Hello! I finally got in the mail my "Dead Reckoning" – no bookstore here in Portugal had it yet, so I bought it online. This next weekend will be a "reading weekend" for sure. Anyway, here's chapter 28. I hope you'll like it – there're some lemons ahead. And please drop me a line if you can. Thank you. Célia

Sookie "Say It Isn't So"

Eric was great. Yes, he was sometimes obnoxious, high-handed and stubborn, but he was also caring, funny and loving with me and my daughter. Yes, we had problems and discussions but we always managed to make up before either of us went to sleep (which was sometimes hard because we had almost opposite sleeping patterns, but we managed it), and it usually also included some make-up sex, which was great as well. Well, better than great actually. It was more like an "oh-my-God-it's-so-good-I-can't-stand-it" kind of great.

And I was always giving thanks for having him in my life since the year before… and in our bed too.

"I'm back," he said one night when he arrived and entered our room after spending two nights away because of his bars, "and I must have you right now! I'm so hard I can't stand it. It's painful Sookie. I really need you at this very moment." And then he grinned fangily.

I raised my head to glance at him. Eric looked, as always, immensely tall, extremely handsome and incredibly sexy. He was dressed in dark blue jeans, and a dark blue coat, which he quickly took off. His white with light-blue lines shirt seemed like tailor made because it made him even more attractive than usual. Jesus! Eric was the paradigm of good-looks. He truly looked like a perfect god from the Greek or Roman mythology, especially when he used his hair over his shoulders like that evening and not in a braid or pony-tail as usual.

It was past 11 pm and I was already in our bed, reading my novel. And if he wanted me, then by God, he'd have me because I really wanted him as well.

"Then cut to the chase my lover," I answered him smiling. It always sounded strange when I was the one calling him lover. He was usually just "Eric" and I was the "lover". But sometimes, I teased him this way and it felt great.

With a movement too fast for me to follow, Eric's shirt was off, and while I was admiring the view, his other clothes followed. He had his fangs already out. He next took my pajamas' pants and underwear off as well before he laid on top of me. Eric's weight felt great and I just kept hugging him while we kissed for a few minutes. Suddenly, I felt him rub me and I moaned. And, as usual, Eric knew what my sounds meant because he immediately entered me and we both cried out in pleasure.

Whenever he was away for a couple of nights, our reunion was always quick and rough. And so, soon he was thrusting into me harder each time. I just felt him grabbing me, teasing me and entering me and all of a sudden I came hard and he was right here with me. Jesus Christ! I'd never get used to an Eric-induced orgasm. Yes, he was that good.

Once we were both still, I let go of his butt and brought my hands up to his back to hold him. He continued kissing my cheeks and my mouth while I caught my breath. His kisses in due course moved to my neck and I felt him licking it. He had bitten me and I hadn't even noticed it. Wow! I guess I was so into my orgasm that everything else had faded away. Even Eric's fangs.

Eventually, he asked me to take my pajamas' top off, which I quickly did, and then we moved so we could better snuggle for a while in silence. I had my leg over him and my head onto his chest. He had this manly and dry vampire smell and I loved to stay just like that: hugging him and enjoying the quiet and stillness. And I thought all over again what a blessing was the fact that I couldn't hear his thoughts. Yes, hugging him while enjoying the calm and tranquility of after-sex was the best. But this time, contrarily to what's our norm, it was Eric who broke the silence: "How's Liz?"

Lizzie was at her father's since the day before. "She's alright. She called today. David bought her pink rollerblades and she's crazy about it. She already has a bruise on her knee because she fell a couple of times. But David said she's managing it already. Liz also told me that she had lunch with her cousins today. She's happy to be back there."

"That's good," he said. The way Eric always worried about Liz made me so proud of him. He was this badass vampire to everyone else, but he was such a softy with us.

"How were the bars?" I asked.

"Busy, lousy and boring."

