Here's chapter 23! :-) The characters, obviously, belong to Ms Harris. And the beta-support was given by Charhamblin. I hope you'll like this chapter and think that this is Eric-like enough. And please drop me a line if you can. Thank you! Take care! Célia

Eric "Stranger In This Town"

I wanted to stay with Sookie so much that night when we had sex for the first time in a decade that I barely got to the hotel in time. The minute I laid down on my bed, I was dead.

On the next night, as soon as I woke up, I immediately smelled Sookie on me. So I grabbed my cell phone and I called her. She told me her supposed husband was there with her and that he had made arrangements so both Sookie and their daughter would have a bodyguard at all times. I was happy that the bear wasn't completely useless and a total moron, but I felt sad that she didn't need me.

"Go back to Louisiana Eric. I'll call if anything happens."

And so I left back to Shreveport. I didn't want to because I wanted to keep her safe, but at the same time I knew that it would be better for me to be away from Sookie so I could properly think about my… well… uumm… feelings. Yes, I'd stay away and she would call if anything happened, as she had said.

But on the next night though, she didn't wait for anything to happen and she called me. And for me, it meant a lot. And even better than her call was the fact that she said she loved me. I wanted so much to tell her that I loved her back… but I didn't. I wouldn't give her the tools to break me again. This time she would have to prove that she really wanted me before I'd tell her that I loved her too. Even though I did love her already. Or rather: still. I did love her still.

But her phone call and her words made me change my mind again. And my "stay away and have no contact with Sookie" plan of action morphed into the simpler "call her". And so, on the following evening, I didn't wait for her to call me again. Instead, as soon as I woke, I called her and we talked for fifteen minutes about Elizabeth. The kid had been picked to represent her swimming school on the county's championship that day and Sookie was extremely proud of her because "the other children in her division are all 6 or 7 and there's even a couple of 8-years-old".

Okay, it's true, I admit: that didn't mean a thing to me. At all. Okay, so the kid could swim. So what? But it meant a lot to Sookie. And she was happy about it. And I liked talking on the phone with happy-Sookie. And so I created a pattern: each night, even before leaving my room, I would call Sookie and she would tell me about her job, her daughter, her activities during the day and I would tell her about Pam or my bars. She wanted to visit Bloodbath and Deadliest because she hadn't been there yet. And Fangtasia too because it had been too long since she had seen me "looking Viking-ish and badass-ish in the big, golden throne". Her words, not mine.

And so we talked every night for two weeks.

Pam, obviously, teased me.

About a week or so after I had come back from Sookie's, I had just arrived at my office, at Bloodbath, when I saw Pam's car already parked there. The bar's doors were still closed because it was still early, but there were already a few patrons' cars as well on the parking lot. It was going to be a good night. Well, it usually was. Bloodbath was now as famous as Fangtasia. Deadliest though, not so much – but we'd get there.

Pam entered my office not two minutes after my arrival. She was already dressed in her black leather outfit for the night. "So… what did you say before? How was it Eric? Your word? 'Beyond', was it? It was 'beyond' right?" And then she proceeded to mimic my voice (badly, I might add): "It's been almost ten years Pamela. I'm beyond all that now."

"Pam, just… Shut up."

"Well Eric, you were absolutely right. You are obviously beyond all that now. And I just want to tell you that I've called the person you are so beyond now and I think that she sounded as beyond as you." She kept saying "beyond" with a mocking tone, and so I didn't comment on it. But my lack of response wouldn't shut up Pam, obviously. "She said she loves, and I repeat loooves, your calls. Your every night calls."

Now it had been the prolonged "o" in "loves" that had bothered me. But again, I didn't answer. And she continued: "Every night Eric?"

"Pam, I just worry about her safety. That's all."

"Yeah, that's all", she repeated me sarcastically and left the room.

