Chapter 19

I took in a deep breath as I felt the sharp points against my neck. This was probably going to hurt… I didn't see how it could not.

Eric pushed his fangs into my skin and at first there was a slight sting but it faded quickly. I could feel his tongue still sliding over my skin and the way he was lightly sucking on my neck definitely felt good. One of his large hands was holding the side of my neck, but his free hand was roaming around my body. His fingers started at my knee and moved up my thigh until his hand disappeared under my dress. When his hand was cupping my ass he pulled me flush against him so I could feel how hard he was.

I guess Amelia was right about the food and sex thing.

I was trying to just keep breathing and not moan when Eric started to pull away. His tongue slid over my skin one more time and I felt the prickly sensation of my skin healing. I didn't know he could do that. He lightly kissed my skin one last time before leaning back.

"Are you alright?"

When Eric asked me if I was okay, my only response was to grab him and kiss him. I guess that meant I was fine. Maybe later on I would think about this and realize it was odd that having somebody drink my blood turned me on. Right now though... I wasn't doing much thinking at all.

Eric responded instantly and pushed me onto my back on the couch. My tongue ran over his fangs and his entire body shivered. Well, I would make note of that. While we were on the couch, his body heavy over mine, I realized this all felt familiar. The way Eric kissed me was almost exactly the same the only difference was he seemed more confident. That was not a bad thing though.

"Eric..." I still had to ask him something before this could go any further. He seemed determined to keep going though. While I was trying to speak his lips just found another home on my body. They were currently moving down my neck and towards my cleavage. Did I mention this dress made the girls look amazing? His hands were under my dress and on my ass while he was grinding himself against me. I suppose my legs being wrapped around him wasn't sending a clear message.

"Eric wait" I finally managed to do more than moan his name.

"Yes lover?" His nose skimmed across my jawline and gave me goosebumps.

"I have to ask you something." I needed to find out if this was a monogamous relationship or not. Sookie Stackhouse did not share.

When he pulled back some I pushed myself up into a sitting position on the couch. My body still felt all hot and tingly but I ignored it. Focus Stackhouse! Time to get serious. Eric was just watching me, waiting for my question.

"What is this? This thing between us?" I hated how unsure I sounded as I asked that. Before I did not even feel a real need to verify my situation with human Eric, I just knew where I stood with him.

"What do you want it to be?" Eric settled back on the couch some as he realized this conversation was going to be more in-depth.

"I think you know the answer to that…" I mumbled and stared at my feet. He knew me well enough to know I did not sleep around. I literally couldn't with men's thoughts attacking me.

"Sookie I know exactly what you wanted from me as a human. I want things to be the same as before, but it's more complicated now. Things are bound to be different and I need to know you're okay with that." He explained and if he was human I would swear he was holding his breath.

"As long as different does not involve you sleeping with or feeding off other people… then I want to see where this goes." I was still not totally sure on the feeding thing. He might need to feed off other people for some reason.

"I can definitely handle that." He smiled and pulled me back over to him so I was straddling his waist. "Now, where were we?"

For a second I debated continuing this. I had learned so much about Eric lately but I still wanted a bit more time to absorb it all. Sex always made things more complicated and I was a girl that had no stupid notions about being able to have sex with no emotions tied to it. No matter what someone's emotions ended up tied to the situation. Things were already complicated…plus having sex with a vampire was still damn intimidating.

My silence cued Eric in on my indecision.

"You know you can still tell me to shut the hell up and behave?" He smirked.

"I'm not saying shut up, but maybe to behave a little, just for tonight." I smiled and already felt better. I had told him to shut up and behave himself plenty of times before. If it was up to Eric we both would have quit our jobs and stayed home naked all day.

He started kissing me again. "This is not behaving…" I whispered against his lips.

"I think it is if I keep my clothes on." He pressed his lips to mine again and I quickly decided I could enjoy Eric's kissing expertise for awhile. There was no harm in that.

The next day I had the night shift at work. How sad was it that I was already disappointed I would not get to see Eric that night?

I drove to the hospital in the late afternoon sun. It was a relaxing ride with little traffic on the roads. The sun filtered through the thick summer foliage and created tiny golden beams that dotted the pavement. Brenton Hospital was in Shreveport but it was in a very residential and secluded area, away from the business sectors.

As I got out my car and headed for the front entrance I was hit by a pang of sadness. Eric and I had walked around these grounds in the sunlight when we first met. I would never get to do something like that with him again. Oh well… I tried to not focus on the downsides of the vampire thing. At least I still had him in my life.

When I walked into the lobby Kennedy was there. I knew Octavia was working tonight too.

"Hey Sookie, thank god you're here. I have a hot date to get to!" Kennedy smiled and stood up in a hurry to clock out.

