SUPER LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE TONIGHT' SORRY Y'ALL IN ADVANCE!

OKay first of all, I must thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me reach 200 reviews. I can't honestly believe it :) I'm really fucking happy lol I hope I won't let you down and I'm sorry I haven't been writing as much the past few days but I'll keep to my word with a chapter per day or more as much as I can.

Second of all, I've received lots of comments about how selfish my Sookie sounds. I wanted to explain that it it harder to make he seem all nice and sweet when you get her POV and I think I take a lot of that impression from the books. Now I know a lot of people haven't read the books, but the books are all written from Sookie's POV and she does express her emotions a lot more than the somewhat more naive Sookie that Anna Paquin portrays in the show. My Sookie would be a hybrid of the two. I'm sorry if sometimes she does seem ungrateful towards Eric, but you do have to understand the man hasn't always been kind to her (series wise) whilst in the books, he's really sweet to her. My Eric being a mix of the two, I still base my fanfiction on the series' events (except for a few details).

Also, I want to thank you for your ideas and suggestions, they actually help me in finding new ways to surprise you all. Because unlike some other fanfictions I've read that were planned out from the begining, I'm kind of going with the flow and the inspiration.

Than I must absolutely give you my POV on the actual Fresh Blood episode whose previews inspired me this story. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone so if you haven't seen it, don't read the next paragraph :)

I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU I TOLD YOU! A) Eric's plan was INDEED to trick Russell. I simply did not expect the LETS MANACLE OURSELVES TO DEATH part. But hey, I respect the man, he's willing to die to save SOokie. I must mention that Eric becoming so selfless is simply too good to be true. I am so happy that Alan Ball has regained some sense in making Eric the good guy and also giving us the car scene where Bill and Sookie actually talk face to face. Am I the only one to think Bill was a BIT too quick in trying to deflate Eric's balloon, saying that Eric had been a jerk to Sookie from the beginning? Jealous much, Billshit? (Sorry all of you Bill fans, but I can't like a man who hurts our Sookie and steps in between Sookie and Eric... :)) I do believe we might be in for the long awaited revelation in the last episode which is to air (I'm weeping blood here... just kidding) only in two freaking weeks... And then we'll cry ourselves to sleep till January or March or June or god knows when for the Fourth Season to save us :)

Yvetta rocks, have I mentionned it?

B) I knew Eric would be the one to drink from her neck. And did you notice how soothing he tried to be, caressing her hair? Eric, you're my man :) (with fangs ;))

C) I love that Eric actually told Bill about his plan, showing pathetic Bill just how much he actually cares for Sookie.

D) Guys, Alexander Skarsgard is signed for Season 4. Obviously, he won't die :) and what I think is the reason for that is that Godric flamed up like a twig (fairy-bloodless) and Russell is even older than him so Russell has chances of burning a lot faster than Eric who will than be able to get to safety. For those of you who have watched the preview for the season finale (which sucks... I mean how bad do the previews for this series get compared to the actual thing?), Godric's soul saves Eric (at least that's what I gathered from Godric's ghostly form hovering over the parking lot). Meaning vampires have souls? Meaning they're not really dead? Ou lala, philosophical questions to ensue :)

E) Love the Pam and Eric relationship. And Eric's ringtone for Pam's calls hahahaha Oh and I might actually miss Russell. He's got a wicked sense of humour :) I just needed to mention that I teared up laughing when Eric said: You wanted my father's crown for your vast collection of meaningless shit. And Pam's lines when she's spraying Bill (LMFAO). And just Pam in general.

F) And I'M absolutely sick of the Arlene drama. And the Tara drama. Can't they get eaten or something? Whiny ladies, other than Ginger (LOVE GINGER YELLING :D HAHAH SHE IS FREAKING HILARIOUS, I MUST INCLUDE HER IN A CHAPIE HAHA), should be banned from the show. Sad for you Tara, and for you too Arlene, but shoo off...

THAT'S IT PEEPS, enjoy the chapie :) the chapie loves you if you review the chapie :) Critical review is always welcomed. I reread some of my chapters and realised there were some typos, I'm sorry for that but I have a shitty frenchy computer so english is kind of dead to the world for my version of Word loll when I have time, I'll proofread the whole Gizmo.

