AN: I was going through the reviews and I wanted anyone to know that if you have any questions about the Fic just shoot me a PM. It's kind of hard to clarify things from the review page and using this margin space is to give my Beta her dues and solicit reviews.

Eric

Chapter XI

Tentative upon my marriage to a human native of the state I could officially begin my residency in the area. The house I chose had to meet several criteria; my choice was not one of them. Having lived as long as I have things like houses and cars became interchangeable. I simply needed something with the space to accommodate my entire Britlingen guard. It also had to have a place to hold my human blood donors. Lastly I needed somewhere close to my newly acquired offices in the business district. The farther it was from Sophie-Anne the better.

Batanya was my head of security and she made the final decision. The home she chose was at the very corner of the garden district. There was an underground passage to make a reinforced day chamber. It came with a separate pool house for the guards and a guest house for blood donor's that was located across a small lake and woodlands. Both of which would naturally discourage trespassing.

My biggest problem lately was human women and men trying to lie, beg, bribe, sneak or simply bolt their way through security and into my arms. I hadn't the slightest idea what they thought would happen once they got close. Having a permanent residence and a consistent office building would help with a lot of that. I looked at the grand estate with a sense of relief. I'd made the second step in my plan. The first and most difficult was already done.

I found a bride. She was signed, sealed and I was awaiting delivery. The woman that I chose was Sookie Stackhouse. Many of the others had been in Europe and therefore outside my geographic requirement. Then there was a Dallas cheerleader. I considered her because she fit the current western convention of attractiveness. She was a former beauty queen, very well educated with an outgoing disposition. She enjoyed attention. It stood to reason that she could handle the attention that being with me would bring. When I met her I realized that was a problem. She loved attention a little too much. It was all over her background check. She wouldn't be able to keep quiet about sensitive information she may learn while married to me and I really would hate to have to kill her.

Another candidate was a medical student that was born in Oklahoma City. She wasn't very well liked by her peer and so we had that in common. In her report the words, 'narcissistic' and 'extremely anal' were written in bold letters. I met her to give it a chance and her voice alone …it grated on me like metal on metal. No matter how little contact I had with her it would still be too much.

The process of elimination was how I found her at the very bottom of the pile. Sookie had been the last but best option. She was from a very small town, known for being extremely introverted and worked as a waitress. She had never attended college or been anywhere. I didn't care about that because it wasn't a prerequisite for smiling and nodding politely at the right people.

I might have overestimated the allure of the Fae or I might have underestimated my own lassitude for human women. Before the first meeting with Sookie I'd held out some hope of attraction, but there was none. She was a telepath and I supposed that made me her special. Compared to what I'd seen and what I could do it was more like a cheap parlor trick.

So I felt just as disinterested as I would be with any other woman. It didn't matter much. I didn't at all care where or in the presence of whom I married, just that I did. Her value to my goal could not be ignored. Her agreement wasn't crucial, her compliance was and once she signed the dotted line I would have that. It was as ideal as I could get the situation.

"I should shove this down his throat," Batanya hissed.

Tonight we were meeting with Niall for what was the last time, to pay the dowry which had been ridiculous. He wanted a dragon's egg and two of her best had to go to hell to procure it and they were still battered from the trip, hence her animosity.

"You would find that task incredibly difficult," Niall said, materializing before us. "Though it might be amusing to watch you try."

"By accepting this I assume you were able to reason with her," I said.

"Reason is subjective" he said.

In order words, no. If I was being honest it didn't matter but it would have made things easier on her in the long run. I wanted the transition to run smoothly but reassuring her wasn't my department. It was his. If he couldn't then I didn't care to try.

"She will be present at the agreed upon time." stepping forward. "If you would," he said holding out his hand.

"What exactly do you intend to do with that?" I wondered out loud.

My guess was he was going to use it as weapon but he couldn't use it on this plane. The natural forces that govern this world didn't allow for something like a dragon to survive here. From what Batanya said, it wasn't hot enough here. It would die the instant it hatched. It made no sense that he took a smaller dowry in place of something he couldn't use here or take back to his home world.

I hadn't expected for him to answer and he most certainly didn't. Batanya handed him the scaled red and violet sphere.

"Have her educated on what to expect," I concluded.

We exchanged nods and parted ways.

