Before either Bill or Lorena could make a move, Eric stepped so close to Sookie she could feel his leather jacket graze the bare flesh of her arm.

"I'm afraid that will be rather difficult, Lorena," Eric said, finally speaking up. "You see, Sookie is no longer Bill's. She is mine now, and will be for as long as I choose to keep her. And I can assure you that I do not part easily with what I've claimed as my own."

"You'll just give it up to anyone, won't you?" Lorena asked Sookie. "One vamp disappears and you immediately move on to the next."

"You bitch, wh—" Sookie began but was silenced as Lorena sped toward her in a blur. Sookie knew she would already be dead if Eric wasn't standing in front of her.

"You dare come near what I've already told you was mine? I am much older and much stronger than you, Lorena, do not cross me. If Sophie Anne wants Sookie, she will have to come through me now."

"You seem so sure that you will be able to always protect her. I know better. The Queen will not tolerate this. She wants that bloodbag and she will have her, with or without your cooperation."

"She'd have to break a whole lot of rules and draw a lot of unwanted attention to herself first," Eric hissed back. "Sookie is mine."

"You can't just claim her, Eric," Bill said, standing up, rage darkening his eyes.

"We've exchanged blood. Sookie came to me willingly. She chose to be bound to me."

"I strongly doubt that," Bill sneered.

"I did. I want nothing to do with you, ever again. I am Eric's," Sookie said, feeling real conviction in her words.

"Then why are you still wearing that ring," Bill asked, his eyes on the diamond he had given her.

Sookie looked down, her confidence faltering yet again. Her thumb sought out the smooth band one last time. She twisted the ring off her finger and walked around Eric and Lorena, her breath coming quickly and shakily. She placed the ring down on the table, her eyes meeting Bill's for just a moment before she retreated back to Eric's side.

"Keep it. I don't want it," she said. "Eric, I think we should leave."

"I don't think so," said a rough voice from behind them. Alcide turned to the speaker.

"Oh, good, I was hoping for a fight," he said before turning sharply and pulling back to land a punch to the face of the vamp who had threatened them. Suddenly the others closed in on the threesome and Eric and Alcide busied themselves with the four or five vamps that were bold enough to back up the vamp who had threatened them. Sookie backed herself into a nearby corner and watched the brawl progress. She saw fists fly and bright red blood color the air. She hated herself for causing this.

She didn't have much time for self pity, though. While the others were distracted, Lorena took the opportunity to seek out Sookie.

"Not so safe now are you?" Lorena asked.

Sookie didn't answer, but tried to press herself into the wall, willing herself to sink back through it like a ghost.

Lorena licked her lips and, without another word, jumped forward at Sookie, grabbing her by the hair and wrenching her head to the side so roughly, Sookie was sure she had only just missed having her neck snapped in half. Lorena's fangs extended and she sunk them deep into Sookie's neck.

Sookie could feel the blood draining from her body faster than it had when Bill or Eric had bitten her, faster than she dreamed possible. The sights and sounds of the fight were a distant haze. This will be over so quickly, she thought, almost smiling. When the draining stopped suddenly, it took Sookie several seconds before she realized that it wasn't because she was dead. It was several more seconds before Sookie realized she was covered in slime and blood and that Lorena no longer existed.

Standing in front of her, with a broken piece of dark wooden paneling from the wall clutched in his hand. Their eyes met for a second, and she could swear that she saw an apology playing on his lips, but she didn't give him a chance to let it out. She broke their gaze and looked toward the fighting, which seemed to be winding down, now that the bouncers had interfered and were dragging the men apart. A few of them were escorting Eric and Alcide out of the bar, they being the newcomers with no one to vouch for them or their presence. Sookie ran towards Eric who stood unyielding, as two bouncers attempted to drag him out. He waited for her to be safely at his side before allowing the men to escort them up the stairs and out of the bar.

Alcide disappeared quietly, as Eric led Sookie, bloody and slimy from head to toe, down the street toward his car. He didn't say a word as she sat down and instantly ruined the soft leather interior with the gore she was covered in. She buckled her seatbelt after Eric began racing down the street as fast as the Corvette would take them. They didn't speak at all on the ride back to Bon Temps, but each time Eric glanced at Sookie he smiled at the memory of her taking off that ring and telling Compton that she no longer belonged to him.

They pulled up to Sookie's house a short twenty minutes later. Sookie had fallen asleep in the seat, the hum of the speeding car lulling her into a deep sleep. Eric opened her door and carried her into the house.

"Time to wake up," he said. When she began to stir and had opened her eyes, he set her down on her own feet. They stood in her bedroom, just looking at each other, neither daring to say a word. He stared at her with a look so full of hunger and desire and, maybe, love, that she felt powerless to avert her eyes.

"We should get you cleaned up, Sookie," Eric said, his husky voice causing a familiar tingle in the pit of her stomach.

She slipped out of her heels and allowed Eric to guide her toward the bathroom. Once inside, Sookie stood staring at the tub not sure what to do. While she was deciding whether or not she would allow Eric to provide the help her shaking body needed to clean the slime off it, Eric, ever a man of action, stepped behind her and slowly unclasped the hook on the back of her dress and pulled down the zipper, before turning on the shower water to full blast. Sookie closed her eyes, trying to shut out the embarrassment she felt as Eric slid the tight, wet dress down her body. The dress fell in a puddle at her feet, and she kept her eyes closed as she felt her matching bra and panties follow her dress to the ground. It occurred to her that, though she was clearly becoming turned on by Eric's actions, he was not seducing her, in fact he was trying his hardest to keep this as far from sexual as was possible given the situation. He sought only to comfort her, to clean the horrible night from her soft skin, and take care of her.

