Chapter 11

 

11- Dressed up dollies and stripped down dames

Merlotte’s was a madhouse of manic motion.  Elbows rubbed and bumped, trays carefully lifted and maneuvered, orders scribbled and tossed with frantic precision.  The only reason I wasn’t racing for my tips was because there wasn’t any room for the running.  It would have been busy anyway on account of it being a Saturday night, but it had been a fair piece since so much interesting had happened in so short a time.  The nosies were going rounds about the murders and lip smacking about my brother, and knocking back beers aplenty to justify.  I listened in as I could, dipping into thoughts here and there looking for clues, but evidence was as scarce as speculation was gross.  Most folks also gave a whisper or passing thought on my dastardly romantic choices.

I’m ashamed to say I was more than a little relieved my relationship with Eric seemed to be sitting back burner to all the dying.

Alcide came in around dusk, sliding into the lone empty stool at the bar top while looking around the jam packed bar with casual curiosity.  I gave him a big ol’ smile and he returned it with easy full force.

“Sure is busy in here.”

“Murder makes people drink, it seems,” I said, and Alcide’s smile dimmed to something more serious on hearing my sad note.

“Speaking of, Northman called.”

I brightened considerably at this news, as intended.

“He did?”

“Sure enough.  Said he’s stuck at the club on business and that I should just drive you on in to Shreveport when you’re off work-”

I frowned at that.

“-and that you can drive the corvette home or get a ride from Bobby.”

“Hmm,” I said as I was deliberating.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about driving Eric’s car- Eric’s very expensive car- but Bobby the Boob was definitely out.  I’d rather go a bare knuckled round with a bigoted serial killer than face his kind of deliberate prejudice again.

Alcide was looking a little wicked around the edges as he spoke up again.

“He said to appeal to your environmental sense if you got all stubborn-”

“Did he now?” I drawled drily.

“-and to tell you that ‘It’s a key, Ms. Stackhouse, not a yoke.’”

I rolled my eyes more at the highhandedness than the Alcide’s poor attempt on lofty Eric.  Just how many keys was the vamp going to pawn off on me?  Up until a few days ago I’d been a two key woman: house and car.  Occasionally I’d opened the bar up for Sam, but that wasn’t any sort of regular event and I always put the keys back in the safe when I was finished.

Alcide was watching me intently as I puzzled this out, and I let my brain slip into his for just a minute to try and sort out why.

Northman must be gone on her if he’s making keys.  Ain’t hard to see why.

Suddenly my key ring was feeling a whole lot lighter.

“We’ll sort it out after work,” I said with renewed cheer.  “What can I getcha in the meantime then, Alcide?”

“Bud’ll be fine, seeing as what I want’s already taken.”

I shushed at him half heartedly, and he winked playfully back.  I was batting a thousand on the Supe scorecard, it seemed.  Verily sexy vampires and wonderfully wicked werewolves, oh my!

It occurred to me as I was pulling Alcide a tall draft that I should probably let Sam in on my bodyguard’s alter ego, if he didn’t already know.  I would have asked Alcide, but if he didn’t know Sam was one of the Supes it wasn’t my place to spill the beans.  I did a quick circuit on my tables then ducked back to the office were Sam was busy getting change for the bar.

“Sam?”

“What’s that, cher?” he muffled from out of the safe.

“I’ve got a guest at the bar.”  I hesitated fractionally, then pushed on.  “His name’s Alcide Herveaux, and he’s a Were.”

I hesitated again on trying to sort out the shortest explanation for his presence, but Sam jumped on eliminating the need.

“I appreciate you telling me, but I already knew,” he said on raising up from the safe, stretching back in his roller chair and fanning a thick stack of ones with his thumb.

“You did?” I asked in surprised.  Had Sam scented Alcide out from all the way back here then?  I needed to be careful or I was going to start developing a Supe-induced shower complex.

“Northman called me earlier and filled me in.”

Of course he did, right after he used Alcide to second hand coerce me into accepting a key sight unseen.

“Well aren’t his fingers itchy tonight,” I muttered in exasperation.  Honestly, the vamp was just asking to wake up with ‘HIGH-HANDED’ scrawled across his face in eyeliner.  Better yet, Sharpie.

Sam’s lips twitched like he was trying real hard not to smile, and I propped my hands on my hips and glared back.

“Aren’t you gonna nag me on account of my furry bodyguard, then?”

“No.”

“No?” I drawled pissily enough to have him cocking an eyebrow.

“Northman’s worried after you, cher, and so am I.  Whoever’s knocking off these girls ain’t looking to stop anytime soon, not with the juice he’s gettin’ off it.  And after the show last night you might as well be flagging him in.”

I started to say something nasty back but he held me off with a pleading hand.

“Don’t be going and getting all up in arms.  It’s not your fault, and much as I hate to admit it, I baited Northman into calling attention to your relationship.  Though I suppose it would’ve happened soon enough.”

He looked more than a little grim on that statement.

“Point is, cher, you don’t need to be going off by yourself with a psycho on the loose.  It could be anyone.”

“I’ve got my resources,” I insisted stubbornly.

“Well sure you do, Sookie, but who’s to say you’ll hear something in time for it help?  You’ve been listening all night for Jason’s sake, haven’t you?”

I eyeballed him trying to figure out if being devoted, as Eric said I was, was tantamount to being boring.

“Yes.”

“Heard anything suspicious?”

“No,” I admitted petulantly.  “But he might not be here.”

Sam sighed at that and ran his spare hand manically through his hair.

“Hell, cher, there’s people out in that bar that had to wipe cobwebs off their shoes before wearing ‘em out tonight.  You can bet sure as sunshine he’s out there with them.  There ain’t no telling how many faces such a man can wear.”

This last statement was loaded with all sorts of warnings and not-so-vague wistfulness that I couldn’t get a handle on.  I searched Sam for some sense, studying his earnest Paul Newman blue eyes and concerned half smile, and wondered how it was I had missed so many undertones where he was concerned.  Was that his fault for holding onto his secrets so hard or mine for trying so hard for so long not to listen?  If there had ever been such a possibility of us being together, it had slipped through the gaps in our connection.

In contrast, Eric and I definitely seemed more inclined to chaffing than slipping, and it occurred to me for the first time that this might not be such a bad thing.  He already knew me well enough to circumvent me for my own sake and wait for me to come to terms.  I was stubborn, he was a manhandler, and we might have to hack out places in each other’s lives, but we would always be connected for it.  Eric and I would never suffer this hit-and-miss game of frustrated feelings and repressed lusts I seemed to have going on with Sam.

I gave Sam a kinder smile now, more than a little empathetic for what he was going through.

