DAC, Ch 16

Sookie decided a nap just might be in order when a thorough search proved there was no coffee to be found.  She hadn’t expected there to be any, but she had really hoped the coffee fairies would take pity on her.  They didn’t.

She had seriously considered just going out to get some, but wasn’t sure if she’d be able to bypass Eric’s security measures.  Plus, what if his concerns were real and people actually were watching her?  It was a close call on the “safety versus caffeine” war, but safety finally won.  The fact that she had a Mountain Dew in the refrigerator for later helped minutely.

It was just too much, she thought as she stood leaning against the bathroom counter after visiting the toilet and washing her hands.  She’d spent the night at one of Eric’s places because drainers were after him and therefore they could be after her, too.  And because of this danger, the big blond vampire now wanted her to take his blood.  HIS BLOOD.  He actually wanted her to swallow his blood.

The whole idea was gross beyond belief, yet she paused.  There was something indefinable about the whole thing which whispered that maybe she wouldn’t mind it so much, especially if it meant that Eric possibly cared more about her than she’d allowed herself to consider.

Blood exchanges seemed to be extremely rare considering such things weren’t talked about given the plethora of other information available online about vampires and some of their practices.  Her brain started swirling again with all the things she’d read earlier, and she abruptly decided that she really did just want to go back to bed for a little while.  It was just too much.

Yup, nap time, she mentally declared as she courageously marched right up to the huge bed and tossed back the covers with a flourish.

Then she saw Eric in most of his glory.

She stood transfixed as she gazed over his hard, partially-exposed, body.  Uncovering him might have been an accident, but it was a mighty fortuitous accident in her opinion.

Her eyes trailed from his massive thigh up to the sweet curve of his hip, up to his trim waist, then the muscular “v” of his abdomen automatically drew her eyes back down, her gaze following the masculine sprinkle of darker blond hair

She quickly averted her eyes back up to the ridged muscles of his abdomen, and on up to his muscled chest.  She gazed at his darker male nipples and wondered if they were as sensitive as hers.  Her fingers twitched to run through the sprinkling of softly shimmering blond hair adorning his chest, and she could imagine digging her nails into his broad muscular shoulders.

After a deep, calming breath, she raised her eyes to his face, and a small smile curved her lips.  He looked so innocent in his repose.  His strong lips were softened, and his brow was relaxed in a way she’d never seen while he was awake.

Although the “undead” were considered “dead” during their daytime rest, Sookie just could not think of Eric as…dead.   Asleep.  Yes, he was just asleep.

A few minutes later, when she realized that she’d been standing there gawking at his incredible body, she squeezed her eyes shut then she gently eased herself onto the unoccupied side of the bed.  She hastily drew the covers up over them both and turned on her side facing away from his colossal sexiness. She snickered about the amount of space he took up in the bed.  Good grief but he was huge was her last thought as she succumbed to sleep.

The blankets moved a bit, then a cool hand slowly trailed up her thigh, over her hip, and dipped into the valley of her waist.  A moment later that hand slid over the curve of her stomach, and then the strong band of an arm drew her back into the hardness of his body.

“Sookie,” a low voice breathed into her ear.

She stretched a little, then stilled.

“Wake up little Sookie,” he whispered again, his cool breath then tongue tickling her ear.

“Eric!” That woke her up.  Sookie struggled and tried to jump up but the strong arm across her stomach simply pulled her closer to his nude form.

“Eric!,” she repeated when she found herself flat on her back with the big blond vampire  looming over her with one arm braced on her other side.  “What are you doing?”  She sounded much more breathless than angry.

“Waking you up, of course.  What else would I be doing with you here in my bed?”  He quirked his brow as he leered down at her.  He swept the hair away from her face, then threaded his long fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck.

She lay quietly still as he dipped his head to her throat and inhaled deeply but then gasped loudly as he swept his tongue slowly from the base of her neck up to her ear lobe, which he suckled then carefully bit.  He laughed softly at the shudder that shook her body.

“We have some unfinished business to discuss, my Sookie,” he breathed against her lips before softly covering them with his own.  She brought her hands up and clutched at his broad shoulders as his tongue delved into her mouth, softly sweeping and sliding, tangling and twisting against her own.  He paused to allow her to breathe, then began thoroughly exploring her mouth with over 1000 years worth of experience and expertise.

She moaned, and he instinctively covered her with his large body as he deepened the kiss, and quietly growled his approval when she automatically brought her legs up to pull him closer.  His fangs snicked out as she ran her heel down the back of his thigh.

This was getting out of control, he thought foggily as he began nipping and sucking at her neck.  As much as he wanted to fuck her senseless, he knew exchanging blood was much more important at the moment.

He knew this.  His hips didn’t.  They ached to thrust.

He was sure of it.  His hips weren’t.  They screamed for him to pound away.

And he was positive he would stop.  In a minute.

Blood.  Exchange.