"Have fun, don't get too drunk." I smiled and waved as she hustled down the hall to the doors.

That left Octavia and I for the night which I did not mind. I sent a quick text to Amelia before settling into my work, letting her know my date with Eric went well. Then I clocked in and went off to start visiting patients. The night turned out to be very chaotic. Elsie Carver, one of our oldest patients, was sick with a cold. For a young person it would have just been a bug but since Elsie was 92 we had to carefully monitor her.

"Sookie you can take a break and do something else. I'll watch Elsie for a bit." Octavia came in after I had been tending to Elsie for the past couple hours.

"You sure?"

"Of course" She walked over to Elsie with a thermometer to check her temperature. "How is Eric?"

"He's really good. I think things might be okay, he's really trying."

"I hope so, just remember to be careful." She gave me a tired smile.

I nodded and left the room. I decided to check on since it sounded like he was moving around.

When I knocked and opened the door, sure enough he was sitting up in bed and had a flyswatter raised like a weapon in one hand.

" , what has you up so late?" It was best to be calm and just try to get him asleep again.

"There's somebody out there, I'm tellin' ya!" I knew he had hallucinations but I decided to dig into his mind to double check. What I saw in his thoughts was an image of Eric walking by the window. What the hell was he doing creeping around outside?

"You know what, I think Octavia had a visitor tonight. Maybe it was just her friend leaving." I explained and gently pulled the flyswatter out of his hand. Who knows where he found it, but I'd be taking it away.

"Oh, maybe…." He calmed down quickly as usual and was back asleep in minutes.

I quietly shut the door and put the flyswatter in the supply closet. When I turned around Eric was standing right there.

"Jesus Christ!" I yelped and jumped back, hitting a shelf with my arm so all the bottles of cleaner were bound to topple onto my head. Except they didn't, Eric was fast enough to have his arms around me and moved me out of the way in a millisecond.

Once I had my wits about me I glared up at him. "Why would you sneak up on me?"

"To surprise you, I did not think you were so jumpy." He grinned "If you have any bruises I can kiss them better."

I rolled my eyes and turned to pick up a few bottles that did fall on the floor. I replaced them on the shelf and turned back to him, hands on my hips. "Next time just use the front door. Does Octavia know you're here?"

"No, why does that matter?"

"She's my boss Eric so she should know if I have a visitor." Especially him… but I didn't want to hurt his feelings by saying it.

"Hmmm, well she will know once we leave the supply closet."

"Which will be right now, I have to do some filing." I said then he grabbed me and spun me around so he was blocking the doorway. Eric kicked the door shut with his foot and stalked right up to me, leaning down so his face was only an inch from mine.

"I recall this being a good place to do sinful things to your body."

I tried to think of a witty comeback but nothing came to mind. Eric's smoldering eyes kept me silent. His lips descended on mine and I decided it would be okay to enjoy him for awhile. I would just skip my break later on. He pushed me back against the wall and I yelped as he hoisted me up so my legs were wrapped around his waist. His cool lips crashed against mine but the difference in temperature was barely noticeable. My body felt like it was on fire, more than making up for Eric's lack of warmth.

Unfortunately our make out session was cut short by the sounds of crashing and screaming.

"What the hell?" Eric started to put me down and his fangs snapped down. "What's going on?" I started to push my way past Eric but he stopped me.

He stared at the door of the closet for a second and sniffed the air.

"Werewolves" He growled and told me to stay behind him.

Holy fucking shit, werewolves in the hospital?! My heart was going to explode.

"Why are they here?" I whispered as Eric started to open the door.

"We're about to find out. Keep close." He moved cautiously down the empty hallway.

Things were eerily quiet now. I remained only a step behind Eric as we headed down the white tiled corridor. All of the patient's rooms were quiet but at the end of the hall I could see books spilled across the floor. They were from the front desk where the desk lamp was cracked and flickering on it's side. I forced myself to keep quiet when I noticed a smear of crimson blood on the white tiles near the desk.

We were about halfway down the hallway now. I was fighting to keep my breathing even. Eric was moving quietly in front of me, his body already hunched down some as if ready to launch himself at the attacker. Then much to my surprise a light grey wolf came padding around the corner. It's golden eyes watched us and it stopped by the desk, one of it's paws stepping right in the blood. I was expecting some half wolf man but instead there was a normal looking wolf in front of us.

Well, as normal as a wolf could be in Louisiana.

Eric and the wolf seemed to be in a staring match. I watched in tense silence. Then the wolf lowered its head, snarled, and launched itself at Eric.

The battle had begun.

a/n: next chapter we find out why the wolves are here, and who that blood belonged too!