"Don't be like that Eric!" He was always complaining how he didn't like to travel that much and that all the problems with the bars were just a huge head-ache (not a physical head-ache, obviously, because he was a vampire, but rather a never-ending stream of problems). But I knew that he would hate it much more if he wasn't busy with work. Yeah, I knew he loved his bars and he loved the way everyone looked up to him and depended on him with anything bar-related. He was just complaining because… well, because he was a guy. And double-nature or not, dead or alive, 1000-years old or less, men would always be men.

"It's true," he said, running his hand up and down my leg, "and besides, yesterday I saw this very good looking blond girl, with a great tan, and what would probably be lovely tits, and she reminded me of my wife. My cock was instantly rock hard. Since then, all I thought about was to come back home to fuck you until you couldn't walk straight."

"Eric!" I said and kind of playfully slapped his arm. He was always somewhat graphic and explicit when he talked about sex. I sometimes wondered what had made him like that. Was it some kind of "Vikings' way"? Or was it because he had experimented so much sexually that everything was just normal to him? Or perhaps it had been the "peace and love" from the sixties and seventies? All that free love speech? Either way, I wasn't like that. Well, of course I loved to have sex with Eric. Who wouldn't? But I'd never talk as freely as he did. And his words sometimes even turned me into a shy little girl. Well, a horny shy little girl.

"What? What's the problem? The "I got hard because of a blond girl" part or the "my wife" part?" He asked me. I knew that he was pretending to be kidding and just teasing me. But I knew better: he was indirectly talking about our supposed marriage again. And that would never be a kidding or teasing subject to him.

When I had come back to Louisiana, we had both decided on a few rules: we'd be a couple, a real couple; we would be exclusive (but that didn't mean that I wasn't still friends with Sam and Bill, because I was, obviously; and that was something that Eric was not exactly thrilled about, but he kind of accepted; Alcide though, was no longer a part of my life); and Eric would refrain from drinking from others besides me – I was supposed to ignore if he drank from others while away from me, and he was supposed to not bite anyone else when we were both in Shreveport, especially good-looking girls.

And you see, I was the one "allowing" him this. And to tell you the truth, I was really proud of myself for being able to deal with it in a more mature way. Yes, feeding and fucking go hand-in-hand for vampires, and I can't say that it didn't bother me that he might be drinking from others. But I saw it as my way of showing Eric that I trusted him (and that I believed that even if he drank while away from Shreveport, I knew that he wouldn't have sex with anyone else). And either way, he was always saying that because he was over 1000 years old, he could go for quite a long time without feeding. And so, whenever he'd stay away just one or two nights because of his work, he'd usually refrain from drinking from others. Therefore, the trust I had given him was paying off, and even though he could drink from others, he usually didn't. The only three or four exceptions had been when he was staying in Arkansas for almost a week – and neither he nor I had wanted him to feel any less strong for lack of feeding while in another state. And there were these other times, when he was in Shreveport, that for some reason, I wouldn't be feeling up for giving him my blood, or when Eric himself would not want to take my blood because he'd say that I hadn't replenish it enough yet… But even in those situations, Eric would only drink synthetic blood if he had too. He was always saying how everyone else tasted bland and insipid compared to me.

And believe me: you could totally see how he really didn't drink or have sex while away because… well, he'd ravish me thoroughly then... even more than usual… And I loved it.

But we still had some issues that we didn't agree on, namely, our marital status. My divorce from David was already official, and there was no way in hell that we'd be together again, not even for Liz. So I really felt like a divorcée. And I liked it. I felt free because of it. I was my own.

There had been a time in my life when I had thought that I wouldn't be anybody if I wasn't married and with a bunch of children. I had longed for an "ordinary life with an ordinary family". The whole "family with two point four kids, living in a two story house with a white picket fence, and the kissing the husband every morning while doing the knot in his tie and after making him breakfast and before he went to work" image, you know? But I didn't think that way anymore. Now that I was with Eric, Liz would be my only child. And with Eric's schedules we would never be like other families. For one, he didn't eat – so I'd never need to make his breakfast. And secondly, he wouldn't even be alive at breakfast time. Not to mention that being a vampire Sheriff is not properly a 9 to 5 job that requires a suit and a tie. Yes, just the whole "only awake at night" aspect of him would always be an issue between us because I'd forever be a day-person. And besides, even if I didn't mind to keep his timetables, Lizzie's school and other activities would prevent me from doing that.

