Hi everyone! So apparently letting you all fall asleep on a cliffhanger like that is an unforgivable act. I swear I will try to not leave you hanging like that ever again. I just hope some of you got the sleep you needed for today (and if you didn't that you get to take a nap at some point). Sorry!

I want to tell all of you what I told some of the other concerned readers. I am writing an imperfect Eric because on the show he has never really cared for others or taken their emotions seriously. So in this story, he is struggling to become the man that Sookie is changing him into. It will be a slow process. But he is still the Viking we know and love. So stick with me while he figures his shit out.

Thanks for the reviews. After this chapter I topped out at a whopping and incredible 800 reviews! That is amazing. I can't thank you guys enough. It really means a lot and my ego is so big it doesn't fit in my office chair anymore!

So keep it up and love you all! Enough chatter! Get reading!

Chapter 43: Skin

Sookie

Suddenly the night he got 'caught up' at Fangtasia came back to Sookie. It had been the only night they hadn't been together and Eric hadn't slept the day afterwards. Sookie felt sick even thinking about it. No. She wouldn't believe it. She couldn't believe it.

Sookie stood up, her feet still wet and she stalked out of the room. Amelia was waving to her frantically to stop, not wanting to alert Pam or Nora that they had heard everything.

Sookie didn't listen. Sookie walked barefoot to the elevator and rode up. She looked at her reflection in the elevator mirror and just then noticed that she was crying. She wiped at her tears. Last night she had let Eric do the talking. Now she was mad. She felt ashamed. She felt conflicted. The worst part was feeling like such a fool.

It was like when she had found out about Bill all over again. But it was almost worse, because he had bonded herself to him. He had promised honesty if she gave it back to him in return. Sookie's stomach churned as she reached their room. She walked in and scanned the room. He wasn't here.

She didn't know what to do. Sookie paced, thinking about what she should do. Eric said she would have been able to tell if he was lying. But not if he didn't lie. He just withheld. Like Bill. God damn. She had promised herself and that crazy bitch Mab that she wasn't messing with vampires when she got back. She had opened her heart for Eric. And it had been crushed with knowledge.

She ran back to Eric at his fancy words and promises. Sookie was shaking and felt like she was going to be sick. She walked to the closet and grabbed her purse, some shoes, and her cell phone.

She then decided she was going for a walk to clear her head. She would love it if Pam or Eric tried to stop her. She walked through the lobby and she heard Pam calling for her.

When she realized she was being ignored, Pam was in front of her. "Trust me Pam, you don't want to be stoppin' me," Sookie warned in a small voice.

"I will be killed by my maker for letting you out of the spa, let alone this hotel. You are going to have to get through me fairy princess."

Sookie reached her hand out and ZAP! Pam was on her ass across the lobby, momentarily stunned and incapacitated. Sookie continued out the door. She didn't want to hurt Pam, but she was between Sookie and some fresh air, which seemed like the only remedy right now.

Sookie walked briskly and as she did so, she looked inside of herself. She found the bond with Eric. He was confused and worried. Sookie focused her light on the bond. She couldn't exactly explain what she did, but that light in the bond that was hers, dimmed. She turned it off.

Eric bond suddenly panicked and she knew he would be looking for her. She waved a cab down and hopped in. She needed space from him and vampires. And she was in a vampire summit. She needed to get the fuck away.

Her phone rang incessantly. She turned it off and flung it back into her purse.

She asked for a motel, not really knowing how long her stew would take. Sookie looked around for a hiccupping sound and realized it was her. She wiped her snotty, tear-stained face and inhaled deeply, trying to calm down.

Annabelle. Sookie needed Annabelle. She knew what to say to Sookie. Always. Sookie's cab pulled outside of a crappy motel, but it would have to do.

She climbed out of the cab and walked to the 'lobby' if it could even be called that considering it was just a man behind a glass window.

Sookie leafed through her wallet. She asked the man for a room and when he asked for a credit card, she said she didn't have one, but that she could pay cash. He nodded, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he handed her a key and pointed in the direction her room would be.

Sookie walked that way and opened the room. It wasn't the best, but it definitely hadn't been the worst she had been in.

Sookie walked over to the bed and sat. She rubbed her face. What the hell was she going to do? To any other man she would break it off with him. But it was Eric. She was bonded to him. And she flashed back on the severing of just the tie. That had been painful. Was there even a spell for breaking a bond? And if so, how bad would that hurt?

