Chapter 5 – Fiddlesticks

SPOV

I hated seeing the look in Eric’s eyes – the shame from not being able to do anything for himself – and I tried to give him as much space as he seemed to need. I knew he was worried about his child and from what I remembered of seeing her, her beauty made me wonder if there was something more to their relationship than just Maker and child. In the flashes I’d caught from Rene’s mind, she looked pretty fierce too – like every other vampire I’d seen. And while I knew next to nothing about their kind, I doubted Eric would have turned her without having some sort of feelings for her to begin with. It made sense really. Why would you turn someone into a vampire if you didn’t like them like them?

Maybe they were a couple?

It wasn’t until I felt the disappointment creep through me that I realized I’d already begun to let myself hope maybe there could be something more between Eric and me. I couldn’t hear his thoughts – even when I touched him – and he was undeniably the most handsome man I’d ever seen, so it all but felt like a cruel joke that he was pretty much perfect for me. From the way he’d flirted with me when we first met I’d even thought he might be interested in me, but she was a tiny little thing while I had curves. Our body types were nothing alike – not to mention she was dressed like a dominatrix while my closet was filled with shorts, t-shirts, and sundresses . The only thing we had in common was blond hair. And the more I thought about it, the more I began to think he probably only flirted with me that night to put me at ease.

Realizing now I’d read more into the situation than was called for, I felt like an idiot. And all I had to do was think about what the woman in his life was likely going through at that very moment to cool my jets. I felt ashamed for even thinking about him in that way and only hoped I could man up and get through helping him bathe without my skin setting on fire from my embarrassment. It wasn’t as though I’d never seen a naked man before and it wasn’t like what little he was wearing hid much. But all that I’d seen had only come from others’ thoughts. I’d never seen or touched a naked man – live and in person – in my life, so I hoped I wouldn’t make a complete fool of myself because the last thing Eric needed was to be treated with anything less than the respect he deserved.

I didn’t begrudge him for questioning my motives when he’d first woken up. And after seeing how swiftly he’d dealt with that vampire who’d licked my face, I knew he wasn’t one to dilly dally in getting what he wanted.  I was just grateful he didn’t look at me like I was a fruitcake when I told him my secret. But then he really didn’t have to worry about it since I couldn’t read his thoughts.

I watched his mouth open and close again without saying a word, but I suspected it had been a very long time since he’d last needed help bathing. And I felt even worse for being the one to witness his vulnerability. I was practically a stranger to him and even though it looked like the cuts on his body had mostly healed, he was covered in dried blood and grime. I was sure he would feel much better if he were clean.

And selfishly, I’d feel better because the guilt knowing he’d been tortured by Rene every night, while I’d done nothing to try and find him sooner, was eating me alive.

I’d resigned myself to offering to just fill up the tub for him and leave him to manage on his own when he finally said, “Is this your attempt at getting me naked? Waiting until I am incapacitated to do so really isn’t very fair of you.”

The sound of his voice pulled me from my thoughts and my eyes inadvertently landed on his itty bitty red underwear. I felt my skin suddenly blaze red hot as I stuttered, “Uh…no! Of course not! I just figured you’d feel better if you were clean.”

I had nothing but pure intentions. Now…

I chanted Pam’s name over and over in my head and said a quick silent prayer to God asking forgiveness for coveting someone else’s vampire. But when my eyes finally looked up to his face, his smirk made me wonder who the telepath in the room was because he swiveled his hips and asked, “See something you like?”

After everything he’d endured – even though he was already spoken for – I preferred his flirty banter a lot more than the forlorn expression he’d been wearing. It was probably just his default setting – much like Jason’s – so I let him have his moment and played along by playfully rolling my eyes and saying, “I still don’t have any singles, Sheriff. Now are you gonna get in the tub or am I gonna have to drag the hose in here?”

“You can drag my hose anywhere you’d like.”

Damn.

Immediately, the chorus of ‘It’s Raining Men’ rang through my mind, while visions of Eric in a firefighter’s costume dancing on stage played behind my eyes – a much better sight than the reality of seeing Catfish Hunter in one. But I turned the hose on my dirty thoughts to wash them away and instead just turned to stomp back towards the bathroom, saying, “I’ll get the shower started for you. A cold shower.”

I didn’t bother to turn around to see if he was following me and put his clothes on top of the toilet seat before leaning into the shower and turning the spigots on, both hot and cold. Because I was the only one who needed a cold shower. But I yelped when I stood up and turned around to find Eric standing there.

