Okay guys, this is where you either love it or hate it. A fellow reviewer made me think about changing the curse that Eric originally suffered in the book series the way I would think AB might do it. So I came up with this. I and think lots of fun will come out of this :) gaaaahhh
Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! Sorry if the whole thing feels erratic and rushed (in some way) but I thought it translated well enough the awkwardness of the entire situation. Without further ado, enjoy it, darlings :)
xoxoxooox Love ya!
A few days passed without much happening in my life. I was sucked back into my routine. Alcide called the day after our date and asked me if I wanted to go out again but I was working the night shifts for the next five days. I told him I'd give him a call as soon as I was free again.
I had just finished my night shift and was rolling home down on Hummingbird road. I was tired and I turned on the radio to relax. I put the volume higher and started drumming on the wheel. This felt good. I opened my window to let in some fresh air. The night was very cold but I liked a breath of fresh air after and evening spent in the bar. The song playing was 'I Shot the Sheriff' by Eric Clapton. I looked in my rear-view mirror when I thought I caught a glimpse of something light moving. I guessed it might have been a car or something but the light was gone. I kept my eyes on the road and turned the volume up some more. This felt very, very good.
I suddenly saw the object moving behind me. I peered curiously in my mirror and gasped. There was a man running after my car. He was bare chest and bare foot. What in heaven's sake? I thought. I suddenly understood what the flashes of light had been. Golden hair. Eric.
I braked so suddenly I thought my head was going to snap off my shoulders. Eric finally caught up with my car and I stepped out, ready to pounce.
'What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?' I yelled at him, taking in his state. His feet were bloodied from running barefoot and he looked cold. As cold as vampires get (Ha-ha). Well duh, that's what happened when you ran half-naked in the middle of November, Louisiana or not.
'Sookie. Thank God. I've been running since Shreveport and I have no fucking idea why.' He growled.
'Excuse me?' I replied, tightening my coat around my shoulders, shivering. 'Why didn't you fly?' I asked, surprised.
'I don't know. I just know I had to be here and then I caught your smell and I ran this way. It's like I was compulsively looking for you.' Eric replied, looking more vulnerable than I'd ever seen him. He truly had no idea why he was here. And I didn't either.
'Geez Louise...Get in the car, you're gonna catch a cold.' I said. Reminding myself the man was dead, I shrugged and corrected 'I'm gonna catch a cold...'
Eric sitting in my car was quite a sight in itself. I didn't have half-naked thousand year-old Viking Vampire sheriffs sitting in my tiny car every day. The sight was hilarious. My car had obviously not been made for people of greater size than the average 5'8''. It looked as though Eric had been stuffed in a sock that had shrunk in the drying machine. Eric looked at the inside of the car and wrinkled his nose in distaste. Great. He was going to snob my car, now. What a jerk...
'This car is horrible.' He muttered. 'You need a better one.'
'Don't we all.' I muttered, not even willing to discuss this with him.
I shrugged, went to the trunk and grabbed a blanket I always kept there. I threw it on Eric's naked torso and sat back down. I resumed driving towards my house.
'What's with the noise?' He muttered, turning down the radio from which were blaring the last choruses of Eric Clapton's song. He gave me a look of suspicion when he heard the lyrics to the song. I shot the sheriff... Oh the irony of life...
'My car, my rules.' I muttered, leaving the music at the level it was. The drive to my place was a short one and when we got there, I invited him it and had him sit in the armchair in my newly renovated living room.
'I'm afraid I don't have much man's clothes here.' I muttered. 'Why the hell were you barefoot, damnit?' I scoffed. He was looking at the inside of my house, a pleasant grin on his face.
'You like what they did?' He asked me when I returned in the living room with a basin full of foaming hot water I had taken in the nearby kitchen.
'Yes I do. Thank you again for that.' I said, blushing slightly. 'Let me change and I'll be right back. Please don't move, you'll put blood on the rugs.' I said, pointing at his feet. I scurried to my room and pull off my Merlotte's uniform and pulled on a little night dress and the matching mini shorts. When I returned to the living room, I kneeled at Eric's feet and gently tried to remove all the dirt and rocks that might have stuck to his wounds. I then placed his feet in the basin and started washing them. I felt like Mary Magdalena, except I surely was no prostitute and Eric was obviously no Jesus. He didn't say a word the entire time I washed his feet. He simply looked at me, puzzled and confused. When I dried his feet, he took my chin in his big palm and lifted my face to look at him.
'What?' I asked.
'Thank you.' He breathed.
'You're welcome.' I replied, smiling sweetly at him. 'Now I should call Pam. I'm sure she can get here and take you back to Shreveport by light.'
'No please.' He interjected.
