Tuesday, February 5, 2013


chapter ten

                “What should I do?” she asked.
                “Head back to Merlotte’s,” he said. “At least if you have to get out of the car, you can run into the bar.”
                “Are you sure?” she asked.
                “Yes, I have been watching him, he stays right with you and cut off another car to stay with you,” said Preston. About that time, her phone rang.  “Should I see who is phoning you?”
                “Yes,” she said. He opened her purse and reached in and looked at the ID.
                “It is Bill Compton,” he said.
                “It can wait,” she said. She was not that far from Merlotte’s. She kept her eye on the mirror and the road. “What can they want?”
                “Perhaps Bill can tell you,” said Preston.
                “I just can’t seem to get away from vampires,” she muttered. Finally, Merlotte’s was in view and there seemed to be a real crowd there. “What is going on?”
                “It is the Take Back the Night people, see their signs?” he said.
                “They won’t leave Sam alone,” she said, sighing.
                “Pull around back and let me get out first, and I will come around to your door,” he said. Sookie pulled around to the parking space she had just vacated and Preston got out and went around the back. She noticed he was looking around the area, something like the way Bill and Eric used to do. She unlocked her car door and he opened it. She slid out and Preston stayed right behind her. They hurried to the back door and slid in. Preston shut the back door and Sookie shot the dead bolt.  They headed to the bar.

                “What are you doing back here Sookie?” asked Luna.
                “We were being followed maybe,” she said. “Where is Sam?”
                “Crazy fool called the police,” said Luna. “And then, instead of waiting in here, he went outside.”
                “What do they want?” she asked.
                “What they always want. They want us to fall off the face of the earth so they don’t have to share the planet with us,” she said.
                “I should call Bill Compton,” she said.
                “We don’t need vamps here making it worse Sookie,” she said. That was when her phone rang again. It was Bill.
                “Sookie, where are you?” said Bill’s voice.
                “I am at Merlotte’s, those Take back the night people are outside Merlotte’s again and it is more than just a few protestors, there is a mob here,” she said.
                “Why are you still there?” said Bill.
                “I came here out of necessity, I was being followed, I didn’t know where else to go,” she explained.
                “Pam will be there in a minute with Mustapha Khan,” he said and hung up.
                “Shit!!!” she swore.”Pam is a vampire, you can’t be here.”
                “Don’t worry Sookie,” he said.
                “No, you have to get out,” she said.

                Outside, the protesters loudly shouted toward the bar.  It was hard to track what was going on as patrons and protestors blended and no one noticed when a line of motorcycles pulled in and went around back and Pam and Eric appeared out of nowhere. Sam looked over at Eric.
                “What have we here?” asked Eric.
                “You know, the usual low lifes,” said Sam, looking at the crowd. A large black wolf appeared and stood by Eric. It was Mustafa Khan, Eric’s day guy. Bill appeared on the other side of Sam. “Bill.”
                “Sam,” said Bill. “Have you called the police?”
                “I have,” he said. A line of werewolves came and stood in front of Sam and the vampires. “Alcide?” Bill nodded.
                “And the patrons of the Hair of the Dog,” added Eric. “I phoned them before I left Fangtasia.”
                “Look there, look who the freak has protecting him, a bunch of wolves and leeches,” screamed the agitator. “Unnatural and demonic. The Bible says people who shift their shapes are cursed by God and any creature who drinks blood is evil.”
                “Hey, I saw you in here having a Lafayette Burger and you ordered it rare,” said Sam. “You were drinking blood, that’s against the Bible. “
                “Animal blood don’t count. It don’t count when they find you with your throat cut either seeing as how you ain’t human,” he said, stepping closer to Sam.
                “Hey, I’m right here, you can come and get me,” said Sam.
                “And have your freaks and abominations fall on me and eat me? Let’s me and you get together in our lonesome and settle this and we will see who is the best man,” said the protestor.
               