“I hear you Sam, but you don’t need to worry.  I promise to be careful.  I’m stubborn, not suicidal.”

He laughed a little at that, and we both ignored strain under the sound.

“At least you own it, cher,” he chuckled halfheartedly.

“It’s a Stackhouse thing,” I said with proud cheer.  “But listen, about tonight…  You still alright with me taking off early?  The work business really won’t happen ‘til after hours, and it sure is busy out there.”

Sam was still smiling over his nod, but I was happier for the smile than the consent.

“Folks are talkin’ more’n drinkin’ anyhow.  A few extra minutes on the order won’t hurt nothing, and Lisa’s got a birthday coming up so Arlene’s needy for the tips.”

“Of course,” I said warmly at the mention of Arlene’s little girl.  I had known Lisa and her brother Coby since they’d been in nappies, and had babysat them time enough to qualify as Aunt Sookie.  These days I mostly just looked after them when Arlene and Rene went out on date nights, but I’d had Lisa’s birthday present on layaway for near on three months.  I’d planned on picking it up next week from Wal-Mart.

“I’ll get a move on it, then.  Lord only knows what’s happening with my tables.”

“Tell Arlene I’ll be right up with her change, will ya cher?”

“Sure thing, Sam.”

After that I got down to some serious hustling, cleaning and prepping as I went so I wouldn’t leave Arlene and Terry Bellefluer, who was bar backing, in the lurch when I left.  Dishes got washed, tables got wiped, food got ran, but in the back of my mind and the front of my heart, I was already with Eric.

Alcide was nursing his second draft when one of my few good friends, Tara Thorton, strutted on in to Merlotte’s.  I gave her the eyeball as she bee lined for me, shaking her ass like there were maracas stuck in both cheeks.  I could already tell from her thoughts that her and her fiancé, Benedict ‘Eggs’ Tallie were on the outs again.  I had her margarita in the blender before she’d even slid onto the stool, smelling like sin and smiling like Satan’s mistress.

“Ya know girl, sometimes I do love that funky brain of yours.”

Alcide shot me a loaded look as I was setting Tara’s margarita down on a little paper napkin.

“Yup,” I said to the both of them cheerfully.  “It sure is handy sometimes.  Love the hair, by the by.”

Tara’s dark hair was cut pageboy style and artfully tousled like she’d just gotten out of bed from doing anything but sleeping.  It matched her sooty lashed bedroom eyes and plumped up lips.

“Thanks,” she said, fluffing it more for Alcide’s benefit than mine.  “I just got it done at the new salon next to my place.”

Tara owns Tara’s Togs, one of the few shopping boutiques in Bon Temps.  She has all sorts of fair priced frippery, from casual to formal, and usually holds a choice piece or two until clearance for me.  I had gotten my flower print sundress I’d met Eric in at her store on 50 percent off, and I had my thoughts on a few other bits he might be fond of me in as well.  From there my thoughts slipped to my limited wardrobe, then downwards to Bobby’s sneering attitude towards my appearance.

“Speaking of,” I said.  “I was thinking on running by the shop sometime this week and picking up some new outfits.  Business wear and the like, mostly.”

“Oh?” Tara said, sipping off the frosty rim of her drink and making eyes at Alcide.  “What for?”

“I got a new job.”

That got her attention.

“A job?” she said, abandoning her deliberately innocent orange sugar licking.  “In this po’dunk town?”

“No, not exactly.  It’s in Shreveport.”  I hesitated.  “Listen, I’m getting off in about twenty.  Can you wait ‘til then?  It’s complicated, and I’d rather fill you in outside.”

Tara’s gaze whipped around the bar at all the hawk-eyed nosies, and then she gave a big snort.

“Sure.  I’m sure I can find something to keep me company,” she said, sliding sideways to more directly face Alcide.  My usually kooky smile went soft with bemusement.

“Alcide Herveaux, meet Tara Thorton.”

They faced each other with handsome smiles and no small amount of sexual tension.  Maybe it was on account of my spectacular happy moments the night before, but I seemed to be all awash in lusty waves.

“Y’all two know each other then?” Tara purred on offering him her hand.  Alcide took it with a big grin, his huge palm swallowing her slender one.

“Alcide’s one of my new co-workers,” I hedged as he was brushing her knuckles with a kiss.  Supe’s sure did seem big on the whole gallantry bit.

“Sure does offer nice scenery,” she purred, and Alcide’s grin went high enough to split his face.

“Oh, yes,” I agreed vigorously, but it wasn’t Alcide I was picturing.  Nope, I was flashing back on my delicious nocturnal sheriff.  All six and a half glowing feet of my blue eyed, lusty handed, overly considerate, Viking vamp wonder.  I sighed, and it must have been pretty loud because Tara ripped her eyes off her flirt to study me closer.

“Sook, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re moony.”

“That’s a word for it,” I said dreamily, fiddling with my horseshoe charm and trying real, real hard not to think about what Eric and I were going to be getting down to later that night.  Tara’s eyes dropped to my necklace, then back up with giddy shock.

“You got a man now?  Do I know him?  Who is he?”

“His name’s Eric Northman,” I claimed proudly.  “He’s out of Shreveport.  And yes, he is mine.”

Tara squealed like a piglet jerked off the teat and came round the bar to snatch me up in a flamboyant hug.  I giggled in the swell of her good cheer.

“Tell me tell me!  Is he sexy?”

“Oh, Tara, he owns the very word.”

“Damn girl!  Just listen to you with your sexed up voice!  Did I say moony?  Let’s try love drunk.”

“We did that,” I bragged happily.  “Well, I got drunk and he postponed my advances.  Mostly anyhow.”

I felt the disbelief coming off Alcide’s brain and made eyes at him while nodding authoritatively.  His disbelief morphed into shock on seeing my determined expression, but he quickly drowned it out in his beer.  I turned back to Tara bemusedly mollified.

“Where’d you meet him?”

I paused a second on my answer, but I knew after Tara’s crazy violent childhood not much rocked her boat.  She’s more about living life out rather than judging it to pieces.  If anyone in Bon Temps was going to be supportive of my adventurous romance, it would be Tara.

“Fangtasia,” I said confidently.  Her eyes widened a bit at that, and I shoved on with a rueful grin.

“He’s the owner.”

“Shit girl, really?”  True to form, she sounded impressed.  “Man, all them years learning the necessary skills, and I am not talking about his business acuity.”

“Tara!” I huffed, flicking my eyes to Alcide’s smirking mug, but she just kept right on.

“Cosmo had an article about how fast they can move it just last month.  Stroke you to happy pieces.”