So, yeah, we both had to compromise. But we were alright now. Well, actually, better than alright. I was as happy as I had ever been. But we would never be a conventional couple or a typical family. We wouldn't. Not ever. And that was why I was still defending that we were just living together. But Eric was always saying that I was his wife in the only way that mattered to him and that the knife marriage was valid. And that was one of the issues between us. I'd never see the act of handing him silverware as a valid marriage. No one other than the vampires would, right?

But besides the validity of our supposed marriage, there was also our other huge white elephant: the blood-bond. Or rather: its absence. When we had come back to Louisiana, just after Niall closed the portals, Eric gave both me and Lizzie a couple of drops of his blood. We had both decided that it was better if he could find us if he needed… You know: just in case! But other than those drops a year ago, I hadn't drunk from Eric yet and there was absolutely no blood bond between us. I felt nothing and nobody. And nobody felt me either. Actually, not even Pam was feeling me anymore (I had drunk from her twice when I was pregnant). And I was happy about it. But more than that, I had completely decided that I'd never drink from any vampire ever again.

Yes, I knew that Eric wanted me to drink from him. He thought that I should smell like him all the time because I dealt with many supernaturals in his bars. But I wasn't so sure. And I definitely wasn't ready for a blood bond yet. Thankfully, Eric just talked about it once in a while and he never pressed the issue too much.

On the other hand, he never talked about how he had actually broken the bond. However, after much insistence on my part, Pam had told me that really old vampires are strong enough to "will their blood away from humans". But she also said that it required lots of concentration and focus. And that the vampire had to be very deliberate about it – it was truly an intentional action. And apparently, Eric tried to do it by himself after I left. But not even he was able to do it. So he had to drink his almost 2000-years old maker's blood to give him the strength enough to force his blood away from me. Jesus! The whole thing seemed too strange for me… I had been raised by a very devoted Christian lady and… well… this really seemed way too bizarre for me. And I was really glad to be out of it.

"Did you do anything with the blonde girl?" I asked before I'd answer his question.

"No. I just saw her once and then I started fantasizing about you, about your tanned legs around my waist, and how hot and wet you would feel around my cock and all the devious things that I would do to you tonight." He told me hugging me closer. His hands had moved from my lower back to my butt and legs and I shivered. I couldn't see his face in the position we were, with my head in his chest, but I was willing to bet that there was a smirk in his face because he knew how excited his words and his touch would make me.

"Okay. Then my problem is with the wife part."

"You are so mean to me Sookie," he said with a teasing voice while grabbing my ass with both his hands and moving me on top of him before rolling us so he would be on top. He was ready for our second round. And God, so was I.

"Oh, poor you!" I answered him smiling while I put my tanned legs around his waist, as he had said before.

As usual, this second time was much slower and intimate than the first. We had had sex, and now we were making love. He started by trailing his hand up my leg, and I could feel that his touch was firmer when he kissed me. When the kiss ended we locked our eyes and he murmured "I love you". And then… my heart probably skipped a beat.

This was the first time he was telling me that. I had been saying "I love you's" for a year now, but he hadn't ever answered me that. I had listened to a lot of "I'm very happy about it", several "likewise's" and even a couple of "me too's". I had heard "I love your legs", "I love your smell" and several other "loves" regarding other body parts or personality traits. But never an "I love you". Until that moment that is.

I whispered that I loved him too and we kissed again for a while until he leaned forward slightly, as his hand continued to slide further up my leg. I felt his agile fingers brush over me, and heard a low growl of appreciation rumble in his chest as he felt how ready I was for him. He exchanged his fingers for his cock and I felt him brush over me once more, as if he was hesitating, and then with the smoothest of moves, he slid into me.