Right there.

One deep breath away from me touching him.

In his itty bitty red underwear.

Double damn.

His eyes were locked onto mine, but I didn’t feel any pressure in my head when he smirked, “Are you going to get in the shower with me?”

Lord knew I could use some brain bleach to wash my dirty mind.

“No!”

Because I didn’t have any brain bleach and I had a feeling my mind was permanently stained anyway.

His eyes slowly traveled from my head to my toes and back again before saying, “If you don’t get in to help me shower then you’ll get…” He paused just as his voice dropped an octave and I’m pretty sure he purred when he ended with, “wet.”

Too late. And the moisture I felt wasn’t water either.

I did my best impersonation of a deaf person, while making plans to go to church on Sunday, and turned back around, flipping the lever to turn the shower off and fill the tub instead. By then the room was pretty steamy – mostly from the hot water – but his adlibs weren’t helping any. And figuring I would need all the help I could get, I dumped a healthy shot of bubble bath into the water to help hide what would be lurking underneath it.

Maybe I could bring the bottle with me to church and ask the pastor to bless it like holy water.

I didn’t turn around again until the tub was more than halfway full and made my eyes stay on his face, while I felt my own flame red, when I asked as innocently as possible, “Do you need help undressing?”

His eyebrow rose ever so slightly, while his lips formed into a small grin, and he held his arms away from his body. Letting the blanket fall from his shoulders to the floor, he smiled at me and said, “I thought you’d never ask.”

That makes two of us.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I let my eyes slowly travel down the length of his body until they reached his itty bitty red underwear – while totally ignoring what they were straining to contain. My hands reached out, but then they stopped and stuttered around his hips, like I was a mime trying to corral an invisible horde of moths dancing around a flame.

Lord knew what my hands were centered on was hot enough.

Eric hadn’t made a sound and I didn’t dare look up to see his expression when I finally took a step around him figuring it would be less embarrassing if I did it from behind.

And it didn’t hurt that he had a really nice behind.

I steeled my resolve while mentally berating myself for feeling – among other things – so flustered. The poor man had just endured a week’s worth of torture and was probably just playfully flirting to hide the fact it bothered him to be forced to rely on a stranger for help. The woman he was likely in love with was being held prisoner all while I was ogling her man. So I pushed away any thoughts I wouldn’t want another telepath to overhear and adopted a clinical approach to the situation.

With my eyes trained on his back I slid my fingertips into the waistband at his hips, pulling the front out further to free what was being held within, and slid them down his legs. When he stepped out of them I tossed them to the side and left the room, hoping he’d climb into the tub, while I went into the hallway linen closet to get fresh towels and a washcloth. I grabbed a large plastic cup from the kitchen so I could use it to rinse his hair and when I returned I said another silent prayer of thanks he was already underneath the bubbles. But I did notice his flirty expression had changed back into a sullen one.

I wanted to help distract him from his worries about Pam and after the week he’d had I didn’t think picking the weather as a topic would cut it. But I couldn’t stand the silence in the room either, so I asked, “Did you hear about what happened to Bill?”

I figured he must have known since he was in charge of the vampires in the area, so I was confused when he stared back at me just as confused, asking, “What about Compton?”

His eyes closed when I tipped his head back to pour water over his hair and the sound of his purr when I ran my fingers through it distracted me for a moment, but I swallowed hard and replied, “Oh, well he died. At least that’s what everyone’s assuming since his house burned down the day after you took me home and no one’s seen him since.” My eyes met his when I admitted, “It was Rene. I heard him.”

He startled me by snarling, making me drop the cup into the water and considering the area it was bobbing around, I left it there and filled my hand with shampoo instead. While he took a deep breath seemingly to calm himself, he closed his eyes again and his body relaxed further into the tub when I worked the lather into his hair. But my fingers stilled when he finally said, “Compton wasn’t there. I took him with me when I left that night.”

Triple damn!

When Bill hadn’t made a reappearance I figured he must have died in the fire. And now that Gran was well enough to get around on her own, I’d already told Sam I could start working nights again. The tips were a lot better and we could use the money, so I’d be working the dinner shift come Monday.

“Sookie?”

I glanced at Eric and realized I’d zoned out, so I went back to lathering his hair and explained, “I uh…thought he was dead. You know, for good. So I told Sam he could start scheduling me for the dinner shift again.”

