Forever in a Night: Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

The words were out before Sookie could stop them and she hoped he hadn’t heard. The last thing she wanted was Eric thinking she was crazy just like everyone else thought. Her telepathy may not have been a secret in Bon Temps, but she wasn’t in her hometown tonight, and she really didn’t want to make up excuses as to why she was behaving so strangely. She might not have known anything about Eric beyond his name, but she liked him. He was the first person who had ever treated her as if she was normal, not like a mind-reading freak…

That’s because he doesn’t know you can read minds, you freak. If he did he’d run a mile just like everybody else. He’d see you for the lunatic you really are, Phantom Hadley whispered cruelly in Sookie’s mind. Everyone knows you’re really just crazy.  

“I didn’t say anything,” Eric replied in a low tone while he ran his hands up and down her arms, enjoying just holding her. He couldn’t remember the last time he just held a woman. Never, his mind supplied. He had never just held a woman, not even his vampire child or sister had ever been held by him. He didn’t do things that way, things that couples did. He was all about the chase, the thrill of the capture, and the pleasure of the consummation. He fucked hard and fast, and then moved on. He didn’t linger or offer false hope; he never allowed the women he bedded to believe there was more to it than there was. It was always about sex, even with Pam and Nora. Sure, he cared for them both, loved them in his own way, but it was never about tenderness or comfort. He had no need to ever hold them in the way he was holding his blonde-haired goddess. Eric wasn’t sure what it was about the delectable Sookie that made him not only want to protect her, but give her anything her heart desired as well. He suspected it wasn’t something he could fight against. She called to him in the most primitive of ways.

“Oh, I thought you did,” The lie rolled off Sookie’s tongue with ease and she winced internally with how comfortable she had become with the habit. She wasn’t proud of it, but she had learned the hard way that the truth was not always welcome nor wanted. Sookie took pleasure for several long seconds, enjoying the feel of Eric’s arms around her and the silence he provided her mind, before forcing herself to back up, leaving the comfort of his arms. She gave him a grateful smile when she peered up at him. He would never know of the amazing gift he had given her, a gift that had been denied to since birth… Silence.

As she stared up at him, a hundred different questions ran through her mind. She wanted to know why his mind was silent to her. How could he block out the thoughts of everyone around them? Was he a telepath like her or something completely different? Did it really matter? That question stuck in Sookie’s mind. Did it actually matter what Eric was? Knowing wouldn’t make her any less attracted to him; it sure wouldn’t make her want him any less. Whatever he was, he was right there in front of her offering to be her guide, and unless she was sorely mistaken, much more than simply her guide. He wanted her and she didn’t need to read his mind to know that. It was written all over his face.

I guess the real question is; should I accept his offer?

Sookie was sure there were a thousand reasons she should decline and they were probably good reasons. Still, for all the reasons telling her she should say no, she only had one telling her yes… She wanted to accept. She had spent twenty-one years living cautiously. She had always been the responsible one; she had never gotten drunk or slept around unlike her brother, Jason, or her cousin, Hadley. She had stuck close to home, worked a lousy job, and had tolerated everyone’s scorn along with their hate-filled words and thoughts. She had never done anything wild; she had always done what was accepted, never what she really wanted. Well, no more! It was her weekend, her life, and for just this once she was taking a chance for herself and doing something out of character.

“So, where ya gonna take me first?” Sookie asked, her tone calm, hiding the nervous tension she was truly feeling.

It took Eric a moment to realize what she was saying, but once he did, a huge smile spread across his face and he reached for her hand, linking their fingers together. “Ladies choice,” he replied. He knew where he would have preferred to have taken her first…his bed, her bed; any bed would do… Hell, they didn’t even need a bed, any flat surface or wall would do!

“How about we start with the Quarter?” Sookie suggested, smiling. “We’re already here, after all.” She had no idea where to go or what she wanted to see. She had been planning to just go back to her hotel room and soak in the bath for a while, but spending her time in the vibrant city with a handsome man sounded like a much better idea!

“Whatever the lady desires,” Eric replied, dropping her hand and bowing theatrically before her again. He grinned at the soft laugh that spilled out of her. He held out his arm and offered it to her, allowing the gentleman he was to rarely show.

Sookie smiled when she linked her arm through his. “Oh,” she said, pausing as a thought came to her. “I’m Sookie, by the way. Sookie Stackhouse.”

