As the police sirens grew louder, I started to panic. Eric was lying on the floor, not moving, right next to Remy's friend and neighbor Rob, who Remy had knocked unconscious with the leg of his coffee table in a drunken, concussed rage. Hunter was still huddled in the corner, cradling his arm, which was badly broken in two places - another product of his father's anger. As for Remy, he was still leaning against the wall farthest from Hunter, nursing a hand Eric slammed into the wall so it looked like he'd punched it, and a shoulder that hadn't sat quite right since I tripped him and sent him crashing into a cupboard. I was OK with that. He wouldn't be firing a gun again for some time, and since I was the person he most wanted to shoot, that was a big relief.
The room was utterly trashed, with beer bottles thrown all over the place, a huge hole in the window, torn curtains, furniture knocked over and pushed around... It looked exactly the product of drunken rage it was, except for the unconscious vampire in the middle of the floor. If the police found Eric there, I knew Remy would get away with everything; I had seen how the police loved to blame things on vampires, even when it clearly wasn't their fault.
"What do I do? What do I do?" I asked Hunter.
Eric groaned loudly and stirred. A moment later his eyes opened. He started moving then, slowly picking himself up off the floor with a pained expression on his face.
"Since when does one kick to the balls take you down?" I blurted out without thinking.
"I have been shot also, you forget," he muttered, his voice unsteady. Those bullets were meant for me, but I was still too furious over him giving Hunter his blood to feel any sympathy for him.
I checked the carpet quickly, and was pleased to see he hadn't bled on it at all. Not that a tiny drop of vamp blood on the carpet would necessarily get Remy out of trouble, I realized - V was a popular illegal drug these days, and police would blame a person who'd had it for any crime almost as quickly as they'd blame an actual vampire.
"He was hurt already," Hunter informed me. "Felipe punished him. He knocked down a building to save you from the fairies. He hasn't been eating enough to heal. Pam tries to make him eat more but he only wants you."
I sighed loudly. "Eric didn't save me from the fairies, Hunter, Bill and Niall did, and he wants everyone but me, most days. He's no King, and he's not going to be your Dad if I have any say in it," my voice sounded harsh, and that was fine by me. "I only get to be your Mom until he kills me, then you'll only have Quinn to care for you. Eric's not some superhero like you think, he's a lying asshole."
Eric didn't bother denying any of it, but Hunter naively jumped to his defense.
"He won't kill you," he insisted. "He only tricked you to save you from Felipe."
"How did you know that, child?" Eric asked him. "What are you?"
The sirens were close now. "Eric and I have to go, Hunter." I told him, before he could answer. "The police will be here in just a minute."
Hunter nodded. "He can't fly. You have to give him some blood first." He projected images of a Child Protective Services woman seeing fang marks on me and not letting me care for him so I knew to feed Eric from my thigh, not my neck or arm. "Go out back and hide behind the plants. Now." He projected another image to show me exactly where to hide, in the far left-hand corner of Remy's yard, behind the overgrown hydrangeas.
I nodded. Eric was barely able to stand, so I sighed loudly and went to help him get outside. He leaned on me heavily and we started shuffling out, moving far too slow to be clear of the house in time, considering the police were practically in the driveway now.
"She can heal you," Hunter called after us quietly. "Like Doctor Ludwig said. Tell her what happened and she'll heal you."
I just kept dragging Eric out; this wasn't the time to ask what Hunter meant. It was hard work, taking half the weight of a well-built six foot four vampire to keep him upright as he staggered outside. I felt a tug through the bond then, as though he was trying to take strength from me for himself. I was about to scream at him, but after I glanced at him, I sent him as much strength as I could instead. Hunter was right that he needed healing - a lot of healing, if the agonized look on his face was any indication.
The more strength I pushed through the bond, the faster he moved and the less I had to help him, which was good. We made it outside just as the police came through the front door, then headed straight for the spot Hunter showed me. It took us a few seconds to push through the overgrown plants in the far left corner of the yard, but once we were through, we had just enough clear space to sit down comfortably.
We were completely hidden in the corner, with the fence hiding us on two sides and a couple of huge hydrangea bushes shielding us from view from the yard. There was just enough room for the two of us to sit down in the empty triangular space behind the shrubs, which measured a little over a yard to a side. I realized this was Hunter's own hiding place and wondered how much time he spent out here, keeping away from his father's temper.
