When we last left our friends...

"Claudine!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Niall sent me. He said you may need some help dealing with your…ah…ability."

"What about it?" Eric growled, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice. I looked across to Pam, who had risen from the couch and was slowly inching her way closer to Claudine.

I laid my palm against Eric's chest, as if that could prevent him from jumping Claudine if he really wanted to. "It's okay, Eric," I reassured him. "I can handle this."

I grabbed Claudine by the arm and hauled her out of the office and toward the back door. "Come on, Claudine. Let's you and me talk outside."

CHAPTER 19

I stepped out of the back door, Claudine in tow. The warm night air enveloped me and I took several deep breaths to calm myself. I was plenty upset over having read Pam's thoughts, and to have Claudine suddenly pop in between me and a couple of vampires nearly unraveled me completely. Once my nerves steadied a little, I turned on Claudine.

"Do you have a death wish, or are you just plain crazy?" I demanded.

Claudine flashed me her trademark brilliant smile. The fact that she was nearly half a foot taller than me, plus she had saved my hide on a number of occasions, did make my scolding seem a little silly.

"Okay, okay," I conceded. "I know you're not crazy. But you gotta admit, your sense of timing really sucks. What's so all-fire important that you had to pop into a vampire bar?"

"You are," Claudine quipped as she trailed a long, manicured finger down my cheek. "Niall sent me."

"Yes, you said that already. Something about dealing with my ability," I snorted, making air quotes with my fingers.

Claudine laughed. "That's right. Niall sent me with a little something to help you out with that." She then snapped her crimson-tipped fingers and a tall glass filled with a frothy pink liquid appeared in her hand.

"What the hell?" I blurted.

"This," Claudine said as she held out the glass to me, "is a little something to help you control your gift, where vampires are concerned."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Drink this, and you will be more-or-less blocked from hearing vampire thoughts," Claudine stated confidently, if not a little proudly.

"Really?" I replied drolly. "And just how does that work?" I was more than an avid believer in the old adage that if something was too good to be true, it probably was.

"Fairy Magic – what else?" Claudine beamed her electric smile at me. "It's a potion that Niall concocted. Your shields against vampire thoughts will always be in place -- automatically."

"So I won't be able to hear vampire thoughts anymore?" I was still skeptical, but I had to admit that the idea of vampires being blissfully silent again sounded pretty wonderful.

"Nope," Claudine replied, grandly popping the P. She leaned close and whispered next to my ear, "That is, unless you want to." And she gave me a conspiratorial wink. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

I frowned at her, so she elaborated. "You will no longer be able to hear vampire thoughts, unless you consciously lower your shields to them. Niall thought things might be easier for you if you had the choice of whether or not to hear them."

I thought about it for a minute, and decided I trusted Claudine enough that if she said it would work, then it must be true. "Okay," I sighed as I threw in the mental towel and held out my hand for the drink. The glass was cool and frosty, and I held it up to my nose for a small sniff. It smelled a little sweet and fruity, so I put the glass to my lips and took a tentative sip. It was smooth and creamy and tasted like strawberries. Not so bad.

"I hope this stuff works," I said warily as I raised the glass and swallowed Niall's concoction.

"You need to drink all of it," Claudine instructed, and I didn't stop until it was all gone. I handed the empty glass back to Claudine, and with a snap of her fingers it was gone.

"Is that it?" I asked. It almost seemed too simple. I didn't feel any different, but my great-grandfather's potion hadn't been put to the test yet, either.

"That's it," Claudine replied.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. "So, how long does this stuff work, anyway?"

"Niall's not really sure," Claudine admitted, a sheepish little grin on her face. "We're sailing in uncharted waters here. But he did say he could always make more when this batch wears off."

Swell. I was now officially the guinea pig for a Fairy Prince concocting an anti-vampire-thought potion. Maybe Victor Madden was the least of my worries after all.

"Well, my work here is done for now," Claudine said she stepped forward to hug me. I put my arms out in front of me to halt her progress and moved back quickly before she could make contact; no way was I going to hug a fairy and then go back into a bar full of vampires. No way was I going to make that mistake a second time.

A little grin crossed Claudine's face when she realized what I was doing. "Yes, that is probably best," she agreed and stepped back. "I'll be seeing you later." She blew a kiss at me, and with a little pop, she was gone.

