Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. Charlaine Harris does. I just like to play with them in her sandbox from time to time.
The actual dialogue (except the final exchange) is taken directly from DD. I just added some changes and thoughts. It is all from Eric's POV. Malanna, this one's for you. Consider it a late birthday present. No beta this time, I'm surprising her, so all mistakes are mine.
Chapter 1
I was already seeing red when the tiger arrived. I have never met a woman as frustrating as Sookie Stackhouse. She seems to revel in driving me mad.
I knew she had plans to go out. It was apparent the moment she opened the door. She was a vision, until I realized it was not for me. I tried to explain our relative positions to her, but she would have none of it.
“Well, up you and your retinue. You don’t tell me what to do!”
“You are obliged to go with me to the conference. That is why I called you to Shreveport, to talk to you about travel time and arrangements.”
“I’m not obliged to go anywhere with you. You got outranked, buddy.”
She called me buddy. “Buddy? Buddy?” I was actually tempted to throw her over my lap and spank her like the wilful child she was.
Then the tiger showed up.
“Hello Eric,” he said oh so calmly. At least outwardly so. I knew he was holding a tight rein on his anger. There was no love lost between the tiger and I.
“Sookie, you look good enough to eat.” If I still had normal bodily functions, I would have vomited.
“You look very nice too,” Sookie cooed at him. She cooed. She practically fucked him with her voice. I was going to make sure she never spoke to anyone but me with that voice again.
Then he told me about the queen. If not for the service he had done the queen, he would be dead before the next words were out of his mouth. Instead, I made sure to give him a warning.
“This woman has been mine, and she will be mine,” I stated in terms so clear I thought the foolish animal might actually understand.
“Babe, are you his, or not?”
Sigh. Apparently animals are even dumber than I thought.
“No,” she blithely replied.
“Then let’s go enjoy the show,” he replied and, with that, they left.
While I would have liked nothing more than to yank him from his car and drain him until he was dead, my thousand years on this earth have taught me patience. I began to formulate some plans.
Chapter 2
When she arrived at the reception, it took all my self control not to take her there, in the middle of the floor. Her dress left little to the imagination, and it drove me mad to see the tiger touching her.
When he guided her out to the floor later for a dance I could not take my eyes off of her. She will be mine. I reminded myself.
I suppressed a growl as I heard him whisper to her, “sooner or later, we’re gonna be in a room with a bed, no phones, and a door that will lock.”
Over my finally dead body.
Then the carnage began. Of course the tiger completely failed to keep her safe, and I found her alone and unprotected. Perhaps I overplayed my hand just a little when I tackled her to the ground, but I needed to feel her under me. The excitement of battle, the feel of her under me . . . I was . . . joyful.
“I’ve got you.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Protecting you!”
“I don’t see anyone coming after me. It seems to me like the queen needs you more than I do. But I appreciate it.”
I wondered just how much she appreciated it. I kissed her long and hard. I felt her pulse quicken under my hands and I wanted nothing so much as to bloody my enemies then take her there on the floor.
I picked up Wybert’s head. “Bowling for vampires!” And leapt back into battle. It was almost as good as taking her would be. Almost.
In the middle of the battle I saw her again. I was almost impaled by my opponent as I watched her flash her breast at a vampire, then take him down with a well placed kick to the groin. Her breasts are spectacular.
The next time I spotted her, Jade Flower had her by the ankle and Sookie was desperately trying to get away. I was fighting four of Threadgill’s supporters, but I caught Bill’s eye and shook my head in her direction. I swung my sword and sliced clean through one of my opponents, splitting him from where his neck joined his shoulder, to his hip on the other side. As I flowed through my forms, I turned and saw Bill throw Jade Flower’s head to the side.
She was safe.
Chapter 3
When it was over, I walked outside. I tried to calm the bloodlust. I was not going to indulge myself with a fangbanger. I would wait for her. To taste her. To be reminded of why it was that I’d offered to give up everything for her.
I saw her then. She was yelling at a lion. A lion. She was exquisite.
Then I saw the tiger. All my plans, my conspiracies went out the window. My blood was still up. I was not done yet. By the time he saw me coming it was too late. I landed with my knee in his back. Even if I had not broken his back, he was down.
As I raised my sword I whispered, “she’s mine!” After I severed his head from his body, I worked fast.
By the time I was done, she was gone. I went to Hadley’s apartment and was in time to see the queen and Andre dropping her off. I watched her go upstairs. She turned and looked as she reached the door. Searching for someone. Someone who was not going to come.
