Well this was fun, bring on the next challenge!

Enjoy,

Merick

Part Nine

"Husband!" Ah the sound of that squeal, the very voice that had drawn her to my attention so long ago. The blissful agitation that had made her image invade my dreams and conscious thoughts. "What the H,!" I muffled the last word by forcing my lips against hers. Small hands reached out for my shoulders, apparently intending to shake me but instead I wrapped mine around her back and pulled her up to sitting in my lap, still impaled on my rod, lips still captured by mine. She was forced to wrap her legs around my waist, which made it even easier for me to rock against her, thrusting deeper. She began to pound her hands against my chest, but her tongue was dancing with mine, and just as deeply, so as much as I knew she wanted to speak, I also knew she didn't want to give up that kiss. She was such a cute little ball of fury I couldn't help but grin, especially as her frustration made her squirm against me. I released her mouth only long enough to roar out as I emptied myself inside her, and then I kissed her again.

Maybe I was evil, maybe I really liked the angry, frustrated Sookie that looked as though she wanted to hurl something sharp at me, maybe I just wanted to feel her body wrapped around me as she finally came down from that fury? Maybe I was one hundred percent serious because the thought of losing her made me feel empty? I held her in my lap, still buried inside the warmth of her body, pressing her head into my chest to just listen to her breathe and feel her nearness.

"What do you mean? Husband?" She finally said. She was actually beginning to quiver in my arms.

"When you gave me that dagger Sookie, in front of the King." I tried to explain the customs of my culture. "To present such a gift is an act of betrothal. It was as if you announced to everyone there that we were to be united."

"What?" Her voice became shrill again, laced with disbelief, and then anger. "All I did was hear some human think about the silver he had in his pocket. I got it from him because I thought it was the right thing to do. Now you are telling me that giving you a knife means we're getting married? How can Vampire rituals be so fucking stupid?"

"It's a good thing you didn't give it directly to the King." I couldn't hide my grin. I guess I was a little evil.

"Good God Eric! Why the hell didn't you warn me about all this Vampire crap!"

"Honestly, I never thought the situation would come up. It isn't every day you get to present a ceremonial dagger to your intended in front of a King." I wanted to laugh, I really did, but I was quite sure she would hit me if I did.

What she did do shocked me, well, actually rattled me to my core. She started to cry, to just sob right into my shoulder.

Crap.

I laid her back down on to the bed, and pulled myself away from her, drawing a blanket over us both.

"How do I keep getting myself into this shit Eric?" She looked up at me with a tearstained face, the redness and the bruises around her neck making her look as though she had suffered a violent assault; I hated myself just then. "What have I done to deserve all this?" Her voice cracked.

"Sookie." I whispered to her, smoothing my hands over her hair. "Everything will be okay." I tried to smile. "Vampire unions are not always the same as human ones." She looked at me with glistening eyes, lips quivering. I had to bend down to kiss them just softly.

"If you were to become my wife I would have certain obligations to you." Her eyes looking at me were so wide. "Wherever you chose to live, I would have to make certain that it befitted your position as the wife of a Sheriff. I would put a new roof on your house, and fix your driveway. I could even renovate the inside, create a space for me to rest in safely during the day." I kissed her forehead carefully and continued stroking her hair. "I would get you a new car, and if you chose to stop working I would support you."

"I like my job." She mewled.

"And I would make certain all your physical needs were met." I tried to smile, and I even brushed my fingertips down her chest, caressing her breast carefully. She closed her eyes and moaned quietly at my touch. "Even the King would not dare touch you. To harm the lawful wife of a Sheriff would bring the wrath of the Magisters and the Authority. I do not know any Vampire who would willingly provoke their anger."

"Marriage is about more than all that Eric. More than paying my bills and having sex with me."

"Of course it is Sookie. It is about being partners. Haven't these last few days proved how good we can be together?"

She seemed to ignore my question.

"You said 'if'. 'If' I was to become your wife?" I wanted to feel insulted because she seemed to be looking for a way out, as if I meant nothing to her. The pain of that assumption tore at me.

"I would not force you to marry me Sookie. I won't force you to do anything. I cannot make you love me." I let her go and made to move away from her, feeling quite sorry for myself.

I thought it was the answer she wanted to hear, but more tears began to fall from her eyes. Human women, a damned mystery! It was so much simpler when they just wanted to adore me and be with me. All these complex emotions were so hard to understand. I didn't know what to do then, and so I sat still, afraid to make any move.

It was she who pulled herself to me, she who closed her eyes and sought out my mouth. And it was she that parted my lips and tasted me with a desperate abandon. I had no idea what was going on, but I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her close to me.

"Is the idea of being with me so terrible?" I whispered. Back to that glutton for punishment thing I'd spoken of earlier.

"Eric, I want things to be my choice, and your choice, not some obligation." I was glad that I figured in there somewhere.

"Sookie, you are not an obligation; I have never seen you that way." She harrumphed her disbelief at me.

"Sookie? If I didn't care for you, why would I have fought to protect you?"

She didn't have an answer for that. I thought it best to steer away from the subject for the time being, as desperate as my heart was to hear some kind of resolution from her.

"Will you at least take my blood? To help you heal from the bruises?"

"Is this some other trick, I take your blood again and I start thinking like you?"

I laughed, though not with humorous intentions.

"If you take enough of my blood, over many days, there is a chance that you will become as aware of me, as I of you."

"Another bond?"

"It will help you heal, please."

She nodded, and I brought my first finger to my mouth and stabbed it with a fang. The blood welled up on it like a ruby pearl and I offered it to her. She paused before grasping my open palm with her hand and bringing it to her lips; staring at me all the while.

