chapter twenty-two

               

                “Regent?” asked Bill. “De Castro wants to make you Regent of Louisiana?”

                “Color me surprised. I do not want anyone to know about this, even the ladies,” he said. “I have not given him an answer.”

                “What was his reason for asking you?” asked Bill.

                “He told me he did not want Louisiana to go to someone who could not make the state work. He said that despite the fact there was no regent, I had managed to pull our sheriffs together and organize them and keep them earning and sending in tribute. Which was my plan even if he had never offered me the position,” said Eric.

                “This is a trap, you understand,” said Bill.

                “Of course it is,” said Eric. “I am not foolish enough to think it is anything else but a trap.”

                “Are you going to accept it?” asked Bill.

                “He has given me till Samhain to decide,” said the vampire.

                “It might be useful if you were Regent in the rallying of our friends to our cause,” said Bill.

                “It may be. I need to dig deeper and see what is going on. Sookie’s situation has distracted me for far too long and I am out of the loop. Let’s chat with our friends this evening and then go home and take up our lives. Work and play and catch up. We have to be very careful Bill. This could get every vampire in Louisiana killed. I am responsible for them as the ranking sheriff in the state. The more we know and the better organized we are, the quicker we can strike. We also have to consider the possibility this will cause a civil war between many kingdoms,” said Eric.

                “I agree,” said Bill.

                “How is your call center?” asked Eric.

                “I have the software updated and the telephone system rewired and I have hired the humans for the first two shifts but I am coming up short on vampires.”

                “You should put out a nationwide search. See who inquires,” said Eric.

                “I may end up hiring spies,” said Bill.

                “You may,” said Eric. “If you do, then we can keep an eye on them.”

                “True,” said Bill.

                “We should join the girls, they are hungry I am sure, and I don’t want to be late to our discussion group.”

                There were more vampires than they could have anticipated. This made Bill a little edgy. He had specifically told Edgington to carefully select who he asked and keep it small. Edgington saw Bill’s face.

                “I know, I know, you said intimate, but the more I talked to, the more there were who had issues. Believe me Bill, everyone here has serious grievances and they would rally to your cause,” soothed Edgington.

                “Only if we live to organize a cause,” said Bill.

                “Don’t worry, they are all willing to take the blood oath,” said Edgington. “When the group began growing, I knew this would be a concern so I asked if they would swear by blood oath and they all said they would.” Swearing a blood oath was the most serious of promises a vampire could make to another vampire. Bill seemed satisfied.

                The group was content to eat and relax and chat about simpler things until the humans were asked to go to the lounge and have drinks. Rachel and Sky stood up, in their minds being a good example to the other humans in the room and they all went up. Eric motioned to the steward and told him to bring everyone a round of blood and then make sure the humans were treated to a round of drinks.

                When this was accomplished, Eric sat passively as Russell Edgington began to speak. “Now is the time friends to tell one another our mutual troubles in your kingdoms. We have a sympathetic ear in Mr. Northman.”

                “What good will a sympathetic ear do us, if we are being pressed by De Castro. What can you do Eric to help me and mine?” asked Darla McQueen, the Queen of Alabama.

                “Nothing on my own I am aware of,” said Eric. “I am just curious if we might not have a problem with a backward thinking vampire and some terrorists who hate our kind.”

                “And who are your kind Eric, I hear you have taken up with the weres and the shifters in your state.” This was coming from Samuel Drew, the king of Ohio and husband of  Phoebe Golden of Iowa.

                “I think ‘taken up’ is too strong a description. We have a cooperative relationship with another oppressed minority. If we cooperate, we strengthen our communities on all levels,” said Bill.

                Raymond Sykes sipped his blood and shrugged. “Well, I certainly did not come here to insult Mr. Northman. I want to talk about how I have De Castro spies in my kingdom, how there have been murders of vampires by De Castro thugs, and businesses have been taken over by De Castro dummy corporations and fronts and then reopened and their profits drained to De Castro to the point I cannot even support my kingdom.”

                “De Castro has the fattest kingdom besides Texas. Stan, what is your take?” asked Eric.

                “De Castro has been sending refugees and undesirables to my kingdom. They are forming gangs who prey not only on humans but their own kind. Any vampire found with Sino AIDS in any of his kingdoms have been dumped in Texas where they spread the disease and die in the streets, too ill to get out of the dawn. The same with renegade shifters and weres. Weres have effectively pushed shifters out of the politics of the two natured becoming a sort of organized crime situation, selling illegal human drugs and vampire blood,” said Stan.

                “Have you discussed this with De Castro?” asked Bill.

                “He says that is my problem,” said the vampire. “I am beginning to think he is right and I am about to make a move.”

