I don't own any of the characters; I am just obsessed with the Viking. Here is a longer chapter for your reading pleasure.

I also started a new story called "Against Her Will" I have four chapters out already. In short, Bill is an abusive jackass who turns Sookie against her will, but she has a brilliant plan to fight back. Check it out.

Chapter 9- Sookie's POV

I was really excited about my date with Alcide, and I wanted to buy a new outfit, so I decided to drive to the Dillards in Shreveport. I knew the exact outfit I wanted to buy. It was the Giani Bini "Nadia" dress, I loved the cobalt blue color and the fact that it was a one shouldered dress that fell about two inches above my knees.

When I dress up, I like to go all out, so I headed over to Victoria Secrets and bought a new strapless bra and panties set. This was definitely an impulsive shopping trip and I would probably have to work double shifts for the next week to pay for it all, but it was worth it.

For some reason, I just wanted to be able to look pretty tonight and let loose a little. The way I saw it, I deserved to have a good time with a guy that knew exactly what he wanted and had no qualms about expressing it.

I was excited about dating Alcide, he was a handsome, warm blooded, self-made business man. Actually, he was a lot like Eric, maybe that's why I took a liking to him. When I woke up this morning I decided that I wasn't going to think about Eric, and the humiliation I felt walking in on him having sex with the fangbanger. If he had any interest in me, then he could pursue me, not the other way around.

Last night I had guilelessly thought I could just walk into his office looking like a million bucks and expect him to fawn all over me. After Bill's betrayal, I guess I just wanted a man to pay attention to me because he liked me for me, not because I had a "gift".

I grabbed a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a, and headed home. Alcide wasn't scheduled to pick me up until 8, so that left about six hours until our date. I stopped by the Sally Beauty supply store to pick up some nail polish, the bank to withdraw some cash, and the library to pick up a new book. By the time I got home, I decided to take a short nap.

"Where have you been Sookie?" Eric whispered seductively in my ear. His deep voice dripping with sex, oh how he could make me melt into a puddle on the floor.

"I have been waiting for you Eric." I replied. His body took up most of the space in my door frame, as he gazed down into my eyes. The look in his eyes told me the whole story. He wanted me, he needed me, just as I needed him.

He grabbed me with once hand by the waste and pulled me to him, melding our bodies together as if we were one. He crashed his lips to mine in a passionate kiss, his tongue swept across my lips begging me for entry. I complied with his tongues request, as his tongue battled mine for dominance. His other hand placed over my heart, then trailing down to my breasts. I pulled away from our ardent kiss reluctantly, but only because I needed oxygen.

"Eric…" I bemoaned.

"Sookie, I need you." He whispered, his voice full of lust and need.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into the house. He scooped me up and carried me Rhett Butler style to my bedroom trailing kisses down my neck the entire way.

Knock Knock

"Dammit, it was just getting good too!" I yelled aloud to no one. I picked my weary self off the couch to answer the door.

"Delivery for Miss Stackhouse." Said the young delivery driver.

"Uh, thank you." I said confused about my delivery. I opened the box only to find that there was a note inside.

Sookie,

You enchant me so.

-Godric

It was a three book series, first edition copies of The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. I'm no expert, but I would guess that this book was at least a couple hundred years old. I was not familiar with the book, so I told myself that I would do some research on it tomorrow. I was surprised that Godric would give me such a unique and probably very valuable gift. I really liked Godric, he was kind, caring, and he valued his humanity. I would have to properly thank him tomorrow.

Since I had about two hours to kill, I decided to start getting ready for my date. I soaked in the tub, painted my finger and toe nails, curled my hair and applied some minimal makeup. I put on my dress and my three inch strappies, and looked in the mirror. I thought I looked pretty damn good. Eat your heart out wolfman.

I heard a knock at the front door, and glanced at the clock. Alcide was about an hour early, he must have been just as eager as I was. I opened the front door, only to find a certain 5'10 brown haired tattooed good looking vampire on the opposite side.

"Godric!" I said. I was surprised and actually quite happy to see him. I wanted to see him last night, but well things happened.

"Good Evening Sookie. You look stunning." He said in his slightly accented voice that I happen to find incredibly sexy.

"Thank you, I have a, uh, date tonight." I said. I felt almost ashamed to admit that I was going out with Alcide. After all, not more than two hours ago I was fawning over a very thoughtful gift that he had just gotten me. But for all I knew Godric and I were friends.

"Oh, I see." He said disappointingly. In that moment, I felt incredibly chagrinned about my date.

"I came to talk to you about a few things, but I they can wait; I don't want to keep you from your plans." He said dejectedly.

"Godric, I want to thank you for the wonderful gift you sent today. I have to admit that I am not familiar with the books, but I really look forward to reading them." I said graciously. And I was sincerely touched that he would think of me.

"Yes, well maybe one day I will tell you the story of those books, but rest assured, they really do belong to you." He said cryptically.

