Chapter 6

There was a pub nearby called Tap A Vein with a wood-fired pizza oven, so they headed in that direction. He had taken her hand again and she didn't know what to think. She was conflicted. Did it make her feel safe? Terrified? Protected? Imprisoned? Proud? Smug? Angry? Horny? Claustrophobic? Flattered? Confused? Yes. She just wasn't really sure which one was winning. It was easier to push it all aside and replace it with indifference.

There was a line for the humans but the bouncer unhooked a velvet rope from the stanchion and allowed them to walk right in. The only empty table was in the thick of the crowd and he pulled her chair out for her before he sat down.

Despite the name of the bar, he was the only vampire in the place. They did have a large selection of synthetic blood, though, and he ordered an imported blend from Germany. Felipe was paying, after all. Sookie was cooly polite to the waitress — a big change from the night before — and ordered a double gin and tonic.

She surveyed the room. He watched her, impressed and a little amused. She was playing a role, and doing it very well. She looked beyond bored. Arrogant. The haughty bitch from the other night was back, only clean and with her clothes on this time, acting like she was doing him a favour by letting him be seen with her. He could hear people whispering, wondering who the wealthy, sophisticated, and incredibly sexy couple was. Was she famous? Was he infamous? Was she a vampire, too? She looked so pale and beautiful and cold. Was she his child?

The thought thrilled him.

The barmaid dropped off their drinks and took Sookie's order. She made sure there wasn't garlic in the sauce — she didn't want to tempt fate and piss off Victor — and ordered a pepperoni with extra cheese. It would sort of ruin her little charade, but pizza… It had been a long time. Usually, her food intake was closely regulated, after she'd tried to exert some control over her life that way. She decided she would just keep pretending to be a rich bitch with a hot stud pet vampire, only while eating pizza.

Eric picked up on her amusement. A hint of a Mona Lisa smile, maybe. He wondered if she was listening to the other humans in the restaurant, just like he was. Similarly at least. He leaned forward and spoke quietly, even though the bar was loud. She leaned forward so she could hear, just like he'd planned.

"Is something funny?"

She hesitated but then decided to talk.

"Half the people here want to fuck me. The other half want to be me. A fair number would take both or either. They all think I'm hot shit. I was just wondering what they would say if they knew I was going to spend a good portion of my night catering to Victor's whims in the VIV Club and then the day locked in my room. But at least I have pretty clothes and a handsome escort. And, in a few minutes, pizza."

She smiled a real smile that time. It was more than a little bitter, and it didn't take away from her current persona, but it was real.

The service was excellent, of course. Nobody waited to serve a vampire. Her pizza arrived quickly, and she thought about eating it with a knife and fork, but then said to hell with it. She picked up a slice and closed her eyes and inhaled.

He smiled. Her mask was gone, just for the moment, but it was subtle enough that nobody nearby would notice. Well, except for maybe a vampire who couldn't seem to stop staring. She looked almost like he'd felt when he had his nose buried in her neck the night before. Minus most of the lust, of course.

A drunk from another table bumped a waitress as she was walking past and she almost dropped the tray full of drinks she had held high over one shoulder. She corrected her balance and blew out a big breath of relief. Before she got herself completely put back to rights, he bumped her again, and the tray — and its contents — landed upside down on Eric's head.

The bar was always running a special on Bloody Marys and Eric was covered in tomato juice from his head to his lap. The room was suddenly silent, except for piped in music and the ever-present slot machine sounds from nearby. Half a second later, Sookie started to laugh.

Everyone, including him, was frozen. She wasn't. She was still laughing. She couldn't seem to get a handle on it. Only his eyes moved and locked on hers. She closed her mouth and bit the insides of her lips, trying to hold it in, but it was useless. She started to laugh even harder. She wasn't hysterical. She didn't feel bitter. She felt bad for laughing at him, but It felt amazingly, incredibly good, and she didn't even care how many people saw or how much she got punished for it. It would be worth it, even if her pizza was covered in tomato juice and ice and celery and vodka.

A few seconds later, he snorted and shook his head and then smiled.

"Come. Let's go back to my room. I promise to keep my hands to myself this time, but I need to get clean."

A manager came running out and began to berate the waitress right after she began to apologize. Eric stood up and cut them both off.

