite generously and I only had one scrooge table that simply put a one dollar bill on the table after ordering several beers to accompany their chicken wing basket. I was in the storeroom collecting some fresh tomato sauce packets to distribute to the tables when things took a turn for the worse, or better, depending on how you looked at it.
I didn't feel the vampire enter, my shields were firmly locked into place to protect me as much as possible, but I did feel the wave of discomfort wash through the bar. It was that feeling that brought my attention back to reality instead of estimating how many boxes I needed. I quickly walked back toward the bar to find out what was going on, not daring to drop my shields to find out more about the situation.
What I saw surprised me. A giant of a man was standing just inside the main doors of Merlotte's, his back to the door and Arlene with her fiery red hair was blocking his path any further inside the building. Every single head within the bar was turned to face the pair of them, even though nothing was being spoken, yet. I searched frantically around for Sam, wondering how he was letting the situation escalate when I came up with nothing.
"Shit," I mumbled to myself, having remembered that Sam would be down in the cellar, checking stock down there ready for tomorrow morning's delivery. Now, don't get me wrong I was ecstatic to see this particular blond vampire I was just displeased at the situation. "Arlene!" I called out as I sat the boxes down on the wooden bar top and started to walk toward the pair.
"Sookie," Arlene almost growled at the same time that Eric stood behind her said, "Lover." Just like that my rather pleasant shift went all to hell.
"Do you know this vampire Sookie? Is he the human guy we were talking about yesterday?" Arlene had already reached a screeching pitch and she was refusing to turn around to look at me. She wasn't really a bad person and most of the time I still saw my friend shining through, she just hated vampires, again something that Bill had caused.
"Yes, I know him, now let him in, he's fine." I managed to restrain myself from saying safe because that wasn't necessarily true because he could be ferocious, and I don't think anyone would believe me just by looking at him. Tonight he was wearing deliciously tight black jeans with a matching black wife-beater style vest top underneath a, you guessed it, black leather jacket that looked wonderfully warm and soft. He was wearing motorbike boots, I could see part of a logo peeking out from under his jeans that could have been the Harley Davidson logo.
"Thank-you Sookie," Eric told me as he stepped around Arlene, never taking his eyes off of her as he came to my side. His hand strayed to my right hip, sliding along the small of my back to get there and he dropped a light kiss to my temple in greeting.
"Sookie, I thought you'd got over your vampire fad." Arlene knew perfectly well it wasn't any form of phase, she also knew about my telepathy but didn't like to acknowledge it; seemed like she was doing the same with my liking of vampires.
"What's going on in here?" Sam called out, striding down between the tables to reach us. Apart from the people sitting at the nearest tables that could actually hear our brief words, everyone had turned back to what they were doing before as far as I could tell.
"Sookie has brought this thing into the bar, he shouldn't be here."
"This is a public establishment, I am free to enter as I please." Eric's tone was icy; if I was Arlene I'd be backing down rather quickly.
"Arlene, leave it alone. He's fine. Sookie did you invite him here?" This came from Sam who looked simply tired already at the entire situation, not that I could blame him.
"Well I refuse to serve you, you shouldn't even be here. I can't believe you let yourself be had by creatures like him Sookie, you need someone alive!" With that she turned around, so forcefully that her hair swung out behind her, and stormed back to her section in a huff where she remained.
"Did you invite him here Sookie? You know what people around here are like." Beside me I felt Eric stiffen at being ignored by a supernatural he deemed weaker than himself.
"No, I had no idea."
"She did not invite me. I need to speak to her regarding some vampire business. We shall use your office?" To give Eric credit he did enunciate his statement like a question, raising his tone ever so slightly at the end. Sam nodded, letting his messy head of strawberry blond waves fall in front of his eyes.
"Thanks Sam." I placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, showing my appreciation and ignoring the hand on my hip urging me away in what I could only guess was a jealous manner.
I didn't speak again until I got into the office with the door firmly shut and locked behind us. I sat in the visitor chair; it felt too weird to sit around the other side of the desk, the chair was simply Sam's. Surprisingly Eric didn't take the boss's chair like I'd expected choosing instead to perch on the edge of the desk directly in front of me, so close that if I leaned forward I would brush up against him. He was leaning forward quite a lot to make the height different between us less with his hands resting on the wood beside, barely gripping at all.