"Won't you come in? My date isn't for another 45 minutes and I would love to visit with you." He and I did have a few things to talk about, namely my Gran's necklace that he was so fascinated with.

Godric wordlessly walked into my home and he followed me to the living room where we sat next to each other on the sofa.

"Eric told me that you stopped by the club last night." He said as he arched one of his eyebrows up indicating to me that he was aware of what happened and what I walked into.

"Yeah, well my visit was kind of a bust." I said. I was nervously playing with my fingernails, careful not to make eye contact with him. I didn't want him to see the disappointment in my eyes.

"You know, my child is having a hard time coming to terms with the feelings he has for you." He said insinuating that I should not give up on the Viking.

Eric has feelings for me? That was definitely news to me, I mean I knew that he at the very least appreciated what I did for Godric in Dallas, but after last night I was sure that he never saw me the way I wished he would.

"Godric, I don't have time to play games with him, which is why I am going out with Alcide tonight."

"Alcide Herveaux..the Were?" Godric asked shocked that I would go out with a werewolf. Apparently, vampires and Weres don't exactly get along.

"Yes, he's a werewolf. He's also a very nice man who doesn't see women as objects or throwaways." I said indignantly. Let's face it, Eric has been with probably thousands of woman, and has roamed earth for a millennia and he admittedly knows nothing of love.

"I have no designs to change a thousand year old vampires' feelings on love. He told me himself that he doesn't understand it." I said resentfully.

"He loves my dear, just as I do. He just can't seem to reconcile love and survival, but rest assured he will, just as I have." He said hopefully.

"Have you ever been in love?" I asked.

He sighed and longingly glanced at the books he had given me and replied, "Yes, deeply in fact."

I could see that he was replaying the memory in his head. I knew the expression on his face; it was that of loss, and not the kind of loss that heals easily with time. This was a very deep, meaningful loss that affects your entire being. The kind that no matter how hard you try, you never ever get over. I knew that look, because that's how I look anytime I am reminded of Gran.

"'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset." I said regretfully.

"No, Sookie, this is a story you need to hear, but unfortunately I hear your wolf outside, so it will have to wait for another day. And Sookie, do me a favor, and don't give up on Eric, he really does care for you." And with that Godric and I both got off the couch and I escorted him to the door where we were met with Alcide.

Both Godric and Alcide sized each other up. They nodded at each other in a friendly, but apprehensive way that somehow I knew indicated to each other that they were romantic rivals.

"Goodnight Godric." I said, giving him a slight peck on the cheek before he walked to his car.

Alcide took notice of my little affectionate display, but sagaciously did not say a word about it.

"Sookie, you look ravishing tonight, are you ready to go?" He asked as he handed me a single red rose.

I smiled at him and grabbed my purse, shawl and locked the door. He was dressed to impress, wearing a black suit with a royal blue dress shirt and a black tie. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that we coordinated our outfits. He escorted me to his car, which was not his work truck. He was actually driving a metallic grey Cadillac CTS 2 door coupe. It was one of the nicest cars I've ever been in in my life.

"So where are we going?" I asked. He never divulged the details of our date, so I was nervous that I wouldn't be dressed appropriately, but judging by his attire, it looks like I picked my outfit fittingly.

"If it's alright with you, I would like to take you to The Strand to see Mamma Mia, then maybe we could go out for a late night bite to eat." He said. I had wanted to see Mamma Mia for the longest time, but I couldn't convince anyone to go with me.

"Really! Oh this is great! I've been wanting to see Mamma Mia!" I could hardly contain my excitement. No one has ever taken me out on a real date like this before.

He smiled at me and gave me a quick laugh. "I'm glad you're happy." He said and in that moment all my trepidations flew out the window.

"So Sookie, I don't really know that much about you. Tell me, how you get caught up with Northman?" he asked.

"It's kind of a long story, but in short, we sort of do favors for each other. You know I work for him, he helps me out and so on and so forth."

That wasn't exactly the truth. But what am I supposed to say to the guy I'm on a date with. Well Alcide, I was attracted to him he minute I first saw him, and only recently admitted to myself that I wanted to date him. Somehow I didn't think that would go over well with Alcide.

"What about you, tell me something about yourself." I asked genially. In truth, I really didn't need to ask because I could just read it from his thoughts. He recently broke up with another Were named Debbie. He really loved her and missed her to this day. He was also worried about his dad because apparently he owed money to Eric. I also read from his thoughts that he thought I was pretty and too good to be a waitress at a dive like Merlotte's.

"Well let's see, I play flagfootball on Sundays with some of the other pack members, and I secretly like musicals, but I will never admit that to my friends." He said as he laughed at his own admission. I giggled right along with him. I don't know why manly men thought it wasn't okay to admit that they like a little dancing and singing, but whatever I would be happy to help him indulge in his little secret.