“You don’t have to worry about Compton, at least not for now. He contracted the Sino Virus and is too weak to be a threat to anyone. It’ll be months before he’s healed,” he explained.

“Oh,” I repeated before adding, “Is there like a vampire hospital somewhere?”

If there was, I hoped it was well hidden considering all of the vampire hate going around, but I was surprised when he answered, “There is, but Compton isn’t there. He’d been…incarcerated with me for only one night when he called his Maker. She made arrangements with my…superior to get him released into her custody and took him with her to Jackson. But after the events in Dallas I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve returned to Seattle.”

Jackson was simultaneously far enough away and too close for comfort, so I really hoped they were in Seattle by now. But there was nothing I could do about it and just hoped he would forget all about me while he was gone. It wasn’t like he had a house to return to anyway, so I made a precision like grab for the cup to rinse his hair, while snickering about how similar vampire jails were to human ones and said, “I guess he put his one phone call to good use then, huh?”

I’d only just started pouring the water over his hair when he said, “He didn’t use a phone.” He paused before explaining, “Vampire are bound by blood to their Maker. We can use our blood to sense one another’s emotions and can communicate that way to an extent. It’s how she knew he wanted her to come to him.”

Considering it got Bill out of Eric’s jail I figured it was a pretty handy feature to have. But I gasped out loud just as another thought occurred to me. “Is…is Pam calling for you?”

Tears pricked the corners of my eyes when he closed his own and sighed, “She is.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I knew there wasn’t anything else I could say to make him feel better and suspecting he was in pain – both physically and emotionally – was enough to make washing the rest of him (without my mind wandering to the lewd end of the spectrum) easy enough. I’m sure what I felt between his legs that got a quick wipe of the washcloth was just…just…circumstantial to being touched so intimately.

It was probably just a guy thing, so I doubted he could help it.

When I was finished I pulled the stopper from the drain and turned the water back on to heat it up again before flipping the lever for the shower so he could rinse the bubbles off, while my mind worked on figuring out a way I could help him. I did my best to not look at him considering he was naked and all, but I couldn’t help it.

When a guy that big is in an area that small, he’s kinda hard to miss.

I noticed the places where I knew there had been open wounds were now nothing but pink skin and couldn’t stop myself from saying, “You all seem to heal pretty fast. Are you sure Bill won’t be healthy anytime soon?”

My eyes automatically moved to his hands and I marveled over the fact his fingers were already growing back. At that rate I suspected it would only take another day or two, when he replied, “We do heal quickly, but not from what Compton has. He’ll be incapacitated for months.” Since my eyes were already staring at his hands I wasn’t startled when he reached out and lifted my arm up while saying, “Our saliva has healing properties as well. It’s why your cut is nearly gone.”

I hadn’t even thought about it considering I had bigger problems to worry about at the time, but I was a little taken aback when he added, “Thank you for feeding me.”

“You’re welcome,” I shrugged not seeing what the big deal was. “You needed it and it’s not like I had any Tru Blood on me.”

He went back to rinsing the suds from his body, so I pulled the curtain closed to give my averting eyes a break and turned to get the towel ready for him when I heard him say, “We can survive on synthetic blood, but we get our strength from human blood.” He paused before adding, “But I shouldn’t be this healed already.”

It wasn’t like I was a vampire doctor, so he would know better than me and I really didn’t have much to add to the conversation. But when I heard him curse I reacted without thinking and pulled the shower curtain back to see him struggling to turn the faucet off. He looked even angrier when I leaned in to do it for him and saying, “I’ll get it.” But I figured he was only mad at not being able to do it himself and didn’t take offense.

I held the towel spread open in front of me and kept my eyes on the ceiling as he stepped out of the tub. I felt my blush make a speedy return hearing him chuckle, but decided it was worth the embarrassment if it would get him to stop thinking about his temporary disability. It wasn’t until I was drying him off when it dawned on me. If Bill’s Maker could find him then Eric should be able to find Pam. He’d already said that he could feel she was west of us, so I asked, “If we just got in my car and started driving west then you should be able to narrow down where she is, right? We could leave tomorrow right after sunset.”

I thought it was a great idea, but he only sounded defeated as he replied, “Even if we were to find her, I would need to be at my full strength in order to free her. I have no way of knowing how many captors there are and I wouldn’t be able to fight them.”

The mood in the room returned to sullen, so I silently dried him off before grabbing the sweatpants Jason had left at the house and squatted down in front of him holding them open.

God help me, with my eyes squeezed shut, thank you very much.