Sookie shivered thinking about it. She stood and walked to the restroom and rinsed her face. She then walked back out a grabbed her phone. She clicked through her contacts until she found Annabelle and called her.

Annabelle answered almost immediately. She whispered, "Sookie?"

Sookie said, "I am sorry to bother you Annabelle, but do you have time to talk?"

"I will in a bit. Right now I am with a patient, but I will call you when I am finished. Are you okay Sookie? Are you safe?" she asked, concern clear in her voice.

"Yes, I am safe. I will tell you all about it later. Sorry to interrupt."

She clicked the phone off, which immediately began ringing again. Eric was calling her off the hook. She felt him terrified, panicked, and even grief-stricken. Sookie ignored his call and texted him, Safe. Will call.

That was all he was getting. It was all he deserved right now.

He responded, Please come back to me.

Sookie closed her eyes and tears leaked out. She shook her head and decided to lie down. All the spa's efforts at relaxing her were fucking ruined. She was tense as hell. She threw the comforted off the bed, walked to the thermostat and turned the heat up and climbed in.

She quickly passed out, the phone on her nightstand when Annabelle would call back.

Eric

Eric was pacing in the hotel room like a maniac. His hair was on end from running his hands through his hair. Pam was sitting on the couch with Nora, who was looking nervously between the two. Amelia was sitting in the chair.

"You have no idea where she was going, Miss Broadway?" he asked for the hundredth time.

"No, she just walked out of the spa."

Eric shot Pam and Nora a look of absolute loathing. Pam had known of her behind some kind of wall. She wanted to show Nora how Sookie could lose it. But the plan had backfired because Sookie had just left.

Pam had only caught her as she walked out of the hotel.

Eric was wracked with worry when his phoned dinged. A text reading Safe. Will Call.

Eric exhaled in relief and asked her to come back to him. She didn't respond. Eric exhaled slightly, knowing she was safe. Unless it was some vampire that had intercepted her and had sent the message so he wouldn't panic and come for her.

Eric had left the meeting he was in the moment the bond turned off. He had practically exploded in panic in front of the other vampires, and it took everything in his power to control his panic. Alerting anyone to the fact something was wrong could send them in search for Sookie. It could be dangerous if someone like Bill or Quinn got their hands on the information.

Quinn…Eric snarled at the idea that the tiger might be after her. The idea that he might be with her was even worse. He still hadn't had a chance to sit and talk through all of that. On top of it all there was this summit, and right now was really not the time for there to be trouble in paradise, as Pam called it.

Eric had to do damage control and quickly.

"Eric?" Pam asked.

"Do not pollute the air with your wretched voice. I am serious, Pam. You have hurt her for the last time. Leave. Now."

"Leave?" she asked, shocked.

"Yes. Leave. Get the fuck out of my sight."

"Eric, I was just playing. I didn't meant for it to get serious. I-"

"Enough! Do you care nothing for me? Do you see what this does to me? I want to end myself even thinking Sookie might not come back to me," he hollered. Pam looked shocked and properly shame-faced. She sunk into the couch and hunched her shoulders.

"Eric," Nora cut in, standing. "She is currently safe. She will return once she has cooled off. She just needs time. She is your bonded. Soon she will have a physical need to come back to you. Then will be the opportune moment to explain. What is your explanation, if I might ask?"

He closed his eyes and turned to the window, looking out at the lights of Rhodes. Somewhere amongst them, the brightest light he had ever seen was concealed. And he was desperate to find her.

"I admit that while Sookie was gone I wasn't celibate. But we hadn't ever been together and Sookie gave me no inclination that I was what she wanted or what she could ever want. That didn't mean I would ever stop trying once I found her. I favored a particular banger, but after three months after Sookie's disappearance I couldn't even stand what I was doing and ceased seeing her. She needed a place and I still had Yvetta's apartment and allowed her to stay there until she sorted herself."

Pam and Nora were both shaking their heads. "Not that I care, but how stupid are you?" Pam asked, and then she sank back in the couch realizing she should not speak. She was already in deep shit with Eric.

"Really Eric, how could you be so daft? Honestly?" Nora asked, in an incredulous tone.

"I know. I di..didn't see this as a problem at the time, but I see it now. Thanks so much for escalating it by the way. If Sookie comes back harmed in any way I will kill you both."

They nodded, "Eric, I think we can help sort out Sookie."

Eric looked at them warily, but nodded and the three began to plot and plan.

I know I am building up here, so bear with me. I promise you won't regret it!