a/n: This chapter is a bit short, but I just wanted to post something for you guys. Thanks to anyone still reading this, hope you enjoy. =)

Chapter 16

SPOV

A month had passed since Eric left. I started out missing him every second of each day. I forced myself to go to work and keep my routine but I went through the motions like a robot. Amelia did her best to distract me or cheer me up. During our shifts at work she would tell me stories Octavia shared with her about being a witch. She was really starting to take an interest in it. I did find the tales interesting and learned little bits and pieces about the supernatural world from them. I tried to not think too much about why I was carefully saving any bit of supernatural information in my brain. I shouldn't be trying to think if a relationship with a certain undead man could actually work.

Usually the stories always proved my line of thinking to be very wrong. Vampires considered humans to be food or at best pets they could consistently feed from and fuck. I was disgusted by the idea of them and kept telling myself Eric was not the sweet human I missed. That man was long gone, only this monster remained. It made it easier to get through the day thinking he was just evil. However at night my dreams were filled with memories of him. His floppy blonde hair when he first arrived, that shy smile, or sitting in the yard for hours talking about nothing all haunted me at night. So in the morning that ache was still there and once more I would try to ignore it.

It didn't help that everyone in town was asking about Eric. I told everyone things just had not been working out and that Eric had family in another part of the country, so he moved back there. They did not question my story when they saw how upset I was. I did my best to hide it around Jason but he was pissed. He insisted if Eric ever came back he would beat him into the ground for ditching me and his job so easily. I couldn't tell Jason the true story and I never would. It would put him in harm's way.

It was just after ten o'clock and I had locked all the doors for the night. I was sitting on the couch when I heard a knock at the back door. It had to be Jason. All of my visitors always came to the front door. I bet he ran out of butter or something stupid. I got up and walked over, swinging open the door with a sigh, ready to chastise him for not planning out his grocery shopping.

I took in a sharp breath.

Eric was standing in my doorway, my Eric… no… vampire Eric.

I immediately stumbled back a few steps. He loomed in the doorway, easily taking up all of the space. Already he looked like a different being. His hair must have grown back some. It was no longer buzzed short for construction work. It was a bit longer, parted, and slicked back with some styling product. His face was pale and clean shaven, not even a hint of stubble on his chin. His blue eyes sparkled as always but they were intense, and dark. They were not the warm blue eyes I remembered. His clothes looked like they were pulled off of a celebrity in Hollywood. His dark wash jeans and black leather jacket somehow made him more intimidating.

"Sookie…" His voice was steady, familiar, yet somehow unattached.

I realized a good minute had passed and I just stood there staring at him. I remembered Octavia saying he could not come in unless I invited him. It seemed to be working since Eric was still outside.

"W-what are you doing here?" I was scared. I would be an idiot not to be.

"I…." There was a quick flicker of uncertainty across his face and for a second he looked more like the Eric I knew. "..don't know."

Well that was helpful. Was he here to kill me? Because I knew his secret?

"Are you going to kill me?"

"No, I am not here to hurt you." He tried to take a step into the house but some invisible force stopped him. Damn, it really did work. When he was forced back there was an odd expression on his face but it wasn't there long enough for me to decipher it.

"Then why are you here? I didn't tell anyone what I know. I'm not going to blow your cover." Only an idiot would threaten to expose an entire monster race's existence.

"I wanted to see you." The words were simple and would have made me melt if he did not look so alien. My Eric was warm, full of smiles and sometimes bashful expressions. This Eric seemed to have no facial expressions at all. He was cold, emotionless almost, and his presence was a bit overwhelming.

"You do not have to let me in, I do not expect you to trust me. Just talk to me, I will stay out here." Eric almost seemed to be pleading with me. It was a strange mix since somehow he also seemed a bit arrogant… well this monster version of him did. He did not seem to know what to do, begging looked like it was rather a foreign behavior for him. I really wondered what he was like….I kept calling this the 'monster' version of Eric. But I guess this was the real Eric, this was who he had been before he met me.