~00000~

Seeing I needed the permission of the Ancient Pythoness I signed myself on for her earliest available time so she could be present. It was in Chicago in a new pyramid hotel in early August. It was all a pain for me. In addition to being a logistical nightmare for my security staff, I had to push back meetings to make this date. If that wasn't enough, the regents that had been instrumental to my attempted exile were present.

"Hellion and Damascus flew in with your wife to be," Batanya said after I rose the night of my wedding. "She's in the adjoining room."

"Does she have everything she needs?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered.

I nodded and moved onto a topic I actually cared about. "Is Pam here?"

"The princess of darkness is trying to get to know your wife," Clovache inserted dryly.

I nodded. That was either going to go one of two ways. Pam was going to either have sex with her or scare her. She was welcome to the first option. I still couldn't drum up any interest in her. I heated my blood and did what work I could with the little time I had before the ceremony.

I never heard her enter but that was normal. To date Illeta was the only person that could sneak up on me. "Eric," she greeted.

"Leta," I said rising to greet her. "It has been too long,"

She returned my embrace. "It has little brother,"

Illeta was the embodiment of Spanish beauty. She had long wavy dark hair that fell to her waist, green eyes and olive skin that not even death could diminish. I set her down and looked at her. Something seemed to be off but I couldn't say what. It might have simply been time toying with my memory but she looked thinner.

"I met your wife," she commented. "She is…interesting."

"How so?" I asked.

"She's part Fae,"

"That and the state she was born is the reason we are marrying," I explained.

I told her of the details surrounding my marriage to the human. It was how I found that she had been away from her home for a while. I wondered how long she had been gone. It had to be a months. That was what had prompted the sheriff in her area to ask me about her whereabouts. So if by some chance she too was a target of the royals for marriage she didn't know it.

That didn't sound at all like her character but I left it alone. I knew that most vampires didn't change their stripes but some got old enough to try something new out of boredom. Her vacation was probably a product of that. If there was something more that she wanted me to know she would tell me. It was an hour or so later when we both looked up as Pam entered. True to their normal hello, she flittered across the room as fast as she could to tackle Leta. It ended the same way it always did.

Pam was frozen mid jump. Illeta spun her round and round bringing her within a hair from crashing into the walls, windows, floor and the ceiling. Pam just laughed as she was zipped around the room. I trusted Illeta entirely but for a vampire hotel this was pretty poor decorating. I cringed at all the sharp wooden objects in the room.

"One of these days," Leta said setting her down with care. "I won't keep you from falling."

"As if you would ever," Pam said dismissively. She plopped onto the couch without an ounce of grace. She parked her head in my lap and her high heeled feet across Illeta's lap. The latter was meant as a way to be a nuisance.

Illeta sucked her teeth and shot me a disparaging look. "See what you sired?" she asked. She pulled Pam's shoes off but kept her feet rested where they were. "She has the manners of a troll."

I laughed as Pam blew her a loud kiss. "You so love it," she replied.

"I like your wife," she continued turning her face up to me. She reached her hand up and I kissed her palm in hello. "She's funny."

That wasn't saying much at this point for Pam was easily amused. She also had a very difficult time discriminating against a pretty face. The three of us talked for a while. Then Pam and Illeta went down to the ballroom ahead of me.

I didn't see my wife until I knocked on her door, ten minutes before I was expected downstairs.

"Good evening," I greeted. "I trust you have had a pleasant day."

The hotel had provided attendants to help her dress and I'd provided racks of appropriate gowns to choose from. She looked presentable for the occasion, physically. Markers of anxiety were flashing from her every pore. She was in no danger so I ignored it.

She nodded with her eyes zeroed in over my shoulder. I could almost see her calculate her odds of making it down the hall and out of the hotel. For the fastest person alive that would be impossible. For her and in the shoes she was in she was liable to hurt herself. Even if she decided to walk away and break the agreement I wouldn't stop her. I would go to Niall and make him pay through the nose and then I was sure he would complete the cycle by enacting vengeance on her.

I simply stood and watched her make her decision. The frantic beat of her heart slowed as she accepted the inevitable.

"Shall we?" I asked, holding my arm out in invitation.

Wordlessly she looped her arm through mine and we began making our way to the ceremony.

I've seen shot gun wedding's with more romance...