Disclaimer: All of the following is thoughtfully rearranged from the original works of Charlaine Harris. So I cannot scream MINE.

When I wrote Consumption, some posited that Sookie should just love Eric, and forget about thinking. I do not agree with this idea. That's a recipe for disaster, and I'm sure if you replace "Eric" with "Bill", you'd see how very loathsome that idea is - past actions and current circumstances are all, not just love. Eric is a devious creature, and I hope from reading this fic that those of you who advocate "less thinking" will understand that he's just as dangerous as she thinks, if not more so. Don't get me wrong - he's my suitor of choice, but every action has an explanation. He's not a guy that one should just assume he does it because he's St. Eric, patron of telepaths, acting only in love and without his own goals and purpose.

Never look for ESN in my fics – I don't write it, and I don't review it. I'd say it's due to deep-seated issues, but Thyra10 wants me to blame her instead. :D Much love to my Danish scapegoat for badgering me to start writing out my PMs as stories.

Much adoration to Miss Construed, who looked through this for me so that I could see if I put all my thoughts on the page instead of half of it in my head, as I tend to do. I await her Deliverance/ SVM crossover with much eagerness - that is the fic that NEEDS to be written. :D

A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion;

because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves.

Therefore, it is necessary to be a fox to discover the snares and a lion to terrify the wolves.

Those who rely simply on the lion do not understand what they are about.

– Machiavelli's The Prince.

I've always been a quick thinker, but I've used my years to hone my brain to a weapon. It's how I make my way in the world. Sure, I can use all manner of blade, but that's short term and physical. I use my intellect to keep myself safe, to ensure my survival over the long term. I enjoy the mental victories with the same savour as the physical ones.

I'm persistent and stubborn, and there's nothing to keep me from my goals. Apart from when I sleep, my brain is always assessing problems and working through situations. Spur of the moment thinking gets one into trouble.

I have spent the better part of a thousand years using humanity, in as many ways as I could. Nowadays with the Great Revelation I use them for blood, for money, for business and for service. Laughably, they thrive on that – I have a business that serves to use humans, from their need to gawk in curiosity, to the need to get their high from being chosen for feeding.

Fangtasia is my face to the world, but it's not all I am. I thrive on the world of vampire politics, which ensures my safety and autonomy, at least in part. Sure, I could quit politics if I had desperate need, but I like the endless machinations and winning the battle of logic over my opponents. A victory is a victory, and spilling blood can be metaphorical. I use these victories to satisfy some of my more primal urges, but retain my control. I am both contented with meeting my urges this way and with power to make sure that I have some small measure of control over my own life. No power means no control over the actions of others, no leverage. I remember how well that worked for Bill Compton to have no rights within the hierarchy. He wised up quickly and got a position. I have a position that affords me the right amount of power and money and relatively little danger.

I have to bow to other vampires, but I find this doesn't burn so much. There's nowhere within the vampire world that one can escape fealty owed to others. None achieve total autonomy, whether from those who can call your actions to account at trial, to threats from rivals, to the basic commands of a Maker. It is foolishness to think that just by rising in the ranks that one will be free from being overseen. Indeed, it is being lower in the rank that gets less scrutiny. My little corner of Louisiana doesn't get a lot of attention around the world, but the Kingdom of Arkansas, Las Vegas and Louisiana does. Felipe de Castro is welcome to the scrutiny.

I have as much as and no more than I can handle. I would call it an elegant sufficiency. In terms of excitement, well, that's what the world of vampires is all about, and what Sookie Stackhouse brings to the table. I'm bonded to the biggest nexus for supernatural plotting in my little corner of Louisiana, and it affords some entertainment.

I find, during my downtime or waiting for sleep that my thoughts turn to figuring out the enigma of Sookie Stackhouse, and how I can get what I want – that being her. Always the planner, the schemer, I find myself inclined to make guesses based on what I know of her. I have a thousand years of skill at keeping myself alive to use on one little telepath – I doubt she is up to the challenge, but I certainly am. With the blood bond, I have more chances than ever to anticipate her feelings and test her reactions. A tentative question will give me the information I need to move forward in my own interests.