'What now?' I asked, not in the mood for his manipulation.
'I can't go. Not away from you.' He muttered. He didn't seem to understand that fact himself but the moment I went for the phone, he followed me.
'What is wrong with you?' I questioned him, my hands on my hips, annoyed.
'When I was running towards Bon Temps, I only knew I had to find you, whatever happened. I had to.' He uttered, his face still contorted by incomprehension.
'Don't you think you're making a big deal out of nothing at all?' I pushed past him and tried to go up to find him some clothes in Jason's old stash. I was about midway through the stairs and him in the living room when I suddenly found myself utterly unable to be move any further. I physically couldn't step more than twenty or so meters from him.
'Oh Christ. What now!' I yelped.
'What is it?' he asked, passing his head out of the doorway that lead to the living room. I stepped further from him. Couldn't budge a finger further than twenty or so meters.
'I can't move.' I replied. He cocked his head to the side, as dumbfounded as me.
'What do you mean, you can't move?'
'I can't move. It's like you have this twenty meter radius in which I can be. Further than that, it's like I've been Tazered!' I whined.
'Tazered?' he questioned.
'Where the hell were you the past century? Technology? Doesn't it ring any bells in your head?' I asked, exasperated. Obviously not.
'Try and go up the stairs.' He said. 'How far can you go till you're blocked?'
'Here.' I muttered.
'Fine. I'll go up with you.' He replied. Covering the distance between the living room and the stairs in a few long strands, he followed me up the stairs. Strangely enough, when he was close, I felt a lot better, a lot calmer and I could move more freely. What in heaven's sake was happening to me? To him?
Once I found him an old sweater of Jason's (who luckily was built and broad at the shoulders like Eric, if not a good four inches shorter), he followed me back down to the kitchen where I yanked his phone out of his back pocket and dialled Pam's cell.
'Pam, it's Sookie.'
'You've found him?' She simply asked, relief in her voice.
'Yes. What the hell is going on? I can't move further than a few meters away from him. Physically can't. What is this some sort of a joke?'
'What about him?' she tried, sounding about as puzzled as me.
Eric who was listening to the conversation tentatively walked away from me, putting as much space between us as possible until he simply couldn't anymore. Yup. Fair and square, we were both in truck full of trouble.
'Same thing. Can you please explain why you were looking for him?' I asked, sensing I wouldn't like the answer.
'The witches. They cursed him.' Pam muttered. 'Just wait, I'll be at your place in twenty minutes.' And she clicked off.
Oh my god. Cursed. As in A witch cursed him. What had Eric done this time?
I turned to look at him. He was sitting at my kitchen table, his head in his hands, looking desperate.
'The Witches. They cursed you!' I said.
'I guess.' He shrugged.
'Did they remove your brain or something?' I tried, getting more and more frustrated with each passing minute. Eric was never not in control. Never. And now, he was being about as helpful as a five years old.
'Don't be so harsh. I just remember meeting up with the witches to discuss business and the next thing I know, I was running behind your car and you couldn't hear me calling your name because of your darn evil music. What kind of a song was that anyways?' he growled.
'I'm sorry but this is just way too much. What kind of business were you doing with the witches?' I asked, taking his big hands into mine as I sat opposite him at the table. He looked up at me, sighing.
'Okay. You don't remember either...' I completed for him. The bond was now flooding me with his emotions: frustration, incomprehension and lots of relief. He was relieved by my presence, I gathered.
We sat there in complete silence for a few minutes and next thing I knew, Pam was at the door. I pulled Eric to the door with me since I wasn't entirely sure how far that radius went just yet. I invited Pam in and we resumed our places around the kitchen table plus Pam. I offered them both some warm True Blood and as they drank, I tried to sum up our situation.
'What the hell happened Pam? He doesn't seem to remember much.' I said, jutting my chin at Eric who looked as if he were having some downtime, starring at my nightdress. Whatever.
'The witches, the ones that came in Fangtasia the other night when you came to visit. They wanted a percentage of our yearly income in exchange for not bothering us. As you surely can guess, Eric doesn't take well to being threatened and he basically told them to fuck off. Not much of a diplomat as you might also have noticed. So they cursed him. As I gather, he cannot be far from a person in particular. And that person seems to be you. He was with us and the next minute he was running barefoot and shirtless out of Fangtasia...'
'Oh no. Oh no!' I complained, pretending to bang my head on the table. 'What did I ever do to deserve this?' I said. For the first time since I'd met her, Pam started giggling. Eric didn't seem to understand what she found so funny so he just furrowed his brow and gulped his True Blood.
'Did the curse affect his mental health?' I murmured at Pam. Now she was truly laughing out loud. For Christ's sake!