Sam was about to step from between Eric and Bill when both vampires pulled him back. Bill pointed his chin toward the Renard Parish patrol car and in drove Andy and Alcee Beck. Sheriff Dearborn and Kenya and Kevin came in with their SUV. The sirens and wick wack lights moved the crowd and painted it with red and blue lights. Andy Bellefleur got out and Alcee Beck looked around.
                “What the hell is going on here?” he shouted. “You people don’t have a right to protest. This is private property.”
                “God gives us the right,” said a younger man.
                “The last time I looked, Jesus was sitting down to the Crawdad having some bread pudding. Now you people cease and desist and get off this man’s property,” said Andy. “Kevin, Kenya, start helping these people clear off.” He walked over to where Sam was standing between Bill and Eric. Andy knew Bill of course and recognized Eric from the time Merlotte’s was fire bombed.
                “Detective Bellefleur, this gentleman here made a threat to kill Sam,” said Bill.
                “Oh yeah,” he stepped up to the belligerent. “That true?”
                “I would do it again and he best be careful because I make good on it,” he said.
                “Not in the near future,” he said. “Alcee, cuff him and read him his rights.” Alcee Beck looked as though he was not happy about this. Sheriff Dearborn came up, hitching up his tans.
                “Andy, why are you arresting this fellah?” he asked.
                “Threatening bodily harm, inciting a riot on private property and terroristic threat,” said Andy.
                “That last won’t hold, Congress has not decided his status yet,” said the Sheriff.
                “Well until they decide, I am treating Sam as the citizen he is until I am told otherwise,” said Andy. “Cuff him Alcee.” The Sheriff stepped over to Sam.
                “I think you can agree this is just a misunderstanding,” said Sheriff Dearborn. “Protestors against you…people…were not the ones who fire bombed your bar, in fact if I remember, it was one of your own kind who did the actual firebombing trying to get to Sookie Stackhouse.”
                “That is true, but these people are on my property and I want them off,” said Sam.
                “You know, you may be happier with your own kind, you ain’t from around here, so maybe you would be happier to just move on Sam,” said Dearborn.
                “I ain’t going anywhere,” said Sam.
                “Suit yourself,” said the Sheriff. “Well, it looks as though they are clearing off. Kenya, Kevin, come on, we are going back to the station.”
                “Excuse me?” asked Kenya.
                “They are dispersing, “said Dearborn. “Let’s go.”
                “Kevin, take the Sheriff back to the station, I will stay here and help Andy and Alcee get the rest of these yahoos off here,” she said. Kevin gave Kenya a look and then left the area and went to the SUV and waited for Sheriff Dearborn to get into the passenger side.
                “Well, he was delightful,” said Eric. He looked at Bill. “Sookie Stackhouse is inside?”
                “I guess, I didn’t see her come in,” said Sam. “I was outside.”
                “We should speak to her,” said Eric.
                “No, I am sorry, you came here and I appreciate it, but I can’t have you hurting her again,” said Sam.
                “I promise to not even speak to her. Bill will do that,” he said. “And she is speaking to Bill.” Sam looked at Eric.
                “Don’t make a problem for me,” he said.
                “I will not make a problem for you,” said Eric.

                 Sookie looked worried when she saw Sam, Bill, Eric and Pam come in with a pack of wolves. Not so much over the wolves, but because Preston was still there and he was a full-blooded fae. Eric’s head went up right away. “Impossible,” he muttered.
                “I thought all the fae were gone,” said Bill.
                “Obviously not…Yum,” said Pam. There was a hard glittery edge to her eyes as she looked at Preston.
                “Preston, please go, they smell you, they know you are fae,” she said through her teeth.
                “I won’t leave you,” he said.
                “Just go, disappear, go get your car and meet me at my house, you remember where I live?”
                “Of course,” he said. “Are you sure you will be safe?”
                “Don’t worry faery, Sookie will be okay,” said Luna. Preston traced the tips of his fingers over her cheek and disappeared. There was a noticeable change in the atmosphere.
               