Truthfully, I wasn’t nearly as appalled as I probably should have been.  I was feeling a might bit liberated, and oh boy, was Eric sure going to be stroking something tonight if I had my way.  I had to sink my teeth in my lip to block out a groan on remembering what he had done to me only the night before.  With just his thigh and his fangs.  My blood took an eager vacation south just thinking on it.

I heard Alcide make a kind of strangled sound and had to choke off one of my own as I caught a pulse of energy off his brain.  He was smelling me, scenting my arousal, and torn between humor and his own big wolfie lust.

Oh my God.

My blood rocketed back up to my face so fast I had to grip the edge of the bar with both hands.  I slammed my mind shut to prevent any more unwanted thoughts from getting in.  No, I wasn’t saying any words, but I sure could feel my crimson face doing a whole lot of talking.

“You alright, Sook?” Tara asked half in jest.  Her big amber eyes were sparkling with evil humor.  I thought her and Eric were going to get along just great.

“Yeah.  I’m just gonna go drop a check,” I mumbled, dashing past a poorly composed Alcide and a leering Tara.

I took a good fifteen minutes running around cramming in my shift-end cleaning and trying to convince myself that I did not, in fact, have a fever.  The few seconds I ducked into the walk-in freezer helped considerably.  I stood staring at industrial-sized boxes of frozen chicken fingers and rings and reminded myself that I was soon to become a cleverly sophisticated vampire’s lover.  Heck, I’d already practically tangoed with him in the parking lot.  I would not be embarrassed that a hewn jawed werewolf had gotten a whiff of my sexy yearnings.  Not that it was Alcide’s fault, really.  He couldn’t help having a Supe nose, just as I couldn’t help hearing his thoughts.

Soon enough I wouldn’t be hearing anything but Eric’s passion speak.

With a renewed smile, I squared my shoulders and briskly exited the freezer on a dramatic cloud of mist.  I rounded my last tables with the cheeriest of faces, cashing out two checks and happily ignoring all the vicious thoughts aimed at the questionable decency of my virgin groin.  Tara and Alcide caught my eye as I was taking Jane Bodehouse’s crumpled five out of her shaky palm.  Tara mimed walking outside with her fingers, and I nodded at them both.

It was about 8:30 when I finally finished and swung into the office to grab my purse.

“Night, Sam,” I said on my way out, and since he was trying so very hard not to look sorrowful, I leaned in and hugged him tight around the neck.

“Be safe,” he said softly on hugging me back.

 

“Thanks,” I breathed in his ear, and he popped a quick kiss to my cheek.

 

I went out the back exit to the employee lot and found Tara stretched out on my car talking with Alcide.  Oddly enough, they were chatting about their crazy ex-fiancés.

 

“Alright, so spill,” Tara said immediately on seeing me.  “Right from the top.  Feel free to embellish for the story’s sake.”

 

Alcide gracefully made noises about having to check some paperwork.  He strolled over to his truck, rummaging until he found a random stack, then stretched out against the side of his truck to look it over under the flickering lamppost.

 

It took about 15 minutes to catch Tara up from Hadley’s reappearance to meeting Eric, to getting hired by Area 5, to my investigating the murders over Jason getting accused.  Even skipping over the parking lot orgasms, her amber eyes were wide enough to show all around white by the end of it.

 

“And so that’s it?  You’re like the Godvamp’s lie detector girlfriend now or something?”

 

“We’re keepin’ it separate,” I insisted sheepishly.  “But that’s the gist of it, yeah.”

 

“And which one of these positions he’s putting you in accounts for the mucho manly meat?” Tara asked, eyeballing Alcide up and down and then down again for a closer look.  I elbowed her in the gut and she puffed out a hammed up sound.

 

“Neither, actually.  Alcide’s here on account of the serial killer.”

 

Tara’s thin eyebrows shot skyward.

 

“The killer’s got a pin on you?”

 

“Well, it’s not positive or the like, but Maudette and Dawn both had fang marks on them, and Eric came in to see me last night and flashed Sam-“

 

“Whoa, for real?!”

 

“-his fangs,” I finished drily.  “And since Andy and Bud are figuring that might be why they got killed, Eric isn’t too keen on chancing it.  Even if it weren’t Jason on the line for this, I’d probably be looking into it for Maudette and Dawn’s sake.”

 

Tara snorted garishly at Dawn’s name.

 

“Shit, I’m surprised Dawn didn’t get herself snuffed years ago.”

 

“Tara Thorton!” I scolded in appall.  “That is an awful thing to say!”

 

“What?  That girl was a bitch, plain and simple.  Death don’t change the fact.”

 

“Ain’t no one alive deserves to die that horrible,” I admonished quietly, and Tara flashed from bitch to shame.

 

“I’m sorry, Sook.  I wasn’t thinking on you being the one to find her.”

 

I fought off a shiver as I all-too-clearly recalled Dawn’s lurid corpse, and she pulled me into a quick hug.
“No, it’s alright.  I won’t fault you for the honesty.  The tact perhaps, but not the honesty.”

 

“I guess they skipped that part at the baby makin’ shindig.”

 

We laughed, and I hugged her back all the harder.

 

“So you got this first time deal tonight, huh?” she said on pulling back.

 

We both knew she wasn’t talking about my meeting at Fangtasia.

 

“Yes, and I need to go home and get ready,” I said, ducking my flushed face and searching busily for my keys.

 

“Uh huh.  What you really need is a new outfit.  Come on with me to the store real quick and I’ll set you up to get him going at the gate,” she said, wagging her eyebrows in a lewd rendition of Groucho Marx.

 

I wrinkled my nose impishly back.

 

“I got him just fine off my current clothes, thank you much.  The dress you sold me, actually.”

 

“Sure don’t mean you can’t spruce it up.  Hook ‘im in the balls, hold ‘im by the heart.”

 

She made an overly dramatized caricature of reeling him in, and I had to laugh over her crudeness.

 

“Besides girl, if anyone’s deserving of an outfit for her new man, it’s you,” she said winsomely, leaving my longtime virgin status kindly unspoken.

 

She had a point, I knew, but I was habitually cautious about spending.  We’d had to replace the roof last spring, and my bank account still wasn’t entirely recovered.  Then of course, I had just signed a contract jumping my salary up a decimal place.  Regardless, old habits die hard.

 

“I don’t know, Tara.”

 

She scowled prettily at my words, popping her hands on her hips and glaring disappointment at me.

 

“You’ve got the big payday now and what not, right?”

 

“Well yes,” I agreed warily.

 

“So come do what it is normal girls do to celebrate new jobs,” she said.  ‘Cause it was Tara, I knew she meant the words for what they were and not as a slur, but I still took a gut punch on hearing them.

