Chapter 17

Bullets For My Valentine

Eric’s POV

Thursday, January 7^th…

I was stirred from my rest by the sounds of music, but it wasn’t ambient. Sookie was ‘sending’ it. That was an interesting concept. One to play with.

The music wasn’t as much an issue as the twitch it caused in my cock as I realized it had been Sookie’s pole music.

Mmmm. “Lover… that’s not fair, you have to know what that song makes me think about.”

“Sure do. But it’s only unfair if I’m unwilling. What jeweler did you use? I want to call and order our bands. They could take a while. Do you know what size you need?”

“The box is in the nightstand, but tell Burnham what you want he’ll take care of it. My ring finger is a 12. Hey Lover, do you know what my favorite thing about being a vampire is? My total recall…” Time to play. I started my memory of her erotic dance and pushed the feelings of lust she’d caused through our bond. My memory continued through the amazing set of sexual exploits we shared in my office. I made sure to spend extra time remembering the way she looked up at me with her lips wrapped around my cock. More time still focusing on her bent over my desk, one of her legs wrapped back around me…

I heard Alcide suddenly object. “What the fuck?!”

“Eric! Alcide is standing right here! And you just showed him… everything!”

Her embarrassment was hardly noticeable in the bond in comparison to the lust I was feeling for her. “Then he was lucky enough to see it twice.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… Get some rest, I’ll have plenty to tell you when you wake up plus we’re still shopping tonight, right? I thought of a couple of things I want to get.”

“Not that you need to wait for me to go shopping, but I’m looking forward to it. Until tonight.”

I don’t know how, but I felt completely awake. Not like I had been in the past, experiencing heaviness and lethargy. I was moving around, capable of seemingly everything.

I laid in bed and contemplated that, ruminated through the impossibility of being awake during the day. Truly, in over a thousand years, I’d only ever risen during the day once. Even then it was difficult to function.  
I heard the children waking up, discussing their lives past and present. Manen was excited to be on so much property and hoping to be allowed to roam while it was really sinking in for Hunter that his father was gone. I found myself feeling sympathy for him. I’d lost my own mother when I was his age and even though he wasn’t much of a father by today’s standards, my father was still alive.

“Hunter, he’d want you to try to be happy.”

“I know. I’ll try.” He didn’t seem at all surprised to ‘hear’ from me.

“I need you to promise me something.”

“What?”

“Make sure you let us know. None of us know how to be parents. You’ll have to teach us.”

I could hear him snicker through the wall. “I promise.”

I would have enjoyed talking to him longer, but Sookie joined them to help ready them for the day so I went back to my thoughts.

 

When Sookie came in to retrieve the ring box, I decided to have some fun. I laid perfectly still again and waited with closed eyes until she was close enough that I could feel the air moving with her.

I was about to strike; reach up and grab her to yank her to the bed with me. She was the one to surprise me. She leaned over and put the softest of kisses on my lips.

I never would have imagined a year ago that she would be so comfortable, so accepting of my daytime condition. Dead bodies are unappealing to even vampire and we spend half of our existence as one. But she kissed me. Yesterday she’d snuggled up to me.

Something was certainly going on. Squeamish would have been at the top of my list of displeasing quirks I saw in her. The once introverted virgin who hated all things vampire except for our quiet minds, was now…

It had to be her Faeness. Niall was up to something from the Avalon he was hiding in.

The Sookie I met had become too comfortable with supernatures. She was going to Were gatherings, she spearheaded a hostile vampire takeover to keep us safe, she was once so embarrassed about sex and was now taking her sexuality to levels that impressed Pam and I both.

When I heard Sookie and Alcide wrestling and then discussing what he could ‘handle’ I almost risked the effects of the sunlight to disapprove. The other night had clearly been planned and intended as a short term game. The idea of the two of them spending the day toying with each other didn’t sit well with me. My hand was on the doorknob to our room… before I realized what I was feeling through the bond.

Mischief. Not lust. Not love. Not like what she feels like when we’re together.

She was toying with him.

My Sookie was being puckish.

 

I managed to let it go somehow, probably Sookie’s influence, and paced around in my room. I did what little bit of work that I could from my phone thankful that I’d gotten an iPhone.

Over the course of the next few hours I was able to concentrate on the bond with nothing else to do. In the pitch black room, I was alone with my thoughts and our bond.

I felt charges of emotions. There were a few brief moments of something close to lust, but still not quite the same thing as when the two of us are together. I could feel their friendship. Their fun. Today’s game didn’t seem like any more than what she feels when she plays with Pamela for my benefit. As old as I am, I’d never found myself so addled.

I should kill him. I should want to kill him. He is touching my woman. He is playing an erotic game with her and I shouldn’t care that it is only a game. That’s how I should feel. Yet, I know she’s mine. I know that she feels differently about him, being with him.

And I’d come back to this. The changes in Sookie. While she was only a game to me, I saw exactly how protective she could be where her loyalties were concerned. I fell victim to more than a few indignant tirades for flirting with her, kissing her, gazing at her. Now, for some unknown reason she wasn’t holding any of that against Herveaux. If anything I’m pissed, realizing that he’s getting away with things I’d been hit for. Then again, perhaps Sookie was just enlightened enough to know that the tease in combination with my feelings for her would have pushed me too far to let it stay a game.

I laughed to myself as I remembered what our charade at that pathetic orgy had done to me. I’d been too ready to battle Bill even though killing him would have taken any chance with her off the table. I tried using the telepathic connection so that I might discuss this with Pam with no luck. I shook my head at nothing, realizing that Sookie was the switchboard, as it were, and how spoiled we were all going to be.

 

Awake for hours, knowing, feeling the sun in the sky beyond the walls of our room. No urge to rest. No desire to rest. Feeling 100%, as they say. Unbelievable.

It was almost 3 o’clock when I felt a wash of sadness ripple through the bond, worrying me only briefly before it seemed turned off. Just as quickly as a switch. Then there was a gap without any feelings for a few moments, followed by an interesting combination of devilry and mirth that I wanted to ask about when I have the opportunity.