“I thought the fae were all gone,” said Bill.
                “Yeah, I thought so too,” said Sookie. “Is everything okay out there?” She watched the wolves file out toward the back presumably to put on their clothes.
                “They have just about cleared out the parking lot,” said Sam.
                “So, what was that all about?” she asked.
                “It is the usual thing, part of the campaign against Supernaturals,” said Luna. “I knew this was a mistake when we took a page from the vampire playbook and made ourselves known.”
                “Sookie, do you know who was following you?” asked Bill.
                “No, I didn’t even know I was being followed until Preston told me,” she said.
                “How much do you know about this fae?” asked Bill.
                “I just met him really,” said Sookie.
                “And you thought it was a good idea to have him in your car alone,” said Eric. Sam flashed him a warning look but he ignored him. About that time, Alcide and his wolves appeared.
                “Eric, Mustafa said he would meet you back at Fangtasia,” he said. Eric gave him a nod.
                “Answer me Sookie,” said Eric. “Why did you have a strange fae in your car tonight?”
                “None of your damned business,” she said. “Who is following me?”
                “It was likely one of Latesta’s people,” said Bill. “We happen to know he is in Vegas.”
                “So they are after me,” she said.
                “As we tried to warn you before,” said Eric.
                “Do you think this protest had anything to do with Sookie being followed?” asked Luna.
                “We don’t think so, it seems entirely coincidental,” said Bill.
                “That we know of,” said Eric.  “I am still concerned with Sookie’s new friend.”
                “You needn’t be,” she said. Eric grinned at her.
                “Always so easy to deceive,” said Eric. Sookie felt her rage rise up and she made to go around the bar but Alcide grabbed her before she could get to Eric. Eric chuckled. “Sam, you may want to get some extra security in here, you have been targeted.”
                “I will take that under advisement, Eric, now if you don’t mind, we have clean up to do,” he said.
                “Sookie, think it over,” said Eric. “Ask yourself if you really trust Preston. Why he is really here and what might he want from you.” Eric left at vampire speed and left the shutting door in his wake. Bill turned to her.
               
“Should you feel frightened at home, do not hesitate to come to my house,” said Bill. “You still have my key?”
                “Yeah, thanks Bill,” she said.
                “Good night Sookie. Sam, let me know if there is anything you need,” said Bill.
                “Thanks for coming tonight,” said Sam. Bill walked calmly out the door. Alcide faced Sam.
                “I know you are a shifter and not aligned, but consider yourself a friend of the pack, if you need anything, call us, the pack will be there,” said Alcide. “Luna, I’ll see you at the meeting.”
                “See you around Alcide,” she said. The werewolves filed out of the bar and there was the sound of motorcycles.
                “Sookie, would you like for me to follow you home?” asked Sam.
                “We can follow her home,” said India, standing there by Pam. They were holding hands. “We could even stay if you like.”
                “Just follow me home that will be good enough,” said Sookie.
                “Let’s go then,” said Pam. Sookie grabbed her purse and headed for the back of the bar and out the back door. She had her keys in her hand and went to her car and unlocked her car door and got in. Pam waved at her as she got into India’s little car.

                Sookie carefully drove home and India and Pam stayed close to her. When she got to her house, India pulled up beside her. Sookie leaned over and rolled down her window. “Bubba is in the woods, so just shout if you have trouble, and please, I know Eric was not very nice about it, but really you should find out more about your friend,” said Pam.
                “Thank you India, Pam, and I will find out,” she said. It was hard for her to believe sometimes Pam was Eric’s get, she was as hard as he was sometimes, but somehow, she seemed far more reasonable than her maker. Maybe it was because she was not that old. They backed out to the main road and Sookie pulled around the back of her house. There was a red Hyundai parked out behind her house, but not under the covered car awning. She pulled in and the security light came on. She could see Preston sitting in his car, waiting for her. She got out and looked around. Preston came out. “Hurry, there is a vampire in the woods,” she said. He came around the car and was beside her in no time and she had the door unlocked and the both of them in her kitchen. She turned on the light in the kitchen.