 

None of that now, I self chided.  Line straddling is over, new life is on.  Did I want to go shopping?  Yes, I did.  I wanted Eric to want me just for looking.  But even more than that I wanted to feel proud standing for to him, and wasn’t that just a whole new kettle of bizarre fish?

 

“Alright,” I finally conceded with a bouncing nod.  “Shopping.”

 

Tara crowed in victory and started dragging me towards her Taurus.

 

“What about my car?” I protested in vain.

 

“It’ll be fine here overnight.  Bodehouse does it all the time, and this way you have to take Eric up on the corvette.”

 

It seemed nobody was having me drive tonight.  I sighed out the rest of my reluctance and quit dragging my feet so I could get to Eric faster.

 

“I’ll just follow then,” Alcide called after, and I shot him an apologetic look.

 

“No worries, cher,” he said with a wicked grin.  “Watching y’all is right up there with HBO.”

 

I scowled at him as Tara was shutting her door in my face, but he just kept on grinning as he hopped up in the cab of his truck.  He kept up with us most of the three miles to the little shopping complex, which is saying something even on the short distance as Tara is a loaded pistol behind the wheel.  She really tried losing him in the last few blocks, cutting turns sharp enough to throw my body into the door and have my hands wringing at my belt, but when we pulled into the lot he was already waiting.

As we got out of the car he strolled over whistling a proud little tune.

“Got some moves for your hulk, Herveaux,” Tara sassed on tossing her head sultrily back.

 

Alcide grinned roguishly back, tucking his thumbs into his pockets and rolling back on his heels.

 

“GPS.  Never go on the job without it.”

 

I had to roll my eyes at the both of them.

 

“Speaking of jobs, I do have an appointment scheduled with my vampire sometime tonight.”

 

I’ll just bet.

 

I shot Alcide a fierce smile at that smug thought, and he raised his huge hands up in easy surrender.  Tara hooted and grabbed my forearm to start dragging me again towards the store, digging for her keys with the other hand.

 

All dragging aside, I’ll give Tara this: she sure does know her job.

 

Ten minutes after she shooed us in and flicked on the lights, I was standing half naked in her dressing room staring down at a pile of clothes I would seriously consider wearing.  There were eight pairs of trousers she assured me would make my legs look a mile long, a dozen assorted blouses I had marked as sexy professional, four skirts and two shoeboxes with shoes I’d been instructed to wear with the pants to get the full effect.

 

I’ve always been a speedy shopper.  Being in a store with people twisting at shopping lists while debating milk gallons versus gas or shopping rooms self berating over eating while out loud claiming defective zippers has never been a fun time for me.  But afterhours shopping was a surprisingly relaxing experience.  Alcide’s brain was a quiet red buzz, and Tara’s familiar enough to tune out.

 

Their auditory voices hummed softly as I mix-and-matched my way casually through the pile, finally deciding on four pairs trousers, two skirts and six blouses before turning to the dresses hanging on back the stall door.  There were three of them, two sundresses and a dressier sort, and I fiddled with my horseshoe charm as I lifted the first.  It was almost neon blue with a white bodice top, a fitted waist and little cap sleeves.  I’d tried it on before, so I knew it was a good fit.  The second dress I was a little less sure of.  It was sort of peasant princess, a pale, pale pink with wispy sleeves and a bunchy bodice.  I tugged it on overhead, turned to the mirror and stared.

 

“Holy cleavage,” I muttered at my image, and it was true.

 

The bodice was a show-and-tell tease, clinging just below my collarbone while stretching in attempted respect over my ample assets.  The stretchy material kept close until just under my waist, where it dropped straight down to the knee in the same tissue thin fabric as the sleeves.  The sleeves themselves were slit from wrist to shoulder seam, giving a flash of my tan skin on my every move.

 

“I hear you muttering in there.  You come on out here and show us, girl,” Tara called, and I sighed and shoved out of the dressing room.

 

Alcide whistled.  Tara clapped.  I flushed.

 

“I don’t know what shoes I’d wear,” I protested, playing with the hem.

 

“You got white ballet flats?” she demanded.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“That’s all you need with the rest.  That and some naughty unders,” she added saucily.

 

I turned on my heel and marched back to the dressing room just as Alcide’s massive shoulders started rocking.

 

“I’ll start you a pile,” she hollered as I was tugging the dress carefully back off.  I heard the muffled sound of Alcide losing it and Tara snickering, and I scowled into the white cotton under layer.  I made short work of trying on the black evening dress, pulled my work uniform back on and scooped up my purchases with one arm.  I jerked open the stall door to find them both grinning at me wildly, but I ignored them on huffing my way to the register.

 

Where there was a substantial pile of scanty fripperies already waiting.

 

I stared at the lot of it, trying to sort out some kind of sense.  They were like miniature fabric candies, red, white, and black lace, pink, blue and cream silks, ribbons and sheer, satins and bows.  What would I ever do with such nonsense?  Then I had a sudden flashback of Eric controlled losing it the night before, and my irritation edged into a different kind of heat.

 

“Fine,” I agreed defiantly, tossing my pile over top the lingerie mountain.  “I’ll take the whole lot.”

 

“The whole thing?” Tara asked hesitantly as I was tugging my checkbook out of my purse.

 

“Sure thing,” I cheered as I scribbled Tara’s Togs across the top the check.  “They’re all in my size, right?”

 

“Yeah, but Sook-“

 

“I’ve got occasion to wear ‘em now, Tara,” I interrupted with absolute finality.  “I might as well enjoy it.”

 

And Tara, never one to resist a sale, rang me up with a dollar-sign leer.

Thirty minutes later, Alcide and I were walking into my kitchen with my swath of bags.  I stopped at the entrance way in happy surprise to see Hadley sitting and drinking a True Blood with Gran.

“Sookie!” she cheered happily, blurring up to her feet and over to give me a hug.

“I’m so happy to see you, sweetie!” I said as I squeezed her back through my huge collection of bags.

“Yeah, well, I figured there was no sense in waiting on dinner since I’d already talked to Gran on the phone and was sitting out watching the house and what not.”

“Waiting at all was nonsense,” Gran scolded gently.  “This here’s your home as you like, same as it is for all my grand babies.”

Hadley beamed back at her, pale skin glowing radioactive bright.  I sent a little prayer of thanks skyward on seeing the joy on her face.

“And who’s this strapping young man then?” Gran asked, eyeing Alcide with healthy appreciation.  It seemed Eric still had her heart as much as mine.

“Ma’am,” he said respectfully on stepping forward.  “I’m Alcide Herveaux.  Mr. Northman has me looking after Sookie here.”