Her mood stayed light for the rest of the short time she was gone and I knew immediately that she was on her way home. Not only was her good mood getting easier to feel, but there was an underlying feeling of coziness and familiarity. She almost immediately considered my house her home upon moving her things in, a fact that not only gave me an unprecedented gratification, but yet another spectacular surprise.

I decided to take a wait and see approach when it came to Sookie’s relationship with Alcide. Most of the newness surrounding Sookie seemed to be happening for the better. She’d changed enough to see Compton as a threat, if she trusted Alcide enough to be sure he wouldn’t take anything too far, I’d trust that for now.

 

I listened as the house filled with noises of happy children and took a moment to bask. It was something I didn’t think was ever possible; being pleased to hear the clamor of little ones. I took a moment to greet them, welcome them home and again, they did not seem surprised to ‘hear’ from me. It left me to wonder how in depth Pam’s explanation got last night.

Then I turned my attention to Sookie. “You seem very happy lover, did your meetings go well?”

“Hey, Yeah I think so. I am pretty sure that I will be signing contracts on Saturday and the contractors will be starting on Monday and in spite of the interior designers being no shows, I found furniture.”

“I am impressed. How are the children? Were they content during the meetings?”

“Yeah, all three of the kids seemed to be ok at the club, they drew and played video games. We went to lunch after and the grocery store for some of the kids favorites.”

“3?”

“Yup, Hunter, Manen and Alcide.” I laughed, enjoying that she considered Alcide to be childish.

“Are you coming up to see me?”

“Not right now. You’re resting.”

“I wouldn’t be if you were with me.”

 “Eric Northman! Du hade bättre har energi för mig senare, eller om du kommer att leva för att ångra det!”

“Jag tycker att jag har energi för dig nu”

”hur?”

“Jag vet inte. komma förklara det för mig”

I heard her tell Alcide that she was on her way up to me, so I decided to go stand by the door. I do love the look on her face when she’s startled.

“Du bör inte vara så ivrig. du vet inte vad jag tänker på dig.”

“Det är halva nöjet.”

She entered the light lock speaking quietly. “Är din kropp vaken också?”

I stayed quiet until she was further into the room and then sped towards her, grabbing her and taking her down to the mattress. I was instantly reminded of what lust really felt like as she felt it.

“Oh no you don’t, Viking!”

“What do you mean?”

“You need to control yourself, or I’ll do it for you.”

“Oh really?”

 

She’d taken my simple question as a dare and started using her new mental strengths to put me face down. She’d sprawled me out and when I tried to move, I realized that she’d given me only enough room to move an inch or two. It was as though I was encased with nothing and it was exciting in its own right.

My little vixen began toying with me, licking and biting, giving extra tickles under my arms and the small of my back. It was exquisite. So much so that I was disappointed when she pulled away and stood on the bed, until she began to roll me over.

She looked down at me with a positively devilish gaze. “Are you ok? Do you want me to stop? Things might get harder for you.”

“Lover, you have me.” She could do whatever she wanted. I was having too much fun to stop her.

“Yes I do.”

She dropped to her knees beside me and took my hand, placing it under her and I could feel the heat coming from her. “Don’t move your fingers. Keep your palm flat and pressed against me just like that no matter where or how I move.”

I could not have guessed how much harder that alone was going to be. I tried moving my hand. I wanted to touch her. Needed to feel her. Needed to slide my fingers into her and make her moan. She had me held fast enough that I couldn’t get to what I wanted even though I was touching it. I started feeling servile and I couldn’t decide if I liked it, until her tongue started trailing across my neck.

She moved her body against my hand, her hot mouth visiting every bit of my skin making my cock ache to be inside of her. More so when she started scratching my chest and feeding from me. I didn’t want to be patient anymore. I wanted to fuck NOW. I almost begged.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No.” I want to fuck.

My hand suddenly fell to the bed and before I had the chance to slide my fingers into her, she was already putting herself on my cock. She stared down at me, moving slowly, her body gripping me.

“Eric? What do you want? Eric. What do you WANT? Do you want me to stop?” …constricting around me, bending my dick to her walls.

“No.” Never. Her already tight body was tensing around me, throbbing with so much force it was almost unbearable.

“Don’t stop! Don’t stop!” I started to beg… asking her not to stop and the throbbing became a constant vice. I was close to coming. She held and held, not letting go. It was dancing the thin line between agony and total bliss and it shouldn’t ever end.

She lifted my body to meet hers and whispered, “Do you want me to stop?” She was being cruel.

“NO! Sookie. Whatever you do, don’t stop!”

I was sure I’d lost when she bit my neck and fed again, becoming part of each other, I felt her lust and mine and it was overwhelming. I wasn’t sure if I could take any more when she started kissing me. She tested me, scenting herself with Fae and I didn’t have the chance to think about her safety before she pushed me back to the bed and started pumping down onto me like never before.

The farther she pushed me, the more scent filled the room and I wanted to fuck her and drain her and she came around me over and over adding to the urges that could end her.

I wanted to come. I was somehow anchored on the verge, belted into the phase of sex just before release. Torture.

Then she stopped. She was completely still and my dick was throbbing inside of her, begging to let go. And she stared.

“Sookie. Please.”

She went back to pushing me, writhing on me. My body was so pained that she finished several more times before I found the words. “PLEASE SOOKIE NOWWWW!!!!

As soon as I’d spoken I felt her power fall away from me and I lunged forward, stabbing my fangs into her breast. The moment her sweet Faerie blood touched my tongue, I came undone.

My head fell back, rapt by a far too concentrated explosion.

 

When it was all over, all I could do was strap her to me in my arms while I waited to get my wits.

“Eric, are you ok? … Are you mad at me?… Did I do something wrong?” No. Not wrong. I was trying to find the right word to describe it. “Eric you are starting to worry me. Are we ok?”

“That was… religious.”

Pam: “Whatever it was, we need to talk.”

Both of us: “PAM!”

Pam: “Don’t ‘PAM!’ me! You’re the ‘path’. Even if you had hung up, I could feel the house move from the other end.”

Alcide: “At least the kids didn’t seem to notice.”

My lover: “oh…my…god.”

