Chapter 16 – Over the Edge

EPOV

Sookie.

She was always in my thoughts. Always the first thing on my mind when I woke up, but now it was different.

Because I could tell she was in the bed with me.

I’d missed having her there and was glad to have her back, but what she didn’t know was how much more strongly I felt things now. Somehow with the slowing of my heartbeat, everything else was amplified by a thousand. Not just my senses were heightened, but my emotions too.

And what I was feeling for her right then scared me.

I’d always wanted Sookie. But now I wanted Sookie in more ways than just having her as my own.

It was as though her blood was literally calling to me.

And with the sound of my ‘clicky teeth’ making an appearance, she made a shiver run through me when she softly chuckled, “Somebody’s awake…”

An understatement. Many parts of me were very awake in that moment.

I was adjusting to the changes, but I still wasn’t used to going from conscious one moment to being conscious in another, with hours gone by in between the two. But considering my last moment had me holding Jake against the wall and I woke up to feeling the warm breaths from Sookie’s mouth hovering over my dick – the thin barrier of cotton covering me doing nothing to hinder the sensation – I couldn’t really complain.

Well maybe I could complain about the thin barrier of cotton.

“Did you know some parts of you wake up before others?” she asked and glancing down at her it looked like she could be using my dick as a microphone.

I know parts of me felt like singing, seeing her there.

But not knowing just how well I could control myself and still concerned for her safety, I tried to push back my desire for her by asking, “What time is it? Where are the guys?”

Not that I cared what time it was, but I’d been waking earlier and earlier each day. My real reason for asking was hoping Sookie might feel less inclined to do all of the things I could feel she wanted to do if she knew we would have an audience. Even before their change, they would’ve been able to hear us fucking.

Sookie was a screamer.

“Flood said you would be up any minute, so he just left to run out for supplies. And Alcide and Jake are doing recon on Victor’s place,” she replied and then tried to kill me with her sex voice when she added, “We have the whole house to ourselves.”

Technically, we’d never had the whole house to ourselves with Godric around, but Sookie either never thought about that fact or didn’t care.

I had a feeling it was the latter.

“Sookie,” I began, wondering if I would be able to resist her now.

I already doubted my willpower would hold out, but it definitely took a hit when she ran her hand up and down the front of my pants, asking, “Do you not want to?”

“Of course I want to,” I hissed. “But…what if I hurt you?” It was a very real possibility. We’d made love a few times, but most of the time we just went at each other like the world was about to end.

And with the way both of us were feeling right then, I had a feeling we would be acting out the Sexpocalypse.

“You won’t,” she denied and I could tell she believed her words. Crawling back up my body, she laid hers on top of me and gently kissed my lips, saying, “You couldn’t because you love me.”

I did.

“I do,” I agreed aloud. But before I could explain that was exactly why I was afraid I could hurt her – how my feelings for her had multiplied times infinity – Sookie had apparently decided my two word answer was all she needed to hear.

Her hot little hands snaked up the front of my shirt, while her lips devoured mine. When she ran her tongue over my fangs I could feel it much lower on my body and before I’d consciously decided to do it, I’d flipped us over, putting her underneath me, with my teeth scraping over the pulsing artery in her neck.

When I realized what I was doing, I tried to pull back thinking she would be scared, but instead she held my head to her neck with each of her hands and panted out, “Are you hungry?”

“Sookie…” I growled.

She’d always tempted me, but this was too much. I was afraid of doing too much. Of hurting her too much.

Of drinking too much of her blood.

“Flood said you only need a pint a day now,” she said softly, offering herself up to me in every way. “No different than the Red Cross, except I’m hoping I’ll get something better than juice and cookies out of the deal.”

My mouth was salivating like never before and the thought of sinking my teeth into her flesh, coupled with the lust I could feel running through us both, threatened to make me cum right then and there.

I may have been inhumanly strong, but I was weak when it came to Sookie.

Something that was no different than before the change.

But knowing I would likely embarrass myself by cumming way too soon, I sought out whatever fortitude I could find from within and held back, so I could at least get her there first. Since she was only wearing a pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt, it was much easier to tear them away from her body. Mine followed right after hers and she gasped in surprise, but I could tell she was turned on even more.

It only added to my powerlessness to be able to resist her.

Not that I was really trying to resist her anymore.

But I forced myself to focus on the forcefulness of my touch, delicately trailing my fingertip down along her carotid artery, tracing over her clavicle and dipping into the hollow at the center, before dragging it down in between the swells of her breasts. Goose bumps followed my path all the way down her body – a contrast to the wet heat I found in between her legs.