And even though I didn't want to recognize it, Pam was kind of right. That is, I wasn't as mad and angry or kind of depressed as before, but I was still sort of Sookie-obsessed. I thought about her quite often. And… well, I was a bit ashamed to confess, but the truth was that I hadn't had sex with anyone else yet. I had drunk from nice girls every night but I hadn't fucked any of them since I had been back from Tennessee. I just… didn't want to have sex with any one of them. They just… didn't appeal to me.

Not even Natércia. I had had a trip to Vancouver scheduled for the following month, so we could be together again for a couple of weeks, but I had called her to cancel it.

"Oh, hell, not you too!" Nat replied to me when I phoned her to say that I wouldn't be visiting.

"Why? Who else isn't coming? Is there something special going on there?"

"Yeah. Adelaide's here in Canada now. She moved to Ottawa a couple of months ago. And Ocella was going to visit us too at the same time, but apparently his child screwed up or something and so he can't stopover. And now you aren't coming here either. Hell. Fuck this," Natércia said.

Adelaide was Ocella's "younger sister". She was more or less 1200 years old and she had been living in Macau and Taiwan for the past 150 years. It was great that she was in Canada, and I would definitively love to see her again – last time I had been personally with Lai had been in Saint Petersburg right after the Second World War. We had both been there to visit Nat as well (Nat and Lai were very good friends since I had introduced Nat to both Ocella and Adelaide in the 14th century in Louis I of Hungary's court, right before we all moved from Lithuania to Southern Italy). Yeah, I'd definitively like to see her again. Adelaide had lived somewhat close to me and Ocella for almost 70 years when I was turned. And she had helped me a lot when Ocella was just an angry maker and way before he became my friend. But no matter how much I wanted to see Lai again, I couldn't go to Canada. Now was definitely not the time to be with Nat. Not until this… relationship (or whatever this was with Sookie) would stop being an amorphous mess.

"I'm sorry Nat. I can't go to Vancouver now. You know how it is with the new bars and all the extra work..."

"Doesn't your worthless child help you?" Nat and Pam would never get along. Pam hated Nat ever since the first time they met in England two or three decades after I had became a maker. I had never understood why, but the truth is that she had despised Nat since then. Pam couldn't even stand Nat's name in a conversation. And Natércia had always thought that I was too permissive and too tolerant with my child. Nat had a "respect through fear" kind of relationship with her two children (they were taught to believe that Nat was deserved tribute for having given them the gift of vampirism), whereas I always saw Pam as a younger, feminine version of me that would grow to be just like myself.

"Natércia, don't be like that. You know how great Pam has been since I asked her to come back to the US. It's just that I'm in the verge of earning lots of money with the franchising but I still have to be on top of things."

"Alright. Alright. Come whenever you can. I miss you."

I said that I would be there as soon as possible and before long I ended the call. But I didn't say that I missed her too because I actually… didn't. And it felt awful that I didn't. Nat had been my best friend for 800 years. And she still was. But she was just too complicated at the moment. I didn't need to be with her now that I had been with Sookie again. I knew I was being a selfish bastard, using Nat to help me overcome Sookie but then forgetting her as soon as Sookie had said yes to me. But what could I do?

Well, I could stop being a selfish bastard and just cut Sookie out of my system. But I had tried that for a decade and I hadn't managed it. Even without the blood bond, I hadn't ever forgotten her. And I knew that I wouldn't. It was as if Sookie was a limb. Yeah, that was a nice analogy because a human still lived without an arm or a leg, or if they were blind or deaf. But they didn't function as good as they would without that deficiency. And I really needed Sookie to function properly. To hell if I knew why. After all, she was just one in a sea of thousands of humans I had been with. But even if I didn't know the reason why, I was sure that I needed Sookie in my life.

And with my nightly phone calls (without any sensitive or touchy subjects talked about, except for that first and single "I love you"), I just tried to give her space and let her decide; but, at the same time, I was saying: I'm here for you.

And then, a couple of weeks after my visit, Sookie finally asked my help.

I immediately dressed in my 'charming prince on a white horse' trousers, and I got her daytime protection. I also decided that I'd be the one who'd keep her safe at night.