"I have been in touch with Sophie Anne, she has made it safely back into the United States you will be pleased to know." He grinned at me wickedly as though he knew my deepest, darkest thoughts on the queen even though I'd never told them to anyone. I could only assume that he had similar thoughts. Sitting this close to him I became acutely aware of his presence; the way his long hair, that really was as soft as it looked, was swept back behind his ears to keep it away from his face and the tense posture of his shoulders. I also noticed that he smelled incredibly good; the mix of vampire, masculinity and fresh laundry that I'd really come to love, so much so that I was purposefully taking deeper breaths than I needed.
"She arrived via Chicago airport early this evening on an Anubis Air flight and is taking a chauffeured car down to her home. She has taken my information to heart," I couldn't be sure but I thought I saw a little eye roll at the word heart; I had to agree, I wasn't entirely sure the Queen had one either. "She's collecting some essential items from her home in New Orleans before driving back up to her second home in St Louis."
"But won't the Fellowship expect that? That's her closest home to Dallas, Sam assumed it would be that one they attacked and I have to agree. It's just easier to get to." Once while I'd been on my way down to New Orleans to do some work for the Queen the little party I was with had stopped off at the Queen's St Louis home to gather some belongings that Sophie Anne had requested. It had been a rather small abode for her usual tastes and integrated into the main village, yet still much larger than the homes that surrounded it and I had to wonder why the people there let a vampire live among them. Of course I wouldn't have put it past the Queen to glamour every single one of them.
"Yes, but she would not listen to me further. She also wants to send you into the Fellowship offices in Dallas."
"What?" I asked, my voice more shrill than it should have been and accompanied by a sinking feeling that was threatening to take over my entire body.
"I told her it was a ridiculously shitty plan and that it was not going to work. Whether she listened to me, I do not know. I think she will definitely still try and involve you in her security."
"I knew it," I muttered with venom in my voice. Even not knowing that the information had come from me, even though I was just a part in the chain, she would involve me further since I was apparently nothing more than her puppet.
"I can try and keep you away from it but although I am more powerful than her, she is still the Queen. She has means to use that I can only dream of." I quirked my eyebrows at that; I couldn't imagine the queen having more power than Eric over anyone, I would definitely rather go up against her than the Viking. "She has a title and she isn't afraid to use what that means to vampires to reach her goal. To anyone the same age or younger than her, that is most of the vampires in our state, she is the most fearsome thing there is."
"What about you?"
"Most of them have not met me." He cracked a devilish grin at that, turning the expression almost into a snarl.
"So what do we do now?" I fiddled nervously with my apron, I'd never untied it from around my waist, scared about the answer he may have.
"Nothing, she has not given any direct orders. I will try again just before dawn to see if she will just stay in New Orleans or even stay with one of her sheriffs, not me, for awhile. I wanted to warn you that you may be hearing from one of her messengers soon. If that happens contact me immediately." He crouched down further, placing his hands on the arms of my chair so that his face was only a couple of inches away from mine with his eyes boring into me. "Promise me."
"I promise." He stayed in that position for a few seconds longer, taking in my sincerity and staring so hard that he didn't even blink, not that he really needed to. His eyes really were beautiful; I'd never had such an opportunity to gaze at them, they were pale blue, like how you always imagine the ocean and oh, so clear.
"Okay," he nodded his head once before he pulled back to return to his original position.
"Why did you come down here to talk to me about this?" We hadn't really discussed anything that couldn't have been sorted out over the phone and despite how much I liked seeing him; it would have saved me a lot of gossip.
"I needed to make sure you would promise, I had to see it in your eyes and I would not have been able to do this over the phone." I didn't get a chance to respond before he'd pulled me into a standing position, held tightly into him between his legs and his lips were on mine. His hands graced up my arms until he reached my neck where he pulled me in ever closer, winding his fingers into my hair. I melted into him, letting myself relax in his arms while I kissed him back, loving the way his tongue explored my mouth, dancing with my own.
I sighed quietly as we pulled apart, wishing I could continue to kiss him all night, but I knew I had to get back to work and when there's something like that hanging over your head it just isn't as fun. His hands gently stroked back the strands of hair that had fallen out of my high pony tail and he still held me in place, close to his body.
"Eric?" He didn't seem to be really focusing on the here and now, rather his eyes kept straying down to my lips; I knew if I didn't stop this soon I wouldn't be keeping to my mental promise to not kiss him all night.
"Mhmm?" He replied quietly, letting the sound vibrate deep.
"Am I danger?" Just like that the little spell he seemed to be under broke, to be fair I was pretty much under the same spell it was just that possible threats to my life, again, had a tendency to keep me clear headed.
