A/N: Wow everyone, thanks for all the great comments, and all the love last chapter, I'm so happy you're enjoying the story so far.

This is the longest chapter by far, almost 8k! It's Eric's POV of when they took him from Freyda's and the rest of the night. Honestly, it's basically 8k worth of Eric being confused while trying to decide how to feel and what to do.

EPOV

I'm thankful I don't have to breathe when I walk down the stairs of Freyda's mansion and see Sookie for the first time in months. If I had to breathe I'm sure my breath would catch at the sight, she is so beautiful and I've missed her so much. Thankfully I'm a vampire so I am able to look unaffected to the world when in reality I'm barely holding it together. I can't believe she's finally come for me, I've been dreaming of this moment for months, since the day I left Louisiana in the first place. It's that thought for some reason that reminds me that this isn't my Sookie. This is just some approximation of her, but this Sookie isn't mine. I want to scoff because I have to admit, if only to myself, that no Sookie has ever truly been mine. I've been hers since almost the first moment I met her but that same cannot be said for her, she made sure of that.

I'm in awe of her watching her take charge with Freyda. She seems more sure of herself, more confident and self-sufficient since the last time I saw her, and again I have to remind myself that this is not really Sookie. Of course, when it comes down to it I choose to go with her, if only to be with my progeny and to stop the chance of having to finish the blood bond. I cannot lie, at least to myself, I want to be near her too, I have to talk to her, see how similar she is to my Sookie, see if there is anything of the woman I love in her other than the looks.

During the limo ride back to the hotel I greet both Pam and Karin, hoping to convey how much I've missed them and how much their support has meant to me over this trying time with a look and a few words alone. I'm pretty sure I've gotten my point across when I see Pam turn her head away and notice her eyes glassy. With Karin, she is harder to read as always, and not only because I haven't been around her much in recent centuries but I think she understands my thoughts and intentions going by the emotions I can still feel from her in our broken bond. I must set aside some time to speak to her privately soon, now that Occela is dead I can finally explain to her why I was so cold and distant, why I pushed her away and freed her so many years ago. It wasn't from lack of wanting her around, I felt Appius getting closer, I knew he was coming for a visit, at the time I also knew he had just lost another child. I knew what would have happened if Karin had been with me when he arrived. I did not want to put her through that torture and probable death. So I spoke harshly before freeing her and sending her away.

I tune back into the conversations going on around me when I hear Sookie start to raise her voice at Niall, she is magnificent when she gets on one of her kicks. It's a beautiful thing to watch. I don't know what to feel when I hear about what she gave up to be with me. She was as adverse to taking any role in the royal hierarchy as I've always been. This Sookie must care about me to some degree, or maybe she only did what she did because she cared for her original version of me. It is all too much. I have all intentions of going in my room for the rest of the night to have some time to get myself under control, there is too much going on in my life right now that I have no control over and I need some time to come to grips with the way things are. I immediately change my mind when I come to the realization that I must share a room with Sookie. I'm fucking rich and my progeny have access to my money, it would have been no hardship for them to get another room, that is how I know they placed Sookie and me together on purpose. I consider going with them to feed and perhaps spend some more time with my children when it's offered to me but I fed off of a donor first thing, just like every night at the compound and seeing Sookie standing there in the middle of the living area looking so lost and sad stopped me. It seems it does not matter to me whether this is my Sookie or not, if any Sookie is in need of help, or even simply company, I'll be there, apparently.

With a somewhat mornful look at the door as it's closing with everyone else leaving I look to Sookie before walking over to the window and looking at the view for a few moments so that I may get my thoughts in order. I work hard to hold back a sigh before walking over and sitting down on the couch. I keep my face as blank as possible before speaking, I rather not give away how much this Sookie still calls to me, "We need to talk.'

She jumps, almost as if she forgot she wasn't alone. When she sits down across from me she looks nervous, hopeful, and excited at the same time. That makes me feel… something. What does she hope to happen now that I'm here? "O-okay. Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

I nod before exhaling an unneeded breath and leaning forward. "So you are not the Sookie from here?" I ask even though I already know the answer, it's as good a place

to start as any.

"Yeah, um, yes. Though I know everything that happened here."

"Because you were told about it?"