                “Can you keep this in stasis, keeping the peace but not causing an attention shift?” asked Eric.

                “That is a difficult thing to ask,” said Stan.

                “It is,” said Eric.

                “How long?”

                “At least til spring,” said Eric.  “The Pythoness will be in America then.”

                “That is a bold move.”

                “It is,” said Eric. “So if we are truly disgruntled, we need to go back to our home areas and gather intelligence. Know the amount of anti-vampire activity there is, the incidents of hate crimes, the interference of De Castro in your kingdoms. Witnesses, reports, evidence. If we move against De Castro and go to the Pythoness, we need to have our ducks in a row.”

                “Who would make the formal charge and take the responsibility?”

                “That is something which can be decided at a later date,” said Eric. “Gerald, one of my minions, is going to set up a cloaked email system. Somewhere you can send me information and it will be encoded. I will send you the information by courier.”

                When Bill and Eric emerged, they left and got into their rental car. “Did everything come out okay?” asked Sky.

                “It was a productive meeting,” said Eric. “Sky, Rachel, Bill and I will be doing some very serious vampire business. We won’t be able to tell you very much about it. Suffice it to say, we are interested only in our jobs and your safety.”

                “Can we help?” asked Sky. “I mean, Rachel and I have talked about it before, we can help you on some things, maybe not like…but we can help.”

                “I don’t want you, either of you, too involved with what is happening with us,” said Eric.

                Sky had saved it for when she and Eric were alone. “Why can’t we help you and Bill?”

                “Because you can’t,” said Eric.  “Can’t we just stop discussing this? We so rarely get time to be alone like this. I would rather be making love with you than arguing with you.”

                “I know we are not like Sookie…”

                “I don’t want you to be like Sookie,” said Eric. “I want you to be yourself. Please stop this. You are not part of this.”

                “I care about you, if you are in trouble, I want to stand by you and have your back,” she said.

                “You can’t help me, you can only get killed,” said Eric.

                “Look, you said this was a lot about the laws going on the books for vampires. I know people in the Southern Poverty Law Center. Rachel’s dad is a lawyer involved with the SPLC. They take cases that effect southern minorities. They have a special supernatural concerns branch. They can at least send me some information. I get a teaching packet every couple of years. I know they will send me a new one soon,” she said. “And if I knew more about what was going on, I could ask specific questions and get you more detailed information.”

                “Sky…” he leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “I care about you. Not..love, not yet, but I care about you. I am enjoying our bond and I am intrigued how you sometimes use it deliberately to communicate with me and send me energy. It makes me curious about you. It would hurt me if something happened to you.”

                “And it would hurt me if something happened to you,” she said.

                “Things are going to get very calm very soon. We are going to go back to ordinary lives. We are preparing for trouble, but with Sookie out of the way, we have a blank slate. We can now look at the problems we are about to experience. But I can only do that if I know you are safe and out of the equation, at least as much as I can. I can’t be distracted by you,” he said. Sky stood up and went to him. He sat back and pulled her gently into his lap.  She put her arms around his neck and he put one hand on her hip and one on her shoulder, his arm crossing her back. He felt her breath on his neck and her hand in his hair.

                “I didn’t think I would like you so much,” she said. “I thought you were an asshole when I brought you home that night I met you.”

                “I know,” he said.

                “Are you sorry we are bonded?” she asked.

                “Sometimes, but not enough to break it,” he said. “Are you sorry?”

                “Sometimes, but not enough to ask you to break it,” she said.

                “You may want that one day and you must not hesitate to ask me to break it,” he said.

                “I don’t want to break it,” she said. “You did a wonderful job with the service.”

                “Thank you,” he said.

                “Were you a king in your time?” she asked.

                “I was a prince, I suppose you could say. My father was the chieftain of our clan. He was still a fairly strong man when I disappeared,” he said. “Please Sky, help me keep you safe.”

                “Just be safe, Eric,” she said.

                “I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Eric pulled away and she looked at him. “You are my Sky. I will never see the day, the sun except with the glimmer of red and gold in your hair. I will never know the green of the fields except in the green of your eyes. I will never know warmth without your fire. If something happens to you, all those things will die for me and I will truly be in the dark.”

