Just a short little interlude chapter to carry us into book 11.=)

"Are you shitting me?" Pam looked up at him from the piece of paper in her hands – the letter from Freyda which informed him that he was most certainly still obligated to honor Appius' contract with her.

Normally, Eric would have smiled at Pam's way with words, but there was no smiling tonight. He had decided to tell her of the arranged marriage with Oklahoma, deciding that he couldn't keep it from her any longer. Since he received Freyda's letter, he had been scrabbling to come up with some other way out. He was cunning in his own right, but two cunning brains were better than one.

"No," he replied simply.

"Shit," Pam muttered, hopping up from the edge of his desk to pace a few steps back and forth. "Fuck."

"My thoughts exactly, though not so eloquently worded, of course."

Pam turned on her six-inch spiked heel to face him and crossed her arms. "Sookie can't be too happy about this."

"Sookie doesn't know," he said. He found himself suddenly interested in a brown-edged, ancient piece of tape stuck to his desk, and he scraped at one edge with his thumbnail. After waiting in vain for some reaction from Pam, he looked up at her. Her blue eyes were hard and cold. "I saw no reason to worry her because I intended to take care of it. I still intend to take care of it."

Pam stepped closer, rested her palms flat on the desk, and leaned in. "I never imagined I would see cowardice in you, but here it is."

"You know what Sookie would have done if I had told her. She is impetuous and stubborn. She would not have cared that I had no choice in the matter or that I was working to have it undone. She would have done or said something rash, and she needs my protection now more than ever. This is not the time for Sookie to run."

"You disgust me," she hissed. She walked out of the office and slammed the door.

He let her go without reproach. Pam had been on edge for some weeks now, waiting to learn if she would get permission to turn her lover, Miriam. Pam had endless time, of course, but Miriam had leukemia, and her days were numbered. Unfortunately for Pam – and most unfortunately for Miriam – the decision rested in the hands of Victor.

On the following night, Eric opened his laptop to find that Pam had slid a newspaper clipping inside: a "Dear Abby" column about the importance of honesty in a relationship. This he crumpled and tossed aside. For whatever reason Abby was being consulted for advice, he felt quite certain that an arranged vampire marriage was not it.

Beside his laptop, as usual, was his stack of mail, and he thumbed through it. He immediately ripped open an envelope that bore the logo of a vampire lawyer he had contacted. He skimmed the letter and read enough to know that he was fucked yet again: "Mr. Northman… regret to inform you… can be annulled after fifty years in the case of…" He crushed the paper between his hands and rested his forehead on them.

He felt slender fingers slide over his hands, and he lifted his head to see Pam. He hadn't even heard her come in. She took the paper, smoothed it as much as she could, and read it.

"I'm sorry, Eric," she said.

"There are many lawyers," he replied. He balled up the letter again and tossed it into the trash can.

He wanted and needed to see Sookie, so he left the bar early and flew to Bon Temps. Much to his pleasure, he heard the shower running when he entered her house. Wasting no time, he rid himself of his clothes along the way to the bathroom that adjoined her bedroom. Her hand flew to her heart when he pulled the curtain back, but she smiled when she saw him.

"My heart's going a mile a minute," she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her to him.

They kissed, washed, and touched each other until the water ran lukewarm. Though it was May and already hot as hell outside, Southern homes were air-conditioned and cold on the inside, and Sookie shivered as they stepped out and dried each other off. She practically ran to her bed, and she pulled the covers up close around her neck.

"Get over here," she demanded.

He was more than happy to comply. Her giggles quickly turned into sighs as he covered her body with his and began to warm her up in the best way he knew. Afterward, they lay in a satisfied heap of heavy limbs and tangled, wet hair.

Sookie tightened the arm she had draped over his chest. "I miss you during the day," she said. "Sometimes I see things or go places and find myself wishing you were with me. Do you ever think about that?"

"About being with you during the day? Sometimes."

"Not just that. About being… regular people who do normal things together."

"I will never be human, my lover," he said gently.

"What if there was some magical way you could become human again? Would you do it?"

He shifted his body so that he could look at her instead of staring up at the ceiling. "No," he said, adding after a moment, "though I might for one day. I would like to make love with you outside under the sun. But permanently? No. I have no wish to die."

"Would you do it if I asked you to?"

"Would you become a vampire if I asked you to?"

"No," she admitted. "You know that."

"Why, then, dear one, would I accept your request to die when you will not accept my request to have you live?"

Her forehead crinkled. "But you are dead."

"Am I?" He leaned closer and kissed her, touching her lips lightly with his tongue. "I think you'll find that I am very much alive." He guided her hand down to touch him, to let her see that he wanted her again already.

Not to be outdone, Sookie moved their hands to show him that she, too, was more than ready. "But you aren't warm," she murmured against his lips as he touched her, "like me."

He couldn't argue with that. Fortunately, neither of them seemed very interested in continuing the conversation.

To answer some of your questions: when I finish Dead Reckoning, I plan to put "Eric" on hold until book 12 is released (assuming I do finish before then…), and I'll be starting a new story to continue from book 11 in my own way. Thanks as always for your encouragement!