This is a short one, but I think it deserves to be on its own. =) Thanks for all your encouragement.

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Following a round of small talk, the start of the ball was finally announced, and the emcee introduced a pair of dancers from Rhodes. Eric knew the male. Sean, once a fierce Celtic warrior, was even older than Eric himself. Sean had attended various summits before, but Eric had never known the fiery-haired Celt to be a dancer. He shifted his gaze to the female, Layla. It was immediately clear that she was newly made. If asked to guess, Eric would have said she wasn't a year old. She was a lovely woman, very graceful as she moved with her partner.

The band played a well-done arrangement of Robert Burns' poem, "A Red, Red Rose," and the singer voiced the lyrics with passion.

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June:
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune!

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

Eric stole a glance at Sookie, who seemed enchanted by the couple and their dance. Her eyes widened when Sean ended the dance by dipping Layla and biting her long neck. She looked around to gauge the reaction of the other vampires in the room, and then her eyes found Eric's.

Do you understand what you've just seen? he wondered as he stared down at her. A vampire who turned his lover, and now they'll never be parted. Do you see how happy they are?

Sookie flushed and looked away from him quickly. Perhaps she had felt the intensity of his desire through the bond, or perhaps she had read it on his face. He refused to let the moment escape them.

He laid a hand on her waist, just at the inviting curve of her hip, and leaned to say softly near her ear, "Let's dance."

"Yes," she said, and the nervous tremor in her voice was a small victory.

He followed her out onto the floor, turned her around in his arms, and pulled her close. The music was upbeat and elegant, and he led her into a Viennese waltz. She was a good dancer; she followed well, she knew how to move her body, and she took pleasure in it. She was happy. And he was happy. Not amused or triumphant or pleased. Happy.

They passed Sean and Layla, and the latter complimented Sookie on her dress.

"Thank you," Sookie replied, her face glowing.

He smiled at her. "That is a pretty dress, and you are a beautiful woman."

"Eric…"

Before she could say something to ruin the moment, he spun her faster, whirling her around the dance floor until she was breathless. Her hair whipped around her as if she were flying. And why shouldn't she be flying? With a grin, he put both hands on her slim waist and lifted her up above his head. She gave a little shriek of surprise, then she laughed. Her laugh was loud and free and giddy, and it made him laugh, too. He tossed her up and released her waist, catching her in his arms when she fell. He did it again and again until the song ended, letting her blood communicate with him in a way that she never permitted her words to do. Nothing she could say could undo what her blood told him: that he made her happy.

She was winded and a little wobbly when they stopped moving. She looked like she wanted to tell him something, but she decided against it. "Thank you," she said at last. "Excuse me while I go to the ladies' room."

Eric had danced with Pam and a sheriff from Indiana before Sookie returned to the ballroom, dragging Barry the telepath behind her. She danced with him the way she had danced with her friend Tara at Club Dead. He had enjoyed it then, but it wasn't as entertaining when she was with another man. And it wasn't as entertaining when the eyes of several powerful vampires looked hungrily in her direction.

He told himself the lie that concern for her safety, rather than jealousy, propelled him over to the dancing couple. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Dancing," she said lightly. "Why?"

Barry stopped dancing and inched away from her, but she continued rolling her hips in a way that made Eric want to fuck her right then and there. Eric narrowed his eyes at Barry, who got the message and left without wasting a second.

Sookie stopped dancing and glared up at him. "I was having a good time!"

He leaned in closer and hissed, "You were twitching your assets in front of every male in the room like a--"

"You hold up, buddy!" Her index finger had appeared between them, inches from his chin. "You stop right there!"

"Take your finger out of my face," he said coldly. It was difficult to concentrate on being angry when he really wanted to suck her finger into his mouth… perhaps prick it with his fangs and swirl his tongue around her sweet blood…

Before Sookie could reply, Sean came up behind her and slid his arm around her waist. "Dance, darling?" he asked.

Eric watched as Sean moved her away, and then he felt feather-light fingers on his wrist. "Will you do me the honor?" a female voice asked. It was Layla. He gave a curt nod and led her into the slow waltz that had just started. "Sean told me that you're Eric Northman, a sheriff in Louisiana," she said.

"Yes."

"And the human woman dancing with Sean… she's your mate?"

He gave a wry smile. "I couldn't tell you what she is."

"You are bonded." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"Can I be frank with you?"

"You can say whatever you like," he told her. Straight-forward people were too difficult to come by.

"Sean turned me by accident. It wasn't what I wanted." Her gaze wandered away from Eric's face to a point beyond him, and he knew she was smiling at Sean. She looked back at him. "I loved my family. I had just graduated from college, and I wanted to be a dance instructor. I wanted kids. Am I happy now with Sean? Oh, yes." Another wistful smile. "But I would rather love him as the human woman I was."

Sean and Sookie had moved to the opposite side of them now, and Eric looked at Sookie, now calm and smiling. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"She's afraid to let herself love you. I was always wary of Sean. I thought about what would happen when I turned eighty and he was still young and beautiful. I loved being with him, but what we had… it always seemed like something that couldn't be trusted. And then we exchanged blood one time too many."

"Now it's better for you both," he insisted.

"No, don't you see? I would be naïve if I really thought that Sean and I would be together forever. Even the very strongest love would necessarily fade over centuries in each other's company. It would be unbearable. Humans share each other's lives as they mature and age. They watch their children's milestones. They hold their grandchildren. What Sean and I have, it will never change. We're locked in time with a love that can't evolve."

"You are saying that I must lose Sookie either way, eventually."

She nodded, but her eyes weren't sad. "Yes. Embrace her humanity, Eric. Until you can do that, she'll never trust your feelings for her."

"I can't do that. Humans are too fragile. Too easily snuffed out. A traffic accident, or some Fellowship of the Sun zealot, and she would be gone without a warning."

Layla smiled. "And that's what makes her precious."

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Edit: A couple of reviewers have pointed out that CH has a short story about Sean and Layla called "Dancers in the Dark." I definitely intend to find this one and read it because I find this couple really intriguing from the brief glimpse we get in book 7. Plus, I did some googling and discovered that Sean and Layla have Eric and Sookie parallels - always a good thing. Anyway, I'll leave my version of Sean and Layla the way it is, and I hope it isn't too jarring for those who know the story.