As soon as I felt him step into them, I chanced a peek at his feet to make sure they were through the pant legs and then kept my eyes on his feet while I quickly pulled them up to cover him. I was sure there’d be another playful taunting smirk on his face, but when I finally looked up all I saw was apprehension. Even though I didn’t know him very well, it didn’t look like it was an expression he wore often. I figured it had to do with Pam and what she might say if she knew her man was being dressed by another woman. So I tried to make myself sound unaffected – you know, because I bathed giant naked vampire sheriffs all the time – and pulled his shirt over his head, saying as though I was relieved the chore was over, “Alright, now that that’s done, you ready for dinner?”

I didn’t wait for a reply and turned, leaving the room and going into the kitchen. I still wasn’t thinking too clearly and opened the refrigerator like I expected there to be a plate of leftover blood casserole inside. But seeing him enter the room in my peripheral, I grabbed the pitcher of sweet tea like that had been my intention all along. Since he was my guest, and Gran would tan my hide if I rudely served myself refreshments before serving my guest, I left the pitcher on the counter and pulled a paring knife from the drawer. Gran kept it as sharp as a razor, but before I could slice into my wrist again, Eric’s voice broke into the silence, asking, “What are you doing?”

“Preparing your dinner?”

I was no Martha Stewart, but I was pretty sure this was how it was done.

“You’ve already fed me,” he argued. “I must have taken too much blood before I came to my senses since I am healing so rapidly. You can’t afford to lose more until your body has had time to replenish.”

I ignored the little flutter in my chest hearing his concern for me – again – and sloughed it off thinking it was probably only because he’d be up crap’s creek without a paddle if I wasn’t there to help him. And not because he felt anything for me.

He was with Pam.

I pulled a chair up alongside the one he was sitting in, while shaking my head and saying, “You only swallowed one mouthful – maybe one and a half – before…you know…I freaked out and you licked it closed. I donate blood at the Red Cross all the time and I know you got nowhere near as much as they take, so I still have plenty to give.” When he just stared back at me with his mouth hanging open, I tried to make a joke by smiling and saying, “Don’t make me feel bad about offering my houseguest leftovers.”

He still didn’t look convinced and I never thought I’d be trying to talk a vampire into feeding from me. But knowing he needed the blood, I played dirty by saying, “I’ll figure out a way to get that Tru Blood from Sam tomorrow, but you said yourself you needed human blood to get your strength back. Don’t you want to be able to free Pam?”

His lip curled up into a snarl – understandable since they had his woman, but he pulled his lips back into a tight straight line just as quickly. With his shoulders sagging in defeat, he replied, “Yes.”

I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to change his mind, but just as I cut my wrist open for a second time that night I felt a flash of insecurity. Despite his reasoning, his hesitance made me wonder if he didn’t want to feed from me because he didn’t care for the taste of my blood. My diet consisted of mostly southern comfort foods, but maybe he preferred something a little spicier?

Should I eat out tomorrow? Mexican food? There was an Indian place in Monroe. Curry flavored blood?

How does one ask that question?

He looked like he was brooding which only made me think I was on to something, but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment. As soon as the blood started flowing, I held my wrist out to him and watched as he tentatively wrapped his lips around the cut. His eyes closed as soon as he took the first pull from my vein, so I searched his expression for any signs he was disgusted by what he was eating. It would be so much easier if I could read his mind, but no matter how much I pushed at his head I couldn’t get anything other than the vampire void telling me he was there.

He drank for several minutes before I felt his tongue lick the inside of my wrist and I stifled the urge to pull away and giggle.

Sue me – I’m ticklish.

When he was done I pulled my arm away and apologized by saying, “I’m sorry I can’t offer you variety in your meals, but would it help if I ate something different for lunch tomorrow? Do you have any preferences?”

He just stared back at me like I was an idiot. I only knew because I’d seen that expression a lot in my lifetime and it usually went with the thought of me being ‘Crazy Sookie’. So I made to stand up, feeling humiliated that my blood wasn’t up to his standards, but he quickly put his hand on my leg and said, “I’ve never tasted blood like yours before. I thought perhaps I’d imagined the flavor since I wasn’t lucid the first time you fed me. It’s very…sweet.”

Well there went my plans for having some cookies and juice.

My eyes moved to the pitcher of sweet tea I wouldn’t be drinking now as I regretfully said, “I’m sorry. I’ll refrain from having any sweets until you’re better.”