                Returning to Bon Temps was a beginning. It was July and the streets looked patriotic with flags and red, white and blue bunting. The heat went from barely tolerable to roasting, even with the air conditioner. The atmosphere was like breathing invisible water. This did not trouble the vampires, and they were amused when the girls would wear very little to bed and lay very close to them, cooling their bodies. Sky had even made Eric let her trade sides with him when his coolness had gone to tepid and she was unable to find a cool spot on his body. This was something he had never experienced before. June was hot and July was hot and rainy and all the rain did was make the heat wet. Rachel was back in her home and this made her sad but she wanted to take things slowly. Bill was at his new office spaces beside her shop and she saw him most every evening. He would sit with her while she had her supper before her evening tai chi classes and he would walk her home. Sometimes, she would wake hearing him getting undressed and sliding into her bed a couple of hours before dawn or she would wake in the morning and find him asleep beside her. She began think she should just invite Bill to move in with her if he was going to stay at her house during the week. She was staying at his house Friday and Saturday nights, going home on Sunday nights but more often than not she would wake on Monday morning to Bill’s cool body pressed against her.

                Sky was attending meetings at the college. Her classes had not begun yet; she would begin in the fall. But it was during those meetings she met Nelson Reynolds. He was a fat, unkempt man who taught the social anthropology survey classes. He had an abrupt, obnoxious way of interjecting his opinion. She was in her office working one afternoon; Emilio was there, sorting some off prints to be scanned when he made his introductions. He acted as though Emilio was not there.

                “So you are the newest addition to our department. LSU huh? Liberal bastion of fangbangers and animal lovers,” he said, leaning against her doorway.

                “I don’t know about that, progressive may be a better word for it,” she said, looking through him. He stepped in and slopped himself in her little chair.

                “This college has gone to the dogs since we began these courses,” he said, looking at Emilio, his lips curling in a nasty smile. “Of course it gives you a job, now doesn’t it?”

                “It does,” she said. “And if you will excuse me, I have rather a lot of work to do.”

                “You do more than teach about them blood suckers?” he asked.

                “That is none of your business, this conversation is inappropriate. If you continue with this line of discussion I will bring formal sexual harassment charges,” she said.

                “Hahahaha, some broody bitch with a cold prick in her night after night accusing me of sexual harassment,” he said.

                “That and species baiting, Emilio is two natured,” she said.

                “I know what he is,” said Reynolds. He stood up and stepped away from the chair, heading for the door. He turned around. “I have my eye on you. And don’t bother reporting this; I got friends in high places.” He walked out. Emilio stood up and went to the door. He turned back to Sky.

                “Professor Faulconer, you have to report this, I will write a witness statement,” he said.

                “No, I can take a few hard words,” she said, turning back to her computer.

                “At least tell Mr. Northman,” he said.

                “No, it is not enough to trouble him with,” she said.

                “Please, please tell Eric. If you don’t tell Eric, and something happens to you and he finds out I knew something, he will be so pissed at me,” said Emilio.

                “Okay, okay, I will mention it to him,” said Sky. “Now finish scanning that stuff so we can cut and paste them and you can take them to the college press and get them copied for me.”

                “Yes ma’am,” he said.

                As Emilio walked to the print shop to put in Professor Faulconer’s order, he called Mustafa Khan.

                “Listen Khan, I wanted to report to you. I think Eric should know Professor Faulconer was threatened today. Not of physical harm, but he said some pretty nasty things to her and he suggested she would have no recourse if she reported it,” said Emilio.

                “Who did the threatening?” asked Khan.

                “Professor Nelson Reynolds. He was real nasty to her,” said Emilio.

                “Did he touch Miss Faulconer?” he asked.

                “Hey, I was there, I would not have let him put his hand on her,” said Emilio.

                “Very good,” he said. “I will contact Eric as soon as possible.”

                “Thanks Khan.”

                Bill was leaned against the glass, watching Rachel lead her yoga class. She was very limber and graceful. She moved into the warrior pose, then the tree pose and then dipped into down facing dog. Bill shifted a little as he looked at her. He loved down facing dog. She began to move into the cool down poses and finally into the corpse pose. She stood and grabbed her towel and her mat, rolling it up and tying it. She saw Bill and waved. He smiled. She came up to him and he could smell the scent of clean sweat and deodorant and her.

                “Hey there babe,” she said, kissing him.

                “I love seeing you in down facing dog,” he said.

                “Be nice and you will see me in that position tonight,” she whispered.

                “I will hold you to that,” he said. “I finished early, I wondered if you wanted to go to Merlotte’s for supper.”

                “Sure,” she said.

                “I also wanted to talk to you about something,” he said.

                “Oh yeah? Getting  tired of me and you want to break up?” she asked.

                “No, in fact, I think it is something you will like,” he said.

                “Walk me home and I will take a shower and change my clothes,” she said.

                Sky was startled when she heard Eric’s voice. She turned and saw him leaning against the door frame of her office.

                “Are you okay?” he asked.

                “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” she asked.

                “Emilio called me and told me some filthy animal accosted you,” said Eric.

                “Accosted me? Eric you really must stop reading Sherlock Holmes,” she said.

