34

Focus, Sookie!

I hope that I haven't lost my readers. Please forgive me for the delay in posting the chapter. During the holidays, my job gets a lot harder and the stress levels are ridiculous. The clients are a lot needier this time of year and because I am obligated, I have to be there for them. I hope that y'all understand. Things should go back to normal after the holidays. They usually do. I want to assure you that I have not forgotten about the story. We have invested a lot of time in this story and I assure you, I will not abandon it. So, here we go.

When Eric emerged from the kitchen and appeared in the living room, I thought that he was wearing nothing but a towel. I thought that water was dripping over his muscular body. I thought that he'd asked me to come to him and help to dry him off. I thought that he wanted me to dry him off with my tongue and not the towel but I was wrong. He didn't say anything like that. He didn't say anything at all. When I blinked, he was dressed in a pair of dark washed jeans and a t-shirt. His eyes traveled lazily over my body … from my head to my toes. I almost begged him to make love to me and I've never felt like that. I want Eric to make love to me so that I can stop drooling over him like some lovesick teenager and then maybe I can go back to thinking like a rational human being again. I sighed as I gazed at him and that ass-itching smile.

"Good evening, Sookie," he purred.

"Hey," I croaked. I quickly turned away from him. I had to. I couldn't concentrate looking at him. "I reviewed all the footage and the pictures that Thalia sent over. Bobby brought the stuff by. He's a really nice guy, by the way. Very friendly. He thinks very highly of you. He also gave us a starting point to the investigation. He told me where we could possibly find that pale guy, Barry. He said that we needed to go to The Devil's Den. It's a tattoo parlor." I took a quick breath. I didn't need that sexy beast interrupting me. "He said that the guy that did the tattoos on Barry's hand can help us out. And I think that we have a mole in the group." I shifted a little in my seat when I felt Eric sit next to me.

"What tattoos? What mole? What have you learned?" I could feel his breath on the base of my neck as he sat next to me on the couch.

I shook my head. Focus, Sookie. You need to focus. And that's what I did. "I don't know why I thought you already knew. I'm not thinking straight right now. Anyway, I've learned that Barry was the one that was in Pam's home … possibly. We're going to find out for sure once we get to speak with the guy at the tattoo parlor. Today while I was looking at the pictures that Bobby brought over, I noticed the tattoos on the guy's hands … the guy that was in Pam's home when Andy showed up. Bobby noticed them too. He said that he knows the guy's work very well." I told Eric everything that Bobby and I discussed. "It seems like a pretty good lead. I'm sure that we'll get what we need once we go to the parlor. I was hoping that we could do that tonight." I was also hoping that he was going to say yes but he didn't.

"Is there more?" he asked as he sat closer to me.

My goodness he was so close.

I gulped down what I believed to be a boulder in my throat. Shifting a bit in my seat so that I could have a little more focus room, I answered his question. "Yes. There's more. I've learned that someone taught Dawn how to block me out of her mind after she was taken to the warehouse. There was no way that she should've been able to block me out. She couldn't block me out earlier that morning. She shouldn't have been able to block me out last night." I began shaking my head as I stared at Eric. "It's not possible. The only way that it could have happened is if someone sneaked Barry in. That it is the only conclusion that I could come up with. Who else could have taught her to block me out of her mind?"

He began to nod his head. "No one else could have shown her how to do that. It's not possible for it to have been anyone else."

With a smile plastered on my face, I said, "We need to find out which Were is working with Maxwell. After Mr. C. left today …"

"Mr. C.?" he asked.

I smiled and nodded. "Mr. Cataliades."

Eric frowned. "My attorney came to see you? Did he deliver the corrected contract?"

I shook my head no. "He didn't tell me that he was your attorney. He didn't mention you at all. I wonder why he wouldn't mention you to me. Maybe it's a conflict of interest."

He didn't look happy at all. "Why would he come here to see you? How did he know that you were here?"

I had the same expression on my face as Eric. "I don't know how he knew that I was here but I know why he came to see me." I took the bank book from the coffee table and handed it to Eric. "He gave me this. He said that it was from Niall. He said that since I've taken my place in the supe world, my grandfather wanted to me to have this. Can you believe that I have access to that much money? It's ridiculous. Who needs that much money? I can't possibly spend it all."

Eric looked at the book and then at me. "Did you thank him?"