*Dial tone*

I felt a deluge of embarrassment in the bond and couldn’t help but laugh. “Lover, THAT was nothing to be embarrassed over.”

She smiled at me “I’m not embarrassed that we did it, I’m embarrassed that we might as well have done it in public.”

“Feel what you want, but don’t be upset with me for enjoying every second of that.”

“I wouldn’t dream of pooping on your party. You going to rest now?”

“I would rather you stayed here to keep me awake.”

“I would stay, but I should get back to the kids.” She kissed me and no sooner than she was through the door, I started to feel like I could rest.

 

I only rested for about an hour before I felt the sun set.

While I was in the shower, I decided not to discuss this with Sookie. My being awake during the day could be a fluke or it could be a cruel tease. I’d built my house with windows, lots of them. In order for Sookie to be able to spend any time with me during the day, she’d be forced into the darkness our room. Waiting and seeing seemed to be growing in popularity.

The children both had big smiles waiting for me when I got to the bottom of the stairs. I found myself smiling back and waving.

As Manen put her finger to her lips, Hunter sent to me that Alcide and Sookie were on the couch. Sookie had healed his back again.

I wiggled my eyebrows at them and then made a show of sneaking up on my Lover and her pet. The children followed me.

 

They were spooned together on the couch as I crept up behind them and set myself on top of them both. “Hello, you two.”

I don’t know what came over me, but I kissed the dog after I did Sookie and started laughing, “I better not get fleas from this.”

Sookie started swatting at my arms. “Eric, you better get off of us! I just fixed Alcide’s back and you’re gonna mess it up again.”

I set myself between their feet and decided to mindfuck the mutt. “I should not be your concern. Pam will be rising any second.”

“What is she gonna do to me?”

Sookie reached up for my hand so I pulled her up, switching places with her. “Nothing you won’t beg for again, now spoon me.”

I had barely gotten his arm over my side when we heard Sookie’s camera phone ‘snap’ a picture.

“Get her!” She was running away from us while we all laughed, even the children, when Pam ‘called’ Sookie.

 

“Pretty ass clothes. Pretty ass toes…”

Sookie laughed and looked at Alcide. “You know what she wants right?”

I started shaking my head… “You go in there and tell her exactly what you did. It’ll serve him right for getting to spend the day with you!”

“Eric, you know she can’t do it without my ‘help’ right?”

“You can control things, she can signal you.” Then and there, I decided not to waste much time when it came to what she does with Alcide. She’d just asked my permission to help Pam have sex with him. She obviously has a threshold of propriety, even where he is concerned.

Pam was impatient. “Pretty ass clothes. Pretty ass toes…”

Sookie finished the lyric on her way out of the room. “Oh how I love these pretty ass hoes!… I’ll be right there.”

He griped at me. “You know that I can have a heart attack right?”

I started laughing at him. “Nothing Sookie can’t fix, and completely worth it, my friend. Trust me!” I turned around from my seat at the bar to focus on the children. “So Hunter’s favorite color is red and Manen loves ‘not yellow’. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen ‘not yellow’. Can you compare it to something? Is there a ‘not yellow’ crayon?”

The kids shared a look and then giggled. “Gold is my favorite color. But the last couple of times I said ‘gold’…”

“You got yellow.”

Hunter looked at me with his head tilted slightly. “Grownups don’t listen. Not to kids.”

He was already coming through on his promise. He was helping me build a dos and don’ts list. “Thank you. I’ll have to remember that. When you got here, you were wearing a green shirt and camouflage pants. Was that an example of not listening?”

He nodded. “Kristen said that my eyes are pretty when I wear green. My Daddy says that red was my Mommy’s fault. When he got me, all my clothes were red. There was a bunch of white stuff but it had a mon… mono…”

“Monogram?”

“That’s it. Anything that wasn’t red had a red HS sewn on it.”

While I did my best to not think about Sophie-Anne and Hadley and ruin the good mood we were all in, Alcide rallied for me. “So, Manen, do you have a next favorite color? In case gold is hard to find? Like are you partial to metallics?”

“Black.”

“Black? Shouldn’t little girls like pink or purple or peach?”

“Black. I like black and gold.”

I like her already. “So that leaves the question. Do you two want to share a room, or each have your own? Black, gold and red can look nice together.”

They didn’t even pause long enough to take a breath before the spoke in unison to say ‘share’.

 

By the time the children were ready to go upstairs to discuss their room, Sookie had come back. My lover had to nearly drag her friend upstairs, a fact I found to be endlessly amusing.

Sookie was preoccupied by using her new gifts to give her friends what was probably the most incredible and intense erotic experience of their lives and I distracted the children from the noises they were making. The three of us discussed bedding and paint. Manen was very impressed with the paint technique on the orange wall in my room so we decided that we would do the same thing to their room. Red walls for hunter with gold over it. It almost worried me how excited they were to hear me commit to painting walls for them.

The children and I parted ways so that I could check on my businesses before our shopping trip and as I went through the emailed status reports and bottom lines for the last week of business I was constantly distracted by the laughter coming from the den. When I realized that I didn’t at all mind the noise, I started to wonder if perhaps I had talked myself into wanting to raise children with Sookie too well. What’s more, it seemed like an improvement to the house.

 

Once business and horseplay were out of the way, the four adults of the house convened to formulate a plan for shopping for the children’s needs. We were led into discussion by Alcide who was laureate scholar on the topic since Sookie seemingly ‘checked out’ as he put it. His nephew and being around breeders in general gave him far more experience with children than Pam or I obviously.

Alcide had managed off rattle off a list of specific items the children would need, all of us adding to it things that they would probably enjoy having. When we reached a bit of a plateau with our brainstorming, we all looked to Sookie for her input. Pam went as far as speaking and thinking her name several times before she realized that we were all watching her curiously.

She was slightly embarrassed about being oblivious for so long, but quickly jumped into the subject of the children’s needs. I watched her, waiting to see if it would happen again and when she caught me staring, I dismissed my attention by being suggestive about the fruit she’d been snacking on. I would have been a fool to ignore her offer at a taste and by the time I was done with it, I had another craving. I’ll probably never understand what it is about Sookie that has always been so fucking irresistible. I had to force myself away from her so that we move on with our evening.