-x-

"So… why is it that you are going back there again Eric?" It was my child's voice. As soon as I had decided that I'd go back to Tennessee, I had called Pam to tell her to keep an eye on everything for me. Now, half an hour later, she was entering my house. I was packing some clothes, when I heard her voice and I looked up. Pam was staring at me from the door in my bedroom. Her arms were crossed at her chest and she looked pissed.

I tried changing the subject and talking about how the lack of the Arkansas' construction permits was delaying the opening of our first Fangtasia in that state, and how she should stay on top of that during my absence, but Pam didn't let me. She just kept talking how Sookie had me wrapped in her "warm, little human finger" and how I was "behaving like a teenager with a boner".

Yes, Pam, as usual, had lots of uninteresting remarks about my decision. But I couldn't care less. I left that same night for Tennessee.

My new encounter with Sookie was… Well, awkward. I really wanted to have sex with her again but I didn't know if she did. And so we spent a couple of hours just talking and feeling tongue-tied and self-conscious. But later that night when I was leaving, Sookie walked with me to the door and kissed me hard. Just like that. I hadn't felt that she was going to do that. At all. But I didn't think about it either. I just reacted to it. I immediately grabbed her legs around my waist and held her against the still closed door, deepening the kiss. Her back was on the door, her arms were hugging my neck and her tongue was deep inside my mouth two seconds later.

Okay. Now is the time to confirm a few facts: yes, I am a vampire; yes, we do have heightened senses, namely hearing; yes, I should have listened; no, I do not know why I didn't. Well, I guess I was so into Sookie that I wasn't paying attention. And who didn't I listen to? Sookie's kid.

"Mom? What are you doing?" A child's voice asked from the middle of the stairs.

"Put me down, put me down." Sookie commanded. I did so and turned towards the voice while Sookie ran to her daughter. "What are you doing up Liz? It's still night baby."

"I'm thirsty." She answered her mother but looking at me. "Hi" she then told me, smiling in my direction. I ran to them in vampire speed and then slowly grabbed her hand and shook it. Then I said: "How do you do?"

She let go an excited happy little scream and started laughing and shaking my hand as well while trying to say, between giggles, "How do you do?" A minute later, Sookie interrupted us.

"That's enough Lizzie. And you have water in your room, you know that. Come. Mom will tuck you in. And you can meet him properly tomorrow," Sookie then turned to me, "It's late already, you should go. I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked me, smiling at me and then biting her lower lip in this sensual but still innocent kind of way... She was so damn unconsciously sexy that I almost felt my heart beating again.

"First dark," I answered and then left. I talked to the two weres that I had hired that were already there and left to the hotel.

The next night I got up, dressed while drinking an awful bottle of True Blood and drove to Sookie's. I spent a couple of minutes speaking to the new bodyguards that had relieved yesterday's guards at noon. And then they went back to their car while I rang the doorbell. I heard both mother and daughter's voices and then this teacup-Sookie person opened the door smiling at me. "Why was mommy in your lap yesterday?" No hello or good evening. Just a question. And what a question.

"Elizabeth!" Sookie said, while coming to the front door from the kitchen.

"Mom! You said that I'd know later. It's later already!" The kid said.

"I'm sorry Eric. Please come in. She's been like this the whole day. I think you have a new fan."

I entered their house, kissed Sookie's cheek and then Elizabeth's hand. "How do you do?" I said again to the child. And, as in the night before, I heard a "how do you do?" back, except between laughs. But, like her mother, Elizabeth wasn't one to be distracted and so she repeated her question: "Why was mommy in your lap yesterday?"

"Maybe," I said curving my back so my head was the same height as hers, "just maybe, I like to grab beautiful girls," and then I immediately grabbed her and ran around the living room a little quicker than the normal human pace. She continued laughing and screaming and eventually I dropped her in the couch where I started tickling her for a couple of minutes before I sat next to her. She was still trying to catch her breath when I said: "I am Eric."

Still giggling, she answered me: "I am Elizabeth."

"Like the Queen."