It's like he didn't hear any of the other stuff that I'd said. He just wanted to know if I'd been polite and it seemed that it would have upset him if I had been. I nodded my head yes. "I thanked Mr. C. for bringing it to me but I haven't thanked Niall yet. I haven't seen him. I haven't even met him and he gives me something like this." I leaned in and whispered, "It is the polite thing to do, you know. When someone gives you something you thank them. It lets them know that you appreciate what they've done for you. You know this, Eric. You're old enough to know this. I'm sure your mother taught you manners. You're not so old that you've forgotten them." But hey, I could be wrong. He can be quite rude at times.

Staring deep into my eyes, Eric said, "Don't ever thank a faery. Once you do, you're obligated to them and they will make sure that you pay. They all expect repayment … in any form."

I swallowed the oversized lump that had suddenly returned. Why can't thank you just mean thank you? What could Niall possibly want from me? I have nothing to give him or any other faery for that matter. And then I thought back to the day I met Claudine. The day she saved me from Quinn. The day she asked me about my love life. The day she asked me about my feelings for Eric. Did I thank her? I began to wrack my brain for the answer and couldn't come up with one because I don't remember. I'm almost sure that I did. That's the way I was raised. Gran would've tanned my hide if I hadn't thanked her for practically saving my life. What if I thanked her? What if she expects something in return that I can't give? It doesn't matter that she said that she's my faery godmother. Just because she saved me from Quinn doesn't mean that she did it because she's my faery godmother. Faery godmothers can be sneaky too, right? They are faeries.

"Sookie?" Eric gently rested his hand on my arm. He looked concerned as he studied my face.

I smiled at him. "I won't thank him," I promised him. I didn't bother to mention Claudine. "What I will do is tell you what I think about the mole in the group. After Mr. C. left, I tried to think of any new faces that were with us last night. Every face that was there, we know. We've seen them several times. We've worked with them. Someone that you trust is betraying you. Maxwell still has someone on the inside. At first I thought that it would be a great idea if we cut them off but then they'll get suspicious and we're screwed." I scooted closer to Eric and began to whisper. "I think that we need to keep working with them as if we know nothing. We have to keep things as they have been. I'll listen in as I've always done and whatever I learn, we'll use. I can speak with the humans that hang around the Weres to see what I can find out. Maybe they'll know something."

I noticed the flash of anger that appeared in Eric's eyes. "I'm not surprised. It happens quite often in the supe world. You can't trust anyone but yourself."

Now, that disturbed me.

"And because I know this," he continued. "I should've been more vigilant. I should've forced Pam to come and live with me. I shouldn't have given her a choice."

I took Eric's hand in mine and placed it in my lap. "You can't blame yourself for what happened. It happens in the human world too, Eric. Look at my mom and my brother. You can't get any worse than that. You believed that you'd surrounded yourself and Pam with loyal vampires. You've know Maxwell for hundreds of years. You have been working with the Weres for years with no problems. But not everyone's bad, right? Everyone that I've met since working for you have spoken highly of you. Well, the ones that we know that haven't been backstabbers." I squeezed his hand as I continued. "So, many of them have the greatest respect for you. They believe in and trust you. You're a good person … man … vampire. Why would you believe that you'd be betrayed? Many of them have shown you loyalty."

With his hand still in mine, Eric whipped his phone out of his pocket. His lips were moving a mile a minute and I couldn't hear a word that he was saying. It didn't matter because I knew that everything was going to be okay and he confirmed it when he ended the call. "Thalia's going to take care of it. She and her children will track the Weres and their humans. We'll know soon who the spy is … or spies."

I opened my mouth and inhaled deeply and said, "And what do we do once we find out who the traitor is?"

"I will kill them," he replied coldly, simply. "Once we get what we need from them, I will kill them."

I closed my eyes and sighed. I've seen over ten deaths since I've been working for Eric. I don't like it. I don't want it to become a normalcy in my life. I can't stop him from killing his enemies but I can make it easier on me. I stood up from the couch and walked to the center of the room. I looked at him and said, "And I'll be there when you question them but after … I don't want to be there for after, okay?" I shook my head no. "I don't want to see that."

Soon, he was standing in front of me. Eric gently placed his hand on my cheek. "And you won't have to." He leaned forward, bringing his body closer to mine. "You won't have to see it."