"It was not her fault. Do not punish her. Felipe deCastro will hear about it if you do. If anyone should be punished, it is him."

Eric pointed at the drunk at the next table, who paled considerably.

Eric took Sookie's hand and smirked at her. She burst into a fresh batch of giggles and they left the bar and headed to his room.

A very large vampire dripping in thick red liquid cuts an alarming figure. The more people stared as he strode through the casino, the more she laughed, slowing him down. They were both glad when they finally made it to the elevator and she started to get hold of herself. He pressed the button and squeezed her hand a little and grinned down at her. In any other situation, he would have been livid, but her smile was beautiful, her laugh was captivating, and his temporary discomfort and humiliation were worth giving her a few minutes of joy. He thought he owed her that much, at least.

When they got up to his room, he sat her down on the bed with the remote for the television and got into the shower. He tried to ignore his hard cock. He hadn't closed the bathroom door all the way and he didn't want to make her uncomfortable by taking care of it, no matter how uncomfortable he was right then.

He washed his hair twice and was just rinsing off his body when the shower door opened and she stepped inside. She was naked and beautiful and his cock, which had gone mostly soft, was suddenly rock hard again. Still, he hesitated. She smiled.

"I consent. Absolutely and positively. Please take me, Eric. I want you so bad."

He was slow to move at first but when he leaned down to kiss her she wound her fingers in his hair and pulled him down to her mouth. She had seemed eager last time, too, but he was going to trust her and take her word for it. He kissed her back and they just made out for a long time. He sucked on her pulse point and she moaned.

"Fuck me, Eric. Please. I need you."

He picked her up and did as she asked and started to fuck her hard against the shower wall. He loved how much noise she made. How she moved with him and against him just right. How she gave as good as she got without being too selfish or too self-conscious or too deferential. He was surprised to realize that, slave or not, human or not, his charge or not, he saw her as an equal. At least under certain circumstances.

When she started to fall apart, he pulled his mouth away so he could watch her again. She bit her bottom lip and looked back at him. Neither looked away until her eyes rolled back in her head and then closed. He bit her neck and came, too.

She tasted incredible and felt incredible and he was incredibly pleased by this turn of events. They seemed to enjoy each other's company when they weren't at each other's throats or she wasn't completely withdrawn. He found that he liked her very much, even with her clothes on.

They dried each other off and then she climbed onto the bed and stayed on her hands and knees and presented herself to him. He grinned and started to fuck her hard and fast from behind. He splayed his hand across her lower back and watched his cock disappear inside her over and over again. Soon, she was begging him for more and he grasped her hips and started to pound her even harder, just like she'd asked. She put her chest down on the bed so she could reach down and rub her clit. It didn't take long for her to clamp down hard on his cock and he started to cum just as she did. He pulled her tight against him and thrust forward, trying to get his seed as deep as possible. Even a thousand years after his death, the primal urge to mate was strong.

After they finished, she seemed restless. She went to the bathroom and then sat on the side of the bed and then the foot. She got up again and put on her panties and sat down at the table. She stood up again a couple of minutes later and went to the window. She was going to start to pace soon. He was in no hurry. He wanted it to just be the two of them tonight. They didn't have much time before she had to go back to the club and Victor. He clenched his jaw but then pushed the thought away.

"Come. I would like to hold you."

She hesitated and then walked over to the bed. She lay down next to him again but didn't move any closer. He pulled her into his arms and she laughed a little at the suddenness of it. She was stiff at first but gradually relaxed until she felt like she belonged there. Her nose was in the hollow of his throat and his was buried in her hair. He loved being enveloped in her scent and feeling her hot breath on his chest. He heard her swallow.

"This is… nice."

He smiled. He was glad it hadn't been a mistake.

"Yes."

He kissed her forehead and then held her a little tighter. She swallowed again.

"I'm just not used to it, I guess. I was a virgin before I got taken. Touching humans is really hard. Their thoughts just overwhelm me when we have any kind of direct contact. Sex was out. I can only stand it now when Victor gets me all hopped up on V and cocaine.

Eric remembered her the other night, cumming over and over and over again on the human girl's tongue, her expressions flitting between sweet and innocent and hot and dirty. The dichotomy that had drawn him in more even than her scent. Because Victor Madden had gotten her high.

He was surprised when she kissed his chest before she continued.