We drove in a comfortable silence until we reached the parking lot of The Strand. He opened my door for me like a proper gentleman should and we walked arm and arm to the theater. He had already purchased the tickets, so we didn't have to wait in line. Alcide bought me a glass of Chardonnay and a Heineken for himself. We walked into the theater, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was a 1930's era theater complete with original wood seats and red curtains and a beautiful balcony which is where we sat. We had the perfect view of the stage and I loved it.

About half way through the musical, Alcide reached over and placed his hand on my knee. It wasn't too forward, and I really didn't mind the small gesture. The musical was so good that I barely noticed anything else around me, Alcide included. Perhaps that wasn't his intended outcome, but hey, I was enjoying myself.

At the end of the play, we both got up and he took my hand entwining his fingers in mine. I was not used to the public displays of affection, since Bill and I never went anywhere in public. It felt comfortable somehow, and I enjoyed being on the arm of someone who was proud to be with me.

As we walked back to his car, I registered two nebulous snarly minds about 300 ft. away and fast approaching us. The two beings had us on their radar and they were thinking about taking me. From what little I could read from their minds, they were determined, crazy and thought it would be easy to snatch me away without much of a fight.

One of the large men grabbed my shoulders from behind knocking me flat on my ass, while the other man punched Alcide in the face. Of course Alcide, being a Were, was hardly affected by the punch, so he quickly recovered and starting fighting back attacker number 2.

I knew they two men were both Weres, so as fast as I could, I grabbed my clutch and took out my colloidal silver spray. As my attacker lunged at me to pick me up, I sprayed him in the face with the silver spray.

"Bitch!" Attacker number one said as he struggled to grab me. As my attacker's face was burning, I took the opportunity to kick him in the groin.

Alcide had managed to beat his attacker unconscious and he rushed over to my aid. Having both attackers subdued, Alcide called someone from his pack to come with a van. I had no idea what he planned to do with tweedle dee and tweedle dum, but I really didn't care.

As soon as I could catch my breath I looked at Alcide. "Who the hell are these guys?" I asked.

"I don't know them personally, but they are from the Fuck You Crew in Jackson." He stated furiously. It was bad enough that I was knee deep in vampire politics, but I really didn't need to get involved in Were politics either.

"Why would they attack you?" I asked.

"Who said they were after me." He said. I couldn't tell if he was mad at me or not. I do tend to attract a lot of negative attention. Were these guys after me? I started to feel incredibly guilty that I had caused Alcide any trouble that he didn't deserve.

"Don't worry Sookie, we'll question them and find out who and what they were after." Alcide said reassuring me. He pulled me towards him in a warm embrace. I couldn't help it, I started to cry because I was scared that someone just tried to kill me and second, I was actually hurt. I had skinned my knees pretty badly and I had bruises on my face from where the Were had punched me. I was in pretty bad shape.

I noticed that my phone was ringing off the hook, it had probably went off about 20 times. I looked at the caller ID and I noticed that it was Eric. Stupid blood, he could probably feel my fear and pain. I didn't want him worrying and more so I didn't want him showing up so I decided to answer it.

"Hello." I said, my voice was pretty shaky and I was still crying.

"Sookie, what has happened? Are you ok?" He asked full of genuine concern.

"I'm fine Eric."

"No you are not, I am on my way." He said frantically.

"NO! Really I'm fine Alcide is here, please don't come." I begged. I hated relying on him so much and I didn't want him to see me out on a date with Alcide, although I'm pretty sure Godric already told him about my date.

"Sookie…" he said warningly.

"I'm sorry Eric, I'm fine. I just can't see you right now." I sobbed and hung up on him.

I was feeling so incredibly guilty. Guilty for bringing Alcide into danger, guilty for possibly maybe hurting Eric by being out on a date with Alcide, pain for my injuries. I just wanted to go home and crawl into bed, but I knew we still had the Weres to deal with.

A Were named Culpepper pulled up next to us. He and Alcide quickly bound the two Weres and loaded them into Culpepper's van. Alcide and I followed Culpepper to a warehouse down by the river.

When we got there, I had decided that I couldn't stand to watch what Alcide and Culpepper had in store for our attacker, so I waited in the car and tended to my skinned knees.

As I sat there, I started to doze off trying to reconcile the fact that they had to torture the Weres. It was either us or them, and I liked my life too much.

"Sookie, wake up cher." Alcide said as he gently patted my shoulder.

"Hmm. I'm awake. What did you find out?" I asked groggily.

"Just as I thought, they were members of the Fuck You Crew from Jackson Mississippi. They were sent here to kidnap you and take you to Jackson. They wouldn't say who sent them, but I could definitely tell they were V addicts." Alcide explained.

Great, so now I have Weres addicted to V out to get me. I didn't say anything; instead I just sat there in stunned silence.

"I don't think it's a good idea to leave you alone, at least until I can figure out who sent the Weres for you." Alcide said. I just nodded. I thought it was really sweet that he was so vested in my safety.

"We will go back to your home, and I will stay with you until we figure this out." Alcide said wearily. I was too tired to argue, so I just agreed. We drove back to Bon Temps, this time it was awkwardly silent the entire ride home.