A/N: Howdy! Hope you all are swell. Thanks to LeaveSookieAlone for the super helpful help. I have no more chapters socked back but I'm sure I'll churn out something soon.

Chapter 5

Eric called Pam two minutes after she rose for the evening, shortly before sunrise. She didn't even say hello.

"So, how did it go last night?"

He laughed. "Cutting right to the chase."

"What can I say? I'm nosy and impatient."

He paused for a few moments and then sighed.

"It was so much worse than I could have even imagined."

"Oh, Eric… What happened?"

He sat on the edge of the bed and put his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand.

"It was the girl. That is who I was sent here to guard. I was planning on taking her straight to my room for sex but she refused. When I realized the King hadn't ordered her to obey me, I tried to glamour her to heed. She is immune. She slapped me. I took her back to the King and he told her to do as I say. She led us back to the elevator, we went up to my room, and we had sex.

"Not good?"

He laughed, bitterly. "No. It was extraordinary. And she tasted better than any other human I've ever had."

"Well, it can't be all bad, then. So, what happened next?"

"Then she pointed out that I'm a rapist."

Pam was stunned into silence for a few moments.

"Jesus fucking Christ. What a bunch of bullshit."

He sighed. "No. No, not really. As it turns out, she is a slave. I told her to have sex with me, she said no, and then the King made her obey. I don't know if it makes me feel any better to know she enjoyed it, at least, or if that is just me making excuses."

"She did? Well, doesn't that fly in the face of the rest?"

He snorted. "No. I understand her very well. Eventually, I did the same, when it came to my maker and the vampires he gave me to over the years. I learned to enjoy it, too. It made my existence much easier to bear. But I didn't hate them any less for doing it."

"Oh. Well, what did you say?"

"Nothing. After that, we went back downstairs. She didn't speak for the rest of the night unless she had to, except to give the waitress a fifty percent tip. She ate practically nothing and pushed a button on a slot machine thousands of times and showed no emotion about anything. Somehow, that was as bad as her anger. Worse. The silence was nearly painful. I took her back early."

"Well. Probably for the best."

He snorted again.

"You must walk through the club to get to her room. Victor pulled her into an orgy before we got there. There were two dozen vampires there, at least. When they saw us come in, they cheered."

He replayed the moment when she had looked at him and told him goodbye over and over again in his head. There'd been nothing in her face or voice or posture to suggest she'd been anything other than apathetic. But it seemed like the absence of her pain — and guessing how much it was costing her to remain that way — somehow made him hurt for her even more.

"I see a lot of myself in her. It is making it worse. I am too close. I feel angry, guilty, defensive, ashamed… Proud. I want to protect her the way I wished someone had protected me. I want to fuck her and bite her again. And again and again. And then I realize I am one of the ones she must be protected from. I am both sides of the coin. The slave who'd enjoyed his rape but hated his rapists and now the rapist who's raped the slave who'd enjoyed it. Would I have hated myself any less?"

Pam was quiet for a few moments but then opened her mouth to object. His voice was soft when he cut her off.

"I will be fine. I will do what I can to keep her away from them. I will forgive myself when I can't. I will swallow my discomfort and ignore her barbs and her silence and do what I was brought here to do — keep her safe and in line while she tries to find the ones responsible for stealing from Felipe. Hopefully she will find the thieves soon and I will be permitted to go back to Louisiana."

And he hoped he wouldn't hate himself too much for leaving her behind.

He'd wanted to go and get a donor but he was afraid to leave her alone now. If Victor got his claws in her, he wouldn't let her go for hours. Eric was going to need to switch to bottled blood and his hand. It was going to make being next to her night after night so much harder. He took a TrueBlood from the bar fridge, warmed it up in the microwave and drank it standing at the window. He left when there were still streaks of orange and pink and red in the desert sky.

There were no more than half a dozen vampires and maybe twice as many donors in the club. Eric was glad to not see Sookie or Victor or any of Felipe's other officers amongst them. He knocked on her door.

"You can come in if you have a key. I can't stop you. But I can't open the door, either."

He didn't know if he could hear the sadness in her voice now or if it was just his imagination. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.