"Nobody is interested in anything but sex and my blood here. Nobody cares about me or having a real connection. Not that I want one with anybody. I can't imagine Victor or Sandy asking to cuddle."

She shuddered and then kept going.

"The vampire who took me for Sophie-Anne… He was always holding me. But that… That wasn't nice. This is nice."

She reached her mouth up and kissed his neck. She opened her mouth a little and did it again. And then again, a little higher. He leaned down and kissed her mouth for a while and then pulled away and kissed down to her breasts. They were spectacular. He touched them and kissed them and suckled before he kept moving lower, one kiss at a time.

He pulled her panties back off and buried his nose between her legs and inhaled. He kissed her pubic bone and then tasted her. She moaned and pushed herself harder against his mouth. He wrapped his arms around her hips and pulled her even closer, tight against his face. He was glad he didn't have to breathe. He fucked her as deep as he could with his long tongue, tasting as much of her as he was able to reach, and then replaced it with his fingers and concentrated his mouth on her clit.

Sookie had her hands threaded through her hair. She couldn't stop moaning. He made her feel so good. She moved them down lower and touched her breasts, pinching her nipples.

After he'd made her cum and then cum again, he kissed his way back up to her mouth. She tasted herself and made sure to lick and suck his mouth and lips and chin clean.

He pulled back a couple of minutes later and looked at her. She smiled softly back up at him. It was so strange. She seemed to have discarded her mask altogether. Not that he was complaining, but ever since she had stepped into the shower, she'd seemed to have left all of her pretense behind. She hadn't even hidden her nervousness from him. She'd opened up to him about herself and her past. He just hoped it would last. And, if not, he would enjoy it as long as he could.

He stroked her hair and leaned down and kissed her softly and slid into her. He wanted to take his time. He wanted to make love to her. After the night before, he thought he owed her that, too. He insisted to himself that that was the reason.

They kissed for a long time and then he pulled away so he could look at her some more. This time, her smile was wide and open and happy. He couldn't help but smile back. When she blinked, twin tears spilled over and ran down the sides of her face and into her ears. A few more followed. She didn't try to hide them from him. He kissed her again and realized that he might be in a great deal of trouble when it was time to leave and he had to leave her behind. And he didn't know how he was going to take her back to Victor in just a few hours, knowing what was going to happen to her. Not when his chest and his blood were screaming at him that she was his.

When he pulled back to look at her again, her eyes were closed and he could tell she was so close. A moment later, he called out and fell over the edge. Her head was thrown back, presenting her throat to him, but he had to watch her become the Madonna and the whore and then back again until he couldn't wait any longer and bit.

After, he healed her bites and then held her a little longer. Her stomach growled loudly and he laughed.

"I guess you never got to eat your pizza. I can order room service."

She hesitated. "Is it ok if we order delivery instead? Chain pizza probably isn't nearly as good as fancy pizza, but it would kind of be like a taste of home, you know?"

There was a Dominos on-site and a large pepperoni with extra cheese was at the door in under fifteen minutes. She sat cross-legged, naked, in the middle of the bed, with the pizza box open in front of her. Her eyes were closed and she was weeping, despite the small smile that was on her face between bites. He was absolutely captivated and yet almost embarrassed on her behalf, just because he was afraid of how much she would regret showing this much of herself to him later.

She managed to eat five slices and then disappeared into the bathroom to cry and wash her face and hands and rinse out her mouth a few times. She flushed the toilet a lot and ran the water in the sink at full blast to cover up her quiet sobs but she supposed the damage was already done, even if he hadn't heard her. It didn't matter. She washed her face again and then smiled at her reflection. Her eyes were puffy and red, but she could ignore them, along with the swollen bruise a little lower on her cheek that Felipe had given her for letting Eric bite her. That didn't matter, either. She took a shaky breath and blew it out and smiled again before she went back out to the bedroom.

"I wouldn't mind some dessert. How would you feel about getting your cock sucked?"

He ignored the sobs he'd heard that she'd wanted to hide and grinned at her.

"How could I refuse an offer like that?"

She didn't say much else, about her past or otherwise, for the rest of the evening. They kissed and made love again and she enjoyed lying in his arms, and even burrowed in closer to him, sighing happily. At quarter past one, they both got up and quietly started to dress. The mood in the room was suddenly somber.