“Welcome to the team, then.  Can I get you something to drink?  We’ve got pop and coffee and juice.”

“Pop’ll be fine.”

“Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

While Gran was settling Alcide with a drink, I started making my way towards the hall with my plethora- see word of the day- of bags.

 

“You want me to come help sort what you got?” Hadley offered hopefully.

“We can sort through it tomorrow night after dinner,” I assured her.  “Right now I just want to jump in the shower and get dressed.  You stay and enjoy catching up with Gran.”

I managed my way up to room and dumped my bags unceremoniously on the bed.  I packed my overnight bag first with a few new outfits and an assortment of lingerie, throwing in my bottle of Obsession, my work packet, a couple of novels and my spare bikini, just in case.  I pulled the zipper closed, then open again before going and rummaging up my drawers for a couple of work outfits.  If I was going to be spending a lot of time at Eric’s, I might as well leave a uniform or two so I could skip the extra trip home.

 

My need for Eric was growing, and I set some kind of record get ready for him.  I was stripped and pulling the shower curtain not five minutes later.  I soaped and shaved, lathered on lotion and spritzed on scent.  I pulled on my fairytale dress over my new undies and brushed my hair and slapped on makeup and barely bothered to even look twice.

 

When I got downstairs, Alcide was sipping on a Sundrop and chatting with Gran and Hadley at the kitchen table.  He rolled to his feet on seeing me, striding over and lifting the bag off my shoulder with an appreciative smile.

 

“You look gorgeous,” he said with easy charm.

 

“Thanks,” I said shyly back, as he was trying real hard to keep his lust on lockdown.

 

“Doesn’t she just?” Hadley said in awe.  “Eric’s gonna just lose it.”

 

Gran clucked in happy disagreement.

 

“Man like that’ll know to keep it on sight, I’ll say.”

 

“Thanks Gran,” I said warmly, walking over and bussing her cheek with a kiss.

 

“I’ve got business at Fangtasia tonight, so I’m gonna stay over at Eric’s.”

“Well you have a good time, then, honey,” she smiled, managing to be both rueful and good-humored at once.  Hadley, who more than knew exactly what Eric and I planned on doing with our time, was doing her best to keep her smile circumspect.

 

“I can drop your car off at Eric’s before I bunk down, Sook, if you want to drive with Alcide,” she offered graciously.

 

I tried not to show my relief about having another option than driving Eric’s corvette.  It’s not that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the ride, but the idea of being responsible for something I couldn’t afford made me more than a little nervous.  Of course, with my new job, I actually could afford a nicer car.  I might even need one, considering how often I was going to be driving back and forth to Shreveport.

 

“What about your car?”

 

“Oh, I ran instead.”

 

“You ran?  As in the whole way from Shreveport?”  Talk about environmentally friendly.

 

“Sure thing,” she cheered.  “It’s such a nice night, and beside that, I’m real fast.  Pam says I’ve got a talent for it.”

 

“Alright, that’ll work,” I agreed.  “And this way I’ll be back in time to help with the pre-dinner cleaning.”  Hadley and I grinned big at each other, as she remembered Gran’s cleaning whirlwinds as well as I.

 

Gran had other ideas on work share, it seemed.

 

“Sookie, you helped me with the spring sweep not five days back.  You go on and enjoy yourself in Shreveport and come back with Eric when he wakes up.”

 

“But Gran-“

 

“But nothing!”

 

I stared down at her determined face in fond exasperation.

 

“What will I even do all day?”

 

“Eric’s got a flat screen in the basement,” Hadley offered mischievously.

 

“Hose that,” Gran shot back.  “She’ll go car shopping.”

 

What was it with people trying to separate me from my car tonight?

 

“There’s nothing wrong with my car,” I said in puzzled irritation, though I’d been thinking much the same not minutes ago.

 

“Not yet, but you’ve got a payday coming, and yours is edging to clunker.”

 

Alcide choked on his Sundrop mid sip.  I slapped him less-than-companionably on the back, shooting a reproachful look at a trying-not-to-chortle Hadley.

 

“I hear you,” I said once his coughing had subsided.

 

“Good.  Now you go on and tell your Eric that I expect you all to arrive at nine o’clock sharp,” she said, rising to her feet and all but shoving me and Alcide out the door.

 

“Have a terrific night Sook!” Hadley cheered wickedly. I started to snark something inappropriate back, but Gran slapped me with a look and I cut the words off at the last moment.

 

“I aim to,” I amended weakly, and she sniffed in approval as we finally made it back out the door.

 

Alcide seemed to sense I wasn’t in a talking mood on the way to Shreveport.  We spent the drive in companionable silence, with the low hum of country for background noise.  It was near eleven when we finally pulled up to the front of Fangtasia, but my night had yet to even begin.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow then?” I asked as he was helping me down out the cab of the truck.

 

“Bright in the a.m.,” he agreed cheerfully.  “I’ll be sitting outside Northman’s in the driveway.”

 

“You can come on in for breakfast, if you’d like,” I offered as he set my bag down on my shoulder.

 

“You’ve got food at the vamp’s?” he asked, eyebrows crawling up his forehead in surprise.

 

“I’ve got a supermarket,” I replied wryly.  “Eric stocked up.”

 

Alcide rubbed his hand thoughtfully over his jaw on hearing this.

 

“Seems he’s taking great care with you,” he said.

 

“He cares,” I agreed by way of correction.  Alcide just inclined his head respectfully before watching me walk up to the front of the club.

 

I wound my way through the buzzing crowd to find Pam was standing at the door with a hip cocked and her fangs showcased in her beautifully bored face.  Her features took on a new life on seeing me.

 

“Why if it isn’t our favorite sanguine sweetheart,” she purred happily, eyes whipping from my face to my toes and back again.

 

“Hiya Pam!” I said cheerfully.  I think I surprised us both by bouncing up on my toes to kiss her cheek.  The crowd behind us gave a mental gasp, but Pam just laughed and snapped her fingers briskly.  Another vamp flashed up to take her spot at the podium, and she took me by the arm.

 

“Just wait until Eric gets a load of you,” she teased as we pushed into the club.

 

“Is he busy?” I asked, sounding more than a little eager.

 

“I’m sure it wouldn’t matter even if he was,” she said, voice evil with mirth.  “But he’s floating around here somewhere.”

 

My eyes wandered to where we’d sat a few nights back, but the raised throne wasn’t where I remembered it.  I slowed us to a standstill for a quick double check, scanning over the club, then again to the spot for a closer look.  Nope.  The platform was definitely gone.  I stared at the vacant spot confusedly for a moment, and Pam was quick to catch on.

 

“He had ‘em tear it out after hours last night.”

 

“What?  Why?”