                “Don’t turn your smart mouth on me, did someone harm you?” he asked.

                “There is my sweet bossy Eric,” she said. “No, he didn’t harm me. A few hard words and some nasty innuendo and a veiled threat nothing would happen to him much if I complained, that is all.”

                “I could kill him,” he said.

                “Not worth your energy,” she said, packing her briefcase with a couple of books.

                “Are you okay?” he asked.

                “Yes, you and Emilio are more troubled than I am,” she said. “What are you doing this evening?”

                “I have some work to do at Fangtasia, why don’t you come with me, it’s Thursday, not a very busy night in the week,” he suggested.

                “Can I go by Sonics and get a chicken sandwich and some tater tots?” she asked. “I am starved.”

                “You may,” he said. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

                “No,” she said.

                “You could stay the night with me,” he said. “It would make me feel better.”

                “It would huh?” she asked.

                “I feel a little traumatized,” he said. Eric looked like the least traumatized person in the world.

                “Traumatized?” she said.

                “Definitely,” he said.

                “Well, it is against my better judgment, but I suppose I could,” she said.

                “Thank you,” he said. “Can I carry your books teacher?”

                “Sure,” she said. “Did you drive?”

                “No,” he said.

                “Less traumatized more in need of a ride back to Shreveport,” she said.

                “So disrespectful,” he said, ushering her out.

                Rachel was eating her salad and Bill was drinking a TrueBlood. “So what is it you want to talk to me about?”

                “Rachel, it is silly for us to maintain two homes so close to one another. Would you be interested in taking a roommate?” he said.

                “A roommate?” she asked.

                “I would pay for half the mortgage, the utilities, whatever. I have only two large pieces I want to bring from the house. My piano and that is the only thing I want to bring to the house, and my desk, which will go in my offices at the new place. I have some boxes and clothes of course.”

                “I have that tiny little sewing room or whatever it was, you could make a home office of it,” she said. “Or you could have one of my extra bedrooms. Two of them are empty, you could have a library and office there.”

                “I could,” he said.

                “Sure, come and be my roomie,” she said. “What will you do with your house?”

                “Sell it. I came back to Compton house to do the wrong thing. I no longer want to be there. I can sell it and have a new start,” said Bill.

                “That would be a good thing,” said Rachel.

                Fangtasia was not crowded, but that did not mean it wasn’t busy. Eric was sitting among his minions, talking to them. Sky sat at the bar and ate her supper and sipped a cold coke and chatted with India. She had just come in from her shift at Merlotte’s and was having her dinner.

                “When you are made, what is your last human meal going to be?” asked Sky.

                “I don’t know,” she said, taking a bite out of her Lafayette Burger. She chewed, a finger up to buy her a little time while she chewed. Sky took a bite from her chicken sandwich. “Maybe some Chinese food. I love Chinese food.”

                “Excellent choice,” said Sky. “I would have something homey, a chicken and noodle and broccoli casserole, a big slice of apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese melted on it, an Irish coffee with Bailey’s crème in it and whipped cream.”

                “There you go,” said India. “Pam hun, what did you have to eat?”

                “If I recall correctly, I had roast duck with almonds and asparagus and white wine,” said Pam. “I think there was a heavy gravy on it, but I don’t remember.” Pam set up an Irish coffee cup, poured a shot of Bailey’s in it, poured the coffee over it, and sprayed some whipped cream from a can over the top. She pushed it toward Sky.

                “Thank you Pam,” said Sky. She sipped it. “Hits the spot.”

                “You are good friends with Bill’s woman?” asked Pam.

                “Sure,” she said. “She is a nice person, very laid back, sweet.”

                “Do you think she would have me in her yoga class?” asked Pam.

                “More than likely,” said Sky. “She likes you, wishes she knew you better. Maybe that would be something you and India could do together.”

                “That’s an idea sweety,” said India. “Do you do it?”

                “Me? No, I get my cardiovascular working out with the Sheriff,” she said. Pam laughed and Eric looked toward them and he frowned a little at Pam. Sky stuck her tongue out at him. He winked at her and turned his attention back to a New Orleans vampire who was telling him about the problems of his area. Eric mentally made plans to go to meet with the area vampires.

                 Rachel was breathing hard when Bill slid away from her. He snuggled down and lay his head on her chest listening to her racing heart slow down. “Are you okay?” he asked.

                “Uh huh,” she said.  “Bill?”

                “Sweetheart?”

                “Am I enough for you? I mean, are you getting all you need in bed?”

                “I am,” he said.

                “Do you ever want to have sex with another vampire?” she asked.

                “No,” he said. “Why would you ask that?”