                “Are you hungry? We didn’t get to have supper,” she said.
                “If it is no trouble,” he said.
                “I have some Freschetta’s pizzas in the icebox, I can fix that,” she said.
                “That is fine Sookie, I like pizzas,” he said. He looked around. She got a baking pan out, opened the icebox, took out the pizzas, took them from their packages, laid them on the pans, and turned on the oven. He watched her move around. “I have a beer if you like.”
                “Will you be having one?” he asked.
                “Sure,” she said. She opened her fridge again, grabbed the two beer bottles, opened them, and handed him one. She sipped it. “It will be about 30 minutes.”
                “Sookie, do you trust me?” he asked.
                “I am not sure, I haven’t decided yet,” she said.
                “Was it something Eric said?” he asked.
                “No, I just don’t know you very well,” she said. “Eric doesn’t trust you either but he doesn’t trust you because you are a man, not really because you are fae.”
                “I don’t know about that. Vampires and fae do have that volatile relationship,” he said. “You should be careful, Sookie, there are those who will harm you.”
                “Will you harm me?” she asked.
                “No, and I know you don’t believe that yet, but no, I will not harm you, and I will not allow anyone else to harm you,” he said. “Now, who would be after you?”
                Sookie looked down for a moment and then looked up and began to speak.

                Sam and Luna lay the darkness of Sam’s room. Luna was not asleep. She lay with her head on his chest and listened to his heart, beating just a little faster than a regular human. “You okay, you’re awful quiet.”
                “Do you think Sookie was the target of tonight’s trouble?” she asked softly.
                “No,” he said. “They weren’t after her, as much as we would like to believe they were interested in someone else, they were after us.”
                “Who was after Sookie?” she asked.
                “Apparently, according to Bill, there is a big shot vampire who is interested in what Sookie can do,” he said.
                “I just don’t want her shit overlapping on us,” said Luna. “I like Sookie, she is the reason I came here, and I know what she did for you, with her…thing…and for that I could never repay her, but we have our own problems, we don’t need hers as well.”
                “I can’t turn my back on her,” said Sam. “She and I have been through a lot, we are best friends, and she saved not only my life, but my bar.”
                “Just…don’t get killed, Sam,” she said.
                “Would you miss me?” he asked, chuckling a little.
                “I would miss you, because I think I am in love with you and I don’t want to lose you,” she said.
                “You are in love with me?” he asked.
                “Yeah,” she said. “Maybe.”
               
                “And you didn’t get to her?” asked Latesta.
                “No,” said the voice at the other end. “I am sorry.”
                “You are saying sorry to the wrong person,” said Latesta. “I will be back in Louisiana tomorrow. Gather everyone together in the Minden church and we will have a discussion about our next plan.”
                “Yes sir,” said the voice.

                Rachel brought Bill a bottle of TrueBlood. She was surprised to see Bill at her door. She opened the door quickly without turning on the porch light and he slipped in quickly. She felt as though she was having an affair with a married man with all this cloak and dagger stuff. He took the bottle out of her hand and thanked her. “So Merlotte’s is okay?” she said.
                “Yes,” said Bill. “So I want you to be extremely careful. When do you have your window replaced?”
                “Tomorrow,” she said. “Divine Signs are coming in the day after to repaint it.”
                “Be very cautious sweetheart,” he said. “I wish I could be with you to keep you safe during the day.”
                “I know,” she said. “I will just be more vigilant. I appreciate your concern.”
                “I am concerned,” he said. “I’ve come to care about you a great deal on short notice.”
                “I care about you too,” she said. He pulled her closer, she leaned forward, and he kissed her. Her arms went around his neck and he pulled her closer, his arms around her waist. He could taste her desire, a taste like heat and spice. Seeing Sookie tonight did not affect him as she used to, even with the tantalizing scent of a full-blooded fae in the air. He pulled Rachel closer to him, he could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and her breath was faster as they deepened their kiss. Bill felt his fangs snick down and he pulled away from her a little. “Hey, hey, it’s okay.”
                “Rachel,” he said.
                “If it helps, I feel the same way, even if I don’t have fangs that show you how much I appreciate you,” she said. He looked at her and pressed his lips together and smiled briefly at her. “Let me see them.” She leaned forward again, her small breasts pressed against him. He parted his lips and she could see them. “May I touch them? I mean, I guess that is silly to ask, they are just teeth, after all.” He opened his lips a little and she put her fingertips on the sharp tip of one of his fangs. He closed his eyes and sighed.  “Fantastic.” He smiled and they retracted.
                “I don’t think I have ever had a woman react quite like that to my fangs,” he said.
                “Well, if I am going to like you, I should like all of you,” she said. She leaned forward and kissed him again, pressing him back on her couch.