"No, because I lived it. Or at least it feels like I did, the memories are in-depth, detailed, I remember every conversation we've ever had. I feel the things that she felt but also it's different because I see things differently than she did, more clearly. I mean you weren't perfect in that relationship by any means but she didn't treat you right or fairly at all, you deserved better than she— than I gave you."

I— I wasn't expecting all that, it's a lot to unpack. So she remembers everything? Every word I said to her, every fight we've had? Everything I've whispered in her ear in bed when she was half asleep because it was easier to be honest with her that way? No, it can't be true, she is saying things to me that I've wished Sookie would have said to me, it can't be true, I won't believe it. This isn't my Sookie anyway, I have to continually tell myself that so I don't forget. It'd be easier if I wasn't still so aware of her every move, if I wasn't still so drawn to her. "Hmm," I say for lack of anything better.

She leans forward now. "Listen, Eric, I get how you're feeling," She continues faster after my incredulous look, "No really, I do. I wasn't given a choice in this either and even though my Eric and I were just starting out, I lost him too. He's off living happily with a wife and twins in the house he built for me." What? I really must not be doing a great job at keeping my face blank this time around because she answers my unasked question "Our lives weren't totally the same before the split. From the memories I have of here, there was a maenad just like there was in my dimension. Except we handled that here by going to an orgy for some reason." She pauses and sniffles, I realize she's holding back tears and it starts to make sense what she was saying in the limo earlier about a friend's death. She clears her throat and gets back to the point of the conversation, "Anyway, we were in Dallas when the whole Maenad thing happened, both here and there, but in my dimension when I came back she had taken over my house, destroyed it I mean everything, she was even wearing my Gran's wedding dress when we finally killed her. Anyway, it was not long after that you—or he came over because he found out about why Bill was really with me. That was after he tried killing you by burying you in cement with Russell Edgington." I quirk my eyebrow in surprise, so far not much of this sounds very familiar, it's only similar in the vaguest of terms, I did not find out about Bill's plan with the queen until much later here. "Anyway, I was obviously heartbroken, so I went to the only person I thought I could trust, my Gran. She had already passed of course, so I went to her grave and started crying out my tale of woe. My fairy godmother came to me then and told me she could help, I took her hand, and the next thing I knew we were in the faery. Well, I was there for ten minutes and in those ten minutes the queen tried to get all the halflings stuck there, I ended up getting out because my grandfather saved me. Anyway, when I got home I found out a year had passed. Everyone thought I was dead, and gave up on me, my brother sold my house, Bill was king, and everyone else moved on with life, except you. You knew I wasn't dead so when Jason put my house up for sale you bought it and fixed it up better than it ever was before. Of course, when you felt me return you came to me and basically said since you owned the house you owned me too but that's another story." She finishes with a roll of her eyes.

She's trying to sound exasperated but it's clear she cares for me, or at least this other version of me. I cannot lie, that might be something I would do if I was forced to spend a year looking for Sookie going out of my mind, especially around that time when I couldn't understand what it was that made me so obsessed, made me care so much about her. It seems to me that this other version of myself has this Sookie's affections as well. She clears her throat again after realizing she went off on a tangent and completely lost track of what she was originally talking about. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is I get it. I didn't choose any of this either, I miss my home and my people too. But, but I can't say I regret it."

My fangs come down without my consent, though I'm not sure if I would have stopped them if I had a choice. How dare she? I lost the only woman I've ever loved to her grandfather's machinations. "Now you wait just a minute, mister. Don't get all upset and fangy with me, let me explain!"

I didn't realize I was leaning forward in anger until she reprimanded me in the way only Sookie could get away with. I sit back and nod at her to continue. "All I'm saying is, this Sookie was too stubborn and blind to see the truth of things. She was so stubborn that she just let everything play out the way it did because she'd have to admit she loved you and was devoted to you to have a chance to change anything. She wasn't willing to fight for you because Bill hurt her and she convinced herself that you were going to do the same thing. Bill used his blood to sway her against you and after so long of living that way even when the blood left her system she never let herself reconsider her stance. She already decided what type of man you were and nothing was gonna change her mind because in her head she knew she was right. Because of that, you two never stood a chance, no matter how much you guys loved each other. And-and I was heading down the same path. I was taken from my dimension when you had amnesia but the whole time we were together I kept telling myself it was just for a little while, that there was no way it could ever turn into anything different because I knew all I needed to know about Eric Northman, he was a selfish, evil vampire that couldn't keep it in his pants for even one night. I knew that we'd never work out because we were too different."

