Sookie shifted closer to the vampire sleeping beside her. He didn't breathe, didn't move. He was utterly still, a corpse.

Ever since he returned to Bon Temps three weeks ago, Bill was acting strangely and unusually distant. He refused to talk about what happened while he was gone and remained withdrawn even though they had spent every night together. Sookie knew Lorena was involved but every time she broached the subject, Bill would clam up and refuse to answer her questions.

The first night he came back, they had made love frantically. After, when they had lain next to each other, she had told him she wanted to be his wife. Bill had replied he was wrong to have pressured her the way he did and it was too soon for them to be wed. She tried to explain she loved him and didn't want to wait, but he didn't respond. He said nothing.

There was distance between them now that hadn't existed before. Despite all the chaos and turmoil throughout their short relationship, there were moments when they were genuinely happy. Sookie wanted to get those feelings back, and share that contentment with Bill again, but she didn't know how to fix things between them.

Guilt over refusing Bill's proposal and for not trying harder to find him was a burden she struggled with daily. Maybe if she had found him sooner, or done more, he wouldn't be a changed man now.

And then there was Eric.

Sookie didn't want to think about him or have anything to do with him and yet he was always on her mind. She hadn't seen him in weeks, not since the night before Bill returned, but the events of their last two encounters were etched in her brain. She tried desperately to forget how his mouth felt on hers, the sensation of his hands on her body... but it was impossible.

She constantly worried about when Eric was going to show up to collect on what she owed him, and how she would explain things to Bill. And what exactly Eric wanted from her. She refused to believe he just wanted to sleep with her. Not Eric. A thousand year old vampire did not have to negotiate deals to have sex with a human. If he wanted to get laid, there were plenty of women available - women who were a lot more experienced than Sookie. She was convinced he wanted something else from her, she just didn't know what.

Bill stirred next to Sookie, bringing her out of her reverie. A part of her hoped he wouldn't wake up and they could just lay there and pretend everything was the same again, but he opened his eyes and met her gaze.

"I must leave now," he said softly. "It will be dawn soon."

"I know."

He rose and moved away from the bed. She observed while he dressed himself quickly, his back turned to her.

They didn't speak, but the silence was deafening between them.

He walked to the door, but paused to look at her before leaving. "Have a good day, Sookie."

Always polite, that was Bill. At least that part of him hadn't changed.

"I'll see you later?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded his head 'yes' and, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Sookie pulled the sheets up to her chin and closed her eyes. Tonight, he didn't even kiss her before leaving; she reassured herself it meant nothing.

88888

It was after midnight and she had just finished her shift at Merlotte's. However, Sookie wasn't going home. She took a turn off the main road, drove along the gravel path until the entrance sign for the cemetery came into view. Pulling into the lot, she parked the car. Short walk later, she found herself by Gran's grave and almost came to tears when she spotted the inscription on the headstone.

Today would have been Gran's 75th birthday.

Every year she and Jason urged Gran to go out for her birthday dinner but Gran insisted on staying in and making a fancy dinner for the three of them at home. Of course Sookie and Jason wouldn't let her anywhere near the kitchen. On Gran's birthday Sookie would start prepping early, Jason would come over, and they would start making one of Gran's favourite meals. Her brother would eventually get bored and end up lounging on the front lawn or watching TV, leaving all the cooking to Sookie. One thing about Jason though, he always did the cleaning up and the dishes all by himself after dinner– he never let Sookie or Gran help him.

Memories of past birthday celebrations flooded Sookie's mind and she sat down on the ground to regain control of herself. She missed Gran every single day but lately the hurt was even more potent. She could distract herself with work, friends, Bill, but that constant ache never really went away.

Even though she believed Gran was watching over Jason and her, it obviously wasn't the same. She missed talking to her grandmother, touching her, holding her, sharing conversations and laughter. Tears streaked down her face, Sookie swiped them away.

"You really do enjoy the company of the dead, don't you?"

Caught by surprise, she whirled her upper body around to see who it was.

Standing a few feet away, dressed in jeans, t-shirt and a leather jacket, was Eric. His hands were hooked into his pockets while his blue eyes regarded her with a cold expression.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

He cocked his eyebrow. "For your next outing, may I suggest Fangtasia? Just as many dead bodies, but the atmosphere is infinitely livelier."