I watched the lips, still swollen from the tears and from the ardent kisses, part and she pulled my fingertip into her mouth, suckling it very carefully, as if she was afraid of what my blood would taste like to her. When she traced her tongue over the very tip of it I felt my body tremble. I wondered if she had noticed it?

The pull of her mouth on my flesh coaxed more blood from me; not enough that I would have noticed, physically, but enough that I noticed 'physically', if you get my meaning. The bruises around her neck began to fade; I always thought that effect was a marvelous one, not that I had shared it with anyone but Pam. It made me feel powerful; and before you say something you'll regret, it was a different kind of powerful, maybe beneficent is a better word, not that I'm trying to make myself out as some kind of saint. Far from it.

I watched the trembling, pale, drawn features on her face relax into bliss, and she pulled another fingertip into her mouth, even thought I hadn't pierced that skin at all. I couldn't help but moan out loud, because I knew exactly what she was doing to me, and that she was doing it on purpose. I could do nothing but watch her.

When she pulled the fingers from her mouth she kissed each and slowly set my hand down on bedclothes between us.

"Thank you." She whispered. She was radiant.

"You're welcome." I know, not the most original of responses, but I felt kind of spellbound by her just then. I reached out to brush the hair back from her face, and to let my fingers touch her again. I missed the easy warmth of a few moments past; when we had been able to play games. And my body was aching for her, as if it knew that she had a part of me now inside her.

"Sookie?"

"Eric?"

"I want to make love to you again, now, and tomorrow, and at every sunset."

"What are you saying Eric?"

"I only ask that you think about being with me. I will always be honest with you, and I will always protect you, and I would give up my own life before I let anyone bring you harm." I looked right into her eyes then, willing her to see into my thoughts, to finally read my mind even though I knew she couldn't. "I will love you forever."

Tiny tears came to her eyes again, thought not the despondent ones of earlier. She parted her lips to receive my kiss.

"Forever is a very long time for a Vampire, isn't it Eric?"

I nodded and drew my hands down the length of her body; she shivered under my cold touch and I wondered, just for a fraction of a second if I was being unfair to her, if I shouldn't just pull away and let her find a living man who could keep her warm and give her children, and grow old with her. The thought stopped my hand in motion on her hip.

"What do you want from your life Sookie?"

She seemed stunned at the question.

"I don't know, I guess, I don't suppose I've ever thought about it really. No-one's ever really asked." She smiled with a memory I wasn't party to, "not even the guidance counselors in school, but mostly because they were weirded out by me like everyone else."

"I promise you that I will make up for every miserable thing that happened to you as a child Sookie."

"That's a tall order Eric."

"I'll take you away from Bon Temps if you like, we can go anywhere, I have properties all over the globe. I know you are special, I recognize that you are a rare talent."

"Not a prize?" Sadly I think I knew where that question had come from.

"Not a prize Sookie, never a prize." She seemed to like that answer and I felt her hand cover mine, coaxing it along its track down her thigh. She closed her eyes as I turned the fingertips inwards to stroke her.

"I want to be normal."

"No you don't." I slid a finger between her legs to apply gentle pressure on her; she drew in a long breath. "You want to be respected, believed and understood."

"Yes." She moaned. I wasn't quite sure if it was in response to my fingers or my statement. Maybe a little of both?

"I want it to be quiet."

"I can give you that."

"I want to be loved, for me."

"I will give you that." I slid the rest of my hand between her legs and urged her onto her back where I rolled on top of her.

"And if I say no Eric?" She opened her eyes to look at me.

"Then I will still love you." I was hard again, and desperate to feel her body engulf me; to just feel the safety of the one thing I was sure about, the way we could connect physically. I brushed myself against her and she arched for me, opening her body to me and I thrust myself into her depths again.

The confusion and the anxiety and the emotions had stirred up my insides and thought I tried to draw out the play I found that I wanted and needed to bring her to her peak, and follow her quickly. I wanted that to be in the forefront of her mind as she rested for the day; I wanted to be the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes, and I wanted my body to be the last thing that her mind remembered. It wasn't enough that she had my blood, I wanted to ensure she would dream of me; if that makes me evil then I accept it.

My pace quickened, and I used my free hand to grasp her breasts, one at a time, playing over them, and teasing her still she stood erect for me. All the while I ground my hips against her, thrusting as deep as I could, listening to her ascending cries of passion. I felt her nails rake down my back as she wrapped her legs around me. The blood began to well on the wounds, which only made me more insistent within her.

When I felt her muscles begin to tighten around me I hardly had time to move my fingers to rub between her legs before she came, the spasms of her body wracking me, and bringing me to my own climax. I cried out her name before collapsing beside her. If she were going to turn me away, at least I would have that last perfect memory to comfort me.

"Eric?"

"Yes my lover?"

"Would there be some crazy ceremony involved? Do I have to wear some stupid dress or show up naked or anything?"

I heard her words, but did not believe them; or did not hope to believe them.

"No." I shook my head, "it is often a private thing, there need be no one else there but the bride and groom."

"And I'd get to stay in my own house?"

"I would only visit you as often as you wished."

"What if I wanted to be with you all the time?"

"I can fly." A grin crossed my face.

"I know the Vampires all know, but would I have to tell everyone in Bon Temps just yet?"

"You wouldn't have to tell them anything if you didn't want to."

She looked at me.

"Okay Eric. I'll marry you."

It was perhaps a little anticlimactic, but right then, in post coital bliss, and anxiety, I was so happy to hear her answer that it really didn't matter. I heard her yawn.

"We'll speak of it more in the evening my lover." She nodded and cuddled into my arms.

Some kind of weekend that was. Don't think I've ever had a better one. Well, except the honeymoon.