"And now you don't regret it because you got away from him? At least that version of him?" I'm not sure what her point is. It feels like a very long-winded way of telling me that any Sookie and Eric wouldn't work.

"No! I don't regret it because I got to see the truth! I got to see their life and their kids together how happy they are, how perfect for each other they are, I got to see how devoted you can be, how much you care for, and are there for someone you love. How happy I think we can be if we give it half a chance."

I jerk back at her words. I didn't realize I was slowly leaning in with every syllable she spoke. Why does this woman affect me so? She's crazy, she has to be if she thinks I'm willing to start over with a different version of the same woman who fucked me around for years. Even when we were committed she always had one foot out the door ready to blame me when the slightest thing went wrong and run. "You cannot truly think that is how it will go."

Her face falls. "No, I could hope though. Niall warned me that you might not be as open to the change as I am now. It took me some time to get used to it, and I was barely dating my Eric, you were married to Sookie."

A self-disgusted scoff comes out of my lips before I can stop it. She looks at me with her eyebrow quirked in a way that reminds me of my Sookie when she is around me for a long time and starts picking up my mannerisms. It makes me soften for a moment before coming back to myself. "For someone who supposedly has the memories of me and my Sookie, you sure are idealizing a lot. You and I both know I am the only one who considered it a marriage."

I'm surprised about how angry and caustic my voice sounds. I notice Sookie leaning in looking as if she wants to comfort me. "Oh, Eric." She stops, I know my eyes are giving away how little I want to be touched by her, or any Sookie right now. "That's what I'm saying, I know she handled that horribly, and I'd never want to make you feel like that. We can be better." After I don't reply to her words she stays quiet for about two minutes, which I'm thankful for. Her next words do surprise me. "If it makes you feel any better, she knew she was in the wrong too and she regretted it. If it weren't for her regret in how she treated you, none of this would have ever happened."

My eyes shot to her from where they were looking out the window in interest, how could they not? My Sookie felt bad? She wanted to change and fix things with us? How did that turn into all this? I almost hate myself for asking and how hopeful I sound, "What?"

"I have her memories all the way up until she switched dimensions. The night she left she was just feeling bad for herself, being angry at you for leaving her but missing you a lot all the same. She kept thinking you'd figure a way out of it and since you didn't, she decided you didn't want to, so she channeled all her feelings into anger, it was easier for her to handle but that didn't make her miss you any less. Anyway, she was sitting in her—my house, when Pam and Karin came over, they basically told her all you gave up in your contract so that she could stay safe and be left alone and how you manipulated everyone to push her and Sam together so that she could get who you thought she was in love with. After they told her all those hard truths she came to a lot of realizations and saw the truth for what it was. Saw she treated you terribly and blamed you for things Bill or other vampires did. She hated herself for how things turned out and knew it was mostly her fault for how things ended. She couldn't live with letting you suffer like that, so she decided she was going to save you, to find a way to get you out of that situation. That's where Niall came in, he told her she had no choice but to go to the other dimension because this one was doomed. That she couldn't save you but there was an Eric that she could save, one that was in need of saving and that had a version of me that was just going to end up at the same place you two were. Still, she wanted to take her chances here to try to save you, the Eric she loved but Niall knew her too well and brought out the trump card he knew her—I couldn't resist. He told her if she didn't go everyone she knew and loved was going to die. So she went, and she promised to love him how she should have loved you."

I stand up and walk over to the wall of windows. Fuck, she wanted me? Me not just some random version of me? She loved me and regretted how things went? Something inside me that's been broken since I found out she ran away from me and right into the arms of another version is fixed. I didn't even know it was broken but now that the wound is healed I can feel it. Okay, so what does that mean for me? She might have wanted to fight for me, she might have realized she loved me and how much I love her but she's still gone, she's still happily bonded to someone else, still bared him children, something I thought I could never give her. I still love and miss her and know she's never coming back. She's still the only woman I've ever loved, the only woman I've ever considered my wife in more than name.