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Eric was good for his word, showing all the sights New Orleans had to offer, including many that weren’t well known. The two of them spent hours walking around and enjoying all of the beauty that was the Crescent City. The sights were nothing new to Eric. He had spent many, many years in Louisiana and the Queen’s frequent need to see him had him traveling to New Orleans almost monthly. Yet, seeing those same sights through Sookie’s eyes was almost as if he was seeing them for the first time, and he found himself becoming even more enchanted with the young woman.

There was something different about Sookie, something she was hiding, and he was intrigued by it. She wasn’t anything like the women he was accustomed to, her innocence was not feigned, nor was her appreciation. She wanted nothing from him; declining his offer to buy her a souvenir or anything else that caught her eye. She didn’t seem to care that he had money, she was more interested in what he could teach her than what he could buy her. She was, as the humans say, ‘a breath of fresh air.’

Eric thought about glamouring her to uncover her secret but, for the first time since he had become a vampire, he wanted to learn something through trust, not deception. It was a foreign concept for him and one he felt was something he was willing to try. He was hiding something from her, after all. He hadn’t told Sookie he was a thousand-year-old vampire. Probably because she would run away screaming, he chuckled internally. It wasn’t the kind of thing one dropped randomly in a conversation. Hey, I’m Eric, I’m a vampire. Pass the blood… No, that conversation would have to come later. 

“So this is where the Voodoo Queen is buried,” Sookie said, pulling Eric from his musings and drawing his focus back to her. A smile tugged at her lips as she gazed at the sight, wondering if Marie Laveau was truly what she claimed was and what people believed. Was the woman different like her? Sookie hoped so; she had never wanted to be the only ‘different’ person in the world. Her tour guide was also different, he was silent. Maybe New Orleans is a home for people like me. Everyone might be different here. “I wonder what she was like.”

“It is,” Eric replied with a nod. He didn’t tell Sookie that he was familiar with what the Voodoo Queen was like, having met her when she was only a young woman just barely out of her teens. That was yet another conversation for another night. “It is quite a popular tourist trap. Everyone wants to see where she lies.”

Eric grinned as he watched Sookie take in everything. She was so inquisitive and it was a refreshing change. She was actually interested in what he was showing her, and not faking it. It made her all the more attractive to him, and cemented the thoughts running through his mind. She was supposed to be his. Acting on impulse, Eric closed the distance between them, wrapping an arm around her waist as he tilted up her chin with his other hand. He could see curiosity in her eyes as well as a little bit of fear, but more than that, he could see desire. It was that desire that spurred him on. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her. Lowering his head, Eric brushed his lips over hers in just a ghost of a kiss. The second their lips touched Eric felt a spark ignite inside him and, in that moment, he knew he was right. Sookie Stackhouse was supposed to be His. It was as if Fate had decreed it.

A small whimper escaped from between Sookie’s lips at the feel of Eric’s lips on hers. Pushing up on her tiptoes, Sookie wrapped her arms around his shoulders and returned the kiss, letting the heat that had been building since their introduction bubble over and sweep them away. Nothing had ever felt so right and Sookie was content to just let the feeling flow and go along for the ride.

Eric placed a series of butterfly kisses on her lips before pulling back and peering down at her. He groaned when his eyes landed on her swollen lips, and he couldn’t help but sweep down to plunder her mouth again. “Come home with me,” he said once he had broken their kiss. Eric dropped his hands to her hips, squeezing her gently as he waited for her reply. He knew she didn’t really understand the importance of what he was asking. She thought he was simply inviting her into his bed. She had no idea she was the only woman to whom he had ever issued that invitation. No other woman had ever stepped foot in his home.

Peering up at him through her lashes, Sookie bit her lip as she thought about his offer. She knew what he was asking, what he was offering, and if it would have been any other night or any other man, she would have said no. Yet, it wasn’t another night, it was that night, her night, her birthday, and it wasn’t another man, it was Eric. Steeling her nerves, Sookie smiled at Eric while she stared into his blue eyes. “OK… Yes.”

Eric couldn’t help but to steal her lips in another passion-fueled kiss when he heard her answer. It was the answer he wanted but wasn’t sure he would get. It delighted him that she said yes. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, Eric held Sookie close to his side while he guided them out of the graveyard and toward his house.

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