 

Pam shot me a pointed look that confused me more than settled.

 

“He didn’t say why when you asked?” I prodded again.

 

“How’re you so sure I asked?” she drawled.

 

“Seemed likely to your character,” I teased, and she smirked back as she started us walking again through the crushing crowd.  I was grateful for her hand on my elbow as it pushed at least the mental voices down to a hum.

 

“Well, I did ask, but he was authoritatively vague about the whole thing.  Something about not needing a throne to be in charge.”  She snorted in dramatic disbelief.  “But I know Eric.  He wants you, enough to subject himself to all your pesky demands for monogamy with all the fixings.”

 

“You and Hadley are monogamous,” I defended as we ducked past a red eyed frat boy wearing enough cologne to draw attention to the joint he’d smoked in his car.

 

“Mostly,” she agreed readily.

 

Mostly?  I was so not going there.

 

“But Eric never has been.  Still, when he wants something, he goes to the ground for it, and I’ve never seen him want anything the way he wants you.”

 

Pam didn’t seem overly concerned with this rather tremendous statement, but it sure had me weak in the knees and soft in the head.

 

“Huh,” I managed as I glanced back at where Eric and I had sat on high just a few days before.  The large square of newly revealed linoleum was a few strange shades lighter than the surrounding floor, but just as glossy with a fresh coat of wax.  Just how long had that platform sat there with Eric perched on top scowling at his adoring fans of the fang?  Since Fangtasia had opened its doors?  And now there were dozens of feet milling all over the virgin ground all for the sake of lil’ ol’ me.

 

Was it any wonder I was in love with Eric Northman?

 

I jerked to a stop so fast Pam nearly wrenched my arm out its socket.  I wouldn’t have noticed even if she’d managed to finish the job off.  I was too busy desperately recounting, recalculating and regurgitating my moony musings.

 

I couldn’t be in love with Eric, could I?  It was too soon, and he was such a big character.  Sure, we belonged to each other off a two way confession, but he was highhanded as all get out and had women crawling over him like ants on a summer picnic.  And who could blame them, what with Eric being- literally- drop dead gorgeous?  Lord knew I was on him much the same.

 

Still, I knew myself to recognize that lust was the easy out answer here.  Even if I was truly in love with him, why exactly was I freaking out?  This was what ordinary girls did, after all.  They fell in love, mooned and sighed and wondered.  Hadn’t Pam just said he wanted me like nothing else?  Hadn’t he been hinting and implying and dancing all over the importance of our connection?  Didn’t I have a key to his house and one on the way to his car?  Hadn’t he agreed to curb his appetites and tried to put us on equal footing by removing himself from his throne?

 

Hadn’t he bought me a damned skillet?

 

Yup.  Sure enough I was in love with Eric Northman.

 

“Please do tell me we’re gonna have to liquor you up again,” Pam purred, and my eyes snapped back to focus.

 

“I could do with one,” I agreed rather desperately, and Pam scowled us a clear path to the bar.

 

Longshadow flashed in front of me with a fanged smile and a tumbler of ice.

 

“G and T?” he asked.  I noted vaguely that his leer was somewhat more discreet this evening.

 

“Yes please,” I all but begged, and seconds later I was chugging down tonic and gin.  I sighed mightily on hitting bottom.

 

“There there, doll,” Pam said, patting my hand with mischievous goodwill.  “Eric will take care of those sighs soon enough.”

 

I shivered at that promising thought, but it was love that had me trembling.

 

“I need him,” I confessed shakily on setting my glass back on the bar top.  I barely noticed Longshadow replacing it.

 

“Already I need him, and I can’t help thinking I’m gonna end up hurting for it in the long run.  And not on account of the vampire business,” I added on an afterthought.

 

Pam’s smile was softer now, almost tender, but her tone was stern.

 

“A lot of people depend on Eric being what he is, but not for who he is.  If you think that he doesn’t know what you’re offering him, if you think it doesn’t matter, you are a fool.”

 

“Well, jeez, Pam,” I said wryly.  “Don’t go pulling punches or anything.”

 

She shrugged nonchalantly.

 

“Sometimes the truth hurts.  But it doesn’t have to,” she said pointedly.

 

I stared at her a moment as waiting for this wisdom sank in.  Did loving Eric have to hurt, or was I borrowing trouble on a maybe?  Everything he’d done for me so far showed that he wanted anything but for me to feel pain.  Well, excepting the good sort.  I needed to see him, I thought rather desperately.  I just needed to lay eyes on him and have one of our funky little eyeball conversations and everything would sort itself out.

 

I turned to wishfully search the bar, and there he was, just as if I’d called him, a tribute to his Viking heritage with his long blond hair framing his handsome, glowing face.

 

The crowd vanished as we stared at each other, as sounds faded, as minds eclipsed.  His eyes didn’t raze me like I’d expected.  They simply absorbed.  I stood still to the grave and let him swallow me up, heart pounding as he took in how I’d dolled myself up for Our Big Night.  His expression was earnest even for my not-so-subtle packaging, his blue eyes tenderly lustful, his fangs conspicuously absent.  Why had I ever been afraid of this testament of profound masculinity?

 

“Eric,” I sighed in happy relief.

 

His lips quirked in gentle provocation at the sound, and suddenly I just knew it wasn’t for the dress, that the dress wouldn’t have mattered at all on me coming here, it was just us, just us and this crazy lil’ thing we had going on.

 

Eric Northman wanted me for myself even more than he wanted me for dinner.

 

I smiled my love hugely at him, and he grinned back just as bright.  My heart flooded with warmth at the sight, my body flushed with heat, my mind grateful that we could share at least this type of sunshine.

 

“Pamela, see to things.”

 

“Sheriff.”

 

I followed him back out the club into the muggy night, and our strides fell to an easy suit.

 

We didn’t speak on the drive.

 

We didn’t have a need to.

 

When the car purred off again Eric blurred out and around to yank my door open, then up the steps into the house.  I followed blissfully after like I was on a happy string, gliding up steps, drifting through the kitchen, floating down the hall to the bedroom.  I brushed past him where he stood in the doorframe and stared down at his bed with a rabid pulse and a wondrous heart.  He came up behind me, keeping that careful electric distance, saying all the while, this is yours, this is yours to choose.  I closed my eyes, leaned back to him and wound an arm up around his neck.

 

“What are you wearing for me tonight, Miss Stackhouse?”

 

His voice was darkly tender as his nose slid from my jaw to my temple, his deep breath feathering my hair along the way.

 

“Sunshine and sex and something… else.”