                “Well, I am human, I am not as strong as a vampire woman and you can always be faster and rougher with a vampire woman.”

                “I don’t want to go faster and rougher,” he said. “I like going sweet and slow and gentle.”

                “Ummmm, I like that too,” she said, stroking his hair. “Are there things in bed you like to do I haven’t done?”

                “If there were I would ask you for it,” he said. “We have done everything.”

                “We have,” said Rachel. “When did you lose your virginity?” He raised up.

                “I can’t remember that far,” he said.

                “I know you were human. Was it to your wife?” she asked.

                “No,” he said. “I was a young boy…13 maybe. I think it was in a barn, but I can’t be sure I really remember it.” They lay quietly for a while. “Are you sleeping?”

                “No,” she said. “Do you like having sex with vampires?”

                “Sex with vampires is about something other than sex,” said Bill. “No, I prefer sex with you.”

                “Then if I became vampire, you would not want to have sex with me anymore?” she asked.

                “Of course I would, I would have known you before you were vampire. Of course you may not want to have sex with me anymore.”

                “Why not?” she asked.

                “You may want to explore your sexuality as a woman vampire,” he said.

                “I doubt it, I am in love with you,” she said yawning a little.

                “And I love you,” he said. “You have to get up and go to work in the morning.”

                “What will you do?”

                “I am reading this filthy little book you are reading,” Bill rolled over on his back and grabbed the book out of the side table drawer.

                “I am so embarrassed,” she said, covering her face.

                “Why?” he asked. “Do you want to do some of these things?” He arched an eyebrow at her and smiled. She blushed. He loved the way it made her temperature rise.

                “No,” she said. “It’s just…porny.” Bill grinned at her, leaned down, and kissed her.

                “Go to sleep sweetheart,” he said. She looked at him as he settled back and opened the book. She snuggled against him and he pulled the blankets around her and stroked her hair as he read.

                “Sky, I will be going to New Orleans this Saturday,” said Eric, watching her slide back into bed with him.

                “Okay,” she said. “Is Bill coming with you?”

                “No,” he said. “Bill and I are not exactly friends, he has a business to run. He will make himself useful when I call him, otherwise he couldn’t be bothered.”

                “That sucks,” said Sky.

                “Vampires don’t attach themselves to each other the way humans do or vampire couples. Sex changes the dynamic of vampire/vampire relationships, “said Eric.

                “How do you maintain loyalties then?” she asked. “How do you trust one another?”

                “We don’t,” he said pulling her to him and she put her head on his chest. He put his fingers in her hair and rubbed it gently between his fingers. “Bill and I cooperate with one another when it serves the both of us.”

                “See that is your problem Eric, you need to make friends with other vampires,” she said.

                “I have vampire friends,” he said.

                “Excluding Pam, you have minions,” said Sky. “Not so many friends.”

                “You are my friend,” he said. “You are all I need as far as friends.”

                “What are we doing for the fourth of July?” asked Sky.

                “What would you like?” asked Eric.

                “Well, Rachel wants to pack a picnic basket and take some wine and TrueBlood and blankets to the park and watch the fireworks with Sam and Luna and Jason and Michele,” she said. “I want us to go.”

                “Sky, I don’t do human holidays,” he said. “They don’t mean anything to me.”

                “Then I will go alone,” she said.  She turned over on her back and then turned on her side, her back to Eric.

                “I told you, I can’t give you human things,” he said.

                “I was thinking this is an American thing,” she said. “You call yourself an American. Hey it isn’t like I want you to grill boudan sausages and wear an apron with ‘kiss the chef’ on it. Of course, since I am just your…whatever I am…you don’t feel obligated to do things with me, to be seen with me, to do things with me that isn’t in bed.”

                “Sky,” he said.

                “All you want to do is take to me to Fangtasia, or bring me home or here and have sex with me, and bite me once in a while. Reynolds was right, I am a fangbanger,” she flew out of Eric’s bed and began to dress. Eric could feel how angry she was and hurt and something else.

                “Sky, don’t,” he said. She was pulling on her clothes. Eric sped out and grabbed her gently. “Don’t leave me, please, I am sorry. I didn’t think it mattered to you so much, socializing.”

                “It isn’t just socializing, Eric. It is sharing, it is sharing a life and I want people to see you, to see me with you and see us sharing a life. But it is too much for you. Maybe you are ashamed you are sharing a life with a human,” she said.

                “Sky, stop,” he said. “You are not a fangbanger.”

                “Then what am I Eric?” she asked. “What am I to you?” He made as though to speak and stopped. “You can’t say it, because I am right. I am just someone you are having sex with. A wham bam fang you ma’am? A fuck and suck?”

                “Stop it,” he said.  “Don’t leave me.”

