Eric's body lay next to mine in the clean sheets of my bed. I had my eyes on the ceiling and he had his eyes on me. I felt like I was somehow linked to him now. Almost like we were the same person, it was stupid, but I had never felt this happy or safe in my whole life. It was a feeling I wanted to seal up and save for later, at a time when I was at my lowest just so I could feel the complete utter difference.
"I love you Ella." Eric murmured. The words had been said before, in a dream I believe it was. It scared me then, but now I smiled. "I love you too Eric." I whispered. I turned to him and he placed a kiss on my forehead. A few minutes passed where we just laid in each other's arms. "Do you want me to remember again?" Eric asked, his voice quiet and full of wonder. I stared into his eyes feeling lost. I had thought about this before, and my conclusion was no. But, for some reason I lied to him. "Yes, of course I do." I breathed.
"I wouldn't be the way I am right now. Once I know who I am, everything I've done. I couldn't possibly be the same." He said. Then he took me off guard. "Would you still want me then?" My heart leapt, everything Eric had done. Saved me, hurt me, made me want him and hate him all in the same few seconds. Could I lay here with that Eric? Could I love that Eric?
"I had been gone for a whole year, it was only fifteen minutes to me, but it was a whole year to you. My own brother had sold my car because he thought I simply took off. But you, you bought my gran's house, had it restored, and even bought me a new car. You took a chunk of silver to the back to save me. You warned Sookie about Bill. All of this you did in a maniacal way, but you did it for me." I spoke to him in a hushed tone while he just watched my face.
"When I think about all of that, I see the Eric who cried over his maker, and the Eric who had helped me find Sookie. But even that Eric doesn't match up to you and how good you are." I whispered and placed my hand on his cheek. He held my hand there and smiled. I buried my face in his chest and fell off to sleep hoping I didn't have to face anything else about that subject anytime soon.
When I awoke it was near evening. I showered, dressed, ate, and I even cleaned up the house. By the time I was done and sitting on the couch in the living room it was time for Eric to emerge. When he did he kissed my neck and sat with me. We watched TV together and as peculiar as it was it felt nice. I snuggled next to him and enjoyed our time together. When there was a knock on the door I got up reluctantly and told Eric it was okay.
When I opened the door to find Bill standing there I moved and didn't ask what the black bag he was carrying was for. "Hello Ella." He said in his normal way. "Bill." I gave him a curt nod. I was far from accepting him, he was still an asshole in my book. Sookie joined us with a smile. "Bill, hey." She said. It was easy to tell how she felt about him. But, I didn't hold it against her.
Eric came into the foyer and took his place beside me holding me at his side. "My liege, I thank you again for my release." He bowed his head. I pinched him and he looked at me with a question. He apparently was as hung up on Bill as Sookie was. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Bill. "So what's in the bag?" Sookie asked. Bill walked to the living room and placed the bag on the table. He sat down and looked at us. Eric and Sookie sat. When everyone trained their eyes on me I sat in between Eric and Sookie and stared impatiently at Bill.
"As you know there is a necromancer in our presence. She has escaped from my hold and now we are sure she will try to force us to meet the sun. The only way to prevent this is to silver ourselves. Even then, it could be a possibility to escape and kill ourselves under her spell." I didn't want to hear this. I got up and went up to my room. Eric came in and closed the door. I was sitting on my bed and staring out the window. Eric sat at the end of the bed and looked at his feet for a while.
"It won't be that bad." He whispered. I scoffed and looked at his back. "You're going to be shackled in silver while you sleep and you're trying to tell me it's not going to be bad?" He turned to me and caught my foot. He pulled me down the bed until I was under him. "I'll be fine." He murmured and kissed me. I kissed him back, but I still felt uneasy about making him suffer. "I could ask Sookie to do it." He said.
Sookie did it. I stayed on the couch watching the wardrobe doors that were so carelessly slung open. I was worried for him. I knew that he needed to be restrained but I didn't want that for him. When Sookie came up she looked at me. "He wants you." She muttered. I nodded and made myself get up and venture down into Eric's room. He was lying on the bed. Silver over his neck wrists and ankles, it all anchoring him there to the bed. He was gasping when I came to his side.