                “So, because of this telepathy, you have two factions who are after you, a vampire faction and a human one,” said Preston, finishing his pizza.
                “Yeah, “she said.
                “Sookie, can you read my mind?” he asked.
                “No, I get this sense of fuzzy sort of energy from your head, like I could tell you are here, or if you were asleep, but I can’t hear your thoughts,” she said.
                “And two natured?” he asked.
                “I get a sense of their emotions and sometimes a word or two but not really a thought unless they are really concentrating hard to sort of beam me a thought,” she said.
                “And vampires?” he asked.
                “They are blank spots in the atmosphere, like seeing a hole. I guess it is because they are dead, they don’t have brain waves I guess and I can’t read their minds,” she said.
                “So, of what use would you be to vampires?” he asked.
                “They like to collect quirky humans like me so they have an edge on humans and other vampires. Most all important vampires have humans who sort of take care of them, like doing stuff for them during the day,” she said. Preston nodded.
                “Isn’t there somewhere you could go, hide out?” he asked.
                “They would find me, or they would get to Jason or Sam or someone else I care about and I would just have to come back and face them,” she said. “Really no point.”
                “Unless they thought you were dead,” he said.
                “And not be able to come back and see Jason? I couldn’t do that,” she said.
                “I see,” he said. Preston looked thoughtful. Sookie looked at the clock. It was coming close to midnight. She yawned widely. “I should go, let you go to bed.”
                “I liked having you here,” she said, careful not thank him.
                “Thank you for having me, Sookie. Next time, it’s my treat,” he said.
                “I’ll take you up on that,” she said.