                “Why Eric, give me one good reason to stay,” she said. Eric was speechless. “Fine. I will give Bill my key and pass to return to you when I can take time to dig it out of my purse. You needn’t bother showing me out.” She slid her feet into her loafers and stomped upstairs. She crossed the living room and reached the doorknob but encountered Eric’s hand instead. She withdrew it as if his coolness burned. “Get out of my way.”

                “Sky, please,” he said.

                “I want to go home,” she said, sobbing. She lunged at him and pushed on him, pounding his hard chest. “I want to go home.” He put his arms around her and held her.

                “Please Sky,” he said. “You promised you would be patient with me. You have to teach me. I am a slow learner. I don’t understand.”

                “Why are men so bloody blind?” she said.

                “What am I missing?” he said.

                “Shit! I hate this. I hate this!” she struggled, trying to get out of his arms.

                “It’s me, you are finished with me,” he said, letting her go. “I feel it in the bond.”

                “Is what I am feeling so bloody foreign to you? I am in love with you Eric, I fucked up and fell in love with you and you don’t love me. You can’t even define me in your life and I fucked around, thinking I was immune that I could intellectualize this relationship but I can’t. I love you.” Eric was dumbfounded. Was this what it felt like? Love? He pulled her back against him.

                “That is impossible,” he said, snuggling into her neck.

                “No it isn’t,” she said.

                “You love me?” he asked. “This is what love feels like in the bond.” He didn’t ask it. He said it as if he was taking time to feel it.

                “You have never felt this before, not even with Sookie?” she asked.

                “I have never felt this emotion before in a bond with a human woman,” he said.

                “You aren’t lying,” she said, shocked. She watched as a red tear slid down his ivory skin. “Oh.”

                “I told you I didn’t know how to do this,” he said. “It hurts. Why are you hurting?”

                “Because I love you and I want you to love me back and you can’t,” she said.

                “Why would you say that?” he said. “Sky, I care about you. Don’t you feel that in the bond? Don’t you feel how much I care about you, how proud I am of you, of your intelligence and your beauty?”

                “It just feels like…desire. But something about you that is indifferent,” she said.

                “I can’t stand the thought you would leave me, I can’t stand the thought you would turn away from me. If this is what love is, then Sookie Stackhouse never loved me. Please don’t leave me. Teach me to love Sky. You are the only one who can, without you, I will never learn, I refuse to be taught by anyone but you,” he said stroking her hair away from her face. He kissed her forehead. “Come back to bed and just …just lie down with me and let me feel you close to me. Please don’t cry anymore. It hurts me when you cry.” He kissed her again, except this time he kissed her lips. “Let me take you back to bed.” She nodded. She was exhausted, the storm of energy passed. He picked her up and carried her back downstairs to his big bed. He laid her in the middle of the bed and undressed her and lay down beside her. He pulled the blankets and sheets up around her and cuddled her close. She settled close to him, her face against the muscles of his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and lay there, watching her fall into exhausted sleep.

                Moving around in the sunlit rental with Luna was what Sam always knew a real relationship would be like. He was in the kitchen watching Luna flip hoecakes on the griddle. He loved Luna. A tiny part of it was about her being a shifter. It made things easier, simpler. More than that, he loved her stubborn streak. She was a tough girl with a lot of passion. Must be that legendary Latin spice. She slid the hoecakes into a plate and brought them to the table. Sam forked four of them into his plate and slid some sausages along side of them and smeared butter and syrup on them. Luna watched him and then ran from the table to the bathroom. Sam jumped up and followed her.

                “Are you okay?” he asked.

                “Man, this is not happening,” he heard her say.

                “What’s the matter?” he asked. He could hear water running and she was swishing out her mouth and spitting. She opened the door. Luna looked a little pale.

                “Oh Sam, I messed up, I think I am pregnant,” she said.

                “Pregnant?” he asked. “How?”

                “Well Sam, we got in bed one night when I was fertile and you put your penis in my vagina…”

                “Okay smart ass, I know how you got that way, but how? I thought we were being careful.”

                “I don’t know, maybe the birth control is not as reliable with shifters and weres,” she said.

                “Well, what do we do now?” he asked.

                “I have to get a pregnancy test done,” she said. “I can go today to the clinic and get one.”

                “Okay? Are you okay?” he asked. “Anything I can get you?”

                “Some orange juice,” she said.

                “Okay,” he said. “Go stretch out on the couch and I will bring you an orange juice.” Sam went into the little kitchen and got her a glass of juice and brought it back to her. “Luna, what do you want to do?”

                “I want to keep it of course,” she said. “Do you want it?”