 

The mall was more fun than I could have imagined. It would be an understatement to say that the children were shocked. Sadly, they had never been spoiled. I was getting a flurry of emotions from Sookie, most of them were stirred by her own humble beginnings. The more attention getting of feelings were fear and anxiety. I’d honestly not felt so much trepidation from her when I’d found her holding a bomb in her small hand. Of late, I’d not felt fear from her at all and it was only just now that I was realizing it. I hadn’t felt fear when Alcide had alcohol poisoning. I hadn’t felt fear when Bill attacked. I hadn’t felt fear the night I was hit with the caber, but once I came to I was swallowed with relief and need. Surely she had been scared during the uncertainty, not knowing if I would be ‘alright’. She must truly be scared of having them. She was right to worry. She was right about how much we’d lost since we’ve met, more than she knew. She has to know that we could keep children safe now that her powers are expanding, now that I am a king, now that the four of us have some sort of reputation as a supernatural force to be reckoned with. More to ponder.

As we moved from one store to the next the kids eyes widened with each purchase. They were denied nothing. Every item that caught their eyes was taken to the cashier.

We’d been to 4 stores that carry children’s furniture and Hunter’s discerning taste rejected everything from bunk beds to sleigh beds. Manen got frustrated with him and gave up sharing her opinion, stating ‘Uncle Eric, just buy the first thing he doesn’t hate. I don’t care what my bed looks like.’

I chuckled and lifted her to my shoulders. By the time the boy was done scrutinizing over furniture, she was going to be too exhausted to fly tonight as I promised.

We stopped in every store from one end of the 20 acres of retail space to the other (including a restaurant along the way) and the further we went, the more determined Hunter seemed. According to the mall legend there was only one other store for him to rebuff and luckily as we approached, he saw exactly what he wanted sitting in the display window. He sped away from the group and disappeared into the store only to reappear seconds later bouncing on a black wood captain’s bed with gold hardware.

Alcide, Hunter and I stayed behind to order the beds and matching case furniture while the ladies went on a search for ‘girl things’ as Sookie put it. I could tell she was up to something, but figured after the way I behaved over the surprises she planned the other night, the least I could do is let her have her fun. Besides how much trouble could she get into at the mall?

There hadn’t been the need to keep the mall open late as I expected since the ladies found us in the arcade just before closing time and after Pam and Sookie put on a couple of teases, we left for home.

 

Not wanting to leave Hunter out of the fun, I handed him the bag with his new blackout outfit and whispered his invitation to him. He ran to get changed so quickly that he thought his RSVP to me.

I was suddenly excited to fly for the first time in hundreds of years, after all things can get boring. But tonight I was going to take a 6 year old shifter out for her first flight. Phenomenal. These children are almost as exceptional as Sookie and I almost felt like I could feel their excitement as they readied.

I stood in the kitchen and watched them bounce down the stairs with smiles so pure and unadulterated it was contagious.

 

When Sookie spotted Hunter though, she startled us all out of our fun.

“Eric Northman!”

“Yes Sookie?”

“What makes you think I’m going to let you take him up?”

Let me? ME? Who the fuck…? “You know damn good and well that I can carry him. Hush woman.” I turned and motioned to the children to go outside. Sookie followed us, more than likely not realizing how angry she was making me.

“Fine, prove it.” She pointed at Alcide so I put my fucking arm around his chest and went up to the roof line.

“Happy now?” At least the children thought we were playing a game.

“Fly around a little.” Tired of the test before it started, I made a pass over the yard and placed him back where I grabbed the poor bastard.

“Happy now?”

“Alcide, did you…” Enough! I grabbed her and took her up while she panicked, but as soon as she was in my arms I could feel her fear. She wasn’t afraid of me. She was afraid for the kids.

“Sookie, I have you. I won’t let anything happen to him. Trust me.” Hoping to seem reassuring, I gave her a kiss.

“Be careful… please.”

“Always” I waited, probing the bond.

“Fine. Have fun.”

I was very pleased to see the joy come back to the children and, again, was sure that I felt it as my own. I couldn’t help but feel pride when Manen changed. It was impressive to say the least to see a child so young change so effortlessly when every other Were or Shifter I’d known of had to wait until they reached adolescence.

I had Sookie help zip Hunter into my sweatshirt and then let Manen lead the way.

 

I flew just behind her watching in awe that she had the strength without the full moon.  She was full of pride if I didn’t know better and Hunter felt safe.

“You’re not going crazy.”

I looked down at my small co-pilot. “Excuse me?”

“You can feel us. We can feel you too.”

I raised my eyebrow at him and tried not to sound gruff. “Aunt Sookie told you not to listen didn’t she?”

“Then you shouldn’t either.”

I overheard Sookie tell Bill once that vampires shouldn’t say ‘uh oh’, but I did anyway.

“I didn’t say ‘you’re not going crazy’ out loud.”

“How long have you known?”

“From the start.” Shit.

“So, Mr. Hunter, what else do you know?”

“You can feel us because of Aunt Sookie. She can feel everybody.”

“Why?”

I felt him shrug against my side. “You don’t die anymore.”

“What?”

“When you were sleeping earlier, I saw you dreaming.”

“I’m sorry Hunter, Vampire don’t dream.”

“Aunt Pam doesn’t dream. She’s blank. You dreamed.”

That’s not possible. “I have no memory of a dream. Do you remember what I dreamt about?”

“Aunt Sookie.”

Uh oh. If I were to dream, dreams of Sookie would not be appropriate for children. For that matter, most adults. “What was Aunt Sookie doing?”

“She was washing your feet. You were wearing a really ugly blanket.”

“Hunter, if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep this between us for now. Okay? I don’t know what all of this means.”

“I promise.”

“Do you know anything else?”

He started laughing. “If Claudine is right, we haven’t seen anything yet.”

For a vampire as old as me to say I was shocked to my core, I would hope it would carry some weight. I was wordless. I used what paltry blocks I had and spent the rest of the flight deep in thought. The idea that the Fae had somehow been in touch with the children, that alone was insane. Sure Claudine would be Hunter’s cousin too, but to visit him and enlighten him when Sookie had been left to twist in the wind. Sookie would be hurt to say the very least. Unbelievable. All of it. Something had to give. Sookie’s powers had grown so strong in such a short time and now somehow had caused me to wake during the day, has somehow shared powers.