I stood outside alone for just a few more minutes, mainly to let the night air blow around me and remove any lingering trace of fairy scent that may be on my clothes. I was also giving my great-grandfather's potion a little extra time to work, too. While the ability to read vampire thoughts did have its strategic advantages, it was already beginning to frazzle me where my relationship with Eric was concerned. I so did not want ours to be a replay of the relationships I had had with human guys.

After feeling I was sufficiently "descentsitized," I walked back inside to Eric's office. Pam must have gone out front to the bar because I found Eric behind his desk, alone. He pushed away from the desk and rolled his chair back, creating space for me to join him behind the desk. I settled myself against the desk, facing him, my knees between his. His nostrils flared a little, making me wish I had stayed outside for just a couple minutes longer.

Eric leaned in close to me and inhaled deeply. "You smell…delicious," he murmured into the front of my shirt.

I lightly grabbed his ears and pulled his head back. "Yeah, whatever," I chuckled. "You just keep yourself in check, buster. I may not mind being the main course, but I sure as heck don't want to be the whole buffet!"

Vampires are not easily daunted, and Eric was no exception. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rubbed his face around on the front of my shirt, purring in the back of his throat…purring?...and with his golden mane spilling around his shoulders, he reminded me exactly of a lion. I leaned into Eric and fisted my hands in his silky locks, drawing his head closer to me as his mouth began to nuzzle my breasts through the fabric of my shirt. The low moan had barely escaped my mouth when it was cut short by three sharp raps on the office door just before it burst open.

"Master, you have a visitor," Pam nearly bellowed as she strode through the door, Bubba close on her heels. She stopped short when her gaze landed on Eric and me behind the massive desk. "I'm sorry – are we interrupting something?" The look on her face said she knew exactly what she was interrupting, and she wasn't trying too hard to hide the fact that she wasn't sorry in the least. Bubba's face held a horrified look, like he had just walked in on his grandmother, naked in the bath.

Eric growled from deep in his throat before pushing away from me. The look on his face said the fact that she was his child was only thing keeping Pam's head attached to her shoulders. "Pamela, sit down and shut up," he barked.

She was at least smart enough to look contrite.

My face felt hot enough to broil steak. I wanted nothing more than to crawl under Eric's desk and never come out. It was one thing for Pam to walk in on Eric and me in compromising situations, but Bubba seeing us together that way was positively mortifying. I remembered him tumbling through the window that night in Jackson, interrupting Eric and me just before…

Oh, hell! Enough with the trip down memory lane – that road was too rocky for my comfort. Keeping my head down – no way could I look Bubba in the face right now – I pushed off of the edge of the desk to go sit on the couch. For the second time tonight, Eric pulled me down into his lap. I still wasn't going to argue with him.

Pam walked to the black leather couch opposite Eric's desk and sat down, knees and ankles together and hands resting demurely in her lap, like she was taking tea with the Queen of England. Bubba remained near the door, shuffling uncomfortably back and forth on his feet. I didn't know if his actions were real or if he was putting on his show for Pam's sake. A quick mind-peek around the room revealed absolutely nothing, just three pleasantly void, undead brains; apparently my great-grandfather's potion was working.

I lowered my shields a little, focusing on Bubba, and a jumble of thoughts hit me all at once like a slap in the face: he couldn't believe Pam would just barge into Eric's office like that and he was really embarrassed at having caught Eric and me in an awkward moment and would Pam hurry up and get the hell out of Eric's office already so we could get down to business so he could go hunt some cats.

Ick! My shields went up faster than you could say Here, kitty. I could feel Eric's confusion through the bond, and it was no wonder. My emotions were all over the map, and I hadn't even had the chance to tell him about drinking Niall's potion. Eric must have sensed my inner turmoil because I felt his arms tighten around my waist. "Pam, take Bubba out front and buy him a Blood," he commanded his child.

Bubba shot a wary look in my direction, and I was sorely tempted to lower my shields to hear what he thought about having to drink TrueBlood. But I didn't.

As soon as we were alone again, Eric lifted me up and spun me around so I was straddling his muscular thighs. "Now, lover, tell me what is wrong," his voice was firm, yet gentle.