I still miss her and mourn her. I've learned to deal with pain of any kind by self-medicating with lots of fucking and overindulgence of blood. Unfortunately, I can't do that right now. Not unless I want to end up back at Freyda's. No, now I have to play the happily married man reunited with his wife. This Sookie seems happy enough to play the role of wife for me, though going by the way she's talking, she wants way more than I can offer right now, more than I might ever want to offer again. The one time I fell in love and let myself try to make it work, I failed spectacularly. I have no want to go through that again. That being said, there's no reason we can't enjoy each other's bodies and have fun while we're living this farce of a marriage. Once it's over and I'm free we can go our separate ways. Well, at least in the sense of spending time together as friends or more. I cannot see myself letting any Sookie go off on her own without any protection and never speaking to her again. Plus, no matter where I end up, I'm sure a telepath will come in handy. It's not as if just because I do not want to be married to this Sookie I will just stop looking out for her, and that everyone else that's tried to take her against her will, will just stop trying. No, no matter what I'll have to keep her close for her safety.

I hold back a sigh, I'm being purposefully short-sighted if I truly think there is any scenario where Sookie and my life aren't tied to each other for the rest of her life. I feel pain at the thought of how short her human life will be, it's a normal pain, I've been dealing with it since I realized I loved her and she made it clear to me that she'd never want to be turned but this is the first time that pain has ever come to me with this Sookie. I don't know exactly what her plans are but I can't see them being much different than my—the other Sookie's.

I turn back to her once my emotions are in order and my face is blank. I'm a little surprised when she is already looking at me. "You know we must live as husband and wife for the foreseeable future, yes?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. That's fine with me, I was kinda already doing that with amnesiac Eric and I already know all your quirks from the memories, I think I'll be fine."

I smile slightly when her blush comes over her face before I catch myself. "Why do you blush?"

"It's just, I know I've stayed over your house before and the same goes for you, and I have all those memories but still, I've never cohabitated with a man before." Another sweet blush covers her cheeks.

"It is fine, it's not as if we will have people looking inside the house. You already have a room in my house that you can live in while I'll stay in mine. We'll be roommates, you know how to live with them, yes?"

I see her face fall in disappointment and decide not to let myself think too hard about why. "Oh, yeah… roommates."

Again I feel the urge to sigh, even knowing that this is not really the woman I fell in love with, the woman who has not left my thoughts since the first time I met her, I can't stand to see her upset. I walk over to where she's sitting, kneel down in front of her, and put my hand on her knees. "What is wrong?"

"Nothing, well that's not really true." I wait for her to continue but she doesn't, I hold back the urge to cup her cheek to get her to look at me.

"I figured as much out myself. You should tell me, maybe I can help. After all, we are a team, for the foreseeable future at least."

Apparently, that is the wrong thing to say because she looks even more forlorn. "It's nothing, really, or at least nothing I really have the right to be upset about." I just stare at her waiting for more information. After she doesn't speak for a few moments I quirk my eyebrow. I keep hearing that she's just like my Sookie and I'm just like the Eric from her dimension, if that's the case she should know I am a stubborn mother fucker and have no problem waiting her out.

Eventually, she relents and after a deep breath, she speaks while not moving her eyes from a spot on the floor. "It was an unrealistic goal. I was stupid and didn't think things through, I thought you'd be happy to have me come for you, I thought you'd have missed me as much as I missed you. I thought you'd want to live with me, like really as husband and wife, I, I don't know I didn't think it through, now I understand that in your head, I'm not Sookie but for me, it's different, I have these memories, I feel like I lived them, it might not seem that way to you but for me, I am this Sookie, I've lived this life, lived through our relationship and it's downfall, watched how Ocella treated you, remember Bubba interrupting up at Russell's house after I got staked, remember allowing you to glamour me because I was in so much pain, and that feeling of relief, though I'd never admit it at the time, I felt when you showed up because Andre was about to force me into bonding with him. I get that it's different for you, I didn't at first but I do now. But for me, it's not, you're still Eric, the man I love."