"Oh, Eric I'm sorry about this." I murmured sinking down next to him. He looked at me and I could tell, he wasn't worried about the silver or the evil witch that was hellbent on making all vampires face the true death. He was worried about me, that was something I found lovely and annoying all in the same second. All my life only a few people worried about me, my mom, my gran, and Sook. Only one of them were still around and lately Sookie had a lot of other things to deal with. "Would you stay with me?" He croaked. I nodded and laid down next to him. I didn't sleep. Eric didn't either, but it must've hurt for him to speak because he was as silent as I was.
"The spell hasn't come." He whispered. "Take the silver off." He added. I sat up and looked at him. There was still time for Marnie to cast the spell. I shook my head. "No, there is still time." I said, he gave up and looked around the room. We sat there for a while.
When the room began to shake I looked at Eric. He started to thrash under the chains. The spell had been cast it was plain to see. I sat over him and watched as he turned into an angry animal. "The sun." He gasped over and over again. "No Eric!" I said. He looked at me with unkempt rage. "Take the chains off!" He screamed. I grimaced at him and pushed down on his chest harder. "No!" I screamed back. The hate and anger in his face, it made him like before, maybe even worse. I could tell it was Marnie's influence and it made me despise her.
When Eric calmed I got up and climbed up the ladder without talking to him, he was to in his head to hear me anyway. I checked the window, it was still light out. I stayed in the kitchen, I was to shaken to go back down. Sookie came in and smiled as she placed two glasses on the table and poured chocolate milk in each. I smirked at her as she sat in front of me.
"Hiding from Eric?" She asked me taking the glass in her hand. I laughed. "Not exactly hiding, just waiting." I murmured. "So how is he?" She asked. "He is fine." I muttered. Sookie looked at me with worry for a whole minute. "Are you fine?" She asked. I shrugged and looked at the table, why was I feeling so weird? Was it because Eric was in fact dangerous when he was under Marnie's influence? Or, was it about him getting his memory back? Both of the topics bothered me, but I couldn't exactly relay one of them to Sookie as an excuse. "I am in fact fine." I lied and got up from the table to gaze at the back yard that was dark under the dull crescent moon.
I went back to Eric's room to find him asleep. I smiled and slid down the wall onto the floor to watch him sleep. He was so calm, so silent, his face vacant of any emotion. When I got to my feet to leave again he awoke. "Ella." His voice was soft. I stood before him not sure what I should do. "Maybe I should get Sook." I muttered to him. "No, please don't leave me again." The pleading in his voice kept me glued to where I stood.
"How should I do this, then?" I asked him. "Just rip it off." He said. I stared at him in horror, this wasn't really a bandage situation. My grimace made him smile. "Just do it." He whispered. I ripped off the chains around his wrists and the one around his ankles. Then it came to his neck, I placed my hand around the end of it and braced myself. I pulled it off and Eric screamed something in another language that was most likely an insult. As he caught his breath he smiled again. "Thank you." He breathed and with the same breath Eric groaned in pain while I fell back a few steps. "I'm sorry, but you said." I mumbled. "No it's fine I just haven't fed." He muttered. After a few seconds he tried to get up only to fall back to the bed.
He needed to feed, and I knew a Tru Blood wouldn't exactly heal him, but I knew my blood would. Before I fumbled over myself to shove my wrist in his mouth I reminded myself that he wasn't that old Eric that took all he had to hold back from draining me completely. But as I looked down at him lying there with his eyes closed and the ragged wounds on his neck that stood out so tremendously, I didn't care. "Take my blood." I murmured. He looked at me, astounded by what I had offered. "Please don't say that if you don't mean it." He whispered. I smiled and sat next to him. I hushed the screaming voice in my head that told me I was so fucking stupid for trusting him. He sat up and placed his hands on each side of my face. He looked at me intensely. "Take something silver, hold it in your hand and use it if I should do anything unwanted." He murmured with seriousness.
I took a piece of flesh covered silver from the floor and held it at my lap. "I won't betray you, ever." He murmured into my ear as I leaned against him. "I trust you." I breathed shakily. His lips brushed my neck, it tickled a bit but the sweet sensation was swallowed by the sting of his fangs entering my flesh. I grabbed his shirt and buried my face in his shoulder. It took a few seconds and when he pulled away I could breathe again. His eyes stayed on mine as he bit into his palm and held it out to me. "We will be one." He said. I didn't think or even speak, I simply took his hand and drank from it.