I'm overwhelmed by the response to this story. You're all completely awesome and I hope you keep enjoying it.
As always, I don't own these characters. Charlaine Harris does.
It was warm and cozy under the blankets and Sookie snuggled deeper into the bed, the phone held firmly between her ear and the pillow. Moonlight filtered through the lacy curtains, but the telepath's eyes remained closed as she the rich timbre of Eric's voice coaxed her into wakefulness.
"Are these calls even real?"
He laughed softly at her sleep-laced query. Tonight found her less coherent than evenings past, but still entertaining and engaging. He found himself wondering how much of their talks she really remembered in the morning.
"Do you think you're dreaming?" Even with the sizable dose of Bill's blood rampaging in her system, the ancient vampire didn't doubt he was the star of her recent dreams.
"It doesn't feel like a dream." The dreams she'd had of him, of which there'd been more than what she considered healthy, never involved phone calls. Ever.
"Check your phone display if you have doubt," he suggested helpfully.
"I don't have display," she told him.
"I thought all modern phones had that feature," he responded quizzically.
"Yeah, well, we're not too modern out this way. My phones don't have a display on them." The old farmhouse boasted two landlines, the old black rotary dial she was using in the bedroom and the wall mounted beige touch tone in the kitchen. They were in stark contrast to the sleek cellphone held carelessly by the vampire.
"I could come out there next time," he suggested helpfully.
"Phone calls in the middle of the night are more than enough to deal with," she replied hastily, trying desperately to ignore the pleasant warmth his words produced. "I just wonder sometimes if I'm imagining all this."
"Why do you doubt reality?"
"Because it doesn't make sense," she replied with a yawn. "Why would the great and powerful Eric Northman be wasting his time callin' me?"
He was powerful, and she would soon find out just how great he could be, but it was the inflection in her tone that interested him the most. She managed to make her statement of fact sound more like a dubious distinction, at best. The telepath was thoroughly uninterested in his greatness and power and Eric found himself questioning why he found this almost sign of disrespect arousing.
"I just want to know if you followed up on our conversation," he replied in a silkily seductive tone. "Have you told him that it's over?"
"Honestly, you have a one track mind. Is Bill all you ever think about?"
"No. But he intrudes when I think about you." His declaration was annoyingly true. It was only her attachment to him that made Bill Compton interesting. "Stringing him along like you are is just wasting precious time. You know he's not the one for you."
His persistent observations were aggravating, provocative, thought provoking and flattering. Her relationship with Bill was none of those things, not even aggravating. She should be more annoyed by his lackluster attention, but she found herself thinking less and less of Bill all the time. Her late night conversations with the Viking provided more than enough fodder for her over-analyzing ways.
"Whether or not he's the one for me, he's the one I have right now," she argued. "And I don't think he'd be all that happy with us talking about him like this."
"You haven't told him of my calls?" A self-satisfied smirk rested easily on his firm lips. "Are you keeping secrets from your boyfriend, lover?"
"No, I haven't told him, and stop callin' me that. It's not appropriate."
"It's not, is it?" He answered in a reflective tone, but his next words shattered the illusion. "Unfortunately, 'my future lover' doesn't roll off the tongue as easily."
"You think you're pretty clever, don't you?" Her query held no anger or condemnation. "That term is no more accurate than the first."
"It's yourself you're trying to fool, right? Because you're not fooling me for even a moment. I know you want me and you'll come to me when you let go of this misguided loyalty you have to him."
"You're delusional," she retorted. "Even if I wasn't with Bill, what makes you think I'd come running to you?"
"Because he's your only excuse. What else keeps you from my side right now?" He only paused briefly, but she offered no answer. "Break up with him and we'll see what happens."
"You're growing more delusional by the minute. To save you from further embarrassing yourself, I'm going to hang up now," she declared in as haughty a voice as her sleepy self could muster.
"This is not over. You do know that, right? You and I are inevitable, my future lover." His voice was husky and seductive and hitting every one of the right notes but she couldn't back down now.
"Good night, Eric."
"Goodnight night, Sookie. Sleep well, little one."
Would you let him interrupt your sleep every night? I would!
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