Spellbound

I can honestly say that I didn't expect the reviews that I've received. Thank you all so much.

Some of you have voiced concerned about my other stories and if I'll finish them. I have completed 2 chapters for 'Killer' and I've done 3 chapters for 'I Remember You' but I have no beta and I do all of my own editing. I will post them as soon as I can.

I also saw in one review that there is a story already with the same title. I'm up for a rename if anyone can think of one. I'm taking all suggestions into consideration. Let me know of any ideas that you may have. Again, thanks everyone.

Instead of going to bed after her shower, Sookie went into the kitchen to make herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She'd been in this realm for many years and there are a lot of things that she enjoys about it but she had to admit she's never loved anything as much as she loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on Merita white bread. She poured herself a tall glass of ice cold milk and went into the TV room. She placed her food and milk on the coffee table, took off her robe and threw it onto the back of the couch, and lay down.

"Perfect," she said as she grabbed the TV remote.

Sookie turned on the TV and slowly flipped through the channels. After much debate, she decided on a movie that she'd never seen; 'The Gift'. Once she'd settled into her little grove in the couch, she began eating her sandwich.

Halfway through the movie, she heard him when he came down the stairs. She'd hoped that he would walk past the TV room and out the door. There was no reason for him to come into the TV room anyway. He never came in the TV room. He said that TV was a waste of time. She didn't want to hear him ridicule her about the idiot box. She didn't want to see him. She wanted to be alone and enjoy her movie. But lo and behold, what did he do? He did what he never does. He came into the TV room.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Eric asked casually as he sat on the couch across from hers.

She glanced over at him and decided right then and there that she hated him even more now than she did previously. His blond hair was still a little damp and he had on nothing but a pair of red silk boxers. He had no right coming into her space looking as good as he did. He knew what he was doing. He knew how he affected her. He's always known. She turned her attentions back to the TV and away from him.

"I'm not sleepy." She bit into her sandwich and swallowed a little of her milk behind it. She then reached for the remote and turned the volume up on the TV.

Eric didn't take too kindly to that and being the arrogant and conceited vampire that he is he stood in front of the screen. "Don't you think that was a little rude?"

She gave him a leveled stare as she spoke to him. "No ruder than you coming in here talking while I'm watching a movie. No ruder than you standing in front of the TV. So, no, I don't think that it was rude at all."

"Well, I have to disagree."

Sookie shrugged her shoulders to show that she didn't care whether he agreed or not. "Have you ever had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

Eric stared at her.

"Oops," she said. "How could I possibly forget that you're a vampire? You don't know what you're missing. They are scrumptious. It's the best meal that the humans could have ever thought of. A perfect combination," she concluded.

"Sookie," he started.

She interrupted him by sucking the dripping strawberry jam from her fingers. "Don't you have to be at Fangtasia tonight? I know that one of your fangbangers is probably waiting on you to take her into your office. I'll bet that I know which one it is; the one with the tobacco stains all over her one tooth." Sookie giggled at her own joke.

Eric was appalled. "I've never been with anyone that has …"

She kept talking. "I know how you hate to keep them waiting. I'll stay behind as I usually do and imagine what you're doing to them; with them. You've never cared about what how I feel anyway, so go. You need to get going so that I can finish watching my movie and enjoying my sandwich."

He ignored her. "We are not ending this alliance."

"So you say," Sookie said with a mouthful of sandwich. "I'm not living like this anymore. The only time you touch me is when we're fucking. You don't even feed from me unless you feel the bond weakening. You'd rather feed from your whores. You'd rather make a fool of me than have anyone think that you feel anything for me. Have you ever once asked yourself how you've made me feel? Am I that disgusting to you? Am I that repulsive? Am I so disgusting that you'd rather feed from and have sex with strangers than to be with me?"

Eric never knew that she felt that way. He then realized that there is no reason why he should know what she thinks or feels. Since they've married, he's never cared enough to ask.

"You never take me out as your wife. You have parties at that bar of yours that you don't invite me to unless some important vampire is going to be there and you have to show me off. You have to be sure to let them know that the fae/vampire alliance is still intact. Isn't that right?" Sookie looked at him and winked.