                “Of course I want it. Let’s get married. No matter what the test says, let’s get married. I can put you on my health plan. And a house! This rental is only big enough for us, we can buy a house,” said Sam.

                “Sam, you barely got settled in a new bar, you don’t have the money for a house.”

                “Sookie left me a big chunk of money, and the insurance money will be pretty good,” said Sam. “Maybe get us a little fixer upper, something that just needs paint and love. We can do this.”

                “Let’s go and make sure first,” said Luna.

                “You make sure, I will make plans,” he said.

                “You are crazy,” she said.

                “And you are my baby momma, got to do this right, the ring, the house, the baby,” he said.

                Construction at the Stackhouse site was moving right along. Jason was taking a break, watching Alcide’s crew putting up the frame. The plumbing had been roughed in and the electrician was coming after the Fourth of July holiday. Michele had spoken to Luna a few days ago and they were making plans to go to the park. They had invited those women, Rachel and Sky and Jason presumed they had extended the invitation to Bill and Eric. He did not know how to feel about that, but as Michele progressed through her pregnancy, he said nothing. Fears of her losing the baby were too great. Maybe he should invite Andy and Halliegh and the baby.  Bill would like that. He looked back toward Bill’s house. He never thought he would be neighbors with a vampire.

                Jack Prejean, Bon Temps local realtor drove up. “Hey Jason,” he said.

                “Hey, what are you doing out here?” asked Jason.

                “Bill Compton wants to list his home. His assistant is letting me into the house to photograph it and sort of figure out a price for it.”

                “He looking to sell to another vampire?” asked Jason.

                “He didn’t specify,” said Jack.

                “He grew up here, had a family here during the Civil War. I can’t imagine him selling it,” said Jason.

                “Maybe he wants something more modern, though he assures me he made a lot of major repairs in the electrical system and the plumbing,” Jack remarked. “How’s construction on this place?”

                “Going great. I am building a house basically the same as the one we grew up in except we are modernizing it,” said Jason.

                “Well, better get up there. You take it easy Jase.”

                “You too,” he said.

                By the time the realtor left, Danny was starved. He headed for Merlotte’s. He was going to have a burger and fries and a beer. Maybe two burgers. Then Danny began figuring in his head how much money he had tucked away. Working for Bill had been good clean work and he didn’t really have to do all that much. He pulled in and parked and got out and went into the bar. Holly and India and some other girl, a new girl from the look, was waiting tables. Sam was at the bar. Danny pulled himself onto a bar stool and sat down.

                “Bud light?” asked Sam.

                “Yeah and a burger and fries, drag it through the garden,” he said. Sam grinned and jotted down his order on an order pad and put it in at the cook’s window and came back and grabbed a beer glass and drew him a Bud light.

                “You been working hard?” asked Sam.

                “I had to let a realtor in to Bill’s house. He’s selling it,” he said.

                “Bill Compton is selling his house?” asked Sam. “Why?”

                “I think he is moving in with that woman he is seeing,” said Danny sipping his beer.

                “I guess he wants a piece of change for it,” said Sam.

                “Not as much as you would think. He has some land, and the house is solid but there are like five bedrooms there and only the downstairs and a bedroom and bathroom is done and then there is a spa bath downstairs. The kitchen is small but I think that can be remedied. It needs a few appliances,” said Danny.

                “So how much?” he asked.

                “Well it’s way the hell out in the boonies, and like I said there is stuff that needs to be done with it,” said Danny.

                “Are you gonna keep it a secret?” asked Sam.

                “The realtor said $90k, but he would settle for $75,” said Danny. Sam was running in his head what he had. Twenty thousand from Sookie and about ninety from Merlotte’s but he wanted to put about half back into the bar, maybe make a down payment to Eric to buy it from him.  Bill would take $35 as a down payment and he would have some improvement money.

                “Wonder if Bill would talk to me about selling me his house?” asked Sam.

                “Don’t know why not,” said Danny. “Your money spends.”

                Rachel looked up and saw Sky walk in. “Whoa, what happened to you?” Sky had uncharacteristic circles under her eyes and she looked tired.

                “I am just here to get a shower and change clothes and go back to Eric’s house,” she said, walking past her.

                “Wait, wait,” she looked at Sky. “Let’s go in the TM room and chat.” Sky followed Rachel to the TM room. This was Rachel’s favorite place. She lit a candle and some incense and made herself comfy on one of the pads. Sky did as well. “So what happened, you look terrible.”

                “Eric and I had a big fight and I said a lot of things and I told him I fell in love with him,” said Sky.

                “Oh, wow,” she said. “How did he take it? How do you feel having said it?”