                The next day, Rachel was watching anxiously as the guy from Rear Window Glass positioned the window into the aluminum frame. She was happy to see the window going in but she was worried about what might happen next. She had to admit, she was more nervous now and she looked at people warily. By the time they finished, she was relieved to close her shop door and lock it. She went to the main counter, called Sally, and told her that she would open tomorrow and she could come in today and call clients and let them know the store and the classes were open.
                After she got off the phone, Rachel filled her water pitcher and began to water her plants. She thought about Bill. She was disappointed Bill had decided to go home so early. She had wanted him to stay a little longer. Oh hell, Rachel, be honest, you wanted him to take you to bed. This was true. She had never wanted to sleep with someone so much in her life. It was not that she was incredibly experienced. Her first was Tommy Hambrick and that was when they were in  high school and then there were two guys after high school, but they wanted more, maybe someone who was more fashionable, more flashy. Rachel was beautiful in her own way, but her mother had always said she was born too late. She was an old world beauty with lovely old-fashioned ways.
                Now she had Bill here, interested in her, literally from another time. He seemed to like her southern manners and her old-fashioned tastes. Before he left, in an attempt to cool things off perhaps, he asked for a tour of her house. He loved the way she had preserved the integrity of the house, spending hours picking out the right trim and sanding the old fireplace and staining it dark, the restored hardwood floors and the carefully restored windows, still holding the wavy handmade window panes. He liked her picture array on the mantle. She showed him pictures of her parents, her grandparents and later, the stiff, formal portraits of people all the way back to just before the war. The only differences he saw was of course the electricity and the indoor bathrooms and modern plumbing in the kitchen. By the time they returned to the downstairs of the house, he turned to her, kissed her goodnight and left.
                Rachel had heard vampires were skilled lovers. Of course you would be, after all that time, when getting a meal by peaceful means might depend on your bedroom prowess. By the way he felt in her arms, he was strongly made and she blushed as she watered her miniature roses when she wondered what he would look like naked. Then there was the intrusive thought about Eric. What would he look like? She mentally castigated herself, that was just being curious for the sake of it. She shook her head and snickered at her errant thought.
                As she was walking through, she heard a pecking on the door. There was a strange man there. Bill’s warning voice came to her. He waved and held up a card and a small bowl of violets. She went over to the door and looked at the card. “Thinking of you, Bill.”
                “Miss Westnight, I am Danny Prideaux, Mr. Compton told me to bring this to you,” he said. Rachel opened the door and he stepped in but the door was still open, kept that way with his back. “I just wanted to give these to you, violets don’t do so well in the sun.”
                “Thank you, Mr. Prideaux,” she said. “I am sorry if I seem nervous.”
                “You should be ma’am,” he said. “These are bad times.” He set the bowl in her hands and the card, he gently tucked among the violets. “You have a safe day.”
                “Thank you, you too,” she said. He headed out and she locked her door behind him. Florists had begun calling violets vampire plants because they thrived best in artificial or indirect light and plenty of water. She decided to take it home and put it in her bedroom, under the amber glass shade of the lamp on her dresser.

                Sookie was surprised when Preston appeared in a shabby tee shirt and jeans and tennis shoes and two cups of Coffee Bean coffee and a sack of beignets. “You mentioned you need someone to help you weed, I thought I would offer my services,” he said.
                “Wow,” she said. “Come on in, I will get dressed.”
                “Have breakfast first,” he said. He shook the sack tantalizingly. She led him into the kitchen.
                “Want some juice with that? You can have orange juice can’t you?”
                “Yes, just no lemon juice,” he said.
                “Why lemon juice?” she asked, pouring him a glass of juice and then herself one.
                “I don’t know,” he said. “It is just one of those things.”  Sookie grabbed a couple of plates and set them down and Preston opened the bag, put a couple of sugary beignets on the plates apiece, and licked his fingers to enjoy the powdered sugar. Sookie handed him a napkin and he wiped his fingers on it. “Sookie, why don’t you have children?”
                “Well, my longest relationships have been with vampires and they can’t get you that way,” she said.
                “Have you only been with vampires apart from me?” he asked. Sookie blushed. “Please don’t be embarrassed, I’m not Sookie.”
                “No, I have been with a two natured man. John Quinn, he shifted into a Bengal Tiger,” she said.
                “Did you like it when he was a tiger?” he asked.
                “Well, he was beautiful, and you know, they are still sort of in there, so they can think sort of, but you can smell the animal on them, you know what I mean? Sort of a wild smell, not a people smell,” she said. She had to admit this had been a small problem for her.
                “What do I smell like to you?” he asked, looking at her with his strange turquoise eyes.
                “It’s hard to describe. It is like sugar and bread and air after a rain, flowers, newly mowed lawn,” she said. “Fresh sheets.”
                “Good things,” he said.
                “Yeah, all the best things,” she said.
                “And what do vampires smell like to you?” he asked.
                “They smell dry, secret, and somehow…rich, not like money, but…full of promises,” she said.
                “Dark promises,” he said.
                “Not always. I mean, vampires are different among themselves as we are. Eric...” she swallowed. “Eric could be very playful and he was very lively. Bill was like a lot of old southern guys I have known all my life, real serious and quiet. Pam is really funny and sarcastic and I get a kick out her.”
                “Do you miss them?” he asked.
                “That’s complicated,” she admitted. “I was in and out of a lot of trouble with them, but there were times they were lots of uncomplicated fun and of course, not being able to read their minds was a plus. There were some nights I would get off work, my head pounding with everyone’s thoughts and come home and there was Bill or Eric and I could spend time with someone and not hear their heads. It was like normal life.” She finished her beignet. “Of course, it really wasn’t normal because neither of us were normal. I was a telepath and come to find out, a little fae, and Bill and Eric were vampires.”
                “Would you like a child Sookie?” he asked.
                “I would, but I don’t think it is fair for me to bring a child into my life, not with the kinds of…things that come in and out of my life, maybe endangering it. It was always hard for me to imagine spending my life with Bill or Eric because I would get old and they would stay the same, and they would not be…I don’t think they would stick around.”
                “Did they ever offer to make you…” he asked.
                “I think Eric wanted me to, I think Bill would have. I think of the two of them, Bill would have liked to make me vampire the most,” she said. “But they both knew I didn’t want to be vampire.”
                “But you loved them Sookie, didn’t you love who they were?” he asked. Sookie thought about it.
                “Let’s talk about something else,” she said.
                “I’m sorry, I have upset you,” he said.
                “No, you haven’t. I am going to get dressed and we can start,” she said.