"Not directly and not yet. If the Queen involves you in her security then yes, which is why I will be striving to make sure you are as far removed from her as possible." I grinned at that, I couldn't help myself; if he was going to try that hard to keep me safe I really must mean something more to him, rather than just another fangbanger. "I don't see why the Fellowship would target you; I doubt they know who you are." He leaned in and kissed me again, his soft lips lingering for a little longer than could be considered chaste before he pulled back completely, relaxing his grip around me too. "Get back to work Lover," he chastised; the small smile across his lips telling me he was teasing and the pat on my bottom as I spun around just adding to my knowledge.
I'd hardly taken a step outside of the door when I almost literally ran into Sam who looked too guilty to have really been just on his way back from the restroom. I didn't say anything. I widened my eyes slightly and walked past him, shaking my head slowly. "I'm going to go speak to Eric before he goes!" Sam called out behind, although I couldn't understand why he was telling me. Eric hadn't actually said whether he was staying any longer, I just assumed he would be leaving to get back to Fangtasia.
I shouldn't have rushed to get back to work; the gossip that hadn't really been present before had returned tenfold when I stepped back out into the bar and I could feel Arlene's eyes on me from across the room. One improvement was that no one actually said anything to me; they were all too scared in case the big bad vampire was still in Merlotte's since they hadn't seen him leave. If anyone had said anything I would have just told them he was still in Sam's office, which was the truth, both of them remained in there for another hour, which shut the patrons up.
I was quite surprised when I turned around later, a tray full of empty glasses balanced somewhat precariously, to find Eric sitting at the bar. I hadn't even noticed that he'd left the office, probably because Sam, whose brain pattern I could easily recognise, was still in other room. Smiling, I walked to the bar, set my tray down next to the sink and turned round to get Eric whatever drink he wanted.
"What would you like?" A blush spread across my cheeks when I caught his eyes straying down to my neck before he replied.
"Bottle of AB negative please." I couldn't believe he'd added the please onto the end; I wasn't entirely sure I'd heard him say the word at all before now.
"Coming right up," I replied pleasantly. We actually stocked that blood type, even though it was quite rare. There had been a long time when we just ordered in whatever crate Bill preferred since he was the only one around here to drink the stuff; now it was a mixed crate, Sam said it was because it was cheaper, I chose to believe it was because at some point every few weeks Bill would be forced to drink something he didn't particularly like. "Here ya go," I said, placing the drink down in front of him and my fingertips grazed his as he reached across the bar for the bottle at the same time.
I never actually got a chance to speak to Eric properly until the end of my shift. "Wonderful," I whispered sarcastically when I saw Jane Bodehouse practically draped over my vampire.
"So what you doin' with crazy old Sookie?" Her words were getting quite slurred so it was obvious her poor son was going to have to come down and collect her again.
"I'm not interested," Eric responded monotonously, taking another swig of his second synthetic blood. My heart sunk for a split second, until I realised that he was talking to Jane. Seeing her dejected yet still determined expression definitely helped ease my mind too. He was telling her, rather politely, that he wasn't interested in her.
"Oh come on, I got more experience than her. You can introduce me to the vampire way." She giggled uncontrollably at her words, no doubt thinking that she was being clever. It was no secret to anyone around here that Jane got disgustingly horny when she was drunk.
"I said, I'm not interested." This time there was a definitive growling edge to his words and I could see from halfway across the room that his fangs had elongated. I hightailed it across the room as quickly as my tired, aching feet could carry me to hopefully diffuse the tension before it became a situation.
"Would you like a refill Jane?" It was playing with fire, allowing her to get that drunk and even while I was asking her, I was signalling to Sam that he needed to make the usual phone call.
"Ooh, double jack and coke," she almost squealed, her eyes lighting up. It didn't take very long to make the drink and I made sure it was the last job I was doing for the evening. "Sam, I'm done for the night, am I okay to go?"
"Sure Chere, have a good night tomorrow." I couldn't believe that Sam was actually saying that to me with what appeared to be a genuine tone; something must have been exchanged between him and Eric in that office, I also had a feeling I really didn't want to know about it. He briefly glanced up at me as well, pausing from dialling on the bar's staff phone.
"What time are you picking me up tomorrow?" We'd already spent half of the journey back to my house in comfortable silence; I had no idea what he was thinking about but I was patting myself on the back for swapping my tiny, old car for a new, to me at least, car a couple of months ago. Eric already looked too cramped, in the passenger seat beside me, of my nice saloon car; I doubted he would have even fit inside my other one.