TA-DA :) Love you all, fellow readers :)

When we pulled in the parking lot at Merlotte's Jessica was sitting in the steps that lead to the employee door. When she saw me, coming out of the flashy car, soon followed by a dashing Eric, she batted her lashes a few times, as if she couldn't believe what she was looking at.

'Sookie!' She yelped, dubious. 'And Eric?' she continued, staring at him as if he were Santa Clause with a chainsaw in his hands. The look was quite funny and unsettling.

'Hey!' I muttered, smiling sheepishly. Her mouth was shaped in a perfect 'O' as if she had just figured out something. She blushed (as much as a vampire can blush) when I approached her and I realised I must have smelt of Eric.

Eric was just looking smug and pleased, eyeing Jessica with obvious interest.

'I take it you didn't follow your maker to South America?' He asked her.

'Nope. And he can rot in hell for all I know.' Jessica snarled. She had taken it quite bad that not only had Bill abandoned her, but he'd been lying to me the whole time. I was quite flattered that she'd keep the feminine solidarity even in her state, but I felt sad that her relationship with Bill had flopped. Bill had been very good to her and he had taught her a lot.

'I like her.' Eric said to me, grinning slightly. I slapped his arm playfully, still feeling that hole Bill had left in my chest.

'Are you guys a...thing?' Jessica asked, almost pleased at the thought.

'Oh god no, NO!' I replied, trying to convince myself as much as her, I have to admit.

Eric just cocked his eyebrow at me and dismissed the question.

'Why are you guys together if that's not too much to ask? You having a date? I thought you were working tonight?' Jessica asked me.

'Not exactly.' I replied. 'Let's just say we are... incapacitated at the moment. And he needs to hang out with me for a while.'

'Oh. I see.' She retorted, smiling shyly. One thing I loved about Jessica is that she knew when to not ask more questions. I passed by her followed by Eric but then realised I yet had to explain the situation extensively to Sam and he wouldn't appreciate the Vampire Sheriff coming in through the back door. I retreated to the front door where everyone surely would notice our entrance (it was quite a hard thing to hide a man who towered a good 4-5 inches over the average male). I then decided it would be a lot more easier to just pretend like we were a thing as Jessica had said earlier so I grabbed Eric's hand and dragged him in inside. The air was already buzzing with the rumour of a Corvette being parked in the lot in front of the restaurant and the moment we passed the door, all the heads snapped in our direction. There were a few good seconds during which everyone, and by everyone I mean even Lafayette and Terry who were cooking, stared at us, their mouths almost hanging open. Eric just looked bored whilst I must have turned redder than the vinyl seats of the bar. I lifted myself on my tippy toes and pulled his chin towards mine to kiss him. He complied and gave me the longest, naughtiest kiss I'd ever received in public. Oh shit. Too bad for the good Christians of Bon Temps, I thought. Now that the matter of my relationship with Eric was settled for the people in the room, I needed to discuss with Sam.

The noises returned and people pretended to be busy with eating or wondering where the hell the ketchup was. I caught a few loose thoughts about Eric that made me stifle a laugh.

...Jesus Christ, had men been like this in my days...

She didn't just do that did she? Wait till I tell Sarah...

...What a total slut! In public? And HIM?... Wish I could smooch him. Must be yummy...

...Is he for real? What's he doing with Sookie?

Is it considered cheating when you do it with a vampire? Because he's dead and all?

I'm sure she doesn't satisfy him. I mean with her being so small and weird...

Wonder if he goes both ways..

Lafayette's thoughts were the last ones I caught and they made me stop dead in my track.

What's he going to do to me this time? He can go to hell for all I know, monstrous bitch he is. Can he tell I've had V with Jesus? Damn it...

Of course, the fact that Lafayette was scared by Eric did make sense since Eric had kept him prisoner for two weeks on the charge of selling V, but Lafayette now drove Eric's previous Corvette so I had assumed the Viking had made amends... Apparently not. I'd have to talk to him about that. I might be square with him but he owed Lafayette. And Lafayette doing V wasn't new, but who was Jesus?

Arlene was coming out of the bathroom when she spotted Eric and I for the first time. Her face distorted with anger and disgust and a feeling close to hatred. I didn't even want to listen to her thoughts, too afraid of what I might find there. She walked up to me and hissed at me.

