They sat together on the bench under the lamp and Eric explained to Lucifer all of the different things he was able to do since becoming a vampire.
Strength. Speed. The augmented senses of smell and hearing. The healing properties of his blood. The ability to glamour someone into doing just about anything—including wiping their memories. The last one intrigued Lucifer and they spent some time not only discussing it, but seeing if it worked on the devil.
As the moon rose over the Bon Temps cemetery they found out that Lucifer could feel the compulsion to do as Eric requested, but found it easy to brush the feeling away. Lucifer delighted in it though. That he could feel the urge to do as Eric suggested, the need apparently shivering down his spine as he fought for control.
"I wonder, is this what it's like when I ask for a person's desire?" he asked aloud.
"I wondered the same thing initially," Eric grumbled. "But truthfully, I felt in control of myself even when you forced it out of me." He mused for a moment. "No, it's definitely different. When I glamour a human, they look and act dumbstruck. They become little puppets instead of the entertaining blood sacks they normally are."
Lucifer let out a silent laugh at the comment. "Indeed?"
"They're food," Eric replied. "But amusing."
"Do you no longer feed until death then?" Lucifer asked. "I understand that the advent of Tru Blood and coming out of the coffin, so to speak, has allowed many vampires to drink only what they need and create bonds and friendships with those willing."
Eric rolled his shoulders, thinking about the last few years. And the last few centuries. "I don't always kill my meals," Eric said. "In fact, I haven't really done that in over a hundred years. It's easy enough to get a drink and glamour a human into forgetting." But then he smiled, a dark look on his face. "Unless they deserve to die. And quite often they do."
"So you eat the ones you deem deserving of a bitter end, but only nibble on those who strike your fancy?" Lucifer asked.
"I suppose that's one way to see it," Eric said. "Those I choose to feed from on more than one occasion . . ." he trailed off for a moment, then gave Lucifer a lascivious grin. "Well, there's more to it than blood in those cases."
The two of them seemed to light up at the suggestion and when Lucifer began to lean in, Eric was adamantly sure that he was going to be kissed—and somehow he just knew that it would be electrifying. Hands down the best kiss he'll ever receive—or at least make the top five. He looked forward to it—as well as giving just as much as receiving.
The moment, of course, just had to be broken.
And what better way for it to be broken than by the damned fairy halfling that had, somehow, managed to break his damn heart. He heard her well before she hit the path into the cemetery. Coming from Bill's house. Typical.
She dumped both of them, but did she stop seeing the other vampire in her life? Of course not. Proof enough that she'd been lying to him all along. She had never loved the Eric Northman that had all his memories. He had only been worth her time and care when he was naïve and scared.
Eric hissed, the sound a mixture of emotions. Anger, pain, fear. He stood from the bench he'd been sharing with Lucifer and disappeared into the trees, not even bothering to warn the other man. His attention was torn between listening to Sookie make her way along the path and watching Lucifer stand up and look around. It was like his chest was cracking in half—one part of him was terrified of Sookie spotting him, coming to conclusion that he was stalking her, even if he wasn't. Well, not really. He was here with Lucifer, after all. Did it really matter that it was her memory that led him to bring the other man here?
The other part of him didn't want Lucifer to see him this way. That part was ashamed of his fear and pain, both caused by that blonde waitress who had wiggled her way into his heart and then shattered it to pieces. That half of him was watching Lucifer to see what he would do—and what would happen if Sookie came across him alone in the dark of the cemetery.
He never got the chance to find out. One moment Lucifer was standing by the bench, turning in a circle and tugging on his suit jacket, and the next he was gone. The now familiar sound of feathers came to Eric's ears and he whirled in the shadows of the trees to find Lucifer behind him, head cocked to one side.
"What's wrong?" Lucifer asked, but Eric hissed at him to be quiet.
Sookie was coming.
He turned back and watched as the woman who had changed his whole world came marching down the path. She was in a short summer dress, the hem of it barely concealing her butt, and the spaghetti straps almost failing at holding it up. He'd say it was a risqué outfit, but it was warm out tonight. It was a typical outfit for any woman who lived in Bon Temps.
He tracked her through the night as she seemed to stomp in anger down the path that connected her house to Bill's through the cemetery. Well, she'd gone to see him but at least she seemed to be pissed at him too. Eric couldn't stomach the idea of her spurning him only to turn back to that lying, backstabbing, full of shit King Bill Compton. Refuse to be with Eric, sure. He could deal with that, even if it hurt him in ways he hadn't felt in centuries. But to refuse Eric and then go back to the man who had quite literally been stalking her? Eric wasn't sure he wanted to witness that. He didn't think he'd handle that kind of pain very well. He'd probably deal with his feelings in the sort of way that would damn his soul even further.
And after having been with her, he was so very desperate to fix that soul if he could.
"Who is she?" Lucifer asked as Sookie disappeared from view and Eric's shoulders finally began to ease.
"Sookie Stackhouse," Eric said the two words and closed his eyes. Why had she rejected him?
"Ah, the infamous Sookie," Lucifer replied. He sounded thoughtful and after a minute he continued. "Isn't this always the way? A woman gets her hooks into your heart, shows you what it means to bloody love and then rips it away from you."