She sat on the side of her bed, looking up at him. The room was small and very plain. The only pops of colour were the clothes in her closet and the pretty blanket underneath her. Even she was wan and washed out and wearing white.

There were a handful of well-worn books stacked on the bedside table and a small bathroom with a toilet, shower, and sink off one side. Everything smelled strongly of her and vampire sex. He looked for any chinks in her armour and saw nothing. She had been ready and he'd been happy to leave. Unfortunately, he hadn't done it soon enough and they'd run into Victor on the way out. Which had led them to needing an audience with the King to — hopefully — keep her away from Victor Madden, that night and maybe even going forward.

When they were nearly to Felipe's elevator, she plucked at his sleeve.

"Wait."

She stopped and he turned to look at her.

"Did Felipe tell you you could bite me?"

Eric looked down at the bite and had a hard time dragging his eyes away.

"No. But he also didn't tell me that I couldn't."

She sighed. "Really, nobody is supposed to except for Felipe. Everyone does, pretty much, but they try to heal me after. Felipe knows about it but he doesn't really want to know about it, you know? So maybe you should heal your bite, just in case."

He took her hand and led her back the way they'd come until he found an alcove that was suitably private. He stood in front of her — close, to shield her from view — and leaned down, pushing her hair out of the way with his nose. She smelled incredible. He was being an absolute fool. His cock was thick and hard and pulsing. He murmured into her neck.

"I must reopen the wounds."

She nodded. It made her hair swish against his face a little and the motion spread her scent again. He closed his eyes and inhaled and then bit her, making sure to match it to last night's bite. He helped himself to a mouthful and then bit his tongue and slowly licked her throat. He swallowed and licked again, careful to get any traces of her blood or his.

She was holding her breath. He was ashamed of himself. He took a step back. He felt a pang when he saw her smooth, unmarked throat. He wanted to mark it again.

"There. And thank you. I do not want to anger the King."

She nodded. He took her hand again and led her to the King's elevator. When they got upstairs, Felipe was standing in the doorway waiting for them. He looked exasperated, like he couldn't believe he had to tend to such petty squabbles.

"I spoke to Victor. We had a meeting, did we?"

Shit.

"I am sorry, your majesty. I just wanted to prioritize your needs over selfish wants. I shouldn't have overstepped."

Felipe stared at him for a few moments and then nodded. "That's what I told him, too. Still. Have her back tonight at one-thirty. Victor knows that your work will be her priority going forward. Do not use me as an excuse again."

"Yes, your majesty."

"Victor will be able to request her for part of the evening no more than twice a week. He will be sure to let you know which nights in advance. If I have use of her beyond that, I'll let you know."

"Yes, your majesty."

The King smiled, seemingly pleased the unpleasantness was out of the way.

"Felipe, Eric. Call me Felipe. Now. Wait downstairs."

"Yes, Felipe."

Eric did as he was told and felt an impotent rage. And an incredible jealousy. He wanted to punish her abusers almost as much as he wanted to be one.

The elevator doors opened a few minutes later and she was fixing her makeup in the mirrored back wall. When she finished, she put her lipstick in her small handbag and stepped out into the casino. Her lips were swollen and looked just-fucked and her right eye was puffy. There was a faint smudge of purple on her cheek. Her expression gave nothing away.

He decided he was too much of a coward to ask if the King had hit her and, if so, had he had done it because of the bite. He would rather not know. He was sure Victor hadn't hesitated to tell Felipe all about it.

"Have you eaten? What would you like to have?"

They looked at each other for several seconds before she took a deep, shaky breath and blew it out. He saw a glimpse of relief. She hadn't wanted him to ask any more than he had wanted to know. They couldn't go against the King, regardless. They gave each other a small smile, acknowledging their unspoken agreement to move on with their night and not worry about what had just happened or what was to come.

She raised her chin a little and shut down as much as she could. So far, she wasn't freaking out about letting him see her so vulnerable, without her mask of indifference firmly in place. For some reason, she'd wanted him to.

She'd still had hours to go before she had to go back to the VIV Club and Victor. She was just going to keep in mind that she wasn't going to be at his beck and call seven nights a week any longer. Besides, she needed the practice remembering how to love it again.

"I think I want some pizza."