Note: Story re-posted due to editing :) Thanks to Northwoman for beta'ing my one-shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing except for transforming my muse into words.

Sunshine In A Pretty Blonde Bottle

Sookie moved into her room, and walked over to a built-in chest she could sit on, which currently supported a box of clothing, one of the few Jason hadn't chucked away yet. She's lucky she has all the money left in her bank still from the various Vampire business trips.

She de-robed, expecting to hear her bath robe to fall to the floor, only to hear it not land... pausing briefly, she turned her head to the side, to find a certain Viking staring at her butt-naked figure hungrily.

"Jesus Christ!" She gasped. "What the hell?"

He made some kind of approved sexy grunt, whilst eye fucking her at the same time. She quickly grabbed the red nighty, that was probably a little too sexy for this situation, and covered her front, making sure all her lady parts were blocked from view before turning around to face him and then he said the one thing she'd hoped and not hoped he'd ever say, in a deep low voice that almost came out a husky whisper.

"Such a strange sensation when the reality matches what you picture in your mind so precisely."

She raised a perfectly arched right eye brow as he folded her robe over his arm and still continued to eye her, in a way only Eric Northman will ever be able to achieve and she cursed her insides and lady bits for responding, whilst her mind was screaming the opposite of her body's reactions to Eric's voice and the look he was giving her - still giving her.

"Is this another dream?" She asked him, leaning slightly forwards, not believing the words she just heard are real.

She was really cut up when Eric couldn't remember their time together and was back to the same jerk of a Viking Vampire Sheriff he was before the witch cursed him. Yet even before then she could not deny her attraction for the Vampire before her. She lifted her nighty up a little higher to cover her breasts a bit more before continuing to question him.

"It's been a year. How much of your blood is left in me?" Sookie questioned.

"I assure you this is not a dream." His voice still low and husky, filled with unmistakable lust and desire.

"Then how are you here?" She asked him. "I rescinded your invitation!"

"You don't own the house anymore." His voice still at a low volume but turned natural instead of smug, calm or the cockiness she was used too. She started to feel uneasy as he moved his hand to the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a set of keys dangling them before her, before saying the horrifying words. "I do."

Those words confirmed her suspicions. The way he stood there, in that tight fitted grey specked V-neck and ass-hugging black jeans had her hot and bothered on the inside but on the outside she remained calm and collected and hoped to God and prayed to the man above that the Viking before her did not smell her possible arousal or catch her carefully planned scrutinizing of him or as she described his look for her earlier to put it bluntly - eye fucking him.

"Why would you do that? Why would you buy my house?" Sookie blurted out before she could stop, too shocked to control her voice. He looked deep into her eyes and took a few steps forwards, lowing the taunting keys that glittered in the light.

"Because I all ways knew you were alive. A feeling and instinct that did not leave me until I felt your return and when I saw your brother had put your house on the market believing you to be dead, I brought it to fix up, so it was ready for your return - when you returned." He took a few slow, careful steps forwards, towards her before stopping at arms' length. Giving her enough room to breathe and digest this new information she'd been given.

"But why Eric?" She whispered, keeping eye contact with him. "The last time I saw you, you weren't exactly nice." She reminded him.

"I wasn't exactly myself. I'd gone from having no memories, to memories and very confused and conflicted emotions I did not like." His blunt honesty surprised her, with how open this usually secretive and distant Vampire was. He almost reminded her of her Eric. The Eric she'd fallen stupidly in love with. More than she had ever loved Bill Compton, almost more than her own Gran whom she loved very much. She was stupid and foolish to let him in and she played with fire and got burned in the process. She doesn't think she can survive a third time - she knows she will not survive a third time. She took a couple of wary steps forwards, a few more steps from each opponent and they'd be touching toes.

"Why now? Why me?" She asked him still maintaining the low whisper they have been conversing in. He continued to hold her gaze, not blinking, deadly serious.

"Your blood tastes like freedom, Sookie." He paused. "Like sunshine in a pretty blonde bottle. You smell like home to me." She felt confused and he must have seen it, before she could ask he answered her unspoken question.

"My human home, where I grew up as a child. You make me feel things my maker told me were against my nature. You make my undead heart beat with your mere presense. Your voice sings to me and your body and soul calls me, in a way no human, not even Pam, has ever done to me before."

Again, he's shocked her, a third time this evening in a short space of time, with his blunt honesty and openness and she wasn't exactly sure how to respond. He sighed - a very human sound.

"How can I explain it, to make it easier for us both to understand?" He mused glancing away and staring into the distance. It seemed as if he is speaking almost to himself than to her. Finally, he seemed to come back to reality and looked deep into her eyes; he threw the key he still held onto the other side of the room as he moved his hands to cup her cheeks and he bent down to eye level when she didn't flinch away - she couldn't even if she wanted to.

"Sookie, it's taken me all this time to realise all these unwanted emotions you make me feel. When I first met you, I hate to admit it but I was scared of the things you made me feel and think, which was a very out of character thing for me to feel or muse over." He paused, his eyes searching hers, but she remained blank, closed off and calm wondering where he is going with this.