When Manen ran herself out of energy, we landed just long enough to dress her and fasten her into my sweatshirt with Hunter.

As I flew home patiently to not scare the children, my worry, the angst I was letting get the better of me began to diminish. I couldn’t understand why until I realized that Manen and Hunter had both fallen to sleep and were purring in their peaceful slumber under my arm. It was the closest I’d ever felt to being a father.

Sookie may very well be doing well handling all of the changes however I was starting to feel more or less overwhelmed.

 

When I landed on the portico, my nestmates were waiting in the hot tub. I felt a little left out, but at least they were behaving for once.

Sookie noticed that my arms were full and paraded to the door to help. The glint of a steel hoop in her navel caught my eye and I was immediately distracted from my deeper thoughts and lost myself in other, more directly attainable ideas.

I had her unzip my jacket and took the children to their room. Manen kissed my cheek when I bent to tuck her in and Hunter mumbled as he did last night. Tonight, rather than calling me ‘Farbror’, I was ‘Far’ as I slid his impossibly small feet out of his boots.

Had it not been for my need to collect myself, I might not have bothered with a swimsuit. The heft of information for me to sort through on top of how humble yet godlike I felt when I was with the children was too much. And still more to ponder.

 

I was still feeling the strange excitement from the children when I stepped into the hot tub next to Sookie and sat down. “That was fun. She got tired about 15 miles out so we landed long enough for her to change and put on her pajamas and then they fell asleep on the way back.”

I suffered through a light amount of drivel before I decided to move on to more interesting topics.

“So Lover, I noticed you bought some jewelry while we were out.”

Pam’s sinister laughter stabbed my ears. “You haven’t seen the half of it.”

I looked to Sookie. “Show and tell.”

The mutt seemed confused. How could he not notice? “What are you girls talking about?”

 

My girls stood and faced us from the center of the tub to display their new body jewelry. It didn’t surprise me that Pam had done it, but Sookie had always been more conservative.

They turned to each other and my cock swelled expectantly as they untied their tops for each other and sharing a kiss that made me throb. Expecting them to begin groping at one another and surprised still when they backed away to show us that they’d had their nipples done too.

There had been no shortage of pierced fangbangers who’d offered themselves to me over the past few years. While the sight started out as an intrigue, it became boring quickly. Now it seemed finding a fangbanger without body jewelry was the trick. They were misguided in the belief that putting earrings on a pig made the pig a princess. On Sookie, on Pam, it was more like adorning a work of art.

Alcide had suggested that Pam and Sookie were wicked. I had to contain my growl as I set him straight. “Alcide, there is a very fine line between the wicked and divine.”

 

Sookie made her way to me, our gazes locked and she straddled my lap.

“Do you like it?”

“I think I like it a lot.” Understatement. I ran my fingertips along the curve of her breasts and watched both nipples draw in to make her hoops stand out.

“That’s not all.” She made a gesture that inspired me to search further ‘south’.

I ran the back of my finger down her flat stomach, past the hoop in her navel that highlighted her improved definition and down to her core.

My cock twitched again, begging for attention, when my knuckle grazed the steel hoop that ran through her clit.

“Is that the last of them?” Her body responded immediately and she bit her lip to try to calm herself.

She panted, “uh-huh. That’s it.” Her eyes never left mine and her lust became unbearable as I tickled my new toy.

“Does it still hurt?”

“Nuh-Uh. Not at all. Pam healed it for me.”

With almost no effort she was close to coming in the palm of my hand, literally, and it was getting hard to control myself. When blood started to trickle from the puncture in her lip, I was gone.

I pulled her face to mine and held her to me. She stabbed her tongue with my fangs as my fingers slid in and out of her, playing my thumb against her clit. She jerked and jolted her hips, adding to my lust as hers flared and moaning into my mouth as her perfect pussy grabbed my fingers at her finish.

I held her to me, letting her calm, letting myself calm because I was sure she wouldn’t be blatant enough to do what I had in mind in present company.

 

Her breathing back to normal and her trembling abated, I provided her with a task. “Now go get that interesting plate of treats.”

“Yes master.” Oh, she was playing a dangerous game if she had any designs on keeping her modesty tonight.

I decided to cockblock Pam as a distraction. If I couldn’t have my fun, neither could she. “So Alcide, have you found the prize at the bottom of the box yet?”

Judging by Pam’s shrill outburst and his confusion, he hadn’t.

“Pamela. It seems that you are corrupting my sweet innocent Sookie.”

“I am sorry to disagree, master, but I was riding shotgun. This was all her idea. Sookie has taught us all a few tricks. She’s becoming quite the kitten.”

I smiled as I thought to myself that not all change is bad, but was very preoccupied when Pam suddenly started moving erratically on Alcide’s lap. It lasted all of 30 seconds, but her fangs had run out and every bit of my bond with her felt as though it was on fire as she came.

Alcide was holding her up as he yelled, “What the FUCK was that?”

He’d taken the words right out of my mouth, but Sookie simply meowed. Sookie the kitten?

Pam had known it was Sookie and decided to make a game of it by tackling her and taking her underwater. Sookie started playing along but mentally asked for permission to continue. Even when it comes to Pam, when she knows how erotic it is for me to watch them, she’s still asking for consent. No. I won’t worry about the wolf. Sookie’s attentions for others are only playful.

“Go as far as you are comfortable. I have you if she gets wild. I’m enjoying the show.”

“Thank you, master.” Oh, the way that word rolls from her tongue…

 

Bad enough to be given an unyielding hard on, but to then be given the show of two beautiful women, both of them mine, grappling, groping and mauling each other just a few feet away and knowing that my formerly shy bonded had her fingers buried in Pam’s pussy, this was a blink from torture.

Sookie wrenched Pam to her end and set her loose to return to me.

She stood in front of me and waited. “Lap.”

She did just that. “Thank you, master.”