He opened his mouth to speak but she waved him off.

"Tell me something," she said. "Why didn't you tell me about the party that you're having tomorrow night?"

She saw the surprised look on Eric's face.

"What? You didn't think that I knew?"

No, he didn't know that she knew about tomorrow night's party. Who'd told her? Does she know about …?

"Don't look so surprised, lover," she spat. "I know about everything that you do. I know about your little girlfriend, Freyda. I know," she whispered. "The gods only knows what you do while you're with her and now you have the gall to tell me that we're not divorcing?" Sookie laughed this time. It wasn't her normally cheerful laugh either. It sounded almost as menacingly as Eric's laugh from earlier.

Eric walked over to her slowly and kneeled beside her. He leaned closer to her and lowered his lips to ear. "You are not going anywhere. You will never speak of leaving me again. You are mine. Do you understand me?"

Turning around in order to face him, she said, "Fuck you. I belong to no one. Do you understand me?" Her lips grazed his. She licked her lips; letting the tip of her tongue taste his sweet mouth.

He almost lost his balance and he was on his knees. She'd never spoken to him in such a manner and he'd never wanted her more but he couldn't let her know it. He blunted the bond. "I'm not one to be messed with, my lover. I can make our remaining time together pure misery and hell for you. You wouldn't be able to handle what I'd do."

Sookie looked deeply into Eric's eyes and she wasn't going to let her love for him change her mind. She was done with being the only one in love in this marriage. She couldn't allow him to keep doing this to her. She deserved better and she was going to have better. She was worth it. No alliance was worth being dismissed and ignored. Her grandparents would just have to deal with it.

Sorrow and grief slowly crept into her eyes. This time, she didn't hide her pain from him. She wanted him to feel it. She wanted him to see it. So, she let the tears fall and she opened the bond fully.

Eric gasped.

"Do you think that it will be any different than what I've been through when it comes to you and my feelings? The misery and hell that you say you will put me through won't be any different than the misery and hell from the many years before. So, Eric Northman, do your worst. If that makes you feel good, do it because I can handle it. If you've taught me anything, you've taught me to be stronger than I already was. Now, please. Will you move from in front of the TV? I'm missing my movie. You wouldn't know this but Cate Blanchett is one of my favorite actresses."

Eric stood up and stepped to the side and stared down at Sookie. He couldn't bear to look at her any longer.

As he walked to the doorway, he thought of her. He knew that she was crying but he didn't want to see the tears falling from her eyes. He hated seeing what he'd done to her; how he'd broken her. She wasn't repulsive or disgusting. She is the most beautiful creature he's ever known; inside and out. Even after all of this time, she is as beautiful now as she was when he'd first met her. It was never his goal to hurt her as he has. He didn't like feeling her pain. He'd never meant to hurt her.

When he reached the doorway, he looked over his shoulder at her. "I'm going to go and get dressed and then I'm going to Fangtasia."

"See ya," she said without turning around to look at him. She threw her hand up in the air and let it fall back down onto the couch. "Have fun with your girls," she called out.

He didn't expect that but tonight is a night filled with new expectations.

He'd expected her to go with him to their bedroom and help him to choose his outfit for the night. He liked for her to tell him which shirt looked better with the dark washed jeans. He wanted to sit between her legs as she brushed his hair and braided it the way that he liked. He wanted to feel her warm skin against his cool body. He wanted to hear her laugh as she talked about the many things that she'd seen during the daylight hours. He wanted her to tell him about the things that she and her cousins had done that day or talked about on the phone. He wanted her to walk him to the door and wave to him as he drove away.

That was the way their life was supposed to be. That was the way their life has always been. She was supposed to understand that he's a vampire. He'd explained that to her the day that they were married. She may not have expected that but she said that she understood. She was okay with it. She understood that with vampires things are different. They're not like everyone else. They can't be viewed as weak. They've sealed their very own fate if that happened. He's not supposed to love.

It's not in their nature.