REGRET

Her words struck him full force, the pain within them, the pain that he had caused making him feel as though someone had landed a solid punch in his stomach. He was the reason behind the tears that she tried to hide, behind the shame and anger that she felt, not at him, but at herself.

That knowledge made him feel sick, as though someone had reached into his chest and wrenched his still heart from his body.

'I can't give you a reason,' he said, wishing that he could comfort her, but knowing he didn't deserve to. 'I don't even want to because I know that anything that I come up with will never be enough to reassure you, to put you at ease so I can see every little smile that comes to your lips. You will always question my intentions and I have only myself to blame.' He dropped his gaze. 'I don't deserve you, Sarah. I never will. I lost any chance I had to redeem myself after cornering you beside your car as soon as I decided to keep you from Sookie and Bill.'

Her arms fell limp at her sides, the flames dropping to burn level with his waist. He could easily escape them, even when they were above his height, but he wanted to show her that he could be trusted. He could feel the emotions warring inside of her, the shame, anger and confusion as she stared straight into his eyes, letting him see the tears that welled, each one that fell acting as a fresh stab of pain into his heart.

'Why are you doing this to me?' she asked and the flames flared a little. 'One second you're a soulless bastard who takes what he wants and then you're the brooding, sensitive guy who doesn't want to hurt me. You go from Angelus to Angel in a second.' She swiped at her tears, making him wish that he could wipe them away before they fell. 'You make me fear you and then make me want you, but either way my blood is on fire because of this attraction I now feel since you gave me your blood. How am I supposed to be able to make up my own mind when your influence will always be there to drawn me towards you whether I want to be drawn or not?'

'Give me a chance to show you that I can be good to you, that I want to make things right,' he said. 'I've made mistakes, far too many to count over my thousand years, and hurting you is the worst one that I have ever made.'

The flames dropped lower. They rose barely to his ankles, tempting him to step over and take her into his arms, but he had to remain behind them, he had to wait for her to come to him, for her to make the decision.

She wiped away a few last tears, straightening her shoulders a little. 'Make me an offer.'

Despite all of his hopes, he still couldn't believe that she would even consider allowing him a chance to redeem himself, but there was no way he was going to let his opportunity go to waste.

'Sarah, would you do the honour of accompanying me to a club tomorrow night?' he asked.

'There isn't a club in Bon Temps and the only one I can think of nearby is–' she paused for a moment, realising that the club he was mentioning was the one she had stumbled upon the night before whilst running from him. 'You want to take me to Fangtasia,' she said and he didn't deny it. 'You want to take me to a vampire club.'

'My vampire club,' he said, unable to hide the pride he felt over the business he built from nothing. 'But humans often go there as well, as long as they are not looking to score V or get bitten.' At her questioning look, he said, 'biting humans is not permitted.'

'But it still happens.'

'And the punishment I deal is…severe,' he said. Though he wanted to lie, to make himself look a like a good man who dealt with rule breakers civilly, he wasn't going to keep anything from her any more. 'I cannot allow them to put my club or my employees at risk. If a human is willing, they must take them from the club and the surrounding grounds.'

She held his gaze as though watching for any sign of a lie. He felt a little bit of calm coming from her, as though the conclusion she came to put her at ease. 'I finish work at midnight,' she said, the flames disappearing. 'You can pick me up from Merlotte's at ten past.'

Eric barely hid the happiness he felt at her answer, reigning in the grin that tried to creep over his lips, keeping it toned down to a charming smile. 'I'll be there at ten past on the dot,' he said.

The flames disappeared, but he still didn't step forward, despite how much he wanted to take her into his arms, to hold her close and promise her that he would be a good man, that he would make her happy beyond measure

And he would, no matter what it took.

But he would have to wait until she came to him, until she trusted him enough to let him closer.

'Okay,' she said, crossing her arms over her chest again, though loosely. 'I'll, ah, see you then.'