'What would make you think I'm mentally disabled?' Eric asked, which only caused Pam to double over in laughter.
'Oh my' she choked 'I think I haven't found anything this funny since the Prohibition!' Ha, ha, yeah right, the good ol' days...Vampire humour.
'Because you're acting like a complete nutcase!' I exploded at Eric. His eyes widened and I saw anger flash through his eyes.
'Don't talk to me that way, Sookie.' He growled, his hand curling around my throat, menacingly.
'Alright. You're cursed. You're stuck with me. Hell, I'm stuck with you. Now what? What do we do?' I asked Pam. She had regained her usual composure and was looking serious as hell.
'I don't know Sookie. I just know that the witches can't get him. Their chief, she covets him. She wants to mate with him or something.'
'Ew.' I muttered. Jealous me, huh? 'Fine. So what are we gonna do? I have to keep him here?'
'If you'd be kind enough.' Pam said. 'On our end, we'll try to find out what curse she laid on him and how to get rid of it. Do you have a place he can sleep in?'
'Yes, in my bedroom closet. Bill made this trap door in the floor for the few times he slept over.' I replied gloomily. Eric looked up at me.
'Thank you Sookie. I'm sorry for disrupting your routine like that.' He said.
'No biggy eh...' I replied. It suddenly dawned on me that I couldn't leave the house during the day when he'd be resting. 'Fuck.' I whispered. I rarely swore but this time, the situation definitely called for it.
'What?' Pam asked.
'I can't spend however long you'll need to figure this out stranded here! I need to work and eat and all.' I replied, trying to keep calm.
'Can't you work the night shift?' Eric asked. 'I could accompany you and sit somewhere I guess.'
'I'd have to ask Sam. I'm pretty sure that can be arranged. But that still means I'll have to stay in the house all day long.' I groaned.
After discussing some more the problem at hand, Pam said good bye and promised she'd keep us informed as soon as she had more information. The moment she left and I heard her car purr away in the night, I slid down the wall on which I had been leaning and put my head to my knees.
'Why, why, why, why!' I murmured, massaging my stiff neck. 'You're just trouble!' I snapped at Eric, angry.
He simply sat down in an armchair in the living room and looked at me as if I was the most amusing thing to watch in the house.
'Why me?' I whined, frowning at him.
'The fuck do I know?' Eric barked, scratching his head thoughtfully. 'I just know that I had to be here.'
'And of course you chose to go barefoot and half-naked.' I snickered, ironic.
'You didn't seem to mind.' He purred, a smile on his lips.
'So we have to be together all the time? As in all the freaking time? Do I have to sleep in your coffin too?' I said, furious.
'No, I don't think it's that drastic. Though I wouldn't mind sharing a bed with you.' He replied, flirty as usual.
That time I lost it. I stood and smacked him hard across the face. He looked up at me, his fangs popping out. In an instant, he had me sitting on the couch and he was looming over me, very, very angry.
'I've had a tough night, Sookie. Don't provoke me.' He growled. I could sense his anger just fine, but there was also lust, excitement underneath it all. Big player, I thought.
'I think I rather have good reasons to want to stake you right now.' I replied, proud as a hen.
'I should bite you for being so insolent.' He roared, his anger receding.
'You'd enjoy it too much.' I replied, taunting him. 'Now if you'll excuse me' I said, standing up and away from him, I much need my beauty sleep.' I tried to walk towards my room but he wouldn't follow. I turned back around and gave him my killer look. He seemed to get the point and followed at a certain distance.
I walked to my bathroom and closed the door behind my, locking it. I washed my face and brushed my teeth and then barged out to go to my bed. I slumped into it and held on to a pillow, turning off my night stand lamp to sleep. A few minutes later, Eric slipped under the covers with me. He was wearing close to nothing. Surprised, I almost jumped out of bed and turned on the lamp. He was wearing the tiniest underwear I had ever seen on a man. Especially one of his...size. It was a red little Speedo cut silk boxer. I took my gaze away from it, stunned. Jesus, the man was huge! I looked up at his face. His eyes were questioning
'What are you doing?' I simply asked, my arms consciously covering my cleavage.
'I figured since I couldn't be far from you, and since it feels infinitely better when I'm close to you, that I could keep you company whilst you slept.' And it made sense in a way. I did feel physically better when he was close. I guessed it was either the blood bond or the curse. Either way, I just shrugged and turned the lamp off before crawling back under the covers. He scooted towards me, spooning me, his arm dropped protectively over my waist. I actually felt good in his arms. The man was gorgeous after all.
'You'll definitely be needing new boxers.' I muttered before I closed my eyes. He laughed softly and I lolled myself to sleep.