After one last lick and suck on her neck, he reluctantly raised his head.  A primal surge of satisfaction burned through his blood as he noted her dazed expression, her lips swollen from his kiss, her rapid pants and stuttering heart beat.

“Will you take my blood?”

“How,” she paused to breathe again and command herself to focus.  She unwrapped her leg from his waist…that particular closeness wasn’t helping in the least and how did her leg get wrapped around his waist anyway?  “Ok…how long will the effects last?  Are you sure you want to know what I’m feeling all the time?  How strongly will I be feeling your emotions?  What if we do this and it turns out that one or the other of us doesn’t like it?”

“One at a time,” he interrupted with a gravelly laugh when she paused for breath.  He raised himself up a bit with his hands on each side of her arms.  “When we exchange blood at the same time, we will form a weak bond that will probably last a couple of months.  The length and strength of this bond is hard to determine. How your telepathy will affect this is also unknown.”

He dropped a quick but thorough kiss to her lips, then continued huskily against her lips.  “Yes, I do want to know what you’re feeling.”  Another kiss, a bit harder and more passionate this time.  “I do not know how much you will feel from me, especially considering your telepathy.”

Oddly enough, it was the throbbing of his hard cock that reminded him of the time.  He needed to complete this bond before she chickened out, and then they had errands to run.  Perhaps after they’d settled in for the day at another location…

He answered her next concern even though he didn’t want to consider the thought that she might regret bonding with him. “I know of no way to break the bond, so if you change your mind, unfortunately you will just have to live with it until it fades.”

Sookie appreciated his honesty as she gazed up into his blue eyes as if she were searching for answers.  Earlier her mind had run the gamut, mentally listing the pros and cons of taking his blood.  Protection and feeling connected to Eric versus the invasion of emotional privacy and the potential emotional claustrophobia of being overly-connected to the big vampire…it was a huge decision.

She couldn’t remember where she’d heard it, but Aristotle’s “You will never do anything in this world without courage” quote came to her mind.  Oh, well, here goes…something.

“Ok.  How do we do this?”

Pleasantly shocked by her sudden acquiescence, Eric reacted quickly.  In the blink of an eye, he shifted them so that Sookie was sitting in his lap with her back against his chest.

“Eric!  Hey, not so fast!”  Sookie’s head was still spinning from the faster-than-sight movements.  She felt his chuckle and squirmed around trying to get herself situated, then blushed furiously when she realized that she was sitting, and squirming, on his completely naked lap.

He hissed at the seductive contact between her panty-covered ass and his still-hard cock, and firmly grabbed her hips to still her accidentally suggestive movements.

“Keep that thought for later, my future lover.”

Sookie couldn’t help it – she burst out laughing, then slapped his hand.  “Eric!  Get your mind out of the gutter.  It’s late, I’m hungry, and I’m dying for a cup of coffee.  Can we get this blood show on the road now?”

“I have never understood what a gutter has to do with the pleasures of copulation, but as you wish.  I will bite my wrist and place it to your lips, and then I will bite your neck.  You will drink from me as I drink from you.” An unexpected growl escaped his throat at the thought of tasting her while she took him into her body.  “Drink until the bite closes.”

His growl making her nether bits tingle, Sookie subconsciously writhed against him again, sparking another growl.

“Sookie!”

“Ok, ok, sorry.  Bite yourself already.”

Eric allowed himself a gruff laugh at her statement, then with a crunch he bit his wrist and placed it to her lips.

Before she could wimp out, she grasped his wrist and held it in place while she wrapped her lips around the freely-bleeding wound, and sucked.  At first she pulled hard and swallowed fast to avoid tasting his blood, which was somewhat thicker than she’d imagined it would be.  Inevitably she did taste it, and was surprised at the semi-sweet flavor that reminded her a bit of dark chocolate and black cherries…if dark chocolate and black cherries had a bit of a coppery aftertaste.  She never even noticed when Eric’s long fangs slid painlessly into her skin.

His first mouthful of her sweet, untainted blood was delicious sunshine and warm summer breezes.  His second was blooming flowers and clean linens drying in bright sunlight.  His third mouthful was pure hot sex.  He came hard on his fourth draw.  His fifth was more comforting and satisfying than anything he had ever experienced before.

He quickly withdrew his fangs and healed the wound when he felt the bite on his wrist close.  The curve between her neck and shoulder seemed created just for his head to rest, and so he lay his forehead there and simply inhaled her sweet, delicious scent for long moments. Never would he admit that he had come so incredibly hard solely from drinking her blood, nor that he was still trembling inside.

Finally feeling a bit more in control of himself, he checked and, sure enough, he could feel another presence at the back of his mind.  He could feel her!  And she felt…happy?  Contented?  Definitely aroused, he thought smugly.