A breathy moan escaped me as my head fell back. I heard a whispered, "perfect" come from him as he kept moving in and out of me and the heat of him filled me. Another strangled cry came from me as his thumb found my clit and I felt my hips buck in response. Jesus! I was feeling so much… His weight on top of me, his mouth and tongue kissing my lips and neck, his hand grabbing me, his thumb in the best place ever and his moves in and out of me…

"Look at me," he demanded in his always sexy voice. I opened my eyes and they found his and I was fixed by his stare. The dark-blue rim around the iris and the even mix of pale blue and white rays I knew so well were fixed into my eyes too. And suddenly, I lost my mind with the feeling of him moving inside me while his thumb was still tracing lazy circles over me. I couldn't think. I could only feel. Soon, however, his pace quickened and he was thrusting deep and harder into me. And just a moment later I was screaming as my orgasm tore through me. His fingers continued playing me, slowing down as I rode out the last waves of pleasure. As my spasms began to fade, Eric came inside me speaking in his old language, and even though I still couldn't understand anything of it, I treasured his words.

A few moments later, we moved and spooned and I heard him whispering over and over again that he loved me as I went to sleep like a baby, hugging my kind of husband.

The next night we both decided that we should celebrate the fact that we were Lizzie-free and we went to have dinner out (I mean: I ate while he watched me and pretended to drink a True Blood – no matter the new "flavors" that had been developed on the last few years, Eric would never like its taste) and then we were supposed to go someplace to dance.

Dancing had always been one of my favorite pastimes. And going out to dance with Eric was even better. But I was missing Lizzie too much (and I guess Eric might be too), so we didn't go dancing afterwards. Our "Lizzie-free" celebration would probably be postponed until Lizzie came back. Yeah, I know… But my child was just 6-years old, and I was really missing her too much, so I'd never be a fun date in her absence. I'd much rather go out with Eric knowing that she was safe (and close by) in our home in Shreveport with Pam or even her babysitter.

And so, I asked Eric if we could go home instead of going dancing and that was what we did. An hour or so later, we were watching a program on TV about a vampire who wanted to run for mayor of NY when, all of a sudden, Eric had his hands on both sides of his head. He whimpered. I was suddenly worried about him, and really, really nervous. I had never seen Eric that way.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? Eric? Eric?" I asked sinking down to the floor beside him.

"Someone's coming. It's Ocella. He's making me painfully aware of his arrival. He's six days early. It's my maker Sookie."

His maker? Now? Eric had told me that his maker might be dropping by eventually. But nothing more. And how come Eric didn't look appalled with this immediate visit? "He's six days early." So he knew that this maker-guy was coming to visit now. I wondered why I didn't.

Suddenly, Eric rose to his feet in less than a blink of an eye, and I heard him make a sound deep in his chest. His hands were in white fists. Not good. I, out of the blue, found myself huddled against the couch with Eric between me and the open door.

In a second, I realized that there was someone there.

Between Eric's legs, I could see a man, much seared and very muscular, with dark eyes and hair. He was short and he was wearing jeans and a Black Sabbath t-shirt. Behind him, was a boy of no more that 13 or 14 but I could hardly see his face. I froze, trying to not react.

"Ocella," Eric said.

"Eric, what a lovely house you have here. You look well. But tell me yourself how you are." The vampire said without a single tone of an accent. Actually he didn't sound as a non English-native-speaker either but he sure didn't sound British, Australian or from any side of America that I knew of. He just spoke perfect English. And Ocella…? What a strange name. I then realized that I had never asked Eric about his maker. And he hadn't told me about his maker either. Just that he might eventually visit us. I wondered where this Ocella was from and how was his relationship with Eric. Like I said before, I only knew he had been the one helping Eric when he decided to break our blood bond after I left to Tennessee because Pam had told me so. Uhmm… What would Ocella think about me? Would he know that I was… well… me?