In the short time I've known this woman, I find myself changed for her sake, reawakening my human qualities I thought long since lost. I'm not one of those damned romance figures on the covers of her loathsome books, or a lovesick stereotype – I don't think I ever was. It's a great hangover from the romanticism era and a wonderful marketing strategy to the world, but I've never been that sort of man. My human existence was filled with practicality, necessity and survival; more so my vampire existence.

Over the centuries I've been alive, I've become an excellent manipulator. I can read people as if they are books. I can give them what they want, what they wish for. In order to survive, I have become the consummate dissembler – presenting what others need to get from me in order to give me what I wish. I understand the way humans and vampires think alike, and I do whatever I need to stay on top of my game. I cannot confess that for much of that time I had compassion or empathy – what I had was an intimate understanding of how to get others to do what I wish them to do. Understanding emotions and compelling them is a far distant thing from feeling them – but I produce a wonderful facsimile of the "real thing". My skill at manipulation was finally my undoing, of course.

I find myself feeling compassion and empathy where before there was none, only cold logic and hard gain. By no means is that empathy and compassion there for all – but for Sookie Stackhouse, it exists. It also serves me better to gain her trust and meet my own ends, which is to have Sookie as mine. I find that I have feelings for this woman, this magnificent woman, and an unusual situation at best, which makes me strive and seek her company out. I never do anything for only one reason – emotion doesn't drive me solely. I am more than a collection of feelings and urges, as so many are, totally without focus and goals. I am not an aimless creature wandering for sensations, but a being with purpose.

Some of the things that I know best about myself, what I am, I also share with this telepath. The need for control over my own life, or as Sookie says as much as anyone can have. The pride and stubbornness, the fiery temper, the bravery and the daring – Sookie is so much like me in some areas. I've been doing it longer, however, enforcing my will for decades on others, persisting until I get what I want. I have faith that I can wear my telepathic paradox down. I am the irresistible force to her immovable object.

A/N: In the words of CH: Eric always has more than one motive. You can find this statement by searching her forum.

Pre-empting the squealing. :D Eric doesn't use the word love, so I won't. CH hasn't decided if Eric loves Sookie either for DITF (as quoted on her forum and bemoaned all over the web), and she wrote the character. To be honest, I think that Eric's feelings are far scarier than love, and in my mind, love involves selflessness – not Eric's strong suit. If you do things for more than one reason, it's rarely selfless. This is what I mean by refusing to read more into the text than is written. So save your little fingers from telling me that I can't see the love that you see there – 'cause nor can CH *hint hint*. By doing that, I feel some other aspects are discounted in Eric's character, and in my mind, Eric is no gushy lovesick fool. That's why I like him - and I see no reason to reduce complex, intelligent Eric to a emotional simpleton in order for it to read like anyone thinks it should.

This isn't going to be the same sort of progression as Consumption as over a couple of days – I'm taking the view that Eric always thinks about things over time and modifies his body of knowledge. So it's more a summary, rather than a story over days. It also means I don't have to push my lack of "creato-meter" to think up details not in the books. I am seriously lacking in creative abilities, but I rock at critical analysis.

This fic is a little bit more difficult than Sookie's as we've never gotten into Eric's head (apart from snippets) so this is a little more conjecture and supposition – what I would glean if I were Eric – but only from the text. I won't be using things Eric doesn't know about - like Preston etc. I will take it one degree from canon – meaning I will look at the available information and make deductions – but I won't make up theories out of nothing. Anything not from the books will be from CH's website. I also don't intend to deal with every little incident.

The titles of these chapters come from Machiavelli's The Prince. I read it a good while back, and it gives me a good appreciation for politics, and the political mind.