Eric looked worried and angry. She took his hand and held him still when he started towards the door. She tugged him back and he turned to her. She smiled up at him.

"It's ok, Eric. I'll be fine. This happens every single night of my life, pretty much, unless there's some big important event coming up. Don't get yourself all worked up about it. I'll just go and do what I always do and let myself go in the feelings. And then it will be over."

That she would not only be taken by them but would also enjoy it nearly made him feel worse, but he couldn't be selfish enough to take her most critical defense away from her. He knew what it was like, even with the pleasure. The hate was always there, no matter how good it felt. Without, it was just torture.

She put her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down for a kiss. It was soft and short. They had to go.

They walked hand in hand until they got to alcove where he'd bitten her earlier that evening, before they went up to Felipe's office. He couldn't believe how much had changed in such a short time. She pulled him in that direction and then stopped.

"Thank you for tonight."

He smiled. "It was my pleasure. Even the part when I got covered in drink."

She laughed. He leaned down to kiss her one last time.

"I will pick you up before sunset tomorrow. I would like to avoid a repeat of tonight."

"Only the first part, I hope."

He tried his best to give her a grin. "Yes. I wouldn't mind a repeat of the rest."

She frowned.

"Wait. I forgot to tell you earlier. Felipe wants me until eight or so, so you don't have to show up until then."

It wasn't welcome news.

He nodded. "All right."

And then she was smiling that wide, happy smile and it was pure and open and he was once again amazed at how quickly and completely she had taken down her barriers for him. He was very afraid he was falling in love with her at the same speed.

"Goodbye, Eric."

"Goodbye, my lover."

She blew out a breath and the walls came back up. Her eyes iced over. All of her warmth disappeared and the haughty bitch was back. They finished their trip to the club without touching.

Victor was standing at the door when they turned the corner. He scowled. It was one twenty-nine and he had been looking forward to making someone pay for her lateness. He glared at her.

"It's about time you got here."

Sookie looked impassively back at him. Eric was once again impressed with her. Even though Victor mistreated her, she showed him deference but no fear. It was hard to reconcile this seemingly indifferent woman with the Sookie he'd just seen a little while before, crying in happiness over a fifteen dollar pizza.

Victor grabbed her arm and dragged her inside. She looked back at him before the door closed and gave him a quick reassuring smile before the mask went back on.

There was no way he could stay for whatever happened next, whether or not that made him a coward. He told himself it was for the best. All he would be doing would be endangering her and himself. He headed back towards his room.

He couldn't get out of his head. He considered getting a donor but the thought turned his stomach. This situation kept getting more and more difficult and painful and awful. And wonderful. He thought about calling Pam but he wasn't even up to that.

He changed direction and went outside. He walked up one side of the strip and down the other and then straight out of the city and into the desert until it got so close to dawn that his blood was crying at him to seek shelter.

He considered digging into the desert floor for the day and resting underground with the desert foxes and kangaroo rats but flew back to the casino just in time instead. He went back up to his room, glad that he would be able to succumb to the pull of the sun very soon.

He sat on the edge of the bed. Her scent was strong and it both reassured him and made him hurt, for her and for himself. At least it was dawn and her ordeal would soon be over. He thought about going to her but he didn't know that she would want to see him so soon after. And vice versa. He also didn't want to take the chance that there would be any stragglers; he knew Victor and the King were both very old, although he didn't think Felipe would be involved.

He got up and stood in the window and looked at the sky. He had to squint, even through the protected glass, but it was still a treat. The first time he'd stayed in a place that had UV-proof windows and he'd gotten to see the sunrise again after hundreds of years, it had made him weep, even through the dark spectral filter. It reminded him of Sookie again.

He decided it was time to get undressed and go to bed. He unbuttoned his shirt and threw it on the chair in the corner. He paused. Something was wrong.

He moved the shirt, almost sure of what he would see. The bag the King's receptionist had given him was still on the chair underneath, only not quite where it had landed when he'd thrown it there the night before. Suddenly everything made sense. He opened it up, already knowing what he was going to find. He saw right away that the heroin and works were gone. Her lipstick was in their place. He supposed she hadn't had room in her small handbag for both that and the little kit with the needle and lighter and spoon. She must have taken them when he was in the shower. And, after that, she'd had no more reason to hide from him.

He ran as fast as he could to the club, hoping like hell she was still alive.