I took one of the chocolate covered berries from the tray and ran it over her lips. I was only making it harder on myself as I moved it away from her. Her lips moved to taste the treat and without saying a word, she was begging. Her lips were parted making me want them wrapped around my cock all the more. Once I resigned and let her get to the berry, her hands went to work unlacing my trunks.

I was stunned as Sookie slowly consumed the snack and discretely wrapped herself around my cock.

I had to test how far she would let this go. I ordered, “Kiss.”

The taste of the strawberry made the obeyed order that much sweeter. Her long, hot perfect kiss caused a jerk in my cock that began a chain reaction.

She throbbed and I pushed again.

“Neck.” She tilted her head to the side and bared her neck to me to start nibbling mine. Her muscles clenched and released, all but jerking me off and making my whole body vibrate.

I could have come had I let it go on much longer, but in my greed, I gave one more order.

“Blood.”

Without hesitation, her jaw opened to latch onto me and I came undone. My fangs ran out and as my fangs went into her tender neck she fisted around me. Sookie would hate me in just a few moments, but then, right then, our love and lust were washing over each other in the bond as we rode out our finish.

She cleaned the blood from my shoulder and thanked me as she blissfully snuggled into my chest.

“I lost count of how many surprises you have given me today. Thank you, Lover.”

I was still waiting. Changes or no, Sookie Stackhouse would be realizing in a moment that there were two other people in the room with us and staring at her.

 

I felt it. Her mood went from pleased and sated to aggravation in an instant, but instead of launching herself from my lap in a fury, she turned to her friends.

“You two are looking at me like I shit in the punch bowl. WHAT?” I couldn’t help myself. I laughed.

Pam gasped, “You just… just… I’m shocked!”

“Alcide? Do you have an equally well structured sentence to share?”

“Um. I don’t think so.”

When Alcide and Pam had proven to be useless she looked to me. “To be honest lover, I’m surprised you did any of that, most of all feeding from me while I did from you. It’s a big deal to do that in front of witnesses. That was pretty much a vampire wedding.” I waited.

“So we kind of just consummated our relationship?”

“Are you mad that you did it?”

“Well my southern Christian upbringing is shredded and in the rag basket after today anyway. I don’t think now is the time to be upset about anything. I felt great doing it. Why regret it? Is there something more significant about it for vampires than a human wedding, more so than our bond?”

“No lover. Not a thing.” I gave her a kiss, knowing that surprise was written all over my face. It was going to take me a long time to get used to the changes in Sookie.

 

It wasn’t long before Sookie leapt out of the tub and pranced around naked to grab her cell and taunt me using a chocolate covered banana as her weapon. I was starting to understand Alcide’s ramblings about her killing him.

I watched her as she nibbled and happily texted. She proudly showed off a sample of a bar top. It appeared to be a river of blood complete with bubbles. It was inspired and I let her know how proud of her I was by teasing that I’d replace Bobby with her. Her business savvy dismissed my joke though. She’d offered him more money and it made perfect sense. Perhaps I’m not as surprised with her so much as impressed. I could get the two confused since I don’t feel either often.

While Sookie was yelling at yet another Vampire King, I found myself on the phone, dealing with a staffing problem at one of my hotels, then calling Clancy to have him put the word out that we would be interviewing for guards tomorrow night. He nagged me about the construction crews using the bar’s restrooms during the day. So I told him to ‘suck it up’ and laughed to myself when he quietly fumed about it.

 

Sookie had finished her business first and grown bored with waiting for us. I was leaving a message for Angela to let her know anything she needed for her move was at her disposal as I watched Sookie gracefully dive into the pool and begin lap after lap cutting through the water as perfectly as a dolphin. She made swimming look like an art form.

I was hard for her again as I watched her, and then her phone began to ring.

When I saw the caller ID I knew I shouldn’t answer it. My instinct was to hit the ignore button and leave it, but I promised Sookie to try to get along.

“Good evening, Stackhouse. How are you this evening?”

“Uh… I’m alright, I guess. Vampires are always the same right. So if I ask it would be silly, right.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “We’re always in the same health, yes, but we do have moods. Tonight, mine is good.”

“Oh. Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. Is Sookie ‘round?”

I told him I’d get her as politely as I could muster and called to her.

She swam directly to me, crossing her arms on the side of the pool and shining her smile up at me. “Yes sir?”

“The annoyance has called to speak to you.” She looked almost as annoyed as I was and I squatted down to hold her phone for her.

“Hello Jason.”

“Hey sis. Bud just asked me a weird question.”

“Yeah?”

“He asked me how my cousin is. When I told him ‘how should I know’, he told me I should call you.”

“Oh.”

“Well, how is she? I ain’t heard from her in years. I almost figured Hadley was dead.”

“Jason, she is.”

“Then why would Bud ask… Sookie she ain’t a vampire is she?”

“Jason, it’s a long story that I don’t want to tell you about over the phone”

“Can I come over? I wanna know. I feel real bad. Last time I talked to her she was askin’ for money I didn’t have.”

 

She invited her trite sibling over and stomped away to get dressed. She was angry enough that the rest of us thought it best to tidy up while she showered. Her temper wasn’t a new thing and we all knew what she can be like. Alcide and I even dressed out of our shopping bags so that we could give her as much room as she needed. We all listened to her, laughing occasionally, as every item she touched was handled with force.

Pam left for her shower and Alcide and I had the idea to order some outdoor toys for the children. We quickly found playground equipment and then Alcide had the idea of purchasing ATVs. While he and Manen could run, the rest of us could not and the ATVs would be fun to race and tour the property.

We were discussing horsepower at the kitchen table when Sookie stomped back into the kitchen looking for something to do. She started a load of laundry and slammed dishes into the dishwasher before filling her arms and joining us at the table.

She poured a couple of scotches and handed a true blood to me.

“Lover, I already fed.” The look she gave me made me think twice about not wanting it, so I took a sip to find that she’d doctored it somehow to become AB negative. They were drinking the ‘good’ scotch. So Pam and I would enjoy the ‘good’ stuff as well.  “I get it. Thank you.”

I was still explaining that Sookie was suddenly capable of alchemy to Alcide when Pam joined us asking for one. This would be fun.