Once she was completely nude, he guided her under the spray of the hot water. She stood motionless under the spray of water as he quickly stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower behind her. He used the shower nozzle to rinse Lorena's remains from her skin and hair. Once she was mostly free of blood, he reached for her shampoo and squirted the gel into his palm, immediately recognizing the scent he was so used to smelling in Sookie's hair. He lathered the shampoo into her hair and massaged her scalp and hair line and neck, making sure to get her hair as clean as she would have on her own. Once he had rinsed her suds from her hair he followed with conditioner and repeated the process. By now Sookie was leaning against him, audibly enjoying his soothing touch, loving the feel of his fingers in her hair.

When he had finished with her hair, he reached for the bar of soap and reluctantly moved her away from his body so that he could work up a lather. He rubbed his soapy hands across her shoulders, massaging her tense muscles as he worked his way down her back, then around to her taught belly. He slowly began bringing his hands up until they had cupped her breasts and began to massage her firm flesh. The moment she moaned, he could not longer deny the scent of her arousal, nor the straining of his own. He no longer sought to comfort, but to pleasure, and he continued his journey by playing his long, soapy fingers across her hardening nipples. She moaned again and he lost all sense of control, a feeling he was certainly not used to.

Eric turned her around and pushed her against the wet tile wall and kissed her. This wasn't the soft kisses of the past few days, this was passionate and hungry and raw. She was just as aggressive as he was, if not more so, nipping at his lips and clawing at his back in an attempt to pull him even closer to her. His hands continued to roam her body, touching every inch of skin he could reach. He hooked his hands under her thighs and hoisted her up closer to his height so he could continue to ravage her mouth with his.

"Eric," Sookie gasped. "Eric. I-I, oh God, Eric I want you so badly. Please."

Eric needed no further encouragement. He stepped out of the tub, carrying her with him back to her bedroom. He laid her down on her bed and immediately attacked her mouth with his again, running his hands down her body until he found her hot, wet folds. Without any hesitation he inserted two fingers inside of her and began working them expertly, flicking his thumb across her clit as he did so, delighting in the sounds of her gasps through his kisses. He began to kiss and lick and bite his way down her neck to her breasts, taking his time to tease her nipples and make her clench her muscles tightly around his invading fingers.

"Oh God, Eric, please now. I need you so badly."

"Patience, Lover," he said, his deep voice making her feel like she would climax at any second. "I want you to experience all the pleasure you deserve."

With that he moved down her body and lowered his head to replace his fingers with his tongue. He moved so quickly, alternating the pressure between featherlight touches and hard flicks of his tongue. Within minutes he had finished what he had started earlier that evening outside of Club Dead. Making sounds he had never heard her make, she began writhing hard against his mouth, gasping and clenching until her orgasm subsided. With one last flick of the tongue, he moved back up her body to whisper in her ear, "You're delicious, Lover. And now I will enjoy the honor of making love to you. I've wanted you for so long, Sookie. I can't tell you what this means to me."

Her eyes opened at his intimate and loving words, so that she was looking into his pale blue eyes as he entered her with his rather sizeable erection. After several thrusts he finally buried himself entirely in her, never breaking eye contact until he settled his cold flesh inside of her warm body.

Sex with Eric was even better than all the dreams and fantasies could have possibly prepared her for. He was gentle and loving, but knew to pick up the pace and get a little rougher as her second (and then third) orgasm approached. Their bodies undulated and writhed together in a way that suggested that they had literally become one body, one single person, moving together in perfect harmony as if they were made to do this and nothing else for eternity.

When Eric was nearing his own orgasm, she sensed his urgency and tilted her head to offer him the side of her neck that Lorena hadn't punctured. He bent his head to her and licked her exposed neck, then he sunk his fangs into her but drew barely a sip into his mouth before he began to climax. He dared not take more of her blood because of how much Lorena had taken already that night. He knew he'd have to give her more of his blood to help her recover, so as they lay together as Sookie caught her breath, he bit into his wrist and offered her his blood, which she drank in greedily.

Afterwards they lay in Sookie's bed, holding each other close and whispering sweet words with their bodies and legs intertwined. A feeling of complete satisfaction radiated from their bodies. Both knew that this was just the beginning of their troubles, that Sophie Anne would not be taken care of as easily as the vamps at Josephine's, but for that moment, they could forget about their problems and just enjoy the feeling of hot flesh on cold, of the comfort of holding each other for the first time without a hint of reluctance.

As Sookie fell asleep, her thumb instinctively bent to touch her ring finger, but instead of the thin metal band that she had been wearing for days, her fingers all closed on the cool hand firmly grasping her own. She smiled as sleep overcame her and she knew that she would never let him go.

Done! And happy to say that after months of neglect I've finally hit the ending I was working towards. Hope everyone was interested through my long hiatus, and more so that I haven't disappointed. Reviews are strongly encouraged and greatly appreciated!