                “I don’t know,” said Sky. “He said he didn’t know I loved him and I told him that was sort of hard to believe because of the bond, and he said he hadn’t felt anything like what he was feeling from me before. I shouted at him and told him all I was to him was a fangbanger, that he never wants to be with me out in public, that all we do is go to Fangtasia or his house or my house to have sex. I made him cry,” she sobbed a little and began to cry.

                “Well, what happened?” asked Rachel. “What started it.”

                “I told him you and Bill were going to the park with Sam and Luna and Jason and Michele, that you all were packing a little basket, taking some coolers with beer and wine, blankets and watch the fireworks and I told him I wanted to go and he said…he didn’t do human celebrations. And then I got mad because all he wanted to do was ..well…you know that part. Then I told him Reynolds was right, I was a fangbanger,” she said.

                “Hold on, who is Reynolds?” asked Rachel.

                “He is a colleague, he teaches an anthropology survey course and he hates vampires and two natured. He called me a fangbanger,” said Sky.

                “I hope you slapped him,” remarked Rachel.

                “Eric threatened to kill him,” Sky offered.

                “Good for Eric,” said Rachel. “So what did Eric say when you told him you loved him.”

                “He just asked me not to leave him. He said if what he was feeling was love, then he knew Sookie never loved him and then he told me I would have to teach him to love, that I was the only one who could,” she said.

                “Are you?” asked Rachel.

                “I don’t know,” she said. “How do I teach a man who is a thousand years old how to love?”

                “Don’t believe the saying ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ Eric is a bright man, he can figure things out.”

                “But does he want to?” asked Sky.

                “Well, you stayed with him didn’t you, you didn’t go home,” said Rachel. “If he didn’t care, he would have let you leave. You know Sky, you know about vampires in books, but you don’t really know how to interact with them. He knows about humans as prey and for pleasure but he doesn’t know how to interact with them. You guys are like virgins. You know how, you just don’t know how to start it.”

                “That sucks,” she said. “I have to get a shower and change clothes and get to Shreveport. I want to stop by Pappa Woos and get supper.”

                “Sky, it all works out, you and Eric. Sometimes the best relationship is the one you fight for. You just have to figure it out if he is the battle you want to fight,” said Rachel.

                “True,” she said. “Thanks.”

                “Not a problem,” said Rachel. “And drag that Viking to the picnic. He will come with you, he wants to be around you, I can tell that much. He is just going to have to learn to be more open.”

                Sky showered and dressed and went back out. She stopped at Woo’s and got beef and broccoli and white rice. She went back to Eric’s house. She grabbed her bag and went to the sliding glass door in the kitchen and looked at his back garden, it was beautiful but the sort of garden that looked as if no one ever walked in it except the gardener. There was a little glass topped table and two cushioned chairs and a small couch. She went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of green tea and went out to eat.

                After her supper, of which she ate very little, Sky sipped her tea and thought about Eric and what Rachel said. Eric was sleeping away the sunlit day in his big bed. She reckoned he was about the loneliest creature she had ever met. He had no friends, excusing Pam. What confused her was he loved Sookie Stackhouse, she knew that, but didn’t Sookie love him at all? Maybe it was all the things that happened, the trouble he and Bill brought her. So why did she sleep with him? Tell him she loved him? Was it because she couldn’t read his mind? Was that all she loved about him and was willing to have sex and confess some sort of love to him? Sex with Eric was fantastic but was that enough for her to stay with him? But then again, she didn’t actually stay with him, did she?

                She was part fae, maybe she was like the fae in the stories she had read as a child. The fae were always making promises that were chock full of loop holes and tricky to fulfill. Perhaps, even without her knowing, she was deceptive and treacherous. Maybe she only loved Eric’s silence and that was worth the lie that she loved him. That was why he didn’t recognize the love she had for him, the love she tried to keep tamped down, the love she wanted him to return.

                Eric had said he cared about her and Sky said she only felt desire and something that was detached. Maybe he was being detached because of something he did to Sookie, something that bothered her, something she didn’t want to do. Then she remembered the funny way he discussed giving her his key and the pass for the guard. All that ‘If you like’. Maybe Eric was always wanting her to come live with him, maybe he was trying to monopolize her life and she bucked it. If so that may be the reason he is a little…detached. He doesn’t want to smother her.  Sky got up from the table and went back into the house. She bagged her trash in double bags, vampires did not like to smell food in the house after it had been eaten, and went downstairs. She walked around to her side of the bed. He was laying on his side, his eyes shut and smooth. Eric’s face was smooth, and he looked even younger in his sleep than when he was awake. His lips were relaxed. The arm under Eric was flung out across the bed and his other hand was under his pillow. His long blond hair was gently tangled around him. She laid down by him, facing him, and stared at this face til she closed her eyes.