He stepped from her path. 'Would you like me to walk you home?'

She kept her distance as she walked past him, pausing for a moment. 'No. I'll be fine by myself,' she said, glancing up at him, 'but thank you.'

He watched as she walked away, hitching her handbag higher on her shoulder. He watched the way her dark hair bounced with every step, her hips swaying, making him lick his lips even when he tried to suppress the urge. She was gorgeous, inside and out.

And he planned on discovering every ounce of her beauty.

Sarah could feel his gaze on her back as she walked away, but she forced herself to place one foot in front of the other and keep walking down the road towards her home. No matter how much she wanted to run back and leap into his arms, she wasn't ready to forgive him just yet.

But she had a feeling that after their date, she would be.

I'm going on a date, she thought suddenly, realising that it had over a year since she'd had a date. Oh God, what I am going to wear?

She didn't have much in her closet, but she figured that she could find something, especially with Sookie's help. Though she doubted that her best friend would approve of her choice – especially after the events of last night – she would have to bite the bullet and fess up. Sarah wanted to tell her anyway, just in case Eric got to possessive again.

He won't be like that. He apologised, and he seems determined to tell me the truth, she thought. He also didn't force himself upon me or try to command me. He asked me if I wanted to go out with him.

And she'd agreed because she really did want to go out with him. She wanted to feel desired, to feel cared about by a man like Eric Northman. She knew that she could feel safe within his arms, held close to that towering body, nuzzled into his chest as though she could hide from the world for a little while.

She had always felt like an outsider, hiding her powers, knowing that people would fear her if they were to discover what she could do, but with Eric, she felt as though she could be normal, as though she could just be Sarah and he would accept her, freaky talents and all.

She wanted that more than anything else in the world.

'Don't kill me,' Sarah said when Sookie picked up.

'Why would I kill you?' her best friend asked, voice filled with confusion.

Sarah held the phone between her ear and shoulder as she rifled through her wardrobe, hoping that she still had the courage – it had taken her the entire day to work up enough to even call – to tell Sookie about her date. 'I have a date tonight,' she said, withholding a sigh of relief that she'd gotten that far.

'That's great! Do you want me to come over and help you pick out an outfit?'

She allowed a small smile at her best friend's intuition. 'Yeah, that would be great. It's one of the reasons that I called you.'

Sookie laughed. 'So who is he?'

That was the question that she had been dreading. She steeled herself, abandoning her pursuit of clothing in order to take hold of the phone. 'He's someone you know,' she said, deciding to ease into it.

She gasped. 'Do you mean Sam?'

'Oh God, no, he's my boss. He's handsome and all, but I'm not interested in him that way,' Sarah said, sitting on the end of her bed.

'Who is it then?'

She nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment, taking a breath before saying, 'Eric.'

Her arm shot out as Sookie shouted into the receiver, her ear protesting at what she'd caught of the initial 'What!' that had been screamed into the phone, followed by a line of Sookie's harshest profanities – shoot and damn, being among the worst she used – as she berated her up one side and down the other.

'You can't go out with that slime of a man, Sarah! Just the other night he forced you into being his meal and tried to keep you at his home like a prisoner.'

Sarah brought the phone back to her ear tentatively as she said, 'he apologised to me last night and told me why he was so demanding. He was sincere, Sookie, and I believe that he really is trying to make it up to me.'

'It doesn't change what he did.'

'No, it doesn't. He hurt me when he kept things from me,' she agreed, 'but I have to see where this could go, Sook. I need to see where this could go. If I don't, I'll regret it for the rest of my life, because something inside me, even before he gave me his blood, was drawing me to him. I have to find out what it was,' she added, though she already knew.

Can I really be myself around him?

There was a moment of silence and then she heard an exasperated sigh on the other end of the line. She could just imagine her best friend shaking her head.

'Fine,' Sookie finally said, her tone resigned. 'I'll be over in half an hour. We'll pick your outfit out then we'll go to work.'