"I am alright," Eric answered, "you?"

"We are fine," he said with his cold, accent less voice, "and who is your friend?"

Eric took a step forward to give me room while I rose to my feet. He was still between me and his maker. "This is Sookie Stackhouse," he finally said and then he looked at me for one second before focusing on his maker again.

Oh no. The way he had looked at me… Eric's blue eyes had almost spoken to me. And they had told me everything I needed to know. Oh no. I wanted to scream at Eric "say it isn't so, say that we'll be okay, say that this isn't happening, say that we're still just us". But I didn't. Because here was no need. I knew. I just knew. His eyes had told me everything I needed to know. Eric would have to answer all Ocella's questions, he'd have to do all his bidding and go wherever he'd be told to go. Oh no. Oh no.

The old vampire's voice brought me back from my thoughts. "Child, do you have a pet now?"

Hearing Eric being called child was something really strange and totally unnecessary due to his more than 1000 years of age. Maybe it was because parents always see their descendants as children... Liz would always be a baby to me, that's for sure. Either way, thinking of Eric as a child was definitively strange. And then I recognized that I was focusing in the "child" part of Ocella's question. But what about the "pet" part? I was not a pet. I'd never be a pet. Did Eric considerer me a pet?

"No," Eric answered. And thank God for him and his word that said that I wasn't his pet. But… I was something. Eric paused for a few seconds, before he continued: "She is…" But then he stopped again. And both I and Ocella stared at him. I guess we both wanted to hear what I was to Eric. I had really liked that he had said that I wasn't his pet. But… what was I? His friend? I thought I was much more than that. He used to call me his bonded but our bond had been broken for more than a decade… What was I then? Maybe his lover? "Sookie Stackhouse is my wife," Eric finally answered.

"Your wife?" The recently arrived vampire said. Oh-uh. Shit. His face was skeptical and disbelieving. Apparently, Ocella agreed with me against Eric: we weren't married. This time, though, I just shut the hell up.

Eric grabbed my hand and I was now at his side rather than behind him. "Yes, we are wed by a matrimonial knife."

Ocella looked at me from my face to my feet and then up again. I felt like I was being measured. And I guess I was. I was also meeting my… kind of… father-in-law? Jesus. What a situation.

Eric had told me that this Ocella character might be visiting us soon, but I had thought that we'd have time to talk about it before his possible visit. Eric hadn't seemed that keen on talking about him and I hadn't insisted either… And besides, Eric had said that his maker might be visiting us (he had said might), not that there was already a date for said visit. And I had really thought that it wouldn't matter and that "the maker" might not come at all. Or maybe that he would come in like a decade or so – vampires always talked about years just like weeks… But unfortunately, I had been wrong. And… what now? What should I do? What would Eric do? Were they friends? Or not? And why did Eric always compartmentalized information? I knew that he had always been one to talk through the "need-to-know" kind of way. But the fact that this Ocella person was visiting us sure fell in that category, right? I should have known about it, shouldn't I?

Ocella's voice took me out of my thoughts when he said: "She's something else… fairy perhaps?" I was pretty impressed. Eric himself had only recognized it after he was told about my Fae lineage. Actually, the only vampire who had ever recognized that I was part fairy was Andre, Sophie-Ann's child. And that was just after he had tasted my blood. No other vampire had ever knew I was part fairy just by looking at me… or smelling me… or whatever Ocella did to figure it out.

"She is. Sookie is 1/8th fairy," Eric answered him.

Ocella nodded and smiled before saying: "And her kin are strong, I can tell," he smiled again, "Eric, she is rare."

"I know. Please Ocella, sit," Eric said while sitting and bringing me to sit right at his side.

Eric's maker and the teenage looking boy sat in front of us. Ocella hadn't yet talked to me. Just about me. And in front of me. And he intended to keep doing so. The other vamp kept quiet all the time.