After a few seconds of debate I decided there would be no harm in this. I knew he could not enter the house and this might be my only chance to learn something real about him.

"Okay" I breathed and tried to steady my voice. I grabbed a kitched chair and pulled it up so it was a few feet form the door, then sat down. Eric slid an old lawn chair from the mud porch over to his side of the doorway and took a seat. For a few seconds we sat there in silence, inspecting each other from our sides of the entryway.

"Are you alright? You look ill." Gee, what a compliment.

"Fine, I'm just… stressed out." I was heartbroken and scared of everything in the dark. I barely slept.

"Is Eric really your name?" Octavia might not know his real name, maybe vampires had code names.

"Yes, my name is Eric Northman."

"How old are you?" I had plenty of questions to ask.

"A little over a thousand years old. When I was human, my people were what you now call Vikings." He explained as if it was just another boring history fact.

My jaw was probably on the floor. A thousand? A fucking thousand? I thought seventy or a hundred was crazy but he was one thousand years old? I don't think I could even properly comprehend that span of time.

"Okay…" I had no idea how to reply to that. What do you say to someone who has existed for that long? They probably have heard it all. "Who is Pam?" I decided to move on to another question.

"She is my child. I turned her into a vampire almost a century ago." He seemed to want to move closer but kept himself in the rusty lawn chair.

"So she's like family?" More like he murdered her and forced her to be his family.

"Yes, very much so." Eric was still stoic and eerily calm. "Are you afraid of me Sookie?" He leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees.

"Yes" I forced the words out, they were barely a whisper.

He seemed taken aback but nodded. "You have no reason to fear me. I might not be human anymore, but I would never hurt you."

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to not think of him as a monster that was waiting in the shadows to drink my blood. But that was easier said than done. Up until a month ago I had no idea vampires even existed, the only stories I heard were ones Octavia shared and they all displayed the vampire as a villain, so how could I possibly think of Eric any differently?

"You're different." My voice was trembling. I wanted to say something better than that but they were the only words that came out.

Eric sighed and I wondered if he even had to breathe.

"I know, I can't be the man I was when you found me. I was empty then, now I have hundreds of years worth of memories and experiences influencing me. But I must admit my memories of being with you seem to be the most vivid. I have not forgotten you Sookie, or all that you did to help me." Eric paused and his eyes searched mine. He wasn't quite as guarded and it sort of felt like the Eric I knew. "I would like you to get to know me Sookie, all of me. However I understand if that is something you do not desire."

He was giving me the choice. It was up to me to decide if I ever bothered with Eric again. I could tell him to leave and go back to my normal life, knowing he promised to not come back and hurt me. I could forget all of this craziness happened and just be a nurse again. But then there would always be those wonderful memories of Eric in the back of my mind. I would always miss the human man I shared my home with. He was gone for good, but right in front of me was a slightly altered version of that man, asking me to give him a chance.

I had already taken a chance on Eric and it sort of blew up in my face. Could I handle taking another one?

"Okay, but I'm not inviting you in yet." I guess I was taking another chance.

The corners of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly. "That's fine, I can appreciate your beauty from afar for now."

I felt my cheeks heat up and stared at my bare feet. I was in my pajamas since my original plan was to watch TV then go to bed.

"I will let you get back to your evening. Perhaps I will see you tomorrow night?" Eric stood up and I was still amazed at the difference in how he carried himself. He wasn't gawky as a human but he did not radiate the power and dominance he did now. I couldn't even pin down exactly what change caused all of that, but somehow he managed to take over the entire kitchen without ever stepping foot into it.

"Alright, well… have a good night doing…whatever you do…" I had a lot to learn about him.

Eric just smirked as he started to saunter across the mud porch and down the back steps. He looked back at me once he was in the driveway and winked before taking off into the darkness at that freaky vampire speed. I locked up the door again and collapsed in my bed. I wondered if when I got home tomorrow night, he would be here waiting for me.

a/n: Thanks for reading!