"It is very rare and not very well known that a Vampire should come across his or her other half, the piece that's missing. The key to unlock his undead heart and make him or her feel alive, more alive and alert than they'd ever felt before. I am over one thousand years old and of course, I'd heard rumours and talk over the centuries of a Vampire finding his mate but nobody had full proof or description of this sacred gift." He paused.

"When I first saw you, enter my bar those few short years ago. You shone like a candle, a candle alight amongst a sea of black coal. You are my light in my dark world. I am your light in the fact you cannot hear my thoughts. We have the same hair, and eyes. I felt a connection to you the moment our eyes locked and I know the reason you said 'I am his' to Bill was because you did not understand the connection and sudden feelings and the energy you felt towards me."

Sookie felt her eyes widen at this news. How had he known how she felt? She'd never met him or had his blood. But everything he said, made grudgingly sense. When she didn't respond, he continued. Their weak bond was fully open between them now and she felt his burning honesty and was that... love and respect? Too.

"Sookie. I say this all now because before I was confused, the last time I saw you. I felt conflicted and angry. I had my memories erased, over one thousand year's worth , then I regained them. I didn't know what to think or how to act. All these memories rushed back into me like a tornado hitting ground and tearing everything up, within its vicinity, and I couldn't pinpoint one to the other. This past year has been the longest of my undead existence and this house has been my sanctuary away from Fangtasia, away from Pam and Vampire society. This house smelled like you and helped calm my nerves and to regain my mind to an ordinary fashion. You must understand that for a Vampire to lose control of his familiar emotional state and mind structure, especially one as old as me, isn't one's idea of fun. It was like an over-the-top horrifying rollercoaster ride. I didn't know which memory was going to come flooding back next!"

"I want you, Sookie Stackhouse. I want you not because of your blood or the vampire marriage we have or because of what you are. I want you because I love you." He said the three magic words she needed to hear from those ancient skilled lips. She grabbed hold of his face with her own hands and pulled him in for a scorching kiss, not caring about her nighty any more, that lay in a pool of red and pink silk on the floor.

Her kiss was a clear signal sign she was giving him as she poured everything she felt into it, hoping he could feel it and she was sure he did because his clothes soon disappeared and with his skills he's mastered over the years, he did it without breaking the kiss and she soon found herself crushed against his luscious chest with his gracious plenty between them, pressed against her stomach.

The kiss turned more heated and Sookie felt as though fire was in the room, enveloping her body as she pressed herself closer to Eric's cool one, almost giving herself to him. She still had enough mind control that she wasn't completely tangled in a web of desire.

Their hands danced over each other's skin leaving a trail of heat in their wake. Their tongues fought for dominance, a mixture of blood spilled through them, as their tongues caught on Eric's fang's even his own tongue got caught in their heat of passion.

She felt them move but wasn't completely sure until she felt the soft sheets of her bed meet her back as Eric lay her down and worshiped her body from north to south to the point she's almost crying, the passion is so intense and the love that swirled around them in the thick mist of desire and lust.

Finally after much torture and hair pulling, he entered her with a growl so low and husky filled with desire and control, it almost made her come undone in that moment but she held it in and practically cried and sighed with the feeling she can't describe of him filling her completely, buried deep inside her. His head buried in her neck, his nose ghosting over her pulse. She knew what he wanted as he did long tantalizing strokes in and out of her and she had a last bit of control on her vocabulary that she could form words. Her voice sounded unfamiliar as she spoke.

"If I allow you to bite me Eric, there is to be no other woman but me, you will not feed or fuck another except me." She whispered, knowing he heard.

He growled and sunk his fangs into her neck and she knew that was his answer for commitment to the words she spoke and after the second or third swallow he drank from her, she came down hard with him following soon after, roaring into the night, sending vibrations through her body that sent a second release.

Eric bit into his wrist as their bodies came down from their high and they regained enough control over their mind, body and soul. She didn't waste time or fight like she normally would of done. It felt amazing drinking his blood whilst he was still buried deep inside her and she felt him harden as he watched her with hooded eyes. Eric leaned in and whispered his reason in her ear, for not healing the marks on her neck immediately.

"Lover, I want all to see faint markings from me so people know you are taken completely. I want to tie myself to you in every way, not just blood and sex. I want them to see you are mine, and I am yours. I will even find a loop hole for Vampire human marriages, I will search every bonding and ritual bonding there is to bind myself to you, to commit to you. To prove to you there is no other but you."

She felt the traitorous tears return in her eyes and he kissed them away as he spied them falling down her cheeks in waves of waterfalls.

"This is just the beginning, Lover." He whispered against her lips, as he pulled out then entered her fully, this time, it was not slow and gentle but filled with hard, raw passion and they continued until sunrise when Eric had to go down for the day to the cubby he'd built in her house, she was now pleased is theirs. What surprised her was, he didn't leave her upstairs, instead, he took her down with him, wrapped in her duvet and they both fell tangled together in a blissful sleep.

Dead to the world.

Hey ya. This is a one-shot for now, but if you would like to see a companion piece - a multi-chapter story to follow then let me know and I'll see what I can do.