"About six, allow twenty minutes after sunset for me to travel."
"I can drive over to Shreveport if you want, save you coming out all the way here just to go back, and again later." He didn't actually respond, I could just feel his stare boring into the side of my head as he deemed my offer too silly for a response. I should have known; if vampires wanted something they usually just asked, or ordered and they never did anything they didn't want to when concerning humans.
"Why are you driving with me now?" I'd managed until the turn onto Hummingbird road to ask the question, at that point it was just puzzling me too much.
"I need to pay a visit to our dear Mr Compton who just so happens to live across the cemetery from you." Whatever I had been expecting it certainly hadn't been that.
"Why the hell are you going to talk to Bill?"
"Sam mentioned that Bill had apparently been spreading some rumours, gossip, about us, in particular you. I want to give him my opinion on the matter." He was way too vague for anything good.
"What are you going to do?" I replied, quite excitedly, even though the Christian part of me, sadly that part seemed to be getting smaller with every passing month, was already regretting even thinking that line with such joy.
"He will live, sadly I don't have enough justification for killing him. You will not want to know the details." When a vampire says something like that you just believe them and so I let it go. However I couldn't wipe the stupid smile from my face at the thought of Bill getting a real comeuppance.
Just after I'd parked the car round the back of my house I found the both of us standing just inside the illuminated circle created by the security lights. The bright, fluorescence made Eric cast strange shadows with his sheer size, creating rather an intimidating effect through I still felt safe in his presence. "I'll see you tomorrow?" I couldn't quite keep the question out of my voice.
"Yes lover." He spoke my nickname like a caress and I sighed happily; so much for keeping myself cautious and protecting my heart with him. The next thing I knew he was kissing me, softly brushing his lips against mine; not nearly enough. I melted against him, hands on his chest, one resting over where his heart was, if he'd been human I would have been feeling it beat.
"Goodnight," I whispered against his lips, feeling him smile. By the time I opened my eyes he'd disappeared silently into the night.
"So Gran, what do you think?" I finished popping in my white gold earrings and then did a little spin for her in the living room, letting my dress float a little just for fun. It was about five to six and to say I was a tad nervous would be a major understatement; I'd tried on three outfits before settling on one and I'd been glancing at the clock approximately every thirty seconds for the past one hour and forty three minutes.
"You look beautiful Sookie." She actually put down her sewing, switched the television off then stood up to give me a big hug, her arms wrapping around my waist tightly. "What are you going to be doing tonight?"
"I'm not really sure, we have to go to Fangtasia for a little while but after that I really don't know." She settled back down on the sofa and I grabbed my bag, slipping it over my shoulder so I didn't have to hold it in place.
"What time will you be back?" There was a suspicious tone to her voice and she was staring at me, her eyes wide to detect even the barest hint of a lie.
"I don't know Gran; I imagine it will be very early in the morning." She nodded, finally turning away and letting my breath; I was pretty sure she knew I wasn't innocent, I'd had sleepovers with Bill before but, thank God, she'd never mentioned anything about it. She wouldn't approve of me staying over at Eric's tonight although I had a feeling that was the intended climax to the evening, pun completely intended, and I had to agree that's what I wanted to happen too.
Luckily for me, saving me from the possibility of anymore awkward questions, there was a knock on the front door and the mental blankness that I discovered there told me that it was Eric standing on the porch. I quickly exited the room and opened the door to find my rather dashing vampire standing there calmly, looking perfectly at home and looking exceedingly gorgeous as per usual. Tonight he was even more stereotypical vampire than I'd seen him; black shirt, black tight fitting jeans tucked into leather boots, motorbike jacket with his hair slicked back although I couldn't see any evidence of product. Okay, so it wasn't really that much different to what he normally wore yet there was still something different about him that just screamed vampire; you'd never be able to pass him on the street and think he was human.
"Good evening lover, I trust that you are well." He stepped toward the threshold, pausing briefly just before he crossed over to grab my hand and bring it to his lips where he brushed a kiss across my knuckles. "You look beautiful." There was a slight throat clearing sound beside me. "Ah Mrs Stackhouse, you look lovely also. Are you having a good evening?" Eric was turning on the charm, something that he didn't really need to do since I already knew for a fact that my Gran liked him; she thought he was good for me and she'd seen nothing about him during their meeting that gave her even an inkling of doubt.