'Fangbanger.' She muttered, frowning at me as if I were some particularly nasty kind of fungus. I was baffled by how much contempt she put in the word. I almost had to restrain Eric for him not to snap her like a twig. I put my hand on his arm, soothingly, begging him with my eyes not to do anything stupid. His demonstration of Vampire anger was enough to discourage Arlene from doing anything else and she just moved back to her tables, glancing with terror over her shoulder at Eric and me.

'Fitta.' Eric muttered. I looked at him, puzzled at the word he'd just used. He simply shrugged and turned his attention to Sam who had just come out of his office. He wasn't looking all that good tonight. In fact, he looked quite angry.

'Sookie can I speak to you in private?' Sam asked, looking with disgust at Eric.

'Not really. Eric has to be with me...' I tried to explain.

'What do you mean he has to?' Sam asked, annoyed and dumbfounded. I let down my shields for a few seconds, too nervous to concentrate on keeping them up. I caught Sam's train of mind: there were no complete ideas, just lots of anger, directed at pretty much everyone, me included.

I frowned, annoyed.

'I think you've got some explaining to do.' he said once Eric and I stood in his office.

'I don't think she owes you anything, shifter.' Eric said, his voice authoritative.

'It's okay, I trust him and he's never been anything but good to me.' I said, defending Sam. He was after all the best boss I'd ever had.

'Okay so what's the deal?' Sam said, looking at me and then at Eric and then back at me.

'Eric's been cursed and we cannot physically part. So I was kind of hoping he could just sit in a booth in my section and drink True Blood and do whatever whilst I'm working. And I was really hoping you wouldn't mind me working only night shifts because obviously he can't come out before that?' I tried, smiling sweetly at Sam, coating the pill with sugar.

'I told you already the night shifts were okay, but him being here...' Sam snarled. Shifters of all sorts and Vampires had this ongoing hate-party. I didn't exactly understand why they all hated each other so much when in fact they were all in the same boat concerning humankind, but I left that to their complicated politics.

'Well I can't really stuff him in my pocket now can I?' I replied, annoyed at Sam's displeasure with having Eric as a customer. 'I mean he's gonna pay his drink just like anyone. He's a client just like any other vamps you might have served. Why would it make a difference whether it's Bill or him?'

Sam simply sighed and nodded. Eric felt the need to add:

'I wouldn't mind being in your pocket, darling.'

I gave him a killer look and he stifled a laugh before sitting down in one of Sam's chairs.

'So we're good?' I asked Sam, putting on my most adorable smile. I knew that Sam rarely could refuse me when I pulled my Poor-Crazy-Sookie look on. He nodded and shook his head, annoyed. Sam patted me on the shoulder and I felt like asking him what was wrong with him but I didn't want to piss him off.

'You smell of him.' Sam muttered, looking at Eric over my shoulder. I stared at him and sighed.

'So what?' I replied, discouraged.

'You've been with him.' Sam simply dropped, as discouraged as I was but not for the same reasons obviously.

'This is none of your business.' I snapped. At the exact same time, Eric stood up and pulled me in his arms to kiss me. Sam was baffled by the vampire's boldness as was I. I gasped when Eric let go of my lips and blushed.

'She's mine. Don't pester her. I'll owe you for your hospitality.' Eric simply said to Sam before dragging me out of the office. I felt my stomach flutter at him saying I was his. I felt both annoyed and pleased at the same time. It was kind of sweet of him to take my defence in front of Sam like he did.

I tied my apron before offering a booth to Eric. He grabbed my hand before I left and planted a kiss on it.

'Don't let any of those moronic humans bring you down. You're special and way over them.' He said, trying to comfort me. I smiled at him and planted a kiss on his cheek, touched. I went to get him some True Blood. While I was warming it, Jessica joined me, a grin on her face.

'So you and Eric?' She asked, wrinkling her nose.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' I replied, my cheeks flushed. Could she really tell just from the smell? I thought, nervous.

'You smell of him.' She simply said, smiling kindly. 'I must admit I can't blame you. The man is delicious to look at!' she added, playfully. I smiled at her and went to give him his True Blood.

'Alcide's here.' Eric warned me when I dropped his bottle in front of him.

