A/N: I hope you're well.

Chapter 21

Sookie was glad it was almost dawn when they were through. She needed to go over the whole thing in depth with Felipe, but there would only be time for a quick rundown before the vampires needed to die for the day. She was completely exhausted, her brain was mush, and her whole body felt like a raw nerve. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to take comfort in the arms of her vampire. She wanted to turn all the taps on full blast and hide alone behind the towel in the corner of the shower with the water as hot as she could stand it to wash all the night's horrors away. Funny since, for the most part, it had been one of the least painful nights in recent memory, as sad as that was. And by recent, she meant the past year and a half or so.

She was leaning against Eric, taking what comfort she could from him while they waited. The woman was led away. She would be placed in a room for the night and glamoured to stay put in case they needed to talk to her again the following evening. And Sookie had no doubt she would. She might think of more questions she should ask and she needed to probe deeper into what Emily might have seen. She hoped the woman would be more receptive when she was calmer and more in control. And, as much as Sookie didn't want to, she thought maybe she should find out more about Emily's relationship with Johnny.

Sookie shuddered at the thought. She wasn't a bigot by nature, but vampires had given her very little reason to think much good about them as a species since she'd met her very first one back in Bon Temps a few years before. She would be an idiot not to expect the worst on sight, for her own protection. She was surprised she had trusted Eric so quickly, especially after their first meeting.

Felipe walked into the club and she and Eric stood. The two other vampires in the room were already standing, but they stopped talking and turned towards the King.

Felipe waved his hand and sat across from Sookie and Eric. They both sat down. Sookie noticed a fine blood spray that peppered the King's white shirt with tiny red flecks. It almost complimented his cape's red silk lining. He looked to be in a much better mood. She hoped he didn't want to take her mouth, especially in front of Eric, although she knew it would happen eventually. And it would keep happening as long as they were allowed to stay together.

She reached her hand over to grab Eric's and was relieved when Felipe didn't seem to pay any notice.

"What did you find?"

Sookie blew out a breath.

"She saw the boyfriend on the phone with someone. A woman, she thinks. He asked when she was coming back to Texas and then said Felipe DeCastro will pay. She repeated the same thought whenever he squeezed her hand while they followed us around all night."

"Glamoured?"

"Yes, your Majesty."

Felipe's eyes darkened. She swallowed but then continued.

"The whole thing is so strange. He was making her think something, doing all he could to make sure I heard it. And implicated himself in the process. He'd looked surprised when they were apprehended. Like he wasn't afraid of getting caught. It doesn't make any sense."

He looked at her without blinking for a minute and a half. It was about as long as one of his blowjobs, but felt even longer. Finally, he spoke.

"Sookie, you look tired. Eric, take her back up to your room. Get some rest. We will continue this tomorrow night. Be here at eight."

He stood, turned quickly, and left, before Sookie even made it to her feet. Her shoulders fell in relief. They would even have some time after Eric rose to spend together before they had to come back.

They held hands on the way to the elevators and were silent on the ride up to their floor. She leaned against him so she wouldn't have to worry about falling over. When they got back to the room, they undressed each other and made love.

When they finished, she lay in his arms facing him, and she snuggled close against his chest. It had been a long and hectic night and she was exhausted. She took a deep breath through her nose, comforted by his dry, masculine scent. Her eyelids were getting heavy. She kissed the skin right in front of her mouth and sighed, happy and sated. She was sound asleep in less than a minute.

The sun was trying to pull him into his death, but he just wanted to smell her and feel her for a moment longer. She had told him that she loved him a few nights before, but Pam had just injected her with heroin. He was sure she didn't remember. He supposed it wasn't fair that she wouldn't be able to remember this, either. He kissed her forehead.

"I love you, Sookie."

And then he died for the day.

…

Sookie woke just a few hours later with a scream lodged in her throat. She was still in Eric's arms but, in her dream, she had been in the forest behind her Gran's house in Bon Temps. Tree roots and vines had wrapped around her and pulled her down onto the moss and leaf mold and the old loblolly pine needles on the forest floor. The more she'd struggled, the tighter they got, and soon she wasn't able to move at all. She couldn't get away, and she knew that Jason and Gran and their maker, Bill Compton, were all coming to get her and take her away to a cabin deep in the woods to hurt her and rape her and drink her blood.

She wriggled out of his embrace, sobbing, and immediately felt better when she had managed to fight herself free. She paced around the room until the urge to run subsided and then went to the bathroom and blew her nose and splashed water on her face.

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes looked haunted, the way they did in some of the pictures from when she was a child. That made her feel even smaller and more helpless, the way she had been back then, at home and at school and out in public with her Mama, or in secret with her great uncle Bartlett.

They also looked old. Like she had seen far more than anyone should, and wasn't that the truth. It was the story of her life.

Even so, the person looking back at her didn't feel like her. She felt disconnected from who she was. Sometimes, as hard as she tried, she couldn't even recognize herself in the mirror. Like maybe she was so empty inside, she had become nobody. And, if nobody got hurt, at least she would deserve it.

She was still exhausted, but she was even more hungry. It had been a very long time since their dinner at The Stake House. She ate a piece of cold leftover pizza from the fridge and took a seven dollar Coke from the mini bar. She went back for dessert and had a nine dollar package of peanut M&Ms. At least the red wine hadn't given her a headache.

She thought about turning on the TV and watching some free pay per view, but it was going to be a long night and she really needed more sleep. She hoped she could get some.