"Oh thank-you. What are you kids doing tonight?" She knew exactly what she'd said, I could tell due to the wicked smile gracing her face. It didn't pass over Eric either who grinned back at her before responding.
"We're going to my bar Fangtasia for a little while and then it's out for a meal, and then I have a surprise planned. Nothing too fancy."
"What time will you have her back?" There was no point in trying to just leave since there was a giant of a Viking blocking the doorway but it didn't stop me from edging closer to freedom.
"During the early hours, the surprise will not end until late and then there is the drive to consider. I will make sure that she gets back safe and sound, no need to worry." He flashed her another disarming grin and thankfully my Gran nodded before she started waving her hands, shooing us both out of the door.
"Have a good night then, see you both later." I just hoped that didn't mean she was going to be waiting up for me.
The ride over to Fangtasia was spent mostly in silence, albeit a comfortable one; we listened to the stereo in the car which seemed to be hooked up to an iPod that was on shuffle and filled the rest of the time with small questions. We simply didn't have anything of great importance to speak about apparently and if I was honest I still hadn't calmed down completely. It was ridiculous; I'd been on a couple of dates with him before. There was the first date when he'd taken me to the Globe followed by the London Eye then of course there was going to the British Museum; that latter one may have not technically been a date but it involved lots of interesting fact finding and a meal so I was counting it.
"What car is this?" I was useless with cars but even I could appreciate that this was a very nice vehicle with extra emphasis on nice.
"A Maserati Quattroporte-S, one of my current favourites. Do you like it?"
"It looks very nice; I honestly can't give an opinion above that." He chuckled a little at that and let his hand drop from the steering wheel to brush against my bare knee. I was wearing a cute black dress with silver detailing around the edges; it had a slight A-line, emphasising my waist and the length was long enough for me to be comfortable and appropriate for most situations. "So what's the surprise?"
"Well, if I told you it would break the definition of a surprise."
"I don't like surprises; I tend to end up on the bad end of them." It had all started on my sweet sixteenth; Jason had tried making me a new chest of drawers as a surprise and he'd ended up in the emergency room needing sixteen stitches from where he'd fallen after cutting himself on a saw.
"I promise you will like it. Just trust me."
"Okay." We had pulled into the car park at Fangtasia now, driving straight into an empty space directly opposite the staff door that I had always used when I'd been here before. "What exactly are we doing here?"
"It is my designated night to man the floor; we need to sit at a booth for a couple of hours. All the vampires under my area are required, unless they are truly mainstreaming, to do so for a set amount of time each week. I find I get the best loyalty out of them if I do the same but it also means sticking to a schedule. With us being in England for so long I have already missed a couple of my slots." He turned the growling engine off and he was opening my door for me before I could even think about opening it myself.
As I'd anticipated we went straight for the staff door and into cool, quiet back corridor of Fangtasia that was as far removed from the bustling front that you could get within one building. There were no vampire memorabilia adorning the walls and the jet black, grey and crimson had given way to more neutral creams and a carpeted floor in place of tiles. There were several doors leading off of the corridor, some of which I recognised as the private restrooms, store rooms, Eric's office and judging by the elegant sign on the door, Pam's new office while a couple of plain wooden doors remained a mystery.
"Pam is on the floor as well tonight," Eric informed me as we walked, my hand was gripping his forearm lightly, toward the sound proofed door that cut off this relative sanctuary from the blaring noise of the bar itself.
"Oh," was all I got a chance to respond with before the door opened and we were sucked into the gothic world of Fangbangers, tourists and vampires playing dress up.
Although it was quite early the bar was already packed, undoubtedly due to it being a weekend, we managed to obtain a booth near the front where patrons would be able to see us as soon they walked in. I'd only just sat down when there was a waitress standing beside me, already waiting to take my order; I guess being the companion of the boss had its benefits although judging by the scowl she was giving me, there were also some downsides.
"What do you want?" Her tone was surprisingly friendly despite the rather rude wording of her question. A blatant stare from Eric later, which significantly improved her mood just from the attention he gave her; she added a bright smile and wiped the scowl from her rather pretty face.
"Gin and tonic please." Eric dismissed her with a flick of his hand, indicating that he didn't require anything but his usual drink, which left us as alone as we were ever going to be in the crowded room. "I've got to ask; do you actually use the throne?" I pointed, even though I was sure he knew what I meant, to the ornate gold hued wooden throne in the corner of the room, near the dance floor that was padded in a regal red material for comfort.