Gods, I don't even know where to start. It's unusual for me to feel this way but right now I'm overwhelmed. My skin is itching with the need to leave, to run away from this conversation and the look of love in her eyes. But I can't because there's also a lot of vulnerability in them too and that's one thing Sookie has never really allowed herself to be with me, I can't just prove her right by leaving her. Still, I can't be so close to her right now so I gently remove my hand from where it's still resting on her leg, stand up, and walk back over to the window. It's enough space that I can breathe, metaphorically anyway, and think through her words and how I want to reply.

If she would have said anything like that to me before Freyda happened, no not even then, just before the Sookies switched, it would have made me incredibly happy. Now it feels fake. I could fool myself into thinking that my Sookie, my lover is saying such things but I know it's not true, she's gone. This Sookie, she, well I don't quite know what she is. She's similar, she smells the same, and she has the same fire in her eyes when something pisses her off that gets me so hot I can't think straight, but there's something different too, I just can't put my finger on what. Not that she's bad, or even worse, she's just different.

I'd never admit this to anyone but it scares me a little how easy I feel like it would be to just continue where I left off with my Sookie, to just transfer all the love and longing I have for her to the woman here with me now. It sounds like that's what she wants anyway, would it really be so bad? No, I can't do that, it feels like I'd be betraying my Sookie, my wife. I scoff internally, it's not as if she thought twice about doing the same thing. I need to stop thinking about this, I'm just going in circles. I walk back over to her and bend my knees again so we're at eye level, I don't speak until she finally looks at me. I feel my insides tighten when I see the gloss of tears in her eyes. For the millionth time, I get angry that she broke our blood bond because now I can't know exactly what she's thinking before getting angry again, this time at myself for forgetting to separate the two Sookies again, I've never had a blood bond with this woman before.

Once she looks at me I speak. "Sookie I cannot give you what you want. Not now at least, probably not ever. I can't deny that I care for you, that hearing you speak of those memories as if they're your own does something to me. But I can't get past the truth that they're not actually your memories, that you don't actually love me, you love some other version of me. Believe me, I wish I could, it'd be much easier for both of us if I could get passed it, alas it's just not possible." I give in and cup her cheek and rub my thumb back and forth on it softly when she tries to look away but I do manage to stop myself from leaning in. Trying to pick back up where Sookie and I left off is just unrealistic. We're going to be living together for the foreseeable future, it's not as if we're able to go our separate ways, so I propose we get to know each other and go from there."

There, that's a sensible plan and a good compromise. It's most definitely not what she had hoped for and much more than I wanted when I heard about the dimension travel, honestly, I wanted never to meet this version of my lover thinking it'd hurt too much. I was right, it does hurt a lot but seeing her is also comforting, it feels like home but that's always how Sookie has felt to me, I guess being from a different dimension doesn't change that.

She smiles at my words and I feel the clinching I've been feeling in my chest ease. "I can get behind that, I'd love to get to know you again, without all of Bill's blood and other people's opinions coloring my view." She leans back so that I'm no longer touching her face and holds her hand out, "I'm Sookie Stackhouse, it's nice to meet you…" She trails off holding her hand out.

I can't help myself from doing the same thing I did when we were first introduced, I grab her proffered hand and bring it to my lips, kissing it softly. "Eric Northman and the pleasure is all mine." I'm about to spew out a few other pleasantries that people say when first meeting but she interrupts me with a yawn. I quirk my lips at her look of embarrassment. "You should get some rest Sookie, I'm sure it's been a long few days for you."

"Yeah, you're right, it has been a lot. Could you… No, never mind, forget it."

"What? You should know by now that you can ask…" I stop myself because again I'm mixing her up with the other Sookie. "You can ask me anything Sookie, if I can, I'll do it. I owe you much for getting me free of Freyda."

"Oh nothing, it's silly. It's just, before I thought better of it I was going to ask you if you could hold me while I fall asleep like you used to but you don't have to, I know it's probably too strange for you."