Lucifer's words had Eric finally looking away from the path. "Been through it yourself?" he asked wryly.
"You've no idea, Viking," Lucifer said. A second later, Lucifer gripped Eric's lower arm and pulled him out of the trees, heading back toward the path and their lone bench under the lamp. They stood under the light as Lucifer looked down the dark path the way Sookie had gone. Eric remained silent; it was obvious Lucifer was thinking of something.
Lucifer sighed, shoulders slumping. "Her name is Chloe Decker. And she's in love with another man." A second sigh. "An immortal who has been lying to her for months now."
"Why don't you tell her?" Eric asked. Of course, he'd kept Bill's secret for ages, too. It felt dirty winning someone's affection when you had to resort to tattling on someone else. When you were simply the lesser of two evils, were you really earning that love?
"The difference between you and your Sookie and me and Chloe is that Chloe really is special."
Eric bristled at that comment. "Sookie is special, too. She's part fae."
"A different kind of special, Viking," Lucifer said softly. "Dear old dad sent my brother to earth to help a couple conceive. Chloe is the result. She's the only human who can make me vulnerable." Lucifer swore under his breath. "I'm not really a choice am I, when my dad literally made her as a gift for me."
Eric blinked, surprised at this admission. "Oh," was the only thing he could think to say. Not even trying to decipher what the man meant about her making him vulnerable, he tried to decide how he'd feel if there were someone put on this earth specifically designed to be his, well, mate. Probably bored of the idea—and the person—within a couple decades, no doubt. Where would the fun be in a romance if he was destined for it?
There was a time in his life that he would have actively avoided such an idea. For centuries now, he'd thought the idea of love was preposterous. Infatuation, certainly. Sexual desire and obsession, most definitely. But love? A true love, as it were? No, that was utter and complete bullshit.
Until he'd met Sookie, of course.
Sookie wasn't destined to be his lover. He wasn't even the only vampire that was attracted to her. Oh, but she was special. He'd known it from the start, when Bill had brought her to Fangtasia on some search for a murderer. At first he'd seen her as a tool—a very shiny, interesting tool. But the quicker Bill seemed to fall for her, the more Eric wondered why. And when his interest forced him to get to know her and learn about her, it turned into an unhealthy obsession. She was different. Not just different because she wasn't fully human, or that she had special powers. She was different than any other woman he'd ever been infatuated with. He couldn't fathom why and it had bothered him. So he'd ignored it as best he could.
However, when that damned witch had cursed him and he'd lost everything that made him Eric Northman, he'd run on instinct. And where had instinct brought him? To Sookie, that's where.
So things had changed. He believed in love now. He felt things. But if Sookie were his destiny, and he hers? If she had no choice but to say yes to him? No way to actually choose him over others? Well, where the fuck was the fun in that? He wouldn't necessarily be deserving of her love, if she was required to give it. Or vice versa.
He found himself understanding precisely why Lucifer was letting this Chloe character be with someone else. "You're forcing her to have a choice," he said slowly.
"Yes, precisely," Lucifer said. "Even if it means she's choosing humanity's first bloody murderer." Lucifer glowered in the dark, his dark eyes seeming to sparkle with a red light.
"I'm sorry, what?" Eric asked, trying to wrap his head around what Lucifer had just said. The man was certainly full of surprising things.
"Cain," Lucifer said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "He's been wandering the world, cursed, since he murdered his brother, of course. Then he bloody shows up in LA, stalking me no less, in the hopes that I can end his useless existence. It was fun at first, trying to kill him. Until he took a shine to Chloe."
"You were trying to kill Cain?" Eric asked, having a hard time following this conversation.
"Well, he's immortal, isn't he? He wanted to die. I was only helping a fellow out." Lucifer shook his head. "Why are we discussing me and my problems? You brought me to this quaint little cemetery to brainstorm, and I keep distracting us, don't I?"
"I believe Sookie was the distraction this time," Eric pointed out.
"And then I made the problem about myself, didn't I? No need to make me feel better, Viking. I've a tendency to focus on things I shouldn't." Lucifer shifted on the path, his tidy dress shoes scraping against the dirt. A hand scraped across that five o'clock shadow, the sound crystal clear to Eric's vampire ears. His heart seemed to twist at the sound, wanting to run down the path after Sookie but also wanting to stay here in the warmth that the devil seemed to give off. "Wouldn't it be nice if there were official vampire lore we could look over?" Lucifer asked, clearly trying to get back on track. "Perhaps there would be some sort of clue there."
Eric's attention was suitably caught at this comment. Sookie disappeared from his mind. The mysterious miracle of Chloe Decker, too. The idea of Cain wandering the earth for eternity was still stuck in his mind, but official vampire lore—well, that was something he could focus on. In fact . . .
"I think I know someone who could give us access to just such a thing," Eric said slowly.
"Oh?" Lucifer returned, looking hopeful.
"Would you like to meet the King of Louisiana?" Eric asked, thinking of the younger vampire's library in his vast estate.
If anyone had information on whether or not vampires were damned, it would be Bill Compton.