 

I shuddered out a breath, but the words just weren’t coming.  Twenty-five years holding on to unwanted secrets, but I couldn’t give up this invited one.  It was too precious, it was too new and too raw.  I couldn’t, I just couldn’t say this, I couldn’t even breathe it.  I could only feel until all that I was feeling, and all that I was, was Eric.

 

“Sookie.”

 

My name came out sounding like some sort of violent candy, dark on the drawl, sweet on the intent.  His hands flexed on my shoulders, skimmed down my sides to mould my hips, fit me back to his hardness.  His fingertips skimmed my thighs, and I trembled.  I felt his fingers curl, felt him raise the fabric in a slow tease, tugging it up, higher, higher, until I was forced to release his neck and let him pull it up over my head.  His forearm crossed over my naked ribs, his big hand curved around my back and spun me around to face him.  His breath came out in a violent hiss, and my eyes snapped up to meet his.

 

“Just the sight of you threatens my restraint.”  His hand slid up my throat, flexed once dangerously at my rabbiting pulse before going on to tenderly cradle my chin in his palm in a miracle of contrasts.

 

“Eric,” I whispered longingly.

 

“Patience, my Sookie,” he murmured back, big hands sliding up my back to unsnap my bra, then up to my shoulders to tug it the rest of the way off.  He groaned like a dying man on seeing my breasts.  His hands came up to cup them worshipfully, palms weighing them lovingly, fingers kneading them teasingly.

 

“Your body is gift, a tribute to an artisan god.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you’d believed in god,” I managed breathlessly as his fingers began a slow slid down towards my panties.

 

“I’ve lived too long not to,” he said simply, giving me a boyishly playful smile just before dipping down into uncharted depths.

 

It didn’t take me more than a moment to discover that Eric Northman has deliciously long and craftily tipped fingers.  When my legs were jellied enough for toast, he began walking me backwards, kissing me all the while.  I went blindly back until my thighs hit the bed, bracing myself on his forearms as he lifted me by the hips as easily as if I were a doll.  I tried bringing him with me as he slid me over the comforter and into a mountain of pillows, but he shook his head.

 

“Lie back,” he said softly.

 

I watched hungrily as his fingers popped the button on his jeans, listened greedily as his zipper hissed down.  My eyes went globally wide on the proud, naked sight of him.  I’d known he was endowed from my little lap session, but this…  Good Gracious Plenty!  I blew out a breath that was only halfway lustful.

 

“I think that may be the scariest thing about you,” I joked nervously.

 

The words had no sooner left my lips then he blurred up onto the bed and flashed to a stop over top me.

 

“I will not hurt you,” he whispered against my mouth, and I nearly went cross eyed drawing on the reassurance in his eyes.

 

He began slowly lowering himself down to me, and I arched instinctively upwards, legs widening to invite him closer.  My hands slid up from his waist to the firm lines of his back, my nipples tightened on making contact with his hard chest.  His kissed with wicked softness along my jaw, and tender hunger along my throat, dragging his hard body intimately down the soft length of mine.

I watched him working his way down with terrific patience, tasting and working his hands just so here, and just so there, until my body was built up from desperate lust into insane need.  When he reached my lower belly, spreading my knees and lowering his face even further to inhale deep, my eyes started to slide close, but Eric was having none of it.

“No,” he commanded.  His fingers bit into the flesh of my thighs, hard enough to hurt, soft enough to please.  “This time you watch.”

 

I locked into his gleaming eyes even as his fingers parted me, even as his mouth touched my lower lips, as his tongue slid into my trembling self.  This was softer, so much softer than the night before, and deeper all the same.  He stared into me as he tasted, as he took for the giving and sent me flying out of my skin.  And when I gave my final cry, when my fingers were digging into his shoulders as I shuddered down into perfect madness, he yanked his head sideways and pressed his fangs tenderly into the flesh of my thigh.

 

I barely moved as he came back up and settled over me again, but on the full weight of him my trembling arms wrapped up and around his cool back.

 

“Liquid sunshine,” he murmured on lowering his mouth to mine.  I threw myself into it, tasting the leftovers of our madness.  He rocked into me intimately all the while, teasing but stopping just short of the final give.  I yanked back finally, gone past all shame.

 

“Eric,” I begged.  “Please, please, I can’t take this…”

 

He laughed gently at that, cupping my hips and angling us even closer together.  My eyes flashed downwards, but he stole my mouth and kissed me back out of focus.

 

“You will look at me, lover,” he commanded softly.

 

How could I not?  His eyes were so intimate, all gentle humor and bridled hunger as he pushed into me, as I stretched for him.  I dug my needy fingers into his arms to pull him closer, and his eyes grew darker, his muscles bunching and coiling under my desperate grip.  I gave a little cry as he flexed through my innocence, but it was more for the joy of belonging then the pain of surrender.  A shudder ran through him on coming to my end, and when he stopped there I frustrated my nails into his shoulders.

 

“Sookie…”

 

 

“Don’t you dare quit!”

 

A beautifully wicked smile lit over his face, and one of his big hands slid under my knee to hitch me even closer.  He began stroking slowly, working me gently wetter until my hips began to roll urgently to meet his.  Again it seemed, again and again would he take me to this place where words lost sense and my heart felt near to bursting for the feelings.

 

“Eric!” I sobbed, clawing at his shoulders, burying my face in his chest.

 

“You are mine,” he growled fervently into my throat.

 

“Yes!  For always, for always I am yours!”

 

He bit deep on the promise, and reacting off some sort of hazy instinct, I bit back.  I heard Eric growl wetly on my blood even as I tasted copper and sweet off him.  Greedy for his taste, for more even then what he was giving me now, I pulled hard once on the already shrinking wound.  His control snapped.  His fingers bruised into my flesh, his hips hammered me across the bed and back down into that blissful darkness.

“Eric!”

His fangs ripped out of my throat, his head flew back and he roared something foreign before following me over the edge.

I lay flat on my back with my hands buried in his hair and stared up at the ceiling wondering if it was sinful to hope for such joys in heaven.  And I wasn’t alone for thinking it’d been miraculous, it seemed.

“Perfect,” he murmured, marking his face back and forth between my sweat slicked breasts.  “Beautifully perfect.”

Yes, I thought over the sound of my thrumming heart beat.  It sure enough had been.

 

But Eric wasn’t finished with me.  He lifted up and flicked his long fingers over my flushed cheekbone before flashing back down between my legs.  I stared down at him, bewitched senseless off seeing his sensual beauty, on feeling his silky hair brush the insides of my thighs and his fingers tighten possessively over my hips.