'Shit.' I mumbled. I left his table and turned towards the door and sure as my name is Stackhouse, Alcide was standing there, smiling at me.

'Hello beautiful' he hushed, taking my hand to draw me into his arms for a kiss. The moment he smelled me however, he pulled away and looked around the bar. He laid eyes on Eric and I could see he was not pleased at all.

'Alcide.' I muttered. What was I to say? Sorry, I can't be with you because I have a vampire in tow? A vampire I happened to sleep with just last night? And enjoyed it a whole bunch too?

'Why is he here anyways?' Alcide simply replied, trying to control his temper.

'He's been cursed. We can't part. Please don't be mad.' I said, very quickly. He looked at his feet and then at my pleading face. I could almost feel Eric's temper but I threw him a warning look. He stayed put in his booth.

'I'm not mad, Sookie. Just disappointed. I really enjoyed the other night.'

'Me too. We could go out again someday when I don't have Eric in my skirts.' I replied, immediately cursing myself for the poor choice of words. My relations with male these days were getting way too complicated for me, I thought.

'We'll see about that. I rather doubt he'll be letting you go now.' Alcide said, cocking his head at Eric.

'I'm not his, if that's what you're implying. Let's just say we had a bad night and it got out of hand. Russell's wolves came after us. He took them down.' I said, quickly, seeing that someone from one of my tables was calling me over. 'Just a sec, I'll be right back.'

I attended as quickly as I could to a very annoying Mrs Fortenberry and then looked around for Alcide. He was now sitting in Eric's booth and they were discussing in quite a civil manner.

I approached them, nervous.

'Was Debbie with them?' Alcide asked, eyeing me and Eric with wonder.

'No. It was just the males.' Eric explained, sipping his True Blood.

'Good. At least that's one less thing to worry about for you, Sookie.' Alcide noted. He and Eric seemingly had some sort of respect for one another and I was tempted to ask them what had brought them to actually act civil to one another even though werewolves and vampires usually viscerally hated each other. I decided I'd question Eric later when we got home and went back to work. Alcide stayed a bit to talk with Eric and then he left, kissing me on the cheek before going. The rest of my shift was pretty eventless apart from Eric's temper flaring every single time a man made a comment about me or Arlene glared at me for no reason. Holly wasn't there that night. I was relieved for that because I did not trust her one bit and with her being a Wiccan, I did not know where her allegiances stood. At the end of my shift, I was tired and couldn't wait to go. Eric had been the image of patience, sitting in his booth, ordering True Blood after True Blood. He actually dared to leave me a tip. A huge one. I took the tip and slipped it in his back-pocket.

'Why?' He simply asked, tilting his head to the side, curious.

'I can't let you tip me! You didn't actually choose to be here. It feels too weird anyways.' I replied, taking off my apron.

'The service was worth it.' He replied, winking at me. I rolled my eyes, smiling. I said goodbye to Sam and Jessica. Arlene simply stared at Eric in fear so I didn't dare push my luck by saying goodbye to her like I usually did and Eric and I simply slipped out of Merlotte's. We were almost at Eric's Corvette when, suddenly, he winced in pain and fell to the ground, a silver chain wrapped around his neck. I yelped in surprise and turned around. Standing in front of me was Debbie Pelt with a gun in her hand.

'Get in the car.' She growled at me. I moved back, towards the car. I then looked at Eric. He really looked like he was in pain.

'This is about me, not him. Let him go.' I pleaded to her, knowing her answer in advance. However, I had to win some time to think up a plan.

'He'll kill me the moment I free him, you fucking whore. No way I'm taking him with us. Now get in the car right this instant.' She snarled, clicking the gun's security off.

'But he's in pain.' I replied.

'I'll show you the meaning of pain, you bitch. Alcide killed my fiancé because of you. Now get in the fucking car!'

'I don't have the keys.' I muttered, my voice icy with fear. 'It's his car.' I continued, breathing heavily.

'Take them.' He simply said, the silver burning his throat.

He handed me the keys and I wished this instant I could read his thoughts. He looked at me and winked so quickly that I almost didn't notice it. I got in the car on the driver's side as Debbie instructed me.

'Now drive to your place.' She ordered me, the gun still pointed at my head. And I did, even though I'd never driven a Corvette.