"Go away." Sookie turned back around.

Raising her knees to her chin, she encircled her legs with her arms. Although she tried her best to ignore him, she was keenly aware of his eyes boring into her back.

"Do you have to be here?" she snapped at him shortly after.

"Actually I have matters to which I must attend, but I can't afford to be distracted with human emotions," he replied.

"Deal with it. That's what you get for tricking me into drinking your blood."

"Touché."

Sookie didn't tell Bill she was coming here tonight; she wanted to be alone, and Eric's intrusion almost felt like a sign of disrespect towards her grandmother. But she'd be damned if she let him knew how much he was bothering her. She hoped by refusing to acknowledge his presence any further, he would get bored and leave. She expected him to provoke her, taunt her into an argument, but Eric said nothing.

Silence ensued, and Sookie's mind drifted back to Adele again.

She was hesitant to admit this to others, mostly because people mistakenly inferred she was happy about her parent's early demise, but Sookie was eternally grateful for the parental role Gran played in their lives. Gran was sweet, smart, kind, and most importantly she never judged others; in a town like Bon Temps, that was a rarity. And as much as Sookie loved her own mother, she remembered all too well how her telepathic skills terrified her. Not so with Gran.

As it often happened these days, her thoughts eventually led back to the night she found Gran's body in the kitchen. Her grandmother, who had always been a figure of strength and love, had lain still on the floor, her body broken and lifeless. The blood. Sookie remembered the blood all too well. When she closed her eyes, she could picture it; she could even smell it. It was thick, unpleasant, heady when it filled her nostrils, and the image of her dead and bloody grandmother made her sick all over again. Sookie shuddered.

All of a sudden Eric appeared next to her.

She had forgotten he was there and watched hesitantly as he removed his jacket and wrapped it around her. He surprised her further when he sat down beside her on the ground.

This felt awkward, very awkward. The only time Eric seemed to have a heart was when it concerned Godric, but now here he was acting almost sympathetic towards her. She didn't know how to deal with this. "Why are you being nice?"

"I'm not sure."

She glanced at him, curious to see if he was being genuine, but found herself unable to turn away once their gazes locked. Suddenly he didn't seem as cold and hard as she always thought him to be, not when his eyes were piercing right into her soul. Intense wave of inexplicable emotions rushed through her, making her feel vulnerable and exposed.

As hard as she tried, she couldn't break his gaze.

He was the first one to look away; although relieved, she begrudgingly admitted it was also disappointment that surged through her.

"You feel responsible for her death," Eric said a short while later, his attention focused straight ahead.[

She didn't respond right away, contemplating his statement. "I am."

"You didn't kill her."

"No, but Réné came to the house looking for me. He wanted to hurt me, but he found Gran instead."

"And you think you're to blame for that?"

Sookie shrugged her shoulders. "Well, she's dead. I'm not."

"Brilliant observation."

"Shut up!"

"You can't change the past," he continued, unfazed by her outburst. "Sitting here feeling guilty over matters you had no control over isn't going to help you."

Not in the mood to argue with him, she didn't respond.

It was a long while before either of them spoke again. The silence was comfortable, something she didn't was possible with Eric next to her.

"You don't have to stay here with me."

"I'm not sure Bill would approve of me leaving you here by yourself."

She scoffed. "And since when do you care about Bill's approval?"

"When it benefits me."

"I think he would rather me be alone than with you."

"How very selfish of him."

She didn't rise to his taunt, rolling her eyes instead.

88888

Eric walked her to her car, silently creeping along the gravel path next to her. She opened up the car door as he patiently waited behind. "I'm not used to this from you," she said, turning around to face him once again.

There was a languid smile across his face. "I'm capable of being nice when the situation calls for it."

"Or when you want something."

He cocked his eyebrow. "You're right." Before she could even take her next breath, he moved swiftly towards her, his cold body pressed against hers as she struggled to overcome the sudden coil of anxiety in her stomach. He smiled down at her with a predatory glint in his eyes.

"We have a deal, Sookie. And it's time to pay up."

Fuck!