"Yes." He didn't look embarrassed in the slightest and he answered me easily.
"Why? Don't you find it a little pretentious?"
"No, this is my bar, Pam does own a small percentage, and I am owner of all in here. It works well for the tourists too; people want to see a vampire, I give them the big bad vampire." He shrugged his shoulders, making the muscles that I could see quiver with the effort.
"Are you really the big bad vampire?" I knew I wasn't going to get an honest answer out of him but I couldn't stop myself from asking anyway. He just stared at me blankly in response, precisely what I'd anticipated really, and I decided right then that there really was much more to him beneath the surface. He knew it too, he may not like to admit that there was even a hint of a softer side to him but there really was. The really important question was how big the soft side was and how deeply buried it was.
"What do you think of Fangtasia?" The waitress had just placed our drinks down in front of us and he was now leaning over the table, his hands inches from mine and the glint in his eyes telling me that he was planning something. I wasn't at all worried; I had a distinct feeling that I would like whatever scheme he had in mind.
"Oddly enough, I like it." I glanced around the room again, taking in the sights, and debated about the truth behind my statement. Although the music was too loud, there were bodies pressed up against bodies everywhere, you could see the atmosphere was still good; everyone here wanted to have a good time and it was actually quite contagious. "Not exactly my cup of tea but quite good." I took my first sip of my drink to stop myself from rambling on any further.
I couldn't tell you what we actually talked about for the next twenty minutes apart from to tell you that we never shut up; I felt like we were on a true date where everything gets discussed, even the most trivial points such as the weather. Eric actually found the weather a fascinating thing as he never actually got to see the daytime there was a lot less variation at night and of course, temperatures didn't really affect him the same way.
"Would you like to dance?" The question utterly surprised me and I found myself nodding back positively, unable to actually form a verbal reply. He didn't seem like the dancing sort although, like every other vampire I'd seen, he had an inner grace that could never be matched by a human.
"I'd love to." A smile spread across my face and less than a second after I'd agreed he'd taken my hand in his much larger one to lead me across the room to the dance floor where I was instantly wrapped up in my vampire.
The song wasn't one that I would have normally chosen to dance to but it really did have a good rhythm; I could feel it pounding through my body and I instinctively began to move. I could dance. I wasn't being big headed about it, I'll be honest and say I can't sing in key or time properly to save my life, but I can definitely hold my own when it comes to dancing.
His hands worked their way over my body until he finally settled on holding me flush against him with one on hand on my hip while the other was pressed into the small of my back, keeping me in place tightly. I leant into him, as much as movement would allow and it felt wonderful to be pushed up against him, not caring about anyone else surrounding us. I could feel eyes watching us and the jealous waves I was getting from several women, and men actually, didn't faze me at all, because I could feel his reaction to me, not anyone else.
"Lover," he whispered in my ear, letting his fair fall forward to create a sort of curtain around the two, making the moment look even more intimate than it was. "You smell delicious," he added with a nip of his teeth on the sensitive skin of my neck just to drive his point home. "You feel," he didn't actually finish his sentence, instead he just growled slightly and gave a sharp tug with his hands, letting me know the extent of his reaction of having me like that. I was beginning to be short of breath, there was sex in the air, like there always is at a vampire bar, and it was slightly intoxicating. I couldn't keep my hands off my vampire and it apparently didn't take much to get either of us going.
Leaving one hand gripping his waist dangerously low, almost as though I was going to cup his ass at any moment, my other hand trailed up to wind into his hair. I used my leverage immediately and pulled as hard as I dared until his head was low enough for me to kiss his lips. It wasn't what I went for though; teasingly I planted an open mouthed kiss on his neck, pressing down in the way that he was so fond of. I was getting ridiculously warm, even with his cool body against mine. The air around us was charged and the bodies surrounding were generating heat, I couldn't help but sweat, even to the extent where I could feel the odd bead running down my chest.
Our actions were bordering on obscene; I just couldn't bring myself to care, especially the way we were managing to move to the beat, creating some delicious friction. I didn't want to be on the dance floor anymore.
So what did you think? You know i love feedback almost as much as i love a certain viking vampire :)
The title this weeks comes from the Madina Lake song Pandora,
"The way you dance it turns me, ...
the way your sweat drips off your chest,
you know that i'm wanting more."
Also wanted to say a big thank-you to everyone that's been reviewing, it makes my day when i get an email through about them. So, until next week, *hugs*