“Erriiic,” she moaned when I took my time exploring, but it was for her own good. I needed to keep myself calm enough so that I wouldn’t hurt her.

But I would make her wait good for her too.

Sliding one of my fingers inside, her hips bucked up to meet my hand, and with my new quickened reflexes, I vibrated my thumb over her clit, making her scream out my name in record time.

So the scientist in me experimented with how quickly I could make her do it again.

And again.

The entire time I unconsciously kept track of every beat of her heart. The pulsing through her veins swooshing through her body and somehow pulsating their way through my dick until I couldn’t resist any longer. Lining myself up, I was careful to keep most of my weight off of her and gently slid inside. Gasping in air I didn’t really need, the heat of her inner walls surrounded me, and the rest of her body quickly followed.

Arms. Legs. As much as she could, she wrapped herself around me and moved her hips, trying to quicken my pace. Still afraid I could hurt her, I was holding back as much as I could. Something she figured out because she jerked my head to hers and snarled, “Stop it! You’re not going to hurt me, so just get over yourself already and fuck me like you mean it.”

What did she tell me the night before?

Be careful what you wish for?

Well…I hoped she meant it.

Still keeping my strength in check, I moved faster – harder – like my body had been wanting to. A part of me kept an eye on Sookie. Her reactions. A part of me worried it would be too much for her, but instead her desires shot up with every rise in speed from my hips. When she started calling out to Gods I wasn’t so sure she believed in, I knew she was close.

Feeling everything so acutely, I’d been close the entire time. Sex with Sookie was always great – better than any other I’d ever had – but now nothing could compare to what it was like.

And now knowing what it was like, I just hoped I would manage to convince myself there were other things we need to do before I chained her to my bed for all of eternity.

Our bodies were slipping and sliding against one another’s thanks to the sweat she’d worked up, but feeling her body clamp down, signaling her release, signaled the end of my self-control. My teeth sank into her neck without any conscious deliberation from me. I couldn’t even separate the orgasm in my mouth from the orgasm I had further down below, but my bite seemed to trigger another one in Sookie too and it only added to the already heady experience.

Her heart rate was up, so her blood was practically bursting into my mouth and tasted so much better than the bagged donor blood I’d been subsisting on. So much better that I forced myself to stop much sooner than I wanted to as soon as the thought entered my mind because I knew I could easily get lost in her.

I could easily lose her in my gluttony.

Knowing my blood could heal her, I pierced my tongue on the tip of my fang and spread the blood over the two puncture marks I’d made into her skin, watching until they disappeared. Picking apart her emotions, I could tell she was lightheaded and asked, “Are you okay?”

I didn’t think I drank more than half a pint of her blood, but I couldn’t be sure.

Ignoring my question, she asked her own by chuckling, “Are you kidding? You can feel me. Can’t you tell just how okay I am?”

So I ignored her question too and said, “You feel lightheaded.”

“Multiple orgasms will do that to a gal,” she snickered and pulled me down for another kiss.

But before things could heat up again, Godric unnecessarily cleared his nonexistent throat and said, “Please excuse the intrusion, but there is something you should see.”

A moment later, the flat screen TV turned on showing a breaking news report in downtown Los Angeles. The frazzled reporter looked terrified and was already mid-sentence when we heard, “That’s right, Glenn. There are wolves in downtown Los Angeles.”

We both sat up and stared as footage shot earlier was replayed, showing what I knew were werewolves in wolf bodies, tearing down the city streets and into the hotel where Sookie had been the night before.

The hotel where the financial summit was being held.

“There are unconfirmed reports from eyewitnesses who claim they saw men turn into those wolves. And as impossible as that sounds, there are multiple accounts coming in from various sources so we’re not discounting them just yet. From what we can tell, the wolves have all congregated at The Beaumont Hotel where the World Financial Summit is being held.” Pausing to listen to whatever was being said into her earpiece, her eyes widened before she added, “Glenn, we just got confirmation there are casualties inside The Beaumont. We can only assume the wolves are the cause, but who the injured parties are and the extent of their injuries is still unknown. The police are urging citizens to stay inside behind locked doors until the threat is over. We’ve been told wildlife officials are on their way to try and help trap the wolves, but we’ve already seen SWAT personnel taking up positions on nearby rooftops, so it appears they’re not taking any chances. Once again, we’re urging our viewers to remain indoors and stay tuned for updates on the wolf…”

Her report was cut off by her scream just as a large wolf came into view. One I recognized, having studied the footage of him so extensively.

It was Patrick Furnan.