                The sun and cicadas, the buzzing hum of summer in the south, made Sookie think of Martians in that movie War of the Worlds from the ‘50s. They had two huge buckets full of weeds and Preston was graceful and strong and was barely dirty while Sookie was scratched up and dirty.
                “Preston, are you a sky person?” she asked.
                “I am,” he said.
                “Is that why Niall chose you?” she asked.
                “Perhaps, but, my father was friends with your true grandfather Fintan and my father and mother were killed by the water fae who killed your parents,” he said. “I think Niall thought we had something in common.”
                “How old are you?” she asked.
                “I am not as old as Eric Northman but I am quite a bit older than Bill,” said Preston. “Of course, I will age differently now. Not as fast as humans, but, faster than fae.”
                “Could you get back to Faerie, if you really wanted to?” she asked. He stopped and stood up.
                “I could get back to Faerie. There are some times of the year where the barrier between your world and the world of the fae is thin and if you know how, you can create a slip and go back,” he said. “Witches can help us open the door. Nothing is absolute.”
                “Do you think you would want to go back someday?” she asked. He stepped up to her.
                “Sookie, are you wondering if I will just disappear?” he asked. He palmed her cheek. She could smell the fae smell and the smell of the soil and the plants.
                “I just don’t want to like you and then have you disappear,” she said.
                “I will not just disappear,” he said. He leaned down and kissed her, his mouth tasting of sugar, of sweet coffee and fae. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him. He was so warm and felt so strong. He deepened the kiss and she put her arms around his neck. She felt all the right things, she wanted to be with him. She had been thinking about that Yule, and she was beginning to remember how it was, how he was, and she wanted to see if it was everything she remembered. She wanted to take him to bed in the sunlight of her room and watch his eyes change with each stage of their lovemaking. She wanted to see him without his clothes.
                As though Preston was reading her mind, he broke their kiss and he took her hands, still dirty from gardening and pulled her to the house.
                “Wait Preston,” she said.
                “No more waiting Sookie,” he said. “Come and we’ll bathe and make love. Either in your room in your house, or here on the ground under the blue sky. Of course we might be seen by someone coming up the road, but..I’m not shy.” He smiled and she was dazzled by the sweet boyish smile.
                “Don’t you think this is fast?” she asked.
                “Actually, I think we are picking up where we left off,” he said. He turned to walk toward the house and pulled her gently with him. He led her into her room, and he began to undress her. After a second’s hesitation, she began to help him out of his clothes. They kissed their way to the bathroom and stood there and kissed for a long time. Sookie could feel his body pressed against hers, his hard penis pressed against her belly. He let go of her and ran the water. Sookie was hooked up to an artesian well and there was no chlorine smell from the tap. He tested the water with his hand and Sookie gave him a couple of wash clothes. He held his hand up…that was what he intended to use. She smiled at him and watched him.
                Preston was six feet tall and he had a light pelt of hair on his chest that led to his happy place and what he had was big and beautiful, springing up from crisp curls in his groin. He watched her as she turned to the sink and scrubbed her hands and got the worst of the dirt off and dried them. When the water was run, he took her hand and they both slid into the tub. Sookie was grateful to whomever it was who put in this big tub.
                Preston took the bar of soap and rolled it around in his hands, making a lather and began to bathe her, running his hands all over. He looked at her and smiled. “I like it when you smile,” she said, feeling his hands smoothing all over her. He took his hands in hers and finished the wash job she started, massaging the soap into her fingertips and palms and then back up her arms. He made a  twirly motion and she turned in the tub and her back was to him and she felt his warm hands spread over her, washing her shoulders and back. He rinsed her off, and pulled her against him in the bath. He laid back and brought her with him. They lay there in the steam and soapy water. She had the faint impression he was blowing on her skin. “Are you essence sharing with me?”
                “Is that okay?” he asked, one of his hands cupping her breast, and the other sliding down to her belly.
                “What does that do for you,” she asked. He laughed and his hand slid further down and he began to toy with her under the water. He held her snuggly against him, making her moan softly. His lips were on her neck and for a second, she thought he was going to bite her, and then she remembered he was not a vampire. She slid around to look at him. “You have the most beautiful eyes, they aren’t like human eyes at all.”
                “You would be amazed at the number of times people are confronted by the supernatural and never think of it, it is just something they remember as a remarkable feature,” he said. “I like your eyes, they look like a storm.”