"Sshhh," Eric hissed at me.
I reached out mentally and felt the buzzing mind of a human just outside the back door. Eavesdropping on his thoughts, I 'heard' that he was checking whether anyone else was here; I assumed he was one of the police officers who had just arrived. After a quick look around, he concluded there wasn't and went back inside.
You're safe now, Hunter silently told me. They won't go outside again for ages. More than an hour. Give Eric some blood so he can fly away.
"What did he say?" Eric asked.
"Who?" I asked, pretending I had no idea what he meant.
Eric just glared at me. "You know exactly who I mean," he snapped. "The child was just talking in your head. What is he?"
"None of your concern," I growled back. "You leave him alone."
"You would die to protect him." It wasn't a question; he had already figured out that much.
"I would kill to protect him," I added coldly, glaring in a way I hoped made it clear I would kill him to protect Hunter if I had to.
"You do not trust me with your kin."
"I don't trust you at all. Why should I? What reasons have you given me to trust you?"
"You would be dead if I had not come."
"How noble of you," I spat. "Saving my life so you can kill me yourself. My hero."
He stared at me in astonishment. "Did you plan to die here so I could not turn you? That is why Quinn was crying, you told him your plan."
I shrugged. "If I'm gonna die, I'd rather die to save someone I love than become some oversexed vampire's newest plaything."
He actually almost looked hurt. "I told you I will not turn you. How could you even think I would-"
"Just shut up, Eric," I interrupted. "If you can't fly until you have a meal, I'll give you some blood, but that'll be much easier if you don't talk."
He surprised me by doing as I asked, and the sudden quiet was a blessed relief. I looked down at the workout clothes I was still wearing, and decided this was actually a pretty good 'vampire biting my femoral artery' outfit. The loose cotton shorts were stretchy enough to be pushed out of the way so he could feed high on my thigh, and long enough to cover the marks afterward. They were also a dark enough shade of blue that if a little blood got on them, it wouldn't show. Plus it was an utterly un-sexy outfit, which I hoped would deter him from doing anything other than feed. Right now, sex was certainly not on my agenda; I just wanted to give him enough blood that he could fly out of here before the police found him, then go home to Quinn.
"Let's just get this over with," I sighed, hitching up my shorts. "Take enough blood that you can fly again, and no more. I'm sure you have a meal waiting for you at Fangtasia, anyway."
He didn't say anything, just stroked the artery I had uncovered for him and stared at my face. I was about to tell him to hurry up when he was suddenly upon me, his free hand holding the back of my head as he kissed me. He was by far the best kisser I'd ever known, and when his lips went to work on mine, I couldn't help moaning a little... but it also felt wrong. I knew I shouldn't be kissing him, that I wasn't his any more, that I'd moved on and he had, too.
I tried to pull back but his grip was firm enough that I couldn't move away from him; could only escape by teleporting away entirely, which wasn't a good idea when he was stranded here until he took some blood. I pushed uselessly against his chest, refusing to return his kiss. After a minute or so, he finally noticed my lack of response and stopped.
"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded, when he finally released me.
"This will hurt a lot, if you are not aroused."
"I know, and I don't care. I just want it over with. I'm not gonna have sex with you, so don't even think about kissing me again."
He shrugged and leaned over so his mouth was on my thigh, but he still didn't bite me. Instead, he was kissing and stroking the artery I offered him, teasing me - and much to my annoyance, my body was responding.
"Eric," I warned, but my voice came out as a plea instead.
"Yield to me, lover," he purred, his breath a cool caress against my thigh.
"No," I told him unsteadily. "I don't want to have sex with you."
"Is that so?" He inhaled deeply beside my crotch and looked up at me with a blissful expression on his face. Then his finger slid beneath the elastic of my underwear, stroking my wet folds expertly. He knew exactly how to drive me mad, and another moan escaped my lips before I could stop it.
"This isn't right," I protested, my voice low and hoarse as his hands pleasured my most sensitive parts.
"This doesn't feel right?" As he asked, he pushed my underwear aside and slid two fingers inside me as his thumb circled my nub.
