Disclaimer: Charlaine Harris owns all.

Rated M for several reasons.

Chpt 17 Day Release

EPOV

I laid her on her bed when she passed out.

Mildly annoyed with myself. She is not the first person I have caused to faint from terror and I doubt she will be the last and yet I am uncomfortable with it.

She does not appear harmed, her breathing and heart rate are strong and regular.

With nothing else to do I sit in the chair in the corner of her room and watch her sleep. Mulling everything over while my hand slowly heals. I will be having words with Pam over both the dereliction of her duty tonight and her choice to adorn my human in silver.

My human.

It is irksome to have had to put Andre in his place but it is not the first time is has been necessary. He is arrogant and ill-disciplined, even Sophie-Anne recognises that about her child.

In truth what is worrying me is that even though I have always known she is Vampire Bait and potentially nothing but trouble for her owner I was unprepared for the reaction she created this night. The sums of money I was offered for her were quite ridiculous. Especially considering I would give her away to a passing Hobo if I could.

I sigh and run my hand through my hair in a human gesture I would never make in front of witnesses.

This charade that she is my human is going to be harder to maintain than I thought. We cannot go back to the party because the others will expect to smell my seed in her, a primitive show of my possession and dominance, and so I have no choice but to let them believe that I am slaking my desires on her in private, something only the most confident of vampire would feel able to do under the circumstances.

Believable then. Of course the fact that it is such a long and apparently enjoyable process that we don't return at all is only going to pique their interest further. For the first time I can remember I have to wonder if the reputation I have carefully crafted over the millennia to protect me and mine is about to start working against me.

This whole situation is untenable. After this Summit Sophie-Anne will have to curb her desire to boast and allow me to slide the non-human out of the limelight. I have already been careful not to use her telepathy too publicly since Dallas and so I need only to deflect attention from it for the next few days, I have a suspicion the non-human will be only too happy to assist me. Perhaps, if I am lucky, even Bill's threat will turn out to be an ephemeral concern.

Unlikely. I can feel the invisible noose tightening around my neck with each breath she takes.

As for her secrets.

Another sigh.

Since I am clearly not going to force them from her I will just have to bide my time.

"Please don't sell me." She whispers, startling me, I had not even realised she had awakened.

She is peering at me through the darkness, just barely making out my form, where as I on the other hand, can see her clearly.

The eyeliner she wore has smudged onto her cheeks and her hair has come partly loose from its constraints, she looks about as well ravaged as the vampire downstairs would expect. Such a shame I can barely bring myself to touch her.

Her soft plea is still hanging in the air, unanswered.

"Why should I not?" I counter, wondering if she will reveal anything when subjected to threats of a less physical nature.

"I thought you said I could be valuable to you." Her voice is quiet, still laced with the fear that overtook her earlier. She recovers quickly though. Whatever she is, she is strong.

"I am already extremely rich and claiming you cost me nothing." A lie, the cost just was not money. "I could turn an incredibly quick profit this week and be free of the burden of owning you."

Her breathing hitches. She definitely does not like that idea.

"Is there anything I can do to be less of a burden?" She asks.

I cannot supress my smile.

"Are you offering your body to me Miss Stackhouse?"

"No!" Her horrified gasp turns that smile into a chuckle. Her innocent act is really very good. Almost believable. "I don't, I mean, oh god, no."

It is a good job I do not have a fragile ego.

"That's not what I meant. I can tell you don't like me Eric, I'm not stupid, but I don't understand why I keep making you angry. If there was a way for me not to . . . ." She hesitates, biting her lip. " . . . . would it make a difference?"

"No."

She closes her eyes and slumps back down on the bed. I have seen how proud she is, it must have taken a lot for her to plead with me that way. A tear slides down her cheek and I idly wonder what it will taste like, would it be as exquisite as her blood?

"Why do you want to belong to me so badly Sookie?" I ask, deliberately erasing the rough edge from my voice.

"I don't want to belong to anybody." She admits, keeping her eyes closed. "I am not a possession or a trophy. I am a person. I don't want to be sold around like a video game until I get scratched or broken. I want to live my own life."

Sounds familiar.

"I thought, from our talk, that belonging to you was probably the closest I'd be able to get to it under the circumstances. You've always seemed honourable in your way. Pam says you are."

I manage not to snort. I am about as honourable as I can get away with in order to stay alive.

I am done with this conversation, once again the non-human is giving nothing useful away.

"I will not sell you Sookie."

The words are out of my mouth before I realised I was going to speak and though I cannot sell her I instinctively know it is a mistake to allow her to see any more weakness on my part.

"Do you promise?" She whispers, eyes opening and finding me in the darkness.

I walk away, closing her door behind me without answering, furious with myself.

SPOV

I close my eyes again as he leaves, willing myself back to sleep, but even though it's actually quite late it's just not happening.

He scared me tonight. And I feel kind of foolish for being so shocked over it. It's not like I don't already know he's terrifying, haven't already seen it. It's just that it's the first time he's been that way with me, to me, despite his obvious displeasure with me recently.

Actually several things scared me. Andre, he would have been unpleasant as a human, but supernaturally fast and strong, and that, wrong? I shiver.

Eric, threatening me, practically attacking me? Yeah, he scared me alright. But when he tried to force his way inside my head, force his will on me. That terrified me.

I'm not going to think about why, that destroys all my hopes and dreams, but I'm going to let myself be grateful he couldn't do it. And fuck the consequences. I'd rather be harmed physically than that way, I have my reasons . . . .

He didn't promise he wouldn't sell me. Why would he, he owes me nothing, I should have known any deal I made with him would be too good to be true. Is that how he'll control me? By holding the fact that he can sell me on when and if I become too much trouble for him over my head? It doesn't bear thinking about, better the devil you know and all that, god how I'd hate to belong to a vampire like Andre.