 

“Watch,” he demanded again, and then he lowered his face and began to clean me with his tongue in long, sure strokes, licking up the wetness we had made together.  My legs were still trembling violently from aftershocks, my thighs pressing against the sides of his face.  He teased my swollen flesh with his lips, with impossibly quick flicks of his tongue, and the blunt edge of his teeth, his expression ferocious.  I was gasping, fingernails biting into my palms, hips bucking wildly; only his broad hands on my hips kept me pinned to the bed.  Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, that it was too much, pleasure so intense it edged on painful, I felt another orgasm slam through me.  I threw my head back and screamed.

 

He was waiting for me when I came down, a devilish, cat-ate-the-canary expression on his face.  My legs were violently trembling, and I stretched them out, shoving out a long, careful breath, unable to speak.

 

“So, my luscious lover, was it all you expected?” he teased coyly.

 

“No,” I said on account of my post-lust brain drain.

 

“No?” he scowled viciously, and I plowed a playful fist into his stomach.  It was like hitting flesh covered brick.

 

“Jeez, Eric.  You could scare John Carpenter with that face.  And no it wasn’t what I expected, because I never expected it at all.”

 

He dropped instantly into consideration, studying my face like he was searching for the mystery of the sphinx.

 

“I am sorry you suffered for the stupidity of men, but I am grateful for the resultant gift.”

 

He lifted my hand in his and tenderly kissed my knuckles.

 

“It was well worth the wait,” I ensured him enthusiastically, and his face flashed back to wicked.

 

“You weren’t so very patient earlier.”

 

“Time and place,” I said primly, and he laughed outrageously.

 

“And this time had you screaming in my bed.”

 

He wagged his eyebrows in lusty admiration and I groaned in superficial frustration.

“Do you think your neighbors heard me?” I asked, flames licking my face at the very thought.  His house was on a generous lot, sure, but I’ve got healthy lungs.

“They would envy me if they could,” he teased as I buried my face in a pillow.  “But the walls are soundproof.”

I lifted my head at that to look at his beautiful bed with more than a little envy of my own.  In fact, just imagining him sharing it with another female made me feel down right hateful.  I knew he hadn’t had any human women here before, but there were more than a few beautiful female vamps at Fangtasia.  My eyes narrowed on our tangled legs, and it was all I could do not to jerk away from what had seconds ago been the happiest moment of my life.

Eric seemed to immediately follow my train of thought.

“No,” he said firmly.  “You are the only one in my bed, my lover.”

“Sure,” I immediately agreed, my nervous smile yanking my lips skyward.  But my eyes were down and hovering at damp.

 

“Look at me, Sookie.”  And because the words so closely mimicked our earlier passions, my eyes flashed to his face.

 

“I am a vampire, Sookie.  It is not for chastity’s sake that my walls are soundproof, and that, before you, this bed was little more than a coffin.”

 

His blue eyes were gravely considerate, his words light to the tone.

 

“Okay, okay,” I muttered, feeling more than a little stupid.  “No need to get dramatic.”

 

Eric merely raised a pale eyebrow.

 

“Okay, so maybe there was.  Thank you, Eric,” I said, suddenly fierce.  So he wasn’t a virgin, but he had delivered me from being one on virgin ground.  Err, mattress.  We’d both gifted each other with firsts.

 

“You are most welcome, my lover.  Always, you are most welcome.”

 

 

Not ‘I love you’ exactly, but when you live forever, I imagine always takes on a whole new meaning.  I wanted desperately to share my own newfound love with him, but cross-eyed pleasure or not, I just wasn’t ready for a one-side dose of three words.

 

Okay, enough with the heavy, I decided.  Time to shift to safer ground.  I shoved up on my elbows and stared down into his golden warrior’s face.

 

“So why the bar business?” I asked.  His lips slid up into Cheshire lines, and one big palm swept from up from my navel to cup my chin.  I nearly went cross-eyed with the aftershocks.

 

“I could ask you the same, my most delicious barmaid.”

 

There was a lightness to him now, an innocence it seemed even a thousand years couldn’t kill.

 

“You first,” I managed as he pressed his thumb to the corner of my mouth, then followed it with a tender kiss.

 

“There are several practical reasons for the venture.  Money, for one, though after all these years my money practically makes itself.  Access to quick meals-”

 

I glared at that, but he pushed on.

 

“-as True Blood tastes rather like burnt pennies must and fails to totally eclipse the hunger.”  My nose wrinkled at that description.

 

“Why drink it at all then if you’re still hungry?”

 

“It is a question of other… appetites.  We are hunters, understand.  Without the hunt, the belly is full, but the hunger…  The hunger cannot be so easily tamed.”

 

“Like lions in the zoo.”

 

“Exactly so,” he said, looking entirely too pleased with the metaphor.  I rolled my eyes at him.

 

“Jeez, don’t look so shocked.”

 

“I am not shocked.  I am just unused to a human being so perceptive.  Especially one so young.”

 

“Well, I end up hearing more than most,” I shrugged.

 

“Yes,” he said.  “But it is more than that.  You are discerning as well, able to separate what is presented from what is.  You would have long ago gone mad if you could not.”

 

“Lucky me,” I breezed, trying not to think about all the times just such an outcome had seemed eventual.  He considered me for a minute before continuing.

 

“And you are a sympathetic soul, I think.  Your mind is a vault, and your heart a hearth.”  He pressed his hand over my left breast in a tender salute.  My nipple quickened just as instinctively as my discomfort.

 

“Knock it off,” I said, squirming under his intense blue gaze.

 

“I think not.  It will take much flattery, I think, to supplant the cruelties of Bon Temps’ myriad fools.”  Thank the Lord for Word of the Day calendars, I thought wryly as my Viking’s speech slipped a century or so.

 

“Tell me another one,” I insisted, trying to get us back on subject.

 

“You are a masterpiece made flesh,” he said immediately with a cobalt twinkle.  I smothered my giggle and swatted rather pointlessly at his stone shoulder.

 

“No, goof.  Another reason.  About the bar?”

 

“Goof?” he said with mock chagrin.  “I have celebrated four digits in birthdays and you call me goof?  Incredible!”

 

“Eric!”

 

“Fine, fine…  I suppose the most important reason was the entertainment value a bar offers.”

 

“Dinner and a show?” I said coyly, and his eyebrows wagged.

 

“So very astute, my lover.  Humans rarely surprise me anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from looking for the surprise.  And finding it.”

 

His hand drifted lower as he spoke, and it seemed my body took his fingers rather than being taken by them.

 

“Encore?” I gasped as his deft fingers hooked inside me, rolling my greedy hips brazenly towards him.  It seemed I was not as modest as I had so long lectured myself I into being.

 

“Primetime always,” he purred correctively.

 

Then true to his words, he set about showing me just how fantastic always promised to be.