"No," I gasped, but my hips rose up to meet him.
He sat up to lick my ear and kiss the spot just behind it, making my body betray me with shudders of delight as his hand kept working within me. I couldn't deny that he was good at this - breathtakingly good at it - but it also felt completely wrong, having his ice-cold hands all over me again. I was with Quinn now. I had been with Quinn, in the intimate sense, three times today; had the most intense sex of my life with him that afternoon... and still, the second Eric touched me, my body said yes. What the hell is wrong with me? I thought. I felt deeply, awfully ashamed that I would respond to him like this. I had seen Eric do exactly this in the heads of so many other women and I hated him for it, and yet here I was, moaning for him just like they did.
"I see the way you look at me, lover," he whispered in my ear. "That tiger can fuck you all day and you still want me. You are mine."
"No," I whimpered, trying to protest as my hips moved with him, encouraging his hand.
"I dreamed of this every moment we were apart," he kept on whispering, his voice low and hoarse in my ear. "Your smell... your taste... those wonderful sounds you are making... and these," his spare hand pushed my t-shirt and bra up above my breasts so he could stroke and tease them. "Especially these. You are best, my lover. Only you are best. Only you are right."
As he pinched my nipples a little harder than he ought, his own excitement starting to get the better of him, the last of the fight left my body. He was being rough now, hurting my nipples and my clit, but that was fine. I was just another fang-banging whore, cheating on a man who loved me deeply with this promiscuous vampire; I deserved to be hurt. When he heard my overheated moan, he pulled back to grin triumphantly at me. I looked away, so ashamed of myself I couldn't bear to watch him, but he turned my face back to him.
"Watch me, lover," he purred, then quickly moved down to suck first one of my nipples, then the other, looking up at me the whole time.
I bit my lip to stop myself begging for more. He had me right on edge, his hand moving slowly now to keep me going a little longer.
"Do it," I finally begged, defeated. "Bite me. Please, bite me."
"As you wish," he grinned, moving down my body to lick me. He was humming with pleasure as his cold tongue darted around my wet folds, lapping up the flood of juices he found there. "Even better than I remembered," he murmured.
He sucked my clit one last time, his fangs running over it quickly, and then I was there, the pleasure of it all overwhelming me. He timed it perfectly, his fangs sliding into my thigh just as my climax began, his hand holding me tightly so my bucking hips didn't disturb him as he fed deeply, sucking down all the blood he could get. His other hand kept working me, drawing out my pleasure for as long as he could... and with all his experience, that was a long time indeed. Even when I slumped over, finally done, he kept on feeding, his face glazed with bloodlust.
"Ow," I complained as he bit down harder, and he finally stopped.
"I am sorry," he said stiffly. "I meant to stop sooner, but I was hungry. The bullets..."
He sat up as he spoke and lifted his t-shirt to show me the bullet holes at the bottom of his ribcage, closing quickly now. His other hand was draped casually across his waist, and even though I barely glanced at him, I could see he was hiding some other wound from me.
"Sword fighting," he said stiffly, then changed the subject, hiding his chest carefully. "I will be able to fly again soon. Thank you."
I just nodded, wanting to get away as quickly as I could. He went to heal the wounds on my thigh, but I pulled the leg of my shorts back down to cover up the marks instead, moving my underwear back where it belonged as I did. Then I pulled my t-shirt down again, tugging my bra back into place as well. I couldn't stop thinking what a terrible person I was for doing this to Quinn, who was so wonderful to me, and it was taking all my strength to keep my tears at bay. I wouldn't let Eric see me cry; I had to get home first.
"Lover, you are upset," he said softly. "What troubles you so?"
"I thought I was better than this," I blurted out, feeling an overwhelming urge to tell him everything, "but I'm just another fang-banging whore, aren't I? That's all I'll ever be, it's all I deserve... Quinn loves me so much, he's so good to me, and I still did this to him, I can't believe-"
Then I noticed the urge to share wasn't my own; it was coming at me through the bond with the force of a ten-tonne truck.
"You asshole," I muttered, shrinking away from him. "I hate you."
"Sookie," he started, "I -"
I teleported away before I heard another word leave his lying mouth.