"Is there a Queen Elizabeth?" Her mouth formed a smile exactly like Sookie's while her eyes almost popped out of her face in awe and wonder. She was a cute kid.

"Yes. Two actually. In England."

"Mom, there's a queen with my name," she said to Sookie. Funny how it was the Queen that had her name and not the other way around. Sookie just nodded and then she started telling her daughter how there were still countries with real princes and princesses, not just fake like on TV, and the kid sounded even more amazed with this new information.

And that was it. That was how I met Sookie's daughter. We then stayed there watching TV for another hour before Sookie decided that it was Elizabeth's bed time. And after a little discussion between them about the bed time (which Sookie won), Elizabeth recognized she should go to her bedroom to sleep. But not before she climbed over me and kissed my cheek with a sleepy "Bye Eric."

They both went upstairs and half an hour later Sookie came back to the living room floor alone and sat next to me.

"I bought True Blood today. I have it in the kitchen. Do you want a bottle?"

"No thanks." I answered. We both stayed looking at the TV for a few minutes and then I broke the silence: "Your kid kissed me."

"Was that wrong? I'm sorry. I can tell her not to…"

"No," I interrupted, "not at all. There's no problem. It is just that people usually feel we are something dangerous. There is this instinct that tells you humans to keep away. But she didn't. I do not even know if she noticed how cold I am. This is just strange. Unusual."

"There's an instinct that tells us to keep away from vampires?" She mocked me. "I guess I should go to the repair shop because both mine and my daughter's are completely broken then."

"I guess you should." I answered her smiling. She grabbed my hand and moved closer.

"But meanwhile, until I have it fixed, can I kiss you again Mr. Northman?"

"Is your daughter asleep?"

"She is."

"Then, by all means Miss Stackhouse."

She moved towards me and suddenly it hit me again, her scent: a mixture of strawberry and jasmine. It was fresh, sweet and uniquely her. That smell, along with the way she moved her body, had been driving me crazy since that first night in Fangtasia, when she entered my bar asking about a couple of fangbangers. I'd never forget her tight dress with the flower pattern, and the sinful red shoes that matched her purse.

She kept moving towards me and she did start kissing me. And I was happy to reciprocate. We both fell into the couch, and I pulled her blanket (it was the old "Gran's quilt") over us before I continued kissing her as I had before. Sookie was constantly murmuring my name (as if she still didn't believe I was there with her), and it only made me more hungry for her.

I trailed my lips and tongue down her throat, while my hands wandered over the rest of her. After a few minutes, I asked, just like last time, if I could take her sweater off. But that time, instead of laughing at me, she just said, with the most serious face ever "of course". It was as if she was saying that she belonged to me, and that I could do whatever I wanted with her. Eventually, we moved to her bedroom and we made love for the second time after our decade apart.

Later, when we were hugging, I could feel her heart was still pounding through both our chests, but I just stayed very still and enjoyed the sensation.

Within minutes, she calmed down, and I felt that she had felt asleep. Then, I lifted my head and stared down at her face as I ran my fingers through her hair and brushed it back. And I just stayed there, wondering for a second what did that mean, if she'd go back to Louisiana with me and what would happen in the future. I knew I had to keep her safe and I vowed to myself that I'd never let a fairy touch her ever again in any harmful way.

Little did I know how they'd touch not only Sookie but her kid too.

So, I've told you that Natércia is my grandmother's name – and she was the one who raised me since I was 11 yrs old. But I also still have my other grandmother – Adelaide. And even though I didn't grow up with her nor do I see her as often as I'd like to, she deserves a little tribute here too. Anyway, thank you for reading! And don't forget to tell me your thoughts about this chapter, okay? Célia

Stranger in This Town is a rock/blues solo album by Richie Sambora, the guitarist from New Jersey band Bon Jovi. This title track charted at #38 on the Mainstream rock charts and occasionally it has been played by Sambora on Bon Jovi's tours, most recently on their Lost Highway Tour in 2008. "Sometimes it's hard to find a friendly face / Feel like a stranger to the human race / It's such a lonely, lonely place."