I puffed air between my cheeks and Eric's eyes closed momentarily as my breath brushed across his face. I swear I saw his nostrils flare slightly, and I filed that moment away for later reflection. "Well, Claudine brought me this potion from Niall," I began. Eric quirked a dubious eyebrow, but I continued.

"Niall somehow knew I suddenly had the ability to hear vampire thoughts. How he knows, I have no clue. Anyway, he sent Claudine with this potion to keep me from reading vamps, unless I want to." I could almost hear the wheels churning in Eric's mind, but I held out a hand to stop him before he could speak. "Don't ask me how it works – Claudine said it was magic – but, unless I consciously lower my shields, vampire brains are blank to me again."

Eric's face echoed none of his thoughts as he contemplated my news. I knew I could have lowered my shields and learned exactly what he was thinking, but somehow that just didn't seem fair. Not having to block myself from his brain was one of the things that made him so attractive to me in the first place (along with other qualities that we won't mention here) and I made a mental vow to only read him when it was an absolute necessity.

After a few minutes of silent pondering, Eric spoke. "When we renewed our blood bond I did not know it would result in this enhancement of your telepathic powers. I imagined our connection would be even stronger than before, but I never realized it would be to that extent." Was he trying to apologize to me for my revamped (pardon the pun) ability? "Your grandfather's gift should alleviate some of the additional stress this enhancement has caused you."

Eric's musings caught me completely off guard, so I thought carefully before I spoke. "The thing that stresses me the most is being able to hear you," I told him in a quiet voice. "All the others – I can handle them. They're no different than blocking humans; I just won't have the peace around vamps I used to have.

"But you – hearing you is different. It's like it throws our relationship off balance…makes it too one-sided. I admit, being able to read you could have certain…strategic advantages…but not where our personal relationship is concerned. I'm hoping Niall's potion will work well enough that it won't cause problems for us."

Eric quirked an eyebrow at me and one corner of his mouth curved up in a half-smirk. "So you're finally admitting we have a relationship," he deadpanned.

I had a snappy comeback all ready for Eric when the door flew open again and Pam stormed in, looking like rage personified. She had a bar swipe in her hand, furiously rubbing at the front of the semi-sheer black bustier she was wearing. Bubba followed a few steps behind her, a sheepish look on his face, but with eyes that sparkled with mischief. I was sure I didn't want to know what had gone on between the two of them in the bar.

"Do you know what this cretin did?" Pam bellowed at Eric.

The bond sizzled with tension, but Eric's expression was patronizing as he calmly spoke to Pam. "I do not. Suppose you enlighten me, Pamela."

I couldn't believe Eric was letting Pam get away with talking to him like she did. But Pam continued, undaunted. "He took one drink of his TrueBlood and spewed it out all over my brand new bustier! I told him to get the A negative, but he insisted on getting O positive instead, and you know how disgusting O positive is. And now it's all over the front of my new LaPerla that cost me four hundred dollars!"

I gasped in spite of myself. I couldn't believe anyone would pay that kind of money for a few square inches of lace and gauze.

"I told you I was sorry, Miss Pam," Bubba said meekly. "I thought maybe a different flavor wouldn't be so bad, but you know nothing tastes like—"

"Oh, spare me," Pam huffed at Bubba. "No one in their right mind eats cats."

"Just send me the dry cleaning bill, Pam, and I will take care of it." Eric spoke to Pam like he was talking to a petulant child, which almost made me giggle, because I figured, in a way, she was.

I looked at Bubba.

Bubba looked at Eric.

Eric looked at Pam.

"Well, I'm going to change clothes, then I'm going back out front," Pam announced, one hand on the door knob. "I don't want to be anywhere close in case another accident happens."

The tension left the room like air being let out of a balloon as soon as Pam slammed the door. Eric pulled me into his lap yet again and looked sternly at Bubba. "OK, let us get down to business. Tell me what you learned today."

TBC

A/N -- Thanks to all of you who continue to read, review, and PM this story. I heart you all -- hard! I've had most of this chapter done for a while, but I hit some major walls in trying to finish. I promise I'm not going to drop this story, but between caring for my terminally ill grandmother and some recent health issues of my own, RL has been kicking my ass lately. I do appreciate you sticking with me, even through the droughts. This chapter came to you unbeta'd, so I apologize for any errors.