I hold in another sigh she's right it is strange for me but the request is far too tempting for me to turn down. I stand up and hold my hand out to her. She smiles shyly at me before taking it. I follow my nose to the room that smells most like her and get comfortable on the bed when she starts her bedtime routine. By the time she's in her pajamas, which is nothing more than a large t-shirt that I think used to be her brother's, I'm hard as a rock and thankful I don't intend to be in bed for the rest of the night or else I wouldn't still be in my jeans. I pull the covers back for her and she crawls in tentatively. I hear her heart racing with nerves and even though she asked me to hold her, she seems too unsure to take what she wants. I wait for her to decide how she wants to lay but once I realize that she's willing to accept not touching me at all because she doesn't want to be pushy I finally let out my sigh, this time it's exasperated. I move closer, wrap my arms around her, and pull her as close to me as possible. I inhale her scent and exhale a sigh of contentment. I notice she does the same and nestles into me. For the first time since before I found out about the marriage contract, I feel content. So I sit, relax and listen. I'm not sure how long I lay here, I know it's only minutes before her breathing evens out and I know a million thoughts cross my mind while I'm here. Most of which surround the little fairy in my arms, both versions of her. It's harder to keep the two separate when she's lying here in my arms feeling so right, so much how like I remember, like I've fantasized about over these last months.

Thankfully, my progeny choose this moment to come back into the suite. Thank the Gods, I didn't need any more time to myself to wax lyrical over Sookie and how it feels to hold her. Gods, what have I turned into? I get angry thinking about how I'm acting and place the blame solely on the woman who turned me into this, or the woman who replaced her? I'm not even sure at this point but I do know Sookie is squarely where my anger is placed. I get up off the bed and make my way to the living area of the suite and see my two girls relaxing on the couch, they both look properly fed and sated.

"You wore her out already? I'd have thought with that extra blast of fairy magic she took she'd have been able to last longer" Pam says without looking at me and obviously without scenting the room for if she had, she'd know there had been no fucking going on here. I smell of Sookie, sure but only in the superficial way that says we were in contact, there's none of her sweat, saliva, cum, or blood on me.

Karin, on the other hand, obviously has scented the room. "He hasn't had his way with her yet."

Her words make Pam look at me and inhale. "What? Why not? I know she was ready and willing. Believe me, she talked my ear off about it enough to know."

That piques my interest but I choose not to ask. I don't want to be any more pulled into Sookie's web than I already am. Unfortunately, being that she's my childe, Pam knows anyway. I want to cringe when her face softens in sympathy. "She is Sookie, you know. Like our Sookie, there's barely any difference. Truthfully, the only difference I've noticed is that she's not in denial about you anymore. Oh, and she sees the supernatural world and those around her much more clearly. She's no longer blind to her 'friends' and how they treat her. She's Sookie, it's just as if she's grown a few decades, wisdom wise. You shouldn't force yourself to stay away because you think they're not the same or out of some unnecessary and frankly idiotic loyalty to the other one."

She knows me too well sometimes. Part of me wants to take her words to heart, another bigger part of me wants to ignore them and continue to keep my distance. That's the side I listen to. "We'll see," I say noncommittally. "So, what did I miss? What do I need to know? What's this about a vote?"

We spend the next few hours catching me up on all the goings on and everything I have to know pertaining to the vote. We still need more which isn't optimal but it is doable, the Were is probably the one to work on. I decide to get on that tomorrow since I'm sure Freyda is already campaigning for herself. My fangs come down when I'm told about the vampires and Weres around my Sookie's woods and forest. No one is going to take her if I have any say in the matter. I ignore Pam's knowing look when those exact words come out of my mouth. After the business is taken care of we spend some time catching up, I always enjoy spending time around Pam, she's very entertaining and I very much enjoy catching up with Karin, I've missed her greatly. I make a mental note to set some time aside tomorrow to clear things up with her about the past, I do not want her to think that I sent her away because I didn't want her. At the time I couldn't explain because Ocella was close, so close she wasn't even out of the town we were staying in before he arrived and started my punishments.

Pam excuses herself first, she scheduled a donor earlier and disappears into her room with the human when she arrives, there are still about two hours before sunrise. Even though there's time for our conversation now, I decide to save the heavy stuff for tomorrow and keep it light tonight. In fact, Sookie lying in our bed sleeping is calling to me. I'm about to make my excuses to leave and spend the rest of the night holding Sookie and inhaling her scent when Karin gets up from where she's sitting on the other couch and comes over to sit next to me. I look at her waiting to see what her plan is.

"I think it is smart that you are keeping your distance from Sookie." I quirk my eyebrow at her and she knows that's permission to keep talking. "Don't misunderstand, I like her, she's my… friend, possibly my first."

