A short chapter, but I don't think you'll mind too much. Hope this brightens up your Monday. :-) -DeeDee

Only eight months, a blink in his centuries of existence, had passed since he had bound himself to Sookie in Rhodes, but he had forgotten what it meant not to have her with him always. He had grown accustomed to the way her blood seemed to live inside his body, as if reanimating his own organs, flooding light and warmth into some reservoir deep within him. He had forgotten what it meant to feel only himself, his hardened nature untempered by Sookie's goodness. It had begun with that little spark in Dallas. Now it was gone.

Pam had seemed surprised that he still loved Sookie without the bond. If anything, he loved her more fiercely. He loved her in the only way a vampire can love: passionately, possessively, violently, with no trace of human tenderness or gentleness.

His hurt over the bond breaking had evaporated very quickly. It was a human feeling.

His anger was still quite present.

Not even a fucking text message, Sookie?

The way she had answered the phone, as if she were unsure that he was all right, showed that she had proceeded with the ritual without being certain that it wouldn't harm him. The lack of consideration was galling.

Yet he wanted nothing more than her body against his. Her warm body, her warm breath, the heat between her legs.

He fought the sluggish weight of his limbs and rose shortly before sundown to shower and dress. As soon as the sun slipped past the horizon, he was in his car, speeding to Bon Temps.

The bond allowed him to protect Sookie, certainly, but without it… suddenly, the world had opened. He wanted to see her face when she admitted that she loved him. She had never trusted her own feelings; now she could no longer run from them. She could no longer run from him. She had torn down the wall herself.

Sookie was perched on her top porch step. Though he could no longer feel her, her anxiety was written plainly on her face. She stood as he got out of the car. He shut the door and stood there, regarding her.

"Are you still mad?" she asked. Her lip trembled.

"Do you still love me?"

"You first."

"I'm not angry… at least, not anymore. At least… not right now," he said. "I should have encouraged you to find a way to break the bond, and in fact, we have a ritual for it. I should have offered it to you. I was afraid that without it, we would be parted, whether because you didn't want to be dragged into my troubles, or because Victor found out you were vulnerable. If he chooses to ignore the marriage, without the bond I won't know that you are in danger."

Now you, my dear one. Tell me that you love me.

"I should have asked you what you thought, or at least warned you what we were going to do." Her eyes were bright and clear, her gaze direct. Her chest rose as she breathed in. "I do love you," she said. "All on my own."

In the next instant, he was in front of her, pulling her up into his arms. He kissed her hungrily, then proceeded to shower her throat and shoulder blades with kisses while she used the much-needed moments to breathe. The hollow at the base of her throat already had a shimmer of sweat, and he licked it away. With his arms around her waist, he lifted her up even higher, trailing his mouth to the worn neckline of her thin t-shirt, kissing her breasts through the material that stood in his way. She had secured herself by locking her ankles around him, and she twisted her hands into his hair, as greedy for his mouth's attentions as he was to give them.

"I'm going to tear your clothes," he said.

"Okay," she gasped, and it sounded less like permission and more like a plea.

He ripped her t-shirt away and growled at the swell of her breasts over a small, pink bra. Her nipples were already straining against the satiny material, begging for his attention. They would have it. He pulled the bra down and sucked one nipple into his mouth while Sookie leaned back against a porch rail and pushed herself up to him. It was time for the bra to go, and he tore it away with a short-lived pang of regret.

The scent of her arousal motivated him to make quick work of the rest of her clothes. He reached between them to stroke her with his thumb and fingers, and she almost cried with pleasure as she moved herself against his hand.

He could feel the heat of her skin through his shirt, but it wasn't enough. It was nowhere near enough. He unbuckled his belt and threw it aside.

"I'm tearing mine, too," he said roughly.

Sookie's mouth was engaged near his ear, and her breath was hot. "Sure." She swept the shell of his ear with her tongue and bit his earlobe hard, and he growled like the desperate creature he was.

The shreds of his clothes joined Sookie's on the porch. He gripped her full ass in both hands and pushed himself into her with a grunt. Her body jolted against his, and he stepped back until he felt her porch swing behind his legs. It swayed wildly back and to one side before they developed a rhythm and used the swing's motion to rock against each other with each deep thrust.

"Go hard," Sookie moaned. With the hand she had wrapped around his neck, she pulled his hair into her fist. "Go..." she said, grinding against him. "Go…," dragging her nails over his shoulder. "Go…"

"Is this hard enough?" he growled out, punctuating each word with a hard, fast thrust.

It was, apparently, because Sookie threw her head back and cried out her release.

Her muscles clenched around him, and the pleasure was sublime. This, too, he had forgotten since the blood bond. Feeling her pleasure along with his own had always been amazing, but he had forgotten what it was like to feel only himself – the raw, sharp, immediate bliss of it, like a radio station that booms loudly once one has tuned it just so.

"Come on, Eric!" Sookie urged. She gripped his shoulders and increased their pace, so much so that the swing fell out of rhythm. "Come on!"

He called her name out in a ragged voice that he barely recognized, pushed into her one more time, and came with a long, low groan.

Sookie took his face in her hands and kissed him, then relaxed against him, her head resting on his shoulder. Her breathing was shallow and fast.

"I forgot…" she murmured, "how it felt before…"

He smiled. "So did I."

She sat up and returned his smile before lifting herself off of him and settling back against him, one leg on either side of his waist. She stroked her fingers absently up and down his arm.

"That was so good," she sighed.

He pressed his lips to her shoulder. "It always is."

Such a long time passed in silence, and her breathing became so deep and regular, that he wondered if she had fallen asleep. He rocked them slowly, rubbing her back as he lost himself in thought.

"Are you awake, my lover?" he whispered eventually.

"Mmhm," she replied.

"You didn't ask me if I still love you."

She raised her head and rested her forehead on his. "I didn't have to," she said.

It struck him then that in separating them, Sookie had removed the thing that kept them apart.