I watched as Bill came and tried to explain himself to her. Did he not understand the pain he caused her? Even if we were no longer human, we lived side by side with them. We fed from them. We fucked them. We worked with them. How could he understand so little?
I heard her then, “I risked my life for you. I gave Eric power over me forever, for your sake, when I took his blood.” And at that moment I could feel that power coursing through us, although I think she was too tired to recognize it. “I killed someone for you. This is not something I take for granted, even if you do . . . even if that’s everyday existence for you. It’s not, for me. I don’t know if I can ever not hate you.”
She got up and looked down at him. “You probably saved my life tonight.” Thanks to me. I thought. “And I thank you for that. But don’t come into Merlotte’s any more, don’t hang around in my woods, and don’t do anything else for me. I don’t want to see you again.”
I nearly gave a triumphant howl. Two birds in one night. The path to her was cleared of those annoying obstacles now.
“I love you,” he said stubbornly.
What a fool.
Chapter 4
I waited two months before I came to see her. I wanted her to realize the tiger was not returning and, I wanted her to get used to the idea.
Then I called her and asked her out on a date. I knew she wanted a semblance of normalcy. Bill never understood that. I did not need to remember my time with her to understand her. Bill is an idiot.
The first time we went out, I did not lay a hand on her other than to help her out of the car.
I admit. I think that almost made her more suspicious of me.
On our second date, I kissed her goodnight, leaving her breathless by her door.
On our third date, I spent a good long while kissing her. I’m not sure who was more out of sorts when I walked away. I felt her arousal and frustration. Personally, I took it out on the nearest miscreant who crossed my path on my return to Shreveport. I caught him trying to rape a young woman. I not only drank enough from him to land him in the hospital, but I glamoured him into believing that I had done to him what he was planning on doing to that girl.
I have my own sense of justice.
On our fourth date I brought her back to my home. I had never brought anyone there for feeding or sex and, I told her this. The only humans that set foot in my house previously had worked for me. She was my first “social” visit.
I made her dinner and enjoyed watching the way her lips wrapped around each bite of food. The way her tongue darted out to taste the wine just before it hit her lips.
I was straining against my pants before she was even done eating.
Tonight I was not going to show any restraint. Tonight I was going to have her. Tonight she would yield.
After she washed down her last bite with her wine, I was on her. My lips found hers and she was on fire. Everywhere I touched her elicited a moan that drove me wild.
I carried her into the living room and laid her out before the fire. It was the only light in the room and it danced along her skin. I raised her arms and lifted her dress up and over her head, stopping when it reached her wrists.
I twisted it around and pinned her arms there. My mouth rained kisses on her neck, and I enjoyed the reaction when my tongue found her ear. Her hips ground up to meet mine, forcing a growl out of my throat. I reached down and tore off her panties. My fingers found her hot and wet. I tightened my grip on her wrists and drove my other hand into her.
“Look at me lover,” I crooned.
She looked at me. Her eyes glazed over with desire. Her hips were bucking against my hand. I kept my eyes on hers as I lowered my head to her breasts. I took one nipple into my mouth, swirling my tongue around it, gently scraping my fangs against her breast.
Her cries nearly caused me to lose control. I switched my attention to her other breast, as my thumb began to make circles on her clit.
Her orgasm was a sight to behold. She kept her eyes on me the whole time. Her face when she came was breathtaking.
I withdrew my hand, unbuttoned my pants and thrust into her. I let go of my restraint. Months of pent up desire coursed through me and I rode her hard. I turned her over and took her from behind. I was claiming her. I grabbed her by the hair, my other hand on her hip and plunged in as deeply as I could.
After a few thrusts I felt her giving way beneath me. I moved a hand from her hair to hold her up by her chest, pulling her closer to me. The other hand reached around and began to work her from the front. As I felt her climax, I leaned forward and bit her where her shoulder and neck join.
She screamed my name over and over. I came into her then. A glorious release. Her taste in my mouth and her tightness around me. My gods, her heat.
We collapsed then, face down on the rug. I rolled over at the last minute to avoid crushing her.
We lay in silence for a few minutes as the aftershocks coursed through our bodies. I felt her raise up slightly and turn on her side to look at me. I turned as well.
She looked down, her hand playing with the rug. Suddenly she looked back at me.
“Eric,”
“Yes lover?” The traces of a smile began to play at the corners of my mouth.
“Is this a tiger skin rug?!”
All I could do was smile. She was mine and now he knew it too.
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