She enjoyed the first sip enough to hum her delight.  “This is quite a treat. Tell me Eric, do you get AB negative whenever you like?”

Sookie smiled at me and let me explain again. “Dear Pamela, why would she bleed AB- when she can bleed Fae?!”

The feeling of disbelief in the bond might as well have screamed ‘liar’. “You are teasing me.”

Sookie reassured my child by scenting the room with Fae as she poured again for herself and Alcide.

Fuck, drain… “Sookie.”

“Don’t worry handsome. I have you both. Just let me know when you’re good to go.” I could almost taste it and if she weren’t able to hold us down, she surely would be drained.

I barely noticed when Alcide asked her about smelling of Were until the scent of Were began to mingle with Fae and he started to restlessly shift in his seat.

“What’s wrong, Alcide?”

He growled and was starting to stink up the room with his own urges. “You need to work on that. You don’t just smell like a Were, you smell like a Were in heat.”

“Oops. I guess I should just not do it at all. You don’t look so well…. Hey Eric, you needed to tell me something. Someone called while I was swimming.”

Fuck, drain… “Russell called and told me to tell you AB- if we could find it. The rest of it was what Stan had told you.” Fuck, drain…

“Thanks honey, can I let you go now?” I shook my head and she decided to discuss the hiring of Were guards with Alcide.

 

The scent was showing no signs of letting up so Sookie slid open the back door. As the cool fresh air rushed in, the room became lighter and Sookie released Pam and I, albeit prematurely. My cock was still hard with need.

I calmed myself by watching her work. She wrapped her arms around Alcide’s shoulders and healed his aching back, glowing bright enough to hurt my eyes. It felt like being in the sunlight.

Since she was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice the intercom buzz at her sibling’s arrival, I let him in.

She was still aglow when I entered the room with her drunk brother. He felt uncomfortable with me and he should have just considered himself lucky to have gotten to the property alive.

No sooner than I got Sookie’s attention, he opened his inebriated mouth.

 

“Sookie, what the fuck was that? Why were you glowing?”

“It’s just one of the things I can do. Have a seat. Do you want a drink?”

The idiot opted for a glass of scotch as though he could tell the difference between that and horse piss while Alcide quickly finished ordering the new toys so that he could make his exit.

His plan was to watch a movie with Pam, but Sookie got his attention on his way out. “Guys, I hate to be a party pooper but I’ve got a really bad feeling about Angela. Could you take my phone with you, just in case?”

 

I no sooner sat down with Sookie then Jason began interrogating her.

“So what’s going on with Hadley? I haven’t heard from her in like 6 years.”

“Well Jason, she fell in love with a vampire and she was turned.”

“Into a vamp?”

“Hadley was turned into a vampire, yes. But about a year ago she was killed by another vampire. I went to New Orleans to clean out her apartment. That’s when I met Amelia. She was Hadley’s landlord.”

“So how long was she a vampire?”

“As near as I can guess, about 3 years. The vampire that killed her was jealous of her relationship.”

“Ok then, why did Bud tell me to talk to you like it was important?”

Suddenly Sookie got up and started shuffling around in the kitchen while she explained, slowly and with small words. “Well, when I tended to her belongings I found a marriage license. She had been married to and divorced from a human before she was turned; a guy named Remy Savoy. I tracked him down and went to visit him.”

She waited for the microwave and when it was done, she took the plate to the den and came back to sit in my lap without a word.

“Wait, wait, wait… Hadley had a kid, then died, then died again?”

She nodded, probably because words confuse him.

“When you say talented, you mean…?” The gesture he used to imply mental gifts seemed more like they were implying insanity and I wanted to pummel him.

Sookie nodded again as I ran my fingers over her back trying to sooth us both.

“How did Bud know? Why did he ask me how he was?”

“Because last night Bud brought him here. Yesterday morning Remy died in a car accident and I was listed as next of kin.”

“Shit. Did he get hurt?”

“Remy worked overnight and was on the way home. Hunter was still asleep at the sitter’s house. He’s fine.”

“Bud must be out of his mind to leave a kid here.” He was probably right. It would have made much more sense for the old fart to deliver the child to his only other living family member; A man so foolish as to drive 38 miles while he was pickled enough that a vampire couldn’t identify him as a Were. Brilliant.

 

I was trying to figure out how Sookie and Jason could be related when I was forced out of my seat. Getting up wasn’t a decision. When I heard Manen shriek my name, rising was automatic.

Her already bright green eyes were glowing and spilling tears when I sat on the bed to ask her what was wrong. She didn’t give me the chance. She climbed into my lap and put her tiny arms as far around me as she could. Hugging her back was automatic too. She repeated ‘Angela’ through her sobs and held me like she was afraid to let go.

Sookie’s mood changed instantly when she touched Manen’s back. She started a brisk explanation, barking orders at the adults in the room. She glamoured her fool brother to babysit and charged out of the room calling after Pam, Alcide and I.

It took me a moment, no more, to pry Manen from me while she begged me to help Angela.

Alcide and I made it to the laundry room at the same time only to be tossed our boots and shirts and given orders to put them on in the car.

 

Being ordered around by anyone pissed me off. It was all the more infuriating to be barked commands by my Lover. I did my best to make her aware of that as we sped into the city in an intense silence, but she showed no affect. Angrier still that she seemed to not care, I tried to find her motivation in the bond. The bond wasn’t there. It was as though it didn’t exist at all. Without thoughts, it was as though she didn’t exist.

Angela’s car sat in the deserted parking lot behind Cheap Seats. There was no one and nothing for as far as we could see.

“Alcide, can you remember her scent?”

“Not like this. In the open, as busy as this parking lot is, wherever she is…”

“All you would need is a direction then I could fly after…”

I was cut off by Sookie yelling at us to ‘shut up’.

I was very near fed up with her behavior and she was going to be hearing about it as soon as we were home.

She closed her eyes and stood in the night air with her face to the sky and the air around her began to pulse and stink of magic.

She suddenly moved to get back into the car and we were off, speeding to the back side of the mall and as she threw the car into park she started digging under her seat for her gun.

 

We were given yet another order. To stay put until she called us. And she was gone.