“You misunderstand,” he said, pulling my eyes back to his. “I have a thousand years’ worth of comparison. Your blood is unequaled and I can honestly say yours would be my preference.”

Who knew a girl could feel flattered about the way her blood tasted?

I even blushed a little, but my little happy moment turned to horror when I watched him move one hand to hold down the knife I’d used, while he moved his other arm over and nicked his own wrist on the tip.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

Instead of answering me he put his bloodied wrist on top of my own, pressing our wounds together and making me nervously chuckle, “Is this a vampire thing? Are we blood brother and sister now?”

His eyebrow pitched and he didn’t look or sound very happy when he tersely replied, “No. Our blood has healing properties as well. You shouldn’t be left scarred from feeding me.”

I wondered what got his panties in a twist and then remembered he wasn’t wearing any – they were still twisted up lying in the corner of the bathroom. But before I could let my mind wander down that path, I stood up saying, “Thanks. People would probably think even worse about me if they saw slashes on my wrist.” But knowing some people got high off of vampire blood – Lafayette – I asked, “This won’t make me high – like V– will it?”

I walked over to the sink and washed the blood from my wrist, marveling over the fact there was no sign of the cuts I’d made. But when I turned around, ready to clean off his arm with a wet paper towel, he was already licking it clean.

That really shouldn’t turn me on, but it kinda was.

Fiddlesticks! Was I already high?

Thankfully he dumped a bucket of ice water on both of those thoughts by answering, “No,” and followed up with, “Why would anyone think poorly of you?”

I pointed at my head replying, “Telepath. It’s the reason and it’s how I know.” He only looked confused, so I explained, “When I was little I didn’t have any control over it and used to answer the thoughts I heard in people’s heads. Even now I can’t always keep my shields up. It’s worse when I’m tired or upset, so I tend to walk around with my Crazy Sookie smile plastered onto my face because I can hear the men thinking about the nasty things they want to do to me and the women thinking about every flaw I have to make themselves feel better.”

Eric was in a really sour mood because he snarled, “They are idiots. You have no flaws!” Seeing me startle, he softened his expression and added, “Except for the fact that you seem to have no issue with inviting a strange vampire into your home.”

“You’re not so strange,” I smiled. “A little on the ridiculously tall side, but not so much that you’d end up in a circus sideshow.”

I grinned wider seeing him finally crack a smile as he teased, “It’s not my fault you are vertically challenged.”

“Nope,” I agreed. “That was my momma’s fault.”

“I want you to take some of my blood.”

What? What kind of segue was that?

Seeing God knows what kind of expression on my face he explained, “You would only require a small amount, but I would be able to sense you. If you were fearful, I would know and could find you. But it would fade over time unless I were to give you more blood.”

He wouldn’t be able to come to me in the daytime and now that I knew Bill was still alive, I didn’t plan on going out after dark until I had to work on Monday night. Not seeing the point and figuring he needed all of his blood in order to fully heal, I waved him off and said, “I’ll be fine.” He looked like he wanted to argue with me, so I quickly changed the subject by saying, “Now, let’s get your room set up.”

Basements were hard to come by in Louisiana since the water table was so high, but Jason’s old room was just across the hall from mine and only had one small window. I ran out to the shed and grabbed a spare piece of plywood, leftover from the last time Jason and Hoyt patched a small hole in the roof, and brought it upstairs along with a hammer and some nails. It didn’t take long for me nail it over the window and I used painter’s tape to seal the seams between the wood and the wall and windowsill. Eric silently watched me and didn’t say anything at all until I asked, “Will this do?”

He still didn’t look very happy, but I had no idea if it was his new temporary home he didn’t like or if it had to do with Pam. The man drove a car worth more than I made in two years combined, so I hesitantly said, “I’m sorry if it’s not up to your usual standards, but it’s only temporary.”

He came to stand directly in front of me and waited until I looked up into his eyes to say, “Why do you automatically assume I am displeased? You rescued me from what would have likely been my true death. You’ve fed and bathed me. Taken me into your home when you could be hurt if you were found to be harboring me – when any other human would’ve likely staked me on the spot. Or at the very least, left me to die in chains. Do you really think I am so ungrateful that I would be critical over having a clean bed to rest in when the best I would be able to manage, had I gotten free on my own, would be a hole in the ground?”

“Not when you put it that way,” I mumbled. My eyes dropped back down to my feet, suddenly feeling too close to Eric. Not physically too close, but it felt like if I lingered for too long we might have a moment.