                She did not know when it happened but suddenly they were out of the tub, the water going down the drain and they were drying each other off. Once they were dry, Preston pulled her back against him and kissed her, his hands more insistent now, kneading her flesh and filling his hands with her. He pushed her gently back through the bathroom door to the bedroom. She felt the bed hit the back of her legs and she put her hands out behind her and pushed herself up on the bed. He followed her. He was astride her, looking down at her. “Do you know how beautiful you are?” he asked, his voice husky with desire. “I have never forgotten you and how beautiful you are.” He leaned down and kissed her more urgently now. Sookie shifted to open her legs to him and he moved between them and let his weight down on her. He kissed her and felt her arms go around his shoulders.
                Preston flexed his hips toward her and she mirrored him. He slid into her and held himself above her, looking down at her, feeling her around him and the sun on her skin and the clean smell of soap and her own scent. He began to move, slowly, and he watched her, watching him. He traced her skin with his fingertips, and he blew on her skin. She felt something like sparks prickling her skin and the tracings left warm little spots, like impressions.
                Sookie began to mirror him, tracing her fingers over his skin and she blew on the skin of his shoulder. She did not know if he would get the same benefit she was, but she imitated him anyway. The light seemed to change in the room as he moved a fraction faster. It was as if there was light radiating from them, from the bed, underneath the bed, a light brighter than the sun coming through the curtains behind the headboard. She moaned and arched her back toward him and felt herself moving slowly toward that place that held so much promise. He was deep inside her and there was a fire there she had never experienced, at least that she could remember. Perhaps this was his own faery glamour the light and the heat and the tingling.
                They were both working hard now, each toward their own pleasure. He was still looking at her, looking into her, and suddenly their twin orgasms were like blinding light, a super nova pushing her up and out and away from earth and closer to Preston who groaned loudly with his own release. She held on to him, like a drowning person might hold onto a log and she choked out a sob of relief and a little bit of fear that he would just be a dream and would disappear just as she watched the light fade away.
                Sookie blinked and realized she was back from where ever the pleasure had taken her and her arms were tight around Preston’s neck and he had her in one arm around her waist, holding her off the mattress and  his other arm was holding them up, his palm flat on the bed. He was looking at her. “Are you okay Sookie?” he asked.
                “Can we do that again?” she asked. “Soon?”

                Preston laid her on the bed and laughed as he kissed her again.

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