Sookie stirred in his lap and felt a sharp burst of satisfaction and desire flow through her blood.  But…it wasn’t hers, she thought.  Well, some of it was, but that intense bolt of satisfacti…Eric!  She felt him!  And, not the least bit shockingly, he was aroused.  She could read his emotions in a way that was totally different from how she could read people’s thoughts, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.  Surprising, yes, and a bit exciting, but not bad.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of Pam’s ringtone blasting from Eric’s phone.

He kissed the side of her neck, then regretfully moved her off his lap.  “My apologies, future lover of mine.”

While he spoke to Pam, Sookie jumped up, grabbed her clothes from the night before, and went to take a shower.  As she moved around, she felt something wet and sticky on her back.  When she turned around and looked in the bathroom mirror, she rolled her eyes as it occurred to her that Eric had definitely enjoyed their bonding activities.  Men, she mentally groused, whether human or vampire, in some ways they were all the same.

Later when she emerged from the bathroom, she found Eric back in the bed.  “I’ll shower, then I will take you somewhere to eat.  Pam has informed me that her pet informed her that humans need more food than what she brought you.  I know of a diner you may enjoy.”

Sookie laughed and agreed, then quickly looked away when he rose unashamedly from the bed in all his naked glory.   He laughed huskily.  “Go ahead and look; you might see something you like.”

“Gaagh,” she exclaimed as she headed for the safety of the central room.

In record time Eric showered and changed clothes, all the while concentrating on becoming familiar with the new bond.  He found it very pleasant knowing how Sookie was feeling at any given time. He might not know why she was feeling a particular way, or why her emotions changed so quickly, but still, it was a nice feeling; one that he thought he might could become accustomed to rather quickly.

An hour later Sookie took the last sip of her coffee and shoved her empty plate away.  The “diner” Eric had chosen was actually a small but elegant supe-owned establishment that she’d never heard of before.  The food was excellent as evidenced by her now empty plate of country ham, eggs, toast, and gravy.  The portions were very generous, but as hungry as she had been, she was glad.

“Finished?”  Eric had enjoyed watching Sookie eat while he returned area business emails on his phone.  While the eating habits of humans were usually vaguely nauseating, he admired both her gusto and her neatness.

“Yes, and it was really good.”  She dabbed her mouth with her napkin one last time and looked around for the restrooms.  She was finding out that with vampires, humans needed to take “human moments” whenever the opportunity arose.

The waitress, whose mind was fuzzy when Sookie had tried to read her and whose rampant flirting Eric had completely ignored, returned at that moment with the check, so she got directions to the restrooms and went to tend her business.

Eric was waiting for her just outside the restroom door when she emerged, and put his arm around her waist to escort her out of the small restaurant.  Sookie pretended to not notice the two vampires and their pets, as she’d read that they were called, waiting to be seated.  Eric nodded once in their direction to acknowledge their presence but otherwise ignored them as he he quietly led her out the door.

Once seated in her vehicle, with him driving of course, they headed toward Bon Temps.

“Eric,” she asked, “when am I going to drive my SUV?”

“When I’m not,” he casually answered.  “And before you pout, which you do so beautifully, by the way, you have to keep in mind that my reflexes and vision are highly superior to your own.  It is literally safer for me to drive than you.”

“Hrumph,” she groused, even though she saw the wisdom in his words.  “So,” she started a few minutes later.  The scenery between Shreveport and Bon Temps wasn’t all that fascinating.  “Can you feel me now?”

They both chuckled at her reference to an over-played commercial on American tv.  “Yes, I can, surprisingly so.  I had not expected your emotions to come through so loud and clear…not from one exchange, at any rate.  How about me?”  He mentally kicked himself for asking – it sounded so…needy, but the words escaped before he could stop them.

“I can!  I’m not sure what I expected, but yeah, I can feel you faintly in my blood, but more in the back of my mind, I guess.”

“And does this bother you?”  His ass was getting tired of him kicking himself.

“Nooooo,” she began pensively, “I don’t think it does?”  She ended on a question as she thought for a minute.  “It’s going to take some time to get used to having you in my brain, but it’s not a bad feeling.  How about you?”

He had hoped that she wouldn’t ask, so, of course, she did.  But that didn’t mean he had to tell her everything.  “I’m certain I shall become accustomed to it.”  He figured that she didn’t need to know just how used to her he already was, and how triumphant he felt at having already bonded with her.  Damn…he bet she could feel that.

Quickly changing the subject, he asked, “Do you have in mind what you’re going to pack when we reach your home?”

Knowing a change of subject when she heard one, Sookie snarked, “Which will be in about 8 seconds as fast as you’re driving?”  She laughed, then added, “I wish I knew how long this is going to go on so I’d know what all to pack, but yeah, I have an idea.”

By mutual consent silence reigned supreme until they reached her driveway.   She had him stop so she could collect her mail, which he did then handed to her.

She was flipping through envelopes and junk mail as he drove down her driveway and up to the front of her house when she heard him suddenly snarl.

“Sookie, do you always leave your front door open when you’re not home?”

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