The kind of moment I shouldn’t be wanting to have since he was with Pam.

I didn’t bother asking him what was bothering him then since it must have been his worry for her and thankfully Tina chose that moment to walk in and break the tension. She made her approval of him known by weaving in and out of his legs and purring up a storm before she led us back downstairs where I pointed out where the TV and my pitiful DVD collection were to keep him entertained. After the long day I had and feeding him my blood, I was wiped out and apologized again for leaving him to his own devices, knowing I desperately needed some sleep.

As tired as I was, I still managed to wake up once during the night. I could’ve sworn I saw Eric standing just inside of my doorway looking at me, But when I sat up and rubbed my eyes, about to ask him if he needed anything, by the time I looked back there was no one there and figured I must have been dreaming.

The next day I woke up around ten and saw Jason’s door was shut, so I put a rolled up towel along the bottom of the door just in case. I had no clue what any amount of sunlight would do to a vampire and didn’t want to find out the hard way. After I took a shower and got dressed, I headed out to WalMart and got some jeans and t-shirts for Eric because the sweatpants he was forced to wear were a little on the short side, so I got the longest inseams they had. I felt myself blush perusing the men’s underwear, but they didn’t carry the same style he’d been wearing when I found him. So I just picked the briefs closest to them and hightailed it to the register, all the while feeling like I was a teenager about to buy beer with my fake ID.

As though the cashier would know I was buying everything for a vampire who wasn’t my boyfriend and yet I knew what size underwear he wore.

And that they were itty bitty and red.

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts and then again when I heard the cashier’s – my boobs had to be fake – they weren’t – and then headed to Merlotte’s. I’d been so anxious to get to Rene’s hateful sermon that I’d forgotten to pick up my paycheck, but it was the perfect excuse for me to go in on my day off. I’d wracked my brain all morning long for an excuse to buy the cases of Tru Blood from Sam and the best I could come up with was telling him that I wanted to keep them like collector’s items since no one carried them anymore.

Lame, but if he questioned it too much I wasn’t above distracting him with my very real boobs.

I waved hello to all of the familiar faces when I walked into the bar and headed back to the office where Sam was sitting at his desk. And I internally high-fived myself when his eyes lingered on my cleavage before making their way to my face. I was just about to ask him about the Tru Blood when Dawn walked in to stow her purse before the start of her shift and I caught Sam thinking, ‘I smell vampire.’ I froze and strained to listen to him as hard as I could because I’d only ever been able to read his thoughts sporadically at best, when I heard him think, ‘I heard Sookie went to Rene’s meeting last night, so I doubt it’s her. Must be Dawn.’

I hurried up and grabbed my paycheck from where it was stapled to the schedule, saying a little too brightly, “Just picking this up!” and ran out of the office before it was just the two of us in there. I’d planned on getting lunch while I was there, but that seemed like a bad idea now, so I just headed home while wondering how in the heck Sam could smell a vampire on me. Eric hadn’t smelled like much of anything until he’d cleaned up and then he’d just smelled like my shampoo and bubble bath.

I made a quick sandwich and cleaned up after myself while Eric’s new clothes ran through the washing machine. I folded and stacked them outside of his door once they were dry before sprawling out on the couch to pass the time by reading one of my guilty pleasure romance novels. I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep until I woke up and opened my eyes to see the sun had gone down and Eric was standing over me in his new clothes.

“They fit okay?” I asked, while trying to shake the sleep off.

“Yes.”

The way he was staring at me was starting to make me a little uncomfortable. Not because he was scaring me. Quite the opposite actually.

He looked like he wanted to devour me and it kinda made me want to let him.

I was such a bad Christian.

I was about to offer Eric his dinner and pick his brain on how Sam would’ve been able to smell him on me when his head whipped towards the front door just as I heard barking outside. I hurried up and ran to the door thinking Tina had invited trouble to follow her home, but felt better seeing it was just Dean. He hung out around Merlotte’s once in a while and was too friendly to be feral, but I didn’t know who he belonged to. I was just about to walk out and pet him when Eric defensively put himself in front of me, making Dean growl and show his teeth.

“It’s okay Eric,” I patted his back. “It’s just Dean. He hangs out where I work.”

Dean’s growl only grew more menacing, with him hunching down like he was preparing to strike, and it made me wonder if he’d been trained to attack vampires. So I was even more surprised when Eric growled himself, saying, “That’s no ordinary dog,” just as they leapt for each other’s throats.