She looked at the bed and swallowed hard. She put on a pair of panties and his dirty dress shirt and curled up on the edge of the bed, far out of the grip of Eric's arms, covered in a spare blanket from the closet. Still, the scent of his shirt calmed her and she didn't even think about it when she woke up on her back with her shirt unbuttoned and laying open, and her panties and comforter on the floor, and a very large and eager vampire licking and sucking and nipping her breast and grinding against her leg, smearing it with pre-cum. This was beginning to become a habit. One she could easily get used to.

His fangs ran down and pierced her breast and he suckled. She cupped the back of his head and held him in place, the way she would never get to do with a baby of her own. But the pleasure-pain drove that thought away before it could take hold. She moaned, so turned on she couldn't wait to have him, but also not wanting him to stop what he was already doing.

When she couldn't wait any longer, she popped him off her nipple with her thumb and manhandled him into a sitting position. He allowed himself to be manhandled. She climbed on his lap and slid down on his cock and stuck her chest back in his face. He took the other nipple into his mouth and gave it as much love and affection as he had the first while she rode him hard.

Their lovemaking well after sunrise had been both slow and quick. It had been meant more for comfort and connection than relief and it hadn't quenched the thirst for him after hours of flirting and teasing the night before. The excitement from the spycraft and intrigue hadn't helped, even if it had been scary, too. Despite everything that had happened in between, the lust had come roaring back, and she was glad he had risen early enough that she would be able to have him again, preferably more than once. They would maybe even have time to wash themselves — or, more likely, each other — while they were taking their shower.

He let go of her breast and kissed her a minute or two later. She kissed him back and, while they were still fucking, they were suddenly making love, too, even though he had grabbed her hips and was now pounding her onto him like a machine, pistoning in and out of her pussy.

It was so hot. Hot and deep. His big hard cock — which was every bit as warm as she was, buried inside her — but also how their feelings for each other were making the sex even better. Mind blowing. And vice versa. She had fallen very hard. Still was. And the harder he fucked her, the quicker she fell.

She couldn't stay quiet. She had to throw her head back and moan, loud and low. It just felt too good.

"Oh my God, yes. Take me, Eric. Fuck me harder. Make me cum. Show me I'm yours."

He growled deep in his throat and did as he was told and fluidly flipped them over so he could put even more speed and force into each thrust. She cried out, and then did again. Her eyes were threatening to roll back in her head and then close, but she wanted to look at him too much. His mouth was open a little and she was surprised at how much seeing his fangs peeking through his lips turned her on. His eyes were burning with lust, locked with hers. She couldn't look away until she couldn't stand not kissing him any longer.

She did, hard, and dug her fingers into his hair. She felt the kiss all the way to her toes. A thousand years of practice had given him the most talented mouth and lips and tongue imaginable. Not to mention his cock. She thought if she was any more turned on, she would burst into flames.

Her orgasm was building. And building. And building. It kept growing until it felt like the peak would never come. The muscles in her thighs and deep in her pelvis and between her legs jumped and twitched. She had to stretch her head back again and groan. He took the opportunity to retract his fangs and lick and suck and bite her throat.

"God, Eric, you feel so good. So good inside me."

Eric agreed. He felt very good inside her. Better than he could have imagined, between their combined sexual prowess, the crazy chemistry they shared, and the very strong feelings between them he couldn't deny, no matter how complicated it made their existence.

She could tell he was getting very close. He tilted his pelvis a little and, somehow, it got even better. He looked at her again and she shivered. Even more of his fangs were on display. She wanted him to bite her, but not just yet. She decided maybe she could let her climax grow for a little bit longer. Eric was living proof that bigger was better. So to speak.

She moved her hand to the back of his head and pulled him to her. She couldn't get enough of his mouth. She sucked on one fang and then the other and he growled, low and deep. He pulled back to look in her eyes again and started fucking her a little bit faster. Eye contact really turned him on and she certainly didn't mind looking at the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. And seeing how much he wanted her made her want him even more.

He kissed her hard again — he couldn't get enough of her mouth, either — but couldn't make himself wait any longer to bite. He needed to taste her again.

He mouthed his way down to her throat and took a long, deep breath through his nose, filling himself with her scent before he bit. Her blood tasted even sweeter than it had before.

She felt his cool cum shooting deep inside her and she finally found her peak. It was monumental. Too much. And she was in freefall. She clamped down hard on his shoulder with her teeth to muffle the screams and tasted his blood.

Her bite came as a very welcome surprise and he shouted out in pleasure. He had never cum so hard. Nothing had ever felt that good, even the night they'd been bonded. Their climaxes seemed to go on forever before they were finally spent.

When they had both come down a little, Sookie kissed the bite on Eric's shoulder, but it had already mostly healed. Hers had, too, thanks to his blood. He licked it anyway, to help it along. And because he didn't want any of her blood to go to waste.

Neither wanted to move, so he stayed on top of her with his nose buried in her hair. She had her face nestled into the crook of his neck and her arms were around him. He was still a little hard and getting harder, growing deeper inside her. He enjoyed the connection but the flames had been dampened for the time being. He just wanted to be close to her. He smelled her hair again, filling his lungs with her essence.

After a few moments, he kissed her neck softly. She pulled back to look at him and smiled. He smiled back. They kissed, long and slow, and then he pulled out and rolled over and lay back down on his back. She snuggled tight up against his side and threw her leg over his and kissed his chest. She sighed happily and he leaned down to kiss her head, taking the opportunity to enjoy her scent again.

Neither of them thought about what was going to happen after they left their room for the night.