I've learned long ago that the quickest way to get Karin to clam up when she's actually talking is to interrupt her but I can't help myself. "The other Sookie, you mean."

She shakes her head once in negation. "No, well yes, her too but you'll see they're much the same. Sookie is Sookie, no matter which version you get of her, especially after she got the memories of this life."

"You knew her before she had the memories of here?"

I'm surprised to see Karin crack a smile. "Yes, it was quite humorous how scared she was when Pam and I entered the house without needing an invitation. She didn't know who I was so when Pam said 'our maker' she became even more frightened thinking that she was turned. She tried to make her fangs come down."

I smile at the story until I remember that's another reason for me to keep my distance from her, no version of Sookie wants to be turned, no matter what she will die in the next century. It'd be easier not to let myself get attached and for me to just keep quietly grieving the Sookie I've already lost. It seems Karin has a tendency to be able to read my mind as well."Letting yourself get attached will only bring pain. It is better to keep your distance, the Freyda problem will be solved soon enough and then you will be able to go your separate ways."

"That is the plan."

"Good." The next thing I know Karin is strattling me and her lips are roughly kissing mine. She moans into my mouth before I even start to return the kiss. I do join in after a second and enjoy the feeling of her lithe body rubbing against mine, I grab her ass and pull her flush against me. I moan into her neck when she rubs her cunt against my cock. It's been a long time since I've fucked anyone I wasn't contractually obligated to. That thought is like an ice bucket over me and my libido, it's not as if I wasn't allowed to fuck who I wanted, I chose not to because it felt wrong like I was betraying Sookie. I try to ignore that thought, my Sookie is long gone and I owe nothing to the one in bed a few rooms away.

To get her off my mind I roughly flip Karin over using speed only a vampire can reach and rip her shirt off. I palm her breast with my hand and take the other in my mouth. Karin grabs my hair and pulls me closer. I've missed Karin, I've always enjoyed her body and the way she fucked before but I can't get into it, I can't get Sookie out of my head, and not the Sookie that left me, the Sookie that's here, the one that wants me, who asked me to give her a chance.

Again I try to get her out of my mind, this time by cupping Karin's sex and using the pad of my hand to rub her clit over her leather pants. Still, it doesn't work, I'm not even hard anymore. What the fuck is wrong with me? I vamp away to the other side of the room and look out the window. I feel like I have spent way too much of my night looking out this window.

"Eric?"

"Sorry Karin," I open my mouth to say more but I'm not sure what to say. There's no reason I shouldn't fuck her, she's my progeny, I have love for her and it's been a long time, I'm sure she'd enjoy it too but I just can't.

"You don't owe her anything, she's not the one you pledged your life to. Why can't you just fuck me?" It comes out almost tauntingly.

I growl angrily, I give her some leeway because it mustn't feel good getting rejected by your maker but she's my progeny, she doesn't get to question me. "Watch yourself, childe."

"Come on, this is ridiculous, when I heard the way the vampires spoke around Fangtasia I thought they were being dramatic, embellishing stories of you being a whipped puppy but I see that I was wrong." My growl becomes a snarl and I take a threatening step toward her, her eyes widen and she realizes she's gone too far. She's lucky I'm clear-headed enough to be able to think the situation through and know she's just hurt because of her perceived rejection. It's the only reason she's not being punished right now. "Eric, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

"Go to your room." I leave no room for argument. I see her eyes flash with defiance, she technically doesn't have to listen to me anymore, I cannot command her but she also respects me and knows I am much older and stronger than her. She doesn't say anything else, just vamps to her room.

I stand in the room for a few more moments and maybe for the hundredth time, tonight wonder what the fuck is wrong with me. With one more glance out of the window, I make my way back to my room. Sookie isn't in the same place I left her, she's now in the spot where I was lying, with her arms stretched out across the bed, almost as if she was looking for me. I ignore the warm feelings I get at the thought. I strip down and make my way into the bed. As soon as she notices I enter the bed, even though she's still completely asleep, she burrows into my side and rests her head on my chest. I don't try to stop her and even wrap my arms around her pulling her closer. There's still over an hour before the sun rises but I'm content to lay here until then.