I shiver and though it's not just from cold I hide myself under the bedclothes, careless of the fact I'm still dressed. I used to do this when I was little, imagining a dinosaur prowling the trees outside, that he'd get anyone who was foolish enough to leave even the tiniest bit of skin peeking out of their bedclothes.

If I knew what I was doing to annoy Eric I really would at least try to stop doing it, I would. But even so there are limits. I won't ask him about being sold again, not even if he brings it up, I won't give him the satisfaction of thinking he holds any power over me at all. It was a mistake, tonight, to let him see how much this situation I'm in scares me.

Niall would help me, I know, but it isn't right to rely on other people to make your life easier. And both he and I are in agreement that though I could run away from everything it isn't right, and I wouldn't like it. It's comforting to know that he'll help me if he can, though he can't watch me the whole time, he has bigger responsibilities. But I guess that still makes me better off than most people . . . .

A jaw breaking yawn surprises me. But not that much. You can only worry about yourself for so long before it starts to get old . . . .

…..

"Sookie?" Alcide is tapping gently against my door.

"Ungh."

"Good party?" He laughs.

"Ungh, no."

"Want me to order breakfast?"

"Please. Extra bacon."

"Be about twenty minutes."

"K"

Shower. I need to shower. I've slept in my clothes. My dress, my beautiful silk dress.

I sit up, pushing the covers away and looking down at myself. Rumpled I believe would be the polite description.

In the bathroom I regard myself blearily in the mirror.

Ick.

I look like something Kiss would reject.

There's something very sad about stripping away such sexy lingerie simply because you've slept in it.

The shower is hot and I scrub myself frantically, washing away the dregs of last night. Coaxing my brain back into life.

Smart, professional Sookie, I like her, enters the suite to have breakfast with Alcide. Or rather, pick at what he's left, namely the fruit course. I don't know if there was extra bacon and I guess I'll never know.

"We were supposed to be at the 'hosted' breakfast with the other Daywalkers." Alcide observes, leaning back in his chair. "But I guess we missed it."

"Humph."

"You okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, just tired, late night."

. . . . not from what I heard . . . . damn, hate to think of her that way . . . . can't smell it though . . . .

I close my eyes for a moment. Of course, it makes perfect sense why Eric wouldn't go back to the party, what's the most obvious way you can remind a Supe a woman is yours?

"Alcide . . . ." I hate to remind him, but I like him. "It's not what you think. Your sense of smell doesn't lie."

"Sookie, shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you Cher."

"It's not your fault." I sigh. "You really can't help what you think and I'm sorry I picked it up. My shields are shot."

Silence, not totally uncomfortable.

"What do you want to do today?" He asks finally.

Curl up and die? No, I guess I've already decided against that.

"I need to get out. Where could we go?"

"No clue Cher, how about we suck it and see?"

…..

The city is not much of a tourist attraction and if anyone asks me in a few years I won't be able to tell them much. Grey, high, all the usual shop fronts. I wonder if a vampire owns the dominant coffee chain. It seems likely, a well-oiled mechanism to take your money and shove you out the door again vaguely unsatisfied.

Oh cynical me today.

The city is packed however. All sorts of people drawn by the highly publicised Vampire Summit. And though it takes me a while to get my shields just right I can't resist delving into what's going on in some of the minds that have been compelled to come here.

There is support, of the, if it walks and talks it's alive and deserves respect variety. I can sympathise with that, though in truth there aren't many of them. There's a great deal of commercial support and I guess I can understand that, if your livelihood depends on trade you'll take any kind of stimulus for it.

There's a ton of curiosity. Like mine originally. Vampires are strange, exotic and thrilling. Just a little look won't hurt, surely? These are the people I'd quite like to shake and send home to their normal lives. In the grand scheme of things I guess I've been lucky so far, but not as lucky as if I'd never met Bill. How many of these people might accidently stumble over into a world that's every bit as dangerous as they are trying to imagine?

And then there are the haters. Deaders. Fangers. Monsters. The complete opposites of the ones with the respect. These people are too afraid to destroy, just content with their ability to apparently safely spew hate on something they're frightened of and don't understand. Some of their fears might actually be justified but I loathe the fact they don't know that and hate anyway.

Alcide can't read minds but he's on the same page. Probably because he is different too.

"These people are giving me the creeps." He growls as we make our way back to the Hotel.

Some choice words are hurled at us when our destination becomes clear.

"Fuck off." Alcide snarls a few times.

Placards and vitriol are being hurled in our faces.

"WHORE!"

Nice.

"Traitors to God!"

"Satisfiers of Satan!"

"I hope you guys aren't planning to come out of the kennel any time soon." I murmur to Alcide as he edges closer to me.

"I fuckin' hope not." He growls. "This is so much worse in the flesh than it looks on TV. You okay?"

I nod, morbid fascination urging my mind to flow out into the crowd again.

. . . . wish it was me, he's hot and he ain't even a vamp . . . .

. . . . still need to get them in the right place . . . .

. . . . deserve to die as much as their godless idols . . . .

. . . . better leave soon, my turn to start dinner . . . .

. . . . bomb . . . . one well-placed bomb . . . .

. . . . Christ I wish they'd all just stay in the hotel till the summit's over, this is insane . . . .

. . . . Newlin's gonna cum in his designer pants when this goes down . . . .

I stumble as I twist around looking for that last voice but both Alcide and the Hotel guard's hands catch me before I can crash to the ground. I try to resist them but they impel me remorselessly up the steps and into the lobby.