The video feed was lost just after he lunged at the camera and I tore out of bed, throwing my clothes on while shouting, “Godric! Get a hold of the guys on their cells and let them know what’s going on downtown. Tell them I’ll meet them there!”

“No!” Sookie shouted, chasing after me. “You can’t go there Eric! What if you get hurt again?”

“Sookie,” I hissed and then calmed myself the fuck down seeing how upset she was. Gently taking ahold of the side of her face, I looked into her eyes and said, “I’m stronger now. Faster. My body can heal itself, but the whole reason for me being this way is because of the wolves. Because of the threat they represented and because of their attack on me. I need to do this.”

I would be doing it no matter what. I hoped she would understand, but either way, I couldn’t stand by while innocent people were hurt or killed when I knew there was something I could do to stop them.

She stared back at me, searching my eyes for something, but she seemed satisfied with whatever she found and then looked down at the jeans now covering my legs.

“Are you wearing that?”

Was she seriously questioning my fashion style right now?

And because she was sometimes telepathic, she rolled her eyes and said, “What I meant was, unless you and your boys plan on outing yourselves as L.A.’s newest baddest dog catchers, shouldn’t you wear something a little more camouflage-y? You’re not exactly unknown to the residents of this city. And tussling with wolves, it would probably do you some good to wear something sturdier than denim.”

“Like what?” I asked, thinking her point had merit. While whoever was behind the wolves might have suspected I had something to do with the ass whooping that was about to visit them, I didn’t want to give my identity away to the whole world.

I wasn’t that egotistical.

I followed her into my closet, but couldn’t help smirking when she pulled out a pair of black leather pants, black tee, and matching leather jacket.

“You just like the way my ass looks in these,” I playfully accused as I pulled them on.

“Well, it’s not a hardship,” she tried to grin, but I could tell she was worried. She didn’t voice it though and just waited for me to put the rest of my clothes on before staring at my face and saying, “Your pretty boy good looks aren’t a hardship to look at either, but you need to cover them up or else the jig will be up before you even get started.”

I agreed, but with what though?

A motorcycle helmet?

No…thanks to the workouts I’d been doing with the guys, I knew my fangs always snapped down when I was in the heat of things. My desire to bite and tear was nearly overwhelming at times, but now I wouldn’t have to hold back and it could mean the difference in any real fight I had against one of the wolves.

There would be no muzzle for me.

“You need something like Batman wears,” she said, staring at me. I was waiting for the joke I was sure was there about bats and vampires, but her concern for my wellbeing must have made her snark go offline. Instead she looked around my closet thoughtfully before finally asking, “I don’t suppose you have a BDSM kink you haven’t told me about yet and have one of those zipper face masks hidden away in here somewhere?”

“No, but…” Hearing her say the word ‘mask’ made me remember the costume party I’d gone to a few years earlier, so I rooted around the top shelf where I’d last seen it and pulled it out. Victor’s last wife had thrown one of those masquerade parties where the women all held masks over their faces attached to a stick in their hand, while the men wore masks that covered just the top half of their faces and everybody pretended they didn’t know who anyone else was.

It was stupid, but now having gone was coming in handy.

It was black too and the style was a cross between the Lone Ranger and Phantom of the Opera. I wouldn’t be readily recognizable to anyone who didn’t know it was me and my mouth would still be free and clear. There was nothing I could do about my blond hair showing, but it wasn’t like I was the only one in all of L.A.

“What do you think?” I asked Sookie after putting it on.

And the tingle I felt coming from her told me she liked it without her saying a single word.

So instead of waiting for her to say anything, I kissed her with everything I had, and said, “Hold that thought. We’ll revisit it when I get back.”

“Because you’re coming back,” she reiterated, but I could tell she was trying to convince herself it was true.

“I am,” I promised and I intended on keeping it.

So after a quick but sincere declaration of love from each of us, I was on my way. The sun wasn’t quite down all the way, so I didn’t want to risk flying and being seen. The news werewolves possibly existed was enough for the general public to have to deal with. A flying vampire of sorts would probably push them over the edge of sanity. But knowing what traffic was like downtown, I chose to run instead, sticking to the wooded areas when possible and staying off of the streets entirely.

When the guys and I decided it would be us against the wolves, I designed earpieces for each of us that would allow us to communicate with each other. I just hoped they had theirs in and on, but I shouldn’t have worried because as soon as I got mine in and on, the sound of John’s voice came into my ear.

They all seemed to be onsite and were discussing the different entry points into the building, so when he paused, I broke in with, “I’ll be there in under a minute.”

And zeroing in on the sounds coming from the direction I was running towards – the screams of terror and the menacing growls I remembered all too well – made it the longest minute of my life.