"Does she live at your house?"

"You forget: she is my wife."

"I see," Ocella answered. And I almost giggled. "I see" was such an Eric's phrase. I wondered who of them had been the first to use it.

Then Eric tried to change the subject from me: "Where are you spending the day? You are both welcome here." And the operative word there was "tried". As in: Eric tried to change the subject from me. But he didn't succeed.

"We have another place. So, Eric, she smells of you, obviously…"

"She is my wife," Eric said a third time.

"So you say. But she hasn't had your blood yet. Just a couple of drops…" Eric didn't reply. So Ocella continued: "I am wondering… why is that?"

"Sookie has had my blood several times, but it was a few years ago. So the bond's weaker now. But as you said Ocella, she has drunk recently a little bit."

"Is she the girl Eric?"

"She is."

I wondered for a second what girl was I but then they just started speaking in some language that I didn't even recognize. It didn't sound like Chinese, or German, or Spanish or anything at all. And it was not Eric's Old Norse either. It was something different. It sounded old. And by the face of the teenage-looking vampire, he didn't understand it either.

And so they kept talking, for at least 20 minutes. Ocella sounded really mad because of something. But what really petrified me was that Eric had this nervous air about him… Eric was never uneasy about anything… Whatever it was that Ocella was telling Eric to do or say was scaring Eric. And so it was scaring the hell out of me. And Ocella kept repeating the same words. Well, he kept repeating the same sounds, and I was guessing that they were words. And Eric kept answering him back. Eventually, Eric said something that shut up his maker. The older vampire just stayed there moving his glare between Eric and me.

Then, all of a sudden, Ocella said, again in English: "Sookie Stackhouse, it is a pleasure to meet you." I hated the way he said pleasure. It was almost… well, gastronomical. It was like "hum, this Créeme Brulé is a pleasure!" I really hated it but I had to play my part. He was Eric's maker. He was really old, strong and powerful, and Eric owed him respect. Just as I did too, I guess. Yeah, I really had to play my part.

I nodded and answered him: "Thank you. It's a pleasure to meet you too sir."

"You may call me Appius Livius," he said, "since you are Eric's wife. It took Eric a hundred years to earn the right to call me Appius, rather than Master. Then centuries to be able to call me Ocella. Eric, you know Alexei. Sookie, this is my new son."

"Brother," Eric said. The young vampire nodded at him.

"Alexei," I said. And the young vampire smiled at me. Or rather: he fangy smiled at me.

Then, three things happened at once: Eric tensed and slightly moved me closer to him; Ocella grabbed the new vampire's hand and said something to him in what sounded like Russian or some other language similar to it; and the small fangs in the younger vampire's smile grew while he licked his lips.

I could feel my heart immediately starting to beat even more quickly. And apparently the three of them could all hear its increasing rhythmic. And how did I know it? Because the same three things happened again: Eric moved me even closer to him; Ocella grabbed Alexei's arm with even more strength; and Alexei's smile and fangs grew even more again.

Oh. Damn.

I hope you've enjoyed the lemons. That was my second time writing sexy smut (and I'm so embarrassed and self-conscious now)…

And uh-oh... Ocella and Alexei are in Shreveport! I actually thought that it was really funny that no one asked me if Ocella would bring Alexei with him… And if you remember chapters 4 and/or 6 (I know, it's been a while), Alexei was there, living with Appius in Lisbon. And he was a… "troublesome" child. But, is he dangerous? Or is Ocella? How will Eric react to his maker's presence? And what were they talking about in that other language?

"Say It Isn't So" is a song by Bon Jovi, released in 2000 as the second single off their Grammy nominated album Crush. Claudia Schiffer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilio Estevez, and Matt LeBlanc are featured in the music video. "Say it isn't so (tell me it's not true) / Say it isn't so (I believe in you) / Tell me it's a lie (I don't need no proof) / Say everything's all right (couldn't be, not you) / Say it isn't so"