We stood next to the car and did as we had been told. “Don’t be too pissed. I think this is one of the new things.”

“You’ve seen this before? Barking orders?”

He nodded. “Feel her out. She’s barely herself. Russell had a Fellowship attack while we were visiting. They got onto the compound by maiming the 4 guards at the front gate and stormed in. Sookie went into this mood here. She had what was left of security rallied and prepared and the bodies were all cleaned up within an hour and the survivors were thrown to the lions for dinner. I don’t know if she’s shutting down her emotions or if she’s giving into her survival instincts, but she’s more fierce now than she ever has been. We’ve both seen her in battle. That was nothing. I’m pretty sure that little skirmish is where the ‘Queen of the Supes’ rumor came from, but you never know with Weres.”

“How many?”

“Just the four of Russell’s guards.”

“How many humans were lost?”

“All of them. About 30. Sookie took out a few herself then used the telekinesis to hold the survivors still until supper. They really picked the wrong time to pay a visit, but she got from them that they were after her specifically. It only pissed her off more that they were going to kill everyone there to get to her.”

“She never mentioned it.”

“It happened too fast for you to help even if they hadn’t attacked during the day. She didn’t want to worry you so she didn’t even tell Pam.”

“How did they know you were there?”

“They were watching the property. Rumors got back to them that Sookie had been coming back into town.”

“Have you ever seen Fae in battle?”

“Heard rumors. But this is more Vampiric. Methodical. Like watching a chess master. She runs through scenarios like lightening. Like the other night with Compton. He was getting vacuumed up before I worked through why she didn’t just do it herself. I know she wanted to.”

“She wanted him dead?” I’d been worried that killing him would hurt our relationship.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Said that she knew he wouldn’t ever let you two have any peace. She knew it would come to things being y’all or him. She looked scary when she said she’d do it herself before he did anymore damage.”

Our conversation was interrupted before I had the chance to suggest a Daemonic relation to see how much he knew on the subject.

Sookie called for us, asking us to bring the extra clothing and her other bullets.

 

Angela looked a wreck when we joined them. She was covered in her own blood and tears and needed the help of my Sookie to stand.

While Angela dressed, Sookie painted the partial portrait of Angela’s vicious rape and torture. Then we all moved to watch Sookie stage the scene to seem like the fellowship had been the instigators. I watched MY Sookie use the femoral blood of one of Angela’s rapists to scrawl ‘FANGBANGER’ on the wall behind the rapists’ vehicle. She laid out Angela’s clothing and shot into it then set it on fire to seem like she’d been killed.

She left the three monsters caged in their truck while she lit up the area behind the mall, glowing as she healed poor Angela’s wounds.

She cued me to leave by asking me to take Angela to get her car.

I gave Sookie a kiss, my anger from earlier now replaced with curiosity and scooped Angela in my arms. We had barely cleared the roof of the mall when two more shots ring out into the night. They were quickly followed by the sound of another shot.

 

As I set Angela on the passenger seat of her car I felt it all come back. The bond was suddenly filled with everything it should have been as things happened. Pain, worry, concern, hate, anger, superiority. The superiority was what caught my attention as I drove Angela’s car to our house with her wrapped around my arm, still very frightened and shaken.

I led Angela to sit at the kitchen table and Alcide immediately started toiling in the kitchen.

We went through the motions of trying to shake our experiences while Sookie tore through the mountain of food Alcide had prepared to help her recharge and then she announced that she was going to bed.

Angela went to her and gave her a hug. For nearly 15 minutes Alcide, Pam and I watched in horror as Sookie and Angela glowed in the center of the room. The brightness coming from them was sublime, but the tragic scene of Angela’s ordeal being remembered to us caught us all off guard. I think, quite possibly, that Sookie was trying to take it away, trying to ‘undo’ Angela’s rape for her.

When it was all over, Angela came to me and slumped into my lap. She quietly sobbed for a long while as my nestmates watched the break down.

When she finally calmed enough, we took her to her new room to settle her in. Pam had brought her some toiletries and a nightgown so that she could clean up and she hugged us all as we told her goodnight, and that she was safe here.

 

After a quick debriefing with Alcide and Pam, we parted ways. I immediately went to shower. The young vampire had soaked my neck and chest with bloody tears and they bothered me. Not in the sense that my shirt was ruined. In the sense that they were pungent with her agony. If Hunter is right about Sookie’s empathy transferring to me somehow, it was going to take a lot of getting used to.

I crawled onto the bed, and looked down at the little angel, smoothing her hair away from her face while she slept.

She looked up at me through her bright eyes for a moment before she got her wits and sat up. “Is she ok?”

I nodded. “She is fine. Sookie saved her and healed her injuries.”

She latched on to me again. “You can keep her safe, can’t you?”

“I will do everything I can to keep her safe. I promise. We won’t let anything happen to her if we can help it.”

“We got really lucky. You’ll keep us all safe. I love you.”

Words can’t describe the feeling in my chest. It was a pain and it was a joy simultaneously and it only deepened as I waited for it to let up. “I’m the lucky one, min kara.”

I kissed the top of her head and told her to get some rest and took my leave.

 

My retreat from Manen took me took Sookie.

I slid between our sheets and wrapped my body around hers. If I couldn’t have answers, at least I had her.

She seemed mostly asleep as she mumbled into my chest. “Did you get Angela all settled in?”

“Yes… She will be fine in spite of it all.”

“I couldn’t heal her.”

“Sookie, she looked like it never happened before we left the scene. Of course you healed her.”

She started sobbing. “Eric, that’s not what I was trying to heal… And what can I do for Manen? She saw it all in her dream.”

“I know. It’s not something any of us will soon forget. I told Pam and Alcide not to say anything about it.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the two of you hugged in the kitchen, you were both glowing as you do when you are healing and we all saw exactly what had happened. Alcide nearly got sick and if Pam and I could, we would have.”

“I’m sorry I yelled at you to shut up.”

“Lover, I’m starting to understand that there isn’t much of anything that you don’t have a reason for. I love you.”

Her gentle snoring was all that followed and I fell shortly after her, and long before dawn was a threat…