As we gazed at each other, I couldn't think. My mind was all fuzzy and wonky. We were just talking about him killing people and here I am drooling over this sexy vampire. As I said before, no one has ever made feel like this. He makes me forget myself. If he was any other guy, I would've never ran my hands over his chest and down his toned and firmed stomach. There's no way I would've been brave enough to pull him down to my mouth. I wouldn't have brushed my lips across his and told him how good he tastes. The old Sookie Stackhouse would've never been so brazen. She would've waited for him to do it but not this time. And for a brief moment, I was glad that she'd let herself take something that she wanted. I was glad that she'd deepened the kiss and enjoyed it. Just for a moment.

My heart was pounding in my chest when I broke the kiss and opened my eyes to look at him. His were closed and he looked so handsome. So peaceful. I caressed his cheek and smiled.

When he opened his eyes and looked at me, they were filled with something primal and I liked it. He reached for me and I stepped away from him. Not because I wanted to but because I had to. I wanted him to take what he wanted from me. And he did. He soon had me pressed against the wall. "What you do to me, Sookie Stackhouse." He began to nuzzle my neck as he lifted me in his arms. My legs were wrapped around his waist. He stared deep into my eyes and repeated, "What you do to me."

I opened my mouth to speak but couldn't say a word. I started to lick my suddenly dry lips. His beautiful eyes were watching every movement of my tongue. He groaned as he pressed his body closer to mine. My legs were wrapped tighter around his waist. I began to study him. He's a killer. A serial killer, mind you. He drinks blood. He can make people do whatever he wants them to do. He's way older than I am. More experienced in life. I can't help but wonder what it is that he sees in me.

Here I am, some backwoods but educated, telepathic virgin that has had very little experience in the world or in life. I can count the number of friends that I have on one hand and still have three fingers leftover. I've been on dates but never had a boyfriend. I've never been out of the state of Louisiana. I have not experience at all and he doesn't care. He's here with me. Finally finding my voice, I said, "You do it to me too."

"I'd like to." His breath brushed against my skin. "I want to have you for the rest of your life."

Chills went through me. I would love to have him for the rest of my life. I can only imagine the life that we'd have together. Before I could tell him what I wanted to say, his phone began to ring. Still holding me in his arms, he took the call. "Speak," he ordered.

I didn't hear a word that was said. My focus was on him. I watched his mouth. I watched the way his tongue would press against his teeth as he spoke certain words. I watched his jaw tense when he'd hear something that he didn't like. I could feel his anger and I soothed me. It made me feel closer to him.

"Sookie?"

"Yeah," I whispered.

"I have to go."

I nodded.

He kissed me lightly once more before speaking. "Jake's coming to meet us. He's going to follow us to the warehouse. He doesn't know that we've discovered that there's a traitor in the group. He's been told that I have to meet Thalia and he needs to keep an eye on you. He won't be the only one watching you. Thalia's child, Gwen will be there as well. She's going to meet us at the warehouse. I know that you like him but until we discover the mole, he can't be trusted either."

I didn't even realize that he'd made another call. "I get it." I brushed my lips across his.

His tongue tasted my lips. "I will go inside with you. I will linger about for a moment before I leave."

My arms tightened around his neck. "Okay. I'll make sure to have my weapons with me." I wasn't too far gone that I wasn't going to protect myself.

He kissed from my lips to my ear. I shivered. "I wouldn't allow you to go if you didn't have them."

I nodded as I tilted my head to the side. "I know and I'll be safe."

"You will," he agreed as he nibbled at my neck. "When I am done meeting with Thalia, I will come and get you. Jake will not be bringing you home."

"I'll be ready," I moaned.

Grinding himself against me, he said, "We will finish what we've started."

"We will," I answered.

He kissed me again before putting me back on my feet. "We're together … in this." He looked down at me and said, "We're together."

"We are. I've already claimed you." I shrugged my shoulders and added, "I claimed you in front of the king. You're mine."

"Yes."

"I'm yours."

His fangs snapped into place. He growled what sounded like a yes. He reached for me once more but the doorbell rang.

"I guess it's Jake?" I asked.

"It is."

I walked around Eric and began to do whatever I could to loosen up because I was as tense as I've ever been. I began waving my arms around and shaking my legs. I began moving my head back and forth. I even jumped up and down. I thought about that old song and began whipping my hair back and forth. I needed to try and get Eric off my brain. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm loosening up," I clarified. "I need to get the blood flowing. I should get focused on what I have to do tonight. I can't go to the warehouse thinking about you. I won't get anything done." The doorbell rang once again and I danced my way to the door.

Eric was behind me laughing. "You make me happy, Sookie."

It was going to be a long night.