Swallowing the lump in her throat, Sookie tucked her finger under Eric's chin and rested her forehead against his. "What you and Godric shared was truly amazing… but you know it's not your responsibility to save me, don't you?"

He studied her intently, and the strange glint in his eyes suddenly left her feeling wary.

"It could be," he answered. "If you let me turn you."

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in completely. He was offering to turn her. Turn her. And the thought made her sick to her stomach. She didn't want to be a vampire; she never did. Maybe she wasn't completely human but she couldn't imagine being anything else either.

After her parents had passed away and she came to live with Gran, her grandmother would soothe her tears away and console her with the promise Sookie would see her parents again in the afterlife, that this separation was merely temporary. Sookie wasn't religious, and over time she came to realize those promises may just have been wishful thinking, but a part of her still clung to that hope – however ridiculous it may be. The thought of being a vampire, being immortal, to go through years and years of life growing hardened and possibly losing her humanity altogether was absolutely horrifying to her. She knew vampires were not all the same – just like human beings – and there were some who were truly capable of deep love and kindness but they were the exception, not the norm, and she didn't want to be like that.

"Sookie?"

She pulled away from Eric, shaking her head vigorously. "No, no… I can't. I don't want that at all."

Eric's jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed. "You find the idea so repulsive?"

She could sense the anger vibrating from him. While she regretted her volatile response and wished she had let him down more gently, she also needed him to understand becoming a vampire was never going to happen. "I'm sorry, Eric, but no… I don't want to be a vampire. Ever. I'm human-"

"Not completely," Eric pointed out. He stood up and put some distance between them, withdrawing from her.

She stared at him, her eyes pleading with him to understand. "Fine, maybe not completely, but it is who I am. It's all I've ever known."

"You consented to marry Bill not too long ago," he said, his voice laden with resentment. "Do you really expect me to believe you hadn't even considered being a vampire when you accepted his proposal?"

Sookie stood up. "Bill and I never talked about it," she protested, realizing how foolish that must have sounded to Eric.

"How did you hope to have a real marriage without letting him turn you, when you grew old and weak every year and he remained the same?"

"Oh," she said, taken aback. "Is that what you're worried about, Eric? Being stuck with me while I get old?"

"I'm over a thousand years old, Sookie. I don't have the luxury of going through life being naïve and gullible. I understand human nature, possibly even better than you, and I know how easy it is to become resentful and bitter towards the one you love when they are immortal and remain young while you are constantly battling your own mortality. Maybe Bill was able to shut his eyes and live in your fantasy world but I can't."

"I don't care… being a vampire is not an option for me."

"Even if it meant protecting the ones you love? Being with me?"

"That's not fair."

"Isn't it? If you really believe that it's you who is putting your brother and friends in danger, being a vampire would put a stop to that. My kind wouldn't be attracted to you because you would no longer be fae. Every excuse you're using to keep us apart now would be diminished," he gritted out.

"Are you listening to yourself, Eric? How can you possibly think it's a good idea to turn me into a vampire? We can't even be in the same room for more than five minutes before sniping at each other; how are we supposed to be together for an eternity? You've accused me of being gullible, but what about you?"

"It would be different; the bond we would share as a vampire and maker would be unlike anything you've ever experienced. We wouldn't need to argue about petty, unimportant things."

"Because, as my maker, you could just command me to obey you!" she fired back. "Of course there wouldn't be any fights when all you'd have to do is order me to shut up."

Bewildered, Sookie was beginning to wonder if his feelings for her were even truly genuine. He had always insisted there were two sides to her and she needed to repress her humanity and let the faerie part of her dominate in order to survive. Was that how he justified having feelings for her ("she wasn't really human because she was part fae") when he'd time and time again proclaimed humans to be lowly and insignificant?

"Do you love me?" she asked, desperately hoping his words could convince her heart what her brain was beginning to question. "Do you really love me, Eric?"

"Are you having doubts, Sookie?" he replied bitterly. "I've never lied to you about my intentions – unlike Bill. And you forgave him very easily."

"This isn't about Bill," she whispered, swiping her tears away. "What do you really love about me, Eric?"

"Is that what this is about? Do you want me to stroke your ego and flatter you?"

"I want you to tell me the fucking truth!" she screamed, surprising herself and him with her rage. "If I didn't have faerie blood in me, would you still love me? Could you?"

"How dare you ask me that? I never seduced you into falling in love with me by hurting you and forcing you to drink my blood. I never lied to you!"

"You're also not answering my question."

"I offered to make you a vampire, Sookie. That meant completely eradicating the fae part of you. How can you doubt my feelings after that?"

"But it wouldn't just be the fae part, would it? Turning me would also destroy everything human about me."

"I don't like your implications."

"You're not denying them either, are you?" she cried. "Could you love me if I was only human and nothing more?"

"You're not just human," he bit out through clenched teeth. "Therefore it doesn't matter."

She saw right through his denials; he may have refused to admit it but the truth was finally out, widening the growing distance between them. He was ashamed to love her for who she was – a human – and the revelation broke her heart.

"I love you," he said, his body tense and voice filled with rage that belied his words.

"Just not everything about me, right?"

"Don't be childish."

She gave him a bitter smile through her tears. "Sorry, that's just who I am." No longer able to look at him, Sookie turned her back to him and walked to the fridge.

"You shouldn't ask questions when you're not fully prepared for the answers," he spat out.

"But I didn't get any answers, did I?"

"Fine. You want answers? Here they are. Could I love you if you were only human and nothing more? Probably. Maybe. But I would hate it. I would hate it with everything I have."

"You would be ashamed," she whispered.

He didn't deny her accusation.

"I want you to go."

She didn't have to ask him twice. A second later the front door slammed shut and he was gone.

Despite the hot shower she just took, Sookie still felt cold inside. She tried not to think about it but her brain refused to budge from the argument she just had with Eric. The words kept replaying over and over again in her head, tormenting her, and all she wanted was to silence them. Wrapping the towel around her body, she headed to the medicine cabinet. Sleep wouldn't come easily tonight and she needed that extra boost in her system to get some rest – even if she wasn't usually a fan of drugs. She pulled out a tablet and returned the bottle of sleeping pills back to the shelf before shutting the cabinet door. After swallowing the tablet she gazed at the mirror to see her own reflection, but the surface was too steamy. Reaching out, she wiped it with her hand. Suddenly, she found herself looking at Russell Edgington's sneering face staring back at her.

"Good evening, Miss Stackhouse. Miss me?"

Sookie didn't even have time to scream.